(NEW YORK) — Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. reached an all-time high in 2021, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s latest annual report.
The organization recorded 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism — the highest number of incidents on record since the ADL began tracking these attacks in 1979.
This averages to more than seven incidents per day and represents a 34% increase year over year.
“In 2021, the world still wasn’t fully reopened yet,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a Tuesday press conference on the findings. “People were still socially distancing. Businesses are still shuttered. Campuses are still closed and yet, 2021, far and away, the highest total we have ever seen.”
Oren Segal, the vice president of the ADL Center on Extremism, said that these audits typically represent an undercount of the reality due to lack of reporting and other barriers to data collection.
The majority of the incidents were categorized as harassment, which increased more than 40% from last year.
The ADL also recorded a major increase in incidents at Jewish institutions such as synagogues, community centers and schools — from 327 in 2020 to 525 in 2021, an increase of 61%.
“The findings come at a time where Jews are feeling particularly vulnerable because of the violent, antisemitic incidents that have targeted our community over the past several years, but also because of how they’ve targeted the Jewish community in the last several months,” Segal said.
He pointed to recent attacks, including the Colleyville, Texas, synagogue hostage crisis in January.
Three-quarters of American Jews believe there is more antisemitism in the U.S. today than there was five years ago, according to a 2020 Pew Research Center survey.
About 53% say that, as a Jewish person in the U.S., they feel less safe than they did five years ago.
Jewish Americans continue to be the most targeted religious group, FBI hate crime statistics show.
“This should be a warning call to all Americans — antisemitism isn’t just a Jewish problem. It’s an American problem that demonstrates or indicates the decay of our society,” Greenblatt said at the conference.
(WASHINGTON) — A funeral for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the first woman to ever serve in that role, will be held Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital.
The funeral is set to begin at 11 a.m. and will be streamed on ABC News Live.
Albright, who had cancer, died in March at the age of 84.
She served as secretary of state from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton after serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from 1993 to 1997.
During her tenure as secretary of state, she focused on promoting the eastward expansion of NATO and pushed for NATO intervention in the 1999 war in Kosovo, according to the historical office of the Department of State.
Her approach to diplomacy and statecraft was colored by her own experiences as a refugee who fled what was then Czechoslovakia with her family in the aftermath of World War II.
She remained engaged with both American and international affairs until the end of her life, writing a book in 2018 warning about a resurgence of fascism and sounding an alarm about Russian President Vladimir Putin in a New York Times op-ed published just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In early 2000, I became the first senior U.S. official to meet with Vladimir Putin in his new capacity as acting president of Russia… Flying home, I recorded my impressions. ‘Putin is small and pale,’ I wrote, ‘so cold as to be almost reptilian,'” Albright wrote in the Times.
She added that “should he invade [Ukraine], it will be a historic error.”
Both former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak at the funeral, according to the Washington National Cathedral.
“Few leaders have been so perfectly suited for the times in which they served… Because she knew firsthand that America’s policy decisions had the power to make a difference in people’s lives around the world, she saw her jobs as both an obligation and an opportunity,” the former president wrote in a statement the day Albright died.
President Joe Biden will eulogize Albright at the funeral, and her daughters, Anne, Alice and Katie, will also speak.
(WASHINGTON) — Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday is expected to get grilled by lawmakers about how the Biden administration is handling the growing problem of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana briefly paused the rollback of Title 42 — the Trump-era policy that allowed migrants seeking asylum along the southern border to be expelled under the public health emergency authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The CDC rescinded the policy earlier this month, and it was expected to be phased out by May 23.
Judge Robert Summerhays said he intends to issue a temporary restraining order in the case if the Justice Department and Arizona, Missouri and Louisiana, the three states that sued to pause the rollback, can come to an agreement.
A senior administration official told reporters the administration intends to comply with the temporary restraining order the judge intends to issue, but the administration disagrees with the premise.
“When the Title 42 public health order is lifted, we anticipate migration levels will increase, as smugglers will seek to take advantage of and profit from vulnerable migrants,” Mayorkas wrote in a memo titled, “DHS Plan for Southwest Border Security and Preparedness.”
DHS officials told reporters in March they could expect to see at least 18,000 migrants along the southern border per day, when Title 42 gets lifted.
Mayorkas has stressed Title 42 is not an immigration policy, but rather born out of the public health crisis.
Part of the border plan outlined in the memo, obtained by ABC News, is surging resources to the border, increasing processing efficiency and increasing non-government organizations to receive non-citizens after they’ve been processed by CBP.
“We inherited an immigration system from the prior administration that had been studiously dismantled and so was unprepared to meet the challenges posed by the high numbers of non citizens arriving at our borders today,” according to a Senior Administration official who briefed reporters on Tuesday.
In addition to the two hearings on Wednesday, Mayorkas will go in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
Last week, Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote to Mayorkas in anticipation of his hearing.
“The Biden Administration’s radical immigration policies have caused a humanitarian and security crisis along our southwest border,” Jordan wrote. “The American people deserve answers and accountability for the Biden Administration’s lawlessness along the southwest border.”
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy was mum Tuesday night when questioned by reporters about being heard on tape saying some Republicans incited violence around the Jan. 6 Capitol attack — and that others could be kicked off social media platforms.
But lawmakers told ABC News they expect the California Republican to explain his reported remarks behind closed doors Wednesday morning when House Republicans gather for their first meeting of the week.
In a new report Tuesday, New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns released recordings of McCarthy and other GOP leaders made in January 2021 after the riot, discussing comments made before and after the Capitol attack by far-right lawmakers and their concerns over how those comments could potentially provoke violence against other legislators.
“He’s putting people in jeopardy,” McCarthy said of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a Trump loyalist who criticized other Republicans for being insufficiently supportive of Trump, according to the recording of the Jan. 10 call published by The Times. “And he doesn’t need to be doing this. We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.”
McCarthy declined to answer multiple questions from reporters as he walked from his office to the House floor for votes Tuesday evening. But when asked by ABC News if he was worried about the comments jeopardizing his bid for speaker if Republicans retake the House in the upcoming midterm elections, he had a simple answer.
“Nope,” he said.
In the meantime, McCarthy’s colleagues are weighing the impact of his newly reported comments.
“He’s going to explain it, and we’ll go from there,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “Let’s see what he says.”
“Trust is not a thing to be measured by one incident,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., told ABC News.
Asked if he would support McCarthy for speaker if Republicans retake the House, Higgins said, “I certainly have a vote and we shall see.”
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., one of Trump’s first supporters in Congress, said “Oh my God, yes,” when asked if he trusted McCarthy.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., one of McCarthy’s loudest critics on Capitol Hill, said he “obviously showed an utter lack of leadership,” and “continues to defend people pushing false narratives, and that’s wrong.”
Gaetz tweeted out a statement blasting McCarthy and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the GOP whip who suggested Gaetz’s comments were “potentially illegal,” according to the recording published by The Times.
“Rep. McCarthy and Rep. Scalise held views about President Trump and me that they shared on sniveling calls with Liz Cheney, not us,” Gaetz said.
“This is the behavior of weak men, not leaders,” he wrote. “While I was protecting President Trump from impeachment, they were protecting Liz Cheney from criticism.”
Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a senior member of the House Freedom Caucus, told the conservative One America News Network that McCarthy’s recorded comments regarding social media accounts were “problematic” and “the most serious thing.”
“If he had just been honest and truthful with us way back then, this would not be an issue for us today,” Biggs said. “We don’t want it to be an issue because we don’t want it to be a distraction.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson also criticized McCarthy on Tuesday, saying on his show, “Those are the tape-recorded words of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, a man who, in private, turns out, sounds like an MSNBC contributor.”
“And yet unless conservatives get their act together right away, Kevin McCarthy or one of his highly liberal allies … is very likely to be speaker of the House in January. That will mean we will have a Republican Congress led by a puppet of the Democratic Party,” Carlson said.
It appears that the cross-genre hitmaker has taken up painting as a pastime, taking to Twitter to unveil his latest creation. But he admits that it’s not his best work, sharing a picture of the painting that shows a distorted face with misplaced eyes and mouth, along with dark blue shapes drawn above it with gold, brown and black paint smeared throughout.
“Think I should stick to singing!!” the “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It” singer confesses in the caption.
But fans were much gentler on the artist, with one encouraging, “the thing to remember is that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful art,” while another shares, “no judgment when it comes to art because art is self expression. Someone somewhere will see beauty in it.”
When he’s not working to become the next Picasso, Darius has several tour dates booked throughout the summer, including a stop at CMA Fest at Nissan Stadium on June 9.
(NEW YORK) — A group of residents in Llano County, Texas, is suing county officials for removing books from public libraries because officials “disagree with the ideas within them.”
The residents say the county is violating their first amendment rights by removing award-winning books from shelves due to their content and terminating “access to over 17,000 digital books” from the local library system.
“Public libraries are not places of government indoctrination,” the lawsuit filed Monday reads.
It continued, “They are not places where the people in power can dictate what their citizens are permitted to read about and learn. When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained within them, it jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”
Several of the books listed in the lawsuit that have been removed from libraries include adult works about oppression and racism like Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by journalist Isabel Wilkerson, and They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Group by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.
The lawsuit also listed some of the children’s books that have been removed: Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen is about a boy’s dream of making a cake, and Robie H. Harris’ It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health is a sex education book about the biology of the human body.
“Though Plaintiffs differ in their ages, professions, and individual religious and political beliefs, they are fiercely united in their love for reading public library books and in their belief that the government cannot dictate which books they can and cannot read,” the lawsuit read.
The complaint states that the library system’s policy claims that “in no case should any book be excluded because of race or nationality or the political or religious views of the writer.”
The local fight over book bans has been ongoing.
In December 2021, the Llano County Library shut down for several days to review the children’s books in the library. The move followed a directive from Matt Krause, the chairman of the Texas House Committee on General Investigating.
He asked districts to provide insight into library material that discussed human sexuality “or contain[ed] material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex or convey that a student, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
Shortly after, in January 2022, the court voted to dissolve the existing library board and appointed a new board of residents advocating for the removal of the aforementioned books, according to the lawsuit.
Several plaintiffs wanted to join the new board but say they were refused due to their “public stances against ongoing censorship efforts in the County.”
One plaintiff, according to the lawsuit, “holds a master’s degree in Library and Information Science, previously managed the rare books collection at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and formerly served on a library board in Wichita Falls.” He says he was refused a position on the new board.
Other plaintiffs say they were fired from the previous library board or would not be considered for a position on the new board.
The lawsuit also claims that one librarian was fired after refusing to remove books from the shelf.
Llano County declined to comment to ABC News about the lawsuit.
In a past statement, County Judge Ron Cunningham told The Washington Post that the county was “cognizant of the concerns of our citizens pertaining to our library system.”
He claimed that “a portion of the public and media have chosen to propagate disinformation that Llano County (and other rural communities) are operating with political or phobic motivations,” and said that such was not the case.
Llano County is just one of many nationwide fired up about the restriction of subjects in public libraries and schools.
Republican-backed efforts across the country, including what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida or the anti-race education legislation, aim to limit speech and/or content on race, gender and sexual orientation.
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has tracked a record-breaking number of book challenges, or attempts to ban or remove books, in 2021.
“In 2021, libraries found themselves at the center of attacks orchestrated by conservative parent groups and right-wing media that targeted books about race, gender, and LGBTQIA+ issues for removal from public and school library shelves and, in some cases, included threats of book burning,” the organization stated in its “State of America’s Libraries” study.
When it came to recording his first duet, Cole Swindell wanted to be intentional with selecting his partner, and he had a feeling that Lainey Wilson was meant to be the one on “Never Say Never.”
The Georgia native reveals that “Never” was written years prior to him and Lainey taking it to #1 on the country charts, but notes that it was waiting for the right person to pitch the song to.
“I’ve always loved this song…but we knew it had to be a duet, so we knew we had to find the right person. I can’t even imagine anybody else singing on this song than Lainey,” Cole professes, noting that he already was a fan of her hit “Things a Man Oughta Know.”
“I was like, ‘This just makes sense,'” Cole recalls. “I didn’t know how our voices were going to sound together, any of that. I just knew I was a fan of her.”
In trusting that instinct, Cole sent the demo of the track to Lainey while she was on vacation in Mexico. Cole was hesitant at first to send it, but once he did, both singers knew it was going to be an important song in their careers.
“After I sent her the song, the next three minutes felt like three hours. I was waiting to see what she thought about it, but her response was, ‘I’m in. This sounds like a big song,'” he remembers. “She knows that as much as she’s thankful I asked her to be on it, I’m thankful that she agreed to do it. We’ve said from the minute we heard the final mix of it that this is gonna change things for both of us.”
In the new AMC drama series, 61st Street, Courtney B. Vance stars as Franklin Roberts, a lawyer working to prevent Tosin Cole‘s character, Moses Johnson, from becoming a victim of Chicago’s infamously corrupt criminal justice system. In addition to telling the all-too-familiar story of “a Black man’s life in jeopardy at the hands of police,” Vance says he hopes the show continues the real-life conversation on police reform.
Speaking with ABC Audio on the history of police in America, Vance says, “Their job was to keep African American males in line, so that is the idea of protecting and serving.”
The series’ plot — authorities seeking revenge against Moses for the killing of an officer — falls right in line with what Vance says is the reason that police as an organization was initially created.
“Their mission in the beginning was slave captures and making sure that the Black community was kept where they’re supposed to be, because we’re quote-unquote ‘animals,'” Vance maintains.
While there are many aspects to the reform conversation, Vance says one of the most important factors to examine is that of police training.
“What is the unspoken rule and what is the unspoken training when it comes to people of color?” he says. “No one really wants to talk about the training, when they confront an African American young man as opposed to a white young man.”
Vance then points out, “We all know what the training is [when police confront a Black man,] because we see the results of it, that the gun…clip is empty. Not one bullet…15.”
Regarding his own interest in affecting positive change, Vance says, “I believe that humans are bigger and more important than any system. Because the system is made up of us.”
Envy of None, the new band featuring Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson, released its self-titled debut album earlier this month.
The band, which also features bassist Andy Curran of the veteran Canadian rock group Coney Hatch, guitarist/keyboardist Alfio Annibalini and singer-songwriter Maiah Wynne, mostly recorded the album remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has yet to play any concerts.
Curran tells ABC Audio that while he and Lifeson are “not in any rush to get out and start touring in a huge way,” they’re not ruling out doing some performances.
“I think we’re…excited to see where this thing might end up,” Andy says about the Envy of None album, “and if people are excited and if it’s like lightning in a bottle, I think we’d be open to doing…a handful of special shows.”
Curran also notes with a laugh that during a recent interview, Wynne, who at age 25 is far younger than her Envy of None band mates, revealed that her mother “was really hoping that we could play on Jimmy Kimmel [Live!]”
Adds Andy, “So if Jimmy Kimmel reaches out, maybe you’ll see Envy of None on [his show]. But I think it’s kind of like a ‘we’ll see.’ We’re certainly just being open-minded about it at this point.”
Up to now, the members of Envy of None have been promoting the album with select interviews and a few music videos.
On Monday, the band premiered its latest video, for the song “Never Said I Love You.” The clip, which you can watch now at the Kscope label’s official YouTube channel, features footage of a professional dancer named Sapphire Sumpter dancing expressively down the hallway and around a room of a high-rise hotel.
Peacock’s original comedy, Killing It, stars Craig Robinson as an underdog pursuing the American Dream, facing relatable — yet absurd — obstacles in order to make it big.
This hilarious new series highlights the insanity of today’s get-rich-or-die-trying culture, and is brought to you by the duo who produced The Office and Brooklyn Nine Nine. Of course, chasing after a dream often times comes with a few “no’s,” something Robinson tells ABC Audio he can relate to.
“That’s the beautiful part about being told “no” as an actor,” he says. “Like there are some projects where if I had gotten a yes, I wouldn’t have been on The Office. You know what I mean? So it’s like, no’s aren’t always bad. You just gotta be able to keep going.”
In Killing It, Robinson says his character is “relentless in his quest to achieve that American dream.”
“He’s figured out what he wants, he’s trying different things, and now there’s one thing separating him and that Saw Palmetto farm he wants to get. Well there’s a lot of things, a lot of snakes,” he explains.
Speaking of snakes, a lot of people fear the reptiles, including Robinson, that is up until six years ago.
“I got over my fear of snakes because I was in Australia and I went to an animal sanctuary and I ended up holding a snake,” he shares. “Snake felt amazing. I held another one. That one felt amazing. I realized snakes mean me no harm.”
“We’ve been lied to by the Bible and Indiana Jones. So once I got this offer, I was like, yeah, I’m down! I ain’t worried about it. Let’s do it,” he adds.
