The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Episode (12/07/2023):

3:05pm- On Tuesday, Harvard University President Claudine Gay testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee. During one noteworthy exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Gay refused to say anti-Semitic speech was violative of the school’s code of conduct—arguing that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech. In 2020, Rep. Stefanik was appointed to a Senior Advisory position with the Harvard Institute of Politics—however, because she was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2020 election, the student body protested the appointment and Harvard ultimately fired her. So, the notion that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech is flawed—they seem to only support speech provided it gels with the popular progressive opinions of the moment.

3:30pm- During Tuesday’s House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill was asked if calls for Jewish genocide on campus would violate the school’s code of conduct. She responded: “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.” Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) noted, “conduct meaning committing the act of genocide?” According to CNN, the University of Pennsylvania board of trustees held an emergency meeting on Thursday to address Magill’s disastrous testimony. You can read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/business/penn-emergency-meeting-liz-magill/index.html

3:35pm- On Thursday, Donald Trump spoke with reporters as he left a New York City court—calling out New York Attorney General Letitia James for being politically motivated and orchestrating a “witch hunt.” AG James alleges that former president Trump inflated the value of assets controlled by the Trump Organization in financial statements. If Donald Trump loses the case, he could be fined up to $250 million and be prohibited from doing business in New York moving forward. Notably, in 2018, while campaigning to become Attorney General, James vowed to “sue” Trump—providing evidence to the defense’s argument that this civil suit is entirely political.

3:40pm- While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, comedian Bill Burr said that by prosecuting former President Donald Trump “idiot liberals” have turned him into a “martyr.”

4:05pm- On Wednesday night, the Republican Party held its fourth Presidential Primary debate—featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. During one notable exchange, Ramaswamy attacked Haley on her foreign policy positions explaining, “you can put lipstick on a Dick Cheney, it’s still a fascist neocon.”

4:20pm- While appearing on CBS News, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that she believes the government should avoid interceding in gender reassignment procedures for children. Should the government protect children against irreversible procedures even in the event the child’s parent endorses the decision? During Wednesday night’s Republican Presidential Primary debate Gov. Ron DeSantis attacked Haley for her response—exclaiming that the government should be protecting children from what ostensibly amounts to a form of child abuse.

4:30pm- During last night’s debate, moderator Megyn Kelly hilariously asked Chris Christie why he remains in the presidential race when he seemingly has no pathway to victory according to all polling.

4:45pm- Following Wednesday’s Republican Presidential Debate, an NBC News Meet the Press special featured a group of voters in Atlanta—18 of the 27 voters said they believed Donald Trump won the debate despite not even participating.

4:50- Could Chris Christie be on the verge of endorsing Nikki Haley for president?

5:05pm- Christopher Tremoglie of The Washington Examiner writes: “It is 2023, and the phrase ‘Christmas tree’ is still too offensive and triggering for the Democrats in Philadelphia’s government. While we live in an era with Democratic political leaders expressing a cultlike devotion and rampant commitment to ‘inclusion,’ the left-wing government officials who control the city purposely excluded the name Christmas from its annual tree lighting ceremony last week. Instead, the city referred to it as a ‘holiday tree’ in press releases and advertising that promoted the event. But there’s no such thing as a ‘holiday tree.’” You can read the full article here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/philadelphia-refuses-christmas-tree-annual-lighting-ceremony

5:10pm- Raphael Satter of Reuter writes: “Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications…In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet's Google and Apple. Although details were sparse, the letter lays out yet another path by which governments can track smartphones. Apps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates…What users often do not realize is that almost all such notifications travel over Google and Apple's servers…That gives the two companies unique insight into the traffic flowing from those apps to their users, and in turn puts them ‘in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps,’ Wyden said.” You can read the full article here: https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/governments-spying-apple-google-users-through-push-notifications-us-senator-2023-12-06/

5:20pm- The Daily Wire’s new movie, “Lady Ballers,” which is streaming exclusively on their website, is now the number one streamed film in America according to Rotten Tomatoes. The Daily Wire co-founder, and star of the film, Jeremy Boreing explained that theaters won’t touch the film because it pokes fun at biological males competing in women’s sports.

5:20pm- Last week, George Santos became the sixth congressman in U.S. history to be expelled from the House of Representatives. The House voted 311 to 114 in favor of removing him following numerous allegations of lying about his background and a 23-count indictment that includes allegations he “repeatedly, without authorization” charged donor credit cards—depositing funds into his own bank account. Though, he has not yet been found guilty of any crimes. Meanwhile, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) remains a member of the House of Representatives despite pleading guilty to pulling a fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building just prior to the House holding its vote on a stopgap spending measure to avoid a government shutdown.

5:40pm- On Tuesday, Harvard University President Claudine Gay testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee. During one noteworthy exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Gay refused to say anti-Semitic speech was violative of the school’s code of conduct—arguing that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech. In 2020, Rep. Stefanik was appointed to a Senior Advisory position with the Harvard Institute of Politics—however, because she was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2020 election, the student body protested the appointment and Harvard ultimately fired her. So, the notion that Harvard is an ardent supporter of free speech is flawed—they seem to only support speech provided it gels with the popular progressive opinions of the moment.

6:05pm- In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Heather McDonald writes, “Tuesday’s House hearing on campus antisemitism ratcheted up the pressure on American universities: counter the anti-Israel vitriol that exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack or risk losing philanthropic and government support. The leading approach is sure to fail: doubling down on the ideologies and practices that led to the pro-Hamas fever in the first place… The real issue on campuses isn’t antisemitism but the anti-Western ethos that has colonized large swaths of the curriculum. Elite schools once disdained Jews because they were seen as outsiders to Western civilization. Now they are reviled as that civilization’s very embodiment. Students explain that their hatreds come from what they learn in class—that the West is built on white supremacism and oppression. Israel is cast as the Western settler-colonialist oppressor par excellence.” You can read the full editorial here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/dei-drives-campus-antisemitism-harvard-ivy-ackman-israel-bds-b19ebd12?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

6:15pm- During Tuesday’s House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill was asked if calls for Jewish genocide on campus would violate the school’s code of conduct. She responded: “If the speech becomes conduct, it can be harassment.” Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) noted, “conduct meaning committing the act of genocide?” According to CNN, the University of Pennsylvania board of trustees held an emergency meeting on Thursday to address Magill’s disastrous testimony. You can read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/business/penn-emergency-meeting-liz-magill/index.html

6:40pm- While appearing on Tucker Carlson’s X show, independent journalist Michael Shellenberger said that climate activists who oppose natural gas are “anti-human” because they inadvertently increase the price of energy and force poor people across the globe to burn fuel sources that actually produce greater amounts of carbon emissions.