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Sunday, March 9, 2025

Trans activists storm NYC schools meeting to protest support of female athletes

 A mob of trans rights activists are repeatedly hijacking community education council meetings in Manhattan — and even danced the “Macarena” last week to disrupt a meeting and protest those opposed to boys playing girls’ sports.

The group of about 100 demonstrators descended on the monthly meeting of the Community Education Council for District , interrupting, heckling and blowing bubbles throughout, with one person rushing the stage and plopping down at the members’ dais.

When attendee Jo Vitale spoke on behalf of female athletes during the public comment portion of the meeting, the group stood up and silently — and awkwardly — danced the “Macarena,” many out of step with the ’90s dance hit.

Trans rights advocates have been disrupting Community Education Council meetings in Manhattan’s District 2 for the past year.X/Zingley2

“I am here to speak up for the female athletes who are intimidated by this nonsense that is occurring behind me, all the dancing and the buffoonery,” Vitale said as the dancers, many of whom were masked, danced slow-motion in silence.

“I’m speaking up for the female athletes who do not want to have biological males competing with them,” Vitale told the board, which covers the Upper East Side and much of Midtown.

The group has been protesting at nearly every CEC 2 meeting for the last year, ever since the advisory board passed Resolution 248 calling for the city Department of Education to review its policy that allows students to play on teams according to the gender they identify with.

Activists protested by dancing while a woman spoke about men playing women’s sports during the public comment.YouTube/CEC District 2

The demonstrations have gotten increasingly disruptive, with the trans activists, most of whom do not have kids in District 2 public schools, rallying beforehand and bringing doughnuts.

One of the main organizers is trans teacher Alaina Daniels, who runs an after school program for LGBTQ+ kids called Trans Formative Schools, and is trying to open a “trans middle school,” according to her website.

The group held a “strategy and tactics briefing” last week and then urged supporters to attend the CEC 2 meeting. “Wear pink, blue, and/or white!” it said in an Instagram post, referring to the colors of the trans flag.

“Your physical presence makes the biggest impact,” it added.

Videos shared to social media show trans rights activists dancing in protest of a woman who spoke on behalf of female athletes.X/queens_parents

CEC members have complained that the council barely gets to address important issues like academics and drops in enrollment.

“I appreciate their advocacy, but it’s completely misplaced,” CEC 2 Vice President Leonard Silverman told The Post.

Silverman said the controversial resolution isn’t going to be repealed, and noted that the DOE, which has stood by its policy, already said no review will be conducted.

Alaina Daniels, co-founder of Trans Formative Schools, spoke at a CEC 2 meeting in March 2024.William C Lopez/New York Post
“But they still keep on showing up, and it’s really disruptive because it’s discouraged other parents from talking about other educational issues,” Silverman said.

Many of last week’s attendees spoke in favor of two resolutions that were set to be voted on at the meeting, one countering Resolution 248 and supporting the DOE’s current sports policy, and another in opposition of President Trump’s executive order aiming to end “radical indoctrination in K-12 schools.”

Votes on the resolutions were postponed because the group lost quorum.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/09/us-news/trans-activists-storm-nyc-schools-meeting-dance-macarena-to-protest-support-of-female-athletes/

Tesla Model Y Was The World's Best-Selling Car In 2024

 In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu ranks the world’s best-selling cars from 2024 using data compiled by Statista

Will Tesla Retain the Crown in 2025?

With Tesla sales sputtering in the early days of 2025, it’s possible that the once untouchable EV maker could start to fall down the rankings.

We can see in this graphic that Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker by sales, has two models close behind the Model Y.

To stay competitive, Tesla recently revealed its long-awaited Model Y refresh codenamed ‘Juniper’. With a fresh exterior design and new interior, Juniper could also help Tesla stay on pace with China’s fast-growing BYD.

BYD’s Global Expansion

Coming in at #9 is the BYD Song, a series of compact crossover SUVs sold in gasoline, plug-in hybrid, and pure EV configurations.

The model is exported to European markets as the BYD Seal U, and in Southeast Asian and Oceania as the BYD Sealion 6.

While the bulk of BYD’s sales come from its home market, China, the brand is making impressive progress in other countries. In Australia, the Sealion 6 became the country’s top-selling plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in 2024.

As of March 5, 2025, BYD shares (ADR) are up 34% YTD, while Tesla shares have fallen by -31%. Despite the drop, Tesla remains the world’s most valuable automaker with a valuation of $898B, down from its December 2024 peak of $1.4T.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tesla-model-y-was-worlds-best-selling-car-2024

Musk says Starlink would never turn off its terminals in Ukraine

 Elon Musk said in an X post on Sunday that no matter how much he disagreed on Ukraine policy, Starlink would never turn off its terminals.


"We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip," Musk said.

US authorities arrest Palestinian student protester at Columbia University, students say

 A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University’s student encampment movement was arrested Saturday night by federal immigration authorities who claimed they were acting on a State Department order to revoke his green card, according to his attorney.

Mahmoud Khalil was at his university-owned apartment blocks from Columbia's Manhattan campus Saturday evening when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the building and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.

One of the agents told Greer by phone that they were executing a State Department order to revoke Khalil’s student visa. Informed by the attorney that Khalil, who graduated in December, was in the United States as a permanent resident with a green card, the agent said they were revoking that too, according to the lawyer. The arrest comes as President Donald Trump has vowed to deport foreign students and imprison “agitators” involved in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. The administration has placed particular scrutiny on Columbia, announcing Friday that it would be cutting $400 million in grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus.

The authorities declined to tell Khalil's wife, who is eight months pregnant, why he was being detained, Greer said. Khalil has since been transferred to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

“We have not been able to get any more details about why he is being detained,” Greer told The AP. “This is a clear escalation. The administration is following through on its threats.”

A spokesperson for Columbia said law enforcement agents must produce a warrant before entering university property. The spokesperson declined to say if the school had received a warrant for Khalil’s arrest.

Messages seeking comment were left with the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.

Khalil had become one of the most visible faces of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia. As Columbia students erected tents on campus last spring, Khalil was picked to serve as a negotiator on behalf of students and met frequently with university administrators.

When classes resumed in September, he told The Associated Press that the protests would continue: “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from Israeli apartheid, the students will continue to resist.”

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-york/articles/2025-03-09/ice-arrests-palestinian-activist-who-helped-lead-columbia-university-protests-his-lawyer-says

Secret Service shoots armed Indiana man a block away from White House

 The US Secret Service shot an armed Indiana man a block away from the White House Sunday morning after the agency was alerted of the “suicidal individual” by local police, the agency said.

“Secret Service personnel were involved in a shooting following an armed encounter with a person of interest shortly after midnight on March 9 at 17th and G Streets NW,” Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi confirmed on X.

Federal agents spotted the man’s car parked near the intersection of 17th and F Street near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, one block west of the West Wing of the White House.

A US Secret Service vehicle sits in front of the White House on Jan. 10, 2023.
A US Secret Service vehicle sits in front of the White House on Jan. 10, 2023.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The unidentified man had walked north toward the famed Pennsylvania Avenue, where he was met by Secret Service Agents just after midnight,

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An “armed confrontation” took place when the man pulled out a firearm.

Secret Service agents fired shots at the man, who was taken to a local hospital in an unknown condition, the agency revealed.

No Secret Service members were injured, the agency said.

President Donald Trump was staying in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago resort at the time of the shooting.

The man, who was reported as suicidal, is believed to have traveled from Indiana to the nation’s capitol Saturday, leading local police to notify the Secret Service.

It was not clear if or what his motives were.

DC Metropolitan Police’s Internal Affairs Division is leading the investigation into the shooting.

During Trump’s first term, a man was shot by the Secret Service in August 2020 while the president was giving a press briefing inside the West Wing.

The 51-year-old suspect fired shots towards the White House before “running aggressively” towards agents who shot the gunman in the torso.

Trump was temporarily removed from the White House press briefing room but later returned.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/09/us-news/secret-service-shoots-armed-indiana-man-near-white-house/