FEMA approves only 27% of 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant applications

Heritage's headaches over antisemitism

This Daily Kickoff explores antisemitism allegations at the Heritage Foundation, controversy surrounding NYC Mayor Mamdani, and major updates on U.S.-Iran geopolitical tensions and regional defense policies.

House lawmakers introduce bill to move Iran-backed Polisario Front towards terror designation

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) are set to introduce legislation on Friday to investigate whether the Iran-linked Polisario Front, a paramilitary group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, can be designated as a terrorist organization. The “Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act” is a companion bill to legislation introduced in... <a href="">Read More</a>

Mamdani bets he can govern without any relationship with traditional Jewish leaders

The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a... <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2026/07/mamdani-jews-judiciary-panel-new-york-not-deliberate/">Read More</a>

Senate Republicans say more defense money needed in House-passed reconciliation bill

Senate Republicans said this week that a House-passed budget reconciliation bill does not contain enough defense-related funding and that they want to significantly increase it, setting up a clash between GOP lawmakers in the two chambers. The bill passed by House Republicans includes $73 billion in defense-related funding, designed to largely cover the administration’s $87.6... <a href="">Read More</a>

Heritage Foundation under fire over new allegations of antisemitic culture

Nine months after the Heritage Foundation came under fire for defending Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with a neo-Nazi, the conservative think tank is facing fresh scrutiny over accusations that it has enabled an extreme culture in which new hires feel free to question the Holocaust and to engage in historically revisionist debates about World War... <a href="">Read More</a>