PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at grisar@forward.com and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Did Trump pay a Jewish kid to take his SATs for him?
In her forthcoming book, Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump vivisects the current resident of the White House, documenting a family legacy of emotional abuse and special treatment that made him the man he is today. But according to Trump, a clinical psychologist, not all of the president’s advantages fell under the family’s escutcheon; the young…
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Fast Forward Stephen Miller’s wife was sent to the border to help her find compassion. It didn’t work, she said.
A new book claims that Katie Miller, Mike Pence’s press secretary and the wife of Stephen Miller, felt no compassion for the migrant families separated at the border. “My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids I’ll think about family separation differently,” Miller (then going by her maiden name, Waldman) is quoted…
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Culture Why the Ayn Rand Institute getting a federal handout is the Rand-iest thing ever
What does Ayn Rand do when a global pandemic strikes? Does she use the impressive torque of her sterling bootstraps to vault over adversity? Does she seize the moment of a supine economy to make her own happiness and fortune — likely with locomotives — at the expense of all others? We’ll never know. Though…
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Culture NBC’s Jacob Soboroff on the ongoing crisis of family separation
Jacob Soboroff was among the first American civilians to witness what family separation looked like. By the time the NBC and MSNBC correspondent arrived at the Casa Padre center in Brownsville, Tex. in June 2018, the policy had already affected thousands of migrants. “Going to a former Walmart that’s 250,000 square feet and seeing 1,500…
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Culture What Trump’s “Garden of American Heroes” says about his America — and the way other countries handle their history
Standing before the graven images of four American presidents on Friday July 3, Donald Trump announced the establishment of a “National Garden of American Heroes,” an offer of further idolatry that left historians puzzled by its strange assortment of figures. At first glance, the American icons pegged for statuary treatment in the executive order declaring…
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Culture A look back at Beavis and Butt-Head’s best music video commentaries
Beavis and Butt-Head, those eternally immature adolescents, are returning right when we need them most — this time on Comedy Central. It’s good news, but this fan counts himself hesitant. The reboot is said to be a re-imagining of the franchise, and I’m comfortable knowing show creator Mike Judge is behind the project. But I…
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Culture Did the Trump campaign really slap a Nazi eagle on a t-shirt?
As wrongheaded as they were in vying to keep the U.S. out of World War II, the America First Committee took great pains to avoid fetishizing fascism. While the group certainly attracted its share of anti-Semites and German American Bundists, its trick was to appear as American as apple pie when courting isolationists. That meant…
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Culture What to read before you stream the ‘Hamilton’ movie
On Independence Day Eve, almost anyone can get a front row seat to “Hamilton.” It’s truly an American dream. The filmed performance of the cultural juggernaut about the inaugural secretary of the Treasury will arrive on the Disney+ streaming service July 3, a year before its intended theatrical release. To celebrate the occasion of this…
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Opinion I’m a Jew of color. Ta-Nehisi Coates can’t apply US lessons to Israel.
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Culture Columbus may have had Jewish heritage — that doesn’t mean he was Jewish
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Sports 5 Jewish things about the Mets — and why Jewish fans adore them
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Culture New conspiracy theory just dropped — Jews are causing the hurricanes
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Fast Forward Miriam Adelson donates $100M to Trump campaign, making good on reported promise
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Fast Forward Shai Davidai, outspoken Israeli Columbia professor, barred from campus
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Opinion A Jewish and former Democratic congressman’s case for electing Donald Trump in 2024
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Opinion Building a sukkah doesn’t make sense this year in Asheville. But we can see the stars already.
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