Illegal Aliens. Illegal Aliens. Illegal Aliens. Illegal....

In something which could have been posted by the satirical and conservative Babylon Bee, Carolina Journal reported 3-4 weeks ago that a

16-year-old student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina was suspended for three days last week after using the term ‘illegal alien’ during a vocabulary assignment in his English class. 

Leah McGhee’s son has a teacher who assigned vocabulary words during class last Tuesday, including the word ‘alien.’ McGhee says her son made an effort to understand the assignment and responded to his teacher, asking, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?

This kid is smart. Whenever hearing "illegal aliens," I  think of those skinny, gray guys with big eyes, small noses, and birth certificates from another solar system. It was, thus, a question even wiser than the student probably believed it was. The Carolina Journal continued

According to an email describing the incident, sent to local officials and shared with Carolina Journal, a young man in class took offense to his question and reportedly threatened to fight him, prompting the teacher to call in the assistant principal. Ultimately, his words were deemed by administrative staff to be offensive and disrespectful to classmates who are Hispanic.

So according to those local officials himself, a student (now identified as Christian McGhee) said something another student believed (erroneously) was offensive, was threatened with being beaten up, and, oh yea, it was the student who could have been pulverized who is at fault. The "administrative staff," born yesterday, must be too young to remember when bullying was considered a bad thing. Continuing:

“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” said the student in response to his suspension. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term “illegal alien” is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”

However, though he finds the phrase in the news and the dictionary, at least it doesn't in on official documents. Oops:

8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien

(a) ".... Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States (improperly)..."

(b) Any alien who is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at (an undesignated place)"....

Just a guess: lawmakers were not referring to little green men, sometimes referred to as "greys," when they composed the U.S. Code.

Filling out the story

In addition to the three-day suspension, his record could be damaged as he aims to secure an athletic scholarship for college. He is actively involved in school clubs, track, and cross country.

“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,’” wrote his mother in the email. “He is devastated and concerned that the racism label on his school record will harm his future goal of receiving a track scholarship. We are concerned that he will fall behind in his classes due to being absent for three consecutive days.”

Leah said the assistant principal has so far refused to remove the infraction from her son’s record. The family is working with an attorney to remedy the situation so it doesn’t harm his future, and they expect more developments in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, State Senator Steve Jarvis, R-Davidson, said he contacted the school district’s superintendent to make him aware of the situation. Jarvis told the Carolina Journal that while he informed top officials of the issue and urged officials to look for the best outcome, he did not take a stance on what they should do because he wasn’t there to understand all sides of the story. 

“I do not see that that would be an offensive statement, just in getting clarification,” said Jarvis. “But there again, I don’t know. I don’t know the situation of this particular incident.”

An official at Davidson County Schools said the district could not provide details on a student matter. The student handbook says that “schools may place restrictions on a student’s right to free speech when the speech is obscene, abusive, promoting illegal drug use, or is reasonably expected to cause a substantial disruption to the school day.”

This case involves speech codes, but also immigration. In April of 2019, before conditions at the border and at the workplace had deteriorated to such a disturbing degree, David Frum recognized

Without immigration restrictions, there are no national borders. Without national borders, there are no nation-states. Without nation-states, there are no electorates. Without electorates, there is no democracy. If liberals insist that only fascists will enforce borders, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals refuse to do.

The parallel would be that if liberals insist on policing speech in schools, then conservatives who want the public sector to wither to "the size where we can drown it in the bathtub"  (except, of course, when it comes to policing the uterus). will be invigorated. And so

State legislators have propelled school choice forward in North Carolina to give parents and students alternative education options. More than 72,000 applications flooded the Opportunity Scholarship program this February in record-breaking demand, and additional funds will likely expand the program’s budget due to the surging demand. 

School choice, fundamentally a handout to the wealthy at the expense of the working class and the poor, is a terrible idea. Yet it gains steam, especially where an unforced error of enforcing extreme wokeism blinds administrators and some officials to common sense.

 

Share |

Two Presidents at Once

How does a politician say "Donald Trump is the duly elected President of the United States of America" without saying "Donald Trump is the duly elected President of the United States of America?"

He (or she) appears on cable news and reinforces the idea that a soon-to-be major party presidential nominee who lost the previous presidential election is still and currently President of the United States of America. It is done by referring to "President Trump."

North Carolina governor Doug Burgum, reputed to be on Mr. Trump's short list for Vice President, knows how. On CNN's State of the Union, Jake Tapper asked Burgum about Trump referring to President Biden as "running a Gestapo Administration." Burgum replied in part "It might actually in some ways help President Trump because it reinforces the idea that the Biden administration is willing to use lawfare to try to attack a political opponent."

"Help(ing) President Trump" is a reference to Trump's campaign, though at other points Burgum did use "President Trump" correctly, when he was referring to Trump's record as President. Burgum's effort to elevate Trump to the presidency in the minds of voters was significantly aided by the interviewer.  Upon asking a question, Tapper noted "According to polling, a plurality of the American people think that President Trump did commit a crime when it comes to this case. And if you add in those who think it was unethical, but not illegal, it's a vast majority."

Inarguably, Trump while a candidate in 2016 paid money to Stephanie Clifford/Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about a sexual liaison. Arguably, he did so in order not to hinder his opportunity to be elected. He was not President Trump. A moment later, Tapper asked the North Carolina governor "So, just quickly, if you could, if President Trump asks you to serve as his vice president, will you say yes?"

No, Jake, the candidate wouldn't wait till after he became "President Trump" to offer the position to Burgum. It would be before he became President, while he was still a candidate and there was a President Biden. 

On Sunday's Meet the Press, another individual- Tim Scott- hoping to be tapped by Donald Trump, stated "I hope that the President will choose a person who helps the country unite and heal. I certainly expect to have a decision from President Trump in the next 60 days or so."

It's going to be difficult for "President Trump" to select anyone while Joseph Robinette Biden is in the White House. 

The South Carolina senator was asked by host Kristin Welker "You of course did vote to certify the 2020 election result and you've said, quote, 'It was not stolen.' Why would you join a ticket with someone who believes the exact opposite on this critical point?" Scott replied "well, I think we have to listen to what President Trump said and not what the reporters said that he actually said." Pressed on the point, Scott responded "Thee is clear facts here. President Trump himself said he expects this election to be fair, he expects it to be honest and he expects to win."

He added "I look forward to President Trump being the 47th president and Kristen, you can ask multiple times...." (It would have been more entertaining for Scott to state "I look forward to President Trump being President Trump"- same thing.)  

Also: "at the end of the day- so the American people, the American people will make the decision. And the decision will be..... for President Trump. That's clear;" "and I believe that President Trump will be our next president;" "I expect President Trump to win the next election and listen, I'm not going to answer your hypothetical question when in fact I believe...."; and "but there's no question that President Trump has been very clear that he wants to (sic) issue (i.e., abortion) left to the states, with three exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

  "

What Tim Scott wants to make clear is that he can say "President Trump" more than anyone alive. But as with Doug Burgum, it was a low-hanging fruit with the host. One of Scott's mentions was prompted by the host herself asking "What about President Trump's VP? Did it come up at all?" And Jake Tapper stated to Burgum "According to polling, a plurality of the American people think that President Trump did commit a crime when it comes to this case..."

The North Carolina governor was outdone on the "President Trump" lie by the South Carolina senator. However, Burgum gets an extra point for his "what affects them is Joe Biden's policies, the inflation that's taken 30 percent of their savings, come like a thief in the night."  Biblically literate Christians will recognize this reference from the Thessalonians 5:2, in which the Apostle Paul stated "for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night."  And the concept is featured in the 24th chapter of Matthew. Unlike Tim Scott, Doug Burgum is a polished politician.

While Jake Tapper, Kristen Welker, and most journalists would prefer that Trump not return to the White House, they enable the GOP to frame the election largely as it wishes. Whenever a Republican politician or pundit refers to Donald Trump in his post-presidency as "President Trump," the propagandist should be reminded that it is "former President Trump." 

Dean Baker may be excessively sensitized to Machiavellian when he tweets "if we had a serious press, the stories would be about ow the party of "Jews will not replace us' is pretending to care about antisemitism. But we know the people who own and control the media will pay lower taxes with Donald Trump back in the White House."  Whether the motive is economic, as economist Baker believes it is, or it's merely a case of ineptitude, it is a case of bad journalism.

Share |

The Call is Coming From Inside the House

Neither Will Bunch nor I can know, with information currently available, whether the thrust of the officers' argument is accurate- but someone should find out.

Even if this were true (spoiler alert: it's not) how on earth would this be the business of the police? https://t.co/G27mlAAmdb

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) May 4, 2024

The fellow who evidently is Deputy Commissioner of Operations of the New York Police Department here maintains

I believe about 99% are students and Chief Sheldon talked about some of the literature and leaflets we found at both of these sites, one being here at The New School and one being at NYU. I just want to say- and I said it before- that there's somebody behind this movement. There is some organization behind this movement. The level of organization that we're seeing in both of these- campus here and at Columbia- leaflets on how to protest; leaflet on how to commit civil disobedience; leaflets on what to do when you get arrested; leaflet on what to say to police when they ask you. There is somebody funding this. There is somebody radicalizing our students and our Deputy Commissioner of Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence will find out who it is. And we're going to be asking some questions when we do.

His colleague (Chief Sheldon?) adds

So this is a piece of literature amongst many we recovered from NYU and this is one of many as I said. But I just want to read this here. It says "Occupy the occupiers. Enter the temporary autonomous zone from New York to Gaza from across Turtle Island. Disrupt, reclaim, destroy Zionist business interests everywhere. Death to Israel real estate. Death to America (word indistinguishable to me-MSL). Long live the Intifada!" So this is the mindset of some of these protestors.

At 2:35, the DCO of the NYPD picks it up with

And you know what- just let me add. If you go on my social media page, this is very important. I took a picture of this: lessons on attacking a school. Can you believe that? Lessons on how to take over a school- at NYU. Tell me that's not somebody radicalizing our students. What NYU student would do something like this? Somebody's behind this. (Shows reporters the purported pamphlet) "Lessons on taking over a school: 1) Out of the quad; 2) If you build, they will come; 4) Listen to the organizers; 5) Be prepared; 6) Read the pamphlets." Lessons on how to take over a school. Come on, folks. There's somebody behind this.

If Bunch is arguing that most of the protestors are homegrown, he is not contradicting anything stated by the police officer, who in a fit of exaggeration stated "I believe 99% are students." However, the source of funding is shrouded in secrecy. Moreover, reasoning that the movement is "being facilitated and fueled by foreign agents," a senior research fellow at the right-wing Heritage Foundation

also referenced how there have been "training sessions" at Columbia and elsewhere organized by Palestinian groups to help train students on the same "talking Points" that Hamas and Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly made in speeches that call for "a global intifada and the assistance of foreign allies."

However, there is fertile ground both there and at New York University for foreign influence or "outside agitators."  Drawing little attention 

Between 2014 and 2020, Muslim-majority countries together donated $4.86 billion to American higher-educational institutions, representing 29 percent of all foreign donations.

Qatar and Saudi Arabia were responsible for much of this largesse. The two countries together invested $3.7 billion in American higher education and were cumulatively responsible for 2,303 grants, gifts, and contracts, of which 422 exceeded $1 million and 17 exceeded $50 million in value. Most of the largest gifts came from Qatar to Cornell and Carnegie Mellon.

Qatar’s role is particularly troubling, since the country is often an ally to both Iran and Hamas. The country also backs other terrorist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and is home to the most important Middle Eastern media outfit, Al Jazeera. Along with Saudi Arabia, Qatar is among the largest donors to Palestinian organizations and causes.

No doubt more recent figures would indicate at least as large a stake for Arab nations of the Middle East as prevailed a few years ago. And

It’s too early to make direct connection between a school’s anti-Israel agitation and its donations from Middle Eastern countries, but the biggest recipients, such as Cornell, NYU, Georgetown, and Harvard tend to have large pro-Hamas elements. Student groups on each of those campuses have embraced the Hamas cause, most prominently at Harvard, where more than 30 student groups initially signed pro-Hamas statements, though some have since sought to dissociate themselves.

Even without the recent disruption and criminal behavior on college campuses, these "donations" were drawing dividends.  At New York University's Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies

we recognize the complex origins, histories, and legacies of the fields in which we work. The academic study in the United States of these lands has too often been inflected by bias, unquestioned assumptions of civilizational difference and inferiority, and derogatory framings that have distorted scholarly understanding and contributed to the fostering of Islamophobia and of other discriminatory and racist attitudes toward people in the Middle East, as well as those of Middle Eastern origin in the United States. Moreover, the policies which the United States has pursued in this region, through military intervention, covert action, support for oppressive regimes, and other means, have often had pernicious, even catastrophic, consequences for those on the receiving end of American power, undermining the aspirations of the region’s peoples for self-determination, human rights, democracy, and a decent life. Much work remains to be done in the fields and disciplines in which we work in order to overcome the legacies of the past, including the continuing disparities of power and wealth which affect how knowledge about the Middle East is produced and disseminated. We are therefore committed, as scholars and teachers, not only to pursuing our work in keeping with the highest academic and pedagogical standards but also to standing in solidarity with the peoples of the region we study and their ongoing struggles against authoritarian and often brutal regimes, settler colonialism, external intervention, the denial of gender, ethnic and civic equality, social justice and political freedom.

And of course, DEI:

MEIS at NYU is also dedicated to creating and promoting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community with/for its faculty, students, and staff, who come from a variety of backgrounds, current circumstances, and personal and social identities.

This "Principles & Priorities" is fairly clear on its anti-Americanism. Academic study is deeply "infected by bias" with "derogatory framings" which have "contributed to the fostering of Islamophobia... toward people in the Middle East, as well as those of Middle Eastern origin in the United States."  And the USA is guilty of polies which "through military intervention, covert action, support for oppressive regimes, and other means, have often had pernicious, even catastrophic, consequences for those on the receiving end of American power."  Further

in order to overcome the legacies (sic) of the past, including the continuing disparities of power and wealth," the department will be "standing in solidarity with the peoples of the region we study and their ongoing struggles against authoritarian and often brutal regimes, seller colonialism, external intervention, the denial of gender, ethnic and civic equality, social justice and political freedom.

That is a shot across the bow of the USA, Israel, and Europe- which is not Arabic or Persian, not Muslim- and seen in some quarters as thoroughly wicked. Poorly understood, even to experienced Philadelphia Inquirer reporters. it is a sentiment that is growing. With violence increasingly likely in the future, the violations of law which stem from the anti-Western bias must be a concern of both the federal Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence unit of the NYPD.

Most of the protestors, as the New York police officer acknowledges, are students, notwithstanding the inevitable participation of non-students. But there is a lot of money going to colleges and universities,  influencing both curricula and the selection of students and professors. In the Republican Party, there is a "Make America Great Again" movement. On many of our most influential college campuses, there is a Make the Middle East Great Again movement which threatens academic freedom and national security. And Israel need not apply

Share |

Pro-Crime Senator

We know a few things from the interview by CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, one of which is that Vance is still holding out hope that he is selected as Donald Trump's running mate.

KAITLAN COLLINS: So you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?

JD VANCE: Yes

COLLINS: Ok, I'm just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6 pic.twitter.com/nEztSPrQlC

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2024

From the video provided by CNN:

- (Kaitlan) Collins: O.K., so you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?

-(J.D.) Vance: Exactly.

Collings: O.K. I'm just checking because you did hep raise money for people who did so on January 6, which was impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building they weren't allowed to be in and vandalizing the Capitol.

-Vance: Well, Kaitlan, I know this is the obsession of the national media to talk about what happened two years ago, three years ago, on January 6.

Collins: It's not an obsession. We're just seeing if it's a double standard.

Vance: No, let me answer the question, Kaitlan. Well, loo, here's been my basic argument about January the 6th. If you beat up a cop, of course you deserve to go to prison. If you violate the law, you should accept the consequences. But there are people who protested on January the 6th who have had the complete weight of the Justice Department thrown at them when at worst they're accused or misdemeanors. Now, again, there are people who are accused of worst offenses and that's a problem but you can't have black lives matter protestors who rioted and vandalized go free when you have people who are actually peacefully protesting on January the 6th who have the book thrown at them. That's the double standard that I'm most worried about.

It's a  little late for anyone of integrity to be concerned that black lives matter protestors (allegedly) rioted and vandalized and were allowed to "go free." If he had any problem with that which he believed was common, he could have said so three years ago.... but didn't. The interview continued

Collins: Yea, I don't think there's an obsession about January 6th but it is a legitimate question and given what you've just said there and as Trump is getting closer to- you know, he's the presumptive Republican nominee, he has said he would pardon- consider a blanket pardon for everyone on January 6th. Are you saying that shouldn't happen, that people who beat up cops should be excluded from that?

Vance: Well, I think what President Trump has said and of course he can speak for himself but I pay attention, pretty close attention, to what he says and- you know, what I think the President has said is that people who have this double standard applied to them should be pardoned. And you shouldn't have a Department of Justice letting violent offenders walk scot-free and then you have a misdemeanor trespassing case from January the 6th, that person has their life ruined because of the lawfare of the Biden Administration, I think that's a totally reasonable standard for the President to apply. Hopefully, he does get re-elected. I think, frankly, there are some innocent people who got caught up in the lawfare of the Biden Administration- Donald Trump included, if we're going to be honest.

Which, of course, J.D. Vance isn't, even minimally. Leave aside that Collins allowed Vance to refer to Trump- twice- in the present tense as "the President" without correcting him. The notion that Donald Trump was legitimately elected- hence is currently the President- has been the core of the Republican message for the past three-and-a-half years and was fundamental to the insurrection on January 6, 2021.

But allowing Donald Trump to be exalted as "the President" or "President" is routine on cable news, thereby granting the ex-President an honorific he failed to earn on November 5, 2020. And otherwise, Collins skillfully exposed the Ohio senator as a hypocrite, at best.

Asked whether "people who beat up cops should be excluded" from a blanket pardon, Vance could have said the obvious: no.  He even could have followed that with a "however.....," but he didn't.

Instead, the Senator stated "what I think the President has said is that people who have this double standard applied to them should be pardoned." But Collins wasn't asked about misdemeanors. Asked if there should be a blanket pardon for everyone from 1/8/21, Vance- who had claimed that violent black lives matters protesters were condoned- emphasized that Trump is against a "double standard." The implication is clear: Vance wants all protestors from the insurrection to be pardoned.

Moreover, he tried to mislead deeply the viewers, arguing that "violent offenders walk scot-free and then you have a misdemeanor trespassing case from January the 6th, that person has their life ruined because of the lawfare of the Biden Administration." He supports "people who protested on January the 6th who have had the complete weight of the Justice Department thrown at them when at worst they're accused or misdemeanors" and implied that the ex-President was speaking only of non-violent offenders. However, on April 30, Trump

said that, if elected, he'd "absolutely" consider pardoning every single one of the hundreds of criminals convicted in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But Trump's campaign, in a statement to NBC News, said such pardons would be "on a case-by-case basis," not the sort of blanket pardon Trump referred to in a recent interview with Time magazine.

Trump told Time he was "absolutely" considering pardoning every single Capitol rioter, who he described as "J-6 patriots." That group would include Jan. 6 defendants caught on tape brandishing or using firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive "Trump" billboard, "Trump" flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device during the brutal attack that injured about 140 police officers. "If somebody was evil and bad, I would look at that differently," Trump added in his interview with Time.

Credit the campaign for being wise enough to clean up the understanding of Trump's intent so that thee is at least a little ambiguity. No promise of reasonableness, though. If "somebody was evil and bad," he might not issue a pardon, although Trump's criterion of evil and bad differs from almost any decent human being alive. And even then, he "would look at that differently," which may mean that he would turn the document with the pardon request upside-down.

If Trump makes the unlikely mistake of nominating a man as running mate, it might be either of two blacks. Former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvihill believes it might be Ben Carson or it could be Representative Byron Donalds, arguably as belligerent, nasty, and intolerant as the presidential nominee. It's not likely to be Vance, who would balance a presidential ticket only in that he wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 

The conventional wisdom is that the Ohio senator is pandering to the presumptive nominee because to do otherwise might jeopardize his political career. But there also is a significant possibility that he actually believes that if the assailant meets criteria acceptable to a conservative Republican, he should be given a pass. It may be that it took only a Donald Trump to bring out in many GOP politicians a deeply disturbing side which had merely laid dormant until a charismatic demagogue came along.

Share |

Reminiscent

Don't give MSNBC the credit, other than to allow host Joe Scarborough to bring on as he regularly does, this sober, moderate National Director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.

MSNBC is now comparing anti genocide protesters occupying Hamilton Hall with January 6

This is exactly why I told the fake Bernie left to stop pushing January 6 hysteria

It was clear they was setting a precedent that was definitely was going to be used against the left pic.twitter.com/yqQOvu6mXz

— Revolutionary Blackout Network🥋 (@SocialistMMA) April 30, 2024

Jonathan Greenblatt explains

I see these videos. I see these images of mass protestors breaking into buildings, barricading furniture, and loo, I'm reminded of January 6. That's what this looks like to me. I mean, we talk at ADL about right-wing extremists, about masked Proud Boys showing up at school board meetings, about Oath Keepers wearing masks. I look at this and this is what I see.

 

At the tent encampments and the demonstrations, most protestors are not wearing masks. However, some are, in contrast to the pro-Israel counter-protests, in which nary a mask can be found. With spring- and in some cases, summer- weather bursting out across the USA, masks have not appeared because of cold weather or the threat of Covid-19 outdoors.

In the protests which are not peaceful, much of the pro-Hamas crowd is donning masks. The individuals are not children and realize they are breaking the law, endangering the peace of the university community, and actively supporting a deadly terrorist group. Then, keeping one's identity is wise, as many of the protestors (being an insurrectionist does not preclude protesting) did on January 6, 2021.

 

Greenblatt continues

And let's be clear about one thing. The students who are doing this, the groups that are behind it, SJP, Palestine Movement, their response to the President's speech last night was Columba will burn. I mean, these students, we shouldn't treat them like children when they're hardened activists. 

It appears Greenblatt was referring to the Palestine Solidary Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine. (Such radicals once advocated a Palestinian state, a reasonable demand. Now we are to believe there already is a Palestine. Militant bigotry can blind one to his own contradictions.) And in darkness, a few hours after the 2:00 p.m. deadline set by the Harvard president for disbanding the camps had passed, demonstrators in Hamilton Hall (according to one pro-Israel student)

zip-tied the door handles together and then broke the windows, bashed the windows with hammers and put these metal bike locks around the door handles. They put the bike lock on the first set of doors is what I saw and then they were bringing tables, the heavy black metal tables from the eating area that's right in front of Hamilton Hall, and had a group of people push them up against the door handles as a barricade and then people were also bringing furniture from Hamilton Hall to barricade inside.

All in the name of peace.. Some protesting students do want a cease fire to bring about a blessed state of peace and love. However, the leaders of the the protests, and the groups they represent, yearn for destruction at home and death to Israel. 

An investigation of their funding should be undertaken by the Justice Department because of the  the danger continued chaos poses to higher education and the obvious parallel in tactics to the 1/6/21 uprising.  Violent rebellion must be confronted and resisted by law enforcement and the courts.

Share |

Also Criminal, But That's Another Issue

Cenk Uygur claims that Bill Maher is wrong that "no one likes protesters for Palestinians," except among Maher's "super-rich, warmongering crowd." However, if Uygur wants to find elitists, he need only find a mirror.

Bill Maher again bravely taking on the powerless on behalf of the cruel and powerful. He’s so bold and brave! Omg, it’s finally someone in mainstream media standing up for Israel. 😂 He says no one likes protesters for Palestinians. Yes, in your super-rich, elitist, war-mongering…

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) April 28, 2024

 

Bad news, Cenk! We "elitist" Americans (actually, YouTube) have the tape (actually, video) in which Maher stated 

Someone needs to tell the people who block traffic in the name of a cause- no one likes you.... In case you haven't seen what's going on lately, activists for ending the war in Gaza have taken to gathering on roads and bridges and stopping commuters from crossing. It happened last week in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle. They also blocked traffic here on the 405- but no one noticed.

What they did notice is this- that you have to be pretty dumb to think that the way to bring people around to your point of view is to make them want to pick up their kids from day care. And that's what most normies are thinking. I have a kid. I have a job. And yes, thee are some injustices on both sides in the Middle East just as there are injustices all over the world but I'm going to be late for work, some thing you protestors on the bridge seem to have the luxury of not having to worry about, which seems kind of privilege-y. You can glue your hands to the street because your hands don't have to do any work today.

Citing being late for work or having to pick up children at day care, Maher could have added "must get a family member to the airport, to the doctor's office or a job interview on time, or to the hospital for a life-threatening condition." 

But he made his point, though to Uygur, it's only elitists who need to get to day care. And only the super-rich, he appears to believe, need to get to work on time. 

Perhaps Uygur, as his own boss, isn't aware of the importance to some employees to arrive at a job at the time required. More likely, his hatred of Israel is blinding him to this sort of reality.  Another reality: when the general election campaign actually begins, there will be seemingly endless video of young people closing down bridges and voters won't associate the criminal behavior with Bill Maher or even the war in Gaza. 

It will be linked (unfairly) to Democrats, Joe Biden and others, and possibly to crime in the inner cities. Dramatized for maximum effect, it will be directed to those "super-rich, elitist, warmongers" who are displeased that their routine or emergency trips, and their very lives, are deemed irrelevant by the protestors who block traffic. The latter will be seen as they are: arrogant, privilege-y, and impressed by their own virtue.

  

Share |

Feelings on Campus

In "The Campus-Left Occupation that Broke Higher Education," George Packer of The Atlantic concludes

Elite universities are caught in a trap of their own making, one that has been a long time coming. They’ve trained pro-Palestinian students to believe that, on the oppressor-oppressed axis, Jews are white and therefore dominant, not “marginalized,” while Israel is a settler-colonialist state and therefore illegitimate. They’ve trained pro-Israel students to believe that unwelcome and even offensive speech makes them so unsafe that they should stay away from campus. What the universities haven’t done is train their students to talk with one another.

Well, of course not. They have failed to train their students to do so because of the current emphasis not on what is actually said or done but upon the impact of statements or actions. Packer explains

The muscle of independent thinking and open debate, the ability to earn authority that Daniel Bell described as essential to a university’s survival, has long since atrophied. So when, after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Jewish students found themselves subjected to the kind of hostile atmosphere that, if directed at any other minority group, would have brought down high-level rebukes, online cancellations, and maybe administrative punishments, they fell back on the obvious defense available under the new orthodoxy. They said that they felt “unsafe.” They accused pro-Palestinian students of anti-Semitism—sometimes fairly, sometimes not. They asked for protections that other groups already enjoyed. Who could blame them? They were doing what their leaders and teachers had instructed them was the right, the only, way to respond to a hurt.

Right-wingers could gloat that colleges, especially of the elite nature, what Reverend Jeremiah Wright (also Frederick Douglass and the Apostle Paul) have said in a different context: Whatsoever you sow, that you also shall reap. However, most of them, ironically pro-Israel (rhetorically pro-Jewish), ,have embraced the same reasoning. One of the most prominent:

Texas Governor Greg Abbott urges swift punishment after police arrested more than 20 people while dispersing an anti-Israel protest that pro-Palestinian demonstrators held at University of Texas in Austin.

“These protesters belong in jail,” Abbott writes on social media.

“Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.”

The statement from the President of the University of Texas was excellent. At least as quoted, the governor of Texas did not urge swift punishment of individuals because they broke any laws or disrupted operations of the university or of its students. He condemned them for "joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests."

It appears that Abbott's ire was invoked not because student protestors misbehaved or committed criminal offenses but because their words were hateful and bigoted. The greatest crime is not to be wrong or illegal but to be insensitive. This has been the guiding principle of much of the woke left for several years but gained energy during the black lives matter protests in the summer of 2020. A report from that time noted

A statue of Confederate soldier John B. Castleman was removed from the Cherokee Triangle neighborhood in Louisville on June 8. According to a report by the Courier-Journal, the city plans to move the statue to Cave Hill Cemetery, where Castleman is buried.

The University of Kentucky in Lexington said on June 5 that a mural, which has previously been a source of controversy on campus, will be removed. Students have protested racist images of black people and Native Americans in the mural.

The mural may have been bigoted and/or may have painted a false image of blacks and tribal peoples. Yet, that apparently was not the basis of the decision. Instead

In an email to students, the university’s president, Eli Capilouto, recalled “a conversation with one student about the mural who stopped me cold with the observation that every time he walked into a class in Memorial Hall, he was forced to reckon with the fact that his forebears were enslaved.”

The university president did not want to hurt the student's feelings, did not want him to take offense. He believed that the problem was not the mural itself. It was in the response, justified or not, to the art. 

Universities have been particularly partial to these priorities and so have been prone to punish speech more readily than behavior. And now the right, as represented by the governor of Texas, denounces protesters not for their actions but because some of their language is anti-Semitic and hateful. It makes individuals feel unsafe, apart from being unsafe, and is disagreeable and discomforting, perhaps even  painful. That should not be the primary issue but, for institutions of higher learning, what goes around, sadly comes around.

 

Share |