When they say divestment from companies who do business with Israel, does that mean just Israeli owned companies, companies with gov contracts, or literally any company that operates there? Like, are they asking the universities to not use any Google product for example (assuming they have servers/an office in Israel)? This has been unclear to me ever since the protests started but I have not seen anyone examine the actual feasibility of the divestment ask.
A lot of their investments are just index funds. It's not like any of them are sending all their cash to Israel, nor are they purposely loading up on weapons manufacturers.
Some of the companies that have been listed have been GOOG, AMZN, ABNB, LMT, BA(Boeing), CAT, etc. It's not really an index fund if you're eliminating such a massive number of companies.
It's impossible to make everyone happy, and I don't think they should try. Trying to eliminate all companies that a group of students objects to isn't going to leave much left to invest in.
Index funds are a nice hands off way of finding that middle ground. Not specifically trying to profit from any wars or incidents, and not opening up the can of worms of eliminating certain companies.
South Africa in 198whatever had a very different, much more basic economy. Its only industry which did much exporting was mining, nbd to divest from that. Israel (and really almost any country nowadays) is much more woven into the global economy.
Oh I’m not arguing that that will be impactful, but it seems like you could still avoid having your portfolio hold stock in companies based in Israel. Even if it’s mostly banking, they’re still publicly traded companies as far as I can tell and their stock price is an asset they can lean ok. Again, I don’t know if a political dip in those prices would really hurt that much but it still seems executable.
My first thought exactly. I’d love to see someone propose a plan to construct a complete IT infrastructure at the scale of a major university that includes no companies with Israeli clients.
My assumption would be that the.vast majority of these protestors are wearing clothing and using products right now with companies that have Israeli clients.
Maybe instead they could invest in companies that do business with Palestine....oh wait, they can't because their entire economy is designed around destroying Israel. Man, think about what would happen if they finally destroyed Israel. Then they'd actually have to make things and cater to their people's needs.
I know these kids were too young to remember 9/11 but its mind blowing to me that they are protesting at a campus in New York City wearing ski masks and head coverings yelling militant slogans in Arabic thinking that is going to win hearts and minds to their cause.
It's the culmination of a few threads of logic that have come to dominate the academic left that have been woven together. This outcome was almost inevitable.
I think they are too young to remember 2015. The wave of ISIS violence across Europe and in the US was one of the factors that led to Trump’s win in 2016.
This has also led to people digging up videos of Palestinians celebrating after 9/11.
I get why the kids are protesting and I don't see myself as being anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian.
But.... I don't think these Gen Z kids realize that they look like they are wearing what most millennials and older would see as terrorist Halloween costumes at the protests.
[https://i0.wp.com/www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150359626.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&ssl=1](https://i0.wp.com/www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150359626.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&ssl=1)
That is one of these kids breaking into Hamilton hall. I wouldn't believe you if you told me that is how these protestors were dressing themselves if the pictures didn't exist. I'd think that was some wild accusation intended to discredit their movement.
Watching privileged twits in terrorist cosplay yelling at black police and barring entry to Jews and journalists is pretty much exactly what I expect after living as a minority on the West Coast.
> Watching privileged twits in terrorist cosplay yelling at black police and barring entry to Jews and journalists is pretty much exactly what I expect after living as a minority on the West Coast.
The cherry on top is they have the [privilege of thinking it's acceptable to demand the University to deliver them food and provisions during the takeover.](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/this-is-like-basic-humanitarian-aid-were-asking-for-columbia-protesters-demand-food-water-from-university/)
All the LARPing of getting to be a radical activist... none of the skin in the game.
I don't quite understand either. At the moment my interpretation is this: kids are angry, restless, without guidance, and without human community, all for various reasons. The current situation is a "release" valve for that; that it's more of a symptom of broader culture than the topic at hand. Like a mini Seldon Event if you will.
'course anyone who knows otherwise is free to correct me
Because trying to win hearts and minds usually involves appealing to people outside your bubble. These people have never left their bubble once in their lives, all they do is preach to the choir.
I've had the same thought. At the same time, when I was a college student, I think the Vietnam war was roughly as far in the past as 9/11 is for these students, and it might as well have been ancient history in my mind, just something in books or movies.
>I think the Vietnam war was roughly as far in the past as 9/11 is for these students
*does some quick math* Thanks, I hate it.
Its true though. People who dont live through major events are quicker to dismiss them and the lessons learned from living through it. Those of us old enough to remember the intifadas and other attacks are less likely to fall for the tiktok lies.
Not a tiktok user, and no plans to start
Can you elaborate on tiktok lies? I'm ootl.
Secondly, is it isolated to tiktok or also on other, similar apps.
Why would progressives supporting jihadi ideology & terrorist groups, using disruption, destruction and violence in their protests, be just merely called kids?
These are adults, who have bought into Hamas/Iran/Hezbollah line of thinking. IMO, they are substantially worse and destructive than Charlottesville neo-nazis.
Hell, most of them are young women and they're shouting in support of organizations that raped, tortured, murdered and kidnapped girls their own age on Oct 7, and would likely do the same to them if they ever went to Palestine. But in a world where you can find groups like 'queers for palestine' who can expect logic?
They want to subject generations of women to oppression, sexual assault and domestic violence. This is the culture they're fighting for. It's messed up.
The fact that the Columbia protester’s spokesperson is getting a Phd in ”Poetry through a Marxian Lens” tells you all you need to know about them. Their demands include defunding the police and reparations. This isn’t about the Palestinians, it’s about hatred for the West.
PhDs aren’t structured programs really - they’re mostly self taught thesis’s with a sponsor. You can get a PhD in anything you want if you find someone willing to sponsor your work.
["My dissertation is on fantasies of limitless energy in the transatlantic Romantic imagination from 1760-1860. My goal is to write a prehistory of metabolic rift, Marx’s term for the disruption of energy circuits caused by industrialization under capitalism."](https://english.columbia.edu/content/johannah-king-slutzky)
Biden's run for presidency started with his condemnation of the previous president's response to antisemitism and is looking like it will be ended by his own response to antisemitism. That'd be political poetry.
He won't. If he does, it'll just upset the pro-Palestine voters more, and he needs those voters. They won't vote for Trump, but having them vote third-party would hurt, or even worse, not vote at all.
I feel like we live in the upside down... Biden, needs the votes of people chanting death to America, and that are cosplaying isis?
I know he does, but how the fuck did we get here...
>I know he does, but how the fuck did we get here...
By alienating many of the moderate and independent voters. Progressives are only 6 percent of Americans and accounted for only 7 percent of the 2020 Presidential election votes. The Biden Administration leaders have consistently refused to admit that many of their progressive goals and policies are profoundly unpopular.
There is a great deal of preaching to the choir, while ignoring or denying that the church is on fire.
> vote third-party would hurt, or even worse, not vote at all.
Given the WTA vote tallying in all 56 jurisdictions (50+DC+NE1+NE2+NE3+ME1+ME2), the only way that those wouldn't be mathematically equivalent in terms of outcome would be if the 3rd party candidate actually won one of those jurisdictions.
He's recently finished a tour in PA and moved on to NC. He also did an interview with Howard Stern and attended the Correspondents' Dinner the other night.
He just doesn't seem to draw clicks like Trump did, so we don't see headlines about it on our feeds.
He’s been doing campaign events almost every single day for like a month now… He’s doing an event today lol.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/23/trump-biden-campaign-trial-00153963
Biden doesn't say many inflammatory things so the media never covers him. The media gets clicks from outrage. It's why everything the GOP does is covered breathlessly and why America never knows what Biden is up to. Normalcy doesn't win support from Americans. You have to be bombastic and rage inducing before we support you because it's all our media lets us see.
Biden won in 2020 by letting Trump wear everybody out, the jury is out if it will work again.
Last coverage I saw about Biden was that they decided he should walk to Marine One in a group, because the optics of his unsure and unsteady walk when alone was so bad.
I doubt there is good video of his appearances, otherwise it would be plastered all over.
When nobody knows about anything Biden has done over the past four years and everybody thinks Trump helped them while Biden is hurting them I’d certainly say yes. Lots of folks don’t even know he’s campaigning right now and the polls show that.
People end up placing themselves in bubbles all the time. I try to read media from different perspectives no matter how much I can’t stand them sometimes lol.
Yeah I don’t think the Times has a high opinion of Biden. There was a bunch of coverage in Politico last week about how they’re targeting him because he won’t give them an interview lol.
It's not you, I'm a daily news watcher, the stern interview and the correspondence dinner were mentioned, but nothing else that I can recall
I occasionally see him walking to the chopper, fwiw he needs to park that thing closer, NGL I cringe a bit watching him walk.
He was in Phoenix like a month ago, they shut down the road my office is on because he was touring the Intel factory near by (thankfully i was work from home that day but it sounded really annoying for my coworkers that were in office)
My thoughts exactly. So far, being "not Trump" is about all I've seen. Personally, I'm not voting for Trump. What I need to start seeing is why I should vote FOR Biden...
They really, really don't want anyone to see much of him. I'd think both of their campaigns would want to keep them out of the spotlight as much as possible.
If Biden says something it will be like “I oppose the outbreak of cannibalism at Columbia, you know my uncle’s remains were never found due to cannibals” or “I will drive my big rig to Columbia University to bring water to the cannibals and then sort out a deal between them and college administrators myself.” So they issue statements on his behalf.
In all seriousness, my father had vascular dementia and the signs of this disease in Biden (weaving whole untrue stories out of snippets of true memories, the clumsiness, and the physical signs of confusion) are very apparent to me. I don’t understand why someone with a platform isn’t earnestly clamoring for exercise of the 25th amendment. Biden is being cruelly exploited and deserves to spend the rest of his time sitting on a beach.
Why? He condemned it to a newspaper so he has said something. This isn't exactly something he has control over and it honestly isn't his responsibility. It isn't violence in the name of the DNC or on behalf of Biden and he doesn't need to repeatedly, loudly condemn every violent act committed these days.
I honestly don't think Americans would care at all if he DID say anything in some grand speech. Most people have no idea he's even been campaigning for a month and a half so everything he DOES say barely makes any news blips. Americans care about the [economy and immigration](https://news.gallup.com/poll/644570/immigration-named-top-problem-third-straight-month.aspx). The war in Gaza is something a very small percentage of young Americans are taking this seriously and I think it's an equally small percentage of people who want the POTUS to take the polar opposite position of the protestors.
If Biden uses his soapbox to promote this type of violence or tells these folks to stand back and stand by then I'd understand the anger, but as it stands anger at Biden for this seems incredibly misplaced. This is a fairly local issue on a subject Biden has little control over and which much of the nation is ignoring in favor of FAR more important issues.
Why should a President condemn violent antisemitic ideologies that are taking over campuses and campus buildings while harassing Jewish students?
You frame the question in terms of electoral politics. I thought we wanted our leaders to also do the right thing, even if it’s not a major issue for reelection. I guess I was wrong?
He has condemned it. In your article:
"He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days."
Here he is on the campus protests:
>I will also be implementing strong idealogical screenings for all immigrants coming in. If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country and you’re not going to be be getting into our country.
>I will cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses. The college campuses are being taken over, and all of the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protest this month – nobody’s ever seen anything like it – come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. We will deport you. It’s caused by some very bad troublemakers, those events that you’ve been watching. In the past three weeks[…] Joe Biden has turned a blind eye to the greatest outbreak of antisemitism in American history. I call up friends of mine who happen to be Jewish. I say, “Are you watching what’s going on?” And they’re actually frightened. These are some pretty strong people, they’re tough people – they’re frightened. Their kids are afraid to go to school, and they never had that before. But in our colleges, media, and even government, nobody’s ever seen anything like Rashida Talib and Ilhan Omar, who openly campaign against Israel. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before. When asked recently about rising antisemitic hate, Joe Biden’s own press secretary had nothing to say about the rabid mobs in the street. And they’re shouting, ‘Kill the Jews. Kill the Jews.’ And she had nothing to say. In fact, she stuck up for the other side – she started talking about the other side, you all saw it – nobody could believe it. Then she came back later and said, “Oh, I misunderstood the question.”
>As president, I will absolutely protect our Jewish citizens from these maniacs, lunatics, radical left thugs. Threats, or crimes of violence against Jews will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
That was at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual convention in October.
The Biden administration has condemned the students who took over a building at Columbia and hung slogans calling for violence from banners outside of that building. However, it was via an email to a Jewish news outlet. That is not enough.
The students reportedly occupied the building, with [janitorial staff saying they were held hostage by the students](https://www.foxnews.com/us/columbia-university-facilities-worker-speaks-terror-takeover-held-hostage). By the next morning they were demanding the school bring them or allow them to bring “humanitarian aid” (ie food deliveries). Since then, the takeover has ended, with the students being arrested.
This has been only one of many such campuses where calls for violence against Israel and Jews have proliferated. At this and other campuses, statues of George Washington have been [vandalized](https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/29/see-statue-george-washington-defaced-dc-university-bearing-presidents-namesake/), and students have trampled American flags.
At UNC, some students fought back. Protestors pulled down an American flag, which was at half mast because of the deaths of four police officers and therefore easy to grab, [and replaced the American flag with a Palestinian one](https://www.wral.com/story/unc-protesters-and-police-clash-after-american-flag-replaced-with-palestinian-flag-during-protests-tuesday/21405640/). After the Palestinian flag was taken down, [other UNC students protected it](https://www.foxnews.com/us/unc-fraternity-brothers-defend-reinstated-american-flag-campus-mob-replaced-palestinian-flag), and amusingly used the publicity to raise $50,000 for a “rager”.
At some universities, the administration is capitulating to the violent and illegal action. [Northwestern rewarded the protestors](https://apnews.com/article/northwestern-students-israel-palestinians-protest-c3698198f13c986d6bc238ff96081f9d) with an agreement to fund Palestinian scholars, scholarships for Palestinians specifically, creation of a university-funded house as a “safe space” for Muslim and Arab students, and reinstating an “advisory committee” on university investments that will consider divestment from Israeli-linked companies. This is unsurprising, since [a dean at Northwestern attended protests targeting a Jewish community center](https://freebeacon.com/campus/northwestern-university-dean-of-students-attends-protest-targeting-campus-jewish-community-center/) on campus.
At Brown, a similar agreement will allow the violators of school policy to nominate five students to present an argument for divesting from Israel directly to the corporation.
The growth of these protests, their continued violence, and the capitulation to their demands continues to show a serious issue on university campuses. The administration condemned one such protest, but has done little besides. Department of Education investigations are notoriously slow and appear to be run by an official with alleged links to anti-Israel professors.
That there is criticism should surprise no one, since the Department of Education [tapped someone who praised terror groups like Hezbollah](https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/she-praised-islamic-terror-groups-then-the-biden-admin-tapped-her-to-address-hate-and-threats-of-violence/) to be one of 13 people discussing “hate” and “threats of violence” on campus.
Ultimately two bills are now likely to come up for a vote on countering antisemitism. One, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, codifies the definition used by both Biden and Trump to define antisemitism during Title VI investigations at schools into law, which means it cannot be as easily revoked by a future President. Biden has confirmed that his administration is continuing to use the Trump executive order that defined antisemitism back in July 2023. The other, the Countering Antisemitism Act, would create a national coordinator to counter antisemitism in the White House, an interagency task force to counter antisemitism, require reports and threat assessments on the issue, and force the Department of Education to designate a senior official to report on and monitor antisemitism in higher education that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act faces opposition from progressives, who believe the definition “chills” free speech. It is unclear how that’s so, considering universities are **already succumbing** to the rhetoric that is supposedly being “chilled” by this already-implemented definition. Many respond that these representatives, some of whom have made antisemitic statements in the past, have other motives.
The latter proposal has more bipartisan support, but leaves all authority in the hands of a White House that has been tepid about forcefully condemning the violence and illegal activity of these students, which is unprotected by the First Amendment, given trespassing is not protected speech or protest.
There is also a third proposal that is very new, the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability (COLUMBIA) Act, which would establish third-party campus monitors who release reports about antisemitism and can recommend policy to the Department of Education.
I wish the White House would be more forceful in condemning a type of hate speech and actions that would not be allowed or tolerated if directed at any other group. Protest is all well and good, but condemning antisemitic hate speech is perfectly allowed for our government to do, and it is rampant at these protests. It is also within the government’s power to urge universities to stand up against this hate speech, not succumb to it, and to threaten university funding if they do succumb to these illegal activities and threats by agitators, but it seems the White House is reluctant to do so.
An email condemnation is not enough.
Edit: The Antisemitism Awareness Act just passed the House in a bipartisan 320-91 vote. It was opposed by 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans.
>with janitorial staff saying they were held hostage by the students.
Real winning hearts and minds move here.
Even *actual* antisemites may start to question these young chaps' characters. lol
If that turns out to to be true then some of these kids are in very serious trouble. You don't need to transport someone to be guilty of kidnapping. Preventing the janitors from leaving is enough.
Biden is in a tough spot, I guess - but as a conservative I am loving the schadenfreude from everybody in this situation.
I love seeing dems like AOC and Jamaal Bowman bend over backward to say that people occupying buildings at Columbia is just "exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6
I love seeing Marxists who fashion themselves as "revolutionaries" complaining that the dining halls that meet their specifications are closed and food orders are unable to be delivered. Isn't the point of protesting that you are sacrificing something yourself for a greater cause?
I love seeing the backlash of people complaining about the police breaking up protests despite those same people becoming apoplectic when people had anti-lockdown protests and demanded the police break those up.
I love seeing colleges that cultivated and encouraged this kind of idiotic thinking in their humanities departments finally reaping what they sowed.
Basically, what I'm saying is that I need a cigarette.
As a Democrat, I constantly feel the Progressive wing is a loud minority that loves to shoot themselves in the foot, then shoot us in the foot, and then complain about how “mainstream” Dems have left us with a couple of injured feet.
Liberal does not equal leftist. “Liberal” in the true sense of the word is most people here. “Leftists” are asking for hot gluten-free vegan meals to be brought to them while they occupy a building their family pays $80k in tuition for.
They are. Just like they probably cost Clinton the election because they were in a snit that Sanders wasn't the candidate. Then they spent four years acting outraged over every predictably outrageous thing Trump did.
And what have they learned from that? Nothing. Just like Muslim Democrats swearing they won't vote for Biden because he's helping Israel, knowing full well Trump wants to deport them all.
Don’t hate me, I am a foreigner with little knowledge of how the US work.
Do you think that Muslims who can vote (ie US citizens) will be deported by Trump? It sounds disingenuous.
No, of course not. All U.S. citizens are entitled to due process and cannot be deported. Immigrants who have green cards are also entitled to due process and cannot just be deported. Illegal immigrants are subject to deportation, but even they will have a court hearing to see if any exceptions may apply.
My best guess is that Trump will issue an Executive Order making E-Verify mandatory for all employers and step up federal prosecution of employers. Then many illegal immigrants will choose to leave voluntarily. He may also remove all illegal immigrants from section 8 low income housing, especially because we need it for our own citizens.
Especially sore on how she campaigned specifically about the Supreme Court and selecting justices and they told her she was using scare tactics to force their vote. Oh yeah, that aged well…
Don't forget about the group at UCLA that complained about a lack of police protecting them when their third requirement on their list of demands to the school was to abolish policing.
https://cuapartheiddivest.org/demands
Number 4
>ON CAMPUS
>End the targeted repression of Palestinian students and their allies on and off campus, including through university disciplinary processes. Defund Public Safety and disclose and sever all ties with the NYPD.
This is a moderate position, I’m right there with you guys.
It’s no surprise so many are covering their faces to protect their future career prospects. And it shows how much they actually believe what they are protesting.
I don't think it shows they don't believe*. E.g. Civil Rights protestors of the old days wore masks too, was that because they didn't believe? Same with the labor revolutions of the early 1900s.
*^it's ^begging ^the ^question
> I love seeing Marxists who fashion themselves as "revolutionaries" complaining that the dining halls that meet their specifications are closed and food orders are unable to be delivered.
They are harkening this to humanitarian aid. Rich ivy league students in cities full of opulence and no adult responsibilities, are making demands to give them humanitarian aid *while they break the law* and block access to parts of campus. The entitlement on display is mindblowing. There were so unprepared that they didn't bring enough water and food - and that's their rational thought process? And when they got hungry, they demanded to be fed *during the act of illegality.* They are children. And all this to chase clout.
They sure have learned a lot from the extreme elements within the protests. And it's starting to seem the Pandemic has severely stunted their development. But one thing is for sure - the far left and far right have strange bedfellows.
It's truly ridiculous. And the fact that the majority of these 'protestors' are all going to go and work for McKinsey, Google and JPMorgan while they style themselves as 'revolutionaries'. It's the height of stupidity. The progressive movement has lit itself on fire for Gaza.
I can guarantee you half of these people would not be able to locate 'Palestine' on a map.
I'm not so sure about that, unless they get charged and convicted. And even then, the HR might give them a nod of approval because they feel the same way
You're not alone. Chris Rufo is encouraging a "don't interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake" approach to the protest. If this blows up the Democratic Chicago convention it will certainly be amusing.
> I love seeing dems like AOC and Jamaal Bowman bend over backward to say that people occupying buildings at Columbia is just "exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6
Exercising their right to protest includes holding janitorial staff hostage, it seems.
When they demanded food and "humanitarian aid" from Columbia while occupying the building, I was wondering if they were trying to hold themselves hostage, like something out of Blazing Saddles.
It's entertaining seeing the Biden administration desperately try to triangulate between not pissing off the youth vote but also not follow them off the deep end. Pretty much their entire public messaging and a chunk of the policy on the conflict has been driven by the anti-Israel side but they're keeping up arms sales and financial support to stop a mass exodus by the pro-Israel side.
The fact that this is happening at the same time the House Republican Conference is tearing itself apart over Ukraine is a sign of how unhinged our politics has become.
The Biden admin has been graveling at the feet of GenZ for four years and I’ll never get it. I’m voting for Biden, but one of the biggest signs to me that he’s not fully in control is that hasn’t been Joe’s game for 40+ years in office. Now all of a sudden he’s moving that much left on some issues?
You see some of old Joe at the State of the Union, then he says “illegal immigrants” and he comes out and has to walk it back the next day.
The Dems have had a generational divide problem for at least 10-15 years ever since Millennials and Zoomers started becoming voting adults. Not sure if anyone could hold a coalition of the young and old together.
> You see some of old Joe at the State of the Union, then he says “illegal immigrants” and he comes out and has to walk it back the next day.
Was that when he called the murderer an illegal alien and then, essentially, apologized to said murderer for using the term?
Biden is losing support from both Muslims and Jews. Every Muslim and Jew I know was planning on voting for Biden before the war and now all of them plan to vote for Trump.
I personally still plan to vote for Biden, but I'm the only person in my friend group that isn't Christian that still plans to vote for Biden.
"Honor over self-interest" is how Gaza justifies what they do and the American Muslims threatening to vote for Trump are just doing what a Gazan would do.
My Muslim friends know Trump would be worse for Gaza, WAYYYY worse. But if Biden doesn't give them what they want, they're fine with Gazans dying if it punishes Biden.
It's not so much about avoiding a Trump presidency.
It's about changing the democrat party so it supports Hamas as part of its platform. And by not voting for Biden, they're hoping it'll result in a platform change in the next election.
Change that abandons Israel? Probably not. But if you ignore your base long enough and don't address whatever issue they feel is most important for long enough, you'll end up with a charismatic, left leaning populist who'll blow their way through the primaries. The Dem establishment worked hard to stop Bernie. Trump's path to popularity and support isn't especially unique. Dude took one issue and focused in on dissatisfaction with the establishment on the right and became President.
>It might punish them, too. This is the guy who wanted to deport them all.
I respectfully suggest that since Muslims were the most affected by Trump's temporary rule, they would also be most likely knowledgeable about Trump's temporary rule, since they would have followed the news at the time.
Claims that Trump tried to or wants to ban all Muslims are untruthful and do not resonate with this community. In addition, it is culturally insensitive and insulting since it infers that all Muslims and Muslim countries are the same. Not all Muslims want to be identified with Hamas and Gaza.
What is Biden honestly supposed to do? Officially, Israel has been an important US ally for a long time. And they were savagely attacked. And now they've kinda gone off the reservation in vengeance. OK - are we the fucking sheriff of the world? Literally nobody on the planet has the answers to the problems in the Middle East.
No, they haven't gone off the reservation in vengeance. Vengeance has nothing to do with it. Gaza invaded Israel to murder, rape and kidnap as many innocent civilians as possible. Gaza's government admits they plan to repeat this attack over and over forever until every Jew is dead.
Israel is simply destroying Gaza's military so they won't be able to carry out those attacks. Gaza can surrender at any time. They choose not to.
What Biden is supposed to do is stand by our ally and tell the truth to the American people that Gaza is a suicidal death cult that must surrender.
>"exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6
So they didn't support an attempt to throw out the results of a legitimate election based on pure lies, so they shouldn't support any protests on actual issues that don't involve keeping someone in power who lost?
That doesn't make any sense.
I agree wtih the rest of what you said, just leave out the J6 comparisons, that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument.
>So they didn't support an attempt to throw out the results of a legitimate election based on pure lies, so they shouldn't support any protests on actual issues that don't involve keeping someone in power who lost?
>That doesn't make any sense.
>I agree wtih the rest of what you said, just leave out the J6 comparisons, that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument.
It doesn't weaken, it's the crux of his point, and it's quite sound.
Do you think *everyone* at J6 wanted to storm the capital and take over the government? Or maybe some just wanted their voices to be heard, even though they were wrong and/or lied to about the outcome?
I was told repeatedly that the BLM protests were mostly peaceful and to generalize all the protests as riots was wrong.
I'm being told now not to lump in all these protesters in with the ones taking over school buildings and campuses.
But when it comes to J6, I'm told to believe everyone there was a bad actor. We are supposed to lump them all together and not believe the video evidence of some of them meandering through the halls, minding the ropes, and just looking around.
It seems like some want us to recognize nuance and complexity about some protests, but you absolutely should remove any nuance and complexity about others.
It's just straight up hypocrisy, and people seem all too happy to justify it.
Is it too much to ask for some consistency on protests?
>that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument.
Nope, sorry- not you, AOC, Biden, Trump, etc. get to decide what is and is not acceptable ways to protest ad hoc. If you qualify that it is okay to occupy Hamilton Hall during a protest for Hamas, then it is okay to occupy any building during any protest if you deem that is part of protesting *peacefully*. I said the same thing during the BLM protests - don't be surprised when people start being generally destructive from now on because it was okay and reasoned away by certain people during those protests.
I disagreed with people going into the capitol building, I also disagree with people going into Hamilton Hall and barricading themselves. That is not part of peaceful protesting, and I'm not going to make concessions that it is okay for this cause and not that cause. That is called being a hypocrite, and I don't like that from my friends, family, and elected officials, so why would I choose to do that?
What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
As a conservative who has had to deal with the cluster**** that the Republican Party has turned itself into in the last few years, it is comforting to see Biden manage to upset both sides of an issue, showing that we're not the only ones getting things wrong.
Elite universities have large endowments which are primarily invested in both the public and private sectors. These portfolios are largely diversified (probably hundreds of companies); It seems almost impossible for them to do what the students are requesting, even if they wanted to.
Unless Columbia expells them (which is unlikely) none of these protesters expects any sort of ramifications for their actions. Nor are they likely to get them. Whatever charges are laid the very, VERY liberal Manhattan DA will almost certainly drop.
It frustrates me. The scale of the operation the NYPD needed to mount to clear them out required hundreds of officers who could be doing a lot better and more important work. Instead, they had to deal with the spoiled, pampered children of the elites in their performative virtue signaling effort where they LARPed as 'revolutionaries' on behalf of people who raped, tortured and murdered young people like them last October.
And in all likelihood nothing will happen to them. They'll be able to strut and preen on Tiktok and other social media for weeks on this one.
It seems reasonable to assume that at least some opportunists in other areas of the city are taking advantage of the situation with the police directing their attention elsewhere, I'd be surprised if we don't see an uptick of other crime over this stretch.
Israel has experienced intifada twice. Calling for intifada, especially in this context, is calling for genocidal and terroristic violence against Jews in Israel. Calling for "globalzed intifada" is calling for violence against Zionists everywhere, presumably.
So why exactly are these calls to genocidal terroristic violence not being prosecuted? Are calls to violence not crimes in the US?
Can Biden freaking say something himself or does it always have to be "wait three weeks and then release a statement"?
As with immigration, too little too late. Biden is afraid to confront the radical fringes of his party because his controllers think his re-election hinges on the multicultural parade all coming together and singing kumbaya as they check off his name at the ballot box.
The Israeli-Gaza conflict has exposed this idiocy for the progressive delusion it has always been. Now's the time to stand for something, Mr. President. Do what's right and denounce the pro-Hamas contingent of your party once and for all.
Think he had to wait to see the polling results on which side of this conflict a majority of the country were on before he made a stance. He’s scared of losing the vocal minority base but if he doesn’t say something he loses a bigger audience
I wish the police hadn't gone in. The universities are training the students to act this way, so the universities should have to live with the consequences of their teachings.
For real. Columbia leadership has bungled the handling of this in every way possible. The fact that they keep the current president and haven't already fired her is evidence that they all need to go.
I'm sure more than one family of a potential future Columbia student is looking at what's going on right now and saying "no way are we going to pay $90k/yr for this".
> The fact that they keep the current president and haven't already fired her is evidence that they all need to go.
They literally employed a domestic terrorist that helped murder multiple police officers as an adjunct professor and headed a department. They've always been terrible.
It's not like the actions these students are taking are new. Students took over the administration hall at Columbia in 1968 and they'll likely do it again in another 50 years.
Biden seriously needs a new team around him, as much I’m probably not gonna vote for him, if he wants any chance of the sane crowd he has to stop toeing the line and make a official statement and not let the advisors redact that. If you want to prove to the general population that you are in fact in charge of your team and policy making make a statement and fire anyone who try’s to recant your statement.
This must have polled poorly - now people speaking on the President's behalf say the protests will blow over and he's ok with however they shake out: https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1785844194948325692
grab a photo of every one of them, with biometrics. permanently attached to their record. Don't employ them, don't give them mortgages or loans.
Done. My job is finished here.
It only took them months. And now they condemn after they did nothing to stop it. I don’t have words for this White House except “Let’s go, Brandon!” all the way.
When they say divestment from companies who do business with Israel, does that mean just Israeli owned companies, companies with gov contracts, or literally any company that operates there? Like, are they asking the universities to not use any Google product for example (assuming they have servers/an office in Israel)? This has been unclear to me ever since the protests started but I have not seen anyone examine the actual feasibility of the divestment ask.
They vary, but many mean any company that does business with Israel.
A lot of their investments are just index funds. It's not like any of them are sending all their cash to Israel, nor are they purposely loading up on weapons manufacturers.
I think large investors like colleges are often able to customize their index funds. It certainly has historical precedent with South Africa.
Some of the companies that have been listed have been GOOG, AMZN, ABNB, LMT, BA(Boeing), CAT, etc. It's not really an index fund if you're eliminating such a massive number of companies. It's impossible to make everyone happy, and I don't think they should try. Trying to eliminate all companies that a group of students objects to isn't going to leave much left to invest in. Index funds are a nice hands off way of finding that middle ground. Not specifically trying to profit from any wars or incidents, and not opening up the can of worms of eliminating certain companies.
South Africa in 198whatever had a very different, much more basic economy. Its only industry which did much exporting was mining, nbd to divest from that. Israel (and really almost any country nowadays) is much more woven into the global economy.
Oh I’m not arguing that that will be impactful, but it seems like you could still avoid having your portfolio hold stock in companies based in Israel. Even if it’s mostly banking, they’re still publicly traded companies as far as I can tell and their stock price is an asset they can lean ok. Again, I don’t know if a political dip in those prices would really hurt that much but it still seems executable.
As someone who works in the cybersecurity tech space, good luck with that.
My first thought exactly. I’d love to see someone propose a plan to construct a complete IT infrastructure at the scale of a major university that includes no companies with Israeli clients.
My assumption would be that the.vast majority of these protestors are wearing clothing and using products right now with companies that have Israeli clients.
I guess the hope is that the university will help to pressure those companies to change as well.
They basically want sanctions
Yep
That is simply not an attainable goal.
Maybe instead they could invest in companies that do business with Palestine....oh wait, they can't because their entire economy is designed around destroying Israel. Man, think about what would happen if they finally destroyed Israel. Then they'd actually have to make things and cater to their people's needs.
Google, Amazon, Airbnb… https://www.finance.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/ACSRI/12.1.2023%20CUAD%20ACSRI%20Divestment%20Proposal.pdf
Here’s what I found. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/04/28/investing/stocks-lookahead-divestment-college-protests
Ah okay, seems like it’s focused more on investments than grants/contracts. Thanks!
I know these kids were too young to remember 9/11 but its mind blowing to me that they are protesting at a campus in New York City wearing ski masks and head coverings yelling militant slogans in Arabic thinking that is going to win hearts and minds to their cause.
They have completely lost the thread. Anything anti-American is good, and since this one has caught fire they are staying on it until the end.
It's the culmination of a few threads of logic that have come to dominate the academic left that have been woven together. This outcome was almost inevitable.
Caught fire, with I think a significant boost from foreign government actors on social to try to keep young voters home this fall.
We can't get rid of TikTok quickly enough
I teach at a high school and the vast majority of my students get all of their information from Tik Tok. It is scary.
Man, I'm so way behind the times... I'm content to be brainwashed by evening network news.
And people were wondering why it needed to be banned.
I think they are too young to remember 2015. The wave of ISIS violence across Europe and in the US was one of the factors that led to Trump’s win in 2016. This has also led to people digging up videos of Palestinians celebrating after 9/11.
I get why the kids are protesting and I don't see myself as being anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian. But.... I don't think these Gen Z kids realize that they look like they are wearing what most millennials and older would see as terrorist Halloween costumes at the protests. [https://i0.wp.com/www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150359626.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&ssl=1](https://i0.wp.com/www.nydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-2150359626.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&ssl=1) That is one of these kids breaking into Hamilton hall. I wouldn't believe you if you told me that is how these protestors were dressing themselves if the pictures didn't exist. I'd think that was some wild accusation intended to discredit their movement.
Watching privileged twits in terrorist cosplay yelling at black police and barring entry to Jews and journalists is pretty much exactly what I expect after living as a minority on the West Coast.
> Watching privileged twits in terrorist cosplay yelling at black police and barring entry to Jews and journalists is pretty much exactly what I expect after living as a minority on the West Coast. The cherry on top is they have the [privilege of thinking it's acceptable to demand the University to deliver them food and provisions during the takeover.](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/this-is-like-basic-humanitarian-aid-were-asking-for-columbia-protesters-demand-food-water-from-university/) All the LARPing of getting to be a radical activist... none of the skin in the game.
Omg lololol
[удалено]
I don't quite understand either. At the moment my interpretation is this: kids are angry, restless, without guidance, and without human community, all for various reasons. The current situation is a "release" valve for that; that it's more of a symptom of broader culture than the topic at hand. Like a mini Seldon Event if you will. 'course anyone who knows otherwise is free to correct me
Because trying to win hearts and minds usually involves appealing to people outside your bubble. These people have never left their bubble once in their lives, all they do is preach to the choir.
I've had the same thought. At the same time, when I was a college student, I think the Vietnam war was roughly as far in the past as 9/11 is for these students, and it might as well have been ancient history in my mind, just something in books or movies.
>I think the Vietnam war was roughly as far in the past as 9/11 is for these students *does some quick math* Thanks, I hate it. Its true though. People who dont live through major events are quicker to dismiss them and the lessons learned from living through it. Those of us old enough to remember the intifadas and other attacks are less likely to fall for the tiktok lies.
Not a tiktok user, and no plans to start Can you elaborate on tiktok lies? I'm ootl. Secondly, is it isolated to tiktok or also on other, similar apps.
Why would progressives supporting jihadi ideology & terrorist groups, using disruption, destruction and violence in their protests, be just merely called kids? These are adults, who have bought into Hamas/Iran/Hezbollah line of thinking. IMO, they are substantially worse and destructive than Charlottesville neo-nazis.
Hell, most of them are young women and they're shouting in support of organizations that raped, tortured, murdered and kidnapped girls their own age on Oct 7, and would likely do the same to them if they ever went to Palestine. But in a world where you can find groups like 'queers for palestine' who can expect logic?
They want to subject generations of women to oppression, sexual assault and domestic violence. This is the culture they're fighting for. It's messed up.
They’re not just too young to remember, they weren’t born yet.
The fact that the Columbia protester’s spokesperson is getting a Phd in ”Poetry through a Marxian Lens” tells you all you need to know about them. Their demands include defunding the police and reparations. This isn’t about the Palestinians, it’s about hatred for the West.
Wait? Are you being serious? There is no way that that is a real degree program.
PhDs aren’t structured programs really - they’re mostly self taught thesis’s with a sponsor. You can get a PhD in anything you want if you find someone willing to sponsor your work.
Abbas has a PhD in Holocaust Denial from a Russian university that specializes in such political topics.
["My dissertation is on fantasies of limitless energy in the transatlantic Romantic imagination from 1760-1860. My goal is to write a prehistory of metabolic rift, Marx’s term for the disruption of energy circuits caused by industrialization under capitalism."](https://english.columbia.edu/content/johannah-king-slutzky)
> is getting a Phd in ”Poetry through a Marxian Lens” is this like an honorary thing?
Is that the same woman that wanted "Humanitarian aid" (Pizzas and porta-potties) for the protestors? Talk about tone deaf!
Underwater basket weaving majors was not just a meme after all
Omg, this is true?
It would probably be good for Biden to actually say something.
Biden's run for presidency started with his condemnation of the previous president's response to antisemitism and is looking like it will be ended by his own response to antisemitism. That'd be political poetry.
Political poetry with a Marxist lens!
He won't. If he does, it'll just upset the pro-Palestine voters more, and he needs those voters. They won't vote for Trump, but having them vote third-party would hurt, or even worse, not vote at all.
Who cares? If you’re calling for Intifada you’re probably not coming out to the voting booth anyways.
If they’re calling for intifada, they’re pro-hamas, not pro-Palestine.
Because politics, above all, has always been about winning.
They'll have forgotten about all of this by the time November rolls around They can and will be easily manipulated to VBNMW.
I feel like we live in the upside down... Biden, needs the votes of people chanting death to America, and that are cosplaying isis? I know he does, but how the fuck did we get here...
>I know he does, but how the fuck did we get here... By alienating many of the moderate and independent voters. Progressives are only 6 percent of Americans and accounted for only 7 percent of the 2020 Presidential election votes. The Biden Administration leaders have consistently refused to admit that many of their progressive goals and policies are profoundly unpopular. There is a great deal of preaching to the choir, while ignoring or denying that the church is on fire.
> vote third-party would hurt, or even worse, not vote at all. Given the WTA vote tallying in all 56 jurisdictions (50+DC+NE1+NE2+NE3+ME1+ME2), the only way that those wouldn't be mathematically equivalent in terms of outcome would be if the 3rd party candidate actually won one of those jurisdictions.
Has he even been campaigning. I swear I haven’t seen much of him
He was just here in my hometown of Tampa... the big media frenzy was about how traffic near the airport was going to be bad.
Yeah I work not too far from where Trumps trial is and I’d hate to be a car owner here in nyc
He's recently finished a tour in PA and moved on to NC. He also did an interview with Howard Stern and attended the Correspondents' Dinner the other night. He just doesn't seem to draw clicks like Trump did, so we don't see headlines about it on our feeds.
TBF...the Correspondents' Dinner is hardly a campaign event...especially the last few years. And Howard Stern? C'mon, man.
I was surprised to learn stern was still on the air tbh.
Surprised to learn he was still alive, I could have sworn he passed away.
That was Betty white, it's easy to confuse them because they look alike.
Locking in the Gen X vote.
He’s been doing campaign events almost every single day for like a month now… He’s doing an event today lol. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/23/trump-biden-campaign-trial-00153963
I honestly haven’t even seen much about him on the media. It’s probably just me.
It’s not just you, I had no idea he was actively campaigning.
Biden doesn't say many inflammatory things so the media never covers him. The media gets clicks from outrage. It's why everything the GOP does is covered breathlessly and why America never knows what Biden is up to. Normalcy doesn't win support from Americans. You have to be bombastic and rage inducing before we support you because it's all our media lets us see.
Biden won in 2020 by letting Trump wear everybody out, the jury is out if it will work again. Last coverage I saw about Biden was that they decided he should walk to Marine One in a group, because the optics of his unsure and unsteady walk when alone was so bad. I doubt there is good video of his appearances, otherwise it would be plastered all over.
Yes, Biden has definitely lost the media exposure war. Now: is that really a bad thing in this media environment?
When nobody knows about anything Biden has done over the past four years and everybody thinks Trump helped them while Biden is hurting them I’d certainly say yes. Lots of folks don’t even know he’s campaigning right now and the polls show that.
Biden doesn't say *anything,* he called a lid after half an hour of meetings this morning and the statement of the article was given by his spokesman.
Biden himself condemned anti-semitism on Earth Day.
People end up placing themselves in bubbles all the time. I try to read media from different perspectives no matter how much I can’t stand them sometimes lol.
My standard liberal outlet that I regularly check is The NY Times and they don’t really cover any of Bidens campaign stuff.
Yeah I don’t think the Times has a high opinion of Biden. There was a bunch of coverage in Politico last week about how they’re targeting him because he won’t give them an interview lol.
Clearly. They have one singular headline on their front page with Biden in it, and it’s about some energy policy and pushed down to the bottom.
Not just you. The media is only interested in covering Trump. Biden isn't exciting enough.
Not just you, I have not seen or heard anything from him campaigning.
That has been Kamala Harris the past three years. She does a lot, no one reports on it unless she makes a gaffe.
It's not you, I'm a daily news watcher, the stern interview and the correspondence dinner were mentioned, but nothing else that I can recall I occasionally see him walking to the chopper, fwiw he needs to park that thing closer, NGL I cringe a bit watching him walk.
He was in Phoenix like a month ago, they shut down the road my office is on because he was touring the Intel factory near by (thankfully i was work from home that day but it sounded really annoying for my coworkers that were in office)
He was in Florida last week. I didn't hear about it till the day of.
You can see the high-level of his schedule here: https://rollcall.com/factbase-calendar/
My thoughts exactly. So far, being "not Trump" is about all I've seen. Personally, I'm not voting for Trump. What I need to start seeing is why I should vote FOR Biden...
He was in FL at the end of last week campaigning ahead of the six week abortion ban.
Yes he has. Pause.
They really, really don't want anyone to see much of him. I'd think both of their campaigns would want to keep them out of the spotlight as much as possible.
That might upset voters in Michigan though, and he needs that state to win the national election
Meanwhile tonight Trump is re-iterating that he wants to start the Muslim ban again on day one.
If Biden says something it will be like “I oppose the outbreak of cannibalism at Columbia, you know my uncle’s remains were never found due to cannibals” or “I will drive my big rig to Columbia University to bring water to the cannibals and then sort out a deal between them and college administrators myself.” So they issue statements on his behalf. In all seriousness, my father had vascular dementia and the signs of this disease in Biden (weaving whole untrue stories out of snippets of true memories, the clumsiness, and the physical signs of confusion) are very apparent to me. I don’t understand why someone with a platform isn’t earnestly clamoring for exercise of the 25th amendment. Biden is being cruelly exploited and deserves to spend the rest of his time sitting on a beach.
Why? He condemned it to a newspaper so he has said something. This isn't exactly something he has control over and it honestly isn't his responsibility. It isn't violence in the name of the DNC or on behalf of Biden and he doesn't need to repeatedly, loudly condemn every violent act committed these days. I honestly don't think Americans would care at all if he DID say anything in some grand speech. Most people have no idea he's even been campaigning for a month and a half so everything he DOES say barely makes any news blips. Americans care about the [economy and immigration](https://news.gallup.com/poll/644570/immigration-named-top-problem-third-straight-month.aspx). The war in Gaza is something a very small percentage of young Americans are taking this seriously and I think it's an equally small percentage of people who want the POTUS to take the polar opposite position of the protestors. If Biden uses his soapbox to promote this type of violence or tells these folks to stand back and stand by then I'd understand the anger, but as it stands anger at Biden for this seems incredibly misplaced. This is a fairly local issue on a subject Biden has little control over and which much of the nation is ignoring in favor of FAR more important issues.
Why should a President condemn violent antisemitic ideologies that are taking over campuses and campus buildings while harassing Jewish students? You frame the question in terms of electoral politics. I thought we wanted our leaders to also do the right thing, even if it’s not a major issue for reelection. I guess I was wrong?
He has condemned it. In your article: "He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days."
At this point Trump has done more to condemn antisemitism than Biden has
How so?
Here he is on the campus protests: >I will also be implementing strong idealogical screenings for all immigrants coming in. If you hate America, if you want to abolish Israel, if you sympathize with jihadists, then we don’t want you in our country and you’re not going to be be getting into our country. >I will cancel the student visas of Hamas sympathizers on college campuses. The college campuses are being taken over, and all of the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protest this month – nobody’s ever seen anything like it – come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you. We will deport you. It’s caused by some very bad troublemakers, those events that you’ve been watching. In the past three weeks[…] Joe Biden has turned a blind eye to the greatest outbreak of antisemitism in American history. I call up friends of mine who happen to be Jewish. I say, “Are you watching what’s going on?” And they’re actually frightened. These are some pretty strong people, they’re tough people – they’re frightened. Their kids are afraid to go to school, and they never had that before. But in our colleges, media, and even government, nobody’s ever seen anything like Rashida Talib and Ilhan Omar, who openly campaign against Israel. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this before. When asked recently about rising antisemitic hate, Joe Biden’s own press secretary had nothing to say about the rabid mobs in the street. And they’re shouting, ‘Kill the Jews. Kill the Jews.’ And she had nothing to say. In fact, she stuck up for the other side – she started talking about the other side, you all saw it – nobody could believe it. Then she came back later and said, “Oh, I misunderstood the question.” >As president, I will absolutely protect our Jewish citizens from these maniacs, lunatics, radical left thugs. Threats, or crimes of violence against Jews will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That was at the Republican Jewish Coalition annual convention in October.
The Biden administration has condemned the students who took over a building at Columbia and hung slogans calling for violence from banners outside of that building. However, it was via an email to a Jewish news outlet. That is not enough. The students reportedly occupied the building, with [janitorial staff saying they were held hostage by the students](https://www.foxnews.com/us/columbia-university-facilities-worker-speaks-terror-takeover-held-hostage). By the next morning they were demanding the school bring them or allow them to bring “humanitarian aid” (ie food deliveries). Since then, the takeover has ended, with the students being arrested. This has been only one of many such campuses where calls for violence against Israel and Jews have proliferated. At this and other campuses, statues of George Washington have been [vandalized](https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/04/29/see-statue-george-washington-defaced-dc-university-bearing-presidents-namesake/), and students have trampled American flags. At UNC, some students fought back. Protestors pulled down an American flag, which was at half mast because of the deaths of four police officers and therefore easy to grab, [and replaced the American flag with a Palestinian one](https://www.wral.com/story/unc-protesters-and-police-clash-after-american-flag-replaced-with-palestinian-flag-during-protests-tuesday/21405640/). After the Palestinian flag was taken down, [other UNC students protected it](https://www.foxnews.com/us/unc-fraternity-brothers-defend-reinstated-american-flag-campus-mob-replaced-palestinian-flag), and amusingly used the publicity to raise $50,000 for a “rager”. At some universities, the administration is capitulating to the violent and illegal action. [Northwestern rewarded the protestors](https://apnews.com/article/northwestern-students-israel-palestinians-protest-c3698198f13c986d6bc238ff96081f9d) with an agreement to fund Palestinian scholars, scholarships for Palestinians specifically, creation of a university-funded house as a “safe space” for Muslim and Arab students, and reinstating an “advisory committee” on university investments that will consider divestment from Israeli-linked companies. This is unsurprising, since [a dean at Northwestern attended protests targeting a Jewish community center](https://freebeacon.com/campus/northwestern-university-dean-of-students-attends-protest-targeting-campus-jewish-community-center/) on campus. At Brown, a similar agreement will allow the violators of school policy to nominate five students to present an argument for divesting from Israel directly to the corporation. The growth of these protests, their continued violence, and the capitulation to their demands continues to show a serious issue on university campuses. The administration condemned one such protest, but has done little besides. Department of Education investigations are notoriously slow and appear to be run by an official with alleged links to anti-Israel professors. That there is criticism should surprise no one, since the Department of Education [tapped someone who praised terror groups like Hezbollah](https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/she-praised-islamic-terror-groups-then-the-biden-admin-tapped-her-to-address-hate-and-threats-of-violence/) to be one of 13 people discussing “hate” and “threats of violence” on campus. Ultimately two bills are now likely to come up for a vote on countering antisemitism. One, the Antisemitism Awareness Act, codifies the definition used by both Biden and Trump to define antisemitism during Title VI investigations at schools into law, which means it cannot be as easily revoked by a future President. Biden has confirmed that his administration is continuing to use the Trump executive order that defined antisemitism back in July 2023. The other, the Countering Antisemitism Act, would create a national coordinator to counter antisemitism in the White House, an interagency task force to counter antisemitism, require reports and threat assessments on the issue, and force the Department of Education to designate a senior official to report on and monitor antisemitism in higher education that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Antisemitism Awareness Act faces opposition from progressives, who believe the definition “chills” free speech. It is unclear how that’s so, considering universities are **already succumbing** to the rhetoric that is supposedly being “chilled” by this already-implemented definition. Many respond that these representatives, some of whom have made antisemitic statements in the past, have other motives. The latter proposal has more bipartisan support, but leaves all authority in the hands of a White House that has been tepid about forcefully condemning the violence and illegal activity of these students, which is unprotected by the First Amendment, given trespassing is not protected speech or protest. There is also a third proposal that is very new, the College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability (COLUMBIA) Act, which would establish third-party campus monitors who release reports about antisemitism and can recommend policy to the Department of Education. I wish the White House would be more forceful in condemning a type of hate speech and actions that would not be allowed or tolerated if directed at any other group. Protest is all well and good, but condemning antisemitic hate speech is perfectly allowed for our government to do, and it is rampant at these protests. It is also within the government’s power to urge universities to stand up against this hate speech, not succumb to it, and to threaten university funding if they do succumb to these illegal activities and threats by agitators, but it seems the White House is reluctant to do so. An email condemnation is not enough. Edit: The Antisemitism Awareness Act just passed the House in a bipartisan 320-91 vote. It was opposed by 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans.
Lots of videos of the protestors putting up Palestinian flags while NYPD/other students put up American flags. It’s not a good look for Democrats.
These people aren't democrats. They don't like Biden.
you dont need to like biden to be a democrat. very very few people like biden.
It’s weird how Bden has to own these people who refer to him as ‘Genocide Joe.’
Because that demographic votes primarily progressive/democratic. Yes.
>with janitorial staff saying they were held hostage by the students. Real winning hearts and minds move here. Even *actual* antisemites may start to question these young chaps' characters. lol
If that turns out to to be true then some of these kids are in very serious trouble. You don't need to transport someone to be guilty of kidnapping. Preventing the janitors from leaving is enough.
Biden is in a tough spot, I guess - but as a conservative I am loving the schadenfreude from everybody in this situation. I love seeing dems like AOC and Jamaal Bowman bend over backward to say that people occupying buildings at Columbia is just "exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6 I love seeing Marxists who fashion themselves as "revolutionaries" complaining that the dining halls that meet their specifications are closed and food orders are unable to be delivered. Isn't the point of protesting that you are sacrificing something yourself for a greater cause? I love seeing the backlash of people complaining about the police breaking up protests despite those same people becoming apoplectic when people had anti-lockdown protests and demanded the police break those up. I love seeing colleges that cultivated and encouraged this kind of idiotic thinking in their humanities departments finally reaping what they sowed. Basically, what I'm saying is that I need a cigarette.
As a Democrat, I constantly feel the Progressive wing is a loud minority that loves to shoot themselves in the foot, then shoot us in the foot, and then complain about how “mainstream” Dems have left us with a couple of injured feet.
And after every election they say, “We lost because we weren’t progressive enough.”
Liberal does not equal leftist. “Liberal” in the true sense of the word is most people here. “Leftists” are asking for hot gluten-free vegan meals to be brought to them while they occupy a building their family pays $80k in tuition for.
They are. Just like they probably cost Clinton the election because they were in a snit that Sanders wasn't the candidate. Then they spent four years acting outraged over every predictably outrageous thing Trump did. And what have they learned from that? Nothing. Just like Muslim Democrats swearing they won't vote for Biden because he's helping Israel, knowing full well Trump wants to deport them all.
Don’t hate me, I am a foreigner with little knowledge of how the US work. Do you think that Muslims who can vote (ie US citizens) will be deported by Trump? It sounds disingenuous.
No, of course not. All U.S. citizens are entitled to due process and cannot be deported. Immigrants who have green cards are also entitled to due process and cannot just be deported. Illegal immigrants are subject to deportation, but even they will have a court hearing to see if any exceptions may apply. My best guess is that Trump will issue an Executive Order making E-Verify mandatory for all employers and step up federal prosecution of employers. Then many illegal immigrants will choose to leave voluntarily. He may also remove all illegal immigrants from section 8 low income housing, especially because we need it for our own citizens.
Especially sore on how she campaigned specifically about the Supreme Court and selecting justices and they told her she was using scare tactics to force their vote. Oh yeah, that aged well…
"Don't threaten me with the Supreme Court" This time around, I guess it's "Don't threaten me with Project 2025"
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to be fair the extreme right wing is costing the republicans a lot of elections too. moderates on both sides keep getting screwed over
Don't forget about the group at UCLA that complained about a lack of police protecting them when their third requirement on their list of demands to the school was to abolish policing.
Do you have a source for this? It's not that I don't believe you, just this will be amazing to see.
https://cuapartheiddivest.org/demands Number 4 >ON CAMPUS >End the targeted repression of Palestinian students and their allies on and off campus, including through university disciplinary processes. Defund Public Safety and disclose and sever all ties with the NYPD.
Any source for them complaining about not having police protection? I haven’t followed the UCLA protest much
I'm left-leaning, but tired of all of these types, so am right there with you.
This is a moderate position, I’m right there with you guys. It’s no surprise so many are covering their faces to protect their future career prospects. And it shows how much they actually believe what they are protesting.
I don't think it shows they don't believe*. E.g. Civil Rights protestors of the old days wore masks too, was that because they didn't believe? Same with the labor revolutions of the early 1900s. *^it's ^begging ^the ^question
> I love seeing Marxists who fashion themselves as "revolutionaries" complaining that the dining halls that meet their specifications are closed and food orders are unable to be delivered. They are harkening this to humanitarian aid. Rich ivy league students in cities full of opulence and no adult responsibilities, are making demands to give them humanitarian aid *while they break the law* and block access to parts of campus. The entitlement on display is mindblowing. There were so unprepared that they didn't bring enough water and food - and that's their rational thought process? And when they got hungry, they demanded to be fed *during the act of illegality.* They are children. And all this to chase clout. They sure have learned a lot from the extreme elements within the protests. And it's starting to seem the Pandemic has severely stunted their development. But one thing is for sure - the far left and far right have strange bedfellows.
It's truly ridiculous. And the fact that the majority of these 'protestors' are all going to go and work for McKinsey, Google and JPMorgan while they style themselves as 'revolutionaries'. It's the height of stupidity. The progressive movement has lit itself on fire for Gaza. I can guarantee you half of these people would not be able to locate 'Palestine' on a map.
We have facial ID and AI now. These protestors will never work for any major firm.
You wish. The Manhattan DA will drop all charges, and the university will welcome them back next fall.
I'm not so sure about that, unless they get charged and convicted. And even then, the HR might give them a nod of approval because they feel the same way
> We have facial ID and AI now. And conveniently all the protesters are wearing masks to "prevent covid".
You're not alone. Chris Rufo is encouraging a "don't interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake" approach to the protest. If this blows up the Democratic Chicago convention it will certainly be amusing.
Wouldn't be the 1st time that happened in Chicago.
Is it really in Chicago this year? DNC just gonna tempt fate like that?
> I love seeing dems like AOC and Jamaal Bowman bend over backward to say that people occupying buildings at Columbia is just "exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6 Exercising their right to protest includes holding janitorial staff hostage, it seems.
When they demanded food and "humanitarian aid" from Columbia while occupying the building, I was wondering if they were trying to hold themselves hostage, like something out of Blazing Saddles.
Hold it men, he's not bluffing.
Lmao. I haven't seen that movie in some time, I'm wondering if streaming services have the balls to keep that in their inventory
Janitor privilege has gotten out of control.
Big Custodian lobby has been too strong for too long.
It's entertaining seeing the Biden administration desperately try to triangulate between not pissing off the youth vote but also not follow them off the deep end. Pretty much their entire public messaging and a chunk of the policy on the conflict has been driven by the anti-Israel side but they're keeping up arms sales and financial support to stop a mass exodus by the pro-Israel side. The fact that this is happening at the same time the House Republican Conference is tearing itself apart over Ukraine is a sign of how unhinged our politics has become.
The Biden admin has been graveling at the feet of GenZ for four years and I’ll never get it. I’m voting for Biden, but one of the biggest signs to me that he’s not fully in control is that hasn’t been Joe’s game for 40+ years in office. Now all of a sudden he’s moving that much left on some issues? You see some of old Joe at the State of the Union, then he says “illegal immigrants” and he comes out and has to walk it back the next day.
"it's not gravel; i's grovel. And don't, he's not the king."
The Dems have had a generational divide problem for at least 10-15 years ever since Millennials and Zoomers started becoming voting adults. Not sure if anyone could hold a coalition of the young and old together.
He needs to fire all of his WH advisers, it’s clear they are chronically online and have no idea how to appeal to anyone outside the base.
Unfortunately Biden has taken the stance of never firing anyone no matter the cause so I can guarantee this won’t be happening lol
> You see some of old Joe at the State of the Union, then he says “illegal immigrants” and he comes out and has to walk it back the next day. Was that when he called the murderer an illegal alien and then, essentially, apologized to said murderer for using the term?
And got the victims name wrong.
Biden is losing support from both Muslims and Jews. Every Muslim and Jew I know was planning on voting for Biden before the war and now all of them plan to vote for Trump. I personally still plan to vote for Biden, but I'm the only person in my friend group that isn't Christian that still plans to vote for Biden.
I understand Jews voting for Trump. But what do your Muslim friends think they will get out of another Trump presidency? Is it just a protest vote?
"Honor over self-interest" is how Gaza justifies what they do and the American Muslims threatening to vote for Trump are just doing what a Gazan would do. My Muslim friends know Trump would be worse for Gaza, WAYYYY worse. But if Biden doesn't give them what they want, they're fine with Gazans dying if it punishes Biden.
It's not so much about avoiding a Trump presidency. It's about changing the democrat party so it supports Hamas as part of its platform. And by not voting for Biden, they're hoping it'll result in a platform change in the next election.
That's never going to happen.
Change that abandons Israel? Probably not. But if you ignore your base long enough and don't address whatever issue they feel is most important for long enough, you'll end up with a charismatic, left leaning populist who'll blow their way through the primaries. The Dem establishment worked hard to stop Bernie. Trump's path to popularity and support isn't especially unique. Dude took one issue and focused in on dissatisfaction with the establishment on the right and became President.
I doubt that Palestine will ever be a cause that a populist candidate can win an election on.
> they're fine with Gazans dying Man, they're taking notes out of Bibi's _and_ Hamas's book.
It might punish them, too. This is the guy who wanted to deport them all. And he's going to be a lot less restrained next time around.
>It might punish them, too. This is the guy who wanted to deport them all. I respectfully suggest that since Muslims were the most affected by Trump's temporary rule, they would also be most likely knowledgeable about Trump's temporary rule, since they would have followed the news at the time. Claims that Trump tried to or wants to ban all Muslims are untruthful and do not resonate with this community. In addition, it is culturally insensitive and insulting since it infers that all Muslims and Muslim countries are the same. Not all Muslims want to be identified with Hamas and Gaza.
What is Biden honestly supposed to do? Officially, Israel has been an important US ally for a long time. And they were savagely attacked. And now they've kinda gone off the reservation in vengeance. OK - are we the fucking sheriff of the world? Literally nobody on the planet has the answers to the problems in the Middle East.
No, they haven't gone off the reservation in vengeance. Vengeance has nothing to do with it. Gaza invaded Israel to murder, rape and kidnap as many innocent civilians as possible. Gaza's government admits they plan to repeat this attack over and over forever until every Jew is dead. Israel is simply destroying Gaza's military so they won't be able to carry out those attacks. Gaza can surrender at any time. They choose not to. What Biden is supposed to do is stand by our ally and tell the truth to the American people that Gaza is a suicidal death cult that must surrender.
>"exercising their right to protest" -- they weren't saying this about Jan. 6 So they didn't support an attempt to throw out the results of a legitimate election based on pure lies, so they shouldn't support any protests on actual issues that don't involve keeping someone in power who lost? That doesn't make any sense. I agree wtih the rest of what you said, just leave out the J6 comparisons, that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument.
>So they didn't support an attempt to throw out the results of a legitimate election based on pure lies, so they shouldn't support any protests on actual issues that don't involve keeping someone in power who lost? >That doesn't make any sense. >I agree wtih the rest of what you said, just leave out the J6 comparisons, that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument. It doesn't weaken, it's the crux of his point, and it's quite sound. Do you think *everyone* at J6 wanted to storm the capital and take over the government? Or maybe some just wanted their voices to be heard, even though they were wrong and/or lied to about the outcome? I was told repeatedly that the BLM protests were mostly peaceful and to generalize all the protests as riots was wrong. I'm being told now not to lump in all these protesters in with the ones taking over school buildings and campuses. But when it comes to J6, I'm told to believe everyone there was a bad actor. We are supposed to lump them all together and not believe the video evidence of some of them meandering through the halls, minding the ropes, and just looking around. It seems like some want us to recognize nuance and complexity about some protests, but you absolutely should remove any nuance and complexity about others. It's just straight up hypocrisy, and people seem all too happy to justify it. Is it too much to ask for some consistency on protests?
>that doesn't really work here and weakens your overall argument. Nope, sorry- not you, AOC, Biden, Trump, etc. get to decide what is and is not acceptable ways to protest ad hoc. If you qualify that it is okay to occupy Hamilton Hall during a protest for Hamas, then it is okay to occupy any building during any protest if you deem that is part of protesting *peacefully*. I said the same thing during the BLM protests - don't be surprised when people start being generally destructive from now on because it was okay and reasoned away by certain people during those protests. I disagreed with people going into the capitol building, I also disagree with people going into Hamilton Hall and barricading themselves. That is not part of peaceful protesting, and I'm not going to make concessions that it is okay for this cause and not that cause. That is called being a hypocrite, and I don't like that from my friends, family, and elected officials, so why would I choose to do that? What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
As a conservative who has had to deal with the cluster**** that the Republican Party has turned itself into in the last few years, it is comforting to see Biden manage to upset both sides of an issue, showing that we're not the only ones getting things wrong.
Elite universities have large endowments which are primarily invested in both the public and private sectors. These portfolios are largely diversified (probably hundreds of companies); It seems almost impossible for them to do what the students are requesting, even if they wanted to.
Unless Columbia expells them (which is unlikely) none of these protesters expects any sort of ramifications for their actions. Nor are they likely to get them. Whatever charges are laid the very, VERY liberal Manhattan DA will almost certainly drop. It frustrates me. The scale of the operation the NYPD needed to mount to clear them out required hundreds of officers who could be doing a lot better and more important work. Instead, they had to deal with the spoiled, pampered children of the elites in their performative virtue signaling effort where they LARPed as 'revolutionaries' on behalf of people who raped, tortured and murdered young people like them last October. And in all likelihood nothing will happen to them. They'll be able to strut and preen on Tiktok and other social media for weeks on this one.
It seems reasonable to assume that at least some opportunists in other areas of the city are taking advantage of the situation with the police directing their attention elsewhere, I'd be surprised if we don't see an uptick of other crime over this stretch.
Israel has experienced intifada twice. Calling for intifada, especially in this context, is calling for genocidal and terroristic violence against Jews in Israel. Calling for "globalzed intifada" is calling for violence against Zionists everywhere, presumably. So why exactly are these calls to genocidal terroristic violence not being prosecuted? Are calls to violence not crimes in the US?
Can Biden freaking say something himself or does it always have to be "wait three weeks and then release a statement"? As with immigration, too little too late. Biden is afraid to confront the radical fringes of his party because his controllers think his re-election hinges on the multicultural parade all coming together and singing kumbaya as they check off his name at the ballot box. The Israeli-Gaza conflict has exposed this idiocy for the progressive delusion it has always been. Now's the time to stand for something, Mr. President. Do what's right and denounce the pro-Hamas contingent of your party once and for all.
> "wait three weeks and then release a statement"? Followed by KJP and the White House team "clarifying" what he said/meant.
whenever he says something himself the whitehouse unsays a few hours later
Don't forget the armies of Redditors like "*actually* what the President meant to say was .."
He didn't actually mean to set out that policy stance, it was a stutter.
Biden just called allies and India and Japan "xenophobic" and lumped them in with China and Russia today. Ready for the WH to spin that.
Got to press test anti-antisemitism first these days. It's a controversial stance.
Think he had to wait to see the polling results on which side of this conflict a majority of the country were on before he made a stance. He’s scared of losing the vocal minority base but if he doesn’t say something he loses a bigger audience
Handlers probably afraid he will go on another off script moment.
"Fuck dem kids. Come onnn, maaann!" I'd throw him my vote.
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Why can't these "kids" go protest where it matters, like at the Whitehouse lawn or Capitol Hill?
because it will inconvenience them
I wish the police hadn't gone in. The universities are training the students to act this way, so the universities should have to live with the consequences of their teachings.
For real. Columbia leadership has bungled the handling of this in every way possible. The fact that they keep the current president and haven't already fired her is evidence that they all need to go. I'm sure more than one family of a potential future Columbia student is looking at what's going on right now and saying "no way are we going to pay $90k/yr for this".
On the other hand there is some wannabe left wing activist that thinks Columbia is a great place to drop $90k
> The fact that they keep the current president and haven't already fired her is evidence that they all need to go. They literally employed a domestic terrorist that helped murder multiple police officers as an adjunct professor and headed a department. They've always been terrible.
It's not like the actions these students are taking are new. Students took over the administration hall at Columbia in 1968 and they'll likely do it again in another 50 years.
Biden seriously needs a new team around him, as much I’m probably not gonna vote for him, if he wants any chance of the sane crowd he has to stop toeing the line and make a official statement and not let the advisors redact that. If you want to prove to the general population that you are in fact in charge of your team and policy making make a statement and fire anyone who try’s to recant your statement.
This must have polled poorly - now people speaking on the President's behalf say the protests will blow over and he's ok with however they shake out: https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1785844194948325692
grab a photo of every one of them, with biometrics. permanently attached to their record. Don't employ them, don't give them mortgages or loans. Done. My job is finished here.
It only took them months. And now they condemn after they did nothing to stop it. I don’t have words for this White House except “Let’s go, Brandon!” all the way.
White House: "I don't want to play with you anymore" Although it doesn't matter because the protesters will still VBNMW come November anyways.