That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "This is CNN?" and it went up yesterday. And I looked the guy up and he does look like one of the guys in Kid 'N Play. Perfect call!
Now for a topic we noted earlier this week in "Kristi Dog Killer Noem" which also noted this:
That's the group post on Noem that Wally, Betty, Isaiah, C.I., Cedric and I did Monday night on killer Kristi Noem.
When the news of Kristi Noem shooting her puppy -- dead,
shooting it dead, and on purpose, not an accident -- emerged, I think we
all knew it was only a matter of time before Mitt Romney weighed in.
The former governor and current US senator was in the news constantly in
2012 due to his dog Seamus. Sarah Fortensky (THE HILL) reports:
Sen.
Mitt Romney (R-Utah) pushed back on comparisons between the politically
damaging dog stories that plagued both his and South Dakota Gov. Kristi
Noem’s (R) potential bids for the White House.
During
Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, a decades-old story about him
tying his dog Seamus to the roof of his car on a family road trip became
a political headache for the then-Republican candidate for the White
House.
Now, more than a decade later, Noem faces a similar political firestorm that could doom her chances of being selected as former President Trump’s running mate in 2024. But Romney rejected the correlation.
“I didn’t eat my dog. I didn’t shoot my dog,” Romney said Tuesday in an interview with HuffPost. “I loved my dog, and my dog loved me.”
During his presidential campaign, the outgoing senator defended his decision to
strap his dog’s kennel to the roof of his car during a 12-hour road
trip to Canada in 1983, despite the Irish setter suffering from
diarrhea.
“This
is a completely airtight kennel and mounted on the top of our car,”
Romney told Fox News at the time. “He climbed up there regularly,
enjoyed himself. He was in a kennel at home, a great deal of time as
well. We loved the dog. It was where he was comfortable, and we had five
kids inside the car.”
I
am offended by a dog being in a kennel strapped to the top of a car for
12 hours. I am offended by it. I wouldn't do that to my dog. But he
is right that it is not the same as shooting a dog. I'm sure many
families that travel with pets would have done what Mitt did. And,
again, it is not the same as killing the dog.
I don't know how Noem has not been charged in this yet. She shot a puppy. Intending to kill it. And she did.
She thinks it's a sign that she make tough decisions.
Noem answered her critics in an April 26 X post,
sharing the Guardian article and writing, "We love animals, but tough
decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to
put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25
years."
Again,
I think their 'findings' are wrong and can go into that but I'm just
noting them, PolitiFact, for the above. So she's shot dead a goat and a puppy. Now
she's bragging she put down 3 horses? Does no one see this woman as a
sicko?
I grew up with
horses. In fact, three. Simaron, Leige and Moore (registered quarter
horses -- which explains the spelling of the names, by the way -- we bought Moore and she was already named -- we spelled the other two that way to be able to register them). Moore was the mother of the other two. My point? Moore died
first, natural causes. Leige was next, probably three years later, and
died at the age of ten due to a disease that made his lungs fill with
liquid -- I remember my dad having to stand out there with the vet
putting a hose through Leige's nose and down on inside him and my dad
had to wait out there for all the liquid to drain. This was taking
place once a week. Then it became twice a week and then the vet said it
wasn't worth it to Leige because it was going to be daily since he
wasn't getting better. So Leige was put down. Simaron is still around,
alive and kicking.
But here's my thing. A few weeks ago? She put down a horse? Okay, maybe the horse was sick. Three horses?
Seems like she just hates animals.
If
I'd gone to school and told my classmates, we put down three horses
yesterday, they would have looked at me like, "Huh?" I don't care if
she had 10 horses or 20. Putting three down a few weeks ago is not
normal. Did they get sleeping sickness? If they were sick and it was
something else is it her responsibility as the owner? By that I mean,
were those horses not taken proper care of and as a result they got
sick? (Sleeping sickness usually comes from a mosquito bite. Clearly,
that's not her fault if they had something like that. But there are
diseases horses get that are preventable and that's why I'm asking if
the horses were properly cared for.)
I
grew up with animals. They do get sick. We never shot an animal
dead. We weren't cheap like Noem is. We dealt with death in a humane
and loving manner.
In the
PolitiFact nonsense, someone says that it may have been legal because
the law allows them to kill a dog because it was attacking chickens.
No, it had attacked chickens. She brags about a second location --
remember John Mulaney's joke about second locations -- where she took
the dog and killed it. It was no longer attacking. More to the point, a
fourteen year old puppy is going to attack chickens and she's the one
responsible because she's got the dog in the back of a truck and stops
to chat with someone when the puppy sees the chickens and hops out and
goes after them.
So maybe she should have gone alone to "the gravel pit" and shot herself.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, May 2, 2024. The attacks on students in the US continue and
are cheered on by the likes of Donald Trump and MORNING JOE.
We
have to start with the political crazy first since US politicians and
their insanity are at the heart of so many problems around the world..
Robert Kennedy
Junior is back in the news as he makes a fool of himself yet again. The
presidential election is in November. And Junior wants to play LET'S
MAKE A DEAL: CELEBRITY EDITION with Joe Biden.
USA TODAY's Rachel Barber reports that Junior has a plan. So, right away, we all know it's crackpot and insane. Barber explains:
Independent
presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed to take a
"no-spoiler" pledge with President Joe Biden at a campaign event in New
York Wednesday, as he feuds with former President Donald Trump.
The
pledge, as he laid out, would have Kennedy and Biden co-fund a 50-state
poll of more than 30,000 people in mid-October that would pit each of
them against Trump in a two-man race and agreeing to drop out of the
presidential race if they lose.
After
presenting results from a campaign-commissioned poll that showed
scenarios where he could win against both Biden and Trump in separate
head-to-head races, Kennedy alleged Biden is the "spoiler" in the race, not him.
There is so much that is wrong with that. It's difficult to know where to start.
Let's say Joe was as crazy as Junior and agreed to that, okay?
Legally, Joe could announce he was out if he came in second to Junior.
That
would not drop to a two-person race -- Junior versus Donald. The
Democratic Party would find another nominee. The same is true if Joe
dropped dead tomorrow or next week decided he was finally sick of
politics and dropped out. Joe can leave at anytime he wants; however,
the Democratic Party retains a spot on the ballot. Remember that, they
retain a spot on the ballot. And, yes, the party would fill that spot.
This
is not complex. We're not getting into the weeds of Constitutional law
with this. It's basic. And Junior's an attorney, remember that. So
we might be wasting our time on another cheap publicity stunt from an
aged carny barker. But let's just continue this for a bit more. In the
nutso world Junior lives in, if Joe were to accept this challenge and
the Democratic Party were to waive any objections, the deal would still
make no sense.
Junior's
claiming voters will turn out for him. He can claim that all he wants.
But there's no proof of that. Even in the polling, he's not ahead of
Joe Biden. But more to the point, he's never been in an election. Well
the Libertarian Party's California primary. I guess we can count
that. 96 votes were cast and he was the big high profile name. How
many votes did he get?
45? That would have been a good showing. But, no, he didn't get forty-five or forty or thirty-five or . . .
One. Out of 96 votes cast, he got one vote.
One.
People
say a lot -- especially months ahead of an election. Doesn't translate
into actual votes all the time. He has never faced an election before
so this notion that Joe's his spoiler is laughable.
Equally
true, ballot access. Joe Biden cannot give Junior's his own ballot
access. That's not Joe's to give. The Democratic Party appears on
those ballots because they met all the requirements.
Junior?
The
only thing tinier than his penis may be his ballot access. According
to his campaign, he has qualified for ballot access in the states of . .
. New Hampshire, Michigan and California. That would be great . . .
if the United States only had 3 states. Yesterday, there was an article
about Junior's efforts to get on the ballot in Texas and how time was
running out. Time may not be his only problem. For example? I hope
the people mentioned did not sign the petition because more than one is
not registered to vote. That's not registered in Montgomery County or
Harris County, I'll forward the names to a friend at the DNC. Oh well,
he doesn't need valid signatures from registered voters to be a
write-in. His name won't be on the ballot but he can be a write-in. As
long as he gets that paperwork filed and accepted by the end of August.
The joke that is Junior.
Crazy
men and crazy women -- as Stevie Nicks sings. And you can't talk crazy
for very long before the name Donald Trump pops up. This will actually
lead us into Gaza.
Jacob Miller (TRENDY DIGEST) reports:
Donald
Trump has recently drawn a provocative comparison between Columbia
University student protests and the violent January 6 Capitol riot,
suggesting a disparity in the treatment of left-wing versus right-wing
demonstrators. His remarks arrive while he navigates multiple felony
charges and amid his pursuit to recapture the presidency, amplifying his
long-standing narrative of political victimization.
Speaking
outside a Manhattan courtroom, Trump emphasized the scale of the campus
unrest, stating, “They took over a building. That is a big deal.” He
then pondered whether the students would “be anything comparable to what
happened to J6,” referring to the Capitol riot perpetrators as victims
of an unfair justice system. This juxtaposition comes despite the
Columbia protests—centered on pro-Palestinian sentiments and demanding a
ceasefire and university divestment from Israel—not posing the same
threat to democracy as the Capitol riot, which aimed to overturn the
2020 election results.
There is a world of difference between peaceful protests and the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021.
And for any drive-by whiners, I'm not in the mood.
I
don't like Donald Trump. I have never liked him. (I don't think he
likes me either -- yet if we were in the same room, I'd have to walk
away from him because, based on previous experiences, he would attempt
to talk to me and I don't talk to people like that.) That was known
online years and years before he ran for president. Because I don't
like him, I try to make very sure I'm fair to him.
What this has to do with insurrection?
I
didn't rush to screaming the t-word (that carries the death penalty) or
rush to judgement. I did not label it an insurrection at the start. I
said it was a rebellion for sure but that further evidence would be
required to call it an insurrection. I think Congress did a horrible
job in their impeachment. They were too worried about selling and
marketing and not at all bothered by the actual laws -- some of which
they didn't even cite -- that Donald Trump broke. It was not until the
cases in various states resulted in prosecutors making arguments and
presenting evidence that I was comfortable using the term insurrection.
That's
what it was. It was an attempted insurrection, an attempt to overthrow
the government. And I waited until I had something more than the word
of Adam Schiff (who I'll apparently be voting for since mafia queen
Nancy Pelosi gave him her stamp of approval) was presented as evidence.
The
mob was supposed to attack the halls of Congress. It did. Shame on
everyone of them and they should all face lengthy prison sentences and
be thankful for those sentences because they could have been put to
death.
The attack was supposed to create a panic among the public.
This
might be confusing to some. It's not hard to instill a panic in the
American people. FOX "NEWS" instills a panic in their viewers pretty
much daily. But if you can remember 2000, think back to the election
that year. There was more than enough time for a real recount. But the
media began the hysteria -- that's the corporate media and not just FOX
"NEWS" -- some of that was due to the need for drama because without
drama you don't have a newscast.
But they were hoping for something similar.
Which
is another reason I didn't join in on all the "OMG!!!! The country is
falling apart!!!!" Or because I'm cold person, you can say that. As I
noted and stressed during that, the system held. That's the message you
need to put out repeatedly during times of crisis. And you'll rarely
ever hear propagandists who use fear to influence people make that
statement.
But the hysteria
was supposed to build -- ideally on that same day -- and this would
force 'action.' Which means this would force compromise and, I'm sorry,
maybe you're new to this country but when they say "compromise" they
really mean: Democrats fold.
The hysteria was supposed to result in Donald getting a second term as president.
Of
course, it's a criminal offense. No, there is no immunity from it and
that will be true even if the crooks on the Supreme Court break the law
again to give Donald what he wants. There is no immunity for anyone --
let alone a sitting president -- attempting a coup against the nation.
No.
There's not.
The
students across America have not launched a coup against the United
States. And if some idiot's screaming "insurrectionist!" at them, I'm
worried not only about the idiot's grasp of reality but also about their
loyalty because Israel is not our government in the US. Now maybe
you've got some divided loyalties like Dana Bash on CNN (as evidenced by
her participation in roundtables where she fails to disclose as
required and where she repeats obvious lies). Could be. But students
in the US protesting Israel are not attempting an insurrection.
Possibly
all those years of bad hair dye have resulted in chemical damage to
Donald Trump's brain. Or are we all pretending that 77-year-old man has
naturally strawberry blond hair at his age?
They
were peaceful protests and they were not attempting to destroy
democracy. They were an example of a living democracy. Do not confuse
nor conflate them with the attempt to overturn an election and carry out
a coup against the United States.
And as Kyle noted on yesterday's SECULAR TALK, the MORNING JOE squad was echoing Donald.
Oh,
look, it's the raccoon eyed Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski Scarborough.
You know, who looks at you and asks, "What the hell is going on?"
Mika? The whole educated world knows your trash bag father started the
Afghanistan War with the ha-ha of dragging Russia into it and we all
know how that ended in the 21st century. Your trash bag father who was a
joke and an idiot and Jody Powell used to laugh about him -- as did
pretty much anyone who ever encountered him. Cigar bombs!!!! His freatk
out over that was especially a source of mockery.
So
between that and the fact that your face is packing on pounds, you
might be a little hesitant in the future before stepping on camera to
slam the students with one of your lies comparing them to the
insurrectionists.
And we should all remember
that when Donald Trump made fun of Mika and her plastic surgery, Joe and
Mika turned on him. However, prior to that point MORNING JOE was
pretty much campaign central for Donald Trump and, more than any other
talk show, is responsible for getting Donald into the White House.
So that moral ground that you think you're standing on, Mika, it doesn't exist.
But
if you need to feel better, Jody told me all about the hookers your dad
went through during the Carter administration and I will be happy to go
through all of his kinks if that'll help you feel less trashy yourself
-- knowing dad was a bigger whore than you are might make you sleep
better. We can even talk about the women who weren't hookers that he
abused. Would that help you? Daughter of a political Harvey Weinstein?
Oh, Harvey. E-mails on that so since I brought him up . . .
He's
guilty as sin. He's getting a retrial in NY. E-mails want me sounding
off about that. Are you new to this site? No, I'm not going to argue
that if misconduct took place we ignore it. It's always been the
position that better one guilty person go free than a prosecutorial
misconduct be tolerated. This is not a new opinion at this site, this
an opinion instilled in me decades ago in Constitutional law courses.
He's
guilty as sin. That doesn't justify a prosecutor overstepping. If
that happened a retrial takes place. It's a core belief of the law.
Am
I dancing in the streets over it? No. I'm also not tearing my hair
out over it. And his California conviction remains. Since we're
mentioning him, a recent book tells you that Harvey exhausted the
entertainment community. Interesting. I'm not promoting the book
because I don't like liars. The book wants act like this was known and
discussed in the media in real time.
No, it
was not. We did discuss it here. We discussed it here repeatedly. And
had to in 2013 when certain 'leftists' were part of one of his attack
campaigns. Blood sport. That's what I repeatedly said here. He'd
turned the Academy Awards into a blood sport. He'd angered too many
people. I'm glad a new book can talk about some of that -- all these
years later -- I just don't care for the pretense that this was being
discussed in the press before his downfall when it wasn't and when 2013
saw a lot of 'lefties' take his money to clear the field for him in the
Academy Awards.
Let's get back on track. From DEMOCRACY NOW!'s headlines yesterday.
AMY GOODMAN: New York
police in riot gear raided the campuses of Columbia University and the
City College of New York Tuesday night, arresting more than 200 student
protesters in the latest crackdown on peaceful Palestine solidarity
protests on U.S campuses. Over the past two weeks, police in the United
States have arrested more than 1,200 protesters on college campuses as
students set up encampments calling on schools to divest from Israel.
The raid on Columbia came less than 24 hours after students occupied
Hamilton Hall. It was 56 years to the day after police stormed the same
hall during the historic 1968 protests at Columbia. On Tuesday night,
police climbed into the barricaded building using a ladder attached to a
police vehicle.
Protesters: “Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on
you! Let the students go! Let the students go! We hear you! We love you
and support you! Free, free Palestine!”
During the raid on the Columbia campus, the New York police also
broke up the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which had inspired similar
encampments across the country. Columbia President Minouche Shafik has
asked the NYPD to “retain a presence on campus
through at least May 17, 2024” — two days after graduation. On Tuesday,
faculty at Barnard College, which is part of Columbia, overwhelmingly
passed a vote of no confidence for President Laura Rosenbury.
In
California, pro-Israel counterprotesters armed with sticks and metal
rods attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus of UCLA
shortly after UCLA’s chancellor ruled the encampment was unlawful.
Pro-Israel counterprotesters launched fireworks at the encampment, which
they tried to tear down.
In Richmond,
Virginia, police deployed pepper spray on student protesters at
Virginia Commonwealth University. At least 13 arrests were reported.
In Louisiana, a police SWAT team raided an
encampment at Tulane University early this morning, arresting at least
14 students. The raid came hours after the school suspended five
students and the school’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.
In Missouri, a history professor was hospitalized Saturday after
police violently threw him to the pavement. Steve Tamari, who teaches at
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, was filming a protest at
Washington University on his phone when he was attacked. His wife,
Sandra Tamari, who is Palestinian American, was arrested during the same
protest.
Meanwhile, at Brown University, student protesters have voluntarily
ended their encampment after school officials agreed to hold a vote on
divesting from Israel.
On Tuesday, the United Nations criticized the police crackdown on
student protests. This is Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the U.N.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Marta Hurtado: “We are troubled by a series of
heavy-handed steps taken to disperse and dismantle protests across
university campuses in the United States of America. Freedom of
expression and the right to peaceful assembly are fundamental to
society, particularly when there is a sharp disagreement on major
issues, as there are in relation to the conflict in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory and Israel.”
This
is the violence that Mika is justifying, the violence she won't see,
while she whines about peaceful protests being allowed in this
country.
Body camera footage published by the New York Police
Department and exclusive footage obtained by CNN shows the use of stun
grenades—colloquially known as “flashbangs”—against protesters and
provides insight into scenes inside occupied Hamilton Hall during the
Tuesday police sweep that resulted in 109 arrests.
The
CNN footage depicts the NYPD officers’ use of roughly nine stun
grenades—which flash blinding light and make a loud explosive noise to
disorient individuals—on their way into the barricaded building preceded
by one officer saying “let’s deploy a flash bang.” The footage also
appears to show an officer shoving a protester to the ground upon entry.
CNN reported that it took officers six minutes and 40 seconds to breach the barricades during the sweep.
The NYPD footage
shows officers strategizing in advance of the sweep, looking at images
of campus and Hamilton Hall on a television screen. Officers broke a
window and used an electric saw to enter the building. Once inside,
police pried open doors to classrooms that appeared to have been locked,
where demonstrators had set up sleeping bags and stockpiled supplies,
while holding shields and drawing their guns.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
(D-N.Y.), who both visited the encampment on Friday, condemned the “guns
being drawn on peaceful protesters at Columbia University.”
“And
for what? Simply exercising their First Amendment rights to peacefully
assemble as they protest the collective punishment and murder of
civilians in Gaza,” Brown said in a speech on the House floor that was
posted to X on Wednesday. “Are we in a police state or is this a
democracy? We must stand with our young people.”
Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that if “any kid is hurt tonight” the responsibility will fall on the Mayor and university presidents.
“Other
leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the
opposite of leadership and endangers public safety. A nightmare in the
making,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “I urge the Mayor to reverse course.”
And
let's get an expert opinion in here because there is an expert, Juan
Gonzalez. An award winning journalist (two-time George Polk Award
winner, among other accolades) and someone involved in the 1968 Columbia
action as a student. From
yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW!
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. And it’s Juan we’re going to turn to next.
The massive police raid on Columbia University last night came 56
years to the day after a similar raid by police quashing an occupation,
or attempting to, of Hamilton Hall by students protesting racism and the
Vietnam War. A week into the historic 1968 student strike, on April
30th, New York City police stormed the campus. Hundreds of students were
injured, 700 arrested. The campus newspaper the Columbia Spectator’s headline read, in part, “Violent Solution Follows Failure at Negotiations.”
Juan, you were there. Juan González, you were a leader of the
Columbia revolt. You were one of the founders of the New York chapter of
Young Lords. Yesterday we played archival clips of you and the other
students taking over Hamilton Hall. What were your thoughts as you
watched what happened with the student takeover and then the police
raid?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Amy, I
think the similarities are really amazing in terms of the persistence
of these students, the issues around which they were fighting, this
opposition to a genocidal war occurring in Gaza.
And, you know, I was struck especially by the stands of these
university presidents, not only at Columbia and Barnard, but also across
the country. You know, the great Chris Hedges, I think, said it best,
when he talked recently about the moral bankruptcy of these presidents
of these universities who are condemning disruptions of the business as
usual at the universities, while every single president of an American
university has been silent about the massive destruction of universities
in Gaza and of high schools and schools in Gaza by the Israeli army.
They are silent about what is occurring in education in another country,
another part of the world, financed by the United States.
So, I think that the importance to me in terms of the similarities
are the students understand that at times you must disrupt business as
usual to focus the attention of the public on a glaring injustice. And I
think that’s exactly what they’ve been able to do. The entire country
today knows what divestment means, what divestment means from the
Israeli government and the Israeli military, whereas, before, this issue
was on the margins of political debate. No commencement in America will
occur in the next month where the war in Gaza is not a burning issue,
either outside with the protesters or inside in the speeches and
presentations. So I think that the students have managed to focus the
entire attention of the country on an unjust war.
I don’t see how President Shafik survives. Many of these presidents
across the country are going to be known not for whatever they
accomplished previously, but they are going to be known throughout the
rest of their lives as being the people who brought the police in to
crush students who were maintaining a moral position of opposition to
genocide.
So, I think the students are going to carry — those who were arrested
are going to carry this badge of courage, as opposed to this profile of
cowardice of the university presidents that dare to try to suspend or
expel them. And the students’ lives have been changed forever — and, I
think, for the best — in terms of the importance of dissent and
opposition to injustice.
AMY GOODMAN:
Juan, I wanted to go back to 1968, the student strike, students
occupying five buildings, including the president’s office in Low
Library, barricading themselves inside for days, students protesting
Columbia’s ties to military research and plans to build a university
gymnasium in a public park in Harlem. They called it Gym — G-Y-M — Crow.
I want to go to a clip of you from the Pacifica Radio Archives, then a
Columbia student, speaking right — it was before the raid, during the
strike.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now we want
to go into the dorms with all of you, with some of you who may not —
who may not agree with a lot of what we’ve been saying here, who have
questions, who support us, who want to know more. Let’s go to the dorms.
Let’s talk quietly, in small groups. We’ll be there, and everyone in
Livingston — in Livingston lobby, in Furnald lobby, in Carman lobby.
We’ll be there, and we’ll talk about the issues involved, and we’ll talk
about where this country is going and where this university is going
and what it’s doing in the society and what we would like it to do and
what we would — and how we would like to exchange with you our ideas
over it. Come join us now.
AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Democracy Now!
co-host Juan González when he was a student at Columbia University in
1968. It was before the police raid. Juan, tell us what happened after
the police raid of Hamilton Hall, as they did last night of Hamilton
Hall, 700 arrests. In fact, Juan, you only recently graduated from
Columbia. This is the 56th anniversary. What was it, 50 years later, a
dean at Columbia said, “Please, we need you as a graduate”?
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: No,
actually, it was 30 years later they gave me my degree, because I was a
senior then. I was supposed to graduate that year. And, you know,
amazingly, being suspended from college is not a big deal. You know, it
only delays your career a little bit, and I think you gain more
sometimes if you were suspended for the right reason. So I don’t think
that that’s a big issue.
But I want to raise something else about these protests that I think
people — I’ve seen little attention to. Back in the '60s, most of the
student protests were led either by Black students who were in Black
student organizations or white students. I was one of the few Latinos at
Columbia at the time. And today, these student protests are multiracial
and largely led by Palestinian and Muslim and Arab students. This is a
marked change in the actual composition of the American university that
we're seeing in terms of the leadership of these movements. And I think
the willingness of these administrations to crack down so fiercely
against this protest is, to some degree, they find it easier to crack
down on Black and Brown and multiracial students than they did back
then, when it was largely a white student population. And they always
figured out a way to rescind the suspensions or get the students their
degrees, because they saw them as part of them. Now, I think, they’re
seeing these student protests as part of the other, and they are much
more willing to crack down than they have been in the past. And I think
it’s important to raise that and to understand what is going on in terms
of the changing demographics of the American college student
population.
AMY GOODMAN:
Well, Juan, thanks so much for being with us today and co-hosting. Juan
González, student leader of the 1968 Columbia revolt, one of the
leading journalists today in the United States.
Coming up, it’s May Day. We go to the University of Southern California, what is the labor union and worker movement, how it links to Gaza solidarity. Back in 20 seconds.
It began with ear-piercing screams of wailing babies loudly emitting from speakers.
Counter-protesters tearing down the barricades. Laser pointers
flashing into the encampment. People in masks waving strobe lights.
Tear gas. Pepper spray. Violent beatings.
Fireworks sparked at the border of the encampment, raining down on tents and the individuals inside.
At around 5 p.m. yesterday, Chancellor Gene Block sent an email to
the UCLA student body claiming that security presence in the area had
been increased. That was not visible in the midst of escalating
violence. And even with the security present, there was no mediation far
into the night.
UC President Michael Drake expressed support for Block’s decision to declare the encampment “unlawful”
Tuesday evening, adding that action was needed when the safety of
students was being threatened. And yet, in spite of official statements
from the university and the UC, we witness little being done on the
university’s part to ensure the protection of students who exercise
their rights.
The grassy expanse of the University of Queensland’s Great
Court has long been the center of student life at the Australian state’s
biggest university.
Now it’s a gathering point for rival camps pitched around
100 meters (328 feet) from each other – one populated by supporters of
the Students for Palestine UQ, and another smaller cluster of tents with
the Israeli flag among others strung between trees.
These camps are among protest sites at seven universities
around Australia – from Melbourne and Sydney in the country’s southeast,
to Adelaide in its center, and Perth along the western coast.
Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications,
released a statement at 12:40 a.m. acknowledging the violence, adding
that the fire department and medical personnel were involved.
“We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end,” Osako said.
This came after a source in the encampment told the Daily Bruin that at least five protestors have been injured.
But for hours, UCLA administration stood by and watched as the
violence escalated. LAPD did not arrive on the scene until slightly
after 1 a.m. – once Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass sent them in for
assistance at Block’s request.
Daily Bruin reporters on the scene were slapped and indirectly
sprayed with irritants. Despite also being students, they were offered
no protection.
The world is watching. As helicopters fly over Royce Hall, we have a question.
Will someone have to die on our campus tonight for you to intervene, Gene Block?
The blood would be on your hands.
Exactly.
And these students are standing up for the people of Gaza, civilians
being injured and killed. Over 14,000 children so far being killed.
And the US government does nothing and Secretary of State Antony Blinken
is working on the same 'cease-fire' he worked on throughout April with
no results. The Israeli government is chomping at the bit to attack
Rafah fully -- they're already attacking Rafah and have been but the
White House and the media pretend it's not happening yet.
ALJAZEERA reports this morning:
- After several hours of standoff, police have moved in on the UCLA campus to clear a pro-Palestine encampment.
- Officers in riot gear have used flashbangs, removed barricades and arrested a number of protesters.
- Protesters have chanted slogans such as “This is a peaceful protest” and “Shame on you” as police advanced.
- A few dozen protesters remain currently at the campus, out of an initial 400, a witness has told Al Jazeera.
Follow our live coverage of the protests here.
So
they go after the people who call for peace while excusing and
ignoring the ones who terrorize civilians and pursue the illegal
collective punishment?
Today marks a week since pro-Palestine protesters first began a sit-in in McCosh courtyard, citing
an array of demands, including that the University divest its endowment
from companies with ties to Israel. Fifteen students — two on April 25,
when tents were briefly set up in McCosh courtyard, and 13 on Monday
during a short occupation
of Clio Hall — have been arrested and barred from campus. The
University has since condemned the Clio Hall occupation and publicly
reiterated its position on time, place, and manner restrictions on student speech, but has not commented on the demands since the sit-in’s beginning.
Since Monday, conflicting accounts
have emerged of interactions between protesters and staff in Clio. Vice
President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun called the treatment of
staff “abusive” in a campus message on Tuesday, while Prof. Ruha
Benjamin, who was present in the building as a faculty observer, said
that students were calm and polite. Students also continued to react to
these events, with over a number of cultural and affinity groups signing
on to a letter speaking out against the University’s response to the sit-in.
On Wednesday, protesters on Cannon Green were briefly joined
by a May Day march led by Resistencia en Acción NJ, a local migrant
justice organization. The night ended with a film screening.
While encampments at Columbia, Yale, and Brown have been cleared, protests at other campuses have continued to escalate. Police in riot gear arrested
90 people at Dartmouth on Wednesday night and Thursday morning,
including two student reporters from The Dartmouth. The situation at the
University of California-Los Angeles continues to develop after police breached a pro-Palestine encampment early Thursday morning.
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, the International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) spotlights Gaza, Palestine, and condemns
the killing of more than one hundred journalists and media workers
since the war started. This has been a prolonged onslaught on press
freedom and the world’s ‘right to know’, as have the arbitrary arrests
and intimidation. The Federation calls on governments across the world,
and particularly the Israeli government, to protect the lives of
journalists and press freedom in accordance with international
obligations.
The journalists’ death toll in Gaza is without precedent. At least 109 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza war since 7 October: 102 Palestinians, four Israelis
and three Lebanese, according to IFJ data. It is one of the deadliest
conflicts ever for the media and yet, there is another critical
casualty: press freedom.
Since
the Israeli government blocked civilian access to the Gaza Strip on 7
October, following the attack by Hamas, only Palestinian journalists
based in the enclave and, to a very limited extent, international media
crews embedded with the Israeli military under controlled conditions,
have been able to report on the ground. The IFJ has several times called on Israel to let foreign press enter Gaza, and stop hindering journalists' work and the public’s right to freedom of expression.
“It
is a matter of global public interest that not only local but also
international journalists bear witness and document the ongoing war in
Gaza. Prolonging the ban on entering the enclave is denying the world a
true picture of events in Gaza and it deliberately infringes freedom of
the press. This is why on World Press Freedom Day, we call upon Israel
to stop targeting journalists and infringing press freedom – actions
that are unfitting of a democracy," said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.
Despite
suffering terrible losses or being injured themselves, local
journalists have become the world’s eyes and ears and the sole source of
information from Gaza to the world.
The IFJ and its affiliate the
Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) have worked closely to raise
solidarity funds to provide emergency support to Gaza’s journalists
through the IFJ Safety Fund with the outstanding solidarity of journalists’ unions.
Next
joint efforts will be focusing on rebuilding the media landscape in
Gaza. Thanks to the support of the IFJ’s Canadian affiliate Unifor and the Norwegian Union of Journalists, solidarity newsrooms will be established in the enclave.
The
PJS, which has a branch in Gaza, will clear safety concerns with the
Israeli military to ensure that everyone allowed in the IFJ-PJS
solidarity newsrooms is a professional journalist to avoid targeting by
the IDF.
As
the war drags on, more funds are needed for rebuilding Gaza’s media
landscape and supporting the work of Palestinian journalists, such as
the IFJ-PJS newsrooms project. All donations count and can be made here.
On World Press Freedom Day, the IFJ restates its calls for the urgent adoption of a binding international instrumentthat will strengthen press freedom by forcing governments to investigate and respond to attacks against the media.
IFJ president Dominique Pradalié said: “Since the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration
in 1991, little has been done to better safeguard journalists in
international law or conventions. The freedom and security that
journalists require to do their jobs is absent in many parts of the
world. Today, Israel appears determined to silence Gaza’s journalists,
including targeting them. Crimes against journalists must not go
unpunished. We urge governments across the world to publicly acknowledge
their support for a binding international instrument that protects
journalists. By
adopting such a Convention against impunity, the United Nations General
Assembly will assert unequivocally that massacres against journalists,
such as the one ongoing in Gaza, will not be repeated”.
Gaza remains under assault. Day 209 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted,
"More than
1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza --
have
been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million
women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million
people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured
since Israel's war on Gaza began on October 7, health authorities in the
enclave said. In the past 24 hours, 28 people were killed and 51 injured, the ministry added." Months
ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained
on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000
Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of
their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe
Lazzarini Tweeted:
April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as
killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000
Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has
estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into
Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor
said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
As for the area itself?
Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s
military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells."
Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a
new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of
45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
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