Last Wednesday, District of Columbia police arrived at George Washington University and made 33 arrests, as part of an operation to clear an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters. News2Share footage shooters Ford Fischer and Anthony Peltier captured the story before, during, and after the raid. Again, this feature is designed to show such scenes from as many angles as possible, to allow audiences to draw their own conclusions.
Only sort of related, but (unsurprisingly), University of Washington has turned into a complete shitshow, with police protecting the protestors who are refusing to allow non-protestors onto the quad.
Meanwhile, Florida removed protestors from the road in 11 minutes.
I live in northwest Washington, and from the local media you'd hardly know this was happening. They're going after Boeing, which is a non-starter. Best to look the other way, like the City of Seattle tried to do with the CHAZ.
While there's been some coverage of these protests, it's been nothing compared to the coverage devoted to the BLM protests in 2020. And I think it's easy to understand why: The current protests are considered harmful to Biden's re-election prospects, while the BLM protests were bad for Trump.
"The current protests are considered harmful to Biden's re-election prospects, while the BLM protests were bad for Trump."
That last part always confused me. You had protestors in big blue cities complaining that the police force of those cities were racist.....and the 'leaders' of those cities JOINED THE PROTESTS!
Maybe... I don't give Democrats credit for much, but they are nothing if not very well organized and centrally funded. Look at all the protestor pictures from around the country. Many are wearing the identical gray and white patterned scarf. There's a picture on Fox of a protest in Austin with a white guy in a red Hawaiian shirt wearing one of the scarves along with the woman next to him. Then there's another picture in NYT - same scarves at UW. Democrats' unofficial motto is No Friendly Fire. You can't find a Democrat primary where they criticize each other in any meaningful way. It's all very tightly orchestrated. I find it hard to believe that the Party establishment is not pulling the strings with these protests. One likely motive is simply profit. They have a great money laundering scheme setup; Democrat politicians funnel taxpayer funds into universities that then invest in corporations which in turn donate to Democrat politicians. If, by the protests, they can extort more donations, they win. Look what the college in Sacramento did. They agreed to not invest in companies that contributed to genocide, or some such nonsense. Well that's as hollow as it gets. But the protestors were happy with it. Job done. My guess is, behind the scenes there was money changing hands and all the right Democrats profited. Now go deploy those protestors at the next school. It's basically Rainbow Coalition 2.0.
The gray and white patterned scarf is called a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf. It’s a sign of solidarity. Something libertarians know nothing about obviously. It hurts my head to witness the ignorance that repeatedly shows up on this platform. JFC Matt!
It makes my head hurt how badly you keep missing the point. How is it that all of a sudden there are thousands of scarves on demand, anywhere in the country - you can just show up and they'll give you one to wear. It's like every student union has a crate of them in the back just in case. But hey, this is spontaneous outrage! No coordination whatsoever.
I never said that. My concern is the right wing echo chamber that has been established here is counter to pretty much everything Matt has written about over the years. Just because he’s rightfully going after the dismal Dems (which I have no problem with) doesn’t mean the righties should capture every conversation to the point no dialogue takes place. I think the continuation of that trend is harmful to his ability to retain his long time followers.
I guess he's suggesting that the Democrats are funding the protestors, which he thinks draws more money to the Democrats--10th level chess, and ignoring the facts that 1) the Dems are often the ones sending cops in to smash the protestors, and 2) outrage about Gaza is one of most important things standing between the Biden admin and re-election. It always amazes me that there are people out there who know so little about this conflict that they can believe it all boils down to 'campus protests.' New flash, many of us have been reading about and advocating for Palestine for many years. I guess he thinks George Soros bought a pallet of keffiyehs on Amazon and distributed them to college campuses? I like Taibbi, but comments sections are always a cesspool of weird Newsmax types.
And then there's the type that believes the mainstream Press. You may have missed Greenwald running the tape of Blinken lamenting the loss of total control over the news media. Democrats really don't care a hell of a lot about Biden. If he wins, Republicans take Congress in the midterms and crush Newsom in '28. The opposite happens if he loses. Democrats think long-term. Winning in '24 would be nice for them in the short term but Trump is gold for them in the next two election cycles. And speaking of gold, the middle word in the BDS acronym means Divestment, which I'm sure you know. I believe that the pressure campaign is designed not to force elite academic institutions to divest from companies the protestors don't like, but rather to extort money from those same companies. Boeing is a great target and we'll know if it has any impact in the next few months. That the Democrat Party has a money angle is about the least conspiratorial position possible.
Agree completely. You can give these Newsmax types all the evidence in the world to refute their bias and they’ll completely ignore it. But they’re right about everything.
The Dems are the only ones sending in the police because they ARE THE ONES IN CHARGE. And only when things are on the verge of real violence. If by "Dems" you mean university leaders.
I mean, the top comment on this thread demonstrates a total lack of awareness of what protest culture is even for. The pain of the right-leaning incels like SimulationCommander who try to make a living off Substack whose ignorance is about both actual Middle Eastern culture in tandem with an even marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy, well, that's Substack. It's painful.
"Protest culture" of the sort we are witnessing on our campuses has nothing to do with "democracy" and everything to do with the subversion of our civilization by using its own values against it. Because if this bunch of outside agitators who are behind these protests ever gets power, you can be sure that no dissent will be tolerated.
I'll tell you what's "painful": nit wits like you trying to peddle your baloney on this site.
Skid, you are so naive it's laughable. You spout words without a moment of thought behind them. Very like the dozens of humiliating videos of interviews with Intifada-chanting "protesters" who cannot begin to define the word.
"...what pRoTeSt cULtuRe is even for"... Why don't you give us a statement of what *you* think that means. And who, exactly, is given the privilege of partaking in that activity? I'd bet a large wager that you wouldn't include Jan 6 protesters. Or anti-abortion protesters. Or a thousand other protests that don't fall into your rigid, binary, wholly received perspective. "We are good, They are bad."
A "marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy"? "...ignorance about actual Middle Eastern culture..."
What relevance on earth would *protest* have to Middle Eastern Culture?? "Actual Middle Eastern culture" is to kill and torture people even remotely like those protesting. Not exactly bastions of democracy.
Then again, "democracy" seems to have taken on a different meaning lately - if you're not in lockstep with the extreme social disruptors, you must be SILENCED, or hArM will befall the good and vulnerable people. "Saving Democracy" now is code for silencing, libeling, bankrupting, reprogramming, prosecuting, persecuting, jailing and wishing (and even delivering) death to people who don't agree with your shallow, razor-narrow views.
The current round of desperate-to-belong, "solidarity" seeking, obedient little keffiyeh-wearers will be used up and spit back out by the people with the actual power (the deep pocketed ones directing them.) Like the BLM machine-cogs in black hoods (who miraculously disappeared once the bosses decided they weren't useful after the 2020 election) they are useful cannon fodder for disruption.
"The people who complain about free speech while simultaneously being happy to suggest that such actions by the Flordia government are not basically totalitarian have something to sell you. Thanks for the empty rhetoric."
Does the Florida government not have the duty to clear roads for the public?
Do you even know what they were DOING, or was your comment just reflexive outrage that some people don't put up with blocking highways?
"The pain of the right-leaning incels like SimulationCommander who try to make a living off Substack whose ignorance is about both actual Middle Eastern culture in tandem with an even marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy, well, that's Substack. It's painful."
What's painful is your complete shit sentence structure.
"Protest culture." That's good for a laugh. Hawaiian shirt guy in Austin, standing in the shade with his blonde man-bun, hemp bracelets, and plastic bottle of water is the protest culture. Ask him what he's protesting; he'll have no idea.
Just posting to say, you are right and all of the idiotic comments are apparently from aggrieved 75 year olds who have little knowledge of this topic... essentially, the same dorks who maligned civil rights protestors, Vietnam war protestors, and the suffragettes. We can see the protest movement is working though--not only on campus, but everywhere--because the establishment shitheads who want to continue funding a rich country's massacres of brown people are finding it harder and harder to stick their fingers in their ears and say NAH NAH NAH THIS ISN'T HAPPENING EVERYTHING IS NORMAL. As Taibbi often says, isn't it funny how quickly people's commitment to free speech goes out the window?
In the specific instance of UW protests targeting Boeing, the left has been hammering Boeing for years because Boeing still gives more money to Republicans than Democrats. That's what the protest is actually about. It has absolutely nothing to do with Palestinians.
You really think people protesting the Israeli-US slaughter of Palestinians (using lots of Boeing weaponry) actually has nothing to do with the Israeli-US slaughter of Palestinians? What the actual F are you smoking?
Because rightly or wrongly, many voters associated Trump with the chaos since it happened under his watch. Which is why Biden's "return to normalcy" pitch resonated.
anyone too limited to understand why the pro-hamas jerkoffs started calling this a gEnOcIdE about 20 minuntes after Israel's response began is in way over their head and should try more appropriate hobbies like sit-coms and board games.
This is, in fact, a genocide. Both in the actions, and in the intent clearly expressed by Israeli political, military, and media leaders. The industrial-scale slaughter, destruction of housing, schools, mosques and churches, hospitals, the enforced starvation: if you don't see this, you're on the same level as a Holocaust Denier. Your denigration of any of us with at least a spark of human empathy as "pro-hamas jerkoffs" is despicable.
My response is not original - but - if you were to convince me that Israel's intent is genocide, then I'd have to conclude that Israel is inept in carrying this out. Even by Hamas statistics, under 35,000 deaths from a starting population of 2,000,000.
Now, I'd totally agree that Israel is not overly concerned with collateral damage.
But final point, Hamas, an elected government of Gaza, started a brutal war that they cannot finish. Their hope is to win (stay in power) by putting their citizens in harm's way. I'd say that it's more likely Hamas intent for a Gazan genocide as means to their desired ends.
this is what taking mass murdering mass rapists at their word looks like
they started calling it a genocide 45 min after Israel's retaliation. that bullshit has all the authenticity your sad little act has, you pro-hamas jerkoff.
Are you referring to the "Pro-Israel" evangelicals who planned to march right through the anti-genocide encampment? That's not quite the same thing as "refusing to allow non-protestors onto the quad."
Okay then, "refusing to allow other protestors onto the quad". Do you think that makes any material difference? If people should be free to protest there, then why would one group of protestors get to decide who gets to protest on the quad?
The intent of the church group (Genocidaires for Jesus, anyone?) was clearly provocative, akin to Protestant Orange Order Loyalists parading through Catholic areas in Northern Ireland - or, more to the current point, hardcore Jewish supremacists marching through the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as they did on October 2nd. If the police opted to not let the church group through this one particular area on the University of Washington campus, odds are it was to prevent a confrontation. The anti-genocide campers weren't going out to harass or attack anyone. There is a very large public plaza on the UW campus ("Red Square") just a short distance away, that the church group could have used without threatening the anti-genocide encampment. That they chose not to, tells us everything about their intentions.
Great, so if that's how it ended up playing out, as long as the pro-Hamas campers behaved themselves, it would be on camera for all of the world to see, and would only gain them sympathy, right?
We have the very recent example of actual "outside agitators" (not students or faculty, some of them in fact Israeli military vets) attacking an anti-genocide encampment at UCLA. That was on camera for all the world to see, and as of yet, the police have done precisely jack shit to arrest the violent attackers, many of whom have been identified.
And by the way, saying those who are protesting the US-Israeli genocide are "pro-Hamas" is the same old, same old bullshit: when us oldsters protested the US invasion of Vietnam, we were "pro-Viet Cong." When we protested the US destruction of Iraq, we were "pro-Saddam." Try to wrap your mind around the idea that genocide isn't something to be proud of.
Try to wrap your mind around the idea that my deliberate use of "pro-Hamas" was to try to get you to understand that this is how you sound when you use the term "anti-genocide". It's a loaded term that begs the question and ignores reality, the same way that "anti-fascists" just go around calling anything they don't like "fascism", rather than actual fascism.
Of course you can alter the definition of "genocide" to mean whatever you want, in the same way that idiots altered the definition of "racism" to suit their purposes. But that doesn't mean anyone has to agree with you.
Oh, it's all very systematic, depending on the local weather conditions. LA cops showed up hours late for one kind of violence, then used flashbang grenades on encampments. As my old buddy who served in Vietnam says, "What causes that?"
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
Sounds a LOT like the sentiment behind “from the river to the sea”, doesn’t it? Yet these shrieking twats on colleges across the country keep claiming they are against a genocide. They are too stupid to see their own hypocrisy.
The cowardly Hamas fighters in Gaza hide behind and beneath civilians in schools, churches, and hospitals. Even so, the civilian casualty rate is lower than in any urban warfare in human history. All you protesters can go ahead and shriek all you want about genocide. The truth and your position, unfortunate for you, are polar opposites. Hiding behind your masks only serves to prove to the rest of us what cowards you truly are.
If anything, the war in the Gaza Strip is about one side - Israel - DEFENDING AGAINST a genocide BY HAMAS.
Wrong. River to the sea comes straight out of the Israeli history. And let's not forget the Zionist intent to have an apartheid government whereby ONLY Jews have full voting, full rights. I mean, where the hell are you getting your history?
it's a 3-way tie for stupidest chants: apartheid, colonizer and genocide. one is literally dumber than the other.
arab on the Israeli supreme court, intermarriage is common, arabs have more rights than in neighboring arab countries. calling this apartheid is stupid.
oldest history on the land, banished and diaspora for 1000s of years, return to build a country far superior to their neighbors, the epitome of DECOLONIZATION. calling them colonizers is eleven bags of shit stupid.
but maybe the worst of all is genocide. if you are too limited to understand why this is falsely being called a genocide, you are in way over your head and should stick to intellect-appropriate activities like coloring books or jacks
You realize that a snarky non-answer like this just tells everyone here that you have no effective rebuttal but lack the integrity to simply admit you might have been wrong. Better to say nothing at all. Even better, of course, is to actually be honest.
Only Jews have full voting rights in Israel? I guess that's why there are Israeli Arab political parties that regularly elect Members of Parliament (Knesset). They had 15 MP's in 2020. So, MissAnnThorpe is another ignoramus, like Peacelady.
imagine being "smart" enough to guilt your way into an ivy league school, but not smart enough to avoid being outsmarted by bronze age savages who use mass rape as a weapon of war?
Today's college students are boringly predictable. Little incoherent shouting tantrums and when questioned, they freely admit "I don't fully understand the issue". The only surprise in this mess was that the frat bro's got interested enough to heckle the hecklers, but weren't supporting anything. They just generally disliked the protesting students.
He Refers to Gaza as a ghetto. A Ghetto with rockets, tunnels, run by terrorists - All while wearing his little terror-cosplay costume scarf. If you want to see a ghetto watch some Warsaw footage from the 40's.
what's it like to defend hamas? they use mass rape as a weapon of war, yet you support them.
does it feel weird to hate a group of people so much you side with religious fundamentalist terrorist murderers who kill gays, treat women like garbage, and use donated water pipes to make rockets?
Students are supposed to be stupid. That’s the point of studying, hopefully becoming not stupid. I can forgive the stupidity from a U of C child with performant needs.
What’s troubling is adoration from a “fully formed”adult with a Substack account.
Sometimes I hate it when police brutality doesn't live up to the bullshit reputation lefty kooks insist upon. The dearth of cracked heads is alarming. At least the jerkoff signs are funny.
upon reviewing your profile, I see you are one of the prog nazis. adorable.
what's it like to be duped by bronze-age savages into calling this a gEnOcIdE when it is so obvious to any adult that isn't an emotional wreck why the term is being falsely used?
is it weird to trust hamas on death numbers only to see even the Israel-hating UN unable to continue repeating those lies?
finally, which term is dumber: apartheid or colonizer?
most people with passing knowledge of this know there is an Arab on the Israel Supreme Court and intermarriage isn't uncommon and Arabs have more rights in Israel than Arab countries, so the apartheid claim is like seven bags of shit stupid.
but a people with thousands of years of history in the land, banished and a diaspora for 1000s of years, only to return and build a nation far superior in all ways to its neighbors being called colonizers and not the epitome of DECOLONIZATION has to be one of the stupidest claims made by lefty kooks and islamic terrorists (but I repeat myself).
how did you get fooled by these savages like this?
did you ever think any of it through, or just join the herd mindlessly?
thanks, but I don't think she has the testicular fortitude to answer. one can only imagine how her schedule is jam-packed with Jew-hating while insisting "i oNlY mEaN zIoNisTs, nOt jEwS!"
in case you weren't aware, the only death due to J6 is the unarmed protestor shot by the police.
and if you agree that charlottesville was bad, and cops should've been more aggressive with them, you are obliged to be as disappointed as I am that today's prog nazis are being treated so delicately.
That's what I figured, you are projecting. BTW, one of those Nazis murdered Heather Heyer because she was protesting against Nazis. Y'all are pathetic liars.
Are you referring to the Jan 6 where the majority of the protestors were invited into the capitol and the only person killed was a young woman shot by a capitol police officer? That Jan 6?
And there is a witch hunt to get even those protestors united in by the Biden weaponized DOJ, maybe you forgot that.
yes, son, the whole country was THISCLOSE to Def Sec Q Shaman, Sec of State Lecturn Snatcha, and President Desk Shitta with the rest of the cabinet full of juggalos and hispanic white supremacists. so so so so so so so so close to a coup, especially what with all those weapons!
probably no agents in the crowd, though. why would anyone want to know that?
Lot’s of angry young women screaming at the top of their lungs, and a few guys hoping to get laid by one of them after the event, and probably lots of long rantings to their therapists the next day. But isn’t it so fun to be part of a resistance where it is guaranteed that nothing bad will happen to you and you get to dress up in a costume and wear a mask to feel dangerous? Funny how a couple years ago you couldn’t wear a sombrero on fricken Halloween and everything had to have a trigger warning because everything was a micro aggression.
Great comment. I was especially moved by the woman yelling about, "Food, medicine, art, and knowledge," while outfitted in the requisite PLO scarf and also sporting a silky camisole. Does Victoria's Secret now carry an Intifada line? (Does VS even exist anymore?) Maybe some fashion house can come up with a line of honor killing wear.
These people can be stupid and spout all the nonsense they want. Do it in public where people can stop and listen, if they want. But they aren't satisfied with just free speech. In fact, they hate it for the rest of us.
Ha! Sort of makes sense. Not too many young women suffering from bulimia anymore. Next stop, feeling guilty about transgender bulimia. Although on second thought, just feeling guilty you are not transgender, sans bulimia. It's a wild, wild world we live in, Master Jack.
Was intrigued, but not all that surprised, when I read this morning that the majority of protestors are women.
“The crowd at anti-Israel protests is disproportionately female, observes Heather Mac Donald. Her explanation? “The victim ideology that drives much of academia today. . . has a female character.” (City Journal)
Think for a minute if the police would need to be called in to control the protestors if instead the college president found the courage to make an appearance and address them, firmly, with strength and commitment, and not allow them to intimidate or bully them. If professors did the same. But no, that would never happen, because they are cowards, and because the protestors know they are supported by many in the faculty and administration. They created this mess, and now they hide, and throw it to law enforcement to manage.
The protesters dress like Hamas terrorists or Antifa from Portland 2020. By their clothes shall you know them. They are not “outraged humanitarians”, nor are they “anti-war.” They are for Hamas victory.
They’re not genuinely concerned. If they were they’d have been protesting all the other wars and genocides going on in the world. Why don’t you ask why they’re only protesting Jews, hmmm? Not interested in finding out perhaps.
A bunch of clueless pawns. I think the police showed incredible restraint from what I watched. Make the announcement to disperse, then encircle those left and zip tie every last one with whatever force necessary. Deport all here on visa and jail and expel the rest
This is like watching an Errol Morris film, where he just turns on the camera and lets you decide by letting his subjects go, unfiltered. Money quote: "How do you know that these are pro-Palestinianian protestors?" "I read their sign."
C'mon Matt, these protesters aren't "pro-Palestine," they are anti-Israel and anti-American... "Palestine" is just the Cause of the Moment to advance those two agendas.
What does it matter what their motivation is? They are not on trial here. What does it matter whether they wear masks, or if they all get their headgear from the same aisle at Muslims-R-Us?
I remember much of this same disingenuous, ad hominem rhetoric directed at MLK, the Black Panthers, and the Occupy Wall Street protesters. It’s old. (The FBI hated Kings pacifist influence, so they bugged his hotel rooms to prove he was cheating on his wife.)
You’re giving away the weakness of your argument when you attack fashion accessories or suspected ulterior motivations. Their jeopardy is real, their sacrifice is real, and if you say they just do it to get attention, I might add: What else would they be doing it for? Just like the Boston Tea Party. That’s the point of political demonstrations.
A more useful question is: What are you doing this for?
Sera, motivations matter, and in this case, the motivation behind these so-called protests is murky... some unseen influences have organized and staged these "encampments," complete with pre-printed signs, REI-quality color coordinated tents, and plenty of outside professional agitators to stir up the mostly-clueless students who provide window dressing for the charade. Why are these clueless students participating? I'd argue that in many/most cases, it is driven by the same existential angst and loss of purpose plaguing so many these days... the explanation is more socio-psychological than it is political.
The other issues you bring up--MLK, Black Panthers, etc-- have nothing to do with the anti-Israel protests and it is fallacious to equate them. All protests are not created equal, don't you know... "Just like the Boston Tea Party"--sure! : )
What am I doing this for, you ask? In the tradition of my screen avatar, I am doing it to ensure the survival and success of my country and civilization. You?
Motivations matter to you. Results matter to me. I cannot imagine why anyone who wishes an immediate end to Israel’s genocide would bother to make the comments that flood this comment board, and similar ones in The New York Times. I remember slurs against Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney calling into question the motivations and support for the “Northern agitators comin’ down heah where they don’t belong.” Those slurs never came from supporters of integration.
Well, Sera, the UN just announced that the numbers put out by Hamas as to women and children killed are grossly exaggerated. What a surprise! Actual numbers are 14,000 Hamas soldiers killed, and (now) from the UN, 11,000 civilians. This is a ratio of less than one civilian killed for every terrorist killed. At Mosul in 2017 it was two-to-one.
The Gaza TOTAL is now 25,000 inlcuding 14,000 terrorists. That is bad but it not "genocide." The use of this term is "Holocaust Reversal", intended to psychologically damage Jews by using the worst slaughter of Jews in Jewish history against them and making them the Nazis. Disgusting.
It is common for Leftists today to attempt to wrap themselves in the moral authority of the Civil Rights Movement of the early 60s... "we were right then, we must be right now" goes the thinking. But that is false. You cannot equate the anti-Israel protest of today to any other time or protest, it must be judged on its own terms. And by that yardstick, it fails spectacularly.
Another common trait among today's Leftist is the ongoing degradation of language, to use language to mystify, misrepresent and confuse rather than illuminate. The abuse of the word "genocide" is a prime example of that. Whatever your view of the situation, it is dishonest to apply it to what the Israelis are doing in Gaza. As others have observed, if Israel truly wanted to intentionally kill all Palestinians (the true meaning of "genocide") they could have done it in a matter of days. Instead, they have made a deliberate effort to spare as many civilians as possible as they wage war against an existential threat to their existence, Hamas, who is cowardly hiding amongst civilians in a cynical attempt to curry favor with gullible observers like yourself. "Genocide" huh? I don't recall the Nazis sending relief convoys to Auschwitz, as the Israelis have done in Gaza.... just one point of difference.
But yes, I too, mourn over the suffering of Gazans. That's why I hope you will join me in calling for Hamas' immediate and complete surrender. That would end the war today. It is the only acceptable outcome. Israel is not obligated to have Nazis as neighbors.
I do not intend any offense, but I think you are a complete hypocrite. I lost half my family to the Nazis, and in the words of Einstein, “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazis”
As a defender of genocide, which you have just shown yourself to be by denying it, I will end this conversation with a point of view inspired by George Galloway: “To defend Zionism is the same as defending rape or child abuse. I will not dignify such a conversation by pretending it can be just.”
Having lost half of your family to the Nazis, I find it even more unbelievable that you would support Hamas, the most Nazi-like organization (at least insofar as the Jews are concerned) since World War II. Yes, reasonable people might disagree over which strategy is best in defeating Hamas, but to cast Israel as wholly at fault here is shocking, at least it is to me.
I explained to you why "genocide" is not appropriate for what is happening in Gaza. It cheapens the term to use it so carelessly. And it is far from "hypocrisy" to point this out, just simple common sense.
I note that you have not joined me in calling for Hamas' complete and immediate surrender.... again, quite unbelievable. But what I have learned is that some American Jews are disturbingly ready to throw the Israelis under the bus, to abandon them to their possible destruction--all too reminiscent of what American Jews did to European Jews in the 1930s and 40s. I don't get it, I don't get it at all.
And yes, Art Eckstein is right, you have been taken in by Hamas' propaganda in terms of the numbers who have died. If they have lied to you about that, what else are they lying about? Something to think about.
You are working from false, exaggerated (and now clearly slanderous) numbers. The UN itself just reduced the Hamas numbers of alleged women and children killed by HALF. See my posting on this above on this thread and also under "New". You've been taken in by propaganda.
In order that you may more clearly understand the term:
“In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group.
Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.”
Rasmussen polling last week indicated that as a result of these campus protests, 15% of those polled were more sympathetic to the Palestinians while 42% were LESS sympathetic to the Palestinians.
Do the campus protesters care about their actual political impact? No—because they’re too busy in antisemitic “revolutionary” personal self-actualization
Yes. Yes. Hence the appeal and appearance of these protesters as either Hamas terrorists or “Black Bloc” Antifa anarchists. In both cases it’s infantile “dress-up.” But it’s WHO they want to dress up as that is so unsettling.
“such scenes from as many angles as possible, to allow audiences to draw their own conclusions.” Draw their own conclusions with respect to what exactly? The impossible situation that law enforcement has been asked to somehow manage, because feeble cowardly weak minded leaders have been too afraid to address it themselves - to do their jobs? Some journalists say pro-Palestinian protesters, some say anti-Israeli protestors. I get it, it’s both, it’s a mixture, impossible to define precisely, but it appears the words chosen by the journalist to define the protestors say a little bit about how they feel about the issue as a whole.
it's simple. if they are being identified as pro-Hamas, it is accurate.
if the term is pro-Palestine or pro-Gaza or anti-Israel, that's a prog nazi make-believe journalist lying and trying not to mash in their pants hating on Jews.
"Pro-Palestinian" as if everyone else is "anti-Palestinian." What a crock. These protesters are "pro Hamas" and "pro-terrorist." If they were "pro-Palestinian" they would demand that Hamas surrender, give up the remaining hostages, and stop hiding behind Palestinian citizens. Don't hold your breath...
The majority of your Racket followers are an embarrassment Matt. I know free speech is your mantra. I agree with adhering to the first amendment. I just think it’s not a good reflection on your entire body of work which us lefties who get trashed on here, (we’re not liberal Democrats) have followed for many years. I hope you don’t end up losing us because of what goes on on this platform.
I’m going to just read your pieces and refrain from reading the garbage that gets spewed here for the sake of my blood pressure. We’ll see how that goes.
I would like to repeat that I don't like it when people make generalizations about all of this site's subscribers. If you want to criticize one particular person, do it, but every time I see one of these "Matt, the majority of your followers are X" comments, it irritates me. It's not in the spirit of this site and makes me think there's inorganic activity going on. Can we not?
I'm in the same space. I don't mind dissent: it's healthy. I DON'T like an echo chamber. Hence, avoid MSM. But this isn't a dialogue. It feels as tho it's overrun with people who were all in for January 6 & criticizing snowflakes when it was right wing freedoms on the line. Now, "about face" y'all. I'm sure you're right about avoiding comments, and just reading Matt, cause there sure will not be any hearts and minds changed here.
Thank you. I know I’m not completely alone here. I just want Matt to realize a lot of his long time followers are getting trashed on his platform and it’s not in his favor over the long run. His choice, but it makes me sad for him.
have you ever considered how Israel is the f'n poster boy for decolonization?
no doubt the oldest records show they were there for thousands of years.
they were thrown off the land and banished by colonizers
they returned and built a nation far superior to their neighbors: modern, high-tech, multicultural and multiracial, with rights for arabs better than in neighboring arab countries.
how TF is this not the best and most successful case of decolonization in history?
Clearly, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Ever heard of the British Balfour Project? It was without question a settler colonial project begun in the late 1800s. It came to fruition in 1948 with the violent expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their land. The Israelis openly called for the mass murder of the Palestinians. Just as they do today.
That is absolutely not true about 1948. The UN vote took place. Israel was attacked from many sides and won. It wasn’t about Palestinians then it was about a homeland for the Jews.
You might find it enlightening to do a bit of research and learn about how many Jews and Christians were expelled from Arab lands before the creation of Israel.
Gee, how far back would you like to go? The reality on the ground presently is the civilians of Gaza and the West Bank are being slaughtered so the Zionist project can continue to expand. At some point, this colonialist mindset has to stop if we are to move forward as a species.
Arthur Balfour had absolutely nothing to do with Jewish socialists from Eastern Europe beginning to settle in the Holy Land in the late 1800's! What an ignoramus!
Excuse me. Balfour initiated the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Theodore Herzl began the Zionist project in 1896.
For those crying I’ve provided no evidence. Do your own damn investigation. I’m not doing your work for you. It’s at your fingertips if you’re truly interested.
Ok Peacelady. You’ve helped me to go ahead and write this. I’m not sad for Matt I’m very irritated with him. Get some balls Matt. Quit sitting on the fence with, showing the stupid videos! You know and have worked with both Aaron Mate & Katie Halper! You KNOW what genocide is. You KNOW what zionism is! Why are you instigating the vile comments that are appearing here. So I’m going to let one loose now! FUCK Netanyahu! Let’s go Brandon!
“On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants (240 men, women, and children) and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem.”
This is a documented and confirmed event cited by Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt in a letter to the Times in 1948. Modern Israeli historians also confirm these events. Israel was founded by terrorists.
It's also an early report that turns out to be false about this village, its fighters, and the numbers killed on both sides. Another example of ignorance here.
If "getting trashed" is defined as getting out-argued with facts, history, logic, etc. then fine, you're "getting trashed," but it would be far more profitable if you would engage in argument on the merits.
dont pretend like you're interested (or up to) a discussion.
anyone laughably using "zionist" and thinks others don't know they mean "Jews" can be taken about as seriously as someone who is being duped into calling this a gEnOcIdE
Only sort of related, but (unsurprisingly), University of Washington has turned into a complete shitshow, with police protecting the protestors who are refusing to allow non-protestors onto the quad.
Meanwhile, Florida removed protestors from the road in 11 minutes.
Chaos is a choice.
I live in northwest Washington, and from the local media you'd hardly know this was happening. They're going after Boeing, which is a non-starter. Best to look the other way, like the City of Seattle tried to do with the CHAZ.
While there's been some coverage of these protests, it's been nothing compared to the coverage devoted to the BLM protests in 2020. And I think it's easy to understand why: The current protests are considered harmful to Biden's re-election prospects, while the BLM protests were bad for Trump.
"The current protests are considered harmful to Biden's re-election prospects, while the BLM protests were bad for Trump."
That last part always confused me. You had protestors in big blue cities complaining that the police force of those cities were racist.....and the 'leaders' of those cities JOINED THE PROTESTS!
Protestors: "Your police are racist!"
Mayor: "Yeah they are!"
Protestors: "WTF?"
Maybe... I don't give Democrats credit for much, but they are nothing if not very well organized and centrally funded. Look at all the protestor pictures from around the country. Many are wearing the identical gray and white patterned scarf. There's a picture on Fox of a protest in Austin with a white guy in a red Hawaiian shirt wearing one of the scarves along with the woman next to him. Then there's another picture in NYT - same scarves at UW. Democrats' unofficial motto is No Friendly Fire. You can't find a Democrat primary where they criticize each other in any meaningful way. It's all very tightly orchestrated. I find it hard to believe that the Party establishment is not pulling the strings with these protests. One likely motive is simply profit. They have a great money laundering scheme setup; Democrat politicians funnel taxpayer funds into universities that then invest in corporations which in turn donate to Democrat politicians. If, by the protests, they can extort more donations, they win. Look what the college in Sacramento did. They agreed to not invest in companies that contributed to genocide, or some such nonsense. Well that's as hollow as it gets. But the protestors were happy with it. Job done. My guess is, behind the scenes there was money changing hands and all the right Democrats profited. Now go deploy those protestors at the next school. It's basically Rainbow Coalition 2.0.
The gray and white patterned scarf is called a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian scarf. It’s a sign of solidarity. Something libertarians know nothing about obviously. It hurts my head to witness the ignorance that repeatedly shows up on this platform. JFC Matt!
It makes my head hurt how badly you keep missing the point. How is it that all of a sudden there are thousands of scarves on demand, anywhere in the country - you can just show up and they'll give you one to wear. It's like every student union has a crate of them in the back just in case. But hey, this is spontaneous outrage! No coordination whatsoever.
You can buy a keffiyeh in many different places. They are not difficult to obtain. Nor are cheap tents. You people are hilarious.
The crate of scarves is next to the masks, folding tents & premade signs.
Mike type “Palestinian scarf” in Amazon - $10, delivery tomorrow, 4.5 stars, 8000 reviews. No conspiracy, just an effective economy.
I bought mine off Amazon for 10 bucks and got it the next day.
And where are all the look-alike tents coming from?
What are you suggesting Taibbi do? Delete posts you disagree with?
I never said that. My concern is the right wing echo chamber that has been established here is counter to pretty much everything Matt has written about over the years. Just because he’s rightfully going after the dismal Dems (which I have no problem with) doesn’t mean the righties should capture every conversation to the point no dialogue takes place. I think the continuation of that trend is harmful to his ability to retain his long time followers.
Hey R B M. Peacelady said nothing nor inferred deleting any thing. She stated a true fact which is ignorance.
Hahaha!!! Thats exactly what they want. They don’t understand that avoiding & railing against censorship is Matt’s raison d être?
Toxic question. Good job, fucktard.
I guess he's suggesting that the Democrats are funding the protestors, which he thinks draws more money to the Democrats--10th level chess, and ignoring the facts that 1) the Dems are often the ones sending cops in to smash the protestors, and 2) outrage about Gaza is one of most important things standing between the Biden admin and re-election. It always amazes me that there are people out there who know so little about this conflict that they can believe it all boils down to 'campus protests.' New flash, many of us have been reading about and advocating for Palestine for many years. I guess he thinks George Soros bought a pallet of keffiyehs on Amazon and distributed them to college campuses? I like Taibbi, but comments sections are always a cesspool of weird Newsmax types.
Then why do you engage in reading and writing in the 'Comments' section?
And then there's the type that believes the mainstream Press. You may have missed Greenwald running the tape of Blinken lamenting the loss of total control over the news media. Democrats really don't care a hell of a lot about Biden. If he wins, Republicans take Congress in the midterms and crush Newsom in '28. The opposite happens if he loses. Democrats think long-term. Winning in '24 would be nice for them in the short term but Trump is gold for them in the next two election cycles. And speaking of gold, the middle word in the BDS acronym means Divestment, which I'm sure you know. I believe that the pressure campaign is designed not to force elite academic institutions to divest from companies the protestors don't like, but rather to extort money from those same companies. Boeing is a great target and we'll know if it has any impact in the next few months. That the Democrat Party has a money angle is about the least conspiratorial position possible.
Agree completely. You can give these Newsmax types all the evidence in the world to refute their bias and they’ll completely ignore it. But they’re right about everything.
The Dems are the only ones sending in the police because they ARE THE ONES IN CHARGE. And only when things are on the verge of real violence. If by "Dems" you mean university leaders.
Do not read them.
I mean, the top comment on this thread demonstrates a total lack of awareness of what protest culture is even for. The pain of the right-leaning incels like SimulationCommander who try to make a living off Substack whose ignorance is about both actual Middle Eastern culture in tandem with an even marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy, well, that's Substack. It's painful.
"Protest culture" of the sort we are witnessing on our campuses has nothing to do with "democracy" and everything to do with the subversion of our civilization by using its own values against it. Because if this bunch of outside agitators who are behind these protests ever gets power, you can be sure that no dissent will be tolerated.
I'll tell you what's "painful": nit wits like you trying to peddle your baloney on this site.
Skid, you are so naive it's laughable. You spout words without a moment of thought behind them. Very like the dozens of humiliating videos of interviews with Intifada-chanting "protesters" who cannot begin to define the word.
"...what pRoTeSt cULtuRe is even for"... Why don't you give us a statement of what *you* think that means. And who, exactly, is given the privilege of partaking in that activity? I'd bet a large wager that you wouldn't include Jan 6 protesters. Or anti-abortion protesters. Or a thousand other protests that don't fall into your rigid, binary, wholly received perspective. "We are good, They are bad."
A "marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy"? "...ignorance about actual Middle Eastern culture..."
What relevance on earth would *protest* have to Middle Eastern Culture?? "Actual Middle Eastern culture" is to kill and torture people even remotely like those protesting. Not exactly bastions of democracy.
Then again, "democracy" seems to have taken on a different meaning lately - if you're not in lockstep with the extreme social disruptors, you must be SILENCED, or hArM will befall the good and vulnerable people. "Saving Democracy" now is code for silencing, libeling, bankrupting, reprogramming, prosecuting, persecuting, jailing and wishing (and even delivering) death to people who don't agree with your shallow, razor-narrow views.
The current round of desperate-to-belong, "solidarity" seeking, obedient little keffiyeh-wearers will be used up and spit back out by the people with the actual power (the deep pocketed ones directing them.) Like the BLM machine-cogs in black hoods (who miraculously disappeared once the bosses decided they weren't useful after the 2020 election) they are useful cannon fodder for disruption.
Why'd you delete your comment?
"The people who complain about free speech while simultaneously being happy to suggest that such actions by the Flordia government are not basically totalitarian have something to sell you. Thanks for the empty rhetoric."
Does the Florida government not have the duty to clear roads for the public?
Do you even know what they were DOING, or was your comment just reflexive outrage that some people don't put up with blocking highways?
"The pain of the right-leaning incels like SimulationCommander who try to make a living off Substack whose ignorance is about both actual Middle Eastern culture in tandem with an even marginally accurate understanding of protest and its relation to democracy, well, that's Substack. It's painful."
What's painful is your complete shit sentence structure.
"Protest culture." That's good for a laugh. Hawaiian shirt guy in Austin, standing in the shade with his blonde man-bun, hemp bracelets, and plastic bottle of water is the protest culture. Ask him what he's protesting; he'll have no idea.
Just posting to say, you are right and all of the idiotic comments are apparently from aggrieved 75 year olds who have little knowledge of this topic... essentially, the same dorks who maligned civil rights protestors, Vietnam war protestors, and the suffragettes. We can see the protest movement is working though--not only on campus, but everywhere--because the establishment shitheads who want to continue funding a rich country's massacres of brown people are finding it harder and harder to stick their fingers in their ears and say NAH NAH NAH THIS ISN'T HAPPENING EVERYTHING IS NORMAL. As Taibbi often says, isn't it funny how quickly people's commitment to free speech goes out the window?
Now, why do you have to go there? IMO - that adds nothing to the discourse but name-calling & condescension.
Do you read the comments just so you can feel pissed off?!
🤡
so true. they are disciplined.
the downside is you find yourself at war with reality and you realize you have a massive list of bosses you aren't allowed to criticize.
that kind of party loyalty and idealogical devotion is dehumanizing.
In the specific instance of UW protests targeting Boeing, the left has been hammering Boeing for years because Boeing still gives more money to Republicans than Democrats. That's what the protest is actually about. It has absolutely nothing to do with Palestinians.
You really think people protesting the Israeli-US slaughter of Palestinians (using lots of Boeing weaponry) actually has nothing to do with the Israeli-US slaughter of Palestinians? What the actual F are you smoking?
They may give more money to Republicans, but they implement the Democrats ideology.
It is about the degrading of people in the US.
Sending ammunition and weapons to Israel while you have NO decent heaalthcare/housing etc. The gratest nation on this earth!
Not sure that the BLM protests hurt Trump. If they did, was marginal. Same with the Gaza protests. Who would actually change how they vote over them?
A sense of chaos influences whether or not the voting public wants change.
Yes, but why would they vote for the party supporting the chaos? Defund the police, etc.?
Because rightly or wrongly, many voters associated Trump with the chaos since it happened under his watch. Which is why Biden's "return to normalcy" pitch resonated.
BINGO
Those were mostly peaceful, and politically expedient.
I still remember the conference where Idiot Inslee "found out" about CHAZ -- then did fuck all about it until it led the world in murder per capita.
Finally replacing Cabot Cove, Maine.
Is it wrong that I laughed out loud?
I've been told that humor is patriarchal and a sign of white privilege
If we can't laugh at ourselves, we've become Far Left morons.
What is 'far left' in the US. You have the minds of a gnat.
The whole world laughs as you sink!
Only if you have a roof over your head and had 3 square meals in the last 24 hours.
As if anyone knows how to write in Seattle, anymore...
"Murder, She Bleated", maybe
What is it about freedom that you hate it so much?
Probably the restriction of said freedom for everybody not dressed up in black and the attacking of anybody who disagrees with the protestors.
https://twitter.com/choeshow/status/1789859008393748676/
The only people being violent have been Israeli-paid provocateurs and police.
LOL
what is it about Jews that you hate them so much?
(the glib game is so productive!)
What is it about sycophantry to Jews that makes people so happy to green-light genocide and shame people for protesting it?
anyone too limited to understand why the pro-hamas jerkoffs started calling this a gEnOcIdE about 20 minuntes after Israel's response began is in way over their head and should try more appropriate hobbies like sit-coms and board games.
This is, in fact, a genocide. Both in the actions, and in the intent clearly expressed by Israeli political, military, and media leaders. The industrial-scale slaughter, destruction of housing, schools, mosques and churches, hospitals, the enforced starvation: if you don't see this, you're on the same level as a Holocaust Denier. Your denigration of any of us with at least a spark of human empathy as "pro-hamas jerkoffs" is despicable.
My response is not original - but - if you were to convince me that Israel's intent is genocide, then I'd have to conclude that Israel is inept in carrying this out. Even by Hamas statistics, under 35,000 deaths from a starting population of 2,000,000.
Now, I'd totally agree that Israel is not overly concerned with collateral damage.
But final point, Hamas, an elected government of Gaza, started a brutal war that they cannot finish. Their hope is to win (stay in power) by putting their citizens in harm's way. I'd say that it's more likely Hamas intent for a Gazan genocide as means to their desired ends.
this is what trusting hamas looks like
this is what taking mass murdering mass rapists at their word looks like
they started calling it a genocide 45 min after Israel's retaliation. that bullshit has all the authenticity your sad little act has, you pro-hamas jerkoff.
Are you referring to the "Pro-Israel" evangelicals who planned to march right through the anti-genocide encampment? That's not quite the same thing as "refusing to allow non-protestors onto the quad."
1) They kept people out long after the anti-protest was over.
2) They do not have a monopoly on the quad in the first place.
Okay then, "refusing to allow other protestors onto the quad". Do you think that makes any material difference? If people should be free to protest there, then why would one group of protestors get to decide who gets to protest on the quad?
The intent of the church group (Genocidaires for Jesus, anyone?) was clearly provocative, akin to Protestant Orange Order Loyalists parading through Catholic areas in Northern Ireland - or, more to the current point, hardcore Jewish supremacists marching through the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as they did on October 2nd. If the police opted to not let the church group through this one particular area on the University of Washington campus, odds are it was to prevent a confrontation. The anti-genocide campers weren't going out to harass or attack anyone. There is a very large public plaza on the UW campus ("Red Square") just a short distance away, that the church group could have used without threatening the anti-genocide encampment. That they chose not to, tells us everything about their intentions.
Great, so if that's how it ended up playing out, as long as the pro-Hamas campers behaved themselves, it would be on camera for all of the world to see, and would only gain them sympathy, right?
We have the very recent example of actual "outside agitators" (not students or faculty, some of them in fact Israeli military vets) attacking an anti-genocide encampment at UCLA. That was on camera for all the world to see, and as of yet, the police have done precisely jack shit to arrest the violent attackers, many of whom have been identified.
And by the way, saying those who are protesting the US-Israeli genocide are "pro-Hamas" is the same old, same old bullshit: when us oldsters protested the US invasion of Vietnam, we were "pro-Viet Cong." When we protested the US destruction of Iraq, we were "pro-Saddam." Try to wrap your mind around the idea that genocide isn't something to be proud of.
Try to wrap your mind around the idea that my deliberate use of "pro-Hamas" was to try to get you to understand that this is how you sound when you use the term "anti-genocide". It's a loaded term that begs the question and ignores reality, the same way that "anti-fascists" just go around calling anything they don't like "fascism", rather than actual fascism.
Of course you can alter the definition of "genocide" to mean whatever you want, in the same way that idiots altered the definition of "racism" to suit their purposes. But that doesn't mean anyone has to agree with you.
Oh, it's all very systematic, depending on the local weather conditions. LA cops showed up hours late for one kind of violence, then used flashbang grenades on encampments. As my old buddy who served in Vietnam says, "What causes that?"
Genocide - noun:
the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.
Sounds a LOT like the sentiment behind “from the river to the sea”, doesn’t it? Yet these shrieking twats on colleges across the country keep claiming they are against a genocide. They are too stupid to see their own hypocrisy.
The cowardly Hamas fighters in Gaza hide behind and beneath civilians in schools, churches, and hospitals. Even so, the civilian casualty rate is lower than in any urban warfare in human history. All you protesters can go ahead and shriek all you want about genocide. The truth and your position, unfortunate for you, are polar opposites. Hiding behind your masks only serves to prove to the rest of us what cowards you truly are.
If anything, the war in the Gaza Strip is about one side - Israel - DEFENDING AGAINST a genocide BY HAMAS.
Wrong. River to the sea comes straight out of the Israeli history. And let's not forget the Zionist intent to have an apartheid government whereby ONLY Jews have full voting, full rights. I mean, where the hell are you getting your history?
it's a 3-way tie for stupidest chants: apartheid, colonizer and genocide. one is literally dumber than the other.
arab on the Israeli supreme court, intermarriage is common, arabs have more rights than in neighboring arab countries. calling this apartheid is stupid.
oldest history on the land, banished and diaspora for 1000s of years, return to build a country far superior to their neighbors, the epitome of DECOLONIZATION. calling them colonizers is eleven bags of shit stupid.
but maybe the worst of all is genocide. if you are too limited to understand why this is falsely being called a genocide, you are in way over your head and should stick to intellect-appropriate activities like coloring books or jacks
Oh. You win! NOW I'm convinced! I'm overwhelmed by your knowledge and dazzled by your intellect.
I accept your surrender. now stop hating Jews and play nice!
You realize that a snarky non-answer like this just tells everyone here that you have no effective rebuttal but lack the integrity to simply admit you might have been wrong. Better to say nothing at all. Even better, of course, is to actually be honest.
Only Jews have full voting rights in Israel? I guess that's why there are Israeli Arab political parties that regularly elect Members of Parliament (Knesset). They had 15 MP's in 2020. So, MissAnnThorpe is another ignoramus, like Peacelady.
why do you use "zionist" when every adult with a 3-digit IQ knows it means Jews?
I mean, at this point, who TF are you kidding?
NOT Wikipedia, which is clearly where you get yours.
imagine being "smart" enough to guilt your way into an ivy league school, but not smart enough to avoid being outsmarted by bronze age savages who use mass rape as a weapon of war?
it's almost an achievement.
Today's college students are boringly predictable. Little incoherent shouting tantrums and when questioned, they freely admit "I don't fully understand the issue". The only surprise in this mess was that the frat bro's got interested enough to heckle the hecklers, but weren't supporting anything. They just generally disliked the protesting students.
You are wrong. I've followed these protesters. Here's a link to one particularly knowledgeable and articulate young man. https://youtu.be/EvcLyhR7ZkE?si=-akttm0acM-kLN4p
He Refers to Gaza as a ghetto. A Ghetto with rockets, tunnels, run by terrorists - All while wearing his little terror-cosplay costume scarf. If you want to see a ghetto watch some Warsaw footage from the 40's.
what's it like to defend hamas? they use mass rape as a weapon of war, yet you support them.
does it feel weird to hate a group of people so much you side with religious fundamentalist terrorist murderers who kill gays, treat women like garbage, and use donated water pipes to make rockets?
FNR. The only solution to terrorism. Listen to the hit song KILL THE BEAST. https://turfseer.substack.com/p/kill-the-beast
This guy has homonymous hemianopsia intellectually, I wouldn’t call him well rounded knowledgeable.
Students are supposed to be stupid. That’s the point of studying, hopefully becoming not stupid. I can forgive the stupidity from a U of C child with performant needs.
What’s troubling is adoration from a “fully formed”adult with a Substack account.
What is it in you that wants to support Hamas and belittle your own country. Are you seriously that ill informed?
Must be the only one. Well done you for actually digging one up.
Sometimes I hate it when police brutality doesn't live up to the bullshit reputation lefty kooks insist upon. The dearth of cracked heads is alarming. At least the jerkoff signs are funny.
hAnDs oFf rAffAh
LMAO!!! fn clowns.
What about Jan 6? ... or unite the right nazi-fest?
upon reviewing your profile, I see you are one of the prog nazis. adorable.
what's it like to be duped by bronze-age savages into calling this a gEnOcIdE when it is so obvious to any adult that isn't an emotional wreck why the term is being falsely used?
is it weird to trust hamas on death numbers only to see even the Israel-hating UN unable to continue repeating those lies?
finally, which term is dumber: apartheid or colonizer?
most people with passing knowledge of this know there is an Arab on the Israel Supreme Court and intermarriage isn't uncommon and Arabs have more rights in Israel than Arab countries, so the apartheid claim is like seven bags of shit stupid.
but a people with thousands of years of history in the land, banished and a diaspora for 1000s of years, only to return and build a nation far superior in all ways to its neighbors being called colonizers and not the epitome of DECOLONIZATION has to be one of the stupidest claims made by lefty kooks and islamic terrorists (but I repeat myself).
how did you get fooled by these savages like this?
did you ever think any of it through, or just join the herd mindlessly?
seven bags of shit stupid
lefty kooks and islamic terrorists (but I repeat myself)
GOLD
thanks, but I don't think she has the testicular fortitude to answer. one can only imagine how her schedule is jam-packed with Jew-hating while insisting "i oNlY mEaN zIoNisTs, nOt jEwS!"
Or one blivet. (Eleven pounds of shit in a ten pound bag). :)
what about them?
in case you weren't aware, the only death due to J6 is the unarmed protestor shot by the police.
and if you agree that charlottesville was bad, and cops should've been more aggressive with them, you are obliged to be as disappointed as I am that today's prog nazis are being treated so delicately.
unless you're a hypocrite.
That one's got a compost smell to him
it's all short, glib, empty sniping with the power and efficacy of an infant's punch
That's what I figured, you are projecting. BTW, one of those Nazis murdered Heather Heyer because she was protesting against Nazis. Y'all are pathetic liars.
did you learn the word projecting the other day and now you use it anytime, no matter if it fits or not? that's so cute.
do you wear a keffiyah when you post?
Your 9th Covid vaccine is ready. "As Seen On TV".
Are you actually retarded?
Are you referring to the Jan 6 where the majority of the protestors were invited into the capitol and the only person killed was a young woman shot by a capitol police officer? That Jan 6?
And there is a witch hunt to get even those protestors united in by the Biden weaponized DOJ, maybe you forgot that.
Yes, where they attacked police, tried to kill the vp, destroyed property... that Jan 6.
"tried to kill the vp" LMAO!!!
yes, son, the whole country was THISCLOSE to Def Sec Q Shaman, Sec of State Lecturn Snatcha, and President Desk Shitta with the rest of the cabinet full of juggalos and hispanic white supremacists. so so so so so so so so close to a coup, especially what with all those weapons!
probably no agents in the crowd, though. why would anyone want to know that?
Talk about rewriting history. You’re parroting left wing MSNBC talking points, which includes bloviation and exaggerations. Good job.
Lot’s of angry young women screaming at the top of their lungs, and a few guys hoping to get laid by one of them after the event, and probably lots of long rantings to their therapists the next day. But isn’t it so fun to be part of a resistance where it is guaranteed that nothing bad will happen to you and you get to dress up in a costume and wear a mask to feel dangerous? Funny how a couple years ago you couldn’t wear a sombrero on fricken Halloween and everything had to have a trigger warning because everything was a micro aggression.
Great comment. I was especially moved by the woman yelling about, "Food, medicine, art, and knowledge," while outfitted in the requisite PLO scarf and also sporting a silky camisole. Does Victoria's Secret now carry an Intifada line? (Does VS even exist anymore?) Maybe some fashion house can come up with a line of honor killing wear.
These people can be stupid and spout all the nonsense they want. Do it in public where people can stop and listen, if they want. But they aren't satisfied with just free speech. In fact, they hate it for the rest of us.
Yes, VS still exists, but they have gone trans... not making this up...
Ha! Sort of makes sense. Not too many young women suffering from bulimia anymore. Next stop, feeling guilty about transgender bulimia. Although on second thought, just feeling guilty you are not transgender, sans bulimia. It's a wild, wild world we live in, Master Jack.
Was intrigued, but not all that surprised, when I read this morning that the majority of protestors are women.
“The crowd at anti-Israel protests is disproportionately female, observes Heather Mac Donald. Her explanation? “The victim ideology that drives much of academia today. . . has a female character.” (City Journal)
Think for a minute if the police would need to be called in to control the protestors if instead the college president found the courage to make an appearance and address them, firmly, with strength and commitment, and not allow them to intimidate or bully them. If professors did the same. But no, that would never happen, because they are cowards, and because the protestors know they are supported by many in the faculty and administration. They created this mess, and now they hide, and throw it to law enforcement to manage.
The protesters dress like Hamas terrorists or Antifa from Portland 2020. By their clothes shall you know them. They are not “outraged humanitarians”, nor are they “anti-war.” They are for Hamas victory.
thats been my point. Is this is the first time in living history that campus protesters in the US were pro-war.
People want justice for genocidal actions rather than a blank check to bomb children. How is that for Hamas victory?
Bad faith all around. You should be ashamed of yourself. You cannot take people's genuine concern seriously, that's a pathetic place to be in life.
They’re not genuinely concerned. If they were they’d have been protesting all the other wars and genocides going on in the world. Why don’t you ask why they’re only protesting Jews, hmmm? Not interested in finding out perhaps.
🤡
A bunch of clueless pawns. I think the police showed incredible restraint from what I watched. Make the announcement to disperse, then encircle those left and zip tie every last one with whatever force necessary. Deport all here on visa and jail and expel the rest
This is like watching an Errol Morris film, where he just turns on the camera and lets you decide by letting his subjects go, unfiltered. Money quote: "How do you know that these are pro-Palestinianian protestors?" "I read their sign."
C'mon Matt, these protesters aren't "pro-Palestine," they are anti-Israel and anti-American... "Palestine" is just the Cause of the Moment to advance those two agendas.
I'm trying to use the most neutral language possible.
What does it matter what their motivation is? They are not on trial here. What does it matter whether they wear masks, or if they all get their headgear from the same aisle at Muslims-R-Us?
I remember much of this same disingenuous, ad hominem rhetoric directed at MLK, the Black Panthers, and the Occupy Wall Street protesters. It’s old. (The FBI hated Kings pacifist influence, so they bugged his hotel rooms to prove he was cheating on his wife.)
You’re giving away the weakness of your argument when you attack fashion accessories or suspected ulterior motivations. Their jeopardy is real, their sacrifice is real, and if you say they just do it to get attention, I might add: What else would they be doing it for? Just like the Boston Tea Party. That’s the point of political demonstrations.
A more useful question is: What are you doing this for?
Sera, motivations matter, and in this case, the motivation behind these so-called protests is murky... some unseen influences have organized and staged these "encampments," complete with pre-printed signs, REI-quality color coordinated tents, and plenty of outside professional agitators to stir up the mostly-clueless students who provide window dressing for the charade. Why are these clueless students participating? I'd argue that in many/most cases, it is driven by the same existential angst and loss of purpose plaguing so many these days... the explanation is more socio-psychological than it is political.
The other issues you bring up--MLK, Black Panthers, etc-- have nothing to do with the anti-Israel protests and it is fallacious to equate them. All protests are not created equal, don't you know... "Just like the Boston Tea Party"--sure! : )
What am I doing this for, you ask? In the tradition of my screen avatar, I am doing it to ensure the survival and success of my country and civilization. You?
Motivations matter to you. Results matter to me. I cannot imagine why anyone who wishes an immediate end to Israel’s genocide would bother to make the comments that flood this comment board, and similar ones in The New York Times. I remember slurs against Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney calling into question the motivations and support for the “Northern agitators comin’ down heah where they don’t belong.” Those slurs never came from supporters of integration.
Well, Sera, the UN just announced that the numbers put out by Hamas as to women and children killed are grossly exaggerated. What a surprise! Actual numbers are 14,000 Hamas soldiers killed, and (now) from the UN, 11,000 civilians. This is a ratio of less than one civilian killed for every terrorist killed. At Mosul in 2017 it was two-to-one.
The Gaza TOTAL is now 25,000 inlcuding 14,000 terrorists. That is bad but it not "genocide." The use of this term is "Holocaust Reversal", intended to psychologically damage Jews by using the worst slaughter of Jews in Jewish history against them and making them the Nazis. Disgusting.
It is common for Leftists today to attempt to wrap themselves in the moral authority of the Civil Rights Movement of the early 60s... "we were right then, we must be right now" goes the thinking. But that is false. You cannot equate the anti-Israel protest of today to any other time or protest, it must be judged on its own terms. And by that yardstick, it fails spectacularly.
Another common trait among today's Leftist is the ongoing degradation of language, to use language to mystify, misrepresent and confuse rather than illuminate. The abuse of the word "genocide" is a prime example of that. Whatever your view of the situation, it is dishonest to apply it to what the Israelis are doing in Gaza. As others have observed, if Israel truly wanted to intentionally kill all Palestinians (the true meaning of "genocide") they could have done it in a matter of days. Instead, they have made a deliberate effort to spare as many civilians as possible as they wage war against an existential threat to their existence, Hamas, who is cowardly hiding amongst civilians in a cynical attempt to curry favor with gullible observers like yourself. "Genocide" huh? I don't recall the Nazis sending relief convoys to Auschwitz, as the Israelis have done in Gaza.... just one point of difference.
But yes, I too, mourn over the suffering of Gazans. That's why I hope you will join me in calling for Hamas' immediate and complete surrender. That would end the war today. It is the only acceptable outcome. Israel is not obligated to have Nazis as neighbors.
I do not intend any offense, but I think you are a complete hypocrite. I lost half my family to the Nazis, and in the words of Einstein, “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazis”
As a defender of genocide, which you have just shown yourself to be by denying it, I will end this conversation with a point of view inspired by George Galloway: “To defend Zionism is the same as defending rape or child abuse. I will not dignify such a conversation by pretending it can be just.”
Having lost half of your family to the Nazis, I find it even more unbelievable that you would support Hamas, the most Nazi-like organization (at least insofar as the Jews are concerned) since World War II. Yes, reasonable people might disagree over which strategy is best in defeating Hamas, but to cast Israel as wholly at fault here is shocking, at least it is to me.
I explained to you why "genocide" is not appropriate for what is happening in Gaza. It cheapens the term to use it so carelessly. And it is far from "hypocrisy" to point this out, just simple common sense.
I note that you have not joined me in calling for Hamas' complete and immediate surrender.... again, quite unbelievable. But what I have learned is that some American Jews are disturbingly ready to throw the Israelis under the bus, to abandon them to their possible destruction--all too reminiscent of what American Jews did to European Jews in the 1930s and 40s. I don't get it, I don't get it at all.
And yes, Art Eckstein is right, you have been taken in by Hamas' propaganda in terms of the numbers who have died. If they have lied to you about that, what else are they lying about? Something to think about.
You are working from false, exaggerated (and now clearly slanderous) numbers. The UN itself just reduced the Hamas numbers of alleged women and children killed by HALF. See my posting on this above on this thread and also under "New". You've been taken in by propaganda.
In order that you may more clearly understand the term:
“In 1948, the United Nations Genocide Convention defined genocide as any of five "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". These five acts were: killing members of the group, causing them serious bodily or mental harm, imposing living conditions intended to destroy the group, preventing births, and forcibly transferring children out of the group.
Victims are targeted because of their real or perceived membership of a group, not randomly.”
Fits what Hamas did on October 7th perfectly.
Charade will continue until the funders are unmasked.
Rasmussen polling last week indicated that as a result of these campus protests, 15% of those polled were more sympathetic to the Palestinians while 42% were LESS sympathetic to the Palestinians.
Do the campus protesters care about their actual political impact? No—because they’re too busy in antisemitic “revolutionary” personal self-actualization
It is not about Gaza. It is a C movement precisely to cause chaos and disorder. To break Western civilization.
Yes. Yes. Hence the appeal and appearance of these protesters as either Hamas terrorists or “Black Bloc” Antifa anarchists. In both cases it’s infantile “dress-up.” But it’s WHO they want to dress up as that is so unsettling.
Yes, cos-play as political activism.... but it gives the participants something to post on Instagram, which is the real point of it all.
“such scenes from as many angles as possible, to allow audiences to draw their own conclusions.” Draw their own conclusions with respect to what exactly? The impossible situation that law enforcement has been asked to somehow manage, because feeble cowardly weak minded leaders have been too afraid to address it themselves - to do their jobs? Some journalists say pro-Palestinian protesters, some say anti-Israeli protestors. I get it, it’s both, it’s a mixture, impossible to define precisely, but it appears the words chosen by the journalist to define the protestors say a little bit about how they feel about the issue as a whole.
it's simple. if they are being identified as pro-Hamas, it is accurate.
if the term is pro-Palestine or pro-Gaza or anti-Israel, that's a prog nazi make-believe journalist lying and trying not to mash in their pants hating on Jews.
"Pro-Palestinian" as if everyone else is "anti-Palestinian." What a crock. These protesters are "pro Hamas" and "pro-terrorist." If they were "pro-Palestinian" they would demand that Hamas surrender, give up the remaining hostages, and stop hiding behind Palestinian citizens. Don't hold your breath...
This innovative and informative "feature" outperforms, out informs, and should shame legacy TV journalists of all persuasions.
Nicely done, Racket News!
The majority of your Racket followers are an embarrassment Matt. I know free speech is your mantra. I agree with adhering to the first amendment. I just think it’s not a good reflection on your entire body of work which us lefties who get trashed on here, (we’re not liberal Democrats) have followed for many years. I hope you don’t end up losing us because of what goes on on this platform.
I’m going to just read your pieces and refrain from reading the garbage that gets spewed here for the sake of my blood pressure. We’ll see how that goes.
I would like to repeat that I don't like it when people make generalizations about all of this site's subscribers. If you want to criticize one particular person, do it, but every time I see one of these "Matt, the majority of your followers are X" comments, it irritates me. It's not in the spirit of this site and makes me think there's inorganic activity going on. Can we not?
Perhaps it is you who is the embarrassment
FUCK. YOU.
LMAO!
I'm in the same space. I don't mind dissent: it's healthy. I DON'T like an echo chamber. Hence, avoid MSM. But this isn't a dialogue. It feels as tho it's overrun with people who were all in for January 6 & criticizing snowflakes when it was right wing freedoms on the line. Now, "about face" y'all. I'm sure you're right about avoiding comments, and just reading Matt, cause there sure will not be any hearts and minds changed here.
Thank you. I know I’m not completely alone here. I just want Matt to realize a lot of his long time followers are getting trashed on his platform and it’s not in his favor over the long run. His choice, but it makes me sad for him.
have you ever considered how Israel is the f'n poster boy for decolonization?
no doubt the oldest records show they were there for thousands of years.
they were thrown off the land and banished by colonizers
they returned and built a nation far superior to their neighbors: modern, high-tech, multicultural and multiracial, with rights for arabs better than in neighboring arab countries.
how TF is this not the best and most successful case of decolonization in history?
Clearly, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Ever heard of the British Balfour Project? It was without question a settler colonial project begun in the late 1800s. It came to fruition in 1948 with the violent expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their land. The Israelis openly called for the mass murder of the Palestinians. Just as they do today.
That is absolutely not true about 1948. The UN vote took place. Israel was attacked from many sides and won. It wasn’t about Palestinians then it was about a homeland for the Jews.
You might find it enlightening to do a bit of research and learn about how many Jews and Christians were expelled from Arab lands before the creation of Israel.
Gee, how far back would you like to go? The reality on the ground presently is the civilians of Gaza and the West Bank are being slaughtered so the Zionist project can continue to expand. At some point, this colonialist mindset has to stop if we are to move forward as a species.
Not only openly calling for it but openly doing it. And to make Zionist a synonym of Jew is insulting to the honorable Jews who say “not in our name.”
Arthur Balfour had absolutely nothing to do with Jewish socialists from Eastern Europe beginning to settle in the Holy Land in the late 1800's! What an ignoramus!
Excuse me. Balfour initiated the Balfour Declaration in 1917. Theodore Herzl began the Zionist project in 1896.
For those crying I’ve provided no evidence. Do your own damn investigation. I’m not doing your work for you. It’s at your fingertips if you’re truly interested.
Ok Peacelady. You’ve helped me to go ahead and write this. I’m not sad for Matt I’m very irritated with him. Get some balls Matt. Quit sitting on the fence with, showing the stupid videos! You know and have worked with both Aaron Mate & Katie Halper! You KNOW what genocide is. You KNOW what zionism is! Why are you instigating the vile comments that are appearing here. So I’m going to let one loose now! FUCK Netanyahu! Let’s go Brandon!
Thank you!
More than ‘called for’, as you probably know:
“On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants (240 men, women, and children) and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem.”
This is a documented and confirmed event cited by Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt in a letter to the Times in 1948. Modern Israeli historians also confirm these events. Israel was founded by terrorists.
It's also an early report that turns out to be false about this village, its fighters, and the numbers killed on both sides. Another example of ignorance here.
If "getting trashed" is defined as getting out-argued with facts, history, logic, etc. then fine, you're "getting trashed," but it would be far more profitable if you would engage in argument on the merits.
dont pretend like you're interested (or up to) a discussion.
anyone laughably using "zionist" and thinks others don't know they mean "Jews" can be taken about as seriously as someone who is being duped into calling this a gEnOcIdE
It’s easy. Don’t read the comments.