Pleasantly Surprising Vote

For John, BLUF:  Amidst all the turmoil amongst the Ivy League schools, it turns out the students at Columbia elected an israeli Jew as Student Body President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Israeli student elected by Columbia for role of student president as protests surge

Here is the sub-headline:

The election comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and student encampments.

From The Jerusalam Post, by The Staff, 28 April 2024 06:47, Updated: 28 April 2024 08:45.

Here is the lede plus two:

Columbia University has elected Israeli student Maya Platek as Columbia student government president for the 2024-2025 school year, the organization Students Supporting Israel (SSI) announced Friday.

The election of an Israeli student for the role comes as the Columbia campus experiences an overwhelming wave of anti-Israel protests and encampments.

Platek has been determined to speak up for Jewish students on campus as a member of SSI, an organization that, according to its website, aims to allow for a pro-Israel voice on college campuses.

Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds commented;  'SECRET BALLOTS ALLOW THE SILENT MAJORITY TO SPEAK".

I mentioned this to someone and used the term Australian Ballot.  They drew a blank.  However, Wikipedia recognized this term for the Secret Ballot  While the Secret ballot is as old as ancient Greece, in the United States it didn't start until after the Presidential Election of 1884 (Democrat Governor Grover Cleveland of New York vs Republican James G. Blaine of Maine),♠ with Kentucky being the last state to adopt it, in 1891.

Per Wikipedia the four components of an "Australian ballot" were:

1. an official ballot being printed at public expense,
2. on which the names of the nominated candidates of all parties and all proposals appear,
3. being distributed only at the polling place and
4. being marked in secret.

There are those of us who are dubious as to if a Secret Ballot can be sustained in an era of no excuse mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Wikipedia characterized the election as being "set apart by unpleasant mudslinging and shameful personal allegations that eclipsed substantive issues, such as civil administration change."

Flapping in the Breeze

For John, BLUF:  Do you ever feel your elected officials will sell you out if they find what seems like a larger patch of voters?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Other Kind of Marxism

Here is the sub-headline:

If you don’t like a politician’s principles, there’s a good chance he has others.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Columnist Andy Kessler, 28 April 2024 at 11:51 am ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

Today’s politicians are steeped in Marxism.  Not Karl, but Groucho, who is supposed to have said:  “Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them . . . well, I have others.”

On Jan. 22, 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said of Donald Trump’s second impeachment:  “Make no mistake, a trial will be held in the United States Senate and there will be a vote whether to convict the president.”  Fast forward to a week ago, when articles of impeachment were delivered to the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.  Mr. Schumer said:  “Impeachment Article 1 does not allege conduct that rises to the level of high crime or misdemeanor . . . and is therefore unconstitutional.”  No trial.  No vote.

This tossing of principles can be found everywhere.  In 2020 President Trump tried to ban social-media app TikTok over national-security concerns.  Now Mr. Trump is against a ban, writing last month on Truth Social:  “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business.  I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better.”

In August 2020, Joe Biden told ABC’s David Muir, referring to Covid:  “I would shut it down.  I would listen to the scientists.”  By October 2020, Mr. Biden insisted, “I’m not going to shut down the country, I’m going to shut down the virus.”  Lockdowns continued.

Science!  Sadly, some scientists have prancing principles.  Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in March 2020, “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask.”  In October 2020, when CNBC’s Shepard Smith asked if we need a national mask mandate, Dr. Fauci quickly answered, “Yes, we do.”  The Washington Post and BuzzFeed, via a Freedom of Information Act request, found this February 2020 Dr. Fauci email:  “The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material.”  In January 2023, the respected Cochrane Review agreed:  “Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference.”

And on it goes.

I don't mind politicians "growing" in their understanding and ethics.  I dislike their way of being a windsocket and going with the breeze.

Hat tip to a Friend in Texas.

Regards  —  Cliff

A National Pubic Radio Network

For John, BLUF:  Sgt Mom pretty well covers the waterfront concerning National Public Radio.  It is off the rails.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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To the Great Surprise of Many…

From Chicago Boyz, by Sgt. Mom, 18 April 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

… It turned out that there was one genuine, for real, professional old-line journalist still working at National Public Radio.  Was being the operative word, as business reporter Uri Berliner quit, after spectacularly blowing up any lingering pretense of the publicly financed institution being an impartial and unbiased news-gathering organization, reporting on news without fear, favor or partisanship.  Frankly, anyone claiming to be the teeniest bit rightish of center and believes that load of codswallop is likely too innocent to be let out in public without a dedicated keeper.  They probably believe every word in the NY Times, as well – although as Agent K of Men in Black observed – that publication stumbles into the truth on rare occasions.

Uri Berliner’s final report may yet blow apart NPR federal funding, both that which is direct, and that which is paid to them by local affiliates for the rights to air their various news, information and entertainment features.  The new CEO for NPR, one Katherine Maher, appears to be a singularly unappealing progressive apparatchik, a neurotic child of ruling-class privilege without a single shred of a background or experience in journalism … but all the right progressive opinions.  (I swear, I’d be a better fit for that job based on a DINFOS shake-n-bake course for print and broadcast journalism, followed by twenty years as a military public affairs specialist!)  I’d also swear that Katherine Maher was another generated parody like Titania McGrath, but alas – she’s all too horribly real.

I do wonder if this might be the final straw that breaks NPR.  For all their many awards, organizational self-regard, and incestuously close connections to the Washington power structure, they have also been hemorrhaging ordinary listeners in Flyoverlandia for years now.  I’m one of those once-listeners myself.  Heck, I even worked for years at the local affiliate here in San Antonio on a part-time – on the classical music side, though.  Every time I mentioned how I came to quit listening to NPR – a fair number of commenters chimed in with similar tales of disenchantment and outright disgust.  NPR used to make at least a pretense at being even-handed, the presence of that lugubrious old talking prune, Daniel Schorr notwithstanding – or Cokie Roberts, the daughter of two (count ’em!) longtime career Democrat Party politicians, Lindy and Hale Boggs.  NPR did more than the immediate sensational bleeding and leading coverage of news, and extended features … and then … and then, they seemed to have less and less to say to anyone who wasn’t a bicoastal progressive.  For me, the point came sometime between 9-11 then the election of Obama; definitely by the time of the rise of the Tea Party.  NPR looked at the Tea Party with the horrified interest of someone discovering a dead worm in their expensive mushroom vol-au-vent appetizer, before thumbing through their golden Rolodex of experts and demanding an explanation … instead of, you know – calling up any of the local Tea Party organizations and asking them.

Yes, I know.  Venturing into the hinterland and speaking to those bitter clingers would be asking to much.  Or hiring someone like Reporter Salena Zito.

I think Mr Uri Berliner was trying to save NPR.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

College Protests Run Amok

For John, BLUF:  I am probably slow, but when in college I didn't have time to take off for protests.  I needed to be cracking the books, as we used to say.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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“This is an openly anti-American movement, which is using Israel as the scapegoat”

Here is the sub-headline:

“Academia, particularly at the level of Columbia and the Ivy League, is completely broken. I don’t think it can be repaired internally. They have created over 20 to 30 years a unified monoculture which is hostile to western values, which is hostile to capitalism, and which exploits and singles out Israel as the object of their ire as a mobilizing tactic…. People need to understand that there is no internal opposition left.”

From Legal Insurrection, by Professor William A. Jacobson, Tuesday, 23 April 2024 at 08:30pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

There is a plus-side to the vile anti-Israel and antisemitic encampments at Columbia and several other universities – the anti-American side of the movement is on full display.  As I’ve been saying for years, the racialized and radicalized campuses are a threat to our nation, now they have shown their hand for all to see.

When they burn American flags, and when they chant for the destruction of the U.S., they are showing us who they really are.

It’s going to get worse.

After spending months screaming for an Intifada (the suicide bombing campaign against Israel), don’t be surprised when some of them try to fulfill their sick fantasies.

I know a former Professor from Columbia and have had numberous conversations with him about various issues in the Middle East (his area of expertise).  I have never thought of him as radical or anti-semetic.  I learned, and at the same time I felt my views were respected.  But, he retired a decade ago.  There are, or at least, have been, intelligent, thinking adults in academia.  But, they seem absent today, and that is bad for our Republic.

The current state of the Ivy League and other elite schools makes me think the smart, informed, parent of a high school senior would consider two years at a community college and then a state university.  Or a known non-radical school, such as Franciscan University of Steubenville.

There is also the view of opinionnater Stephen Kruiser, "Let the Protesters Stay Until Academia Burns to the Ground."  As Professor Glenn Reynolds says from time to time, "what can't go on won't."

I defend the right of the college campus protesters to protest.  I do not condone their intimidating fellow college students, such that those students do not feel safe going to class.  I defend the right of the college campus protesters to be ignorant slobs.  I don't have to accept their uninformed views.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Supporters of Hamas

For John, BLUF:  As an American I am saddened by masses of college students exercising their First Amendment rights in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Columbia Protestors Clarify They Only Want Death To America After America Is Done Paying Their Student Loans

From BabylonBee, 23 April 2024.

Here is the lede plus two:

NEW YORK, NY — As pro-Palestine groups continued to gather on campus following the establishment of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Columbia University protestors clarified that they only want "Death to America" after America is done paying their student loans for them.

"Death to America… in like, 3 or 4 years when I graduate!" shouted one student protestor. "America truly is the ‘Great Satan' that ravages and oppresses other countries and deserves to be wiped off the face of the earth…as soon as the American taxpayers finish paying off our tuition loans!

"But as soon as that's done, then, yeah, totally, death to America!"

Over the top?  Maybe.  But, it is The Bee.

On the other hand, these student protestors are both ignorant and over the top.  They are an embarrassment to freedom loving people.  Further they seem oblivious to the attitudes of Hamas and like groups toward women and those who identify as LGBQT+.  Where are they getting their education on various societies around the world?

Finally, these demonstrators seem oblivious to the fail of those living in what is now Israel, Jews, Palestinians and Beduins alike.  Should they just die?  Should they all be "transported far beyond the northern sea!"  Likely, if there is not another Holocost, those people would end up in America.  While I would be sad to see the demise of Israel, I would be happy to welcome those 9.9 million new Citizens to our melting pot.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Who is Afraid of Bobby?

For John, BLUF:  While Third Party Candidates don't win, they do influence the outcome, so can not be ignored.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Republicans are starting to worry about RFK Jr.

Here is the sub-headline:

Even Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that the independent candidate “probably hurts both” Biden and him.

From Politico, by Reporters Lisa Kashinsky, Brittany Gibson, Jessica Piper and Steven Shepard, 22 April 2024, 10:02 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus one:

Republicans are waking up to the reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could sink their standard-bearer just as easily as he could hurt President Joe Biden, after a pair of new polls showed the presence of third-party candidates on the ballot might not necessarily benefit former President Donald Trump.

Even Trump is acknowledging his potential problem.

“They say he hurts Biden. I’m not sure that that’s true, and I think he probably hurts [us] both,” Trump said of Kennedy in a radio interview Monday night. “But he might hurt Biden a little bit more, you don’t know.”

so true.&hbsp; Caandidate robert Kennedy has been dismissed by his family and by the Democrstic Nationsal committee, but he is still there.

Yes, he hurts them both, but when some crackpot finally takes a shot at him it will hurt President Biden more, since his Secretary of Homeland Security won’t provide Secret Service protection to Mr Kennedy.  Are there no thinkers down there in the Democratic Party Swamp.  Has no one asked the question of how bad it would look for two Robert Kennedys to be assassinated on the campaign trail?  Father and Son?  What are they thinking, or are they like Rep. Bennie Thompson, hoping for the opposition to die at the hand of an assassin, saving President Biden time and trouble?

I would think our Massachusetts junior Senator, Ed Markey, and our local US Representative, Lori Trahan, have a clue.  Don't you think they could pass the word that there is a clue bag out there?

Hat tip to my Brother Lance.

Regards  —  Cliff

Divide and Conquer

For John, BLUF:  There are uniters and dividers.  Don't be a divider.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dogs slammed as ‘settler-colonial’ as pooches and owners blamed for ‘gentrifying’ NYC by woke activists

From The New York Post, by Reporter Chris Nesi, 21 April 2024, 6:34 p.m. ET.

Here is the lede plus seven:

This is a ruff take!

City-dwelling dog owners are marking their “colonial” territory with pooches who are “gentrifying” neighborhoods, critics say in a bizarre online debate.

Sparking the controversy was a story in The Cut that delves into the growing hostility between dog owners and the dog-free in New York.

The article quotes Mia, of Prospects Lefferts Gardens, the proud owner of two terriers, who noticed a growing anti-dog sentiment brewing on her community Facebook group.

One post about picking up dog poop eventually spiraled into bonkers accusations that the pooches of PGL were “gentrifying the neighborhood.”

Mia, a New York-born Latina, told the outlet upon reading this she wondered “Are they saying that only white people have dogs?”

Another woman with an off-leash dog was apparently confronted in Prospect Park by someone filming her with her cellphone camera.

“She was asking me why I thought I was special, why my dog didn’t need to be leashed. Was it because of my white privilege?

First, isn't it the job of the Editor to spare us from bad puns?  Perhaps The Post cut one too many editors during its recently announced restructuring.

As to the issue of the article, we are seeing our fellow Americans falling into the "settler colonial" terminology of serious Marxists.  A pet dog is about companionship, not a marking of territory.  The fact that we would have so little respect for our fellow Citizens by accusing them of using a pet dog to dominate a neighborhood suggests we are not getting out and socialiizing enough.  Someone with a pet should be an opportunity to strike up a conversation,  "What a nice dog you have.  What is his name?"  Maybe even pet the pooch.

Marxism seems to be about pitting one group against another.  It can get ugly.  Ask the kulaks, if you can find one.  And not just Soviet Marxists.  Look at "between the wars Germany," where the Jews, and Romi, were singled out, persecuted and killed.  It doesn't end with the extermination of one unfavored group.  New ones are selected.  Ask Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff