Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Welcome to CaturSaturday, April 27, 2024 (shabbos for Jewish cats), and National Prime Rib Day, called “the king of meats” but a good steak is the God of Meats. Here’s what is supposedly America’s best prime rib, at the House of Prime Rib in San Francisco, where you have to book months in advance. That looks like a nice hunk of meat, but vegetarians will be repulsed. But wait for the dessert. . .
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the April 27 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*It’s not clear how the Supreme Court will rule on Trump’s claim that he had Presidential immunity when trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, something he faces federal criminal charges for. But the NYT lays out two ways that the Court could help mitigate the charges against the Donald.
If the Supreme Court’s hearing on Thursday about former President Donald J. Trump’s claims of executive immunity is any indication of how the court might ultimately rule, the justices could end up helping Mr. Trump in two ways.
Way One:
The justices signaled that their ruling, when it comes, could lead to some allegations being stripped from the federal indictment charging Mr. Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
And because the process of determining which accusations to keep and which to throw away could take several months, it would all but kill the chance of Mr. Trump standing trial on charges that he tried to subvert the last election before voters get to decide whether to choose him again in this one.
Way Two:
Near the end of the arguments, however, Justice Amy Coney Barrett abruptly floated a way that prosecutors could maneuver around that time-consuming morass. If the special counsel, Jack Smith, wanted to move more quickly, she said, and avoid the ordeal of lower courts reviewing his indictment line by line, deciding what should stay and what should go, he could always do the job himself.
That, of course, would still mean that the Court would have to rule on the new, leaner indictment, delaying everything.
That suggestion, which Mr. Smith’s team seemed to grudgingly accept as a possibility, hinted at the ways in which the hearing on Thursday focused not only on lofty issues of presidential power and constitutional law, but also touched on more practical elements of how Mr. Trump’s criminal case could proceed after the court’s decision.
However the justices rule on the question of granting presidents a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution, the result will have a direct and immediate effect on the election interference case, one of the most important prosecutions Mr. Trump faces.
Remember that those are federal charges, and if Trump gets convicted and reelected he could still try to pardon himself. Now that would cause a constitutional crisis. Finally, there’s another way:
. . . . Indeed, it seemed at times as if Mr. Trump’s legal team was giving up its maximalist position — that immunity extended to all of the indictment — in order to invite the court to explore in detail the more minute distinctions between official acts and private ones.
If the justices do that, they could order a federal appeals court or the trial court in Washington to undertake the job. It is possible the court could issue a narrow ruling giving the trial judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, the power to make those decisions on her own and limit Mr. Trump’s ability to appeal them until after a conviction.
No matter what happens, it looks like Trump has guaranteed himself an election without a federal conviction (the NY hush money trial, a state case, will have a verdict before too long). But Trump truly is a Teflon man.
Reporting on today’s talks between Israel’s hostage deal negotiators and a visiting delegation of Egyptian mediators, Channel 12 news quotes an unnamed Israeli source as saying Israel has made plain to the Egyptians — and by extension to Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — that this is the “last moment” for a deal because, otherwise, the IDF will begin its ground operation in Rafah.
The source further says that Israel is not prepared to let Sinwar drag out the negotiations. It’s a case of “either a deal in the near future, or Rafah.” The architect of the October 7 massacre is widely believed to be hiding in the Hamas tunnel network in the Rafah area, with hostages in close proximity as human shields.
The report confirms that Israel is prepared to settle for the release of fewer than the 40 living hostages as earlier proposed, but also that it will not agree to only 20 hostages being freed, as Hamas reportedly suggested in recent indirect contacts. Rather, says the report, Israel believes that Hamas holds 33 living hostages who meet the so-called “humanitarian” designation — that is, women, children, men aged over 50 and the sick — and is insisting that they all be freed.
The report says this could be a major sticking point if the mediation efforts make headway with Hamas, but stresses that, for now, that is not the case.
There is no mention in the report of whether this would be the first phase of a wider deal for all the hostages, of the length of the proposed accompanying truce, or of Hamas’s relentless demand that Israel halt the war altogether as a condition for any further hostage releases.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out ending the war until Hamas is destroyed as a military and governing force.
I’m not sure what kind of deal is in the offing here, but if the deal is to end the war, it must surely involve the complete surrender of Hamas. And I don’t see that happening. As for the 33 living hostages, that’s way fewer than Hamas supposedly holds, but to me, any decent deal would involve the release of ALL the hostages. Right now, an evacuation of civilians from Rafah is underway, and there is a place prepared in Khan Younis to receive them. That will satisfy Biden’s precondition for him to “allow” the IDF to invade Rafah.
*The WSJ has a useful summary of all the American colleges where pro-Palestinian protestors are encamping or otherwise disrupting stuff. Some of the places surprise me. I’ll give the list and maybe say a few words. Bolding is mine.
Columbia housed last week the first campus encampment over the Middle East conflict, where more than 100 protesters were arrested. The university became the epicenter of this protest movement.
“The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned,” she said. She added, “We have our demands; they have theirs.”
[The University of Southern California] canceled its main commencement ceremony, citing the time required to put in place new security measures for the 65,000-person event planned for May. Police on Wednesday arrested 93 people on suspicion of trespassing. The school will hold other traditional commencement ceremonies, including individual school events.
[The University of Texas at Austin] After dozens of protesters were arrested on Wednesday, faculty gathered with students and some Democratic politicians on Thursday in a rally for free-speech rights.
The arrests Wednesday, by state troopers in riot gear, included a local television news cameraman. UT faculty, in a statement released by their union, said, “Leaders turned our campus into a militarized zone.”
[Emory University] Police arrested 28 protesters on the Emory University campus in Atlanta Thursday morning, after protesters erected tents for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, according to the school.
The school said several dozen protesters who weren’t members of the community had trespassed on the campus. Campus police ordered them to leave and contacted Atlanta police and the Georgia State Patrol for assistance. “Emory does not tolerate vandalism or other criminal activity on campus,” the school said.
[Emerson College] Boston police said 108 people were arrested at Emerson early Thursday morning, and four officers were injured during the confrontation.
Students had set up an encampment in an alley on the school’s campus, which is in a dense, urban area abutting Boston Common. Video on social media showed a clash between protesters and police in the alley. The police and fire departments said there were alleged violations of city ordinances, including blocking doors, hydrants and pedestrian access, according to the college.
[New York University] The New York City Police Department said it took 120 people into custody Monday night at the request of New York University officials.
Princeton, in New Jersey, said the half-dozen tents that went up Thursday were voluntarily taken down after two graduate students were arrested for trespassing and banned from campus.
Northwestern said it is working with protesters to remove their tents from its Evanston, Ill., campus, and those who don’t do so might be arrested.
George Washington, in Washington, D.C., has told protesters to move to another area on campus because law exams are being held near the encampments.
[UCLA] Hundreds of students set up tents Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, in what they called the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment.” Campus security didn’t have any visible presence around the encampment.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The school said it would remain closed at least through the weekend as protesters, who included non-students, had occupied two buildings on campus. The school said several laws had been broken, including resisting arrest, destroying and damaging property and criminal trespass.
Harvard University. The school said access to Harvard Yard, the heart of the Cambridge, Mass., campus, was closed this week through Friday. Students have been protesting and setting up tents.
Although summer break is rapidly approaching, student protesters say they will use the time away from campus to figure out ways their movement can return with even more force in the fall.
“This student movement is of the utmost importance,” Rosenzweig,the Brown student, said. “I don’t see people backing down.”
There will be other venues for students to express their discontent in the months ahead. The Republican and Democratic nominating conventions are scheduled for this summer, and both expect to draw a large number of protesters. Thus far, students have been mum on whether they plan to join those demonstrations.
*As always, I am stealing three items from Nellie Bowles’s weekly news summary at The Free Press, called this week “TGIF: Four more years, pause.”
→ Oh, Columbia: My dear alma mater is in the news, as you’ve probably seen by now. A group of anti-Israel protesters have taken over the quad and declared it an autonomous zone, with all the usual stuff (essential oil zones, a first aid tent with 5 Band-Aids and some NyQuil, interpretive dances, other interpretive dances with strings). Congressional Republicans have turned it into a political pilgrimage, and the optics are pretty good: the students are literally leading cheers in favor of Hamas and the October 7 attack, like: “It was the Al-Aqsa Flood that put the global Intifada back on the table again. And it is the sacrificial spirit of the Palestinian freedom fighters that will guide every struggle on every corner of the earth to victory.” Students holler with excitement; clearly all this a metaphor for peace and love and liberation. Visibly Jewish students who haven’t been vetted as good Jews are pushed out of the center of campus by protesters, who keep their faces fully covered as they link hands and repeat: “We have Zionists who have entered the camp.” (To be fair, that’s also what I say when Bar comes home too late and I’m annoyed.) One student leader of the protests released a video saying: “Zionists don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live, the same way we’re very comfortable accepting that Nazis don’t deserve to live, fascists don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live.”
Or, as one prominent NBC News reporter put it: “I didn’t see a single instance of violence or aggression on the lawn or at the student encampment. The student-led protest was peaceful and often very quiet.”
. . .And here is how The Daily Beastdescribed the suspension of the daughter of a sitting congresswoman.
This is how I feel every time I’m not literally in my house eating: suspended, homeless, without food. . . when will it end?
→ Good people on both sides:Here’s Biden, as schools across the country are having their quads taken over by people chanting their various little chants: “I condemn the antisemitic protests. . . . I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.” Good people on both sides, Biden says. I condemn the non-understanders too.
As Jeremy Flood, a union organizer and former Bernie Sanders staffer, put it: “A good law of history is that if you ever find yourself opposing a student movement while siding with the ruling class, you are wrong. Every single time. In every era. No matter the issue.” I’m not a historian, but I’m pretty sure Nazism was very popular among the youth. And the Cultural Revolution really took off with students. On the other hand, Jeremy Flood might think both of those were good movements.
→ NPR is in more trouble than we realized: A new piece in the NYT follows The Free Presswhistleblower bombshell and adds details about how NPR has lost its way. Its weekly listenership has fallen from 60 million listeners in 2020 to 42 million, per an internal audience report from March. That’s still a lot, don’t get me wrong. But they’re losing fans fast. The taxpayer-funded audio production company has been convinced that hiring people who look different from one another but think the exact same things will expand their listener base. NPR executives are like, “Look, she has blue hair, and she has pink hair, and they both are going to yell at you about sexism among goldfish enthusiasts today, enjoy.” Sadly, it is not working. This is not drawing the Latinx/Latine listener. A single queer climate activist is more tuned in and feeling really seen, but the folx at large aren’t joining. In fact, NPR has the whitest audience of any mainstream media company at 75 percent, second only to Fox News.
*And a weekend laugh, though it’s funny largely because it’s true (click to read):
An excerpt:
In ongoing protests over the war between Israel and Gaza, clever college students found an effective way to avoid being racist by simply calling for the murder of ‘Zionists’ instead of Jews.
“Zionists clearly aren’t people,” student protestor Bashir Telum told the press. “I am allowed to call for their deaths and that doesn’t make me a bad person or anything. You, know, because they aren’t the same thing as Jews. Or people.
There’s more, too.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili is on the beat, inspecting her territory:
A meme from Barry quoting the late, great Dan Dennett:
From Masih, another gutsy Iranian woman giving hell to a guy who rebuked her for showing her hair:
This brave Iranian woman chased after a man who tried to forcibly veil her and hit him in the head to make him understand that he has no right to violate anyone’s right to choose or assault any woman’s body. There are some grammatical errors in the sentence. Here’s a corrected… pic.twitter.com/txiHO7bYfH
From Simon, who adds, “If Melania wanted to be there she could go. None of his family have turned up to support him…..sad.”
Trump wishes his wife Melania a happy birthday, and complains he can’t be with her because he’s in court. Then he enters the courtroom to hear more lurid details about himself having a relationship with a porn star and Playboy playmate, all while married to Melania. pic.twitter.com/gAorgmxOao
Only in America! It weirds me out that they even have drag queen story hours for little kids, but what I really object to is the drag queens politically indoctrinating those kids. This person should never be put in front of kids. https://t.co/5LBocBwS4i
Note that DIP is not an animal, and that for no clear reason the very commonly occurring faeces of cats and birds are not used pejoratively. One feels BEARSHIT ought to exist but it doesn't. PIGSHIT is used only in the phrase "as thick as pigshit" meaning remarkably stupid.…
WSJ : “Although summer break is rapidly approaching, student protesters say they will use the time away from campus to figure out ways their movement can return with even more force in the fall.”
I find that amusing.
…
Oh hey, I think that’s Lil Miss Hot Mess! Here’s a classic quote :
“It may be that Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is “family friendly,” in the sense that it is accessible and inviting to families with children, but it is less a sanitizing force than it is a preparatory introduction to alternate modes of kinship. Here, DQSH is “family friendly” in the sense of “family” as an old-school queer code to identify and connect with other queers on the street.”
Harper Keenan and Lil’ Miss Hot Mess
Curriculum Inquiry
440-461, v50, n5, 2021
The drag queen is a generative theme (Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy), or a way to deliberately provoke strong emotional reaction while carrying out a “lesson” about society AKA ideological remoulding (brainwashing). Here it couldn’t be more plain as repeating slogans over and over – with “happy”..?
It’s F’ed up – and they know it – clap your hands! [ clap clap!]
Good Shabbos all. I guess I do not understand. First day on campus, all freshman should have a class in JS Mill, self-regarding versus other-regarding rights and acts. Columbia accepted about 2500 students out of about 60,000 applicants. If any of these 2500 are not happy with Columbia and believe it is acceptable to engage in acts that negatively impact the education of their peers, they should leave and transfer elsewhere and Columbia should suspend anyone who does not play by its rules as there seems to be a pretty big hopper of applicants to replace the miscreants. What the hell is the president negotiating? You kids get off my lawn/quad!
My hypothesis is that the NYPD have told the prez, “Don’t even think of calling us again!” and the occupiers—>squatters know it. She now has to give them something to get them to leave. The negotiations are about what that thing will be.
……complicated because no one can know, not even the ringleaders, if the occupiers will honour any agreement the ringleaders make on their behalf. Maybe the prez has to conclude a settlement with each squatter individually, like in a landlord-tenant dispute.
Well, here I go again (Ceiling Cat help us). If the BULLSHIT message the protests’ “leaders” convey won’t rise to the DOGSHIT quality of the BATSHIT crazy musings of their Hamas&/HeZbollah colleagues, they should take their APESHIT energy and rectify the “HORSESHIT situation” in Gaza by proving they’re not CHICKENSHIT and put their boots on the ground over there. Otherwise, much of their rhetoric means JACKSHIT.
Of course, protesters prepared to put their money where there mouths are and go to Gaza to help are as rare as rocking horse shit. As for the rest, for all the good they think they’re doing, they’d be more productive cleaning the bird shit out of cuckoo clocks.
Did everyone else see the video of the arrest of the head of the Philosophy Department at Emory. She’s being led away and someone asks her if she needs someone contacted, and she very calmly asks them to call the department and let them know. (I wonder if they have their own bail bondsman?)
Trying to pin down ChatGPT on the meaning of “anti-Zionism.”
Me: Don’t anti Zionists really just use the Motte and Bailey — the Bailey is the elimination of Israel, but when challenged they say they are just in favor of a two state solution?
ChatGPT: The application of the Motte and Bailey argumentative strategy can certainly be seen in various contentious political and ideological debates, including those surrounding Zionism and anti-Zionism. In such debates, the more extreme or contentious positions (the “Bailey”) might indeed be the more radical calls for action or change, such as the elimination of Israel as a nation-state. When such positions are challenged, especially due to their controversial or impractical nature, proponents might retreat to a more defensible position (the “Motte”), such as advocacy for a two-state solution, which is more widely accepted and seen as a reasonable compromise in international circles.
Here’s how this might play out in the context of anti-Zionism:
Bailey: The more extreme claim could involve arguments for the dismantling of the Israeli state, which can be seen as radical or infeasible, and which might draw significant criticism or resistance.
Motte: When challenged, proponents might shift to advocating for the two-state solution, emphasizing rights and sovereignty for Palestinians alongside a secure Israeli state. This position is generally more defensible because it aligns with widely recognized international law and has broad support, including from many nations and international organizations.
This strategic shift allows the arguer to defend their position by aligning with more commonly accepted principles when under scrutiny, while still holding more radical views as their ultimate goal. However, it’s important to recognize that not all anti-Zionists employ this strategy, and many genuinely support the two-state solution or other moderate positions from the outset. The debate is highly nuanced, with a wide range of perspectives and motivations influencing the positions people take.
Can someone explain the import of this quote by Dennett?
“Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.”
On the one hand, it seems obvious. On the other hand, it’s Dennett, so I’m pretty sure he’s saying something meaningful that I’m just too dim to understand.
Amazing strawberry shortcake! (Yes. I watched to the end as instructed.)
I’m concerned about the hostage negotiations and reports that Israel will (apparently) now make a deal for fewer hostages than before. Why? Are so many of the others dead that Hamas can’t produce more than thirty something?
I wonder whether the flurry of campus building occupations and lawn camp-ins on behalf of Hamas, that icon of “the global Left”, is a foretaste of what we can expect this summer and autumn. Perhaps we can look forward to disorderly demonstrations against “Genocide Joe” Biden at the Democratic convention, analogous to the 1968 events; and further outbreaks of campus and urban disorder, like the Weathermen festival of window-breaking in Chicago in October of 1969. Reenactment of these behaviors could fulfill the pop-Left’s historic function of empowering the Right, and bring in a second Trump presidency—reminiscent of Nixon’s election victories in 1968 and 1972. Of course, the Republican Party of those days was different, illustrated by Nixon’s resignation in 1974, after his criminal behavior in connection with Watergate had become obvious beyond dispute. Standards, most notably in the GOP, have evidently changed since those prehistoric times.
WSJ : “Although summer break is rapidly approaching, student protesters say they will use the time away from campus to figure out ways their movement can return with even more force in the fall.”
I find that amusing.
…
Oh hey, I think that’s Lil Miss Hot Mess! Here’s a classic quote :
“It may be that Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is “family friendly,” in the sense that it is accessible and inviting to families with children, but it is less a sanitizing force than it is a preparatory introduction to alternate modes of kinship. Here, DQSH is “family friendly” in the sense of “family” as an old-school queer code to identify and connect with other queers on the street.”
Harper Keenan and Lil’ Miss Hot Mess
Curriculum Inquiry
440-461, v50, n5, 2021
The drag queen is a generative theme (Paulo Freire’s Critical Pedagogy), or a way to deliberately provoke strong emotional reaction while carrying out a “lesson” about society AKA ideological remoulding (brainwashing). Here it couldn’t be more plain as repeating slogans over and over – with “happy”..?
It’s F’ed up – and they know it – clap your hands! [ clap clap!]
Post-deadline edit: Did Lil Hot Mess say “happy”? I’m not sure now – but that’s the idea – simple – add in emotion.
Good Shabbos all. I guess I do not understand. First day on campus, all freshman should have a class in JS Mill, self-regarding versus other-regarding rights and acts. Columbia accepted about 2500 students out of about 60,000 applicants. If any of these 2500 are not happy with Columbia and believe it is acceptable to engage in acts that negatively impact the education of their peers, they should leave and transfer elsewhere and Columbia should suspend anyone who does not play by its rules as there seems to be a pretty big hopper of applicants to replace the miscreants. What the hell is the president negotiating? You kids get off my lawn/quad!
My hypothesis is that the NYPD have told the prez, “Don’t even think of calling us again!” and the occupiers—>squatters know it. She now has to give them something to get them to leave. The negotiations are about what that thing will be.
……complicated because no one can know, not even the ringleaders, if the occupiers will honour any agreement the ringleaders make on their behalf. Maybe the prez has to conclude a settlement with each squatter individually, like in a landlord-tenant dispute.
Dr. Cobb knows his shit!
I finally got my shit together.
Well, here I go again (Ceiling Cat help us). If the BULLSHIT message the protests’ “leaders” convey won’t rise to the DOGSHIT quality of the BATSHIT crazy musings of their Hamas&/HeZbollah colleagues, they should take their APESHIT energy and rectify the “HORSESHIT situation” in Gaza by proving they’re not CHICKENSHIT and put their boots on the ground over there. Otherwise, much of their rhetoric means JACKSHIT.
Well done
Of course, protesters prepared to put their money where there mouths are and go to Gaza to help are as rare as rocking horse shit. As for the rest, for all the good they think they’re doing, they’d be more productive cleaning the bird shit out of cuckoo clocks.
At least anti war protester Jane Fonda traveled to North Vietnam
Lord Haw-Haw traveled to Berlin.
Of course it didn’t work out so well for him. Backed the wrong horse, you see.
“‘We have Zionists who have entered the camp.’ (To be fair, that’s also what I say when Bar comes home too late and I’m annoyed.)” Hilarious.
Did everyone else see the video of the arrest of the head of the Philosophy Department at Emory. She’s being led away and someone asks her if she needs someone contacted, and she very calmly asks them to call the department and let them know. (I wonder if they have their own bail bondsman?)
That otherwise good-looking prime rib is absolutely ruined by that thick gravy😖😖Prime rib only needs the pan juices.
Trying to pin down ChatGPT on the meaning of “anti-Zionism.”
Me: Don’t anti Zionists really just use the Motte and Bailey — the Bailey is the elimination of Israel, but when challenged they say they are just in favor of a two state solution?
ChatGPT: The application of the Motte and Bailey argumentative strategy can certainly be seen in various contentious political and ideological debates, including those surrounding Zionism and anti-Zionism. In such debates, the more extreme or contentious positions (the “Bailey”) might indeed be the more radical calls for action or change, such as the elimination of Israel as a nation-state. When such positions are challenged, especially due to their controversial or impractical nature, proponents might retreat to a more defensible position (the “Motte”), such as advocacy for a two-state solution, which is more widely accepted and seen as a reasonable compromise in international circles.
Here’s how this might play out in the context of anti-Zionism:
Bailey: The more extreme claim could involve arguments for the dismantling of the Israeli state, which can be seen as radical or infeasible, and which might draw significant criticism or resistance.
Motte: When challenged, proponents might shift to advocating for the two-state solution, emphasizing rights and sovereignty for Palestinians alongside a secure Israeli state. This position is generally more defensible because it aligns with widely recognized international law and has broad support, including from many nations and international organizations.
This strategic shift allows the arguer to defend their position by aligning with more commonly accepted principles when under scrutiny, while still holding more radical views as their ultimate goal. However, it’s important to recognize that not all anti-Zionists employ this strategy, and many genuinely support the two-state solution or other moderate positions from the outset. The debate is highly nuanced, with a wide range of perspectives and motivations influencing the positions people take.
Motte and Bailey (Nicholas Shackel, 2005) is such a useful concept – good to see it getting out there.
Can someone explain the import of this quote by Dennett?
“Not a single one of the cells that compose you knows who you are, or cares.”
On the one hand, it seems obvious. On the other hand, it’s Dennett, so I’m pretty sure he’s saying something meaningful that I’m just too dim to understand.
I think he is pointing out that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon, arising from interactions among the cells.
Thanks. I didn’t realize that Dennett was an emergentist, so to speak.
He might have changed since that time. Redemption is there for all. Jesus died for all of us, not just a select few.
That would require Trump to repent. Do you think Trump is capable of that?
That’s between him and Melania, and no one else, I should think.
Ditto between Bill and Hilary, Jack and Jacqueline, George V and Mary, etc. etc.
Eh, this:
‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’
Melina’s book will tell all. Say what!
In the meantime, Melina’s hush fund must be huge by now, so nothing to worry about here.
Hell hath no Fury like a fully restored 1964 Super Commando Hemi V-8.
Everyone knows what a ‘catshit brown’ car interior looks like.
Amazing strawberry shortcake! (Yes. I watched to the end as instructed.)
I’m concerned about the hostage negotiations and reports that Israel will (apparently) now make a deal for fewer hostages than before. Why? Are so many of the others dead that Hamas can’t produce more than thirty something?
On the topic of campus protests–here are updates and a short history lesson from USC:
https://voicesagainstantisemitism.substack.com/p/newsletter-april-27-2024
Enjoy!
Anna.
That is effing funny as hell!
Edit: Oops… This was supposed to be a response to Jon’s shit
A few days ago Michael Shermer happened to post an old list of tongue-in-cheek definitions of religions in the context of “shit.”
https://x.com/michaelshermer/status/1783139388203094154
The list was missing Pastafarianism, so I added it—
https://x.com/Jon_Alexandr/status/1783253891062325304
Good one. I commented under #13 by mistake… I was laughing so hard I put it in the wrong place. Very funny.
good call!
That shit is on a whole other level!
*’nother… 😎
Hilarious!
My husband has more than one copy of a poster with those religions &shit sayings. It is one of his favorite things.
I wonder whether the flurry of campus building occupations and lawn camp-ins on behalf of Hamas, that icon of “the global Left”, is a foretaste of what we can expect this summer and autumn. Perhaps we can look forward to disorderly demonstrations against “Genocide Joe” Biden at the Democratic convention, analogous to the 1968 events; and further outbreaks of campus and urban disorder, like the Weathermen festival of window-breaking in Chicago in October of 1969. Reenactment of these behaviors could fulfill the pop-Left’s historic function of empowering the Right, and bring in a second Trump presidency—reminiscent of Nixon’s election victories in 1968 and 1972. Of course, the Republican Party of those days was different, illustrated by Nixon’s resignation in 1974, after his criminal behavior in connection with Watergate had become obvious beyond dispute. Standards, most notably in the GOP, have evidently changed since those prehistoric times.
Apparently protests at the Democrat convention are being planned.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/21/us/israel-gaza-democrats.html