Posted on April 20, 2024 by Scott Johnson in Anti-Semitism, Hamas, Higher education

Mob rule at Columbia

It looks like the mob has taken control of Columbia University, SA style. The Columbia Spectator reports on the suspensions issued for for participation in Wednesday’s “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.” One of Ilhan Omar’s daughters (Isra Hirsi) is among the suspended students. The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree.

The Spectator quotes Columbia undergrad Maryam Alwan, another one of the suspended students. Alwan told the Spectator that she received a letter informing her of her interim suspension from the Center for Student Success and Intervention [!]. “I think all of these administrators need to get a grip and listen to their students and watch the news and see how many people have been killed,” Alwan told the Spectator. (More wisdom à la Alwan in this Spectator column.)

Who are these people? Four New York Post reporters look into their background in “Columbia anti-Israel protest arrests include Letitia James intern, UPS exec’s daughter who killed elderly couple in crash as a teen.” The Post reporters identify several rotten apples.

The Columbia “protests” and “protesters” do not support “Palestinians.” They support Hamas and other genocidal maniacs. They are subjecting Jewish students and teachers to something like a reign of terror. The Washington Free Beacon’s Meghan Blonder reports that “Columbia Students Call on President Shafik To Restore Order on Campus,” and it’s not because their feelings have been wounded. It’s because they are unsafe.

Take the case of Arab-Israeli journalist Yoseph Haddad. He was assaulted at Columbia as he thought he was about to give a lecture on campus. The Free Beacon’s Collin Anderson covers that story here (including video of the assault on Haddad). Haddad’s speech was canceled. “Instead of a lecture, I went to file a police complaint,” he noted. In the tweet below he also commented on the misrepresentation of his story by Reuters. By the way, he understands the Columbia mob perfectly (“terror supporters”). No euphemisms for him.

Columbia student Jonas Du is editor of the monthly Sundial (mission statement here). The editorial tilt of Sundial looks to me like the Spectator’s, only served on a monthly rather than a daily basis. In its April 18 interview with Cornel West on campus, the Sundial interviewer is in awe of West and his take on Israel’s resistance to Hamas’s work toward the final solution. Du, however, seeks to document the ugly scene on campus, as in the tweet below.

The “protester” speaks of repetition. It continued last night. One of the commenters on the the lady in the tweeted video below translates her chant into English: “We want freedom in Palestine. We will fight for freedom.” He identifies her language as Urdu. Diversity!

Columbia’s carefully selected inmates are running this highly selective asylum. Columbia’s Jewish alumni group has asked the university to wrest control from the mob. They write: “It is clear to us that Columbia is now under mob rule.” You have to think they have a point.

Posted on by Steven Hayward in The Week In Pictures

The Week in Pictures: Uncle Bosey Edition

This is the week we learned at long last about Joe Biden’s forgotten uncle “Bosey,” who secretly received the congressional medal of honor for single-handledly subduing an entire tribe of New Guinea cannibals before single-handedly defeating the Japanese at Hiroshima, while rescuing Corn Pop’s eventual father while he was at it. (Apparently “don’t” wasn’t a word in his vocabulary.) What other Ripley’s-worthy family secrets is Joe from Scranton withholding from us?

Headlines of the week:

 

And finally. . .

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Steven Hayward in Announcements, Environment

Join Me Monday for Earth Day!

Next Monday, April 22, is Earth Day. Again. But on Monday I’ll be “returning to the scene of the crime,” in a manner of speaking, to revisit the annual Earth Day project I carried on for nearly 20 years starting way back in 1994: the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators.

Back when I started doing that annual report, The Economist magazine suggested that claiming the environment is a cause for optimism is “beyond the pale of respectable discourse.” So naturally I pointed out just how most environmental conditions in the U.S. were rapidly improving—but the media and certainly doom-and-gloom environmental groups would never tell you this.

But much has changed since then, and I think the hinge decade was the aughts, and now there are a large number of serious thinkers who note environmental improvement in the U.S. and increasing the rest of the world too, and it’s not just odd contrarians like me, Julian Simon, or Ben Wattenberg. The case for environmental optimism is going mainstream, with one conspicuous exception that everyone knows: c—— c—–.

So on Monday morning at 10 am eastern time, the American Enterprise Institute is hosting me and Roger Pielke Jr. to review this story, and you can watch online if you register ahead of time. Or if you are busy working you’ll be able to take it in on tape delay. Sign up at the link.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in 2024 Election, Donald Trump

Why Trump Might Win

Well, he gets to run against Joe Biden. That is the main reason. But one of the extraordinary features of this year’s race is the Democrats’ lawfare. In a series of civil cases and criminal prosecutions, they are trying to bleed Trump’s financial assets and, more important, convict him of a “felony” to convince voters not to vote for him. The prosecutions range from selective (Trump’s handling of classified information) to idiotic (the Georgia RICO case and the case in New York that is now in trial).

How is the public reacting to the Democrats’ unprecedented legal onslaught? Some polls have found that being a “convicted felon,” the Democrats’ objective, would indeed hurt Trump with a significant slice of the electorate. But then there is the opposite reaction.

Matt Taibbi, after expressing his admiration for Stephen A. Smith, ESPN’s top sports commentator, quotes Smith on the Trump prosecutions:

Last night, … I listened as Chris Cuomo told a story about an unnamed hip-hop artist complaining that it took a rich white man like Trump being abused, for people to see the “maladministration of justice” black people have always known. What did his guest, Stephen A. Smith, think?

STEPHEN A. SMITH: No question…that hip hop artist who called you, he’s right on the money… Here’s the sad part…It gives credence to the argument Trump made during a speech weeks ago where he talked about black folks relating to him… Now, what the hell would black folks have in common with a guy that was born on third base thinking he hit a home run? Born with the proverbial spoon in his mouth? It’s the legal system… I can say this because 95% of the time I voted Democrat…

But when it’s time to vote, you want to talk to black people about what you’re doing for them… and how you are on our side. But this man right here, who’s the presumptive GOP nominee, is in a position to literally get back into the White House because what you’re doing to him, we find fairly relatable to things that have been done to folks in our community, and it’s happened for decades. There’s no escaping that fact and Trump pointing it out, and being accurate in doing so, is perhaps the height of embarrassment for the Democratic party, in my estimation.

Interesting. Matt continues:

This exchange was preceded by a classic Stephen A-ism:

When you got four indictments and 91 counts and two impeachments and civil suits in excess of $454 million… but he still keeps marching forward, marching forward, gaining momentum… The only way to get him is to beat him, and they don’t seem to be able to do that either. And I’m quite disgusted by it, to be quite honest with you.

I think that is a widespread perception: the Democrats can’t beat Trump honestly, so they are trying to drag him down with systematic election interference. Taibbi comments:

Stephen A. may not be the spokesperson of “the black community,” but he might be Chief Justice of sports talk. Democrats should hear what he’s saying: to the average person, these interminable Trump indictments and lawsuits and lawfare (hearing a popular sportscaster use that term unironically should inspire a Beltway mass-clench) seem worse than cheating. It comes off as cowardice, fear of even competition, something that never, ever plays in this country. “The only way to get him is to beat him, and they don’t seem to be able to do that,” is a heavy indictment, and if he’s thinking that, you can bet a hell of a lot lot more people are.

The Democrats are often accused of cheating, but their abuse of the legal system is a form of cheating that is just as reprehensible as stuffing ballot boxes. If lots of people who may not be regular Republican voters see it that way, Biden is in deep trouble.

Posted on by John Hinderaker in 2024 Election, Joe Biden

Why Biden Can’t Win

I don’t think he can, anyway. Check out these numbers from Rasmussen:

Republicans have a major edge over Democrats in terms of voter excitement, and voters overwhelmingly see President Joe Biden as too old to hold the office..
***
More Republicans (68%) than Democrats (50%) are genuinely excited about the election rematch. Voters not affiliated with either major party are about evenly split between being genuinely excited (44%) and choosing the lesser of two evils (45%).

So, an 18-point advantage in enthusiasm.

Biden is 81 years old, and 57% of voters say he’s too old to be president, while 33% say he’s not too old.

How can Biden win when, apart from his other defects, 57% think he is simply too old for the job? And that perception is not going to weaken between now and November. Biden has signaled that he does not intend to debate Donald Trump. I don’t think he can. He isn’t up to it. The Democrats will try to sell the absurd idea that Biden isn’t afraid to debate, he just doesn’t want to “legitimize” Trump by sharing a stage with him. Right. When Biden refuses to debate Trump, it will seal the conclusion in just about every voter’s mind that he simply isn’t up to the job.

This is interesting, too. So much for the youth vote:

Voters under 40 are more likely than their elders to think Biden is too old to be president.

The income breakdown is troubling for Biden:

Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters in the highest bracket – earning more than $200,000 a year – are most likely to say Biden is too old to be president.

That is Biden’s base! Conversely:

Those with annual incomes between $30,000 and $50,000 are most likely to say they’re genuinely excited about this year’s election choice.

Those are Trump’s voters. And this data point, like a number of others relating to Hispanics, is intriguing:

Hispanic voters are most likely to say they’re genuinely excited about the choice in this year’s election.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think they are excited to go out and vote for Joe Biden.

Why does Biden have a chance? Solely because he is running against Donald Trump. But I will have more to say about that, again in an optimistic vein, later.

Posted on by Steven Hayward in The Daily Chart

The Daily Chart: Democrats Turn on Israel

It’s not exactly news that a large portion of Democrats are anti-Israel, but it now appears to be a majority. The latest Gallup survey shows Israel with net negative sympathy among Democrats for the first time.

This marks the end of bipartisan support for Israel in American politics. Will this change historic voting patterns? As Trump likes to say, we’ll have to see what happens.

 

Posted on by Lloyd Billingsley in Music

Betts Bows Out

Guitarist Dickey Betts has died at 80 of cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His departure leaves drummer Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johnson as the last original member of the Allman Brothers Band. Betts last played with the band in 2000, according to Fox News, “the same year he was officially kicked out of the group” reportedly for alcohol and drug use.

Check him out below from back in 1969 on “It’s Not My Cross to Bear,” with Gregg Allman on vocal and brother Duane Allman and Betts on the guitar solos. Not much like that going on today.