Public Comment

The Occupation of the Anna Head School Conjures Quotes

A Free Speech Movement vet turned military historian offered the following response to the news that a group of agitators had seized control of the empty Anna Head School:

What brilliance. To occupy a burnt-out building, as revenge for Al Shifa. Right! Right after a victory is won, see if you can destroy it.

As Von Clausewitz pointed out: "Against stupidity, no amount of planning will prevail."

As David Hilliard of the BPP once said: "There ain't no difference between a pig and a fool.

Jim Peake once described such as "semi-professional provocateurs—they aren't paid, but ought to be."

As Sun T'zu said:"Tactics, without strategy, is the noise that precedes defeat."

Who ARE these people?

Were the Campus Arrests Legal? 

A few weeks ago, I received the following free-speech memorandum from the desk of NYU History Prof. Robert Cohen. It was written on May 3, at the height of on-campus protests against the crisis in Gaza: 

"When I came outside to walk the dogs this morning, police with riot gear were here. They had evicted the protesters at 6 this morning. None of the police knew or at least would tell me what the justification was for the eviction/arrests. 

"Some faculty member heard me telling the police that unless the protesters were doing something unlawful this was a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech and the freedom to assemble peacefully, so this faculty member started arguing with me. She said they were disrupting the university. 

"I explained to her what time, place, and manner regs meant, that only protests that disrupted the educational functions of the university could be accurately deemed as disruptive. She claimed that they were preventing students from attending classes in the building (Paulson) the students were encamped near, so they had to attend their classes over Zoom. 

"I told her that the building had multiple entrances and that the protesters had blocked none of them. That in fact, one of my students resided in the dorm part of the building and had no problems getting into and out of the building, and that student told me that some of her dorm mates supported the encampment and even joined it while others disagreed with it, but none claimed it impacted their work or the dorm itself. 

"Then this faculty member said she was Jewish and found what the protesters said was offensive in that it attacked Israel. I said that I did not agree with some of their slogans, but that does not justify evicting and arresting them. 

"That they had First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly. Then she claimed they were encamped on private property, but the plaza they had occupied was, I pointed out, public property. It just came down to the fact that she did not agree with the protesters, and was glad they were arrested, but that, I said, did not mean the arrest was constitutional. Another person, a neighbor, then chimed in that the encampment was ugly, unsightly, and their chants at night were noisy. So that it should be illegal, even if it was not. 

"I checked the news media here but so far have no idea how the arrests were justified. ABC News here merely cited the mayor's outside-agitator arguments. But here both campus security and the protesters' own monitors check IDs and only allow NYU students and faculty into the encampment. In fact, when I had come out (with my dogs) without my ID, I could not access the encampment even though, of course, I am a professor here. 

"In my visit to the encampment yesterday, one of the students there (a Jewish music major who would not eat chametz during Passover) showed the splattered egg shells and yoke on the glass of Paulson Center that had been hurled at them the prior night by someone, but he had not seen who threw it, nor had anyone else. 

"Such is the state of free speech here at NYU this week." 

Fashion Plates
A collection of personalized license plates spotted around town:
GMC FIT
MARI TAN 

SARGE 1
PAYMULA
BRBZ71
N12345R
And let's end this week's list with our "Plate of the Year," spotted by SmitherTipster Kat Schaaf. The award goes to Country Joe McDonald who was photographed grinning broadly while holding a plate immortalizing the band's infamous "Fish Cheer." The plate reads: GIMEANF. 

Bumper Snickers
I Think Therefore I'm Single
Honk If You Don't Exist
My Driving Scares Me Too
I Had a Life but My Job Ate It
I'm Speeding Because I Really Have to Poop
Even Though This Is a STUPID STICKER You're Squinting to Read It 

Colbert vs. Kimmel 

The Colbert/Kimmel Comedy Contest to pin their opening monologs on puns based on Trump's Hush-money Hearings is drawing to a close as the trial enters its final days, Here are what may be the last two subversive subtitles attached to these competing late-night roasts. 

Colbert: When the Cohen Gets Tough  

Kimmel: The Toot Fairy 

And I have two subtitles to top off the Trump pun-basket: 

"Ol' Yeller" and "Ol' Smeller" 

Who You Gonna Believe? 

In this age of dystopia and disinformation, who is to be trusted as a source for cutting-edge, deep-sourced, hard-left, analysis and criticism? According to one gimlet-eyed custodian of anti-imperial commentary, the following sites and sources are among the best alternatives for factual information and analysis: 

Scott Ritter
Ray McGovern
Garland Nixon
The Cradle
Zero Hedge
Struggle/La Lucha
Caitlin Johnstone
Larry Johnson
Consortium News
Covert Action Magazine
Simplicius the Thinker
Naked Capitalism
Mint Press News
Dances with Bears
Danny Haiphong
US Peace Council
Black Alliance for Peace
The New Atlas (Brian Berletic)
Moon of Alabama (Bernhard)
The Grayzone - Max Blumenthal & Aaron Maté
George Galloway (recently elected UK MP) 

Black Agenda Report (Margaret Kimberley and others)
Glenn Greenwald (System Update)
Patrick Lancaster, war reporter on the ground
Jackson Hinkle - The Dive 

Judging Freedom (On Ukraine & Palestine. Hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano!)
Alexander Mercouris (theduran.locals.com, with Alex Christofarou & guests)
October 7: The Hidden Truth 

Have you heard about the "Hannibal Directive"? As the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth explained, on October 7, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) resorted to use of the Hannibal Directive, which ordered IDF soldiers to stop "at all costs" any attempts by Hamas to return to Gaza with hostages. This intentional use of "friendly fire" to kill civilian hostages also applied to any IDF troops seen captured by Hamas fighters. Note: This video contains scenes of lethal violence. 

This independent audio documentary from Al Jazeera, reveals the Ignored facts of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
This video investigation reveals the IDF's initial failure to respond and its subsequent responsibility for some of the civilian deaths initially blamed on the Hamas invasion. 

Here is an interview with Richard Sanders, a journalist, author and director of the Al Jazeera investigation into the events leading up to the horrific events of October 7. 

Pilot of the Winds 

Let's wrap up with an "artistic plea for peace" from Wolfgang Wigands, who writes: "The flying objects transcend into beings performing their dance of the rising winds, personifying the vulnerability of all the souls destroyed by war. Their movements perfectly complemented by the profoundly sad and quiet music of 'Sarajevo' by Max Richter, suggestive of the sound of thunder, distant and yet unsettlingly present. 

"The music, the thoughts of war and the constant rise and gentle fall of the flying objects, provoke a touchingly emotional response, transforming them in the eyes of the beholder into souls."