It began with an open letter from students at Columbia University and Barnard, which neglected to mention the terrorism perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, but placed the blame entirely on Israel. It was poorly received by some, who rented trucks to shame the signatories to the letter.

This gave rise to a faculty open letter which condemned the “harassment” of students and proceeded to justify the students’ position that Israel brought the raping of women, beheading and roasting of babies, cutting off of a mother’s breast, gouging out of a father’s eye, cutting off the feet of a daughter and fingers of a son, before eating their meal, upon itself. Continue reading →

Back when the effort was to end discrimination in bail and sentencing decisions by removing the decision-making from judges and introducing empirical factors, it seemed like a great step forward. Until, that is, it turned out that the use of the Sentence-O-Matic 1000 was just as “bad,” if not moreso, than judges. As reliance on empiricism failed to fix disparate outcomes, but rather further embedded them and gave cover to judges who could no longer be blamed, a fix was demanded.

The argument was that the same factors being used for empirical decision-making were the factors giving rise to disparate outcomes in the first place. The fix was simple: tweak the factors to produce the desired outcome. The only problem, of course, was that it was no longer empirical, but manipulated to create the impression of empiricism while producing the “right” outcomes. Continue reading →

There have been many videos of people tearing down posters of people kidnapped by Hamas, from Palestinians to Jewish students to an NYU SBA president to a dentist to a Broadway producer.

This is Anna Epstein. Anna is a student at Boston University and is seen here ripping down posters of kidnapped and missing Israelis. While fellow Jews are being beheaded, raped, and kidnapped by Hamas, Anna believes this is merely propaganda.

Like us, you’re probably wondering… pic.twitter.com/sohITW7d9F

— CAMERA on Campus (@CAMERAonCampus) October 23, 2023

Continue reading →

“It’s not about Jews” has been a constant retort to assertions that the progressive left wing, including many Jewish Americans who carry the banner of Palestinians, who desperately seek to distinguish hatred of Israel and Zionism from support for Hamas, hatred of Jews and terrorism happening here. But it is about terrorism and is, whether they want it to be true or not, about Jews, as the students at Cornell University learned yesterday. Continue reading →

Over and over, I think of the words of Lyrissa Lidsky.

Nevertheless, I know that in the war of generations, the younger always wins.  I just wonder what victory looks like.

The answer is beginning to emerge. Continue reading →

Every week or so, Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic sends out a “thought provoking” question as part of his Up For Debate series. This week’s struck a particular chord.

Two friends, Petra and Rodrigo, are having an argument.

Petra thinks the world is best if people stay in their lane and do their job as best they can, narrowly construed. CEOs should try to maximize profits within the law. Emergency-room doctors should do their best to save the life of every patient. Lawyers should represent every client to the utmost of their ability. Scholars should publish their findings as accurately as possible. And parking-meter attendants should write citations without regard for who is getting them. Continue reading →

Ron DeSantis (because of course, Ron DeSantis) called upon Florida Universities to shutter the student organization Students for Justice in Palestine. The group, which has existed for years, has seized upon the moment to flex its muscles by extolling the virtue of Gazan liberation, and by extension, Hamas. In light of the terrorism perpetrated by Hamas, DeSantis pulled the plug.

State University System of Florida Chancellor Raymon Rodrigues announced the order on Tuesday, citing the on-campus activism of National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a student group that is active at both the University of Florida and the University of Southern Florida. Continue reading →

On the heels of the Republican majority capitulating to the extreme MAGA wing in order to elect a speaker, the House enacted a resolution 420-10, with six members voting “present,” all Democrat, five of whom had co-sponsored the resolution. Here’s the breakdown of representatives who did not vote for the resolution.

Nay votes (10)
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Al Green (D-TX)
Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) Continue reading →

First came an “Editor’s Note” conceding the New York Times could have been more clear in its initial reporting that Israel bombed a hospital.

The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.

Continue reading →

Members of the House hang a party affiliation around their neck, and in the past, that was good enough to claim the majority and the spoils that go with it. But that only works with a two-party system. Otherwise, the majority of the House may require a coalition, should a minority party gain sufficient foothold to deny the majority to a single party.

Anybody notice that the Republicans, the putative majority in the House, can’t manage to elect a speaker? Maybe that’s because what we call the Republican Party is now composed of two groups, the moderate Republicans and the MAGA Republicans, and they are not in agreement. Not at all. Continue reading →