At a Hearing on Israel, University presidents walked into a trap
Antisemitism, Violence and Free Speech: Reflections on the Decay of Sept. 11, 2001, at the Tevatron
Many Jews reacted terribly to that clip. Jewish people of many different political persuasions have been stunned by the rank antisemitism and contempt for Israeli lives that has exploded across campuses, where Jewish students have been threatened and, in some cases, assaulted. This week, when I wrote that the backlash to anti-Israel protests threatens free speech, I received many emails from people who felt I was refusing to grapple with an evident crisis. “You are worried about an overreaction when there hasn’t yet been a sufficient reaction to the antisemitism terrifying Jewish students on campus,” said one.
It seems to me that we are the most vulnerable to a repressive response when we are scared and angry. The lesson of Sept. 11 as well as the last decade is that speech in college can be policed in ways that are coming back to bite the left.
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There were electrical problems in the port that caused the ship to hit the bridge
The Dali ship that rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore had electrical problems the day before it left the Port of Baltimore when it was docked, according to investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board. Most maritime traffic into Baltimore’s port was halted when the Key Bridge collapsed, as well as the interstate highway which carried 34,000 vehicles per day.
The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act needs to be stopped
US President Joe Biden, while addressing the Holocaust memorial ceremony at the White House, said that hate speech and threats of violence must not be tolerated in America. “We know hate never goes away. We know what makes us hate each other. We know what makes us hate each other,” he added.
University graduations are a part of the protests over Gaza
Students at US’ Kent State University protested the war in Gaza on Saturday in honour of four students who were killed by the National Guard in 1970. “Once again students are taking a stand against bloodshed abroad. The Vietnam War was similar to that fought against it in the 1960s,” Sophia Swengel, a student and the president of the May 4 Task Force, said.
She gave a speech to student activists
Students at Ohio’s Kent State University held a peaceful sit-on on campus, calling on the university President to get National Guard off campus, to no avail. The students protested the war in Gaza as part of the commemoration for the four students killed by the National Guard in 1970. The students are similar to those who are protesting at college campuses today, they said.
Who will pay for the replacement of Baltimore’s Key Bridge?
The owner of the ship that struck a bridge in the US has sought to limit its liability by using theLimitation of Liability Act. The law allows the ship’s owners to limit their liability under circumstances where a ship’s electrical systems and circuit breakers are suspected to have malfunctioned. The ship’s lights flickered off before hitting the bridge.
The bill was passed by the house amid college unrest
Anti-Israeli protesters gathered at Columbia University on Wednesday to demonstrate against the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. “If someone were to say, ‘go back to Africa’ to a Black student, it would be abhorrent,” Eliana Goldin, a Jewish student said. The protest came hours after the US House passed a bill aimed at addressing reports of rising antisemitism on college campuses.