Common Dreams:
"Students and professors across the country are being witch-hunted for their position on Palestine, in a serious threat to democracy, dissent, and the ability of ordinary people to resist authoritarianism.
For months before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, nearly daily reports rolled in of students and professors on trial for their activism for Palestinian life.
New York University suspended 11 students who were part of a peaceful flyer distribution and sit-in, including students who simply sat in the library lobby in solidarity. Eleven students at Swarthmore College faced expulsion on assault charges for using a bullhorn. Emerson College laid off 10 staff members, blaming protests for Palestine as a cause for low enrollment, and then using layoffs to target pro-Palestine employees. Emerson also put four students on probation for leafleting on a public sidewalk. Thirteen students at Princeton are being criminalized for 'trespassing' on their own campus after they participated in a sit-in. Seven students and faculty at Duke have been called before a University Judicial Board, and without notice or due process are facing termination for participating in nonviolent protest. Tenured professors at Emory are facing similar trials. MIT demoted a tenured professor after he proposed a course entitled Decolonization & Liberation Struggles in Haiti, Palestine, & Israel. Professors at Muhlenberg College, Columbia, John Jay College, City University of New York, NYU, and more, have been fired or forced out for advocating for Palestinian rights.
I [author Andrea Brower] have spoken with a university librarian fired after teaching a workshop in which they discussed 'scholasticide' in Gaza, a K-12 teacher fired for a social media post critical of Israel and the U.S., and scores of K-12 teachers who have been suspended or otherwise disciplined for speaking about the suffering of Palestinians. An avalanche of Title VI Civil Rights Act complaints are being weaponized against educators, many of them filed by individuals or organizations with absolutely no connection to the school in question."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/attack-pro-palestinian-speech
-->Where is the US media when it comes to the new McCarthy era? Is our media afraid to even refer to these mass firings, which are direct violations of our First Amendment rights for freedom of speech? A look at our national media reveals that the story isn't really being covered.
=====
Politico:
"A writer who recently published an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times that warned of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary says the paper gave the piece a misleading headline and omitted portions of his argument in order to promote Kennedy.
The paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, posted the piece on social media, which was headlined 'Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off — if he pushes real reform.' Soon-Shiong added his own commentary as part of a string of pro-Kennedy posts, saying the president’s pick 'is our best chance of doing so.'
The author of the piece, Eric Reinhart, said in an interview with POLITICO that he was advocating for a 'populist' approach to health care — but clearly not arguing for Kennedy’s confirmation. He added that late changes to the piece — in particular the choice of headline and photo, which he said he did not see or approve prior to publication — happened 'in such a way that it distorts and changes the intended meaning' of his story."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/la-times-rfk-jr-opinion-patrick-soon-shiong-010210
-->Another billionaire newspaper owner substitutes his own opinion for his newspaper's recommendations. Bill Clinton is certainly to blame for letting our media be bought up by a few oligarchs. But were is the reporting of this travesty? Certainly not in the NYT.
=====
Haaretz: Israel
"Trump's executive order promises to fight 'post-October 7 campus antisemitism.' But what is really does is to establish an authoritarian army of informers targeting Muslims, foreign students and the left under the guise of combating hate.
In the former USSR, as it was flailing into the 1980's, General Secretary of the Communist Party Yuri Andropov aimed to revive a practice from the Stalinist era: the informer. Police and volunteer militias encouraged citizens to flag neighbors to be punished for 'antisocial' behaviors and dissidence.
President Donald Trump's executive order on antisemitism, which includes provisions to deport pro-Palestinian protesters, operates on the same dangerous premise. Before the order was officially signed, the administration published this 'explanatory' fact sheet: 'To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.' "
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-01-30/ty-article-opinion/.premium/we-will-deport-you-why-trumps-executive-order-on-antisemitism-is-so-dangerous/00000194-b825-dee1-a5dc-fcf5ad990000
-->The weaponization of antisemitism. Why do we have to read about this in Israel?
"Students and professors across the country are being witch-hunted for their position on Palestine, in a serious threat to democracy, dissent, and the ability of ordinary people to resist authoritarianism.
For months before U.S. President Donald Trump took office, nearly daily reports rolled in of students and professors on trial for their activism for Palestinian life.
New York University suspended 11 students who were part of a peaceful flyer distribution and sit-in, including students who simply sat in the library lobby in solidarity. Eleven students at Swarthmore College faced expulsion on assault charges for using a bullhorn. Emerson College laid off 10 staff members, blaming protests for Palestine as a cause for low enrollment, and then using layoffs to target pro-Palestine employees. Emerson also put four students on probation for leafleting on a public sidewalk. Thirteen students at Princeton are being criminalized for 'trespassing' on their own campus after they participated in a sit-in. Seven students and faculty at Duke have been called before a University Judicial Board, and without notice or due process are facing termination for participating in nonviolent protest. Tenured professors at Emory are facing similar trials. MIT demoted a tenured professor after he proposed a course entitled Decolonization & Liberation Struggles in Haiti, Palestine, & Israel. Professors at Muhlenberg College, Columbia, John Jay College, City University of New York, NYU, and more, have been fired or forced out for advocating for Palestinian rights.
I [author Andrea Brower] have spoken with a university librarian fired after teaching a workshop in which they discussed 'scholasticide' in Gaza, a K-12 teacher fired for a social media post critical of Israel and the U.S., and scores of K-12 teachers who have been suspended or otherwise disciplined for speaking about the suffering of Palestinians. An avalanche of Title VI Civil Rights Act complaints are being weaponized against educators, many of them filed by individuals or organizations with absolutely no connection to the school in question."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/attack-pro-palestinian-speech
-->Where is the US media when it comes to the new McCarthy era? Is our media afraid to even refer to these mass firings, which are direct violations of our First Amendment rights for freedom of speech? A look at our national media reveals that the story isn't really being covered.
=====
Politico:
"A writer who recently published an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times that warned of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary says the paper gave the piece a misleading headline and omitted portions of his argument in order to promote Kennedy.
The paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, posted the piece on social media, which was headlined 'Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off — if he pushes real reform.' Soon-Shiong added his own commentary as part of a string of pro-Kennedy posts, saying the president’s pick 'is our best chance of doing so.'
The author of the piece, Eric Reinhart, said in an interview with POLITICO that he was advocating for a 'populist' approach to health care — but clearly not arguing for Kennedy’s confirmation. He added that late changes to the piece — in particular the choice of headline and photo, which he said he did not see or approve prior to publication — happened 'in such a way that it distorts and changes the intended meaning' of his story."
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/31/la-times-rfk-jr-opinion-patrick-soon-shiong-010210
-->Another billionaire newspaper owner substitutes his own opinion for his newspaper's recommendations. Bill Clinton is certainly to blame for letting our media be bought up by a few oligarchs. But were is the reporting of this travesty? Certainly not in the NYT.
=====
Haaretz: Israel
"Trump's executive order promises to fight 'post-October 7 campus antisemitism.' But what is really does is to establish an authoritarian army of informers targeting Muslims, foreign students and the left under the guise of combating hate.
In the former USSR, as it was flailing into the 1980's, General Secretary of the Communist Party Yuri Andropov aimed to revive a practice from the Stalinist era: the informer. Police and volunteer militias encouraged citizens to flag neighbors to be punished for 'antisocial' behaviors and dissidence.
President Donald Trump's executive order on antisemitism, which includes provisions to deport pro-Palestinian protesters, operates on the same dangerous premise. Before the order was officially signed, the administration published this 'explanatory' fact sheet: 'To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.' "
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025-01-30/ty-article-opinion/.premium/we-will-deport-you-why-trumps-executive-order-on-antisemitism-is-so-dangerous/00000194-b825-dee1-a5dc-fcf5ad990000
-->The weaponization of antisemitism. Why do we have to read about this in Israel?
