The belief of educated and uneducated people differs in every nation; for the former strive to conceive abstract ideas and to define general principles, whilst the latter do not pass beyond the apprehension of the senses, and are content with rules without caring for details, especially in questions of religion, regarding which opinions and interests are divided.
—Abu al-Rayhum Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, Muslim scholar (973–1050)
Greetings from the far left coast.
Yesterday we gathered to remember and, yes, to miss Mom on her birthday. First came a text from my cousin Lynn in Rochester, New York, with a photo of a happy hour toast to Auntie Matt. Followed a little later by a photo of Trani's happy hour beer in Tulsa. I thought of Mom again as I enjoyed my wine with the after-dinner reading, a mystery by C.S. Harris in her Sebastian St. Cyr series, which I heartily recommend. It was all quite nice.
Came upon this journal entry from May 16, 2018, while engaged in an ongoing project typing entries for the digital files:
The situation in Gaza is frustrating and dismaying. The US and Israel are rogue states. Netanyahu should be in the dock at The Hague on trial for war crimes. But Hamas. Terrorism is not justified. Never. Palestinians in Gaza live in an outdoor jail. A concentration camp. What is to be expected?
What is it the French say? Oh, yes, plus ça change…
Yesterday I wrote extensively about campus protest. Reports this morning are grim. Buildings are occupied on campuses across the country. At UCLA counter-demonstrators attacked pro-Palestinian protesters. University administrators feel under pressure to show they are not soft on antisemitism. They bring in the police with results that surprise no one. Calls ring out for suspensions, arrests, deportations. This is all a gift to Trump and the MAGA Republican Party.
Protest can touch the conscience of a nation and move public policy. Effectiveness diminishes as demonstrations drag on with nonnegotiable demands. Occupation of buildings is not peaceable assembly or an exercise in free speech. These actions harm a just cause.
The right-wing press is salivating over a Columbia University PhD student's statements to reporters that protesters occupying Hamilton Hall should be allowed to bring in "basic humanitarian aid," food and water.
She also said that she believed the university was obliged to provide food to any student occupiers who had paid for a meal plan as part of their college fees.
On her website, Ms King-Slutzky calls herself a “video editor and full-service digital comms expert for progressive and leftist causes”. (Watch: Columbia protester mocked after asking for food for occupiers, The Telegraph, April 30, 2024)
Her expertise does not appear to extend to public relations.
I did not intend to get into this today after yesterday's lengthy post on the subject—"A lot of words," as I was told once by a reader not sympathetic to my views. It is hard to imagine this ending in any sense well.
Quote of the day comes from Mitt Romney: "I didn't shoot my dog." (Martin Pengelly, Mitt Romney says his dog scandal doesn’t compare to Kristi Noem’s: ‘I didn’t shoot my dog,' The Guardian, May 1, 2024)
New at Portable Bohemia Substack:
Around and Around on Israel, Hamas, Gaza, April 18, 2024. I have been loosely affiliated with Indivisible Oregon since May 2018 when I checked out the Resist Trump Tuesday meeting …read more>>
Books by Friends: Rabbit Decolonizes the Forest, April 25, 2024. I met Greg Bigler during a visit to Tulsa not long after my brother opened his store Tulsa Runner in 2003. We renew our acquaintance …read more>>
Protest and Responsibility, April 30, 2024. The immediate challenge as I take up the protests roiling university campuses and erupting in other spaces, private as well as public, is getting the story straight. The impressions that follow…read more>>
Keep the faith.
Stand with Ukraine.
yr obdt svt
