Misogyny and the Democratic Party?
Former Vice President Al Gore reacted to the congressional testimony of Claudine Gay, President of Harvard.
Gay appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on
Tuesday, when she avoided questions regarding students who advocate the
"genocide of Jews" and whether they are violating the school's code of
conduct. Instead, she said she thought any reference to genocide was
"abhorrent." Gore is an alumnus of Harvard University.
"Well,
I was shocked by the tone-deafness of those comments, and I think they
got bad legal advice in putting together what they were going to say,"
Gore said on State of the Union Sunday.
On Thursday, Gay issued an apology to the campus newspaper following her congressional testimony. She assured students that she felt regret and that "words matter."
He
was shocked. We weren't shocked when a Portland massage therapist
accused him of harassment in 2010. Because we know how sordid his
personal life is and has been -- going back to his affair with E who
picked out his tie for the 1992 debate and who picked up and touched a
lot of other things. When we noted that here many, many years ago, it
confirmed what Tipper suspected but he had forever denied. That's why
they separated,
We were
shocked that three women were targeted last week and that numerous
Democratic males joined Republicans in attacking the women. Then we
read Ryan Grim's new book THE SQUAD: AOC AND THE HOPE OF A POLITICAL
REVOLUTION and we were mad at ourselves for being shocked.
Among
other things, Ryan details AOC's rise as first term member of
Congress. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was elected to the House of
Representatives in 2018. Two years prior, a presidential election,
found her endorsing Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party's
presidential nomination. He ran again in 2020. AOC debated whether or
not to endorse him again. Among the things that concerned her for
2020? Bernie's supporters. Most of them were focused on real issues --
such as Medicare for All -- but some of them were annoying.
Now,
this is us speaking, not Ryan's book, there will always be annoying
supporters. We can support a candidate and be annoyed by other
supporters.
But what was
concerning AOC was something we noted in real time. Bernie's most vocal
supporters were often attacking women. They wanted to pretend
otherwise. Michael Tracey, for example, would insist he covered all the
Dems fairly. But he didn't. And by the time he wanted to note Kamala
Harris dropping out, we were tired of his b.s. and made a point of
noting that when men dropped out in 2020, it was a tweet from Michael.
When Kamala dropped out, it was 24 Tweets.
The numbers don't lie.
For the record, we weren't (and we aren't now) Kamala supporters. And we made that clear long before she dropped out.
So this wasn't us protecting 'our own' or standing up for 'our beloved.'
We
were also vocal about Tracey, Glenneth Greenwald and others attacks on
Elizabeth Warren. More than once, for example, at THE COMMON ILLS, it
was noted that Elizabeth was not going to get the nomination and that
all these attacks were doing were making it that much harder for Bernie
to draw Elizabeth's supporters to his campaign when she did drop out.
So reading Ryan's new book THE SQUAD, we were glad to learn that the attacks on women had bothered AOC as well.
Like
us, she was getting tired of the White man brigade (we'd say Tracey and
Greenwald and their supporters) constantly dismissing real issues with
their non-stop pretense that only class matters. It's easy for certain
White men to argue that because they've never been outside the focus.
But if you're a person of color or if you're a woman (of any color) or
you're transgender or Muslim or another category, you know very well
that the focus imposed by Tracey and Greenwald is limiting and
reinforces divisions.
Yes,
economy needs to be focused on -- but let's expand beyond the White
male property owners that certain White men know damn well have always
had their needs addressed.
From
Grim's book, let's quote AOC, "Bernie's supporters have been very, very
damaging to him, and it's really frustrating to see and experience.
They don't realize how influential they are. It's frustrating to feel
like they are hurting him. I feel like Warren is scooping up LGBT,
progressives, women, and progressives of color because of how they
[Bernie Bros] isolate."
And
we've seen the same nonsense from White men in the Democratic Party
during the last days. Men like Senator Bob Casey, Josh Shapiro and so
many more including Al Gore.
Three
women appeared before a House Committee last week. Republicans
attacked them at the hearing. And distorted them. And the bulk of the media ran with it. An exception?
The question is a
trap, of course, and for several reasons. The first and most important
reason is that there’s no evidence anyone since 7 October, or even in
recent history, has called for the genocide of Jews on any American
campus, public or private. Stefanik’s question implies that such calls
are commonplace, but she offered no proof.
The
second reason this is a trap is that the question can’t be answered
with just “yes” or “no”. Public universities, as state actors, are bound
by the first amendment, as are private universities which receive
federal funding. And the vast majority of private universities guarantee
freedom of speech and academic freedom as part of their core mission.
The American university is, by tradition and design, precisely where
abhorrent ideas can be uttered. So, if someone had called for the
genocide of Jews, which they haven’t, that would be extremely disturbing
but still protected speech.
The
third reason the question is trap is that the situation is complicated
by the overarching codes of conduct many universities have adopted,
codes that I believe do often (wrongly) cross over into limiting speech.
But here, too, Stefanik seems confused. Writing
in the Wall Street Journal after the hearing, Stefanik ridiculed
Harvard for requiring incoming undergraduates to take an online training
session to help them identify language and behavior that could be
considered hateful to others. But, while mocking Harvard’s approach,
Stefanik – a rising Maga Republican – is at the same time demanding to
be included in it. So, which is it?
The media didn't care about complexities or, in fact about what was said at the hearing. They were interested in promulgating a lie. That's why they didn't
bother to correct the record. That includes two idiots -- Jonah Miller
and Emily Scolnick of the college paper -- who were eager to misreport
and someone might want to ask them how that qualifies as journalism? From the two 'reporters':
During
the hearing, Magill said it was "context dependent" when asked whether
individuals calling for the genocide of Jewish people violate Penn’s
code of conduct. Penn Hillel, the White House, Pennsylvania’s governor
and United States Senate delegation have joined the chorus of criticism
of these remarks, with many donors, students, and politicians calling
for the president to resign.
The scrutiny follows a now-viral exchange between Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Magill during the hearing.
Stefanik
asked whether individuals who call for the genocide of Jewish people
violate Penn’s policies or code of conduct, describing calls for
"Intifada revolution" among some protestors on campus as calls for
genocide of Jews.
“If
the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment,” Magill told
Stefanik, later adding, “It is a context-dependent decision."
This response prompted Stefanik to continue probing.
“This
is the easiest question to answer, 'yes,' Ms. Magill,” Stefanik said.
“Conduct meaning committing the act of genocide? ....This is
unacceptable, Ms. Magill.”
Magill ultimately reiterated that calling for the genocide of Jews "can be harassment."
Senator
Bob Casey Junior took to Twitter to share, "President Magill's comments
yesterday were offensive, but equally offensive was what she didn't
say. The right to free speech is fundamental, but calling for the
genocide of Jews is antisemeitic and harassment, full stop."
Fool, stop.
Let's note the following remarks at the hearing:
Let
me begin by saying that I, and the University of Pennsylvania, are
horrified by and condemn Hamas’s abhorrent terrorist attack on Israel on
October 7th. There is no justification --none -- for those heinous
attacks. The loss of life and suffering that are occurring in Israel and
Gaza during the ensuing war are heartbreaking. The pain extends to our
campus. I know it from my daily conversations with our students,
faculty, and staff, as well as parents and alumni. This hearing was
called to discuss antisemitism on college campuses. I value this
opportunity to reaffirm my and Penn’s unyielding opposition to
antisemitism and to outline the urgent, university-wide actions we are
taking to combat this centuries-old and resurgent threat. As President,
my first priority is to members of the Penn community and, above all, to
their safety and support. I must also ensure that our academic mission
thrives; that academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas endure;
and that we swiftly address any violation of the law or our University’s
policies. These are the priorities Penn is seeking to achieve in the
actions I will discuss today
The vibrant
engagement of Jewish faculty, students, staff, and alumni has long been
an integral part of Penn. To see this sense of belonging shaken by
recent events is deeply troubling. We trace our history back to 1772
with the enrollment of Penn’s first Jewish student, Moses Levy, who
later became the first Jewish Trustee of the University. The Jewish
Students’ Association at Penn was established in 1924. In 1970, Martin
Meyerson became the first Jewish Ivy League President. Since 2012, we
have partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute’s Visual History
Archive to make available to students and researchers more than 50,000
video testimonials of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses. We -- and
I -- are proud of our history and the prominent role our Jewish
community plays in campus life and, broadly, in Penn’s academic
excellence. Under my leadership, we will never shrink from our moral
responsibility to combat antisemitism and educate others to recognize
and reject hate.
Prior
to October 7th, antisemitism -- a pernicious, viral evil -- was already
rising in our society, and global events have dramatically accelerated
the surge. No place is immune, and campuses, including ours, have
recently experienced an unacceptable number of antisemitic incidents. We
are combatting this evil head on with immediate action. I have
condemned antisemitism publicly, regularly, and in the strongest terms
possible and today want to reiterate my and Penn’s commitment to
combatting it. For decades our Division of Public Safety has learned
from and worked with the Anti-Defamation League office in Philadelphia,
and we are working closely with them, as well as local, state, and
federal law enforcement to promptly report and investigate antisemitic
acts against any member of the Penn community. Where we have been able
to identify individuals who committed these acts in violation of
existing University policy or law, we have initiated disciplinary
proceedings and referred these matters to law enforcement where
appropriate. We have also acted decisively to ensure safety throughout
and near campus. We have expanded the presence of Penn Public Safety and
Allied Security at our religious life centers including Penn Hillel,
the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, and the
Lubavitch House. We also enhanced security at every event, rally,
protest, and vigil on campus. Penn Public Safety works in close
collaboration with law enforcement, including the Philadelphia Police
Department. Like many communities around the world, Penn has also
experienced protests, rallies, and vigils related to the terrorist
attack and the subsequent war. Protest -- and all it entails -- has
long been a feature of university life. Penn’s approach to protest is
guided by the U.S. Constitution, outlined in decades-old open expression
policies, and supported and upheld by trained Open Expression
Observers. We recognize the right of peaceful protest and assembly, and
we give broad protection to free expression—even expression that is
offensive. At the same time, we have zero tolerance for violence or
speech intended to incite it. Our public safety officers are present at
every protest, rally, or vigil, trained in de-escalation techniques,
and, if necessary, they are ready to act. Protests playing out on
campuses and in cities worldwide demonstrate the challenges of fostering
robust debate during difficult times. In addition to respecting the
right of protest, Penn is offering many ways for students to come
together in classrooms and in small groups to discuss these issues.
Making space for this sort of debate is in keeping with the best
traditions and educational missions of institutions like Penn. Educating
citizens requires engagement with real-world challenges and hard
topics—topics that often inspire passionate responses. University
leadership must provide guardrails that encourage free and open
expression while also ensuring a secure environment, and that is what I
am seeking to do. These immediate actions are only the first step. I am
also committed to lasting change and laying the foundation for a Penn
that leads on these issues. On November 1, 2023, I announced Penn’s
Action Plan to Combat Antisemitism, which builds on our anti-hate
efforts to date and is anchored in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter
Antisemitism. Developed in collaboration with faculty, staff, students,
campus leaders, alumni, and national organizations like the American
Jewish Committee, our Action Plan centers on three key areas: (1) Safety
and Security, (2) Engagement, and (3) Education. In each of these
areas, we announced both immediate and medium-term actions. As part of
that Action Plan, I have convened and charged an Antisemitism Task
Force, with membership across Penn’s schools and communities, to
identify concrete, actionable recommendations. I have directed the Task
Force to provide me with their recommendations in real time and to
deliver their final report by this spring. We are making certain that
all our educational efforts aimed at addressing bigotry include
antisemitism and other forms of hate. To ensure our Jewish students have
a direct channel to share their experiences with me, I have invited and
received over 80 applications for membership to a new Student Advisory
Group on the Jewish Student Experience. I also sent a delegation of
university leaders to attend the Brandeis Leadership Symposium on
Antisemitism in Higher Education. They have reported back to me and are
already contributing best practices and lessons learned toward our
efforts. As these efforts progress, I know we will have more to report.
You'd
never know it because those who should have defended her were instead
rushing to condemn her. Bob Casey Junior wasn't at the hearing but he
didn't care to be or to review the hearing before commenting. He ran
with one snippet of the hearing that GOP members worked with FOX "NEWS"
to promote.
Her full testimony in the hearing was distorted and even the college paper distorted it.
John
Fetterman participated as well. He's the emotionally unbalanced
senator that lied to the country about his health so that he could get
elected to the Senate and then, after being sworn in, was unable to
serve for months (plural). He's always try to play the Big Man -- a
sure indication that he's not packing much (including any real
courage). So he joined in with Casey Junior and others to attack the
women. He's so stupid that it might go to his emotional problems. We
question the comprehension of an adult who Tweets this:
There is no proof that women and girls were raped by
Hamas on October 7th. That is a claim which cannot be backed up. As
for Goldie? It's not just a "Jewish restaurant" and is Fetterman a
liar or does he need to return to the facility for additional mental
health?
And before anyone
whines that we're mocking his illness, we're not mocking it, we're
pointing it out. And we argue that he shouldn't be in the Senate
because of it -- it goes to fitness and competency.
In fairness to him, he's not the only one confused about Goldie.
They
lied about Liz's testimony and, before that, they lied about Goldie.
As Barbra Streisand sings in YENTYL, "Look at this/ The way one lie
begets another." Indeed.
At WORKERS WORLD, Betsey Piette took on
the many lies about Goldie's including that CNN and FOX NEWS skipped
off into The Land of Falsehood to lie in unison. Michael Solomonov is
the co-owner, the chef and "a prominent campaigner for the Biden
presidency" which really means that Joe Biden shouldn't have spoken
publicly on this because it looks like he's doing favors, at best, but
when his remarks are lies, it looks like he's lying for a friend -- a
friend who is Israeli, please note, not a US citizen which does make us
wonder about Solomonvo's help with Biden's 2020 presidentcial campaign.
Joe called the protesters, who included Jewish-Americans, "antisemitic."
The corporate media insisted that this "mob" had "surrounded the
restaurant" even those Piette notes the reality that that's "impossible
to do given that Goldie is in a storefront, not a stand-alone
building." But when did facts ever matter to cable "news" or, for that
matter, slimy politicians?
Piette writes:
One
of the planned protest stops was at Goldie, described as “an
Israeli-style falafel shop” co-owned by Israeli-born, celebrity chef
Michael Solomonov, and part of a larger restaurant group CookNSolo.
Solomonov was appointed by the Israeli government as a “culinary
ambassador” for Israel. According to The Grayzone (Dec. 7) Solomonov
“appears in Department of Justice Foreign Agent Registration Act
documents as an official propagandist for the country’s Ministry of
Tourism.”
Solomonov is also well known to Biden, having been, as Grayzone notes: “a prominent campaigner for the Biden presidency.
CookNSolo
restaurants became targets of boycotts after Solomonov donated 100% of
the Oct.12 sales from several of his restaurants, amounting to $100,000,
to Friends of United Hatzalah, a nonprofit emergency medical service
partnering with the Israeli Defense Forces. Solomonov’s restaurants are
being targeted because he is raising funds to aid IDF soldiers who are
killing Palestinians.
Second,
Fetterman, "Jewish restaurant"? You mean, of course, the cultural
appropriation of the Palestinian falafel by the Jewish chef, right?
Because the falafel in Israel (and in the Philadelphia eatery) is a
cultural appropriation. They can lie and pretend otherwise, but the
world knows it -- hell, even WIKIPEDIA knows it.
Touchy
little tykes, aren't they? When someone criticizes them or tries to
hold them accountable, they whine antisemitism. They sound a lot like
the idiots in the GOP whining about SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE's skit over the
weekend.
Did you miss that? Because the same group of liars are half-truthing and inventing all over again.
Barbra Streisand -- and Alan and Marilyn Bergman -- knew what they were talking about with "No Wonder" in YENTL.
So
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' cold open was of the hearing and that cold opening
didn't get reposted at THE COMMON ILLS. Other SNL content has and,
stuff from the weekend before went up an hour after. But that skit
didn't get posted. It was the exchange that got transcribed but not
reported -- reporting requires context -- and we felt sorry for Liz
who's already been lied about repeatedly by the press.
By
the same token, we didn't produce any strong critique of SNL. It's a
comedy show. It's a comedy show that needs a new duo behind the news
desk on WEEKEND UPDATE (five years is more than enough for any team --
when you go beyond that, they're aged out of the show's intended
audience). And, in the scheme of things, it wasn't all that important.
We have lives and things to focus on.
As
the country knows, GOP members of Congress and their allies in the
press do not have lives -- certainly not productive ones -- and live to
whine and stir things up. They've already got FOX NEWS and THE NEW YORK
POST minions trying to stir s**t up.
Grasp
what this really is as 'Doctor' Sara Yael Hirschhorn sticks her ugly
nose into it -- FCC needs to investigate, she insists. What is this
really? An attempt to allow anyone to stray from the government
narrative. Free speech no longer exists for those in the US who see
themselves as agents (paid and otherwise) of the Israeli government.
We're
getting to the point where SNL's comedy requires an FCC investigation
-- according to a piece of trash tool for the government of Israel.
This
is the United States, hag, we don't respect anything. We slaughter sacred cows. We make fun of
everything. Take your calls for an investigation to the country you
love because it sure as hell isn't the United States where we do have
freedom of speech -- even if various Democratic senators aren't willing
to fight for it.
Why are they lying about college presidents and calling for the FCC to investigate the variety show SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE?
Because they're trying to distract you. As Amy Goodman noted this morning on DEMOCRACY NOW!, "United Nations Palestinian aid agency UNRWA is
warning society in Gaza is, quote, 'on the brink of full-blown
collapse' as Israel continues its devastating assault that’s killed
18,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 7,000 children."
That's what they're scared of and that's what they're trying to distract from.