There are grounds to arrest a lot of them, but that is part of being a protestor. Hell, the arrests are what are giving their ideas and protest fame... that's how it works. So... gaga googoo, doop a dee woo hoo

4/26/2024 2:59:06 AM

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/local/2024/04/26/ut-austin-pro-palestinian-protest-charges-dropped-against-all-57-people-arrested/73468467007/

4/26/2024 2:07:35 PM

As I knew. Unless a few of them assault an officer or something in response, most charges will just be dropped. The arrests are to remove them from the spot.

4/27/2024 12:57:34 AM

Tbh, I'm not particularly shocked that Austin prosecutors would drop charges against unruly progressive protesters...

4/27/2024 2:22:47 PM

lol @ “unruly progressive protesters”

[Edited on April 27, 2024 at 3:07 PM. Reason : the mask is off ]

4/27/2024 3:06:26 PM

Lol, mask. When have I ever hid my disdain for progressive tomfoolery?

4/27/2024 7:02:48 PM

Quote :

"lol @ “unruly progressive protesters”"

if only there was a thing called perspective...

4/27/2024 9:32:13 PM

Quote :

"unruly progressive protesters..."

So everyone who was arrested was unruly? And "progressive"? What do you base that assumption on?

4/29/2024 10:28:15 AM

They attended an event whose organizers didn't even attempt to get a permit, stated their express intent was to occupy public property and deny its use to others, while also saying they were "following in the footsteps" of other similar occupations on other campuses (which have included vandalism and destruction of campus property). Yes, they were fucking unruly. This is a strange hill to even consider getting on

[Edited on April 29, 2024 at 9:04 PM. Reason : ]

4/29/2024 9:03:29 PM

Would it be too easy to post a picture of civil rights protestors with the caption "unruly progressive protestors"

4/29/2024 10:41:10 PM

Not based on your history of grinking.

4/30/2024 7:10:31 AM

Quote :

"They attended an event whose organizers didn't even attempt to get a permit, stated their express intent was to occupy public property and deny its use to others, while also saying they were "following in the footsteps" of other similar occupations on other campuses (which have included vandalism and destruction of campus property). Yes, they were fucking unruly. This is a strange hill to even consider getting on"

this is his new “they’re CHANGING the DEFINITION of WORDS!” for 2024

Quote :

"(which have included vandalism and destruction of campus property)"

fuck outta here, man

4/30/2024 11:01:09 AM

so unruly

4/30/2024 11:06:32 AM

Peaceful

4/30/2024 1:09:38 PM

oh heavens no. not a panel of glass.

https://x.com/7im/status/1785346203779219673?s=46

Quote :

"I've covered campus activism since the late 90s. Nothing that's happening on campuses now -- sit ins, building takeovers, encampments -- is at all outside the standard vernacular of student protest. What's unusual is administrators calling in riot cops on their own students"

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/gaza-protests-colleges-violent-cops-1235012276/

[Edited on April 30, 2024 at 1:13 PM. Reason : .]

4/30/2024 1:11:56 PM

^^surely you realize that a few anecdotal pictures of "vandalism' doesn't represent the majority of the people taking part in these protests, right?

4/30/2024 2:28:07 PM

Sorry. I should have said "mostly peaceful."

4/30/2024 3:18:24 PM

Still insufferable I see

4/30/2024 3:55:04 PM

Still unprincipled, I see

4/30/2024 4:53:13 PM

protest is good

that’s my principled stance

why isn’t it yours?

especially when you have no connection to any campus that is currently the site of any protest

[Edited on April 30, 2024 at 5:28 PM. Reason : .]

4/30/2024 5:28:14 PM

Protest is good, lol. Then you supported the J6 riot and those folks who took over the bird sanctuary, right? Oh, they were protesting the wrong things, so fuck em. Zero. Principles.

4/30/2024 11:37:58 PM

You equate J6 ppl with Gaza protesters?

5/1/2024 1:32:27 AM

These guys took down the American flag at UNC.

Where is all this emotion and passion coming from? I guess there were already progressive/Muslim student groups and then Columbia lead the charge and inspired by that they all started it? In which case, I have to ask, wasn't arresting the people in the encampments a bad decision if it was only gonna spark more

5/1/2024 2:43:29 AM

The moral position of protestors is important for my moral support of said protests, but not to my support of the right to protest.

That said Sanctuary protested while armed to the teeth, I believe, and J6 entered the capital with the stated intent of using violence on lawmakers. I don't think Columbia students have said they plan to hang Columbias VP

5/1/2024 8:50:50 AM

Which is all irrelevant to the fact that all three intentionally took over buildings with the intent to deprive their owners of the use of said facilities because they weren't getting their way. They. Did. The. Same. Thing. The right to protest does not include commandeering property. Full stop. How violently you push your way in or try to prevent your removal only heightens the level of your assholery, but it doesn't change whether you're an asshole in the first place.

I am sympathetic to the general demands of the protestors, especially with regards to Israel's actions in the West Bank. I cringe at their tone-deaf naivete in co-opting Hamas narratives and slogans, but they are college students, so, whatever. They want to get a permit and show up en masse and scream their cute little chants, so be it. I support that to the hilt. But the line stops when you indefinitely prevent others from exercising their rights to use a space. This isn't semantics. This is a principled stance that all have a right to those spaces, within reason. And these slapnuts are intentionally denying that to others and to their respective Universities because they are having a tantrum over not getting their way. They are assholes, even if I tend to agree with them.

5/1/2024 10:46:13 AM

Quote :

"These guys took down the American flag at UNC. Where is all this emotion and passion coming from? I guess there were already progressive/Muslim student groups and then Columbia lead the charge and inspired by that they all started it? In which case, I have to ask, wasn't arresting the people in the encampments a bad decision if it was only gonna spark more"

Meh, I aint gonna get my panties in a wad over folks taking down the American flag. it's a flagpole, big fuckin deal. But, to your question, these demonstrations have been going on since at least October 8th. They've largely been the normal "show up, scream your shit, go home" deal. Not much has changed, both from the protestors, or the university's response. So the heat and passion has been simmering for quite a while. The schools have allowed it, just to avoid rocking the boat too much. I suspect there's been some frustration that the Universities aren't changing their positions, but then again, student demands to cut ties with Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are kinda dumb, and demanding an end to study abroad and research connections with Israeli institutions is (and should be) a tough sell to the schools.

Having said that, there does seem to be a concerted effort recently to co-opt spaces that are typically used for commencement ceremonies to try and force the Universities' hands. Faced with that, it's a tough call. Much of the student population doesn't give a shit, they just wanna take their exams, get their diplomas, and get out. These protestors want to stand in the way of that. I get it, nobody says that protests should be done at the convenience of the entity being protested. So, there's some concern on the part of the schools that they want to clear these things out (which are already violating school policies) so they can do their regular end-of-semester business.

But, there's also a concern that encampments such as this are generally dangerous. They are notorious fire hazards, they invite unsavory individuals from off campus, they take significant resource to clean up during and after the fact, and they do tend to get out of control in a short amount of time. The universities can't sit back while obvious fire and health hazards fester, because they'll be on the hook for the inevitable lawsuits.

The currents howls of anti-semitism are, at best, red herrings. The real concern is commencement, and getting rid of outside agitators and safety hazards.

5/1/2024 11:02:25 AM

Quote :

"Which is all irrelevant to the fact that all three intentionally took over buildings with the intent to deprive their owners of the use of said facilities because they weren't getting their way. They. Did. The. Same. Thing"

Im ok with occupying government buildings as a form of protest, while reserving the right to disagree with the reason for protest.

Columbia itself has said they regret the last time they used police to stop occupation of public spaces.

So I think now I want to post pics of police bashing Selma marchers with caption "WHERE ARE YOUR PERMITS" and Boston tea party with "YOU ARE DEPRIVING OTHERS OF THIS PROPERTY"

5/1/2024 11:04:28 AM

Quote :

"Columbia itself has said they regret the last time they used police to stop occupation of public spaces."

Only because they were trying to appease the little pricks to get them to leave. Shockingly, it didn't work, and it's only made things worse.

Boston Tea Party was legit stupid, but then again, we've largely overplayed what it really was. IIRC, the shipment had already been paid for, there were little actual economic losses. It was a bit symbolic. But yes, it was stupid, and I'd argue not a valid form of protest in the way that we like to mythologize it.

Selma is different beast. They weren't going to be given a permit by racist white fucks, no matter what. The Columbia students had permits for their valid protests. They didn't even try to get one for the encampments, because they knew it wasn't allowed. In Selma, the shutting down of streets by large masses of people was a byproduct of the protest, not the point of the protest; in Columbia, preventing use of the space was the point. In Selma, the protest was designed to simply move through the area; in Columbia, the protest is designed to occupy the area indefinitely. These simply aren't comparable situations.

5/1/2024 11:22:52 AM

rarely have an occasion to grant the GOP a credibility +1, but this is good to see. hope to see this same energy the next time discriminatory and prejudiced behavior flares up in their own party.

5/1/2024 1:24:50 PM

Quote :

"Meh, I aint gonna get my panties in a wad over folks taking down the American flag. it's a flagpole, big fuckin deal."

I mean, I don't really care either, it just seems really stupid. Like putting up the Palestinian flag with the US flag would be one thing, but taking down the US flag just seems like a way to look like the instigators and get everyone who was on the fence off your side. No real thinking behind it

5/1/2024 4:52:32 PM

I'm not sure that anyone was bent out of shape over people protesting the 2020 election, other than judging them for believing lies about a stolen election.

I think that it was more the attacking of police officers and trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power that got everybody's goat.

5/1/2024 4:58:18 PM

^ I'd generally agree. But, aside from the nutjobs who wanted to kill people, I'm distilling the protest into what it really was: a takeover of a gov't building to prevent functions from happening within. Obviously there's no moral equivalence, as what the J6 fools were trying to do was far far worse.

^^ The sooner you see these acts as performance art, the more it will make sense to you. The provocation is the point.

5/1/2024 6:02:01 PM