05/02/24
Good morning! It’s Thursday, May 2nd.
Harry Potter Day!
This is an official holiday in the UK, because in the books it’s the day that the Battle of Hogwarts took place. And it gets celebrated with events and movie screenings and Warner Bros sighing the biggest possible relief that they bought the rights to that franchise the instant they could.
And now, the news.
College Protests
Let’s start with the continued coverage of the college protests that have broken out all over the country, beginning with Columbia University where between the university and City College of New York, about 300 protestors were arrested Tuesday night.
I mentioned in yesterday’s episode that protestors had overtaken Hamilton Hall, and then last Tuesday night police entered the building and arrested 109 protestors, clearing the hall.
And that’s just at those two campuses.
Arrests, detainments, and disassembly of protests have taken place all over the country. At many colleges, it is unclear is all of the protestors are students.
At the University of Arizona, law enforcement used rubber bullets and pepper balls against the students to clear the area.
Out here in Los Angeles, a protest at UCLA turned violent, with 15 people injured, and one hospitalized, when pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with Israel supporters.
As it has been since it started, this is a very fluid situation.
And with that as the backdrop, the House passed a bipartisan bill titled the “Antisemitism Awareness Act,” which would require the Education Department to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s broad definition of antisemitism to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
Some lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, as well as the ACLU, worry that the bill’s definition of antisemitism is too broad. In a letter to lawmakers last week, ACLU leaders wrote that "Speech that is critical of Israel or any other government cannot, alone, constitute harassment."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries requested that Speaker Johnson call the bipartisan Countering Antisemitism Act up for a vote, which aims to address by appointing an adviser to the president who would be dedicated to implementing a strategy that would counter antisemitism.
That did not happen.
California Democratic House Rep Sara Jacobs vote against the bill and then put out a statement saying that, while she has experienced antisemitism all my life, the bill "would stifle First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly," adding, "conflating free speech and hate crimes will not make Jewish students any safer."
Many people who voted against the bill believe Speaker Johnson only brought that one up for a vote, instead of the Countering Antisemitism Act, so that they could hold university leaders accountable for the current protests.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, House Reps Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz voted against the bill because they believe it would punish Christians for believing the gospel that Jesus was crucified by the Jews, with Gaetz saying, "The Bible is clear. There is no myth or controversy around this."
Okay well famously there is a lot of controversy over the interpretation of the bible. Also you’re being investigated for sex crimes so maybe you shouldn’t even be able to be in the House at all, you gross gross human.
So just to be clear, Greene and Gaetz voted no because, well… it would harsh their vibe.
I gotta say, while yes obviously we need to stand up and fight against antisemitism as every single turn, it is flames on the side of my face infuriating to see the House members talk about how important it is to protect Jewish Americans while, at the same time, they’re doing everything they can to get Donald Trump re-elected. Trump, who dines with nazi’s and called the Charlottesville nazis “very fine people.” Marjorie Taylor Greene believes in Jewish space lasers but doesn’t believe the holocaust happened or, if she does now, she doesn’t think it was that bad.
These people are not trying to fight against antisemitism, they are pro-Netanyahu. Don’t get it twisted.
I’m not saying that the Biden administration is handling the horror happening in Gaza how I wish he would, but if you believe for a second that this version of the GOP are here to fight against antisemitism and things in the Middle East would be better under Trump, please try and say those words into the mirror and see if your face believes you.
Anyway, this bill is headed to the Senate. When asked if the Senate would take up the legislation, Sen. Schumer said he hadn’t seen the language of the bill.
We should not need a bill to tell us to not be antisemitic. We should be better people than that. But that’s very clearly not the deal right now, so if we’re going to get a bill, can we get one that is actually going to help solve the very serious problem we have?
The way these Republicans will, every once in a while, accidently do something that is almost good but for the wrong reasons…
Arizona Repeals Abortion Ban
-via AP News
On Wednesday, the Arizona state senate voted to pass the state houses’ repeal of the pre-statehood, pre-women having the right to vote, civil war era abortion ban that the state Supreme Court enacted last month.
It now heads to the governor’s desk for signature, where she will obviously sign it because democrats care about people and allowing them to make their own medical decisions about their futures.
Sorry, I’m in a mood about Republicans and frankly – I can’t even apologize for it. Honestly, I’m being as nice as I can be.
Actually, you know what…
That’s it. That’s the news.
Go check your voter registration. Not one of these Republicans have given a reason for us to believe that they deserve to keep their jobs.
I’m proud of Harry Potter, who, and I truly did not believe I was going to get this serious at the beginning of this episode, but Harry Potter and his friends got together and used their own individual strengths to take down an absolute monster who believed, among many things, that only pureblood wizards should exist. And because they knew that was wrong, they risked everything to make sure that monster never came back into power. Because they saw what happened the first time.
And you know what? Hermoine was the best one in that trio, and she was the best because she read a lot.
So happy Harry Potter day Hermoine. Sorry the person who wrote the books is such an absolutel loser.
But more than a fictional character, because you understand that you have the power to make sure the very real monster in this country, who were defeted in 2020, never comes back into power again, I’m proud of you.