The problem with today’s protests at colleges and universities

March 11, 2025

Protests have been in the news over the last few months. They are not new things. Going back to the 60s and 70s, protests were reasonably common occurrences, and not unusual since then.

Some examples of what gave birth to protests were objections to the Vietnam War, and seeking an end to racial injustice and gender inequality.

The civil rights movement began in the 50s, but continued into the 60s and 70s. It was focused on racial equality, and ending segregation, and it involved nonviolent protests, sit-ins, boycotts, and marches.

Disagreement with the Vietnam War produced many protests and demonstrations, especially on college campuses. Other topics found sympathetic ears on college campuses, too. Major focuses were freedom of speech, and complaints about the status quo, which involved the women’s liberation movement, and the gay rights movement.

In the 60s there arose a rejection of traditional values, emphasis on peace and love, the hippie culture and alternative lifestyles.

For the most part, these protests and demonstrations were peaceful, but there were
some exceptions. And, they were protests of objectionable policies and ways of life that people didn’t like. 

Going back just a few years, we saw many protests based upon policies and events that were far less peaceful than those of the 60s and 70s. Property, both personal and public, was damaged and destroyed. And injuries to and the deaths of individuals occurred.

The recent campus protests have been mostly peaceful and involved students protesting, setting up tent encampments on campuses, and even taking over campus buildings. In some situations, both students and faculty members were actively protesting, as well as some college employees going on strike.

There are organizations representing and coaching the protesters. And these organizations and the protesters are making demands on the schools. Some of the demands are that schools sever financial and academic ties to Israel and companies involved in the current conflict, to disclose investments, and to cease accepting research funding. They also want the U.S. to end military support for Israel.

Protesters have damaged furniture and computers at one campus library, and shattered windows during their occupation of the buildings at another.

Several universities saw student protesters replace American flags with Palestinian flags on campus flagpoles. However, administrations and law enforcement personnel took down the Palestinian flags and put the American flags back up.

The major difference between these recent protests and those of the 60s and 70s, however, is that while actions and policies are part of the basis for the recent protests, the major factor is the high degree of hatred the protesters have for one group of people.

In the conflict between the Iranian terrorist proxy group Hamas and Israel, the college student protesters take the side of those living in Gaza and Hamas. Hamas is who the Palestinians selected as their government. The protesters express their objections to the nation of Israel, and hatred for Jews that live there. And because there are Jews living and attending colleges and universities in the United States, they are also the targets of the protester’s hatred.

Colleges and universities have begun to take steps to halt this unacceptable rule-breaking, and in some cases illegal activity. There have been many protesters arrested, some have been suspended or expelled, while others have been evicted from campus housing, and some have been financially charged for damages to campus property and facilities.

And while some, or hopefully all, of the protesters may get their just rewards for their breaking of rules and laws, will they ever understand or pay a price for their disgusting anti-Semitism?

“The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced that it will be visiting 10 university campuses that have experienced anti-Semitic incidents since October 2023,” reported the Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs website. “Created pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Task Force set as its first priority to eradicate anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”

The Task Force is aware of allegations that these schools have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from discrimination, potentially in violation of federal law, said Leo Terrell, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and leader of the Task Force.

The 10 universities are: Columbia University; George Washington University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.

Terrell said that the Task Force will meet with various groups to gather information about what has been happening, including university leadership, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement, and community members. 

“The President, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and the entire Administration are committed to ensuring that no one should feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus because of their religion,” Terrell said. “The Task Force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate anti-Semitism, particularly in schools.”

Anti-Semitism, or any sort of racial hatred or discrimination, is the precise opposite of what America is about. And it must be eliminated.

Hamas attacks Israel, and Republican infighting stops the House

October 24, 2023

At about 6.30 a.m. — about dawn in Israel — on Saturday, October 7, the Jewish high holiday of Simchat Torah, the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fired a huge barrage of at least 2,500 rockets across southern Israel. This served as cover for an unprecedented multi-pronged infiltration of fighters, as Palestinian gunmen crossed into Israel.

Some 1,400 innocent civilians, and around 250 military personnel, lost their lives in this attack, an attack aimed at civilians, not the military. About 250 people died at an outdoor music show. Others died in the streets and in their homes. 

Some were shot, others stabbed, and still others burned to death. Men, women, children and the elderly were summarily slaughtered, with some children killed in front of their parents. Parents were killed in front of their children. Babies were beheaded as their parents watched in horror. Another roughly 200 people were taken hostage by Hamas.

Obviously, this brought on a well-deserved response by Israel.

During the Israeli response, Hamas announced that Israeli forces had targeted a Palestinian hospital, and up to 500 innocent people were killed. And the news media jumped on this horrific story:

Hospital Strike Kills Hundreds – The Washington Post
Blast at Gaza Hospital Kills Hundreds – The Wall Street Journal
Blast Kills Hundreds at Gaza Hospital – The New York Times

The message being communicated supported the accusation of Hamas, against Israel. It was readily received, and acted upon by thousands.

Following the allegation by Hamas, Israel answered, not by confirming the allegation, not by challenging it, but by saying it was investigating the allegation.

And the investigation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the investigation by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency have determined that no, the hospital was not hit by an Israeli missile or bomb, but by the failure of a rocket aimed at Israel by the Islamic Jihad, a terrorist partner of Hamas. Rockets fired by these terrorist groups have 20 percent to 30 percent failure rates.

Furthermore, the rocket did not hit the hospital and did not kill 500 people. It landed in the parking lot and, yes, there were some casualties, but numbers are not available.

Despite this important revelation, there is an enormous anti-Israel mood in our country. Protests began when Israel responded to the attack, and continued after the investigations showed Israel did not attack the hospital. Israel is blamed for starting the war, even though no country on Earth would just sit back after being savagely attacked, as Israel was.

And, there are anti-Israel protests in other countries, as well. 

Why are so many in America gathering for anti-Israel demonstrations, given the realities of this fighting? A country is viciously attacked by inhuman savages intentionally targeting and murdering civilian men, women and children, and thousands blame Israel for fighting back.

A lie posited by the terrorist group that carried out the attack that Israel intentionally bombed a hospital, killing 500 civilians is proven false, and yet thousands still blame Israel for this war.

At least two elected House of Representatives members — Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. — have and are spreading anti-Israel propaganda, further riling people up. 

Omar, born in Somalia, calling for a ceasefire, tweeted that “the IDF reportedly blowing up” the hospital is “horrific.”

Palestinian-American Tlaib, tweeted that “Israel just bombed the Baptist Hospital killing 500 Palestinians,” blaming the Biden Administration for failing to “facilitate a ceasefire and help de-escalate.”

Both women jumped the gun and automatically accepted the Hamas allegation, lacking any proof, and neither had deleted their statements, as of last week.

Radical Muslims in Middle East nations have long vowed to eliminate Israel and every Jewish person on the planet. They also believe in the “death to America” idea.

On the other side of the political aisle, House Republicans are racking up thousands of negative points by keeping the House from getting anything done over the House Speaker debacle.

When Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, was elected Speaker, he agreed to a totally absurd measure: the idea that the Speaker could be removed from the position if only one of the 435 members of the House made the motion to vacate the chair, and a majority voted for the motion. In agreeing to this, McCarthy was trying to resolve the choice of a Speaker, which had gone through 16 unsuccessful votes.

Florida Republican Matt Gaetz stepped into that mudhole, making the motion to vacate the chair and McCarthy was removed with a vote that included eight Republicans. Eight Republicans constitute only about 3.6 percent of the Republican majority. But along with 100 percent of the Democrats McCarthy was removed, and chaos has ensued. 

Gaetz’ partners in crime are: Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ken Buck of Colorado, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Eli Crane of Arizona, Bob Good of Virginia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Matt Rosendale of Montana.

The Gaetz Eight has shown the world that petty politics is more important to them than doing the job they were elected to do.

Distorting Trump’s MS-13 comments and Israel’s defensive border action

Recognizing that secure borders are essential to a free and safe country, President Donald Trump is insistent on securing our borders, particularly the southern one, and would gladly build a wall to accomplish that necessary goal.

Whether it is because Donald Trump is the one emphasizing securing the border, or whether it is because the Left is soft on illegal immigration is less important than the high degree of foolishness of their position. They couch their position on “feelings” rather than national security and protecting Americans from the expense of supporting people who come here illegally, or from those who are dangerous criminals.

Some of the more recognizable names on the Left, particularly many people elected to Congress, make statements that can easily lead one to believe that they are more concerned with the feelings of those illegals than of their fellow Americans or of their own constituents.

A tripwire of these statements is Trump’s use of the word “animals” to describe members of the violent MS-13 gang and other ultra-violent intruders. And among those objecting to the use of the term is the agenda media, some examples of which follow:

* The Washington Post: "Trump compares illegal immigrants to 'animals'"

* The New York Times: "Trump calls some unauthorized immigrants 'animals' in rant"

* Huffington Post: "Trump refers to immigrants as 'animals.' Again."

* USA Today: "Trump ramps up rhetoric on undocumented immigrants: 'These aren't people. These are animals.'"

* Vox: "Trump on deported immigrants: 'They're not people. They're animals.'"

But, of course, they were all wrong. Were they wrong because they have no idea about how to produce an accurate news story, or because the truth intrudes on their Leftist and anti-Trump agenda?

Unless you can’t understand English or have an agenda, anyone who listened to, watched or read the entire text of the statement knew immediately that Trump was not talking about all illegal aliens or immigrants, but was addressing the vile and repulsive members of the venomous and violent MS-13 gang. The gang, whose motto is “kill, rape and control,” has a left a long trail of violence in its wake.

However, Trump is wrong in using the word “animals” to describe MS-13 members. In doing so he has insulted animals everywhere by comparing them to the lowlife MS-13 creatures.

While the U.S. has problems with people who try and succeed at sneaking into the country, a nation with perhaps the most serious border problems is Israel.

The Jewish nation has accomplished great things in medicine, technology, and agriculture, and operates on democratic principles; it is a bright spot in a troubled world region. Despite this impressive record of accomplishments that benefit the entire world, some of its neighbors want Israel gone. It is surrounded by relatively huge Arab nations, with Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan either on its border, or not many miles away.

The Palestinians have been conducting protests on the Gaza border for weeks, and they claim that the border protests are peaceful and civilian-led, which was parroted by elements of the western media. But in fact, they have grown more violent over time. The protest earlier this month found participants creating dark smoke to hide their movements toward the border by setting tires on fire, trying to break down the border barriers and starting fires in Israeli territory by flying kites over the border that had canisters of burning gasoline on them.

Having warned the Palestinians not to attempt to cross the border, when the warnings were ignored the Israeli Defense Forces defended their border, resulting in 64 Palestinians being killed and hundreds more wounded. Unfortunately, that included a few women and children. More information on that follows.

This defensive border action received a harsh response from the UN Human Rights Council, whose chief labeled the Israeli response "wholly disproportionate," and called for an international investigation, as well as widespread condemnation from the anti-Israel media.

This is not a surprise, given the non-secret disdain for the Jewish state of many UN members. While the automatic response of Israel-haters everywhere is to blame Israel for the so-called “unconscionable murder of women, children and peaceful Palestinians,” the truth is quite different from that account.

A Hamas terrorist who was captured after he had breached the border told Israeli officials that the violence in the protests was the work of his organization. And an official of Hamas, Salah Bardawil, said, “In the last rounds of confrontations, if 62 people were martyred, 50 of them were Hamas,” members of the Palestinian terrorist organization.

The captured Hamas terrorist also said that the Islamic terrorist organization used women and children as shields, promising them they would be safe if they moved to the front line of the protest.

The Hamas terrorists among the protesters were armed with Molotov cocktails, guns and knives, and hid behind women and children in hopes of being able to break through the border barrier.

The accurate information about the terrorists taking part in this violent Hamas attack is not readily available, due to the bias of the United Nations and media outlets.