SunSeeker
SunSeeker's Journal'There is no real choice this November': Ken Burns gives powerful defense of democracy
Filmmaker Ken Burns delivered a powerful defense of democracy while delivering the commencement address for Brandeis University.https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp-video/mmvo211735621744
A masterpiece. One of the best speeches I have ever heard. Well worth the 20 minutes of your time.
Salman Rushdie says a Palestinian state formed today would be 'Taliban-like'
Commenting on the US campus protesters calling for a free Palestine, the author said that while he has “argued for a Palestinian state for most of my life – since the 1980s, probably – right now, if there was a Palestinian state, it would be run by Hamas, and that would make it a Taliban-like state, and it would be a client state of Iran”.
“Is that what the progressive movements of the western left wish to create? To have another Taliban, another Ayatollah-like state, in the Middle East, right next to Israel?” said the Indian-born British-American author on a podcast run by German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg which was released on Thursday.
“The fact is that I think any human being right now has to be distressed by what is happening in Gaza because of the quantity of innocent death. I would just like some of the protests to mention Hamas. Because that’s where this started, and Hamas is a terrorist organisation. It’s very strange for young, progressive student politics to kind of support a fascist terrorist group.”
Rushdie said that there has been “student upheaval” at New York University, where he a faculty member. He said that he has mixed opinions on the protests – while students have the right to demonstrate, he said, it is also necessary to ensure that other students don’t feel unsafe as a result. He added that while unleashing armed police on students is not a good idea, neither is occupying and damaging buildings.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/20/salman-rushdie-says-a-palestinian-state-formed-today-would-be-taliban-like?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
California home prices just reached a new record high
Home prices in California reached a new record high in April as sales activity increased despite the state’s seemingly insurmountable housing shortage.
The median price of a single-family home climbed to $904,210 last month, nearly 6% higher than March and 11% above April 2023, according to data released on Friday by the California Association of Realtors.
Home sales also increased month over month and year over year by low single-digits.
California’s affordability crisis is well documented, and experts point to high housing costs as one of the key contributors. This makes owning a home in the Golden State, particularly in major metropolitan areas, a good investment. However, Levine says the barrier to entry is becoming increasingly high due to the housing shortage.
https://ktla.com/news/california/california-home-prices-just-reached-a-new-record-high/
Officers clear pro-Palestinian encampment at UC Irvine, protestors arrested
Tensions escalated as police surrounded the University of California, Irvine campus and arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators while dismantling a solidarity encampment on Wednesday.
Videos posted to social media showed protesters barricading inside the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall and rushing to pitch tents outside the building at around 2:30 p.m.
The gathering was declared an unlawful assembly and officers from several law enforcement agencies created a skirmish line near demonstrators, who were positioned both inside and outside of the encampment’s wood palette barriers.
In a text message alert, UCI called it a “violent protest” and urged students to avoid the area. “If able, please leave immediately & continue to avoid the protest area until further notice,” the university said.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/pro-palestinian-protesters-occupy-building-at-u-c-irvine/
Silver lining for consumers: Food price growth has gone flat, and the prices of many other goods are falling
Price growth in many key consumer categories has slowed considerably or ceased altogether — but that has done little to dent consumer worries as the costs of housing and other services have continued to climb.
Among the broadest categories tracked by the consumer price index, or CPI, two of the ones most acutely felt by consumers — food and energy prices — hit 2.2% and 2.1% on a 12-month basis in March, respectively.
Prices have been flat or falling in other significant categories and items over the past year:
Apparel: 0.4%
Cheese: -3%
Milk: -1.6%
Fish and seafood: -2.6%
Household furnishings and supplies: -2.7%
Smartphones: -9%
Despite those improvements, costs in the so-called services category — everything from haircuts to auto repair to doctor’s visits, as well as products like insurance — have continued to grow alongside rents.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/inflation-where-prices-are-falling-food-rent-explainer-rcna152009
Who were the 'outsiders' at Columbia University's Hamilton Hall?
When James Carlson was arrested inside Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, he was already under investigation for snatching an Israeli flag out of a man’s hand near campus and setting it on fire.
That wasn’t the first time Carlson, who has no affiliation with Columbia, had run afoul of the law. He was arrested in San Francisco in 2005 during a violent protest organized by an anarchist group, according to a senior law enforcement official. The 40-year-old animal rights lawyer is among the group of “professional outsiders” cast by the New York City police department and mayor as having a significant role in the takeover of Hamilton Hall.
Some of the student protesters think the narrative pushed by city and university officials — of dangerous outsiders co-opting the demonstrations — is fueled by ulterior motives. Rory Wilson, 22, a Columbia senior who did not participate in the protests, offered a different take.
After midnight on Tuesday, Wilson and a friend placed themselves outside a Hamilton Hall door for several minutes to prevent the protesters from barricading it shut. Video footage released by the city showed a 63-year-old activist named Lisa Fithian at the center of the action, directing the protesters on how to barricade the doors and referring to Wilson and his friend as “assholes.”
“She was right in the middle of it, instructing them how to better set up the barricades,” said Wilson, who has Jewish heritage but is not a practicing Jew. “Given that the barricades were a pretty central part of the plan of how to take over Hamilton, I’d expect that she would have been pretty central in the logistics planning.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/outsiders-columbia-universitys-hamilton-hall-rcna150530
A veteran activist joined Columbia protesters. Police call her a 'professional agitator.'
As pro-Palestinian student protesters took over a building at Columbia University in New York City early Tuesday, one person in the crowd outside stood out — a gray-haired woman who delivered orders to young people helping to barricade a door.
“Tie it right to the lock,” she told two masked protesters holding zip ties, according to video posted on social media. The protesters did as they were told, using the ties on a metal table pressed against the door of Hamilton Hall.
“Let’s give them a little cover,” the older woman told the crowd. “Cameras back. Cameras back.”
The woman was not a Columbia University student or faculty member. She, in fact, has no known affiliation to the school at all.
She is a 63-year-old veteran activist named Lisa Fithian, whom the New York Police Department described as a “professional agitator.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/veteran-activist-joined-columbia-protesters-police-call-professional-a-rcna150261
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA refuse orders to disperse
Source: KTLA.com
At around 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sky5 captured at least two dozen patrol vehicles parked on campus grounds very near the encampment. The footage also showed hundreds of demonstrators locking arms in front of the path leading to the encampment.
Demonstrators were also seen reinforcing barricades, as law enforcement surrounded the encampment.
Hours later, at around 9 p.m., hundreds of demonstrators were still occupying the encampment with police on the outskirts despite the orders to disperse issued earlier in the afternoon.
This is a developing story. Stay with KTLA for additional updates.
Read more: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/police-amass-large-presence-at-ucla-after-violence-broke-out-overnight/
Update: The police moved in overnight, hundreds were arrested, relatively without incident. What us left now is a trashed Royce Hall, and a trashed Powell Library which is across the quad from Royce Hall. It's midterms at UCLA right now, and normally Powell Library would be packed, but it is unusable right now. UCLA has announced classes will be online the rest of the week.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/ucla-campus-trashed-after-police-dismantle-encampment/
Smashed windows, stacked furniture left after occupation of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University
Images and video released by Columbia University show overturned and stacked furniture, broken windows and other damage in the aftermath of the seizure and occupation of Hamilton Hall by protesters and its clearing by police Tuesday.
The images from inside Hamilton Hall show overturned chairs, tables and other furniture. Protesters broke windows and caused other damage at the occupied hall, university officials said and images showed. Barricades had also been set up.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/smashed-windows-piled-furniture-left-occupation-hamilton-hall-columbia-rcna150154
Russia is trying to exploit America's divisions over the war in Gaza
Russia is seeking to exploit America’s divisive debate over Israel’s offensive in Gaza through overt and covert propaganda, with the aim of aggravating political tensions in the U.S. and tarnishing Washington’s global image, according to two sources familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.
In its ongoing information war against the United States, Russia has shifted its focus in recent months to the Israel-Hamas conflict, seeking to inflame existing divisions in the West and to portray Washington as fueling the violence, the sources said.
The effort includes artificial intelligence, fake social media accounts, a long-standing tactic used by Moscow, as well as a spike in propaganda from Russian state media. The sources declined to share examples of Russian-generated bots on social media to avoid revealing U.S. intelligence-gathering methods.
The campaign is the latest example of Russia’s bid to seize on existing political rifts in America and other NATO countries, according to the sources and independent researchers.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/russia-trying-exploit-americas-divisions-war-gaza-rcna149759
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