US Politics, May 2024: They Shoot Puppies, Don't They?

Apparently Jerry Seinfeld’s wife helped bankroll the UCLA counterprotest:

And as some American cities and college campuses simmer with conflict over the Middle East crisis and Israel’s military response, Mr. Seinfeld has faced a measure of public scorn that he has rarely courted as a breakfast-obsessed comedian, intensified by the more vocal advocacy of his wife, Jessica, a cookbook author.

This week, as the couple and their children appeared together at the premiere of Mr. Seinfeld’s new movie (“Unfrosted,” about Pop-Tarts), Ms. Seinfeld attracted attention for another reason: She promoted on Instagram, and said she had helped bankroll, a counterprotest at the University of California, Los Angeles, where clashes with pro-Palestinian demonstrators have turned violent.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/04/us/politics/jerry-seinfeld-antisemitism-jewish-identity.html

So there’s yr outside agitator

Why do people buy cookbooks anymore?

They make for good birthday presents.

Not joking… that’s one thing the internet definitely has made obsolete for me

I would guess ilx has at least one other thread where we complain about cookbooks

But seriously, someone who identifies as a “cookbook author” to me, that signifies they don’t actually have to work for a living

i honestly assumed when people were talking about 'outside agitators' that is what they were talking about

*unless they are old

also her cookbooks suck

I would think most “cookbook authors” would be primarily “chefs”, not writers. Is that not true?

sorry for quotes

If they actually have to work, yes!

I would possibly think more highly of her if she was an “art collector” … another occupation that signifies having wealth they didn’t have to earn themselves

Encampment at University of Virginia broken up by the cops.

I'm just having flashbacks to the BLM protests in 2020, and how middle america did not understand those protests at all but were fed footage of destruction and unrest and chaos, and how it almost cost Biden the election

Those protesters were right and these protesters are right, but I feel like it's happening again and just don't think our very conservative country is ready for it all, and regardless of our political opinions, that matters

in good news, in my large suburban satx school district all the right wing school board candidates (including an incumbent) lost their races today

Fantastic! Hopefully Abbott & his crew don't take note and start a campaign of fuckwithery in SA like they've done in Houston.

I'm just having flashbacks to the BLM protests in 2020, and how middle america did not understand those protests at all but were fed footage of destruction and unrest and chaos, and how it almost cost Biden the election

Those protesters were right and these protesters are right, but I feel like it's happening again and just don't think our very conservative country is ready for it all, and regardless of our political opinions, that matters

― Dan S, Saturday, May 4, 2024 9:36 PM

There were millions involved then. Don't worry about it.

"Don't take a stand for what's right because it might scare the silent majority" is quite a take.

Democrats are going to be labeled by the conservative (and "centrist") media as woke nags, soft on crime, open border communists no matter how much you try to cater to them.

When Beto ran against Abbott, he immediately started doing a little dance about not teaching critical race theory in schools. It was a stunning success and he only lost by 11 and a half points instead of 12.

Those protesters were right and these protesters are right, but I feel like it's happening again and just don't think our very conservative country is ready for it all, and regardless of our political opinions, that matters

I think its important to treat each issue separately and not fall into the trap of thinking all things are manifestations of the same meta issue. I think without doing this its easy to conflate "I have the following issues with this particular protest" with "I have issues with protest" and while there may be overlap these are absolutely not the same thing, even if they masquerade as such

As regards BLM, it met one of the two conditions for successful protest (it was large scale), but arguable not the other (clarity of goal). I think the Gaza protests should aim to be more lIke the BLM protests, and aspire to the scale, and not just be campus protests.

In regard to the Gaza protests clarity and specificity of goal, its arguably much more clear and specific than BLM's, 1) Ceasefire Now was extremely clear, and Divestment is also extremely specific, targeted, and achievable. Its possible that it could be losing some of that into more ambiguous or philosophical territory, with from the river to the sea and/or whether Israel has a right to exist, rather than specific goals like ending the military strikes and occupation of Gaza which have a broader reach

As to whether it came close to losing Biden the election or not, I don't know how true that is, I'm fairly agnostic on things like that as its difficult to measure. I will say that I think scale matters here, and the people at large scale protests are also voters. Yes right wing media will say well they're all maoists, and the people who believe that stuff with believe it regardless, what matters are the people who won't automatically believe that - what will they think? And the larger the scale the more likely they will either have gone to a protest themselves or know somebody that has. Somebody that might not normally attend protests.

Dan S, with all respect, if protestors catered every protest and movement cause to the gentle dispositions of a bunch of church-going ethno-nationalist loons in suburban Topeka who want homos like you and I dead in a ditch, then we wouldn’t get very far very fast. In fact, we’d still be stuck in the Jim Crow era, and you and I would probably be stuck in loveless marriages to women while rubbing one out with our buddies after poker games or whatever.

In other words, why cater to a population that hates you and wants you dead?

A million Dennis Quaids married to a million Julianne Moores.

i'd hit that.

I think the Gaza protests should aim to be more lIke the BLM protests, and aspire to the scale, and not just be campus protests.

― anvil, Sunday, May 5, 2024 12:48 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't know where you live anvil, but there have been protests virtually every weekend for months in my city. Plus smaller-scale actions like weeks of daily protests outside the MP's office that's around the corner from my apartment.

Yep.

We have had some general (non-campus) protests in Washington DC since October but not lately.

Is it that in this case the campus protests are getting more media attention?

Because they're happening at campuses from which our political media graduated.

otm

There have also been campus protests before April that got less/zero coverage: https://theconversation.com/media-coverage-of-campus-protests-tends-to-focus-on-the-spectacle-rather-than-the-substance-229172

Our campus too:

https://panthernow.com/2024/02/18/all-eyes-on-rafah/

well the big one that got all the attention was literally steps from the doors of every reporter and photographer in new york. so that helps.

but in documenting the columbia thing so closely it ended up spawning more i would think. snowball. protest snowball.

so journalistic laziness isn't always a bad thing if you like protests.

^^Best Fear song

I feel like as we get older, we want our experiences to be meaningful and have younger generations learn from them (it is also a selfish impulse, of giving our experiences more value)… so when I see people of my generation say “younger activists are doing it wrong”… I have mixed feelings. I definitely feel the frustration of an older person saying “all these lessons are available, learn from them”… but I also feel like when you are young (as we older people all have been)… at least when I was young, I needed to do some things my way in order to learn and to feel like I was actually me learning

^^ I think Alfred and table definitely get this based on their posts about the current protests and maybe a lot more of you do as well

100%

otm, also making noise is making noise. There are a lot of ways to get attention, all of them can be helpful.

i think the kids are alright. protest is good. denying thy father is good. chances are you'll just end up miserable working at some horrible insurance company...but until then! fight the good fight. i do worry now about the internet's ability to warp minds though. and do it so quickly. its such an amazing tool for people who want to warp other people. Qanon isn't a real thing! millions of people believe in it! so, there is that on the other side of things as well. in fact, more and more, i feel like the same fucked up stuff is getting to right and left equally. it sucks that the old - and in some cases ancient - fake shit from bygone eras is STILL alive on people's computers. hoary old racist shit. it should have been left behind. now it just gets to people extra-fast.

Scott otm, a certain amount of fuck u mom & dad should be celebrated

^^ I think Alfred and table definitely get this based on their posts about the current protests and maybe a lot more of you do as well

― sarahell, Sunday, May 5, 2024

I appreciate this comment, but I've a lot to learn -- and I've already learned a lot.

But sadly, you are likely to end up at the insurance company and telling mom & dad they were right about some stuff and wanting them to remember when they had various embarrassing medical problems

called it!

Maybe it’s to show a contrast with Biden, who didn’t have what it took to shoot his dog when it kept biting people.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Saturday, April 27, 2024 9:29 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Kristi Noem Suggests Biden’s Dog Should Have Been Killed, Too

The South Dakota governor, defending her tale of shooting and killing her family’s dog, suggested that President Biden’s German shepherd, Commander, had merited a similar fate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/05/us/politics/kristi-noem-biden-dog.html

Seriously fuck her

Does she weigh in on eugenics as well?

I definitely don't want the full list of everyone Kristi Noem would like to take to the gravel pit.