[guest post by Dana]

Protests on university campuses are continuing across the country. And while police have dismantled encampments and arrested some protesters at various campuses, there is little doubt that the students (and faculty) will be distracted from their mission.

I read with interest John McWhorter’s op-ed, I’m a Columbia Professor. The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice. and wanted to present some points he made.

McWhorter makes a distinction between protesters. There are those who see Israel as the enemy and chant “from the river to the sea…” because they actually want to see Israel’s destruction. There are protesters who don’t really know why they are protesting but join in anyway (see video at end of post). And finally, there are those who don’t necessarily hate the Jews and want to see the destruction of Israel, but instead their focus is the war in Gaza and their school’s monetary investment in Israel:

…I don’t think that Jew hatred is as much the reason for this sentiment as opposition to Zionism and the war on Gaza. I know some of the protesters, including a couple who were taken to jail last week, and I find it very hard to imagine that they are antisemitic. Yes, there can be a fine line between questioning Israel’s right to exist and questioning Jewish people’s right to exist. And yes, some of the rhetoric amid the protests crosses it.

Conversations I have had with people heatedly opposed to the war in Gaza, signage and writings on social media and elsewhere and anti-Israel and generally hard-leftist comments that I have heard for decades on campuses place these confrontations within a larger battle against power structures — here in the form of what they call colonialism and genocide — and against whiteness. The idea is that Jewish students and faculty should be able to tolerate all of this because they are *white.

I understand this to a point. Pro-Palestinian rallies and events, of which there have been many here over the years, are not in and of themselves hostile to Jewish students, faculty and staff members.

[*Ed. about Jews being white…]

Additionally, McWhorter contrasts the focus of allegedly peaceful protests and a certain double-standard that would cause differing responses based on interpretation of them:

Social media discussion has been claiming that the protests are peaceful. They are, some of the time…But relatively constant are the drumbeats. People will differ on how peaceful that sound can ever be, just as they will differ on the nature of antisemitism. What I do know is that even the most peaceful of protests would be treated as outrages if they were interpreted as, say, anti-Black, even if the message were coded, as in a bunch of people quietly holding up MAGA signs or wearing T-shirts saying “All lives matter.”

…calling all this peaceful stretches the use of the word rather implausibly. It’s an odd kind of peace when a local rabbi urges Jewish students to go home as soon as possible, when an Israeli Arab activist is roughed up on Broadway, when the angry chanting becomes so constant that you almost start not to hear it and it starts to feel normal to see posters and clothing portraying members of Hamas as heroes.

And about previous campus protests, specifically against apartheid regime in South Africa, he says:

…but the bigger difference was that though the protesters sought to make their point at high volume, over a long period and sometimes even rudely, they did not seek to all but shut down campus life.

On Monday night, Columbia announced that classes would be hybrid until the end of the semester, in the interest of student safety. I presume that the protesters will continue throughout the two main days of graduation, besmirching one of the most special days of thousands of graduates’ lives in the name of calling down the “imperialist” war abroad.

McWhorter concludes by contrasting pre- and post-social media protests…and the “tenor” behind them:

But they have pursued their goals with a markedly different tenor — in part because of the single-mindedness of antiracist academic culture and in part because of the influence of iPhones and social media, which inherently encourage a more heightened degree of performance. It is part of the warp and woof of today’s protests that they are being recorded from many angles for the world to see. One speaks up. Butthese changes in moral history and technology can hardly be expected to comfort Jewish students in the here and now. What began as intelligent protest has become, in its uncompromising fury and its ceaselessness, a form of abuse.

Young anti-Israel students tell a journalist exactly why they are protesting

It’s all clear now… pic.twitter.com/vAO7BgizjT

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 24, 2024

P.S. USC announced today that it is canceling its main May commencement ceremony.

This x 100:

“Hello class of 2024. Your family will be deprived of the chance to honor your achievements because a small minority of your classmates feel entitled to break the law in order to express their support for a foreign terrorist organization.”

—Dana

[guest post by Dana]

With a heartwrenching mix of courage and fear, protesters are risking life and limb for freedom in China:

It was clear that many protesters blame Mr. Xi for the extremely unpopular “zero-Covid” policy. A young Shanghai professional with the surname Zhang said that Mr. Xi’s norm-breaking third term, secured at last month’s party congress, spelled the end of China’s progress. “We all gave up our illusions,” he said.

…

The young protesters are most conflicted about the impact of their actions. They felt powerless about changing the system as long as Mr. Xi and the Communist Party are in power. They believe that many people in the public supported them because the unyielding Covid rules have violated what they see as baseline norms of Chinese society. Once the government relaxes the policy, they worry, the public’s support for protests would evaporate.

Even now, authorities appear to be ready to quash the protests:

In what appears to be the first official response – albeit veiled – to the protests, China’s domestic security chief vowed at a meeting Tuesday to “effectively maintain overall social stability.”

Without mentioning the demonstrations, Chen Wenqing urged law enforcement officials to “resolutely strike hard against infiltration and sabotage activities by hostile forces, as well as illegal and criminal acts that disrupt social order,” the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Here is a comprehensive look at why it is nearly impossible for protesters to evade the authorities.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is being cautious with regard to a response to the protests:

Top US officials who have been closely monitoring the unrest in China have made two things clear in the past few days: that the Biden administration supports any people’s right to peacefully protest and that it simply does not see China’s so-called zero-Covid policy as a sound approach.

But administration officials have been careful not to step beyond the contours of those public comments, carefully stepping around broader questions about the US’s assessment of the situation or its potential future role in supporting the Chinese people’s cries for more freedom…

A senior US official emphasized to CNN that the White House is being careful not to overstate the nature of the protests, noting that while there have been some calls for Xi Jinping to step down, as of now, most of the protests in the country of over one billion people seem small, localized and aimed more at the narrow goals of ending the Covid lockdowns and securing better working conditions than a loftier push for democracy.

“We have to be very careful of not creating a distorted reality,” the official said.

I’ll leave you with an incredible example of the courage these young protesters are displaying:

When someone first chanted, “No more Communist Party,” the crowd laughed, according to Serena, a college student who is spending her gap year in Shanghai. “Everyone knew it was the redline,” she said.

Then it became increasingly charged. When someone yelled, “Xi Jinping, step down!” and “C.C.P., step down!” the shouts were the loudest, according to Serena and other protesters who were also there.

–Dana

This 5000-word piece began with a question from Time123 asking why I was so upset over the Supreme Court leak. It turned into a rambling discussion about the leak, the protests, the legality of the latter and the dangers posed by the former — but mostly, a discussion about the way we criticize our institutions. Specifically, too often we do so carelessly, with too much cynicism and hyperbole.

Overly harsh criticism of our own country carries several dangers. One is that it gets thrown back in our face. If influential people in the U.S. compare the racial tensions in our country to genocide, China will use those statements to minimize or justify its own actual genocide. If people here call the president a dictator, actual dictators will point to those statements. If Tucker Carlson criticizes Joe Biden as a military aggressor, an actual aggressor like Russia will put Carlson’s comments on its own state TV.

Another danger of rhetorical hyperbole in criticism of our government is that it encourages a fatalistic cynicism within our country, that tears down our own respect for our institutions. And as Jonah Goldberg has argued throughout his career, these institutions are fragile. They are precious. They are what separate us from the reign of thuggishness that history teaches us is the default governmental system of humanity.

That’s not going to be a very popular opinion for a people whose habitual stance is to toss off a quick snarky comment that assumes the worst about everyone in government. Perhaps those who actually read the piece will come away with a different view.

Read it here. Subscribe here.

Justice Alito spoke to an audience remotely from the Supreme Court and was asked, basically, so how y’all doin’?

“I think it would just be really helpful for all of us to hear, personally, are you all doing okay in these very challenging times?” the questioner asked.

. . . .

“This is a subject I told myself I wasn’t going to talk about today regarding, you know — given all the circumstances,” Alito replied.

After a pause, he added: “The court right now, we had our conference this morning, we’re doing our work. We’re taking new cases, we’re headed toward the end of the term, which is always a frenetic time as we get our opinions out.”

The court gathered Thursday for the first time since the draft opinion was disclosed to Politico and the court’s chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr., opened a leak investigation.

After detailing the schedule for getting the court’s work done by the end of June or early July, Alito skipped the usual boilerplate that justices tend to employ about disagreeing about the law but remaining respectful and friendly.

Instead, he concluded: “So that’s where we are.”

The assumption in the Court has always been, I assume, that Dobbs will be the last opinion issued on the last day of the Court’s operations this year, likely at the end of June (possibly at the beginning of July). I doubt they’re going to rush it out, giving the dissent a chance to say that its arguments weren’t even considered.

This creates a fraught time in the interim. Glenn Youngkin and Larry Hogan have both asked the Justice Department to enforce a law that prevents people from picketing outside the justices’ homes:

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin revealed on “Your World” Wednesday that he and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to prosecute those demonstrating outside the homes of Supreme Court justices over an anticipated ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News, Youngkin and Hogan called on Garland to “provide appropriate resources to safeguard the justices and enforce the law as it is written.” Both Republican governors offered their respective states’ assistance to secure the justices’ homes, but said they need Garland and the Department of Justice to “to take the lead.”

“There is simply too much at stake,” the last line of the two-page letter reads.

There sure is. I remain very worried about the volatile situation these home protests are causing, and the potential for deadly violence. The Justice Department needs to act.

[guest post by JVW]

Well, this is one way to defund the police. Per Bill Melugin of Fox News Los Angeles, here is a message that was allegedly sent to members of the LAPD earlier tonight by their chief:

I’m sure that deep down inside the LAPD rank-and-file knew they would be made to suffer for the sins of law enforcement against the Forces of Woke, but being told that $40 million in overtime compensation is going to be converted into future time off has to be a slap in the face. Yes, LAPD cops still have it better than a lot of workers who have lost their jobs during the entire COVID-19 scare, yet somehow I don’t see this move (combined with Mayor Garcetti’s earlier announcement that around $150 million would be moved from the LAPD budget to some nebulous community services fund) engendering much good will between Spring Street and First Street. Indeed, Mr. Melugin goes on to inform us that officers are reacting kind of how we might expect them to react:

According to multiple LAPD sources, LAPD Transit Division/MTA services, which is paid via OT, had 43 officers cancel their shifts today, and they are now averaging 12-18 cancellations per shift. I’ll be live at 6 on @FOXLA

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) June 16, 2020

No more overtime for the Human Trafficking Taskforce? Yeah, that won’t come back to haunt them down the road.

– JVW

[guest post by Dana]

In light of the George Floyd protests, some public health officials have changed their minds about Americans being outdoors in large groups during the pandemic:

For months, public health experts have urged Americans to take every precaution to stop the spread of Covid-19—stay at home, steer clear of friends and extended family, and absolutely avoid large gatherings.

Now some of those experts are broadcasting a new message: It’s time to get out of the house and join the mass protests against racism.

…

It’s a message echoed by media outlets and some of the most prominent public health experts in America, like former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden, who loudly warned against efforts to rush reopening but is now supportive of mass protests. Their claim: If we don’t address racial inequality, it’ll be that much harder to fight Covid-19. There’s also evidence that the virus doesn’t spread easily outdoors, especially if people wear masks.

The experts maintain that their messages are consistent—that they were always flexible on Americans going outside, that they want protesters to take precautions and that they’re prioritizing public health by demanding an urgent fix to systemic racism.

But their messages are also confounding to many who spent the spring strictly isolated on the advice of health officials, only to hear that the need might not be so absolute after all. It’s particularly nettlesome to conservative skeptics of the all-or-nothing approach to lockdown, who point out that many of those same public health experts—a group that tends to skew liberal—widely criticized activists who held largely outdoor protests against lockdowns in April and May, accusing demonstrators of posing a public health danger. Conservatives, who felt their own concerns about long-term economic damage or even mental health costs of lockdown were brushed aside just days or weeks ago, are increasingly asking whether these public health experts are letting their politics sway their health care recommendations.

“Their rules appear ideologically driven as people can only gather for purposes deemed important by the elite central planners,” Brian Blase, who worked on health policy for the Trump administration, told me…

…

Some members of the medical community acknowledged they’re grappling with the U-turn in public health advice, too. “It makes it clear that all along there were trade-offs between details of lockdowns and social distancing and other factors that the experts previously discounted and have now decided to reconsider and rebalance,” said Jeffrey Flier, the former dean of Harvard Medical School. Flier pointed out that the protesters were also engaging in behaviors, like loud singing in close proximity, which CDC has repeatedly suggested could be linked to spreading the virus.

“At least for me, the sudden change in views of the danger of mass gatherings has been disorienting, and I suspect it has been for many Americans,” he told me.

Health officials who have deemed this cause to be worth a potential health risk, yet deemed protesting to open the economy and getting back to work as not worthy of a potential health risk, have lost a tremendous amount of credibility. By making a determination that one cause is more worthy than the other, renders judgment against Americans based not upon health concerns, but based upon an ideological one instead. Why would we trust them with future decisions about public health risks?

Given protesters’ close proximity to one another and the number of unmasked protesters, it’s not unreasonable to think that we will see an increased rate of infection. Also, given the large number of black people involved in these protests, it also seems likely that, if there is an outbreak, an already hard-hit community will experience a surge over the next few weeks. Howard Koh, former assistant secretary for health during the Obama administration, says that he supports the protests but recognizes the dangers of Covid-19 spreading rapidly: “We know that a low-risk area today can become a high-risk area tomorrow.”

Obviously, people across the nation believe that publicly protesting the murder of George Floyd and the problem of racial injustice outweighs any risk of becoming infected (or infecting others). Health officials are recommending that protesters self-quarantine for two weeks after coming back from a protest rally. Some public health departments are also recommending that protesters get tested for Covid-19 no later than 5-7 days after the event – even if they don’t feel sick or show symptoms.

The report leaves health experts with this question: “I think what’s lost on people is that there have been real sacrifices made during lockdown. People who couldn’t bury loved ones. Small businesses destroyed. How can a health expert look those people in the eye and say it was worth it now?”

(Of course, rallies are held outside in open spaces, which experts say poses less risk of infection than when a large group is indoors in a limited, enclosed space.)

Back in April when many Americans were publicly gathering at rallies to push for the economy to re-open, the protesters took a lot of heat for gathering during a pandemic. I was one of those critics. My objection wasn’t that they were protesting, it was the fact that they were doing so without observing social distancing measures (six foot distance from neighbor and wearing a face mask). I feel the same way about today’s protesters. If you want to protest, have at it. But at the very least, wear a mask, and try to keep a safe distance from your neighbor. As I said back in April:

… while I appreciate a healthy wariness of government overreach where civil liberties are concerned, and inconsistent foolishness from some governors, this does not change the fact that we are facing a highly contagious virus that doesn’t care about principles, political persuasions, personal philosophies, or anything that one might claim takes priority over practicing reasonable safety measures. We are not being compelled to permanently modify our behaviors. We are being asked to temporarily modify our behavior in order to help prevent further transmission of a deadly virus which is highly contagious and has wreaked havoc across the nation in a very short period of time. And it’s the sort of highly contagious virus that requires everyone to hold the line. Six feet apart and a mask when out in public. How is that a big deal? No matter what you think of government or social distancing orders put in place to help minimize the spread of the disease, let me ask you, why the isn’t your family, or your neighbor worth the extra effort?

Here are comments from Dr. Fauci regarding the protests and public health risk:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force, called it a “delicate balance.”

“The reasons for demonstrating are valid, yet the demonstration itself puts one at an additional risk,” Fauci said Friday in an interview with WTOP.

…

Fauci said not only is it a risk to have protesters gathered in proximity to one another, the nature of demonstrations presents a health risk because people chant and yell with their mouths uncovered.

There have also been instances of protesters coughing on each other after police deployed irritants, such as tear gas or pepper spray.

“I get very concerned, as do my colleagues in public health, when they see these kinds of crowds,” Fauci said. “There certainly is a risk. I can say that with confidence.”

Compounding the risk, especially in the D.C. area, is the fact that the protests are happening in places where the coronavirus was spreading at a significant rate before the mass protests started.

“It’s a perfect setup for further spread of the virus in the sense of creating these blips which might turn into some surges,” Fauci said.

If Fauci had one piece of advice for someone who plans to go out and protest, it would be to wear a mask and keep it on the entire time.

“I’ve seen on TV, as the demonstrations heat up, people might take their masks off,” he said. “You might have situations where you would foster the spread of infection and that’s really of concern.”

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

After California protests last weekend, where residents rallied to have the state’s ongong stay-at-home restrictions lifted so that people could return to work, Gov. Newsom cautioned future protesters that, when exercising their right to speech, make sure to adhere to social distancing measures:

I just want to encourage people that when you practice your free speech — which I don’t [just] embrace, I celebrate — just do so safely. This virus knows no political ideology. It doesn’t know if you are Republican or Democrat, supporting the president, opposing the president, so practice physical distancing. Make sure that you are not infecting others. Even if you feel healthy and have no symptoms, you can spread this.

The worst mistake we can make is making a precipitous decision based on politics and frustration that puts peoples’ lives at risk and ultimately sets back the cause of economic growth and economic recovery.

On Monday, protesters at the state Capitol, ignored his directive:

Just walked out of the CA Capitol to this.

The west lawn completely disregarding state and county physical distancing orders pic.twitter.com/QMaMUCesap

— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) April 20, 2020

The massive crowd outside of the California state Capitol is now parading through the area. No one I’ve seen participating is wearing masks.

“There’s a revolution coming” blasting through speaker. pic.twitter.com/ExcmXs0rpN

— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) April 20, 2020

As a result of the flagrant disregard of social distancing measures, permits will no longer be issued for events on state properties:

Following Monday’s protest at the state Capitol where demonstrators defied Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orders banning large gatherings, the California Highway Patrol says it will no longer issue permits for events at any state properties, including the Capitol.

“Permits are issued to provide safe environments for demonstrators to express their views,” the CHP said in a statement. “In this case, the permit for the convoy was issued with the understanding that the protest would be conducted in a manner consistent with the state’s public health guidance.

“That is not what occurred, and CHP will take this experience into account when considering permits for this or any other group.”

The ban on large public events in California “will remain in place until health officials decide it’s safe for people to gather in large groups given measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus”.

Protesters are now protesting the ban:

Stefanie Duncan Fetzer, an Orange County activist who helped plan the rally, said protesters are considering whether to file a lawsuit against the state, arguing the policy violates their right to freedom of speech.

“It’s unfortunate that the CHP has opted to violate their oath of office by violating the Constitution,” she said.

Duncan Fetzer said the group has an application “pending” for a May 1 protest at the Capitol. She added, “We’re not going to change our plans.”

While some groups organizing protests in California are urging protesters to remain in their vehicles during protests, and to follow recommended safety guildelines for wearing masks in public, too many are ignoring the directives.

There is no doubt that protesting Californians are truly frightened about what the future holds for them if they cannot return to work, hold onto their house or put food on the table. This is a horrible situation Americans at large find themselves in, through no fault of their own. But it’s unfortunate that, in their anger at the state and federal government, taking safety measures that help limit the rate of infection have been dismissed as an unwelcome intrusion, and nothing more than government overreach. Reasonable precautions that might benefit everyone have simply become too much of an ask. It’s as if there is a complete disconnect from the logical outcome of ignoring social distancing measures when in public: The rate of infection will increase, more people getting sick means less people working, and all of this will result in a necessary extension of the stay-at-home restrictions (until the infection rates slow). And unfortunately, for every reasonable concern, these protests are a magnet for conspiracy nuts : A protester on a mega phone is proposing to gather 10,000 people here at the Capitol for a month. “And if nobody gets sick we prove the coronavirus is a lie.”

P.S. From a CBS poll of 2,112 residents this week:

A CBS News poll published Thursday reports that 70 percent of respondents believe the country’s top priority should be to “try to slow the spread of coronavirus by keeping people home and social distancing, even if the economy is hurt in the short term.”

Only 30 percent think the top national priority should instead be to “try to get the economy going by sending people back to work, even if it means more people might be exposed to coronavirus.”

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

In the aftermath of Iran admitting that they were responsible for the downing of the Ukrainian airplane in which 82 of the 176 passengers killed were Iranians, scores of angry Iranians are in the second day of protests at universities in Tehran and throughout the city as they demand that the Ayatolla and officials step down. The protesters are taking a substantial risk in voicing their demands as just two months ago, the regime killed more than 1,500 protesters.

Demonstrators are calling for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down and for those responsible for downing the plane to be prosecuted.

“Khamenei have shame. Leave the country,” chanted protesters in the capital, Tehran, in footage posted on social media.

Protests have now spread to other cities, including Shiraz, Esfahan, Hamedan and Orumiyeh, Reuters reported.

There are also reports that protesters have a made a point to avoid stepping on flags of Israel and the U.S. that are painted on the ground, with protesters chanting: “They are lying that our enemy is America; our enemy is right here”:

Iran: protestors refuse to walk on US & Israeli flags pic.twitter.com/xTu3gXpfxJ

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 12, 2020

This seems huge: Iranian media is also coming out against the supreme leader:

Newspapers called for resignations and sackings over the handling of the air disaster.

Sazandegi, a moderate conservative publication, also apologized to its readers for having trusted official sources on the matter.

“Apologize, resign,” said the main headline of the reformist Etemad daily.

“Unforgivable,” said government newspaper Iran, which published all the names of those who died in the air disaster on the image of black plane tail.

State media was compelled to push back:

Kayhan, a hardline daily, led on the supreme leader’s “strict orders” to follow up on the “painful incident of the plane crash”.

As public anger grew, state television aired interviews with people who it said “have not forgotten everything the Guards have done for the country.”

In response to the protests, President Trump first tweeted out his unwavering support for the protesters yesterday, both in English and Farsi:

To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I've stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

به مردم شجاع و رنج کشیده ایران: من از ابتدای دوره ریاست جمهوریم با شما ایستاده‌ام و دولت من همچنان با شما خواهد ایستاد. ما اعتراضات شما را از نزدیک دنبال می کنیم. شجاعت شما الهام بخش است.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

Today, he directed his comments to the leadership of Iran, and exhorted them to stop killing their own people, while reminding them that the world was watching:

خطاب به رهبران ايران: معترضان خود را نكشيد. هزاران تن تاكنون به دست شما كشته يا زنداني شده اند، و جهان نظاره گر است. مهمتر از ان، ايالات متحده نظاره گر است. اينترنت را دوباره وصل كنيد و به خبرنگاران اجازه دهيد ازادانه حركت كنند! كشتار مردم بزرگ ايران را متوقف كنيد! https://t.co/rzpx3Nfn03

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020

Here is some incredible video coming out of Iran posted by Masih Alinejad, who is the founder of My Stealthy Freedom, a group about which I’ve written here:

Another video showing large numbers of Iranians in Tehran chanting against the regime today

"Down with this system that has killed so many people over the years"

Iranians are furious with the regime that has downed a civilian aircraft killing 176 people aboard#IranProtests2020 pic.twitter.com/oMSb5iHAmS

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 12, 2020

Another video shows Iranians tearing down #Soleimani poster. You know why?
78 people killed in an stampede in his funeral, 178 people killed in exacting his revenge by downing #UkrainianPlane & 1500 killed by IRGC in #IranProtests . People are furious when you call him a hero. pic.twitter.com/2COgVHpsNV

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 12, 2020

Islamic Republic says Qassem Soleimani is a national hero. Iranian people say: Soleimani and his Revolutionary Guards are Iranian ISIS. Iranian people today are tearing down #Soleimani posters in many locations and chanting: “IRGC, Basiji, you are our ISIS.”#IranProtests2020 pic.twitter.com/GzSW0AbjPc

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 12, 2020

Two women reported that security forces dispersed people keeping vigil for victims of the Ukrainian flight in Shiraz: "All their friends were arrested and we eye witnessed an old woman being shot at with tear gas just because she didn’t want to leave the street."#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/5FlNO8ZzUP

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) January 12, 2020

In addition, take time to read Yashar Ali’s thread on the Iranian situation here. In part:

This AM I woke up to dozens of messages from family/friends in Iran. Right now, Iran is a tinderbox internally. As some of you know, there are protests mostly around the anger that Iranians feel towards the gov after they admitted IRGC shot down the Ukraine Airlines aircraft

Iranians who are protesting and all the family/friends I spoke to (who live in different parts of Iran) are furious that they were lied to for three days about the cause of the plane crash. The Iranian government lied left and right about where the plane was headed

Iranians are in the street calling for prosecutions, saying Soleimani is a murderer. Telling leadership of the Iranian government to resign and saying that Trump isn’t the problem, that the Iranian government is.

And we are reminded that it’s easy to fill the streets with millions of Iranians for Qasem Soleimani’s funeral because there was no risk involved. However, to publicly protest and take to the streets demanding that the Supreme Leader step down and defy officials in this way, comes at an an enormous risk to the individual:

The #IranLobby's subtle new talking point: "opinions differ, but there are waaaay more regime supporters than those opposed."
DON'T BE FOOLED: takes nothing to go to Soleimani's funeral, but you play with your life when you protest. Each brave protester represents thousands. pic.twitter.com/hY3eMCcaQP

— Kaveh Shahrooz کاوه شهروز (@kshahrooz) January 12, 2020

It looks like the worst is yet to come:

#BREAKING: Reports: Iranian security forces open fire on protesters in #Azadi, #Tehran pic.twitter.com/YgPrctzLWw

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 12, 2020

God bless these brave men and women.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

[Headlines from DRJ]

It’s Right-wing groups vs Antifa today in Portland:

More than two dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Federal Protective Service, were in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday to help police there monitor a right-wing rally that’s expected to draw demonstrators from around the U.S.

Self-described anti-fascists have vowed to confront the rally while leaders from the far right urged their followers to turn out in large numbers to protest the arrests of six members of right-wing groups in the run-up to the event.

The Oregonian:

What, exactly, is going to happen?

It’s hard to say. Portland’s largest protests tend to be roving, unpredictable affairs.

But here’s what we know:

Two Florida men with large followings in the right-wing movement are holding an “End Domestic Terrorism” rally Saturday at 11 a.m. in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. An organizer said he expects up to 1,000 people show up for the event, which seeks to draw like-minded people from around the country as a show of force against self-described anti-fascists, or antifa.

Rose City Antifa, Portland’s homegrown, amorphous band of anti-fascist activists, is calling on supporters to turn out in opposition to the rally.

UPDATE: Bear spray, shields, metal poles seized at Portland protests

— DRJ

[Headline and tweets from DRJ]

Six hours ago, @Real Donald Trump tweeted this:

Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!

12:17 PM · Aug 13, 2019

Then he retweeted this tweet showing a military convoy in Hong Kong:

Disturbing video taken in #Shenzhen just across the boarder with #HongKong. Something extraordinarily bad is about happen. #China #HongKongProtests #Democracy #SaveHongKong

Around the same time, the BBC reports riot police arrived in Hong Kong as Hong Kong protests cripple airport for second day:

Hong Kong International Airport saw chaotic scenes on a second consecutive day of massive anti-government protests that have paralysed one of Asia’s key transport hubs.

Squads of riot police arrived shortly before midnight after thousands of demonstrators again flooded the terminal buildings during the day.

Flight departures were brought to a standstill amid scuffles.

At least three men were mobbed inside the airport by protesters. They were said to be holding identity cards showing they were police officers from mainland China. Hong Kong police have admitted deploying officers disguised as anti-government protesters during the unrest in the city.

Previously, Trump has praised the Chinese for stopping protests with strength.

— DRJ