Mikie Sherrill’s defenders are now doubling down on her Naval Academy issue. It isn’t enough for them to say that what she did was wrong, but a long time ago, which might be sufficient. They need to double down because they perceive, correctly, that something larger is at stake. They’re right, but not in the way they think.
Continue readingAuthor Archives: Irfan Khawaja
Albert Aghazarian, a Postscript
About five years ago, I posted a memorial essay here for the late Albert Aghazarian, the Armenian-Palestinian translator I met on my first trip to Palestine about twelve years ago. By chance, I met a friend of Albert’s tonight, Gaby Kevorkian, a retired physician and resident of Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter, currently living in Princeton. Gaby points out that my description of Albert’s home–“he lived so simply”–may well have been misleading. “Have you ever been inside Albert’s home?” Gaby asked. In fairness, I had not. “Well,” he pointed out, “If you go inside, there are many rooms.” The latter claim does indeed raise doubts that Albert lived quite as “simply” as I had suggested. I have amended the post accordingly.
Morituri Te Salutant
I woke up this morning to find an email from one of my best friends in Palestine, someone who lives in a small village in the South Hebron Hills. I’ve excerpted it below, deleting personal names, and omitting place names and other particulars, and corrected the grammar of one sentence for clarity. It’s in English, but I’ve provided a tl; dr translation just after the block quote. The word “football” refers throughout to soccer. Continue reading
Karma Comes for Mikie Sherrill
A controversy has recently broken out in the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign. Mikie Sherrill, who has long touted her experience as a helicopter pilot for the Navy, is now facing the somewhat exaggerated charge that she “cheated her way” through the Naval Academy (to quote hearsay from the Internet).
The backstory is this: Nicholas DeGregorio, a supporter of Sherrill’s opponent in the race, made a records request re Sherrill, including her Naval Academy record, to the National Personnel Center of the National Archives. Continue reading
You Lose: The NJ Governors’ Debate
Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidates’ debate…
Laugh about it, shout about it, when you’ve got to choose
Every way you look at it, you lose
–Simon and Garfunkel, “Mrs Robinson“
Yesterday was the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates’ debate, pitting Democrat Mikie Sherrill against Republican Jack Ciattarelli. There are third-party candidates in the race, Libertarian and Socialist, but naturally, neither of them appeared on stage. Continue reading
Imperium et Dolus
After helping Israel destroy Palestine and commit genocide there, Australia, Britain, and Canada are “recognizing” a “State of Palestine”—a “state” under military occupation, in the process of annexation, without borders, without a government, and without a military—while continuing to arm and support the regime destroying it.
If this is recognition, what would repudiation be?
Thoughts on Complicity
I’ve recently given a handful of talks critical of the Kalven Committee Report’s (KCR) conception of institutional neutrality–three or four, depending on how you count, with one or two more to come, depending on what the referees say. My argument is pretty straightforward: it’s an adequacy-condition on any account of academic norms that the account deal with the problem of institutional complicity in wrongdoing. The KCR defense of institutional neutrality doesn’t just fail to deal with this issue; it offers complicit institutions a blueprint for evading accusations of complicity even when those accusations are recognized as true, well-documented, and incriminating. Continue reading
His Deeds On His Head
Fifty or sixty years from now, this is how they’ll be rehabilitating the reputations of the assholes running our current genocide in Gaza. Oh, the private doubts they had! The anguish they suffered! Poor, poor things! Judge not, lest it be discovered that you figured out on Day 1 what these “experts” were too cowardly to admit or act on for the duration.
The “war hawk who wasn’t,” except that he was.
Montgomery Twp Issues ITA Proclamation
Apropos of my last post, Montgomery Township has just issued an official proclamation in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. A proclamation has a somewhat lower official status than a resolution; unlike a resolution, it’s issued collectively by the mayor and Council, and doesn’t require individualized votes by Council members. So it’s not exactly what we wanted, but it’s still a win.
Whether coincidentally or not, two Council members who were present last time were absent today, notably Dennis Ahn and Vincent Barragan.
Continue readingThe ITA Resolution Campaign: An Update
Just a quick update on the progress of the mini-campaign here in New Jersey for municipal resolutions in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. About a dozen or so resolutions passed between December 2024 and March 2025. After about two months of Council appearances, Resistencia en Acción and allies won a resolution here in Princeton on August 11th. My impression is that the Princeton win has generated the press coverage that’s breathed new life into the campaign. Continue reading
Policy of Truth 