Category Archives: cancel culture

Montgomery Township’s Speech Subversion Scheme

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

This is a letter to the editor of The Montgomery News–a monthly newspaper published in Montgomery, New Jersey–regarding the case of Sadaf Jaffer that was mentioned here a week ago. If printed, the letter will appear in the February issue. Ms Jaffer’s comment appears at minute 16:30 of this video. 

Dear Editor:

I’m writing to draw attention to comments made at the January 7 meeting of the Montgomery Township Committee by former mayor Sadaf Jaffer, also the former chair of Montgomery’s Democratic Organization. Continue reading →

Eminent Domain and the Resort to Force

Posted on by under cancel culture, Fatwas, Memorials and Obituaries, slices of life

I was pleased to see that my letter on Princeton’s use of eminent domain to acquire Westminster Choir College was printed in the January 7 issue of Princeton’s Town Topics, with a note from the editor (p. 13): “Thank you for your letter. We stand corrected.” Good to hear it.

Whether the topic is genocide or eminent domain, mainstream American journalists have an addiction to euphemism about the use of force that should be corrected at every turn. If journalists described the use of force more vividly and accurately, people would grasp its ubiquity in public life, and stop being surprised when it took egregious forms, as in the killing of Renee Good. Continue reading →

The Lessons of Renee Good

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, migrant defense

Having spent time under the Israeli occupation, where killings of the sort we saw in Minneapolis are a commonplace, I have just a few simple observations to offer about the killing of Renee Good. The first is that we should re-assert the obvious: that all human beings have an inalienable right of self-defense, including lethal self-defense, against initiatory assaults on their person that threaten life or limb. This entails that every person in the United States, regardless of citizenship status, has the inalienable and indeed legal right to use lethal force against ICE agents who engage in initiatory assaults that threaten life or limb.

Continue reading →

Stirring the POT (5)

Posted on by under activism, anarchism, book review, cancel culture, liberty and the left, migrant defense, moralism, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, political philosophy, slices of life

Politics and the Problematics of Fun

I started my “Stirring the POT” series earlier this year as a vehicle for announcements, but it gradually morphed into a series of ruminations on conferences I attended. The latter turned out to be the more interesting enterprise, so I’ll close out the year with a belated conference rumination. This past April, I went to San Francisco, at the invitation of Roderick Long and the Molinari Society, to be on an Author-Meets-Critics panel on Gary Chartier’s Christianity and the Nation State. It promised to be a good time, and it was. Continue reading →

Those “Drowned Out” Zionists

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Fatwas, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

Joshua Leifer’s “Conflictedly Connected” Liberal Zionist Center

The well-regarded left Zionist writer Joshua Leifer has a much fawned-over piece in Ha’aretz that’s been adopted in some quarters as the expression of profound wisdom. In it he argues that there’s a “conflictedly connected” Zionist quasi-left “majority” that’s been “drowned out” by the extremist voices of the “ultra-hawkish right” and the “anti-Zionist left.” If only this “conflictedly connected” majority could be liberated from the shackles placed on it by these twin extremists, the Golden Mean would prevail, and virtue would flourish on the topic of Israel and Palestine. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: Clifton Redux

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, migrant defense, Palestine

Chris D’Amato, Migrant Rights, and the Exploitation of Anti-Semitism
I mentioned the campaign for an Immigrant Trust Resolution in Clifton a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I had a scheduling conflict and had to miss the follow-up meeting yesterday. Below the fold is a depressing report from my friend Jeff Hoey, a Clifton resident who’s been leading the campaign. It’s a perfect example of the cynicism that masquerades as philo-Semitism nowadays–and also the right-wing virtue-signaling that passes itself off as “anti-woke.” I encountered a similar phenomenon when I spoke last week in West Orange, which I’ll describe here in the near future. It’s obviously a trend. Continue reading →

APPE/Felician Roundtable Cancelled

Posted on by under cancel culture, Health Care Series

Apologies for the short notice, but unfortunately, the APPE/Felician University Roundtable on health care that I mentioned here on October 4th–originally scheduled for November 5–has been cancelled. Apparently, two of the panelists were forced to cancel, and it was decided by the organizers that new ones couldn’t be found on short notice. So incredibly enough, this is a non-ideological cancellation. Believe it or not, they happen.

Morituri Te Salutant

Posted on by under cancel culture, Memorials and Obituaries, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

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 →

Montgomery Twp Issues ITA Proclamation

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity

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 reading →