Tag Archives: politics

They Can Hear Us

Posted on by under activism, Guest Post, migrant defense

Our people’s distress calls won’t go unheard, either

Guest post by Paulo Almiron and Resistencia en Acción NJ
May 25

It’s been a year since Delaney Hall reopened. Sobibor and Auschwitz also opened around May, staining the spring with blood in their respective years.

I’ve been at Delaney several times to interview people and bear witness to everything happening in 2025. There’s been much to see at the site: priests being manhandled, colleagues arrested, a mayor arrested, three congresspeople assaulted, and an uprising inside, of which I am writing a memoir about the unrest outside. I am qualified to talk about the boots-on-the-ground experience outside Delaney, so to those who have only seen Delaney Hall from behind a screen, let me give you the shortest description possible: this concentration camp is the most repulsive sight in New Jersey.

Continue reading →

Tomasi and Flier on “Commencement Neutrality”

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

I recently attended a webinar on “commencement neutrality” sponsored by Heterodox Academy. In it, the presenters, John Tomasi and Jeffrey Flier, argue that

Students receiving diplomas while a speaker condemns their political values, whether progressive or conservative, are justified in objecting.

The graduation stage is not an op-ed page, a political blog, or a partisan rally, though some wish to make it one.

This claim extends the idea of “institutional neutrality” to commencement speeches, and is elaborated at further length in Flier and Tomasi’s recent Boston Globe piece, “Keep Politics Out of Commencement Speeches” (May 14, paywalled). The basic argument is that commencement speeches have a ceremonial or celebratory function which is incompatible with the discomfort provoked by sharp political commentary. 

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Charlie Kratovil for Mayor of New Brunswick

Posted on by under activism, Electoral Ethics and Politics, Fatwas, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

Though I don’t live in New Brunswick, and can’t vote in its municipal elections, I commute through the city ten times a week, and spend time there just about every week. I also have a strong interest, as do all of us in this area, in the workings of New Brunswick’s major institutions: Rutgers University, Johnson & Johnson, RWJ Barnabas Health, DEVCO, the Middlesex County Commission, and now HELIX. These institutions are among the main power brokers behind Jersey politics as such. The people who call the shots within them end up calling the shots for all of us. Continue reading →

Calling All Palestine Activists

Posted on by under activism, General announcements, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, princeton, Princeton University, War with Iran

Converge on Princeton: Reunions, May 21-24
I’ve been making the case to pro-Palestine activists wherever I go: the experience of being shut down at LeMoyne, NYU, U of Texas at Dallas, and Rutgers (with the prospect of retaliation at Michigan) and elsewhere is certainly a dispiriting one, but the answer is not to keep demanding entry where entry has effectively been denied, but to find opportunities for visibility when and where they present themselves. Continue reading →

The Unintended, the Foreseen, and the Defamatory

Posted on by under cancel culture, Electoral Ethics and Politics, Fatwas, moralism, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, War with Iran

“We absolutely cannot and should not ever be cheerleading and wishing for the deaths of Israeli children…”
–Sue Altman

Sue Altman and Adam Hamawy are both Democratic candidates for Congress in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District. A controversy has recently erupted over Altman’s response to comments Hamawy made in an interview with Hasan Piker. The basics of the controversy are nicely captured in this short piece in Jewish Insider. I’ll quote the first few paragraphs, but urge readers to read the whole thing. Continue reading →

Mapp to Nowhere

Posted on by under Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine, War with Iran

I get home, look at my mail, and find a solicitation to vote for Adrian O. Mapp, Democratic candidate for Congress in the 12th Congressional District. Mapp is “proudly endorsed” by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a person I respect. What does Mapp stand for? He tells us:

  1. Housing: he’ll expand affordable housing and protect working families from rising housing costs. 
  2. Healthcare: he’ll protect access to affordable, quality healthcare for families, seniors, and those most in need.
  3. Education: he’ll open doors to opportunity through education, job training, and relief from crushing debt.
  4. Immigration: he’ll support fair, humane, immigration reform rooted in dignity, security, and common sense.
  5. Taxes: he’ll fight for tax fairness and relief for New Jersey homeowners and middle-class families.

Continue reading →

Graffiti, Hate Speech, and Free Speech

Posted on by under activism, cancel culture, Palestine, princeton

Statement to Princeton Town Council
400 Witherspoon St
Princeton, New Jersey
April 27, 2026

I’ve twice previously mentioned the Princeton Police Department’s decision to investigate anti-Israel graffiti as bias intimidation, mostly while discussing other things. In this comment, I want to focus specifically on the bias intimidation issue.

As you know, the issue arises from graffiti discovered in various places around town last August. The Princeton Jewish Center brought the issue to the attention of the Council, and the Police Department decided to investigate the graffiti as bias intimidation. Given the Council’s positive response to the Jewish Center’s input on the matter, I think it’s fair to conclude that the Council accepts the Police Department’s approach. Continue reading →

ICE-Free Zones in West Orange

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, War with Iran, West Orange

Back in February, I wrote a post called “ICE Out of West Orange,” and sent it to the West Orange Town Council. I’m gratified to see that West Orange Councilwoman Joyce Rudin has endorsed a version of the proposal I made, and done so for the right reasons. I don’t know if my post had any influence on her or not; my point is that what she’s endorsing is exactly consistent with what I said. Continue reading →

NJ Transit: No Warrant? No ICE

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

Soon after she took office, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill issued an Executive Order (EO-12) requiring that ICE officers have a warrant to enter “nonpublic areas of State property.” On March 19 of this  year, however, NJ.com reported that New Jersey Transit “buses, trains and stations” remain open to ICE officers without the need for a warrant–on the grounds that buses, trains, and stations are public areas of State property, hence not covered by EO-12. Continue reading →

JROTC Out of West Orange

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

I’ve mentioned a few times that I split my time between Princeton and West Orange, New Jersey, which is why some of my activism focuses on the one place, and some on the other. West Orange High School has a JROTC Air Force program which it never tires of advertising. The High School recently advertised its Student Life Expo for Incoming Freshmen, to take place April 22. High school freshmen are typically students entering ninth grade, i.e., 14 or 15 years old. Among the student groups advertised for such students, under the rubric of “Honor Societies,” is “Kitty Hawk Air Honor Society (JROTC).”* Continue reading →