Kent State, redo? Please no!

Is not something I want to see again in my lifetime.   

Apparently well-armed, pro-Israel thugs raided the UCLA pro-Palestine student camp overnight and beat the kids up, bear-sprayed 'em, etc. Campus cops did nothing. I would assume that when it was tweeted/livestreamed/etc. what was going on was when the LA cops decided to move in. The cops had put LA on tactical way earlier in the day, so they knew something was going to come down.

This cop looks to be enjoying shooting people with rubber bullets... (See attachment.)

This is not good. This is very not good. Someone is going to get seriously hurt.  But thank the gods the kids have the stones to stand up for something they believe in (whatever that may be). It's a refreshing change from the doormat students of the last 40 years.

Someone needs to clue them in to carry a carton of milk - for their eyes if they get teargassed.

I'm not sure how long they will care. But they do now, at least. Felt really bad for the Jewish girl who was in the camp, supporting "the cause". She seemed shell-shocked at what happened. Hell of a "welcome to the real world" thing, that.

Trivia - Guess where the Democratic National Convention is being held this year? Yep. Chicago.

Here's a photo from another Univ of California - this one is San Diego - yesterday evening. It's been very peaceful there. No sidewalks blocked, no graffiti, no fistfights/bear spray/rubber bullets so far. Hopefully it will remain that way. Chancellor Koleslaw (as the kids call him) hopefully knows to not escalate as it would be very bad press indeed for a campus that is critically, painfully aware of their image.

Hey @Nan D. , I saw this interesting article about Kent State and thought about you: 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-girl-in-the-kent-state-photo

Interesting how all the stuff they said about protests back then are coming around again. 

Hey @Nan D. , I saw this interesting article about Kent State and thought about you: 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-girl-in-the-kent-state-photo

Interesting how all the stuff they said about protests back then are coming around again.

Yeah, I didn't sleep well last night.  The Chancellor in SD sent out a pretty stiff email yesterday. It was pretty obvious what was about to happen, and I was just worried sick for those kids. Kept thinking about that girl in the photo, actually. (Weird coincidence.)

Today at dawn the DPS and various other law enforcement entities in riot gear rolled into the student encampment. Unlike the 60s, these kids were well connected media-wise and everything was transmitted live as it happened, by many different cameras. The Daughter alerted me and so we were both watching in realtime. The kids were doing a textbook "nonviolent" sit-in, basically, and there was no fighting as the cops dragged (in some cases) and walked the kids over, handcuffed, to be processed at the student center. 

Over the weekend a bunch of middle-aged pro-Israel civilians showed up with Israeli flags and screaming at the kids. There wasn't much law enforcement there at that time, but they did keep the two groups apart - unlike UCLA, where the cops stood aside and let thugs beat the kids up before then going in and arresting them all. With that starting to kick up - outsiders swarming onto campus - it was getting dicey.  Only time until someone really did get hurt. I believe there are still quite a few UCLA students still in the hospital, and so I understand the need to de-escalate the situation. It was just handled very, very badly by the administration.

So this morning at the crack of dawn they locked the campus down, diverted all the buses and trolleys, put classes on "remote" (like anyone's going to log in to class today?), told the employees to work from home, and had the DPS and various other law enforcement types in full riot gear clear the camp. With long guns. How horrific is that, that you send in troops with long guns (and yes, live ammo) to overrun and destroy a peaceful protest by students who, basically, are children? Long guns. WTF?? 

With f'ing SNIPERS on the health clinic roof? For 4 dozen peaceful kids doing a sit-in?  So the next time they ask for a $$$ donation, you can pretty much guess what my response is going to be.

https://www.cbs8.com/watch

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/police-uc-san-diegos-pro-palestinian-encampment/3507445/