Trump and Harvard

[Marcus]

This is an interesting thread to follow, but sometimes there are posts that just get ridiculous:

Wow. What a post.

'nothing I write means what it means, but everyone knows that what I really mean is true. I know everyone knows that, because everyone denies it's true.'

At least you are using this word somewhat correctly:

Facetious: "Treating serious issues with deliberately inappropriate humor; flippant"

Lol, yes, I honestly believe that denying anti-semitism by universities is a serious issue. I would love for you to join in?

What does "denying anti-semitism by universities" mean, exactly? Please slow down, use standard grammar and spelling, and review your sentences before posting your response. Please.

[Bret Ripley]

Lol, yes, I honestly believe that denying anti-semitism by universities is a serious issue. I would love for you to join in?

What does "denying anti-semitism by universities" mean, exactly? Please slow down, use standard grammar and spelling, and review your sentences before posting your response. Please.

Or maybe just change the thread title to 'Markk's Amygdala Goes Forth to War' and call it a day.

[canpakes]

Neither UCLA nor Harvard are ‘promoting antisemitism’. Both universities are being accused of not protecting one or the other side from their opponent. Both universities are being accused of ‘promoting antisemitism’ or ‘promoting anti-Palestinianism’ because the universities are allowing either side to voice an opinion. There is no acceptable position available to the university in your eyes, because the complaints from either side are exactly the same.

Nonsense, did you read and watch the evidences I gave you. You are dying on the phrase " promoting as a whole," which by the way I never wrote, …

Looks like you’re preparing to backpedal, here.

the past president resigned for a very anti-semantic statement …

I think that the reason may have been different. : )

Lol, yes, I honestly believe that denying anti-semitism by universities is a serious issue. I would love for you to join in?

Can you talk to your boy Trump about this, in light of how allegedly ‘concerned’ you claim to be about antisemitism?

Trump nominates official with ties to antisemitic extremists to lead ethics agency

Updated May 30, 2025 5:26 PM ET
Tom Dreisbach

President Trump has nominated 30-year-old conservative lawyer Paul Ingrassia, to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a government ethics office, despite Ingrassia's ties to multiple antisemitic extremists.

If confirmed by the Senate, Ingrassia would oversee the agency that enforces the Hatch Act, which limits government employees from engaging in certain partisan political activities, and provides protections to whistleblowers. (The agency is separate and distinct from special counsels appointed by the Department of Justice, such as Robert Mueller or Jack Smith, who investigate sensitive cases.)

As NPR reported earlier this month, Jewish civil rights leaders have raised concerns about Ingrassia's ties to extremists, particularly in light of the administration's stated commitment to fighting antisemitism. The Trump Administration recently promoted Kingsley Wilson to the role of Pentagon press secretary over the objection of the American Jewish Committee, which said Wilson was "unfit" for government service, because she shared "antisemitic conspiracy theories lifted right out of the neo-Nazi playbook." The White House has justified the attempted deportation of international students and the withholding of billions of dollars in funding to universities as parts of a plan to combat antisemitic hate.

Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists
"Appointing someone to a senior administration role despite their documented support for antisemites seriously conflicts with and undermines ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism at this critical moment," the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement in response to Ingrassia's nomination.

In contrast to prior leaders of the Office of Special Counsel, who typically had years of legal experience, Ingrassia has only briefly worked as a lawyer. He graduated from Cornell Law School in 2022 and became a registered attorney in New York less than a year ago, in July 2024. He caught the eye of the president through his pro-Trump blog posts during the 2024 presidential campaign and joined the administration in January 2025.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/30/nx-s1-54 ... ism-ethics

Unqualified and with antisemitic ties. Nice combination, right?

… and …

Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists

MAY 14, 20255:00 AM ET

… NPR has identified three Trump officials with close ties to antisemitic extremists, including a man described by federal prosecutors as a "Nazi sympathizer," and a prominent Holocaust denier.

The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Trump administration has used the fight against antisemitism as justification for the deportation of pro-Palestinian student protesters and funding cuts to universities.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, argues that the administration is using antisemitism as a pretext.

"If the administration were serious about countering antisemitism, first and foremost they wouldn't be appointing people with antisemitic and other extremist ties to senior roles within the administration," Spitalnick said.

Paul Ingrassia, currently serving as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, has ties to multiple figures widely known for promoting antisemitism.

In 2023, Ingrassia repeatedly praised the controversial "manosphere" influencer Andrew Tate and worked on his legal team. Romanian authorities have accused Tate of human trafficking. Florida's attorney general also opened an investigation into Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate. The two men deny all wrongdoing.

The top of Ingrassia's Instagram page features a pinned photo of himself with Andrew Tate, who describes himself as a "misogynist."

"The Tate brothers provide an opportunity for a better future - one that inspires, rather than degrades, men," reads Ingrassia's caption.

The Anti-Defamation League says that Tate "has leaned heavily into unabashedly antisemitic rhetoric, perpetuating Holocaust revisionism, spreading conspiracy theories about Israel, praising Hamas, performing Nazi salutes and encouraging people to embrace and openly engage in racism."

Ingrassia was also seen at a June 2024 rally in Detroit led by Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and white nationalist.
…
On social media, Ingrassia has written that "dissident voices" like Fuentes belong in conservative politics. He wrote a Substack post titled "Free Nick Fuentes," criticizing the platform X for banning Fuentes over hate speech. Fuentes' X account was later reinstated.

Ingrassia also supported the Patriot Freedom Project, which advocates for people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
…
The communications director for the White House Office of Management and Budget

Before joining the Trump administration as the communications director for the White House Office of Management and Budget, Rachel Cauley served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project. The nonprofit group was founded in direct response to the arrest of Hale-Cusanelli on Jan. 6 charges.

Cauley also handled media requests for the group. In 2022, the founder of the Patriot Freedom Project gave a lengthy interview to the explicitly white nationalist website Counter-Currents. (The editor-in-chief of Counter-Currents authored a book called The White Nationalist Manifesto and has written about "Hitler's Significance for Our Struggle.") After that interview received wider attention online, it appeared to be removed from the website.

Later that year, Cauley attended part of Hale-Cusanelli's criminal trial and sat with his supporters.

On social media, Cauley referred to the trial as a "clown trial" and said Hale-Cusanelli's conviction was a "complete miscarriage of justice."
…
An official at the Department of Justice

Trump appointed conservative activist Ed Martin to multiple Department of Justice roles, after his nomination for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, failed. Martin's ties to Hale-Cusanelli played a key role in the collapse of his nomination to that role.

Ed Martin, a longtime conservative activist, has been appointed to multiple roles at the Department of Justice.

In August 2024, Martin praised Hale-Cusanelli as an "extraordinary man" and "extraordinary leader" and gave him an award for promoting "God, family and country." (Martin also gave Ingrassia an award immediately after Hale-Cusanelli spoke to the gathering.)

In podcast interviews, Martin called Hale-Cusanelli an "amazing guy" and "great friend."

Martin later denounced Hale-Cusanelli's views, saying he was unaware of his past antisemitic rhetoric.

"I condemn his comments and views in the strongest terms possible," Martin said in written testimony to the Senate. "I am not close with him."

Martin's history of interactions with Hale-Cusanelli, including at several events and in podcast interviews, have raised questions about the truthfulness of that testimony.

Other links within the administration

Ingrassia, Cauley and Martin are not the only Trump administration officials connected to antisemitic extremists.

Before becoming FBI director, Kash Patel appeared eight separate times on a podcast hosted by far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, who promotes Holocaust denial. Peters posted a photo of himself holding Hitler's Mein Kampf with the message "visionary leadership." In recent days, he attacked the founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, with antisemitic vitriol.

During Patel's Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked, "Are you familiar with Mr. Stew Peters?"

"Not off the top of my head," Patel responded.

Peters disputed Patel's testimony.

"Clearly, Kash Patel is lying," he said in response to Patel's Senate testimony. "He absolutely does know who I am."

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment.

Department of Defense deputy press secretary Kingsley Wilson's account on X shows that she has thousands of followers.

A Pentagon press secretary has history of pushing antisemitic, extremist theories
At the Department of Defense, spokesperson Kingsley Wilson faced criticism from Jewish civil rights groups for sharing antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media, including references to the "great replacement theory" and the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915.

Historians widely believe that Frank was falsely accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl, although antisemitic extremists and neo-Nazis continue to assert his guilt.

Wilson echoed those talking points in a 2023 post on X.

"Leo Frank raped & murdered a 13-year-old girl. He also tried to frame a black man for his crime," Wilson wrote in 2023.

The Pentagon did not respond to NPR's request for comment.

Spitalnick, of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, criticized the administration's selective focus on alleged antisemitism among Trump's ideological opponents while ignoring concerns within its own ranks.

"The ways in which the administration is exploiting the Jewish community's legitimate fears and concerns about antisemitism is ultimately undermining Jewish safety," said Spitalnick.

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-53 ... tisemitism

Unlike a number of universities that must deal with the dynamic between freedom of speech and the actions of Israeli-supporting and Palestinian-supporting factions of students, the current Administration not only seems to have no problem with aligning with clearly antisemitic individuals (as determined by your own standards), but actually offers them high-level government jobs for their loyalty.

[Marcus]

What does "denying anti-semitism by universities" mean, exactly? Please slow down, use standard grammar and spelling, and review your sentences before posting your response. Please.

Or maybe just change the thread title to 'Markk's Amygdala Goes Forth to War' and call it a day.

Too true, too true.

[canpakes]

.
Bernie Sanders:

"I'm Jewish. I detest antisemitism. [...] But to be critical of Netanyahu's right wing extremist government, who have killed some 53k people in Gaza already, mostly women & children, that is not antisemitic. That's taking on an extremist, ugly government that is doing terrible things."

[Markk]

cakes: I think that the reason may have been different. : )

If you want to include the other reasons with her remarks to congress, that she could not be clear if calling for the genocide of Israel by students did not violate Harvard's conduct rules. I am all ears.

Her antisemitic performance for congress was the end for her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y885rF471eQ

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cl ... rcna131930

Did you bother reading and listening to the articles and videos I have given you? Here are two more.

I will read your link in this last post of yours and get back.

[Gunnar]

2025 MIT class president banned from graduation ceremony after pro-Palestinian speech

The 2025 class president of MIT was barred from attending her graduation ceremony on Friday after delivering a speech denouncing the war in Gaza at a commencement event the day before.

Megha Vemuri told CNN that after her speech, the university’s senior leadership informed her she was not allowed to attend Friday’s commencement ceremony and was barred from campus until the event concluded.

I fully agree with Megha Vemuri. There is nothing antisemitic about speaking out against mass murder and genocide, even if the Israeli government is guilty of it. Not all Palestinians are Hamas terrorists, or, for that matter, even Muslim.

“I see no need for me to walk across the stage of an institution that is complicit in this genocide,” Vemuri said.

“I am, however, disappointed that MIT’s officials massively overstepped their roles to punish me without merit or due process, with no indication of any specific policy broken,” she added, calling MIT’s purported support of free speech hypocritical.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the university’s decision to ban Vemuri from the ceremony.

“MIT must respect academic freedom and respect the voices of its students, not punish and intimidate those who speak out against genocide and in support of Palestinian humanity,” CAIR-Massachusetts Executive Director Tahirah Amatul-Wadud said in a statement.

In the days after her speech, the young graduate has received nationwide media attention, along with a torrent of ardent support and biting criticism.

“I can handle the attention, positive and negative, if it means spreading that message further,” Vemuri told CNN.

[Markk]

Edit

I screwed this up posting it, and lost portions, and had to start over.

Cakes: Unqualified and with antisemitic ties. Nice combination, right?

Where does it read he is unqualified?

In regard to antisemitic ties, lets see what comes out in his confirmation, I assume it is coming this week. If you have back up please paste the links.

In regard to antisemitic ties.....that is going to open a can of worms for sure. We can start with the Squad, for her river to the sea comment.

Unlike a number of universities that must deal with the dynamic between freedom of speech and the actions of Israeli-supporting and Palestinian-supporting factions of students, the current Administration not only seems to have no problem with aligning with clearly antisemitic individuals (as determined by your own standards), but actually offers them high-level government jobs for their loyalty.

That is just nonsense. Are you saying these universities with their higher education don't know the difference between clear antisemitism and freedom of speech? They can't read the signs?

Did you see the video and and articles? I am just going to concede to myself you refuse to.

[Markk]

2025 MIT class president banned from graduation ceremony after pro-Palestinian speech

The 2025 class president of MIT was barred from attending her graduation ceremony on Friday after delivering a speech denouncing the war in Gaza at a commencement event the day before.

Megha Vemuri told CNN that after her speech, the university’s senior leadership informed her she was not allowed to attend Friday’s commencement ceremony and was barred from campus until the event concluded.

I fully agree with Megha Vemuri. There is nothing antisemitic about speaking out against mass murder and genocide, even if the Israeli government is guilty of it. Not all Palestinians are Hamas terrorists, or, for that matter, even Muslim.

“I see no need for me to walk across the stage of an institution that is complicit in this genocide,” Vemuri said.

“I am, however, disappointed that MIT’s officials massively overstepped their roles to punish me without merit or due process, with no indication of any specific policy broken,” she added, calling MIT’s purported support of free speech hypocritical.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned the university’s decision to ban Vemuri from the ceremony.

“MIT must respect academic freedom and respect the voices of its students, not punish and intimidate those who speak out against genocide and in support of Palestinian humanity,” CAIR-Massachusetts Executive Director Tahirah Amatul-Wadud said in a statement.

In the days after her speech, the young graduate has received nationwide media attention, along with a torrent of ardent support and biting criticism.

“I can handle the attention, positive and negative, if it means spreading that message further,” Vemuri told CNN.

Noted with her speech.

How many innocent people do you think that MIT killed with their weapon technologies?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTwsXyWwoho

I have to ask, just why in your opinion is Israel moving into Gaza? How in your opinion is Hamas treating the non-Hamas Palestinians?

What do you want from Israel given what they are as a nation dealing with, and those that want them destroyed?

Gunnar I am not taking a position with these questions, I am curious if you have looked at the reasons behind the current aggressions involving Israel.

[canpakes]

I think that the reason may have been different. : )

If you want to include the other reasons with her remarks to congress, that she could not be clear if call for the genocide of Israel by students did not violate Harvard's conduct rules. I am all ears.

Lol. I was having fun with your typo (anti-semantic), but if you’re ’all ears’, it follows that you didn’t catch (see) that. : )

Unlike a number of universities that must deal with the dynamic between freedom of speech and the actions of Israeli-supporting and Palestinian-supporting factions of students, the current Administration not only seems to have no problem with aligning with clearly antisemitic individuals (as determined by your own standards), but actually offers them high-level government jobs for their loyalty.

That is just nonsense. Are you saying these universities with their higher education don't know the difference between clear antisemitism and freedom of speech?

I don’t see that written by me, but that could be a fair question to ask, given that you can’t figure it out any better than you claim they can’t.