Re the current wave of conservative censoriousness and attempts to cancel people for their comments on Charlie Kirk’s murder, the right use of tactics previously more associated with the was not only predictable, I predicted it. 1/ A big theme of my 2003 book “you can’t say that” was that one reason you have neutral pro-free speech principles even if censorship is perceived to be benefiting your cause the other side will use the same tactics when they get power. 2/

I have no special insight into what's going on in Netanyahu's head, but here's the strategic case for fighting to until Hamas surrenders in Gaza. 1/ The argument given, including by high-level members of the security establishment in Israel, is that if Israel makes a deal that leaves Hamas in place, Israel could always go back in if Hamas violates a ceasefire or otherwise poses a threat. 2/

Abortion, trans, & refugee rights are endangered, we have a militarized response to the undocumented & local crime, affirmative action is gone, and ... a wildly disproportionate amount of the left's attention has been focused on supporting a foreign Islamist terrorist group. 1/ One can add that other recent issues favored by the left--BLM/criminal justice reform, climate change, Me Too--are also being overshadowed. Maybe someone who understands the sociology of the activist left better than I do can explain to me: 2/

Judge Guido Calabresi, when he was dean of Yale Law and I was a first-year, said something profound at orientation. He told us that a lot of us are going to be unhappy while in law school, and that we will be tempted to blame outside forces for our unhappiness. 1/ In particular, he was referring to people who would blame their unhappiness on racism, sexism, and other isms. He of course acknowledged that in particular cases, that could be true. But he added that one's twenties, when one is navigating separating from one's family, 2/

Ranking of fertility rate by country for countries with nominal GDP of 10k a year or more. Israel is first with 2.9 1/ 2/

UPDATE: Assurant, @Chase Sapphire Reserve Card's travel insurance provider, is still refusing to cover a trip to Israel. Assurant's response upon inquiry from a prominent travel blogger was that "Israel is Level 3 for terrorism" and that's why it's not covered. My response: 1/ 1) There's no such thing as "Level 3 for terrorism." There is "Level 3--Avoid travel" which in Israel's case does include a warning about terrorism, but not only terrorism. (2) The terms and conditions don't say anything about not covering countries that are at a Level 3 State Department warning. If it did, that would be a clear rule that customers could known in advance, and also regulators could make sure that it was being applied evenly.

People are so pathological about Israel that they can’t acknowledge that it rescued 100k Ethiopian Jews, instead insisting that Israel engaged in expensive and dangerous rescue missions just so they could sterilize them... 1/ the origin of this lie is the allegation, uncovered by Israeli officials to begin with, that Israeli health officials had given some Ethiopian women Depo Provera, a long acting contraceptive, without their consent. 2/

I used to be inclined to think that flag-burning laws were a slam-dunk First Amendment issue. I'm not as sure any more, at least at the state level (not sure where in the enumerated powers the feds get the power to ban it.)
1/ Can a state decide that certain symbols are sacred, and can't be messed with, so long as (a) people are warned clearly and in advance by the law; and (b) there are many alternative ways of expressing the same point of view without touching the sacred symbol? 2/

I find Trump's blanket pardon of Jan. 6 rioters, well, unpardonable. But I also can't forget that while the Biden Justice Dept. had a very different attitude toward prosecuting Jan. 6-ers and lawbreaking Hamasniks. 1/ The Biden Justice Dept. prosecuted every individual who entered the Capitol Building on 1/6, even if they just moseyed in late, and just stood around and gaped, no violence, no property destruction. By contrast, again, Hamasniks were a low priority. 2/

The Guardian claims to have done an analysis showing that only 8K of the Palestinian casualties in Gaza have been combatants. There are lots of problems with the analysis, but let's start with the fact that around February 19, 2024, Hamas itself acknowledged losing 6K fighters. 1/ This was widely reported at the time. Here, eg, is Reuters. 2/

I'd have more sympathy with the Smithsonian here if I hadn't visited the National Museum of the American Indian, and seen ridiculous woke claptrap presented as fact. 1/

https://twitter.com/Hebro_Steele/status/1958004252087091572

In particular, there was an exhibit on Native American soldiers. It asked why Native Americans served in the military despite the severe discrimination they faced. 2/

The anti-Israel IHL people can't have it both ways, to wit: (1) Screaming Israel is committing GENOCIDE! and (2) when you question them about how Gaza is a "genocide" they come up with a definition of genocide so broad that genocide is mundane. For example, 1/ In Ezra Klein's recent interview with Phillippe Sands, Sands wants to rehabilitate what he considers Lemkin's conception of genocide. He gives an example: 6 Villagers from B and C get together and kill 3 people from a different group who live in village B. GENOCIDE! 2/

Re my post below about whether Sephardic Jews are "Hispanic" in the American context, one thing that undermined affirmative action was that it came to be seen by many as an Elizabeth Warren-esque scam. It wasn't always. 1/ First, w/r/t race it almost exclusively benefited African Americans, by design. Back in the 60s and 70s, there was typically little doubt about who "counted." 2/

Much of the problems universities invited with DEI are based on the following conundrum: they accept "URM" students with academic qualifications well below those of white and Asian students. As one would expect, these students struggle to keep up 1/

https://twitter.com/jonatanpallesen/status/1954973775230795807

and wind up, in law schools for example, with much lower grades on average, much higher fail-out rates, and much lower bar passage rates. For example, in the Grutter litigation, African American matriculants had LSAT in the 155-158 average range, white and Asian students 2/

In April 2024, George Washington University requested assistance from the DC police to break up an illegal encampment set up by Hamasniks. The police refused, citing "optics."
In August 2025, the Jewish Community Relations Council puts out a statement 1/ talking about how great the local police are and how local law enforcement shouldn't be taken over by the Feds. Maybe not, but why is the *JCRC* of all groups going to bat for the local police? 2/

A batshit crazy statement from professors at UVA, suggesting that there are more false claims of antisemitism in the post-10/7 world than there is actual antisemitism. 1/

https://twitter.com/CvilleBubble/status/1953182806118678895

This, the same day the FBI reports that over 70 of hate crimes by religion are against Jews, 2 pc of the population. 2/

@dilanesper The secret to US support for Israel since 1967, save arguably during the two Trump administration's, is that it's based on an implicit bargain: (a) The US has Israel's back and in exchange (b) The US gets to restrain Israel when it thinks Israel is going "too far" militarily. 1/ @dilanesper In Gaza, the "too far" mostly involved humanitarian concerns. Originally, the "too far" was "provoking the Soviets to intervene" or "creating too much instability in neighboring countries." US policy-makers realized after 1967 that you can't have a nuclear-armed regional 2/

Below, I link to a bizarre study from Brandeis University that purports to show that faculty are much more moderate than we might think. It shows nothing of the kind. 1/ As a preliminary manner, it's important to note that this study includes any faculty who teach undergraduates, including STEM. So it's not limited to the Humanities and social sciences. 2/

21 years ago, Omer Bartov writing in the New Republic recognized Hamas as successor to the Nazis in its genocidal antisemitism. 1/ He also recognized that when you are dealing with murderous fanatics, you must kill them before they kill you. 2/

When the US faced an intractable enemy that refused to unconditionally surrender after it had been militarily defeated, we bombed Tokyo, leaving over 100K dead and over 1 million homeless. When that didn't work, we nuked two cities.
I am at best ambivalent about these actions, 1/ I don't feel a permanent moral stain as an American because of them. It's extremely difficult to figure out how to defeat fanatics that don't care about the well-being of their civilians.
Israel faces the same problem, though it hasn't been as inflexible in the US. Israel has not 2/

I'm embarrassed for all the Jews who were kvelling when Sanders was competing for the Democratic nomination. As a practical matter, he's about as Jewish as a blueberry bagel with ham and swiss.

https://twitter.com/ShabbosK/status/1947737262352969935

(the bagel is also of Jewish origin, but at some point it's essentially an unintentional mockery of actual Jewish stuff.)