Category: Bob Small

The SJP Encampment returns to Swarthmore

By Bob Small

The story of the National SJP encampment at Swarthmore College continues to evolve.

We know that there were nine arrests of SJPers, and only two of them were connected with Swarthmore. Having heard the story from KYW, I walked up from the train station and found the “tent city” in front of Trotter Hall. It turns out that if I had tried to enter by the Visitor’s Parking Lot, I might have been turned away as an “outside agitator”. The two persons from SJP who spoke to me handed out flyers, one from Writers Against The War On Gaza and another listing their demands, primarily against Swarthmore College’s collaboration with Cisco.

See SJP(@sarahjessicaparker) • Instagram photos and … for other demands.

By inviting outsiders to join the protest, the SJP, who have their right to protest, stirred up, as Don Imus used to say “a big bowl of stupid”. This gave the College Administration the right to do what they did. It should also be noted that the College intermittently blocked outside access to the Phoenix College Newspaper or that the Swarthmore Public Library had a strange malfunction.

Note; There are 18 pages to the most recent article from the Phoenix.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that this action actually began on April 30. A SJP spokesperson, Ash, said “We want divestment from Cisco because this is a tech company that is used to surveil Palestinians,” .

This is the Instagram Swarthmore SJP with it’s most recent updates.

For a You-Tube presentation, see Pro-Palestinian protests continue at on-campus encampments …

There was also a camp at Penn, among others country-wide. “We’re here to learn, not to fund bombs,” said Hilah Kohen a Falk Fellow in Jewish Studies.

See also

Pro-Palestine Swarthmore students establish a so-called “ …,

Swarthmore Students Begin Another Pro-Palestinian Encampment

Val Smith, president of Swarthmore College says that SJP inviting people from “outside the Campus Community to join them” led her to take action.

The actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu are being used as justification for both legitimate protest actions and increasing anti-semitism. That’s the current situation.

Was Musk Forced Out By The Mob?
By Bob Small

The Washington Post reported that Elon Musk told investors, April 22, that his time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly.

From the outside, this could appear as a win for various US based anti-Musk activists.

However, one of the main opponents is a UK-based group Everyone Hates Elon (@everyonehateselon_) which came into existence, in large part, due to Elon tweeting “Free Tommy Robinson.” This controversial anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson is imprisoned due to his conviction on a libel case. For further information, see Meet Everyone Hates Elon, the Campaigners Attempting to …

Meanwhile, back in the US, there’s been a plethora of protests with over 60 protests in 50 states. These are more anti-Trump than anti-Musk, though it’s generally anti-government.

Forbes. Com listed 20! anti-Tesla protests with violent components in them.

This includes this event, on Match 7, my birthday in which “aman unintentionally set his clothes on fire while also setting fire to three Tesla charging stations with Molotov cocktails, in a North Charleston, South Carolina parking lot.”

Just one more example of the Molotov Cocktail Brigade a UMass Boston student was “charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device” in an attack on a Tesla.

Is there lawful possession of an unregistered destructive device? Just asking.

As far as reaction Editorial: Why aren’t Dems condemning anti-Tesla violence?

House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi gave Fox News Digital the cold shoulder when asked to respond to the string of violent attacks against Tesla.

Yet J. D. Vance, among others, quickly condemned the arson attack Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat.

The 50501 group continues, even locally. Counter-protestors may also want to attend.

Some UK and US groups opposing Musk/DOGE;

Everyday Racism

Hands Off 2025

Just Stop Oil

Rainbow Migration: Home

Refuse Fascism: In The Name Of Humanity We Refuse To …

#TeslaTakedown – Action Network

People – VOLCANO Group

On the other side, for far too many administrations, the government just grew and grew, despite the Party in charge. Now, a reckoning has arrived.

Prior to Elon, The Doge was the only Doge we knew.

It’s Not Paranoia If It’s REAL ID

By Bob Small

For those of us who have read 1984 by George Orwell and wonder when it turns from a speculative work of fiction to a documentary, that time may be arriving.

Certain Federal Agencies will no longer be able to accept driver licenses or state ID cards come May 7.

The ACLU says REAL IDs will“facilitate the tracking of data on individuals “and bring government into the very center of every citizen’s life.”

Some of the advantages of real ID are “standardized verification across states”, “prevention of identity theft, and “improved public safety”.

Negatives include” privacy concerns”, “cost of compliance”, “potential for discrimination”, and “impact on state autonomy.”

Twila Brase, co-founder and president of the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, says REAL ID and digital ID may allow the federal government to “usurp state’s rights and assert unprecedented control over people’s lives.”

Another critic “James F. Holderman III, director of investigative research with Stand for Health Freedom, says “The widespread adoption of Digital IDs and digital wallets lays the foundation of a surveillance-based technocracy.”

Some Afro-Americans suspect a racist movtivation.

Scholars Simone Brown, Vanessa Holden, and Elizabeth Stordeur point out that the beginnings of state id’s and registries “can be traced to efforts to spy on the lives and movements of Black people living in colonial and antebellum America”.

This was also covered in Simone Browme’s 2015 book Dark Matters.

To read about the nightmare of trying to get a REAL ID see Getting my REAL ID was an real ordeal

See also:

Pennsylvania lawmakers propose fee exemptions for seniors under REAL ID Act

How to get a Real ID in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has a really low Real ID adoption rate – Axios

Real ID Exposed: It Is Worse than You Think

You may not need a Real I.D. in Pennsylvania after all.

Since we can use our passports for plane and train travel, the only downside to being real ID is our inability to participate in Federal trials. I can live with that.

It’s Not Paranoia If It’s REAL ID

Is the BBC Anti-semitic?

By Bob Small

Most weekday mornings at 10 we find ourselves listening to BBC Newshour on WHYY FM. In the car, we may go to Sirius Radio BBC. Many moons ago, we stopped following any American legacy media as we no longer believed in them.

Ahmed Alagha, a Gazan journalist who has appeared intermittently on BBC Arabic has said ‘Israelis are not human beings’ and ‘Jews are devils’ .

He is not a BBC employee but is one of the journalists BBC uses when their employees cannot report from a site. After October 7, he said “No spilled blood of theirs is honorable”.

We doubt this quote is from the Koran, as he maintains.

In March, Tory opposition leader Kami Badenoch called for ‘wholesale reform’ of BBC Arabic after a report by Camera UK accused the corporation of ‘appalling anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias’. 

Last August, over 200 British members of radio, TV, and film signed a letter saying “Jews don’t count” when it comes to racism at BBC.

The BBC Documentary in question Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone was pulled from I Player in February after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of Agriculture.

Bringing Karl Marx into the discussion, commentator Hind al-David referred people to On The Jewish Question by Karl Marx, first published in 1844. We maintain that Karl Marx is always worth reading, though not as funny as Groucho.

Lord Mann, the UK’s independent Advisor on anti-semitism said that the BBC “refused anti-semitism training on more than one occasion”. He added “heads should roll…Let’s get rid of some at the top”

Though we had to use Perplexity a.i. to find this Outgoing Muslim Council leader criticises lack of both the BBC and the Tories have been accused of Islamaphobia.

See also Paul Vallely: BBC is not downplaying anti-Semitism

Why did the BBC say ‘Muslim reverts’?

Full disclaimer; I am of Jewish Heritage and occasionally attend Synagogue, along with other Houses of Worship.

Is the BBC Anti-semitic?

Will the US join the Commonwealth?

By Bob Small

Recently, there have been articles about the United States, a former colony of Great Britain, possibly joining the British Commonwealth, where the majority of members are also former British colonies

“In 1949, the London Declaration formally established the postcolonial Commonwealth on terms where republics were eligible to join without any allegiance to the British Crown. “ Charles III is the current head of the organization, though Baroness Patricia Scotland runs the day-to-day operations.

There are 56 nations in the Commonwealth many of whom will be represented at the next Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in 2026.

If Donald Trump is invited again to a visit, he would be the first US president to be invited twice to visit.

Part of the values of the Commonwealth are member nations who are committed to “democracy and democratic processes, including free and fair elections and representative legislatures; the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; “along with protection of human rights and freedom of speech. We should qualify on all accounts.

If the US became a Commonwealth member, we would no longer send ambassadors to the UK and Canada. Rather we would appoint “high commissioners” to represent out interests.

By the way, the first US Ambassador to the UK was John Adams, circa 1785.

There’s some wishful thinking that joining the Commonwealth might help to smooth over relations with Canada, the UK, and the US..

Not everything has been “tea and crumpets” for the UK and the Commonwealth.

This article suggests four items the UK could do.

If you search through your favorite AI, there is loads of information on the Commonwealth of Nations going back to it’s birth during the formation of the infamous Balfour Declaration.

This was seen by many as a continuation of the British Empire.

See also two Guardian articles:

What is the Commonwealth if not the British Empire 2.0?

Sunak was brutally honest, so let me return the favour

DVD Rot Is One More Worry

By Bob Small

Until a few days ago, we had never worried about “DVD rot”.

Now we are hearing about it .

Though DVDs ”should last 30 to 100 years” Warner Brother DVD’s made between 2006-8 which requires DVD owners to “check inner ring codes for the suspect plant”.

Another point is that whyile Warner Bros says it will replace certain DVDs damaged some of the affected titles are no longer in print.

Thus your Humphrey Bogart DVD might be replaced by Scooby Doo.

Lastly, and we’ll just quote it here, there’s a tendency where DVD’s and other optical discs to oxidise underneath the reflective layer, causing the adhesive to de-bond and often resulting in a “milky” spot on the readable surface. “

Wait. There’s more! Over 600 Blu-ray Titles No Longer Work! Even Criterion, the “gold standard of DVD media, has had problems with some of it’s classics, including Citizen Kane. If you can’t trust Criterion for Citizen Kane,or Paris, Texas, well then you probably can’t trust anyone.

The next question to emerge is, “should we still buy DVD’s?”.

Why DVD Series Are Still Worth Buying in 2025 attempts to answer that question. Their reasons inclue

• No dependency on internet connections.
• Better picture and sound quality.
• Special features”
• Support for the physical media market”.

It seems that streaming is overtaking DVD’s, but there is a sizable, albeit older, minority still buying.

Unmentioned is a tendency among many of us to avoid monthly costs and sharing information online.

See also 5 Reasons Why DVDs & Blu-Ray Are Still Essential In The …

VCR’s also exist, even though they’re no longer making new players, many used players are on sale.

Places such as Good Will and Salvation Army, that sells DVDs also have VCR tapes, and for a fairly cheap price.

Snow Wrong

By Bob Small

One explanation for why the Disney Studio made the live action remake the way they did is that they believed Biden/Harris would win a second term. However that result turned out to also be a fairy tale.

(Rachel Zegler) is a pro-Palestinian spokeswoman whereas the Evil Queen (Gal Gadot) served in the IDF, and is vocally Pro-Israel. One imagines discussions on the set might have been very lively.

By trying to “empower” Snow White it unempowers the Prince. If you’re waiting for “Someday My Prince will come, spoiler alert it doesn’t)

And there’s more. Or rather less.

Not only are the Dwarfs removed from the title “– Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the title in 1937 — it has been “de-dwarfed”, taking away work from dwarf actors such as Peter Dinkage, among others.

One of the best comparisons of this “artistic malfeasance” is this review which calls it “about as sensible as remaking “Singing in the Rain” as a cartoon.

Trigger warnings have been issued in the UK, saying that “a woman is deliberately poisoned” and “a girl is surrounded by ominous trees”.

Oh, the horror!

In an essay on the 2019 live-action version of Alladin, Aisha Harris wrote in The New York Times that “shoe-horned progressive messages only brings more attention to the inherent crassness of Disney’s current exercise in money-grabbing nostalgia”

Discussing this film, the concept of “endless splitting hairs over the authenticity (italics mine) of a fairy tale”.

See also:

Snow White review – Disney’s exhaustingly awful reboot

Snow White (IMDB reviews)