May 8, 2025 • 26 mins
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Another left-wing college campus is consumed by chaos, as anti-Israel protestors riot at Columbia University. I break it down in this episode of the Brad vs Everyone podcast. Plus, a free speech scandal in New York City involving an anti-Israel speaker and the Canadian police are officially beyond parody.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Protesters broke through the police barricade. They were also taken
down by authorities. We're told that about seventy to eighty
students or protesters more generally, were arrested.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Today's a day that ends in why so another college
campus is descending into chaos. We're going to break down
the latest left wing takeover at Columbia University, plus a
free speech scandal in New York City, more woke absurdity
(00:29):
in Canada, and so much more on today's episode of
The Brad Versus Everyone podcast, my daily show where we
take on the craziest ideas from across our politics, our media,
and the Internet, all from an independent perspective. Up first,
like I mentioned, we got to check in on Columbia University,
the elite and once reputable institution of higher education and
(00:51):
supposedly of learning in New York that has been consumed
by radicalism and taken over by student protests, particularly anti
Israel protests of the last several years. And the protesters
have struck again once again, causing chaos on the campus
with another building takeover, but it's playing out quite differently
this time around. Take a listen to this first clip
(01:12):
from News.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Nation Dozens of pro Palestinian protesters at Columbia University are
under arrest after taking over a school library on Wednesday,
some even defacing shelves and displays with slogans like Columbia
will burn and learn from Palestine. At least eighty people
were arrested, according to the NYPD. That protest, by the way,
(01:33):
coming just hours after a congressional hearing on anti Semitism
on college campuses.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Ironic timing there, to be sure, but kind of wild
to want your own university. At least many of these
people are students, some might be outside agitators to burn,
and how exactly that would help Palestine is kind of
beyond me. But look, I also have to point out
there's just always something ominous to me when these people
all cover their faces with math and with head coverings,
(02:01):
and it's like, what are you trying to do that
You're so worried your face will be caught on camera.
It's a little ominous or sure, And I will always
support people's free speech. Whether they're pro Israel, whether they're
anti Israel, whether they're extreme, whether they're moderate, doesn't matter
to me. Free speech is free speech. Taking over a building,
though and disrupting the peace and quiet of a library
(02:22):
where people are trying to study for their finals is
not free speech. It is criminal trespass and absolutely a
violation of university policies. So as far as I'm concerned,
they deserved to be arrested. But there's more to this story.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, the sun is up now, we're starting to see
students trickle onto campus, and right now things are calm.
A star contrast, of course, from what we saw just
hours ago last night that was really reminiscent of those
protests that we saw last year here at Columbia University. Well,
in terms of last night what happened here, we know
about one hundred protesters occupied a Butler Library in what
(02:56):
student protests grow, Columbia University Apartheid DIVET called an emergency rally.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
The takeover forced students who were studying for final exams
to leave the library. Members of the Plumbia University of
community are calling this situation in embarrassment.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
As someone whose finals were disrupted last year around this
exact time, I think it's actually unfortunate and almost a
disgrace to the university, to an elite institution to not
be able to put it on a control after here.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, I agree. It is an absolute embarrassment and a farce,
and it's just like, you're not helping anything. You're not
going to make people support your cause more by being
obnoxious and unhinged like this and causing chaos in their lives.
If anything. If I was a student who was somewhat
neutral on this issue, I'd be like, oh, whatever side
those people are on is probably crazy because they seem deranged.
(03:47):
So not helping your cause, just disrupting your community and
harming your fellow students and getting yourself potentially in trouble. Now,
the point here is that the reason I think this
is still happening is because when it first started last
year or even I think longer than that ago, at
this point, many universities were very soft on these protesters.
But that's not quite how it's playing out this time,
(04:08):
meaning hopefully some of them have learned their lesson.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So, Columbia says that these protesters were asked to show identification.
They were also then warned that they could be arrested
if they did not, and instead protesters tried to push
past campus security. The university requested then that the NYPD
come in and helped secure the building and believe that
actually some of the protesters are actually not affiliated with
the university. However, Columbia says that the students who did
(04:32):
break university rules they're going to face disciplinary actions. Demonstrations
eventually moved to the streets where protesters and polices you
can see on this video can be seen having a standoff,
and then protesters broke through the police barricade. They were
also taken down by authorities. Were told that about seventy
to eighty students or protesters more generally, were arrested, and
(04:52):
in fact, two public safety officers with the University of
Marquee they were also injured.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So I'm happy that these people got a because you
have the right to express yourself, you have the right
to free speech. You don't have the right to do this,
and you especially don't have the right to do it
and then refuse to leave when you're asked. They were
given opportunities to defuse the situation, and you don't have
the right to resist and fight cops and all that.
So obviously I don't want anyone hurt, but to some extent,
if you push through police barricades, and get roughed up.
(05:20):
I'm not going to be breaking out the tiny violin
for you. I'm not. But there's a lot more to
this fallout that we're going to get into after this.
The trans debate is getting insane.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
My pronouns aren't preferred, they are mandatory.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
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media bubble and keep your critical thinking skills sharp. So
it's really interesting to see how this protest and this
disruption is playing out in a very very different manner
than a year or two ago when this all began,
(06:58):
because there's been a lot of pressure from the Trump administration,
from Republicans in Congress to get these college campuses, which
receive tons of federal funding, you know, get their act
together and in order. And some of that pressure goes
too far in terms of, in my view, trying to
coerce them into prohibiting certain beliefs or ideologies. But when
the pressure is simply like don't allow crimes committed on
(07:19):
your campus, Punish students who blatantly violate your rules and
actually disrupt your campus, and harm other students. Yeah, that's appropriate,
and it apparently seems to be working, because take a
listen to this message from the new Columbia president. It's unflinching.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
What happened today, what I witnessed was utterly unacceptable. I
arrived to see one of our public safety officers wheeled
out on a gurney and another getting bandaged. As I left.
Hours later, I walked through the reading room, one of
the many jewels of Butler Library, and I saw it
defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans
(07:57):
violence and vandalism, hijacking a lie library. None of that
has any place on our campus. These aren't Columbia's values.
Columbia unequivocally rejects anti Semitism and all other forms of
harassment and discrimination. I also made sure to be present
when the police arrived. I wanted to see for myself
how the operation would unfold, and I'm grateful that it
(08:19):
was orderly, professional and extremely limited, with a focus on
the students who refuse to leave the reading room. I
am particularly heartbroken and incensed that this disruption occurred when
our students are intensely focused on critical academic work at
a moment when our community deserves calm, the opportunity to
study reflect complete the academic years successfully. These actions created
(08:44):
unnecessary stress and danger.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, that all seems obviously true to me. And it's
nice to see the Columbia administration actually taking a hardline
stance on this and is planning on holding these people accountable.
And I think it's notable that this president, who, let's
be so for real, is not some right wing Republican
observe the police interactions and thought it was professional and
orderly and they just did their job. So I've already
seen some left wing commentator types kind of crying victim,
(09:08):
crying police brutality and the like, but it doesn't really
sound to me like there was any of that that occurred.
And again, you don't have the right to take over buildings.
This group behind this all their plan was to create
a liberated zone, rename this library and occupy it. That's
not allowed, babe. That's illegal, that's against the rules. That's
(09:30):
not free speech, that's not your First Amendment right. That's
you seizing property that doesn't belong to you and trying
to repurpose it in pursuit of some agenda by violating
the rights of your fellow students and community members. Again, illegal, annoying,
also like, can we just be so for real? This
is not a good way to convince people over to
your side, and just not something that should be tolerated.
(09:51):
It's interesting I've talked a little bit about the Trump
administration canceling student visas and going after people on green
cards for their speech and all that strongly object to
that when it's simply a matter of they said things
or they wrote op eds in that one case from
Tufts University. I don't believe in that. I don't believe
in weaponizing immigration policy to censor speech or ideas. But
(10:13):
if you're actually on here on the student visa and
you engage in this kind of criminal act, these are
the people whose visa should be revoked and who should
be deported. To me, it's just obvious you don't get
to come here and break our laws. And look, I
think the Israel Palestine historical conflict is incredibly complex, and
I understand how people feel so strongly on either side,
(10:33):
but these particular anti Israel radicals are just beyond the pale.
Here are their statements from Twitter as long as Columbia
University bolsters the violence of empire, we will disrupt your
piece and shatter your notions of control. If you escalate repression,
we will escalate our disruption on this campus. Today, we
(10:55):
refuse the name Butler Library. Nicholas Murray Butler was a
fashion who expelled student strikers and dined with Nazis. The
library is a symbol of an imperial university that hoards
knowledge and uses it in service of state power. It's
giving unhinged Darling, It's giving Howard's in on steroids. I mean,
(11:17):
why they even blame Columbia University for the actions of
Israel's military in the Gaza strip is bizarre to me.
I mean, I know they want them to totally divest
from all things Israel, but that would make no difference
to this conflict. And many of the things that people
want them to divest from aren't directly related to this war,
just Israeli companies and the like. So it's just a
(11:39):
weird place to focus your ire on. This university, which,
at least now a couple of years ago it wasn't
seems to be refocusing on its actual mission of learning
rather than you know, caving to the demands of radical
ideologues and protesters who try to take over places like
the audacity is wild. You think you get to rename
a building that y'all don't own, y'all don't have a
(12:01):
claim to. No one gave you this power. And I'm sorry,
but I just don't have it in me to have
an ounce of sympathy for people who engage in this
kind of radical, illegal behavior and then catch a charge
or get expelled. You played stupid games and you won
stupid prizes. And it's kind of like the climate change debate,
where I think there are real concerns and real points
(12:21):
to be made, but the same way that like throwing
paint or soup on the Mona Lisa is not going
to win people over to your side. You are only
doing your side and your cause a tremendous disservice by
advocating for it in this unhinged and illegal fashion. I
agreed with this tweet from the writer Ben Eppel. Everyone
knows it's possible to support Palestinians without being absolute trash.
(12:45):
But what's happening at Columbia is about so much more
than Israel and Palestine. It's about destroying the US. I
think there's a grain of truth to this. The anti
Israel radicals, the kind of people doing encampments and taking
over buildings like this, they really have tied their cause
to what seems like an opposition to all of Western civilization,
to the very United States of America itself, even in
(13:08):
many cases, And that's a mistake. If you just want
to call for a cease fire, if you want to
advocate for civilians in Gaza who are being killed, all
of that, you would be in such a better off
place if you didn't lump it in with like the
most radical left wing anti civilization ideology possible. Just a
suggestion from me to you, free advice. What do you
(13:31):
guys think? Are you surprised to see this kind of chaos?
Consume Columbia yet again and are you pleased to see
a very different reaction this time around? Do let me
know in the comments and do it that like button
while you're at it. Make sure you're subscribed if you
aren't yet. Oh and guys, remember to send in some
voice notes. The link is in the description. With your
woke horror stories, your personal situations and life experiences. You
(13:52):
want my advice or my input on We've already gotten
so many good ones, and I'm planning on recording an
episode soon responding to them, Still forget to check out
the Barad versus Everyone merch line linked in the description. Okay,
up next, we got to talk about another free speech
story involving the Israel Palestine conflict. What a gift that
(14:13):
keeps on giving in terms of us consistent free speech defenders.
Because a anti Israel and some would say anti Semitic
singer has had another concert canceled, this time under government
pressure because of her beliefs. This story comes out of
New York and the New York Times report that a
Kilani concert in Central Park is canceled after pressure from mayor.
(14:36):
The singer, a vocal critic of Israel, had been scheduled
to perform in June as a part of Pride festivities.
Two weeks ago, Cornell dropped a plan to have her
headline a concert. So this singer had already been canceled
from a Cornell University concert because of her controversial anti
Israel or some say anti Semitic views, but now she's
being canceled from a public event in a public space,
(14:57):
specifically at the behest of the New York City government.
The Times reports the nonprofit group behind the Summer Stage
concerts has canceled a scheduled Central Park performance by the
popular R and B singer Kilani, under pressure from the
administration of Mayor Eric Adams. The move came on Monday
after a top New York City official warned the group,
the City Parks Foundation, that it's licensed to stage the
(15:19):
long running concert series, could be at risk if it
did not promptly take steps to address security concerns raised
by the planned show bill. As Pride with Kilani, the
concert was to take place on June twenty sixth as
part of the city's broader Pride festivities. It was the
second scheduled Kilani performance to be canceled in recent weeks.
A bit of furor over the singer's pro Palestinian stance.
(15:42):
By the way, guys, this singer uses she slash vay pronouns,
so a little bit of a red flag. But I
won't be using the day pronouns trigger warning. The Times
article continues that a spokeswoman for mister Adams, a Democrat,
said in a statement that the administration was grateful to
the city Parks found for responding to our concerns and
(16:02):
canceling the Kilani concert in Central Park. We look forward
to an exciting lineup of other performances this summer, the spokeswoman,
Kayla melmach Altous added. The free expression group pen America
called the cancelation of the concert coward late. It is
deeply unsettling to see elected officials using their offices to
dictate the bounds of acceptable expression and muscling private entities
(16:23):
to fall into line, Jonathan Friedman, a managing director of
the group said in a statement. Now at the heart
of this is an allegation that this singer Kilani, who
I'd never previously heard of. Maybe she is a popular singer,
but I guess I'm old and out of touch, now
busted and crusted. But is she anti Semitic? Is she
just anti Israel? Is she just pro Palestine? Is she
(16:45):
anti Zionist? Or is she like a Jew hater? I
don't know enough to answer that question. She denies being antisemitic,
obviously almost anyone would. Here's a video of her addressing
this point.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
As I see here and I'm working on my album,
and I just so happen to be in the bridgin
and so of my Jewish and Palestinian best friend and
my Jewish engineer. I am being asked and called to
clarify and make a statement yet again for the million time,
that I am not anti Semitic, nor anti jew. I
am anti genocide. I am anti the actions of there's
(17:16):
really government. I am anti an extermination of an entire people.
I'm anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women, That's.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
What I'm intied.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, let's say, for the sake of argument that her
critics are correct and she is someone who could be
fairly categorized as anti Semitic. That actually doesn't matter to
the broader question here, which is a basic matter of
free speech principles. What's happened in this story is disturbing,
no matter how you feel about the underlying issue, no
matter how you feel about her take on it. It is
(17:48):
not okay for government officials to use the power of
their elected office to stifle and censor private institutions pressure
them to censor legal political speech that offends them. Doesn't
matter if you think it's hateful, if it's hate speech,
because listen, you could just as easily have a liberal
mayor pressuring a local organization to shut down a public
(18:10):
event for Matt wall Sha Ben Shapiro or somebody who's
transphobic or hateful. That speech is protected by the First Amendment,
and as reprehensible as genuine anti semitism is. Speech that
is offensive about Jewish people or that is considered anti
Semitic is free speech, and we do not want the
government using their elected office in this way. This is
(18:31):
the exact kind of thing the Biden administration did under
the Biden administration's censorship regime, where they would pressure private
companies to take down posts that were in some cases accurate,
like posts about the Lablique conspiracy theory that turned out
to probably be true that COVID came from a lab.
But like memes and other things they didn't like legal
protected speech, the Biden administration pressured big tech companies to
(18:55):
censor it. That is basically what Eric Adams is doing here,
but this time again anti Semitic speech. It's the same principle.
It's wrong, it's inconsistent with support for free speech in
the First Amendment. It would be a different story, a
little bit more debatable situation if this was a private
organization at a private space with no involvement from the
government whatsoever, deciding to stop her concert because of her opinions.
(19:19):
That's a different situation. When you're talking about a public
venue them hosting a speaker or a singer, same thing
in this case, because of their views, and then the
government pressures them to shut them down with bogus security concerns.
That is censorship. That is not something you can support
if you believe in free speech in the First Amendment
and an open debate and exchange of ideas. And let's
(19:39):
be clear, like this argument about security concerns is always
a smoke screen, because if there are genuine security concerns
posed by her performance, the answer is to provide more
police resources to make sure it can happen, not to
cave to a heckler's veto. That's what it is. If
you say, oh, well, we're not censoring you because of
your opinion, there's just a lot of security concerns or
(19:59):
there's a lot of th and what you're saying is
that any speaker can be shut down if their opponents
just get loud enough and get angry enough. That is
completely inconsistent with freedom of expression. And I do really
believe that there is quite a number prominent free speech
warriors on the right wing in America who built their
brand around supporting dangerous ideas and open expression and free
(20:22):
speech at all costs, who are conspicuously silent or even
outright supportive of efforts to crack down on anti Israel speech.
I believe Israel has every right to exist. I believe
it has every right to defend itself. But I also
think free speech is a human right. The First Amendment
is arguably one of the most important parts of our Constitution,
(20:42):
and there is no Israel exception to it, as much
as some right wing commentators seem to believe otherwise. I
found this tweet from Nico Pirino of the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression, which disclaimer I do a little
bit of freelance work for. I found this tweet thread
from him. Really, I think spot on. Do we actually
believe in free speech? Do we actually believe controversial speakers
(21:04):
have a right to speak in America free from government censorship.
For the past decade, I stood along conservatives who loudly
and justifiably protested when speakers like Ben Shapiro and Charles
Murray were prevented from speaking on college campuses, often under
the guise of vague appeals to safety. Will those same
voices rise up now that the boot is on the
other foot. Do we actually believe in free speech as
(21:26):
a principle or merely as an expedient argument when our
side is censored? Do we actually oppose canceled culture? Do
we actually oppose the Heckler's veto? Do we actually oppose
vague security rationales for censorship. I will work with anyone
to defend free speech in any scenario, even if doing
so means those same people, whether they are the canceled
conservatives of the past or the canceled left wingers of
(21:47):
the present, will sometimes abandon free speech when it's their
side doing the censorship. Believing in free speech is as
simple as the golden rule. Do unto others as you
would have them do to you. I completely agree with
Nico here, and this is not a paid ad, but
this is why I highly recommend you go and donate
and support and become a paying member to fire. They're
(22:08):
the only ones who consistently defend free speech, whether it's
the left or the right, who stick their neck out
on this, and trust me, it's not easy. It's very
hard in such a hyperpartisan political moment, so please do
support them if you can. And in cases like this,
we need to be able to set aside our feelings
on the actual issue and stand by these basic issues
(22:28):
and principles of free speech in the First Amendment. That's
my take on it, but let me know what you
think in the comments. Up next, we got to talk
about Canada because this is beyond parody. There's a really
sad story playing out in Canada right now where two
kids have gone missing, and obviously the police are involved.
It's become a national story. I don't know a whole
lot about the case, but my heart goes out to
(22:49):
the family. I hope the kids are brought home and
found safe and sound. But we have to talk about
this moment because the police obviously are involved in are
having a press conference to discuss this case, and here's
how they can.
Speaker 7 (23:00):
Good afternoon. I am Corporal Carly McCann, Provincial Public Information
Officer for the Nova Scotia RCMP. Thank you all for
being here today. First, I acknowledge that we are in Mgmaggi,
the traditional and unseated and sexual territory of the Migma people.
I also recognize that African Nova Scotians are a distinct
people whose histories, legacies, and contributions have enriched that part
(23:21):
of mcmagie known as Nova Scotia for over four hundred years.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Are we serious? Are we so for real? Right now?
First off, I don't even know what half of that means.
I mean, you're just babbling nonsense. But two children are missing,
and you think the priority first things first is to
open up with some virtue signaling about Native Americans that
is cringe worthy in any context. These land acknowledgments are
stupid as far as I'm concerned. Give it back or
(23:48):
shut up. This virtue signaling does nothing to help actual
indigenous or Native people have real problems. It's just like
a Oh, our heart goes out to you for everything
bad that happened to you. We're not willing to sacrifice
or do anything whatsoever, but we acknowledge your pain. If anything,
that's a slap in the face. And in many cases
it is pointless and cringe In the case of kids
actively being missing, and you're opening up the police press
(24:10):
conference with this, that is absurd and beyond parity, and
it's why people hate woke things. It's why people find
wokeness and progressivism insufferable. It's this kind of stuff. To
be crystal clear, I don't necessarily blame the woman in
this video. There are probably rules of regulations or even
laws that require her to do this, and she's reading
(24:31):
from a script, she's doing her job. She probably went
into policing because she wants to, you know, help in
these kinds of situations, like when kids are missing, and
this is just what she has to grit her teeth
and do. Maybe she's woke, maybe she supports it, but
maybe she's not. And I don't want to throw too
much shade at her personally because again, like this is
probably a policy or a law that she is complying with,
(24:51):
not something she is choosing to insert into this investigation.
Because I mean, even a woke person with an ounce
of common sense would not choose to do this at all.
But especially first, at the beginning of the press conference
about the missing kids. Yeah, we'll get to those kids,
but who are missing, you know, the four year old,
the six year old, But first we got to do
some virtue signaling. I can't believe anyone would choose to
(25:12):
do that, so I am going to give her the
grace that she probably had no choice. She's probably forced to.
Maybe she could have refused, but like, don't beat up
on her too much. But Canada are y'all? Okay? I
know you like to throw shade at us, and I understand.
We have our problems. We're a hot mess in many ways,
but like, at least we're not this bad. At least
we're not this bad, all right, everybody. That'll be it
(25:34):
for this episode of The Barad Versus Everyone Podcast. Thank
you guys so much for tuning in. Please do make
sure you subscribed. If you aren't yet, do hit that
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and check out the merchant the description and we'll talk
(25:55):
again real soon
Protesters broke through the police barricade. They were also taken
down by authorities. We're told that about seventy to eighty
students or protesters more generally, were arrested.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Today's a day that ends in why so another college
campus is descending into chaos. We're going to break down
the latest left wing takeover at Columbia University, plus a
free speech scandal in New York City, more woke absurdity
(00:29):
in Canada, and so much more on today's episode of
The Brad Versus Everyone podcast, my daily show where we
take on the craziest ideas from across our politics, our media,
and the Internet, all from an independent perspective. Up first,
like I mentioned, we got to check in on Columbia University,
the elite and once reputable institution of higher education and
(00:51):
supposedly of learning in New York that has been consumed
by radicalism and taken over by student protests, particularly anti
Israel protests of the last several years. And the protesters
have struck again once again, causing chaos on the campus
with another building takeover, but it's playing out quite differently
this time around. Take a listen to this first clip
(01:12):
from News.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Nation Dozens of pro Palestinian protesters at Columbia University are
under arrest after taking over a school library on Wednesday,
some even defacing shelves and displays with slogans like Columbia
will burn and learn from Palestine. At least eighty people
were arrested, according to the NYPD. That protest, by the way,
(01:33):
coming just hours after a congressional hearing on anti Semitism
on college campuses.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Ironic timing there, to be sure, but kind of wild
to want your own university. At least many of these
people are students, some might be outside agitators to burn,
and how exactly that would help Palestine is kind of
beyond me. But look, I also have to point out
there's just always something ominous to me when these people
all cover their faces with math and with head coverings,
(02:01):
and it's like, what are you trying to do that
You're so worried your face will be caught on camera.
It's a little ominous or sure, And I will always
support people's free speech. Whether they're pro Israel, whether they're
anti Israel, whether they're extreme, whether they're moderate, doesn't matter
to me. Free speech is free speech. Taking over a building,
though and disrupting the peace and quiet of a library
(02:22):
where people are trying to study for their finals is
not free speech. It is criminal trespass and absolutely a
violation of university policies. So as far as I'm concerned,
they deserved to be arrested. But there's more to this story.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, the sun is up now, we're starting to see
students trickle onto campus, and right now things are calm.
A star contrast, of course, from what we saw just
hours ago last night that was really reminiscent of those
protests that we saw last year here at Columbia University. Well,
in terms of last night what happened here, we know
about one hundred protesters occupied a Butler Library in what
(02:56):
student protests grow, Columbia University Apartheid DIVET called an emergency rally.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
The takeover forced students who were studying for final exams
to leave the library. Members of the Plumbia University of
community are calling this situation in embarrassment.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
As someone whose finals were disrupted last year around this
exact time, I think it's actually unfortunate and almost a
disgrace to the university, to an elite institution to not
be able to put it on a control after here.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, I agree. It is an absolute embarrassment and a farce,
and it's just like, you're not helping anything. You're not
going to make people support your cause more by being
obnoxious and unhinged like this and causing chaos in their lives.
If anything. If I was a student who was somewhat
neutral on this issue, I'd be like, oh, whatever side
those people are on is probably crazy because they seem deranged.
(03:47):
So not helping your cause, just disrupting your community and
harming your fellow students and getting yourself potentially in trouble. Now,
the point here is that the reason I think this
is still happening is because when it first started last
year or even I think longer than that ago, at
this point, many universities were very soft on these protesters.
But that's not quite how it's playing out this time,
(04:08):
meaning hopefully some of them have learned their lesson.
Speaker 5 (04:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So, Columbia says that these protesters were asked to show identification.
They were also then warned that they could be arrested
if they did not, and instead protesters tried to push
past campus security. The university requested then that the NYPD
come in and helped secure the building and believe that
actually some of the protesters are actually not affiliated with
the university. However, Columbia says that the students who did
(04:32):
break university rules they're going to face disciplinary actions. Demonstrations
eventually moved to the streets where protesters and polices you
can see on this video can be seen having a standoff,
and then protesters broke through the police barricade. They were
also taken down by authorities. Were told that about seventy
to eighty students or protesters more generally, were arrested, and
(04:52):
in fact, two public safety officers with the University of
Marquee they were also injured.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So I'm happy that these people got a because you
have the right to express yourself, you have the right
to free speech. You don't have the right to do this,
and you especially don't have the right to do it
and then refuse to leave when you're asked. They were
given opportunities to defuse the situation, and you don't have
the right to resist and fight cops and all that.
So obviously I don't want anyone hurt, but to some extent,
if you push through police barricades, and get roughed up.
(05:20):
I'm not going to be breaking out the tiny violin
for you. I'm not. But there's a lot more to
this fallout that we're going to get into after this.
The trans debate is getting insane.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
My pronouns aren't preferred, they are mandatory.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
The only way to figure out what's actually going on
is with ground News, and amazing service that I've used
for years and used to prepare this. Ground News gathers
news from all across the world in one place, so
you could see what both sides are saying, make up
your own mind. It also shows you everything you need
to know about a source's ownership, bias, and factuality. Take
(05:54):
the recent UK Supreme Court decision, for example. Using ground News,
you can see how outlets on the line are spinning it.
The Independent wrote Supreme Court ruling just the latest curb
on trans rights worldwide. LUs you can see how right
wing media is covering the story. The Daily Wire wrote
UK Supreme Court rules trans identifying men are not women.
(06:14):
That's quite the difference. Using ground News, you can get
a neutral summary of every story, see how both sides
are framing it, see who's covering the story at all.
And who isn't, and most importantly, use your critical thinking
skills to make up your mind for yourself. You can
get the same plan that I use, which is the
Vantage Subscription. If you sign up through my link ground,
dot News, slash Brad, or scan the QR code on screen,
(06:36):
get forty percent off unlimited access, which comes out to
about five dollars a month. This exclusive discount is available
now through this link, So act now to break your
media bubble and keep your critical thinking skills sharp. So
it's really interesting to see how this protest and this
disruption is playing out in a very very different manner
than a year or two ago when this all began,
(06:58):
because there's been a lot of pressure from the Trump administration,
from Republicans in Congress to get these college campuses, which
receive tons of federal funding, you know, get their act
together and in order. And some of that pressure goes
too far in terms of, in my view, trying to
coerce them into prohibiting certain beliefs or ideologies. But when
the pressure is simply like don't allow crimes committed on
(07:19):
your campus, Punish students who blatantly violate your rules and
actually disrupt your campus, and harm other students. Yeah, that's appropriate,
and it apparently seems to be working, because take a
listen to this message from the new Columbia president. It's unflinching.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
What happened today, what I witnessed was utterly unacceptable. I
arrived to see one of our public safety officers wheeled
out on a gurney and another getting bandaged. As I left.
Hours later, I walked through the reading room, one of
the many jewels of Butler Library, and I saw it
defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans
(07:57):
violence and vandalism, hijacking a lie library. None of that
has any place on our campus. These aren't Columbia's values.
Columbia unequivocally rejects anti Semitism and all other forms of
harassment and discrimination. I also made sure to be present
when the police arrived. I wanted to see for myself
how the operation would unfold, and I'm grateful that it
(08:19):
was orderly, professional and extremely limited, with a focus on
the students who refuse to leave the reading room. I
am particularly heartbroken and incensed that this disruption occurred when
our students are intensely focused on critical academic work at
a moment when our community deserves calm, the opportunity to
study reflect complete the academic years successfully. These actions created
(08:44):
unnecessary stress and danger.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Yeah, that all seems obviously true to me. And it's
nice to see the Columbia administration actually taking a hardline
stance on this and is planning on holding these people accountable.
And I think it's notable that this president, who, let's
be so for real, is not some right wing Republican
observe the police interactions and thought it was professional and
orderly and they just did their job. So I've already
seen some left wing commentator types kind of crying victim,
(09:08):
crying police brutality and the like, but it doesn't really
sound to me like there was any of that that occurred.
And again, you don't have the right to take over buildings.
This group behind this all their plan was to create
a liberated zone, rename this library and occupy it. That's
not allowed, babe. That's illegal, that's against the rules. That's
(09:30):
not free speech, that's not your First Amendment right. That's
you seizing property that doesn't belong to you and trying
to repurpose it in pursuit of some agenda by violating
the rights of your fellow students and community members. Again, illegal, annoying,
also like, can we just be so for real? This
is not a good way to convince people over to
your side, and just not something that should be tolerated.
(09:51):
It's interesting I've talked a little bit about the Trump
administration canceling student visas and going after people on green
cards for their speech and all that strongly object to
that when it's simply a matter of they said things
or they wrote op eds in that one case from
Tufts University. I don't believe in that. I don't believe
in weaponizing immigration policy to censor speech or ideas. But
(10:13):
if you're actually on here on the student visa and
you engage in this kind of criminal act, these are
the people whose visa should be revoked and who should
be deported. To me, it's just obvious you don't get
to come here and break our laws. And look, I
think the Israel Palestine historical conflict is incredibly complex, and
I understand how people feel so strongly on either side,
(10:33):
but these particular anti Israel radicals are just beyond the pale.
Here are their statements from Twitter as long as Columbia
University bolsters the violence of empire, we will disrupt your
piece and shatter your notions of control. If you escalate repression,
we will escalate our disruption on this campus. Today, we
(10:55):
refuse the name Butler Library. Nicholas Murray Butler was a
fashion who expelled student strikers and dined with Nazis. The
library is a symbol of an imperial university that hoards
knowledge and uses it in service of state power. It's
giving unhinged Darling, It's giving Howard's in on steroids. I mean,
(11:17):
why they even blame Columbia University for the actions of
Israel's military in the Gaza strip is bizarre to me.
I mean, I know they want them to totally divest
from all things Israel, but that would make no difference
to this conflict. And many of the things that people
want them to divest from aren't directly related to this war,
just Israeli companies and the like. So it's just a
(11:39):
weird place to focus your ire on. This university, which,
at least now a couple of years ago it wasn't
seems to be refocusing on its actual mission of learning
rather than you know, caving to the demands of radical
ideologues and protesters who try to take over places like
the audacity is wild. You think you get to rename
a building that y'all don't own, y'all don't have a
(12:01):
claim to. No one gave you this power. And I'm sorry,
but I just don't have it in me to have
an ounce of sympathy for people who engage in this
kind of radical, illegal behavior and then catch a charge
or get expelled. You played stupid games and you won
stupid prizes. And it's kind of like the climate change debate,
where I think there are real concerns and real points
(12:21):
to be made, but the same way that like throwing
paint or soup on the Mona Lisa is not going
to win people over to your side. You are only
doing your side and your cause a tremendous disservice by
advocating for it in this unhinged and illegal fashion. I
agreed with this tweet from the writer Ben Eppel. Everyone
knows it's possible to support Palestinians without being absolute trash.
(12:45):
But what's happening at Columbia is about so much more
than Israel and Palestine. It's about destroying the US. I
think there's a grain of truth to this. The anti
Israel radicals, the kind of people doing encampments and taking
over buildings like this, they really have tied their cause
to what seems like an opposition to all of Western civilization,
to the very United States of America itself, even in
(13:08):
many cases, And that's a mistake. If you just want
to call for a cease fire, if you want to
advocate for civilians in Gaza who are being killed, all
of that, you would be in such a better off
place if you didn't lump it in with like the
most radical left wing anti civilization ideology possible. Just a
suggestion from me to you, free advice. What do you
(13:31):
guys think? Are you surprised to see this kind of chaos?
Consume Columbia yet again and are you pleased to see
a very different reaction this time around? Do let me
know in the comments and do it that like button
while you're at it. Make sure you're subscribed if you
aren't yet. Oh and guys, remember to send in some
voice notes. The link is in the description. With your
woke horror stories, your personal situations and life experiences. You
(13:52):
want my advice or my input on We've already gotten
so many good ones, and I'm planning on recording an
episode soon responding to them, Still forget to check out
the Barad versus Everyone merch line linked in the description. Okay,
up next, we got to talk about another free speech
story involving the Israel Palestine conflict. What a gift that
(14:13):
keeps on giving in terms of us consistent free speech defenders.
Because a anti Israel and some would say anti Semitic
singer has had another concert canceled, this time under government
pressure because of her beliefs. This story comes out of
New York and the New York Times report that a
Kilani concert in Central Park is canceled after pressure from mayor.
(14:36):
The singer, a vocal critic of Israel, had been scheduled
to perform in June as a part of Pride festivities.
Two weeks ago, Cornell dropped a plan to have her
headline a concert. So this singer had already been canceled
from a Cornell University concert because of her controversial anti
Israel or some say anti Semitic views, but now she's
being canceled from a public event in a public space,
(14:57):
specifically at the behest of the New York City government.
The Times reports the nonprofit group behind the Summer Stage
concerts has canceled a scheduled Central Park performance by the
popular R and B singer Kilani, under pressure from the
administration of Mayor Eric Adams. The move came on Monday
after a top New York City official warned the group,
the City Parks Foundation, that it's licensed to stage the
(15:19):
long running concert series, could be at risk if it
did not promptly take steps to address security concerns raised
by the planned show bill. As Pride with Kilani, the
concert was to take place on June twenty sixth as
part of the city's broader Pride festivities. It was the
second scheduled Kilani performance to be canceled in recent weeks.
A bit of furor over the singer's pro Palestinian stance.
(15:42):
By the way, guys, this singer uses she slash vay pronouns,
so a little bit of a red flag. But I
won't be using the day pronouns trigger warning. The Times
article continues that a spokeswoman for mister Adams, a Democrat,
said in a statement that the administration was grateful to
the city Parks found for responding to our concerns and
(16:02):
canceling the Kilani concert in Central Park. We look forward
to an exciting lineup of other performances this summer, the spokeswoman,
Kayla melmach Altous added. The free expression group pen America
called the cancelation of the concert coward late. It is
deeply unsettling to see elected officials using their offices to
dictate the bounds of acceptable expression and muscling private entities
(16:23):
to fall into line, Jonathan Friedman, a managing director of
the group said in a statement. Now at the heart
of this is an allegation that this singer Kilani, who
I'd never previously heard of. Maybe she is a popular singer,
but I guess I'm old and out of touch, now
busted and crusted. But is she anti Semitic? Is she
just anti Israel? Is she just pro Palestine? Is she
(16:45):
anti Zionist? Or is she like a Jew hater? I
don't know enough to answer that question. She denies being antisemitic,
obviously almost anyone would. Here's a video of her addressing
this point.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
As I see here and I'm working on my album,
and I just so happen to be in the bridgin
and so of my Jewish and Palestinian best friend and
my Jewish engineer. I am being asked and called to
clarify and make a statement yet again for the million time,
that I am not anti Semitic, nor anti jew. I
am anti genocide. I am anti the actions of there's
(17:16):
really government. I am anti an extermination of an entire people.
I'm anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women, That's.
Speaker 7 (17:25):
What I'm intied.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Well, let's say, for the sake of argument that her
critics are correct and she is someone who could be
fairly categorized as anti Semitic. That actually doesn't matter to
the broader question here, which is a basic matter of
free speech principles. What's happened in this story is disturbing,
no matter how you feel about the underlying issue, no
matter how you feel about her take on it. It is
(17:48):
not okay for government officials to use the power of
their elected office to stifle and censor private institutions pressure
them to censor legal political speech that offends them. Doesn't
matter if you think it's hateful, if it's hate speech,
because listen, you could just as easily have a liberal
mayor pressuring a local organization to shut down a public
(18:10):
event for Matt wall Sha Ben Shapiro or somebody who's
transphobic or hateful. That speech is protected by the First Amendment,
and as reprehensible as genuine anti semitism is. Speech that
is offensive about Jewish people or that is considered anti
Semitic is free speech, and we do not want the
government using their elected office in this way. This is
(18:31):
the exact kind of thing the Biden administration did under
the Biden administration's censorship regime, where they would pressure private
companies to take down posts that were in some cases accurate,
like posts about the Lablique conspiracy theory that turned out
to probably be true that COVID came from a lab.
But like memes and other things they didn't like legal
protected speech, the Biden administration pressured big tech companies to
(18:55):
censor it. That is basically what Eric Adams is doing here,
but this time again anti Semitic speech. It's the same principle.
It's wrong, it's inconsistent with support for free speech in
the First Amendment. It would be a different story, a
little bit more debatable situation if this was a private
organization at a private space with no involvement from the
government whatsoever, deciding to stop her concert because of her opinions.
(19:19):
That's a different situation. When you're talking about a public
venue them hosting a speaker or a singer, same thing
in this case, because of their views, and then the
government pressures them to shut them down with bogus security concerns.
That is censorship. That is not something you can support
if you believe in free speech in the First Amendment
and an open debate and exchange of ideas. And let's
(19:39):
be clear, like this argument about security concerns is always
a smoke screen, because if there are genuine security concerns
posed by her performance, the answer is to provide more
police resources to make sure it can happen, not to
cave to a heckler's veto. That's what it is. If
you say, oh, well, we're not censoring you because of
your opinion, there's just a lot of security concerns or
(19:59):
there's a lot of th and what you're saying is
that any speaker can be shut down if their opponents
just get loud enough and get angry enough. That is
completely inconsistent with freedom of expression. And I do really
believe that there is quite a number prominent free speech
warriors on the right wing in America who built their
brand around supporting dangerous ideas and open expression and free
(20:22):
speech at all costs, who are conspicuously silent or even
outright supportive of efforts to crack down on anti Israel speech.
I believe Israel has every right to exist. I believe
it has every right to defend itself. But I also
think free speech is a human right. The First Amendment
is arguably one of the most important parts of our Constitution,
(20:42):
and there is no Israel exception to it, as much
as some right wing commentators seem to believe otherwise. I
found this tweet from Nico Pirino of the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression, which disclaimer I do a little
bit of freelance work for. I found this tweet thread
from him. Really, I think spot on. Do we actually
believe in free speech? Do we actually believe controversial speakers
(21:04):
have a right to speak in America free from government censorship.
For the past decade, I stood along conservatives who loudly
and justifiably protested when speakers like Ben Shapiro and Charles
Murray were prevented from speaking on college campuses, often under
the guise of vague appeals to safety. Will those same
voices rise up now that the boot is on the
other foot. Do we actually believe in free speech as
(21:26):
a principle or merely as an expedient argument when our
side is censored? Do we actually oppose canceled culture? Do
we actually oppose the Heckler's veto? Do we actually oppose
vague security rationales for censorship. I will work with anyone
to defend free speech in any scenario, even if doing
so means those same people, whether they are the canceled
conservatives of the past or the canceled left wingers of
(21:47):
the present, will sometimes abandon free speech when it's their
side doing the censorship. Believing in free speech is as
simple as the golden rule. Do unto others as you
would have them do to you. I completely agree with
Nico here, and this is not a paid ad, but
this is why I highly recommend you go and donate
and support and become a paying member to fire. They're
(22:08):
the only ones who consistently defend free speech, whether it's
the left or the right, who stick their neck out
on this, and trust me, it's not easy. It's very
hard in such a hyperpartisan political moment, so please do
support them if you can. And in cases like this,
we need to be able to set aside our feelings
on the actual issue and stand by these basic issues
(22:28):
and principles of free speech in the First Amendment. That's
my take on it, but let me know what you
think in the comments. Up next, we got to talk
about Canada because this is beyond parody. There's a really
sad story playing out in Canada right now where two
kids have gone missing, and obviously the police are involved.
It's become a national story. I don't know a whole
lot about the case, but my heart goes out to
(22:49):
the family. I hope the kids are brought home and
found safe and sound. But we have to talk about
this moment because the police obviously are involved in are
having a press conference to discuss this case, and here's
how they can.
Speaker 7 (23:00):
Good afternoon. I am Corporal Carly McCann, Provincial Public Information
Officer for the Nova Scotia RCMP. Thank you all for
being here today. First, I acknowledge that we are in Mgmaggi,
the traditional and unseated and sexual territory of the Migma people.
I also recognize that African Nova Scotians are a distinct
people whose histories, legacies, and contributions have enriched that part
(23:21):
of mcmagie known as Nova Scotia for over four hundred years.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Are we serious? Are we so for real? Right now?
First off, I don't even know what half of that means.
I mean, you're just babbling nonsense. But two children are missing,
and you think the priority first things first is to
open up with some virtue signaling about Native Americans that
is cringe worthy in any context. These land acknowledgments are
stupid as far as I'm concerned. Give it back or
(23:48):
shut up. This virtue signaling does nothing to help actual
indigenous or Native people have real problems. It's just like
a Oh, our heart goes out to you for everything
bad that happened to you. We're not willing to sacrifice
or do anything whatsoever, but we acknowledge your pain. If anything,
that's a slap in the face. And in many cases
it is pointless and cringe In the case of kids
actively being missing, and you're opening up the police press
(24:10):
conference with this, that is absurd and beyond parity, and
it's why people hate woke things. It's why people find
wokeness and progressivism insufferable. It's this kind of stuff. To
be crystal clear, I don't necessarily blame the woman in
this video. There are probably rules of regulations or even
laws that require her to do this, and she's reading
(24:31):
from a script, she's doing her job. She probably went
into policing because she wants to, you know, help in
these kinds of situations, like when kids are missing, and
this is just what she has to grit her teeth
and do. Maybe she's woke, maybe she supports it, but
maybe she's not. And I don't want to throw too
much shade at her personally because again, like this is
probably a policy or a law that she is complying with,
(24:51):
not something she is choosing to insert into this investigation.
Because I mean, even a woke person with an ounce
of common sense would not choose to do this at all.
But especially first, at the beginning of the press conference
about the missing kids. Yeah, we'll get to those kids,
but who are missing, you know, the four year old,
the six year old, But first we got to do
some virtue signaling. I can't believe anyone would choose to
(25:12):
do that, so I am going to give her the
grace that she probably had no choice. She's probably forced to.
Maybe she could have refused, but like, don't beat up
on her too much. But Canada are y'all? Okay? I
know you like to throw shade at us, and I understand.
We have our problems. We're a hot mess in many ways,
but like, at least we're not this bad. At least
we're not this bad, all right, everybody. That'll be it
(25:34):
for this episode of The Barad Versus Everyone Podcast. Thank
you guys so much for tuning in. Please do make
sure you subscribed. If you aren't yet, do hit that
like button before you go. If you're listening to us
on audio podcast, do rate and review and make sure
to send me a voice note with your woke horror stories,
your personal life situations you want advice on, or anything else,
and check out the merchant the description and we'll talk
(25:55):
again real soon
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