Weekly Comments: Hamas Protesters Disrupt Serious Students. Humor at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
#1204 Apr. 28, 2024
Columbus: The president of Columbia University has turned leadership of the school over to Palestinian students and outside Hamas agitators. The 95% of students who are Christian or Jewish have no role in this newly designated ruling body.
Tomorrow is the last day of classes scheduled at Columbia, followed by three days allocated for unlimited protesting. Final exams begin on Friday. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled for May 15. No word yet on whether Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran has accepted an invitation to be the Commencement speaker.
Anti-Israel protests have sprung up across most of the country. At the University of Texas, the Palestinians were met by officers on horseback and quickly disbursed. UCLA has their police officers riding bicycles.
Right here at Ohio State University it’s already Finals Week. Protesters were disrupting the serious students and 35 were arrested. Not surprisingly, 20 were outside troublemakers.
For parents of college students, you had better warn them to be careful who they follow. If they hear loud chants of “From the river to the sea,” they should know this doesn’t mean “From the Ural River to the Caspian Sea.”
The White House Correspondents’ dinner was last night. President Biden spoke, taking a few digs at Donald Trump, joking about his own age, and made serious comments about the essential role of journalists.
Since most of the 3000 attendees like President Biden, I think he missed a great opportunity to end his speech with the audience joining him in unison, “Four more years pause! Four more years pause!”
The President was followed by comedian Colin Jost of NBC who introduced himself as providing the “Republican Response.” He was pretty balanced in roasting both Biden and Trump.
Every humorist knows to pause after a punchline. I think Colin took that advice too far. Yes, he paused when the audience was roaring with laughter. But when a punchline got little or no reaction, he still paused for several seconds before reading the next joke.
Colin ended by telling how his grandfather who died recently had voted for Biden and added, as a Democrat he will likely continue to vote for him.
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“The real power (of small-town newspapers) is greater than all your metropolitan dailies combined. Any person that don’t read at least one well-written country newspaper is not truly informed.” DT #1865, July 27, 1932
“People’s minds are changed through observation and not through argument.” DT #1761, March 16, 1931
“This is dispatched just before the President (Roosevelt) goes on the air tonight. I am anxious to hear the comments in the press. Even if it’s good there is plenty of ’em won’t like it. He can speak on the Lord’s supper and get editorials against it. Never in our history was we as willing to blame somebody else for our troubles.” DT #2723, Apr. 28, 1935