Lurker > Humble_Novice

NEW YORK A prominent transit union leader plans to sue Columbia University over alleged mistreatment of school staffers during a building seizure last week the latest labor group to wade into the debate surrounding campus unrest.

John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union which represents 155,000 workers across the airline, transit, railroad, universities, utilities and service sectors castigated Columbia President Minouche Shafik for waiting too long to authorize the NYPD to clear out Hamilton Hall after demonstrators occupied it last Tuesday night.

Its on them to protect their workforce and they didnt do it, Samuelsen told POLITICO. He called dissidents behavior toward staffers working at the time of the takeover, including two custodians and a security officer, an outrageous affront to working people.

One of the unions local branches represents 725 workers at Columbia, including custodians, security officers and electricians.

Officials should have known the building was a target given its history as the site of an occupation by students advocating for racial justice in the 1960s, he charged.

Were exploiting every legal means at our disposal against Columbia, against the individual occupiers of the building [who] thought that they could hold our custodians hostage to their ideology, he added.

The union honcho, who also represents the 44,000-member Transport Workers Union Local 100, insisted he supports students constitutional right to protest.

Samuelsen repeated a claim to which Mayor Eric Adams has been clinging since police officers responded to protests at Columbia and City College: that outside agitators snuck into student encampments and exacerbated tensions.

The NYPD arrested 109 protesters at Columbia and 173 at City College. The mayor has continued to defend the timing of police officers response.

A Columbia spokesperson declined to comment on Samuelsens legal threat.

An organizer for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the group that was behind the encampment but was not involved in the takeover of Hamilton, told POLITICO they could not speak to the actions committed by or words said by the autonomous group of students who occupied Hamilton.

The vast majority of individuals involved were peaceful and only had the intention of being peaceful and treating people with respect, said the organizer, who was granted anonymity, adding that its the first time theyre hearing about the allegations.

The move represents a significant escalation by one of the most politically active unions in New York state, as Shafik and Adams deal with political fallout from the NYPDs crackdown on protests on campuses. The union has not shied from picking fights with powerful Democrats Samuelson recently launched an attack ad against Gov. Kathy Hochul amid an ongoing disagreement over a union contract.

In a letter to Shafik late Monday morning, Samuelsen urged the president to provide the names of the protesters arrested inside Hamilton Hall, access to footage from the building and information the NYPD gave to Columbia on the number of students who participated in the demonstration as well as outside actors.

He also wants to meet with Shafik and discuss steps to ensure workers safety if the protests resume, as well as compensation for affected union members.

When the custodians told the demonstrators that they wanted to get out of the building, at least one smarmy, sanctimonious, elitist ... occupier in a reference to the Gaza protests and takeover of Hamilton told them they would not be able to exit premises because this moment is bigger than you, Samuelsen alleged in the letter.

The custodians had to then fight their way toward one of the barricaded exits to escape, he said.

The security officer, an African American woman, managed to slip out before the barricades were set up, Samuelsen added. But shes still shaken by her run-in with the demonstrators who verbally attacked her in a very aggressive and extremely offensive manner, he said.

Labor unions have been increasingly weighing in on turmoil afflicting institutions across the country. Shawn Fain, president of United Auto Workers, blasted the mass arrests. Other unions have called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

The Professional Staff Congress, the City University of New Yorks faculty and staff union, on Monday requested that CUNY Chancellor Flix Matos Rodrguez ask Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop charges against students and employees.

CUNY faculty recently staged a strike in support of the protest, but the union did not authorize or support it.

I really hope this trend continues and the GOP continues to get rekt

20-50 points goddamn

https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1787860094610260229?t=rr-pDB1e4kqFRAhwU9NZSA&s=19

Supposedly this guy was a hardcore trumper who got duped the same way guys fall for strippers and escorts.

Evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.

The Florida trial was a lost cause. It's the one that would hurt him the most but once it fell into the hands of a MAGA cult member it was dead in the water.

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1787933570373152787

The other night I was thinking that Trump was going to pick Noem anyway because he likes people who show "strength," and he would see someone who would do something so horrid and not bat an eye at it as "strong."

I'm almost willing to bet that she'll be the VP pick. And if that happens, that's the END for Trump's campaign. People won't vote for a puppy-killer. And many Republicans will stay home over the fact that a woman would take over if Fanta Fascist were "unable to continue his duties as President."

Did the topic die again!? Argh.

The University of Mississippi student who was seen on video making monkey noises and jumping up and down to mock a Black pro-Palestine protester has been expelled from his fraternity after his actions went viral on social media.

The fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, announced in a statement on Sunday that the man in question had been swiftly removed from the organization. The student, James JP Staples, was identified on Instagram by the NAACP.

Phi Delta Theta General Headquarters is aware of the video regarding the student protest at the University of Mississippi, the statement reads.

The racist actions in the video were those of an individual and are antithetical to the values of Phi Delta Theta and the Mississippi Alpha chapter. The responsible individual was removed from membership on Friday, May 3.

It was unclear whether the unidentified man would be allowed to rejoin the organization at Ole Miss or any other chapter in the future. A spokesman for Phi Delta Thetas national headquarters did not immediately respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment.

The fraternitys announcement came just days after the university launched a student conduct investigation into at least one student as a result of the racist counterprotest encounter.

In a letter addressed to the campus community on Friday, Chancellor Glenn Boyce said the university was aware of behavior that was offensive, hurtful and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones, although he did not clarify that it was pro-Israel counterprotesters who lodged those racist attacks.

While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation. We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted, Boyce wrote.

On Thursday, counter protesters overwhelmed a small demonstration in support of Palestine, which had been peacefully assembled on the grassy area of campus. Counter protesters surrounded the fenced-off protest area and chanted things like Hit the showers! and Your nose is huge, the nonprofit news outlet Mississippi Today reported.

The jeers were especially vicious toward a Black female protester who separated from the rest of the protest encampment. Video showing a group of mostly white male counter protesters mocking her quickly went viral after they hurled taunts like Lizzo! and Lock her up! as she was guided away by police.

A May 4th Colorado GOP fundraiser, where Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., was supposed to speak, was canceled due to threats sparked by her admission of killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket.

Nancy Pallozzi, Jefferson County Republican Party Chair, said in a statement posted on social media that the group had initially thought the timing for the fundraiser was perfect, since the South Dakota governors book, "No Going Back," comes out soon. But attitudes have changed towards Noem, as examples of her cruelty towards animals continue to make headlines.

Numerous threats and/or death threats have been made to the county organization, the Denver West Marriott where the fundraiser was being hosted, and to Noem herself, according to Pallozzi.

After a conversation with the Governors office late Wednesday, we mutually decided that safety was the most important concern for everyone involved, Pallozzi wrote.

Despite the threats to the Marriott, which received alarming comments worth deep concern over the safety and security for those attending our event, other guests, and their staff, Pallozi confirmed that the local GOP is not taking a position on the public outcry on the governors book.

However, she did add that the fundraiser had an adverse effect. We lost money in this, Pallozzi told NBC News. This was meant to be a fundraiser, but now weve lost thousands of dollars.

The consequences of what Noem describes in her book which also details her murdering a mean and "smelly" goat have impacted her political aspirations, no doubt.

After reports of her shooting her wirehaired pointer, whom she hated because the puppy didnt take to her initial hunting training, the anecdote seems to have severely hurt her chances of being Trumps running mate, as even he is giving her stink-eye over it.

When Noem spoke at a Trump donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, she seemed less than apologetic about her actions, and far more concerned with how it would be yet another exercise to show her political contemporaries that she has what it takes to make it.

"Theyre just attacking me like crazy right now, she said. "But listen, thats a good thing. Its a good thing because it makes you stronger, and it teaches you, really, what youre up against. And it makes you recognize how much they lie. How much they will twist. How much they will manipulate. And you just have to be strong and be happy warriors.

It seems as though Noem has even doubled down on her animal killing spree, and hints in her book that shell kill Bidens dog, if an opportunity presents itself wherein she feels such an action would be necessary.

In an interview with CBS, the interviewer confirms this: At the end of the book, you say the very first thing you would do if you got to the White House, that was different from Biden, is you would make sure Biden's dog was nowhere on the grounds. 'Commander say hello to Cricket.' Are you trying to look tough?

When asked if she still thinks she has a shot at being vice president, Noem, who has suddenly decided she is the equivalent to animal control, said, Well, number one, Joe Bidens dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. Staying on-brand, she ended with compliments to herself and her state of South Dakota being happy and doing well.

Bump.

So the Trump campaign wants to help China spy on Americans?

Trump is a Far-Left communist confirmed!

The only good thing to come out of Louisiana is Popeyes and hot sauce.