Sit-in at Trump Tower for release of Palestinian activist

Progressive US Jewish activists have been holding a protest at the Trump Tower in New York to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, who has been detained by immigration services over his advocacy for Palestinian rights.

Footage showed police officers arresting the protesters and escorting them out of the building.

“The abduction of Mahmoud Khalil by the Trump regime is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by an authoritarian regime. As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads,” Jane Hirschmann, an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace, said in a statement.

Protesters who sat in protest in the lobby of Trump Tower arrested. They’re part of ongoing demonstrations over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil.

Protesters who sat in protest in the lobby of Trump Tower arrested. They’re part of ongoing demonstrations over the detention of Mahmoud Khalil. @1010WINS pic.twitter.com/b6GJ9fL2Hj

— Marla Diamond (@MDiamond8) March 13, 2025

Today, Mahmoud is being detained over 1,000 miles away from his home inside a notorious Louisiana ICE facility. The Trump administration has vowed to deport him despite his status as a U.S. permanent resident. These are the actions of an authoritarian government trying to destroy our movements — because they are scared of our power.

Today, Mahmoud is being detained over 1,000 miles away from his home inside a notorious Louisiana ICE facility. The Trump administration has vowed to deport him despite his status as a U.S. permanent resident. These are the actions of an authoritarian government trying to destroy…

— Jewish Voice for Peace (@jvplive) March 13, 2025

US mayor moves to punish cinema for screening Oscar-winning Israeli-Palestinian film

The mayor of Florida’s Miami Beach is attempting to terminate his city’s lease agreement with an independent movie theatre after it screened the Israeli-Palestinian documentary No Other Land.

The move came after O Cinema ignored pressure from Mayor Steven Meiner and held several screenings of the film, which documents Israel’s destruction of the occupied West Bank town of Masafer Yatta, according to the Miami Herald.

Meiner described the film, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, as a “false one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents”. He is now introducing legislation that would terminate the city’s lease agreement with the cinema and discontinue about $40,000 in financial support.

_{Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham – winners of the Oscar for Best Documentary Film – on March 2, 2025}

Trump is turning the USA into China. Authoritarian regime, disappearing dissenting voices / intellectuals, wants to make knockoffs of protected goods (American Champagne lol), suppressing freedom of Speech.

CALLS ARE WORKING - it has bought us precious time, but we NEED to keep the pressure up.

Tomorrow is the cloture vote.

KEEP CALLING: (202) 224-3121 ☎️☎️☎️

Tell your Dem Senator to vote NO on Cloture and NO on the Republican spending bill.

Do NOT assume your Senator will be good on this. Trust me.

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— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) 13 March 2025 at 18:54

New Quinniac poll:

If there's a shutdown...

32% blame Dems
31% blame Republicans
22% blame Trump

That's a majority blaming Trump and/or the GOP. Hang tough, Dems.

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 13 March 2025 at 18:37

Note that only 22% of independents would blame Dems for a shutdown. 34% of them would blame the GOP and 22% would blame Trump, a total of 56%. A shutdown is clearly likely to be worse for Republicans.

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 13 March 2025 at 18:43

In short, the vast majority of those who would blame Dems are Republicans already:

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) 13 March 2025 at 18:45

Columbia University says it revoked students’ diplomas over Gaza protests

The New York-based university announces punishment against students who took over an academic building last year to demand divestment from companies with links to the Israeli military.

“Today, the Columbia University Judicial Board determined findings and issued sanctions to students ranging from multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions related to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring,” the university said in a statement.

The announcement comes as immigration authorities continue to detain Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil over his involvement in protests last year.

The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it was withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to Columbia over the demonstrations.


_{A protest at Washington Square Park in New York against the detention of Khalil, March 11}

‘This is how totalitarian regimes start’

US Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman has raised the alarm about the detention of Palestinian rights activist Mahmoud Khalil, underscoring that the Columbia University graduate has not been charged with a crime.

“It brings to mind the disappearing of dissidents in totalitarian regimes like Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or Chile or even Nazi Germany,” Watson Coleman said in a video statement.

She stressed the need to demand Khalil’s release.

“This is how totalitarian regimes start. They begin by testing our resolve to defend the rights of vulnerable people,” she said.

Today, it's Mahmoud Khalil. But tomorrow, it could very well be you or me. pic.twitter.com/SXoBsn3d0O

— Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (@RepBonnie) March 13, 2025

Top Trump official struggles to justify detention of Mahmoud Khalil

Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, failed to offer any specifics about what the Palestinian activist did that merits arrest and deportation.

Khalil, a legal permanent resident, has been detained by US immigration authorities for five days over helping organise protests critical of Israel at Columbia University last year.

In a contentious interview with NPR, Edgar eluded that Khalil may have violated his visa with “pro-Palestinian activity”, but when pressed about what exactly the Columbia graduate did wrong, the US official struggled to offer details.

“I think if he would have declared he’s a terrorist, we would have never let him in,” Edgar said.

NPR’s Michel Martin asked Edgar what constitutes “terrorist” activity.

“Have you watched it on TV? It’s pretty clear,” the US official responded. Martin, however, stressed that it is actually not clear.

Edgar also failed to answer questions on whether criticising Israel is now a deportable offence in the US.

Columbia punishes 22 students for pro-Palestine protests, activist group says

A campus activist group is now saying that the university has suspended, expelled or revoked degrees from a total of 22 students.

Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) said Columbia and affiliated Barnard College have expelled a total of nine students, describing the move as the “most number of expulsions ever issued in university history”.

“Columbia ‘s extreme reaction is a sign that the administration has lost all control of the narrative, desperate to still defend their genocidal record,” CUAD said in a post on X.

The action comes amid the continued detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student and green card holder arrested by US immigration authorities over his involvement in pro-Palestine campus protests.

BREAKING: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HAS JUST SUSPENDED, EXPELLED, AND REVOKED DEGREES FROM 22 STUDENTS FOR PROTESTING GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE

— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) March 13, 2025

Considering he's also hard at work crashing the economy and courting Russia, I'd say he's turning the US more into a banana republic with El Presidente for life in power.

That and they also basically want to create an American version of the Great Firewall of China, where only content approved by the President or red state governors can be viewed. Most of the Old Confederacy has blocked access to PornHub. 

Inb4 supreme leader Trump renames Champagne to American Champagne (and threatens to annex it).

Extraordinary moment — Nancy Pelosi issues a statement calling on Democratic senators to reject the House funding bill, i.e. to defy Chuck Schumer.

"Democratic senators should listen to the women," she says, referring to Murray/DeLauro who want a 1-month stopgap bill instead.

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— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) 14 March 2025 at 16:17

Yes a shutdown would have consequences.

And a Republican President, Republican House, and Republican Senate would be responsible.

They have acted in a unilateral and unprecedented way.

Democrats cannot cave. They must fight back.

— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) 14 March 2025 at 16:26

If Schumer votes in favour then he is a pathetic coward, a weak ass leader, not what the Democrats need right now, it is people like him as to why so many people are apathetic about voting Democrats, because people like him show absolutely no fight, they rollover like dogs at the first challenge, they will scream "threat to democracy!" and then actively help Republicans dismantle the system, if Schumer in favour then he is complicit in everything that Republicans do, I hope AOC primaries his ass. I expected this shit from that prick Fetterman but not Schumer. Schumer is simply controlled opposition, not actually real opposition.

Privately, House Democrats are so infuriated with Schumer's decision that some have begun encouraging her to run against Schumer in a primary, according to a Democratic member who directly spoke with Ocasio-Cortez about running at the caucus' policy retreat. Multiple Democrats in the Congressional Progressive Caucus and others directly encouraged Ocasio-Cortez to run on Thursday night after Schumer's announcement, this member said.

The member said that Democrats in Leesburg were "so mad" that even centrist Democrats were "ready to write checks for AOC for Senate," adding that they have "never seen people so mad." Asked by CNN about fellow Democrats encouraging her to challenge Schumer, Ocasio-Cortez declined to answer and said she was focused on keeping Democrats from backing the funding bill: "We still have an opportunity to correct course here, and that is my number one priority."

"There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security and Medicaid and Medicare," she said. "Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think is a huge slap in the face. And I think there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned."

Ocasio-Cortez mobilizes Democrats against Schumer plan as colleagues privately urge her to consider primary challenge | CNN Politics

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), when asked if it's time to have a conversation about new leadership:

"I think, come '26 and '28, we'll get some new leadership."

CNN reports that in a private meeting, Senator Michael Bennet erupted, accusing Democratic leadership of having "No strategy, no plan, and no message on this spending bill" (direct quote)

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— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein.bsky.social) 14 March 2025 at 16:18

Republicans left us two foul choices intended to harm Americans and give the powers of Congress to Trump and Musk.

I’ll be voting NO on this fake CR.

We must focus our energy on the dangers of the MAGA Republican government which gave us this false choice.

— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (@whitehouse.senate.gov) 14 March 2025 at 15:37