Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left Podcast.

Right up front I need to say that we are trying something different today.

You may or may not have noticed that the show is notably longer than usual,

but if it seems too long there is no need to panic. The first hour or so will be exactly the best of the left you already know and love. If this show

were a newspaper that first section would be like the front page. The

experiment today is to give you more than just the front page and include deep dive sections as well.

How and how much of the show you want to listen to is completely up to you.

You'll see that the show note

break down the additional sections by topic with time stamps. So if you like, you can

go directly to a section you want to focus on. I'll have more to say about all of this in my comments later, which will be just after the front page section rather than at the very end of the show where it usually is, but you know, we're experimenting.

Until then, I'll just say that the show today

discusses the civil resistance on campuses

across the country against Israeli genocide in Gaza,

calling for ceasefire and divestment.

Also, the response from university administrations on up to the Biden administration and all of the

issues in between driving the conflict.

Sources on our front page today include Today in Focus, AJ Plus,

Harvard Kennedy School, the Brian Laird Show,

Double Down News, and Chappo Trap House.

What are these protests actually about?

These protests specifically at Columbia and universities in surrounding areas like Yale and Princeton and others.

They are about calling for ceasefire first and foremost in Gaza but more importantly they're calling for their own universities to divest from their ties to Israel and the occupation in Palestine.

...