Bacon Bits: Social Mayhem Update

by James A. Bacon

George Mason is rolling in his grave. An 18-year-old freshman at George Mason University was arrested Tuesday for allegedly plotting a mass casualty attack on Israel’s General Consulate in New York City, The Washington Post reports. Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an Egyptian national faced with deportation proceedings, was arrested in Falls Church and, as a bonus, was banned from the GMU campus! (GMU, you may recall, recently issued No Trespass Orders against two Palestinian students after a police raid on their family’s home uncovered a cache of weapons and ammo.) Apparently, some GMU students are failing to absorb the values of the University’s namesake. As the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, George Mason argued that all men should enjoy full toleration in the exercise of religion. And, yes, the toleration extended even to Jews.

… Oh, a thousand pardons. I forgot. Hassan’s contemplated atrocities weren’t antisemitic, they were only anti-Zionist.

The pause that refreshes. Classes at Alexandria City High School have been canceled for two days after fights broke out leading to injuries to students and staff. Two students were charged with assault and battery after school resource officers (SROs) responded to multiple altercations, according to the Associated Press. In 2021, City Council eliminated funding for the SROs but reinstated the officers after a series of fights and a student was caught bringing a gun to school. Last year, the School Board approved the installation of metal detectors at two unnamed Alexandria schools in a pilot program. I’m guessing, though, that the discipline problem probably runs deeper than SROs and metal detectors.

Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.