Monday, March 24, 2025
Rainy. High 53 degrees.
Expect rain for the majority of Monday, but forecast shows clear skies for the rest of the week. Temperatures will dip slightly this week, compared to last.
Notices
Our calendar has lots of local events. Click on the link or the lady in the upper righthand corner to check.
A Columbia University faculty “Vigil to Defend Democracy” will take place on Monday, when the school’s faculty will gather at West 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to respond to what one faculty member called “recent attacks on our work and our community and call on our supporters & allies to defend our work, defend our institution, and defend our students.”
Upper West Side News
By Gus Saltonstall
On multiple occasions, West Side Rag has written about Upper West Sider Matthew Mahrer, who was one of two men arrested in 2022 in connection with threats about an antisemitic attack against an unspecified synagogue.
On Sunday, the New York Times published “The Synagogue Massacre That Never Happened,” which examines how Mahrer and the other man arrested, Christopher Brown, ended up together on their way to New York City with a gun, an extended magazine, and 19 bullets.
Shortly before the pair were arrested in Penn Station, Brown had written on the social media website X that he wanted to “shoot up a synagogue.”
To make matters more puzzling, Mahrer, who grew up on the Upper West Side, is Jewish, and had a grandfather who survived the concentration camps during the Holocaust.
Here’s how the end of the introduction to The New York Times’ article reads:
“Underneath the fear were the more complicated stories of two young men living with mental illness, thrown together by institutions that left them more troubled than when they went in. Bullied as children, medicated from a young age, Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer followed a line of failings, personal and institutional, to the brink of atrocity.”
Last November, Brown was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of a gun as part of a planned terror attack, and this February, Mahrer was sentenced to 27 months in prison for conspiracy to transport a firearm between states.
While Mahrer was sentenced for the gun charge, both he and Brown have said that the Upper West Sider had not known about Brown’s threats against the Jewish community until after the arrests in 2022.
The article from the Times delves into the upbringings of both Mahrer and Brown, the mental health care system both young men took part in, the home in Westchester County for students with intellectual and emotional disabilities where the two boys met, and what the pair now have to say about what happened.
You can read the full story — HERE.
On Friday, Columbia University agreed to a variety of demands from the Trump administration, in an effort to regain the $400 million in federal funding that the administration threatened to withhold from the Morningside Heights school.
Following the announcement earlier this month that the Trump administration had canceled the university’s federal grants, the administration then sent a letter to the school outlining nine demands that Columbia would have to accept to possibly restore its funding and save research programs that would otherwise be canceled.
In a document published online Friday, sent from Columbia University to the federal government, it appears that the school has agreed to the majority of the administration’s demands.
Among the agreed upon demands are the university’s commitment to hire 36 new campus security officers who have the power to arrest students, a ban on students wearing masks at protests, adoption of a formal definition of antisemitism, and the hiring of a new provost to oversee the university’s department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies.
Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s interim president, said on Friday that the school’s actions were taken to “ensure uninterrupted academic activities” and to “make every student, faculty and staff member safe and welcome on our campus.”
It is not clear as of Sunday if these actions by Columbia will immediately restore the lost federal funding.
As reported by the New York Times, Columbia’s concessions to the Trump administration, “stunned and dismayed many members of the faculty.”
You can read more — HERE.
“It was my dream to live on the Upper West Side, and that is where I ended up,” Giorgio Armani, the famed fashion designer, told Elle Decor in a recent interview about his neighborhood home.
Armani sat down with the magazine to discuss his home near Central Park West and West 69th Street, specifically, how he goes about setting up his personal space, and sharing photos of the two penthouse apartments he joined together.
The Italian fashion designer owns two units within his Upper West Side building, including the penthouse he purchased in 2019 for $17.5 million from T-Mobile’s ex-CEO John Legere. Armani also keeps a home in Milan, Italy.
The apartment has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a 1,700-square-foot wraparound terrace with views of Central Park.
“He was first struck by the building, built in 1929 in the Neo-Renaissance style by Schwartz & Gross, years ago on a trip to New York,” Elle Decor wrote about Armani’s attraction to the building. “’Central Park West,’ he says, ‘boasts the best view of the skyline beyond the green heart of the city. I loved the apartment’s sense of spaciousness, which is out of proportion to its dimensions thanks to uninterrupted sight lines, with large windows facing in all directions.'”
You can check out photos of the Upper West Side apartment for yourself — HERE.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
A Columbia University faculty “Vigil to Defend Democracy & Return The Hostages” fixed
Columbia has basically become a joke of a university. https://nypost.com/2025/03/24/us-news/masked-columbia-protesters-march-on-campus-defying-days-old-ban-to-comply-with-trump-order/
They might be right, but I have zero respect for anyone who gets their information from the Post. It has deteriorated so much – it is a right wing rag that just tries to get people angry. Murdoch Inc. is responsible for the downfall of this country.
Totally disagree…the Post is the only reputable paper in NYC. So glad to see the left wing tabloids challenged.
I probably shouldn’t engage with someone who thinks the NY Post is reputable, but it appears you do not even know what the word “tabloid” means.
“The Trump Administration”, more commonly known as The Government.
Good. Anyone remember the old Bandit cartoon character? People have been concealing their faces before doing something illegal for a pretty long time. And to be clear, some of those protesters did break the law (trespassing)
100%
I’m glad the protests in Morningside Heights will be gone. Go downtown, NYU, City Hall, Trump tower, Washington DC.
?? First WSR news item: A Columbia University faculty “Vigil to Defend Democracy” will take place on Monday, when the school’s faculty will gather at 116th Street and Amsterdam Avenue to respond to, what one faculty member called, “recent attacks on our work and our community and call on our supporters & allies to defend our work, defend our institution, and defend our students.”
where was the faculty when the Jewish students needed defending?
So Bob you are fine with hate speech against Israel as long as it is not in your neighborhood?
Isn’t the issue whether the hate speech is on private property? Correct me if I”m wrong, but isn’t Columbia University a private institution that has the right to dictate how people behave on their campus? So yes, OPOD, if they went on the sidewalk outside the university and shouted there, that would be “OK”.
As long as they receive taxpayers money and receive preferential tax benefits (i.e. endowments are taxed), then they’re accountable to the stewards of my money…the government.
One is allowed to hate Israel, Just as one is allowed to hate the USA for invading Iraq and sparking the rise of ISIS.
Antisemitism is also allowed, but Columbia is NOT a hot bed of that.
You have a bad understanding of the Bill of Rights, typical of Trump defenders and many Israel defenders.
And not smart enough to see that what the government is doing has nothing to do with “stopping anti semitism” . Remember Mr “there are bad people on both sides”? Shame on Columbia Uni
You know that the “there are bad people on both sides” issue was thoroughly debunked, right?
How was it debunked? The video is there for you to see.
Actually, no, not debunked–that is not even close to being true! Multiple high-profile Republican officeholders publicly decried Trump’s remarks following the events in Charlottesville.
It may interest you to know that while certainly repugnant hate speech is not illegal in the United States of America.
Yes but if you are here on a student visa you are not allowed to break the law. Biden is gone and now we enforce laws in this Country again. If you are a university and you don’t uphold Federal law, you don’t get federal money. The days of anarchy are over we have a President who is actually in charge.
Yeah……1A rights apply to anyone in the US, citizen or non.
Patriotism is the refuge of scoundrels and so is chest-thumping machoism
We are so thoroughly not enforcing the law now that it would be hilarious to read comments like that if it weren’t such an indictment of our country’s educational system.
You are mischaracterizing the facts terribly: 1) Mahmoud Khalil is not here on a student visa, he is a legal permanent resident; 2) Mr. Khalil has not been accused of any crime.
The legal was obtained because he married an American. And I understand that he wouldn’t have been given a student visa if he had been forthright when applying.
S G:
You’ve not addressed the point.
He is NOT accused of a crime, whether or not he holds a green card, student visa, or is a citizen.
Well, you can all complain and fret about the loss of academic freedom, the disappearance of the right to free speech, the closing of a beloved bakery, even the transmogrification of a shoe store.
Me, I’ll sleep better at night just knowing that Giorgio Armani has finally ended up in my neighborhood. (Well, not exactly my neighborhood, because he can and did do so much better, but really, actually, sorta kinda close to the fringe of my neighborhood).
Let’s try to keep some perspective on what’s *really* important, my friends! Giorgio Armani is finally nearby! Life, finally, is *good*!
(umm, ^sarcasm…..)
I find the Columbia situation heartbreaking, but let’s leave WSR some room for human-interest stories, eh?
Of all the shameful and distressing things that have happened recently, Columbia’s perhaps-unavoidable capitulation to utter blackmail, ostensibly founded on 90% specious claims of antisemitism, and really founded on irrational hatred for the institution, for knowledge, for science, for study, for debate, for freedom of speech, for truth, justice and the American way, is the worst.
Columbia is more concerned with PR than with keeping Jewish students safe.
https://www.city-journal.org/article/columbia-university-public-relations-campaign-anti-semitism-trump?utm_source=virtuous&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cjdaily&vcrmeid=rCtlESMtsEm3jdUGaMsaA&vcrmiid=vggP4PrVeU2LpeB35rM6kw
I think this gave Columbia a great excuse to do what they should have done from the start – now they can claim they had no choice.
100%. Columbia wants these protests to end. They just don’t have the moral courage to say so without upsetting their entirely intellectually-homogenous, left-wing faculty. This gives them cover. They can claim they were “forced” to take action.
My friend’s daughter (who isn’t even Jewish and has no vested interest in the Mideast conflict) is an undergrad at Columbia. She told me the protesters are terrifying and disruptive and threatening.
So please, stop it with the “90% specious claims of antisemitism” and “irrational hatred for the institution” nonsense.
Did your daughter’s friend provide examples of terrifying and threatening behavior?
Pointing out war crimes committed by Israel does NOT qualify, even if those facts threaten preconcepts regards Israel.
They are not protesters they are terrorists. just like vandalizing a Tesla for political reasons is terrorism, and people who do it are in for a rude awaking, they are going to prison for a very long time. Our President is not putting up with the crazy left any more.
Trump is a traitor, you’re supporting a traitor and a pawn of a foreign government.
How about that
What terrorist crimes are you accusing them of?
Welcome to the adult world. Actions have consequences. Money comes with requirements.
Yeah, those guys in the masks, breaking down doors and lunging over staff members, are all there for knowledge, for science, for study, for debate, for freedom of speech, for truth, justice and the American way. And, of course, to support their Jewish peers’ rights to continue their academic work undisturbed.
Whatever you feel about the government action or Columbia’s response, please stop claiming there was no antisemitism (or 90% made up, etc). Columbia essentially confessed to antisemitism. Columbia put together a task force (before Trump was in office mind you). The task force wrote a report that unequivocally documented the antisemitism. Columbia agreed to publish and make public that report, thus endorsing its conclusion.
Whether that antisemitism warranted Trumps demands or whether Columbia should have capitulated is a great question. But stop trying to claim there wasn’t even antisemitism to begin with.
Serious question Josh: the demonstrators are against the policies of Israel, and in many cases don’t believe Israel has the right to exist where it currently is. I don’t agree with the demonstrators at all. But does being against the Israeli government make you someone who reflexively hates all Jews? That does not seem right.
I find it hard to believe that any reasonable person anywhere actually denies the existence of antisemitism, which, after all, is one of the oldest and most enduring forms of hatred and bigotry in human existence. Where things get difficult is when the state of Israel commits acts that many people believe are heinous and deserve condemnation, as all criticism of Israel is not the same things as antisemitism. I find it frustrating that so many commenters’ opinions and points of view are so one-sided and dogmatic. One can believe in the right of Israel to exist as a nation in safety free from the scourge of terrorism (as is true of all nations and all peoples), and fully decry the criminality, nihilism and depravity of Hamas, while also believing that the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank deserve far more humane treatment from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and (if there ever is to be peace) an actual normal existence.
If the people living in Gaza are undergoing a terrible time, please blame Hamas, not Israel, because that’s where the blame belongs. You may also lay blame on the surrounding Arab countries who essentially refuse to assist Gazans right now. To write, as you do, “Where things get difficult is when the state of Israel commits acts that many people believe are heinous and deserve condemnation,” is where antisemitic sentiment begins, because Israel, as opposed to what any other country on Earth would do after the October 7th pogrom, went out of their way to avoid civilian casualties. Can Israel be held responsible if Hamas uses Gazans as human shields, if Hamas puts their warfare in hospitals and residential neighborhoods? Your comment, although I’m sure you would disagree, is an example of knee-jerk antisemitism, which you tweaked by throwing a bone to Israeli nationhood. What is Israel supposed to do — allow terrorist Hamas to gain more and more strength, build more tunnels, launch more attacks without defending itself? Enough is enough, especially when you’re dealing with a savage group, Hamas, whose charter demands the death of every Jew in the world.
Nazi Germany put out vicious propaganda on Jews, too, so that, to quote you, “many people believe[d that Jews were] heinous and deserve[d] condemnation.”
I disagree, the world is watching.
You misquoted him in a misleading way. He said that specific actions by Israel are heinous and deserve condemnation. I agree. I am Jewish. “Never again” means “never again for anyone – ever”.
The difficulty for me is that it is hard to understand the alternative available to Israel. What are they supposed to do after October 7. The response to that question is often the clearest hint as to whether someone is anti genocide or anti Jewish.
If you think what I wrote is an example of knee-jerk antisemitism you are way too far gone for rational conversation–and you are not a help to Israel or Jewish people anywhere. To re-state the obvious: all criticism of Israel is not the same thing as antisemitism. If it were, an extremely significant percentage of Israeli citizens would be (according to you) actively engaged in antisemitism!
Ah. But do the Palestinian people deserve more humane treatment from Hamas and Hezbollah?. Should Israel care more about the Palestinians than their own leaders and the rest of the Arab world?
That is actually a fair question, but I believe the answer is yes. The fact that Hamas is indubitably evil does not mean others should engage in equally evil behavior.
Agreed. Are 1,200 lives more valuable that the 50,000 and counting?
I’m so sorry that Columbia students and faculty will have to be accountable for their actions. I hope they manage to survive this traumatic requirement of adulting.
Gimme money. Gimme money. No! I won’t clean my room. Gimme money!
Those of you who think an administration dominated by a guy who threw up the Nazi salute, people who openly advocate for great replacement theory, and a man who publicly announces that he can decide who is and isn’t Jewish actually cares about anti-Semitism are living in a dream world. Sure, Bill Ackman will be fine throwing in with authoritarianism, he’s rich as hell. The rest of you living your comfortable UWS lives who think that you’re automatically and permanently entitled to the moral high ground are not going to like what comes next. Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and other Christian nationalists who literally “support Israel” because they think it needs to exist to be destroyed when the end times come are the actual threat, not Mahmoud Khalil or undergrads in tents on a lawn.
That guy who used the Nazi solute, also like an X post denying the Holocaust, he then removed his like.
The Left has proven to be far more authoritarian than the Right. And your silly Nazi-salute comment has been throughly discredited as misinformation.
I saw the footage. Telling me it’s a deep fake?
There’s only one side in the U.S. snatching people not convicted of any crime off the street and sending them off to deadly hard-labor prison camps in random third countries without any due process or recourse, apparently in defiance of actual court orders. Or threatening to eliminate courts whose decisions they don’t like. Or grabbing your personal data and sending it off to god knows where, god knows whom, without legal authorization.
Just come out and say you yearn for white men to rule the country again; don’t try to persuade us that someone asking you to use different pronouns for them is the moral equivalent of the above. But, if you’re Jewish, be prepared for your whiteness–always historically contingent–to be stripped away at Elon’s convenience.
Again – not true.
One wonders whether one should engage here with right-wing misinformation, but there is only one President in recent times to claim that it isn’t illegal if the President does it, or to use an act of war provision to further a domestic policy aim, and there is no question whatsoever that Elon Musk is a right-wing extremist sympathizer.
How do you defend the indefensible?
Many of us outside the northeast think that the masked students and the
faculty that supports them are confused, to put it kindly. . Hamas started this war, Israel is neither a colonizer nor majority white,
and the Palestinians have been offered a state more than once and rejected the offer. Don’t believe me – ask Hillary Clinton.
Hamas started this war, when?
History didn’t start on Oct. 7th 2023.
How… by living in the constant state of cognitive dissonance that’s characterized the “progressive” left for much of its history. And then they wonder about the counterforces they create, like Trump.
What “left” are you referencing. The Iraq invasion supporters HRC and Schumer and Biden?
You.
How am I in a state of cognitive dissonance?