New Year Reflections, Part II - A Continuing Discussion of the True Threat to Our Freedoms and Democracy

United States Representatives Adam Schiff, Andre Carson and Kathy Castor, along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (all Democrats) sent a letter to the president of global affairs at Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp).  

Here is part of their letter:  "Following the 2022 midterm elections, we write to urge Meta to maintain its commitment to keeping dangerous and unfounded election denial content off its platform.  To that end, we also urge Meta and its leadership to continue the suspension of former president Donald Trump's Facebook account beyond January, and to carefully monitor the spread of harmful election misinformation, including the BIG LIE about the 2020 presidential election, on Facebook..."  

When they talk about "election denial," they are only speaking of Donald Trump and his supporters.  They do not mean Hillary Clinton, who has never accepted that she lost in 2016.  Nor do they mean Stacey Abrams, Al Gore, or the many others who never accepted defeat, or those who never accepted Donald Trump as a legitimate president.  This is how the Left, the Democratic Party (recall these letter writers are all Democrats who are prominent members of Congress) tries to shut down speech with which they disagree.

Here's more from these Democratic letter writers to Meta:  "Meta's policies do not prohibit posts that make unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud...this is highly troubling, and an area where Meta must improve its oversight and enforcement."  These Congress members are telling Meta what they MUST do.  Is that how a democracy works?  Democrats using the power of the federal government to tell private business what speech is acceptable.  Is no one allowed to ever suggest there might be any voter fraud?

One of the totalitarian Left's tactics is to call opposing speech "misinformation."  Here is WH Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:  "I want to be very clear here.  The fact is that the removal of Title 42 does not mean the border is open.  Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply doing the work of these smugglers who, again, are spreading misinformation which is very dangerous."  How to shut down conservative speech?  Call it misinformation.  Call it hate speech.  Attempt to criminalize it.  

Anyone who watches Fox News can see for themselves that the border is wide open.  Anyone who does a little reading or research knows that in the two years that Biden had been in office, nearly 5 million people have entered our country illegally.  Five million people, if placed in one location, would be the second largest city in the US, surpassed only by New York City.  And that's misinformation?  "Misinformation" is anything that disagrees with the totalitarian Left's talking points.  

This is almost unbelievable.  But it's not if you understand the influence of the Left.  Police in the UK interrogated, and then arrested, a woman standing outside an abortion clinic.  Her offense?  Standing across the street from an abortion clinic and silently praying.  Apparently, the City of Birmingham in the UK has a "Public Spaces Protection Order" in place.  That order prohibits any either pro or anti abortion protesting near any abortion clinic, by "graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counseling."  I get it.  Abortion is legal, so the City does not want people entering an establishment that provides a legal service to be harassed or intimidated.  But silent prayer across the street?  Really?  

The totalitarian Left will not only try to change your words and thoughts, they will act against you when possible.  The paragraph above was about the UK.  But here is a story about the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.  Two of the schools administrators thought it was a good idea to withhold notification from students, mostly Asian, that they were deemed to be National Merit Scholars.  National Merit sends the list of students to school administrators, and allows them to notify the students.

Without that information, the students could not put on their college applications that they were National Merit Scholars.  The result is that they may have lost out on scholarships.  Said the Director of Student Services:  "We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements."  And, apparently, these administrators did not want to hurt the feelings of those students who were not recognized as National Merit Scholars.  

We know that the Left thinks that capitalism is bad.  Consistent with that, merit is also bad.  As is the hard work it took those students to achieve such recognition.  The Director said she wanted to "recognize students for who they are as individuals..."  But part of who they are is their dedication to hard work and achievement.  But if the totalitarian Left opposes that agenda, they will deal with it accordingly.  Any harm caused to individuals is of no consequence.  

New Year Reflections, Part I - Here is the True Threat to Our Freedoms and Democracy

It's been two years since January 6, 2021.  Time to stop thinking about that as the true threat to our democracy.  The true threat is more subtle than people climbing into the Capitol.  And that threat is embedded within the Democratic Party.  It is reflected in their efforts to harm us, to make us talk a certain way, and to even make us think a certain way.

The Cambridge Dictionary, like many institutions within the Western world, has been infected with Leftism.  They now define a woman as "an adult who lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth."  Similarly, a man is defined as "an adult who lives and identifies as male though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth."  What utter non-scientific nonsense.  Then what is "female?"  What is "male?"  What is "sex at birth?"

Another eminent institution infected by left-wing nonsense is Stanford University.  They put out a list of what they refer to as "harmful language."  Why?  Because as with ALL left-wing institutions, they want you to think and talk a certain way.  A left-wing woke, politically correct way.  What's on Stanford's list?  "American."  They prefer US citizen, because there are other countries in the Americas (in North America, Central America and South America).  So what?  Who gives a damn!  We are the United States Of America.  So I'm proud to be an American.  

Stanford says don't say handicap parking, say accessible parking.  The State of California has given me a handicap placard.  I park in handicap spaces when I can.  Nothing about that hurts my feelings.  Of course, don't say "black hat," "black mark," or "black sheep."  Although, as a white person who is a conservative, I am clearly the black sheep in my left-wing family.  And, no "beating a dead horse," or "killing two birds with one stone."  The imagery is too violent.  I love horses.  I think they are the most majestic of all the animals.  But the expression "beating a dead horse," would never cause me to beat any horse - alive or dead.  

And, don't say "homeless person."  Rather, say a "person without housing."  Allow me to explain the difference, which is not obvious.  "Homeless person" is a descriptive adjective of a person.  Bad.  A "person without housing" is not descriptive of the person, but rather of their circumstance.  

In Norway, a transgender individual described herself as a "lesbian mother."  A Norwegian filmmaker and actress took issue with that.  She posted on Facebook:  "it's just as impossible for men to become a lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant.  Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes."  In the US, we are blessed to have the First Amendment, although many on the Left would like to see that Amendment changed to not protect this type of speech.  However, Norway does not have the same constitutional protections of speech.  So, that filmmaker is now now facing criminal hate speech charges, which carries a possible sentence of up to 3 years in prison.  Up to 3 years in prison for speech that is not woke and politically correct.  This is the totalitarian Left.

The Left is sick.  They will try to punish you for saying that men cannot get pregnant.  I thought that was a scientific fact.  Everyone needs to understand the totalitarian nature of the Left.  They are perfectly willing to threaten your "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."  The Left is a danger to freedom and liberty everywhere.  January 6 is not.  

A transgender rights activist testified before the House Oversight and Reform Committee.  Here is part of her testimony.  "The 6 justices who overturned Roe should never know peace again.  It is our civic duty to accost them every time they are in public.  They are pariahs.  Since women don't have their rights, these justices should never have a peaceful moment in public again."  I would ask those on the Left, is that your idea of democracy?  Pay no attention to the legal issues in Roe and Dobbs.  Simply harass, maybe even get violent, towards those with whom you disagree? 

But this transgender woman is not alone.  Recall that Chuck Schumer, as then Minority Leader in the US Senate, told a cheering crowd in front of the Supreme Court, before the final decision in Dobbs issued:  "I want to tell you Gorsuch.  I want to tell you Kavanaugh.  You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price.  You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."  But they did go forward with the decision.  Overturning Roe did not take away the right to abortion.  It left it up to the states.  Because we are a Republic of 50 states, with those states having the general police power.

But the Left doesn't give a damn about the "republic," or about the Constitution.  They just care about their causes.  Their issues.  They have no regard for how our democracy works.  Or that we have 3 branches of government.  Or that we have 50 state governments, not only a federal government.  One way or another, the totalitarian Left is determined to get what they want.  By controlling your thinking, your speech and your actions.  If you do not conform, you will face their wrath.  As the Left has taken over the Democratic Party, that Party has become the true threat to our democracy. 

Year End Reflections - Part III, The Continued Failure of the UN

It probably will not come as much of a surprise to anyone, but the Times of Israel reports that in 2022, Israel was condemned, in various UN resolutions, 15 times.  The rest of the world?  13 times all combined.  Is there a point to the UN?  Unless you believe that all the human rights abuses perpetrated by Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, North Korea and other places, are insignificant compared to whatever is happening in Israel, then the only possible explanation is antisemitism.  Which means antisemitism is a worldwide problem.  This should be frightening to American Jewry.  Unfortunately, their main complaints are with Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump - two men who arguably have done more for Israel than any others.  

The latest antisemitic resolution to pass the UN General Assembly was sponsored by the Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan (two countries with whom Israel has had decades old peace agreements), as well as Yemen, Tunisia and Senegal.  The resolution commemorates the Nakba (catastrophe in Arabic), by which they mean the founding of the State of Israel.  The resolution passed 90 in favor, 30 opposed with 47 abstentions.  

Voting in favor were, among others, Bahrain and the UAE.  Those two countries were part of the Abraham Accords, establishing relations with Israel.  Voting against the resolution were, among others, the US, the UK, Israel, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and The Netherlands.  Notwithstanding the different ways I searched on Google, I was unable to get a country by country vote.  It would appear, however, that at least some of the European countries voted in favor.

Here is what Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said.  "This General Assembly, this body, voted to adopt Resolution 181 - the Partition Plan (partitioning the British Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state).  My people, the Jewish people, accepted this resolution without hesitation.  But the Arabs and Palestinians did not.  Five Arab armies, together with the Arabs living in Israel, tried to destroy and annihilate us."  

Ambassador Erdan went on to discuss the hundreds of thousand of Jews displaced from Iran and the Arab world in the 1940's and 1050's.  Of course, the UN does not care about that.  Ambassador Erdan:  "Their only crime was being Jewish.  This is the true Nakba."  But how often throughout history has the only crime of my people been "being Jewish."  

On November 29, the UN celebrated the "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People."  I honestly do not know if all these countries think they are helping the cause of the peace, or just don't give a damn as long as they can appease the Palestinians.  Because, like it or not, only Donald Trump seemed to understand that the way forward was to make Israel welcomed within the Greater Middle East, and to ignore the Palestinians until they agreed to stop killing Jews.  

Year End Reflections - Part II, More on the Pernicious Effects of Left-Wing "Culture"

As I understand it, the American Girl Dolls have been very popular.  But now, the company put out a book titled "Smart Girl's Guide:  Body Image Book."  Here is some nonsense from the book, as reported by Fox.  "If you haven't gone through puberty yet, the doctor might offer medicine to delay your body's changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity...If you don't have an adult you trust, there are organizations across the country that can help." 

Here is part of a preferred paragraph, as discussed by Jill Simonian, in a Fox Op-Ed.  "If you haven't gone through puberty yet, understand that it can be a confusing experience...but most everything you will feel is likely normal for this time in your life.  Always turn to an adult in your life who you feel comfortable with, for any questions you have...Being a girl can sometimes be complicated and confusing, but it's awesome." 

Let me be clear here.  Most boys feel like boys.  Most girls feel like girls.  And I have complete sympathy for those who feel otherwise.  But what is the message from American Girl?  That it's not okay to be a girl?  That it's not okay to become a woman?

Here is a stunning paragraph.  "Parts of your body may make you feel uncomfortable and you may want to change the way you look...that's totally okay."  Given our society's focus on looks, given the way female models and female entertainers look, and given all the magazine covers, it is hard enough for young girls to develop a positive body image.  It is hard for many women.  That does not mean they need to change their "gender."  I'm sure I will get some flack on this, but this is just sick. 

Actor and producer Kirk Cameron wanted to have a children's hour at various libraries in order to discuss/read his new book, "As You Grow."  (Let me admit here that I have not yet read this book.  But, Cameron says it is about things like faith, family and America.)  Over 50 public libraries have rejected his request to have an hour with their students.  Here is a typical reply, this one from a school district in Providence, Rhode Island.  "...we will pass on having you run a program in our space.  We are a very queer-friendly library.  Our messaging does not align."

What if his messaging does align with 90% of the students and their parents?  That's just too bad.  The Left will make sure your kids get "Drag Queen Story Hour," "The 1619 Project," and other woke, unwholesome and anti-American "lessons."  Traditional American ideas?  Not in public schools. 

The destructive influence of the Left is not confined to the US,  In what is described as an elite French University, Sciences Po, a dance instructor there was reprimanded.  She had the audacity to refer to her students as men and women.  She was told she must refer to her students as "leader" and "follower."  She refused.  So she quit.  Good for her!  It was back on July 20, 2014, that I wrote the post "My Ex-Wife."  On October 19, 2014, I wrote "My Ex-Son and Ex-Daughters."  I wrote those posts because the terms "husband," "wife," "son" and "daughter" were to be banned from our language.  Maybe some readers thought that would never happen.  Anyone still think that?

Allow me to reiterate.  I have complete sympathy for anyone who feels those descriptive terms do not apply to them.  But the Left has no sympathy for the overwhelmingly majority of people who do fit into those categories.  And, as the Left controls our schools, colleges, universities, mainstream media and the White House, it is just too bad for the vast majority of students.

And, permit me to reiterate a point made at the end of Part I: for those unclear as to the source of this sick, anti-boy, anti-girl, anti-men, and anti-women outlook on the world, that would be the Democrats.  Because the Left not only inhabits the Democratic Party - they now control it.

Year End Reflections - Part I, The Pernicious Effects of Gender and Race on America

I have never been a fan of "identity politics."  No one should be.  Identity politics prevents many from assessing what is truly important - character.  And the result of this misplaced emphasis results in a serious lack of common sense and moral clarity.

Example number one.  In a story out of the Randolph Union High School in Vermont, a 14 year old girl complained to some friends that she felt uncomfortable having to change clothes in the girls locker room, with a male student present.  Presumably, the biologically male student identified as a female. Someone ended up reporting this girl's discomfort to the school principal.  Incredibly, she was then disciplined for harassment and bullying.  

Her punishment included suspension, writing a "reflective essay," and participating in a "restorative justice circle."  Thankfully, she was able to get representation from the Alliance Defending Freedom, which sued the principal and the Orange Southwest School District.  After the filing of the lawsuit, the superintendent decided to rescind the punishments.  But just how sick has society become, when a young girl is not even permitted to say that she feels uncomfortable having a male in the locker room where has has to undress and change clothes.  

Example number two.  The "Lion King" is playing on Broadway in New York.  The cast is mostly black.  An American Sign Language interpreter, who is white, claims that he was fired based on his race.  He asserts that he received an email telling him that (as told on Fox) although "he was an amazing ASL performer, he is not a black person and therefore should not be representing the Lion King as the majority of characters are black actors and the content takes place in Africa."

I see.  Just as I am no fan of "identity politics," I am also no fan of the idea of "cultural appropriation," although I am not sure if that was at play here.  But I am curious.  If a white ASL interpreter is inappropriate in a play with mostly black characters, how was it permissible for a black actor to portray George Washington in the play "Hamilton," which I saw in Los Angeles?  How dare they!  By all historical accounts, Washington was white.  Having a black actor portray Washington is a historical inaccuracy.  Having a talented, and white, ASL interpreter, regardless of the race of the cast, should just be common sense.  

Example number 3.  After the LA Mayoral race final results were announced, my wife and I were watching the local 11pm news on NBC.  The anchors were celebrating the victory of Democrat Karen Bass, a black woman.  They cheerfully told us that, once Bass is sworn in, the mayors of America's three largest cities (New York, Los Angeles and Chicago) would all be black.  Because, after all, what else matters?  Not competency.  Not the fact that all three cities are suffering from excessive rates of violent crime and property crimes and homelessness.  

I would like to see one of the local NBC reporters speak to a black family member whose black loved one had just been murdered.  After asking how they are coping, the reporter should ask this:  "But doesn't it make you feel better now that LA has a black mayor?"  Ridiculous?  Of course.  Inappropriate?  You bet.  And that should be a clue as to the nonsense regarding race.  

A final point, for those unclear as to the source of this dangerous focus on race and gender above all else.  That would be the Democrats.

The Aftermath of the Israeli Election and the Dismay of the American Jewish Left - Part II

 Thomas Friedman is a regular Op-Ed writer for the New York Times.  He authored a recent piece titled "The Israel We Knew Is Gone."  Like Myers and Sokatch, Friedman is extremely unhappy with the recent election results in Israel.  Based on the rise of the religious right-wing parties, and the likelihood (now a reality) of members of those parties serving in the Netanyahu government, Friedman asks this question:  "...a fundamental question will roil synagogues in America and across the globe:  'Do I support this Israel or not support it?'"  

As a Jew, I will never understand that question.  Of course I support Israel.  My support is not contingent upon whoever may be in control of the government.  That is no different from my support for, and love of the USA, regardless of which party is in power.  Friedman acknowledges being told by an Israeli columnist that "there has been a dramatic upsurge in violence - stabbings, shootings, gang warfare and organized crime - by Israeli Arabs against other Israeli Arabs, and Israeli Arab gangs and organized crime against Israeli Jews, particularly in mixed communities."  

The November 19 edition of the New York Times had a news article with this title:  "Ruinous Electoral Failure Has Israel's Left Groping for a Vision and a Future."  Says the author:  "The waning of the left began in the 2000s, when a wave of Palestinian violence was interpreted by many Israelis as a rejection of efforts to peacefully resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."  What the author does not say is that in the year 2000, Yasser Arafat started the "Second Intifada," sending waves of suicide (homicide) bombers into Israel in order to blow up Jews (civilians) on buses, in malls and restaurants, and even at a Passover Seder.  What the author does not say is that many Israelis saw that as one of many rejections of efforts at peace.  

Israel continues to face enormous threats - from Hamas, from Hezbollah, from Syria and from Iran.  And sadly, from terrorists within.  But, all of these threats notwithstanding, Israel remains a thriving democracy.  Elections are free.  People may protest the government's policies, as they often do.  And, contrary to the Myers and Sokatch piece, the LGBTQ community in Israel is alive and well.  Of course, none of these things can be said about many of the surrounding Arab countries, or about life in Gaza under Hamas, or life in the Palestinian controlled areas of the West Bank under Abbas.  But none of that is ever the concern of the Left.  

The author spoke with an Israeli woman, who is described as a senior member of the management team of an Israeli kibbutz.  After saying that she "...held out hope for the creation of a Palestinian state side by side with a Jewish one - obviating the need to dilute Israel's Jewish character," the article quotes the woman as follows:  "If that's no longer possible, 10 years from now, it'll be better to have a democratic state than a Jewish state."  At the risk of upsetting some of my readers, I could not disagree more with that woman.

Israel must remain a Jewish state - a safe haven for the Jewish people, and historic home of the Jews.  Would I like to see the Arabs living in peace with the Jews?  Of course.  Who wouldn't?  But this effort to destroy the one Jewish state in the world has been going on for 76 years.  On black Friday I purchased the book "Bibi, My Story," an autobiography by Benjamin Netanyahu. In it, he quotes his brother Yoni, who fought in the Six Day War of 1967.  Yoni:  "I want peace very much.  I don't like to live by the sword, a life of killing and trying not to be killed."

Then Yoni wrote this:  "I see with sorrow how a part of our people still clings to unrealistic hopes for peace.  Common sense tells them that the Arabs haven't abandoned their basic aim of destroying the state.  But the self-delusion that has always plagued the Jews is at work again.  They want to believe, so they believe.  They want not to see, so they distort (reality).  It would be comic if it wasn't so tragic."  (Book by Threshold Editions, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2022.)  

May Israel always remain the home of the Jewish people.  The people of Israel live!  Am Yisrael Chai!

The Aftermath of the Israeli Election and the Dismay of the American Jewish Left - Part I

(Note.  A post on the recent election in Israel (Israel Votes - And The Issues Are Similar To Here In The US) was written on November 6.  As discussed in that post, the conservative religious parties fared well in the election.)

In the November 4, 2022, Los Angeles Times was an Op-Ed co-written by David Myers (described as a professor of Jewish history at UCLA and president of the New Israel Fund) and Daniel Sokatch (CEO of the New Israel Fund).  I should preface my remarks by noting that I have previously had an email exchange with Professor Myers.  I also make mention of some of Professor Myers' opinions in my posts of 6/13/10 and 2/12/17.

Myers and Sokatch bemoan the rightward tilt of Israel's Jewish population.  They say that about 62% identify as right-wing, up from 46% in 2019.  "Especially depressing" to them is that 70% of young Israeli Jews identify as right-wing.  

But this one paragraph tells us all we need to know about Myers and Sokatch, and many left-wing American Jews:  "Israel has maintained an illegal and immoral occupation of Palestinian land since 1967.  And it has never reconciled its self-definition as a Jewish state with its professed desire to offer full equality to all its citizens, especially its large Arab minority, which makes up a fifth of the population."  The writers are particularly concerned about the likelihood (now a reality) of Itamar Ben-Gvir ("the avowed disciple of the hate-filled racist Meir Kahane") and Bezalel Smotrich ("a rabidly anti-LGBTQ rabble rouser") becoming part of the Netanyahu government.

But let's start with the idea of "Palestinian land."  What land is that?  In 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition the land of the British Mandate into a Jewish State and an Arab state.  The Jews agreed, but the Arabs never did.  When the Arabs attacked the new Jewish state, in a war lasting from 11/30/47 through 7/20/49, they did not succeed in destroying Israel.  When the war ended there was no peace treaty outlining the boundaries of two states.  Rather, there was an "armistice," a cease fire, the boundaries of which came to be known as the 1967 borders.  

During the "Six Day War" of 1967, the Arabs again failed to destroy the Jewish state.  Israel, on the other hand, won control of all of Jerusalem, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Gaza and the Golan Heights.  At the time of the armistice in 1949, Egypt controlled Gaza, Syria controlled the Golan Heights and Jordan controlled the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem.  But those Arab countries lost the 1967 war.  In other words, Arab countries controlled the land people like Myers and Sokatch call "Palestinian land."  Only after Israel controlled that territory did it become "Palestinian" land.    

Israel is the Jewish homeland.  I cannot tell if Myers and Sokatch have a problem with that.  One would never know from their piece that Arabs are in the Knesset, in the judiciary and were members of the outgoing government.  One might not know that in Israel Arabs are doctors and lawyers and in other professions.  But it's also true that after last year's fighting between Israel and Hamas (the current rulers of Gaza), Israeli Arabs attacked Israeli Jews in various cities throughout Israel.  Whatever justification that these Israeli Arabs may have felt, it is clear that many Jews no longer felt safe from their neighbors.  It should have surprised no one that the left-wing government gave way to a conservative government.  That would be a natural reaction when one's safety and security is at risk.  

It is no longer a surprise to me that people like Myers and Sokatch do not acknowledge the countless times that the Arabs have, in fact, been offered a state, and have rejected it each and every time.  The first rejection, again, was in 1947.  So this rejectionist attitude has been going on for 76 years.  Myers and Sokatch do not mention the non-stop terrorist attacks on Jewish Israeli civilians, nor the thousands of rockets launched from Hamas.  I would ask Myers and Sokatch if 22 Arab countries is fine with them, but a single Jewish country is not.