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.   

What Red Wave? Part II

It certainly was not a total blowout for Republicans.  Fox reported that governors who either opposed Covid lockdowns, or reopened their states quickly, did very well.  Ron DeSantis in Florida won reelection by 19.4 percentage points.  DeSantis had his state on lockdown for only one month, with schools closed for under 3 months.  Kristi Noem of South Dakota won reelection by 26.8 points.  She did not lock her state down, and only closed schools for less than 3 months.  

Kim Reynolds of Iowa won reelection by 18.6 points.  Again, Governor Reynolds only closed the schools for a few months.  Jared Polis of Colorado won by 18.1 points, having a one month shutdown only.  And Brian Kemp of Georgia again beat Stacey Abrams, this time by 7.6 points.  We'll see if Ms. Abrams again becomes an election denier.  

As Kimberly Strassel, of the Wall Street Journal, noted, DeSantis carried Hispanics, women, white men, older voters, independents and married voters.  ABC reported that DeSantis carried Hispanics by 57% to 42%.  He carried Cubans 68% to 31%, likely because Cuban voters understand freedom better than most.  In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine won by 25 points, and helped to increase Republican majorities in the legislature.  In Iowa, not only did Governor Reynolds win, and Senator Grassley win, both by double digits or more, but Republicans held all of the State's House and Senate seats.  Republicans also gained a super majority in the state Senate, and increased their majority in the state House.

In Texas, in addition to Governor Abbott winning, the Republicans increased their majorities in the state legislature.  Governor Abbott:  "Tonight, Texans sent a message that they want to keep Texas the beacon of opportunity that we provided over the past eight years."  Hard to argue with that, given the supporting facts.  In the decade from 2010 to 2020, Texas added about 4 million people.  Meanwhile, California lost people and lost a US House seat as a result.  700,000 Californians during that decade moved from California to Texas.  And, as recently as in 2021 alone, 62 businesses moved from California to Texas.  

Of course, the Democrats had their own wins - in addition to staving off a red wave in the House and the Senate.  In 4 states that had split governments before the election, the Democrats post election are now in complete control.  In Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts, the Democrats control the governor's house as well as both branches of the state legislature.

Is there a takeaway from these state elections?  Daniel Henninger, of the Wall Street Journal, thinks so.  Referring to Governors DeSantis, Kemp, Abbott, DeWine and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Henninger concluded:  "Each of these Republican governors ran on policy successes that elevated their state's economies, schools and indeed personal freedom.  Abortion didn't defeat them."    

Could the Republicans have done better in this divided country?  Maybe.  But, clearly all is not doom and gloom either.    

What Red Wave? Part I

There have been many explanations for why the Republicans did not do better in the 2022 midterm elections.  Abortion, with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade (Dobbs case).  One commentator suggested that many people thought the decision actually outlawed abortion nationwide.  Which, of course, it did not.  (Perhaps "government" is no longer taught in the schools.)  The threat to democracy.  Weak Republican candidates.  Young people, who vote overwhelmingly Democrat, voted in large numbers.  Biden, an unpopular president, mostly avoided the campaign trail, akin to hiding in the basement in 2020. 

I think that the outcome in the Senate gives us a pretty good clue as to what happened.  Of the 35 Senate seats up for election, the Democrats were at risk for 14 - and won all 14.  The Republicans were at risk for 21 - and so far have won 20, with Georgia to be decided by a runoff vote on December 6.  Regardless of who wins (if Walker wins the Senate remains at 50-50, and if Warnock wins it will be 51-49 in favor of the Democrats), the message seems to be that the country remains very evenly divided.  As I write this, the GOP has the lead in the House, barely, 212 seats to 204, with 19 seats still to be decided.  Again, very evenly divided.  So, the question I have is this - with such an evenly divided country, should we have even expected a red wave?

Were other factors at play?  Probably.  But, again, the question I have is - were those factors simply supporting the evenly divided outcome in our evenly divided country?  For example, the Democrats, who always excel at their unified messaging, talked non-stop about the threat to democracy by MAGA Republicans, by which they meant all Republicans.  It was not just Biden's speech (see the 9/4/22 post).  It was virtually all the Democrat candidates, along with their allies in the mainstream media.  And the messaging was non-stop.  Did that messaging prevent more Republicans from winning, when inflation is at a 40 year high, crime and homelessness are out of control, the border is unprotected (with over 5 million people crossing illegally since Biden took office), lack of energy independence (with high gas prices), and a feckless foreign policy.  Inflation, alone, should have resulted in a red wave, no?  

It is worth pointing out that the Democrats played dirty.  In a surprising, but successful move, the Democrats spent tens of millions of dollars in support of weak Republican candidates in the primaries.  Yes, they supported many "MAGA Republicans" in the primaries, expecting that they would be easier to defeat in the general election.  Their bet paid off, as those candidates did, indeed, lose.  But the very idea that the Democrats would support candidates in any election that they viewed as a threat to democracy, was called "cynical" by the Wall Street Journal.  One could also call it hypocritical.  I call it corrupt.  

Chuck Schumer had some interesting comments, after realizing that he would remain Senate Majority leader.  Schumer:  (the) "American people...rejected the anti-democratic, extremist MAGA Republicans."  And this:  (Americans are) "not happy with Republican leaders who condoned and even supported this nasty, poisonous rhetoric."  Schumer is a piece of work.  As Majority Leader, he stood outside the Supreme Court of the United States and threatened Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, if they did not agree with him on abortion.  As we know, there was subsequently an effort made to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh.  Schumer is a hypocritical liar.

And I'm sick of hearing about the "anti-democratic, extremist MAGA Republicans."  Democrats, who will not support US sovereignty, with their open border policy; who favored state courts rulings against state laws that placed limits on the time for voting; who support prosecutors who ignore state laws in order to effect "equity" in the criminal justice system, thereby ignoring the victims and protecting the criminals.  Tell me how ignoring enacted legislation supports democracy.  And who is extremist?  All the Democrats who claimed election fraud over the last decade or more, with some still in Congress? The Democrats who support socialism?  The Democrats who want to defund the police?  How about the antisemites in Congress who are part of the Democrat Party?  Why isn't antisemitism considered "extreme?"  Oh, that's right.  It is only considered extreme when the Democrats believe they can pin the "antisemite" label on a Republican.   

Did the consistent "anti-democratic MAGA extremists" propaganda play a role in the outcome?  To the extent that it may have affected the votes of independents, I would say it did.  Again, the Democrats have the near universal support of the mainstream media.  And the message was repeated day after day after day.  We have a mainstream media that no longer bothers to even give any pretense of being objective.  In fact, quite a few so-called "journalists" have justified their one-sided reporting (lying) on behalf of Democrats.  

When I refer to the mainstream media, it is not just most newspapers, it is also NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC.  It is also many TV shows and movies, because the writers are usually left-wing.  In a recent episode of "The Good Fight" on Paramount+ (I have never watched it), Ron DeSantis was accused by a gay character of sexual harassment, and of forcing this character to have oral sex.  Of course, the story is fictional, but it raises two questions.  Why even have such a story, unless the intent is to damage the likely leading Republican in the country, hoping that many people will assume the claim to be true.  Secondly, given Joe Biden's actual history of inappropriately touching women and even young girls, why wasn't he the target of the accusation of sexual harassment?  Well, we know why.  He's a Democrat.

Was it a total defeat for the Republicans?  See Part II.   

The Attack On Paul Pelosi

The attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was horrific.  Pelosi is an 82 year old man, and was viciously assaulted by someone who was in the country illegally.  Someone who clearly has mental health issues.  The perpetrator was supposedly yelling "where's Nancy?"  Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle have appropriately condemned the attack and wished Pelosi a complete and speedy recovery.

Rand Paul Tweeted this:  "No one deserves to be assaulted.  Unlike Nancy Pelosi's daughter who celebrated my assault, I condemn this attack and wish Mr Pelosi a speedy recovery."  Recall that Rand Paul was himself viciously attacked by his neighbor in 2017.  He suffered six broken ribs.  One of his lungs was also damaged, and in 2019 part of his lung had to be surgically removed.  But the Pelosi's daughter Tweeted at the time that Rand Paul's neighbor "was right."  Sick.

But the Left always objects to being called out for their hypocrisy.  They don't want to hear about it.  Sometimes, they will make the accusation of "whataboutism."  Here was a comment by independent journalist Aaron Rupar:  "That Rand Paul can't bring himself to either just say nothing or condemn the assault without resorting to whataboutism speaks volumes about him."  

After the assault on Rand Paul, Kasie Hunt, of MSNBC, said:  "New details today on the incident that left Senator Rand Paul with six broken ribs.  This might be one of my favorite stories..."  More recently, Democrat Senate candidate in Iowa, Mike Franken, Tweeted last year:  "Wasn't Rand's neighbor more than a little in the right?"  

What about the mainstream media?  Here was the Washington Post:  "Attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband follows years of GOP demonizing her."  The New York Times had this headline:  "Years of efforts to vilify Pelosi preceded brutal attack in home."  Here was Hillary Clinton:  "The Republican Party and its mouthpieces now regularly spread hate and deranged conspiracy theories.  It is shocking, but not surprising, that violence is the result."  

That's it, make Republicans responsible.  So who was responsible for the shooting at the Republican baseball game in 2017, which nearly killed Congressman Steve Scalise.  The shooter was a Bernie Sanders supporter, and follower of Rachel Maddow.  Were they responsible for the shooting?  Were all Democrats responsible?  

Who is responsible for the beatdown of  someone who was canvassing for Republican Senator Marco Rubio?  That person was wearing a Rubio T-shirt and a DeSantis hat, and suffered internal bleeding and a broken jaw.  But one of the attackers allegedly said:  "you can't pass by here, this is my neighborhood."  Very likely that was a Democrat.  Are the Democrats at fault?

Pat Harrigan is a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina.  Just recently, his parent's home was shot at, while his children were sleeping upstairs.  While he has been on the campaign trail, Harrigan's children, ages 3 and 5, have been sleeping at his parents.  The bullet entered the first floor of the home, directly under the room where the children were sleeping.  A random attack?  Maybe.  But maybe a targeted attack.  A number of news articles describe Harrigan as "a firearms manufacturer and U.S. Army Special Forces Veteran."  

And, of course, we have the attempted assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  In that case, a young man from California was said to be angry over the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas (who wasn't) and over the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion that overturned Roe vs Wade.  Very likely that man is a Democrat.  So, yes, I want to discuss "whataboutism."  I want to point out the hypocrisy of the Democrats and the Left, who lie about political violence all being one-sided.   They lie when they say all political violence is encouraged or instigated by Republicans.  And, yes, I'm sick of their lies and hypocrisy, and the support given to those lies and that hypocrisy by the mainstream media. 

The 2022 Midterm Election

Last week, President Biden gave a major speech regarding the upcoming midterms.  He started out talking about the attack on Paul Pelosi, then switching to January 6, of course.  He next discussed voter intimidation (is that a big issue?), and followed up with threats against election officials.  After glossing over the real issues of the economy, crime and the like, he got to the substance and focus of his speech:  "But there's something else at stake, democracy itself."  The implication is clear:  if Republicans win, it is the end of our democracy.  

Biden:  "We the people must decide whether we will have fair and free elections, and every vote counts."  Yet, later on in his speech, Biden tells us:  "Once again we're seeing record turnout all over the country."  So, which is it?  Voter suppression or record voter turnout?  Georgia has reported record early voter turnout.  The same Georgia that passed a voting law to insure integrity of elections, the one that Biden called Jim Crow 2.0, somehow still resulted in early record turnout.  That's because Biden's attack, as well as the attacks of others on the Left, were nothing but lies.  Recall that Major League Baseball moved their All Star game from Atlanta to Denver over those lies.  Any apologies by Biden?  No, he continues to double down.

Biden:  "We the people must decide whether the rule of law will prevail..."  I know I'm not alone in wishing the rule of law applied when leftist groups such as Antifa and BLM were causing $2 billion worth of damage across the country.  I wish the rule of law applied in our cities, instead of criminals not being prosecuted by left-wing district attorneys.  I wish the rule of law was applied evenly in this country.  Recently, Steve Bannon was sentenced to 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress.  Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, was also held in contempt of Congress.  His prison sentence?  Please, he was not even prosecuted.

Biden:  "The great irony about the 2020 election is that it's the most attacked election in our history."  There's a whopper of a lie!  Hillary Clinton said the 2016 election was stolen from her.  Many Democrats said that Trump was an illegitimate President.  There was talk of impeaching Trump from the day he assumed office.  Then they made up the Russian collusion story, which was used as a vehicle for non-stop harassment of Trump during his entire term.  I cannot recall, at least not during my lifetime, of another president being so hounded during his entire term in office.  I was disappointed when Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration.  But just two days prior to Trump's inauguration, 55 Congressional Democrats had already announced that they would not attend.  

Biden's speech was non-stop about the threat to democracy if the people do not vote as he wants.  Ironically, Democrat candidates are claiming that Republicans are engaging in fear-mongering by talking about the rise in crime.  But Biden and the Democrats are trying to scare people into believing a Republican victory in the midterms means the end of democracy.  Didn't Biden promise to be the great unifier in his inaugural address?  Just another lie.