Never Forget

So I woke up this morning to this in my inbox.  Some person or persons has decided to vandalize a synagogue, Shaarey Tefilla , in Carmel, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis and about 4 miles from my house.  This is the Conservative synagogue where Noah became Bar Mitzvah.  A place that that is part of our greater Indianapolis Jewish community and an established synagogue that in recent years moved north to area where more Jewish people live.  This is a disgusting display of hate and I believe a form of terrorism.  I can't begin to understand the reasoning behind it.  But frankly it appears that this is becoming more common around the country.

Indiana has had a reputation of hate in the past.  The KKK was founded just 2 hours north of Carmel.  But in Indianapolis there has been a real effort to be more interfaith than many places I have lived.  I personally belong to at least 3 specifically interfaith organizations and there are many more in town that our synagogue has been part of for decades.  The interfaith community has included our Rabbis for over 30 years, and Sha'arey Tefillah has been part of a growing interfaith community in Carmel and the community has embraced the synagogue as a part of the city.  Yet hate grows in the dark corners of every place in America.

Hate grows out of fear.  We continue to live in a country where the other is seen not as an opportunity to expand who we are but as something to frightened of attacking our life and life style.  The immigrant, Muslims, People of Color, and yes even the Jews.  Recently on a west coast political appearance the President of the United States said something about "New York money".  That is a dog whistle heard by bigots as Jewish money.  The White Supremacists who are planning a rally in the Nation's Capital, who rallied last year in Charlottesville chanted "Jews will not replace us"  and used Nazi slogans like "Blue and Soil".  We can't ignore these kinds of antisemitism, and we must work to purge it from our culture.  We must stand against any expression hate in this country, against anyone, anywhere.  There are more people in Carmel, in greater Indianapolis, in Indiana and in the country who want to live in peace and community with those who believe differently, come from different nations, cultures and ethnicities.  We are stronger and have the numbers to continue the tradition of the United States of being a welcoming place to all.  We have not always been perfect and we have a long way to go, but as a culture these expressions of hate are known to be wrong.  So we must work to fight back against this and all hate.

In Indiana this should add to the push for a hate crimes or more accurately a bias crime law.  Something that has failed many times in our state government.  Some feel like it criminalizes thought.  So when caught the people who did the vandalism will be charged with a property crime.  But this is a form of terror on the Jewish community.  Many Jews will feel the fear that has been part of Jewish history.  It is not an attack a building it is an attack on a community and I would argue the entire community, Jews and those who welcome Jews.  A bias crime law would make this crime worse than egging a house.  This most certainly is worse than that. It isn't about the cost of cleaning it up, it is about what this means to those who encounter it.   The majority of people in Indiana stand against hate.   I also think the government should stand with that majority.

Today, we live in a world where every day brings a new bomb shell story in the news both on the national and local level.  But this is moment we can use to talk about the issue of the growth of hate in the country.  We need to remember that hate, left unchecked escalates.  We need to remember that if you have a neighbor who is part of a minority group, don't be scared of them, get to know them.  We need to remember that our country's greatness comes from our diversity.  Attacks on immigration was recently met with a quote, "Imagine London without Indian food".  Homogeneity is only good for milk.

Chances are we will find out who painted these walls with symbols of hate.  We may learn why they chose to do it.  But they are symptom and the disease is currently in a stage where we can expunge it.  Let's see if we can work together to do that.

Who You Going to Believe Me or Your Lying Eyes

President Donald Trump said yesterday that the American people should believe what they read and what they see.  This Orwellian statement could easily be seen as him trying to work the referees when the media reports don't go his way.  But one of the things we are seeing is that Trump has been using Russian propaganda on his twitter feed, retweeting a doctored video of Secretary Clinton from a government outlet.  What is worse is that the press conference in Helsinki included a question to Vladimir Putin asking if he wanted Trump to win the election and if he ordered his people to help.  Putin said yes he did and it was because then candidate Trump wanted to build a better relationship with Russia.  The official White House release of the video and transcript of the press conference erases the question about Putin helping Trump.  Let me repeat, a video of a broadcast of a press conference that many people saw has been altered to serve President Trump's agenda.  Donald Trump is living the the Saggy song It Wasn't Me.  It doesn't matter what reality is, it appears to be what the Trump administration wants you believe.  That is a serious problem in a Democratic Republic.  Facts are facts except for this White House.  There is always a political position to change the narrative and people will tell you all politicians lie.  But they don't tend to lie about objective facts in a way that basically says reality isn't real.  In fact on the same day the White House released this altered video and transcript the President tweeted that the Russian will work to elect Democrats because they hate Trump.  So this, of course, is a pattern.  Every reporter should ask every Republican or member of the administration about this, but they are obsessed with the Cohen tapes.  So we should ask.  Call your representatives and ask them, do they think it is appropriate for the President to share Russian propaganda and to alter videos of important press conferences.  If they don't answer, ask again.  If they do nothing about it, vote for someone who will.  The beauty of our country is that you have the power to make this better.  Or we can sit back and try to understand why the media think a payment for sex is important and if Rosanne will be back on TV.  Then you are just helping the propaganda.

Contractions Are Difficult

Two days ago the President of the United States, in a press conference in Helsinki, along with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, denied that Russia tried to influence the US elections by hacking the Democratic campaigns computers.  This is direct opposition to his own intelligence officers, including Dan Burton, who he named in his rant.  Also 15 Russian intelligence officers have been indicted for doing just that.  (Oh missing from some news reports is that the indictment includes unnamed Americans including a Congressional candidate).  At one point in the presser Trump said, "Putin 'just said it’s not Russia I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server," shifting to a crazy conspiracy theory about the DNC server and the FBI.  This was a moment that jaws dropped around the world.  The President of the United States, facing overwhelming information that Russian officials tried to influence the election in the US in 2016, basically said he is fine because a thuggish dictator who kills detractors, lies to his people and is a master of propaganda told him he didn't do it. This caused a stir even among SOME of his supporters.  So 24 hours later he came out with an explanation for this anti-American statement made on foreign soil.  He said that he meant to say WOULDN'T instead of WOULD.  I will give you a minute to laugh.  Yes, he suggested that he didn't get the idea of the contraction or as he said a double-negative.  Now if you believe he simply misspoke, congratulations you are the reason that peanut butter has on its label:  CAUTION CONTENTS PEANUTS.

As some members of the GOP are now trying to run cover for this disgraceful leader I think we need a call to people who are hired to represent us to act now.  At the very least Congress should issue a joint censure.  Hearings should be held to find out exactly what the President talked about in his private meeting with Putin.  If they don't act then we should vote them out, this isn't about party, this isn't about tax cuts, it isn't about SCOTUS, it is about the integrity of Western Democracy.  Last night he suggested that the US shouldn't have to respond to NATO's Article 5, the mutual defense article (only invoked ever on behalf of the US after 9-11.) specifically singling out Montenegro.  Here is the thing, Montenegro is a place that Russia wants more influence.

Donald Trump has always been unfit to be President of the United States.  Nothing in the process that got him elected worked.  So now it is up to us, the people, the majority that doesn't want him to have free reign as President, must act.  Call, write, harass your representatives.  If they apologize for his actions, challenge them.  Use facts not emotional nonsense.  Keep within the Constitution (some nut suggested we should install Hillary Clinton by fiat)  and vote.  Vote for Democrats even if they aren't perfect.  Vote against anyone that has sat by and did nothing during the last 18 months or worse tried to run interference for this President.  We are a great country and have been long before Trump bought his first red hat.  We are in crisis but we are stronger than people think.  Come on America, this is US.Two days ago the President of the United States, in a press conference in Helsinki, along with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, denied that Russia tried to influence the US elections by hacking the Democratic campaigns computers.  This is direct opposition to his own intelligence officers, including Dan Burton, who he named in his rant.  Also 15 Russian intelligence officers have been indicted for doing just that.  (Oh missing from some news reports is that the indictment includes unnamed Americans including a Congressional candidate).  At one point in the presser Trump said, "Putin 'just said it’s not Russia I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server," shifting to a crazy conspiracy theory about the DNC server and the FBI.  This was a moment that jaws dropped around the world.  The President of the United States, facing overwhelming information that Russian officials tried to influence the election in the US in 2016, basically said he is fine because a thuggish dictator who kills detractors, lies to his people and is a master of propaganda told him he didn't do it.This caused a stir even among SOME of his supporters.  So 24 hours later he came out with an explanation for this anti-American statement made on foreign soil.  He said that he meant to say WOULDN'T instead of WOULD.  I will give you a minute to laugh.  Yes, he suggested that he didn't get the idea of the contraction or as he said a double-negative.  Now if you believe he simply misspoke, congratulations you are the reason that peanut butter has on its label:  CAUTION CONTENTS PEANUTS.

As some members of the GOP are now trying to run cover for this disgraceful leader I think we need a call to people who are hired to represent us to act now.  At the very least Congress should issue a joint censure.  Hearings should be held to find out exactly what the President talked about in his private meeting with Putin.  If they don't act then we should vote them out, this isn't about party, this isn't about tax cuts, it isn't about SCOTUS, it is about the integrity of Western Democracy.  Last night he suggested that the US shouldn't have to respond to NATO's Article 5, the mutual defense article (only invoked ever on behalf of the US after 9-11.) specifically singling out Montenegro.  Here is the thing, Montenegro is a place that Russia wants more influence.

Donald Trump has always been unfit to be President of the United States.  Nothing in the process that got him elected worked.  So now it is up to us, the people, the majority that doesn't want him to have free reign as President, must act.  Call, write, harass your representatives.  If they apologize for his actions, challenge them.  Use facts not emotional nonsense.  Keep within the Constitution (some nut suggested we should install Hillary Clinton by fiat)  and vote.  Vote for Democrats even if they aren't perfect.  Vote against anyone that has sat by and did nothing during the last 18 months or worse tried to run interference for this President.  We are a great country and have been long before Trump bought his first red hat.  We are in crisis but we are stronger than people think.  Come on America, this is US.

A Tale of Two Scandals

While anyone who knows me knows I feel the Republican party has many problems and it is in fact ready to die a painful death at the hands of its leader Donald Trump, this problem is one that I think is more systemic and predates Trump by many years.  You see there are currently two high-profile Republicans dealing with accusations of sexual misconduct at two different degrees.  The first is Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who, it is alleged, did nothing as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State to stop a serial sexual abuser of students in his charge.  The other is the Attorney General of the State of Indiana, Curtis Hill.  Hill was the most popular Republican in the last election garnering more votes than the Republican Governor and the current President who easily won the state.  Hill is accused of groping a female elected official and several legislative aids at a party at the end of the legislative session. 

Both men have denied the accusations, while Jordan has changed his story from not knowing about the situation to basically suggesting it was locker room talk and not an official reporting of the behavior, Hill have vehemently denied the charges and had a press conference to say so.  But here is the thing.  Their actions have only made things worse. 

The accusations against Jordan grow out of a probe by the university into the doctor who was the alleged abuser.  In the process they spoke to several athletes who claim that doctor touched and/or ogled them inappropriately.  The stories are disgusting.  Now one wrestler suggested the Jordan knew about it and that became a news story.  Jordan's denials and efforts to call these men liars actually brought out more and more wrestlers confirming that Jordan knew what was going on and acted as if it was a joke.  While Jordan is not being accused of participating, like the situation at Penn State, he is being accused of not dealing with the situation in an appropriate manner.  My guess is he will have no repercussions for this because amazingly the same people who attacked others for sexual misconduct (and I believe allowing sexual abuse to go on unabated is sexual misconduct) are loudly defending Jordan without knowing the whole story and even after he admitted knowing something was wrong.  Some are even calling it part of a deep state conspiracy against Jordan.  Seriously, all he had to do was say "I had no direct knowledge of the abuse and its extent.  I apologize for not being pro-active in my role as an assistant coach but I did mention a concern to my boss at the time.  I believed the university would handle it and thought they had.  I am hurt that I helped cause pain to young men in my charge and I hope they will forgive me".  It is easy, and hell he doesn't even have to mean it.  But he gins up the foil-hat crowd with deep state nonsense and more truth runs out of the grip he is trying to put on the story.  At some point he can no longer deny it.  

Now Hill is another matter.  While he thinks that accusations are politically motivated as does Jordan, but the problem is that the accusations suggest he was a bi-partisan groper.  After his press conference one of the alleged victims came forward with a convincing story that includes witnesses of the AG touching her inappropriately.  She was a Republican staffer and someone who has worked for many in the GOP.  Hill also suffers from having no support from the leading Republicans in the state.  The Governor, the Speaker of the Indiana House and the Republican candidate for the US Senate have all called for Hill's resignation.  They feel he can't fulfill his duties and the evidence is strong in their favor.  While he should be assumed innocent of the charges, the investigation clearly has created a firestorm around him both from his political opponents and allies.  

I am not sure that either way of handling a scandal of this kind is the right way, but somewhere there is truth and we should be seeking it.  For  Jordan the truth keeps changing because people have come forward, and for Hill, his truth so far hasn't.  But at the heart of this is a clear issue.  In a political climate where people are more likely to circle the wagons than seek answers truth is a causality.  In Hill's situation the partisanship is not an issue and that is good.  I hope the women, if they are truthful, (and oh I believe them) will get justice.  As for Jordan, his district may like his crazy firebrand approach to attacking anything he deems against his vision of what America should be but if there is a way I too hope he will be made accountable if this accusation are true (and I believe they are).  

Yesterday, America and world watched in stunning horror as a lead counter intelligence officer in the FBI was harassed, threatened and personally attacked by members of Congress because he had the audacity to open a counter-intelligence probe into the Russian attacks on our elections and at the same time be a flawed human who expressed his disgust with Donald Trump ( and to be fair Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and many many others).  The partisan attacks on this man to suggest that the probe into Russian interference to benefit Donald Trump was a witch hunt and should end.  Today the Department of Justice indicted 12 Russians for hacking the DNC, the Clinton campaign and the DCCC during the election and disseminating the information through with Russian intelligence officers who are known to have contact with Trump confidants.  If only the GOP cared, do you?