Stupid and Disloyal

This week the President of the United States suggested that I and many of my friends are  dumb or disloyal because we vote for Democrats.  While a stunning thing for a President to say, it may not make his top ten of ridiculous or slanderous statements he has made since his election.  But many were confused as to being disloyal, to what?  He clarified that some how if we vote for Democrats we are disloyal to Israel.  

The thing is I still don't know what he means.  The United States has always been a strong ally with Israel.  Both Republican and Democratic Presidents and members of Congress have worked hard to support Israel.  Democratic Presidents (Carter and Clinton) helped broker deals that have led to eras of relative peace in the region.  The current argument is that Jews should support President Trump because he moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, as if that was some how an important issue for world Jewry.  In fact I think that might be counter-productive in the long run when it comes to peace with the Palestinians.  But my Jewishness and my love and commitment to Israel are not about American partisan politics and shouldn't be.  

I am loyal to values and the Constitution of the United States.  For me throughout my entire voting life I have felt the Democrats have upheld my understanding of those better than the Republicans.  It is even more striking with this particular administration and GOP leadership.  There are days I don't believe the President fully understands the role his playing and how the Constitution works, but what is worse are those in the party who enable this insane behavior despite their duty to the Constitution.  Why would I as an American Jewish or not vote for such a thing?  

I know there are liberal voices that are not pro-Israel who are part of the Democratic party.  I also know that there is a fair amount of ignorance on the part of some current members of Congress when it comes to the current situation in Israel.  But regardless of what the GOP says those voices are not the mainstream of the party.  In fact recent events have given some of those members more power as the President not only punches down to them but asked the Israel government to do the same.  But the beauty of living in our country is that I can challenge them on those issues with the hope that they might see the broader world view on the issues.  Frankly it would have helped Reps Omar and Tahlib to have visited Israel and see through the eyes of the people on the ground how complex the issues are and what role the US could play in peace.  But the short-sighted nature of both our President and Bibi Netanyahu allowed for the missed opportunity.  

But what is truly amazing in this discussion is the notion that American Jews have to have a lock-step view of Israel.  One that is more associated with the right wing politics of Christian Zionists who use Israel and the Jews of the world as part of their eschatological endgame without much care for us as people.  I choose not to live in Israel for many reasons.  But I also feel a strong connection to the country.  I feel that I should not have a say in how Israelis choose their leadership or the direction of the country because I choose to live here.  That doesn't mean I shouldn't be critical of the government if I feel they cross a line.  (Frankly I feel I should be critical of any country that crosses a many a line).  But I feel without reservation that the State of Israel should exist as a Jewish State.  I will deal with my own internal struggle of what that might mean in the long run.  So while I don't have a dual loyalty there is a special place in my heart for Israel.  I want it to continue to thrive and I want it at peace with its neighbors.  I don't think that this President, nor the current leadership of his party share that vision.  So the assertion of the President is ridiculous on its face.  

What is even more troubling is that people have been writing about how there are bad Jews who don't support this President, specifically because of his standing with the current government of Israel.  They, like the President, conflate Israel and Judaism.  President Trump once told a group of American Jews, talking of Netanyahu, that he was "your Prime Minister".  That is where I think this whole debate goes off the rails.  This is where I get the most frustrated.  I love Israel as a nation, but I have neither sworn an oath to the country and certainly Bibi Netanyahu is in no way my Prime Minister, nor the leader of all things Jewish.  

Jewish Americans, like every other sub-culture of Americans, vote their personal values.  Mine are informed and shaped by my understanding of my Judaism and what it calls me to do.  I see the Democratic party upholding the values of Judaism that are dear to me as well as what I have always believed and was taught America stood for.  Many of those values are shared between my faith and my country.  That doesn't make me dumb or ignorant, nor disloyal.  It makes me an American, using the my rights to think for myself, choose whose voice I want to speaking for me in government and standing up for what I think is right.  Mr. President if you think that makes me disloyal in your view then I worry you don't understand the greatness that is this country.  That sir is a pity.   

Give Us Your Tired and Poor Meant What It Said

When Emma Lazarus wrote her poem The New Colossus, to raise money for the pedestal of the what is now called the Statue of Liberty, the statue was new and a gift of France.  A representation of the Libertas, the  Roman Goddess of  Liberty and was initially intended to represent the freedom that comes with the rising of republican style of government and the growth of democratic ideals.  The broken shackles on her feet were there to represent the very recent end of slavery in the United States.  But it served more as a different symbol for many, a symbol of hope. It was a symbol to the waves of immigrants who came to New York Harbor as their first stop to a new life and when Ellis Island opened it was the milestone that many on ships entering the New World saw and felt like they made it.  While it still stands for Liberty, Freedom and Democracy it also was transformed when Lazarus' poem was added to the base.  She liken the statue to Greed colossus of Rhodes, another great statue of the ancient world.  She went on to give her maternal attributes as if to suggest that she welcomed to a new home those who were tossed away by their countries of origin or fled from fear or famine.  Lazarus showed a new vision of the still young country to welcome the stranger and we will help them realize their better selves.  That was sometimes not a common sentiment in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Much like today, Immigration was a hot button issue.  But in the last few weeks we have seen the Trump administration try to rewrite Lazarus' poem or completely dismiss it because of their own hatred of immigrants and seemingly immigrants of color.  We must remember who we were when we the statue rose over the New York Harbor.  We have heard administration officials, like Steven Miller, say the poem had nothing to do with the statue.  This radically insane take tried to bring out the idea of the original intent of the statue, but that was a soon faded reality.  But without the poem, the statue can't be a symbol of who we are as a nation, a nation of people who have worked together from many different places in the world.  A tapestry of traditions, cultures, faiths and races.  Something that seems to scare this administration.

Worse than Steven Miller's notion that the poem is meaningless was a recent series of interviews with Ken Cuccinelli, the acting Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.  First he said that the poem was better written to say "give us your tired you poor your huddled masses who can stand on their own two feet".  Later he said that Lazarus' poem was only about European immigrants.  First of all history doesn't agree with Cuccenelli's first statement.  While there was a test that people immigrating to the US were not simply going to be wards of the state, that was not a hard and fast rule.  In fact the first immigrants through Ellis Island were unaccompanied minors.  If there was someone to reach out to people and they had potential they were allowed into the country.  Cuccenelli was seemingly trying to suggest those immigrants on the southern border were going to simply be wards of the state.  But like Ellis Island, if they were allowed in, they could work and build themselves up.  Many did, look at the businesses built by immigrants, who like today's immigrants, were fleeing dangerous government supported or allowed violence.  Only about 2% of the people who entered the country after passing the Statue of Liberty, were permanently turned back.  

But the second piece is a growing worry for many people, both people living here in the United States and those who may some day want to make this country their home.  The President has said in the past he would rather have immigrants from a place like Norway, something he has repeated.  Cuccenelli said that Lazarus and thus the immigration expectation of the time was for Europeans.  This appears to be code for white people.  Again, this is just nonsense as the poem references that the Mother of Exiles From he beacon-hand glows world-wide.  I think it is clear that Lazarus' call was for all those suffering under the governments of the world that hurt more than helped their people.  True the vast majority of people who immigrated through Ellis Island were Europeans, but it was also the closest port of entry for Europe.  America's open doors did not have a White Way to enter.  We were open to all. 

We might say that this is just a little election rhetoric to gin up the base and make people feel we liberals just want open borders and an immigration free-for-all.  But there are real world issues when this thinking influences executive action.  We have seen it in the inhumane ways that people on the border have been treated.  In fact it took a federal court judge ruling to push the Trump administration to provide simple, everyday hygiene products and opportunities to detainees.  Think about that, a judge had to rule on whether the United States of America can avoid giving people, including children, an opportunity to wash themselves and brush their teeth.  But those federal courts could rule in other ways in the future if we aren't diligent.  President Trump has nominated Judge Steven Menashi to the Court of Appeals one step down from the Supreme Court.  He wrote in a law journal that a country cannot function unless it was a monoculture.  I won't bore you with the details but the argument was that a country with many sub-culture cannot find a common link to focus on and thus will fail.  This is an old racist argument that we must all be the same in order to survive and it was used in countries that oppressed minority populations by not giving them rights or status.  That is the antithesis of the American experiment.  This is not normal and not okay.  

I truly believe our government is broken, and while the adage from Game of Thrones, that the small folks care little who sits on the Iron Throne that should never be the case for our Republic.  The government is us.  When we elect people they act in our name.  If you believe that immigration has made this country stronger, if you believe that there was a time when we welcomed the stranger and if you believe that we are better together it is time to rise. This is the direction our country is going.  If you believe we should be purged of diversity, that we should close up our borders, that we should only allow people to thrive who are of a single culture, you really need to explain that to me.  Either way take a moment to read what a young woman in the 1880s wrote about a symbol Americans seem to love and are being told it doesn't stand for what it stands for: 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

As you read this think about your own ancestors, how and why they got here and what they might say to a country that right now, at this moment, is demonizing the other.  I don't think they would like what they see.  

Partisanship Should Stop at the Edge of the Police Line

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a partisan.  I truly believe that the ideas of the Democratic party are better for the country as a whole than the Republican party.  That is not to say I would never vote for a Republican.  In fact I have.  If the candidate is Republican they have a higher bar with me, but there are times that the GOP candidate is a better fit, mostly in local elections.  That said there are things that shouldn't be partisan in our approach.  So last weekend the country failed that test miserably and this weekend we did it again.  Or at least some of us are.

When the horrific news of the El Paso shooting and over 20 dead started coming across the internet, it didn't take long until there was a response from the lunatic fringe of the right wing noise machine to try to make the shooter into a Democrat.  Like clockwork, these fringe websites posted false information like they had in every major shooting event in the last decade.  But we soon learned that the shooter was a person who was inspired by the language of a Mexican invasion that is championed by the President and others in the Republican party. The shooter was a White Nationalist wannabe.  That uncomfortable notion was quickly mitigated by the fact that in a few hours another shooter killed 9 people in Dayton, Ohio.  It didn't take long until it was learned the Dayton shooter had retweeted posts by Elizabeth Warren, Antifa related people and liberals across the spectrum.  For some the whataboutism was a relief.  Even the New York Times ran a piece suggesting that if we are to hold the President's rhetoric as partly responsible for the El Paso shooter that we must hold the left responsible for Dayton.  That of course is nonsense but it sells papers and promotes clicks.  The bottom line is that we shouldn't immediately look to see if the shooter in a case like this agrees or disagrees with our political positions.  In fact if that is your first reaction, there is an issue that needs to be addressed.  But if the political rhetoric drives an act of violence, we must acknowledge it and move to end it.  We must think in a way that ends violence, not look for excuses to ignore the reality.   For many they see the shooting up of a synagogue, a Wal-Mart or where ever the putting into the actions the words of the President.  That cannot be ignored and shouldn't be.  The rise of White Nationalism needs to be met head on and those who can must point out the President that his angry rhetoric feeds their desire for action.  But just because someone likes a politician doesn't mean that their actions are inspired.   The Dayton shooters actions are still a bit of a mystery but he had a history of misogyny, which is not usually associated with progressive politics, but they are not mutually exclusive.  So if in the end there are voices on the left that helped drive him then we must clearly repudiate them as we do Trump's.  But as of this writing it doesn't look like the Dayton shooter had a political agenda. 

Looking for an angle to stories can bring out so much anger and thus feed further acts of violence.  But sometimes it seems like just a cheap attempt to score points.  Jerry Epstein's suicide clearly is an example of this.  Epstein, being held before trial for sex trafficking, including of under-age girls, was found dead in his cell.  This came less than 24 hours after the release of documents in one of the cases against him that named famous political figures as having sex with under-age girls.  Epstein was linked over the last few decades to political and celebrity figures that crossed many ideological lines.  Like Harvey Weinstein, there are pictures of him with many and varied people.  So conspiracy theories are bouncing around the net.  People have revived the long debunked Clinton kill list, others say Trump's justice department had him killed, still others say he isn't dead just being help somewhere and this is all a hoax for some nefarious reason.  False information for political gain has been spread all over the net and even the President retweeted a crazy conspiracy theory about the Clintons.  This is a problem.  Until there is evidence to the contrary I can only believe that a man who lived the life of royalty, faced with being alone and in a drab cell for the rest of his life, facing potential inmate justice, and losing all his political support chose the easy way out.  He wasn't on suicide watch, he had material to form a noose, and he is not hard to kill yourself even in custody.  But it seemed that the body was still warm when the partisan extreme made so many accusations. 

Partisanship is not evil in an of itself.  It helps define the parameters of your political world.  Being a partisan is not a straight jacket.  But if your partisanship has you manipulating reality and promoting nonsense because it fits your political positions then you are not really just partisan, you are a propagandists.  Rethink before you retweet. 

It Happened Again

Last week I started writing this post after the attack on the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.  A young man with a legally purchased weapon killed 3, including a small child, and wounded 9.  But yesterday it got worse.  In El Paso, Texas a young man drove 600 miles, put on protective gear, and took a semi-automatic weapon and fired into a crowd at a mall complex with the intent to kill Mexicans, in his own words.  Twenty dead and 26 injured.  Then over night a man in Dayton, Ohio killed 9 and injured at least 16 in a nightclub area.

In a little over a week 3 individuals, at least two of which driven by far right ideology, have killed 32 people who were simply go about their lives.  These kinds of killings should not be normal, but sadly they are becoming just that.  The responses are almost fully programmed.

We hear thoughts and prayers from politicians whose thoughts are limited to attacking anyone who wants to even look at perhaps limiting access to military style weapons and prayers that something else will push the story off the front page.

When someone suggests we have to talk about guns that can be restricted we hear "It is not the time to talk about gun control".  I am wondering when the time will come.  After another 100 deaths, a 1000?  10,000?  Can they just give us a number they are willing to wait for?

As soon as the shooter in all these cases were white men, the calls of mental health issues needing to be addressed.  We know that when a shooter is Muslim, like in the Fort Hood shooting, there is no real call about mental health.  White supremacist ideology and radical Islamist ideology follow the same path leading to a different place.  Both are about purging the world of the other.  Even if the shooters in the rash of the shootings in this country did have a form of mental illness (which I am not sure it is true) it is the carpet bombing of hate that spurs them on.  But here is the chance of all these guys in Congress who call for better mental health support.  I call on Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Mike Turner, and Rob Portman to write a bill calling for another $2.5 billion in mental health funding, maybe take it from DOD.  I find it offensive that Republicans have been all over the media saying this was a crazy lone wolf, bottom line the President and his supporters are raising a pack.  One does not have to join a labeled group to be part of a terrorist movement.  The internet allows for a virtual collective.  Funny, they say he was mentally ill but he acted with both forethought, preparation, drove for at least 10 hours, posted minutes before opening fire and planned for his eventual capture.  He was making a statement not acting like someone with voices in his head.

The shooting in El Paso also destroys the idea that open carry and concealed carry will protect people.  The Wal-Mart was an open carry store in an open carry state where the shooter could walk around with his weapon totally legally and not break any law until he started firing.  In fact if someone where to try to stop him they would be violating his rights.  So we can only assume the there were armed citizens in the crowd.  They couldn't stop him, it took a group of cops.  While it didn't take them long to get there, it continues to show that armed, untrained citizens do not react well in a mass shooting situation.  There are no heroes.  I can't imagine what would happen if they did.  Dozens of people firing in a public location not knowing who the real criminal shooter is?   The cops in El Paso were there in few minutes, imagine if someone seeing this guy get out of his car with his long gun called the police and they could have come and deal with it before the first shot.

Solutions to these tragedies are not easy, but there are things we can do to make it harder for people to get their hands on guns who can kill dozens in a few minutes.  We can pass a background checks on a federal level with two laws sitting in the Senate that Leader McConnell will not bring to the floor.  We can investigate White Nationalist groups and put back the funding that the President withdrew from Federal law enforcement.    We can hold those who stir the pot of hate to a standard that makes them see they need to stop.  And we can ban certain weapons.

Military styled weapons that shoot many rounds a minute and large magazines can easily be banned.  We did it before and it makes it harder for people intending to do harm to get their hands on a weapon that can kill so many.  Someone actually said in England where guns are restricted that knife attacks are up.  Yes, people who have homicide on their minds can kill in many ways.  I know that for sure.  But it is impossible to kill 20 people in a few minutes with knives on your own.  It is nonsense to suggest it.  Many people suggest that banning such weapons is a violation of the 2nd amendment.  But I have it on good authority that it isn't.  Someone wrote:

Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

That was Antonin Scalia, the most pro-gun and conservative Supreme Court Justice in the Heller decision that made the 2nd amendment an individual right.  So even the man who wanted to limit local government from regulating guns as had been the case for the life of the Constitution didn't want unlimited access and carry of weapons. 

While guns are part of the equation it is not the entire one.  But it is something we can do, we can do it to not end the individual rights of people, we can do it in way makes is harder for people whose only aim is to kill people to get the easiest way to do it and will not change the ability of people to hunt, fire for sport or defend their life and property. 

I want say one other thing.  I have watched all day as elected and former Republican officials find every possible excuse from not enough prayer in schools, to video games, to the opioid crisis.  Let me be clear, I don't know what drove the shooter last night in Dayton.  What I do know is that the shooter in El Paso was driven by anti-immigration hate.  While he said he had these feelings before the President was elected he spoke in his writing with the President's words.  Words have power.  Words drive people and when the President joked a few weeks ago about shooting immigrants that is a starting pistol for some.  These republicans worried about too much Fortnite or lack of God should spend some time talking to the President about calming down not only his own words but those of his followers online and his supporters dehumanizing so many in quips and chants at his rallies.  Presidents, like all world leaders, are supposed to represent the soul of the country, especially in times of crisis.  Our current President seems to not have the ability to call out the hate because some of those pushing it are his people.  He seems to fear alienating them and in fact feeds them.  Tonight many people will go to bed grieving for lost of life but also loss of safety. We are in the season of  children will return to the classrooms around the country with bulletproof backpacks and planned shooting drills.  This is not the country we have to be, this is not the life we have to live.  We can do better.  I just wish there was the leadership to do it. 

Symbols Mean Things

On our recent trip to the American Cemetery in Normandy I was struck by something I learned.  When bodies were buried there were two choices.  A cross, a symbol of Christianity or a Star of David, the symbol of Judaism.  If you weren't Christian you got a star.  Think about that, a person who was Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, etc or even of no faith was buried under a symbol that was part of the faith expression of another faith.  That was part of the world we lived in but it brings up an interesting point.  Symbols do matter. But symbolic meaning of symbols change.

Recently there have been many incidents when symbols have been the center of controversy.  At Indiana University School of Public Health a classroom had an early 20th century tile installation that included a variety of cultural symbols.  One being a swastika.  Now the swastika was a symbol of many cultures and often is seen as a symbol of a celestial object or of peace before the 1930s.  In fact many old churches and synagogues have a form of it carved into friezes.  When I was a kid, I would visit the Fredric Remington Art Museum that included a recreating of the artist's study.  In the study were a set of spoons with swastikas.  It was always stunning as from and early age that symbol was a symbol of hate.  But Remington died in 1909 so he wasn't a Nazi.  But the symbol has taken on a life of its own.  Having that in a classroom will cause the same horrifying reaction I had as an elementary school kid seeing that symbol so prominently displayed.  With the rise of  antisemitism it is clear that IU chose wisely to eliminate it.  Now some say we can put an explanation on a plaque next to it but let's be clear, people don't read those very often.  In fact one of my favorite stories is from the Cincinnati Zoo's Gibbon exhibit.  You are greeted with a large sign that says "It's Not a Monkey" and goes on to explain the difference between a monkey and an ape.  In a brief encounter, I counted 20 people call them monkeys while standing next to the sign.  For the rest of the day whenever we encountered something we would say, "It's not a monkey".

Hijacked symbols are all over the place.  The Confederate Flag as it is called today, the crossed blue lines with stars on a red background is synonymous with the south though it was part of two of the three adopted flags of the Confederacy, known as the Southern Cross, it was never official as a stand alone flag.  Versions were used as unit flags including and square banner by Robert E. Lee.  In the post Civil War era it was used as a shorthand symbol of the Confederacy and at one time it was used as the flag of the Dixiecrats, the conservative southern democrats who broke off as a segregationist party.   In the south states have adopted the Southern Cross as part of state flags.  I was in Georgia when the debate about the flag led to the design without it being prominent and later changing to the current flag.  The irony of the current flag is that it is basically the 1st official flag of the Confederacy with Georgia Coat-of-Arms in the center of the circle of stars.  But the Confederate Flag we think of today is used in many ways but is seen by many as a symbol of racism, slavery and white supremacy because it was adopted by the people who promoted such things.  Even if adopted by those looking to promote their southern heritage from Alabama football programs to Lynyrd Skynyrd to states-rights advocates, the symbol cannot escape the fact it was often flown over the bodies of lynched men and women, carried at cross--burnings and used to strike fear in the hearts of non-whites in many places in the country.  Calls to remove it from state house polls and displays in schools make sense, even if the intent of the flag is not explicitly racist.

One argument against eliminating symbols from the everyday culture is that we are erasing our history.  This was used as monuments were taken down in many places in the south because they were of Confederate leaders.  Funny thing was many were put up during the Civil Rights Era to intimidate blacks seeking to be seen as equal.  History was never the intent. But I would argue we could eliminate every sign of the Confederacy in public life and we would still know about it if we study our history.  Growing up if someone turned on you, you called them a Benedict Arnold.  He was as much a standard for traitor as Judas from the Christian Bible.  Benedict Arnold was a Major General who fought with valor and was injured at the Battle of Saratoga for Continental Army.  There is a monument to his fighting there, but it is a boot and bears no name.  When he promised the British West Point he gave up the right to have his heroics lauded in our country.  While some wanted to honored his skills and cunning they did it without name.  Yet even today we know who he was.  We don't need symbols in public places to know our history.  We have the stories.

The argument here is also one of the 1st amendment as the statues and all symbols are a form of speech.  That is true they are, but the government is not outlawing the statues, nor the symbols.  In the case of state flags that have tried to eliminate imagery that is seen as hurtful or taking down of statues, the government is simply not endorsing those things.  If in any city you wanted to put up a statue of Robert E. Lee or Adolph Hitler or Carrot top on your private land, and the government tries to stop you, I will fight for your right to do it.  (just don't make me defend Carrot Top).

In recent weeks however the attacks on symbols has been really called into question.  When Nike wanted to put out a shoe with the Betsy Ross flag on it.  A flag with a blue field with a circle of 13 stars and 13 stripes alternating red and white Colin Kapernick, a spokesperson for the brand, objected.  He called it a symbol of racism.  It has been adopted by some some racist organization and it is similar to the 1st Confederate flag I mentioned earlier.   Nike withdrew the shoe and of course the conservatives lost their minds.  At first I sided with Nike, if that symbol truly does generate some concern that it would become white nationalist attire I get that others would feel uncomfortable promoting, especially with a company that has banked on a large African-American following for brand loyalty.  But as I think more, there could have been a middle ground.  But worse is the actor Chris Pratt.  I will start by saying I know little about Chris Pratt, he has made conservative comments.  Recently he wore a t-shirt of an American flag with the Gadsden Flag symbol of a snake and the words Don't Tread On Me.  A flag from the Revolutionary War and I have to tell you one of my favorites as a kid, it has recently been used by far right hate groups, Two white supremacists used the flag to drape the bodies of two police officers they killed in Las Vegas recently.  The Equal Employment  Opportunity Commission says the flag may, in some circumstances, be racial offensive in the workplace.  But there is no indication the Pratt is a aligned with the thinking of white nationalists.  But just wearing the shirt bring some serious criticism.

Symbols tell us things about the person or organization sharing it.  But rarely do we get the whole story from a quick glance.  As a culture we have always made decisions about what is publicly appropriate and what is not. While our 1st amendment protects us from government telling us what symbols we can use or promote, the community we live in tells us what is acceptable.  The local businessman who decorates his store with swastikas will likely never get the Chamber of Commerce award in most American cities, but if we outlawed is decorations we are going in the wrong direction. 

Sometimes the outrage about a symbol is seen as what it is, a fringe cause.  Currently there is a story of a woman calling a Spiderman art installation a symbol of the Devil.  Should the art piece be removed for one person's misunderstanding?  It is worth however taking into account the audience who has to see the symbols we do have around us.  A swastika in a classroom can heighten anxiety in a student whose family story involved many people killed by the Nazis. A Confederate flag still gives many African-Americans a visceral reaction.  There are many other ways that symbols can make people uncomfortable and it is just human and sometimes good business to acknowledge that.  (Nike stock rose after the flag controversy).  Public sentiment will always shape what is acceptable expression in symbols, words and deeds.  Sometimes for good and sometimes for nonsense.  But as long as it is public sentiment that is driving the discussion we are comfortable, but if the government starts to decide we are in danger. 

 

We Can All Agree the Tweets Were Racist...but we won't

Several times today we have revisited Rep. Ilhan Omar's statements that raised questions because they included anti-Semitic tomes.  For some this was a defense of the the President's recent tweetstorm that called for the 4 members of Congress, known as  The Squad, to go back where they came from after mentioning that those were backward countries.  First 3 of the 4 are born in the US.  The one who wasn't, Rep Omar, came here as a child.  It is not happenstance that the for women are black and brown.  The "go back where you came from" is a racist tome used to attack people of color often.  Especially those of a different faith or have radical ideas.

Let me be clear, if you are a Republican who says the Trump tweet is inappropriate BUT these woman say anti-American things, then you are supporting a racist statement not condemning it.  If you say that Trump's tweet are not Presidential, but those women should be grateful to be in this country then you are supporting racism.  If you say that President Trump's tweets are not what America stands for but these women shouldn't speak out against Israel then you are supporting his racism.  That is a fact.  You can't condemn something and then make an excuse.  It is like saying, it is terrible Jeffery Dahmer ate his victims, but they were already dead and he was hungry.  Don't do it.

The four woman he attacked, Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep Rashida Tahlib, Rep Ayanna Pressley, and Rep Omar have all said some things that I disagree with.  They have to live with their statements and every 2 years their constituents have an opportunity to fire them.  But if they are truly representing the voice of the majority of the people in their districts, they are in fact, doing the job they were hired for per our Constitution.  Calling them out for their comments is not the problem.  Telling them they must leave the country because of their opinions is a problem, made worse by suggesting they don't really belong here because of what they look like.

The real issue is that the President is mad at them for visiting the detention centers at the border and reporting on them accurately.  People are even angry that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was sworn in to testify in front of a Congressional committee, meaning her statements must be true under penalty of perjury.  They highlighted a sharp contrast between what the President is saying, what the Vice-President is saying and what seems to be really happening according to everyone else including the Inspector General's office.  The President got mad and lashed out like an angry child and his racism was exposed.

So after one day of GOP silence on the issue, we now get the excuses for him doing it.  Many using Israel and Jewish people as human shields.  Sometimes lying suggesting Rep Omar and Tahlib support terrorist groups.  Pulling quotes to make them sound more anti-Jewish (while ignoring the anti-Jewish tomes that Trump has used in the past).  But it doesn't matter.   You can disagree with things they say and still protect their right to say it and in this case their right to remain in their jobs and country and that they should be afforded dignity not dehumanized by the leader of the country.  I know, I am doing it right now.

It should be simple to say the President's tweets were wrong, racist and dangerous.  It should be.  But it won't be.  More and more Republicans will come to his defense with excuses like a.  He can't be racist there is an Asian woman in his cabinet (happened yesterday)  b.  How can he be racist if black unemployment is so low (suggesting the President controls who you hire)  c.  How can he be racist if he one time helped a celebrity who was black (something we heard throughout the campaign).  or my favorite d. How can he be racist he won the same aware as Rosa Parks (said on TV this weekend)  An aside the award had nothing to do with race when it came to Trump, it was a quickly created award and he got it for being a real estate guy in New York or German decent.

This could be a teachable moment for the Republicans and the President.  They could call him out, tell him he went too far, teach him about the rich and wonderful history of immigrants of color in this country.  Have him meet with these women and discuss policy differences.  Let's have an open discussion about issues of race, religion, gender.  We won't.  In office Republicans will either continue their mealy mouthed attempts to look like they are condemning it while justifying it or like the leadership simply stay silent or support it.  The President will continue to lob racist, sexist, Islamophobic tweets at people and say as he did yesterday "many people agree with me".  The White Supremacists will continue to feel motivated and seen by a President who appears to embrace their ideology and in the end, we will see where the American people are in all this.

Today the House of Representatives has a chance to condemn the President's tweets in a floor vote, this could be a start.  I wish I had hope.

The Power of Nonsense

The other day I was clicking around YouTube as Dianne was reading and came across videos on the Mandela Effect.  Simply put this is a weird situation where a large group of people remember events differently than they happened and the repeated talk about it reinforces the belief.  Now anyone who studies memory knows that this is an easy thing to explain.  Memory is not like a recording of events, it is more like bullet points that we fill in the gaps with our previous experiences.  This is true of many memories even ones that we make emotional attachments to and think that they are solid.  An example is that of major events when people say "I always remember where I was when..."  Various historical events include:  Pearl Harbor, Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion, Princess Diana's death, 9-11, etc.  Called flash bulb memories they seem seared into our brains but in fact they are not.  Often when you take a deeper dive into your own personal story about where you were and what you were doing when you learned about them, you are wrong.  Sometimes remarkably wrong and other times just a bit off.  Many times, even in the face of real evidence, they still believe what they remember and not what is proven fact. 

With the Mandela Effect, often you have many people who remember the same way you do, even if clearly wrong.  Named for Nelson Mandela, because when he left prison in 1990 many people were surprise because they had thought he had died earlier in the 80s,   But as late as 1985 there were plenty of people raising awareness of Apartheid, and the Artists Against Apartheid released Sun City that ends with a call to Free Nelson Mandela.  In part the news of the time was all over the place but so many people believed that Mandela had died, stories rose that there was a funeral, an Oprah special etc. These are hard memories to dispel in people even with the fact for many years after Mandela was seen regularly on the world stage.  The Mandela effect has many other examples.  People remember a movie call Shazam, staring actor/comedian Sinbad in the mid-90s.  It never happened.  There was a movie called Kazaam staring Shaquille O'Neil and in the 60s and 70s a cartoon called Shazzan had a similar plot to the missing movie.  Couple that with Sinbad hosting a movie about Sinbad the Sailor dressed in stereotypical Middle Eastern garb often associated with a genie and the confluence of things built a memory. 

I could list many other examples but the point is that most of the Mandela Effect memories are easily explained and often silly.  But that hasn't stopped a niche market of people to believe that something more sinister or other worldly is going on.  If you search the internet you can find places that  speak of the Mandela effect as being evidence of us shifting to alternative timelines, others saying it is a full on psyops program by the government.  In medicine there is a saying, when you hear hoof beats think horses not zebras.  The simplest diagnosis is often the right one.  But for so many they thrive on the conspiracy theory to drive and seem to build their identity around it. 

This is dangerous because reality matters, a lot.  Trying to convince people that every thing can be traced to a nefarious cause has consequences.  This week we learned the often repeated lie about Seth Rich, a Democratic staffer who was murdered in what police believe a failed robbery, was a story planted by a Russian operation to discredit Secretary Hillary Clinton.  The lie was the Rich was the leakier of Clinton's emails and she had him killed.  This lie found purchase in the right wing noise machine underbelly and soon found its way to Fox News and talk radio that talked about it even after the election.  This could be one more piece of the horror show that is the political conspiracy world that included a story that a pizza place in Washington was the headquarters of a sex ring that was managed through the basement of the building.  The building had no basement but that didn't stop someone showing up with a gun to demand he be allowed to investigate.  If you think this is all over, earlier this week a group of right wing activists went to the New Castle Police department in New York to call for them to arrest her. 

Some of the people who spread this nonsense on the internet were invited to join the President at the White House this week.  He was discussing with them how social media is treating them badly because, and I am not kidding, they get banned for violating the rules of use of the platform.  The President of the United States is whining and wants to use the power of the government to help people who report things like Facebook and Twitter are shadow banning them.  That some how they think they are posting but no one can see it.  They did that on Twitter and Facebook.  Others spoke of various plots by Clinton and other Democrats to overthrow the government.  Some in the room promoted the Birther cause and the raging Islamophobia that pollutes their websites often speaks of an attempt to overturn out government through Creeping Sharia.  Oh and a real life Nazi was there. 

Nonsense has cache and not only in the political world and frankly not only with conservatives.  But conservatives have the loudest voices in politics.  This week there are thousands who claim they will storm Area 51, a military base in the Nevada desert used to test and develop secret projects, in search of the aliens rumored to be there.  This place has been ground zero for the alien crowd so much that it is part of the vernacular of the country.  Why people believe the US has aliens and using their technology is beyond me but in the end it is easier for people to believe the lie for whatever reason. 

Nonsense is something that people seem to thrive on.  Be it people who would rather believe they are bouncing between alternate realities than memory is a faulty mistress or that Hillary and Bill Clinton are criminal geniuses that have gotten away with dozens of murders but couldn't stop a TV personality from winning the Presidency you will never go broke creating a good story to sell to people who would rather believe than think. 

Fighting for Freedom

A few weeks ago I stood on the beaches of Normandy.  At Omaha Beach I was awed by the remnants that remain of the battle that took place 75 years ago.  A battle that included members of my own family.  The attached newspaper page has an article about my Uncle Bill who was part of a battalion that helped clear the beach of the obstacles put out to slow any attempted landing there. Among those defenses was The Czech hedgehogs a simple and deadly surprise for those who wanted to storm the beach.  The story of his unit getting honored by General Eisenhower for their bravery under fire.  At the end of the article it references my other uncles and my father who joined the fight in France.  Helping to win the war for the allies.

I do not know what war is like, but the newsreels and the stories put to film created a frightening scene of death and destruction.  The message of the D-day museum was not only the bravery of the warriors and the horror they faced, but what they were fighting for through the artillery, blood and death.  Young men, some in their teens, joined the battle to fight for freedom.  While I can assume their heads weren't filled with the detailed nuance of the fight between Western Liberalism and the Authoritarian ideology of the Nazis and the fascists of Italy, they knew that if Europe fell that the ideals of our democracy were at risk.

So it is truly appropriate as we celebrate today the freedom they helped save as we remember the founders of the United States and our Declaration of our Independence on July 4th.  Our country has been evolving in spreading that freedom to more and more people.  But we must always remember that our freedom is fragile.  As we celebrate today we have seen the rise of authoritarianism in Europe and even her in the US.  We have a President who seems in awe of the power of dictators and  want to be like them.  He seems to want to set aside the rule of law, most recently defying a Supreme Court ruling on the census and the citizenship question.  As we think about the freedom that was conceived by our founders who were tired of living by the whims of a single ruler so too do we have to remember that the real power of our nation must remain in the governed.  That the people of the nation matter and our voices should be heard.  This isn't about a partisan rant but true patriotism is not honoring a man but the values that build this nation.  Let us remember words so important to our nation's birth:

 That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

May this July 4th be meaningful, fun and reflective.

Never Again is not Reserved Only For The Next Gas Chambers

While I was on vacation Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez referred to the detention centers on the US border as concentration camps and invoked the term Never Again.  Apparently those on the right lost their minds.  Saying she is trivializing the Shoah (Holocaust) by equating the detention centers at the border with the Nazi atrocities somehow is an insult to those who suffered in the camps.  

I personally find this argument ridiculous, in part because so many survivors have some out and said that what they see happening at the border has echoes of Germany in the 193os,  But also as a Jewish educator, who for years has taught young Jewish people that they have a special responsibility to call out injustice against others because of the Shoah.  While I understand the unique dimensions of the events of Nazi Germany and why comparisons can be dangerous and dismissive, I think drawing parallels is not out of the question.  Since the Congresswoman's statements have been made we have heard of children, living in their own filth, being care for by other children and struggling to have basic needs met.  We have also seen a government lawyer argue in court that beds, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes were not necessary to maintain safe and sanitary conditions as required by law.  Think about this, a government official made a legal argument that children held in custody by the United States of America (for an act that isn't illegal in many cases) are not worthy of a bed, soap, blankets and toothbrushes because it isn't necessary.  Surprisingly doing that to your own children would get you a visit from child services.  

Ocasio-Cortez used the phrase concentration camps because by definition that is what they are.  Centers designed to house a particular group of people.  They have also chosen to separate families, forcing children to be in cages, apart from their parents.  People hired to watch over these individuals have be accused of sexual assault and people have died.  Meanwhile and effort is taking place to blame the very victims of this government policy and for some reason the democrats as the President and Vice-President both were in interviews today lying about the situation.  They are reaching their supporters, as one said,  "Quit trying to make us feel teary-eyed for the children. Yes, I love children a great deal, but to me, it's up to the parents to do things rightfully and legally"  I will remind everyone that many in these detention centers are seeking asylum which is not illegal. 

But the use of the phrase Never Again has caused some people to really go off the deep end.  Representative Steven King for Iowa, who has lost committee seats because he is an unapologetic White Supremacist attacked Rep. Ocasio-Cortez saying she should go visit the camps like he did.  On that trip King also took an interview with Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers.  So there is that.  But let's think about what Never Again means.  The phrase was never intended to be only about Jews.  Never Again is a shofar call to stand up to injustice everywhere.  The Torah teaches us Tzedeck Tzedeck Tirdof.  Justice you shall pursue.  The repetition of word justice clue that this is not a sit back and wait for justice to happen, but to actively go out and make it happen.  Calling out injustice is a charge to all Jews (and I think to all humans) and so when we say Never Again, we mean no one should have to live what the Jews went through.  We can only do that when we call it out long before gas chambers are built or systematic killing is taking place.

The Shoah did not start with gas chambers, it started with the dehumanizing of groups of people.  People with disabilities being referred to as "Life unworthy of life" led some to allow themselves or family members to die for the great good of the country.  Once you can dehumanize a person it is easier to do it with others.  Soon we find that people who have been programmed this way will not only allow but cheer the deaths of others.  This is what happens in genocide.  By the time people become comfortable with the arrests, the beatings or the killing of others it is too late to stop it.  But early on, when people are still uncertain, calling it out can stop a direction that could lead to the same kinds of horrors that we saw in Germany in the 20th century.  I will remind people that even as the events were happening and it became known, there were many who couldn't believe it, not in a modern country like Germany.  That disbelief helps bolster the perpetrators.   When we say Never Again, we must use the strongest language to condemn acts that are dehumanizing people, just like what is happening on the border.  Representative Ocasio-Cortez was doing just that, calling it as she saw it.  In her mind and the minds of many the US is building concentration camps on the border, treating those held there in horrible ways and doing it as a punishment for seeking a better life in our country.  In part because the current leadership doesn't want them here.  Never again means we must act to stop this.  Not because we believe that it will lead to same kinds of murder as was done by the Nazis, but because we should never allow a system to get to the point where that is even possible.  Even if we believe as that one Trump supporter said that the parents acted illegally and that is true for everyone who the government is holding.  A good measure of the morality of a country is how it treats its prisoners.  By that standard we are failing as we are marching closer and closer to dehumanizing those crossing our southern border.  We can all look back to history and see at no time did that kind of dehumanizing end well, for victims and perpetrators alike.  Never again demands we act now before it goes to far and as a Jew, an American and a human being I have no problem with AOC's language and the phoney outrage on the right is sickening. 

On The First Part of the Journey

This trip has been a great experience and fun for both Dianne and  me.   I am glad Dianne got to see Paris, a place she has wanted to visit for a while.  But the trip did not start out as smoothly as I would have liked.  Best laid plans.  So as we were getting on the plane from Indy I got an email apologizing that the transfer I had booked from the airport had been cancelled.  Seriously we were group two and they had just called Group 1.  So I thought we would simply Uber when we get there.  Apparently they weren't allowing Uber to get to Charles Du Galle airport.  So we decided to taxi.  (Side note the direct flight from Indy to Paris is great and the I know since we left there was a problem on one flight, but ours was perfect.)  So we got on the taxi line.  Inefficient but okay we got a taxi.  Our driver spoke no English, no big deal, but his French was heavily accented so that was a problem.  Anyway he had GPS and I had the address.  If only he would use his GPS and follow it.  He kept turning down alleys ignoring the explicit directions from the TomTom.  Now I do this sometimes but only when I know where I am going.  In his case, he had no clue.  At one point I knew it was right around the corner and I tried to tell him.  He just kept repeating that it is "Tres difficile".  We got there.  Good.  We could now start our day.  We got on the subway but we soon learned transportation would continue to haunt us.  The station to change trains was being renovated.  Apparently Google doesn't know all.  So we got off the train about a mile or so from where we wanted to because I couldn't, on the fly, figure out the right connection until it was too late.  It was a nice walk though, we saw the facade of Notre Dame and the destruction from the fire.  We walked along the Seine and made it to the Louvre where we eventually caught up with the bus that we had tickets for to ride to all the sights and figure out what to do with our days.  We were beat so a quick meal and our first taste of wine in France and then off to bed.  Sleep came easily.  Since then everything seems like it was go go go.  We toured the Louvre.  Getting in early allowed us to quickly see the popular items with little crowds.  Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo were two amazing moments.  However the Louvre has so much to offer.  We have since been to the Catacombs, The Rodin Museum, The Chocolate Museum...where we had real Aztec style hot chocolate, Normandy on a 14 hour journey which was fun, tiring and thought provoking.   We saw the sights you would think, walking and shopping along the Champs Elysee and the Arch de Triumph.   Lots of rain thought dampened the days until today.  The neighborhood of the Catacombs were we were today was so alive with cafes, food markets and just a variety of people.  We ate a late lunch at one cafe and watched the world go by as people of all walks of life and races, creeds and nationalities moved down the street.  At times we were hearing 5 or 6 different languages.  After shopping for some fruit we stumbled upon a Scotch tasting the no one was particularly interested in so we spoke with the woman running it for a while and I tasted an Islay Scotch I have never had.  Caol Ila.  Wow.  Her dream was more French people would embrace Scotch. 

Things I have noticed though:
1.  I can read and understand a lot of French, but can't produce it easily anymore.  In fact I translated the name of a cafe earlier today and right this minute I can't tell you the name in French but I can in English. 
2.  Tipping is not common here.  We truly surprised someone when we gave them a nice tip that they deserved. 
3.  Motorcycles and scooters are everywhere and ridden by everyone.  I saw an elderly (older looking than I am) nun on a motorcycle. 
4.  A lot of bathrooms are gender neutral and some become them even when not marked so.  While there is always a form of privacy it is weird to wash my hands next to a woman who is a stranger putting on make up in a public bathroom.  At a ritzy shopping mall. 
5.  The reputation of the rude French not speaking English is way overblown.  In fact often my stumbling French has been met with a smile and nice English.  However, at the cheese shop, the non-English speaking owner, while very nice, was frustrated by our requests.  He wasn't rude, just wished we had a better idea of what we wanted. 
6.  The Metro is easy, even when crowded, and there are people to help you during rush hour. 

Overall the trip so far has been glorious.  We are about to go out to a light dinner and more wine, then bed.  An early train to London where I hope I have better language skills :) 

I feel blessed for being in this great city.  

Be Careful Making a Comparison to the Shoah

So today I heard that Rush Limbaugh once again has equated the medical practice of abortion is like the Shoah (Holocaust).  Some how the obtuse minds on the right link the two all the time.  So let's take a look at the difference. 

1.  Abortion is a personal CHOICE that woman should have when it comes to their decision to carry a fetus to term. 

2. The Shoah was the systematic killing of people simply because of who they were that the government decided were unworthy of life. 

If you can't see the difference you are willfully ignorant or mind-numbingly dumb.  It is that simple.  The state killed people in Germany in the 1930s and 40s.  Even if you believe that abortion is murder it is not the state killing people.  It is the choice of the woman carrying the developing fetus to legally terminate the pregnancy. 

Now if you want a comparison in the abortion debate to the Shoah look at Missouri.  While the state is trying to make itself the first state to have no abortions allowed by attacking the last clinic still performing this medical procedure.  They have instituted a 72 hour waiting period, using regulatory reforms to make clinics jump through hoops but the worst is an attack on women's bodies.  The Republican Governor's administration has decided that women who go to seek abortions must submit to a preliminary and unnecessary vaginal exam.  The state is telling doctors they have to put fingers and instruments inside of woman, which is a form of sexual assault.  So the only rational comparison to the Shoah, which used state sponsored sexual and physical attacks on people, is the current GOP in their zealotry to control women. 

Now some on the right who don't want to give women the choice over their own bodies are going to say that the exam is no big deal.  They would have to have one during the procedure.  However, here is the thing, the current wave of anti-abortion laws will kill women.  Women who need abortions to survive.  Women who can't afford to travel to another state and fall prey to butchers.  This is not pro-life in any form.  This is a government attack on the rights and lives of women.  Let's remember that this is the government, using the power of the executive, to force women to submit to an invasive attack in the most private way.  This is immoral.  Let's make sure everyone knows it.