It’s what Obama didn’t say
We’re very used to Obama denying that the Muslim religion has any connection with terrorism. But in the president’s interview with Matt Yglesias of Vox he also declined to state the obvious fact that in the Paris grocery attack the victims were selected because they were Jewish.
Obama’s verbal gymnastics around this were so awkward that they caused widespread comment as well as puzzlement and criticism. Here’s what he said:
It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.
In the conflagration that has ensued, instead of merely saying “of course the president knows they were targeted because they were Jews,” spokespeople Josh Earnest and Jen Psaki first spent some agonizing minutes (there are videos) trying to claim the grocery shooting really was “random,” and then ultimately tweeting that of course the shooting was anti-Semitic and that the administration has always said that.
And they are correct that the State Department has been saying that for quite some time. But not Obama, curiously enough. In fact, the only time Obama referred to anti-Semitism as a motive in the attack (at least that I could locate, and I tried pretty hard) was in this short press release that was written rather than spoken, and sent to the UN on the occasion of a conference specifically on the topic of anti-Semitism. It mentions the attack as an example.
The word in the Yglesias interview that seems to have garnered all the fuss is “random,” and Earnest and Psaki spent a good deal of their efforts on explaining how the victims were randomly chosen among the customers in the grocery store (some have referred to it as a “deli,” as the president did, but I’m going with “grocery store” because that’s what it seems to have actually been). That seems an odd point—that they weren’t called out by name and assassinated—but even their randomness is in question.
Reports are that at least two of the victims were chosen by the terrorist Coulibaly from among the hostages because those two had performed particularly heroic actions:
Yohan Cohen, aged 22, and Yoav Hattab, aged 21, were hailed as heroes by their fellow hostages, as they were murdered by Coulibaly while seeking to overcome him and free the other hostages in the store. Coulibaly reportedly abandoned one of his weapons on a counter-top in the store as he entered, after it had jammed. After Coulibaly proceeded to threaten a customer with a small child at the beginning of the attack, Cohen, an employee, attempted to grab the abandoned weapon with the help of Hattab, and take down Coulibaly. When the malfunctioning gun jammed on Cohen at that moment, Coulibaly shot Cohen in the head, and then proceeded to shoot Hattab.
But I think it’s wrong to nitpick over the word “random”—although the attack, in a kosher grocery on Friday, right before the Sabbath when most observant Jews would be shopping in preparation for the holiday, and in which the killer specifically stated he targeted Jews, was clearly not random. What is more important is what Obama didn’t say. After all, how hard is it to use the words “kosher” or “Jewish” or “anti-Semitism”to describe the attack? These things are clear and obvious; you have to go out of your way to create weird constructions in order to not use the words.
So it wasn’t the word “random” that was such a problem, although it appeared to be at first glance. It was the absence of the word “Jew” or something of the sort. To illustrate my point, do a thought experiment: if Obama had said “randomly shoot a bunch of Jews in a deli in Paris,” would there have been a similar hue and cry? I doubt it, because we would have known just what he meant. It was the use of the word “random” combined with the absence of any words like kosher or Jewish, and the strange phrase “bunch of folks.” The sidestepping is extreme enough—and consistent enough (I have been unable to locate a single spoken statement in which he mentions Jews or Jewishness or anti-Semitism in connection with the attack)—as to seem an intentional avoidance on Obama’s part.
So–why can’t Obama say the obvious?
Here are the possibilities: (1) Obama doesn’t want to stir up any sympathy for Jews, either for geopolitical reasons involving his antipathy for Israel, or because he really is anti-Semitic (2) The more he identifies Jews as the intended victims, the more people will link the terrorists with religious motivations involving Islam, which he wants to discourage (3) He is so in the habit of using obfuscatory speech about religion for Islamic terrorists that phrases like “a bunch of folks,” and the leaving out of the word “kosher,” are nearly-reflexive and automatic edits of religious content (he lacks a similar reluctance when speaking of Christianity and the Crusades, of course).
At the time of the kosher supermarket killings, Jonathan S. Tobin wrote in Commentary:
Not mentioning anti-Semitism when Islamist killers specifically seek out Jews to slaughter ”” as if anyone could possibly believe a terrorist assault on a kosher market in Paris could be mere happenstance ”” is more than insensitive. It is a sign that this administration does not take the many attacks on French and European Jews seriously. It is also a message to the Muslim world that the United States does not take the issue of anti-Semitic violence seriously. To his credit, French President Francois Hollande did specifically condemn the attack as an act of anti-Semitism, a statement President Obama should have echoed.
Obama’s Yglesias interview signals that his attitude and message has not changed in the month since Tobin wrote those words. I submit that it is unlikely to change.
(4) He is very aware of and in control of how his statements will be perceived by those he is currently trying to cut a deal with in the Middle East (Iran + perhaps others) to produce some Nixon to China like event, or simply to hold back the tide until January 21, 2017. The audience he is concerned with is not a domestic audience.
mezzrow:
Absolutely. As Tobin says, it’s “a message to the Muslim world.”
No point in trying to discern the finer points of Orcs’ mental processes.
They won’t extend that courtesy to you …
Thus, this:
#Jewishlifesmatter
The current pResident should be treated with all the courtesy and consideration that was extended to the previous President.
B-t-w, every victim in the Paris deli was Jewish.
Random!
g6loq:
Depends how you define “victim.” Every person murdered was not only Jewish but was an observant Jew.
But there were quite a few others (I believe 17 or so) who were wounded. We haven’t heard much about them. My guess is that perhaps a couple of them weren’t Jewish? It’s within the realm of possibility.
Bho uses the term ‘folks’ frequently. It is purposeful and intended to distract from the real issue, in this case, the hatred of muslims for Jews and Christians. He knows exactly what he is doing…. promoting his agenda to weaken the West and elevate islam.
g6loq:
I must say I find studying and speculating about Obama’s mental processes rather fascinating.
While the murdered wanted to kill Jews, he was probably also not upset if he killed a few non-Jewish customers. After all, they would have been supporting Jews by their purchases. That must be a grave sin to a terrorist like him.
I’m surprised he didn’t call it workplace violence.
I’ll have to check (Bing!), but I don’t recall Obama, or most of the media in general. identifying the victims of Boko Haram as Christian. At least not when the story temporarily captured everyone’s attention with the short-lived #BringBackOurGirls campaign. In fact, the progressives who were most vocal about these poor schoolgirls likened it to the Left’s domestic #WarOnWomen meme.
So, would this then lend support your possible explanation #2 – Identifying the victims as religious reinforces that the attacks are religiously motivated?
neo concludes, “I submit that it [His attitude and message] is unlikely to change.” He is already perfect in all He saith and doeth; why change?
Does anyone doubt that if it were a Halal market that religion would have mentioned? We’re seeing with that awful shooting of 3 NC colleges students over a log-standing parking dispute – it’s “white man kills 3 Muslims students.”
Is it possible Obama thought using the word “deli” put across the idea that it was a Jewish grocery store? Especially considering the youth audience the Vox website targets?
@neo-neocon re: “But I think it’s wrong to nitpick over the word ‘random’…. What is more important is what Obama didn’t say. After all, how hard is it to use the words ‘kosher’ or ‘Jewish’ or ‘anti-Semitism’ to describe the attack?”
I think the two are equally important and that the word “random” was used to reinforce the interpretation that the attack was non-religious in nature and therefore not jihad.
In effect, the word random was deliberately chosen specifically to render religious attributes of the store like kosher, Jewish, etc. immaterial. If something is truly random, it can’t be predicted and is not part of an intelligible pattern. If this attack was truly random, whether it was kosher or Jewish is therefore utterly besides the point. To claim that a self-proclaimed jihadist randomly chose this particular business establishment to attack is to effectively claim that he was not a jihadist in the first place. This is why I was upset.
My answer to Neo’s rhetorical question as to why BHO can’t answer the obvious is: All three.
He hates Jews,even though they contribute to him and the Dems(buying indulgences?), he more than merely likes Muzzies (may be taqqiya), seems inclined toward the Shia side.
But the bottom line is that he is evil.
Funny he did mange to use the word zealot. We seem to be glossing over that. I know ancient history.
I’m basically in agreement with all of the above but would add one other, deeper concurrent possibility, as to why Obama can’t say the obvious. Of course Obama is antisemitic and a liar. Liars do far more than just lie to others, most of all they lie to themselves. You can only be as honest with others as you are with yourself. Shakespeare had the right of it,
“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”
I think that this part of the interview reinforces the “random”:
What Obama is doing it he’s trying to downplay Islamic terrorism to the point of believing that it doesn’t exist; or that it exists as a criminal enterprise instead of an act of war. This is the person who reminds us that Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive, declared and an end to the War on Terror and even relabeled terrorist acts as “Man caused disasters”.
KRB
I think we have to carefully consider the truth staring us in the face- Obama has been and still is a closeted anti-Semite.
Yancey Ward, 5:59 pm — “I think we have to carefully consider the truth staring us in the face- Obama has been and still is a closeted anti-Semite.”
I think we have to carefully consider the truth staring us in the face: he is certainly a sympathizer with Islam, if not a card-carrying one of them; his sympathies are with them, their world (the third world), and for that matter, with anyone who is opposed to western civilization in general and to the USA in particular.
Indeed, it is “staring us in the face”. What makes it so hard to swallow is the sheer impossibility of it all. To anyone born before, say, the turn of the latest millennium, it is simply unthinkable that any president of the USA might genuinely, actively sympathize with our adversaries. Jimmy Carter was weak and naive, but he did not sympathize with the Soviets. Bill Clinton couldn’t keep his fly zipped, but I don’t think anyone suspects he was for the other side. Even Mizz Hillary is not for the other side as is her recent boss, President Hopenchange.
For those of us who are older, yes, there certainly were high-ranking officials — Alger Hiss comes to mind as an easy example — who actively sympathized with the adversary. But not the president of the nation. It’s a whole new ball game here, and it’s understandable that people have a hard time digesting and internalizing what’s been “staring us in the face”.
” I must say I find studying and speculating about Obama’s mental processes rather fascinating.”
If by fascinating you mean horrific. He is a candy ass dope smoking glib person who never matured past his freshman year in college, but he did spend a lot of time in front of a mirror practicing looking deep and thoughtful. He has a nice smile that he sold to half of America like a happy meal. He’s not a lot deeper than that.
KLSmith:
I beg to differ as to BHO’s depth. Look at what he has accomplished. It is almost unbelievable. In six years he has damaged the USA probably beyond repair. I am not going to recite his accomplishments; it would take too long, and most here are well-acquainted with his track record. He is a blackguard of the first water, and he has a lot for himself to be proud of. The cherry on top is he’ll be living large no matter what follows. He deserves an end like Causescu or Mussolini, but that will not happen in the USA.
Anyone who reads of world affairs, news, and keeps up with any semblance of domestic awareness KNOWS that anti-Semitism has been on the rise:
( just 5 days ago )
http://spectator.org/articles/61717/anti-semitic-outrage-uc-davis
Obama KNOWS that the Kosher Market in Paris was specifically an issue of muslim terrorists targeting their hated adversary. Obama KNOWS this and is playing semantics (Alinsky-esque) in his assessment. He’s a jackass…
Clarityseeker, 8:09 pm — “He’s a jackass . . .”
He is an obedient subject: obedient to what his special station in life has bestowed on him, obedient to the expectations of his master, his god: his ideology.
And as Don Carlos (7:51 pm) points out, “he’ll be living large no matter what follows.” Galling.
Surprisingly he didn’t say that it was a random act in retaliation for the crusades; or wait . . . did he say that?
Any One of did he or she did statistics?
Neo, did you go back and get yourself some calculations before puting things here while you accusing othrrs of
nitpick infact you did!
While Terrorism Is a Real Threat … But the Threat from whom?
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/05/muslims-only-carried-out-2-5-percent-of-terrorist-attacks-on-u-s-soil-between-1970-and-2012.html
(4) He hates Jews and likes it when they are killed.
Don Carlos: I agree completely about his agenda and the damage done. I was referring to his personality. I don’t think there is a lot of there there. He had a 3000 pg healthcare bill handed to him. He is not the policy wonk genius that wrote it. He is our Benito. A red diaper baby that grew up to find that corporatism was the best solution. More pernicious than old school communism because the veneer of private ownership is retained while the government calls the shots.
M J R : my dad could not understand why someone would want to become president if they hated their country. I would tell him that if you wanted to undermine and damage the country what better position to hold. He probably thought I wore a tin foil hat at home. After six years it doesn’t seem as crazy to him.
Three cheers for Vanderleun. Obama’s done everything except proclaim sympathy for the Nazis where Israeli interests are concerned. But it’s probably only a matter of time before he does that too.
Those who are not able to say Obama is an anti-semite are a lot like Obama not being able to say “Islamic terrorist”. Both know the truth, they just refuse to say it. He’s got a problem with Israel, and Jews, like he has with America. He’s probably frustrated nobody has come out and thanked him for it.
It’s interesting to watch this president who was marketed as a larger than life messiah, striding forth from Greek columns – who thinks of himself in that way too, continue to prove he’s the smallest of men, and the least of any president we’ve ever known. The difference between the man and his own self image is immeasureable by any standard you could ever conceive of applying.
I blame the voters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5IqH7oJ9h4
Nothing learned, everything forgotten ….
KLSmith, 11:09 pm — acknowledged. I know quite a few people who were never in a zillion years Obamabots, but who never, ever imagined we’d have a genuine anti-American as president, who wished our country ill and who was dedicated to bringing it down and putting it in its place. It’s actually happening.
Oh, he’s a Jew-hater, all right.
Remember how he dissed Netanyahu in 2010? walking out of a meeting with him and saying he had to go eat dinner with his family? refusing to let any photographers record the meeting? etc., etc.
The State Dept. has been rotten to the core since at least the 1930s, so the less said about Jen “Tri-Delt from Hell” P-Saki, the better. . . . Don’t you love how these Ivy League beauzeaux feel so bloody superior to everyone else? Insufferable twits.
Mr Obama veto any further sen tions on iran.
Today at Tehran rally marking revolution anniversary again same old slogans in Tahra “Death to US, Death To Israel”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-chants-of-death-to-israel-iran-leader-calls-for-win-win-nuke-deal/
I continue to be amazed at the American Jewish community continued support for the liberal position. This Islamic sympathizing president is doing his best to foment another holocaust. Quoting from “Back to the Future” …… “Hello, is anybody home”?
MJR said:
” Even Mizz Hillary is not for the other side as is her recent boss, President Hopenchange.”
I’m not sure about Hillary. Does the name Huma Abedin ring a bell for anyone? Even her supporters admit that she is a practicing Muslim. Muslim men will marry Jewish or Christian women since the women by marrying a Muslim man automatically give up control of their lives and usually end up converting to Islam but according to Islamic law a practicing Muslim woman is not permitted to marry an infidel especially a Jew. The only exception would be if she was working undercover for the advancement of Islam over Western Civilization – which is undoubtedly the case.
Join that with Hillary’s bizarre speech in which she said that we should empathize with our enemies and the possibility that she will work just as assiduously for the advancement of Islam as Obama is very high. In light of that speech it is no mere coincidence that her closest associate at State was a practicing Muslim.
Tip of the hat to Vanderleun for succinctness and clarity.
neo-neocon Says:
February 11th, 2015 at 3:30 pm
g6loq:
Depends how you define “victim.” Every person murdered was not only Jewish but was an observant Jew….
Yes Neo-neocon, we should be precise with words. But, these Leftists are not engaging you in an Aristotelian type debate for the purpose of eliciting truth. They are conducting a dialectic process with purpose of grinding you into the ground.
As to precision with words, I refer you to an earlier comment of mine:
“The Left makes an accusation they know, or should know, to be false. And The Right chases its tail correcting the factual errors, as if the facts have ANY impact on The Left. We’ve been correcting the record for decades. Does The Left control more or less of America since we began this exercise? Should we keep doing what we have done while The Left has come to dominate more and more of society or should we finally recognize The Left cannot be deterred by facts. The so-called moderates are only low-info Gomers that substitute social signlas for facts. Since 99% of their info comes from leftist media all they know is leftist dogma.
Is there any way yelling “eat a sandwich” at an anorexic will cure them? No, but that doesn’t stop us from endlessly documenting recipes and nutritional facts when the problem is our opponent has a mental short-circuit and they see blubber in the mirror no matter how skeletal they become.
We discuss facts because we prefer that to confrontation and battle. Winning battle is the only way to improve things”.
You might not want battle but battle will find you …
Or meekly board the cattle wagons like they did the last time… [there were hardly any instances of resistance to the boarding process]
Obama was brought up in Indonesia between the ages of 6 & 10. He no doubt recited that little verse that is all that is required to make you moslem. Once you are in, there is no way out.
That he is Moslim explains all his actions.
neo-neocon Says:
February 11th, 2015 at 3:32 pm
g6loq:
I must say I find studying and speculating about Obama’s mental processes rather fascinating.
Hmmm … Get yourself hiredinto an insane asylum and speculate away …
Fwench “Emperor” Napo the III comes to mind.
His schtick was to explain how waaaaay smarter he was than everyone else. Them Fwench somehow believed him. The “Emperor” constantly made rather puzzling moves but it was assumed that he was playing a very smart type of 3 dimensional chess. Herr Otto von Bismarck put an end to it.
They found the Emperor’s diaries. It was all meaningless babble … Way over his head.
The random targeting of “folks” on the campus of UC Davis illustrates the need for some respect for public property. I mean, to spray paint random historical symbols is senseless in itself. But to deface public property? An outrage:
http://spectator.org/articles/61717/anti-semitic-outrage-uc-davis
It reminds one of the similar random shooting of a some folks at a random ticket counter in Los Angeles International Airport. One is hard pressed to understand just why it is these random acts of violence are carried out:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lax-gunmans-wife-blames-us/
How is it that these folks are always acting out dramatically in some random effort to draw attention to themselves or to feign some version of inexplicable anxiety?
It really has grown tiresome:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11353535/British-Jews-scared-to-go-to-shops-in-wake-of-Paris-attacks.html
Some very confused people are apparently asking why it seems there are markedly increased random attacks on regular folks in France:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/anti-semitic-attacks-french-jews-doubled-year/
These types of questions further contribute to taking the focus off of significant issues. It’s a shame.
Another random event in France:
http://antisemitism-europe.blogspot.com/2015/02/france-cars-vandalized-and-marked-jew.html
… … … it is complicated at times.
Sigh!
So—why can’t Obama say the obvious?
because sociopaths prey on humans and one way to do that and earn power is to lie, an then take advantage of the suckers… you can see in his smirk that he loves duping delight..
but soon this will be the last we are allowed to say, he is moving on the internet, and the bloggers will be regulated… guess they didnt fight hard enough not to be, any more than the citizens of weimar didnt fight hard enough to prevent their future.. .
its all moot..
i could not care less, as i sit and wait to die
having no future, no friends, no connections to change anything, and will certainly be put upon more and more
all i have is the wait for the choir triumphant…
anyone else?
I should also point out that you may not be his audience. his audience may be people in the future after we are dead and who will see what he says as the record, and not know that history was actually different… he is talking to the future ignrati, not the present losers.
British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told Reuters
First, he said, the Russians “may have lowered the threshold” for using nuclear weapons
Second, he said, the Russians are “integrating nuclear with conventional forces in a rather threatening way….”
Third, he said, “at a time of fiscal pressure they are keeping up their expenditure on modernizing their nuclear forces.”
its a case of priorities… who would care about the issues above is there was a nuclear conflict? so caring about the nuclear conflict comes first… the BEST time to start trouble would be when? (our elections?)
UK concerned over ‘threatening’ Russian nuclear strategy
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/02/06/uk-ukraine-crisis-fallon-idUKKBN0LA1PF20150206
both leaders can be described the same…
Putin is increasingly seen as a reckless gambler who calls bluffs and takes risks, and is inscrutable, paranoid and unpredictable. Trying to work out what he wants is guesswork. The Europeans sound scared.
it didnt happen overnight.. moving slowly under the radar of perception for all the years that obama is in office and they knew the playbook
Fear of Vladimir Putin grows in EU capitals amid spectre of ‘total war’
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/06/vladimir-putin-west-divisions-war-ukraine?CMP=share_btn_tw
at that point, this bs about obama saying that or this, becomes infinitesimily small… poof… gone…
you let me know what was the really really pressing news the day before ferdinand got shot? i can tell you what was pressing the days after very easily…
The scissors strategy [of previous decades] would give way to the strategy of ‘one clenched fist.’ At that point the shift in the political and military balance would be plain for all to see. Convergence would not be between two equal parties, but would be on terms dictated by the communist bloc. The argument for accommodation with the overwhelming strength of communism would be virtually unanswerable. Pressures would build up for changes in the American political and economic system …. Traditional conservatives would be isolated and driven toward extremism. They might become the victims of a new McCarthyism of the left. [page 346] New Lies for Old…1984
Note that there has been a huge exodus of jews from the UK, france and europe… concentrated in one place makes certain things easier than before… no?
“its all moot..
i could not care less, as i sit and wait to die
having no future, no friends, no connections to change anything, and will certainly be put upon more and more
all i have is the wait for the choir triumphant…
anyone else?”
Stop talking like that. What would your father and grandfather think of it …
they would think nothing, they are dead…
dad came from a soviet existence where the whole family except for a few of us were terminated… he died working his tail off never getting to retire because the protected classes were helped while he wasnt… his son, was kept out of college after bronx science… then his son lost his family to a woman that robbed a bank with his son, and a judge that said he had no rights… his career was ended by the police investigating a murder for a woman who, thirty years later is still not dead… his grandson was pushed out of college because he is a white male in stem, despiute graduating with honors.
in his current job he was put in an office smaller than a bathroom stall (literally), that was over 100 degrees until he had a stroke which harmed him, and back problems that harmed him.
when he complained they moved him and then told him he can never have a raise or promotion for the rest of his life no matter what he does, achieves or how hard he works.
he saw a lawyer who said he isnt a protected class and so had no rights… and could not win the legal fight…
his wife is no barren as he desperately works to earn enough to have a child and a familyh and a home, but the SBA does not help his kind, the banks have no programs for people like him, and his wife is from indonesia, and so cant earn much
at 50 cant find another job, especially in the new society and post obama.
he has not had a raise in 10 years… and never will
so… there isnt anything i can do, my aspergers mean i have zero friends, my work is no longer something people will see, we have no money for patents or a business, and more.
so i just sit around now… its the cheapest thing to do
neo knows so much of this, but even she has not been able to help.
dad worked himself to death, i figure, why work to death for nothing? i have no future… so there is nothing for them to get upset about, they understand soviet style social imprisonment… its what exterminated the family.. they dont see those who died as bad either.
so thats that
Today is the 206th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth… obama wont talk about that either.
if you have a suggestion DNW, i would take it…
but not if it is to get a sex change so i can become a protected class and have a raise… 🙂
they work me to death now and nothing i can do since there is rampant ageism in tech and they stole my technology…
so i make them lots of money, or they would fire me.
i make HALF of what the union janitor makes, but us IT people are forbidden by law to unionize…
so what do you suggest? yell? scream? dance the wa tu si? shummy like my sister kate?
there is nothing i can do…
and since i wont kill myself, waiting to die is all i have left to do… no one sees my photography… no one sees my art, or my inventions… to continue doing them for noone makes no sense… i dont get to go out with a friend for a few beers… have not talked about anything that really interests me in more than a decade… no one to talk to… (my wife is not a physicist or engineer and dad is dead).
so you let me know what i can do…
they dont help old men be successful, they dont have a career path for old men, and certainly dont have all that for hated white old men…
if neo would let me i would show my work and see if i could catch a fish… but that is not fair to others, so wont happen…
sitting around waiting for the end is pretty much all i have
Artfldgr Says:
February 12th, 2015 at 12:57 pm
Note that there has been a huge exodus of jews from the UK, france and europe… concentrated in one place makes certain things easier than before… no?
Huge? French Jewish pop. is about 600,000.
Lately it looks like a few thousands more than is normal have left:
http://tabletmag.com/scroll/179423/hundreds-of-french-immigrants-arrive-in-israel
French Jews vote like shiat. Example, at one point they accounted for on fourth of the uber Socialist Mittertand cabinet….
Jew Fabius is the current Foreign matters guys. He’s very err … nuanced.
Sigh!
g6loq:
It is my impression from what I’ve read (don’t have a link right now) that the majority of the French Jews leaving France are the more observant Jews, whose families mainly came from North Africa in the mid-20th century. They are the ones most at risk for violence because they shop in kosher stores, attend synagogue, and wear identifying clothing as orthodox Jews. They also tend (at least, in this country and Israel) to vote more conservatively than secular Jews do. It is secular and reform Jews who vote strongly to the left, and I believe that is true in France as well, although I’ve not read anything specifically on that subject.
Artfldgr:
Set up a website with your artwork and I’ll link to it.
neo-neocon Says:
February 12th, 2015 at 2:09 pm
g6loq:
It is my impression from what I’ve read (don’t have a link right now) that the majority of the French Jews leaving France are the more observant Jews…
You are correct. At this point it goes without saying. Same situation as here … and, same situation as in the 1930’s …
Nothing learned, everything forgotten. Sigh.
Was listening to Rabbi Lapin on KSFO. He’s seething: nothing learned, nothing …
http://www.orthodoxnet.com/articles/Lapin/Our_Worst_Enemy_2005-01-24.php
M J R said: “Even Mizz Hillary is not for the other side as is her recent boss, President Hopenchange.”
Dennis, 7:59 am — “I’m not sure about Hillary.”
[balance of Dennis post omitted]
M J R now replies: Your points are well taken.
One of the most obnoxious things I think Josh Earnest said in his news conference the other day is when a reporter asked him about characterizing the attack as anti-Semitic and he said why don’t you go ask the French to see what they consider it. Like it’s some purely local matter. Here’s a quote from/regarding Jen Psaki in a very similar vein.
Lee pressed: “Does the administration believe this was an anti-Jewish attack on a Jewish community in Paris?”
“I don’t think we’re going to speak on behalf of French authorities and what they believe was the situation,” Psaki concluded.
I just found that to be incredibly obnoxious. It sounds deferential superficially, but it’s just a very weak way to avoid answering an obvious question. Josh Earnest and the president can make up their own minds what they think of the incident without having to defer to the French on it. But I did make this observation about the French response (the Prime Minister, Manuel Walls, was especially good about acknowledging that it was an attack on Jewish people). You’ll remember they ordered out the army to protect places around the country. And what kind of places did they protect? Grocery stores? Was it a “random” attack on grocery stores? No, what they sent the army out to guard were Jewish-affiliated locations – schools, synagogues and places like that. That was the pertinent criterion. It’s pretty clear what the French authorities thought of the incident from that reaction.
kcom:
Especially weak since Hollande had already said, on the day of the killings at the kosher grocery, that they were anti-Semitic. The French have already said exactly what they consider it, with crystal clarity:
I was going to suggest that he set up a blog. It is free to do so.
Of course a .com website costs very little more. Since he says he is an IT man, it should present very little in the way of challenge.
Is he crippled? Has his stroke left him in a wheel chair or otherwise debilitated?
If not it seems as though he needs to – and this is no joke – get some exercise.
And since Art has apparently such a powerful memory for detail and trends, why not open an online trading account?
Certainly playing for pennies, initially, on the market would present the prospect of advancing financially outside a master-servant employee relationship, and would require nothing like the funds potentially required for the capitalization of a successful business.
And of course, I did not, and Art knows that I did not mean to suggest that his father and grandfather were literally listening to him.
As he well knows, what I meant is what these men would think of the kind of damned if I do damned if I don’t victim talk he is spouting.
Art: If you are in a wheelchair, I apologize. If you are not, stand up and get moving. It almost doesn’t matter where, as long as you are doing the willing and direction. You apparently have been cheated and if you are to be believed the victim of astounding judicial malpractice. You also seem to believe that you have special talents that are not being appreciated and enabled; and that the spirit of the age will not allow you to be the man you want to be.
My suggestion is that you not ask for permission or validation. Do as Neo said. Work around the walls by using the Internet to make money rather than rehash your case.
You want some motivation? Every little success you have puts you one step closer to a financial position where you can again seek justice. If you still care about it, that is.
Of course you might just be mentally ill in which case I am wasting my time trying to cheer you up and get you to act like a settler family which has found their ranch burned to the ground and no one around to comfort them.
You are alive aren’t you? Fight back with what you have got. Bitching isn’t getting you where you want to be, so what have you got to lose by taking Neo’s advice? On your own terms … nothing to lose but much to potentially gain.
If your art work is any good and you start selling for millions, I’ll expect that you will have put a free one aside for me.
Pingback:It’s what Obama didn’t say | myrandomthoughtsandmusing