On my recent travels out west, I saw many sights in many many places. This is one you probably recognize:
Sunsets
It’s not the shortest day of the year yet, but we’ve already had the earliest sunset. Sunsets are getting later now, day by day, which brings me joy.
Israeli hostages killed by friendly fire
This is terrible and heartbreaking. And yet inevitable:
The IDF cleared for publication on Friday evening that, during combat in Shejaiya, the IDF mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed.
During searches and checks in the area in which the incident occurred, a suspicion arose over the identities of the deceased. Their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, after which it was confirmed that they were three Israeli hostages. …
The IDF believes that the three hostages who were accidentally shot either escaped from captivity or were abandoned by the terrorists who were holding them because of the fighting, but the incident is still being investigated.
“The IDF began reviewing the incident immediately. The IDF emphasizes that this is an active combat zone in which ongoing fighting over the last few days has occurred. Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said.
Under such terrible conditions, errors of this sort will be happening. It is horrible for everyone involved (except Hamas, of course), especially the families of the three hostages and also the troops who made the error. For the hostages to have survived this long, and to have been so close to being liberated, and then to be killed this way … words fail. RIP.
Reforming American colleges
I agree with this:
The issues in Academia go well beyond anti-Semitism; they go directly to the heart of what it means to be educated rather than indoctrinated. For the last several decades, progressive activists have transformed the former into the latter and imposed tribalism via DEI. That has created an environment on most campuses of extreme intolerance to differing points of view, and created leadership that quashes debate and dissent from the progressive-woke orthodoxy.
The proper approach is to defund Academia entirely, at least at the federal level. The federal government had no business goosing Academia’s business model in the first place, and the six-decade experiment has utterly failed. It has not improved education, but contributed to its destruction. The federalized loan program has turned at least two generations into debt paupers, and incentivized “debt forgiveness” at the expense of taxpayers who pay their own bills. And the tuition-support flood has created a massive administration class that operates politically rather than scholastically.
American education has become, for the most part, leftist indoctrination. That must change. Enormous damage has already been done to several generations, and it has consequences we’ve already seen. The hour is very very late. Those of us who’ve been writing about this for over a decade are happy to see the problem getting more attention, but until more is done it will remain a huge danger.
Caring about how Jews vote?
In almost every article or post on the right that deals with the war in Gaza, the terrorist attacks on Israel, anti-Semitism on US campuses, and the like, I see many comments to the effect of: “And yet Jews vote Democrat, and nothing will make them change.” Just to take one of countless examples, see the first few comments here.
Progressive Jews are ethnic Jews. Most know little to nothing about Judaism and are often actively hostile to both religion and Israel. They are typical of progressives everywhere, who tend to be urban and well-educated. Jews fit that profile. The vast majority of Jews in the US live in New York or Los Angeles, and vote more or less like other groups in those places – except for black people, who vote in far greater percentages for the left.
Also, although the Jews of Israel have their share of leftists, as a whole in recent years they’ve voted for the right, although the parliamentary system sometimes has allowed coalitions that put leftists in power.
But back to the US and its Jewish voters. The following was written after the 2022 midterms:
The Republican party increased its share of the national Jewish vote to a new high not seen in a generation, according to results of a midterm election exit poll conducted Tuesday by Fox News.
According to the data, 33% of Jewish voters polled voted Republican in the 2022 midterm election, up from 30% in 2020 and 24% in 2016. …
Markstein said Tuesday’s election saw “a record-smashing level of support in Florida, at 45% of the Jewish vote.”
In New York’s hotly contested gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Rep. Lee Zeldin won between 85-95% in Hasidic Brooklyn neighborhoods in Borough Park and Williamsburg where voter turnout averaged 50%, according to New York city polls, despite being ultimately defeated by Democratic incumbent challenger Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“Jews” are not unitary. They vote very differently from each other, depending on many things, but especially on how religious they are, with religious Jews voting on the right. Also important is where they live. They vote Democrat in higher percentages in blue states, much like just about everyone else in blue states and especially blue urban areas.
Jews are also a tiny tiny percentage of the voting public, and usually their vote doesn’t matter at all because they are concentrated in blue states where even without them, Democrats would be winning. Jewish donors are a different story – they are more influential, and lately quite a few of them have been pulling back from supporting Democrats.
NOTE: For a typical example of what I’m talking about, see many of the comments here.
Open thread 12/15/23
I don’t know the year, but I estimate this to have been filmed about 100 years ago. Pavlova had a poor turnout and weak ankles; her technique would be utterly unacceptable in a professional ballet dancer today. But she sure could dance, although in a very different style:
Still time to order Christmas gifts from Amazon
It’s the last night of Chanukah, but there’s still time to order Christmas gifts from Amazon and have them arrive before December 25. If you’re like me, you’ve probably postponed your shopping – I just did some of mine last night. If you use Amazon, please click on the Amazon portal on the right sidebar on desktops and laptops, and towards the bottom of the site as it displays on cellphones and the like. I get a small percentage from every purchase. The Amazon graphic may not display if you don’t disable your ad-blocker. Thanks very much!
Those Hamas leaders – are they still in Qatar?
Here’s an Israeli comedy bit about them:
Brilliant! Latest clip from @Eretz_Nehederet on Gaza and Hamas. pic.twitter.com/0vjceF8HB8
— Arsen Ostrovsky ?? (@Ostrov_A) December 13, 2023
But is it outdated? Have they left sunny Qatar for parts unknown? Your guess is as good as mine, but here’s the story:
Several Hamas leaders recently left Qatar together with their entourages, cutting off communications including cellphones.
The leaders left for Algeria, Lebanon, Iran and other countries, according to sources cited by Kan News’s Arabic channel. …
They live a life of luxury in the Gulf state even as most Arabs in Gaza live in abject poverty.
The article goes on to say that the number two man of Hamas, who ordinarily lives in Lebanon, has moved to Turkey.
SCOTUS will be hearing a J6 case
This is good news – I think:
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about an obstruction law that over 300 January 6 defendants have been charged with by the DOJ.
The case is Fischer v. U.S. The statute is 18 U.S. Code 1512(c)(2):
“Whoever corruptly…otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”
The law came into effect due to the 2002 Enron scandal.
It was never meant to apply to anything like J6, and no attempt had previously been made to apply it to a demonstration. But prosecutors took it out, dusted it off, and made it oh-so-useful. The SCOTUS ruling will not only impact many of the J6 defendants, but president Trump himself. The law is, among other things, confusing for vagueness and much too general.
More here [emphasis mine]:
Defense attorneys say the government is using the power of law enforcement to misinterpret, and even weaponize, nebulous language in the legal code.
In three separate motions filed on Oct. 23, Trump’s lawyers repeatedly raised objections based on the “vagueness” factor of the four counts in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 criminal indictment against Trump. Those four charges are: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct, conspiracy against rights, and obstruction of an official proceeding. …
[Among the J6 defendants] Jacob Chansley, the so-called “QAnon Shaman,” was the first protester charged for obstruction of an official proceeding, on Jan. 11, 2021.
Some of the accused never entered the Capitol or went inside after Congress recessed. Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, was in a Baltimore hotel on Jan. 6 following court orders to stay out of the nation’s capital. Trump himself never set foot on Capitol Hill that day.
The same cannot be said for Thomas Robertson, a Virginia police sergeant at the time. (He was immediately fired from his job.) The government indicted Robertson, a former Army Ranger with no criminal record, on six federal crimes including 1512(c)(2). Despite Robertson’s facing no charge related to assaulting a police officer or vandalizing property – and being inside the building for roughly 20 minutes – U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper revoked Robertson’s bond in July 2021.
Before his April 2022 trial, Robertson filed a motion to dismiss the charge related to 1512(c)(2). Robertson argued, as others have in similar dismissal motions, that Congress’ work on Jan. 6 was outside the fundamental scope of the law. “The electoral count is a ceremonial and administrative event that is not an ‘official proceeding’ contemplated in §1512; it is not an adjudicative proceeding involving witness testimony and evidence,” his lawyer wrote.
These J6 obstruction cases are examples of what one might call the Beria approach to prosecution: “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” I’d like to believe that SCOTUS will do the right thing and rule that the law is being misapplied here, and is so vague as to make it possible to charge people for almost any protest. And I tend to think that’s the way it will go, although it’s impossible to tell and we’ve been disappointed by the Court many many times.
SCOTUS may also rule on an issue connected with another Trump case:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan paused almost all proceedings concerning former President Donald Trump’s election interference case in D.C. as the courts above her decide on his claim that he has presidential immunity.
… Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
This one only affects Trump’s case, of course, rather than the J6 defendants. And at the very least, it will probably delay the Jack Smith court case.
Roundup on Israel/Palestine
(1) There’s a certain inconsistency in the message the Biden administration is giving out regarding Israel. It’s almost certainly based on the fact that Democrat voters are split on the subject, and the administration is faced with the dilemma of trying to placate both the pro-Israel and pro-Hamas wing of the party in an election year.
The bobbing and weaving tends to take the general form of Blinken = somewhat good cop and Biden = somewhat bad cop, but each man also is inconsistent within his own utterances and moves back and forth between the two stances.
(2) The Times of Isreal has a heartbreaking series on each of the people who were murdered by Hamas on October 7. It reminds me somewhat of the series the NY Times had on the dead of 9/11. So many beautiful young people, seemingly with their lives ahead of them. In Israel, however, you have the added horror of instances of many members of families being killed, and it was done up close and personal with extreme savagery. On 9/11, a fairly small number of terrorists were able to kill large number of people en masse in four airplanes, but in Israel there were thousands of perpetrators who killed their victims one by one.
(3) Switzerland’s lower house of parliament has voted to cut off the country’s funding of UNRWA. Switzerland has been UNRWA’s ninth-largest donor. How about it, US?
(4) Speaking of Europe:
Several Hamas-linked terrorists were arrested in a series of raids in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, the European media reported Thursday.
#Breaking Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) says they worked with law enforcement in Denmark, who arrested seven terrorists working with Hamas to plan a terrorist attack in Europe.
— Lahav Harkov ?? (@LahavHarkov) December 14, 2023
(5) As though things weren’t bad enough in crime-ridden Oakland, California, there’s this:
A large menorah erected at Lake Merritt’s amphitheater was torn apart and thrown into the water early this morning by vandals who, according to Jewish leaders, also spray painted anti-Israel and antisemitic graffiti on the sidewalk nearby.
This morning, a crew of city workers recovered the menorah’s metal parts while police waited nearby for local Jewish leaders to arrive.
“I feel afraid,” said Rabbi Dovid Labkowski, of the Chabad Center of Oakland, which set up the large outdoor display. “It makes me feel angry that this would happen in Oakland, a place with so much diversity.
That statement seems ironic to me, since “diversity” probably contributes to the problem.
Open thread 12/14/23
[Hat tip: Ace]
I'm scared ?pic.twitter.com/z8i8HGFFjN
— Epoch Animal Lovers (@EP_AnimalLovers) December 12, 2023
The nine countries which voted with Israel in the UN
It’s a strange combination. Aside from the US, we have Austria and Lithuania, two countries extremely cognizant of the Holocaust; Czechia; two Latin American countries, Guatemala and Paraguay; Liberia; and three Micronesian republics.
That’s it.
Twenty-three other countries abstained, but I’m having trouble locating a list of them.
The resolution passed resoundingly by a huge majority, and did not even mention Hamas:
– The resolution also reiterated the General Assembly’s demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, “notably with regard to the protection of civilians”
– Prior to the resolution, two amendments making specific reference to extremist group Hamas were voted down by members
The resolution also demanded the release of hostages – but again, it doesn’t even mention Hamas or terrorism.
The UN is an utterly discredited institution, and has been for a long long time. Also, its demands are meaningless, except as propaganda.
From the Israeli UN delegate, words of truth:
Israel’s Permanent Representative, Gilad Erdan, said that the General Assembly finds itself “about to vote on another hypocritical resolution.”
“Not only does this resolution fail to condemn Hamas for crimes against humanity, it does not mention Hamas at all. This will only prolong the death and destruction in the region, that is precisely what a ceasefire means,” he said.
He added that the only intention of Hamas is to destroy Israel and that the group has declared that it will repeat its atrocities again and again until Israel ceases to exist.
“So why would anyone want to aid Hamas in continuing their rule of terror and actualizing their satanic agenda?”, he asked.
“We all know that the so call humanitarian ceasefire in this resolution has nothing to do with humanity. Israel is already taking every measure to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he added.
Why “would anyone want to aid Hamas in continuing their rule of terror and actualizing their satanic agenda?” The question is rhetorical. The answer is some combination of cowardice, leftism, ignorance, Jew-hatred, and evil, in differing proportions for different people.