* Micah Johnson: “I wanted to kill white people.”
AG Lynch: “We may never know why you did this.” (Twitter)
If a six-pointed star tweet is the Old anti-Semitism, then the Old anti-Semitism must not have been a big deal.
That can’t be right. So what exactly was the Old anti-Semitism? The Holocaust? So Trump’s tweet is just like the Holocaust? Yes, I see the obvious parallels.
I wonder if anyone is growing a tad tired of this Jewish paranoia?
John Rivers tweets: “I’m glad that Jews get to have Jewish Pride and have a Jewish State. Now I want the same thing for my people.”
Chemi Shalev writes: Even if you stipulate that you agree with Trump 100% that the Star of David ad is completely innocent, why is he so totally unresponsive to protests that have come from Jews and non-Jews alike, including Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives? Why is such a self-proclaimed lover of Jews allowing anti-Semitism to rear its head in the middle of his election campaign instead of nipping it in the bud so that it goes back under the rock from which it emerged? How is it rational for Trump to antagonize and alienate so many Jews for no good reason?
Perhaps it’s truly because he never apologizes and always hits back “ten times harder,” as Cohn taught him. Perhaps he thinks that standing tall against the media and refusing to bow to political correctness was, is and will forever be essential to his success. Perhaps he’s counted and then realized that there are far more racists than Jews, who aren’t going to vote for him anyway, because they can always a buy a Democrat like Clinton, as the ad states and as he once implied.
And perhaps, in a worst-case scenario, Trump is keeping the Jews in reserve as an emergency scapegoat, if his campaign doesn’t go well. It’s a long-standing tradition in American politics, though not one usually kept by mainstream candidates of the two big parties. From the manipulative Rothschild bankers of William Jennings Bryant in 1896, through the Bolshevik agents in the 1920’s, the international Jews who pushed Franklin Roosevelt to fight the Nazis and implement the Jew Deal in the 1930’s and 1940’s, Roy Cohn’s 1950’s communists, George Wallace’s liberals in the 1960’s, Jesse Jackson’s hymies in the 1980’s and Pat Buchanan’s neocon Israel-Firsters, pushing America into a war of civilizations in the 1990’s, anti-Semitism is always just around the corner, if anyone needs it.
It’s been a really scary week for Jews because of Donald Trump’s six-pointed star tweet. Really really scary.
The only thing that was more scary was the Holocaust.
For the first time, there are indications that many Jews are turning against Trump. Prior to this tweet, they were all solidly in his corner.
Sad!
* I must admit I don’t get the whole Trump anti-Semitic deal.
What would be the point?
To get the David Duke vote?
How big can that be?
Finessing the situation while courting rich Jewish Republican donors?!
Also, the people complaining are bringing up amazingly insulting unsubtle stereotypes.
I would be more offended by the complainers.
I mean, Star of David on field of dollars.
Really?!
* You won’t believe it but the Washington Post had a big article today about the effect the six pointed star business was having on the Jewish community: sleepless nights, anxiety over anti-semitism, fears that Trump was pandering to violent elements in American society, and so on. I’m not sure what journalists like Goldberg are expecting from Hillary’s presidency. Ponies again?
* Hillary has been doing interviews on TV today. She’d adopting the language of whiteness studies, saying stuff like us white people need to listen to the cries of African Americans. I saw her doing it during two interviews. Will our glorious leader capitalize on this opportunity or will it be squandered as he gets distracted by something else?
* There are so, so many ways to legitimately attack Trump; the man is a walking example of a target-rich environment. (I say this as someone who will probably end up voting for him.) Of all the things they could hit him with, the idea that he’s some kind of crypto-Nazi itching to punish Jews is easily the most preposterous.
Besides the fact that one of Trump’s daughters is Jewish, anybody who’s been a big shot in New York business circles for as long as Trump obviously has an extremely high comfort level with Jews — probably much higher than the average American. A Midwestern Lutheran whose dad fought the Nazis and who doesn’t have an anti-Jewish bone in his body would probably be far more uncomfortable in a synagogue than Donald Trump. Even out-and-proud Jew-hating Trump supporters can see this and will readily admit it. Hell, coming from New York, Trump would probably be comfortable visiting a mosque.
Washington Post: Donald Trump’s vigorous defense of an image widely regarded as anti-Semitic has alarmed many Jewish Americans, who are growing increasingly fearful that someone who could be the next president is willing to stoke the kinds of stereotypical attacks that have haunted Jews for generations around the world.
Rabbis and other Jewish community leaders point to a moment of reckoning following a Wednesday night appearance in which Trump, with his voice raised, defended the use of a six-point star, which resembled the Star of David, mounted over a pile of $100 bills as part of an attack against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The image previously appeared on a website popular with white supremacists.
“That was a turning point for many,” said Lisa Spies, a veteran Republican fundraising consultant and former staffer of the Republican Jewish Coalition. “It forced people to say, ‘I’m going to hold off right now,’ or to say, ‘I just can’t vote for this guy.’ ”
Added Bethany Mandel, a conservative writer who has gained attention for past criticisms of the ties between some Trump supporters and hate groups: “This past week has been really scary as a Jew in America.”
…To some Jewish clergy, the disregard for their feelings demonstrated by a presumptive major-party presidential nominee, combined with online messages from hate groups cheering him on, was a shocking development.
“He was defending it with such passion. Shouting and screaming and regretting the fact that it was taken off and replaced,” said Philip Scheim, a Toronto rabbi who is president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the New York-based international association of rabbis from Judaism’s Conservative movement. “Before, there was this subtle tinge of anti-Semitism. Once it’s pointed out clearly — somebody took it off his account and replaced it — even then, to still stand up for it, is kind of mind-boggling.”
The controversy has put the Republican Jewish Coalition, a prominent group of GOP donors and activists that endorsed Trump earlier this year, in a deeply uncomfortable position. While the episode has subsumed the candidate’s campaign, the RJC has remained largely quiet. The group did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump was criticized in December after he told an RJC meeting that he was a negotiator, “like you folks,” but that he felt the group was not going to support him “because I don’t want your money.”
Chemi Shalev, the U.S. editor for Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, criticized Trump in a fiery column Thursday, arguing that an apparent resurgence of anti-Semitism on the political right in the United States “will be disconcerting for many Israeli Jews, reminding them that support for Israel and animosity towards Jews are not mutually exclusive.”
Mandel, the conservative writer, tweeted about anti-Semitism among Trump’s supporters on the night he won the South Carolina primary in February, and she found herself deluged by hundreds of anti-Semitic tweets directed at her own account, she said. “Get back in the oven; the only good Jew is a dead Jew — it’s all Holocaust imagery,” Mandel said.
Since then, she has blocked tweets from a constant stream of people, some of whom seem to have researched her personal life, she said. The count as of Thursday: She has blocked 928 accounts.
Still, she grew more concerned than ever after Wednesday’s speech.
“I’ve been saying for the last year, I don’t think he’s anti-Semitic. I think he has anti-Semites that maybe work for him, among his supporters,” Mandel said. “After this week, I’m like, maybe he is.”
Beautiful! But what if other people think tribally and target us for our race or religion?
Every people has unique gifts. In some things, whites on average are better than blacks. In other things, blacks, on average are better than whites. In other things, asians rule. In some areas, Ashkenazi Jews are best.
* The Dallas PD during the firefight looked like they were sorely lacking in helmets, body armor, and long guns. I presume they were deployed unprepared to present a friendlier look to BLM protestors? You wouldn’t want a Militarized Police Force, now would you?
* Many commenters underestimate blacks. For a little sniping, you don´t have to have IQ 150.
* Not to mention that millions of America blacks have military training and experience. The military starts with blacks of somewhat above average (for blacks) intelligence and is highly experienced and effective in teaching specific tasks to people with less than rocket science IQ (and one of those tasks is frequently shooting). Something as complex as an aircraft carrier is operated mostly by 19 year olds with high school degrees who did not graduate anywhere near the top of their class. The reason it works is that each one is repetitively trained to do his limited task.
* It wasn’t even that complex – it appears that it was only 1 guy.
There is a natural human tendency to think that the enormity of the actor must be commensurate with the enormity of the act. If a President or a dozen cops, etc. have been shot, it can’t just be one pathetic mentally deranged loser with a rifle, it has to have been a grand conspiracy or the shooter must have been a highly trained terrorist, etc. How is it possible that the mighty can brought low by the humble? The cognitive dissonance that is set up by such a situation is what gives rise to conspiracy theories. If on the one hand it’s “impossible” for such a thing to happen, but on the other hand it HAS happened, then what we see before our eyes cannot be true and there must be some other “better” explanation.
* For anyone old enough to remember the LA Riots of 1992, recall the division over whether to label the event as a riot or uprising. To people on one side of the aisle, it was a riot. To those on the other side, mostly blacks, it was an uprising. I remember seeing a black celebrity on TV correcting a white anchor when that anchor referred to the “riots”. I suppose uprising made them feel justified.
Now I see people referring to last night as terrorism. I assume most on this blog will run with that term which to me seems appropriate. But will the democrats and their coalition refer to last night as a terrorist attack? Or will they come up with a euphemism to make it sound justified?
* Has Hillary finished poll-testing her statement on the Dallas killings yet?
* The Black Liberation Army killed a number of police officers.
Wikipedia:
According to a Justice Department report on BLA activity, the Black Liberation Army is suspected of involvement in over 70 incidents of violence between 1970 and 1976. The Fraternal Order of Police blames the BLA for the murders of 13 police officers.
On October 22, 1970, the BLA is believed to have planted a bomb in St. Brendan’s Church in San Francisco while it was full of mourners attending the funeral of San Francisco police officer Harold Hamilton, who had been killed in the line of duty while responding to a bank robbery. The bomb was detonated, but no one in the church suffered serious injuries.
On May 21, 1971, as many as five men participated in the murder of two New York City police officers, Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones. Those arrested and brought to trial for the shootings include Anthony Bottom (aka Jalil Muntaqim), Albert Washington, Francisco Torres, Gabriel Torres, and Herman Bell.
On August 29, 1971, three armed men murdered 51-year-old San Francisco police sergeant John Victor Young while he was working at a desk in his police station, which was almost empty at the time due to a bombing attack on a bank that took place earlier – only one other officer and a civilian clerk were there. Two days later, the San Francisco Chronicle received a letter signed by the BLA claiming responsibility for the attack.
On January 27, 1972 the Black Liberation Army assassinated police officers Gregory Foster and Rocco Laurie at the corner of 174 Avenue B in New York City. After the killings, a note sent to authorities portrayed the murders as a retaliation for the prisoner deaths during 1971 Attica prison riot. To date no arrests have been made.
* The attack last night was terrorism in a classic sense (collective punishment to inspire terror in the target population, here, white cops) and it was also a “hate crime” (as much as I dislike the word) because it was directed towards killing white cops.
Look, the one doesn’t justify the other. Many people feel that too many civilians are being shot by police officers. That doesn’t justify this shooting. By the same token, condemning this terror attack doesn’t justify cops shooting civilians, either.
I doubt the media will call it what it is. They’ll just ride “lone gunman” real hard and try to ban AR-15′s, again. However, I would imagine that just about anyone in this country who doesn’t have one yet will be lining up to get one after last night.
* The good news for Trump is that there will be no further talk about Six Pointed Stars, which suddenly seems ridiculously trivial. A few days ago, Trump’s son-in-law wrote a piece in which he explained that his grandparent’s experience in the Holocaust had taught him the difference between REAL racism (the kind that involves the massacre of innocents) which demands attention and bogus “racism” (the kind that involves trumped up (no pun intended) controversies over the shape of a star in order to score political points), which is not worthy of any. Now Americans are learning the lesson he was trying to teach, the hard way.
* If Trump had (and this could never happen) the backing of 99% of whites, this would be seen as proof positive that he was a extremely racist candidate who was pandering to whites in order to gain their unanimous support, but if Hillary has the backing of 99% of blacks, this is proof positive that….. Trump is evil.
* Why was the 7-11 in Dallas looted?
That reads like a setup for a joke…
Because it could be?
Because rioters like Slurpees?
Because they ran out of Skittles and Snapple?
To get to the other side?
* Why did the scorpion sting the frog in the parable? It was just his nature.
* “If that’s how black dudes feel about US, just imagine how Muslims feel.”
Now just imagine how sensible white Americans feel about having these blacks and Muslims in the US.
* So far, I’ve not found one main stream media source that is connecting Obama’s pre-Dallas shooting speech that was hostile towards cops with the murder of those police officers. Yet when anti-Trump protesters attack Trump supporters in California, it’s somehow Trump’s fault…something he said set them off.
Funny how that works.
* The fact that Alton Sterling was a convicted sex offender doesn’t seem to bother the white virtue signalers, many of whom are young white women. I thought they would back off tweeting and posting love and support and calling him by his first name like an old friend, but they seem just as smitten with him now as when they first saw his worthless, twitching corpse and fell in love.
* Battle lines have been drawn, emotions are bubbling over and reason will not prevail.
The media & powers that be wanted a race war to distract the masses and keep themselves in power. They now have it.
I just don’t see anyway this nation can avoid a bloodbath as each side is out for revenge against real or imagined wrongs. This seems to be escallating and none of our leaders look able to heal it. Not Trump not Clinton. No one.
It reminds me of Yeats “Second Coming” poem.
* BLM provides the “muscle” for the demokrat party. They are to the demokrat party what the Gestapo was to the Nazi Party.
* Maybe the Dems didn’t get much punishment electorally over Orlando, but there’s a crucial difference. They couldn’t be see as actually encouraging the anger that motivated Orlando. Their policies were of course the opposite of protective, but they didn’t play an active part in making it happen. In this case, assuming it’s someone sympathetic with BLM who has perpetrated the murders, both Obama and Hillary can be said to have fostered the anger. They bear direct responsibility. That’s a very important difference, politically.
