Sorry, dear readers. The trolls have found the "open to everyone" Comments section. Will need to lock it down for paying subscribers only. Please report any offensive comments and I will delete.
By trolls, I am referring to someone who created a fake account named "Tucker Carlson" and linked to a "Tucker Carlson Channel" that may (or may not) have been a phishing attempt. The account was created this morning at about 9:30 AM and "Tucker Carlson" began posting in this forum ten minutes later. People who create fake accounts for the sole purpose of commenting in this forum are not acting in good faith, especially when they link to alleged MAGA content that seems suspicious. I hope no one clicked on the link before I removed it. I clicked on the link to see if it was legit and have been getting odd responses through Substack ever since.
However, I do notice a lot of emails using loaded words such as "apartheid, occupy, and genocide" to refer to Israel. These are buzz words meant to evoke an emotional reaction. It is Hamas that promulgates genocide. It is Iran that props up the Hamas regime with out protecting the Palestinians. It is the other Arab countries that have kicked out most of their Jewish population.
People forget that not only were 1400 Israelis murdered there are over 200 hostages held by Hamas. What is Israel supposed to do? Make nice?
Anyway, I just got off of the phone with a person that I coached years ago. He lives in Atlanta and is of Italian/American descent. He married a Jewish woman and raised their daughter Jewish. He says they have taken the mezuzah off of their doors. His daughter goes to school at a well known SEC school. He says he is not too worried because her last name is Italian.
My nephew is Florida is not wearing his Star of David for 2 reasons: one is business and the other is personal safety.
This Palestinian uprising worldwide is causing a problem for Jews in America AND our neighbors. The White House was almost breached.
This is the left wing version of Charlottesville "Jews will not replace us."
Hopefully, my language is not inflammatory...but I am inflamed. I am not the one accusing promoting the elimination of others. But some people on your site are doing just that.
By trolls, I am referring to someone who created a fake account named "Tucker Carlson" and linked to a "Tucker Carlson Channel" that may (or may not) have been a phishing attempt. The account was created this morning at about 9:30 AM and "Tucker Carlson" began posting in this forum ten minutes later. People who create fake accounts for the sole purpose of commenting in this forum are not acting in good faith, especially when they link to MAGA content that seems suspicious. I hope no one clicked on the link before I removed it. I clicked on the link to see if it was legit and have been getting odd responses through Substack ever since.
Ed, I'm certainly in sympathy with your friend in Atlanta. But I have no idea what SEC stands for in the context of your post, and googling failed to come up with anything. In my Jewish world, SEC stands for Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless an acronym is in common parlance, like MPG, DNA, and HIV, please don't assume others are familiar with it.
Reporting in from Atlanta here. SEC schools are the Southeastern Athletic Conference (think Southern football schools). As a NY transplant a couple of years ago, I also had no idea what an SEC school was back then but now that I live in a land where college football appears to come before all else, I can understand why ppl here would assume that everyone knows what an “SEC school” is. As a general matter, antisemitism has, indeed, reached the south. Evangelical Christians down here, however, have Israel’s back and are making that known . . .
I'm glad for what you say about evangelical Christians where you are.
And I guess SEC should be considered a regionalism down there. But I generally think acronyms should be avoided, as I said previously, unless they're in common parlance. I could talk about my love for ICE, despite my cognitive dissonance about it due to global warming, and nobody but car nuts would realize I'm referring to internal combustion engines. (My '08 Civic with 156,000 miles on it runs just as well as it did when I bought it with 35,000 miles, and it's an absolute joy to drive.)
I know more about Nunavut--specifically that it's a large indigenous nation in the northeastern section of Canada, and about Outer Mongolia, mostly that it has the biggest livestock to humans ratio on the planet--roughly 26:1, a figure that either my father, or his first PhD student, one George Murphy, was responsible for obtaining, than I do about football. In the case of football, I know they use a ball with a funny shape, and tht two teams play against each other, and that Americans drink a lot of beer while they watch football and that players often get injured, and that's about it.
Seen from the outside (Sweden) I think it is a most important point to make about the double standard of media. As is the GOP weaponizing of polls. Liberal media doesn't have to be infiltrated across the whole staff. On the contrary it takes only a few people to decide on a heading, publish a single article with false balance, or turn the emphasis towards the double standard. Maybe there must be someone in a leading position to accomplish this, but the image of trustworthy journalism must be maintained when speaking to the non MAGA crowd.
It is indeed remarkable that polls tend to favour the talking points of republicans: Age of Biden, and poor economy, when facts are speaking to the opposite. Polls are possible to manipulate by the way you ask questions, and this can also be proven to be the case, but too late. Once you can get the headline in NYT to announce your talking points it doesn't matter what you say next. It is hard work to realize we don't have 'media' or 'journalism', but an 'attention industry'.
Yes..the MSM, for a multitude of reasons, is over weighting Trump news creating what we think of as tight "horse race" campaigns.
As we saw on Tuesday, this cycle's political races are a debacle for the Republicans, who like lemmings racing over a cliff, can't stop becoming more and more extreme and vitriolic in their right wing orthodoxy.
The reporting fantasies in the MSM will not dent the hugh Democratic landslide coming to Congress and the White House in 2024.
Liberal grassroots activits across the country are swaying elections much more than the MSM and biased polls like the NYTs..And we're not going anywhere...
Yesterday, I cancelled my online subscription to the NYT, which I have had for nine years. I worked with a Chat assistant named Francis, because the email associated with my subscription was so out of date, I couldn't even remember it! Plus, I paid through PayPal, which made it even more complicated. "Francis" wanted to know why I was leaving the NYT and I told him it was because the bias against Biden had worn me down and that Nate Cohn's ridiculous "analysis" of the election Tuesday had been my last straw. I asked that he share my reason with his editorial staff and he answered that he had already "escalated" my comment up the chain. The NYT may not respond to letters to the editor or even letters to opinion writers, but I'm willing to bet they'll pay attention if people start canceling their subscriptions.
Former Israeli Ambassador was on Margaret Hoover's Firing Line this week. He believes that President Biden is an extremely strong President. He goes on to say that he believes it is making Iran think twice and may prevent China from invading Taiwan.
I’m guessing, but directing letters about the quality of reporting to the Times’s Managing Editor might be more effective. I think the Managing Editor (among others) has quality control responsibilities.
Today, below the headline article about critical hospital care in the Israel/Hamas conflict, the NY Times has a detailed article titled "Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans". Here is the link:
I too am deeply disturbed by posted headlines and articles that gloss over the threat Trump and Republican pose to America. But the NY Times and WAPO have tried over and over again to highlight the threat Trump presents. Could they do more - absolutely. Frankly, any MSM media company that glosses over the threat Trump and the Republican Party presents will pay dearly in Trump is re-elected.
Good points Andrew. I recall telling friends some 20 years ago, “It’s right there, in the paper. Sure, you had to pay attention and not be selective, ignoring this type of reporting.
Yet, I think we have been reading lately that Robert and readers are particularly disturbed by A. Polls that misrepresent and get front page coverage and B. The constant drumbeat of age and inflation as Trump and Republicans constantly lie and undermine the will of the people. Take particular note of the clarity of Heather Cox-Richardson today. She offers many of Roberts points in more detail as did Joyce Vance earlier this week.
I respectfully disagree with you on your first paragraph, while I am in total agreement with the first sentence of your second paragraph.
Most of the mainstream media have done a terrible job of covering immigration, although the WaPo is getting better. Re the current discussion, they mostly fail to note how Democratic policies on immigration are hurting the Party. They don't address the The Census Bureau's projections of 68 million immigrants over the next 40 years--equivalent to 3.4 New York states, the environmental impact and sustainabiity implications, at a time when the US is running out of groundwater https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/climate/groundwater-aquifer-overuse-investigation-takeaways.html and Propublica's projection that MILLIONS of Americans will become climate refugees within the next several decades, and other sustainability issues. https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-change-will-force-a-new-american-migration
I do strongly agree with you about the glossing over the threat that Trump presents, and the harping on Biden's age while ignoring his amazing negotiating skills. Many in the GOP were PO'd that Biden had done so well against McCarthy over the debt ceiling, and Biden has accomplished more for the country than any president since Roosevelt, despite a razor-thin margin in the Senate and with a GOP controlled House.
I subscribe to both, although I am considering cancelling, partly because the important stories from both are often picked up by my local paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The Strib carried the WaPo story about the plan for authoritarian government on its front page today, and the NYT story about immigration inside. I was very pleased to see both.
NPR, on the other hand, is driving me crazy with their anti-Biden, Biden-is-old, nothing to see from Trump's craziness attitude. I was fed up enough today that I wrote an email to management pointing out that there is no way NPR will continue to exist in its present form in a 2nd Trump administration. Have they not watched Viktor Orban? Seen what Trump did with Voice of America in his first term? Paid attention to what he is saying? It boggles the mind, really. I think it's mainly knee-jerk fear of being called out as "the liberal media" by right wingers if they actually cover the news fairly.
You are absolutely right - under a Trump Admin, NPR will be either eliminated entirely or converted to TPR = Trump Propaganda Radio. Can not understand their thinking.
As an aside, The NY Times published a piece this week about how presidential debates have devolved into verbal fist-a-cuffs between the candidates. NPR's Jim Lehrer was the first moderator who sought to have the candidates talk to each other rather than respond to the moderator and audience. Look at where that change has gotten us! 😳
The NYT has an obligation to share opposing views and points of view which they do in their OpEd section. We need to read what the other side is saying. We can’t put our heads in the sand. We don’t have to like it.
Fact-checking is, in fact, a requirement of the copy editor's job. Truth is the product of qualified media (mainstream and secondary). Also, non-facts must be clearly labeled "opinion." What we witnessed in the Trump era was gradual fact-checking fatigue (classic frog-in-boiling-water) blurred with exponentially expanding opinion insinuated into "news" stories. The NYTimes kicked open this door with Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman. Their stories are rife with adjectives/adverbs directing the reader toward their conclusions. Adjectives and adverbs are the kiss of death for objective reporting, and these two writers use them liberally throughout their "reporting." Others have followed suit. Hence, the frustrating failure of media to do its "Fourth Estate" job of accountability, which is protected by the First Amendment.
I don’t think Peter Baker’s articles are too bad in that regard. But biased language and selective facts infest many other NYT ‘news’ reports. It’s as though many MSM journalists think they have to prove their liberal/‘progressive’ bona fides to the readers.
Particularly bad, in both the NYT and WaPo are articles about Israel and Palestinians – almost invariably weighted toward the latter by word choices and fact selections. That has led me to read Times of Israel accounts, which are responsibly reported although (unsurprisingly) friendly to Israel (*not* to Netanyahu, appropriately).
Thank you, Mim. That, too. I despair over the evident egregious language skills of current writers/copy editors. They reduce our confidence in the content, and they are inexcusable.
Pay attention to this very old description of the difference between news and opinion. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Might we substitute “obligation” or “professional duty” for commitment? I’d like to think the “fourth estate” meant something in regard to holding truth above political malfeasance as we see what is happening in the U.S. within one party that is openly walking away from our constitution and principles.
"Ohio Republicans threaten to strip courts of jurisdiction to enforce the constitutional amendment passed on Tuesday."
Just look to Florida to see how DeSantis' GOP Congress gutted Amendment 4, a voter-supported initiative restoring voters' rights to felons, shortly after passing. The Repubs don't give a frigg what voters want.
As a longtime Floridian, I immediately saw the similarities. Florida has a long history of this, also including ballot initiatives on the environment, medical Marijuana, public school class sizes and more. What's worse, they succeeded in making it even harder to get initiatives on the ballot or to pass. Right now, Floridians Defending Freedom is fighting to get an Ohio style measure on the 2024 ballot. We have made some progress in getting around the restrictions placed on Amendment 4 to help ex-felons register. There are good groups fighting in Florida. Reinforcement welcome! This is just another way Republicans try to drain all our resources and energy!!
And now, the FL Attorney General, Ashley Moody, is telling the FL Supreme Court to deny ballot access for the pro-reproductive rights initiative because she says the word “viability “ is ambiguous. Really? And, oh by the way, one of the supremes is Charles Canady. His wife is in the Florida Legislature and wrote the six week abortion ban. A conflict of interest if there ever was one.
And removed several “liberal” judges he didn’t like. The Supreme Court (of Florida) ruled in the first case that it was illegal but that they could not reinstate the judge!! “Illegal but oh well, nothing we can do now” This shows why ALL Repubs are bad, thump is just the most blatant example.
More than a hand. He provided a list to Trump. And, in the case of Kavanaugh, the White House Attorney, Don McGahn, coached him to play the outraged candidate role.
“Through decades of political dominance, Florida Republicans have remade the state’s judiciary. The Florida Supreme Court which previously served as a thorn in governors’ sides has morphed into a bench that rarely sides against the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.“
Sounds just like what Netanyahu is or tried to do in Israel as he continued to embrace the fundamentalist groups who pushed for more takeover with expansion of settlements. As we now see in DJT and MAGA “whatever it takes to hold power or crush democracy.”
Several years back Ohio citizens voted to stop gerrymandering and Ohio Republicans found a way to stop the vote of the citizens. This is not new for them but people don't seem to respond at the polls and vote them out. Personally I have never voted for one of them and I never will.
There was a deep dive into this on This American Life (PRI). I'll link to it if I can track it down. It was so maddening that it brought tears to my eyes listening to it.
Only a few members of the legislature are making those threats though. DeWine is terrible, but he is nowhere near as bad as DeSantis. He pushed back on the legislature when they threatened to impeach Maureen O'Connor.
I don’t think taking DeVine over anyone would be a good option. You have only to recognize the number of Republicans who have caved or been beaten down. Just look no further than the recent election of Speaker of the House. Two days prior Ken Buck said he wouldn’t vote for an election denier. Then he did only to announce he was leaving the House. Whim! Or, just not prepared to stand strong in the face of threats he received?.
A HUGE mistake was made by the FL Dem party in backing the wrong candidate for the last governors race. Had Nikki Fried been the chosen candidate Ron DeSantis short run would have ended. Sadly his rule has been steeled as a cancer in that states government appointed positions.
Just a note on the positive side, I tuned into Ari Melber on MSNBC part way through his program. He was talking about Biden and the economy. He pointed out the disconnect between the reality of our extremely well performing economy and the perception of a negative economy. He had Paul Krugman on with him, backing up all the positive data. It was the first news run on Biden that I have seen with no caveats, all positive, touting his accomplishments, while he noted the disinformation FOX was spouting. Let’s hope it continues.
Other MSNBC hosts are apparently realizing their responsibility to stop bothsides-ing issues. For example, they are starting to talk about the malignant threat of Project 2025. We need to encourage them to keep that up.
If I understand correctly, Project 2025 ought to be headline news, and the leading story on the 7pm network news. He's *promising*, out in the open, publically for crying out loud!, to bring fascism to American, and most everyone responding with "yeah, well, that's Trump just spouting off..."
Someone’s got to put fear of fascism into the viewers and readers. But, of course, they have no idea what fascism is or what it would mean to them to lose their freedoms and rights.
I've been saying the same thing for years now. The info the folks on MSNBC speak about all day every day NEEDS to be told frequently on other news outlets so that a larger amount of people actually hear the truth and learn of the flagrant flat out lies the other news outlets are feeding to them daily.
Also on Washington Week last night they finally called out trump on some of the crazy things he said this week. But they also kinda brushed it off as being trump. This is the problem, we all know he says terrible lies and smart people go oh he’s so stupid haha but that’s dangerous. As TCinLA pointed out a few days ago that hitler and Mussolini were also stupid. Stupid people can be dangerous!
We need to take all these unserious people seriously!
The trouble with Paul Krugman (whom I admire), and others like him, in refuting conservative propaganda about the economy, is that he and others are too highbrow and abstract to reach ordinary Americans. It’s an old public relations maxim that language should be at an 8th grade level [thinking, too], but for these “best-educated generations”, 5th or 6th grade might be more appropriate.
Moreover, to reach people “where they are”, reliance on appropriate, homely examples is crucial.
I saw that same segment. As informative as it was, I still found myself thinking that the people who say that the economy is terrible and it’s Biden’s fault likely do not watch MSNBC.
Thank you Robert for opening up the comments to all..Regarding the media coverage of Trump..it’s the $$$..they are in business together..Simple as that..
Regarding Ohio..Two things should occur, firstly, proponents of issue 1 effort must go public big, all across the state..Making sure everyone knows what is happening..Just like they did in Wisconsin when the legislature threatened to impeach the Democratic Supreme Court Justice that won her election..any of them up for reelection should face primaries and or voted out in the general..Secondly, They need to be made an offer they can’t refuse..
I worry that the current Israeli Palestinian conflict with Israel’s disregard at best, intentional genocide at worst, treatment of the Gaza civilians and West Bank Palestinians too, will destroy our nation and our democracy. Biden is in a no win position. But his early “no conditions” and “whatever Israel needs” support for Israel has given Netanyahu a green light to what Israel is doing. The attack by Hamas did not just kill Israelis. But no one talks about them. Israel is not just killing Palestinians. There are many internationals, aid workers, journalists, doctors and even Israelis who are in Gaza and all are under indiscriminate air strikes and cannon fire. The world knows the moral breakdown of Israel’s response. Israel could have leveraged the world’s sympathy with a more calculated humane response to Gaza and dealing with Hamas’s criminal acts.
Our news media failed us here too. Focusing on Israel’s losses and letting that justify Israel’s overwhelming violence against Gaza civilians. Anyone who thinks only 10,000 have been killed with more than 10,000 air strikes is delusional. This looks like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but proportionally much worse.
Our news media at least on PBS NewsHour has been giving us more coverage of the Gaza death and destruction, as well as the continuing West Bank Israeli settler and military attacks on Palestinians living there. But you have to go to other sources like Democracy Now to hear interviews with US and UN officials who have resigned over failures of their organizations to protect Palestinian civilians. And for Palestinian and Israeli scholars to explain the harsh and dehumanizing treatment that Israel has applied to Palestinians since 1948, and especially under Netanyahu. Our US education on the Middle East and its history is negligent and seriously one sided. The Holocaust should have been a lesson in the inhumanity of state and political party power in the hands of authoritarians and ignorant nationalists. It may be too late for Israel, the Palestinians and the US to recover from this retribution violence. Our democracy is at stake. Israel’s survival might be at stake not from Hamas, but from Israel’s actions and past activities that are being brought more into the light which violates the humanity and memory of those lost in the Holocaust and from the Hamas attack.
Omer Bartov is an Israeli-born historian. He is the Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, where he has taught since 2000. Bartov is a noted historian of the Holocaust and is considered one of the world's leading authorities on the subject of genocide. Wikipe
I abhor the Israeli response, as I have for decades of apartheid. But I find it curious that you completely ignore the unspeakable brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that precipitated this Israeli response. I say again - as an American Jew - that I abhor and condemn the right-ward march of apartheid by Israel. But when you don't even acknowledge the unspeakable horror of Hamas, you lose all credibility. I also note that you emphasize Biden's early days' response to the taking of hostages, and murderous assault by Hamas; but you seem to ignore the massive efforts of the Biden administration to rein in Natenyahu and its efforts to get humanitarian aid to Gaza, and negotiate a solution that respects both sides. If your only source of news is Democracy Now! you are not looking at the entire picture.
Quite the list of Hamas talking points from marginal and/or discredited sources (take a look at the Democracy Now homepage. It makes Al-Jazeera look liike Fox News)
The single most important piece this week on Israel was in the NYT.
It pointed out that the Israelis slaughtereed in the kibbutzim were all ultra-left wing , sort of like torturing and killing all the readers of this newsletter to protest Trump because "after all, you're all just Americans."
"[Kibbutz] Be’eri was well known for its pro-peace sympathies: It had a special fund to give financial help to Gazans who came to the kibbutz on work permits, and kibbutzniks would often volunteer to drive sick Palestinians to an oncology center in southern Israel.
“They were to the left of Meretz” is how one leading Israeli political figure described the kibbutz’s political sympathies, referring to the most progressive political party in Israel. Hamas must have known this. It butchered the people there all the same."
On Hamas's goals
"There’s an asymmetry in this conflict, but it’s not about the preponderance of military power. Israel’s goal in this war is political and strategic: to defeat Hamas as the reigning power in Gaza, even though there will be unavoidable cost in innocent lives, since Hamas operates among civilians. But Hamas’s goal is only secondarily political. Fundamentally, it’s homicidal: to end Israel as a state by slaughtering every Jew within it."
There has also been massive population dispaacemtnt in Israel
>>There are now more than 150,000 Israelis — proportionately the equivalent of about 5.3 million Americans — who were forced out of their homes by the attacks of Oct. 7. Small cities like Sderot, near Gaza, and Kiryat Shmona, near Lebanon, are now mostly ghost towns and will remain that way if the government can’t secure its borders. Should that happen, sizable parts of Israel’s already minuscule territory would become essentially uninhabitable. That, in turn, would mean the failure of the Jewish state to maintain a safe homeland, presaging the end of Zionism itself. It’s why Israelis think of this war as existential and why they’re willing to put aside their fury at Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers, for a while, to win the war.>>
Meanwhile, in the US, antisemitism on campuses continutes to rise. It's important to understand this is directed at Jewish students just for being Jewish as the assumption is that all American Jews are agents of Israel. And just how much the movement of tearing down posters of kidnapped children by young "protesters" has convinced pretty much every Jew I know that Jew Hatred is alive and well in America and continues to reer its head among people we once thought we could trust.
Whitney Tilson [who first turned many of us on to this newsletter] summed it up best in the above-linked article "The damage that Harvard has done to its brand since Oct. 7 is only rivaled in history by New Coke and what Elon Musk has done to Twitter,”
So, if destroying Hamas means killing millions of Palestinian civilians, will that make Israel safe? Do you think the young people living in Gaza who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for Israel years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
So, if destroying the Nazis means killing millions of German civilians, will that make America safe? Do you think the young people living in Germany who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for the Allies years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
So, if destroying Imperial Japan means killing millions of Japanese civilians, will that make America safe? Do you think the young people living in Japan who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for the US years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
See how quickly that falls apart. (And that's before we even get to the part about "milllions.")
The postwar Occupations of Germany were designed to de-Nazify the population, and it succeeded outstandingly. It may be harder to neutralize and drain the Hamas poison from Gaza, but it must be attempted for the sake of peace in the Middle East.
I agree with you, with one exception. The first speech I heard Biden give after the Hamas attack did emphasize their right to defend themselves but he also stated that he expected Israel to abide by the “Rules of War”; to do everything they could to protect civilians. He has continued to try to influence Netanyahu and I have been relieved to see other leaders increase that pressure.
Biden is really between a rock and a hard place. My guess is that this catastrophe will help to force Netanyahu out of power and bring in someone else with whom the US can have a better diplomatic relationship. It’s important that Biden has made the statements he has, and that he and Blinken have called for pauses to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza; but in the end, there’s not much that Biden can force on Netanyahu. He could threaten to remove aid, but I doubt that’s something he would ever think of doing; and it would not be the right thing to do under the circumstances.
I am struggling to see how what the unpopular Netanyahu is doing is "the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group (Oxford Language Dictionary)." According to the United Nations, "To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group."
I do not believe this is what Israel's current, ultra-conservative government is doing (again, this is a government that is not supported by a majority of Israelis). If they were, they would not be encouraging Palestinians to move out of Gaza City to the South, and get out of the "war zone." They would not be now opening up passage for tens of thousands to get out of the area to safer territory. They would trap them in one place, as the Germans did in the Holocaust, and just bomb the hell out of them until everyone was dead. That's genocide.
So, I cringe when I hear people use the word so casually. That is a word that should be used very cautiously. I do agree, however, that "our US education on the Middle East and its history is negligent." Very few young people who are protesting on college campuses today, understand what happened in Germany, Poland, Hungary and other European countries in the 1940s. I even have friends in their 50s and 60s who don't really understand what the Holocaust was. It's tragic, and one reason we have so much unrest in our country, and so little bridge building between divergent Israeli/Hamas-Gaza perspectives right now. It all begins with education!
I will add that while I do not support the killing of innocent Palestinians OR Israelis, and find what is happening in Gaza to be horrific, I do not point the finger at the Israeli / Palestinian citizens or U.S. leaders. I point the finger at the ultra-conservative government of Israel (which approximately 75 percent of Israelis do not support), and Hamas (which about the same percentage of Palestinians do not support). The people are caught in the middle of this war between opposing leaders, and until Netanyahu and his ilk are ousted, and Hamas is destroyed, I don't see any of this unrest changing. It's been going on for generations.
We need to stop blaming the U.S., Biden and other countries for what is happening there. IMO, they are doing the best that they can in an impossible situation. No one has the perfect answer, and yet pundits keep pointing the finger at everyone but the people who are actually responsible. That needs to stop.
And I'd love to see someone on the far left who supports the Palestinians mention Hamas and their contribution to what is happening in Gaza currently. That seems to be missing from the conversation for some reason...
Yesterday, I heard a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel say that "one can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian people at the same time." I agree with that.
Very good point. I'm no expert, but some very smart people who understand the Middle East and its history are going to have to figure that out. And that would have to include the surrounding Arab nations, and possibly even the PLO. But, again, I'm no expert!
Here is an excellent interview that may offer some ideas regarding your question:
1) Do you have a source and the exact wording of Sen. Lindsay's comment?
and
2) We're talking about COMMITTING genocide, not suggesting it, so it makes sense that the press did not focus on that. Our representatives suggest all kinds of crazy things these days to provide red meat to their base, but they know no one will ever act on their bizarre ideas.
No one ever mentions that Hamas is held up in hospitals and using civilians as human shields and holding hostages. Sure be critical of Israel but give me a better workable solution to an enemy who has vowed to destroy you.
Stephen, I feel that that fact is fairly well known - the using of Palestinian citizens as human shields. At least among the knowledgeable adults I know and readers of this newsletter. But it is terrible that this is happening!
Greg Plummer — your exaggeration implies that Israel intends to murder nearly all Palestinians (there are somewhat more than 2 million Gazans). That’s absurd.
Moreover, you ignore the fact that Israel has urged and facilitated the movement of Gazans away from likely war zones. How often have warring nations done such a thing?
Of course not but whose numbers on the number of Palestinians killed are you going to believe. The numbers have been inflated and the Palestinians have an opportunity to leave a battle field that is infected with Hamas whom in some cases they welcomed with open arms.
Omer Bartov, you write, "The Holocaust should have been a lesson in the inhumanity of state and political party power in the hands of authoritarians and ignorant nationalists." Yes, it should have been.
There is so much within David Souers’s post that I consider biased, misguided and inaccurate that I can’t find time, now, to compose a suitable riposte.
For the moment, let me flag his inappropriate and inaccurate application of “genocide” to Israel actions.
It is simply hideous to use “genocide” to describe a people against whom genocide was committed. Even worse, to apply it, effectively, to defend Hamas, who has publicly *pledged* itself to genocide against Israelis.
We also control the banks you know. and can manipulate the world that way. Beware our Space Lasers too!
All part of the International Zionist Conspiracy as laid out in the "Prootocols of Elders of Zion."
The more or less constant spewing of Jew Hatred from a number of Good Leftists on Robert Hubbell's substack has been very eye-opening.
In the first weeks of the war, someone on here posted that "The Israelis are treating the Palestinians the way the Nazis treated the Jews."
25+ people hit "Like" on that comment
When a number of Jewish posters called it out, the first comment was "Oh, that's not what she really meant, gasliight, gaslight, gaslight...let me tell you Jews what antisemitism really is.."
But the IHRA, whose definition of antisemitism is used by many governments specifically calls that out - "𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹𝗶 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘇𝗶𝘀." as an example of antisemitism
I am not Jewish, but I have both Jewish and Arab friends. And I agree with you. I have been stunned at the amount of subtle and overt antisemitism expressed by people I never would have expected it from. I chalk some of it up to upbringing, and some to a lack of education (or interest in) Jewish history, but I am concerned that they don't even recognize it for what it is, and would claim innocence. I have also noticed the same against my Muslim friends who struggle with very similar issues in some cases (other Americans not understanding them or their culture/history, thus treating all Arabs/Muslims as if they are less-than, or worse). Post 9/11 was an awful time for my Muslim friends, and that kind of abhorrent behavior has returned anew.
We have a real problem in our nation. And once again, these issues have made it clear that the hatred and crazy myths our Jewish friends were confronted with back in WWII are still alive and well here, as well as around the world.
I stand with my Jewish friends, peers, associates and clients. And no one will convince me otherwise. I have studied the history of WWII, authoritarianism, the Shoah, and more. No one asked me to and I did not get a grade for my studies, I merely wanted to understand better what actually happened as I felt that my understanding was limited. I was right. There was so much more to learn. This is why I keep going back to our lack of education about these topics here in the U.S. In general, people don't get it (especially our youth), and that is beyond painful (and frightening) for those who are being discriminated against.
Scanning the comments there are 3 or 4 folks who I believe to be trolls. Their arguments are not cogent. They are assaults and attacks.
BTW, my mom OBM, lived out her final years in Florida. She passed away 12 years ago at the age of 101. In the Independent facility, one of her best friends was Suze Ohrman's mom. What a pistol...anyway, one woman, who came weekly, was a regular weekly lecturer on current events. She was trashing Israel. I defended Israel and talked about how LGBTQ+ have equal rights there and some other issues. I was sitting between my mom and Ann Ohrman. When it was all over Ann put her hand on mine to thank me. I never asked her if she was thanking me for standing up for Israel, Jews, or her daughter's sexual identity.
It’s you that are mistaking my comment. Corporations want control. AIPAC only aids in that. There are many Jews that stand for all humanity.
Israel has gone against UN policy for decades with the assistance of the U.S. while many other countries condemn Israel & the U.S. with them. Trying to shut down anyone who says Israel is completely blameless is not helping Israel.
Huilt: “Israel has gone against UN policy for decades with the assistance of the U.S.”. –
Have you looked into the UN’s “good works” in Gaza and the West Bank? Their schools’ curricula have been repeatedly shown to foster Jew-hatred of the worst and classic kinds.
With friends like UNRRA and much of the rest of the UN, …
He’s not a troll; he’s expressing an opinion. Although I don’t completely agree with him, people have a right to express opinions on this site without being immediately called antisemitic or trolls.
The British Unity Cabinet of 1940 was basically a reshuffling of people *within one party*, the Conservative Party. In Israel, several Parties are needed to constitute a working legislative majority – infinitely more complicated.
I think the answer is layered. On the surface, media is business, business's primary purpose is to maximize shareholders' wealth, and controversy and chaos coverage sells. Beneath the surface, as it relates to the double standard, lies unequal expectations. I wrote about this in a piece, Managing Expectations, but may need to revisit it to clarify this point: Our expectations of the individuals are quite different.
"Everyone expects President Biden to be empathetic, decent, and upstanding. Everyone expects his predecessor to be narcissistic, unseemly, and dishonest (even while denying it). It’s clear whose expectation threshold is easiest to meet. Somehow a false equivalency manifests in those distinctly disparate descriptions, and President Biden, when he falls short is castigated, while the Defendant, who can never fall short is reinforced."
We measure them against our expectations of the INDIVIDUALS, not the POSITION. Therein lies the problem. We should declare our expectations of a President, Congressperson, or Supreme Court Justice, and measure them against that, instead of the bars they lower for themselves to clear.
I'm new to Robert Hubbell, and appreciate his tone - which is realistic, galvanizing, and positive. I'm an elected official for Maine's Democratic party, and also for my county Dems committee. But my passion is with canvassing - which I think is the only way to move the needle. Media is indeed problematic, especially for the many who get their news via FB or TV. I think the only way to break through is with conversations. But that requires an army of volunteers, and heaps of energy and time. As much as I'm gearing up for doing this yet again this coming election season, I know I need to do it in a sustainable way. I'm hoping to learn more from Robert, and all of you, how to do it.
Okay, time for a math lesson. As a math teacher for 36 years who taught Probability and Statistics for many of those years, one of the most common facts that I had to repeat often was what polls COULD and COULD NOT tell us. ALL of the current 'presidential polls' that claim an absolutely incredible amount of media attention cannot tell us a DAMN THING! They even admit such if one pays attention to the 'fine print'. The premise of every such poll starts with "if the election were held today". This statement for an election that is a year away. The truth is that the poll-takers are no more prescient than you or I, and this poll has NO connection to reality. In math, the reality lies in the validity of an 'if-then' statement. The statement is totally dependent on the truth of the 'if' portion. As I often told my students, an undeniably mathematically true statement: "IF it is raining, then it is raining, therefore it is raining!" They would say: "But Mr. Cheney, there isn't a cloud in the sky!" I would say: "Exactly! but the statement starts with an 'if' statement that everything else relies on, and therefore when the 'if' statement is false, there CAN BE NO VALID CONCLUSION!" Not only that, but there is the FACT that Statistics is such an easily manipulated area that in today's academic world, Statistics has become separate from Math: The result of so many who ARE manipulating 'polls' to suit their own purposes, which almost never have any connection to truth. Thus, "if the election were held tomorrow", the poll results may - or may not depending on how it was conducted - have any relation to reality, but the only valid conclusion is the poll is COMPLETELY meaningless!
The only polls that matter are taken on Election Day at the ballot box. Everything else is speculation about what happens tomorrow based on what happened yesterday. A better question to ask voters would be, “What is it you wish for and why is that important to you?”
Thank you so much for this link. I am often ambivalent about what David Brooks has to say and/or how he says it, but in this editorial, he makes what I think are excellent points, and they are “balanced” in the way we all wish more of the “news” was. It is definitely worth a read for any who are on the brink of despair or just plain tired. I do feel as though the tide is turning, and I base that feeling on reading fairly widely and seeing the same sorts of positive ideas popping up in different places. When so many different voices are “on the same page” about a lot of issues, I think that is significant and worth taking heart from. Perhaps one of our best antidotes to burnout is simply sharing any/all positive media items that are balanced and thoughtful as well? Screaming headlines don’t help me. Thoughtful, logical, explanations do.
I could not agree more. I have been on the fence on David Brooks' editorial slant and perspectives for years. And he wasn't a Biden supporter, until suddenly he was. This piece is completely new for him, and I'm really glad to see this fresh thinking and hope there will be more!
I did see a glimmer of hope in the WaPo this week. Phillp Bump wrote two pieces with the word "authoritarianism" in the headline. That is a first, at least that I'm aware of. The second of his editorials discussed a survey asking voters their preferences on electing, in essence, a strongman authoritarian to lead our nation. About 18 percent strongly supported the idea, with a good additional percentage supporting it a bit less strongly. That's a scary number, folks. He made the point, as well, that while the press is culpable for not doing a very good job reporting what a second Trump win would do to our country and democracy, there is a sizable group of Americans who would actually prefer that (and that number included some Dems!).
In other words, the media can step up their game, but there is still a sizable chunk of Americans who would prefer Trump for exactly the reasons we fear a Trump administration in 2024.
I read a wide variety of media for hours a day. I was also on both sides of the media for years (both as a contributor, and in the role of media relations), so I am very critical of the miserable job they've been doing of late. But it seems like something has begun to shift over the last couple of weeks. Whether our media is recognizing that they will be complicit if they allow Trump to be elected again, or enough people have hammered editors with letters telling them when they are not doing their job, I am starting to see better coverage creeping in here and there, both locally and nationally. I am crossing my fingers that this continues. (I read that WaPo piece, by the way, and thought it was excellent as well.)
I stopped subscribing to the New York Times last year, but I do notice that the Washington Post does a better job of pointing out the dangers of another Trump term.
That 18% that Phillip Bump cited that prefers thump. The press is guilty in not better informing the public, but the press is too pro corporate rule to do otherwise.
Hmmm, did you read the article? There are some people in the United States who actually LIKE authoritarian leaders. Same was true in Italy, Germany, etc. pre-WWII. And the same is true in Russia, Hungary, and other countries today. I don't believe it is fair to blame personal choices on the press in every case. We, as citizens, need to take some responsibility as well.
I think that most people do understand what a dictator is. I wish that all references to "authoritarians" and "authoritarianism" could be replaced with "dictators "and "dictatorship" so that the average person would better understand the discussion.
When I see polls like that, first I cringe of course; and then I cringe again because I wonder how many people understand what the term “strongman authoritarian” means. When you hear people say why they like Trump, they say they see him as a “strong” leader, someone with “authority.” I could say I like Biden because he is a strong leader who leads with authority. But I would not be confusing him with a “strongman” or an “authoritarian.” I understand what those terms mean. I suspect that a lot of Trumpers don’t. They just like a “strong man,” (not the same as a strongman) and because he is a loud bully they think he is one.
I’m wondering what a full page ad in the NYT (and other media) would cost, and whether, if thousands of us paid a few dollars each we could afford a page with some of your wonderful thoughts on the responsibilities of our media in these times and signed it with thousands of names if it would do anything. There was also like a one day “we won’t use the NYT “strike” “ awhile back (that’s right - no Wordle for a day!); not sure if it was at all effective. I’d really like to find a way to get through to media that they’re not reporting the way readers desire and deserve. Maybe I’m just banging my head against a wall that’s just too solid. Maybe the answer is just consumers migrating from those news sources to others that are more responsible??
I like your idea about a page for media responsibilities and signatures…it would be great if there could be names from every state and territory with signatories from each state contributing to the cost?
Isn’t that an example of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face? Despite its frustrating, sometimes enraging flaws, the Times is one of the best overall news sources.
Exactly what Kathleen said. Many people have canceled their subscriptions and given the New York Times a piece of their minds. That’s why when you try to cancel, they offer you a massive 80% discount on a one-year subscription. They know what’s going on.
I had a boss once when we went into his office with what we considered a problem or issue would always ask” what do you want me to do about it” if we did not have a proposed solution he would not listen to us because it’s easy to bitch and complain but more difficult to seek workable solutions. We alone cannot change media bias because they are driven by the revenue generated by various demographics groups and they don’t want to offend these groups and lose revenue. What we need to do is hand to hand grassroots involvement and one on one contacts to get our messages heard and understood. There is no silver bullet. I’m glad many grassroots organizations are recognizing burnout and are doing something about it and refreshing our team. Something to think about is if we have burnout imagine how burnout and frustrated Republicans must feel because they have a very heavy life because of their MAGA poison infiltrated party. We are taking a timeout and coming back for the second half refreshed and ready to go. We have some momentum and we must keep the faith.
People, such as journalists, work in media. And many of those journalists still publish fine and insightful work. Thomas Friedman is an example. They can be influenced. On the business side, the NY Times is in big trouble if tfg gets re-elected. He will want to enact revenge and will use every legal and quasi-legal and made-up legal way to do it. That’s not very good for their bottom line, is it?
Thomas Friedman is a great example of an insightful journalists. The NYT believe me is not afraid of Trump because they are bigger than he is and what about Trump’s favorite excuse “ the First Amendment “. Works both ways.
Seems like a great idea in your last paragraph -- to share plans for the weekend that have nothing to do with politics! I'll be working at our church's first Pre-Holliday Bazaar. Hoping for a huge success! ☃️🎄
Sorry, dear readers. The trolls have found the "open to everyone" Comments section. Will need to lock it down for paying subscribers only. Please report any offensive comments and I will delete.
By trolls, I am referring to someone who created a fake account named "Tucker Carlson" and linked to a "Tucker Carlson Channel" that may (or may not) have been a phishing attempt. The account was created this morning at about 9:30 AM and "Tucker Carlson" began posting in this forum ten minutes later. People who create fake accounts for the sole purpose of commenting in this forum are not acting in good faith, especially when they link to alleged MAGA content that seems suspicious. I hope no one clicked on the link before I removed it. I clicked on the link to see if it was legit and have been getting odd responses through Substack ever since.
Oh, these were not the two posts I reported. The ones I reported were disrespectful!
I saw that and ignored it. I wasn’t sure what it was.
Dear Robert,
I'm not sure which trolls you mean.
However, I do notice a lot of emails using loaded words such as "apartheid, occupy, and genocide" to refer to Israel. These are buzz words meant to evoke an emotional reaction. It is Hamas that promulgates genocide. It is Iran that props up the Hamas regime with out protecting the Palestinians. It is the other Arab countries that have kicked out most of their Jewish population.
People forget that not only were 1400 Israelis murdered there are over 200 hostages held by Hamas. What is Israel supposed to do? Make nice?
Anyway, I just got off of the phone with a person that I coached years ago. He lives in Atlanta and is of Italian/American descent. He married a Jewish woman and raised their daughter Jewish. He says they have taken the mezuzah off of their doors. His daughter goes to school at a well known SEC school. He says he is not too worried because her last name is Italian.
My nephew is Florida is not wearing his Star of David for 2 reasons: one is business and the other is personal safety.
This Palestinian uprising worldwide is causing a problem for Jews in America AND our neighbors. The White House was almost breached.
This is the left wing version of Charlottesville "Jews will not replace us."
Hopefully, my language is not inflammatory...but I am inflamed. I am not the one accusing promoting the elimination of others. But some people on your site are doing just that.
Thank you,
Ed
By trolls, I am referring to someone who created a fake account named "Tucker Carlson" and linked to a "Tucker Carlson Channel" that may (or may not) have been a phishing attempt. The account was created this morning at about 9:30 AM and "Tucker Carlson" began posting in this forum ten minutes later. People who create fake accounts for the sole purpose of commenting in this forum are not acting in good faith, especially when they link to MAGA content that seems suspicious. I hope no one clicked on the link before I removed it. I clicked on the link to see if it was legit and have been getting odd responses through Substack ever since.
Ed, I'm certainly in sympathy with your friend in Atlanta. But I have no idea what SEC stands for in the context of your post, and googling failed to come up with anything. In my Jewish world, SEC stands for Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless an acronym is in common parlance, like MPG, DNA, and HIV, please don't assume others are familiar with it.
Reporting in from Atlanta here. SEC schools are the Southeastern Athletic Conference (think Southern football schools). As a NY transplant a couple of years ago, I also had no idea what an SEC school was back then but now that I live in a land where college football appears to come before all else, I can understand why ppl here would assume that everyone knows what an “SEC school” is. As a general matter, antisemitism has, indeed, reached the south. Evangelical Christians down here, however, have Israel’s back and are making that known . . .
I'm glad for what you say about evangelical Christians where you are.
And I guess SEC should be considered a regionalism down there. But I generally think acronyms should be avoided, as I said previously, unless they're in common parlance. I could talk about my love for ICE, despite my cognitive dissonance about it due to global warming, and nobody but car nuts would realize I'm referring to internal combustion engines. (My '08 Civic with 156,000 miles on it runs just as well as it did when I bought it with 35,000 miles, and it's an absolute joy to drive.)
HI David,
SEC is Southeast Conference, as in football. Think Alabama, Ole Miss, Kentucky.
Sorry about that. Not everyone is a sports fan.
I know more about Nunavut--specifically that it's a large indigenous nation in the northeastern section of Canada, and about Outer Mongolia, mostly that it has the biggest livestock to humans ratio on the planet--roughly 26:1, a figure that either my father, or his first PhD student, one George Murphy, was responsible for obtaining, than I do about football. In the case of football, I know they use a ball with a funny shape, and tht two teams play against each other, and that Americans drink a lot of beer while they watch football and that players often get injured, and that's about it.
I just had a woman in my TOPS Club approach me and say that if I needed to "get away", I was welcome in her home. There are good people out there!
I've had a few of those too. One person said he "would take a bullet for me."
I know there are good people.
I did report 2.
Seen from the outside (Sweden) I think it is a most important point to make about the double standard of media. As is the GOP weaponizing of polls. Liberal media doesn't have to be infiltrated across the whole staff. On the contrary it takes only a few people to decide on a heading, publish a single article with false balance, or turn the emphasis towards the double standard. Maybe there must be someone in a leading position to accomplish this, but the image of trustworthy journalism must be maintained when speaking to the non MAGA crowd.
It is indeed remarkable that polls tend to favour the talking points of republicans: Age of Biden, and poor economy, when facts are speaking to the opposite. Polls are possible to manipulate by the way you ask questions, and this can also be proven to be the case, but too late. Once you can get the headline in NYT to announce your talking points it doesn't matter what you say next. It is hard work to realize we don't have 'media' or 'journalism', but an 'attention industry'.
Excellent - 'attention industry' !!
I have rarely seen so much perceptiveness packaged into two words!!
Yes..the MSM, for a multitude of reasons, is over weighting Trump news creating what we think of as tight "horse race" campaigns.
As we saw on Tuesday, this cycle's political races are a debacle for the Republicans, who like lemmings racing over a cliff, can't stop becoming more and more extreme and vitriolic in their right wing orthodoxy.
The reporting fantasies in the MSM will not dent the hugh Democratic landslide coming to Congress and the White House in 2024.
Liberal grassroots activits across the country are swaying elections much more than the MSM and biased polls like the NYTs..And we're not going anywhere...
Indeed, we are, Merrill. WE ARE GOING TO THE POLLS! I agree with you 100%!
Yesterday, I cancelled my online subscription to the NYT, which I have had for nine years. I worked with a Chat assistant named Francis, because the email associated with my subscription was so out of date, I couldn't even remember it! Plus, I paid through PayPal, which made it even more complicated. "Francis" wanted to know why I was leaving the NYT and I told him it was because the bias against Biden had worn me down and that Nate Cohn's ridiculous "analysis" of the election Tuesday had been my last straw. I asked that he share my reason with his editorial staff and he answered that he had already "escalated" my comment up the chain. The NYT may not respond to letters to the editor or even letters to opinion writers, but I'm willing to bet they'll pay attention if people start canceling their subscriptions.
Former Israeli Ambassador was on Margaret Hoover's Firing Line this week. He believes that President Biden is an extremely strong President. He goes on to say that he believes it is making Iran think twice and may prevent China from invading Taiwan.
I’m guessing, but directing letters about the quality of reporting to the Times’s Managing Editor might be more effective. I think the Managing Editor (among others) has quality control responsibilities.
That's exactly how I felt when I cancelled mine!
If it is in the NYT, you know it is lies and half truths
I respectfully disagree.
Today, below the headline article about critical hospital care in the Israel/Hamas conflict, the NY Times has a detailed article titled "Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans". Here is the link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/11/us/politics/trump-2025-immigration-agenda.html
I too am deeply disturbed by posted headlines and articles that gloss over the threat Trump and Republican pose to America. But the NY Times and WAPO have tried over and over again to highlight the threat Trump presents. Could they do more - absolutely. Frankly, any MSM media company that glosses over the threat Trump and the Republican Party presents will pay dearly in Trump is re-elected.
Good points Andrew. I recall telling friends some 20 years ago, “It’s right there, in the paper. Sure, you had to pay attention and not be selective, ignoring this type of reporting.
Yet, I think we have been reading lately that Robert and readers are particularly disturbed by A. Polls that misrepresent and get front page coverage and B. The constant drumbeat of age and inflation as Trump and Republicans constantly lie and undermine the will of the people. Take particular note of the clarity of Heather Cox-Richardson today. She offers many of Roberts points in more detail as did Joyce Vance earlier this week.
I respectfully disagree with you on your first paragraph, while I am in total agreement with the first sentence of your second paragraph.
Most of the mainstream media have done a terrible job of covering immigration, although the WaPo is getting better. Re the current discussion, they mostly fail to note how Democratic policies on immigration are hurting the Party. They don't address the The Census Bureau's projections of 68 million immigrants over the next 40 years--equivalent to 3.4 New York states, the environmental impact and sustainabiity implications, at a time when the US is running out of groundwater https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/climate/groundwater-aquifer-overuse-investigation-takeaways.html and Propublica's projection that MILLIONS of Americans will become climate refugees within the next several decades, and other sustainability issues. https://www.propublica.org/article/climate-change-will-force-a-new-american-migration
I do strongly agree with you about the glossing over the threat that Trump presents, and the harping on Biden's age while ignoring his amazing negotiating skills. Many in the GOP were PO'd that Biden had done so well against McCarthy over the debt ceiling, and Biden has accomplished more for the country than any president since Roosevelt, despite a razor-thin margin in the Senate and with a GOP controlled House.
I subscribe to both, although I am considering cancelling, partly because the important stories from both are often picked up by my local paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The Strib carried the WaPo story about the plan for authoritarian government on its front page today, and the NYT story about immigration inside. I was very pleased to see both.
NPR, on the other hand, is driving me crazy with their anti-Biden, Biden-is-old, nothing to see from Trump's craziness attitude. I was fed up enough today that I wrote an email to management pointing out that there is no way NPR will continue to exist in its present form in a 2nd Trump administration. Have they not watched Viktor Orban? Seen what Trump did with Voice of America in his first term? Paid attention to what he is saying? It boggles the mind, really. I think it's mainly knee-jerk fear of being called out as "the liberal media" by right wingers if they actually cover the news fairly.
You are absolutely right - under a Trump Admin, NPR will be either eliminated entirely or converted to TPR = Trump Propaganda Radio. Can not understand their thinking.
As an aside, The NY Times published a piece this week about how presidential debates have devolved into verbal fist-a-cuffs between the candidates. NPR's Jim Lehrer was the first moderator who sought to have the candidates talk to each other rather than respond to the moderator and audience. Look at where that change has gotten us! 😳
The NYT has an obligation to share opposing views and points of view which they do in their OpEd section. We need to read what the other side is saying. We can’t put our heads in the sand. We don’t have to like it.
But they should have a commitment to refute outright lies and disinformation, either in the body of the article or as a note at the end of it.
Fact-checking is, in fact, a requirement of the copy editor's job. Truth is the product of qualified media (mainstream and secondary). Also, non-facts must be clearly labeled "opinion." What we witnessed in the Trump era was gradual fact-checking fatigue (classic frog-in-boiling-water) blurred with exponentially expanding opinion insinuated into "news" stories. The NYTimes kicked open this door with Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman. Their stories are rife with adjectives/adverbs directing the reader toward their conclusions. Adjectives and adverbs are the kiss of death for objective reporting, and these two writers use them liberally throughout their "reporting." Others have followed suit. Hence, the frustrating failure of media to do its "Fourth Estate" job of accountability, which is protected by the First Amendment.
I don’t think Peter Baker’s articles are too bad in that regard. But biased language and selective facts infest many other NYT ‘news’ reports. It’s as though many MSM journalists think they have to prove their liberal/‘progressive’ bona fides to the readers.
Particularly bad, in both the NYT and WaPo are articles about Israel and Palestinians – almost invariably weighted toward the latter by word choices and fact selections. That has led me to read Times of Israel accounts, which are responsibly reported although (unsurprisingly) friendly to Israel (*not* to Netanyahu, appropriately).
Well said, Sheila.
Copy editors are also failing to correct spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.
Thank you, Mim. That, too. I despair over the evident egregious language skills of current writers/copy editors. They reduce our confidence in the content, and they are inexcusable.
Pay attention to this very old description of the difference between news and opinion. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PAY ATTENTION.
They actually they don’t have that commitment and usually bury disclaimers deep in the article,
Might we substitute “obligation” or “professional duty” for commitment? I’d like to think the “fourth estate” meant something in regard to holding truth above political malfeasance as we see what is happening in the U.S. within one party that is openly walking away from our constitution and principles.
Yes, those substitutions would be better, though the media should commit to honoring their obligation and professional duty.
Commitment seems more binding.
I said "they should..."
Excellent points and perfectly stated- attention industry indeed. That is exactly what it has evolved into 😞
"Ohio Republicans threaten to strip courts of jurisdiction to enforce the constitutional amendment passed on Tuesday."
Just look to Florida to see how DeSantis' GOP Congress gutted Amendment 4, a voter-supported initiative restoring voters' rights to felons, shortly after passing. The Repubs don't give a frigg what voters want.
As a longtime Floridian, I immediately saw the similarities. Florida has a long history of this, also including ballot initiatives on the environment, medical Marijuana, public school class sizes and more. What's worse, they succeeded in making it even harder to get initiatives on the ballot or to pass. Right now, Floridians Defending Freedom is fighting to get an Ohio style measure on the 2024 ballot. We have made some progress in getting around the restrictions placed on Amendment 4 to help ex-felons register. There are good groups fighting in Florida. Reinforcement welcome! This is just another way Republicans try to drain all our resources and energy!!
And now, the FL Attorney General, Ashley Moody, is telling the FL Supreme Court to deny ballot access for the pro-reproductive rights initiative because she says the word “viability “ is ambiguous. Really? And, oh by the way, one of the supremes is Charles Canady. His wife is in the Florida Legislature and wrote the six week abortion ban. A conflict of interest if there ever was one.
Apologies. Just realized I misstated the name of our abortion amendment group. It's Floridians Protecting Freedom. https://floridiansprotectingfreedom.com/
And removed several “liberal” judges he didn’t like. The Supreme Court (of Florida) ruled in the first case that it was illegal but that they could not reinstate the judge!! “Illegal but oh well, nothing we can do now” This shows why ALL Repubs are bad, thump is just the most blatant example.
Leonard Leo had a hand in choosing the Supreme conservatives of the Fl Court.
Although there was a little ray of sunshine😎 when the GOP plan to “wipe out liberal judges” in circuit courts was thwarted !
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/gop-plan-to-wipe-out-liberal-florida-judges-blasted-by-courts
More than a hand. He provided a list to Trump. And, in the case of Kavanaugh, the White House Attorney, Don McGahn, coached him to play the outraged candidate role.
To be honest, I didn’t understand most of that.
But this part stood out:
“Through decades of political dominance, Florida Republicans have remade the state’s judiciary. The Florida Supreme Court which previously served as a thorn in governors’ sides has morphed into a bench that rarely sides against the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.“
Sounds just like what Netanyahu is or tried to do in Israel as he continued to embrace the fundamentalist groups who pushed for more takeover with expansion of settlements. As we now see in DJT and MAGA “whatever it takes to hold power or crush democracy.”
John D. Cooper –
… and stay out of prison.
I agree
Several years back Ohio citizens voted to stop gerrymandering and Ohio Republicans found a way to stop the vote of the citizens. This is not new for them but people don't seem to respond at the polls and vote them out. Personally I have never voted for one of them and I never will.
John M
There was a deep dive into this on This American Life (PRI). I'll link to it if I can track it down. It was so maddening that it brought tears to my eyes listening to it.
Here is the episode: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/784/mapmaker
David Pepper has a few things to say about gerrymandering and corruption in Ohio.
https://substack.com/@davidpepper
Only a few members of the legislature are making those threats though. DeWine is terrible, but he is nowhere near as bad as DeSantis. He pushed back on the legislature when they threatened to impeach Maureen O'Connor.
Both of them are DeWorst.
That is certainly damning by faint praise.
But 10 out of 10 times, I'd take DeWine over DeSantis for president if only that were a choice.
I don’t think taking DeVine over anyone would be a good option. You have only to recognize the number of Republicans who have caved or been beaten down. Just look no further than the recent election of Speaker of the House. Two days prior Ken Buck said he wouldn’t vote for an election denier. Then he did only to announce he was leaving the House. Whim! Or, just not prepared to stand strong in the face of threats he received?.
I suspect personal threats. What an ugly world Trump ushered in
Well SwBv, you don’t have to suspect. Ken Buck said as much. In addition his landlord immediately terminated his rental agreement.
Of if that were the only choice!
A HUGE mistake was made by the FL Dem party in backing the wrong candidate for the last governors race. Had Nikki Fried been the chosen candidate Ron DeSantis short run would have ended. Sadly his rule has been steeled as a cancer in that states government appointed positions.
Because they are “Repubs” are funded by the likes of dark money, Heritage Action Fund, and others who aren’t hiding in the weeds any longer.
Dems Job: 1) Work for the constituancy. 2) Fight the GOP.
GOP Job: 1) Fight the Democrats.
Just a note on the positive side, I tuned into Ari Melber on MSNBC part way through his program. He was talking about Biden and the economy. He pointed out the disconnect between the reality of our extremely well performing economy and the perception of a negative economy. He had Paul Krugman on with him, backing up all the positive data. It was the first news run on Biden that I have seen with no caveats, all positive, touting his accomplishments, while he noted the disinformation FOX was spouting. Let’s hope it continues.
Other MSNBC hosts are apparently realizing their responsibility to stop bothsides-ing issues. For example, they are starting to talk about the malignant threat of Project 2025. We need to encourage them to keep that up.
If I understand correctly, Project 2025 ought to be headline news, and the leading story on the 7pm network news. He's *promising*, out in the open, publically for crying out loud!, to bring fascism to American, and most everyone responding with "yeah, well, that's Trump just spouting off..."
Someone’s got to put fear of fascism into the viewers and readers. But, of course, they have no idea what fascism is or what it would mean to them to lose their freedoms and rights.
I absolutely agree.
That’s great, but the problem is MSNBC is preaching to the choir. This exact info needs to be reported by mainstream media.
I've been saying the same thing for years now. The info the folks on MSNBC speak about all day every day NEEDS to be told frequently on other news outlets so that a larger amount of people actually hear the truth and learn of the flagrant flat out lies the other news outlets are feeding to them daily.
True!
Nicolle Wallace (MSNBC also) loves Biden and touts every accomplishment loudly! He, Biden, chose to be on her show recently!
Also on Washington Week last night they finally called out trump on some of the crazy things he said this week. But they also kinda brushed it off as being trump. This is the problem, we all know he says terrible lies and smart people go oh he’s so stupid haha but that’s dangerous. As TCinLA pointed out a few days ago that hitler and Mussolini were also stupid. Stupid people can be dangerous!
We need to take all these unserious people seriously!
The trouble with Paul Krugman (whom I admire), and others like him, in refuting conservative propaganda about the economy, is that he and others are too highbrow and abstract to reach ordinary Americans. It’s an old public relations maxim that language should be at an 8th grade level [thinking, too], but for these “best-educated generations”, 5th or 6th grade might be more appropriate.
Moreover, to reach people “where they are”, reliance on appropriate, homely examples is crucial.
I saw that same segment. As informative as it was, I still found myself thinking that the people who say that the economy is terrible and it’s Biden’s fault likely do not watch MSNBC.
Impressive segment...
Thank you Robert for opening up the comments to all..Regarding the media coverage of Trump..it’s the $$$..they are in business together..Simple as that..
Regarding Ohio..Two things should occur, firstly, proponents of issue 1 effort must go public big, all across the state..Making sure everyone knows what is happening..Just like they did in Wisconsin when the legislature threatened to impeach the Democratic Supreme Court Justice that won her election..any of them up for reelection should face primaries and or voted out in the general..Secondly, They need to be made an offer they can’t refuse..
I worry that the current Israeli Palestinian conflict with Israel’s disregard at best, intentional genocide at worst, treatment of the Gaza civilians and West Bank Palestinians too, will destroy our nation and our democracy. Biden is in a no win position. But his early “no conditions” and “whatever Israel needs” support for Israel has given Netanyahu a green light to what Israel is doing. The attack by Hamas did not just kill Israelis. But no one talks about them. Israel is not just killing Palestinians. There are many internationals, aid workers, journalists, doctors and even Israelis who are in Gaza and all are under indiscriminate air strikes and cannon fire. The world knows the moral breakdown of Israel’s response. Israel could have leveraged the world’s sympathy with a more calculated humane response to Gaza and dealing with Hamas’s criminal acts.
Our news media failed us here too. Focusing on Israel’s losses and letting that justify Israel’s overwhelming violence against Gaza civilians. Anyone who thinks only 10,000 have been killed with more than 10,000 air strikes is delusional. This looks like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but proportionally much worse.
Our news media at least on PBS NewsHour has been giving us more coverage of the Gaza death and destruction, as well as the continuing West Bank Israeli settler and military attacks on Palestinians living there. But you have to go to other sources like Democracy Now to hear interviews with US and UN officials who have resigned over failures of their organizations to protect Palestinian civilians. And for Palestinian and Israeli scholars to explain the harsh and dehumanizing treatment that Israel has applied to Palestinians since 1948, and especially under Netanyahu. Our US education on the Middle East and its history is negligent and seriously one sided. The Holocaust should have been a lesson in the inhumanity of state and political party power in the hands of authoritarians and ignorant nationalists. It may be too late for Israel, the Palestinians and the US to recover from this retribution violence. Our democracy is at stake. Israel’s survival might be at stake not from Hamas, but from Israel’s actions and past activities that are being brought more into the light which violates the humanity and memory of those lost in the Holocaust and from the Hamas attack.
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/10/bartov_genocide_apartheid
Omer Bartov is an Israeli-born historian. He is the Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University, where he has taught since 2000. Bartov is a noted historian of the Holocaust and is considered one of the world's leading authorities on the subject of genocide. Wikipe
I abhor the Israeli response, as I have for decades of apartheid. But I find it curious that you completely ignore the unspeakable brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that precipitated this Israeli response. I say again - as an American Jew - that I abhor and condemn the right-ward march of apartheid by Israel. But when you don't even acknowledge the unspeakable horror of Hamas, you lose all credibility. I also note that you emphasize Biden's early days' response to the taking of hostages, and murderous assault by Hamas; but you seem to ignore the massive efforts of the Biden administration to rein in Natenyahu and its efforts to get humanitarian aid to Gaza, and negotiate a solution that respects both sides. If your only source of news is Democracy Now! you are not looking at the entire picture.
Quite the list of Hamas talking points from marginal and/or discredited sources (take a look at the Democracy Now homepage. It makes Al-Jazeera look liike Fox News)
The single most important piece this week on Israel was in the NYT.
It pointed out that the Israelis slaughtereed in the kibbutzim were all ultra-left wing , sort of like torturing and killing all the readers of this newsletter to protest Trump because "after all, you're all just Americans."
"[Kibbutz] Be’eri was well known for its pro-peace sympathies: It had a special fund to give financial help to Gazans who came to the kibbutz on work permits, and kibbutzniks would often volunteer to drive sick Palestinians to an oncology center in southern Israel.
“They were to the left of Meretz” is how one leading Israeli political figure described the kibbutz’s political sympathies, referring to the most progressive political party in Israel. Hamas must have known this. It butchered the people there all the same."
On Hamas's goals
"There’s an asymmetry in this conflict, but it’s not about the preponderance of military power. Israel’s goal in this war is political and strategic: to defeat Hamas as the reigning power in Gaza, even though there will be unavoidable cost in innocent lives, since Hamas operates among civilians. But Hamas’s goal is only secondarily political. Fundamentally, it’s homicidal: to end Israel as a state by slaughtering every Jew within it."
There has also been massive population dispaacemtnt in Israel
>>There are now more than 150,000 Israelis — proportionately the equivalent of about 5.3 million Americans — who were forced out of their homes by the attacks of Oct. 7. Small cities like Sderot, near Gaza, and Kiryat Shmona, near Lebanon, are now mostly ghost towns and will remain that way if the government can’t secure its borders. Should that happen, sizable parts of Israel’s already minuscule territory would become essentially uninhabitable. That, in turn, would mean the failure of the Jewish state to maintain a safe homeland, presaging the end of Zionism itself. It’s why Israelis think of this war as existential and why they’re willing to put aside their fury at Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers, for a while, to win the war.>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/opinion/israel-national-crisis.html?smid=url-share
Meanwhile, in the US, antisemitism on campuses continutes to rise. It's important to understand this is directed at Jewish students just for being Jewish as the assumption is that all American Jews are agents of Israel. And just how much the movement of tearing down posters of kidnapped children by young "protesters" has convinced pretty much every Jew I know that Jew Hatred is alive and well in America and continues to reer its head among people we once thought we could trust.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/us/harvard-columbia-antisemitism.html
Whitney Tilson [who first turned many of us on to this newsletter] summed it up best in the above-linked article "The damage that Harvard has done to its brand since Oct. 7 is only rivaled in history by New Coke and what Elon Musk has done to Twitter,”
So, if destroying Hamas means killing millions of Palestinian civilians, will that make Israel safe? Do you think the young people living in Gaza who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for Israel years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
So, if destroying the Nazis means killing millions of German civilians, will that make America safe? Do you think the young people living in Germany who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for the Allies years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
So, if destroying Imperial Japan means killing millions of Japanese civilians, will that make America safe? Do you think the young people living in Japan who survive won’t harbor radically ill feelings for the US years from now? Will there be another war 10-15 years from now?
See how quickly that falls apart. (And that's before we even get to the part about "milllions.")
The postwar Occupations of Germany were designed to de-Nazify the population, and it succeeded outstandingly. It may be harder to neutralize and drain the Hamas poison from Gaza, but it must be attempted for the sake of peace in the Middle East.
Excellent – brilliant, Alan Wolk.
I agree with you, with one exception. The first speech I heard Biden give after the Hamas attack did emphasize their right to defend themselves but he also stated that he expected Israel to abide by the “Rules of War”; to do everything they could to protect civilians. He has continued to try to influence Netanyahu and I have been relieved to see other leaders increase that pressure.
What frustrates me about Biden’s statement regarding abiding by the “rules of war” is it has no consequences if they failed to do so.
Biden is really between a rock and a hard place. My guess is that this catastrophe will help to force Netanyahu out of power and bring in someone else with whom the US can have a better diplomatic relationship. It’s important that Biden has made the statements he has, and that he and Blinken have called for pauses to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza; but in the end, there’s not much that Biden can force on Netanyahu. He could threaten to remove aid, but I doubt that’s something he would ever think of doing; and it would not be the right thing to do under the circumstances.
The harping on “rules of war” is a gratuitous, libelous insult to Israelis, painting them almost as though they are hereditary miscreants.
It’s shameful.
I am struggling to see how what the unpopular Netanyahu is doing is "the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group (Oxford Language Dictionary)." According to the United Nations, "To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Cultural destruction does not suffice, nor does an intention to simply disperse a group."
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml
I do not believe this is what Israel's current, ultra-conservative government is doing (again, this is a government that is not supported by a majority of Israelis). If they were, they would not be encouraging Palestinians to move out of Gaza City to the South, and get out of the "war zone." They would not be now opening up passage for tens of thousands to get out of the area to safer territory. They would trap them in one place, as the Germans did in the Holocaust, and just bomb the hell out of them until everyone was dead. That's genocide.
So, I cringe when I hear people use the word so casually. That is a word that should be used very cautiously. I do agree, however, that "our US education on the Middle East and its history is negligent." Very few young people who are protesting on college campuses today, understand what happened in Germany, Poland, Hungary and other European countries in the 1940s. I even have friends in their 50s and 60s who don't really understand what the Holocaust was. It's tragic, and one reason we have so much unrest in our country, and so little bridge building between divergent Israeli/Hamas-Gaza perspectives right now. It all begins with education!
What I Believe as a Historian of Genocide
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/opinion/israel-gaza-genocide-war.html
I will add that while I do not support the killing of innocent Palestinians OR Israelis, and find what is happening in Gaza to be horrific, I do not point the finger at the Israeli / Palestinian citizens or U.S. leaders. I point the finger at the ultra-conservative government of Israel (which approximately 75 percent of Israelis do not support), and Hamas (which about the same percentage of Palestinians do not support). The people are caught in the middle of this war between opposing leaders, and until Netanyahu and his ilk are ousted, and Hamas is destroyed, I don't see any of this unrest changing. It's been going on for generations.
We need to stop blaming the U.S., Biden and other countries for what is happening there. IMO, they are doing the best that they can in an impossible situation. No one has the perfect answer, and yet pundits keep pointing the finger at everyone but the people who are actually responsible. That needs to stop.
And I'd love to see someone on the far left who supports the Palestinians mention Hamas and their contribution to what is happening in Gaza currently. That seems to be missing from the conversation for some reason...
Yesterday, I heard a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel say that "one can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian people at the same time." I agree with that.
How do you destroy Hamas?
Very good point. I'm no expert, but some very smart people who understand the Middle East and its history are going to have to figure that out. And that would have to include the surrounding Arab nations, and possibly even the PLO. But, again, I'm no expert!
Here is an excellent interview that may offer some ideas regarding your question:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-yossi-klein-halevi.html?
How did the Allies (almost entirely) uproot Naziism? Though an Occupation and a determined program of DeNazification. That’s an appropriate example.
Note that one of Israel’s staunchest defenders is ghe Prime Minister of Germany, Olaf Scholz.
"They would trap them in one place, as the Germans did in the Holocaust, and just bomb the hell out of them until everyone was dead. That's genocide."
Of course this is EXACTLY what Sen. Lindsay Graham advocated, but the media didn't call that genocide?
Last time I checked, Senator Graham represents South Carolina, not Israel.
1) Do you have a source and the exact wording of Sen. Lindsay's comment?
and
2) We're talking about COMMITTING genocide, not suggesting it, so it makes sense that the press did not focus on that. Our representatives suggest all kinds of crazy things these days to provide red meat to their base, but they know no one will ever act on their bizarre ideas.
Virtually no one takes Senator Graham’s bluster seriously. Fortunately, any following that he has is miniscule.
No one ever mentions that Hamas is held up in hospitals and using civilians as human shields and holding hostages. Sure be critical of Israel but give me a better workable solution to an enemy who has vowed to destroy you.
Stephen, I feel that that fact is fairly well known - the using of Palestinian citizens as human shields. At least among the knowledgeable adults I know and readers of this newsletter. But it is terrible that this is happening!
Are you okay if the only way to destroy Hamas means killing millions of Palestinian civilians?
Greg Plummer — your exaggeration implies that Israel intends to murder nearly all Palestinians (there are somewhat more than 2 million Gazans). That’s absurd.
Moreover, you ignore the fact that Israel has urged and facilitated the movement of Gazans away from likely war zones. How often have warring nations done such a thing?
Of course not but whose numbers on the number of Palestinians killed are you going to believe. The numbers have been inflated and the Palestinians have an opportunity to leave a battle field that is infected with Hamas whom in some cases they welcomed with open arms.
Omer Bartov, you write, "The Holocaust should have been a lesson in the inhumanity of state and political party power in the hands of authoritarians and ignorant nationalists." Yes, it should have been.
There is so much within David Souers’s post that I consider biased, misguided and inaccurate that I can’t find time, now, to compose a suitable riposte.
For the moment, let me flag his inappropriate and inaccurate application of “genocide” to Israel actions.
It is simply hideous to use “genocide” to describe a people against whom genocide was committed. Even worse, to apply it, effectively, to defend Hamas, who has publicly *pledged* itself to genocide against Israelis.
𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗝𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲.
Well done!!!
We also control the banks you know. and can manipulate the world that way. Beware our Space Lasers too!
All part of the International Zionist Conspiracy as laid out in the "Prootocols of Elders of Zion."
The more or less constant spewing of Jew Hatred from a number of Good Leftists on Robert Hubbell's substack has been very eye-opening.
In the first weeks of the war, someone on here posted that "The Israelis are treating the Palestinians the way the Nazis treated the Jews."
25+ people hit "Like" on that comment
When a number of Jewish posters called it out, the first comment was "Oh, that's not what she really meant, gasliight, gaslight, gaslight...let me tell you Jews what antisemitism really is.."
But the IHRA, whose definition of antisemitism is used by many governments specifically calls that out - "𝗗𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝘀𝗿𝗮𝗲𝗹𝗶 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘇𝗶𝘀." as an example of antisemitism
You can read the full list here:
https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
The EU has adopted the above definition too:
https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/combating-antisemitism/definition-antisemitism_en
As has the US State Department
https://www.state.gov/defining-antisemitism/
I am not Jewish, but I have both Jewish and Arab friends. And I agree with you. I have been stunned at the amount of subtle and overt antisemitism expressed by people I never would have expected it from. I chalk some of it up to upbringing, and some to a lack of education (or interest in) Jewish history, but I am concerned that they don't even recognize it for what it is, and would claim innocence. I have also noticed the same against my Muslim friends who struggle with very similar issues in some cases (other Americans not understanding them or their culture/history, thus treating all Arabs/Muslims as if they are less-than, or worse). Post 9/11 was an awful time for my Muslim friends, and that kind of abhorrent behavior has returned anew.
We have a real problem in our nation. And once again, these issues have made it clear that the hatred and crazy myths our Jewish friends were confronted with back in WWII are still alive and well here, as well as around the world.
I stand with my Jewish friends, peers, associates and clients. And no one will convince me otherwise. I have studied the history of WWII, authoritarianism, the Shoah, and more. No one asked me to and I did not get a grade for my studies, I merely wanted to understand better what actually happened as I felt that my understanding was limited. I was right. There was so much more to learn. This is why I keep going back to our lack of education about these topics here in the U.S. In general, people don't get it (especially our youth), and that is beyond painful (and frightening) for those who are being discriminated against.
Yes, thank you Cinzia K - it is very heartening to hear non-Jews standing up for us. I wish more would.
And I agree with you 100% - so much is about the lack of understanding of the history of the region.
Thank you, Cinzia K.
I think Hulti C is a troll
Agreed.
Scanning the comments there are 3 or 4 folks who I believe to be trolls. Their arguments are not cogent. They are assaults and attacks.
BTW, my mom OBM, lived out her final years in Florida. She passed away 12 years ago at the age of 101. In the Independent facility, one of her best friends was Suze Ohrman's mom. What a pistol...anyway, one woman, who came weekly, was a regular weekly lecturer on current events. She was trashing Israel. I defended Israel and talked about how LGBTQ+ have equal rights there and some other issues. I was sitting between my mom and Ann Ohrman. When it was all over Ann put her hand on mine to thank me. I never asked her if she was thanking me for standing up for Israel, Jews, or her daughter's sexual identity.
It’s you that are mistaking my comment. Corporations want control. AIPAC only aids in that. There are many Jews that stand for all humanity.
Israel has gone against UN policy for decades with the assistance of the U.S. while many other countries condemn Israel & the U.S. with them. Trying to shut down anyone who says Israel is completely blameless is not helping Israel.
Huilt: “Israel has gone against UN policy for decades with the assistance of the U.S.”. –
Have you looked into the UN’s “good works” in Gaza and the West Bank? Their schools’ curricula have been repeatedly shown to foster Jew-hatred of the worst and classic kinds.
With friends like UNRRA and much of the rest of the UN, …
𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑖𝑡𝑒!!
He’s not a troll; he’s expressing an opinion. Although I don’t completely agree with him, people have a right to express opinions on this site without being immediately called antisemitic or trolls.
Except when they are.
Listen to what Lord Kaufman had to say before he died in 2017
https://youtu.be/14si4mDQcVM?si=cvEKVUTkK9NowmJl
Bibi and his insane right wing govt. have to go.
The British Unity Cabinet of 1940 was basically a reshuffling of people *within one party*, the Conservative Party. In Israel, several Parties are needed to constitute a working legislative majority – infinitely more complicated.
“But why?” is an excellent and essential question! Now how to hold the media’s feet to the fire for an answer or better behavior.
I think the answer is layered. On the surface, media is business, business's primary purpose is to maximize shareholders' wealth, and controversy and chaos coverage sells. Beneath the surface, as it relates to the double standard, lies unequal expectations. I wrote about this in a piece, Managing Expectations, but may need to revisit it to clarify this point: Our expectations of the individuals are quite different.
"Everyone expects President Biden to be empathetic, decent, and upstanding. Everyone expects his predecessor to be narcissistic, unseemly, and dishonest (even while denying it). It’s clear whose expectation threshold is easiest to meet. Somehow a false equivalency manifests in those distinctly disparate descriptions, and President Biden, when he falls short is castigated, while the Defendant, who can never fall short is reinforced."
We measure them against our expectations of the INDIVIDUALS, not the POSITION. Therein lies the problem. We should declare our expectations of a President, Congressperson, or Supreme Court Justice, and measure them against that, instead of the bars they lower for themselves to clear.
p.s. I just updated my essay to try to capture the above conclusion: https://open.substack.com/pub/bobmorgan/p/managing-expectations
Perhaps we should inundate the likes of NYT with letters to the editor asking that question when they publish something so unbalanced.
Perhaps writing or “copying” to the Managing Editor would be more effective.
I recently cancelled my subscription and told them why.
Agree completely. Now, who's going to bell the cat? and how?
I'm new to Robert Hubbell, and appreciate his tone - which is realistic, galvanizing, and positive. I'm an elected official for Maine's Democratic party, and also for my county Dems committee. But my passion is with canvassing - which I think is the only way to move the needle. Media is indeed problematic, especially for the many who get their news via FB or TV. I think the only way to break through is with conversations. But that requires an army of volunteers, and heaps of energy and time. As much as I'm gearing up for doing this yet again this coming election season, I know I need to do it in a sustainable way. I'm hoping to learn more from Robert, and all of you, how to do it.
In solidarity and peace.
Vicky, if i can do something to highlight your need for volunteers, write to me at rhubbell@outlook.com.
Thanks for all you do!
Okay, time for a math lesson. As a math teacher for 36 years who taught Probability and Statistics for many of those years, one of the most common facts that I had to repeat often was what polls COULD and COULD NOT tell us. ALL of the current 'presidential polls' that claim an absolutely incredible amount of media attention cannot tell us a DAMN THING! They even admit such if one pays attention to the 'fine print'. The premise of every such poll starts with "if the election were held today". This statement for an election that is a year away. The truth is that the poll-takers are no more prescient than you or I, and this poll has NO connection to reality. In math, the reality lies in the validity of an 'if-then' statement. The statement is totally dependent on the truth of the 'if' portion. As I often told my students, an undeniably mathematically true statement: "IF it is raining, then it is raining, therefore it is raining!" They would say: "But Mr. Cheney, there isn't a cloud in the sky!" I would say: "Exactly! but the statement starts with an 'if' statement that everything else relies on, and therefore when the 'if' statement is false, there CAN BE NO VALID CONCLUSION!" Not only that, but there is the FACT that Statistics is such an easily manipulated area that in today's academic world, Statistics has become separate from Math: The result of so many who ARE manipulating 'polls' to suit their own purposes, which almost never have any connection to truth. Thus, "if the election were held tomorrow", the poll results may - or may not depending on how it was conducted - have any relation to reality, but the only valid conclusion is the poll is COMPLETELY meaningless!
Steve Cheney
Good point: "The premise of every such poll starts with "if the election were held today".
The only polls that matter are taken on Election Day at the ballot box. Everything else is speculation about what happens tomorrow based on what happened yesterday. A better question to ask voters would be, “What is it you wish for and why is that important to you?”
Thank you!!!
This is an encouraging piece by David Brooks in the NYTimes about how "Americans use polls to vent, not to vote." This makes so much sense!
Democrats: You Can Chill Out Now!
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/opinion/democrats-biden-poll-numbers.html?
Thank you so much for this link. I am often ambivalent about what David Brooks has to say and/or how he says it, but in this editorial, he makes what I think are excellent points, and they are “balanced” in the way we all wish more of the “news” was. It is definitely worth a read for any who are on the brink of despair or just plain tired. I do feel as though the tide is turning, and I base that feeling on reading fairly widely and seeing the same sorts of positive ideas popping up in different places. When so many different voices are “on the same page” about a lot of issues, I think that is significant and worth taking heart from. Perhaps one of our best antidotes to burnout is simply sharing any/all positive media items that are balanced and thoughtful as well? Screaming headlines don’t help me. Thoughtful, logical, explanations do.
I could not agree more. I have been on the fence on David Brooks' editorial slant and perspectives for years. And he wasn't a Biden supporter, until suddenly he was. This piece is completely new for him, and I'm really glad to see this fresh thinking and hope there will be more!
I did see a glimmer of hope in the WaPo this week. Phillp Bump wrote two pieces with the word "authoritarianism" in the headline. That is a first, at least that I'm aware of. The second of his editorials discussed a survey asking voters their preferences on electing, in essence, a strongman authoritarian to lead our nation. About 18 percent strongly supported the idea, with a good additional percentage supporting it a bit less strongly. That's a scary number, folks. He made the point, as well, that while the press is culpable for not doing a very good job reporting what a second Trump win would do to our country and democracy, there is a sizable group of Americans who would actually prefer that (and that number included some Dems!).
In other words, the media can step up their game, but there is still a sizable chunk of Americans who would prefer Trump for exactly the reasons we fear a Trump administration in 2024.
There was also a story in WaPo a few days ago about project 2025 that garnered nearly 19,000 comments:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/05/trump-revenge-second-term/
MSM needs to beat this message like a drum.
I read a wide variety of media for hours a day. I was also on both sides of the media for years (both as a contributor, and in the role of media relations), so I am very critical of the miserable job they've been doing of late. But it seems like something has begun to shift over the last couple of weeks. Whether our media is recognizing that they will be complicit if they allow Trump to be elected again, or enough people have hammered editors with letters telling them when they are not doing their job, I am starting to see better coverage creeping in here and there, both locally and nationally. I am crossing my fingers that this continues. (I read that WaPo piece, by the way, and thought it was excellent as well.)
I stopped subscribing to the New York Times last year, but I do notice that the Washington Post does a better job of pointing out the dangers of another Trump term.
The corporate oligarchy likes any Repub that will lower their taxes, remove regulations, & lull the masses to sleep.
And how does your comment relate to my comment? Thanks!
That 18% that Phillip Bump cited that prefers thump. The press is guilty in not better informing the public, but the press is too pro corporate rule to do otherwise.
Hmmm, did you read the article? There are some people in the United States who actually LIKE authoritarian leaders. Same was true in Italy, Germany, etc. pre-WWII. And the same is true in Russia, Hungary, and other countries today. I don't believe it is fair to blame personal choices on the press in every case. We, as citizens, need to take some responsibility as well.
Most Americans don’t understand what “authoritarian “ actually means and the impact to their lives.
I think that most people do understand what a dictator is. I wish that all references to "authoritarians" and "authoritarianism" could be replaced with "dictators "and "dictatorship" so that the average person would better understand the discussion.
I think Biden's campaign team needs to increase their focus on this very topic.
They need to enlist others to blast out the word.
There’s an old saying that it’s necessary to let someone else blow your trumpet: the sound will carry twice as far.
“Authoritarian” - too many syllables!
Apparently, "most Americans" also includes the currently "free" press.
When I see polls like that, first I cringe of course; and then I cringe again because I wonder how many people understand what the term “strongman authoritarian” means. When you hear people say why they like Trump, they say they see him as a “strong” leader, someone with “authority.” I could say I like Biden because he is a strong leader who leads with authority. But I would not be confusing him with a “strongman” or an “authoritarian.” I understand what those terms mean. I suspect that a lot of Trumpers don’t. They just like a “strong man,” (not the same as a strongman) and because he is a loud bully they think he is one.
I’m wondering what a full page ad in the NYT (and other media) would cost, and whether, if thousands of us paid a few dollars each we could afford a page with some of your wonderful thoughts on the responsibilities of our media in these times and signed it with thousands of names if it would do anything. There was also like a one day “we won’t use the NYT “strike” “ awhile back (that’s right - no Wordle for a day!); not sure if it was at all effective. I’d really like to find a way to get through to media that they’re not reporting the way readers desire and deserve. Maybe I’m just banging my head against a wall that’s just too solid. Maybe the answer is just consumers migrating from those news sources to others that are more responsible??
I like your idea about a page for media responsibilities and signatures…it would be great if there could be names from every state and territory with signatories from each state contributing to the cost?
Cancelling one's subscription and telling them why feels good. It's the only language they understand!
Isn’t that an example of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face? Despite its frustrating, sometimes enraging flaws, the Times is one of the best overall news sources.
Well, since Trump entered the political sphere the NYT revenues have skyrocketed. They recently posted another record quarter.
If people are buying what they're selling, what incentive is there to change?
Why are readers rewarding this behavior?
If tfg wins, he will take revenge on the NY Times in any way he can.
Exactly what Kathleen said. Many people have canceled their subscriptions and given the New York Times a piece of their minds. That’s why when you try to cancel, they offer you a massive 80% discount on a one-year subscription. They know what’s going on.
Thank you for being a port in the (unstable) storm… ( Jill too!)… nothing lasts forever, including tRump…
I had a boss once when we went into his office with what we considered a problem or issue would always ask” what do you want me to do about it” if we did not have a proposed solution he would not listen to us because it’s easy to bitch and complain but more difficult to seek workable solutions. We alone cannot change media bias because they are driven by the revenue generated by various demographics groups and they don’t want to offend these groups and lose revenue. What we need to do is hand to hand grassroots involvement and one on one contacts to get our messages heard and understood. There is no silver bullet. I’m glad many grassroots organizations are recognizing burnout and are doing something about it and refreshing our team. Something to think about is if we have burnout imagine how burnout and frustrated Republicans must feel because they have a very heavy life because of their MAGA poison infiltrated party. We are taking a timeout and coming back for the second half refreshed and ready to go. We have some momentum and we must keep the faith.
People, such as journalists, work in media. And many of those journalists still publish fine and insightful work. Thomas Friedman is an example. They can be influenced. On the business side, the NY Times is in big trouble if tfg gets re-elected. He will want to enact revenge and will use every legal and quasi-legal and made-up legal way to do it. That’s not very good for their bottom line, is it?
Thomas Friedman is a great example of an insightful journalists. The NYT believe me is not afraid of Trump because they are bigger than he is and what about Trump’s favorite excuse “ the First Amendment “. Works both ways.
Seems like a great idea in your last paragraph -- to share plans for the weekend that have nothing to do with politics! I'll be working at our church's first Pre-Holliday Bazaar. Hoping for a huge success! ☃️🎄
I will be singing in the choir… sharing positive energy is so uplifting!
I miss singing! Know that you're lifting your voice for me too! 🎶
Since when is implementing the voice of the voters considered “mischief”? In Ohio or elsewhere? We’re in a nightmare of madness.
This has been happening for years in Missouri...ignoring ballot initiatives, ignoring state judicial rulings.
... has also been happening in Arizona for many years ...