Tomorrow will be a month since my last actual blog post. I’ve been very busy working and also spent a little time in Florida to welcome my new niece, and say “good-bye” (lehitra’ot) to her and the others in my brother and sister-in-law’s family, who will be moving to Israel in two-and-a-half weeks.
During the past month, I have been posting about what I’ve been doing, but those were simply “site pages” rather than “blog posts” which is why you 114 wonderful subscribers haven’t gotten emails. (For the rest of you, please enter your email address on the right side, on desktop and laptop, or at the bottom of whichever device you’re using, to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts.)
There’s a link to my work since early last month in the Menu (button on upper-right, ) called “PGN, 2019: Copy Editor, Writer, Reporter” and those of you who tried it on your mobile devices, read the introduction, but couldn’t find the individual posts to choose from at the bottom, will no longer have that problem. It has been fixed.
Another thing: You should probably use Google Chrome or be logged onto something provided by Google to see the 4-day forecast. This is the difference:
But back to Israel, which is the purpose of this blog post.
Yesterday at 2:39pm, I got this email from Axios, which is a news organization I trust. It reports its own news but is also very likely to link to a different responsible news organization.
The article sounds really bad and it comes from a reporter at Israel’s Channel 13.
(Never heard of it? Neither did I. Israel’s old Channel 2 was programmed by two rotating companies, but to increase diversity and competition, both broadcasters were granted their own separate channels in 2017: Keshet 12 and Reshet 13.)
Some quotes from the Axios article, “Netanyahu boosts racist far-right party with pre-election deal,” formatted as Axios does with its stories:
“… paving the way for Jewish supremacists from the ‘Jewish Power’ party to make it into the next Knesset.”
“… is equivalent to a U.S. president cutting a political deal with David Duke, the former KKK leader. The prime minister and the ruling Likud Party are legitimizing a racist, xenophobic and homophobic fringe party in hopes of bolstering a right-wing bloc after the elections.”
“‘Jewish Power’ was formed by the followers of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the former leader of the Kach party, which was banned from running in Israel’s 1988 elections and designated a terror organization by the Israeli government in 1994. Kach was also blacklisted as a terrorist organization in the U.S., Canada and the EU.”
“He proposed a series of racist laws that would have stripped non-Jews of citizenship, mandated separate beaches for Jews and Arabs, and more. At the time, senior members of the Likud attacked Kahane’s policies and said they were similar to the Nuremberg Laws passed by the Nazis before the Holocaust.”
“Inside Likud — the same party that ostracized Kach and Kahane in 1984 — there hasn’t been even a whiff of criticism over a move designed to get the Israeli equivalents of David Duke into the Knesset.”
Election Day will be April 9.
Now that we gave that article its time, a friend I worked with 20 years ago wrote to me as he has on other occasions. I woke up to, “This looks disturbing, to say the least. What say you, Lenny Cohen? I need some intel on this.”
So first thing this morning, I wrote up this response:
I don’t think it’s going to happen. First, Bibi’s buddy Trump is against it. Not that any foreign leader should have to do what an American president says (think back to Yitzhak Shamir and George H.W. Bush), but apparently Trump wants Bibi to have a coalition with a center-left party (a national unity government) that would represent most moderates and accept his peace plan which has yet to be announced.
Keep in mind, a political party needs a certain number of votes in order to get a Knesset seat. Bibi thinks teaming up with right-wing parties will make sure no vote on the right will be wasted, in other words going to a party that does not earn a Knesset seat. Politically, it’s a smart idea and why have so many parties in the first place? Consider how much Democrats disagree among each other, and Republicans the same but to a lesser extent. (They fall into line a lot easier.)
So how will the Israeli electorate, which of course includes Arab citizens who make up about 20 percent of the country, vote? I suppose they think similar to Americans. Some know for sure who they will vote for. Others are still making up their minds.
But this is supposed to involve an American peace plan (whenever it’s announced, so it’s a wild card) from a friendly president who has (outwardly) done more for Israel than any other president. The plan is supposed to be announced in between the election and the 30 days given to form a coalition (if necessary, and it has always been necessary so far). Will he make concessions to Palestinians to seem fair? Possibly, and that’s something right-wing Israelis would not want. Will Palestinians except the Trump plan? They haven’t accepted anything from any other American president, including Clinton and Obama, and they’re divided amongst themselves, so I don’t think those right-wing Israelis have much to fear, even if Trump tries to get the Israelis to make massive concessions.
Unfortunately, the one thing I would expect would be more Palestinian terrorism leading up to the election. That would make the undecideds more likely to vote for the right, and a right-wing government (rather than a national unity one) will appear to be the bad guys in front of the world. (As if the world would think fondly of Israel, and as if Palestinian terrorism is acceptable.)
Now, would most Israelis support what these parties on the right call for? Of course not! Would Bibi aligning with them cost him votes from moderates? Perhaps. Maybe it’ll be a bigger factor than his legal issues since there’s more at stake. But Meir Kahane’s Kach party was outlawed and the Israeli Supreme Court is moderate. The right-wing parties can call for anything they want, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to happen. It may be a turn-off to people who would normally vote for Bibi.
So those are my thoughts, as of the moment. We both know the only thing that matters will be the results on Election Day, which is about a month-and-a-half away, and anything can happen until then.
So take it for what it’s worth. We’ll certainly have to see.
(Don’t forget part of this website includes RSS feeds from several news sources, plus Twitter posts from i24NEWS English, (on the right side on your desktop or laptop, and at the bottom on your mobile device) so you can stay up to date right here at www.CohenConnect.com, even though I can’t post as often while I’m working.)
By the way, my friend’s response was as short and sweet as his question: “Lenny Cohen thanks for the insight, man. I think you’re right.”
As I mentioned, if you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this, this and this. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
First off, yes, I may be a day late, but this is definitely not a dollar short! I wanted to make sure this post was as perfect as I could make it, like I do with all others.
Of course, it’s just a coincidence that Martin Luther King Day, which commemorates the birthday of the slain civil rights leader, happens to fall near Inauguration Day in certain years, and thus the Women’s March.
(Read through and see another coincidence. It involves an Israel-hater and what her name really means. Then tell me Gd doesn’t work in mysterious ways!)
But the calendar coincidence is now a damn shame to Dr. King’s memory.
I’ve said time and time again all decent people are for equality, and luckily there were alternatives for marchers who wanted to avoid the Women’s March and its leaders’ anti-Israel, anti-Semitism and pro-Farrakhan mentality.
Sad that fallout from the anti-Semitism of #WomensMarch leaders impacted local marches across the country, which are grappling with how to respond. Thank you to those who chose to change their names and #MarchOn instead! True #equality for all! https://t.co/GC7gZeteok
I’ll add what I’ve also said and written frequently: that the far left of the Democratic Party – and the failure of its more moderate, experienced leaders to rein them in – could very well split the party and help the Republicans’ 2020 presidential nominee (Trump or not) win the election and put more justices on the Supreme Court. (Justices who don’t think transgender people should be allowed to volunteer to fight doe our country on that basis alone.) I can even see the right Republican able to pull it off by campaigning as a moderate.
Wrong decision after wrong decision. See my previous #TweetsNow for lots of other examples. History shows it'll be easier for #Republicans to gather around one candidate than "unorganized" #Democrats. Of course, the decisions are made by people who don't know or respect history. https://t.co/9xFODZFAlB
Don’t forget what Will Rogers said: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.”
Early Saturday, Linda Sarsour posted a link to this article on Facebook:
“While the first set of Unity Principles written by members of the Women’s March steering committee, which itself included prominent Jewish leaders, focused specifically on those most vulnerable, it did not mention Jews, which raised unnecessary suspicion. White supremacy and fascism endanger all of us, but we are not all equally in danger at all times, and while some communities in the United States feel unsafe for the first time in a very long time, others, such as communities of color and immigrants, have lived with danger for this country’s entire history. Centering the most vulnerable means exactly that: focusing first on the most vulnerable, through which we all benefit. (The 2019 Unity Principles now explicitly mention Jewish women.)”
My thoughts: Afterward, I also read Latinx women and Asian/Pacific Islander women, who were also previously excluded from the list, are also now on it. Why such division?
“Tamika Mallory … refused to ‘condemn’ Black nationalist and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for his anti-Semitic views. She has since been asked to do this over and over, irrespective of the fact that his words are not her words, she is not responsible for him, and that asking her to do so means effectively condemning her ‘family’ and community—the people who were there for her and her son after the death of her husband.”
From me: So she can’t use the magic word “condemn” for the sake of society, and obviously considers Farrakhan above the rest of us, meaning unequal. In the meantime, she’s getting asked about this over and over, taking far more time to not say it than to actually say it! Is she achieving her objective or trying to keep her 15 minutes of fame?
“In theForward (Your racism is showing when you tear down the Women’s March),Nylah Burton, a Black Jewish woman, writes that the attacks on Mallory and other Women’s March leaders are not only based in racism but make Jews of color more vulnerable. While ‘Mallory’s public embrace of [Farrakhan] was inappropriate to begin with … the sheer amount of racism and Islamophobia that defines much of the criticism against Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian Muslim activist, Tamika Mallory, a black gun control activist, and Carmen Perez, a Latina activist, has become more toxic and harmful than the actions that spurred the protests [against Trump].’”
Me again: So now we’re comparing who has been more inappropriate and when? Perhaps Sarsour, Mallory and Perez are more than they were just described. They need to personally address that supposed amount of racism and Islamophobia reserved just for them, plus if and how they made Jews of color more vulnerable. Anybody going after a woman for being a woman is the outsider!
“No form of anti-Semitism is acceptable,” writes Burton in a different Forward article, Why do Jews keep tearing down Black leaders? “But not all forms of anti-Semitism are alike. White anti-Semites are motivated by a hatred of Jews and a desire for power. Black anti-Semites are motivated by anger over gentrification, police brutality, and slavery.”
Me: Nice history lesson. Why has the Forward been giving her space? Did it lead to Thursday’s announcement it’ll be ending its print operation to “become a digitally focused publisher” after 121 years? Another sad moment for the newspaper business, but I find this example hard to mourn.
“And the entire conversation has been turned from focusing on the most vulnerable, i.e. communities of color, to focusing on the angst of white Jews.”
Maybe they should’ve just stuck to equality for women. Instead, they got off their message and supporters are STILL blaming others! (More on this from someone who knows more than me on that subject, coming up right after this next prejudiced thought.)
“Zuckerberg and Sandberg have money and power, and we allow white people with money and power, no matter who they are, to get away with things no one should and that people of color certainly can’t.”
I won’t defend Facebook but the writer of this article, some Jodi Jacobson, is off the rails.
An article Monday morning reported what happened next: “Former Women’s March leader upbraids ‘antisemite’ Linda Sarsour for posting article claiming Jews are waging war on black people.”
She’s Mercy Morganfield, the daughter of famed American blues singer-songwriter Muddy Waters. This is just some of what she posted on Facebook less than three-and-a-half hours after Sarsour on Saturday. (Language warning!)
“Tamika is not the problem. Tamika is the symptom. Tamika symbolizes everything wrong and deeply problematic about second-wave feminism. A white woman’s movement. Just like the first wave feminism was a white woman’s movement in the sixties. ‘March with one of them. But March,’ was Gloria Steinem’s advice just yesterday. This rhetoric by a 1st Wave Feminist is indicative of the mentality of the March itself. Let me translate: ‘March because optics are more important than inclusivity.’
“And Tamika is providing the optics. … The other co-chairs sit back and watch while Tamika says all the incendiary things. They push her to the front and let her believe she is their leader when in reality she is their fall guy.
“And her allies outside the WM are problematic. She has other black people chasing celebrity and the limelight riding on her coattails. They don’t have her back; they are riding her back but she can’t tell the difference. They say amen and egg her on while she doubles down on ignorance and xenophobia. She is mistaking their obsequiousness for support. She cannot recognize an opportunist right now because she is so deeply mired in her own opportunism. Tamika, you in danger, gurl.”
…
“She is not faultless; she is thoughtless. She is hapless. She is aimless and gameless. She is riding around butt naked and everyone is admiring her beautiful clothes.
“For the past two years, issues that impact black women and girls in the U.S. have taken a backseat to issues that impact Palestinian women. Awareness of ignorant religious dogma has replaced awareness around issues impacting black women in the black community. People are now more aware of the dumb shit Farrakhan says than they are the plight of missing black girls in Chicago. This is deeply problematic.”
…
“The only people quicker to stab you in the back than a white woman trying to cover her white supremacy in a blanket of liberalism are the black elite who serve up their own version of white supremacy by looking down their noses at their own people. They are also using Tamika.”
… (This is my favorite part of this Morganfield post. –Lenny)
“I wouldn’t have to denounce Farrakhan because I wouldn’t have been sitting there praising him in the first place. Academic rigor is required to get an advanced degree. A part of my Master’s thesis was to research the slave trade in the United States. Jewish people were not a huge part of the slave trade, dumb asses. Yeah, I said it. Dumb, fucking, asses. There are two prominent figures floating that theory, Louis Farrakhan and David Duke. What do those two men have in common? They both peddle hate. It is their business model. I think it is brilliant that white people got black people blaming Jewish people for slavery. Fucking Brilliant!”
…
“So Tamika becomes the face of antisemitism, while the enablers of antisemitism don pink pussy hats and march. She becomes their warrior. In a street brawl, she once said, ‘You don’t know me, baby. I will tear your motherfucking ass up.’ Unfortunately, we do know you Tamika. You are every black person who has ever had a once in a lifetime opportunity and lost it because of hubris. You are that black person with all that damn potential who allow your ego to rule your actions. We know you, Tamika. We wanted nothing more than to see you win, I know this black woman did.”
Morganfield followed it up Sunday with this post:
But back on Thursday, Morganfield – to her credit – had more strong words over this, and here are most of them:
“This is what is so troubling about associations and about liberals and progressives. This shameful woman, Sonalee R.—a therapist, someone who is respectful of transgender people—somehow believes the world would be better if millions of Jewish people weren’t in it. And the head of a woman’s movement is a friend of hers. They keep showing up in photos with antisemite after antisemite but they need us to believe they don’t have these deep-seated issues about Jews. Here in the U.S., Palestine and Israel conflicts took a more prominent seat and more prominent role in what the WM chose to throw their weight behind than did: the Flint Water crisis, the missing girls in Chicago, #metoo as it affects black girls, high infant mortality rate in the black community, high incarceration rate of black families, economic empowerment for the black community, voter suppression targeted at blacks, gun violence in our community, the increasing mortality rate of black women due to disparities in medicine—Linda Sarsour made Palestine issues take precedence over all of those other issues.
“Do you know how that looks? It looks like us defending comments made that are antisemitic more than raising awareness of all of those issues I just mentioned.”
… (This is my favorite part of this Morganfield post. –Lenny)
“Linda has not pushed money and support toward Fighting the Muslim Ban—she pushed it toward Palestinians who are fighting Israel. Where was Linda, Linda’s mom or dad—when we were fighting to desegregate schools, water fountains and lunch counters in the 1960s? And she comes in and sells black women a bill of goods that she is fighting for women of color and that simply isn’t true. She is fighting for Palestinian women and God bless her, she should. I agree that she should fight for the rights of Palestinian women, but should that take precedence over black girls in the U.S.—why? Why, again?
“Black people, we have to start being more woke and questioning the status quo. Ask these four co-chairs what they did for black women this year and you will find they did nothing. You are whispering and standing up for people who’ve done NOTHING—for black women. Being a black woman and telling white women to shut up and listen to black women makes a nice sound bite but does nothing to move the needle. Especially when you are saying that over and over again to a sea of white faces who are happy to exclude all marginalized women as long as they get to march and as long as they have an outspoken black, brown and Muslim token to legitimize them. Spreading false and ignorant information about Jewish people that have black folks nodding their heads in agreement is simply peddling hate. The same way Trump peddles hate. And hate is a destructive energy not a redemptive one.
“If a white woman was featured in a picture on social media with David Duke and the message read, ‘It would have been better if black people didn’t exist.’ Would you be okay with that white woman heading the women’s movement? You would be calling for her head and you know it. But you’re okay when a brown woman does that to a Jew? Please check your hypocrisy at the door of the church. You know that place you go every Sunday and act share the love of Jesus. A Jewish man who taught the world to love. Huh? What would Jesus do? If Jews didn’t exist as this asshole in the picture hopes–who would you worship on Sundays, Boo?
“You are okay with this because they are talking about people some preacher in a church you don’t even belong to—spewed off some uneducated bullshit about Jews and you ate it up hook, line, and sinker. What the hell is wrong with you, black people? This is not who we are. If it is we might as well grab a tiki torch and flame up—we’re no better. Do you understand how destructive the energy of hate is? Do you understand Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would be so ashamed of black people for supporting this while you celebrate his legacy this weekend?”
…
“Linda is a woman of color when it suits her—but I guarantee you this—her parents would never have allowed her to marry a Muslim of African descent. Chew on that while you are taking up for her.”
It takes a real leader to police one’s own people, and Mercy Morganfield didn’t just start this week, so thank you to her for that.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to shut Sarsour up. Saturday night, she was thrilled after reading this piece from new New York Times columnist Michelle Alexander, subtitled “Martin Luther King Jr. courageously spoke out about the Vietnam War. We must do the same when it comes to this grave injustice of our time.”
Alexander started writing about the speech Dr. King gave at New York’s Riverside Church, exactly a year before his assassination.
“Many of King’s strongest allies urged him to remain silent about the war or at least to soft-pedal any criticism. They knew that if he told the whole truth about the unjust and disastrous war he would be falsely labeled a Communist, suffer retaliation and severe backlash, alienate supporters and threaten the fragile progress of the civil rights movement.
“King rejected all the well-meaning advice and said, ‘I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice.’ Quoting a statement by the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, he said, ‘A time comes when silence is betrayal’ and added, ‘that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.’
“It was a lonely, moral stance. And it cost him. But it set an example of what is required of us if we are to honor our deepest values in times of crisis, even when silence would better serve our personal interests or the communities and causes we hold most dear. It’s what I think about when I go over the excuses and rationalizations that have kept me largely silent on one of the great moral challenges of our time: the crisis in Israel-Palestine.”
Is she saying The New York Times never discussed article topics before hiring her last year, and how she might offer thoughts on topics different than other Times writers, and now she has gone rogue?
Alexander then launches into an attack on pretty much everything Israel with these one-sided, distorted phrases and sentences that make you wonder what a Jewish person must’ve ever done to her, and whether she had a Jewish friend in law school who wasn’t on the fringe left:
“Israel’s political lobby holds well-documented power”
“Many civil rights activists and organizations have remained silent … because they fear loss of funding from foundations, and false charges of anti-Semitism”
“compromised or discredited by smear campaigns”
“blacklists those who publicly dare to support boycotts against Israel, jeopardizing their employment prospects and future careers”
“And so, if we are to honor King’s message and not merely the man, we must condemn Israel’s actions: unrelenting violations of international law, continued occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, home demolitions and land confiscations. We must cry out at the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints, the routine searches of their homes and restrictions on their movements, and the severely limited access to decent housing, schools, food, hospitals and water that many of them face.”
“We must not tolerate Israel’s refusal even to discuss the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, as prescribed by United Nations resolutions.”
“We must, with as much courage and conviction as we can muster, speak out against the system of legal discrimination that exists inside Israel.”
Talk about real hate! Don’t tell me Dr. King would’ve ever spoken like that. You’ll hear his “I Have a Dream” speech soon, and he didn’t use language like that – even when referring to racists in power.
I don’t know why Michelle Alexander feels the way she does and question whether her views belong in The New York Times (too many people are clicking onto the article), butyou get the drift. Let her talk about this picture, especially the sign.
“King found himself conflicted. Like many black leaders of the time, he recognized European Jewry as a persecuted, oppressed and homeless people striving to build a nation of their own, and he wanted to show solidarity with the Jewish community, which had been a critically important ally in the civil rights movement.
“Ultimately, King canceled a pilgrimage to Israel in 1967 after Israel captured the West Bank. During a phone call about the visit with his advisers, he said, ‘I just think that if I go, the Arab world, and of course Africa and Asia for that matter, would interpret this as endorsing everything that Israel has done, and I do have questions of doubt.’
“He continued to support Israel’s right to exist butalso said on national television that it would be necessary for Israel to return parts of its conquered territory to achieve true peace and security and to avoid exacerbating the conflict. There was no way King could publicly reconcile his commitment to nonviolence and justice for all people, everywhere, with what had transpired after the 1967 war.”
I’ll stop there and remind you – or teach you – the Six Day War happened because Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping and mobilized its army along its border with a much-smaller Israel. The U.N. was absolutely ineffective at avoiding war by running away. (Nobody talked about the West Bank or Gaza back in those days, did they, Ms. Alexander?)
Then, Nasser induced Syria and Jordan to begin attacks on Israel by using the initially confused situation to claim that Egypt had repelled the Israeli air strike, when it really destroyed the country’s air force.
The Arabs were big losers. What happens when a country loses a war? What has happened throughout history, Ms. Alexander, and why should this case be any different?
In fact, keep reading!
Israel didn’t ask for the war, the territories, definitely not the people there, and negotiated with anyone whenever possible. Egypt and Jordan are success stories, even if not wildly successful.
Who is available today? Dictator Mahmoud Abbas with his corruption and net worth of $100 million, or Hamas terrorists? More importantly, who do Palestinians support? Do they want peace with Israel? Look the the polls.
And demanding a right of return 70 years after 1948, or even 50 years after 1967, is preposterous and isn’t coming from anybody who wants peace!
Instead, Israel is making friends all over, or reestablishing friendships. Just Sunday, Israel and Chad restored relations. (Now would be a great time for Ms. Alexander to use the word “apartheid!”) Mali’s Prime Minister will be visiting soon. We don’t even know exactly what’s happening with the Gulf states, but relations are improving.
The war happened in the beginning of June and the Arab League Summit attended by eight Arab heads of state ended less than three months later with the Khartoum Resolution on Sept. 1. It became famous for the “Three No’s” in the third paragraph: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it.”
Would somebody tell me how the hell Israel, wanting land for peace, could deal with that?
Until I get an answer (comment section below) – if The New York Times, Michelle Alexander, Linda Sarsour, Electronic Intifada, and the folks at the United Nations don’t get it – Dr. King really admired Israel, and there’s no better evidence than his own words.
“The whole world must see that Israel must exist and has a right to exist and is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.”
Here, he goes further, saying even if it wasn’t necessary, he’d speak out against anti-Semitism because it’s wrong, unjust and evil – and he’d do the same for Catholics.
In this speech, he says he knows white people who believe in justice and humanity are going to stay with the civil rights movement because it’s just and right.
Dr. King repeating some of what he said above, but I learned how much he really knew about life for Jews under the Nazis and Soviets.
This video from Christians United for Israel is to “discover the forgotten history of how the civil rights movement and Christian Zionism have united Christians and Jews to fight racism and anti-Semitism for over 50 years.”
Even The Young Turks (no friend of Israel) has advice for the Palestinians to get what they want, because they’ve been doing things wrong (terrorism, I suppose?), using quotes from MLK!
Finally, a longer video from Dumisani Washington, founder of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, speaking about Dr. King’s true pro-Israel legacy, Israel’s diverse multi-ethnic community, and the racism of BDS. (Worthy of you watching as much as you can. That goes double for Michelle Alexander!)
“It troubled King that Jerusalem was divided, the western part controlled by Israel and the eastern part by Jordan. ‘And so this was a strange feeling to go to the ancient city of God and see the tragedies of man’s hate and his evil, which causes him to fight and live in conflict,’ he recalled.”
“The details of King’s only visit to the Holy Land, which has nearly been forgotten by history, are contained in a sermon he delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL on Easter Sunday, 1959.”
“I must say that when you say ‘landing in Jerusalem’ you must qualify what you are saying and tell what part of Jerusalem. That is because men have not solved their social problems, and we’re still banned because in their Jerusalem, that ancient holy city has been divided and split up and partitioned. And before you can enter one side of the city, it must be clear that you will not enter the other because one side is Jerusalem, Israel, the other side is Jerusalem, Jordan. Because of the Arab-Israeli conflict this city has been divided. And if on your visa it is revealed that you are going into any Arab nation, you can only go to Israel without being able to ever go back to an Arab country in the life of your passport; the hate is intensified. And so this was a strange feeling to go to the ancient city of God and see the tragedies of man’s hate and his evil, which causes him to fight and live in conflict. …
“This is always one of the interesting things about traveling, that you learn to know people. You meet people of all races and of all cultures, and you tend to be lifted above provincialism, and chauvinism, and what the sociologists call ethnocentrism. You come to see a unity in mankind. … I think this is the greatest education that can ever come to an individual. I think if more of our white brothers in the South had traveled a little more, many of our problems would be solved today.”
About being in Jerusalem, and when Jesus was there:
“And he entered this gate, and we walked around and through there and pretty soon, about fifty feet from the gate, we came to a spot and the guide said, ‘This is where the old temple stood, the Temple of Jerusalem.’ (Keep this in mind when someone lies to you and says there is no Jewish history in Jerusalem. Then ask them where the Muslims were at the time. –Lenny) You remember that temple fell in 70 A.D. The Roman Empire came to stop an uprising in Palestine, and they destroyed the temple. But the spot is still reserved, and there is a big stone in the middle of that point where all of the sacrifices used to take place on the altar.”
But King stayed on the Jordanian side of Jerusalem, where the Old City and Western Wall were, even though he visited Jewish holy sites that Jews were not allowed to visit. (We can’t let it go back to the way it was for those 19 years, 1948-67, under Jordan. –Lenny)
Back the My Jewish Learning article:
“He would later call the trip ‘one of the most important occasions of my life.’ …
“Prior to the Six Day War, King was an outspoken supporter of Israel, which he famously called ‘one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.’ After the war, in which Israel reunited Jerusalem and captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights, King expressed reservations about travelling to the country and having to defend its actions during the war. He feared doing so would alienate his supporters in Africa and the Arab world. ‘I don’t think I could come out unscathed,’ he fretted to an adviser in a phone conversation recorded by the FBI.”
“Even Dr. King occasionally struggled with acceptance and tolerance issues.
“One of those struggles was when it came to Bayard Rustin. Rustin was an indispensable force behind the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was also openly gay. Many have called him King’s right-hand man.
“And, while King needed Rustin for the movement, he did not immediately embrace Rustin and his sexuality (many labeled it ‘promiscuity’ then), which at times became a liability to the movement.
“Even Dr. King succumbed to fear and a desire to keep the movement on track, and the two parted ways a few times.
“Eventually, King evolved, realized Rustin’s worth and defended him.
“If King hadn’t, the movement would most certainly have been different and likely more violent and less effective.”
You didn’t see this in the movie Selma
BACK TO THE STORY from My Jewish Learning:
“Israel had extended several invitations to King during the 1960s to visit the Jewish state as part of a wider effort to strengthen ties with the African American community. King accepted at least two official invitations but backed out both times. He also agreed to lead an interfaith pilgrimage of 600 to Israel in November 1967, but that didn’t pan out either. He was assassinated the following year.”
Click here for many more details about what happened behind the scenes in this article “Why Martin Luther King never visited Israel” from historian Martin Kramer.
Click here for the full story of how Kramer solved the mystery of this quote attributed to Dr. King – “When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism!” – even though so many don’t want to recognize it.
“Ultimately, King’s failure to step foot in the State of Israel did not diminish his legacy in the eyes of most Israelis. His leadership during the civil rights movement has inspired generations of Israeli activists, from the Mizrachi Jews (those from Iraq, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan – but never mentioned in any right of return or compensation. –Lenny) who fought for better housing and jobs during the 1970s to the Ethiopian Israelis who, more recently, have demonstrated in the streets of Tel Aviv against police brutality and discrimination. The Knesset has recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and there is a forest in the Galilee that was planted in his honor.”
Sept. 10, 1987: Martin Luther King III plants a tree in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Forest during his religious pilgrimage and study mission in Israel (http://mochajuden.com/?p=4000)
What’s especially interesting is that part of the forest had been destroyed over the summer of 2006 when Hezbollah in Lebanon launched Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. The terrorists from a neighboring country destroyed two million trees in the one country that had more trees at the end of the 20th century than it did at the beginning! That’s not what the Kings would’ve supported.
I don’t think the Israelis would have any major problem with how the Kings would’ve thought of them today.
“One can’t help but wonder, if King were alive and visited Israel today, what would he think?
“One hint comes from Clarence B. Jones, one of King’s lawyers and closest advisors. Jones has said that he believes King would not shy away from criticizing Israel over specific policies, but that he would not stand for efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state. ‘No African-American leader of national stature was more passionate, privately and publicly, in fostering a working coalition with the Jewish community and his support for the State of Israel,’ Jones said of King in 2014. …
“No doubt, King would be disappointed that peace between Israel and the Palestinians still has not been achieved. And he would likely be troubled by the poor treatment of the thousands of African refugees who were denied asylum, held in detention centers in the Negev, and are now being told to return to either their home countries or a third country by April or face jail time. (The government considers the refugees to be economic migrants who entered the country illegally.)
“But he would be amazed at the diversity of the country’s population: that Jews from Morocco live next to Jews from Yemen and India and Ethiopia and Iran and France, among other places. And he would marvel that Arabs, Druze, Bedouins, Hebrew Israelites, Samaritans, and Circassians have also found a home in Israel—a place that one day might truly be, in King’s words, ‘an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.’”
I find this pretty positive when you look at the entirety. I think my point has been made.
Just one more: Ever the scholar, one thing I learned after Louis Farrakhan referred to Jews as “termites” is that Linda Sarsour’s last name means “cockroach” in Arabic.
And this brings me to MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, especially “the content of their character” part. I played this video every year as a teacher – not just so my students could see and hear Dr. King, but also for its meaning, and how to properly give a speech – including speaking clearly, knowing your audience, and using inclusiveness, repetition, etc.
This is always worth a listen, for so many different reasons. So enjoy, as my students and I always have.
Sometimes, interesting things happen when you read friends’ Facebook pages. I’m not talking about going to look on purpose, which I’ve done before. I’m just referring to seeing something on your news feed and clicking on it. That got me, as the title clearly says, banned from Facebook pages twice in 2 days! The one I care about is a longtime friend I used to respect, but there’s also the radio talk show host full of hate who I’d never heard of until last night.
I may feel bad about one, but can’t regret either.
Regular readers know I don’t like Facebook and friends are leaving it over privacy issues. I personally have concerns over its business practices and censorship (and lack-of when it comes to Holocaust denial). Many business people say 2019 will not be a good year for Facebook. I hope they’re right. The company deserves that.
By the way, I got no responses from any of them about my blog posts. I never contacted Foden, and I stopped trying with Kenney and Hikes after learning Kenney’s father died almost a month ago. It’s never my goal to make matters worse during a person’s time of grief, but I had asked both of them for answers several times and neither (nor staff members) bothered to get back to me at all, like decent public servants.
Think of those phrases about aging, and how the older you get, the less you care what people think of you. I’m getting there.
So just a warning: Don’t be surprised if I go after you because you can’t behave like a civilized human being.
And another warning: This next part of the post may not be appropriate for children due to cursing, not the subject matter.
Case in point: a Buffalo hypnotist and radio talk show host who actually spends a lot of time at his home near St. Petersburg, Fla. A friend of mine was a Facebook friend of his until last night.
My friend posted this article from the Daily Mail which showed a MTF transgender person at a GameStop store in New Mexico very angry.
At least this overblown tabloid got its references right. See below for links to learn for yourself.
According to the article,
“The woman had just bought an item at the counter.”
Then,
“She demanded her money back after being called ‘sir’ by the male shop attendant, then raged at a fellow shopper who called her ‘sir’ again and asked her to stop swearing as there were children present.”
I don’t know what really happened. The article admits,
“The clip began with the woman already at boiling point.”
Also,
“She complained of being repeatedly misgendered by the store clerk and demanded to have the company’s corporate number in order to make a complaint,”
and it said,
“She aggressively pointed at the clerk as he repeatedly apologized.”
Personally, I wonder why either “sir” or “ma’am” had to be used when a genuinely friendly smile and good customer service should make anyone happy. Less is more!
Transitioning is tough. Nobody can snap their fingers and become the gender they feel they were born to be. There are medical issues, getting experience being “out” as the other gender, and possibly surgeries. That’s plural, for obvious reasons. And don’t forget legal issues over identity. Plus, have some compassion!
Click here for GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program, here for FAQ, here for basic terminology, and here for tips in a list that
“is not exhaustive and cannot include all the ‘right’ things to do or say because often there is no one ‘right’ answer to every situation you might encounter.”
Here are two highlights:
“Transgender people use many different terms to describe their experiences,”
and
“Some transgender and gender non-conforming people may not feel like they match the signs on the restroom door,”
which is why single user, unisex options should be available.
“Any entity that owns or leases a structure open to the general public, including but not limited to Retail Establishments and City-owned buildings, that currently has or at any time establishes one or more single-occupancy bathroom facilities for public use, shall provide Gender-neutral Signage for such facilities.
An entity that has bathroom facilities with gender usage indicated by art work or design may, if such designs predate the effective date of this Ordinance, retain such designs, provided that they use signage that clearly indicates that the bathroom may be used by any person or persons, regardless of gender identity.”
For the past three years, businesses with single-occupancy restrooms must post signs showing they’re gender-neutral,
all new city buildings must be built with gender-neutral bathrooms included in the plans, and
in cases of no single-occupancy restrooms, transgender individuals can use whichever bathroom the person feels most comfortable in.
My friend’s Facebook post didn’t make me happy. I should note he’s a Florida Republican, but I think the post was a lot better than it would’ve been if we hadn’t started discussing the issue a while back.
Then, the responses piled up.
In the middle, you can see what I wrote. I don’t know the type of day that person was having, so I’m not going to make judgments about anything other than her creating a very bad scene.
Then I went on to give facts from the American Medical Association to the uneducated, or simply people who don’t know anyone in the situation.
Click here for the AMA’s “Policies on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) issues,” which starts by saying it
“supports the equal rights, privileges and freedom of all individuals and opposes discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin or age.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of the AMA communities and AMA policies on LGBTQ issues that work to inform individuals about LGBTQ discrimination and abuse. AMA’s policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s rights represent a multiplicity of identities and issues.”
The response was disappointing. The world is a changing place and there’s too much hate here in America already.
Last night, the person a Buffalo hypnotist and radio talk show host I referred to above wrote on the same string I started with information from the AMA that he doesn’t like transgendered (sic) people and they all need help, or something to that effect. I can’t quote exactly, because we had an exchange, he lost the discussion, got angry, deleted the posts, and blocked me. Note: That’s all his fault, especially not being able to quote him exactly!
Keep in mind, his radio gig is Saturday mornings, and the big promotional teases of energy and controversy have been around for decades. Any idiot can speak into a microphone (or telephone from Florida) and say stupid things. This is just one example.
I wrote up a six-part Twitter story with evidence on what happened on Facebook. Click the pictures that were cut off to see them in full. (Don’t forget, you can see my Twitter posts on the side of bottom of this website. I haven’t blocked anybody.)
He started by addressing the word all, but killed that post and others, or blocked me, before I saw any of it. Luckily, Facebook emailed to say he mentioned me.
2/6 What kind of @NewsRadio930#TalkShowHost does that? I'll tell you. @RobertSaviola, whose biography mentions making millions of dollars in the first sentence! Leads me to think he's greedy, morning drive doesn't pay enough, & he needs your money, too! pic.twitter.com/MHqYCAATuG
4/6 My favorite lines in the @RobertSaviola critique above are, “Limbaugh and Hannity look like Edward R. Murrow in comparison,” and, “He also sounded like he had no more than a 2nd grade education, mispronouncing some very elementary words.” @NewsRadio930pic.twitter.com/LxOKPRD09q
I have no idea why he’d call me “a liberal snowflake,” believe I don’t like Sean Hannity (but he’s right on that one), or insist I don’t study. Where did that come from?
6/6 He may get his way when he hypnotizes someone, but the rest of us can read for ourselves how @RobertSaviola is really just a #bigot and #loser, despite his style, two homes and @NewsRadio930 platform, which he should lose immediately. pic.twitter.com/sFDdRrH4z6
So there you have it: The truth about Robert Saviola. I wonder which other groups of people he hates.
Notice I used his Twitter handle in every post. He apparently hasn’t used Twitter since 2014. So much for business and promotion! You’ll also see the radio station’s handle on every post. Hopefully they’ll rethink his employment.
The funny thing is, he’d probably agree on everything I wrote above. The problem is I didn’t agree 100 percent with something he posted yesterday.
He was obviously watching CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage and was happy about what he saw. So were other people.
But media is my field, and we’re both former teachers, which should mean we have higher standards.
Yesterday, I commented like other friends on his post. First, I explained there has been tremendous “progress in LGBTQ rights” but there are also threats.
Today, he I saw he’d responded to my post that I didn’t get it, but he didn’t bother to explain. Some teacher!
Then, with the media knowledge I have and he lacks, I explained about the people he referenced:
Andy Cohen (no relation) does nothing for me, actually works for Bravo (NBC) and SiriusXM, was just moonlighting with CNN for the night, and was responsible for this article.
I worked with Don Lemon and ran into him at Woody’s, many years ago. Need I explain his reputation, these days? In fact, this article is from today!
Richard Quest is most famous for his accent and his unusual arrest. (Warning: British accents are OK for children but details of Quest’s arrest are definitely not!)
At least Anderson Cooper, a respectable journalist, has been nicer to people when he’s off camera than he has been in the past, so I’ve heard.
That’s when the conversation turned to email.
HE EMAILED: “You are over analyzing a totally innocent comment of mine. In my childhood, I saw no openly gay peeps on any TV. 50 years later there are 4 on national TV at the same time. End of story. Has nothing to do with ratings, personal role models, reputations, etc. The others who saw my post totally got it.”
I EMAILED: “Maybe ‘the others’ are older but ‘being there’ shouldn’t cut it in 2018/9.”
HE EMAILED: “Lenny…you and I will have to agree to disagree…you continue to miss my point. You are taking my feeling of joy and amazement and shitting on it.”
As if that was my intention! Keep in mind this was a discussion with a former high school math teacher who was a longtime friend.
I EMAILED: “If ‘ooh, ahh’ does it for you, then enjoy.”
HE EMAILED: “If you feel so strongly, please post your opinions on your own FB page. It’s really not polite to use someone else’s page for your personal platform.”
First, I didn’t watch. I had nothing to post; just a response to his thought like several other Facebook friends of his. That’s how Facebook works!
And keep in mind, I wrote two posts: one on his original, yesterday – and another on his response which I noticed today.
Then I emailed longer:
“I’m sorry. I didn’t watch or bring it up. I just happened to see it on my friend’s timeline (like others did), and shared my thoughts (as others did).
‘It’s really not polite to use someone else’s page for your personal platform.’
Are you trying to silence me because my thought was different?
That wouldn’t be very liberal. I don’t think the ACLU would agree. Most Americans would say I’m entitled to my opinion.
I have plenty of other things to do than add to the discussion. I only did so today because I saw you responded. (Do you think you should’ve taken a moment to explain your response yesterday?)
I’m sorry if you can’t handle so many different thoughts and opinions around the country and the world, but they exist.”
That’s when I realized posts were missing.
“Yes, _____. Censorship is the answer. That’s what the right says about the left and you’ve proven them correct!
I gave the facts and you can’t disprove me. I also explained why.
I also taught the person who wanted to know about lesbians at NBC. I hope that person saw the answer, along with the Philadelphia connection, before you recklessly killed that post.
You ought to be ashamed, thinking Facebook is only for people who agree with you blindly. So much for the exchange of ideas!”
I had realized somebody asked a question and I answered it. I hope they read about Stephanie Gosk and wife Jenna Wolfe, along with her Philadelphia connection as weekend sports anchor on the former WB17 News at 10, before it was deleted from that string! Make that a grand total of *three* Facebook posts I made!
And then I realized he had the nerve to block me!
“This is too much. And then blocking me from your Facebook page when I didn’t insult anyone you know, but simply told the truth about famous people you mentioned!
I don’t think they deserve medals for being gay. I think we should be proud if they do their jobs well, are role models (as I mentioned since we’re both former teachers), and inspire the next generation.
This proves my original point. I expect more from people I rely on for news than just ‘being there’ and the same goes for people I associate with. You don’t qualify.
You’ve shown you don’t care to discuss anything, exchange ideas, or maybe even learn about someone else’s profession. It’s people like you who cause others to #WalkAway.”
He added this post to the bottom of his, as if to apologize for me.
He’s more like the people in these two videos than he realizes!
The vape guy who wouldn’t sell was fired. And by the way, there should be “No Recording” signs at the entrance if it’s not allowed. Without a sign, the person recording should stop at the point they’re told to stop.
My former friend is more like the vape guy than he realizes. I don’t know what caused him to overreact the way he did. Maybe it was a ‘senior moment.’ Maybe he’s stressed. Regardless, I certainly didn’t deserve it. I’m not a student of his and he can’t play dictator with me. I’ve known him for two decades and earned the respect to have my opinion treated with respect. Especially since I still think I’m right!
I should point out CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage beat Fox News Channel and MSNBC’s. Maybe more Americans felt it was the least of the cable evils.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to compare cable ratings with broadcast ratings since I can’t find the number of viewers vs. number of viewers, or ratings points (households or demographics) that can be compared. I looked all over but used Deadline magazine as my source for both broadcast and cable numbers because it was the closest I could find.
So those are two of my Facebook experiences over the past 24 hours. I can only wait for the second story to haunt me but I didn’t cause it, I wasn’t the one who started getting rude, I didn’t name a name even though many people will easily figure it out, and I told the truth as usual.
His loss. I do hope this post isn’t used against me, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. As I mentioned with Dr. Seuss before, I’m not going to live by what others think.
By the way, my year-end post is on its way. Lots of updates! For that delay, and only that, I APOLOGIZE!
If you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I just became certified as an IT Support Specialist and am also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
My interest started when I was looking at my Facebook feed over the weekend and saw this post from a former coworker. Obviously, we’re Facebook friends. Otherwise, his post wouldn’t have come up. He’s a former Marine. We’d always worked well together and even though he is the most right-wing person I know, he’d never done anything to disrespect me or make me feel uncomfortable.
The post had to do with Kevin Hart withdrawing as host of the Oscar awards in late February, but it was the comments that followed that got me. I’m just going to show you what I discovered and it was nothing I’d ever seen with my own eyes, targeted toward me, right outside my own city.
I should take this opportunity to warn you about the language and more importantly, the thoughts, that follow.
Hart eventually did, but apparently it was too late.
I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past.
I'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again.
Then my former coworker and Facebook friend commented as he tends to on his Facebook page. The third comment you see below is also his, and I’d never seen him go that far. I was very disappointed, but we’re still Facebook friends. That’s Facebook’s term for connections. Instead of questioning or debating him, I decided to learn more about the person who wrote the last two comments, since he only seemed interested in Jewish people.
Do you see all the “like” and “love” reactions? That’s what we’re dealing with.
This Brad Foden character apparently lives outside Philadelphia and is a former Marine, just like my former coworker and Facebook friend, but younger.
I clicked his name and saw what he’d posted on his own Facebook page, and everything I’m showing you is public, as you’ll soon see by the “world” icon in the upper right.
Here is another picture of him, posted just over a month ago but years old.
Again, this is what I – a complete stranger – found on Foden’s Facebook page. Keep in mind, we’re certainly not friends, have never met, and this is public. I have no idea what may be on there that’s private.
Here, he managed to turn a gun law into racial hatred for absolutely no reason.
Obviously, somebody who thinks that way about one group also thinks that way about others. Nobody is immune.
Then, after that string, he continued.
But wait until I used one of those phrases of his against him!
I decided to engage and find out what makes someone such a hate-monger. He’s probably about 40 years old and lives near a large northeastern city, rather than the south or northwest, where his thinking is more likely to be prevalent.
I tried to elicit responses the best way I could, which involved some lowering me to his level. I also asked questions, but you won’t find any answered. Instead, just names thrown out that he probably saw misrepresented in hate material, either on paper or online.
What you’re about to see directly followed his comment from above, “They run much more than Hollywood.” It’s not edited. I wrote everything myself and he wrote everything himself. Unsubstantiated, like everything else from him.
At the top, about getting kicked out. I was thinking to myself:
Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews and Moors out of Spain. What happened to Spain afterward? It made some folks there rich from explorers doing what they did, but the country itself was ruined. What could Spain claim for centuries, especially after the British sank the Spanish Armada in 1588?
Then, centuries later, the Holocaust. Europe killed its Jews and so many of the survivors left for overseas. Trace Europe’s downfall in world affairs through the 20th century. Then, Europe made it so easy to let Muslims in and the areas around big cities have certainly changed. How do they feel about that difference in demographics?
Now, look at Israel. It miraculously won independence, survived being severely outnumbered and boycotted, and thrives with technology and innovation.
And that lowlife had the nerve to say Jews got “removed” from so many places! Their losses!
But I kept quiet to read more of him digging his own grave.
Notice he said, “We are done here,” but that was far from the case.
Again, no answers, and this string was over but I wasn’t satisfied.
Instead, after one genius posted, probably to my former coworker and Facebook friend’s original comment, I had already started a new string by updating the original story and tagging good ‘ol Brad!
I won’t say anything in general about people who can’t spell, use proper English punctuation, etc. Lots of people can’t, but they’re smart in other ways. Even some hate leaders aren’t “stupid,” but I think I’m dealing with one of their followers, who is the lowest of the low and dispensable.
Once again, it took a few hours but he simply couldn’t resist not responding.
I thought I’d give him a chance to prove his conservative bona-fides by explaining how markets work, but he couldn’t keep up. It seems he’s just hate. That’s all there is to him.
Now, as we get into hours, you can see it took about three hours to get that last response. So much for that “We are done here” from earlier. That’s the least of it, but it gets discussed at the end. Just wait.
By now, we’ve all seen “((()))” in his writing before. I don’t know why he’d keep trying to hide what he thinks and wanted to say at this point!
But he, himself, continued. Again, none of this was edited except for other people’s names earlier.
So shalom. He’s done. Yeah right!
In case you’re wondering, my former coworker and Facebook friend had to be fully aware of every comment that got posted, by Facebook notifications as they were happening, since it all appears on his page. He’s still my former coworker (obviously) but also Facebook friend. He didn’t unfriend me at any point, letting this continue. I wonder why but won’t ask.
As for this Brad knowing I write (but certainly not as eloquently as him), I’ll assume it’s on the top of my Facebook page. Almost everything else is set to friends-only, and that’s the default. Somehow, I doubt he got that from my former coworker and Facebook friend.
One last point here: Notice how he asked, “How close are you to reporting me now media man?” Earlier, it was “How long before you report me to your family that runs this place?” As far as I’m concerned, publicizing this was his idea.
THIS is where he really outdoes himself! Do you see the name of the newspaper? Do you see what he wrote?
This is the picture of the newspapers blown up. I still can’t see as many details as I’d like, and certainly can’t speak for the newspaper or the picture. You’ll just have to notice the similarities and differences between the two sides. Please comment below if you’re more familiar with this graphic.
So I gave him a hard time for not being able to distinguish between the newspapers or having a clue who owns The Wall Street Journal, throwing in the name of a cable channel he’s probably familiar with, just for good measure.
Then, last night, I let loose and shocked him by showing I knew more about him than he could’ve thought.
That was the last thing I wrote to him. No more. I gave him the floor after that last post.
Then, I went to bed, listening to the TV and all the rings on my phone, all different responses from him. Brad wouldn’t give up.
You’ll notice he finished the string and started new ones, so look at the time since he posted, so you can follow in order if you think he makes any sense.
Was this what he was referring to?
Or this?
I wonder if the authorities or Facebook would consider any of this threatening.
And that’s all, folks! You read every single word of our “conversation.” (I warned you, didn’t I?)
So here are a last few points from me:
And he thought he had a stalker? So many messages from him. So much nonsense. But so much he apparently believes, and he can’t be the only one, so that’s a problem for society.
No, I’m not afraid. I don’t believe in living in fear, and plenty of other journalists have faced much more when reporting. I live in a secure building and don’t have a regular schedule.
And no, he doesn’t know the journalism business, or the turmoil and turnover that goes on in newsrooms.
As for my former coworker and Facebook friend, he’s not completely innocent. Far from it. He wrote some similar things. I’m not happy about that. But I don’t plan to unfriend him, simply because I can read what he writes and he can read what I write, so unfriending is up to him. Hopefully this can be a learning experience but my hopes are very low.
Furthermore, I didn’t name any other person involved in a few of the posts you saw. I blocked off their names. The reason is simply because I had a “discussion” with one person and gave that one person plenty of opportunities to explain himself. He took me up on those opportunities, more than I ever could’ve thought, and I’m letting his words speak for themselves. Nobody else got that chance. And don’t forget he asked, “How long before you report me to your family that runs this place?” and “How close are you to reporting me now media man?”
So let me ask you this, especially for people in and around Philadelphia: If think you know Brad Foder, do you really? Has this changed your opinion of him?
If you don’t, would you want to be associated with him? Do you think he’d really like and respect you? Would you want him working for you? Would you go as far as warning others about him?
If you do know of him, then I hope your answer to the last question would be “yes,” and you’ll forward this web link to everyone you think also knows of him, as a friendly warning.
Personally, I think I know what I’m going to do about what I perceive to be threats, but certainly won’t reveal any decisions here.
Folks, this is America, 2018. As we approach Christmas, which I don’t celebrate, I’ll end with a phrase millions of other people will be reciting:
“Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men” (and women).
If you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
Philadelphia is a great place to live. It has so much, so close-by: history, museums, sports. It’s walkable, livable, has green space. No, it didn’t get Amazon’s HQ2 and yes, it’s often overshadowed by New York and Washington. Too bad it has people in charge who don’t care about serving the public.
This goes along well with what I’ve recently written about liberalism turning so far left, it’s often becoming extremism. (See here, here, here and here.) Of course, Philadelphia is more to the left than the nation as a whole. Let’s see how much.
Here is the deal:
Mazzoni Center is the oldest AIDS-service organization in Pennsylvania, and has been “providing innovative and compassionate care and services for people living with HIV since 1981.” That’s according to director of communications Larry Benjamin in a recent column in the newspaper, Philadelphia Gay News (PGN), which is the main source of news for Philadelphia’s LGBTQI+ community.
For decades, Mazzoni’s CEO was Nurit Shein, an Israeli woman no longer mentioned on the center’s history page but who undoubtably oversaw the “steady and continued growth” listed on that page:
The first HIV testing site in Pennsylvania in 1985.
The first sponsored housing for individuals living with HIV in 1986.
Opening the region’s first HIV-related food bank in 1989.
Opening its primary care medical practice, which has since become a cornerstone of the organization’s services, in 2003.
“Today, with more than 35,000 individuals benefiting annually from its services, Mazzoni Center is a leader among community-based organizations in the greater Philadelphia area.”
“The center has 35,000 clients and an annual budget of $16.5 million, $6 million of which is comprised of federal grants. The balance comes from revenue generated through the health center and private-development funding.”
In other words, the nonprofit gets government money and asks for donations, since it can’t come close to surviving by simply charging its clients or patients fees. This affects all of us.
“Thanks to a newly created HIV-prevention funding opportunity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mazzoni Center will receive $337,248 annually over the next five years to help continue three of our key intervention projects: HIV counseling, testing and referral services for MSM of color, for which we collaborate with GALAEI (Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative); comprehensive risk-counseling services for HIV-positive or high-risk men to cut down on the risk of future transmission or infection; and our community-outreach program ‘Get Real.’”
“Mazzoni Center is pleased to announce it has received an award of $1.5 million through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). The funds are designated to support the purchase and renovation of a Center City building at Broad and Bainbridge Streets, where the agency will relocate and consolidate its core programs and services in summer 2017. …
“The grant demonstrates the growing commitment and collaboration between the State of Pennsylvania and the LGBTQ community,”
and both of these examples of public funding happened, like so much else, under CEO Shein.
But despite so many successes over a generation, not all has been going well at Mazzoni for the past few years.
“Last year, Mazzoni Center was plagued by published reports of systemic racism, mismanagement and dysfunction. In April 2017, Robert Winn resigned as medical director amid charges of sexual misconduct. CEO Nurit Shein was asked by the board of directors to resign later that month, following accusations of delayed action on Winn’s alleged misconduct.”
Then,
“Stephen Glassman stepped in to fill the interim CEO job in July 2017. During his tenure until March, he hired consultants with far-right ties to discourage employees from unionizing, which sparked another controversy. Last September, Mazzoni Center employees nevertheless voted 51-34 to unionize.”
Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino was hired as Mazzoni’s third CEO in less than two years – moving up here from Florida – but she recently resigned after just seven months. It wasn’t due to the heat, weather-wise. The former Floridian was probably used to our mostly warm weather during her short tenure.
“At the time her hiring was announced in March, she was attacked on social media by Mazzoni Center employees and others demanding her resignation, at least partly due to her non-LGBT status.
“The Black and Brown Workers Cooperative (BBWC), who say they represent nearly 400 workers in Philadelphia, told PGN in a statement in early April, just days after Gonzalez Sciarrino took over as CEO: ‘The days of people who are not from our communities coming in to take up a considerable amount of power in our communities is over,’ said BBWC cofounder Shani Akilah. ‘A white, straight cis woman is not fit to lead Mazzoni, no matter how much experience she claims to have,’ said Akilah. ‘The one thing she does not have and will never be able to have is lived experience.’”
Can you believe that?
Such an outrageous statement about an accomplished woman who the board of directors chose to lead their troubled agency after a long search!
Talk about discrimination, and it happened this year – not just in America, but inThe Birthplace of America!
Besides, who gets to pick their boss?
Click here for more of the article including why Gonzalez Sciarrino had to stop driving and start walking to work, always changing her route.
“The move follows a series of social-media postings on Sloan’s personal Facebook page since the announcement of CEO Lydia Gonzalez-Sciarrino’s resignation earlier this week. In one public post on Monday, Sloan wrote: ‘This is what happens when you cross me. HAPPY MONDAY BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #WEWILLNOTLGBTQUIET’ over a shared article of PGN’s coverage of the CEO’s resignation.
“A commenter questioned whether Sloan should be congratulated, to which she replied: ‘Congratulations is absolutely the word. THANK YOU … IM [sic] SO HAPPYYYY.’
“In another, Sloan shared a second article written about Gonzalez Sciarrino resigning with the hashtags ‘WeWillNotLGBTQuiet’ and ‘#Bih,’ internet slang for bitch.’
“As she left the building on Thursday, witnesses told PGN Sloan shouted out: ‘I got fired by y’all — tell your friends.’
“Shortly thereafter, she wrote on her Facebook page, ‘They went and fired me for no reason get ready to raise hell everybody.’”
Makes me wonder what kind of people work at Mazzoni!
“Amber Hikes, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, had opinions on the resignation of its executive director, Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino, and posted those opinions on social media.
“When we called her for a clarification and asked whether she was representing her own views or the views in her capacity as a representative for the mayor, she stated: ‘This is a trip. It’s weird that it’s a slow day at PGN, especially with everything going on, but I’ll give you a quote to explain what’s going on.’”
That PGN editorial concluded, “The issue boils down to whether a non-LGBT person can run an organization that serves primarily LGBT people,” and the newspaper has spoken out against discrimination like that before.
In this particular case, it wondered based on Hikes’ social media posts, “Is her view personal or administration policy?”
That’s the question I – as a Philadelphia citizen – wanted answered. I even asked about public officials using their own social media accounts while supposedly working for the public, developing policy for the mayor.
Remember the name Amber Hikes, because this post is mostly about her. Shortly, you’ll read the Facebook faceoff we engaged in, and the letter she asked me to send – containing a bunch of questions – she never bothered to answer. You’ll also see several of her tweets containing profanities, and how her support of certain people – and disregard of others – are a prime example of the left gone too far.
I’ll bet Mazzoni Center management changed its tune on Hikes not long after the mayor hired her!
Therefore, she works for the city but you’ll find no brotherly love coming from her (except for her boss, the mayor) and little sisterly affection.
Hikes had lived in Philadelphia for more than a decade but moved to California more than a year before her appointment at City Hall. That’s when she told PGN,
“‘When I arrived in Philadelphia about 11 years ago, I was a young, black queer woman seeking people who looked like me who loved like me and frankly, the next decade of my life, [I was] just living, studying, working and trying to build that community that I was seeking,’ Hikes said. ‘I noticed these multiple identities that were reflected in the intersections of so many of our underserved citizens.’”
And apparently those are the only people Hikes cares about.
For example, on Aug. 20, Gonzalez Sciarrino fired Kay Martinez, who was Mazzoni Center’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion. That caused an estimated 50 people to walk out to protest the firing. Among those protesters was no other than Amber Hikes, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs. I’ll get into the contradiction shortly.
“‘The reason for Kay Martinez’s termination was disagreement with the Mazzoni Center management team that resulted in unprofessional conduct that was inconsistent for someone in their role,’ according to Mazzoni’s written statement. ‘We believe the facts, when communicated in the appropriate forum, will be obvious proof that we could not continue the employment of Martinez, a high-level director.’”
“Gonzalez-Sciarrino took on an ally role once she became the leader of an LGBTQ organization. There needs to be a demonstration of a high level of LGBTQ competency, no matter who it is,” said Martinez. “I’m not saying this heterosexual, cisgendered Latina person has no business being there — it’s about her level of LGBTQ competency. I had to educate the CEO on what my pronouns were and how to properly use the they/them pronouns, and that displayed a very significant trans incompetency.”
I wasn’t there, don’t know what really happened and have not heard about a resolution. Besides, most of us use he/him pronouns for someone who looks male, and she/her for someone who looks female. With so much diversity in the LGBTQI+ community, how could someone look at someone else and automatically know which pronouns they prefer? Even Harry Houdini wouldn’t be able to get out of that one!
“Right before presstime, Hikes did clarify that the statements are ‘on my personal Facebook so yes, I’m speaking personally.’”
Of course, I got interested and looked at her Facebook page. That was last Tuesday, Nov. 20. This is what I found:
So at least one of her Facebook friends, apparently not from Philadelphia, was very interested in Gonzalez Sciarrino’s three replacements, and wanted to make sure at least one was of what she considered the proper race, and trans, rather than cis.
Remember, the Mazzoni Center survives on public, taxpayer money – plus the generosity of some individual members of the public. Tens of thousands of people’s health, and other people’s jobs, depend on the place running smoothly. Otherwise, it’s a waste of money and a huge shame after so many people worked for so long, so Mazzoni could offer groundbreaking programs.
See that Facebook friend’s response before my question, which I decided should be about a large group of individuals never once mentioned in the resignation matter: men!
You can see I was attacked and also who her Facebook friends are by the number of thumbs-up quickly praising her for acting strong and attacking me. (Who your friends are tells a lot about you.) But I thought this public servant was out of line and didn’t give up, explaining myself further, using her tone against her, and then mentioning the mayor.
My letter makes a good point about her sentence starting with “Yes my boss.” So before going to bed, she made a more disgraceful assumptions and remarks, but invited me to send an email to her office, which I did.
(It appears since then, Hikes made her personal Facebook account private, and after that shut it down. Good move for somebody who was documented as having injected herself into multiple firestorms on social media!)
I spent the next morning crafting this exact letter to Hikes, emailed it midday, and cc’ed Mayor Kenney, whom Hikes spoke for and answers to:
Hi, Ms. Hikes! I’m a citizen of Philadelphia, on and off for 20 years on Thanksgiving (tomorrow, by coincidence).
You’ll no doubt remember last night, I wrote, asking you a question. I had just finishing reading PGN‘s latest article on the saga of the Mazzoni Center, and you said to “Feel free to shoot an email … with your grievances.”
Here it is.
I don’t expect detailed answers to every question I’m putting forth here, but would appreciate general explanations about some of the things you’ve said, and some of the ways I feel.
· “lived experience” qualifies a leader for an organization that deals with marginalized communities.
· “I think that personal, lived experience with those communities is essential to be able to serve them appropriately” … “In the same way that I think it is appropriate for a black person to lead Black Lives Matter, it is appropriate for a woman to lead the National Organization of Women, I think it’s appropriate for an LGBT person to lead an LGBTQ center.”
Actually, while proofreading before publishing this post, I realized she must’ve meant the The National Organization for Women, not of Women, and she should know better.
I also just realized the NAACP was formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavor – not a black organization – to advance justice for African-Americans.
Seems I know more than Ms. Hikes on some aspects of women and African-Americans! It also disproves her last point. But as you may have imagined, there’s plenty more…
That first statement leads me to wonder what qualifications the leader of an organization that deals with marginalized communities should have? If “lived experience” is a requirement, then are there others? If not, then how does “lived experience” qualify compared to other qualifications? Could it simply be a tie-breaker?
That second statement, dealing with demographics, leads me to wonder, “Do you think it was appropriate for President Obama to lead (what was) a majority white nation?” Also, do you feel that’s OK when it comes to labor laws?
That statement sounds to me like something President Trump would say to the media, not “the executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia,” as it says in your biography (https://www.phila.gov/departments/office-of-lgbt-affairs/). Would you mind sharing what else was going on the day PGN contacted you? (I’ll be happy to help clear things up with them by forwarding your answer, if you’d like.)
(I don’t agree with PGN’s opinion 100 percent and don’t think anybody in the world can, since it tries to give opposing points of view and make us think. I would suggest a few changes to the newspaper but will not question its original reporting. As for any agenda, after decades as a reader, I will suggest it’s the betterment of the LGBTQI+ community in every way, in Philadelphia and around the world. I take that to mean equality and peace.)
Your use of personal social media while serving the public made news, and it was also news to me that it had made news before. (Editorial: “She injected herself into this latest firestorm, as she has with others on social media.”) Therefore, I became curious.
Also, you chose to have your Facebook account’s privacy setting open to the public (or did not pay attention) which has apparently led to some news and definitely led me to read, which was my right. This morning, I saw that setting had changed and I’m sure you understand the consequences of libel, should that be the case, considering your response to me last night. You know what’s on the Internet tends to stay there. You should also know I always jealously protect my good name, with legal counsel on hand for a situation exactly two weeks ago (Nov. 7). I’ll ask you to make sure any defamatory reference to me on your Facebook timeline is gone, after you respond to me.
I don’t think you treated my questions, and definitely my point, fairly. I was intrigued when I read this comment to your post on Mazzoni, and the probing answers and replies that followed.
When I saw the response that followed, from somebody whose Facebook profile says she is “based in Washington DC and California” rather than any mention of Philadelphia, and considering how you answered her, I decided to ask you about this story making news.
I decided to use gender as the basis of my question, because it had not been brought up, and because PGN reported in its news article, “The three new leaders are Medical Director Dr. Nancy Brisbon, Care Services Director Alicia Manley and Chief Financial Officer Racquel Assaye” – all women.
I even called out my own questions as among the “knit-picking” ones! I wanted to make a point.
Let’s say your response to me was different than above, not so nice, and falsely accusatory.
I’ll point out, right off the bat, your response to me was absolutely rude. You tried to make it clear you don’t work for Mazzoni, using emojis between every word. Of course not. You’re “the executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia.”
Then, you used the phrases “is exactly what we need” and “is moving us in that direction.” Does that sound like a politician with an interest in the center, or something more that may cross a line? It definitely makes your relationship sound different than your first sentence (“I don’t work for Mazzoni,” emoji, emoji, emoji).
But you were one of the people who “participated in a walk-out to protest the firing” (according to the PGN article) of Mazzoni Center’s first director of diversity, equity and inclusion. How could you walk out if you don’t work there, and how could you protest as a city official? I don’t get it, either way.
If you say you were simply standing by the non-management workers there, please realize I’ve been a member of two unions and shop steward at one. I have absolutely no problems with unions, and in fact encourage workers to unionize. Collective bargaining is probably the only way for them to have a voice in working conditions and we are lucky Pennsylvania has not turned the way of Michigan under previous gubernatorial leadership here.
However, the treatment of the patients is the reason Mazzoni exists, and the reason members of the public donate money to keep it running and more. I completely understand the workers walking out if they were ordered to do something morally wrong or illegal. (I chose to leave one job under similar circumstances.) Otherwise, they were probably putting their jobs and even the treatment of their patients on the line.
You also accused me of being sexist, but that is not true in any way. There are women I turn to as mentors for advice, including whether I could be considered one for something I said, did, or believed. Again, I was simply adding one more facet of humanity to the discussion that had not been mentioned: gender. If instead, I had mentioned religion, age or national origin, would you have accused me of “ageist nonsense” and the like?
I don’t know the three Mazzoni leaders’ religions, ages or national origins, and unlike so many others, I’m not asking. It should really be nobody’s concern (except possibly for government employment forms), unless the people involved choose to share that information. Anything else sounds like a quota system and that’s wrong, whether it’s aiming for a number higher or lower than the current number – especially on employment issues where there may be legal concerns and you represent the city of Philadelphia.
Right now, I’m doing as you suggested and emailing you with the address you gave. If you didn’t notice on top, I’m also taking this moment to make sure you know this email is not private since I’m cc’ing your boss, Mayor Jim Kenney, because you called All Lives Matter (a phrase I never used) “nonsense.”
Thanks, but I don’t need you to put words in my mouth.
Mr. Mayor, Would you agree it’s “nonsense” that All Lives Matter, realizing I never brought up that phrase to Ms. Hikes?
Also, should your appointee be answering a constituent as a “black, queer woman” or as a public servant? If you do think she answered appropriately, then do you answer constituents as a “straight white male of Irish descent?”
Ms. Hikes, considering your statement it’s “nonsense” that All Lives Matter, please put in order the amount that these people’s lives matter (in general, not a specific person, and feel free to add any I may have forgotten, or combine any):
white
black
different race
male
female
different gender
lesbian
gay
bisexual
transgender
queer
questioning
intersex
allies
I don’t know about you but I think there is too much division in this country, and a lot of it comes from people treating their fellow Americans as less than them. But on the other hand, others like the ones you responded to cling to very, very specific classifications – and caused me to write.
Right now, our country is divided over so many personal issues. I think concentrating on very, very specific classifications for a job (or three specific jobs) – three of the four (Black, Latina, trans and woman) written by your Facebook friend in the comment, and brown written by you in your first reply to that person – adds to the divisiveness.
The LGBT community is already a minority of the population. Labeling more and more differences separates us, and makes us a tiny minority of a minority of the population. How many people will qualify if you add in religion, age and national origin (oh, and “lived experience”)?
All people are created in the image of God, and automatically entitled to equal human and civil rights. That should be practiced by everyone including the Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, your biography on your city office’s website https://www.phila.gov/departments/office-of-lgbt-affairs/ says you set your “sights on fighting and advocating for the most vulnerable populations within the LGBTQ community—specifically youth, transgender people, and people of color.” I take that to mean not the LGBT community as in your city office’s title, but only certain subsets. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Then, a few paragraphs later: “Hikes believes in employing an intersectional lens in all aspects of community work.” Does that mean filtering people and deciding how worthy they are of the city’s help, using the words from your Facebook post above?
Remember, the top of the page which sounds like a job description reads, “City of Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs: Serving the LGBTQ residents of Philadelphia through advocacy and inclusion.” I take that to mean the city’s goal for the office. “The LGBTQ residents of Philadelphia,” from the city, sounds quite different than your quote, “most vulnerable populations within the LGBTQ community.” Again, correct me if I’m wrong with this distinction.
And does the city’s use of the word “inclusion” regarding the office you lead refer to all elements of the LGBTQ residents of Philadelphia or just the ones mentioned in your biography?
You know none of us chose the circumstances in which we were born, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., famously said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” I spent years teaching that quote to elementary schoolchildren. I think that concise quote best describes what all of us should want for the future of the world, and these days can go beyond “the color of their skin.”
We, collectively, have vastly different experiences. Much of it is due, as I said, to the fact none of us chose the circumstances in which we were born. But then to read what you wrote last night, “that we need to see more black and brown trans women in leadership in our organizations,” has me questioning your devotion to all members of the LGBTQI+ community in your role as “executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia … serving the LGBTQ residents of Philadelphia through advocacy and inclusion.”
As a city resident, homeowner, and taxpayer – as well as member of the LGBTQI+ community – I want to know how you represent me.
Am I wrong for asking?
Also, do you feel the demographic issue taking such a major role in the Mazzoni saga is turning moderates such as myself to the right, which would probably be the last thing you want politically?
Thank you in advance for your more thoughtful answers this time around.
Lenny Cohen
Philadelphia
I hope you thought the letter was well-written, informative and asked good questions. I don’t know whether Mayor Jim Kenney or his hand-picked executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs for the City of Philadelphia, Amber Hikes, feel that way.
“There was a very vocal need for someone to be more outward-facing and more community-engagement-based.”
So Tuesday, I forwarded them this second email:
Ms. Hikes and Mr. Mayor,
Tomorrow will be one week since I wrote to both of you and I have not received any sort of answer, much less acknowledgement, to my questions and concerns from either of you.
Public servants need to be available to be effective, kind of like journalists. I’ve been one of those for a couple of decades.
Furthermore, I’m wondering if I’m the first person to ask you these questions because if not, then you could’ve probably given me canned answers you’ve already given others.
I plan to blog on this disgrace (at least so far) so thousands around the world know what I consider the craziness and favoritism that goes on in Philadelphia, and how my inquiry has been ignored (so far). It’s all unfortunate.
I’ll include your entire, unedited answers in my post tomorrow, especially from Ms. Hikes, who had time to immediately respond to her personal-but-public (but last I checked, private) Facebook account at odd hours last Tuesday, Nov. 20. I’ll also include my letter.
Please inform me. That shouldn’t be too hard for decision-makers with your titles and powers in such a big city, right? Even Gmail “nudged” me to follow-up, as if I needed to be reminded.
Lenny Cohen
Philadelphia citizen and taxpayer
I’m ashamed of the politics that goes on in this great city and sometimes ask myself why I don’t move just over the line, where there is no city wage tax that takes more money from paychecks than the state’s income tax does. Productive people don’t seem to be valued.
As for the Mazzoni Center, its volunteer board of directors is about to become a whole lot different. Five of the 17 will resign. According to PGN, the reason is lack of enough diversity among a board with this membership: “Five are women, six are people of color and eight are white men.”
Board president Chris Pope told the paper,
“Many of our legacy board members have served for 13 years, and now it’s time to make space for new faces, new voices and new perspectives. Diversifying our board has been a major focus for some time now and we are looking for prospective candidates that will bring a fresh outlook as we move the organization forward.”
We’ve been through Facebook. Yesterday, I wondered if Ms. Hikes had a Twitter account, and boy does she!
These were all her personal tweets. None of them were retweeted from somebody else. I’m going in chronological order, starting just over a year ago, and any underlining in red is mine. I chose words I think she should not have used, or used in the way she did. It’s unbecoming for someone in her role. At least I think so.
Hikes was actually PGN’s “Person of the Year” for last year! I hope the paper reviewed its reasoning. I think the “Creep of the Week” column it features in every issue would be more fitting now.Divisive: Is anybody left when you leave out men, white, cis, able-bodied, documented, straight, and economically-privileged? Read into that last category as you want.
“officially added black and brown stripes atop the city’s pride flag — making Philadelphia the first city to do so — to recognize people of color who had long felt excluded. … Hikes views the new flag as a way to start conversations about race and identity, particularly with white people who have not experienced the same disparate treatment as people of color — and may be reluctant to believe it exists.”
Talk about pettiness and simple-minded people separating themselves from others when they’re supposed to be coming together, uniting as one!
“found widespread reports of racial tension and discrimination in the neighborhood (the Gayborhood), which often touts its inclusivity. … The report noted that dress codes, ID policies, bar service and treatment of staff can vary depending on the patron or employee, which perpetuates discrimination.”
Because of that, it forced 11 bars and two nonprofits – the Mazzoni Center and Philadelphia FIGHT – to take part in fair business practice training within 90 days and implicit bias training within 120 days. Did places frequented mostly by straight people face the same requirements? Do you think those establishments, including neighboring ones, are any better?
“He was shocked to see the organization named in the report. He said he was skeptical about the thoroughness of the vetting process.
“‘Philadelphia FIGHT is probably one of the most diverse organizations in the city,’ Goode said. He called the organization’s CEO, Jane Shull, a champion of equality in the workplace. ‘I do not believe anyone could write that who investigated, who read the personnel plan, who knew what they were talking about.’”
Cover the top and just show your kids the colorful pictures. Somebody may have forgotten more and more members of the LGBTQI+ community are becoming parents.So high on herself! Can you find Hikes on the cover? Wonder why she doesn’t show herself gracing the cover in her tweet? #exaggerationhttps://www.philadelphiabar.org/page/ThePhiladelphiaLawyer
So citizens of Philadelphia: Do you think there is any more to this woman than vulgarity, divisiveness and unresponsiveness? Is this appropriate from one of our city leaders? Should Hikes be sent her walking papers?
(Click here if you don’t know who your district’s city council member is. You’ll see a map, where you can type in your address, and their name will come up.)
“a 23-member body that will advise the Mayor on policies that support the lives of LGBT individuals in the city and support and amplify the work of the Office of LGBT Affairs. … The members reflect the diversity of the LGBT community, which includes transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and queer communities, as well as diversity in ethnicity, religion, race, gender, disability, profession, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, geography, housing status and age.”
Hikes, still the newly-appointed LGBT Affairs executive director back then, said,
“I look forward to serving with this vibrant team as we address the needs of our community and elevate the voices of our most underserved community members.”
“G Philly was sent documentation from the meeting that raised concerns surrounding Cooks’s social media interactions with members of one of the commission’s committees.
“‘The emergency meeting was basically centered around complaints that Commissioner Amanda Dougherty made about Sharron targeting her in various social media posts she made this past weekend,’ said a commissioner present during the meeting who asked not to be named. ‘Dougherty provided the commission with multiple screenshots of Facebook posts where Sharron indirectly called her out for being a white bisexual woman taking up space in the community affairs committee.’”
Sounds too much like Amber Hikes with social media. And President Trump.
Like the signing of the Declaration of Independence, there has to be another revolutionary change in leaders here in Philadelphia. Click here for directions on registering to vote.
If you like what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
I don’t remember a seven-day period like the time since last Saturday. That’s when I woke up, turned on the TV, and saw what was happening in Pittsburgh. I got very angry and couldn’t stand to hear anything about it after two hours.
It took until Wednesday for the anger to turn to sadness. I had my class and other chores to keep me occupied, along with a lot of sleep. (I can never get enough of that.)
Only Thursday, did I watch a local newscast. I haven’t seen national news or cable in a week. I mostly got information from your comments and posts on Facebook. I know it’s not good, but I have reliable friends whose politics I know.
Last time, I mentioned my family in Squirrel Hill, how I’d been there several times, and showed you a tweet about my cousin Jordan (my father’s sister’s son) who helped provide grief counseling and relief.
Here he was on Tuesday, talking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper:
Later, he wrote,
“Such a horrible few days here. At least the media is giving us an opportunity to talk about the important work that JFCS does to help the community recover.”
Terrific job by Jordan and also the media.
So we don’t forget, the victims were
Joyce Fienberg, 75;
Richard Gottfried, 65;
Rose Mallinger, 97;
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66;
Cecil Rosenthal, 59, and his brother
David Rosenthal, 54;
Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband
Sylvan Simon, 87, who were married in the same synagogue in 1956;
Daniel Stein, 71;
Melvin Wax, 88; and
Irving Younger, 69.
JFCS’ website says you can support the injured victims of terror and loved ones of the deceased. Click here to help by credit card or mail a check, payable to Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh – Fund for Victims of Terror, to:
Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
234 McKee Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Monday morning, I didn’t want to watch news from Pittsburgh. I got up earlier than usual and turned on a show I never do: one I figured would focus on politics alone. And they did. And it reconfirmed why I don’t watch.
I’ve grown up hearing, “Be safe on the campaign trail” – and generic stuff like that, which anyone should agree on – but nothing that would cause a viewer to think a supposed journalist has an opinion on a candidate for any office.
About Lou Dobbs: First, he puts his positions in the ring and openly takes sides. Second, I normally wouldn’t ask, but after what you just read and heard, are there any psychologists or psychiatrists – professional or amateur – who want to give opinions in the comments section at the bottom?
#VoteGOP – @RealDonaldTrump: This election will decide if we build on the extraordinary prosperity that we’ve unleased or whether we let the radical democrats take control of congress and take a giant wrecking ball to our economy and to our future. #TrumpTrain#MAGA#Dobbspic.twitter.com/1hALVgRVBw
I should say I’m not for anyone deciding they want to enter this country whenever and wherever they want. Every country needs secure borders, and not like the Communists kept people in. These people from Central America, who I showed Paul Krugman calling “unarmed desperate migrants” last time, are apparently walking all the way through Mexico – bottom to top – set on entering the U.S. I don’t know who they are; just supposedly where they’re from.
But I would suggest “real refugees” would go anywhere they could go if they were so desperate. I have relatives I never got to meet who would’ve done that, just less than 80 years ago. There are other countries around, and groups trying to make a point do not seem legitimate to me.
Individuals hoping to apply for asylum may not be doing themselves a favor by being part of that.
Feb. 6: Could this long-lost photo have derailed Obama’s 2008 campaign? (Photographer Askia Muhammad kept the 2005 photo for himself for 13 years. The image might have fueled the Obama/Muslim narrative, but we know he went to church and listened to Rev. Jeremiah “G-d damn America” Wright for 20 years.)
The FBI has been the worst enemy of Black advancement. The Jews have control over those agencies of government. #Farrakhanpic.twitter.com/DXKCRr1zpo
— MINISTER FARRAKHAN (@LouisFarrakhan) March 7, 2018
“You’ve mentioned your progressive grandmother took you to rallies when you were younger. Times are different, but I wonder what she would think these days.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), with Linda Sarsour at the left, as if she couldn’t rally with anyone else. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) getting outsmarted by members of Netroots Nation. That group will be holding its next conference here in Philadelphia, July 11-13, 2019.
Sept. 10: Alan Dershowitz: Why did Bill Clinton share the stage with Louis Farrakhan? (At Aretha Franklin’s funeral, along with Jesse “Hymietown” Jackson and MSNBC’s Al “diamond dealers” Sharpton. Rev. Sharpton used that phrase about Jews in his eulogy of Gavin Cato, 7, killed in the 1991 Crown Heights car accident. He also said, “It’s an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights.” A banner displayed at the funeral read “Hitler did not do the job.” Riots followed and may have been the reason Rudy Giuliani beat Mayor David Dinkins in his bid for reelection. Giuliani said,
“You can use whatever word you want, but in fact for three days people were beaten up, people were sent to the hospital because they were Jewish. There’s no question that not enough was done about it by the city of New York. One definition of pogrom is violence where the state doesn’t do enough to prevent it.”
According to Wikipedia,
“Use of the word was rejected by Dinkins and his supporters, primarily on the basis that a pogrom needs to be state-sponsored.”
Brandeis University historian Edward S. Shapiro later called the riot “the most serious anti-Semitic incident in American history.” Unfortunately, it seems that has now changed.)
That and extreme left-wingers under her spell reminded me of the phrase “useful idiot,” which has often been attributed to Vladimir Lenin, but may not be the case.
“Haaretz’s inexplicable inclusion of Sarsour’s condemnation of the synagogue massacre alongside those of Israeli leaders is puzzling. Moreover, the paper’s failure to note Sarsour’s bear hug of (Louis) Farrakhan, ‘the pied-piper of hate,’ is downright reprehensible, and gives a false hechsher (kosher stamp) to a purveyor of anti-Semitism.”
These tweets are still up:
What is happening in our country?? Holding our Jewish communities all over the country but especially in Pittsburgh in our hearts. We are in this together. We have to be. We must protect each other. https://t.co/YMfsoxiIhr
Whomever did this is a monster. Our places of worship should be sanctuaries. We should all be free and safe to practice our faith in this country without fear of being targeted. https://t.co/w2zbYz7oaN
“guilty of espousing ‘white supremacy’ with her decision to support the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.”
Senator Susan Collins is the mother & grandmother of white women in America who gave us a Donald Trump presidency. The 53%.
She is a disgrace & her legacy will be that she was a traitor to women and marginalized communities. History will not treat her kindly. #CancelKanavaugh
A white woman Senator is talking about presumption of innocence that is never offered to Black men in America. You are watching white supremacy live on the Senate Floor. #SusanCollins#CancelKanavaugh
“supporting BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) and tweeting that ‘nothing is creepier than Zionism.’ Unsurprisingly, she supports a one-state solution: all Palestine, no Israel.”
The point of the article was that
“When a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis was vandalized, Sarsour spearheaded a crowdfunding campaign with other Muslim activists to repair the damage. More than $125,000 was raised – more than necessary for the project – and Sarsour committed to donating the excess funds to other Jewish sites damaged by vandalism. Sarsour said that the project was intended ‘send a united message from the Jewish and Muslim communities that there is no place for this type of hate, desecration, and violence in America.’”
But at the same time, Sarsour
“declared that feminism and Zionism are incompatible.
“‘You either stand up for the rights of all women, including Palestinians, or none. There’s just no way around it,’ Sarsour said in an interview with The Nation.
“This came as quite a surprise to thousands of Zionist feminists. (And, of course, Sarsour singles out the country in the Middle East that has female ministers of Parliament, equal rights and reproductive rights, rather than any countries where ‘honor killings’ are overlooked, rape victims are executed for ‘adultery,’ and women can’t go out unsupervised or drive, but whatever.)”
The author compared Sarsour to a character in the Purim holiday story who switched sides, from evil to supportive, because he was an opportunist rather than an altruistic ally.
“We remember Charbonah for good because he actually switched sides. Even if it was self-serving, he came around. … Sarsour, on the other hand, is still the same. I’ll publicly thank her for fundraising to repair the desecrated cemetery – even if it was a PR stunt, it was a good thing to do.”
But she doesn’t get remembered the same way because she stayed the same person.
A few months later, the same author wrote an article in the same publication called Protest, But Protest Wisely. Sarsour played a minor role in that.
“Musician Courtney Love Cobain was in a Twitter war with Muslim activist Linda Sarsour, saying that Sarsour had raised $80,000 for the victim of an alleged Islamophobic attack that had been proven never to have occurred. According to Cobain, Sarsour had jumped all over a convenient hot-button cause, bringing her followers along for the ride, facts be damned. (The parallels to Reverend Al Sharpton and the Tawana Brawley case are evident.)”
In fact, Michigan’s August primary had her tweeting up a storm.
The first Palestinian American woman, first Muslim American woman IS heading to the US Congress. History has been made and will continue to be made. Thank you @RashidaTlaib for inspiring us all. #DoneWaiting#MichiganPrimaries
(“4. Palestinians keep turning down fair deals: This argument wrongly presumes that any deal that includes the sharing of stolen land with the victims of said theft could be fair. … 6. Israel has a right to exist! (His exclamation point.) This claim is a product of U.S. and Israeli hasbara, a term for propaganda.”)
And he tweeted out this:
Praying for everyone killed, hurt, or otherwise harmed in today’s synagogue shooting. Sending love, healing, and my deepest sympathy to my Jewish brothers and sisters around the world, but particularly in Pittsburgh.
But he also tweeted out and/or is featured in these:
TODAY Tuesday (10/23) at 7:00pm join @HarrabicTubman and @marclamonthill as they present a closer look at the diverse Black communities in the Holy Land including Sudanese and Eritrean refugees, Black Palestinian refugees and Afro-Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/0vIze0RxbD
Honored to have spoken at the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Conference. Had a great time listening to my comrade Reverend William Barber’s prophetic call for justice. I was excited to… https://t.co/ocsCZyyv74
There are journalists (or journalists-in-training) who don’t know how to cover a tragic situation. Take Royce Jones of WTRF in West Virginia, not too far from Pittsburgh, and the two tweets he posted.
FTVLive’s Scott Jones did a story on the first one, and I tweeted back to young Royce, with tips.
Then, I saw picture number two, let him know what I thought, and he blocked me from his professional Twitter account!
But I got in the last words about being a journalist, asking questions, accepting responsibility and learning.
Once again, blocking someone who can teach you is not what a good #journalist does. Ask around. @JonesWTRF, the picture you tweeted through the viewfinder looks dreadful after what happened. And blocking someone will probably get you more bad #publicity. Take the help! @WTRF7Newspic.twitter.com/lx1PUCb8yL
But he just started Aug. 31, according to his “official” Twitter feed. I know because he calls it @RoyceJOfficial.
He’s expecting to graduate from college sometime in 2020. That’s a long time away. More than a year. It shows. He has a lot to learn, like not blocking people with experience from encouraging and teaching him.
For now, he reminds of the person who wrote to the WCYB Facebook page while I was digital media manager and asked:
Just don’t go to his website. There’s something wrong, and it looks like it’s coming from the Far East.
I’m going to offer you links to other pertinent articles I’ve been collecting since even before that dreadful day, for an election post. Hopefully you’ll find an article or two that speak to you. Some have themes I discussed in the last post. Some are news and some are opinion.
Please don’t blame the messenger if there’s something you don’t like. Just let me know if you see something you think needs to be corrected IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW. (In fact, if you saw this on social media or someone sent it you, PLEASE subscribe to the blog. I always update posts in the comment section – check around! – and I’m the only one commenting there.)
Aug. 26: America Soured on My Multiracial Family (When my wife and I adopted our daughter from Ethiopia in 2010, we did so full of hope. In the years since, we’ve faced ugliness that has robbed us of our optimism—and left us fearful for the future of our country.)
Oct. 27: Shaking My Faith in America (NY Times opinion piece by Howard Fineman, NBC News analyst and journalism lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, who grew up attending Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.)
Oct. 29: On a very dark day, KDKA-TV news shined with its coverage (Notice the headline didn’t say it was better than the other two local news stations. The newspaper may have gotten details because it has a partnership with this station. Still, it’s a very good look at how TV news works. I should point out Pittsburgh is the largest TV market where the Fox affiliate, which happens to be owned by Sinclair, doesn’t produce its own news. Instead, it carries a 10pm newscast produced by the competition. Also notice how the most reliable people have been at this station – or any other – for many years and have the best sources. They should be respected and valued as they age, and not get pushed out the door by cheapskate companies.)
Oct. 29: On Social Media, No Answers for Hate (Despite efforts against hateful and false content, those posts and videos are thriving. One Instagram search produced nearly 12,000 posts with the hashtag “#jewsdid911.”)
Oct. 30: Anger At Media Spreads Into Local TV (While President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media are usually centered on national outlets like CNN and The New York Times, the attitudes unleashed have filtered down to journalists on the street covering news in local communities across the country.)
Had a hell of a night in Fort Myers. This man apologized for giving me the finger at a rally earlier this year in Tampa. Really. We had a moment. pic.twitter.com/Kfm0J0TbsC
Nov. 2: FNC’s Ainsley Earhardt Gets Heat for Comment On Trump And Press (The supposed journalist said President Trump is suggesting, if the press doesn’t want to be called an enemy of the people, it should report the news the way he wants it. Yeah, politicians editing the news, rather than journalists keeping tabs on the politicians!)
Nov. 3: Here’s what Trump can expect if the Democrats take the House (Most pollsters expect the US House of Representatives to slip out of Republican control with the election of a new Democratic majority, while the Senate, they say, will remain in the GOP’s hands.)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t show you yet another email I got Friday afternoon, thinking I’m a Florida voter and telling me “How to vote for Florida’s Jewish community.” That was the subject line, and Florida’s Jewish community should be insulted this “goody two shoes” thinks he knows better than everyone else. How about a debate?I wrote about this less than a month ago and can’t stand people telling me how to vote, especially if it’s in their own special, narrow interests.
It looks to me he’s getting desperate, because besides rejecting free public school, he’s not sticking to his issue. He wrote less about the cost of education, more about foreign affairs, and for the first time, the state’s economy!
Yes, these are tough political times and would be even if the Pittsburgh massacre hadn’t happened. People are finding out what their supposed “friends” really think and are dropping them from Facebook. It especially hit home when friends of mine, who don’t even know each other, got personal over I post I’d written. In one case, I had to delete some uncalled for remarks on both sides.
But even I got a little touchy and had a moment I felt I had to apologize to a stranger on a mutual friend’s post, about a Florida synagogue’s invitation to a gubernatorial candidate. (So glad I don’t have to decide down there!)
That was on Oct. 26. I underlined what had set me off, and added that last article link days later. In fact, I linked to it in last week’s post.
So maybe a kinder, gentler Lenny will come out of all this, or maybe not. Always gotta learn and improve, but stay true to myself.
I’ll end by reminding you to “fall back” this weekend (turn the clocks you still control back an hour), but we can’t afford to fall back to old times – whether in this country or elsewhere – anymore.
Please leave your comments in the section below, and don’t miss out. If you like what you read here, subscribe to CohenConnect.com with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
I’ve known I had another blog post “due” before the election, if you know how I think, but too much on my mind and so much going on – personally and in the news – to actually do it.
After this morning’s attack in a Pittsburgh neighborhood where I have family and have been to several times, I did some reading and a lot of soul-searching before starting to write. I’m hoping others who I trust and posted thoughts will unknowingly help a lot.
Like many similar to me, I pretty much grew up supporting Democrats. Jews coming from overseas had no money and learned all about sacrificing for their children. That became a tradition. However, I give my mother a lot of credit for saying she never voted for Jimmy Carter.
“The ‘game’ of politics is no fun anymore. Discussing anything having to do with it used to be educating and entertaining, and sometimes enlightening, among friends and on social media. Not anymore. These days, it’s all for the kill.”
I ended it with two famous old sayings:
“If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at 35 you have no brain.”
and
“Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans.”
So let’s start this with someone who was able to sum up the past two days.
The worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history took place today just days after the largest attempted assassination of political leaders in U.S. history.
I dare any of you to try to be much more succinct than that.
I’ve considered myself a moderate for a long time, but may have been a bit more to the right lately. The reason is Democrats moving further to the left. It’s because they’re nominating young people who don’t know the history of this country and can’t explain international events. Then, there are those with experience who don’t have the guts to educate primary winners, but go ahead and pose in pictures like these.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
I mean, with all the people Elizabeth Warren could’ve rallied with against now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh? And Sen. Booker should learn to read.
It makes me very angry they’ve made fools of themselves posing with people who hijacked causes, and I honestly wish didn’t exist. Forgive me. I felt their stupidity would cause moderates to vote for Republicans in the upcoming midterms. That’s still to be seen, but maybe today changed that.
I got up late and turned on the TV. I saw what was going on, made sure the family was OK, and posted these messages. I looked for the first graphic based on what I saw on TV.
You see my thoughts on both. Later, I compared the rest of the president’s day to an event from 46 years ago that too few people either knew or remembered. It has to do with caring and honoring victims.
Honestly, it seems the world doesn’t care when it comes to Jewish victims. The president didn’t go to Pittsburgh. Instead, he went to political rallies and got people all riled up.
This is what a CNN producer reported tonight.
Just now at the Trump campaign rally:
TRUMP: "If you don't mind, I'm gonna tone it down a little bit. Is that OK?"
And this is what that type of rhetoric can do in the middle of an average weekday, this week, when a reporter was about to go live on the air about the mail bombs.
But back to the main story, this is what a staff editor and writer with The New York Times opinion department wrote about her hometown.
Today my community joined the list of Jewish communities worldwide that have been terrorized by anti-Semites. But Squirrel Hill will continue to live by the values that the Jews have sustained for more than 2,000 years. They can never be gunned down.https://t.co/hrfEVy41bW
Apparently Mr. Fred Rogers, who preached to children about being a good neighbor, lived just three blocks away.
The president said armed security would’ve helped today. I don’t know how many American congregations of any faith have that, except possibly synagogues during the High Holidays. Maybe the president was just bringing up a political talking point.
(There’s also a new article, “Pittsburgh shooting may be ‘turning point’ for US Jewish security, says European leader.” It quotes a former president of a group of Belgian Jewish communities as saying relatively lax security at American synagogues “simultaneously impressed and worried me,” and “In Europe, the prospect of deadly expressions of anti-Semitism is a part of life that we grow up with.”)
We are “chosen” when it comes to extra security expenses, even at cemeteries, all over the world. Just do a search if you don’t believe that. Unfortunately, you’ll often find somebody did something within a week.
America is stronger than the acts of a depraved bigot and anti-semite.
All good Americans stand with the Jewish people to oppose acts of terror & share the horror, disgust & outrage over the massacre in Pittsburgh. We must unite against hatred & evil.
Of course, Ivanka Trump became Jewish. She and husband Jared Kushner have two sons and a daughter. Does her synagogue have armed security (and I’m talking about before they moved down to Washington, and when nobody from the family is there, nor anyone else requiring special protection)? By the way, I don’t think Mr. Trump went to either of his grandsons’ brises.
Here is another take on armed security, plus the video.
Let's be clear: Trump is sending the military to guard the border against unarmed desperate migrants (who are still in southern Mexico), but faced with domestic white supremacist terrorists, he suggests that places of worship hire their own armed guards. https://t.co/bs5Muqyxlo
I’d never heard of writer Judd Legum before doing research tonight, but he’d already done his research – posting several tweets, today alone, about President Trump and Jewish people. This should all be hard to believe, especially since the president has a Jewish daughter and grandchildren, and has been part of the New York real estate market for most of his life.
You’ll find his Twitter posts at @JuddLegum. I suggest you click and read, and predict you probably knew about several of these incidents and forgot several others. Also, I just subscribed to his new website, Popular Information. He calls it “News and perspective for people who give a damn” and I think it’s worth a look. (I’ve always believed in hearing both sides from believers, even if I disagree. Helps me understand the issue better.)
I will point out this one tweet out of many, and it happened this past week.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy posted this tweet AFTER a bomb was sent to Soros' house. Up until a couple of minutes ago it was pinned to the top of his profile. pic.twitter.com/FEeKoPolHL
“The Republican congressman from California tweeted a video of himself making the comments on Tuesday and temporarily pinned it to the top of his feed before deleting the Twitter post entirely.”
Then, there’s the Pennsylvania governor’s race coming up. This is from the incumbent, who is running for reelection.
Tonight Frances and I attended a vigil for the victims of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.
Anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in our commonwealth. Together we pray for the victims, their families and friends, and this entire community. #StrongerThanHatepic.twitter.com/w5HiMGmdCh
We salute the bravery and swift response of local law enforcement in containing the suspect and we will suspend campaign activity today so we can continue to monitor the situation and provide whatever assistance is necessary.
Not once did he mention the victims were Jews, or that the victims were targeted for that reason. He didn’t call it what it was. Think it’s an important part of the story that a politician should mention?
while we’re on the subject of incendiary rhetoric, remember that the Republican Party’s nominee for governor of Pennsylvania made a video vowing to “stomp all over” the face of the Democratic governor with golf spikes https://t.co/7RPAvRIG7F
But CNBC’s John Harwood reminds us not to forget Scott Wagner’s judgment and thoughts of violence when it came to this TV ad, earlier this month. Like we would, since we already posted it! Wagner can’t blame anybody but himself, since nobody else appeared.
“Well, Governor Wolf. Let me tell you what. Between now and Nov. 6, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face, because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes.”
And this is Wagner responding to his comments without apologizing (“I shouldn’t have said what I said”).
You see what Louis Farrakhan posted on Oct. 16. It’s even a subject in my own congressional district’s race. (Pennsylvania just redistricted because of a gerrymandering lawsuit. The Democratic incumbent has represented a lot of suburbanites, but the district has become more urban and his support for Israel has diminished.)
They and many more of the minister’s comments are up on Twitter, which just admitted it didn’t follow its own safety guidelines when the mail bomb suspect’s tweets were reported to the company, weeks ago!
Zuckerberg apparently doesn’t realize hate groups start their anti-Semitic talking points by saying the Holocaust never happened.
He clarified with,
“I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.” Then, he “reiterated a distinction he tried to draw in the interview: Posts that advocate violence will be taken down, but those that peddle misinformation will stay but ‘would lose the vast majority of its distribution in News Feed.’”
Thanks a lot! But who knows how many times the Facebook algorithm changed since then?
GOOD FOR THEM! Walked by several times lately. Didn’t know opening was so soon. Monday, “#Philadelphia's Holocaust Memorial Plaza is reopening with a reimagined mission as a ‘living #classroom’ enhancing the study of the Holocaust with modern #technology.” https://t.co/9PGDT9rDbv
So after today, what do I think and who am who am I going to vote for? The voting part is easy where I live. I’m happy I don’t have to make a decision in the Florida governor’s race.
As for my thoughts, we’ll have to see. I don’t like either political party, nor how candidates have to choose between the two, or switch to have a better shot at winning or getting a leadership position. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switched twice! People say they’ll never vote for a Democrat, or never vote for a Republican. They’re short-sighted because there are good and bad in both.
I stopped supporting HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, but you won’t find that name on its homepage!) when it started trying to help everyone in the world, including many I believe have alternatives to coming to the U.S. (I mean, there are other countries, several good ones besides the others.)
I think every country has the right to defensible borders and can decide who gets in. Threat to life or threat of extreme persecution are two good reasons. I know a group practically nobody let in, 80 years ago, and we know how that ended.
But I wonder why so many Jewish groups feel the need to help when there are so many other issues going on here and in Israel. Why don’t they concentrate on feeding the hungry? It’s the conflict between liberalism (political correctness) and Judaism. Even Conservative synagogues (not politically conservative, but with a capital C) are adopting families new to the U.S. You can be a good neighbor without going overboard and probably alienating others.
Other groups that raise money to help elderly Jews in Russia should be trying to get them to Israel instead.
HIAS is a refugee resettlement organization that helped my parents and me when we immigrated to the US from the Soviet Union in 1980. https://t.co/MihVuz9eFl
I don’t know Bianna Golodryga’s circumstances, but her website doesn’t seem to have been updated in more than two years (except her current jobs in a logo at the top), and CBS’ says she’s fluent in Russian but her hometown is Houston.
Perhaps I should watch less cable news, even though I don’t watch a lot. Maybe even loosen my ties to social media. I’ve found myself reading interesting articles, some even sent to me by friends who knew I’d be interested. But I’ve also had success calling out some people commenting on friends’ sites, occasionally just for the fun!
Just like in the upcoming election, it’s about acting on something and changing behavior, rather than just waiting and seeing.
P.S. Speaking of changing behavior, why this Dallas sportscaster and commentator is voting for the first time in 46 years!
Please leave your comments in the section below, and don’t miss out. If you like what you read here, subscribe to CohenConnect.com with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
Today, I found out some news about someone who went to school with me, pretty much since kindergarten. In fact, I think he lived two blocks away. I probably haven’t seen him since junior high, which is what we called middle school in those days.
He was very smart and probably could’ve done anything. Eventually, he became a teacher in Florida, near where we grew up. That, I knew. Nothing else, since we hadn’t kept in touch.
Now, I found out he’s in big trouble, pleading guilty to a count of child pornography possession. He’s not the first person I knew, and also not the first teacher.
Don’t ask me what I think. I don’t know the guy. I know what I read, and you can look it up if you have any interest. (I won’t share anything else because what I read made it clear there was electronic possession, and it came from outside this country. Therefore, there’s no threat nor need-to-know in this blog post. Anybody who’d need to know already does.)
That got me thinking about the school where I started teaching. Regular readers know I did way too much there and was taken advantage of. That included figuring out how to be webmaster of the school’s old website. I was assigned that responsibility since I had my own site for my classes throughout that time.
I know since I left, the school had a big web problem and apparently had to pay to get the job done. (It’s funny how they finally found money when they had nothing for me, but I got the last laugh through education, experience and respect.)
June 6, 2012: Honored at the Teacher of the Year luncheon
All this thinking got me to check out the school’s website and I was not pleased.
Below is the email I sent to Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ superintendent, the board chairperson, and the board member whose district includes the school.
Keep in mind, the school is between North Miami and Miami Shores. The majority of the school population was Haitian when I was there, and I have no reason to believe that changed over the past five-plus years.
(I kept the web links in for time purposes, and so you can see for yourself how things are being done and what I’ll be discussing. It’s exactly like the email I just sent.)
Hi! Please take just one moment to think about the importance of getting complete, accurate information out to all of your stakeholders, at all of your schools, and looking professional in the process.
I know Superintendent Carvalho recognizes the significance of not just appearing but also being competent, and would think he, the Board Chair and District 2 Board Member will feel as badly as I do after seeing what I just saw on the website of the school where I used to teach, run the website, serve as grade chair, electronic gradebook chair, EESAC secretary, Rookie Teacher of the Year, Teacher of the Year, and too many other things.
Today, I was shocked by what they’re showing the world on the internet.
First, on the District’s information page on Hubert O. Sibley K-8 Academy http://www.dadeschools.net/schools/schoolinformation/school_details.asp?id=5141, the Principal’s Message writes the old school name (Hubert O. Sibley Elementary) which was changed years ago. He does it *three* different times in one single message. His message is not timely. There is no year on it. How long do you think it has been since he updated it? (And just wait. Keep reading and you’ll see I found it at three other locations!) The picture on top has that old school name on it. And there’s a link for the 2012 bond referendum still up. What grade are the children who were born that year in now?
“Who is Hubert O. Sibley?” on the left side should be “Who was” since he’s dead. Also, a phrase inside the link https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=297771&type=d looks more like an old phone company than a correctly-spelled description. (I’ll explain it to you later in this letter, if necessary.) A more recent picture of him would also be nice. I know the school had a painting when I was there. Personally, I think the students at the school would relate more to him as an old man in a suit, rather than what they’d consider an old picture of someone in a strange-looking uniform.
While you’re there, look at the directory of links on the left side. There seem to be two links on most pages on the site and that’s bad, because I don’t think the first link works any of those pages and the second links to one particular person (a math coach) who is listed on every faculty and staff page, and more as you’ll see. FYI: It should probably link here https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/staff/, but that page isn’t totally up to date.
Back to the homepage:
The “Food Menu” https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/food_menu/ has a blank calendar, like they’re not serving anything for breakfast or lunch. My first thought was that the page could link to a District page since schools tend to serve the same foods. Don’t worry. I found where it should go: http://nutrition.dadeschools.net/#!/rightColumn/193. I would actually separate the District menus page from the “To Apply Online for Free and Reduce Price Meals” page. (It should really say “Reduced.”) I’d also add the page to pay for lunch, which is right there, and could save time in the lunch line.
The PTA page https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295215&type=d looks very old and I don’t think any of the teachers listed have taught at the school in years. Furthermore, Ruth Robert’s name is spelled wrong. It’s not “Roberts” as you can see in her email address. (She’s one of those former Sibley teachers.)
The “Mission Statement” underneath is complete right there, so why do they begin another sentence (which never ends) and wastes the reader’s time to click a link when the new page simply restates that mission statement?
Don’t forget, the homepage is the most important one you have.
The third link (Social Media Toolkit, https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/news/show_news.jsp?REC_ID=520826&id=0) needs no explanation. Just look at it, and notice the repetition and lack of proofreading. I remember teaching the students to proofread. Also, there’s nothing to click where it says, “Please click here.”
In “Upcoming Events” https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/events2/?id=0&v=1&m=9&y=2018#today, there is nothing planned past October? When did you publish the school calendar? (We’ll get to more on that.) And why not post the whole school year on one page instead of separating by month? Wouldn’t that be more reader-friendly?
In “School Improvement Plan,” (redirected to https://www.hubertosibley.org/pdf/5141.pdf), is 2014-2015 really the latest available? How many more recent ones were finished but never posted? I know a thing or two about this, considering I used to sit at the former assistant principal’s desk instead of teaching my students, and typing, doing math and coming up with ideas to write. I also went to a session at another school for administrators on how to do the SIP when again, I should’ve been teaching. We’ll get to more on the assistant principal. Until you get there, think about who gave him permission for me to not do my job.
In the “Video Gallery” https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/video/, there seems to have been no videos uploaded in two years. I’d consider deleting any whole section with nothing but old material to avoid embarrassment. The reader won’t miss what he or she isn’t trying to find.
Also in “Departments,” the Principal’s Message is the exact same old one from the District’s info page, the school’s homepage, and in the “About Us” section. That means it’s wrong in three places the school controls (and that message, in turn, gives the wrong school name three times in each of those places).
That math coach I mentioned earlier, after Mr. Sibley’s biography, is listed in addition (like that math phrase?) to the folks who actually work in each of the other departments (like cafeteria, custodial, security, etc.)! Check them all out.
But more importantly, check out Administration https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=297881&type=d. Yes, she’s there too, but worst of all is the page includes the former assistant principal I referred to earlier who was the subject of many news reports, including the links I’m about to show you, and who will continue to serve time in federal prison for almost the next two years! (Go to bop.gov and look him up.)
I don’t know how this happened. You’d think somebody would’ve/should’ve noticed!
Continuing in the “Academics” section:
The Bell Schedule (singular in the menu and plural on the page, which is the exact opposite of the Photo Album mention from earlier) https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/bell_schedules/ lists bell times for two prior years but nothing for this year. Why would anybody care about an old bell schedule? (You’re making me think of Mrs. Sibley, a belle rather than a bell!)
Now to the “Students” section:
Under “Student Links” https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295194&type=d, you see that same math coach again! As I mentioned earlier with most pages on the site, the directory of links on the left side is a waste because the upper link doesn’t work and in this case, the content that the lower one links to could actually be on this page! (Remember about being reader-friendly?)
Go to that lower link https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295194&type=d&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=links and you’ll see the first two items are old school calendars! You’ll remember I asked about this year’s school calendar, when discussing the About Us/Upcoming Events page. Old, outdated information confuses people, whether it’s on calendars, bell schedules, the school’s name, or anything else you can think of outside a history class. You want to inform, not confuse.
Under “Clubs and Activities” https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/departments/clubs.jsp, look at Fairchild Challenge https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295204&type=d and you’ll notice information about 2008 and 2009! I was teaching at Sibley *Elementary* in 2008 and 2009 (this page has the school’s name with Elementary four times, which shows how outdated it is) and even volunteered to chaperone the afterschool trip down to Fairchild for the awards ceremony! Again, what grade are the children who were born then in now?
I see they’ve decided to call Reading https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295201&type=d a “Club and Activity” and even though I haven’t seen the old school website I ran for years for free, since the principal could never find the money, I could swear they took my writing verbatim and copied and pasted it over. Has the Suggested Summer Reading List changed in about the past decade? I know my writing, and the introduction probably hasn’t. Were any new books written in all that time?
They did the same with Science https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=295202&type=d and listed a 2012 event as one of two short paragraphs. That second paragraph may also be my writing because I remember trying to get the former science coach to give me something to write. By the way, in 2006, I got former WTVJ-NBC6 chief meteorologist Paul Deanno to Sibley for Saturday School. We’ve been friends since my first TV stint in Philadelphia. I still have the picture I took, even after 12 years. Do you want me to send it, to show what Sibley is doing in science, these days?
Just beneath “Clubs and Activities” is the “Food Menu” again, and I already mentioned it.
Finally, to the “Parents” section:
The “EESAC Info” page redirects to the District page, so it doesn’t mention any names of people at the school. It should, in addition to minutes and a schedule of future meetings. I was EESAC secretary for about seven years. The school is supposed to be recruiting as many stakeholders as possible, and I remember how difficult it was to get a quorum.
I mentioned the PTA page earlier.
The “Intervention Opportunities for Math and Science” page https://www.hubertosibley.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=301576&type=d&termREC_ID=&pREC_ID=563974 looks like part of a memo from the District to school administrators with no explanation for parents (which would be the point of it being on the website, right?). It lists a website without a link to it, and that page only concerns science. On top of that, it looks scary at first glance, with so much on there, especially to parents who don’t know English so well. If the information in what looks like a memo is so important, then why not link directly to each resource described? That would mean taking time to go to the District page, finding the resource among so many other things, and linking right to it. Are “Intervention Opportunities” important enough and therefore worth the time and effort? I’d think so! Then, the school’s page (or the memo) ends with email addresses for science supervisors in elementary, middle and senior high schools, but no links to click to write to them. And it’s a dead giveaway the page was copied and pasted sloppily, like others I mentioned, because Sibley is not a senior high school!
The District’s mission statement on page 3 is different than the school’s, which has been around since I worked there.
There’s no year listed on the handbook until the top of the Superintendent’s Message on page 4, like any letter would have.
The Principal’s Message on page 8 is the same wrong one I mentioned three times earlier. This makes four occurrences. I mean, the name of the school is different on the Principal’s Message than it is on the cover! Who’d sign their name to that nonsense?
On page 9, one assistant principal gets the name of the school correct. The other doesn’t mention it, but spells “Miami Dade” (referring to the County School District) without a hyphen.
On page 11, Mrs. Sibley is referred to as a “Southern bell” again. That’s almost like Ma Bell, which became BellSouth and now AT&T.
I can go on and on, as you can imagine. My first big thought is DISAPPOINTMENT. My second and third are lazy and cheap. That goes completely against the school’s mission statement, which is “Develop ourselves to be better people and professionals so that we may develop better students.” I put everything I had into my work at Sibley – we were even an ‘A’ school for a year when I was there – but I left at the end of the 2012-2013 year because I knew something there wasn’t right. I was right, and it’s still there.
I know you want to see your stakeholders getting complete, accurate information – so students will be better educated – and it’s obvious they’re not. You need people who can do better, at least at Sibley.
Thank you for reading, and please do the man justice. You named the school after him, and he can no longer help fix problems down here.
Lenny Cohen
Formerly employee #280155, if I remember correctly
Click here to visit the section 2006-2014: Teaching Time.
How nice this was changed on Monday, Oct. 22! I can only imagine the curses.
Also, the “Food Menu” was replaced, the “Bell Schedule” was updated and the “Administration” section it its old state was removed.
These are other changes I noticed midday on Tuesday, Oct. 23:
Keep up the good work! I know you can do it!
Please leave your comments in the section below. I’ve never done this, but there should not be any names mentioned in the comments here. And don’t miss out. If you like what you read here, subscribe to CohenConnect.com with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this, and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
The “game” of politics is no fun anymore. Discussing anything having to do with it used to be educating and entertaining, and sometimes enlightening, among friends and on social media. Not anymore. These days, it’s all for the kill.
Saturday, NBC Nightly News showed skirmishes in New York and Portland, Oregon. As correspondent Matt Bradley put it,
“America’s political conversation is forgetting to use its inside voices.”
It included soundbites from former Attorney General Eric Holder (D, more here)…
and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner (R, more here).
And this is Wagner responding to his comments without apologizing (“I shouldn’t have said what I said”) for what he said above.
“The president in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence.”
(Video and subject matter will start at 35:15 in. Then, there are follow-up questions and Sanders actually says her quote at 38:21 in.)
Twice recently, Facebook friends who don’t even know each other have gotten into personal put-downs over issues in articles I posted.
Those experiences were new to me. I felt hurt and regret they happened among friends. Both happened earlier this month.
One of the combatants when I expressed disappointment over Nikki Haley’s resignation as United Nations ambassador had fighting words, but never really made a point. Later, after a lot of back-and-forth with another friend, he removed his comments.
I think Nikki Haley was our best ambassador at the United Nations since perhaps Jeane Kirkpatrick and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Sadly, that’s going back.
Not everyone agrees with me, but at least one was able to make his point with facts, rather than name-calling.
For example, this is what Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal – no fan of Haley’s – wrote in his column, last week. (I underlined my favorite part and emailed to thank him for it as soon as I read it, especially considering his audience.)
So disagreeing peacefully – whether with words or in person – can be done, and a prominent activist proved it.
The upcoming midterms are, of course, “the most important election in our lifetime.” Ever heard that before? Kind of like “the storm of the century.” Not to be believed until it actually happens.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs, and so will more than a third of the Senate.
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone voted, the better or best candidate (depending on the number running) wins, and all will be satisfied they had their say?
But unfortunately, it’s more than that.
Of course, it’s which of the parties gets (or keeps) the majority in the House and the Senate that really matters, and those damn parties – and their “machines” – just won’t shut the hell up among their members or in TV commercials.
Neither will others who campaign for politicians outside of where they live. Some are current politicians hoping to score points for advancement; former politicians hoping to stay relevant, or make money by selling books or giving speeches; and groups like political action committees, corporations, labor unions, and other associations allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court to give unlimited money to campaigns in 2010’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, lest their free speech right guaranteed by the First Amendment be compromised (as if they’re people).
A few days earlier on Facebook, I’d shown my disappointment that two senators worthy of respect felt the need to rally with a woman (Linda Sarsour) who comes as close to being the devil as any American.
Look Sarsour up. Research using sources you trust and believe. I’ll have a lot more to say in another post when I have more time, but leave you with these characteristics for now:
Her divisiveness.
A white woman Senator is talking about presumption of innocence that is never offered to Black men in America. You are watching white supremacy live on the Senate Floor. #SusanCollins#CancelKanavaugh
Senator Susan Collins is the mother & grandmother of white women in America who gave us a Donald Trump presidency. The 53%.
She is a disgrace & her legacy will be that she was a traitor to women and marginalized communities. History will not treat her kindly. #CancelKanavaugh
THIS. New York just sent some of the most progressive candidates EVER to the State Legislature unseating corporate democrats- establishment operatives are STUNNED. We like it like that. #NYPrimaries ✊🏽🙌🏽https://t.co/pTgWnvdqO6
Out of touch and seeking publicity when so many more people are being tortured, and infants killed, in so many other places. Think Syria. Think Iraq. Muslim vs. Muslim.
Israel is surrounded by dozens of Arab and Muslim countries. The circle includes Judea and Samaria (“The West Bank”), and the Gaza Strip.
And making sure the world knows you’re Brooklyn-born but aligned with a group of people who can’t make peace among each other, can’t make peace with other Arabs, can’t make peace with other Muslims, and turned down every attempt by Israel to make peace. Ask most American presidents who’s responsible for the problem between the parties in the region (especially President Bill Clinton) and they’ll tell you it has been and still to this day is Palestinians who support killings and pay terrorists, and who refuse to admit Israel is the world’s one Jewish country.
Not sure how this is possible, but I am feeling extra Palestinian right now. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
Every one of those tweets you saw above used Sarsour’s own words. None were complete retweets. And did you know she’s on the board of the Women’s March? Most of us are in favor of equality for all. It’s a goal, but we should not be supporting this organization with money, feet, or anything else. You have to know what they’re really about.
I was working the day of the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, after President Trump’s inauguration, and it disgusted me watching how Sarsour got up in front of the crowd and talked about the Middle East! I know that’s not what so many people came from so far to hear, so I urge you to be careful with who you support. Click here to see who’s in charge of that fringe group that’s trying to fit in. Don’t let it. Instead, speak up, vote and organize without having to answer for them.
FINALLY, BACK TO THE STORY: All but one person who put up an emoji or commented on my Facebook post about those senators making the mistake of being in the wrong place with the wrong people agreed with me. I was pleasantly surprised by very liberal friends who were among them! But one, a retired public defender, did not. I took down four of the more personal posts between her and someone who disagreed with her, and am not showing any comments from either Facebook post here. I hope both sides eventually thought about what the other said, like old times.
Speaking of old times, it used to be, being in the middle – an independent thinker not automatically taking sides – was a good thing. In news, we figured if we left both sides angry, we did our job fairly and kept both from abusing power.
Not anymore. It seems more and more Americans are blindly endorsing the extremes of one side or the other (which may or may not be true), and their targets are moderates who don’t agree with them 100 percent, and of course journalists.
That’s making more and more independent thinkers frustrated and shoots down some old sayings like,
“If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at 35 you have no brain.”
And sociographer Milton Himmelfarb’s,
“Jews earn like Episcopalians, and vote like Puerto Ricans.”
Not being a stereotype like in previous generations can be a good thing. In this day and age, it should keep those on the extremes from saying things that are too controversial. We just have to let them know.
Please leave your comments in the section below, and don’t miss out. If you like what you read here, subscribe to CohenConnect.com with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
(Online definition of moment: “a very brief period of time.” The italics are mine.)
September’s blog numbers were high with more than a thousand views, despite the fact I only published four posts. (I know. I have to do better on that. And I can’t complain about the time, but each takes many hours to get – hopefully – just right!)
Growing means there are stories some newer readers haven’t seen yet, and I just happen to have some follow-ups for those of you who are longtime readers.
‘A’ for Amazon from minimum wage workers
Amazon has been under fire for a lot of things, from low wages to working conditions, but the former is about to change.
Amazon claims the median salary for a full-time employee in the U.S. is $34,123, and not the $28,446 figure Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) claimed when he proposed a bill that
“would impose a 100 percent tax on government benefits received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees. For example, if an Amazon employee receives $300 in food stamps, Amazon would be taxed $300.”
That’s a win for Amazon’s lowest-paid workers, but there’s a loss for Warner Wolf (not that he works at Amazon).
“Let’s go to the verdict!”
I’ve said many times I don’t want to live in Florida and that was even when I lived there. I think the Sunshine State has nothing to offer except a short time to thaw out at the beach in the winter. Oh, and low taxes and some family.
“In a ruling released last week, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James d’Auguste wrote that the 80-year-old Wolf’s residence in the premier state for retirees means the suit fails on jurisdictional grounds.
“‘Due to the fact that Wolf is a Florida resident that worked in Florida, he lacks any viable claims…since the impact of any alleged discriminatory conduct would have been in Florida,’ d’Auguste wrote.”
The judge also noted Imus lives in Texas and at 78, he’s in the same age category.
“Imus once said it was time to put Wolf ‘out to pasture’ and ‘shoot him with an elephant dart gun.’”
Wolf’s firing happened in 2016, months after he moved to Naples, Fla., and contributed to the show from there.
“We tried it. It sucks,” Imus emailed shortly before Wolf’s final appearance. “If you’re in the studio in New York … it’s terrific. Anything else is not.”
But Imus himself left the Big Apple a year earlier, in 2015, to live on a ranch in the Lone Star State! The rest of the crew worked out of New York.
From radio and TV, to your computer and smartphone.
Sunday was a big day and not just for football fans. This involves every single one of you who uses the Internet.
Last December, the Federal Communications Commission under President Trump’s appointed chairman Ajit Pai repealed many net neutrality rules passed in 2015 during the Obama administration. Those rules prohibited internet service providers (ISPs) from slowing down or blocking content, or charging for access to certain sites. Consider it Internet freedom and equal access. You pay for a month and should be able to use it as you like.
But later Sunday, the Justice Department sued to prevent the law from taking effect. It argued broadband communications are interstate commerce and that’s regulated by the federal government, not the states.
The FCC wants to deregulate the industry and its repeal actually, specifically forbids states from passing their own net neutrality rules. Pai, a former Verizon lawyer (think Fios), claims net neutrality stifles investment and burdens ISPs with regulation.
The feds’ net neutrality rules are set to take effect in January for the rest of us.
Unfortunately, this post isn’t ending as happily as it started.
I’ve watched and studied politics for decades, and written about it many times here. But lately, I’ve come to hate the subject. Any wonder why?
TV news anchor Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch) probably had a similar feeling in the 1976 movie Network.
We may even be at the point where he screamed,
“We know things are bad — worse than bad. They’re crazy!”
(Let me know in the comments section below.)
The line
“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
became so popular, it ranked number 19 on the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema, released June 21, 2005, for the organization’s 100th anniversary. Network itself came in number 66 in the movie category. (The number 1 quote was Clark Gable as Rhett Butler saying
And thanks, Todd, for having me watch this years ago. New readers will come to learn I’m not the best with movies. Last month, I finally watched another 1976 movie classic, shot right across the street.
Rocky became the highest-grossing film of the year (spawning six sequels) and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture. As for the AFI, it’s movie number 78, number 2 in sports after Raging Bull (click here for genres) and quote number 80.
(“Yo, Adrian!”)
And the scene there last week, if you follow me on Twitter, or just look at the feed on right side of this page (below on mobile):
Now, what you can do (rather than sticking your head out the window in the rain):
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 6 midterm elections – just 35 days away – is a week from today (Oct. 9) in Pennsylvania, two weeks from today (Oct. 16) in New Jersey, next Saturday (Oct. 13) in Delaware, next Friday (Oct. 12) in New York, and next Thursday (Oct. 11) in Florida (and I meant what I said). That should cover most of you. (Click here if it doesn’t.) Make sure you’re registered, learn about your candidates, and take a moment to note Tuesday, Nov. 6, on your calendar right now. (You may even get a sticker!)
Again, please leave your comments in the section below, and don’t miss out. If you like what you read here, subscribe to CohenConnect.com with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen
There’s a link to my work since early last month in the Menu (button on upper-right, ) called “PGN, 2019: Copy Editor, Writer, Reporter” and those of you who tried it on your mobile devices, read the introduction, but couldn’t find the individual posts to choose from at the bottom, will no longer have that problem. It has been fixed.
(Don’t forget part of this website includes RSS feeds from several news sources, plus Twitter posts from i24NEWS English, (on the right side on your desktop or laptop, and at the bottom on your mobile device) so you can stay up to date right here at www.CohenConnect.com, even though I can’t post as often while I’m working.)
“This is what is so troubling about associations and about liberals and progressives. This shameful woman, Sonalee R.—a therapist, someone who is respectful of transgender people—somehow believes the world would be better if millions of Jewish people weren’t in it. And the head of a woman’s movement is a friend of hers. They keep showing up in photos with antisemite after antisemite but they need us to believe they don’t have these deep-seated issues about Jews. Here in the U.S., Palestine and Israel conflicts took a more prominent seat and more prominent role in what the WM chose to throw their weight behind than did: the Flint Water crisis, the missing girls in Chicago, 
Would somebody tell me how the hell Israel, wanting land for peace, could deal with that?
September’s blog numbers were high with more than a thousand views, despite the fact I only published four posts. (I know. I have to do better on that. And I can’t complain about the time, but each takes many hours to get – hopefully – just right!)
Last December, the Federal Communications Commission under President Trump’s appointed chairman Ajit Pai repealed many 
