Dr. Kevin Kovach, a research professor at the Hudson Institute of Penileology, announced that men with erectile dysfunction will soon have available a revolutionary wireless penile implant
Canada Medical News
October 31, 2018
TORONTO -- Dr. Kevin Kovach, a research professor at Canada’s Hudson Institute of Penileology, announced that his team of researchers has developed a wireless penile implant that will be available soon for men suffering from erectile dysfunction.
The Kovach I-Implant will revolutionize penile implant surgery. Currently there are three main types of penile implants:
Three-piece inflatable pump
The three-piece inflatable pump involves placing two cylinders in the penis, an inflatable pump in the scrotum, and a fluid-filled container in the abdomen. All of these components are connected by special tubing. Squeezing the pump in the scrotum causes fluid to moves from the container into the cylinders, creating an erection. When the release valve is squeezed, fluid moves out of the cylinder and back into the container, making the penis flaccid. When inflated, a three-piece inflatable pump implant acts and feels like a natural erection. The implant also feels natural and comfortable when flaccid.
Two-piece inflatable
This type of implant is similar to the three-piece inflatable device and works in the same way. However, instead of a separate fluid-filled container, the fluid is kept within the pump in the scrotum. However, the two-piece inflatable device is not as rigid as the three-piece implant.
Semi-rigid or malleable rods
This type of penile implant involves a surgeon implanting two flexible rods into the penis. The implants never change in size or stiffness and maintain a semi-rigid state. They can, however, be set in different positions easily. The implants are usually bent downward but can be straightened into an upward position when needed for sexual intercourse.
The cost of these implants ranges from $9,400 to $23,000 and is covered by many insurance plans.
The I-Implant will replace the three types of implants currently in use. It is a flexible rod-like device that contains a rechargeable lithium ion battery. It operates from a small remote control.
The length and girth of the implant can be adjusted by pressing the designated buttons on the remote control. No more annoying pumps, no more one size fits all.
The implant battery is recharged simply by placing the special battery recharger on the penis for about one hour. Dr. Kovach avoided the possibility of a penis exploding by making sure the lithium ion batteries were not made in China. The I-Implant batteries his team used were all made in Canada.
The I-Implant is expected to cost around $25,000 for the device, the surgery and the use of hospital facilities. Hospital stay is not expected to exceed two days.
Dr. Kovach’s team has been developing the I-Implant for the past seven years. After two years of successful trials on chimpanzees that could not otherwise get an erection, Dr. Kovach is ready to start trials on men.
If you are interested in participating in the I-Implant trials, call the Hudson Institute of Penileology at 1-613- 992-4211
In order to get a large pool of I-Implant trial volunteers to choose from, Dr. Kovach urges that all persons who read this article pass it on to all those on their mailing list.
Thursday, November 01, 2018
SNITCHES GET STITCHES
by Bob Walsh
Whitey Bulger, one-time most wanted fugitive, big-time mobster from South Boston and FBI snitch was beaten to death in a federal prison in West Virginia less than two days after his transfer there. Allegedly his murderer was a mob enforcer doing life.
The FBI is investigating. Supposedly they are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his transfer in the first place. I would like to think the Boston Mob does not have tentacles into the federal prison system, at least not high enough up to transfer a high-profile prisoner, but...…..
Whitey Bulger, one-time most wanted fugitive, big-time mobster from South Boston and FBI snitch was beaten to death in a federal prison in West Virginia less than two days after his transfer there. Allegedly his murderer was a mob enforcer doing life.
The FBI is investigating. Supposedly they are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his transfer in the first place. I would like to think the Boston Mob does not have tentacles into the federal prison system, at least not high enough up to transfer a high-profile prisoner, but...…..
STAND YOUR GROIND ABOUT TO BE TOSSED INTO THE ASH HEAP OF HISTORY?
Florida's Prosecutors: Stand Your Ground Law Unconstitutional
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
October 31, 2018
MIAMI — A South Florida organization of prosecutors that includes Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is telling the Florida Supreme Court that the latest version of the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law is unconstitutional.
The League of Prosecutors, in newly filed court documents, asked justices to strike down the law because it unlawfully forces state attorneys to try cases involving self-defense claims before a judge, not a jury. “There is nothing specialized or unique about this defense that the common juror cannot understand,” according to the brief filed late Friday.
Fernandez Rundle, the longtime elected top prosecutor in Miami-Dade, also filed a brief joining in the effort — the first state attorney to break with Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose office is defending the broadened “Stand Your Ground” law passed by the Florida Legislature last year.
The Florida Supreme Court is set to review issues surrounding the law, which was first passed in 2005 amid much controversy. The law, passed with high-profile backing of the powerful National Rifle Association, eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using deadly force to counter a threat.
Critics have long said that the law creates a culture of vigilante gun violence and allows criminals to skate on claims of self-defense. The law is opposed by many in law enforcement
The law has repeatedly become a social and political flash point. In 2012, police cited the law in initially not arresting a neighborhood watchman in the shooting death of Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin, a case that sparked racial tensions and scrutiny on the state’s self-defense law. The gunman, George Zimmerman, was later charged but acquitted by a Seminole County jury.
Most recently, controversy erupted over the killing of Markeis McGlockton in Clearwater. Though not armed with a weapon, he was gunned down after pushing a man during a fight that started over a parking space. Pinellas County’s sheriff cited the law in not initially arresting the killer, Michael Drejka, although prosecutors later charged him with second-degree murder.
Also, Florida’s self-defense law will likely play a central role in the case of former Lakeland city commissioner Michael Dunn, who was indicted this month in the fatal shooting of a shoplifter who was trying to escape his store.
Most vexing for prosecutors, the law allowed for judges an easier path to grant “immunity” for someone they deem to be acting in self-defense. Over the years, judges in Miami have thrown out murder cases in a number of high-profile cases, including a man who shot another man as both cowered from the sound of gunfire outside a barbershop.
For years, it was the burden of the defendant to prove to a judge that he or she acted in self-defense.
But last year, Florida lawmakers changed the law, forcing prosecutors to shoulder the burden of disproving a defendant’s claim of self-defense in a hearing before any jury trial takes place. Prosecutors must prove by “clear and convincing” evidence that someone was not acting in self-defense.
At the time, prosecutors and many police departments opposed the measure. It passed anyway.
Since then, a slew of cases in court have challenged the new law, and whether it applies to incidents that happened before it went into effect. Two Miami judges ruled that Florida lawmakers overstepped their authority in crafting the law. One of those cases has now made its way to the Florida Supreme Court.
The accused: Tashara Love, who is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a man outside a Miami strip club in 2015. In May, Miami-Dade’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the broadened self-defense law is constitutional but that it does not apply to cases that happened before the law went into effect.
Love’s case before the Florida Supreme Court is being closely watched.
The NRA has chimed into the court fight, saying the law is constitutional and was passed for the “protection of innocent lives and the fundamental right of self-defense.” Two prominent gun-control groups, Everytown for Gun Safety and The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, say the law “makes it harder to prosecute those who perpetrate gun violence, and ultimately encourages the unlawful and reckless use of firearms.”
Enter the League of Prosecutors, a Miami organization of current and former local prosecutors formed to educate the public about criminal justice issues, mentor assistant state attorneys and promote “judicial excellence.”
The group is distinct from the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, a lobbying group that represents state attorneys. The FPAA opposed the change in the law before it was passed, but has not weighed in on Love’s case.
The passing of the law violated the separation of powers between the Legislature and elected prosecutors, wrote Penny Brill, the now-retired head of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s legal bureau who is representing the league pro bono.
“The Legislature cannot waive the state’s right to a jury trial in a criminal case,” Brill wrote.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office on Friday filed paperwork asking the Florida Supreme Court for permission to appear before the court to adopt the league’s position. Bondi’s office is objecting to Fernandez Rundle’s move, according to court documents.
So far, no other state attorneys have sought to enter the legal fray.
Responding to the Miami Herald, the office of Broward State Attorney Michael Satz said it is “reviewing the matter.” A spokesman for Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg said he “agrees with State Attorney Rundle and LOP on the recent changes to the Stand Your Ground law” and suggested he may join in.
Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward declined to comment, referring comment to the FPAA, which did not return comment Monday.
Andrew Warren, the state attorney in Tampa, said he is still reviewing the league’s filings. He said he remains against the change in the law.
“I opposed changing Stand Your Ground because it would significantly disrupt the operation of our criminal justice system and undermine public safety, while doing nothing to protect law-abiding gun owners,” he said in a statement. “Last year’s amendment was an ill-conceived solution in search of a problem that predictably created confusion and gridlock in our courts, which is now wasting taxpayer resources and delaying justice for victims.”
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
October 31, 2018
MIAMI — A South Florida organization of prosecutors that includes Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is telling the Florida Supreme Court that the latest version of the state’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law is unconstitutional.
The League of Prosecutors, in newly filed court documents, asked justices to strike down the law because it unlawfully forces state attorneys to try cases involving self-defense claims before a judge, not a jury. “There is nothing specialized or unique about this defense that the common juror cannot understand,” according to the brief filed late Friday.
Fernandez Rundle, the longtime elected top prosecutor in Miami-Dade, also filed a brief joining in the effort — the first state attorney to break with Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose office is defending the broadened “Stand Your Ground” law passed by the Florida Legislature last year.
The Florida Supreme Court is set to review issues surrounding the law, which was first passed in 2005 amid much controversy. The law, passed with high-profile backing of the powerful National Rifle Association, eliminated a citizen’s duty to retreat before using deadly force to counter a threat.
Critics have long said that the law creates a culture of vigilante gun violence and allows criminals to skate on claims of self-defense. The law is opposed by many in law enforcement
The law has repeatedly become a social and political flash point. In 2012, police cited the law in initially not arresting a neighborhood watchman in the shooting death of Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin, a case that sparked racial tensions and scrutiny on the state’s self-defense law. The gunman, George Zimmerman, was later charged but acquitted by a Seminole County jury.
Most recently, controversy erupted over the killing of Markeis McGlockton in Clearwater. Though not armed with a weapon, he was gunned down after pushing a man during a fight that started over a parking space. Pinellas County’s sheriff cited the law in not initially arresting the killer, Michael Drejka, although prosecutors later charged him with second-degree murder.
Also, Florida’s self-defense law will likely play a central role in the case of former Lakeland city commissioner Michael Dunn, who was indicted this month in the fatal shooting of a shoplifter who was trying to escape his store.
Most vexing for prosecutors, the law allowed for judges an easier path to grant “immunity” for someone they deem to be acting in self-defense. Over the years, judges in Miami have thrown out murder cases in a number of high-profile cases, including a man who shot another man as both cowered from the sound of gunfire outside a barbershop.
For years, it was the burden of the defendant to prove to a judge that he or she acted in self-defense.
But last year, Florida lawmakers changed the law, forcing prosecutors to shoulder the burden of disproving a defendant’s claim of self-defense in a hearing before any jury trial takes place. Prosecutors must prove by “clear and convincing” evidence that someone was not acting in self-defense.
At the time, prosecutors and many police departments opposed the measure. It passed anyway.
Since then, a slew of cases in court have challenged the new law, and whether it applies to incidents that happened before it went into effect. Two Miami judges ruled that Florida lawmakers overstepped their authority in crafting the law. One of those cases has now made its way to the Florida Supreme Court.
The accused: Tashara Love, who is charged with attempted murder in the shooting of a man outside a Miami strip club in 2015. In May, Miami-Dade’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the broadened self-defense law is constitutional but that it does not apply to cases that happened before the law went into effect.
Love’s case before the Florida Supreme Court is being closely watched.
The NRA has chimed into the court fight, saying the law is constitutional and was passed for the “protection of innocent lives and the fundamental right of self-defense.” Two prominent gun-control groups, Everytown for Gun Safety and The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, say the law “makes it harder to prosecute those who perpetrate gun violence, and ultimately encourages the unlawful and reckless use of firearms.”
Enter the League of Prosecutors, a Miami organization of current and former local prosecutors formed to educate the public about criminal justice issues, mentor assistant state attorneys and promote “judicial excellence.”
The group is distinct from the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, a lobbying group that represents state attorneys. The FPAA opposed the change in the law before it was passed, but has not weighed in on Love’s case.
The passing of the law violated the separation of powers between the Legislature and elected prosecutors, wrote Penny Brill, the now-retired head of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s legal bureau who is representing the league pro bono.
“The Legislature cannot waive the state’s right to a jury trial in a criminal case,” Brill wrote.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office on Friday filed paperwork asking the Florida Supreme Court for permission to appear before the court to adopt the league’s position. Bondi’s office is objecting to Fernandez Rundle’s move, according to court documents.
So far, no other state attorneys have sought to enter the legal fray.
Responding to the Miami Herald, the office of Broward State Attorney Michael Satz said it is “reviewing the matter.” A spokesman for Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg said he “agrees with State Attorney Rundle and LOP on the recent changes to the Stand Your Ground law” and suggested he may join in.
Monroe State Attorney Dennis Ward declined to comment, referring comment to the FPAA, which did not return comment Monday.
Andrew Warren, the state attorney in Tampa, said he is still reviewing the league’s filings. He said he remains against the change in the law.
“I opposed changing Stand Your Ground because it would significantly disrupt the operation of our criminal justice system and undermine public safety, while doing nothing to protect law-abiding gun owners,” he said in a statement. “Last year’s amendment was an ill-conceived solution in search of a problem that predictably created confusion and gridlock in our courts, which is now wasting taxpayer resources and delaying justice for victims.”
NO PROPOSAL IS GOING TO END THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
Palestinians Say Israel Killed Children Catching Birds, So They Want to Bomb Tel Aviv
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 29, 2018
This is why the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is unlikely to come to an end, regardless of how lucrative US President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" turns out to be.
All it takes is one little rumor, no matter how ludicrous or easily debunked, to set off another major round of violence.
That's what is currently happening in the Gaza Strip, where the news of the day is that Israeli soldiers callously shot and killed three Palestinian Arab children who were innocently setting traps to catch birds to feed their starving families.
That sounds absolutely horrible. No doubt any one of us would demand justice, if not vengeance, following such an atrocity. A mass demonstration in Gaza City called for as much when it urged Hamas and the other terror groups operating out of the coastal enclave to "bomb Tel Aviv." And, as the recent GRAD missile strike on Beersheva demonstrated, Hamas has the weaponry to fulfill the people's wish.
The only problem is that the story fueling this fire is about as reliable as the tale of a young girl named Goldilocks and her unfortunate encounter with a family of bears.
The reality is that the three Palestinian "children" were in fact young men, no doubt doing the bidding of older men, and while they were setting traps, they weren't for birds. Unless "birds" is some hip new slang for "Israeli soldiers." In that case, yes, they were setting traps for birds.
For those of us who appreciate a more direct form of expression, the three Palestinians in question were shot after Israeli soldier discovered them planting explosives along the Gaza security fence. The reason for doing so? To kill Israeli soldiers. So, yeah, basically this was an act of self defense.
And that's how we got to a mob chanting "The people want to bomb Tel Aviv!"
So long as such willful ignorance rules the emotions of those involved in this conflict, no deal, regardless of its prominence of name, is going to bring genuine peace.
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 29, 2018
This is why the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is unlikely to come to an end, regardless of how lucrative US President Donald Trump's "Deal of the Century" turns out to be.
All it takes is one little rumor, no matter how ludicrous or easily debunked, to set off another major round of violence.
That's what is currently happening in the Gaza Strip, where the news of the day is that Israeli soldiers callously shot and killed three Palestinian Arab children who were innocently setting traps to catch birds to feed their starving families.
That sounds absolutely horrible. No doubt any one of us would demand justice, if not vengeance, following such an atrocity. A mass demonstration in Gaza City called for as much when it urged Hamas and the other terror groups operating out of the coastal enclave to "bomb Tel Aviv." And, as the recent GRAD missile strike on Beersheva demonstrated, Hamas has the weaponry to fulfill the people's wish.
The only problem is that the story fueling this fire is about as reliable as the tale of a young girl named Goldilocks and her unfortunate encounter with a family of bears.
The reality is that the three Palestinian "children" were in fact young men, no doubt doing the bidding of older men, and while they were setting traps, they weren't for birds. Unless "birds" is some hip new slang for "Israeli soldiers." In that case, yes, they were setting traps for birds.
For those of us who appreciate a more direct form of expression, the three Palestinians in question were shot after Israeli soldier discovered them planting explosives along the Gaza security fence. The reason for doing so? To kill Israeli soldiers. So, yeah, basically this was an act of self defense.
And that's how we got to a mob chanting "The people want to bomb Tel Aviv!"
So long as such willful ignorance rules the emotions of those involved in this conflict, no deal, regardless of its prominence of name, is going to bring genuine peace.
DESTINED TO LEAVE PRISON IN A PINE BOX
Woman Sentenced to 350 Years for Shooting Rampage in Southeast L.A. County That Left 1 Dead
By Marissa Wenzke
KTLA 5
October 30, 2018
A 27-year-old woman was sentenced to more than 350 years in prison for a 2017 shooting rampage across Whittier, Pico Rivera and La Mirada that left one person dead and three injured, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Reyna Gomez allegedly committed the attacks alongside an accomplice, Alejandro Lazo, in April 2017. Spanning across multiple cities, the crime spree lasted more than three hours and targeted innocent bystanders.
She has been sentenced to the maximum term of 83 years and four months in state prison, plus 270 years to life, prosecutors said. She was convicted of one count of murder, 14 counts of attempted murder and one count of carjacking on Sept. 13.
Meanwhile, Lazo, 22, is facing the same charges and is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing on Dec. 11.
The pair launched the deadly attacks on April 29, 2017, when they were driving a stolen Kia Rio in an unincorporated area near Whittier and shot at a pedestrian, sheriff’s investigators have said.
The man was wounded but survived.
The pair then went on to allegedly carjack a driver at gunpoint in Pico Rivera. The vehicle, a green Nissan Pathfinder, was later found abandoned in Whittier.
From there, Gomez and Lazo drove to Whittier and shot a man in an alleyway, according to prosecutors.
The victim was wounded but survived.
They later shot at two vehicles, injuring another person before going to La Mirada while still driving the stolen vehicle, prosecutors said.
Once they got to La Mirada, the two stopped at an intersection and started opening fire on several vehicles, according to prosecutors.
One of those drivers was killed.
He was identified by authorities as Jose Ricardo Sahagun, 44.
Authorities eventually tracked down Gomez and Lazo inside another vehicle near the scene, prosecutors said in a news release.
They were arrested shortly after.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Whittier Police Department.
By Marissa Wenzke
KTLA 5
October 30, 2018
A 27-year-old woman was sentenced to more than 350 years in prison for a 2017 shooting rampage across Whittier, Pico Rivera and La Mirada that left one person dead and three injured, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
Reyna Gomez allegedly committed the attacks alongside an accomplice, Alejandro Lazo, in April 2017. Spanning across multiple cities, the crime spree lasted more than three hours and targeted innocent bystanders.
She has been sentenced to the maximum term of 83 years and four months in state prison, plus 270 years to life, prosecutors said. She was convicted of one count of murder, 14 counts of attempted murder and one count of carjacking on Sept. 13.
Meanwhile, Lazo, 22, is facing the same charges and is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing on Dec. 11.
The pair launched the deadly attacks on April 29, 2017, when they were driving a stolen Kia Rio in an unincorporated area near Whittier and shot at a pedestrian, sheriff’s investigators have said.
The man was wounded but survived.
The pair then went on to allegedly carjack a driver at gunpoint in Pico Rivera. The vehicle, a green Nissan Pathfinder, was later found abandoned in Whittier.
From there, Gomez and Lazo drove to Whittier and shot a man in an alleyway, according to prosecutors.
The victim was wounded but survived.
They later shot at two vehicles, injuring another person before going to La Mirada while still driving the stolen vehicle, prosecutors said.
Once they got to La Mirada, the two stopped at an intersection and started opening fire on several vehicles, according to prosecutors.
One of those drivers was killed.
He was identified by authorities as Jose Ricardo Sahagun, 44.
Authorities eventually tracked down Gomez and Lazo inside another vehicle near the scene, prosecutors said in a news release.
They were arrested shortly after.
The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Whittier Police Department.
ILLEGAL POT SHOPS IN LEGAL POT LA
LA council votes to fight illegal marijuana shops by cutting power, fining employees and locking the doors
By City News Service
Los Angeles Daily News
October 30, 2018
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council moved forward Tuesday with developing new tactics aimed at closing down illegal marijuana businesses, including having them barricaded or padlocked, imposing escalating fines on their employees and shutting off utilities.
Although marijuana has been legal for recreational sales in California since Jan. 1, a license from both the state and city of Los Angeles is required to legally operate a dispensary in L.A., and hundreds of illegal businesses are believed to be operating in breach of the regulations.
City Attorney Mike Feuer announced last month that since January, his office, in coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department, has filed 120 criminal cases against 515 defendants associated with 105 illegal commercial cannabis locations across the city.
Closing down illegal pot shops has proven to be a challenge for the city; it often involves an undercover police operation and the use of other significant law enforcement resources.
There are 169 cannabis-related business currently operating legally in the city, according to the Department of Cannabis Regulation, but Los Angeles police Chief Michel Moore said last month that there are hundreds believed to be operating illegally.
Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who introduced two of the motions that were approved, noted in one of them that a significant number of the people charged by Feuer’s office are employees of the businesses, not the owners.
The motion says that property and business owners should bear most of the responsibility for illegal cannabis operations and “not the people who work for them.” Harris-Dawson has frequently talked about the negative impact the war on drugs has had on minority communities and has advocated a special cannabis sales tax to support neighborhoods affected by it.
Harris-Dawson’s motion says the ability to criminally charge employees should still be an option, but it also proposes using the city’s Administrative Citation Enforcement Program to discourage repeat offenses by creating escalating fines based on the number of times an individual has been cited.
The ACE program was approved by the City Council in 2014. It’s meant to give police and Department of Animal Service officers a middle option for nuisance infractions and other quality-of-life concerns between issuing a warning and criminally citing an offender, as officers are often hesitant to take action that could trigger a misdemeanor citation for certain low-level offenses such as a loud party, having a dog off a leash or drinking in public. ACE citations are not handled through the criminal courts but administratively through the city’s ACE program. Fines can escalate up to $1,000 for a third offense under the ACE program.
During a meeting of the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee earlier this month, Harris-Dawson pointed out that Measure M, which was approved by Los Angeles voters last year and outlines the city’s regulations for the recreational sales industry, has a provision providing for landowners with unlicensed cannabis businesses on their property can be fined up to $20,000 per day. But he appeared frustrated on being informed by a representative of the City Attorney’s Office that no one has yet been fined under that provision.
“That was a very, very important provision and one way to cause, at least voters in my district, to believe that a lot of these rogue shops would be dealt with,” Harris-Dawson said.
He added, “I’m afraid that going forward, going into dispensaries and arresting people and catching them doing other things, that’s not too much different than what we did in the war on drugs. We found people who were dealing drugs and we arrested them. And so that’s an important component, but it’s got to be joined with all of the things that the voters put forward in Measure M.”
The second Harris-Dawson motion calls for the Department of Building and Safety to secure properties that fail to comply with administrative nuisance abatement decisions made by the Planning Commission and have them vacated. It adds that the city should establish a similar procedure for securing and closing illegal cannabis businesses that have been ordered to shut down, including barricading, padlocking, or fencing them.
Both of Harris-Dawson’s unanimously approved motions direct the City Attorney’s Office to draft ordinances that would implement the new policies.
A third unanimously approved motion introduced by Councilwomen Nury Martinez and Monica Rodriguez directs city staff to report on the viability of implementing an ordinance that allows the city to disconnect or shut off utility service to unlicensed businesses.
Capt. Stephen Carmona, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division, told the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee that the department currently is focused on targeting shops where significant criminal activity is taking place and that the decision on what constitutes significant activity is up to the area commander.
Carmona added that only a handful of those arrested at illegal shops have had criminal felony charges filed against them and that those charged with misdemeanors appeared undeterred from working at or operating the business.
Council President Herb Wesson said at that meeting the city should consider forming a special task force dedicated to closing rogue shops and that a future committee meeting will likely focus on that topic.
“On enforcement, do we need to put together a special task force or something that really goes out, identifies these areas and tries to protect the businesses that are playing by the rules?” Wesson said.
A fourth motion that was also unanimously approved directs city staff to report on the feasibility of creating a special unit within the Department of Building and Safety that is responsible for inspecting cannabis businesses and verifying overall compliance with the city’s rules and regulations for commercial cannabis activity.
By City News Service
Los Angeles Daily News
October 30, 2018
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council moved forward Tuesday with developing new tactics aimed at closing down illegal marijuana businesses, including having them barricaded or padlocked, imposing escalating fines on their employees and shutting off utilities.
Although marijuana has been legal for recreational sales in California since Jan. 1, a license from both the state and city of Los Angeles is required to legally operate a dispensary in L.A., and hundreds of illegal businesses are believed to be operating in breach of the regulations.
City Attorney Mike Feuer announced last month that since January, his office, in coordination with the Los Angeles Police Department, has filed 120 criminal cases against 515 defendants associated with 105 illegal commercial cannabis locations across the city.
Closing down illegal pot shops has proven to be a challenge for the city; it often involves an undercover police operation and the use of other significant law enforcement resources.
There are 169 cannabis-related business currently operating legally in the city, according to the Department of Cannabis Regulation, but Los Angeles police Chief Michel Moore said last month that there are hundreds believed to be operating illegally.
Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who introduced two of the motions that were approved, noted in one of them that a significant number of the people charged by Feuer’s office are employees of the businesses, not the owners.
The motion says that property and business owners should bear most of the responsibility for illegal cannabis operations and “not the people who work for them.” Harris-Dawson has frequently talked about the negative impact the war on drugs has had on minority communities and has advocated a special cannabis sales tax to support neighborhoods affected by it.
Harris-Dawson’s motion says the ability to criminally charge employees should still be an option, but it also proposes using the city’s Administrative Citation Enforcement Program to discourage repeat offenses by creating escalating fines based on the number of times an individual has been cited.
The ACE program was approved by the City Council in 2014. It’s meant to give police and Department of Animal Service officers a middle option for nuisance infractions and other quality-of-life concerns between issuing a warning and criminally citing an offender, as officers are often hesitant to take action that could trigger a misdemeanor citation for certain low-level offenses such as a loud party, having a dog off a leash or drinking in public. ACE citations are not handled through the criminal courts but administratively through the city’s ACE program. Fines can escalate up to $1,000 for a third offense under the ACE program.
During a meeting of the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee earlier this month, Harris-Dawson pointed out that Measure M, which was approved by Los Angeles voters last year and outlines the city’s regulations for the recreational sales industry, has a provision providing for landowners with unlicensed cannabis businesses on their property can be fined up to $20,000 per day. But he appeared frustrated on being informed by a representative of the City Attorney’s Office that no one has yet been fined under that provision.
“That was a very, very important provision and one way to cause, at least voters in my district, to believe that a lot of these rogue shops would be dealt with,” Harris-Dawson said.
He added, “I’m afraid that going forward, going into dispensaries and arresting people and catching them doing other things, that’s not too much different than what we did in the war on drugs. We found people who were dealing drugs and we arrested them. And so that’s an important component, but it’s got to be joined with all of the things that the voters put forward in Measure M.”
The second Harris-Dawson motion calls for the Department of Building and Safety to secure properties that fail to comply with administrative nuisance abatement decisions made by the Planning Commission and have them vacated. It adds that the city should establish a similar procedure for securing and closing illegal cannabis businesses that have been ordered to shut down, including barricading, padlocking, or fencing them.
Both of Harris-Dawson’s unanimously approved motions direct the City Attorney’s Office to draft ordinances that would implement the new policies.
A third unanimously approved motion introduced by Councilwomen Nury Martinez and Monica Rodriguez directs city staff to report on the viability of implementing an ordinance that allows the city to disconnect or shut off utility service to unlicensed businesses.
Capt. Stephen Carmona, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division, told the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee that the department currently is focused on targeting shops where significant criminal activity is taking place and that the decision on what constitutes significant activity is up to the area commander.
Carmona added that only a handful of those arrested at illegal shops have had criminal felony charges filed against them and that those charged with misdemeanors appeared undeterred from working at or operating the business.
Council President Herb Wesson said at that meeting the city should consider forming a special task force dedicated to closing rogue shops and that a future committee meeting will likely focus on that topic.
“On enforcement, do we need to put together a special task force or something that really goes out, identifies these areas and tries to protect the businesses that are playing by the rules?” Wesson said.
A fourth motion that was also unanimously approved directs city staff to report on the feasibility of creating a special unit within the Department of Building and Safety that is responsible for inspecting cannabis businesses and verifying overall compliance with the city’s rules and regulations for commercial cannabis activity.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
AAAAGGGGH!
How Halloween became the scariest night of the year for anyone not caged in the snowflake prison of political correctness
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
October 31, 2018
RIP Halloween.
In one of life's greatest ironies, an event that celebrates people coming back from the dead has now killed itself.
Its tragic passing was confirmed yesterday when Olympic snowboarder Shaun White made a grovelling public apology for his Halloween costume.
Or rather, he was bullied into making it.
White's crime was to dress up as Simple Jack, the goofy village idiot character depicted by Ben Stiller in 'Tropic Thunder'.
Jack was a deliberate parody of other movie characters like Forrest Gump or Raymond from 'Rain Man'.
Stiller plays actor Tugg Speedman, who purposely takes on the role of gibbering farm hand Simple Jack in a cynical bid to win an Oscar.
I didn't find Jack - or the movie for that matter - particularly funny, but nor did I find him 'offensive'. The film makes a very good point about Hollywood's hypocrisy.
Yet White's decision to go as Simple Jack to a Halloween party, and then post the picture on Instagram, caused outrage.
Soeren Palumbo, co-founder of the Special Olympics' Spread the Word to End the Word campaign said in a statement: 'We are truly disappointed that Shaun White, an acclaimed Olympian, would choose this costume which is so offensive and causes to much pain. Disability is not a joke, nor should it be a punchline. We hope that Shaun White and others learn that this just continues stigma, stereotypes and discrimination.'
Wow.
That's quite a statement, isn't it?
Sportsman dresses up as a parody movie character for a party and is promptly demonised as the offensive, pain-inducing enemy of tolerance.
Really?
Of course, social media immediately frothed itself into 'faux outrage' mode and demanded various forms of punishment for White ranging from public apology to public stoning.
And equally inevitably, he bowed to the mob and deleted the photo.
'I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night,' he said. 'It was a last minute decision. It was the wrong one. The Special Olympics are right to call me out on it, they do great work supporting many tremendous athletes and I am so sorry for being insensitive. Lesson learned.'
Jeez.
What lesson have you learned, Shaun? That nobody is allowed to dress up as an 'inappropriate' movie character on Halloween any more?
Isn't the whole bloody point of Halloween to be inappropriate?
Ben Stiller, who was similarly attacked when the movie came out 10 years ago, explained yesterday: 'It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards.'
Well, of course it was!
As the film's writer Etan Cohen said at the time: 'Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim.'
Exactly.
Yet once people are instructed to believe something's 'offensive' these days, they quickly work themselves into a lather of fury.
We saw a similar outcry last week when Megyn Kelly pondered aloud on her now cancelled NBC show why it's considered so wrong for white people to blacken their faces on Halloween to portray famous black people.
'What is racist?' she asked. 'Because you do get into trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface on Halloween. When I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up like a character.'
She was promptly hounded from all quarters, knifed spectacularly in the back by her own co-workers on air, and fired in abject disgrace.
NBC Nightly News, hosted by black anchor Lester Holt, devoted considerable airtime over several nights to the saga.
Yet a day after Kelly was fired, a photo emerged of the same Lester Holt dressed up as singer Susan Boyle for Halloween, including his face painted white.
Now, I fully understand and accept there is a difference between the two, and that 'blackface' is unacceptable in modern society for all the well-articulated reasons African-Americans rightly feel it is.
But just as I don't think black people should use the N-word, I don't think they should whiteface themselves on Halloween either.
If something is racist and wrong, then nobody should do it.
Not least, because it opens the door to people crying 'double standard'.
As Mike Huckabee tweeted: 'So Megyn Kelly is shown the door for TALKING about something Lester Holt DID?'
What the White and Kelly 'scandals' told me is that Halloween is now officially over.
The event that was supposed to be all about inappropriate, scary and offensive costumes has now been hijacked by the Politically Correct Police and rendered so anodyne that it's pointless.
Every single costume you think about wearing tonight is going to be deemed offensive by someone somewhere – however tame.
Want to go as Cinderella? Forget it – Kiera Knightley will abuse you for endorsing sexism.
Want to go as Caitlyn Jenner? Forget it – the transgender community will erupt with fury.
Want to go as Mother Teresa? Forget it – cultural appropriation.
Bill Maher addressed this Halloween PC nonsense on his Real Time show last week when he said; 'The Office of Scolding Justice Warriors has decreed no Indian chiefs, no hula girls, no Southern belles, no Daniel Boone, no geishas, no ninjas, no gypsies, no mobsters, no terrorists, no Cleopatra. Pirates offend one-eyed people, you can't dress as a hobo because it makes light of the homeless, you can't dress as Quasimodo because it offends hunchbacks, you can't dress as an escaped mental patient because… it offends Kanye.'
In short, you can't go as anyone.
Well, except Donald Trump because the PC rules on offensiveness don't apply to him.
Yet the people screaming about all this stuff are in fact a very small majority.
As Maher said, a recent poll revealed that 80% of Americans hate the new PC culture including most African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans.
So the perpetually whining and outraged 'woke' snowflakes are not speaking for the majority, and they're not even speaking for the people they assume are feeling victimised.
Despite this, their bullying and squealing works.
Last month, an innocuous 'Brave Red Maiden' Handmaid's Tale Halloween costume was pulled by online retailer Yandy after Twitter-led protests that it mocked rape.
'It has become obvious that (the costume) is being seen as a symbol of women's oppression rather than an expression of women's empowerment,' Yandy said.
Obvious to whom, exactly?
Nobody was offended until they were told to be offended.
Sadly, we now live in an era where everyone is told to be offended about absolutely everything, all the time.
The grimly depressing result is that even Halloween, the very epitome of once gloriously unashamed inappropriate offensiveness, has now been hijacked by the 'woke' wastrels intent on sucking all the fun out of life.
It's pathetic.
RIP Halloween – I'll miss you.
By Piers Morgan
Daily Mail
October 31, 2018
RIP Halloween.
In one of life's greatest ironies, an event that celebrates people coming back from the dead has now killed itself.
Its tragic passing was confirmed yesterday when Olympic snowboarder Shaun White made a grovelling public apology for his Halloween costume.
Or rather, he was bullied into making it.
White's crime was to dress up as Simple Jack, the goofy village idiot character depicted by Ben Stiller in 'Tropic Thunder'.
Jack was a deliberate parody of other movie characters like Forrest Gump or Raymond from 'Rain Man'.
Stiller plays actor Tugg Speedman, who purposely takes on the role of gibbering farm hand Simple Jack in a cynical bid to win an Oscar.
I didn't find Jack - or the movie for that matter - particularly funny, but nor did I find him 'offensive'. The film makes a very good point about Hollywood's hypocrisy.
Yet White's decision to go as Simple Jack to a Halloween party, and then post the picture on Instagram, caused outrage.
Soeren Palumbo, co-founder of the Special Olympics' Spread the Word to End the Word campaign said in a statement: 'We are truly disappointed that Shaun White, an acclaimed Olympian, would choose this costume which is so offensive and causes to much pain. Disability is not a joke, nor should it be a punchline. We hope that Shaun White and others learn that this just continues stigma, stereotypes and discrimination.'
Wow.
That's quite a statement, isn't it?
Sportsman dresses up as a parody movie character for a party and is promptly demonised as the offensive, pain-inducing enemy of tolerance.
Really?
Of course, social media immediately frothed itself into 'faux outrage' mode and demanded various forms of punishment for White ranging from public apology to public stoning.
And equally inevitably, he bowed to the mob and deleted the photo.
'I owe everyone in the Special Olympics community an apology for my poor choice of Halloween costume the other night,' he said. 'It was a last minute decision. It was the wrong one. The Special Olympics are right to call me out on it, they do great work supporting many tremendous athletes and I am so sorry for being insensitive. Lesson learned.'
Jeez.
What lesson have you learned, Shaun? That nobody is allowed to dress up as an 'inappropriate' movie character on Halloween any more?
Isn't the whole bloody point of Halloween to be inappropriate?
Ben Stiller, who was similarly attacked when the movie came out 10 years ago, explained yesterday: 'It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards.'
Well, of course it was!
As the film's writer Etan Cohen said at the time: 'Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim.'
Exactly.
Yet once people are instructed to believe something's 'offensive' these days, they quickly work themselves into a lather of fury.
We saw a similar outcry last week when Megyn Kelly pondered aloud on her now cancelled NBC show why it's considered so wrong for white people to blacken their faces on Halloween to portray famous black people.
'What is racist?' she asked. 'Because you do get into trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person who puts on whiteface on Halloween. When I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up like a character.'
She was promptly hounded from all quarters, knifed spectacularly in the back by her own co-workers on air, and fired in abject disgrace.
NBC Nightly News, hosted by black anchor Lester Holt, devoted considerable airtime over several nights to the saga.
Yet a day after Kelly was fired, a photo emerged of the same Lester Holt dressed up as singer Susan Boyle for Halloween, including his face painted white.
Now, I fully understand and accept there is a difference between the two, and that 'blackface' is unacceptable in modern society for all the well-articulated reasons African-Americans rightly feel it is.
But just as I don't think black people should use the N-word, I don't think they should whiteface themselves on Halloween either.
If something is racist and wrong, then nobody should do it.
Not least, because it opens the door to people crying 'double standard'.
As Mike Huckabee tweeted: 'So Megyn Kelly is shown the door for TALKING about something Lester Holt DID?'
What the White and Kelly 'scandals' told me is that Halloween is now officially over.
The event that was supposed to be all about inappropriate, scary and offensive costumes has now been hijacked by the Politically Correct Police and rendered so anodyne that it's pointless.
Every single costume you think about wearing tonight is going to be deemed offensive by someone somewhere – however tame.
Want to go as Cinderella? Forget it – Kiera Knightley will abuse you for endorsing sexism.
Want to go as Caitlyn Jenner? Forget it – the transgender community will erupt with fury.
Want to go as Mother Teresa? Forget it – cultural appropriation.
Bill Maher addressed this Halloween PC nonsense on his Real Time show last week when he said; 'The Office of Scolding Justice Warriors has decreed no Indian chiefs, no hula girls, no Southern belles, no Daniel Boone, no geishas, no ninjas, no gypsies, no mobsters, no terrorists, no Cleopatra. Pirates offend one-eyed people, you can't dress as a hobo because it makes light of the homeless, you can't dress as Quasimodo because it offends hunchbacks, you can't dress as an escaped mental patient because… it offends Kanye.'
In short, you can't go as anyone.
Well, except Donald Trump because the PC rules on offensiveness don't apply to him.
Yet the people screaming about all this stuff are in fact a very small majority.
As Maher said, a recent poll revealed that 80% of Americans hate the new PC culture including most African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans.
So the perpetually whining and outraged 'woke' snowflakes are not speaking for the majority, and they're not even speaking for the people they assume are feeling victimised.
Despite this, their bullying and squealing works.
Last month, an innocuous 'Brave Red Maiden' Handmaid's Tale Halloween costume was pulled by online retailer Yandy after Twitter-led protests that it mocked rape.
'It has become obvious that (the costume) is being seen as a symbol of women's oppression rather than an expression of women's empowerment,' Yandy said.
Obvious to whom, exactly?
Nobody was offended until they were told to be offended.
Sadly, we now live in an era where everyone is told to be offended about absolutely everything, all the time.
The grimly depressing result is that even Halloween, the very epitome of once gloriously unashamed inappropriate offensiveness, has now been hijacked by the 'woke' wastrels intent on sucking all the fun out of life.
It's pathetic.
RIP Halloween – I'll miss you.
NAZI TRUMP FUCK OFF AND PRESIDENT HATE LEAVE OUR STATE!!
4,000 protesters demonstrated near the Tree of Life synagogue during Trump’s visit
President Trump, wife Melania, Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer visited the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay homage to the 11 worshipers shot dead Saturday morning.
During this solemn moment, the Trumps were greeted by 4,000 jeering protesters some of whom held up signs that read, "Nazi Trump Fuck Off" and “President HATE Leave Our State!!”
What you have here is the President honoring the slain victims while 4,000 jeering protesters dishonored them.
President Trump, wife Melania, Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump, and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer visited the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Tuesday to pay homage to the 11 worshipers shot dead Saturday morning.
During this solemn moment, the Trumps were greeted by 4,000 jeering protesters some of whom held up signs that read, "Nazi Trump Fuck Off" and “President HATE Leave Our State!!”
What you have here is the President honoring the slain victims while 4,000 jeering protesters dishonored them.
FALSE RAPE COMPLAINT RESULTS IN LAWSUIT
by Bob Walsh
Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (2016) Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire were football players at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Nikki Yovino, of South Setauket, N Y made a rape complaint against them. They were suspended.
They have just filed a civil suit against the school and Ms. Yovino for slander and infliction of emotional distress. Last year Ms. Yovino copped a plea to interfering with police and filing a false report, so their burden of proof is not as high as it might be. It seems that Ms. Yovino voluntarily had sex with both of them at an off-campus party, then lied about it so her wannabe boyfriend wouldn't brush her off for being a skank.
The men are seeking unspecified damages from both Yovino and the school. The school has declined comment, as has Ms. Yovino's lawyer. I somehow feel that the real deep pocket here is the school. I don't know what exposure they have as the girl actually did file a police report, but without knowing the fine details it will be hard to say whether the school acted precipitously at the time.
Back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth (2016) Dhameer Bradley and Malik St. Hilaire were football players at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. Nikki Yovino, of South Setauket, N Y made a rape complaint against them. They were suspended.
They have just filed a civil suit against the school and Ms. Yovino for slander and infliction of emotional distress. Last year Ms. Yovino copped a plea to interfering with police and filing a false report, so their burden of proof is not as high as it might be. It seems that Ms. Yovino voluntarily had sex with both of them at an off-campus party, then lied about it so her wannabe boyfriend wouldn't brush her off for being a skank.
The men are seeking unspecified damages from both Yovino and the school. The school has declined comment, as has Ms. Yovino's lawyer. I somehow feel that the real deep pocket here is the school. I don't know what exposure they have as the girl actually did file a police report, but without knowing the fine details it will be hard to say whether the school acted precipitously at the time.
CHEATING THE ELECTORATE
by Bob Walsh
As I have noted before California has had a very active direct democracy (voter referendum) system for over 100 years. It has done some very good things in California. But it is open to cheating.
Witness Proposition Six. If approved, Prop 6 would repeal the very large VLF (vehicle license fee) increase and substantial motor fuel increases made by the legislature and the governor at the end of last year (despite Moonbeam's promise that he would do no such thing without voter approval.) It would, in addition, prohibit the raising of taxes or the imposition of new taxes without a vote of the people.
So, here comes the cheat. The ballot description is written by the Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, who is a hard core liberal partisan Democrap. He can title the thing pretty much anything he wants on the ballot, and often the title is the only thing people read. The title only says that the proposition would shitcan road repair funding. The proposition originally polled at a good margin ahead. Unfortunately the Republican party withdrew their support, I guess they want the gravy to spread around as much as the Democraps do. (The money is ALLEGEDLY earmarked for road repair and other transit improvements. It will no doubt be diverted and much of it spent on Jerry's toy train. This has happened regularly in the past.)
The Proposition 6 supporters have announced a recall attempt on Becerra. It has no chance whatsoever of succeeding. They are also threatening court action against Becerra for fucking with the legit ballot description. That has a reasonable chance of going somewhere.
We will find out in six days how it goes. Caltrans have had people out handing out election material in opposition to Proposition 6 at road repair work sites, in violation of state law. The unions are of course pushing the shit out of defeating it as the work supports union jobs, at least until the rapacious bastards in the legislature steal the money to support free health insurance rights for transgender illegal aliens.
I'll keep you posted.
As I have noted before California has had a very active direct democracy (voter referendum) system for over 100 years. It has done some very good things in California. But it is open to cheating.
Witness Proposition Six. If approved, Prop 6 would repeal the very large VLF (vehicle license fee) increase and substantial motor fuel increases made by the legislature and the governor at the end of last year (despite Moonbeam's promise that he would do no such thing without voter approval.) It would, in addition, prohibit the raising of taxes or the imposition of new taxes without a vote of the people.
So, here comes the cheat. The ballot description is written by the Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, who is a hard core liberal partisan Democrap. He can title the thing pretty much anything he wants on the ballot, and often the title is the only thing people read. The title only says that the proposition would shitcan road repair funding. The proposition originally polled at a good margin ahead. Unfortunately the Republican party withdrew their support, I guess they want the gravy to spread around as much as the Democraps do. (The money is ALLEGEDLY earmarked for road repair and other transit improvements. It will no doubt be diverted and much of it spent on Jerry's toy train. This has happened regularly in the past.)
The Proposition 6 supporters have announced a recall attempt on Becerra. It has no chance whatsoever of succeeding. They are also threatening court action against Becerra for fucking with the legit ballot description. That has a reasonable chance of going somewhere.
We will find out in six days how it goes. Caltrans have had people out handing out election material in opposition to Proposition 6 at road repair work sites, in violation of state law. The unions are of course pushing the shit out of defeating it as the work supports union jobs, at least until the rapacious bastards in the legislature steal the money to support free health insurance rights for transgender illegal aliens.
I'll keep you posted.
I DON'T THINK TRUMP CAN MAKE THIS WORK
But Maybe He Can
by Bob Walsh
Yesterday it was announced that President Trump will end birth right citizenship by executive order.
Apparently his lawyers are telling him he can do this. My interpretation of the 14th Amendment would indicate otherwise, and my law degree from Ralph's Law School and Storm Door Company should give me some expertise in the matter.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea. I am just unsure that Trump can do it by himself. Of course it will give him a really good issue in six days, and again in two years. And of course it is possible that is the whole point.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob, you are right. Legal scholars are in agreement such an order will violate the 14th Amendment. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan thinks so too. If Trump issues that executive order, it will be immediately challenged in the courts.
by Bob Walsh
Yesterday it was announced that President Trump will end birth right citizenship by executive order.
Apparently his lawyers are telling him he can do this. My interpretation of the 14th Amendment would indicate otherwise, and my law degree from Ralph's Law School and Storm Door Company should give me some expertise in the matter.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is a good idea. I am just unsure that Trump can do it by himself. Of course it will give him a really good issue in six days, and again in two years. And of course it is possible that is the whole point.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob, you are right. Legal scholars are in agreement such an order will violate the 14th Amendment. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan thinks so too. If Trump issues that executive order, it will be immediately challenged in the courts.
PENGUINS HONOR PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING VICTINS
Hold moment of silence before game against Islanders, wear special patch on jerseys
by Wes Crosby
NHL.com
October 30, 2018
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins honored victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and their families before facing the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
About 5 miles from the synagogue, where 11 people were killed and six were injured in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday, the Penguins held a moment of silence before their first home game in two weeks. It lasted 11 seconds, one for each person killed, while the victims' names were displayed on the screen.
A video celebrating diversity and inclusion played before the Penguins and Islanders took the ice for the national anthem.
Sue Berman Kress, Bob Silverman and Josh Sayles of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were welcomed onto the ice for the moment of silence and anthem. Chief Scott Schubert and Officers Mike Smidga and Anthony Burke of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police performed a ceremonial puck drop to a standing ovation. Smidga and Burke were among the first responders to the shooting.
A patch with the Penguins logo superimposed on an upside-down triangle, forming a Star of David, with "Stronger than Hate" underneath, was sewn onto the right shoulder of Pittsburgh's jerseys. The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned at treeoflife.givesmart.com.
The proceeds from the jersey auction and the Penguins' other fundraising efforts will go to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and a fund established with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety to benefit the four Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.
The Penguins held a blood drive at PPG Paints Arena from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Monday. The turnout was so large that future appointments had to be made to accommodate everyone wishing to donate.
Vitalant, a nonprofit organization specializing in blood donation, collected 254 units -- enough to save or directly impact 762 lives, the Penguins said on their Twitter account.
The city canceled its annual Halloween celebration scheduled for Tuesday and instead held a collection to benefit the victims and families affected by the shooting.
by Wes Crosby
NHL.com
October 30, 2018
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins honored victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting and their families before facing the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.
About 5 miles from the synagogue, where 11 people were killed and six were injured in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood Saturday, the Penguins held a moment of silence before their first home game in two weeks. It lasted 11 seconds, one for each person killed, while the victims' names were displayed on the screen.
A video celebrating diversity and inclusion played before the Penguins and Islanders took the ice for the national anthem.
Sue Berman Kress, Bob Silverman and Josh Sayles of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh were welcomed onto the ice for the moment of silence and anthem. Chief Scott Schubert and Officers Mike Smidga and Anthony Burke of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police performed a ceremonial puck drop to a standing ovation. Smidga and Burke were among the first responders to the shooting.
A patch with the Penguins logo superimposed on an upside-down triangle, forming a Star of David, with "Stronger than Hate" underneath, was sewn onto the right shoulder of Pittsburgh's jerseys. The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned at treeoflife.givesmart.com.
The proceeds from the jersey auction and the Penguins' other fundraising efforts will go to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and a fund established with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety to benefit the four Pittsburgh police officers injured in the shooting.
The Penguins held a blood drive at PPG Paints Arena from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Monday. The turnout was so large that future appointments had to be made to accommodate everyone wishing to donate.
Vitalant, a nonprofit organization specializing in blood donation, collected 254 units -- enough to save or directly impact 762 lives, the Penguins said on their Twitter account.
The city canceled its annual Halloween celebration scheduled for Tuesday and instead held a collection to benefit the victims and families affected by the shooting.
THE PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE
Anti-Semitism and Trump
BY Dennis Prager
Townhall
October 30, 2018
All my life I have reminded fellow Jews in America that we are the luckiest Jews to have ever lived in a non-Jewish country. I know what I'm talking about. I wrote a book on anti-Semitism, taught Jewish history at Brooklyn College and fought anti-Semitism since I was 21, when Israel sent me into the Soviet Union to smuggle in Jewish religious items and smuggle out Jewish names.
Even after the massacre of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, this assessment remains true.
But the greatest massacre of Jews in American history is a unique American tragedy.
It is a tragedy in part because America has finally made the list of countries in which Jews were murdered for being Jews. While this was probably inevitable, given that 330 million people live in America, it is painful -- equally for me as an American and as a Jew.
And second, while there is no difference between the murder of Christians at a church and the murder of Jews in a synagogue with regard to the loss of life and the suffering of loved ones, there is something unique about the murder of Jews for being Jews: Anti-Semitism is exterminationist. Anti-semites don't just want to persecute, enslave or expel Jews; they want to kill them all.
On Passover, Jews read the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish prayer book of the Passover Seder. In it are contained these words: "In every generation, they arise to annihilate us" -- not "persecute" us; not "enslave" us; annihilate us.
So, when the murderer yelled, "All Jews must die," he encapsulated the uniqueness of anti-Semitism.
There is another unique aspect to anti-Semitism: It destroys every society in which it grows. The animating force within Adolf Hitler was Jew-hatred. More than anything else -- desire for German "Lebensraum," hatred of Bolshevism, a view of Slavs as subhuman -- it was anti-Semitism that invigorated him. Anti-Semitism was not a Nazi scapegoat; it was the Nazis' raison d'etre.
The results of German anti-Semitism for Germans alone: more than 5 million dead, including half a million German civilians; 130,000 more civilians murdered by the Nazi regime; 12 million Germans expelled from East Europe, 2 million of whom died; innumerable rapes of German women; Germany divided in two for half a century -- and the loss of a sense of self and reputation.
I have no idea if, outside the universities and the Israel-hating left, there has been an increase in anti-Semitism in America. I wish I could trust the Anti-Defamation League, other Jewish organizations and Jewish community newspapers. Sadly, only Jews on the left do, because most of these organizations have a left-wing, anti-Trump agenda.
Here's a perfect example:
The mainstream left-wing media, along with left-wing Jewish organizations and media, told us every day for months after Trump's election that anti-Semitism had greatly increased. They cited the great number of Jewish Community Centers that received bomb threats. It turned out, however, that about 90 percent of those threats were called in by a mentally disturbed American Jewish teenager living in Israel, and the other 10 percent were made by a black radical seeking to frame his ex-girlfriend. So, the claim eventually vanished from the news -- with not one Jewish or non-Jewish organization or media outlet apologizing for crying anti-Semitic "fire" in a crowded theater.
The dishonest now have the Pittsburgh massacre to blame on Trump. But that's as big a falsehood as blaming Trump for the bomb threats. In reality, the Pittsburgh murderer criticized Trump for his close connections to Jews and Israel.
For Jews to blame the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman -- the only president with a Jewish child and Jewish grandchildren, moreover -- for increasing anti-Semitism is another example of a truism this Jew has known all his life: Unlike Jewish liberals, who get most of their values from Judaism, Jewish leftists are ethnically Jewish but get their values from leftism.
The biggest increase in anti-Semitism in the last 10 or so years has come from the left. Just ask young Jews who wear yarmulkes or are vocally pro-Israel on most American college campuses. And this generation's threat of Jewish annihilation comes from Israel's Iranian and Arab enemies.
As a Jew who attends synagogue every Shabbat, and as an advocate for the carrying of concealed weapons, I fervently pray we will not need armed guards at American synagogues. America's uniqueness has been exemplified by the fact that Jews do not need armed guards in their synagogues.
May it always be so.
Even if you don't love Jews -- if you only love America -- you need to fight anti-Semites. As the Jews go, so goes the fate of the nation in which they live.
BY Dennis Prager
Townhall
October 30, 2018
All my life I have reminded fellow Jews in America that we are the luckiest Jews to have ever lived in a non-Jewish country. I know what I'm talking about. I wrote a book on anti-Semitism, taught Jewish history at Brooklyn College and fought anti-Semitism since I was 21, when Israel sent me into the Soviet Union to smuggle in Jewish religious items and smuggle out Jewish names.
Even after the massacre of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, this assessment remains true.
But the greatest massacre of Jews in American history is a unique American tragedy.
It is a tragedy in part because America has finally made the list of countries in which Jews were murdered for being Jews. While this was probably inevitable, given that 330 million people live in America, it is painful -- equally for me as an American and as a Jew.
And second, while there is no difference between the murder of Christians at a church and the murder of Jews in a synagogue with regard to the loss of life and the suffering of loved ones, there is something unique about the murder of Jews for being Jews: Anti-Semitism is exterminationist. Anti-semites don't just want to persecute, enslave or expel Jews; they want to kill them all.
On Passover, Jews read the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish prayer book of the Passover Seder. In it are contained these words: "In every generation, they arise to annihilate us" -- not "persecute" us; not "enslave" us; annihilate us.
So, when the murderer yelled, "All Jews must die," he encapsulated the uniqueness of anti-Semitism.
There is another unique aspect to anti-Semitism: It destroys every society in which it grows. The animating force within Adolf Hitler was Jew-hatred. More than anything else -- desire for German "Lebensraum," hatred of Bolshevism, a view of Slavs as subhuman -- it was anti-Semitism that invigorated him. Anti-Semitism was not a Nazi scapegoat; it was the Nazis' raison d'etre.
The results of German anti-Semitism for Germans alone: more than 5 million dead, including half a million German civilians; 130,000 more civilians murdered by the Nazi regime; 12 million Germans expelled from East Europe, 2 million of whom died; innumerable rapes of German women; Germany divided in two for half a century -- and the loss of a sense of self and reputation.
I have no idea if, outside the universities and the Israel-hating left, there has been an increase in anti-Semitism in America. I wish I could trust the Anti-Defamation League, other Jewish organizations and Jewish community newspapers. Sadly, only Jews on the left do, because most of these organizations have a left-wing, anti-Trump agenda.
Here's a perfect example:
The mainstream left-wing media, along with left-wing Jewish organizations and media, told us every day for months after Trump's election that anti-Semitism had greatly increased. They cited the great number of Jewish Community Centers that received bomb threats. It turned out, however, that about 90 percent of those threats were called in by a mentally disturbed American Jewish teenager living in Israel, and the other 10 percent were made by a black radical seeking to frame his ex-girlfriend. So, the claim eventually vanished from the news -- with not one Jewish or non-Jewish organization or media outlet apologizing for crying anti-Semitic "fire" in a crowded theater.
The dishonest now have the Pittsburgh massacre to blame on Trump. But that's as big a falsehood as blaming Trump for the bomb threats. In reality, the Pittsburgh murderer criticized Trump for his close connections to Jews and Israel.
For Jews to blame the most pro-Israel president since Harry Truman -- the only president with a Jewish child and Jewish grandchildren, moreover -- for increasing anti-Semitism is another example of a truism this Jew has known all his life: Unlike Jewish liberals, who get most of their values from Judaism, Jewish leftists are ethnically Jewish but get their values from leftism.
The biggest increase in anti-Semitism in the last 10 or so years has come from the left. Just ask young Jews who wear yarmulkes or are vocally pro-Israel on most American college campuses. And this generation's threat of Jewish annihilation comes from Israel's Iranian and Arab enemies.
As a Jew who attends synagogue every Shabbat, and as an advocate for the carrying of concealed weapons, I fervently pray we will not need armed guards at American synagogues. America's uniqueness has been exemplified by the fact that Jews do not need armed guards in their synagogues.
May it always be so.
Even if you don't love Jews -- if you only love America -- you need to fight anti-Semites. As the Jews go, so goes the fate of the nation in which they live.
ARABS APPEAR TO BE WARMING UP TO ISRAEL
Claiming Israel is 'Isolated' Just Got a Whole Lot Harder
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 28, 2018
Israel? Isolated? Not really.
The claim by Palestinian nationalists and their sympathizers that Israel is globally ostracized for failing to as of yet facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state is easily debunked. As it so happens, Israel isn't even all that isolated within the Arab world.
For decades, the rest of the Middle East did indeed boycott the Jewish state. But that has been changing of late, and a couple of examples just this past week indicated a rapid acceleration of the normalization process.
Israelis were surprised over the weekend to wake up to newspaper headlines informing us that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just returned from an official state visit to Oman.
Netanyahu was personally invited to the Omani capital of Muscat by the country's leader, Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said, to discuss regional issues.
A day later, Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi addressed a security summit in Bahrain, where he urged the rest of the Arab Middle East to likewise embrace the Jewish state.
"Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations," bin Alawi told the IISS Manama Dialogue conference.
Also over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates hosted its annual Abu Dhadi Judo Grand Slam, and, for the first time ever, Israeli judokas were permitted to compete under their national flag.
Three Israelis won bronze medals, and the Israeli flag was on display as they were awarded by the Arab hosts.
More than that, Israel Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was invited to attend the competition in her official capacity. Photos of Regev making friendly with UAE President Mohamed Bin Tha'loob Al Derai quickly made waves across the region.
These more recent encounters happened amid a general warming of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. While Jerusalem still has no official relations with any of these Arab countries, their willingness to publicly cuddle up to the Jewish state and its leaders represents a sea change since September 1, 1967, when these same countries joined the rest of the Arab world in signing the Khartoum Resolution outlawing any and all ties with Israel.
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 28, 2018
Israel? Isolated? Not really.
The claim by Palestinian nationalists and their sympathizers that Israel is globally ostracized for failing to as of yet facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state is easily debunked. As it so happens, Israel isn't even all that isolated within the Arab world.
For decades, the rest of the Middle East did indeed boycott the Jewish state. But that has been changing of late, and a couple of examples just this past week indicated a rapid acceleration of the normalization process.
Israelis were surprised over the weekend to wake up to newspaper headlines informing us that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had just returned from an official state visit to Oman.
Netanyahu was personally invited to the Omani capital of Muscat by the country's leader, Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said Al Said, to discuss regional issues.
A day later, Omani Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi addressed a security summit in Bahrain, where he urged the rest of the Arab Middle East to likewise embrace the Jewish state.
"Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations," bin Alawi told the IISS Manama Dialogue conference.
Also over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates hosted its annual Abu Dhadi Judo Grand Slam, and, for the first time ever, Israeli judokas were permitted to compete under their national flag.
Three Israelis won bronze medals, and the Israeli flag was on display as they were awarded by the Arab hosts.
More than that, Israel Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev was invited to attend the competition in her official capacity. Photos of Regev making friendly with UAE President Mohamed Bin Tha'loob Al Derai quickly made waves across the region.
These more recent encounters happened amid a general warming of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. While Jerusalem still has no official relations with any of these Arab countries, their willingness to publicly cuddle up to the Jewish state and its leaders represents a sea change since September 1, 1967, when these same countries joined the rest of the Arab world in signing the Khartoum Resolution outlawing any and all ties with Israel.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
SHAME, SHAME ON JEWISH LIBERALS WHO HAVE SHAMED AMERICA’S JEWS BY SHAMING PRESIDENT TRUMP
Bend the Arc, a left-wing Jewish organization, told the President he is not welcome in Pittsburgh
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 29, 2018
Bend the Arc claims to be “a movement of progressive Jews across the country who are fighting for justice and equality for all.” Of course, progressive equates to liberal. And ironically, among those liberal Jews are some of Israel's harshest critics. You could call them Israel-hating Jews. They loved Obama’s hatred of Netanyahu and they hate Trump for his friendship with Israel.
When Trump announced he planned to visit the Tree of Life synagogue, the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend the Arc sent him an open letter denouncing his words and policies and telling him he is not welcome in Pittsburgh. The letter all but accused him of being directly responsible for the synagogue massacre.
Here is that Bend the Arc letter:
President Trump:
Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.
For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.
Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.
The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.
The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
This means all of us.
In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God. While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.
Signed,
Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh Steering Committee
This organization has no shame! It has shamed me, a Jew. It has shamed all of America’s Jews, both the liberal and the conservative Jews. It has used the synagogue massacre as a means to further its left-wing political agenda. Bend the Arc makes me want to puke.
What the jerks at Bend the Arc don’t seem to realize is that all their shameful letter does is fuel more anti-Semitism.
At least Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading prayers in the main sanctuary of the Tree of Life synagogue when the gunman burst in, had the decency to welcome a visit by the President.
By Howie Katz
Big Jolly Times
October 29, 2018
Bend the Arc claims to be “a movement of progressive Jews across the country who are fighting for justice and equality for all.” Of course, progressive equates to liberal. And ironically, among those liberal Jews are some of Israel's harshest critics. You could call them Israel-hating Jews. They loved Obama’s hatred of Netanyahu and they hate Trump for his friendship with Israel.
When Trump announced he planned to visit the Tree of Life synagogue, the Pittsburgh chapter of Bend the Arc sent him an open letter denouncing his words and policies and telling him he is not welcome in Pittsburgh. The letter all but accused him of being directly responsible for the synagogue massacre.
Here is that Bend the Arc letter:
President Trump:
Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.
For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.
Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted. You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.
The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.
The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.
This means all of us.
In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God. While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:
President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.
Signed,
Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh Steering Committee
This organization has no shame! It has shamed me, a Jew. It has shamed all of America’s Jews, both the liberal and the conservative Jews. It has used the synagogue massacre as a means to further its left-wing political agenda. Bend the Arc makes me want to puke.
What the jerks at Bend the Arc don’t seem to realize is that all their shameful letter does is fuel more anti-Semitism.
At least Rabbi Jeffrey Myers, who was leading prayers in the main sanctuary of the Tree of Life synagogue when the gunman burst in, had the decency to welcome a visit by the President.
THE OLDEST HATRED
All good Americans stand in solidarity against anti-Semitism.
By The Editorial Board
The Wall Street Journal
October 28, 2018
The massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh is an awful reminder that there are human hatreds far more virulent and ancient than those that animate our current political divisions. The killer of 11 human beings on the Sabbath Saturday morning was an anti-Semite who was out to kill Jews.
“All Jews must die,” alleged killer Robert Bowers yelled as he burst into a religious service and opened fire. As our friends at the New York Sun note, anti-Semitism is not aimed at Jewish behavior, or support for Jewish immigration, or support for Israel. Robert Bowers simply hated Jews.
This irrational hatred is one of humanity’s oldest and manifests itself in murder almost daily in the Middle East. Jews are killed simply because they are Jews, as they have been throughout history. This is why millions have sought refuge in a Jewish state, Israel, and also in the religious protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States.
The outpouring of support and grief for the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre is a reminder of America’s unique role as a refuge for the world’s religious. Muslim states often persecute non-Muslims as well as Muslims who do not share their brand of Islam. China persecutes people of all faiths. America protects them.
The U.S. has seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League. But there are still fewer in America than in most of the rest of world, and the sources of anti-Semitism range across the political spectrum, including some on the right like Robert Bowers but also from the pro-Palestinian left, especially on university campuses.
In America the most stalwart supporters of Israel and the Jewish people are evangelical Christians and orthodox Catholics. Perhaps this is because as people of faith themselves they know what it is like to be mocked and shunned in a popular culture that is increasingly secular, often aggressively so.
President Trump says he’ll visit Pittsburgh, and well he should. That trip would be a statement of national solidarity with the victims and against anti-Semitism. This being 2018 in America, the political left nonetheless jumped immediately to shift blame for the murders from the killer to Mr. Trump. The Washington Post ran off multiple pieces on the theme. No matter that Mr. Trump’s daughter has converted to Judaism and she and her husband are raising their children in the faith.
Americans would do well to ignore this toxic habit of political blame for murderous acts by the racist, anti-Semitic or mentally disturbed. We are all responsible for our rhetoric, and that includes Mr. Trump, as well as Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder.
But the blame artists are distracting attention from the real sickness, which in this case is anti-Semitism, a hatred that goes back millennia. That is the toxin to banish as much as possible from American life, even if it can’t be purged entirely from human souls.
By The Editorial Board
The Wall Street Journal
October 28, 2018
The massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh is an awful reminder that there are human hatreds far more virulent and ancient than those that animate our current political divisions. The killer of 11 human beings on the Sabbath Saturday morning was an anti-Semite who was out to kill Jews.
“All Jews must die,” alleged killer Robert Bowers yelled as he burst into a religious service and opened fire. As our friends at the New York Sun note, anti-Semitism is not aimed at Jewish behavior, or support for Jewish immigration, or support for Israel. Robert Bowers simply hated Jews.
This irrational hatred is one of humanity’s oldest and manifests itself in murder almost daily in the Middle East. Jews are killed simply because they are Jews, as they have been throughout history. This is why millions have sought refuge in a Jewish state, Israel, and also in the religious protections embedded in the Constitution of the United States.
The outpouring of support and grief for the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre is a reminder of America’s unique role as a refuge for the world’s religious. Muslim states often persecute non-Muslims as well as Muslims who do not share their brand of Islam. China persecutes people of all faiths. America protects them.
The U.S. has seen an increase in anti-Semitic acts in recent years, according to the Anti-Defamation League. But there are still fewer in America than in most of the rest of world, and the sources of anti-Semitism range across the political spectrum, including some on the right like Robert Bowers but also from the pro-Palestinian left, especially on university campuses.
In America the most stalwart supporters of Israel and the Jewish people are evangelical Christians and orthodox Catholics. Perhaps this is because as people of faith themselves they know what it is like to be mocked and shunned in a popular culture that is increasingly secular, often aggressively so.
President Trump says he’ll visit Pittsburgh, and well he should. That trip would be a statement of national solidarity with the victims and against anti-Semitism. This being 2018 in America, the political left nonetheless jumped immediately to shift blame for the murders from the killer to Mr. Trump. The Washington Post ran off multiple pieces on the theme. No matter that Mr. Trump’s daughter has converted to Judaism and she and her husband are raising their children in the faith.
Americans would do well to ignore this toxic habit of political blame for murderous acts by the racist, anti-Semitic or mentally disturbed. We are all responsible for our rhetoric, and that includes Mr. Trump, as well as Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder.
But the blame artists are distracting attention from the real sickness, which in this case is anti-Semitism, a hatred that goes back millennia. That is the toxin to banish as much as possible from American life, even if it can’t be purged entirely from human souls.
MAYBE THE FIRST FAKE NEWS ??
by Bob Walsh
Eighty years ago tonight Martians did NOT land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, but a fair number of people thought they did. Orson Welle's broadcast of the War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater On The Air by CBS caused a bit of panic here and there when people thought the one hour radio show was an actual news broadcast.
It is not likely that such a simplistic thing would sucker in people today over the age of 13, but audiences were less technically sophisticated back then. The international zeitgeist no doubt contributed to people being suckered. The documentary style without commercials had a certain feel to it. The fact that the time compression was clearly way, way off did not register on people. It caused a huge stink and a congressional inquiry. It also made Orson Welles, the director and chief actor, a star.
It could have been much worse. In Quito, Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio station broadcast the same play, altered as appropriate for the local residents. When they found out it was a "hoax" they rioted and burned down the radio station, killing seven people.
Every October 30 I play back a recording of it (it is available on DVD) just for my own amusement.
Eighty years ago tonight Martians did NOT land at Grover's Mill, New Jersey, but a fair number of people thought they did. Orson Welle's broadcast of the War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater On The Air by CBS caused a bit of panic here and there when people thought the one hour radio show was an actual news broadcast.
It is not likely that such a simplistic thing would sucker in people today over the age of 13, but audiences were less technically sophisticated back then. The international zeitgeist no doubt contributed to people being suckered. The documentary style without commercials had a certain feel to it. The fact that the time compression was clearly way, way off did not register on people. It caused a huge stink and a congressional inquiry. It also made Orson Welles, the director and chief actor, a star.
It could have been much worse. In Quito, Ecuador, in 1949 a local radio station broadcast the same play, altered as appropriate for the local residents. When they found out it was a "hoax" they rioted and burned down the radio station, killing seven people.
Every October 30 I play back a recording of it (it is available on DVD) just for my own amusement.
BLUE TSUNAMI TO BLUE WAVE TO BLUE FIZZLE ?
by Bob Walsh
In one week the most important off-year election (IMHO) in living memory will take place. A few weeks ago the Democraps were openly bragging that they reasonably expected to take the senate and were going to steamroller the house.
They have since been backpeddling. Not even hard-core Democrap idiots now believe they will take the senate and in fact they are almost certainly to lose 1-3 additional seats to the Reeps.
The house in now 23 seats in favor of the Republicans. Traditionally the party in power loses seats. Trump, however, is hardly a tradition.
Regular readers will remember two years ago. While I acknowledged that Hillary was likely to win I also said it was far from certain and that I expected there would be a significant and possibly a very large closet Trump vote. Turns out I was right about that. Will it happen again?
If the Republicans can hold onto the house by even ONE seat that means committee chair positions and real power. They still might not be able to get anything passed, but they will be able to prevent the Democraps from tying the government in knots with a never ending stream of bullshit investigations, drowning the government in subpoenas. All things considered that would not be a good thing.
So, one week out and the pundits are now openly speculating that the Republicans may be able to hold onto the house by a handful of votes. Literally a handful. That's fine, all you need is one. Judging by the avalanche of money the Democraps are pouring into house races that are even in the same time zone as being winnable they are aware of the situation.
I will be spending election eve in front of the TV with my lady friend, her collie and my golden retriever, some pizza and a 12-pack of mad dog, watching the returns and hoping the party of truth (after a fashion), justice and the American way pulls it out and leaves the Democraps face down in the dirt, metaphorically speaking.
It was so much fun watching them have a hissy fit after Hillary bit the big weenie, with luck this will be a four-star blast. Maybe Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi will both stroke out. I am not counting on it, but I am hopeful.
In one week the most important off-year election (IMHO) in living memory will take place. A few weeks ago the Democraps were openly bragging that they reasonably expected to take the senate and were going to steamroller the house.
They have since been backpeddling. Not even hard-core Democrap idiots now believe they will take the senate and in fact they are almost certainly to lose 1-3 additional seats to the Reeps.
The house in now 23 seats in favor of the Republicans. Traditionally the party in power loses seats. Trump, however, is hardly a tradition.
Regular readers will remember two years ago. While I acknowledged that Hillary was likely to win I also said it was far from certain and that I expected there would be a significant and possibly a very large closet Trump vote. Turns out I was right about that. Will it happen again?
If the Republicans can hold onto the house by even ONE seat that means committee chair positions and real power. They still might not be able to get anything passed, but they will be able to prevent the Democraps from tying the government in knots with a never ending stream of bullshit investigations, drowning the government in subpoenas. All things considered that would not be a good thing.
So, one week out and the pundits are now openly speculating that the Republicans may be able to hold onto the house by a handful of votes. Literally a handful. That's fine, all you need is one. Judging by the avalanche of money the Democraps are pouring into house races that are even in the same time zone as being winnable they are aware of the situation.
I will be spending election eve in front of the TV with my lady friend, her collie and my golden retriever, some pizza and a 12-pack of mad dog, watching the returns and hoping the party of truth (after a fashion), justice and the American way pulls it out and leaves the Democraps face down in the dirt, metaphorically speaking.
It was so much fun watching them have a hissy fit after Hillary bit the big weenie, with luck this will be a four-star blast. Maybe Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi will both stroke out. I am not counting on it, but I am hopeful.
THIS IS MORE THAN A LITTLE TROUBLING
by Bob Walsh
Curtis Adams is active duty navy. He was driving home with his girlfriend on the I-15 in San Diego early Saturday morning when he spotted what appeared to be a stranded motorist. He stopped to see if he could help, because he is a nice guy. As soon as Adams exited his car the "stranded motorist" opened fire on him, then drove away. Adams died.
The cops grabbed a man stopped by the side of the highway a bit further along the road driving a car matching the description of the shooter's car.
This doesn't make a lot of sense unless this was just some asswipe who decided this would be a good set-up for killing random people.
EDITOR'S NOTE The suspect identified Sunday in the murder of an active duty Navy sailor in Mountain View on Saturday was also involved another shooting minutes before, police said.
Brandon Acuna, 21, was accused in the shooting death of Curtis Adams, 21, early Saturday morning, police said.
Acuna was also involved in another shooting 10 minutes earlier near the 600 block of Boundary Street in Mount Hope, police said.
He allegedly shot at a man who interrupted his attempt to break into the man's car, according to police.
Curtis Adams is active duty navy. He was driving home with his girlfriend on the I-15 in San Diego early Saturday morning when he spotted what appeared to be a stranded motorist. He stopped to see if he could help, because he is a nice guy. As soon as Adams exited his car the "stranded motorist" opened fire on him, then drove away. Adams died.
The cops grabbed a man stopped by the side of the highway a bit further along the road driving a car matching the description of the shooter's car.
This doesn't make a lot of sense unless this was just some asswipe who decided this would be a good set-up for killing random people.
EDITOR'S NOTE The suspect identified Sunday in the murder of an active duty Navy sailor in Mountain View on Saturday was also involved another shooting minutes before, police said.
Brandon Acuna, 21, was accused in the shooting death of Curtis Adams, 21, early Saturday morning, police said.
Acuna was also involved in another shooting 10 minutes earlier near the 600 block of Boundary Street in Mount Hope, police said.
He allegedly shot at a man who interrupted his attempt to break into the man's car, according to police.
ARMED CUSTOMER TAKES DOWN MCDONALD'S SHOOTER
by Bob Walsh
A masked man charged into a McDonald's in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday and started shooting. A lawfully armed private citizen was just leaving the restaurant with his two sons and engaged the gunman. The gunman died in the shootout. The good guy and one of his sons received non-life threatening injuries in the encounter. A total of about 15 shots were fired.
The cops don't know if it was a robbery attempt, a planned hit on a specific target or a generic nutter wanting to shoot the place up.
The cops say there is no plan to charge the good guy shooter.
A masked man charged into a McDonald's in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday and started shooting. A lawfully armed private citizen was just leaving the restaurant with his two sons and engaged the gunman. The gunman died in the shootout. The good guy and one of his sons received non-life threatening injuries in the encounter. A total of about 15 shots were fired.
The cops don't know if it was a robbery attempt, a planned hit on a specific target or a generic nutter wanting to shoot the place up.
The cops say there is no plan to charge the good guy shooter.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)