"Without the Jews of France..."

Here's an article published in The Algemeiner ("'We Haven't Shown Enough Outrage': French PM Issues Blistering Denunciation of Anti-Semitism," by Ben Cohen).

Here are excerpts from the speech (retrieved from the Anti-Defamation League website):

Ladies and gentlemen deputies, the tragic ordeals we've just been through have left their mark on us — on our country and on our conscience.

However, we must also be capable, each time, of making a swift diagnosis of the state of our society and of its urgent needs.

We'll clearly have the opportunity to hold these discussions.

I’m going to say a few words and please excuse me for taking more time than planned.

The first subject we must deal with, clearly, is the fight against anti-Semitism.

History has shown us that a reawakening of anti-Semitism is the symptom of a crisis of democracy, a crisis of the Republic.

That's why we must address it powerfully.

After Ilan Halimi in 2006, after the crimes of Toulouse, there has been an intolerable rise in acts of anti-Semitism in France.

There are words, insults, gestures, foul attacks, as in Créteil a few weeks ago, which — as I recalled in this house – have not aroused the outrage expected by our Jewish compatriots.

There's the huge worry, the palpable fear we felt on Saturday, in the crowd, outside that kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, and at the Synagogue de la Victoire on Sunday evening.

How can we accept that in France — the Jews' land of emancipation two centuries ago but also, 70 years ago, one of the lands of their agony — how can we accept that shouts of “Death to the Jews!” can be heard in our streets?

How can we accept the acts I've just recalled?

How can we accept that French people can be murdered because they are Jewish?

How can we accept that a Tunisian citizen sent to France by his father to be protected can be killed while going to buy his bread for the Sabbath — because he is a Jew? It's not acceptable.

I say to the national community, whose reaction has perhaps been insufficient, and I say to our French Jewish compatriots that this time we can't accept it, that we must also rebel.

We must make the true diagnosis: there's an anti-Semitism people call historical, going back many centuries, but above all there's this new anti-Semitism born in our neighborhoods against the backdrop of the Internet, satellite dishes, abject poverty and hatred of the State of Israel, advocating hatred of the Jew and of all Jews.

We must say this! We must utter the words to combat this unacceptable anti-Semitism.

As I've had the opportunity to say, as Minister Ségolène Royal said in Jerusalem this morning, as Claude Lanzmann wrote in a magnificent article in Le Monde, yes, let's say it directly to the world: without France's Jews, France would no longer be France!

It's up to us to proclaim this message loud and clear. We haven't said it; we're not outraged enough!

How can we accept that in certain institutions, middle schools and high schools, we can't teach what the Holocaust was?

How can we accept that a kid aged seven or eight, when asked by his teacher, “Who is your enemy?” can answer “It's the Jews”?

When the Jews of France are attacked, France is attacked and the universal conscience is attacked; let's never forget that!

Somebody Please Tell Obama the Shadow Has Returned?

"The shadow of crisis has passed. 

The state of the union is strong." 

(Barack Obama, State of the Union address, January 21, 2015).

"We're not at a time of war" 

(Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking at the National Press Club, February 17, 2015)

The shadow of crisis has passed? We're not at war? 

Tell that to the parents of James Foley and Kayla Mueller and Steven Sotloff. 

Tell that to the families of the twenty-one Coptic Christians beheaded simultaneously on a beach in Libya. 

Tell that to the 45 souls who were burned to death in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi today. 

Tell that to Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, who says Iran is busy "speeding up" its nuclear program.

Tell that to the countless men, women, and teenagers, and children of Nigeria, Libya, Iraq, who have been kidnapped, sold into slavery, flogged, beheaded, beaten, crucified, etc. at the hands of Boko Haram. 

Tell that to Islamic State which is currently on a religious crusade for worldwide dominion (see article in this month's Atlantic, below). 

Tell it to Barack Obama, who to this day refuses to acknowledge that these savages are on a mission dictated by yes, Mr. Obama, by their religion (Islam). While you're at it, tell him that the state of the union is not strong, that the shadow of crisis is back. 

If you can find him, that is. Look for him on the links, or at a photo op, maybe a fund-raiser, or writing an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times. 

Actually, I take that back. Today he's heading up a "symposium" on radical extremism, a symposium complete with break-out sessions and planning groups. 

Meanwhile, Islamic State continues its scorched-earth campaign of murder and terror, all in the name of their god.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the article in The Atlantic, by Graeme Wood (it's pretty long!): 

What is the Islamic State? 

Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State’s appeal. “We have not defeated the idea,” he said. “We do not even understand the idea.” In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as “not Islamic” and as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee team,” statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.

The group seized Mosul, Iraq, last June, and already rules an area larger than the United Kingdom. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been its leader since May 2010, but until last summer, his most recent known appearance on film was a grainy mug shot from a stay in U.S. captivity at Camp Bucca during the occupation of Iraq. Then, on July 5 of last year, he stepped into the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, to deliver a Ramadan sermon as the first caliph in generations—upgrading his resolution from grainy to high-definition, and his position from hunted guerrilla to commander of all Muslims. The inflow of jihadists that followed, from around the world, was unprecedented in its pace and volume, and is continuing.

(Read the rest at What ISIS Really Wants here). 

What Are These Brownies Selling? Hint: They're Not Cookies

Wholesome childhood experience or insidious form of child abuse? Discuss!




So besides the obvious, here's what else bothers me about this story: 

Taking the name "Brownies": Even if the Girls Scouts of America Association doesn't sue them for using their name (which they should), isn't it sort of strange to be referring to a group by their skin color? Redskins, anyone?  

The lies these kids are being told And they're repeating them like little puppets! This is not OK! Who (or what) will they be 10 years from now? Hint: back away slowly...

These are 8 to 10 year old kids!  

 

Welcome to the new world. All I can say (again), is, Pity the Left and their children. 

Naiveté, Ignorance, and Idealism: A Dangerous Combination

Breitbart article (below) about Kayla Mueller who was abducted and killed by ISIS paints a different picture of this young woman than I previously understood. 

She seems to have been more in sympathy with the plight of the Palestinians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would put her at odds with much of what I believe about this conflict (short version: I do not view Israel as an "occupier"). 

A dangerous combination, naiveté, ignorance, and idealism. 

While I sorrow for her untimely death, and am angry at the slowness and passivity of the Obama administration in terms of responding to the evil that is Islamic State ("we missed rescuing her by this much..."), I'm also disappointed in the fact that this twenty-something literally died for a cause that I don't think she fully understood. Millennials in general, and leftists, in particular, don't tend to listen to both sides of an issue. 

Dennis Prager explains the Middle East problem in five minutes in the video below: 



Perhaps people like Kayla would be less likely to jump on the anti-Israel bandwagon if they learned more about Israel's history. Nevertheless, I am sorry for this loss. Such a brave soul. I wish I had a fraction of her courage. 

Mueller Appears to Have Been Misled, by Joel B. Pollack

The La La Land of Facebook

E-mail to a friend, posting here with a few edits and updates. The comparison of Facebook to the Matrix came up while we were texting. She hadn't heard of or seen the movie, so I followed up with this message:

What's the Matrix? Here's a short answer (from Wikipedia):

The Matrix is a 1999 American-Australian science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer "Neo" learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the "dream world".

​Facebook strikes me as a pretty good analogy. I've given up trying to inject "reality" into my occasional posts. People just don't seem to want to hear bad news. So while World War III is taking place in the real world, the good people in Facebook Land talk about sunrises, baby goats, puppies and kittens, grandkids, anniversaries, restaurants, etc. All fine, all fun, but try to interject something having to do with the real world and you run the risk of being "blocked or unfriended. Who likes a spoilsport? 

A few exceptions. One person in my "friend" list (she's not even a friend, just someone I know from the Writers Guild) is a rabble-rouser, unabashedly, unrelentingly political, can't stand Obama and isn't afraid to let people know. She's actually funny, snarky and sarcastic, constantly posting articles, etc. that I find interesting and actually read. One of the few Facebook denizens not plugged into the Matrix.

Other exceptions: Democrats reviving old grievances (against George W. Bush, the Iraq war), environmentalists or animal rights activists. Conservatives like me tend to tiptoe into Facebook Land, "like" something they agree with and even occasionally join the conversation. But we seldom step into left-leaning discussions (why isn't there a dislike button?).  

My involvement on Facebook lately is mostly passive, with the occasional random posting (some arcane bit of information like Botox being botulinum toxin would probably make the cut) or birthday greeting even though I'm still old school and love actual notes and cards (hand-written preferably). 

Occasionally I feel the old stirring of wanting to just SCREAM at stupid people who don't seem to care about what's happening outside the Matrix...but I get over it pretty quickly. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but it is what it is.