Posts Tagged ‘Da Magnificent Seven’

The longer the delay in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, the more likely the Democrat Party will lose Jewish members

Posted: October 29, 2023 by John Ruberry in Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

Although the White House denies it, there have been reports that Joe Biden has told Israel to delay its expected invasion of Gaza.

The speculation is that Biden wants the Hamas terrorists to release the estimated 200 hostages, some of whom are Americans, beforehand.

My belief is that Biden is instead trying to placate the old school, pro-Israel wing of the Democrat Party, which can trace its founding to 1948, the year of Israel’s founding, and the woke, pro-Palestianian, and yes, pro-Hamas wing of the Democrats. Think of Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as the face of the old guard and think of US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), of the Squad, as the face of the new wing.

Can Biden–or more accurately, his handlers–pull it off?

For now, yes.

But the longer what I’m calling a “warm war” between Israel and Hamas continues, the more likely Jews will question why they support the Democrats. Oh, before October 7, there was cold war between Israel and Hamas, once the invasion of Gaza starts, then that will be a hot war.

The daily protests in support of Palestine/Hamas, populated by wokesters and Palestianian-Americans who equate Israel with Nazis, must eat at the heart of most Jewish people.

Most American Jews of course are Democrats, for a lot of reasons, but the primary one, in my opinion, is that as a discriminated people, Jews feel they should stand up for other marginalized groups. Party affiliation for the politically engaged–and Jewish people usually are–is not something that is easily shed. Much like religion.

For instance, my parents, Irish Catholic Democrats, despite their disgust with what was called “the New Left” in the 1960s–I now call that movement the proto-woke–took a decade to switch their political affiliation. Jimmy Carter of course hastened their transition, as it did for so many other Dems.

The false Zionists-are-Nazis drumbeat is a daily rhythm. Ten more weeks–well short of a decade–of this hatred might be too much to bear for many Jews.

Jewish people are generous donors to the Democrats and other liberal groups. At roughly 2.5 percent of the US population–which is concentrated mostly in Blue States–we are not about to see a lasting Republican majority if there is a rightward shift among Jews. But some reliably-Democrat House seats in states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even California might become swing districts.

A few years ago, Little Marathon Pundit had a Jewish boyfriend. You name the woke cause, and he supported it. I asked her to see how “Sam” felt about the growing anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party. Sam told her it was “troubling.” Jewish Democrats I know have had similar trepidations for years.

But now there is a daily two-hour-hate parade in many large American cities against Israel, and yes, Jews. As well as daily anti-Jewish memes poisoning social media, many from celebrities.

The parades and the meme frenzy will wind down once the Israel-Hamas war is over; hopefully that conflict will end with a resounding victory for the IDF.

Afterwards, we may see a different Jewish electorate.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

The GOP and moderate Dems should be paying attention to Chicago’s anti-migrant protests

Posted: October 25, 2023 by John Ruberry in crime, election 2024, News/opinion, opinion/news, politics
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By John Ruberry

If Republicans–or even those few moderate Democrats–want to advance their political career, a good place to start is Chicago’s Southwest Side.

There have a been a series of protests in the mostly Hispanic Brighton Park neighborhood, which has a sizable Asian minority, over the migrant crisis created by Joe Biden and the Democrat Party.

Residents found out through the rumor mill that the administration Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s far-left mayor who was elected six months ago, has his haughty eyes on Brighton Park. 

And rumors are true sometimes, and they were confirmed when residents noticed bulldozing on property that has been vacant for a while. Chicago’s 12th Ward, which has slightly less than 60,000 residents, will have a population bump soon. However, many of them will be living in tents, although a contractor is calling them “yurts.”

Environmental testing is still being performed, but it appears, like it or not, that the nascent yurt community, which Chicago officials are calling a 10-acre “winterized base camp,” at 38th and California, is a done deal. And plenty of residents don’t like it.

There have been 24-hour protests at the future migrant camp for over a week now.

Most of these residents are minorities. Looking at local media video reports, the ethnic makeup of the protesters appears to be roughly half Hispanic and half Asian. That was the impression Mrs. Marathon Pundit got when she drove past the anti-camp protests last Friday.

And last Thursday, the 12th Ward alderperson, Julia Ramirez, got “roughed up” by the crowd at the protest, but it appears she was only shoved around a bit. 

Apparently, Ramirez wasn’t told about Yurtville ahead of time. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Leftists like Johnson are always right, or at least they believe themselves to be. And when you question leftists, you are called said to be “uninformed” or “racist,” or someone who is “oversimplifying a nuanced issue.” I know, I live among leftists just north of the Chicago. 

Last night there was a public hearing at a Southwest Side high school about the construction of the migrant camp. Block Club Chicago reports that 500 residents showed up. While there was some support expressed for the migrants, some chants broke out, including, “Send them back” and “No queremos venezolanos,” which is Spanish for, “We don’t want Venezuelans.”

What about Asians? Specifically East Asians.

East Asians feel threatened in woke era Chicago. A friend of the Marathon Pundit family–an immigrant from Hong Kong who lives in McKinley Park, which is next to Brighton Park–told me a while back, “The criminals see us as ripe prey,” adding, “they believe that all of us all own convenience and liquor stores and that we always carry wads of cash on us.”  His garage was broken into earlier this month. There was no cash stolen, other than some loose change, but the thieves made off with a pair of boots. He didn’t even bother calling the Chicago Police, knowing that even if the culprits are caught, they’ll walk. And of course, that crime won’t figure into Chicago crime statistics.

Block Club Chicago reported last month that, “Precincts with a high Asian-American population cast 77.8 percent of their votes for [Paul] Vallas,” a moderate Democrat who Johnson defeated in the April runoff. Vallas ran on a strong law-and-order platform.

Chicagoans, you elected Johnson. As the old expression goes, “You made your bed, now sleep in it.” Although to be fair, Vallas carried the 12th Ward. 

One lesson from the midterms is that Hispanics are trending toward the GOP. Illinois’ moribund Republican Party should be reaching out to them, but probably aren’t. Because they’re morons. And the Asian population, particularly East Asians, might be looking for a political home.

GOP, get moving. And not just for votes. Siding with these protesters is the right thing to do.

And those few moderate Democrats left, it’s time to confront the woke wing of your party.

Here’s my non-nuanced message I recommend for the GOP and moderate Dems: Secure the border, build the wall, protect America.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Fixing the college mess

Posted: October 24, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

It’s heartening for me to see higher education in trouble.

The anti-Israel bias of some prominent institutions, such as the University of Pennsylvania, has made headlines recently. But the problems are much more profound.

I spent nearly 30 years watching the demise of the essence of teaching and learning at three colleges and universities that slid into a bureaucratic morass and a political mess.

I’ll start with the less sexy side of the equation. When I started at Temple University in 2005, I could pop in to see the dean whenever I wanted to do so. The entire staff of the dean’s office stood at eight people.

I met privately three times with the current dean, whom I helped get the job a decade ago, after battling through some of the 20-odd bureaucrats who stood in the way.

The expanding bureaucracy in the Klein College of Media and Communication was typical for much of higher education. The outrageous cost of higher education has more to do with the nonteaching staff at colleges and universities than the expansion and pay of teachers.

For example, I paid $559 a year in tuition to a state school in 1973. That comes to $3,896.77 in today’s dollars. Higher education might be competitive if tuition stood at only two or three times that amount.

Is college worth it? The public is increasingly skeptical. This year, a Wall Street Journal poll found that 56% of adults said a four-year college was “not worth the cost,” up from 40% in 2013.

What first looked like a pandemic blip has turned into a crisis. Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, with declines even after returning to in-person classes, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse. The slide in the college-going rate since 2018 is the steepest on record, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As a result, many colleges and universities will have to tighten their budgets by reducing staff, including hiring fewer tenured professors.
In my opinion, that’s good.

Second, politics became increasingly leftist as I moved along in academia. Here are a few examples. I lost one job because I was a conservative and couldn’t advance at another institution because of my views. At one point, a fellow professor slammed the door in my face because she disagreed with my politics.

Tenure is what protects many leftist professors from criticism. It’s almost impossible to get fired once a teacher has tenure, which keeps many leftists from getting called on the carpet for their opinions.

Take, for example, Marc Lamont Hill, who recently left Temple for the City University of New York.

Five years ago, Hill, a media professor and network pundit, called for countries to boycott and divest from Israel in a speech for the U.N.’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. “We have an opportunity to not just offer solidarity in words but to commit to political action, grass-roots action, local action and international action that will give us what justice requires and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea,” Hill said in prepared remarks.

CNN fired Hill. Temple couldn’t touch him because he had tenure.

With fewer tenured professors and economic pressure from students maybe there’s a chance higher education will get less political and more useful.

Don’t want to hear your whining…

Posted: October 21, 2023 by navygrade36bureaucrat in elections
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…when you realize you got exactly what you voted for.

This a reference to this article about “progressive” Jews complaining that their “progressive” left-leaning friends are totally, 100% OK with Hamas fighters butchering Jews in Israel. The article is essentially a “we didn’t see that coming” list of complaints.

My first thought was…wah?

Seriously, I’m tired of the “nice person” argument, which goes along the lines of “I voted for/supported these people that I thought were nice, while ignoring all the obvious red flags.”

All the progressive Jews that supported left-leaning losers who are siding with murderous Hamas militants…you got what you voted for.

All the progressive “Christians” who were shocked when the pro-abortion people they supported were totally cool with infanticide and murdering babies in a bucket after birth…you got what you voted for.

All the “mean tweets!” whiners that are now shocked we have two large, open conflicts within a few hundred miles of each other and involving major nation states…you got what you voted for.

You can whine about conservative candidates at the local, state and federal level, and you can vote for the left-leaning candidate because it makes you feel good in the moment…but it has consequences. The conservative politicians might not be polished (or maybe the news media is altering their coverage), and he or she might demand some responsibility in spending or enforcing the law, but we’re seeing what happens when people continually pick the politicians that sound nice on paper. We get murdered babies, both in the womb and out of it. We get wars that we either choose to lose or can’t really win. And we get encouragement towards all our enemies to take actions, whether its kidnapping Americans or shooting missiles at US Navy ships.

Those same people will come back and demand that the responsible politicians fix the mess. And after those people do, the same people will forget and vote again for losers that sound nice on paper.

It’s like the story of the ant and the grasshopper, where the ants stored up food for the winter while the grasshopper played a fiddle and gaffed off, only to then beg the ants feed him in the wintertime. I always hated that story as a kid, because I thought the ants should have let the grasshopper freeze to death. I mean seriously, he’s like 100 times their body weight. He’s gonna eat you out of house and home! Screw that lazy bug, let him die in the cold.

Those of us who did the “uncool” thing and worked responsibly, supporting things like balanced budgets, protecting life and being strong overseas to stop wars, we are tired of bailing you out. Don’t cry to me that “you didn’t know” your left-leaning friends would throw you under the bus. Just like the grasshopper living it up in the good times, you’re only complaining now in hopes of finding a free meal at someone else’s doorstep.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

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