Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

Question: How Do You Know People From MIT are Smarter than People From Harvard and Penn?

Posted: January 5, 2024 by datechguy in culture, education, Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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Answer: Because their president knew when to shut up.

It’s been a month or so since the presidents of Penn, Harvard and MIT made fools of themselves in their congressional testimony. The President of Penn resigned that week, the President of Harvard, being a woman of color, needed a month and massive evidence of plagiarism to get her out the door. 

Now as we near the end of the Christmas Season only Sally Kornbluth the President of MIT remains and although Bill Ackman has turned his attention to her and a lecturer has resigned this week over their response to antisemitism on campus Kornbluth still stands.

Why because after her disastrous performance before congress she did the one thing that neither Gay of Harvard nor Magill of Penn did, she managed to keep her mouth shut and her head down.

Both Gay and Magill put out videos declaring loudly once they were not under oath what they should have said under oath. Kornbluth remained silent. In fact if you do a google search for news stories with the word “Kornbluth” and sort by date you will note very few stories concerning her during the period from the time between Magill’s resignation and Gay’s. In fact the most significant story in play was this from the Times of Israel:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth, who came under fire after her testimony on the university’s response to antisemitism, attended a screening of a compilation film showing Hamas atrocities carried out on October 7, Prof. Retsef Levi says on X, formerly Twitter.

Levi, a critic of Kornbluth, says he also attended the screening, as did chairman of the MIT board Mark Gorenberg and other faculty.

The screening of the tightly controlled film, which was put together by the IDF, was hosted by the MIT Chabad house

This silence clearly paid dividends. A full month has passed since the base hearing, she can point to her attendance of the screening above while still staying married to the narrativeTM as demonstrated by this memo which came out yesterday:

We will soon announce a new Vice President for Equity and Inclusion (VPEI). With this new role, we have an important opportunity to reflect on and comprehensively assess the structures and programs intended to support our community and create a welcoming environment.

While we address the pressing challenge of how best to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia and hatred based on national origin or ethnicity in our community, we need to talk candidly about practical ways to make our community a place where we all feel that we belong.

While she doesn’t have the advantages of Gay’s racial bona fides she also doesn’t apparently have any of the plagiarism issues to worry about.  Combine that with her pushing of DEI along with repeating the canard that “Islamaphobia” as an issue that needs to be combated on campus and she has put the left on notice that she is on board and no amount of Hamas atrocities are going to derail her from the cause.

Given her history at Duke university this is no surprise.

So while the focus might turn to MIT and some may put some effort in bringing heat toward MIT in general and Kornbluth in particular I’m predicting that Kornbluth will still be president of MIT when this year’s class graduates and the next semester’s class enters.

After all there is nothing that draws those arab billions to a US college like a Jewish president willing to play ball and smart enough to dodge the consequences of same.

Unexpectedly of course.

Bonus Thought: Harvard and Penn are both known for their Law Schools, You would think people who run law schools would know the first rule of law, particularly if you know you’re guilty is to SHUT UP! MIT may not do law but as a school known for more practical skills and thus figured this out.

The Christmas season has four days left to it and our days of Christmas fundraiser still has $2345 to go help us make it over the line by donating here

Litmus Testa, Keeping the Base Happy, Dead American Hostages Wrong Perps, The choice of Agonies, and the Real Danger to California is Ohtani Under The Fedora

Posted: December 24, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east, under the fedora
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Q: How can you tell if President Trump has a Chance of winning a state with a Democrat Governor?

A: If said governor publicly opposes the move in Colorado, odds are Trump would have zero chance of carrying their state.

Although in fairness in Gavin Newsom’s case, the voting process in California is so corrupt that even if Trump was polling in the 60’s the chances of him winning would be under 50-50

RFK Jr. has been denied Secret Service Protection for the 3rd time by the Biden Administration, or whoever is actually making those decisions in the administration.

I suspect that it’s a question of keeping the left’s violent base happy because after this video

They would be really pissed if old Joe didn’t let them get a crack at him.

Oh and we’ve had the first American Hostage held by Hamas who has died offically

Biden was in office when American Hostages were taken once before but neither those hostages nor the dozens of Americans killed by Hamas on Oct 7th are newsworthy to the left or a source of outrage for the Media/left.

Of course for the left/media American lives don’t matter unless their deaths can be blamed on the right people do they?

It hit me today that I have a few Jewish relatives as one of my nephews married a nice Jewish girl and have a fair sized family.

Haven’t seen him in years and the kids are now grown but I’m hoping they aren’t getting trouble where they are. 

Of course if anyone decided to harm any of them the real question would not be what would happen to such people, it would be a question of which grandparent on my nephew’s side would take vengeance, the special forces one or the Sicilian one. I suspect the special forces one would be quicker but the Sicilian one would be more memorable and lasting.

As a devout Catholic I of course could not condone either but if it did happen the Sicilian in me would be nodding. Personally I don’t think vengeance is worth losing one’s soul over.

And finally on a financial note a lot of folks in LA are celebrating the signing of Ohtani to his $700 million dollar deal but I suspect the folks in Sacramento are horrified at the deal’s structure because of the precedent it might set:

Ohtani this month agreed to play for the Dodgers for a decade at $70 million per season, but from 2024-33, he’ll draw just $2 million per season. Ohtani is deferring $680 million — more than 97 percent of his earnings — until after his 10-year deal with the Dodgers expires, when that money comes back to him in equal annual payments from 2034-43.

When Ohtani receives the bulk of the money, he’ll no longer be under contract with the Dodgers; experts say that the structure of the contract appears likely to save Ohtani between $90 and $100 million in state taxes, so long as he lives outside of California when the deferred money is paid out.

Another key component in potential tax savings is how he has timed the deferral payments, spanning a decade. A 1996 federal law forbids states from taxing retirement income on out-of-state residents when payments are made in “substantially equal periodic” amounts over at least 10 years

Athletes playing on California teams are the one set of millionaires not in a position to leave the state, but if they go the Ohtani route, not only will they wisely have funds to live on when their playing days are done but will keep the state from taking the bulk of their cash when they do.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer state.

The Single Most Important Bit of the Douglas Murray Cenk Uygur Bit

Posted: December 23, 2023 by datechguy in Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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There are plenty of stories in conservative media celebrating Douglas Murray taking apart Cenk Uygur in their discussion on the Israel/Hamas war (and full credit to Uygur for having the guts to have the discussion). That Murray could do this was no surprise as he does tend to do shoe leather reporting and such work regardless of the quality of sources always superior from pontificating from afar.

But the real news here wasn’t that debate or even that it took place, the news was an assertion Murray made during the exchange that I think is the single most important fact concerning the Palestinians in the west bank of the Jordan. To wit:

If there was an election tomorrow in the West Bank, Hamas would win. 

emphasis mine

Run that through your head for a second.

Hamas has committed one of the worst and most barbaric attacks on civilians that we have seen in decades including the mass rape of women, the desecrations of corpus and the kidnap, murder and even baking of babies. The video of the livestreams of these events have left people who have seen this video, even seasoned reporters and those experienced in dealing with trauma visibly shaken.

Furthermore the actions of Hamas has led to the Jewish state invading Gaza and putting the residents in such a state due to it being a war zone that they have an issue with basic supplies, their economy such as it is, is crushed and their future prospects for anything resembling a normal life are shaky at best and non-existent at worst.

Yet despite these facts Murray, an experienced reporter who has direct experience of the area asserts that Palestinians in the west bank would, not a year ago, not before Oct 7th, not before seeing the end result that it has led to for Palestinians in Gaza, TODAY despite everything choose to vote for Hamas to lead them.

In fairness the kleptocracy of the Palestinian Authority does deserve some credit here but even so the idea that they would vote Hamas seems insane. But if we are to believe Murray consider:

  • The murder of the Jews doesn’t bother them
  • The kidnapping, atrocities against woman and babies doesn’t bother them
  • The risk of their own areas being flattened in response to a potential Hamas attack bothers them

All that matters to them is that Hamas is willing to attack and kill Jews. That willingness to do so overrides all other considerations.

You can’t make peace with such people, the only thing you can do short of destroying them, expelling them or ruling them with an iron fist, is contain them which seems to be the goal of Israel. It involves risk and will cost lives but is the only way to avoid the other unacceptable choices.

The sooner the world learns that the better.

Update: Been gone all day to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette which in addition to being an awesome Catholic shrine with mass, confession and a large collection of Christmas Creches from all over the world has a rather more famous Christmas light display so I didn’t have any idea that I’d been Instalanched till my son mentioned it in passing as we were getting ready to leave for home. Thanks Ed and welcome all, take a look around. Be aware that our first fundraiser in a couple of years will be kicking off after Christmas. The goal is $3k overall with 5 new subs at $20 a month. If you want to get us started toward that goal it would be much appreciated.

Déjà vu  Israel vs Hamas 2012 vs 2023

Posted: December 11, 2023 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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I was looking up an old post of mine from the internet archive and accidently came across this piece from 2012 concerning showing some things never change:

The Common Thread of the left: Today Israel & Hamas

by Datechguy | November 23rd, 2012

The latest in our series of the common thread of the left

As of this writing a “Truce” is in effect between Israel & Hamas. The left and media during this crisis has pilloried Israel

NBC News reporter Ayman Mohyeldin seemed to take a strong position, rather than just reporting, on the United States’ role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He effectively blamed the unresolved crisis on the United States’ refusal to recognize Hamas and for not doing enough to reign in Israel’s military actions.

This ignores the fact that this wasn’t a crisis when Israel was being shot at, it only became a crisis when Israel began shooting back. (emphasis not in original post DTG)

Item: The left claims Israel is an oppressor and our state department remains unwilling to critique Turkey for calling Israel a terror state, however if you want to know how they really feel consider this story:

Back in mid-June, during the great Paris weapons show, the Rafael pavilion was absolutely the busiest around, and everybody wanted to look at the new, exciting, Iron Dome system, the greatest achievement in rocket defense ever. But by the end of the show, Rafael hadn’t made a single sale. The Arrow sold well, other systems did great – Iron Dome wasn’t moving. So they contacted their big clients, the serious ones, and asked what gives. And those clients told them no one except Israel has any use for these things. Because in any normal, sane country, if some hooligans were to start targeting civilians with rockets – the army would go and kill them. emphasis mine

So in public Israel needs to show restraint, in private Hamas and their rocket firing friends are “some hooligans” than normal people would just go kill?

I object to the use of the term “Hooligans” it’s not like they are a bunch of bikers dragging their murdered people behind them as they ride…oh wait:

The six “were caught red-handed” with high-tech filming equipment to take videos of military positions, according to a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio. The men were shot.

Militants hooked the body of one alleged spy to a motorcycle and dragged him through the streets of Gaza City.

Yeah that sounds like “hooligans” to me.

If you are as old as me you remember when Reagan called the Soviets an “Evil Empire” the left went absolutely nuts. Speaking the truth aloud is just not done…but more on that tomorrow

Meanwhile back to today…

Hamas tortured and murdered 25-year-old Israeli hostage, Sahar Baruch, who was taken to Gaza following the October 7 terrorist attack, the Israel media reported Sunday. Baruch, an engineering student at Ben-Gurion University, was kidnapped by terrorist intruders from his family home in Kibbutz Be’eri, a small community in southern Israel.

Earlier this week, Hamas claimed that Baruch had died during a failed attempt by the IDF to rescue hostages. But the propaganda video released by the terrorist group after Baruch’s death show his disfigured face with eyes gauged out—showing signs of similar sadistic torture and mutilations carried out by Hamas during the October 7 massacre.

and

A Hamas spokesman suggested Sunday that the terror organization could kill all of the presumed 137 hostages in its custody if Israel does not accede to its demands.

Abu Obeida, a familiar spokesman for Hamas who had not been seen for several weeks, released a video in which he made the threat clear.

“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.

It is not clear if Hamas would deliver on that threat. The hostages are the only leverage that Hamas has over Israel, and it uses them as human shields. The Hamas leaders in exile — in luxurious accommodation in Doha, Qatar — would also likely to preserve the hostages alive to ensure that Israel negotiates with them, rather than killing them (as it has promised to do, eventually).

All of this comes down to calling evil good and pretending that objective truth doesn’t exist in order to win political points, oh and arab money freely flowing.

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