JANUARY 2, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

READ THIS ONE. FOX NEWS MEMBERS ACTUALLY ARE DISAGREEING WITH EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF STAYING ON THE SCRIPT.

https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/fox-friends-descends-into-chaos-as-one-host-actually-calls-out-trumps-ridiculous-attack-on-democrats/
Fox & Friends descends into chaos as one host actually calls out Trump’s ridiculous attack on Democrats
written by David Edwards / Raw Story
December 31, 2018

When the other side starts defending you, you know the tide is turning.
Three Fox & Friends hosts on Sunday disagreed about who is not killing migrant children at the border: the Trump administration or Democrats.

“You talk about a tragedy,” Fox News host Pete Hegseth opined. “There was the tragic death of two migrant children, which no one wants, everyone’s willing to talk about, obviously they were in bad shape when they went into custody but you still do everything you can.”

According to Hegseth, President Donald Trump took the issue “head on” with a tweet blaming “Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies” for the deaths of children.

“Border Patrol agents didn’t kill these migrant children!” Hegseth insisted.

“Of course not!” co-host Rachel Campos Duffy agreed.

“And neither did the Democrats,” co-host Ed Henry added, pushing back on Trump’s tweet.

“Well, they created policies that incentivize illegal immigration,” Hegseth shot back. “Not saying they killed them! But the policies are dumb.”

“Democrats are not the ones shouldering them being killed, let’s be clear,” Henry replied.

“I didn’t say that,” Hegseth complained.

“That’s what the president said,” Henry pointed out.

“It’s their policies!” Hegseth said. “It’s different than people.”

“Is it compassionate to have policies that incentivize people to bring children as a free pass to get in?” Campos-Duffy said, spinning the argument. “Because it’s easier, in fact, if you’re a smuggler — they are actually giving the immigrants that are coming over a lower price to bring them over if they bring a child with them. Because they are more likely to get over the border.”

“Children are definitely being used as pawns in this,” she continued. “And they’re dying. By the way, it’s not just dying. Thirty percent of girls are sexually assaulted, 20 percent of boys. This is a very dangerous journey. The compassionate thing to do would be to stop this.”

“I just think that this president doesn’t need to take the extra step of saying, the kids who died, it’s the Democrats’ fault,” Henry observed. “How do you get the Democrats to the table to negotiate when you accuse them of being to blame?”

“By pointing out the failure of their policies!” Hegseth quipped.

“Period, end of sentence,” Henry later added. “You don’t need to say, kids died because of you [Democrats].”

Watch the video below from Fox News.


YES, MR. ROMNEY. HE CERTAINLY HAS. PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND OF THING HE WILL DO NEXT.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-caused-dismay-world-romney-op-ed/story?id=60114355
Trump has caused 'dismay around the world,' Romney says in new op-ed
By KARMA ALLEN MEGHAN KENEALLY Jan 2, 2019, 8:20 AM ET

WATCH Romney says Trump has caused 'dismay around the world' in fiery op-ed

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney attacked President Donald Trump in a searing op-ed on Tuesday, saying Trump's lack of character is his "most glaring" shortfall.

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Trump on Wednesday responded via Twitter, calling for the incoming senator from Utah to "Be a TEAM player & WIN!"

In Romney's op-ed, published in The Washington Post, saying Trump has not "risen to the mantle" of the presidency and accused him of causing distress around the globe.

"His conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office," the soon-to-be junior senator wrote. "A president should demonstrate the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect."

PHOTO: Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is interviewed at the Silicon Slopes Tech Conference, Jan. 19, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. George Frey/Getty Images
Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is interviewed at the Silicon Slopes Tech Conference, Jan. 19, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. more +
He went on, "With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring."

(MORE: Trump invites party leaders to ‘border security’ meeting )
“I do not intend to comment on every tweet or fault. But I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions,” he added.

Romney did praise a number of Trump appointments who have since left -- naming former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former U.S. Ambassador the U.N. Nikki Haley and ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as "encouraging" choices -- and he commended some of the president's policies.

PHOTO: Senate candidate Mitt Romney greets Anna Belle Shaw at his headquarters for an election night party on Nov. 6, 2018 in Orem, Utah.George Frey/Getty Images
Senate candidate Mitt Romney greets Anna Belle Shaw at his headquarters for an election night party on Nov. 6, 2018 in Orem, Utah.
"He was right to align U.S. corporate taxes with those of global competitors, to strip out excessive regulations, to crack down on China’s unfair trade practices, to reform criminal justice and to appoint conservative judges," he said. "These are policies mainstream Republicans have promoted for years. But policies and appointments are only a part of a presidency."

Trump revisited a regular attack line on Romney in response to the op-ed, mentioning his 2012 presidential loss and questioning whether Romney would follow in the footsteps of outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake, a critic of Trump's.

"Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!" Trump wrote on Twitter.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!

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Romney straddled a line of support and disdain for Trump throughout his recent campaign for senator, and Trump endorsed Romney's campaign.

(MORE: Trump blames Dems for 2 child deaths at border, says they were already 'very sick')
"President Trump was not the person I wanted to become the nominee of our party, but he's president now. The policies he's promoted have been pretty effective. And I support a lot of those policies. When there's a place where I disagree, I point that out," he said in October.

PHOTO: Then President-elect Donald Trump dines with Mitt Romney at Jean-Georges restaurant at Trump International Hotel and Tower, Nov. 29, 2016 in New York.AFP/Getty Images, FILE
Then President-elect Donald Trump dines with Mitt Romney at Jean-Georges restaurant at Trump International Hotel and Tower, Nov. 29, 2016 in New York.more +
Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and Romney's niece, offered a cryptic tweet in the wake of the column's publication, writing, "As the new Congress convenes, I hope all Rs come together to work to further @realDonaldTrump’s winning agenda and recognize his leadership has made our country safer and stronger."


Ronna McDaniel
✔
@GOPChairwoman
As the new Congress convenes, I hope all Rs come together to work to further @realDonaldTrump’s winning agenda and recognize his leadership has made our country safer and stronger.

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Ronna McDaniel
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@GOPChairwoman
· 9h
As the new Congress convenes, I hope all Rs come together to work to further @realDonaldTrump’s winning agenda and recognize his leadership has made our country safer and stronger.


Ronna McDaniel
✔
@GOPChairwoman
Republicans must work against the socialist agenda Democrats are putting forward that will bankrupt and destroy our country. I urge every R current or incoming to work together to stop the obstructionist Democrats.

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12:22 AM - Jan 2, 2019
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BEING A “TEAM PLAYER” IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR SOME PEOPLE, AND NOT DESIRABLE TO ME UNLESS IT IS IN A SUPPORTIVE AND EGALITARIAN GROUP. I’D LOVE TO BE ON THAT TEAM.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46739444
Donald Trump shrugs off Mitt Romney's attack on his record
JANUARY 2, 2019 2 hours ago

GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- Mr Trump (left) and Mr Romney have had an uneasy relationship

Donald Trump has shrugged off a stinging personal attack on his presidency from senior fellow Republican Mitt Romney.

Mr Romney, who stood and lost for the Republicans against Barack Obama in 2012, suggested in an article that Mr Trump was not fit to be president.

Mr Trump had not "risen to the mantle", he wrote in the Washington Post.

The winner of the 2016 presidential election hit back by tweeting, "I won big and he didn't."

Mr Trump drew a comparison with Jeff Flake, an outgoing Republican senator who also attacked him last year.

But the president sounded conciliatory, calling for Mr Romney to be a "team player".

Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!

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End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

How women are changing the face of Congress

How US mid-terms just got worse for Trump

The timing of the article, just two days before Mr Romney is sworn in as senator for Utah, has prompted some to speculate he is positioning himself as a challenger to Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

What did the opinion piece say?

In the article, Mr Romney praised many of Mr Trump's policies, such as his tax reforms and appointment of conservative judges, and his crackdown on "China's unfair trade practices" - polices which he said "mainstream Republicans" had promoted for years.

But he went on to say: "With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is indispensable. And it is in this province where the incumbent's shortfall has been most glaring."

Skip Twitter post by @MittRomney

Mitt Romney
✔
@MittRomney
Policies and appointments are only a part of a presidency. A president must also unite us, inspire us, and defend our vital institutions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-president-shapes-the-public-character-of-the-nation-trumps-character-falls-short/2019/01/01/37a3c8c2-0d1a-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html?utm_term=.fccbcff20fee …

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Opinion | Mitt Romney: The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character...
The people of this country will respond if called to a higher action.

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End of Twitter post by @MittRomney

Mr Romney said he would support the president in policies he thought were in the best interests of Utah or the US but speak out against actions "that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions".

"The appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president's thoughtless claim that America has long been a 'sucker' in world affairs all defined his presidency down," he wrote.

"Trump's words and actions have caused dismay around the world."

The world "needs American leadership", he argued, and "the alternative... offered by China and Russia is autocratic, corrupt and brutal".

How have other Republicans reacted?

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republic National Committee and a niece of Mr Romney, described her uncle's article as "disappointing and unproductive".

Image Copyright @GOPChairwoman@GOPCHAIRWOMAN
Report
Mr Trump's manager for the 2020 presidential campaign went so far as to accuse Mr Romney of jealousy.

Skip Twitter post by @parscale

Brad Parscale
✔
@parscale
The truth is @MittRomney lacked the ability to save this nation. @realDonaldTrump has saved it. Jealously is a drink best served warm and Romney just proved it. So sad, I wish everyone had the courage @realDonaldTrump had. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mitt-romney-the-president-shapes-the-public-character-of-the-nation-trumps-character-falls-short/2019/01/01/37a3c8c2-0d1a-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html …

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Opinion | Mitt Romney: The president shapes the public character of the nation. Trump’s character...
The people of this country will respond if called to a higher action.

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Meanwhile, the New York Times, the liberal daily regularly attacked by Mr Trump, commented that much of the essay "sounded like the makings of a primary challenge against Mr. Trump from Mr. Romney".

What kind of relationship do the two men have?

A complicated one. During the 2016 campaign, Mr Romney said Mr Trump had neither "the temperament nor the judgement to be president" while Mr Trump called Mr Romney a "choke artist" and called his bid for the presidency in 2012 "the worst ever".

The same year though, the pair met for dinner amid reports Mr Trump was mulling appointing Mr Romney as his secretary of state.

Mr Romney has also taken issue with Mr Trump labelling the press the "enemy of the people" as well as his response to a violent far-right rally in Charlottesville.

When the US Congress reconvenes on Thursday, Mr Trump faces a new challenge on the domestic front - in November's mid-terms the Republicans strengthened their hold of the Senate but lost the House of Representatives.

More on this story:
More women than ever before won seats in Congress in the 2018 mid-terms.

What does it mean for Congress - and America?


THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. IT WOULD GIVE EACH EMPLOYEE A SITUATION OF RESPECT AND SUPPORT RATHER THAN THE SUBTLE OR NOT SO SUBTLE ABUSE THAT ANYBODY WHO IS “DIFFERENT” GETS FROM THE AVERAGE MIDDLE CLASS WHITE COMPATRIOTS. PREDATORS WANT TO CHASE AND KILL, AND IF A FELLOW HUMAN TO THEIR PERSPECTIVE RESEMBLES PREY, THEY WILL ALL TOO OFTEN MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY HARASS THEM.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46538125
The firm whose staff are all autistic
By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter
2 January 2019

GETTY IMAGES
Image caption -- An office environment can be very intimidating for autistic employees

Peter, Evan and Brian work at a small technology firm based by the beach in Santa Monica, testing software and fixing bugs.

On first inspection it seems like any other Los Angeles-based company, with tasteful art on the white walls and calm-inducing diffusers dotted about.

Peter describes the working atmosphere as "quiet, but fun", and especially likes the fact that there is no pressure to socialise, while Evan says of his employers that they are "very accommodating and understanding". Brian describes his office as "unique".

Auticon is one of only a handful of companies that cater exclusively for employees who are on the autistic spectrum.

Formerly known as MindSpark before being acquired by German-based Auticon, the firm was founded by Gray Benoist who, as the father of two autistic sons, saw few options in the workplace that could cater for their needs.

"Both are incredibly capable and smart and deserve an opportunity to be able to express that," he told the BBC on a recent visit to the company.

Image copyrightAUTICON
Image caption
Gray Benoist started Mindspark (now Auticon) to help his own autistic sons

"I felt that the gap had to be filled and there was no other way to fill it than by taking action myself."

He started the firm in 2013 and it has now grown to more than 150 employees. His oldest son, also called Gray, now works in the finance team.

"Our mission is about enabling a group who have been disenfranchised. There are many segments of society that are under-utilised and people on the autistic spectrum are one of them," he said.

Image copyrightAUTICON
Image caption
Evan and Peter enjoy working at the firm, describing it as relaxed and supportive

Peter had worked in "normal" offices before but they did not seem very normal to him. In fact he compared his previous working life to an episode of Survivors, a BBC series depicting the lives of a group of people in the aftermath of a flu outbreak that has wiped out most of the human race.

"It was all very tricky to navigate and understand. I failed to make social connections," he told the BBC.

Evan describes how at previous jobs he would "just sit and listen to a podcast by myself while I ate lunch".

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Autism affects more than one in 100 people according to the UK's National Autistic Society, but fewer than a quarter of these will go on to full-time employment.

Many fall at the first hurdle because anxiety, which can often be heightened for those on the autistic spectrum, makes even the prospect of a job interview very intimidating.

"People tend to hire people who are like themselves, and autistic people are not like you, they are like themselves," said Steve Silberman, author of Neurotribes, a book which looks at the evolution of autism.

"The list of things you are not supposed to do in an interview is practically a definition of autism. Don't look away, look the employer in the eye, sell yourself. All of these are very difficult for autistic people."

Image copyrightAUTICON
Image caption
Brian worked a series of menial jobs before he came to Auticon

Brian desperately wanted to utilise his computing skills in the workplace but felt put off applying for jobs in the competitive tech world.

"There is a lot of pressure. You have to compete against other people," he said.

Clearly overwhelmed by the prospect, he worked in some menial jobs instead - including in a grocery shop and washing cars - neither of which was utilising his talents and were, in his own words, "not going anywhere".

Some firms have found ways around the traditional interview process. German software firm SAP, which also employs those on the autistic spectrum, offers candidates the chance to build Lego robots instead of a formal interview.

Image copyrightSTEVE SILBERMAN
Image caption
Steve Silberman wrote an article called The Geek Syndrome which explored the explosion of autism in Silicon Valley

"That shows problem-solving skills and commitment to a task," said Mr Silberman.

And SAP obviously thinks it is worth it, pointing out that employing autistic people is not done out of "charity" but because it "boosts our bottom line".

As well as having heightened anxiety, autistic people often struggle with social interaction.

So, at Auticon, if employees want headphones because of noise sensitivity they can have them. They also have the option to work in a dark room if they prefer, they don't have to take lunch breaks if they do not want them and if they do not feel able to communicate verbally with their team-mates, they can use messaging apps instead.

If things get too much for someone, they are entitled to "anxiety days off".

"Sensitivity to our employees' issues is our first priority," said Mr Benoist, "but that means putting the processes behind that to ensure you still deliver the highest quality to your client, which requires thought about how projects are put together and how resources are assigned."

And when it comes to the dreaded employee review, there is an emphasis on not being critical.

"It is all about good human resources principles, it is something that other firms could easily replicate," he added.

Image copyrightPA
Image caption
Bill Gates is now a great philanthropist, says Mr Silberman

Mr Silberman is not convinced that segregated offices are a good idea because he thinks that both autistic employees and their more neuro-typical co-workers can learn a lot from working together.

"By learning how to manage neuro-diverse employees, employers also learn how to help every employee," he said.

"Look at Bill Gates, who definitely had autistic traits. He has grown socially and is now a great philanthropist."

There is a four-week training schedule at Auticon which decides whether candidates are suitable for longer-term employment.

Some do not make the grade, especially those who are pushed by their parents to apply for a job despite having no passion for coding, and it is important to point out that there are lots of autistic people whose interests lie elsewhere.

For those who are successful at Auticon, the team appear to be hugely supportive of each other even if they don't all go out for lunch together.

When new office space was designed recently, employees asked for it to be open-plan rather than closed cubicles.

"It's great. Easy-going, patient and really accepting," said Peter. "And everyone is very funny."

Brian and Evan both now enjoy lunch breaks with their co-workers, although Peter still finds it "hard to pull myself away from work".

But, perhaps tellingly, all three regard Auticon as a job for life.

That is a lesson that other companies should take note of, thinks Mr Silberman.

"For many autistic people, if they find a place where they feel supported and feel their skills can thrive they became very devoted and loyal and don't move on. And that saves companies money because they don't have to retrain people."


TO ME A PRANK IS A JOKE, AND THIS SORT OF THING IS PURE HOSTILITY. THERE IS NO FUN TO IT. IT IS ALSO AN IDIOTIC THING TO DO. MAYBE THE BOY WILL GET TIME OFF BECAUSE HE’S STILL YOUNG. AS FOR WHETHER THROWING A RAW EGG ON SOMEONE’S WINDSHIELD WHILE THEY ARE DRIVING SHOULD REASONABLY GET A PRISON TERM OR NOT, I THINK THE JUDGE IS BEING QUITE REASONABLE “ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL.” IF THERE WAS A QUESTION OF RACIAL UNFAIRNESS HERE, THE ARTICLE DOESN’T MENTION IT.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/houston-boy-14-arrested-after-egg-throwing-prank-ends-fatal-n953766
Boy, 14, faces a murder charge after egg-throwing prank in Houston ends in fatal crash
A 45-year-old woman was killed in a crash after the driver of one of the egged cars allegedly flashed a handgun and chased the pranksters, officials said.
Jan. 2, 2019 / 10:06 AM EST
By David K. Li

PHOTOGRAPH -- A 14-year-old boy was arrested on a murder charge after an alleged egg-throwing prank that ended in the death of a motorist in Houston on Jan. 1, 2019.Nicole Hensley / Houston Chronicle via AP

A 14-year-old boy was arrested and faces a murder charge in Houston after an alleged egg-throwing prank sparked a chase that ended in the death of a motorist, authorities said Wednesday.

The incident began with the suspect —allegedly behind the wheel of a GMC Acadia SUV, with two other juvenile passengers inside — throwing eggs at passing cars on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

A driver in one of the egged cars allegedly flashed a semi-automatic handgun at the boys and chased them, officials said.

The fleeing teens drove through a red light and slammed into a Ford pickup truck, killing its female driver, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.

IMAGE: A 14-year-old driver failed to stop at a red light resulting in a crash that killed a woman in Houston on Jan. 1, 2019. A 14-year-old driver failed to stop at a red light resulting in a crash that killed a woman in Houston on Jan. 1, 2019.KPRC

The victim was identified Wednesday as Silvia Zavala, 45. She "was found with no signs of life at the scene by paramedics," deputies said.

The 14-year-old driver suffered a broken ankle and has been booked into a juvenile detention center, according to the sheriff.


Ed Gonzalez
✔
@SheriffEd_HCSO
Update on Aldine Mail Rt. Fatality: the 14 yo driver has been charged w murder & booked in the county juvenile detention center. He sustained a broken ankle in the crash. The driver of the vehicle that was chasing him has been identified & efforts are being made to interview him.

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8:37 AM - Jan 2, 2019
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Gonzalez called Zavala "totally innocent," adding that she "had just gone shopping based on some debris strewn at scene."

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The motorist who gave chase to the teens was driving a tan 1970s Lincoln Continental with a white leather top did not stop at the scene of the crash, deputies said.

"The driver of the vehicle that was chasing him has been identified & efforts are being made to interview him," Gonzalez tweeted.

David K. Li
David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.


I’VE BEEN WONDERING WHY NOBODY THAT I’VE SEEN HAS MENTIONED THE FACT THAT HE IS JEWISH. THAT ISN’T A FACTOR WHICH HAS NO INFLUENCE OVER HOW PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY WILL RESPOND TO HIM, ESPECIALLY AMONG OLDER PEOPLE PERHAPS. I HAVEN’T SEEN ANY STORIES ABOUT FIGHTS OR BULLYING ON RELIGIOUS GROUNDS.

https://forward.com/opinion/416905/bernie-sanders-isnt-just-another-white-male-candidate-his-nomination-would/
Opinion
Bernie Sanders Isn’t Just Another White Male Candidate. His Nomination Would Be Historic.
David Klion January 2, 2019 Getty Images

The 2020 Democratic primary will likely offer the most diverse field of candidates either party has ever put forward for the presidency. At least four serious African-American contenders (Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Andrew Gillum, and Eric Holder) have been floated so far, as have at least four women (Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Amy Klobuchar, and Harris again).

And then there are a large number of white men — the demographic that has accounted for all but one president to date — with the most prominent names including Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke, and Bernie Sanders.

RELATED --
Bernie Sanders Isn’t Just Another White Male Candidate. His Nomination Would Be Historic. by the Forward
Bernie Sanders Calls Killing Of 15 Palestinian Demonstrators ‘Tragic’
Marcy OsterApril 1, 2018

But this quick taxonomy leaves out one detail that was likewise mostly overlooked during the 2016 primaries. Sanders is white, yes, but he’s also Jewish, and last time around he got closer to the presidency than any Jew in history ever had. Based on his standing in early polls, he has a real shot to win the nomination this time. But the response to that history-making prospect, among Jews and non-Jews alike, has been decidedly muted.

In February 2016, the New York Times ran an article about the subject, entitled “Bernie Sanders Is Jewish, but He Doesn’t Like to Talk About It,” which began by quoting a New York rabbi who expressed dismay that Sanders had described himself as “the son of a Polish immigrant who came to this country speaking no English and having no money.”

The article went on to describe the contours of Sanders’s Jewish identity: the son of an immigrant whose family was murdered in the Holocaust on one side and the grandson of immigrants on the other, Sanders is entirely Ashkenazi Jewish, was born and raised in Brooklyn, does not regularly attend synagogue, is married to a Catholic, defines himself by the struggle for social justice on behalf of all oppressed peoples, and has a left-leaning view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is, in short, probably not very different from a lot of Forward readers.

Bernie Sanders Isn’t Just Another White Male Candidate. His Nomination Would Be Historic. by the Forward
Getty Images

A yarmulka that reads “Bernie Sanders 2016” in Hebrew.

To a vocal segment of Jews, that’s not good enough. “People are confused why Bernie Sanders won’t own his Jewishness,” ran a February 2016 headline from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Why isn’t that convincing Jews to vote for him?” asked the Washington Post the following month. Tablet’s Jamie Kirchick went with “Bernie Sanders’ Jewish Problem, and Ours,” a callback to an infamous article by Norman Podhoretz. Kirchick criticized Sanders for skipping the AIPAC conference, for hiring a Jewish outreach director affiliated with the anti-occupation group IfNotNow, and for his own outspokenness on behalf of Palestinians.

Kirchick also acknowledged that there are left-wing Jews who appreciate Sanders for exactly those reasons. “But to a particular type of commentator, and a particular type of Jew, the relevance of Sanders’ remarks lay not in what he said,” he wrote. “Rather, it is the act of virtue-signaling—only we, the righteous Jews, as opposed to those cold-hearted tribalists, appreciate another people’s suffering—that sends the proverbial.”

Still, even among Jews who might sympathize with Sanders, there are doubts that he could win over the mostly Christian country that (sort of) elected Donald Trump. The Times article quoted an elderly retiree in Florida as saying that while she found Sanders’s Jewishness “very uplifting,” nonetheless “Middle America will never accept him.” It concluded by quoting a 22-year-old who was similarly concerned that “Some hateful people might bring that up” and who added “It wouldn’t be hard for it to be considered a bad thing.”

While Gallup polls taken over the past three years have consistently shown that Sanders is popular nationally, many Jews still find it hard to believe that a guy who sounds like their elderly relatives could win a presidential election.

Sanders himself addressed his Jewish identity directly when asked about it by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in a March 2016 debate. “Look, my father’s family was wiped out by Hitler in the Holocaust,” he said, adding, “I know about what crazy and radical and extremist politics mean. I learned that lesson as a tiny, tiny child when my mother would take me shopping, and we would see people working in stores who had numbers on their arms because they were in Hitler’s concentration camps. I’m very proud of being Jewish. And that’s an essential part of who I am as a human being.”

Sounds pretty definitive!

One could argue that Sanders has never run as a Jew, but it’s not like any of his likely rivals in the 2020 field are explicitly running on their identity either. Given that, it’s strange that Jewish reactions to Sanders’s Jewishness seem to range from indifference, to concern about anti-Semitism, to skepticism that he even counts as a Jew, with only a handful of articles in left-wing publications (by Jesse Myerson, Marissa Brostoff, and myself) expressing actual pride in seeing a Jewish socialist competing at the highest level of politics.

Jews may be a tiny minority of Americans, but in terms of influence on politics we’ve long punched above our weight. There have been plenty of Jewish cabinet secretaries, Supreme Court justices, senators, representatives, governors, mayors, campaign advisors, and major donors. There’s even been one vice presidential candidate, Joe Lieberman, whose selection by Al Gore in 2000 was treated as a historical milestone.

Lieberman, of course, is Orthodox, strongly pro-Israel, married to a Jewish woman, and wears his Jewishness on his sleeve. But none of that makes him any more Jewish than Sanders, and if anything it makes him less representative of American Jews writ large.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders Isn’t Just Another White Male Candidate. His Nomination Would Be Historic. by the Forward
Getty Images

John McCain and Joseph Lieberman visit the Western Wall in 2008.

It’s not very surprising that the quarter of American Jews who vote Republican, which significantly overlaps with the minority who are Orthodox, wouldn’t want to claim Sanders.

But what about the majority who support Democrats and are generally more secular? While it’s hard to come by definitive polling, Hillary Clinton cleaned up against Sanders in most of the best known liberal Jewish communities in the country, from Manhattan’s Upper West Side to Maryland’s Montgomery County and from West L.A. to Boca Raton.

Anecdotally, Jews seemed to split along the same generational lines as Democrats as a whole, with millennial Jews supporting Sanders and older Jews strongly preferring Clinton.

The Jewish ambivalence about Sanders may reflect ambivalence about contemporary Jewish identity itself.

Sanders isn’t unrepresentative of American Jews in terms of his lifestyle or his values, but he is unrepresentative of institutional Jewish identity, the Jewishness that expresses itself through synagogues and avowedly Jewish organizations, that presents itself as authoritative and leaves many of us feeling like our own Jewishness is somehow deficient.

The Jews who are the most like Sanders are the Jews who are least likely to foreground Jewishness in our own lives, even though there are a lot of us and even though many of us feel strongly Jewish and could hardly be mistaken for anything else.

RELATED: Bernie Sanders Isn’t Just Another White Male Candidate. His Nomination Would Be Historic. by the Forward

RELATED: Bernie Sanders’ Criticism Of Israel Is Radical. And He’s Taking It Mainstream
Peter Beinart June 11, 2018

In a country where “Jewish” is often taken to be a strictly religious label, Sanders is an ethnic Jew, a cultural Jew, and a left-wing Jew, all of which seem to be covered by the blanket term “white.”

But no American presidential nominee has ever been white the way Sanders is white. And while that distinction may not matter to some Jews, it will absolutely matter to the white supremacist and anti-semitic elements who have been emboldened over the past several years. For Sanders to win the Democratic nomination, let alone the presidency, wouldn’t just be a historic achievement.

It would be a powerful rebuke to the forces that brought Donald Trump to power.

David Klion is a writer in Brooklyn whose work has appeared in The Nation, The New York Times, the Guardian, Jewish Currents and other publications. Follow him on Twitter, @DavidKlion.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward


THIS IS VERY INTERESTING. AFTER ALL THE NEGATIVE COMMENTS ABOUT BERNIE 20/20 IN RELATION TO BLACK PEOPLE, HERE IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT DRAWS A DIFFERENT CONCLUSION. BLACKS ARE MORE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT BERNIE THAN THE WHITES ARE. NOW THAT IS A CONCLUSIONT THAT I WOULD HAV EXPECTED, BECAUSE SO MANY BLACK PEOPLE ARE IN FACT POOR, AND HIS GOALS WOULD HELP THEM. IT HELPS WHITE POOR PEOPLE ALSO. WE NEED TO STOP USING “BLACK” AS A EUPHEMISM FOR POOR.

IT SEEMS TO ME MORE LIKELY THAT THE LAST PARAGRAPH BELOW WITH ITS’ “ENORMOUS 42 POINT GAP” JUST INDICATES THE DIRECTION IN WHICH SANDERS NEEDS TO MOVE TO BRING BLACKS OVER TO HIS SIDE. THAT NUMBER SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN DERIVED BY ADDING THE FOR AND AGAINST BLACK VOTES TOGETHER, WHICH TOTALS 42. THAT PROCESS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO ME, EITHER, THOUGH, BECAUSE SURELY THE “GAP” HE IS TALKING ABOUT WOULD BE BETWEEN 42 AND 100, WHICH IS 58 UNCOMMITTED. THEY CAN’T BE COUNTED AGAINST SANDERS ANY MORE THAN FOR HIM. OR PERHAPS THESE NUMBERS ARE RAW FIGURES AND NOT PERCENTAGES, AND THE TOTAL NUMBER POLLED DID NOT AMOUNT TO 100. IT’S A SHAME HE DIDN’T TELL THE TOTAL, THOUGH.

WHY NOT SUBTRACT THE FAVORABLES FROM THE UNFAVORABLES IN STEAD OF ADDING THEM, AND CONSIDER ONLY THE 4 POINTS TO BE HIS NEGATIVE, AT THIS POINT. IT IS TOO EARLY TO BE DOING THESE NUMBERS, SURELY. THE HORSES WON’T BE IN THE HOME STRETCH UNTIL THE LAST SIX MONTHS OR LESS BEFORE THE ELECTION ITSELF. RIGHT? MAYBE, IF I COULD SEE A CHART OF THEIR NUMBERS, I WOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE DOING. THAT SEEMS TO SAY TO ME THAT THEY (BLACKS), ARE NEITHER STRONGLY FOR HIM NOR STRONGLY AGAINST HIM, AND SOME WHO HAVE BEEN ON TALK SHOWS SEEM TO LIKE HIM A GREAT DEAL.

BESIDES, IT IS CERTAINLY NOT TRUE THAT THE NUMBERS AGAINST HIM ARE “SHOCKINGLY HIGH.” SO, HE HAS MORE WORK TO DO, IF HE WANTS TO DO THIS AT ALL, THAT IS. HE HASN’T DECIDED. AND THIS NUMBER IN HIS FAVOR MAY BE BETTER THAN HE HAD AT THE 2016 ELECTION. I COULDN’T FIND ANY STATISTICS ON THAT. I PREFER THE CAUSES AND OTHER HUMAN ISSUES TO STATISTICS ANYWAY. I DON’T KNOW HOW STATISTICS ARE DONE, AND I HATE MATH. HOW THIS WRITER CAN SUBTRACT 19 FROM 23 AND GET 42 IS ALSO RIDICULOUS. READ THE NEXT TO LAST PARAGRAPH AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELF WHAT HE SEEMS TO BE SAYING.

SEE THE EARLIER ARTICLES AT: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/why-black-voters-dont-feel-the-bern-213707. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/09/12/its-time-to-end-the-myth-that-black-voters-dont-like-bernie-sanders/.

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/01/bernie-sanders-race-2020-candidacy
Who Wants Bernie to Run?
BY CARL BEIJER
01.01.2019

Pundits claim that Bernie has a “problem” with minority voters. But the polling is clear — Sanders is advancing a vision of politics that challenges injustice in a way that black voters broadly support.

PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders during a rally in Las Vegas, NV on October 25, 2018. Ethan Miller / Getty

How would you feel if Bernie Sanders ran for president in 2020? That’s what USA Today and Suffolk University asked Democrats and independent voters in a recent poll — and the results, some pundits argue, don’t look good for Sanders. “Sanders has the highest ‘don’t run’ of any candidate,” John Aravosis* writes. “Bernie’s negatives are shockingly high.”

Shortly after this poll was released, however, Jacobin‘s Seth Ackerman spotted another curiosity:

There may be significant opposition to a Sanders run — but it overwhelmingly comes from white voters. Black voters, in contrast, generally want Sanders to run again. I was curious how these numbers compared with other candidates, so I looked through the rest of their data and pulled out the cross tabs:

These numbers simply subtract opposition from support for any given candidate among different groups. Visualizing the data this way, one can already see a few interesting patterns: for example, Beto O’Rourke and Amy Klobuchar are the only two candidates with less support among black voters than white voters.

Here, however, I want to draw attention to the polarity of support between racial groups. Michael Bloomberg, for example, has more white opposition than black opposition — but only 5 percent more. Since the difference between white opposition and black opposition is so small, one might conclude that it isn’t racially inflected — people just dislike Bloomberg across the board. With that in mind, consider the differences between black and white support among the candidates:

Here we see the real significance of Ackerman’s numbers: support for Sanders is extremely polarized on racial lines, significantly more so than with any other candidate. His net 19 point support from black voters is separated from his net 23 point opposition by an enormous 42 point gap.

Intuitively, my explanation is that Sanders is advancing a vision of politics that challenges racial injustice in a way that black voters broadly support. But however one wants to explain these differences, it seems clear that broad declarations about opposition to another Sanders run simplify a much more complicated racial divide.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carl Beijer is a writer who focuses on the Left, linguistics, and international affairs.


John Aravosis*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aravosis
John Aravosis (born November 27, 1963) is an American Democratic political consultant, journalist, civil rights advocate, and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in New York City, is the founder and executive editor of AMERICAblog.
. . . .

Education

Aravosis has a joint law degree and master's degree in foreign service from Georgetown, where he studied under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.[1] He also has an undergraduate degree in Rhetoric from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Diplôme Supérieur from the Cours de Civilisation Française of the Sorbonne, in Paris, France.[2]

Career

Aravosis worked on Capitol Hill in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a foreign policy adviser for Ted Stevens, a Republican senator from Alaska, before becoming a Democrat. He subsequently worked at the World Bank, the Children's Defense Fund, as the US Politics editor at About.com, and as a stringer for The Economist.[3][4][5] In 1997, Aravosis started, and still runs, his own political Internet consulting business. He has a speciality in using the Internet for political advocacy and international development that has brought him to Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.[2]

Education

Aravosis has a joint law degree and master's degree in foreign service from Georgetown, where he studied under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.[1] He also has an undergraduate degree in Rhetoric from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Diplôme Supérieur from the Cours de Civilisation Française of the Sorbonne, in Paris, France.[2]

Career

Aravosis worked on Capitol Hill in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a foreign policy adviser for Ted Stevens, a Republican senator from Alaska, before becoming a Democrat. He subsequently worked at the World Bank, the Children's Defense Fund, as the US Politics editor at About.com, and as a stringer for The Economist.[3][4][5] In 1997, Aravosis started, and still runs, his own political Internet consulting business. He has a speciality in using the Internet for political advocacy and international development that has brought him to Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.[2]


HERE ARE TWO GENUINELY "GOOD NEWS" ARTICLES. NO SHOCK AND HORROR HERE.

MEMBERS OF THE STUDENT COUNCIL HERE STEP IN TO HELP A KID EATING ALONE. I DON’T THINK THEY USUALLY DO THINGS LIKE THAT. IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF THERE WERE A “FRIENDS CLUB” IN SCHOOLS WHICH WOULD CONSIST OF STUDENTS WHO HAVE AN INTEREST IN HELPING PEOPLE GET TO KNOW OTHERS AND BLEND MORE EASILY. THEN WHEN THEY SEE KIDS LIKE THIS BOY, THEY COULD INVITE HIM OR HER INTO THEIR CLUB. THAT WOULD HELP THE SHYER KID A GREAT DEAL, BECAUSE MAKING THAT FIRST CONTACT IS PARTICULARLY HARD FOR THEM. IF THEY THEN BECOME A HELPER FOR OTHERS, THAT WILL BE BEST OF ALL. THIS IS HOW TO BUILD A POSITIVE AND FRIENDLY SCHOOL.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-ate-lunch-alone-for-years-then-the-student-council-stepped-in/
CBS NEWS November 15, 2018, 1:36 PM
Teen ate lunch alone for years, then the student council stepped in

Our series, A More Perfect Union, aims to show that what unites us as Americans is far greater than what divides us. When it comes to making friends, high school can be especially difficult. For some teenagers, the hardest part of the day can be lunchtime in the high school cafeteria. "CBS This Morning Saturday" co-host Dana Jacobson visited Boiling Springs High School in South Carolina, to see how a simple question changed one student's life.

Andrew Kirby was used to sitting alone at lunch. The high school sophomore was never especially social and making friends hasn't been easy. He was born with a neurological disorder and has undergone several major surgeries over his life.

"A lot of times at lunch I'll text Andrew," explained his mom, Kay Kirby. "I said, 'Are you eating with anyone? And he said 'No.' And I sat at my desk at work and I just prayed I said, 'Lord, please send somebody to eat with him.'"

But that changed on the first day of school this year when members of the student council noticed that Andrew was eating alone and invited him to join them.

"If we were sitting by ourselves we would want someone to sit with us so we didn't want kids to have to sit by themselves," one student said. Added another, "Everyone needs to have someone and anyone can be a help with that."

"It's very encouraging to know that there are teenagers out there that took their time. They weren't being in their own clique, they weren't being selfish, they took their time to reach out to somebody who might be different. And you know, you never know what a child is going through — maybe they've got a bad home life, maybe they're depressed, and there's a kid sitting by themselves and they noticed that," Kay said. "The peace I have now at lunch I don't feel like I need to text him and check on him."

What started as a small act of kindness has even gone beyond the lunchroom. The group invited Andrew to go to the movies with them a couple weeks ago.

What's more, he's been eating lunch with them every day since.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


THIS IS A CLEVER IDEA. LOTS OF KIDS DON’T HAVE ENOUGH BOOKS AT HOME THAT THEY CAN READ, SO THEY MAY NOT TAKE UP THE HABIT OF READING AS A PASTIME. BOTH MY PARENTS READ, THOUGH IN MOTHER’S CASE IT WAS MAINLY THE NEWSPAPER, BUT WHEN SHE WAS YOUNG, THEY HAD VERY FEW BOOKS EXCEPT SCHOOL BOOKS. IN THOSE DAYS THE SCHOOL DIDN’T OWN THE BOOKS. THE KIDS PARENTS HAD TO BUY THEM.

WE DIDN’T READ THE DR. SEUSS BOOKS AND OTHER GRADE LEVEL MATERIALS, BUT WE HAD THE NANCY DREW MYSTERIES, ETC., A FEW ADULT LEVEL BOOKS, AND THE ONE GOOD PICTURED WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY PLUS A SET OF COMPTON’S ENCYCLOPEDIAS. IT IS MY EXPERIENCE THAT IF KIDS ARE TAUGHT THE HABIT OF LOOKING UP WORDS AND OTHER INFORMATION THAT THEY DON’T RECOGNIZE OR KNOW HOW TO SPELL, THEY WILL MAKE THEIR OWN WAY WITH IT PRETTY WELL.

THE FACT THAT THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO THEIR NOT PAYING THE FINE WILL MAKE THEM CONSCIOUS OF TIME PASSING, HOPEFULLY. MOST KIDS, FROM MY EXPERIENCE ARE NOT VERY AWARE OF TIME.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-county-libraries-allow-kids-to-read-away-late-fees/
CBS NEWS December 12, 2018, 1:48 PM
Los Angeles County libraries allow kids to read away late fees

In our series, A More Perfect Union, we aim to show what unites us as Americans is far greater than what divides us. In the age of video games, smart phones and the internet, public libraries across the country are getting creative to draw people in. We saw how one Southern California county is letting young readers work off their fines – by opening up a book.

At the East Los Angeles Library, even the youngest patrons have to pay their dues – but not the way you think. Card holders 21 and under can literally read away what they owe in late fees at a rate of $5 per hour, reports CBS News correspondent Jamie Yuccas. It's a new chapter for Los Angeles County, a program called "The Great Read Away."

"We're not really concentrating on what they're reading so long as they're reading," LA County Library Director Skye Patrick said. He said the idea came about after the library noticed an unsettling trend: Many kids who racked up debt on overdue books or movies would stop coming to the library altogether.

"Ten dollars, absolutely, for some people that's a huge barrier," Patrick said.

"And those are the kids that you want in the library?" Yuccas asked.

"That's exactly it, so this program is really to invite them back into the library, to make libraries accessible to them and their families," Patrick said.

We found 8-year-old Jaylene Robles working off her late fee while also catching up on the popular "Judy Moody" series.

"When you didn't have to pay money for your fines, and you could read away your fines, what did you think?" Yuccas asked her.

"I was surprised… I thought everyone in the library or someone that has a fine, they have to pay," Robles said.

Children's librarian Xuemin Zhong said she sees kids reading away fees daily.

"I've seen as low as a couple of cents to as high as a couple hundred dollars," Zhong said. "And I've seen kids read that away because they have the commitment to do so."

Since the program launched last year, LA County said its more than 80 libraries have logged more than 50,000 reading sessions and reinstated more than 13,000 previously blocked accounts.

Watch more from the series:

Teen ate lunch alone for years, then the student council stepped in
California community buys out donuts so shop owner can spend time with sick wife
Recovering addicts find support and community at sober gym
Police officer becomes unlikely father figure for young man
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


COLLEGES AND PROBABLY HIGH SCHOOLS, TOO, ARE MORE INTERESTED IN THE SCHOOL BEING PROTECTED THAN THE STUDENT. THAT’S THE PROBLEM. I SAW THAT IN SEVERAL CAMPUS RAPE CASES OVER THESE LAST THREE YEARS OF DOING THE BLOG. THEY AVOID LETTING THE STORY GET OUT WHERE IT CAN FORCE A FAIR ACTION ON THE UNIVERSITY’S PART, AND OF COURSE, WHERE THE PRESS CAN PICK IT UP.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/01/02/deadline-looming-groups-urge-public-speak-out-against-devos-plan-steamroll-rights
Published on
Wednesday, January 02, 2019
byCommon Dreams
With Deadline Looming, Groups Urge Public to Speak Out Against DeVos' Plan to Steamroll Rights for Sexual Assault Survivors
"If you support protections for survivors, submit a comment now"
byAndrea Germanos, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos take part in a roundtable in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on December 18, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

With the deadline for public comment fast approaching, advocacy groups are urging their supporters to let the Trump administration know its proposed changes to the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination in schools are unacceptable as they would "make it easier for schools to sweep campus sexual assault under the rug."

"If you support protections for survivors, submit a comment now," People For the American Way added in a tweet on Wednesday.

When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos unveiled the proposed changes to how universities enforce Title IX in November, civil liberties groups expressed sharp criticism, with the ACLU fearing they "would tip the scales against those who raise their voices."

Laying out her opposition, NOW President Toni Van Pelt previously explained:

The single most damaging provision is the limitation to responding only to complaints that happen on campus. It is estimated that 87 percent of college students now live off campus; so that vast majority of victims of harassment and assault would have little protection. Their only recourse would be to report incidents to law enforcement authorities and there is a long history of these types of complaints being ignored.

Other harmful changes include a restrictive definition of sexual harassment that would require students to endure severe harassment before the school has to respond; allowing schools to adopt a criminal standard of evidence in deciding cases when Title IX is a civil rights law and a lower standard of evidence is more appropriate; setting up a situation for unbalanced investigations where schools are required to start with the presumption that the named perpetrator is not responsible (thus the victims are not to be believed); allowing alleged perpetrators to directly question their accusers causing more trauma; and, permitting religious exemptions for schools to avoid compliance with Title IX protections placing at serious risk LGBTQIA students, pregnant and parenting students (some are unmarried), and student who need access to birth control and abortion care.

Know Your IX, which is staging a "Hands Off IX" joint campaign with End Rape on Campus, also recently tweeted a graphic to sum up the proposal:

The changes would hit the LGBTQ community and students of color particularly hard, as they face higher levels of sexual assault.

"Under these new proposed rules, @michiganstateu would've had no responsibility to stop #LarryNassar from sexually abusing girls and young women, just because his victims told their coaches and athletic trainers instead of the #TitleIX coordinator," Rewire.News noted in a tweet on Wednesday.

Given the potential impacts, groups like Legal Voice are encouraging people to swiftly submit a formal comment by the January 28 midnight deadline.

But don't stop with just a comment, says the Network for Victim Recovery of DC. The legal and advocacy group says another way to stand against the administration's proposal is "to advocate for #survivors' rights on ur campus. Tell your school what YOU think about the proposed Title IX changes & ask them what their plan is!"


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