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Something a friend forwarded to me

Here is the link to the original piece.

I’m posting the text below for your convenience. This letter is well worth the time to read.

 Thanks to www.tabletmag.com

To the Students for Justice in Palestine, a Letter From an Angry Black Woman

‘You do not have the right to invoke my people’s struggle for your shoddy purposes’

By Chloe Valdary|July 28, 2014 12:00 AM

A protest led by Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2009. (Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

The student organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is prominent on many college campuses, preaching a mantra of “Freeing Palestine.” It masquerades as though it were a civil rights group when it is not. Indeed, as an African-American, I am highly insulted that my people’s legacy is being pilfered for such a repugnant agenda. It is thus high time to expose its agenda and lay bare some of the fallacies they peddle.

• If you seek to promulgate the legacy of early Islamic colonialists who raped and pillaged the Middle East, subjugated the indigenous peoples living in the region, and foisted upon them a life of persecution and degradation—you do not get to claim the title of “Freedom Fighter.”

• If you support a racist doctrine of Arab supremacism and wish (as a corollary of that doctrine) to destroy the Jewish state, you do not get to claim that the prejudices you peddle are forms of legitimate “resistance.”

• If your heroes are clerics who sit in Gaza plotting the genocide of a people; who place their children on rooftops in the hopes they will get blown to bits; who heap praises upon their fellow gang members when they succeed in murdering Jewish school boys and bombing places of activity where Jews congregate—you do not get to claim that you are some Apollonian advocate of human virtue. You are not.

• If your activities include grieving over the woefully incompetent performance by Hamas rocketeers and the subsequent millions of Jewish souls who are still alive—whose children were not murdered by their rockets; whose limbs were not torn from them; and whose disembowelment did not come into fruition—you do not get to claim that you stand for justice. You profess to be irreproachable. You are categorically not.

• If your idea of a righteous cause entails targeting and intimidating Jewish students on campus, arrogating their history of exile-and-return and fashioning it in your own likeness you do not get to claim that you do so in the name of civil liberty and freedom of expression.

• You do not get to champion regimes that murder, torture, and persecute their own people, deliberately keep them impoverished, and embezzle billions of dollar from them—and claim you are “pro-Arab.” You are not.

• You do not get to champion a system wherein Jews are barred from purchasing land, traveling in certain areas, and living out such an existence merely because they are Jews—and claim that you are promoting equality for all. You do not get to enable that system by pushing a boycott of Jewish owned businesses, shops, and entities—and then claim that you are “against apartheid.” That is evil.

• You do not get to justify the calculated and deliberate bombings, beatings, and lynchings of Jewish men, women, and children by referring to such heinous occurrences as part of a noble “uprising” of the oppressed—that is racism. It is evil.

• You do not get to pretend as though you and Rosa Parks would have been great buddies in the 1960s. Rosa Parks was a real Freedom Fighter. Rosa Parks was a Zionist.

Coretta Scott King was a Zionist.

A. Phillip Randolph was a Zionist.

Bayard Rustin was a Zionist.

Count Basie was a Zionist.

Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was a Zionist.

Indeed, they and many more men and women signed a letter in 1975 that stated: “We condemn the anti-Jewish blacklist. We have fought too long and too hard to root out discrimination from our land to sit idly while foreign interests import bigotry to America. Having suffered so greatly from such prejudice, we consider most repugnant the efforts by Arab states to use the economic power of their newly-acquired oil wealth to boycott business firms that deal with Israel or that have Jewish owners, directors, or executives, and to impose anti-Jewish preconditions for investments in this country.”

You see, my people have always been Zionists because my people have always stood for the freedom of the oppressed. So, you most certainly do not get to culturally appropriate mypeople’s history for your own. You do not have the right to invoke my people’s struggle for your shoddy purposes and you do not get to feign victimhood in our name. You do not have the right to slander my people’s good name and link your cause to that of Dr. King’s. Our two causes are diametrically opposed to each other.

Your cause is the antithesis of freedom. It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives of both Arabs and Jews. It has separated these peoples, and has fomented animosity between them. It has led to heartache, torment, death and destruction.

It is of course your prerogative to continue to utilize platitudes for your cause. You are entirely within your rights to chant words like “equality” “justice” and “freedom fighter.”

You can keep using those words for as long as you like. But I do not think you know what they mean.

***

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Chloe Valdary is a consultant for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America and a fellow at the Lawfare Project.

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Let me explain…

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Americans not wanting Illegal immigrants is not the same as Americans not welcoming Immigrants.

I know the subtlety is easily lost in the endless politically correct churning of the mainstream media.

Immigrants are by definition folks that have gone through the process of asking for permission, and filling out endless applications to move to the United States.

They are patient, and law abiding, they’re generally looking for a new life and willing to assimilate into the fabric of our great nation. Often they are escaping the oppression of a government or political system that punished them for being who they were, for having dreams, or for disagreeing with totalitarianism.

Generally, these people do not wish to bring the ills of their former nation to their new adopted country. They don’t seek what they had at home, they seek a future of freedom and opportunity. (Unless they’re Muslim… another story entirely.)

BN DP115 border M 20140708123255

Illegal Immigrants may want many of the same things, but there is one major difference and lots of little differences between the Illegal Immigrant and the legal immigrant.

The major difference…

The Illegal Immigrant has, as their first act in a new country broken the law. There is NO discussion here, no excuses, it’s a matter of fact. Crossing the border into another country without permission is illegal. Therefore an Illegal immigrant has broken the law.

Many, though not all illegal immigrants are simply criminals in their own country and seek to escape justice by hiding among the shadow population in this country. These folks bring their criminal ways with them.

Enforcing a closed border, Unreasonable?

HITSHOME 20140702 113013

It’s not unreasonable to want to defend our border. It’s not unreasonable to send folks packing because they snuck into the country.

What is unreasonable is not enforcing the laws of this country.

It’s unreasonable to distribute Illegal immigrants across the nation, free them on a promise, and then expect them to show up in court. Particularly if those illegal immigrants are underage children. It makes no sense that our government is essentially asking minors to enter into a legal contract, in a country whose laws they don’t understand.

In the current climate where we have borders that are not secure, and our government secretly distributing illegal immigrants throughout the country, members of my own family are being placed at risk.

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Yes… a cracker, honky, lily white, (gasp) conservative male has relatives that are of Latin American decent. 

They’re children, they’re American citizens, and they’re AT RISK!

Follow this scenario.

My elderly parents shopping with their grand children who tan very well, encounter folks that are angry about the lawless illegal immigration that our government is allowing.

This angry mob points to the kids, demanding to see their immigration papers (which of course as American citizens they neither have, or need.) My Dad gets pissed off and tries to protect his grandchildren then sustains injury. Meanwhile my Mom attempts to escape the mob only to be called to account for harboring Illegals!

The kids are traumatized and have seen the ugliest face of humanity, all the while not understanding what they did wrong. (Because Unknownof course they did nothing wrong!)

The scenario above isn’t beyond possibility. Especially if our government continues to sanction and assist illegal immigration. Eventually Americans are going to get pissed off and when they do a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt.

I feel for the folks who want to come to this country, I really do. That being said, I absolutely am 100% against having our borders unsecured, any and ALL amnesty programs or doing anything with the illegals involved in our border crisis EXCEPT returning them to their country of origin immediately.

For me it’s personal.

I believe it is totally unconscionable and dangerous to Americans, for the Obama administration to harbor these people, and ignore the will of the Citizens. 

 

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Funny, I write a lot, But…

 

Veteran waiting

A lot of what I write doesn’t make it to these pages.

You can thank your lucky stars about that.

I see stuff on the TV news or read something in a paper, and I think what the hell?

There’s stuff that pisses me off because it’s just wrong, and offends my sense of decency and morality.

Then there’s stuff that is simply factually wrong, mis-worded, misspelled, or spun, in such a convoluted way that I know it’s misleading a large percentage of the population.

First Ammendment

I read about our Veterans begging for medical care and about Illegal immigrants complaining because they don’t get enough free medical care.

I read of people making cases for “rights” that aren’t “rights” but are privileges, then read of those same people claiming “Rights” enumerated in the constitution, aren’t “Rights” at all.

To be clear;

Having a drivers license is a privilege.

Freedom of Speech is a Right.

Being fed because you’re poor or hungry is a humanitarian act, being performed for you by the people who are feeding you because you can’t feed yourself. But you don’t have a “Right” which legally compels someone to feed you.  Worse yet, demanding better cuisine and expecting it of your generous hosts isn’t your “right,” it’s just plain rude.

Israeli leaflets

Your “Right” to practice your religion is exactly that, YOUR RIGHT. My choice NOT to practice your religion or any religion for that matter is just as much my “Right”.

My exercise of my “Right” to free speech in denouncing your practice of your religion, based on your behavior is not hate speech, it’s simply a matter of calling it as I see it.

I think Israel is right and I hope they burn all of Hamas down.  No, not because I particularly agree with all of Israel’s policies. I happen to think that Israel is fighting a stand up fight while Hamas isn’t. Look at this simplistically, Israel tells Hamas when they’re going to bomb or move into an area.

Crying Palesteinan

In the history of warfare has there ever been an Army that says, “We’ll be bombing this area at 15:00, and moving our troops into the area at 16:30.”

Nope, and Hamas sure as hell doesn’t give any warning. So I can’t perceive of Israel as a bully.

I see Israel behaving as honorably as possible, given that they’re fighting a war. I see Hamas as a bunch of childish schoolyard bullies tossing rocks at the athletes from behind bleachers filled with kindergarteners.

Eventually even the best, fair minded, and most honorable athletes get pissed off and go on the hunt.

That’s when Hamas runs to the UN crying and saying Israel is mean. Twintowers

Hey, Israel is just exercising their “Right” to kick some ass.

Contrary to what the Obamas think, Muslims didn’t have a lot to do with building this country. They did apparently have a lot to do with a nasty bit of urban renewal in Manhattan.

Lunchtime

The Puritans, and Irish, English, Italians, Germans, Swedes, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, Native Americans, (and a whole lot of other determined folks who dreamt of freedom) built this country with blood, sweat, tears, and a fuckload of hard work.

There’s an impact crater in Pennsylvania that bears testament to the gumption, determination, and grit of the descendants of those people. The passengers on flight 93 believed that protecting their fellow citizens was more important than their lives being lost in vain by allowing a plane to be used as a weapon. They did honor to their ancestors and to God only knows how many innocent citizens on the ground.

Flight93memorial

I think about that every single time I hear about the so called “Religion of Peace.” Or hear some assholes like CAIR saying that Muslims are being oppressed because they’re offended by a Christmas decoration.

I grind my teeth every single time I see our sitting President ignore a salute from his Marine escorts.

These kinds of things go through my head all the time and sometimes I wonder if I’ve stepped onto the “CRAZY TRAIN” because so much now days, makes so little sense.

Offtherails

It’s because I wonder if I’m nuts, that I often let blog entries sit and simmer for days or weeks. Sometimes I reread them and think, “Yeah I was wound up when I wrote that.” Then press delete.

Other times I press Publish letting the chips fall as they will.

And sometimes, as I’m doing tonight, I condense the hell out of several posts and what you get is something that’s more akin to stream of consciousness.

No salute

Mind you, this is far more edited than the normally chaotic stream running through my head. I doubt even my computer could keep up with that. I certainly don’t expect you to.

Let me just say this, I’m here even if I’m not writing or tweeting out loud. I’m observing, and thinking, and writing things that maybe, you’ll never read.

I do appreciate the occasional comment or email, because often, I hear from someone that says, “Yeah, I get you. You’re not alone brother.”

Marine

Other times I get a comment or email that tells me I’m off the rails and need to have a drink, and take a deep breath. Rarely, I’ll get a really pissed off email or comment that tells me I’ve hit a nerve, so keep those cards & letters coming.

Good Night,

Sleep well everyone, and remember what Eleanor Roosevelt said;

Marines not sleeping

“The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!”

 ― Eleanor Roosevelt

I sleep well, embraced by Marines around the world, who are not sleeping.

Wait for the next ride

I’ve been privileged to watch over a few Marines through the night, so they could sleep soundly.

Yeah, I think about stuff like that too…

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Night Rain

Maninrain

You don’t appreciate something until it’s gone.

Its been that way around here. I’ve had enough of the endless dry dusty days. This drought is like the party guest that just won’t leave.

There have been some really evil teasers over the past few months, cloudy days, huge thunderheads building against the mountain, lots of noise but not a lot of action.

All we’ve gotten out of it has been humidity followed by more steaminess than we had before.

I can take heat, with low humidity. I can take high humidity like you get in the South, at least you know that rain is coming.

I can’t take the nasty humidity followed by sun followed by more humidity with no breeze. That’s brutal and what the early evenings have been like for the past few days. 

Oppressive heat and humidity permeating what should be a comfortable time of the day. Not quite hot enough to run the air conditioning, but sticky like a Florida summer day without the afternoon thunderstorm.

Maninrain3

Being naked doesn’t help, because you can’t get enough sweat to evaporate to cool. You lay there sweating, wondering if the $$$ you’d spend on the A/C is worth it.

I was sleeping fitfully on the couch. Then about an hour ago I woke to the smell of rain on hot asphalt. It’s not raining a lot, more of a drizzle but it’s being fairly consistent and the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees. 

The rain isn’t hitting on the roof hard enough to make much of a sound, but I can hear it on the leaves and if I listen real hard, I can hear drops hitting the decks.

Maninrain2

I wasn’t naked when I fell asleep on the couch, I’m naked now.

Standing at the sliding door listening  to the rain through the screen I had an overwhelming urge to be naked, feeling the rain on my skin.

Thank goodness the decks are more or less private at this time of night!

For however long this gentle shower lasts, I’m grateful.

I can see myself wrapping up in a sheet then falling asleep listening to the crickets and gentle shower hitting the parched ground.

It’s worth losing a little sleep to enjoy the rain.

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Uh OH, Guess White people are going to be driven into poverty…

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It’s only fair, right? After all White folks MUST be punished for their hard work and success.

All you young white males out there.  GIVE UP! You’re fucked!

Learn to drive that forklift, and don’t forget Military Careers are gone now too.

Whatever you do, you’re not going to be allowed to work in technology firms anymore. Probably should look at leaving this country too. I hear the Russians, Germans, & Chinese, are looking for skilled technology workers.

Here’s the deal. During the past few months, Silicon Valley has been called upon to release “Diversity” reports and BIG surprise… Those reports are showing that overwhelmingly White Males, followed by folks from Asia, are at the top of the food chain in technology.

The latest report is from Twitter.

Honestly I don’t find this at all surprising. I noticed a long time ago that the Captains of industry were predominantly white. It actually makes a kind of sense. The civil rights movement was in full swing only 50 years ago.

Black Sales Manager

If you factor in the time needed to improve and integrate the schools, and make sure that black kids had all the same opportunities that white kids had then get the black kids interested in education and prepare them for college… You still come up short. You have folks especially in the early years that simply couldn’t afford college so they didn’t go. Plus you had a mind set in the black community that wasn’t educationally focused. Those issues take time to fix. 

Figure that you lose 15 to 20 years while minds, beliefs, and financial issues get taken care of. Which leaves you with a good 30 or so years during which black kids were being educated right along side white kids. Then hopefully moving on to college. Which means that two maybe four groups of black kids have been educated start to finish through college, with all the same opportunities as white kids. So now they’re waiting in the wings to move up the corporate ladder.

Except that no-one is moving up the corporate ladder except H1B1 Visa holders. That’s another issue entirely.

Then along comes Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton demanding to know why there aren’t more black faces in the pages of Forbes. 

Well, looking at President Obama’s management style perhaps we can see why there aren’t more African Americans in management. Having some experience with a supervisor who was far more interested in not rocking the boat and doing anything to keep peace, I can tell you, this isn’t the way to promotions. In any business situation, sometimes you have to take risks, and stand up for what you believe in. Not taking risks or maintaining peace at any price, makes you anything but management material.

Corporate ladder

It also tends to cause a lot of turnover in employees working for that supervisor.

Some employees have goals and want to move up the corporate ladder.  They can’t do that under a milquetoast supervisor because in addition to keeping peace at any price, this kind of supervisor also limits upper management’s view of their employees, Typically the supervisor takes all the credit for good work, and hangs an employee out to dry if a project or other work goes bad.

Lots of employee turnover tends to limit how far up the corporate ladder this type of supervisor can go. Which suggests management classes may be in order for African American supervisors and certainly for President Obama.

I don’t think this bad management style is a personal style choice, I think it’s endemic to most African American managers. I can only assume it’s a style born out of fear of losing a hard won job, there’s probably a psychology paper in there somewhere.

Which brings me back on point.

There aren’t that many African Americans in upper management for a couple of reasons.

1 Poor management style limits access to higher management responsibilities.

2 We’re still waiting for seasoned African Americans to come up through the ranks from entry level positions to upper management.

The two issues are inter-related but I think, subtly different.

These diversity reports are going slam midlevel white male workers the hardest. Regardless of these workers qualifications, they’re going to lose out to institutional racism.

Poor white people

The equation is simple, businesses fear bad publicity. Bad Publicity hurts the bottom line and so must be avoided at all costs. Even if the cost is hiring people who are not qualified for a job. It makes good business sense to isolate someone from management decisions and pay them a salary to look pretty, if their presence spares the company bad publicity.

It even makes sense to hire a lot of people who are unqualified or barely qualified for a series of jobs peppered throughout departments to make your diversity numbers look better. Some of the barely qualified folks will catch on and become good employees. The rest, a company takes as a write-off in productivity.

All of which means, White Males aren’t going to get tech jobs for the foreseeable future.