THE FURTHER CORRESPONDENCES OF MARC SUSSELMAN PART 26
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21 May 2024
MS said:
This morning I sent the below email to the President of the University of Michigan and to the University Regents.
Marc M. Susselman, J.D., M.P.H.
43834 Brandywyne Rd.,
Canton, Michigan 48187
marcsusselman@gmail.com
(734) 416-5186
VIA EMAIL
May 21, 2024
President Santa J. Ono
University of Michigan
1109 Geddes Ave.
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Dear President Ono,
This is now the fifth email which I have sent to you and the University Regents regarding the pro-Palestinian encampment on the university Diag. On the evening of May 20, I was on the university campus and again visited the Diag to observe the encampment and whether the “Long Live The Intifada” banner was still present. It was, although a number of folding chairs had been placed in front of the word “Intifada” to partially obscure the word. But both the word and the banner were still visible, for all to see. As I have stated in my prior emails, a sign which states “Long Live The Intifada” is a call to kill Jews, and as such constitutes “fighting words,” which are not protected by the First Amendment. I am reiterating my demand that the University order that the sign be removed. It has no place on the campus of a public university.
While I was there, at 9 P.M., a “call to prayer” was broadcast over a loud-speaker. It could be heard across the Diag. At that point, a group of some 10-15 people congregated in front of the encampment and proceeded to conduct what I presume was a religious service, in Arabic. The service lasted approximately 30 minutes. I do not know if all of the participants were students currently enrolled at the University. I suspect, but have not confirmed, that such services are now being conducted every day on the Diag, and, perhaps, in keeping with Islamic protocol, more than once per day. The religious service was conducted peacefully, and it did not appear that any of the participants were being coerced to participate in the service.
The occurrence of a public religious service, of any religion, on the property of a public university raises serious concerns regarding the violation of the Establishment Clause. If not all the participants are currently enrolled as students at the University, or are not employed by the University, the University has the right to limit, and in fact to preclude, their engaging in a public activity on the Diag. See Perry Ed. Assn v. Perry Local Educators’ Assn, 460 U.S. 17 (1983). In addition, the Diag constitutes a “limited public forum,” the use of which the University has the right, indeed the obligation, to monitor and regulate. I submit that allowing a public religious service, of any religion, to be conducted on the University’s property arguably crosses the line between the separation of church and state enshrined in the Establishment Clause. I am a staunch defender of both the right of religious freedom and the right of freedom of speech protected under the First Amendment. However, I submit that conducting a religious service of a particular religion, particularly if some of the participants do not have a right to be there, is not protected by either right. This is distinguishable from a silent prayer being conducted on a high-school football field by a football coach. See Kennedy v. Bremerton Sch. Dist., 142 S. Ct. 2407 (2022). It is likewise distinguishable from allowing a college religious student group to use the university facilities to engage in their religious activities, a right shared by other student religious organizations. See Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263 (1981). This is conducting a public religious service on a public university’s property, a service which transpires over a not insignificant amount of time, and constitutes, I submit, an unconstitutional promotion of a particular religion.
I am therefore requesting that the University conduct an investigation of the religious services being performed at the pro-Palestinian encampment and have the University’s attorneys evaluate the constitutionality of this publicly occurring on the University’s property. I would further urge the Regents to visit the Diag to observe what is occurring on their campus.
Yours truly,
Marc M. Susselman, JD, MPH
cc: Regent Jordan Acker (via email)
Regent Michael Behm (via email)
Regent Mark Bernstein (via email)
Regent Paul Brown (via email)
Regent Susan Hubbard (via email)
Regent Denise Ilitch (via email)
Regent Ron Weiser (via email)
Regent Katherine White (via email)
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MS said:
I have been informed that the University of Michigan ordered the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment this morning.
Bravo!
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MS said:
Post-script of a non-posted post:
Need I point out the difference between comments critical of the character of individuals whom one has never met, and comments about chess games, TV shows,football games, and one's family, none of which make cheap, critical, insulting observations about the individuals who are the subjects of the comment? As is typical of wallerstein's style, he equates entirely different contexts to one another.
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MS said:
wallerstein has repeatedly made scathing and insulting comments about President Biden’s character, whom he acknowledges he has never met, but bases his condemnation on his “instincts” that Biden is someone whom he would have despised if they had been in high-school together.
This is a man who lost a wife and son in a devastating car crash. He continued to raise his other two sons by himself, traveling every day back and forth to Washington by train so he could be home with his young sons for dinner. When Biden was running for President in 2020, in an article as I recall written by Nicholas Kristoff, Kristoff reported the following anecdote about Biden. Biden attended the funeral of an elderly Jewish woman in Delaware. After the funeral service was concluded, the rabbi, who recognized the Senator and knew he was Catholic, surprised at seeing him at the funeral of a Jewish woman, approached Biden, and out of curiosity asked him what prompted him to attend the funeral. Biden responded that he had never met the deceased. But in every campaign he had been in, he had always received a campaign check from her. He said words to the following effect: “She had always been there for me in my time of need. I wanted to be here in her time of need to wish her farewell.” In Yiddish, there is a word for such a person – he’s a mensch, a word wallerstein has absolutely no concept or understanding of.
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MS said:
As part of its case seeking a warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest, the ICC is accusing Israel of causing the famine in Gaza and unlawfully using famine as a weapon of war.
Reading the charge, I wondered whether there was famine during WWII and to what extent. I found a report online titled “The famines Of WWII,” which can be found here:
"https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/famines-wwii#:~:text=Of%20WWII's%20warring%20powers%20only,hunger%2Drelated%20diseases%20outside%20Europe"
The report indicates that 7 to 9 million civilians died of famine in the Soviet Union during WWII, of which 1 to 2 million were under Soviet control; 300,000 civilians died of famine in Greece; and 100,000 civilians died of famine in Austria.
Would anyone attribute this massive loss of life due to starvation to the deliberate actions of the Allies? Nor could it be attributed to a claim that the combatants were using civilians as human shields.
In Gaza, by contrast, a predominant cause of the loss of civilian lives in Gaza, including due to starvation, is attributable to Hamas’s use of its fellow Palestinians as human shields, resulting in the destruction of the infrastructure, interfering with the delivery of food to the civilian population. While no rational person would blame the Allies for the starvation which occurred during WWII, the ICC is willing to blame Israel for the starvation which Hamas is causing.
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MS said:
None of us is responsible for the actions or statements of our spouse. It turns out that one of the advisers to the ICC recommending issuing the arrest warrant for Netanyahu is human rights attorney Amal Clooney, actor George Clooney’s wife. She states:
"As a human rights lawyer, I will never accept that one child’s life has less value than another’s. I do not accept that any conflict should be beyond the reach of the law, nor that any perpetrator should be above the law," she wrote.
"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/amal-clooney-played-key-role-icc-arrest-warrant-netanyahu-hamas-leaders"
While no one would dispute that no child’s life has less value that that of any other child, the word “perpetrator” is a legal term which attributes legal responsibility to an individual for the individual’s deliberate and intentional actions which cause the intended harm. This constitutes the legal difference between homicide and unintentional manslaughter – a person who commits a homicide, the deliberate, intentional taking of another’s life, is a “perpetrator”; an individual who commits unintentional manslaughter due to circumstances beyond the individual’s control is not a “perpetrator.” Ms. Clooney’s expertise as a human rights lawyer has apparently not educated her regarding the distinctions applicable to criminal liability.
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22 May 2024
MS said:
wallerstein writes: “Biden needs money from the Israel lobby to beat Trump and so will continue supporting Israel. Trump also will also receive generous campaign contriburtions from said lobby.”
wallerstein, who has expressed his disdain for Judaism as a ridiculous religion, and does not like Jews much either (unless his name is Dylan or Allen) resorts to using an age-old anti-Semitic trope to condemn Israel - that Jews control the world and its governments through their money, their “Benjamins,” as Rep. Omar put it. wallerstein will undoubtedly retort that he is just being realistic and stating the facts. But that is not the point. The fact of the matter is that every political interest group uses money to influence governments and the world. It is singling out the Jews for condemnation for doing what all other religious groups, ethnic groups, and political groups do for special condemnation which is anti-Semitic; it is singling out Israel for condemnation for doing what every nation on Earth does, which makes the comment anti-Semitic. Whose money does he think is funding Hamas and Hezbollah? That is full-blown anti-Semitism. Not a self-hating Jew, much?
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MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/21/politics/video/jury-instructions-elie-honig-trump-hush-money-trial-digvid"
What the prosecution is asking the judge to do in the hush money trial constitutes reversible error if the judge accedes to their request. The jury needs to be told precisely what crime the prosecution needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict Trump. They failed to make the case-connecting the payment of the hush money to Stormy Daniels and how it was reported to be not just a violation of New York law, but of federal law as well. The prosecution is asking the judge to obscure what this alleged federal crime was, and that, in my estimation, is a violation of Trump’s right to due process under the 14th Amendment.
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MS said:
Oops! The novel is Nineteen Eighty-Four.
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MS said:
Oh boy.
"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/us/justice-alito-flag-appeal-to-heaven.html?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240522&instance_id=124177&nl=from-the-times®i_id=116606494&segment_id=167480&te=1&user_id=306c6f279e52d371ba02c31b1c20638c"
In a prior comment, I stated that George Clooney cannot be held responsible for his wife’s advice on issuing the warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. Does Alito’s status as a Supreme Court Justice place a higher burden on him to monitor his wife’s activities?
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MS said:
Haley has announced that she is voting for Trump. Will this make it more likely that her supporters will vote for Trump also?
I think it is about time that Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Asa Hutchinson announce that they support Biden.
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MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/22/politics/video/samuel-alito-flag-january-6-bolton-tsr-digvid"
If Alito wants to demonstrate his patriotism, shouldn’t he be flying the Star Spangled Banner?
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MS said:
Eric quotes a Harvard student whom Harvard has barred from graduating as stating: “15,000 Gazan kids will never graduate.” He can blame Hamas for that.
22,500 Syrian children have been killed by their fellow Muslims in Syria.
"https://www.statista.com/statistics/697188/child-deaths-in-syria-by-party-responsible/#:~:text=Number%20of%20child%20deaths%20in%20Syria%202011-2023%2C%20by%20party%20responsible&text=As%20of%20March%202023%2C%20the,killed%20a%20further"
They, too, will not graduate from Harvard. Why don’t Harvard students protest that?
What about the children who have died of famine in Sudan due to the conduct of their fellow Arabs over the last year? They, too, will not graduate from Harvard. Why don’t Harvard students protest that?
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23 May 2024
MS said:
I just discovered this wonderful quote regarding the deficits of aging:
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.” Mark Twain
But, perhaps, the quotation is subject to reversal: “Now that I am older, I can remember more things, whether they happened or not.”
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MS said:
T.J. asks, “But, who cares whether or not what Israel is doing is genocide? It's a world-historical atrocity, so whether or not we call it ‘genocide’ seems besides the point.”
Well, Jews care, because they have been the victim of such blood libels for centuries, lies and distortions about them that have been used to justify persecuting them, torturing them, expelling them and killing them. The word “genocide,” which has been historically used to describe what the Nazis did primarily to Jews, is the deliberate targeting of a religious or ethnic group for extermination. To have this word applied to Israelis, who, after all, are Jews, would be accusing them of doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to them, an accusation which would equate to calling Israelis, and Jews generally, monstrous hypocrites – moreover, it would be false. The IDF and Israel are not committing genocide in Gaza, and to claim that it is genocide because of the thousands of civilians who have died- primarily because Hamas has used its own people as human shields-is to distort the use of the word to promote anti-Semitism. So, Yes, it matters, T.J. – and you can crawl back into your hole.
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24 May 2024
MS said:
There have been calls for the recognition of a Palestinian state – by Ireland, Norway, Spain, members of the UN, and even the Forward. But what does that mean? What are the geographic borders of such a state? Is it possible to recognize the existence of a state without specifying its borders? Does this even make sense?
I submit that it does not make sense. The Kurds have been lobbying for a state for decades. Its borders have not been specified. As far as I know, Ireland, Norway and Spain have not recognized a Kurdish state. France recognized the colonies’ independence from Britain and an American state defined by the borders of the coloies.
The leaders of these countries do not differentiate between recognizing the Palestinians right to a state; recognizing that the Palestinians are entitled to a state; and recognizing an actual Palestinian state, without specifying the borders of that state. Confusing the right to a state, and the existence of an actual state, is nothing more than cognitive dissonance. The borders of a Palestinian state cannot be specified without Israel’s cooperation, which means it makes no logical sense to recognize a Palestinian state without first defining its borders, which cannot be done without Israel and the Palestinians engaging in negotiations to define the borders of a proposed Palestinian state – something Israel has repeatedly tried to do over and over with the Palestinians, for years, without success.
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MS said:
Post-script:
Contrast the call to recognize a Palestinian state with what occurred during WWII. During WWII, numerous countries occupied by the Axis powers had governments in exile which were recognized by the Allies – Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland and Yugoslavia. These were governments in exile of countries which already had defined borders. Since there is no Palestinian state with defined borders, there is no government of a Palestinian state which can be recognized equivalent to the governments in exile recognized in WWII. And what would the government of such a Palestinian state consist in – Fatah or Hamas?
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25 May 2024
MS said:
Some have accused Israel of pursuing its military operation in Gaza, in the manner in which it is doing so, of acting improperly, out of revenge. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the accusation is accurate, is such a motive contrary to Jewish values? Is it morally reprehensible? Is it inconsistent with Jewish culture?
I just read an article, sent to me by a friend, titled, “On Jewish revenge,” written by Shachar Pinsker, professor in the Departments of Middle East Studies and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, and former associate director of the Frankel Center. The article is informative and fascinating, and I learned things about writings by Jewish and Israeli authors after WWII I was not aware of. You can find it here:
"https://aeon.co/essays/what-role-for-revenge-in-jewish-life-literature-and-culture"
Prof. Pinsker writes: “The Israeli psychologist Dan Bar-On, who for many years studied the relations between Israelis, Germans and Palestinians, suggested that the desire for revenge had found an outlet against another group that was causing feelings of threat: the Palestinians, who are perceived as ‘the natural continuation of the previous aggressor’.”
Reading the article reminded me of a story which Ari Shavit wrote about in “My Promised Land.” The story related to the evacuation of the city of Lydda during the Israeli War for Independence. The conquest of Lydda was brutal. The Palmach commander in charge of the operation was Shmaryahu Gutman. After the fighting had stopped and the Palmach was in control of the city, the Arab residents were congregated in the city’s Great Mosque. Gutman met with the city’s dignitaries to discuss what was to happen next. He had this exchange with them:
Dignitaries: What will become of the prisoners detained in the mosque?
Gutman: We shall do to the prisoners what you would do had you imprisoned us.
Dignitaries: No, no, please don’t do that.
Gutman: Why, what did I say? All I said is that we will do to you what you would do to us.
Dignitaries: Please no, master. We beg you not to do such a thing.
Gutman: No, we shall not do that. Ten minutes from now the prisoners will be free to leave the mosque and leave their homes and leave Lydda along with all of you and the entire population of Lydda.
Dignitaries: Thank you, master, God bless you.
… Under the indirect threat of slaughter, Lydda’s leaders ask to go.
In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock states at the end of his poignant soliloquy:
“If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.” Shakespeare understood anti-Semitism.
One of the accusations levelled against Israel by many of the college protesters, and prevalent on the internet, is that Israel stole the land from the Palestinians. The accusation is factually false, but suppose it were true? For hundreds of years prior to 1948, Christians had conquered land by force, taking it from their neighbors. The Arab Muslims had conquered all of North Africa at the point of the sword and forced conversion. During all of these centuries, Jews had lived in land occupied and controlled by Christians and Muslims, peacefully, threatening nobody. By 1948, they were late to the game. Yet they are accused – falsely and conveniently - of immorally stealing the land which belonged to others.
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MS said:
Ugh! And I voted for Nikki Haley.
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MS said:
Abraham Lincoln enjoyed telling jokes, especially if they included some crudity. As an example:
Lincoln enjoyed telling the story about a fellow “who had a great veneration for Revolutionary relics. He heard that an old lady had a dress which she had worn in the Revolutionary war. He made a special visit to this lady and asked her if she could produce the dress as a satisfaction to his love of aged things. She obliged him by opening a drawer and bringing out the article in question. The enthusiastic person took up the dress and delivered an apostrophe to it, ‘Were you the dress,’ said he, ‘that this lady once young and blooming wore in the time of Washington? No doubt when you came home from the dressmaker she kissed you as I do now!’ At this the relic hunter took the old dress and kissed it heartily. The practical old lady rather resented such foolishness over an old piece of wearing apparel and she said: ‘Stranger if you want to kiss something old you had better kiss my ass. It is sixteen years older than that dress.”
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
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26 May 2024
MS said:
"https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-05-26/ty-article/dave-chappele-says-reasonable-things-but-we-have-to-report-on-them-because-he-said-israel/0000018f-b426-d8a2-a3cf-b4a75fca0000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=Content&utm_campaign=daily-br"
I do not find Dave Chappelle amusing. He is, of course, entitled to his views, as is anyone who is ignorant and stupid.
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MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/opinions/video/nikki-haley-voting-for-trump-se-cupp"
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MS said:
It’s been 50 years since Mama Cass passed away. She did not die eating a ham sandwich.
"https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQVwnTBLSqSpHkqqkvglcgLWGSG"
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29 May 2024
MS said:
I am appearing in federal court in Ann Arbor later today, on the Pride Flag lawsuit.
I am looking forward to saying the following to the judge:
"You honor, opposing counsel suffers from a severe delusion of legal competence, and he has demonstrated to the court that he also has a sublime disregard for the truth."
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30 May 2024
MS said:
MAD states, “I want to recapitulate my point that the early mainstream Zionist leaders (including Ben-Gurion) knew that the Palestinians were going to have to be rid of.”
This assertion is false, and has been repeatedly documented as being false. It is based on the false claim that Ben Gurion stated: “We must expel Arabs and take their places.” Ben Gurion never said this. In fact, he said the opposite. In a letter to his son Amos, dated October 5, 1937, quoted in Efraim Karsh’s work, “Fabricating Israeli History: The New Historians,” Ben Gurion wrote: “We do not wish, we do not need to expel the Arabs and take their place. All our aspirations are built upon the assumption – proven throughout all our activity in the Land – that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.”
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MS said:
Hooray!!!!
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31 May 2024
MS said:
Will Trump’s conviction have any bearing on the election?
I believe it will, and that it improves President Biden’s chances of being re-elected – thank God.
It will, of course, not affect how any of his diehard supporters vote. Nor will it cause many undecided voters to vote for Biden. However, I believe it will increase the likelihood that such voters, who may have been considering voting for Trump, not to vote at all, or to vote for Robert Kennedy, Jr. Polls have indicated that such voters have qualms about voting for a convicted felon to be President. The fewer number of voters who vote for Trump is a vote for Biden.
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3 June 2024
MS said:
Mexico has elected Claudia Scheinbaum President, the second Jewish female head of state since 1918. President Scheinbaum’s paternal grandparents were Ashkenazi Jews from Lithuania; her maternal grandparents were Sephardic Jews from Bulgaria, who emigrated to Mexico during the Holocaust.
President Scheinbaum joins a list of female non-hereditary, elected heads of government, heads of government, which includes Prime Minister Golda Meir; Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Ceylon); Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan); Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; and Margaret Thatcher.
The longest serving non-hereditary female head of state was Vigdis Finngofadottir, who served as Iceland’s President for 16 consecutive years, from 1980 to 1996. The longest serving non-consecutive female head of state was Sheikh Hasina, who served as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister form 1996 to 2001, and again from 2009 to the present, for a total of over 20 years.
There have actually been a total of 152 elected female heads of state since 1918. You can find their names here:
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elected_and_appointed_female_heads_of_state_and_governme"
Lest anyone infer that the world would be a much more peaceful place if all of its rulers were females, we must not forget that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (the daughter of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) was a rather militaristic leader, who led India in its war with Pakistan in 1971, and launched Operation Blue Star in 1984 against Sikh insurgents, resulting in the destruction of parts of the Sikh Golden Temple, and led to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Also, Prime Minister Thatcher led Great Britain in its war against Argentina over possession of the Falkland Islands. Gender is not predictive of aggressiveness, or lack thereof.
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MS said:
I have a question for the educated and learned recipients of my emails.
The question is the following:
Suppose the official written policy of a college states: “The professor shall assign the final grades.”
Suppose the dean of a department authorizes him or herself the right to override the grade given by the professor of a particular class, does this infringe on the professor’s freedom of speech under the policy?
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MS said:
Jordan Acker, a U of M Regent, and an attorney, had his law office vandalized with anti-Semitic, pro-Palestinian graffiti.
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/03/us/university-of-michigan-regent-law-firm-vandalism-antisemitic/index.html"
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5 June 2024
MS said:
"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/us/trump-georgia-election-case-fani-willis.html?campaign_id=305&emc=edit_tot_20240605&instance_id=125479&nl=trump-on-trial®i_id=116606494&segment_id=168801&te=1&user_id=306c6f279e52d371ba02c31b1c20638c"
Fanni Willis’s egotistical, self-inflicted blunder has seriously jeopardized her prosecution of Trump. There will be no trial in Georgia, if at all, until after the election. Her political aspirations are over.
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6 June 2024
MS said:
Charles Pigden, in his re-writing of Dylan Thomas’s poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night,” may think he is being savvy in his intellectual cynicism, but he is not. He is, in fact, distorting the message of the poem by introducing his cynicism. Whether or not there is a Supreme Being who can be blamed for the gradual physical and mental deterioration of the human body, Thomas does not mean by “rage” to express anger at the cause of the deterioration. He is stating that, even as your physical and mental faculties deteriorate, you can continue, to the best of your ability, to find resilience and purpose in one’s life – as is Prof. Wolff, despite his Parkinson’s disease, as were the veterans who returned to Normandy to acknowledge the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and to pay their respects, from their wheelchairs, to the fallen heroes who saved the world from fascism. Pigden’s caricature does a disservice to Thomas’s message, and to the aged individuals who continue to exert their efforts to rage against the dying of the light.
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8 June 2024
MS said:
What has not gotten much mention during the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day is the number of French civilians who were killed during the invasion, and shortly thereafter, including the 20,000 French civilians who were killed by British and American carpet-bombing. The number of French children who died in the process is not, as far as I know, documented.
"https://apnews.com/article/dday-wwii-civilians-france-germany-military-normandy-72c0afc51a8a76222e510771a2474563#"
The French civilians were not killed deliberately. The civilian deaths were regarded as a regrettable, but necessary, price in order to achieve a more important objective - to defeat Nazism and rid Europe of Nazi occupation. And they were the victims of only one military campaign. How many more thousands of French and Belgian civilians died as the Allies marched to Berlin?
In the intervening 80 years, the rules of war have been refined by legal theorists sitting in armchairs who declare that such massive loss of civilian life constitutes a war crime – a war crime they accuse Israel of committing in its campaign to eliminate Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and the extermination of all the Jews living there.
Query: Would these legal theorists have condemned the Allied forces for committing war crimes, and have indicted FDR, Churchill, General Eisenhower, General Montgomery, and all of their subordinates for committing crimes against humanity, simultaneously accusing Hitler and his cadres of also committing war crimes, for good measure, to appear even-handed? And would we?
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MS said:
On Friday, Israel rescued four Israeli hostages who had been kidnapped by Hamas. It was reported that, in the process, Israel killed 200 Gazans.
The most famous line in Schindler’s List is the statement from the Talmud, “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” A corollary of that adage is, “Whoever destroys a single soul, destroys an entire world.” In saving the four hostages, and saving a world entire, did Israel simultaneously destroy the world? Some – perhaps many – would categorically say Yes.
But is there a categorical answer to this question? I do not believe so. Can destroying a soul, and destroying the world, be justified if it also saves a life in the process and thereby saves the world that has been destroyed? Would it not depend on the intentionality of the agents involved, and whose actions precipitated the process to begin with? On October 7, Hamas intentionally massacred over 1200 individuals, including Israelis and non-Israelis, and took several hundred others captive, and have held them as hostages. In so doing, they destroyed the world multiple times over. None of the victims, and none of the hostages, had intentionally engaged in any actions which threatened Hamas, or the civilians living in Gaza. Many Gazans cheered the Hamas actions. In the middle of a war, there is no way to conduct a trial to determine, beyond a reasonable doubt, which Gazans supported Hamas; which Gazans opposed Hamas; and which Gazans were silent and indifferent. Israel acted intentionally to rescue the four hostages, saving the world entire. Israel did not intentionally kill the Gazans who died in the process of the rescue. Their unintentional deaths, in the process of saving the world entire, did not simultaneously destroy the world entire.
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9 June 2024
MS said:
Post-script: Exegesis
What is the source of the Talmudic precept that, “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire,” or its corollary in the Quran (Al Midah, 6:32), “That is why We [Allah] decreed for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a soul, without its being guilty of manslaughter or corruption on the earth, is as though he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves a life is as though he had saved all mankind.”
The genesis of these aphorisms is, indeed, found in Genesis, in the story of Cain’s murder of Abel. The text states: “What have you done? Listen, your brother’s bloods [it is plural in the Hebrew] are crying out to Me from the ground!” This accusation, that the intentional murder of Abel, has involved not just the unwarranted death of one individual, but of all of the potential descendants of that individual; hence the murder of an innocent person implicates destroying the world entire. This entails the Talmudic corollary that by saving the life of an individual, one has saved that individual’s descendants, who, but for your act, would not be born; hence you have saved the world entire.
This view is reflected in the Talmud regarding the prerequisites for evidence to convict an accused of a capital offense, i.e., one which will result in the death penalty. The source states (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 37a):
“In capital cases one is held responsible for the blood of the accused and the blood of his potential descendants until the end of time, for thus we find in the case of Cain, who killed his brother, that it is written: ‘you brother’s bloods cry out to Me (Gen 4:10): Not the blood of your brother; but the bloods of your brother, is said, i.e., his blood and the blood of his potential descendants. … For this reason was man [Adam] created alone, to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul Scripture imputes guilt to him as though he had destroyed a complete world; and whosoever preserves a single soul, Scripture ascribes merit to him as though he had preserved a complete world.”
Given this background, would not the Gazans rightfully accuse Israel that in the process of saving four individuals, it killed over 200 innocent Gazans? In so doing, Israel saved the descendants of the four hostages, but simultaneously eliminated the descendants of the 200 innocent Gazans, destroying far greater worlds entire than it saved.
Here is where, I submit, that intentionality becomes critical. In the context of a capital case, if a witness claims from personal knowledge that he saw the accused commit the murder, and by virtue of this testimony the accused is convicted and sentenced to death, the witness is responsible for the elimination of the accused’s blood line, and thereby has destroyed a world entire; but the destruction of the world entire is deemed justified, as recompense for the accused having taken the life of an innocent individual. Suppose, however, that the witness is lying, has committed perjury, did not in fact personally observe the murder; then he has intentionally eliminated the accused’s bloodline, and has intentionally destroyed the world entire. Suppose, however, that the witness is not lying, but believes, wrongly, that the person he saw commit the murder is the accused. He viewed the murder from a distance, in poor light; he sincerely believes that the accused is the person he saw commit the murder, but he is mistaken. He is asked, “How certain are you that the accused is the person you saw commit the murder?” He responds, honestly and in good faith, “I am not 100% certain, but I am convinced that the accused was the person I saw commit the murder.” “Are you sure beyond a reasonable doubt?” “Yes, although I am not certain, I am sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is the person I saw commit the murder.” He has not committed perjury; he has testified in good faith; he has not intentionally distorted the evidence – he is mistaken. The accused is convicted and sentenced to death. Is the witness responsible, either legally or morally, for having wrongly eliminated the accused’s bloodline, and thereby has destroyed a world entire?
I am going to make a comparison to an issue which often arises in American law. A police officer gives chase to a felon – the felon has stolen a car; or the felon has killed someone and then flees in a vehicle. In the process of chasing the felon, the police officer strikes a pedestrian, severely injuring or killing the pedestrian. Or, the felon jumped into a car being driven by an innocent individual, steals the vehicle with the driver still in it; in the course of the chase, the felon crashes the vehicle and both the felon and the innocent passenger are killed. Is the police officer legally liable for the injuries, or death, of the pedestrian or the innocent passenger? This issue has arisen several times in Michigan, most recently in the case of Robinson v. City of Detroit, 462 Mich. 439 (2001). The case involved the consolidation of three different cases, which involved police chases which resulted in the deaths of innocent bystanders. In two of the cases, the felon was driving a vehicle which contained passengers; the vehicle crashed and the passengers died. In a third case, the fleeing felon crashed into another vehicle, killing the driver of that vehicle. The police officers were sued by the innocent victims’ estates. Are the police officers legally liable for the deaths of the innocent bystanders?
The Michigan Supreme Court held that the police officers may not be held legally liable. The Court held that a police officer has a legal obligation to enforce the law, and as such, has a legal obligation to attempt to apprehend a fleeing felon. In giving chase, the police officer was not “the proximate cause” of the death of either the innocent passenger, or the innocent bystander. The proximate cause of both deaths is the fleeing felon. Therefore, the police officers may not be held legally liable for what they were not a proximate cause.
If a police officer cannot be held legally liable for the death of an innocent person when, in the process of performing his legal duty to apprehend a felon, the innocent person is killed, a fortiori it follows that a police officer, in the process of seeking to save the life of an innocent person, another innocent person dies due to the actions of a third party, the police officer cannot be held legally – or morally – responsible for the death of the innocent individual. He was doing his legal duty seeking to save the life of an innocent person.
In the context of Israel’s rescue of the four Israeli hostages, a rescue which Israel had a right and a moral duty to perform, was Israel the proximate cause of the deaths of the 200 innocent Gazans? No, it was not. The proximate cause of the deaths of the 200 innocent Gazans is Hamas, the terrorist organization which abducted the Israelis to begin with, and then hid the hostages, and themselves, among the innocent Gazans. Israel did not intentionally kill the innocent Gazans, and is therefore not morally responsible for the elimination of their bloodlines, and in so doing did not destroy 200 worlds entire. Hamas did.
********
MS said:
Below is a link to the preview of a movie, titled “Tuesday,” starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, about to be released. It is a must see.
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvqyBWCN39o"
********
MS said:
A friend to whom I sent my essay regarding the morality of Israel’s rescue of the Israeli hostages sent me the below article.
“Biased Coverage of Gaza Hostage Rescue Serves Hamas
Media outlets went out of their way on Saturday (June 8) to make Israel’s heroic rescue of four Gaza hostages look tainted or even immoral, with a reframing that served Hamas’ strategy.
Instead of simply reporting the news — that Israeli hostages Noa Argamany, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv had been rescued in a rare and complex operation in the heart of Gaza — media outlets chose to label it as one of the “bloodiest” raids of the war.
They used three tactics to achieve that goal, which effectively turned justice into injustice:
*Minimizing the achievement by using the term “freed” instead of “rescued” to describe the hostages
*Emphasizing the Palestinian death toll based on Hamas figures
*Whitewashing the terrorists’ use of civilians as human shields
The Washington Post, for example, committed two of these journalistic crimes:
Its headline led with the number of Palestinian casualties (without questioning how many of them were terrorists), its sub-header called the operation “brazen” and the lead paragraph labeled the operation “one of the bloodiest raids of the war.”
The fact that the hostages were rescued alive is mentioned only in the second paragraph. And the word “Blitz” is casually thrown into the fifth paragraph, evoking comparisons to Nazi warfare.
But what’s hidden in plain sight is the complete whitewashing of Hamas’ strategy of using civilians as human shields. The article simply mentions that the hostages had been held in “buildings,” omitting the fact that they were kept in families’ homes in the crowded multi-story structures, amid the civilian population.
NPR‘s coverage has similar faults: The Palestinian death toll is used to frame the hostage rescue with descriptions like “the streets were…covered in blood,” and the sites of the hostage captivity are called “locations in Nuseirat in central Gaza” — which could mean anything from tunnels to military compounds.
Did the Washington Post or NPR journalists independently verify whether the blood in the streets belonged to terrorists or innocent civilians? Or is blood used here — as in ancient times — to demonize Jews?
Either way, their coverage whitewashes the terrorists.
Related Reading: Media Reframe Israel’s Dramatic Rescue of Gaza Hostages
Selective Terminology
Reuters, which also called the operation “one of the single bloodiest Israeli assaults of the eight-month-old war,” used another tactic while focusing on the Palestinian casualties.
One of its headlines used the vague term “freed,” which can be attributed to the goodwill of the terrorists, instead of the value-laden word “rescued” that may paint Hamas as bad:
BBC did the same, while obscuring the identity of Hamas terrorists and IDF rescuers:
Cognitive Dissonance
But some media outlets didn’t just change words. They descended into a total cognitive dissonance in their attempt to put the onus on Palestinian victimhood.
AP, for example, shamelessly quoted casualty data from the Palestinian health ministry whose reliability had been questioned by the wire service only a day earlier.
And a BBC anchorwoman expected the IDF to warn Gazans ahead of such a dangerous rescue operation:
Similarly, a Sky News anchorwoman gave a platform to Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, and failed to correct him when he called Israeli hostages “prisoners.” She also didn’t remind him about starvation and sexual assault when he suggested that those released in the past had been well treated by Hamas:
And the same network’s Alex Crawford didn’t even bother waiting for more details of the operation to emerge before she labeled it “a massacre”:
The underlying premise of such biased coverage is that Israelis should not fight for their lives because it comes at a cost. They should just sit back and let terrorists slaughter and kidnap their brethren because they run and hide among innocent people.
But media should stop ignoring the increasing evidence of Gazan civilian complicity with Hamas, as well as the fact that Hamas bears responsibility for putting the entire Gazan population in danger since its October 7th attack on the Jewish state.
On Saturday, Israeli special forces undertook a mission in an area that became a legitimate target by virtue of the presence of hostages. As Noa, Almog, Andrey, and Shlomi were rescued after eight months in captivity, Hamas terrorists fired RPGs at them from within the Nuseirat market area. IDF troops responded to save their lives and bring them home.
Any other way to frame it serves the terrorists.”
Does not this biased reporting, slanted against Israel, qualify as anti-Semitism?
********
10 June 2024
MS said:
Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and philosopher who developed the theory of probability, and is well known for his theological wager based on his theory of probability, also wrote a series of Pensėe, among which is the statement, “The heart has its reason which reason knows not.” He did not base his probability theory, however, on what his heart told him; he based it on what his intellect told him.
The distinction between the intellect and the heart has led me to craft the following adaptation of the serenity prayer:
God grant me the courage to support the actions which my intellect tells me are moral, the fortitude to oppose the actions which my heart tells me are immoral, and the wisdom to know the difference between what my intellect tells me and what my heart tells me.
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MS said:
Responding to aaall’s comment, “Poor Russia! Always sinned against, never the sinner,” El Gallo Pelon (The Rooster) asks:
“What is [it that] they put in the drinking water that makes Americans stupid AND self-righteous?”
As if Spaniards have a monopoly on rationality and humility - witness the Spanish Inquisition and their support for Franco.
********
11 June 2024
MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/10/politics/video/secret-recording-supreme-court-justice-samuel-alito-compromise-whitman-regret-ebof-digvid"
Justice Alito is totally corrupt and a disgrace to the Supreme Court.
********
MS said:
Trump and his supporters have been complaining that his prosecution for filing fraudulent business documents was a “witch hunt.” It seems to me that if anything appears to be a witch hunt, it is the prosecution of Hunter Biden for purportedly lying on a document to purchase a handgun that he was not suffering from drug abuse. The documentary evidence of Trump’s fraud is far more substantial. Whether Hunter Biden was abusing drugs at the time he purchased the handgun is a temporal issue, more subject to hair-splitting. Yet his own father has stated he will not pardon his son if he is convicted. Would a President Trump pardon one of his sons convicted of murder? You betcha'. (By the way, the special prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s case was appointed by Trump.)
********
MS said:
Query: President Biden cannot pardon his son before the election. If he did, he would lose the election. However, if he is re-elected, he could pardon Hunter after the election, without any serious repercussions for the Democratic Presidential candidate in 2028. Should he?
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MS said:
"Israel has always been the land of the Jews." --Muslim scholar
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbOKDxb-u7U"
********
12 June 2024
MS said:
About Noam Chomsky’s declining health.
"https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/noam-chomsky-health-update-tributes-b2561064.html"
********
MS said:
I did not know where the video which I emailed a few days ago of Cantor Azi Schwartz singing “Come Back – Tahzor” was filmed. I did not think it was New York or the Brooklyn Bridge, because it was too clean.
I have learned from an Israeli friend that it is Tel Aviv. I had no idea there were so many modern, beautiful skyscrapers in Tel Aviv.
It shows what Gaza could have looked like if Hamas had not wasted the millions of dollars donated to it on rockets and cement to build tunnels to invade Israel.
********
MS said:
I may not have sent you the video I was referring to. Here it is:
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJqsVwlpxlI"
********
MS said:
The recent death of a family friend has moved me to write the following reflective tribute.
IN MEMORIAM - THE LAST TIME WE SAW DONNA
The last time we saw Donna
Was at the potluck dinner at Carol and Marty’s home.
Donna had been battling breast cancer for some 10 years.
It seemed like an eternity.
Bravely, never complaining, as her hair fell out, and she wore various wigs.
Even as she struggled with her pain, she continued to show up for work,
As an accountant at Chrysler.
------
I met Donna back in 1982, at a jazz concert in Detroit,
The night I met my second wife.
A month after my divorce.
Donna and Denise had been neighbors since childhood.
They lived across the street from each other,
Had been roommates at Michigan State University.
Because she was an accountant, and I believed she was a Republican,
I always thought her politics were not compatible with mine,
Until recently, when she had spoken contemptuously of Trump,
Had voiced her anger about the reversal of Roe v. Wade,
And I saw a side of her I had not expected,
Realized, late I life, that one cannot always know what is in a person’s heart,
However long you may have known them.
------
The last time we saw Donna, we did not know
It was going to be the last time we would be seeing Donna.
She was subdued, not talkative.
However, as I was telling the group about my recent legal escapade in Cincinnati,
And Carol interrupted me,
Donna asked her to be quiet, so I could finish my story.
That is what I remember about the last time we saw Donna.
Her generous spirit.
------
We got a telephone call this week from Carol.
Donna was in the hospital, again.
She had been in the ICU for two weeks, and we did not know.
Her husband reported that her vital signs had stabilized.
We were hopeful that she would be returning home soon,
Her life still before her.
And then the text came – Donna was gone.
------
As we age, what once seemed to be an alien from a foreign country,
Gets closer and closer.
We read reports of celebrities we have known and loved -
Writers, actors, singers, musicians,
Passing away.
A friend living in Arizona is diagnosed with esophageal cancer,
And you make plans to visit him, but other commitments keep getting in the way.
You receive an email from your former wife’s younger sister,
Whom you have not communicated with for over 42 years, since your divorce.
The email tells you that Susan is in critical condition,
And then she is gone.
------
You spend days thinking about the past – about the dates you spent together at the New Jersey shore,
About the movies you first saw together – Women In Love, Romeo and Juliet, Funny Girl, and Fiddler On The Roof,
And the songs and singers you enjoyed together – The Who, The Moody Blues, Nilson and McLean.
The day you and friends drove together to Woodstock, and were turned away.
The Vietnam war protests you attended together.
You reflect, is this what my father was going through 50 years ago,
While I was blissfully ignorant?
------
And that alien from a foreign country keeps getting closer and closer.
********
13 June 2024
MS said:
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuNRu3Qhzw"
********
14 June 2024
MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/politics/video/trump-mcconnell-handshake-photo-cheney-digvid"
********
15 June 2024
MS said:
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/politics/video/trump-crystal-store-owner-message-digvid"
********
MS said:
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-x-cRReI1A"
********
16 June 2024
MS said:
If Trump wins the election, it means our culture, our literature, our music, our educational system, our religious institutions, from which our society is supposed to derive its values – they have all failed.
********
17 June 2024
MS said:
The link below is to an open letter to the West by Nobel Prize laureate Herta Muller. It is a must read.
"https://truthofthemiddleeast.com/herta-muller/"
********
19 June 2024
MS said:
Since it turns out that Noam Chomsky is still alive, it will not constitute blasphemous speaking ill of the dead to call into question his admirers’ efforts to canonize him. I would point out, in this regard, Chomsky’s defense of Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, the French academic, who wrote that Hitler, in requiring that Jews wear a yellow star to identify them as Jews, “Hitler was perhaps less concerned with the Jewish question than with ensuring the safety of German soldiers,” as if Jewish civilians threatened to assassinate German soldiers en masse, and as if that would have been a bad thing. Defending Faurisson’s freedom of speech, Chomsky wrote, regarding claims that Faurisson was anti-Semitic and a neo-Nazi, “From what I have read … I find no evidence to support either conclusion.” For me, such equipoise casts doubt on the validity of Chomsky’s other viewpoints, and I question, if Chomsky had expressed similar views of the freedom of speech of John C. Calhoun’s defense of the rectitude of slavery, whether his admirers, prominent among them being s. wallerstein, would be as worshipful as they are.
********
21 June 2024
MS said:
I am not one given to anthropomorphizing the existence of evil in the world, in the form of Satan or Beelzebub, but the proliferation of stories lately like those below makes one start to wonder.
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/politics/video/andrew-mccabe-response-steve-bannon-trump-ac360-digvid"
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/politics/video/louisiana-classrooms-ten-commandments-sanchez-ventrella-cnc-digvid"
"https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/19/opinions/dolly-parton-conservative-liberal-centrism-hope/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc"
"https://people.com/vermont-lawmaker-poured-water-colleague-bag-caught-hidden-camera-8666476"
********
22 June 2024
MS said:
Watching the speakers at the Faith and Freedom conference in Washington – only the Republicans know what right and wrong are.
Makes me want to puke.
********
The End.