College Presidents: Stand up Against Anti-Semitism

On my tortuous route to Catholicism, I stopped for a while among the Anglicans. I remember a song the Episcopalians often sang: “Once to Every Man and Nation.” As I watched the rising anti-Semitism on American college campuses, the lyrics of this song came back to me.

Once to every man and nation

comes the moment to decide,

in the strife of truth with falsehood,

for the good or evil side.

Some great cause, God's new Messiah,

offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by forever

Twixt that darkness and that light.

James Russell Lowell wrote these words in 1845  as a protest against the impending Mexican War, but they ring true today as the United States faces a vicious wave of anti-Semitism.

Lowell was a Harvard graduate, and he would surely be astonished if he saw the ugly rise of anti-Jewish sentiment at Harvard University today. Indeed, racism at one of our nation's most prestigious institutions is shocking. Commenting on this phenomenon, Bill Maher observed that “Harvard makes students stupid.” Maher is undoubtedly correct.

All across the country, college students are publicly endorsing hatred toward the nation of Israel and Jews. So far, there has been minimal violence, but the rhetoric exhibited at anti-Israel demonstrations is every bit as vitriolic as the Nazi rhetoric of the 1930s.

Our nation’s college leaders have remained mostly passive about the wave of racism sweeping their campuses or have mumbled nothing but pious platitudes. They have not done what they ought to have done, which is to expel racist students and fire antisemitic professors.

Today's college leaders have a moral obligation to take a public stand against the vile racism that is spewing forth on their campuses. This may be the only opportunity they have over the entire span of their entire careers to show some courage.

Lowell’s words remind us that the opportunity for an individual to stand up to evil may come but once in a lifetime. If college presidents don’t act vigorously and quickly to thwart antisemitism on their campuses, they will show themselves to be nothing but moral cowards.

"Harvard makes students stupid."

Are Pro-Palestian College Kids Antisemitic?

Several years ago I worked with a Jewish professor at a Texas university. I recall he had a sign on his office door that said: “ Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.”

At the time, I disagreed with my colleague. I thought it possible for Americans to be sympathetic to the Palestinians and critical of Israel’s policies toward them without being anti Semitic. Now I am not so sure.

I am shocked by the. anti-Israel demonstrations taking place on college campuses all over the nation--protests supporting terroristic thugs. And I am apalled by the cowardly stance of university administrators, who refuse to denounce these demonstrations.

The Hamas raid out of Gaza on October 7 killed 1400 Israeli citizens, including children, women, and the elderly. Reliable reports have established that Hamas terrorists raped women, slaughtered babies, and kidnapped over 200 people. Some Israelis were burned alive in their homes.

As incredible as it seems, the Hamas terrorists committed acts of savagery against the Jewish people that are equal to the Nazi barbarism of the Holocaust.

It may be true that most Palestinians do not support Hamas and are helpless bystanders to Hamas atrocities. It is certainly true that innocent Palestinians have suffered and died during the latest round of fighting in Gaza.

Nevertheless, Israel holds the moral high ground in its long- running conflict with the Arab world. The United Nations made an eternal commitment when it recognized Israel as a sovereign state in 1948. The world’s obligation to Israel can never be canceled or annulled.
The college students who are demonstrating against Israel are either antisemitic or ignorantly dismissive of the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed against European Jews. I suggest they do a little research. There are hundreds of books about the suffering of the Jewish people during the twentieth century.

They might begin by reading two books of fiction by Leon Uris: Exodus about the founding of modern Israel, and Mila 18, which is a tale about the Warsaw uprising during World War II. 

University leaders must denounce the anti-Israel protests on their campuses. Harvard University, arguably the most prestigious education institution in the United States, is a hotbed of antisemitic rants. Yet its motto is Veritas, the Latin word for truth. Unless Harvard firmly and unequivocally rebukes the idiots who are celebrating or defending anti-Jewish terrorism, it needs to change its motto to “Cowardly Appeasement.” I believe the Latin translation is Inertia Placatio.

Rite Aid files For Bankruptcy: Shoplifting’s Got Nothing To Do With It

 Rite Aid, once the nation’s largest pharmacy chain, filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. Why?

According to the New York Times, Rite Aid was brought down by slumping sales, poor management, and opioid lawsuits. The Times quoted a financial analyst who said the pharmacy company “has not been well managed for a very long time.”

 

How about shoplifting? An epidemic of smash-and-grab shoplifting has battered pharmacy chains across the United States. Walgreens, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, has closed several urban stores, particularly in California.

 

The word shoplifting was not even mentioned in the Times story, even though Rite Aid said recently that shoplifting was a massive problem for the company, particularly in New York City.  In a recent earnings call, Rite Aid’s CEO said the company experienced “unexpected headwinds this quarter from financial shrink, particularly in our New York urban stores.” Indeed, in just one fiscal quarter, Rite Aid experienced $5 million in theft losses in New York City.

 

Rite Aid closed NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen store earlier this year. A store employee described the out-of-control shoplifting problem. “They come in every day, sometimes twice a day, with laundry bags and just load up on stuff . . . . They take whatever they want, and we can't do anything about it. It's why this store is closing. They can't afford to keep it open.”

 

Why do you suppose the New York Times failed to mention Rite Aid's huge losses from shoplifting in New York City? Maybe the newspaper doesn't want its readers to know how much the quality of life has deteriorated in the Big Apple since the COVID pandemic.

 

Of course, New Yorkers can see the decline with their own eyes. That's why so many residents are leaving and moving to Florida.

New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, is happy to see her constituents move out of state.

“Just jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong, OK? Get out of town. Because you do not represent our values. You are not New Yorkers,” she said.

Of course, Governor Hochel is correct. Unlike New York’s political leaders, people leaving New York have a low tolerance for crime—including rampant shoplifting.

"Get out of town."

Russian Foreign Minister says U.S. is "directly at war" with Russia. Why wasn't I informed?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made an interesting comment during a press conference he hosted recently in New York City.  A journalist asked him when Western involvement in the Ukraine conflict would escalate to the point that the US and its allies were at war with Russia.

Lavrov responded that the United States and its allies are “directly at war” with Russia right now.

What? The U.S. is at war with Russia—a nuclear power? Why wasn’t I informed? Is it time to start building a bomb shelter in my backyard? Should I cancel my plans to visit Spain next year?

No, of course not. Obviously, Mr. Lavrov is misinformed. The United States is not directly at war with Russia. Nevertheless, I understand how Lavrov and the Russians might get the mistaken idea that America has gone to war with Russia without a formal declaration.

After all, The US has given Ukraine Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, F16 jets, and missiles capable of sinking Russian ships in the Black Sea. General Mark Milley has been helping the Ukrainians manage their counteroffensive against Russia and providing intelligence to assist them in planning their drone attacks on Moscow. America has given Ukraine cluster munitions to kill Russian soldiers more efficiently. And we're going to provide them with depleted uranium artillery shells.

On second thought, maybe the United States is at war with Russia; we've just been so distracted by more important matters that we haven’t given the war much thought. For example, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is probably looking for another transgender person to be the International Woman of Courage award for 2024. The U.S. Senate is pondering whether its members should be allowed to wear gym shorts on the floor of the Senate.

As for President Biden, he’s probably been tied up planning General Milley’s retirement party.

Give me a minute to slip into something more comfortable.