goldberg-2009-06-15

ne 12, 2009
PJB: Miss Affirmative Action 2009

By Patrick J. Buchanan

Having lost the Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008, Republicans are looking to redefine themselves for a nation that still leans conservative but is less Republican that it has been in decades.

The nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court presents just such an opportunity. For, even if the party loses the battle and Sotomayor sits on the court, it can win the war, as Ronald Reagan won the Panama Canal debate, even as Senate Republicans committed collective suicide by voting to give away the canal.

What are the grounds for rejecting Sonia Sotomayor?

No one has brought forth the slightest evidence she has the intellectual candlepower to sit on the Roberts court. By her own admission, Sotomayor is an “affirmative action baby.”

Though the Obama media have been ballyhooing her brilliance — No. 1 in high school, No. 1 at Princeton, editor of Yale Law Review — her academic career appears to have been a fraud from beginning to end, a testament to Ivy League corruption.

Two weeks ago, The New York Times reported that, to get up to speed on her English skills at Princeton, Sotomayor was advised to read children’s classics and study basic grammar books during her summers. How do you graduate first in your class at Princeton if your summer reading consists of “Chicken Little” and “The Troll Under the Bridge”?

In video clips dating back 25 years, and now provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor, according to the Times, even calls herself an “affirmative action product.”

“The clips include lengthy remarks about her experiences as an ‘affirmative action baby,’ whose lower test scores were overlooked by admissions committees at Princeton University and Yale Law School because, she said, she is Hispanic and had grown up in poor circumstance.”

“If we had gone through the traditional numbers route of those institutions,” says Sotomayor, “it would have been highly questionable if I would have been accepted. … My test scores were not comparable to that of my classmates.”

Thus, Sotomayor got into Princeton, got her No. 1 ranking, was whisked into Yale Law School and made editor of the Yale Law Review — all because she was a Hispanic woman. And those two Ivy League institutions cheated more deserving students of what they had worked a lifetime to achieve, for reasons of race, gender or ethnicity.

This is bigotry pure and simple. To salve their consciences for past societal sins, the Ivy League is deep into discrimination again, this time with white males as victims rather than as beneficiaries.

One prefers the old bigotry. At least it was honest, and not, as Abraham Lincoln observed, adulterated “with the base alloy of hypocrisy.”

As the Times reports, on the tapes, Sotomayor rejects “the proposition that minorities must become advocates of ’selection by merit alone.’ She said diversity improved the legal system.”

“‘Since I have difficultly defining merit and what merit alone means, and … whether it’s judicial or otherwise, I accept that different experiences, in and of itself, bring merit to the system,’ she said, adding, ‘I think it brings to the system more of a sense of fairness when these litigants see people like myself on the bench.”

What does the latest Times revelation tell us?

That were it not for Ivy League dishonesty, Sotomayor would not have gotten into Princeton, would never have been ranked first in her class, would not have gotten into Yale Law, nor been named editor of Yale Law Review, and thus would not be a U.S. appellate court judge today or a nominee to the Supreme Court.

Indeed, the White House itself leaked that the final four court candidates were all women and Sotomayor was picked because she was a Latina.
One wonders how many superior students and judges have been passed over to advance Sonia Sotomayor’s career?

From college days to court days, that career reflects, in word and deed, a determination to use any power she achieves to create a society where the demands of diversity triumph over the ideal of equal justice under law. For Sotomayor, the advancement of people of color over white males is justice.

Republican senators should use this Sotomayor nomination to put affirmative action in the dock for what it is — race-based bigotry against white males so that persons of color can receive the rewards of society that they could not win in free and fair competition.

Lay out the Sotomayor record — SAT scores, LSAT scores, bar exam score, law review articles and her opinions — so that we can see up close what those who eviscerated Robert Bork regard as academic and judicial excellence.

No need for name-calling.

Just lay out the lady’s opinions and record, so that, if she is elevated, Americans can say: Barack Obama voted against Chief Justice Roberts because Roberts could not measure up to Sonia Sotomayor, his ideal of what a justice ought to be.

]]]
June 5, 2009
PJB: Breaking Bibi

By Patrick J. Buchanan

“I have to admire the residents of Iroquois territory for assuming that they have a right to determine where Jews lives in Jerusalem.”

Thus did Israeli government press director Daniel Seamen caustically dismiss President Obama’s opposition to Israel’s right to “natural growth” of its settlements in Arab East Jerusalem and on the West Bank.

Though Obama’s address in Cairo broke no new ground, it confirmed to the world that a new day has arrived and a sea change has taken place. The Israel-centric Middle East policy of George W. Bush is dead. And with the policy change has come rhetorical change.

With Bush, it was “axis of evil,” “you are with us or you are with the terrorists,” “regime change,” a “green light” for war on Hezbollah in Lebanon and on Hamas in Gaza, and “this war is a struggle between good and evil.”

With Obama in Cairo, it was all about “a new beginning” and “mutual respect” between the United States and an Islamic world of 1.2 billion.

Where Bush sought to isolate Syria as a state sponsor of terror, Obama has sent diplomats and is sending the U.S. military to Damascus to work together to halt al-Qaida infiltration into Iraq. Return of the Golan Heights may be back on the table.

Where Bush said Iraq’s drive for weapons of mass destruction threatened America and the world, Obama calls Iraq “a war of choice,” and re-commits to bring all U.S. combat troops home before 2012 and to seek no permanent bases there.

Where Israeli hawks push for pre-emptive U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Obama says Iran “should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

As there is no hard evidence Iran has gone beyond the NPT, this points to a resolution of the nuclear issue, if Tehran can provide solid assurances it has no clandestine weapons program.

Where Bush refused to meet with Yasser Arafat or recognize Hamas’ election victory, and outsourced Mideast policy to Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, Obama has confronted Bibi Netanyahu and handed Israel an ultimatum: Halt all settlement growth, now, and come back to me with your plan for a Palestinian state.

A collision that could shatter the coalitions of both Bibi and Barack now appears inevitable and imminent. Either the president or prime minister is going to have to back down.

Netanyahu was elected on solemn pledges never to negotiate with Hamas, permit a Palestinian state (”a second Hamastan”) or let Jerusalem be divided. He is committed to the “natural growth” of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.

Obama has said publicly that there is to be no growth of any kind on the West Bank and all illegal outposts must come down.

There are reports that while Defense Minister Barak was in the office of National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, Obama popped in for 15 minutes to tell Israel’s most decorated soldier he wants to see an Israeli plan for peace and a Palestinian state by July.

That state would necessarily have a Jerusalem enclave as its capital, as no Palestinian or Arab leader could agree to a peace that did not include part of Jerusalem, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock without putting himself in mortal peril.

Behind this clash lies a shift of perspective in Washington.

Obama is directly challenging the thesis of Israel and its lobby, AIPAC, that U.S. and Israeli interests are one and the same, that we are partners. Barack is saying that settlements are an impediment and an independent Palestinian state indispensable to peace. And even if Israel believes its interests are being subordinated and security imperiled, the United States disagrees — and the United States will prevail.

In Israel, the betting is that Barack will break Bibi because Israel cannot defy its last great friend, the lone superpower, upon whom it depends for security, weaponry and diplomatic shelter from U.N. Security Council sanctions. As Rick Wagoner of GM can tell Bibi, you take the king’s shilling, you play the king’s tune.

Indeed, Obama can make a case that he better represents the Jewish community in the United States than the Israel lobby, as he won 78 percent of the Jewish vote.

Netanyhau was outpolled by Tzipi Livni of Kadima, who is waiting in the wings.

Bibi is in a terrible box. If he defies Obama and orders new housing in the settlements, he could face rebellion at home for alienating Israeli’s indispensable ally.

If he goes along with halting settlement growth and moves to accommodate a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem, how does he explain the capitulation to Likud — and to Avigdor Lieberman?

Next weekend, Iran heads to the polls, and President Ahmadinejad faces strong opposition. If the moderate Mir-Hossein Moussavi wins, the possibility of a U.S-Iranian detente rises dramatically.

For Israel and the United States, the days of wine and roses are over.

]]]
une 2, 2009
PJB: A Quota Queen for the Court

By Patrick J. Buchanan

If the U.S. Senate rejects race-based justice, Sonia Sotomayor will never sit on the Supreme Court.

Because that is what Sonia is all about. As The New York Times reported Saturday, the salient cause of her career has been advancing persons of color, over whites, based on race and national origin.

“Judge Sotomayor, whose parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico,” writes reporter David Kirkpatrick, “has championed the importance of considering race and ethnicity in admissions, hiring and even judicial selection at almost every stage of her career.”

At Princeton, she headed up Accion Puertorriquena, which filed a complaint with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare demanding that her school hire Hispanic teachers. At Yale, she co-chaired a coalition of non-black minorities of color that demanded more Latino professors and administrators.

At Yale, she “shared the alarm of others in the group when the Supreme Court prohibited the use of quotas in university admissions in the 1978 decision Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.”

Alan Bakke was an applicant to the UC medical school at Davis who was rejected, though his test scores were higher than almost all of the minority students who were admitted. Bakke was white.

After Yale, Sotomayor joined the National Council of La Raza and the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund. Both promote race and ethnic preferences, affirmative action and quotas for Hispanics.

But why should Puerto Ricans like Sotomayor, who were never subjected to slavery or Jim Crow — their island was liberated from Spain in 1898 by the United States — get racial or ethnic preferences over Polish- or Portuguese-Americans?

What is the justification for this kind of discrimination?

Like Lani Guinier, the Clinton appointee rejected for reverse racism, Sonia Sotomayor is a quota queen. She believes in, preaches and practices race-based justice. Her burying the appeal of the white New Haven firefighters, who were denied promotions they had won in competitive exams, was a no-brainer for her.

In her world, equal justice takes a back seat to tribal justice.

Now, people often come out to vote for one of their own. Catholics for JFK, evangelicals for Mike Huckabee, women for Hillary Clinton, Mormons for Mitt Romney, Jews for Joe Lieberman and African-Americans for Barack Obama. That is political reality and an exercise of political freedom.

But tribal justice is un-American.

In the 1950s and 1960s, this country reached consensus that denying black men and women the equal opportunity to advance and succeed must come to an end. Discrimination based on race, color or ethnicity, we agreed, was wrong.

Sotomayor, however, has an exception to the no-discrimination rule. She believes in no discrimination, unless done to white males and to benefit people like her.

How can any Republican senator vote to elevate to the Supreme Court a judge who, all her life, has believed in, preached and practiced race discrimination against white males, without endorsing the Obama-Sotomayor view that diversity trumps equal justice, and race-based justice should have its own seat on the high court?

Down the path Sotomayor would take us lies an America where Hispanic justices rule for Hispanics, black judges rule for blacks and white judges rule for white folks.

It is an America where who gets admitted to the best colleges and universities is not decided on grades and academic excellence, but on race and ethnicity, where advancement in jobs and careers depends not on aptitude and ability, but on where your grandparents came from.

On principle, Republicans cannot support Sonia Sotomayor.

And politically, if they do, why should the white working man and woman ever vote Republican again, as it is they who are the designated victims of the race-based justice of Sonia Sotomayor?

It was Richard Nixon who brought the white working class, North and South, into his New Majority, when he increased the Republican presidential vote from 43 percent in 1968 to 61 percent in 1972. Ronald Reagan solidified this base.

But why should the white working and middle class stay with the GOP? Its presidents exported their jobs to Mexico, China and Asia, and threw open America’s doors to tens of millions, legal and illegal, from the Third World, who have swamped their cities and towns. If the GOP will not end race-based affirmative action, which threatens the futures of their children, why vote for the GOP?

Why should white folks vote for anyone who says, “We are against race discrimination, unless it is discrimination against you”?

Obama would not have selected Sotomayor if he did not share her convictions. And there is nothing in his writings or career to hint at disagreement. Thus it comes down to the senators, especially the Republicans. A vote for Sonia Sotomayor is a vote to affirm that race-based justice deserves its own seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

But if that happens, it will not only be the race consciousness of Hispanics that will be on the rise in the good old U.S.A.
]]]
etanyahu's Clever Strategy
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Amitai Etzioni:

Netanyahu succeeded overnight in taking back a very major concession that previous Israeli governments had made and turning it into a significant bargaining chip. For years - surely ever since Ehud Barak made his famous magnanimous peace offer - Israeli support for a two-state solution was more or less taken for granted. In a surprisingly short period, Netanyahu has put Israel into a position in which if it agrees to two states, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will be able to say that they and Obama have wrested a major concession from Israel's "right-wing government."



Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
The Sewers of the Internet
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Goldblog reader Jeff Bergman writes, in reference to Michael Gerson's excellent column:

Here's a question -- has any good ever come out of the comments section of a major on-line content provider? You don't provide a blackboard for every hater out there at the bottom of your blog -- why does the Washington Post think that it's a good idea? Why not make these guys at least get their own damn blogs?

The thinking is that comments sections engage existing readers, and bring in new readers, especially the ones with big mouths. But I've only rarely read something in a comments section that was worthwhile. In my own case, I get enough anti-Semitism through e-mail; I'm not such a masochist that I would want to make myself even more available to douchebag Jew-haters.

Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
Hannukah Parties at von Brunn's House
from Jeffrey Goldberg

A great letter in today's Washington Post:

James W. von Brunn -- racist, domestic terrorist and anti-Semite -- never knew that when he and his then-wife sold their Lebanon, N.H., home in 1982, they sold it to a Jewish family.

The von Brunns had moved to Maryland before we looked at the house, and he was incarcerated when we bought it, imprisoned for attempting to hold hostage members of the Federal Reserve Board. When we moved in, we realized we'd bought it from an anti-Semite survivalist because he'd left behind several boxes of anti-Jewish books. We immediately added them to the trash.

Anyway, James W. von Brunn, we want you to know we took great pleasure in living there despite the hate-filled man who occupied it before we did. We celebrated Passover Seders, exchanged Hanukkah gifts and raised two wonderful Jewish children there.

GAIL CHADWICK

Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
"Who Cares Who Wins the Iranian Election?"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Rosner raises an interesting question:

It is also easy to forget that what makes Iran dangerous is not merely its pursuit of nuclear weapons but, rather, its campaign for regional hegemony, which is emboldened by nuclear development. In his Cairo speech, President Barack Obama reaffirmed "America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons." But until that goal is reached, there are big differences among the various nations armed with nukes. What makes Iran different is the goal that country is pursuing, not the means it is using. This is why Iran--and not France or India--turned out to be what experts call "one of the most critical national security challenges facing the United States."

In my conversations with leaders of moderate Arab states, it became clear to me that many of them want Ahmadinejad to stay president: His rhetoric helps makes their case that Iran is a danger to them. They don't expect Iran to change under new, more "moderate" leadership, because national security and foreign policy are not in the hands of the president, in any case.

Me, I'm slightly more hopeful than that: Maybe something extraordinary is brewing, and maybe the ayatollahs are learning that they are truly out of step with many of their people. One can hope.
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Wise Words About Memory
from Jeffrey Goldberg
From Erica Brown:

"We cannot simply feel a moment of sadness and move on, as if this is yet another example of what happens when guns get into the wrong hands."

Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
What Judith Warner Left Out
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Reading Judith Warner's column this morning on the recent upsurge in hate crimes, I was struck by what she left out. Two weeks ago, a Muslim extremist shot two soldiers, killing one, outside a recruiting station in Arkansas. Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad acted alone, just as James von Brunn apparently did. He was, like von Brunn, captive to a supremacist ideology that, in his mind, justified the murder of an innocent man. Like von Brunn, authorities said, he had mapped out Jewish targets for potential attack. And yet, no mention of the hate crime committed by a Muslim; only hate crimes committed by white, right-wing extremists were worthy of mention in Warner's column. This is true for other columnists on the liberal side of the spectrum. The murder of Private William Long seems to be of no concern, and without larger meaning.

Of course, on the other side of the spectrum, great thinkers like Glenn Beck are blaming the attack on Holocaust Museum on -- well, it's hard to figure out what he's talking about, but it is safe to say that he's not blaming white America. And bloggers like Debbie Schlussel are blaming Islam for the Holocaust Museum attack. Go figure.

The attacks in Arkansas and Washington are both manifestations of a radical type of intolerance, and they are linked in very deep ways. The left, generally speaking, doesn't want to acknowledge Muslim intolerance, and the right, generally speaking, doesn't want to acknowledge white, Christian intolerance. But they both exist, and they should both be acknowledged.
Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
Holocaust Museum Denial
from Jeffrey Goldberg
The Aspen Ideas Festival is coming up soon, and all of us here at the Atlantic have to bring an idea. Usually mine are of the "put-the-mayo-in-the-tuna-can" variety, but here's a better idea: Holocaust Museum Denial. We should try to convince anti-Semites that the Holocaust Museum itself doesn't exist, that the alleged presence of the alleged Holocaust Museum on the National Mall is actually just another aspect of pernicious Zionist propaganda. If the nutjobs don't believe it's there -- and they're gullible enough to believe that, since they already believe that the Holocaust itself never happened -- then they won't attack it.

Like I said, just an idea.
Jun 12, 2009 (2 days ago)
Thankful for the Existence of the Holocaust Museum
from Jeffrey Goldberg

From Deborah Lipstadt, who was in the Holocaust Museum, teaching a class about the evil known as Holocaust denial, when the shooting occurred:

We who were here have so much to be thankful for:

For Officer Johns who gave his life defending this museum.

For the guards who did precisely what they are trained to do and did it so very well.

For the fact that this man's hate resulted in the death of "only" one man and not of scores more.

Above all, we have to be thankful for the existence of this place. It is a place that stands to teach about the consequences of hatred and prejudice. This week it taught that lesson in the most horrifying of ways.

Today the building will be full again. There will be staff members and, we hope, people who have decided not to let the haters win.

They know that the only way to defeat those who spread evil is by not letting them stop us. Who ever thought that there would be a time when coming to a museum which teaches about hatred, prejudice and anti-Semitism would itself be an act of defiance?

Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
Rev. Wright Clarifies
from Jeffrey Goldberg
He meant "Zionists," not "Jews," he sez. In other words, he regrets speaking plainly instead of deploying a euphemism.
Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
Same Hatred, Different Idiots
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Shaun Raviv pointed me to 50 Cent's website, which features Max Blumenthal's video of drunk young fools in Jerusalem, and the comments section is rife with craziness and hate and also inadvertent humor and the occasional pungent piece of analysis. As a service to Goldblog readers, I've culled some of the most interesting comments:

We should stand back and let the Arabs have their way with them. See what they think then. I'm laughing at the tool who said "White power! Fuck the Niggers!" @ 0:55. Neo-Nazi's would stomp his semitic ass into Gefilte fish!! He's a retard!!

Note the proper spelling of "gefilte."

nobody like jews , not even eric cartman

Might be true, actually.

Jews have always felt like they are a superior race - they don't give a shit about Americans or anyone else in the world. It's crazy that they are repeating the same racism they felt in WW2 against the Palenstenians. I don't know what Israel has done for America as a so-called ally except make all the Muslims in the world our enemy. I am so proud and confident of Obama - if anyone can make this right he can.


Listen people and listen good these people are ignorant there drunk and their statements mean nothing. By the way don't believe in the hype that America is going to help the world. When in fact America is the one that needs help WAKE UP!!!!!!!!. And plus this is a very important fact their not the real Jews that the bible speaks of we are the minorities Blacks, latinos,mexicans. People of color. Their the synagoue of satan look it up!!!! DON'T BE FOOLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"FUCK THIS STINKING HOMO YA MOTHER FUCKERS WE FIGTHING YOUR WAR CAUSE YA PAIS U.S.A FOR PROTECTION RACIST COWARD WHY YA DONT SAID ALL DAT SHIT HERE IN N.Y. BECAUSE OF YA JEW HOMOS IS DAT DA WORLD IS FUCK UP BUNCH OF CHICK WITH DICKS,, FUCK ALL OF YA, 4 BEING RACIST AND COWARDS..BITCHES HOLD YOUR OWN YA SCARED FROM MUSLIMS,,AND IN U.S.A. YA PAID 4 PROTECTION FUCK YOUR MOMS=GIRL=SISTERS"]"

"Man, That Whole Nation Needs Therapy And Counseling"

Yes, well, maybe.

"THESE KINDA VIDEOS SUCK AND SHOULDNT BE PUT UP, CUZ THIS IS HOW WAR STARTS! OR ATLEAST HATE A RACE ISSUES!"

I don't disagree with that.

"Wow... I guess I really have been onto something...

Lyrics from one of the songs im working on:

Fuck an AIPAC, Israel got the states jacked/
probably label me a terrorist because I say that/
September 11th?, oh yea, you know they staged that/
with the CIA, same place Bin Laden's payed at."

I don't picture this selling big, but you never know.


"Obama and the united states are keeping you jewish fucks from getting fucked up by islamic radicals."

This last one might be from Rahm Emanuel. Finally, there's this piece of universal wisdom:

all i gotta say is...i want pussy!! lmao

Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
The Nazi of Mensa
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Darryl Fears and Marc Fisher have written the best portrait so far of the Holocaust Museum shooter:

Von Brunn, who lives in Annapolis, was known for decades to fellow white supremacists who read his elaborate conspiracy theories on his Web site and met him through a network of radical racist groups. He was smart enough to join Mensa, but even admirers considered him a loner, a hothead and a man consumed with hatred.


Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
Guns and Jews
from Jeffrey Goldberg
I've never had that much respect for the Wackenhut security company before. I've seen it operate in several countries, and it is not staffed, generally speaking, by the most enthusiastic, go-getter types. But Wackenhut certainly performed well yesterday, at a tragic cost. The guards responded to Von Brunn just as they should have, and shot him immediately without hurting a single bystander. If the guards had not been armed, the Holocaust Museum would have been the scene of a massacre.

I think the Jewish community should take this as a lesson, in particular those institutions that are only "protected" by unarmed guards. You can't fight a rifle or a shotgun with a stick, or a whistle, or good intentions. Only armed guards are at all capable of stopping an attack. American Jews -- and this is broad generalization here -- are queasy around weapons. This queasiness is rooted in our urban and suburban existence. But one of the lessons of the Holocaust to me -- I said this in my book, Prisoners, to some criticism -- is that it is more difficult to kill an armed Jew than an unarmed Jew. I'd rather see Jews guard Jewish institutions than non- Jews, because it's our responsibility to defend ourselves (that's my vestigial labor Zionist ideology speaking), but if JCCs and synagogues and Jewish museums don't want to pay extra for Israeli guards, than at least they should hire well-trained and armed protection. Wackenhut would do quite nicely, it seems.
Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
Obama Forgot One Middle Eastern Injustice
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Andre Aciman:

The president never said a word about me. Or, for that matter, about any of the other 800,000 or so Jews born in the Middle East who fled the Arab and Muslim world or who were summarily expelled for being Jewish in the 20th century. With all his references to the history of Islam and to its (questionable) "proud tradition of tolerance" of other faiths, Mr. Obama never said anything about those Jews whose ancestors had been living in Arab lands long before the advent of Islam but were its first victims once rampant nationalism swept over the Arab world.

Jun 11, 2009 (3 days ago)
Nazis Had Threatened the Museum Before
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Zachary Goelman reports from the front-lines of white supremacy.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Stupidest Thing Said So Far About Von Brunn
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Via Andrew comes this stunning statement from Debbie Schlussel:

"Make no mistake. Muslims created this atmosphere where hatred of the Jews is okay and must be "tolerated" as a legitimate point of view. The shooting today is just yet another manifestation emanating from that viewpoint-another manifestation of the welcome mat that Muslims rolled out for fellow anti-Semites of all stripes to no longer be afraid to come out of the closet."

Maybe this was meant to be a parody, I don't know. I've never read Debbie Schlussel before. But if it's meant seriously, then it's ridiculous. White Christians have done an excellent job being anti-Semitic for several hundred years -- almost a couple of thousand, actually -- without any help whatsoever from Muslims. In fact, it is Muslim Jew-haters who rely on the publications of European and white American anti-Semites -- most notably the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and the International Jew -- for inspiration. I hope Schlussel retracts this absurd piece of "analysis." Does she have any idea what this country was like in the 1930s? I don't think Muslims dominated the German Bund.

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Hobby Horses Come Riding In
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Today shouldn't be about the gun-control debate or any of the other usual debates. Today should be about two things: Remembering a victim of terrorism, and thinking about what in this world would make someone commit an act of intolerance and violence against a museum built to remind people of the dangers of intolerance and violence. Also, perhaps, the timelessness of the mental illness known as anti-Semitism.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Racism "Ate Him Alive"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Von Brunn's ex-wife describes life with the abusive alcoholic.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The White Supremacist Obsession with Lists
from Jeffrey Goldberg
A few days ago I wrote about the endless stream of emails I receive about Tim Geithner's alleged Jewishness, emails that usually contain long, torrid lists of Jewish names. It turns out -- no surprise at all, I guess -- that Von Brunn was also a big lister of Jews.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
A Black Man Dying in Defense of the Holocaust Museum
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Ta-Nehisi writes:

Perhaps this means nothing but I feel that I should acknowledge that a black man was killed on guard duty at the Holocaust museum. That may mean nothing. But I think it should be said.

No, it means something. More than something, in fact. The great tragedy of the rift between blacks and Jews is that while we waste time arguing with each other, our common enemy -- racialist fascism -- goes unfought. Add Stephen Tyrone Johns to the group that includes Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman. All were victims of the same sick ideology.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Art of James von Brunn
from Jeffrey Goldberg
You can see it here.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Stephen Tyrone Johns
from Jeffrey Goldberg
He worked at the Holocaust Museum for six years, and he died in its defense.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Race and Revisionism
from Jeffrey Goldberg
It's all of a piece: Here's Mark Weber, the Holocaust revisionist I quoted earlier, on race: "I don't believe it's possible for Black Americans to be assimilated into white society."
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Why We Need a Holocaust Museum
from Jeffrey Goldberg
From James Lileks (h/t Instapundit). Read the whole thing. It won't take you long.


Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Unique Threat Against Jewish Institutions
from Jeffrey Goldberg
From Rabbi David Saperstein:

"This represents something else that is perhaps distinct to Jews in America compared to other groups. Other religious targets may be subject to vandalism or even discriminatory acts but there are few other religious institutions that day in and day out must be concerned about acts of terrorism in the form of bombs, gun attacks, etc. On many levels Jews have been and remain the quintessential victims of religious intolerance and hatred in western civilization."


Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Holocaust Museum Guard Has Died
from Jeffrey Goldberg
According to CNN.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Leading Far-Right Holocaust Denier Says: It Ain't Us
from Jeffrey Goldberg
I just called Mark Weber, the director of the Institute for Historical Review, the leading Holocaust denial organization in America, to ask him if he knew James Von Brunn, and to find out what he thought of the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. Weber said that the shooting is a "terrible and stupid and criminal thing, and any reasonable person would condemn it." He said he knew of Von Brunn because "people have sent me things from him, but that's all I know about it."

I asked him if his far-right organization, which sponsors conferences and magazines that deny key aspects of the Holocaust, has created an atmosphere in which white supremacists feel compelled to attack Jewish targets. He got angry and said "every movement and organization has insane people in it. What was this guy's point? I can't even figure that out."

I suggested that one point might be to drive away tourists who hope to learn about the Holocaust but who don't want to endanger their families while doing so. Weber said he was opposed to the creation and maintenance of the Holocaust Museum, because "obviously this museum doesn't exist as an expression of altruistic concern for humanity but as an expression of the enormous power of the Jewish community." But he said he would never countenance violence against it. He did say, however, that it does not depict history accurately; for instance, he said, gas chambers never existed.

You get the idea.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
A Fascinating E-Mail About Holocaust Denial
from Jeffrey Goldberg
The Anti-Defamation League found this in its archives:


----- Original Message -----
From: James Von Brunn
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 4:08 AM
Subject: From a Friend in Germany

Time to FLUSH all "Holocaust" Memorials.
jvb
................................................................................

TWO CONVERSATIONS:

Paul:

This morning I visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp near Berlin. Its about my 12th visit. Why do I keep returning there? Because I learn something new every time. The first thing I noticed this visit was that the whole camp is a building site, with workmen swarming all over the camp area. The country's economy is going South at full speed but they still seem to have millions to invest in renovating the concentration camps.

The next obvious thing I noticed was, the new design plays down the very significant role of the suffering endured after the war by the thousands of Germans who were imprisoned and murdered by the Soviet occupiers, (who are now known as 'Liberators' because they liberated millions of Germans from most of which they owned or loved ). The German victims are mentioned on signs and documents but in such a way that the uninitiated are led to believe that these people too were victims of Nazi terror and not Soviet victims after the war had ended.

Because of the 'renovation work' being done much of the camp was cordoned off today, but other parts I had previously not been able to get close to, were open. The last time I was in the camp I asked the Museum curator where exactly the camp brothel was situated, at first she pretended that there never was such a building in the camp, but I pressured her into admitting it was 'approx' around the Hospital barracks 'somewhere'.

Today I could get up close to the Hospital barracks, so I started looking into all the windows hoping to discover something new...one hinderance is, many of the windows are actually glazed with milchglas, (milk glass)

However a museum staff member noticed my staring through all the windows, and asked me what I was looking for ? I told her I was looking for the Brothel, she looked at me in surprise and said 'I don't know where the Brothel was, but it might have been in the Underground rooms below us' THIS was news for me, the Area below the two Hospital Barracks had underground rooms?

If you look at this area on the photo below there is no clue that anything like underground rooms exist between the two rows of hospital barracks.


There are no air vents or similar to give clues, and nothing about underground facilities is mentioned in the camp tour broschures.

I started to quiz this lady as to what else was in these underground rooms, she shrugged her shoulders and said ' Mitunter, eine Kegelbahn' (Amongst other things they had a bowling alley) I questioned her whether I had heard her correctly, she said "Ja, aber ich muss weiter" "Yes but I have to go now" , and she went inside the barracks. Hey! A BOWLING ALLEY ??.... I had learnt something new.

Is there anyone receiving this letter that can verify what this woman told me?

Conversation Two:

While I was walking on from this last conversation I was approached by a middle aged couple who spoke no German, and English only with a strong accent I didn't recognise.

He approached me and started asking me questions about where were the 'gas chambers' ? I told him there were no gas chambers in Sachsenhausen, he became agitated and he actually frothed at the mouth, his voice went up an octave, saying I should not lie , his Grandparents had been in Auschwitz and they had told him that gassings occurred in all camps (I then realised I had just met Mr and Mrs Victimnumber from Israel)

Mr and Mrs Victimnumber told me they had just come from Dachau and he had seen the 'gas-chambers there, where the sign says in 5 languages ........QUOTE: 'never used as a Gas chamber'


But, he told me seriously 'THEY ALL LIE' he had been in the Dachau gas chambers and SEEN the shower nozzles in the roof (shower heads are there, the whole place was dandied up by US forces after the war).

There is a law in Germany forbidding people telling the facts, so I chose to shut-up and ask him to tell me what HE thought it was all about. According to him, this is how the Nazis did it, .....

'The Nazis had a gas....it was a solid gas' Solid Gas???? I asked. 'Yes it was like a soapy substance and dey trowd it true roof holes down true the shower heads and the peoples are dying witin a few seconds.

OH I said, is that right ? Yes! he asked me angrily, " VY do you tink dey had shower heads in these rooms ?" "Ah! To take showers with", I answered.

VY VOOD ZEY VANT to shower ? he foamed at me....

I looked at him and said "Don't they have showers in Israel?"

End of conversation two.

I almost expected to get back to the Camp Entrance and find the 'thought-police' waiting for me. Nope it was OK.

What I did notice however was the large library of Holocaust-anti-German-hatenazi- Literature on sale in the Entrance Hall. One could get the feeling that every survivor has written at least three books.




The propaganda is enormous, on the photo only one half of the books being offered can be seen.

Revisionists
are NOT keeping up with this flood.

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
"Time to Flush All Holocaust Memorials"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
This just received from the Anti-Defamation League, on the shooting suspect:

The suspect, identified as James Wennecke Brunn, is a long time white supremacist and anti-Semite who often uses the name James von Brunn. Born in 1920, Brunn is a veteran of World War II and retired Naval Reserve officer. Brunn worked in advertising and other professions until he retired. He now lives in Maryland and describes himself as an "artist" and "writer;" however, his magnum opus is a self-published anti-Semitic book, Tob Shebbe Goyim Harog ("Kill the Best Gentiles"). He has written many anti-Semitic essays as well. In recent years, he also created an anti-Semitic Web site, which he called "The Holy Western Empire." The museum shooting is not the first time Brunn has exhibited a willingness to use violence with regard to targets he considered connected to Jews.

In 1981, Brunn, then living in New Hampshire, was arrested at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Board after he tried to use a sawed-off shotgun to take board members hostage. Like many anti-Semites, Brunn believed that Jews control the nation's banking system. He was convicted of attempted armed kidnapping, second-degree burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He was sentenced to four to eleven years in prison in 1983 and served over six. In 2004 Von Brunn posted on Fredrick Toben's Holocaust denial "Adelaide Institute" email group, "Time to FLUSH all "Holocaust" Memorials."


Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
On the Pervasiveness of Holocaust Denial
from Jeffrey Goldberg
A well-timed column today from Michael Gerson:

In Obama's rhetorical universe of mist and fog, divided between gray and deeper gray, he drew one vivid line. Holocaust denial, he said, is "baseless," "ignorant" and "hateful." He talked about the "evil" of genocide, repudiated "lies about our history" and challenged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Buchenwald.

Obama's intensity and clarity on this issue were unexpected -- and needed. Holocaust denial has long been a staple of Middle Eastern anti-Semitism. But it has grown more pervasive since the 1990s -- not merely due to the manias of Ahmadinejad but in service to a broader strategy.

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Von Brunn's Federal Reserve Obsession
from Jeffrey Goldberg
From his crazed website:

Over the years Revisionists have asked me to write about my effort in 1981 to place the Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System (FED), under legal, non-violent citizens-arrest. The subject resides in my memory like old road-kill. What could have been a slam-bang victory turned into ignoble failure. Recalling all of this presents an onerous task. I am getting near the end of the diving board.

( I've already covered the FED in my Ms. "Kill the Best Gentiles !" which no one would publish. ) However, because there may be lessons in my story for young Americans, I have decided to give it a whirl.

The Constitution states that Congress alone shall issue and control America's currency; Congress may not delegate those functions. Nevertheless a corrupt and ignorant U.S. Congress enacted the unconstitutional Federal Reserve Act (1913). Few Congressmen since have dared suggest it is unconstitutional -- fearing for their livelihood and their lives. The word "Federal" is a sham. It has no more relevance than "Federal" Tire Co. The FED is a private corporation whose stock is owned by International Bankers. It is not an agency of the United States Government. It is one of many parasitical Rothschild Central Banks infesting the world stage. Its power ascends over every U.S. citizen from cradle to grave. Every dollar in your wallet is a note issued by the FED. The U.S. Government redeems that note (principal and interest) with your taxes. Through its enormous resources and power the FED controls the machinery of the U.S. Government.

The Rothschild empire was created by infiltrating every level of ALL Western governments. Through manipulation, bribery, slander, assassination, and control of the mass media, JEWS contrived to pit nation against nation, race against race, financing all sides in the resultant wars; then at exorbitant interest rates financing reconstruction of the devastated countries. Rothschild's modus operandi has kept Western Civilization in a continuous state of war and eternally in debt.

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
"Hitler's Worst Mistake"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
More thoughts from the man MSNBC is reporting may be the Holocaust Museum shooter:

HITLER'S WORST MISTAKE:
HE DIDN'T GAS THE JEWS.
JAMES VON BRUNN
WWW.HOLYWESTERNEMPIRE.ORG

Remember, the Federal Reserve Act (1913) gave JEWS control of America's MONEY. Followed by control of America's main sources of information .

Early on, during the war-torn 20th Century, the only broadcast networks : ABC, CBS, and NBC -- were JEW owned. Today, JEWS control ALL important sources of information (The major networks, Newspapers, Magazines, Book-publishing, Tin-Pan Alley, Music & Recording Industry, Hollywood, Encyclopedia Britannica, Public schools and Universities, the Catholic Church, etc.).

Bit by bit Liberalism ascended. Bit by bit the Constitution was re-interpreted. Bit by bit government institutions and Congressmen fell into JEW hands -- then U.S. diplomacy, businesses, resources and manpower came under JEW control.

Whitemen sat on their collective asses and did NOTHING - NOTHING BUT TALK. Never before in World history has a Nation so completely been conquered with absolutely NO physical resistance.

Whites LOVE their Enemies.

Today, on the World stage, Whitemen are LAUGHED AT, their women bred by stronger men.

And America ?

America is a Third-World racial garbage-dump -- stupid, ignorant, dead-broke, and terminal.

Prepare to die, Whitey.

jvb-88

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
"Blessed Be the Pro-White Activists"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Stormfront, the racist website, has this posted about James W. von Brunn, the man MSNBC is reporting is the shooter at the Holocaust Museum:

James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football.
During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.
In 1981 von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."

When I first read his biography, I realized James Von Brunn had taken direct action to deal with the banking cartel that controls and destroys so much of our lives and somehow I had never heard of his heroic deed. How could that be? How could such an amazing deed go unremarked by the journals and books that deal with monetary systems and how we are controlled by them?

After speaking with James, I must conclude many who were in a position to shine light on the situation were afraid to do so.

James Von Brunn endured having his house burned down in retaliation for publishing books that the jews viewed as hostile to their financial interests. James endured jail and personal sorrows as a consequence of his refusal to submit to tyranny.

My nomination for White Racialist Treasure: James Von Brunn.

Please feel free to add your nominations for White Racialist Treasures to this thread. Thank you.

Blessed Be the Pro-White Activists,
Elena

Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)

The Shooting at the Holocaust Museum
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Nobody knows nothing yet, so no overreaction or underreaction or even ordinary reaction here. Let's wait and see who it was who did this first.
Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
Rev. Wright on "Them Jews"
from Jeffrey Goldberg
I suppose what them Jews should do is ignore Rev. Wright. But I can't help myself:

Asked if he had spoken to the President, Wright said:

"Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter, that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office. ...



Jun 10, 2009 (4 days ago)
The Oeuvre of Max Blumenthal
from Jeffrey Goldberg
A couple of dozen Goldblog readers have asked me to condemn Max Blumenthal for his video of young drunk Jews saying terrible things about Barack Obama. I can't quite bring myself to issue such a condemnation. Yes, I've studied young Blumenthal's videos, and yes, he wields his camera as a weapon against Jews he doesn't like, but here's the thing: He didn't force these young adults (not "kids," as a couple of letter-writers would have it) in Jerusalem to say the things they said. They did that all by themselves. Several e-mailers complained that the subjects of Blumenthal's film were drunk, and therefore not accountable for the ugliness that came out of their mouths.

Sorry, no dice. No one I know believes that Mel Gibson is anti-Semitic only when drunk. The fools in Jerusalem had these thoughts in their heads; alcohol cannot plant ideas that aren't there. And yes, they are not represenative of anything much, and yes, Blumenthal would be a journalist, rather than a propagandist, if he had noted that American Jews voted for Barack Obama in overwhelming numbers. I understand all the arguments, and I of course understand the argument, as I'm sure Blumenthal does too, that anti-Semitism in the Arab world is expressed by religious leaders while sober.

It is true: Max Blumenthal gets famous by highlighting the behavior of idiotic Jews. It's not a profession I would choose, but it's hard to blame him for the racism of other people.
Jun 9, 2009 (5 days ago)
The Taliban's War on Hotels
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Terrible news out of Peshawar -- the Pearl Continental has been attacked by the Taliban. As of this writing, eleven people are dead, including two foreigners. The Pearl in Peshawar was really a lovely hotel, with an excellent Chinese buffet and quiet spaces in a tumultuous city. It was civilized, which is why the Taliban hates it.

Jun 9, 2009 (5 days ago)
Announcing the Arrival of Tablet Magazine
from Jeffrey Goldberg
Nextbook's new on-line magazine, Tablet, is now up and running. It is edited by Alana Newhouse, who is very smart, and it has all sorts of very smart writers contributing to it, and looks to be all around very smart, and a great alternative to the general mediocrity of Jewish publications, print and on-line. I haven't yet combed through it, but will later, but in the meantime, you should. By the way, I'm supposed to contribute to it as well. I don't know if that's an advertisement for or against, but there you go.