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The following is a contemporary version of the classic warning of the Holocaust, by the Rev. Martin Niemoeller. This was written by my friend, Arthur Dobrin, the Leader Emeritus, Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island, and professor emeritus, Hofstra University.)
First they mocked the handicapped and then they boasted about assaulting women. And I did nothing. Then they called black people stupid and Muslims terrorists. And I did nothing. Then they called Mexicans rapists and the press the enemy of the people. And I did nothing. Then they called political opponents traitors and those who body-slam critics “my kind of people.” And I did nothing. Then they posted pictures of dollar bills over Stars of David and said transgendered people couldn’t serve in the military any longer. And I did nothing. Then two African Americans were shot dead in a supermarket, pipe bombs were sent to critics of the administration and eleven Jews were murdered in a synagogue. And now the president laments the hate in the country and then tweets about baseball. * * * (The incident in the video has played out dozens of times, and the message continues: take matters into your own hands. Trump’s behavior, as he foists himself upon a grieving Pittsburgh, reminds me of George Orwell’s immortal warning in the novel, “1984:” If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever. Trump’s impact on the U.S.A. and the world is more and more apparent. Nearly half this country voted for this man. At the same time, the pastor’s daughter, Angela Kasner Merkel, has announced she will leave the chancellor’s post of Germany in 2021. She witnessed two totalitarian regimes – Nazi and Communist – and became a beacon of humanity in a world growing darker by the day. My thanks to Arthur Dobrin.
Randolph
10/30/2018 09:29:13 pm
George:
George Vecsey
10/30/2018 10:27:43 pm
Randolph: Just look at the faces behind Trump. They are loving it.
Gene Palumbo
10/31/2018 12:28:26 am
Randolph:
Randolph
10/31/2018 10:06:16 am
George and Gene,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 10:15:38 am
Good God. What kind of venom can go through one's body to warp the brain so badly, and destroy common sense and moral bearings so totally? This is quite a remarkable, and very sad time, because it is pointing toward more needless, foolish violence. 10/31/2018 02:51:55 pm
Brian. Who are you referring to? Trump happens to fit that description.
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 08:21:05 pm
Alain, I’m referring to George’s post and his quotation of his friend which are insane, inane, and dangerous because it is the kind of crap that insights violence. Where does such stupidity come from? Why do intelligent people cast aside judgement and restraint so readily? It is an embarrassment to the authors.
bruce
10/31/2018 09:11:21 pm
alan, 10/31/2018 03:51:32 pm
I hope that whoever is elected president in 2020, regardless of party, is someone who can break bubbles. Too many politicians and people throughout the “United” States live in a bubble and are indifferent or oblivious to the needs of people outside of their community.
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 08:59:34 pm
Alan, I don't think we need a cultural swing, simply a reality reset. We are going in the right direction, and President Trumo is bringing us there as hard is that is for some (you, apparently, along with George) to understand. Trump gets support because he cares about the poor. He cares about the millions of still unemployed. He cares about the families of opioid victims that the Obama Administration caused. The central issue is Trump cares about people that Obama wasn't involved with.. Trump cares about "us" and not the financial guys who put Obama up for office, gave him his Administration appointments, and then essentially cast him aside because he wasn't important to them after he bailed them out. 11/1/2018 03:35:36 pm
Brian. In response to George's request for civility, I will forgo what was to be have been a lengthy response.
bruce
10/31/2018 09:06:21 pm
george,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 09:16:44 pm
George, I think it now time for you to stop coddling the paid troll -- the asshole who calls himself "Bruce" but refuses to identify himself. To our Dear Asshole, I dare you to identify yourself to me. I long ago authorized George to give you my personal coordinates to communicate with me. You refused. I want to know who you are. NOW.
bruce
10/31/2018 09:22:16 pm
brian,
Brian SAvin
10/31/2018 09:28:25 pm
Scardy cat, eh? What's so private? Why are you so embarrassed to be unmasked? What do you have to hide? I suspect you know I could find out whose paying you in a second. Maybe I couldn't. Prove to me I'm wrong. Tell me who you are. I dare you.
bruce
10/31/2018 09:29:12 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 09:38:57 pm
Wear a T-Shirt that reads, " ' Bruce' the fucking asshole." And pay for my flight. Not Wednesday.
bruce
10/31/2018 09:38:40 pm
brian,
bruce
10/31/2018 09:43:41 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 09:50:19 pm
Fuck off until you identify yourself to me. Just authorize George to send me your coordinates. Very simple. I dare you. Come on....
bruce
10/31/2018 09:58:49 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 10:03:39 pm
Just identify yourself. Come on, we're getting closer... Come on, asshole...
bruce
10/31/2018 10:12:31 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
10/31/2018 10:17:22 pm
George,
bruce
11/1/2018 12:27:52 am
brian,
George Vecsey
11/1/2018 09:25:05 am
Boyz, boyz, boyz (and I do mean boyz):
bruce
11/1/2018 09:45:25 am
george,
John McDermott
11/1/2018 11:49:04 am
So, somebody called somebody else here an asshole and unleashed a series of F-bombs. Very rude and disrespectful, especially to George, whose guests we all are here. But guests can be disinvited. There’s only one real asshole who appears regularly here and it’s past time for George to put him on a permanent timeout. Good riddance.
Mendel
11/1/2018 01:17:17 pm
Entertainment for the winter, until spring training? I'm happy to sit by and listen.
Joshua Rubin
11/1/2018 01:56:56 pm
George,
George Vecsey
11/1/2018 02:24:40 pm
Boyz (come to think of it, why are there no female regulars here? Maybe for the same reason I want to vote for Oprah after seeing her in Marietta today. The "sistahs" and "sisters" have more sense than we do.)
bruce
11/1/2018 03:24:28 pm
george,
Brian SAvin
11/4/2018 10:51:08 pm
Interesting. Let's go a bit further.
bruce
11/4/2018 11:58:09 pm
brian,
Randolph
11/1/2018 02:42:57 pm
George,
Mendel
11/1/2018 02:48:29 pm
"The wise man, even when he holds his tongue, says more than the fool when he speaks."
Eugene Floyd
11/3/2018 11:53:47 am
Just discovered your blog. Love it. You get it. Have loved your writing over the years. Like you, I was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Grew-up in Sheepshead Bay. I have Jackie's autograph. Got it from him personally at his store in Harlem. One of the great people.
bruce
11/4/2018 11:23:55 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
11/5/2018 07:37:11 pm
Dear Bruce the Troll,
bruce
11/5/2018 07:55:44 pm
brian
Brian Savin
11/5/2018 08:05:46 pm
Dear Troll
bruce
11/5/2018 08:22:48 pm
brian,
Brian Savin
11/5/2018 08:39:20 pm
I'll come to your meeting in D.C. if you pay for my flight. Not Wednesday. I'd love to meet with the folks you're meeting with. I would bet some of them might know me and I might like to see them again. What do you say, "pal"? Comments are closed.
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QUOTES
Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online. The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal…. After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness. The progress stems mostly from three factors: First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot. Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.) Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year. “Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.” That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.” That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data. One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines. Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks. Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths. The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions. Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately Republican and white. Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.) *** From the great Maureen Dowd: As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop. But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels." --- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing. *** "Putting out the paper," we called it. Much more than nostalgia. ---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html |
