General

Andrew Goldberg’s “White with Fear”

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Andrew Goldberg’s White with Fear. Needless to say, it’s devoid of an interest in the actual statistics on Black crime. See Ambrose Kane’s article.
In the documentary White with Fear, an insidious long-running campaign to villainize people of color in the US is laid bare
In the year 1968, a group of housewives in Dearborn, Michigan, then a nearly all-white suburb of Detroit, gathered for a workshop on how to shoot a gun. The women at the pistol range, mostly late-middle age and grandmotherly, were reacting to rhetoric from Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign, which fixated on a so-called crime wave. They were scared, defensive, willing to pick up a gun as a guard against what Nixon called “cities enveloped in smoke and flame”.
The neighboring city of Detroit was 40% Black, and the “crime” supposedly overtaking US cities meant, in this context, Black people, and white suburbia’s racist fear of them. […] Nixon’s approach demonstrated that “when you appeal to whites on the basis of race, they will go all the way to changing their political party,” said Andrew Goldberg, the film’s director.
As White with Fear immediately makes clear with footage of the old ladies with their pistols braided into clips of contemporary Republican “migrant crime” soundbites, the political tradition of dog-whistling white fear remains strong. The only difference between Dearborn housewives with, as a 1968 newscaster put it, “suburbia’s new tranquilizer”, and the viral photo of a white Missouri couple pointing an AR-15 at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, is the quality of the footage and the openness of the hostility.
===
[Interviewer:] What are you working on next?
[Andrew Goldberg:] We are working on a film about antisemitism coming from progressive spaces, as told by voices within the progressive movement. Light fare, right?!
Andrew Goldberg’s filmography:
The Armenian Americans (2000)
The Armenians, A Story of Survival (2001)
A Yiddish World Remembered (2002)
Images of The Armenian Spirit (2003)
They Came to America (2003)
Proud to Serve: The Men and Women of the U.S. Army (2004)
The Armenian Genocide (2006)
Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence (2007)
The Jewish People: A Story of Survival (2008)
Jerusalem: Center of the World (2009)
Out in America (2011)
The Iranian Americans (2012)

Dominic Cummings: People, ideas, machines XII: Theories of regime change and civil war

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People, ideas, machines XII: Theories of regime change and civil war:

Preference falsification and Britain’s slide to chaos…

Dominic Cummings makes some extraordinary and explosive claims in his latest Substack. It’s very much worth reading in full, but here are some key points.
💥Inside the components of the deep state responsible for national security, “there is growing, though still tiny, discussion of Britain’s slide into chaos and the potential for serious violence including what would look like racial/ethnic mob/gang violence, though the regime would obviously try to describe it differently. Part of the reason for the incoherent forcefulness against the white rioters last year from a regime that is in deep-surrender-mode against pro-Holocaust marchers, rape gangs and criminals generally, is a mix of a) aesthetic revulsion in SW1 at the Brexit-voting white north and b) incoherent Whitehall terror of widespread white-English mobs turning political and attracting talented political entrepreneurs.”
💥The reason the state came down so hard on white rioters and protesters last year (despite at the same time essentially surrendering to other groups) was an “aesthetic revulsion in SW1 at the Brexit-voting white north” and “incoherent Whitehall terror of widespread white-English mobs turning political and attracting talented political entrepreneurs.”
💥The last thing the state wants to see is “networks that see themselves as both political and driven to consider violence. Parts of the system increasingly fear this could spin out of control into their worst nightmare.”
💥Senior police are seriously afraid that crucial psychological spells that in loco force are used to maintain order could soon be broken.
💥Whitehall pathologies are responsible for pushing these spells to the brink of breaking.
💥Senior people in the U.A.E. no longer want to send their kids to be educated in Britain because “they’ll come back radical Islamist nutjobs!”
💥The state has spent 30 years destroying border control and sane immigration policy.  He said the Home Office makes a concerted effort (“a jihad”) to discourage highly skilled migration because “they truly loathe” such migrants, even as they actively prioritise migration from “the most barbaric places on earth,”
💥The regime under which Britain has lived for the last 30 years also funds the spread of those barbaric ideas and repurposes laws designed to prevent the re-emergence of totalitarianism in Europe to defend organisations who spread said barbaric ideas.
💥Deep state discussions and fears about the potential for serious violence in Britain have not seeped through to either MPs or the journalism class. Part of the reason for this is that the National Security Secretariat of the Cabinet Office, which has acquired power from other parts of the security/intel system, is deliberately obscured from political control. “The lack of legibility of the NSS is without historical precedent in the UK for centuries.”
💥SW1s ability to Observe, Orient, Decide and Act “has operated for years as a massive denial-of-service-attack on its own perceptions of reality — constant cycles of ephemeral emotional hysteria and Narrative Whiplash while No10 has no capability to execute priorities.”
💥”The old parties lost their last chance to fix things in a sort-of normal way when [Boris Johnson] and his girlfriend told everyone in 2021 they were going ‘back to normal politics’. SW1 cheered including the Tory MPs who got culled en masse in 2024. Sunak doubled down on optimising for *pats on the head from Permanent Secretaries and lawyers*. After Starmer won, SW1’s NPCs tweeted to each other how they now had ‘serious grownups’ and we’d return to ‘normal government’.”
💥”Both old parties are structurally knackered.”
💥”Starmer is speed-running Sunak’s demented combination of a) massively raising the salience of immigration/boats with b) a set of policies that everyone who understands the details knows cannot possibly do what he’s promising.”
💥If you’re not in the meetings that decide such policies, “you can’t accurately estimate the relative levels of dishonesty and self-delusion involved.”
💥”Terrorists literally being hunted from cave to cave in Afghanistan by JSOC (US classified special forces) have used satellite phones to procure London barristers to bring legal cases against the Ministry of Defense for ‘human rights’ abuses and won secret payouts of millions while on the run.”
💥The Tory Party has “disintegrated on all areas. Its membership has either defected to Reform or retreated in disgust from politics, its donors have gone on strike, its local networks have collapsed, it cannot generate good ideas, it cannot campaign and communicate…In the recent elections, councillors got Thanos’d and if Kemi is still there in a year most of what’s left in England, Wales and Scotland will get Thanos’d.”

 

Black Women in Charge: Profiles in Umbrage

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Black Women in Charge: Profiles in Umbrage

The anniversary of George Floyd’s death this past weekend was marked by claims that the country’s attempt to finally deal with its systemic racism had been brushed aside with “the resurgence of old power structures” — as put by University of Connecticut professor Manisha Sinha, who represents the NEW power structure where Indian immigrants get all the good affirmative action jobs.

Inspired by a crack addict’s death, the Racial Reckoning required, among other things, putting Black women in charge of everything. The plan was foolproof. It literally had no flaw. Unburdened by what has been, there was no telling what these scrappy gals could do.

This column will be part 2 of a continuing series that I call “Black Women in Charge.” (The last one was in 2023, then other news intervened.)

Elected after the summer of BLM terror, President Joe Biden put more Black females on the U.S. Courts of Appeal than all previous presidents combined. Half of his U.S. attorney nominees were Black. Given that only 5% of the nation’s attorneys are Black, for the past four years, every Black lawyer in the country had a decent shot at becoming a federal prosecutor or judge. (Hence, the expression, the “affirmative action to federal bench pipeline.”)

Among the nominees was Rachael Rollins, Biden’s choice to be U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. But things are never easy for a Black woman. As put by Charles Pierce, Esquire’s political reporter, two “asshat” senators decided to “demagogue” a “Perfectly Qualified U.S. Attorney Nominee.”

Specifically, Sens. Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton opposed Rollins on the grounds that she supported decriminalizing a slew of crimes, such as shoplifting, malicious destruction of property, drug possession with intent to distribute and resisting arrest. (No word yet on how those policies have played out in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, etc.)

The Senate split 50-50 on Rollins’ nomination.

In a transcendent moment of Black Girl Magic, the first black woman vice president cast the 51st vote to make Rollins the first bBack woman U.S. attorney of Massachusetts. Upon Rollins’ confirmation, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren praised Rollins for “transforming the criminal justice system.”

And, boy, were they right! Within two years, Rollins had “transformed” her office into a personal revenge racket, leaking government secrets to harm a political opponent, among other wildly illegal acts. Biden’s own Office of Special Counsel informed him that her violations were “among the most egregious transgressions” the office had ever seen.

She resigned before any further action could be taken against her and is currently weighing offers from several Ivy League universities.

Atlanta, known as the Black Mecca, is home to a great number of black millionaires. There’s Shelitha Robertson, former assistant city attorney of Atlanta turned lifestyle podcaster, who is so rich she sported a 10-carat diamond ring and drove a Rolls Royce. How was she able to afford such luxuries on an assistant city attorney’s salary, you ask? It turned out all her bling was purchased with the $15 million she stole from COVID-19 relief funds on behalf of her nonexistent 400 employees.

In addition to the swag, Robertson used her stolen money to make a campaign donation to Fani Willis, whose name may ring a bell. Immediately upon her election to Atlanta district attorney, Willis announced a fishing expedition against Trump and his allies, accusing them of a criminal conspiracy for engaging in standard, everyday politicking. If Trump’s challenging the results of Georgia’s presidential election constitutes a RICO violation, then Al Gore should be hunted down and given the death penalty for the 2000 election. (Is there a solar-powered electric chair yet?)

To assist her office in pursuing the crackpot charges, Willis did what a child would know is wrong. I know! I’ll hire my boyfriend and then he can take me on vacations with all the money I’m paying him!

Even Stacey Abrams was saying, “Oh c’mon!”

For her comical corruption, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case. No other D.A. showed any interest in pursuing the charges, suggesting some flaws in Fani’s theory of the case. (At least Gore can rest easy.) Willis’ office was later ordered to pay about $75,000 in fines and attorneys’ fees.

Just last week, Charlotte, North Carolina, city council member Tiawana Brown was indicted, along with her daughters Tijema Brown and Antionette Rouse, for stealing at least $124,165 in COVID relief money and spending it on luxury goods, including a $15,000 birthday party featuring a horse-drawn carriage and a throne. (Legal tip: If the criminal complaint against your client includes the words “horse-drawn carriage” or “throne,” start negotiating a plea.)

Far from contrite, Brown seems a tad miffed that anyone would expect her to resign because of the multiple felony-charging indictment, saying, “Why would I resign? I haven’t been convicted of anything.”

My final entry in this week’s installment of Black Women in Charge is Dr. Karen Johnson, who describes herself as “World Changer,” “History Maker” and “Visionary,” proving how systemic racism crushes Black people’s self-esteem. (I’ve been unable, so far, to determine which medical specialty Dr. Johnson practices but I’ll keep digging.)

In March 2021, Dr. Johnson was appointed director of Washington state’s first-ever Office of Equity. Getting off to a great start, she told a local NBC news affiliate, “No Black person in their right mind … wants to be leading this kind of work, convincing white people they want to do something they have no intention of doing.”

In short order, a third of the office had quit over Johnson’s sexism, racism and fat-shaming. At one point, she announced, “I generally distrust Mexican people.” *Denying it was racist, she said, “That was not my takeaway from the conversation.” After two years promoting “equity,” Johnson was fired.

But there’s never a shortage of jobs for Black women accusing everyone else of racism, so Dr. Johnson is now executive director of the Texas Center for Justice and Equity, and this Black Women in Charge series may never end.

COPYRIGHT 2025 ANN COULTER

Unz Review: Philip Giraldi on the putative Trump-Netanyahu split

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Netanyahu also said that Israel wants to carry out “Trump’s plan” for Gaza to include the permanent removal of the Palestinian population to create a US managed seafront resort over the ruins of the strip. Per Netanyahu, the Israelis have now included the creation of “Trump Gaza” as one of the redline conditions to permit an end of the war against Hamas. …

And: The current outrage is as orchestrated as was the earlier silence. Israel’s extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich explained why Israel would be maintaining a balancing act between outright killing all the Palestinian and keeping western support by allowing absolutely minimum food to enter Gaza: “We need our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and the Hague Tribunal, and for us to continue to fight, God willing, until victory.” He also has said that his plan for the West Bank and Gaza includes giving the Palestinians the choice between subjugation, emigration, and death. Smotrich has repeatedly advocated for lethal force to be used against Palestinian children lest they grow up to be terrorists.

Making Palestine go away.

It has been another exciting week in a world at war where the word “diplomacy” has no meaning and would probably be defined by America’s head of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as a doctrine in which you shoot someone first before he or she can shoot you. In my article last week I discussed the reports that there has been a serious rift between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, exemplified by Trump’s unwillingness to talk to the Israeli leader followed by his failure to visit Israel on his recent Middle East trip. Sources attributed the break to Trump’s perception that he was being “manipulated” by the Israeli, which was completely plausible though something that should have been recognized and warned against by Trump’s foreign policy advisers when he first ascended to the presidency in 2017. Israel always manipulates opinion on the United States through its lobby’s control of the media and corruption of the politicians.

I opined that the reports of the disenchantment with “America’s best friend” were credible possibly linked to spying involving National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, though I also observed that many of my contacts were skeptical, warning that the whole thing might be a set-up possibly engineered by Trump’s Zionist roving negotiator Steve Witkoff and specifically designed to benefit Israel. That means that the US was feigning a “breakup” with Netanyahu to enable it to reach an agreement with all the leading Arab countries of the Middle East in order to confirm Israel’s security while Netanyahu is completely wiping the Palestinians off the face of the earth. Trump has in fact said that his policies and the Mideast trip were “very good for Israel.”

In a follow up to my article I advised during an interview with Judge Andrew Napolitano that it pays to be skeptical as Trump has done absolutely nothing to change Israel’s behavior, quite the contrary, even though he had an opportunity to support Palestinian statehood in the context of UN membership and also to demand an end to the genocide taking place in Gaza. The truth behind whether there was in fact a serious rupture in the personal relationship of the two leaders should be measured in light of the presence or absence of consequences when Israel pursues policies damaging to US interests.

Indeed, Netanyahu has personally confirmed that all is well with the United States. He said at a press conference last Wednesday that President Trump had assured him that the US and his administration were completely committed to Israel despite the series of media reports that have said there’s a problem between the two leaders. “Let me give you some details that perhaps haven’t been made public. A few days ago — I think around 10 days ago, maybe a little more — I spoke on the phone with President Trump. And he said to me, literally: ‘Bibi, I want you to know — I have absolute commitment to you. I have absolute commitment to the State of Israel.’”

Netanyahu also spoke with Vice President JD Vance, who, along with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, had also avoided a visit to Israel. “[Vance] said to me… ‘Listen, don’t pay attention to all these fake news spins about this rupture between us… He said: It’s all spin. This isn’t the truth, you know it’s not true, and I’m telling you, from our side, it’s not true.” Netanyahu also said that Israel wants to carry out “Trump’s plan” for Gaza to include the permanent removal of the Palestinian population to create a US managed seafront resort over the ruins of the strip. Per Netanyahu, the Israelis have now included the creation of “Trump Gaza” as one of the redline conditions to permit an end of the war against Hamas.

The Israeli and Middle Eastern media have been reporting extensively and critically on the genocide and the various players involved in dealing with the Netanyahu agenda. A recent piece discussed the 29 mostly European Union (EU) countries led by the UK, France and Canada that have now called on Israel to moderate its behavior or face both sanctions and a suspension of the EU Israel trade arrangements, which greatly benefit the Jewish state. The EU declared that Israel’s announcement of letting some aid in was “wholly inadequate. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response” the leaders’ statement said. Netanyahu responded to the threat by declaring absurdly that “You’re on the wrong side of humanity and you’re on the wrong side of history.” But as the saying goes, unfortunately, talk is cheap, either from Netanyahu or from Israel’s newly minted critics. Diplomatic announcements and threatened sanctions mean always dancing around the awful truth. Israel is committing some of the worst war crimes humanity has ever witnessed and the Europeans and the Americans give every impression that they will certainly back off, deferring to Israel and persisting in doing absolutely nothing that will bring the suffering to an end.

The European gesture in particular is an attempt to make up somewhat for its support for 19 months of genocide. The completely contemptible Prime Minister of the UK Keir Starmer, confronted by a British public that has swung strongly anti-Israeli, has made a big show about taking action against Israel and the Israelis cooperated with him by playing their part, expressing outrage over the temerity of anyone telling them how to deal with their neighbors. Indeed, there was some corroboration from informed Israeli sources that the threats and responses from the two sides were little more than a bit of Kabuki. A senior Israeli official even explained to the media why European leaders have bothered to shift positions after 19 months of silence about the murderous Gaza genocide, to instead feign instant outrage. It was all coordinated with Israel in advance. He said that “The past 24 hours were all part of a planned ambush we knew about. This was a coordinated sequence of moves ahead of the EU meeting in Brussels – and thanks to joint efforts by our ambassadors and the foreign minister, we managed to moderate the outcome.”

The current outrage is as orchestrated as was the earlier silence. Israel’s extremist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich explained why Israel would be maintaining a balancing act between outright killing all the Palestinian and keeping western support by allowing absolutely minimum food to enter Gaza: “We need our friends in the world to continue to provide us with an international umbrella of protection against the Security Council and the Hague Tribunal, and for us to continue to fight, God willing, until victory.” He also has said that his plan for the West Bank and Gaza includes giving the Palestinians the choice between subjugation, emigration, and death. Smotrich has repeatedly advocated for lethal force to be used against Palestinian children lest they grow up to be terrorists. On Wednesday the Israeli army doubled down on that message and to show how little it cares to coddle meddling foreigners when it fired on 31 European diplomats representing 29 countries who were visiting the Palestinian settlement Jenin on the West Bank in what was presumed to be in 100% Palestinian administered territory.

The fact is that no one in the European and American governments really cares about the Palestinians or their extermination. The only concern by the rulers is how their posturing looks to the rest of the world and to the voters in their own countries. Israel lies so enthusiastically in making its case and providing false evidence to back up its behavior that there is a tendency to be suspicious of anything it does. Last week’s assassination of two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington DC by a man who just happened to yell “Free Palestine!” was good news for the Jewish state in that it creates sympathy for a country that has featured as bad news for well over a year. It is already being whispered in intelligence circles that it was a “false flag” attack contrived by Mossad to create a favorable news cycle as Israel secretly cranks up for an imminent attack on Iran. Iran phobia features regularly in the Israeli media to include a recent Israeli claim that Iran is hiding its nuclear enrichment facilities, which is true but designed the keep the Israelis from blowing them up. The “favorable news cycle” has included Jewish Congressman Randy Fine of Florida calling for the use of nuclear weapons to destroy Gaza and kill its remaining inhabitants just like “Japan at the end of World War 2.”

And to make sure Iran gets to feel the sharp point of the sword, presidential emissary Witkoff has now declared that the nuclear monitoring arrangement being negotiated with Iran must include zero enrichment of uranium, something that was not on the table when the talks started, so they will go nowhere guaranteed. Per Witkoff “We cannot allow even one percent of an enrichment capability. Enrichment enables weaponization.” Where did that demand come from? From a secretly nuclear armed Israel by way of treasonous Israel Firster Senators Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, no doubt. And if one follows that line of thinking, one can assume that Donald Trump is also on board, standing in line to pull out Netanyahu’s chair and bowing to him and then raising his mighty clenched fist before sending in the Yanks to finish the destruction of Persia. And if Iran responds effectively with force, Israel also has around 200 nukes that it will no doubt not hesitate to use as part of its “Samson Option” war plan. And Trump will undoubtedly say something like “Hey, what a big beautiful explosion! Nothing wrong with that! We used similar weapons to end the First World War!”

 

 

Thomas Friedman on changing attitudes in Israel on the Gaza war

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The Flashing Signals That I Just Saw in Israel

I just spent a week in Israel and, while it may not look as if much has changed — the grinding Gaza war continues to grind — I felt something new there for the first time since Oct. 7, 2023. It is premature to call it a broad-based antiwar movement, which can happen only when all the Israeli hostages are returned. But I did see signals flashing that more Israelis, from the left to the center and to even parts of the right, are concluding that continuing this war is a disaster for Israel: morally, diplomatically or strategically.

From the political center, the former prime minister Ehud Olmert wrote an essay in the newspaper Haaretz in which he pulled no punches against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition. “The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success,” Olmert argued. “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of extermination: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.” His conclusion: “Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”

From the right, you have the likes of Amit Halevi, a member of Netanyahu’s own right-wing Likud party, who is staunchly pro-war but thinks its execution has been bungled. Halevi had his membership on the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee suspended by Netanyahu’s coalition after he voted against a proposal to extend the government’s ability to issue emergency call-up orders for Israeli reservists. In an interview with the newspaper Yediot Ahronot following his dismissal, Halevi said: “This war is a deception. They lied to us about its achievements.” Israel has “been fighting a war for 20 months with failed plans” and it “is not succeeding in destroying Hamas.”

And from the left, Yair Golan, the leader of Israel’s liberal alliance, called the Democrats, stated in an interview with Israel Radio: “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country. A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set itself the aim of expelling populations.”

Continues

More on the Trump-Israel split

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Jewish Insider, May  25, 2015

Top Middle East, Israel and Iran officials pushed out of NSC

The firings come as President Trump is looking to centralize foreign policy decision making

The top National Security Council officials overseeing the Middle East and Israel and Iran portfolios — seen as pro-Israel voices in the administration — were among the dozens of officials dismissed in a widespread purge of the NSC on Friday, two sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider.

Eric Trager, who was the senior director for the Middle East and North Africa — the lead official on the Middle East — and Merav Ceren, the director for Israel and Iran, were both Trump administration political appointees but were pushed out in what one official called a purge of “the Deep State” inside the NSC.

Their firings come as voices skeptical of the U.S.’ role in the Middle East increasingly establish a foothold in the administration, and as President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also the acting national security advisor, seek to restructure and slim down the key foreign policy-making body.

According to Axios, officials cut from the NSC will be moved to other positions in the government. Ceren previously came under fire from the far left and far right after false claims that she had previously worked as an Israeli Ministry of Defense official generated accusations of dual loyalty.

NSC spokesman Brian Hughes defended Ceren at the time and denied the accusations, describing her as “a patriotic American who has served in the United States government for years, including for President Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Congressman James Comer. We are thrilled to have her expertise in the NSC, where she carries out the President’s agenda on a range of Middle East issues.” He said she “was never employed by the Israeli Defense Ministry, let alone was she an Israeli official.”

Trager and Ceren were hired under former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who was pushed aside after he added a journalist to an administration group chat about U.S. strikes on the Houthis, and after right-wing provocateur Laura Loomer accused him of staffing the NSC with a host of neoconservatives out of step with Trump.

Trager and Ceren had maintained their positions at the time, even as several of Waltz’s top hires were dismissed.