Gibson’s Bakery vs Oberlin “I suspect the jury hated Oberlin and its students and wanted to punish both”

AMERICAN THINKER
Jury awards Gibson’s Bakery $33 million in punitive damages
by Thomas Lifson
June 14, 2019

It appears that the ordinary folk who live in proximity to hyper-progressive campuses are fed-up with being the objects of false accusations of racism (and all the other imaginary offenses ending in …isms and …phobia), and want to incentivize change in academia. The same jury that awarded a local bakery $11.3 million in compensatory damages from Oberlin College (for background on the case see thisthisthis and this) added another $33 million in punitive damages, intended to send a message to the defendant and to similar institutions that such behavior is strongly discouraged. READ MORE

POWERLINE The Jury Hated Oberlin In my view, the main significance of the jury’s verdict is that it shows how normal people react when they are exposed to today’s campus leftism. You cannot sell to a normal person the idea that it is “racism” for a store to catch a student stealing a bottle of wine, and call the police, merely on account of the student’s skin color. Social justice warrior culture is insane…

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US cadets visit Israel: “The reality of being so close to enemies who threaten the state on a daily basis was a shock”

JERUSALEM POST
U.S. cadets laud Israeli Brothers in Arms following two week tour
by Anna Ahronheim
June 11, 2019

A group of 40 American cadets and officers wrapped up a two-week trip to Poland and Israel on Monday, meeting with high-ranking IDF officers to learn about the Jewish State and the complexity of its security situation. Organized by Our Soldiers Speak, the trip left a deep impression on the visiting service members who hail from the West Point Military Academy, the Air Force Academy and the Virginia Military Institute, with some even voicing their readiness to fight and if necessary die alongside IDF troops...“This unparalleled experience enables American cadets to learn about hot-button issues and matters of utmost strategic importance in the Middle East firsthand,” said OSS founder and director Benjamin Anthony. READ MORE

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Newton, MA: Orthodox rabbi quotes Isaiah, warning Jewish community who turned a blind eye to antisemitic curriculum, “Your destroyers and demolishers will come from your own”

JNS
The high school battle in Newton, Mass.: Orthodox rabbis come to the front lines
by Charles Jacobs
June 11, 2019

The Israel-bashing problem so prevalent now on North American college campuses has now reached into high schools. Under the guise of teaching history, social studies, conflict resolution or “peace studies,” curriculum mills hostile to the Jewish state are spreading anti-Israel “lessons” throughout the nation’s public high schools. The biased curricula are designed to be easy to use with formats familiar to teachers, many of whom, we now know, have themselves imbibed anti-Israel lessons in the politicized education departments of American universities. The curricula reflect Arabist propaganda, Muslim dogma and leftist ideology, including that of the anti-Israel Jewish left—all masquerading as historical fact. READ MORE

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Pete Buttigieg paraphrased: “I know better than Israel what’s best for their security and I’ll see that they’re punished if they annex parts of the West Bank…and we’ll rejoin Iran Deal”

BREITBART
Pete Buttigieg: I Will Cut Funds to Israel If It Annexes Part of the West Bank
by Joel B. Pollak
June 11, 2019

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg promised, if elected president, to cut U.S. aid to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed through on an election promise to annex parts of Judea and Samara — the “West Bank.”…Successive U.S. administrations have recognized that large Israeli settlement blocs within the West Bank are going to be part of Israel under any peace agreement with the Palestinians. Indeed, some areas had large Jewish populations before Jews were expelled during the 1948 war declared by Israel’s Arab neighbors against the fledgling Jewish state…It is not clear how Buttigieg would propose to cut funding to Israel, but the idea of threatening Israel is not new. READ MORE

Foreign policy savant Jeremy Ben Ami from J Street opines:

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“Israeli robots from the companies General Robotics and Gahat Robotics could be man’s best friend in future battlefields”

JERUSALEM POST
Israeli robots will accompany soldiers into battle in future wars
by Seth Frantzman
June 6, 2019

…Sharon de-Beer, CEO of Gahat, showed a video of how unmanned vehicles can perform a variety of tasks. These ATVs, for instance, are amphibious. They can go across streams and aid in search and rescue. “The next generation of war will be more robots and less soldiers,” says de-Beer. That means when special forces or infantry need to go into a village, they could have vehicles driving alongside them that don’t require people to drive them. If the soldiers get to a point where they want to investigate what’s behind a house, they can send in the robots. If the robotic vehicle gets shot, it’s not like losing a human life.  READ MORE

JERUSALEM POST The Israeli technology taking down Gazan drones and balloons SMASH 2000 prevents the bullet from being fired until the target is precisely in its cross hairs.

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Daniel Pearl’s dad Judea honored by CAMERA with their Courage Award

CAMERA was honored to present the inaugural Ometz (Courage) Award to Professor Judea Pearl at our 2019 Annual Gala. Here Professor Pearl shares his belief in the importance of standing up for the Jewish state with courage, as well as his hope for the future: “I see our students inspired, active, committed. They will prevail.”…“What BDS has done to us is a blessing. They have given us a simple criteria to distinguish our enemies from our friends. And they have given the Jewish people a reason to unite and close ranks.”

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David Draiman: “It’s just Israel that gets this treatment, and I think we all know the reason behind that”

JTA
Rocker David Draiman slams Roger Waters, ‘Nazi comrades’ for Israel boycotting
by Gabe Friedman
Jun 5, 2019

David Draiman, the Jewish singer of the chart-topping hard rock band Disturbed, called Roger Waters “ridiculous” for promoting a cultural boycott of Israel. Disturbed, which has sold millions of albums, is set to play in Israel for the first time on July 2...“Draiman, known for his guttural yells, grew up attending Orthodox yeshivas in Chicago, but he was expelled from three of them. At one point he trained to be a cantor...READ MORE

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“Is there any evidence linking police brutality in the US with Israeli police?”

ELDER OF ZIYON
No, Israel is Not Responsible for Police Brutality in the US
by Tomer Ilan
June 7, 2019

Haters constantly attempt to slander Israel as a “white-supremacist” state. Using lies and distortions, they are trying to convince African-Americans that Israel hates blacks and that they should hate Israel. Unfortunately, the lies seem to be working. In a recent poll, only 46% of black Americans viewed Israel as “ally” or “friendly”, compared to 67% percent of whites. One of the accusations leveled at Israel, is that Israel is responsible for police brutality against blacks in America, because Israel has trained U.S. police forces in “brutal tactics” it uses against Palestinians. For instance, a black movement has recently attacked the Congressional Black Caucus for their support of Israel, citing the same accusation. READ MORE

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The State of Illinois’ unfunded liabilities will increase by $2.4 billion to $139 billion

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
After Gov. Pritzker, Boss Madigan budget, let’s change state slogan: Illinois-Shut Up and Take It.
by John Kass
June 7, 2019

…Illinois’ new state slogan should be: Just shut up and take it…Especially now that Gov. Big Boy and his boss, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and the iron-fisted Democratic legislative majority have passed an amazing $40 billion operating budget and another $45 billion capital spending plan chock-full of pork and dripping with pork fat. They’ve done it in just days, in the shadows, crafting $85 billion in spending for a state that’s broke, on the edge of insolvency, a state with billions in unfunded public pension liabilities, a state that can’t pay its bills. A state that can’t withstand even a tiny recession. READ MORE

ILLINOIS POLICY Illinois state lawmakers introduce, pass $85 billion in spending in 12 hours  Lack of solid budgeting basics has played a large part in giving Illinois the lowest credit rating of any state, billions of dollars in unpaid bills and the highest pension-debt-to-revenue ratio of any state in history.

ZERO HEDGE Pritzker’s Untruth: Illinois’ Budget Is Billions Out Of Balance Politicians on both sides of the aisle can pat themselves on the back all they want for passing a budget. But the truth is they’ve just made Illinois’ debt crisis even worse. They’re not paying what they should, nor have they passed a single structural reform that would help lower the annual cost of retirements. (In fact, they’ve done the opposite by reboosting pension spiking for teachers.)

 

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Hey gay Israel-haters, Israel now has an openly gay Minister of Justice — where else in the middle east could this happen?

THE TOWER
Israel Appoints First Openly Gay Cabinet Minister
by Staff
June 7, 2019

The first openly gay man to become a cabinet minister in Israel was appointed Wednesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Amir Ohana will act as interim justice minister, following the sacking of the previous office holder, Ayelet Shaked…He is one of several openly gay officials in Israel. Last year, Ra’anana became the first city in Israel to have a gay mayor with the election of Eitan Ginzburg…In most countries in the Middle East, homosexuality either is a crime punishable by death, such as Iran and Yemen, or carries long jail sentences, including in the West Bank and Qatar. Homosexuals are also at risks of violence, torture, and “honor killings” by militias or even their own families. READ MORE

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