Simon - i hope we can step up and support Cait Conley the way we stepped up and supported Rebecca Bennett and Johnny Garcia. Many of us are ready to jump in and do our part.
For what it's worth.... I worked Cait's booth at a street fair yesterday. People did ask us about the attack ads. When we told them that R's were funding the ads because they're afraid of Cait, it inspired people to vote FOR her. In general voters were more concerned about who can beat Lawler than where the candidates stand on individual issues.
Julie - That's great to hear and I'm optimistic that these tactics won't work. They failed against Bob Brooks in PA-07, they failed against Johnny Garcia in TX-35, they failed against Rebecca Bennett in NJ-07. In Bennett's case, I think they really backfired and she won bigger than she might have otherwise.
Still, I think the reason to mobilize for Cait is to send a message to the GOP: "don't mess with our primaries, we will mobilize and support any strong candidate you do this against"
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality, is mentally ill, and needs to be removed from office. I'm writing post cards to Ohio voters.
I believe the Europeans are smarter than that. He broke it and now he has to fix it. He lost it and has to bear the responsibility. The Europeans were smart enough to not get involved and it is hardly their responsibility to come up with funds for his deal of what they were not a part. He really lives in a delusional world. Ukraine needs Europe's help. tRump's allies, i.e. the oligarchs that pay next to no taxes should foot the bill for his foolish and illegal war. Better yet use the proceeds from yesterday's obscenity to help finance his so called deal.
We have to see if he blackmails the Europeans today on NATO/Ukraine etc - he pulls out and further helps Putin unless they pay up.....we will see. He is desperate right now.
I wish that what you suggest would surprise me, but honestly with him and I afraid it does not. If you do not share your toy with me, I will go play with Putin kind of toddler thinking.
I am very concerned about the intimidation effort in Ohio against the voter registration group. Does anyone know of a legal defense fund? National Lawyers Guild?
You could donate directly to the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the civil rights organization being harassed for doing the voter registration. Surely they will file a lawsuit as the ones directly affected. https://www.ohorganizing.org/
I see a new Hopium post about The Democracy Defense Project, a bipartisan group of past elected officials and other leaders in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Perhaps you could check with them. https://www.democracydefenseproject.org/oh
Now AIPAC Linzy wants ro review the deal?? Where was congress all this time? They let voldemort run amok and now they all of a sudden want to do their job? Wtf?
Want to strongly encourage folks not to turn "AIPAC" into a slur. Jews are not excited about the "blame the Jews" creep that has occurred in our discourse.
Graham's positions are not about AIPAC and Jews. The are about him and what he chooses to do. Same with Trump.
AIPAC is not Bibi. AIPAC is an organization of American Jews who build support in American politics for Israel. AIPAC is a literally an organization of Jews. Blaming AIPAC is blaming Jews. It is not blaming Israel. Blame Graham for his terrible foreign policy. Leave the Jews out of it please. And did you read - he wants Trump to come to Congress and defend the deal. Are we criticizing him for that? Isn't what we want too?
Plese read my original post. It makes no reference to Jews. . At the moment America's political support for the Likud led Israeli government resulted in absolutely terrible things for both countries and the world. .
I am very interested in hearing more about your take on the potential fissure in the family on Israel and the rising antisemitism. On the one hand, I find AIPAC’s behavior abhorrent; they strike me as Israel right or wrong, and that just doesn’t sit well with me at all. AIPAC’s ads against Tom Malinowski in the NJ-11 primary were underhanded, misleading and quite damaging to his candidacy. OTOH, I find the trendy and vehement condemnation of AIPAC a bit singularly focused. Aren’t there other groups who spend millions promoting horrible policies? The Koch Brothers?? What are the key differences between J Street and AIPAC? I’d love to hear more.
An organization that has been helping a government that left Israel and the US markedly weaker on the world stage. I'm not sure I can "do better" than pointing this out. I'm not a frequent poster and this exchange shows why. I do not appreciate the condescending tone. I'm here by choice as a paid subscriber and will continue supporting you because I think you are doing super important work to save what's left of democracy at home. But, I guess I'll stick to reading your posts and avoid the discussion forum. Sorry for any inconvenience
"Most Jews don't support AIPAC? Then they should speak up loudly and in number to change the calculus of the situation."
This comes awfully close to a blanket generalization of a group of people - here being Jewish people. I am sure you did not intend for your comment to be interpreted in the way I interpreted it. I tend to cringe at broad generalizations of any group of people. I am not Jewish by the way.
The trouble with conversing about "Jews" is an old one, as no two people engaging in the conversation, let alone more than two, are usually on the same page about how to define the very demographic at the heart of the discussion.
Secular Jews? Observant Jews (hey, what about the Satmars and other non-Zionist Jews)? Humanistic Jews? Jewbus (Jewish Buddhists)? Someone who identifies as Jewish because they have some quantum of "Jewish DNA"?
Honestly, that doesn't bother me much. Ho hum.
What unsettles me more is that Michael's post seems to lay out a challenge, which, while I don't believe it was ill-intended, I'm sorry to say, doesn't vary much from the old "Show us your allegiances and reveal who you really are, you wily Jews, or suffer the consequences if you don't help yourselves before it's too late. You always bring these things upon yourselves, you know."
(Most people I know, Jews included, strikingly, even in our current times, are completely deaf, dumb, and blind to what goes on in an Asian country.)
I'm sure he didn't mean it that way. Sometimes people write/respond from an emotional prompt and stumble over the words. I do it too (perhaps I'm doing it here, right now).
Michael, can you clarify what you mean by American Jewish activism?
And also, can you clarify your use of erroneous in that sentence? I don't think it's falling the way you intended because I've read that paragraph, I don't know how many times, believing it's my brain, but I can't quite understand what you are really saying there.
What I was attempting to say was that people who become anti-semetic based on the idea that being Jewish is the same thing, synonymous with, supporting AIPAC's unquestioning support of the Israeli state, even in war criming (which is what I believe happened in GAZA after that horrible war criming of Oct 7 on Israeli's.) That's what's erroneous.
We need to separate being Jewish from that narrow slice of Jewish people who support AIPAC. Is that more clear?
I would submit that AIPAC and Israel actually have very little to do with something as old, complicated, and virulent as antisemitism, but those two nouns indeed have become useful cudgels.
I am going to make a few final points here. 1) It is very clear that we need to have a big conversation in our Hopium family about Israel, AIPAC, and what many Jews believe has become a creeping antisemitism - perhaps innocent, perhaps not - in the language of Democratic activists. All I was doing in these comments was asking people not to use "AIPAC" as a slur, and explained why. Nothing complicated here. That this became complicated blows my mind a bit. 2) Think about the logic flow here. When Trump does something for Putin we blame Trump and his weakness/corruption. When he does things for his Saudi investors we blame Trump and his weakness/corruption. When Trump or in this case Lindsay Graham does something that appears to be in the interest of Israel we blame Bibi, AIPAC, Jews not Trump or Graham as above, as if they have no agency and Jews are all powerful. This plays into possibly the most pernicious of the modern day historic antisemitic memes about Jews buying people off and controlling things behind the scenes. People may not be aware of all this but the language around Israel and American Jews just needs to be more precise and respectful. 3) I think there is deep confusion about AIPAC and what it is. I am a deep opponent of AIPAC, as I am profoundly opposed to Bibi's government and policies. But AIPAC is an organization of American Jews who work legally inside the American political system to advance policies and leaders they see as friendly to Israel. It is not an Israeli entity. It is a Jewish organization, run by American Jews, working inside the American political system. There just has become greater awareness and greater sensitivity to what is explosion of antisemitism in America, coming from all corners, something that I never imagined I would see in my lifetime. Oppose Israel's government, oppose its policies, oppose AIPAC - which represents a very narrow minority of American Jews who run about 70% Democrat - and let's work together to leave a facile antisemistism at our collective door. Godspeed - Simon
this is a cogent and necessary explanation. many people seem to think aipac is a foreign entity; it is not. and yes, this gentile can see clearly what is going on here, and it makes me sick. people do not know the history. young people did not know people who were in camps and had tattoos; i did. so it is not an abstraction to me, but i'm 63. i insisted that both my kids take courses in college on the holocaust and genocide, even though they were science majors. i felt they should know what their grandad fought against. i'm going to leave it there because these discussions often invite the worst kind of hostility, though mercifully, that has not been true here as other sites.
I often think about Jamaal Bowman's primary campaign (for re-election) one of the most expensive of its kind, as it was sandwiched between such frenetic history. God, what a race that was! The craziness that went on!
AOC & Bernie were staunch supporters of Bowman, even though, in my estimation, I'm sure they recognized he was a very flawed candidate temperamentally (Sound like anyone currently running for a pivotal seat?)
AIPAC got involved (Bowman referred to it in a rowdy outdoor rally as "fucking AIPAC") and invested ENORMOUS resources here. His reelection campaign was on the heels of the Oct 7th terror strike.
It has always been interesting to me (in no way a supporter of Bibi or most of the actions of the Israeli government, but I do have people I love living there), that with a sizeable Jewish constituency, many of whom probably had, say, one to three degrees of separation from someone in Israel and were frightened, Bowman's kneejerk statement was that there was no truth to any of the news of atrocities, sexual or otherwise, instead citing Israel's "propaganda" machine.
This, we later learned, as coroners were reviewing the bodies of women killed who had knives stuck in their vaginas.
Confusion? Hard to pin down facts? Yes, of course. But would someone else have said: We are hearing such horrible things, unimaginable carnage, that I refuse to make an authoritative statement until all the info is in?
Well, he lost his bid in a wild campaign, and I'm not saying I like his successor any better (though it's not my district). But it was interesting that AIPAC figured so prominently there.
You'll still find people arguing about whether it was AIPAC's enormous resources responsible for defeating Bowman or Bowman himself.
In the spirit of continuing to inform rather than inflame a challenging conversation in our family check out this poll to learn more about the views of Jewish voters in America:
"According to the new national poll released by the non-partisan Jewish Voters Resource Center (JVRC), 72% of Jewish voters disapprove of Donald Trump, and 67% plan to vote Democratic in the midterms. Our work in past elections has proven that when races are close and there is a large Jewish population, the Jewish vote plays a critical role in ensuring Democrats win. The poll demonstrates that Jewish voters will help Democrats take back the House and the Senate in November."
Thank you Simon, I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, especially as a Jewish Democratic voter who is both Pro Israel the nation and its people, Pro Gaza and the Palestinian people…while also vehemently Anti Bibi, Anti Hamas, and Anti Jihadism…you know, the combination view the majority of Americans actually have 😉. To this point and to yours however, do you have any concerns about Hasan Piker’s influence within the Democratic Party? Really hope he doesn’t embolden some sort of vigorous newfound group of “Progressive Antisemites” if you know what I mean.
AOC, Schlossberg, McMorrow, Talarico, Newsom, Harris, Kelly, Shapiro, Moore, Whitmer, Peltola, Turek, etc. —- they all range on the left of center to progressive scale and admirably so. None of them are Antisemites who would ever believe either Israel or Gaza should be wiped off the map or would say such disturbing things as “Hamas over Israel any day” like Piker did. How can we ensure he makes little impact? There’s influence and then there’s fringe. We may be on the right side of history as a party overall but we shouldn’t be foolish enough to think we too don’t have our extremists. The quicker we can cut our extremism at the knees (much in contrast to the GOP these days), the healthier it will be for our party and its future. Thanks again for all you do ✌️.
this elaborate, many pronged criminal enterprise that used to be our american govt is just going to collapse of its own weight. the entire govt is corrupt and non functioning now. its a shell game and a house of cards. any minute its going to come tumbling down. remember the fish rots at the head. he has wasted billions upon billions and personally collected as much. and not one dime for regular hard working americans. nada! he will leave us broke, but hopefully not broken.
when will the MSM start covering the corruption, the lying, the sleeping, the abject failure?
Obama struck a far better deal with Iran – and then Trump idiotically withdrew from the multilateral treat, causing Iran to put their nuclear program into overdrive.
Now Trump has negotiated a far, far worse deal. Trump is a national and international embarrassment, and he has caused monumental damage to no avail.
Called Booker & Kim re the Orange Madman & the Monstrosity on the WH Lawn. He needs to go. Also expressed concern about the "Iran Deal" and stated that we the American people should under no circumstances pay for any of it. Also thanked Kim for continued visits/updates re Delaney Hall.
I hope some folks caught last night's "Rise Up, Sing Out" event at NYC's Town Hall, which was livestreamed; you can see it on YouTube if you missed. The show was a bit uneven, but there were some truly inspiring moments, like a live drop-in from MPLS in which the Singing Resistance showed how it's done. Also Bette Midler was a total badass as usual, updated the Woody Guthrie classic "All You Fascists Bound to Lose" in her trademark style.
Working on postcards this week as well as a research project for the DNC, which I can't talk about yet, but rest assured Chair Martin is pulling out all the stops for election security this fall. Keep going!
In our community it was a potluck watch party at a local church. About 150-200 people. People were singing along, clapping and cheering frequently. It was an interesting and different sort of gathering. Most people stayed to the end, which I think demonstrates that it was meaningful for people. It is going to take all of us, and this was a good effort in that goal.
But most of the meaning for me was that all of these "strangers" were gathered together in common cause. It was a seeding for community building, and I hope it was widely felt across the nation.
I agree that the clip from Minneapolis was one of the most impactful, So here it is, beginning with the moving intro from Julia Roberts tribute to Renee Nicole Good followed by the folks at George Floyd memorial site singing a new song "Organization" Minneapolis can help show us the way. https://www.youtube.com/live/B7EbkKNy7Vk?si=mDlS6IoKugDfdWF_&t=3680
Yeah, our watch party included new folks. Everyone had a task of meeting new people. Our folks loved that they had a link to the lyric book (which we made a QR code for). We'll add a couple of the songs to our Citizens Bank protest array. People were really grateful to be together watching.
Daily calls are in to Republican members regarding the issues you highlighted this AM. I attended a protest in western WI yesterday. There was a good turnout and many supportive passers-by.
#HandsOffOhio webpage will have information about local efforts re. the response to the FBI raids of the Ohio voter registration group last Thursday. (information sent to me by Indivisible) The Ohio Democracy Defense Coalition and the Black Voters Matter are organizing a Day of Action around voter registration on Thursday, June 18th in Ohio. More information will be available on the webpage.
Here's what I'm writing, if you want to adapt it for yourself (but don't copy and paste, as it's important for each comment to appear individually written).
I strongly oppose the construction of the proposed "Triumphal Arch" at Memorial Circle in Washington DC.
The project is unlawful. It violates at least three federal laws.
To begin, federal law requires Congressional approval for the construction of any structure on public land in Washington, DC. The project has not obtained this Congressional approval.
Second, the Commemorative Works Act specifies that Congress may not approve the construction on federal land of memorials for individuals until 25 years after the individual’s death. Donald Trump has stipulated that the Arch would be a memorial to himself.
Third, the Height of Buildings Act stipulates that no buildings in Washington, DC, may exceed 130 feet in height. The purpose of this law is to preserve the sightlines of and between key buildings and monuments in the nation’s capital, including the Capitol, the White House and the Washington Monument. The proposed Arch would be 250 feet tall.
The project is objectionable on aesthetic grounds as well. As noted above, it would interfere with historic sightlines, including the view of Arlington Cemetery from the Lincoln Memorial, and dwarf such beloved monuments as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.
In addition, triumphal arches have been associated throughout history with emperors and conquest, not with democracy. Donald Trump has said he wants his “Triumphal Arch” to rival the Arc de Triomphe, an arch commissioned by Napoleon, an emperor of France. The architectural inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe was the Titus Arch in Rome commemorating Emperor Vespasian’s victory over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea. The proposed Arch is therefore completely inappropriate for the capital of a democratic nation.
Thank you for sharing your comments. I submitted comments yesterday and used language from the proposal to help make the case against the project. My remarks were also personal as I lived in DC and Arlington, Virginia for more than 35 years, and visited monuments many, many times, including Arlington National Cemetery. Always humbling and moving experiences that brought home what tremendous work and sacrifices have gone into creating and preserving our Democracy.
I have lived in Washington or just over the boundary in Takoma Park for nearly 50 years. Trump’s defacement of this beautiful city feels especially personal.
Thanks for the reminder and for setting forth your comments for others to see, Meg. I used some of your thoughts in my comments and appreciate the assist!
Thanks much for letting me know, Meg. I just posted mine. I largely decided to try an approach I haven't heard, though surely others have used it. I've posted it below because I hope some of the group will find it funny, and who couldn't use more laughs? But underneath it, I think, is a serious possibility Trump should be considering in his less secure moments, though lord knows his mind has been flabbied by his sycophants beyond this:
The only good thing that can be said about this arch, should it actually be built, is that it will serve to remind us all of a time when our government was terminally vain, arrogant, myopic, tasteless, and lawless, a cautionary poke in the eyesore should we ever start to become this unmoored again.
People will come not in awe, but to gawp; a drawing or photo of it will appear in reference books beside the entry for "teachable moment." This being the digital age, there will surely be an interactive panel added at some point, if not already in the works; kids will be able to play a game where they learn everything that could have been done with the money used to build it. "It was a curious time," the narrator, a well-known non-binary female of color, I'm guessing, will intone "when the government professed to despise and mock all things European (a showing of receipts will follow), and yet here is what it created as the lasting memorial to itself (more receipts, aka photos of other arches).
Of course, only those willing to pay for the earphones will hear this, but those will be many when they learn all proceeds will go for immigrant support and environmental protection. As more and more climate disasters that could have been prevented drain government coffers, less and less funding will be found for its security, maintenance and, crucially, game updates--it will thereby become increasingly colorful, but less visited by all but the pigeons who descend in flocks, restoring some of its original hue.
By then, if not sooner, the only good thing about it for its progenitor will be the certainty that it will be known by his name, because nobody else will want theirs associated with it. By the time a refreshing spring breeze finally blows it over like a panel of border wall, the best thing about it for him (assuming he's still undead by then), will be that it's finally entirely unrecognizable. At least until the Park Service puts a marker in the ground with his portrait lovingly enclosed in plastic. If he's lucky, the Park Service will want to minimize the time spent mowing the area.
In any case, what will the plate on the marker say? It seems to call out for an epitaph, perhaps his response when asked about the national debt or climate change: "I'll be dead by then." Here's one, a bit related, I'd like to toss into the mix: "Too much time dwelling on Christmases past, not enough considering those to come."
"said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a key Trump ally. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.”"
I wonder if JD can hear the bus coming that he's about to get thrown under.
" When major UFC events step out of the sporting realm and intersect with broader American culture, general public approval can be low. For example, a Reuters/Ipsos poll regarding a highly publicized "UFC Freedom 250" event on the White House lawn found that only 16% of the American public approved of the spectacle, while 46% disapproved". SOUNDS SIMILAR TO TRUMP'S APPROVAL NUMBERS!
Thanks Simon. Have been very busy in NYC and have not been able to attend member webinars. However, I'm not too busy to call my reps and tell them what they must do now. Calls made. Calls received. Hope with a plan!
It’s interesting to me that Lindsey Graham is now placing total responsibility for the negotiations with Iran on the shoulders of JD Vance. Was JD ever involved more than the one time? Is he actually going to be involved ongoing? Or is he the one that will be taking the fall when this falls apart, which is likely?
Simon - i hope we can step up and support Cait Conley the way we stepped up and supported Rebecca Bennett and Johnny Garcia. Many of us are ready to jump in and do our part.
For what it's worth.... I worked Cait's booth at a street fair yesterday. People did ask us about the attack ads. When we told them that R's were funding the ads because they're afraid of Cait, it inspired people to vote FOR her. In general voters were more concerned about who can beat Lawler than where the candidates stand on individual issues.
Julie - That's great to hear and I'm optimistic that these tactics won't work. They failed against Bob Brooks in PA-07, they failed against Johnny Garcia in TX-35, they failed against Rebecca Bennett in NJ-07. In Bennett's case, I think they really backfired and she won bigger than she might have otherwise.
Still, I think the reason to mobilize for Cait is to send a message to the GOP: "don't mess with our primaries, we will mobilize and support any strong candidate you do this against"
Thank you to Simon for organizing this :)
Thanks, Simon!
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to say that the president is not in touch with reality, is mentally ill, and needs to be removed from office. I'm writing post cards to Ohio voters.
Catherine, you are always right on top of things. So impressive 🙏
I believe the Europeans are smarter than that. He broke it and now he has to fix it. He lost it and has to bear the responsibility. The Europeans were smart enough to not get involved and it is hardly their responsibility to come up with funds for his deal of what they were not a part. He really lives in a delusional world. Ukraine needs Europe's help. tRump's allies, i.e. the oligarchs that pay next to no taxes should foot the bill for his foolish and illegal war. Better yet use the proceeds from yesterday's obscenity to help finance his so called deal.
We have to see if he blackmails the Europeans today on NATO/Ukraine etc - he pulls out and further helps Putin unless they pay up.....we will see. He is desperate right now.
I wish that what you suggest would surprise me, but honestly with him and I afraid it does not. If you do not share your toy with me, I will go play with Putin kind of toddler thinking.
I am very concerned about the intimidation effort in Ohio against the voter registration group. Does anyone know of a legal defense fund? National Lawyers Guild?
Good question - I didn't come up with anything when I searched just now.
You could donate directly to the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, the civil rights organization being harassed for doing the voter registration. Surely they will file a lawsuit as the ones directly affected. https://www.ohorganizing.org/
or ask the Brennan Center for Justice https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/brennan-center-stands-ohio-organizing-collaborative-following-fbi-raid
and maybe ask The Legal Defense Fund here:
https://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-strongly-condemns-raid-of-ohio-voting-rights-organization-intended-to-spread-fear-and-chaos-ahead-of-midterm-elections/
I see a new Hopium post about The Democracy Defense Project, a bipartisan group of past elected officials and other leaders in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Perhaps you could check with them. https://www.democracydefenseproject.org/oh
AHA! So this group was registering BLACK VOTERS. Where are those hoods? Is the FBI now burning crosses? Thanks for the links!
I was gonna suggest Brennan.
Now AIPAC Linzy wants ro review the deal?? Where was congress all this time? They let voldemort run amok and now they all of a sudden want to do their job? Wtf?
Want to strongly encourage folks not to turn "AIPAC" into a slur. Jews are not excited about the "blame the Jews" creep that has occurred in our discourse.
Graham's positions are not about AIPAC and Jews. The are about him and what he chooses to do. Same with Trump.
Aipac represent Bibi not the Jews. I am Jewish and I have exactly zero support for Bibi, Adelson, etc
AIPAC is not Bibi. AIPAC is an organization of American Jews who build support in American politics for Israel. AIPAC is a literally an organization of Jews. Blaming AIPAC is blaming Jews. It is not blaming Israel. Blame Graham for his terrible foreign policy. Leave the Jews out of it please. And did you read - he wants Trump to come to Congress and defend the deal. Are we criticizing him for that? Isn't what we want too?
Plese read my original post. It makes no reference to Jews. . At the moment America's political support for the Likud led Israeli government resulted in absolutely terrible things for both countries and the world. .
I am very interested in hearing more about your take on the potential fissure in the family on Israel and the rising antisemitism. On the one hand, I find AIPAC’s behavior abhorrent; they strike me as Israel right or wrong, and that just doesn’t sit well with me at all. AIPAC’s ads against Tom Malinowski in the NJ-11 primary were underhanded, misleading and quite damaging to his candidacy. OTOH, I find the trendy and vehement condemnation of AIPAC a bit singularly focused. Aren’t there other groups who spend millions promoting horrible policies? The Koch Brothers?? What are the key differences between J Street and AIPAC? I’d love to hear more.
Thank you for this, Simon. I think Stephanie Jones’ article about “antisemitism’s new catchphrase” is relevant here.
https://stephaniejones2.substack.com/p/antisemitisms-new-catchphrase?r=1nli6&utm_medium=ios
Your original post references AIPAC, an organization of American Jews. You are not a frequent poster here. Need you to do better.
An organization that has been helping a government that left Israel and the US markedly weaker on the world stage. I'm not sure I can "do better" than pointing this out. I'm not a frequent poster and this exchange shows why. I do not appreciate the condescending tone. I'm here by choice as a paid subscriber and will continue supporting you because I think you are doing super important work to save what's left of democracy at home. But, I guess I'll stick to reading your posts and avoid the discussion forum. Sorry for any inconvenience
Respectfully, maybe rethink how you word this:
"Most Jews don't support AIPAC? Then they should speak up loudly and in number to change the calculus of the situation."
This comes awfully close to a blanket generalization of a group of people - here being Jewish people. I am sure you did not intend for your comment to be interpreted in the way I interpreted it. I tend to cringe at broad generalizations of any group of people. I am not Jewish by the way.
The trouble with conversing about "Jews" is an old one, as no two people engaging in the conversation, let alone more than two, are usually on the same page about how to define the very demographic at the heart of the discussion.
Secular Jews? Observant Jews (hey, what about the Satmars and other non-Zionist Jews)? Humanistic Jews? Jewbus (Jewish Buddhists)? Someone who identifies as Jewish because they have some quantum of "Jewish DNA"?
Honestly, that doesn't bother me much. Ho hum.
What unsettles me more is that Michael's post seems to lay out a challenge, which, while I don't believe it was ill-intended, I'm sorry to say, doesn't vary much from the old "Show us your allegiances and reveal who you really are, you wily Jews, or suffer the consequences if you don't help yourselves before it's too late. You always bring these things upon yourselves, you know."
(Most people I know, Jews included, strikingly, even in our current times, are completely deaf, dumb, and blind to what goes on in an Asian country.)
I'm sure he didn't mean it that way. Sometimes people write/respond from an emotional prompt and stumble over the words. I do it too (perhaps I'm doing it here, right now).
Anyway, on with the day, Hopiates!
Also, I hope you don't block me. I always find your comments interesting. Thank you.
I wouldn't dream of it. This is soap box in the town square stuff, th peaceful and respectful exchange of ideas. This is what democracy looks like.
I learn a lot here from everyone.
Michael, can you clarify what you mean by American Jewish activism?
And also, can you clarify your use of erroneous in that sentence? I don't think it's falling the way you intended because I've read that paragraph, I don't know how many times, believing it's my brain, but I can't quite understand what you are really saying there.
Thanks.
It's an awkward sentence, I apologize.
What I was attempting to say was that people who become anti-semetic based on the idea that being Jewish is the same thing, synonymous with, supporting AIPAC's unquestioning support of the Israeli state, even in war criming (which is what I believe happened in GAZA after that horrible war criming of Oct 7 on Israeli's.) That's what's erroneous.
We need to separate being Jewish from that narrow slice of Jewish people who support AIPAC. Is that more clear?
I would submit that AIPAC and Israel actually have very little to do with something as old, complicated, and virulent as antisemitism, but those two nouns indeed have become useful cudgels.
Thanks, Michael.
I am going to make a few final points here. 1) It is very clear that we need to have a big conversation in our Hopium family about Israel, AIPAC, and what many Jews believe has become a creeping antisemitism - perhaps innocent, perhaps not - in the language of Democratic activists. All I was doing in these comments was asking people not to use "AIPAC" as a slur, and explained why. Nothing complicated here. That this became complicated blows my mind a bit. 2) Think about the logic flow here. When Trump does something for Putin we blame Trump and his weakness/corruption. When he does things for his Saudi investors we blame Trump and his weakness/corruption. When Trump or in this case Lindsay Graham does something that appears to be in the interest of Israel we blame Bibi, AIPAC, Jews not Trump or Graham as above, as if they have no agency and Jews are all powerful. This plays into possibly the most pernicious of the modern day historic antisemitic memes about Jews buying people off and controlling things behind the scenes. People may not be aware of all this but the language around Israel and American Jews just needs to be more precise and respectful. 3) I think there is deep confusion about AIPAC and what it is. I am a deep opponent of AIPAC, as I am profoundly opposed to Bibi's government and policies. But AIPAC is an organization of American Jews who work legally inside the American political system to advance policies and leaders they see as friendly to Israel. It is not an Israeli entity. It is a Jewish organization, run by American Jews, working inside the American political system. There just has become greater awareness and greater sensitivity to what is explosion of antisemitism in America, coming from all corners, something that I never imagined I would see in my lifetime. Oppose Israel's government, oppose its policies, oppose AIPAC - which represents a very narrow minority of American Jews who run about 70% Democrat - and let's work together to leave a facile antisemistism at our collective door. Godspeed - Simon
this is a cogent and necessary explanation. many people seem to think aipac is a foreign entity; it is not. and yes, this gentile can see clearly what is going on here, and it makes me sick. people do not know the history. young people did not know people who were in camps and had tattoos; i did. so it is not an abstraction to me, but i'm 63. i insisted that both my kids take courses in college on the holocaust and genocide, even though they were science majors. i felt they should know what their grandad fought against. i'm going to leave it there because these discussions often invite the worst kind of hostility, though mercifully, that has not been true here as other sites.
I often think about Jamaal Bowman's primary campaign (for re-election) one of the most expensive of its kind, as it was sandwiched between such frenetic history. God, what a race that was! The craziness that went on!
AOC & Bernie were staunch supporters of Bowman, even though, in my estimation, I'm sure they recognized he was a very flawed candidate temperamentally (Sound like anyone currently running for a pivotal seat?)
AIPAC got involved (Bowman referred to it in a rowdy outdoor rally as "fucking AIPAC") and invested ENORMOUS resources here. His reelection campaign was on the heels of the Oct 7th terror strike.
It has always been interesting to me (in no way a supporter of Bibi or most of the actions of the Israeli government, but I do have people I love living there), that with a sizeable Jewish constituency, many of whom probably had, say, one to three degrees of separation from someone in Israel and were frightened, Bowman's kneejerk statement was that there was no truth to any of the news of atrocities, sexual or otherwise, instead citing Israel's "propaganda" machine.
This, we later learned, as coroners were reviewing the bodies of women killed who had knives stuck in their vaginas.
Confusion? Hard to pin down facts? Yes, of course. But would someone else have said: We are hearing such horrible things, unimaginable carnage, that I refuse to make an authoritative statement until all the info is in?
Well, he lost his bid in a wild campaign, and I'm not saying I like his successor any better (though it's not my district). But it was interesting that AIPAC figured so prominently there.
You'll still find people arguing about whether it was AIPAC's enormous resources responsible for defeating Bowman or Bowman himself.
In the spirit of continuing to inform rather than inflame a challenging conversation in our family check out this poll to learn more about the views of Jewish voters in America:
https://jewishvoters.org/may-2026-national-poll-of-jewish-voters/
"According to the new national poll released by the non-partisan Jewish Voters Resource Center (JVRC), 72% of Jewish voters disapprove of Donald Trump, and 67% plan to vote Democratic in the midterms. Our work in past elections has proven that when races are close and there is a large Jewish population, the Jewish vote plays a critical role in ensuring Democrats win. The poll demonstrates that Jewish voters will help Democrats take back the House and the Senate in November."
Thank you Simon, I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, especially as a Jewish Democratic voter who is both Pro Israel the nation and its people, Pro Gaza and the Palestinian people…while also vehemently Anti Bibi, Anti Hamas, and Anti Jihadism…you know, the combination view the majority of Americans actually have 😉. To this point and to yours however, do you have any concerns about Hasan Piker’s influence within the Democratic Party? Really hope he doesn’t embolden some sort of vigorous newfound group of “Progressive Antisemites” if you know what I mean.
AOC, Schlossberg, McMorrow, Talarico, Newsom, Harris, Kelly, Shapiro, Moore, Whitmer, Peltola, Turek, etc. —- they all range on the left of center to progressive scale and admirably so. None of them are Antisemites who would ever believe either Israel or Gaza should be wiped off the map or would say such disturbing things as “Hamas over Israel any day” like Piker did. How can we ensure he makes little impact? There’s influence and then there’s fringe. We may be on the right side of history as a party overall but we shouldn’t be foolish enough to think we too don’t have our extremists. The quicker we can cut our extremism at the knees (much in contrast to the GOP these days), the healthier it will be for our party and its future. Thanks again for all you do ✌️.
this elaborate, many pronged criminal enterprise that used to be our american govt is just going to collapse of its own weight. the entire govt is corrupt and non functioning now. its a shell game and a house of cards. any minute its going to come tumbling down. remember the fish rots at the head. he has wasted billions upon billions and personally collected as much. and not one dime for regular hard working americans. nada! he will leave us broke, but hopefully not broken.
when will the MSM start covering the corruption, the lying, the sleeping, the abject failure?
Obama struck a far better deal with Iran – and then Trump idiotically withdrew from the multilateral treat, causing Iran to put their nuclear program into overdrive.
Now Trump has negotiated a far, far worse deal. Trump is a national and international embarrassment, and he has caused monumental damage to no avail.
Called Booker & Kim re the Orange Madman & the Monstrosity on the WH Lawn. He needs to go. Also expressed concern about the "Iran Deal" and stated that we the American people should under no circumstances pay for any of it. Also thanked Kim for continued visits/updates re Delaney Hall.
I hope some folks caught last night's "Rise Up, Sing Out" event at NYC's Town Hall, which was livestreamed; you can see it on YouTube if you missed. The show was a bit uneven, but there were some truly inspiring moments, like a live drop-in from MPLS in which the Singing Resistance showed how it's done. Also Bette Midler was a total badass as usual, updated the Woody Guthrie classic "All You Fascists Bound to Lose" in her trademark style.
Working on postcards this week as well as a research project for the DNC, which I can't talk about yet, but rest assured Chair Martin is pulling out all the stops for election security this fall. Keep going!
Here's the you tube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxap5XA61ng
In our community it was a potluck watch party at a local church. About 150-200 people. People were singing along, clapping and cheering frequently. It was an interesting and different sort of gathering. Most people stayed to the end, which I think demonstrates that it was meaningful for people. It is going to take all of us, and this was a good effort in that goal.
But most of the meaning for me was that all of these "strangers" were gathered together in common cause. It was a seeding for community building, and I hope it was widely felt across the nation.
I agree that the clip from Minneapolis was one of the most impactful, So here it is, beginning with the moving intro from Julia Roberts tribute to Renee Nicole Good followed by the folks at George Floyd memorial site singing a new song "Organization" Minneapolis can help show us the way. https://www.youtube.com/live/B7EbkKNy7Vk?si=mDlS6IoKugDfdWF_&t=3680
I agree. From the standpoint of activism it was necessary. I was reverting to my inner music critic. :)
Thank you for sharing these very moving tributes.
Yeah, our watch party included new folks. Everyone had a task of meeting new people. Our folks loved that they had a link to the lyric book (which we made a QR code for). We'll add a couple of the songs to our Citizens Bank protest array. People were really grateful to be together watching.
Ther is another way to say Trump put us in a war "without authorization" and "without debate."
That is, MAGA congressmen gave Trump all the authorization and debate he needed when they failed to stand up for the Constitution.
Lindsey Graham hallucinates when he says an agreement has to come throughcongress. Will Lindsey insist on it after Trump refuses?
Daily calls are in to Republican members regarding the issues you highlighted this AM. I attended a protest in western WI yesterday. There was a good turnout and many supportive passers-by.
#HandsOffOhio webpage will have information about local efforts re. the response to the FBI raids of the Ohio voter registration group last Thursday. (information sent to me by Indivisible) The Ohio Democracy Defense Coalition and the Black Voters Matter are organizing a Day of Action around voter registration on Thursday, June 18th in Ohio. More information will be available on the webpage.
Today is the last day to submit comments to the National Park Service on the proposed Triumphal Arch. Here's helpful background and tips: https://ldad.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/NPS-Arch-Briefing-Materials_06.13.26.pdf.
Here's what I'm writing, if you want to adapt it for yourself (but don't copy and paste, as it's important for each comment to appear individually written).
I strongly oppose the construction of the proposed "Triumphal Arch" at Memorial Circle in Washington DC.
The project is unlawful. It violates at least three federal laws.
To begin, federal law requires Congressional approval for the construction of any structure on public land in Washington, DC. The project has not obtained this Congressional approval.
Second, the Commemorative Works Act specifies that Congress may not approve the construction on federal land of memorials for individuals until 25 years after the individual’s death. Donald Trump has stipulated that the Arch would be a memorial to himself.
Third, the Height of Buildings Act stipulates that no buildings in Washington, DC, may exceed 130 feet in height. The purpose of this law is to preserve the sightlines of and between key buildings and monuments in the nation’s capital, including the Capitol, the White House and the Washington Monument. The proposed Arch would be 250 feet tall.
The project is objectionable on aesthetic grounds as well. As noted above, it would interfere with historic sightlines, including the view of Arlington Cemetery from the Lincoln Memorial, and dwarf such beloved monuments as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials.
In addition, triumphal arches have been associated throughout history with emperors and conquest, not with democracy. Donald Trump has said he wants his “Triumphal Arch” to rival the Arc de Triomphe, an arch commissioned by Napoleon, an emperor of France. The architectural inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe was the Titus Arch in Rome commemorating Emperor Vespasian’s victory over the Jewish rebellion in Judaea. The proposed Arch is therefore completely inappropriate for the capital of a democratic nation.
done, thanks!
Thank you for sharing your comments. I submitted comments yesterday and used language from the proposal to help make the case against the project. My remarks were also personal as I lived in DC and Arlington, Virginia for more than 35 years, and visited monuments many, many times, including Arlington National Cemetery. Always humbling and moving experiences that brought home what tremendous work and sacrifices have gone into creating and preserving our Democracy.
I have lived in Washington or just over the boundary in Takoma Park for nearly 50 years. Trump’s defacement of this beautiful city feels especially personal.
done over the weekend, thanks for uplifting it!
Wrote in a week ago, thanks to your previous post!
Thanks for the reminder and for setting forth your comments for others to see, Meg. I used some of your thoughts in my comments and appreciate the assist!
Happy to help!
Your letter's perfect. Thanks for posting and for including the link.
You're welcome.
Thanks! I got my comment in.
Excellent!
Thanks much for letting me know, Meg. I just posted mine. I largely decided to try an approach I haven't heard, though surely others have used it. I've posted it below because I hope some of the group will find it funny, and who couldn't use more laughs? But underneath it, I think, is a serious possibility Trump should be considering in his less secure moments, though lord knows his mind has been flabbied by his sycophants beyond this:
The only good thing that can be said about this arch, should it actually be built, is that it will serve to remind us all of a time when our government was terminally vain, arrogant, myopic, tasteless, and lawless, a cautionary poke in the eyesore should we ever start to become this unmoored again.
People will come not in awe, but to gawp; a drawing or photo of it will appear in reference books beside the entry for "teachable moment." This being the digital age, there will surely be an interactive panel added at some point, if not already in the works; kids will be able to play a game where they learn everything that could have been done with the money used to build it. "It was a curious time," the narrator, a well-known non-binary female of color, I'm guessing, will intone "when the government professed to despise and mock all things European (a showing of receipts will follow), and yet here is what it created as the lasting memorial to itself (more receipts, aka photos of other arches).
Of course, only those willing to pay for the earphones will hear this, but those will be many when they learn all proceeds will go for immigrant support and environmental protection. As more and more climate disasters that could have been prevented drain government coffers, less and less funding will be found for its security, maintenance and, crucially, game updates--it will thereby become increasingly colorful, but less visited by all but the pigeons who descend in flocks, restoring some of its original hue.
By then, if not sooner, the only good thing about it for its progenitor will be the certainty that it will be known by his name, because nobody else will want theirs associated with it. By the time a refreshing spring breeze finally blows it over like a panel of border wall, the best thing about it for him (assuming he's still undead by then), will be that it's finally entirely unrecognizable. At least until the Park Service puts a marker in the ground with his portrait lovingly enclosed in plastic. If he's lucky, the Park Service will want to minimize the time spent mowing the area.
In any case, what will the plate on the marker say? It seems to call out for an epitaph, perhaps his response when asked about the national debt or climate change: "I'll be dead by then." Here's one, a bit related, I'd like to toss into the mix: "Too much time dwelling on Christmases past, not enough considering those to come."
"said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a key Trump ally. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.”"
I wonder if JD can hear the bus coming that he's about to get thrown under.
" When major UFC events step out of the sporting realm and intersect with broader American culture, general public approval can be low. For example, a Reuters/Ipsos poll regarding a highly publicized "UFC Freedom 250" event on the White House lawn found that only 16% of the American public approved of the spectacle, while 46% disapproved". SOUNDS SIMILAR TO TRUMP'S APPROVAL NUMBERS!
Thanks Simon. Have been very busy in NYC and have not been able to attend member webinars. However, I'm not too busy to call my reps and tell them what they must do now. Calls made. Calls received. Hope with a plan!
It’s interesting to me that Lindsey Graham is now placing total responsibility for the negotiations with Iran on the shoulders of JD Vance. Was JD ever involved more than the one time? Is he actually going to be involved ongoing? Or is he the one that will be taking the fall when this falls apart, which is likely?