[guest post by Dana]

Did the President mean what he said about Israel? Because judging from the State Dept’s. release today, one would be compelled to think the answer would be a resounding no. One would also be compelled to think that Netanyahu was being put in his place.

In statement on ceasefire, State Dept spox Psaki praises the govt of Egypt and PA President Abbas. Netanyahu goes unmentioned.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 5, 2014

–Dana

Recently I discovered a site that offers you an unusual opportunity: to have your likeness drawn as a Simpsons character. You send them a photo, and the artist renders your likeness as a yellow cartoon figure, the way Matt Groening might draw you.

It’s 5 bucks. How could I pass that up? Here is the result:

How awesome is that?

(Yeah, I used an 11-year-old picture. What of it?)

I have decided to make this my avatar on the blog and on the Twitter. It’s now a permanent fixture on the sidebar on the right.

If you’re interested in how to do this yourself, simply go here. It’s at “fiverr.com” which is a site that allows you to buy all kinds of stuff for five bucks. I think several artists do the same thing, but I was pleased with mine, so I recommend the artist at the link.

If anyone else gets one, please share it in comments.

[guest post by Dana]

People seem to want to talk about this. It’s here, literally. It’s scary. And unfortunately, the fear-mongering has begun.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with a friend who has been a practicing physician for 30+ years. His take was that bringing the doctor with Ebola back to the U.S. did not come with a high risk factor. Between how Ebola is contracted (not airborne), along with with the extraordinary precautions being taken by Emory, he felt it was low-risk. He also mentioned that having the patient in an outstanding first-world facility would give medical professionals a much needed and necessary opportunity to study the patient’s blood, immunoglobulin, etc. if they hope to get a handle on Ebola and possibly develop a vaccine. He went into a lot more depth, but these are the basics.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

Attorney General Eric Holder was recently interviewed and discussed race and activism, among other things:

He is … critical of the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts’ famous formula — “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race” — troubles him.

“There are still [racial] issues we as a society are working our way through,” Holder said. “And the lack of desire to do that, I think, undermines the ability that I think is inherent in the American people to make progress. But it also does not prepare us for demographic changes, the likes of which this country has never seen.”

He added: “The justice system is part of the larger society and to the extent there are racial issues we are still grappling with, it is not a shock that you are going to see them in the justice system… [There is] a whole range of ways the justice system, if it is run properly, can make this country the country it wants to be.”

Further in the interview, the accusation made by conservatives that Holder is an activist, was addressed. As he put it, it’s the result of his digging into “policies [with] disproportionate impact on communities of color.”

“If you want to call me an activist attorney general, I will proudly accept that label,” he said. “Any attorney general who is not an activist is not doing his or her job. The responsibility of the attorney general is to change things [and] bring us closer to the ideals expressed in our founding documents.”

Later, he defiantly added that critics who say his department includes an “activist civil rights division and this is an activist attorney general — I’d say I agree with you 1000 percent and [I am] proud of it.”

And of course, the infamous nation of cowards accusation he made against, well, all of us, also came up. He made the accusation because he believed the collective ‘we’ do not wish to have a serious dialogue about racial disparities and outcomes in our nation. Of course, he did not clarify that said discussion can only have one acceptable outcome:

Disparate racial outcomes “are not only shameful and unacceptable – they impede our ability to see that justice is done,” Holder said. “And they perpetuate cycles of poverty, crime and incarceration that trap individuals, destroy communities and decimate minority neighborhoods.”

Ironically, the interview took place in Philadelphia… you know, where the Black Panthers staked out the polling station intimidating voters… and the subsequent charges against the New Black Panther Party were dismissed. By the Attorney General.

–Dana

[guest post by Dana]

As the world watches the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, it’s become increasingly fashionable to see college students in the West demanding justice for Palestine, as they protest Israel. Antisemitism just might be the new black.

But justice is a funny word as college student Chloe Valdary so eloquently and fiercely points out. Here is a portion of her open letter to protesting students:

To the Students for Justice in Palestine, a Letter From an Angry Black Woman

The student organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is prominent on many college campuses, preaching a mantra of “Freeing Palestine.” It masquerades as though it were a civil rights group when it is not. Indeed, as an African-American, I am highly insulted that my people’s legacy is being pilfered for such a repugnant agenda. It is thus high time to expose its agenda and lay bare some of the fallacies they peddle….

• If you support a racist doctrine of Arab supremacism and wish (as a corollary of that doctrine) to destroy the Jewish state, you do not get to claim that the prejudices you peddle are forms of legitimate “resistance.”

• ….If your idea of a righteous cause entails targeting and intimidating Jewish students on campus, arrogating their history of exile-and-return and fashioning it in your own likeness you do not get to claim that you do so in the name of civil liberty and freedom of expression….

• You do not get to champion a system wherein Jews are barred from purchasing land, traveling in certain areas, and living out such an existence merely because they are Jews—and claim that you are promoting equality for all. You do not get to enable that system by pushing a boycott of Jewish owned businesses, shops, and entities—and then claim that you are “against apartheid.” That is evil….

• You do not get to pretend as though you and Rosa Parks would have been great buddies in the 1960s. Rosa Parks was a real Freedom Fighter. Rosa Parks was a Zionist.

Coretta Scott King was a Zionist.

A. Phillip Randolph was a Zionist.

Bayard Rustin was a Zionist.

Count Basie was a Zionist.

Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was a Zionist….

You see, my people have always been Zionists because my people have always stood for the freedom of the oppressed. So, you most certainly do not get to culturally appropriate my people’s history for your own. You do not have the right to invoke my people’s struggle for your shoddy purposes and you do not get to feign victimhood in our name. You do not have the right to slander my people’s good name and link your cause to that of Dr. King’s. Our two causes are diametrically opposed to each other….

Her letter can be read in full here.

–Dana