“You Don’t Say”
[guest post by JVW]
One of my favorite old-time expressions is the three-word phrase used as the title of this post. I find it very useful when you hear some news that really ought to be shocking, but instead just seems as though it is entirely to be expected. This weekend brought us a great example [bolded emphasis is mine]:
A Hamas commander in Lebanon who was killed in an Israeli airstrike overnight was an accredited member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the embattled agency confirmed after his death.
Hamas’s Fateh Sherif and his family were killed in an airstrike at a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city of Tyre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday. “Sherif was responsible for coordinating Hamas’ terror activities in Lebanon with Hezbollah operatives, as well as Hamas’ efforts in Lebanon to recruit operatives and acquire weapons.”
While leading terrorist activities, Sherif also headed the UNRWA teachers’ union in Lebanon. Though employed by the U.N. agency, Sherif was suspended without pay in March due to allegations involving “his political activities,” UNRWA told the Times of Israel in a statement.
At the time of the suspension, UNRWA told Reuters that Sherif had been suspended for three months after the U.N. agency was made aware of allegations about activities “that are in violation of the Agency’s regulatory framework governing staff conduct.”
Sherif’s suspension sparked widespread protests led by teachers outside UNRWA’s Beirut offices. Protesters demanded that he be reinstated.
I try to be a good civil libertarian — Lord knows that I try — but I do kind of hope that the FBI has somebody quietly looking into Randi Weingarten. Sorry, not sorry.
– JVW
UNRWA is another data point for the argument that everything run by the United Nations is thoroughly corrupt.
JVW (d17bc5) — 9/30/2024 @ 9:34 amFACT SHEET: The United States-Palestinian Relationship
BuDuh (4214e4) — 9/30/2024 @ 9:42 amHilarious comment in the NRO comments section:
JVW (d17bc5) — 9/30/2024 @ 9:43 amIt’s not against the law or the rules for Randi Weingarten to be involved in politics.
Sammy Finkelman (e4ef09) — 9/30/2024 @ 11:51 amAhaha. That NRO comment is priceless.
norcal (8d0b45) — 9/30/2024 @ 2:26 pmJVW (d17bc5) — 9/30/2024 @ 9:43 am
Government is a necessary evil. Government unions, not so much. When I was an immigration officer, I was pressured by more than one person, and in more than one position, to join the union. I never did.
I saw the union get involved in so many petty squabbles.
norcal (8d0b45) — 9/30/2024 @ 2:36 pmHamas is evil and the un is pro-palestinian thanks for telling us. As for unions they exist because they are needed. In az service industry is pushing anti-worker ballot measure with ads. Employees here have no union and no ads telling their side. At least they are no longer bombing or open firing on unions with machine guns. Read the social history of the machine gun. Mother jones was a real person not just a magazine.
asset (7f058a) — 9/30/2024 @ 3:05 pmFor every historical story of a union being brutalized by an evil capitalist, I can match it with a union being horribly corrupt and run at the direction of the Soviet Union or the mafia. Blue collar unions, where people work in dangerous situations in which tiny mistakes can end in great injury or even loss of life, are understandable. White collar unions, especially government unions, don’t really have the same concerns. So what they end up doing by and large is to be part of a money-laundering scheme where dues are extracted from members’ paychecks, given to friendly politicians (almost exclusively Democrats), and the politicians in turn take more of the taxpayer money and funnel it back to the union members in the form of higher wages. We have discussed plenty of times here that teachers unions generally do not prioritize the needs of their students, at least not ahead of the needs of its members, no matter what hogwash they try to sell to the gullible public.
JVW (d17bc5) — 9/30/2024 @ 8:37 pm@8 Did the union send in national guard planes to bomb the capitalists as owners did to strikers in west virginia? (social history of the machine gun) Or open fire on henry ford as his forces did on UAW strikers or use machine guns on coal mine strikers in west virginia. As for corruption ever here of lucky luchiano and the mafia making deals with the government to take over unions from socialists and killing them with government preferring the mafia running the unions to get better deals for the owners. Jackie Presser head of the teamsters was a federal agent provocateur! Hoover said the mafia didn’t exist when socialist labors complained that the mafia was killing them and taking over the unions. Mother jones had to push a machhine gun aside to stop it being fired into strikers.
asset (2ae2ea) — 9/30/2024 @ 8:57 pm@9 You’re ignoring JVW’s distinction between blue collar and white collar unions. The examples you give are all of blue collar union activities, while the corruption JVW mentions is of white collar. Your arguments don’t address what he mentions.
Roger (6b5af2) — 10/1/2024 @ 6:23 am@1
Is there any redeeming quality for the UN?
If you’re struggling or the answer is “no”… then, why have the UN?
whembly (477db6) — 10/1/2024 @ 6:48 amAllocation of wireless communication frequencies.
nk (9d40b2) — 10/1/2024 @ 7:37 amOn this, we can agree.
The UN often reminds me of the descriptions given about “Brussels” on the classic UK sitcoms Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister…only with more situations and less comedy.
Demosthenes (ca358e) — 10/1/2024 @ 7:39 amIf the Dockworker strike goes on for any length of time, unions are going to find out exactly how much they aren’t needed.
Automation comes for us all. But they come quicker in industries prone to strikes.
SaveFarris (79ab12) — 10/1/2024 @ 8:07 am@12
I’m not convinced we’d have to have the UN to do that.
There’s no reason a new entity couldn’t be created that invites countries to hammer out these standards. (this is already being done in other technologies as well).
whembly (477db6) — 10/1/2024 @ 8:10 amYou can have National Labor Relations Act unions or you can have the Wobblies. Choose NLRA.
You cannot prevent people from getting together and acting in concert. You can give them an incentive to do it in accordance with the rules you impose.
nk (9d40b2) — 10/1/2024 @ 8:45 amThere’s no reason a new entity couldn’t be created that invites countries to hammer out these standards.
Perhaps a “League of Nations” or something?
(Just kidding, of course.)
JVW (d17bc5) — 10/1/2024 @ 2:01 pm