Weekly Items of Note (9/20)
David Shasha
The Forward’s Ashkenazi in Cairo
It is great to see more Arab Jewish representation in The Forward:
Seth Wikas has an impeccable Orientalist resumé, a true careerist:
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/view/wikas-seth
He has his Dorot Fellowship, prestigious positions in the US government, has worked for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and, naturally, has been involved with that Sephardi-rein organization Seeds of Peace.
When we look at the lack of Arab Jewish representation not only in The Forward, but in the Jewish participation in the Arab-Muslim world and in the larger Peace discourse, we can point directly at this article and weep.
More Jewish Ethnocentrism from The Forward
Just in case you need a “Jewish” guide to the Emmy Awards:
And let us not forget the most popular “Jewish” designers and models on Instagram:
So while every cultural item is parsed for “Jewish” content, the idea that Arab Jews should be able to represent themselves is alien to the Ashkenazi racists at The Forward. And I have not forgotten the purportedly “Sephardim” who write for the paper. It is all one big happy White Jewish family!
Joseph Sitt and the Sephardic Heritage Museum
I received a few e-mails this past week asking about the film series produced by Joseph Sitt’s organization that is now up to its fifth installment:
For those who may not have read my previous posts on Sitt and his place in the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community, there have been discussions of his shady Real Estate business deals in Coney Island that was the subject of the movie “Zipper”:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/davidshasha/zipper/davidshasha/RFVuFu5DRB0/vjcEj_G8SggJ
More recently Sitt was one of a select group of Brooklyn Syrian Jewish business moguls profiled in The Real Deal:
http://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/dominating-deal/
I have discussed the many problems of cruelty and corruption in the Brooklyn Syrian Jewish community in the following installment of my ongoing series on the “Idiot Sephardim”:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/davidshasha/idiot/davidshasha/jMVAM1fKmZI/pYn3U8vNBQAJ
As we learned in “Zipper,” Sitt’s Real Estate business started getting noticed by media outlets like The New York Times and it would appear that in order to deflect attention from all the bad publicity that his “deals” were generating, that he decided to begin this “Sephardic Heritage Museum.”
Not to worry, the activities of the “Museum” are designed to promote the Syrian community’s positive view of itself and not the actual history which is actually about the erosion of its culture and history at the hands of Ashkenazim and their Sephardi lackeys.
The SY community is completely averse to any negative portrayals of itself. The Sitt movies have been designed to provide a warm and fuzzy view of a community that is routinely despised by outsiders, mostly Ashkenazim, who have contempt for the community’s fabled ignorance and barbarity. The procession of barbarity is of course led by the “Rabbis of Ashley Madison” whose job is to rubber-stamp the wishes of the leadership and keep things moving as they have been for so long.
The SYs think a good deal of themselves, but their self-understanding is gauged by their money and the lavishness of their material lifestyles. Books and moral values are not for them.
Music Notes: Miles Davis at Newport and Kamasi Washington “The Epic”
Earlier this summer Legacy Records released an excellent 4 CD package containing all of Miles Davis’ classic performances at the Newport Jazz Festival in America and Europe:
From his earliest sets which featured Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane to his later hard-edged Jazz-Funk fusion, Miles Davis was one of the most creative and restless musical spirits in American culture.
Amazingly, the box set of Newport live recordings allows us to track this astounding artistic development in thrilling immediacy and detail.
It presents the history of one of our greatest American musicians and his profound legacy.
A few months ago I caved in and bought the highly-regarded album by Rapper-of-the-Moment Kendrick Lamar and was appalled by his degenerate language and ignorant mien.
So it was a wonderful surprise to discover that one of his musical collaborators on the album, a Jazz iconoclast named Kamasi Washington, has released one of the most impressive musical debuts in recent memory, a 3 CD set called “The Epic”:
I cannot begin to describe the genius of the music and its truly epic scale. It is a piece of African-American culture that transcends the garbage we are currently hearing; a true artistic statement with vision and guts that draws from the tradition of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, but presents a bold and fresh new voice who is intent on making his mark on the larger culture.
Washington was interviewed last week on the Tavis Smiley PBS program:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/saxophonist-kamasi-washington/
Sadly, Smiley seems to know very little about the African-American Jazz heritage, so the interview is rather superficial. But it does give the viewer a chance to see the young musician, hear about his process, and see him perform.
1. Another Jon Caramanica winner:
The title says it all:
Young Thug’s Music Business Plan: Rap, Sing, Record. Repeat.
The article was Caramanica’s entry in The New York Times Fall Preview of Pop Music. This must be one of the most important music artists of our time, Young Thug.
2. It is important to note that Kim Davis, the Kentucky supervisor who refused to issue marriage licenses to Homosexual couples, has now compromised and permitted the licenses to be issued without her name on the documents:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/14/politics/kim-davis-same-sex-marriage-kentucky/
In this way the couples can receive their marriage licenses and mandated by Law, and Ms. Davis can maintain her religious freedom.
It is a positive outcome for what began as a very ugly confrontation that looked as if it could put our democratic freedoms in peril.
3. In what may well be another important sign that the once-spurned Dixie Chicks will return to perform in America on a regular basis, the band has been listed as part of Neil Young’s annual Bridge School benefit in California:
The Dixie Chicks have not toured America since 2006 when Natalie Maines’ critical comments against President George W. Bush caused an uproar in the Country music community and led the group to avoid touring in the US.
4. In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate the TV pundits sought to bestow victory on Carly Fiorina. So I suppose it is now necessary to review what a bad candidate she is:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/22/politics/carly-fiorina-hp/
With echoes of Mitt Romney and his job-slashing bravado, Ms. Fiorina’s tenure at tech giant Hewlett-Packard was roundly considered a disaster. Her hubris does seem to be a sign of the times as we now have someone running for president whose record of accomplishment is questionable to say the least. Fiorina seems to believe that ruining the company she oversaw and then being forced out of her job is a sign of victory and reason for her to occupy the White House.
These facts were not lost on frontrunner Donald Trump whose accusations against Fiorina’s disastrous reign at HP are validated in the following analysis from The New York Times:
While the Donald Trump circus continues to implode, the Republican party’s freakshow is now likely to emerge with an even greater force; its representatives in the presidential campaign providing us with a panoply of failure and radical stupidity.
5. Settler website Arutz Sheva posted the following item by the rabbi of the Young Israel of Orange County:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15644#.VfqqK9K6dkj
In items 4 Rabbi Fischer highlights the Arab Jewish refugee scam that has been promoted in HASBARAH circles and their self-hating Sephardi lackeys. It was for this reason that the article was re-posted by the Point of No Return blog which walks right in lockstep with the Settlers and the radical Jewish extremists.
6. I was bemused by the following post from eJewish Philanthropy:
The article argues against the prevalence of “mediocrity” among Jewish institutional professionals in the most self-serving way.
Rather than actually assess the success or failure of the Jewish institutional world based on the affiliation of Jews with Jewish culture and intellectual heritage, the idea is to argue that things are just great and point to the wonderful effect that money and power is having in promoting initiatives such as those of the Schusterman Foundation – the place where the author of the article works.
The Jewish institutional world is just one big scam where employees are hired to be yes-men and rubber stamp the idiotic and arrogant ideas and initiatives of the donor class – a group of Jews that knows little to nothing about Jewish history and culture.
7. The following article from The New York Times tells us two things: Obamacare is not the success that its proponents make it out to be, and the current economic situation remains precarious for working Americans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/census-bureau-poverty-rate-uninsured.html?ref=us&_r=0
That the Obama administration has not taken on wealth inequality is clear enough as the Wall Street theft continues unabated with the government’s blessing.
But it is Obamacare’s inability to eliminate the health care gap that is the big news.
Before the legislation was rolled out there were over 40 million American without health insurance, today there has only been a small drop to 33 million.
Obama’s refusal to fight for a single-payer government-run system that would give Medicare to all Americans remains one of his signal failures as our chief executive.
A second article on Obamacare published the same day muddies the picture in order to shower the usual Liberal praise on the president:
The article is the typical Left Wing apologia for the failed president and does not seriously engage the massive profits of the Insurance Companies who have been the main beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act – the way that the bill intended. The American people continue to be fleeced by these rapacious corporations which have been assisted by the government.
David Shasha