#NOTE: I report and block antisemites. Any antisemites who comment on this post I will report and block you. You have been warned.

[fdelopera]

Chris at chriscaresnone is a national treasure. A true mensch. He's one of the helpers that Mr. Rogers told us to look for. When he saw the massive rise in antisemitic bigotry around the world, he stepped up to protect Jewish people by sharing and kvelling about our food on his Instagram.

You've probably seen his videos. He starts out with "Hey Jewish people!" and then tells us to stop gatekeeping our Babka 😂

Food is something that brings us all together, and by sharing the beauty of Jewish food, he is sharing the beauty of the Jewish people. He lives in New York, so a lot of the kosher food he shares is from the Hasidic community. I'm glad he's standing up to protect Orthodox Jews, since Orthodox Jews are more likely to be the target of hate crimes. I'd also love for him to explore Sephardi and Mizrahi cuisine in the future.

Make sure you're following him on Insta. He shares food from lots of different cultures around New York, and he uses food to build dialogue and connection between people.

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

IDF’s latest strikes in Lebanon and how media coverage of it in Al Jazeera is biased

TLDR: The IDF has killed Saleh Al-Arouri today, 2/1/2024. Don’t use Al Jazeera as your main source of news and information on the Middle East.

It has been confirmed that it targeted Hamas’ second in command deputy Saleh al-Arouri (along orher Hamas members).

Who is was Saleh Al Arouri?

Saleh Al-Arouri was Hamas’ second in command, and key founder of one of Iz al-din al-Qasam Brigades .

That is the Hamas’ armed forces who committed the October 7th Massacre and many other terror attacks).

The terrorists that invaded Israel on that day graffitied their names & saying along the lines of “the Al- Qasam bridge was here” on walls of invaded houses and outposts (as they were quite proud of the bloody crime scenes..).

* Some Not-So-Fun facts:

-both the Al Qasam brigade and the Qasam rockets shot by Hamas are named after the same man: Izz ad-din al Qasam (1881-1935).

-In case you were wondering,His occupations include: Guerrilla leader, Imam, preacher . He was a terrorist with exteme Islamic beliefs.

Al Jazeera’s biased reporting on the strike

The Al Jazeera report made in English is incredibly biased, they don’t even call him what he was- a terrorist.

“Senior Hamas official”. Imagine the outrage if Bin Ladin would’ve been called “senior Al-Qaeda official”.

Wait never mind some of you idolise him…

Before any of you argues with me - literally do a quick wikipedia search :

Al Jazeera news is known to being biased and not credible. They also have a history of anti - American, anti -Israeli reporting& *extreme* antisemitism…

Considering all of that and the fact that they repeatedly call terrorists martyrs ,I’d take their reporting with a grain of salt.

For further reading:

-The UK government policy paper “proscribed terrorist groups or organisations “ (updated 15/9/2023).

-“Hamas: who are the Qasam brigades”, by Kirsten Knipp, amp.dw.com ,11/01/2023

- Articles on the official IDF website

And yes, even Wikipedia at this point …

***I apologise for not linking everything properly, for some reason I can’t paste links today. Will try to add them in later notes under this post.

****As usual , you’re welcome to add your thoughts and things I’ve missed in the comments.

stay respectful. I will block and delete any cussing and threats.

[shirlleycoyle]

Internal Documents Show Why the NYPD Tries to Be ‘Funny’ Online

On July 17, 2014, the New York Police Department put Staten Island resident Eric Garner into a chokehold while apprehending him for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. Garner told police “I can’t breathe” 11 times before losing consciousness. Officers did not perform CPR on Garner, and neither did EMT when they arrived at the scene. Garner was pronounced dead in the hospital about an hour after the incident.

This week, exactly five years after Garner’s death, Mayor Bill de Blasio doubled down on his decision to not fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who placed Garner in a chokehold. Pantaleo will also not be held criminally liable. The decision ignores repeated demands for justice from local residents and activists who have organized both in-person and en masse on social media.

That same day, the NYPD Twitter account tweeted about World Emoji Day.

Motherboard has obtained and is publishing an internal guide that may help explain the strategy behind that tweet, and the NYPD’s social media presence across platforms. Police are explicitly told to “be funny” by cracking jokes and using emojis, and to take “victory laps” by sharing evidence of arrests and confiscations. The documents note that the goal of NYPD social media accounts is to “build, and maintain trust between the Department and the communities it serves.”

The U.S. military, and police departments around the country, are known to follow a similar social media strategy. Law enforcement often uses social media to speak in a way that’s cheery and cutesy, belittling and heartless, or some combination of these things. The NYPD is no exception. In 2014, the NYPD tweeted a quote from A Few Good Men which, in the movie, was used to justify a murder. (They later deleted the tweet.) Earlier this year, it triumphantly tweeted about a “clean up” of a homeless encampment in the East Village.

Motherboard obtained seven slide presentations, which include examples of “funny” police tweets, Twitter dos and don’ts, and at one point, a slide is completely dedicated to displaying an image of YouTuber PewDiePie. Motherboard also obtained two “Operations Order” documents that spell out the department’s official social media goals and policies.

Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) put in charge of the NYPD’s social media accounts are explicitly instructed to be both friendly and feared. However, the NYPD has a poor record on civil liberties. A New York Department of Investigation (DOI) report shows that the NYPD has received almost 2,500 complaints of biased policing since 2014. The NYPD closed 1,918 of those complaints. Zero investigations have been issued. A Buzzfeed investigation released last year shows that between 2011 and 2015, hundreds of officers have committed severe acts of misconduct and violence and have been allowed to keep their jobs. This record complicates the way the NYPD presents itself on social media.

NYPD social media policies makes the department’s 119 Twitter feeds into a jarring mix of images: police posing with children, confiscated guns, missing or wanted people, and police dogs. Police want to tell people that they’re charming and approachable, but also powerful and sometimes frightening.

A document titled “Operations_Order_28,” dated June 2017, tells police that the goal of NYPD social media is to “build, and maintain trust” with city residents. Several documents instruct social media NCOs to post pictures of NYPD officers.

A slide presentation titled “Best_practices_prezi” instructs police to be “authentic and funny.” The slide notes that “(expectations are low…)” for humor.

“Funny tweets are more likely to be shared,” the slide presentation says. “Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in any other public forum.”

“Funny” tweets are recommended because maximizing shares and engagement is recommended per NYPD policy. Operations Order 28 instructs officers to prioritize engagement.

“Develop innovative and informative social media messaging with the goal of cultivating public engagement,” the document reads.

Examples of funny tweets, according to “Best_practices_prezi,” include using a lot of emojis, making jokes about recent raids and arrests, and making joke-infused warnings about possible crimes.

Image: Screen grab from “best_practices_prezi.”

The presentation has a section in which officers are prompted to select a good tweet an a bad tweet. An example of a good tweet, according to the presentation is, “Officers just arrested a naked man in the bison paddock in GG Park. The bison seemed unimpressed.” Meanwhile, an example of a bad tweet is, “Between 11/30/13, 9pm and 12/01/13, 9:45 am on the 1900 block of Clement St, a suspect hopped the fence to the… [link]”

Police are also instructed to avoid making blunders on social media. A slide presentation titled “Twitter_mistakes_prezi” tells police, “Don’t make light of harsh situations,” and to sometimes seek second opinions. It also lists five rules of thumb for police.

Image: Screen grab from “twitter_mistakes_prezi.”

“What may seem inoffensive to you could be offensive to others in your community,” the slide presentation later warns. The examples of content that could be offensive to “others” in your community are outrightly racist.

Image: Screen grab from “twitter_mistakes_prezi.”

A slide presentation titled “Promotional_training_prezi” warns officers, “You are always in the public eye,” and displays the logos of WorldStar Hip Hop and Copwatch, platforms that are known to sometimes share images and videos of police violence and misconduct.

Other documents show that there is no basis of social media literacy required for NCOs that are interested in operating social media accounts.

“It’s not about computers,” the slide presentation says. “Previous knowledge is not required. Yes, it’s risky. But the good outweighs the bad.”

“Promotional_training_prezi” also notes that all “commanding officers and staff are trained” before getting access to social media accounts. Once trained, social media access is heavily delegated.

“How do we approve everything? WE DON’T!” one slide says.

“Promotional_training_prezi” also shows a side-by-side comparison of the social media landscape in 2012 and 2017. An entire slide in the presentation is dedicated to displaying an image of PewDiePie. In 2017, seemingly the same year the presentation was given, PewDiePie used a racial slur on his channel and directed users to an antisemitic channel (which he claims was accidental).

Image: Screen grab from “Promotional_training_prezi”.

The slide presentation also tells police, “AND DON’T FORGET YOUR VICTORY LAP!” This means that police are told to share results of certain investigations. In practice, this often means sharing images of confiscated guns or counterfeit items.

It’s reasonable for any public-facing entity to humanize their workforce. But the NYPD’s attempts to improve its public image with social media don’t address the public’s biggest concern: years of allegations of misconduct.

When reached by Motherboard for comment, an NYPD spokesperson said in an email that the goal of its social media presence is to let police “communicate directly with their residents, hear their concerns, and update them about Neighborhood Policing and public safety issues in real time.”

“Since 2014, the accounts have amassed over 1 million followers, have helped launch hundreds of community events, forged relationships, introduced residents to their own local officers, allowed us to gauge issues of concern from the public, as well as notify them in real time regarding emergencies,” an NYPD spokesperson said. “Use of social media accounts has also helped solve and prevent crimes through tips, awareness and community interaction.”

When asked about the DOI report, the NYPD referred Motherboard to a press release and added the following.

“I want to reaffirm that there is zero tolerance for bias in the NYPD,” an NYPD spokesperson said. “Bias is often tough to prove because you need to show intent. The OIG itself couldn’t conclusively prove bias in 888 cases that it reviewed. But that doesn’t mean the NYPD isn’t taking action.”

One slide presentation argues that social media use can help supplement traditional policing. A slide displays NYPD officers testifying about the impact of social media.

“People I never met before were able to share community concerns and comments,” NYPD Inspector Fausto Pichardo said, according to the presentation. “People would come up to me on the street and say ‘Hey! I follow you on Twitter!’ Before, I would have probably walked by them and they wouldn’t know I was the CO.”

“With social media I can engage my community at any time of the day from anywhere,” Detective Inspector Chris Morello said, according to the presentation. “I get messages from people in real time about what’s happening — they can now be my eyes and ears.”

But of course, NYPD officers also use more covert methods to supplement their policing. The NYPD has used Palantir, a powerful, secretive data aggregation tool that enables law enforcement to learn nearly everything about a person from a simple search query. The NYPD has also tested controversial predictive policing technology, which claims to be able to “forecast” crime by sending police to places where crime has already occurred. It has abused facial recognition technology by submitting celebrity look-alikes of subjects on camera in order to search for positive matches. It has fleets of drones, which have been deployed at events like the NYC Pride Parade, despite the fact that LGBTQ activists have resisted heavy police presence at Pride events.

According to the NYPD, social media is a way to “connect and engage with local businesses, residents, and other members of the community.” However, social media has never been a tool for the NYPD to be transparent about the activity that actively concerns and frightens New York residents. Trust can’t be extracted through tweets.

All of the documents that were used to inform this article are now public and viewable on Document Cloud.

Internal Documents Show Why the NYPD Tries to Be ‘Funny’ Online syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[fdelopera]

America owes its independence to Haym Salomon, a Sephardic Jewish Patriot

A Jewish American Hero

by Yosef Kaufmann

October 17, 1781. An eerie silence takes hold over the battlefield outside Yorktown, Virginia. After weeks of non-stop artillery shells and rifle fire, the rhythmic pounding of a drum is all that is heard. Through the wispy smoke that floats above the battlefield, a British officer can be seen waving a white flag. General Cornwallis has surrendered Yorktown, ending the last major battle of the American Revolution. The surrender of Yorktown and the nearly 8,000 British troops convinced the British Parliament to start negotiating an end to the war. On September 3, 1783, the treaty of Paris was signed. The war was over.

If not for Haym Salomon, however, the decisive victory at Yorktown never would have happened.

Haym Salomon was born in Leszno, Poland, in 1740. In 1770, he was forced to leave Poland for London as a result of the Partition of Poland. Five years later, he left London for New York City, where he quickly established himself as a broker for international merchants.

Sympathetic to the Patriot cause, Haym joined the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty, a secret society that did what it could to undermine British interests in the colonies. In 1776, he was arrested by the British and charged with being a spy. He was pardoned on condition that he spend 18 months on a British ship serving as a translator for the Hessian mercenaries, as he was fluent in Polish, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Italian. During those 18 months, Haym used his position to help countless American prisoners escape. He also convinced many Hessian soldiers to abandon the British and join the American forces.

In 1778, he was arrested again and sentenced to death for his involvement in a plot to burn the British Royal fleet in the New York Harbour. He was sent to Provost to await execution, but he managed to bribe a guard and escape under the cover of darkness.

He fled New York, which was under the control of the British army, and moved to Philadelphia, the capital of the Revolution.

He borrowed money and started a business as a dealer of bills of exchange. His office was located near a coffee house frequented by the command of the American forces. He also became the agent to the French consul and the paymaster for the French forces in North America. Here he became friendly with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent of Finance for the 13 colonies. Records show that between 1781 and 1784, through both fundraising and personal loans, he was responsible for financing George Washington over $650,000, today worth approximately over $13 million.

By 1781, the American congress was practically broke. The huge cost of financing the war effort had taken its toll. In September of that year, George Washington decided to march on Yorktown to engage General Cornwallis. A huge French fleet was on its way from the West Indies under the command of Comte De Grasse. The fleet would only be able to stay until late October, so Washington was facing immense pressure to lead an attack on Yorktown before then.

After marching through Pennsylvania, with little in the way of food and supplies, Washington’s troops were on the verge of mutiny. They demanded a full month's pay in coins, not congressional paper money which was virtually worthless, or they would not continue their march. Washington wrote to Robert Morris saying he would need $20,000 to finance the campaign. Morris responded that there was simply no money or even credit left. Washington simply wrote, “Send for Haym Salomon.” Within days, Haym Salomon had raised the $20,000 needed for what proved to be the decisive victory of the Revolution.

Haym’s chessed continued after the war. Whenever he met someone who he felt had sacrificed during the war and needed financial assistance, he didn’t hesitate to do whatever he could to help.

He was also heavily involved in the Jewish community. He was a member of Congregation Mikveh Yisroel in Philadelphia, the fourth oldest synagogue in America, and he was responsible for the majority of the funds used to build the shul’s main building.

He also served as the treasurer to the Society for the Relief of Destitute Strangers, the first Jewish charitable organization in Philadelphia.

On January 8, 1785, Haym died suddenly at the age of 44. Due to the fact the government owed him hundreds of thousands of dollars, his family was left penniless.

His obituary in the Independent Gazetteer read:

Thursday, last, expired, after a lingering illness, Mr. Haym Salomon, an eminent broker of this city, was a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city.

Although there is little proof, many believe that when designing the American Great Seal, George Washington asked Salomon what he wanted as compensation for his generosity during the war. Salomon responded “I want nothing for myself, rather something for my people.” It is for this reason that the 13 stars are arranged in the shape of the Star of David.

[fdelopera]

Hunter Schafer "protesting" with JVP is the same energy as celebrities shilling for Autism $peaks.

Just like the celebs that don't care that they're platforming a literal eugenics organization, Hunter doesn't care that she's supporting a Messianic organization that is an antisemitic hate-group.

She is supporting an organization run by goys that engages in blood libel, attacks Jews at our synagogues, and spreads dangerous antisemitic conspiracy theories.

She is supporting an organization that engages in cultural appropriation, dresses goys in kippot and encourages them to larp as Jews, and tells goys that they can "self-convert" to Judaism (which is a flat out lie -- converting to Judaism requires years of study under several rabbis, convening a Beit Din, and immersing in a mikvah).

She is supporting an organization that claims it is a "Jewish Voice for Peace" but whose members are mostly non-Jews. The few Jewish members have tokenized themselves for goyishe approval and social media clout. And they are not a voice for "peace" because all they do is attack the Jewish community.

She is supporting a fucking DEPRAVED organization that says that VIOLENT RAPE, TORTURE, AND MURDER is "resistance," so long as the people being raped, tortured, and murdered are Jews.

JVP is neither "Jewish" nor "peaceful."

Hunter is the daughter of a Presbyterian pastor. She is a Christian. And yet, she has just "pretended" to be Jewish for a day. Did she make it clear that she's not a Jew when she got her photo-op with "Jewish Voice for Peace"? No. She did not. She has culturally appropriated Judaism for a fucking publicity stunt.

Hunter Schafer has just shown that she doesn't give a SHIT about Jews.

Hunter, I hope selling your humanity was worth the social media clout.

[fdelopera]

Thank you @flagbridge for the perfect Phantom of the Opera mezuzah! Lego Erik is so dapper. I'll be getting a mezuzah scroll for him, and then he'll be going on my doorpost (he'll be going on either my bedroom or my office doorpost).

If you want an Erik mezuzah, too, FlagBridge has them on her Etsy! And she also makes Christine and Raoul mezuzot, so you can have the main trio on the doorposts of your home!

[fdelopera]

First of all, I love your blog and I'm glad I followed you. Sending you support and comfort on this difficult day.

Second of all, I saw your tags about 10/7 being the Jewish people's 9/11 (which is true) and it reminded me of a thought that's been bouncing around my head.

I grew up in the greater New York area. 9/11 happened when I was in elementary school and I have very clear memories of the attacks and the aftermath.

For the first few days, people hoped that their loved ones in the twin towers had survived and we just lost. So they put up missing posters in New York City, eerily similar to the hostage posters we have today.

The main difference is that no one would have dared tear those 9/11 posters down.

Maybe it was different because the attack was right in the same city where those posters were put up, maybe it happened but the news didn't pick it up, maybe it's because I was a child then and I'm an adult now. 2001 and 2023-4 are practically different worlds.

Sorry for dumping in your blog, I've just been thinking about this for a while.

Thank you for your message. I love your blog too. And I'm sending you support and comfort, and solidarity! As dark as this last year has been, the thing that's gotten me through has been seeing other Jews fighting back against the antisemitic bigotry we face, and being a light to other Jews.

I was living near NYC during 9/11, too. I was living in New York State, about a half-hour away from the City by train. And I knew a lot of people in NYC who were there during the terrorist attack. I had an older friend whose husband was a firefighter — he wasn't one of the firefighters who died that day during the heroic rescue efforts, but he was part of the crew at Ground Zero in the months that followed, searching for bodies and cleaning up the toxic debris. I don't know what happened to him after that time, but I can only assume that he had the same life-long health complications that other firefighters did — the people who survived the attack but died slowly from the toxins they were exposed to at Ground Zero during the cleanup.

And I know exactly what you mean. The posters of the missing people that families put up, as the families searched desperately for news of their loved ones.

Those posters were sacred. No one in NYC would have DARED take a single one of those posters down.

In fact, no one in America would have dared desecrate one of those posters — and if they had, they would have been publicly shamed and shunned. Everyone across America knew about those posters. Everyone was rooting for the people on those posters to still be alive and to come home, no matter how bleak the chances were for their survival.

And so, it is DISGUSTING to see how fast goyim in the US have seemingly forgotten. These goyim in the US who have filled themselves with Jew-hate and twisted themselves into monsters — they truly revolt me.

Everyone in the US was affected by 9/11. And yet these goyim are now running around like a bunch of zombies, pretending that they have no idea what it's like to live through a terrorist attack. They're pretending like they've never seen posters with the faces of missing people who have been taken away by terrorists.

But we all know that they haven't forgotten. Not really. They’re just pretending that they’ve forgotten so they can have "justification" to sate their thirst for Jewish blood. These goyim are self-absorbed, egotistical monsters who hate Jews, and they want an "excuse" to celebrate when Jews are slaughtered.

Here's the reality — if terrorists attacked NYC again, a lot of these goyim would care about that.

And yes, there are many of them who are so depraved and so brainwashed that they would cheer as terrorists slaughtered their neighbors. They wouldn’t care — unless the terrorists murdered them and their family, of course!

But not all of these goyim are so far gone. Not all of them have descended that deep into the Hamasnik cult. And they would at least care about their lives.

And they would demand for the world to care, too.

And the world SHOULD care.

The world should ALWAYS care when people are brutally slaughtered by Islamist terrorists led by scum like Bin Ladin, Sinwar, Nasrallah, and fucking Ayatollah Khamenei who are trying to burn the world down for their own profit.

The memory of 9/11 should be multi-generational, like Pearl Harbor is. Parents should teach their children and their grandchildren about that day. Everyone should know about those posters. Everyone should know that when you see posters of missing people, you don't fucking rip them down.

And everyone should know that if you rip down posters of kidnapped Jews who have been taken captive by terrorists, that act automatically makes you the worst kind of monster. If you rip down the poster of a Jewish hostage, you are just as much of a monster as if you ripped down one of the 9/11 posters.

One thing I’ve learned about Jew-haters from studying the Shoah is that they do know right from wrong, and yet they choose to do wrong. They are cruel and monstrous, and the reason they attack Jews is for the perverse thrill it gives them. They are malicious. And most of all, they are pathetic.

They are filled with nihilism. That’s been another thing I’ve observed about Jew-haters. They are lazy and spiteful and jealous. And instead of working to make the world a better place for themselves and those around them, they want to rip it all down, because they feel that if they can't get what they want, no one else should have a day of comfort either.

They are attacking Jews because we are a source of good in the world. We are a source of light. They see our hope and our love, they see our connection to our 3500+ years of history, they see our determination to outlive our enemies, and they want to destroy that out of their own nihilism, bitterness, and selfish despair.

And we will survive every single one of them. Long after these Hamasniks are gone, long after the world has forgotten their names, we Jews will still be here.

We will outlive them. Am Yisrael Chai.

[fdelopera]

Harvey Milk in 1978 (realizing that he was likely to be assassinated by far-right religious extremists for being an openly gay Jewish elected official, and knowingly giving his life to the cause of Queer Rights):

"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door."

The Jew-hating Queer Community in 2024 (coalitioning with the far-right QUEER MURDERING religious extremists in Hamas, the Houthis, and the Islamic Republic of Iran):

It's open season on Jews again! Lock and load, boys! Who cares that these Islamists murder Queer people like us! Let's all go attack some Queer Jews!! I mean (((Zionists)))!!!

.

You Hamasniks all SPIT on Harvey Milk's legacy.

You are TRAITORS to the Queer Community.

You would rather SELL OUT the Queer Community to far-right religious extremist CULTS than listen to Queer Jews.

We Jews will NEVER FORGET your betrayal.