The Jews, and the Jews

There’s always been anti-semitism, plus Trump's bluff tell, and the labor market is nuts.

Today is going to be a truncated piece, and sort of a potpourri of what’s spinning in my head this morning. Let’s start with the Jews.

NJ.com is reporting that “Hate crimes against Jews hit record level in N.J. and nationwide last year.” I am never surprised when this happens. And when it happens, the media, and everyone not Jewish, blames this or that statement made by this or that person.

This time it’s Kyrie Irving, who plays (now suspended) for the New Jersey Nets.

Brooklyn Nets @BrooklynNets

Statement from the Brooklyn Nets

And Kanye West, officially, Ye, who said he was going “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” I had some hopes for West, who a year or two ago professed Christ and published a weird but God-honoring album. Somehow, many Christians never get their heads around the idea that Christianity is based on the doctrine that Jews are God’s chosen people, and that God never breaks a promise (Romans 11:29, which was, of course, written by a rather famous Jew, Saul of Tarsus).

But Ye and Kyrie are not responsible for the rise in violence against Jews. They are not responsible for the bubbling-up of anti-semitism. The anti-semitism is there, and has always been there. Jews, indeed, succeed at a supernatural rate above other ethnic and religious groups. Here’s an astounding fact: They have won 20% of Nobel prizes (an astonishing 41% in economics and 26% in physics), while they make up just 0.2% of the world population.

Jews occupy key positions in the C-suites of banks, media, tech, and government, though there’s never been a Jewish POTUS (I believe being Jewish is considered disqualifying in itself by many campaign professionals—it took a Kennedy to break the Catholic ban). Jews get into top schools, where they are regularly ostracized. In fact, there’s a whole piece of history about how the “exclusiveness” of the Ivy League is the result of keeping the Jews out.

There’s always been anti-semitism, in the studied halls of universities, in the streets of Brooklyn, in the historically Black churches, in the white Southern churches, and in the hearts of billions on the earth. If there’s a real proof that Satan exists, it’s the Jews.

Steve Berman @stevengberman

The anti-semitism has always been there. Blaming it on specific remarks is almost silly. If there's proof Satan exists, it's the enduring nature of Jew hatred.

nj.comHate crimes against Jews hit record level in N.J. and nationwide last yearThe number of antisemitic incidents in the state rose by 25% last year — the most recorded by the ADL since it began keeping track in 1979.

He says he will, which means he won’t.

Trump said to an Iowa crowd, “I will very, very, very probably” run for President. Three “verys” is his tell, meaning he won’t run. Trump will take the money, all $101 or so million of it, and abscond. The money is in a kind of PAC, a Leadership PAC, that prevents him from using it to fund a presidential campaign, but allows him to use it for just about anything else, including keeping it.

For Trump to use the money to run, he’d have to launder it, which is not impossible, but he would have had to begin in the midterms, unless his Jewish lawyers have found another loophole. So I think he won’t run, but it’s great business for him to say a lot of “verys” and bring in more cash.

Trump may even file as a candidate, and begin a campaign, spending no money, and sucking all the earned media into his black hole of coverage. Then when he feels like it, he’ll pull out. Of course, I said that in 2016 and the bastard stayed in and won. But I don’t think he’ll do it this time.

Who does this?

NPR did it. They played actual audio of an abortion, complete with everything you’d expect to hear during the barbaric procedure. It’s ghoulish, ghastly, and sickening.

Greg Price @greg_price11

I almost didn't want to tweet this but it's something everyone needs to know. NPR on the radio this morning played audio of a woman getting an abortion. You can hear the vacuum turning on, crying, moaning, and the doctor telling her it's done. Warning: It's tough to listen to.

I don’t know how NPR thinks this is somehow a fist-bump moment for the abortion rights crowd, because it isn’t. The mothers who feel cornered and forced by circumstances to abort their own children are not something to be celebrated or highlighted at their relief. Raising kids is always hard, and if a parent of a profoundly physically challenged or mentally challenged child killed their kid, it would be murder, regardless of how hard it would be to raise the child. Would NPR record the murder and play it for everyone on the air?

Labor market is nuts

I’ve talked to people from every profession, who’ve done their jobs or run their businesses for decades, and they all tell me they’ve never seen things like they are today. From insurance, to manufacturing, to transportation, to trades, it’s nuts all the way down.

This BLM chart via the New York Times vexes me.

Job demand is way high, higher than it’s ever been since before the pandemic, but resignations are nowhere near. Is there really so much consumer demand for all kinds of crap to spur this? Where is everyone working? I see businesses unable to procure enough workers to make what they’ve made for decades but where are all the workers?

ADP reported that people are switching jobs to get higher pay. Staying at a job might get you 7%, but leaving gets you 16%. It’s an easy equation, but there’s also people being laid off in the tech sector. I assume they’ll get good jobs, but not everyone.

NYT economics reported Ben Casselman concluded, “So if openings suggest the labor market is a raging inferno, resignations imply it is more like an uncomfortably hot day.” I still don’t get it, because that’s not the story I get from literally everyone I know in the business world.

Maybe it’s the Jews?