Day: June 27, 2024

(JTA) — LOS ANGELES — Facing criticism over the police response to violence outside a Los Angeles synagogue, an LAPD official said the department erred in how it handled the protest and made estimates that “were not correct.”

And L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said she has taken steps to explore banning masks at protests, though she said she was skeptical that such a measure would hold up in court.

Bass and the police commander were speaking at a virtual security briefing convened on Wednesday afternoon by the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, days after pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters violently skirmished outside an Orthodox synagogue in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson. Video of the clashes circulated widely, sparking accusations of a “pogrom,” and one person was arrested.

In the wake of the pro-Palestinian protest, which gathered to oppose an Israeli real estate fair held at the synagogue, figures ranging from President Joe Biden to local city officials condemned antisemitism. And at Wednesday’s event, LAPD commander Steve Lurie, the department’s Jewish community liaison, said the LAPD was unprepared for the size and nature of the rally.

“We did know that Sunday’s event was planned. We did know that people were coming to target that synagogue,” Lurie said. “Our estimates of how many, and the level of vitriol that we predicted, were not correct.”

In the wake of the clashes, some local Jews have faulted the LAPD for not responding more promptly or forcefully. Sia Koredestani, who works for an organization boosting Europe-Israel ties, posted on X, “There should have been three to four times as many police ready to respond to the anti-Jewish violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood.” Sam Yebri, a former candidate for local office, wrote, “Our elected officials are not keeping Jewish Angelenos safe.”

One presenter at the real estate event, who did not give his name to avoid being targeted and doxxed, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “our beef was with LAPD,” not the pro-Palestinian protesters, and called the police “flat-footed.”

Lurie said the LAPD had deployed more than a dozen officers in anticipation of the protest, and that the department called for backup once those initial officers were overwhelmed. He said that ultimately, between 60 and 75 officers were present less than an hour after the protest’s outbreak.

“That is frustrating, and it is a long time, but does represent a fairly rapid response when we have to grab police officers from all over the city,” Lurie said.

Speaking at the briefing, Bass called the violence “abhorrent” and said she was convening religious leaders to discuss “how to protect sacred spaces, sharing ideas, practices and strategies to keep congregants safe.” The LAPD will work with Jewish security agencies, she added, to take “proactive action to prevent these incidences from taking place to begin with.”

She added that she would discuss a mask ban with the city’s attorney —  a proposal also being floated in New York in the face of disruptive pro-Palestinian rallies there — though she was skeptical of its legality. Mask bans, which were on the books for decades in some states, have been challenged on First Amendment grounds. Some critics have said bans would stigmatize those who wear masks as a public health measure. Bass first raised the idea at a press conference on Monday.

“At this point, we don’t think that this will withstand judicial scrutiny, but we are still looking into it, and we’re examining the idea of having buffer zones around houses of worship,” Bass said.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, the federation’s CEO, called the protest a “coordinated assault” on the Jewish community. He added that the violence was not surprising.

“This is a moment that we have been almost slouching towards for a couple years now,” he said. “As we’ve said before many times, hate speech, hate incidences, they lead to hate crimes.”

This is not the first time clashes have broken out in Los Angeles between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters. At the University of California, Los Angeles, last month, pro-Israel protesters attacked the perimeter of a student pro-Palestinian encampment — prompting disavowals by local Jews who said they rejected violence. One pro-Israel protester, an Israel-American teenager, has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Following Sunday’s protest, most statements by officials have condemned antisemitic intimidation and violence. But the presenter at the Israeli event at the synagogue said he was also “embarrassed” by the conduct of the pro-Israel activists at the scene

“You can protest, you can chant, you can say whatever you want,” he said. “But the vitriol but on the pro-Israel side was disconcerting. I don’t think that they are representative of the border community.”

Also on the call Tuesday were L.A. Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman and California State Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who chairs the state’s legislative Jewish caucus.

Gabriel, who said he was about to vote on the state budget from the capitol in Sacramento, said the budget agreement includes a $160 million commitment for a program to secure nonprofits including houses of worship. Yaroslavsky said she is also pushing the city to grant $1 million to Jewish groups to enhance security.

“This is incredible funding that has gone to dozens of shuls and synagogues and Jewish day schools and Jewish community centers across the state,” Gabriel said of the state budget funds. “This is a major, major commitment from the state of California to step up and protect our community.”

The post LAPD admits it was unprepared for Sunday’s violent protest outside LA synagogue appeared first on The Forward.

(JTA) — Kinky Friedman, the cigar-chomping, mustachioed Texan country singer and mystery novelist whose body of work often seemed like the un-kosher marriage of the Borscht Belt and the Bible Belt, died June 27 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 79.

As frontman for the flamboyant 1970s country group Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, he was notorious for satirical songs such as “They Don’t Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore,” a raucous sendup of racism, and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed,” which poked fun at feminism.

He could also turn serious, with songs dealing with social issues such as abortion and commercialism. His 1973 song “Ride ’em Jewboy” is a haunting elegy on the Holocaust, recorded by Willie Nelson and sung in concert by Bob Dylan. The lyrics transform cowboy cliches into a rumination on Hitler’s victims:

Now the smoke from camps a-rising

See the helpless creatures on their way

Hey, old pal, ain’t it surprising

How far you can go before you stay?

The Jewboys broke up in the mid-1970s and Friedman spent much of the next decade in a haze of drugs. In the mid-1980s he cleaned up and began writing a series of successful, raunchy, comic mystery novels whose main character is himself. He wrote more than 20 books, all on a manual typewriter.

One reviewer, the actress and author Fannie Flagg, described his writing as “Raymond Chandler on drugs, if Chandler had possessed a tremendous sense of humor.”

In 2006 he ran for governor of Texas, looking to unseat incumbent Republican Rick Perry in a bid that went from joking to serious. His campaign material included a 13-inch talking action figure and bumper stickers that read, “My governor is a Jewish cowboy.” His official campaign slogan was  “Why the hell not?” He considered himself tough on immigration, pro-choice, anti-capital punishment and a proponent of alternative fuels.

In time, his campaign gathered force as a serious quest to shake up Texas politics, break down traditional party machines and reach out to a dramatically disaffected electorate.

“In the last election for governor, only 29% of eligible voters went to the polls,” Friedman, known as “the Kinkster,” told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that year. “Seventy-one percent didn’t vote — they didn’t like the choice between paper and plastic.”

In the end, Friedman placed fourth in the six-person race, receiving 12.6% of the vote.

Born Richard Samet Friedman in Chicago in 1944, he moved with his parents to Texas as a baby and earned his nickname in college from his curly hair. His parents were educators who ran a summer camp for mainly Jewish children at Echo Hill Ranch, the 400-acre spread where Friedman would come to live in a small but rambling lodge.

“We had services every Friday night, and Kinky would play the guitar,” Ellen St. Clair, who spent four summers at Echo Hill, told JTA in 2006.

The property is also home to the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, a home and adoption center for abused and abandoned dogs that Friedman helped found.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he majored in psychology. Friedman proudly recalled that during their time as members of the Jewish Tau Delta Phi fraternity he and a friend, Nathan “Chinga” Chavin, tried to admit African-American students, an effort that was ultimately thwarted.

After graduating in 1966,  he served in the Peace Corps in Borneo. After returning from the Peace Corps, he formed Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, at a time when hybrid “country rock” bands — including The Band, the Eagles and Buffalo Springfield — were rising up the charts. The Jewboys drew a cult following — and occasional protests, as when the National Organization for Women awarded Friedman its “Male Chauvinist Pig Award” in 1973.

In early 1976, he joined Dylan on the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Friedman claimed to have been the first “full-blooded” Jew to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Friedman would cite Mark Twain and the humorist Will Rogers as his heroes, and the inevitable comparisons were not far off.

“These days,” he once said, “there are many people around the world who listen to the songs that made me infamous and read the books that made me respectable.”

The post Kinky Friedman, singer and novelist who fronted The Texas Jewboys, dies at 79 appeared first on The Forward.

WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Thursday will clash in a debate in Atlanta.

It will be the first time on live television that a sitting president will face off against a former president.

These two have a history going back to 2020 when they previously faced off in presidential debates ahead of the presidential election.

Here is a look back four years ago at their most contentious debate moments.

‘Will you shut up, man?’

Just about 15 minutes into their first debate, the line of questioning turned to Biden and whether he supported ending the Senate filibuster or intended to pack the U.S. Supreme Court if elected.

Trump launched himself into the conversation, restlessly repeating, “Are you going to pack the court?” and “Who’s on your list, Joe?”

Biden – who refused to directly answer the question – went on to ask the then-president of the United States if he would “just shut up, man?”

“This is so unpresidential,” Biden continued, adding “That was really a productive segment, wasn’t it? Keep yapping, man.”

‘Can you let him finish?‘

Moderator Chris Wallace attempted to maintain control of the debate by cautioning Trump to let Biden complete his sentences. Yet while Biden railed against Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, Trump diverted.

“Here’s the deal, the fact is that everything he’s saying so far is simply a lie. I’m not here to call out his lies, everybody knows he’s a liar,” Biden said.

“You’re the liar… You graduated last in your class, not first in your class,” Trump chimed in.

Wallace intervened: “Mr. President, can you let him finish, sir?”

“He doesn’t know how to do that,” Biden said, to which Trump quipped with a smirk, “You’d be surprised.”

‘My son… he was not a loser‘

The debate crescendoed when Biden highlighted reports that Trump privately disparaged fallen U.S. military members, while also paying tribute to his late son Beau Biden, an Army veteran.

“The way you talk about the military, the way you talk about them being ‘losers’ and ‘suckers,’” Biden said. “My son was in Iraq, he spent a year there, he got the Bronze Star, he got the Conspicuous Service Medal. He was not a loser. He was a patriot, and the people left behind there were heroes.”

“Really?” Trump said, interrupting Biden. “Are you talking about Hunter?”

“I’m talking about my son, Beau Biden,” Biden clamored.

“I don’t know Beau, I know Hunter,” Trump responded.

‘Proud Boys: Stand back and stand by‘

Trump was asked by Wallace if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and right-wing militia groups and to call for them to “stand down” and not incite violence across America.

“Give me a name, go ahead, who would you like me to condemn?” Trump said.

Biden interjected, urging Trump to denounce the Proud Boys – a pro-Trump militant group whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the Electoral College certification – to which Trump then responded, “Proud Boys: stand back and stand by.”

‘You’re the worst president America has ever had‘

Amid a back-and-forth between the candidates related to Trump’s tax returns and purportedly only paying $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, Biden pledged to eliminate those tax cuts.

“But why didn’t you do it over the last 25 years?” Trump countered. “You were a senator.”

“You’re the worst president America has ever had. Come on,” Biden said.

Trump snapped back that he’s done “more in 47 months” than Biden has done in “47 years.”

‘There’s nothing smart about you, Joe‘

During an explosive exchange centered on the coronavirus pandemic, Biden said “a lot more people are going to die unless [Trump] gets a lot smarter and a lot quicker.”

Then, Trump attacked Biden’s intelligence.

“Did you use the word ‘smart’?” Trump asked. “You graduated either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don’t ever use the word smart with me, don’t ever use that word.”

Biden responded with exasperation: “Oh, give me a break.”

Trump doubled down: “Because you know what? There’s nothing smart about you, Joe.”

‘Hard to get any word in with this clown’

As the evening devolved into chaos, a fed up Biden called Trump a “clown,” after he went after his son Hunter Biden for his alleged improper business endeavors in China, Russia and Ukraine.

“It’s hard to get any word in with this clown. Excuse me, this person,” Biden retorted.

“Three and a half million, Joe. Why did he deserve $3.5 million from Moscow?” Trump asked.

“That is simply not true,” Biden replied.

manila, Philippines — Analysts see China’s increasingly aggressive attacks on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea as a test of the U.S.-Philippines alliance. What happens next, they say, will depend largely on how Manila and Washington respond. 

Dramatic footage released last week by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard personnel wielding knives, an ax and other weapons as they intercepted Philippine soldiers who were in rubber boats delivering supplies to a garrison at Second Thomas Shoal.  

The June 17 clash was the worst so far in the escalating tension in the disputed waters, with several Philippine soldiers injured, including one who lost a thumb, according to Manila. 

But while the Philippines tried to de-escalate the tension with diplomacy, analysts say future such incidents are likely.  

“China will seek to push the Philippines further,” said Don McLain Gill, an international studies lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila.  

“The main challenge here is to apply considerable cost on China in order for it not to illustrate this sort of behavior and turn it into something regular, like the same way it had regularized water canonning and ramming [of Philippine vessels],” he told VOA. 

There have been several incidents in the past months in which Chinese coast guard ships blasted Philippine patrol boats with water cannons and performed dangerous maneuvers in attempts to stop resupply missions to Philippine troops stationed at the shoal. 

The flash point of the conflict is the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated warship that Manila deliberately ran aground in 1999 to stake its claim to Second Thomas Shoal, a maritime feature in the Spratly Islands that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.  

China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, including the Spratly chain, based on historical maps that an international tribunal has ruled have no legal basis.

Parallel strand of negotiation

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his first media interview since the incident, acknowledged Thursday that more must be done than to just file diplomatic protests against China. 

“We have [lodged] more than 100 protests already. … [What usually happens is] we summon the ambassador, we tell him our position, that we don’t want what happened, and that’s it. But we have to do more than that, so we are. We are doing more than just that,” Marcos told reporters Thursday, without elaborating. 

But Collin Koh, a fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said there must also be a “parallel strand of negotiation and dialogue” between China and the United States to de-escalate the tension. 

The United States is a treaty ally of the Philippines and is obligated to defend Manila against external armed attack, including in areas in the South China Sea. 

Given the high stakes for all three countries, Koh said, China might listen to another superpower.  

“I think in large part it will depend very greatly on U.S. signaling explicitly to China on things that it should refrain from doing, and it must come with a very explicit threat of repercussions or consequences,” Koh told VOA. 

“If the messaging isn’t done clearly, then we are going to see a repetition of what’s happening,” he added. 

Mutual defense treaty 

Marcos has ruled out invoking the mutual defense treaty over the latest incident, saying it could not be considered an “armed attack.” 

Marcos had earlier said he wanted a review of the treaty, which was signed in 1951, to respond to the changing security challenges in the region.  

The recent escalation might provide urgency for Washington and Manila “to expedite the process of defining particular provisions and enhancing consultations,” according to Gill of De La Salle University. 

One such clarification was provided earlier this year by Marcos, who said the death of a Philippine serviceman in “an attack or an aggressive action by another foreign power” could trigger the treaty.  

This specific requirement, however, might work in China’s favor.

“If you set the bar so high, then it means that you are allowing China to keep doing whatever it is doing just under that threshold,” Koh said, although he agreed that it was not yet necessary to activate the treaty.  

“Nobody died and there were no other serious injuries other than the poor guy who lost his thumb. The question is: Are we going to be lucky in the future like that?” Koh asked.

Los Angeles — The Center for Investigative Reporting said Thursday it has sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its closest business partner, Microsoft, marking a new front in the news industry’s fight against unauthorized use of its content on artificial intelligence platforms.

The nonprofit, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, said that OpenAI used its content without permission and without offering compensation, violating copyrights on the organization’s journalism. The lawsuit, filed in a New York federal court, describes OpenAI’s business as “built on the exploitation of copyrighted works” and focuses on how AI-generated summaries of articles threaten publishers.

“It’s immensely dangerous,” Monika Bauerlein, the nonprofit’s CEO, told The Associated Press. “Our existence relies on users finding our work valuable and deciding to support it.”

Bauerlein said that “when people can no longer develop that relationship with our work, when they no longer encounter Mother Jones or Reveal, then their relationship is with the AI tool.”

That, she said, could “cut the entire foundation of our existence as an independent newsroom out from under us” while also threatening the future of other news organizations.

OpenAI and Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

The lawsuit is the latest against OpenAI and Microsoft to land at Manhattan’s federal court, where the companies are already battling a series of other copyright lawsuits from The New York Times, other media outlets and bestselling authors such as John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin. The companies also face a separate case in San Francisco’s federal court brought by authors including comedian Sarah Silverman.

Some news organizations have chosen to collaborate rather than fight with OpenAI by signing deals to get compensated for sharing news content that can be used to train its AI systems. The latest to do so is Time magazine, which announced Thursday that OpenAI will get access to its “extensive archives from the last 101 years.”

OpenAI and other major AI developers don’t typically disclose their data sources but have argued that taking troves of publicly accessible online text, images and other media to train their AI systems is protected by the “fair use” doctrine of American copyright law.

CIR’s lawsuit says a dataset that OpenAI has acknowledged using to build an earlier version of its chatbot technology contained thousands of links to the website of Mother Jones, a 48-year-old print magazine that’s been publishing online since 1993. But the text used for AI training was usually missing information about a story’s author, title or copyright notice.

Last summer, more than 4,000 writers signed a letter to the CEOs of OpenAI and other tech companies accusing them of exploitative practices in building chatbots.

“It’s not a free resource for these AI companies to ingest and make money on,” Bauerlein said of news media. “They pay for office space. They pay for electricity. They pay salaries for their workers. Why would the content that they ingest be the only thing that they don’t [pay for]?”

The AP is among the news organizations that have made licensing deals over the past year with OpenAI; others include The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post publisher News Corp., The Atlantic, Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, France’s Le Monde newspaper and the London-based Financial Times.

Mother Jones and CIR were both founded in the 1970s and merged earlier this year. Both are based in San Francisco, as is OpenAI.

The lawsuit from CIR, also known for its Reveal podcast and radio show, outlines the expense of producing investigative journalism and warns that losing control of copyrighted content will result in less revenue and even fewer reporters to tell important stories in “today’s paltry media landscape.”

“With fewer investigative news stories told, the cost to democracy will be enormous,” the lawsuit says.

Картина была написана художником-илюстратором Томасом Тейлором в 1997 году.

Таганрогский городской суд признал виновным и назначил наказание в виде четырех лет колонии гендиректору АО «Звезда-Стрела» Владимиру Масленскому по делу о хищении более 420 млн рублей Минобороны, сообщили «РИА Новости» в пресс-службе суда.

Среди задержанных есть те, кого власти называют «идеологами госпереворота».