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Bernie Sanders: The Jewish Anti-Semite

Dear Editor:

Calling a Jew an antisemite is one of the most difficult things a person who fights antisemitism has to do. Judaism tolerates dissent to a great degree, but arming antisemites with one’s Jewishness is perhaps the greatest and most vile of sins one Jew can commit against another. That’s why Bernie Sanders rightfully deserves to be called an antisemite.

There’s no other way to explain his absolute lovefest with now notorious antisemites like Ilhan “Israel hypnotized the world” Omar and Rashida “the Holocaust gives me a comforting feeling” Tlaib, both of whom have endorsed his candidacy for president. We know he agrees with his socialist comrade Jeremy Corbyn, incidentally also a notorious antisemite, when it comes to being friends with Hamas and funneling them millions of dollars, even though those millions go to rockets that are aimed and fired with the open intention to kill and terrorize millions of Jews.

But what absolutely confirms that Bernie is a self-hating Jew who uses his identity to provide cover to the worst kind of Jew-haters like Linda “don’t humanize Israelis” Sarsour, his proud presidential campaign surrogate, is his lack of reaction to her latest antisemitic tirade.

Sarsour’s recent comments claiming that Israel “was built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everybody else” didn’t garner as much as a response from Sanders let alone rebuke, or what a normal person would do: dissociate from the hater, and repudiate their hatred. What is one to think when Sanders fails to distance himself from his coterie of antisemites? That he’s unaware of their seething hatred? That he knowingly accepts it because he needs their support? Or worst of all possibilities, he actually believes in every word they’ve said? Does Sanders, who claims to be so aware of his Jewish history, also think that Israel is borne of Jewish supremacy?

The record of Omar’s, Tlaib’s, Corbyn’s, and Sarsour’s well-documented antisemitism is so expansive that it’s impossible to be unaware of their baggage. That Sanders knowingly accepts it because rejecting them would hurt him in the polls is obvious and clear. That Sanders actually believes the same antisemitic drivel is questionable, but so far he’s done nothing to quell those concerns. Instead he’s reinforced the notion that even a Jew can be an antisemite, and when they are, they end up being worse than the antisemites themselves. With Jews like Bernie, who needs antisemites?

Sincerely

Dov Hikind
Founder – Americans Against
Anti-Semitism


$51B for MTA Five Year Capital Plan

Dear Editor:

Commuters, transportation advocates, taxpayers and elected officials have good reason to be concerned about how realistic the MTA $51 Billion Five Year 2020–2024 Capital Program Plan? The devil is in the details, which the MTA has been unwilling to share with anyone outside of their 236 page proposed prospectus supporting this funding request. How can the Albany MTA Capital Program Review Board possibly approve this proposal without sufficient information?

Too many projects contained in this new Capital Plan are still in the conceptual planning stage. Cost estimates can easily change. Few project environmental reviews have been completed. Will the environmental review process follow the State Environmental Quality Uniform Act or National Environmental Protect Ac? Going through the NEPA process is mandatory if the MTA wishes to be eligible for Federal Transit Administration funding.

Cost estimates for each project contained in this new Capital Plan will have to be refined as progress proceeds beyond the planning and environmental phases into final design and engineering. History has shown that estimated costs for construction usually trend upwards as projects mature toward completion of final design. Progression of final design refines the detailed scope of work necessary to support construction. Costs would be further refined by award of construction contracts followed by any unforeseen site conditions and change orders to the base contracts during the construction phase.

The anticipated final potential cost can never be known until reaching beneficial use, acceptance of maintenance manuals for the physical assets, inspection and acceptance, completion of all contract punch list items followed by release of retainage and final payment to the vendor(s).

How wlll the MTA be able to integrate management for billions in active capital projects from the current 2015–2019 Capital Plan into 2020 and beyond? Many will carry over into the next Five Year Plan. All of this old work will have to be integrated with future annual Track Outage, Force Account (in house employees), Routine Maintenance and Procurement Strategy plans starting in 2020 forward for each MTA agency including New York City Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Rail Road, MTA Capital Construction and MTA Bus. This is necessary to support each agency’s respective capital programs. These concerns and questions deserve to be answered in detail before we invest a record $51 Billion.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner


UJO of Williamsburg to Join NYC Count 2020

Dear Editor:

The UJO of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn is excited to join the NYC Complete Count Fund, a partnership between CUNY, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council. The NYC Complete Count Fund is a first-of-its-kind Census-related community organizing program that will support and resource community-based organizations to help NYC reach a full and accurate count in the 2020 Census.

These funds will support the UJO’s Williamsburg Community Census, focusing to get a complete count from the hard to reach Yiddish speaking community in Williamsburg and its surrounding areas.

The Complete Count Fund was built with the understanding that local community-based organizations — which serve New Yorkers in the communities where they live and in the languages that they speak — are the most trusted messengers of important and sensitive information.

The UJO is proud to join this coordinated citywide effort to build awareness about the census, convey its importance, fight the spread of mis-understandings and disinformation, and help bridge the digital divide that might prevent many New Yorkers from participating in next year’s first online census.

As a culturally and linguistically unique community in New York City, a hyper local focused approach is needed to connect with the Williamsburg community. As a trusted local voice and social service agency for over half a century the UJO of Williamsburg has the tools and deep roots in the community to educate and encourage a robust community census response.

A complete and accurate count is critical to the future of New York City. The census will determine how more than $650 billion in federal funds for public education, public housing, roads and bridges, affordable medical care and equipment at local medical facilities, and more, gets distributed annually throughout the country. It will also determine the number of seats each state is allocated in the House of Representatives (and thus, the Electoral College). Based on current estimates, an undercount could cost the State of New York up to two congressional seats which would limit NY’s voice in Congress and limit bringing home necessary funds to NYC.

In such a complex city, enriched by such linguistic and cultural diversity, New York City’s full participation in the first online census faces a unique set of challenges. As New Yorkers, we have embraced these challenges as an opportunity. Together, these citywide efforts will lay the groundwork for a civic engagement apparatus that will continue well beyond the 2020 census.

The Complete Count Fund will launch in early January with an all-day kick-off event and training.

Sincerely

Rabbi David Niederman
President

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