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Bernie Knows
By Shlomo Maital
I am as tired as you all, of reading the Democrats’ weary post-mortems of why they lost decisively. This blog is the last about this topic, quoting someone who gets it.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Vermont, former mayor of Burlington.
Why are the Democrats surprised that the working class did not support them? He asks. When — for years, the Democrats have not supported the working class. He said this to Michael Barbaro, on the New York Times” The Daily podcast.
Go back to the Clinton administration, when NAFTA shipped America’s factories to Mexico and Canada, $5 an hour labor rather than $25, and free trade brought a flood of cheap Chinese goods into the US, throwing many Midwest factory workers out of a job.
What specifically did the Dems offer working people in this election? Did they propose $18/hr. minimum wage legislation? Uh, no. National health care for all? No. Support for day care? No. Make groceries more affordable? Uh uh.
Virtually every ethnic, racial, and demographic group voted in the majority for Trump. And for the first time in a long time, the Republicans won the majority of votes for President. The Dems warned Trump would bash democracy. Well, he will, and has. But most Americans say, hold on. What did democracy do for me in the past 20 years? Put power in the hands of the educated elites, while I was shut out of a college education, unable to afford the tuition or the steep interest rates on student loans.
Unless the Dems (who spent a billion dollars in ads in the three blue-wall states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, ineffectively) start listening to working Americans, and speaking to them in their language, look for J.D. Vance to become President in 2028.
Yikes.
The Election: Educated Women vs. Uneducated Men
By Shlomo Maital
Einstein said famously, “simplify as much as possible…but not more so.”
This coming Tuesday, voters choose between Trump and Harris.
How will they choose?
According to the New York Times: a recent poll gives the answer. Educated women favor Harris by 43 points (!) over men without college education, who favor Trump. Since half of all voters are women (and women vote more than men), looks like a squeaker for Harris. Some 64% of US men do not have a college degree. For women – over 40% have college degrees, up from 4% (!) in 1940.
But this is truly sad. Men without college education have been left behind and left out in America. Whose fault? Partly the Dems. They gave away their manufacturing jobs to China, under Clinton. But partly the men themselves. It’s not that hard to get into college… many have battled into community colleges, done well and gone on to university, sometimes with partial scholarships and federal assistance.
But, it’s easy for this left-out group to blame the Dems and the system and democracy and the immigrants and… everybody else. Trump sensed this back in 2014 and plays on it incessantly.
It is a terrible shame, an iniquity, that the election is settled on this basis. And much worse – that a President may be elected by those who eschew education, voting for one who panders to ignorance.
On the Nov. 5 Election
By Shlomo Maital
David French is a near life-long Republican, person of faith, Christian, who writes in today’s on-line New York Times about his “Nine Years of Being Never Trump”.
He makes a simple point. I find it worth repeating. As an Israeli, I am reluctant to write about US politics and elections. But French’s insight applies to my own country – and virtually every democratic country.
Basically: When you vote, what is the question?
Is it, hmmm, whom do I hate? Trump hates the Democrats. They are the enemy within. Maybe if he is elected he will sic the US military on them, arrest them all. If you hate Democrats, you must love Republicans. All of them. Including the deranged. And vote for them.
But maybe the question is, whom do I love? Do you love your country, and the people who live in it? Do you love the people of the world, including the poor, the ill, the downtrodden, the oppressed – and are willing to share you incredible good fortune with them? If so, vote for those who share your value.
I belong to a Conservative congregation here in Israel. Our name is drawn from the Bible precept, love thy neighbor as thyself. We try to practice it. It works pretty well. But, I admit, in my country, it is having a rather hard time at present. Hard to love those who want to kill you, even if they are neighbors.
Whom do you hate? Or – whom do you love? I think this is a simple guide to how to vote. Love trumps hate. Always. On Nov. 5, too.
Nobel 2024: Take Chances
By Shlomo Maital
Alfred Nobel
The Nobel Prizes 2024 for physics, chemistry and medicine have been awarded. Here they are:
Physics: John Hopfield, “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks”, Geoffrey Hinton“for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks;
Chemistry: David Baker, “for computational protein design”, Demis Hassabis “for protein structure prediction”
Medicine: Victor Ambros, “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”; Gary Ruvkun, “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”
There is a rare link. AI was a key tool used to discover the structure of proteins (the secret of life, and how DNA impacts our lives), and indirectly to help decipher microRNA. And another link. The winning scientists mostly left their comfort zones, to venture into new and risky fields, simply because they were curious. And they did so mainly against the best advice of the ‘experts’.
Take calculated risks, as General George Patton urged, before he did so in World War II and saved the Allies from the German Battle of the Bulge.
Good advice.
Do We REALLY Need Those SUV’s and Trucks?
By Shlomo Maital
Did you know: over 7,500 pedestrians were struck and killed in the US in 2022 – a new high? And did you know: some 80% of new vehicles are either trucks or SUV’s?
Hey, is there a connection? There is, according to the NPR program Living on Earth.
Ford F150 trucks have grown in the past 30 years, they are 800 pounds heavier and 7 inches higher. And they are the #1 best-selling truck.
Those SUV’s? Do we REALLY need an SUV to drive to the corner grocery store? They are gas guzzlers and do huge damage when they strike pedestrians. And both trucks and SUV’s have blind spots, because of their size. So there IS a link between what vehicles we buy and all those pedestrian deaths.
A study experts conducted showed that some 1,100 pedestrian deaths could have been prevented, had we just bought normal-size vehicles, as the Europeans do.
Why do Americans buy those huge vehicles? Here is a theory. In a rather chaotic world, we seek to buy things that convey power, strength, safety. Maybe, maybe an SUV is safer in a crash than an i10 Hyundai. But safer for whom? For the driver? Sure. But not for the pedestrians who are struck and killed. Is it MY safety I seek? Or my safety and the safety of those trying to cross the street, when a F150 smashes into them by making a right turn and simply not seeing, say, a 5-year-old, trying to cross, with the light, in a school zone..and completely invisible to the driver. This is a true case.
I am frequently upset when capitalism at its worst manipulates consumers into buying things they don’t really need, playing on our worst fears. How come the Europeans do not buy huge trucks and massive SUV’s? And why should we?
As the song goes: When will they ever learn?
Hamas Tunnels: An Expert’s Analysis
By Shlomo Maital
For five months, Israel has been battling Hamas, and its network of tunnels. No army has faced such an extensive array of underground tunnels, comprising hundreds of kilometers, in a strip of land only 40 kms. long.
As an Israeli, I have a rather biased view of the tunnels. So, instead of my views, here is the analysis of a fairly objective expert, John Spencer *. His essay was published in Modern Warfare on January 18.
On the massive extent of the tunnels: “New estimates also indicate the construction of this subterranean network could have cost Hamas as much as a billion dollars. The group has poured resources over fifteen years not just into constructing tunnel passages, but for blast doors, workshops, sleeping quarters, toilets, kitchens, and all the ventilation, electricity, and phone lines to support what amount to underground cities. As much as 6,000 tons of concrete and 1,800 tons of metals have been used in this subterranean construction. The sheer size of Hamas’s underground networks may, once fully discovered, be beyond anything a modern military has ever faced. The new estimates say the network may include between 350 and 450 miles of tunnels, with close to 5,700 separate shafts descending into hell.”
On the political function of the tunnels: “For the first time in the history of tunnel warfare, however, Hamas has built a tunnel network to gain not just a military advantage, but a political advantage, as well. Its underground world serves all of the military functions described above, but also an entirely different one. Hamas weaved its vast tunnel networks into the society on the surface. Destroying the tunnels is virtually impossible without adversely impacting the population living in Gaza. Consequently, they put the modern laws of war at the center of the conflict’s conduct. These laws restrict the use of military force and methods or tactics that a military can use against protected populations and sites such as hospitals, churches, schools, and United Nations facilities.
Civilian Deaths and Buying Time: “Almost all of Hamas’s tunnels are built into civilian and protected sites in densely populated urban areas. Much of the infrastructure providing access to the tunnels is in protected sites. This complicates discriminating between military targets and civilian locations—if not rendering it entirely impossible—because Hamas does not have military sites separate from civilian sites. Hamas’s strategy is also not to hold terrain or defeat an attacking force. Its strategy is about time. It is about creating time for international pressure on Israel to stop its military operation to mount.
The Huge Challenge for Israel Defense Forces: “The tactical challenges Hamas tunnels present to Israel are thereby compounded by strategic challenges. To deal with tunnels at the tactical level, Israel has demonstrated some of the world’s most advanced units, methods, and capabilities to find, exploit, and destroy tunnels. From specialized engineer capabilities and canine units to the use of robots, flooding to clear tunnels, and both aerial-delivered and ground-emplaced explosives, to include liquid explosives, to destroy them. Arguably, no military in the world is as well prepared for subterranean tactical challenges as the IDF. But the strategic challenge is entirely different. To destroy many of the deep-buried tunnels, the IDF has required bunker-busting bombs, which Israel is criticized for using. And most importantly it has required time to find and destroy the tunnels in a conflict in which Hamas’s strategy is aimed at limiting the time available to Israel to conduct its campaign. Hamas’s strategy, then, is founded on tunnels and time. This war, more so than any other, is about the underground and not the surface. It is time based rather than terrain or enemy based. Hamas is in the tunnels. Its leaders and weapons are in the tunnels. The Israeli hostages are in the tunnels. And Hamas’s strategy is founded on its conviction that, for Israel, the critical resource of time will run out in the tunnels.”
“We Are Proud to Sacrifice Martyrs”. “Hamas is globally known for using human shields, which is the practice of using civilians to restrict the attacker in a military operation. The group wants as many civilians as possible to be harmed by Israeli military action—as one of its officials put it, “We are proud to sacrifice martyrs.” It wants the world’s attention on the question of whether the IDF campaign is violating the laws of war in attacking Hamas tunnels that are tightly connected to civilian and protected sites. It wants to buy as much time as is needed to cause the international community to stop Israel. Its entire strategy is built on tunnels.”
– – – – – – – –
And my own view: The Hamas strategy is working. The US has lost patience with Israel, as Israel’s self-centered Prime Minister plays in Hamas hands by refusing to define a clear end-of-war strategy. Biden is losing the Muslim vote in Michigan. The world has lost patience. Israel is ending up facing two billion Muslims, and a Western world that is increasingly hostile to the Gaza operation by IDF.
The young Israeli generation that many of us seniors felt was hopeless, unpatriotic, selfish, has shown incredible sacrifice, motivation and heroism, fighting to save our country. When they return from months of combat, they find a gaggle of incompetent politicians maneuvering to escape the popular judgment, that they bear responsibility for the October 7 disaster and must leave office at once. Experts believe we are headed for a new civil conflict, as popular demands for the government’s resignation face the Prime Minister’s stubborn desperate efforts to stay in power and thus perhaps avoid jail.
* John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, codirector of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast. He is also a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare. He served twenty-five years as an infantry soldier, which included two combat tours in Iraq. He is the author of the book Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War and coauthor of Understanding Urban Warfare.
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