As the United States continues to discuss race relations and policing in the wake of the death of George Floyd, it is important to not only analyze the problem at a national level, but as a systemic issue in the states as well. In Delaware, corruption and mismanagement have created an environment in which policing disproportionately targets people of color, and rather than address the issue, Governor John Carney has made the system worse.

Delaware Police Shootings

Since 2005, Delaware police have shot 56 people, and 48% of the victims have been Black. This is concerning considering that only 21% of the state population is Black. Many of these shootings have happened in situations where the use of force was questioned. In January of this year, Delaware police fatally shot Brandon Roberts, a Black man who suffered from mental illnesses including bipolar disorder. Roberts was having a mental breakdown when the police were called, and while he was holding a knife, the violent response from the police has garnered major criticism. This was a situation that likely did not have to end with death if the police who arrived were better trained to de-escalate the situation. Regardless, the police were cleared in the shooting. Laws frequently grant police immunity in cases like this, and Delaware state laws make punishing officers for alleged brutality notoriously difficult. One of the most unfortunate of these incidents is the 2015 fatal shooting of Jeremy McDole, a 28-year old paralyzed Black man. McDole, who was paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, was gunned down by Officer Joseph Dellose from the Wilmington Police Department and his three colleagues. Footage from the scene and an incident report showed that Officer Dellose shot at McDole two seconds after ordering him to put his hands up, triggering his fellow officers to turn their weapons on the victim. Although the report heavily criticized Dellose’s actions, he was not charged with any crime. The loophole in McDole’s case and that of 30 other victims of police lies in the 70-year old Delaware law that permits officers to use deadly force if and when they believe it is necessary. This archaic law is highly subjective and technically justifies unnecessary acts of brutality committed by police in the pretext of “feeling threatened.” The Attorney General Office and Police Union in Delaware have done little to protect citizens and victims from the brutal acts of the police force. In fact, they have sided with all the perpetrators in the reported incidents, citing the archaic law as their justification for failing to prosecute involved police. Besides a rigid attachment to the old law, falsification of reports in some of the investigations has also plagued the force.

Failed Government Response

Governor John Carney’s administration has been accused of failing Delaware’s Black residents. Under Carney, Black people make up 60% of the inmates in Delaware prisons. Meanwhile, only 15% of state judges are Black. This leads to disproportionate punishments for Black offenders compared to white offenders. In 2019, Carney and the all-white Board of Pardons pardoned Barry Croft, a white man arrested for felonious firearms, burglary, and assault charges. After his pardon, Barry Croft was recently arrested in connection with the October plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Under Carney’s watch, Black inmates are forced to remain in prison, often for lesser offenses. This is particularly troubling given the COVID-19 pandemic, which Carney has also been accused of mishandling. Prisoners are not given adequate supplies to remain safe during the pandemic. Delaware has an issue with its criminal justice system, and Governor John Carney is making it worse. Police are allowed to use lethal force without fear of repercussion against Black residents, and they are allowed to work in instances in which they fail to even consider other de-escalation methods. Meanwhile, Black residents in Delaware are given harsh prison sentences while dangerous white offenders are pardoned. It is a system that impacts the lives of Delawareans and is one that needs to be addressed.Under the leadership of John Carney, Delaware’s government has been criticized for lack of openness and transparency in its decision-making process. This has opened the door to many corruption incidents over the years. One such case is the controversial corrupt land deal that implicates the governor’s administration for selling public land to a political insider for pennies on the dollar. According to records, the state of Delaware purchased 11 acres of land during the 2008 economic crash for 2.78 million dollars, and in 2018, the land was sold to John Paradee for $275,000. This led to the state losing $2,525,000 of tax-payers’ money in the deal. According to the Freedom Information Act, this transaction did not follow due process. Six months after the sale, State senator Trey Paradee, John Paradee’s brother, passed a tax law, making the property more valuable. Two weeks later, the 11-acre land plus the adjacent 10 acres were put on the market for $6.5 million. John Paradee is a well-known political insider- a major supporter and fundraiser of Delaware’s Governor John Carney. He is also Jackie Paradee Mette’s brother, who is Carney’s current legal counsel, and former campaign finance director during the 2016 elections.

The Sale Process Didn’t Follow Procedure

This deal violated Title 17, Chapter 1, section 137(b) 3, of the U.S Code which states that all public land sales must be done at a public auction, and a notice must be given. The Code also states that public land should be sold at no less than 85% of its evaluation value at the time of sale. A public auction was not held during the sale and the public was not notified. The land was also sold at a lower price than its appraisal value. After an evaluation by the Delaware Department of Transportation, the property met only two out of the five required characteristics for minimal independent utility, and it was reported to have potential for commercial development. According to emails acquired by the Freedom Information Act, full information was not disclosed to an adjacent property owner interested in purchasing the land. In the email exchange between John Paradee and an employee of the transportation department overseeing the transaction, the employee was worried that what they were doing was not right and could land them in trouble.

Introduction of the Tax Subsidy

Six months after the transaction, Senator Trey Paradee passed the lodging tax bill in the state’s General Assembly. This legislation increased the Delaware lodging tax from 8% to 11%. The extra tax proceeds were supposed to fund the state’s Turf Sports Complex, where John Paradee was a board member. The Sports Complex was already leasing an 85-acre land from Kent County for only one dollar and was partially guaranteed a $20 million construction bond. While there are many questions still left unanswered from this controversial land deal, it’s clear that it happened under the leadership of Governor John Carney.In 1776, the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia, just 30 miles north of Delaware, to draft the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today, Delaware has abandoned the core principles enshrined in that document: lives are in danger, liberty is under attack, and happiness is at an all-time low. COVID-19 is the greatest public health crisis in American history. President Trump has shied away from federal mandates, allowing states and local governments to determine the policies best for their regions. In Delaware, Governor John Carney’s administration has propagated ineffective and shortsighted regulations that have done little to stop the spread of the virus, at a huge cost to the economy, mental health, and personal freedom At the beginning of the pandemic, Governor Carney issued a statewide mask mandate. This mandate failed to include any exemption for people with asthma, COPD, PTSD, or other conditions that prevent them from safely wearing a mask. New Hampshire, another East Coast state with a similar population to Delaware, did not have a mask mandate until November 20th, and yet has half as many positive coronavirus cases, and a third as many deaths. On March 21st, Governor Carney declared a State of Emergency, shutting down all non-essential businesses until June 1st. At the time, Delaware had less than 100 positive COVID-19 cases. Even with the shutdown, case numbers continued to climb before peaking in mid-April. The World Health Organization has since advocated against lockdowns, except when necessary to prevent overloading the medical system In retrospect, it seems unlikely that the healthcare system would have become overwhelmed, even without a lockdown. Sweden never fully locked down, and the healthcare system there remained below capacity. New York City, which experienced the highest number of coronavirus cases per capita in the United States early on in the pandemic, never ran out of ventilators. The State of Utah never instated a statewide lockdown, yet total deaths per capita remain less than one third as high as Delaware. Even if a shutdown had been necessary, it came with a great economic cost. Delaware expects to lose $749 million in projected tax revenue through March of next year. Small businesses across the country are suffering. Over 163,000 companies have closed nationwide, most of them permanently. In Delaware, the unemployment rate remains above 8%, over twice as high as this time last year. State leaders also did a poor job deciding which places to close during the shutdown. As part of the initial State of Emergency, the governor closed Delaware’s beaches. COVID-19 transmission rates are significantly lower outdoors than indoors, and beaches provide an ideal environment for social distancing. The order also limited churches to a 10-person capacity, and required pastors to wear a mask during their sermons. Congregants over 65 weren’t even allowed to attend church. Finally, after weeks of widespread public outcry and the threat of a lawsuit, the Governor lifted the most severe restrictions. Lockdowns also profoundly hurt mental health. Drug overdose deaths in Delaware are up 60% since last year. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in June, 10% of those surveyed nationwide admitted to seriously considering suicide within the past 30 days. Overall, Delaware has done a very poor job of handling the coronavirus pandemic. Governor Carney could stand to learn from the less interventionist policies of Governor Herbert of Utah, or Governor Sununu of New Hampshire. Education on the importance of mask wearing and social distancing is more fair and effective than a heavy-handed regulatory approach.OPINION

Dear Friends,

If Joe Biden prevails and the massive fraud on the American Presidential election is allowed to stand, folks you are going to see drastic changes in your lives that are unprecedented. The Pandemic, in my opinion, created and unleashed by the Communist Chinese, financially connected to Joe Biden and his son Hunter, regardless of the outcome of the Georgia Senate elections, will and has been used as a tool to control our lives.

Indeed, the Coronavirus is dangerous, however, as the fatality rate is very small and only those who are elderly or have pre-existing conditions have to be concerned. I am diabetic and I have to be more careful. I personally take that responsibility, as we all should.

However, to literally put people out of business, by inhibiting, restricting, and limiting production and sales because of the Coronavirus is beyond absurd. That is exactly what is happening in Delaware where the officious and wrongful priority by a Governor, to literally destroy people’s incomes, because of a controversial opinion of a few scientists, is in my view criminal.

Lockdowns do not stop the virus. As soon as the lockdown is lifted, it comes right back! A vaccine, which is apparently imminent, hopefully will solve the problem of the recent boost in actual cases. Until then, it gives Governor John Carney another excuse to institute his dictatorial authority.

Delaware, with all of its corruption (The Delaware Way, including every aspect of the 3 branches of government, especially the Chancery Court) is and will continue to be a microcosm of Joe Biden’s insidious experiment. For all intents and purposes, John Carney is a pupil of Joe Biden’s and his failed government was only reelected because the whole Biden scenario is so entrenched with the New Castle County Blacks, Union laborers, and unemployed liberals, that regardless of devastating Delaware’s economy, the Delawareans blindly follow Carney into financial destitution under the guise that it is a real emergency.

The business people who have been crushed by Carney’s prohibitions and probably will go completely under once Carney’s new restrictions take hold, have some disturbing things to say. Unfortunately, people who own businesses are in a huge minority in liberal Delaware, and will always be usurped by the left-wing mob. This left-wing Democrat state, that makes 1/3 of its income from the franchise taxes from incorporations, ironically is one of the most business-unfriendly states in America.

As always your comments are welcome and appreciated. God bless America!

Respectfully yours,

JUDSON Bennett-Coastal Network

• Indoor gatherings in homes must be capped at no more than 10 people.
• Indoor gatherings outside of homes must be limited to 30 percent of the venue’s stated fire capacity, up to a cap of 50 people. This includes all events, such as weddings, funerals, services in houses of worship, performances, political gatherings, and events in public spaces including fire halls.
• Outdoor public gatherings are limited to 50 people. Up to 250 may be allowed with a plan approved by the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH).
• Restaurants must operate at no more than 30 percent of fire capacity indoors, with allowances for additional outdoor seating. The limit had been 60 percent.
• Barring Delaware youth sports organizations, teams and venues from hosting or participating in tournaments with out-of-state teams, effective at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, December 1. The order includes a provision prohibiting Delaware teams from traveling across states lines for tournaments.

Ad Campaign Targets Carney’s Cease-and-Desist Order

Governor Carney’s failures on racial justice and diversity issues are being exposed by a righteous activist group. A powerful mail piece will be delivered to thousands of Delaware Democrats to urge them to vote for candidates who stand against the corrupt “Delaware Way!” We have one week before Election Day, which is when voters can vote out this corruption. Folks, the term “Delaware Way” is a phrase meaning for a wink and a nod, people get paid off, and corruption continues. It is time to end this “Way” once and for all. It started with Joe Biden in 1972 and has spread like unchecked cancer throughout our state for many years. Time to vote Carney out of office and elect Julie Murray the next Governor of America’s First State! She is such a delightful breath of fresh air! Read the article below and send me your feedback. Yours Truly, [avatar user=”Judson Bennett” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”https://twitter.com/Judson_Bennett” target=”_blank”]Judson Bennett[/avatar] With Third Direct Mailer, Citizens for Transparency and Inclusion PAC Reaches 139,000 Super Voters in Mail Campaign, Promoting Candidates Who Break the “Delaware Way”  October 26, 2020 WILMINGTON, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the Delaware Political Action Committee Citizens for Transparency and Inclusion (CTI) announced it is launching its third piece of direct mail to voters in the First State, as part of the group’s campaign fighting for an equitable and just future in Delaware while also further exposing Governor Carney’s failures on racial justice and diversity issues. The mail piece will be delivered to thousands of Delaware Democrats to urge them to vote for candidates who stand against the corrupt “Delaware Way,” while the broader mail campaign has reached a combined 139,000 Delaware super voters. CTI aims to further demonstrate how Governor Carney’s establishment is broken, advocating for a dynamic slate of groundbreaking fresh faces such as Marie Pinkney who would be the first openly LGBTQ+ state senator, Madinah Wilson-Anton who would be the first practicing Muslim lawmaker in the United States and Donyale Hall who would be the first African American Lieutenant Governor in Delaware history. The mailer is the latest in CTI’s ongoing commitment to expose Governor Carney’s failures and the establishment’s broken “Delaware Way” ahead of the November 3 General Election. CTI has already spent over $1 million on television, radio, print, digital, and social advertisements. Said Citizens for Transparency and Inclusion spokesman Chris Coffey, “With the election just over a week away, this is a call to action for Delawareans to get out there and vote for candidates who will take a stand against the corrupt, outdated Delaware Way.” “Delaware has been lagging behind other states during Governor Carney’s tenure, and the opportunity to be a part of history by electing the likes of the first openly LGBTQ state senator, a Muslim member of the house and the first African American Lieutenant Governor would bring much-needed change to Delaware. These candidates are not just members of the forgotten and overlooked communities in Carney’s Delaware, but they are brilliant minds who have real plans to address hot button issues such as criminal justice reform, government transparency, and public health.” “It’s time for our leaders to represent the people and not just the all-white boys’ club Carney’s ‘Delaware Way’ caters to. It’s not enough just to have candidates like Pinkey, Wilson-Anton and Hall on the ballot. We will be satisfied when they take office and put an end to the racial inequality that permeates throughout the state. Governor Carney and his team pardoned a violent white supremacist who plotted to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, he is being sued by 67 inmates for $400 million for the cruel and unusual punishment they endured due to him failing to put safeguards in place to protect the Delaware prison population and he has contributed to the median household income for black and Latino’s to be half that of white households. What’s next? It is now time to break the mold of the ‘Delaware Way ‘and develop new leadership from the ground up.”  Friends: I’m spitting mad today, folks. Delaware Democrat Governor John Carney and Chancery Court Chancellor Andre Bouchard teamed up to pardon a White Supremacist a year ago, who was arrested this week for the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Such a thoughtless, horrible decision by Carney and Bouchard, who is on the Board of Pardons, which voted for the pardon, to absolve this would-be terrorist in April 2019. Read the Delaware Online story below for all of the terrible details of this awful decision. I can’t help but notice the cruel irony of these Limousine Latte Liberals, who let 3-strikes Black people rot in jail for over 20 years for marijuana use — go after the President on race — yet pardon a White Supremacist with impunity. Delaware needs to oust Governor Carney on November 3, for Republican candidate Julianne Murray—and regardless of who wins the governor’s race—the most important thing we can do for our economy and for Delaware’s future is to oust the most corrupt Chancellor in our state’s history: Andy Bouchard. Please send me your feedback folks and make your voice heard—today and in November. SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE AMAZING AND DISTURBING STORY: Delaware man charged in Michigan governor kidnap plot was pardoned by Carney last year Esteban Parra, Xerxes Wilson Delaware News Journal Oct. 9, 2020 Barry Gordon Croft Jr., the 44-year-old Bear man charged in a plot to kidnap the Michigan governor Thursday, was pardoned by Delaware Gov. John Carney last year, according to documents obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal. The charges for which Croft received a pardon include possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, assault and burglary, according to court records. Carney, a Democrat, signed the pardon in April 2019 after the Delaware Board of Pardons recommended approval. On Friday, Carney confirmed he pardoned Croft for a series of criminal charges that occurred in the mid-1990s. In a written statement issued through a spokesman, Carney called Croft’s federal charges “disturbing” and said everyone involved with the kidnapping plot should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” “This is also another warning sign about the growing threat of violence and radicalization in our politics,” Carney said. Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long, a Democrat who chairs the Board of Pardons, said in a written statement that the board considers several factors when determining whether to recommend a pardon to the governor, “such as the position of the Department of Justice, the nature of the incident(s), the time lapsed from the last conviction, and the impact on employment and housing.” “All of those factors were considered with this recommendation,” she said. Croft remains in federal custody in Delaware after making an initial appearance Thursday in district court. Seven members of the Wolverine Watchmen group were charged Thursday in Michigan state court with threat of terrorism for allegedly planning and training for an attack on the Capitol and to kidnap Whitmer. Six others were charged in U.S. District Court with federal conspiracy to commit kidnapping. A sworn affidavit from an FBI agent indicates that Croft was among a group of people “discussing the violent overthrow of certain government and law enforcement components” early this year. Croft and another man, Adam Fox of Michigan, “agreed to unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments that they believe are violating the U.S. Constitution,” according to the affidavit. Members of the group bought weapons, conducted surveillance exercises and held planning meetings in Ohio and Michigan, the criminal complaint says. Their plans were foiled in part because the FBI infiltrated the group with informants. The group planned to kidnap Whitmer and put her on trial for treason, court records state. Details of the process that led to Croft’s pardon were not immediately available. Records detailing the exact nature of his crimes were also not immediately available. Court records indicate Croft was arrested multiple times from 1994 to 1996. During that period, he pleaded guilty to several charges including third-degree burglary, attempted theft, receiving stolen property, third-degree conspiracy and third-degree assault, according to court dockets. In 1997, he was charged with reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He pleaded guilty to only the firearm charge in that case. That year, he did his longest sentence in Delaware prison: serving from December 1997 to November 2000. Department of Correction records indicate he had several shorter stints in Delaware prisons and in community supervision. Croft applied to the Board of Pardons on Dec. 13, 2018. An official with the Board of Pardons said there are no minutes of the hearing. A document states Croft sought the pardon “for employment purposes.” The five-member board recommended Croft be pardoned with no objection from the Delaware Attorney General’s Office. Mat Marshall, a spokesman for Attorney General Kathy Jennings, a Democrat, said her predecessor, Matt Denn, also a Democrat, did not oppose Croft’s pardon because his criminal record was more than two decades old. “It appeared to everyone involved that his offenses were in his past and that he had gotten himself on the right track,” Marshall said in a written statement. He said neither state prosecutors nor the Board of Pardons would have endorsed Croft’s pardon had they known “what the future held.” “Croft’s actions are horrific and another reminder about the rising tide of political violence by so-called ‘militias,’ the boogaloo boys, the Proud Boys, and other extremist groups,” Marshall said. Public records indicate Croft lived in different parts of Delaware – most recently, in a subdivision in Bear. They also indicate he owned a trucking company. On social media pages that match his mugshot and identifying details found in court documents, Croft tweeted praise for President Donald Trump and disdain for current immigration policy. Across multiple social media sites, Croft wears a tricorn hat. One meme posted to his Twitter page features a photograph of 18th-century armed men with the text: “Armed Citizens: The Original Homeland Security Since 1776.” Another tweet states that “every government official is responsible for the invasion of America by an estimated 35 million illegal foreign people. Enjoy your memorial day weekend.”Dear friends,   I saw this article about Delaware and how Delaware’s Democrat Governor John Carney won’t denounce arson of a Jewish building in Newark, Delaware as a “Hate Crime.” The best he can do is call it “disturbing.” Folks, when the State Fire Marshall declares that the fire at the University of Delaware’s Chabad House (a Jewish Center and an important part of the religious activities there) was arson, it should be deemed a hate crime in my view. In these difficult times, with Antifa and BLM looting, burning, killing, and frightening Americans, these ignorant jerks seem to now be attacking Jews and their places of worship as well. If a white cop shoots a black guy, even in self- defense, or if a black church is burned down—HATE CRIME, HATE CRIME, HATE CRIME!  A mainstay of the University of Delaware’s campus is intentionally burned down, and all Governor John Carney can say is, “it is disturbing!” Folks, I have reliable information from Delaware State Troopers that Antifa is very active in Delaware! Antifa and BLM are Marxist organizations. To create fear and chaos is part of the agenda, to violently destroy the societal structure, then take over with authoritarian methods. This was a Hate Crime. John Carney is insensitive, in my view, to not declare it as such. Time for Carney to be defeated in November. He is grotesquely out of touch. Please read the disturbing article and send me your thoughts? Respectfully Submitted, JUDSON Bennett-Coastal Network Wake Up America – and Delaware, and Smell the Anti-Semitism Americans of all races and political outlooks revile and attack Jews with unprecedented glee, while American Jews would rather talk about anything else BY EVE BARLOW SEPTEMBER 03, 2020 I don’t think of Delaware as a center of anti-Semitic hate. But on the night of Aug. 26, the University of Delaware’s Chabad house was burned to the ground, causing an estimated $75,000 worth of damage. According to the state fire marshal, the fire was intentionally set. While the university’s president acknowledged that the site was “an active part of UD’s religious, faith, and spiritual diversity” the fire marshal’s office found no indication that this was a hate crime. Gov. John Carney called the crime “upsetting.” Only three years earlier, in 2017, Gov. Carney was showing his solidarity and support while visiting the Siegel Jewish Community Center and its Albert Einstein Academy primary school in Wilmington after the JCC received five bomb threats in the space of two months. In February of this year, the same JCC reported that it’s still receiving bomb threats. Delaware’s Jewish community is pushing for an expansion of the state’s hate crime laws. The pathway from experiencing casual hatred to receiving bomb threats to living communal life under siege to suffering defaced and burned down buildings is all too wearyingly familiar for Jews in Delaware, as well as in the traditional urban centers of American Jewish life. Horrifying footage from Brooklyn on August 29 showed two Haredi men being rammed by a car—an incident that seems no more politically determinable than the regular anti-Semitic chanting or vandalizing of Jewish property at Black Lives Matter marches, or white supremacist bomb threats. Two weekends ago, a sign reading “The Jews Want a Race War” appeared over the I-405 freeway in Los Angeles. It was dangled by a man named Jon Minadeo Jr. One sign turned into two, with the adjacent sign reading “Honk if you know.” According to witnesses, many cars honked. The sign was eventually removed. The following day, Minadeo was filmed outside the Chabad in Marina del Rey, exercising his free speech rights against America’s Jews once more as part of a tour he dubbed “Name the Nose.” “These Jewish terrorists are the people behind 9/11,” he shouted on the steps. The white van he drove was graffitied with slogans that offer some of his conspiracy theories: “The Jews are spawns of Satan,” “Trump is owned by Jews,” “Jews run Hollywood.” His group, the Goyim Defense League, posted anti-Semitic flyers last year in San Francisco and run a YouTube-style site called Goyim TV. What do all these incidents have in common? Not that they are the unique province of “the right” or “the left”—but that they are happening in America on a daily basis and both the mainstream press and the organized Jewish community seem determined to ignore them. Last summer, Armin Rosen documented the “routine” attacks upon the city’s visible Jews. “The increase in the number of physical assaults against Orthodox Jews in New York City is a matter of empirical fact,” he stated, while detailing the steep rise in numbers from the NYPD hate crime unit. The question Rosen raised then was why the country’s biggest wave of hate crimes was apparently not worthy of notice by any of the city’s major newspapers, the mayor’s office, the Justice Department, or civil rights groups; six months after his article was published, it was still the only long piece on the subject. What became clear to me from the I-405 incident is that America’s Jews don’t see anti-Semitism, even when it’s dangling over a freeway in one of its most liberal cities in broad daylight. But perhaps it isn’t odd that mainstream media haven’t reported on it when American Jews won’t admit that anti-Semitism is a real problem in this country, and when so few of our high-profile Jews speak out against such attacks. Why would the media consider it of public interest if the Jews don’t? It seems that American Jews don’t see anti-Semitism in America because they don’t want to, not because it isn’t real. They choose not to see it because it makes them uncomfortable. Or they only see it when it comes from the other “side.” Yet for an outsider, the normalizing of open anti-Semitism in this country on all “sides” is shocking. This past week, in addition to the Delaware Chabad, Nazi symbols were painted on a bus stop in Colorado Springs and Philadelphia’s NAACP President Rodney Muhammad was removed after posting an anti-Semitic meme to Facebook. In the past three months we’ve seen the California Board of Education go ahead with an ethnic studies curriculum that is openly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel as part of its efforts to promote diversity and understanding among cultures. Synagogues have been defaced in Pennsylvania, Boston, Florida, and Cleveland, among other places. And that’s a good week, because nobody was put in a hospital or killed. While “anti-Zionism” provides a fig leaf for anti-Semitic bullying campaigns, especially on college campuses, the idea that there is some clear line between the new and the old types of blood libel is increasingly hard to credit in an age of hypersensitivity to every other kind of real or imagined slight. At USC, Jewish student Rose Ritch resigned from her position as vice president of the student government after being bullied for her “Zionism”—meaning her refusal to stridently condemn and disavow Israel, a subject that has zero to do with student government at the college. In America, anti-Semitism seems to render American Jews further from their Jewish identity, and closer to a desire to blend in—as leftists, as allies, as Americans. At least a half dozen synagogues have been vandalized during BLM protests, including one in LA (“Fuck Israel” was sprayed on the side of the building). A BLM protest in Washington, D.C., featured the chant: “Israel, we know you, you murder children too.” There’s been a resurgence of the ugly rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam via figures such as DeSean Jackson, P Diddy, and Jay Electronica, along with articles explaining why Louis Farrakhan is in fact a very important figure in the African American community whose minions provide young minority men with positive role models. Yikes. Those are the subtle cases. In Nevada, a Jewish man was stabbed in the head while the perpetrator cried “Heil Hitler.” Anyone who is identifiably Jewish and spends a significant portion of their time online must contend with trending hashtags such as #jewishprivilege, #holocaust, and #naziger, as well as with the perverse new trend on TikTok in which teenagers reenact concentration camp scenarios for entertainment, and then read articles about why that’s OK. Yet American Jews and the organizations that purport to represent them continue by and large to be curiously quiet about this ever-widening river of cultural sewage. America’s superlative example of successful assimilation has spawned a unique antidote to intergenerational trauma; an internalization of the false assumption that Jews are fine, or that Ashkenazi Jews are in fact too privileged to be targeted. When we enable this perception that Jews are safe, we are conveniently complicit with the gatekeepers who prefer that narrative; both those on the left who see Jews as the agents of white supremacy, and those on the right who see Jews as betrayers of it. And you wonder how much of America’s anti-Semitism—the vandalism, the arson, the assaults—we never see. In 2014, London was becoming an eyebrow-raising place to be Jewish (swastikas graffitied in the city, kosher food boycotted from major supermarket chains, etc.), and Los Angeles was still allegedly the golden Medina. So I jumped ship. Arriving in Los Angeles felt akin to making aliyah. The superficial sense of comfort that came with a great degree of visible representation of Jewish identity both in Jewish and non-Jewish quarters (I remember being struck by a menorah in a CVS!) made me feel less like a stranger in a strange land. America may be the most successful integration the Jews of the diaspora have ever experienced. But at what cost? America’s bigger Jewish population doesn’t mean safety in numbers. In fact, the frequency of attacks here is highly disproportionate and rightfully alarming. Yet the reckoning taking place in Britain seems light years away from this side of the pond. This summer, the British rapper Wiley went on a 48-hour rampage via Twitter and Instagram, spouting conspiracy theories about the Jewish people and Israel; in one tweet, he said Jews should “hold some corn” (slang for “receive some bullets”). The non-Jewish world in Britain reacted in disbelief. How could such geriatric and cartoonish anti-Semitic tropes still exist in progressive spaces? Wiley’s actions were the catalyst for a 48-hour social media walkout led by prominent British figures who protested for better online safeguards against hate speech, but the stunt didn’t gain traction in America. Perhaps had Wiley been a bigger export here there would have been a desire to participate. Then again, that’s doubtful. Anti-Semitism always brought me closer to my Jewish identity, fighting harder to align my multitudes. But in America, anti-Semitism seems to render American Jews further from their Jewish identity, and closer to a desire to blend in—as leftists, as allies, as Americans. But when Jews don’t confront anti-Semitism, there’s zero public outcry. That’s the cycle that the American Jewish community appears to be trapped in. Why and how did this happen? In The Price of Whiteness, Eric L. Goldstein discusses how upon Jews’ arrival in America, confronted with a divisive binary that favored religious freedom over racial equality, the Ashkenazi Jews chose religion over ethnicity, which secured their pass into society but also erased something of their Jewish identities. An Ashkenazi Jew who identifies as white often overlooks that Ashkenazim were never afforded protection because of racial privilege; in fact, the opposite was true. It also ignores those Jews who are not white, including the majority who live in Israel. Assimilation hasn’t safeguarded any Jew from the prevalence of anti-Semitism on either the left or the right in America. On the left, we see it on college campuses with the ostracizing of “bad” Zionist Jews from student government and the routine demonization of Zionism and Zionists in classrooms and educational programming. When I recently said that BLM protesters vandalizing synagogues was not the equivalent of smashing the windows of an Urban Outfitters, I was treated as a pariah. Had an LGBTQ center been graffitied with slurs, there would have been reasonable condemnation. The American left is a place where we don’t ask people to compromise their queerness or their feminism, but where we shun Jewish pride and slander a Jew’s right to self-determination as “racist” and “fascist.” What’s worse: Many Jews collude in this self-mutilation, only calling out anti-Semitism when it comes from the right—which, after all, is where hatred exclusively comes from. And of course, there are plenty of examples of anti-Semitism on Trump’s side of the divide, like when the president himself praised Henry Ford, one of America’s biggest anti-Semites ever, for his “good bloodlines.” The individuals behind deadly assaults on American synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway were right-wing extremists spouting the replacement theory (the same as that of the I-405 perpetrators: Jews are seeking to colonize white people by colluding to increase non-white immigrants). Yet while the radical right propagates the classical loony conspiracy theories that are fundamental to Jew-hatred, the radical left infuriatingly claims to combat anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry while upholding a definition of Jews and Jewishness that in fact erases us. The left defines anti-Semitism as a product of capitalism as if to suggest that without capitalism there’d be no anti-Semitism. They define anti-Semitism as a construct of Judeo-Christianity as if to suggest that there’s no anti-Semitism in the Muslim world. The left promulgates the lie that Jews didn’t have a homeland before 1948, and promotes the myth that the land of Judea had no historic or cultural or lived emotional connection to Jews worldwide. The left compares Israel soldiers to Nazis—a comparison that is both ridiculously false and purposefully obscene, and which trivializes history’s bloodiest genocide, whose victims still walk among us. It charges Israelis with bloody crimes, such as “massacring” children or “harvesting organs,” which are in fact no different than the crudest medieval blood libels. The left denies Jews the human right to seek refuge in their own land, while advocating for these same rights for others at their expense. The left does all these things not on fringe websites or in meetings in someone’s basement like the right does, but in classrooms at some of America’s finest universities, and in impeccably edited reviews and journals aimed at people with graduate degrees. In doing so, the left seeks not only to make the crudest kinds of anti-Semitic libels respectable but to establish them as proofs of virtue—and make them part of the price of admission to the American elite. They seek to raise the price of Jewish identification with our own culture and history and ancestors to the point where many people of Jewish descent will feel themselves forced to choose between our own lived identities and inheritance as Jews, or social and professional suicide. They want to reduce us to an inferior, subhuman status, using the rainbow-flag-waving Trojan horse of human rights speak. This is a two-pronged nightmare, worsened by the reality that American Jews seem more prepared to fight all other fights apart from their own. In fact, they seem eager to choose the other fights first. Are they that deeply gaslit? Are they scared, and in denial? Are they so desperate for acceptance? Is the emotional disconnect so severe that it doesn’t even hurt to be under attack? In the U.K., I didn’t grow up with the same foundational constructs of racism that exist in the United States (although of course the colonial legacy of racism is still a real problem there), and so I wasn’t predisposed to check my own ethnic minority status against a hierarchy of oppression any time I personally felt threatened as a Jew, or a woman, or for any other reason. You have to put on your life jacket before you help the person next to you. Hate is hate. But to stand up to anti-Semitism in America today is to inspire an emotional backlash from those who are quick to remind of your privilege as a person with light skin. To argue that a light-skinned Jew’s privileges are conditional and disappear upon an anti-Semitic attack—go tell Hitler’s victims about their white-skin privilege—is met with fury. It appears that for many American Jews, the idea that they have “white privilege” is actually a shield against the knowledge of who they actually are, and the real threats that they face. It cannot be understated that this American Jewish cultural disaster has an impact far beyond the borders of the United States. American Jewish culture is so widely exported throughout the world it’s no wonder that the deceitful trope that Jews are wealthy and largely white reinforces the lack of empathy for our plight, and the lack of concern when we are targeted. An American generation that has only ever known a powerful Israel can’t understand why American Jews deem Israel under threat from anti-Zionist politics, or why the false portrayal of Israel as a bloodthirsty racist colonialist enterprise should threaten them. They don’t know that the Jews from the Middle East and North Africa who sought refuge in Israel from oppression are a majority of the country’s population. Rather than see anti-Semitism as a real phenomenon, they view it as a chess piece to be played. To try to manipulate anti-Semitism instead of fighting it wherever it arises is fatal. The willingness to erase one’s Jewish identity in order to become a “normal” American is also fatal. If America is a melting pot of individuals, then this abdication from Jewish identity makes no sense. Why should a people be forced to reject themselves in order to fit into a whole, when the whole demands that we be ourselves in all our individuality? Becoming part of the new American social hierarchy will not protect Jews no matter how far they ascend. It hasn’t protected Jews in any other nation. In the eyes of an anti-Semite, you’ll always be a Jew first and an American second, if at all. But that is a message that American Jews of both the left and the right seem supremely uninterested in hearing. In Britain, we don’t deny that anti-Semitism exists. We have community structures that exist to protect Jewish life, and they serve neither the government nor its leading opposition. British Jews are scrappier and unafraid to get our hands dirty in the face of anti-Semitism, even if we’re publicly shamed for it. We’re Jews, after all, and neither our friends nor our foes expect us to be otherwise. By contrast, American Jews are eerily silent; sleepwalking through a rising tide of Jew-hatred. How can you expect to have your places of worship respected, your history understood, and your identity recognized and validated if you won’t stand up for yourselves, and admit your real vulnerability? “The Jews Want a Race War” was a disturbing sign on a freeway. The vagueness of the communal response to that sign, and hundreds of other incidents like it, is a disturbing sign of a much bigger problem. Eve Barlow is an LA-based, Scottish freelance music journalist, and former Deputy Editor of the NME. She currently contributes to New York Magazine, The Guardian, the LA Times, Pitchfork, and GQ, among other publications.

Here’s a quick update, folks, on the Delaware front, regarding Delaware Governor John Carney. There are 1,000 TransPerfect employees requesting the relationship between Chancellor Andre Bouchard and law firm Skadden Arps be investigated. I have one question, what has taken so long?

It’s time for Governor John Carney to take a leadership role and clean up our shameful old boy’s club in Delaware. As I see it, folks, this case, and this court-ordered looting is a sham that hurts workers and hurts Delaware, and it has gone on long enough!!

Please read the article below, and let me know your thoughts.

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1,000 TransPerfect Employees Demand Inquiry into Chancery Court-Skadden Arps Relationship

Press Releases ·

By TransPerfect

On April 14, 2020

Wilmington, DE – Today, a letter co-signed by more than 1,000 TransPerfect Global, Inc. employees was sent to Delaware Governor John Carney, demanding an inquiry into the close, mutually-beneficial relationship between Delaware’s beleaguered Court of Chancery and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

The letter comes following several recent motions filed by TransPerfect in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging that the law firm of Skadden Arps has billed the translation services company for upwards of $14 million in undisclosed legal fees since being appointed the company’s custodian, causing significant financial harm to the company’s employees.

According to recent court documents, in the over two years since the TransPerfect sale process was complete, the company’s Chancery Court-Appointed custodian, Skadden Partner Robert Pincus, has continued to bill the company every month for undisclosed services, including his own $1,475 an hour fee. According to one recent motion by TransPerfect, Pincus’ responsibilities remain unclear, and any efforts to ascertain the substance of his work on behalf of TransPerfect have been met with silence. The Chancery Court has kept all invoices and description of services under seal – allegedly to protect the sale process, which ended over two years ago.

In their call to action for Delaware Governor John Carney, the employees wrote, the “actions of Robert Pincus and his Skadden partner, Jennifer Voss, have hurt TransPerfect. For the first time ever, this spring we will not receive raises. Even worse, many of us who work hourly have had our hours reduced or been furloughed entirely. We are asking for your office to open an inquiry to scrutinize both the cozy relationship between Chancellor Bouchard and his former firm, as well as the Chancery Courts complete lack of transparency and Skadden’s questionable billing practices. These actions and to end this Court-sanctioned looting of TransPerfect. It’s hurting us in irreparable ways. Enough is enough, we need you to step up and investigate this matter immediately.”

Said Chris Coffey, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware’s Campaign Manager, “From day one of being appointed TransPerfect’s custodian, Robert Pincus and Skadden Arps have been taking advantage of the company and its thousands of employees by billing them millions of dollars without saying why or what for. These Skaddenomics are so shady, it’s become increasingly clear that Governor Carney needs to step in and scrutinize Chancellor Bouchard, who has been violating his own court’s rules and effectively funneling over $14 million dollars to friends at his old law firm. We’ve called on the Court to put an end to the secrecy, and we’ve called on the state legislature to advance the bill before them that would create a fairer and more transparent Chancery Court by requiring all custodian’s fees to be disclosed. Now we’re calling on the governor to open an inquiry. These thousand employees and our members deserve to have their voices heard. Enough is enough.”

Look folks, I’ll be straight with you, this COVID-19 has scared the hell out of me. I certainly don’t say that lightly. I’m a retired Ship’s Captain and Pilot, a father, and a widower. My dear wife of 33 years passed away several years ago of cancer, so I’ve had my share of treacherous moments. Now, I’m home alone with my cat and not going out unless absolutely necessary.

While my life has changed because of this virus, it’s startling what the TransPerfect employees have been through over the past few years. I’ve written about them, I’ve met some of them, and I’ve come to care about their plight and the battle they have had to fight against the giant Delaware law firm of Skadden Arps and in my view the nefarious Chancery Court Chancellor — Andre Bouchard.

One-thousand TransPerfect employees have penned and signed a letter to Delaware Governor John Carney, which is herein attached, calling upon him to stop the perceived “burglary” from Skadden and Chancellor Bouchard. This letter and the signatures ran in Sunday’s Delaware News Journal and I have attached it for your review with this article. Please open the attachment and read this well-written letter. It is impressive!

In the letter, these employees stand for all 5,000-plus workers of the company, as they explain how they are being hurt by the $14 million in fees that have seemingly been drained out of the company by Skadden and court-appointed custodian and Bouchard pal, Robert Pincus — a former Skadden partner. Pincus and Skadden continue to collect huge sums two years after the company sale closed and without invoices, itemization, or explanation.

I’m outraged, folks, and I have attempted calling the Governor’s office for comment, but have been met with radio silence.

TransPerfect has already given millions, due to this cozy relationship between Pincus, Skadden, and Bouchard. The employees are asking the Governor to help stop this now. They want an inquiry and, hell folks, I want an inquiry too. They are right to ask for one!

Their health benefits were hurt due to Mr. Pincus already and now with the impact of this virus on their lives and ours, they are feeling more pain through furloughs and no raises this year. Like so many others in our country right now, they are hurting due to the changes COVID-19 is bringing, and it’s downright immoral for Pincus and Skadden to continue kicking them indirectly through their avaricious actions when they’re down.

Folks, join me in asking Governor Carney to do what’s right here. This is unacceptable and he needs to take action and do the right thing. Bouchard’s relationship with Skadden Arps and various, in my opinion, appearances of impropriety need to be investigated?

I would love your feedback on this one. Please stay safe and healthy as we all get through this.