Editor’s Note: News articles to which this column alluded were a hoax. Apologizing for being taken in, Rabbi Samuel has filed an updated column, here linked.
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — The riots and protests spreading around the country might give one the impression that these are spontaneous outbreaks, yet there is a hidden presence manipulating these demonstrations. ABC News, hardly a left wing news source, discusses an interview one of its journalists had with a 27-year-old man, named Paul Horner, whose revelations proved most interesting.
He recalls, “I answered a Craigslist ad about a group needing actors for a political event. I interviewed with them and got the part.” He went on to say:
“As for who these people were affiliated with that interviewed me, my guess would be Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Horner said. “… The actual check I received after I was done with the job was from a group called ‘Women Are The Future’. After I was hired, they told me if anyone asked any questions about who I was with or communicated with me in any way, I should start talking about how great Bernie Sanders is.” Horner continued, “It was mostly women in their 60’s at the interview that I went to. Plus, all the people that I communicated with had an AOL email address. No one still has an AOL email address except people that would vote for Hillary Clinton.”[1]
After reading this article from ABC, I wondered: Who could imagine that protesting could be such a profitable business? In the sixties, none of us growing up were ever paid a nickel to protest. Political correctness, billionaire financiers have brought capitalism to those willing to make trouble, for the right amount of money, of course! Horner went on to mention that Latinos only made $500 a week; Muslims received $600; African-Americans $750. Women and children only got $300. White protesters went for a premium. In fact, you can see many buses transporting the protesters. Police Chiefs of different cities say that those involved in their cities are outside agitators making trouble.[2]
As a rabbi, I find myself asking obvious forensic questions: Why are our leaders not condemning the violence? Here is the tragic story occurred over the last 24 hours. A father of a four-year-old girl died after anti-Trump protesters blocked the highway to the hospital. The father of a 4-year-old girl died after anti-Trump protesters blocked roads and delayed an ambulance from reaching the hospital, according to an anguished message posted on Facebook.
It took the ambulance an extra 45 minutes to get to the hospital, and in the end, the father died.[3] There is nothing wrong with protesting on the sidewalks, but protesting on the streets presents a certain danger to the ambulance transporting a sick person, whose life demands a quick response; the same could be applied to the police, who have to travel fast to prevent a crime.
In Jewish tradition, it is sinful to be silent in the face of a crime, “When a man sees his neighbor drowning, mauled by beasts, or attacked by robbers, from where do we know in Scripture that he is bound to save him? From the verse, ‘You shall not stand by the blood of your neighbor’ (Lev. 19:16).
Bernie Sanders is a mensch. Of all the political leaders on the Left, only he showed the moral courage to say what needed to be spoken. Sanders said one day after protesters brawled with supporters of Donald Trump outside of a rally in nearby San Jose, “Violence is absolutely and totally unacceptable…If people are thinking about violence, please do not tell anybody you are a Bernie Sanders supporter, because those are not the supporters that I want.”[4]
President Obama and Hillary Clinton have yet to condemn this violence. For two who are concerned about preserving their moral legacy as leaders, I find their moral cowardice troubling. As a rabbi, I find it equally troubling that so many of my colleagues have yet to condemned the rioting, though they are quick to condemn Trump’s “hateful rhetoric…”
Editor’s Note: This matter is now under review. A new story may be filed later today.
Rabbi:
Unfortunately, it looks like you fell for a hoax.
Note the ABC News URL ends in .co, not .com.
And the article writer admitted to the Washington Post that he made up
the story and the Craigslist ad.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/?tid=sm_tw
Best,
Todd Wallack