In 2014, comedian Lianna Carrera wrote, “Comedy is the voice of an undercurrent asking us to do better.”  This concept was never more tested than in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.  People like George Carlin and Lewis Black, who I consider modern versions of Will Rogers, used humor, not to minimize the solemnity of a terrorist attack, but to point out simple truths or when some less than serious responses exceeded the limits of sanity.  Take Black’s opening at his first concert post-9/11.

Everybody in this country, as soon as it happened, everyone, had that little moment…oh, that really f***s up my plans…Even the Christian said I won’t be able to read to the blind woman.  F***!

People started calling me up.  I had more calls about my stand-up comedy than I ever had in my whole life.  USA Today called me.  USA Today, who never ever…they didn’t call me up for a subscription.  It’s like three days after September 11.  I say, “What the f*** you talking to me for?  How stupid are you?  Talk to someone who f***ing knows sh**!  What are you talking to a comic for?”  “We’re interested in what comics are doing?”  “Get an expert.  Get more experts.  Wait a week before talking to the ***holes!”

Well times have changed.  NO, this is not about liberals being too politically correct to joke about a domestic terrorist sending explosives to his hero’s critics or another domestic terrorist who believes making American great again requires killing all the Jews.  It is the sad fact we don’t need George Carlin or Lewis Black any more.  My wife is always reminding me the funniest Tina Fey impersonations of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live did not come from the writers’ room but from Palin’s own mouth.  But that was just an opening act for what was to come.

Yesterday was the latest example.  In the immediate aftermath of the murder of 11 congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Donald Trump said, “If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him.”  The only thing that surprised me was he did not propose a new branch of the military,  a special unit dedicated to the protection of places where Jews assemble.  Or maybe I misunderstood what he was proposing on June 18, 2018.  These are his exact words with the sole exception of the addition of the words “Jews” and “Jewish.”

When it comes to defending American Jews, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in Jewish space. We must have American dominance in Jewish space. So important.

Very importantly, I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Jewish space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. That’s a big statement.

We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the Jewish Space Force — separate but equal. It is going to be something.

Following the speech, Trump retired to the White House theater to watch the latest James Bond movie in which Bond goes undercover as a temple security guard with a “licence to shpiel.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hoped he would “one day live in a nation where (his children) will not be judged by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.” How people treat the dead says a lot about who they are.  Consider the following two examples.  In each case, a sovereign government planned and executed the killing of an individual who was considered a threat.

The first occurred on May 1, 2011, when a team of Navy SEALs took out Osama bin Laden, nearly 10 years after he masterminded the terrorist attack resulting in the death of approximately 3,000 Americans.  The mission took months to plan.  Each step was considered and reconsidered both to increase the odds of success and minimize collateral damage.  With one exception.  At the risk to members of the assault force, they were instructed to remove bin Laden’s body in order to give it a proper Islamic burial.

According to emails obtained by the Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request, the public affairs officer on the USS Carl Vinson reported the following on the morning of May 2, 2011.

Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed. The deceased’s body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body slid into the sea.

Contrast that with the planning and execution of the murder of Washington Post writer and American resident Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018.  As was the case with bin Laden, Khashoggi’s death was meticulously arranged.  Based on the details already available, only a fool would think otherwise.  There is one very important difference.  Khashoggi’s death can only be described as Islam on Islam killing.  And the perpetrators, including the members of the royal family which sanctioned Khashoggi’s homicide, demonstrated who they were, not so much by the assassination itself, but by their total disregard for and violation of Islamic law in the treatment of a fellow citizen following his death.

Which brings me to this morning’s news.  From the Associated Press:

HUIXTLA, Mexico (AP) — Still more than 1,000 miles from their goal of reaching the United States, a caravan of Central American migrants briefly halted its arduous journey Tuesday to mourn a fellow traveler killed in a road accident.

I ask you, who should Americans fear the most?  Refugees from persecution and violence who demonstrate humanity in the face of threats that their children may be taken from them because they seek a better life for themselves and their families?  Or autocrats who show no respect for their own laws, holy laws no less?  Which group would you open your home to?

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

I know I have used this before, but it best describes two news stories which intersected this week.  During the height of the police shootings of unarmed African-Americans, Daily Show host Trevor Noah reminded us, “You can be both pro-police and pro-Black Lives Matter.”  Life is not black and white.  A second look at two disparate events this week should remind us life is also not brown and white.

On Tuesday, Nassau County, Florida Sheriff Bill Leeper emailed that Francisco Obidio Portillo-Fuentes was due to appear in court on Thursday.  Portillo-Fuentes is charged with aggravated manslaughter, felony murder, escape and resisting an officer without violence.  These charges stem from a November 2016 incident when Portillo-Fuentes, an undocumented immigrant, ran across State Highway 200 in Yulee, Florida after being stopped at a service station by U.S. Border Patrol.   Portillo-Fuentes exited the truck in which he was riding and fled the scene.  A Nassau County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Oliver, who happened to be at the service station, joined in pursuit.   In the course of the chase, Oliver was struck by a car and died.

When the case comes to trial, one can imagine lawyers on both sides stipulating to the following.

• Portillo-Fuentes was in the country illegally to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison.
• Law enforcement officials had the right to apprehend Portillo-Fuentes.
• Portillo-Fuentes, by fleeing, did not present a imminent threat to the Border Patrol or Oliver.
• It was Portillo-Fuentes’ decision to try and evade arrest.
• Oliver felt it was his duty to help apprehend Portillo-Fuentes.
• Oliver’s death was an unnecessary tragedy in part due to Portillo-Fuentes’ decision to flee the scene.

Which brings us to yesterday in New Bern, North Carolina, where state and local governments ordered a mandatory evacuation of all residents as Hurricane Florence inched towards the coastline.  Thursday night, local resident Peggy Perry placed the following call to 911.

In a matter of seconds, my house was flooded up to the waist, and now it is to the chest.  We are stuck in the attic.

Fortunately, all involved including the first responders who rescued Perry and her family made it to safety.  But what if that had not been the case.  Suppose one of the emergency officers had drowned or been crushed by a falling tree.  Would Perry have been charged with aggravated manslaughter and felony murder?  Let’s look at the facts.

• Perry chose to defy a government order to evacuate.
• She was in her home illegally.
• Perry did not represent a threat to any emergency officer or the community, only to herself and her family.
• Out of a sense of duty, the deceased first responder attempted to rescue her.
• The first responder’s death was an unnecessary tragedy in part due to Perry’s decision to ignore the mandatory evacuation order.

What do you think are the chances Perry, like Portillo-Fuentes, would have been charged with manslaughter and murder?

I will leave Portillo-Fuentes’  fate to the Nassau County Court jury.  But I cannot help but wonder if this is just one more example of the double standard which remains embedded in our system of justice.  It is at least worthy of debate.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP