Biden's Broken Border Claims Life of Nursing Student

Biden’s Broken Border Claims Life of Nursing Student
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
February 29, 2024

Say her name: LAKEN HOPE RILEY

With the ever growing number of illegal aliens streaming across the southern border, invading the United States, understand that this nation used to be one of givers that is now most certainly replete with takers.

As pages of the calendar flipped from the 19th century to the 20th, the United States welcomed foreigners - legal immigrants (except for Jews during the Holocaust under President Franklin Roosevelt), under certain criteria. New immigrants underwent health and medical exams. Those deemed ill, diseased, or contagious could, at the very least be quarantined, if not possibly sent back to their country of origin.

New immigrants required a sponsor, typically a family member or a member of his or her ethnic or religious community who would ensure the newcomer would not  be a miscreant or drain on society, but instead a productive member of society. In other words, a giver, not a taker.

Millions sought their fortunes or religious freedom in America with the promise of streets paved with gold. In those days, the streets were barely paved with asphalt. There were no safety nets. People either sank or swam. The socialist New Deal had not yet been created. (To be fair, the founding of FDIC turned out to be the best part of the New Deal.) Some who sank turned to less than honest ventures.

The overwhelming majority of new Americans took pride in their new country, their new homeland. They may have spoken Yiddish, Italian, Greek, Russian, or Polish at home, but outside, they spoke English - even if broken, accented English. These folks became part of the Melting Pot - getting jobs side by side with people from numerous other countries, sending their children to public schools, and many of whose grandchildren became the first in their families to graduate college.

These people became givers - donors to, or founders of charities, scholarships, builders of hospitals, arts centers. Businessmen and women who made fortunes also employed those who could work toward their own. As successes in their fields, they could participate in the above giving.

(This is not to paint a picture behind the disguise of rose-colored glasses. Before the end of World War II segregation continued unchecked, neither sports nor the military had yet to integrate, more than 125,000 Japanese-Americans suffered degrading internment thanks to FDR, and anti-Semitism was prevalent - although it has reached ever-growing highs over the last six months.)

The immigration criteria has simply been relaxed, ignored, or reduced to pulp fiction in the last four-plus decades. Illegal immigration has skyrocketed to new and appalling heights. While Barack Obama may or may not have earned the moniker of “Deporter in Chief,” and Donald Trump began building a wall that would be thwarted by a Democrat Congress, Joe Biden ended the Remain in Mexico policy and has flung open the doors to the United States in a brazen attempt to ensure Democrat rule in perpetuity. Estimates range from six to eight million illegals entering the United States since Biden occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Diseased, unvaccinated - with no requirement to be so, unlike US citizens who lost jobs, or were kicked unceremoniously out of the military or schools in hypocritical fashion. Illegal aliens from numerous countries, and not just in Latin America, but also from the African and Asian continents are bringing with them “diphtheria, tetanus, polio, hepatitis C, measles, and chicken pox,” said Dr. Marc Siegel of Fox News.

Unvetted millions - single, military aged males who have no education, no promise of work, many with criminal records are invading the United States demanding “free stuff.” And the uniparty - Democrats and RINOS together are granting medical care, placement for children in schools, debit cards, ethnically appropriate food, housing in hotels many Americans could not afford - hotels in many cases were housing now supplanted military veterans in dire need. (Every administration is guilty of abandoning our veterans, for whom we should all be grateful every day.)

Many of these illegal aliens are miscreants who have raised the crime rates in the United States to disturbing levels. There are attacks and assaults on members of law enforcement, women and children, theft, and not just in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California because all states have become border states; because all major and minor cities have become sanctuary cities.

The impact of the Biden open borders has struck far too many families across the fruited plain. There is even a name for those who have suffered the loss of a child - a club that which no one would ask for membership. These are the Angel Moms and just a week ago a new member was added - Allyson Phillips - grieving mom of Laken Hope Riley.

Laken Hope Riley met her fate allegedly at the hands of an illegal alien - Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, a Venezuelan national. This filthy animal beat Riley so terribly as to disfigure her skull. Because Ibarra had no reason to commit such a heinous crime, a 22-year-old nursing student savagely lost her life while simply enjoying a run outside the University of Georgia campus in Athens, GA. The cause of death is listed as blunt force trauma.

This is the epitome of a giver and a taker. Riley, a nursing student at Augusta University with no criminal record, chose a career of giving and caring for others. Riley would soon have been a saver of lives, but Ibarra is a taker of life. Ibarra, who illegally entered the United States on September 8, 2022, gained release from Border Protection. He was arrested in New York City on September 14, 2023 for child endangerment - a child under 10 years of age. Arrested again on February 23, 2024, this time on  charges of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another. If found guilty, Ibarra deserves nothing less than the death penalty. As an aside, Ibarra's brother Diego is behind bars for possessing a counterfeit Green Card.

Laken Riley, from Woodstock, GA, graduated River Ridge High School in 2020, also in Woodstock, where she ran Cross Country. Her funeral is set for Thursday, February 29 and the burial on Friday, March 1.

Laken Riley’s family issued a statement. “Laken was an amazing daughter, sister, friend, and overall person in general. Her love for the L-rd was exemplified in every aspect of her life. She will be missed every day but we promise to honor her life moving forward in a very big way.”

Riley’s freshman year roommate Bianca Tiller described her friend as the “sweetest soul” she’s ever met, and that she’s infuriated that Riley’s murderer is here illegally. “We need to be careful who we’re letting in the United States. I know they’ve sent letters to the president and I hope everything gets taken seriously, and of course Laken was such an amazing person. I really do hope that everyone gets to realize who she is and that her legacy really lives on,” said Tiller.

Biden and recently impeached (but not yet tried by the Senate) Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, have blood on their hands. Not just for the death of Riley, but many others - some not yet even discovered.

Since Biden began his occupation of the White House, he has made it his continuing goal to dismantle the good works of President Trump, and this includes destroying the fabric of our nation with his open borders. Despite the constant messaging from Biden, Mayorkas, and Kamala Harris that the border is closed and/or that the border is secure, more than eight million invaders are proof to the contrary.

Government has but one obligation - protect its citizenry from all enemies foreign and domestic - period. This government is failing miserably on both counts because it is too focused on placating illegals, controlling the purchasing power of Americans whether via automobiles, dishwashers, or the food we eat, or the idiocy of pronouns and so-called microaggressions. How about worrying about, and combating MACROaggressions? Does this sound like consent of the governed? 

Demonstrating the tone deafness of the Democrat Party, on February 1 of this year, 150 Democrat House members voted against a bill to deport illegals who commit DUIs - 150. Fortunately, 59 Democrats had the good sense to join the GOP in passing this bill. This is the bare minimum regarding the disposition of illegal aliens.

Even more callous is US Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA). Practically dismissing the tragedy of Laken Riley, Porter said “one instance shouldn’t shape our overall immigration policy, which has so many different facets including economic choices about what workers to allow in, to how to create prosperity in America. So the situation is tragic and it’s a loss and it’s important to acknowledge that, but also to recognize all the other parts of immigration policy fit together.” Is Porter’s word salad coming from the same salad bar as Kamala Harris’s?

Say her name: MOLLIE TIBBITTS

Sadly, as is so well known, the murder of Laken Riley at the hands of an illegal alien is not simply “one instance,” as Porter suggests.  Coincidentally, Porter, 50, is a native of Fort Dodge, IA, the same state where another runner, Mollie Tibbetts, 20, lost her life - murdered at the hands of yet another illegal alien. Tibbetts, born in San Francisco and attending the University of Iowa disappeared on July 18, 2018. Her body was found a month later - stabbed repeatedly. Arrested in August 2018 after leading authorities to the cornfield where he buried Tibbetts’s body, was Mexican national Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24. In August 2021, then 27, Rivera earned a life sentence with no possibility for parole. Iowa does not have the death penalty at its disposal.

In some of the most irresponsible so-called journalism this journalist and writer has seen, the Associated Press all but blamed the victim in the Riley case. Its February 24 headline read, “The killing of a nursing student out for a run highlights the fears of solo female athletes.” Part of the article read, “...authorities Thursday found the body of Laken Hope Riley and arrested Athens resident Jose Antonio Ibarra.” Nowhere in the article is there a mention that Ibarra is an illegal alien with a criminal record.

Not to be left out for the award for irresponsible journalism, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution posted on X, “#BREAKING: A 26-year-old Athens man has been charged with murder in the death of a nursing student on the University of Georgia campus.” The Atlanta paper also ignored Ibarra’s immigration status and criminal record because for neither media outlet do the facts fit their narrative. Illegal aliens are, in fact, responsible for some of the worst killings in the United States.

But, in what has to be one of the biggest media lies, Axios posted on February 24, 2024, "by using the term 'open border,' conservatives are falsely suggesting that anyone can get into the United States without much hassle. But the southern border is more fortified than its ever been."

And just one day prior, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) doubled down on the Axios lie with her own stupidity, saying on MSNBC, that the Republicans are "ginning up a false narrative about this thing [illegal immigration] being a crisis."

Say her name: LIZBETH MEDINA

On December 5, 2023 Lizbeth Medina lost her life at the hands of an illegal alien - stabbed to death in her Edna, TX home, and found in the bathtub by her mother Jacqueline. Lizbeth, a 16-year-old Edna High School student and cheerleader was murdered by Rafael Govea Romero, 23, later arrested on December 9. With sufficient evidence, Romero was indicted on capital murder charges.

Say her name: KAYLA HAMILTON

Kayla Hamilton, 20, of Aberdeen, MD lost her life on July 27, 2022 in Aberdeen, raped and strangled by an illegal alien. A 16-year-old illegal alien from El Salvador committed the murder and belonged to MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, one of the most violent gangs to rear their ugly heads. Thanks to DNA evidence, the murderer, still a minor at 17, was arrested on January 15, 2023.

Hamilton’s mother Tammy Nobles is suing both the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. “Our young women aren’t safe. Our young women aren’t safe. I see our women being killed, murdered, and raped. Nobody’s standing up and doing anything. I’m trying to do what I can to bring awareness and keep this from happening and let government officials know something has to be done. This cannot keep happening. Where’s the outrage? Does citizenship mean anything anymore,” asked Nobles, appearing on The Ingraham Angle on Fox News.

Nobles is absolutely right. So too are Jacqueline Medina, Bianca Tiller, and Allyson Phillips. And Donald Trump is also right. Posting on Trump Social on February 26, he wrote, “When I’m your President, we will immediately Seal the Border, Stop the Invasion, and on Day One, we will begin the largest deportation operation of illegal CRIMINALS in American History.”

And deportation is what is so desperately needed. We the people support immigration - LEGAL immigration; givers, not takers - people who will make America a better place than they found it. Yes, we want people to make America great again. In order to do that, government, from all levels, must stop incentivizing foreign nationals from coming to the United States illegally. These foreign countries are not sending their best and brightest here, reminiscent of Fidel Castro’s Mariel Boatlift out of Cuba in 1980 where many of the 125,000-plus Cubans coming to ports in Florida had criminal records and mental instability.

Come legally the way my great grandparents did; the way my grandparents did; the way my mother-in-law did - all proud to be AMERICAN. Proud to wave the AMERICAN flag, not a foreign flag. Want to wave a foreign flag, stay in that country. Be a giver, not a taker. Serve your new country as numerous members of my family did, including a grandfather who worked on the Manhattan Project. Don’t know what that is? Look it up! We want new Americans who are not public health or public security risks. We want people who learn English, and become part of the Melting Pot, and not a Balkanization of peoples unable to communicate with one another, creating fear, loathing, criminal activities, and a further crumbling of the Republic. This is an imperative vital before the United States becomes even more unrecognizable. 

May G-d save the Union.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

First Timers Beltre, Mauer Lead Hall Class of '24

First Timers Beltre, Mauer Lead Hall Class of ‘24
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 17, 2024

While baseball fields and stadia across the fruited plains lay dormant under a shiny, pristine, white crust of crunchy, unpunctured snow, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) labored at determining who would be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year, the announcement from Cooperstown to determine the Class of 2024 will be made on Tuesday, January 23. The Hot Stove season has been in full bloom as the ballparks enjoy the winter slumber.

Still at issue, those ballplayers tainted by substance allegations. The only way steroid/HGH-addled balloteers should be admitted to the Hall of Fame is with a paid ticket for admission to the museum.

“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here,” wrote late Hall of Famer Joe Morgan in a November 2017 letter to the BBWAA, hoping to influence their Hall votes in 2018. Hopefully Morgan’s letter continues to resonate in 2024 as cheaters such as Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez (A-Roid) may inch closer to the magic number of 75 percent - the required minimum to grant one admission to the Hall.

The cloud of controversy has been dark and heavy, while initially eliminating some from Hall of Fame contention. In the cases of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa, the BBWAA voters rejected those candidacies, and after 10 years, their eligibility expired. Votes for Ramirez, in his seventh year on the ballot moved slightly upward to 33.2 percent in 2023 from 28.9 percent in 2022, while Rodriguez checked in with 35.7 percent of the vote in his second year on the ballot, up from 34.3 percent of the vote in 2022. 

I remain a consistent and virulent opponent of the steroid players and will continue to do so for the next eight years as Alex Rodriguez is on the ballot for the third year. The last thing to be said about A-Roid speaks volumes as to why he should never earn a plaque in Cooperstown. Admitting his use of steroids/banned substances, Rodriguez found himself suspended for 211 games from August 2013 through the entire 2014 season - a suspension well merited.

Ramirez, while expressing some sense of contrition during a 2019 interview with Boston 25 News, still should not be admitted to the Hall. On getting caught using steroids Ramirez said, “it was a good thing for me because it made me grow up. Maybe a lot of people didn’t get caught and they were doing maybe some crazy stuff and they’re not learning from it. So I think everything happens for a reason and everything is working for the good. I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been, even when I was playing, so I don’t regret it because it made me grow up.”

Players like Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez, Rodriguez, and Sosa, more than likely would have been enshrined in Cooperstown sans steroids.

Rodriguez banged out 696 home runs, good for fifth all time, 2,086 RBI, fourth all time, 2,021 runs scored, good for eighth place, 3,115 hits, for 23rd place, seventh place in both total bases with 5,813 and extra base hits with 1,275. Rodriguez won three MVP awards, appeared on MVP ballots in 15 seasons, and made it on to 14 All Star teams in a career spanning 1994-2016.

Ramirez, who played 1993-2011, hit 555 home runs - 15th all time, 1,122 extra base hits, good for 18th place all time, 1,831 RBI, 20th all time, a two-time World Series winner with the Red Sox, a 12 time All Star, and 11 times batted over .300. He cracked 2,574 base hits for a .312 career batting average - impressive for a power hitter.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame has a so-called character clause. “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.” So-called because it has existed since 1945 and more than a fair share of miscreants have found their way to Cooperstown. (https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/bbwaa-rules-for-election)

With voting in mind, were I a privileged member of the BBWAA charged with the task of electing the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, six former major leaguers would earn my votes - two holdovers, and four first timers, including a charity vote for Bartolo Colon.  Twelve retirees are on the ballot for the first time with another 14 holdovers. Candidates who do not attain 75 percent of the vote must receive at least five percent of the vote or will be eliminated from future consideration. 

Omar Vizquel, was the quintessential shortstop of a generation, having won 11 Gold Glove awards during his 24 year career, second most at that position all time. Vizquel was also the oldest shortstop to win a Gold Glove, having done so at age 39 in 2006. After five years with the Seattle Mariners, Vizquel took his talents to Cleveland continuing to be the defensive gem that will vault him into Cooperstown.

Vizquel was three times an All Star, overshadowed by Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, elected to Cooperstown in a near-unanimous vote in 2020. On the field, Vizquel led the league in Fielding Percentage six times as a shortstop and is the all time leader in Fielding Percentage at .985. Vizquel shares the season record with Cal Ripken, Jr. for committing the fewest errors by a shortstop playing in at least 150 games with a paltry three. Additionally, Vizquel is first all time in double plays turned by a shortstop, third all time in assists at shortstop, and 11th all time in putouts made by a shortstop.

At bat, Vizquel compares rather favorably to Hall of Fame shortstops Ozzie Smith, Luis Aparicio, and Luke Appling. Vizquel hit more home runs than Smith and Appling, trailing Aparicio by only three. Vizquel drove in more runs than Smith and Aparicio, stole more bases than Appling, hit for a higher batting average than Smith and Aparicio, while collecting more hits than all three. This is the seventh year on the ballot for Vizquel, having dropped from 23.9 percent of the vote in 2022 to 19.5 percent in 2023. Vizquel’s numbers may dip even further in 2024 due to allegations of a rather serious nature. Until they are adjudicated, I will not traffic in rumors and/or innuendo. Should Vizquel be found guilty, I will withdraw my support of his entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

While this is his sixth year on the ballot, Todd Helton had earned my support from his first year of eligibility. The 17-year MLB veteran played his entire career with the Colorado Rockies (1997-2013) batting .316 in 2,247 games with 2,519 hits, 369 home runs, scoring 1,401 runs, and driving in 1,406 runs. The Knoxville native finished second in the 1998 Rookie of the Year balloting, earning five All Star game selections in consecutive years, from 2000 through 2004. Appearing on MVP ballots in six years, Helton’s breakout season was in 2000, leading the National League in hits with 216 and all of MLB with 59 doubles, 147 RBI and a .372 batting average, yet could only manage a fifth place finish in the MVP race that season. Earning 52 percent in 2022, Helton enjoyed the largest leap of any returning candidate of 20.2 percent to 72.2 percent of the vote in 2023, but fell short of admission by 11 votes. Helton will more than likely earn induction this summer.

I’m throwing Bartolo Colon a vote when I doubt he will receive the requisite five percent to remain on the ballot. But, as a member of my New York Mets, Colon, larger than life, was a fan favorite. For a guy who batted .084 in a 21 year career, when Colon cracked his lone home run, a two-run blast in San Diego, on May 7, 2016, the baseball world turned upside down. Mets television broadcaster Keith Hernandez said of Colon’s trip around the bases, “I want to say that was one of the longest home run trots I’ve ever seen, but I think that’s how fast he runs!”

Colon hit that home run at age 42, and pitched until age 45. The Dominican-born right handed hurler won 247 games with 2,535 strikeouts and was named to four All Star teams. Colon pitched for 11 teams, and won the Cy Young award in 2005 with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with a record of 21 and eight.

While Colon may only appear on the ballot for one year before being eliminated from contention, both Adrian Beltre and Joe Mauer could very well also appear on the ballot for one year. Beltre and Mauer both have excellent chances of gaining election to the Baseball Hall of Fame on their first ballot and head to Cooperstown this July.

In his 21 year career, which began at age 19, Beltre suited up with the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, and Rangers. He struck for 3,166 base hits - 18th all time, 1,707 RBI - 25th all time, 477 home runs - 31st all time, 636 doubles - 11th all time, 5,369 total bases - 15th all time, and 1,151 extra base hits - 15th all time. Beltre earned spots on four All Star teams, and garnered five Gold Gloves at third base.

Beltre played 2,759 of his 2,933 Major League games at the Hot Corner - second all time behind only the late great Brooks Robinson who played 2,870 games at third base. If and when Beltre gets inducted at Cooperstown, he will be the fifth Dominican-born player to reach the Hall, after Juan Marichal (1983), Pedro Martinez (2015), Vladimir Guerrero (2018), and David “Big Papi” Ortiz (2022).

Joe Mauer, a St. Paul, MN native played his entire 15 year Major League career with his hometown Minnesota Twins. It might be a close call, whether or not Mauer will be a one and done on the ballot heading to Cooperstown, but no doubt he will be enshrined there. In the first two-thirds of his career, Mauer, as a full time catcher had his best years and by far should be enough to vault him into the Hall of Fame. Mauer won three batting titles - most ever for a catcher, batting .347 in 2006, .328 in 2008, and his career best .365 in 2009, also his MVP season. In that MVP season, Mauer reached career highs in hits, with 191, home runs, with 28, and RBI, with 96. In those first 10 years, Mauer earned three Gold Gloves, was named to six All Star teams, and batted .323, before closing out his career at .306.

Another player who stayed with one team his entire career, New York Mets third baseman David Wright, must be classified as a “what might have been.” And although Wright did not grow up in the environs of Shea Stadium, a childhood in Norfolk, VA proved the next best thing, as that, for 38 years, housed the Mets Triple-A team, for whom Wright rooted. As a Met for his 14 season career, Wright, like Mauer, both a fan favorite and had his best years in a 10 year stretch. During that time, Wright averaged 144 games played with a slash line of .301/.382/.506. He hit 216 home runs, drove in 899 runs, and scored 866, while being named to seven All Star teams, and earning two Gold Gloves at the Hot Corner. Wright played in 77 games during his last three seasons, giving way to severe Spinal Stenosis. It should be noted that Wright is but one of four third basemen with 350-plus doubles, 200-plus home runs, and 150-plus stolen bases. Each of the others, George Brett, Chipper Jones, and Michael Jack Schmidt, are in the Hall of Fame. While not expected to make the Hall, hopefully Wright can earn enough votes to warrant another year or two on the ballot.

Three other former players on the ballot of note are, Gary Sheffield, Billy Wagner, and Francisco Rodriguez. Sheffield is in his 10th and final year on the ballot. He played for eight teams in a 22 year career, driving in 1,676 runs and scoring 1,636 runs. The number of interest will be the home runs - 509, ranking Sheffield 27th all time. But 500-plus home runs is no longer an automatic ticket to the Hall of Fame - eight players who are above Sheffield - six not in the Hall due to steroids/PEDs allegations and two who have not yet appeared on Hall ballots, but are certain locks for the Hall. The nine time All Star appeared on 55 percent of the ballots in 2023, up 14.4 percent from 2022, but that same jump will not allow Sheffield to reach 75 percent. Sheffield did appear in the Mitchell Report that investigated steroid/PED usage. His only hope is the Veterans Committee, but for me, I pass.

Wagner and Rodriguez are an interesting study because of their similar stat lines. Both closers pitched in 16 seasons and played for five teams each. Wagner’s record is 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and Rodriguez’s record is 52-53 with a 2.86 ERA. Wagner’s 422 saves ranks him sixth all time and Rodriguez’s 437 saves ranks him fourth all time. Wagner is in his ninth year on the ballot, and fell 27 votes short of induction in 2023. His 17.1 percent jump from 51 percent in 2022 was second highest behind only Helton. Wagner, a seven time All Star, appeared in 853 games, pitching 903 innings, and striking out 1,196 batters. Rodriguez, a six time All Star, appeared in 948 games, pitching 976 innings, striking out 1,142 batters. Rodriguez received 10.8 percent of the vote in 2023, as a freshman on the ballot. Wagner’s fate may very well be a harbinger for Rodriguez.

While it is important to not sully the Baseball Hall of Fame with the likes of Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, the focus must be on the greats who may be enshrined this July 21 and how they will continue to be the true ambassadors to the game of baseball as so many before them have been. Sadly, this is an ever shrinking community as Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson passed away on September 26, 2023, at age 86.

Brooks Robinson (05/18/1937 - 09/26/2023) earned admission into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot in 1983 with a commanding 92 percent of the vote. Known as the “Human Vacuum Cleaner,” Robinson could turn a certain double or triple smashed down the third base line into a putout at first with seamless relative ease. He played the entirety of his 23 year career with the Baltimore Orioles, winning the American League MVP in 1964. Robinson also won the MVP of the 1970 World Series, as the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Named to 18 All Star teams, Robinson also won 16 Gold Glove awards - in consecutive seasons, with a career fielding percentage of .971.

Robinson “was so beloved in Baltimore that sportswriter Gordon Beard wrote, ‘Brooks (Robinson) never asked anyone to name a candy bar after him. In Baltimore, people named their children after him.’” (The National Baseball Hall of Fame ® Almanac) I had the enormous pleasure of meeting Brooks Robinson in 1998 at a political function in Baltimore, MD.

May his memory be for a Blessing, may 2024 be a better, healthier year for one and all, and may the baseball season continue to excite its fans while earning new fans to discover the greatness of America’s national pastime.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He has been a Patron-level member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2007.

Gay Is Out, But Not Gone

Gay Is Out, But Not Gone
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
January 4, 2024

Upon the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon, his successor, President Gerald R. Ford said, “Our long, national nightmare is over,” during his August 9, 1974 inaugural address.  Claudine Gay resigned the presidency of Harvard University on Tuesday, January 2 after a tumultuous just shy of a month since her disastrous December 5 appearance before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the discovery of myriad instances of plagiarism in her professional work.

While the nightmare only seemed long, Gay dragging out what should have been a decision made within days, not weeks, of her appearance on Capitol Hill, it is a national story. Harvard is considered the elite of the elites in college education - the producer of presidents - five (Yale is second with three), vice presidents - four (Princeton is second with three), Supreme Court justices - 18 (Yale is second with nine). Yet Harvard’s reputation has taken a beating during Gay’s six month tenure as president, the shortest in its nearly four century existence.

Gay appeared before the House Education Committee alongside M.I.T. president Sally Kornbluth and now former president of the University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill, regarding the horrific rising scourge of campus anti-Semitism. All three had equally repugnant performances before the committee, yet only Magill had sense enough to resign within days, on December 9. Not one could, or would, condemn the calls for genocide of their Jewish student populations, or anti-Semitism, hiding behind the First Amendment of the US Constitution, calling such incendiary language free speech and priding themselves as leading universities dedicated to the free and open exchange of ideas.

Such claims couldn’t be further from the truth. According to The FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression) Free Speech Rankings, Harvard bottomed out dead last at 248 out of 248 schools in terms of a free speech culture on campus. Penn has only Harvard beneath it, ranking 247th, and M.I.T., the “leader” of this group of least free in free speech at 136th. (https://rankings.thefire.org/rank) 

“You get kicked out of places like Harvard for misgendering someone. You get kicked out of a school; you get expelled if you’re falsely accused of sexual assault with no due process. When you call for the genocide and somehow the president of the university acts as a human shield on your behalf - and I hope these wealthy donors of every stripe, every background, look at this and withhold their gifts - because this is what has been created in this disgusting laboratory,” said Kennedy on the December 6 Fox News noon program “Outnumbered.” The laboratory to which Kennedy referred is the Ivy League and quite frankly, numerous other campuses.

“Microaggressions are condemned with extreme moral outrage and yet violence against Jews, anti-Semitism, seems to have found a place of tolerance on the campus,” said Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan. Rowan is also a former Penn board member, and contributed more than $50 million to Wharton, the business school at Penn. 

While some might suggest Kennedy’s words are hyperbole, that simply is not true. Students, professors, and coaches alike get “canceled” for the slightest of so-called infractions or microaggressions. “Harvard’s women’s [ice] hockey coach said after a loss, ‘too many chiefs, not enough Indians,’ and her job is in jeopardy but calling for global intifada is free speech?” queried former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett. More than a year after coach Katey Stone made that comment, there were calls for her resignation. After 29 years as head coach, Stone retired the first week of June 2023.

Presidents Gay, Kornbluth, and Magill made Bennett’s point for him during their shameful testimonies on December 5. US Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), as a member of the Education Committee, took each university president to task and took them apart for their inability to appropriately answer even the most simple question, with the most obvious answer.

Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman posted the following on December 5, “The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s Congressional hearing on antisemitism: Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment? The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of presidents Gay, Magill, and Kornbluth… They must all resign in disgrace.”

A sampling of answers from each of these alleged leaders in higher education:

Stefanik: “Calling for the genocide of Jews does not constitute bullying or harassment?”

Kornbluth: “I have not heard calling for the genocide of Jews on campus.”

Stefanik: “But you’ve heard chants for intifada.”

Kornbluth: I’ve heard chants, which can be anti-Semitic, depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people.”

Stefanik: “So those would not be according to the M.I.T. code of conduct or rules?”

Kornbluth: “That would be investigated as harassment if pervasive or severe.”

Intifada is the uprising against Israel and/or Jews. Could Kornbluth not put two and two together and understand what the pro-Hamas supporters called for at M.I.T.?

Magill: “Our approach to speech, as I have identified it, follows, and is guided by the United States Constitution which allows for robust perspectives.”

Stefanik: “You’re speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You’re defending it. You’ve allowed these professors to teach at your college. You create a safe haven for this kind of anti-Semitic behavior. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct?”

Magill: “If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment, yes.”

Stefanik: “Conduct meaning committing the act of homicide?”

Magill: “It is a context-dependent decision, Congresswoman.”

Stefanik: “It’s a context-dependent decision? That’s your testimony today, calling for the genocide of Jews is dependent on the context? That is not bullying or harassment. This is the easiest question to answer yes, Ms. Magill.”

Stefanik: “You’re president of Harvard, so I assume you’re familiar with the term intifada, correct?

Gay: “I’ve heard that term, yes.”

Stefanik: “And you understand that the use of the term intifada in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict is indeed a call for violent armed resistance against the state of Israel including violence against civilians and the genocide of Jews. Are you aware of that?”

Gay: “That type of hateful speech is personally abhorrent to me.”

Stefanik: “And there have been multiple marches at Harvard, with students chanting, quote, ‘there is only one solution - intifada - revolution,’ and quote, ‘globalize the intifada.’ Is that correct?”

Gay: “I’ve heard that thoughtless, reckless, and hateful language on our campus, yes.”

Stefanik: “So do you believe that type of hateful speech is contrary to Harvard’s code of conduct, or is it allowed at Harvard?”

Gay: “We embrace a commitment to free expression, and give a wide berth to free expression even of views that are objectionable…”

Stefanik: “You and I both know that’s not the case. You are aware that Harvard ranks dead last when it came to free speech; are you not aware of that report?”

Gay: “As I observed earlier, I reject that characterization…”

Stefanik: “The data shows it’s true…. So the answer is yes, that calling for the genocide of Jews violates the Harvard code of conduct. Correct. (The spoken word “correct” sounded like an affirmation, or statement, not so much a question.)

Gay: “Again, it depends on the context…”

Stefanik: “It does not depend on the context. The answer is yes, and this is why you should resign. These are unacceptable answers across the board.”

Quite frankly, these three miserable excuses for university presidents were tossed softballs the size of basketballs and should have hit them out of the park with their eyes closed. Instead, they issued testimony that was stiff and unemotional. Stefanik seemed to be the only person to have any sense of urgency regarding the shocking degree of campus anti-Semitism, not just at Harvard, M.I.T., and Penn, but on campuses all across the nation - at least 70 at last count, according to several sources. (Sadly, "Saturday Night Live," mocked Stefanik in an over exaggerated skit, and shame on SNL, a program that hasn’t been relevant in decades.)

This was an opportunity to reach moral clarity, but this triumvirate of feckless so-called university leaders failed terribly and disgracefully. The calls for the resignations of all three university presidents came swiftly and with alacrity. As noted above, Magill resigned four days after her appearance before the Education Committee, yet retains her teaching position with Penn Carey Law. Kornbluth has neither resigned nor been dismissed from her position at M.I.T.

But Gay’s circumstances traversed an all new direction as the allegations of plagiarism came fast and furious. It was due to this issue and not the issue of anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus, that Gay poorly addressed, that became the bane of her existence.

“This is a moral failure of Harvard’s leadership and higher education leadership at the highest levels. And the only change they have made to their code of conduct, where they failed to condemn calls for genocide of the Jewish people, the only update to the code of conduct is to allow a plagiarist as the president of Harvard,” said Stefanik, herself an alumnus of Harvard.

Stefanik is absolutely correct in that assessment. As seems to be typical, campus anti-Semitism, more the norm than at any time since the Holocaust, is considered an aberration or treated as free speech. Calls for Gay’s ousting didn’t reach fever pitch until the revelations of severe plagiarism surfaced. And even then, it was couched as “duplicative language,” in the headline of a December 20 New York Times article written by Jennifer Schuessler. (Note to former president Gay - use of quotation marks and appropriate attribution and citation - not much of a challenge.)

From “The Fellows of Harvard College,” on Gay: “an independent review by distinguished political scientists… conducted a review of her published work. On December 9 the Fellows received the results, which revealed a few instances of inadequate citation.” Gay received praise for proactively seeking to correct two of the articles under review, according to The Ingraham Angle on December 21.

Yet, Aaron Sibarium wrote for The Washington Free Beacon on December 19, that “Harvard University on Tuesday received a complaint outlining over 40 allegations of plagiarism against its embattled president Claudine Gay… which comprise almost half of her scholarly output.”

Forty-plus instances of plagiarism over a 30-year academic career, including her Ph.D. dissertation at the outset of her career, through “her final academic paper before becoming dean and then president,” said Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. As would eventually be discovered, 50 instances of plagiarism plagued Gay’s work, including in the acknowledgement of her dissertation. The acknowledgement? Smacks of severe laziness. Incredibly, Gay’s dissertation won her the Toppan Prize for best dissertation or essay at Harvard. Who conducted source verification?

“Students, who for whatever reason, submit work either not their own or without clear attribution to its sources will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including requirement to withdraw from the College.” This is a direct quote from the Harvard plagiarism policy. Rufo researched the policy from 1995 and 1998 when Gay wrote her Ph.D. dissertation and found Gay clearly violated Harvard’s plagiarism policy. (https://usingsources.fas.harvard.edu/harvard-plagiarism-policy) 

Part of Harvard’s motto or credo includes the word veritas, truth in Latin. “Does Harvard value veritas, or truth, or does Harvard value DEI and having the right race or gender symbolism at the top of its university hierarchy? You can only pick one in this case,” said Rufo.

One of Gay’s plagiarism victims is esteemed academician Dr. Carol Swain, holder of five college degrees, including a B.A. from Roanoke College in criminal justice, an M.A. from Virginia Tech in political science, a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in political science, and an MSL from Yale. After earning tenure at Princeton University, Swain served as a full professor at Vanderbilt University teaching political science and law. Currently, Swain is a senior fellow at the Institute for Faith and Culture.

“From my perspective, if there was harm to me, it was because I lost out on a lot of citations, and in academia… it’s all about the citations. If people are not citing their work, that harms you. She [Gay] has one cit[ation], in most of the articles, but the work is clearly derivative of my research. It’s not pathbreaking. She did not  meet the standard I had to meet to get tenure at Princeton,” said Swain during her December 20 appearance on Newsmax’s “National Report.”

Examples of Gay’s “work” and that of Swain’s side by side depict almost identical passages, save for some punctuation. Swain called for Gay to resign or for Harvard to fire her in mid-December. At the time the Harvard board stood by Gay, in spite of her appalling appearance before the Education Committee and what the board called “instances of inadequate citation,” which, in reality, was overwhelming and damning evidence of plagiarism.

Asked if she had heard from Harvard, Swain said, “no, I have not heard from Harvard. The focus I want to direct people’s attention to is the fact that Claudine Gay, and I’m not going to call her ‘Dr. Gay,’ because it’s clear she plagiarized her dissertation, and in academia you have to write a dissertation and successfully defend it before a committee before you become a doctor [Ph.D.], and that dissertation is supposed to contain some original work. You have to do something that hasn’t been done before…. She presented a dissertation that had plagiarism in it, she became a professor with research that… [was] plagiarized. No, she does not belong as the president of Harvard or any college and university,” said Swain.

Newsmax, during the same “National Report,” showed additional so-called work by Gay side by side with the writing of Lawrence Bobo and Franklin Gilliam entitled “Race, Sociopolitical Participation, and Black Empowerment.” The passages were virtually identical with merely cosmetic changes to a word or two.

“And now we know that she even plagiarized the acknowledgement of her dissertation. That’s where you thank the people that helped you. She has two sentences that are verbatim, pretty much, other than switching the names of the people you thank, from someone else’s work,” said Swain. “This is sad. It’s sad for American education. It’s bigger than me. That the implication of Harvard’s lack of action against Claudine Gay will affect American higher education as well as K through 12 because Harvard University [is trying to] redefine plagiarism. They’re trying to cover for her,” Swain concluded.

And in the category of “splitting hairs,” is the defense of Gay by CNN’s “News Central” reporter Matt Egan. “Claudine Gay has had to issue corrections; multiple corrections. Now, we should note that Claudine Gay has not been accused of stealing anyone’s ideas in any of her writings. She’s been accused of - sort of - more like copying other people’s writings without attribution,” said Egan, with a straight face on Tuesday January 2. Gay has, in fact, been accused of stealing, by Swain above, at the very least. This is a clear case of the theft of intellectual property. And, did Egan sleep in on the day plagiarism was taught in journalism school?

But to what end? Clearly the scandal of Claudine Gay is damaging to the reputation of Harvard University because that institution created Gay. Bowing at the altar of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and ensuring Gay checked the correct boxes, she found herself president of Harvard University. How carefully was her dissertation examined? Or any of her other writings? There don’t seem to be that many of them. There were also a number of honor’s students seeking Gay’s removal knowing the impact such a scandal could have on their own futures.

Yet an unrepentant Gay has decided to martyr herself on the throne of victimhood. From her letter of resignation, Gay writes, “...it has been distressing to have doubts cast upon my commitments to confronting hate and to upholding scholarly rigor - two bedrock values that are fundamental to who I am - and frightening to be subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.”

Lacking from Gay’s letter includes words of apology for violating both “confronting hate and… upholding scholarly rigor.” Attacks against Gay should not have been personal, but instead, professional, for which her works are fair game. Any racial animus Gay may have suffered does not seem to have been made public, yet if any exists either publicly or privately are completely uncalled for.

If Gay is a victim of anything, it is the DEI system that promoted her to Harvard president in the first place. Diversity for diversity’s sake is not progress. It’s an admission that box checking is more important than merit and bona fide credentials - verified and vetted to avoid such scandals as this one. The DEI model itself, akin to affirmative action, does more harm than good - propping up someone with expectations perhaps unreachable. Racism did not cost Gay her job, but it may have gotten it for her. But in the long run, Gay is a victim of her own making, responsible for her own actions; for taking easily discernible shortcuts.

On “Outnumbered” on Wednesday January 3, Dagen McDowell said, “let me quote Coleman Hughes who is a CNN analyst, who’s a terrific author: ‘Claudine Gay has no one to blame but herself. She chose an easy path of plagiarism - 50 times - over the hard path of writing original prose. It’s a pattern of serious fraud, plain and simple. This moment is a useful litmus test - anyone who is blaming Gay’s resignation on other factors, right wingers or racism, is nuts and can safely be ignored for the rest of time.’” Hughes, who is Black, is also a Manhattan Institute podcast host.

Joy Reid on MSNBC said on Tuesday January 2, “There is this, sort of, open war on Black progress, Black history. Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, at least up until she resigned, is now the latest casualty of that.”

Hughes is absolutely correct. This is not about right wingers or racism. This is on Gay. She did not condemn Hamas, the anti-Semitism on campus, or the student groups blaming the October 7 invasion of Israel and the slaughter of more than 1,400 innocent civilians on Israel itself, not to mention the deplorable answers she provided regarding anti-Semitism and context. Gay did not stand up for, or defend, the Jewish students on her campus either. 

Rewarding Gay continuing her work as a professor of government and African and African American Studies is an insult to the other professors and students at Harvard. Keeping her nearly $900,000 salary? What a golden parachute. But allowing her to proceed with her teaching and indoctrinating more students is just wrong to its core - whether at Harvard, Hawaii, High Point, Hobart, Hofstra, Howard, or Hunter.

Race hustler Marc Lamont Hill said the next president of Harvard “MUST be a Black woman.” Well, Mr. Hill, you may not like this choice, but she certainly checks your boxes - Dr. Carol Swain. But would she really want to leave Nashville for the mess in Cambridge, Massachusetts?

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Bellows Bars Trump from Ballot in Maine

Bellows Bars Trump from Ballot in Maine
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
December 29, 2023

If four Colorado state Supreme Court justices was not a small enough number of unelected individuals to determine who an entire state should have the right for whom to vote, try one. Yes, in the state of Maine, one person, one person unelected by popular vote, the state secretary of state, unilaterally determined that the entire voting population of the Pine Tree State should be prevented from casting their ballot in their upcoming primary for former President Donald Trump. 

Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state, singularly disqualified Trump, pending appeal, from appearing on the March 5, 2024 primary ballot. “I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it,” wrote Bellows in her statement on Thursday, December 28.

Trump has five days to challenge the Bellows decision in Maine Superior Court. His campaign already announced the forthcoming challenge.

Bellows must be clairvoyant,  citing her conclusion “Trump was aware… ” Does Bellows know what’s in the head or on the mind of the former president? She based her disqualification on a feeling, without any discernible evidence, and without either a charge or conviction of Trump of any lawbreaking. This flimsy case to remove Trump from the primary ballot in Maine is about as solid as a house of cards in front of an oscillating fan.

Bellows, a solid partisan Democrat who served in the Maine state senate before the state legislature selected her to be secretary of state, is not an attorney. She also served as one of the three Biden electors for the presidential election of 2020, and can be seen looking very chummy with Biden in a photo taken in March of this year. What is evident, is a pure case of election interference and the disenfranchisement of more than 832,000 registered voters in the state of Maine. (www.worldpopulationreview.com)

Yet, on Friday, December 29, the very next morning, Bellows suspended her ruling, pending the appeal by the Trump campaign, saying she doesn’t have the power to remove a candidate from the ballot. Her ruling is stayed until a ruling by the Maine Supreme Court.

Bellows, as also cited in the Colorado case, referenced Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution as the rationale behind her decision to exclude Trump from the primary ballot. Yet many, including legal expert Alan Dershowitz, noted Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which references “insurrection or rebellion,” had the intent of keeping former members of the Confederacy from the War Between the States from serving in elected office. 

“It’s clearly unconstitutional. The Constitution provides for the disqualification of those who fought in the Civil War. Now Trump’s old, but not old enough to have fought in the Civil War…. I’m not a Trump supporter, but I want the right to vote against Trump, just like you have the right to vote for Trump, and that right can’t be denied us by a Colorado court, or a Michigan court, or by any court. It’s just not the way the Constitution operates,” said Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School.

And while the word “insurrection” from Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is bandied about so freely, and Trump has neither been charged with, or convicted of such, that same passage also says “or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” In that case, why not disqualify Joe Biden from appearing on ballots for giving aid and comfort to enemies of the United States on at least three counts. Biden gave the Islamic Republic of Iran $16 billion, which has freed up the same amount to be used for expanding its potential nuclear capability - the likes of which has been threatened against the United States (the big satan) and Israel (the little satan). Biden has sold off oil reserves to the Chinese Communist Party, while Americans are being hammered at gas pumps all across the nation. Biden’s disastrous open border policy has allowed eight to 10 million illegal aliens into the United States, unvetted, of no known status, and a number of known terrorists have been captured. But, how many of the “got-aways” are terrorists plotting nefarious acts inside the borders of the United States?

Yet, neither Trump nor Biden have been charged or convicted. “If no convictions are required under Shenna Bellows’ rules then that’s why this is such a dangerous game she’s created,” said John Andrews, a Republican state representative. “She opened the door to election chaos. Even extremely progressive Democrat Jared Golden (ME-2) said she’s in the wrong, that he doesn’t like Trump, but he should be on the ballot. I applaud him for saying that because he’s correct; it’s the right move,” said Andrews.

In other words, before jumping to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, don’t skip over Section 1. “...nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Due process. How about that?

Due process may have been in the back of Bellows’ mind when tweeting the following on January 4, 2022: “The fundamental right of any American citizen to vote freely, fairly and to have their vote counted is the premise of our democracy. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not values to be compromised away. #FreedomToVoteAct” But somehow, she hypocritically forgot her own words - and smart words at that, when determining unilaterally, that the former president should not appear on Maine ballots. Bellows, a former executive director with the Maine ACLU, and a potential candidate for governor in 2026, seems more than a bit power hungry.

This sort of megalomania is being exhibited in 13 additional states who have lawsuits to bar Trump from their ballots: Alaska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Republicans are almost certain to carry Alaska, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. That’s 58 potential electoral votes Trump would be excluded from garnering, and an almost certain defeat at the polls.

Attempts to remove Trump are “the M.O. of the Democrat elite,” said former US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, adding that these kinds of tactics are just one reason she left the Democrat Party.  “They will stop at nothing to try and maintain their power even if it means taking away the right to vote of Americans. There’s no issues taking Trump off the ballot. They have no issue in pursuing him, persecuting him through a weaponized and politicized Department of Justice. It’s ridiculous that we’re having this conversation here in the United States of America, when I have heard and seen how the warhawks in Washington - they will see this happen in other countries. They’ll be very quick to say, we must go and intervene, we must go and topple this banana republic or the dictatorship. Many of these same people are the people who are driving this. It’s not just Democrats. There are Republicans who are threatened by President Trump’s unwillingness to buy into their establishment ways,” said Gabbard.

Yet, even in a state as liberal as California, the secretary of state, Shirley N. Weber announced that President Trump will appear on the Golden State’s primary ballots. Michigan and Minnesota previously announced likewise. These left of center states understand what is at stake - making sure the voters, the people for whom the politicians work, have the greatest access possible to support the candidates of their choice.

This is not about liking Trump or disliking Trump. Nor is this about liking Biden or disliking Biden. This is about the will of the people to freely choose their elected officials, whether for president, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or any office down ballot to the candidates for the school board. For a single individual, or the slimmest majority of a state court to determine for millions of voters for whom they should be allowed to vote, is the kind of dangerous precedent seen in places like the Chinese Communist Party, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Russia, where roughly two dozen potential opponents to Vladimir Putin have been squelched from the ballot.

It is imperative for the United States Supreme Court to step up with a unanimous nine to nothing vote denying the states the ability to keep a presidential candidate off the ballot when there is no legal reason to do so. Anything short of total unanimity will send the wrong message. That a divided court, even at eight to one, leaves open the door for the possibility that a future court, one that leans in a different direction, will determine states can willy-nilly bar a candidate from its ballot in an effort to remain in power. This would be a most dangerous precedent, from which there is no turning back, and this republic would cease to exist. 

When the voters lose their right to choose, which is sacrosanct, the nation loses itself, giving way to despots and dictators the likes of which have been seen in the Chinese Communist Party, Cuba, the Islamic Republic of Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela. When the United States of America ceases to be that “shining city on a hill,” that beacon of hope for the truly oppressed, when people lose their freedoms of speech and religion, their right to peacefully protest their government, we become those other despotic regimes and the world as we know it, is damned. As we head into 2024, let’s fight like hell, in unison - Democrats, Republicans, Independents, even the apathetic who don’t vote, to maintain the freedoms we cherish, and remember the words of the 40th president.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it along to our children in our bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” - President Ronald Reagan.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

Corrupt Colorado Court Cancels Trump

Corrupt Colorado Court Cancels Trump
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
December 24, 2023

In these United States it is the people who determine elections - who is nominated, and ultimately, who is elected. It is third world, despotic, totalitarian, banana republics where the will of the people is shunned.

And yet, in the Centennial State, the Supreme Court of Colorado, by the slimmest of a four to three majority, decided for all the people when they barred former President Donald Trump from appearing on the primary election ballots of Tuesday, March 5, 2024.

It’s shocking that four seemingly intelligent people with law degrees could make such a myopic ruling on Tuesday, December 19. But apparently not all law degrees are considered equal. Appearing on the Fox News noon program Outnumbered, Michele Tafoya aptly noted, “When you talk about the four judges who voted in favor of this - they’re from Penn Law School, Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and Virginia. And the three who didn’t vote for this, were all, I think, from Denver - University of Denver.”

Tafoya thought and remembered correctly. The four justices voting to bar Trump from the Colorado primary election ballot were Richard L. Gabriel (University of Pennsylvania Law), Melissa Hart (Harvard Law), William W. Hood III (University of Virginia Law), and Monica M. Marquez (Yale Law). The three dissenting justices, Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, Carlos Samour, Jr., and Maria E. Berkenkotter, are, in fact, University of Denver Law graduates - and kudos to them for putting politics aside when casting their all important votes. All seven Colorado Supreme Court justices are Democrats.

This is yet, “another reflection on the Ivy League mentality of judicial activism,” said Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter.

Chief Justice Boatman “wrote that he believes Colorado election law ‘was not enacted to decide whether a candidate engaged in insurrection,’ and said he would have dismissed the challenge to Trump’s eligibility.”

Opposition to this decision came from both sides of the aisle, swiftly and strongly, as well as from several key legal scholars and constitutional experts. 

US Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) posted the following on X, on Wednesday, December 20. “Do I believe Trump’s guilty of inspiring an insurrection and doing nothing to stop it? I was there. Absolutely. Do I believe it’s wrong to ban him from the ballot in Colorado without a conviction? Absolutely. Do I believe SCOTUS must opine immediately? Absolutely.” 

Phillips is mired in his own ballot battle. He has announced his candidacy for president as a Democrat challenging Joe Biden, but the Democrat Party has all but ruled out any primary elections. Talk about a serious disenfranchisement of the voters.

That is one of the reasons Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. opted to throw his hat into the presidential ring as an independent - lack of the democratic process amongst the Democrats and their so-called leadership. Kennedy also weighed in on the disastrous Colorado court decision.

“Every American should be troubled by the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove President Trump from the ballot,” posted Kennedy on X, December 19. “The court has deprived him of a consequential right without having been convicted of a crime. This was done without an evidentiary hearing in which he is given the basic right of confronting his accusers. When any candidate is deprived of his right to run, the American people are deprived of their right to choose,” continued Kennedy, a graduate of the law school at the University of Virginia.

The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision… and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision,” said Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a candidate for the Republican nomination, posted the following on X on December 19. “I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same - immediately - or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country.”

Christie did likewise, adding, “Trump should be prevented from being President of the United States by the voters of this country,” in a December 19 X posting.

While DeSantis did not join Ramaswamy and Christie, he did post that the left is using “judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal  ground. SCOTUS should reverse.”

“It’s truly unthinkable,” said GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, for unelected judges to make such a decision. “The people of Colorado should be furious,” by their own state court’s ruling, said the former Ambassador to the United Nations. “We should have this race fair and square and have him on the ballot,” continued the former governor of South Carolina. Haley went on to say she will beat Trump fairly and squarely.

The Colorado Republican Party said, “we will withdraw from the Primary as a Party and convert to a pure caucus system if this is allowed to stand,” in a December 19 post on X.

As is typical, liberals, progressives, and Democrats, as evidenced by the Democrat Party’s reluctance or refusal to hold primary elections, believe less is more. That they have to emperil democracy in order to save democracy. This is a bizarre notion - burning down the house in order to preserve the house. Does this sound remotely logical to anyone? Limiting choices for the voters, not expanding the choices. Aren’t the Democrats all about choice? 

No, they are not. The only choice they want for the American people is that of ending the lives of their unborn children. Liberals and progressives oppose choice when it comes to educating the children they allow to be born. They oppose choice when it comes to Americans and their health care options. They oppose choice when it comes to the right to either get a vaccine or not get a vaccine. Liberals and progressives are trying to end the people’s right to choose gas-operating vehicles, the right to choose gas-run stoves and ovens.

And the same is true of liberals and progressives trying to limit for whom the American people can vote. Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said of the ruling, it is “not only historic and justified, but is  necessary to protect the future of democracy in our country.” His organization and two law firms filed the lawsuit against Trump on behalf of six Coloradans: Norma Anderson, Christopher Castilian, Claudine Cmarada, Krista Kafer, Michelle Priola, and Kathi Wright.

In the Colorado Supreme Court ruling, the majority wrote, “we conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section 3 [of the 14th Amendment] it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Therefore the Secretary may not list President Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him.”

How obtuse. Such a decision will only harm democracy and the evidence has come fast and furiously. Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican, suggested that perhaps Texas should deny Joe Biden ballot placement for not securing the Southwestern border and allowing around 10 million illegal aliens to invade the United States. After all, according to the 14th Amendment, Section 3, which those supporting the banning of Trump from the ballot are clinging to, Biden has given aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States - in two ways. One, the allowance of millions of unvetted foreign nationals to take up residence in the United States, and two, giving the Islamic Republic of Iran at least $16 billion, to be used for nefarious purposes against American troops and the troops of American allies.

And back and forth it will go. There are an additional 14 states with lawsuits to bar Trump from those state ballots. Suits from Arizona and Michigan are pending appeal. The following states are filing lawsuits: Alaska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

There are numerous faulty ideas within the majority statement. First of all, the Colorado Supreme Court has concluded that Trump is disqualified from holding office when no other legal entity has deemed such. Trump has neither been charged with, nor found guilty of engaging in insurrection, as per Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. When does the Election Code of a state supersede federal election law? And then there’s the point about not counting write-in votes cast for Trump. While the states typically each have their own rules and/or policies pertaining to write-in votes, to not count votes cast is to completely disregard the will of the voters, disenfranchising each one casting such a ballot.

Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell said, “the system is being challenged,” during an appearance on the Fox News program The Faulkner Focus on December 20. “What makes us unique is our rule of law and it’s being questioned. Trump haters are now supporting Trump on the issue that he deserves to be on the ballot. He deserves to face the voters, not four judges, and this is our problem right now - our legal system being tested. This is why the Supreme Court has to rule nine to zero - those judges know what is right and nine to zero is the only ruling that they could come up with,” said Terrell.

In commenting on the Colorado decision and opinion, legal expert Alan Dershowitz said, “It’s clearly unconstitutional. Any talk or accusation of insurrection would prove enough to bar someone, but Trump was never charged or found guilty. There is nothing to this argument - it’s just a political ploy. It is the most undemocratic decision imaginable, [the] most unconstitutional decision I’ve seen in a long time. Taking away the right to vote? It’s your right to vote,” said Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. “I’m not a Trump supporter, but I want the right to vote against Trump, just like you have the right to vote for Trump, and that right can’t be denied us. The Supreme Court should reverse this and put an end to this nonsense, ” he said.

“It is strikingly anti-democratic, in my view,” said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, on The Ingraham Angle, on December 19. “In my view the court is dead wrong. This is the first  major win for the challengers. I think the opinion is really chilling and I think the Supreme Court will make fast work of this - I hope that it does. I think this court did great damage to its own integrity with this opinion. When you read this opinion, the one thing that keeps on recurring is, where’s the limiting principle here? Each of these barriers, the court could have adopted a fairly moderate, or more narrow approach, but it didn’t. On every one of these issues it really took out all the fail safes and went to the broadest possible meaning. That means that states can engage in a tit-for-tat type of series of decisions - you could have red states blocking Biden on some ballots, and blue states blocking Trump.”

In light of the Colorado decision, California’s Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) wants to follow suit. In a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Kounalakis wrote, “I urge you to explore every legal option to remove former President Donald Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot… this is a dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our Constitution and our democracy.”

Kounalakis couldn’t be more wrong. But then, this is the same person who said two of the qualifications to serve as president of the United States included reaching the age of 40 and not having committed insurrection. According to Article II, Section 1 of the US Constitution, “No person except a natural born Citizen,… shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

Even members of the so-called mainstream media understand the jeopardy the republic would be placed in should the Colorado decision be allowed to stand. Ruth Marcus, in her editorial for The Washington Post wrote, on December 20, “The Supreme Court should toss the Colorado case…. The best outcome, for the court and the country, would be for a unanimous court… to clear the way for Trump to run.”

In the far-left Slate, Lawrence Lessig wrote on December 20, “The Supreme Court must unanimously strike down Trump’s ballot removal.” These folks, and certainly Dershowitz, will not be lining up next November to cast their ballots for Donald Trump. But they are intelligent enough to know the damage to the system of elections many other countries turn to would create not just in the United States, but for the stability of elections the world over.

Removing a candidate from a ballot is what puts at stake the sanctity of our Constitution and democracy, to borrow Kounalakis’ words. Again, Trump has neither been charged nor convicted of encouraging, coercing, or engaging in an insurrection. The attempts to remove Trump or any candidate, from ballots in any state is what is truly deleterious to the future of the republic. When the party in power attempts to remove opposition candidates from any ballot, that partisanship is the work of despots and totalitarians, and is not limited to just supplanting Trump.

Trump has said the following on more than one occasion, but last week may never have been more poignant. “They want to silence me, because I will never let them silence you. And in the end, they’re not after me, they’re after you, I just happen to be standing in their way,” he said during a campaign speech in Waterloo, IA.

“This country is the most successful and stable constitutional system in history. Now, after two centuries of that, what these four justices have done was to introduce a destabilizing element in that system,” said Turley. “This may be the ultimate challenge for Chief Justice Roberts. I don’t have much question they will overturn this decision, but they should do it unanimously. They should do it in one voice - all nine - not divide on this - it’s too important not to speak as one,” concluded Turley.

When constitutional experts like Dershowitz and Turley speak in language with such gravity regarding the future of the electoral system of the United States, it is best to heed the messengers. The partisan machinations by liberals and progressives will most certainly tear down the current system. Today they are going after Trump, tomorrow maybe DeSantis, Haley, or any yet to be thought of candidate from either side of the aisle. The Democrats have already pushed RFK, Jr. out of the party and determined there would be no primaries. When no candidates are safe from removal from the ballot by the shortsightedness and hubris of a handful of unelected judges, the system will have crumbled under its own weight and the republic will cease to exist. It is up to we the people to prevent the death of the republic by speaking out and ensuring as many candidates as possible appear on the ballots in all 50 states and thus secure the preservation and salvation of our republic. OUR republic.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.

This Chanukah Shine a Brighter Light on Antisemitism

This Chanukah Shine a Brighter Light on Antisemitism
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
December 4, 2023

While the war in Israel heats up once again, thanks to Hamas violating the cease fire, it is also time to focus our attention on the heat of a more serene nature. That would be the heat emanating from the lights to be kindled starting Thursday night as the Jewish community the world over ushers in Chanukah - the Festival of Lights.

Thursday night December 7 (also Pearl Harbor Day - lest we forget), Kislev 25 on the Jewish calendar is the commencement of a festival celebrating sovereignty, religious rights and freedom, as well as protecting and recapturing a homeland that had been many times invaded by Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Syrians.

The mere dates and locations of the history of Chanukah is proof positive that the Jewish people are the rightful residents in the Holy Land - the Land of Israel. The history of Chanukah dates back more than 2000 years - long before Palestinians or Muslims invaded the Jewish Biblical, ancestral, historical homeland of the Jewish people - the indigenous peoples of Israel. The history of Chanukah includes the lands of Judea and Jerusalem.

Chanukah - the Festival of Lights - where we do not hide behind masks as Israel’s and the Jewish people’s adversaries do, nor do we hide in the dark. The Jewish people shine a light as a beacon for the world to see the results of peace and freedom - the same freedom many Arab Israelis have attested that they enjoy as Israelis and not in any Arab/Muslim country.

This year, that beacon of light is ever more important to fight the ignorance that is mounting, virulent Antisemitism from coast to coast in the United States on far too numerous college campuses, in city streets, where violence and vandalism has been growing more frequent akin to Kristallnacht. (https://sanfordspeaksout.blogspot.com/2023/11/jew-hating-like-its-1938.html)

This year, that beacon of light is ever more important to fight the arrogance that campus denizens who clearly have never learned a lick of history, deign to make demands of a foreign government (almost as arrogant as the Biden administration - see Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken). Their arrogance to clamor for a cease fire that heretofore existed on October 6 before Hamas shattered it with their invasion of Israel, their slaughter of 1,400 Israeli civilians, the rape of innocent girls and women, the decapitation of babies, and the kidnapping of more than 240 innocent people from Israel, the United States, Italy, Mexico, and many other nations ranging in ages from, then eight months, to 85 years old. 

It is beyond arrogance when there is video evidence of these crimes against humanity perpetrated by Hamas and uploaded by Hamas, which is then ignored by the useful idiots on campus and within the so-called mainstream media. And useful idiots they are, if they think for one second they themselves would be spared by Hamas - in their anti-Sharia dress, their signs of support for the gay and trans communities, and the self-loathing Jews siding with Hamas. Once again, this arrogance and ignorance stems from a paucity of historical data and knowledge. 

They are arrogant to think their calls for a two state solution will succeed - whether those calls come from campus or the White House - it is demonstrative of their lack of knowledge of history. All anyone need do is read the charters as established by both Hamas and Hezbollah to LEARN that a two state solution is untenable when one of the states only wants the eradication of the other state and the death of the people of that state. Those supporting a two state solution, those supporting Hamas, those chanting the death mantra of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” only seek two things - the destruction of Israel and the death of the Jewish people. They may claim to be pro-Palestinian, but they, in reality, are anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic, anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-democracy, and anti-Western Civilization. They have been indoctrinated to believe in a black and white set of options - oppressors and oppressed, that Israel with its success represents the West, represents white people, and therefore could not be the oppressed peoples, and could only be the oppressors. Once again, the lack of knowledge of history plays a key role.

The reality is that when Israel vacated Gaza in 2005, it left intact the infrastructure - buildings, green houses, schools, hospitals, that would in turn be razed by Hamas, the ruling faction elected in 2006. Hamas has not held a single election since. Hamas has prevented its own people from relocating. Hamas hides behind its children and most vulnerable using them as human shields. Hamas has used billions of dollars worth of materials designated for the infrastructure of Gaza to build more than 300 miles of rather intricate tunnel systems from which to wage war, store weapons, and ammunition under and in hospitals, children’s bedrooms, even mosques - their own holy house of worship. From the category of good versus evil, they could have used their engineering smarts for the betterment of the Gazan people and live life instead of worshiping a cult of death as Hamas does. Learning this and additional genuine history would be a great 2023 Chanukah miracle.

Israel is neither an occupier nor a colonialist as is incorrectly bandied about during the less than peaceful protests and on signs. The Greeks and Syrians occupied present day Israel more than 2000 years ago - including during 222-186 BCE (Before the Common Era), under Antiochus III, king of Syria - oppressing the Jewish people in their Biblical and ancestral homeland. Upon the death of Antiochus III, his son Seleucus IV took the reins, imposing even greater taxes on the Jewish people in an effort to pay his own debt to the Romans. Hellenists attempted to force the Jewish people to worship Hellenist idols, but the Jews resisted as “Judaism emphasizes truth and moral purity, as commanded by G-d in the Holy Torah.” (chabad.org) Seems the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas crowd, “can’t handle the truth,” to borrow from Jack Nicholson’s Col. Nathan Jessep in A Few Good Men (1992).

Upon the death of Seleucus, his brother Antiochus IV began his reign (174 BCE) - a worse tyrant than his brother before him - responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Jews in the Holy Land. Antiochus IV inflicted numerous Antisemitic laws against the Jewish people, such as forbidding Jewish worship (confiscation of, and burning of Torahs), prohibition of Shabbat observance, circumcisions, and kashrut (observance of dietary laws), all under penalty of death.

This occupation and the Draconian laws imposed upon the Jewish people lead to a series of military battles. The Jewish people won the war for their sovereignty and religious freedoms. (This is something the people of Gaza can do as well for themselves - against Hamas - their de facto masters.) The victory by the Jewish people came under the leadership of Judah, son of Mattityahu, the old priest. Mattityahu instructed the people to “follow the counsel of… Shimon the Wise,” and “their leader should be Judah the Strong,” a.k.a. Judah the Maccabee. (chabad.org)

Judah and his fellow Maccabees returned to Jerusalem, freed their people, and restored their Holy Temple to the Jewish people - only after clearing it of idols, properly cleaning it, and built a new altar dedicated on 25 Kislev 139 BCE. When lighting the new menorah, there seemed to be only enough oil for one night, but “by a miracle of G-d, it continued to burn for eight days,” until new oil became available. (chabad.org)

This very  brief history of Chanukah includes the freeing of Judea - recovered by the Jewish people having been overrun by Syrian armies. The Jewish people celebrated their victory with gratitude to G-d, with Psalms and offerings in a period of thanksgiving.

This second Holy Temple stood for another 210 years (420 in total) until its destruction in 70 CE (Common Era) by the Roman invaders. Jews lived under foreign rule and occupation by Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Syrians.

There are two schools of thought regarding the lighting of the Chanukah menorah. One starts with eight candles and removes one each night until there is but one candle on the eighth night. The other school of thought, and the one followed by global Judaism, is to add a candle each night until there are eight on the eighth night, thus adding to the light, making it brighter, not depleting it, making it darker. There is one additional candle for each night, plus a “leader” candle - the shamash - designated to light all the others.

This year it has been suggested that Jewish people either not light their menorahs or keep them hidden so as not to be seen from the outside in light of the war and the exponential rise in rabid Antisemitism (up 388 percent since October 7 - as per the ADL) around the globe. When the menorah is lit, it should be either in a doorway or on a windowsill so as to BE visible. 

In 2023 that tradition will be upheld once again. We will not be deterred by ignorance. In fact, there have been postings on social media that non-Jews also put a menorah or candles in their doorway or on their windowsill to demonstrate their support of Israel and their Jewish friends and neighbors. Let’s shine a brighter light to rid the world of the oldest hatred - Antisemitism, and create yet another Chanukah miracle. Wishing all a happy, healthy, and meaningful Festival of Lights with plenty of latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot  (jelly doughnuts), while praying for the miracle of the return of the remaining 137 hostages held by Hamas.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He last visited Israel in 2019 with his wife.

For proper Blessings for Chanukah, menorah, and candles, please visit: https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/5746657/jewish/Menorah-Blessings.htm 

Rally Against Antisemitism is Peaceful

Rally Against Antisemitism is Peaceful
Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
November 16, 2023

The oft-heard chants of “bring them home,” and “no cease fire,” that permeated the picture perfect Autumn air Tuesday in our nation’s capital presented a familiar tone conjuring up memories of another great gathering of the masses of G-d’s chosen people.

Myriad speeches given in support of an oppressed people simply wanting to live in peace; to live their lives without fear of intimidation, without fear of being silenced, without fear of being terrorized, and without fear of being slaughtered because we choose to live our lives freely as Jewish people around the world. Thousands of people carrying flags, banners, posters, and signs, then as now put forth that same message. The roughly 290,000 people who attended the rally against Antisemitism on Tuesday, November 14 did so peacefully, without incident.

Nearly 36 years ago, December 6, 1987, on a cold, bleak-looking, DC Sunday afternoon, about 250,000 people from around the globe, gathered in support of Soviet Jewry - a great concern for almost two million people trapped behind the Iron Curtain - refused permission to either live and worship as Jews, or leave the Soviet Union for the freedoms they yearned. Refuseniks, they were called in those days. 

“Those days,” like it occurred in ancient times. Perhaps to the multitude of young people rallying in Washington, DC on Tuesday, 1987 IS ancient times. That said, it warmed the heart verily to see such a throng of young people gathered to fight a seemingly never ending hate - the  vituperative evil of Antisemitism - prejudice against and/or hatred of Jews, simply because we are Jewish.

Jew hatred, in all its forms, verbal abuse, verbal and written tropes, mocking, bullying, threats via social media, physical threats, physical violence, vandalism, destruction of property and reputation, desecration of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, Jewish owned businesses and homes, as well as murder, are fears Jews face on a daily basis. These fears are not just faced in far away places, chants of “gas the Jews” at an Antisemitic march outside the Sydney (Australia) Opera House, for example, but throughout the United States. This is most prevalent on the nation’s college and university campuses.

Since the October 7 invasion by the terrorist group Hamas of Israel and their slaughter of more than 1,400 innocent Israeli civilians, Antisemitism in the United States has not just risen, but pole vaulted an astronomical 388 percent. In “normal times” the Jewish people are subjected to nearly 60 percent of all hate crimes perpetrated in the United States - 60 percent upon a people totaling 1.7 percent of the nation’s population. 

While the feckless Biden administration, feckless on so many levels, has given lip service to condemning Antisemitism it does so with the condemnation of Islamophobia with the very next breath. The two are not interchangeable, and acts of Antisemitism are six times more likely to occur than acts of Islamophobia.

The rally to support Israel and to bring home the more than 240 hostages of Israeli, American, Italian, Mexican, and a cadre of other nationalities that took place on November 14, just like the rally for Soviet Jewry in 1987, demonstrated the best of behaviors - peaceful rallying and chanting, sans violence, vandalism, graffiti, or arrests. The polar opposite has been the behaviors exhibited during the dozens and dozens of campus protests supporting Hamas, calling for the evisceration of Israel and the deaths of all Jews. Their rallying cry of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” calls for just that. 

This, along with false information still on the social media pages of members of the US Congress - Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) - who still have yet to condemn the decapitation of Israeli babies by Hamas. Jews rallying in DC chanted “bring them home,” regarding the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas - many women and children - babies as young as, now, 10 months, and even an elderly Holocaust survivor.

Meanwhile, Hamas, the Palestinians who elected them in 2006, with nary an election since, and the thousands of campus denizens are calling for barbarism and death. Jewish students from coast to coast are frightened - afraid to go to class, dining halls, or just be on campus, either alone or in groups. (https://sanfordspeaksout.blogspot.com/2023/11/jew-hating-like-its-1938.html)

There is a kind of irony between the 1987 rally, in which I participated proudly as a University of Maryland senior - a volunteer to help the tens of thousands of visitors to their nation’s capital traverse the DC streets and Metro stations around the Mall where the rallies then and now occurred, and that of this past Tuesday.

In 1987 we rallied in support of Soviet Jews not allowed to leave the USSR. In 2023, while rallying against virulent Antisemitism on campuses, and for Hamas-held hostages to be released - given their freedom, there are hundreds of thousands of Gazans also not permitted to leave Gaza - by Hamas, not by Israelis. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as is their history, gives warnings to Gazans - telling civilians to leave northern Gaza - while the IDF roots out Hamas terrorists and searches for hostages, both above ground, as well as underground in the labyrinth  of more than 300 miles of tunnels engineered by Hamas. This sophisticated system houses caches of munitions, armaments, AK-47s, under homes, hospitals, and mosques, as well as in hospitals, in schools, even in mosques, knowing Israelis won’t attack hospitals, schools, or mosques. These tunnels contain bathroom and kitchen facilities, sleeping quarters, and evidence that hostages have been or are still being held there. These tunnels even have a ventilation system strong enough to not asphyxiate terrorists who are burning victims alive.

It is Israeli troops helping Gazans flee Hamas. It is Israeli troops assisting with the humanitarian aid that, once they are gone, much of the aid will end up in the hands of Hamas, and not civilians.

Sadly, the supporters of Hamas, Palestinians, and so-called Palestine, are so radically indoctrinated with lies told by professors and the so-called mainstream media, their level of Antisemitic vitriol and violence stems from ignorance of epic proportions. Ignorance of real, true history about Israel, the Biblical, ancestral, historical homeland of the Jewish people. Ignorance of the facts that Israel is neither a colonizer nor an apartheid state. Ignorance of the fact that there was a cease fire on October 6, shattered by Hamas. And ignorance of the facts that if Israel were to lay down its weapons, Israel would cease to exist, but if Hamas set down their weapons, there would be peace.

Israel loves life and wants peace - witness the Abraham Accords during the Trump administration; while Hamas opposes peace, and worships death - witness their murderous behavior, or read their charter calling for the eradication of Israel and the deaths of the entirety of the Jewish people.

Peace and freedom - the rallying  cries of the 1987 rally, and the 2023 rally. Sadly, a difference between the two, while then Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush spoke at the 1987 rally, neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris would show their faces - either in person or via video from Air Force One. Biden chose Xi Jingping of the Chinese Communist Party over the Jewish people of the United States of America. Air Force One waits for the president, not the other way around. Had Biden or Harris opted to be there they would have been welcome. His lack of leadership (on this and so many key issues) sends a message loud and clear to the myriad college and university presidents - some of whom are Jewish - who have sat on their hands as Antisemitism runs rampant under their domain, while the slightest microaggression regarding pronouns et al, are punished with impunity. The time is now to step up, squash Antisemitism like the cockroach it is, and deliver a strong message that never again is NOW.

Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN. He last visited Israel with his wife in 2019.