The Following Can All Be True

With the War in Gaza continuing to unfold over the past several months, I've seen a number of half-truths from a number of friends and erstwhile allies, and so I thought we should go over a few things that are all true. 

Israel is Essential to the Survival of the Jewish People: Before we do just about anything here, we need to recognize that a Jewish state is essential for Jewish survival. The history of Judaism after the Diaspora is one continuous cycle of Jews finding a religiously tolerant state, moving there, working their asses off to make the state work, and then for a leader or leaders to up and decide that the Jews are not welcome. Usually, a genocide then occurs. This is what happened in Egypt, Spain, England, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, France, and just about everywhere else post-Diaspora. 

Now, granted, some of the reprisals, while not entirely justified, were wholly predictable (rebellions against the Assyrians and Romans), but those are exceptions. Usually, the pattern follows what happened in Germany - Jews either emigrated into Germany, or were absorbed when Germany took parts of Poland (Poland was a religiously tolerant kingdom). Despite gross anti-Semitism, the most patriotic Germans were often Jewish. In World War 1, German Jews were more likely to volunteer to serve in the army, more likely to perform acts of bravery while in the army, and were more likely to be wounded in the line of duty than the average non-Jewish German. Despite that, the German High Command blamed the Jews for the loss in World War I, which Hitler built upon, leading to the Holocaust - one of many genocides attempted on the Jews over their history.

The way to alleviate the cycle, or prevent it from happening is to give Jews a place to run when shit starts to hit the fan. As much as I'd like that to be the United States, history suggests that we cannot be counted on in the long-term. So, Israel it is.

The Palestinians Have Been Getting the Shit End of the Stick: While Israel is absolutely necessary, we need to acknowledge the fact that people were living in the area we call Israel today when Israel was created. At the time of Israel's creation, these people would probably have referred to themselves as Arabs. But in the past 70 years of struggle, these people have a new identity and nation - Palestine. Whether that nation predated the creation of Israel or not is beside the point, these people, the Palestinians, who lost land and property when Israel was created, and who continue to lose land today, are more or less fucked. Had the powers that be (the US and Britain) started compensating Palestinians for the loss of land, we would probably be in a better situation, but that's beside the point as well. 

What we had going into 2024, particularly in the Gaza Strip, were millions of people crammed into a tiny strip of land forced to live in refugee camps. Most Gazans, in fact, lived in refugee camps, as did their parents and their grandparents. It's a fucking hellhole. I once talked with an Uber driver who had just left Gaza (this was maybe in 2016, I have no idea how he got out), and when I asked him about being there, he just cried in front of a stranger. It's that bad. And it's the American/British fuckup at the start that made it this bad (particularly the British, who controlled the area post WW1).

Hamas is a Terrorist Organization and Everyone Involved in the October 7 Attacks Deserves a Long, Slow Death: One reason Gazans have had it so rough is Hamas. Hamas managed to win an election in Gaza about 20 years ago (the locals were giving a hearty fuck-you to the PLA), and has refused to allow any elections since. As Israel has tightened the noose around Hamas, it is the people living in Gaza who were choking. But because of that noose, Hamas was becoming more and more irrelevant in Middle East politics, and so they hatched a plan, leading to the deaths of 1,500 Israeli civilians (and these were gruesome deaths). The goal of these attacks was not the downfall of Israel, it was to encourage the Israeli government to perpetuate a massacre in Gaza. That's why they killed as many as they did, and why they took the time to kill in gruesome ways - Hamas wanted Israel to scream for vengeance. The reason is that the Israelis went in hard enough, the carnage would make Israel an international pariah. 

The Israeli Government, Lead By Bibi Netanyahu was More Than Happy to Massacre Civilians in Gaza: For years now, various elements of Netanyahu's government have described Palestinians as subhuman, vermin, or worse, while encouraging Israelis in the West Bank to harass and terrorize the Palestinians off their land. Netanyahu, in fact, rejects the very idea of a two-state solution (the creation of a Palestinian state to exist next to Israel), and simply favors the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. So, when the Hamas struck, the Israeli government was more than happy to return the favor.

Of course, there's a bit more to the story - the Israeli government completely and utterly fucked up, which lead to the October 7 attacks. In order to support the various Israeli settlers in their harassment campaigns, the Israeli government, despite getting clear intelligence that Hamas was up to something, pulled troops away from Gaza and into the West Bank. Hamas recognized the lack of forces in Gaza, and struck. So, the only way for Netanyahu - who, by the way, is not in prison for corruption only because he is Prime Minister - to try to maintain power was to come down hard on Gaza. Oh, and since everyone hates his ass right now, the only way to stay in power is to prolong the crisis and prevent any elections from taking place. This is, of course, an excellent example of why you don't put someone in power who needs to stay in power to avoid prison.

The Israeli Government is Absolutely Massacring Civilians in Gaza: Since the October 7 attacks, at least 33,899 Gazans have been killed. Israel has bombed hospitals. It has bombed areas after it told Gazan civilians to go there to be safe from bombing. Mass graves have been found in areas the IDF has raided. While the goal of these attacks is to get at Hamas, Hamas has every strategic incentive to hide among the civilian population, and Netanyahu just doesn't fucking care. Nor does his government. To claim otherwise is just silly. Hamas and the Likud are walking hand in hand in this horror. Heck, there's even evidence that some IDF members been sexually assaulting Gazans, just like Hamas did to the Israel civilians on October 7. 

American Jews Have Nothing To Do With the Massacre in Gaza: It's rather the opposite. In the eyes of AIPAC, and coming straight from the mouth of Netanyahu (who is a complete shit), "the greatest threat to Israel is the American Jewry." I once got to overhear a lobbyist from AIPAC speak with a donor, and I shit you not, that is a direct quote from him. Those were words that I will never forget. But the reasoning is simple - American Jews are looking at the situation from the same perspective as everyone else, and start clamoring for reforms.  

But this is also a time to remind everyone that "the Jews" are not a monolith. Fuck, even in Israel, they aren't a monolith. There are literally dozens of political parties and factions within Israel. To think that the American Jewry have anything to do with the slaughter in Gaza is ridiculous. In fact, it's guys like Bernie Sanders who have been calling for the removal of all American support for Israel. 

On the other hand, American Evangelicals, the sort who HAVE been supportive of Netanyahu over the years (and have "supported Israel" in the eyes of AIPAC), are much more likely to be supportive of this massacre than any Jew. So knock off the Anti-Semitism.

Banning or Arresting College Students Protesting the Massacre of Gazans is Stupid and Unproductive: I realize that it's been a long time since anyone has been in college, but people protest shit in college all the fucking time. Most of those protests consist of 20 people and are easily ignored. (Quick anecdote: when I was in college, I joined a protest against the Chinese treatment of the Tibetan people. It was utterly pathetic, as demonstrations go, but the Chinese President who was visiting Colonial Williamsburg, changed his route to avoid us.) But the moment that a protest gets treated with anything other than complete and utter apathy by college administrators, is the moment that it grows exponentially. Worse yet, administrators are not just paying attention, but are using the police to break up demonstrations, they're cancelling graduation ceremonies to prevent Muslim valedictorians from speaking, and basically waving every red flag imaginable. Now it's a fucking cause, you dipshits.

More than a few Assholes Have Used the Protests to Espouse their Anti-Semitic Views: With all that was said above, it is absolutely true that individual protestors and, in some case protest leaders, are crossing the line from "the Israel government suck" into "all Jews are evil." While I would tend to give Palestinian students a pass right now - they're probably terrified about their families back home and aren't thinking straight - the fact that others are more than willing to fall into the anti-Semitic trope of the Jewish monolith, or that Jews control the world, etc., is more than a bit troubling. Part of the reason why I'm writing this is to point out who the bad guys are here: Hamas and the Israeli government. And I think most protesters know this, and that's the message they're trying to send. Unfortunately, that can be the kind of subtle message that tends to get drowned out in a protest.

And, of course, the fact that college presidents are now cracking down on protests also lends itself to the idea of "Jewish control of the world." So, again, thanks for nothing adminstrators.

So, let's be clear - since October 7, we have had 2 bad actors in the Middle East: Gaza and the Israeli government lead by Netanyahu. There may be other bad actors, but those are the main ones. We need to acknowledge this, and then act accordingly. And for the love of God, can we stop the bullshit? 

Screaming Into the Void - Thoughts on the Ohtani Mess

Something interesting happened in baseball that doesn't have to do with play on the field. Not the Athletics complete descent into madness (maybe I'll post about that later), not the new uniforms (see through pants!), but the ongoing saga of Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. (If you know baseball, skid down to the 6th paragraph, as I'm am just giving background).

For those of you who don't know who Shohei Ohtani is, he's essentially the Japanese reincarnation of Babe Ruth. Like Ruth, Ohtani is a pitcher who can hit. In baseball, this is so rare (because pitching itself is a craft that requires hours of preparation and work that it leaves little time to do the work to hit major league pitching), that pitchers are no longer required to go to the plate and hit. Rather, both leagues now use a designated hitter to hit for the pitcher. 

And Ohtani isn't just a pitcher who can hit. He's a pitcher with ace-level stuff, and a hitter who can hit 50-60 home runs per year. In comparison, Babe Ruth might have been a better hitter, but Ohtani is a better pitcher than Ruth. Obviously, being compared to one of the legends of the sport seems extreme, but it is completely apt here. Moreover, unlike Ruth, Ohtani actually takes care of himself. 

So, when it came to free agency last year, it was no surprise that Ohtani signed an enormous contract - 10 years, $700 million. While baseball salaries are huge, no one else is anywhere near $50 million per year, much less $70 million per year. But for a guy like Ohtani, the number, while huge, seems about right. He's an ace pitcher who hits. In the history of MLB - which is a long history, mind you - there's only one other player that compares (Babe Ruth, in case you weren't paying attention).

But after the signing, a lot of weirdness came out. First, most of the money in the contract is deferred, with Ohtani being paid over the course of 30 years, not just 10. This is weird because the team that signed him (the Dodgers) are more than able to pay the money to him without deferment. Apparently, Ohtani requested the money to be deferred, which may be a tax dodge. And certainly the California Franchise Tax Board thinks so. 

Second, Ohtani announced that he was married. Given Ohtani's status as a huge celebrity in Japan (he reportedly makes over $50 million in endorsements annually in Japan), the fact that Ohtani was even dating anyone was a shock, much less being married.

Third, and the whole point of this post, Ohtani got connected to a gambling scandal. Specifically, an illegal bookmaking operation in Orange County who was under investigation by the FBI, received money from Ohtani's banking account, which violates federal law. The initial report was that Ohtani made those payments to the bookie at the request of his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. Actually, at the behest of the interpreter for the Los Angeles Dodger, as Mizuhara was their employee. This report was based on the statements made on Ohtani's behalf by CAA, Ohtani's sports agent.

The three problems with that statement is (1) if it was true, Ohtani would have violated federal law; (2) it looks like Ohtani used Mizuhara to place bets on his behalf to avoid MLB's prohibition on gambling; and (3) it was completely, and utterly false.

We now know that Mizuhara - who was Ohtani's friend, and more or less his gateway to the English speaking world - stole over $16 MILLION from Ohtani to cover his extensive gambling debts. Mizuhara was apparently over $40 million in debt, which he racked up in 2-4 years. He did this by literally impersonating Ohtani over the phone, and hacking Ohtani's bank application (reportedly changing the settings so Ohtani wouldn't be notified about any withdrawals from his account). Further, the reason why the initial statement was made that Ohtani paid this money to cover for Mizuhara was because Ohtani's agent ONLY TALKED TO MIZUHARA about this, and took Mizuhara at his word.

While some people are talking about Ohtani and gambling, I would like to point out one thing that's stuck in my craw since this went down: CAA RELIED ON MIZUHARA FOR ALL COMMUNICATIONS WITH OHTANI. This is the same guy who, according to the FBI (and who's about to plead guilty), REGULARLY LIED TO OHTANI ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE WERE SAYING TO HIM IN ENGLISH. Now, this is bad, in and of itself, obviously, but the bulk of these conversations occurred WHILE OHTANI WAS NEGOTIATING THE LARGEST FREE AGENT DEAL IN MLB HISTORY.

In other words, we have no idea if Ohtani actually intended on signing with the Dodgers or if he was steered there by Mizuhara - who subsequently was hired by the Dodgers at an inflated salary. We have no idea if the deferment was Ohtani's idea, or if it was Mizuhara's guilty conscience (if there is no money to steal, he can't steal it). Now granted, this issue is not nearly as sexy as gambling, but this is the sort of thing that keeps attorneys up at night. The sole use of Mizuhara for communications with Ohtani could very well be deemed malpractice. It could potentially be grounds for Ohtani to void his contract with the Dodgers. Hell, is Ohtani's contract with CAA even valid, or did Ohtani keep them on because Mizuhara told him to (rather than go to an agency that had Japanese speakers on staff)?

For those of you in the media, this is the story, not gambling. I am 1000% sure that Ohtani's lawyers (who just came onto the scene here) is taking a close look at any contract where Mizuhara took part as the negotiator. But in the meantime, journalists, LOOK INTO THE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WHERE MIZUHARA WAS THE INTERPRETER! Just because Mizuhara is pleading guilty does not mean this story ends.