@irreplaceable-spark / irreplaceable-spark.tumblr.com
People aren’t talking about it, but today (2/20/17) there was another round of bomb threats to JCCs. For people who don’t know, Jewish Community Centers largely serve as daycares during the hours these threats are being called in. With the eleven centers threatened today, it makes 69 threats to 54 centers in 27 states since the start of the year.
Also, hundreds of Jewish graves in St. Louis were vandalized today.
June 17, 1939
On May 13, 1939, the SS St. Louis left Hamburg, Germany with 938 passengers on board, almost all of whom were Jewish refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany. The ship was bound for Havana, Cuba. Most of the passengers had landing permits for Havana that they had purchased in Germany. They planned to remain in Cuba and wait for an opportunity to be admitted into the United States.
When the St. Louis arrived in Havana on May 27th, Cuban officials denied entry to all but twenty-eight passengers. Unbeknownst to the passengers on the St. Louis, in early May Cuban officials had changed the requirements for entry in response to anti-Semitic pressure. Thus, the transit visas held by the Jewish refugees were no longer valid. Despite efforts by the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to negotiate with the Cuban government, the ship was forced to leave Havana on June 2 with 910 passengers still on board. One refugee on the ship committed suicide.
The ship did not immediately return to Hamburg. It anchored twelve miles from the coast of Havana as the JDC and other American Jewish organizations tried to negotiate admission of the refugees to the United States. A telegram from the ship’s passengers to President Roosevelt was not answered. Immigration quotas established in 1924 permitted only 27,370 immigrants in total from Austria-Germany in 1939, and the State Department refused to alter this policy. The story of the St. Louis attracted a lot of attention in the American press. A Washington Post editorial on June 3, 1939 questioned, “Clearly there should be some place where these victims of twentieth century persecution can find at least a temporary haven?”
After lingering off the coast of Florida for several days, the ship began its return to Europe on June 6. While the ship was en route, the JDC unsuccessfully negotiated with the governments of Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and France for the admission of the refugees. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 254 of the passengers were later murdered in the Holocaust.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has an interactive exhibit about the Voyage of the St. Louis that can be found here.
If the EPA says “it’s not a problem,” it probably is a problem. Their track record for this year alone is shit, with spilling waste in two separate rivers, so I wouldn’t trust any statement they release. The fact that an underground landfill fire is only a quarter of a mile away should from radioactive waste should concern everyone in the nearby area.
Baltimore–Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D)
Chicago–Rahm Emanuel (D)
Milwaukee–Tom Barrett (D)
New Orleans–Mitch Landrieu (D)
St. Louis–Francis G. Slay (D)
What do all 5 of these major cities have in common? Democratic Mayors. That’s right; all these Mayors are pro-gun control, anti-second amendment. And yet, they have some of the highest crime rates in the nation. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee, people. Cities that are pro-gun control have higher murder rates than cities that don’t.
Wow. What an upstanding role model for young kids to emulate. When you get mad at someone, by all means rush them and try to spit on them. That’s a for sure way to stop violence and solve a problem (sarcasm).
