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'Shut up, you are not special': Morning Joe rips GOP lawmakers whining they can't carry guns into Capitol
January 22, 2021
On Friday morning, "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough dropped the hammer on Republican lawmakers who have been attempting to carry firearms onto the floor of the House just weeks after far-right extremists stormed the Capitol at Donald Trump's urging, with the MSNBC host exclaiming, "Who the hell do they think they are?"
Reacting to a report that Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) was stopped by Capitol police after he was spotted with a gun on his hip as he tried to access the House floor to cast a vote, Scarborough noted the number of GOP lawmakers who are balking at walking through metal detectors -- a common occurrence for anyone who wants to fly.
<p>"Really, the stupidity is just extraordinary," the MSNBC host began. "By the way, I'm speaking as somebody who has done this, somebody who made thousands and thousands of votes. I've been there and I voted. As long as Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump aren't trying to get Americans to kill Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence and commit insurrection against the United States of America."</p><p>"For this guy and for others to think they're going to be able to carry a gun onto the House floor when we have Republican members of Congress that have had fund-raising letters that show pictures of AOC [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other Democrats while the Republican is holding an AR-15, saying I'm coming to target these women or they better watch out, or something along those lines -- who the hell would be comfortable with anybody having a gun on the house floor?" he exclaimed.</p><p>"There are Democrats who can say that they have had their life threatened or they have reason to believe that they are being targeted by somebody carrying an AR-15 and sending it around saying I'm coming to get these members of Congress," he later added. "So please, please stop your whining, start getting wanded, and go in and just vote and shut up, you're not special!"</p><p>Watch below:</p><p><br/></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
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Sen. Ossoff was sworn in on pioneering Atlanta rabbi’s Bible – a nod to historic role of American Jews in civil rights struggle
January 22, 2021
The first Jewish senator in Georgia history, Jon Ossoff, was sworn in on Jan. 20, on what his office described in a tweet as a “Hebrew scripture that belonged to historic Atlanta Rabbi Jacob Rothschild."
It left many wondering what exactly the Hebrew scripture meant, and what the relevance was of using this particular copy.
<p>The term “Hebrew scripture" usually refers to the 24 books that Christians denominate as the Old Testament. These biblical books, originally written in Hebrew, are ordered differently in Judaism and Christianity.</p><p>In Ossoff's case, the volume selected was a well-thumbed copy of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which Jews known as the Torah, edited with commentary by the American-educated former <a href="https://www.jewishideas.org/article/bridge-across-tigris-chief-rabbi-joseph-herman-hertz">Chief Rabbi of Britain Joseph H. Hertz</a>. That, for many years, <a href="https://jewishaction.com/jewish-world/history/the-story-of-the-synagogue-chumash/">was the edition</a> of the Torah found in most American synagogues and temples. </p><p>As a <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/near-eastern-judaic/people/faculty/sarna.html">scholar of American Jewish history</a>, I recognize that in emphasizing the book's tie to Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild, Ossoff appeared to be making a statement about Black-Jewish relations – <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/01/04/georgia-black-jewish-campaign-is-the-latest-chapter-in-an-old-story-warnock-ossoff/">a central theme in his campaign</a> and a signal of his ties to Congressman John R. Lewis, his mentor, as well as Rev. Raphael Warnock, his fellow incoming Georgia senator. </p><h2>A Jewish translation of Scripture</h2><p>First, the selection of the Bible upon which Jon Ossoff was sworn deserves attention. This Hebrew-English text employs the <a href="https://biblehub.com/jps/">1917 translation</a> produced by the Jewish Publication Society, then located in Philadelphia. </p><p>It is a distinctive Jewish translation of scripture. Though modeled on the majestic language and cadence of the famous <a href="https://time.com/4821911/king-james-bible-history/">King James Bible</a>, authorized by the Church of England and first published in 1611, it nevertheless introduced many new translations from the original Hebrew based on updated scholarship and longstanding Jewish interpretive traditions. </p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The King James Bible" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380045/original/file-20210121-15-1xypp4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"/></a></p><p> The first King James Bible.</p><p> <a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1612_First_Quarto_of_King_James_Bible.jpg">Jeremylinvip/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></p><p>“It was a Bible translation to which American Jews could point with pride as the creation of the Jewish consciousness on a par with similar products of the Catholic and Protestant churches," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/21/archives/dr-abraham-a-neuman-jewish-historian-dies.html">historian Abraham Neuman</a> <a href="http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1940_1941_3_SpecialArticles.pdf">observed</a> in 1940. “To the Jews it presented a Bible which combined the spirit of Jewish tradition with the results of biblical scholarship, ancient, medieval and modern. To the non-Jews it opened the gateway of Jewish tradition in the interpretation of the Word of God," he noted. </p><p>Thanks to the 1917 translation, American Jews <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-bible-with-and-without-jesus-amy-jill-levinemarc-zvi-brettler?variant=32117339717666">no longer had to depend on other</a> translations to understand “their Bible" – they now had a Bible translation of their own.</p><p>Ossoff was making a profoundly Jewish statement in selecting the volume on which he was sworn in. Earlier, President Biden made a similar Catholic statement by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/bible-inauguration-biden.html">being sworn in on a Celtic Bible</a> featuring the Catholic <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/rhe/">Douay-Rheims</a> translation, published in the 17th century to <a href="http://www.tcseagles.org/faculty/nchilds/editoruploads/files/Timeline_of_Bible_Translation_History.pdf">uphold Catholic tradition</a> in the face of the Protestant Reformation. </p><h2>Atlanta's rabbi</h2><p>The book itself belonged to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild</a>, who served from 1946 until his death in 1973 as the rabbi of Atlanta's oldest and most prominent Reform congregation, Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, known as “<a href="https://www.atlantaga.gov/government/departments/city-planning/office-of-design/urban-design-commission/the-temple-hebrew-benevolent-congregation">The Temple</a>." </p><p>As an outspoken proponent of civil rights, he supported school desegregation; invited Black clergy like <a href="https://www.mmuf.org/about/dr-benjamin-e-mays">Benjamin E. Mays</a>, president of Morehouse College, to speak to his congregants; and <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0">wrote</a> that Jews bore a special responsibility “to erase inequality." </p><p>To punish Rothschild and as a warning to others, white supremacist members of The Confederate Underground, a collective name for various right-wing extremist organizations in the 1950s, on Oct. 12, 1958, bombed The Temple, <a href="http://melissafaygreene.com/book/the-temple-bombing/">in a blast that was reportedly felt for miles around</a>. </p><p>Until the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html">mass shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue</a> almost exactly 60 years later, on Oct. 27, 2018, the temple bombing was the most devastating attack in history on an American synagogue. Rothschild refused to be frightened off and remained at The Temple's helm.</p><p> <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Rabbi Jacob Rothschild and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380039/original/file-20210121-13-dwvqqj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w"/></a></p><p> Rabbi Jacob Rothschild with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta on Jan. 28, 1965.</p><p> <a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MLK/b6c8bdddf486441da3ce8079c7dc7d12/photo?Query=Rabbi%20Jacob%20Rothschild&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=2&currentItemNo=1">AP Photo</a></p><p>In the 1960s, Rabbi Rothschild met Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who had <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/ebenezer-baptist-church-atlanta-georgia">joined his father as co-pastor</a> of Ebenezer Baptist Church. The Rothschilds and the Kings became friends, and, in 1963, Rothschild introduced King when he spoke before a packed audience of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, known today as the <a href="https://urj.org/">Union for Reform Judaism</a>, at its biennial gathering. </p><p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation's email newsletter</a>.]</p><p>Later, he played a central role in organizing a large Atlanta dinner honoring King for winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. When King was assassinated in 1968, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">Rabbi Rothschild delivered the eulogy</a> at the city-wide service in Atlanta in his memory. </p><h2>Rothschild's message and Ossoff's</h2><p>Citing the same biblical passages heard at President Biden's inauguration, Rothschild <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">called for America to become</a> “a land where a man does not lift up sword against his neighbor, but where each sits under his own vine and under his own fig tree and there is none to make him afraid."</p><p>In deciding to be sworn in on the “Hebrew scripture" that belonged to Rabbi Rothschild, Senator Ossoff gestures back to this relationship that once brought Black and Jewish Americans together in a common quest. </p><p>In this gesture, he is delivering the same message as King's widow, Coretta Scott King, did in 1984, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Voice.html?id=a4-8rmTtzO0C">when she wrote</a> that the story of Rabbi Rothschild serves as “an inspiring story of commitment and brotherhood during an exciting, creative period of American history."<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153757/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1"/></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jonathan-d-sarna-934797">Jonathan D. Sarna</a>, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/brandeis-university-1308">Brandeis University</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sen-ossoff-was-sworn-in-on-pioneering-atlanta-rabbis-bible-a-nod-to-historic-role-of-american-jews-in-civil-rights-struggle-153757">original article</a>.</p>
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Aides of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny faced possible fines and prison time on Friday as police vowed to crack down on opposition protests this weekend.
His allies are planning to hold demonstrations on Saturday in dozens of cities in support of the Kremlin critic, who was arrested and jailed on his return to Russia following a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent.
<p>"Attempts to hold unsanctioned public events, as well as any provocative actions on the part of their participants, will be regarded as a threat to public order and immediately suppressed," Moscow police said on Friday.</p><p>Navalny's associates urged Russians to take to the streets despite official pressure and promised financial help to protesters given fines on Saturday.</p><p>"Putin is doing everything to intimidate you," Ivan Zhdanov, the head of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on Facebook.</p><p>Several close Navalny associates, including prominent activist Lyubov Sobol and his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, were detained late on Thursday for calling on Russians to join the demonstrations and faced hefty fines and short jail stints.</p><p>Sobol, 33, is accused of repeatedly violating legislation on public gatherings, which carries a maximum fine of up to 300,000 rubles ($4,000), her lawyer Vladimir Voronin told AFP.</p><p>Sobol, who has a small child, is not likely to be given jail time on Friday, Voronin said.</p><p>But he cautioned that if she is found guilty, authorities could later open a criminal probe against her.</p><p>- 'Not about politics' -</p><p>Yarmysh, a 31-year-old Navalny spokeswoman who spent the night in jail, is accused of violating legislation on public gatherings and could be detained for 10 days, her lawyer Veronika Polyakova told AFP.</p><p>A number of Navalny allies were also detained in the regions, including the coordinator for the opposition politician's offices in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok and a volunteer in the Western exclave of Kaliningrad.</p><p>Both were jailed for three days.</p><p>Prosecutors have warned Russians against taking to the streets during the coronavirus pandemic, while the state communications watchdog cautioned social media platforms including video app TikTok against encouraging minors to participate in the rallies.</p><p>Last week Navalny, 44, returned to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from a poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent in an attack he blamed on Russian security services and President Vladimir Putin.</p><p>After his arrest his team released an investigation into an opulent Black Sea property allegedly owned by Putin.</p><p>The two-hour video report had been viewed more than 53 million times since its release on Tuesday, becoming the Kremlin critic's most-watched YouTube investigation.</p><p>Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday once again denied that the mansion belonged to Putin, calling Navalny's probe "lies."</p><p>"Putin has nothing to do with this," Peskov said, adding that the mansion -- which the report claimed is being protected by the FSB domestic intelligence -- might belong to a businessman.</p><p>Following Navalny's arrest and latest graft report, many Russians took to social media -- including TikTok, a video app popular among teens, and even dating app Tinder -- to voice support and urge a large turnout on Saturday.</p><p>A number of public figures -- including those who usually steer clear of politics -- have spoken out in support of the jailed opposition figure.</p><p>Monetochka, a 22-year-old pop star, called for Navalny to be released in a post on Instagram.</p><p>"This is not about politics but about civil society and justice," she said.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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