Dr. Mitch Halpern

Musings from a Stuy, Columbia and Berkeley grad. A Common-Sensetrist who doesn't take troll bait. I’m from Brooklyn and Rockaway. Humor is good; humor works.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@RachelBitecofer IMHO MAGA is the lunatic far right and DSA is the lunatic far left. If Newtonian physics applied to politics they would cancel but in our system it is possible for the extremes to gain control. What we need but won’t get is a center left/center right Party for the rest of us.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@BriannaWu Dead Gaza civilians are a tragedy but not a war crime if their own government uses them as human shields for its military infrastructure. By de facto turning Gaza into one huge military base, Hamas is actually responsible for Gaza civilian deaths.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@Acosta Must have been leakers on his home Planet Remulac

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@EverIntrigued Some folks in the Dem Party hierarchy have “calculated” that the Party is better off alienating Jews while supporting leftist antisemites. IMHO there ultimately needs to be a new party consisting of the vast center left-center right majority. Marginalize both MAGA and the DSA.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@lackboys3 Ah yes! That bastion of satire “The Onion” once published a collection of fake newspaper front pages around famous world events. Every time there was an article about a war involving France, the authors would insert “France surrenders after valiant 10 minute struggle”.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@LucasSa56947288 4 K U

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@harrisonjaime Jaime, I understand the sentiment, but why must Jews such as myself be called on again and again to sacrifice our homeland and perhaps our ethnicity for the sake of “the greater good”. Why doesn’t the greater good include the end of antisemitism?

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

And everyone loves Hammie

[Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 @RachelBitecofer]

Hammie loves fresh sheets

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@RachelBitecofer And everyone loves Hammie!

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@DeanObeidallah In addition, I might consider calling on the National Guard and State Police to protect the polls from ICE et al

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@ishapiro Brooklyn should secede from NYC and reparations given to people with direct ancestral ties

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@gtconway3d Pepto Bismol consumption skyrockets in DC. News at 11!

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@MichalSabra And therein lies perhaps the most intractable obstacle to peace: Overcoming the mindset of generations of Palestinians who have been radicalized to believe that the ultimate goal in life is to kill as many Jews as possible.

[Wolfahontas 🇮🇱 @Wolfahontas]

WHEN WILL ENOUGH BE ENOUGH? 🥲

I am angry. I am heartbroken. And honestly, I am exhausted.

Adam Brody has now said he thinks Israel is committing “genocide” and that he wants “a free Palestine.”

And I keep asking myself:

Have you been to Israel?
Have you visited the communities destroyed on October 7?
Have you sat with survivors?
Have you met the families of the hostages?
Have you stood at the Nova festival site?
Have you actually learned what happened that day?

Because today, more than 6,000 scholars, historians, legal experts, military experts and other prominent figures have signed an open letter rejecting the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Among those named are Niall Ferguson, Benny Morris, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Deborah Lipstadt, Dina Porat, Judea Pearl and John Spencer.

That does not mean everyone must agree with them.

But it does mean that “genocide” is a deeply disputed legal and factual characterization — not a slogan that should simply be repeated as though there is no serious debate.

And here is something else I find deeply uncomfortable.

Adam Brody previously spoke about how difficult and sensitive this period was for Jewish people and described Nobody Wants This as a safe and celebratory space for the Jewish community.

Now, just before the return of the show, he is publicly using the word “genocide” and calling for “a free Palestine.”

I am NOT calling for anyone to boycott his show.

I loved his work. I have watched his programmes. That is precisely why this is heartbreaking for me.

But am I allowed to ask whether the timing could have something to do with protecting the show from criticism or boycott pressure?

Yes, I am.

I am asking a question — I am not claiming to know his private intentions.

Because celebrities know that words have consequences.

And while they make statements from the safety of their platforms, Jewish communities around the world are facing an atmosphere where antisemitism is becoming increasingly frightening.

And this is what I cannot stop thinking about:

WHAT ABOUT THE JEWISH CHILDREN? 🥲

The young Jewish people growing up seeing antisemitism on their streets.

The teenagers wondering whether it is safe to wear a Star of David.

The children hearing adults talk about Israel and Jews as though an entire people can be blamed for everything.

The families wondering whether their children will be safe simply because they are Jewish.

This is not a political game to them.
This is their life.

So before another celebrity repeats the word “genocide”, before another slogan is shouted, before another Jewish person is told that Israel — the Jewish state — is uniquely evil:

PLEASE LEARN.

Learn October 7.

Learn Jewish history.

Learn what happened to the hostages.

Listen to Israeli survivors.

Listen to Jewish families.

Visit Israel if you can.

And then make your argument.

You don’t have to agree with me.

You don’t have to support every decision of the Israeli government.

But please don’t erase Jewish suffering while claiming to care about humanity.

I am a Jewish woman and a mother, and I am thinking about the next generation.

I want Jewish children to grow up without fear.

I want Palestinian children to grow up without fear too.

And I want the truth — ALL OF IT — to matter.

Remember October 7.
Remember the victims.
Remember the hostages.
Stand against antisemitism.

🇮🇱✡️ AM YISRAEL CHAI.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@MollyJongFast The Big Tent concept worked for the Dems when they could generate huge House majorities that could absorb a few renegade here and there. In this era of narrow majorities (remains to be seen what happens in Nov) the Big Tent becomes a Big Headache

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@RachelBitecofer Yeah, my grad school Alma Mater, Cal, also gets no respect in either FB or MBB. Poll voters probably got tired of appropriately ranking them only to have them fold in a couple of weeks.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@yuhline 2/ But the admitted Asian cohort today consists to a large extent of students from economically disadvantaged families. So clearly family income is not the whole story.

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@yuhline I agree 100% that we need everything you cite. However education outcomes appear to evade easy analysis. For example I graduated from Stuyvesant in the mid 70s and we had a much higher proportion of black and Hispanic students than Stuy admits today./1

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@mindys4biden Crime families are not real families

[Dr. Mitch Halpern @mbhalpern]

@ArynneWexler Yep, nothing says glamor like burquas and beheadings