ABBREVIATED COLUMN — I took a few days off recently and to be honest there wasn’t a lot of Listening Post material waiting for me. So this week, please enjoy a few national tidbits.
MY NEW FAVORITE QUOTE — I was watching a television show recently with absolutely no Jewish relevance when I heard this quote, “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” It is widely attributed to Mark Twain, who is also not Jewish. But the quote seems to have a Jewish flavor to me, and I think I’ll keep it in my memory bank.
(Wikipedia Commons.)
FIRST JEWISH GUIDE TO U.S. POLITICS (JNS) — The American Jewish Congress is launching a one-of-a-kind “Jewish Guide to U.S. Politics,” a platform that summarizes the positions and voting records of the 2020 presidential candidates and all U.S. senators, on relevant facts to ground American Jews and pro-Israel voters.
The guide will continuously update as events unfold in the run-up to the 2020 elections. Organization president Jack Rosen said it is all about civic engagement and education.
“We are at a point in our history where maximum information can make maximum impact on the way we vote, as individuals, and as members of the Jewish community,” he said. “We are also letting our politicians know we are paying attention to what they do, what they say and how they vote on the issues that are most pressing to us today.”
“The Jewish Guide to U.S. Politics” will allow Americans to examine the voting records, executive actions and public statements made by U.S. senators, House members and presidential candidates, both Republican and Democrat, on issues important to members of the Jewish community and its allies.
To access the guide, visit jewishpoliticalguide.com.
NEW YORK ENACTS LAW ENDING RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS FOR IMMUNIZATIONS (JNS) — Amid a rampant measles outbreak, New York enacted a law on June 13 ending religious exemptions for vaccinations.
The State Assembly passed the bill 77-53, while the State Senate tally was 36-26. Gov. Andrew Cuomo immediately signed it.
The only other states that don’t allow such exemptions are Arizona, California, Maine, Mississippi and West Virginia.
The current measles outbreak in the United States is the worst in more than 25 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the City of New York has shuttered 10 Orthodox Jewish school in the city, nine of them in Brooklyn with the other one in Queens, due to failure to vaccinate students.
Since September 2018, 588 confirmed cases have been reported in New York City, which has ordered the vaccination of all Williamsburg and Borough Park residents under the age of 19.
Assemblyman Michael Montesano, a Long Island Republican, framed the bill as “an attack on people’s First Amendment rights,” saying, “It’s still the individual parent, who is raising this child, that has the fundamental right to decide what happens with their child in all facets of their life.”
However, Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, a Rockland County Democrat, said prior to voting in favor of the legislation, “Our job is not just to react to epidemics. Our job as legislators is to prevent epidemics.”