So these are the signs of the times of Coronavirus.
Pictures telling us not to cough on Granny.
Cover your germy mouth!
Don’t get the older and more vulnerable amongst us sick.
I was in the elevator the other day, standing in the corner next to the elevator buttons.
Someone else–an older person–gets on with a big (double size) shopping cart.
He’s standing in the opposite back corner (kitty corner from me) with this huge cart between us.
Then he starts yelling at me, literally, to “get in the corner!”
Ah, I’m already in the opposite corner.
He’s huffing and puffing angry that he wants me to literally get up against both walls.
I was almost tempted to say something like maybe you should just get off and catch the next elevator Sir.
But I held my tongue, in part out of sympathy for these elderly people who are obviously really scared (and maybe rightfully so) of the Coronavirus.
Sometimes, I think to myself what if we were really hit at some point in the future with a very deadly bioweapon that was expressly designed to kill and to repulse any sort of countermeasures against it.
What if the fatality rate was 1/3 to 2/3 of the population like in the Middle Ages Bubonic Plague or even higher like 100% of anyone that gets infected from a military-grade, genetically modified virus (similar to effects from Ebola).
Maybe it’s not good to ask what ifs, but if we are really going to learn anything from this, then I think we need to extrapolate from the relatively minor now to the potential major down the road.
If you think we have hysteria, deaths, and $2.2 trillion U.S. impact now, this is just a glimpse of what could actually happen.
We need to seriously rethink our disaster preparedness and response–big time. 😉
SAR has had at least 5 alleged and/or convicted sexual abusers on their rolls or associated with them that we know about:
1. Stanley Rosenfeld (1970s-1980s)
2. Rabbi Sheldon Schwartz (1970s-2018)
3. Jane Doe, female staff member in High School (-2012)
4. Rabbi Jonathan Skolnick (2018-2019)
5. Plus the “Sauna Rabbi” from the Riverdale Jewish Center (~1986-2016)
In my opinion, SAR has become a safe haven for child sexual abusers as they have kept hiring the perverts. SAR is what they call an open school, and in their attempt to literally tear down the physical walls inside the school, they very likely have opened up the school to the child sexual abusers who use their openness physically, socially, and technically to enable and facilitate sexual abuse. Perhaps after all this, word is out on the street that SAR is the place for sexual abusers who go for easy access to students in an open school system with a history of lax enforcement. SAR has got to do a better job in its vetting process and in ongoing monitoring for inappropriate contact.
SAR’S NARCISSISTIC “RESPONSE” HANDLING AND AVOIDANCE OF RESPONSIBILITY
SAR’s reaction has been heavily focused on the public relations to buttress themselves and in essence their very strategic messaging has been over and over that “they’ve done everything right,” including from a Rabbi working for them for ~20-years that said self-servingly just that the other day for the Jewish Link NJ. However, from my perspective, the truth of the matter is that they have done virtually everything wrong.
From what I’ve seen and read, it’s more like 90% of SAR’s response has been about their “response.” rather than on expressing any contrition or regret for what has happened under their watch, rather than on introspection for where they keep going wrong, rather than on working to fundamentally understand how they keep on hiring pervs and getting fooled for so long, and rather than genuinely strategizing on what they can do better to protect the children before it happens again. Is their policy and training working if the latest Skolnick incident happened just a few years after the prior incident in the high school and while they were still investigating the Rosenfeld/Schwartz one in the middle school? SAR’s response that they have done everything right in responding and of course, patting themselves on the backis like a mortician praising themselves for a great job cleaning up the dead bodies that they themselves facilitated.
Further, why is everyone talking about SAR’s response rather than prevention? And why is no one talking about the victims? For example, why is no one talking about the poor 14-old boy from SAR that was allegedly exploited by Skolnick or the other 20-25 victims? SAR is conveniently bringing in their own self-serving investigators and “experts” (supposedly one of these is alleged to have asked for leniency for the child abuser in a prior child sexual abuse case). It certainly seems like they are doing everything but holding themselves accountable for their mistakes of judgement and process. Further, 1) why are they not cleaning house of any additional abusers that are still hiding in their ranks, and 2) starting with their leadership holding Rabbi Krauss accountable for the errors that were made with Skolnick’s hiring.
Moreover, rather than SAR taking responsibility, I’ve heard plenty of blaming the child victims from gaslighting pundits who in my opinion should absolutely have their licenses revoked. These reprehensible, morally vacant “child victim advocates” aren’t holding the abusers accountable, but rather blaming the child victims with insane causative conclusions that it is because the children weren’t empowered, assertiveness or strong enough that’s why they were sexually abused. Truly, this is the age-old fraud of telling the rape victim that it’s her felt that she was brutally gang raped because she didn’t yell loud enough or fight back.Make no mistake, a little child is not ever going to be assertiveness or strong enough to fight off a perverted grown adult who has been patiently planning and grooming their victims. In fact, that’s why they call them children! It’s highly unfortunate that these people don’t see what it’s like until perhaps G-d forbid they are the victims themselves. I hope G-d open’s people eyes so that positive change can finally be made and children don’t have to suffer anymore from this.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD
From their response, it is clear to many that for SAR this is about their image and reputation and not truly about Jewish education and a safe learning environment. Unfortunately, as long as SAR is more focused on protecting the institution of SAR and their jobs, rather than on protecting the kids in creating a safe learning and true Torah environment then nothing will really change for the better or safety of these children.
!This video is of an incredible opening statement by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Subcommittee Chairman on Oversight, Investigations, and Management on the topic–Cybersecurity Threats to the United States.Some of the highlights from his statement:- America’s computers are under attack and every American is at risk.
– The attacks are real, stealthy, persistent, and can devastate our nation.
– Cyber attacks occur at the speed of light, are global, can come from anywhere, and can penetrate our traditional defenses.
– In the event of a major cyber attack, what could we expect? Department off Defense networks collapsing, oil refinery fires, lethal clouds of gas from chemical plants, the financial systems collapsing with no idea of who owns what, pipeliness of natural gas exploding, trains and subways derailed, a nationwide blackout. This is not science fiction scenarios. (Adapted from Richard Clark, former Senior Advisor of Cyber Security)
– It is not a matter of if, but whena Cyber Pearl Harbor will occur. We have been fortunate [so far]. (Adapted from General Keith Alexander, Director of the NSA).
I believe we must address these threats and our vulnerabilities in at least five main ways:
1) Increase research and developmentfor new tools and techniques–both defensive and offensive–for fighting cyberwar.
2) Establish a regulatory frameworkwith meaningful incentives and disincentives to significantly tighten cybersecurity across our critical infrastructure.
3) Create a cybersecurity corpsof highly trained and experienced personnel with expertise in both the strategic and operational aspects of cybersecurity.
4) Prepare nationwide contingency plansfor the fallout of a cyberwar, if and when it should occur.
5) Create a clear policyfor preventing cyberattacks by taking preemptive action when their is a known threat as well as for responding with devastating force when attacks do occur.
With cyberwar, just as in conventional war, there is no way to guarantee we will not be attacked, but we must prepare with the same commitment and zeal–because the consequences can be just, if not more, deadly.
andyblumenthal 