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On Monday, Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass received a shaming from his moral betters at the paper. First, editor-in-chief Colin McMahon moved his Page Two column to the inside of the paper. Then McMahon explained it away as something they’d been working on “for months.” But the true reason emerged: Kass angered the Chicago Tribune Guild by using the S-word. That word would be Soros.
Kass wrote a July 22 article entitled, “Something grows in the big cities run by Democrats: An overwhelming sense of lawlessness.” But in that article he claimed — correctly — that George Soros had funded prosecutors who would release violent criminals on little or no bond. Moreover, one of those prosecutors was Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, she of the Jussie Smollett bungle.
“In Democratic Chicago, for example, the Soros prosecutor is Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. In her 2020 campaign, she reportedly received at least $2 million from a Soros backed political action committee.”
That’s not news. In fact, Soros has paid big money for other far left prosecutors as well, as VICE News reported two years ago.
But the union hacks at the Guild could not tolerate a columnist whose writing hit too close for comfort. So they wrote a letter to Tribune management, claiming that Kass was anti-Semitic.
“The essential point? The odious, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that billionaire George Soros is a puppet master controlling America’s big cities does not deserve a mainstream voice, especially at a time when hate crimes are rising. . . .”
“We ask that the paper, and Kass separately, apologize for his indefensible invocation of the Soros tropes. And we would welcome the opportunity to speak with him and with newsroom management about the matter.”
In other words, the Guild labeled fellow columnist Kass a racist and an anti-Semite. And to be called a “racist” is the unforgivable sin in today’s social climate.
Credit: zeeveez/flickr/CC BY 2.0.
Now you know what usually happens when cancel mobs gang up on some poor schlub whom they snare in their web. Typically the chosen scapegoat apologizes and grovels for forgiveness. You might also see them write nauseous bile like: I am sorry for causing hurt. I will educate myself and try to do better.
Did John Kass do that? No, in fact his Wednesday column was magnificently defiant. It started with this title:
“What happened to an America where you could freely speak your mind?”
He went on in the first two paragraphs:
“The angry left-handed broom of America’s cultural revolution uses fear to sweep through our civic, corporate and personal life.”
“It brings with it attempted intimidation, shame and the usual demands for ceremonies of public groveling.”
Kass refused to participate in a Struggle Session with the Chicago Tribune.
John Kass, son of the South Side of Chicago, son of Greek immigrants, holder of dirty jobs before eventually becoming a columnist — no elitist he — let loose. It was glorious:
“Here’s what I’ve learned over my life in and around Chicago, what my immigrant family taught us in our two-flats on South Peoria Street:
We come into this world alone and we leave alone. And the most important thing we leave behind isn’t money.
The most important thing we leave is our name.
We leave that to our children.
And I will not soil my name by groveling to anyone in this or any other newsroom.”
But Kass wasn’t done. At his Facebook page on Wednesday, he shared an article he wrote in 2018:
“Louis Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism and the silence of the left.”
Coming on the heels of the Guild’s attempted shaming of Kass, the hypocrisy burns:
“Farrakhan’s hate and the left’s silence are nothing new. It is part of Chicago’s political landscape, an unspoken contract, and Chicago has become quite used to it. Under this arrangement, in Washington, Chicago and just about every big city, African-American politicians can cozy up to Farrakhan, and his hateful eruptions are allowed to pass beneath our notice, like a stone tossed in the Chicago River.”
However, if Kass really wanted to go for the Tribune‘s throat, he could’ve called out fellow writer Dahleen Glanton. In a May 31 column, Glanton advised “White America” to “look in the mirror” if they want to know “who’s responsible for racism.” Does that not sound, oh, rather Reich-ish to blame one race for All The Bad Things?
But Kass, unlike the Tribune Guild, won’t throw a fellow columnist under the bus. As he wrote:
“I do not personally criticize my colleagues for their politics. I try to elevate their fine work.”
Fortunately, John Kass also has his defenders. Lots and lots of them, in fact.
Like Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, who wrote at Facebook:
“Let me make two points. First, I know John well. There is not an ounce of anti-Semitism in him. I say this as someone who has fought anti-Semitism my entire life. Second, John’s article makes a sensible, factual point: state and local prosecutors have done almost nothing to deal with this arson, violence, and other illegal activity.”
Lipson went on to write a defense of Kass at the Spectator, titled:
“When ‘j’accuse’ is just a smear: The false, malicious attacks on the Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass”
Plus, Eugene Volokh from Reason wrote:
“But the claim that Kass’s column is anti-Semitic. . . strikes me as quite unfounded.”
Volokh also concluded:
“We Jews shouldn’t be specially criticized because we are Jewish, but we also aren’t entitled to special immunity from criticism because we are Jewish.”
Finally, Cornell law professor William Jacobson, who himself has been recently smeared by the cancel mob, wrote at his blog Legal Insurrection:
“Kass is right not to back down. He did nothing wrong. His colleagues are cowards and backstabbing weasels. They deserve nothing but disdain and mockery.
I don’t know if Kass will read this post. If he does, he should take to heart what reader Lt Col X. sent to me, “The spines of thousands are being strengthened by hearing of your fight. . . .”
You are not alone, John. We are with you.”
Stay strong, John Kass. You will leave an honorable name to your sons. What’s more, you’re an inspiration to all who refuse to cower before the ravenous cancel mob.
Featured image: Francisco José Delgado/flickr/cropped/public domain.
Taylor says: George Soros although born Jewish has said he grew up in an anti-Semitic family and does not identify as a Jew at all. He is an Israel hater and works consistently to destroy the Jewish State. Calling criticism of Soros “ant-Semitic” is the very definition of what is “disingenuous”.
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