JACKIE TAYLOR | April 24, 2024

Death to America

As a member of the 4th Estate, a term that “refers to the press and news media both in explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues. The derivation of the term arises from the traditional European concept of the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoner,” a newspaper walks a fine-line between informing the public of issues, remaining neutral and protecting the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

For a brief refresher course, “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws respecting an establishment of religion; prohibiting the free exercise of religion; or abridging the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.”

So, to tie the 4th Estate and 1st Amendment together, the term that pro-Palestinian groups have been loudly proclaiming is ‘Death to America’ while standing in America, on American streets, living under the benefits this nation gives them.

The duty to provide clear, even news and allow freedom of speech is conflicted in my brain. I have no problem if someone were to yell they hate Trump, they hate Biden, they hate whatever they hate – but death to America should be an instant ride back to wherever they came from.

It’s mind-boggling to me to see face-covered pro-Palestinian protesters camped out in front of several of America’s most “prestigious” universities, many of which I imagine they attend to receive a degree from, only to chant death to America with the sole intent to disrupt foreign aid to Israel.

One of my first questions of the group is, are your members all legal citizens of the United States, do you possess a green card for legal access to the United States or are you an illegal alien that crawled under a fence to gain access to the United States?

Given the protests are mainly in democrat run larger cities, we’ll probably never know. Democrat run cities seem to savor the unrest that precedes our national elections – actually, they seem to propagate it to cause civil unrest amongst the people.

My mind goes back to organized events Black Lives Matter orchestrated in larger cities; pallets of bricks, busloads of protesters from who knows where, all converging on cities to supposedly protest the deaths of individuals by police. Following the money trail was a similar trail to that of those financially supporting pro-Palestinian protests at campuses.

NBCnews.com reported, “Several of the pro-Palestinian organizations, including Within Our Lifetime and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, do not have public tax filings. However, they and several other groups use a progressive nonprofit group based in New York called Westchester People’s Action Coalition Foundation, or WESPAC, as their fiscal sponsor to collect and process online donations. U.S. tax law allows nonprofit groups with 501(c)(3) status to collect money on behalf of smaller groups. 

“Other groups have backing from major U.S. foundations. IfNotNow, an organization with the stated aim to “end U.S. support for Israel’s apartheid system,” was awarded $100,000 during the past five years by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a decades-old philanthropy based in New York. The fund has awarded close to a half-million dollars over the same period to Jewish Voice for Peace, another Palestinian rights organization. 

“I think protests and civil disobedience, as long as it’s nonviolent, is an effective tool, and that’s why we support some groups that use that tool,” said Stephen Heintz, the president and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. 

“The Open Society Foundation, established by George Soros, has also given grants to Jewish Voice for Peace. A spokesperson said the foundation’s goal is to help establish lasting peace in the region. Jewish Voice for Peace has organized hundreds of protests across the country with tens of thousands of participants since the invasion of Gaza.”

Wikipedia states on George Soros, “Criticisms of Soros, who is of Jewish descent, have often been called antisemiitic.”

On ‘death to America’ chants, if I were queen for a day, I’d check green cards and for those without, I’d load boats with those uttering those words and send them back to their countries of origin. See how they like Syria, Somolia, Venezuela or any other country as much as they enjoyed the freedom they were given in the United States. But, alas, I’m not the queen and America is not a monarchy; however, we do live under the Constitution that our forefathers graciously penned out more than 250 years ago. I’m just a newspaper person wondering what in the heck people are thinking and I wonder how much longer our nation can stand the destructive onslaught perpetrated against us on a daily basis.