I predict Elaine Chow and Jenny Durkin will be having a heated conversation.

You have to put the criminals in jail before you can think about “Restorative justice”.

I have a hypothesis as to what's driving the growing divisiveness and resurgence of hate groups in the US.

I think it's rage fueled by the ever widening gap between the handful at the top now holding the bulk of the nation's wealth and everyone else experiencing financial stress trying to maintain their standard of living on wages and salaries that continue to decline in their actual purchasing power.

More and more of us of all ages are forced to carry a mountain of debt to survive. And many in other parts of the country have been forced to downgrade their lives. The irony - more people have jobs than ever, but the jobs too many of them have don't support them and their families.

Yes, I think it's all about economic stress leading to free-floating rage and renewed blame and hatred of groups that were scapegoated in the past.

The media are guilty of spreading a great deal of empty "feel good" economic news when for too many Americans the economy doesn't feel good at all. No wonder so many are now willing to believe the outright lies, crazy hoaxes, and conspiracy crap spread on social media. They know every time they get paid that the mainstream media aren't telling the truth about what the US economy is really like for so many Americans.

A tribal species cannot survive in a global economy. (also, I'm advocation we replace the phrase "living under a mountain of debt" with "living atop a volcano of debt;" debt that's borrowed against a future that is literally drying up).

“I think it's rage fueled by the ever widening gap between the handful at the top now holding the bulk of the nation's wealth”

Probably not a smart way to discuss anti Semitic attacks. Just saying.

Re: the economy. I had a great Christmas! Got everything I wanted plus more

Considering how Jews make up less than 2% of the nation, and yet makeup over 40% of the top 1% of wealth holders, if your thesis that this is economic in nature, I would say you have some facts that back you up, with this insane level of overrepresentation.

American Jews have 30 spots on the Forbes top 100, at less than 2% of total population. Huge wealth/socioeconomic disparities and privilege there, if anyone cares.

@7, Putting value in hard work, savings and family tends to pay off

To #3 - I agree with your comments, although Trump and his Tweet machine are guilty of dividing Americans even more against themselves.
Time Magazine, in a recent spread on New Zealand's prime minister, note that she has decided to take NZ away from any assumptions that GNP and employment numbers mean that "everything's OK". Instead she believes that NZ should measure general "well-being", and that figure would take into account % of population that is housed, has health care, education goals, and etc.
In the U.S., using a strong stock market, plus employment figures that may count under-employed, while at the same time omitting those who've simply dropped out of the employment market, is extremely misleading.
Americans still experience high rates of economic anxiety if they are living paycheck-to-paycheck due to stagnant wages and pensions. One only has to look at our high rates of drug use and shootings to know that our society is socially and psychologically ill, and that illness is, in large part economic inequality.
Since I grew up in the '50's, I certainly remember what it was like in my town when the economic outcomes were much different., and the difference between people's incomes were much 'flatter'. I'm not saying that the '50's were trouble-free, I'm just saying that economic pressures were fewer, and there were, in general, more community 'social' organizations that both men and women joined.

It's easy for Joe Biden to "rebound financially" - Biden is probably taking more corporate money than anyone else. What a lot of voters don't know, apparently (because of his ratings in the polls), is that Joe Biden is one of the old "corporate Democrats".
He is completely plugged in as a corporate insider who knows whereof his support comes from, and it will show were he to become the candidate for President. However, like all those out there who say "anyone, but...." , I'd probably vote for a raccoon if the Democrats nominated one as their candidate, because at least a raccoon wouldn't be able to do what Trump does with his super negative tweets.

Why am I not surprised that Theodore Gorath is an Anti-Semitic POS?

@11: Why does discussing privilege and overrepresentation make you so angry and defensive?

Are my numbers wrong? If so, what are the real statistics regarding Jewish population percentage and wealth in America?

I guess maybe people should just look up the data about this themselves instead of throwing a whiny tantrum that it was noticed at all.

@6 You make the false assumption that I'm speaking only of anti-Semitism. Far from it, I'm talking about the larger picture - a resugence of bigotry and hate crimes against blacks, hispanics, and non-Christian immigrants in general. There's plenty of rage to go around in the US and its being directed against all these groups not just Jews.

@6 Kudos to you for having a great Christmas and having all your wishes and dreams come true. Did you ever stop to think that might be not only at the expense of your fellow Americans but the very future health of the planet? Enjoy your loot now because you can't take it with you when the rising oceans wash over you

@11. Why am I not surprised that Greendwood Bob is an anti-semite sympathizer, since he is on the same side that open anti-semite leftists like Ilhan Omar, Linda Sarsour, and Louis Farrakan are?

" Enjoy your loot now because you can't take it with you when the rising oceans wash over you"

What, like in that Jake Gyllenhaal movie?

Sounds real.

"resugence of bigotry and hate crimes against blacks, hispanics, and non-Christian immigrants"

Yes, just look what happened to that french actor, Jussie Smollet.

Funny how Theodore Gorath thinks throwing in sock-puppets is the way to win arguments. Pretty standard for one of Trump's racist Deplorables, I guess. But yes, I do stand with Representative Omar without reservation. Oh, and since you are the expert, are Jewish people Anti-Semitic if they stand by Representative Omar too?

@18. Lol what? And see???? I knew you were an anti-semite racist scum. Thank you for admitting it. At least we now know that you support an open anti-semite and, yourself is one, by proxy. Also, just because one is Jewish doesn't mean that they can't be anti-semitic or racist and support anti-semites like Omar. Nice try with that weak ass argument, Nazi.

Silly little Fascist, opposing Netanyahu's far-right regime in Israel and it's genocidal war against the Palestinians is not Antisemitism, or there are a Hell of a lot of Antisemitic Jewish folks living in Israel. You're just a racist and Islamaphobe trying to disguise the fact you are a Fascist piece of shit.