2017: Ready Or Not, Here It Comes

July 11, 1969

One of the things I am planning to do in 2017 is to go to Israel. I've not been there since 1969 and I think I'm overdue for a visit. That said, the places I remember are much different now from when I was last there. I will be staying with dear friends, and I've already told them the point of the visit is to be in Israel. I want to shop in the markets, cook fresh fish from the Mediterranean. Yes, I will go to Jerusalem, but no, I do not want to return to that place that has its own corner in my memory, Eilat. When I was there it was four lousy hotels with no air conditioning. It was so hot (how hot was it?) we stripped the sheets off the beds and slept on the beach. I have no desire to shlep up Masada again, but I do want to walk up the Jaffa Steps.  

As Paul Simon wrote in Bookends:

Time it was 
And what a time it was, it was 
A time of innocence 
A time of confidences

Long ago it must be 
I have a photograph 
Preserve your memories 
They're all that's left you.

It's the last line that worries me, y'know. Not that Israel will be different. Of course it will. I was there almost a half a century ago. I don't expect much of anything to be the same, not even the Kotel which is suffering from an ongoing identity crisis. I'm going because it is different, because I want to see the changes. Because I have an unsettling feeling that if I don't go now, visiting Israel in the future might be a non-starter. 

UN Resolution 2334 should've been vetoed because the language was bad. This was the wrong version to let slide. This one misstated and mishandled the question of Jerusalem itself. International law does not apply to Israel the way it applies to other countries. Instead of dealing with the horrors of Syria (which, btw, is getting medical assistance from Israel) the imbeciles at the UN are busy doing this. Really?

That schmuck Netanyahu thinks he has an ally in President-elect Trump. I think Trump just wants to find out what happens if he pushes the big red button on his desk. 

Certain children have asked me if this is a preliminary house-hunting expedition. This is a good question. I don't know. It might be. I keep asking myself: are you prepared to leave if you have to?

I am not the only one asking the question. I fear for the future of minorities in the country and we Jews are a minority. A very small but very vocal one. I mean, everyone knows we control the banks and the media. (I wish I knew which bank that was, because I'm not wild about TCF these days and I'd like to put my money in one I own. You know...pay myself real interest. That sort of thing.) But that fairy tale doesn't help the Jews of Whitefish, Montana. Right now, they are on the front line of a very dangerous position. 

When Trump tweets something as moronic as his New Year tweet, one cannot help but wonder not only "what is wrong with this man," but how are we supposed to survive with a POTUS this stupid. And I mean that in the most BIGLY sense of the word. 

He claims to have information "no one else has," regarding the Russian hacking. And he has nothing but great things to say about that shirtless wonder, Vladimir Putin. 

I participate in a small group of bloggers. We whisper amongst ourselves these days, especially after two of them got cease-and-desist orders from the Trump legal team because they were talking about Melania. The question becomes do we shut up...are we self-editing as prevention of law suits...or do we just go on our merry way, consequences be damned?

Part of the answer came the other day, when the GOP trashed the independent Congressional ethics office. From the Washington Post:

Defying the wishes of their top leaders, House Republicans voted behind closed doors Monday night to rein in the independent ethics office created eight years ago in the wake of a series of embarrassing congressional scandals.

The 119-to-74 vote during a GOP conference meeting means that the House rules package expected to be adopted Tuesday, the first day of the 115th Congress, would rename the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) as the Office of Congressional Complaint Review and place it under the oversight of the House Ethics Committee.

Under the proposed new rules, the office could not employ a spokesperson, investigate anonymous tips or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the Ethics Committee, which would gain the power to summarily end any OCE probe.

Why aren't people talking about this more?

03jan2017-  BREAKING NEWS...APPARENTLY THEY ARE. GOP has reversed it's decision: House Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut Ethics Office.

I don't know the answer to that last question, but it fits into the pattern of stripping away civil protections. Honestly, I doubt Trump has ever read the U.S. Constitution and has no idea what the Bill of Rights is, or what any of the amendments say. Y'know how I know that? By this quote...again, from the Washington Post...taken from an interview with Bob Woodward...as in Woodward and Bernstein....as in Watergate...on March 31st, 2016. Woodward asked, "And why did Lincoln succeed? Thought about that at all?" Here's the quote:

Well, I think Lincoln succeeded for numerous reasons. He was a man who was of great intelligence, which most presidents would be. But he was a man of great intelligence, but he was also a man that did something that was a very vital thing to do at that time. Ten years before or 20 years before, what he was doing would never have even been thought possible. So he did something that was a very important thing to do, and especially at that time. 

I don't know about any of you....but this sounds like when one of my kids didn't read the homework assignment. Does he even know what Lincoln did? I'm not entirely sure. Read the whole interview. It'll make your skin crawl.

We are less than three weeks from the imbecile being sworn in as POTUS. Until that day, I will exercise my free speech as I see fit. When they begin to eviscerate the Constitution, I shall go underground and eventually over an ocean or two, but I will not shut up.

This is serious stuff, folks. Do not take it lightly. Our Constitution is what has kept us going for more than 200 years; it's what made us different. It is the lamp beside the golden door.

The Wifely Person's Top o'the Week

Be careful what you wish for. Once Trump swears the oath, 

this is the line of succession..best insurance policy ever.