HONOR

Well, I'm still sitting in my own kitchen, only marginally less pissed off than I was last week. This week, the Vikings played on Thursday night, and once again, the real Vikings showed up to play. They dropped their second game in a row after a spectacular start of 5 wins. The bright spot was that I didn't have to run out to the cemetery to see if Ziggy clawed his way out. Had they one either of the last two, that would've been necessary. Minnesota teams are choke teams.....they can only get so close.....except for the Lynx. We should be extraordinarily proud of the Lynx, and we are, quietly, because no one wants to put a makkes (a plague) on their season. Added to that, I couldn't watch the Chiefs' game because it wasn't "broadcast" in my area. After years of being a KC fan, for reasons I can't really explain except to say they have nothing to do with Travis Kelce, but getting Andy Reid for the coach was far more important. Big Red is good at team, something the Vikings haven't been good at since the days of the Purple People Eaters ...one of whom recently retired as a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing with the Vikings is that being a prima donna does not make for good team work, which, in turn, loses games. Hiring washed up QBs and violent criminals does not help the image or the team. So while I sat quietly by while Ziggy had apoplexy during the games, I silently followed the Chiefs....long before Big Red, before Travis, and before anyone even knew what a Swiftie was. 

The Duke of Flatbush

Very few people know...or probably care, that I follow any sports at all. Toddler me was a total Brooklyn Dodger fan. Grandpa and Dad took me to my first baseball game at Ebbets Field so I could see them before they left town. Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider were my faves and I knew how to spit if someone said "Walter O'Malley." When the Mets were born, I became a devoted fan and stayed that way until the late 80s. I abandoned my adoration for lots of reasons, Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry being two of them. I was a marginal Yankees fan because, after all, they were the New York Yankees, but once I came to Minnesota, I fell hook, line and almost sinker for the Twins. Tom Kelly was a great manager, as was Ron Gardenhire. The caveat there being when the Yankees played the Twinkies, it was a win-win for me. It just was. 

Now, however, I'm having a conundrum: The World Series. Worse than a subway series, this one is tough. Met-Yankees woulda been a snap: Yankees all the way. But this one tugs at my little-girl heart. My bro is a Dodger guy and always has been. I've been more fickle. But truth be told, I do hold a soft spot for those boys from Brooklyn, the Trolley Dodgers. My American League loyalties are being sore tested at the moment. I suspect that it will be another win-win for me. 

The famous BCJ Baseball t-shirt

Rabbi Allen used to tell us baseball was a metaphor for the Jewish calendar. My dad used to tell me that baseball was a metaphor for life. There were good seasons and bad seasons, good games and bad games, but the most important aspect of the game was being a player with honor. That wasn't always the case with the Mets. Although he remained a loyal Mets fan while I railed against their follies and foibles, ...something I didn't always understand. He instilled in me the belief that no one could take my honor away unless I gave it to them; that being honorable was something only I could do for me. That players who behaved badly dishonored the whole team, and if I wanted to be part of a team, I had to make sure I was honorable. When I was a little kid, this ongoing conversation was over my head, but as I matured, it became increasingly meaningful. Probably the last in-depth conversation I had with him before the dementia set in was about the lack of honor in politics, right around the time Feckless Felon announced he was seeking the GOP nomination, back in June, 2015. Being my dad was a Republican most of his life, this was something to be discussed. His was a wait-and-see kinda attitude, not really believing he could get the nomination, but unwilling to dismiss him out of hand. He didn't live long enough to see. 

As terrible as it sounds, I am glad Dad isn't around now. This election would smash his heart to smithereens. 

Dad spent most of World War II in a tank in Patton's army. He was a telegrapher and in rotation with General Patton. He was at the Bulge, he was at Remagen, he was even at the liberation of at least one concentration camp, called in to process survivors because he spoke both Yiddish and French. He fought Nazis and Fascism. He had a lot to say about Fascists of all types. We spent a whole lotta hours sitting in beach chairs at the club while he talked about the war. For the first time, according to Mom; I took notes as he told stories I never heard before. I watched my dad weep as he talked about the bodies in the villages, about the skeletal survivors in one of the camps, about the nightmares he still had decades later that prevented him from sleeping through the night. We didn't know much about PTSD until his medical interview at the Minnesota VA when they moved here for assisted living. That's a whole other story. But the bottom line was....and still is....he believed Fascism could happen anywhere, even in the US, if we forgot about what Fascism looked like in Europe. 

Increasingly, the right wing of this country is moving into Fascism. This isn't being alarmist; this is the increasingly worried voices of people who know about this stuff.  In an interview given to the New York Times, former Marine Corps General John Kelly, Feckless Felon's longest serving Chief-of-Staff said: 

“Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” he said. 

Mr. Kelly said that definition accurately described Mr. Trump.

“So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America,” Mr. Kelly said.

He added: “Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Kelly said Trump chafed at limitations on his power.

“He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government,” Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Trump “never accepted the fact that he wasn’t the most powerful man in the world — and by power, I mean an ability to do anything he wanted, anytime he wanted,” Mr. Kelly said. 

Once upon a time, I had high hopes that Kelly would be that adult in the room. Appointed in July, 2017, it was announced on December 8, 2018 that he would be replaced by Mick Mulvaney. When I wrote the episode, It's Not A Coup, It's A Junta on August 28, 2017, I was already wondering about generals running the West Wing. I hoped they would be able to rein in the president and maybe bring a sense of import to foreign policy that was sorely lacking. Nah. No such luck. Still, hindsight can be very interesting because in the period following his removal, Kelly began sounding warning bells about the president. After the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Kelly said he supported the removal of the president according to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. Was he just a disgruntled, unemployed general...or was his possible junta thwarted?

It doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is that enough people who know what Fascism is all about are pointing fingers, attempting to draw attention to the actions of a candidate who is increasingly unhinged. His rally at Madison Square Garden was shockingly racist. Yeah, it was a comedian who called Puerto Rico a floating garbage island, but it was the audience that clapped and hooted. Yeah, yeah, the GOP tried to distance themselves from it, but they hired him knowing what his comedy is about. His reiteration of lies about FEMA and hurricane recovery are just destructive to the people who are being helped. CNN stepped away to their coverage to give anchor Jessica Dean a chance to fact-check. After the fact, CNN's Daniel Dale posted an in-depth analysis of 16 lies. 

I'm going to stop now. You, gentle readers, all know this. It's not news. What happens on November 5th will impact all of us, one way or another, honorable behavior be damned. Which I think is unfortunate. 

I remain especially concerned about November 6th. January 6th, 2021 was a trial run. We're about to experience the real thing.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Citing cowardice, complicity, and lack of honor

 on the part of Jeff Bezos,

 over 200,000 subscribers have cancelled their 

Washington Post subscriptions.

I am one of them.

If you have a subscription, you should be, too.

Stuff On My Mind: Recent Ramblings.

That Taylor Swift endorsed the Harris/Walz ticket should come as no surprise to anyone with a functioning brain. The woman is unquestionably and passionately feminist. The timing of the endorsement was pitch perfect, coming immediately after the debate concluded. If you have not seen the text, here it is. I really just want to have it on record in this blog for posterity:

Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.

Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.

I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.

I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.

With love and hope,

Taylor Swift
Childless Cat Lady

Possibly the most important thing she says is right up front, in the first paragraph. She states, unequivocally, DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK. Whatever you think about her, her music, or even her boyfriend, this is a woman who has a powerful platform and who uses it judiciously. You gotta admire that woman's smarts.

Now, on to the real episode

Three disparate things crossed my brainpath this week. One, of course, was the debate. The second is an essay penned by playwright Tom Stoppard. The third was Ukraine. At least they seemed disparate to me until I started putting this week's episode together. Maybe. Maybe not.

The debate was a spectacle of gladiatorial proportions. Yes, I used the mute on occasion, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The split screen was totally brilliant. I don't know how she managed to keep as straight a face as she did, but her grins and pursed lips (worthy of Meryl Streep or Sidney Schwaidelson) were fantastic. 

My favorite moment came when Harris was talking about how Feckless Felon invited the Taliban to meet at Camp David. Watch the video, you see her lips purse, clearly forming an "M" word before she quickly changes it for former president. I fear she misspoke there. She has said more than once what her favorite inappropriate word is, and I think she was about to say "Motherfucker." I am not alone in that supposition.

I think she shoulda said it. Not really. But it woulda been the most memorable moment of the debate.

What I will remember is the aftermath; how Feckless Felon claimed all the polls declared him the winner. Only that wasn't true. Even FOX said Harris won. Only Newsmax. If you want to scare yourself silly, go read the "news" on that website.

Tom Stoppard
photo by Matt Humphreys

On to the second thing that crossed in front of me today: an essay by Tom Stoppard, the English playwright. Born in what was then Czechoslovakia, Stoppard did not discover that he was a Jew until he was an adult. The essay Tom Stoppard: On Turning Out to be Jewish,  written for The Huntington, a theater company in Boston was published on September 11th, 2024. Yes, it's very recent. It's long, frank, sometimes brutal, but well worth your time to read because it's also timely. For me, the most devastating revelation came near the end of the piece:

A few days after my mother died [1996], Ken [Stoppard’s step-father], whom from England onward I had called “Daddy” or “Father” or “Dad” (though he objected to “Dad,” which he thought was lower-class) wrote to me to say that he had been concerned for some time about my “tribalization ” by which he meant mainly my association, 10 years earlier, with the cause of Russian Jews, and he asked me to stop using “Stoppard” as my name. I wrote back that this was not practical. 

Leaving aside the anti-Semitism and, frankly, the dottiness, I know what made Major Stoppard, himself the father of two half-Jewish children, so angry. Whatever his opinions about Jews, his prejudice had an obverse side, a paternalism toward other races who were grateful to adopt English ways and modes of thought. Blacks were admirable when they were Anglophile Indians. Gurkhas were especially admirable. But when it came to Jews (or Indians) who to their good fortune received honorary membership in the club but persisted in their “tribal” ways nonetheless – that was sheer ingratitude, an insult to his country. Don’t you realize I made you British?

Stoppard's recognition of "tribalism" really signals just how deep tacit anti-semitism goes. It is so deeply rooted in the culture that it's tacitly accepted as the norm and what's worse, expected. Is it any wonder that the British behaved as they did when they fundamentally ruled the world? They were roundly hated by every population they occupied.

Not really. My British grandmother used to tell me it was okay to love Shakespeare, Keats, Austen, and Carroll, but I needed to understand that in their world, in the real world of British life, I would never be their friend because I was a Jew. I got the same warnings from my Odessan grandmother who, while she loved to see the Grand Duchesses arriving on the Imperial Yacht Standart, you could not trust the Tsar to keep you safe...because we are Jews. "Never turn your back on a Cossack," she used to warn me. To her, anyone in uniform (except her cousin Sammy who was NYFD) was a Cossack and could not be trusted. 

You know by now, of course, that Odessa is not in Russia although it was when Grandma Bessie lived there. But it really is Ukraine. And that means there are Cossacks there. Times, however, have changed a bit, and now Volodymyr Zelensky, a Jew, is the President of Ukraine. 

And that's the third piece. Editor-at-Large for the Jewish Chronicle, a UK based paper, Stephen Pollard wrote a fascinating piece: If Ukraine must be allowed to fight, why isn’t Israel?

I've been wondering the same thing myself, lately, especially after the debate when the candidates did a whole lotta posturing about Ukraine. Pollard points out that Putin's push into Ukraine does not demonstrate Russian strength, but just the opposite. 

After two and a half months Russia has still not managed to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region. The Russian economy is in chaos – interest rates are now 19 per cent and inflation is off the charts. It is now effectively economically dependent on China (and militarily dependent on weapons from  Iran and North Korea), which also limits its freedom of action. However much Putin blusters about red lines and hints about using nuclear weapons, the Chinese will not allow it. So let’s please stop hearing any more about the risk of Russian retaliation. The only risk comes from our refusal to let Ukraine do the job of repelling Russia. The future of the century depends on Ukraine.

Ring any bells? You can substitute Israel for much of the above. While Ukraine is fighting Russia on behalf of the rest of Europe’s security, Israel is doing the West’s dirty work fighting Islamists on our behalf. 

Pollard also points out that at the end of the 2019 summit, Macron and Merkel stood on one side of the room chatting up Putin while Zelensky watches from the other side. Not exactly a member of the club. But we know all about that sort of thing, don't we?

It's pretty clear to just about everyone in any government....but not the pro-Hamas puppet protesters here in the States, that the 3-Hs are proxies for Iran. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are financially incapable of maintaining their fighting forces without outside assistance. It's pretty clear from the machinery in use that it's all coming from Iran and its allies, Russia and China. The UN talks a great game about Islamist attacks in Africa and the Levant, but their own people are openly aiding the Islamist regimes. What's a country to do? Warning them is pointless. Sending them on a free trip to Gaza isn't happening. They just keep drinking the Kool-Aid because Jews are not telling them the truth about anything. 

Nowhere else in the world is a sovereign population told to march themselves into the sea. No other nation is told not to defend itself from rockets, missiles, or terrorist incursions. Only Israel. And that, without question, is because we are Jews. 

So here's what I think is gonna happen. We will survive as a nation and as a people. Israelis of all backgrounds know their lives are infinitely better in Israel than any other country in the ME. We'll figure this all out, and if we're real lucky, the residents of Gaza will figure out it's not Israel preventing them from having an economy. 

I keep hoping. Seriously. What's Plan B?

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Early voting begins on Friday in Minnesota. 

Vote like your life depends on it.

They've Got To Be Carefully Taught

This morning, I participated in a ritual observed in many families at the start of summer: the departure of campers. Little Miss and her friends were heading off to camp. Last year, the coterie went for 10 days; this year, they were going for a month. Rain was pissing down as all the parents and lots of grandparents huddled under umbrellas while the kiddies check-in and picked their seats. Little Miss and her friends screamed and hugged when they all arrived. You'd think they'd not seen each other since last summer....instead of just the day before. Their excitement was contagious. I saw counselors who looked ever so familiar greeting campers, and then realized these were the kids and grandkids of my friends and I knew them as little kids. Very surreal. Several of my own friends were there and we sheepishly admitted we were just a little bit jealous that they got to go and we got to stay home. Finally, it was time to board the buses (there were 4) and we all started to wave at the window we thought our kiddo was at. You can't really be sure with tinted windows. We kept waving as all the buses passed by, and watched as they went around the corner. As Rabbi Allen used to admonish parents: There is no dancing in the parking lot until the buses are out of sight!

I never got to go to sleep-away camp...only to a brief sojourn at Camp Tekawitha Girls Scout Camp in Hampton Bays, New York. Not the same. My guys flat refused to go to sleep-away camp; they went to Camp Bubbe'n'Zayde in New York, complete with beach club and tennis camp, and that was not to be messed with. So I guess one might suggest Little Miss is living out my dream. All I can say is that I am thrilled she loves it! I woulda, too. 

But this really brings me around to this week's musings. Former Republican and co-founder of the Lincoln Project Rick Wilson wrote an essay on Substack that really got to me. What Will You Tell Your Kids takes a serious look at how we will talk about the virulent and vitriolic political posturing of this year's election. 

Funny thing was that just before I saw it, I had been talking with friends about how my dad sat me down and asked me how I would describe my anti-war demonstrations to my kids. We had been talking about right and wrong, whether or not we were obligated to support our national position on Vietnam, or were we obligated to try to change that opinion. I'll admit I was pretty hostile initially, but Dad was trying to get me to think ahead...action and outcome. What did I want to see happen and how did I want it to happen? Did I want to blow up Washington, D.C., or did I want representation in Congress to listen to us kids and heed our warnings? He was edging me to some really hard thinking to answer really hard questions. 

This was right after Kent State. Although I cannot say he was a friend, I met one of the Kent State 4, Jeffrey Miller (z"l), through a mutual friend who was his neighbor in Plainview. His murder radicalized me. I wanted to be angry and outraged, not thoughtful and reasonable. I did want to burn down buildings. And I did not want to think about the questions my dad was asking.

Every once in a while, I would think about those questions....especially as our kids did not seem to be protesting anything and that worried me and Ziggy. Where was their outrage about something important? Where was their passion? 

Still, when our kids asked us about our participation in the protests of the late 60s and 70s, we were as honest as we could be. We talked about the anger, but we also talked about how society must be changed in order to continue to function; that burning down Congress is not a realistic answer. We asked what issues they wanted to take on....and didn't get much of an answer....other than the legalization of pot.

But when Feckless Loser came on the scene, Ziggy was gone, and I was watching both guys sit up and take notice... by myself. Oh, how I wished Ziggy was with me for those conversations. There was talk of what happens if....

And then it happened. Feckless Leader set fine examples with his pussy-grabbing remarks, his porn-star payouts, and bizarre, on-the-edge-of-completely-inappropriate remarks, about his own daughter. His four years in office were a far cry from the gravitas we'd all come to expect. When the insurrection happened on January 6, 2021, it seemed our entire government was in peril. His attacks have only increased in ferocity and fantasy....and the MAGA people are eating it all up with a dirty spoon.

Now, we 're poised to rinse and repeat. How is this possible?

Wilson was asked by a Republican friend why Biden was a better choice than Trump. It was a serious question, and one Wilson took seriously. In the middle section of the essay, he wrote:

Do you want your sons to treat women the way Donald Trump treats women? With contempt, entitlement, and violence? When you look at your boys, do you think, “I sure hope they grow up to commit sexual assault?”

 

Do you want your daughter to be a target for or a victim of a man like Trump? When you look at her, do you imagine her with a husband like him? A man who will cheat on her while she’s pregnant, demean her when she grows older, and disrespect her at every turn? Do you dream of the day that some future Donald Trump grabs your daughter by the pussy?

 

Do you hope that your kids will treat people the way you’ve taught them…or the way Trump treats anyone beneath him: with contempt, cruelty, ugliness, and lies?

 

Will you tell them he was the one role model they should follow?

This is where the rubber meets the road: what lessons are we teaching our kids?

I cannot answer that question for you, gentle readers; I can only say if you're not asking yourself the same questions, you are part of the problem and the fall of the United States as we know it will be exacerbated by your lack of action. 

You think I'm kidding? Look at the pro-Hamas movement spreading across America. The supporters of this movement are pro-terrorist. They are applauding the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11 whether they realize it or not. They don't know which river or which sea, so don't count on them knowing which World Trade Center. In an age when colleges and universities are providing "safe spaces" from triggers, administrations are negotiating for the approval of acts of violence against Jews. Their overt willingness to kill, destroy, and obliterate Jews should scare way more people than it does. You cannot say you want peace while threatening an entire people with destruction. 

Bit of a conundrum, dontcha think?

Feckless is not the root cause of the the pro-terrorism movement; he is only a symptom. How he conducts himself reinforces the okay-ness of what the anti-Jewish movement demands. While they claim to be against him, they are, in reality, mirroring his behavior. And if you're not speaking to your kids now about the unacceptable rhetoric and behavior, then you are contributors to the overthrow of democracy in these here United States. 

Keep in mind Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion: every force in nature has an equal and opposite reaction. 

If you think Feckless Complainer is the lesser of two evils and that you are justified voting to return him to office, then sit down, shut up, and figure out how you're gonna pay for everything when all those social safety nets you've come to expect to see you through retirement dry up. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Think about what you're teaching your kids. Rodgers and Hammerstein set it to music in 1949's SOUTH PACIFIC:

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

I was cheated before
And I’m cheated again
By a mean little world
Of mean little men.
And the one chance for me
Is the life I know best.

To be on an island
And to hell with the rest.
I will cling to this island
Like a tree or a stone,
I will cling to this island  

And be free—and alone.