Wishful Thinking

Y'know, I'm not a big fan of snake oil hawkers, grifters, and tent revival holy rollers. I view all those folks with a jaundiced eye and a healthy measure of total disbelief in anything and everything they say. Their idea of truth is largely their idea only, and their sole intent it to separate fools from their money. And if President Felon's earning statement for 2024 is any indication, he had a very lucrative year. And now that his company is starting a new mobile phone service the sky's the limit. Of course, claims that the phone is totally American made are absurd. Currently, the only phone assembled in the US is the $1,999 Liberty phone  by Purism...and even that has parts from China and India. It is not $499 like the Sons of Swindle have promised. I cannot imagine the FCC going along with this...oh wait. Maybe I can, 

What it comes down to is yet another scam, another pile of streaming bullhockey issuing forth from President Felon's Fraud Central Factory. There is nothing that comes outta his mouth, outta the mouths of his henchfolk, or outta the mouths of his family members that can be trusted. Nothing can ever be fully vetted with these people. His hyperbole aside, he just plain lies about everything...from the size of his winkie to the size of the parade crowd. Art Of The Deal ...my ass; more that the Art of The Scam. 

Which should make you wonder about the ceasefire he claims Israel and Iran have signed onto. ...especially when Iran is continuing to lob missiles at Israel as of a few minutes ago. 

He posted this on Truth Social. And you know what we all say about believing everything you see on the internet....

But then, again, he posted something similar about India and Pakistan on May 10th:

According to Chatham House, a respected British think tank:

The ceasefire also does not address any of the underlying grievances in the bilateral relationship. In a social media post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that both sides have agreed to ‘start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site’. Talks between both countries’ military personnel took place on 12 May, but it remains to be seen if this paves the way for meaningful political dialogue.

India has stated that talks can only discuss the issues of terrorism and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while Pakistan will want to focus on the resumption of the IWT and the status of Indian-administered Kashmir. The last time both countries engaged in substantive peace talks was the Composite Dialogue process that came to a halt following the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.  

In the absence of political dialogue, it is not a question of if but when hostilities resume. New Delhi has stated that it will consider another attack like Pahalgam an act of war, while Islamabad has said the same with respect to any violation of the IWT.

The phrase that pays here is: In the absence of political dialogue. The highlight is mine. Sending tweets about ceasefires you think you've secured is a lovely thought, but In the absence of political dialogue, it's not a real ceasefire. It's wishful thinking. 

Back to Israel and Iran. AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME: I have yet to see any news bulletin from either Israel or Iran stating they have accepted a ceasefire agreement from President Felon. That statement may be forthcoming, but right now, at this moment, it sounds like a con. He’s hoping he can bully them into some kind of discussion via social media. 

I just checked again. As of  8:58 PM E.T., no confirmation has been received from either government. 

Never mind the congressional or constitutional issues here. I already heard one Democrat congressman say that the US sortie into Iran was the fault of AIPC....loosely translated: it's the Jews' fault. Like a said a few episodes ago, all he is doing is putting a bigger target on our backs as he pretends to be our friend. And he is still vying for the Nobel Peace Prize. President Felon is nothing more than an oversized playground bully compensating for his lack of...well, you know...playground equipment by manipulating the games, the systems, and ultimately the players.  Enough about this troll of a human...for the moment anyway.

Meanwhile, whilst doing my research about the attacks and reprisals, I kept hearing the phrase surgical strike. It reminded me of a similar line my favorite movie, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT. After an incident with Libya that requires a military response, President Shepard says:

Someday someone's going to have to explain to me the virtue of a proportional response.

That line reminded me of surgical strike, so I looked it up and found it's actually from a piece of satire by Richard Barnet, published in HARPER'S Magazine back in November of 1971  which happens to be during the Vietnam War. Lo and behold, Niall Ferguson and I clearly operate on the same check-it-out school of writing, because he wrote about that phrase just today in a piece for Free Press called What Comes After Trump's 'Surgical Strikes'?

Ironically, as Richard Nixon’s former speechwriter William Safire pointed out nearly 40 years ago, the term surgical strike originated as left-wing satire. The first use of the phrase, according to Safire, was in an article by Richard Barnet in Harper’s Magazine in November 1971. “Even [in] the language of the bureaucracy,” Barnet wrote, “the ‘surgical strike’ for chasing and mowing down peasants from the air by spraying them with 8,000 bullets a minute—takes the mystery, awe, and pain out of violence.”

Safire

You can read the whole article from the NY Times here: Safire on Language: Surgical Strike. I think it's worth reading. BTW, Safire's On Language was one of my favorite columns in the Times, and one I almost always talked about with my dad. I loved their love of language; it was simply grand.

Meanwhile, back on the tundra....

This assassin Vance Boelter guy was really prepared for the apocalypse, The cops picked up his wife with the kids, a sack of cash, passports, and other accouterments for blowing this pop stand. They called him a prepper: he was preparing for this for a long time. According to Minnesota Public Radio,  they found the following stuff on or near his Green Isle property:

•        4 dozen guns
•         5 body bags
•         Another Ford Explorer made to look like a police vehicle
•          3 AK-47 rifles
•         Dozens of boxes of ammunition
•         $17,940 in cash
•        Lots of spent cartridges and casings

And just for good measure: Investigators recovered a Beretta handgun from the backyard of a home on the west side of the golf course. In the woods between an adjacent home and the Shingle Creek Regional Trail, police found a partially-loaded magazine, the flesh-colored silicone mask that Boelter was allegedly seen wearing in surveillance video, as well as a wig. 

The feds are now running the show on the trial et al. I understand how that's gonna go down. But honestly, I am worried that if it's a federal conviction, President Felon will issue a pardon because Hortman and Hoffman are Democratic legislators. He's already called our governor vile names, and some of his cronies have intimated that Governor Walz set up the hit to "send a message." Really? . If you love conspiracies, you'll love this in the Minnesota Reformer. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Hydrate. 

I'm not kidding. 

That's a very serious tip.

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.

"I Know You Are No Longer In Danger."

Top: Almog Sarusi, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32,  Carmel Gat, 40,

Bottom: Ori Danino, 25,  Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23,

6 hostages executed by Hamas this past week. 

Executed.

At close range.

"The bodies were taken to the National Center of Forensic Medicine, where an examination determined the six had been killed by 'multiple close-range gunshots' within the previous 48 to 72 hours, according to... a spokesperson for Israel’s Health Ministry.                                                          The Washington Post

Hamas has hinted that the hostages were executed because IDF troops were close by.

In a statement, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said that following Israel’s successful hostage rescue in Nuseirat in June, new protocols were given to terrorists guarding the abductees that they were to follow should Israeli troops approach.                                                                                       Times of Israel

Let's guess what those new "protocols" are. 

And in case you've forgotten, today is day 333 in Israel.

 Hostages by the numbers

at least what appears to be accurate...no one is completely sure

as of September 2, 2024

251 hostages taken  by Hamas

including some who were already dead.

They took the bodies into Gaza and kept them.

An estimated 97 hostages, including 2 children under 5, remain.

Of those 97, 33 have been declared dead by Israel

64 hostages are believed to still be alive.  

Grief in Israel and throughout the Jewish world is painfully palpable. The streets in Israel are crowded with protesters, demanding the government make a deal for the hostages. Everyone wants an end. Israelis believe, rightfully so, that their government has utterly failed them. It has. It has failed not only Israel, but world Jewry. We are all under attack now no matter where we are. 

Once, we could point a finger at Hamas and blame them. We still can; they started this war and gee, what did they think was gonna happen? But now, Netanyahu and his evil sidekicks must take responsibility for their part in this ongoing debacle and fix it. 

War is expensive....in blood, bodies, economics, and morals. Eventually, someone goes bankrupt. For the sake of Klal Yisrael, it cannot be us. 

Rachel Goldberg Polin, Hersh's mother, speaks poignantly for all Israel in her son's eulogy. 

You should listen to her. 

"Now, I no longer have to worry about you. 

I know you are no longer in danger."

In my heart, I know that could be one of my friends, my family, my neighbors, even me. I could be speaking about my child or grandchild snatched from a music festival, had an arm blown off by a grenade but managed to survive...only to be abused, tortured, and executed at close range.

Just because we are Jews. 

Let's be real clear: this war isn't really about a strip of sand near the Mediterranean; it's about power and money, the Palestinian people be damned. Hamas will never just relinquish their stranglehold on Gaza or the West Bank. They don't give a rat's ass about their own people. They steal their humanitarian aid, their building supplies, their medicine, and their dignity to line their own pockets. For this war to really end, the Palestinians must rise up and throw off their own shackles. Blaming everyone else is not going to help them.

Y'know, when Jews began returning to the land in earnest during the 19th century, they had nothing but the money raised from their own communities. There was no humanitarian aid for malaria or infrastructure support from some NGO. Israel was build with sweat equity. Palestine had similar opportunities that went unused. Why is that the Jews' fault?

The Wifely Person' Tip o'the Week

Tomorrow is Rosh Hodesh Elul.

The shofar will be sounded every morning.

Time to wake up, people. 

And The Weird Just Keep Getting Weirder.

I am so glad this is a short campaign season. And that, G-d willing, I'[;; be outta the country for a chunk of it.

Anyone remember Hannibal Lecter? You know....the guy from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ?  Feckless Felon keeps bringing him up, making him sound like he's a real person. During his acceptance speech at the RNC, Feckless Felon said:

Has anyone seen ‘The Silence of the Lambs’? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’d love to have you for dinner. That’s insane asylums. They’re emptying out their insane asylums.

Oooookay. I could get a single, jokey reference, but this seems to be a recurrent theme. According to the Washington Post, he's used the theme over 70 times, beginning with a rally in Iowa in 2023.  What's the message here? He's already calling the immigrants rapists and criminals. I guess adding cannibals into the mix isn't a stretch. On the other hand, Feckless Felon is a guy who supposedly understands branding; maybe using Hannibal Lecter as another face of the other becomes plausible to his minions when it comes outta his mouth; Lecter, representing the ultimate horror story, morphs into a real person who commits unspeakable acts...just like the immigrants. This is seriously deranged thinking and unspeakably sick. 

Even Anthony Hopkins, the man who played Lecter, doesn't understand it. Interviewed for DEADLINE by Dominic Patten, it came up:

DEADLINE: I have to mention your one of your greatest characters, Hannibal Lecter …

HOPKINS: Why?

DEADLINE: Because he’s come up a lot during this election campaign here in America with Donald Trump speaking about him at his rallies as if he’s a real person.

HOPKINS: As if he is real?

DEADLINE: Yes.

HOPKINS: [Laughs] I didn’t know that. [Laughs again.] Hannibal, that’s a long time ago that movie. God, that was over 30 years ago. I’m shocked and appalled at what you’ve told me about Trump.

I think he was being polite. 

All sides are guilty of contributing to the garbage, although one side is clearly better than the other. Appearances and perception are the only things that count. Homework be damned! Facts be damned!

Montezuma Pass, Arizona. OlivierTouron/ Associated Press

And this one is totally brill. Feckless Felon had a border wall photo op at Montezuma Pass in Arizona. This location has been used before. It's picturesque, but not really representative of the activity at the border. There's only one, maybe two minor problems: the standing section was built during the Obama administration and the rusting stack of metal was left there, untouched by anyone, during the Feckless administration. How did the PR advance team possibly miss that minor bit of info?

From the Washington Post:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump came here on Thursday to heap praise on the structure standing to his right — “the Rolls-Royce of walls,” he called it — and lament the unused segments lying to his left. Joining him, Border Patrol union leader Paul A. Perez called the standing fence “Trump wall” and the idle parts “Kamala wall,” after Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Those labels were inaccurate. This section of 20-foot steel slats was actually built during the administration of President Barack Obama. Trump added the unfinished extension up the hillside, an engineering challenge that cost at least $35 million a mile. The unused panels of 30-foot beams were procured during the Trump administration and never erected.

See what I mean about real life versus fiction? This is just one more reason I cannot wait for a presidential debate. I want to see him take on Kamala Harris. Right now, I'm rather enjoying the "open mic" argument. I love that Harris wants open mics. After all, it was Mike Pence's inability to stay quiet that gave us that fabulous rejoinder, "I'm speaking now," during the vice presidential debate. If I were on Feckless Felon's team, I'd want a muted mic because he cannot keep his mouth shut. I suspect Harris would have a fabulous slice'n'dice field day with him. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Delta had already cancelled my return flight to the US on election day, but now, they cancelled my flight to Tel Aviv. This is not unexpected, but what they offered me was nonsense. I called right away and asked for the international re-accommodations desk. This is travel-agenterse for someone who understands you-cancelled-over-the-water-,I-didn't. Normally, one of the over-the-water segments designate the carried on which a ticket is issued. 

To make a long story short, since I was returning on an El Al code-share with Delta, I wanted El Al through JFK on the way out. The lady was super-helpful and called El Al. And, considering what's going on in Israel, they did not exchange the ticket, they revalidated it with the new flight from JFK to TLV. AND, they happily provided the record El Al locator when I asked for it. Within an hour, both websites showed not only the correct sequence of flights, the seats were there, too. 

Having been a corporate travel agent for more than 2 decades (artist shitty day-job) I understand just how crazy travelers can be on the phone. And I know anyone who sits on the fix-it desk is ready to deal with the crazies. I could almost hear the sigh of relief when, after explaining what happened and what I thought should happen, I used the terms PNR and over-the-water. After that, we had a fair amount of fun figuring out how to make what I wanted happen with the least amount of ticket disruption possible. There are times knowing too much is a pain, other times, it really helps to allay everyone's fears. I firmly believe if I can get 'em to laugh, I win. And we ended up laughing a lot on that call. 

In the end, there's still a war waging in Israel. I won't make the final decision about whether or not I'm going until a few days before I go. The ticket is fully refundable, so I'm not worried about that. I am cautiously optimistic that it will all be over before I go, that the remaining hostages will be returned, and that I'll get to go have breakfast near the sea in Herzliya after my friends pick me up at the airport. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

אני מאמינה שתהיה הפסקת אש בקרוב 

I believe there will soon be a ceasefire. 

I have to. 

Living In a Post Factual Society

The blog I originally drafted for today cannot be published. It's a total screed.

Mousa Abu Marouk

I am not without compassion for the people of Gaza. They are victims;  victimized by their own leadership who park their sorry-ass butts in some posh hotel in Qatar while thousands of the people they supposedly represent die because they are used as human shields, sitting atop tunnels filled with Hamas rockets, bombs, and supplies. 

In an interview aired on Russian television, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas spokesman, was asked:

Many people are asking: Since you have built 500 kilometers of tunnels, why haven't you built bomb shelters, where civilians can hide during bombardment? 

Mousa Abu Marzouk: We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels. Everybody knows that 75% of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them. According to the Geneva Convention, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all the services as long as they are under occupation.

In other words, it's not their job to protect their citizens.

Then whose job is it?

Did Hamas really think Israel would not retaliate for the massacre of October 7th? Did their leadership not give a single thought to what would happen when Israel struck back? 

Or are they playing a very long game, using the blood of their own civilians cast into harm's way as a new blood libel for Jew hatred?

Yeah, I think they were. 

They were depending on 2000 years of anti-Jewish sentiment lying right beneath the surface to bring out the wide swath of haters who would prefer to see Jews back in the gas chambers. 

From the river to the sea is absolutely their plan from the get-go, making sure the blood sacrifice of their own people would be the newest blood libel used to kill Jews, thereby attaining their Jew-free goal. 

Baked babies, beheaded babies, raped mothers, tortured grandparents...none of that mattered because, after all, they were just Jews. Dead Palestinian babies, mutilated Muslim children, some live ones used to pose as dead kids...only to get up again for repositioning...hospitals bombed by Islamic Jihad, but blamed on Israel, anything they could stage to make sure all Jews...not necessarily Israelis...take the fall to become the enemy worthy of extermination.

And if that's not gruesome enough, the Hamas 07 October invaders filmed themselves performing atrocities, using victims' cell phones to upload these videos to social media so that families got to watch their loved ones' last moments. Yet, when that same footage is shown in public places , supporters of Hamas, the very people who committed these atrocities, protest and, as at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, brawls ensued outside the venue. I should think those supporters should have been cheering to see their acts of depravity shown to the world. 

Silly me. 

Those same people talk about ethnic cleansing. Wanna know what's ethnic cleansing? That's when people of one culture/religion/color are forced to leave the place where they've lived for 2500 years. Maybe that question should be directed at the countries that make up the Arab world. 

Photo © J. Tocker 

In 2019, the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv captured that exodus in an exhibit: Leaving, Never To Return. That slogan was written on the side of the one suitcase each person was allowed to carry out: رحلة بدون رجعة  which is Arabic for Trip with no return. Hundreds of thousands of Jews with just the clothes on their backs and their single valises had no place to go, so they went home...to Israel where their journeys began in the first place. Where after three thousand years the same language was spoken, the same alphabet was used, and the walls of the cities their ancestors built still stood.

From the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

Apartheid? Let's talk about that for a moment. Currently, the majority of Israelis would be, at least in this country, considered persons of color. All different colors. Jews are Jews; that's all that matters...not the color of skin, eyes, hair, or shoes. None of that is a barrier to citizenship.

At the same time, Israeli Arabs are fully Israeli citizens, serving in the IDF, in the police force, as members of Knesset, as doctors, heads of hospitals, lawyers, supreme court justices, voting in elections, establishing political blocs government, getting health care, education, power, water, and passports just like any other Israeli citizen..Jew, Christian, Muslim, Druze, Bahá’í , whatever.  Oh, and Gay Pride is a really big deal in Tel Aviv...and no one even gets thrown off a rooftop for being gay. 

For the record, Israel is a democracy. It is the only functional democracy in the Middle East.

According to Hamas's charter, Jews are not permitted to live in Palestine and most of the other Arab states. Israelis can visit, but they cannot establish residency. That more closely resembles apartheid.

For the umpteenth time...the only group occupying Gaza is Hamas. If the Palestinians would like to stop being human shields, then they have to get rid of Hamas. Israel is happy to help, as are many other nations, but the Palestinians have to start that process. They must begin to take back their own country. Plenty of nations will step up with economic and humanitarian aid when the funds stop being diverted to rocket launchers, missiles, and terror tunnels.

Keep this in mind: if you want to support Palestinian rights, don't condone the wholesale murder of kids at a music festival. Don't cheer for missiles being lobbed nonstop on schoolyards. You don't want Israelis to cheer when you get bombed, so why would you think Israelis are gonna sit back and let you bomb them without a response?  

Not realistic thinking on their part.

Exactly how many ceasefires and suicide bombers do you think it would take for your government to respond appropriately? Unless, of course, you're okay with your children and grandchildren being beheaded, kidnapped, and tortured? If that's okay with you, you should be offering up your family as human shield sacrifices for your staunch belief in the righteousness of Hamas.

I am damn tired of living in a post factual society, a place where fantasy passes for reality, and people who should know better don't do their homework. Where universities allow departments to spread utter garbage under their logo like the University of Minnesota's Department of Gender Women and Sexuality Studies faculty has done with their statement on Palestine. Clearly, the writers of that statement drank Hamas Kool-Aid before they put it out instead of doing their homework. 

Maybe they should send a delegation of feminists and LGBTQ+ folks to negotiate with Hamas. I'm sure Mousa Abu Marouk would welcome them all with a great rooftop party....if he happens to be in Gaza.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Day

If you're not a fan of Jews, I would strongly urge you to boycott 

products invented/developed by Jews.

That means no instant messaging since IMs, DMs, WhatsApp 

are all derived from ICQ, an Israeli invention.

No USB Flash drives....Israeli invention.

No Epilday hair removers.

No Rummikub or Mastermind games.

No pressure bandages.

No mobile or camera phone.

No polio vaccine.

No Google. 

One should always be consistent 

about not benefitting

from those you hate. 

Maybe, Maybe Not

I am actually glad my Dad is no longer alive; this America would break his heart. Dad used to say he fought in Germany so we would never have to worry about being Jews again. The events of the last couple of weeks would've decimated him. FIL, too...and he wasn't even Jewish.

I'm not just talking about the slaughter at the Supernova music festival, the kibbutzim, and the Israeli towns near Gaza. I'm not just talking about a raging mob in the Republic of Dagestan hunting for Jews at the airport. I'm not just talking about the crowd at the Sydney Opera House shouting Gas the Jews. I'm not even talking about Berlin where Jews are becoming afraid to go to the greengrocer because it's an Arab-owned store. 

No, I'm talking about America. 

I'm talking about Jewish kids being barricaded in the Cooper Union Library because a "pro-Palestinian" mob was trying to break in. 

I'm talking about Cornell University where the threats against Jewish students were so extreme the kosher dining facility and the whole of the Center for Jewish Living is now under police protection. Look at the screenshot on the right. Those are credible threats made against Jewish students. Not Zionists. Not Israeli. No, these are threats against all Jews on campus.

I'm talking about Jemma Decristo, a professor at US Davis, openly threatening "zionist" journalists...AND their families. In a Sacramento BEE op-ed piece responding to Decristo's post, Reuven Toff, writes:

Jewish college students across the U.S. have been subjected to antisemitism — and the incidents are only increasing. National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been at the forefront of demonstrations on campuses. They often use the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in their demonstrations, which is a rallying cry used by terrorist groups, including Hamas, the organization responsible for the recent slaughter of more than 1,400 and the wounding of 3,500 men, women and children. 

Hamas’ Charter unapologetically calls for not just the destruction of Israel, but for the annihilation of the Jewish people. SJP, meanwhile, is routinely permitted by college administrators to spew its hatred toward Jews and Israel. Is it any wonder that Jewish students are increasingly feeling attacked?

I'm talking about Stanford, where a professor didn't simply harangue Jewish students, he/she sorted them out of the class and into a corner. According to a report in the British The Jewish Chronicle:

According to details shared by Jewish student leaders at the California university, a popular lecturer called out “individual students in class based on their backgrounds and identities,” asking Jewish and Israeli students to identify themselves during a class entitled “civil, liberal, and global education”. 

Rabbi Dov Greenberg, director of the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center, said he was told by three of the 18 students who were in the room that the lecturer separated them from their belongings and instructed them to stand in a corner. The non-faculty lecturer, whose name has not been publicised while the investigation is ongoing, is then alleged to have said: “This is what Israel does to Palestinians,” according to the student reports relayed to Greenberg. 

The instructor went on to ask how many people died in the Holocaust, to which a student replied “six million.”

The instructor is alleged by students to have replied: “Yes. Only six million,” and: “Colonisers killed more than six million. Israel is a coloniser.”  

This has not been uncommon. What's next? Yellow stars? Hamas would love that. Jews would be so instantly recognizable!

How about Let's all be mad at the Jews because they've managed to survive as a recognizable people? Maybe you should call that people envy.

Israel has been Israel for over 3000 years. When you dig up really old stuff in Israel, it's in Hebrew, the same language then as we speak now. Our language was never a lost language; it was always present in our prayers, our texts, our scrolls. We have the same communal calendar we had then, the same rituals, the same traditions, the same burial practices.

How are we colonizers in our own land?

And these people who shout "From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free?" Free from what? Homosexuals and homosexualtiy? It's illegal in Gaza. Free from having a functional economy? Free from utilities and potable water?

Or did they really mean Judenrein....Jew Free? I think that's the one they're going for.

If you cannot call Hamas what they are...terrorists...or you find you are making up justifications for their actions, you are a terrorist. Just thought I'd say that out loud. Supporting it, justifying it, rubber stamping it...it makes you one of them. 

Body storage for those
yet to be identified.

Arieh O'Sullivan, a reporter for KAN English news in Israel, (and the son of my dear friend Dina,) sent this to his mother this morning when she expressed concern about what was happening in Gaza:

Here you go mom, bodies of dead Jews, unable to bury yet because the Arabs mutilated the bodies so much they haven't yet been identified. Babies, found burned in ovens, put in alive. Women raped and murdered their faces so cut up they can't be identified. Did u see this on CNN? Don't compare us with the Arabs. All of Gaza is hamas. 

Yet, in spite of that, as Jews, we are told to be concerned about our enemies; even as we celebrate our freedom from bondage, Egyptians died. When we recite the 10 plagues, we remove a drop of wine from our cups for each plague to remember the suffering of those who would have seen us dead. 

Yet, even with the murder and the missiles, there is a prayer we've been reciting at morning minyan that has been adapted from Psalm 91 for the hostages, the IDF and the defenders of Israel. Please note the line I have bolded:

Our God, the One who raised Joseph up from the pit, be "a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble" 

Send complete rescue and full redemption to those held captive by the enemy. 

Strengthen their spirit and bring them our prayers that they be protected from all harm. 

Implant understanding in the heart of the enemy that they may return the captives in wholeness of body and spirit. 

Grant wisdom to the Israel Defense Forces that they may secure freedom for the captives without loss of life. 

Grant strength of spirit and courage of heart to all the sons and daughters of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to release bonds of captivity and allow us all to live in freedom. 

"They shall call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in distress; I will rescue them, and honor them" 

We are not the only ones who live on this planet, we are not interested in world domination or shutting people out. Israel, warts and all, is still a democracy where Arab Israelis serve in government, the IDF, go to school, become doctors, lawyers, supreme court justices, police people, and do everything a Jewish Israeli does. Straight, gay, bi, trans, whatever...you get to live in a society where you can be what you want. Sure, they are crazy haredi that hate everyone who's not like them, but about 78% of Israelis consider themselves non-haredi. In the same breath, we just want to be what we are: Jews living free in the land we've inhabited for 3000 years. 

I'm guess most indigenous peoples feel the same way about their original homelands. Some have even come out to support Israel and the hostages. A group of Maori in Wellington, New Zealand, came together to perform a Haka to send strength and fortitude to IDF and the hostages in Gaza as they demanded their release. Their Haka is a powerful message that we are not alone in our desire to be our own people. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Speaking of that desire to be left alone to practice our religion and our culture without fear of proselytization from those who think they have a lock on religion....the US House of Incredible Stupidity elected an openly christofascist, Mike Johnson, R-LA as its new Speaker of the House. From Heather Cox Richardson:

The rejection of democracy in favor of Christian authoritarianism at the highest levels of our government is an astonishing outcome of the attempt to prevent another Great Depression by creating a government that worked for ordinary Americans rather than a few wealthy men.

But here we are.

After Johnson’s election as speaker, extremist Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida spelled out what it meant for the party…and for the country: “MAGA is ascendant,” Gaetz told former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, “and if you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement, and where the power of the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”

This guy believes his religion belongs squarely in the center of governance. In their article detailing the new Speaker's position, The New York Times reported:

Mr. Johnson declined an interview request and did not respond to a request for comment about whether he considers himself a Christian nationalist. But the little-known speaker of the House has made clear that his faith is the most important thing to know about him, and in previous interviews, he has said he believes “the founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”

Just where does that leave the rest of us? Not so sure it's America if this guy and his cabal have anything to say about it.

Yeah, this stuff keeps me up at night. And I keep thinking about mob rule, and the squeaky wheel, and whether or not America is at the end of our noble experiment in democracy. Or maybe this is the end result of democracy? The majority does rule and if that majority thinks Feckless Loser should be the winner. If enough congressclowns are voting a christofascist in as Speaker of the House, and enough people are questioning the veracity of our electoral process, and if enough people are running for office as right-wing local school board and city council members, and enough of those candidates are winning.....that's democracy. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Maybe we who feel differently no longer have a place in these here United States. 

Ever think of that?