Wag the Dog. Again. And Again. And Again.

There is a whole lot to unpack this week. I had planned to write about the State of the Union and, by extension, women's sports, but like SNL's original thoughts about this week's opening, that's ain't happening. Like everyone else, I am stuck on Iran, the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia....and, on the side, why the hell President Felon spent the weekend dancing at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago instead of in Washington DC.  But that begs a different kind of question. We'll get to that, too. 

There are a whole lotta questions that need to be asked for which I'm not seeing satisfactory questions...much less answers. 

Question #1: Is this attack even legal?

Without consulting Congress, this administration attacked yet another country. Board of Peace, my ass, He doesn't give a shit about the Constitution or the role of Congressional governance/oversight as continually made clear with each new attack. And what's possibly worse, is that when he gets bored he turns his back on the victims of his machinations. Just ask Ukraine how he's working out for them. All hat, no cattle, as the saying goes. He's abandoned Ukraine, just like he ultimately signed the death warrant for Afghanistan. He signed off on the plan, then walked away, leaving the Biden Administration to try to sort out and clean up the mess.

President Felon already describes this action as a "war" in his announcement to We, the People, on Saturday

The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.

Yet, this is an undeclared "war" which is forbidden by the Constitution as it explicitly states only Congress can declare war. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; . . .

In other words, this is yet another case of President Felon exercising power that are specifically NOT granted to a sitting president. 

Former Federal prosecutor at the DoJ, Ankush Kardori writes in Politico:

The Trump administration’s war also cannot be squared with the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to initiate hostilities abroad “only” when there has been “(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.” Trump did not even attempt to argue that any of these conditions had been met, probably because he could not seriously do so. 

As for international law, the attack on Iran goes much further than the Trump administration’s military campaign to oust and arrest Maduro, which itself ran afoul of multiple domestic and international legal prohibitions.  

The U.N. Charter —which was overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by President Harry Truman in 1945 — prohibits the use of force “against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” The U.N. Security Council can authorize the use of force in support of a party’s “right of self-defence,” but that did not happen here. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has already condemned the strikes as a violation of the U.N. Charter.

In other words, the short answer is "NO," this is not legal on any level...but we already know he doesn't give a shit. 

Question #2: Does anyone really have a plan for what happens next?

While there is no question about the need for regime change in Iran, and the removal of the mullahs as rulers, there is also a long history of what happens when the US takes a sitting government down. One needs only look at the long term chaos in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan. and most recently Gaza to understand that if no plan for what happens next is in place, these places are unable to suddenly produce a functional government to lead. Same thing with the Arab Spring. Lots of slogans but not a leader in sight to unify any of the toppled governments...and now, it's  back to business as usual. Economies pretty much collapsed in the wake of these optimistic revolutions. And Gaza? President Felon is too busy lining his own pockets to pay attention to the spiraling of Gaza.

Back in the 80s when Iran fell the first time, the underlying reason why that revolution actually succeeded was because there was already a shadow government in Paris ready to go. That was the one that gave Iran the first ayatollah, Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini. These guys had a plan and they executed it almost flawlessly. Does Pahlavi and his friends have a government in exile ready to step into the breach? If they don't, the current dead ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, was known to be in ill health and it's believed his succession had already been laid out. You can bet if that's the case, it's already moving forward to consolidate their position as the legitimate rulers of Iran. 

Still, I listened carefully to former former crown prince Reza Pahlavi on 60 Minutes talk about how he wants to lead the transition to democracy, saying he did not want to be king or president or prime minister...but rather the guy who shepherds them into a functioning government. Very well spoken, but does he have a shadow government in place waiting to step in? That wasn't clear. If the voice of the Iranian Diaspora is any indication, he can, with their backing, begin the long process of going home which, if you listen closely, is what they want. Just like the Jewish Diaspora, they long to return to their home, and gee, I don't blame them one bit. 

Question #3: Why now? Why at just this moment?

Anyone remember the movie WAG THE DOG with Dustin Hoffman? IMDB sums it up rather succinctly: 

Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.

If you haven't seen it. you should watch it. It's out there on all sorts of platforms. It's pretty funny. Of course, the name EPSTEIN is never mentioned....but in the here and now, every time a new Epstein scandal rises over the horizon, this presidential Fruit Loop creates a crisis to take it off the front page. And usually he succeeds...for a moment. 

It's no secret that President Felon has not been totally exonerated in the Epstein files. Yes, I know he keeps saying that, but that's part of the fantasy he's spewing. But the newest allegations are seriously horrifying should they turn out to have been intentionally removed from the files. According to an investigation conducted by NPR:

The Justice Department has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor, an NPR investigation finds. It also removed some documents from the public database where accusations against Jeffrey Epstein also mention Trump.

Some files have not been made public despite a law mandating their release. These include what appear to be more than 50 pages of FBI interviews, as well as notes from conversations with a woman who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago when she was a minor.

NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January. NPR's investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be catalogued by the Justice Department but not shared publicly. 

But there is so much more to this timing that any Jewish kid can tell you about: PURIM.

Let's pretend you actually have read the bible, specifically the Book of Esther. It's an interesting book to be in the canon since it never mentions G-d in any way, shape or form. What it does talk about is a guy named Haman. Here's the short version:  King Achashverosh, the king of Persia, deposed his queen, Vashti, and needed a new one. A contest was held to find a new queen and a guy named Mordechai sent his niece Esther to try out. She wins and becomes the new Queen. Meanwhile his prime minister hates Mordechai and the Jews and plots to destroy them. To make a long story short, Esther intervenes, Haman is hanged on his own gallows, and the Jews stop the attacks. In other words, like so many of our holidays, they tried to kill us, we won, let's eat. Kids dress up in costumes, but instead of trick-or-treat, we go around giving shalach manot,  gifts of food and sweets (often in secret) to our friends and neighbors. 

Tonight, Purim begins at sundown. We will gather to read the Megillah. Every time Haman's name is mentioned, it will be drown out with graggers, boos, and hisses. Kids dress up in costumes as Esther, Mordechai, even Haman, but instead of trick-or-treat, we go around giving shalach manot,  gifts of food and sweets (often in secret) to our friends and neighbors. We will sing and dance and have plays to tell the story as we celebrate the destruction of Haman and the saving of the Jews of Persia.

Perhaps you missed this....Israel and Persia have been allies for a thousand years. After the exile, Persia helped us to return to our land and helped rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Persians are not our enemies. They sheltered Jews during World War II. Jewish communities in Persia/Iran thrived...until the ayatollahs took over. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the Iranian Diaspora turned to Israel for help. 

But did they get the help they needed from the US....or were they played to wag the dog? To provide yet more smoke and mirrors to hide a sexual predator from prosecution as he wages an illegal war?

Question #4: Will Israel be blamed for it all?

Funny, all those pro-Gaza people shouting to free Palestine are now decrying the bombing of Iran. Don't they realize that Iran is the moneyman for Hamas and the terrorists? Where were their voices as thousands of Iranians were being slaughtered by their government? Why were they silent to those pleas for help? 

Oh. There were no Jews involved. 

Well, now there are. I do worry about not just the timing, but the preparedness of the Iranians to take back their country. We can only hope there really is a government in exile waiting in the wings to step up. 

I should probably mention there are already those who claim Netanyahu conned President Felon into attacking Iran, especially at this time of year. They already claim the US is being used as a proxy by Israel...and Saudi Arabia. They will espouse the ol' Jewish Cabal theory of world domination. Never mind that President Felon is a loyal disciple of the Christofascist Brigade.

If you are asking my opinion here, I will tell you that I truly believe Khamenei had to go, that Iran needed to be free. But I am not convinced that the actions of President Felon are warranted without the backing on Congress and adherence to the law of the United States. Unless someone knows there is a plan and a government waiting to go, this is doomed. As for Netanyahu,  getting deeper into bed with that sexual predator just means he's got the fucking of his life. Israel does not deserve that. They deserved a plan and a plan, not this rogue cowboy shit that's going down. Feckless Felon says it can last 4-5 weeks....as Ukraine about that. I do not trust him to wage this action. It's all about him and his pockets and how much the Saudi royal family is paying him. It' all about the baksheesh.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

I'm trying to get this thing done so I can go don my costume for Megillah reading with the kiddies tonight. They don't know I'm wearing a costume, but I am. I'm going as Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, and often said to be the mother of Achashverosh. Or so some legends claim. In other words, I'm going as Esther's mother-in-law. Once upon a time, I wrote a midrash for her: QUEEN 101: Intro to Queenship. I always had a soft spot for Vasti and I do like Atossa. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The lingering cold in my nose kept me from 

the annual rush of baking and sending out

hamantashen. 

Next year, I'll do better.

Happy Purim! Eat Hamantaschen!

Queen Esther - illustration by Isabelle Cardinal

Okay, it should come as no surprise that I have a thing for strong Jewish women doing stuff in difficult situations. Read any one of my three novels, and you'll know this is true fact. But here's the thing: this is not, nor are my characters, an aberration. Since Rebecca was reported to have taken the matter of her twin sons, Esau and Jacob, into her own hands, Jewish women have been perennial fixers. Oh, yeah, sure, we overstep and overreact on rare occasions, but you can count on Jewish women to get the job, any job, done. It takes incredible strength of character and an iron will to even run a Jewish household. Which is why we sometimes get a bad rap. But never mind that. 

I did not write The Pomegranate from within a vacuum. Batsheva Hagiz is a natural extension of that line of strong biblical women. In fact, there is a moment in the book where, when she refuses to divulge her name, her captor calls her Vashti, inadvertently naming her for the deposed queen, because it means lovely. And while the name is close to her own (and she self-comments on that,) she is not like Vashti at all. She is like Esther, Vashti's replacement queen. 

I wrote this midrash on Esther a lot of years ago. I was in the middle of early drafts of THE POMEGRANATE, and not even close to being done. It was right around Purim and I was surrounded by the story of two women who faced tremendous odds. I was Team Vashti early on...long before it was popular...and I took a fair amount of flak for that. I staunchly believed she did not go quietly nor with admissions of some kind of guilt. And once I learned that Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great and wife of Darius, one of the all-time great queens of Persia, might have actually been the mother of Xerxes, the guy we think was Ahashverush, I was hooked. Hence the midrash.

QUEEN 101 - INTRO TO QUEENSHIP

Hadassah wandered through the rooms of the harem, anointed in myrrh, swathed in robes of the finest eastern silks, and bored out of her mind. The other women, it seemed to her, were happy enough to rifle through casks of baubles and bolts of cloth, chattering on nothing more important than the depth of the shade of silk compared to the color of eyes or hair. To Hadassah, it seemed they had nothing more than fluffy wool between their ears. Surely there was more to life in the palace of the world's greatest king than this.

Hegai was not much help. He tried to find her puzzles and games to keep her amused, but the girl solved them quickly and without effort. Years in the harem business taught him that bored women are dangerous women. Without anything to occupy them, the ladies of the harem invariably turned on each other for sport. But Hegai liked the one they now called Esther; she was observant and cautious. Nothing escaped her notice, and if that were not enough, she asked an endless stream of serious questions. She wanted to know how the king's council was chosen and how it worked. She asked about the methods used to get information out to the corners of the Empire. She never asked about the color of the cosmetics and ointments the servants applied, she only wanted to know where they came from and how they were made. Still, Hegai knew it wasn't enough.

On this day, Hegai led Esther through a plain door on the western side of the harem's pool, away from where most of the other ladies lounged on divans covered with trays of delicacies beside them. The constant chatter faded as Esther passed through the doorway and into another world. Songbirds trilled in the trees, and a pair of peacocks paraded on the grassy bank beside yet another pool, this one fed by a carefully constructed waterfall at the far end. There were several couches, a table with two chairs, and a small gazebo away from everything else. Between the birdsong and the gentle rustle of the waterfall, Esther thought she was miles away from the rest of the harem. "What is this place?" she asked Hegai.

"This is the queens' garden," he replied.

"Where is the queen?"

"There is no queen."

"Oh. Yes. I didn't mean to…."

"I thought you would enjoy this place.  In the gazebo you will find story scrolls, the kind that queens like to have read aloud. I know you read. You can read here undisturbed. No one will know you are reading."

Esther looked up at Hegai. "You are so kind to me. Why?"

He smiled at her, "Because you do not annoy me with empty words and endless requests for honeycomb. I shall come back for you before you are missed."

***********

Sitting in the gazebo, absorbed in tales of genies and maidens, Esther did not hear the soft footfall of other women; not until one coughed that she saw them and jumped up.

Both women were wrapped in exquisite silks, one in black, the other in white. Their hair was completely covered, and their faces only barely visible through the sheer gauze of a veil. "That's a good story," said one softly as she lifted the white veil over her head. She was very beautiful; her skin was the color of the chai, and her eyes were like dark Chinese jade.

The second one lifted her veil as well. She was older, with onyx eyes beneath winged grey brows. "I hope we didn't startle you."

Esther shook her head, but said nothing. She was fairly certain the older woman was the famed beauty Atossa, daughter of Cyrus the Great, this king's mother, and the most powerful woman in Persia. And the eyes of the second....no, it could not be possible. Her own eyes widened.

The green-eyed woman smiled. "Yes, I am Vashti," she said, answering the question before it was spoken. 

"But you are dead,"  Esther whispered.

"Obviously. I am wrapped in white silk," she answered with a small smile, and both women gently laughed. 

"May we join you?" asked the older woman.

Esther nodded, still speechless. She had seen Atossa in the harem, but would never dare to speak to her.

"We come here," said Vashti, "to enjoy each other's company in a way we could not when I was queen. As queen, it was assumed I would have an adversarial relationship with my mother-in-law."

"Why?" blurted out  Esther  without thinking.

The other woman laughed, "Because, child, one would expect a new queen to be at odds with the head of harem. Vashti and I, however, have found comfort in each other's company."

"I should leave you, then,” murmured  Esther as she drew her own veil over her head.

"Stay," commanded the king's mother. Then she added, "Please. We would like you to stay."

"But...."

"Hegai has arranged for you to be here...to meet us. Don't let him feel as though he has failed. He has great faith in you; he is doing what he knows to be right not just for you, but for my son," said the king's mother. She swept past Esther into the gazebo and sat down. "Come sit with us, child; you have much to learn if you are to be queen."

"We are the voices of experience." The discarded queen took the seat on the other side of Esther. "Learn from us lest you repeat our mistakes."

So Atossa, the mother of Ahasverush, and Vashti, his discarded queen, chose to teach the young girl the secret ways of the palace. And from them, Esther learned  how to reach out to the king's head as well as his heart. 

Thus it was the wisdom and valor of women united that saved the Jews from Haman.

~ The End ~ 
Not really. It's just a beginning.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Purim is costumes, candy and Hamantaschen ... 

but with a twist.

We don't trick or treat, we deliver the treats. 

Kinda like ding-dong-ditch

only everyone gets something good to eat.

Chag Purim Same'ach to all!

The Brothers Schvid rehearsing for Purim