Shabbat shalom!
A tip of the kipah this week to Israel’s Defense Minister, who left a meeting in order to speak over the phone with a man threatening to commit suicide, who demanded to speak with the high-ranking Likud official in order to agree not to jump from a building. Police contacted Gallant, who spent several minutes speaking over the phone with the suicidal man. Shortly after the conversation, the man safely left the balcony and was transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment.
It’s been an interesting week for my own mental health. While I am feeling somewhat proud and positive about our judicial system and its ability to defend our tenuous democracy, I am also at the same time, feeling pessimistic about the rising number of morons that feel duty-bound to infest our culture with their profound stupidity. Hence, I am compelled this week to give out my second Schmuck of the Month Award, this time to the dishonorable Senator from Alabama, Tommy Tuberville, who seems to be the next Republican poster child representing our country’s most vaunted liberty, the freedom to be ignorant.
“We’ve got people doing poems on aircraft carriers over the loudspeaker. It is absolutely insane the direction we’re headed in our military.”
–Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama).
Yes people, our military is completely at Woke risk. Not only is our basic training camp turning out pansies who recite poetry, but apparently pronoun etiquette and the 1619 Project are undermining our military preparedness. The JNR reached out to Tuberville for details, but none were forthcoming. We are only left to speculate that perhaps the reading aloud of poetry on an aircraft carrier is just the slippery slope toward a more pernicious form of Woke treachery. Perhaps there is a secret military move to rename our famous fighting vessels? Could the USS Enterprise be renamed USS Amanda Gorman? We have to wonder, and move the alert level to DEFCON 4.
The idea that poetry is somehow antithetical to soldiering ignores centuries of evidence. Homer’s Iliad, Shakespeare’s St Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
and my favorite, Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade”, to name a few.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Culture war idiocy seems to be the norm these days. Tuberville is just one purveyor of political nonsense that merely detracts from a focus on real issues and his ignoble entry into the pantheon of anti-woke theater makes him deserving of the JNR “Schmuck of the Month” award. As one wag put it so eloquently, “the notion that art and literature are extraneous is shortsighted if you want to have a culture worth defending with aircraft carriers.” Nuf said.
On a more serious note, the Israeli Knesset is back from the summer break, and the news regarding the proposed judicial overhaul continues to generate serious existential questions about the future of the Jewish state. Here is a link to a podcast that does an excellent job of putting into context why Diaspora Jews (that’s us!) should read up and speak up on this important topic.
https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-matters-now/id1067953235?i=1000627075831
The really big news of the week however, was the leak of a proposal, supposedly from Nut-and-yahoo himself, on a compromise deal that consisted of 3 major concessions:
- A rewriting of the recently passed legislation to remove the “reasonableness clause” which was a major tool used by the Supreme Court to check the powers and rulings of the Knesset
- A freeze in any further legislation for 1.5 years, which would probably coincide with new elections, and,
- A return to a balance on the selection of new judges to the court, more in line with the status quo.
Some really interesting theories are being circulated that these concessions are tied up in the broader effort to normalize relations with the Saudis and solve the Palestinian issue. Or, just more theater from Nut-and-yahoo to look like he is a reasonable person seeking compromise as he readies himself for a meeting with Biden. More to come on that front, so stay tuned. You may hear it first from the JNR, as we have a direct line to Tom Friedman on this hot and developing news story.
Now, what about the news of the Jews? I know what you must be thinking by now: What’s taking so long to get to the good stuff? Enough already with your political blathering. Ok, ok, ok. Here then, for your edification, is your weekly smorgasbord of superbly selected semitic stuff from sources such as The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Nosher, Kveller, and Jewish Boston to name a few. Enjoy!
- Vivek Ramasmarmy – Friend of the Jews? or just an a-hole? Under fire for pledging to cut aid to Israel, Vivek Ramaswamy says he’s outspoken just like Israelis. Is he like the Israeli fruit Sabra, prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside? I don’t think so. He is just a younger MAGA nut job who knows better, but is playing the MAGA card. The 38-year-old political newcomer, a star of the first Republican presidential debate last month, went further in a Friday phone interview with The Forward, elaborating on his views on Israel’s security and defending his recent participation in a podcast whose host is known to traffic in antisemitism. Click here for more.
- 🙄 Today in oh, great: Kanye West will be featured on a new song called “Israel.” The track by rapper Albe Black, which Black previewed on Instagram this week, includes a verse from West in which he raps about meeting the devil. (Times of Israel)
- 📣 Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt criticized Elon Musk for “engaging online with users who are espousing antisemitism and hate” — but stayed diplomatic and complimented Musk’s business acumen in his first remarks since Musk ramped up attacks on the ADL this week. (Musk has accused the ADL of trying to decimate X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — which he owns — by encouraging an ad boycott against it, and threatened a lawsuit.) (JTA)
- 🇲🇽 Mexico’s ruling party on Wednesday named former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, its candidate for next year’s presidential election, putting her in position to become the country’s first female leader. (Times of Israel)
- Opinion | By targeting the ADL, Elon Musk has chosen Jews as his scapegoat: “Rather than confront his own failures, Musk is crafting a narrative whereby powerful, wealthy Jews are responsible for tanking the value of his company,” writes Joel Swanson, a Ph.D. student studying modern Jewish history. “Musk needs to portray himself, the richest man on earth, as an insurgent against the real elites (Jews), represented by groups like the ADL.” Read his essay ➤
- 🎶 Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is set to be the biggest in music history. But new dates announced for 2024 have left some planning Jewish lifecycle events scrambling. One Indianapolis family changed the date of their daughter’s bat mitzvah next year because of a lack of hotel availability and their hunch that middle school girls might choose the concert over their party. (Jewish Insider)
Finally, Monday marks another anniversary of the tragic events that rocked the nation. I recall the popular phrase at the time, “We will never forget” what happened on 9/11. We certainly won’t forget that day, and the loss of our cousin, Robin Kaplan, a then 33 year old beautiful human being, on her way to California on American Flight 11, to help TJX set up a new store in the San Francisco area. She had recently spent a month in the hospital battling Crohn’s/colitis, but was working again and feeling better, and was also recently engaged to a fellow TJX employee. Her dreams, her aspirations, her life, were all incinerated as her plane became a missile in the arsenal of terrorism that struck our country that day and ruined so many lives and forever changed America. RIP Robin.
And on that sad note, a reminder to all to be careful out there.
Brad out.
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