The Jew News Review – December 6, 2024 – “Slouching toward decadence”

Shabbat shalom.

The word decadence comes from the Medieval Latin word dēcadentia, which means “to fall down”. Synonyms of decadence include decline, degeneration, and deterioration. All words that come to my mind this week given the nature of our social discourse surrounding the cold blooded assassination of Brian Thompson, the fifty-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, who was gunned down on the street in New York City Wednesday. Almost instantly, in about the same amount of time it took for the assassin to jump out from behind parked cars and shoot Thompson in the back, social media was rife with online reactions that were both extremely gleeful and extremely dark: “My thoughts and prayers are on hold pending prior authorization,” reads one representative comment on a New York Times Facebook story about the murder. Taylor Lorenz, recently of The Washington Post, wrote, “and they wonder why we want these executives dead” on Bluesky before also posting the name and photo of Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Kim Keck to her accounts on multiple platforms.

There is no question that our health care system needs an overhaul. According to OECD health care data, the US spends about 18% of our GDP on healthcare, more than double other wealthy, industrialized countries, yet our outcomes are lower than most of those countries in life expectancy, infant mortality, chronic disease management, and avoidable mortality rates. While most of those countries provide healthcare to all its people in some kind of public single payer system, our system of private health insurance is inaccessible to over 8% of the population, and by design, is incentivized to keep costs down in order to turn a profit and provide returns back to shareholders. Hence, in this way, the insurance industry’s eagerness to save money by denying people care is a feature, not a bug, of this country’s system. And United Health care has a reputation for being among the stingiest and most aggressive in limiting care in order to turn a profit. As bad as all that sounds, it is a systemic issue, not the fault of a CEO who was also the loving father of two sons. 

If, like me, you were horrified by our nation’s reaction to this tragedy, welcome to the “sky is falling” club. I had the same level of gut-wrenching disgust when reading about the useful idiots at our “elite” college campuses who were tearing down pictures of Israeli hostages. What the fuck America? Has the combination of the orange turd, social media proliferation and other factors led us down the path of moral depravity? Do we no longer have any shame in this “anything goes” “fake it till you make it” culture? Are we indeed in the early stages of the fall of the American empire? Am I over-reacting?

The idea that our culture and national ethos may be coarsening is a topic of ongoing debate among social commentators, historians, and sociologists. And there is ample evidence to support that point of view:

  1. Every time the orange turd opens his orange, sphincter-shaped mouth, it spews a high level of toxic, harsh, cringeworthy bullshit. He, and the tech-bro culture he has helped spawn, have normalized bullying, lying and misogynistic behavior.
  2. Surveys show that many Americans believe society has become less civil over time. For instance, a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that 89% of Americans think political discourse is more negative now than in the past. Duh.
  3. Social media platforms have become breeding grounds for cyberbullying, trolling, and hate speech, reflecting a broader trend of dehumanization in communication. In short, social media, X in particular, has become a cesspool of nazi pornography and hate memes. 
  4. Polarization has been amplified by algorithm-driven “echo chambers” that reinforce divisive views. Similarly, cancel culture has sparked debates about intolerance toward differing opinions, with public figures being ostracized over perceived missteps. 
  5. Distrust in our institutions and science are at an all time high. Gallup polls show that Americans’ trust in Congress has hovered near historic lows, with only 7% expressing “a great deal” of confidence in 2023. Public figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci faced significant skepticism and hostility despite their expertise. Fauci and other scientists continually face death threats. 
  6. Some argue that American society has increasingly prioritized self-expression, materialism, and individual gratification over communal values and mutual respect, resulting in a steady decrease in participation in civic organizations such as the PTA, labor unions, and religious groups. For example, between 1975 and 1995, membership in fraternal organizations like the Elks Club declined by over 50%. Are yesterday’s choir boys today’s incels? 
  7. Online anonymity reduces accountability and dehumanizes interactions. People seem to forget that there are real people with real feelings on the receiving end of harsh taunts and mean messages. This syndrome has a name – the “disinhibition effect” – which means people say and do things anonymously online that they would not normally say or do when their identity is known. Recall the famous New Yorker cartoon: “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
  1. Lastly, we have been witnessing a normalization of violence and public incivility at an increasing scale. Mass shootings are far too common, and so we currently teach our kids active shooter drills! And how many tiktok videos have we seen of human morons misbehaving on airplanes? Too many. 

I could go on, but you get the point. While these trends reflect observable events that some interpret as evidence of cultural coarsening, others argue that such changes may reflect a growing freedom of expression, greater willingness to confront societal problems, or simply changes in the way information is disseminated (e.g., through social media). Rather than a decline, some might argue, these trends often represent a reorganization of priorities or an increased focus on issues previously ignored.

Some would further argue that given a broader historical perspective, complaints about cultural decline are cyclical and have been expressed in every era. We are just exposed to it much more due to social media and 24/7 news. But I’m not so sure. At least in my lifetime, I can’t recall a period as dark as this one when it comes to civility, divisiveness, and what we used to call “common decency”. The assassination of Brian Thompson will capture the news cycle and distract eyeballs for a short period before the next cataclysmic crisis brings us deeper into decline, degeneration and deterioration, like descending one ring deeper into Dante’s inferno. And with the orange turd preparing for his revenge tour, things are certainly not going to become any more civil over the next four years. Quite the contrary. My hope is that (assuming our democracy survives) whatever administration replaces the orange turd’s will swing the culture pendulum back to a kinder, civil and more moral middle ground. 

Meanwhile, a synagogue burns in Australia, Amnesty International declares that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, and a tectonic shift in geopolitics is taking place in Syria and shaking up the current world order. Just another slow news week. And, if you think the US descent into decadence is challenging, try being an Israeli or diaspora Jew over the last year or so. It has not been easy to say the least. Here is Nellie Bowles from her most recent rant on The Free Press:

Amnesty International declared that Israel is doing a genocide. The 300-page report begins: “On 7 October 2023, Israel embarked on a military offensive on the occupied Gaza Strip (Gaza) of unprecedented magnitude, scale, and duration.” Yes, Israel just randomly embarked on an offensive. Anyway, this is a serious charge and to call the war a genocide, Amenesty changed their own definition of it entirely. The new line is that anytime Israel is fighting, it’s doing genocide. And so even in fighting against Hezbollah, which has been lobbing rockets at Israel for years, what is Israel doing? Say it with me: genocide.

So now, without further ajieu, here is your weekly smorgasbord of superbly selected semitic stories from sources such as The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Haaretz, Nosher, Kveller, and Jewish Boston to name a few.

  1. Syria and a Tectonic shift in Middle East and world geopolitics – We have a front row seat to history unfolding, developments enabled significantly by Israel’s decapitation of Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis. It appears to me that the future of the middle east will be shaped by 3 major players, none of which are Arab: Israel, Iran and Turkey. According to blogger and editor of News Items, John Ellis: “If the war in Gaza is the worst manifestation yet of the seemingly intractable Israel-Palestinian dispute, which drew in the armed Lebanese group Hezbollah, analysts call the fight for Syria a far more important struggle to dominate a regional crossroads that influences the entire Middle East. “Syria is the barometer for how power dynamics in the region are changing,” said Mona Yacoubian, head of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. “It is in for a period of chaos in a region that is already on fire.” Some analysts see the hand of Mr. Erdogan in the sweeping advance of the main Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant. Turkey seized an opportunity to increase its influence at a time when Iran was beleaguered, analysts said, and it wants the three million Syrian refugees who fled to its territory because of the civil war to return home. Damascus is the target, Mr. Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul. “The opposition’s march continues,” he said. “Our wish is that this march in Syria continues without incident.” (Source: nytimes.com)”
  2. On the war in Gaza…
    1. Criticism of Amnesty International’s Wednesday reportdeclaring Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide is spreading, with the U.S. and German governments both coming out in opposition to the findings.
      • U.S. officials “continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded,” said a State Department spokesperson. (Department of State)
      • Amnesty Israel, the Israeli branch of Amnesty International, decried the report and said its members had no involvement in its production. In a statement, the group wrote that while it believes “the scale of the killing and destruction carried out by Israel in Gaza has reached horrific proportions and must be stopped immediately,” it does not meet the strict definition of a genocide. (Times of Israel)
    2. Israeli officials announced Wednesday that Israeli forces had recovered the body of hostage Itay Svirsky, whom the IDF says was murdered by Hamas operatives some four months after being taken hostage on Oct. 7. (Times of Israel)
    3. The IDF warned soldiers who have fought in Gaza during the war to avoid traveling abroad, citing fears they might be arrested or questioned by foreign officials. (Times of Israel)
    4. Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the mother of slain American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, sharply criticized political leaders this week during a speech to Jewish lay leaders and philanthropists in New York. She accused politicians — without naming names — of prioritizing their own power over taking meaningful action to resolve the ongoing hostage crisis. (Forward)
    5. Google executives were warned in 2021 that Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government, could facilitate human rights violations against Palestinians and potentially harm the company’s reputation, according to newly revealed documents. (NY Times)
    6. The Israeli military said it created its first-ever air force technicians unit for Haredi men, with accommodations to maintain a religious lifestyle, including setting up a synagogue in an aircraft hangar. (Times of Israel)
  3. Judging a book by its cover – President Joe Biden walked out of a Nantucket bookshop on Black Friday carrying a copy of Rashid Khalidi’s book The 100 Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917–2017 — and all hell broke loose. I have not read the book yet, but based on reviews it is chock-full of pro-Palestenian revisionist history, which has set off the pro-Israeli crowd. Khalidi examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a prolonged settler-colonial project supported by imperial powers. Ugh. But, he is also critical of many aspects of the Palestinian national movement, and especially its leadership. “The existing strategies of both of the leading Palestinian political factions, Fatah and Hamas, have come to nothing,” he writes in the concluding chapter. Khalidi, who lives in Manhattan, himself earned the lasting enmity of many in the anti-Israel movement when he told The New Yorker, following the Oct. 7 attack, that he completely disagreed with Hamas’ tactics. “If a Native American liberation movement came and fired an RPG at my apartment building because I’m living on stolen land, it wouldn’t be justified,” he said. “You either accept international humanitarian law or you don’t.” Khalidi stood by that statement in a recent long interview with Haaretz, which, coincidentally, came out just before Biden’s inadvertent book promotion. Hmmmm.
  4. Foul play? Football fans are still fuming about the late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence during a Sunday game. The tackle — which knocked Lawrence out of the game with a concussion — prompted calls for the suspension of the tackler, the Houston Texans’ Azeez Al-Shaair. Online, pro-Israel activists piled on, outraged by Al-Shaair’s pro-Palestinian footwear. Yes, you read that right. Go deeper ►
  1. Burning Torah scrolls in Melbourne Australia – A synagogue in suburban Melbourne, Australia, was set ablaze on Friday, causing congregants to flee and injuring at least one person. The fire before dawn on Friday at Adass Israel, a haredi Orthodox synagogue in the town of Ripponlea, sent congregants gathered for morning prayers into the streets at 4:10 a.m. Those who fled the fire reported assailants breaking windows and throwing firebombs into the building. The damage from the fire appeared to be extensive and was brought under control by 5 a.m. by a team of 60 firefighters and 17 trucks, according to The Age, an Australian publication. “I unequivocally condemn the attack on a Melbourne synagogue early this morning,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. “I have zero tolerance for antisemitism. It has absolutely no place in Australia.” Would be nice if Albanese backed up the rhetoric with some action, as anti-semitism is running rampant in Australia, as it is around the world.
  1. Netanyahu’s ex-defense minister Ya’alon says IDF ‘not most moral army in the world,’ stands by accusation of ‘ethnic cleansing’ – This news story is getting major media attention inside and outside of Israel. Moshe Ya’alon tells Channel 12 that he will not apologize for his comments accusing Israel of carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in the northern Gaza Strip, and counters the oft-repeated statement that the IDF is “the most moral army in the world.” In the sit-down interview, Ya’alon says, “I don’t say anymore [that the IDF is] the most moral army in the world,” precisely because of “the interference of politicians, who are corrupting the army.“It’s not the most moral army today,” he repeats. “And it’s hard for me to say that.” There is a lot to digest here, but there is nuance in his meaning and definition of “ethnic cleansing”. In a clarifying interview with Channel 12, he added that his meaning of “ethnic cleansing” was evacuating the population to protect them. “The minute we clear that area from Hamas, we will bring the population back.” But he says the danger, Yael warns, is the right wing politicians who actually want to settle that area with Jewish settlers. “And that is, he says, “ethnic cleansing.” Yikes. Basically, he is waving a red flag about the intentions of the Nut-and-yahoo administration.

I’ve had enough of this week. Despite my reference to William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming,” and its sense of impending chaos, I will remain positive, and pivot from synagogue burning to church rebuilding by ending with this amazing story celebrating the re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral. You may recall that a fire on April 15, 2019 ravaged the world heritage landmark and toppled its spire. Some 250 companies, hundreds of experts and thousands of workers were mobilised, at a cost of nearly 700 million euros. French President Emmanuel Macron conducted an inspection of the restoration, broadcast live on television, saying workers had done the “impossible” by healing a “national wound”.

Have a great weekend everyone. And as always, let’s be careful out there.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – October 31, 2024 – “Is everyone ok?”

Shabbat shalom.

We are busy this weekend with family, so I am taking a different approach for this week’s post. Instead of the usual news recap with my smarmy commentary, I am reposting a story taken from StoryCorps, a story which emerged from tragedy, but a story which I think reflects a message of gratitude worthy of sharing on this Thanksgiving weekend. 

If you haven’t heard of StoryCorps, it’s an organization that’s been gathering individual stories from across America for over 20 years and collects all of them in the US. Library of Congress. StoryCorps’ online archive now has the single largest collection of human voices ever gathered.

Here is the story.

On June 5th, 1968, as many of you may remember, Bobby Kennedy won California’s Democratic primary, and that night after his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy was shot. In a famous photograph taken just seconds after, Kennedy lies on the floor with a teenage busboy kneeling beside him, cradling the senator’s head.

That busboy’s name was Juan Romero, and he came to the United States from Mexico as a kid. At StoryCorps, just before the 50th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination, Romero came to remember the night that Bobby Kennedy was killed and how he met Senator Kennedy the night before when he delivered his room service.

They opened the door, and the senator was talking on the phone. He put down the phone and says, “Come on in, boys.” You could tell when he was looking at you, that he’s not looking through you, he’s taking you into account.

And I remember walking out of there like I was 10 feet tall. The next day, he had his victory speech. So, they came down the service elevator, which is behind the kitchen.”

I remember extending my hand as far as I could, and then I remember him shaking my hand, and as he let go, somebody shot him. I kneeled down to him and put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable. I could see his lips moving, so I put my ear next to his lips, and I heard him say, “is everybody okay?”

I said, yes, everybody’s okay. I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers. I had a rosary in my shirt pocket, and I took it out thinking that he would need it a lot more than me.

I wrapped it around his right hand, and then they wheeled him away. The next day, I decided to go to school. I didn’t want to think about it, but this woman was reading the newspaper, and you can see my picture in there with the senator on the floor. She turned around and showed me the picture, and says, “this is you, isn’t it?”And I remember looking at my hands, and there was dry blood in between my nails. Then I received bags of letters addressed to a busboy.

There was a couple of angry letters. One of them even went as far as to say that if he hadn’t stopped to shake your hand, the senator would have been alive. So I should be ashamed of myself for being so selfish.

It’s been a long 50 years, and I still get emotional, tears come out. But I went to visit his grave in 2010. I felt like I needed to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from harming him.

And I felt like, you know, it would be a sign of respect to buy a suit. I never owned a suit in my life. And so when I wore the suit and I stood in front of his grave, I felt a little bit like the first day that I met him.

I felt important. I felt American and I felt good.”

Juan Romero died just a few months after the 50th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination. After hearing the story, a listener wrote into StoryCorps with a related anecdote. The letter started by saying that Robert F. Kennedy was his personal hero.

“So on the 50th anniversary of his death, I took the subway to Arlington Cemetery to pay my respects. I made it just before the gates closed. At RFK’s grave, I sat down next to an older Hispanic man on the wall opposite. “Bobby was important to you?” He asked. I told him yes, before asking why he was here.

“I’m here to pay respects to an old friend, he said. I was the one holding his head when he died. 

I remember that his eyes were wet with tears. He still had his suitcase from the airport. He had flown over for the anniversary, and like me, had just made it in time. As he left, he shook my hand. “It’s good to know that he’s remembered, he said. Anyway, I thought you might like to know that Juan Romero got to say goodbye one last time.”

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone! And remember, be safe out there. I hope everyone is ok.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – November 23, 2024 – “Truth and Trust”

Shabbat shalom! And I hope you all have a great, safe, and yummy Thanksgiving!

A tip of the kippah this week to Ilana Dayan, who delivered a landmark speech last week at the Weizmann Institute in Israel to huge acclaim. Dayan is an Israeli investigative journalist, anchorwoman, and attorney. She is best known as host of the investigative television program Uvda (“Fact”) on the Israeli Channel 12. Her remarks, in my opinion, represent the heart and soul of the Israeli people. The speech is 25 minutes if you have the time, you will appreciate it. Essentially, she is calling on Bibi and his administration to be accountable and establish a task force to investigate the October 7 failings. Here is a short passage, in her own translation from the original Hebrew version:

That’s, essentially, what I wish to say: Out of the love for the profession I  chose, which has become my mission; out of a simple love for this country, out of my deep connection  to this land and its people: We must ask the questions, to try to get answers, but mainly to make sure that we never stop asking. Because there is no revival for a place  where even the questions are dead. Because what has been broken here must be fixed. And to fix it, we need to know. And to know, we need to ask. The act of questioning is, therefore,  the patriotic act these days, and  it is not unnecessary to say this.

The refusal to establish a commission of inquiry  to investigate how the catastrophe of October  7 occurred reduces, with every passing  day, the chance of discovering the facts,  unearthing the truth, and restoring public trust  in those who make life-and-death decisions. You might well ask: of all the scandals and  displays of indifference around  us – why focus on this question? Because of the stubborn and cynical refusal, And because this refusal is not accidental. And mainly because it undermines the two pillars without which there will be no  healthy and free society here: They’re called TRUTH & TRUST.

We could sure use some truth and trust here in the good ole US of A. While the cabinet clown car continues to be filled with Donny-dumb-fuck’s deck of deplorables, he seems to be losing patience with the process and just naming whomever spoke to him last to whatever cabinet position came to his warped mind. One of my favorite Never Trumpers, Jeff Tiedrich, had this to say:

think about it: Captain Crazypants famously has the attention span of a coked-up squirrel — so of course it took barely a week for him to reach the ‘let’s just get this fucking shit over with as fast as possible’ stage of the process.

and why not? Donny’s already picked the important honchos: Matt Gaetz to lead the Department of Retribution, Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Abandoning Our Allies, and Tom Homan to lead the Department of Rounding Up Undesirables.

after that came the doling of favors to cronies. Bobby Brainworms to head the Department of Dying of a Preventable Disease, Tulsi Gabbard to lead the Department of Letting Putin Know What We’re Up To, and the Space Nazi to head the Department of Giggling Like a Loon While Breaking Shit You Don’t Understand. 

So, if Putin doesn’t push the nuclear button and start WWIII, we have a long four years ahead of us. As the Grateful Dead noted, “What a long strange trip it’s been” and I’m sure the trip will get even stranger. Truth and trust have never been in more peril.

And speaking of truth and trust, the International Court of Criminals should rot in hell considering the enormity of their lies and lack of credibility. At the ICC, there is no trust, and no truth. You all know I am no fan of Nut-and-yahoo and his cronies that are dividing the great Israeli nation, and I would love to see Bibi exit stage right. But the ICC issuing arrest warrants for both the leaders of Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, and the leaders of Israel, a democratic state engaged in self-defense against those very same terrorists, is extraordinary and deeply flawed. As most sane adherents of the truth have pointed out, this decision is not just morally indefensible, it was wrong on the merits, wrong on the process, wrong on the facts, and wrong on the law.

The ICC’s bogus charges against Israel are based on alleged violations of the Rome Statute, yet according to Mark Goldfeder, Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, they conspicuously omit the full statutory language that would clearly exonerate the accused. 

Bibi and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are accused of engaging in “starvation as a method of warfare.” Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute, however, explicitly defines this crime as “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including willfully impeding relief supplies as provided for under the Geneva Conventions.”

This is a specific intent crime. It is not enough to demonstrate that civilians suffered based on decisions Israel made while fighting Hamas; the prosecutor must show that Israel acted with the deliberate aim of starving civilians as a method of warfare. This is patently untrue. Israel has made extensive efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza, even under the extraordinary challenge of Hamas’s systematic theft and weaponization of such supplies. Any accusation that Israel’s objective was to starve innocent civilians—rather than to compel the surrender of Hamas combatants—is not merely unfounded but a libelous distortion of the truth.

And that’s just one of the bogus issues the ICC is claiming in their indictment. I could go on, but you get the drift. Just another drop in the anti-semitic bucket that is already overflowing. For more on this topic, here is a link to Goldfeder’s essay. Rep Richie Torrez, D-NY, had this to say:

The ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against the leadership of Israel represents the weaponization of international law at its most egregious. The ICC has set a precedent for criminalizing self-defense: any country daring to defend itself against an enemy that exploits civilians as human shields will face persecution posing as prosecution.

Let’s move on and get to the good stuff. Here then, finally, is your weekly buffet of baffling, beguiling, and sometimes bitter news for the Jews copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, Kveller, Times of Israel, Haaretz, The Jewish Chronicle, JTA, and other reputable sources of all things Jewish-y. 

  1. Oh no Canada! – Canada has announced, among other countries, that they will arrest Netanyahu following the ICC warrant if he steps on Canadian territory. .  Canada, which once exported tens of millions of dollars’ worth of arms to Israel, has now said it will abide by the ICC warrant, joining the Netherlands, Ireland, and Switzerland. A number of other Western countries, including Britain, France, Italy and Sweden, remained non-committal. Others that are led by conservative ideological allies of Netanyahu — including Austria, Argentina and Hungary — have said they will ignore the warrants. Aside from damaging Israel’s foreign relations, the warrant puts a serious crimp on Netanyahu’s ability to travel as he seeks to defend the country’s conduct in its multi-front war.
  2. Breaking news: Rabbi kidnapped?  Netanyahu’s office confirms that the Mossad spy agency is investigating the disappearance of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Abu Dhabi. Kogan disappeared on Thursday, Bibi’s office says, and the incident is being treated as terrorism. Yikes.
  3. One nation under God – The orange turd has been privately promising groups of pastors and Christian activists that they’ll have ideological influence over the White House, and the country. As The Forward’s Mira Fox reports, powerful individuals and interest groups have been working to erode the boundary between church and state, hoping to create a country ruled by Christianity, and they see Trump as a divinely appointed soldier to help them do so. She offers up a guide to the Christian nationalists who could sway Trump. Go deeper ►Related: According to polling, more than half of Republicans are “adherents or sympathizers” of Christian nationalism, an effort to blur the line between church and state. The movement has alarmed Jews and other religious minorities.Plus: Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, has views that are consistent with a strain of Christian nationalism that believes in applying biblical laws to modern life. He also has a number of Christian and Crusades-inspired tattoos.
  4. The latest on the wars:
    1. Lebanese source says Beirut is seeking changes to US-backed ceasefire proposal; according to Israeli defense official, a deal with Hamas also seems possible for first time in a while. (Times of Israel)
    2. Nearly 100 trucks loaded with food and other aid were stopped at gunpoint in the Gaza Strip and looted, a U.N. agency said. It was unclear who carried out the ambush. (NY Times, Times of Israel)
    3. T’ruah, the rabbinic human rights organization, is calling on the United States to stop sending bombs and other non-defensive military aid to Israel. (Religion News Service)
    4. The Biden administration imposed a new round of sanctions on an Israeli settler group for causing violence in the occupied West Bank. Trump could reverse the decision. (JTA)
  5. And the latest on campus…
    1. About a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators shouted “Zionists are not welcome here” and other slogans outside Harvard’s Hillel Monday night to protest an event featuring a former spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. (Harvard Crimson, X)
    2. Tufts University extended the suspension of its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter until 2027, citing “multiple violations of university policies,” including promoting violence. (Algemeiner)
    3. The University of Arizona created an endowed chair in Holocaust studies with a $2 million gift from an anonymous donor. Leonard Hammer, a Judaic Studies lecturer, is the first to hold the position. (U. of Arizona)
    4. Four University of Rochester students were arrested on felony charges over “wanted” posters featuring Jewish professors that went up on campus, instigating outrage and fear. A fifth student is being investigated. (NBC News)
    5. Harvard’s only Yiddish professor was denied tenure, blocked by the university president himself in a decision that the professor involved, Saul Noam Zaritt, has filed a grievance over. (Harvard Crimson)
  6. 🏆  Apple doesn’t fall far award – Paul Coates, a publisher and the father of author Ta-Nehisi Coates, recently republished an infamous antisemitic tract. On Wednesday, the National Book Awards is set to give him a lifetime achievement award. (JTA). 📚 Elsewhere in the literary world, dozens of authors withdrew from the Giller Prize in Canada because its main sponsor is a bank with ties to an Israeli weapons manufacturer. (JTA)

That’s all for now. For more truth and trust, keep reading the JNR! And let’s be careful out there. And have a great, safe, and yummy Thanksgiving!

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – November 16, 2024 – “A reckless pick by a feckless prick”

Shabbat shalom!

Well, the navel examinations and finger pointing continues as to why so many of our fellow Americans could vote for a traitorous rapist and convicted felon for President of these somewhat united states. Substack and all forms of media are overflowing with essays explaining the end of the world as we know it. It’s like an all you can eat feeding frenzy at the Cheesecake Factory. So, I will defer from adding my own glib perspectives and instead, draw upon the wisdom of Sam Harris, who with much clarity and eloquence noted the following:

I’m not going to spend the next four years obsessing about Donald Trump. As I’ve said before, I consider him one of the greatest opportunity costs for humanity to appear in my lifetime. The fact that we’ve had to think about this man continuously, for a decade, is just an incredible piece of bad luck.  So, I’m going to do my best to pick my moments.  I’m sure there will be many over the next four years, but I am just not willing to give more of my time to politics than is absolutely necessary. 

Amen brother Harris. And taking that cue, I am also vowing that after this post, I will try and avoid any reference to or obsessing over the orange turd, no matter how much of his chaotic bullshit fills the swamps and cesspools that have become our media. Here is more from brother Harris:

If you are a Democrat who voted for Harris, please absorb this: You lost more people of color than you ever have in a presidential election, while running against Archie Bunker. Worse, Trump is actually supported by real racists and white supremacists—and that still wasn’t enough of a problem. Who do you think your identity politics is for? You’re really going to keep celebrating pornographers of racial grievance, like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi? Should we just give another Pulitzer Prize to the 1619 Project and congratulate ourselves? You really think racism is the problem in America—and that what we saw this week was just a victory for white-male identity politics? That’s how you’re going to explain Trump’s popularity at this point? Trump gained support from every racial group except white people, where he lost one percentage point when compared to 2020. You’re going to chalk that up to racism? 

So let’s stop with the “this country will never elect a woman of color” nonsense. It’s just that. The data doesn’t lie.

Sam continues:

Of course, I blame Trump and social media for how divisive our politics have become.  Trump is what you get when 51 percent of a society declares bankruptcy on core moral values, political principles, journalistic ethics, and necessary institutions. There is no real defense of Trump and Trumpism. All his defenders act like his critics just don’t like the man’s style—he’s just too crass or bombastic. Or they think we’re worried about hypothetical things that might never happen—we’re worried that he might become a fascist in the future. And, needless to say, these concerns are tell-tale signs of “Trump derangement syndrome.”

But none of that is true. The problem with Trump isn’t his style, and it’s not merely what might happen in the future. The problem is what has already happened. It’s the damage that Trump has already caused to our democracy. And it’s the fact that he has turned the Republican Party into a personality cult that celebrates all this damage as a sign of progress.

Hence, the real question remains, why did a majority of Americans not see what a feckless prick and flaming a-hole he is and what damage he has already done, and how can they not see how much more damage and chaos he will bring? My short answer is to blame the right wing media ecosystem. Because if it is a perception issue, those perceptions are fed by and formed by the garbage diet of right wing processed smack food poisoning the electorate’s mind, body and soul. This year it became obvious that the right-wing media has more power than the mainstream media and as noted in The New Republic this week, “they speak in a clear and consistent voice, and that voice says Democrats and liberals are treasonous elitists who hate you, and Republicans and conservatives love God and country and are your last line of defense against your son coming home from school your daughter.”

TNR continues, 

If you’re of a certain age, you have a living memory of revolutions in what we used to call the Third World. Question: What’s the first thing every guerilla army, whether of the left or the right, did once they seized the palace? They took over the radio or television station. First. There’s a reason for that.

It’s the same reason Viktor Orbán told CPAC in 2022: “Have your own media.”

The sooner libs and dems understand the enormity of this problem, and one that is only growing worse, the sooner an effort can be made to counter it. Meanwhile, Donny-dumb-fuck (DDF) will do his best to distract everyone’s attention with shiny crazy objects that will flow from his foul anus-like mouth like the effluvium exhaust from his deranged and aging brain.  DDF sparked outrage Wednesday when the feckless prick made another reckless cabinet pick by selecting Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general. The Florida Republican has a history of drug use and is under investigation for sleeping with underage girls, exactly the profile one looks for in the country’s top cop. He is such an a-hole, even MAGA Republicans are flinching at the selection!

Fasten your seatbelts everyone. It’s going to be a wild ride for the next four years.

Meanwhile, in the race to the bottom of the bad news contest, Israel and Jews are winning the battle. And so, without any further ajieu, here is this week’s generous selection of Jewie journalistic gems, culled and carefully curated, and copied and pasted from the likes of The Forward, JTA, The Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Boston, Haaretz, and other Jewish journals:

  1. Day 406 of the war – More than 28,000 rockets have been fired at Israel since October 7th, 2023. That is a rocket every 19 minutes for an entire year. Some 14,150 of these came from Lebanon and Syria, 13,200 from Gaza, 350 from Iran, 180 from Yemen, and 150 from Iraq. And this is just the rockets. It does not include non-stop attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, nor all the drones, of which Hezbollah has fired about 1,200, or Iran’s ballistic missile attack, or any other 300 terror attacks a month that Israel faces. Over 80,000 people have been displaced from their homes within Israeli sovereign land. Does the scale of this onslaught get reported in the mainstream media? Nowhere else would a year of such sustained rocket and missile fire, often deliberately aimed at civilian population centers, not be headline news. It is as if Israel is just expected to live with this, when no other country would even think about doing so. What does get reported? Israel’s counter attacks against enemies that have sworn to a genocide against Jews.
  2. More on the war:
    1. CEASE-FIRE/HOSTAGES: Palestinian Islamic Jihad has released for the second time this week a video of Israeli hostage Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, the fourth such video since his abduction from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7. It is unclear when the video was filmed by the sick bastards. 
    2. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the issue of the hostages “remains a priority in Russia’s discussions with the political wing of Hamas and other Palestinian organizations.”“‘In my view, he’s not in Gaza. Once he died, he went to the place where he was meant to be,’ says Liat Atzili, whose husband Aviv was murdered by Hamas on October 7. ‘His body has no significance to me, and I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to risk their lives to bring back a body. It’s much more important to focus on the people who might still be alive‘” – Nir Hasson
    3. ISRAEL-LEBANON: Hezbollah will review the key points of a draft cease-fire proposal aimed at stopping the war in Lebanon and will submit its comments to the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Beri, Al Jazeera reported.
      1. U.S. President-elect DDF has “signed off on” a proposed Lebanon cease-fire plan after being briefed by Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that Trump also “expressed hope that it would get done before he enters the Oval Office” on January 20.
      2. The plan, according to the report, includes Hezbollah withdrawing its forces and weapons from the border with Israel to north of the Litani River, with the Lebanese military and UN peacekeepers tasked with ensuring that they do not return.
      3. Iran will support any decision taken by the Lebanese government and Lebanon’s “resistance” in current talks on a cease-fire, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani, said after meeting Lebanese caretaker PM Najib Mikati and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, adding that Tehran is “not looking to sabotage anything. We are after a solution to the problems.”
  3. Orange Turd 2.0:
    1. President-elect DDF has promised to bring back school prayer, and threatened to eliminate the Department of Education. “Regardless of who Trump taps to lead the department, Jewish groups and education experts are concerned about the president-elect giving wide berth to Christian nationalists who believe the country needs more religious influence on public education,” writes The Forward’s Lauren Markoe. Read the story ►
    2. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., DDF’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has a history of antisemitic rhetoric, including a 2023 claim that “COVID had been ‘ethnically targeted’ to avoid ‘Ashkenazic Jews and Chinese.’” (JTA)
    3. Colorado’s Jewish governor, Jared Polis, who earlier this week announced he would co-chair a group to help states push back against DDF’s policies, initially greeted Kennedy’s nomination with enthusiasm before clarifying that he opposes “RFK’s positions on a host issues.” Kennedy’s response? Thanking “Governor Polish.” (ABC News, Colorado Sun, X)
    4. Elon Musk, who has taken on a key role in managing DDF’s transition to the White House, reportedly met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations earlier this week to discuss reducing American tensions with the Middle Eastern power. (New York Times)
  4. More on Israel:
    1. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz — who is new in the role after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of his prominent critic Yoav Gallant last week — approved the issuance of 7,000 new draft notices to Haredi Jews, escalating tensions over the recent end of their longstanding exemption from the draft. (Times of Israel)
    2. Several freed hostages met with Pope Francis in Rome to advocate for a deal to free the hostages who remain in Gaza. (Associated Press)
    3. Almost 90 Democrats in Congress called on President Joe Biden to sanction the far-right Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir during his lame-duck period. (JTA)
    4. “Israeli authorities on Thursday completed the demolition of a village at the heart of a yearslong struggle by members of the country’s Arab Bedouin minority against relocation plans,” reports the Associated Press. (AP)
  5. GERMANY: Police in Germany have issued a warning about potential attacks on the Israeli embassy in the coming days, the German newspaper Bild reported, claiming that the threats originated from Hamas and were circulated via the terrorist group’s Telegram channel, which stated that there should be a “siege on the embassies of the Zionist entity and the countries supporting it.”
  6. Oh woe is Ye – A new lawsuit claims that the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, accused his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, of having “Jewish masters” — the latest in Ye’s long history of antisemitic scandals. (Variety)
  7. President-elect DDF sparked outrage Wednesday when he picked Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general. The Florida Republican has a history of clashing with Jewish groups, including when he invited a Holocaust denier to the 2018 State of the Union.
    • Earlier this year, Gaetz voted against emergency military aid to Israel, and opposed a bill aimed at addressing rising antisemitism on college campusesbecause it rejected the notion that Jews killed Jesus.
    • Gaetz, who was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual misconduct until he resigned on Wednesday, called the Anti-Defamation League “racist” in 2021 after the group urged Fox News to fire Tucker Carlsonfor promoting the Great Replacement Theory.
    • “Gaetz has a long history of trafficking in antisemitism,” said the ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt. “He should not be appointed to any high office, much less one overseeing the impartial execution of our nation’s laws.” Rep. Max Miller, a Jewish Republican from Ohio, called it “a reckless pick.”

Had enough? I know I have. 

Let’s be careful out there.

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – October 18, 2024 – Special Edition – “A great day for the world”

Shabbat Shalom! 

Yesterday we learned that the great Satan, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by a few Israeli grunts on a routine operation in Rafah. After an IDF infantry drone picked up movement in a building, near to where the six hostages were murdered, gunfire was exchanged and a tank shell lit up the building killing three terrorists. One of those killed was a Hamas field commander, and then, the young rookies fresh out of boot camp, realized that Sinwar was also one of their victims. Ding dong the despicable Devil is dead! 

Even before the DNA evidence confirmed the kill, there were celebrations all over Israel, including announcements through loudspeakers on the beaches filled with Israelis celebrating the holiday. And around the globe, many celebrated along with Israel, while others more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, mourned the murderer’s demise. That latter group should take stock in his actual legacy: death and destruction brought upon his own people. 

Without a doubt, the civilized world is a much better place without Sinwar: a blood-thirsty tyrannical butcher who made cannon fodder of his own people in the name of Allah, and who spent billions building a terrorist tunnel network instead of investing in the communities and people he claimed to be fighting for. The campus clowns and institutional Left in the West really ought to be ashamed of their craven cowardice, not least because, if Sinwar had succeeded in his nightmarish vision of bringing the West down, these leftists would have been among the first to face the Hamas firing squad. There is no question that Sinwar and his psychopathic sycophants despised their ‘liberal’ views; he was merely goading them as useful idiots for his own blood-soaked cause. And that is another part of Sinwar’s hateful legacy: a looney wing of the left that has completely lost its moral compass, a left that fawns over the likes of Ta-nehisi Coates, a Jew hater who is not sure he would have resisted joining in with Hamas in the butchering of innocent people. Un-fucking believable. 

Given the history in the middle east of a long line of Palestinian militant leaders assassinated by Israel, one could argue that Sinwar is just another in that line, and someone else, including his more insidious brother, will take his place. I remember when everyone thought Yassar Arafat, the former PLO leader, said NO to a two state solution and then stamped that decision with the second intifada that cost the lives of over 1,400 innocent Israeli citizens. At that time, Arafat was considered by many to be the most evil man on earth, but upon reflection, he now seems like a tame diplomat by today’s standards. Others argue that, no matter how moral or defensible Israel’s response might be, the death of Palestinian citizens from Israel’s response will just create another generation of terrorists that will eventually repeat the horrors of October 7. But I have never bought into that argument since history tells us that, yes, we can eradicate evil with war as proven with the Nazis, and ISIS, and other evil organizations. We fight against evil not because we “win” but because it’s the right thing to do. There is no excuse for confusion. 

So, is Sinwar just another notch in the Israeli Palestinian leader hit squad? Should Israel keep fighting until the very last Hamas thug is dead? I think not. 

This time, I think there is a deal to be done. For the first time in a while, I find myself agreeing with Tom Friedman of the NYT, who in this morning’s OpEd articulated a plausible outcome as follows:

The broad idea is for the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, to agree to appoint the economist and former P.A. prime minister Salam Fayyad — or someone of his sterling reputation for incorruptibility — as the new Palestinian prime minister to lead a new technocratic cabinet and reform the Palestinian Authority, root out corruption and upgrade its governance and security forces.

Such a reformed Palestinian Authority would then formally ask for — and participate in — an international peacekeeping force that would include troops from the U.A.E., Egypt, possibly other Arab states and maybe even European nations. This force would be phased in to replace the Israeli military in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority would then be responsible for rebuilding Gaza with relief funds provided by Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and other Arab Gulf states, Europeans and most likely the U.S.

A reformed Palestinian Authority, with massive Arab and international funds, would attempt to restore its credibility in Gaza, and the credibility of its core Fatah organization in Palestinian politics — and sideline the remnants of Hamas.

But, this potential breakthrough in diplomacy can only happen if there is the political will and courage in Israel to agree on this solution. I think the death of Sinwar and the release of all hostages will be enough for the average Israeli to get past the trauma of October 7, and support a peace plan that secures Israel and advances formal recognition and relationships with Saudi Arabia, UAE, and potentially others. But Bibi and his right flank pose a bigger challenge. And here is where we need to appeal to Bibi’s ego and potential legacy. Bibi, who sees himself as some kind of Churchillian historic figure, must step up here and risk his coalition for the sake of the country. He should do this with the tacit agreement that he be pardoned for the stupid corruption charges that seem like petty stuff compared to what we deal with here in the US. And the nut jobs on his right flank, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, in particular, should then be marginalized to the fringes of government, as they used to be. 

Lastly, the battle does not end there. Iran and its proxies need to be isolated and de-fanged as well. Western civilization will continue to be threatened by jihadists who only live to kill Jews and bring down the west. The US needs to stop its nonsensical policy of appeasement with Iran which began under the Obama administration and continues to this day. A majority of Iranian citizens want a relationship with Israel, a historic friend, and want the mullahs and IRG gone. And we must reform the UN by getting rid of UNWRA and stopping some of the nonsense emanating from some UN leaders that have no business being in leadership positions. 

Sounds like fantasy land. But the time is right for a big solution to an even bigger problem. This is one of those moments in history where great men and great women have an opportunity to make a significant and historic difference. The next few weeks will be interesting. Let’s hope Bibi can restore the trust of Israelis, bring the hostages home, and bring a new peace to a war-torn land. Otherwise, for Israel and the middle east, it’s lather, rinse and repeat. 

Brad out.

The Jew News Review – Special Halloween Edition – “Can we still get our freak on?”

Shalom. And Booh!

I am re-stacking this piece from Jeff Maurer on the topic of Halloween. No Purim parallels intended, (no Jew angle on this at all), just something for your reading pleasure. I am old enough to remember the Yale incident, and young enough, at least at heart, to also remember getting my freak on for many a disturbing Halloween party. Fortunately, there were no cell phones or cameras around back in those good ole days. Enjoy. 

What We Lost When We Lost the Freedom to Dress Like a Sexy Mario Brother on Halloween

Any why letting people get their freak on within reason matters

Jeff Maurer

Above: Four young women set out to create feelings of deep sexual confusion among men who grew up with Winnie the Pooh. (photo from Ariela Lewis on Pinterest)

Dan Savage has called Halloween “Straight Pride Day”. He’s right, of course — it plays that role for adults. Holidays like Christmas and Independence Day — once excuses for debauchery — have morphed into cavalcades of wholesome family crap, which required Halloween to turn into an excuse to get dronk with an “o” and rut with a stranger in a public toilet. It’s odd that a day originally meant to honor Christian martyrs turned into an event where a guy dressed like Borat and a woman dressed like a sexy Lego bang each other by the dumpster behind the ESPN Zone, and yet: Here we are.

In recent years, Halloween costumes have become a battlefield in the culture war. It began when people started to question whether Halloween’s “edginess” might more accurately be called “racism”, or perhaps “social pressure for women to go downtown with their asscheeks hanging out even if it’s 40 degrees.” Then, there was a high-profile kerfuffle over student costumes at Yale, and conservative backlash to left-wing overreach, and now fighting over Halloween costumes is A Thing. And actually, it’s A Culture War Thing, which means that the issue has basically been place behind a velvet rope with a sign that says “You must lose 50 IQ points to participate in this discussion.”

No matter what you think the state of that discussion is, things have clearly changed. Gone are the days when a woman could throw on some lingerie and teddy bear ears, declare herself to be Thirst Trap Teddy Ruxpin, and wait for the good times to arrive. Any person with any semblance of a self-preservation instinct triple-checks their costume to make sure that no one could take offense. And to some extent, that’s a good thing. But there’s also a cost to overreach, and this article is about acknowledging that cost.

First, though, let’s acknowledge the good: It should be possible to have a stupid, horny fun time without demeaning anybody. I’m old enough to remember when some people found not-in-any-grey area racist costumes to be edgy and hilarious, which feels like saying “I remember when you could buy a phosphate at Woolworth’s for a nickel.” I also recognize that the pressure on women to wear a costume that looks like it was stolen from Cinemax’s wardrobe department in 1995 is a clear gender double standard; no guy has to worry that he’ll be considered a prude if he doesn’t show at least two inches of dong neck. As is often the case, societal change happened for a good reason.

And, as is also often the case, some people went too far. The aforementioned Yale case led to a professor being forced out after she wrote an email questioning whether Yale’s “watch it, kids” missive was the right approach, and her husband was excoriated in a viral video. There have also been attempts to apply today’s standards retroactively. The problem is that the cultural shift hasn’t lead to clear and widely agreed upon standards; it’s led to vague and seemingly contradictory¹ rules that are often enforced by social media mobs. Which means that the rule isn’t really “don’t wear an offensive costume” — it’s “don’t wear a costume that mightbe considered offensive by anybody, up to and including the dumbest person on Earth.” Which has made people scared, and not in a fun, spooky, Halloween kind of way.

This is a small deal in the grand scheme of things. There are wars and famine and poverty in the world — who cares if Halloween is 20 percent less fun? But I do think this matters a bit. The left used to be associated with personal freedom — we were the “live and let live” folks who were okay if adults had sex and did drugs, especially if they did both together. We were pro gay rights and anti censorship, while the right were the uptight prudes preaching Calvinist self-denial while wearing heavy sweaters that functioned as a form of birth control. Today, the roles are somewhat reversed: The left are the scolds while right-leaning Podcast Bros have captured the libertine vibes. Halloween costumes are part of the vibe shift, and a part that ordinary folks encounter on a yearly basis.

We’re five days away from an enormously consequential election. Every partisan in the country is focused on undecided voters in Pennsylvania, who are: Kate, Brad, Michael S., Michael B., Devon, Sadie, and Julio. But we should also consider how people come to be “decided” in the first place. Many of us were undecided long ago, but various experiences led us to identify more with one party or the other. I think those experiences are usually not along the lines of “I read the Keynes/Hayek correspondences and sided more with Keynes”, but are typically more like “I missed out on a promotion and I think my race and gender played a role.” Regular life experiences shape our views, especially life experiences that involve a run-in with some total asshole. And that’s why I think that the left coming to be seen as the No Fun Brigade must surely be bad for Democrats when it comes time to vote.

I’ve written a lot lately about how we seem to have receded from peak wokeness. And a recent experience provided more evidence for that hypothesis: Last weekend, I was in the part of town where the youngs congregate (I was there to buy potting soil, because my life is basically a naked base jump into a live volcano every day). People were out partying for Halloween, and I’m happy to report: Ass has returned. I saw a sexy Black Poison Ivy, I saw a (presumably gay) guy dressed as a unicorn if unicorns wore little silver shorts — nature is healing. It should be possible to find ways to have inclusive and welcoming fun that also allows people to skank out to the max if they feel so inclined. We may still be finding the right balance, and I think the sooner we find it, the better.

The Jew News Review – October 26, 2024 – “Wapo dies in its own darkness”

Shabbat shalom! And a tip of the kippah this week to Sir Paul McCartney, spotted attending Yom Kippur services in Chile, alongside his Jewish wife, Nancy Chevelle. McCartney was in South America as part of his big “Got Back” world tour, performed a concert in Santiago on a Friday night, and then went to Shul to atone for performing on shabbat. Not really, and thanks Sir Paul!

While McCartney “Get’s Back” and gives back to the world on his latest tour, there are billionaires in the US who have turned their back on democracy, and completely abrogated their role as stewards and protectors of this great nation. As a former journalist, I cannot begin to describe my disappointment in the crumbling and decaying foundations of the Fourth Estate, one of the most important institutions remaining to help ward off our decline into whatever brand of autocracy or “fascism” the orange turd represents. This is not hyperbolic. Dumb-as-a-stump Trump is actually telling us what he plans to do should he win enough electoral votes coming up in a few weeks, and it’s pretty alarming. Donny-dumb-fuck is actually willing to take the country to the edge of an abyss because he doesn’t have the decency to moderate his own narcissistic needs. And half our country is willing to role the dice and put their 401ks at risk. Why would they be willing to do this for an orange clown whose ethical and moral failures could not be more obvious? Because they loathe the ruling orthodoxy and the culture that it represents? Because the Dems didn’t provide a decent alternative? Because they got left behind by the global economy? All the above? I am also sick of “wokeness” and the crazy crap being bred into our young Ivy League leaders but I can see the big picture pretty clearly, and it aint good. There are not enough adult diapers in Costco to help the Dems deal with this shit. 

What shouldn’t amaze me at this point, but nevertheless bugs the shit out of me, is that despite the recent news of the orange turd’s love affair with Nazi generals, Adolf Trump is actually gaining in the most recent polls. And the adults in the room, the ones supposedly speaking truth to power, and here I am particularly referring to the LA Times and The Washington Post, have not only turned their backs to holding this abhorrent would-be dictator to account, but have elected NOT to endorse Harris out of fear of reprisal should Heir Trump win. What a ghastly demonstration of cowardice, at a time when the country demands much more. This is just another sign of the growing irrelevance of the print media in this time of Tik Tok attention spans. I noticed a headline that thousands have already cancelled their Wapo subscriptions. Good for them. And there was this brilliant cartoon, a parody referencing Wapo’s mission statement, “Democracy dies in darkness”. Democracy is now on its last legs, and its only defense is now up to the voters. So, if you have to, hold your nose and vote Harris. Let’s keep the lights on.

And this is for all my friends and relatives in Virginia. Thanks to Jeff Tiedrich who writes “This week in stupid”:

If you’re a resident of Boones Mill, Virginia, you’re probably aware of Trump Town. Trump Town is yet another of these stores that exist only to separate the cultists from their money — but honestly, if you’ve a hankering to waste your hard-earned on the stupidest shit imaginable, where else are you gonna go? 

The most spectacular specimens are in the back right corner: pairs of silvery, veiny metal testicles hanging from a ring and wrapped in protective clear plastic. “That’s Trump’s balls,” the store’s owner, Whitey Taylor, explains. The smaller set costs $75, the larger, $125. They’re heavy.

There are two things you need to know about this ball-slinging entrepreneur, Whitey Taylor. first, he’s running for Mayor of Boones Mill. second, he seems nice.

Donald “Whitey” Taylor was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the Trump Town USA store on Bethlehem Road, which he owns.

He’s charged with three misdemeanor counts of assault and one count of indecent exposure.

According to court documents obtained by WDBJ7, one woman claimed that on September 26, Taylor called her to the back of the store where he exposed himself and requested oral sex.

Court documents show the second woman claimed that, on October 15, Taylor grabbed her arm and shoved his hands into her pants, while restraining her from escaping.

You really can’t make this shit up. Let’s hope this store doesn’t become a museum or a shrine symbolic of our national disgrace and decline.

On hopefully a good news front, Israel continues to kick ass and take names. It’s refreshing to see the great “start up” nation start to take the offense for a change, helping the world rid itself of jihadists whose mission is to kill jews and western civilization. While it is still early to tell, it appears as though Israel rather deliberately avoided bombing nuclear or oil related sites, and focused instead on military targets in a broad message of “deterrence”. Here is a translation from an IDF spokesman this morning:

Following the directive of the political echelon, we carried out precise and targeted strikes on targets in different areas in Iran. These included missile manufacturing facilities used by Iran in its attacks on the State of Israel over the past year. Simultaneously, we targeted Iran’s surface-to-air missile arrays and Iranian aerial capabilities that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran. Israel now has broader aerial freedom of operation in Iran.

Iran attacked Israel twice, including in locations that endangered civilians, and has paid the price for it. We are focused on our war objectives in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. It is Iran that continues to push for a wider regional escalation.

The targets that were struck were selected from a broad target bank – targets of various types, and we will be able to select additional targets from it and strike them if required…

This is a clear message – those who threaten the State of Israel will pay a heavy price.

Whether this “punch in the mouth” will deliver the kind of deterrence intended remains to be seen. But so far, the Iran response has been to show normal civilian activity and to downplay and joke about the Israeli response. According to one analyst and friend of the JNR:

Iranian Telegram is full of posts downplaying the attack, laughing at the weakness of the response. They joke that when Israel is attacked, Israelis run to rocket shelters; when Iran is attacks, Iranians go to the rooftops to take videos (clearly missing the fact that Israel strikes military targets, where Iran and Hezbollah fire aimlessly and threaten civilians). Crowing aside, this narrative suggests that the attack was not too obviously overwhelming and shaming for the Mullahs. Iranian Public Relations can laugh this attack off, domestically, without appearing weak.

And now, without further ajieu, here is your weekly smorgasbord of jewy journalism, carefully and craftily curated for your reading pleasure by the staff of the JNR:

  1. The Sandy Koufax World Series dilemma – For millions of baseball fans, this year’s matchup of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees — arguably the sport’s two most storied franchises — is a dream decades in the making. But for a small number of them, the World Series schedule reads like a cruel joke: Up to four games of the best-of-seven series — the first two and, if played, the last two — overlap with the Jewish day of rest in parts of the U.S.. What to do? Hire a shabbat goy of course to turn the TV on and off! For more, click here. 
  2. Kill the lights Hymie – I love that line from Maxwell Smart, who asks his Jewish robot friend to turn off the lights, but in this case, Hymie’s Deli in Philly is killing their business by running an ad for the orange turd. “I will never set foot there again”, claims one of its most historic customers. Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein said she cancelled her plans to eat at Hymie’s on Friday night after she saw the ad. She said it presented Jewish women as caricatures, with their Yiddish inflections, sighs of “oy vey” and references to Ivy League students beleaguered by campus antisemitism. And she accused the RJC of fear mongering. I actually think the ad is pretty effective. You be the judge.

3. Solidarity sukkahs – Students at more than a dozen universities have built “Gaza solidarity sukkahs,” connecting the Jewish holiday, which is celebrated by living in temporary outdoor structures, to the pro-Palestinian tent encampments that popped up at schools across the country last spring. Police have dismantled several of the structures, spurring claims that they are infringing on the religious freedom of Jewish students. Go deeper ►

4. Everybody wants this – The show is trending hugely popular, but has been widely panned by Jews for it’s portrayal of Jewish women. Personally, I loved the show (but agree with the criticism) and found it very entertaining and I also liked the way it represented Jewishness and Judaism, without hammering us over the head with it.

    5. In the latest episode of his podcast, Jonah Platt — the actor, musician and brother of Ben Platt — hosts actress Jackie Tohn, who plays the hot rabbi’s Jewish sister-in-law on Netflix’s popular romcom Nobody Wants This. Tohn opens up about her family’s Holocaust roots and the ongoing challenge in getting Jewish portrayals right in movies and TV. Watch it above.

    6. The Jewish Quarterback at a Mormon College – Being a Jew and into sports, I am always looking for good Jewish sports stories. Thanks to my sister for forwarding this one for the JNR. “There may be, quite simply, no place in America less Jewish than Brigham Young University’s football stadium on Yom Kippur. In a typical year, few of the roughly 63,000 fans who streamed into LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah, for the annual homecoming game would even be aware that Saturday was the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. But this is no typical year: The star quarterback for BYU, Jake Retzlaff, is Jewish. And he has led the team for the flagship Mormon university to an undefeated start that’s confounded prognosticators and propelled the Cougars to a top-15 national ranking.” For more, click here, although you may hit a pay wall. 

      That’s enough for this week. Let’s be careful out there, and help us keep the lights on for democracy. Vote early and vote often for Kamala!

      Brad out.

      The Jew News Review – November 2, 2024 – “Vote for Kamala”

      Shabbat shalom! 

      No Jewy stuff today. This is my last post before “the most consequential election” in my lifetime. I hate that this term has become a cliche, but here we are. It should not be a difficult choice. On the one hand, we have the orange turd, aka Donny Dumb-fuck (DDF), who in his increasingly demented and deranged mind is trying his best to piss off Puerto Ricans, other Latinos, and women as part of his closing act. Here he is in an actual, un-retouched photo posing as an orange “anus-mouthed garbage man” in yet another lame cosplaying effort to “own the libs”.

      Makes me want to puke

      And just yesterday in Milwaukee, after being heckled in Michigan and making vile comments about shooting Liz Cheney, he actually started mimicking oral sex on the microphone due to audio issues with the mic. 

      Seventy five million people voted for this horrible man the last time around. For President of the United States. WTF. 

      And in the other corner is Kamala. Since grabbing the nomination from our diminishing President, she has tacked fairly well in a mostly normal campaign, avoiding getting bogged down in many of her unexplained “woke” flip flops. And despite the wide range of criticisms on her lack of substance, she has provided more details on her policies and positions than Donny Dumb-fuck, who hasn’t read a book since Mein Kampf and will clearly rely on Project 2025 for anything resembling a platform. 

      So there you have it. The difference is that the obviously unstable Donny Dumb-fuck is a first-rate monstrosity who could do serious damage to our democracy, and, if 90% of the economists are correct, serious damage to our 401ks. And there is no reasonable rationale for excusing the fact that Donny Dumb-fuck could not accept that he is a loser, and because his fragile ego could not handle that fact, he tried to commit an act of treason by not accepting a peaceful transfer of power. So, while Harris may be a second-rate mediocrity, there are far less risks to pulling the lever for her. We will surely survive four years of Kamala and whatever woke nonsense might follow her, but I cannot say the same about Donny Dumb-fuck. And that is my bottom line to DDF supporters: is the orange juice really worth the squeeze? Forget about democracy, do you really want your 401k to diminish like Donny Dumb-fucks rapidly failing mental capacity?

      My sister asked me how I was feeling about the election. I responded that I am nervous. Upon further reflection, I would say I am somewhere between a) buying guns and building an underground safe room and b) feeling slightly more confident that the women of this country will save our democracy, our economy and our political asses. Please women! Get out the vote and get rid of this misogynistic monster once and for all. We need a convincing win to be rid of him and the MAGA morons. I am not giving up on men, but guys, and I am talking to the tech bros in particular, get out of your basements and get some fresh air. Radon exposure is apparently clouding your judgement, or maybe it’s the mind-muddling testosterone that misleads you into investing in Trump crypto tokens or his rapidly falling Truth Social stock, which just lost 40% of its value in a single day. Men, don’t be afraid to vote for Kamala. You don’t have to tell your wife or girlfriend. What you do in the voting booth is your own business. Take your cue from Julia Roberts:

      When Vote Common Good released this ad, reminding wives that they don’t have to tell their numbskull husbands that they voted for Kamala, MAGA men shit their pants. Jesse Watters, a notorious MAGA moron, had this to say on live television: 

      “if I found out Emma was going into the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that’s the same thing as having an affair … it violates the sanctity of our marriage.”

      Which is rich coming from a guy who cheated on his wife. Moron. 

      I’ve been reading a lot lately about safety issues and the threat of violence around our voting stations. Drones, snipers, razor wire, sniffer dogs, body armor, bulletproof glass, and 24-hour armed security. This is not a list of protections in place for a visit by the president of the United States nor the contents of a shipment to frontline troops fighting in Ukraine. This is a list of the security measures election officials in counties across the US have had to implement ahead of Tuesday’s vote as a result of the unprecedented threats they have faced in recent years. 

      The latest edition of the Brennan Center’s annual survey found that 38 percent of local election officials experienced threats, harassment, or abuse for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice is investigating dozens of threats made to election workers and so far has charged 20 individuals. Thirteen have been convicted. All of them MAGA nuts of course. Why is this happening? Duh, gee Donny Dumb-fuck, who could possibly be responsible for this undermining of our most important institution? 

      So, when reasonably rational and intelligent analysts, both conservative and liberal, claim concerns about Donny Dumb-fuck are just derangement syndrome or hyperbole, don’t believe them. Whatever their good intentions, they are perpetuating and enabling this dangerous nonsense and threats to normalcy with their talk of “guard rails” and “institutional strength”. The guard rails are gone. And while I hope they are right, hope is not a strategy, and I for one, will not take the risk they are wrong. 

      So, vote for Kamala. And if you want to help her win, here are a few things you can do to save our democracy and preserve your 401k:

      1. Take a shift on a phone bank – Here is a link from the Harris campaign to sign up for reaching out to voters using a cool app. They connect you with a dialer that calls into swing states. According to our cousin Ari, it is pretty easy to use. Hetalked to dozens of people and claims to have persuaded a few to actually vote! According to Ari, “If Harris takes North Carolina by 3 votes I personally am taking full credit.” You can use this link to look for a shift that works for you. https://mobilize.us/s/k8nV5d
      2. The Jimmy Kimmel approach – I tried this with a friend/colleague who told me he is voting for Trump. So far, no response. Just forward this short video along to someone you know and/or love who is supporting DDF. Kimmel makes a fun and respectful argument on why you should join other Republicans, including many who worked for Trump and know him best, to vote for Kamala. The video has already been viewed close to 6 million times.
      1. Remember, let’s be careful out there. And vote for Kamala! 

      Brad out.

      The Jew News Review – November 8, 2024 – Mourning in America

      Shabbat shalom.

      This morning, I am mourning. And the gathering gloom, is getting even gloomier. I woke up to the news of a pogrom in Amsterdam. This is a developing news story, but the headlines from CNN are as follows: 

      Israeli soccer fans were beaten and injured in violent clashes in Amsterdam overnight, which the Dutch government condemned Friday as antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens.

      Dutch police said they had launched a major investigation into multiple violent incidents following the Europa League soccer game Thursday night between Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch side Ajax. Police said that so far, “five people have been taken to the hospital and 62 individuals have been arrested.”

      Hundreds of Maccabi fans “were ambushed and attacked in Amsterdam,” the Israeli embassy to the United States said on social media platform X. At least 10 Israeli citizens were injured, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.

      Social media video shared by the Israeli embassy showed what it said was violence against Maccabi fans. One video shows a man being kicked while he lies on the ground, while another video shows a man being hit by a man yelling “free Palestine” and “for the children, motherf***er.”

      Many liberal minded people have been stewing in their post-election depression juices after Tuesday’s haymaker delivered a near knock-out blow to their political and moral world view. Then we get a Dutch gut punch, a pogrom, a blow that lands more like an upper cut squarely on our post October 7 chins. Bibi sends planes to evacuate and save Israeli citizens from the onslaught. And the world keeps spinning. Anti-semitism is out of control. 

      Here is what my favorite angry Jew, Eve Barlow, had to say about the news from Amsterdam:

      I feel like it’s October 7 again.

      Right now, on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, 3,000 Jews are being actively hunted down, beaten and lynched in the street by Muslim migrants in Amsterdam, the city Anne Frank hid in with her family during the Nazi era, in an attempted mass murder. Two people are missing. The onslaught has been going on for the last seven hours. It reportedly took at least 90 minutes for authorities to respond, and the terrorists remain at large with knives and bats, and cars that they’re using to ram Jewish football fans down. Tonight at a local stadium in Amsterdam, many football fans were gathered to watch the Maccabi Tel Aviv team play Amsterdam’s Ajax and when they were preparing to leave the stadium after the match, Muslim terrorists were waiting for them at every exit, and at their hotels, which they knew they were staying in. Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF have ordered for two airplanes, currently in flight, to Amsterdam to take the Jewish soccer fans back to safety in the only country in the world in which Jewish people are safe: Israel.

      Once again, there is no context to explain or excuse this behavior. Amsterdam, and the world, must turn their focus on and do something about the evil and hate that jihadists are fermenting and exporting all around the world. Instead of pressuring Israel to “not win a war” that they never wanted, the Biden administration, or the Trump administration, needs to put massive pressure on Iran to stop their proxies or pay a price. If we truly are the superpower and guardians of the globe, why haven’t we confronted Iran with a bigger stick: stop the nonsense or we will bomb the living shit out of your mullahs, the IRG and anything resembling a military asset? The Iranian people would celebrate such a move, and lead quickly to a regime change. We cannot wait any longer. I personally don’t feel threatened sitting coonfortably here in my Jewy suburban town, but it is plainly clear that our people are increasingly under threat here in the US and around the world. The time to act is now, before it is too late.

      Please be careful out there.

      Brad out.

      The Jew News Review – Special Election Edition – “Surrender Democracy”

      Oy. He’s baaaack! 

      I woke up this morning dreading the day. I thought of the old Moody Blues song that ends with a poem whose first line is, “Breathe deep the gathering gloom”. And then The Wizard of Oz popped into my head, recalling the scene where the wicked witch rides on her broom spelling out the words, “SURRENDER DOROTHY”. But instead, my now befuddled brain conjured the image of the orange turd riding the broom and spelling out “SURRENDER DEMOCRACY”. And the dark image continued with the flying monkeys having the faces of Stephen Miller, Laura Loomer, pillow guy, Rudi, etc etc etc. But, in this version, the wicked witch wins! Where is Gwendolyn to save me from this hell on earth! The shoe thing isn’t working! I’m melting! Oh, what a wicked world!

      Is there still no place like home? Can we still claim our country is the greatest democracy on the planet? Will we join the rest of the world’s goose-step toward authoritarian rule? Does our great experiment end after 248 years? If I binge on 4 seasons of “Emily in Paris” will this dreadful feeling go away? What the fuck America? Aren’t we better than this?

      It was pretty obvious based on Kornacki’s early analysis that Donny Dumb-fuck, now President-elect Dumb-fuck, was gaining in most counties across the board. You would think the Latino tribe would have had enough of the a-hole after his abhorrent treatment of all humans, but especially Latinos, in his closing week of the campaign. But no, we have them partially to thank for the toilet backing up and the orange turd emerging from his cesspool of hate and division to take over the levers of power, now with the Senate as an additional lever of his authoritarian control. Oh woe is us. 

      But, as the saying goes, you get the government you deserve. While we may have deluded ourselves into thinking his first go around was an aberration, we need to look hard in the mirror, and face reality: aberrations do not happen twice. The orange clown got the last laugh. It may be too soon to understand the full breadth of his tribal and sub-tribal support. But, the fact that he won so convincingly in “majority minority” Florida, and not just with uneducated white guys. It seems as though he has built a multi-ethnic coalition of folks that became untrusting of our institutions, fed up with immigration out of control, and worried about the price of bacon. But, if we are honest with ourselves, it’s more than that. We must appreciate that democracy was indeed on the ballot, and a majority of our fellow Americans trust Republicans on the issue of democracy much more than they do Democrats. According to one exit poll in Pennsylvania, three out of four voters in the state believe that democracy in the United States is threatened; among those who do, it was Trump, not Harris, who had the edge.

      And to some degree, I can’t blame them. The progressive wing of the Democrats, despite their lock step support of Kamala, deserve some of the blame. The “defund police”, open border, and other woke nonsense that Kamala deftly pivoted away from still provided ample ammunition to the right wing propaganda machinery, and helped establish in the vacuous minds of a majority of our fellow Americans that perhaps its the Democratic party that is outside of the American cultural mainstream. 

      As one of my fellow Substackers, Yascha Mounk, put it so succinctly: 

      I don’t know whether Harris’ failure to mitigate Democrats’ glaring political weaknesses was due to fear and indecision or due to ideological conviction and a distorted perception of reality. But I do know that the price that she—and the rest of the world—is paying for that failure goes by the name of Donald J. Trump.

      The question is, what do we do now? While the image in the mirror may look a bit ugly and orange, it won’t always be so. Once the anger subsides, maybe after a few episodes of “Emily in Paris”, what can we do to right the ship? When whatever remains of the guard rails fail, what’s next? 

      Stand up. Speak up. Do not go quietly into the night without a fight. Remember the mortal words at the end of the Declaration of Independence, “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Swear that you will not let this happen without your constant and loud voices of opposition. Do not surrender, Democracy. Make the words on Jefferson’s memorial your new mission statement: “for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” 

      Amen.

      Let’s be careful out there.

      Brad out.