HOW TO CHOOSE FROM A GLUT OF TOPICS?

  No one can say these days that there is nothing of interest, nothing of any importance or of topics around which fierce discussions should swirl. Every morning before I write my blog, I flip through the news of the day, of yesterday, of current events and so often, too often, I come away with a swirling inside and outside my head. How does one choose from such a wealth of topics? How to prioritize all these topics banging at the door? Aching to be written about, desirous of publicity. I'm not sure, but I do my best, try to pick my own mind and assume, right or wrong, that what interests me will be of interest to my readers, at least some of them anyway. 

So. How to choose from today's overwhelming topics of important and/or disturbing effect? Perhaps seeing a small sampling of a list of topics ripe for addressing might help. 

An extremely bright sophomore in university wrote a powerful presentation of her emotions as of the day after Mamdani's election to mayoral position in NYC. It chilled my bones and should chill yours as well. The powerful declaration by Mayor Eric Adams that if he were a Jewish parent today, he would worry fiercely for his children. A message to the wise, to those of us who are indeed Jewish parents. To those who know and suffer through the anguish of parents when we send our children out there, be one Jewish or not. 

Or the fact that we have a most corrupt President sitting in the Oval Office whose dignity he has shredded. Actually, not only corrupt, but demented, delusionary as well. Against all moral and legal laws, he has profited from his position, buying bonds and other such things based on his own manipulation of causative factors, a most gross presentation of insider trading, certainly by a sitting President of this nation. 

Furthermore, we have the dementia of this man who cannot explain why he constantly segues off into totally unrelated topics, calling it, "a weave”, to prevent further questioning. Or, more likely, perhaps due to the effect of constant use of orange makeup! The manner in which he forgets where he is, who is there in the same room, as he calls plaintively, in confused and confounded voice, upon the missing, like a child calling for a parent who has stepped out of the room. 

Or the fact that 23 Democratic Party Congressional Representatives signed on to a resolution of absolute antisemitic filth. Beyond belief. But Rashida Tlaib, she guilty of loyalty to the beast of Hamas, she of treasonous behavior re this nation, does it again with her obscene resolution, followed shamelessly and shamefully by 22 pathetic haters of humanity, particularly if they are of Jewish origin. A pathetic group of JewHaters who belong anywhere else other than in Congress, enmeshed in the government of the USA.  

All that, and so much more. So, how does one choose? For additional difficulty, if one needs to have that additional difficulty, we have foreign affairs and foreign relations. Selling F35s to the Saudi government. Turkey volunteering 20,000 "volunteers" to patrol Gaza - to pacify and disarm Hamas? Oh, so, vigorously not to be trusted, this man who hates Israel, and who is madly desirous to place a trained army capable and poised to invade Isreal and wreak harm upon its citizens, overtopping the violence and murderous mayhem of Oct7. 

Or consider the hypocrisy and moral weakness of the Arab and Moslem nations who refuse to commit their own forces for peace enforcement and rebuilding of Gaza unless and until Hamas is disarmed. But - they will not do so nor allow Israel to do so, then exactly who will disarm Hamas? Who will insist in the face of the demented opposition, to absolutely insist, that the 100 plus terrorists cowering in the tunnels beneath Gaza, beneath the rubble that they instigated, sans weapons, come out hands up?

Nobody answers these questions. Nobody has a solution. Even as we all know the propensity of Arabs/Moslem people and nations, to turn on a dime and realign, all the better to and for them and to hell with prior agreements upon which were predicated benefits. How are we trust their fulfillment of responsibilities, will not use the jets and other weapons against Israel? No answers here either. 'Merely' the loss of the qualitative military ability of Isreal, neutralized by the huge number of Moslem nations to be given USA military training and equipment -in an area known for intense and ancestral hatred of Jews and of the Jewish nation. In an area known for its proclivities to violently overthrow governments. How and why do we trust them? What would lead us to making that erroneous conclusion? How do we even assume that if we train a Palestinian force to maintain law and order in Gaza, to combat the constant attempts of Hamas to reposition themselves as the cruel rulers of Gaza, how and why are we to trust that they will not turn and suddenly we will have another version of October 7, only this time not only by the trained terrorists and the rabble that ran along with them, (proving the lie to the question of innocent civilians in Gaza). How will we be assured that these trained and armed members of this new force will not join with their bestial cohorts and do their best to do their worst upon and to citizens of Israel. Again.  

For that matter how do we ensure that anything and everything that goes on in these meetings is what is being truthfully reported and presented? How and why would we trust when so many of the nations involved are caught up in corruption, not only up to their necks, but over their heads. When bribery is rampant within those countries, with corruption a growth industry in the majority of the nations of the world? Almost every and all nations have bought into the corruption and have allowed undiluted and destructive Hate to enter their national psyche. Chief among that is the room for growth allotted to JewHatred and the enthusiasm for it. 

 Most important of all, most depressing of all, most confusing of all is what has happened in Israel and América. The USA has disappointed me beyond any and all expectations, far beyond any of the possibilities that presented themselves to us. Who could have ever imagined that we would all elect this president? Someone who claims ignorance as an excuse. Someone who proclaims lies are truths. Who basically claims to have known nothing of outspoken antisemites and welcomes them into the White House, that trashed and disrespected building. Whoever would have thought to see the corruption and taint within the entire judiciary system, from top to bottom. Whoever would have thought that the weakest, the least moral within our nation would become the legislators who governed it?  

That was bad enough but worse was to find that my other country, my ancestral country, had also fallen victim and too frequently enthusiastic participant, in the corruption of the body politic. In provoking extreme positions and irritation of troublesome differences. Rather than uniting the nation, pointing out the importance of unity, they capitalized on those points to increase the division, all the better to ensure that they remain in power. At the same time, so busy cementing their permanence, these individuals were too weak and otherwise occupied to combat the vicious viral wave of JewHatred which infected the entire world. They failed in their duties and were treasonous in their actions and consequences as it affected the people of Israel.  

When one walks among the people of America, among the people of Israel, one sees and feels a unity, the respect and warmth they have for each other, the knowing, especially within Israel, that they, we, are one nation, one people. In both nations the people of those nations, the men and women in the streets and offices, must defy the government who championed the divisions rather than the unions. To know there is far more that unites us rather than what divides us. 

We have been deluded for far too long, allowing too many offices to be filled by those who do not belong there. Offices which belong to those who truly wish to serve the people rather than their own pockets and power. There are machinations to keep opposition down and out, but we must remain strong in our knowledge that we can and must reform our governments. This will take much determination for unfortunately this corruption reaches deep into the system, from bottom to top, secular to religious, even as the vast majority of Israelis and Americans look around in confusion and don't understand how their nation, how our nation, has found itself wallowing in the same filth that is found in other nations.

In America there is a growth of indignation and a desire for reformatting of a system, to mend the broken natures of the political parties. Here, too, in Isreal, there is an awakening.

These people, the people of Israel, the Israelites of old, were privileged to be given the first codified laws and ethics by which to live. We were to set an example and even though this placed a great burden upon us, we tried our best, too often the trying to take place under adverse circumstances. The world bought into this and held our nation to a higher standard, employed double standards. When we fell short, were not perfect, despite efforts, the nations of the world took off after us. Insisting that in our failure we enabled all the evils of the world to flourish. Hence, an all fully purposed bucket to be filled to overflowing with a JewHatred forever growing wider, deeper, more toxic as it spread. 

 I cannot explain it. I cannot accept it. I hope and pray that we all see through the various artifices of those desirous of influence, of power, of wealth, and drum them out of office to be replaced by true patriots of the nation. By true dedicated and honorable servants of the people. That goes not only for Israel, not only for the United States, but for every nation on this this planet. When and why did we all set aside morals and righteousness for selfishness and greed? When did all this happen? When and how can we stop it, reverse the whole process?  I wish to God I knew. I wish to the heavens that I had an answer, but even if we were presented with an answer I don't believe there is enough consensus out there, enough unity and understanding within any nation, enough strength of character and morality, to turn their backs on the wrong path and regain proper orientation onto that which is proper and good. Is it even a reality, a possibility, so deep are we immured in the wrongness of things? 

We must do better, for the fate of the world will arise out of the behavior of mankind. My heart hurts for all of us, for those who have gone astray, and for those who have tried to do right, and the seeming impossibility of working things out. However, I must confess that the strongest of my feelings is addressed to  the people of Israel, for we have surely suffered far longer, far more and in far more intense manner than any other nation in this world, even though the brutality of mankind perpetrated on other members of mankind continues to shock and amaze me. How stupid, how thoughtless, how cruel, how inimical to the progress and benefit of mankind! What have we done? What have we allowed?

From the yesterdays we discarded all that was good and brought forward into today so much, too much, of that which was wrong, and negative, that which would impede progress and increase regression. Will our hopes for brighter tomorrows be powerful enough to get us out of the bog in which we stand, in which we wriggle our way ever deeper and deeper? Can we turn our backs to the evil and keep those tomorrows positive and optimistic?

I do not believe any of us know these answers. For sure I do know that there are people who hope that those efforts are in vain and they are too many times overpowering of those desirous of a better world.  However, I do believe no one, perhaps not even the Lord, has a true reading on this matter, has a thermometer capable of recording the true fever of the ugliness which has dug deep into the human psyche. 

I sure as hell hope I'm wrong.

I wouldn't bet on that.

SORRY. MY BAD.

  Went to bed pretty late last night. Overslept this morning, had to rush out for an early morning appointment and did not have the time, not a free minute, to sit down and write something. It may sound odd, but I am in a different time zone for many of my readers, and for me, this is just about midday with about six other things that I have to do this afternoon.

Hence, here we are, with not a lack of anything to write, but rather a lack of time to write it. It is a time of confusion. It is the time of not being sure where my next step, our next steps, are to be nor how to unravel all the issues and rewind the yarn into a far more esthetic appearance.

There is an article I would like to discuss with everyone, for it hit home. All the while I was growing up, on the occasions where and when I would meet someone of German or Eastern European origin, of proper age to have been a supporter of Hitler, a soldier in the army, a member of the Einzatsgruppen, a guard at a concentration camp, a soldier who pushed the Jews into the cattle cars, whatever guilt was belonging to them, whatever. It always passed through my mind: And where were you? Where were your father and your brother? And for that matter, where were your mother and your sister? Even were these people cordial at the time of meeting, always present was the thought - and what did you do then? What did you think then? And what do you think now?

This article, though many years after that, brought up the same feeling. It is the mindset of a young, bright college student who now walks in the same neighborhood she walked before, greeted by the same people who greeted her before. Yet within her is a trill of terror, of insecurity. Why? These are the people who voted in the most recent election for mayor of New York City. How did they vote? Why did they vote that way? What were they thinking? Or were they not thinking Do they wave the hand at me? Even as within their mind they are cursing me. Do they give me a smile? When inward they are gritting their teeth and saying, you will get yours soon enough?

How is one to live life that way? How are the Jews of Brooklyn, of Queens, of NYC, of New Jersey, Chicago, Michigan, to feel safe? How can we   walk steady, secure, sure of a continued home not only in the United States but in the myriad nations of the world. It seems as if every nation has turned its back on us. Worse than that, for they are bold enough, these haters, to look us in the face, though they hide their faces with masks and yell at us. How we deserve death, how we deserve to be expelled from the surface of this earth, and how they attribute all the old memes of blood libel, of control, of greed, of criminality, whatever negative one can think of and spew it forth at us.

We are accused of doing dastardly, massively criminal things. We are accused of shoving babies into ovens alive. We are accused of raping women. We are accused of genocide. We, the people who suffered with these actions perpetrated upon us. It was our babies who were beheaded. Who were shoved into ovens. It was our grandparents who were slaughtered or held hostage. It was our brothers who were taken away from us, held in dank dungeons, tortured, starved, beaten. We, who have suffered this, we whose brave women have spoken of their rape, of the rape they witnessed, of the rape we witnessed as girls went by with bloody pants! We are now told by the UN that there is no real proof of rape, and never mind their own original report, which, even though it whitewashed so much, did admit to that obscenity.

No, there is much to write about, but I have to run again. So, tomorrow, same time, same station. Wish I could promise better news but maybe there will be a miracle between now and then. 

WHY IS THE QUESTION, THE ANSWER ... ...

  Unknown? Buried in the midst of time? Unable to be formulated? Or simply impossible to answer? For sure we can answer the perennial question of little ones as to why the sky is blue, but to answer a question we should never have been asked or contains impossibilities in its structure is rather challenging, to say the least. Yet, time and again, such questions are posed. Sometimes brutal in their simplicity. Sometimes even elegant in their twisted misuse of language. Sometimes even appearing to be reasonable until one looks just that tad beneath the surface and sees the ugly truth behind that question.

This is the case with the questions regarding anti Semitism. Or rather, the pumped up even more toxic JewHatred of our times. A hatred which has spread in pandemic manner throughout the entire world, from countries large and small, dictatorships or democratic. All seem to have much to say. Most of the much they have to say is, shall we say, oppositional to the possibility of a safe and secure life for people of Jewish origin, institutions, even for viewpoints that a majority of Jews might espouse.  Even when Hate speech and crimes are banned, by law, that which is regarding Jews is valued and allowed. Much of the time we get an "it is being investigated, "even though theintent is clear and the actions and speech are vile to the nth degree and are dripping with venom.

Of late, many of our children have come to us bewildered as to what has happened. Children clearly raised as Americans, mainstream, with sports heroes and ambitions and lifestyles similar to all, are now questioning. Why do these same sports heroes smear the Jewish people? Why do actors feel compelled to speak of their hate for me and mine from a stage? Why are my friends no longer my friends? Why do I feel so alone? Even adults echo these feelings, and I have lost count of the number of adults who have been stunned by the desertion of both their non-Jewish friends and the Jewish deluded who think that joining with the retrogressive "Progressives” will confer immunity upon them and theirs. It won't, it doesn't. It never has. But some people never learn, much to their detriment.

And so here we are. How do we answer those questions? To be honest, there are no answers, for these questions have no validity, no right to exist. In turning to answer these questions, trying to explain antisemitism, we fall into the trap of explaining away the "error” of these anti-Semitic creatures. It is not upon us to do that, to find explanations of logic and acceptability, for there is actually no answer. There is no reason behind Anti Semitism and all attempts to explain the reasons are simply attempts to whitewash those wallowing in its filth.

Any attempt and explanation proffered, such as Jews stand out, or they eat differently, or dress differently, or believe differently, or turning to the vile retreads of the past, quite present in our todays,  Jews killed our divinity, accusations of blood libel, of controlling the world, of being both communists and capitalists and anything at all in between, any crime, any criminal activity or trend, it never ends and is a Sisyphean labor, never to be completed. In trying to explain it all away, we are actually conferring it with acceptance and validity. Allowing for ever more, always more, to be laid upon Jews. It has been so since the first Jew, Avraham, chose to answer his Lord's call and go where he was directed, to live a life based on faith and belief and obedience to the Lord, the One G-d.

 In trying to use those nonreasons as reasons, to be explained away, to be presented as grievous errors of thinking and emotion, we are actually legitimatizing that which is anathema and has no place within this world. These haters, these people of great character flaws, have fallen, bought into deep involvement in the vileness of it all. In explaining it away or in trying to "understand" why they feel this way, is to aid and abet and justify that which has no truth within, for in so doing we are actually excusing their ignorance and their hate.

 What needs to be maintained for always and ever is that there is no reason for anti-Semitism. There is nothing to be explained. Nothing to be excused. In fact, there is no reason for anti any group of people, for if we fully, truly understand our differences and similarities, hatred of others will be moot. However. humans tend to be creatures of superstition, have a need to claim superiority over someone, anyone, in order to validate their lives. Thus, here we are.

Perhaps people hate us because they don't understand how we, this small, oppressed, scattered people, over the course of three millennia, much hostility, managed to survive. Outlived hostile empires and nations, plans for their extermination.  How they remained for the most part as a unified nation, no matter how scattered and repressed and persecuted. A people keeping their prayers, their beliefs, their innate and forever desire to return to their ancestral home, Zion, Israel, all intact. For the most part a united people understanding the importance of the strength of that tie, of all the ties that bound us together and helped us survive.  

 How did we survive? Why did we survive? For that, I can only say look to the Heavens Above for there is no logical answer other than knowing we have the Hand of the Lord with us, His Eyes upon us, always, endowing us with the capability of the strength to defeat all our enemies. 

All the yesterdays, the todays, the tomorrows will always be here for us, lighting the path before us, giving us the strength to move on. Assured in our knowledge that the nation of Israel lives forever. Our truth will inevitably defeat the lies of the haters and perhaps one day we can all hope for a world draped with flowers and the serenity of peace for all.    

Perhaps. One day.  Seems quite far, does it not?

A TIME AND PLACE FOR ALL

  So we are told anyway. Be it in the original language, Hebrew, in which it was written, or the numerous other language versions, the message is clear. That message as presented by the Turtles, Turn, Turn, Turn, reminds us that for all beneath the sun there is an appropriate time and place. Merely by seeing through clear eyes and a good heart, we can find those times and places, emphasize the positive and dismiss, quickly, that which is hostile to a better world.

That world can and will emerge from the efforts of humanity. All we need do is turn and turn again, until our turns are synchronized and there is generated a synergy with a power such as we have not seen before. Certainly not on this existence of this planet in this universe. This energy will create a warm and welcoming place for those who understand the necessity for humanity to unite and respect each other. 

To validate the differences along with the similarities and finally internalize the knowledge that G-d created us all, with the same hopes and dreams within, with the same desire for a tranquil and productive life, for a good and safe future for their children. To turn away from the imposition of power and domination of one nation over another.    The amazing power of their minds used to create, not weapons of death, but life enhancing inventions and philosophies. To make irrelevant all thoughts and attempts of repression and suppression. To turn, turn, turn, to the notes of synchronicity and melodic harmony and accept its message and pathway to a world which will reach the highest goals of mankind. Those who try to push forward Evil and Hostility will find no one providing a home for them, no place open for a toxic entity to exist.  

There is indeed a time and place for everything under the sun. There is even a time when unpleasantness arises, when there might be a necessity of war. Yes, but none of the frequency of today and of the past and its gigantic rounds of bloodletting. Will there be illness, death? Yes, but one would hope that we live through the fullness of time and die peacefully, a natural part of life on this side of the universe.  

Is this a pipe dream? Perhaps. Probably. At this point in time, I cannot see humanity dropping their weapons voluntarily and picking up a test tube instead. A time when we actually understand each other, try hard to make that remain true, a fact of life. A time when we know that the people of this earth are different but yet the same. We must build upon both, similarities and differences, to make a better more vibrant world for all. Without disparagement. Without a wild Hate, for there is no justification for hate. It is baseless and conspires to ruin anything at all that it touches.  

Why is it that when we are young, our eyes fresh and clear, our minds uncluttered by the ugliness of that adult world awaiting us, that we can see and think and plan our way through to a world whose air is clear, whose inhabitants are not decimated in frequent bloodlettings or poisoned by the toxins they produce. Mental, emotional and physical strengths are positive and forward thinking. Is it a reality, after we have lived through all of our experiences, positive and negative, when we hit those golden, albeit rusty years, that one can look backwards and forwards at the same time and understand what life has actually taught us. 

There are those among us who remain in that world which has spewed forth the wrong thoughts, the most incredibly wrong philosophies of life, anathema and abominations which should never see the light of say, or rather the darkness of night as it covers the sun. However, there are those among us who can see the sun behind the clouds. How many remain in existence, is anybody out there listening, receptive and continues to hang on to the idealism of youth? I think the audience is sparse and   receptive minds even sparser.  

I myself find that I am ping ponging between a despair of the world ever understanding what it has birthed and a hope that refreshes, that enables one to continue, to persevere and dare to hope that possibly, one day, maybe, we will understand each other and the necessity for cordial relations and proper sharing of this beautiful world and its resources, which up until now we have certainly neither respected nor valued as it should have been, as it can be, if we wake up SOON! Like NOW!

Are there so few people upon this planet who understand what we have done and the immediacy of the application measures which will reverse the deterioration of both the population and the planet itself. One must take care of the other. We must take care of each other We must understand our people- hood together. Give up ancient hatreds which have no basis for existence and embrace the idea, its validation and the applications necessitated if we are to indeed generate, regenerate, a united world living in some form of democracy appropriate for such a time. Strong enough, vigorous enough to repel any invaders and any who dare to try to enter and impose the sickness of their perverted misanthropic thoughts upon us. 

I guess I tend to be more of a bent towards darker thoughts of humanity not doing its best, of people continuing to beat on each other, literally and figuratively.  Still, I do remain with at least   some of my idealism of youth remaining intact within me. Even senior citizens can dare to hope and add their efforts to the campaign for a better humanity.

But I am also a realist The hatred of many against me and my people is so thick in the air, it is as if evil is a solid entity blocking all pathways forward. Can such rabid hate be overcome? One hell of a tough job. At this point in time, I do not have it within me to make that particular effort, at least to a degree where I might make some palpable difference.  Maybe somewhere among the readers of my postings is a one or two who read and take my words to their hearts and souls, put their brains on active,  and perhaps, they might be the ones to spark that infinite turn, turn, turn motion until we reach the synchronicity so desperately needed.

Maybe.

Then at least my yesterdays, and my todays will lead into better tomorrows for all.

One can hope.

One can pray.

One must do one's best.

All of us.

READ AND WEEP OR THINK AGAIN, OR TRY TO PUZZLE THE WAY THROUGH

  Good morning. I came across a posting by chance, and it follows what I have written today. It is well worth reading, even if the topic is both timely and a bit delayed in its posting. regarding the most recent presidential election. It is more than that. I found myself smiling, shaking my head in agreement and shaking my head no, in disillusionment. Personally, while I was not a wholehearted supporter of Kamala, far from it, I thought she would be better than her crude demented opponent who stood for much that was anathema to me. I still think that would have been the most likely situation, except for one very important, glaring gap in that feeling of assurance that things would have been better had Kamala been elected.

That is the issue of Israel. Kamala Harris and much of the Democratic Party turned their backs on Israel, turned tail and ran quickly the other way and if not on purpose, with intent and speed, jumping into and being caught in the arms of the protesters calling for the end of Israel, for the end of all Jews, she certainly gave them encouragement. While I disagree severely with most of what Trump has done and perpetrated and threatens to perpetrate upon our future, I do thank G-d he was in that position enabling him to stand by Israel, enabling them to continue the fight. To push Hamas back out of Israel, to pummel them from the air, from the ground and from the sea as well. For that, I will be eternally grateful to Trump.

Thus, my mixed feelings when I read this much later posting about what happened on the day after the last presidential election. Some of it is tongue in cheek, some of it serious as the day is long. Read it and understand the dichotomy that we found within ourselves, where unfortunate turns of events have brought us. There are days I, too, want to curl up under the covers and remain there, sick and tired of the agony of the mistrust and distrust among us all, and the viral harmful intentions of so many. I know what the author feels like when she writes how she cannot talk to or with family members. In my family, as in so many other families, political talk is banned, for it almost instantaneously flares up into a 'shooting match' with no holds barred.

But I worry. I worry because Donald Trump is deep in the throes of a growing catastrophic dementia and a rapidly increasing pace of clear physical deterioration. He induces feelings of insecurity regarding the stability of this nation under his administration, for both his policies and mercurial changes in both actions and speech are becoming ever more prominent in his day-to-day affect.

 He holds no promise of stability for anyone, not even his appointees and advisers of his own choosing, nor with Israel. He delights in sending out his orders and demands and publicizing them, thus putting his people and Israel in awkward, even blackmail like situations, unless they grant the win to Trump. Time and again, with foreign countries and with individuals, it matters not, only that he appears to be his own version of the Wizard behind the curtain -with deep rents in the material, all the better in allowing people to see through, to know who it is that is ruling the world. Period.  

Perhaps frightening me the most, is when he makes threats about what will happen if his demands are not met and then does not follow through on those threats. We are still missing four of our kidnapped. Four bodies who need to be returned to their families, to be buried with the proper rituals and rites of their beliefs. Numerous deadlines were made, and numerous deadlines were broken. Still. The deal is not yet complete We are eternally grateful for the return of those who have come back, but we, as a nation, as a people, do not leave ours behind. Not even if it takes eleven years to return them. Hamas has not disarmed and is in fact rearming. Where is the follow-through, where is the end of this travesty of humanity? Have we lost appeal for Trump and has he consigned Isreal to the been there, done enough, category and allow the cookies to crumble and the marbles to fall wherever?

I worry that the nasty ugliness within a party whose platform was appealing to me is now precluding me from doing so. While I never voted a slate without thinking, I now must think even further to every single candidate on the slate. Sometimes to choose none or forced to choose the lesser of the two evils. Not a good situation, certainly not for America and her citizens, nor for the world.  I worry how many more Democrats will buy into the new power element - votes of Muslim and Arabs who continue to feel, to express and to act upon their toxic hatred of Jews and the Jewish state, Israel. And never mind the fact that there are over two dozen of their own Muslim states! One Jewish state - never!!

I worry that when Trump is no longer in office for one reason or another, the old version of the Republican Party, already emerging,  particularly from its extreme right, will quickly throw off their flimsy disguise and become once again the party that spoke of "those Jews” of the people who control everything. At that point, there will be a conflation of sparked hatred  such as we will never have seen nor experienced before. An entire world, from right to left, minus a few of the righteous and clear seeing minds. All taking off after us, doing their best, (their worst), to do their worst.

I worry about the right of women to make their own decisions, to make their own destiny. I worry about those I know and love who are gay. Their partnerships, their marriages, adoptions, lives to be totally turned upside down and inside out. When we return to sending them to prisons will we then sing the praises of the Islamic countries which hang them from the nearest lamppost? Think, people.

Will religion, not my own, be forced into the walls of all schools, public and private, secular and parochial? Will freedom of expression, of assembly, of speech, of actions, be severely limited or gone altogether? Will we have, as Trump proposes, and has indeed already instituted in several cities, have National Guard, police and regular army patrolling our streets? Will all have to carry citizenship and/or identity papers, to be stopped at will upon the streets of our nation? What will happen to our medical care? What will happen to our elderly, to our poor, to our ill, to those needing help, to the hungry, to the system of education? Will we then revert to a past from which there is an overabundance of terrible times from which to choose, to emulate? A 1% above us all, and the rest struggle to keep body and soul together?       

So, having read what I have written here, now read the following posting and see what you think, how you feel. Perhaps you can come up with some answers wherein maybe we can make sense together. Leave out the extremes from both sides and come up with some fair compromise which will enable all to live in positive manner, in fulfilling manner and put aside this hatred, which is rending the world into pieces of trash, never to be redeemed, never to be rejoined, never to be.

Never. Again.

Yesterdays, todays and tomorrows all merged in a hopeless glutinous mass of lost hopes and dreams.

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My Husband And His Family Voted For Trump — So I'm Canceling Thanksgiving And Christmas

I knew he voted red. He knew I voted blue. I had hoped the most capable and most inclusive candidate would win. He hoped his idea of a better America would win. He won, and, from where I stand, America lost.

In the aftermath of Tuesday night’s results, still under the bed covers Wednesday morning, I scrolled social media looking for hope. I unfriended a few short-sighted FB friends — no need to continue our digital relationships and witness their selfishness and hate. Then I saw my husband’s post.

“God Bless America. God bless #45, 47.”

It had a few likes, and a few commenters joined him in his celebration. He was downstairs in the kitchen making coffee, and I was upstairs avoiding him. I couldn’t talk to him — or even look at him. 

I immediately texted, “I love you, but out of respect for me and all my liberal writer friends, can you please take down that post? Also, tell your family I love them, but I will not be coming for Thanksgiving, and I won’t be hosting Christmas. I need space.”

Shortly after I sent the text, he brought me a cup of coffee in bed.

“I am sorry,” he said, “I understand.” 

Did he? Did he really understand what he and so many others in this country had done? I could not forgive him. Not right now. 

I spent most of the morning doom-scrolling next to the cold cup of coffee I ignored partially because I was distracted, primarily out of spite. I finally got up, made the bed, went outside into the beautiful sunny day, took a few deep breaths, and then went back upstairs to unmake the bed and spend the remainder of the day in it.

He went to work — I assumed energized by Trump’s victory.

The next day, I finally emerged and listened to Kamala’s concession speech. She reminded us, “Only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars.”

I wrote to my artist friends and told them to keep shining their lights. I wrote to my musician son in college and his songwriter girlfriend. I told them to keep creating. I wrote to my young nieces, who were terrified, and told them I was there for them. I wrote to my beautiful gay cousin and said I loved him and was thinking of him and his partner.

I kept writing.

I received a message from a family member who told me her Ukrainian friend was petrified. Another message came in from an actor friend who said she was afraid that the damage that will be done in the next four years could never be undone. One of my sisters wrote and said she had a panic attack and had to leave work. One of my students rescheduled our afternoon appointment saying she just couldn’t function. 

Later that night, I briefly glanced at my husband and found myself not wanting to look into the eyes I love. I hated this divide. I wanted to touch his forearms and feel our connection, but I also felt an urge to punish him and deny him my touch.

“I am sorry about the holidays, but I cannot bite my tongue like I did with Hillary,” I told him. “I don’t want to disrespect your parents or your brother and his family in their home, or our home, so it’s best this way. No scenes. You can go see them. Seriously — I will not be in a room of 15 people who voted for Trump.” 

He mentioned our son and his girlfriend, who are coming home for Christmas. 

“Will they feel bad?” he asked. 

Bad? I think they already feel bad. Really bad, I thought. Instead, I said, “We will have our own small holiday, and it will be fine.”

Will it be fine? I have wondered that since 2016, when I saw my husband’s stubbornness. How could a Latino vote for Trump? How can any of his family members vote for him? Haven’t they believed any of Trump’s comments about immigration? Aren’t they worried about the reproductive safety of the young women and girls in our family? Aren’t they worried about all of the other nightmares that could be headed our way? 

I was surprised he didn’t argue about the change in holiday plans. Normally, it would be a bone of contention because of how close he is to his family. Somewhere inside, he must understand what this election outcome means to me. I know he has empathy for me, for which I am thankful. I will hold onto this like a life raft as I try to figure out how we move forward with our marriage.

But I will not give thanks and hold hands in a circle with people who voted for a party that wants to take rights away from LGBTQ people. I will not pass the turkey to someone who supports people who have signaled they will cause harm to people with disabilities and the elderly. I will not sit by a Christmas tree celebrating the birth of Jesus and sipping eggnog when I know how many people may now find themselves in grave — even deadly — danger because they cannot get the reproductive care they need. I will not unwrap gifts given to me by people who voted for a party that has talked about building internment camps and mass deportation. 

I will keep encouraging my friends and family to continue to hope and fight for this country. I don’t know how or when I can greet my husband in the morning with my usual hug when I wrap my arms around his strong shoulders, smell the intoxicating scent of his spicy cologne and smile, knowing we are one. We are now two, and it is agonizing. Still, I know he is a good man and he would do anything for a family member or friend, which makes what he has done even more infuriating and even more painful. 

There is simply too much history and love between us to let this election tear us apart. But it will not be easy to repair the damage that has been done. It will take time, patience, and tough, radically truthful conversations. And I know that I am not the only person in this position. Too many of us have found ourselves here and are unsure of how to move forward. 

On Nov. 7, I saw my husband’s post was still up. It had more comments from Americans I believe had made a huge mistake two days earlier. I wanted to tell them all that they were wrong and they had no idea of the harm they caused by making that choice — or if they did know, then they should be ashamed of themselves. I don’t know how they can live with themselves.

Instead, I got up and made my own coffee. I put our clothes in the dryer. I let the dog out. I went back upstairs and got dressed for the gym. I did more of the little everyday human things that we’re forced to keep doing, even though many of us just want to curl up in a ball and cry. But we can’t. We won’t. 

When I came back downstairs, my husband was sitting in the living room with his coffee. 

I stood briefly at our blue front door — the one I painted last year when I changed all the red in our house to blue. At the time, I thought it was just my obsessive need to redecorate. I didn’t know it would one day read as a protest — or a subliminal message to all who crossed the threshold.

He blew me a kiss goodbye from the living room as he sat drinking from his favorite mug, seemingly oblivious to how upset I was.

I stood at the door thinking about how I could express my hurt. I wanted to say something that would motivate him to erase his error, but I knew if my words were too demanding, or my voice was too filled with anger, it would get me nowhere.

This is a woman’s challenge. This was Kamala’s challenge. I also knew I couldn’t change what had happened — only what happens now. Only what I do now. What I refuse to accept and what I promise to keep fighting for. And to do it all with honesty and love and, yes, anger, too.

I turned to my husband and told him, “I saw that you didn’t take your post down, and that breaks my heart.” 

Then I walked out the door — devastated but determined — into the blue of a new day. 

Andrea Tate is an essayist currently working on her memoir, “I’ll Show You,” about her acting career in New York City and Hollywood. Some of her essays can be found in Hippocampus Literary Magazine, Entropy, Role/Reboot, Angels Flight West, and more. She is a university writing professor pursuing her Ph.D. in leadership and change. For more from Andrea, visit AndreaTate.net.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost in November 2024. We are reposting it now as one of the most-loved personal essays by BuzzFeed readers.

ELEPHANTS AND SUCH

  At times when one group or another gets together, there is an awkward topic around which everybody plays blind and ignorant as to its existence. Eventually, whatever is being discussed will come to a halt, for there can be no forward movement unless that sensitive topic known as the elephant in the room is properly addressed. There simply is no way around it; postponing it or putting it off to complete at another rather nebulous time is useless. In fact, not only is it useless, but it is also harmful to the process of a smooth and productive planning situation. In other words, there are times of "put up or shut up", and the demand must be answered.

At present, there are so many awkward topics around which we all tiptoe, claiming it is for another time, or, oh, I thought that's been solved already. Or, that's not so important anymore; let's move on. But we are lying to ourselves, for even as we claim we are moving on, we are really stuck in the middle of a highway where there is no room to go forward, backwards or side to side. The only way is to take that key, spray on some WD40, find the treacherous lock in that steel door, stick it in the lock and open the door to sensible, desperately needed discourse. Which we inevitably refuse to do, much to our detriment.

There is much justification for confusion as to which of the many elephants we must address first and foremost. This group favors that elephant, another group favors the second elephant, and a third group brings in hippos and rhinos with their own competing matters at hand, and it is total pandemonium and useless blathering. That being said, however, I feel the most prominent elephant in the room, quickly growing, ever bigger, ever puffier, ever more blatant, ever more orange, unless he left his cosmetician back home and his aging and decrepitude are even more blatant than ever, is that elephant known as Donald J. Trump. He, of the fiercely denied Home Depot cheap looking gilt wall decor which he has sprinkled so garishly around the entire White House. In fact, the only thing not tainted by this lowlife redecorating  "tip” is the picture of Joe Biden  along the rather pompous President's Walk, one of the ever-growing list of destructive and tasteless moves he has made to and in and of the White House, the House of the People, now being squatted in by this balloon cartoon character. If Alfred E. Neuman were to answer his rhetorical famous question - "What me worry?" the answer would be a most emphatic, even desperate yes, please worry! Do worry, for the situation is simply intolerable and in fact, dangerous to the extreme. 

What is going on? This infant child in an overgrown, bloated, decrepit, aged, human body refuses to acknowledge the former president of the United States, denies him his share of the tasteless decor. Why? Because he doesn't like him. Why? Because he beat him at an election. Because this man doesn't like anything that doesn't answer his question with a very limited response. When he looks into the mirror and asks who is the greatest of them all; who is to be the first King of America, the answer had better be Trump or else that champion tantrum thrower will go into action yet again. Bombs away! Indiscriminately.

One apt description among many for our nasty elephant, calls him an immature thirteen-year-old in a grossly mismatched mistaken role as President of these here United States of America. G-d help us! The root and explanation for all the credulous moves he makes. His penchant for exaggeration. The constant capitalizations. The use and reuse of outdated, hurtful memes and tropes of hate and nonsense meant to rile up the greater part of his unholy, unwashed masses reveling in the freedom granted them to spew seeds of JewHatred round the nation. The constant bloopers emanating from his prissy always downturned mouth unless occupied by one of his nasty smirks. Overgrown. Insolent. Ignorant boor. And I believe when he is called a 13-year-old, we are insulting that same class of children.

I can hear the voices now. The indignant words of those claiming we must excuse him for all, for he stood by Israel. He has freed the hostages. He has done more for Israel than any other president than any other (I guess we should discount Truman who immediately ratified Israel's statehood and JFK, who with his brother, RFK, were extremely pro Isreal,) but then again what's a fact or two among friends), and on and on and on we go. 

He has also increased the level of hatred, of Anti Semitism, of Anti-Israel behavior in the nation and the world. He is more and more treating Israel as a client state and one going rapidly into unfavored status. There are now constant pushes for Israel, for Netanyahu, to obey his master when he calls for something that is inimical to the well-being of the state of Israel. Take the ceasefire. Never mind their violations. You keep still. Let those Hamas beasts free, out of the tunnels in which they cower, and of course their weapons go with them. But of course!   Why not accept the 20,000 volunteers from Turkey? And then of course, station them in Israel, for there is nothing like a ready knife at one's back, all the better to finish the job, do the world a favor without a great fuss.

Yes, I do not deny that he has done some important good, though not so much empowered Israel as enhanced his own reputation. War hostages freed under some of his demands, yes, but some are also freed without his demands, even as his threats of all hell breaking loose fail in the follow-through. They were not. Hence, the slow delivery, the cruel game being played, the remains of the kidnapped still there, four bodies denied proper burial, denied a return to their grieving families.

 Yes, at times one must take the good with the bad or the bad with the good. Whichever dominates. But this man is uneven, mercurial in insane switches of direction and verbiage. One never knows what he will do. What statement he will make which will finally light the match that sets this world afire. 

This will be the result.

The equivalent of what we see on TV. The surgery was a success, but the patient died. Or you will be cured of (insert name of disease), but you will also feel suicidal, ache in every bone in your body, become mad as a hatter, but all is good, for your original disease - gone, Comfort in your grave.

We are simply not making sense these days. Why do we have a man at the head of this country about whom more and more people are more and more certain that his rather resounding defeat at the polls in 2025 will give him more impetus to continue his resurrection of the failed coup of Jan6, as he frees those imprisoned, brings them on board as his advisers and appointees - and for what? The purpose is clear, and he has made reference to this enough times to raise concern. Insane? Yes, but look around and see other acts of insanity of his with no sign of stopping any time soon. Closer and closer he gathers his extremists, even as he sits there half-asleep in the Oval Office hour after hour after hour signing papers without recalling the bills they are. That is about all his battered and bruised deteriorating brain can do

He and his enablers believe they are pulling the wool over the eyes and the brains of the American people. But one has to be deaf, dumb, blind and rather intensely stupid to not be aware of the obvious signs of physical and mental deterioration taking place within and without this abused 79-year-old body. He cannot remember names. He cannot fully understand where he is and hence, he   calls out for people who are simply not there. He praises evil people. He excuses domestic violence for it is simply a case of a husband and a wife disagreeing, having a little spat. So he says.

I dare anybody mention to him the new red-green axis, the red of the left, of communism and socialism, boldly, dangerously, now walking hand in hand, fingers intertwined with the green of Islamism. This is what he has allowed to flourish. This is what we are now facing. 

Whether one is of Jewish origin or not, the siren should be going off, loud, blaring, continuous for this man in his stupidity, in his ignorance, in his rising tide of dementia and deterioration has exposed the world to these toxins to a far greater degree and faster than has been the case in decades.  This man is dangerous to the well-being of this planet.  

The elephant has gone berserk and influences and caused and enabled great big rents in sane societies. The right and the left joining together in an unholy alliance. The prestige, honor and high regard and confidence that the world once held for the United States of America gone missing. He shouts he has done it all, deserves numerous Nobel Prizes, and here we are midterm with a long two years left to go before we replace him. Even if the 25th Amendment was invoked who will replace him? Vance, who was even more immersed in right-wing extremism? 

We are indeed in a bad place with a herd of nervous, pacing elephants, frustrated, at the point of turning 'berserker'.  Then it is over, for they have broken out. The walls broke under their pressure and the herd of dangerous enraged ill elephants run rampant through the nation, through the world. 

People, we are in a bad way. The statements made by him, about him, the concerns re his future behavior. Read of the ever-quickening pace of his dementia and deterioration. 

Time is against us.

Yesterdays from which we learned nothing of any value 

We continue to pummel at the possibilities of our todays, using the hammer and nails from yesterday.

  As for the future, our tomorrows - well, it ain't looking so good, is it?

Certainly, someone out there has the right combination of brains, pay grade, boldness, out of the box thinking, determination, wisdom to set things right and return this hapless nation, this floundering world to positions of steadiness and forward true progressive movement. 

tick-tock.  tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, 

The end.

AND YET ANOTHER ONE

 Another anniversary. Can't get enough of them. One could go through the Jewish calendar and find more anniversaries than not. So many, that we have been able to 'gift' some anniversaries over to the secular calendar. A plethora of special days we would cheerfully cede over to anyone who has a dearth of anniversaries on their calendars. Such a plethora of these 'special' days that we would cheerfully hand them over to anyone who needs some - but no backs! 

Then there's that not so funny joke that we do have about our holidays. Kind of shorthand when people ask what they are about. They (the enemy) came, they tried to destroy us, we beat them back. Let's eat! Of course, somewhere in there is a thank you to Hashem stretching His arms down from the Heavens to gather us into His protective hands and keep us relatively safe as He frustrates yet another enemy from one of our overflowing buckets of such.

 At times the damages are less than at other times, but it seems the nations of the world never tire of trying to wreak harm and havoc upon the Jewish nation.  Hey, people out there. Do you not ever get tired of this same ugly game. You know the inevitable end - you lose, we win, and hopefully we keep some sort of quiet going for a while. Even if you gnash your teeth together the whole time. We're okay, so go ahead. You will probably have to see your Jewish dentist to fix your abused teeth.

Chanuka, Purim, even Lag B'omer - those are ours. We beat the bad dudes and celebrated. Special activities, of course special commemorative prayers and prayers of gratitude addressed to our ever-present Lord, albeit at times a tad slow on the timing, and of course, special foods. Always. And delicious. These holidays and our other biggies get their special Hebrew calendar dates, though always with a variance during the years, as the Hebrew dates show up on differing dates of the English calendar. These holidays are notoriously always either late or early, never on time, but we manage to muddle through all these millennia, so not to worry. We got it handled.

However, and ever increasingly, we are having to observe other anniversaries. These come on the English calendar mostly, though the appropriate Hebrew date is attached, at least for us. Let's see, perhaps some examples so you will understand. Our Independence Day is marked by us on hey Eyar, the fifth day of the month of Eyar, even as the rest of the world holds it as May 14. Their problem, for we are too busy celebrating that miracle event to notice the rest of you, sulking, particularly of late. Get with the program guys, much healthier, happier that way. And the traditional barbecues are yummy too.

However, we do have those anniversaries we would have preferred that they had never materialized. These are the days of terrible events or are days set aside to remember and mourn on one day that which actually consumed many days, months and even years. Almost immediately after Passover we have the days wherein the nation is awash with tears, honoring those slaughtered during the Holocaust, or the soldiers who fell defending this nation from those who would see us dead and gone, and victims of terror attacks over the years. Following immediately upon the heels of those days we celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israel's Independence Day. We celebrate on our dates, in our way, and need not the English calendar dates.

However, there are current dates on the English calendar which unfortunately will remain with us into the foreseeable future, unless G-d works one of His miracles for us again. One such anniversary is the unfortunately long lived one of the infamous "Zionism is racism" vote or declaration from our eternal enemy - the UN and its member states, most of whom have never mssed an opportunity to trash and demean and delegitimize the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

While the history of the United Nations and Israel never had any true peace between them, other than the one time it voted to ratify, Israel's ratification way back in 1948. That infamous UN Resolution on Racism was the beginning of the end for any possibility of true neutrality, of true understanding of what Israel is, what it means to the Jewish people and why it must exist, its historical imperative through all time. 

November 10th, 1975. 

November 9th and 10th, anniversary of Kristallnacht. A night of destruction and death and horror for Jews of Germany. 

November's affinity for these ugly events and anniversary remembrances is sad indeed. Frankly, the situation has only worsened and deteriorated to the point where I do not think there's any chance, any hope, of true reformation. The UN at this point is a cesspool of hate directed at Israel and the Jewish people. As far as I am concerned, it is a waste of money and expensive real estate.

It's revocation sometime later did not and does not change the fact that it was approved and remains etched into the tainted soul of the world. The lonely little Jewish state was singled out to be condemned by 46 countries. From that point on anti-Zionism was presented to the world as anti-imperialism, a gross smear of Israel by the world. This statement, spoken or unspoken, ran through the world and Israel was held to a double standard, calling for its behavior to meet expectations that are not placed upon the other nations, and that attitude persists to this very day. There have been some positive steps but mostly they are drowned by the noise put out by the haters. It is not nearly enough to induce reversal of these accusations, not nearly enough at all. 

Neither must we forget to remember the most recent horrifying anniversary date. Oct7,2023, ongoing for two years plus, with no true end in sight. October 7, 2023, a date like Pearl Harbor, which will be long lived in infamy. To be s, long to be engraved in our souls. This state current state descends in a straight line from that resolution on racism all the way to the present. And frankly, I see little chance of it ever coming to an end, particularly so as it has now found rich and fertile ground in which to implant itself as nations around the world buy into it, and to our shame as well, deeply shamefully so, has found a home here in the United States of America.

At the time of that resolution a brave man came forward. Chaim Herzog was  the ambassador from Israel to the U. N., became Israel's six president, his son is now the President, and had the courage to stand up there in front of the eyes of a hateful group and tore his copy of that resolution in 2. Prior to that, he had spoken and said thus: "Zionism is nothing more - and nothing less - than the Jewish people's sense of origin and destination in the land linked eternally with its name." He added that this was not a trial for Israel but rather was a trial for the United Nations. 

Needless to say, it failed, abysmally, and continues to do so to this very second.

This situation has remained the status quo. Israel is constantly the bad one, the evil one, the instigator accused of misbehavior and criminal actions and motivations. Our dead, our wounded, our tragedies discounted, even ignored, downplayed to where they are barely of any relevance, at least in the eyes of this awful world. Will there ever be a change?

Honestly, I doubt any optimistic return to that question. Even if, unlikely as it is, it does change, I cannot see any promise of a long, healthy life for it. The position of Jews today, no matter where they are, is on less secure footing than at any time I can recall. This is a whole world buying into this hate, taking huge bites and gobbles. No restrictions. No humanitarian conditions and considerations.

No, I am not optimistic. I love my friends who are not Jewish. I love them for their attitude towards Israel as they stand with me. I am grateful for all those Jews who now realize that we are all one nation and what happens to one, will happen to all. But any possibility of true optimism is cast into great doubt by the actions of those treacherous, traitorous, treasonous, moronic self-hating and self-killing Jews who stand with their enemies and call for their own death. They delude themselves, convinced that the destruction of the State of Israel and their out there enthusiastic participation in bringing about that situation would eliminate all anti-Semitism. Their lack of understanding, that anti-Semitism does not have a reason justifying it, as it is not justifiable. It passes right over them, right through them. With idiots like this how can we possibly see some positive, strong chances for a better future.

Perhaps new glasses? But I doubt that.

Would, that it was so simple.

Yesterdays filled with pain.

Todays still rocked by the waves of hate.

Tomorrows covered in doubt.

And the eternal prayer sent out to the heavens by God's children.

 Anenu, beyom carainu. 

Answer us, please, in our time of need.

YES, CAN IT, WILL IT, IN FACT ...

 ... It has already begun. The Holocaust, the Shoah, did not begin with a train to the concentration camp. It did not begin with Jews being beaten up in the streets by brown shirts and black shirts and crazed citizens able to indulge their hate and be praised for it. No, that is not how it begins. 

While the beginning steps may be truncated these days, it does begin there, sneaking up on people who find themselves buying into the nastiness of those people standing in the streets, standing outside a building. Carrying offensive signs and posters, chanting blood stained words as unthinking robots, drawing the curious, the hate filled, the naive and the foolish. And then the hardcore, professionals, the Hate spewing from their mouths in great big ugly gobs. 

One begins with call outs against neighbors. The Jewish owned store on the corner. Against the Jewish professor or a protest and a burning of books written by Jews, about Jews, defending Jews. Anything positive to say about the Jewish people and their history. Their contributions to society. It begins, in fact, with the very first steps aimed to begin the isolation process, to push Jewish people, their businesses, their institutions of education and religion, and the various secular organizations into outlier, suspect positions.

These outlier positions "gifted" to the Jews slowly, albeit lately not so slowly, move on up in number and content. They grow ever more intense and are suffused with vicious accusations and suggestions that would never be tolerated if they were thrown out at another group. With the delegitimization, dehumanizing with "Jewish facts” and specific targets named, individual or groups or nations, and continues with a vile debasing, a total shaming with rabid falsehoods of the Jewish people and certainly of the nation of Israel.

It begins with signs. With people standing quietly in the middle of the street, on the sidewalk outside, some place where Jews are and holding some signs of lies, despicable lies, but not yet crazed. When these "protesters” notice that they have gained the attention of some onlookers they begin to increase the pace. Voices get louder. The signs descend into calls for the disappearance of Jews, particularly those with whom they disagree, for believe it or not, there are Jews who will join and stand with those calling for their own death. For the death of their people, for the death of their brothers and sisters and parents and aunts and uncles and children, deeming themselves "Progressives”.

Progressives are those who wish to make progress, meaning to go forward. Unfortunately, the term now has become co-opted, and it means anyone who will turn on the standard values and principles of the society in which they live. It is when there are those who buy into a program even as it stabs themselves in the back. It is a progressive which only regresses in every aspect of life about which they are protesting. 

Apparently, the most favored topic, richest with opportunity to “go rabid”, is anything and everything to do with Israel, Jews in Israel. Jews all over the world. These brainwashed, ignorant chanters of hate rhymes and holders of signs calling for the death of a people they've been taught to hate, are far more dangerous than they appear to be. However, society has put on blinders and will not see the truth or catch them in private, and they will admit that they too have issues with the "Jews who control everything". Yes, the vile collection of hate known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, so championed by Henry Ford, remains alive and thriving in these 'progressive' societies.

When these protests, as violent as they get, are not enough, the professional protesters, the instigators who are paid by groups endorsing violence directed at anything Jewish, take the next step in great big giant steps. The violence against people noticeably Jewish ramps up and when caught alone get the **** beaten out of them. Jewish buildings are deemed perfect for vandalization, for arson and all the better if Jews remain in that burning building. Or perhaps a gun would be better for them; they are open for suggestions. Today, two 19-year-olds were arrested for planning for, reveling in the thought, of a mass murder of at least 500 Jews and the more the better. But of course!

Eventually, at ever faster pace, ever more enthusiastic, those who have bought into the evil not only accept it, but push further to total isolation of Jewry, in any shape, manner or form. Total isolation of all Jews, of Israel, of anything relating to them. Physical, emotional, artistic - all worlds verboten for Jewry. Once more to thrust Jews into a scapegoat position, an impossible to survive life and voila! It can happen. It will happen. And indeed, it is happening.

America today and truthfully 99% of the nations of the world are wallowing joyfully in the filth and mud of that fetid swamp of hate, breathing in the miasmic air suffused with evil. Why should they feel any different? Why would they feel any shame at what they are doing as the "grown-ups” of society, those in seats of political power, too many standing at pulpits and podium, ranting and raving with hate are encouraging and enthusiastic in their support of JewHatred.

Yesterday, I went to see the movie "Nuremberg", not because I thought I would learn anything truly heretofore unknown to me, but perhaps to gain an understanding, if possible, of its perpetrators, its participants, the ones who rained horror upon fellow human beings. The Holocaust is always here, encroaching, tempting to those open for it.  Or willing and able to tolerate it and its effects upon all within its smothering of the humanity of mankind. It is a situation which I have simplified for today's posting. No, I went because several people who had gone before me, told me it was excellent. I would not enjoy it, for one does not enjoy these movies but I would be affected by it and truly, it hit me in my heart, in my head. 

The most frightening aspect for me was the reluctance, the slowness, of the prosecutors to understand that the perpetrators of the Holocaust were monsters, continue to be monsters, but they are human monsters. The people of Battalion 101, those who engaged in the bullet Holocaust, those who beat Jews in the concentration camps, who thrust them into the gas chambers, guards - they were people, just like you and me. Only for some reason they were able to take the steps deeper and deeper into the darkness of the world around them.

As Dr. Kelly tried to have people learn, as he had, that humans did this horror. That humans can do it again. That people will buy into it, hook, line and sinker and create a few more ugly twists to liven the matter up.

If you think it can't happen here, it won't happen again, you are so very, very dangerously mistaken. There is no doubt about it. The people of Europe and Asia will hop on to the back of this bandwagon of tempting freedom from rules of society.  To stomp on all around them of whom they don't approve! What glee! 

And if you think America is immune well, wake up!  There are many of the extremes on both sides, right and left, who would gladly revel and rejoice if they were in that position There are many people here who will claim, as Germans did, they were just following orders, making a living, staying alive and they will be the great, big gob of human monsters who will enjoy the thrill and the power right down to the last molecule of their body.

If you think that these monsters are not at work already, simply follow some of the raids of that secret combined force of ICE and their doings. Yes, there are criminals - just as there are criminals among native born. Find the guilty and toss them out and stop with the viciousness of the raids upon all.  These enforcers of ICE are the seeds of our Trump inspired and created minions, are, in fact, the germ of our own brown shirted, black shirted, jackbooted hoodlums empowered by the authority of the government to do their worst and be praised for it.

Yes, in our yesterdays, in our todays and G-d help us, at this point in our tomorrows, the ugliness of human monsters is quite up front and center. It is up to us to resist the pool of the ugliness unleashed. Of the power it confers upon its practitioners. We must stand up for the right, for true progress, for recognition of all as humans, same as us. All deserving of respect. Unless we, very soon, forestall the answer of can it, will it, block and deny its provenance and possibility of repetition, the questions and answers will be moot - even as we hear the jack boots surrounding that group being marched off to yet another hellish place we have created.  

People. 

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

WHAT ISN'T, REALLY IS

  Sounds confusing does it not? However, read the following lines I came across yesterday and see if you can get my point.

“It is not what they built. It is what they knocked down.

 "It is not the houses. It is the spaces in between the houses.

 It is not the streets that exist. It is the streets that no longer exist.

 It is not your memories which haunt you."             (James Fenton, " A German Requiem")

It is easier for the eye to see what is there, able to be touched, able to be negotiated, able to be seen and recognized as real. However, it is often easier or perhaps more difficult, in a way, for the mind's eye to see what is not there, most definitely should be there, but is simply not. Its lack of visibility, of a physicality is disturbing. It is confusing, for the one eye sees it there or sees it not, and the physical eye is contradicting that vision, sending a message to the brain that only what is there - is there, and what is not there is not to be seen, not to be photo-shopped by a malfunction  of a different vision. 

Memories are aroused and the vision created by the mind's eye overcomes all other vision. They are not always of the most pleasant sort, but it is not the memory of what was; rather it is the memory of what is not now, though much of the time we so wish it was an actuality rather than a trick of the mind, of the want it to be rather than the brutal what is. The contrast, the conflict between these two visions of two different eyes creates a confusing and often painful situation and there is nothing to do to avoid these conflicting memories particularly at trigger times. 

The only hope is that time, while not erasing these visions, softens it somewhat and the ache eases a bit. The conflicting visions and the emotions they arouse become more palatable, even welcome in some cases, for the memories can retain that which we do not see any more, cannot touch anymore,    but remain with us in the mind, in the memory bank, keeping it fresh and vivid, real to the ear and the heart, and always with us.

When we page through photo albums or the plethora of online pictures, we often come to a dead stop. It is when we reach the place where suddenly there is a change, a big change, an unwanted and unexpected and/or denied change that shifts the balance of all future photos and videos. That change is the absence of something that should be there, was always assumed to be there, but no more. It can be a childhood home gone or some other tangible item, but those are more sentimental than of anguish, unless resulting from a tragedy, the memories of which are highly disturbing. However, even then, along with the sad and tragic memories, as we look upon settings and people no longer here, some sentimentality enters the frame and the mind's eye sees and hears the voices, the smiles, the laughter and the love attached to these trigger memories.    

The most difficult mind's eye visions are those which come unexpectedly, with little to no lead time warning, of time to prepare, and the resultant shock rips the wound open again, brutally. Suddenly, into this happy time of recalling vacations, family events, good friends, good times, there is the shock that suddenly something is missing, will always be missing. What should be included is not. It is so blatantly missing, not there, the space empty which should have been occupied. But that is no longer, never to be so again even as that glaring absence, that empty space, becomes filled with what our mind's eye photoshops into it.

We refuse to accept the reality of what it is not there. That "What is not there” will always be there for us, in the vision we impose into where it should be, should always and forever have been. That vision of what should have been will never fade, as it grabs our hearts and calls upon our mind's eye vision and we see the missing, the smile, hear the voice, feel the arms around you and your arms around him, as real as ever. 

But yet not so, for what was, what should have been, is no longer possible. That empty space is to remain empty space. Unless we - and we will - insist on slapping that missing piece right back into the place where it needs to be. Denying the reality that we have lived with. Three years from diagnosis, two years gone.

Now we see what is not there, yet is there, and always will be there. Consistent. Never changing. Ever to be our boy, forever to be our missing piece yet not missing, for always he will be with us, in our memories, our stories, our pictures, and our broken hearts.  Always to be included, an integral part of the family, no matter the time, no matter the distance, for always and forever, we will continue to see him where he should be. In fact, where he is, always and forever. 

He will be our beloved gift from G-d above, taken back so early, too early. Even as we see him not, yet see him always. As your second yahrzeit approaches, we find you always in our thoughts.

It matters not whether we speak of yesterday or today or tomorrow; the love and the ache are forever.

Saba and I gave you a piece of our hearts to be with you always.  

 Your parents, your siblings, your other grandparents miss you so and your memories and face are known by your little nephews and niece. Your aunts, uncles, cousins all have that ache within for you.  

May your memory be for a blessing. 

Yitzy, forever and ever, always in my thoughts, always in my heart.

WHAT'S TO SAY?

 I was asked how I got into this blog business. The initial reason which sparked this whole thing is buried way, way back to the beginning. I took off after a man who I felt, still feel, was corrupt, inept, amoral and did not serve those he was responsible to in the best way, manner, at all. In fact, my place or residence when in the USA, and its population, are suffering today from the adverse consequences of his incompetence and arrogance.  Now, he is paying his dues somewhere in the next world and I have long been done and over with him

However, writing a blog allows one to vent without getting in anyone's face. There's nothing personal there. There's nothing addressed to anyone by name. It's a general let it all hang out with a protective moat around the castle keep. True, there have been some who sent along some nasty notes, but they have been ignored and clicked off, allowed to expire, basically a spit into the wind. Total effect on the contents of my blog? A great, big zero.

Frankly, writing some of these blog postings has forced me into a form of introspective analysis answering the questions as to exactly who am I? What do I think? How do I feel? How has it changed? It is sometimes a painful process, but I believe a good one, for a spring cleaning, be it in a house or a mind is a good idea. Those of you who questioned about the 'blog business', well, this is not a business for me. I take no money. I have refused any and all offers of ads. I don't do this to get any personal gain from it other than allowing me to ease some of the inner tension simply by writing about an idea or a thought. I want no compromise or control over what I think, other than my own self; hence, this is simply a blog, not a business.

So, what's to say every day? That's another question I was asked. How can I possibly think of an idea, a thought, which to develop and come up with readable, intelligent, cogent, and I confess, somewhat lengthy pieces about that idea or thought. Frankly, I don't know how that process works. All I know is that sometime during the day before the day of writing a blog, I get an idea perhaps picked up from something I read, or an event or saying which found a place within my head somewhere on a back burner. If it feels the time is ripe for it, I go with it.

    Whatever it is, it rings a bell somewhere inside of me and I begin to think, and then I begin to write. What I find interesting is how after I write, when I go back for grammatical errors, spelling, typos, phrasing, whatever I feel needs spoofing up, spiffing up, and often during the corrections I find myself veering off into another, related thought which then changes the entire blog and it emerges as something other than what I originally thought it would be. Generally, I approve of that new path.

It began as something I did for enjoyment, for personal reasons, an ability to vent, to develop my own thoughts via the vehicle of writing them out. No censorship on me other than what I impose on myself. Slowly over the years, and it's been quite a number of years already, it's become almost an obligation. I feel guilty if I don't get one up online and in time. However, I also do have to realize that as time goes by, age creeps up, the ability to get up so early in the morning to write and to think and write coherently at that time is a bit more challenging. Just maneuvering successfully to get out of bed is often challenging enough!! But I do try, I do try my best and when I cannot do it for one reason or another, either oversleeping or traveling or not feeling well, I do try to write the reason why.

So, at this point, what's to say? It is whatever I feel like saying along with an internal proofreader who will try to make sure that too many unpleasant words do not get engraved burning into my screen. At times I do try to be a bit more polite than I feel like being, but that is what the topic deserves. However, such is the world of writing, I guess.

 So. what's to say? Anything and everything, or nothing at all. It matters not. It's whatever I feel like doing, or whatever will keep my readers coming back as I like to make contact with people. However, I write to please myself, not to please others or to pander to them. If I perhaps at least a bit of the time can convince someone to my way of thinking, all the better, I guess, but that was not and is not my primary reason for writing.

It also pleases me to compare and evaluate what I have written compared to what others have said and who said it first? It shocks me when it takes others who are more informed on matters, and I would hope brighter than I am, for they are the policy makers, the pundits of this nation, to be so delayed in following the thread of ideas to the end and know the inevitable results. I often feel like an   eavesdropper in the nations' offices, only before the inhabitants speak publicly. It is most definitely an unsettling event or process, at least for me.

   Sometimes comments are sent in, sometimes people who know my email send some comments, pleasant or otherwise or read me on Facebook. I thoroughly enjoy the feedback and receive my own inner feedback when one writes of agreement or induced rethinking of their own thoughts after reading what I have written.  No harm, no foul even perhaps helping some people fine tune their own thoughts. Hence, it's a win - win all around. And, of course, I guess I provide a place for people who might find it pleasant to rant and rave at me! But to each his own, I guess, as long as it does not inflict violence, incite violence or encourage illegal activities.

I do believe in what I say. I do try to stay within reasonable bounds, in my own straight lane, but I must be open and honest and admit that there are some things for which I have little to no patience. No tolerance at all for those wedded to hate and violence, particularly directed at one specific group, and in particular, the people and state of the Jewish nation. Those are the times I might go over the top in my feelings about it. But there are also the good times when I get a letter, a note from a person whom I know agreeing with me, providing encouragement and good wishes And that is worth all the agita involved in writing this blog every day except for Saturday and holidays and days of travel.

What's to say? Lots and lots. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's not. But for me, it is always interesting. Still do not think of it as work per se but things do change when you begin to feel a responsibility to others who are steady patrons of the blog and make sure that the blog is there for them to read fresh, most days anyway.

To my steady readers, I say, thank you. I know sometimes it's difficult to send through a comment, but I can't figure out what's wrong, so keep trying, or find me on Facebook. Or simply just keep on reading and feel comfortable to agree or disagree and verbalize your thoughts. I cannot hear them!

   I will see you all, G-d willing, on Sunday, providing Mamdani remaining somewhat sane, and Trump not busting the Treasury of this nation with his Emperor inspired complex of new structures in Washington, and his tasteless gold signs a la Las Vegas style, nor his gala parties reminiscent of those from Phantom!  

 I wish you all a wonderful, peaceful, calm no gut-wrenching weekend. We've had too many days like that these past few months and we need a break and even perhaps a return to sanity by the deranged. 

One can hope. 

Yesterday, today and G-d willing, tomorrow I will be back. Same place, same station.