SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?

      So here we are, the end of the first day of 2016 and what has changed in the balance of the world. As I look around - not much.
     We have Obama dithering again, trying to play both sides of the coin - bad Iran for blatantly violating provisions of the treaty but, but, let's see what sanctions we need or should think of reimposing for after all, Rouhani was in a delicate situation - and of course, never mind the existential threat to Israel from these crazy Iranis.
     Moving on, same general area of the globe. Another "great" ally of ours, or at least when Erdogan has had a good day. Let's see. We are allies in Syria, helping to continue to bomb the country back to the Middle Ages, even as in Turkey, Erdogan blasts away at our other allies in Syria, probably the best fighters we have there - the Kurds, who have had this yearning to gather their scattered fellow Kurds from four different countries and make one Kurdish country. Sounds reasonable to me, since everyone else seems to be getting their own country, but guess not everyone believes with me.
     Still moving on in the same area, we now have Israel, that demonized country which does terrible things such as making the chips that run all our cell phones - now that is something to think over! They export technology and medical advances, wines, fruit and flowers, intellectual properties, provide aid at the site of so many natural disasters, even in Moslem countries and often the first to get there, try to keep their citizens safe, are probably the most moral army ever what with knocking on roofs, phone calls, emails , all but escorting the people within out - and then blamed when Hamas or whatever group does not let the people go and continues to build and store armaments and missile and rocket launching sites in the middle of population centers - but oh, well, Israel makes a good target and never mind those 150 civilians bombed by Turkey in the Kurdish area or the 250,000 dead in Syria.
     Egypt is yelled at for daring to flood smuggling tunnels, taking away the illicit running of materials, people and terrorists thru them, but hey, it's a living so why bomb it is the thinking!
     Over to Africa now where countries are just tearing each other apart - and that is within their own countries. Tribal rivalry, Islam vs animism and Christianity - ah, no Jews involved here, thank G-d - and proud traditions and history go down the tubes, the bloody tubes, as they commit their own forms of genocide. Will the Tutsis and the Hutu ever stop killing each other, in any country where they live? No sign of that. Well, people say at least it provides for jobs for mercenaries, for doctors, for arm sellers and manufacturers, for lobbyists - so perhaps, they say, we should leave well enough alone. Strange people indeed,and meanwhile, the countries of Somalia and the Sudan are trying to empty their countries, along with the convulsion of Syrian and Afghani migrants, all headed over to Europe, subsuming them in a floodwater of migrants of whom many Europeans are suspicious, who are not vetted and who are dying in their escape journeys. What to do? No clue.
     And of course, since the world is in chaos, let's find that standard scapegoat and blame it on them, rouse the people - so here we go with the chants of "Kill the Jew" "Out with the Jews" and bomb their buildings, stab them in Israel, run them over, for this is a religious war, let no one fool you into thinking otherwise, the rightwing neo Nazi and Fascist parties are booming, right there again in Poland, Hungary and the Ukraine and Russia are using the Jewish population there as a monkey in the middle rubber ball. And meanwhile, back in Israel, in addition to its other problems and daring to actually shoot those who came to kill them, they are trying to absorb all the thousands of new immigrants this year, fleeing from the violent and virulent anti Semitism that is now rife in France, Sweden, England, etc. And the latest? Rocket attacks on Sderot and other communities on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. Peace partners? Not really.
     More? Well, Shakespeare maintained an Elizabethan belief that when the world of man is out of sorts, then so is Nature and for sure you could well believe that today what with the nutso weather, the floods, the abnormal cold and the abnormal heat, the droughts, fires, earthquakes in the fracking areas, the melting of the ice at the Poles and the disappearing island nations, especially in the Pacific. Need more or gotten the point?
     And lest you think that well, we can just sit here inside our flimsy gates and go on with our lives and ignore the rest of the world as we play tennis, swim, play petanque, bocce and pickleball? Sorry, have to disabuse you of that notion. While we have some weather issues - so hot and here we are into January, what concerns me more is the political danger, the accepted loss of our own rights, the oppression and refusal to admit that we are in the USA where democracy is the form of government and the rights of free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to protest, to gain office, to live as Americans - all of that seems to be in danger as we accept the increasingly fascistic approach of the current administration.
     So tonite, just go to sleep and either worry or sleep tight in your oblivion. But remember - we vote here and we vote out there. Think carefully before casting your ballot and think and choose carefully as you evaluate the candidates and try to get the world that you believe is right and try to do that without engaging in fisticuffs, threats, treachery and sheer nastiness, like siccing government upon private citizens. And enjoy the New Year.
     Oh, by the way, the two vicious know nothings have decided to chime in once again with their lies. Gracie girl, guests do not have to be 55+ so go read the rules again and why not go out among all the associations that are now letting in below 55 to live there. As for my students, @@@#$#$@! $% you, and close this line down before you get what you deserve and know that I do not make idle  statements and as far as you, Peter, you nasty creep, you need to shut up or you know what will come down the pike at you - you, who threatened my physical being, used sexually harassing terminology, etc. Want it? Just keep it up and you will get what you wish for. Wonder who will visit you in prison? And before that, why not crawl out of your little rat's nest and show people who you really are?!
     Think I need a piece of chocolate - it makes everything a lot better - and two Advil. Then I'll find a good book or find a friend or grandchild and have a few laughs and think over the good points of our world, especially our families. You too.
See you Sunday morning.
  And this just in - a mass shooting in Tel Aviv, in it heart, Dizengoff Square, where people go to walk and talk, to eat and shop, to live life and so the toll goes up.
Total in Israel for October thru January:  29 dead, 271 wounded, too many to count in shock. From the elderly to the young, Jew and even  Palestinians are  being killed in these attacks, stabbed, hacked, axed, shot, rammed by cars, walking in the streets of Israel, going about their business. And the attacks continue and we wait, knowing that more are to come even as the world blames the Israelis, the victims. Were we not there before? Has the world learned anything from its past? And the count rises and our babies are being killed but does anyone hear a word about that? Dead silence.

      What has changed? NOTHING!