NO VARNISH

  Do you not get annoyed when somebody speaks about an important topic but covers up the truth, its import hidden, camouflaged by layers upon layers upon layers of varnish of PC talk. I find it most annoying and extremely unhelpful. It is a waste of time, a delay in properly addressing a problem and finding a solution. Why is it that we find it so difficult to speak plain talk? What are we afraid of?

True, some plans might be advanced by disguising the actuality beneath the lies of surface words. However, inevitably, that varnish wears away and suddenly we are seeing bits and pieces of truth peeping out from that eroded varnish. The trickery, the chicanery that was involved and now revealed aggravates those who felt tricked, those who felt cheated and/or foolish for falling for these lies. The hostility of society is then exacerbated and the whole benefit of talking rather than fighting is obviated. 

Plain talk, honest, unvarnished clear words is the proper path of social intercourse. For sure, it will be a shock to the system of many, so used to "gently” presented facts and issues. In time though the shock will wear off, the indignation tempered with acknowledgement of the benefits, and we can stop playing dangerous games. The sooner we reach deep down into stores of truth and honesty, the faster the pace of addressing wrongs and inequities will be. The better society will be. The better we all will be as individuals and as groups. Denying recognition of this maxim, that truth will lead the way, light the path before us, we might as well just shut up. Our planet is already plagued with a plethora of hot air, and we certainly do not need to inflict upon it even more. 

So ...... here are same truths which will offend and shock some people who don't like to read and see the truth. See it expressed But I have had it. I am tired of all the false platforms and platitudes, the lies which engender only more violence, more hate and waste precious time we do not have to waste. We, this planet, are in existential danger, growing and intensifying by the nanosecond. We are an accumulation of societies who have lost their way. In seeking to rediscover the way, we have discarded the good with the bad, buy into the 'strong man' rule, obviating the need for us to make any actual critical decisions, and are worse off than before. 

The world is a nasty place. Both plebians and elite refuse to admit flaws, deny them all, unless they are sure enough of a warm reception to their twisted words and then spout them loud and clear. Terrible, shocking, perhaps uncouth to many, correct. but if we hear the truth, recognize it as the truth, we can tackle it usefully and gainfully.

Nastiness is as nastiness does. The people of the world are deeply, etched into their souls and genetic makeup, antisemitic. Deny it as they might, or wallow in its filth as too many do, that is the ugly truth. There are those rare individuals who join with us, who fight it, brave souls, and they are recognized by us as such. But these are the exceptions. Not the rule. There are even Jews who buy into the ugliness, who stand alongside the pro murderers of the protests around the world, refusing to acknowledge truth: they will be discarded as used tissues once these pro-beasts get their way.   Need names? Try J Street or Bernie Sanders, that demented crazed lost old man.

Here is another corollary truth also never openly acknowledged People are, by nature and nurture, prejudiced, haters of others, of those different in so many different ways which all amount to a hill of beans. Listen in as a fly on the wall and hear the words and feelings expressed. Taught to children and in turn to their children who in turn grow up to tell it to their own and the vicious cycle never ends. Aways refreshed.

Germany has bought into the varnish movement, perhaps ashamed as the nation which led the Holocaust, bought into the mantra of Hitler.  

 "Chief Barbara Slowik told the Berliner Zeitung daily newspaper that the city does not have specific "no-go zones" for people, but some areas are unsafe for members of the Jewish and LGBTQ communities. There has been a rise of antisemitic incidents in the German capital since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. A group of schoolchildren recently was attacked in the city.

"There are no so-called no-go areas, meaning areas that are too dangerous to enter," Slowik said. "However, there are areas, and we must be honest at this stage, where I would advise people who wear a kippah or are openly homosexual or lesbians to be more attentive."  said she did not want to defame a particular group "as perpetrators," but she did recognize that there are "certain neighborhoods."

"There are, unfortunately, neighborhoods in Berlin with a majority of residents from Arab backgrounds where there is open sympathy for terrorist organizations and very blatant antisemitism,"

Why all the verbiage? Why not speak truth, plain and simple.  Arab areas are rife with antisemitism and desire for Jewish blood to be spilled. Even that of children. Admit it. Admit the truth and then deal with it. Stomp on it. Join with other cities, states and countries who are dealing with the same problem. Join together in truth and in real planning. However, that would be too revealing of a truth people are ashamed to admit and thus engage in coverup and obfuscation.   ANTISEMITISM. PLAIN. AND. SIMPLE. Ugly, but denying it only delays solutions.

 Should we think this ugliness ends within the borders of Germany, it is present in every country of the world, including here in America, including in the Papal State. I refer you to the statement made by Pope Francis, who in an attempt to deflect attention to his hugely troubled organization turns to the good old tried and true accusation of what amounts to blood libel. 

Pope Francis has written a new book to mark the 2025 jubilee. In an excerpt from “Hope Never Disappoints” that has generated headlines, he proposes a “careful investigation” by international experts into whether Israel’s actions in Gaza meet “the technical definition” of genocide.

 There are so many truths, but I will. put forth only one more and hold the rest safely in abeyance for another time. When Biden et al scream for the   shipments of arms and ammunition to Israel to be halted, understand what it really means. It means the death, the brutal death of yet another 6 million plus Jews, all with one sweep, one stroke of a pen. How is Israel to defend itself and citizens when there are no weapons, no ammunition sent over. All that will be left to combat myriad missiles and drones, replenished not only by Iran and from Syria, but also from Russia, all that will be left for defense are the kitchen knives and the stones on the ground of Israel. 

This is what that ban means. This is what nobody says. But this is the truth. Yet another manifestation of a legally approved and 'justified' attempt to act, to attack, to be up to elbows in the blood of Jews.  

Toxic antisemitism. A JewHatred which never seems to disappear. Never seems to abate. Always lurking.

No varnish, Plain truth. It hurts. But it must be said. It must be called out. It must be fought and vanquished. For good.

And yes, Madame Mayor of Amsterdam, THAT WAS A POGROM.

YOICKS!! WE DID INDEED

Exactly what did we do? For one thing we proved the historical veracity of some very intelligent warnings and what happens when these truths are ignored. The worst is that we get exactly what we have asked for, via so many words and actions.  By refusing to follow the thread of our thoughts and deeds we allowed the inevitable consequences to morph into reality. And oh, so quickly as well. 

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence who has   perused the news outlets in any format has had   body, face and soul splashed with ice cold water. It is water of so cold a temperature that life as we know it cannot, will not, be able to survive. Certainly not in format hospitable to those who live within it. Trump's egregiously purposely dangerous picks to fill the positions open in his administration have left this country vulnerable to serious wounds inflicted from within, the most dangerous kind. 

Too often the rot from these wounds is difficult to discern and treat, no plan for treatment to reduce and heal those wounds. Instead, we have a perverse encouragement of the growth of the destructive rot, to inundate all in its path, all that once the United States of America meant to the world. No longer.  The atmospheric rivers of the political and philosophical world are overtopping the foundations of this nation. All in the name of proudly vocalized plans of revenge and retribution.  Evil, yes, Evil, are the paths chosen by the President elect, gleefully, unopposed by those who are supposed to be the brakes to his destructive road trips as they are broken, silenced, terrified. 

 Trump has emulated his buddy Putin and all the dictators who preceded him. It is a scorched earth policy, where opponents are jailed, even killed, and frankly, there is very little space between his path and the path of Trump. While not yet embracing execution in a precise manner, Trump's plans of using the military to enforce his evil immoral plans are obvious and openly acknowledged. The legislative and judiciary branches of this government are so tainted, already biased and under the thumb of Trump that the fear of the third leg of this triangle of terror, the military, will not stand in his way, but will indeed allow itself to serve his plans, his wishes, his machinations, his paths of destruction. The result? That scorched territory once known as the United States of America. 

Trump himself said that only via and with great fear is true power achieved. Somehow, he has managed to frighten all. His canny dementia, similar to that of the despots of history, their disconnect from humanity, and morals highlighted in their absence as immorality rules, has brought this nation to its knees and actually lower than that as frightened and/ or enamored cohorts and camp followers prostrate themselves before him, assigning him royal power, royal blood. and godly powers. 

We have abandoned. our hopes and dreams, our drives to be ever better. Instead. we have taken the express elevator all the way down to the sub - sub basements. There we muck around in the filth and the sludge of humanity, celebrate perverse appointments of those who would destroy the department they are supposed to lead. Chant and cheer at their approval and their plans. Apparently, we are not sensitive enough to gage the speed at which we are disappearing into that sludge. We have become a senseless mob of senselessly chanting idiots, rooting, cheering for our own destruction. 

It is not necessary to reiterate all the names of his destructive appointments. It is sufficient to know the harm they will inflict. Those beneath, around, and even above will suffer as they ramp up their own inner evil and dissolution. Yes, I am told, and I acknowledge that so far, his appointments have been pro-Israel. However as soon as Israel displeases him, or American Jews displease him, or Netanyahu steps out of line, I am afraid that policy will be flipped over onto its back, stomped into the ground. One cannot, must not, trust a visibly crazed individual. One must not attempt to build upon such shaky foundations for they will surely crumble and all that is built above will crumble as well.    

Red lights flashing. Alarms blaring but ears are deaf. Do not expect any justice. Do not expect prosperity. Do not extend or expect any careful thought. Do not anticipate policies that are pro humanity. and truly progressive Understand that our learning curve of comprehension is steep and of short duration. 

This man once again with no mandate of a majority of the population of this nation has taken hold of the reins. Encouraged by the turn of events he has become even more of a despot than he had already planned for. There's nothing in his way. No person brave enough to say 'no more'. Who is to stop him? Will we become a nation of cruelty, ripping   parents from children, ignoring the tears of a two-year-old crying for his Mommy. Begin to use and plan for the forced labor of those in deportation camps AKA American concentration camps? Will we force a false Christian religion upon the nation? Will we become a nation where women will be downgraded, discounted and bereft of all that women have achieved. Will censorship bring about a state of miseducation?

It is incumbent upon us to truly see and hear what is clear just below the surface. Follow the threads of reality and understand the outcomes, the contradictions contained within these plans. Governmental reins in the hands of dangerously ignorant incompetent people. To ignoramuses. Others given free entry to mess around with our money. Why? Because they are wealthy. So of course they can create a new money wasting Department of Governmental Efficiency, DOGE, like the ruler despots of Renaissance Italy. So backwards is our vision, so wrong our directions. 

See the truth. Hear the truth. Know the truth. Act on the truth. Be a true American. Be loyal to America - the entity and the idea. 

It is upon us to save ourselves from ourselves.

 No excuses.  

Little leeway and litle time.

          

        

    

 

     

 

 

SO SORRY

  My apologies. I was up half the night. Couldn't quiet my mind. And when I finally fell asleep, I overslept. Now the rest of the morning's appointments are calling out to me. "Move it. Move it. Move it." So, my apologies. God willing, there will be a fresh bog tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I invite you to catch up on some of the blogs you might have missed. I wish you all a good day and I hope the world takes a turn for the better on this very busy Monday. 

DO NOT FORGET THEM

These are the last words of an article written about the American hostages remaining in the filthy bloodstained hands of Hamas. They are Jews. They are Israelis. They are Americans and yet America has left them behind somewhere, in the land of we could care less. Three of them are already dead, known beyond doubt to be dead and four possibly surviving. Actually, with the slaughtered Hersh, I believe that makes eight. 

We know naught about the remaining hostages. Certainly, the exact fate of the Bibas family remains obscured. Argentina has forgotten her citizens as have the other nations of the world. France. England, Australia where are you? Guess you are too busy indulging the anti-Semitism rampant in your lands. Or perhaps you are voting for the sovereignty of Palestine in the UN which states most assuredly that Israel has on purpose caused starvation in Gaza. The same starvation claimed as imminent, two days away, 6 weeks away, on and on and on as of October 7th last year, after Hamas and thousands of "innocent civilians' joined in the rampage and/or cheered as the captives or their corpses were paraded through Gaza and desecrated. 

And here it is again. We are told that many have already died due to starvation. I am not quite sure where they are or where they have been, for I have perused the many photos that have come out of the war. I see wrapped 'bodies', but never an unwrapped corpse. I wonder, are there designated sheet wrapping stocks to use, for how are they so readily available and tied ever so properly? 

Beats me, but then again, having never plotted war nor mass murder I cannot answer, only can marvel at the foresight of laying out supplies of sheets in every building in Gaza. Amazing! Evidently, the planning heads of Hamas found a great sale for burial sheets and stocked every building, but somehow stocked only their tunnels with food, water, fuel, etc. All the necessities of life in order to inflict death and horror upon their own people!! Their people used as a weapon of war and accepted as such by the world. Oh, so welcoming of anything which could be laid at Israel's door. A world ever ready and accepting of any claims against Israel and all Jews for that matter.  

Foremost in those claims is the fairy tale of starvation. But I see no victims of starvation. I see no sunken eyes nor prominent ears. No hollowed-out skulls. No walking sacks of bones. No walking skeletons. No piles of bodies who died of starvation so rampant and endemic within Gaza. So many, impossible to gather and bury. And the world buys into these lies, hook, line, and sinker, even as Israel allows in trucks of food and supplies, even as Hamas hijacks the contents. Even as the supplies end up either in the black market or on the shelves of stores selling them for a profit. Everywhere, other than in fair distribution among the 'starving innocent' people of Gaza who are used as cannon fodder by their rulers. Their rulers whom they have tolerated and joined since 2005. 

 Sniff, sniff. Smell something rotten?        

What I and the world do not see are the hostages. Yes, their pictures are up all over Israel and in Jewish neighborhoods, in store windows. In homes well stocked with the myriad books and memoirs of the horror of Oct 7 and its ongoing horrid blood-soaked aftermath. This nation and nations of the world are crisscrossed by freed and rescued hostages, accompanied by relatives of those who remain in captivity or are known to be dead. I see and hear the words, the pictures, but evidently the nations of the world are selectively blind, able to ignore their own citizens still held in a captivity of brutality and torture, used as psychological items of warfare as a video is shown and then the prisoner is murdered. 

The hostages are real. Their situations untenable and intolerable, yet there they remain. The guilt of Hamas in that instigation and brutality of its attacks that began this war, foisted upon Israel, is totally denied. Hamas has screwed their own people, cutting them off from their jobs in Israel, which paid them decent salaries, enabling them to build homes, to educate their children. No more - thanks to Hamas. No more thanks to their acquiescence and cheering at the outset, now so different - yet inevitable.  

Israel has gone far above and beyond in her efforts to minimize civilian deaths but when civilians cannot be differentiated from combatants, on purpose, there are limits. Those limits and the consequences belong at the doorways of Hamas, not Israel. And yet, that obvious truth is denied.   Hamas brought this horror down upon their own. The conditions Gazans now have been the consequences of Hamas.  Due to the outrageous misplaced support for the beasts of Hamas, it behaves and demands as a victor. Israel should cede all, leave Gaza and perhaps, maybe, whenever, sometime, there will be discussion re the hostages. Maybe. Maybe not. Certainly not all. Of course not. And the world goes right along, the roots of JewHatred are deep indeed. No nation in the world would do this yet it is demanded of Israel.  

Ironically, awfully, the future for Israel and world Jewry rests upon the shoulders of a clearly demented man who delights in causing aggravation, in being perverse, immoral and a felon. Yet at present he clearly supports Israel. His appointments connected with the Middle East are pro-Israel, all clearly outspoken, Rubio rightly calling Hamas beasts - which they are. Yet how strong will they be should Trump change his mind, clearly a possibility, even a probability. And yet his support now is strong and hopefully will remain so. 

I now have a dichotomy within me. Difficult. There it is. I despise Trump for everything that he is, for everything that he proposes, for every antagonistic appointment he has made. Placing people who are diametrically opposed to what they are supposed to defend and protect. People of no relevant experience whatsoever, therefore grave doubt as to their capabilities in their most important sensitive positions. Yet he's outspokenly pro-Israel though statements re American Jews are not reassuring. Nor are some of his White Power buddies. 

And yet such is the reality, such is the dichotomy of my soul with which I must contend. Is there any wonder why the words of my prayers for the safety of Israel, the safety of my people, the sanity of the world, are ever more fervent and ever more frequent. Even as I see "I told you so" moments growing, there it is. Upon the man who is anathema to me in so many ways, is the best booster for Israel at present, other than the Lord Above. Frankly, I do not understand the Lord's actions and thoughts any more than those of Trump! 

 I hate it all. And yet ... I must tolerate my own personal schizophrenia in this manner and hope and pray for the best, albeit with great trepidation and unease. Not a pleasant situation. 

Do not forget them, the hostages, nor the standards of justice and truth which must prevail.  

   

  

  

 

NO AND NO AND NO AND NO AD INFINITUM

  And for those of you hard of hearing or bleary of eyesight, I will repeat it again. No. and no and no and no and no and no and no ... You may keep going if you wish or cut it off, but it will not change. It has never changed - not in the past and nor will it change in the present or future. The old adage which tells us "When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is quite applicable in the current status quo of the world today. 

As humans among humanity, we are disappointed by the return of an overbearing negative air of intolerance and its exceptional attraction for so many. The world was never a perfect place, not in the past, certainly not in the present, and a long hard slog through hostile territory before we can look towards a much better future. There are too many places where even today hate rules the day, slaughter the ultimate goal. Slavery in all its ugly guises remains alive and unfortunately well in too many areas and nations of the globe. But at least we were making progress. At least and at last there were voices raised louder, more in numbers and    frequency, against the ugliness of these practices. Progress was being made albeit too slow in speed.

However, almost overnight, voices of the better part of Humankind were vanquished, shouted over by ugly voices returned to the surface, a reinvigorated. hatred of old that never seemed to die. It was always there. Sometimes louder. More pervasive, more harmful; at other times. it remained as a dull roar in the background. 

We knew this roar existed. We heard it on a minute. by minute-by-minute basis. But we thought with time we could quieten that roar. Perhaps never making it disappear, but to be almost negligible in decibel and certainly never to reappear openly, with actions accompanying the words. Certainly, we thought, we had progressed higher on the ladder of civilization. Surely, we were able and would be   more able, enough so as to discard all these negativities. How deaf and blind we were and remain. How foolish we are even today. Too many continue to prefer to cling to a dangerous policy of denial of reality. 

With hindsight always perfect, we can look back and see that it was not suddenly overnight but was rather, at first, a slow but steady buildup and then faster and faster and faster until the world seemed afire with the reimagined and fortified hatred which consumes all - the haters and the hated. It is often, too often now a challenge to walk down the street. It is a situation with people either hiding and/or denying their connection to Judaism, to being a Jew. Or, as I and many others do, we flaunt it, wear garments and accessories which highlight our status as Jew. In your face is the attitude. Screw you is the emotion prevalent within, along with the anger and defiance. 

Along with that comes the inevitable Hate. Yes, I now hate where I did not Hate before. I hate those who have made me a Hater. They have squeezed something out of my soul, taken something from my heart. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth and belittles the core of humanity, that core which impels us to be better, to strive for higher and purer thoughts and behavior. To care for others as we care for ourselves and for our own. To have pride in who and what we are without denigrating others and casting them aside, denying them their place in society. It intimidates those who would contribute much for the betterment of all. 

 Hate does not allow nor make room for the positive. It stomps on that. It sends people flying backwards in high reverse speeds. It is an ugly phenomenon which haunts our streets. It echoes in the canyons of the big cities. It taints the rivers and the waters of the land. It sinks into the earth and dyes the grains of the sand. It pollutes all that it touches, subtly and not so subtly.

The oldest most malignant hatred has returned   invigorated, retrenched, soaked in pools of toxic thoughts and deeds and its toxicity drips loudly and endlessly. It strives to emulate the worst proponents and practitioners of Hatred through the millennia. It is a hatred which cannot be separated from that which is its target. It is JewHatred. One word. Unique. 

It is the rampant ugliness of the streets today. It is the attempt to deny life not only Israeli Jews but all Jews along with their advocates. The right to live, to exist, to be free, to be safe. To dream, to raise families, to contribute. To be recognized as people. Why in 2024 are we still facing this ugliness? Why in 2024 has it assumed a more powerful guise and methodology. Why in 2024 are we now facing people who condemn us to death merely for who we are, for our history, for our survival against all odds. Not only survive but thrive. Blamed for being slain and brutalized. Blamed and cursed for all that has inevitably occurred as a result of a war forced upon us. A war for our very survival. 

How does one explain to a child why he/she is hated? Why must we have to do so? How does one keep a family safe? These and many other questions are difficult and varied. The answers are even more difficult, but one thing is for sure. We will remain strong, determined, defiant and will outlast all who oppose us. We have been told in the Bible that those who curse us will be cursed in turn. Those who bless us will be blessed with the same blessings. So, world, make your choice. 

For those of you who need a refresher course as to what and who people are, no matter the origin, the ethnicity, the skin color, the beliefs, that we are all the same - here are some words which might help. Feel the anger, the plea, the confusion. 

We are all the same.

Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice Act III

 He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies, and what’s his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

WE ARE ALL THE SAME.

HATE SOMEONE AND YOU WILL BE HATED IN TURN.

WE. ARE. ALL.THE. SAME.

 

DOES ANYONE HEAR THE THUNDERING HOOVES?

Actually, I believe the question should be how can one not hear those hooves thundering, pounding, tearing away at the earth? How could one avoid the sight of them as the herd gets closer and closer and closer.  To what? Perhaps, somewhat dramatically, to the end of the world as we know it today. As has been predicted. Particularly within the boundaries of an entity once known as the United States of America. 

 Once upon a time, approximately 250 years ago, a group of bold men combined self-interest and public interest, motives low and high and took a leap of faith. They challenged dictatorial   monarchy. They foresaw a time and place where the people would be able to design their own government and live with the consequences. To remediate as needed. To err, large and small, and be terribly faulty and inefficient, falling short of goals. However, when compared to other forms of government, it stood high over the rest. A role model, an encouragement to strive for the best of us and what we could achieve. If only.  If we kept our determination to be, always, the shining example of the best of Mankind, its true potentialities. If only. 

 Over the years there were good times and bad, highs and lows, but always there was an enthusiasm and inner push to seek the better, to find the higher, and to stand tall and proud. With open arms and welcome for those with the same goals, who wished to contribute and grow with the nation. And we were so much the better for it.

However, somewhere in the first quarter of the 21st century, something broke, something snapped. Out drained our idealism, hope and welcome, discarded   as useless. We grew in selfishness and near sightedness. We hoarded rights belonging to all and were the weaker and poorer for it. We saw whom we wished to see and labeled others as unworthy outliers. We replaced ideals and help for a better world. We filled the resultant vacuum with increasingly twisted ideas and a growing pervasive odor of evil. Yes, evil in their contemplation and evil in their coming to fruition.  

And so, within this fairy tale of what was, what could have been, a deep rot from within and without chewed away at the reality of those dreams and goals. The allure of the permission of that rot, the faulty eyesight of those who could not, would not, see the forest for the trees, nor what awaited at the exit proved overwhelming and the situation grew worse. Lies and misinformation became the lingua fraca of the day, parroted and swallowed whole and uncontested, even as the liars worked behind closed doors on their true plans to negate all that was good, all that was fair within the nation. Nothing was to be left untouched and spoiled. The lies grew and words of warning fell unheard to the harsh unyielding earth. Threads of rot reached deep into the world, grew into the thickness of cables and nations of the world began to turn as well. The desire for a "strong" man as savior grew and was increasingly put into place and practice. 

The doors and gates of Arkham Manor opened wide, and the inmates flooded out. Today the inmates indeed are running the show. Sanity is devalued.  This fairy tale has an ugly ending and a slim chance of remediation and new beginning and end. Certainly not if the man now chosen as the "strongman" of America remains in power, tightly grasping the reins of control.  

The following are words used to describe a designated candidate for the position of Attorney General of the United States of America. Read them and weep. Read them and understand that this description is applicable. to 99% of those Trump has nominated for various offices of government of this nation. Miniscule touches of positivity are swamped, overwhelmed, greatly impeded by deadly calcified hearts and missing souls. Empathy is totally unknown. Selfishness. Greed. Power. Those are the names of the games. Here are the players.

"The committee, which had been probing allegations that he “engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct” 

The majority of the Supreme Court Justices.   Apply those words. and cry. Cry for our country. Now think of Tulsi Gabbard as head of National Intelligence. One of the stupidest people who has crossed the threshold into the realm of politics and political control. Think of Rubio. A pretty face and nothing behind.  All these striving to be another Donald Trump. The felon. The pervert. The fraud, the cheat, the liar. The enemy of democracy and diplomacy. His words and promises full of holes and mistrust. Voices of sanity? Voices of restraint? Voices of truth? Are there any with a strength of character to stand up to this man as he wallows in his excesses? Is there a true public servant among his appointees?   

  Unfortunately, the healing magical waters of the wishing well have disappeared, drained back into the earth, there to remain until there is a point of benefit to return our coins of wishful thinking along with those wishes. Now though, the coins fall with a harsh clang upon the hard earth and we walk away knowing that all those wishes did indeed turn into horses, those horses into herds which are trampling. upon us and into the world of men.

I look hopefully into possibilities of this new administration. However, as much as I hope, as much as I pray, all I can see before my eyes at the present time are herds of horses, thunderous hooves and a flood into the White House and official buildings of government of dangerously inane, ignorant. and hate filled characters. Our Batman signal is dead. Superman is on a long vacation as are the rest of the superheroes. It is upon us to remediate the situation, to be our own heroes.       Can we define which fork in the road was the incorrect one and choose again? Reset our compasses for the true path?   Will we find the courage within to go forward? 

Can we rope all those herds of horses, still their hooves and tame and train them to our needs. Damn. But I hope we can. But all I can see ahead of us at present is an ugly sight of the rear ends of horses. However, we are actually the herd of horses' asses at present - are we not! 

AND SO

And so it continues. And so it has always been. And so it seemingly will always be. Is there never to be an end to this? A positive end? Or are we in some living nightmare condemned to relive over and over again the moments of horror and bloodshed that has been a major repetitive part of the history of Mankind, and especially of my people, the Jewish nation.     

There are those who persist in saying it can't happen here; it won't happen here. Take a look and decide if that is the correct call. Unfortunately, they are wrong. Very wrong. The ability, even the desire, to go along with extremes of behavior have found homes within the souls of too many. It is frightening to a degree unimaginable, yet very clearly possible, even probable. History has proven this truth and there is no reason why one should or would think otherwise these days.

In frightening replication of 80 years ago in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in its entirety, the nations of Europe, North Africa, the Arab Middle East, the streets of Amsterdam exploded in multiple days of "Jew Hunts", of Hamas imitative tactics of motorcycles employed as vehicles of war and terror. The Dutch of yesteryears acquiesced with the extermination program of their Germanic Cousins, dutifully obeying rules and orders. Quite comfortable, even enthusiastic, were they. 

Today, they have enabled, openly allowed what they knew was to be a bloody pogrom. Equal to any of the Middle Ages. Chasing down people, threatening them, forcing them to prove who they are or who they are not. Well detailed plans of those wallowing in the cesspool of JewHatred climaxed in seas of blood and shocking enmity. And so it has always been and so it will always be. Also   unsurprising is the corollary of blame. The blame for this bloodshed obviously, undeniably, historically, is the fault of the Jews even as they fall beneath the clubs and knives and guns of their haters. We are so assured by the perpetrators of the pogroms. 

Their mere existence, their persistence in outliving all enemies, large and small, their survival and stubbornness in insisting upon their continuity is enough to incite 'justifiable' anger and hate and murder. But of course! Why would anyone think otherwise? If only the People of the Book would accept their designations as anathema to the rest of the world, as outliers and pariahs, the eternal scapegoats of others, the convenient go to targets, the root of all evil in the world, how much simpler life would be for the rest of humankind. 

The truth would then be so clear, so undeniable. The 1200 butchered in the communities of southern Israel were the cause of their own death. Apparently so powerful are the Jews that there was much to fear from 9-month-old Kfir, three-year-old Abigail and 4-year-old Ariel, or the weak elderly, the beaten and shot, stabbed 250 captives hauled into Gaza. To await a grisly demise.  

In accordance with that thinking the Maccabi fans should have gotten out of the way of the motorcycles. They should have acquiesced to the blows upon the head and the kicks to the bodies.      Accepted the shedding of their own blood. Why? Why not? It would make things so simple. No debates about roots and causes and results.

Worse to contemplate is the sure knowledge that what comes will be of far greater consequence than what has come before. Pro-Israel protests or anti Hamas, anti-murder protesters are being threatened, stifled, up to and including death and some of the voices are stilled. Mealy mouthed officials do nothing other than encourage the violence directed at Jews and their supporters, as their words carry no weight and their actions are negligible. In fact, the very people who are there to protect, to serve, opt out of that responsibility and/or in fact take part in the demonstrations, quite enthusiastically.   

America is not immune to this hate. It is contagious, as evil and indiscriminate as cholera. More people that you would expect see no harm in mass deportations, in the building of detention camps surrounded by barbed wire and electric fences and the ugliness that would inevitably follow. They see no moral block to becoming adherents, proponents, and of service, even working in these camps following every single rule handed down.

It can't happen here? It won't happen here? Or there? The world has surely learned better, internalized the lessons of the dark moments of history. Think again. It is already happening here. The ground has already been softened and hate has taken strong root. When the head of a country and the followers are amoral and immoral, when people cry out without understanding what they are crying out for - a 'strong' leader, well, when they get what they wished for they will regret it. Too late. 

The poisonous fangs of hate bite deep and wide. The reach of the diseased limbs will be long and inescapable, but oh yes, we will have that strong leader who tolerates no dissent. Who has no brakes, internal or external, to halt the rapid slide the nation will take into savagery and despair.   The danger to this nation, the damage done to it, will be astounding in duration and consequence.  Be careful what you have wished for; be very careful. Antenna should be up and quivering, hackles raised, and shoulders approaching ear territory.   Are yours?  

Can we not do better? Certainly, we must do better for the alternatives are unthinkable, though unfortunately neither unreasonable nor impossible.

Think deep, longer, and with more comprehension. Choose your path carefully. It could be a permanent choice and outcome.   

WISHES AND CHICKENS AND ROOSTS, OH MY!

There are reasons why certain statements become well embedded into the vernacular of a nation. If wishes were horses. Chickens coming home to roost. Foxes in the hen house. Be careful what you wish for. All these and many more, including those mentioning dark tunnels, and we had better take a long, intensive fresh look at them and what they portend for our future. Perhaps if we can open enough minds to actual thought and an understanding of threads of actions and consequences, of actions and reactions, we will better be able to protect the nation from the worst damages Trump and his Trumpy allies intend to foist upon us. In other words, to present the truth to unwilling ears and closed minds, unable to admit, comprehend, what has been wrought upon this nation and in fact, the world at large.

The irony is that when some explanation is presented there is some movement along the correct line. Though crowds of calloused hearted hooligans rant and rave re the 'harm' and 'danger' of immigrants and call for mass deportations, when the details are presented, the support is not so clear.

"A Marquette University Law School poll in September showed the percentage who favor deporting immigrants ... dropped from 61 percent to 45 percent when you cite people who “have lived here for a number of years, have jobs, and no criminal record.”

Another poll showed strong opposition to deportation for many types of undocumented immigrants — all except criminals and recent border crossers. '

Add the enormous costs arising from such a program, the ugliness of detention camps, of masses of children separated from parents, of babies going unattended, and my, oh my, some heads and hearts and souls are to be awakened from deep sleep and begin to gain a glimmer of understanding of the actuality of those words. Of course, in the air, lingers the question and the answers - who exactly are we?

Support for law and order, for enforcement of public compartment, all shatter behind the truth of the pardoning by the convicted felon, now at the head of this government. Worse is the example he sets as this amoral felon and sexual pervert now draws the unfortunately rather legal conclusion that he can do anything he wants, claim it an official act and get away with it all. Thank you, corrupt Supreme Court! This is all that we have wrought This is all that we will come to regret. I truly do not know how much value that regret will provide. Nor if there will in fact be any regret.

The truth is ugly. No amount of plastic surgery will be able to disguise that ugliness. It is deep within the bone, the marrow of this society of this corrupt, withering American society. Free passes will be allotted to those who embrace violence and moral turpitude. Who will embrace all the tropes and memes of hate and bigotry. Project 2025 and the rather obscene Project Esther of the Heritage Foundation lays it all out. It embraces the trusted old tactic of blaming the victim for the sins perpetrated upon it.  Read the following and weep as the truth is revealed, - the underlying ugliness open to the eyes of those who would see.  

“We really understood the Jewish perspective, but it was important for me to have all these organizations represented, and quite honestly, if they were doing their job and they were being effective, we wouldn’t have the problem that we have.”

Yuh huh! The ugliness barely beneath the surface.   For women, there is more. We are to submit to the masters of the world. Certainly, the masters of our household. Glass ceilings disappear, as women disappear as well, staying home to breed and cook.    Is this truly what the average American wants? Is this what women will submit to as we are handed red cloaks and white bonnets? Is this what the men of this world wish for their daughters, for their mothers, for their sisters? I hope not. I pray not. 

We can expect further deeper divisions and separation of society into opposing forces, revenge and retribution will be the guiding principles. The name of the game. Federal employees will be asked to swear loyalty, not to the nation, but to Trump. Refusal to do so will mean unemployment. 

Corruption and incompetence will be rampant. A recent political cartoon from Pepper ... and Salt aptly presents this truth to us. One man is telling the other of the path to success. It is reached through careful planning and follow through, hard work, - and who you know. To whom do your knees bend and your inner soul cede its humanity?

America is on the path to become a bizarre interpretation of its once and former self. The next two years at a minimum will be an attack upon democracy. Frankly, I am not sure how or if we can actually withstand this attack. We have a president who demands the ability to name people to positions without any kind of a vote. He demands that the GOP dominated Houses of Congress submit to his every demand, to remain unquestioned, and unchallenged. No resistance.  

The result is a very perverted America. A mockery of what it is supposed to be. John Mccain once said words to the effect that when we think the tunnel is at its darkest and we peer ahead for some sign of light, the tunnel actually then turns pitch black. A harsh picture of a very possible future.   

Then the final coup d'état. The appointment of Rubio as Secretary of State. The pretty face of an empty head of an obedient servant to Master Trump. The top of the heap of a pile of useless administrative personnel who will have not one word of restraint re the excesses of Trump. We know there will be excesses. We have all read his words. We have all heard his words. His design for revenge and retribution. Pardoning of the evil, including himself, and his planned imprisonment of those who oppose. 

We can anticipate. a flowering of fascist ideas. It is already in one state which provides a template for this process. Florida champions censorship of books, of ideas and thoughts. The rights of an American are abrogated almost daily, observed more in the breach than in the keep. Church and state will be enmeshed, much to the detriment of any who do not fall within the religion of the state. 

Where are we going? What path have we chosen? Is that choice immutable? Is there any possibility of a return to sanity and morality, to humanity? Is there a point of no return? Have we or will we reach that point. Where are we going? In what manner would it affect the world at large? I am unwanted in this country and what will be of my other country, the land of my people? Thunderstorms and hurricanes of condemnation rain down upon Israel as it fights for its life on multiple fronts. There is a rising call of Hate, to   ensure the demise of the Jewish nation as the arms and ammunition necessary to defend itself are facing recall and denial.

Where are the truths? Who began this war? The slaughter and barbarity. Who now wishes to pick and choose the consequences upon itself. Who were those who stood and cheered and celebrated that   bloodshed and jeered the captives, tortured them and killed them?  Why are those truths so blatant yet so visibly ignored and discounted.

Will the world ramp up this vicious campaign of JewHatred? Will they emulate and more all that has gone before? Those moronic pathetic self-denying Jews will find their efforts in vain. Hate conquers all and safety is nonexistent. They worship false idols and will pay the price.

People are tired, exhausted physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, now is the time when we need to dig deep, deep and find more strength and more determination, to fight the wrong, the evil, to shed light upon this darkness and return sanity to the world. Time to stop the hate. Time to stop the violence. Time to remember, to understand, to know that hatred and violence have no end. They will always seek out fresh food and care not who stands in its way.  These are the truths and realities   of life and the dangerous changes we have wrought upon the face of this earth.  

Time goes by quickly and there's no time to waste. There's no time to rest. Dredge deep and find that which is necessary to protect us and our children. To keep America and Israel and democracy safe. 

To fix the world. 

 Our chickens have indeed come home to roost. We have hired the foxes to guard the hens, and then wonder where they have gone. We purport to support one thing and then turn on it in actuality. We wished, and indeed, got what we wished for - and more.    

Life. Life. What have we done? 

CUT THE CRAP AREADY! WAY PAST TIME

Reality and truth. Wishful thinking and brutal reality. Eternal truths and lies of time. All of this and more, even as one thing remains the same. History. It tells the story. Even if rewritten, the truth cannot be hidden forever. It remains, hiding, boding its time for the moment to resurface and expose the truth and the falsehoods of reality to the world. Even as there are those who continue their efforts to prevent any truth, any enlightenment, to take place, gathers adherents and power. Too often a long time in coming, history will repeat itself - in the evil and the good, albeit the good is fought and denied. 

History itself is not to blame, but rather the people - us. We make history We allow ugliness to rise to the surface and predominate. We allow evil ugly trends of hate and violence and mayhem to grow, to become fashionable, the thing to do. We allow winds of war and hatred to blow catastrophic gales throughout the world, even as opposition inevitably weakens and too often gives up the battle, cedes victory to these forces of Evil, at least until regrouping is possible. Those who oppose are weak in this eternal battle for the soul of Man, the gains miniscule and the backwards steps giant and discouraging. 

From whence comes this never-ending power of Evil and its inevitable return. The answer is not difficult to discern. It is simple, right before our eyes. Alive in our hearts. It is us. We - the people. The sooner we realize that, accept the truth of that, the sooner we can get down to the nitty gritty and find a permanent way to shut down this ever reoccurring ugly vicious, dangerous cycle of history. It is a cancer of the soul, a blackness of the heart and mind which we refuse to fight. We cede victory and then must live with the terrible consequences. And here we are again.

I understand this tiredness for I too am tired. It is painful. It is the beating of one's head against the wall which refuses to even have a little dent. However, each and every small voice is a critical necessity if we are ever to put up an impenetrable wall. and halt this cycle forever. For that to happen, we must understand and internalize the truth of Evil. It exists. It is palpable. It is powerful. It is attractive, alluring. and people fall into its honey trap. There they are trapped, along with an increasingly perverse foundation for that society.   We are presently in such a cycle. Look around. See the truth as much as we would rather deny it.

Extremism rules. inquiry, frankly, there is no difference in the results from the extreme right or the extreme left. where neither is strong enough to impose its own control. We then have civil war. bloodying the ground of that nation. These are one which never seemed to end till they never accomplished their goals. Authoritarian rulers rise to the surface. and the rights of all are trampled into the ground, their resurrection questionable at best.

 And the Hate. That Hate always aboil in the blood of Mankind. It just never seems to go away. My nation, my people are always the initial and forever go to targets. But history reminds us that this Hate continues on to devour all before it, even the original purveyors of that Hate There is no victory. within this atmosphere of Hate. There is no room for it. There is only an insatiable thirst for blood. For havoc and mayhem. For horror and terror. 

The world knows well what has been happening in Amsterdam. The world knew that it had to happen. All one had to do was watch the world as the blood began to boil over, as the hatred spilled over the top. With nobody there to turn down the heat. Or even wishing to do so. Nobody there to speak up strongly, loudly, with voices and balls of brass. No! One huge echoing empty void. Even the hypocritical voices condoning. the “Jew hunt” of Amsterdam are weak pathetic. lacking any truth and honesty. Once again, the Jews of Europe are   suffering under pogroms. And that was a pogrom. It cannot be denied. Once again, the Jews of Europe are being beaten, literally, figuratively, physically, emotionally, mentally and legally. 

Once again, Jews are to be the Pariahs and Scapegoats of the world and if one thinks the governments will oppose this vigorously, think again. They are willing and compliant in this hate and will grow tired of the costs, the energy diverted, the bother of it all, and will let the die fall where they may, and let loose the Dogs of War accompanied by the thunderous hooves of the Horses and Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 

As for we Jews living in the so called "western nations" be it America, Australia, England, France, - it can and is happening right now. The words and actions of the 'peaceful' demonstrators chanting of hate and extermination. No consequences of any seriousness or duration. Calling Jew Haters fighters for justice and rights -just not for us. We have allowed violence and attacks at 'peaceful' protests. Released any few arrested. and shouted for more blood, more dehumanization of Jews, shrieks calling for the demise forever of Israel, the severing of any historical imperative and truth of connection of Jews. Permanente denial of historical truth.  

What to do? Where to go? Kishinev Kiev Kielce Ukraine, the Pale of Settlement, Ancient homelands of the Middle East the New World the Old World York Paris Vichy, France the Baltic Republics.    

Where? Tell me where for I cannot find an atlas or globe or any geographical notation where it states stated “here be safety for Jews"

 Nowhere. Anywhere.  

World, even as the Lord called out to Adam, asking where he was, so too is the Lord of His People calling out to you. 

WHERE ARE YOU?  

WHERE TO START, WHERE TO END?

I wonder at times how we remain sane. In fact, are we sane? How could we possibly answer that in positive manner when to be sane in this world is a blatant oxymoronic impossibility.  In fact, it is probably a wiser, saner move to declare oneself lost in a living nightmare or wondering if one has been transported somehow into another dimension. One of horror, one of ugly repetitions of history which long ago should have been banished, declared extinct. 

However, the above is escapist thinking. It is denial of reality. In fact, it is a living toxic reality. All the hot air balloons of the talking heads round the globe, all the posturing and the blustering can neither erase nor hide the fact that once again the world is complicit, up to its miserable neck, in the encouragement and enabling of a JewHatred  not seen in such proportion, with such venom, since the end of World War Two. In fact, if one has the eyes and mind of a seer, it is easy enough to peer into the future and see the consequences if left unstopped, unaddressed, allowed to proceed further. Unchecked, with no application of brakes. At all. 

Frankly, that future is now the present -and getting worse.

The hypocrisy of the world is nauseating. Words of lies and ugliness exuding globules of hate and murderous intent. Actions that take those words up a notch, two notches, 10 notches. The result is inevitable. It is Amsterdam. It is a modern pogrom. In a supposedly civilized knows better Western nation. It is not “reminiscent" of a dark time but is actually realization of that dark time. It is the dark time. Repackaged. Today. 2024. As the year draws to a close, we can anticipate not only nothing better, but in fact much worse. No, once again, ever again, it is not a good time to be a Jew. 

Well, **** you all. May you and your vehicles of hate, your filthy minds, your bloodlust be turned upon you. May you reap what you have sown. May you drown in the ugly swamp of your own creation. May you be the fulfillment of the maxim of warning: Those who live by the sword die by the sword. I will applaud those deaths. I will applaud those consequences. And if there are those who consider this wrong, well, you know where you belong.

The anniversary of November 9th, 1938, of Kristallnacht, was “celebrated” by vicious murderers, by those who belie their claims that their religion is one of peace. It is definitely not so. Muslim and Uber drivers. Squads of motorcycle hoodlums imitative of the Hamas attack of October 7. “Jew Hunts”. The comments of world leaders are woefully underwhelming, useless and meaningless for there is no power of action behind those words. There is no belief in their ugliness, for in fact, the world leaders are the ones who encouraged this    tumor upon the soul of the world. One cannot pick and choose in decrying hate. One cannot pick and choose in combating the ugliness of the world. In fact, in truth, one must stand tall against all of that similar same ugliness which has plagued humanity since time began It is more than time that we finally reach our potential and discard the ugliness of the beasts. It is more than time that we cast aside the defects within humanity and highlight instead all that is good. All that is to be treasured. All the potentiality.

At least the Dutch king. had the honesty, the balls, to state the truth. His nation failed its citizens of Jewish extraction. 75 to 80% of the prewar Jewish population was obliterated. Basically, the only remaining Jews of the Netherlands were those who were hidden amongst the precious few Righteous Gentiles. And even in that and those acts of goodness there were thorns for so many of the infants, the little children never returned to their people. Never were told they were Jewish, never were found by surviving parents.  And so King of the Dutch, yes, you are failing your Jewish citizens and visitors. You are failing those who know and want better.  And you are no different than the majority, if not all of the nations of the world. At least you spoke up, even though just a tad slow and late! Your police are allowed to opt out of protecting Jewish people from harm! Unthinkable.   Yet there it is. Your political leaders have failed once again. And the masses walking in hate, in shrill voice calling for blood of Jews, are equally as guilty. Where are the rest of the world leaders? Where indeed is Donald J Trump. The newly reelected president, the convicted felon, the sexual pervert, the man who refuses to sign a morals letter. The man who pledged to Abbaas his support- this is the man to champion Israel?  

On Remembrance Day in England ugly words and signs defaced Jewish institutions. On the eve of commemoration of the horror of Nov. 9,1938, Qatar hangs up its bloodstained kaffiyeh and casts out Hamas from Doha. Too little too late. Should have been done months ago. Years ago.   All in the name of hate. All in the name of bloodlust.  

And the world complies. Jewish students at DePaul University are bloodied. Violent protest continues  unchecked and unpunished. Squeaks and squawks of  "free speech". are not nearly thick enough, strong enough to hide the truth. Words and speech of hate may not shelter under their own lies.

Perhaps the time has come to throw in the towel, give up, to accept the uselessness of protest and discard as useless any hope that the decency innate within mankind can actually surface and live. However, when one looks around the world today, a world in turmoil, hope is difficult. We have allowed brutality to reign.  Allowed wars to kill, to shred families, to create famines and death. We have allowed brutal dictators to gain and remain in office and wreak their worst.  

 Instead of working together to create solutions to worldwide issues, we come up with oh so much better a plan. We ignore. We facilitate. We stand guard at the borders of our nations and throw back into the sea those who are fleeing persecution. Those who see no hope for their families, for their children in their native lands and seek it elsewhere. Just as our ancestors did, just as we do.  

   2023. A horrid year, a horrid decade. A year of denial.  Israel denied historical validity and integrity as a nation. Its legitimacy questioned and denied. The Jewish people are chased and hunted throughout the world, including right here in good old America. Is there any light? Is there any hope of seeing through the darkness now beshrouding the world? Can America reassume its role as an example to follow??  

Actually, we have resumed a historical role, but that of the isolationist, of the indifferent and even proponent and supporter of some of the woes of the world. Rampant slaughter in civil and territorial wars.  Families targeted and children stolen. Those   in immediate peril and drowning in hopelessness. And once again, under Trump, America is to lock down the house, foregoing business boosts immigrants provide to small dying towns, deny America the labor it needs, and the fresh ideas to continue the tradition of contributions to America by immigrants. The American salad in a mixing bowl, the entirety better than its single parts. Now the government is planning for mass deportation of millions upon millions of people - infants. babies, children, teens, adults, the elderly. Americans. It is a replication of a shameful America. Those who exuded hate, managed to pass laws violating the American promise to the "Tempest tossed" of the world. An ugliness of the soul. Unable to throw out people as quickly as we imagine, we will need camps. Families torn apart, forced labor to earn their keep and starvation rations along with epidemics through the filth and inadequate sanitation What the hell are we planning? What have we become? Are there so many haters among us?        

Will we? Can we become those people? Is that what we wish ourselves to be? Is that what you think you can be? Want to be? 

Work for a sane immigration policy, for an integration of immigrants into our society, which many have done.  We can separate the good from the bad, keeping criminals out. Refresh and reinvigorate our nation. Most of us are or descended from the Tempest Tost. Those lucky enough to land upon the shores where they were welcomed by a torch held high.

Who are we? Are we to become all our potentiality or are we to sink to the deepest levels, to become the drags of the barrels of humanity. If we are to fix this world we need all hands on deck. We need to remember what it means to be American. 

As for the Jewish people, my people, we must stand tall and proud. Do not allow the haters to win. This hatred apparently has no end and no beginning; it simply is. Ugly as it is. We need to support our country of citizenship. We need to support morals and upright leaders. And we need to carry the banner of Israel throughout the world and vanquish the haters and the hatred. All hatred.  All bias and hatred.  And we must be alert. There is no choice. Nobody knows where it started. Nobody knows where it is ending, even if there is indeed an end, Hence, we must live in a reality and make the best of that reality.        

So people, the time has come to turn ourselves inside out, understand and acknowledge exactly who we are in truth and deed. Can we access all that is good and positive within us. Can we share the blessings that the Lord has given us with others? Can we be strong together as we must be  to weather all that we face. The time has come for acknowledgement of reality and the necessity to deal with reality as it is. Not as we dream it to be. If we have dreams, we must work hard to make them    doable dreams and not  nightmares.

Time indeed, folks. Past time. Now.  

Be proud.

Be safe.

Be strong.

YUH HUH!

  That, I am told, is either a statement of agreement or disagreement, depending on the tone in which delivered. Often times it is accompanied with a touch of combativeness and questions as to why the truth is ignored or denied. Well, we will be hearing many said or unsaid a yuh huh over the next four years and G-d forbid even longer. Will they amount to anything? Possibly, maybe, hopefully.  I do wonder though at the damage which might have been inflicted upon the body politic of this nation before this era is over. I wonder whether those now singing songs and paeans of praise for a "blessed miracle" of re-election, might be ripping clothes, donning sackcloth, and tossing ashes of regret and revelation of truths denied, over their heads. Whether those revelations will be on time to stop the perilous descent of this nation into that which it was never meant to be is up for debate. I fear it will not. 

"Our family chooses to believe in humanity. Kfir and Ariel's grandparents were brutally murdered on Oct. 7. We don't want to bury three generations. Please help us urgently save the hostages' lives. Every minute that passes could be their last"

Most probably, realistically, it is already too late for this family and for many others in an embattled Israel and the indifference of nations of the world or their venomous hatred, as they pick and choose their concerns and denials. 9-month-old Kfir, now 1, and Ariel, now 5, if alive - highly doubtful in the ugly reality we must take into account, their parents, Shiri and Yarden. Who can erase the sight of the horror and terror on the face of Shiri as she tightly clutched her two redheaded babies close as she was ripped away from life. Truly innocent civilians though the world seems ignorant of that or could care less. Such brave 'warriors' of Hamas as they wage war against infants and mothers and leave brutally murdered grandparents behind, to lay in pools of their own blood. Once again Jews slaughtered for being Jews even as the world is silent or praises the enemy and sympathizes with them for the damage and terror they have wrought upon their own.

As the war continues, as Israel is besieged, under attack on multiple fronts, targeted by many nations, in words and action, as deliberately targeted citizens die or are evacuated from their homes, where oh where are the touted promised words of Trump, a voice to be raised in defense and outright support for Isarel. I hear nothing. Only a deafening silence. The only words heard were those ordering Netanyahu to end the war before the swearing in of Trump as president. Once again, much to our detriment. Ours and the world at large. 

 Yuh huh!

Nor does the horror end there. Certainly not when words of praise for Trump issue forth from the dictatorial bloodstained mouth of Putin. Certainly not when allies realize they are being deserted, abandoned, in a blind turn to the back, to policies of isolationism and populism, which do not work. Most assuredly not so when the rights of women to control their own bodies are abrogated. Or when censorship and burning of books, of books deleted from library shelves, are encouraged, praised - the exact antithesis of what education is meant to be.

 Even more frightening is the push to return prayer, a specific Christian prayer, to the classroom. Hackles should be raised, stiff in the historic knowledge and proof that when a nation chooses a religion as a national belief, it is most painfully not good for the Jews. We have learned that fact over and over again through the millennia as Jews were slaughtered, raped, burned, forcibly converted, preyed upon, denied humanity and the right of life. No, prayer in the classroom means bloodshed and negation outside those classrooms.

Yuh huh.

Be careful what you wish for, lest it be granted.

Yuh huh.

 

AND NOW ...

  ...the end is near... sings Frank Sinatra, as he proudly states he "did it all my way". To be able to assess one's life as the end approaches and feel satisfied that one's mark was made, positively, and done "my way" - no kneeling in abject posturing before anyone or anything, no compromises with principles. Incidentally, this is one of my favorite songs, particularly as my end grows nearer - fact of life - as it does for us all, and hope that for the most part, I, too, did it my way and no moral principles of mine were discarded or compromised or negated. Not a perfect achievement, but mostly the best I could.

So here we are, another end. Quite near to us all here in America and in the world at large. Willingly or not, we have perforce, as the result of an election, come face to face with an era of great unknowns, magnified fears, and towering mounds of uncertainties as to what the future holds for us. For sure, it holds great unhappiness to befall millions under a regime, yes regime, of cruelty and rampant corruption and immorality. It is to be an era of threats, existential threats and quite frankly, I believe we will be at the mercy of the rulers, yes, rulers, and have little recourse to effect necessary, even dire, corrections. 

For the second time Americans have gone astray, far, far astray. They have taken upon themselves the yoke of a man whose opinion of himself knows no bounds and has a deepening dementia. He changes his opinions more frequently than people change their underwear.  Around him he has accrued a 'treasure trove' of equally distorted advisers who also know no bounds and will hold no sense of propriety in order to temper this man in his awful plans. Convicted felon. Sexual pervert. Believer in bribery. Traitor to this nation. A severe detriment to humanitarian goals. A defier of treaties and allies, turning to populism, a theory of government which never bodes well for the nation.  An admirer of murderous dictators and well imbued with their ease of slaughter of opponents. It boggles the mind of any sane person, even as one tries to justify a vote for him.  

It is amazing to me how many people voted for this man, basing their vote on one issue, even as they derided his mode of thoughts, if any, and behavior and acknowledged great concern and uncertainty as to the future under his thumb. I am extremely curious as to how parents, adults, voters of this time will be able to justify and explain to their children    as to why they voted for him. History will be the judge of him and us and it will not be kind or pretty. Rightfully so.  

 Frankly, clearly, I have no love, liking, or anything for this man other than contempt. I believe he is a public danger. I believe we have gone way, way, way in the wrong direction and we'll pay the price for that. Those who oppose Trump and even those who voted for him for whatever reason now face a long haul, a long, hard slog through the morass of hatred and evil - yes, evil. 

A noted columnist used the term despairalyzing and yes, yesterday that is what many of us were. We were paralyzed by despair. What had happened? How did we get here? Yesterday, all the talking heads of the media were out there shouting at each other. What had gone wrong? Why had it gone wrong? Refusing to understand that the opponents of Trump had also lost their way. Many sold their souls for votes even as they were uncertain as to where the vote should have been placed. Despair can be overthrown and replaced with acts and deeds leading to a better future. 

All the while we must pay close attention to his policies. You must think. Do we really want to throw 11 million undocumented immigrants over the border uncaring as to their survival emulating the Nazis and their cooperating countries? Do you really wish to do that? Do you really wish to tank the economy for most of these 11 million people are well enmeshed and entrenched in our economy. They labor, own businesses, little stores, big stores. They do physical labor that 'real Americans” will not do. Take a look at who is on the roof and clearing debris after hurricanes. Are you so ready to throw out the children raised here? This is their country. What are we doing? Why can't we pursue a commonsense policy?  Remember who we are and how we are all immigrants and children of immigrants. 

Why have we denied the truth? Why have we turned so on the meaning of America? Perhaps now we should tear down the Statue of Liberty, deny that proud Lady of the Harbor. 

Better yet, read the following Irish proverb and see its applicability to our situation.

" May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far.”

May the good Lord hold our hands as we walk down this treacherous path.

NOTHING, JUST NOTHING

 What is left to say when the world has crashed around our shoulders? What is left to say when America has chosen a convicted felon, a sexual predator, a man of limited intellectual capacity severely ravaged by a growing dementia, a man sociopathic in actions with a thunderous lack of moral spine, as a leader, the President, of this nation. Again. Four more years of hate and violence. Four more years of increasing JewHatred and aren't the Proud Boys so smug as their ally won this election! 

Actually, it can and probably will be worse than anticipated. Trump is old, with health issues amid a rather unhealthy life and habits, He could very likely die in office and then OMG! OMG!!! Vance!!! A fascist at heart with backwards thinking   and young to boot. Where thence America? 

What have we done? What have we caused? What awful trend of thought or lack thereof have we set in godawful motion? What horrendous acts and rules will be perpetrated upon this nation?  Will we see those armed forces roaming the streets of America? Will we see a prioritized formation of firing squads as promised? threatened?   

Even worse, we can seriously contemplate a shredding party wherein every copy, hard and soft, of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence will be torn to pieces. Literally and figuratively. I have no doubts that Trump will attempt to put in place his most outrageous plans   buoyed by the sycophantic terrorized cowards of Congress and governmental structure of the nation.

I worry for my daughters, my granddaughters and all the women of this nation. Troglodyte thinking will prevail with an attempt to reintroduce as national policy, stated or implied, of kinder, kirche, and kuchen. Shall we all need to invest in the purchase of red gowns, and wide brimmed hats? 

Yet another concern - what about Kamala Harris and all the opponents. Are they in existential danger? Do we believe the threats of Trump, of revenge and retribution, of imprisonment and suppression, mass deportations? Will the rights of citizenship be torn and declared invalid? Are political opponents of Trumpism in actual existential peril - as promised? If so, the resultant damage to this nation to its democracy, to Democracy, might be irreparable.

Will Americans become used to living under suppression and oppression? I worry greatly for Israel and other endangered nations, for Trump Is notoriously mercurial in thoughts, words and deeds and cannot be trusted to maintain a steady hand at the wheel. The awful life dampening shadows of the dictators of the world will be empowered. The nation which once stood for all that was good, stood proud in its role, the nation of the Lady of the Harbor, will have disappeared.  

What have we done, America? Cry my once beloved country. Those of us who have spoken out, are we to await an early morning call and bag over the head? A ruling of suppression? Imprisonment as traitors? How ironic that would be! What have we done, America? What new awful path of history have we set in motion? Who the hell knows in this rather ugly new world of ours.

 I sincerely hope I am wrong. I pray we can eke out some kind of positivity from this whole mess. I am, for all intents and purposes, presently speechless. I hope and pray I do not have to say, "I told you so!"

Dear Lord, please excuse your foolish creations. A tad more patience would come in handy.  Perhaps some enlightenment, along with strong displays of displeasure. Majestic thundering and lightning. Whatever would work. Just enough to remind humanity of their responsibility. and of Your power. Enough to stave off permanent damage.

There is nothing more to say in the face of this disaster.

Nothing. Nothing at all.

"BEAT DOWN" OR "LIFT UP"

Such was the choice presented to America in one   of Harris's closing speeches prior to the election. With a clearcut stark difference, the choice was presented as a definite differential. Harris's 'lift up' philosophy with a culmination of victory for one who would be a "president for ALL Americans". Trump's victory meaning an America touted as the shame of the world, broken down, last legs, needful of an administration championing the idea and practice of revenge and retribution, with firing squads primed to shoot people "in the face". Lift up vs beat down. Civil and civic behavior vs savagery and authoritarianism.

While I have doubts as to the rather Pollyannish view of an America consisting once again of a union of its various tribes, able to discourse in civic and civil tones, these doubts fade into insignificance when compared to the guaranteed dystopian world of a Trump presidency. He would be the last duly and democratically elected president of what would become a defunct USA. 

Instead of attempts to reunite this country, to remind us of all of our shared 'Americanness', this nation would further devolve into terrorized sectors. ruled by firing squads primed and ready to shoot enemies of Trump in the face, as promised. From the horse's mouth direct. As extreme as that sounds, I have no doubt of its implementation based on past behavior and the ever-rising decibels and frequency of shrill hate and vows of revenge emanating from his twisted mind and mouth. 

Violent rhetoric inevitably leads to violent deeds. So history has taught us, so history has bled us. There are those who treasure those terrible lessons of history. They strive to recreate them, to reinstall terror, and amass unbelievable wealth and power, to rule via fear and threat. To stifle and brutally crush all attempts to better the condition of mankind and restore rights and hopes and dreams. It is time, way past time that we wake up and see reality and its truth, clearly and undeniably. It is time we recognize the hard work which must be in place, ever ongoing if we are to save ourselves from ourselves and the consequences of our own stupidity. It is time.

America is not perfect. It was not born of perfect motive. It is not perfect and will never be so. That is because Mankind is not perfect and is charged with the responsibility to ever strive to reach perfection. What must be perfect is our realization and acceptance of that fact and its import. We are in control of ourselves, our fates, our future. We can pray to the G-d we call by many names, ask for   help, to 'have our collective back', but bottom line- we must grow up and accept the yoke of responsibility that is the burden laid upon us.  

We now stand on the cusp of history. We have a maximum choice. It is a choice of a future of our own creation. Personally, I await the results of the election with great trepidation. Will those trained to stop the election actually attempt to do so? Could they actually succeed in halting the counting, changing the totals? Will they use physical violence to achieve their misbegotten aims? Are we so far from what we once were supposed to be? Are we actually standing on the brink of another Civil War?      

Can we? Will we? Do we want to wake up in time to understand our precarious condition? We are standing on a crumbling ridge. The ground beneath our feet is broken. The grains of sand no longer hold together. The rocks below await us. Or do we have the sense and enough time to grab hold of each other and take one giant, two giant, three giant steps back, in unison and confidence and trust and come to our senses? There are so many problems in this world that need solution. Bringing about those solutions will not be easy. But then again, what is? We are holding ourselves hostage. We are the captors of ourselves. Only we have the key to unlock the cells and the shackles which bind us. Only we. Only with sacrifice and understanding  can we stop tragedy in its tracks and build a better future for all. 

Maybe. Let's see what Wednesday morning is all about.

Vote.

THE NUMBERS GAME

Numbers do not lie. We have been so informed and so we are told until we believe its premise. However, it is a false statement, for numbers, statistical data, can be manipulated and in fact are, very often. Why? To prove or disprove a point. To gain sympathy or increase enmity. Whatever the purpose, numbers can be made to tell different stories, even the same numbers can be interpreted at odds. 

Multiple times a day we are reminded of the deaths in Gaza. We are told to weep for the dead, for they are apparently all 'innocents", caught in the brutal crosshairs of Israeli fighters. Yes. there are thousands of casualties in Gaza, but what do those numbers actually mean? No breakdown is provided, merely an implied understanding that the casualties are mainly noncombatants. women and children. So where are the men? Fighting for Hamas. Battling the Israeli army and incurring casualties. Their dead and wounded are presented to the public as innocents. Never mind their gleeful bloody participation in the. October 7 massacres. Never mind the slaughter. Ignore the captives, children, infants, elderly and terrified cadets, men protecting their families. Now either dead and/or dying or remaining in brutal captivity in airless tunnels or private homes. Perhaps only 51 remaining alive -and for how long? But never mind those numbers, or the sum of 395 days in captivity. No end in sight. Much of the same in Lebanon with Hezbollah.

Numbers indeed. Truth? Not so much. 

Numbers also fall into categories. Who and what determines the categories and interpretations of them and their numbers? Beats me. In fact, it appears to be that anyone can decide, a free for all, and is a 'never mind' state of mind. Even if the claims are absolutely ridiculous, based on absurdities or even nothing at all. And all the while, new words and accusatory phrased are ginned up, new idiotic categories of offense conveniently given life when they should have been stillborn. 

Here is the latest brouhaha and be sure to shake your head in sympathetic commiseration with the aggrieved. I kid you not on this one. At a time of blatant overt physical and oral vicious events and attacks reeking, dripping, of in-your-face antisemitism are claimed to be needful of investigation as to whether they are indeed hate crimes, where is a balance when an actor in a Broadway play claimed to be highly offended and suffering from " “bullying” and “racially microaggressive”   language. What exactly was that powerful word capable of inducing this awful feeling? Warning: possible trigger word. (Yet another stupidity of modern times.) A statement made by Patti Lupone that the music of the play was "too loud”. Please note that this is not an unusual statement or complaint made by playgoers   particularly when the play is about modern. music. "Micro aggressive!!!" Give me a break.    Now remember, if we were to use the applicable numbers here, that of the decibels of the music being played, Lupone would most probably have been proven correct. However, this is a time when numbers were deemed not as important, far less important than the ridiculous attention-grabbing claim of "microaggression".

The media gives us every day, sometimes on an hourly basis, new 'breathtaking" accounts of such egregious incidents, 'aggressions' of implied racial bias, even though most cannot see it, but hesitate to say so in this rather toxic area of modern society. We have reached a point where we denied the obvious. We refused to address actual important topics and instead direct our words, thoughts and efforts to trifles and no-account trivialities. We ignore planks and concentrate on splinters. We are blind to violations of decency and humanity and expend our energies and attention upon concerns of nitpicking value.  Bottom line, we will get nowhere fast. In fact, we will probably go backwards at a much faster rate. Check the numbers on that and see how the numbers of haters have grown - along with the streams of money.

Obviously, we need new mathematicians. We need new interpreters of data. We need to check our eyesight and our hearing. We need to clean up the clots in our brains and the spiderwebs of our minds. We need to decalcify our hearts and find room within for others. We need to see ourselves in others and others in ourselves. We need to play the music of life at proper decibels. We need to make room for truths over falsehoods. We need to have the courage of quixotic attempts to right wrongs, to not only dream the impossible dream, but in fact and effort, help to make it possible. 

These are hard, difficult charges made upon us. Some are perhaps out of reach at present, but we cannot give up. We cannot cede victory to the negative, to the haters, to the deniers of humanity. 

We simply cannot do that. We cannot give up. That is the cost of life, the numbers game of our existence upon this planet. The rent is due, even overdue.