By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Chabad of East County Rabbi Rafi Andrusier is offering a four-week course titled “Jewpernatural,” in which beginning the evening of May 2 or alternatively the morning of May 3, he will discuss Jewish insights into such topics as “dreams, astrology, jinxes, curses, angels, and the afterlife.” The fee for the four classes is $99. It is being offered at other Chabad houses as well.
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Chris Jennewein, editor of Times of San Diego, reports that Mayor Todd Gloria has opened a fourth “safe parking” location for homeless vehicle owners. Located in the Rose Canyon area, the 24-hour-a-day lot will be administered by Jewish Family Services. There will be 15 spaces for cars, along with 12 camper trailers with beds, showers and bathrooms donated by the State of California.
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Fernando Z. Lopez, executive director of San Diego Pride, has announced that the LGBTQ community will hold a “Pride Power Summit conference” this coming weekend at San Diego City College to “learn grassroots organizing skills, build community connections and get directly engaged in the movement of intersectional social justice.”
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Jonathan Press has accepted the presidency of Young Israel of San Diego. He said his ten goals will be fiscal responsibility; income and a successful development campaign; growth in community events and programming; development of such infrastructure as an eruv and mikvah; administrative systems; responsible governance; creating a feedback loop for concerns, challenges and solutions; investment and increasing the Orthodox congregation’s endowment; educational programs for children, youth and adults; and transparent planning and community communication. Young Israel is located in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego.
CALIFORNIA
The absence of U.S. Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-California) from Congress, as she recuperates from shingles, was blamed by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) for the Senate by a 50-49 vote overturning regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on emissions of nitrous oxides from trucks. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) voted with Senate Republicans to overturn the regulations. If Feinstein, 89, had been present and voting with the Senate’s other Democrats, the tally would have been 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the deciding vote. Khanna, who has been supporting U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) to succeed Feinstein, has called for the senator’s resignation, which would lead to Gov. Gavin Newsom appointing a successor.
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The Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, planning to meet May 9-10 in Sacramento, has scheduled speeches from the California Legislative Jewish Caucus cochairs Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), as well as from Sen. Nancy Skinner, and Assemblymembers Lori Wilson and Evan Low, respectively the chairs of the Women’s, Black and Asian American Pacific Islander caucuses. JPAC’s immediate past board chair, Allison Gingold, will receive the organization’s Earl Raab Award for outstanding community activism.
NATIONAL
CNN Journalist Dana Bash has objected to a headline in The Los Angeles Times concerning her taking over the ‘Inside Politics’ program from John King. The headline read: ‘John King exits CNN’s ‘Inside Politics’ for new role. His ex-wife Dana Bash will succeed him.” In a tweet, Bash wrote, “yes, John and I used to be married. We are now friends and share a wonderful son together. In this context I am not an ‘ex wife.’ I am a veteran journalist with decades of experience who worked hard for this role. Do better please.” King’s new role focuses on voters in battleground states. … In an interview broadcast Wednesday, Bash asked former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger how he was affected by the knowledge that his father had been a Nazi. He replied: “My father was and so many other millions of men were sucked into a hate system through lies and deceits. And so we have seen where that leads… I mean let’s just go and get along. And love is more powerful than hate.”
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Abby Grossberg, who was fired as Tucker Carlson’s producer by Fox News after filing a lawsuit contending he created a hostile work place, has attracted the attention of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who is investigating former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 invasion of the U.S. Capitol. Grossberg has a collection of tapes of phone calls between Fox News and various political figures, including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Cruz’s recorded conversation with Fox host Maria Bartiromo told of plans to have Congress reject the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election. Through her attorney, Grossberg has said she will cooperate with any subpoena Smith’s issues for the tapes.
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The nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices, including Elena Kagan, sent a statement to the Senate Judiciary telling about the high court’s code of ethics: “The Justices, like other federal judges, consult a wide variety of authorities to address specific ethical issues. They may turn to judicial opinions, treatises, scholarly articles, disciplinary decisions, and the historical practice of the Court and the federal judiciary. They may also seek advice from the Court’s Legal Office and from their colleagues.” The statement, in response to inquiries about Justice Clarence Thomas accepting unreported lavish vacations from billionaire Harlan Crow, said that approximately 200 times each year, justices will recuse themselves from considering a case either when the court is considering whether to accept the case for review, or during a hearing on the merits. Chief Justice John Roberts transmitted the statement to committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) along with a letter declining an invitation to testify before his committee about the court’s ethical standards. Meanwhile U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) has said that Justice Thomas’s failure to disclose his relationship with Crow is “potentially criminal” and Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Angus King (Ind-Maine) have introduced legislation to require the Supreme Court to issue a code of conduct within one year.
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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan rebuked former President Donald Trump’s son, Eric, for a statement posted on his father’s Truth Social internet outlet about the rape and battery civil trial brought against Donald Trump by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. The younger Trump wrote: “A civil lawsuit being funded by a billionaire, with no direct involvement in the case out of pure hatred, spite, or fear of a formidable candidate, is an embarrassment to our country, should be illegal and tells you everything you need to know about the case.” Kaplan called the posting “entirely inappropriate,” adding that the former President was “sailing in harm’s way,” an apparent hint that a contempt citation could be issued if such behavior continued. The post was subsequently removed from the site. Eric Trump’s “billionaire” was reported to be Linked-In cofounder Reid Hoffman.
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MSNBC anchor Ari Melber said Thursday’s 7-hour appearance before a federal grand jury by former Vice President Mike Pence may yield the most important breakthrough in Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s probe into the January 6, 2021 invasion into the Capitol. During congressional probes, Pence was shielded from testifying, but on Thursday he testified under oath.
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U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) reports his cancer is in remission. “Having now finished chemotherapy and rung the bell with my nurses and doctors, having a midterm PET scan showing ‘negative’ for any discernible cancer cells, and having a preliminary diagnosis of being ‘in remission’ from diffuse lare B-cell lymphoma with a 90 percent prognosis of no relapse, I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love,” he wrote.
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will attend a Cross Border Crime Forum in Ottawa, Canada, on Friday, April. 28 with Canada’s Minister of Justice David Lanetti and Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Israel to meet with its President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to take a position on Netanyahu’s efforts to lessen the powers of Israel’s judiciary: “We must … respect Israel’s right to make its own decisions about its own governance. You’re a smart country. You figure it out. It shouldn’t be for us to butt into these important issues.” While in Jerusalem, he signed a bill approved by the Florida Legislature to combat antisemitism. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, issued a statement from Washington D.C. expressing delight in the bill signing:” We are now seeing a resurgence of right-wing hate crimes in the streets, just as we are seeing left-wing anti-Semitism growing on campuses. All forms of antisemitism must be fought, through all available means, and we are pleased that this legislation will provide us with important additional tools to do so in Florida, as we continue to fight this scourge throughout the country.” Florida Rep. Randy Fine (R-Broward County), a principal cosponsor of that bill, accompanied DeSantis on his Israel trip.
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The son of the last Shah of Iran, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, speaks Sunday about his recent visit to Jerusalem to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary. He’s featured at the Anti-Defamation League’s National Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We look forward to hearing his vision for the future of Iran and the prospect of closer ties between the Iranian people and the state of Israel. We appreciate his perspectives on what ordinary Iranians feel about the Jewish state and people, as well as his approach on the current Iranian regime and his advocacy for a secular, democratic future for Iran.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com