Lawrence (Laurie) Baron, now retired, served as the Nasatir Professor of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University. He served from 1988 to 2006 as director of SDSU’s Lipinsky Institute for Judaic Studies. He was the founder in 1995 of the Western Jewish Studies Association.
He writes two satire columns for San Diego Jewish World: “Humoring the Headlines” under his byline, and “Hounding the Headlines,” under the byline of his dog Elona.
“Making Room for the Jews: The House I Live In (1945),” AJS Perspectives, Summer 2023, 86-88.
“The Revolt of Job: Salvaging the Lost World of Rural Hungarian Hasidim,” Journal of Jewish Identities, 16:1-2 (January/July 2023), 181-198.
“Persistent Parallels, Resistant Particularities: Holocaust Analogies and Avoidance in Armenian Genocide Centennial Cinema, in Armenian and Jewish Experience between Expulsion and Destruction, ed. Sarah M. Ross and Regina Randhofer (Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021), 267-296.
“The Pioneering American Jewish Women Directors from Elaine May to Claudia Weill,” Jews and Gender (Studies in Jewish Civilization), ed. Leonard Greenspoon (W. Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2021), 217-243.
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ While Donald Trump was purportedly softening, Anthony Weiner was hardening. Trump insinuated that Weiner’s compulsive sexting cast suspicion on Hillary’s judgment because Weiner might have been reading classified information allegedly sent by Hillary to his wife Huma Abedin. Alternative explanations are that Weiner is just a schmuck or that […]
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — With the death of Gene Wilder, the world lost someone who consistently made us laugh. Anyone who enjoyed movie comedies over the past 50 years feels this loss. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Wilder began his career as a serious actor appearing on Broadway in One Flew Over
If you’re counting, this is the 250th “Humoring the Headlines” column By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Donald Trump opened his third campaign office in Israel to court the votes of Israeli Americans. He and Bibi are jointly planning to found a branch of Trump University there where students will be able to major in the
By the author of Humoring the Headlines Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — All of a sudden Donald Trump fashions himself as a reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln who will emancipate African Americans from the slavery they have experienced under Democrats. “What the hell do you have to lose?’ he asks them when he addresses white audiences
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO –I know I said I was taking a vacation for a week, but when Donald Trump invents a new word, I can’t resist jumping in. (Extreme Vocabulary by Donald J. Trump) Extreme Bedding: Courtship. Extreme Debting: Business strategy of borrowing more than you can pay back, declaring bankruptcy, and not paying your
By Laurie Baron The Art of the Steal: How to Win While You Lose by Donald J. Trump Freedom of the press means the freedom to sue if you don’t like how it covers you. “One of the things I’m going to do if I win… I’m going to open up our libel laws so
Some campaign theme songs By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Now that the conventions are over, both presidential candidates have released the anthems for their campaigns. I’ll Fix America by Donald Trump (Melody: God Bless America) “While there’s Muslim terror from abroad and near. Elect me president, you won’t have to fear. I’ll defend our
By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─As a token of his support, an army veteran gave Donald Trump his purple heart. Now all Trump needs is courage and a brain to leave the threatening world haunted by a wicked witch that he has been campaigning against. * Advisers close to Trump are worried that his controversial
Democratic National Convention, Day 3 By Laurie Baron Donald Trump tried to steal the Democratic National Convention’s thunder by urging the Russians to release any of Hillary Clinton’s emails they have hacked. This can backfire in two ways. Either Vladimir Putin will create a new espionage agency called the KGOP, or it will demonstrate that
Day two of the Democratic National Convention By Laurie Baron The Democratic National Convention has featured Andra Day, Alicia Keys, Meryl Streep, Sarah Silverman, and Paul Simon among other famous entertainers. Ticketmaster is currently negotiating with the Democrats to take this show on the road under the name Politpaloosa. * Congressman Joseph Crowley accused Donald
Democratic National Convention, Day 1 By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — Unlike Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton will not appear at the convention every night. Instead she has placed a life-sized bobble head doll of herself in a pants suit near the podium to nod its head approvingly after every positive comment said about her. * Those
The Republican National Convention Wrap Up By Laurie Baron Trump delegate Al Baldasaro of New Hampshire reiterated his belief that Hillary should be “put in the firing line and shot for treason.” Forget about fact checking. He needs tact checking. * Jerry Falwell Jr. praised Donald Trump as “America’s blue-collar billionaire,” but failed to mention
GOP Convention Update By Laurie Baron The Republican Convention is turning out to be a succession of summer reruns and spinoffs: The GOP Lacks Talent: Where else could you see the dwarf star talent and mind of Scott Baio on display. Remember Scott? His last television show was the Nickelodeon series Sam and Cat in
The Republican Convention Update By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO–On the first evening of the convention, Melania Trump delivered a speech, parts of which were flagrantly plagiarized from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech to the Democratic Convention. The initial response of the Trump campaign was either that the charge of plagiarism was unfounded or that Hillary Clinton was
