Confusion prevails in the government. And has been joined by multiple protests and strikes. Several are protests by the ultra-Orthodox, against closures in their neighborhoods or towns. Others are protests against economic issues, demanding more money for those in the street. [Ir Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Protests about many issues now common in Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Many of you heard about the standoff that took place at Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s mansion in St. Louis. The couple claimed that the BLM group yelled obscenities and threats of harm and since many of the protesters were armed, they decided to arm themselves. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]
Were the McCloskeys right to brandish weapons? Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USA
Information provided by U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer in the tax fraud case against Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and five co-defendants alleges that another religious institution, not yet identified, has also been involved in tax fraud. [Our Shtetl San Diego County column by Donald H. Harrison]
Another Jewish institution may be involved in tax fraud Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
A national memorial to lynching victims at the site of where Leo Frank was lynched in Georgia had been rejected by the Georgia Department of Transportation until Congressman John Lewis stepped in. In Lewis’s memory, Jerry Klinger of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation recounts the story.
The National Anti-Lynching Memorial and John Lewis Read More »
Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, USA
As a seventeen-year-old lad from the gravely impoverished Troy, Alabama, John Lewis decided to write a letter to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Montgomery. Lewis had breathlessly followed the recent narrative of King, Rosa Parks, and others during the successful eleven-month Montgomery Bus Boycott. Not only did King write back to Lewis, he also included in the letter a round-trip bus ticket to Montgomery and an invitation to meet him, which Lewis eventually did — in March 1958. “I was so scared. I didn’t know what to say or what to do,” Lewis recalled. “And Dr. King said, ‘Are you the boy from Troy?'” [Source: NPR] [Ben Kamin]
John Lewis: A man of painful sincerity, steel rectitude Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, USA
For many years I have preached an obvious solution to the Israel desire for peace and an end to many decades of war with the Arab nations. It’s really quite simple… A secret delegation of high level representatives from the Israeli government, some engineers, agronomists and a few of the best chefs travel to the Australian Outback in a timely manner just before Passover. [Ira Spector]
Humor: How to achieve Middle East peace Read More »
International, Middle East, Travel and Food, Trivia, Humor & Satire
Sometime in the blistering heat of 1965, while Martin Luther King, Jr. and his allies were marching for the nation’s first inclusive voting rights bill, a wiry, feisty, articulate Baptist minister stood up to the condescending white sheriff of Dallas County—which encompasses Selma, Alabama. Rev. Cordy Tindell Vivian, better known as “C.T.,” was 41 years old at the time, a local pastor gifted with vision, strong loins, and indisputable courage. [Ben Kamin]
Rev. C.T. Vivian, a sweet lion, is free at last Read More »
USA
“Science should not stand in the way of schools re-opening.” This recent statement by White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has made headlines. What children are supposed to learn in prematurely re-opened schools if not science was not clear. But pundits and internet trolls have been having a field day with the sheer absurdity of this statement. And it seems that at every press conference, Kayleigh McEnany will toss out such a bone. It’s like she’s not even pretending to sound credible or even halfway intelligent. [Eric George Tauber]
Kayleigh McEnany is not what she seems Read More »
Eric George Tauber, USA
[N]ot being able to convince enough Israelis to support him, {Netanyahu] has decided to bribe us all by each citizen being given money, whether we need it or not, at the cost for the state of billions of shekels. His leadership has failed. Will bribes work? I am told that they did in Poland before elections there. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]
Bibi orders direct Covid19 payments to Israelis Read More »
Middle East
Many are asking, “What can I do?” Simply opening a bank account at a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) may be one of the easiest ways to help address wealth inequality in your community, with no cost and no risk to you. [Beth Sirull]
Helping the Black community through your banking Read More »
Business & Finance, San Diego County, USA
To counter a boycott against Goya Food in protest of its CEO praising Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump posted a photo of her holding up a can of Goya Black Beans captioned in English and Spanish, “If it’s Goya, it’s got to be good.” Criticized for using her office to promote a product, she retorted that the photo was intended as a campaign ad to show Latino and African American voters that “black beans matter” to her father. [Satire by Laurie Baron, Ph.D}
Satire: Expect the worst Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USAI have more than a few questions about the conduct of the tax fraud case in which Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein is being recommended for probation, rather than a prison sentence, notwithstanding the fact that his pattern of illegal conduct reaches back several decades. [Donald H. Harrison]
What did the White House know about Rabbi Goldstein’s criminality? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA
Hospital data is now going directly to the Trump administration rather than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This will have immediate and far reaching consequences. Already valuable CDC pages that tracked changes in the number of occupied and available hospital beds in the nation for COVID-19 patients stopped working as a result of the switch. We have essentially lost this important metric for gauging the progress of the disease. The sidelining of the CDC is nothing less than a travesty and Americans should be outraged and alarmed. This loss of transparency will lead inevitably to an even worse pandemic and greater loss of life. [Sam Ben-Meir]
Less transparency will worsen the pandemic Read More »
Sam Ben-Meir, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
The rage, desperation, and determination which continue to bring tens of thousands of Americans to the streets in protest against racism and injustice hopefully will be just the beginning. They are sick and tired of systemic racism against Black people, of bigotry at the top, crude discrimination, police brutality, a prejudiced criminal justice system, economic disparity, and society’s robbing Black people of experiencing real freedom and equality. Hypocritically, White people blame the victims of racism for their own plight, claiming that Black people would do better in life if they were only willing to work harder. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D]
U.S. must reverse racist treatment of Black people Read More »
Alon Ben-Meir, USA