Travel and Food

By Natasha Josefowitz LA JOLLA, California — Most of my friends are upset that so many people are constantly tapping their smart phones, that even during meals with others they check for messages, neglecting the people sitting next to them in order to connect with someone—or something—electronically. I have seen teenagers sitting together in groups

-Compiled by Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — The annual celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday prompted numerous officeholders to discuss his legacy and ways to carry his ideals forward.  From Jewish members in the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives, and California Legislature there were these comments: U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—California Attorney General Kamala Harris already has announced her candidacy to succeed Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California) who announced she won’t run for reelection in 2016. Among most talked about possible Democratic primary opponents (now that Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has taken himself out of contention) is hedge fund manager and

By Eileen Wingard LA JOLLA, California — The seventh season of “Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices” opened with three provocative poets. Michael Mark’s poems reflected his unique take on life and his sharp sense of humor. He is a published poet who has been nominated for the 2015 prestigious Pushcart Award. Here are two examples of his work: Dangers

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — There’s a newsroom term for typos that Spell-Checker cannot “see” since Spell-Checker is not a human and sometimes doesn’t know its toe from its elbow. And I’m here to tell you that there’s actually a newsroom term for these pesky little line sitters — I mean line critters — and

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Americans are accustomed to reading headlines about the military might and victories of the Israel Defense Force.  Like all armies, however, its day-to-day operations are less about combat and more about bureaucracy, discipline, and tedium.  Zero Motivation humorously capitalizes on the interpersonal tensions among an administrative unit of women soldiers

By Dan Bloom CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — I’m on the email line with Len Brown in Texas and he’s telling me about his work on the “Mars Attacks!” novelty card series for Topps back in the day. It was the early 1960s and Brown was working a dream job that combined work and play. “I

Netanyahu joins Paris demonstrations (JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday visited Hyper Cacher, the kosher supermarket in Paris where Muslim terrorist Amedy Coulibaly took nearly 20 shoppers hostage and killed four of the hostages. Netanyahu met with Celine Shreki, one of the surviving hostages. “A direct line leads between the attacks of extremist Islam