USA

Remembrance of a Covid Wedding

By the time Dr. and Mrs. Bernardo Stein of Seminole, Florida, and Mr. and Mrs. David Abelson of Oldsmar, Florida, had finished the guest list for the wedding of their children, the number had mushroomed well past 400. By the time Arlyn Stein and Adam Abelson walked down the aisle last Dec. 19, the list of “guests” had shrunk to, well, zero. The entire wedding party consisted of the bride and groom, their parents, three siblings and two grandparents. Oh, and Cooper, their 10-month-old mini-poodle. [Bruce F. Lowitt]

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Bruce F. Lowitt, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

The West is burning. Why are campfires still allowed in some California forests, parks?

Published by The Sacramento Bee SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Jennifer Bullard arrived at Donner Memorial State Park this week for a few days of camping with her family, she expected to be roasting under the blazing sun in the heat of summer. But what she saw after pulling into her campsite made the Truckee local’s

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USA

Moderate Overtakes Progressive Democrat in Ohio Congressional Contest

Pro-Israel and establishment Democrats secured a major victory on Tuesday as their favored candidate, Cuyahoga County council member Shontel Brown, handily defeated former State Sen. Nina Turner on Tuesday to become the Democratic Party’s nominee in the special election to fill the vacant Ohio 11th Congressional District seat. Brown won by securing 50.2 percent of the vote against Turner’s 44.5 percent. [JNS.org]

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Middle East, USA

Chanan Weisman Names White House Jewish Liaison

The Biden administration has chosen a former White House Jewish liaison to resume the position on Thursday after months of pleading from Jewish communal organizations to name someone to the post. Chanan Weissman, 37, who currently serves the administration as director of technology and democracy at the National Security Council, was first reported by The Washington Post to have gotten the tap from U.S. President Joe Biden. [JNS.org]

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Middle East, USA

Who Plays Monica Lewinsky in ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’?

Published by PopCrush Who plays Monica Lewinsky inImpeachment: American Crime Story? The debut teaser for Impeachment: American Crime Story was released online Wednesday (Aug. 4). The upcoming season of the limited series will tell the story of the affair between Lewinsky, then 22, and former president Bill Clinton, then 49. (In December 1998, Clinton was

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USA

California’s largest wildfire leaves historic town in ashes

Published by Reuters By Fred Greaves GREENVILLE, California (Reuters) – The main thoroughfare in a historic California gold-rush town was in smoldering ruins, officials said on Thursday, hours after the state’s largest wildfire engulfed the hamlet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fire crews were still working on Thursday morning to extinguish fires in Greenville, 200

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USA

Telling the Truth About the Palestinians

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — “If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.” — Adlai Stevenson “During the 1948 war,” says letter-writer Bob Holden of Los Angeles, “the Israelis expelled more than half the Palestinian population (some 700,000) and seized their land and businesses

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Mexico seeks $10 billion in damages from gun makers in U.S. lawsuit

Published by Reuters By Dave Graham and Laura Gottesdiener MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico sued several gun makers in a U.S. federal court on Wednesday, accusing them of negligent business practices that generated illegal arms trafficking which led to deaths in Mexico. The lawsuit alleges that units of Smith & Wesson; Barrett Firearms; Colt’s Manufacturing

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USA

Satire: Hamlet’s Soliloquy in the Age of Covid

To mask or not to mask, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The coughs and dangers of contagious Covid,
Rather than cover nose and mouth, suffocating.    
Or by opposing mandates to die—to infect,  
Tethered to ventilators, bereft of breath,   
The long haul and virulent spikes
That flesh succumbs to, like consumption. … {Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Israel Ambassador calls for Firing UNWRA Workers Who Promoted Violence

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, is urging the United Nations and world leaders to take action against the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNWRA) after a watchdog report found more than 100 UNRWA educators and staff have publicly promoted violence and anti-Semitism on social media. [JNS.org]

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International, Middle East, USA

Billboard Questions NY Times Minimal Coverage of Antisemitism

A billboard with the photo of New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has been erected outside the newspaper’s headquarters at 620 Eighth Ave. in New York, denouncing the paper’s failure to cover the “full truth” about surging anti-Semitism. It was placed by the media watchdog group CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, which has used the platform before to raise awareness of Jewish issues. [JNS.org]

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USA

Thousands of migrant kids stuck in U.S. border patrol custody, again

Published by Reuters By Mica Rosenberg and Go Nakamura ROMA, Texas (Reuters) -The number of migrant children in Border Patrol facilities has been steadily rising, an analysis of U.S. government data shows, as record numbers crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in July, renewing a politically sensitive issue for President Joe Biden. On Aug. 1 there were

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USA

Hundreds of migrants vaccinated against coronavirus in U.S.-Mexico border city

Published by Reuters MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Health authorities in northern Mexico vaccinated hundreds of migrants living in makeshift tents a few meters from a pedestrian crossing bridge to the United States in the border city of Tijuana on Tuesday. The COVID-19 vaccine doses were given to migrants a day after the U.S. Centers for

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USA