Davis joins Pelosi’s trip to Jordan, Afghanistan

U.S. Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) was part of a delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) on a previously unannounced weekend trip to Jordan, where they met with King Abdullah II to discuss Turkey’s invasion of Syria.  The group also went to Afghanistan where they met with President Ashraf Ghani. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, USA

A posthumous birthday salute to oceanographer Walter Munk

On what would have been oceanographer Walter Munk’s 102nd birthday on Saturday, Oct. 19, surfers gathered in a ring near the Scripps Pier in La Jolla while others gathered on the pier itself to honor Munk by tossing biodegradable flowers into the ocean.  San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Charles T. Clark reported that a seal “even made an appearance, jumping in and out of the water nearby.”  Often described as the “Einstein of the Oceans,” Munk died in February of this year.  The City of San Diego honored him in 2017 on his 100th birthday by naming a walkway along the beach of La Jolla, “Walter Munk Way.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, USA

Jewish trivia quiz: Trump hotels

In a rare move, President Donald Trump backed down from one of his highly-criticized plans—to hold next year’s G-7 meeting at Trump National Doral, one of his many hotel/resorts world-wide. The plan was seen as a violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits government officials from receiving money and gifts from foreign governments. Trump has previously been denounced for maintaining his ownership and/or control over many golf resorts, hotels, and other facilities, all potentially a violation of that clause. The Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC recently instituted a change to make that property more attractive to Jews. What was that change? [Mark D. Zimmerman]

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Mark D. Zimmerman, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Son of Jonas Salk to tell of vaccination necessity

With a growing anti-vaccine movement as a backdrop, noted researcher and president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation Dr. Peter Salk – whose father discovered the first polio vaccine – will address the fight to end polio and the current controversy surrounding vaccines during a public presentation at Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Sunday, October 27. [David Ogul]

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David Ogul, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

King Solomon the not so wise

History repeats itself mostly because people fail to learn from the terrible consequences that occurred following the foolish acts of the past. The Bible tells us about the supposed wisdom of King Solomon. In my book The Authentic King Solomon, I show that actually, scripture is demonstrating that the king was not as smart as he and we think he was. In every chapter where Solomon is shown to have performed an act, it also shows, without exception, that he also acted foolishly. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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International, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Middle East

A Jewish Tale of the Great American Prairie

It all started in 2013, when my son Lincoln was with me, visiting the Ashley, North Dakota Jewish Cemetery where my great-grandfather is buried. He began asking me questions about the community of Russian Jewish immigrants, who arrived in the early 1900s with no farming experience, to farm the North Dakota prairies. I didn’t have sufficient answers. But the seed was planted for me to learn more – for my son, myself, our family, and people I had never met. [Rebecca Bender]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Lifestyles, USA

OpEd: Trump’s letter to Erdogan a disgrace

There is no wonder that every person and news outlet that saw Trump’s letter to Turkey’s president Erdogan thought it was a joke. When it was confirmed that the letter was indeed authentic, bewilderment and disbelief struck everyone who read it, as no US president has ever written such a disgraceful letter which will be remembered in infamy. [Alon Ben-Meir]

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Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East, USA

15th Jew in space in first all-female space walk

Astronaut Jessica Meir, who earned her doctorate from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography here in San Diego, on Friday was part of the first all-female team to do a space walk from the international space station. She and fellow American  astronaut Christine Koch were tasked with repairing a power control unit – a job that in the slow motion of space took seven hours and 17 minutes, including interruptions to take congratulatory calls from President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Presidential Advisor Invaka Trump, and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel, z"l, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Weaponizing the dollar

Ironically, the US itself can weaken the world role of the dollar by unrestrained budget deficits (although the mechanism is uncertain) and certainly by overusing economic sanctions as a form of warfare. Sanctions involve ending a country’s direct links with the US economy, and indirectly by limiting its use of the dollar. We can cut off its use of US financial institutions and urge foreign banks to do the same by threatening their access to US financial facilities. Our weakening of the Iranian economy indicates that economic sanctions can be quite effective. The natural way for a sanctioned country to respond is to seek other currencies with which to do business and use financial institutions without links to the US. If the US does a lot of this, a critical mass of “sanctioned” countries might find a common new currency for their international transactions. The Chinese Remindbi comes to mind. The dollar’s world role would be greatly reduced. [Lawrence Krause, PhD]

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Business & Finance, International, Middle East, USA

Remembering his hometown from across the world

I grew up along the banks of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts in the 1950s and 60s and that has made all the difference. The four seasons, the local public libraries, the excellent public elementary and high schools, and later on, when I turned 18, my alma mater Tufts University in Boston.  Massachusetts and its people made me, stamped me, catapulted me into the larger world.[Dan Bloom]

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Lifestyles, USA

‘Finding purpose’ may be overrated

A few weeks ago, I got a call from the director of a senior center asking me to give a talk. I have several topics I often lecture on; for seniors it is usually about some aspect of aging. However, the director had a specific subject in mind: could I talk about giving seniors a purpose? So the first thing I did was to research this topic. I found several articles on the subject; every one of them linked better health and longevity to having a purpose. Somehow this did not feel right; I wondered whether it was semantics. [Natasha Josefowitz, PhD]

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Lifestyles, Natasha Josefowitz

Why I’m supporting Amy Klobuchar for President

I am a former Democrat, who left that party after its hard left, now called progressive, wing did everything it could in 2006 to oust U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut  from his seat, which he nevertheless won as an independent.  Many of us Jews had taken tremendous pride in Lieberman having been Al Gore’s 2000 vice presidential running mate, the first Jew to be so nominated by either major party.  So, we felt the effort to dump Lieberman to be a slap in the face.  Yes, he was more conservative than many of us on some issues, but he always was an upstanding example of integrity and civility. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA