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Don’t think me greedy, but I have a long wish list for Chanukah presents, and I want everything. Chanukah is the Jewish “Festival of Lights.” The eight-night (and day) holiday begins on the 25th of the month of Kislev which, in the lunar-solar calendar, falls anywhere between late November and the end of December. Chanukah…
Read More >>America is being led down the rabbit hole of self-deceit and towards potential war with Venezuela. I believe that our bellicose commander-in-chief has three goals in mind. Donald Trump’s fixation on small boats crossing the Caribbean from Venezuela to the U.S. goes beyond restricting drug-running. But first, let’s agree that the drug trade is horrible.…
Read More >>It pains me to write that an avowed Zionist and practicing Jew can be shamed by a nation he loves. October 7, 2023 focused much of the world’s attention on Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel. The brutality of that day, which claimed 1,200 lives, had nothing to do with finding a political settlement establishing two…
Read More >>Last Sunday, we saw the Broadway road-show musical “Suffs” about the suffragist movement. The Tony Award®-winner made a powerful and entertaining case for the 19th Amendment, ratified on June 4, 1919. Yet some (many?) Christian nationalists oppose women’s right to vote. On October 9, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat interviewed Doug Wilson, pastor of…
Read More >>Reading a novel is easy. Harder: writing my tenth novel, “Ride the Tyger: The Lost, Unauthorized Oral Biography of Madison Hadder.” I started with a question: What leads someone to embrace the political far right and ignore reality? Witness Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, (R., Georgia) with “Jewish space lasers” and Trump former counselor Kellyanne Conway’s…
Read More >>Sunday at 2:00 am, we’ll turn our clocks back one hour. Sadly, the month-long federal government shutdown is turning the national clock back to eras when millions of Americans went to bed hungry and sick. Venture capitalists, bank executives, senior tech bro—they’re fine. But tens of millions of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. Others…
Read More >>Last Monday at Israel’s Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem, President Trump hailed “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.” From his lips to God’s ears. The return of the last 20 living hostages from Hamas captivity offered a joyous moment. The ceasefire is more than welcome. Actual peace? A conundrum. Trump’s 20-point plan offers a…
Read More >>Recently, Carolyn and I spent two weeks in Iceland. We went with Overseas Adventure Travel, which takes small groups almost everywhere. Our main guide Begga was fabulous! We met two main objectives and enjoyed many more experiences. Objective one: See puffins. We went to the Westman Islands, volcanic outcroppings 40 minutes by ferry off Iceland’s…
Read More >>Did last Tuesday’s Quantico, Virginia, ingathering of generals and admirals tip the scales towards Donald Trump conducting a war against Americans? Since January, Trump has grabbed more and more executive power while Congress—make that Congressional Republicans—has stood abjectly by. At Quantico, Trump addressed the nation’s top military commanders and their aides. His remarks followed those…
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