Friday, November 17, 2023

NOT ANYMORE

 

I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated again it is merely an opinion honed in this eternal struggle which has cost thousands of dead. It never stops! The carnage on both sides is incomprehensible.
I paste my opinion below. It is entitled "NOT ANYMORE"
 
I am incredulous that my Jewish people are responsible for these dastardly attacks in Gaza resulting in thousands of deaths -- especially deaths that include children and babies. Hospitals are being bombed. The blood of innocents screams out -- STOP. I a Jew, have honed my politics at a young age based on the Holocaust. Hitler was the poster boy for extreme right wing politics so as a young person trying to decide where I fit on the political spectrum I knew that the right wing was not for me. Those on the right are missing something. They are missing humanitarian ideals. They are missing empathy. My own Jewish people who suffered so much for thousands of years are now killing indiscriminately innocents in hospitals and schools.
 
I have had to come to the conclusion that October 7th and the wholesale slaughter of Jews by Hamas allowed me to become something that I never was, sanctioning inhumane behavior by my own people. After Oct. 7 Israelis said if they do this to me I will do worse to them. I felt proud that Jews fight back. Now, though, I think their pound of flesh has been realized. I have been using Oct. 7 to sanction behavior of my people who are allowing the most heinous barbaric retaliation that equals if not surpasses Hamas' October 7 unconscionable sickening attack that stunned the minds of Jews and non Jews alike. This slaughter MUST stop. The Hamas violence must stop and the attack on Gaza must stop as well. The Gaza assault is a travesty that insults the Holocaust and Jews whose lives lie in graves by the millions in what was once Fascist Europe.
 
I do not like writing this and have thought long and hard as to what I would write. I love Israel but maybe I love Israel so much that I cannot admit their acts would mirror acts by Hamas. Am I glad the Jewish people are strong? Yes, I am glad of that. But, enough is enough. The killing by Hamas and Israelis too must stop. It is in no one's interest to continue the bloodbath. A two state solution is the only way.
 
If there is a God surely He would not sanction this tortuous barbaric massacre. Surely He would say No, never again not anymore!
 
**Postscript: There is no or scant proof of weapons sought below by the IDF. Nor is there any proof of the Israeli hostages. If they are found and if the Hamas weaponry are found below I reserve the right to change my opinion.



Tuesday, June 20, 2023

The Fire of fear

I cannot advocate strongly enough for Rachel Maddow's podcasts linked below.  The First one: "Ultra" and the second one "DeJa News" are brilliant to say the least. We who are politically under the freedom umbrella of Democracy should be able to avail ourselves of historical periods that mirror the troublesome moment we find ourselves in today. Democracy is threatened but we've been here before and democracy survived.

If one listens to these podcasts one will learn that we have experienced similar events at different historical time periods and we navigated those choppy waters not succumbing to a take down of Democracy, though, the evil forces in our nation surely tried and are still trying very hard to do achieve that.

Again, today Fascism rears its ugly head. The troublesome Donald Trump and his many allies of evil you will see a repeat performance yet again trying hard to build up allies within the Republican Party all over our nation and, indeed, the world. If one Googles "Ultra" and after you finished its episodes then Google "Deja News" you will listen to Rachel's uncanny ability to put out the fire of fear by showing us much of what this nation finds itself now has been tried by different historical players before without losing Democracy.

As she and her producer Issac-Davy Aronson narrate "Deja News," these podcasts will give one new eyes to see that our political predicament is not new and give us the courage to do battle with its ugly forces yet again.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-d%C3%A9j%C3%A0-news/id1690932739


 

Saturday, June 10, 2023

I smile and I worry

When the indictments came through against Trump with 37 counts levied against him, when I read 3/4 of the indictment with some pages to go, when I saw the scrupulously ironclad case Jack Smith has woven and the incontrovertible evidence against Trump's handling of the most sensitive top secret classified documents that were not his to take and held helter skelter at Trump's summer place Mar a Lago, I still managed to smile.  Finally, I plaintively asked, would Teflon Don be made to answer for his lifetime of many unethical, unconscionable grifts and acts?

There are no words to accurately describe my incredulity at his cavalier treatment of cartons of documents that would have had the worst life consequences if they fell into the hands of adversaries.  There are no words to describe the fear I felt when I realized how many human beings could have been killed because of the actions of Trump, a former president.  We have no idea how many people could have been hurt because of Trump's actions.  How many of this nation's longtime allies could have been horribly affected by the frivolity with which Trump treated these secret and sometimes top secret documents with revelations of military battle plans, maps and the most secret nuclear plans. 

My smile turns to worry. I worry about the violence that is attached to right wing fascist authoritarian politics, I worry about the Judge Aileen Cannon appointed by Trump, whose ruling for Trump was rejected by an Appeals Court panel,  most of all I worry about the millions who put him in office and worry about the millions who steadfastly cling to him despite the solid Special Counsel evidence against Trump. The worse it gets for Trump the more money he makes.  He gains support each time he is indicted or has bad news levied against him. I worry, too, that despite the many millions spent in carefully arguing the case for conviction, this poisonous Teflon snake named Trump might never be stopped. My worry will not subside, I fear, unless and until he is fairly convicted by the very system which he so rudely attacks. I hope fervently that he loses every appeal his hapless attorneys mount.

What is left for we the people to do in the interim whether he is acquitted or hopefully ultimately jailed? We must ensure after the hopeful conviction of this dangerous man that we never retreat from pursuing true authoritarian fascists in our country and in other nations so that they do not live again in other forms.  When this malignant era of Trumpian politics is over we must ensure it never again envelops the world as new fascists are born in Trump's image.  Moral and ethical people of all races and colors must make sure Adolph Hitler's ghost does not rise again in other forms and we must ensure other concentration camps are not created yet again.

Finally, it is, I think, appropriate now in the face of those who work mightily to erase civil liberties, free thought and the other to quote the German poet Heinrich Heine in his work Almansor.  "Where people burn books they will ultimately burn men as well" to which I must answer Never Again!

 

Monday, May 01, 2023

As I see it: Banking failure of First Republic

  

 

An admission: Economics is not my strong suit. With that out of the way I still think I and everyone else too can have an opinion even on things in which they are not expert. The latest Vesuvian eruption to send out the messenger of fear into the body politic is today's announcement of the First Republic Bank's collapse. This bank was rated one of America's best banks months before. If we measure bank failures by the 1929 Great Depression yardstick it catapults us into a depressive state of fear and anxiety. Nothing so far has reached the devastating depressive effect of 1929. Still, it does not mean that when the economic waves of insecurity strike in the form of bank failures that we should not worry at all. The failure of First Republic Bank still wreaks havoc with some of the ships at sea. After all, it was not that long ago that the 2008 economic collapse concerned me and many others too. Banks were overextended then, to say the least, in handing out a plethora of bad mortgages which the buyers could not repay.

Why is this happening? Why can we never be 100% secure that the banks are monitored to within an inch of their life so that they will never overextend themselves again to ensure we will no longer get a surprise that banks were slovenly over extended and that First Republic Bank's slipshod bookkeeping could not be at fault because the Federal government took care of that in 2008 so that this nation never again would have faulty unbalanced ledger sheets. Think again.
The great ideological divide is that conservatives are loath to government intervention of, well, nearly everything especially things financial but progressives since FDR think in certain very threatening occurrences the government should and must come to the rescue. I believe there is a place for government when self monitoring fails.

Coupled with Republican intransigence of raising the debt ceiling that could catapult the US into the thicket of economic ruin the times are worrisome. Jaime Diamond, the CEO of J.P Morgan Trust, bought out First Republic. He said the nation's banking system is solid. Should we take his word for it? As I see it, I think not.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

My Letter to Rachel Maddow and cc to Governor Maura Healtey

 

I applaud you yet again for a superlative interview of Governor Maura Healy.  I am indeed proud to be from the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, voted for Governor Healey and will do so again.  Both you and governor Healey are articulately brilliant.  Thanks for having the governor on and hope we can hear from her again.  Of course, I support both of your positions on abortion and support your position on guns as well. I am saddened by the usurpation of the Republican Party by radical right wing extremists and hope Democrats can gain control of both the Federal House while keeping the Senate and take a majority of the seats in state government as well. 

Keep doing what you do, Rachel.  You are the Edward R. Murrow of broadcasting.  Although I like all the commentators on MSNBC and watch them all I miss seeing more of you during the week.  


Tuesday, March 07, 2023

Separate and, in fact, not equal--an email to Rachel Maddow

 

Rachel,  I cannot thank you enough for reporting on the death of Judy Heumann, a wheelchair bound advocate for 
the rights of the disabled who suffered from polio she caught in1948. As a survivor of polio in 1954, six months before the Salk vaccine, I appreciate every day what her efforts mean to me.   I can drive and find a closer parking space and/or a ramp that makes it easier for a disabled person to enter a building which must be navigated.

Polio paralyzed my right leg entirely up to and including my hip.  I am 74 and now realize the difficult impact of losing
entirely the use of that leg.  I am at risk of falling and have broken my right leg femur three times because of it.  I cannot fracture it again.  Thanks to Judy Heumann for making my life and countless others in this nation and even the world just a little bit easier. 

Moreover, we must eradicate the separate but equal concept not only for the handicapped but we need, of course, to eradicate it for every other minority group that still suffers from its paralyzing effect. 

Keep fighting the good fight, Rachel, for all the other minority groups in our land.  Let us make the "John Lewis Voting Right Act" the law of the land once again this time permanently because separate, in fact, never means equal.
 




Monday, December 05, 2022

The truth of antisemitism

 I have numerous thoughts regarding the proliferation of antisemitism and hate in our nation and around the world.  I have not posted anything about the recent spate of antisemitism as it relates to the Trump candidacy until now. Anti Jewish hate is a subject on which I have strong opinions so much so that I wanted to carefully compose the essence of my thoughts on it because in sum it taps into the core of my being. I want to make an explanation of it clear and and most importantly correct and true.  Because racial hate exists on the political right I positioned myself politically to the left.

I once saw a film entitled "The Longest Hatred." I thought it encompassed much about the long history of antisemitism, its reoccurring theme in the world and, most particularly, in this country because the mantel on which it rests is contrary to what the United States of America is all about.  I will post a link to the "Longest Hatred'' at the bottom of my written thoughts. Full disclosure I am Jewish as were all my ancestors who resided in Europe, Eastern Europe and in America too. 

I was first introduced to the malevolent hatred of the Jews as a young child.  I asked questions such as why do they hate us. My mother answered by saying things like "they are jealous of us."  Jealous of what, I remember I asked?  I observed it and heard accusations about it as a young adult continuing into my adult years where I could more fully grasp and have an understanding of the historicity of it. I was repeatedly told the Jews killed Christ.

Antisemitism spans centuries beginning 2000 years ago and intertwined first with the alleged rejection of Christ, the Christian son of god, by the Jews and his tortuous death by the Roman occupiers of Palestine.  Antisemitism runs deep within the psyche of Christians and its onslaught of hate and ultimate slaughtering of 6 million human beings historically named the Holocaust.  How does something so huge exist perpetrated by the most learned nation in the western world, Germany.  For its evidence one need to historically account for such a thing as the Germans, known for their pristine record keeping kept a tally of  the number of Jews killed which jived with the philosophical underpinnings of Nazism itself.  Moreover, if one reads the German leader Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle) for its rationale to make the world in the

"Aryanization: Judenrein & Judenfrei Holocaust Glossary: Terms, Places, and Personalities."Judenfrei or cleansed of Jews to designate an area free of Jewish presence during The Holocaust. While Judenfrei merely to "freeing" an area of all of its Jewish citizens, the term Judenrein (literally "clean of Jews") was also used. This had the stronger connotation that any trace of Jewish blood had been removed as an impurity."

There is sufficient evidence to prove imprisoning and killing Jews was a Nazi goal.  Other nations surrounding Germany may have hated German occupation but some were thrilled with their policy of Jew eradication and waved hands saying "goodbye Jews."

The history of antisemitism is saturated with evidence that it occurred blasting Holocaust denial into oblivion.  No matter how many antisemites choose to deny the existence of the Holocaust there is sufficient evidence to treat that mendacious view as a vicious lie and blast it into the ash heap of history.  Curiously often they both deny it and approve of it.

Trump has zero ethics and will use that which he thinks gives him power.  He allies himself with his moronic antisemites because it is a group which he can milk for political support and does so all the time despite his own daughter's Jewish conversion, her Jewish husband and their children considered Jews by birth. 

I could relate hundreds of antisemitic views including in my own life a neighbor telling me that the "Jews killed Christ" and another time a work compatriot told me she "Jewed someone down" to get a better price on something she purchased.  When the Holocaust was on TV showing the horrific internment of Jews in an array of concentration camps another woman at work told me "See that's what you get for killing one of your own."  By the way Jews never would use crucifixion as an instrument of death but the Romans gladly used it to show others what would befall them as they walked up a hill near the crosses as admonition if they went against Rome.

 Trump induced antisemitism is currently popular and it is a part of fascistic movements all over the world.   The truth that antisemitism exists cannot be denied but the content of it is and always has been saturated with lies. It must be called out for what it is man's proclivity to designate the "other" for eradication and spread those lies about them all over the world.  We must call antisemitism out as lies when we hear or see it.  Silence is an affirmation of it and a way to spread its ugly message far and wide.


NOT ANYMORE

  I wrote this last week and for the most part sat on it because I did not want my writing to imply anything against Israel. As stated agai...