CLASSICAL liberals and cosmopolitan Jews beware: There are ideological winds whiplashing around you, blowing from opposite directions. Exposure to such elements comes with considerable risk. Just ask Europeans who are fleeing the continent. The politics of extremism and grievance has staked out their positions. And, as per usual, you find yourselves the bull’s-eye of everyone’s resentment.
Should have chosen a better college.
This week Elon Musk gave Americans another opportunity to peek behind the curtain at the Department of Government Efficiency (with its now dreaded-by-Democrats acronym, “DOGE”), the federal agency he runs by fiat and with maximal discretion.
Donald Trump does not easily call to mind thoughts of honeymoons—even though he has owned several honeymoon destinations. In closing out the first 100 days of his second presidency, it is difficult to say that his honeymoon in the White House is over. So divisive is his presence in American politics, neither the press nor the coastal elites bothered to grant him a honeymoon to begin with.
Borrowing a nifty lyric from the Beastie Boys (those white-hot, hip-hop Jewish sensations): “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Hate Jews!).”
Where are the old Yiddish-accented men when you need someone to cry, “volf”? That’s what these calamitous times demand, even if no one will listen.
All throughout the Biden presidency, and especially since the election in November, I have observed a certain degree of moral confusion among some of my readers and friends. (I will leave the unbashful gaggle of haters aside, for the moment.)
This is an awful time to explore career options in terrorism—perhaps the worst ever. Its once dreamy cachet has cratered. Choose this treacherous path and you’ll find yourself very much on the move, forever looking over your shoulder. IDF soldiers here; ICE agents there. And there’s absolutely no opportunity for advancement.
Whew, that was close. I got out of the pottymouth Democratic Party in one piece. Another year and who knows, I might have been wearing a Che Guevara T-shirt and setting fire to a Tesla.
Former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil could very well be singing his own rendition of “Evita” in a Louisiana detention facility as he awaits his long-overdue deportation to whatever terrorist-loving Islamist state will have him. Thankfully, no one in the Trump administration is listening. And no one who cares about liberalism, the United States, Western civilization and Israel should mind one bit either.
You know something is wrong with the messaging, if not soul, of the Democratic Party when lawmakers attending President Trump’s State of the Union used the occasion to display disinterest in ordinary Americans with compelling life stories.
The 97th annual Academy Awards took place on Sunday night. A bit of mystery was added to all the pageantry. Long before statues were handed out, the anticipation was eclipsed by the glamorous parade of designer finery—not the tuxes, dresses and gowns, but one added accessory: a Red Hand pin worn specially for the red carpet.
The off-Broadway experience on everyone’s radar these days, surprisingly, is showing at the Center for Jewish History. In commemoration of the 80thanniversary of the death of Anne Frank, they have mounted an installation that includes a full-scale replica of the secret annex in Amsterdam where she, her family and a few others hid until they were betrayed by the Dutch and arrested by the Gestapo.
You would be forgiven if this past week confused you about the state of antisemitism in America and what can, and what should not, be done about it. There was even a self-destructive reminder of how Jews themselves feel about what’s been happening around them—a crisis manifested in both the hatred of Jews, and Jewish self-hatred.
Newly re-elected President Donald Trump shocked the world this week with a radically alternative vision of the Middle East. Four years away from the Oval Office apparently resulted in the kind of original thinking that would never have occurred to all those think tank “experts” running on empty. They prefer doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
Over the weekend, the first phase of the temporary 42-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continued with the release of three more hostages: American-Israeli Keith Siegal, French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon, and Argentinian-Israeli Yarden Bibas. They were exchanged for 183 Palestinian prisoners.
Donald Trump returned to the White House this past week and hit the ground sprinting. He unveiled a blistering inventory of Executive Orders that displayed all the showmanship of an Off-Broadway production of “There’s a New Sheriff in Town.” On Tuesday, he even ordered a pause in federal financial assistance.
Donald Trump warned Hamas that unless the hostages were returned by Inauguration Day, “All hell will break loose.”
Welcome to the world of misplaced priorities. Nearly everywhere one looks, people are going about things the wrong way. Usually, it’s faulty thinking. Sometimes intentions are good, but people are conned into marching mindlessly, shouting slogans, and pumping fists. Often, pure hatred is the culprit.
The terrorist attack by an American citizen turned ISIS ambassador in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, which killed 14 and left 35 seriously injured, was about as predictable as an unfulfilled New Year’s resolution.