Today is Thursday, April 28, 2022. On the Hebrew calendar, today marks the 27th of Nisan, Yom Hashoah, day of the Shoah, which is Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking when the doomed Jewish inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against their German murderers in the spring of 1943 and fought off the world’s most fearsome army for weeks.

As the world remembers the millions of dead amid the vows of “never again” and “never forget,” it seems that many people have sadly forgotten these words as rising incidents of anti-Semitism target Jews in this city and in this country with alarming frequency. In the wake of the Ukrainian conflict, started when Russian dictator Vladimir Putin proposed to “de-Nazify” the country, it’s quite ironic that its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who refuses to abandon his country in this terrible time of war, is actually Jewish. He can be viewed as the world’s courageous hero protecting his country against these Russian invaders. Let’s hope that our better angels will prevail and that these ugly incidents will soon decline with the rapidity that they deserve.

A related story regarding the taint of anti-Semitism was covered in an online Independent article by John Bowden entitled “Morning Joe host says new poll exposes ‘fascist’ viewpoint of large number of Republicans.” Today Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough held nothing back when confronted with the results of a new Morning consult/Politico poll finding that most “POT” (Party of Trump) voters would not find accusations of racist or antisemitic behavior of a candidate disqualifying. If this isn’t additional evidence of how racist and antisemitic the GOP has become in the era of Dumpf, there’s no need to look any further.

In blistering comments directed toward the GOP voter base, Scarborough lamented that the percentages showed that a wide swath of the repugnican voter base were showing “fascist” leanings. The poll shows that only 38 percent of Republicans think that people uttering racist remarks are a roadblock toward being elected, which is shocking to me. Scarborough perplexedly stated, “Less than half of Republicans believe that uttering antisemitic remarks, spewing antisemitic remarks, are a serious problem and a roadblock to being elected.” Scarborough avers that this disappointing percentage among repugnicans indicates “that there is a fascist strain in the Republican Party for at least a third or so of those members.”

In a way, the results of this poll can be viewed without too much astonishment, given who was president before the current occupant in the White House. This former president has made remarks throughout his infamous term in office and during two campaigns for office that many have described as racist and antisemitic, in particular, his criticizing of American Jews for providing insufficient support of Israel, in his eyes. Despite those comments, Dumpf still retains blind loyalty from a wide majority of GOP voters, according to most recent polling.

Another incident illustrating the former White House occupant’s open flirtation with far-right white nationalist elements occurred in 2017 when the “Unite the Right”protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, descended into violence when right-wing extremist attendees battled assembled counterprotesters. At that rally, a counterprotester, Heather Heyer, was run down and killed. After the ugly event, it was Dumpf who refused to condemn the actions of his far-right white buddies, infamously saying, “There were bad people on both sides.”

In a subsequent trial in November 2021, a jury awarded more than $26 million in damages after finding the white nationalists who organized and participated in that violent rally liable on a state conspiracy claim and other claims. Even though the jury deadlocked on two federal conspiracy claims, it slammed the defendants on the other claims with major awards to the plaintiffs, who included town residents and counterprotesters injured in the violence four years ago.

So this is the makeup of the other political party circa 2022. If anybody thinks this party is worthy of salvation, you are barking up the wrong tree.

In running against the clock, the January 6 committee investigating the events of that loathsome day just announced that it will finally hold public hearings sometime in June over eight days. This couldn’t have been announced any time sooner. The first hearing is scheduled for June 9, which is not a date set in stone, we’re told. This long-expected announcement by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House select committee, informed reporters today of the tentative public hearings schedule. This is reported in an online CNN article by Annie Grayer, Daniella Diaz, and Ryan Nobles entitled “January 6 committee to hold 8 hearings in June, Chairman says.”

Thompson said the hearings will be a “mixture of some prime time and some regular,” and they “will tell the story about what happened.” The committee, Thompson said, will also be reaching out to more members of Congress as soon as this week that they want to speak to, including Republicans in both the House and the Senate.

One of those witnesses could be Dumpf’s lapdog Rudy Giuliani, who is expected to appear next month before the committee.

As for how the presentation will take shape, multiple sources previously told CNN that the committee is planning to produce a multimedia presentation and hire a writer as part of its effort to turn its largely secretive work into a compelling narrative. In addition to a traditional written report, the online presentation would include links to key video evidence, according to a source familiar with the committee’s work.

Let’s hope the country will not be in vacation mode when the committee releases its findings in the form of these public hearings. It will be imperative that we all listen to what is being presented for our absorption. We may not get a second chance after this!

For those who are as perplexed as I am with regard to the inclination toward authoritarianism in this country as well as in the rest of the world, I highly recommend Anne Applebaum’s incisive book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. This book explains it all. I saw this volume in my old Rego Park Library the other day, so I took it out with the aim of reading as much of it as I can. I know it’s not light reading, but it’s becoming quite essential to know the state of affairs happening in this country right before the midterm elections. We cannot be ignorant or sorely misinformed at this time in history.

Today urned out to be quite busy for us as we didn’t even stay home to watch our contractor, “Cameron,” work his magic in the kitchen. The goal was to meet up with our Arizona friend, “Clarise,” who was in Manhattan with her mum and brother subsequent to traveling home to the Grand Canyon State, while her brother and mother traveled back to Manchester, England. We arranged to meet after 5 at The Smith, on 2nd Avenue and 51st Street.

Another goal was to see a film at the Angelika Theater, a new movie that just opened called The Duke starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren as real-life couple Kempton and Dorothy Bunton who get embroiled in the glare of media attention when the paterfamilias steals Francisco Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961 London. The film glows with warm characterizations from both principals, especially Broadbent who is depicted as a do-gooder and dreamer, even though he’s a mostly unemployed taxi driver who writes plays that never get published. Mirren plays his long-suffering wife Dorothy who has no time for his crusades and humanitarian efforts to help pensioners and war veterans.

Go see this enjoyable film that is desperately needed right now in our era of divisiveness, especially during the latter scenes where Broadbent defends his principles and exposes his wicked sense of humor in a packed courtroom. His trial at the Old Bailey becomes a major event and will leave you smiling at the surprising outcome.

It’s getting late here. I wish I could write more, but I cannot.

Stay safe and be well.