Tag Archives: israel

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, December 14, 2025, the first night of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. I expected this to be a light news cycle but was shocked by two mass shootings occurring a world apart within the last two days: a shooting here in this country at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, that killed two people and wounded nine others and the horrific mass shooting in Sydney, Australia, at Bondi Beach that resulted in at least 15 dead and scores wounded.

An online CBS News article reports on the attack in Australia that occurred during a Chanukah celebration at the famous Australian beach. The article is entitled “Gunmen kill at least 15 in attack targeting Australia’s Bondi Beach Jewish community Hanukkah celebration, officials say,” and it’s by Emily Mae Czachor and Anna Schecter.

The assault killed at least 15 people, including a 12-year-old, government officials and police said. Another 40 people were hospitalized with injuries, including two officers and three children.

The horrendous event was carried out by a father and son pair who targeted Jews directly. The father was 50 years old and his son was 24 years old. The two cowards opened fire with long guns at Bondi Beach while the local community was celebrating the first night of Chanukah. The 50-year-old died and his son was hospitalized in “serious condition,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.

The younger assailant was identified as a Pakistani national based in Sydney, according to a U.S. intelligence briefing and a driver’s license provided by Australian police.

Officials have not identified the victims of the attack, but one victim was identified: Rabbi Eli Schangler, who had been a key organizer of the Chanukah celebration where the shooting took place. The international organization Chabad, which represents a branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, identified Schlanger as one of their spiritual leaders.

Called Hanukkah by the Sea, the event was held to mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday observed from sundown on Sunday until Monday, December 22. More than 1,000 were at the beach when gunfire broke out, said Lanyon. He called the attack a “terrorist incident” and said the perpetrators used “long arms,” referring to long guns such as shotguns or rifles, to carry it out.

During this terrible incident, there did emerge a hero from the crowd in the form of a fruit shop owner by the name of Ahmed al Ahmed who jumped up from a crouched position behind a parked car and tackled one of the evil suspects, who had just fired his weapon toward something out of view. Following a short struggle, the man disarmed the suspect, pushed him to the ground and turned the weapon on him, at which point the suspect stood up and walked in the opposite direction.

Unlike the United States, mass shootings in Australia are rare. Unfortunately, researchers have recorded dramatic upticks in antisemitism incidents in the country since the October 7, 2023, assault by Hamas terrorists on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, along with spikes in hate incidents against Muslim groups.

In response, the Australian government appointed special envoys lsat year to address antisemitism and Islamophobia in its communities. However, attacks have continued to happen since then. “In July, an arsonist set fire to the door of a synagogue in Melbourne, another major Australian city, seven months after a different synagogue in the same city was burned by criminals in a blaze that injured one worshipper.”

The Brown shooting has been apparently carried out by a 24-year-old suspect from Wisconsin, authorities have indicated. The person of interest was found with a revolver and a small Glock handgun in his room at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island.

The shooting left two students dead and nine injured at the Ivy League school in Providence. What the hell possessed this young man to walk into a classroom and indiscriminately shoot up the place, killing two strangers? Time will hopefully tell.

This rash of mass shootings in this gun-happy country actually comes today on the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adult educators. I doubt this shitty president will ever mark this solemn anniversary with some principled remarks.

Again, where is the outcry to pass sensible gun legislation after so many mass shootings involving these weapons of mass destruction? A majority of Americans do endorse such legislation, but our NRA-backed politicians in Washington certainly do not! It’s time they get the boot in upcoming elections, as well s Democrats who are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. You would think after 20 innocent lives were slaughtered in the Sandy Hook shooting, lawmakers would have done their damn jobs, but no, the atmosphere did not change at all.

We are a cursed nation – full of crazy people who love to shoot their guns off in the direction of other people whom they hate.

And I was going to say, “Happy Chanukah” to all of those who celebrate. What a terrible beginning to the holiday, I say.

Have a good week.

And so it went!

Here is Forest Hills on a wintry Sunday morning.

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, October 13, 2025, Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Of course, the purists out there prefer to cling to its old name, Columbus Day. And here, the day was marked by intermittent rain, bringing to three the number of days it has rained here. However, few away in the Middle East, the dumbskulled president heralded a new beginning for the war-torn region in remarks delivered to Israel’s Knesset, its parliament. In an online article for NBC Politics entitled “Celebrating a hard-won ceasefire, Trump pushes for ‘lasting harmony’ in the Middle East,” and it’s written by Peter Nicholas.

As all of the 20 living hostages rejoined their families in Israel, Dump spoke to the nation’s parliament in Jerusalem and marked a momentous breakthrough in a war that began just over two years ago.

The U.S. president stated that “the long and painful nightmare is finally over.” But is it?

Being overjubilant , Dump rejoiced, “This is not only the end of a war. This is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.” (Little does he know of the Divine One!)

Already, an accusation of bad faith came immediately when family members said Monday that Hamas had released the remains of only four of 28 deceased hostages, breaking what they felt was a commitment to release all of the remains. These families called for an “immediate suspension” of the ceasefire agreement until all of the bodies are returned.

When hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on television yesterday, he clearly indicated “The campaign is not over,” thus breaking Dump’s jubilant bubble of peace right away. He also indicated that “some of our enemies are trying to recover in order to attack us again.” Does this sound as if the matter has been completely resolved in favor of peace? I would dare say no here.

Of course, when the delusional president was confronted with Netanyahu’s comments on Air Force One, Dump repeated to reporters: “The war is over. The war is over. The war is over, OK? You understand that?” As if repeating this mantra three times makes it so!

When addressing the Knesset, Chump chastised Netanyahu, saying, “Now, you can be a little nicer, Bibi, because you’re not at war anymore, Bibi,” using Netanyahu’s nickname.

After finishing his speech (which I refused to watch), Dump flew to Egypt to take part in a peace conference with the leaders of 20 nations, posing for pictures in front of a sign proclaiming, “Peace in the Middle East.”

Notably absent from the signing ceremony were the two factions who had been at war: Hamas and Israel. Netanyahu was indeed invited to the ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh, but he declined to attend because of observing the holiday of Simchat Torah. And there was no representative from Hamas there either. Thus the day lacked what often turns out to be an iconic picture at such Middle East peace observances: the U.S. president and the combatants linking arms.

As for maintaining that peace long term, the Dump administration has less of a specific plan for achieving that. In the 20-point plan that was released last month, the administration’s 19th point lays out certain conditions that include reconstruction of Gaza and political reform that must be met first and then, once that happens, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.” The authors set no hard deadlines or timetables for deciding the Palestinians’ fate.

I now learned that Dump inevitably went on for far too long: a full hour. During this longwinded speech, Dump went so far as to beseech the Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon his other Trumpian Little Me, Benjamin Netanyahu, which is definitely an abnormal thing to say during such an address proclaiming the end of hostilities between two hostile foes.

Foreign policy analysts now say that this “leader” needs to stay involved in the situation even if the fighting has temporarily stopped and the hostages have been returned to make progress on his vision of a transformed Middle East.

If he doesn’t, then things can easily fall apart. Aaron David Miller, a former State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations, says, “You have to wonder whether he stays with this. That will depend primarily on whether there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: the elusive Nobel, which he believes he deserves.” So, as former President Ronald Reagan famously said during that presidential debate with Jimmy Carter, “There you go again!” Could this jockeying for peace be just another ploy in order to snag the Nobel Peace Prize in 2026, given if he’s still around by then?

I will probably be absent here tomorrow since Elliot and I are meeting our two adopted “nieces,” “Esther” and “Rebecca,” for dinner in Astoria at 7. We haven’t seen them in a while and we might just stay late catching up with current developments in all of our lives.

So have a good Tuesday. Let’s hope it won’t be marred by more rain, even though it seems it has been forecasted again.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, October 12, 2025. A good piece of news finally, given the horrible news coming out of Washington these days, and that is the remaining 20 hostages still held by Hamas are expected to be released tomorrow, as this buffoon of a president is preparing to fly to Tel Aviv on Monday to address the Knesset, Israeli’s parliament, before traveling to Sharm El Sheikh for what is described as a “Middle East Peace Ceremony.” This breaking news is covered in USA Today in an article by Kathryn Palmer and Bart Jansen entitled “President Trump heads to Israel ahead of hostage, prisoner release: Live updates.”

I didn’t report this news yet because I was skeptical of a reported ceasefire being negotiated between the United States and Israel over the conflict in Hamas which has passed more than two years.

Fighting actually paused in Gaza for a third day on Sunday in advance of the expected release of the 20 Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, in the first phase of the president’s 20-point peace proposal intended to end the more than two-year-long Israel-Hamas war.

Dump called the trip a “special event” because Muslims and Arabs were joining in the celebration of the ceasefire, along with Israel. Speaking like an overjoyed child, Dump said, “Everybody is cheering at one time. That’s never happened before. This is the first time. Everybody is amazed and they’re thrilled.”

The United States, along with Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, mediated the agreement between Israel and Hamas, following Dump’s September 29 unveiling of a peace proposal alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is generally disliked by most Israelis.

Interrogated by reporters about how this agreement fit into his legacy, Drumpf went on about his being able to solve wars and at making peace. Again, a very blatant pitch for a Nobel Peace Prize, even though it was awarded to a true democracy fighter, Maria Corina Machado, an opposition leader in Venezuela.

Before we throw laurel wreaths at Dump’s head, we will have to see if this peace deal holds and that there are no more skirmishes between these two enemies. I can’t wait to see if his speech at the Knesset will bear the quintessential Dump touch: long, incoherent, and nonsensical.

Today, as forecasted, was a sopping wet day. I was going to see a film, Roofman starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Durst, but became too entangled in discussing other times to see it with my friend “Seth” that the time came and went. I was going to see it at the Kew Gardens Cinema at 1:15. At that time, it hadn’t begun to rain.

Instead of going to the movies, I went to La Boulangerie after Elliot prepared scrambled eggs in the morning. There I met a nice couple who engaged me in rather a long conversation. They started talking to me after I suggested to the staff that there was a quintet of people sitting at the communal table who were not drinking or eating. The interior of the eatery was filled to the brim, and there was no reason to sit outside since the weather was so inclement. So I decided to complain about this group of people just sitting at the table who looked like they were finished with their repasts.

Therefore, the young man in back of me who introduced himself as “Joshua” complimented me on raising my voice in protest in the patisserie. Now that the five people finally walked out, it opened up several spaces for us, so I sat down next to this couple who claimed they drove to Forest Hills from Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.

Our conversation centered on quite a number of topics like the lack of reading among young people, the degree of surveillance in our lives, and the joy of traveling, as I mentioned that I enjoy doing this. Joshua mentioned having traveled to Italy and how he loved it.

My head was spinning when he offered me the highest compliment: he said I looked 45, which made me giggle and giggle. I did not say what birthday I was celebrating next month because it might have shocked them. It could just be their age that explains it; they couldn’t have been more than in their late 20s or early 30s. And we know that people in this age cohort have no conception of true age. I should have recommended that they see The Substance then. Then we can talk about age.

For most of the afternoon, I rediscovered my stereo system since I played the Petula Clark album on it yesterday. Sadly, the album could not be played. At first, I thought my machine or the stylus was defective, but I put on other albums, and they played with no issue. I eventually threw out this $2.99 used album. But I played many of my old records for the first time in a long time, and I enjoyed it quite nicely.

Tomorrow is forecasted to be a mirror image of today. Let’s see if I stay inside again because of the pelting rain.

Let’s cross our fingers that tomorrow’s hostage exchange proceeds without any problems. It’s about time that this terrible conflict finally ends.

Then we can move on to Ukraine and Russia.

Have a good week.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, October 6, 2025, one day before the horrific anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. Is there even a peace deal being negotiated by the stupid president and far smarter but just as Trumpian Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu? There’s a flurry of CNN updates on the ongoing talks between Israel and Palestinian negotiators as the two-year anniversary nears. Here’s a summary of just a few of them.

One of those updates is entitled “Israeli and Hamas delegations in Egypt for ceasefire and hostage talks,” and it’s by Laura Sharman, Deva Lee, Luke Jacobs, Sana Noor Haq. This piece comments on the indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators that began Monday evening in Egypt over finalizing a deal based on president Donald Chump’s ceasefire plan. An official with knowledge of the negotiations told CNN that the talks are expected to last “a few days,” so don’t expect a resolution to be announced tomorrow, it seems.

Dump said he expects the negotiations to take place”a couple of days” and urged those negotiators to “MOVE FAST [sic].” He earlier told CNN Hamas faces “obliteration” if it refuse to cede power to Gaza. Oh, there he goes again – acting like the strongman he ain’t.

On Friday, Dump told Israel to stop bombing the enclave, but more than 100 people have been killed since he warned Israel to stop. Palestinians spoke to CNN about devastation on the ground and their tempered optimism for a truce.

Talks between Hamas and mediators will continue in Sharm El-Sheikh tomorrow “amid a positive atmosphere,” Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera News reported.

Also, on the second anniversary of the October 7 attacks, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for the release of the hostages, more aid for Gaza, and progress towards a lasting peace.

Talking about the October 7 massacre, which Elliot and I saw firsthand when we visited Elliot’s relatives in Tel Aviv this past September, Starmer said, “Time does not diminish the evil we saw that day.” He added, “The brutal, cold blooded torture and murder of Jews in their own homes. And the taking of hostages, including British citizens, some of whom remain in Gaza today.”

In a related story, families of Israeli hostages gathered outside the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, holding a prayer service on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. This year, Sukkot coincides with the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre. Hostage families said the day marked “another Jewish holiday without their loved ones.”

One of those taking part in the prayer vigil is Einav Zangauker, the mother of 25-year-old hostage Matan Zangauker, who said a prayer for the hostages, asking God to “break their chains, deliver them from their distress, and return them swiftly to the embrace of their families.” If only her prayer were promptly answered. It’s been too long already. Bring the hostages home!

In the meantime, the shitwipe president’s efforts to send National Guard troops to an American city, this time, Portland, Oregon, have been thwarted by a Dump-appointed judge in Oregon who has temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard members from anywhere in the United States to the city. This won’t sit well with this fascistic regime, I’m sure of that.

This late-breaking news is contained in another CNN article entitled “A federal judge blocked Trump from sending the National Guard to Oregon – again. Here’s what we know,” and it’s by Kelly McCleary, Josh Campbell, Danya Gainor, and Hanna Park.

The delusional president has falsely claimed that the Guard was necessary to quell protests at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – Dump’s version of the Gestapo – facility – a claim strongly disputed by local and state officials.

The hastily scheduled hearing on Sunday came after officials in both Oregon and California objected in court to Chump reassigning federalized guard troops in Los Angeles to Portland in an apparent effort to get around the judge’s Saturday order.

Both states said in a motion asking for the expanded order, “There is no rebellion in Portland.”

The name of the judge who stood against Dump and his fascistic regime is Judge Karin Immergut who pressed and occasionally interrupted the Justice Department’s lawyer, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Hamilton, during Sunday’s hearing, which lasted less than 30 minutes, and who expressed frustration over what she characterized as an apparent effort to sidestep her Saturday order.


In granting the second temporary restraining order Sunday, Immergut correctly blocked the Dump administration “from deploying federalized members of the National Guard in Oregon.”

The temporary restraining order is in effect until October 19, and a hearing will be scheduled for October 17 to decide whether it should be extended for another two weeks.

However, there have been protests outside of the South Portland ICE facility that have continued through Sunday night. Two people were arrested by the Portland Police Bureau overnight, the department said, bringing its total arrest count outside the building to 36 since nightly protests began in June. Again, this figure is not as enormous as Dictator Don’s administration would have you believe. To them, the entire city is burning.

Showing true grit and defiance, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said in a statement Sunday night, “The President can expect Oregon to stand up to him at every turn.”

Longtime foe to Dictator Don, California Governor Gavin Newsom, said, “We just won in court – again.” He posted this on X referencing the Sunday ruling. “Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand.”

Before Sunday’s ruling, Newsom vowed to sue over the deployment of California troops in Portland. “This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power. The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens,” Newsom thundered.

I won’t repeat what White House Deputy Chief of Staff “Nazi” Stephen Miller said about the ruling. It’s totally disgusting and warps the truth altogether.

With this ruling, I wonder what blue state is next on this asswipe’s agenda: New York, possibly. Boy, will that not go down well here if Dump even tries to do the same thing as he’s done in California and Portland.

Also, the cowardly Clark Kent of the House, MAGA Johnson, still refuses to swear in newly elected Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) because she has pledged to sign a petition the first day she’s sworn in to fucking release the Epstein files with Dump’s name emblazoned all throughout it. He is another asswipe who needs to go!

What a fucking clown show of a government, wouldn’t you say?

Tomorrow I will be taking a break from writing my blog since I’ll be attending my gay men’s reading discussion to expound on Saleem Haddad’s Guapa. I’ll be attending the meeting with my friend “Harvey” and I don’t know when I’ll be home.

Our television set was NOT brought back from the TV hospital as promised. Our technician texted me saying he forgot to bring the power adapter with him today. Thus he will come tomorrow when I’m not here, at 5:15. I surely hope so! This is so freaking long to wait for a set; we could have bought another one in less time.

Have a great Tuesday. The warm weather lingers for at least one more day.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, June 23, 2025. This is my first blog since Thursday, June 19, 2025, not because Elliot and I went away or – God forbid – I was suffering from malaise or anything like that. (Since Dump was reelected, I have truly been suffering from unrepressed anger and gargantuan disillusionment over my fellow Americans who would stoop to bring this convicted felon back into the White House.) As I said when we journeyed to Norway and Europe in early May, no one I spoke to had any words of approbation for this criminal governing this country until 2028.

The reason for this mysterious lapse in the blog had everything to do with a nonfunctioning keyboard that began Thursday night when I decided to restart the computer after I saw my screen flickering for some strange reason. After I did that, I restarted the computer, went into my half of the computer, and then promptly learned my keyboard stopped typing. I couldn’t understand why. This keyboard works with batteries; it’s not powered by plugging it into a power source. I changed the batteries first as a solution to the problem, and again, the keyboard wouldn’t type one letter. So I wasted away for two long days before I called a tech guy from two years earlier, who helped us install our new Mac device. He didn’t come until Saturday around 2 and stayed for about an hour or so and he was unable to do anything. So he told me he had to take the keyboard away with him to test it with another computer and wouldn’t return until today, Monday. I was without my little device for four days, and Elliot said I was experiencing computer withdrawal symptoms. I agreed with him. I couldn’t write my blog, read my email, or write anything else for those four days. I’m not content with finding these things on my cell phone.

So “Eddie” returned today, but much later than I had hoped. Even though he’s very good at what he does, he really didn’t respond to my texts right away; I had to resort to calling him this morning to find out when he was coming. So I did call him close to 11 to inquire when he was coming, and he said, around 1 to 2. I ran out in the sweltering heat for a quick bite and came home to wait for him. Actually, Eddie didn’t come until around 3:20 instead of the time he earlier indicated in his text to me. I waited until 3 and was just about to call him when he did text me to indicate his phone died and that he was going to come in about 20 minutes, which made it about 3:20.

When Eddie appeared, he had a new keyboard in his hand and mouse, and he sat at the computer desk and got me to sign into my screen name, and – voila’ – the keys were working as beautifully as they should. But my old keyboard was now fodder for the garbage bin. It was not working; Eddie declared it corrupted. He provided me with a brand new black keyboard whose keys actually feel a little less taut than the old one. However, I’m still not totally inured to the new Logitech mouse. That might take more time to get used to.

So look what I missed in just four days: The big news is this “peace” president’s stunning pronouncement that this country dropped several bunker buster bombs on Fordo, Iran’s heavily fortified nuclear facility on Saturday, June 21. I’m sure this “wonderful” news was greeted by cheers by most decent-loving Americans! Not at all!

So now calls for impeachment have actually grown since this decision made by this lying sack of shit who just stated he was giving the Iranian regime two weeks to return to the negotiating table. I think he said this lie a day before dropping those bombs. Could you imagine the uproar if this brazen lie were made by a Democratic president, say, Joe Biden? Those hypocritical, cowardly repugnicans would be calling for his head!

An online article in Common Dreams by Eloise Goldsmith covers this development in “Calls for Impeachment Grow as Trump Floats ‘Regime Change’ in Iran.” As the president took to social media on Sunday to suggest that regime change was on the table for Iran, calls from Democratic lawmakers and outside progressive voices have continued to grow calling for his impeachment following the weekend bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.

As for those claims that these Iranian facilities were completely destroyed, independent experts who viewed satellite imagery of the areas told NPR that the strike left Iran’s nuclear program damaged, but not destroyed. Unlike what the drunken Pete Hegseth who is our Secretary of Defense, who countered the facilities were “obliterated.” Not so, Pete; look at your own intelligence reports.

And there isn’t any proof that Iran was even attempting to build a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. intelligence agencies. Doesn’t this rash attack smack of our falsehood of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq that were never there during the Bush era? Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), a frequent vocal critic of this president, wrote on X, “It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) wrote on Sunday: “This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No president has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. without the approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachment offense.”

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a war powers resolution in the U.S. House last week, asserting the constitutional requirement of congressional approval for any declaration of war. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced one in the Senate.

Countering the notion that this illiberal regime wants regime change in Iran, Defense Secretary Hegseth said in a press conference on Sunday, “This mission was not, and has not been, about regime change.” Vice President JD Vance said on NBC News on Sunday morning, “Our view has been very clear that we don’t want a regime change.” If you believe these liars about their true aim in a foreign country, then I have a bridge I can sell you cheap!

Well, I’m very glad to be back! I hope you missed me!

Stay cool tomorrow if you can. Temps are going to be in the vicinity of 99 degrees! I’ve already canceled plans on getting together with my friend “Harvey” tomorrow since I don’t want to be on a subway platform during the day.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, June 1, 2025. I was indeed missing in action yesterday, as I was watching some films that I started a day earlier but never finished. One of those films was Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, released in 2024. Leigh is noted for a number of films like Secrets and Lies exploring the human condition through nuanced, naturalistic characters. This latest from him is not any different. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman experiencing bouts of depression and fits of anger, directed toward loved ones as well as complete strangers. It’s not too clear as to why Pansy, played by Jean-Baptiste, is that way other than her making an admission that her mother favored her younger sister, Chantelle, and that she feels that everyone hates her.

The second film I finished yesterday was from 2023: To Catch a Killer starring Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn as two people brought together in an FBI investigation of a shocking New Year’s Eve rash of killings in Baltimore. Under the explosive booms of fireworks on that night, 29 people are shot and killed, without pattern, leaving the investigative team in the dark, grasping at paper-thin straws of evidence. Woodley plays Eleanor Falco, a police officer who is at the scene of the horrible killings. Mendelsohn plays FBI investigator Geoffrey Lammark who recruits Falco as his teammate on the burgeoning investigation of the mass murders. This movie was quite different from the earlier one that didn’t rely on sensational violence to tell its tale of human misery.

Today a violent antisemitic attack occurred in Boulder, Colorado, in which a man set at least six elderly Jewish people on fire during a Boulder Run for Their Lives event, a weekly gathering of Jewish community members meant to support the hostages taken during the October 7 attacks in Israel in 2023. The suspect, an Egyptian, allegedly used a flamethrower and yelled “Free Palestine” moments before launching the terrible attack. This incident came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C., by a lone gunman who yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis condemned the attack in Boulder that left at least six injured today. He was interviewed for an online CNN article by Michelle Watson entitled “Gov. Polis condemns the ‘heinous’ attack in Boulder that left six injured.” Polis said, “As the Jewish community reels from the recent antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the community is facing another antisemitic attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot.”

What’s interesting about Polis is that he’s Jewish and got married to his longtime partner in a traditional Jewish ceremony in 2021.

It’s incidents such as this one and the one in Washington, D.C., that has frazzled many Jewish Americans who feel that they are being unfairly targeted for these abominable terroristic attacks just because of their Jewish faith. There are many residents of Israel who do not support the current prime minister’s war in Gaza. However, this reality is lost on these assailants who mistakenly lump everyone together just because they identify themselves as being Jewish. It’s a very unsettling time to be living here after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel more than two years ago. Let’s see if this president actually comes out and condemns the violence without hesitation witnessed in Boulder, Colorado, today. I wouldn’t hold my breath!

Have a good week.

By the way, tomorrow I’m going for my first shingles vaccine at 2:30 at a local CVS. This is a two-shot dosage series, with the second shot administered 2 to 6 months after the first shot. Let’s hope there are no side effects to this inoculation.

And so it went!

This is Saint Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, located on 6th Avenue, in Park Slope. I drove myself to a new bookstore in Park Slope called Troubled Sleep, located on 6th Avenue, and this is the church standing across from the bookstore.

Here is another view of that dazzling structure.

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, March 10, 2025. If you think there are no signs that this country is slipping into fascism because of whom the ignorant electorate voted back into power on November 5, consider the case of one Mahmoud Khalil who is a leader of a pro-Palestinian protest on the campus of Columbia University in New York last year and was just recently arrested and now faces deportation under policies inaugurated under Donald J. Dump. This alarming story appears online for Who What Why in an article by Klaus Marre entitled “Of All the Bad Things Trump Is Doing, This May Be the Most Alarming.”

Before I provide you the story of Khalil, it’s important to understand that it’s not relevant what side you might support in this ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict. You might be on the side of Israel after the unspeakable atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Or you might support the Palestinians who are suffering from unspeakable atrocities committed by Israel since then. You could also be in disgust of anyone committing any atrocities on either side and have a more nuanced view of that conflict.

But based on the information we have now, his “arrest” should alarm every single American. Today, Khalil was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and then taken to Louisiana.

Without presenting any evidence or specifics, the administration stated that this arrest was the result of “Khalil [leading] activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.” Of course, the bloviated liar in chief had to weigh in on this case like he’s weighed in on New York’s congestion pricing program which went into effect on January 5, which makes him just a fucking meddler for no reason other than to give the fuck-you to New York. The last statement is ominous enough, where he said, “This is the first arrest of many to come.” And this convicted felon wasn’t ever sentenced to any jail sentence for his crimes, remember that!

This detention of a legal resident (Khalil has a green card) seems to signal the undermining of the First Amendment (you know the one about free speech) and the threatening of sanctions against universities like Columbia University if they don’t toe the line. To underscore this, the Orange Turd just pulled $400 million in federal funding from this institution of higher learning. This is really so bad!

If Khalil did commit a real crime, he should have been charged and not dragged to some detention facility in Louisiana.

Less than 2 months in this interminable second reign of Dump, a very clear picture is emerging: He is using the levers of power to harass and intimidate his opposition. But as I’ve written until I was blue in the face, this sorry state of affairs was predicted a long time before he won reelection.

And it’s not just vulnerable green card holders like Mahmoud Khalil who are feeling the wrath of this deranged “emperor.” Last week, he began targeting law firms that did work on behalf of his opponents.

It is very disconcerting that all of this is being done in broad daylight. These are apparent actions meant to send a message loud and clear: You stand against us at your own peril.

The article ends with this alarming line: “And that is textbook fascism.”

Oh, by the way, we’re now in a “Trumpcession.” Something you can thank this fucking clown for! I just heard it on the Lawrence O’Donnell show. Here we go again with an economy down the tubes under another incompetent repugnican. We had no recession under Democrat Joe Biden, that’s for sure. Remember that!

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, January 15, 2025. The President of the United States, Joe Robinette Biden, just delivered his farewell address to the American people and in just about 16 minutes or so, he delivered a stark warning of an oligarchy shaping up here in America that is opposed to the principles of a free democracy. Here he takes a swipe at the incoming administration which is already beholden to a group of ultra- wealthy fucking individuals like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and others who seem to be running the country even before Donald J. Chump takes office on Monday, January 20. He says this oligarchy is a threat to democracy and he compared this ultra-wealthy class to the robber barons of yore who ran roughshod over America when they lived and thrived before antitrust laws were finally passed and enforced against them. Biden sees this new class of Uber rich as damaging to this country and he is fundamentally correct. God help us when this clown takes his irrelevant oath of office directly on MLK Day next Monday and announces his pledge to be beholden to these tech giants, not to the American people. Biden announced that Americans must protect themselves from this domestic enemy. The President also decried the spread of misinformation and disinformation inherent in our social media platforms and it’s incumbent upon us to be aware of it. He feels that average Americans themselves will have to change the outcome of this bad direction before we lose the country to this undemocratic cabal. This was not the message Americans were probably expecting from the outgoing president, but he delivered it anyway. Biden said that social media has given up on fact checking, a blunt reference to Zuckerberg’s Facebook, or Meta, platform that just announced this new policy very recently.

The address of the outgoing president seemed like two speeches, with the opening remarks reflecting his administration’s many accomplishments during his one term in office, and the second as a warning against threats of unchecked power and the “tech industrial complex,” which is a nod to outgoing president Dwight D. Eisenhower who railed against the “military-industrial complex” in his farewell speech delivered on January 17, 1961. Here Eisenhower warned the nation to guard against the potential influence of this entity, a term that he is credited with coining.

At the end, Biden implored average Americans to carry forward his hopeful vision of the country. He concluded, saying, “Now it’s your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it too. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor.”

Today was a great day for the outgoing president as he announced a second ceasefire in Gaza earlier today. In this deal, Israel and Hamas have agreed to a deal that will pause fighting in the region and lead to the phased release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners, Qatar’s prime minister has confirmed.

Implementation of the ceasefire will start this Sunday, where Hamas is expected to release 33 hostages during the first phase of an emerging accord. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are set to be released from Israeli jails at the same time.

However, the Israeli cabinet still needs to approve the agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he won’t officially comment on the deal until all details are final.

The release of the hostages would constitute the first phase of the deal being finalized. Negotiations to reach the second phase – which is intended to end the war – would begin on the 16th day of the implementation of the deal. President Biden said talks will go beyond the temporary ceasefire to a Phase 2 of the deal that will include “a permanent end of the war,” as he officially announced the deal.

Another Dump appointee for a cabinet-level position was grilled in the House today; her name is Pam Bondi and she is applying for the attorney general nomination. To me, she is another Dump bootlicker and is definitely unqualified for the position. She supposedly insisted that she would not allow politics to infect her Justice Department, but she consistently accused President Joe Biden’s DOJ of being responsible for politicizing law enforcement against the Golden Idol. This already shows her undying fealty to the bastard and that she cannot be unpartisan in the job.

Again, the word that we must all memorize during Dump’s second term is “kakistocracy.” This is a government by the worst people and the individuals being touted for crucial cabinet-level positions by the incoming president are emblematic of the word to a T. Actually, the word for my 365-day calendar this day, January 15, was actually kakistocracy. It must have known about the upcoming inauguration of a jerk by the name of Donald J. Drumpf and prepared us for that miserable day by listing this word today. So please memorize the word for the next four years as we are governed by Dump’s goons and inept circus of clowns.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, December 17, 2024. Questions are being asked today about that 15-year-old school shooter – it was incorrectly reported that she might have been 17 yesterday – in Madison, Wisconsin, that left two people dead, a staff member and a student, at the private Christian school where this latest outrage took place. An online article by Dakin Andone entitled “What we know about the Madison, Wisconsin, school shooter” outlines the latest information authorities have on the very young killer.

For obvious reasons, I’m not going to post the young woman’s name – why should I glorify a horror like this by posting the assailant’s name then! Anyway, six others were injured in the shooting, police said, including two students hospitalized in critical condition. Let’s hope those wounded are able to recover from their wounds – at least physically. Psychologically, it’s another matter altogether. This event will stay with these poor victims the rest of their lives. Who really knows the psychological toll this type of event will have on these individuals?

Investigators into the shooting are trying to determine the shooter’s motive here. Police Chief Shon Barnes has indicated that it “appears that the motive was a combination of factors.” He declined to provide more details.

It now appears that a “document” was shared widely on social media by the killer. Police are also examining the shooter’s activity online, Barnes told reporters.

Police have said the shooter used a handgun to carry out the deadly attack – a weapon whose history is being traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives, Barnes said.

The family of the young shooter is cooperating with police, Barnes said yesterday. Police, together with the district attorney’s office, will “want to look at if the parents may have been negligent” in providing their daughter with an illegal firearm. Barnes indicated that, “at this time, that does not appear to be the case.”

Both federal and Wisconsin law generally make it illegal for someone younger than 18 to possess a firearm, so how did this young preteen get ahold of such a weapon then? State law similarly makes it illegal for any person to intentionally sell, loan, or give a dangerous weapon to someone younger than 18.

A more recent development in these terrible shootings is that prosecutors have now taken steps to hold parents accountable for providing their children the firearms they would go on to use in school massacres, testing the limits of who could be deemed responsible.

Two such cases followed school shootings at an Oxford, Michigan, high school in 2021 and a Winder, Georgia, high school in September.

Don’t you wish with this latest school shooting, something finally would be done to prevent the next incident? But this is the United States of America where guns rule supreme in our streets and schools. It’s just revolting, in my humble opinion.

Today because of the shockingly warm weather, I ventured into Manhattan to first exchange our Metropolitan Opera tickets to La Boheme for another date since I discovered that Elliot and I will be away on Saturday, January 11. In another blog, I’ll mention why. So I went to Lincoln Center initially to ask for two seats for the January 18 performance, and I was able to get two new tickets without paying a farthing.

Then I took the B downtown to West 4th Street where I bought a ticket at IFC for Sabbath Queen, a new documentary by Sandi DuBowski that is a marvelous exploration of what it means to be gay and still be connected to your religion in the 21st century. I highly recommend it to all of my gay Jewish brethren because it examines – over more than two decades – the life of one Amichai Lau-Lavie, a gay Israeli man who moved to New York in 1997 and participated in the gay/drag culture back then, by donning the persona of Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, a widow who married and outlived six rabbis. Lau-Lavie speaks quite seriously about his heritage of being born into a family of rabbis going back 38 generations, all the way to the 11th century.

Lau-Lavie also cofounded the experimental Lab/Shul which breaks with traditional synagogues in that it welcomes all faiths and those who have intermarried. His brother Benny is a powerful rabbi in Israel’s Orthodox community who renounces his more flamboyant brother for his rejection of tradition. Amichai’s mother mourns his son’s gayness, based on her belief that it means an end to the family line. Her tolerance for her son’s gayness actually softens when Amichai donates sperm to a lesbian couple and coparents their son, in which his family now views him as an honorary heterosexual.

The film is more than just a portrait of this very complex man, it questions the meaning of Jewish traditions in contemporary society which becomes its beating heart. The documentary also takes us to the very depths of the Holocaust in which Amichai’s family line is shattered. Amichai’s and Benny’s grandfather was sent to Treblinka by the Nazis, where he was killed. While his father saved his own life by jumping off a train en route to Buchenwald.

The film is very rich in its exploration of Amichai’s life journey and his later choice to become a Conservative rabbi by attending the Jewish Theological Seminary here in New York. However, while he’s studying to become such a religious leader, he learns that he cannot officiate at interfaith marriages anymore and this becomes a sore point during one of his board meetings at Lab/Shul. Does this new title change the freewheeling and radical Amichai? See the film and find out. I just found the whole venture fascinating as a gay man and a nonobservant Jew who did partake in holiday services as a much younger man. I still go occasionally to services at the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah here in New York and I even accompany my friend “Harold” to services at Rosh Hashanah. You will see in the film how services are totally different at Lab/Shul in that the traditional prayers are abandoned for something very alien to what traditionalists have grown up with.

In a review of the film, I learned that the director first met the subject of this almost two-hour documentary when working on his first film, Trembling Before God, which profiled queer Hassidic and Orthodox Jews and their problems with adjusting to their faith after coming out.

I decided to have some dinner at the Washington Square Diner after the film. What happened at the end of my meal totally blew my mind. Maybe you can say I experienced a true New York moment when toward the end of my dinner, a young woman sitting at a booth next to me asked me about the book I was reading: Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner that became a bestseller in 2021. The woman commented on how good the book was and I replied I just began reading it. When the check was handed to me, this Good Samaritan swept up the bill and paid for my dinner. I was totally flummoxed. First, I thought the waiter gave her my check by mistake, but she just repeated that she paid my bill. I asked her why and she said it was the holiday or something to that effect. I offered to at least leave a gratuity, and she said that was not necessary. I thanked her effusively and still cannot tell you why this perfect stranger decided to do this for me. Did she like the fact that I was reading a book that appeals to Gen Z, which is the target audience that Zauner’s book probably appeals to? I think she was only in her 20s when she wrote about how the death of her mother devastated her. I’ll never know why. All I can say is that charity is still alive after this act of supreme kindness. Maybe I should have strongly refused her offer, but then, would she still have insisted on paying the check? I will ruminate over this for a very long time.

And so it went!