In these great times of strife and controversy in this country…
One thing that we can probably all agree on:
Make Falafel Not War
Words to live by.
And to eat by. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Category Archives: Election
Our Cities Are Burning
I like the saying on this guys knapsack:
Discipline equals freedom.
The opposite is true too:
From the violent riots across the country the last week, even a modicum of discipline has gone out the window, and with that comes a curtailment of freedom through deployment of the National Guard, Military, and imposition of curfews and more.
There was a time that peaceful protests led by leaders with integrity held sway…but now it’s anarchy out there!
Today, the cities are burning, the stores are being looted, people are afraid, and our republic is being torn asunder by racism and filthy election politics. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Coronavirus Stock Market
I believe this photo best summarizes where we are with the Coronavirus stock market.
As they say:
Don’t count your chicken before they hatch.
This market has gotten way ahead of itself and the pending economic realities of the Coronavirus and the consequences of the trillions of response fund debt.
Remember:
– The virus does not yet have a vaccine, and it is mutating and may become even more virulent!
– The deaths continue to soar in the U.S. with now over 75,000 dead in just two months.
– The deaths involve much pain and suffering both for the victim and his/her grieving loved ones.
– The unemployment is at all time highs since the Great Depression.
– Companies are starting to move from temporary layoffs to permanent firings and contraction, and many eventually to bankruptcy.
– Profitability and gross domestic product are way down and may be even worse in the next quarter.
– Price Earning ratios are around their 10-year highs even looking out toward a possible 2021 recovery.
– Restarting the economy does not mean a return to what was as the extreme trauma from the pandemic, shutdown, and social distancing rebalance us to a “new normal.”
– A second and third wave of Coronavirus may be as bad or even worse than the first.
– The two biggest global economies of the U.S. and China are facing a deteriorating and toxic relationship.
– The lingering $3,000,000,000,000 that we just added to our National Debt is going to increasingly strangle our future economic outlook.
– The election is in November and brings increasing instability and likely volatility.
In summary, the term used by former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan of “irrational exuberance” seems like a gross understatement when it comes to our current stock market.
Get ready to see the froth come painfully off this drunken market–these eggs are about ready to crack. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
A Jewish Scorecard: Trump vs. Sanders
Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “A Jewish Scorecard: Trump vs. Sanders.”
In nine months, we will go to the polls again to elect the next President of the United States. Right now, it’s looking like it will be Donald J. Trump versus Bernie Sanders. What is the scorecard of these two men when it comes to the State of Israel—the Jewish homeland that we have returned to after 2,000 years of exile, persecution, and deep yearning, and where the majority of the world’s Jewish people currently reside?
In the end, no candidate is perfect, and each has their own critical flaws. However, you, as the voters will need to tally the score for yourselves and decide who will be President in 2020 and what that means for this country as well as for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
(Photo: Adapted from Flickr post by The White House (Public Domain) and Linda Sarsour’s Twitter account profile picture)
Remember 9/11 + The Global War on Terror
Just thinking about this lately…
How quickly we forget what happened on 9/11.
After 2001, we said:
9/11 was “the day that changed everything” and we shed blood and treasure on a global “war on terror”
In 2019, radical American politicians are:
Referring to 9/11 as “Some people did something”
Laughing at Americans for fearing ISIS
Refusing to condemn terrorist organizations like Al-Qaeda or Sharia practices such as female genital mutilation
Calling for Open Borders and Sanctuary Cities, including not cooperating with Federal law enforcement
Promoting Socialism over Democracy, including healthcare for illegal immigrants and forgiving all student loan debt
Urging the release of jailed Muslim Brotherhood terrorist leader
Endorsing corrupt Venezuelan dictator, Nicholas Maduro rather than the democratic opposition.
Blaming the U.S. for “thousands of Somalis killed by American Forces” during Black Hawk Down
Saying “It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby” and supporting anti-Semitic, anti-Israel practices like BDS
Comparing Immigrant Detention Camps to Concentration Camps
Reflecting on a “calming feeling” when thinking about the Holocaust
I hope all Americans will realize the absolutely frightening enemy within that our nation now faces and votes accordingly in 2020.
Election Day Dead 2018
This just seemed so perfect for election day this year.
With the country torn asunder between left and right.
We are the grateful dead of the U.S. of A.
– Our political system is stymied and our representatives are only self-minded.
The integrity of our founding fathers has vanished and last century’s great national hope has languished.
Cause the liberals hate the conservatives.
And the conservatives hate the liberals.
All of my folks hate all of your folks, and everyone blames the Jews.
– The Constitution has become malarkey, and the Bill of Rights now makes people snarky.
Polarization and they’re a lyin’, fake news and no one is even tryin’.
It’s either my way or the highway, and everyone else can go to h*ll.
– Throw a fit and curse your neighbor, chase the opposition to the wayward.
Know that threats and violence are better than silence, and resistance means persistence.
How could this have even happened, and you’re all on the wrong side of history.
– Are we making things great, and they’re only about hate.
Or are they racist deplorables, and we’re the self-righteous ennobles.
From the economy to trade wars, and from immigration to healthcare.
Why is it that we can’t listen, negotiate, compromise, and play fair.
– I don’t know why we’re even having an election.
When we only want to defeat the opposition.
Cause the Democrats hate the Republicans.
And the Republicans hate the Democrats.
All of the Obamanicks hate the Trumpeans, and vice versa is certainly true too.
– It’s up to everyone to put the country first and stop the bickering and the hate.
Practice patriotism and nationalism, tear down the walls so progress does not stall.
No one is all right and no one is all wrong, instead we’ve got to come together and just let everyone belong.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Fine Line Between Fantasy and Reality
So I’ve started to realize that there are at times a (very) thin line between fantasy and reality.
In some cases, people hear some facts or some truth, and then in their mind, they concoct entire stories of fantasy or full-fledged conspiracy around it.
But more than that, the fantasy in their minds, because it starts with a real fact or two then becomes entirely perceived as reality itself.
We saw plenty of this in the last election cycle and even today, with one political side or the other purchasing phony dossiers or making up stories about the opposition–and they may even have some underlying facts associated with it.
But around these facts, entire scripts and stories are concocted through inductive reasoning or highly imaginative thinking, whether for example, of deep Russian conspiracies reminiscent of the era of McCarthyism or the Salem Witch Trails of yesteryear.
Again, I’m not saying that nothing is there, but the question is whether there is real truth then to the whole conspiracy that has been drawn from fantastical minds of opposition agents, reporters, and others gainfully benefiting and perhaps running amuck with these grandiose versions of alternate reality?
What I am coming to believe is that it’s not so much that people are willfully making up these stories (although there can certainly be plenty of biases, exaggerations, and agendas at work as well), but that in their mind, they create these bombastic versions of what seems like truth to them and then they pawn it off and sell it to others who are only to happy to latch unto some juicy new gossip or theory of “what’s really going on.”
Similarly, some people who get very mad may actually take albeit a genuine fight with another person and pour layer upon layer of evil doings and manipulations on them until by the time their mind is done, the other person has become the devil themselves–and the fantasy for a short time seems like it is the reality–until such time that cooler heads prevail and reality replaces the mind’s fantasy or it’s ultimate fears.
In short, there is a very fine line between fantasy and reality–our minds can get carried away with facts or notions of the moment and build those into full-fledged conspiracy theories of “who done it” and “why didn’t we see it all along.”
Certainly, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t some very good pretenders out there who truly are doing very bad things and covering their tracks, and it’s for the gifted and detective minds out there to perceive those and prove them as being the greater reality.
But we have to be careful in accusing people–until such time that the facts are all there and the perception or fantasy of our mind’s eye is shown to be the reality indeed.
We need good investigative journalism, excellent law enforcement and intelligence, and clarity of mind to know what’s real and what’s fake in life and in our fantastical minds. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Who Won The Election? Russia
So it turns out that the all important election of 2017 for the 45th President of the United States…
Was not between President Trump and Hillary Clinton at all.
Oh no.
Because who really won the election is Russia!
From the dossier to the uranium deal, charges of collision and stealing the election, the investigations, special counsel, weakened White House, chaos, confusion, misinformation, fake news, and alternative facts.
This is called INFORMATION WARFARE.
All of these serve not only to weaken our elections and political system, and unnerve the trust of the American people, it wastes the time and efforts of our elected officials and media chasing ghosts.
When you can’t win an election fair and square, you pull out the McCarthyism card invoking fear of Russia and provoking political repression here at home.
It’s the “Commie bastards,” of course that are interfering in our democracy.
But really it wasn’t!
Unless you count a hundred thousand dollars or so of political ads and botnets in a billion dollar plus election as serious meddling–not.
Basically, we are talking a self-inflicted national wound–that keeps bleeding and bleeding.
Our country is going on a wild goose chase–looking for something, turning over stones, but what they find–how significant is any of it?
The real winner again is Russia.
They are strengthening themselves in the world.
They have the West on edge.
Our politicians and system of government is weakened.
We waste time, while Russia takes over Crimea, wins big in Syria, militarizes the Arctic, partners with China, and advances their world agenda.
We are distracted with eyes off the ball–spending days, weeks, months, and years in a tizzy pointing fingers at each other, seeing shadows, scared of ghosts, and punching into the air.
Russia won the election for sure. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
The Origin of Government In The Bible
Thought this was a really interesting speech by the Rabbi Haim Ovadia in synagogue today.
The origin of government and the function/dysfunction of society and rule of law is rooted in the in beginnings of mankind as told in the Bible/Torah.
Starting with Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden — This was pretty much anarchy with only one law at the time not to eat the apple from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.
Then in Noah’s Generation – There was oligarchy with roaming gangs that took the women and committed wickedness.
Followed by the Tower of Babel — This was communism with everyone united to build and have a common property, a great city and tower reaching to the heavens.
Subsequently Sodom & Gomorrah – This was capitalism with people looking after their own selves and cities, getting spoiled of their material goods, and committing all manner of vices.
And only then in the time of Abraham – There arose democracy with G-d electing Abraham and the Israelites based on lovingkindness and charity.
As we know from the Bible and can see in the chart above, only democracy resulted in blessings for all of mankind.
Yes, the election in the bible was made by G-d, but the notion is one based on “elected” representatives that do good and are a light for the whole world–so no, dictators need not apply!
The Bible is truly a blueprint for us as to how we can live our lives as well as how we can govern the world effectively . 😉
(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
Look Who’s Talking About Obstruction Of Justice
One of those are you kidding me moments…
Hillary is talking about other people’s obstruction of justice…
Wasn’t it her husband, Bill, who had a little talk with then U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, on the tarmac–with cameras and mics turned off–when the FBI was investigating her!
During the election, the crowds chanted “Lock her up!”
This isn’t about Democrat or Republican.
Wherever you look, the politics seems so dirty and the corruption so deep.
What happened to the soul of America and what we really stood for as a people and a nation?
(Source Photo: Fox News)
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