Starbucks Becomes The Brand That Personifies The Road to Hell

Paved with "good intentions".

Starbuck's is doubling down on their moronic race preening initiative, instead of, you know-making and serving terrible, expensive, truly shitty-tasting coffee sugar with a few drops of coffee in cups with pretentious-sounding fake-Italian names.

"Schultz defended the campaign on the stage, saying it’s not a marketing exercise."

“There will be some in the media that criticize Starbucks for having an agenda,” he said.

“Our intentions are pure.”

If I want a lecture on something excruciatingly painful, emotionally tormenting and exhausting I HAVE A MOTHER FOR THAT.

Israel's Left Lives in A Bubble

The same, of course can be said about other countries.

"The leftists enhance each other in conversations at cafés and restaurants, in the Tel Aviv salons, in cinematheques and different cultural clubs. The people living outside Tel Aviv and the Jerusalem Cinematheque, outside the academia and the newspaper and television's news desks have completely different views. "

"The left likes to withdraw into itself, to hold internal discussions, to engage in internal quarrels, and shows contempt and disregard towards the voice of "Masuda from Sderot." [Ed.note: a typically Sephardic name from a working class, peripheral town bordering Gaza.]

"But the thing is that in one day of elections, the vote of Masuda from Sderot equals the vote of the president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. It's the same opportunity, it's the same envelop – only the vote is different."  

UPDATE: 

Election scapegoat located. 

UDATE 2: 

Netanyahu's Win, Obama's Loss

"Many Americans are disturbed by the Netanyahu–Obama animosity, and for good reason. In part, it is because they worry what it portends for Israel, which needs allies. But it also reminds them that they lack a leader who has a clear-eyed view of evil and understands peace through strength. Israel reelected a man like that; we will have to wait a little longer to elect our own."

 

Steyn: The James Taylor Doctrine

Now this is allegedly a Steyn essay about jihad, Islam, America becoming treacherous, etc...blah blah zzzzzzz so tired of 24/7 war, tyranny here and all that jihad stuff "at the other end of the ummah" (HAHAHAHAHAHAA).

But, because of SEEKRIT JOOOISH MINDWAVE POWER TOOLZ, it's actually about Jews! I know, right? Steyn and Jews-can you imagine?!?

I just about fell off my chair at this anecdote: 

"Well, each to his own, but I would doubt either Michael Carr or Jimmy Kennedy had ever knowingly heard a mariachi band at the time they wrote "South Of The Border". I'm minded to modify Jerome Kern's line to Oscar Hammerstein when they were adapting Donn Byrne's life of Marco Polo for Broadway."

"Here's a story laid in China about an Italian and told by an Irishman," said Hammerstein."

"What kind of music are you going to write?"

"Don't worry," replied Kern.

"It'll be good Jewish music."

OH MAH GAWD DAT'S SOME FUNNNNNNAYYYYY!

Also, I have to say that I hate Steyn for putting that Rupert the Bear ear worm song into my brain this morning. I guess it's like reverse SEEKRIT JOOO MINDWAVE POWERZZ. But when I say 'I hate Steyn', what I really mean is-I love him err...rather IT.

I LOVE IT.

Funny stuff!!! 

Exit question:

Why has Rupert the Bear bought into the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" meme?

Even the Washington Post says it's B.S. 

Let's Make Peace With These Folks

Reason number eleventy gazillion, trazillion, million why there cannot be peace at this time.

Harrowing: Life Under ISIS and Why I Deserted

A first person story.

Not for the faint of heart.

The Death of Free Speech on College Campuses

The First Amendment is on life support on American campuses.

Hey Men! Now You Can Totally, Really Say You Read Playboy For the Articles

This article!

Just Sayin...

I congratulate PM Netanyahu on his election results. We look fwd to working w/ the gov't once formed. Israel has no greater friend than Cda.

— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) March 18, 2015

Must Read: "Peace, the Grand Delusion"

This is quite a magnificent essay by the very brave, very smart American activist Chloe Valdary who I respect and admire.

Read the whole thing: 


"In 2015, the Jewish community is at a crossroads. Jews are being mowed down in the streets of Europe. Students are being intimidated on college campuses. Jewish-owned businesses and homes are being vandalized. The indigenous status of Jews in their homeland is either callously trivialized or completely denied by prominent voices in the media and elsewhere, including in academia and the United Nations. The 21st century is beginning to feel all too much like the torment of the 1930s and ’40s."

"Yet, we pledged to ourselves, “Never again.”

"This is not merely an adage—it is a demand. The time has come to ensure that the demand is met.
We must draw on our courage and have the audacity to force those who humiliate and threaten us to pay a price. Peace—if it means that we must lie down and be denigrated and even slaughtered while our enemies cheer, is not only wrong—it is evil."

"How many more supermarkets will be attacked before we rise? How many more synagogues, schools, and homes will be assailed? How many more innocent Jews will be slaughtered while praying, or pelted with rocks while driving home?"

"Will we silently submit to these injustices unfolding around us? Will we be satisfied with telling ourselves that we have a higher moral claim because we want “peace?”

Memo to Self: Never Play Poker With Bibi

He gambled, and won. 

That article is a pretty nice summary from John Podhoretz which includes the following concise summary paragraphs:

"The Zionist Union won something like 24 seats, an improvement for its core Labor Party from 15 seats just two years ago. But the thing is, Israel’s left doesn’t have any answers to the nation’s pressing problems either — and is seen as too ready to capitulate on hard-core defense and security issues."

"So, in the final days of the election, trapped in his own backfield, the Zionist Union coming hard upon him as Obama and his minions cheered from the skyboxes, Bibi eluded its grasp and made his move. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Bibi pulled off a pretty spectacular piece of footwork in the most exciting election finish I can remember."

I have some other thoughts. 

So inasmuch as this is a victory for the Israeli right and for Netanyahu, it is also a stinging rebuttal to President Obama directly from the people of Israel. 

Something else that hasn't been discussed that much in the English media is the extent to wish the Israeli leftist media monopoly collaborated in the efforts to have "anyone but Netanyahu". The Israeli media, that is to say all of the major Hebrew newspapers and television news shows fed the Israeli public a disgusting and incessant diet of virulent anti-Netanyahu and anti-conservative propaganda 24/7.  They were utterly deranged about it.

Their efforts backfired-yet they clung to their fairy tale exit numbers. 

It was absolutely delightful to watch their faces get completely messed up and watching them lose their composure entirely when the reality started to sink in-live. I just cannot remember enjoying anything on television more in recent years.

The other thing about the Israeli elections that I noted to my husband this morning is that Meretz, the radical left party also went up in flames. And to me, that is a clear indicator that a small, vocal, aggressive minority makes up the far left in Israel. That aggressive, power-hungry minority though-like in other Western countries, yields power that is extraordinarily disproportionate to its numbers.

In Israel, as elsewhere (Canada, America, Australia, etc..),  the extreme left commands the judiciary, the arts, the media, the academy, the higher echelons of the civil service and the public education system.  That's where they most effectively shove their influence down all of our throats. They do that because they can.

But...and it's a big but...when it comes time for actual democratic decisions to be made-like this Israeli election, which was basically a referendum on Israel's security and the existential threat from Iran, the left lost big time. Their monopoly on our lives, their tyranny over our personal liberties can only be sustained through processes that generally entirely bereft of transparency, real choice and honesty.  Now, not everyone chooses liberty over tyranny when it comes down to a vote-but many do, consistently choosing to believe their own lying eyes rather than the stories they are being told to believe.

You know, even Obama sending American taxpayer dollars to Israel to fight Netanyahu through V-15 was a total bust. What will they do with all those t-shirts?

As Mark Steyn pointed out this morning on the John Oakley show, one of the most exquisite parts of this Israeli election story is that Obama's belligerent, relentless, Alinsky intervention is likely to have been a major factor contributing to Netanyahu's stunning victory. How's that for a Mazel Tov?!?!

 It doesn't get much more delicious than that. Pity there isn't a Hebrew word for "butthurt", though yesterday, someone on Twitter suggested that the Hebrew word for "schadenfreude" is "Axelrod".

Pretty sure it's "Axelrod" #Caring RT @daveweigel What’s Hebrew for Schadenfreude?
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) March 17, 2015

I have to tell you, I would pay many, many shekels for a photo of Obama (and frankly, Valerie Jarrett and John Kerry) as the Israeli election results started to come in. So glorious!  Just the thought of it makes me giddy.

Seriously, a thousand camels to the first person who provides me of a photo of Barack Hussein Obama in real time for that moment....I want it even more than the Rashidi tape from the Los Angeles Times.

Obama, the ever petulant, decides "not to weigh in".

LOLZLOLZZLZZ!!

How gratifying it must be right now for Netanyahu to be vindicated and to be compared, and I think rightly so, to a modern Churchillian leader. 

In short, this election is a glorious victory for a great leader and, indeed, for the free world.

P.S: *Goy Alert*

Netanyahu is pronounced Neh (like the Yiddish "feh" but with an "n")-tun (rhyming with sun) yah-hoo.

It just gets mangled a lot so YOU'RE WELCOME.

Netanyahu: Moved By the Responsibility

This is leadership:

"I am moved from the weight of responsibility that the people of Israel placed on my shoulders.."

He will rise to the occasion. 

Israeli Left: TROUNCED

Just say it a few times.

It's more delicious every time you repeat it.

Trounced, trounced, trounced.

Do You Hear That?

It's the sound of a thousand mainstream media journalists paging their shrinks: STAT CALL STAT CALL.

It's the sound of a thousand pharmacies getting a call to renew and up medications.

It's the sound of seething in the White House. 

Glorious.

Just glorious.

More on the Israeli elections later.

50 Shades of Obergropinfuhrer, Or When Life Imitates a Mark Steyn Column

Is it Happy Hour yet?

I could sure use a drink (make mine a nice dry, Kosher red wine from Italy, Israel or France, thankyouverymuch).

It's probably Happy Hour somewhere, right?

When life imitates a Steyn column, it's probably time to head for the hills.

Just Back Away From Da Twitterz With Yer Hands Up And Nobody Will Get Hurt

Starbuck's epic "race together" campaign.

This goes down as a textbook case of 'what not to do on Twitter'. 

This one hurts my brain.

Oy.

First World Problems: Most Britons Do Not Know How To Make A (Proper) Cup of Tea

News you can use!

What would we do without research?!?!?

The Horror of China's One Child Policy: The Lost Generation

A man-made disaster with such terrible, heartbreaking costs to human life and happiness.

Absolutely terrible.

"Is it Time For the Jews to Leave Europe?"

Short answer: yes. 

Longer answer in this essay by Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic.

The problem with this essay is that the answer "yes" is completely clear. Goldberg gets a bit muddled when he talks about the "why", but eventually comes to the correct conclusion. 

Although he does identify the current, most virulent streams of antisemitism, he wrongly places blame on "fascist" and "right wing" roots. He also claims that immigrant disenchantment, unemployment (in short, Marxist explanations) form the roots of the "new" antisemitism.

Here's what I mean:

"But what makes this new era of anti-Semitic violence in Europe different from previous ones is that traditional Western patterns of anti-Semitic thought have now merged with a potent strain of Muslim Judeophobia. Violence against Jews in Western Europe today, according to those who track it, appears to come mainly from Muslims, who in France, the epicenter of Europe’s Jewish crisis, outnumber Jews 10 to 1."

"That the chief propagators of contemporary European anti-Semitism may be found in the Continent’s large and disenfranchised Muslim immigrant communities—communities that are themselves harassed and assaulted by hooligans associated with Europe’s surging right—is flummoxing to, among others, Europe’s elites."

"Muslims in Europe are in many ways a powerless minority. The failure of Europe to integrate Muslim immigrants has contributed to their exploitation by anti-Semitic propagandists and by recruiters for such radical projects as the Islamic State, or ISIS."
 
"Yet the new anti-Semitism flourishing in corners of the European Muslim community would be impoverished without the incorporation of European fascist tropes."

He ultimately comes to the right conclusion with lots of first-hand evidence: there is no Jewish future in Europe. The essay is most disturbing and accurate and enraging when he speaks to real Jews, with real day-to-day experiences with virulent, physically menacing Jew-hate.

Try reading the anecdote about the Jewish physician without getting angry.

"Yardéni wanted me to meet a physician named Charles Bensemhoun, who would explain, she said, the collapsing relationship between Toulouse’s 18,000 or so Jews and its much larger Muslim population."

"Bensemhoun, who is in his mid-50s, is Sephardic, born in Morocco. Three-quarters of France’s Jews are Sephardim, chased from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia in the 1950s and ’60s."

"Many of Bensemhoun’s patients are North African Muslims. “These are people like me, who were born there,” he told me outside the school’s synagogue."

“We speak the same language, literally”—he says he and his patients move easily between Arabic and French—“and we understand each other in very deep ways. They’re very comfortable with me as their doctor.”

"He went on, “But it’s changed in recent years. Now their children are telling them, ‘Don’t go to the Jew,’ ‘You can’t trust the Jew.’ They’ve become radicalized. It’s upsetting. The new generation is anti-Semitic in a way that we haven’t experienced.”

"Are these patients listening to their children? “Yes,” he said. “In some cases, yes.”


 Then, read about how Jews cannot travel safely to their school in 2015 France:

"Once we get here we’re safe,” one of the students told me."

(Really?)

“Getting here from home is the hard part.”

"Many of the students live in distant and equally perilous suburbs, including Sarcelles, the site of anti-Jewish riots this past summer; and Créteil, where Jews have suffered beatings and rapes by anti-Semitic gangs"

This essay also confirms my feeling that the Anne Frank house should be burned down and shut down. It's an industry, has been cynically "universalized", turned into a "brand" and is not particularly Jewish in any way, shape or form.

In conclusion, one can only concur that for Jews in Europe, as one of Goldberg's interlocutors points out, there is only a choice between le cercueil ou la valise—“the coffin or the suitcase.”

Michael Douglas: Finding Judaism and Antisemitism

This is a very forthcoming, reflective essay from actor Michael Douglas. 

I always find it interesting when people describe their experiences with real antisemitism.

Not third-party experiences or hearsay. The real deal.

For myself, I felt it in my bones when I was in Poland with my father-and probably not where you would think. Of course it's in the air in the Auschwitz grounds, but that's not where I felt it most acutely.

It happened in the little municipal records office of my grandmother's town (shtetl), when our taxi driver and translator was explaining to the clerk that we (my father and I) were looking to find the remains of the Jewish cemetery and if they could tell me where my great-grandfather's synagogue/house had been.

The clerk looked at me-if looks could kill-and spat out in Polish that if "she" wanted information "she" would have to go to Łomża. I felt my whole body go ice cold, because what she was really saying, and I could feel it was that Jew can go to hell. 

Another clerk, and our taxi driver were utterly aghast. 

In that instant I remember thinking to myself "that woman would have turned me over to the Nazis", and the second clerk would have hid me. 

That's the most acute antisemitism I have faced directly. I suppose that's lucky. 

Anyway, Douglas' essay is a worthwhile read.

When Saudi Arabia Talks About Nuclear Proliferation...

I'd be inclined to listen very carefully.

"Before I Go": A Stanford Neurologist's Parting Wisdom About Life and Time

This is beautiful and so sad.

It's heartbreaking and life-affirming. 

It made me cry.

"Most ambitions are either achieved or abandoned; either way, they belong to the past."

"The future, instead of the ladder toward the goals of life, flattens out into a perpetual present. Money, status, all the vanities the preacher of Ecclesiastes described, hold so little interest: a chasing after wind, indeed. Yet one thing cannot be robbed of her futurity: my daughter, Cady. I hope I’ll live long enough that she has some memory of me."

Do read the whole thing.

Just Sayin....

Beware the eyes of Marge pic.twitter.com/G0hdAG7N4X

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) March 15, 2015

Jewish Mom Reads Three Alpha Male Books in a Row

LOL. How's that for a headline?

I have three books to recommend-all quick reads.

First:

Me, Inc. by Gene Simmons


This is a really interesting book about Gene Simmons' rise to fame-his calculated, clever business acumen, and how he went from being a penniless refugee in Israel, with only his Holocaust-survivor Mom to lean on, to building a veritable empire. There is lots of common sense in the book and it should certainly inspire people to take concrete steps to create a successful life (read: money). I disagreed with a lot of the life advice though-about how many children to have, about when to get married, but I agree that women cannot "have it all".

The other thing that was food for thought, for me anyway, was his admission (via the reality show) that he really almost lost the things that truly mattered (his partner, now wife and his children) because of his philandering and narcissistic tendencies. So it just makes me wonder about the value of that kind of material success if you risk losing the important humans in your life-or risk not having any at all in your life.

He's very, very smart, with lots of great advice, and a very patriotic, charitable person. Worth your time.

Second:

President Me by Adam Carolla



Oh boy this one made me laugh. It's got lots of funny in it, and I snorted out loud on the subway reading the speech to the UN.

Again, lots of common sense in here and as I always say-common sense: not so common!

Last, but certainly not least: Love Life, by Rob Lowe.

I didn't know what to expect from this book, and I haven't read his first one (I will for sure now), but it's a really interesting part auto-biography, part philosophy book and it takes you through his meteoric acting career, the libidinous and alcohol-fueled years and then rehab and settling into the very best roles of his life as husband and father.

I won't spoil the book for you, but I will say that the passage about 'how things end' really was an exceptionally powerful and emotionally riveting part of the book. It was just lovely. I also learned not to trust Jewish redheads-but for that whole story (also very sweet and funny) you have to read the book as well.

The extra awesome thing about the Rob Lowe book, is that I tweeted that I really enjoyed it (I follow him on Twitter), and that the passage on loss, and how things end was  beautiful and poignant and he favourited the Tweet.

So, I had a total fan girl hysterical OMG OMG meltdown moment last night, while my kids totally laughed at me.

He's a very smart guy and quite a substantial writer. I was moved by quite a number of vignettes in the book.

Best Story of the Day: TOM, Developing Products in Israel, In A Three Day Marathon, With the Disabled For the Disabled

"Nothing for us without us." 

I. LOVE. THIS.

Making the world a better place indeed.

THIS is "tikkun olam". The real deal. 

G-d bless Steph Wertheimer and all of the individuals who came together for this.

This is truly amazing. Absolutely inspiring.

The Problem With the European Union

Is primarily that Greeks are living like Greeks, but the bill gets sent to Germany.

It's not realistic to think that all Europeans are the same, work the same, think the same and are inclined to the same levels of productivity and earning power.

Some people like to work and save and some people like to spend, especially when it's other people's money. 

OPA!

The Brilliant David Solway: Let Us Count the Gulags

Utterly depressing in true conservative spirit.

(That's a compliment of course!) 

A must read.

John Kerry: US Will Have to Negotiate With Syria

What could possibly be wrong with that? 

Good thing he already has experience in this area.

Melanie Phillips: The End of Childhood

The currently en vogue trend of hypersexualizing children absolutely terrifies me.

It quite literally keeps me up at night.

"Even those charged with children’s protection have not regarded premature sexual activity as a problem. Children’s homes have regularly shrugged aside the fact that young girls in their care are too often ‘on the game’ outside their walls. You’d hardly think that we have an age of consent."

"Dishing out contraceptives to children is deemed essential by all governments. It’s obvious isn’t it (goes the thinking) that, well, children will inevitably get up to stuff? And so society must accept that they’ll be having sex at 12, 11, ten, whatever."

"All you can do is try to prevent bad outcomes that have an impact on the rest of us. That means babies. So, of course, you dish out condoms to young teenagers. Of course, you offer abortion services to children as young as 11 without informing their parents. And, of course, you give them sex education, telling even primary school children about oral sex and prostitution."

"So the idea that children having sex is always a form of child abuse is dismissed. The only people who could possibly object are by definition religious nuts and reactionaries, right?"

"Well, not so fast."

Pre-Sabbath Update on the State of the World

Otherwise known as the world according to me.

Really, this is just a summary of things that I have been thinking about over the past few days.

Real life remains very busy, but there is still lots to talk about.

I've collected a bunch of links over the week and when I look at them together, they form a pretty dismal picture. The world, like life, goes in waves. Up and down, wave after wave.

From the super doooooper extra special American envoy/Tsar on antisemitism, the admission that "security" for European Jews is just a band-aid "solution" and that many European Jewish communities simply are not viable.

A month after the terrorist attack at her Bat Mitzvah, the family celebrates in Israel-which is really where they should be thinking of putting down roots and not clinging to the fantasy of European Jewish life. It's really not 'living' anymore.

They are "bankrupted" by security costs. European Jewish communities are paying for their own perilous, fragile survival, and it's truly just a band-aid and nobody wants to deal with the fatal, gushing wound

In the UK, the great Douglas Murray surveys the epidemic Jew-hatred in British academia. It's a repulsive picture. Britain is, unfortunately, no longer great, no longer proud of its heritage.

Two Jewish teens are beaten to a pulp outside a Marseille synagogue.

ISIS has a new BFF.

Egypt's Sisi is facing growing pressures and threats, having been abandoned by America. 

Sisi and Israeli PM Netanyahu "talk a lot". Obama has, ironically, by abandoning Israel and Egypt to the wolves, created a warmer peace between the two countries than Sadat!

This is the law of unintended consequences in action!

Many Palestinians want democracy, but their democratic aspirations will fall on the deaf ears of Obama administration.

Iran laughs in all of our faces. 

Evil laughs in our face because the free world is suffering through the second agonizing term of the silliest, most juvenile, narcissistic, empty-suit, ignorant, classless, President in American history. 

America can no longer be called the leader of the free world-just what Obama wanted. Mission accomplished.

Meanwhile in South America-not so great for Jews in Argentina.

Not even the dead ones can rest in peace.

I'm not feeling terribly optimistic right now.

Even in Canada, Jewish blood is cheap. 

Where are the Official Jews on this?

Where is the "Conservative" Party? Where is Prime Minister Harper, where is Jason Kenney? Where is CIJA? Where is the Canadian Jewish News?

Do you hear that?

That's the deafening sound of silence in the face of real threats and violence against Jews and a disgraceful miscarriage of justice. And nobody "official" cares a whit. 

It's pathetic. 

Plus, I have a hunch that Israel is going to swing left in the upcoming elections. 

As usual, people write to me, frustrated and angry asking what to do.

So I will spell it out again.

Don't be afraid.  Fight back with the skills you have, fight what you can-not what you can't.

Love your children, raise them well.  Honour your parents who gave you life.

Love and respect your partner in life.

Give thanks. Smile. Compliment. Hold the door. Say hello. Sing. Dance. Host. Hum. Share. Give. Pray.

These are all essential victories.

Stay in it for the long run.

Live well and Carpe Diem.

Hashtag Fail!

"Truth from the mouth of the horse."

Har!

Elizabeth Hurley: Hot At 49

She is a knockout. 

This is definitely how to do 49.

Memo to self: turn 49 in a "white frock".

Forget the Bard, The Beard Is Back

I think most men look better with stubble/scruff or (trimmed) beards.

I think it's really odd when men have such a close shave that they are aiming for a pre-adolescent or childish look.

If you have the unfortunate "pleasure" of watching kids shows on Disney, or other channels, you've no doubt noticed that the male actors shave super closely to look much, much younger. I imagine most kids would get freaked out if their favourite stars had beards. But it's just unreal and weird.

Anyway-always bringing you the important stories:

Celebrities with and without beards!

Blog Plug: Seraphic Secret

I just want to take a moment to plug this wonderful blog.

It's Seraphic Secret by Robert J. Avrech. 

There is so much good stuff in here, I've bookmarked it.

The Purim piece and the piece on his father are particularly magnificent.

American Mom Shoots Family TV

Hard to disagree with her.

The criminal charges seem a bit overboard, but it seems like a complicated family with all kinds of issues.

Nonetheless, children need less screen time and more outdoor play.

Do Jews Have a "Guilt" Gene?

Do not ask my mother. 

Nor my kids.

Thank you.

"How to Wear a Denim Shirt"

I love the first look, including the sandals and the model's lovely hair.

So clearly, the first rule of how to wear a denim shirt with a fringe, suede skirt is: BE VERY SKINNY. 

You're welcome.

Robert Downey Jr.-Super Mensch

Saw this via a Tweet from Iowahawk, and I think it's amazing. 

As I've said before, people have no obligation to give their hard earned money to anyone and celebrities are under no obligation to donate their time and resources to any cause. But those who do, and especially, those who make the very hard lives of sick and dying children better, well-they are really special individuals.

Kudos.

I think directing his efforts and fame to a cause such as this shows character and says a lot about the man. 

Crazy Interesting: The Mystery Behind Anesthesia

I found this article fascinating and totally creepy and amazing all at the same time.

See if you concur. 

Via Insapundit.

Jean Vanier, Living Saint, Wins $2.1 Million Prize for Work With Disabilities

He is one of my favourite people alive (and I don't have that many, believe me).

I know that suburban Jewish mothers do not get to vote on Catholic saints (bummer, right?!?!), but I am telling you: SAINT. 

I love this man. 

"Relationships with disabled people are genuine because they are people with no position of power or hidden agenda."

Vanier:

"A former navy officer who resigned his commission in 1950 and and looked for an outlet for his Catholic faith and desire to help others, Mr. Vanier was drawn to the plight of institutionalized people."

"In 1964, he invited two mentally disabled men to live with him in the village of Trosly Breuil, north of Paris, in a house they called L’Arche, after Noah’s Ark."

"More than 50 years later, L’Arche has more than 100 communities worldwide."

"Since then, Mr. Vanier said in his statement, the world has changed in some ways for the better, so that slavery and apartheid are no longer acceptable notions and disabled people are no longer seen as lesser humans who need to be concealed."

"But in other ways, the world remains a hard place." 

Way to Go Skokie, IL and Libeinu

Libeinu in Hebrew means "our hearts".

This is just wonderfully inspiring, a fantastic model for supported living.

What Do You Think About the Voice From the River?

I think there are a great many things that cannot be explained easily by individuals without faith.

It's still a good question. 

What do you think?

Absolutely Beautiful Personal Essay: My Late Sister's Memory Lives on in Her Recipes

This essay is a magnificent gem. 

I read it and tears welled up in my eyes.

It's clever, sentimental without being maudlin and just lovely. 

Please read the whole thing.

Lots of love flowing through this.

"Only one man had contributed to the recipe box – our father. He knew that my sister, who left home at age 16 to attend nursing school and lived in residence, had little or no culinary skills, so he decided to start with the basics: How to Boil Water."

"Painstakingly printed in capital letters, his recipe read:"

"Preparation time: 2 to 5 mins
Number of servings: 2
Source of recipe: Dad
Take container in left hand, leaving right hand free. Turn hot or cold water tap to the right (this is located at rear of sink). When container is filled to required level, carry to stove with either hand. Place container on burner located on top of stove (there are either 3 or 4 burners). Turn knob located at front of stove to high. Water will boil in 2 to 5 mins, depending on the amount in the container."

"Note: It is not necessary to stir as the liquid will not burn, solidify or crystallize."

Wow: Go, Fido, Go: Dog Sniffs Out Thyroid Cancer in Urine

That is pee-ty amazing!

Mother and Autistic Son Sue Peel Regional School Board Over Abusive Practices

Looks like child abuse to me. 

The allegations, which have not been proven in court, include:

A support worker would “place him in a chair and hold his arms tightly behind the back of the chair for certain periods of time” as a form of punishment when he was in kindergarten at one school;

Christian was “placed in a solitary isolation room for several hours, sometimes for the duration of the entire school-day” at another school where he completed Grades 1 to 3; the school referred to the room as “Mexico.”

The room was “approximately the size of a small walk-in closet” and “the defendants … would alternate sitting on a chair against the door to prevent Christian from exiting the room.”

He was placed alone in a room at another school on several occasions, and that at both schools, he was denied access to food, water or a toilet while in the room, and forced to clean up after urinating.

Another school made “false and misleading” reports to Children’s Aid “with the intent to destabilize Karen Thorndyke’s custody of Christian, and with further intent to intimidate Karen Thorndyke from subsequent involvement with the school.”

Here is how the school board is describing what was done to her child:

"School board spokeswoman Carla Pereira, speaking generally and not about this case, said schools make use of what the board calls “alternate learning environments” for students with special needs, to de-escalate their behaviour if it presents an immediate danger to themselves or others."

“The guiding principle is that the length of time spent in an alternate learning environment should be as short as possible,” she said. 

Bomb Found at Jewish Home Day Care in Los Angeles

Terrorism is here. 

This is a Jewish home day care.

Someone wanted to murder Jewish children. Someone among us.

A friend in LA has a friend on that street. The police confirmed it was a bomb.

RELATED:

Anti-Israel climate on campus leading to bad stuff in America. 

What European Leaders Are Really Talking About With Their "Don't Leave Us" Chit Chat

Partly, they don't want their first line of defense to go MIA.

But also, they see the economic writing on the wall as well. 

Money talks, my friends.

""This minority is going in case authorities are not delivering some real, real stuff," the Russian told Reuters at London's Kensington Palace."

"This minority is going to leave Europe, definitely because this question just now in every Jewish family in Europe: to leave or to stay. There's no other solution. And the only one thing which can stop at the moment this process is real gestures of the authorities on a European level and on a British level."

"Kantor, who's also the president of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, warned if the authorities took no action then the potential Jewish exodus from Europe could create an economic crisis."

"If at the moment authorities are not going to deliver some real gestures, I think it will be the trigger for a very, very important economical crisis in Europe and in any country, any big country," he said.

"I think out of three million Jews that are living in Europe at least one million, very active part or young part, self-sufficient part are going to leave and it will be a disaster, an economical disaster for Europe in general because first of all some supporters, non-Jewish supporters will come with Jews. "

"It's a lot of cash and money currents are going to leave Europe and also businesses," Kantor explained."

Meet My Favourite Band, Ever, Ever, EVAH EVAH EVAH in the Whole Entire World

And the crowd goes wild for The Holocaust Survivor Band!!!'

I've posted about these incredible dudes before, but didn't have a video clip. You gotta watch this, it will do your heart good. 

"Somebody up there told me what to do."

I Like This Idea: Dutch Students Choose To Live Rent-Free in Nursing Homes In Exchange For Working With Elderly Residents

For the right individuals, this is a great idea. 

I like it.

Who Is Max Blumenthal, And What Does He Want From Us?

Nicely played, David Mikics at Tablet Magazine. 

The phrase "pisher di tutti pishers" is A REAL KEEPER AND I AM SO LIBERATING THAT. 

"But the truth is that Blumenthal is a pisher di tutti pishers and the mainstreaming of him has no political importance, since none of his political views are original to him. As a reporter, the best one can say about him is that he doesn’t speak Hebrew or Arabic, and he doesn’t have any sources—so it’s hard to fault him for getting things wrong. Rather, his specialty is the age-old marketing of Israel as a unique repository of the world’s evils and therefore a deserving target of unrestrained invective. The question then, is really for anti-Zionists who believe their cause to be motivated by justice and human rights: What to do about the hater in their midst?"

The UK Is Screwed: Four Year Old Child Bike Arrest Edition

I really so, so glad that British police have nothing else to worry about nowadays.

Interesting: Why Reform and Conservative Judaism Don't Really Flourish in Israel

Some good points in this essay, but I would say this is the main thing: 

"The synagogue model of Jewish life is an excellent idea that works well in the Diaspora, where the society around you is secular and multicultural. In effect, the synagogue becomes the nucleus of the community and thus of all Jewish life. This model, however, is irrelevant to Israeli life. “As far as Israeli society goes, the pre-modern kehilah has already been reconstituted and restructured as a nation-state,” Mirsky continued."

“The whole country is, ostensibly, a community center.”

Correct!

Also, I think that Israelis are not generally inclined to classifications of their religiosity. It's more buffet style than anywhere else in the Jewish world. Israelis are less rigid about the lines dividing communities and don't want or need others to define their spirituality. Most Israeli Jewish women light candles on Friday night. Does that make them Orthodox? No. Most Israeli Jews have a Seder on Passover and abstain from eating leavened products. Orthodox? Conservative? Who cares?

A Profile in Courage From the UK

Wow.

Meet Naz Shah, the woman opposing George Galloway in the upcoming British elections.

Quite a story.

Read the whole thing.

American Tourists Carve Initials Into Colosseum, Take Selfies

THESE SELFISHIES ARE THE SCOURGE OF THE WORLD

"The young women, whose names were not released, were cited for “aggravated damage to a building of historical and artistic interest,” according to Italian newspaper La Stampa."

"Though signs against vandalism are posted all over the site in Italian and English, the girls said they didn’t realize that defacing a 2,085-year-old relic was that big a deal."

“We did not imagine it was something so serious,” they were quoted saying, adding that they will remember the rules “for a lifetime.”

Cool: Trove of Ancient Coins and Jewlry Found By Hikers in Israeli Cave

History geek out!

The Most Un-Reported Story That You Should Be Reading About....

Egypt.

The Sisi Revolution. 

This is big.

In Which I Salute German Technology

This made me laugh. 

Awesome: Bride Moves Ceremony To Hospital So Her Own Pregnant Mom Can Be There

Baby 11!

Mazel Tov!!

Wow: Young Man From Windsor Who Broke His Neck in Football Game Gets Out of Wheelchair And Walks Again

What a phenomenal story.

Just amazing.

Soldiers With Autism Give IDF New Insights Into Disorder and Military Intelligence

Great article.

Inspired thinking. 

"“When You Get Here, You’ll Be Treated Like A Princess.."

Wow.

This is a very interesting essay on how young, European women are lured into being ISIS brides.

Obama Learned About Clinton E-Mails, Just Like You, From the Media

And let me make this clear:

Nobody is madder about it than him.

History Geek Out: 4 Amazing Ancient Hebrew Archeological Discoveries

COOOOOOOOL. 

Early 2015 Darwin Award Winner?

"She stole my coke..."

Krauthammer: Churchill Was Also Ignored

Correct. 

In Obama's America

Paybacks are a bitch.

Finally Home: WW2 Dog Tag Lost on D-Day Gets Returned to American Widow

I dunno about you, but this story just made me all weepy. 

"This past summer, 70 years after D-Day, Francois Blaizot pulled the tag off Utah Beach and managed to mail it back to the United States with help from a lot of Good Samaritans. The tag was presented to Ms. Wallace Thursday at her home in American Senior Communities."

Rest in Peace, brave soul. 

Caroline Glick: Life Under the US Umbrella

Do read the whole thing:

"The day after Saudi King Salman signed his nuclear deal with Park, US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Riyadh to meet with him and with the foreign ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman."

"According to news reports, Kerry offered the Arab leaders to place them under the US nuclear umbrella to protect them from Iran’s nuclear weapons program."

"There can be no doubt that in his conversations with the South Korean leader, King Salman discussed what life is like under an American security guarantee. And it is hard to see that he considers it a good bargain."

"It is not merely that the US is deterred by North Korea, and therefore is willing to humiliate and endanger South Korea to avoid having to contend with Pyongyang. It is that US President Barack Obama has destroyed the credibility of US security guarantees by repeatedly failing to stand by them."

OOOOOH. "Men and Coffee"

Like.

Idiotic: New York City Elementary School Bans Homework

I just read about this.

Apparently, this educator feels that children need more time in front of screens. That's what "play" is nowadays. And can't they, you know-READ STUFF in school?

Appalling.

Pathetic: Thalidomide Victims Get $125K Pay Out

A drop in the bucket. 

It's PURIM, BABY.

They totally tried to kill us, we fought back, we won-LET'S EAT.

Actually, on Purim it's also 'let's get sloshed', so seriously people if you are driving today watch out for drunken Jews. I know that sounds funny because usually it would be more like watch out for Jews who have eaten too much, because we tend to go heavy on the festive foods and light on the drink but like I said, it's Purim.

I don't really have much to add to the commentary that is circulating about the 'wow' factor that Israeli PM Netanyahu was speaking right before Purim about (another) existential threat to the Jewish people. That's been covered.

But for seriously and not for joking-is this another coincidence?

That is to say whaaaaaaaat?!?!??!

Anyway, lots of stuff about Purim here.

But I thought it might be a good time to remind The World why we Jews need Israel. I have some helpful reminders.

This is just a brief survey of where things are at for the Jews this Purim.

Watch the Israeli Ambassador to Berlin read hate mail.



The feckless John Kerry pretty much admits nuclear green light given to Iran, offers the gift of nuclear proliferation to other Middle Eastern states that are also not democracies. What could possibly go wrong?

Even the Arabs think that Obama is wrong on Iran, and are urging him to listen to Netanyahu. Fat chance, of course.

Gulf countries feel thrown under the bus. Imagine how Israel feels?

In the United Kingdom, the BBC accuses Israel of "playing the Holocaust card". 

Meanwhile, students and staff at UK universities don't want to get no JOOOOTIES. 

Pat Condell is not impressed!

(Must watch...must, must, must...)

Dennis Prager pens an excellent essay explaining why Obama hates Netanyahu so much.

In South America: murder.

I will leave you with my favourite part of Netanyahu's speech. I thought the whole thing was riveting and will be seen as historic for many reasons. It was articulate, clear and forthright and hit all the right notes. I seriously hope the entire speech writing team got major kudos for that baby.

The part though, that pretty much turned me into a weeping yet happy Jewish mushball, bursting with pride was when he said that the days of Jews passively accepting genocide, were over.

That was the supreme take away from the speech for me and I'm sure, many others.

We'd rather have you with us, but we'll stand alone if we have to.

Those days are over. 

Outstanding.

Best. Purim. Message. Ever.

Chag Sameach!

In Which I Salute Adam Levine

Yes, I am a sucker for these stories. 

Celebrities do not have any obligation to do nice things for total strangers. They don't have to care.

But sometimes they do, and like those who visit and grant the wishes of sick and dying children, these encounters show a very pure, lovely humanity.

RIP Leonard Nimoy

Seems like he lived a very rich, love-filled life.

Uber Schmuck Jeffrey Goldberg Doubles Down on "Netanyahu is A Coward" Source

Goldberg is a major, douchey, liberal beta male who just happens to have been born Jewish.

No wonder he hates Netanyahu so much. 

Burying A Martyr in Moscow

Troubling, awful, sinister. 

Nice: Jews and Arabs Run Together in Jerusalem

I just saw a t-shirt on line that says "I Run To Fight the Crazy".

I totally am that shirt, but "exercise" instead of run.  Never got the "run" bug, but I like hearing myself say it "oooh I'm going for a run" or "I'm going running". It has a certain cache but it's not my thing.

ANYHOOO!

I run to co-exist is not a bad t-shirt either.

See what you think.

Disgraceful: Parents Still Under Watch, With Children's Services File For Letting Kids Walk "Alone"

This is so crazy. 

It certainly is the "walk that was heard around the world".

I know everyone has a 'when I was a kid, I walked four miles barefoot in the snow to the one-room schoolhouse' stories, but seriously!!!

My brother and I walked to school, then home for lunch and back to school all by ourselves. We took the bus on the weekends to the Science Center, by ourselves. We played outside with all the neighbourhood kids in the nice weather till it got dark. We played in the park! We argued over which park to go to. The "swing park"? Or the "tree park"? How far we've devolved! How much freedom and independence has been lost-or rather-surrendered.

When your children can be taken from you by the state, for letting them walk without an adult, the state has too much power.

Shameful.

Hey It's Purim...

-@TimesofIsrael is celebrating #Purim! Photo by Noam Navaro pic.twitter.com/2NqsFIz3TW

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) March 4, 2015

News You Can Use: "You Look Hotter After 1 Drink, Not 2"

You're welcome!

Netanyahu's Grand Slam

Via John Podhoretz: 

"Netanyahu yesterday laid out, calmly and comprehensively, the reasons the deal is likely to be a bad one — and he had not only an audience of Americans vastly larger than he would’ve had if the president hadn’t had his hissy fit, but also the ear of the audience that matters most in this regard."

"That audience is the United States Senate."

"And his audience heard him."

It Was So Beautiful "She Made Me Cry"

Beauty is all around us.

The Crowd Goes Wild For Holocaust Survivor Band

As they should.

It's a celebration of life.

Lovely: Tennessee Student With Down Syndrome Crowned "Coming Home King"

If you are having a bad day, and think people and the world are rotten, watch and read this. 

Saudi Arabia Stands With Israel

America (Obama) not so much.

Why Is the Daily Mail Rationalizing Evil?

"He stole my lunch money" is not an excuse for terrorism.

They Mean What They Say

And say what they mean.

Full Text of Netanyahu's Speech to Congress

I may have to read it a few more times. 

Listening to it live was inspirational and a real pleasure. More thoughts on it later.

Best Story of the Day: Man Sees Wife For First Time in 10 Years With Bionic Eye

Outstanding. 

This is the beauty and power of the human mind at work and this is what love looks like. Just look at the way they hold hands. So lovely.

Australia Takes School Security Seriously

Ha ha.  

Just kidding. 

Thanks to my Australian correspondent for sending these in. 

What Australia is saying is that all schools can apply for extra security funding, which is another way of saying that there is no particular risk to any one community, we're all equals, etc...which is another way of making a painful and frankly, gutless moral equivalence.  

They are emphasizing 'taxpayer funded', as if parents should be so gushingly grateful for 'government' largesse. Why shouldn't the public be consulted about the very broad approach that their government is taking with their money? Is school security actually an equal threat to all communities? Are all children at risk? Or some more than others?

The Minister of Justice thus says:

“There are certain schools throughout Australia that have a slightly higher-risk profile,” he said."
 
“This isn't a result to anything specific...There has been an increased threat in Australia in general.”

The funding breakdown, thus far:

• 11 Government schools—$1,931,500
• 17 Jewish schools—$7,569,100
• 15 Islamic schools—$4,439,800
• 11 Independent schools—$2,706,200

The Justice Minister of Australia is too gutless to say "Jewish children in Australia are at higher risk for jihadist terrorism".  How can the entire security of Australia be trusted to a man who cannot, or will not even articulate threats that are most certainly uneven, not "general", and not "random"? 

Answer-it cannot and should not.

For shame.

Meanwhile Elsewhere in the Middle East...

Our friends, the Saudis.

Atara Beck: The Silence of the Official Jews

Actually, her title is "Will American Jewry Again Fail to Confront Historic Threat?"

Of course the answer is YES. They will fail because they are failing.

They are cautious and timid and have no interest in truly comprehending the existential threats.

Do read the whole thing. 

This summary of Jewish politics is actually via Beck's late father, but it remains devastatingly accurate: 

"Jewish politics, as strong today as ever, has been dictated by the fear of the goy (non-Jew)..."

"What will the goy say if I fight in order to live?"

"Will I still be a ‘nice Jew ‘who will receive a greeting from the president on the Jewish New Year, stressing the historic contribution of the Jew to Judeo-Christian civilization?"

"Will the politicians still continue to put on yarmulkas at political meetings in order to impress the Jews that they recognize the so-called Hebrew contribution to their civilized society?"

John Kerry Jukebox Moves From "You've Got a Friend (France)" to "Give Peace in Our Time A Chance" (Israel, Or Else)

John Kerry:

"The Obama administration's diplomatic record with Iran entitles the U.S. to "the benefit of the doubt". 

What could possibly go wrong?

It's not like the current American administration wants Israel wiped off the face of the earth or anything.

Yet, the most important thing to the Thug In Chief is not to "disrespect" him. 

You just don't go dissing the POTUS!

"This Man Is Dangerous"

Indeed.

"Not only does Obama believe he can set immigration policy without legal authority from Congress. Now, he believes he is the only person, the Leader, who sets foreign and defense policy objectives and means. Yes, this clearly contradicts the Constitution, which places this duty and power in Congress, subject to the President’s execution of Congress’s law. But the Constitution is a scrap of paper to Mr. Obama. No more than a scrap of paper, as is anything that gets in his way."

As VDH says:

"The liberal left got what it wanted in 2009 with a supermajority in the Senate and large majority in the House, a subservient mainstream media, the good will of the American people, and the most liberal president in American history."

"It only took that the liberal hierarchy six years to erode the Democratic Party to levels that we have not seen since the 1920s. Almost every policy initiative we have seen — whether climate change, foreign policy, health care, or race relations — has imploded."

"The answer to these failures has not been introspection, humility, or reevaluation why the liberal agenda proved unpopular and unworkable, but in paranoid fashion to double-down on it, convinced that its exalted aims must allow any means necessary — however farcical —  to achieve them."

"This is Not Charity. It's Business."

A very interesting piece from Tavia Grant on profitable initiatives that integrate disabled individuals into the work force.

Despite Hysterical Pearl-Clutching, Bibi Is the Hottest Ticket In Town

Plus: 

"Support for Israel continues to be bipartisan, he stressed, and Democratic support for the Jewish state has not receded. "Really," he added, "the only conflict here is between the White House and Israel."

America Avoids DHS Shut Down

Why?

Seriously. Why?

"Now You Know Why I Am Here"

Paris terrorism: not so "random" after all. 

Egypt Declares Hamas A Terrorist Group

America, not so much.

Apparently, ISIS Has Not Embraced Sexual Diversity

They didn't get the memo.

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid were not available for comment.

Why Should Anyone Care What Alan M. Dershowitz Thinks of Israel?

In my opinion, he is completely disqualified  from offering an opinion, never mind chastizing fellow Democrats and I'll tell you why.

With this lede, he is null and void on Israel and nothing he says should be taken seriously.

"As a liberal Democrat who twice campaigned for President Barack Obama..."

He should just shut up.

Imagine Israeli PM Netanyahu taking him seriously when he admits to such terrible judgement. not once, but TWICE voting for the most antisemitic and anti-Zionist President in American history.