Why Would The White House Dinner For Scandinavian Leaders Hold Interest For Irish And Irish-Descended Americans?

As the POTUS And the First Lady host Scandinavian national leaders at a White House dinner, some Irish and Irish-descended Americans might want to pay attention. Among those whom want to pay attention to (as far as I know) milestone White House dinner:

1. McLaughlins (e.g., pollster John McLaughlin and Baseball Crank's Dan McLaughlin)
2. O'Reillys (And Reillys, Etc.) (including me, as my mother's late paternal grandmother is a Reilly—thus, by the way,  my Reilly's name)
3. Goulds whom are Irish [as opposed to Jewish] 
4. Reynoldses

Two and Four, by the way, apply to four of my relatives (whose names and relationships to me I will not disclose for the sake of their privacy). 

Rejection Hurts. Even For-the-Best-Rejection Hurts.

Examples of hurtful, good and bad, rejections:

1. Societal rejection, which effects mass-scale evils such as the Holocaust and the continuing rise of Donald Trump. For Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, and other peoples; women, people with disabilities, and immigrants to be told, "You don't count;" "you're not a part of America", etc. hurts—didn't Jews already suffer rejection during the Holocaust, including in the U.S. (when, e.g., Bernard Baruch was blamed for the "Jew Deal" and the "S.S. St. Louis" was turned away)? Didn't Blacks already suffer with Jim Crow and the Nadir? Didn't Hispanics already suffer with being stereotyped during "Operation Wetback"? Never mind that women suffered until even decades after Susan B. Anthony came along, and never mind that people with disabilities are still mistreated (by those such as Dana Stubblefield and TMZ, whom went after the rape victim and her "bizarre profile"—shame on TMZ for going after a person with intellectual disabilities, let alone a person with intellectual disabilities whom was trying to find a job and got raped at work!). 
2. Familial rejection—all one, e.g., has to do is read the headlines about how a mother murdered her four-year-old child whom had Cystic Fibrosis and how female middle- and high-school students throw away their newly-born children as if the children are disposable tampons or medical waste such as pushed-out kidney stones.
3. Romantic rejection—especially for people whom've been abused and/or whom are disabled, both having to reject romantic prospects and being rejected as a romantic prospect hurts. I've been on both sides of the rejector-rejectee coin—I had to call the police on each ex after I broke up with him, and I'm a stigma in myself because of my disabilities and having been abused (verbally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically) in the past. Also refer to the point about societal rejection—I'm not the only person with disabilities (including mental illnesses) who's been seen as a romantic liability and/or undesirable.
4. Professional rejection—e.g., getting a book manuscript rejected (which just happened to me, and I'm trying to find out how I can improve and resubmit the manuscript), résumé rejections, and rejections that stem from societal rejections (e.g., Refer to the point about Dana Stubblefield's victim, whom was raped on the job that she finally found; and read some of Jeff Woodward's writings and writings that Jeff Woodward has shared—which prove my point that ableism is rampant in the workplace because it is rampant in society, despite that my family refuses to believe me).
5. Rejection by friends—or at least whom you thought were friends—and mentors—or at least whom you thought were mentors. Rejection, of course, includes betrayal—and one example of betrayal is Dr. Ben Carson's betrayal of African Americans by his endorsement of Donald Trump and slamming of Harriet Tubman's being placed on the $20 bill.

Most of the rejection types and examples thereof are bad rejections, although even the bad rejections—as hurtful as they are—have at least some good in them. e.g.:

1. Non Trumpites have found out just really how America's colors run or don't run—even if there's a silent majority whom won't speak against Donald Trump (and Donald Trump's friend Hillary Clinton).
2. People whose families rejected them sometimes don't even have to live in an increasingly-cruel and -miserable world, let alone among cruel and miserable families.
3. One finds out and/or is reminded of what true love is and what true love isn't.
4. One is forced to either carry on and/or even improve if doing so is possible.
5. If someone seems too good to be truly good, they may just be—e.g., Dr. Ben Carson has shown how much intelligence does not equal wisdom, and how the supposedly-outsider conservative and retired neurosurgeon-turned-aspiring-POTUS is really a Dixiecrat to the core—one can't be a true Republican and good role model for African-American young men and women if he supports Tammany-Hall Trump and Andrew Jackson over Harriet Tubman.

Open Letter To Dr. Ben Carson

I suppose that the cost of human lives during the Jackson Presidency means nothing to you. In 1832, Andrew Jackson sent Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears". 100 years later, an inspiree of Andrew Jackson was elected in Germany and implemented the so-called "Final Solution" 110 years after the Trail of Tears.

Then again, you blamed Jews for being unarmed during the Holocaust. You also stated that the Germans weren't armed, when only Jews were not allowed to be armed. The Germans and others (with few exceptions, among them German Dietrich Bonehoeffer and Dutchwoman Corrie ten Boom) willingly collaborated with the National Socialist party whom Germany elected and Europe overall. 

Yet, here you are supporting a nationalistic socialist. Then again, your support of Donald Trump makes total sense for you, given that you support a racist and an Anti Semite whose inspirations include a Pharaoh of his day (and Andrew Jackson virulently hated Jews, which is why the Anti Semites love and laud him) instead of Harriet Tubman, the African-American female Moses of her day.

Did the Second American Civil War Just Begin In New Orleans? If So, Of Course White Supremacists Would Begin It; And They Did So Over Robert E. Lee Commemorations

According to Fox News and the Associated Press, New Orleans may be the new Fort Sumter:

"Backlash against a plan to remove prominent Confederate monuments in New Orleans has been tinged by death threats, intimidation and even what may have been the torching of a contractor's Lamborghini. For now, at least, things have gotten so nasty the city hasn't found a contractor willing to bear the risk of tearing down the monuments. The city doesn't have its own equipment to move them and is now in talks to find a company, even discussing doing the work at night to avoid further tumult.

"Initially, it appeared the monuments would be removed quickly after the majority black City Council on Dec. 17 voted 6-1 to approve the mayor's plan to take them down. The monuments, including towering figures of Gens. Robert E. Lee and P.G.T. Beauregard, have long been viewed by many here as symbols of racism and white supremacy."

If one keeps reading, he or she will come across reporting such as that:

"H&O Investments LLC. of Baton Rouge soon pulled out of the job, citing death threats, 'unkindly name-calling,' outrage on social media and the threat of other businesses canceling contracts. One day, ... 'a specific articulated threat' was phoned into city authorities warning workers at the monuments to leave for their safety. On Jan. 12, H&O sent the city a letter saying it was dropping out."

 I obviously don't use "Second American Civil War" lightly, then; and the prospect of a Second American Civil War involves nothing funny.

Originally On Writerbear Brussels Deserved The Attacks For Anti Semitism...According To, Among Others, Asher Schwartz And

Asher Schwartz and "The Jewish Press" posted a despicable editorial cartoon that blamed Belgium for Daesh's attacks on it. The Facebook page "Documenting Anti Semitism" shared the cartoon, and I began writing the following in the comments section until I realized that reporting such victim-shaming and giving everyone else the heads up might be a better idea.

Needlessly to mention, Asher Schwartz and "The Jewish Press" are also on notice that victim shaming is unacceptable to and unwelcome by the majority of 'am Yisra'el:

"Wow. Victim shaming much? This surely wasn't the attitude of Asher Schwartz and 'The Jewish Press ' about the 9/11 attacks, or after the attacks in Paris?

"The U.S. under the Carter and Clinton Administrations was particularly Anti Israel; so, did the U.S. get what it deserved post Clinton? BTW, Daesh is doing to Europe what Al Qadea did to the U.S.: targeting the Jews among them.

"In other words, are we to blame for what Daesh did to those of us in Paris and Brussels, and what Al Qadea did here? That's ultimately what Asher Schwartz and 'The Jewish Press' are saying. After all, just as Al Qadea wanted to target Jews*, Daesh wants to target Jews; and for 'The Jewish Press' to encourage Asher Schwartz to blame an Anti-Semitic attack on victims of Anti Semitism is akin to what Daesh and its influencers do and did—after all, Daesh's influences include a Nazi government that blamed Jews in Europe for Kristallnacht, don't they?"

*Per Page 251 of the "9/11 Commission Report":

"Mullah Omar is reported to have opposed this course of action for ideological reasons rather than out of fear of U.S.retaliation.He is said to have preferred for al Qaeda to attack Jews, not necessarily the United States. KSM contends that Omar faced pressure from the Pakistani government to keep al Qaeda from engaging in operations outside Afghanistan. Al Qaeda’s chief financial manager,Sheikh Saeed, argued that al Qaeda should defer to the Taliban’s wishes. "

Originally On Writerbeat: A Redacted 2005 Police Report, Depression, and An Ableist

The former two are not fair game. The latter one—a sick ableist—is—and the sick ableist in question is Donald Trump. Heidi Cruz did not wake up one day and decide to have a depressive episode that day (whether or not the depressive episode was a one-time episode or a flareup of chronic Depression). She did not decide to plan to sit 10 minutes away from traffic during a nervous breakdown, and she did not think that someone as cruel as Donald Trump would be cruel enough to use what can be a fatal mental illness to "spill the beans".

Nobody forced the aspiring First Lady Melania Trump (then model Melania Knauss) to pose nude for "GQ". Circumstances in Heidi Cruz's life, for whatever reason, did force her to have some kind of mental breakdown (regardless of whether the breakdown was a one-time depressive episode or just another flareup of Depression—flareups to which each Depression patients gets resigned in some respect, irrespective of how each of us deals with those flareups.).

Notwithstanding that Heidi Cruz intentionally sat 600 seconds from traffio of six—600 seconds in which she could have had her last breaths and ended her life—she got up and went home. Not everybody does that—in fact, some die at home—ask my great-great-granduncles Frank and Alexander Focko, as the former hung himself at his home and the latter fatally consumed cyanide in his home. 

Ask their dad, my-great-three-times grandfather Istvan Foczko (and while I'm not a mathematician, I know that for a man in his 50s with two sons whom committed suicide—and the sons being two of six sons—to not have committed suicide is statistically impossible—especially since one third of his sons also happened to be two of his seven children.).

Ask my father's paternal grandfather, whom changed his mind too late—he wanted to go home and had already jumped off of Falls River Bridge, blocking traffic with his abandoned-in-the-middle-of-the-bridge car and humiliatedly having drivers, three hunters whom tried to get him to the riverbank, and others watch as he drowned to death from not being able to hold on to a rock in the midst of Falls River currents.

In what year is Donald Trump, anyway—1905? 1913? 1935? 1964? Almost 52-111 years later, can't Donald Trump stop being childish and realize that victims of Depression (let alone Depression-affected suicide) are not stigmas (let alone suicides) in of themselves? At least relatively few—in more Westernized societies, anyway—view victims of suicide as the suicides themselves, even though many still view victims of Depression—and other mental illnesses—as stigmas. 

Donald Trump ought to go live in a shari'a-ruled or other Non-Westernized society if he continues to view people with mental illnesses as shari'a- and other Non-Western-minded people do—and even some Western societies, such as Croatia and Serbia, need to continue to work on Westernizing or even start Westernizing.

By the way, Meliana Trump's precious Slovenia still has its Westernization to implement—why doesn't Donald Trump suggest barring Slovenian immigrants whom are ableist and don't want to take care of their own?—or he could perhaps help Svenica and Ljubljana build adequate mental hospitals instead of focusing on castles. 

Originally On Writerbeat: Just Like Going To a Normative Jewish Funeral And Saying, "Do You Know Yeshua?"...

Some are using the Daesh terror attack against Brussels to push their own agendas. One of the agendas is Muslimophobia*. Another is Trumpism. Still another is blaming the EU for allowing in Middle Eastern refugees—aka, victim shaming—and still another is xenophobia and racism**.

Now is the time to simply comfort, console, grieve with, and support the Belgians—just like my role at a Normative (i.e., Non-Messianic) Jewish funeral would be to comfort fellow mourners among Tzion v'Yerushalayim, not ask "Do you know Yeshua?" or "Did [the decedent] know Yeshua?" or "Since [the decedent] died without knowing Yeshua, [he or she] is not in Heaven. Would you like to know how to stay out of Hell and avoid [the decedent]'s fate?"

Those who incite Muslimophobia, use Belgium's 9/11 to promote Donald Trump, or engage in shaming the Belgians and stereotyping are no better than, e.g., Jesus For Jesus under opportunistic and Holocaust-exploiting David Brickner or people whom go onto the comments section of "Times of Israel" articles about murder victims to proselytize—whom would similar to me were I to start giving the whole "Let me tell you about Yeshua" schpiel at, e.g., an Orthodox Jewish funeral (which is akin to what has happened in "Times of Israel" comments sections, with one incident in which a friend of a decedent's family friend had to get involved and ask people to refrain from proselytizing).

*Note that I did not say "Islamophobia". I grant that moderate Muslims are really Reform/Liberal/secular Mohammedans—and Jews in Poland were called "Mosaics", similarly and by the way; so, with all due respect, get over your political correctness. By the way, you could call Daesh, Al Qadea, etc. Orthodox Mohammedans or Ultra-Orthodox Mohammedans, since Mohammed was a violent man. By alienating Reform/Liberal/Secular Mohammedans ("moderate Muslims") are you going to help fight against Orthodox Mohammedism and Ultra-Orthodox Mohammedism?

**Stereotyping all Middle Eastern refugees as Mohammedans is wrong and may even be Anti Semitic in some cases, though you can be my guest if you want to risk labeling Jadid al-Islam (Mizrahi Anusim) and other Non Mohammedans, including Egyptian Jews and gentile Coptic Christians.

Originally On Writerbeat: If You Still Believe That Donald Trump Is A Christian And Patriotic American...

You couldn't be more wrong. If no other factor highlights that Donald Trump is not a Christian, that Donald Trump is Anti Semitic highlights that he can't even be a Christian. Trump openly attacked Jews such asJon Stewart and Mort Zuckerman, stereotyped Jews as moneycounters whom are "little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day" (and continued to stereotype Jews as fixated with money at the Republican Jewish Coalition forum), keeps a copy of "My New Order" by his bedside, and had a supporter whom openly gave a Nazi salute and threatened a Hispanic man in Chicago.

How can a man like that love a Jewish man named ישוע (in English, "Jesus")? As Corrie Ten Boom noted, loving God without loving Jews is entirely impossible. As I told a professor whom caused me to see part of why my paternal family (and some of my maternal family) became Anusim, "When you affront the Word of God, you affront the Jewish people." (Needlessly to say, I eventually left that college after that.)

Speaking of Anusim, meanwhile, why would Mexicans and Muslims be on on Donald Trump's hit list? Anusim anyone? That's what's scary: among Mexicans are many conversos, and among Muslims are quite a few "Jadid al-Islam". Don't think that Donald Trump is not knowledgable about this: he knows exactly what he's doing.

In fact, I had to warn an in-law cousin's grandnephew about this; and two of my Anusi ancestors are technically responsible for my cousin's branch's murders in the Holocaust—and I told him that I wish that I wasn't right about Donald Trump when he conceded that Donald Trump is dangerous.

Given that I had to warn my cousin's in-law grandnephew whom was more directly connected to my cousin and what happened (since he thought that thinking of Trump was a stretch, although he also disliked Trump), I can see that even Non Christians are and were being fooled by Trump (and, incidentally, I should mention that the Nazis' claims of being Christians and what my Anusi ancestors did is likely to affect him to not become a Christian.).

Thus, I—as a Jewish Christian whom is a bat Anusim and has ancestors whom used the name of ישוע to hurt one of their openly-Jewish family's branches—warn you: do not vote for Donald Trump, a man whom I and others see as really having "[n]ever asked God for forgiveness". Moreso, might I add, Donald Trump has made the sacrifice of ישוע useless for himself.

On Ted Cruz's 'Reputiat[ion]' of Mike Bickle's Statements

Ted Cruz's basic non apology is pretty pathetic to me:
"'Pastor Bickle and the International House of Prayer have devoted decades to promoting prayer, and to improving the lives of those who are suffering,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, the statements from Pastor Bickle concerning Adoph [sic] Hitler are not statements with which Senator Cruz agrees.'"

A real apology (in this case, using verses from the NKJV Version*) would've been a statement like:

"The Gospel of Matthew reads that Jesus admonished the following:

"'Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name...?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

"What Senator Ted Cruz has come to realize is that Mike Bickle is among 'false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.' Senator Cruz has also quoted, 'You will know them by their fruits' when he has talked about the likes of Donald Trump.

"Clearly, the self-titled 'Pastor' Mike Bickle does not even know the following from the Book of Isaiah: 'Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.' Any real pastor would've known this, and self-professed 'pastors' who are 'false prophets...[and] ravenous wolves' have no knowledge of what the Scriptures mean.

"Therefore, Senator Cruz and the Cruz 2016 Presidential Campaign have taken upon themselves the disavowal of and disassociation from Mike Bickle from hereon out, and Senator Cruz will be rejecting any and all further endorsements from the circles of Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer." * The use of "murder" in Acts 5:30 in the New King James Version is unacceptable and incorrect, by the way.

John Kasich, Women, and Kitchens: Unless You Don't Know History...

You know that John Kasich is right. Each of my parents grew up with a stay-at-home mom, as was common for people in their generation. The 1960s to 1970s are really when women started getting out of the home and politically involved because of the changes in the perception re what women could and should do.

As my dad (of all people) told my late granddad, "You can't change history".

Repost: How Dammesek Has Fallen!

(Update: There are now few to no Jews in Dammesek/Aram/Syria, by the way. Also, "Damascus has grown feeble; [s]he turns to flee..."

(Yet, people continue to insist that Tanakh means nothing.)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2013

How Dammesek Has Fallen!

The burden placed on hanevi'im:




Isaiah 17:1-3
New King James Version (NKJV)
Proclamation Against Syria and Israel

17 The burden against Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,
And it will be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken;[a]
They will be for flocks
Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,
The kingdom from Damascus,
And the remnant of Syria;
They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Jeremiah 49:23-27
New King James Version (NKJV)
Judgment on Damascus

23 Against Damascus.

“Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
There is trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus has grown feeble;
She turns to flee,
And fear has seized her.
Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor.
25 Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.
27 “I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”[a]

Teaching Judaism In English Catholic Schools And Notre Dame Of Maryland University

As long as they teach about Judaism without Anti Semitism, I'm okay with it. BTW, part of "Never forget" is, e.g., remembering that some Catholic schools (e.g., Notre Dame of Maryland University​) taught and still teach Pseudo-Christian Anti Semitism—for the record, by the way, Jews, for example, did not steal Passover from the Syrians and were not even "possibl[y]" influenced by the Devil (The prophets were wise and would have known if the Devil, and not the Holy Spirit, was speaking to and through them.).

England, take note—Jews and Christians (including Jewish Christians like me) are watching what you do; and we have no problem telling you when "[we're] tired of your Anti Semitism" (and I still remembering saying that to a certain Religious Studies professor.). Gasp as you will (as my classmates did) and tell us to mind our own business ("Leave!"), and we will maintain that affronting God is affronting the Jewish people—and saying that, e.g., "It's possible [that the prophets were influenced by the Devil]" is affronting God.

Also, Islam is not the root of Christianity (Messianic/Nazarene Judaism).

Afghan Buddhas & China, Jerusalem & the SCOTUS, &c.

In the same way that people are outraged over China's handling of Afghanistan's ancient Buddha statues and other Buddhist architecture, people would be more outraged about Jerusalem being stepped on by the SCOTUS and other (unintentional and intentional) Anti Semites if the Government of Israel held to the "Declaration of Establishment".

In other words, the SCOTUS and others, instead of doing what is right, are saying to Netanyahu and Agudat Yisra'el, "Why should we care about Jerusalem when you all are stepping on it, anyway? After all, you arrest an American oleh for eating a ham sandwich!"

By the way, I told you that Netanyahu and Agudat Yisra'el were trying to sell Israel to the "Palestinians"—you don't for example, propose an "establishment of a confederate Israeli-Palestinian state encompassing the territory of Israel, as well as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip" if you do not want a "Palestinian" state.

Stubborn Yemenim, And An Even-Worse Israeli Government

According to Ynetnews:

The Jews living in Yemen - most of whom had the opportunity to leave for Israel or another country, but refused – face an approaching danger from the advancing rebel forces, who have repeatedly made statements against Israel.
"We don't want to leave. If we wanted to, we would have done so a long time ago," Sanaa's chief rabbi Yahya Youssef said in February.

So, many of them are doing what G-d warned against through Yirmiyahu (cf. Yirmiyahu 8:1-7). By the way, for The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs to focus on those of us who Agudat Yisrael doesn't consider Jewish enough and would still like to go home to Israel would be nice, especially since (as YNet reports), "The Foreign Ministry and the Jewish Agency have been in an ongoing state of frustration over the refusal of Yemen's Jews to leave".

If they can and won't leave Yemen, perhaps they'd like to give the aspiring olim among them and us "not-Jewish[-enough]" Jews their opportunities, since they won't take them. Then again, Netanyahu and his government may not allow that to happen, since that might actually bring in Yehudim and others whom would vote Likud, Agudat Yisra'el, etc.. out of office.

Disturbing Statistics From My Ad on Facebook

Genders

Women

1,498

Men

1,174

Ages [expected or typical from January 1st]

18-24 [1991-1997]

62

25-34 [1981-1990]

88

35-44 [1971-1980]

244

45-54 [1961-1970]

529

55-64 [1951-1960]

1,132

65+ [before or during 1950]

617

Out of all 2,672 people who have been reached, zero have gone to Represent.Us's website, and the majority are older middle-aged people and seniors. How disheartening that my generation (Gen Y, 1982-2000 or, Biblically, 1980-2000 for 20 years), does not want to be involved in fighting corruption in politics as much as the older middle agers (1954-1970) and seniors (before to during 1950-during 1953). What example, by the way, is Gen Y giving the younger generations (the oldest younger generation being 2001-2021, if 2021 carries us into a continuance of the present age)? Also, what example have the Baby Boomers (1950-1970 or 1940-1960, depending on how one factors in World War Two) and previous generations set for Gen X and younger generations?

I Wasn't Orchestrating Anything....And I've No Interest In a "Palestinian" State

As I said, I'm a non-leftist no-shame type when I speak about Netanyahu*. Now that Netanyahu admitted that he wanted a two-state solution, who's the Anti-Israel, Anti-American liberal now?

On Monday, Netanyahu, in the face of a seemingly deadlocked race, vowed there would be no Palestinian nation if he were re-elected, a seeming reversal from a 2009 speech he gave in which he backed the idea of a two-state solution. But Netanyahu's Likud Party ultimately triumphed, and on Thursday, Netanyahu seemed to dial back his remarks on the plan, which is a centerpiece of U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Remember that he tried to give 86% of the West Bank away? He unequivocally, by the way, "vowed [that] there would be" "no Palestinian state". So, 86% of the West Bank and no Palestinian State? More like "לא למדינת יהודית ללא משיח" ("No Jewish State Without the Messiah"). It's no secret: the same Agudat Yisra'el that affected ben-Gurion to be the Jewish von Hindenburg** are intent on, along with their "natural partner", destroying the current State of Israel***:

**One of the defining moments of the relationship of religion and state in Israel took place on the eve of the declaration of independence. David Ben-Gurion sent a letter dated June 19, 1947, to the political leaders of the religious parties (Mizrachi and Agudat Yisrael) making certain assurances concerning life in the future state.[19] Ben-Gurion promised that:

• The future government will do all it can to make sure that the religious demands be answered concerning personal status issues, such as marriage, divorce, and conversions. The result of this promise was that the Chief Rabbinate has authority over personal status issues and religious law governs marriage and divorce. This agreement continued the policy established during the Turkish and British era.

• All government-operated kitchens (army, police, hospitals, etc.) will have kosher food.

• The Sabbath will be the official day of rest for Jews.

• There will be autonomy in education and the state will not intervene in religious education but will demand and regulate a minimum curriculum in secular subjects such as science, grammar and history.

The status quo agreement was accepted with the understanding that the assurances given by Ben-Gurion could be altered with the adoption of a constitution, but that constitution never came into being, as described in another chapter in this anthology.[20] With no constitution, the “church”-state divide remained vague and the different political powers, secular and religious, constantly attempted to change the equilibrium.

***The ultra-Orthodox have not accepted the Zionist definition of the Jews as a nation in search of a homeland, and have remained faithful to the ancient definition of Jews as a religious community waiting for a messiah. In May 1912, some 200 Orthodox leaders from Germany and Eastern Europe met in Kattowitz (Katowice) to start Orthodoxy’s first organized response to Zionism, Agudat Israel, which still exists today as an anti-Zionist movement in Israel and as a lobby elsewhere. The ideologue of the movement was Nathan Birnbaum, a brilliant intellectual who collaborated with Theodor Herzl in the early days of political Zionism. He coined the term “Zionism,” and then became convinced that the secular definition of the Jews as a nation was inadequate, that secularization would lead to the disappearance of the Jewish people. Orthodoxy had to take a firm stand against Zionism, in the form of a political organization. Agudat Israel was Diaspora-oriented, and its center between the two World Wars was in Poland, where about one third of the Polish Jews were its supporters. It had elected representatives in the Polish parliament in the 1930s, and its delegates have appeared before international bodies, including the League of Nations and the United Nations.Historically, Agudat Israel has been opposed to the idea of a Jewish state, but the Holocaust deprived the movement of most of its constituency in Eastern Europe, leaving them more of a minority, less anti-Zionist and ready to accept the reality of Zionist success.
Since 1948, the party has been pragmatically involved in state institutions. It supports governing coalitions and is rewarded with ample budgets for its Orthodox schooling system. Agudat Israel accepts the state of Israel de facto, but judges it to be without the religious significance assigned to it by religious Zionists.

* As I said:

A Poll For Represent.Us's Baltimore Branch (Large Version)

Public OpinionPoll Results

At Least Knowing About At Least Something, Etc.

In other words:

1. "You can't do everything about everything, but you can do something about something." 
2. Doing something about something means knowing about an issue, listening to the right message in regards to it, and implementing that message. 
3. If, e.g., you spread a message, keep the message in its original context(s) and attack the problem (e.g., that someone is not getting that Fmr. Sec. Clinton risked national security) without attacking the person (e.g., To respond "No toss up for me! Hillary is an arrogant shrew!" is entirely inappropriate. There are better ways to rebuke, "The question for the rest of us is which side we find most disagreeable [re Clinton's Emailgate]. Right now it's a tossup.")

By the way, please help me do something by voting in regards to changing Baltimore City, its vicinity, and the whole of the Baltimore-Washington (Baltonnapolis) Area for the better. Besides, the Baltonnapolis Area is a very-affective and -effective area in terms of how the United States is.

Also, I did figure out how to redeem Matthew west's awful gentilization and robbery from Hillel (the robbery which will, of course, turn off many Jews and even gentiles from considering Yeshua. After all, "Thou shalt not steal." is a mitzvah for a reason.):

"If not me, then who?

If just me, not others

And you?

Right now, it's time for us to do something.

If not now, then when..."

"Stand With Israel, Not Netanyahu"

Even I, a staunch Zionist who was already mad enough at Netanyahu and his Haredi Judaism which he attempts to disguise as Yahadut Chilonit, took a few steps back and thought:

If Netanyahu was largely passive while Arab citizens were being assaulted, he led the demonization campaign against the 47,000 African refugees and asylum seekers who entered Israel without permits. Despite reducing the number of refugees entering Israel to practically zero, thanks to the Sinai fence, he continues to lock up thousands of these desperate people – who, like our own Jewish ancestors, sought to escape persecution and poverty. Netanyahu’s policies flout Jewish values, and have been overturned multiple times by the High Court as immoral and unjustified. But they play well to his xenophobic base. 

Good points and reminders. In fact, I wager that some of the Sudanese and other refugees may even be Falasha and Lemba Jews who are making aliyah in what many would call an illegal way—and if any "illegal" olim are among the Sudanese refugees, the Government of Israel has no right to deny those olim ("eleh Kushim!") their taglit. Also, think about this: what if some illegal immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, etc. are Anusim who'd make aliyah if Netanyahu and his yadidim let them? After all, they're not considered Yehudim al pi HaHoq Shivut. They otherwise have to be under the auspices of nasty people such as Dr. Michael Freund. (Just like Netanyahu, Dr. Freund can fool people. That's even part of why I save most of my e-mails in my backup folders—that is, so I do not ever lose the proof of when I run into mitchazim like Dr. Freund. That's why I still have the link to the 2012 conversation.).

 Likud-led fear and hatemongering hardly stops with our non-Jewish minorities. Progressives, civil rights activists, leftists, the judiciary and anyone who criticizes the occupation have all been accused of being enemies of the state. So much for Jewish solidarity or democratic discourse. 

Indeed. I've experienced this myself. I even have a Facebook friend who called Senator Diane Feinstein (with whom I myelf hardly ever agree) a "witch" for standing against Netanyahu, and I've seen others harp on the fact that Senator Feinstein comes from a Jewish Catholic family (which I did not know until they harped on her for it. As I learned, the Feinsteins and the Rosenburgs were and are Russian Byzantine Catholics.).

From a family of Roman Catholic Anusim and b'nei Anusim, I know that feeling ("You're not Jewish!"; "Your family betrayed their people!"; "They're meshumadim!"; "They're bogadim!"; "Oh; no wonder your Hebrew's not good: your family didn't tell you that they're Jewish!")

Perhaps, by the way, maybe the Anusi and "meshumad" minds are among the ones which are quickest to pick up on trouble. Our ancestors knew when trouble was coming and/or already came, and at least two of us (Senator Feinstein and me, though I suspect that there are more who) knew that Netanyahu and the Haredim were trouble (By the way, I'll have some kavod for Taylor Swift if she goes to Israel and dedicates her famous song to Netanyahu.).

Anyway:

This week’s Netanyahu drumbeat claims that the Iranian threat trumps all traditional diplomatic considerations. But those who, like me, believe that Iran is an existential threat to Israel, and fear that the agreement currently being negotiated will be too forgiving and trusting of Iran need to acknowledge that Netanyahu has blown it. 

His anti-Obama tirades, his support for West Bank settlements over all other considerations, his efforts to undermine the Palestinian Authority, his expropriation of 988 acres of Palestinian land at the end of the Gaza War not only wasted the new diplomatic opportunities he promised toward the war’s end, but alienated and antagonized the very European leaders who, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, are the partners necessary to stop Iran’s nuclear program. 

Excellent reminder and point as well. For being such a Zionist, Netanyahu isn't taking the higher road. He also is not trusting יהוה. For example, bulldozing the houses of innocent Bedouins does not help—and deliberately failing to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty is a chillul יהוה.

Bulldozing the houses of terrorists and their accomplices is fine. Destroying terrorists and their accomplices is fine. Stereotyping all Arabs as terrorists and bulldozing their houses is not fine.

As for (and back to the point about) taking the higher road, to stoop down to the level of an enemy or even lower is a chillul יהוה (cf. Tehillim 25:21-22 and Mishlei 26:4). The applicable mitzvot, after all, say to love your neighbor as yourself (not be like him or her in doing evil), treat the stranger well (not do as he or she has done to you), and let יהוה avenge you. Netanyahu is doing the exact opposite when he has the IDF go beyond proactive counterproliferation, preemption, and deterrence.

By the way, counterproliferation, preemption, and deterrence are obviously mitzvot and acts of kiddush יהוה.

Netanyahu plays the statesman abroad, but back home he is known for his paranoia, his self-aggrandizement, and his lashing out against the courts, the universities and the media. Netanyahu aspires to be Israel’s Churchill, but in nurturing a nation divided against itself he has become our Nixon. 

I and others who follow news from and about 'Eretz Yisra'el keep trying to say that, though nobody believes us. Hopefully, Director Futterman (despite that he's looking at the situation from a leftist perspective) can affect you to get that through your head.

"[A]ll Men Are Created Equal[ly]"? Or Are They Created Equitably?

By the way, if you want an example of a group who think that all should be equal:

The haredi press raised further concerns that many of the immigrants would refuse to undergo a conversion process or that the procedure would be conducted by institutions and courts which do not meet the strict standard, and that as a result their children will create mixed marriages later on.

Note "strict standard" and a dread of "mixed marriages". Also consider that Thomas Jefferson considered Blacks, e.g., to be "as incapable as children". So much for "equally":

1

:  in an equal or uniform manner :  evenly equally

>

2

:  to an equal degree equally

 by young and old>
Try "equitably" instead:

1
:  having or exhibiting equity :  dealing fairly and equally with all concernedequitable

 settlement of the dispute>
2
:  existing or valid in equity as distinguished from law equitable defense>
After all, the Haredim would have to treat Non-Haredi Jews as fellow Jews who were created b'tzelem Elohim v'm'Yisra'el; and Thomas Jefferson would have had to treat Blacks as fellow humans who were created b'tzelem Elohim. Since they wanted equality, though, they could make only those who fit their standards to be considered as their compatriots.