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: Open Letter To Chad Simon (Class of 2016, Brown University)

I have ancestors whom committed suicide due to Depression; my father's sister attempted suicide due to Depression; I ended up in a mental hospital due to Depression.

You indeed "[know] powerfully little about the physiological mechanisms behind real, incurable, moored-to-the-bed-in-supine-position depression." By the way, not every person with Depression stays moored-to-the-bed-in-supine-position". Also, you need to learn that there is a marked difference between feeling depressed and Clinical Depressions such as Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Depression, and Schizoaffective Disorder (a combination of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Depression).

I really hope that your major is not Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, or Pre-Med Studies, because I would not award you a degree in either of those fields of study were I the person whom is responsible for conferring degrees on students at Brown University.

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".

Why LinkedIn Either Needs To Return To Its Original Purpose Or Restart With A New Platform

Professionals such as Ted Bauer have posted about it, and aspiring professionals like me have posted about it. Of course, "it" is "how LinkedIn is becoming another Facebook or Twitter". As I've stated, I didn't come onto LinkedIn to use another Facebook or Twitter—I came onto LinkedIn to look for a job and volunteer opportunities, and be discovered as an aspiring author, etc..

Others have also come onto LinkedIn to look for and be found for jobs, volunteer opportunities, and desired careers. I am sure that my fellow job, volunteer-opportunity, and career seekers feel frustrated with LinkedIn becoming something like "LinkUp".

Thus, LinkedIn either needs to return to its original purpose or restart with another professional-network platform and leave LinkedIn/"LinkUp" to those whom (with all due respect) want to turn LinkedIn/"LinkUp" into a break-from-work or party-at-the-office website. My own suggestion is that LinkedIn could build and brand their new digital platform as "WorkBook" (Notice: "WorkBook"), and have the professionals and aspiring professionals migrate from LinkedIn/"LinkUp" to WorkBook.

On WorkBook, LinkedIn would forbid any content that is not related to one's work and/or that is not related to professional life to be shared. Meanwhile, I should note that even though I've been imperfect in my use of LinkedIn, my own imperfections don't justify or excuse the imperfections of others—and (the obvious converse is that) the imperfections of others don't justify or excuse my imperfections—and I hope that I'll be the first to admit when I'm imperfect in my utilization of LinkedIn. 

Update (Not in the original post, although shared on LinkedIn; via GoComics.com):

On LinkedIn, I shared this with "An example of why waiters may lose their jobs (and really, why any employee might): i.e., badmouthing the employer's product to a customer of the employer". This is the kind of item that one can share on LinkedIn if he or she can explain why it relates to one's professional life.

Belated Valentine's/Singles Awareness Day Entry (Which I Needed To Write)

A two-time (not "two-timing"!) ex girlfriend, with each ex having had the police called on him for harassment, I had a single-again woman's Valentine's Day that could not have been lonelier for me; and being a two-time-single-again woman wasn't the only reason. Other reasons concern being a 26-year-old woman and waiting-for-marriage virgin whom has Cerebral Palsy, mental illnesses, no job, and two failed relationships on which she tried to work—and one was from August 4, 2004 to about May 19, 2005, and the other was for six days in 2013. 

Meanwhile, I thought about, saw, and heard how many of my loved ones and friends—including able, neurotypical, and employed ones—had a happy Valentine's Day or Singles Awareness Day, all while I'm a single-again pariah and wondering why I can't have a Cinderella-type story while more-fortunate ones have their happinesses—talk about one having his or her
cake and also eating it!

Some other loved ones and friends, at the same time, had their own Cinderella- or Frog Prince-type stories, all while I fared worse than even Gatsby—whom at least had guests at parties, requited (even though illicitly-requited) love for a while, and even five people at his funeral. Even a fictional character fared better than me, and he could've had his lover had she had the courage to leave her long-time-philandering husband for a man whom loved her!

All I have to show is two broken relationships, unrequited and unrequitable loves over the years (including within the past few years), zero offers to set me up with someone, and failed, fruitless, and little- and non-supported attempts to find someone and/or have someone cross my path. Happy Valentine's and Singles Awareness Day to me, indeed :-/ —or in all seriousness, to those whom had and have what kind of happinesses I could not have this year or for the other past 10 years.

Re "Michael Douglas Makes His Debut"

This is one of the few articles I've read from "The Forward" in a long time, by the way (I read it only because I hadn't known that it's from "The Forward" prior to clicking to link to it.). Anyway, I see that a more-prominent and non-Anusi side of the Daniloviches also has members whom took the initiative to reconnect earlier generations with our roots (I'd read that Dylan had Jewish friends at his school, etc., though I didn't realize until now that on his own side, he's like me in that way—though his and his side's exact connection to me and my side is still unknown to me.).

Incidentally, I still often can't wrap my head around that, that YouTube commenter was right: "Katarzyna" is one of those Daniloviches (On a would've-been-positive-if-not-tragic note, I found out that there were Chernetzkys in Chausy as well.):

Having To Revise Some Posts and Remove Others, Although I Am Not A Coward

Unfortunately, I—because I am single, unemployed, and with disabilities—live at home and am put in a position in which I was forced to remove certain posts. I am not cowardly, weak, or dissuaded  on certain positions. My trying to stand up for justice and help others was not seen as standing up and helping others—despite that I tried to be fair and just regarding all unfair and unjust sides, I was seen as putting certain parties at risk. Thus, I—as I mentioned beforehand—was forced to remove the posts.

By explaining why I revised and removed some posts, I am giving full disclosure and not attempting to try to justify myself to others. Some people, as I dreaded and argued to the parties whom maintain that I put them at risk, will nonetheless see me as having cowed to the parties whom were seen as a risk to other parties, been yellowed bellied, or reconsidered my positions.

Well, We Know Where An Egyptian Prince Went

From time to time, I browse Wikipedia outside of looking for basic facts just to see what they're thinking. Per Wikipedia, I realized that the story about Lazarus and the rich man is actually about a Lazarus and Khaemweset the Egyptian Prince. Wikipedia tries to imply that the New Testament stole the Tale of Khaemweset, though they succeeded only in shedding light on an account in Scripture for the first time for me.

By the way, the Egyptians used Matrilineal Descent; or at least Khaemweset did, since he had more than five brothers. Through his mother, he had at least three brothers; and he cleverly tried to use the Abrahamic excuse of a sibling being the child of only the common father and, thus, not a sibling—remember "Besides, she is my sister—she is the daughter of my father, but not of my mother, and so she became my wife"? Incidentally, this is probably way Israel viewed Matrilineal Descent as pagan, despite that Tanakh (and Yigdal) allow for Matrilineal Descent (Remember haben Sh'lomit bat Divri and Kavod-l'El ben Netzkiyah-Tovah—aka, Timotheos ben Eunice? By the way, Google it if you don't believe that my translations are correct. Also, Kavodlel ben Netzkiyahtovah or Kavodlel ben Netzkiyatovah—or the two contractions with "Kavodl'el"—probably work sufficiently.).

Abraham knew that Khameweset was trying to pull what he himself pulled. 

Also, Khawmweset's father was highly Anti Semitic—and Mereneptah knew enough about Torah to try to destroy Israel.

On the 71st Anniversary Of the Liberation Of Jews From Auschwitz And Other Murder Camps, I Remember The Life Of...

My distant cousin✡ Antoni Andrulewicz (אנתוני בן יוחנן הכוהן אנדרולוביץ, ז''ל והי''ד).

When I was doing more family research, I found out about him (and found this picture) and read about the horrid circumstances of his death.

According to what Ogrodywspomnien.pl cited, he was "arrested" (read "kidnapped"), "held hostage in the Suwalki prison" for almost three months, and murdered by asphyxiation with other victims of a "mass execution" (read, quite frankly, "mass lynching"), and put into a mass grave at the murder site.

Remember that not all Sho'ah victims fit the profile of the oft-described Sho'ah victim—and certainly, not all lived to be victims whom became liberated survivors. Because he was a ben Anusim, he (like other bnei Anusim in Non-Hispanic Europe) got overlooked (despite that Anusim and bnei Anusim were not only in Iberia and not only during the Spanish Inquisition).

As has been said, ****** didn't care whether Jews were Rabbinical, Karaite, or Non-Rabbinical and Non-Karaite Jews; and many continue to leave millions of those whom were counted for murder out of the count of those whom are to be remembered ("[B]ut for Thy sake are we killed all the day; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.").

Even 71 years later, only 6-11 Million victims of the Sho'ah (not counting the gentile ones) are counted and remembered for a blessing; and Stalin, despite that he had his equivalent of a "Final Solution", is remembered as part of the Yalta Three whom led the armed forces that liberated Jews from Auschwitz and other murder ("concentration") camps (and lets be clear: the "concentration" camps were not designed to be anything but murder camps).

Even 71 years later, then, Israel is still not fully liberated from the Nazis—how can Israel be fully liberated when his murdered sons and daughters are still not fully counted and what he endured in, e.g., murder camps is minimized?

לעולם לא שיכחו; לעולם לא שוב!


✡ "Andrulewicz" and variants thereof originated with "Andrulevičius" (especially "Andrulevičus") in Stakliškės (as I was told on Polish Forums). However, we also have Sephardi or Mizrachi roots, as two of our cousins were named "Kasis" (not "Kasis" as in "spit" or "Kazys" as in "Kazimierz", since that was a later renaming). As far as I can tell perAncestry.com and other sites, then, "Kasis" probably comes from "Casis", which comes with "Qisis" or "Qasis". 

As far, BTW, as why the various branches were all over the place in terms of not speaking to each other, etc., I do not know. I do know, though, that, e.g., the Andrelewitz branch in Vilna probably was done with most of us long before my branch became Anusim (Rochla bas Gitla was among the Vilna branch). 

As far as the Vil'gel'm Andrulevich branch, we last had contact with them roughly about when Great-Granddad was born in Cuman (now Tsuman), since Vil'gel'm lived in Buzhanka near Zvenigorodka (now Zvenyhorodka). Whether it was before Great-Granddad was born or after he was, I don't know. 

I've had to figure out quite a bit of this through inference, etc.. Ultimately, nonetheless, it won't change that I'm a bat-Anusim whom has a duty to make sure that even distant relatives who were Sho'ah victims aren't forgotten.

Re The Tomb Of The Unknowns And Blizzard Jonas

As a family member of American military members, I cannot get behind that there are soldiers whom are guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns in this weather. I'm pretty sure that the Unknowns would want their modern-day compatriots to be safe, warm, and alive if they can be.

The Unknowns died for their country  and not so that their compatriots would risk hypothermia and thus ending up under their own tombstones. The best way to honor the Unknown Soldiers, then, is to let the soldiers whom guard their term get to a safe and warm place unless they are called to serve with the National Guard, Arlington FD, Arlington PD, and other personnel whom need to be out in the snow. 

My Response To "The Ghosts Of My Grandmothers"

My Response To "The Ghosts Of My Grandmothers"

Perhaps the Malach Hamavet spared Helen Rose in memory of her savtot. As Tanakh states, "the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward", since Savtot Devorah v'Vered are awaiting HaTechiyat HaMetim.

Incidentally, the names Helen, Rose, Mark, and Anna (and variants thereof) are all in my paternal family. An example:

One of my own great-great-grandmothers, Anna Amalia Munková Trudnyaková, either was named for her deceased sister or took her name and claimed her baptism date as her own birthdate at some point*, presumably to honor her. She had daughters named Elizabeth Helen and Anna Margaret, and her parents were Sh'mu'el and Rosalia Korschová Munka.

At least one of her descendants is named Mark, meanwhile; and in full disclosure, one of them is my cousin Mark, whom is sadly deciding to brand himself as the shanda fur die goyim known as "Legit Viva"—for which we clearly did not become Anusim, and part of why (I assume) some of us remain Anusim.

*Anna Amalia Munková Trudnyaková was not baptized. The only baptism record which reconciles any and all dates that she gave as her birthdate is that of her sister. I assume that, by the way, her parents were not risking getting another daughter baptized, since two, Paulina and the first Anna Amalia, had died previously.

Update (September 25, 2016 and Elul 24, 5776), re "Please Stop Telling Me I'm Not 'Really' Jewish" (The context is that some people are being extremely hostile toward the author re any possibility that her daughter may choose to be Catholic.):

If you learn take nothing else from what I say, at least take this away from it: Jews—including Jewish Catholics like Sts. Teresa de Avila and Edith "Teresa Benedicta" Stein (z"l), Aaron "Cardinal Jean-Marie" Lustiger my dad's paternal grandma (a sister of Elizabeth Helen and Anna Margaret)—have believed in a Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, and quite a few other Jews agreed to disagree with the Jewish Christians—see, for example, in the New Testament when it talks about Gamaliel: while, despite legends, he did not become a Christian, he tolerated the Jewish Christians of his time. As Gamaliel's granddad said—and as my dad's paternal grandma (z"l) albe-imperfectly lived—"The sum of Torah is this: don't do to others what you don't want them to you. The rest is commentary—go and learn it."

More Depression

"A man's soul sustains him, but who can endure a broken spirit?" I am enduring another Depression flareup, loneliness, etc.—I have even suspended working on the manuscript for my next book.

Spiritbrokeness, unlike my sister's stomach flu, is a kind of sickness that doesn't just go away with prayer, fluids, and rest. Spiritbrokeness takes even more than prayer, sufficient hydration, and enough energy to heal—especially when it exacerbates and feeds off of, e.g., Depression in a vicious feed-be fed cycle.

Megyn Kelly: "Conservative" and "A Lawyer" Mein Tuchus!

For anyone whom's wondering, "meir tuchus" means "my butt!" Anyway, no true conservative (Classical Liberal) and lawyer would state that "legal" inherently means "should be legal":

1. As far as the SCOTUS being the final arbiters of the law, the SCOTUS ruled in favor of inherently-illegal doctrines such as "Ferguson v. Plessy" and, before that, "Sanford v. Scott". The former was not overturned until 1955 (when "Brown" was fully cleared for implementation), and "Scott" en de facto was never overturned until Jim Crow ended, despite that the end of the Civil War ended it en de jure. 
2. DOMA was in force from the Clinton Administration until just relatively recently in the Obama Administration. 
3. Legalizing same-sex marriage risks religious freedom within certain contexts. For example, why should an Orthodox rabbi be sued by a couple whom he refuses to marry when he believes that the Flood came because of same-sex marriage in part (which the Talmud does state)?

By the way, speaking of rabbis, one'd think that Orthodox rabbis such as Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs would be helpful during this time of Anti-Jewish and Anti-Christian intolerance—although he's not at all tolerant of either Jewish Christians or gentile ones, or any Orthodox Jew whom even tolerates Christians (despite how Christianity as Noahidism is viewed).

Re Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs' Intolerance of Tolerance Of Christianity

Does the rabbi know history and his own halakhah? To most talmidim b'halakhah harabanim, "To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven" is a perfectly-fine statement—after all, Christianity is not considered avodah zarah for goyim, and is in fact considered a legitimate form of Noahidism.

As far as for Jewish Christians like myself, we should be fine if we don't proselytize; and we're still Jews "even if [we, as rabbis like Rabbi Jacobs assume that we,] sin"—and as Ya'akov and Lavan stated regarding their own case, יהוה will judge between us and those like this rabbi. Even Gamali'el—despite the bubbe meise that he became a Christian—was tolerant of Christians and figured that we'd eventually "come to nothing" if יהוה wasn't willed of God in some way.

Second visit to Shelby

Second visit to Shelby

Part Of What's Exacerbated My Depression Of Late, And A Prayer Request

A few months ago, a family friend to whom I had not talked in a while reached out to me. Once he began to talking to me again, and after four to five years had passed, I began viewing him as a father figure, a writing mentor, and a friend whom is more dear to me than he'll ever know—"There are friends that one hath to his own hurt; but there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Needlessly to say, he became "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother". Then one day, he suddenly stopped talking to me. The only explanation was this, and it came quite a bit of time later—and remember that he is, or at least was, a writing mentor: "Going through a difficult time. Keep writing."

After that, a major news story broke; and I asked him if one of the parties whom was involved in the news-making situation was associated with him—and I received no response to that inquiry. In the next day and the following days, I was left to guess whether the news story had to do with him in even any remote way (e.g., if one of his family or friends of friend was involved), other news stories involved him, or anything else had happened. After all, what did (and does) "a difficult time" mean?

This family friend, father figure, writing mentor, and closer-than-a-brother friend of my own had reached out to me in the first place, and he ditched me without explanation. Given, among other factors, my C.P. and mental illnesses, his ditching of me was absolutely the last thing that I needed—or at least wanted, since only God ultimately knows why I needed it. I've also needed other ditchings as well, by the way, and only God has also known why I needed those—and one more-recent one came from an in-law cousin, might I add.

"The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a broken spirit who can bear?" That kind of broken spirit is what I've endured once again in the past few months—and as if OCD/Anxiety. Depression, ADD, and IBS weren't enough in of themselves; and only God ultimately knows why He's exacerbated them.

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, beside Me there is no God; I have girded thee, though thou hast not known Me; That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me; I am the LORD; and there is none else; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things.

"Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, that they may bring forth salvation, and let her cause righteousness to spring up together; I the LORD have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker, as a potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it: 'What makest thou?' Or: 'Thy work, it hath no hands'? Woe unto him that saith unto his father: 'Wherefore begettest thou?' Or to a woman: 'Wherefore travailest thou?' Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of the things that are to come; concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands, command ye Me. I, even I, have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded."

I know, too, that God's ways are not our ways, as Isaiah also speaks by the Holy Spirit. So, for example and as bad as this sounds, I don't know whether God reminds me of my friend on a daily basis to remind me to pray for him or to allow HaSatan to make fun of me (as He allowed HaSatan to torment and persecute Job, whom was already suffering with the question of whether his children loved God: "'It may be that my sons have sinned, and blasphemed God in their hearts.'")

It could also be—and this is where the "as bad as this sounds" comes into play—that God's making fun of me or punishing me for some reason that only He ultimately knows: "Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any way in me that is grievous, and lead me in the way everlasting." Having my guesses about hurtful situations, what I've done or not done, etc. hurts; and even if I know and the person whom I've wronged or whom's wronging me won't tell me, that really hurts.

Incidentally (as the year went from 2015 to 2016), I saw another reminder of him, since I discussed genealogy with him and wondered if a name in his own family wasn't an allusion to this verse: "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is set up on high."

Please pray for me, pray for my friend, and pray for others whom need prayers on their behalf, meanwhile—may we all call on HaShem Yehovah, HaMigdal HaChazaq; and may Yehovah bring reconciliation or whatever is needed to be brought between me and my friend (אם ירצה, יהוה.), and may our friendship be almost as strong as Yehovah Himself.