Geert to spend more time under the perming machines

What a nice morning to wake up to: A judge in Hawaii has issued an order blocking Trump’s second attempt at a travel ban and Geert Wilders has not been able to make it in the Netherlands. It feels like the sun is shining for a change.

The Dutch have redeemed themselves, but we will have the same effect as the German Green party has had in Germany. They may not win enough votes to rule the country, but they impact the political discourse and their, at first seemingly, revolutionary ideas seep into the party programmes of the main parties, to become generally acceptable. A force for the good. Sadly, the same is happening with the disgusting immoral ideologies of the far right. To compete with the far right, the centre goes right.

But, for the time being, Geert Wilders will have more time to spend at his coiffeur’s. I recommend a long stay under one of those hair perming machines.

Moonlight

Go and see the film. Very well played. Wonderful photography. A coming of age story of a black kid, surrounded by drugs, poverty, broken home, and on top of it all, he has to deal with his homosexuality and with the mobbing that comes with it.  

But what really did it for me in this film, is the understanding how Trump got elected. This enormous underclass that has nothing to lose, whose life is so very far away from what Washington does or says or the way it lives – these people rightly do not give a damn about who is President. They know from experience that whoever gets elected – things will not change for them.

Their choice was between Hillary, a remote woman in Washington, from a different planet and a glitzy TV personality, who they know from “The Apprentice” programme, whose gross language resembles theirs and who is despised by the people they despise – the enemy of thy enemy etc. So millions voted Trump with a “what the Shit” attitude. And now the Shit is in the White House. The Shit is on all of us.  

Apartheid run by Israel ?

The world is full of unattractive regimes. Israel is not that unusual. But what Israel has become, fills many of us Jews with shame. 

We are not shamed by North Korea, or Turkey, we do not feel responsible for what various dictatorships are doing, but most of us Jews feel uncomfortable when the "Jewish state" turns out to be an Apartheid state. Pure land greed has turned a dream to a nightmare.

Here's a short video, worth watching. It is an adress by an israeli comedian, made several days ago on Israeli TV. It is in Hebrew... but, there are English subtitles.

Worth watching.  

PS: Some of my Jewish friends will be annoyed at me for posting this. The time has come for diaspora Jews – at least those who abhor apartheid elsewhere – to stop defending this kind of Israel.

Second Letter to Jared Kushner

Although, I did not expect you to react so quickly to my first letter, somewhere, at the back of my mind, I was hoping that you might. I was hoping that you would understand the urgency.

Well, it has become even more urgent. Already, the wave your father-in-law has produced, is causing a virtual tsunami of anti-Semitic incidents in your country. This – I fear – is nothing, compared to the hatred of Jews that will envelop the United States, when the country will understand what havoc your father-in-law has caused. At that point, it won’t be just the hundreds or thousands extremists who vandalise Jewish cemeteries or synagogues. Millions of Americans will blame that “Jew boy”, that Jewish son-in-law who masterminded the monster into the presidency.

The weight is on your shoulders, Jared. Do not be selfish. You need to show loyalty to your people and to America. Tell the world what you know. Make it possible for your father-in-law to resign or for Congress to impeach him. You need to act.

Shalom

David

Catholic Church Abuse

Two items caught my eye in today’s NY Times:

In New York the Catholic Church is trying to raise a further 100 million Dollars to compensate victims of sexual abuse by priests of the NY diocese. To date, Catholic dioceses in the USA have already paid over 4 billion US Dollars to abuse victims. Many claims have not yet been settled and this amount does not include the billions paid in other countries across the world.

In the Philippines, the Catholic Church has just actively and successfully lobbied against a government plan to introduce condoms and HIV education into schools. Unlike other Asian countries, HIV infection rates are skyrocketing in the Philippines. The Rev. Jerome Secillano, an officer of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, praised the decision to back away from the plan as “a wise move.”

Let there be no doubt: this too is abuse.

In case you want to understand why the Church is incapable of making the necessary change, read my book, Double Cross: The Code of the Catholic Church.