A Hill With A View

 Originally published June 30, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4787-the-olympics-is-not-about-you-it-s-about-us One of the most inspirational and patriotic sports movies of all time is 2004’s  Miracle .  This movie was about more than the United States victory over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid in 1980; it was about what we as Americans were fighting for. But the Age of  Miracle  is over.  This week, Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry metaphorically spit in the face of America when she disrespected the flag and the national anthem.  Berry, who placed third in the hammer throw, qualifying her for the Tokyo Olympics, turned away from the flag and covered her face when the anthem played at a pre-scheduled time.  Then, in an act of pure self-obsessed egomania, she thought that the anthem was played just to bother her.   “I feel like it was setup,” Berry said. “I feel like they did that on purpose, and I was pissed, to be honest. I was thinking about what should I d

 Originally published June 23, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4751-what-is-a-human-being This week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) made a statement that any person of faith or science would find utterly uncontroversial, yet sent a wave of panic and posturing throughout the Left.  They affirmed that since they ascribe to the scientific fact that an unborn baby is a human being, Catholics who advocate for abortion should be denied Communion. This includes self-proclaimed Catholics like Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. The science is undeniable. Indeed, every scientific source, even those on the pro-abortion side, admits that a fetus is a human being. This is why they attempt to obfuscate the issue with terms like “clump of cells” or “personhood.”  However, the same question, when asked to pro-abortion politicians (who claim to “follow the science”), cannot be answered. When a reporter asked Pelosi, “Is an unborn baby at 15 weeks a human being

 Originally published June 16, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4716-the-only-thing-radical-to-democrats-is-being-moderate In the least shocking news of the week, Ilhan Omar said something anti-American and antisemitic.  In the slightly less shocking news of the week, Democratic leadership does nothing about it.  In slightly less shocking news than that, the only Democrats under fire by their Party are the two Senators who aren’t planning on blowing up our system of government.   “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity.  We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.” This is what Ilhan Omar tweeted that caused the latest controversy.  This is what is being defended by the extreme left and ignored by Democratic leadership.   The Atlantic published an article by Elizabeth Bruenig entitled, “What Ilhan Omar Actually Said,” with the subtitle of, “No

Originally published June 9, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4679-republican-mayoral-candidates-square-off-before-primary    Amid all the noise of the Left side of the Mayoral primary contests, two Republicans had a Battle Royale cage match of a debate.  Aired on PIX11 on Thursday night, candidates Curtis Sliwa and Fernando Mateo tackled numerous topics close to the hearts and minds of New Yorkers, and presented their visions for the City.   Curtis Sliwa made his name in the 1970s when he founded the Guardian Angels, which patrolled the New York City subway system combating crime. In 1990, he started his radio career, and spent the next three decades discussing the issues until he took a hiatus to run his campaign.  Sliwa is endorsed by the Republican Parties of Brooklyn and Staten Island.   Fernando Mateo is a self-made millionaire who has owned a variety of businesses, all of which began with a single carpeting business started at the age of 18.  He has been p

 Originally written May 19, 2021 As rocket fire continues to pound Israeli cities in the latest series of attacks from Hamas, the Biden administration is attempting to straddle the fence between the mainstream American and the extreme Left flank of the Democratic Party. Biden today called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “de-escalate” the attacks on Hamas, as if Israel really wants to be drawn into a long conflict while her citizens hide underground. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also putting political pressure on Israel, but some of his language violates the State Department’s own definition of anti-semitism . Blinken, as reported by i24 news in Israel, said, “"I think Israel has an extra burden in trying to do everything they possibly can to avoid civilian casualties, even as it is rightfully responding in defense of its people."  The question for Blinken is, an “extra-burden” compared to whom? Could it be compared to Hamas, which has no burden to avo

 Originally published June 2, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4626-all-the-blood-libel-fit-to-print There is only one legitimate reason left to subscribe to the  New York Times : opposition research.  To fight your enemy, you must know how they think and what they say.  Otherwise, you’re just giving money to antisemites. For that is all the  New York Times  is these days: a group of antisemites posing as “objective” observers of world events.  The final straw for former head of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman came on Friday, May 28, when the  Times  devoted the majority of its front page to the pictures of children who died in Gaza and Israel.  “They Were Just Children,” the headline roared.  What’s barely mentioned in the article is that a third of the rockets from Gaza landed  in  Gaza, so many of the children were likely killed by Hamas themselves.  Blaming Israel for those deaths is, of course, a blood libel.   “I am cancelling my subscription to N

 Originally published May 26, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4583-cowardice-thy-name-is-chuck-schumer  Jews are being attacked in the streets of New York, and Chuck Schumer doesn’t care. For years, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has campaigned on his Jewish last name, claiming that “Schumer” comes from  “shomer,”  as in  “Shomer Yisrael,”  the guardian of Israel.  When rockets fall on Israeli cities, putting more Jews in danger than at any time since the Yom Kippur War, Schumer stood idly by as his Democratic colleagues spewed dangerous and anti-Semitic rhetoric on social media. This goes back far longer than the recent conflict with Hamas.  In late April, the antisemitic organization Human Rights Watch issued a report labeling Israel an apartheid state.  Schumer said nothing.  His colleagues were not as silent. Betty McCollum of Minnesota said, “It is clear: Without restrictions, U.S. military aid to Israel is a green light to Israeli persecution of Palestinian

 Originally published May 20, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4545-the-cdc-has-thrown-out-its-credibility  President Joe Biden has had a very bad week. Rising gas prices and shortages, terrible job numbers, skyrocketing costs of goods in all sectors, and a war in the Middle East have all been caused by or wildly mishandled by this administration.  Even with a slanted media bias, Biden was getting bad press.  So to change the narrative, he finally let the CDC be something it hasn’t been during his tenure: scientific. Until now, the CDC, under the leadership of Rochelle Walensky, has been a political prop for the White House.  Everything that the media claimed President Trump did while in office, Biden actually did.  When Walensky said during a CDC press conference that it was safe for schools to reopen, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed she was speaking in her “personal capacity,” not as CDC director.  When they were going to release guidelines on sch

 Originally published May 12, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4509-ifnotnow-is-the-enemy-of-american-jews Yom Yerushalayim was marred this year by air raid sirens and explosions in the city of Jerusalem.  A minor legal issue over an eviction of squatters who haven’t paid their rent in a few decades turned into violence in the streets and rockets in the skies.  Social media was flooded with condemnations by both sides of the aisle, but the usual suspects continued to side with terrorists and hope for the destruction of the Jewish State.  In a battle between Jews and terrorists, American Jewish group IfNotNow will always side against the Jews and with the terrorists.   IfNotNow has their allies in Congress, and leading the charge there were the anti-Semites Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar. Obviously, they blame Israel for the unrest.  Obviously evicting people who don’t pay rent is “ethnic-cleansing,” according to them.  They happily ignore rockets firing from Gaza o

 Originally published May 5, 2021 https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/4470-biden-lies-with-impunity Last week, President Joe Biden spoke to a Joint Session of Congress - or as much of a Joint Session as the latest COVID regulations would allow.  In a speech that was filled to the brim with lies and misleading statements, the media reaction was far different than it was under Trump. It’s no secret that the media treats Biden and Trump differently.  Glenn Kessler of the  Washington Post,  who diligently kept a database of Trump “lies” (and the use of scare-quotes was deliberate) openly said that the  Post  was shutting down its database for Biden.  This database took every line that Trump said and figured out a way to add it as a lie or a misleading claim, by their standards.   Their standards do not apply to Biden, however.  They will pick and choose which comments to fact-check, and those fact-checks are applied one at a time.  So when CNN, MSNBC, and the networks cover