Commenting on the terrifying, gruesome and bloody carnage that took place in the house of a rabbi in Monsey this past week is water under the bridge. While security measures are necessary, in the end, as we learned in Israel, when the bullet is for you, well, it’s for you. Jersey City’s kosher grocery store is a perfect example of that. If you were shopping there at the moment someone came in with an AK rifle…nothing more to say.
What are Jews supposed to do? Cowering is not one of the options. Even Zaidy Bernie (Sanders), who shuns any attempt to show his Jewish roots, donned a kippah and lit a public Chanukah menorah. There are no atheists in a foxhole. When pushed to the wall, that little voice inside each Jew gets riled up.
Take security measures. Inform yourself. Learn what to do if something happens. And be a visible Jew.
Watching this next news piece was chilling. A mob of hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia and supporters converged on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, breaking down a door into the reception area and setting the room on fire before U.S. guards repelled them using tear gas and gunfire.
Unlike Hillary Clinton then secretary of state and President Obama who left Christopher Stevens to die in the Libyan embassy when they were attacked, Trump is sending in the troops.
Heads up travellers: The men and women who put fuel in the planes at Montreal’s airport have gone on strike. While the airport said it will be able to manage, we checked out the departures and saw that that every single flight says delayed. Check before you run to the airport.
And Now For the Year in Review
…Donald Trump being impeached is leading the list on most sites. While he’s only one of three presidents to be impeached, we have a problem taking this seriously.
The Democrat party et al have been trying to get rid of Trump for the entire three years he has been in office. This is just another try and it won’t work. The Senate will not vote to impeach him, leaving the Dems again with egg on their faces, as their supposed saviour Robert Muller did when he testified.
Our suggestion is that the Democrat party get their own house in order. As the saying goes, people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
…The air disaster in Ethiopia, which followed the crash of a 737 Max a few months earlier in Indonesia, left hundreds dead and Boeing’s reputation in tatters. It also showed the world how greed seems to override the little peeps.
By the end of the year Boeing had fired its chief executive and decided to call a temporary halt to production from January. The result of all this: There are not enough planes to carry the millions of people who want to fly. So if you find that every time you board a plane there is not one empty seat, now you know why.
…After seven years of taking refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, England, Julian Assange, of Wiki-leaks fame, was arrested after being found guilty of failing to surrender to the court. He came out looking old and crazed.
…Archie was born to Prince Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex. As Harry knows he’s 8th in line for the throne, he’s nicely giving the middle finger to his family and doing his own thing.
Rumors are that the Queen, who is now 93 years old and looking and sounding absolutely fantastic, will move over to allow Prince Charles to take the throne when she turns 95. He waited so long, what’s another year and a half?
…One of the stories that we followed for months was the SNC-Lavalin scandal. Watching this story play out, day after day, was like watching a Netflix series. The main players were Jody Wilson Raybould and Justin Trudeau, with side actors Gerry Butts and Anthony Housefather, the chairman of the Justice Committee. Housefather eventually shut down the hearings at the behest of Justin.
In the end, Justin got re-elected, Anthony won his seat back in Mount Royal and for listening nicely to his boss, he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour. We still think him to be a weakling, with no backbone.
Our big disappointment was the loss of the election by Andrew Scheer. Not much to say here except that being a nice guy counts for a lot, but not enough to win an election. He obviously surrounded himself with the wrong people who just couldn’t get both their and Andrew’s act together.
…In the United States, Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen is sitting in prison for tax fraud and false testimony.
…On the last day of Passover, a gunman opened fire in the Chabad house in Poway, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye. Rabbi Goldstein had some of his fingers blown off. It caused many in our community to question the security measures being taken in our local synagogues and community centres, with congregants no longer taking a back seat to their leaders, demanding action be taken.
…Boris Johnson throughly trounced the virulent anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn. One of the first things Johnson did after becoming Prime Minister was to send out a strong, clear message to the Jewish community in Great Britain – you are wanted, needed and don’t leave. We don’t usually plug books, organisations or people, but we are making an exception. In the face of what is happening in the Jewish world today, anyone who takes the time to chronicle their parents life during Holocaust and more importantly, how those Jews went on with their lives afterward, married and had children, deserves some space here.
The rest of the world must be constantly reminded that Jews are a nation not just a religion, and we have survived whatever tests are thrown at us.
Tommy Schnurmacher’s book, Makeup Tips from Auschwitz, is about his mother’s resilience, stamina and guts in the face of the Germans and her very unusual life after the war. Olga Schnurmacher, of blessed memory lived her life as Frank Sinatra so eloquently said, her way.
Tommy’s book will make you laugh, cry and take a good look at yourself as a Jew. Don’t miss it. You can get it on Amazon or most books stores in Montreal (if there are any books left).
And finally – Happy New Year and welcome to the new decade. We wish all of our readers a happy, healthy and safe New Year. We’ll talk…
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