Pursuit for Equality in a Democracy

  America has lost its shine, charisma, and personality. We are no longer the country that other nations are envious of. In fact, many tourists are spending their vacation dollars in other places because of the horrific fascist policies of the Trump Administration created primarily by the evil and sadistic mind of Stephen Miller.     Miller has created a cruel disappearing campaign targeting primarily the Hispanic population made possible through a decade of constant demeaning and dehumanizing rhetoric.   I lived in Sweden a quarter of a century ago and all my friends and business associates alike wanted to have conversations with me about America. They talked glowingly about the different cities and towns that they have visited when they visited the United States, the food they liked, the clubs that they danced in, etc. My Swedish friends would save their money for years just to go on a family vacation to Disney World or far off Hawaii. Now, they ask me “What has ha...

  Turning the Lights Back On Finding My Way Back to Synagogue, Loving It, & Finding Peace   As is the case with pretty much every Billy Joel song, his mastery of words touches one person versus another in different ways and that is the genius of the Piano Man. How many times have you heard someone say that his songs have affected every situation that they experienced during their life. For me, his song “Turn the Lights Back On” beautifully describes my journey back to Temple decades after not attending on a regular basis.    There was never a hesitation in my love and belief in Judaism. I truly believe that we are all equally God’s children and not one person is a primary child of God and the rest of us are secondary. It does not logically make sense to me. The Torah teaches us that we are all made in the image of God and have free will. If we are all made in Gods image, then God is not just white or black or brown or tan or olive or heterosexual or homosexual, b...

  When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with the United States and everything that we were taught that it stands for: Life, Freedom, and Happiness. I loved American History so much that I would read ahead in our Social Studies textbook. While my teacher was talking about Boston Massacre, I would be reading about the Battle of Yorktown. There was a book in the school library about all the Presidents in our history up to Jimmy Carter. The year was 1979 and I had dreams of becoming President one day. In fact, I wanted to be the first Jewish President. I had no idea of lobbyists, party politics, or political action committees. I was nine years old, and I believed so much in the freedoms that our country gave us. The alternative was communism and living under the Iron Curtin of the USSR.     As I grew up, my views changed. The more books on American history I read, the more I realized that our nation has many skeletons and bad habits that we can’t seem to shake. I ha...

  Shortly after my son Evan was diagnosed with Autism 5 ½ years ago, I bought a blue t-shirt with Charlie Brown and Snoopy walking down a path made up of the multi-colored autism puzzle pieces. Snoopy’s hand is gently placed on Charlie Brown’s back and the phrase printed on the t-shirt reads, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I have other t-shirts that I have purchased over the years that promote autism awareness, but this is my favorite one. Even more than all my Mets and Jets t-shirts or jerseys.     At the time I purchased this t-shirt, I wanted to support my son and bring awareness to this journey that we were about to partake. A journey that so many families have or are in the process of taking with their own child and what better way to do it than with Snoopy and Charlie Brown. I have loved Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts characters since I was little. I would never and have never let Evan walk alone. It has been a journey filled with many emotions and always with love....

  I am an American. I am Jewish.   In this 2 nd  Trump Presidency, I don’t understand how some people of my faith support Donald  Trump.  They’ll say that he is great for Israel, but is he? Or is he an opportunist, who supports a fellow indicted leader in Benjamin Netanyahu?   October 7, 2023, was a dark day in Jewish and Israeli History. The brutal murder and kidnapping of innocent Israeli citizens were premeditated, evil, and disgusting. Hamas, backed by Iran (who are allies with Russia) is responsible for the events of that day. The remaining hostages need to be released and returned to their loved ones.    However, we cannot overlook certain facts. It is known that Netanyahu was paying off Hamas, through Qatar, as he focused on increasing Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The Netanyahu Government was warned by both Egypt and the United States that Hamas was planning something big. When the attack happened on a border that is heav...

  Things that are missing from our society is compassion, courtesy, and respect for our neighbors, colleagues, and fellow citizens. It has been replaced by hate, anger, vitriol, racism, sexism, and misogyny.     The hate & anger is continuously fueled by billionaires and politicians with an agenda. Their agenda is to make as much money as possible and pay as little tax as possible at the expense of the poor, working and middle classes using various forms of media (Fox News and X) to achieve their goals.      The Billionaire class, lead by Elon Musk and President Trump, who are representing the “top one percent” of the wealthiest people in the world, have convinced their supporters that they have their “best interests” at heart while their plans will hurt them the most. Last week, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez let the secret out of the bag during her Instagram live video. President Trump gave the top one precent a huge tax break in 2017 that sun...