Next Draft - Down at the Crossroads
Over the weekend, I attended a bat mitzvah during which the presiding rabbi had the unenviable task of leading what should be a joyous event during a time of deep mourning. During the ceremony, she described a Jewish teaching that explains if a funeral procession and a wedding procession meet at an intersection and one has to go first, the wedding takes the lead. This Talmudic lesson is meant to demonstrate that even in times of extreme sadness and mourning, we need to make room for life and joy. The teaching is right of course. There are times when joy and laughter can be acts of defiance, and any child stepping to the bema to read from the torah for the first time deserves, at least for a moment, to be shielded from the hate and ugliness of another of history's sad moments. So we let the joy have the right of way during the bat mitzvah, but once it was over, we went back to mourning. Mourning for the dead and the kidnapped, so many of whom were working for peace and a two-state solution. Mourning for the fact that even an act of unbridled barbarism can't be mourned by Jews without a, Yeah but... Given that they tortured, raped, and killed innocent people from the elderly to babies, and that they specifically targeted children at school, knowing full well the attack would drive a response resulting in countless deaths of their own people who they've done nothing to protect and who they use as human shields, one would assume it would be Hamas whose morals were being most vociferously called into question. Yeah but...Mourning the fact that we're being led into a broader conflict by Netanyahu's government that was so fixated on destroying Israel's democracy from the inside that it left the country vulnerable to threats from the outside. And, yes, of course, mourning the loss of innocent Palestinian civilians, who have been the region's pawns and victims for far too long. If a joyous procession and funeral procession come to an intersection, we're taught to let the joyous one proceed. But maybe it's just a simple matter of traffic, since the funeral procession is lined up as far as the eye can see. 2Trump Told to Partially STFU"Mr. Trump may still vigorously seek public support as a presidential candidate, debate policies and people related to that candidacy, criticize the current administration and assert his belief that this prosecution is politically motivated. But those critical first amendment freedoms do not allow him to launch a pre-trial smear campaign against participating government staff, their families and foreseeable witnesses. Judge issues partial gag in Trump federal election interference case. "'I cannot imagine any other criminal case' in which a criminal defendant could call prosecutors deranged or a thug, Chutkan added. 'No other defendant would be allowed to do so and I’m not going to allow it in this case.'" (This guy can't even be a decent defendant and one of America's political parties thinks he'd be a decent president.) 3Fertilize and Truth"The crisis started with the Covid-19 pandemic, which increased the cost of transporting fertilizer ingredients. Then came the war. Finally, over the last 18 months, the U.S. Federal Reserve aggressively lifted interest rates to choke off domestic inflation. That has lifted the value of the American dollar against many currencies. Because fertilizer components are priced in dollars, they have become vastly more expensive in countries like Nigeria." The NYT (Gift Article) with a very interesting look at how global events a half a world away can cause hunger and strife. How a Fertilizer Shortage Is Spreading Desperate Hunger. 4More Than Just the Tip"Rivas had just finished serving pancakes and eggs to a party of 16 on a busy Saturday morning in Norwood, Mass., when one of the customers at the table called him over. 'We have something for you,' the customer, Richard Brooks, told Rivas. 'The only reason we came to breakfast today was to give you this tip.' Brooks pulled out a pile of $100 bills and counted them into Rivas’s hand, explaining that he and his friends were members of the $1,000 Breakfast Club. Each person had contributed $100 to leave for the server, $1,600 in all." WaPo (Gift Article): At breakfast, this group always leaves at least a $1,000 tip. 5Extra, ExtraCarbon is Taxing: "Offsetting has been hailed as a fix for runaway emissions and climate change—but the market’s largest firm sold millions of credits for carbon reductions that weren’t real. The New Yorker: The Great Cash-for-Carbon Hustle. (Removing money from the system is a lot easier than removing carbon from it.) 6Bottom of the News"Netflix Houses will be a mix of entertainment and retail experiences, where customers can eat, drink, and buy merchandise." Netflix is planning to open its first permanent retail locations by 2025. (Isn't the whole point of Netflix that you don't have to leave your couch?) Get a copy of my 📕, Please Scream Inside Your Heart, or grab a 👕 in the Store. |
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Traveling Salesman
Monday, October 23, 2023
Biden Goes to Israel, Hospital Bombed, Jordan's Speaker Quest
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Monday, October 23, 2023
Biden in Israel, Jim Jordan Wrestles Fewer Votes
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A little housekeeping Sunday, May 14, 2023 - The Day's Most Fascinating News from Dave Pell NextDraft Logo Current Edition About NextDraft Sunday, May 14, 2023 As you probably know, I moved
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