Month: August 2026

WHAT’S IN A NAME

I have always been fascinated by pseudonyms, why people choose to use them and why they pick the ones they do. The word traces back through the French noun pseudonyme, which, in turn, is derived from the ancient Greek adjective pseudōnymos, meaning “bearing a false name” or “falsely named.”

Many famous persons have used pseudonyms for various reasons. Here are some of the main reasons:

  1. Marketability and catchiness
  2. Easier to remember – Birth names can be too long (to fit on a marquee), too plain, or hard to spell or pronounce.
  3. For performers a punchy, unique stage name creates a memorable brand that stands out in a lineup or on a marquee.
  4. Some performers adopt ambiguous first names to bypass gender-based assumptions or biases at “open mic” nights and auditions. Similarly, some female authors use initials in lieu of their first name to disguise their gender.
  5. A different name helps minority or ethnic performers avoid preconceived notions or industry discrimination from bookers and audiences. This was especially common in Vaudeville and in the early days of movies and tv.
  6. Many comedians used them to separate their personal life from their public persona.
  7. Keep these in mind as you read through the following list.

At first, I was going to publish this as a quiz, but I quickly realized that a majority of the names would be either too obvious and easy or too difficult for one to recognize. Therefore, I decided just to provide a list of famous people and their pseudonyms for information and entertainment purposes. As you peruse the list you will see that some of the birth names were very unusual, and one could understand why a pseudonym was substituted. On the other hand, some pseudonyms were very similar to the person’s birth name.

  1. Mark Twain -Birth name, Samuel Clemens
  2. George Orwell – Birth name, Eric Arthur Blake
  3. Dr. Seuss – Birth name, Theodore Geisel
  4. Lewis Carroll – Birth name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
  5. Vin Diesel – Birth name, Mark Sinclair Vincent
  6. “Bono” – Birth name, Paul Hewson
  7. Leon Trotsky – Birth name, Lev Davidovich Bronshtein
  8. John Wayne – Birth name, Marion Mitchell Morrison
  9. “Whoopi” Goldberg – Birth name, Caryn Elaine Johnson
  10. Dutch Schultz – Birth name, Arthur Flagenheimer
  11. Estee Lauder – Birth name, Josephine Mentzer
  12. Jim McKay – Birth name, James McManus
  13. “Son of Sam” – Birth name, David Berkowitz
  14. Alan Alda – Birth name, Alphonse Joseph D’Abruzzo
  15. “Little” Anthony – Birth name, Jerome Gourdine
  16. Fred Astaire – Birth name, Frederick Austerlitz
  17. Cardi B – Birth name, Belcalis Amenzar
  18. Helen Mirren – Birth name, Ilyena Lydia Mironoff
  19. Jaime Foxx – Birth name, Eric Marlon Bishop
  20. “Pink” – Birth name, Alecia Beth Moore
  21. Chevy Chase – Birth name, Cornelius Crane Chase
  22. Mel Brooks – Birth name, Melvin Kaminsky
  23. Rodney Dangerfield – Birth name, Jacob Cohen
  24. “Soupy” Sales – Birth name, Milton Supman
  25. Natalie Portman – Birth name, Natalie Hershlag
  26. Marilyn Monroe – Birth name, Norma Jeane Mortenson
  27. Joseph Stalin – Birth name, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili
  28. George Burns – Birth name, Nathan Birnbaum
  29. Jack Benny – Birth name, Benjamin Kubelsk
  30. Connie Francis – Birth name, Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero

Conclusion

In my research I found thousands of pseudonyms of famous people. Even ordinary people change their names for a myriad of reasons. As I wrote in a previous blog many immigrants changed their name upon arrival in the US or had them shortened or changed inadvertently by a clerk at Ellis Island. Some took or were given the name of their home town in the “old country.” Quite possibly, your name was one of those.

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COLLEGE OR NOT

As always, the following blog constitutes a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion, where indicated.

You’re 18 years old and a high school senior. Soon, you will be graduating. Soon, you will be entering the real world as, by many standards, an adult. Soon, you will be faced with making the biggest decision of your life to this point, a decision that will impact the rest of your life and likely those of your future spouse and children. That decision, folks, is whether to attend college or pursue some alternative such as the military, trade school or civil service.

Many of your friends are planning to attend prestigious universities. For those outstanding students who plan to seek a career in medicine, law, accounting, or some other occupation in which jobs will likely be available post graduation, college makes sense. Of course it is important to choose the right college. More on that below.

If you have been an average or below average student, college may not be the appropriate career path for you. You might be better off pursuing a career in a trade school, civil service or the military. In the interest of time and space for purposes of this blog I will limit my analysis to colleges and trade schools.

For thousands of years young men seeking to earn a living apprenticed to an experienced tradesman such as a tailor, shoemaker, blacksmith, or whatever. There was no such thing as college as we know it. Even lawyers did not train by attending law school. They apprenticed by”reading” the law under the supervision of an experienced lawyer.. For the most part colleges came into vogue in the last 100 years or so. For example, in 1900, only about 2% of adults had earned a college degree of any type compared to 39% in 2025.

In recent decades the conventional wisdom held that every graduating high school student should aspire to attend college. A college degree was viewed as the necessary gateway to success in life. Employers preferred to hire college graduates even for jobs where it was not really a necessary requirement. Even a degree in such vague areas such as liberal arts or humanities were perceived to have value.

Now, however, a four-year degree is no longer a guarantee of career success. As of September 2025 the unemployment rate for young college graduates was 9.7% (roughly equivalent to that of high school graduates in the same age group). Additionally, some 76% of employers have not increased entry-level hiring. Graduates with degrees such as humanities, journalism and middle eastern studies, among others, have had difficulty finding a suitable job. Many of them are either unemployed or underemployed as waitstaff or slicing meat in delis.

Concurrently, trade schools have become more popular as increasing numbers of students and parents have become cognizant of their benefits compared to college. Trade schools, also known as “technical schools” or “vocational college,” focus on specific careers that require specialized technical training, not a college degree . Normally, students earn an industry certification or license from a technical school or technical college in less time and for a lot less money compared to a four-year college degree.

According to recent studies published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and McKinsey & Company the demand for skilled tradesmen is growing considerably faster than average, and this trend is expected to continue or even accelerate by 2032.:Moreover, the demand for certain essential skilled jobs such as electricians and HVAC technicians is expected to grow 20 times faster than average by 2032. Furthermore, according to a recent story published in the Washington Post ABC chief economist Anirban Basu opined that although advances in AI will result in a reduced demand for people in some areas the trades will still require an actual person to perform the work.

You can find affordable options for both technical schools and four-year colleges. If you plan to pay for your education yourself, going to a technical school or community college can be much more affordable. If you can qualify for financial aid or scholarships to help with the costs of your college education, however, attending a four-year university could be more affordable.

Some advantages of trade schools include:

  1. Lower cost, approximately $4,000 to $20,000. .
  2. Quicker entry into the workforce (two years or less for certification compared to four years or more for a bachelor’s degree),
  3. Commence earning money sooner.
  4. Hands-on training for specific careers, such as plumbing, welding, HVAC technicians, dental hygienists, veterinary technicians, or paralegals. Earnings for these trades vary widely depending on experience and job location, but a reasonable estimated national average would be $25 -$35/hour, plus overtime. This is starting at the age of 18 or 20, not 25, 30 or older. Also, self employed tradesmen can make considerably more, and often “off the books.”
  5. Generally, trade school programs are designed to prepare you to pass professional exams and receive a license to work in your industry. They provide credentials that certify the student has mastered the essential elements of the field either by experience or passing a test.
  6. Practically speaking, some college degrees, while broadening the student’s mind, provide little or no useful benefit post graduation. More on this later.
  7. More streamlined admission process. The application process for college is arduous and frustrating. Typically, it takes several months. Competition among entrants is fierce, and often decisions to accept or reject an application are not based on logic. On the other hand, normally technical schools only require proof that you have graduated high school in which case one simply signs up and waits for the next available program.
  8. Through careful research one can find affordable options for both technical schools and four-year colleges. Colleges offer scholarships and loans, but generally, however, technical schools or community colleges are much more affordable. Be judicious with taking out loans. Too many graduates find themselves saddled with substantial loans, which can take several years to pay off. In 2024 overall student loan debt was estimated at $1.63 trillion.
  9. You can find affordable options for both technical schools and four-year colleges. If you plan to pay for your education yourself, going to a technical school or community college can be much more affordable.
  10. If you decide to attend college you don’t have to attend an expensive four-year college. Many of them cost up to $80,000 per year all-in, and it might take you more than four years to graduate. Consider attending a less expensive public college or a community college for two years. You can always transfer to a more prestigious college and graduate from it. The average cost of college tuition for four years varies from from $48,000 to $180,000 depending upon whether the school is a public (in-state vs. out-of-state) or a private institution. The all-in cost (including room, board, books, and supplies) is considerably higher ranging from $124,000 to an outrageous $262,000. As I said above, pretty steep. According to a recent article in the NY Post colleges are facing a serious enrollment crisis as increasing numbers of students are opting for the practicality of trade schools. The Western Interstate Commission for higher Education predicts that enrollment in the traditional four-year colleges will decline some 13% over the next 15 years. Concurrently, enrollment in trade schools is up some 20% since 2020.
  11. The average student loan debt for a bachelor’s degree holder in the U.S. is approximately $29,000 -$35,000, combining federal and private loans. Roughly half of all students graduate from four-year public universities with some debt, and those who pursue advanced graduate or professional degrees face significantly higher amounts. The amount of debt for a medical school graduate varies significantly depending on the specialty. The average is about $216,000, however, with respect to surgical specialties such as orthopedics or plastic surgery it can be as high as $600,000. Additionally, these specialists don’t even commence to earn real money until they are in their 30s. Then, they spend the better part of their career paying off the aforementioned loans.

CONCLUSION

Obviously, before making a commitment in time and money it is incumbent upon the student and his parents to do some research to ascertain the marketability of the knowledge and skills attendant to a particular degree. You don’t want to invest all that time and money only to find a “dead” or limited job market at the end of the day. For instance, you may love history or humanities and want to major in one of them, but at the end of the day is there a viable job market, or will you end up as a barista in Starbucks or selling insurance to make ends meet?

That is precisely the problem with many college graduates today. They invest all that time and money, and then find there are either no jobs or only low-wage jobs. Meanwhile, their “goofball” or poor student friends from high school are making good money as plumbers or hairdressers. Jealousy? Envy? Perhaps. Their attitude is “you don’t deserve all that you have. I’m smarter than you. I deserve some of that, and I want it.”

Then, they become disillusioned and disaffected. They made a poor choice at the age of 18, and rather than own up to it they choose to blame others or the system itself. They feel entitled to the good life, but they don’t have it and can’t see a way to attain it. I believe that it is out of frustration with the direction of their lives that some of these persons have joined the radical socialist movement that is gaining in popularity.

Based on the foregoing that old worn out cliche “college isn’t for everyone” is true.

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ABDUL EL-SAYED

As always, the contents of this blog are a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion where indicated.

Who is Abdul El-Sayed, and why should all those who believe in and want to preserve America and the American way of life that has flourished for some 250 years be concerned about him? Read on for the answers.

Until a few months ago few people had heard of El-Sayed. Now, we all know who he is. Abdul El-Sayed is the far left Dem candidate for US Senate for the State of Michigan. Last week he won the Dem primary over US Representative Haley Stevens by the very narrow margin of 48.5% to 47.5%, a mere 15,000 votes. Senator Bernie Sanders, a leader of the progressive movement who was an early supporter of El-Sayed’s candidacy, characterized it as “the most extraordinary victory that I can think of in modern American politics.” Senator Chris Van Hollen, another progressive leader who endorsed El-Sayed, said the victory “should be a wake-up call to the Washington Democratic establishment.” For once I agree with Van Hollen.

Sanders’ hyperbole aside, the political ramifications of El-Sayed’s victory should not be ignored or minimized. He is a prime example of the alarming shift to the left in the Dem Party. These far lefties hate America and the American way of life. They want to tear it down and reconstitute it as a communist state in the model of Soviet Russia, Communist China, Venezuela and Cuba. They are ignorant of or choose to ignore the historical fact that communism has failed wherever it has been tried.

Like many of his ilk El-Sayed has never held elected office and has very limited, if any, experience in or knowledge of finance, business, economics and history. In his last election in 2018 he lost Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial primary to Governor Gretchen Whitmer by more than 20 percentage points. This time, espousing an unabashedly far left platform, he won despite being outspent by a huge margin and the fact that his opponent had the support of Chuck Schumer, outgoing Senator Gary Peters, and host of other establishment Dems.

In the intervening seven years El-Sayed had wisely remained in the public eye biding his time waiting for the right situation. For instance, he started a podcast, wrote a book and became a regular presence on YouTube and television. He steadily developed a political base. His opportunity came when Senator Peters declined to seek re-election.

In April 2025 he launched his campaign with a tiny staff. In his victory speech he reminisced how it all began. “I remember talking to a room of five people,” he said. “It was an opportunity for us to share an honest conversation about pain and about purpose. And I’ve been able to have 500 more of those discussions over the past 15 months.”

El-Sayed ran a classic grass roots campaign. He visited some 110 cities and hosted more than 500 events. According to his campaign his volunteer network eventually grew to 12,000 people. Julie Brink, a 29-year-old volunteer from the Detroit area, said the campaign still felt like an “underdog” when she joined in February. From there, she said, it was “gaining momentum really consistently.” El-Sayed embraced his underdog status declaring “what we’re doing is building a movement of the many against the money.”

El-Sayed never let up. He sprinted to the finish line. For example, on Election Day he held several interviews with content creators at Detroit’s Eastern Market and traditional news organizations, such as The Associated Press and MS NOW. Following his upset victory the campaign that had once struggled to fill small rooms packed Detroit’s Majestic Theatre for a huge election night party.

So, I repeat my earlier question. Who is El-Sayed? Now, we are cognizant of his background and work experience, which incidentally does NOT qualify him to be a US Senator, but what are his politics? Read on for the shocking and disquieting answer.

Below please find some of his policies. These extreme positions are typical of those espoused by El-Sayed and other neo-communists of the DSA. The differences between these and traditional American values are not the kind that could be resolved by debate between reasonable persons. They are inane, unworkable, and demonstrate a lack of common sense and historical context. They would destroy America as we know it. Regardless of whether or not he has actually advocated all of them; as a DSA candidate for the US Senate he is tied to them and should be compelled to defend them as well as other similar comments.

  1. Medicare for all.
  2. Open borders
  3. Abolish the Senate
  4. Abolish the office of the President.
  5. Abolish the electoral college.
  6. Abolish ICE.
  7. Favor electric vehicles over gas vehicles. (This would be a particularly “hard sell” in Michigan, which is dominated by the automobile industry.)
  8. His comments regarding the ME are particularly disturbing and not just to Jews. For example (1) He has questioned whether Israel has an “inherent right” to receive American taxpayer money. (2) He has advocated ending military aid to Israel which he characterizes as supporting “genocide and apartheid.” (3) He has been a strong critic of pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC. (4) He has openly labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal. These comments are not only highly antisemitic, but also exhibit a lack of awareness that Israel has been America’s only consistent and reliable ally in the volatile and strategically critical ME. The two countries have developed a symbiotic relationship, which is critical to the national security of both countries.

CONCLUSION

The foreboding significance of El-Sayed’s victory should not be underestimated or ignored. Heretofore the establishment politicos had crowed that the far left agenda would only be successful in certain deep blue locales such as NYC. Now, for the first time the far lefties have proven they could win a primary election in a crucial swing state. Even more alarming is a newly released poll, which was commissioned by pollsters Fabrizio Ward and Impact Research, that disclosed that El-Sayed is leading Rogers among likely voters 48%-47%.

Winning a Dem primary in which fewer than half of registered voters bother to participate, is one thing. Winning the election against a Repub opponent supported by moderate to conservative Repub voters is a whole other task. El-Sayed’s qualifications (or lack thereof), policies and prior statements will be heavily scrutinized by the Rogers campaign as well as by objective members of the media and discerning voters. Like most other radical candidates with a narrow base of support El-Sayed will likely attempt to “moderate” certain prior actions and comments to convince mainstream voters he is not as extreme as he really is. He will claim he has “evolved,” was “misquoted” or his comments were “taken out of context.” The “spin doctors” will be working overtime.

Will this strategy succeed? Who knows? Unfortunately, sometimes it has in prior elections, because typically, many voters are lazy, misinformed, stay home, or vote for a certain political party out of habit.

At least there are indications that the Repubs are viewing El-Sayed as a legitimate threat and are taking this election seriously. For instance, the Senate Republican campaign committee has already allocated some $45 million in advertising to support Rogers with more to come. Also, AIPAC, which has already spent more money on Michigan’s primary than on any other contest, has indicated it would continue its financial support.

In my opinion this election will be among the most important in my lifetime. Either the neo-communists will win and demonstrate their program has mainstream support or they will lose and be relegated to a fringe extremist group. My urgent message to Michiganders is VOTE, VOTE, VOTE/

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THIS MONTH IN HISTORY – AUGUST

Below please find a list of significant historical events that have occurred during the month of August.

August 1, 1838 – Slavery in Jamaica, which had been introduced by Spain in 1509, was abolished.

August 1, 1944 – Fifteen year-old Anne Frank, who was fated to be captured by the Nazis three days later and killed at Bergen-Belsen, wrote her final entry into her famous diary – “[I] keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be, and what I could be if … there weren’t any other people living in the world.”

August 2, 1776 – Most of the 55 signatories to the Declaration of Independence signed the original document (not on July 4, as is commonly believed).

August 2, 1923 – President Warren Harding died suddenly and was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge.

August 3, 1492 – Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain seeking the elusive Northwest Passage to Asia. Do you remember the names of the three ships in his convoy? See below.

August 5, 1583 – Explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert founded the first British colony in North America in present-day Newfoundland.

August 5, 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln signed into law an emergency war measure to levy a 3% income tax on income in excess of $800.

August 5, 1962 – Actress Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson), symbol of Hollywood glamor and sexuality, was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills.

August 6, 1945 – The US drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, destroying the city, and hastening the end of WWII.

August 6, 1962 – Jamaica achieved independence, ending some 450 years of colonial rule first by Spain and then by England.

August 6, 1965 – President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.

August 7, 1964 – Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which provided legal “cover” for the US’s entry into the Vietnam War.

August 9, 1945 – The US dropped a second atomic bomb (on Nagasaki).

August 9, 1974 – President Richard Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal.

August 11, 1965 – Six days of racial riots began in the Watts section of LA. The riots resulted in a reported 34 deaths, over 3,000 arrests and property damage estimated at $40 million

August 13, 1961 – East Germany put up the Berlin Wall separating West and East Berlin.

August 14, 1935 – FDR signed the Social Security Act.

August 14, 1945 – V-J Day commemorating Japan’s surrender, which marked the official end of WWII.

August 15, 1969 – The Woodstock festival began in Bethel, NY.

August 16, 1896 – Gold was discovered along the Klondike River in Alaska, precipitating what became known as the Great Klondike Gold Rush.

August 18, 1920 – Ratification of the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.

August 21, 1959 – Hawaii was admitted to the Union as the 50th state.

August 24, 79 A. D. – The volcano, Vesuvius, erupted destroying the cities of Pompeii, Stabiac and Herculaneum.

August 24-25, 1814 – During the War of 1812 the British attacked Washington D.C. and burned much of the city, including the White House and the Capitol.

August 26, 1883 – One of the most catastrophic volcano eruptions ever recorded occurred on the island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. It produced tidal waves of 120 feet and killed 36,000 persons.

August 28, 1963 – Over 250,000 persons participated in the March on Washington in support of civil rights. One of the many speakers was the Reverend MLK, who gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

August 31, 1997 – Princess Diana died from injuries suffered in an auto accident while fleeing from pursuing paparazzi.

Birthdays – Francis Scott Key (wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”), in Frederick County, MD 8/1/1779; Maria Mitchell, 8/1/1818) – astronomer, librarian, naturalist, educator, and.first American woman astronomer to discover a comet.8/1/1779 in Maryland; Herman Melville (wrote “Moby Dick”), 8/1/1819 in New York City; Ernie Pyle (WWII war correspondent), 8/3/1900 in Dana, IN; Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong (Jazz trumpeter), 8/4/1901 in New Orleans; (Quiz question #2 – Do you know the derivation of his very unusual nickname?); Raoul Wallenberg (saved 33,000 Jews from the Holocaust), 8/4/1912 in Stockholm;; Barack bama (44th US President), 8/4/1961 in Honolulu; Alfred Lord Tennyson (poet, wrote “Charge of the Light Brigade”), 8/6/1809 in England; Alexander Fleming (discovered penicillin), 8/6/1881 in Scotland; Herbert Hoover (31st US President), 8/10/1874 in West Branch, IA; Alex Haley (wrote “Roots”), 8/11/1921 in Ithaca, NY; Cecil B. DeMille (directed “The Ten Commandments”), 8/12/1881 in Ashfield, MA; Lucille Ball, comedian, actress, studio executive, 8/6/1911, in Jamestown, NY Annie Oakley (sharpshooter), 8/13,1860 in Ohio; Alfred Hitchcock (British film director, “The Birds,” “Psycho”), 8/13/1899 in London; Fidel Castro, 8/13/1927 in Cuba; Napoleon Bonaparte, 8/15/1769, on the island of Corsica; T. E. Lawrence, 8/16/1888 in North Wales, Quiz Question #3 – Who played Lawrence in the Oscar-winning movie, Lawrence of Arabia?); Menachem Begin, 8/16/1913 in Poland; Davy Crockett, 8/17/1786 in Tennessee; Meriwether Lewis, 8/18/1774 near Charlottesville, VA; Orville Wright, 8/19/1871 in Dayton, OH; Coco Chanel, fashion designer and business woman, 8/19/1883 in Samuur, France; William Jefferson Clinton (42nd US President), 8/19/1946 in Hope, Arkansas; Benjamin Harrison (23rd US President), 8/20/1833 in North Bend, OH, (Quiz question #4 – He was the grandson of another president. Who?); Leonard Bernstein (conductor and composer), 8/25/1918 in Lawrence, MA; Lyndon Baines Johnson (36th US President), 8/27/1908 near Stonewall, TX; Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (aka Mother Teresa), 8/27/1910 in Yugoslavia.

Quiz Answers

1. Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria
2. The most likely story is as a youth Louis would dance for pennies in the streets of his home city of New Orleans. To prevent other boys from stealing the pennies he stored them in his mouth, which would then become so stuffed as to resemble a satchel. Someone dubbed him “satchel mouth,” which became shortened to “Satchmo.” Many of his friends called him “pops.”
3. Peter O’Toole
4. William Henry Harrison

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A LETTER TO COMRADE ZOH

I received the following from my longtime friend and loyal reader, Larry. It is based on a letter written in France in 1894 by Emil Zola, a French writer of some renown. We believe that the contents of the letter apply to the current mayor of NYC.

In 1894, Colonel Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew, was falsely accused of treason. The accusation was not justice – it was antisemitism wearing the robes of the state. A courageous writer, Émile Zola, stood up when almost no one else would. He wrote J’Accuse – “I accuse” – and forced a nation to look at what it had done.

Today, the mayor of NYC has turned the Jewish state, the Jewish people, into a collective Dreyfus. In the spirit of Zola, I say to you, Mr. Mayor: J’accuse.

J’accuse you of calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the architect of a horrific genocide” – a word chosen not for precision, but for its power to wound and to inflame. J’accuse you of naming a number – of the dead, of the maimed – and offering it as verdict, when the world’s most careful investigators have not yet reached one. J’accuse you of speaking two full minutes about the war in Gaza without once speaking the words October 7th – without once naming the massacre, the rape, the taking of hostages – babies and grandmothers – that began this war. J’accuse you of silence – a silence so complete that anyone hearing you for the first time would never know Hamas exists at all.  J’accuse you of a modern blood libel: accusing Israel of murdering Gazans whom Hamas itself murdered, using them as human shields. J’accuse you, in that same breath, of accusing my grandchildren.

When you call the Prime Minister of Israel a war criminal and an architect of genocide, you are not speaking only of one man in Jerusalem. You are speaking of the many thousands of children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters of New Yorkers who serve in the IDF army that defends the Jewish state.

J’accuse you of painting a target on the backs of Jews and of every New Yorker who supports Israel – because words like yours, spoken from the office you hold, do not stay contained. They travel. They are heard by those who already hate us, and they are heard as permission. J’accuse you of finding words for Gaza but none for Iran’s hanged dissidents, none for the churches burned in Nigeria, none for the Uyghurs vanished into camps in China. A conscience that speaks only of Jews and their state, and falls silent before every other cruelty on earth, is not a universal conscience. It is something else – it is antisemitism.

J’accuse you of holding the highest office in the largest Jewish city outside of Israel, and using it to make antisemitism feel official – to make it feel less like hatred and more like policy.

And yet, Mr. Mayor – we have been here before. We are a people with a long and bitter history of being accused. We have been called poisoners of wells, killers of gods, controllers of banks, and now, absurdly, perpetrators of the very crime that was done to us not one lifetime ago. We have heard every accusation there is. And we are still here. Israel – a Jewish state standing alone in a sea of nations that would erase it – is not the crime you make it out to be. It is what a people builds when it refuses to disappear.

Every Passover, at the Seder table, we say these words: she’lo echad bilvad amad aleinu le’chaloteinu – that in every generation, there rise those who seek to destroy us, but the Holy One delivers us from their hands. We say it every year. We will say it again this year. And Mr. Mamdani – for the rest of my life, when I reach that line in the Haggadah, I will think of you. J’accuse.

CONCLUSION

For years the Dems and their allies in the mainstream media have labeled President Trump as “Hitler” simply because they don’t like him personally nor agree with his policies. That characterization is not only false, it is incendiary and a grave insult to those Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust by the real Hitler.

Meanwhile, we have a real “Hitler” in our midst. Comrade Zoh is a communist, not a fascist like Hitler. But in all other respects he is very similar to Hitler. Like Hitler, he hates Jews (and Israel, which as we know did not exist in Hitler’s time). Like Hitler, he has exhibited extremist political, social and economic views. Like Hitler, he wants a country in which the government controls all aspects of everyday life. And like Hitler, he is a glib, charismatic speaker who can mesmerize his audience, particularly if they focus on the style of what he says and not the substance.

None of his campaign promises will succeed. His promises of “free stuff” are a mirage. There is no such thing as free stuff. Somehow, somewhere, someone has to pay for it.

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SPREAD OF DEM PARTY ANTISEMITISM

As always, the contents of this blog constitute a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion where indicated.

I have published a multitude of blogs regarding antisemitism, including its origins, its history, its omnipresence and the danger of the false comfort of American Jews. I don’t wish to regurgitate all of that here and now.is It is readily available for those who wish to find it. Rather, the primary theme of this blog will be to illustrate absolutely and definitively the spread of antisemitism in the Dem Party.

As I have written several times antisemitism is not a new phenomenon. It has been omnipresent for thousands of years. Sometimes it has been covert, lurking just below the surface. At other times, such as now, it has burst forth like an erupting volcano.

The radical left wing of the Dem Party and its allies in the mainstream media have been trying, with some success, to portray itself as “socialist” or “progressive.” This is false. They are antisemitic communists who want to blow up the US constitution and the American values of free enterprise, capitalism and freedom of choice that have been a cornerstone of America for 250 years. This is not hyperbole. This is not exaggeration. This is not political postering. They have blatantly and openly espoused these goals. They have been published all over the internet and are easily researched if one cares to look. There policies are reminiscent of Soviet Russia back in the day and could have been written by Karl Marx.

In that vein the recent primary results are most disturbing. Dozens of radical candidates have defeated moderate, veteran Dems. They are aggressive, well-organized and well-funded. They have taken full advantage of the reality that less that half of voters bother to vote in off-year elections, and even fewer in primaries. In some blue jurisdictions a primary victory is tantamount to election. It’s important to note that although these candidates may differ in some degree regarding the radical nature of their policies they are all united in their hatred of Israel and Jews.

For example, the victor in the Michigan Senate primary, Abdul El-Sayad, boasts as one of his principal supporters prominent social media activist Hasan Piker, a notorious, unabashed antisemite who once blogged that America “deserved 9/11.” In my opinion Piker’s reputation will be a liability in the general election. I am not the only one who feels that way. Commentators such as Neera Tanden, the head of the Center for American Progress, has opined that Piker would “alienate general election voters” and provide GOP Mike Rogers a “path to victory” in the general election. Another of El-Sayad’s supporters is Mohammad Bager Oazwini, a Muslim cleric based in Dearborn, MI, who, in a sermon, celebrated Senator Lindsey Graham’s death, wished the same for President Trump and blamed them for fomenting “genocide” in Gaza.

And then there is the candidate for governor of Wisconsin, Francesca Wong, who has advocated the elimination of Thanksgiving. She is so “out there” that Bernie Sanders has declined to endorse her.

As a final example we have James Talarico, Dem candidate for Senate in Texas. He is locked in a close race with Attorney General Ken Paxton. Apparently, the voters have forgotten or chosen to ignore Talarico’s previous comments such as housing illegals to prevent deportation, denigrating ICE, his comments in 2021 that there are “six chromosome variations” (widely interpreted as “six genders,”) and accusing schools of “Christo-fascism.”

I expect that in campaigning for the general election these three and others will do what extremists always do, that is moderate or “spin” their positions, claim they were misquoted, and deny they said what they said even though it is one tape. Unfortunately, this gaslighting often works, and then following the election the candidate reverts back to his or her true policies. The most recent example of this would be Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger.

Let’s not forget comrade Zo. His latest inanity was threatening to arrest Netanyahu if and when he came to NYC. After he realized he lacked the legal standing to do that he backed off. However, his anti-Netanyahu/anti-Israel/antisemitic rhetoric have stirred up the legion of anti-Israel, anti-Netanyahu and antisemitic activists in advance of the upcoming UN meetings. In my view the result will be massive demonstrations and possible violence.

CONCLUSION

The results of the recent primaries highlight the continuing surge of the radical left wing of the Dem Party. The moderate Dems and the independents continue to aid and abet this by ignoring the grim reality. They are the majority and have the ability to crush this movement, but they continue to appease. This is akin to feeding a hungry lion in the hope that it will not eat you. Eventually, however, you run out of food, and it does eat you.

The much balleyhooed “big tent” theory is a sham. As I denoted in detail in my blogs “The Camel’s Nose” and the “Trojan Horse” the radicals have no interest in sharing. They want nothing less than a complete takeover, first of the Dem Party, then of the country. It’s not too late to stop them, but as Yogi Berra once said “it gets late early.”

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