Just Abolish Police?

In recent election cycles, we have heard the far left demand that police (and also incidentally prisons) should be abolished. These radicals called our law enforcement "slave catchers". Cops are not perfect but are absolutely essential in preventing chaos. Without competent and professional policing, society would rapidly fall into bloody anarchy. Social workers would not have stopped the Times Square stabbing, but well-placed shots by the NYPD did, and that protected innocent lives. 

Not the Issue

Whether or not illegal aliens are obtaining commercial driver's licenses from American driving schools is not the Issue. The issue is in fact, what are "illegal aliens" doing here in the first place after several years of Trump in charge of immigration (albeit separated by the interval of the Biden administration). We should have the most secure nation on earth with all the Trump tough talk and bloviating. 

Too Early Predictions

I attended my first Titans game of the season, that happened to be the last of the preseason. Has Tennessee improved? Probably, but not enough to have a winning season and certainly not transforming into a playoff contender. I was also struck that so many of my fellow attendees were sporting Bears colors. I would say half the crowd was rooting for the visitors. Will Levis does not look like a quarterback who is capable of success in the National Football League, but then again Cam Ward has not looked much better in his preseason appearances. Chicago looked dominant at the line of scrimmage, but of course, the Titans best linemen did not even play. I say the Bears are an NFC playoff team, but the Titans regrettably will earn an early draft pick again as they further slip into the category of perennial losers. 

Absolutely Pernicious Influence

Qatar is against the West. Qatar purchases clout, such as their "investment" of buying 17 percent of Volkswagen, then demands VW not participate in building Israel's purely defensive Iron Dome missile systems. The Qataris give Trump an Air Force One as his opulent Presidential jet. Did they do that because they liked his Apprentice episodes so much? No, they did that to curry favor with Team Trump while they continue to be the second most generous funders of terror, just behind Iran. Qatar is no ally to America but a malignancy infiltrating the body politic from universities they donate to, to companies they buy into, to leaders they compromise through their "gracious generosity". 

Are We Moral?

At this time of reflection about our shortcomings and atonement for them, we Jews must remember it is a constant effort to remain among the righteous. We will surely fall short but must know our Creator is aware of that, and as Yom Kippur approaches, Hashem is willing to forgive our sins. 

World's Preposterous Demands

Did the Allies actively feed the German People while they were battling the Nazis? No, and no sane person would have expected them to make sure the enemy's noncombatants did not suffer. There were no giant airdrops of food to Hitler's nation, just bombs, day and night and many tons of them. So why should Israel be told to provide aid to Gaza whose residents carried out the largest Nazi-style massacre of Jews since the Holocaust? Those Gazans that did not actively participate in the mass rape and slaughter of Israeli civilians did absolutely nothing to help the IDF recover the hostages seized on October 7, 2023. There was not even one Gazan "righteous among the nations" helping a Jew escape the hell of captivity. How is the Jewish State responsible for feeding a hornets' nest of fanatics who want to burn our babies in ovens? 

A Tennessee Original

Beyond any measure, Dolly was a Tennessee treasure. She came from humble beginnings and in many ways stayed humble as she built an entertainment empire. She didn't have a Harvard MBA or even an associate degree. What she did have was a creative mind, a good voice, and dedication to pleasing her audience. She also possessed a generous heart, perhaps from growing up without much but never being bitter about it. Some might say Parton had "the common touch", but what she had was uncommon gifts the Lord had bestowed upon her that she felt were given to her to uplift others, and she did by making millions of lives better. Dolly Parton will surely be missed, but her legacy will live on for generations

.