Hope You Had A Meaningful Memorial Day. Avi's Book Gains Momentum. Apology To Emma - Forgetful Me! Hating Trump An "In" Thing For Partisans.

In my memo about my birthday in Louisville I made a grievous error in not mentioning, Emma, my beautiful artistic granddaughter, who lives in New York, also came to be with me and the rest of the family. Attribute it to age Emma, 'cause you know I love you.
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Logic and satire hit the mark and should be understandable even for liberals..



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Hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day.

And:

It may surprise you to learn that the United States fought two wars for its independence. Both were fought against the British, and in each case, the Americans were expected to lose. The first, of course, was the Revolutionary War. Can you name the second?

In this week's video, author Brian Kilmeade sheds light on the largely and unfortunately overlooked War of 1812. Kilmeade explains how this war got started, the daunting odds against a nation in its infancy, and the unlikely hero who secured America's future by pulling off one of the greatest upsets in military history
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Avi's book gather's some momentum.  He will be here in November and I hope you will come and hear what he has to say. (See 1 below.)
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Tom Wolfe died last week. I listened to several comments and read several articles about his impact on our society.  Though I read several of his books,  I never connected them in a way that gave me insight into his message.

Apparently what I missed was his commentary on elitist fashion/radical chic worn by the upper class who hated the fact he characterized it/them as being bourgeois ie. everything they wanted to avoid being called. (See 2 below.)
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It is an "in thing" to attack/hate Trump.  Yes, he is unique in many ways and certainly not politically orthodox like many of those presidents who came before him.

Trump seems to remember his commitments and tries to keep his promises and certainly that is a shocker.

Trump inherited a mess. as most president, but is trying to rectify the mistakes of his many predecessors and that too makes him stick out like a sore thumb.

Trump is also rowing against a tide of haters, a Democrat Party that wants to regain power and therefore believes impeaching him while "stiffing" the country is the way to proceed.

Furthermore, the mass media are engaged in negativism as well but Trump seems to relish their "fake news" because it energizes him since he is a fighter unlike his most recent predecessor who simply had a pen and cell phone as his weapons of choice and a ton of cash piled on wooden pallets.

History will prove, as in the case of Truman and Eisenhower, they were far better than those who judged them at the time of their presidency and FDR and  Kennedy had flaws which history continues to reveal up to this very day.

Time has a way of of clearing the fog of the moment.  History is Murine but it is difficult for many, particularly partisans, to restrain from making snap judgments.

Time will tell, it generally does. (See 3 below.)

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The Democrat Party is  drifting left as the more politically radical take over. The party seems driven by a level of hatred that has reached dangerous proportions.  They seem intent on denying a legally elected president the opportunity to perform and are so dependent on identity politics, in order to regain power, that it is actually sad if not frightening.

If this is what it takes for Democrats to tighten their grip on black voters who are incapable of realizing how they have been under-served and cynically manipulated it will eventually backfire because resistance will build.

Another indication of their bizarre attitude is evidence by their equal hatred of FOX News and open embrace of CNN, MSNBC etc.  Assuredly there are several far right personalities on FOX but Bret Baier's 6 PM evening news is broad in its coverage and balanced and many other political programs always include those of different viewpoints.

Bias is blinding to the point where far too many lefties no longer can see the forest. (See 4 below.)
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Dick
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1)

Dear Colleagues and Friends, I couldn't be more pleased at how Thou Shalt Innovate is being received - and delighted to share some of the most recent exciting developments. I recently appeared on the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club with Pat Robertson. To see the full interview please click here. Amazon has ranked Thou Shalt Innovate #1 best seller in the following categories: Middle Eastern Politics; Science & Religion; Israel & Palestine History; Israel; Israel History; Business Education; Education; and African Politics. I also wanted to share with you a book review written by Asaf Romirowsky in the Jewish News Syndicate (full review below). Romirowsky says,

“The book is a welcome addition to goals of appreciating the Zionist dream and the increasing normalcy of Israel, while underscoring the abnormal conditions in which these innovations came about."

I also wrote an oped that appeared in the Washington Times where I argue that US lawmakers should consider adopting the Israel's United Hatzalah model in the United States. Eli Beer and his organization trained an army of 5,000 emergency responders of all faiths; gave each of them a smart phone application that acts like Uber and pings the five nearest EMTs to the scene of a medical emergency; and gave many of them an ambucycle - a hybrid between a a motorcycle and ambulance (think of a scooter with a box on the back that includes medical supplies). On average, it takes 3 minutes anywhere in Israel for a United Hatzalah volunteer to respond to an emergency call - and in major cities it take on average 90 seconds! Talk about when you 'save one life, you save the entire world'.   Please consider purchasing the book on Amazon for yourself and/or a friend - and please leave a review.  Thank you for your continued support, and spreading the word about Thou Shalt Innovate through your social media platforms. With warmest regards, Avi Tapping into the Brilliance of Israel and the Zionist Dream by Asaf Romirowsky As Israel celebrates its 70th birthday, the global Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement has been propagating the idea of "anti-normalization," advocating for complete and total isolation of Israel, rejecting any interaction between Arabs and Jews, and underscoring that Jews cannot be or have a nation-state. At every stage of normalizing Palestinian relations with Israel, especially during the Oslo years, extremist factions opposed the very idea of talking with Israelis. This is now the core mission of the BDS movement. Moreover, at every juncture where Israel tries to highlight its global contributions and humanism, it gets slapped for hiding its true "evil nature." One example is highlighting Israel's enlightened treatment of gays by declaring it "pink-washing." Overcoming the anti-normalization is not a simple task, but it begins with demanding normalization and acceptance. This necessity is illustrated in Avi Jorisch's latest book, Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World. Jorisch selected 15 technological innovations and their entrepreneurs from such fields as pharmaceuticals, solar power, defense, agriculture and cyber-security. Through personal stories, Jorisch is able to share compelling individuals who are the ingenuity and tenacity of Israel and Israelis. What makes this book unique is that it is a clear departure from the author's previous work. Jorisch, a seasoned Middle East analyst with an expertise in Hezbollah and Iran, is no stranger to the Middle East or its threats. The book was born in the summer of 2014 during "Operation Protective Edge," when Israel was fighting Hamas in Gaza. Jorisch had a firsthand experience with Israel's Iron Dome missile-defense system, which intercepted the missiles while Jorisch was carrying his son to a shelter. This led him to tell the Iron Dome tale and the race to create other systems throughout the country. He tells the story of Eli Beer from the United Hatzalah ambulance service, who created "ambucycles"—motorcycles equipped with first-responder apparatus enabling EMTs to evade traffic and arrive on the scene in the first critical moments—what Jorisch correctly calls "the Uber of Ambulances." In another example, the author shares the Israeli-made Emergency Bandage that saved the life of Congressman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot back in 2011 in a parking a lot of supermarket in Tucson Arizona where she was to address a crowd. The uniqueness of the bandage, developed by Bernard Bar Natan, consists of a sterile pad that medics apply to the wound with a special built-in handlebar that can provide up to 30 pounds of pressure to firm the bleeding. The bandage has saved countless lives all over the world, and is a required instrument in the tool box of the Israel Defense Forces, the U.S. Armed Services and the British Army. Israelis crave being seen as a normal people and country, and to share their experience with the world. At the same time, the reality of being a tiny country with few natural resources—though abundant human capital—has driven innovation. Highlighting normalization and innovation are functions of not wanting to be defined by the Arab-Israeli conflict, while at the same time demonstrating how they excel despite it. Israelis are burdened with the need to fight for survival as well as excellence. The Zionist dream did not end in 1948; its redefinition seven decades later depends on finding a happy medium between defeating its strategic threats and advocating its ability to be an active contributor to community of nations. Innovation is key to this process. The book is a welcome addition to goals of appreciating the Zionist dream and the increasing the normalcy of Israel, while underscoring the abnormal conditions in which these inventions came about. It highlights Israel's current reality. At the end of the day, Jorisch correctly states that "Israel does not have a monopoly on good ideas or proper execution. All countries would benefit from tapping into their own cultures in order to apply their own lessons to the industries and professions they have excelled in for centuries. With this said, the Jewish state's achievements for the benefit of mankind should be celebrated and emulated by the global community." Internalizing this message may help combat growing anti-normalization and overcome BDS. It will certainly bring important innovations to the rest of the world.  ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2) Hats Off to Tom Wolfe He was a friend, a wit and a literary inspiration. And what a figure he cut—like a crazed, antique peacock. By Peggy Noonan ‘You can take off your hats now, gentlemen, and I think perhaps you had better.” That was Stephen Vincent Benet in 1941, in the Saturday Review of Literature, on the work of Scott Fitzgerald, who had recently died. I thought of it on the death of Tom Wolfe. Not that he was ignored or forgotten, but we are coming to terms with his greatness in a purer, less guarded way than in the past. He picked up American journalism and shook it hard, then he picked up the novel and shook that too. He saw what was happening all around us, and he said that’s not “what’s happening,” that’s history—the social and cultural story of the great Hog-stomping Baroque America of the second half of the 20th century, which was begging to be captured and finally was, by him, in a way no one else would or could. He invented characters that presented us to ourselves. He had two masterpieces, “The Right Stuff” in nonfiction and “The Bonfire of the Vanities” in fiction. He issued one of the great literary manifestos: Stop your navel gazing, get out your notebook, there’s a world exploding out there. His words entered the language. He fearlessly, brazenly faced up to America’s blood wars, its ethnic and racial rivalries, its merry bitterness. “Yo, Gober!” “He’s another Donkey, same as me.” On top of that he strutted through the world like some crazed, antique peacock—the faded vanilla suits, the high-collar shirts, polka-dot ties, the socks and handkerchief, the spats. What a figure! When I heard the news I thought of last November, at the New York Public Library’s annual gala. When I walked in he and Sheila, his warm, elegant wife, were seated alone as the party raged around them. I kissed them hello, they asked me to sit, and 20 minutes later, after talk of Donald Trump, toward whom he was equal parts fair-minded, amused and amazed, I left to join friends. Halfway through the room I turned back. Tom was gazing, bemused, at the crowd. “That’s Dickens,” I said to a friend. “That’s Zola.” There should have been a line waiting to meet him, to say, “I shook Tom Wolfe’s hand.” I saw him over many years and thought of him as Paul McHugh, a professor and psychiatrist who was his close friend, did. “He was warmhearted,” he said. Tom Wolfe had killer eyes but was not cold. There was sweetness there, and sympathy. He wrote of social status, and as Dr. McHugh said, “he was especially great at deflating those whose position led them to the bullying of others.” He worked himself hard. Dr. McHugh would call him and say, “I know I’m interrupting you.” Tom would reply, “Thank God!” He suffered and was gallant. He’d had scoliosis when young, and an injury the past decade had left him with a spinal misalignment. He was bent sharply at the waist; his trunk tilted right. He was often in pain. His famous walking stick with the wolf’s head wasn’t only for fun and show, he needed it to walk. Imagine caring so much about how you presented yourself to the world and facing that challenge. Imagine doing it anyway, in part because it gives the world delight. We met more than 20 years ago when we were thrown together as seatmates at a Manhattan think-tank dinner. The auspices were not good. I’d recently tangled with a close friend of his, and to make it worse I’d been in the wrong and knew it. Beyond that I was awed. I never told him, but my first book was half an homage to him: “Bonfire” and his manifesto, “Stalking the Billion-Footed Beast,” filled my soul. His prose had an anarchic, liberating impact. In one chapter I realized my puny self was in the thick of history. I set myself to describing the audio experience of Air Force Two, its curious, soft pulsating sound. GARRRUUUMMMM. “The engines weaving in and out; the air conditioned hum; the soft murmurings of power: I’m flying.” My editor was alarmed. Cut that: “People will think you’re imitating Tom Wolfe!” “I am imitating Tom Wolfe! It’s my tribute!” He laughed. We kept it. At the dinner, uncomfortable and awed, I turned earnest. Nothing’s more boring than that! Still, we were together, and did our best. At one point he started talking about what was happening in neuroscience. He was amused by the new pill that affects sexual mood—I think he said sexual readiness—it’s flying off the shelves! I said yes, but the pill that will be more popular, and which they’ll eventually make, will be the one that makes you fall back in love, because that will solve everyone’s problems. “He’s responsible and sweet but it’s just not enough!” “I don’t love my wife anymore!” That’s the pill that will really sell! We giggled. He gave me a scrutinizing look and said: “You’re quite a woman.” I answered solemnly, as if considering the proposition obvious and the burden heavy: “Yes, I am.” He threw back his head, and we were off to the races. The last time I saw him was almost three months ago, at the wedding of a brilliant young woman and a handsome man. The wedding party was in a fashionable restaurant in downtown New York. We were seated at a red leather banquette, where we had a Writer Moment. I looked out at the boisterous crowd—laughing, gesturing, talking over the din, big decibels. I said, “Tom, this sound of the voices hitting the ceiling, the laughter—this reminds me of the description in ‘Bonfire’ of a grand Park Avenue party or reception: ‘Their swimming teeth.’ ” Tom got a look of immediate interest, a flush of approval. “Did I say that?” “You did.” He laughed like Oh, that was good. I said I remember reading it and thinking “Oh, I am in a presence.” He pressed my hand and held it for a moment. Once the aged Tolstoy was in his sitting room, a fire in the fireplace. His daughter came in and said “Papa, listen.” She read a page of a description of a great battle. He listened and said, “Oh, that’s good. Who is that?” She said, “Papa, it’s you. ‘War and Peace.’ ” All writers forget. And the greatest and most prolific forget most. This was a great man. And I see him now as I did a dozen years ago, again at a New York Public Library dinner. We met as we were leaving, walked through the lobby, parted at the door. It was something to see that man going down the broad imposing steps, tricked out in the white suit, a flowing black cape, a big, broad brimmed black hat worn at a tilt, the stick, walking carefully but with a certain flair, a certain élan, because he knew he was being watched because he was, let’s face it, Tom Wolfe. And I was watching, as he disappeared into the night, into the teeming city, going northward toward home. Goodbye Tom Wolfe. May you be awed, thrilled and over the moon this day by what you find now, a new and unreported world. “Flights of angels—” Oh, it was good to have him here, wasn’t it? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3) Worth re-posting: Some will agree, some not so much A few days ago Jack Minzey sent what was to be the final chapter in the long line of books and treatises which he had written. Jack passed away last Sunday, 8 April  2018.  Professionally, Jack was head of the Department of Education at Eastern Michigan University as well as a prolific author of numerous books, most of which were on the topic of Education and the Government role therein. This is the last of his works: Civil War How do civil wars happen? Two or more sides disagree on who runs the country. And they can't settle the question through elections because they don't even agree that elections are how you decide who's in charge.  That's the basic issue here. Who decides who runs the country? When you hate each other but accept the election results, you have a country. When you stop accepting election results, you have a countdown to a civil war. The Mueller investigation is about removing President Trump from office and overturning the results of an election. We all know that. But it's not the first time they've done this. The first time a Republican president was elected this century, they said he didn't really win. The Supreme Court gave him the election. There's a pattern here. What do sure odds of the Democrats rejecting the next Republican president really mean? It means they don't accept the results of any election that they don't win. It means they don't believe that transfers of power in this country are determined by elections. That's a civil war. There's no shooting. At least not unless you count the attempt to kill a bunch of Republicans at a charity baseball game practice. But the Democrats have rejected our system of government. This isn't dissent. It's not disagreement. You can hate the other party. You can think they're the worst thing that ever happened to the country. But then you work harder to win the next election. When you consistently reject the results of elections that you don't win, what you want is a dictatorship. Your very own dictatorship. The only legitimate exercise of power in this country, according to Democrats, is its own. Whenever Republicans exercise power, it's inherently illegitimate. The Democrats lost Congress. They lost the White House. So what did they do? They began trying to run the country through Federal judges and bureaucrats. Every time that a Federal judge issues an order saying that the President of the United States can't scratch his own back without his say so, that's the civil war. Our system of government is based on the constitution, but that's not the system that runs this country. The Democrat's system is that any part of government that it runs gets total and unlimited power over the country. If the Democrats are in the White House, then the president can do anything. And I mean anything. He can have his own amnesty for illegal aliens. He can fine you for not having health insurance. His power is unlimited. He's a dictator. But when Republicans get into the White House, suddenly the President can't do anything. He isn't even allowed to undo the illegal alien amnesty that his predecessor illegally invented. A Democrat in the White House has 'discretion' to completely decide every aspect of immigration policy. A Republican doesn't even have the 'discretion' to reverse him. That's how the game is played That's how our country is run. Sad but true, although the left hasn't yet won that particular fight. When a Democrat is in the White House, states aren't even allowed to enforce immigration law. But when a Republican is in the White House, states can create their own immigration laws. Under Obama, a state wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom without asking permission. But under Trump, Jerry Brown can go around saying that California is an independent republic and sign treaties with other countries. The Constitution has something to say about that. Whether it's Federal or State, Executive, Legislative or Judiciary, the left moves power around to run the country. If it controls an institution, then that institution is suddenly the supreme power in the land. This is what I call a moving dictatorship. Donald Trump has caused the Shadow Government to come out of hiding: Professional government is a guild. Like medieval guilds. You can't serve in if you're not a member. If you haven't been indoctrinated into its arcane rituals. If you aren't in the club. And Trump isn't in the club. He brought in a bunch of people who aren't in the club with him. Now we're seeing what the pros do when amateurs try to walk in on them. They spy on them, they investigate them and they send them to jail. They use the tools of power to bring them down. That's not a free country. It's not a free country when FBI agents who support Hillary take out an 'insurance policy' against Trump winning the election. It's not a free country when Obama officials engage in massive unmasking of the opposition. It's not a free country when the media responds to the other guy winning by trying to ban the conservative media that supported him from social media. It's not a free country when all of the above collude together to overturn an election because the guy who wasn't supposed to win did. Have no doubt, we're in a civil war between conservative volunteer government and a leftist Democrat Professional Progressive Left Wing Government ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 4) Identity Politics Threatens the American Experiment By Orrin Hatch https://www.wsj.com/articles/identity-politics-threatens-the-american-experiment- Kanye West, ever the iconoclast, set social media ablaze last month when he donned a red “Make America Great Again” hat in support of President Trump. Whether a genuine expression of political belief or a publicity stunt, Mr. West’s selfie sparked a much-needed discussion on the role of identity in politics.  At the heart of Mr. West’s message is the idea that all of us—no matter our race, religion or background—have the right to be more than one thing. It’s a message that resonates with millions of Americans who refuse to conform to stereotypes—me included. I grew up in poverty during the Great Depression, the son of blue-collar parents who passionately defended Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. As a young man, I followed my father into the steelworking trade, where I became a card-carrying member of a labor union. When I was elected to the Senate decades later, I became best friends with Teddy Kennedy, the chamber’s liberal lion. Today, I am, among other things, an advocate for the legalization of medical marijuana research and a strong proponent of transgender rights in the military. I am also a Republican. In fact, I am a lifelong Republican with impeccable conservative credentials, including multiple honors from the Heritage Foundation and an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association. My record on fiscal policy is so strong that President Reagan dubbed me “Mr. Balanced Budget.” I was an architect of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a key player in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, and the principal author of the tax-reform bill that passed Congress in December. All of which is to say that I can be more than one thing. I can be the son of working-class parents and also a pro-business Republican. I can be a bipartisan deal maker and also a consistent conservative. I can be an ally to the transgender community and also a committed Christian. As much as my critics would like to pigeonhole me—dismissing more than eight decades of accrued wisdom and life experience based solely on the “R” that follows my name—I can’t be reduced to a party platform. I am more than the sum of my parts, and so is every American. Yet increasingly we sort each other into groups, making sweeping assumptions about each other based on binary labels: Democrat or Republican, black or white, male or female. These labels are mere pixels in the picture of an individual’s identity; they are not the picture itself. No word—no matter how descriptive—could ever distill all the nuance and complexity that is a single human being. Our tendency to use labels to box each other in is indicative of a much larger societal problem: the unleashing of identity politics. Identity politics is tribalism by another name. It is the deliberate and often unnatural segregation of people into categories for political gain. Under this cynical program, the identity of the group subsumes the identity of the individual, allowing little room for independence, self-realization or free thought. Some play down the dangers of this practice, but identity politics is a blight on our democracy. It’s feeds fear, division, acrimony and anger. Worse, identity politics is inimical to the very idea of what it means to be American. For more than two centuries, we have been able to weave together the disparate threads of a diverse society more successfully than any nation on earth. How? Through the unifying power of the American idea that all of us—regardless of color, class or creed—are equal, and that we can work together to build a more perfect union. It’s the idea that our dignity comes not from the groups to which we belong but from our inherent worth as individuals—as children of the same God and partakers of the same human condition. Identity politics turns the American idea on its head. Rather than looking beyond arbitrary differences in color, class and creed, identity politics separates us along these lines. It puts the demands of the collective before the sovereignty of the individual. In doing so, identity politics conditions us to define ourselves and each other by the groups to which we belong. Soon, we lose sight of the myriad values that unite us. We come to see each other only through the distorted prism of our differences. Where identity politics reigns, so, too, do its regents: polarization, gridlock and groupthink. Identity politics is cancer to our political culture. If we allow it to metastasize, civility will cease, our national community will crumble, and the U.S. will become a divided country of ideological ghettos. To save the American experiment, we must reject the tribalism of our time. Both on the left and right, we must renounce identity politics in every form. We must resist the temptation to use labels, and we must allow each other room to be more than one thing. Ideas—not identity—should be the driving force of our politics. By restoring the primacy of ideas to public discourse, we can foster an environment that will allow democracy to thrive, an environment of free thought and open deliberation unconstrained by the excesses of political correctness. If we let any identity define us going forward, it should be our common identity as Americans, as men and women steadfastly committed to upholding the virtues of liberty and independence upon which our nation was founded. It’s the only way to preserve the American experiment for future generations. Mr. Hatch, a Utah Republican, is president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate and chairman of the Finance Committee. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++