An Independent view of law, politics and social issues confronting Angelinos, Californians, and Americans
I was in love with Doris Day. She was not only physically attractive, she was both an outstanding singer and actress. When she decided to retire to Carmel I was devastated. TMC and other TV channels should run marathons of her many movies. “Hooray for Hollywood” was a signature song of hers. Farewell dear Doris. You will always be in my heart.
Tweet, “Bring it, Bible Bullies! You are bigots, sexists, and misogynists and I see right through your fake morals and your broken values.”
“As an activist and an advocate, I know why pushing back against harassment and discrimination are a must, even when they’re uncomfortable, but last week I wasn’t a patient escort,” Sims said, referring to a volunteer role he has performed in the past. “I was a neighbor and a concerned citizen and I was aggressive. I know that two wrongs don’t make a right and I can do better and I will do better for the women of Pennsylvania.”
Tweet, “I will fiercely protect a woman’s right to make the best choices for her health & her body, unimpeded. I also know that two wrongs don’t make a right, especially on the front lines of a civil rights battle. I can do better, and I will do better, for the women of Pennsylvania.”
Provisional Government of Israel
Official Gazette: Number 1; Tel Aviv, 5 Iyar 5708, 14.5.1948 Page 1
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel
The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
After being forcibly exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their Dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom.
Impelled by this historic and traditional attachment, Jews strove in every successive generation to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland. In recent decades they returned in their masses. Pioneers, defiant returnees, and defenders, they made deserts bloom, revived the Hebrew language, built villages and towns, and created a thriving community controlling its own economy and culture, loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, bringing the blessings of progress to all the country’s inhabitants, and aspiring towards independent nationhood.
In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country.
This right was recognized in the Balfour Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917, and re-affirmed in the Mandate of the League of Nations which, in particular, gave international sanction to the historic connection between the Jewish people and Eretz-Israel and to the right of the Jewish people to rebuild its National Home.
The catastrophe which recently befell the Jewish people – the massacre of millions of Jews in Europe – was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of its homelessness by re-establishing in Eretz-Israel the Jewish State, which would open the gates of the homeland wide to every Jew and confer upon the Jewish people the status of a fully privileged member of the community of nations.
Survivors of the Nazi holocaust in Europe, as well as Jews from other parts of the world, continued to migrate to Eretz-Israel, undaunted by difficulties, restrictions and dangers, and never ceased to assert their right to a life of dignity, freedom and honest toil in their national homeland.
In the Second World War, the Jewish community of this country contributed its full share to the struggle of the freedom- and peace-loving nations against the forces of Nazi wickedness and, by the blood of its soldiers and its war effort, gained the right to be reckoned among the peoples who founded the United Nations.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Eretz-Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of Eretz-Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own sovereign State.
Accordingly we, members of the People’s Council, representatives of the Jewish Community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist Movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British Mandate over Eretz-Israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.
We declare that, with effect from the moment of the termination of the Mandate being tonight, the eve of Sabbath, the 6th Iyar, 5708 (15th May, 1948), until the establishment of the elected, regular authorities of the State in accordance with the Constitution which shall be adopted by the Elected Constituent Assembly not later than the 1st October 1948, the People’s Council shall act as a Provisional Council of State, and its executive organ, the People’s Administration, shall be the Provisional Government of the Jewish State, to be called “Israel.”
The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
The State of Israel is prepared to cooperate with the agencies and representatives of the United Nations in implementing the resolution of the General Assembly of the 29th November, 1947, and will take steps to bring about the economic union of the whole of Eretz-Israel.
We appeal to the United Nations to assist the Jewish people in the building-up of its State and to receive the State of Israel into the community of nations.
We appeal – in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months – to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.
We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.
We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of Eretz-Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding and to stand by them in the great struggle for the realization of the age-old dream – the redemption of Israel.
Placing our trust in the Almighty, we affix our signatures to this proclamation at this session of the provisional Council of State, on the soil of the Homeland, in the city of Tel-Aviv, on this Sabbath eve, the 5th day of Iyar, 5708 (14th May, 1948).
David Ben-Gurion
Daniel Auster Mordekhai Bentov Yitzchak Ben Zvi Eliyahu Berligne Fritz Bernstein Rabbi Wolf Gold Meir Grabovsky Yitzchak Gruenbaum Dr. Abraham Granovsky Eliyahu Dobkin Meir Wilner-Kovner Zerach Wahrhaftig Herzl Vardi Rachel Cohen Rabbi Kalman Kahana Saadia Kobashi Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Levin Meir David Loewenstein Zvi Luria Golda Myerson Nachum Nir Zvi Segal Rabbi Yehuda Leib Hacohen Fishman David Zvi Pinkas Aharon Zisling Moshe Kolodny Eliezer Kaplan Abraham Katznelson Felix Rosenblueth David Remez Berl Repetur Mordekhai Shattner Ben Zion Sternberg Bekhor Shitreet Moshe Shapira Moshe Shertok
Is the joke on us?
Merriam-Webster definition: secret agreement or cooperation especially for an illegal or deceitful purpose.
Donald Trump’s actions meet that definition!
Does the evidence add up to a case for obstruction, even though the Mueller Report chose not to make a decision on that? Yes. “Our investigation found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations.”
President Donald Trump is saying he did not know in advance about a Trump Tower meeting between his campaign associates and important Russian officials after a CNN report said Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen claims the President knew in advance.
Robert Mueller’s investigation was obviously flawed. His entire investigation was the result of Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), after Trump asked him to “go easy” on investigating Michael Flynn. That was obstruction of justice.
Trump insisted he never had any business dealing in Moscow but the Washington Post reported The report said “While Donald Trump was running for president in late 2015 and early 2016, his company was pursuing a plan to develop a massive Trump Tower in Moscow, according to several people familiar with the proposal and new records reviewed by Trump Organization lawyers.”
President Trump says the Mueller Report was a “complete and total exoneration” — “no collusion, no obstruction.”
No. “While the report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
Trump in 2016: ‘I love WikiLeaks,’ Trump now: ‘I know nothing about WikiLeaks’
Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin has all the earmarks of traitorous behavior.
Will Donald Trump be impeached? Probably not. Nancy Pelosi sees no purpose if the Senate will not find him guilty. His removal from office will have to be the result of the 2020 election.
I believe the answer is YES!
President Trump taunted California on Friday with an attention-grabbing threat to dump detained migrants into the state’s “sanctuary cities,” despite warnings from his advisors that such action would run afoul of the law.
Trump’s proposal, which government officials said is aimed at punishing Democratic strongholds for their positions on immigration policy, calls for sending the detainees to sanctuary cities, where they can live without fear of local authorities reporting them to federal immigration officials. There are hundreds of sanctuary jurisdictions nationwide, ranging from tiny rural counties to New York City and the entire state of California.
Rather than fearing the consequences of such an action perhaps it would be a good thing. After all we have a need for care givers, truck drivers, and farm workers. In addition those people with limited skills could help revive the garment industry in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The Washington Post had an article titled “As Trump targets immigrants, elderly brace to lose caregivers” reporting “Now these workers’ days are numbered: The Trump administration decided to end TPS (temporary protection status) for Haitians, giving them until July 22, 2019, to leave the country or face deportation.” Home Health Care News says there is currently a shortage of care givers.
Beyond the decency of taking in those searching for a new life, California’s economy would benefit from the needed labor supply.
FERSHTAY?: Do you understand? Most of the time I didn’t.
My parents were fluent in Yiddish. They would talk to each other in that language but never to my sister and me. The consequence is that I learned a few words but not enough to hold a conversation. With the passing of time I have come to realize that many of those words are now part of American English.
Most recently it was brought to my attention when a Businessweek article about a Japanese business man was referred to as a Maven in his area of expertise on advising his clients on investments. Maven is a Yiddish word for expert. How many of you knew that?
I used the word Mishigas to describe Washington today. It means craziness in Yiddish.
What other Yiddish words are now part of the American English vocabulary?
Chutzpah – Extreme nerve or arrogance; confidence with a negative connotation. “Donald Trump’s campaign is all chutzpah.” Or Donald Trump has lots of Chutzpah.
Spritz or Shpritz – comes from Yiddish meaning a spray
Klutz – Directly translates to “block of wood”; commonly used in English to describe a particularly clumsy person.
Schlep – To carry something heavy, or to make a long and tedious journey. “I schlepped all the way to class, only to find out that it was cancelled.”
Kvetch – To complain or whine. “We know that you have a lot of work to do, but quit kvetching about it.”
Schmooze – If you schmooze you Chat, make small talk, converse about nothing in particular.
Mensch – A person of integrity and honor.
Nosh – To eat or nibble, as in “I’d like something to nosh on before dinner.”
Spiel – a sale pitch or an otherwise (un)persuasive speech. Alternatively spelled shpiel, this comes from the German word spiel, meaning “play”.
Oy Vey – exclamation of dismay, exasperation, or surprise. “Oy, Jessica is such a pretty and smart girl. Why can’t she find a husband already?”
Putz – A jerk, or a self-made fool, but this word literally means penis.
Shmatte – A rag or old garment.
Tookis (tuchis) – Butt, behind, sometimes shortened to tush or tushy.
Care to add to this list?
What will it take to get my kids into UCLA, USC, Stanford, or another Ivy League university? Do I have to bribe someone?
Can money buy anything you want even if it means you cheat? Apparently for many wealthy people the answer is Yes!
Money laundering is the generic term used to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and control of the proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to have derived from a legitimate source. The processes by which criminally derived property may be laundered are extensive.
The parents, who were charged last month with conspiracy to commit fraud, were charged on Tuesday in a superseding indictment with conspiring to launder bribes and other payments through a charity run by Rick Singer, the mastermind of the scam, as well as by transferring money into the United States to promote the fraud, prosecutors said.
If Lori Loughlin and 15 other parents don’t plead guilty they could face some real prison time. Did these people understand that their actions were at a minimum fraudulent? What did they think bribes given to a non-existent charity was if not an act of money laundering?
I would love to sit on the jury to hear their defense. That is not going to happen. It appears the case will be tried in Boston.
U.S. president Donald Trump is a Bully!
From Psychology Today:
Bullying is a distinctive pattern of harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are in some way smaller, weaker, younger or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. Bullying is not garden-variety aggression; it is a deliberate and repeated attempt to cause harm to others of lesser power. It’s a very durable behavioral style, largely because bullies get what they want—at least at first. Bullies are made, not born, and it happens at an early age, if the normal aggression of 2-year-olds isn’t handled with consistency.
Studies show that bullies lack prosocial behavior, are untroubled by anxiety, and do not understand others’ feelings. They misread the intentions of others, often imputing hostility in neutral situations. They typically see themselves quite positively. Those who chronically bully have strained relationships with parents and peers. Bullies couldn’t exist without victims, and they don’t pick on just anyone; those singled out lack assertiveness even in nonthreatening situations and radiate fear long before they ever encounter a bully. Increasingly, children are growing up without the kinds of play experiences in which children develop social skills and learn how to solve social problems.
Trump’s methods to obtain the results he wants all can be connected to the behavior described in the Psychology Today answer to the question What is bullying?
Threats of closing the border to Mexico, threat of withdrawing from NATO, threat of tariffs applied to Chinese exports, threat of withdrawing from NAFTA, threatening the firing of the Federal Reserve Chairman, and so many other threats The weak cower and submit to his demands but those standing up to Trump cause him to back down.
While I do not agree with everyone who stands up to Trump, they have proven to the rest that you don’t have to surrender to his threats. Standing up are Nancy Pelosi (No, we won’t budget the money you want to build a wall), Mexico (No we won’t pay for a wall), China (We will respond with tariffs on the goods you want to ship to our country, North Korea (No, we want sanctions ended before we will negotiate), Europe (No to all of your demands), and then there is GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell who told him there will be no replacement to the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) until after the 2020 election.
Trump, in his style of never backing down always tells us that it was his decision to reach an agreement on trade with China and his decision to postpone a new health plan until after he is re-elected. Trump’s USMCA treaty with Mexico and Canada is remarkably similar to NAFTA but is a great replacement.
The question today is will the GOP grow a backbone to say NO to Trump ideas?
Coast Contact 