I’m extremely pleased to announce that Gerard Van der Leun’s poetry book, Into the Smoke of the World and other poems, is ready for purchase. Poetry was very dear to Gerard’s heart, and this beautiful book features almost all of his poems that survived the Paradise fire, plus many full color photographs and cover artwork by wonderful pastel artist (and Van der Leun reader) Casey Klahn. Please go to the Vanderleunbooks.com website and order.
I can’t promise pre-Christmas delivery – although it remains at least theoretically (or hypothetically?) possible. Please let me know if the website has any glitches – it wouldn’t be unheard of, since I’m my own web developer and designer. One possible glitch I’m seeing: make sure the order has the correct number of books.
The poems are as varied as Gerard’s thoughts and interests: love, time, death, birth, family, the universe and man’s relation to it, the beginnings of life, and more. You can find more information at the link.
“I approved, along with the defense minister and finance minister, a sum of NIS 350 billion [$108 billion] over the next decade to build an independent Israeli munitions industry,” Netanyahu said in an address at a graduation ceremony for Israeli Air Force pilots.
The move, he said, stemmed from a desire to “reduce our dependence on all players, including friends,” after allies including the US, UK, and Germany all imposed various restrictions on weapons sales to Israel since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Still, he noted, many countries around the world, including Germany, “want to buy from us more and more systems.”
The Biden administration taught the Israelis a lesson: don’t depend on the US, which is undependable.
The US gets plenty of intelligence from Israel, plus Israel has sometimes taken our military hardware and improved on it. I hope this new (and necessary) initiative won’t end those things that benefit the US.
Here’s an article from about a year ago, describing some of the problems inherent in Israel’s becoming truly independent:
“But we have dependence in all areas. It’s not just about ammunition and munitions: There are all kinds of platforms we need. Even if we produce more of our own bombs, we still need to get the planes from the US in order to fly, so we haven’t really reduced our dependence on the US just by producing more bombs,” he said.
“We talked about building our own planes once and it absolutely ruined us,” the former NSC deputy chief said. “Something like only six countries in the world produce their own fighters. The prices for production are only becoming more and more exorbitant. Even the Europeans ‘cooperate’ and buy from the US. We certainly cannot” build aircraft on our own.
Freilich was referring to the 1980-1987 period when Israel explored “the Lavi project,” which former defense minister Ezer Weizman had dreamed would help Israel become independent in developing its own aircraft.
However, the government ended the program in 1987 – despite many successes even to the test flight stage – deciding that a mix of having maxed out the defense budget in an unsustainable way to around 18% of GDP and the seeming impossibility of competing with US defense companies in this area were just too much.
“Even if we do manufacture a plane of our own, we would still be significantly dependent on the Americans: Many external parts such as metals and electronic components are still being imported from the US,” clarified Dr. Shmuel Even in a posting on the air force website in 2015. “Manufacturing an Israeli plane would definitely benefit the Israeli work market, but the odds of selling large quantities of the plane are pretty low due to tough competition with American industries.”
Frelich continued, “Even the Merkava tank, which Israel made – its engine comes from the US. Again, we are totally dependent.
“Independence from US military supply is fanciful,” he said.
At the very least, Israel can try to become as independent as possible.
Hope your Christmas was good. Mine was: a great meal, seeing my grandchildren, and even a couple of presents for me.
The following is an effort of mine from the past. That’s one of the advantages of having been a blogger for umpteen million years – you have a backlog of these sorts of things.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” the president continued. …
“Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
This was done in coordination with the government of Nigeria, which provided the intelligence for the strikes.
When I emphasize the message aspect of this action, it’s because I think that was paramount. I don’t think it was so much about killing these particular individuals, but rather about saying, “You’re not safe anywhere, even if you’re not directly killing Americans.” I believe the goal is to have a chilling effect on the group as a whole, and on other similar groups around the world.
It’s also an interesting move of Trump’s in terms of the “America First!” part of the right that is also Christian. People such as the abominable Tucker Carlson focus on stirring up the idea that Israel is out to harm Christians in the Middle East, which is a preposterous assertion, and sometimes ignore – as Carlson does – the far greater war of Islamic extremists against Christians both in the Middle East and in Africa. This attack and these statements make it clear to people such as Carlson where Trump’s priorities lie, and challenges them to comment.
I am also struck by Trump’s language. It’s the sort of thing – the antithesis of diplomat-speak – that gets so many Trump-haters agitated and claiming that Trump’s a stupid boor. Here he speaks in almost cartoon-like language; one almost expects him to write SHAZAM!! However, I see this is very purposeful and part of his unequivocal message: I have power, and I mean business, and I mean for you to understand that.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the ‘sphere
Bloggers were glad to see Christmas draw near.
Their laptops were turned off and all put away
The bloggers were swearing to take off the day.
Their children were nestled all snug in their beds
While visions of extra time danced in their heads
With a father or mom not distracted by writing
No posts to compose, and no links to be citing.
But we all know that vows were just meant to be broken
And the vows of a blogger can be a mere token.
There’s always a chance that some sort of temptation
Will rise up to make them of fleeting duration.
For instance, there might be found under the tree
A sleek Mac; well, what better sight could there be?
And who could neglect it and wait the whole day?
It cries to be tried out, one just can’t delay.
Or maybe somewhere there’s a fast-breaking story
Important, and possibly leading to glory.
It can’t be ignored, there’s really no choice,
So add to the din every blogger’s small voice.
And then there are some who may just like to rhyme
(I’m one who at times must confess to this crime),
And it’s been quite a while since Clement Clarke Moore
Wrote his opus (though authorship’s been claimed by Gore).
So it seems about time it was newly updated
And here’s my attempt – aren’t you glad you all waited?
Forgive if it sounds a bit awkward to read.
In writing, I set a new record for speed.
I had to get under the wire and compose it
Before Christmas Day. Now it’s time that I close it.
But let me exclaim (or, rather, I’ll write)
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!
Here’s a video of the original, with some 50s-type nostalgia for those who remember. There are a few odd anomalies (“safe in their beds” instead of “snug in their beds”). But it brought back memories of pincurls, and the days when parents were assumed to sleep in twin beds (even though I don’t recall that most people did).
I’m pretty sure I had the book on which this is based. The illustrations look very familiar:
[NOTE: This is a repeat of a previous Christmas Eve post.]
… a creature was stirring.
On Christmas Eve I was expecting a visit from my son, who was flying in as a rare treat. I had tidied up, and was putting on the finishing touches while waiting for him to arrive from the airport. As I was poised at the top of the staircase on my way down from the second floor, I saw a movement on one of the lower steps.
A dark shape. A small dark shape—very still, and then in motion again. With tiny little ears, and a long tail.
A mouse. Very much stirring.
I let out a shriek, like in the cartoons. Yes, I know that mice do not hurt people. But yes, they give me the willies when they startle me and scurry around—like—mice. The few times when this has happened before, they’ve always sought the little opening from whence they’d come and scurried away, hardly ever to be seen again.
But this mouse seemed to be lost and disoriented. Maybe because it was almost midnight on Christmas Eve, and no creature was supposed to be stirring. In the midst of my unreasonable fear was a sort of amusement. What was it doing here, this evening of all evenings?
The mouse was still on the staircase landing, and although I assumed that somehow it had managed to climb the three stairs to where it was, it appeared to be perplexed about how to get up or down from there. I watched it from what I considered a safe distance at the top of the stairs, and I could see it moving back and forth, back and forth, first towards the wall and then towards the edge of the step, but it could not seem to get the courage to make a break for it.
What did I do? I called my son and asked how far away he was. Forty-five minutes. And then I settled in, not for a long winter’s nap but for a long viewing from a good vantage point to monitor the mouse’s position till my son would arrive. For the moment, the mouse seemed quite well-contained on the stairs, but I didn’t trust that—and sure enough, slowly but surely, with many fits and starts, it managed to get back down those three stairs to the ground floor.
Now, it turns out that watching a mouse is actually sort of interesting. This one darted from stair-bottom to hall to bathroom to bedroom and back again (my place is built upside-down, with the bedroom and bathroom downstairs and living room and kitchen upstairs). I had a special horror of the mouse being in the bedroom—so after its one foray into the bedroom for five minutes and then out again, I slammed the bedroom door shut and placed a thick towel to block the crack at the bottom. The towel seemed to act as an effective barrier, like a small mountain range, and the mouse didn’t venture into that room again.
But back and forth it went—along the wall in the hall, into the bathroom, up a few stairs and then back down them again. I noticed that it seemed to get smarter and smarter; each time it climbed the stairs it was better at it, until it seemed as though it had been doing this all its little life.
And then by trial and error it found the molding along the side of the stairs, which then acted as a sort of ramp by which the mouse could easily climb all the way to the top. This filled me with dread. I was conceding the downstairs for now, but the upstairs was my territory! But what to do? That molding-ramp made it so easy; the mouse was coming up in a determined sort of way, till I could look into its beady little eyes and it could look into mine. I let out another involuntary yelp, stamping my feet and clapping my hands, trying to make enough noise to frighten it off.
I looked and sounded completely and utterly ridiculous.
And yet it was effective; the little thing stopped in its tracks, then turned and went back downstairs again, to my great relief. Then a few minutes later it came up the ramp-molding again, and I re-enacted the same stupid pantomime I had before. The mouse kept coming—up up up, light and fleet of foot, relentless and implacable. I actually thought of throwing something at it to head it off—perhaps my shoe, like Clara in “The Nutcracker.” But oh, for a platoon of tin soldiers like hers! (I’ve cued up this video to start at the right spot, although it’s mistitled because these are not meant to be rats, they’re mice):
But alas, we were alone, just the two of us, mousie and me. And I didn’t really want to hurt it, which I thought might happen if I threw my shoe, so I reached for a pillow—and at that moment I heard the key turn in the lock and my son walked in.
I’m always happy to see him, but perhaps never so happy as this time, as I stood at the top of the stairs in a semi-crouch, clutching a small pillow and making silly-yet-hopefully-scary noises at a mouse that was climbing a molding-ramp on the edge of the staircase.
My son managed to keep his disdain under control long enough to catch the mouse in a plastic container and escort it outside to be released, but not before we took a photo though the plastic. Yes, the mouse is kind of cute. But no, I don’t want him in my house, not on Christmas Eve or any other time.
At least one poll shows Trump with approval at 50%. Maybe it’s an outlier, maybe it’s meaningless, but maybe not.
Some details:
Trump continues to post strong margins with men, nearly six in ten of whom approve of his performance, compared to just over a third who disapprove. Women remain more skeptical, with approval and disapproval nearly evenly split but tilted slightly negative. Age breakdowns, however, may raise alarms for Democrats heading toward the 2026 midterms. Trump runs even among voters under 40 and posts clear net-positive approval among voters 40 and older, including a +5 margin with seniors — a bloc that often turns out heavily in midterm elections.
That rather surprises me, after all the talk of young Trump supporters on the right turning against him because of various schisms and influencers. The male/female divide does not surprise me.
More:
… Trump [earns] approval from more than eight in ten GOP voters. Democrats remain overwhelmingly opposed, though a quarter still register approval — a notable figure in today’s polarized environment.
The InsiderAdvantage results are more favorable to Trump than the broader national picture reflected in RealClearPolling, which currently shows the president below water overall. Still, a net-positive approval rating at this point in a presidency is a rare commodity in modern politics.
Modern politics is very very divided and often rather evenly so.
They’re so used to presenting one side of the issue that they find anything else to be anathema. They’re used to journalism as leftist activism. For most of them, I bet it’s what they’ve been explicitly taught.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss created a firestorm when she recently pulled a 60 Minutes piece about illegal aliens and CECOT, the prison in El Salvador.
Weiss made it clear in a memo to staff this week that she expected more from them in that story and what they put out to the public. One of the main things that she thought was missing in the piece was a new comment from the Trump administration.
One of the people on the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, apparently wrote to colleagues saying they had tried to get administration comments but there was no answer, and “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
However, guess what? The administration had answered. Fancy that:
According to Axios, the Trump administration provided three on-the-record statements from the White House, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security. There was even a more than 300-word statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. None of that was included in the final story.
I would guess that the vast majority of people working in that newsroom find it horrific to have to present the point of view of this administration as part of their stories – unless, of course, it makes the administration look bad or they can twist the answer in order to make the administration look bad. The idea that the boss would call them to task for that sort of behavior is probably extremely new to them, and abhorrent.
In a marathon interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show” released Monday, the former first son said the Biden-era immigration approach became “a disaster” and acknowledged the chaotic Kabul exit that left 13 U.S. service members dead was “an obvious” failure.
Hunter Biden argued the U.S. needs “vibrant” legal immigration but warned the country “doesn’t want immigrants that are coming here illegally, draining us of resources” and being “prioritized above” veterans and other Americans struggling at home.
(2) If you’re curious about those weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, this video seems to me to be the most reasonable source of information I’ve seen so far:
(3) The head of security for Brown University, Rodney Chatman, has been placed on leave pending investigation. I wrote about Chatman previously in this post.
… 98 mayors across Minnesota have sounded the alarm in a no-nonsense letter to Walz and state lawmakers, blistering the state’s fiscal mismanagement. The distraught mayors warned that what was once an $18 billion surplus has not only vanished under the far-left governor’s watch; the surplus has been replaced by a projected $3 billion deficit for the 2028–29 budget cycle.
The mayors went bottom-line, warning that Walz’s policies have strained their cities, harmed residents, and pushed Minnesota down in national economic rankings — evidence, they said, of the state government racing headlong toward “fiscal disaster.”
I have a feeling – or is it a hope? – that Candace Owens’ recent spewings may alienate even some of her real followers (as opposed to the bots). The context was that Ben Shapiro called her out for her hateful mendacity, at a recent TPUSA event, and this was her response.
Why do I highlight this? It’s disturbing to watch, but this woman does have influence on many people who celebrate her (hard to say how many because her audience is so bot-heavy). In this most recent clip, she’s also very obviously trying to incite a race war of black people against Jews:
Now that you’ve digested that, this is the book she’s holding up:
Der Talmudjude, by anti-Jewish German Catholic theologian August Rohling, claimed that the Talmud commanded Jews to steal, lie, cheat, and kill Christians.
Rohling had repeatedly spread the libel that Jews consumed human blood in murder rituals. The theologian’s scholarship was cast into doubt during a failed libel suit against one of his detractors, but Der Talmudjude has remained a mainstay of antisemitic texts.
The book was written in 1871 and was a Nazi favorite:
In addition there have been fabricated interpretations such as the 19th-century antisemitic book “The Talmudic Jew” by German Catholic theologian August Rohling, a popular text with the anti-Jewish newspaper Der Stürmer in the years leading up to the Holocaust and the rise of the Third Reich.
And there it was, one of the digital right’s best-known figures, a woman with more than five million YouTube subscribers, hawking a book full of anti-Semitic lies. Rohling was a German Catholic theologian. He was an infamous Jew-hater. The Talmudic Jew depicts the Talmud as a ‘repository of anti-Christian hatred’ and a ‘manual for swindling Gentiles’, says Hussein Aboubakr Mansour. And of course it’s fraudulent, Mansour writes. It relies on ‘medieval anti-Jewish polemics and out-of-context quotations’.
Rohling later wrote a hateful pamphlet on the ‘human sacrifices’ carried out by rabbis. The Jews do indeed engage in the ritual murder of Christian children, he wrote. It was a pseudo-academic revival of the medieval blood libel. And it helped to whip up Jewphobic animus across Germany and beyond. That a 21st-century right-winger is citing this Jew-hater – worse, actively promoting his work – is extraordinary.
Perhaps no book has excited the intrigue of antisemites quite like the Talmud and which became its own self-contained myth. Just the mention of “the Talmud” is bound to conjure up worlds. It is difficult to say exactly why. Its sheer inaccessibility, certainly—the alien script running right to left like a mirror of proper reading. To European eyes it has always carried the aura of the esoteric, something halfway between scripture and spellbook. The very look of it suggests secrets. Perhaps that Jews possessed a textual tradition beyond the Bible, an “oral law” whispered down through generations and only later committed to writing, was itself suspect: what were they hiding? What had they added?
But the fantasy of the Talmud has always exceeded the Talmud itself. As a matter of fact, the real Talmud is a big disappointment compared to the muscular, mythological one; we would do better to make the distinction between the Talmud of reality and that of myth. One opens the former expecting occult mysteries and finds rabbis arguing about liability for damages caused by an ox. The gap between the myth and the text is so vast that one suspects the myth requires the text to remain unread. Rohling understood this, perhaps instinctively: his readers would never check.
Rohling claimed expertise in rabbinical literature that he did not have. His interpretations of Hebrew texts were dilettantish at best, fraudulent at worst. He relied heavily on medieval anti-Jewish polemics and on out-of-context quotations ripped from the vast sea of Talmudic disputation. The truth is, he likely never actually read the Talmud.
The Talmud is not a catechism; it is a record of centuries of legal debate among rabbis, filled with minority opinions, hypothetical arguments, and positions that were never adopted as normative practice. It is the definition of pedantry, written primarily in Aramaic, a language Rohling could not read, with Hebrew interspersed, in a terse and allusive style that presupposes familiarity with an entire tradition of commentary. It dwells, for pages—volumes, really—on the most mundane and technical details of daily life: the proper handling of food, the timing of prayers, the laws governing agricultural cycles, rules for feasts and holidays, the conditions under which an egg laid on a festival day may or may not be eaten, if and how to carry things on the Sabbath in what kind of vessel. It endlessly argues over these riveting and exhilarating questions. So exciting to read it should really come with a heart rate monitor. To extract from this a simple set of commands—”Jews must swindle Christians”—is not to misread the Talmud; it is to have never encountered it at all. It is to have read about it in other books written by other people who also never read it, which is likely what Rohling did.
But I noticed this sort of Jew-hatred online long long ago, at least as long as I’ve been blogging. There’s been a huge genre of web-based propaganda about the Talmud and how Jews are evil and their evil is expressed in the Talmud, and it’s probably based on books such as Rohling’s. I am relatively sure these falsehoods have been spread worldwide on the internet long before Owens got into the act, although she’s certainly doing her bit to spread the venomous stuff still further.
