Essays, notes, poems, and prayers
Writing
Most of this started as a Facebook post and got a second life here. Every piece carries its date in two calendars.
- 3 March 2025ג׳ באדר תשפ״הNote
Restore the Monarchy
Monarchy should be consigned to the dustbin of dead-ends in human history, along with human sacrifice, slavery, and dumping your sewage in the street. The righteous leadership of a single,...
- 1 March 2025א׳ באדר תשפ״הNote
Our Destiny Is in the Stars
The flip side of my previous post: If humanity is to become a truly spacefaring species, we will have to leave fascism behind. Our destiny is in the stars.
- 1 March 2025א׳ באדר תשפ״הNote
Can Fascists Reach the Stars?
Ok let's talk about aliens. They've apparently been visiting? According to numerous high level testimonies? So - should we be afraid of our visitors from another world? Do they come...
- 26 February 2025כ״ח בשבט תשפ״הNote
The Overton Window
WaPo will now only publish opinion pieces "in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets." I hope that means op-eds promoting robust constitutional democracies, free global...
- 25 February 2025כ״ז בשבט תשפ״הNote
Natural Allies
Who are your natural allies? My natural allies are the people who share both my values and my struggle, who face the same system of oppression and make the same...
- 24 February 2025כ״ו בשבט תשפ״הNote
Shameful Company
To Joe's summary below, I will only add that this is shameful company in which to find ourselves, on an issue that should be a no-brainer. Our national security on...
- 20 February 2025כ״ב בשבט תשפ״הNote
Our World Is on Fire
We plod and stumble through this horror of a deal after over a year and a half of war. The ayatollahs' Islamo-fascist lapdogs parade the corpses of captured children, exchanged...
- 20 February 2025כ״ב בשבט תשפ״הNote
Russia Is Fighting NATO
"Did you hear the news, Russia is fighting NATO." "Are you serious?" "Yes, yes! Russia is fighting NATO." "So how's it going?" "Well, 70,000 Russian soldiers are dead. The missile...
- 19 February 2025כ״א בשבט תשפ״הNote
On the Bibas Family
Since I first heard of the Bibas family's capture, I thought the chances were remote that Shiri and the kids would survive captivity. It seemed unlikely to me that their...
- 18 February 2025כ׳ בשבט תשפ״הNote
Epistemic Warfare
Why have they been hiding where millions of US tax dollars go?! If you've heard someone ask this question (perhaps spurred on by a social media post or thirty by...
- 17 February 2025י״ט בשבט תשפ״הNote
The Contradictions of Contemporary Politics
Democracies don't fail overnight, the descent into oligarchy and dictatorship is preceded and sustained by a whole lot of rhetorical BullSht. The bullsht has a purpose: to generate cognitive dissonance...
- 17 February 2025י״ט בשבט תשפ״הNote
Patriotism Is the Love of the Best
Since I've seen two posts on this already: Forget being better than. Forget being the best. PATRIOTISM, to me, is THE LOVE OF THE BEST of what you see in...
- 16 February 2025י״ח בשבט תשפ״הNote
Crazy but Saner
I may think that our Israeli government is a coalition of incompetent politicians, populists, and petty thieves, but I've never worried about their incompetence reaching the level of accidentally firing...
- 15 February 2025י״ז בשבט תשפ״הNote
Freedom Is Inevitable
America, Russia, and China. Hemispheric hegemony. That is their goal. (This is like trying to teach someone to read the writing on the wall. Patience.) But the power they worship...
- 15 February 2025י״ז בשבט תשפ״הNote
Between Criminals and Career Politicians
An observation: The American opposition party has spent decades: - loudly protesting Republican immigration policies, national security enactments, and corporate cronyism - quietly continuing those same policies, enactments, and cronyism...
- 11 February 2025י״ג בשבט תשפ״הNote
I Want Everyone Free
Whether Conservative 😬, Libertarian 🧐, or Anarchist 😇, I have always wanted as many people as possible to be free - and I have never wanted my freedom to come...
- 10 February 2025י״ב בשבט תשפ״הNote
Raids on Bookshops
Raids on bookshops like The Educational Bookstore have no place in a free country or a civilized democracy. Especially not when unilaterally conducted by law enforcers on their own judgement/agenda...
- 8 February 2025י׳ בשבט תשפ״הNote
Epistemic Arrogance, Left and Right
I don't think the Left and Right political wings currently pose the same threat to the stability and freedom of civil society in many countries, but I notice a certain...
- 8 February 2025י׳ בשבט תשפ״הNote
A Decent Reading
Today I read the fifth עלייה to פרשת בשלח. Four weeks of preparation led to a decent reading: despite tremendous performance anxiety (and morning digestive issues picking the worst time...
- 7 February 2025ט׳ בשבט תשפ״הNote
Those Who Followed Into the Sea
Do you think the average Egyptian really hated Hebrews, or personally supported the Pharaoh's more extreme policies targeting them? Do you think maybe they were a little bit afraid of...