SAN DIEGO COUNTY (Monday, May 1, 2023)
Oasis San Diego sponsors a talk entitled “A President, A Queen, and A Prime Minister” by this writer, at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 9, at the Grossmont Shopping Center in La Mesa. The talk will include personal encounters I have had as a reporter with Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II, and Shimon Peres, among other public figures.
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Public Relations Consultant David Ogul has been appointed as the interim public information officer at the San Diego College of Continuing Education, Rick Griffin reports in Times of San Diego. Ogul commented that he considers the college’s president, Dr. Tina King, to be a visionary. The college “is committed to providing not only the education and job training for anyone who walks through our doors, but also provides the critical wraparound services needed to ensure students reach their career and educational goals,” said Ogul, who also is a past president of Tifereth Israel Synagogue.
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Looking ahead to the May 21 opening of the year-long RUTH Holocaust exhibit at the Rancho San Diego Library, curator Sandy Scheller comments: “San Diego needs a permanent museum to remember the Holocaust. By us having a successful turnout/ promotion, I truly believe we can start making that process happen through our trusted partnership and strong ties throughout the community.” The library is located 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon.
CALIFORNIA
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, promoting his memoir From Hulda to Tel Aviv, will be interviewed in Los Angeles at 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 8, by Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, a Jewish community launched to reinvigorate Jewish practice, and Elizabeth Hirsh Natali, who runs the Hirsh Collective, a commercial real estate company, at 1737 La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles. RSVPs may be made via this email.
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State Senator Josh Newman (D-Brea) is a co-chairman of a 21-member Problem Solvers Caucus, modeled after a similar caucus in the U.S. Congress. With Republicans and Democrats conferring together in the caucus the goal is to “put policy before politics,” according to CalMatters, a public-interest journalism group.
NATIONAL
Actor Jack Black, who voices the part of the villainous Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, is among those responsible for the fact that the movie has been first in the box office for four consecutive weeks and has grossed over $1 billion.
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U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) has announced his retirement. “I am proud of all I have done for Maryland,” he said. “I have given my heart and soul to our great state, and I thank Marylanders for trusting me as your representative all these years.” Cardin, 79, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving since 1987 in the House of Representatives. “I have run my last election and will not be on the ballot in 2024, but there is still much work to be done. During the next two years, I will continue to travel around the state, listening to Marylanders and responding to their needs.”
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The Anti-Defamation League’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told his organization’s National Leadership Summit that Reform Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker, who managed in 2022 to assure that he and three others at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, escaped safely after a gunman invaded it last year, has become a special adviser to the ADL. Prior to the incident, Cytron Walker had received training from the ADL.
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Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan participated in a trip to Iceland funded by the conservative Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, according to The New York Times. Justice Neal Gorsuch also participated in that teaching trip, for which the justices were paid an honorarium. The financial affairs of Supreme Court Justices—and whether those affairs constitute conflicts of interest—have been coming under increasing media scrutiny.
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Former New York State Senator Anna Kaplan has announced her intention to run against controversial first-term Rep. George Santos (R-New York), who has been accused of lying on his resume. Kaplan is a member of a Jewish family that immigrated to the United States from Iran.
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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan has been accused by former President Donald Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina of having made “pervasive unfair and prejudicial rulings” against him. Tacopina, in a letter, asked Kaplan to declare a mistrial in the civil case in which columnist E. Jean Carroll is suing Trump for rape and defamation. The judge promptly denied the request.
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Actress Gwyneth Paltrow won her countersuit against Terry Sanderson, who had sued her following a skiing collision, but in a final decision, Judge Kent Holmberg said while Paltrow is entitled to the symbolic $1 in damages she sought, she, not Sanderson, will have to pay her attorneys’ fees. The judgment also said that Sanderson had agreed not to appeal.
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Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl has made news off the court. Fox News quotes him as objecting to the way ABC News edited its interview of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccination views. “How is this OK?” the coach demanded in a Tweet. “How can the media simply edit or censor what a candidate has said about a topic, in this case COVID, because ABC says that it’s dangerous or misinformation? Isn’t it our job to hear a candidate and determine that for ourselves?”
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said Senate committees will hold hearings on the House-passed bill that combined raising the national debt limit with specified budget cuts. He described the bill that was adopted on a party line vote in the House as “reckless legislation.” With Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) sidelined as she recovers from the shingles, Senate Republicans may be able to push the House’s debt ceiling legislation through the Senate, Forbes has reported. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) is believed leaning towards voting with the Republicans in the Senate where Democrats and their Independent allies hold a 51-49 advantage. Meanwhile, Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley has also called for Feinstein, Joe Biden and other officeholders over the age of 75 to submit to mental competency tests.
In a related development, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told congressional leaders on Monday that unless the debt ceiling is raised, the United States could be left with insufficient funds to pay its debts as soon as June 1. In a letter she wrote: “After reviewing recent federal tax receipts, our best estimate is that we will be unable to satisfy all of the government’s obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time.” President Joe Biden has invited congressional leaders to come to the White House on May 9 to see if an agreement can be reached.
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Singer/ actress Barbra Streisand has been awarded the 10th Anniversary Genesis Prize, described as the “Jewish Nobel” Prize by TIME Magazine. Stan Polevets, founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation, commented, “In addition to delighting audiences all over the world for the past six decades with her amazing talents, Barbra has dedicated her time, resources, and passion to numerous important causes, speaking out wherever she saw injustice.” Streisand has requested that the $1 million prize be directed to nonprofit organizations in four areas: protecting the environment, promoting women’s health, combating disinformation in the media and aiding the people of Ukraine. She commented: “I am very proud of my Jewish heritage and have always been moved by the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam, to repair the world.” The presentation of the prize will be in Los Angeles in October.
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Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has hired Los Angeles attorney Michael Freedman and New York attorney Jennifer Bonjean to appeal his conviction in California for rape and sexual assault, for which he was sentenced last year to 16 years imprisonment. Bonjean is credited with overturning entertainer Bill Cosby’s conviction for sexual assault. Freedman was in the news recently when both Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon retained him following their dismissals from Fox News and CNN respectively.
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INTERNATIONAL
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana played “Hotel California” on his guitar following a dinner welcoming U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and a congressional delegation to Israel. McCarthy subsequently told the Knesset that a House-Knesset parliamentary friendship group will be formed. “If we remain united, then the forces of freedom and democracy will always prevail,” he said. “This is the foundation of our special relationship.” His speech to the Knesset was only the second by a Speaker of the House of Representatives. Republican Newt Gingrich gave the first such speech in 1998.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harison@sdjewishworld.com