By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – We offer these tidbits from the weekend and Monday news involving members of the Jewish community:
INTERNATIONAL
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken broke ground Saturday on a $1.2 billion embassy complex in Hanoi. He also met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Approximately 50 years ago, the U.S. withdrew its last combat troops from Vietnam.
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Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks, noting that two demonstrators from IfNotNow disrupted a recent speech by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and unfurled a banner which read, “Ron DeSantis loves Israel, hates Jews,” made this comment: “From his time as a Congressman and now as a Governor, Governor Ron DeSantis been a steadfast and stalwart friend of the Jewish community and the State of Israel. The Florida Jewish community appreciates that friendship, and a historic, record-setting 45% of Jews voted for him in his recent reelection. We know Governor DeSantis will receive a very warm welcome in Israel when he visits later this month.”
NATIONAL
U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Jon Ossoff of Georgia are among 10 Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who have called upon Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to inquire into the financial dealings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who reportedly has failed to list luxury trips paid by Republican donor Harlan Crow on his financial disclosure form, nor the fact that he has sold property to Crow and also has been receiving rental income from unspecified sources over the years. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein also is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but she has been recuperating from shingles and has asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to temporarily replace her on the committee until she can return to work. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind-Vermont) told Jen Psaki on MSNBC that the Justice Department should open a separate investigation into Thomas. “Some of what we’re reading about in terms of Judge Thomas is really quite outrageous and I think it needs to be investigated,” Sanders said.
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is expected to sign a measure this week permitting the Muslim calls to prayer to be broadcast from mosques five times a day, including at dawn and when the first night sky appears. The measure, amending the city’s noise laws, was urged by a coalition of religious leaders including Muslims, Jews and Christians.
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Mayor Steven Fulop of Jersey City says he will run for governor in New Jersey, once the current governor, Democrat Phil Murphy terms out in 2025. Fulop alerted the public that a shooting in 2019 at a kosher market that killed three people along with the fatal shooting of a policeman at a separate location were clearly antisemitic hate crimes. That came a day before the state’s attorney general came to the same conclusion. Fulop has four grandparents who were Holocaust survivors.
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Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, faces a zoning controversy in Southampton, New York, where he owns a $43 million mansion. He wants to build an exterior elevator to avoid walking up and down stairs because of what his physician calls “progressive knee pain.” A local review board said an elevator is fine but it should be indoors, and not on the exterior of the building. An interior elevator would cost $2.47 million, according to Fox News, compared to $1.16 million for an exterior one.
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Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson has scheduled a follow up hearing on Wednesday for Jack Teixeira, an Airman 1C in the Massachusetts Air National Guard who is accused of leaking classified documents to friends on an Internet Group. Teixeira, who is a computer technician, made no plea in his first court appearance on Friday, April 14. Meanwhile President Joe Biden has instructed the Pentagon to tighten up access to classified documents and to determine how Teixeira had the opportunity to see and transport them to his private computer. U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Massachusetts) told Bloomberg the unauthorized release of classified documents “is a serious crime and it should be prosecuted fully.” So far, he added, he does not believe the leaked documents will cause any longtime problems with such affected U.S. Allies as Israel, Ukraine, and South Korea.
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U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, had said he planned to “show the essentially fraudulent nature of what Jim Jordan and company are claiming about the crime rate in New York compared to other cities, including Republican-led cities.” But Jordan, seeking to undermine former President Donald Trump’s prosecutor, District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., on Monday used the committee’s hearing in Manhattan also to swipe at both Naylor and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York). Jordan called as a witness Barry Borgen, who said his son was beaten in Times Square because he was wearing a yarmulke en route to a pro-Israel rally. He said Bragg has delayed and delayed action on the case and that Borgen’s appeals for help to Naylor’s and Schumer’s offices never were answered. Another member of the committee, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California), gave an opening statement that Republicans on the committee were acting as Trump’s “criminal defense counsel.” A man in the audience screamed “You’re a scumbag!” and continued screaming this as he was escorted out of the hearing room in the Jacob Javits Federal Building.
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Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has signed into law several measures making Colorado a safe haven for people seeking abortions or gender-affirming surgeries. As some neighboring states have laws outlawing such procedures, one of the bills Polis signed on Friday prohibits Colorado state agencies from cooperating with court summons, subpoenas, and search warrants sought by such states for prosecutorial purposes. He also signed a bill outlawing the deceptive practices of anti-abortion groups creating fake abortion clinics where women are subjected to heavy pressure to carry pregnancies to full term. Concerning gender-affirming surgeries, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) commented on Twitter: “It is a complete disgrace that our state will be passing a law legalizing the mutilation of young children under the guise of medical care. Leave our children alone.”
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Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich in an essay for The Guardian contends that the Republican party is “careening at high velocity toward authoritarianism. OK, fascism.” If the trend continues, Reich warns, Democrats ironically could also become anti-democratic. “Without two parties committed to democratic means to resolve differences in ends, the party committed to democracy is at a tactical disadvantage. If it is to survive, eventually it, too, will sacrifice democratic means to its own ends.”
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Van Halen front man David Lee Roth has explained why the rock group used to put in its contracts that no brown M&M candies could be placed backstage. According to ShowBiz CheatSheet, it was the band’s way of determining whether the contract was read thoroughly and that all the other requirements—such as lighting and sound level specifications—were being observed scrupulously. If brown M&Ms showed up, the band knew it should require verification of all the contract demands.
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The life of the late Cantor and Holocaust Survivor David Wisnia will be featured at 10 p.m., Tuesday night, April 18, in a PBS documentary produced by HiddenLights Productions of former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton. Titled How Saba Kept Singing, it tells how Wisnia was kept alive at Auschwitz to entertain his Nazi guards.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CNN interviewer Fareed Zakaria that Russia should pay for the damage it has caused in its war with Ukraine. Whether frozen Russian assets in the United States could be deployed for that purpose is a question that needs to be decided by legal authorities, she added.
CALIFORNIA
Shoshana Rosen Sabonis, wife of Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis, has revealed that her husband is studying for conversion to Judaism with Rabbi Erez Sherman of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Sabonis, 26, stands 7’1, and is of Lithuanian-American heritage. Last Chanukah, he sponsored a give away of sufganiyot to Kings fans.
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U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) is leading in the fundraising race among Democratic officeholders seeking to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who has announced she will not seek reelection in 2024. In the first quarter reporting period of 2023, Schiff raised $6.5 million, compared to $4.5 million raised by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Orange County) and $1.1 million raised by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland). Counting funds previously on hand, and money expended, that left Schiff with $24.7 million; Porter $9.5 million, and Lee with $1.2 million.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
In a news release announcing 17 staff members of his San Diego and Washington DC offices, U.S. Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) mentioned Jason Berccovitch, his district director here in San Diego, and Jackie Sobol, his scheduler and legislative aide in the Washington office.
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County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer has been praised by San Diego City Councilwoman Marni Von Wilpert for her stand on gun violence. “We cannot turn a blind eye to the heinous crimes committed in our neighborhoods, schools, and public spaces,” Von Wilpert said in calling for Lawson-Remer’s reelection. “As elected officials, we have a responsibility to take a stand against this senseless violence and propose measures that will keep our streets safe. Supervisor Lawson-Remer has been an incredible advocate and leader for us on this issue.”
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In an OpEd in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Mark Powell, former member of the San Diego County Board of Education, has called on teachers and staff at schools to be issued Naloxone as a way to protect against students’ drug overdoses.
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Adira Rosen, daughter of Myla Wingard & Lou Rosen, has been accepted at the Rabbinical School at Hebrew College in Boston. Many of us remember Adira as a star years ago in J*Company stage productions. She is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Rabbi Yael Ridberg of Congregation Dor Hadash messaged back on Facebook, “Wow! Truly wonderful news and I look forward to calling you a colleague.”
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In the first game with the San Diego Padres, first baseman Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run homer and drove in another run to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-3 victory. In the second game, Tellez hit two homeruns, accounting for four RBI’s in Friday night’s 11-2 rout of the Padres, a game which Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth sat out. On Saturday, April 15, Cronenworth showed that if Tellez can do it, why so can he. He had three hits, including two homeruns, and walked with bases loaded, accounting for 6 RBI’s in the Padres 10-3 defeat of the Brewers. Tellez was among a number of Jewish players who competed in the recent World Baseball Classic. While most of his co-religionists played for Team Israel, Tellez played for Mexico. “Rowdy” got that name before being born when his pregnant mother described how much he moved around inside her.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com