I took a photo of this wonderful sign on this construction truck. It says: "To All The Men And Women Of Our Armed Forces Thank You! United We Stand." Next week on Wednesday is Veterans Day, but feeling gratitude to those who stand and fight for our freedom is not just a one day a year message. Let's always remember that freedom is not free! ;-) (Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
You can't build the world from the backseat. Either we're in it or we're not. Instead, Russia has jumped into the driver's seat, and we're not coming out looking too good on the world stage. - In 2013 they took in and continue to shelter Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee who ran to Hong Kong after allegedly leaking oodles of NSA classified information. - In 2014, Russia conducted a blitzkrieg and took Crimea from sovereign Ukraine (giving it a strategic port in the Black Sea), and are conducting a separatist war in the eastern part of the country. - In 2015, Russia enters the Syrian crisis and allies themselves with dictator, Bashar Al Assad (who has used chemical weapons on his own people), as well as with Iran and Iraq. - Additionally, Russia is taking the lead role in the oil and mineral rich Arctic bolstering their presence and militarizing, including building new ice-breakers (while our Coast Guard has only one operational). Some people have said mockingly, "Well what should we do, start a war with Russia?" And the answer is an unequivocal, no. But I assume they don't want to start a war with the U.S. either. Rather, this is the Cold War Part II, where we are fighting by proxy in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Arctic. If we want the world to be modeled on freedom, human rights, and democracy then we need to be able to stand up for those things that are important to us. Yes, we have to care about what's going on here at home too, but we don't live in a bubble, although surrounded by oceans on the east and west coast, we can sometimes easily feel that way. It's a big world--and it takes tremendous leadership to bring it along a good and noble path. The leadership role will not stay vacant for long...it can be us if we want it, or else you might as well flip a coin on either Russia or China. ;-) (Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So I am having to reconcile some interesting things in my mind. Hating and liking. For example Iran, led by dictators and extremists, is perhaps the epitome of the "Axis of Evil" and the arch enemy of America and Israel Iran suppresses the freedom and human rights of its people, is the leading sponsor of world terrorism, denies the Holocaust, and threatens brutal attacks on America and to annihilate Israel. Yet, on a personal level I have had the opportunity to meet a number of Iranians that I really like and respect. These include amazing colleagues at work, and wonderful members of my synagogue as well as neighbors. One Iranian family I met just this morning was simply amazing. The father had a horrible stroke earlier in the year. Today, I saw the father wheeled to the swimming pool by his son. The son took his father lovingly into the water and worked with him therapeutically to help him on regaining as much mobility as possible. I stopped to speak with them, and the man's wife told me that the son, who was a PhD in mechanical engineering from Texas came every week to Washington, D.C. to work with his stricken father. The son told me that although he was not a therapist worked hard with his father on physical and occupational therapy, and I even saw his father laugh a little with his son in the water. The son held the father by a safety belt and his father put his hand on his son's shoulder as they walked forward and backwards in the water, and even did a little swim while his son held the belt tight. I was really impressed by this family and especially the love, caring, and devotion the son showed his father. Despite their troubles, the wife asked me how I was recuperating and smiled when I told her I was doing better. It's amazing to me how hate truly is blind. On one hand, what Iran stands for today led by extremists who seek religious domination, suppression and destruction of others, and a return of the Caliphate is a danger to its people and the world. On the other hand, many of the people from the streets of Iran are surely some very good people. We need to see the bad apples and separate them from the good ones. As a country, we need to support the freedom of the Iranian people and help those that believe in peace and fellowship. When evil is in a leadership position, then good does not follow, but rather is smothered until it is set free. ;-) (Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So the lights dim, the camera starts to roll, and what happens...
ACTION!
The show starts...actors spring into action, and the plot takes shape--we have a positive influence and impact on our fellow man and the world we live in.
But there is a sorry alternative storyline.
Where after the lights and camera...nothing happens.
There is a eery silence and a weird INACTION!
Like the actors are asleep at the wheel, went off to play golf or to comedy night, or perhaps went home to momma, and are cowering, and hiding under their beds.
Is this the unfortunate state of our country today?
The world is our stage.
As the sole superpower, the United States is the prime actor today. We have our calling to go do good--to help, to save, and to bring peace and freedom.
But lo and behold, what happens when we have a policy of inaction?
Where we want peace, but are not willing to do to much of anything for it or perhaps in spite of it.
So how is our world faring today:
- In Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, and more, millions are dying and injured, while tens of millions are fleeing, displaced, or are in refugee camps, and chemical WMD are in use by Syria and ISIS, while our red lines were drawn and then withdrawn, and we don't know if we are training the opposition or throwing in the towel on the ground.
- ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram, etc. are rampant and overrunning the Middle East and North Africa, killing, torturing, raping, destroying, and plummeting, as well as recruiting back in Europe and here in the States, amidst calls for attacks against us and our allies.
- Russia takes Crimea and is resurgent in Eastern Ukraine and the Arctic, and antagonizing all around Europe with ever encroaching warplanes and warships, and militarizing and modernizing their formidable nuclear arsenal, and we stand up a new NATO rapid reaction force, while we are again surprised by Russia, now in Syria.
- China is expanding into the South China Sea, flexing it's economic and military muscle, and cyber attacking and stealing our vital government and economic information assets with relative impunity, while we trade with our partner and pivot this way and that.
- North Korea restarts it's nuclear plant, readies for another banned missile launch, sinks South Korean ships, plants deadly landmines on the South's side of the demilitarized zone, and provokes toward a military confrontation, while we lick our wounds from the last broken agreements with them.
- Iran has stymied the people's freedom movement, executed the opposition and homosexuals, builds toward a deadly nuclear and ballistic missile future, seeks the destruction of America ("The Great Satan") and Israel, is massively funding and arming their terrorist proxies to the tune of billions of dollars, and has gotten a get out of jail free card and sanctions lifting.
So what can we do?
Well in the past, we were a meaningful deterrent to countries and people doing bad things.
We stood proudly and tall for human rights, freedom, equality, democracy, anti-proliferation, and sustainability.
We didn't have to fight everywhere to make our point--but just knowing that we were willing to stand for righteousness and justice often meant those with evil intentions stepping back and rethinking it.
Occasionally, we did have to put our blood and treasure where our mouths were, and perhaps we often did this too rashly and imprudently (when diplomacy or some saber rattling might have done the trick). However, the world cannot afford for us to be war weary or chase empty legacies of peace built on blind hope or a running away from our responsibilities.
While the world burns, we can't be looking for Nobel Prizes instead of seeking out the fire extinguishers and medical kits to save and to heal.
As it is so wisely stated: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Peace is not born of inaction, but of brave actors willing to do what is necessary to achieve all that is good and all that can be done. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
It's the weekend before the anniversary of 9/11, and today in full gear, about 100 firefighters and police officers climbed the 28-story tower in Rockville 4 1/2 times today equaling the 2,000 stairs in the World Trade Centers.
This to remember the 343 firefighter and 71 police officer heroes that fell that fateful day.
Also, to raise funds for the firefighter burn fund.
While some are war weary and would rather forget or pretend it never even happened...
It is so important that we not forget the devastating terrorist attack by Islamic extremists on 9/11 that took us by surprise and cost this nation so dearly.
Reckless pacifism, appeasement, cowardice, and running from the fight without defeating the enemy and restoring societal order will only bring the fight to us.
We need ongoing vigilance, investment and improvements to homeland security and our national defense, and the spread of freedom and human rights across the globe.
(The interview with the firefighter was narrated by me, Andy Blumenthal)
I took this photo in the local hobby store. It's a 3-D puzzle of the Empire State Building and at the top, King Kong holding onto the antenna! Looks like a few pieces fell out of the building about 3/4 of the way up. Or is that where ISIS terrorists blow their next hole in our skyscrapers again (G-d Forbid). With our retrenchment from the front lines all over the world--with the exception of some targeted drone strikes (actually very well done)--we are again at risk of letting the terrorists get the upper hand. We need strength and resolve--not lifting of sanctions, closing of Guantanamo, and withdrawal from the fight. Take them down, before they come to our shores--this is a fight that is multigenerational and there is no retreat from the top of the world when fighting for freedom and human rights. ;-) (Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
"His who life was a million to one shot." He fought, he survived, and he triumphed. Go Rocky, Rambo, Sylvester Stallone. Human rights, social justice, good over evil. And never again! :-) (Source Photo: here via Facebook)
Beautiful video showing that good can overcome evil. Next video is where the woman (empowered) takes down the would be attackers herself--with a big time, well-deserved smackdown! Where on the right track. ;-)
Here's what they are saying online in some satire on the Iranian Nuke WMD Deal. The Spanish comedian is talking about something else (I don't know what), but the subtitles were dubbed to make the points about the issues with this deal. No disrespect intended to anyone, but the points illustrated are well made. Is this how we want the world to view us? We are hoping and praying for a real and verifiable peace.
Similar to the Movie, "The Stoning of Soraya M."--only this is real life footage. Highly graphic...beware. A 17-year old girl ambushed by crowd of men, savagely kicked and beaten, and stoned to death with a large cinderblock finally slammed onto her head. All the while, the men are taking photos and videos with their smartphones. And playing with her skirt up and down in some perverted way while the blood is gushing out of her skull. Supposedly for loving the "wrong" boy. Who does something like this? Can some people be so religiously brainwashed as to think this can be "right"? Where are people's inner conscience and moral compass? As ISIS beheads and burns alive their opponents, Boko Haram hacks off people's limbs and takes young girls as sex slaves, Al Qaeda conducts countless suicide bombings, Syria gases their own people, and Iran outmaneuvers the West toward a nuclear bomb to annihilate their enemies...we had better take very seriously what we are dealing with. Shouldn't any deal we make seek to genuinelychange these behaviors rather than make a deal for deal's sake? We need to wake up before the warnings that we are witnessing from afar become lessons here at home. We need a genuine and verifiable peace--oh G-d let it be!
Go Independence Day!
But what does it mean?
We are independent from British rule since 1776.
That made us a free nation.
We are free to be...but be what?
1) Safe and Secure - Have a strong military, intelligence, and homeland security to keep the peace or compromise on national security and make bad deals for political expediency and face the consequences by a host of crazed terrorist threats, a nuclear Iran, a belligerent North Korea, a bellicose Russia, or a rising confrontational China.
2) ProsperousAnd Self-Sufficient - Strengthen education, encourage innovation, invest in research and development and advanced manufacturing, cultivate a motivated and capable workforce, and manage a fiscally responsible economy or spend recklessly and indiscriminately driven by pork-barrel politics and special interests and eventually bankrupt our richly-endowed nation.
3) Equal And With Fundamental Human Rights - Ensure equality and opportunity for everyone under the law, where everyone has respect and dignity and the protection of basic human rights or discriminate in large and small ways perpetuating the have and have nots in every fiber of our society, where the rich get sickeningly richer and for everyone else you're sh*t out of luck.
4) Socially Just - Provide for a just and fair society ensuring that people are duly protected and crime does not pay or irresponsibly live in managed chaos and let violent criminals back out on the streets in a revolving door of recidivism rather than rehabilitation.
5) Environmentally Responsible - Safeguard our environment and natural resources, invest in renewable energy resources and sustainability, reduce, reuse, and recycle, and give a hoot and don't pollute or just pig out now and leave an inhospitable gutted world for later.
6) Democratically Governed - Rule with righteousness and integrity, give back to the people, be open and honest, listen to all sides and ensure a balanced fair approach or perpetuate lies, deceit, corruption, conspiracy, fraud, waste, and abuse.
Not everyone in the world is so lucky to be free.
Maybe this Independence Day, we think not just about the new Terminator movie, shopping at the mall, and feasting at the BBQ, but also what we want this treasured freedom to mean, what our "leaders" are leading us to, and are we getting the freedom we all, as human beings under G-d, innately deserve.
We can definitely raise the bar and we should. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So yes, I am a firm believer in live and let live. That goes for long time friends that have actually converted away from our cherished Jewish traditions to friends or relatives that choose a gay or lesbian lifestyle--it's their choice! And everyone has free choice to do what they think is right--that is the nature of free choice--if we weren't free to choose, then how could we be responsible for our choices? But what I am confused about sincerely with the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in legalizing marriage for gays and lesbians is not the concept of where everyone is equal under the law, but the open contradiction with the Torah (Biblical) texts that I am familiar with since I was a child in Yeshiva: 1) Leviticus 18:22--"Thou shalt not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 2) Leviticus 20:13--"If a male lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death, their blood is upon them." I understand that many advocating for gays and lesbians have explained these texts as no longer applicable today (ref: Huffington Post): - That the Biblical passages "do not refer to homosexuality as we know it today" (i.e. those that are consensual, not cultic rites, etc. ) - That they "are conditioned by the cultural and historical realities of the authors" and one needs to consider the greater biblical context for G-d's love and caring of all. But looking at the strict text of these passages, they don't seem to read as conditional (there are no conditions identified), and for those that believe that the Torah is divine (written by G-d) and is timeless, then how do we reconcile it with our wanting to be loving and accepting of ALL people who aren't hurting themselves or anyone else? Adding to the confusion, we read just this week about extremists like ISIS killing gays by brutally throwing them off of roofs and routinely about arch enemy Iran hanging them in the public square. Also going in my mind is the question of there being separation of church and state in this country, yet does legalizing gay and lesbian marriage affirm that separation or does it cross it by legislating against the strict scripture that many hold inviolate. Similar to the debate on abortion rights, these are where modern day-to-day issues and traditional religious teachings and values can be difficult to harmonize. I am truly happy for gays and lesbians that they can marry if they choose and find their happiness--everyone deserves this, but religiously, I am left unsure of how to reconcile this with the Torah as written. Can we think that we are free to choose the individual commandments we believe in or not or to find explanations where we don't understand them or they don't make sense to us--if so, how do we know we are doing what G-d wants of us or whether we are going astray? In the end here the Supreme Court affirmed the right to choose and to respect all people under the law--this is fundamental to our basic beliefs in freedom, human rights, and love of our fellow man. But in so doing, will some see this as encroaching on G-d's law and if so, what is the impact to those that are deeply religious and/or hold strictly heterosexual marriage as sacrosanct? Surely each person must follow the dictates of their conscience which G-d has granted us, but pitting the Supreme Court of us earthly beings potentially against that of Heaven--this is a truly tricky and slippery slope to understand and reconcile. ;-) (Source Photo: Twitter @WhiteHouse)
So it's human nature to want to leave the world a better place than before we got here.
But you wouldn't know it by how things are looking the last number of years.
Here's just the latest from reports this week:
1) The Global Peace Index: "World is less peaceful today than in 2008...Last year alone it is estimated that 20,000 people were killed in terrorist attacks up from an average of 2,000 a year only 10 years ago."
2) A Record Year In Misery: "The world has never seen a refuge crisis this bad...last year saw the total number of forcibly displaced persons rise to 59.5 million, an all time high." This is due to world conflict, general violence, human rights violations, and persecution."
3) Climate Apocalypse: "A child born today may live to see humanity's end...[as a result of] overcrowding, denuded resources, and climate change...dangerous climate change is already here. The question is can we avoid catastrophic climate change."
4) Americans Have Lost Confidence In Everything: "It not just Congress [and the President] and the economy that have Americans concerned these days...All in all, it's a picture of a nation discouraged about its present and worried about its future, and highly doubtful that its institutions can pull America out of its trough.
Maybe the worst thing is that many people are deluding themselves that everything is hunky dory.
But isn't it time for some real wins again?
To do that we need genuine good old fashioned elbow grease--that means we start with a strategy that actually tackles the issues rather than kicking the can down the road. We need honesty, not political upmanships and swell soundbite cliches.
What good is appeasement to the masses now, if it means their utter despair or demise later--for example, why should we be Greece on the brink of national bankruptcy, if instead we can be Norway with the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world?
Then comes the hard work, fortitude, and commitment to turn the tide on the bad news and losses. This mean personal and national sacrifice now in order to have better times for our children and grandchildren.
G-d is watching us, our children are questioning us, the needy are looking to us.
We are working hard, but it's hardly working! Maybe we need to make this real simple: "Little Johnny, now take your medicine, and stop fighting Mommy, p-lease!" ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I took this photo of an advertisement for the "I'm With Stupid" Minions movie released on February 2.
Sadly, I think this sums up how I am feeling about current world affairs rapidly devolving into chaos, with little to nothing happening to bring it back from the brink:
The plight of the homeless in DC, the nation's capital, continues unabetted. People homeless and hungry stumble down the steets with their carts of worldy possessions or sit on the corners begging for someone to help them. As these destitute and desperate souls look for some shelter, warmth, a place to rest, some clean clothes, medical care, or simply something to eat, they pass almost like ghosts throughtout the city. Most people running (late) to the office, seem to barely extend a glance as they sidestep and shuffle past these people, who I remember one unsavory colleague calling them, "human waste." But these are G-d creatures, down on their luck, and they could be any one of us! Does the city and the people, the powerful of the nation, have the heart to help those in need? ;-) (Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
ISIS is one of the most brutal and uncivilized enemies that we are now facing. Their tactics against their victims have included: Beheading, burning, torturing, raping,crucifying, burying people alive, and abducting and selling children as sex slaves. Similar to Iran who threatens nuclear Armageddon on the West, and we seek to pacify them, make agreements, and unravel sanctions against them, with ISIS, our response again in the face of evil, has been tepid and now we are making excuses for their completely sick and immoral behavior. At a National Prayer Breakfast yesterday, the President stated: "Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ." Yes, that is why those times in history are referred to as "The Dark Ages," while in 2015, we are supposed to be a shining light of democracy, freedom and human rights. The President also went on to cite Slavery and the Jim Crow [laws] as other examples. Hmm...interesting though, if you are going to cite examples already, why completely omit to mention the evils of the Holocaust that killed 6 million Jewish people in the most inhumane genocide of our times--just 70 years ago! Then again, what was the purpose of giving the examples that he did of other great historical misdeeds (and also leaving out other prominent ones) in the face of another great evil in our times. From the specific words, perhaps: - It is to excuse it? (Get off your high horses) - To give them some sort of pass? (Other people have committed terrible deeds) But should we be making excuses or giving a pass to ISIS and for that matter Iran (which has one of the world's worst records of human right abuses and has threatened to annihilate Israel and attack America) for their ongoing brutality, immorality, threats and terror? Maybe what is correct here is that we should "get off our high horses," and INSTEAD finally consider putting some darn boots on the ground and some serious firepower with it to end this march of terror quickly, rather than excuse it, ever. ;-) (Source Photo: here with attribution to Tv9)
So yesterday was the 70th anniversary memorial of the liberation of the Auschwitz Death Camp, More than 1.1 million Jews and 100,000 other POWs and ethnic minorities were EXTERMINATED there. There was forced labor, beatings, torture, starvation, the gas chambers and crematoria, the electrified barbed wire and attacks dogs, the human experimentation, and every cruelty known to mankind. At yesterdays memorial at Auschwitz 50 countries sent delegations "with heads of state leading those from:" - Germany - Austria - Belgium - Bulgaria - Croatia - Lithuania - France - Netherlands - Poland - Switzerland - Ukraine (even though they are currently fighting a war with Russia!) And even Russian President Putin "marks day at the Jewish Museum in Moscow." It is quite mysterious, why like with the recent Unity Rally in France after the terror attacks there on Charlie Hebdo Magazine and a Jewish grocery store that left 17 dead, that the head of state for the United States was once again noticeably absent. This time, a meeting in Saudi Arabia took precendence--why of course. At least, the million plus murdered at Auschwitz got a (prepared) statement to mark their tragic deaths. What does all this say about our commitment to human rights and fighting blind hatred, discrimination, racism, Islamist terorrism, and outright genocide? (Source Photo: here with attribution to Ricardo Francesconi)
Andy Blumenthal is Deputy Program Director at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Blumenthal is a dynamic, award-winning leader with over 35 years of experience delivering results across the public and private sectors. All opinions are his own.
