War hero needed. What enemy? Empty cribs. Trump's grandchildren and ours. Abigail's new book
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER # 36 FEB. 20, 2017
Question for today:
WHOM DO YOU TRUST?

As Sen John McCain continues to expose Trump's baldfaced lies expect Trump to "swiftboat" McCain and characterize the war hero as a failure in order to delegitimate his critique. McCain is not a perfect politician by any means. (He voted to confirm Betsy DeVos after taking $50K from her family.) But he is a real war hero & since we're suddenly in a war to save democracy from a totalitarian autocrat, we have to hope McCain stands firm & inspires other Republicans to do the same.
Strongest salvo yet. "During a speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, the Republican senator from Arizona delivered a pointed and striking point-by-point takedown of Trump's worldview and brand of nationalism. McCain didn't mention Trump's name once, but he didn't have to." Listen here.
Who's the enemy of whom? Last Friday, Trump tweeted "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" "This is something that you hear tin-pot dictators say when they want to control all of the information,”said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA). Clearly, anyone who criticizes Trump is the enemy of the people because in the President's egomaniacal universe, he is the people, the country, and the government.
More straight talk from McCain. "I hate the press, I hate you especially, but the fact is we need you, we need a free press," John McCain told Chuck Todd on NBC's Meet the Press. He added, "That's how dictators get started... by suppressing free press, in other words, a consolidation of power."
Millions of Americans depend upon mainstream media for reporting, opinion pieces and investigative journalism, for instance the NY Times follow-up to Trump's bizarre claims about Sweden.
ANTI-SEMITISM
Grotesque telephone threats terrify 48 Jewish community centers in US.
If you have the stomach for it, here's what a terror threat sounds like.
"You see a lot of pictures in the news from incidents of bomb threats and other horrible events, but I feel this picture says so much," writes Angie Arnold, from Golden Valley, MN on her FB page

"These 4 cribs held 18 babies as we pushed them out of the building until we loaded them into our cars to take them to a safe location. When the staff came back to the building after the all clear, it made my heart stop to see these cribs sitting in the empty parking lot...See More
What will it take for Trump to condemn antiSemitism? Why won't he comment on rising threats to the Jewish community? Why is it so hard for him to empathize with terrified kids being evacuated from their kindergartens in Minneapolis, Cincinnati, San Rafael, Albany, and Orlando. He says he can't be an antiSemite because he has Jewish grandchildren. But will his love for his grandchildren save mine and yours?
And what's Bibi's excuse? Israeli P.M Netanyahu, who cites the Holocaust every other day to justify Israeli security concerns, is weirdly dismissive & tone deaf to the worries of U.S. Jews.
Toxic bedfellows. European Jews express alarm as right wing Israeli politicians cozy up to antiSemitic political arties in Austria and Poland. Former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Avi Primor, warns his country not to "abandon our heritage and cut deals with the devil.”
How can a Zionist descendant of a Holocaust survivor (Kushner) work with the alt-Right master mind (Bannon? Suzanne Schneider says history "demonstrates that there is no inherent contradiction between Zionism and anti-Semitism. The two ideologies have in fact often worked in concert to achieve their shared goal: concentrating Jews in one place (so as to better avoid them in others)."
ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Israeli officials detain & interrogate American Jewish leader at Ben Gurion airport. "Given Netanyahu’s repression of dissent, perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised that Israel's border control considered me a 'national security risk," says Jennifer Gorovitz, an attorney, Vice President of the New Israel Fund, former CEO of the San Francisco Jewish Federation, former clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in Washington, and a graduate of the prestigious Wexner Fellowship Program. If someone with her credentials is considered a danger to the Jewish state, who's next?

"Speed Sisters." Stereotypes of Arab women shatter in the wake of this outstanding documentary film about the aspirations, frustrations, and achievements of five Palestinian women drivers on the first all-women race car team in the Middle East. A winning story on many levels. Order it here
ACTIVISM
Connect with a group, find local demonstrations, register your event. Michael Moore invented this global Resistance Calendar to facilitate our role as active citizens. Enter your email address at the bottom of their web page. Search their site for events. Today, for instance, Presidents' Day, the Calendar list showed dozens of Not-My-President rallies. Check future dates.
Targeted U.S. cultural institutions fight back. "Arts Groups Draft Battle Plans as Trump Funding Cuts Loom." Orchestras, theaters, broadcasters react with alarm to conservative efforts to starve the arts.
Ides of Trump. On March 15, millions of people will mail protest postcards to the White House. Buy a stack at the post office and help flood the mail room in the West Wing.
FORGIVE A JEWISH MOTHER...

My daughter Abigail Pogrebin (above) has a terrific new book coming out in March, MY JEWISH YEAR: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew. The fact that advance readers have validated my enthusiasm for it gives me the chutzpah to suggest that you preorder the book now (and save $7.67!) Listen to the raves:
Publishers Weekly calls MY JEWISH YEAR "insightful, clever, funny, and compulsively readable."
Library Journal says the book combines cultural and theological explanations with often hilarious autobiographical detail."
Foreword Reviews says it's "an amusing, intelligent, and often incandescent approach to modern religious practice..."
Lilith magazine says it’s “a testament to the power and the promise of adult Jewish education, as well as to the transcendent value of Jewish time."
And only because Abby is such a delightful speaker and skillful interviewer do I shamelessly encourage you to attend one of her upcoming events in NYC: (Click each link to register. See you there!)
Wed, Mar 15, 7:30pm Abby will be interviewed by Rabbi Joy Levitt @ the JCC, Amsterdam Ave & 75th St.
Mon, Mar 27, 7:30pm Abby in conversation with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin @JTS, 3080 Bway @122St
Thurs, Apr 27, 7:45pm @Streicker Center, 1 E. 65 St. In one night, Abby will discuss 18 Jewish holidays with five prominent American rabbis : Sharon Brous (rabbi at IKAR in L.A..), Joshua Davidson (Temple Emanu-el, NYC) David Ingber (Romemu, NYC) ,Joy Levitt (JCC in Manhattan), Chaim Steinmetz (Kehilath Jeshurun in NYC)
Have a great week.