The Two-Doll Policy
Dear Editor:
Do you consider yourself a good parent? If so, how would you punish the young tot from the Netherlands who scratched a Rothko painting worth almost $60 million? I think the bigger crime is that a modern painting with three different colored blocks could cost that much. $6.00 might be a better figure. Can you blame the kid, who probably thought it was an Etch-A-Sketch pad? Should the parents give him a time-out (maybe a couple of years) or make him visit various museums instead of ballparks for the rest of his life?
Speaking of juvenile injustices, let’s examine what President Trump is doing to our children. Because of his tariff policy, there might be an absence of dolls on toy store shelves in the fall. He justified the shortage by saying little girls will just have to get used to playing with two dolls instead of 30. Easy for him to say. I’m sure he’s never had to deal with a kid having a meltdown in a store because she couldn’t get her hands on the latest Barbie. Try explaining to her the intricacies of the economic import-export system between the US and China.
Why don’t we limit the number of golf clubs to just two? What about gold-trimmed mirrors and other tchotchkes? How about limiting Mr. Trump to two red silk ties?
Whether you’re pro-tariff or anti-tariff, we’re all in favor of happy, satisfied kids. So, unless you’re willing to a) make your own dolls, b) put up with incessant whining, or c) go to Russia for your dolls, please implore President Trump to reconsider his two-doll policy.
Debbie Horowitz
Yom Yerushalayim
Dear Editor:
For all those who observe Yom Yerushalayim (and we all should), we certainly owe shevach to Hashem. We were given the Har HaBayis. The fact that it's not being fully utilized today in its ideal form remains a tremendous blessing. The holy and precious city Yerushalayim is ours to be cherished and yearned for... So celebrate!
Rivka Olenick Gitnik
Don’t Dump On Trump
Dear Editor:
Warren Hecht mischaracterizes Trump as an “isolationist.” Labeling Trump is difficult because he is not an ideologue. He never was. He’s a pragmatist. That is the only way to explain how a career NYC Democrat could run in 2016 as a Republican, dismantle the party, and rebuild it with his MAGA flavor.
In addition to being pragmatic, Trump – unlike his demented predecessor – is tethered to reality. We saw this with the tariffs. He floated what most thought was a bad idea, which was being promoted by Peter Navarro, an isolationist advisor. The stock market took a dive, and Trump was hammered by the press and both political parties. How did Trump respond? He began listening more to his non-isolationist Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, found a strategic exit ramp, renegotiated trade deals, and restored calm to the market.
When it comes to foreign policy, labeling the “America First” Trump as an isolationist is also a category error. Again, Trump is pragmatic, seeking peace deals, not endless, pointless wars. Mr. Hecht errs in equating Trump’s America First brand with isolationism. Trump will get involved in foreign conflicts when doing so benefits the country he governs. So, I would not expect pointless, regime-changing, endless warmongering that were the hallmarks of the Bush/Obama years. I would, however, expect Trump to be heavily involved in Middle East issues, given this country’s strategic interests in the region.
Jason Stark
Ripple Effects
Dear Editor:
Summer doesn’t mean taking a break from learning; it means learning with greater geshmak! You don’t lose out by doing good. Summer is an opportunity to find someone to learn with, see how Jews in other communities are faring, and create opportunities for others.
Yes, Houthi missiles may fly over Israel, but Jews all over the world care. An earthquake is felt in one part of the world, and we ask our friends and family how they are. Why? We feel for our fellow Yid.
On the flip side, a hachnasas sefer Torah takes place in Switzerland and Jews in America watch and rejoice with their brethren. (My family jokes that I send them news of what’s going on in their communities before they know about it!) A three-year-old has his upsherin by Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch and klal Yisrael dances with him. How is this so? The heartstrings of the Jewish people stretch across the globe.
That is not to say that our sensitivity is solely internal. As Jews travel across the globe this summer, we have the opportunity to make a kiddush Hashem. This is something we never take a vacation from. The nations of the world view the French Jew, Israeli, and American Jew in the same way. Frum from birth or not yet religious, white shirt and black pants or black shirt with white pants – the Jewish people are one nation with one heart.
Be respectful to your fellow travelers and conduct yourselves as b’nei Torah. As we travel and meet some of the Jews we daven for, rejoice with, and inquire about, let us be mindful of Chazal’s words in Avos: “One who causes the community to be righteous will not have sin on his hands.”
Jews don’t fly solo. We help spread Torah, engage in chesed activities, and assist those in trouble. In this z’chus, we will be saved from sin ourselves. By creating opportunities for others to do good, we share in the merit of their actions. May Hashem bless us all with a safe and enjoyable summer.
Chaim Yehuda Meyer
Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis
Dear Editor:
Over the weekend, we were told that ex-President Biden has an aggressive form of prostate cancer. While I wish him a speedy recovery, I am somewhat dumbfounded as to how someone receiving the type of medical care afforded to an American President could have such an advanced form of cancer just months after leaving office.
If there is one thing we learned about Biden’s presidency, it’s that his administration was the least transparent and most deceptive in this country’s history. We were told for years not to believe our lying eyes – that every sign of dementia Biden exhibited during his presidency was a “cheap fake” or some other ridiculous excuse that only an imbecile would believe.
The newly released Biden interview, conducted as part of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, basically confirms what we all knew: that Biden was extremely compromised and mentally unfit to be President.
Now we are told that he has an advanced form of cancer, and we are expected to take it at face value. Given all the previous lies the Biden administration engaged in, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that Biden had cancer before or during his presidency and that it was covered up.
In 2022, while addressing environmental concerns at a presidential conference in Massachusetts, Biden said that because of the impacts of oil pollution, he had cancer. So, either that was another dementia-induced episode, or perhaps Biden was telling the truth. We will likely never know.
The takeaway message for everyone should be that all men over 45 – and certainly by 50 – get an annual prostate exam. Prostate cancer is extremely curable – but only if it is detected early.
Jonathan Goldgrab
Mr. Hecht, of Course, Has It Backwards
Dear Editor:
Of course, a constitutional crisis has begun – by HIS party! Hack Democratic lawyers like Mark Elias and others at Shyster & Shyster (aka Perkins Coie law firm) forum shop for Democratic judges who will rule in their favor against the Executive Branch. The Democratic activist judges then impose a nationwide injunction against the administration. So, one bozo named Boasberg in Washington, DC, can stop the deportation of illegals in Texas and Arizona. The judiciary has no authority over immigration. The President does.
This is why the birthright citizenship case is so important. One can already tell that the three Marxist justices are going to rule in favor of nationwide injunctions based on oral arguments last week. Amy Coney Barrett is likely to disappoint conservatives and rule with the three. That leaves Chief Justice Roberts as the deciding vote. It’s an extremely crucial decision.
This case is about whether a single district court judge has the authority to not only usurp the power of the Constitution’s Article III Supreme Court, but also remove the Article II powers of the President. A non-elected district court judge is making decisions that the Constitution reserves for the Executive. If the courts are not going to abide by the Constitution, then why should the President follow the ruling?
Now you get it, Mr. Hecht?
Anyone with two brain cells knows that President Trump is NOT an isolationist. You’re a fool if you believe that. We are $36 trillion in debt and have a trade deficit of $140.5 billion. The tariffs were bait for trade negotiations. Several countries are now making mutually acceptable deals, rather than continuing to exploit us.
President Trump has not withdrawn from any of our military bases overseas – not from Europe, Japan, or the Middle East. In fact, the one war that started under either Trump presidency (India/Pakistan) was quickly halted. He is working hard to bring the Ukraine/Russia war to an end. He is not pressuring Netanyahu into a complete withdrawal from Gaza, like past Democratic presidents would have. In fact, Israel is about to send 10,000 ground troops into the Strip to completely obliterate Hamas.
Democratic presidents have been the true isolationists. They are the appeasers. Two World Wars, Korea, and Vietnam all occurred under Democrats. China became a superpower under Clinton and the Iranian Revolution under Carter. To equate Trump with any of them is a joke. His foreign policy doctrine, like Reagan’s, is peace through strength – one of prudence. May he continue to keep our troops and America safe.
Shalom Markowitz
Fake Jake Tapper
Dear Editor:
CNN anchor Jake Tapper is promoting a book he co-wrote with Alex Thompson on the cover-up of Joe Biden’s cognitive decline during his presidential years. In a few interviews, Tapper revealed that he spoke with over 200 mostly Democrat sources for the book, who would only reveal the gravity of Biden’s steep mental decline after the 2024 presidential election concluded.
The problem with this claim, of course, is that it isn’t 1920 anymore. Back then, presidential aides were able to cover up the fact that President Woodrow Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke and that his wife, Edith Wilson, was ostensibly running the country.
By contrast, we all witnessed the brain freezes, blank stares, and loss of continuity within a sentence that were constant throughout Biden’s alleged presidency. The fact that this was covered up by the mainstream press until Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 confirms what we already knew: namely, that the mainstream press is just the PR wing of the Democratic Party.
What is particularly galling is that one of the same people complicit in the cover-up is now trying to rewrite history while profiting from it. Upon further reflection, this shouldn’t be surprising; we’ve seen this storyline before. After all, Anthony Fauci was put in charge of this country’s Covid policy for years after his lab created the virus, let it escape, covered up the lab leak, lied for years about it, and then spun a fake narrative in which he emerged as the hero of the pandemic.
Doniel Behar
