Opinion

The World just marked the transition from 2023 to 2024. Humanity struggled in 2023. The War between Russia and Ukraine has strained Western determination and commitment. Voices in the EU and the US express frustration at the cost of the ongoing conflict and question whether Ukraine should continue to be supported.

The war in Gaza approaches its third month, with protests around the world ranging in calls from ceasefire to the outright destruction of Israel. At the UN, the United States and its former Pacific possessions Micronesia and Palau are its most reliable allies. This week, a country in that region went much further in cementing its ties with Israel.

The special election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District is rapidly approaching, and former Congressman Thomas Suozzi is trying to distance himself from his record and appear more moderate to be able to compete with Republican phenom Mazi Pilip.  He’s claiming to be a moderate, who will vote against extremist Democrat agenda items should he be in Congress, yet nothing in his past voting history indicates that is true.

Live by the identity politics sword, die by the identity politics sword.  That is what the Squad members in Congress are about to find out.  Mazi Pilip’s very existence undermines nearly every defense they have for their outrageous behavior regarding Israel, America, and the world.

On the Friday before the long Christmas break, in which no news is going to be paid attention to until the first week of January, Governor Kathy Hochul radically changed New York election law to put Democrats back on top of local elections.  Unhappy with a mere supermajority in the Legislative branches in Albany, Hochul dictatorially demands fealty from every county in the state, and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. 

If Jews in New York no longer recognize this city as safe for expressing their identity, the most recent example was on Monday night when Queens-born fashion designer Donna Karan held a fundraiser for the IDF in the West Village. Anti-Israel demonstrations surrounded the building to prevent participants from entering. That evening, they also occupied the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal in an effort to raise attention to their cause by inconveniencing New Yorkers.