Archive
Analysis from the relatively objective Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star estimates Lebanon’s new cabinet is entirely made up of pro-Syrian politicians. Hizbullah has control over the coalition that leads the cabinet, and thus sway over the cabinet’s orientation. The new Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, is one of the richest men in Lebanon. But whether or […]
Lebanon finally has a government, though the months of sectarian politics that preceded it have not gone away. This government is going to have a very difficult time unifying Lebanon, and it will likely fail. There is an awkward balance. While Hizbullah (and its Shiite ally Amal) are the dominant played in the political coalition […]
Lebanon cannot form a cabinet. Since January, when Hizbullah withdrew its ministers from the cabinet and forced the cabinet to resign, Lebanon has not been able to put together a new government. It only has a “care-taker,” i.e. temporary government. The problem lies in sectarian divisions. Every political coalition in Lebanon by law has to […]
Jaclyn Skurie spent her spring break in Cuba with a group from the Northwestern University Hillel. The Jews she met there lead a hard but fulfilling life–living in dilapidated houses but praying in an ornate synagogue. Welcome to Havana.
So you thought those May 21 people were nuts? Turns out some Jews aren’t so far off. Josh Freed films an interesting encounter: And here’s Eli Valley on the Kafkaesque Knesset: Eli Valley — The Trial from Jewish Forward on Vimeo.
For awhile now I have been following in the news a group called the “intactivists” who are attempting to ban circumcision in San Francisco. The group claims that no one, but the owner of the penis has a right to cut it off. Man was born perfect, they argue, and no one has the right […]
A couple of days ago, in Putting a Crimp in the Hookah, the New York Times wrote about increasing concerns about the health risks that hookah smoking poses. Several states and college campuses have recently introduced or are considering new rules about hookahs and hookah bars. But the Jewish corner of the blogosphere’s friendly neighborhood […]
I think I missed this memo. After my morning tweets and status updates, I came across an article from the New York Times on my Twitter account about Holocaust survivors who are seeking insurance claims. Peaking my interest, I took a stab at learning what this was about. The article was about an 87-year-old, female […]
I’m not old enough to have real nostalgia for the 1990s–the oldest music I heard as a kid that I still listen to has to be the singles off Speakerboxx/The Love Below. But I’ve heard more than enough about it—bands were ethically purer, less willing to sell out, hip hop wasn’t commercialized, the Simpsons was […]
Since I’m the one who substitutes nonsense I draw for actual pictures, I thought I ought to use my last post for the semester to tell you that there is a method to the madness. Inspired by the fact that every comic I’ve read has at least one Jewish character (although in one case it […]