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In my column last week, I mentioned Trump’s meme coin arrangement. This past week brought another round of Trump family grifting—this time via a deal brokered by Eric Trump, on behalf of the Trump Organization, with a Saudi-based real estate company to build a Trump golf course and luxury villa complex in Qatar.

There was a well-known, well-funded, and well-endorsed member of Congress who was in line for an important position in the Democratic Party leadership in the House of Representatives. He was a moderate and a strong supporter of Israel. He was running against an unknown thirty-something who had no experience in government and was much further to the left.

This past week, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Roberts, for the second time, as well as Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, spoke out in defense of the Court. For example, the Chief Justice said, “This job is to obviously decide cases, but in the course of that, to check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.”

There is so much going on in this country that I probably would have written about, including the Washington Army Anniversary/Trump Birthday Parade and the No Kings nationwide protests. However, with the situation in Israel, it is hard to focus on anything else. We are reminded what a miracle it was last year when Iran shot 300 projectiles at Israel in response to an Israeli attack on Iran—and there were no fatalities in Israel. What we are seeing now is what usually happens when ballistic missiles and other weapons are fired from an enemy country. Unfortunately, no missile defense system is foolproof. As of the writing of this column, 25 people are confirmed dead as a result of the missile fire from Iran.

If you really want to do something, you will find a way to do it. If you do not want to do it, you will find an excuse not to. The Celebrate Israel Parade is a perfect example. The morning of the parade, I went outside and thought it would be a perfect day to go bike riding. I haven’t had many chances—mostly due to inclement weather—and this summer I will lose two Sundays because the fasts of Tisha B’Av and the 17th of Tammuz will be observed on Sundays.

By the time this column is published, we should know who the Democratic Party candidate will be - and most likely the next mayor of New York City. It remains unclear what will happen, which is stressful to many. Will it be the antisemite, anti-Israel Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani, or former Governor Andrew Cuomo? It comes down to turnout.