Opinion

 Last week, The New York Times broke the story about a letter dated January 11, 2023, sent by three committee heads in the New York State Senate – all of whom are Jewish – to the President of Yeshiva University. One of the three signatories is longtime Queens County State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky. Although The Times referred to portions of the letter, I did not want to rely on their description of its contents and thus obtained a copy.

When deciding how to review the past year, there are so many choices. I decided to limit it to the unexpected.

If you are a Democrat, you have to be happy about how things recently transpired concerning Congress and the President. You saw the President, along with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans, at a ceremony touting the repair of a bridge that is being financed with the funds of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act bill. Also, on the second anniversary of January 6 attack, Biden gave the Presidential Citizens Metal to individuals in law enforcement who defended the Capitol from the mob attack and election officials who also at great personal risk made sure that the results were properly certified.

There are many reasons why New York City is a popular destination for tourists. There are many things to do. As locals, we often do not take advantage of what the city has to offer. For a few weekends this time of year, there’s the special Holiday Train. The New York Transit Museum takes old trains out for a ride, and the public is invited. Some people dress up in period clothing, and there is a band. This year it was on the 1 line. Beth and I rode it on Sunday. I was a little disappointed since the trains were from the 1960s, which were in service until 2003. In the past, they had trains from the 1920s onward.

One of the reasons that was repeatedly given for the Republicans’ poor showing in the midterm elections was candidate quality. The irony is that the worst candidate was a person who won his election. I can spend a whole column exposing all the lies that George Santos promulgated about his background. There have been so many, it would not shock people that George Santos is not his real name. He has already used two aliases.  Now his financial dealings are being investigated. On the face, his financial situation reeks of impropriety. How did someone who was earning $55,000 a year two years ago with no assets become able to loan his campaign $750,000?  If he was someone who was not a pathological liar, then maybe you could believe that it was due to business acumen. Although there are calls for him to resign before being seated, I doubt it will happen. Kevin McCarthy needs his vote to become speaker. That is why McCarthy is silent while the exposure of Santos’ lies has occurred. By the time this article is published, there will be a speaker chosen. It was surprising that Tulsi Gabbard, while substituting for Tucker Carlson, destroyed Santos when she interviewed him. Carlson probably would have made Santos into a victim of media hysteria or said that he was no worse than the president.

I would like to thank the Queens Jewish Link for placing an ad wishing me and my family Mazal Tov on my daughter Yael Rebecca’s engagement.