Bassem  Youssef was the Egyptian comedian most compared to Jon Stewart, in Stewart’s heyday. Youssef was wildly popular in Egypt; until, the regime called  him in,  for questioning on the one sidedness of his jokes. After that interview, his attorney advised him not to let the sun set on him in Egypt.    He fled Egypt, and now lives with his family in America. He recently gave a poignant ad pregnant interview on British television about the current Israeli/HAMAS war; and how insignificant the lives of Palestinians are, in comparison to seven foreign aid workers, killed in an Israeli drone strike. This Blogger sent a video of that interview to a friend, a Palestinian-American on the cup of celebrity. She was touched, and then asked would this Blogger comment on the current state of affairs in the Middle East? As this Blog is being written, Israel is  suffering a retaliatory attack by the Shiite Muslim nation of  Iran. Why?  Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing seve

This Blogger has an abiding and perhaps defining admiration for American films of the 1940s, 50s,60s, especially film noir and Classical Westerns produced during those years.   Why?   The first reason, perhaps the main reason, is that they were written, in the majority, by men who had seen combat, or participated in war, or had friends and/or relatives in war.   They seemed determined to grapple with the major issues of    Life; such as, when    one bent over to tie one's shoe lace and the bullet meant for him, killed his best friend. Is that personal luck? Random luck?   O r Pre-ordination? If it is pre-ordination, does that mean you must live a life justifying the escape from certain death?   Since most grievously wounded men whine for their mommies, they never produced art like I AM GLAD MY MOM DIED.   They strove to reveal enduring verities, enduring vanities, enduring flaws, and enduring absurdities in the human condition.   Even in the formulaic films; there was always BIG qu

At the July 4, 2014 service, at the Grand Mosque in Mosul, Iraq, (or Mosul, Islamic State), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the trained clergyman who is leader of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria aka Islamic State) made his first public appearance since his fighting forces seize large swathes of Iraq and declared a Sunni Caliphate comprising of conquered portions of Syria and Iraq. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has declared himself Caliph of the new Caliphate, and technically this was his first public appearance as Caliph. Caliph means “successor” to the Prophet Muhammad as the head of state of the Caliphate, a Sunni State led by a supreme religious cum political leader. It is the title for the ruler of the Ummah, the Islamic social society governed by Sharia Law. . Declaring oneself Caliph of a Caliphate is a major political, religious, social and historical event. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s event is as historically significant as Henry VIII declaring himself head of the Catholic Church in Eng