For 12 months of the year, a few steps below the sidewalk, a fig tree grows in nothing more than a polyvinyl container filled with New York City dirt. The canopy of leaves looks about 10 feet high, and every morning, on my way to swim at the 92nd Street Y, I check it out…
The decorative sign above the toilet seat said it all: “In this house lives an old hunter with the finest deer he’s ever bagged.” Gross, I thought. But also a little funny in the way that some things — like kitschy misogynistic messages painted on wood — can make you laugh despite your best effort…
-Reading Rahm: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is still playing out the possibility of running to become Chicago’s first Jewish mayor. A recent poll of his own gave Rahmbo a 14-point lead against possible challengers. (NBC) -Oy, Pennsylvania: At a Pennsylvania fundraiser, Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, who is running against Republican former congressman…
Speaking to a room full of American Jewish leaders on Tuesday evening, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas indicated that if the moratorium on Israeli settlement building expires as scheduled on Sunday, he would not necessarily quit peace negotiations. “I cannot say that I will leave the negotiations,” Abbas said in a wide-ranging discussion with about 60…
Joe Sestak, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s Senate seat, wasn’t President Obama’s first choice for the job. The White House and Democratic leadership backed Arlen Specter for another term, in appreciation of his decision last year to cross party lines and join the Democratic side. But things didn’t work out that way. Sestak went on…
-Post-Primary Preferences: For weeks, registered voters have stated their preference for Republicans on a generic congressional ballot. But a new Gallup poll shows the two major parties now effectively tied with Democrats winning 46% and Republicans 45%. (Gallup) -Leveling California? Though other recent polls have given a slight lead to Republican Carly Fiorina, the former…
–Eric Cantor, minority whip and congress’s only Jewish Republican, penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Tax Fight: GOP Won’t Back Down.” He cites the economic struggles of “small businesses and investors” as a reason why he and the GOP won’t back down in opposing a continuation of federal tax cuts that would exempt those…
Members of the Delaware Jewish community did not intend to capture national headlines when they put together their biannual congressional candidates forum. But when the news came out that this would be the first opportunity to see Tea Party sensation Christine O’Donnell in action, the media began pouring into the Wilmington Jewish Community Center to…
In this week’s Forward Reporters’ Roundtable, host Josh Nathan-Kazis speaks with staff writer Nathan Guttman about the implications of the results of the September 14 political primaries, and about our new political blog, MitzVote. Then, Forward editor Jane Eisner discusses what she witnessed on her recent reporting trip to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. <strong>Subscribe to Forward podcasts…
Call all you want but there’s no one home And you’re not gonna reach my telephone Cause I’m out in the club and I’m sippin that bubb’ And you’re not gonna reach my telephone “Telephone,” performed by Lady Gaga and Beyonce Knowles When she tried to call her senators Thursday, Lady Gaga seemed to be…
-It’s not always sunny in Florida for independent senatorial candidate Charlie Crist. The state’s Republican party released an audit showing that Florida Governor Crist — until recently a Republican — charged to the party over $381,000 expenses not “primarily” related to official party work, including a trip to … Disney World. (Florida Times-Union) -In a…
