Opuscula If Trump wins I’m leaving the U.S.; Promises are cheap

BEFORE THE 2020 ballot count was finished, I said if Trump wins, I’m leaving the country.

I also said if Biden — actually Harris Emhoff — wins , I am leaving the country.

Thanks to the Chinese virus, I just now am leaving the country.

 

UNLIKE THE “ENTERTAINMENT” biggies, I don’t lie and make promises I know I won’t keep.

There is no place like America. Period.

Seeing the Red, White, and Blue after years elsewhere brought tears to my eyes.

I stand for the impossible-to-sing National Anthem and I place hand over heart — even though I know the heart is elsewhere in my body — as it is played or vocally abused.

I voluntarily served my country, not like many of America’s Commanders In Chief who wouldn't know a rifle from a howitzer.

I’m not bragging or looking for an “at’a boy.” That is simply the way things were.

I don’t spit at cops — my first born is a cop.

I didn’t shoot at the driver that cut me off, even though I was sorely tempted, and I am legally armed.

I don’t rampage through my town or any other because I don’t like this or that, regardless of political party.

Finally, I will sadly admit that the country where I am bound on March 21 is rapidly becoming as bad as the U.S. — mostly because of other ex-pat Americans. Life will be “less easy” where my plane is heading, but I said if <candidate> wins, “I’m out’a here.”

GET OUT!

According to The Hollywood Reporter (https://tinyurl.com/y9w2x5zu) the following “entertainers” said they would leave America if Donald Trump was elected president:

Amber Rose, Amy Schumer, Barbra Streisand , Bryan Cranston, Chelsea Handler, Cher, Chloe Sevigny, Eddie Griffin, George Lopez, Jon Stewart, Keegan-Michael Key, Lena Dunham, Lena Dunham, Miley Cyrus, Ne-Yo, Neve Campbell, Omari Hardwick, Raven Symone, Samuel L. Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Whoopi Goldberg.

I happily admit I fail recognize many of the names.

I DO know that they, and those who act as they do, are in large measure responsible for the lack of civil discourse in America.

They are “part of the problem.”

I AM curious to know: Where are these people today, March 16, 2021.

Did ANY leave as they promised?

I’m fairly certain a number of countries would welcome the money they could collect in taxes.

These “entertainers” could burn their U.S. passports; they can get work visas to come to the States for outrageous amounts of horrible U.S. dollars.

Call it cruel, but I have two words for these America bashers:

GET OUT!

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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Opuscula Moses’ aliyah* easier Than our return To Israel via El Al

MY SPOUSE AND I ARE ISRAELIS. We also are U.S. citizens; me by birth, she by naturalization. We have been in the States 40-plus years.

Our daughter and grandchildren are in Israel. We have two sons, but no grands, remaining in the U.S.

UNFORTUNATELY, the Chinese virus has “snafu’ed” our return.

 

Airplane in a medical mask against the sky, character. Travel Safely

We have tickets on El Al LY18, a direct flight MIA-TLV.

The flight is — was — supposed to leave Sunday evening.

The flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

That flight was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

That flight also was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.

Is it El Al or politicians?

We are pretty certain the problem originates in Jerusalem.

The politicians are allowing only “n” number of returnees per day, and only from one departure site per country. For the the entire United States JFK is the ONLY port of exit.

That might be OK IF El Al flights could originate elsewhere — e.g. MIA, LAX, ORD — and add passengers at JFK for, as far as Israel is concerned, a single point of origin from the U.S.

U.S. law — indeed most countries with multiple international airports (Spain is another good example) prohibits foreign carriers (e.g., El Al, Delta) from transporting passengers in-country UNLESS the flight either originates or terminates in another country.

Only U.S. carriers can fly passengers from one U.S. airport to another U.S. airport.

El Al COULD pick up passengers at MIA, LAX, ORD, etc., fly them to JFK, add passengers at JFK but cannot discharge passengers at JFK. The same applies on El Al flights TO the U.S.

Been there; done that.

Testing, testing

Because of the Chinese virus — don’t tell me that’s not “pc; remember the (misnamed) “Spanish” flu? — the world was turned upside down. Between common sense and paranoia, borders, schools, places of worship, public places, and a host of other things were shut down.

During World War I, Spain was a neutral country with a free media that covered the outbreak from the start, first reporting on it in Madrid in late May of 1918. Meanwhile, Allied countries and the Central Powers had wartime censors who covered the flu, many believed it originated there (the Spanish, meanwhile, believed the virus came from France news of the flu to keep morale high. Because Spanish news sources were the only ones reporting on and called it the “French Flu.”) (https://historiography/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic)

As this is written, passengers heading to Israel must have a special test within 72 hours of departure and submit a form within 24 hours of departure to a government clerk who will decide if the passenger is allowed to board.

On arrival in Israel, the passenger may be tested again and may be sent to a quarantine hotel for 14 days.

Appropriate timing

If Moses left Egypt today, we STILL would be wondering in the wilderness.

HaShem promises to gather us together and being us back to Israel, but with Israelis who refuse to follow guidelines (masks, social distancing, hand washing, refusing vaccination) and an indecisive government, going home nearly is impossible.

With Pesach at hand, I am surprised the government still has not opened the airports — Pesach is, after all, the merchants' (and tax collector) money-making holday equivalent to other counties' Christmas and yet another election in the offing, the incumbents may fear for their seats in Knesset.

Meanwhile, we survive with the kindness of others who tolerate our infringement on their good natures while El Al ignores our plight and the plight of other Israelis stuck — fortunately not in Lodi (CA) — in limbo while El Al or Bibi & Company cannot get it right.

Color me an unhappy camper.

When I made aliyah in 1975, everything went smoothly. All my dealings with Israeli government offices, banks, etc. were fine.

Forty years later … a different story.

Blame it on the Chinese.

Why not fly to JFK?

1. My wife and I are seniors with mobility issues. Shlepping luggage, a rollator (walker), and mobility scooter borders on the impossible. El Al will not arange transfer from the domestic flight to its flight.

2. Each time the mobility scooter is loaded/unloaded from a plane, there is a chance it will be dropped and made useless.

3. Any delay with either flight could put our pre-boarding test in jeopardy; we would be "stuck" at JFK for an undetermined duration.

American Airlines is to inaugurate 3 flights a week MIA-TLV BEGINNING IN JUNE. A long time to impose on people.

* Then again, Moses never made it into the Promised Land, so perhaps I should have re-thought the headline.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

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