It's Not the Economy... It's Israel's War on Gazan Civilians, Stupid.

 That's the issue that will decide this next presidential election:  us sending billions to support the carnage, that will not end when Israel puts its tail between its legs and crawls away from the devastation and starvation left in its wake, as planned .  

The world is not on the hook to clean up Israel's war crimes.  America is siding with the BadGuys here...

And American taxpayers -- after all these years of warring in the Middle East -- will not be happy spending billions to destroy then rebuild the temple world when there is so much work needed to be done here at home, and we don't see the billions and billions being spent effectively here to address the growing social needs in our own communities and on our own streets.

If Israel "wins" playing ugly and disregarding the rule of law in its military fight (against unarmed civilians and undefended occupied territories), you know who is the biggest loser in this mess?  The United States of America whose political elders are relutantly letting Netanyahu dictate our foreign policy, just like the coyotes south of the border are setting our immigration policies today, determining how many more people in need cross our southern border hoping for economic relief themselves.

This won't end well for the country though it certainly will bring about that oft-promised Change...

Good luck to all in the coming years.  May the odds be in our favor. Pray the Good Guys win in the end:  the innocents who do not have to kill others to provide for their own. We treat animals better than that today in civilized lands.

Throw Another Holocaust Movie on the Barby.

 Is this for real? They are arguing Jews are underrepresented in Hollywood? They built they town, of course they have strong representation still today.  No "minority designation" needed, please.

Jewish Group Assails Film Academy’s Diversity Efforts

An open letter signed by notable actors and producers criticized the organization for not including Jews as an underrepresented group as part of a new initiative.

Why not just have everyone compete as humans, and stop with all this identity politicking that picks underrepresented victims groups for special advantages over other competitors, in getting prizes or awards?  Just compete as people.

In 2020, the academy issued a set of standards as part of its diversity initiative that recognized a number of identities as “underrepresented,” including women, L.G.B.T.Q. people, an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or those with cognitive or physical disabilities.

Religion is not one of the categories considered.

These initiatives will become part of the standards required for a film to compete in the best picture category beginning this year. For a film to be eligible, at least one of the lead actors or a significant supporting actor must be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. The academy has said that includes actors who are Asian, Hispanic, Black, Indigenous, Native American, Middle Eastern, North African, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

“An inclusion effort that excludes Jews is both steeped in and misunderstands antisemitism,” said the letter, which was organized by the Hollywood Bureau of the group Jew in the City. “It erases Jewish peoplehood and perpetuates myths of Jewish whiteness, power, and that racism against Jews is not a major issue or that it’s a thing of the past.”

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I think it is starting to sink in:  the Holocaust victims are mostly dead and gone now and most people simply don't see the Jews through any special "victim" lens that would require reparations to be paid them today in identity politicking.  Muslims and Arabs, sure. Blacks, ok.  But white Jews... c'mon! Stop this silliness competing to be the Worlds'BiggestVictim?*

According to Allison Josephs, the founder and executive director of Jew in the City, the letter has been in the works since the summer, months before the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, as the new academy standards were being discussed.

“It feels like a very big mistake to not recognize that we are maybe the most persecuted group throughout all time,” she said in an interview.

The academy declined to comment.

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* "Why's everybody always picking on me?"

If Joe Biden were to die of natural causes in office...

 ... do you think Hillary would come crawling out of her political hole and attempt to offer up her global services to our nation?  I was never convinced myself that her last loss would convince her to fade gracefully into the spotlight doing philanthopic ventures to benefit the women and children and newcomers to America that she champions...

The Cheneys and Clintons are not the type to take the hint and get out of the spotlight, even when it has so badly burned their father and husband and made it clear those type of men are not fit for public office in a country like ours anymore.  Ethics and morals catch up, and pages get turned.  The men you rode in on are no longe admired, but shunned for their deeds in office... and outside.

Hillary should keep herself and Bill on the downlow still, I think.  That Epstein thing coming so soon after the BJ scandal in office and all.  He allegedly can't seem to quit the young pussy, and she is sticking by his side, so how could the nation honestly ever elect that type of leadership again?

Shame on the NYT for their Anti-Semitic Coverage

 .. of the tunnels found under "770" -- one of the most famous religious addresses in New York.  Except... instead of writing for the readers they wrote for the Jewish people.  

A day late with the story -- this should have been in yesterday's newspaper as the arrests occurred Monday and the videos were up online, Ms. Katie Rosman and the second byline on the story (there's always two or three or four writers creditied per article these days...) gave us an intense background of the sect and their founder, but ignored the important implications:

did these American Jews (the article describes some of their younger student members as "extremists") evade the New York City laws that prohibited other congregations from worshipping during the pandemic?  Hm.  is it indeed anti-semitic to ask if this particular Jewish congregation was following American law during that time?

Also, the videos clearly show stained matresses being pulled from the tunnel...  Who was sleeping/fornicating down there?  With whom?  Will the police analyze the stained matresses to learn if it is blood on them?

Another video showed a black-hatted congregant emerging from the tunnel like a sewer rat.  Is that anti-semitic to say, as it took the round man some time to hoise himself up and out of the tunnel entrances -- through the grate covering it that led to a public street...

The article tries to diffuse questioning -- acts as though this is an internal issue and gives us all the Believers' point of view:  that the deceased leader of this temple is thought by some to be the Messiah and still alive.  Nice color to the story, but it's a shame the relevant details were missing...

Other than "to another building" and the street outside where we viewed with our own eyes a person crawling out into New York City itself, where did these tunnels go?  Were they used to hide people, for human trafficking?  Who was sleeping down there and why?  Were any children involved in this, or women pressed into service here? (The stains seemed to make you think of blood -- hymen or metrual, rather than feces and definitely too dark to be sweat -- and were positioned where you might find an abdomen if a person were laying down on it...)

It's just not cool anymore to sweepingly dismiss as "anti semitic" the questions that extremist sects in America too should be answering about the infrastructure of our shared country in their city, and whether or not these tunnels were dug to invade other laws re. religious places of worship permitting members to gather together and worship during pandemic times.

Do better, NYT.  Don't let extremists take a foothold ignoring the collective laws, especially when the police were facing such violence rooting them out as some clearly tried to escape justice and emerge outside from their tunnelling.  The police were just doing their job, and those holding all peoples to the same rules in this country are not the enemy, nor are we anti-semitic.  

Times have changed, the Holocaust was long long ago in terms of innocent people being targeted and killed on this planet.  Please start covering the Jewish people and their extremists too as equals to the rest of us?  Because under the eyes of the law, they are.  Links to the videos the NYT chose to omit from their coverage by Ms. Rosman et al.

They were attacking cops with furniture:  I imagine the NYT riot police would have been called out, and many many more than 9 people arrested, were this a Muslim or black place of worship...  Be straight, NYT.  Maybe assign non-Jewish writers to cover these stories?  I feel the same way when I keep reading the Jewish bylines covering the stories of violence in Gaza and the West Bank today -- some like Isabel Kerchner seem to "soften" things, perhaps for PR spin to protect their own.  I'm an anti-semite for proposing no conflict of interest on stories like that, I guess... ;-)

(They have a Horowitz on the Vatican beat, so please don't tell me cross-cultural religious coverage cannot be done...)  We see you, and with competing social media sites that post first-hand material like video, we really see the spin in these stories now... #NadaMas

ADDED:  Remember NYT editors and publishers?  This is taking place in America where the rules remain the same for the Jewish people -- extremists too.  No more, no less.  Again this is America, not Israel.  Please cover these stories equally and lay off the anti-semitic labels for those who simply tell the truth without the pro-religious spin?  Nip this in the bud, and enforce the law equally for all Americans living here no matter their religious beliefs or your shared ethnic heritage with the people you are covering (for) in these news stories?

... and God bless teh American cops who went down into those tunnels and immediately recorded what they saw and who they chased out onto the streets.  That's the way law enforcement should work. (No innocent people were harmed in the making of these videos of the enforcement of the law of the land.) Compare and contrast as you will to other stories in the news today...

PLUS:  A good newspaper no matter its size would have a police scanner in the newsroom, and would have dispatched a reporter to the scene timely to cover the story firsthand.  This one reeks of "I am reporting this from home watching social media sources and drawing on my background knowledge of this particular sect" rather than any on-the-scene coverage of the policework live outside the place as it was occuring.  That's where the "anti-Semitic" charges come in -- they don't like what some extremists on the other side said in commenting, but the videos themself are neutral.  My point is when you give special news coverage treatment to this sect, that's anti-Semitic to treat the differently than were there non-Jews being arrested in a story like this.  And again, when people are putting hands on police... why so few arrests?  and what was the true purpose of altering the city infrastructure this way?  How did they dig those things -- who helped them?  There should be follow up coverage, as sunlight surely needs to stream into coverage of places like this. #Transparency+Truth

And Now We Know...

Surprised by New Details About Austin’s Health, White House Orders Review

President Biden learned only Tuesday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer a month ago and had surgery, aides said.

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Shame on everybody who speculated it was gastric-bypass, plastic surgery, or otherwise for "elective" purposes. The man has prostate cancer and was getting help over the slow holiday period = more time to recuperate...  

Truth be told, as Defense Secretary, it's not his job to be on 24/7 because of Israel's current actions -- that war has nothing at all to do with natinal security or America's defense.

Yes, his immediate underlings should have been in the know and somebody should have alterted Joe Biden's handlers too.  But let's not pretend there were important decisionss not being made while Mr. Austin had his surgery and was out of the loop.

He's not Sec. of Offense and most of America's wars -- all those we are currently financing around the globe today -- are elective operations themselves. Hth.  Leave the damned man alone now, media?? He doesn't owe you, or the rest of the country, anything more now

It's gonna be bad optics for teh Dems if they keep targeting the top black leaders in our country like this. Just sayin.

* Mr. Bret Stephens: looking at you... The worse things get in Gaza, the more columns he writes calling out black Americans like Gay and Austin.  Why do you think that is so? 

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* Ugh, the wording in this statement: they're gonna "keep" the black man until the end of Joe's term.... which will likely be over next January the way this is going down...

John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said that Mr. Biden’s “first and foremost concern is the secretary’s health” and that the president still had “full faith and confidence” in Mr. Austin and would keep him until the end of his term.

They just don't see or hear it, huh?  Hint:  you don't "keep" black people, or workers, anymore. 

Poor Paul Krugman

PAUL KRUGMAN

Is Poor Economic Sentiment All About MAGA?

He's on the endless "things aren't as bad as they seem America!" rosy-glasses economic beat.  Thing is, he'ss no true Pollyanna like David Brooks, being serviced by his comely young second wife pumping up the endorphins, I don't think...

Were I running the NYT, I would temporarily suspend Paul's column, which has been on autopilot for the past months ("America, America?  I ran the current numbers through my models and there is no reason for this gloom!  Things are GREAT economically, why all this pessimism?") and rent him a nice non-descript sedan or SUV to travel the country for four weeks...

He is absolutely clueless to the economic needs being faced by the communities that are working to shelter and feed and educate hundreds of thousands of newcomerss in need.  The built up, wealthy places are not absorbing almost any.  People like Paul have blinders on...

We already see it in our stores, schools, restaurants (people can spend a looong time inside sheltering at fast-food highway oasis' and public spots to stay warm indoors w/family).  This isn't just workers anymore, this is women with children = immediate needs.

Once here, they are not going away.  By the time people like Paul acknowledge the needs to come in this country, the crisis on the streets of the homeless and drug addled, it will be too late to address the coming ecnomic storm.  Then, he'll tell us:  well things changed!  Times WERE great back in 2024 -- lower gas prices, inflation from the government boost to food stamps coming down in the stores (haha -- nothing ever comes down when it goes up like that...), rents beginning to stabilize (again, haha, the demand is here; there's not enough places to live in America anymore affordably...).

The American people are pessimistic, Paul, because we can open our eyes and see economic reality.  How will the country support all the people, when we have so much unmet need even today?  Do you just pretend not to see it, and caveat your work with, "well for stockholders or people at the top, things are good!" ?

People aren't pessimistic, they are realistic, Paul.  Get in that van -- that's it!  it should be a van, not a sedan or SUV!  a sprinter van! -- no writing your PositivePaul columns, just observving things as they are and as they will be, for some time to come...

He's not a stupid man, just a sheltered one.  But many realists like him, understand what is coming in the years to come, and that is why they are socking it away for future progeny.  Everybody knows:  there will not be enough to go around in times to come in America.

If you're just concerned with the top tier of the Two Americas, then Paul's pretty spin is probably accurate *ie/ folks like him, and Hunter Biden, won't feel the hurt/economic pain the way others do and will...

But smarter people in his boat know that other boats even well built ones will get sucked under too as the other half of the country goes under...

Hth -- maybe invest in the Sprinter van -- you know, like the ones peeople deliver packages in trying to make ends meet -- instead of renting it?  They could use it for other reporters too, willing to venture out into the country and cover the news as it is, not just from the comforts of home...

lol, could you imagine Maureen Dowd and Frank Bruni bustin out, say, and reporting their political columns not just from a desk with a thesaurus, with with facts on the ground? lol.  Nope?  Me neither.  Soft like that, they are.  Comfortable like a well made quiche, but soft...

Imagine the Keystone Cops Playing Soljah Boy...

 Lol, bitter laughter here... read the whole thing and tell me it's not so:

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Monday in three separate incidents and at least eight others were seriously wounded, including an actor in the popular Netflix series “Fauda.”

It was a heavy toll for a small country where almost every fallen soldier’s life story is described in detail in news media reports, and where soldiers’ funerals are broadcast on television.

In the most deadly of Monday’s incidents, a truck full of explosives blew up in the Bureij area of central Gaza, during what Israeli authorities said was a military operation to destroy an underground rocket and explosives manufacturing facility. The blast killed six soldiers and injured at least eight others, including the “Fauda” actor Idan Amedi.

Although the exact cause of the explosion had not been determined by Tuesday evening, a preliminary investigation suggested that it was inadvertently caused by fire from an Israeli tank, said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for the Israeli military.

For safety reasons, most soldiers had been ordered to leave the site where a small crew of combat engineers was preparing the explosives, Admiral Hagari said, and a tank was stationed nearby to secure the area and provide cover. Then the tank identified what was thought to be a threat.

“The tank opened fire at the threat, and in a tragic outcome, struck an electricity pole nearby, knocking it over and igniting the explosives,” Admiral Hagari said.

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* In the fog of war, 6 IDF deaths gets inflated to 9?  

Lousy reporting or counting here...

It's a little too little, it's a little too late...

Unless the Jewish people know how to restore life and raise the dead, America is already complicit in war crimes and this indeed is Joe Biden's legacy.  The old people in America are going about business as usual because they don't much respect the lives of other people's children.  Party on, Wayne! 

What are Israel’s plans for Gaza if it succeeds in expelling Hamas? In this audio essay, Peter Beinart argues that the country’s goal is very clear: to force Palestinians to leave. Beinart believes America’s blanket support of Israel makes it complicit in crimes against humanity. “I want U.S. diplomats to understand that the forced expulsion of a population or part of a population is a war crime,” Beinart says. “I want U.S. government officials to fear that this will be their legacy and to ensure that it’s not.”

Stained Mattresses Pulled from Tunnels Under NYC Synagogue

 The international news community is covering the story:

Wild scenes broke out on Monday at a synagogue in Brooklyn after construction workers arrived to fill in a tunnel illegally dug into the earth - and young Orthodox Jewish men climbed into the path to block its closure.

Ten people were arrested, local media reported, when the New York Police Department was called to quell the uprising, with video cameras rolling to capture the chaos as cops clashed with the community. 

The rabbi who runs the synagogue, Yosef Braun, said the actions of the young men were 'horrid' and a disgrace to the holy site.

Let It Be *

 When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: Let It Be. and in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me... speaking words of wisdom: Let It Be.

... and when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer: Let It Be.

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The quality of mercy is not strain'd.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomeAs
The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God Himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

— Portia, in William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 4, scene 1

Deuteronomy 32:2, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew; as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb."

* I think that is one reason I am good with plants:  let them be. Don't neglect them, but don't overly care for them, let them be. A bit of water -- not too dry, enough drainage; sunshine as needed; check on them, but let them be... their job is to grow and they can do that without help if you provide the basics. (Some people don't have this gift, but they're good with animals and people, who require infinitely more care.)

"We're hoping that the territorial order is set for a while."

I wouldn't bank on it.  " I truly dislike these animals squabbles even as I understand that this is how they sort things out among themselves."

Its not a lawful way to war though, and I don't think the costs to travel, shipping, and everyday life everywhere will go on as normal as if there were not thousands of dead children and innocents because people could not find a wiser ways to ... "sort things out among themselves."

You can't displace Palestine to make way for Israel and you can't treat Israel as if she were a poor feral creature in need of continual help for survival... that's not how life works, in the civilized world or "in the wild".  Hope this helps!  Love to all! Peace on earth isn't just something you write on holiday wrapping that gets crumpled and tossed when the new year arrives...

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ADDED:  In previous years, people would have jumped on Anthony Blinken for suggesting Israel's conflicts were cancerous to the region and needed to be excised.  Things are starting to change already, you can hear it in people's language and attempts to pass this off as "overcomeable".  Witness the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in real time, as three months of trying to displace the people of Gaza rage on...

The fight for life continues, and three months in the prognosis is still bleak for the 76-year old.  It's a fine line:  killing the alleged cancer without killing the patient herself...

Clueless.

Dick's daughter never owned up to what her father did to this country early this century.

With Time Running Short, Liz Cheney Implores Republicans to Reject Trump 

She endorsed efforts to remove him from the ballot and said, “Tell the world who we are with your vote. Tell them that we are a good and a great nation.”  3h ago

She echoes Private Ryan, but that wasn't about the Bush-Cheney deadly wars of choice, that was about WWII the big one.  "Tell me I'm a good man..."  We can't tell Liz' daddy that because the men under him fighting his nation-building indeed died in vain and we left things worse than we found them "over there".

Why Not Start Flying Them in Here by the Planeload?

OPINION

GUEST ESSAY

What Will Happen to Gaza’s People?

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If those people aren't war refugees -- with no way of surviving safely at home -- I don't know who is.  And many of them are refugees based on America's financing of Israel's actions...

Justice would say, open the doors and wide.*  Demographics would say, many of the changes we've seen in the country, particularly amongst the young, are because of the Muslim and Arab war refugees from America's earlier wars this century.  That likely frightens some people who want us to remember the victims of last century's wars -- "Never Forget" -- but seem to refuse to apply the logical lessons learned to the newer global conquests and conflicts America is still throwing billions to create... 

* Even if we take in thousands and thousands, there will still be enough left in their homeland to deny Israel's religious settlers the opportunity to move in and claim their former land as thier own.  I really think Netanyahu will rue the day he unleased the IDF on Gazan civilians;  the world by summertime will be demanding that the superpowers and the United Nations work to guarantee a Palestinian state or make Israel a pariah nation.  For good reason.

What they are (still!) doing is not lawful warfare.  It's gonna catch up with the little State if they do not change course and clean up their ways, I suspect.  (and soon!)  Israel might back Netanyahu's ways, but the majority of U.S. taxpayers certainly do not...

And, the evangelical vote here at home is waning.

Poor Evan Gershkovich.

The lives of journalists in combat zones in the 21st century are becoming as cheap as children's...  

I can't imagine what his family thinks when reading stories like this. He was captured by Russia at an inopportune time; you haven't really heard his name mentioned in weeks, and I imagine an American journalist's life isn't as concerning to many outside his family and employer when we accept so many being killed doing their jobs.

Things have changed in modern warefare. Journalists are no longer seen as "off limits" sadly. At least he's grown, and maybe accepted this going in...

Two More Journalists Killed in Gaza, Including Son of Al Jazeera Reporter

Hamza al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, and a second reporter were killed in what officials in the territory said was an Israeli airstrike. Two others were wounded.

Yet Nobody Missed Him for a Week?

 Wondered where he was, why they hadn't heard from him?... Hm

Pentagon chief takes responsibility for keeping hospitalization secret

By Dan Lamothe and Missy Ryan

She Should Go to Gaza to see Hell on Earth...

OPINION MAUREEN DOWD  Is Trump Hell? Jan. 6, 2024

... then hush up about the election protestors who came to "invade" her city 3 years ago... Even compared to the destruction in Minneapolis the summer before, those riots were peanuts compared to the violence America is imposing on the world.  DC doesn't get it anymore.  It's not life or death to them, just the same-old same-old political gamesmanship.  Only person killed that day was Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed protestor shot dead by a panicky Capitol security guard, like Maureen's long-passed father was... (a security guard, not panicky. He sounds more political, but calling those guys "cops"?  Cmon, be for real? The building's security guards were out of shape and it appears had no plan in place to secure the building from unarmed rioters. The ones who opened the doors and escorted them in, asking them to keep between the ropelines probably responded best under the circumstances.  Nobody had to die that day protesting what they honestly believe was a stolen election...  Don't look now but it appears DC is going to try to use under-handed tactics again to put thier preferred pick in.) 

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The 21st Century Holocaust -- Witness What the World is Not Doing as Innocents are Killed for their Race/Religion

 

UN warns Gaza is now ‘uninhabitable’ as war continues

Humanitarian chief fears ‘famine is around the corner’ with 85% of population displaced and more than 20,000 dead

The UN humanitarian chief has described Gaza as “uninhabitable” three months into Israel’s war with Hamas, warning that famine was looming and a public health disaster unfolding.

In a grim assessment of the devastating impact of Israel’s military response to the horrific Hamas attacks on 7 October, Martin Griffiths said that Gaza’s 2.3 million people face “daily threats to their very existence” while the world just watches.

He said tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured, families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet and areas where Palestinians were told to relocate have been bombed.

Griffiths said: “People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded [and] famine is around the corner.”. The few partly functioning hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of supplies, medical facilities are under relentless attack, infectious diseases are spreading and amid the chaos about 180 Palestinian women are giving birth every day.

‘Miserable in every sense’: displaced families in Gaza face daily ordeal

Read more

“Gaza has simply become uninhabitable,” the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs said.

He said the humanitarian community is facing an “impossible mission” – trying to help more than 2 million people while UN staff and aid workers from partner organisations are killed, communications blackouts continue, roads are damaged, truck convoys are shot at and vital commercial supplies “are almost nonexistent”.

Little Christmas.

 Today is Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany when the Wise Men arrived at the stable bearing their gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh.  They had trudged, following the star, to find this New King.  

It was a time of evil King Herod who ruled via force and feared the justice that the promised Savior of the Jewish people would bring...

God warned the Kings not to return to Herod's land, so they returned to their own home countries on a different path than they came in on.  God warned Joseph, the baby's father, in a dream too, so to protect his son and wife, he took them first to Egypt to wait out Herod's death then to Nazareth in Galilee, thus fulfilling the prophecy that the New King would be a Nazarene.

King Herod feared in his heart that he would lose his power, so he conspired to kill off the boy babies in his lands, thinking that would stop what was coming...  Didn't work. God had protected his son, who was safe in Egypt out of the reach of the evil king and his soldiers, whose mission it was to slaughter children.

That's what Jan. 6 is all about, Charlie Brown.  Educated people know the Bible stories, even if they do not accept the Gospel truth.  It's a rich story, one dare I say, we can see repeating in the Holy Land today...

Have faith. The good guys win in the end over the evil king, and as baby Jesus grew up and accepted his role, he presumably had a good childhood getting ready to fulfill the book as the ultimate sacrifice to God, who cast off the old covenants with his people and through Jesus, allowed all of us if we so choose to be accepted as Children of God alongside the heirs of Abram (father of a multitude).  

We are all equals in the eyes of a loving God.  Our lives all have value, none more than others.  There is still an awful lot of fear in those statements today. The haters just don't get it.

Matthew 2:12-23 ERV

But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod. So they went home to their own country a different way. After the wise men left, an angel from the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Get up! Take the child with his mother and escape to Egypt. Herod wants to kill the child and will soon start looking for him. Stay in Egypt until I tell you to come back.” So Joseph got ready and left for Egypt with the child and the mother. They left during the night. Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This gave full meaning to what the Lord said through the prophet: “I called my son to come out of Egypt.” Herod saw that the wise men had fooled him, and he was very angry. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and the whole area around Bethlehem. Herod had learned from the wise men the time the baby was born. It was now two years from that time. So he said to kill all the boys who were two years old and younger. This gave full meaning to what God said through the prophet Jeremiah: “A sound was heard in Ramah— bitter crying and great sadness. Rachel cries for her children, and she cannot be comforted, because her children are gone.” While Joseph was in Egypt, Herod died. An angel from the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the child with his mother and go to Israel. Those who were trying to kill the child are now dead.” So Joseph took the child and the mother and went to Israel. But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea. Archelaus became king when his father Herod died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he went away to the area of Galilee. He went to a town called Nazareth and lived there. This gave full meaning to what God said through the prophets. God said the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.