Will it be this year, this decade, this century?  How many more years and deaths must we endure before America’s love affair and obsession with guns comes to an end. Do gun lovers and gun makers take pride in our well known global stats that we are the leading nation in gun ownership and gun deaths? And, yes, they are inextricably connected. We have a serious addiction to guns and even baby rehab steps to wean ourselves, it’s better than the absent efforts taken so far. We need someone with balls to stop this madness and stand up to the almighty gun lobby.  Let’s take Israel as an example of a nation, surrounded by enemy neighbors,(near and far) yet they think our lack of gun regulations are idiotic. With no enemies neighboring us, we’ve created one very serious internal enemy within us.  Check out this eye-opening article about Israel’s regulations (and lack of mass school murders, minimal innocent gun deaths and decreased suicide rate, but no lack of terrorism, as indicated in the next paragraph): http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/the-jewish-thinker/.premium-1.679115  But we are stuck in a cycle of sadness/madness as we continue to bury our innocent gun-related victims.  Life is Fragile asSting poignantly points out, while he sings this beautiful rendition with Stevie Wonder.

(Stevie and Sting together)

The Middle East is always a volatile region but this week was especially violent. Russia is bombing Syria with a few stray missiles crashing into Iran. Arab aggression against Israelis has increased as 4 Israelis were killed by terrorist attacks.  A mother and father were gunned down in their car, witnessed (in the back seat) by their orphaned four children while a few days later, two Israelis were knifed to death in the old city. Also, several shots by local Arabs were aimed into Sukkot with two injuries and it seems stabbing are on the rise (Thank God for strict gun regulations in Israel otherwise more deaths would occur).  An escalation of terror and threatening behavior has the Jewish community and political leadership concerned about what actions to take.  We are constantly in a no win situation as evident by some media who continuously blames Israel. This week’s example came from the BBC which blamed Israel for the killing of a Palestinian yet neglected to mention he was the terrorist who had just stabbed two people to death. This was the headline the BBC used to report the incident: “Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two.”  There is always a double standard involving Israel. But an AP reporter brought this to light when the US mistakenly bombed a Doctors Without Borders Hospital and he questioned the State Department as to their comparison condemnation when last summer Israel mistakenly targeted a school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=413&v=WIIbrSHWJ7Y

Yet, we must always continue our efforts to follow the moral high ground even when odds are against us. Though, there was no second thought about his support of Israel from Jon Bon Jovi this week as he performed for the first time in Israel to a packed house in Tel Aviv. He even dedicated a song to Israel called “We Don’t Run” and suggested it be used as the Tel Aviv fight song. http://www.timesofisrael.com/empathetic-jon-bon-jovi-dedicates-song-we-dont-run-to-israel/ Of course, the king of BDS, Roger Waters lashed out at Bon Jovi for stepping foot in Israel but Howard Stern came to the rescue as only Howard can, with lots of expletives

It would have been John Lennon’s 75th birthday (today)! In his honor, aHuman Peace Sign of 2,000 people was formed in Central Park (across the street from his Dakota apartment), 35 years after he was gunned down just 2 months after his 40th birthday.

A Halloween treat will be received by 6,000 families as prison inmates convicted of drug charges will be released at the end of the month. We have overcrowded prisons due to harsh drug sentencings in the 80s and 90s. Globally, the US imprisons 1/4 of all inmates. 1/3 of the convicts being released are undocumented immigrants who will be immediately deported, but that leaves 4,000 people who will need to find jobs in our society.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/us/us-to-release-6000-inmates-under-new-sentencing-guidelines.html?_r=0  To handle this influx, probation offices and employment centers will need to work overtime to prevent

re-institutionalization.

South Carolina got dumped on by 11 trillion gallons of water which is causing cataclysmic flooding with rivers replacing streets and lakes replacing neighborhoods. 11 dams have failed while 35 others are being carefully watched. Floodwaters unearthed caskets as shocked residents waded through the tide to collect them. Vacated homes are being looted. The water may not subside for another two weeks and the overall damage will likely be in the billions. Though Hurricane Joaquin veered from the shore, its damaging rain still reeked havoc and also took the life of the cargo ship, El Faro, attempting to avoid the storm but lost power and helplessly sank with 33 people lost at sea.

The internal US investigations will be ongoing to determine why our air forces struck a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan. But the argument that it was a War Crime as opposed to a serious mistake is now being debated in the international arena.  DWB has requested an independent investigation by the The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission but it needs one of the 76 nations connected to this organization to sign on to the inquiry. By the way, neither Israel nor the United States is a member of this commission.  No one has stepped up yet, but time will tell…In the meantime, burials for the 12 medical staff and 10 patients take precedent for the survivors over the investigation.

Congrats to all of this week’s Nobel Prize Winners.  The Nobel Prize for Peace is announced 6am today the exact time I send these messages to your inboxes so I don’t know the winner as I write these words to you… But if I were on the selection committee, I would choose Pope Francis for his humble bridge building efforts. And speaking of the Vatican, Happy 50th anniversary (Oct. 28th) to Nostra Aetate which rewrote (by Pope Paul VI) the relationship between Catholics and non-Christians (specifically Jews).  It was the document that declared Jews were not guilty of killing Jesus and included a denouncement anti-semitism. http://tinyurl.com/NostraAetateSummary

Happy 40th anniversary to Rocky Horror Picture Show.  For the past 4 decades somewhere in this nation a midnight showing of this cult classic with Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry, Meatloaf and the gang has been actively watched on neighborhood screens.  The crew reunited to reminisce about the film, which started as a Play and flopped as the movie premiered but once fans caught on it reached legendary cinematic status. Enjoy this 3 minute Time Warp montage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtARYlzkpA