What Kind of Friend is Abdul El-Sayed?

Consider what Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed told Linsey Davis of ABC News when she asked him if he considered Israel an American ally:

An ally that takes your money to push you into wars you shouldn't be fighting is not an ally. It's like, I mean, do you have kids?

When Davis answered in the affirmative, El-Sayed added:

And if your kid has a friend who keeps bumming off their money, and then talks about them behind their back, and then gets them into fights with other friends, what would you tell your kid to do with that friend? You'd probably tell them, maybe it's not actually a friend. I think it's time for us to realize that Israel is not actually our friend.

Good Lord!!!

When El-Sayed claims Israel gets the U.S. into "fights with other friends" is he referring to the Iranian regime as a friend? In which case, El-Sayed will finally have answered the question he refused to answer during his debate with Mike Rogers last week. 

However, if El-Sayed insists on using a kid's analogy then let me offer this point.

El-Sayed could be described as the sort of childhood friend who lies about other kids and makes false accusations against them because dislikes the religion they practice. 

In which case, Abdul El-Sayed is not a friend.

He is not a friend of the people of Michigan nor is he a friend of America.

75% of Alberta Voters Reject Referendum in Favor of Remaining in Canada

Last night, Albertans voted in a province wide referendum and were given to choice to remain in Canada or to support a future referendum to vote on separating from Canada.

With more than 90% of the votes counted, more than 75% of Albertans rejected the referendum option outright and wish to remain in Canada.

However, at the same time, Alberta voters wanted more provincial control over matters as demonstrated in separate referendum questions on immigration and tend to be conservatively inclined on such issues such as restricting access by recent immigrants to social programs. 

I don't think Albertans are particularly happy with Premier Danielle Smith who comes across like someone taking credit for putting out a fire that she started with this whole referendum business in the first place. Yet I suspect when Albertans vote in the next general election at this time next year, they will likely re-elect Smith and the United Conservative Party. Given the antipathy towards immigrants, I simply cannot see Alberta electing a Muslim Premier no matter how moderate NDP leader Nasheed Nenshi may be in his policy outlook.

Of course, stranger things have happened. If for some reason, the separatists in the UCP see fit to challenge her leadership and oust her like she did with Jason Kenney then Nenshi might get a second look if they choose someone really kooky. But barring such circumstances by this time a year from now this referendum will be in the rearview mirror.

On Being Speaker #309 at the Cambridge City Council Meeting Opposing The Latest BDS Resolution Against Israel

 

Late last week, I received notice from the American Jewish Committee concerning a pair of resolutions before Cambridge City Council in support of BDS against Israel.

Although this is not the first time such a resolution has been brought forward in Cambridge, it did mark the first time I got directly involved in opposing such a resolution. 

I spoke against the resolution at last night's Cambridge City Council meeting which I attended via Zoom. Five and a half hours would pass before I would get my turn to speak just after 11 p.m. Officially I was Speaker #309 of 352 people who signed up although only 260 people actually spoke.

All things considered, Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui did a reasonable job in allowing people everyone to speak to their allocated minute. There was an attempt by Cambridge city councilor and former mayor E. Denise Simmons to close debate at 10 p.m. as the meeting was scheduled to adjourn at that hour. 

Mayor Siddiqui wanted to continue debate but Simmons insisted on having the city solicitor weigh in. The city solicitor weighed in and gave the mayor the discretion to continue which was supported by a majority of the council.

Had the debate been adjourned right then and there then my landlady would not have been permitted to speak. Alas, she spoke in favor of the resolution.

Indeed, approximately two thirds of the speakers rose in favor of the resolution. The word genocide rolled off their lips with near orgasmic ecstasy. When they weren't uttering genocide, they uttered occupation and apartheid with speakers frequently citing South Africa thus demonstrating their historical illiteracy. 

None of the speakers who spoke in support of the resolution condemned Hamas for its actions on October 7th. They were also indifferent to the anti-Semitic bullying the children of those who spoke against the resolution have experienced. One speaker referred to charges of anti-Semitism as abstract. 

Of course, hatred is a learned behavior. It is taught. I suspect that many of those who spoke in support of the resolution have either taught their children to hate Jews or have been Jew hatred themselves. Shamefully, many of those who spoke in favor of the resolution are Jewish.

For all the talk of genocide, those who supported the resolution don't really give a shit about genocide. At least where it concerns the Sudanese, the Rohingya or Uighur Muslims. Their rationalization is that the U.S. government and corporations support Israel. That is the real agenda. Make up claims of genocide as a justification for their hatred of this country and their hatred of Jews and Israel. In other words, they don't care for the Uighurs because they can't blame Jews for it. 

In case you're curious, here are my prepared remarks from last night:

My name is Aaron Goldstein. I have been a resident of Cambridge for more than five years. 

I rise to speak in opposition to Policy Orders 2026-195 and 2026-196 mandating the City of Cambridge commit to a policy of boycotting of and divestment from the State of Israel. 

The order is predicated on the false premises that Israel has engaged in apartheid, occupation and genocide. And while claiming to oppose anti-Semitism, this order also ignores the terrorist violence committed by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023 and its longstanding objective to kill all Jews in Israel.

Therefore, the only purpose this order serves is to willfully promote hatred against the Jewish community here in Cambridge.

If implemented, it would not only be a stain on the city's reputation, but I fear could lead to October 7^th inspired attacks against Jews within city limits. 

As of this writing, the resolutions have been tabled by Cambridge City Council. They were tabled this morning. There is a distinct possibility the resolutions could be amended. If they wanted to vote in favor of the resolution they could have done so this morning. Or perhaps they will wait a few weeks, quietly make it a last-minute agenda item and then vote in favor of it before anyone is the wiser. 

The process was an exhausting one. That exhaustion would have been tenfold had I attended in person. Sleep did not come easy last night.

Should Cambridge City Council either vote down the resolution or significantly water down the resolution so as not to single out Israel, it won't be long before such a resolution is introduced again because the Jew haters smell blood in the water. In which case, it will become necessary to speak out against it once more no matter how exhausting the process might be. Because if I am not for myself then who is for me?

Rays Will Face Brewers in 1st World Series Since 1980 Where Neither Team Has Won a Championship

 

After being down 2-1, the Tampa Bay Rays won three straight games against the Cleveland Guardians to win their 3rd AL pennant in franchise history. Tampa Bay previously won the AL pennant in 2008 and 2020. It is their second AL pennant under manager Kevin Cash whose team fell short against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the COVID shortened season.

The Rays claimed the title with a 7-3 win in Game 6 at Tropicana Field. Tampa starting pitcher Freddy Peralta. In 12 innings pitched, Peralta gave up only one run on 9 hits with 9 strikeouts and 4 walks.

It is well worth noting that Peralta pitched eight seasons with the Brewers before being traded to the New York Mets this past off-season after finishing 5th in NL Cy Young voting. Following a disappointing 5-9 record with a 4.99 ERA in 22 starts with a disappointing Mets team, Peralta was shipped to the Rays where he improved to 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts.

Alas, Cleveland which has not won a World Series since 1948 will have to wait yet another year.

As for this year's World Series, it will mark the first Fall Classic since 1980 in which neither team has previously won a championship. In 1980, the Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series title besting the Kansas City Royals in six games.

While FOX might dread this World Series matchup, it should be quite competitive with the ratings going up steadily should it reach a sixth and especially a seventh game.

The 2026 World Series will begin on Friday night in Milwaukee.

The Riots in France Will Likely Result in a Le Pen Presidency

(YouTube screenshot of rioter shooting flamethrower into a woman's face via The Telegraph)

For the past month, France has been under siege by protests which have devolved into riots. The protest which initially began in the middle of last month concerning conditions in a school in suburban Paris.

By early October, the unrest had spread nationwide with violence escalating including footage of a woman who tried to stop the violence being burned with the face with a flamethrower. This weekend, a town hall was torched, shops were looted and a synagogue was vandalized. Not helping matters is French Communist Party leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon egging and encouraging acts of hooliganism. 

The French presidential election is just over six months away. Should this violence persist then I am afraid Marine Le Pen will become France's next President. 

It is clear that the centrism of President Macron isn't working and the populace is turning towards extremism. While much can happen in six months, barring a viable alternative, there's a good chance we could see a runoff between Le Pen and Mélenchon. In which case, I believe most French voters will choose Le Pen's offer of law and order over the chaos and unrest embraced by Mélenchon.

As I have previously argued, I do not trust Le Pen no matter how much she tries to sanitize her father and her party's anti-Semitic foundation. Aside from the threat I still believe Le Pen and her party would pose to Jews, she is little more than another Russian stooge and a compatriot of President Trump.

It is all the more reason for the violence in France to cease at once. Stop now and perhaps whatever necessary reforms can be implemented thus clipping the wings of both Le Pen and Mélenchon. 

But if Le Pen takes up residence in the Elysee Palace, the hooligans and rioters attacking women with blowtorches, vandalizing shops and synagogues and torching town halls will have only themselves to blame. They will get the government they deserve.

Ottawa Redblacks Avoid Winless Season with Upset Victory Over Toronto Argonauts

(YouTube screenshot of Ottawa Redblacks QB Bryson Barnes shortly after throwing a go-ahead TD vs. Toronto Argonauts on October 16, 2026)

Stop the presses!!!

The Ottawa Redblacks won a game.

They were in danger of becoming the first team in the history of the CFL to go winless.

With two games left in the season, the Redblacks had a record of 0-16 with 22 losses in a row going back to last season. Their lone Grey Cup championship a decade ago seems so much further removed.

But tonight the Redblacks pulled off a last minute 40-39 victory over the playoff bound Toronto Argonauts on the strength of quarterback Bryson Barnes, who was making his first career start. Barnes completed 27 of 37 passes for 335 yards with two touchdown passes to wide receiver Ayden Eberhardt. 

As some of you may know, I lived in Ottawa for most of the 1990s where I attended Carleton University as an undergraduate and graduate student with some time spent working in the civil service before making my way to Boston in 2000. 

For several years, I lived in the Glebe and was within walking distance of Lansdowne Park (later known as Frank Clair Stadium and now known as TD Place) and attended a handful of Ottawa Rough Riders games. The Rough Riders were not very good when I lived in Ottawa and would disband in 1996. Brent Dowdall, who was a classmate of mine at Carleton, would write a book about the fall of the Rough Riders in 1999 called Turnover. 

In 2002, football would return to the National Capital Region with the establishment of the Ottawa Renegades. But they too were mired in failure and would be gone by 2008. The CFL took another chance on Ottawa in 2014 with the founding of the Redblacks.

Like their predecessors, there has been more failure than success with only three winning seasons. Even when they won the Grey Cup, they actually had a losing record of 8-9-1 but would finish first in a weak CFL East Division. So weak in fact that the Redblacks had to play East final against the Edmonton Eskimos in a crossover format before upsetting the Calgary Stampeders in the Grey Cup. 

Back to the present, the Redblacks have one more regular season game next week against the Hamilton Tiger Cats. The Ticats are 5-12 this season. Could the Redblack win two in a row? Stranger things have happened.

Obama Continues To Say Dumb Things About Jews & Israel

(Screenshot from LinkedIn of former President Obama being interviewed by Susan McKay at the O2 Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland on October 13, 2026)

Former President Obama has long held a deep-seated hostility towards Israel.

This hostility manifested itself during remarks Obama during an appearance on Tuesday in Belfast, Northern Ireland in which he declared:

The fact is that the Jewish people, for millennia, were oppressed, discriminated against, killed. Europe was responsible for much of it. They understandably sought a refuge.

That is undeniable. What is also undeniable is that they took land off people and they were expelled. And those people understandably said, ‘This is injustice and I want my land back.’

At some point to break the cycle, a stronger partner has a responsibility by virtue of its strength.

If the attitude of Israel is, now that we are the strongest, the most technologically advanced in the region, then our security will depend on us simply doing whatever we need and taking whatever we want, and not making any concessions to anyone.

That may work short-term... but you have ceded moral ground if that is the position you take.

I would say the current Israeli government appears to have taken that. It is incumbent on them to recognize that 7m Palestinians are not going anywhere.

Took land?

This is an utterly dishonest statement. In point of fact, Jews legally purchased land in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Obama also ignores the fact an estimated 850,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries in the two decades following the establishment of the State of Israel as well as an estimated 70,000 who fled Iran after the Khomeini Revolution in 1979.

Perhaps most egregious of all is the failure of Obama to acknowledge that the 1947 UN Partition Plan established both a Jewish and an Arab state. The Jews said yes and the Arabs (latter day Palestinians) said no. 

From there, Obama relies on erecting strawmen such as his allegation that the Israeli government should recognize the Palestinians aren't going anywhere.

Perhaps Obama has forgotten former Secretary of State Madeline Albright chasing Yasser Arafat before the Palestinians missed another opportunity to miss another opportunity with the 2000 Camp David Accords. 

No, Israel is quite mindful of the fact the Palestinians aren't going anywhere. The problem is the Palestinians are led by people whose raison d'être is to indoctrinate their populace with Jew hatred 24/7 while rewarding those who kill Jews. It is the Palestinians and their supporters who chant, "Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea." Israel accepts there are 7 million Palestinians while the Palestinians believe one Jew is one Jew too many.

Let us also keep in mind that Obama has seen fit to pal around with anti-Semitic figures like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and will soon campaign for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. From where I sit, President Obama is no position to lecture Israel about a moral high ground which he himself does not occupy.