Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

How My Pittsburgh Hometown Is Coping With The Synagogue Shooting

November 1, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

The Jewish community in this leafy Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill is painfully burying 11 of its members this week, after the idyllic peace here was shattered by an anti-Semitic madman on a mindless killing...

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Midterm Update: Will Battleground States Swing?

October 22, 2018

by Heather Robinson

In advance of the Congressional midterm elections November 6, all eyes are on the swing states and perhaps especially those rust belt states, like Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (pictured above), that surprised everyone by going red in the...

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Ford vs. Kavanaugh: Where is the Evidence?

September 28, 2018

Today, as most of the country knows, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate – she to accuse him of sexual assault some 35 years ago, he to defend his life’s work, his good name,...

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Authenticity Lets ‘Insecure’ Rise Above America’s Divisions

August 29, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

HBO’s hit comedy series “Insecure,” now in its third season, has been holding steady with a loyal and diverse audience, and it’s no wonder: In a time of divisive tribalism in America,...

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‘Pretty Woman’ Heads to Broadway — Still Sugar-Coating Ugly Truths

August 4, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

“Pretty Woman: The Musical,” an adaptation of the 1990 blockbuster film with Julia Roberts about a gorgeous, young prostitute and a handsome, taciturn billionaire who fall in love, is set to open on Broadway Aug....

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What We Can All Learn From the Trapped Thailand Soccer Kids

July 13, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

This week, the world watched with bated breath as 12 boys, members of The Wild Boars soccer team, and their coach were rescued from deep inside an underwater cave in Thailand.

It was a situation that had...

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On Independence Day, Remember Freedom Depends on Transcending Divides

July 10, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

This Independence Day, instead of despairing over the country’s division, Americans might take a moment to consider that independence includes having the right to disagree without hatred or violence.

Since the 2016...

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What Mr. Rogers Understood About NYC Neighborhoods

June 25, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The New York Post

Mister Rogers would’ve been sad about the way we treat each other.

That thought occurred to me as I sat in a Kips Bay theater one afternoon last week, escaping the heat and watching “Won’t You Be My...

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Iraqi Parliamentarian, Friend of US and Israel, Calls for ‘Mideast Summit’ as Islamists Burn Ballots in Baghdad

June 19, 2018

by Heather Robinson

From The Algemeiner

Last week, as Islamists burned ballot boxes in Baghdad, Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al-Alusi — whose unconventional career in Parliament has included championing normalized relations between his country...

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Iraqi Foreign Ministry Officials Tried to Shelter Alleged Rapist, Murderer of Jewish Teen, Says Parliamentarian

June 12, 2018

by Heather Robinson

 

Iraqi Parliamentarian Mithal al Alusi told me Tuesday that officials in Iraq’s foreign ministry attempted to prevent the extradition to Germany of a man accused of raping and murdering a German-Jewish teenager.

Susanna Maria Feldman,...

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