An Unexpected Cross ✡️✝️
I am a Jewish woman. And for the past two weeks, I have carried a cross on my chest.
My surgeon drew it during my breast reconstruction, a simple anatomical marking.
But every time I look in the mirror, I see something more. I see the Christians who have stood beside the Jewish people when so much of the world turned away. Those who have defended us, prayed for us, and reminded us that we are not alone.
And then I learned something extraordinary. In ancient Hebrew, the letter tav was once written as a cross. In the Book of Ezekiel, a mark was placed upon the righteous to protect them from destruction. A mark of survival. It meant: You shall live.
I thought of the Righteous Among the Nations, the brave Christians who risked everything to save Jewish children during the Holocaust. Some sheltered them under Christian identities and symbols, giving them a second chance at life.
And now, as I heal from Stage 0 breast cancer (after this surgery, I am cured and doing great), I find myself carrying this unexpected symbol over my own heart. The cross is not my religious symbol. But the love, protection, and solidarity it has come to represent to me are universal.
Sometimes the most meaningful messages are the ones we never intended to receive. And sometimes, healing comes with unexpected reminders of who stands beside you.
Different faiths. Shared humanity. And a second chance at life. ✡️✝️
Attention Young Men:
I am surrounded by 20 year old girls in my life that are smart, capable, hard working and cute. Nobody is dating them. Not sure what the deal is, but I don’t get it.
Step 1: Stop playing video games
Step 2: Head to great clips and get that lettuce cleaned up
Step 3: Hit a shower (when dating hygiene is critical)
Step 4: Go clean your car
Step 5: Sign up for a yoga class
Step 6: Go to the yoga class
Step 7: Ask a cute for her phone number at yoga class (yes you can meet girls IRL and not just on the apps - 10/10 the Dirt Dog highly recommends)
Step 8: Follow up within 2 days with a phone call and ask them out for this coming weekend Friday or Saturday night.
Step 9: IMPORTANT - come up with a good game plane for date night. Get a dinner reservation, get an activity planned. Let them know in advance what you are doing so they can dress appropriately. I know you are gunna roll off the couch and head to date night, but they are not. They are going to stress about what to wear and call at least 6 different people on FaceTime to ask their opinion.
Step 10: I highly recommend you bring flowers to the door step. I’m not covering that you go to the doorstep, because if you don’t do that you have no hope here. Women want men to date them. You don’t need to break the bank on flowers. Head to Trader Joe’s. Grab 2 different kinds of flowers. If you don’t know what matches find the closest looking lady to your mom at TJ’s and ask her. Wrap the 2 flowers into 1 bouquet with paper. Bonus Points you can cut open a TJ bag and use that as the paper.
Step 11: Be a gentleman on the date. She isn’t there to hear your life story. Ask her about her. For every 1 question you answer, ask her 3. Open Doors, pay for the meal, be polite.
Provided you follow most of this guideline you are highly likely to get yourself an opportunity for date number 2.
Keep going until you find someone that you can’t imagine not being around all the time. That’s when you have found a good one for you.
My life is complete with my wife as my companion. I wish you the same fortune in life. Happy Hunting.
Introverts often love autumn because of the cozy, reflective atmosphere it brings. Cooler weather and changing leaves create the perfect backdrop for quiet activities like reading, writing, or taking peaceful walks. It’s a season that encourages introspection and alone time
On this morning 250 years ago, the British hanged a 21-year-old American schoolteacher as a spy, and in trying to make him disappear quietly, they accidentally made him immortal. His name was Nathan Hale, and it is worth sitting with just the last few hours of his life.
He had been caught the night before, behind British lines on Long Island, carrying notes on enemy positions hidden in his shoes. There was no real trial. A man out of uniform with military intelligence on him was a spy by the rules of war, and the sentence for spying was death by hanging, no ceremony, no honor. General Howe ordered it done in the morning.
What we know of that morning comes mostly from the enemy, from British officers who were there, and it is the small human cruelties that stay with you. Hale asked for a clergyman to attend him in his final hours. The request was refused. He asked for a Bible. That too was denied. He was a devout young man about to die, and they would not give him even that comfort. A British officer named Montresor, watching, was troubled enough by the young man's composure to later make sure his story was told.
In his last moments Hale was allowed to write a couple of letters, one to his mother, one to a fellow officer. He wrote them, and then the British provost marshal, a notoriously brutal man named Cunningham, took those letters and destroyed them in front of him. The reason given was chilling in its pettiness: so that the rebels should not know they had a man in their ranks who could die with such firmness. They did not just want to kill him. They wanted to erase him.
Then they marched him to the gallows, and there, according to the accounts that survived, this young schoolteacher who had failed at the one dangerous mission he ever attempted, stood calmly and spoke about duty and country with a steadiness that unnerved the men sent to kill him. The famous words attributed to him, that he only regretted having but one life to lose for his country, may be polished or borrowed from a play he loved. But everyone who was there agreed on the essential truth beneath the wording: he met his death without flinching, and he made even his executioners remember him.
And that is the irony that redeems the whole sad morning. Cunningham burned the letters so no one would know how bravely Hale died. It did not work. The story got out anyway, carried by the very enemies who watched it, and a young man the British tried to erase became one of the most enduring symbols of the Revolution, honored two and a half centuries later, on this exact day, as the first American to die spying for his country. They denied him a Bible and a chaplain and burned his last words, and still they could not make him small.
Imagine 105 million illegal aliens gaining amnesty and voting. The Civil War is child’s play next to this. Not because of guns. Because of votes.
Amnesty for 105 million is not compassion. It is a replacement of the electorate. After that, the Second Amendment is a museum piece.
Heinlein, author of Starship Troopers, had the line: "That which is given has no value." Hand someone a country and they do not inherit Iwo Jima. They inherit a gift they already resent you for giving.
Tillis and that gang are selling the gift.
@mikejoy500 Hey @mikejoy500, just wanted to say thank you for all your race reporting and collectable coverage over the years. You are always a class act.
A sea lion in Argentina climbed onto a fishing vessel, found a bed, and passed out.
The fishermen only realized it when they heard loud snoring.
Guess they've got a new deckhand. 😂
One of the most jarring things about adulthood is the realization of how many truly incompetent people are in the most important jobs. When I was a kid, I just assumed everyone “important” was smart or they wouldn’t be important. Boy, was that fucking wrong.
‘WIDOW'S BAY’ has been nominated for 19 Emmys.
• Best Comedy Series
• Best Lead Actor (Matthew Rhys)
• Best Supporting Actor (Stephen Root)
• Best Supporting Actress x2 (Kate O'Flynn & Dale Dickey)
• Best Guest Actor (Hamish Linklater)
• Best Guest Actress (Betty Gilpin)
• Best Comedy Writing
• Best Comedy Casting
• Best Comedy Directing
• Best Comedy Editing x3
• Best Music Composition
• Best Music Supervision
• Best Sound Editing
• Best Sound Mixing
• Best Production Design
• Best Comedy Cinematography