Candles in the Wind

Bondi, Brown, and Reiner

When lighting the first menorah candle for the usually celebratory opening night of the Jewish festival of lights on Sunday, it was hard not to perceive the dripping wax taking the shape of teardrops, as a confluence of three stories made the launch of the holiday season feel like the Hanukkah from hell. At Bondi Beach in Australia, a father-son terror team opened fire on a public Hanukkah festival, killing 15 and injuring dozens more. The victims included a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor. There would have likely been many more victims if not for the heroism of a bystander named Ahmed el Ahmed, who disarmed one of the gunmen, in an incredible, selfless act of bravery. The deadly attack on Bondi Beach follows a rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia. This rise (and the associated violence) is hardly limited to Australia. And sadly, it could be most prevalent among young people. Yair Rosenberg in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Anti-Jewish prejudice isn’t a partisan divide—it’s a generational one. As David Frum explains, “It’s long past time to stop saying ‘Anti-Semitic violence has no place in our society.’ Outrage upon outrage confirms that anti-Semitic violence has a large and expanding place in Western societies—that it is supported by many, that it is tolerated by many more.”

+ Australia is already known for strict gun laws. The country’s leaders have promised to respond to this shooting by tightening those gun laws even more. History shows all too clearly that we’ll see no such American response to the campus shootings at Brown University, which killed two students and injured several others. Campus (and other mass) shootings are so common in America that it doesn’t even surprise us to learn that some of the students who experienced the Brown attack were previously victims of other school shootings. “Officials in Providence, R.I., said Sunday evening that police are releasing a man in his 20s who was briefly held as a person of interest. His release leaves authorities without any known suspect.” Gunman remains at large two days after deadly shooting at Brown University.

+ And then we got the third shocking story of the weekend as we learned that Rob and Michele Reiner had been killed in their home, with their son Nick being held on suspicion of murder. Aside from being a kind, decent, and enormously popular and loved figure in Hollywood who first gained fame in All in the Family, Reiner, A Quiet Titan of Storytelling, is responsible for an almost unimaginable string of entertainment—as a director, a producer, and an actor—that has been released over decades. Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men, Spinal Tap, and the list goes on. Reiner’s movies hold a place in American culture, with lines that have entered the cultural lexicon: You can’t handle the truth! ... I’ll have what she’s having ... Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya ... and of course, This one goes to eleven. Some days, like the ones over the weekend, going to eleven is just too much to take. I’m covering these stories together because that’s how I experienced them, and I imagine many others felt the same, as we suffered an extreme version of the bad news onslaught that we dread every time we hear a phone notification in 2025. What’s the solution? I don’t have any pithy lines or humorous outtakes on that topic. The only thing I know for sure is that I’ll strike a match and light the second Hanukkah candle tonight. We could use a little light.

2

Gov in the Time of Cholera

“Despite the steps to insulate themselves, dire warnings poured in from diplomats and government experts around the world. The cuts would cost countless lives, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the other Trump officials were told repeatedly. The team of aides pressed on, galvanized by two men who did little to hide their disdain for the agency: first Peter Marocco, a blunt-spoken Marine veteran, and then 28-year-old Jeremy Lewin, who, despite having no government or aid experience, often personally decided which programs should be axed.” ProPublica: Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.

3

Monsters, Inc

“At the hospital three years ago, meeting the newborn who would become their daughter, Mr. Garner was the first to notice the tiny flaps of skin where her ears should be. Annie, the child they were adopting, was deaf. Over the next few months, as they got to know their daughter, the Garners would discover more challenges, including poor vision, a developmental disability and weak muscles.” NYT (Gift Article): Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade. “A program for deafblind children helped 3-year-old Annie Garner, born with poor vision and no ears, learn to communicate. The Trump administration cut the program’s funding over diversity goals.” (This is sick cruelty, pure and simple.)

4

Treat This Like Plutonium

“Then Captain Kohli made a fateful decision. He needed to, he said — to save the climbers’ lives. ‘Secure the equipment. Don’t bring it down.’ ... ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ The climbers scampered down the mountain after stashing the C.I.A. gear on a ledge of ice, abandoning a nuclear device that contained nearly a third of the total amount of plutonium used in the Nagasaki bomb. It hasn’t been seen since. And that was 1965.” NYT (Gift Article): How Did the C.I.A. Lose a Nuclear Device? “A plutonium-packed generator disappeared on one of the world’s highest mountains in a hush-hush mission the U.S. still won’t talk about.”

5

Extra, Extra

Hong Kong Wrong: “A Hong Kong court convicted pro-democracy former media mogul Jimmy Lai of conspiracies to commit sedition and collusion with foreign forces in a case that marks how much the semi-autonomous Chinese city has changed since Beijing began a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent five years ago.” (As we’ve learned, political winds can shift quickly and with great effect.)

+ An American Disgrace: Even by the sick and low standards he’s set, Trump’s response to Rob Reiner’s death was disgusting. I didn’t include this in the section above because nothing out of Trump’s mouth deserves to be anywhere near Rob Reiner.

+ Grok Schlock: Shocker: Grok is spreading misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting.

+ Seed Investors: “Some Chinese parents, inspired by Elon Musk’s 14 known children, pay millions in surrogacy fees to hire women in the U.S. to help them build families of jaw-dropping size. Xu calls himself ‘China’s first father’ and is known in China as a vocal critic of feminism. On social media, his company said he has more than 100 children born through surrogacy in the U.S.” WSJ (Gift Article): The Chinese Billionaires Having Dozens of U.S.-Born Babies Via Surrogate.

+ Panda-Monium: “The two countries had made positive noises about continuing the loan, but tensions between them have increased since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan could help defend Taiwan from any Chinese aggression.” Chinese pandas to leave Japan amid diplomatic row.

+ Strike a Pose: Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza becomes the school’s first Heisman winner. (Obviously, his key jump in skill and ability came during his year playing for Cal...)

+ Tails Tax: “They have no independent income; they reside exclusively with their humans, and they have annual expenses that top $5,000. Calling them property, she argued, does not accurately reflect their role in a household.” IRS faces a lawsuit that would reclassify pets as dependents.

6

Bottom of the News

“We were even more shocked that they were doing their own spin on this by also inserting the grass and sticks in a different orifice.” Chimps are sticking grass and sticks in their butts, seemingly as a fashion trend.

+ Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year is ... Slop.