Otis Kaye

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

November 15, 2019 by Robert J. Avrech 5 Comments

“You have to be hard-boiled to get through life whether you’re a shopgirl, a debutante or a movie star.”
—Jean Harlow

Friday Photos: In Every Generation

April 9, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 19 Comments

Bookstore in Jewish Quarter, Paris ca. 1920

On Passover, Jews around the world recite a passage from the Haggadah that strikes a note both poignant and defiant.

In every generation they [our enemies] rise up against us to destroy us, but the Holy One Blessed Be He saves us from their hands.

But Judaism does not place faith in faith alone. Man is born with free will and G-d expects us to exercise that free will in order to do what is right.

Jewish law holds—as does common sense—that it is incumbent to strike preemptively at your enemies before they attack you. Because Jewish history shows with Newtonian certainty that when people threaten to kill Jews — they mean it.

Our IslamoNazi enemies in Tehran have made it quite clear that they intend to annihilate the Jewish State. Barack Obama has, at the same time, made it even more clear, that he couldn’t care less about Israel or the Jewish people. To this doctrinaire Marxist who has made common cause with Jew-haters for his entire academic and political career, Israel is just an annoying and illegitimate neocolonial outpost in the Middle East.

In every generation they rise up.

The surprise is that the American people and 74% of American Jews rose up and freely elected one of our bitterest foes.

A few photos to enjoy over the next few days.

Friday Photos: Trompe L’oeil Nation

March 13, 2015 by Robert J. Avrech 13 Comments

John Haberle, “Leave Your Order Here” oil on canvas, 1895. John Haberle (1856–1933) was a 19th-century American painter in the trompe l'oeil (literally, "fool the eye") style. He is considered one of the three major figures—together with William Harnett and John F. Peto—practicing this form of still life painting in the United States in the last quarter of the 19th century. — John Haberle, “Leave Your Order Here” oil on canvas, 1895. John Haberle (1856–1933) was a 19th-century American artist best known for his trompe l’oeil paintings. He is considered one of the three major figures—together with William Harnett and John F. Peto—practicing this form of still life painting in 19th century America.

The idea is to fool the eye, to convince the viewer that the object exists in three dimensions. But of course, the surface is flat. It is a masterful illusion.

So it is with Barack Obama and the postmodern Democrat party, who wage a ceaseless campaign of political trompe l’oeil. The Constitution, the separation of powers, America’s national borders, the very meaning of citizenship, all are being rendered illusions in order to better serve the totalitarian ideology that is at the heart of the Democrat party.

From the very beginning of his run for the Presidency, Obama spun a spiderweb of illusions, sure in the knowledge that the color of his skin was impenetrable armor against criticism. When Obama’s spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright was unmasked as an American and Jew-hating bigot, Obama claimed that in 20 years he never — not once — heard any of Wright’s hateful sermons.

Only the willfully gullible would believe Obama’s shameless denial.

The list of Obama’s lies is as long as the mountain of gibberish that is Obamacare. And as Jonathan Gruber smirked, that law was designed to fool a foolish people.

Obama’s greatest work of trompe l’oeil is on behalf of radical Islam. Obama thanked “Muslim Americans for their many achievements and contributions to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.”

Even for Obama, this is an incandescent fantasy, a rewriting of American history that is half lies and the other half untrue.

And now that Benjamin Netanyahu has alerted the American people to Obama’s unAmerican appeasement to Tehran, Obama is going to bypass Congress — the voice of the American people — in favor of a dubious U.N. ratification.

On that grim note let’s tale a look at our latest collection of stills that will, hopefully, brighten our mood.