I could help save the Jews from the ignorant, but I cannot save the ignorant from their ignorance.

The cycles of life move into a new position, and sleep rounds the day almost.

🔥 The Ash Circle: A Tale of Oregon’s Undoing In the fog-shrouded hills outside Portland, a movement began—not with violence, but with poetry. The Ash Circle called themselves a “harmonist collective,” born of academic radicals, crypto-theorists, and urban collapse survivors. Their motto: “Burn the form. Birth the truth.” They spread first through university campuses, crafting emotionally seductive narratives: wealth was war, law was oppression, and identity was performance. Their philosophy blended Marxist deconstruction with anarcho-mysticism—symbolism over substance, ritual over reason. 📣 Phase I: Conversion by Performance With coordinated “art attacks,” they replaced city murals with esoteric slogans. Libraries were “cleansed” of texts deemed oppressive. A ritual called The Reversal encouraged members to publicly renounce their former identities in street theater protests—fueled by hallucinogens and livestreamed outrage. ⛓️ Phase II: Collapse as Liberation As trust in local government waned, the Ash Circle declared “The End of Administration.” Portland’s city council was symbolically abolished in a public ceremony that ended with files burned outside the courthouse and computers smashed in downtown offices. Instead of civic systems, “Circles” ruled by vibe consensus—no laws, just vibes. 🧨 Phase III: Violent Enlightenment When dissent emerged—Jews, immigrants, journalists refusing to participate—the Circle labeled them “preservers” and began targeting community centers with graffiti, ritual sabotage, and psychological campaigns. Their extremism wasn’t just tolerated—it was sanctified. Whole neighborhoods emptied. Small towns with deep Jewish legacies—like Bend and Ashland—saw synagogues vandalized in cryptic glyphs. The idea of truth became a performance, and anyone not acting in accordance was shunned. 🚫 The Fall It wasn't a war—it was erosion. Trust dissolved. Infrastructure rotted. Oregon didn’t burn in flames—it vanished in meaning. A state once celebrated for natural beauty and progressive warmth became a hollow theater, the Ash Circle its playwrights. And when the world looked back, they didn’t see a revolution. They saw a cult of symbolism that traded reality for spectacle, sincerity for simulation.

Rich Lyons, chancellor of UC Berkeley, testifies before the House Committee on Education & Workforce on July 15, about antisemitism in higher education. ((Win McNamee / Getty Images)) Rich Lyons, chancellor of UC Berkeley, testifies before the House Committee on Education & Workforce on July 15, about antisemitism in higher education. ((Win McNamee / Getty Images)) © (Win McNamee / Getty Images) For too long, the debate over antisemitism on college campuses has bogged down over whether anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Endless ink has been spilled over the distinction (or not) between the two. Last week, in their testimony to the House Committee on Education & Workforce, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons, City University of New York Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez and Georgetown interim President Robert M. Groves cut through all this academic hairsplitting. “Is denying the Jewish people their rights to self-determination … antisemitism? Yes or no?” asked Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah). All three university leaders replied simply and unequivocally: “Yes.” Ways To Give - Connect With The Fellowship Ad Ways To Give - Connect With The Fellowship ifcj.org Learn more call to action icon The right to Jewish self-determination is a textbook definition of Zionism. The clarity with which the university officials pegged anti-Zionism as antisemitic is much-needed and long overdue. For years, progressives have raised consciousness about the need to recognize and repudiate bigoted dog whistles, microaggressions and misgendering. Yet many of those same progressives have been shockingly silent when it comes to decrying the macroaggressions of antisemitism that have become increasingly commonplace at anti-Israel protests. They’ve insisted that the now-familiar chants — “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!” “We don’t want no two states! We want all of ’48!”— are not antisemitic, just anti-Zionist, with some who are Jewish concurring and providing cover. Yet just as there can be “racism without racists” — that is, racist results without racist intents — so too can there be antisemitism without antisemites. Not all anti-Zionists are antisemites, but anti-Zionism, in its most basic form — denying to the Jewish people the right to self-determination, a right recognized as inherent to countless others, including Palestinians — is itself a form of antisemitism. Jewish nonprofits - Give Monthly - Connect With The Fellowship Ad Jewish nonprofits - Give Monthly - Connect With The Fellowship help.ifcj.org Learn more call to action icon Moreover, because anti-Zionism singles out the Jewish state alone for elimination — among the dozens of ethnonational or ethnoreligious states in the world, including myriad Islamic ones — that, too, makes it a form of antisemitism. Declaring anti-Zionism to be antisemitic, as the university leaders did, was an important development for the dignity of Jewish students, one that echoed and amplified a federal district court’s preliminary injunction last year that said UCLA could not allow anti-Israel activists to exclude “Jewish students … because they refused to denounce their faith,” of which Zionism was a central component, from parts of the campus, as happened during protests against the Israel-Hamas war. Zionism, at its core, is a belief in Israel's right to sovereignty as a Jewish state on part of the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. That's a millennia-old article of faith for Judaism, as reflected, for example, in daily Jewish prayers, the Passover Seder and the ritual of breaking a glass at weddings. Those claiming the mantle of Zionism for far more aggressive or exclusionary aims don’t change that core fact, nor do those treating Zionism as a uniquely malevolent expression of national liberation or nation-building. Top 1% Realtors In The Valley - Luxury Real Estate & Auctions Ad Top 1% Realtors In The Valley - Luxury Real Estate & Auctions scottandjamesproperties.com Learn more call to action icon Recognizing anti-Zionism as a manifestation of antisemitism is an important step forward for combating the discrimination and ostracism that many Jewish students have experienced for expressing their support for Israel’s right to exist in the face of those who call for its elimination. Such recognition, in turn, can help concentrate campus conflicts about Israel and Palestinians on what matters most: fruitful debate over Israel’s actions (including its prosecution of the war in Gaza) rather than fruitless shouting matches over Israel’s existence and neo-McCarthyite litmus tests (“Are you now or have you ever been a Zionist?”). As this happens, we would be well-served to cease and desist using the terms “Zionism” and “anti-Zionism,” except as historical artifacts. After all, “Zionism” refers to the aspiration to create a nation that is now nearly 80 years old. And anti-Zionism thus perpetuates a fantasy that Israel's long-settled place among the family of nations is still open for debate. It isn't, any more than, say, the existence of Russia under Putin or the United States under Trump, however much we might deplore their policies, is open for debate. Leadgen logo LA Times Discover the West Coast Perspective $1 for 4 months Subscribe Now We owe the Berkeley, CUNY and Georgetown leaders a great debt of gratitude for helping to elevate the intractable campus conflicts about Israel and the Palestinians to a higher plane. Mark Brilliant is an associate professor of history and American studies at UC Berkeley.

Milinda the pancake chef has just arrived.

I now have aspects of a bald man, yet the differences are real. I can levitate and they can't.

Finally: 2. x = xyy and y = yzz - These recursive relationships hint at self-similar structures, like fractals or looped temporal states: - If x = xyy, time's state depends on itself and its future. - If y = yzz, then the present is influenced by echoes of what hasn’t happened yet. - 🔁 This feels like time travel not as physical motion, but as conceptual simultaneity. Each “now” is a composite of past-future echoes.

Though I have many bird friends, none of them shit on my head.

It could be the best of all possible worlds, but complainers must have a word first.

I was the fish and she was the hook, and she was the hooker and I was the bait, and it's a weird world.

Absolutely! The Bay Area could become one of the most senior-friendly regions in the U.S. — and that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it could unlock new opportunities and reshape the cultural landscape in positive ways. Here’s what makes it especially appealing to older adults: 🌆 Amenities & Services - World-class hospitals like UCSF and Stanford provide top-tier healthcare access. - Senior centers and wellness programs are expanding in cities like Walnut Creek and Palo Alto. - Public transit systems, especially BART and city shuttles, offer independence without driving. 🌳 Natural Beauty & Activities - Access to coastal trails, regional parks, and mild weather means year-round outdoor recreation. - Lifelong learning programs and arts institutions — like the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley — help seniors stay mentally active and socially engaged. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Community & Culture - There's a strong sense of inclusion: LGBTQ+ seniors, immigrants, and those aging solo often find welcoming communities. - The tech-savvy atmosphere makes it easier to adopt assistive technologies and stay digitally connected.