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I am in Israel for 3 weeks volunteering in logistics for the IDF through “Sar-El”. Many of you asked for regular Situation Reports, and this is my first one for the first week. Primer Please see my original post for why I’m here, and the nature of Sar-El: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4237961/posts Tel Aviv • Young: Tel Aviv is filled to the gills with young people. The ages on the street appear to be 20-35. If you’re a single Jew below 35 anywhere in the world, I recommend you RUN to Tel Aviv. The girls are extremely good looking, the weather is hot,...

I’m in Tel Aviv getting ready for a night on the town. This week in the IDF was great! Here are my impressions: This Week’s Mission: Packing boxes of shelf stable food for frontline troops in Gaza. Team: 50 people from around the world with many Brits, Aussies, Canadians, Americans, Brazilians, etc. Unlike last week’s uniquely fit team, many of the participants had compromised health situations. Clearly they were chosen for this work because many roles were seated along an assembly line, and the physical requirements were limited. Results: 44,000 meals assembled and shipped into Gaza. Base: A large base...

Base: Navy Base in Eilat situated at the extreme South of Israel on the Northern tip of the Gulf of Eilat (or Gulf of Aqaba to muslims). Base Mission: Defense against incoming drones, rockets, ballistic missiles, etc. Freedom of Navigation. Base Conditions: The Navy lives up to its reputation as the most organized service. Better food. Cleaner base (essentially no trash). More disciplined soldiery. Weather: Daytime highs of around 107. Evening showers for bathing are in “cold” water that is room temperature: 105 degrees at 6:00 p.m. Borders: From the beach on the Southwest shore of Eilat, you can see...

I’m on the El-Al flight to Boston, just taking off from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv. Here’s my last situation report, and a reminder that you can do this too! Previous Postings: Week 1 was building 328 new bunk beds in new barracks on an IDF combat training base. Week 2 was building 44,000 lunch meals for troops in Gaza, one of whom I bought drinks in a bar, and had eaten lunches we packed. Week 3 was making 3 meals a day for the Navy in the Eilat heat. Now for a wrap up of the last weekend, afterthoughts...

I'm at Seatac Airport (SEA) at the gate for my 10:00 A.M. flight LY9468 through Newark to Tel Aviv. I'm volunteering for the IDF through their organization "Sar-El". Usually, volunteers do warehousing work on base, live in the barracks, and eat with the soldiers. I believe in transmogrification. For three weeks, I'm freeing up an 18-year-old Israeli kid with an M16 to go into Gaza and kill ham ass. I'm 62 and fit, and I can do the warehousing work that a soldier would otherwise have to do, and they can go to the front. Through the magic of transmogrification,...

Hoo boy! I made a nice drink; Buffalo Trace Bourbon (2/3) and Cynar (1/3) a splash of Angostura, and Luxardo cherries (2). Happily, I made it as if I had a friend over, so not a double, but a quadruple! Later, I have two beautiful lamb chops standing by with a large sprig of rosemary for the cast iron pan. Fresh loaf of rustic baguette and fried young spinach. What are you having?

ABC-TV just announced that AP informed them Milton Berle has died, at the age of 93.

BREAKING NEWS Milton Berle, vaudeville comedian and television pioneer, dead. Details soon. Reported on CNN

On May 5, Milton Berle’s joke files—four cabinets holding thousands of 3x5 cards, indexed by subject—will be sold in Los Angeles. The comedian, who died in 2002, had a decades-long career in show biz, working in vaudeville, night clubs, films, radio, and finally and most famously on television. Berle’s live variety show “Texaco Star Theater” was the highest-rated program on TV in the late 1940s. The show was the first “appointment television”: Local businesses reported empty shops and restaurants during its airing, and cities experienced drops in water pressure in the five minutes after it was over, as everyone who...

In 1972, almost twenty years ago, President Nixon started a war on drugs-the first intensive effort to enforce the prohibition of drugs since the original Harrison Act. In preparation for this talk today, I re-read the column that I published in Newsweek criticizing his action. Very few words in that column would have to be changed for it to be publishable today. The problem then was primarily heroin and the chief source of the heroin was Marseilles. Today, the problem is cocaine from Latin America. Aside from that, nothing would have to be changed. Here it is almost twenty years...