My son Jason is at a conference in Berlin. He visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp, about 20-miles from Berlin. The camp was the admin HQ for the Nazi camps, training site for SS to run the camps, and where methods of murder were experimented with before arriving at the efficiency of gas chambers. It was later used by the KGB and East German communist regime for ongoing oppression. The memorial to the crematorium:

My son is a sunny southern California boy. The 3-degree Celsius (37-degree Fahrenheit) and stiff wind was uncomfortable, and it not yet the height of winter. Imagine the suffering of inmates from the cold, hunger, torture, death labor: tens of thousands dead, including political prisoners, Soviet and then German troops.

(First King Of Portugal, Alfonso I, reign 1139-1185; also called Alfonso the Conqueror for expelling the Muslims and securing independence of Portugal)

Portugal is a current go-to for Europeans and increasingly for Americans (including BirdDog). Rightfully so. The Portuguese people are renowned for their generosity to strangers. Except to Moors. They expelled them three centuries before Spain did.

The land is fertile, green -- even a kelly green to rival Ireland --everywhere, its cork trees supply the world, grape vines and olive trees are all over. Lisbon's verdant and luxurious Avenida Liberdade makes Paris' Champs-Elysees look like a version of cheesy Times Square.

We traveled throughout Portugal, enjoying tremendously the preserved culture and architecture. The roads are well built and kept, and even the narrow mountain lanes and dirt paths we strayed onto were maneuverable. However, I'm glad that I made a last-minute upgrade from a Euro roller-skate car to a Mercedes, even though twice the cost but more than quadruple the comfort and safety. We drove quite a bit from south to north and west to easy, to be exposed to as much countryside as possible, and exceeded our hopes.

The food along the way is mouthwatering, the baking rich yet light, the Portuguese table wine -- especially the whites, and of course aged Ruby Port, (as in Spain's reds) fragrant, crisp, rounded, and almost sensuous to the palate. The prices for these kingly repasts are relatively economic. I almost always had various octopus recipes, although not Kosher. I did avoid the giant tiger-prawns as large as small lobsters, and the pork roasts and bacons were appealing even to my Kosherist eye and nose. The national dish, a mix of cod and eggs and seasoning is superb. (Warning: as in any tourist country, never go into any restaurant with photos at the entrance or with hamburgers on the menu. Touristy mediocre food, and not much less cost, actually a much higher cost due to missing out on affordable great food.)

The weather was a mild 60F in the daytime but intermittently raining, not pouring, so the winter in Portugal's Med climate is fine for touring, plus far less tourists to bump into. 

Now, on with some photos (OK, a lot of photos):

Photo of my son's fraternity honoring veterans today at the Los Angeles Veterans Cemetery:

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. For most, a day off from work and sales at shops is all that Veterans Day means. However, for those who served and those who care about those who served, aside from a few moments of contemplation, I heartily recommend going to the movie theater to see on the big screen the film Midway. I wasn't a pilot or sailor, preferring to keep my feet on the ground. The movie is entirely factual. The spectacular filming and bravery literally had me gripping my knees at some points. 

I went yesterday afternoon, my younger son going into another theater at the multiplex. My theater showing Midway was fully packed. His theater, showing Joker, was one-quarter full. So, apparently many care.  The ages and genders were mixed in my theater. IMHO, Midway is one of the top five war films ever made. The audience stood and clapped at the end. A stranger, the 40s-aged woman sitting next to me said, you men have incredible guts to go to war. Outside the theater was a middle age couple with his father, age 96, a WWII pilot of the same planes in the Pacific that won the battle of Midway, the battle that turned the war in the Pacific. He took some time to chat and added to the chills in my spine.

At Rotten Tomatoes, yesterday, of course the effete critics gave it a grade in the low twenties. The audiences gave it a 91%. Perhaps reacting/catering to the overwhelming support by audiences, today the critics are up to 41%, the audiences to 92%.  I think you know who actually serves and cares.  

Beneath the fold is a letter from Scholars For Peace in the Middle East (SPME) to some faculty members at one college, whose petition is similar to such petitions at other colleges to silence those who disagree with Boycotting, Divesting from, Sanctioning Israel (BDS), which by definition is anti-Semitic for singling out Israel for claims that are false or really appropriate to despotic countries but aren't made by BDSers instead BDS being about hatred of Israel and Jews.  The letter amply sums up the sheer hypocrisy and ignorance of the petition signers.

A parent wants their child to exceed the parent in life.  I felt I'd succeeded on October 12 at the annual banquet of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation , the "the Nation's oldest and largest provider of need-based scholarship to military children. Their funding is provided by private supporters, including individuals, corporations, and other nonprofit foundations. The organization's mission is to "Honor Marines by Educating Their Children." "

My son Jason, and I, were invited as speakers about what the mission and generosity of the scholarships mean to us and to all the other Marines and their children among the 2300 awarded each year. I'm a pretty good and rousing speaker. Jason from his heart thanked the Foundation and me for the lessons of honor, commitment, courage instilled in him, and the importance of passing it on. Jason 's speech was better than mine. I felt I'd succeeded in his upbringing, and he'd exceeded me.

One of the strong supporters of the Foundation is David McCallum, star of Man From Uncle, NCIS, and a long career of performances.  He is a very kind and pleasant man. In his speech he said the proudest moment of his life was becoming a US citizen. His lovely and gracious wife's father served in the Marine Corps at Iwo Jima and her brother lost his life in Vietnam.

Please reach in your pocket or ask your employer to contribute to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.  The Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis, Always Faithful, also applies to always being faithful to passing it on to the next generations to keep America strong.

The sons and I went yesterday to the Gene Autry Museum Of The American West, in north Griffith Park in Los Angeles. I'd heard good things but in all my decades in Southern California hadn't been there. If you are looking for a truly wonderful experience, go. There are costumes and homages to all the Western film cowboys from the silents to recent, including many Black ones in films you probably never heard of.  The museum has the complete Colt company collection of firearms from the 1800's forward, including those specially made for US Presidents. And much more.

There was one room showing clips from Gene Autry films. One clip only showed the song below, without the intro or follow-up. The jaws dropped among some of the women in the room, while the men (if they could get away with it) smiled.

Each year at the start of the Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, I ask a question, usually how to be more constructive and helpful in my personal relationships in general or with a special person. The answer eludes me and it troubles me that I can't see the way.

As I go through the days of prayer and reflection, various alternatives come from my mind, only to be rejected as too unreal or hollow or evasive or inadequate to the need.

On Yom Kippur, which begins tonight, the longest night and day of prayer, and of a 25-hour fast, the worry that I won't find the answer gets more urgent. My fear rises of not finding the answer. As my mind gets submerged in repetitious prayers and wanders, as I get more light-headed with hunger, as the prayers of repentance get more fervent, an answer always comes late in the day, from my heart.

It's never what I thought it would be. It is complete. It is not complex, though requires more focus, discipline, understanding. It always works for the coming year.

Life is only complicated when avoiding simple truths.

The miracle brings me closer to the person I want to be. It keeps me coming back for more.

 Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset tonight, beginning the ten days of Awe or Repentence that brings us to Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement and Judgment. Although every day we are to examine our actions and thoughts, making up and apologizing for our transgressions toward others and beginning to live a better good life, these ten days are especially intense introspection and self-correction.

 Ilya Shapiro at Commentary: Read it all for essential background.

Crisis at the Supreme Court

The third branch of government has become the source of our greatest political contention because it isn’t doing its job

Yes, depoliticizing the judiciary and toning down our confirmation process is a laudable goal, but that’ll happen only when judges go back to judging rather than bending over backward to ratify the constitutional abuses of the other branches.

The judiciary needs to once again hold politicians’—and bureaucrats’—feet to the constitutional fire by rejecting overly broad legislation of dubious constitutional warrant, thus curbing administrative-agency overreach and putting the ball back in Congress’s court. And by returning power back to the states, and the people. After all, the separation of powers and federalism exist not as some dry exercise in Madisonian political theory but as a means to that singular end of protecting our freedom.

These structural protections are the framers’ best stab at answering the eternal question of how you empower government to secure liberty while also building internal controls for self-policing. Or, as Madison famously put it in Federalist 51: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men [because men aren’t angels], the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

The reason we have these heated court battles is that the federal government is simply making too many decisions at a national level for such a large, diverse, and pluralistic country. There’s no more reason that there needs to be a one-size-fits-all health-care system, for example, than that zoning laws must be uniform in every city. Let federal legislators make the hard calls about truly national issues such as defense or interstate commerce, but let states and localities make most of the decisions that affect our daily lives. Let Texas be Texas, California be California, and Ohio be Ohio. That’s ultimately the only way we’re going to defuse tensions in Washington, whether in the halls of Congress or in the marble palace of the highest court in the land.

I've known, learned from, and respected the views of Fr Paul Mcnellis SJ for over four decades. Whenever he has something to say, he's worth listening to. If you are in the greater Boston area tomorrow, Fr Paul, an assistant professor of philosophy at Boston College, will be addressing an important subject tomorrow evening. Free and invaluable.

Gary Sinise travels and performs constantly to raise $30-million a year through the Charity Navigator top-rated Gary Sinise Foundation for disabled veterans.

Two of my early childhood TV favs have stars on Hollywood Blvd. Andy Devine, sidekick to Roy Rogers and others, also had the Andy Devine Show, Andy's Gang, with puckish star Froggy, my example.

And, heeeeere's Froggy:

Another early TV fav was recycled vaudeviller Pinky Lee.  Hello It's Me...

Remember? Always infectiously happy.

Spent the day yesterday with the sons grueling 88 degree hot uphill 3-miles to Hollywood sign.

view at 1000+ feet elevation over L.A.

Then a stroll down Hollywood Blvd to Graumanns Theater to stump the sons on mini-bios of the real stars of bygone era in Hollywood. This star they recognized (look closely). :-)

Then on to Santa Monica beach, good pastrami sandwiches, and returned older son to UCLA.

Nice day. 

Baseball Hall Of Famer Trevor Hoffman is a major supporter of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. Hoffman is widely acclaimed as a man and player and community member of high character. He was raised by an Iwo Jima Marine to be a sterling player, teammate, parent, supporter of good causes.  On Sunday he represented the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation to present a check to the son of a Vietnam Marine, my son. I credit much of my sons' successes and character to also being raised in the Marine Corps ethos of giving it all, giving it back, giving it forward, and of course intense love of country.

Hoffman was all smiles when my son, Jason, showed him this photo of he and Hoffman from 2011 Little League.

On field at Petco for a Padres game on Sunday, Trevor Hoffman presented Jason with his scholarship check.

After, several other star Padres players met Jason: Randy Jones and Tony Gwynn Jr. Hoffman, Jones, and Gwynn Jr. are all active with the Padres support organization. 

The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation shared the best suite in the ballpark with some other military support organizations. That's Jason and Hoffman, my younger son Gavin following his big brother's footsteps, myself and my better half (much better).

If you recall, last Fall, Jason was honored -- and I brought to tears -- by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation at its annual awards banquet. The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation does an outstanding job of finding children of Marines who merit help through college, and to in turn build a strong and better America. If you can, please stretch and contribute whatever you can to this worthy mission. Semper Fidelis.