By Debbie Schlussel

Even though I’m Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas, I took most of the day out to do work and get food and other things in preparation for everything being closed on Christmas. But, last night, I took a break to take a pic of this very cool neon Volkswagen Beetle Christmas decoration, which is the Christmas lighting display in front of Planterra in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Technically, I guess it’s not really a Christmas decoration per se, because it is not Christmas themed. But I’ve driven by it a few times and wanted to share it with you. I understand that it’s not a real VW Beetle, but is a life-sized replica made out of plants and Christmas trees and covered in lights. Perhaps I need some photography lessons because I tried and tried and tried (using many of the various settings on my Kodak M341 12MP camera–remember Kodak? What’s that?), but I could not capture the brilliance of this terrific display, whether or not I used the flash and whether or not I used nighttime settings and so on. The intensity and bright green of the lights just doesn’t come out in these photos, below. I took these at nearly midnight last night in the Michigan tundra. It was freezing cold (it was 12 degrees and falling at the time) and snowing, and since I can’t take decent photos with gloves on, I took as many photos as I could to try to capture this, given the weather and me freezing my butt (and fingers) off. For those who are better at photography than I am (and that’s most of you), how would you have captured this better? Pointers for next time?

MORE Photos . . . Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

Yesterday and today, a number of readers sent me articles about Marks and Spencer, the British store which apologized after a Muslim cashier was “forced” to refuse to ring up a customer’s alcohol purchase. The company vowed it would never allow this to happen again and to make sure that its Islamo-pandering absurdities were better enforced. But the same thing has already happened here.

While I fault Marks and Spencer, I also fault the many American institutions that have been doing the same thing without any protest. Years ago on this site, I noted that Target stores in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area allowed Muslim cashiers to stop in the middle of checking a customer out because they object to, in one instance, a pepperoni pizza (pepperoni has ham in it and it is, therefore, not halal). Target has allowed Muslim cashiers to stop in the middle of checking out a customer, in another instance, who purchased a pigskin suede item, and the cashier didn’t want to touch the suede or ring it up. And, yet, Target complied with the Muslim cashiers’ demands.

And don’t forget the trucking company, which the Obama Equal Employment Opportunities Commission is suing in federal court because it wouldn’t comply with a Muslim trucker’s demand that he not be forced to transport alcohol–a substance which is legally bought, sold, and consumed in America.

Britain isn’t leading the way on this stuff. We are. I used to say that we are a few decades behind the UK in falling to Islam. Now, I’m not so sure we’re that far apart at all. Maybe a decade.

(Also, it should be noted that, while Muslims have a problem doing these things, Muslim gas station and convenience store owners have no prob selling condoms to customers and Muslims own a good number of the major strip clubs in Detroit. Because, hey, they are soooo devout!)

Marks & Spencer has apologised after a Muslim member of staff refused to sell a customer alcohol. The retailer said that where employees have religious beliefs that restrict what foods or drinks they can handle, it tries to place them in a ‘suitable role’. An M&S spokeswoman said: ‘We regret that in the case highlighted we were not following our own internal policy.’ Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

She is beautiful, has a great body (which she displayed as a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader), served America in Afghanistan, and was awarded with a Bronze Star and other military awards and decorations. But is Rachel Washburn really a “hero,” as was claimed in yesterday’s NFL Philadelphia Eagles-Chicago Bears game, where she was honored?

Only if you believe political correctness and pandering to Muslims is heroic and worthy of affirmative action military medals.

Rachel Washburn was in Afghanistan as a part of a “Cultural Support Team” program–translation: we suck up to Muslims–created to “attach women to special-ops units in order to relate to Afghan women.” Her “heroic accomplishments” included wearing a headscarf and covering up for Afghan men and women. Oh, and helping to deliver an Afghan baby a/k/a future America-hater and terrorist with instructions over a U.S. Army radio because the Afghans wouldn’t let a male American medic anywhere near the pregnant Muslim woman.

And Washburn is proud of her dhimmi activities and pandering to sharia (Islamic law). “I was always seen as somebody they could relate to and not this American imposter who brings my values to that country.” Um, if we aren’t there to bring American values to that country, why on earth are we there? I thought we were there to get rid of the Taliban. That’s an American value, since the Afghans don’t seem to mind them too much. I thought we were there to install democracy and free elections. Again, that’s an American value, since we see in every Muslim country around the world that they can’t handle democracy and always elect extremists, terrorists, and/or crooks. See Hamid Karzai and family for an example of the latter (and he’s apparently an enabler of the first two categories). Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

On this site, I’ve frequently compared Barack Obama and other leaders to Teddy Roosevelt and noted that while Roosevelt said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” Obama and the others speak loudly and carry a toothpick. In that vein, Pepy, a site run by the very creative Fred Taub of Boycott Watch, created this spot on encapsulation of Obama’s worldview, especially appropriate as he embarks on yet another interminable vacation while America is in crisis and ObamaCare is about to go into extremely destructive effect.

By Debbie Schlussel

Early yesterday morning, a 23-year-old Chicago man, named Basil Mohandie, brutally stabbed a woman in Chicago’s Rogers Park multiple times and blinded her. He almost succeeded in murdering her. As you may note, Basil Mohandie is an Arab, and, based on his surname, he is likely Muslim. Regardless, he has Middle Eastern Arab values of violence towards women. It’s in the blood.

I would love to know whether or not Mohandie was born here or if he’s an immigrant (and if it’s the latter, what his immigration status is). But when I called the Chicago Police Department’s public relations department today, Officer Estrada told me that they do not check immigration status in Chicago because it is a sanctuary city. Hey, the more violent stabbers the better, so why check to see if they can be deported out of here, right? When I said something to that effect to Officer Estrada, he quickly got off the phone with me. Hey, we can’t have politically incorrect content in phone conversations!

The only thing Estrada was able to tell me is that Mohandie and his victim were “acquaintances.” Whatever that means. If this woman was alone with this guy in a Chicago park in the middle of the night, I think we know what “acquaintances” means. They’ve exchanged more than saliva.

Charges have been filed against a 23-year-old man in an early morning knife attack in the Rogers Park neighborhood that blinded a woman. The woman was stabbed in the eyes and face, and the tendons in both wrists were cut as well as a major artery in her leg, police said. She was attacked around 6:20 a.m. Thursday in the 1600 block of West Touhy Avenue, authorities said. Basil Mohandie, of the 6900 block of West Nelson Street, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon. He is expected in bond court today. Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****

I cannot recommend any of the new movies coming out this weekend (and it’s more bad news for the movies coming out Christmas Day–I semi-liked one of them), but I’m especially disgusted with the Disney offering, “Saving Mr. Banks.” My review of “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” which debuted on Wednesday is here.

* “Saving Mr. Banks“: Disney is marketing this as a cheerful kids film about the making of the Mary Poppins movie. Don’t believe the hype. This is a dreadful movie that tells kids fathers are bad and subjects them to inappropriate storylines about alcoholism, death, and suicide. From Magical Kingdom to Tragical Kingdom–Yay, Disney!

We learn that P.L. Travers, the woman who wrote the Marry Poppins, had a horrible childhood because her father was an alcoholic who died when she was a kid, and she felt guilty that she killed him because, as a kid, she gave him more alcohol and she dropped a basket of pears. The movie keeps flashing back to boring, awful scenes of her drunken father getting fired, embarrassing the family, and being an overall failure. Oh, and the movie shows us how her mother tries to commit suicide, and again, the young girl must stop her mother from committing suicide.

As if that isn’t enough, we learn that Walt Disney’s father was a horrible guy, too. And not just a horrible dad, but a horrible CAPITALIST dad. You see, Walt tells Travers that, when he was a kid, his rich father didn’t want to pay people wages to deliver newspapers (he owned the major Kansas City newspaper routes). So, instead, he made his two young sons wake up in the middle of the night to deliver the papers in the freezing cold snow and then do it again to deliver the evening paper. Oh, and the Disney dad refused to buy his kids new shoes, instead, forcing them to trudge in the cold, wet snow with holes in their shoes and resultant frostbitten feet. Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

Well, not everybody in the gay community is calling for Phil Robertson’s execution. Harvey Levin, the gay host/owner/producer of TMZ (who is also Jewish and a lawyer), is very upset at A&E’s suspension of Robertson from “Duck Dynasty” and makes some of the same points I did earlier today. Check out what he just tweeted on Twitter (follow me on twitter)

Read Levin’s tweets defending Robertson, below. . . Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

This past fall, while I was sitting for lunch at my friends’ Sukkah during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, I told my friends about my admiration for the Robertson family of the A&E reality show, “Duck Dynasty.” While we live in a Kardashian-encrusted, TMZ-infected world the Robertsons are a breath of fresh air. They’ve done more to promote capitalism, moral values, and patriotism than anyone in American society today because their show is the most popular in cable history. I had planned to make them the DebbieSchlussel.com People of the Year. Now, I’m waiting to see whether the rest of the family stands up for Phil Robertson. A&E’s suspension of Robertson over his remarks in GQ about his moral and religious beliefs regarding homosexuality is yet another episode of cable TV’s tolerance for “anything goes except Christian moral values” and TV hypocrisy as networks embrace extremist Muslims who believe in executing gays.

While I’ve never seen a full episode of “Duck Dynasty” (mine is a cable-free household), I’ve seen clips of it, and I love the Robertson clan. They say prayers, work hard, and took duck hunting paraphernalia to a new level. Even though in my own religion we do not hunt, I think it’s great that the Robertsons found an element of duck hunting and built an empire on it, exuding America’s great entrepreneurial spirit. Because of that, they are living the American dream. Yes, I know that many of them have college degrees–at least one has a masters degree–and they didn’t always have beards and wear camo (a past pic shows the Robertson men clean-shaven and wearing Ralph Lauren Polo shirts in a scene that looks like it could have been a clothing ad). But that’s “reality TV.” It’s not real. It’s manufactured.

Also not real is the manufactured “moral outrage” over Robertson’s comments about his own personal moral and religious beliefs–beliefs that are the views of many religious Christians and Jews throughout America and the world. And, despite the newest Pope’s gay-friendly comments, they are also the views of the Catholic Church, the Jewish Torah, and, yes, the koran (but we can’t mention the koran or Muslims because they were rewarded with “special” status after mass-murdering 3,000 Americans). All of these religions believe that homosexuality is a sin.

I personally am a libertarian on this issue: whom you sleep with behind closed doors is your business. I just don’t think you should get special rights, and I don’t want it in my face (that applies to both gay AND straight public displays of affection). I have gay friends, clients, colleagues and so on. But I also believe, as my Jewish religion does, that it is a sin. One of the basic 613 Jewish Commandments (no, there aren’t just ten) prohibits homosexuality.

Yes, Robertson spoke out against homosexuality, but that’s his personal and religious moral belief. It is not as if he is calling for the death penalty for gays, which is law in virtually every Muslim country around the world–including several Muslim countries gushingly portrayed on A&E and on its parent company, ABC (which owns half of A&E). And, by the way, contrary to what’s been reported, he didn’t compare homosexuality to bestiality. He said that accepting that behavior results in a slippery slope of accepting other behavior, such as adultery, polygamy, bestiality, etc. Here’s the exact quote:

Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men. . . . Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers — they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.

I note that the many gay activists who called for Robertson to be fired from the show were strangely silent when A&E competitor TLC ran the low-rated propaganda reality show, “All-American Muslim,” whose participants openly said in interviews that they admired Ayatollah Khomeini and began wearing hijabs when he took power in Iran (and held Americans hostage for 444 days). Khomeini enacted strict laws against homosexuality, including the death penalty, and he also said that parents should marry off their young girls to have sex with adult men “before their first blood” (their first periods). The “All-American” Muslims and their imams openly embrace the death penalty for gays and want that to be law here, along with the rest of sharia. But there was never any outrage over that because, hey, they’re Muslims, and they get special treatment. Gays were strangely silent. And I have no doubt that had “All-American Muslim” run on A&E, the result would have been the same. You have the same mainstream media liberal elite running all these cable networks infested with reality shows. Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

Was it really necessary to make a sequel to 2004’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (other than to fill the coffers of various Hollywood hucksters)?

I’m not so sure. The sequel, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” in theaters today, is incredibly stupid (with mostly groanworthy jokes) and not nearly as funny as the first one. It is obviously a well-hyped money-making machine and little else. There are lots of celebrity cameos toward the end, so half of Hollywood gets in on the cash action.

On the other hand, there are, at times, some very funny lines and the movie has some surprisingly incisive social commentary about the sorry state of cable news–and TV newscasts in general. The movie is mostly a parody of CNN at its inception, though the criticisms apply to FOX News, too. The best that I can say for it is that I loved the period clothes and set design–the movie takes place in the early ’80s. Ditto for the soundtrack of constant ’70s and ’80s hits. (And the studio gave out cool Ron Burgundy coasters with a “removable mustache” (I’ll post some pics in another post). Read the rest of this entry »

By Debbie Schlussel

When I wrote about my dismay with the excessive hype over Paul Walker upon his death, I received numerous comments and hate e-mails wishing for my death and lecturing me on how much money Paul Walker gave to charity, as well as how much his charity gave to others. Reality check: tax documents show that despite making a reported $15 million for each of the five “Fast & Furious” movie sequels in which he acted, Paul Walker donated little to nothing to his own charity, Reach Out Worldwide (ROWW). Tax documents also show that ROWW gave very little to charity itself.

DebbieSchlussel.com examined ROWW tax returns for the fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, all posted here (the charity’s fiscal years were the same as the calendar years). Despite making tens of millions from movies and as the spokesmodel for “Cool Water by Davidoff” cologne, the tax forms show that Paul Walker donated less than $32,000–if anything at all–to his charity in 2011 and $20,000 at the most–if anything at all–in 2010(the organization was founded in 2010). In 2012, the most he might have donated is $50,000, but it’s likely he gave much less, if anything at all. The documents also show that out of more than $700,000 raised from 2010-2012, ROWW only donated less than $20,000 to charity, less than five percent of the money taken in. Read the rest of this entry »