(Greek World War II rescuer Melpomeni Dina (C) reacts as she is reunited with Holocaust survivors Yossi Mor (R) and his sister Sarah Yanai, whom she helped escape in 1943, at the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, on November 3, 2019. (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP) Greek World War II rescuer Melpomeni Dina (C) reacts as she is reunited with Holocaust survivors Yossi Mor (R) and his sister Sarah Yanai, whom she helped escape in 1943, at the Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem, on November 3, 2019. (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP))
Clutching the hands of those she hid, fed and protected as a teenager more than 75 years ago, 92-year-old Melpomeni Dina said she could now “die quietly.”
Sunday’s emotional encounter in Jerusalem was the first time Dina had met the offspring of the Mordechai family she helped save during the Holocaust. Once a regular ritual at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, such gatherings are rapidly dwindling due to the advanced ages of both survivors and rescuers and may not happen again. The soon-to-be-extinct reunion is the latest reminder for Holocaust commemorators preparing for a post-survivor world. (more…)
A family in Lackawanna County was expecting a delivery of dog food from the online pet store Chewy, but a hungry bear had other plans. Video from the Newman family’s security camera caught the thief in the act.
You may have been following the tragic story of former police officer Amber Guyger who shot and Botham Jean while Jean was sitting in his apartment.
Amber Guyger was still in uniform and returning to her apartment after a long day of work. Somehow, Guyer parked on the wrong floor of the parking garage and after exiting her vehicle, she found what she thought was her apartment door open. Guyer pulled her weapon, and entered the apartment of one Botham Jean, who was sitting on his couch watching TV. Jean stood up, took a step toward Guyer who once again was in his apartment and was shot by Guyer.
There are lots of questions about this case that will never be adequately answered. How did Guyger miss the fact that she parked on the wrong floor of the garage? How did she walk down the hall of what she thought was her floor without noticing that doors were decorated differently? Jean had a red foot mat outside of his door. Guyger did not. When you walk into an apartment and nothing is familiar to you, how do you miss that fact? Guyger was “sexting” at the time she was entering coming home, and instead of calling for emergency assistance to help the dying Jean, she texted her former partner and paramour. What is even more baffling to us is that Guyger was a member of the Dallas Police Department SWAT team. Is Guyger indicative of the people in that unit as clearly she lacked some sort of situational awareness as to her surroundings. Even is one were to say she was focused on the “threat” in front of her, wouldn’t that have put her at risk from other threats in the apartment if she were so target fixated on Jean?
We don’t think that Guyger woke up that day and at some point decided that after work she would go home, park on the wrong floor, miss clues that she was on the wrong apartment floor, miss clues that she wasn’t in her apartment and then shoot some guy who was peacefully in his own apartment and being confronted by a female officer with a drawn gun. (more…)
We were never a fan of the group AC/DC, but their song “Thunderstruck” has been covered by lots of people using instruments that we would not have considered.
First, the Finnish version:
Finnish band called Steve’n’Seagulls plays AC/DC’s awesome song called Thunderstruck.
Then you have the 17th century nothing but percussion instruments version: (more…)
Aug 16, 2019
Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 16, 2019 | Comments Off on Once In A While….
Like many people, we generally love sports. We love the idea of groups and individuals competing hard in a contest and then enjoying the camaraderie of a shared interest after the contest is over. We have always felt that sports are a way to bridge gaps, bring people together and have a good time while doing it.
Lately, some of our love for sports has begun to wane. Whether it be NFL players who feel “disrespected” by offers of $30 million dollar contracts, tennis players who yell and spit at umpires, players who when they score in football or soccer think they did it all by themselves and run away from teammates screaming “look at me!” Accusations of cheating at the Little League World Series for teams stealing signs (Here’s an idea…..change your signs.), major league pitchers throwing at the heads of opponents in the wake of bat flips, taunting and general stupidity, we have simply gotten tired of the entitlement mentality.
Do not trifle with the back yard garden of Eden of 89 year old great grandmother Garlene Eiceman up in Tallahassee.
Like many people, Eiceman had set out a bird feeder where birds and squirrels would stop by for a bite to eat. But then something strange started to happen.
The birds started to disappear and some stopped coming her “seed shack.”
The culprit?
A snake.
About three weeks ago, Eiceman looked on in horror when she saw a snake slither out of a bird box where she’d been watching a nest of three baby blue birds be tended by their parents.
The snake’s throat had a tell-tale bulge.
“I started crying, I didn’t know what to
do,” said Eiceman, a great-grandmother of six and a grandmother of six, who goes by the nickname Grandma Bunny. “The snake went down and up a wooden flower box and it went out of sight. After that all the birds disappeared.”
Eiceman was not about to let this interloper affect her little slice of heaven and its inhabitants.
She removed all the places a snake could hide, including all the bird houses. Eventually she spotted the snake. As soon as she did she ran and grabbed a hammer and a twig. (more…)
With all of the controversy and idiocy over Nike, Kaepernick and the Betsy Ross flag, we thought it would be good to do something different.
The Denver Brass and their friends, Celtic Colorado Pipes & Drums, surprised the patrons of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, Colorado with a fun and patriotic flash mob on July 6, 2014.
Great stuff. (Even the bagpipes!)
Jun 28, 2019
Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 28, 2019 | Comments Off on “LEGALIZE LEMONADE” Is The Sweetest Thing We’ve Heard In A While.
After all, we can’t have kids learning the value of hard work. We can’t let them indulge in the entrepreneurial spirit of America, can we?
We can’t let a kid sell lemonade without government intervention!
The makers of Country Time Lemonade have seen enough. The company is organizing to help people make lemonade stands legal in all fifty states without the bureaucratic hassles and permits. (more…)
Jun 16, 2019
Posted by AAfterwit on Jun 16, 2019 | Comments Off on Kids These Days.
Imagine wanting to go from Frederick, Oklahoma to Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to googlemaps, the trip is about 480 miles and will take you over 7 hours by car.
Now imagine that you are two brothers named Abernathy – 9-year-old Louis “Bud” Abernathy and his 5-year-old brother, Temple who want to make the journey. Now what?
In 1909, Bud Abernathy and his brother asked their father if they could ride by horse from Oklahoma to Santa Fe. The father, law man Jack Abernathy, said “yes” in order to “toughen up” his two young children whose mother had died.
