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But what’s the alternative? Have everyone replenish the pot every time it’s empty? Then how do you know when the game is over? Is it when one person has all the raisins? That’s gonna take forever.
I mean it. Playing dreidel is like the miracle of the oil. You expect a game to take ten minutes and it lasts for eight nights. In fact, that very first game of dreidel is still going on in a cave somewhere. They have no idea the war’s over.
In fact, that was the whole idea: They wanted to convince the Greeks that they were playing a game, but not one that the Greeks would want to join in.
And then they left before they could get a good look at the dreidels’ yellow-on-yellow letters in the dark and start asking what this “neis gadol” was going to be.
Okay, so I kid. No one could play dreidel for that long. Even the Chashmonaim didn’t play dreidel; they just pretended to play it. No one in history has ever successfully finished a game of dreidel. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the dreidel is not even a toy. It’s a tool they invented to help get the gunk out of your menorah.
But there are variations on dreidel. For example, if your big issue is time, you can play it over the course of an actual seudah, with people sitting around the table for hours anyway, with the dreidels having to contend with all the plates and cutlery for the dreidel to fall on or smash into, and, based on the results of their spins, people can take food from the middle of the table. (Or put some back.) And the house always wins, because the house doesn’t want leftovers.
Or you can go the other way and play a variation called “Speed Dreidel,” which is where everyone spins their dreidels at once, thereby cutting out the fun of sitting around and watching other people’s dreidels spin, one at a time (“Yeah, do a trick shot. We all have time for that… Just fall already! I don’t care.”), and then everyone looks at their letters at once and divvies up the pot mathematically, which is really what the Jewish fun of a game is all about: prolonged arguments about division.
You could also play “Bobbing for dreidels,” because, as I recently discovered, dreidels float. Put a bunch of them in a big tub of water and have everyone take them out with their teeth and then try to drop them on a table so that the gimmel is facing up. For extra winter fun, fill the bucket with ice water.
And speaking of winter, my family plays a game that is a variation on the “Pass the Present,” where we have a huge glob of saran wrap around several layers of prizes, and whoever gets a gimmel gets to put on a thick pair of mittens – the kind with a thumb and a huge “whatever” pocket for all your other fingers – and try ripping the layers of saran wrap to get to the prizes before someone else rolls a gimmel and takes over.
The first year we did this, no one was really taking it seriously until the first prize was uncovered and it was a big block of cheddar cheese. I have no idea how my parents fit that entire saran glob into their fridge to keep that one prize cold. But then everyone went crazy, spinning dreidels as fast as they could and pulling mittens and the glob away from each other in a mad rush to unravel all the prizes – none of which were as good as that cheese – until they got to the middle, which was a chocolate dreidel that had been ground to dust over the course of the game.
Media captionConservative MP Bernard Jenkin explains why the government's process for testing quangos had been too "vague" and "inconsistent"
Plans to axe scores of quangos will not save much money or improve accountability, MPs have warned.
A Commons committee found the whole process was "poorly managed" - its Conservative chairman Bernard Jenkin said it had been "botched".
The committee said pre-election claims about how much could be saved were "probably exaggerated".
But Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude told the BBC it would save "significantly more" than £1bn.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne, for Labour, said: "The committee appears to confirm that Francis Maude is now Britain's most expensive butcher."
He said Labour also wanted to see fewer quangos and savings made but "now we know that the Tory-led government has handled this so badly that any savings have gone up in smoke".
In October the government announced it was scrapping 192 public bodies - such as the Film Council and the Audit Commission - while 118 would be merged.
Quangos - "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations" - are arms-length bodies funded by Whitehall departments but not run by them. They are advisory bodies, consumer watchdogs or organisations carrying out public services.
The government reviewed 901 bodies - 679 quangos and 222 other statutory bodies.
All governments tend to talk a good game on scrapping quangos and saving money.
The reality, however, is that trying to light the much vaunted "bonfire" becomes a bit like a rain sodden boy scout trying to light a campfire with two wooden sticks.
It is just very difficult.
In government, ministers tend to find that most quangos have often been created for a very good reason.
When the sums are actually added up, it is also not always very obvious there are huge savings to be made.
And then there is the cost and disruption of managing change - and transferring responsibility from quango-land to Whitehall.
No wonder then that so many quangos have proved so fire-resistant despite the rhetoric of ministers.
But in its report Shrinking the Quango State, the cross-party Commons public administration select committee said the tests used to judge the quangos were "hopelessly unclear".
"The current approach is not going to deliver significant cost savings or result in greater accountability," the report found.
"There was no meaningful consultation, the tests the review used were not clearly defined and the Cabinet Office failed to establish a proper procedure."
Its chairman, Mr Jenkin, said the whole process had been "rushed and poorly handled", adding: "This was a fantastic opportunity to help build the Big Society and save money at the same time, but it has been botched."
He told the BBC "very few" functions had been ended - which was the only way to reduce costs - most had been merged with other quangos or transferred to government departments: "The only reductions in cost are as a result of the general reductions in public spending and to that extent, the review is a disappointment."
The MPs said the potential for cost savings was "probably exaggerated" in pre-election promises. The Conservative manifesto said over the course of a Parliament, £1bn a year would be saved "from quango bureaucracy".
But Mr Maude told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there would be "very significant savings" - both from those which were being axed and from spending cuts in those which remained - but they were hard to quantify at this stage.
Asked about the £1bn figure he said: "It will certainly be at least that. The savings we will make from the whole landscape of quangos will be significantly more than that, very significantly more than that."
He said the review was not "primarily" being done to save money, it was mainly about increasing accountability, so ministers took responsibility for actions carried out by the state. The committee's report said not all its witnesses were convinced by this argument.
Professor Matthew Flinders of Sheffield University said ministers had told him that "in opposition it is much easier to throw bombs, but when you are in charge, you realise that a lot of these bodies do a lot of good work and you don't want them back in your departments".
Mr Maude said the government's review was the first time quangos had been subjected to "rigorous tests" which would continue - adding that previous governments had tended to "set up these bodies and then just forget about them".
He rejected the accusation the process had been "botched" and said it was "simply wrong" to suggest the process could end up costing more than it saved.
Mr Maude added: "Has it been a perfect process? No. Is it complete? Not by any means, this is the beginning of a process. Should we have waited around to have a less rush job? No. We had to get on with it and we're doing it."
The committee's report also said returning direct responsibility to ministers for some roles meant some issues could get lost in wider Whitehall remits: "This will mean less effective accountability and challenge on a day-to-day basis."
Len McCluskey, general secretary-designate of the Unite union, said: "Unite is urging the government to stop and rethink the reasoning behind the Public Bodies (Reform) Bill which has all the hallmarks of being hastily prepared and ill-thought-out."
Aurora Judge Jude Erwin Alaba could have been killed because of his work.
Fourteen members of the Catholic Women’s League of Baler Aurora Province showed moral support and encouragement to suspended Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia during their visit yesterday at the Capitol.
MANILA, Philippines – A suspected ranking New People's Army (NPA) rebel was arrested by the military in Aurora province, the Army reported today (Sept. 3).
Timothy Burke is Director of Video for The Daily Beast, and formerly of Deadspin and Gawker. He lives in Tampa, Fla., where he fosters rescue beagles and grows citrus trees. See or know something we should cover? Email: [email protected] or [email protected]. Want to stay anonymous? Use our confidential document submission system, SecureDrop. Click here to find out how.
Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh begin Tuesday. If the Senate approves his nomination, it will mark President Trump's second appointment to the high court and solidify its conservative majority.
In his new book, "The Most Dangerous Branch: Inside the Supreme Court's Assault on the Constitution," author David Kaplan argues that the judicial branch has too often intervened in the most controversial issues of our time, from the outcome of our presidential elections to social policies that define a generation.
"The court in too many different areas has intervened because it can, not because it should," Kaplan said. "Whether it was abortion in 1973 or Bush vs. Gore in 2000 or in gun control or campaign finance or voting rights in the last 10 years, by overruling what the political branches have done, they make the stakes higher."
The nomination process for Supreme Court justices has become increasingly contentious and politicized, a shift that Kaplan says has happened over the last 50 or 60 years in the wake of the decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. While Kavanaugh's possible appointment would certainly move the court toward the right, Kaplan doesn't see him becoming a "swing justice" as others have argued.
"[The swing justice] will be Chief Justice Roberts. It is truly going to become the Roberts court and he is the one to watch, I think, in coming years and his regard for the institution and on occasion his desire to pull the cord out of the maelstrom, I think, is the best hope for the court. I'm not especially hopeful but I think he's the best hope," Kaplan said.
Abortion-rights advocates have stepped up their efforts in recent months in anticipation of a reconfigured U.S. Supreme Court, but Kaplan argues that's not going to be the next big issue they tackle.
"I think the key area — and this is what's most important for movement conservatives — is going to be to deregulate what they call the 'federal administrative state.' The agencies, the federal government, operating under very broad statutes passed by Congress, have vast discretion and the court for 30 years has deferred to that. I think that's going to stop," Kaplan said. "Gorsuch already has said in writing that he disagrees. Kavanaugh is on record as disagreeing. It is called Chevron deference and I think taking apart the power of the SEC, the EPA, OSHA — I think that's the great grail for conservatives and I think they may be successful. That's more significant in the long run than even abortion."
Here is a series of moments that tell the story of President Donald Trump's first year in office, from his travel bans to the tax code overhaul to close out 2017.
There have been three Trump travel bans – but it was the first, issued just a week into his presidency, that caused chaos and protests at airports around the country (above, a protest at Kennedy Airport). His move, citing terrorism concerns, to temporarily ban travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all refugees – and indefinitely ban Syrian refugees – soon ran into trouble with federal judges. Trump issued a revised ban that the Supreme Court allowed partial enforcement of; it was followed by the current version that is being fully enforced; there are several legal challenges making their way through the courts.
In April, the president's Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed after the Senate used the “nuclear option.” Once Democrats blocked a confirmation vote for Gorsuch, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell essentially ended filibusters of Supreme Court nominees, allowing Gorsuch to be confirmed by a 54-45 vote. "I have no doubt you will go down as one of the truly great justices in the history of the U.S.," Trump said at the White House swearing-in for Gorsuch, who restored conservatives’ majority on the court, taking the seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
In early May, President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump initially said he fired Comey "because he wasn't doing a good job,” before telling NBC News that the Russia probe was on his mind when he terminated him. The week after, former FBI chief Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel to oversee the agency’s investigation, including whether Russia coordinated with Trump campaign associates. Above, Comey the week before his firing.
As June began, Trump announced his decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris climate change agreement in “a reassertion of America's sovereignty,” casting the global deal as ineffective in protecting the environment. "This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States,” he said. The move was one of many campaign pledges Trump followed through on – and one of a series of steps his administration took to dismantle President Barack Obama’s climate change policies.
Congressional leaders and President Trump made multiple high-profile attempts in 2017 to achieve the longstanding Republican goal of repealing Obamacare. The most memorable moment came in July, when Arizona Sen. John McCain, just back to the Senate after a brain cancer diagnosis and surgery, gave a dramatic thumbs-down to a partial “skinny repeal,” killing the bill as he joined Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to vote no. The tax law at the end of the year repealed the individual mandate for health insurance starting in 2019, however.
One feature of the Trump administration’s tumultuous first year: the quick exits of key players including National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (gone after just three and a half weeks), Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and a Cabinet secretary, Tom Price. Turnover turmoil hit its peak from July 21-31, when White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quit after the president named Anthony Scaramucci communications director and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus lost his job. Scaramucci, from Port Washington, was himself ousted after less than two weeks.
After being criticized for initially saying there was “violence on many sides” in Charlottesville, Virginia – where a white nationalist rally was held – and then giving a more conventional statement calling the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis “criminals” and “thugs,” Trump doubled down during a Trump Tower news conference on Aug. 15. He said “there’s blame on both sides” for the violent clashes between white supremacist groups and counterprotesters – drawing condemnation from across the political spectrum.
President Trump’s debut address to the United Nations General Assembly in September was a headline-grabber that raised the stakes considerably with North Korea. He threatened the United States would “totally destroy North Korea” if forced to defend itself or allies from its nuclear weapons program. “Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime,” he said about the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un – who responded with a statement saying he would make Trump “pay dearly for his speech."
At a campaign rally in Alabama for Sen. Luther Strange in September, Trump said that NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem, framing it as disrespect for the flag. He tweeted “Fire or suspend!” while suggesting a boycott that Sunday. He sparked demonstrations and defiance around the league that day, with more than 200 players kneeling or sitting during the anthem.
Russia and Robert Mueller have loomed over the Trump administration’s first year. The president has denied any collusion with Russia numerous times, but the special counsel’s investigation has generated charges against four people in 2017 – including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort in October, who has sued, saying prosecutors exceeded their bounds with his charges. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the campaign, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
In the waning days of the year, President Trump celebrated his first major legislative accomplishment – a $1.5 trillion tax package that’s the biggest overhaul of the nation’s tax code in three decades. The law mixed big tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy with tax relief for middle-class families that Trump called “the heart of our bill.” Long Island and New York taxpayers were hit with the elimination of the full deduction for state and local taxes, however.
After Republican election victories earlier in 2017, the tide turned in November and December. Democrats won governor races in Virginia and New Jersey and a Senate seat in the red state of Alabama, where Doug Jones narrowly defeated Roy Moore -- whom Trump supported despite sexual misconduct allegations. Trump has a fiercely loyal base but with historically low approval ratings for a first-year president, there are questions about his political power as he starts his second year in office.
Trump’s first year emboldens conservativesConservatives have much to cheer in President Donald Trump’s first year in the White House. Latest news: Trump presidencyGet the latest news on President Donald Trump and his administration.
The wife of jailed veteran ethnic Inner Mongolian dissident Hada says Chinese authorities have stepped up their “persecution” of her family after her online postings allegedly angered top officials.
Hada’s wife Xinna said in a statement that the authorities have denied their son, Uiles, his legal right to visit his father in jail in Inner Mongolia’s regional capital Hohhot and have threatened to arrest her and their lawyer.
“The reason they gave was that I published posts on the Internet making the higher-ups unhappy,” she said in a Sept. 20 video statement released by the U.S.-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC).
“During the past several months, the persecution that we mother and son have been subjected to, has gone from bad to worse,” Xinna said.
Hada, who is in his mid-50s and suffers from deteriorating mental health, remains imprisoned by Chinese authorities despite having already served a 15-year sentence on charges of “separatism” and “espionage” after he campaigned for greater autonomy for China's six million ethnic Mongolians.
Last month, Inner Mongolian authorities sent two officials—one from the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and one from the Public Security Bureau—to Beijing to threaten the family’s attorney, Khas, Xinna said.
The officials informed him that Xinna would be arrested soon because of a new crime she committed and that he would be liable for his actions linked to her activities, she said.
They told Khas that Xinna’s crime was rallying people on the Internet to unite to end China’s one-party dictatorship, which constituted overthrowing the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
They also said Khas’s freedom of movement would be restricted and legal action would be taken against him for informing Xinna that publishing posts online was part of her right to free speech guaranteed by law, she said.
“Considering the claim the authorities have been making to arrest and detain me, I think it is necessary for me to publicize to the world the unfair treatment of us, mother and son’s living condition, as well as the ugly conduct of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee and the Public Security Bureau in their flagrant violations of the law,” Xinna said.
After Xinna wrote an open letter to Chinese president Xi Jinping in March, calling for her husband's immediate release amid growing fears for his health, she said her Internet and phone service was restored and harassment by Inner Mongolian authorities had been reduced.
The authorities also allowed Hada to write an appeal himself, which he discussed with Khas during a prison visit in early June.
But because of Hada’s confusion with emphasizing his 15-year detention instead of his “illegal and extrajudicial detention of the past four years,” Khas agreed to write the letter for him.
On June 19, however, two officials told Uiles that Hada was still writing his own appeal letter, which he soon would submit.
They also said Uiles and Xinna could not have a copy of the letter to prevent them from sharing it with foreign rights organizations.
In response, Xinna, who feared that the authorities might be manipulating her husband, wrote a letter to Hada urging him to submit a copy of his appeals document to her and the attorney first.
But on July 2, Xinna and Khas wrote their own document in the form of a letter of grievance addressed to Xi Jinping, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the U.S. Congressional Committee on Human Rights prior to a preparatory meeting of the U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue, a mechanism to discuss human rights concerns.
As a result, authorities in Inner Mongolia turned hostile and began their current round of persecution, including harassment by cell phone, warnings not to publish posts on overseas websites, Internet service cut-offs, and threats to punish Xinna for publishing “illegal” posts online, she said.
Chinese Communist Party is NOT China and does not represent its people. It is EVIL and the sooner the people within China and governments and people around the world admit this the sooner we will be rid of this CANCER.
Xinna was reasonable in calling for an end to one-party dictatorship in China, which has run roughshod over the basic human rights of Chinese civilians for over six decades' straight. Time up for the party autocrats and plutocrats.
Take a look inside QIC's Grand Central retail galleria with this artist impression video supplied by Grand Central.
Breaking BREAKING: IT is the announcement Toowoomba residents have been waiting for.
News TOOWOOMBA residents have been waiting patiently for the Grand Central Shopping Centre extension to open.
The Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Emmanuel Chukwuma, has said he was dissatisfied with the turnout of voters at the governorship and state assembly election in the state. This comes as a very low voter turnout was observed in some polling units in Ikeja local government area of Lagos state.
A polling station in Lagos (file photo).
Junior’s is launching an invasion of Japan.
The famed Brooklyn diner is opening locations in Tokyo and Osaka this fall, after it started shipping thousands of its signature cheesecakes to Japan in the spring.
The 400-square-foot shops are slated to open in October in two of the nation’s big department stores: Tokyo’s Daimaru and Osaka’s Hankyu.
The Daimaru site will be a New York-style deli with corned beef, pastrami and roast beef sandwiches, while the Hankyu restaurant will also offer comfort food, along with a full bakery featuring all of Junior’s desserts.
“Our plan will be to continue to expand the brand,” said Alan Rosen, Junior’s third-generation owner, who plans to open more shops if all goes well.
The licensing deal between Junior’s and Sakai Foods includes royalties based on sales. With 127 million people in Japan, “the potential is extensive,” Rosen said.
Junior’s is also opening an off-site 2,000-square-foot commissary to handle food production in Japan for these locations and future ones.
Next month, Japanese chefs will visit Brooklyn to train at Junior’s. While the cheesecakes will be made in the US, the toppings, such as fresh fruit, will be added in Japan.

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