nothing’s about to happen to me

Don't be afraid of the dark. Be afraid of the silence.

*sighs heavily* it would be nice to have a day when every event on earth isn’t turned into this, but alas. seeing this start as a trickle of whining last night and become a deluge of rage today speaks to the place we’re in societally.

this isn’t about the wedding or the bride and groom or opinions about anything else. they simply had a handful of Jewish guests and a Jewish officiant, and that is drawing intense levels of hatred and scrutiny under the tattered veil of “antizionism.” it’s convenient that the guests being eviscerated for this are just Jews.

the underlying desire here is to stop Jews from existing in public. idc if that sounds dramatic, we’re seeing it constantly. pop culture is a wealthy microcosm, but this is no different than accosting Jews on the street because they’re wearing a kippah or banning the Star of David from Pride, no different from painting swastikas on Holocaust memorials. they do not believe that Jews should be able to comfortably exist, experience life, and be welcomed anywhere without being interrogated and forced to endure either litmus tests or slurs and dehumanization.

we saw this same commentary recently aimed at Jews who attended Knicks games. using hating on Jewish celebrities (for nothing more than being in public) to normalize it is part of the tactic to make that discrimination more palatable.

this ire at Adam Sandler and several of the other Jewish guests is the same ire that saw Scott Wiener harassed and thrown out of a Pride March despite his political record, the same ire that sees Jewish businesses vandalized, the same ire that firebombs synagogues, and ultimately the same ire that leads to Jews being hunted down on a beach or at a museum or at a music festival.

A Jewish real estate agent has been brutally assaulted while on his way to meet a client at a Toronto commercial center, marking the latest in a string of targeted antisemitic hate crimes as hostility toward Jews and Israelis continues to intensify across Canada.

In a Facebook post, Joseph Bitton described the incident, alleging that a man identifying himself as a Shiite Houthi Muslim from Yemen threatened to kill him, shouted antisemitic slurs at him over his Jewish identity, and then physically attacked him.

According to Bitton’s account, the suspect accused Israel of “killing babies and committing genocide against Palestinians” before launching into a barrage of antisemitic insults, issuing threats, and escalating the confrontation into a violent attack.

The assailant then allegedly threw a parking ticket dispenser, bricks, stones, and metal bars at Bitton, then struck him with a thick wooden branch.

Bitton said he sustained only minor scratches and physical injuries after escaping the attack, but noted that the experience left him shaken and deeply unsettled.

“This is not the Canada where I grew up and lived for the past 64 years,” he wrote in the Facebook post.

Local police responded after Bitton called for help, arresting the suspect at the scene and opening an investigation, with authorities treating the attack as a suspected hate crime.

Like most countries across the Western world, Canada has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Antisemitic incidents in Canada surged to a record high in 2025 for the second consecutive year, with 6,800 acts of anti-Jewish hate reported nationwide, underscoring a persistently hostile climate for Jews and Israelis across the country.

The Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada released its annual report on antisemitism in April, documenting a 9.3 percent increase in hate crimes last year that surpassed the previous record total of 6,219 set in 2024.

Early 2026 data already indicate the country is on track to see its most violent year against the Jewish community in recent memory, with more violent antisemitic attacks recorded so far this year than during all of 2025. In total, 11 violent antisemitic attacks have already been recorded across the country since the start of 2026, surpassing the 10 violent incidents documented during all of last year.

Last month, a gunman opened fire in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, the heart of the city’s Jewish community, killing a police officer and a local rabbi in one of the latest violent attacks raising alarm over the safety of Jewish residents.

In May, a group of Jewish worshippers standing outside the Congregation Chasidei Bobov synagogue in Montreal was targeted in a drive-by shooting, leaving one person with minor injuries. A week earlier, three visibly Jewish residents were targeted in a separate antisemitic attack when suspects opened fire with a gel-pellet gun, causing minor injuries.

I love that Americans are known for complimenting strangers. I love that we fry everything, and that we do it well. I love 12-foot-high plastic Halloween skeletons in people’s yards and tacky Christmas lights that stay up too long. I love that we are an unabashedly goofy people.

I love bluegrass music. I love stepping. I love that there are always folklorico dancers in my town’s Mardi Gras parade. I love that my town has a Mardi Gras parade, even though most people here aren’t Catholic or French and didn’t grow up with any kind of Carnivale tradition. I love that if "Livin On A Prayer" comes on a pizzeria, at least one person at each table won't be able to stop themselves from singing along. I love that the middle school gym shakes to the rafters when families cheer for THEIR baby finishing eighth grade and that they bring balloons and bouquets and flower garlands to celebrate.

I love the 80 year old couple at our local No Kings protest. I love all the little kids there with their families, too. I love the brass band that always shows up at protests here and plays old union songs and gospel music. I cry like a damn baby every time I hear “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”