Road Traveler

He died with 200 children in a gas chamber, holding their hands until the end. He was a father to 200 souls who had no one else in the world. As the soldiers shouted and the world collapsed into madness, he looked at his children and smiled, telling them not to be afraid because they were going on a trip together. Janusz Korczak was a famous doctor and a brave Polish military officer who spent his entire life proving that children are the most important people on Earth. This wasn’t just a job for him—it was his life’s mission. In 1912, he founded a very special place called the Orphans’ Home in Warsaw, designed specifically for children who had lost their parents and had nobody else to protect them. He didn’t just look after their health; he respected them as complete human beings with deep feelings and big dreams. He even created a “Children’s Republic” inside the home, where the orphans had their own small government and even their own court to settle arguments fairly. To him, every child was a “precious gift” and a “creative flame” that adults were lucky enough to protect. He lived by one simple, powerful rule: you haven’t done enough for a child until you have done everything you possibly can. Because he lived by that rule, his responsibility grew even heavier when World War II began. When the Nazi occupation forced the Jewish population into the walled-off Warsaw Ghetto, Korczak moved all 200 of his children there to keep them together. In a place filled with hunger and disease, he became their father figure, their doctor, and their only shield. He spent every day begging for food and medicine just to keep them alive. Because Korczak was so famous and respected, he was offered several chances to escape to the “safe” side of the city and hide. He refused every single time. He knew that if he abandoned those 200 children to save his own life, everything he had ever taught about loyalty and love would be a lie. He stayed because a father does not leave his children when the storm arrives. The day they were taken away to the death camps, the streets witnessed something that looked more like a happy school parade than a march to a tragedy. Korczak wanted to protect the children’s hearts from the terrifying truth, so he told them they were finally going on a trip to the countryside. He had them wash their faces and dress in their very best clothes. They marched through the ghetto singing songs and carrying a bright green flag. Korczak walked at the very front of the line, standing tall in his military doctor’s uniform, carrying the two smallest children in his arms while the others clung to his pockets to stay close. Even the enemy soldiers watching them at the train station were moved to silence by the sight of such incredible dignity. When a soldier recognized him and offered him one last chance to walk away, Korczak didn’t even hesitate. “You do not understand,” he told the officer. “The children are not just my work. They are my life. I will not leave them now.” In the end, he followed his children all the way into the dark gas chambers of Treblinka. He stayed true to his word until his very last breath, holding their hands so they wouldn’t be afraid of the dark. When the chambers were opened later, they found him still leaning forward, surrounded by the sea of children who had huddled close to him for safety in their final moments. Janusz Korczak was a man who had every excuse to run, every reason to save himself, and every opportunity to look away, yet he chose to stand in the fire so his children wouldn’t have to stand there alone.

@PolitiBunny Like many a 3 year old I’ve known.

Here’s what’s really going on. *️⃣Democrats ‘knew’ they’d win in Virginia, no matter what. *️⃣They ‘knew’ they could rely on the Fairfax mail-in votes. *️⃣They ‘knew’ if they convinced SCOVA to put off ruling on the referendum until after the election they’d be set. ❌They never expected the law to be an issue because it’s never been an issue for them before. 👎🏻They get away with horrible shit all of the time. So ultimately, they’re not just mad about the results getting tossed, they’re mad because they didn’t get away with it this time. And they don’t know how to deal with being told NO.

In 1987, 7-year-old Beth Usher was suffering more than 100 seizures a day from a rare brain disease called Rasmussen’s encephalitis. Doctors told her family the only chance to save her life was a hemispherectomy: Removing half her brain. As Beth prepared for surgery at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, her mother reached out to Fred Rogers hoping for something small to comfort her daughter. Maybe an autograph. Instead, Mister Rogers called personally. For nearly an hour, Fred Rogers talked with Beth on the phone and even let her speak to the puppets from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Then the surgery happened. Complications left Beth in a deep coma. Most celebrities would have sent flowers. Fred Rogers got in his car and drove from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. He arrived at the hospital carrying a suitcase filled with the original Neighborhood puppets. And for hours, he performed a private puppet show beside the bed of a little girl who couldn’t even open her eyes. No cameras. No reporters. No publicity. Just Fred Rogers sitting quietly beside a sick child because he believed she mattered. Before leaving, he made another decision: He left the puppets behind so they would be the first “friends” Beth saw when she woke up. Eventually, she did. And Beth later said the comfort of those puppets — and Fred’s calm presence — helped her feel safe during the most terrifying time of her life. But the story didn’t end there. Fred Rogers kept calling Beth every year on her birthday. He wrote letters to her as she grew older. They remained friends until his death in 2003. Today, Beth Usher advocates for people with disabilities and often shares the story of her “neighbor” to show what compassion can really look like. Not performance. Not branding. Not publicity. Just a man who spent his life making children feel safe — and who was exactly the same person when nobody was watching.

.@KathyHochul raised taxes by $8 billion. I cancelled a $150 million property tax hike in Nassau. I balanced the budget, and I never raised sales taxes a single penny. That is the record I’ll bring to all of New York.

If you live in NY State, and don't vote, you are the problem!! Ditch the Witch

@therealmissjo @LABeachGal1 US Law is far from perfect, but at least if we had real judges criminals could be put away where they belong. In the above account it sounds like they couldn’t punish these monsters if they wanted to I seriously do not comprehend why the left does not want to punish criminals.

Words fail me. A 14 year old disabled girl was in a shopping centre in Uppsala, Sweden last November. Two boys dragged her into the disabled toilets where they took it in turns to rape her, over several hours, beating her buttocks and back and threatening her with violence if she reported the rape. They also filmed it all, and said they would spread the video if she told anyone. Thankfully, she ignored that, told the police and they have found and charged the two boys. So who are the two boys? The first is a 17 year old Syrian immigrant who has been given a Swedish passport. As such, under Swedish law he cannot be deported. He has been charged with making child pornography (which he admits) as well as rape. He was also convicted of aggravated assault after repeatedly kicking a man in the head a couple of months ago. For that offence had to do 70 hours of youth service. The second is a 14 year old Afghan immigrant. Under Swedish law he cannot be found to be criminally liable because of his age. Therefore he will be assessed for guilt but there will be no penalty even if he is found guilty.

@GavinNewsom And all history going forward will remember you as a communist and a liar.

Canceling elections. Silencing free speech. Deploying private police against your own citizens. History has a term for Donald Trump's behavior.

OK, here's why the Democrats got kicked in the groin by the Virginia Supreme Court. The people of Virginia, in trying to protect against momentary democratic (small 'd') emotions of the day, put into their Constitution that, in order to amend it, there had to be two things happen. First, any proposal to amend their Constitution required that two legislatures, separated by an election (and there's the big part), vote to put the amendment before the people. The Virginia Democrats didn't do that. They stuck the first reading into a special budgetary session, and the next reading into a general session. While the resolution passed both times, there wasn't an election in between the two votes. So there was no election that separated the legislature who voted in a special session, and the legislature that voted for the amendment in the general session. Moreover, the Virginia Constitution required that the votes be taken in two general legislature sessions. The special session that was called was not a general session. So this action violated the Virginia Constitution in two separate ways. Which is why the Virginia Supreme Court shot it down. So when you see the Democrats whining because 'democracy was overturned,' they're right. Because we're not a democracy, and neither is Virginia. We're a republic, and so is Virginia. We're ruled by the Constitution and the rule of law, not by mob rule, which the Democrats prefer.

@JoanneMason11 Why exactly do they have to spit on their hands? That’s just gross.

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and start slitting throats." --H. L. Mencken

@itsrosesm I think I’d get another dog, maybe a happy little toy poodle and fly a few more American flags. And start barbecuing a lot of pork. I was also going to say fly a Christian flag, but decided that was inappropriate for my intentions.

if a Muslim neighbor demands you remove your dog to respect Islam, what would you do?

@realMaalouf What brilliant work and exemplary achievements is he referring to, pray tell. The main thing I’ve heard about was the rape gangs and getting cops to go along with it.

STARMER: “I want to congratulate the Muslim community for their brilliant work and exemplary achievements in the UK. Islamophobia is the problem in the country, and I’m utterly committed to eradicating it from society!” Is he right?

@PolitiBunny See, even birds know there comes a time when the baby has to leave the nest!

Sitting on the back porch with the dogs this morning and saw a mama bird push a baby bird out of the nest. In real-time. I panicked a little. Trixie woofed under her breath. Casper snored. Just as I was trying to think of ways to protect the baby bird from my vicious, man-eating corgs throughout the day, the baby bird jumped around, and took flight. Not a long flight, just a short one. Heard mama bird squawk. Baby bird bounced around some more. Trixie woofed under her breath again. Casper slowly opened one eye. Baby bird took flight across the yard … about two feet off the ground. Mama bird squawked again. LOUDER. Baby bird bounced a LOT, like maybe halfway across the yard, and took off. Just look that. It was a little low and all over the place but baby flew out of the yard. I almost clapped. Being a mama bird is hard.🩵 The little things … 🐦💛

@Herschey279 @CptAllenHistory No, evil begets retaliation. You’d think Palestinians would learn not to kick the bear. But no, their desire to destroy Israel and all Jews outweighs any hope for peace.

@CptAllenHistory You know that each time you mention an act of barbarism against Israelis you’ll be answered with reports and evidence of similar or even worse cowardly acts against innocent Palestinians, the only difference being these will be on a larger scale. Evil begets evil.

This Day (May 8) in 2001, the walls of a remote cave in the Judean Desert were covered with the blood of two Jewish boys — deliberately smeared there by their Palestinian killers in a final act of barbaric triumph. Koby Mandell (13) and Yosef Ishran (14) had gone hiking near their homes when they were ambushed. The terrorists bound their hands, stabbed them repeatedly, and beat them to death with rocks. The mutilation was so horrific that forensic teams needed dental records to identify the bodies. This was no random act of violence. This was the sadistic murder of two innocent Jewish children during the early days of the Second Intifada — the terror campaign Yasser Arafat deliberately launched after rejecting Ehud Barak’s generous peace offer at Camp David (a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital). Just months earlier, Arafat had chosen the path of blood instead of peace. Koby and Yosef paid the price with unimaginable cruelty. Seasoned Israeli investigators were shaken to their core. These weren’t soldiers. They were children, simply hiking near their village in their ancestral homeland. Their mothers waited in agony as the search dragged on. When the bodies were found, the scene was almost unspeakable. Nothing about this is or has ever been “resistance.” Aiming to destroy the world's only Jewish state and wipe out all Jewish men, women and children has been the goal. Never forget Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran.

@MrPitbull07 @LABeachGal1 Gives me goosebumps!

May 15, 1963. Astronaut Gordon Cooper climbed into a capsule barely larger than a phone booth and launched into space aboard Faith 7. The mission was simple on paper: Orbit Earth 22 times. Stay in space for a full day. Come home alive. For most of the flight, everything worked perfectly. Then, on the 19th orbit, the warning lights came on. First, a faulty sensor falsely reported reentry. Then the electrical system failed. One by one, the automated controls died. Guidance system: dead. Orientation system: dead. Reentry calculations: dead. At 165 miles above Earth, Gordon Cooper suddenly had no functioning instruments to bring him home. And reentry is unforgiving. Too shallow, and the capsule skips off the atmosphere into space forever. Too steep, and friction turns it into a fireball. The difference between life and death was fractions of a degree. Mission Control could only watch. So Cooper became the computer. He drew reference marks on the capsule window with a pen. He stared at the stars he had memorized before launch and used them to orient the spacecraft by eye. He strapped a wristwatch to his arm and timed everything manually. Then he did the math in his head. No autopilot. No navigation system. No backup computer. Just a man, a watch, and the stars. At exactly the right second, Cooper fired the retrorockets manually. The capsule dropped into Earth’s atmosphere. For several minutes, communication vanished as plasma wrapped the spacecraft in fire. Nobody on Earth could contact him. Then the parachutes opened. Faith 7 splashed down just 4.4 miles from the recovery ship USS Kearsarge — the most accurate splashdown of the entire Mercury program. Later, Cooper described it simply: “I used my wristwatch for time, my eyeballs out the window for attitude.” That’s it. In one of the most dangerous moments in early spaceflight history, a human being outperformed the machines. We live in a world obsessed with automation and software. But Gordon Cooper’s flight is a reminder that when everything breaks, the final backup system is still the human mind. Calm under pressure. Thinking clearly. Making the call when nobody else can. It was true in 1963. It still is.

Praying that happens! Save my Granny’s country!

@openshutter21 Beautiful!

Nothing has me more awestruck than stars reflecting off of the water.

A man saved 24 Jewish lives in Nazi occupied Tunisia in 1942. He hid them on his farm for four months. He never told his own children what he had done. His name was Khaled Abdul-Wahab. You have probably never heard it. In November 1942, German troops landed in Tunisia. It was the only Arab country directly occupied by Nazi Germany. The orders came fast. Yellow stars. Confiscated property. Jewish men sent to forced labor camps. 5,000 of them. Then the soldiers started moving into Jewish homes and pushing the families out into the street. Khaled was 31. A Tunisian Arab. Muslim. Son of a wealthy landowning family. He had Jewish friends his whole life. Tunisia had been home to Jews for 2,000 years. He spoke German. The officers liked him. They invited him to dinner. December 1942. Mahdia. A coastal town. Khaled is sitting at a table with German officers. One of them is drunk. He starts bragging. He says the Germans have set up a brothel in town. With Jewish women. Forced into it. He says he has picked one for himself. A pretty Jewish woman. Already married. A mother. He doesn't care. He says her name out loud. Odette Boukris. Khaled knows the name. The Boukris family are old friends of his father. He keeps his face still. Pours the officer more wine. Smiles. Eats. Then he makes an excuse. Drives the drunk officer home. Then drives straight to where the Jewish families are hiding. He bangs on the door at midnight. Tells them everything. The brothel. The officer. Odette. Tomorrow night. He says: pack now. Bring nothing. Come with me. He takes 24 people. The whole Boukris family. The Ouzzan family. Cousins. Children. Babies. He drives them 20 miles through the night to his farm. He hides them in his olive press. In his stables. In his storage rooms. Then he keeps them there for four months. Hiding 24 Jews under Nazi occupation was not a single act of courage. It was 120 days of it. He had to feed them in a country where food was running out. He had to keep babies quiet. He had to keep his servants quiet. Any one of them could have turned him in. He had to deal with German soldiers who came to the farm to count Jewish heads. When they came, the families put on their yellow stars. Stood still. Were counted. When the Germans left, the stars came off. One night a drunk German soldier wandered onto the farm and found the families. A girl named Edmee Ouzzan was 11 years old. She was hidden under a bed. She watched the soldier laugh and tell the families he was going to kill them all. Then Khaled appeared. She remembered him later as a guardian angel. He talked the soldier outside. Took his gun. Sent him away. Nobody on the farm died. In May 1943 the British liberated Tunisia. The 24 Jews went home. Some had homes left. Some did not. All of them were alive. Khaled went back to his quiet life. He got married. Had two daughters. Faiza and Papo. Painted. Traveled. Worked in government. He never spoke about what he had done. Not to his wife. Not to his daughters. Not to his neighbors. He died on September 4, 1997. Age 86. His daughters did not know. This is where the story should have ended. A man who saved 24 lives, buried in a Tunisian cemetery, the secret going into the ground with him. Then in 2007, his daughter Faiza was sitting in Paris reading a Sunday newspaper. She turned the page and saw an interview with an American historian named Robert Satloff. He was talking about a Tunisian Arab who had hidden 24 Jews in 1942. He was using her father's name. She had been alive 45 years. She had never heard the story. She read it twice. She cried. She tracked Satloff down and asked him: is this true? He told her it was. Anny Boukris, who had been a child hiding on Khaled's farm, had given him 83 pages of testimony before she died. Satloff had gone to Mahdia. Found the old people who remembered. Confirmed every detail. Faiza spent the next years finding her father's old friends. His old papers. His photos. Building the man she thought she knew into the man he actually was. She said: "I rediscovered my father." Satloff nominated Khaled to Yad Vashem for the title Righteous Among the Nations. Khaled would have been the first Arab ever recognized. Yad Vashem said no. Said he had not risked his own life enough. Said he had hosted the Jews, not hidden them. Faiza answered with one of the most devastating lines any daughter has ever spoken about her father: "My father opened his home to Jews. Yad Vashem did not open their home to us." The 24 people Khaled saved have hundreds of descendants today. In Israel. In France. In America. In Tunisia. Many of them light a candle for him every year. The little girl who was hidden under the bed grew up. Moved to Paris. Had children. Those children had children. None of them would exist if Khaled had kept eating his dinner. He was 31 years old. He spoke German. He had a quiet life and an easy farm. He had everything to lose and no reason to put any of it on the line. He did it anyway. Then he never spoke of it again. His own children did not know. Anny Boukris died weeks after handing over her testimony. The chain of memory almost broke a second time. Yad Vashem refused him the title. Most history books still do not include him. The world forgot him once when he was alive. Forgot him again when he died. Was about to forget him a third time. Now you know. If you do not tell someone, the silence wins again.

The American experiment of being the world’s “melting pot” has utterly and completely failed. It was never meant to include the third world who refused to assimilate. It was never meant to include Islam. Let’s just be clear about that.

@HazyHawg lol!

@DoMil123 Sticker shock

🍻

@GavinNewsom That’s funny since there are ZERO Republican representatives from New England and it’s been that way long before Trump ran for office.

No vote in Tennessee (+1 GOP) No vote in Florida (+4 GOP) No vote in Missouri (+1 GOP) No vote in North Carolina (+2 GOP) No vote in Texas (+5 GOP) Virginia’s voter-approved maps thrown out. MAGA has rigged the system.