We swore we weren’t going to write about Shmuley’s book, and we’re still not going to.  All we’re going to say is that we really can’t wait to hear him tell the people of New Jersey’s 9th district about the time he hung out with Michael Jackson when he’s stumping for their votes.

That’s right: Shmuley Boteach wants to run for congress.

The post What Makes Shmuley Run? appeared first on Jewcy.

There has been a huge, gaping hole in our Tweetdecks since @MayorEmanuel stopped his 140 character update tirades, and revealed himself to actually be the guy who ran Punk Planet.  This left us needing a new mayoral parody to brighten up our lives, and over the weekend, we got one, thanks in part to Hurricane Irene. If you haven’t started following @ElBloombito, or you don’t understand the reason behind the latest Twitter phenomenon, this video will explain why 10,000+ people decided to follow the account of “Miguel Bloombito” over the weekend.

We talked to Rachel Figueroa-Levin about creating the Twitter account that everybody was paying attention to while they were busy taping up their windows, and checking the batteries in their flashlights.

So, level with me: on a scale of 1 to 5, how bad is Bloomberg’s Spanish?

I would say 3. He has all the words there but the accent and the inflections are all wrong as if he’s just reading it phonetically on a card. Like the rich once-a-year-Jews who get called up for an Aliyah on Rosh Hashana and have to fumble their way through a Union prayerbook transliteration. They sound terrible but nobody around them corrects them because they donate too much money.

Last year, one of the biggest Twitter stories of the year was the popularity of the @MayorEmanuel account. Are Jewish mayors (or in Rahm’s case, mayor-to-be) really good at opening themselves up to 140 characters of parody, or is it just me?

I don’t know if Jewish mayors are easier to parody because I’m Jewish or because they’re just that much funnier.  I’m a practicer of the Jew-rule (when in doubt vote for the Jew) so I’m all for more Jews in office.

Were you shocked at the instant success the account has?

Totally. I created it as a joke for my friends. I never ever expected it to take off the way it did. I’m not sure how I feel about it either. Perhaps it just hasn’t hit me yet.

Your personal Twitter profile says your a mom, and editor, an animal wrangler, a Jew, and a Puerto Rican. In order, which of those things is toughest to pull off?

Mom is by far the hardest to pull off. It’s the only job with real consequences. If I mess up my soap or my blog it only affects me. If I mess up my parenting I could end up with some screwed up drug addicted criminal.

Very true. Are you going to keep going with the account? Maybe get a job working for Bloombito as his Spanish coach?

I’m going to keep up the twitter as long as it stays fun. It’s a blast for now but I don’t want it to turn into a chore.

The post Five Questions With @ElBloombito appeared first on Jewcy.

Spencer Ackerman took very little time to climb the ladder to become one of the most recognized voices when it comes to national security issues, the pentagon, the military, and a host of other fun issues that has earned him plenty of notice in places like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Democracy Now!, Al Jazeera, and his current post, blogging at Wired.com’s “Danger Room” blog. His opinions have helped set him up in the crosshairs of some of the most well-known right-wing pundits and former bosses.

So how does one become a “national security blogger” exactly?

Report on the Pentagon, the CIA, the military, the extensive defense contracting apparatus, all that. Do it for a bunch of national publications, for years, and for your own impertinent blog. End up working for Wired.com. These steps are fool proof.

You’ve been sorta called out by Ann Coulter.  Did you feel gross after that — almost like some disgusting curse had been laid upon your head.

More like “tingly.” I would convert to Christianity for that woman.

I see your name mentioned a lot with fellow members of the Google Group, JournoList, and a lot of the names on that list tend to be, well, Jewish sounding.  With all this talk about the death of the Jewish left, how do you actually think it’s doing?

I don’t know what the “Jewish left” is anymore. Does it define itself in terms of its impact on American social justice? On the just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? On…?

Level with me: would you fight Andrew Breitbart?

My only remaining ambition in life is to work for Andrew Breitbart. Whatever path is necessary to achieve that, I shall endure

You tend to sometimes veer off the political path and discuss hardcore music.  Care to tell us your top 5 hardcore records?

Top Five *All Time*? Huge task. Let’s just bound this to 90s hardcore, the overlooked renaissance era for hardcore. Or is that conventional wisdom now?

1. Refused, “The Shape of Punk to Come.” Peerless, timeless, powerful and weird. The best musical performance I have ever seen and will ever see was watching Refused play to 40 people in the basement of the UNC-Greensboro student center in September 1998.

2. His Hero Is Gone, “Monuments to Thieves.” With their “Fifteen Counts of Arson” close behind, but it’s lame to put two records by the same band in lists like these.

3. Avail, “4 A.M. Friday,” the best Avail record and I will fight anyone who says otherwise, preferably Andrew Breitbart.

4. Catharsis, “Samsara.” “Passion” is actually their better record, but “Samsara” was more meaningful for me.

5. Los Crudos/Spitboy split LP. Both of them in their prime. You can debate forever about whose side of this record is better, like with the Biggie-Jay Z-or-Nas question. (Talmudic, no?)

Honorable mention: Born Against, “The Rebel Sound of Shit and Failure.” Not *technically* an album, since it’s a collection, so I guess it can’t go on this list, but like Galileo said in defiance: Still, it moves.

The post The Big Jewcy: Spencer Ackerman – Wired.com National Security Blogger/Hardcore Punk Fan appeared first on Jewcy.