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Monday Link Encyclopedia

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Charlie Hebdo committed an act of sacrilege against Putin. Putin is freaking out like the idiot that he is.

“And by the way, fuck everything forever for THIS being the stuff that takes Carson down. He doesn’t know what the debt ceiling is, he thinks Jesus is genuinely hanging out with him on weekends, and he has no idea what he’d do if somebody set off a nuke in downtown Memphis, but sure, he made up a story about high school this one time UNCLEAN UNCLEAN.” Hear, hear! This blows my mind, too.

Job applicants who indicated on their resumes they were cancer survivors and wore a hat that read “cancer survivor” when applying for a job are less likely to get hired. This is supposed to mean something sinister but, honestly, would you hire someone who wore a hat that read “completely healthy” and indicated on their resume that they never had as much as a common cold? These people sound like weirdos and not because of cancer.

The death of identity. By the way, have you heard of the woman who thought she was a blind person in a seeing person’s body and poured cleaning liquid into her eyes to make herself blind.

[Spanish] Brazilian officials are so eager to seem welcoming and inclusive that they celebrate jihadi immigrants for bringing progress to Brazil.

[Russian] In Ukraine a bureaucrat got so scared of criminal investigation of corrupt officials that she confessed to her crimes before anybody even asked.

A Turkish professor is being prosecuted for an exam question.

BLM activists are supporting a Palestinian woman who is threatened with deportation.

And another heartwarming story has to do with teaching literature and prison officers.

The worst free market higher ed idea ever. Seriously, EVER.

Rape in the US military. The title of the article is idiotic but the issue it discusses is very important.

There are so many extremely stupid people in the world. Here is one cheerful chirper torturing a pained parallel between the US and the Soviet Brezhnev era.

Texas homeschoolers refuse to teach their children anything because Jesus is coming.

Turns out that my working style is that of a Russian(-speaking) mathematician.

The Israeli government has made an initial request for its annual U.S. defense package to increase by as much as $5 billion when its current aid package, worth an average $3 billion a year, expires in 2017, U.S. congressional sources said, this last Wednesday. I’m just appalled, to be honest.

94 responses to “Monday Link Encyclopedia”

  1. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    “Charlie Hebdo committed an act of sacrilege against Putin.”

    The Russian media are complaining that two cartoons published about the downed Russian airliner are “blasphemy.” The magazine has replied, “We’re all atheists
    here, so the term ‘blasphemy’ is meaningless to us.”

    Point goes to the French magazine, definitely.

    “BLM activists are supporting a Palestinian woman who is threatened with deportation.”

    The woman in question is a Palestinian terrorist who has participated in the slaughter of innocent Israeli civilians — so it it any wonder that the #BLACKLIFESMATTER crowd, who love to chant, “What do we want, dead cops? When do we want them, right now!” are supporting Palestinian terrorism?

    The more disgusting issue is that mainstream feminist doctrine ( as enforced on Femininsting.com, Femininste.us, etc.) demands that their brand of “feminism” embrace a knee-jerk support of all things Palestinian, and makes itganz verboten to even consider the plight of the Israelis who are merely undertaking the minimum defensive action necessary to survive against perpetual terror perpetuated by savages who will never accept the right of the State of Israel to even exist.

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  2. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    This is supposed to mean something sinister but, honestly, would you hire someone who wore a hat that read “completely healthy” and indicated on their resume that they never had as much as a common cold? These people sound like weirdos and not because of cancer.

    The study was for retail jobs. It’s an unstated job requirement to show up. That’s 90% of the job. Retail jobs do not have sick time or vacation time. Retail jobs often don’t have a regular schedule and there’s this practice where if the worker wants a day off or can’t manage to come in they have to ask someone to cover for them. The managers wash their hands of the responsibility. Plus there’s a lot of just-in-time scheduling and they often understaff places — which means there’s no slack if someone calls in sick. This applies to fast food jobs as well.

    The cancer hat is part of the “be positive, keep your spirits up” attitude that people prescribe to “beat cancer” as if being depressive encouraged cancer to grow. Cancer survivor gear is heavily marketed.

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    1. Shakti Avatar
      Shakti

      Ok, this is a horror story about losing a job because of cancer.
      They should do a study to see if this actually still happens.

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I had no idea about the cancer survivor gear. This is a sensitive topic right now for me because a very close friend has been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer at the age of 47. It’s incomprehensible that this might happen. Life has a tendency to do this kind of shit to people.

      As for the insane positivity movement, I can hardly imagine that trying to repress the fear, the pain, the anxiety, and the sadness that such a diagnosis brings would be helpful in getting better.

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      1. TomW Avatar
        TomW

        Do you know about Barbara Ehrenreich’s book on the relentless positive thinking that is promoted in the US? Apparently she got the idea for the book after being diagnosed with breast cancer and then encountering the positivity people in various cancer patient support forums. I still haven’t gotten around to reading the book, but I heard a great interview with her and it sounded like the “support” forums were quite negative towards people who express fear or anger at the unfairness of their situation.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I was very enthusiastic about the subject of the book but then I read it and was grievously disappointed, just like I am every time I read her.

          >Another Disappointment from Barbara Ehrenreich: A Review of "Bright-sided", Part I

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          1. TomW Avatar
            TomW

            Ahhh, that was long before I found your blog. Based on your review, I think I can safely remove that from my huge list of books to read someday.

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  3. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    “have you heard of the woman who thought she was a blind person in a seeing person’s body and poured cleaning liquid into her eyes to make herself blind.”

    This woman’s tragedy is an unusual example of “body dysmorphic disorder (BDD),” in which people are extremely unhappy with a part of their body, considering it ugly or abnormal or out of place when in fact there’s nothing wrong with it.

    An extreme condition sometimes associated with BDD is “apotemnophilia,” where the effected individuals, usually middle-aged men, believe that one or part of one of their limbs is not really a part of their body, and take active steps to get the limb amputated.

    In some cases, they have persuaded unethical doctors to do the amputation — the doctors have usually subsequently (and rightfully) lost their medical licenses, since mutilation is definitely NOT the way to deal with mental illness. But in most cases that have reached a tragic extreme, the individual has managed to perform self-mutilation of the hated limb. Then the crippled individual actually feels relieved and happy.

    Fortunately, I never had any patients with this severe condition, although less severe forms of BDD are common in teenagers.

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    1. Anonymous Avatar
      Anonymous

      I understand you are a doctor and I am not, so it’s not like I’m disagreeing with your explanation, but are you sure it is correct (I mean scientifically, not morally) to say these people are “extremely unhappy” with a part of their body? I thought it was a distortion of perception, or a distortion of the body image at the neurological level. As if somehow the sensory inputs from certain body parts did not map correctly (i.e. in the normal way) onto the sensory cortex.

      Could it be the case that those people who want to have limbs amputated are actually experiencing the opposite of phantom limbs, for instance? As far as I know this is a neurological condition, not a mental illness.

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        Actually, you’re right, there is a discussion about apotemnophilia in medical literature that describes this condition as blurring the lines between a psychiatric (mental) and a neurological disorder, because it seems to have elements of both. This debate is important, because how the disorder is labeled obviously has implications as to how it can best be treated.

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  4. el Avatar
    el

    Unlimited detention of asylum seekers approved
    Appeal by human rights groups against Interior Ministry’s policy of detaining asylum seekers refusing to go a third country shot down by Be’er Sheva court
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4723099,00.html

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      @el
      The article doesn’t clarify why Israel doesn’t simply involuntarily deport the illegal immigrants to their country of origin (including Rwanda) if Israeli courts believe that, despite the immigrant’s claims, they won’t be facing danger.

      Do you know the government’s rationale behind the “indefinite detention” ruling?

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  5. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    http://kcur.org/post/university-missouri-president-tim-wolfe-resigns-amid-racial-tensions#stream/0

    Lazy piece of shit President of UMissouri resigns. Yay!

    Seriously, can we devote our energies to stuff like this as opposed to microaggressions about Halloween costumes? I can’t stop admiring these young undergraduates who’ve spent months organizing and protesting against this asshole.

    The sad part is that this resignation came about only after the football team refused to play until something was done about this (thus costing the university $$$).

    Power to the students!

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The situation at U of Missouri passed me by, mostly. I care about Yale because it’s my alma mater but I’m not aware enough of what happened at U of Missouri to have an opinion.

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      1. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        Rampant racism at the university, it seems. Administration doesn’t give a shit. Someone paints a swastika with human feces on a dorm wall. That seems to be the final straw. Administration still doesn’t care. Massive student protests culminating in their cash cow (football team) saying we won’t play unless this president resigns.

        President resigns.

        A tone deaf Harvard MBA with zero experience of academia brought in to corporatize the university even further. This project was always doomed to be a failure from the start.

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  6. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    The University of Missouri president was forced to resign because of the university’s financial dependence on its football team, not because the administration believed in the righteousness of the students’ “noble” goals.

    This wasn’t student power of persuasion per se — it was economic blackmail. (Yes, it worked.)

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    1. Stringer Bell Avatar
      Stringer Bell

      Thank you captain obvious!

      If, say, a FORTUNE 500 CEO gets caught saying something racist and then apologizes (before getting fired), nobody believes that they have seen the error of their ways and have become nobler as a result.

      If you live by the market, be prepared to die by the market.

      The protests were going on for a long time before the football team acted. I would chalk it down to the power of persuasion, thankyouverymuch. 🙂

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        “Thank you captain obvious!” Gee, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever called me. 🙂

        The fact that the protests were essentially ignored by the university until the football team’s economic blackmail is an obvious sign that the “persuasion” came purely from the threat of monetary loss.

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      2. Stringer Bell Avatar
        Stringer Bell

        Dreidel, 20 years ago:

        South Africa was forced to dismantle apartheid because of its financial dependence on the rest of the world for trade, not because the administration believed in the righteousness of black peoples’ “noble” goals.

        This wasn’t power of persuasion per se — it was economic blackmail. (Yes, it worked.)

        —

        Duh fucking duh. I don’t give a shit about what evil lurks inside of you or whether you are a noble person at heart or not. Just do the right thing, either by your own free will or by coercion. And feel free to bitch about TYRANNY to your spouse when you come home after a full day of work signing marriage certificates for gay people, or approving housing loans for black families, or other such acts you find morally reprehensible. 🙂

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        1. Dreidel Avatar
          Dreidel

          “And feel free to bitch about TYRANNY to your spouse when you come home after a full day of work signing marriage certificates for gay people, or approving housing loans for black families, or other such acts you find morally reprehensible.” 🙂 🙂 🙂

          Ah, you do like to lose it periodically, don’t you, Stringer? Well, it’s probably psychologically healthy for you to let off steam that way — certainly better than taking it out on your future wife.

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          1. Stringer Bell Avatar
            Stringer Bell

            Says the foaming-at-the-mouth author of that racist manifesto posted earlier, once again without a hint of irony. I’m afraid we’d have to disqualify you from making judgments about other people’s mental state on the internet. Sorry.

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            1. Dreidel Avatar
              Dreidel

              Says the foaming-at-the-mouth author who has flung unprovoked, inappropriate obscene insults at multiple commenters on this website, also without a trace of irony. Perhaps you should take your own advice about passing judgment.

              Cheers. 🙂

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              1. Stringer Bell Avatar
                Stringer Bell

                Dreidel: “You 4-wives-having, monkey worshipping, dot-on-forehead hindoo!”
                Stringer: “Racist dunce”
                Dreidel: “Unprovoked insult! Inappropriate! No fair! Mommyyyy!”

                DreidelLogic.

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              2. Dreidel Avatar
                Dreidel

                “Unprovoked insult!”

                You’ve forgotten your lovely words to “Dan Miller in Panama” in one of your October 22 posts, “Explain to us, you fucking dum-dum, how…”

                You certainly can’t claim that his perfectly polite post about Netanyahu and the Grand Mufti justified such a vulgar rage. Can you?

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  7. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    Dreidel: “You 4-wives-having, monkey worshipping, dot-on-forehead hindoo!”
    Stringer: “Racist dunce”
    Dreidel: “You called someone a dum-dum. We’re even!!”

    #DreidelLogic

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      The more relevant word was the obscenity preceding the noun — not that I’d expect you to get that.

      #StringerBoyLogic

      This is getting tiresome, so you get the last word.

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  8. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    http://deadspin.com/investigators-kgb-successor-enforced-state-approved-do-1741474007

    The World Anti-Doping Agency just released the results of a months-long investigation into doping allegations leveled against Russian athletes. The investigators found that use of performance-enhancing drugs by Russian athletes—many of them Olympic athletes—is not only widespread, but also supported by the state. Hide your surprise.

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  9. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    http://gawker.com/university-of-missouri-chancellor-r-bowen-loftin-is-th-1741555209

    And now the Chancellor resigns, for different reasons though.

    “Loftin’s decision to leave his position comes in the wake of a letter sent to the school’s Board of Curators by deans of nine of Mizzou’s individual colleges asking the board to fire Loftin.

    Specifically, the deans cited Mizzou’s decision to revoke health insurance subsidies for graduate students—a policy that was so unpopular it was reversed less than a week later—as one reason why Loftin should be fired. (This was also one of the points highlighted by Butler in his letter announcing his hunger strike.) The deans also wrote that Loftin created a “toxic environment through threat, fear and intimidation.”

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  10. el Avatar
    el

    Two minors, reportedly ages 12 and 13, stabbed a security guard and wounding him moderately in a terror attack on Tuesday.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4723519,00.html

    What next, “ages 8 and 9”? 😦

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  11. el Avatar
    el

    Israeli survey reveals widening rift between Jews and Arabs
    The Israeli Democracy Index 2015 shows that 42% of Jews believe that Israeli Arabs support the state’s elimination; 37.5% of Jews believe the government should encourage Arab emigration from Israel.
    …
    On the other hand, 67 percent of Arabs do not feel part of Israel and its problems.
    …
    On the subject of mixed marriages, an almost equal percentage of Jews and Arabs expressed strong opposition – saying that they support the activities of organizations such as Lehava that use violent, even illegal means to prevent intermarriage. Thirty-seven percent of Jews were in favor of such actions, as were 39 percent of Arabs.
    …
    Eighty-four percent of those surveyed, Arabs and Jews alike, would prefer to stay in the country even if they receive citizenship for the US or any other Western country. And 75 percent of respondents (65 percent among Arabs) think their personal situation is good.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4723606,00.html

    I was very surprised to see Arabs supporting efforts to prevent marriages between Jewish women and Arab men.

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  12. el Avatar
    el

    EU Commission approves settlement product labeling
    Products coming from Israeli factories in the West Bank, East Jerusalem. Gaza, and the Golan Heights will be labeled as ‘settlement products’; Foreign Ministry summons EU ambassador to receive reprimand.
    …
    The European Commission “adopted this morning the Interpretative Notice on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,” said an EU official.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4724058,00.html

    I was surprised to see the Golan Heights in this list. Are we supposed to give it to Assad or ISIS, or what?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Many people will buy them out of solidarity, so I think the eventual economic impact will be evened out.

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  13. el Avatar
    el

    Government set to approve final wave of Ethiopian aliyah
    Some 9,000 Ethiopians, many with relatives already in Israel, have been waiting in Addis Ababa and Gondar to make aliyah since late 2010.
    …
    The proposal also notes that this would be the last state-organized aliyah of Ethiopians to Israel, and that following this aliyah, requests by Ethiopian nationals seeking to make aliyah to Israel claiming they belong to the Falash Mura community will no longer be approved.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4724644,00.html

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  14. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I’m just back after a trip to Berlin for a few days and catching up on stuff.

    Some quick quick comments. The body dismorphic stuff reminds me of a related phenomenon where people who would not consider some course of action become obsessed by it when they’re exposed to it the first time.

    That is, there are some people who would not be body dismorphic until they hear about body dismorphia (is that a word?) and apparently the internet has helped a fair amount of people find identities that they never would have thought of without it. Isn’t that interesting?

    It’s also got me thinking of a number of related issues…

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “apparently the internet has helped a fair amount of people find identities that they never would have thought of without it. Isn’t that interesting?”

      • Identity is the last place of refuge in a fluid world where the nation-state has stepped back and is becoming less noticeable. People will continue trying to anchor themselves in one outlandish identity after another and they will keep trying to carve that identity on their bodies to make it stick, to make something feel tangible and permanent. This is why identities based on body modifications proliferate. And yes, you are absolutely right, people find suggestions for these identities online because it’s, ultimately, a consumerist thing. They go online to shop for identities like they’d go to amazon.com to shop for books.

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  15. el Avatar
    el

    Saw this linked by another blogger and thought you might be interested (in Ukrainian):
    http://progenes.livejournal.com/271265.html

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  16. el Avatar
    el

    Spain is eager to distinguish itself:

    A judge in Spain has found a legal loophole that would enable authorities in the country to detain Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and six other Israeli officials over the 2010 Israeli Navy raid of the Mavi Marmara.

    Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional) instructed Spanish police over the weekend to monitor the movements of Netanyahu and the six other ministers and former ministers who made up “The Seven” forum at the time of the raid.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4725631,00.html

    Why is Spain so eager to prevent the current Israeli PM from entering the country? Imagine if somebody did it to Merkel, Obama or French PM. Iranian and Saudi Arabia’s representatives are free to enter, I bet.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Pathetic. And what’s curious is that right at this moment I’m writing in the introduction to my new book about the dirty tricks Spain’s government uses to distract attention from the crisis, the austerity measures, the eroding welfare state, etc. This is just one more such trick.

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  17. el Avatar
    el

    Liked that:

    Кино и немцы, или война для зрелища
    http://trim-c.livejournal.com/717960.html

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  18. el Avatar
    el

    The Washington Post writes about Israeli reaction:

    Israelis say French will now realize there’s a war on
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israelis-say-french-will-now-realize-theres-a-war-on/2015/11/15/2ebd84e6-8b9f-11e5-934c-a369c80822c2_story.html

    Ben Caspit’s final words don’t sound well, but haven’t you predicted such developments in writing about huge security apparatus of the new state model?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Caspit is absolutely right. Unfortunately.

      Curiously, there are quite a few people in Ukraine who say the same thing: now the French will see how it feels to have terrorists wreaking havoc on your territory.

      My prediction: the French will see nothing of the kind and will not change their policies in any significant way.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ My prediction: the French will see nothing of the kind and will not change their policies in any significant way.

        That’s what Israeli commentors are thinking too.

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  19. el Avatar
    el

    // My prediction: the French will see nothing of the kind and will not change their policies in any significant way.

    More info from American sources on how French “dropped the ball” by not doing nearly enough and refusing cooperation with other states:

    France’s miserable intelligence failure
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4726007,00.html

    \ The UN determined that France was one of the countries “under a serious threat” following the return of volunteers “with a lot of operational experience, military abilities and ties to the ISIS headquarters.” They were the ones who should have been followed. But they weren’t.

    I can’t believe French didn’t follow ISIS returnees. May be, not enough, but to believe they did nothing?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Why are you surprised? The Canadian government of Harper just lost the election because of its proposal to put people with connections to ISIS under surveillance. Canadians simply identified with these ISIS connected folks, and that was it.

      I’m talking about actual Canadian people I know who’d say “But what if the government decides to track me” whenever I tried discussing this.

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  20. el Avatar
    el

    \ Islamic State has released a video showing one its fighters in Iraq vowing to attack Washington the way Paris was attacked last week.

    and

    \ Texas and Arkansas on Monday joined two other US states that have said they will no longer accept Syrian refugees, contending that allowing in people from that war-torn country was too dangerous following Friday’s deadly Paris attack.

    Republican Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, following the lead of Alabama and Michigan, said their states would no longer help support the Obama administration’s goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming years.

    “Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees – any one of whom could be connected to terrorism – being resettled in Texas,” Abbott said in an open letter to US President Barack Obama on Monday. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity.”

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  21. el Avatar
    el

    Stadium evacuated over ’emergency vehicle bomb’
    Germany-Netherlands soccer match cancelled after suspicious package located; unconfirmed media reports say explosives-laden emergency vehicle found.
    …
    Speaking at a press conference, the police chief said people in city should go home and avoid large groups
    Police evacuated the area surrounding the stadium. A rock concert was also said to be evacuated.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4727299,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      What is it with these fuckers and soccer??

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ What is it with these fuckers and soccer??

        Rock concerts too.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I just know of that one rock concert in Bataclan. Were there more?

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  22. el Avatar
    el

    War against EU settlement products labeling begins
    A week after European Union’s decision to label goods produced in the settlements, Israel announces gloves are off and that it is taking steps against 16 European countries that supported the initiative.
    …
    The measures include a re-evaluation of the EU’s role in the peace process; summoning the ambassadors of the 16 countries to the Foreign Ministry for an official rebuke; and restricting meetings between ambassadors and senior Israeli officials to low-level government staffers.
    …
    Furthermore, the government will be far stricter regarding entry of foreign delegations to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In certain situations, their entry may even be denied.
    …
    Israel will also be stricter about which EU projects it permits in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. For the EU, these projects are designed to give them footing and influence in the area.

    “They lead many projects which need our support, but you can’t act against us and then expect that everything will continue as normal,” said the official.

    The final measure will be the reduction and postponement of dialogue between Israel and the EU. This is considered in Israel to be an especially important area for the EU, which is said to frequently request discussions on strategy, fighting terrorism, dealing with immigrants and more.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4727719,00.html

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  23. el Avatar
    el

    Update from Israel – today:

    \ 2 murdered in Tel Aviv stabbing attack
    Third victim moderately wounded by Palestinian in southern Tel Aviv stabbing attack just outside a synagogue.

    AND

    \ Terrorist kills three, wounds several in Gush Etzion attack
    Combined shooting and vehicular attack at two scenes in the West Bank comes two hours after deadly Tel Aviv attack that claimed the lives of two others.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the attack saying “Whoever condemned the attacks in France needs to condemn the attacks in Israel. It’s the same terror. Whoever does not do this is a hypocrite and blind,” the prime minister concluded.

    The shooting occurred two hours after a Palestinian terrorist went on a stabbing spree in Tel Aviv, killing two Israelis.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m sure nobody is supportive of these attacks, so I’m not sure what point Netanyahu is trying to make. Obviously, these attacks are as horrible as the ones in Paris. I don’t think anybody disagrees.

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        Netanyahu is claiming that ISIS Muslim terrorist slaughter against innocents in France is identical to Palestinian Muslim terrorist slaughter against innocents in Israel — that both struggles are part of the same war (modern Western civilization against fifteenth-century barbarians). Therefore it makes no sense for the world-at-large to support the war against ISIS, while somehow ignoring (or even blaming) the State of Israel for defending itself against the same terror.

        In other words, what’s happening in Israel is part of the larger, multi-national war against terror, and should be supported as such by all combined anti-terrorist forces.

        Netanyahu is RIGHT in principle — Muslim terrorist shithouse rats are Muslim terrorist rats the world over (The Palestinian terrorist goal is merely a bit more specific, i.e., limited to Israeli Jews) — yet cut from the same cloth, and its perpetrators are equally deserving of extermination.

        But as a practical political matter, haters-of-Israel will refuse to make the connection, and will insist that the terrorists goring their own ox in Europe be destroyed, while continuing to turn a blind, or even hateful, eye to the same slaughter going on in Israel. SHAME ON THEM!!

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  24. el Avatar
    el

    The material that heals itself like human skin
    A new material that is flexible and sensitive to touch has been developed at the Technion in Haifa. In addition, it can repair itself if it gets cut or scratched.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728658,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      These are phenomenal technological advances.

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  25. el Avatar
    el

    Об интеграции
    http://sergeyoho.livejournal.com/120618.html

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  26. el Avatar
    el

    US academic association votes to boycott Israel
    American Anthropological Association passes resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions in landslide vote; Pro BDS groups praise ‘historic result.’
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728851,00.html

    I linked this since 2 things stood out for me:

    1 -” a landslide majority of 1,040 votes in favor, to 136 against” — Is it truly because of Palestinians? They aren’t boycotting countless other much worse countries.

    2 – A comment to the article showing BDS supporters why their efforts are in vain:

    “Love it! Extreme American leftists will be boycotting extreme Israeli leftists- and it will affect nobody else.

    WIN!”

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Anthropology is a dying discipline, for obvious reasons. Obviously, none of these anthropologists know anything about Israel or give a damn. But it’s their way to feel like they still exist as a collectivity.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ Anthropology is a dying discipline, for obvious reasons.

        Which reasons? Different cultures still exist, don’t they?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Anthropologists used to study primitive cultures. Today, it’s impossible to find a primitive culture that hasn’t been in constant contact with the world, so anthropologists are left desperately trying to justify their existence. At my university, for instance, they sabotage any department’s attempt to use the word “culture.” It’s sad, really, but since Levy – Strauss, anthropologists have had nothing to do with their lives.

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  27. el Avatar
    el

    This is from the Leftest newspaper and presents all religious people in the same light (which isn’t true for many of them), but quite alarming and interesting nevertheless. I found the following curious:

    In my view the greatest tragedy of national-religious Zionism is its profound misunderstanding of its own nature: it believes that it is profoundly Jewish. But as I have argued together with Professor of Jewish Philosophy Menachem Lorberbaum national-religious Zionism has adopted the language of 19th century political romanticism with its idealization of peoplehood and its connection to the land. This political view has, as we know all too well, led to disastrous consequences in European history, particularly when it was combined with a messianic conception of redeeming a specific nation or humankind as a whole.
    http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/national-religious-messianism-is-endangering-israel-1.436148

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Good article, thank you!

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  28. el Avatar
    el

    That’s almost funny:

    The friends said Abdeslam told them he was in a bad situation, caught between Belgium and French officials who were hunting for him and local ISIS members he said were “watching him” and unhappy with him after he failed to detonate his suicide vest.
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/friends-isis-paris-fugitive-called-desperate-hiding-brussels/story?id=35330776

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  29. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    Some British MP wants to make the hedgehog the national animal

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      IS THAT THE CUTEST, OR WHAT??????????????????? Not the MP, I mean, but the hedgehogs.

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  30. el Avatar
    el

    Some Israeli commenters say “immigrants will say Europe is occupied too”. I thought it could not happen:

    German star Xavier Naidoo’s Eurovision nomination withdrawn

    Public broadcaster NDR has announced it is withdrawing Xavier Naidoo’s nomination for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 after protests from the public. The singer’s views generated controversy.
    …
    In 2014, the artist of Indian and African heritage gave a speech at a gathering at the right-wing populist Reich Citizens’ Movement, which does not accept Germany as a sovereign state. In a TV interview in 2011, he stated that Germany was an “occupied country.”

    A spokesman for Germany’s Lesbian and Gay Federation (LSVD) had criticized the nomination as well, saying Naidoo’s lyrics are “full of fantasies of violence against homosexuals.”
    http://www.dw.com/en/german-star-xavier-naidoos-eurovision-nomination-withdrawn/a-18866538

    I have not understood one thing – occupied by whom? Not native Germans? He is “of Indian and African heritage” himself.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m guessing the EU. That’s usually the greatest enemy of European populists.

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  31. el Avatar
    el

    Should Israel jail Palestinian kid stabbers younger than 14?
    After attacks by preteens and teenagers, Israel seeks to lower the minimum prison sentencing age to 12. Human rights groups aren’t rushing to object
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/should-israel-jail-palestinian-kid-stabbers-younger-than-14/

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      You know what I think. The people who should be given hefty jail sentences are their parents. And the kids should go to juvenile delinquent facilities.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        She writes about parents in the article too, if you read it. I was interested in the parts of the article subtitled “A growing global issue?” and “A psychological perspective” (which refers to parents).

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  32. el Avatar
    el

    After SB implied I was racist for not wanting to use Arab taxi drivers, I began noticing news like these:

    \ Young Israeli woman murdered in Gush Etzion stabbing attack
    Earlier, Palestinian taxi driver tries to stab Israeli after failing to run over pedestrians near Jerusalem; 16-year-old Palestinian girl tries to stab Israelis near Itamar, run over by former head of Samaria regional council, and shot dead.

    Using vehicles in terror acts is widespread. And there were quite a few cases of a Jew entering Arab’s car for some reason and then being found dead.

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  33. el Avatar
    el

    Interesting:

    The fourth stage of terror is on its way
    Analysis: The defense establishment has already realized that Israel has no more gestures to offer the Palestinians. There are two options left: A real peace move or instructing the army to prepare to take over the West Bank completely.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4729290,00.html

    If he is right, I predict suicide bombers exploding on buses soon.

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Turning any land over to the Palestinians in the West Bank would be handing it directly to Hamas. The only “power” that Abbas and his sham PA have is the illusionary control permitted them by the Israeli government, and everybody knows that.

      If Abbas weren’t under Israeli protection, Hamas would have him eliminated in a heartbeat.

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      1. Dreidel Avatar
        Dreidel

        If Israel were serious about ending the Palestinian terror once and for all, it would end the fantasy of the two state solution, which has been repeatedly killed over the decades by Palestinian treachery and barbarism.

        If this so-called “third-infantida” doesn’t cease immediately, then:

        Israel should annex the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the strategically important Golan Heights, and then reoccupy Gaza, sending its military forces house-to-house, school-to-school, tunnel-to-tunnel, exterminating every Hamas sewer rat found.

        Then, after Gaza has been thoroughly pacified, Israel should give Gaza / Egypt a stark, simple choice: Offer Egypt the chance to annex Gaza to the Sinai, where the Palestinians could assimilate with the Egyptians who have their same language and culture. Otherwise, Israel would annex the Gaza strip, and the Palestinians would be deported a mere few miles to their natural homeland in Jordan (where the population is majority Palestinian, anyway, even if most Jordanians are too bigoted to accept their fellow countrymen.. )

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        1. Dreidel Avatar
          Dreidel

          Obviously, I meant “third intifada” in my second paragraph above. That’s what I get for trying to comment without my reading glasses, but you get the idea.

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  34. el Avatar
    el

    Holland: Jewish student’s dorm room turned into ‘Nazi death camp’
    As part of ‘humoristic initiation rite,’ seniors at Leiden University spray-paint German words ‘Arbeit macht frei,’ mass graves and train tracks on walls of freshman’s room, hang barbed wire on pipes and create swastika from sticks; university considering disciplinary measures, including expulsion.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4729206,00.html

    How should university react (if at all) in your eyes?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’d expel their asses on the spot.

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  35. el Avatar
    el

    Израиль: «операция без операции» на головном мозге

    ​ В медицинском центре Рамбам впервые в истории медицины Израиля осуществили операцию на головном мозге человека, посредством направленных ультразвуковых волн под контролем МРТ.

    Такое вмешательство стало возможным с помощью инновационной медицинской технологии, разработанной израильской научной компанией «Инсайтек».

    Новая технология делает ультразвуковые волны эффективным медицинским инструментом, способным заменить нож хирурга.
    http://newrezume.org/news/2015-05-22-9099

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  36. el Avatar
    el

    I was shocked to discover Кто финансирует ИГИЛ
    http://trim-c.livejournal.com/739486.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Yes. There is a lot of cynicism behind this.

      Like

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  37. el Avatar
    el

    Two real life jokes (one in the post, another in the linked photo in the comments):
    http://naiwen.livejournal.com/1335083.html?thread=15431211#t15431211

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Yes, beware, for Israel is now the last remaining destination for Russian tourists.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ Yes, beware, for Israel is now the last remaining destination for Russian tourists.

        I am not an Ukrainian patriot, so I will be only glad if many Russian tourists come to Israel. Just today I read that our (Israeli) tourist industry suffers from less tourists than last year at this period.

        Btw, the terror wave continues. Just now at 20:46 I see this:

        \ Border Police officer stabbed in Nahariya in third attack of the day
        Six soldiers wounded in attack near Beit Ummar refugee camp; in early morning attack, two soldiers wounded near Ma’ale Adumim; both attackers shot dead.

        I don’t update after every attack, but wanted to explain from where new steps like “Transport Min. calls for curfew on Palestinians in areas of attacks” may come. The world doesn’t hear about the terror wave, but will hear about every Israeli step and be against us as usual, I bet. The curfew article is here:
        http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4731833,00.html

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          It’s not about me disliking them for patriotic reasons. They are notorious for their piggish behavior to the point that there are now tourist chains that charge extra for a Russian – free environment. This means all Russian speakers, of course.

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          1. el Avatar
            el

            \ They are notorious for their piggish behavior to the point that

            Are Israeli tourists much better? May be, I don’t know. I also once read an article expressing a horrible view of British tourists, written by a British citizen.

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          2. el Avatar
            el

            \ This means all Russian speakers, of course.

            All? I don’t think it’s true for FSU Jews, but if you think otherwise – the problem you mentioned complitely disappears since there already are plenty of us in Israel, you know. 🙂

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              If what I heard about Israeli service industry is true, then I’m sure it will defeat even an horde of drunken Russians. 🙂

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              1. el Avatar
                el

                \ If what I heard about Israeli service industry is true, then I’m sure it will defeat even an horde of drunken Russians.

                I stayed once in a hotel at Dead Sea and the service was great. Of course, it depends on which kind of hotel you take – 3 stars and 4-5 stars differ.

                There are hotels which admit only adults over 18 too to create a quiet environment. And it works.

                Like

              2. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                I don’t know, I heard SUCH horror stories. I would like to go to Israel for tourist purposes but this is what’s stopping me.

                Like

  38. el Avatar
    el

    The photo is from Israeli beach, in case you missed it. Loved it. 🙂

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  39. el Avatar
    el

    Interesting article:

    A Dream of Secular Utopia in ISIS’ Backyard
    At a college in Kurdish Syria, Rojava tries to train its future leaders.

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  40. el Avatar
    el

    How BDS tries to scare musicians
    International artists due to perform at Titans of Metal festival in Tel Aviv tell producers they fear for their lives over anti-Israel movement’s threats.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728680,00.html

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  41. el Avatar
    el

    \ I don’t know, I heard SUCH horror stories. I would like to go to Israel for tourist purposes but this is what’s stopping me.

    What?! I know such a wonderful hotel at Dead Sea from personal experience. My relatives have stopped there several times and it’s simply great: great food, hotel’s private beach, a pool, quiet, a good room, etc. When I visited Europe, hotels there were much worse. Of course, on organized trip they didn’t choose too costy hotels, but still…

    And I am 100% sure that there are good hotels in other places besides Dead Sea too, especially if you are ready to pay for not cheapest option. It is this way in all countries.

    Besides, you come to see a country, not a hotel, right?

    I would love to see you in person, btw. 🙂

    Seriously, if you want to come, I could try to ask around about good hotels and read reviews in Hebrew of the hotels you may be interested in. Also, read websites of the hotels for you, if English part is not clear or doesn’t exist, and phone to hotel to ask in case you need it.

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  42. el Avatar
    el

    Mastermind of Paris terror onslaught planned to hit Jewish targets

    Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan origin, also boasted of the ease with which he had re-entered Europe from Syria via Greece two months earlier.

    The ringleader behind the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris had plans to strike Jewish targets and to disrupt schools and the transport system in France, according to sources close to the investigation.
    http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Mastermind-of-Paris-terror-onslaught-planned-to-hit-Jewish-targets-435585

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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