A great interview about Europe with George Soros: the future of the EU, Merkel, refugees, Ukraine, Greece, Russia. I especially like the part about Ukraine and Obama’s mistakes in handling Russia.
Paul Krugman’s brilliant article on Bernie Sanders: “The Sanders health plan looks a little bit like a standard Republican tax-cut plan, which relies on fantasies about huge supply-side effects to make the numbers supposedly add up.” It’s true, people. Let’s look at reality: everywhere on the planet where the social programs Bernie advocates exist, the middle-class is taxed at at least 3 times the rate it’s taxed in the US. Let’s debate whether that reality is acceptable to us but let’s not close our eyes and indulge in weird fantasies.
On the subject of Bernie Sanders I feel excluded and marginalized when I discover that everybody but me has Bernie supporters attacking and harassing them. Bernie is so anti-intersectional that he is not even noticing how much he contributed to my exclusion.
Contrary to what many people believe, consumerists’ most orgasmic moments do not occur when they buy. They occur when consumerists toss stuff away. They have special terminology and share gushy accounts of their erotic adventures in tossing. There is a new technique called “Konbari-ing”, for instance.
In France, life expectancy has also dropped for the first time in decades.
In a complete bastardization of feminism, people are now blaming their shitty sexual scenarios on patriarchy. The word “pathetic” doesn’t even begin to describe what these people are.
As we all know, I’m completely in support of the idea of reparations to African-Americans. But yesterday’s article by Ta-Nehisi Coates on this subject is fully deranged. The time on reparations is running out, and here the most valuable proponent decides to go all nutso and sabotage the issue.
Clarissa's Blog 
What are these “reparations” that you favor — cash payments from U.S. taxpayers to blacks who were never slaves, from taxpayers who were never slave owners?
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Yes.
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Why? Cash handouts would be no different than a welfare check — and ultimately make no difference to anybody’s welfare.
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The current strategy is obviously not working, so why not try something new? Especially something that has produced great results for everybody who has tried it.
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Cash handouts are a new idea? Can you give me some examples of the “great results” that they’ve produced — anywhere?
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“Cash handouts” are the term you used and then proceeded to argue that it’s bad. Am I really needed in this discussion? 🙂
I’m not advocating for any handouts. I’m advocating for reparations. Like the kind that Germans are paying to Jews and Ukrainians. Or like the kind that Spain is offering to Jews expelled back in 1492.
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Well, you did say an unequivocal “Yes” when I asked you if you meant “cash payments.” I too0k you at your literal word.
Spain is offering citizenship to descendants of the inquisition — hardly an equivalent to cash. Germany is paying actual victims of the Nazi atrocities — not their several-generations-removed descendants.
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“Spain is offering citizenship to descendants of the inquisition — hardly an equivalent to cash. ”
“Germany is paying actual victims of the Nazi atrocities — not their several-generations-removed descendants.”
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Feminists blame EVERYTHING on a dark fantasy called the patriarchy — haven’t you learned that by now?
“Feministing” used to be an entertaining website when it was hosted by the gleefully clueless Jessica Valenti. Now 99% of its postings are simply links to other URLs, and its few original articles are humorless dreck like the material you linked to.
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(Posting at the bottom of the page so my text column isn’t too narrow to ready easily.)
What new group? I can’t find any Internet evidence that Germany is directly paying any individuals other than actual survivors — not their heirs. (Germany has given Israel some sweetheart deals on military equipment, but I wouldn’t label those business deals as “reparation.”)
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Of course, I mean the refugees.
Do you know how people in Alcoholics Anonymous write those apologies to those they wronged? Obviously, those they wronged don;t need and often detest the apologies. But the alcoholics don’t do it for them. They do it to save themselves. And the recipients of the apologies maybe extend them the kindness of accepting.
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Germany owes the refugees NOTHING. If it wants to let them in out of misplaced, inherited collective guilt, then the country needs a good therapist.
I personally don’t need “saving” from anything — and neither does the government that I pay taxes to.
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[cough] schadenFRAUD [cough]
🙂
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“Germany owes the refugees NOTHING.”
Germans are not doing it for the refugees. They are trying to help themselves.
“I personally don’t need “saving” from anything — and neither does the government that I pay taxes to.”
Yes, I know, you can quit any time you want. 🙂
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I can quit paying TAXES??? Please tell me how. 🙂
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand
I’ll fling a packet of crisps in your general direction if I’m in the vicinity of Ipswitch … 🙂
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I normally wouldn’t say anything at all about Bernie Sanders …
However, the DMCA take-down notices sent to Wikipedia reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose, intent, and wording of the law:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/01/bernie-sanders-campaign-sends-dmca-notice-to-wikipedia-over-logos/
This isn’t the only place where Legal Team Sanders decided to demonstrate cluelessness of and before the law — you could even Google that:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=i+received+a+bernie+sanders+takedown+notice
I do have to agree with the UK admin for Wikimedia who pointed out that there isn’t sufficient artistic merit in the logo to qualify for copyright protection — Graphic Artist Team Bernie could certainly try harder. 🙂
[and BTW, if you receive a DMCA take-down notice for any of our musings on Bernie Sanders, please post the notice in all of its hideous legally clueless glory …] 🙂
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Yes, that was VERY bizarre. I have no idea what the campaign was trying to achieve.
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Started to read the Soros interview and had to stop for blood pressure reasons.
Just as you shut down when you hear “ethnic” I shut down when I hear empty undefinable phrases like “open society” given as policy goals.
And I note that he does not want to slow down the influx of economic migrants from misogynistic countries (he’s previously called for the pace to dramatically increase) but simply make the whole process more orderly.
For European women he wants the future to be Cologne on New Year’s Eve forever.
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Yes, that part I didn’t like.
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\ And I note that he does not want to slow down the influx of economic migrants from misogynistic countries […] For European women he wants the future to be Cologne on New Year’s Eve forever.
I am surprised that a Jew who survived Holocaust (he stressed that in this interview) is so blind regarding the danger to Jews from those migrants. European Jews are already moving out of areas with significant Muslim population and are already a beloved target of attack by Muslim extremists. What more does Soros need? If he thinks those migrants will distinguish between “good Jews” like him and “bad Jews” like me, he is delusional.
My guess is he is more afraid of local Right wing parties and the rise of ugly forms of local nationalism, like happened before and during WW2, and “open society” is supposed to guard him from the second Holocaust. For such a goal, no sacrifice (like female safety or good economic situation) is too big.
What is your opinion regarding Soros’s motives?
Btw, most European Jews seem to share my view and express fear of large Muslim migration into Europe.
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“What is your opinion regarding Soros’s motives?”
Beats me. There’s evidence he collaborated with the nazis during WWII (helping to liquidate Jewish assets) so maybe he wants to finish the job he started?
“most European Jews seem to share my view and express fear of large Muslim migration into Europe.”
That shows very sound thinking on their part. Large scale muslim migration to Europe has been a resounding failure (in economic and social terms) every time it has been tried. There’s no reason to expect the results to be better now – if the results could be better then muslim countries wouldn’t be producing so many migrants in the first place.
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Here some proof to my words about most Jews not being Soros:
Jewish groups pushed back against government insistence that anti-Semitism is not growing in Germany at a gathering on Tuesday, saying that newly-arrived Muslim migrants and the traditional far-right both posed a threat to their safety.
http://www.thelocal.de/20160120/german-jewish-groups-fear-rising-anti-semitism
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Yes, not all Jews are the same. Many are not even rich. 🙂
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\ Yes, not all Jews are the same. Many are not even rich.
Would you agree, for instance, with the statement that most Russians today support Putin? Even though not all Russians are the same? That’s what I meant here: that most Jews don’t share Soros’s views. There is no connection between what I said and antisemitic stereotypes.
\ Germans are not doing it for the refugees. They are trying to help themselves.
Are they also trying to help themselves when they decide to search for and seize migrants’ property? Looks like Germans were fine when they paid a little money to a few far-away survivors of WW2, but the moment they decided to accept millions of migrants, they began hurting themselves (and everybody else in Europe).
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That feministing article would have made sense in the 60’s/70’s.
On another note, can I ask you about your opinion on this article?
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/todays-students-are-anything-but-coddled
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My students are traumatized and insulted by any mention of divorce, the phrase “Oh God”, literary characters who lie, unhappy endings, and the knowledge that the Inquisition existed.
Please judge for yourself if that is courageous or coddled.
Students today behave like the perfect consumers. It’s not ideas or oppressions that get them angry. It’s the possibility of a slightest discomfort.
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Thank you for your answer 🙂
I know you’ve written about this topic various times, but it’s quite a hard concept for me to grasp because I cannot imagine the students in my country to be such shrinking violets.
It seems to be a very american problem.
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I’ve never had this issue with my international students. This definitely is an American thing. People here believe that any discomfort whatsoever is not to be tolerated, and this is the result.
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Regarding what I heard about Sanders, an interesting pov (in Russian):
http://taki-net.livejournal.com/2289507.html
Isn’t Sanders in part about “taxing evil rich”?
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Not in part. That’s his entire thing.
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A Danish town has made it mandatory for pork to always be found on the menu at municipal canteens in the latest round of the country’s debate over multiculturalism.
The decision has engulfed councillors in Randers, central Denmark in the long-running ‘meatball war’, which was first ignited in 2013 when the former prime minister criticised nurseries that dropped pork from their menus.
Despite a tiny fraction of nurseries not serving pork, anti-immigration groups have used the issue to champion Danish food and culture.
It comes just a week after politicians debated whether to seize cash and valuables from refugees to pay for their resettlement.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3408011/Denmark-meatball-war-town-votes-public-buildings-serve-pork-backlash-against-Muslim-friendly-menus.html
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This is just silly. Even I know Danish dishes that don’t contain pork.
I hate it when people turn something trivial into a matter of principle. This degrades the very concept of bring principled.
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The point is that the politicians don’t want pork (which is the most popular meat dish in Denmark) to be banned from public canteens to avoid offending Muslim sensitivities.
This law may be overkill — but so was removing pork from public menus in the first place.
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It’s great they have solved all actual problems and can now debate pork. I mean, if this were about potatoes, I’d get it. But pork? Who cares?
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Hey, lady, you can’t eat bacon for breakfast, you aren’t ALIVE!! 🙂
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Bacon is a vastly overrated food. 🙂 Like most turkeys.
Andouille, I can kind of get. Chicken, in certain circumstances.
Ceviche can look appealing.
🙂
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Vandals target home of professor of secular Judaism
Prof. Yaakov Malkin, provost at International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism, receives threats in the form of graffiti referencing Biblical passage about Amalek, and a knife left by his door.
…
In an interview with Ynet a year ago, Prof. Malkin said that “Many are not aware of the fact the Jewish culture has always been pluralistic. Our ancestors worshipped Astarte and Baal for two-thirds of the time the Temple existed. So, what, they weren’t Jews? They didn’t speak Hebrew? ‘Judaism’ is the culture of the Jewish people, in the broad sense of the world; it also contains a religious culture of some kind. In fact, everything we create today in art, music and folklore – it’s all Judaism.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4756006,00.html
Liked his definition of Judaism.
AND – a right decsion or an overkill?
ANSONIA – A Connecticut high school student has been pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting “ISIS” for the “United
States of America” during the Pledge of Allegiance.
…
An attorney representing the school and Board of Education says the boy’s dismissal was “out of an abundance of caution.”
The boy’s mother said at a board meeting that removing her son from school was an irrational decision.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4756070,00.html
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As a daughter, granddaughter and niece of Soviet teachers, I will never understand this American practice of tossing students out of school at the slightest sign of trouble. I think it’s ridiculous. Teachers need to do their job and handle this situation. Especially given that the situation is so trivial. This is teacher incompetence, I believe.
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Israel to appropriate West Bank land near Jericho
International condemnation follows decision to seize 380 acres of fertile land close to Jordan border, with both the UN and US criticizing the move.
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The land, already partly farmed by Jewish settlers from Vered Yeriho in an area under Israeli civilian and military control, is situated near the northern tip of the Dead Sea. No Palestinians currently live there in the area, which is north of Kibbutz Almog.
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Israel has not built settlements in E1, with construction considered a “red line” by the United States and the EU. It could potentially split the West Bank, cutting Palestinians off from East Jerusalem, which they seek for their capital.
…
Israeli officals did not respond to requests for comment on the demolitions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the EU was building illegally in the area. “They’re building without authorization, against the accepted rules, and there’s a clear attempt to create political realities,” he told the foreign media.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4756028,00.html
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If nobody is living there, then I don’t see what the problem is.
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UK universities are mad for ‘safe spaces,’ unless you’re a Jew, Israeli or Zionist
…
I would never have predicted that almost a year later, more than 20 police officers would be called to an event because the ‘safe space’ officers could not protect the students from the chanting activists, who banged on the windows, set off fire alarms, damaged university property, threw chairs, and allegedly assaulted KCL Israel Society President, Esther Enfield. The outrage was sparked by the presence of Ami Ayalon, and advocate of the Two-State Solution, who Action Palestine regard as a war criminal due to his involvement with the Shin Bet.
http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/uk-universities-are-mad-for-safe-spaces-unless-youre-a-jew-israeli-or-zionist/
AND this is simply funny:
Haifa students shout down coexistence lecturer. Protesters call Omer Salem a ‘collaborator with the Zionists’ as he tries to speak at their university
http://www.timesofisrael.com/haifa-students-shout-down-yale-coexistence-lecturer/
It is simply ironic how Israeli Arab students studying at a Jewish university shout down a devout Muslim from Egypt because he is not hateful enough to Jews.
“the two were activists in the Arab Balad party” – meaning such people are political activists in the Israeli Arab party sitting in my knesset (the unicameral national legislature of Israel).
More and more I feel the word “coexistence” means (for both sides) “we can’t get rid of you yet because XYZ, but we’re waiting for future developments.” That’s why I would be for exchange of land and people so that most Israeli Arabs would become citizens of a future Palestinian state (if it will ever happen, of course). Many talk how this is not democratic to take Israeli citizenship from not interested in immigrating Arabs, but I find staying together in hatred to be much worse long term for everybody.
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Very interesting review:
… Несмотря на мое крайне скептическое отношение к современному кино вообще, и к современным фильмам о войне – в особенности, польский фильм “Колоски” 2013 года меня пробрал до самых печенок. Это, наверное, в моем личном рейтинге будет один из лучших военных фильмов – хотя в нем нет ни одном собственно военной сцены и вообще он о другом.
http://naiwen.livejournal.com/1374670.html
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Cute hedgehogs, Clarissa. I need say no more.
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http://www.juancole.com/2016/01/71-uk-doctors-call-on-world-medical-association-to-expel-israel-over-torture.html
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You can’t seriously quote this weirdo website, can you?
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