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Wednesday Link Encyclopedia

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Brexit is winning the day because the EU never generated any emotional attachment.

A new line of jewelry that blooms with just a drop of water.

Standard of care is often based on false information provided by lobbyists.

The childish bickering over the words “radical Islam” needs to stop. Obama insists there is nothing magical about them yet he behaves like there absolutely is. So annoying.

The public space is polluted by idiots of shocking proportions. Consider the freakazoid who said the following: “The sacred monotheistic texts contain prohibitions that would by just about any legal definition be considered hate speech in the modern secular world.” Smug as a clam in his intense dumbness.

These emotions are not nameless!

The drama of the Russian avant-garde.

How Putin became president: detailed, informative and important. Highly recommended.

This is one of the reasons we are so enthusiastic about Hillary. And it’s a pretty major one.

I feel intense vicarious shame when I see adult people write this kind of stuff: “Facebook, Instagram, and other social media often feature a constant steam of fabulous moments that often inspire envy or guilt in others who are not achieving the same level of excitement in their own lives.” How can people be so lacking in insight? It’s not Facebook that inspired this guilt in you, you dumb creature. These feelings predate the invention of Facebook by decades.

How propaganda is created to make Hillary look bad.

How is it even possible that such disgusting, horrible people exist? They treat children as consumer goods yet we tolerate these animals in our midst. Shame on us all.

Why you don’t need to worry about robots.

38 responses to “Wednesday Link Encyclopedia”

  1. el Avatar
    el

    A change or just a temporary development?

    The number of asylum-seekers arriving in Germany has fallen to fewer than 150 a day, according to newly leaked figures.

    The sharp drop in arrivals will ease the pressure on Angela Merkel over her “open-door” refugee policy.

    It comes after countries along the so-called “Balkan Route” closed their borders to migrants, effectively sealing asylum-seekers in Greece.

    German federal police registered just 808 new arrivals in the five days from Friday, March 18 to Wednesday 23, according to figures leaked to Bild newspaper. That was an average of 135 migrants a day, a far cry from the 1.1m who entered Germany last year – an average of just over 3,000 per day.

    As recently as mid-February more than 2,000 asylum-seekers were crossing Germany’s borders each day.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/27/asylum-seeker-arrivals-in-germany-drop-to-less-than-150-per-day/

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  2. el Avatar
    el

    While the burqini may sound straightforward, it is quite controversial. German media recently reported that a public pool in Neutraubling in the German state of Bavaria had banned swimmers from wearing burqinis. According to Abendzeitung, the decision had been made after a young woman had turned up to a water aerobics class in a burqini. A number of other women in the class had complained, which led town officials to decide the outfit was not appropriate at the pool and should not be allowed.
    http://www.germanjoys.eu/2016/06/a-modesty-proposal.html#comments

    I still do not understand what right they had to complain about her burqini. How did it concern them? Also, it’s kind of funny: let in millions of really different from you people, but when they try to fit in by joining water aerobics classes complain and hinder their first steps of integration. If they don’t look 100% German, throw them out of this class and from, I am sure, many other much more important places.

    Also, was interested in American VS European attitudes to public resources. Is the author correct in his observations?

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m sure that if I went to Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan and started prancing around in a g-string bikini, local people would decide it’s inappropriate, too. And it’s their right to object.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ I’m sure that if I went to Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan and started prancing around in a g-string bikini, local people would decide it’s inappropriate, too. And it’s their right to object.

        Saudi Arabia is not exactly opening its gates for millions of “Others” / others.

        Also, as the saying goes, “it may be (a) right, but is it wise?”

        Those German women didn’t seem to be ready to do the smallest effort to be welcoming. Even ignoring a religious Muslim woman was too hard for them. Somebody commented that on Washington Post site:

        \ I was lucky enough to enjoy that very pool several times with Bavarian friends when I lived nearby. They were very kind and generous to someone who did not understand the way they did things, and who barely understood their language. I think perhaps that this “swimsuit” represented something that makes them feel threatened. So much is happening in their country that is completely out of their control (just ask a Bavarian if he or she feels fairly represented in Berlin, and brace for the answer.) This swimwear represented a drastic change to the way those people were raised–kids of either gender always felt perfectly safe to swim naked, if they chose to, and no fuss is made on many European beaches about toplessness. Now, they are in a turbulent, unpredictable period of upheaval. I think their reaction to that burqini was really a reaction to everything going on around them. I know a lot of women today who still use that pool. They’ve lived there all their lives. Many generations of their families have. Rest assured, their goal was not to exclude that woman–it was to show that in their culture, in that place, women should be able to wear swimsuits that are designed for comfort and practicality, and not to adhere to foreign cultural/religious restrictions on dress that suppress their freedom. \

        Unlike the author, I do not believe in the complaining women being motivated by the desire to ” show that in their culture, in that place, women should be able to wear swimsuits that are designed for comfort and practicality.” The bit about being threatened sounded right, though.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I’m an immigrant, and I don’t believe anybody is obligated to accommodate me in any way. If people do, I’m grateful, if not, I understand. I don’t think I did this continent a favor by showing up here. Immigrants adapt. Those who are unwilling to do so should stay home.

          I’m not living in any upheaval but I don’t want images of female degradation stuck in my face, that’s all. I’m not threatened by degraded, humiliated women. I’m insulted by them.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    Another interesting comment:

    \I’ve been sort of waiting for this kind of thing. I lived in a small Bavarian town for nearly 20 years and I can tell you that no issue is more important in these little towns than the right behavior in the local swimming pools. Supported by local taxes, there are so many interests to be served that time allocations are strictly maintained for every sort of group, WW2 wounded veterans, wives of WW2 wounded veterans, all sorts of women only times, men only times, children only times, lap times, open swimming times and the list goes on. The full force of German regulation falls on these swimming halls and you can expect at some point burkinis will be regulated.\

    (Wo)men only times are A-OK, but burkinis are too conservative. 🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I never lived in a small Bavarian town but I fully share the objection of these women to being exposed to images of degraded women. How would you feel if you were forced to be in the company of people who are visibly degraded specifically for being Jews?

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        \ How would you feel if you were forced to be in the company of people who are visibly degraded specifically for being Jews?

        Would Haredi Jews fit the description, with Haredi women being degraded both as women and as Jews, in your mind?

        I can not and even do not want to force any “more acceptable” clothes on them. I only want them not force their views on me and also not to support them via (high in Israel) taxes.

        I do not feel 100% nice since Haredi Jews and I do not belong to one community / society in many ways (but are together in quite a few others). However, I could not care less about them degrading themselves as women or/and Jews in abstract. I only care since religious people want to live differently from me and vote to force many things I disagree with on me.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Haredi women don’t stand out visually in any way that I’ve noticed.

          I don’t want to force any clothes on anybody either. If there is a general consensus that women dragged around on leashes should populate the public space, that’s OK. I’d like a small location where that is not acceptable to be indicated to me and I will happily remove myself there.

          By the way, nobody is preventing the burqaed folks from organizing a pool of their own and doing whatever they want in there, including not welcoming topless bathers in g-strings.

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          1. el Avatar
            el

            \ Haredi women don’t stand out visually in any way that I’ve noticed.

            They cover their hair or wear wigs. Modest clothing, etc. In Israel, they do stand out. For instance, do those women look like you or me?

            Typical Haredi school girls:

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              Cancer victims also wear wigs. If you had the experience of somebody in a black shroud with holes for eyes in your classroom, I’m sure you wouldn’t be asking about wigs.

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          2. el Avatar
            el

            \ By the way, nobody is preventing the burqaed folks from organizing a pool of their own and doing whatever they want in there, including not welcoming topless bathers in g-strings.

            So, after living in America, you have become truly American in heart 🙂 That’s how the author described the difference between USA and Europe:

            There are two cultural divides at work here. First, the obvious one between the burqini wearers and the other women.

            The other is between an American and a European reading this article. When an American reads this article, the question that pops up is: why are all these people sharing the same pool? If the Muslims want special rules and conditions for pool use, then they should all get together, pool their money (so to speak), and build a pool.

            European society still reflects an ever-diminishing glimmer of the idea of communal ownership and enjoyment. You don’t have to buy your own car, big plot of land, or swimming pool. We will provide trains, parks, and public pools for you. You’ll have to share them, of course, but you’ll get 80% of the enjoyment at 1% of the price.
            http://www.germanjoys.eu/2016/06/a-modesty-proposal.html#comments

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  4. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    It’s interesting that as a woman you see this issue in terms of “[objecting] to being exposed to images of degraded women.” A number of German friends that I communicate with see the problem not in gendered terms, but as a slow destruction of their traditional culture by an invading alien culture that first demands acceptance of its alien values, and then enforcement.

    Examples:

    German Justice Minister Heiko Maas has come out in favor of laws that would ban public ads which “reduce women or men to sexual objects” (meaning ads showing attractive women in bikinis or lingerie). This is in direct response to the sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, and it flies in the face of decades of casual acceptance by German citizens to public images (advertisements, magazine covers, television, etc.) of scantily dressed and (sometimes completely nude) people of both sexes.
    Elsewhere in Europe, the newly elected Muslim mayor of London has announced plans to ban sexy advertisements in the subway and other public transportation systems. His reasoning is also framed in gendered terms. He states that he has two teenage daughters, and wants to protect women from being made to feel inferior by advertisements that imply that they must have perfect bodies.

    This isn’t about sex or protecting women. It’s purely political cultural censorship.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Back in Montréal, eager “acceptance” of burqaed women at public birth preparation classes resulted in the burqaed demanding that normal women stop bringing their husbands to these classes. The end result is always trying to stuff everybody into a burqa.

      But that Mayor of London, wow, what a nasty jerk. I had no idea. 😦

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  5. el Avatar
    el

    Polish Foreign Minister: There’s more to us than the Holocaust
    Witold Waszczykowski recently gave an interview on the occasion of his visit to Israel, expressing his beliefs that Russia is provoking Europe, that a Britain-free EU would be bad, and that Iran can aid in creating regional peace.
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4816365,00.html

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      Please keep in mind that he’s kind of an idiot. He’s exactly the type of toxic old fossil that his party kept hidden away during the election campaign promising everyone they’d turned into typical European Christian Democrats.

      The second the election was over they toxic old fossils predictably pushed the younger crowd that had won the election for them into the wings (when they’re not amusing themselves by humiliating them in public).

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        Thank you for the info, cliff, but I would love to hear more what typical European Christian Democrats means and how those “toxic old fossils” are different. Living in Israel, I have almost no idea.

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        1. cliff arroyo Avatar
          cliff arroyo

          Generally Christian Democrats in Europe are moderately conservative on social issues (by European standards which are a good deal to the left of the US). They’re moderately pro-market but with oversight and favor a strong welfare state. I don’t think there’s any common denominator in terms of foreign policy.

          It’s originally catholic but lots of non-catholics follow Christian Democrat policies in Europe.

          PiS the Polish ruling party seemed to be evolving toward that, and used a bunch of younger reasonable people in the election campaign which they won (partly due to ruling-party-fatigue that sees a country get sick of whoever’s in charge even if they’re doing an okay job).

          The toxic elders of PiS appeal to the Polish equivalent of Putinoids – people who are lost in capitalism and nurse a grudge against the universe because of that and like having a leader who tells them how special they are and how terrible those doing better than them are.

          I don’t want to go into the whole hideous freakshow of party eldership but they’re also still mired in political feuds that go back over twenty years. Mentally they’re stuck in the communist past and if they didn’t hate Russia(ns) so much they’d probably gravitate to becoming a Putin satellite – they might actually do that yet, they hate former government even more than they hate the Russians and even if they don’t like being under Russian control it’s a system that makes sense to them and which they understand. By contrast they’re confused and infuriated by the modern world and the thought that Poland was becoming more prosperous.

          Where I live is one of the parts of the country most immune to their charm and is doing okay economically. By US standards there is no unemployment. There are people without jobs for various reason but anyone who wants a job can find one, maybe not the one they want on the terms they want but the long-term unemployed are the unemployable and those who would not take any job.

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          1. Clarissa Avatar
            Clarissa

            Cliff Arroyo: thank you, this is fascinating.

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          2. el Avatar
            el

            Thank you, cliff.

            Like

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  6. David Gendron Avatar
    David Gendron

    I agree that we shouldn’t be afraid of robots, but this article misses a fundamental point: the new generation of scholarized people is not enough integrated into the work force.

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  7. el Avatar
    el

    Israel to build underground wall around Gaza Strip
    Yedioth Ahronoth reveals Israel’s plan to build a concrete wall tens of meters deep underground and aboveground to counter the threat of Hamas attack tunnels. Senior defense official: ‘a confrontation with Hamas is inevitable, it must be the last one.’
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4816509,00.html

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    1. Dreidel Avatar
      Dreidel

      Building a wall “tens of meters deep” to block all the tunnels being dug by the Hamas sewer rats is an impossible fantasy. Such half-measures have never worked in the entire 68 -year-history of Israel’s existence.

      If “a confrontation with Hamas is inevitable,” [and] “it must be the last one,” then the solution is a massive military reoccupation with overwhelming military force of the entire Gaza strip, and a street-by-street, house-to-house annihilation of all the terrorist vermin between the southeastern border with Israel and the western border with Egypt and the far shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

      The Gazan survivors should be given the choice of annexation by Egypt (their fellow Arabs, who probably wouldn’t want them), or annexation by Israel, subject to strict military rule until they accepted their fate as Israeli citizens or emigrated to their natural homelands in Egypt or Jordan.

      Enough is enough — Israel should have permanently ended its vermin terrorist problem in Gaza (and the West Bank as well) decades ago!

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  8. el Avatar
    el

    \ Brexit is winning the day because the EU never generated any emotional attachment.

    Do not know yet whether there is any connection:

    Jo Cox shot: Latest updates after Labour MP is stabbed and gunned down outside Birstall library (where she held advice surgeries).
    …
    West Yorkshire Police have arrested a 52-year-old man.
    …
    The man who gunned down Ms Cox shouted ‘Britain First’, an eyewitness claims.
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/live-jo-cox-shot-birstall-8207676

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  9. el Avatar
    el

    Something cute – their daughter is 2 months old and the father creates unique photos. The article is in Hebrew, but the photos are the important part:
    http://xnet.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4815522,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      This is too cute. :-))) I love it.

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  10. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    A waitress in a cafe in central Nice has filed a police complaint after she was allegedly assaulted by two men because she refused to “stop serving alcohol” on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. The men launched into a tirade, calling her a “dirty whore” and left the cafe in a hurry. A few seconds later, however, the venue’s CCTV footage reportedly shows the two men turn round abruptly and one of them rush towards her and violently slap the waitress in the face, knocking her to the floor.

    “I didn’t think that in France, country of liberty, I would have been assaulted like that.”

    She said it was not the first time she had received threats and insults from the men, who had shouted at her three days previously.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/08/waitress-assaulted-on-french-riviera-for-serving-alcohol-on-firs/

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  11. el Avatar
    el

    Intersting but I can not read the original article because of a paywall:

    Кого боятся европейцы
    http://sergeyoho.livejournal.com/131540.html

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  12. el Avatar
    el

    Police in Belgium have made 12 arrests in a huge anti-terror operation, nearly three months after the deadly bomb attacks on Brussels.

    Those detained overnight are suspected of plotting a terrorist attack, prosecutors say. They were among 40 taken in for questioning.
    …
    Among the areas where searches took place was Molenbeek, a Brussels district which has become notorious because of its associations with jihadists.

    The federal prosecutor said the operation had been launched after investigations which “necessitated an immediate intervention”. However, the Belgian government has not raised the threat level.
    …
    Investigators have established connections between the Brussels bombers and the IS attacks on Paris on 13 November, in which 130 people were killed.
    Several of the Paris bombers came from Belgium and some of the bombs were made in a flat in Brussels.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36566336

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  13. el Avatar
    el

    German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has criticised Nato military exercises in Eastern Europe, accusing the organisation of “warmongering”.

    Mr Steinmeier said that extensive Nato manoeuvres launched this month were counterproductive to regional security and could enflame tensions with Russia.

    He urged the Nato military alliance to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia.

    Nato launched a simulated Russian attack on Poland on 7 June.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36566422

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      What a freak, seriously. I don’t know know what got into Germans. It’s like they can’t help themselves.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        You know, when I read “to replace the exercises with more dialogue and co-operation with Russia,” I couldn’t help laughing. It is funny.

        Interesting what he would urge Ukraine to do RE Russia. I had an idea! The dialogue would be about which currently Ukrainian territory Russia wants to receive next and co-operation would include Ukraine taking care of Crimea’s population, while Russia took care of everything else there.

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  14. el Avatar
    el

    \ I don’t know know what got into Germans. It’s like they can’t help themselves.

    If this German blogger isn’t lying, their press is weird as well:

    http://www.germanjoys.eu/2016/06/shocking-revelation-humans-respond-to-incentives.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      The Internet destroyed journalism as a profession because journalists became too lazy to do anything to compile shreds of crap they find online.

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  15. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    The Online Abuse Playbook

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  16. el Avatar
    el

    Over the last few months, Israeli food aid has been reaching Syrian rebels fighting in the southern Qunietra region on the border with the Golan Heights. However, not all Syrians are happy with the aid from the ‘Zionist Entity’
    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4816394,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      An interesting struggle between hunger and hatred.

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  17. el Avatar
    el

    Belgian Jewish student ‘gassed’ with deodorant by classmates in showers.
    Mother says 12-year-old son subjected to vicious anti-Semitic bullying at elementary school in Brussels suburb.
    …
    LBCA president Joel Rubinfeld told Belga he interviewed other students who confirmed the anti-Semitic nature of the “gassing” incident and the recurrence of jokes and taunts referencing the Holocaust in the student’s bullying by the three other classmates.

    The case reported last week is one of several recent anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium, including the bullying of a high school student who was forced to change schools amid alleged inaction by the institution where the harassment occurred. Last year, Belgian media reported on the online shaming by classmates of a pro-Israel high school student who also left the public education system for a Jewish school.

    Such cases, Rubinfeld said last year, are turning Belgian schools into “Jew-free” zones.
    http://www.timesofisrael.com/belgian-jewish-student-gassed-with-deodorant-by-classmates-in-showers/

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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