Otto Pohl is in Kurdistan, and here are his impressions of his new home. I hope Otto enjoys this new part of his exceptionally exciting life journey.
Another of the blog’s readers also has news: Vic Crain’s wife Lyn published a book of poetry. Let’s support and congratulate her!
The university of Chicago stands up to snowflakery. Immediately, snowflake sympathizers began to moan that snowflake feelings have been hurt but I won’t be linking to these freaks.
It is absolutely ridiculous that a bunch of unsuccessful prostitutes would dare to cry rape and have people support them. What a bunch of shameless, horrible people.
And talking about prostitutes, there’s been an unsurprising revelation that Melania Trump worked as one. And everybody died of boredom because it was clear as day from the start.
And still talking about dirty whores, finally people began to notice that the number of Russian hacks into US everything have skyrocketed when Snowden defected.
In Russian but so true. I was stunned by the same thing in Cuba. People sit in the midst of the dirtiest street ever, on the dirtiest porch imaginable. They sit for hours every day but never get up to pick up the garbage.
Want to add 2 years to your life? Here is what you should do. I’ll probably live forever, it seems.
Clarissa's Blog 
The Middle East Prepares for US Elections
As the US elections enter their final stretch, Israeli citizens and those of Arab, Middle Eastern countries begin to reach their own conclusions as to which candidate would be better for their people, struggles and way of life.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4846634,00.html
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Как воспитать личность
http://evo-lutio.livejournal.com/345228.html
I thought you would like the post and also probably feel better about sending Klara to kindergarten, if you still worry about it. I am sure she only will be stronger as the long term result.
Also, the following bits do not fit your rebellion theory. For instance:
\А нет проблемы, нет и поиска инструмента. Зачем ему пример?
Зачем ребенку, который заинтересован в том, чтобы выйти на следующий уровень в компьютерной игре, пример бабушки, как готовить ужин. Ему не надо готовить ужин, он у него на столе стоит. В лучшем виде.
[..]
эта усвоенная роль царя – это итог того культа, который существовал по отношению к его персоне. Если он будет обвинять родителей за это, он будет поддерживать свой культ в своей голове и никогда не станет полноценной личностью. Он так и не поймет, что они давали ему избыток, в детстве, а сейчас вообще ничего не должны и он должен все добывать себе сам, а не ныть, что родители ему не дали навыков и умений. Умения он должен был развивать сам, опоздал, но начать это делать никогда не поздно. Никто за него не разовьет в любом случае.
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Как Путин все же может выиграть?
http://taki-net.livejournal.com/2446684.html
Eastern EU countries on Friday pushed for the bloc to create a joint army as they met with Germany for talks on sketching Europe’s post-Brexit future.
http://www.thelocal.de/20160826/eastern-europe-pushes-germany-for-joint-eu-army
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Soviet legacy survives in the unlikeliest of places:
Twenty-six years after reunification, eastern Germany remains economically anaemic with little prospect of catching up with the rest of the country by 2030, a study published on Wednesday said.
…
The former GDR has seen a decades-long emigration of the young, exacerbating the ageing population problem due to low birth rates that affect all of Germany.
…
Ragnitz argues that public investment should be focused on improving small- and medium-sized firms’ competitiveness and make up for lacking private investment in research and development.
But both EU structural development funds and solidarity payments from wealthier western states are set to dry up in 2020.
http://www.thelocal.de/20160824/eastern-germany-to-lag-behind-for-years-to-come-study
And I thought Germans had funds for their own, considering their generosity to refugees and central position in EU.
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Gee, Clarissa, three links about prostitutes, and you couldn’t even put up a single link pointing out that today is NATIONAL DOG DAY?
So hats off to all our loyal, furry, four-legged friends — they make the world a much better place!
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Also, why has WordPress suddenly changed my avatar?
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It’s easier for me to explain the meaning of life than the actions of WordPress.
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I knew there was a reason this day sucked so bad.
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French Jewish families make aliyah—to Samaria
Yael and Yohan wanted to stop being afraid of anti-Semitism, Sarah and Stéphane were looking for a place where their kids could play outside, while Elodie decided to leave her successful chain of pubs behind; 12 families left the comforts of Paris to settle in trailer homes in Brukhin.
…
And not just anywhere in the territories, but in the settlement of Brukhin in the Samaria region of the West Bank, which, up until two years ago, had been defined as an illegal outpost. Coming to Brukhin alongside the Sahals are 12 other families from France, all of whom will be living in a trailer park that has been prepared especially for them.
…
The project that will bring the Sahal family to Israel—and that brought me to Paris—is part of a wide-scale initiative by the Absorption of Israel Communities foundation, which works to bring French Jewish families to Israel through group immigration.
…
Behind the initiative is Rabbi Yehoshua Zuckerman, but those running it in practice is the Vach family from the settlement of Eli. For the past three years, the Absorption of Israel Communities foundation has been working with the Samaria Regional Council, and it is to that area that the largest group of Jewish immigrants will be coming this year.
“Anyone who makes aliyah (Jewish immigration to Israel) is crazy,” Yohan, 38, says. “But those who make aliyah to the Samaria region are the happiest of crazies. There are terror attacks and anti-Semitism in Paris as well, so it’s better to be in your own land, where at least you’ll have someone to protect you. If you have to be afraid, then at least you should be afraid somewhere that’s your home.”
…
Why didn’t you choose Eli, a bigger and more established settlement?
Yael shrugged. “Eli is not for me. I was there at the synagogue on Shabbat. I didn’t hear any Hebrew at all. Everyone was talking in French. That’s not for me. This is no way to be integrated. If we don’t want to have to come back, like our friends, we need to come with a group so we’re not alone—but not to a ghetto. In Brukhin, not only will we receive more support, but we’ll also have something to contribute. It’s about coming to a place we are needed in.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4844358,00.html
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A Pennsylvania Jewish woman woke up one morning to find that her trashcan had been tagged with a swastika; she decided to turn the hateful message into a message of love by turning the offending image into a flower; neighbors painted the word “unity” on their bins up and down the block.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4846762,00.html
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This is the kind of women I avoid like the plague because this is the kind of Otherness that I can’t tolerate.
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\This is the kind of women I avoid like the plague because this is the kind of Otherness that I can’t tolerate.
Whick kind of Otherness?
Should she just ignored the swastika? Not going to police? Not telling neighbors?
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The touchy-feely lovey-dovey flower-power thing puts me off. I would have ranted and raved and exploded in rage. People who paint flowers over swastikas freak me out. I’m afraid all the sugar will give me diabetes. 😀😀
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Hey, you don’t like dogs, don’t like flowers, don’t like sunshine???
Why don’t you move here to Arizona where you’ll find creatures more to your liking, like our rattlesnakes, scorpions, and cacti. 🙂
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I like worms. And rain that brings all the worms out. Rattlesnakes are kind of like worms but not nearly as cute. 🙂
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If responding that way truly made her feel better, spiritually and physiologically, it’s ok. However, nobody should expect other people to behave that way in response to that kind of graffiti.
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No, absolutely, good for her. I’m just saying that I fear such people.
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“Should she just ignored the swastika? Not going to police? Not telling neighbors?”
She ignored the problem as if being “nice” could make bad people better. It doesn’t. I would report it to police and lave the swastika there If it makes people uncomfortable then good – swastikas are not something to be comfortable about.
I might write “I hope whoever did this” above the swastika and “DIES!” below. But that’s me.
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I like this solution much better. The kissy-wissy stuff makes me cringe.
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\She ignored the problem as if being “nice” could make bad people better. It doesn’t. I would report it to police
She did report it to police.
\I might write “I hope whoever did this” above the swastika and “DIES!” below.
I think one of goals may have been to make the doer understand that:
A) the target laughs at and despises him/her rather than exhibiting impotent rage , which the perp may’ve wanted to provoke.
B) s\he is seen as a freak by others in the region, even if the painter is never caught. By joining her, the neighbors have shown support for her and contempt for the freak. Had she written what you advised, the neighbors would not have joined and it would’ve been her alone vs. the uncaught freak. Even more, the neighbors may’ve begun judging her for “too violent \ uncouth reaction” to probable enjoyment of the attacker.
I do believe in peer pressure. People dare to show their antisemitism when they trust in supportive environment. Even if this perp will never be caught, the neighbors’ behavior may have made this and pther antisemites less likely to do something (again).
\ leave the swastika there If it makes people uncomfortable then good – swastikas are not something to be comfortable about.
You know, I immediately thought about “broken windows” theory. Meaning that one broken window (in)directly leads to others since people start seeing this state as a new normal.
Leaving swastika would turn it into the part of “the normal state of things” too, and pretty soon. Erasing it would not create the effect of social support and thus not send “you are the unusual here” message to the painter. That’s why I see her behavior as creative in a good way.
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She should have erased that thing and do nothing to get attention. (Or kept it and added “Trump supporter right here!”)
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\She should have erased that thing and do nothing to get attention. (Or kept it and added “Trump supporter right here!”)
I am sure that Trump supporters among her neighbors would’ve supported her then, the way they (may) have done in this case.
Remember, sending to everybody the message “this is not normal, the painter is the ONLY freak here and we are united against him” is the goal.
As Ecclesiastes says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
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Something cool:
Oldest human remains found outside Tel Aviv
…
a giant limestone cave which had been sealed for over 200,000 years [turned into]
one of the most important pre-historic sites in the world.
…
Archaeology Professor at Tel Aviv University Ron Barkai is the head of digging at Qesem Cave. He discussed the international significance of the finds found there.
“It’s a very special cave,” he said. “It reflects an unknown stage in the history of humanity. We don’t know which type of human lived here. We know that they acted differently than everyone else who lived in this area before them. They seem like a different type of human. They didn’t just behave differently, but they also looked differently. If we aren’t mistaken, they were more similar to us ( humans today), and not their forefathers the Homo erectus.
…
One of the major discoveries at Qesem Cave which changed history books was the discovery of the oldest evidence of the consumption of cooked meat.
…
“Europe only started seeing humans using knives 30,000 years ago. These knives were created 400,000 years ago. What happened here in Israel 400,000 years ago predates the rest of the world by hundreds of thousands of years. In the millions of years prior, there is no evidence of burnt bones (which suggest cooking). It seems these people ate cooked meat, meaning that Qesem Cave has evidence of the oldest barbeque ever held.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4846834,00.html
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\No, absolutely, good for her. I’m just saying that I fear such people.
If I did that? 🙂 😉
I thought her behavior was cool, actually.
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People have every right to be different from me. But I’ve got to say that this sort of people creeps me out.
I saw this woman on TV who was attacked in a late stage of pregnancy by a maniac who cut the fetus out of her body. As the maniac was mutilating her, the dumb twat kept telling the freakazoid how much she loved her. And even now she can’t express rage against the criminal. It’s all love, flowers and understanding.
Such people are dangerous because one day all that repressed anger will explode.
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On the second thought, Israeli Jews have no need to do such things.
First of all, there are no antisemites to paint swastikas.
Second, since we are the majority, everybody knows our society is against swastikas and neighbors’ support is a given, unlike in other countries.
So I would’ve just erased the thing, without feeling any rage since I am sure I am not alone and the freak is 100% seen by everybody as a criminal.
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Knew banning swimming clothes would create the impression among masses the war between Muslims and real French has begun:
The owner of a restaurant just outside of Charles De Gaulle airport was filmed expelling two veiled Muslim women, saying ‘All Muslims are terrorists;’ the public prosecutor is looking into the incident.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4848332,00.html
I am sure the man honestly (and partly correctly) thinks his government supports his views in general, even if not the deed in particular.
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Read Tuvia Tenenbom’s “I sleep in Hitler’s room: An American Jew Visits Germany” and enjoyed his sense of humor, even though do not agree with his conclusions. It is a nice light reading. Here are two reviews I found helpful and in the next comment I’ll write what impressed me personally:
\ This book is really for a North American audience. While German and other audiences might see some of the humor that is in the book, from looking at the comments most of them don’t fully understand the book. The story is a classic cynical “East Coaster” visits the other and makes snarky comments left and right with obvious irony. The author could have been visiting Oklahoma, Timbuktu or Japan. Through his journey in Germany he learns about himself and provides a great narrative into the absurdities of mankind. Most European commenters are framing the lesson of the story as this: Germans are anti-semitic because they don’t like Israel. That is not the story that I read. I read a story where a person who grows up with one culture (New York, Jewish, American) (Okay that was multiple cultures!) travels to another country where the standard story that people in that one culture (lets just say Americans this time) hear is very monotone – Germans feel guilty for the Holocaust and none of them could ever be anti-semitic, (with an American thinking that their definition of anti-semitic is the only version). What he finds is that Germans are people too. They are quirky and full of contradictions and hypocrisy just like everyone else because they they are human. It also shows how people can become disconnected from history but firmly anchored to it at the same time. The author was trying to provide insight into why people think the way that they do and of course can not. After reading this book, my views on Germany or Germans or Jews has not changed. But it did provide insight into the fact that we are all humans and as such we will have weird opinions that can have important consequences. It is important to realize this and discuss this rather than trying to sweep it under a rug.
\I am writing as a non-Jewish American who has lived in Germany and Austria for 23 years. Tuvia Tenenbom’s book is flawed, but should be read. Because he was forced to self-publish, the book is sloppy and needs an editor. Also, he overstates his case in his preface, undermining what he then goes on to write. The preface states, “this is a country that has not changed since Hitler’s days in power.” This is ridiculous hyperbole. There is a huge difference between people thinking that Jews control banks and people thinking that Jews are vermin that should be exterminated.
It’s too bad, because much of what he captures in his Gonzo/Borat style is very true and very important. I will here repeat the wisdom that anti-Israeli attitudes are not of themselves anti-Semitic–but when I first came here and heard German opinions about Israel, my first thought was, “These people don’t know any Jews.” All of us know that the situation there is complex, but I have consistently experienced a strong sympathy for the Palestinian people and very little sympathy for the Jews who live in Israel and the constant threat they live with.
Also, he really gets at the dilemma of having a large Islamic minority living in a Western democracy. Although there are strong anti-Turkish attitudes among German people, the politically correct Germans bend over backwards to be tolerant–which winds up indirectly supporting fierce Islamic anti-Semitism. Tenenbom exposes this contradiction graphically.
Of course, as others have pointed out, both phenomena, anti-Israeli attitudes and large Islamic minorities, are common to every Western European country, and may be even more problematic in the UK and France than in Germany.
It is also unfortunate that he presents his work as a book about anti-Semitism when it is so much more. There are such great vignettes capturing the quirks of the German character.
Despite my reservations, I strongly recommend this book, and will be circulating my copy among all my friends and colleagues here where I live!
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Btw, now I am going to read “Catch the Jew!” about his 7-months-long stay in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. One reviewer of “I sleep in Hitler’s room” said Tuvia interviews the strangest people he can find and thus does not present an average citizen, but it’s part of the fun of such genre and, I believe, the strangest people also may provide some insight into the situation. Here is the amazon link with description of which kinds of weird Israelis and Palestinians one may find in it:
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Cat Pictures Please
I felt a little odd about looking at the religious ones, because I know I wasn’t created by a god or by evolution, but by a team of computer programmers in the labs of a large corporation in Mountain View, California.
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How the Turks deceived the Americans on Syria
Op-ed: The US simply joined the Russian-Turkish party in Syria, essentially allowing Assad’s rule to continue—at least for now—and Iran and Hezbollah to establish their hold on the war-battered country. This is the worst possible outcome for Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4848640,00.html
And this is ridiculous:
The Palestinian Ambassador to the Czech Republic lodged a formal complaint requesting that the Czech Ministry of Education not teach Czech children that the capital of Israel is Jerusalem; the Czech Ministry has bowed to this request, saying that it ‘conforms to EU stance.’
The atlas to be used in schools in the Czech Republic will no longer show Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, instead showing it as Tel Aviv.
…
The atlas, which currently shows Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, is used by middle and high school students all over the Czech Republic.
…
The ambassador complained after children of Palestinian decent studying in Czech schools showed him that the Atlas both showed and wrote that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4848552,00.html
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Проблема передачи власти в диктаторских режимах: Узбекистан
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/1254586.html
In case of need:
До України докотилася хвиля Facebook-віруса, який останні два дні активно поширювався в Західній Європі та США.
Процес зараження виглядає так: користувач отримує повідомлення про те, що хтось із його друзів зробив пост і тегнув його. В самому пості розміщено нібито відео з фотографією людини, яка вас тегнула. Коли ви клацаєте на відео — потрапляєте на сайт, де до вашого браузера встановлюється розширення (відомі поки що факти зараження користувачів із браузером Chrome, але інші браузери теж можуть бути вразливі).
Якщо ви клацнули на відео, а воно може потрапити до вас як через пост друга, так і через приватне повідомлення, і користуєтесь браузером Chrome, — дуже висока ймовірність, що ви вже почали розсилати повідомлення вашим друзям із цим вірусом.
Як вилікуватися?
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/1252562.html
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I know some people whose old parents have / had the disease, so was glad to read this:
A treatment to reverse Alzheimer’s Disease could be available in five years, it has been revealed.
Experiments on mice have indicated that a new vaccine not only halts the advance of the disease, but repairs damage already done.
It could also be given to patients whose families have a history of Alzheimer’s, to prevent them developing the disease.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10539/Cure-Alzheimers-closer.html
It’s not only the ill people themselves, their (late) middle-aged children and other relatives suffer too: mentally, financially and so on.
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This is really good news. It’s a horrible illness.
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What do you think about the following issue? The below English article, unlike articles in Hebrew, for some reason does not mention that Shevah Mofet was turned into first rate institution from a poor school in the poor part of Tel Aviv as the result of work of / for FSU immigrants to Israel in the 1990ies. The wiki link (worth reading) I also give below does talk about it.
I have not studied there, but it’s a pity the school is destroyed. Yes, I understand the issue of integration ( ‘Little Russia’ ), but it was relevant then, may be. Now, when the large immigration wave has ended, it’s simply a good school in a poor area of Tel Aviv.
It is an Israeli issue, but the problem at heart is not unique to Israel. Do you take care of your own citizens first OR do you hurt future IDF soldiers and tax payers because of children of African refugees and illegal workers, whom the Israeli government is constantly trying in various partly-successful ways to send back or to other countries?
Btw, they are concentrated in southern Tel Aviv and citizens of that part of town have been protesting and complaining for ages about the situation. On a TV program years ago (!) young women talked about fearing to walk in the evenings and about female patrols they had (still have?).
Interestingly, people who shout the loudest (“racists! We were persecuted for centuries and now how are we not ashamed to treat refugees thus! Look at Europe for contrasty!”) tend to be richer people who do not live in the area. In North Tel Aviv, yes, but not in the South.
Ah, the mayor explained that migrant kids can not be divided among all Tel Aviv schools (including North rich schools where many ‘non racists’ send their kids) because providing busing (some kind of School Transport Scheme) would cost too much.
THE ARTICLE:
\ PM, Tel Aviv mayor clash over plans to accept migrant kids to top school
Municipality announces Shevah Mofet will stop accepting students from outside the city to make room for students from southern Tel Aviv—mostly children of asylum seekers; Netanyahu objects to turning the school into ‘educational institution for infiltrators,’ leading to exchange of accusations.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4849039,00.html
WIKI LINK about the school:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shevah_Mofet
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God, I stupidly thought the school was supposed to integrate migrant kids into Israeli society, but now read:
\ For the Shevah Mofet School, the school year starts with protest
…
Education Minister Naftali Bennett and the Tel Aviv Municipality had announced that the Shevah Mofet School would become a school for migrant workers’ children, whom it would teach in their own languages.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/For-the-Shevah-Mofet-School-the-school-year-starts-with-protest-466576
In their own languages? Such abomination should not exist! Or send them back or let them integrate. What is this thing? It’s not like teaching them in Hebrew will make government unable to send them back. In practice, many will remain here with zero hebrew.
Also,
With school year around corner, Netanyahu says ‘study Bible’
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Benjamin-Netanyahu/With-school-year-around-corner-Netanyahu-says-study-Bible-466411
Israeli school children already have more than enough Bible-study, in my opinion.
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