The ducks have arrived and duck season opens tomorrow. I expect to awaken to gunfire in the morning.
This from the Daily Mail, which is usually fairly reliable. I have not seen any other report on this so can’t verify. Rescued 250 hostages. Just don’t know
The hostages weren’t the ones taken to Gaza. These were soldiers on Saturday.
Thanks Neo. But even this wasn’t widely reported, at least not where I usually go. But you are always right on top of things.
It’s Different This Time Dept:
________________________________
Since the horrific attack on Israel by Hamas, not only has the world witnessed the atrocities committed by this group, but we have also witnessed outright celebrations of the murders of innocent people by those who support Hamas. Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, many of these demonstrations can be seen on America’s college campuses, which have become little more than indoctrination centers for young people.
But for those who support the murder of innocents, their extracurricular activities may come back to haunt them after graduation when they start looking for a job. Bill Ackman is a billionaire hedge fund manager and a Harvard alumnus. He tweeted on Tuesday that he had been contacted by “a number of CEOs” wanting to know if Harvard would disclose the names of students who belong to the campus organizations that recently signed onto a letter that stated that these student groups held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” The reason behind wanting the students’ names made public? So these CEOs can be sure they never hire any students involved in these organizations.
From the Faberge video: “After the Communist revolution ‘swept away’ the Royal family, Faberge was forced to flee to Switzerland…”
Swept away the Royal family….like the Israeli families were recently swept away by Hamas, I suppose.
Pace RigelDog and the others, the Communist Revolution didn’t “sweep away” the Royal Family per se. An odd Constitutionalist and Quasi-Republican Revolution (one that had originally tried to turn the Russian Empire into a constitutional monarchy by deposing Nikolai II by appealing to his patriotism and the need to win the war, but who failed to get any takers) already swept away the Royal Family only to then be swept away by the Communist Revolution.
Who of course went on to murder the former Royals and lots of others.
The Communists love credit-stealing for deposing the Romanov and it’s amazing how much pop culture has let them get away with it.
@ RigelDog – after a certain point, history stops being personal. It has an Arc and a Direction instead.
I was once privileged to see a traveling museum exhibit that included some of the original Faberge and some of the faux-berge eggs. Both were fabulous.
OSINTdefender:
“The Israeli Government is reportedly Finalizing an Executive Order under the Power of the War Cabinet that will result in the removal of the Qatari-State owned News Network ‘Al-Jazeera’ from Israel due to their Support for Hamas.”
reminder: to view tweets, you need to login
___________________________________________________________
This is the first report I’ve read that Al-Jazeera has been expelled from Israel. I hope it’s true.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t the most important news of the day, but neither is it trivial. I worked for a few years in Qatar, and my dislike for Al-Jazeera grew to loathing. They’re a propaganda network for Hamas and all the other descendants of the Muslim Brotherhood. Most recently, Al-Jazeera reporters have been ranging all over Israel, reporting troop movements, defense structures, and real-time information that Hamas can use to direct its rockets. It’s widely assumed that they’ve been supplying information directly to Hamas. They are, effectively, enemy spies. In a time of war, Israel is not obliged to guarantee them the protection expected by journalists.
@ sdferr – thanks for the link to Tablet – an important post.
“None of the horrors you are witnessing this week—not the massacre of Jews, not the betrayal by public figures and popular activist movements, not the moral insanity of our universities and cultural spaces—happened by accident.”
With links to prove it.
Leibovitz’s essay is the most poignant, because it’s personal, and very much like the “change” stories with which we are familiar.
There may still be hope for friends and family who have not yet made the breakthrough.
For many years—most of my politically cognizant life, in fact—I felt secure in my politics. Truth and justice, I believed, leaned leftward. … On the other end of the political transom lurked despicable creeps, right-wing orcs who either cared for nothing but their own petty financial interests or, worse, pined for benighted isms that preached prejudice and hate. We were on the right side of history. We were the people. We were the ones giving peace a chance. And, no matter the present, we were always the future.
…
And it wasn’t just an ideology, some abstract set of convictions that were accessible only through cracking open dusty old books. It was the animating spirit of life itself: … It wasn’t performative, exactly. At least, it felt real enough, the reverent rites of a good group of people protecting itself against the bad guys.
I embraced my people, and my people embraced me. …
And then came The Turn. If you’ve lived through it yourself, you know that The Turn doesn’t happen overnight, that it isn’t easily distilled into one dramatic breakdown moment, that it happens hazily and over time—first a twitch, then a few more, stretching into a gnawing discomfort and then, eventually, a sense of panic.
You may be among the increasing numbers of people going through The Turn right now. Having lived through the turmoil of the last half decade—through the years of MAGA and antifa and rampant identity politics and, most dramatically, the global turmoil caused by COVID-19—more and more of us feel absolutely and irreparably politically homeless. Instinctively, we looked to the Democratic Party, the only home we and our parents and their parents before them had ever known or seriously considered. But what we saw there—and in the newspapers we used to read, and in the schools whose admission letters once made us so proud—was terrifying. However we tried to explain what was happening on “the left,” it was hard to convince ourselves that it was right, or that it was something we still truly believed in. That is what The Turn is about.
…
But, having been there before, I have one important thing to tell you: If the left is going to make it “right wing” to simply be decent, then it’s OK to be right.
Why? Because, after 225 long and fruitful years of this terminology, “right” and “left” are now empty categories, meaning little more than “the blue team” and “the green team” in your summer camp’s color war. …
When “the left” becomes the party of wealthy elites and state security agencies who preach racial division, state censorship, contempt for ordinary citizens and for the U.S. Constitution, and telling people what to do and think at every turn, then that’s the side you are on, if you are “on the left”—those are the policies and beliefs you stand for and have to defend. It doesn’t matter what good people “on the left” believed and did 60 or 70 years ago. Those people are dead now, mostly. They don’t define “the left” anymore than Abraham Lincoln defines the modern-day Republican Party or Jimi Hendrix defines Nickelback.
So look at the list of things supported by the left and ask yourself: Is that me? If the answer is yes, great. You’ve found a home. If the answer is no, don’t let yourself be defined by an empty word. Get out. And once you’re out, don’t let anyone else define you, either. Not being a left-wing racist or police state fan doesn’t make you a white supremacist or a Trump worshipper, either. Only small children, machines, and religious fanatics think in binaries.
It’s Different This Time Dept:
The UK and France are banning pro-Palestinian demos as hate speech or disturbances to public order:
______________________________
As a supporter of free speech I’m not keen on these measures, but I am intrigued to see the hammer coming down on the pro-Palestinian movement. I don’t remember seeing this before.
This afternoon I watched a pro-Palestine demo at UNM. About a hundred people. Lots of Palestine flags, people in keffiyehs and signs reading “Free Palestine”.
A tall white trans guy holding a pro-Palestine sign and wearing a black leather skirt, black tights, black platform boots and heavy make-up stood next to me.
I looked up Islam and trans guys. In Islam they are termed Mukhannath — “effeminate ones” or “ones who resemble women”. They are not in as a tough a spot as homosexuals in Islam, but they are not simply accepted either.
Here’s a weird repercussion in Iran:
__________________________________________
Because homosexuality is illegal in Iran but gender transition is legal, some gay individuals have been forced to undergo sex reassignment surgery and transition into the opposite sex, regardless of their actual gender identity.
Due to Khomeini’s fatwas allowing sex reassignment surgery for intersex and transgender individuals, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand
. It is sanctioned as a supposed “cure” for homosexuality, which is punishable by death penalty under Iranian law. The Iranian government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognised on the birth certificate.
Guess I shoulda said “trans woman” instead in the above.
It’s so confusing.
This Time It’s Different Dept:
I don’t remember this happening before either.
___________________________________
Students rush to disavow, hide connections to Hamas statements to protect careers
…
Harvard University students are particularly vulnerable because three dozen student organizations, under the banner of “Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups,” joined a statement that calls “the apartheid regime” of Israel “the only one to blame” for the surprise Hamas attack on women, children and partiers that began Saturday morning, claiming at least 1,200 lives.
Archives of the statement show the list of signatories was removed Tuesday between roughly 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern, three days after the attacks. During that window, hedge fund magnate and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman said “a number of CEOs” had asked him whether his alma mater would identify the student groups “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”
Not sure my point about the linked video and the Romanov royal family was made clearly enough. The video specifically said that the Communist revolutionaries “swept away” the Romanovs. They weren’t “swept away;” they were murdered by Commies.
I objected to the video deliberately sweeping away the harsh reality of these executions.
Another change story as a committed liberal Jew discovers “his people” on the Left really do hate him & his family & friends.
Once, I Was a Peace Advocate. Now, I Have No Idealism Left.
After terrorists killed my cousin Daniel Pearl, my family called for peace. But after the worldwide celebration of our people’s slaughter, my hope for peace is dead.
By Ilan Benjamin
October 13, 2023
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The story I’m about to tell is one that many progressive Jews can relate to. In some ways, it’s a prototypical arc of a diaspora Jew who has always advocated for nuance. This week, something broke in us. We watched history repeat itself. Not just on the global scale, with the wanton massacre of our people, the savage mass murders and dismemberments of entire families and communities. But for many, my family included, history is repeating itself on a personal level as well.
…
When I immigrated to Israel at the age of 18 and enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, I was still driven by ideals. I thought I could promote more goodwill with our Palestinian neighbors.
…
On my rare free weekend, I spent my time at Kibbutz Be’eri. Because I was a “lone soldier”—that is, an immigrant without much close family in Israel—I was given a host family. They treated me like a son, including teasing me relentlessly for choosing to come to Israel and serve, whereas most Israelis have no choice. They were politically left, just like me. Despite rockets often raining down on them, they believed in peace, just like me. This week, when the terrorists came, ideals didn’t make a difference.
I watched the news in horror as terrorists massacred over 100 people at Kibbutz Be’eri. Women. Children. I frantically messaged my host family and heard nothing back. Like my cousin Danny years ago, my family was being held hostage. The good news: unlike Danny, my host family at Kibbutz Be’eri was saved. They are physically okay. But how can they really be okay, after watching their friends and neighbors being slaughtered?
There was a time when these types of events couldn’t shake my ideals. I used to argue relentlessly for a two-state solution. I fought bitterly with Israeli friends about the decency of the Palestinian people. Even though radical Islamists had murdered my cousin, even though civilians had been blown up in buses daily during the Second Intifada, I refused to give in to nihilism.
In 2012, I returned to the States to study film at University of Southern California, and published a book about my military service that criticized the Israeli government. This didn’t win me many friends, but I continued to advocate for nuance regardless. I proudly supported Black Lives Matter, LGBTQIA+, and feminist causes. I called myself a progressive Jew.
But over the years, I noticed a disturbing trend: With all the atrocities in the world, why did my social justice warrior friends hate Israel so disproportionately? Why did it feel like intersectionality excluded Jews? Why did the left—who supposedly stood up for human rights—put child-murdering Hamas terrorists on a pedestal?
At first, I thought it must be miseducation.
…
But my friends weren’t interested in correcting their misunderstandings.
…
I agreed that the settlements were unlawful, that Gaza was a humanitarian crisis, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyuahu was a dictator. I assumed—if I cared enough, if I mourned for the Palestinian dead, if I put nuance above all else—our neighbors and their allies would give us the same decency.
How wrong I was. This past week, as over 1,300 Jews were slaughtered, the most murderous attack on Jews since the Holocaust, I saw the true face of Palestinians and their allies. All around the world, they celebrate. They gloat. They mock our tears. They do not protest against Hamas. They embrace pure evil.
And so, to the terrorists I now say:
When you killed my family, I forgave you. When you killed my people, I forgave you. But when you killed my idealism, I had no forgiveness left.
To non-Jewish friends who have reached out, thank you. It is simply the human thing to do. To friends who dare justify what has happened, you are not friends. You are nothing but Nazi supporters dressed up in leftist intellectual language. To the Palestinians: you have lost all moral authority to claim victimhood. I will never advocate for you again.
Saw a story about an American women who moved to Israel and married an Israeli, and she advocated for Palestinian rights, and against the Israeli government’s actions with regard to the Palestinians.
Well, she lived in Kfar Aza, right next to the border fence, and the Hamas terrorists who broke thorough that fence killed her and her husband as they huddled in their “safe room.”
As one commenter said, the fact that you have to have a “safe room” tells you something. *
Muslim leaders have shaped the Palestinians to be a useful tool, a reservoir of anger and hatred, a tumultuous and feral people, and a dagger for use against the Jews.
But these feral people are so dangerous and disruptive that these Muslim leaders make sure that these Palestinians have no place in their own countries, they keep them bottled up in Gaza, and in the refugee camps, ready for release against the Jews.
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Caroline Glick presents a summary of the first week of Israel’s war for survival (23 mins):
https://youtu.be/iDrLjJlk8HY?si=-QIFO4xgxkfUGBC_
The ducks have arrived and duck season opens tomorrow. I expect to awaken to gunfire in the morning.
This from the Daily Mail, which is usually fairly reliable. I have not seen any other report on this so can’t verify. Rescued 250 hostages. Just don’t know
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12626287/idf-flotilla-13-sufa-checkpoint-hamas-hostages.html
I expect to awaken to gunfire in the morning.
So do the Gazans.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/stop-being-shocked-once-and-for-all
SHIREHOME:
The hostages weren’t the ones taken to Gaza. These were soldiers on Saturday.
Thanks Neo. But even this wasn’t widely reported, at least not where I usually go. But you are always right on top of things.
It’s Different This Time Dept:
________________________________
Since the horrific attack on Israel by Hamas, not only has the world witnessed the atrocities committed by this group, but we have also witnessed outright celebrations of the murders of innocent people by those who support Hamas. Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, many of these demonstrations can be seen on America’s college campuses, which have become little more than indoctrination centers for young people.
But for those who support the murder of innocents, their extracurricular activities may come back to haunt them after graduation when they start looking for a job. Bill Ackman is a billionaire hedge fund manager and a Harvard alumnus. He tweeted on Tuesday that he had been contacted by “a number of CEOs” wanting to know if Harvard would disclose the names of students who belong to the campus organizations that recently signed onto a letter that stated that these student groups held “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” The reason behind wanting the students’ names made public? So these CEOs can be sure they never hire any students involved in these organizations.
https://redstate.com/beckynoble/2023/10/12/pro-palestinian-harvard-students-first-lesson-in-job-hunting-ceos-not-interested-in-hamas-supporters-n2164979
From the Faberge video: “After the Communist revolution ‘swept away’ the Royal family, Faberge was forced to flee to Switzerland…”
Swept away the Royal family….like the Israeli families were recently swept away by Hamas, I suppose.
Pace RigelDog and the others, the Communist Revolution didn’t “sweep away” the Royal Family per se. An odd Constitutionalist and Quasi-Republican Revolution (one that had originally tried to turn the Russian Empire into a constitutional monarchy by deposing Nikolai II by appealing to his patriotism and the need to win the war, but who failed to get any takers) already swept away the Royal Family only to then be swept away by the Communist Revolution.
Who of course went on to murder the former Royals and lots of others.
The Communists love credit-stealing for deposing the Romanov and it’s amazing how much pop culture has let them get away with it.
@ RigelDog – after a certain point, history stops being personal. It has an Arc and a Direction instead.
I was once privileged to see a traveling museum exhibit that included some of the original Faberge and some of the faux-berge eggs. Both were fabulous.
OSINTdefender:
“The Israeli Government is reportedly Finalizing an Executive Order under the Power of the War Cabinet that will result in the removal of the Qatari-State owned News Network ‘Al-Jazeera’ from Israel due to their Support for Hamas.”
link: https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1712819421935194569
reminder: to view tweets, you need to login
___________________________________________________________
This is the first report I’ve read that Al-Jazeera has been expelled from Israel. I hope it’s true.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t the most important news of the day, but neither is it trivial. I worked for a few years in Qatar, and my dislike for Al-Jazeera grew to loathing. They’re a propaganda network for Hamas and all the other descendants of the Muslim Brotherhood. Most recently, Al-Jazeera reporters have been ranging all over Israel, reporting troop movements, defense structures, and real-time information that Hamas can use to direct its rockets. It’s widely assumed that they’ve been supplying information directly to Hamas. They are, effectively, enemy spies. In a time of war, Israel is not obliged to guarantee them the protection expected by journalists.
@ sdferr – thanks for the link to Tablet – an important post.
“None of the horrors you are witnessing this week—not the massacre of Jews, not the betrayal by public figures and popular activist movements, not the moral insanity of our universities and cultural spaces—happened by accident.”
With links to prove it.
Leibovitz’s essay is the most poignant, because it’s personal, and very much like the “change” stories with which we are familiar.
There may still be hope for friends and family who have not yet made the breakthrough.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-turn-liel-leibovitz
It’s Different This Time Dept:
The UK and France are banning pro-Palestinian demos as hate speech or disturbances to public order:
______________________________
–UK Home Secretary Calls for “Heavy Criminal Consequences” for Various Pro-Hamas Speech”
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/10/13/uk-home-secretary-calls-for-heavy-criminal-consequences-for-various-pro-hamas-speech/
–“France bans pro-Palestinian protests, citing risk of ‘disturbances to public order'”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-767996
______________________________
As a supporter of free speech I’m not keen on these measures, but I am intrigued to see the hammer coming down on the pro-Palestinian movement. I don’t remember seeing this before.
This afternoon I watched a pro-Palestine demo at UNM. About a hundred people. Lots of Palestine flags, people in keffiyehs and signs reading “Free Palestine”.
A tall white trans guy holding a pro-Palestine sign and wearing a black leather skirt, black tights, black platform boots and heavy make-up stood next to me.
I looked up Islam and trans guys. In Islam they are termed Mukhannath — “effeminate ones” or “ones who resemble women”. They are not in as a tough a spot as homosexuals in Islam, but they are not simply accepted either.
Here’s a weird repercussion in Iran:
__________________________________________
Because homosexuality is illegal in Iran but gender transition is legal, some gay individuals have been forced to undergo sex reassignment surgery and transition into the opposite sex, regardless of their actual gender identity.
Due to Khomeini’s fatwas allowing sex reassignment surgery for intersex and transgender individuals, Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world except for Thailand
. It is sanctioned as a supposed “cure” for homosexuality, which is punishable by death penalty under Iranian law. The Iranian government even provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance and a sex change is recognised on the birth certificate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukhannath
Guess I shoulda said “trans woman” instead in the above.
It’s so confusing.
This Time It’s Different Dept:
I don’t remember this happening before either.
___________________________________
Students rush to disavow, hide connections to Hamas statements to protect careers
…
Harvard University students are particularly vulnerable because three dozen student organizations, under the banner of “Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups,” joined a statement that calls “the apartheid regime” of Israel “the only one to blame” for the surprise Hamas attack on women, children and partiers that began Saturday morning, claiming at least 1,200 lives.
Archives of the statement show the list of signatories was removed Tuesday between roughly 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern, three days after the attacks. During that window, hedge fund magnate and Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman said “a number of CEOs” had asked him whether his alma mater would identify the student groups “so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.”
https://justthenews.com/world/middle-east/students-rush-disavow-hide-connections-hamas-statements-protect-careers
Not sure my point about the linked video and the Romanov royal family was made clearly enough. The video specifically said that the Communist revolutionaries “swept away” the Romanovs. They weren’t “swept away;” they were murdered by Commies.
I objected to the video deliberately sweeping away the harsh reality of these executions.
Another change story as a committed liberal Jew discovers “his people” on the Left really do hate him & his family & friends.
https://www.thefp.com/p/daniel-pearl-cousin-hamas-idealism
Saw a story about an American women who moved to Israel and married an Israeli, and she advocated for Palestinian rights, and against the Israeli government’s actions with regard to the Palestinians.
Well, she lived in Kfar Aza, right next to the border fence, and the Hamas terrorists who broke thorough that fence killed her and her husband as they huddled in their “safe room.”
As one commenter said, the fact that you have to have a “safe room” tells you something. *
* See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/10/minnesota-woman-who-advocated-palestinian-rights-protested-against/
Muslim leaders have shaped the Palestinians to be a useful tool, a reservoir of anger and hatred, a tumultuous and feral people, and a dagger for use against the Jews.
But these feral people are so dangerous and disruptive that these Muslim leaders make sure that these Palestinians have no place in their own countries, they keep them bottled up in Gaza, and in the refugee camps, ready for release against the Jews.