Simply Jews

Haaretz - wrong even in small things. Like roaches.

2013-06-20T11:22:00.000+03:00

I didn't want to, but there is no escape, so here: a semi-funny article titled Tourist Tip #262 / Consider the Israeli cockroach. By Ruth Schuster. It starts with:

Dear tourist: Yes, Israel has cockroaches. Every continent has them. And the Israeli version is large and it can fly.

Since the article is aiming chiefly at American tourists, I can make an effort to credit Ms Schuster with an attempt to call the (fairly disgusting) flying roach "Israeli cockroach" - or anything else but by its real name. Which is "American cockroach". In the insect world there is no such species as "Israeli cockroach", as it's very easy to check.

If only Ms Schuster had tried. But, since she belongs to the Haaretz brotherhood/sisterhood of the quick and the lethal, she doesn't have time for trifles. Obviously.

P.S. And the picture of the roach used in the article is wrong, too, by the way. Oh well...

Suicide prevention for iPhone users

2013-06-20T06:00:00.000+03:00

I am not and have never been an iPhone user. So the only thing I can do is ask iPhone owners: is it really that bad?

Details.

This Week’s Watcher’s Counicl Nominations – $100M African Safari Edition

2013-06-20T02:00:00.000+03:00

Council Submissions

The Noisy Room – The Sandbagging of America
Liberty’s Spirit – Caroline Glick on the Jewish-American Community’s Affair with Leftist-Jew-Hatred
Simply Jews – What Do The Russians Really Want
GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The al Qaeda Nation States of 2018
The Colossus of Rhodey – “White privilege” and those who’ve “made it”
Joshuapundit-Epic Fail! GM Recalls 500,00 Cruze Cars Over Engine Fire Risk
The Political Commentator – Politics Obama-style: The Obama Lie-Clock and Obama lies!
Bookworm Room – Regressive Progressives strike again, spending hundreds of thousands of education dollars on recycled liberal claptrap
The Right Planet – Angry Wacko Bird
The Glittering Eye -The Past Is a Bucket of Ashes
Nice Deb – Pedophile Ambassador Protected By State Dept IDd as Major Obama Bundler & Political Appointee
The Razor – Multiculturalism Turns Out To Be A Disguised Form of White Supremacy
Rhymes With Right – Now That She Has The Lungs
VA Right! - NSA Snooping Incompatible with the Right to Privacy in Roe v. Wade Ruling
The Mellow Jihadi – No More Navy Uniform Changes

Honorable Mentions

Right Truth – Eighth-Grader Who Refused to Remove NRA Shirt Could Face Year in Prison
Tina Trent.Com – Don’t Let Anyone Silence You On The Illegal Immigrant Amnesty Bill . . . Especially Other Republicans
Ask Marion – Sarah Palin Back as Fox News Analyst…
The Pirate’s Cove – Ted Cruz Files Amendment Requiring ID, Citizenship To Register To Vote

Non-Council Submissions

Mark Steyn–Big Politically Correct Brother submitted by The Noisy Room
Boker Tov Boulder – I agree With Chelsea Clinton submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
BBC Watch – BBC’s Knell uses F1 to amplify PA propaganda on Jerusalem submitted by Simply Jews
Telegraph Blogs – North Korea’s State-Sanctioned Girl Band submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
Mona Charen/NRO – The Unmentionable Injustice submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
Answering Muslims.com – Sacrificing Our Daughters: On the Psychology of Islamic Rape-Gangs submitted by Joshuapundit
The American Spectator -The Era Of Contempt submitted by The Political Commentator
Elbert Guillory- Elbert Guillory: “Why I Am a Republican” submitted by Bookworm Room
Own The Narrative – The Progressive “Reality” submitted by The Right Planet
Real Clear Politics – Bill Ayers: Try Obama for War Crimes submitted by The Glittering Eye
The Conversation -The all-seeing State averts its gaze submitted by Nice Deb
Gavin McInnes/Taki’s Mag –10 Misconceptions About Being a Parent I Had Before I Became A Parent submitted by The Razor
Althouse – “What’s so ‘ugly’ about the mockery?” submitted by Rhymes with Right
Angry White Dude – Marco Rubio Comes Out Of The Closet – He’s A Democrat submitted by VA Right!
PJ Tatler –Ms. Magazines My Month with a Gun Story Shooting Blanks? submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
Heather McDonald/City Journal – The Real Risks of Amnesty submitted by The Watcher
David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – Is Hassan Rouhani Really a Reformer? submitted by Watcher

Glenn Greenwald: the douchebag tries to lie his way out of the corner

2013-06-19T06:00:00.000+03:00

After all, the big bad wolf is not all that big and not all that bad. But how to 'fess up to that and not to lose face? Esp. if you hadn't much of a face to lose to start with?

Yep. Not so bad, indeed.

And apropos Greenwald: check this out too.

And, of course,your meal will be incomplete without this for dessert.

Anne Bayefsky on Richard Falk

2013-06-19T05:30:00.000+03:00

A big bump for the little putz:

Check...

They don't make the Ferrari the way they used to anymore

2013-06-18T22:09:00.003+03:00

"...the photographer's injuries were not life-threatening."

Details.

Yeah, let's all go and make that cyberpeace, for crying out loud!

2013-06-18T17:56:00.002+03:00

No, really, people: why didn't anyone propose this before? After all what could be more natural?

Except that for a load of well-meaning crapola you shouldn't look farther than this:

It's time to stop the madness. Yes, our military needs to invest in cyberwar capabilities, but we also need international rules of cyberwar, more transparency from our own government on what we are and are not doing, international cooperation between governments and viable cyberweapons treaties. Yes, these are difficult. Yes, it's a long slow process. Yes, there won't be international consensus, certainly not in the beginning. But even with all of those problems, it's a better path to go down than the one we're on now.

Yeah, how couldn't you all see it coming: CIA, FSB, Mossad, MI6 (or is it MI5 again?) and all these other spooks of the world sitting down and hammering out the terms of the future cyberpeace.

I would even dare to call for a new fraternity:

CPUs of the world, unite!

Oh well, no sweat here. Gonna read now Helen Keller’s Letter to Nazi Germany.

Christiane Amanpour on Hassan Rouhani's win in Iran

2013-06-18T06:00:00.000+03:00

Like many others in the West, but with much more fervor, Ms Amanpour is trumpeting the possible new era in US - Iran relationship. Her piece is not overburdened with facts about Iran's role in the international mayhem of many kinds and its ominous shadow in Iraq, the Gulf and its other neighborhoods.

I am not going to try to spoil her hopeful tone. Only one question, where she mentions the Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (forgetting his title of Ayatollah for some reason). As she truthfully states, "the system banned Rafsanjani from running".

Now, Ayatollah Rafsanjani is well known as a moderate in name only. In fact, he is one of the 7 people still being wanted by Argentine for mass murder.

And the question to Ms Amanpour is: if a "moderate" like Rafsanjani was disqualified by the top dog, Ayatollah Khamenai, what does that tell you about the winner?

Update: Hassan Rouhani answers Ms Amanpour's plea:

The Islamic republic has no intention, however, of ending uranium enrichment, Hassan Rouhani, who won the presidency over the weekend, said in his first news conference Monday.

Yep.

And more - Iran's popular new leader is no reformist. By someone who knows infinitely more about Iran than Christiane Amanpour ever will.

And not to forget this: Iran to send 4,000 troops to aid President Assad forces in Syria. New Iran, indeed.

40 cases of miraculous healing in one day - only in Rome!

2013-06-18T05:30:00.000+03:00

Blessed be this day:

Forty people claiming benefits for blindness have been arrested after police in Rome filmed them engaging in activities including driving, reading newspapers, supermarket shopping and surfing the web in broad daylight.

Via Blazing Cat Fur.

A Toke With Willie Nelson and a Beer With John Prine

2013-06-18T02:00:00.000+03:00

If you thought that the members of the Watcher of Weasels forum are these square dudes and dudesses carping endlessly about politics in general and Barack Obama in particular, here is your proof that you are wrong. Tom White, the editor in chief of Virginia Right on some pretty unsquare things he wouldn't mind doing:

So there.

P.S. Just don't do it in Texas, like Willie N. had a misfortune to...

Every silver lining has a cloud!

2013-06-17T09:47:00.000+03:00

You know, I'm sure, the phrase "every cloud has a silver lining". Well, let's turn that on its head: "every silver lining has a cloud".

In this case, the silver lining is that Hamas appears to be losing out on its funding and weapons supplies from Iran because of its support for the rebels in Syria. Who says so? Well, according to The Algemeiner, it's Israel's Channel 2.

As a result, "...following Hamas’ conflict with Israel in November, which saw a major depletion in the organization’s weapons stockpile, there is now a shortage of weapons." To say that, as a result, my heart bleeds would be to use British irony so thick that even I would choke on it. Do read the article; it's short and sweet.

Then gloat.

By Brian Goldfarb.

Irena Sendler - The Unknown Holocaust Hero

2013-06-17T06:00:00.000+03:00

Many people who are aware of Yad VaShem's program to honor Righteous Gentiles assume that all such individuals have been honored by now -- 68 years after the end of WWII. Indeed, Yad Vashem's program has bestowed recognition on tens of thousands of individuals who demonstrated bravery and heroism as they risked their own lives to save Jewish men, women and children. However, even today, new stories are coming to light about the actions of rescuers and untold stories about the rescuers themselves, even those who have been honored, continue to emerge.

One such incident involves Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who is credited with saving over 3000 Jewish lives between 1939 and 1943. Sendler was, in fact, honored by Yad VaShem in 1965 but her story went largely unnoticed until a group of Kansas City schoolgirls began to investigate the story as part of their research of the Holocaust. The research, which began in 1999, culminated in a trip that the girls took to Poland to meet Sendler and the subsequent development of additional materials that highlight the amazing story of a remarkable woman.

Irena Sendler joined the Zagota underground soon after the Nazis invaded Poland. Zagota members specialized in helping Jews escape the Polish dragnet and it is estimated that Sendler and her comrades assisted over 500 Jews escape German capture between 1939 and 1941.

In 1941 Sendler obtained false identification papers which identified her as a nurse with permission to enter the Warsaw Ghetto to bring in food and medicine. Sendler immediately understood that the Nazi's intended to, ultimately, destroy the ghetto and kill the residents and she decided to save as many lives as possible -- this time, primarily the lives of children, who she felt that she could best hide in the orphanages and convents of Poland.

Sendler began to knock on doors in the ghetto and implored parents to allow her to take their children to safety beyond the ghetto walls. She later recounted the trauma of trying to convince mothers and fathers that their children would be safer with her than they would be if they remained in the ghetto. "I talked the mothers out of their children" Sendler later related as she described the heartwrenching scenes that she had to endure, day after day, as she separated the parents from their children. "Those scenes over whether to give a child away were heart-rending. Sometimes, they wouldn't give me the child. Their first question was, 'What guarantee is there that the child will live?' I said, 'None. I don't even know if I will get out of the ghetto alive today."

Sendler smuggled the children out of the ghetto under the noses of the Nazis, bringing the children out by hiding them in toolboxes, bags, luggage and even under garbage carts or under piles of rags with barking dogs on top as they passed the German guards who were stationed at the entrance to the ghetto. She and other Zagota members also identified a network of hidden tunnels and learned about the sewer system that ran under the city which they used as well to smuggle the children out.

Once the children were safely removed Sendler's work continued. She needed to find safe hiding places for the children, primarily in orphanages, convents and with sympathetic families. The children were provided with new names but Sendler recorded their real names and hiding places on tissue paper which she placed in glass jars and then buried in her neighbor's garden, hoping to one day reunite them with their families or the Jewish community.

Sendler was captured in October 1943 and tortured but she didn't reveal any information about "her" children. Zagota members secured her release by bribing a German guard and she lived out the rest of the war in hiding.

Today Sendler's activities are commemorated by the Lowell Milken Center in the Life in a Jar project which includes a book, a website and a performance which has been viewed by audiences throughout the world.

Stacie Juris - bottomless and topless

2013-06-17T04:00:00.000+03:00

meaning nude. But not here, somewhere else. Instead, watch this (click to enlarge):

Feeling better now? So stop surfing and back to the yoke.

PRISM and you: how endangered you are, my friend?

2013-06-16T07:42:00.002+03:00

The drama around the PRISM surveillance is unfolding as we speak. Glenn Greenwald (and, by relation, the Guardian) continue to milk the apparent sensation for every drop it could bring to his fame and to their dwindling income. US security honchos keep providing some mumbling and some hilarious responses (not wittingly indeed). The whistleblower hero/traitor naively assumes that by telling the world that "U.S. government has been hacking to gain information from hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide for years" he is shaking the foundations of the free world and waking up the uncounted billions that will now... what exactly? He knows, possibly, but still isn't telling.

The Republicans and the Democrats are in total confusion, flipping their traditional positions, forgetting what exactly were their well rehearsed principles during the reign of previous administrations. No, the current administration wasn't the one to start this business. And, I dare say, nor was the previous. It goes way back.

The Chinese*, the Russians, the Israelis, the Brits, the French etc. who practice the same or similar surveillance methods**, each to their own ends, watch the brouhaha with a good measure of glee and a good measure of satisfaction - for reasons I don't have to explain.

To some degree I understand the sentiment of the FBI Director Robert Mueller that "law enforcement must stay a step ahead of criminals and terrorists". And I tend to believe that in some cases PRISM surveillance helped to catch some suspects. On the other hand, creating an avalanche of data isn't by itself a guarantee of success - if, indeed, the purpose of creating the avalanche is to catch the terrorists. But in general, the indignation displayed by some pundits, who are trying to show the world that the phenomenon in question is something absolutely new and unheard of, is kinda pathetic.

Collecting information has always been just another facet of espionage. We may detest espionage in all its forms, but this sentiment will not make it go away. The information is out there, it is available, everyone was collecting it, is collecting it and everyone will continue to collect it. It goes against our moral judgment, unfortunately, but it is there - as is crime, as is death or taxes. It is going on and, instead of handwringing and bemoaning the unfairness, everyone, no matter if a big or small business, a corporation or a regular Joe, should decide on the optimal mode of behavior that will protect his/their/its privacy best, without committing any offense against the laws of the land, of course.

Well, for the issues related to the impact of the PRISM on businesses you can do much worse than reading this post by Francis Sedgemore. He laid it out quite succinctly. My interest for now is with a regular Joe. A person whose little personal secrets range from a potentially embarrassing video clip he/she may have inadvertently taken in a moment of inebriation and uploaded on Youtube, via a few bucks salted away in an account the spouse (or IRS) knows nothing about, to a few movies downloaded illegally for free, saving self and family members a few bucks that would have been otherwise spent on getting the movie from Flicks. You know, all these small but potentially shameful items... Or, if you want to really raise the ante, some "anonymous" blogger that sometimes allows himself a few non-parliamentary expressions or thoughts aiming at some high windows. I have put quotation marks around the word "anonymous", because this anonymity shtick is a total self-deception that this specific blogger doesn't really share - the veil of secrecy is so thin that whoever needs (or wants) to know the real name, address, ID number and other little shameful items about the said blogger, does know them all. And more, I am (not) afraid.

To remind you again about the PRISM abilities:

Data which the NSA is able to obtain with the PRISM program may include email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice over IP conversations, file transfers, login notifications and social networking details.

In other words: everything you did or intend to do via your computer or smartphone is available and thus known and could possibly be used. And of course, nobody even mentions anymore such trifles as your banking details, your credit history, your credit cards' numbers and activities: all this is already far behind the current frontiers of data collection, having practically become a part of public domain.

Let's check now what exactly could happen to your personal information while it's stored somewhere in the innards of the government's behemoth. As someone who dubbed a bit in data processing and data mining, I think I could offer a few likely scenarios.

1. Democratic societies

By and large, your regular Joe and his/her light infringements of law and order are not of interest to the data mining machines. The reason is simple: any data mining operation that will focus on minor misdeeds will bring up so many millions of trivial results (which, most probably, will include the watchers themselves), that there is absolutely no sense in performing this kind of operation. The nets are being thrown into the sea for much bigger fish.

This is the main reason that, as long as the regime that guards and benevolently watches your personal pursuit of happiness doesn't change for worse, you are getting off scot-free with all these little missteps of yours. But you shouldn't ever forget that the information about these missteps is out there in your government vaults. The moment when, instead of mining the data for big fish, someone comes to the accumulated data to look for you specifically, our regular Joe, the situation will change drastically. Because it is there and in one simple inquiry it will come out, straight and unvarnished. For most people, of course, it will mean no more than a slight embarrassment or a tiff with a friend. For some it may mean an ugly divorce, for some - an invitation to IRS, for some - a break-up of a life-long friendship. Etc...

So how and when could all this trove of information about you become dangerous to or, at least, encroaching upon your well-being? Even in a most democratic society there is at least one possibility of such event. Paradoxically, it could be caused by the same kind of well-meaning heroes/villains/morons like Snowden, Manning and, not to forget of course, Mr Assange. In exactly the same way that they've casually exposed human rights activists in Belarus, Russia, Iran and other places, their way of making the stolen information public could expose your little secrets as well. Nothing personal, of course, it will be done for pure and altruistic motives. If it happens, you are a fair prey to the curious eyes of your friends (to start with), your family and, of course, your personal enemies. You may be sure that the moment a search in the database becomes possible, courtesy of whistlblowers, the people who know you personally will be the first to satisfy their natural curiosity.

Then, of course, there are hackers. Being sloppy in everything they do, the government bureaucracts quite surely overlooked a few cracks in the defense mechanisms of their data warehouse behemoth. The bad guys out there will find a way to the info, and your only protection is that of a proverbial leaf in a forest: the chances one of the bad guys will get to you are small enough to regard them exactly as you regard a chance of getting into a traffic accident.

All in all - if you are a lazy guy/gal that doesn't like to change the acquired lazy habits, there is not much you can do. There is definitely one thing that I wouldn't do if I were you: buying one of these $19.99 encryption software packages from the market and using them on your personal data, your e-mails etc. This is one surefire way to let the good guys (if you could call the Big Brother's servants good guys) and the bad guys to sit up and listen, asking themselves all kinds of questions about you. In no time your puny encryption will get cracked, but the attention you have earned just by using it will make you flagged forever - and who knows where it will end? One of the good guys may just decide to send your name and address to IRS - to give you one possibility of a rather miserable ending of your otherwise happy existence.

Generally: don't do on the Internet anything you wouldn't do in the central square of your city or village (on a market day). And think twice before doing it on your computer even if it's not connected to the Internet. You never know.

As for your smart phone: it is smart, but for all practical purposes it's not exactly yours. Several good guys and an uncounted number of bad ones are watching it. Take care.

Of course, there is another nightmarish scenario: the democracy you live in and are so fond of carping about, the fragile thing that it is, could transform into something much less benign overnight. And here we come to the other kind, the

2. Not so democratic regimes

Once, in my other life, the one spent behind the Iron Curtain, I was lectured by a guy in the know. The subject was exactly that which we are discussing now: what is it that the Big Brother (usually dubbed KGB back then) wants to know about us? And the answer was, unsurprisingly - everything (just like now, isn't it?). The reason was simple: KGB wanted (still wants, under another name) to have as much compromising information as possible on each and every citizen of the country (of course, if possible, on foreign citizens as well). The purpose wasn't to jail every single citizen, far from it. KGB simply wanted the ability to pull the hook, already imbedded in your guts, the moment your services will be required for this or another purpose. It wanted to be able to show you the stick of the possible blackmail without any need to dangle the more expensive carrot in front of your face.

And this is precisely the point where your tiny indiscretions: that clip you have uploaded unthinkingly, the downloaded movie, these few bucks you've salted away - all that and more will come out, carefully secured in a drab-colored file with a long number instead of your name on it.

Oh, and if you were a motormouth blogger in that previous life and tended to badmouth the current leader (Caudillo, Fuhrer, whatever): your file may be a bit bulkier, and the blackmail option could be shelved too, being unnecessary in your case.

Bleak, isn't it? In fact, aside of the technology involved that makes it that much easier for the bad guys, not much has changed since the first informer in history told the first tyrant in history about a suspicious conversation he overheard recently... so again, just take care.

(*) Which reminds me the biggest irony of the situation: Snowden is asking for asylum from the people who will benefit the most buying his services, expecting him to do for them exactly what he was doing before, but against his own country. I don't know whether he realized this already, but it is inescapable. Update: Sure thing: Chinese Paper Says Snowden Could Bolster China's Cyber Expertise.
(**) And another ironic moment: US of A, which, as I mentioned, is only one of many others practicing that kind of surveillance, is the one suffering the most from the attention of the well-meaning whistleblowers. Have you hears about Wikileaks or anyone else exposing anything similar or anything of value at all about China, Russia, North Korea etc.? I bet...

Snowden: right or wrong?

2013-06-16T06:00:00.000+03:00

The results of the survey by Gallup would have been hilarious if they haven't been so sad.

First of all, it suddenly appears that most Republicans (who, by and large, supported the Patriot Act during Bush times), are against the PRISM surveillance program, while Democrats (who are supposed to be aghast by the purported breach of their right to privacy) are for PRISM. Guess why?

And, for the same (poorly hidden) reason, most Republicans approve the Snowden's act of disclosing a state secret, while most Democrats disapprove.

Gallup people don't leave that stone unturned, giving it straight:

The reactions to these types of government programs have remained constant over the past seven years, although Republicans and Democrats have essentially flipped their attitudes over that time period, reflecting the change from Republican President George W. Bush to Democratic President Barack Obama.

There is some food for thought in that for both sides, isn't there?

And here comes Dana Milbank of WaPo, a staunch supporter of the current administration, bemoaning the Democrats' flip on surveillance. Somewhat pathetic.

Islamophobia Comes to Canberra

2013-06-15T06:30:00.000+03:00

The quote below from an article by Mark Durie is sufficient and self-contained

Like student magazines all over the world, Woroni, put out by students at the Australian National University, publishes satire. It did when I attended 30 years ago, and it still does today. Much of what is written is offensive to someone or other, but it is a rare day when the university pays any attention.
However last week, The Australian newspaper reported that university authorities responded to a complaint by international students to compel Woroni "to pulp a satirical infographic which described a passage from the Koran as a 'rape fantasy'". Rachel Baxendale wrote:

The University also threatened student authors and editors of the infographic with disciplinary action, including academic exclusion and the withdrawal of the publication's funding.
The piece was a fifth in a satirical series entitled "Advice from Religions" which had previously discussed Catholicism, Scientology, Mormonism and Judaism.
No complaints were received about any of the earlier installments.

Hat tip: Daled Amos.

On the genealogy of conspiracy theories

2013-06-15T06:00:00.000+03:00

This is why I feel so very sorry for Edward Snowden; I think he's about to fall into the chasm between his conception of liberty and that shared by the people whom he imagines he's defending.

A great conclusion of a great post by Shuggy.

Exemplary, Shuggy, if I may say so.

Why Is Russia Such a Wonderful Country?

2013-06-15T03:54:00.003+03:00

Because every porter has a chance of becoming a Tsar.

The photo goes back all the way to 1992, when Putin was a gofer for a well-known liberal politician Antatoly Sobchak. Prehistoric times...

The Council Has Spoken!

2013-06-15T01:00:00.000+03:00

Council Winners

*First place with 4 2/3 votes! Joshuapundit –The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War
Second place with 2 votes – The Right Planet – What Are Some Good ‘Liberal’ Books?
Second place *t* with 2 votes – Bookworm Room- Game of Thrones and how the things that we watch reveal something about who we are and what we’ve become
Third place *t* with 1 2/3 vote –VA Right! –NSA Leaker Snowden: Hero or Traitor?
Third place *t* with 1 2/3 vote –The Noisy Room –Samantha Power: The Hand That Rocks A Nation
Fourth place *t* with 1 vote –TheRazor- The Power of Islamic Propaganda
Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Liberty’s Spirit- Autism-Meme as Political Insult
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- My First Fist-Fight in the Navy
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – Poll Shows Support for Affirmative Action Dwindling
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Nice Deb –National Organization for Marriage’s John Eastman RIPS Democrats At IRS Hearing + Proof IRS Leaked Confidential Donor List to Political Rival
Fifth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Simply Jews –More fun and games with Alice Walker

Non-Council Winners

First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Mark Steyn- The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit
Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Sultan Knish – We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here submitted by The Noisy Room
Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Victor Davis Hanson –Obama is Just Obama submitted by The Razor
Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – Doug Ross@Journal –The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format [Updated] submitted by Nice Deb
Fourth place with 1 1/3 votes -Alexis Simendinger/RealClearPolitics - Privacy, Security and Obama’s Uphill Quest for Trust submitted by The Glittering Eye
Fifth place *t* with 1 vote The Texas Scribbler -Our Creepy President submitted by Simply Jews
Fifth place *t* with 1 vote- This Ongoing War –Will Appeasing Hezbollah Work Better Now Than it Did With Nazi Germany? submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Michelle Malkin –Assimilation, Not Amnesty submitted by VA Right!
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The National Journal –NSA Spying Scandal: 2006 or 2013? submitted by The Right Planet
Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote -The Long War Journal –Iran’s Latin American Terror Network submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Israel Thrives – The Nakba Stratagem submitted by Bookworm Room
Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -Reason.Com –Obama’’s Last Gasp at a Legacy submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote -The Chicago Boyz –Peggy Noonan is figuring it out … submitted by The Mellow Jihadi

Righteous Gentiles ignored - what else?

2013-06-14T06:00:00.000+03:00

Had you heard of Varian Fry (before you read this article, I mean)? I had, but I suspect that this makes me a little odd, at least according to this article, because it would appear that being aware of Righteous gentiles is somewhat put of fashion. Although what "fashion" has to do with humanitarianism is beyond me. So be it.

Anyway, "[b]etween 1940 and 1941, working out of a hotel room and later a small office in the French port city of Marseille, Varian Fry rescued hundreds of artists, writers, musicians, composers, scientists, philosophers, intellectuals, and their families from the Nazis, taking enormous personal risks to bring them to the United States. Fry was one of the only American “righteous Gentiles,” a man who voluntarily risked everything to save others, with no personal connection to those he saved. At the age of 32, Fry had volunteered to go to France on behalf of the Emergency Rescue Committee, an ad hoc group of American intellectuals formed in 1940 for the purpose of distributing emergency American visas to endangered European artists and thinkers." Among those whom Fry recsued were Hannah Arendt, Marcel Duchamp, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and André Breton, among some 2000 people in total.

Something, you would think, to celebrate. Not, according to Dara Horn, the author of this piece. It turns out that Horn has interviewed Pierre Sauvage who owes his life to Righteous Gentiles: "Sauvage’s fascination with rescuers comes in part because he owes his life to them. He was born in 1944 in Le Chambon, France, a Huguenot village in the south central part of the country in which the entire town, following the leadership of its Protestant clergy, formed a silent “conspiracy of goodness,” as Sauvage has called it, to shelter Jews from the Nazis. Sauvage’s parents were among the thousands of Jews hidden by the righteous of Le Chambon. His 1989 film Weapons of the Spirit is a documentary about the village; it has become an educational staple that I watched in my high-school French class."

The nub of this piece is where the author relates the following from Sauvage: "In 1984, Sauvage helped organize an international conference on the righteous, chaired by Elie Wiesel. “We brought all these righteous Gentiles to Washington,” Sauvage recalled. “In the breaks between sessions, the righteous Gentiles were standing around being ignored by the scholars. No one spoke to them, no one engaged them. How can scholars not be fascinated by these people?”"

What is really worrying is that I suspect that we all know the answer t that question, and it begins with 'because it's J...we're talking about". I'd like to think that that's me being too cynical.

Am I?

By Brian Goldfarb.

Check your privilege! You don't have to iron your balls like George Clooney.

2013-06-14T05:30:00.000+03:00

Unless you are a member of the Hollywood best and finest.

Oh, you don't know what "check your privilege" means? Now you do. Live with it.

What do the Russians really want?

2013-06-13T06:00:00.000+03:00

Wouldn't you like to know? Well, some Russians wanted to know too. As it happens, the knowledge may appear to be somewhat surprising for a foreign observer.

A non-commercial NGO Levada Center polled 1601 Russian citizens on a following question: "Your attitude to various Russian leaders from different periods". Follow the positive results, sorted in descending order:

Leonid Brezhnev - 56%
Vladimir Lenin - 55%
Joseph Stalin - 50%
Tsar Nikolay II - 48%

On the negative side there are two outstanding "leaders":

Mikhail Gorbachev - 66%
Boris Yeltsin - 64%

Compare the two figures above with measly 38% of the negative ballots for the second greatest murderer of the XX century, Joseph Stalin, and the magnitude of the above numbers will be put in a better perspective for you, I hope. I prefer not to analyze the results, only saying that many people familiar with the goings-on in modern Russia and with the last, say, 100 years of its history, are not surprised at all. The usual mismanagement of Russian affairs in all possible areas, the thievery and neglect are inexorably strengthening the traditional yearning for the seemingly strong and reliable "father figure". In short, Brezhnev fits the bill. Especially if you consider the short memory of the people...

So, instead of analysis I shall present two polarized comments on the above results. The first one - from a relatively independent and sometimes dissident Grani.ru, by Vitaly Portnikov - Meeting the old age.

The fact that the Levada Center poll on the best ruler of Russia ended in triumph for dear Leonid Ilyich is not surprising. Of course, this triumph is conditional - only one point separates him from the other Ilyich*, and the no less dear Vissarionych(**) is perched in third place. But Lenin, Stalin - these are by now not people but symbols: how many people are left in Russia that remember how it was during their times? On the other hand Brezhnev - it gives you a feeling that can be considered a real victory of power over reality.

Not so long ago, "stagnation" era seemed wrong: we all remember the emptying shelves, Afghanistan***, and most importantly - the drama of the degradation of power and of the state, unfolding before our eyes, so that no one argued with the fact that the aging leadership of the country takes idiotic decisions. It was only degree of idiocy that was debated. Brezhnev lived in anecdotes, surely surpassing Petka and Vasily Ivanovich, Shtirlits and even the Jews and the Chukchi****. Because Brezhnev - it was truly ridiculous and funny.

And now it is no longer funny. Now, it looks solid and stable. This means that the government was able to instill in a sufficiently large part of the society the idea of the inevitability and positivity of "stagnation". It was able to prove that stupidity is good, that when nothing changes, nothing progresses, when all around us withers and decomposes - it is life.

(*) Vladimir Lenin and Leonid Brezhnev share the patronymic Ilyich.

(**) Stalin's patronymic was Vissarionovich - or Vissarionych for brevity.

(***) The author forgot Czechoslovakia for some reason. I wouldn't, no sir/madam.

(****) Too long to explain, just take it as mentions of more ubiquitous Soviet/Russian anecdotes.

This is where I have chosen to end the translation. I think that the gist of the article was reflected faithfully in this part. And now - to the other side. Here comes an absolute opposite of the above: a view expressed by a rabid loyalist and ultra-nationalist, one Alexandr Belov. It was difficult to find some material in English on this character, but here and here you can find enough to get an impression. His article is titled Not a Servile Nation and subtitled: The Levada Center data makes the viability of liberal project in Russia doubtful.

It turned out that our citizens live and think outside liberal propaganda's context. But in the 90s it [the liberal propaganda] was an absolute mainstream, and still retains much of the "strategic high ground" in the media space.

*** [here the author reports the poll results that appear in the beginning of the post]***

Thus, the absolutely preferred leader at the moment is Leonid Brezhnev. That is, the leader, who is associated with a sense of stability and confidence in the future and the power of the state. We should take into account that people remember well the Brezhnev's era*, so the years of demagogy about "lines for sausage" hadn't confused them.

Usually avid for various fresh "numbers", liberal journalists either kept silent or barely mentioned the results of the study**. Such a reaction was evidence of the shock experienced by the media pool, whose work has long focused on the demonization of bygone eras.

The cliché of the "Bloody Nicholas***" and "damn the tsars", defamation of historical Russia were replaced a quarter of a century ago by "exposing" the "Stalin's terror", the "Brezhnev's stagnation" and unbridled defamation of the entire Soviet period. As a result, the population of Russia could form their view of history as a "black hole", which has been replaced by the "triumph of democracy" in the nineties****.

Did not happen. It was not so easy to fool the people .

[I am skipping some of the cursing addressed at "liberal propaganda", going directly to conclusions]

These studies, which visitors to the site "Levada Center" have described as "unexpected", show two trends.

First, the citizens of Russia are no longer willing to play along with the endless juggling of their own history and are increasingly convinced that those who ruled the country until "perestroika" cared mostly about her welfare.

Second, a steady demand for sustainable, strong and dynamic nation was clearly formed. It is consistent with the view our fellow citizens have of themselves and of the positions that they ought to take in this world.

[More cursing of the "liberals" skipped. End of the piece]

(*) Mr Belov... oh, let's cut the crap - this schmuck was born in 1976 and definitely doesn't remember anything from the Brezhnev's "era" and wasn't standing in lines for milk, bread, not to mention sausage. I do. I did.

(**) Which is a barefaced lie. There are tons of material from the liberal side of the political map (in Russian) on the subject.

(***) Tsar's Nikolay II's nickname

(****) I wouldn't use the term "black hole" for a period that was so generously splashed by red. As for the author placing Stalin's terror and Brezhnev's stagnation in quotes, it's up to him, of course. Did I mention the word "schmuck"?

To conclude: the author achieved rather the opposite of what he intended to, at least in the title of his article (re servility).

Now the last bit of input for you, my dear reader(s): I have done my own poll, of a kind. I passed the results of the Levada Center poll to a few people (some of them Russian) living outside of Russia, but still very much in touch with it. The response was crushing in its uniformity: leaving out the non-parliamentary parts, the conclusion was: "These ... deserve the ... government they have and the ... future they have coming". I know that in many senses this is not a politically correct opinion, but here you are.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Too bad.

A few cheap wisecracks inspired by headlines

2013-06-13T05:00:00.000+03:00

Taliban denies beheading children

The Taliban denied any involvement in the beheadings, according to spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi. He said Taliban fighters would never do such a thing, but said the group's civilian casualty commission would investigate.

Yes, the kids just stepped too close to a person waving a hatchet... And have you noticed this "group's civilian casualty commission"? I bet they are members of UNHRC by now.

Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law Wants to Keep His Jewish LawyerAnd:

The Jewish judge in the case is trying to dissuade him

He may as well come over to Tel Aviv. Our judges are well known for their leniency. And don't forget the climate too.

Venezuela says it foiled plot to assassinate President Maduro

Whatever lessons Mr Maduro learned from his illustrious predecessor, this is the one he apparently learned well: get almost assassinated as frequently as possible and blame Mercans for the dastardly deed. It pays off in the long run, it seems.

Farrah Abraham's sex tape - full and uncensored

2013-06-13T04:00:00.000+03:00

is out somewhere on the intertubes --->

But here you can see a Common Pratincole consuming a locust:

Now tell me the truth: doesn't she beat Farrah Abraham?

Watcher’s Council Nominations – Under Surveillance Edition

2013-06-13T01:00:00.000+03:00

Council Submissions

The Political Commentator – Connecting the radical dots in Boston!
Simply Jews – More fun and games with Alice Walker
The Noisy Room – Samantha Power: The Hand That Rocks A Nation
Liberty’s Spirit – Autism-Meme as Political Insult
The Razor – The Power of Islamic Propaganda
Joshuapundit-The Anniversary Of A Miracle – Israel’s Victory In The Six Day War
The Colossus of Rhodey – Poll Shows Support for Affirmative Action Dwindling
Nice Deb – National Organization for Marriages John Eastman RIPS Democrats At IRS Hearing + Proof IRS Leaked Confidential Donor List to Political Rival
GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Beirut Is The Next Benghazi
The Right Planet – What Are Some Good Liberal Books?
Bookworm Room – Game of Thrones and how the things that we watch reveal something about who we are and what we’ve become
VA Right! - NSA Leaker Snowden: Hero or Traitor?
The Glittering Eye -Weasels
Rhymes With Right – A Long Distance Dedication To Obama Voters
The Mellow Jihadi – My First Fist-Fight in the Navy

Honorable Mentions

Ask Marion – NSA Whistleblower Snowden in Exile as the Obama Scandals List Grows
Right Truth – Soldier Who Read Conservative Books Faces Charges…
The Pirate’s Cove – Bummer: NY Times Admits To 15 Year Pause In Global Warming

Non-Council Submissions

Zero Hedge -Are Central Bankers Losing Control? submitted by The Political Commentator
The Texas Scribbler – Our Creepy President submitted by Simply Jews
Sultan Knish –We’ll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here submitted by The Noisy Room
This Ongoing War: A Blog – Will Appeasing Hezbollah Work Better Now Than it Did With Nazi Germany? submitted by Liberty’s Spirit
Victor Davis Hanson –Obama is Just Obama submitted by The Razor
Mark Steyn – The All Seeing State submitted by Joshuapundit
Reason.com – Obama’s Last Gasp at a Legacy submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
Doug Ross @ Journal – The Complete IRS Scandal Timeline in Spreadsheet Format [Updated] submitted by Nice Deb
The Long War Journal – Iran’s Latin American Terror Network submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
The National Journal – NSA Spying Scandal: 2006 or 2013? submitted by The Right Planet
Israel Thrives-The Nakba Stratagem submitted by Bookworm Room
Michelle Malkin – Assimilation, Not Amnesty submitted by VA Right!
Alexis Simendinger/RealClearPolitics – Privacy, Security and Obama’s Uphill Quest for Trust submitted by The Glittering Eye
Red State – IRS lectures pro-life group on acceptable speech, practice of religion. submitted by Rhymes with Right
Chicago Boyz – Peggy Noonan is figuring it out submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
Gatestone Institute/Raheel Raza – On Israel’s President’s Conference submitted by The Watcher
Ann Coulter – Tips For Right-Wingers On The IRS Scandal submitted by Watcher