Chit Chat

By Peloni

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 9,231 Comments »

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  2. Mel Mermelstein, survivor who beat Holocaust deniers in court, dies at 95
    Mel Mermelstein, a Holocaust survivor who beat Holocaust deniers in court, dies following COVID infection.
    Tom Tugend, JTA
    09.02.22 14:03

    Mel Mermelstein, a Holocaust survivor who won a five-year court battle forcing a far-right Holocaust-denying organization to retract its claim and pay hefty damages, died Jan. 28 at the age of 95 from complications of COVID-19.

    Weeks later, tributes to Mermelstein are continuing to arrive at the family home in Long Beach, California, a testament to the public impact of his legal war with antisemites.

    Born in a Jewish enclave in Mukachero, then part of Czechoslovakia and, after the 1938 Nazi takeover, part of Hungary, Mermelstein became a child of the war. When Mermelstein was 17, he and his parents and siblings were deported to Auschwitz. When the death camp was liberated, Mermelstein weighed 68 pounds and was the only surviving member of his family.

    At that point, he vowed to become a lifelong witness to the Holocaust.

    His pledge was put to the test in 1979, when the ill-named “Institute for Historical Review,” founded by longtime Holocaust denier Willis Carto as a group that could adopt the nomenclature of academic institutions to provide legitimacy to antisemitism, offered a reward of $50,000 to the first person who could prove that Jews had been gassed at Auschwitz.

    Mermelstein took them up on their bet. According to The New York Times, he “provided documents, eyewitness testimonies, histories, photographs and even a can that had contained Zyklon B to the institute. He told of seeing his mother and sister driven into the gas chambers in 1944.” When he heard nothing back from the institute, he sued.

    After five years of testimony, Superior Court Judge Thomas L. Johnson ruled in favor of Mermelstein, stating that the Auschwitz killings are “capable of immediate and reasonably indisputable accuracy. It is simply a fact.”

    The Institute agreed to pay Mermelstein $90,000 to settle the case.

    But Mermelstein was far from finished. Over the next decades he made 40 trips to Auschwitz, Buchenwald and other Nazi death camps, collecting his evidence: cyanide canisters, pieces of barbed wire, bone fragments and pieces of cremation ovens.

    Mermelstein built a museum in his lumber yard to display some 700 artifacts and then invited students to tour the facilities. The collection is slated for permanent display at the Chabad Jewish Center in Newport Beach, California.

    His quest for truth was dramatized in the 1991 television movie “Never Forget,” with Jewish actor Leonard Nimoy portraying Mermelstein.

    Surviving the deceased are Jane, his wife of 60 years, children Edie, Bernie, Ken and David, five grandchildren and one great-grandson.

  6. @SEBASTIEN-

    Apropos nothing. But I cam across a Gallagher/Shean recording accidentally. It was odd. So I keyed in at youtube “Paul Whiteman Gallagher and Shean”.

    A column of versions appeared. One was the original made in 1922. Strangely, there were 3 versions on the same record. It was the LAST version which was exactly like the one I have.

    Going down the column, there is a video showing only a plain white square with the tune name. The exact same 4 bar intro, and the following 2 4 bar sections, a kind of extra intros, with tinges of the chorus”..and at the end..”Posolutely Mr. Gallagher…Absatively Mr. Shean”.

    But it surely was not made in 1922 the original date, but I think a year later. Still must have been pre-electric, so damned good reproduction, of course cleaned up by modern tech.

  8. @BEAR-

    That suits me fine…except that I know no official , official enough to settle a matter of interpretation of the US Constiutution.

    If you see below, Sebastien has an excellent solution, Using it as a blueprint, I suggest that YOU interpret the US Constitution Pence’s (and your) way, and I interpret it the Founders’ and Jefferson’s way.

    1

  11. @Edgar Your comment to Bear

    Let’s says that it’s a personal disagreement. I know I’m right and I know you’re wrong.

    reminds me of the anecdote about Wanda Landowska who had a long running feud with another harpsichordist concerning Bach interpretation who would walk on the other side of the street when she saw her. Finally, Wandowska walked up to her in a peace making gesture and said, “Look we disagree but we each are entitled to our opinion. You play Bach your way, and I’ll play Bach Bach’s way.” Ha Ha.

    2

  13. What the Abraham Accords were really about:

    State Department okays potential weapons sales to Mideast allies
    State Department approves potential weapons sales to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
    Israel National News
    04.02.22 00:59

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/321700

    And now we’ll wait for a repeat of 1948 (which our “friends”, no doubt, hope will end up differently this time around.)

  15. @Edgar As per your request, I googled: Pigeons + Holocaust and this is some of what came up. . It would seem all roads do lead to Rome, after all.

    ”

    The Pigeons’ War on Hitler: An Ingenious WW2 Operationhttps://www.historyextra.com › … › Second World War
    Jun 13, 2019 — Gordon Corera describes an ingenious British operation to subvert Nazi rule in Europe – using carrier birds.

    Pigeon (film) – Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Pigeon_(film)
    Pigeon is a short film by Canadian director Anthony Green. It was produced by Emmy and … Pigeon is employed as a model for educating students about the Holocaust.
    Missing: plus ?| Must include: plus

    Valiant (film) – Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Valiant_(film)
    Set in May of the year 1944, it tells the story of a group of war pigeons during World War II. The film is based on a story by George Webster, and inspired by …

    Holocaust – Alcatraz East Pigeon Forgehttps://www.alcatrazeast.com › … › War Crimes
    This was known as Nazi Germany’s “final solution” to the problem of Jews. Holocaust 2 Upon arrival at the concentration camps, personal possessions and clothes …

    Parodic Laughter and the Holocaust – jstorhttps://www.jstor.org › stable
    by JB Montresor · 1993 · Cited by 6 — The shocking fact of the systematic slaughter of six million European. Jews during the Second World War continues to challenge the capacity.

    Pigeon – Short film on Vimeohttps://vimeo.com › MoFresh › Videos

    6:41
    Vous pouvez personnaliser vos préférences dans les paramètres des cookies à tout moment. Pour en savoir plus …
    Vimeo · MoFresh · Apr 7, 2016

    Pigeon | Facing History and Ourselveshttps://www.facinghistory.org › resource-library › video
    Omer Bartov discusses how the Holocaust unfolded in the Eastern European town Buczacz. Add or Edit Playlist. Video. Holocaust. Bystanders. Perpetrators and …
    Missing: plus ?| Must include: plus

    Franz Suchomel – Collections Search – United States …https://collections.ushmm.org › catalog › irn1004727
    The collection is jointly owned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem. SHOAH is widely regarded as the seminal film on the subject of …

    Timeline of Jewish Persecution in the Holocausthttps://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org › timeline-of-jewis…
    The White Paper allows 75,000 Jewish immigrants (up to 10,000 per year, plus an additional 25,000 if certain conditions are met) to enter Palestine.

    The Holocaust: Europe, the World, and the Jews, 1918 – 1945https://books.google.com › books
    Norman Goda · 2016 · ?History
    They were prohibited from owning radios and carrier pigeons. … their bicycles—the primary mode of transportation in Amsterdam—plus spare tires and tubes.”

    Tennessee School Board Bans Pulitzer-Winning Holocaust …https://sports.yahoo.com › tennessee-school-board-bans…
    Jan 26, 2022 — The graphic novel shows the horrors of the Holocaust in cartoon, … happens that less fortunate breeders who bought pigeons a bit by chance …

    Treblinka Death Camp – Holocaust Education & Archive …http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org › treblinka › tr…
    Stanislaw Kon remembered that Masarek manned the rebels one machine gun and fired away at the Nazis from the roof of the camps pigeon house.

    and so on.

    Grazi.

  16. @ SEBASTIEN-

    Surprise surprise…just heard from Thrift Books…I am not going to be part of their 62nd million sales. But they say that they get “hundreds of thousands a day” and it may come in.

    I think that if they actually do get hundreds of thousands of books a day-which I certainly don’t believe- they should find at least one or more copies every day and -double on shabbat.

  17. @SEBASTIEN-

    By the way, you recall that I emailed Thrift Books who had sold 61+ mill books to date/ I got a speedy response telling me that their experts would be contacting me within 8 hours. . That was yesterday morning, about 36 hours ago….

    I wonder if they could be having a little problem……..

  18. @SEBASTIEN-

    Yes Twain was brilliant, all the way through that little masterpiece. Of course he had “tongue-in-cheek” in many parts of it, which he shaped to form his humour. Cooper’s defenders, including Brander Matthews, took it very seriously and attacked Twain mercilessly, actually going to measure that little winding river into the lake and finding that Twain had exaggerated the smallness of the lengths between the bends and twists.

    Of course he did, he couldn’t have made it so humourous otherwise.

    I liked the part where he wrote that “before Brander Matthews and Wilkie Collins praise Cooper’s book so highly, they should at least have read a little of it”..(paraphrased)

    Twain’s critics even measured the lengths of a variety of flatboats to prove that he exaggerated… Shows how pompous and self satisfied they were, as well as being very insecure. Of course Wilkie Collins himself was a highly acclaimed writer, and I have a few of his books. i didn’t know he was such a poor sport.

    They attacked Twain where it hurt, in his health, his bankruptcy (although legally not liable, he actually, over many years, paid off all his debts and eventually was able to leave a good estate), his own style and more.

    Historians and literary experts are still studying Twain’s criticism, not only of Cooper, but also of other writers. I suppose that was when he was broke, and found it paid well.

    A vignette. Twain was born just when Halley’s Comet had passed Earth, and as he became more frail, he said…. “I arrived with Halley’s Comet and it’s coming again next year It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t depart with it.”.

  19. @Edgar Wow. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3172/3172-h/3172-h.htm

    Brilliiantly incisive literary analysis informed by his knowledge of practical mechanics. I suppose Cooper was writing for an urban audience that didn’t know his technical explanations made no sense. Twain’s ability to be wittily nasty is sorely missed today. Now, we just have pedestrian nasty.

    “We must be a little wary when Brander Matthews tells us that Cooper’s books “reveal an extraordinary fulness of invention.” As a rule, I am quite willing to accept Brander Matthews’s literary judgments and applaud his lucid and graceful phrasing of them; but that particular statement needs to be taken with a few tons of salt. Bless your heart, Cooper hadn’t any more invention than a horse; and I don’t mean a high-class horse, either; I mean a clothes-horse. ” Ouch. and Ha Ha.

    I can imagine a self-confident Cooper, wryly responding : “Why don’t you tell us what you really think?”

    I wonder if George Orwell was inspired by this to write “Politics and the English Language.” It reminds me of the first, literary part.

    https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/

    Yes, it does appear to be a bit of an article dry spell. I suppose there must be other things going on.

  20. @Edgar Wow. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3172/3172-h/3172-h.htm

    Brilliiantly incisive literary analysis informed by his knowledge of practical mechanics. I suppose Cooper was writing for an urban audience that didn’t know his technical explanations made no sense. Twain’s ability to be wittily nasty is sorely missed today. Now, we just have pedestrian nasty.

    “We must be a little wary when Brander Matthews tells us that Cooper’s books “reveal an extraordinary fulness of invention.” As a rule, I am quite willing to accept Brander Matthews’s literary judgments and applaud his lucid and graceful phrasing of them; but that particular statement needs to be taken with a few tons of salt. Bless your heart, Cooper hadn’t any more invention than a horse; and I don’t mean a high-class horse, either; I mean a clothes-horse. ” Ouch. and Ha Ha.

    I can imagine a self-confident Cooper, wryly responding : “Why don’t you tell us what you really think?”

    I wonder if George Orwell was inspired by this to write “Politics and the English Language.” It reminds me of the first, literary part.

    https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/politics-and-the-english-language/

    Yes, it does appear to be a bit of an article dry spell. I suppose there must be other things going on.

  21. @SEBASTIEN-

    You have astonishing research skills. Everything you’ve found is accurate, plus Dublin University has a copy, as I related.

    I am well acquainted with WorldCat through the Edinburgh Librarian who has sent me endless reams of emails , including WorldCat records…and more. We’ve had learned discussions on the Paternoster Edition and that another company named Paul several years later, also has issued a
    printing.

    Don’t forget I was cautioned by Goodreads that the Bee man was a different writer entirely, although there is much confusion about this in some circles. There is no doubt but that my Stuart also wrote Caravan to China, and at least one other historical adventure book.

    I’ve discussed Inte-rlibrary loans, with Vancouver Library, Victoria B.C Library, New York City Library and at least 3-4 major others. None seems imminent. Besides I haven’t been inside a library since at least 2009. The Edinburgh lady gave me considerable encouragement in that direction, but said that she would contact me after June first when the news would be available. That was June 2021.. I’m still waiting, actually not waiting -as I have given up..

    So what else is new?? Israpundit seems to be rather quiet, as it seems that nothing much of interest is catching Ted’s eye..

    I’ve mentioned this before, but have you read Mark Twains criticism of James Fenimore Cooper “The Literary offences of Fenimore Cooper”. It’s about 9 pages or so.

    Believe me, it’s hilarious. But maybe only I see the humour in it.

  22. @Edgar These are the only libraries in the world that have Elephant Jet.
    Library Held formats Distance
    1.
    National Library of Scotland
    NLS
    Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1EW United Kingdom
    Book Book 3200 miles
    MAP IT
    Library info
    Add to favorites
    2.
    The British Library, St. Pancras
    London, NW1 2DB United Kingdom
    Book Book 3400 miles
    MAP IT
    Library info
    Add to favorites
    3.
    University of Oxford
    Oxford, OX1 2JD United Kingdom
    Book Book 3400 miles
    MAP IT
    Library info
    Ask a librarian
    Add to favorites
    4.
    University of Newcastle Auchmuty Library
    Newcastle, AU-NS
    https://www.worldcat.org/title/elephant-in-jet/oclc/219826797&referer=brief_results

  24. @SEBASTIEN-

    I assume you refer to Gallagher and Sheen when you mention Whiteman being jazzier. You haven’t heard the one I have I suppose. I’d like to find it again myself.

    Re Davidson’s Hors D’Oeuvres, Although described as a “foxtrot” in 1915 when it was written, It was part of his collection called “Home on Leave, Honour Your Partners”. and mixed in with Boston 2-steps, Lancers, Schottisches, Barn dances and other ancient cavorting pastimes.

    I really like listening to it. It’s so laid back and relaxing. Strictest tempo, like clockwork. I actually paid 99 cents to have it downloaded on my last computer some years ago, but one day I must have pressed the wrong keys, as it suddenly became “went”. Delighted to have rediscovered it a couple of years ago..

    With so much repetition I try to catch the smallest deviation in tone, length of note other dissonance etc, And, perfectly played though it is, there ARE some minute differences.

    Now if I could only find a copy of the book, “Elephant in Jet”, by Frank Stanley Stuart, Paternoster House London 1940, I’d be happy-not contented, that would be too much to ask, but…happy. It seems that only about 5-6 copies around the world have surfaced, all in universities (no idea why) except one in the British Library. I HAVE a copy …stored away, but believe it or not, I got headaches trying recall the name for the past many years, and suddenly a couple of years ago it popped into my head.

    I’ve tried Gutenberg Project and G-Australia, Roy Glashan’s Library, Read any Book, and many other e libraries and collections. Nothing.. But strangely, Trinity College( Dublin University) has it, Perth University in Australia, I think Edinburgh Uni, and a couple more. Why, I don’t know, it’s just a novel, although interesting to me, and must have had only a small printing. Trinity offered to copy it (fee 738 Euros) I “regretfully” declined.
    I bought it for about 10-15 cents over 50 years ago.

    There is even confusion about the author’s name as there are other books by an F.S. Stuart, who wrote presumably excellent books about bees and bee-keeping, about seals, and likely other animal life.

    Only one site warned not to confuse the two names…….Just now emailed a used book outlet called “Thrift Books” which says they’ve sold 61+ mill books to date. I wonder……….???

  26. @ SEBASTIEN-

    Been checking and it looks as mine is the Edison Bell Winner record. It has a red label and the bell.

    I recall that the last instrumental chorus was more Jazzed up than the Whitman one.

    Did you ever hear the Harry Davidson Orch playing Hors D’Oeuvres. It used to be called “HD & His Old Tyme Orch”. Ambrose made an excellent modern swing version, arranged by clarinet player Syd Phillips . When Syd formed his own band and played the same tune, it wasn’t nearly as good.

    I like the Davidson old fashioned style best. It’s described as a “foxtrot” but I don’t think so. You should listen and give me an opinon.

  27. @ SEBASTIEN-

    Just listened to the Whiteman. Not the one I have. Exactly the same except for the minimum vocal, and the verse intro.

    Mine is on an old Edison Bell record. Red label. showing the BELL NO verse. Just a conventional 4 bar intro (repetition of the last 4 bars). And, as far as I recall, actually sung by Gallagher and Sheen. Yet, the Whiteman one has the very same “squeezed out, kind of 3 words from G&S., and the very same klezemer treatment. Sounds like the same arrangement.

    Just another minor musical puzzle, with an obvious explanation. Maybe the Studio Orchestra. Damned well done anyhow..

  28. @Edgar G I see what you mean. Both have klezmer clarinet solos, though the Whiteman is longer and the first half of the original has the vocals with simple melody repeated in the first half and instrumental variations with one vocal line as punctuation in the second. The Whiteman has no vocals and was recorded only the following year. Both are on Youtube. There is also a Wikipedia article about the duo, as well as one about the song. It was apparently, recorded a number of times by famous people. I didn’t look to see if the other versions are on Youtube. The lyrics strike me as kind of early Henny Youngman. Tres politically incorrect. The Woke would pull it if they knew it was there. Did they invent this style, emulate another contemporary, or is this a type of Jewish humor going way back, I wonder?

  29. @Edgar

    You wrote: (Which reminds me.. “Positively Mr.Gallagher .absolutely Mr. Sheen” (I have this on an old 1920a shellac 78, and although not positive, I think the music sounds like Paul Whiteman).

    Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean (Original Recording, 1922 — Sides A and B) w. bonus track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HH-BVputtM

    Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra – Mr. Gallagher And Mr. Sheen (1923)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd2-EUYRNGk

    There are a a few famous versions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Gallagher_and_Mister_Shean

    KInd of early Henny Youngman. Fortunately, the lyrics are printed out. In both, the clarinetist plays Klezmer style Jazz solos, though it’s a longer solo in the Whiteman. I see what you mean. The instrumentals are similar, though the Whiteman has no vocals. .

  30. Enormous revelations from Durham investigation in Margot Cleveland’s latest piece, including reports of Sussman cooperating with Durham while describing an employee of the OIG connecting to a foreign VPN in 2017, reports of which were hidden by the OIG til very recently.

    Here is the tail end of the article, but it is all worth reading:

    Near the end of the special counsel’s 19-page discovery update and extension request came the fifth takeaway: something strange is going on in the Office of Inspector General.

    According to yesterday’s filing, on December 17, 2021, the OIG provided the special counsel’s office a written forensic report concerning a “cyber-related matter” that Sussmann had told an OIG special agent in charge about. Specifically, in early 2017, Sussmann told the OIG agent that one of his “clients had observed that a specific OIG employee’s computer was ‘seen publicly’ in ‘Internet traffic’ and was connecting to a Virtual Private Network in a foreign country.”

    When the OIG office provided Durham’s team the “forensic report,” it represented “that it had ‘no other file[] or other documentation’ relating to this cyber matter.”

    However, one week ago, Sussmann’s attorneys informed Durham’s team that Sussmann had, in fact, personally met with the DOJ’s inspector general in March 2017, when he passed on the tip about the OIG employee’s connection to a foreign VPN. While Sussmann had not told the OIG his client’s name at the time, last week his lawyers informed Durham’s team that it was Tech Executive-1, i.e., Joffe, who had discovered the OIG employee’s computer connecting to a VPN in a foreign country.

    Upon learning this news, Durham’s team promptly contacted the OIG again and learned, for the first time, that Sussmann had met with both the inspector general and his then-general counsel in March 2017 about the above-described cyber matter. Since then, including over this last weekend, the OIG has been providing further documentation related to that meeting to the special counsel’s office.

    So many questions! First, why did the OIG not inform the special counsel’s office that Sussmann had met with both the inspector general and his then-general counsel? And why did the OIG falsely represent that there was no “further documentation”? Sure, it could have been accidental, but given that Durham’s attorneys publicly exposed this “mistake,” it suggests something more is afoot.

    Then there is the question of the veracity of the claim and what happens to the investigation. Was there really an OIG employee connecting on a foreign VPN? Who was it? Why? Did the OIG ever find out?

    What about Joffe: How in the world did he discover the OIG employee’s computer connecting to a VPN in a foreign country? Was Joffe monitoring other government computers? How? Why? Was anyone else involved? Who knew?

    These questions seem significant given that Sussmann’s meeting with the OIG occurred in March 2017, putting the “discovery” during the Trump administration and ongoing Crossfire Hurricane investigation. With questions like these just arising now, no wonder Durham isn’t done yet with his investigation.

    https://thefederalist.com/2022/01/26/6-new-revelations-from-the-john-durham-spygate-probe/

  31. @ Bear-

    Considering Nephew’s qualifications and reputation, it could be that he was the chief negotiator, and the other two, likely his closest colleagues, ranking just below him. But I don’t know who those two are.

    Assuming that this is so, it makes their resignations far more important.

  34. Three members quit US team for nuclear talks with Iran – report
    Jan 25, 2022 @ 11:03

    The Wall Street Journal reports that at least three members of the US team attached to the ongoing Vienna talks with Iran on its nuclear program have quit, claiming Biden administration guidelines are not tough enough. Among them are the deputy team leader, Richard Nephew.

    They maintain that the US should have imposed more sanctions on Iran and toughened existing ones. They also criticize the administration’s non-response to Iran’s defiant oil sales to China.

    https://www.debka.com/mivzak/three-members-quit-us-team-for-nuclear-talks-with-iran-report/

  39. Plea deal for Bibi definitely in the works. The former head of the Israeli Supreme Court Aharon Barak is going to be the mediator in the plea deal.

    Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak criticized retired judge Aharon Barak, who will mediate in the negotiations to reach a plea bargain between Netanyahu and the prosecution, saying that Judge Barak is ‘acting like a wheeler-dealer.”

  40. ‘If anyone tries to enter this building … everyone will die’: Officials negotiating with man who is holding hostages at a Texas synagogue and demanding his sister – terrorist known as ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ – be freed from prison

    A Texas man, who is believed to be Muhammad Siddiqui, is reportedly holding three hostages and the rabbi hostage in a synagogue
    A SWAT team has been deployed and the FBI are negotiating with him
    The suspect claims his sister is Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted in New York for trying to kill US military personnel, according to an ABC News report
    Aafia is also known as ‘Lady Al Qaeda’ and is serving 86 years at FMC Carswell, which is 24 miles from the synagogue
    The assailant took the hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville during religious services around 11:30am CST
    Before the live-stream cut off, the assailant can be heard saying, ‘I’m going to die. Don’t cry about me’
    The White House is reportedly ‘closely monitoring’ the situation

    By Alyssa Guzman For Dailymail.Com

    Published: 15:00 EST, 15 January 2022 | Updated: 17:08 EST, 15 January 2022

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    A man claiming to be the brother of the convicted terrorist known as Lady Al Qaeda stormed a Texas synagogue on the Sabbath and is holding hostages, telling a SWAT team, ‘If anyone tries to enter this building, I’m telling you…everyone will die.’

    The assailant, who is believed to be Muhammad Siddiqui, took the hostages at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville during religious services around 11.30am, which were being live-streamed.

    The live stream cut off shortly before 2pm local time.

    Before the live stream cut off, the unknown assailant can be heard saying, ‘I’m going to die. Don’t cry about me’

    ‘Are you listening? I am going to die,’ he repeated over and over.
    A SWAT team has been sent to Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where a man is reportedly holding hostages

    A SWAT team has been sent to Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, where a man is reportedly holding hostages
    SWAT team and police vehicles have set up by a nearby middle school
    +8

    SWAT team and police vehicles have set up by a nearby middle school
    Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker (pictured) and three others are being held hostage
    +8

    Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker (pictured) and three others are being held hostage

    The suspect claims his sister is the infamous Lady Al Qaeda Aafia Siddiqui, according to Aaron Katersky of ABC News, and he is currently demanding to speak with her..

    Aafia Siddiqui, now 49, was jailed for 86 years after being arrested in Afghanistan in 2008 for the attempted murder of a US army captain.

    The Pakistani-born neuroscientist was found with two kilos of poison sodium cyanide and plans for chemical attacks on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.

    She was handed to the Americans and convicted of attempted murder two years later in a US court.

    But her hatred for the US was so strong that during her interrogation she grabbed a rifle from one of her guards and shot at them shouting: ‘Death to Americans.’

    She came to the US in 1991 and won a partial scholarship to MIT, where she was a biology major. In 1993, she wanted to do ‘something to help our Muslim brothers and sisters’ even if it meant breaking the law.

    She moved to Texas to be near her brother, the reported hostage taker, who is listed as an architect in Houston.

    The mother of three was radicalized after the 9/11 terror attacks, divorcing her husband and moving back to Pakistan, where she remarried Ammar Al-Baluchi, the nephew of 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

    She is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, about 25 miles from the hostage site at the Texas temple.

    During her trial, Aafia demanded that every jury member get DNA tested to see if they were Jewish.

    ‘I have a feeling everyone here is them [Jews], subject [them] to genetic testing… They should be excluded if you want to be fair,’ she told a federal judge in 2010.

    Her supposed brother is holding Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three other people hostage, Katersky said.

    He is claiming to have bombs in unknown locations, but to what extent the assailant is armed, is unknown…

    Full article here:
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10406409/Officials-negotiating-man-reportedly-holding-people-hostage-Texas-synagogue.html

  41. @SEBASTIEN

    Oh yes, well spotted, BUT not if tied up to a Jetty or an artificial dock.
    This last might squeeze in, although, in the true sense, not “free”. “Born Free” maybe but then held captive on The Love Boat.

    But…consider, It is restricted in it’s movements, can only touch down on tables, or solid articles, like all living things, becomes tired and needs “sleep”.

  42. If the following is true, it could be good for Bibi not to go to jail and for the country and Likud to put this bad chapter of Israeli history in the past. Also it would make for easier to have a right-wing government without the need for RAAM or Meretz in the coalition.

    Report: Prosecutors believe Netanyahu will sign plea deal, perhaps even next week
    Channel 12 says ex-PM’s family does not oppose move; former Supreme Court chief Aharon Barak said to urge Attorney General Mandelblit to go for a deal

    Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem on June 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

    Talks between Benjamin Netanyahu and Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on a potential plea deal in the former prime minister’s criminal trial have made significant progress, and the state prosecution believes the ex-Israeli leader will sign such a deal within days, Channel 12 news reported Friday evening, citing unnamed officials.

    The report said top officials assess Netanyahu has decided to go for a deal, and that an agreement could be finalized as early as next week.

    Channel 13, also reporting on the latest developments, was less bullish on the prospects of a deal. It cited unnamed people with knowledge of the matter as saying it seemed like “a 50/50” matter.

    Full article: https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-prosecutors-believe-netanyahu-will-sign-plea-deal-perhaps-even-next-week/

  43. @Edgar G.

    Omicron is already passing and heralds the end of the pandemic??

    This is my cynical unwanted opinion:

    I think the PTB invented this “COVID light” in an effort to let themselves climb down the “pandemic” tree for the time being.

    This doesn’t guarantee the end of “horrible pandemics” but maybe they decided to quit tightening the screws for now to avoid a riot while keeping the “new normal” intact until the time comes for the even newer “normal”.

  44. @EDGAR
    @EVERYONE
    McCullough’s survival kit of Over-The-Counter drugs to use to prevent Covid and treat acute Covid disease:

    Our approach has become much more sophisticated. And fortunately for Canadians, Canadians can have a shoe box of 6 things they can buy over the counter.

    No doctor needed as a home survival kit
    The first and most important is providone iodine…it’s about $5 on Amazon…You take about half a teaspoon of providone iodine in a shot glass of water or 1.5oz of water, then take a bulb syringe or spray bottle and spray it up the nose over a sink… sniff it up in the back of the nose and spit it out, and do it twice in each nostril. The rest just gargle with it and spit it out… you can do it as often as every 4hrs and that’s amazingly effective in reducing the intensity and duration of symptoms of Covid19, rapidly reducing the PCR and markedly dropping the risk of hospitalization and death, proven in randomized control trials…If one can not tolerate iodine, due to iodine allergies, use dilute hydrogen peroxide, any form of hydrogen peroxide in a 1:3 dilution can also be used the same way.

    …Zinc, 50mg of elemental zinc a day, more data showing it’s preventive.

    Vitamin D3, 5000 IU per day for prevention, in acute treatment we use 20,000 IU per day for five days.

    Vitamin C 3,000 mg per day for acute treatment.

    Quercetin, 500 mg per day once a day for prevention; 500 mg per day twice a day for acute treatment.

    …Famotadine or pepsid which is an over the counter antacid and antihistamine, but instead of 20mg which is the package label, take 80mg a day for acute treatment.

    So those 6 things should be in the Candadian Survival Kit so all Canadians can be prepared.

    We are still getting panic calls from patients saying “Doctor, surprise, I have Covid” and it’s like we’re two years into this. There should be no more surprise calls. After I finish here, I am going to spend another 3hrs handling surprise calls – no one should be surprised anymore. I am shocked how people are not prepared for Covid19. Everybody needs to get in gear hear because early treatment takes the edge off symptoms, reduces the intensity and duration of symptoms, and by that mechanism leads to the reduction in hospitalization and death.

    I took the liberty of bolding the items he lists for prevention.
    His comment was directed at Canadians, but this recipe should be available to anyone around the world.

    Here is the link for his full statement:
    https://player.captivate.fm/episode/113b0868-42ec-416a-9dab-134b77edff02/website/
    Please share this link with family and friends.

  46. You can’t suck and blow at the same time. – Ted Belman

    Except for saxophone players.

    …In essence, circular breathing turns your body into a set of bagpipes. “What you’re doing is inhaling through your nose, and at the exact moment you’re inhaling through your nose you’re pushing a small quantity of air using the muscles of your throat and the muscles of your face,” says Josh Sinton, a professional saxophonist and clarinetist who’s been using circular breathing for decades.

    You use your cheeks as a sort of bladder for air, so when you need to inhale, you can use your muscles to push the reserves of air in your cheeks out through your mouth, keeping breath moving into your instrument. It’s not really “circular,” as you’re not recycling air, but it is a way to make sure that there’s never a time when you need to break….

    ‘…In other parts of the world, though, breath-powered instruments don’t allow this limitation to stop them. The didgeridoo of Australia, the zurna of the Balkans, and the suona of northern China are all breath instruments that are typically played without breaks, sustaining notes for minutes, sometimes hours, certainly much longer than any human can actually expel breath. ..

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/breathing-while-saxophone-playing-should-be-an-olympic-sport

    Kind of what Israel is doing now, if you think about it. A nation of exotic wind players.

  48. @ READER-

    I get your point, and you are correct. Yet it’s hard to just sit and allow myself to become infected without trying to fight against it.

    I am at an age where it would be more menacing than it is for younger people. So it’s my attempt at self preservation-although likely futile..

  49. @PELONI-

    I wasn’t clear enough.. I really meant that I had read that an Omicron virus- perhaps in a sterile environment- lived for about 3 days. The “free floating” was misleading.

    I recall reading that from that cruise ship which docked in Japan, they found active viruses for up to 17 -maybe 37 days.

    I will keep a sharp look0out for your post later, please adress it to me.

  50. @ SEBASTIEN-

    Sure and ye’ve hit on it me bohyo. The O’Microns are a very old Gaelic Family bedad. whose name before that was Micah.. And MacFauci, that black hearted Scotsman, could claim anything, none of it true. And don’t they all say that the oirish is one of the Lost Tribes that became un-lost as soon as it hit these bonnie green lands.

    And “leprechauns” is only a corruption of ther name of the first born of Micah, his name was that good old Yiddishe “Leipke”. yes we spoke yiddih in those day taugh it to the Germans who as usual corrupted into therrn own language.i.

    The Chinese make the same claim, Since the are well mixed with the Mongols, led by that family of Khans whose real name was Kohen. One of the first assimilationist Jews who tried to hide their name. The Khazars are only in the ha’penny places beside them…..

    The Jews would now be ruling the whole world if it were not for those traitors.