text:
Budget fine print drags markets down
Indices see biggest single-day fall in four years in first full trading day after the Union Budget was unveiled. The BSE Sensex closed 907 points lower, while NSE's Nifty50 slipped 207 points.
By Rajiv Bhuva, Jul 8, 2019
Image: Dinesh Parab/Fortune India Archive
The benchmark Indices, the S&P BSE Sensex and the National Stock Exchange's Nifty50, witnessed their biggest intra-day fall in four years, as the equity markets tanked on the first full day of trading after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her maiden Union Budget on Friday.
While the Sensex had shed over 390 points, at Friday's close on Friday, the 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex closed 793 points lower on Monday at 38,720.57 points—a collective fall of over 1,187 points over two trading days after the Budget. The fall was over 907 points in a single day if Monday's low of 38,605.48 points was compared to Friday's close of 39,513.39 points. The Nifty50, meanwhile, closed more than 250 points lower at 11,558.60 points; it shed 287 points in a single day if Monday's low of 11,523.3 points was compared to Friday's close of 11,811.15 points.
The fall was not restricted to the blue chips alone; the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap also tanked by 293 points (-1.99%) and 347 points (-2.46%) each.
Market experts blamed the Budget's fine print for the decline. Mumbai-based Amar Ambani, president and research head at YES Securities, said the fall was on account of concerns over future fund flows into the secondary market and the detection of another fraud at the Punjab National Bank.
The Budget had also proposed a hike in surcharge on individuals with taxable income of ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore and ₹5 crore and above. Consequently, the effective tax rates for these two categories would increase by around 3 % and 7 %, respectively. "Hike in surcharge in the Budget will have an adverse impact on high-end consumption, as well as reduce the investible surplus of high-income individuals, whose money was the mainstay of mutual funds, portfolio management schemes (PMSs) and the midcap segment," Ambani said.
He said that the increased surcharge also had a bearing on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) coming in through the Trust route and taxation of category-3 Alternate Investment Funds (AIFs). "This potentially reduces the post-tax attractiveness of India, vis-à-vis other markets, where such a high rate doesn't exist."
According to Umesh Mehta, head of research at Mumbai-based Samco Securities, Monday's fall was the worst single-day fall in four years. Mehta attributed a host of factors for the bloodbath, including FPIs' reluctance since the past two weeks to commit to Indian markets. This, in his view, was a signal that the markets would correct. Also, the Street was also disappointed by the fact that the Budget did not have any direct fiscal or monetary incentive to jump-start the economy.
The other big blow came in the form of Sitharaman spelling out that it was the right time to increase minimum public shareholding in listed companies. The finance minister mentioned she had asked markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to consider raising the current threshold of 25% to 35%. "Fears around squeeze in secondary market liquidity is also due to proposed higher public shareholding norms," Ambani said.
The other cause for worry on the Street was buybacks. "In order to discourage the practice of avoiding dividend distribution tax through buy back of shares by listed companies, it is proposed to provide that listed companies shall also be liable to pay additional tax at 20% in case of buy back of share, as is the case currently for unlisted companies," the finance minister had said in her speech.
Buybacks over the years
That, in the Street's view, was anything but positive. According to primary market data collated by Delhi-based PRIME Database, the markets have seen a total of 516 buyback issues between 1999 to 2019 (till June) which were meant to offer exit to equities worth ₹1,93,991 crore and actually acquired ₹1,59,896 crore. In fact, a sizeable ₹1,36,475 crore worth of buybacks were executed between 2015 and June 2019, through 208 issues.
According to a research note from Mumbai-based JM Financial Institutional Securities, the proposed additional tax of 20% on buybacks could lower effective (dividend + buyback) yields on the large-cap information technology (IT) stocks by up to 50 basis points (100 basis points make a per cent). "A normalisation in yield erosion could drive close to 10% downside from current levels, especially for stocks where a buyback was impending," the note mentions.
Bu, while the dividend is tax-free in the hands of shareholders – except for large holders (with dividend income over ₹10 lakh) who have to pay 10% tax on dividend receipt above ₹10 lakh – buybacks lead to an incidental long-term capital gains tax at the rate of 10% in the hands of shareholders. For shareholders tendering their shares in buy backs, there is a breather because under the proposed structure after the applicability of the buy-back tax, the shareholders will be not be required to pay any tax on income arising from the buy-back, the note adds.
But, while the dividend is tax-free in the hands of shareholders—except for large holders (with dividend income of more than ₹10 lakh) who have to pay 10% tax on the amount above ₹10 lakh—buybacks lead to an incidental long-term capital gains tax at 10% for shareholders. For shareholders tendering their shares in buybacks, there is a breather because under the proposed structure, after the applicability of the buyback tax, the shareholders will be not be required to pay any tax on income arising from the buyback, the note adds.
A mix of negative news flows, along with no immediate measure being announced in the Budget to kick-start consumption and related economic activities, hit the equity markets, according to Pradeep Kesavan, senior vice president who oversees equity strategy for institutional equities at Mumbai-based Elara Capital. The negative news included a cut in Maruti's vehicle production, a deficit in monsoons and reduction in area sown for kharif crops in an environment of continuing farm distress and weak demand for consumer products. "With valuations not particularly cheap any more, all these factors weighed heavily on the market and precipitated a fall," Kesavan said.
Nifty BSE National Stock Exchange Information Technology Equity markets GDP Income Tax Foreign Portfolio Investors Mutual Funds FII Bombay Stock Exchange Buy Back FPI equity Inflows NSE Nirmala Sitharaman HNIs BSE Sensex Nifty50 Economic Growth slowdown Union Budget 2019 Surcharge Super-rich tax IT stocks buybacks
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By Rajiv Bhuva
Samosa Singh raises $2.7 million
The food startup will utilise the money to launch a cloud kitchen model with over 100 kitchens by the end of this year.
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India Inc's CSR spending grew 17.5% in FY19
A total of 1,132 NSE-listed companies spent ₹11,961 crore in FY19, an increase of 1.82 times over FY15, according to nseinfobase.com.
'Budget impact on the market is declining'
Nevertheless, market participants still need to negotiate volatility, says the report.


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                    Writing an RSpec test for an asynchronous action

In the previous article you learnt how to write a Rails action that can handle concurrent users, an asynchronous action. Today you are going to learn how to write an RSpec test for it.

This is the controller we want to write a test for:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base

  def sample
    EM.defer do
      render json: { response: 'Hello World' }

      request.env['async.callback'].call response
    end

    throw :async
  end

end

If this were not an asynchronous action, we would simply write a test like this:

require 'spec_helper'

describe ApplicationController, :type => :controller do
  it "hello world" do
    get :sample
    expect(JSON.parse(response.body)['response']).to eq('Hello World')
  end
end

But this won't work because throw :async will kill the action right away. throw :async will make the interpreter go to this line of code defined in the Thin gem. The problem is that Thin is not loaded at all when running a controller test.

In order to properly test an asynchronous action you need to run the test using a real Thin server. You can use Capybara to do that.

Gemfile

gem 'thin'
gem 'capybara'
gem 'selenium-webdriver'

In spec/rails_helper.rb:

require 'capybara/rails'

Capybara.default_driver = :selenium

Capybara.server do |app, port|
  require 'rack/handler/thin'
  Rack::Handler::Thin.run(app, :Port => port)
end

Write the test:

describe ApplicationController, :type => :feature do
  it "my test" do
    visit some_path
    expect(page).to have_content('Hello World')
  end
end

And that's it. Happy testing.

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text:
Jewish World Review May 25, 2009 / 2 Sivan 5769
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | NBC's Law and Order was renewed for a twentieth season Monday. It tied a record held by Gunsmoke. If the White House spent less time reading editorial pages and more time reading the entertainment section, they'd realize Americans love Guantanamo.
The Preakness drew huge ratings Saturday featuring filly Rachel Alexandra and the gelding Mine That Bird. Neither the Kentucky Derby winner nor the Preakness winner can make a dollar in stud fees. The crackdown on Craigslist has gone too far.
New York Jet Mark Sanchez posed in a bathing suit layout for GQ magazine. He succeeded Matt Leinart at USC, who majored in ballroom dancing. USC never lets the quarterbacks lead the calisthenics because by the third minute the whole team is dancing the Charleston.
Michael Jackson canceled his London comeback tour Wednesday. Tickets weren't selling. Because of Michael Jackson's reputation the question of when to schedule his comeback tour will always be like Lincoln assassination jokes, it's still too soon.
Steven Spielberg was sued by Martin Luther King III and his sister Bernice King for buying the rights to their father's story from their brother and not from them. It's so inspiring. Someday kids will have to memorize Bernice King's I Have a Lawyer speech.
President Obama was stopped by the Senate Wednesday from transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. soil. He wants to let al-Qaeda set up shop in U.S. prisons. Americans polled said that Barack Obama is a terrorist sympathizer but they still like him personally.
President Obama was handed a defeat on the Guantanamo prison Wednesday when the Senate voted to keep it open indefinitely. No one will obey him. Nancy Pelosi won't apologize to the CIA, Harry Reid won't release money to close Guantanamo, and the only time his new dog Bo will sit quietly and listen is during the Rush Limbaugh Show.
Bill Clinton accepted the appointment in New York Wednesday to serve as the U.N. special envoy to Haiti. He just loves to embark upon humanitarian missions. He'll be bringing discounted AIDS drugs to the island nation and that's just in his dop kit.
Bill Clinton was named a special U.N. envoy to Haiti by the U.N. Secretary-General in New York Tuesday. He just raised three hundred million dollars for Haiti and he's being paid a dollar a year. That is the new standard rate for financial professionals.
United Nations economic analysts reported Tuesday that piracy was Somalia's number-one industry. No wonder they have a ninety-seven percent approval rating. They took in thirty million in ransoms, and only paid out four million in welfare benefits.
The U.S. Senate approved a credit card bill Tuesday which also allows loaded handguns to be brought inside U.S. national parks and wildlife refuges. The gun rights measure was slipped into the bill by Republicans. They believe as an article of faith that oil drillers have a constitutional right to defend themselves during exploration.
Michael Vick was released to house arrest in Virginia Wednesday. He's going to work forty hours a week for a construction company. He joined a Mexican gang in prison and now he's returning to Virginia to take construction jobs from black people.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was interviewed Tuesday for the Supreme Court vacancy. First Barack Obama fired the CEO of GM, then he bought Chrysler, and now he wants to remove the governor of Michigan. This is what happens when a young mother refuses to buy her son a complete set of Hot Wheels cars for Christmas, and then he grows up to be president.
Jaguar got rave reviews from Car and Driver magazine with its new five-hundred-horsepower luxury car. The automaker was sold last year to a car company in India. There's a big demand in India for cars that can outrun nuclear missiles from Pakistan.
The White House proposed new auto standards Tuesday requiring new cars to be lighter and more fuel-efficient. They don't do well in crash tests. A jogger in Los Angeles got hit by a Smart Car last night and he had to go to the hospital and get it removed.
Detroit auto executives pretended to applaud the White House proposals for new car standards. It may go nowhere. Thirty years ago the government announced we were all going to go on the metric system, and only the drug dealers followed the law.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Art | 30 Jun 2008
PhotoEspana 2008, Madrid
Taking 'Place' as its theme, this year's PhotoEspaña festival in Madrid had an array of varied and interesting exhibitions scattered throughout the city.
Click here to see more from the festival
The Thomas Demand retrospective was one of the main draws, his methodical paper recreations of real-life scenes and environments are always impressive and somewhat eerie.
Florian Maier-Aichen's large-scale experimental landscape photography on show at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum was a must-see, as was the 'Committed Places: Topography and Actuality' group show, containing work by Taryn Simon, Walter Niederymayer and Beate Gütschow among others. More low-key but still rewarding was Roni Horn's Icelandic series at the Circulos de Bellas Artes.
However, the real standout show was a major W Eugene Smith retrospective, which included not just key landmark photographic essays from throughout his career, but also sketches and designs for layouts of his epic Pittsburgh series.
Master of capturing the droll and ironic in social situations, Martin Parr was awarded the Baume & Mercier Award 2008 in recognition of the influence he has had on contemporary photography – both for his personal vision as a photographer and for his film and publishing projects.


Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust's (NSFT) new Chief Nurse has pledged to help drive further improvements to patient care when she takes up her position later this week.
Diane Hull will start work at the Trust on Wednesday (21 November). She joins NSFT from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, where she has played an instrumental role in supporting the organisation to move from a CQC rating of "requires improvement" to "good", with an "outstanding" rating in the caring domain.
A qualified mental health nurse, Diane brings with her extensive experience of frontline care and a proven track record of making significant improvements. At NSFT, she will be responsible for boosting safety and the experience which service users have when accessing care, as well as enhancing the way learning is shared across the Trust when incidents occur and helping to address vacancies in the nursing workforce.
"I am really looking forward to getting started and helping create the right conditions and culture so that we can make the necessary changes to improve mental healthcare for everyone in Norfolk and Suffolk," said Ms Hull, who has more than 30 years' experience of working in the NHS. "Everyone I've met so far has been warm and engaging, and really want to make things better for service users, carers and staff.
"I am completely patient-focused and want to hear from as many different patient groups, carers, staff and communities as possible so that we can really understand what they feel we are doing well and where we could further improve.
"It will also be vitally important for us to make sure our services are safe and start being creative and finding innovative ways of working to benefit service users.
Earlier this summer, NSFT recruited Stuart Richardson as its new Chief Operating Officer and Duncan Forbes as Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development. Ms Hull's appointment takes the Executive Team up to full strength.


The first of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's two trials began Tuesday, with prosecutors seeking to convince a jury that Manafort engaged in widespread bank fraud and tax evasion to maintain a lavish lifestyle financed by his political consulting work with pro-Russian officials in Ukraine.
The trial is moving at a fast clip and may end earlier than prosecutors initially estimated.
Here's what we learned in week 1 of the trial.
With a mound of evidence showing bank fraud and tax evasion, Manafort's defense attorneys have decided not to fight the evidence and instead pin the crimes on former Manafort associate Rick Gates.
Gates, who already pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy against the United States and one count of lying to federal investigators, is the prosecution's star witness and may testify against Manafort.
In their opening statements, Manafort's defense attorneys argued Manafort was simply too busy to deal with his finances and entrusted Gates with that task. They allege Manafort is a victim of Gates' illegal activity.
Former federal prosecutor Patrick Cotter said in a previous interview with Mic that given the amount of paper evidence against Manafort, this was the most logical defense for Manafort's lawyers to mount. Cotter also said he doesn't believe the defense has a high likelihood of success.
The prosecution is trying to paint Manafort's lavish lifestyle as a reason why he "sought to hide and evade taxes on much of the $60 million he earned as a political consultant to Ukraine's pro-Russia president, Viktor F. Yanukovych," the New York Times reported.
To do that, prosecutors entered into evidence receipts of expensive custom clothing Manafort purchased, including a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich leather, an $18,500 jacket made of python and a fur-lined blue jacket — all pictured below.
Prosecutors called on the vendors who made the clothing, as well as others who performed landscaping and other work on Manafort's many properties across the country. All of those vendors testified that Manafort often paid with wire transfers from offshore bank accounts, which they told jurors was an "unusual method" of payment, CNN reported.
Showing Manafort paid with offshore bank accounts is part of the prosecution's attempt to show the jury that Manafort hid money overseas on which he failed to pay taxes.
Four days into the trial, the prosecution has already called a number of witnesses who have steadily chipped away at Manafort's attempt at pinning the crimes on Gates.
A bookkeeper for Manafort's company testified Thursday that Manafort was broke by 2016 and sent false income statements to banks to obtain loans. The bookkeeper, Heather Washkuhn, said Manafort provided a financial statement to a bank claiming his company earned $3 million in the first nine months of 2016, when the company had actually lost more than $1 million in the first 11 months, according to CNN.
One of Manafort's accountants, Philip Ayliff, also testified Thursday and Friday that Manafort denied having foreign bank accounts when Ayliff asked.
This gets to the crux of the tax evasion charges against the former Trump campaign manager, as the fact Manafort lied to his accountants about his overseas accounts diminishes his attorneys' attempts to pin the crimes on Gates.
"It is hard for me to see how Manafort escapes a conviction on those counts," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted about the tax evasion charges.
What we don't know: What is Manafort's end game?
As the prosecution builds its case against Manafort, the question becomes: What is Manafort trying to accomplish here?
Cotter, now a federal defense attorney, said the government doesn't always offer much in exchange for a plea, leading defendants to try their luck at trial. But others speculate Manafort may be holding out for a pardon from President Donald Trump.
Trump has proven he's willing to pardon people he feels have been loyal to him and use his pardon powers to make political points — and he's also railed against special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, which led to the charges against Manafort.
Trump also tweeted Wednesday that Manafort was being treated unfairly, leading to speculation he could pardon him.


Someone offers you a fully-paid writing research trip to any place you desire to go. Where would it be and why?
If someone made a movie of your life, what would be the theme song?
Many thanks to Inspired Prompt, and Jennifer Hallmark, for having me!
Please visit my 3 Questions Wednesday post to enter the giveaway, which ends tomorrow at midnight PDT.
I'd love to see your answers to the questions! Drop a comment here, or over at Inspired Prompt, with your answers. Or, ask me something else you'd like to know!


text:
package io.vertx.ext.web.api.contract.openapi3;

import io.vertx.core.Handler;
import io.vertx.core.http.HttpClientOptions;
import io.vertx.core.http.HttpMethod;
import io.vertx.core.http.HttpServerOptions;
import io.vertx.ext.web.Router;
import io.vertx.ext.web.RoutingContext;
import io.vertx.ext.web.WebTestWithWebClientBase;
import io.vertx.ext.web.api.contract.RouterFactoryException;
import io.vertx.ext.web.api.validation.ValidationException;
import org.junit.Test;

import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;

/**
 * @author Francesco Guardiani @slinkydeveloper
 */
public class OpenAPI3RouterFactoryTest extends WebTestWithWebClientBase {

  public Handler<RoutingContext> generateFailureHandler(boolean expected) {
    return routingContext -> {
      Throwable failure = routingContext.failure();
      if (failure instanceof ValidationException) {
        if (!expected) {
          failure.printStackTrace();
        }
        routingContext.response().setStatusCode(400).setStatusMessage("failure:" + ((ValidationException) failure)
          .type().name()).end();
      } else {
        failure.printStackTrace();
        routingContext.response().setStatusCode(500).setStatusMessage("unknownfailure:" + failure.toString()).end();
      }
    };
  }

  private void startServer(Router router) throws Exception {
    server = vertx.createHttpServer(new HttpServerOptions().setPort(8080).setHost("localhost"));
    CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
    server.requestHandler(router::accept).listen(onSuccess(res -> {
      latch.countDown();
    }));
    awaitLatch(latch);
  }

  private void stopServer() throws Exception {
    if (server != null) {
      CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
      server.close((asyncResult) -> {
        assertTrue(asyncResult.succeeded());
        latch.countDown();
      });
      awaitLatch(latch);
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void setUp() throws Exception {
    super.setUp();
    stopServer(); // Have to stop default server of WebTestBase
    client = vertx.createHttpClient(new HttpClientOptions().setDefaultPort(8080));
  }

  @Override
  public void tearDown() throws Exception {
    if (client != null) {
      try {
        client.close();
      } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
      }
    }
    super.tearDown();
  }

  @Test
  public void loadPetStoreAndTestSomething() throws Exception {
    CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
    final Router[] router = {null};
    OpenAPI3RouterFactory.createRouterFactoryFromFile(this.vertx, "src/test/resources/swaggers/testSpec.yaml",
      openAPI3RouterFactoryAsyncResult -> {
        assertTrue(openAPI3RouterFactoryAsyncResult.succeeded());
        OpenAPI3RouterFactory routerFactory = openAPI3RouterFactoryAsyncResult.result();
        routerFactory.mountOperationsWithoutHandlers(true);

        routerFactory.addHandlerByOperationId("listPets", routingContext -> {
          routingContext.response().setStatusMessage("path mounted!").end();
        });
        routerFactory.addFailureHandlerByOperationId("listPets", generateFailureHandler(false));

        routerFactory.addHandler(HttpMethod.POST, "/pets", routingContext -> {
          routingContext.response().setStatusMessage("path mounted!").end();
        });
        routerFactory.addFailureHandler(HttpMethod.POST, "/pets", generateFailureHandler(false));

        //Test if router generation throw error if no handler is set for security validation
        boolean throwed = false;
        try {
          router[0] = routerFactory.getRouter();
        } catch (RouterFactoryException e) {
          throwed = true;
        }
        assertTrue("RouterFactoryException not thrown", throwed);

        // Add security handler
        routerFactory.addSecurityHandler("api_key", routingContext -> routingContext.next());
        router[0] = routerFactory.getRouter();

        latch.countDown();
      });
    awaitLatch(latch);

    router[0].route().failureHandler((routingContext -> {
      if (routingContext.statusCode() == 501)
        routingContext.response().setStatusCode(501).setStatusMessage("not implemented").end();
    }));

    startServer(router[0]);

    testRequest(HttpMethod.GET, "/pets", 200, "path mounted!");
    testRequest(HttpMethod.POST, "/pets", 200, "path mounted!");
    testRequest(HttpMethod.GET, "/pets/3", 501, "Not Implemented");

    stopServer();

  }
}


text:
Rev. Richard Turnbull: Parliament's moral failure on Brexit
by Rev. Ben Johnson • October 21, 2019
UK Parliament has twice denied Prime Minister Boris Johnson a vote on a Brexit deal favored by the majority of British citizens. The latest efforts to delay Brexit have created "a modern moral crisis in one of the world's foremost democratic nations," writes Rev. Richard Turnbull, director of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets, and Ethics (CEME) in Oxford.
Turnbull chronicles the head-spinning events that have taken place in Westminster since Parliament's rare Saturday session in a new article for he Acton Institute's Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson's newly negotiated agreement to leave the European Union by October 31 faced a cliffhanger vote, only to be denied any vote at all. Turnbull, who has followed the issue closely, details how MPs allowed Brexit to drag out for days – or months – longer, as well as how PM Johnson may have outfoxed Remainers on one step of the process.
In the end, Turnbull writes, the democratic decision to implement Brexit has become a moral failure threatening, not just the UK's ability to forge a freer economy, but the norms of a representative democracy:
It is telling that the same people who seem to wish to deny political liberty are also so obsessed with preserving structures that deny economic liberty. … British citizens want to be free. We just want to have sovereign control over our own laws, governance, and destiny. We want to trade as freely as possible with others. Parliamentary maneuvers prove that MPs have not kept faith with the people who elected them, nor upheld the rule of law.
Set my people free.
Read his full essay here.
(Photo credit: Mark Ramsay. This photo has been cropped. CC BY 2.0.)
Rev. Ben Johnson
Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.com, National Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.us, and The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.
Posted in TransatlanticTagged Brexit, transatlantic
The UK election is about far more than Brexit: Rev. Richard Turnbull
Is a no-deal Brexit a 'moral failure'?
The Brexit deal defeat and confidence vote: Why Christians should care
The 'Halloween Brexit' nightmare or a return to liberty?


In her recent op-ed "War Must Never Be Inevitable, Even Between Israel and Hamas," (Ha'aretz, 11/12/18) Rabbi Jill Jacobs suggests a Jewish religious frame for "avoiding a deadly escalation of violence" between Israel and Gaza. While her attempt to offer hope in the midst of a profoundly hopeless situation is laudable, her analysis suffers from fundamental flaws that ultimately muddle the moral/political context of this tragic crisis.
Jacobs bases her argument on a teshuvah (legal opinion) issued by former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv Rabbi Hayyim David Halevy, who forcefully advocated for a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt on the eve of the Camp David Accords. Jacobs applies his message to today's current reality, observing that Halevy's position "represented a courageous act of religious leadership at a time when most of the religious right opposed the agreement…" There is however, a critical difference between the reality facing Israel and Egypt in 1978 and the one in which Israel and Gaza finds itself today.
When he wrote those words, Halevy was addressing a situation of relative parity between two major nation states, each of whom maintained significant military power. Only a few years earlier, they had been engaged in what we might call a conventional war that eventually drew to a military stalemate. In other words, the Israel-Egypt negotiations emerged out of a balance of power that played out on a level playing field in which two regional powers found it in their respective national interests to make peace instead of war.
But there is no level playing field when it comes to Israel and Gaza. This is not a pairing of two equal sovereign powers, but rather of vast inequity where one power maintains almost complete control over a people it has dispossessed and occupied. Israel enjoys an immense power advantage over Gaza – and it has wielded it mercilessly throughout the years. For over a decade now, Israel has maintained a crushing blockade, turning a 140-square-mile strip of land into a virtual open-air prison. While Jacobs does briefly refer to the blockade, she does so in counterpoint to the equal "blame" borne by Hamas, as if this constituted in any way a balanced conflict.
Moreover, the devastating series of military operations Israel has launched on Gaza over the past decade cannot rationally be viewed as "conventional wars." On the contrary: these regular assaults have pitted the world's most powerful military against small militias that wield crude and largely ineffective missiles and an imprisoned civilian population that literally has nowhere to run.
If there were any doubt, the statistics should make the disproportionate devastation abundantly clear. During "Operation Protective Edge" in 2014, the Israeli military killed at least 2,104 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, of whom 495 were children and 253 women. 11,000 were wounded, including 3,000 children. 20,000 homes were destroyed and up to 500,000 residents displaced. By contrast, during the same military operation, six Israeli civilians, one migrant worker and 66 Israeli soldiers were killed.
Jacobs writes that "avoiding a descent into violence will require Israeli political leaders to loosen the closure of Gaza" and to "provide humanitarian relief." In fact, an end to the violence will only occur when Israel ends its brutal blockade of Gaza, full stop. By using this "noblesse oblige" approach, Jacobs only continues to normalize the inherent inequity of this conflict.
After "loosening the closure," Jacobs writes optimistically, Israel should "take the leap of faith necessary to negotiate a long-term agreement with sworn enemies." Of course in order for this to happen, the US government would have to serve as an honest broker. The Carter administration played just such a role the Camp David Accords of 1978, because it – along with Israel and Egypt – deemed a peace treaty as in its own strategic self-interest. This is decidedly not the case today. On the contrary, the US and Israel both consider Hamas to be a "terrorist organization" and a proxy of Iran. Given the current geopolitical reality, it is the height of naïveté to assume either power would view comprehensive negotiations with Hamas in its national or regional self-interest.
strength and might, God will bless us now that we will also know how to make peace." It's a powerful statement, but it offers no insight into how a nation should know when to stop making war and start making peace. Indeed, the government of Israel has continued to carry out wars against Hamas with "strength and might," offering no indication it would consider otherwise. And why should it? It oppresses the people of Gaza with impunity – and with the full support of the world's largest superpower.
Yes, as Jacobs points out, "Israeli communities on the border should not have to live in fear of rocket fire or arson or need to race their children into shelters night after night," but in reality, Israel has long calculated that this is the price it is willing to pay for maintaining its strategic military edge over the Palestinian people. There is also ample evidence that Israel benefits economically from keeping Gaza on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe and from using Gaza as a laboratory in which it can test its latest military hardware.
In the end, this is where Jacobs' analysis ultimately fails. Notwithstanding her romantic notion that "Zionism has always meant doing the impossible," historically speaking sovereign nations have always decided to make peace when it benefits them more than waging war – and Israel has been no different in this regard. However, when it comes to conflicts between oppressor and oppressed, powerful nations don't tend to give up their power unless they are forced to do so. And so it is in the case of Israel's oppression of Gazans – and of Palestinians at large.
In other words, true peace will not come when Israel deigns to negotiate a treaty, but when it is held to account by movements and nations who push them to recognize that peace without justice is no peace at all.
This entry was posted in Gaza, Human Rights, Iran, Israel, Nakba, Palestine, Peace, Peace Process, Politics, Refugees, Religion, War, Zionism on November 14, 2018 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
I'm thrilled to announce that my new chapbook, "Songs After the Revolution: New Jewish Liturgy" has just been published by my congregation, Tzedek Chicago.
I've been writing original prayers for some time now and I've used many of my prayers in a variety of worship settings. This new collection offers a sample of my efforts: new versions of traditional prayers for holidays, re-imagined Psalms and wholly original prayers for new occasions (such as my "Jewish Confession for Nakba Day"). It also includes "A Lamentation for Gaza," a prayer I wrote for the festival of Tisha B'Av 2014, which occurred during Israel's devastating military assault of that year.
I fervently believe that the function of prayer is not simply to worship but to challenge, to provoke, to motivate action and to transform the world around us. To this end, I've purposely designed this anthology to be read and appreciated by a wide readership. I hope and trust you will find this collection meaningful – even if you are not Jewish or do not not consider yourself a particularly "prayer-ful" person.
At the moment, "Songs After the Revolution" is available exclusively through the Tzedek Chicago website. 100% of the proceeds from sales will benefit the congregation.
This entry was posted in Books, Gaza, Interfaith, Israel, Judaism, Nakba, Palestine, Poetry, Prayer, Religion, Spirituality on October 4, 2018 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
One year ago, on the morning after Yom Kippur, I traveled to Palestine in my capacity as a staff person for the American Friends Service Committee. Among other things, my trip included several days with our staff in Gaza.
AFSC has a particularly significant connection to Gaza. In 1949, at the onset of the Palestinian refugee crisis, the organization was asked by the UN to organize relief efforts for refugees in the Gaza Strip. The AFSC agreed, believing their service to the new refugees would be temporary. But when it became clear Israel had no desire or intention to let Palestinian refugees return to their homes, the organization's General Secretary Clarence Pickett, told the UN that they could not in good conscience enable the situation, insisting that there must be a political solution to the crisis. Shortly after, the UN created UNRWA (The United Nations Relief Works Agency), the organization that has served the needs of Palestinian refugees ever since. AFSC has, however, retained its programmatic presence throughout Israel/Palestine to this very day.
As you might expect, I came away from this experience with a myriad of feelings and emotions, most of which continue to resonate powerfully for me even one year later. First and foremost, I've been transformed by the collegial and personal relationships I created with our staff and the Palestinian Gazans we met there. I remain moved by the efforts of so many people creating communities of dignity and purpose, doing their best to live their lives with something approaching normalcy while they are so utterly choked off from the world outside. While they cannot access the most basic necessities of life. While they are literally waiting for the next bomb to fall.
Since that time, of course, much has happened in Gaza. They've initiated the Great Return March, a popular protest action which has taken place weekly along their eastern border with Israel. Since the first day of the march last spring, the mostly nonviolent demonstrators have consistently been met by live fire from the Israeli military. To date, 170 Palestinians have been killed and tens of thousands wounded and maimed, most of them unarmed demonstrators, including children, medics and bystanders. Over the summer, Israel has also bombarded Gaza with its most sustained military assault since 2014, destroying numerous civilian targets, including the Said al-Mishal Cultural Center in Gaza City.
I've written a great deal about Gaza over the years, most of it in the form of commentary and political debate. As you know, I certainly have my own strong opinions – and I've engaged in my share of spitting matches on this issue over the years. And I will admit I'm tempted, given the events of this past year, to give an angry political sermon about Gaza. But I'm going to resist the temptation.
I do believe these debates are important as far as they go – but only up to a point. For one thing, it seems to me, these arguments too often end up fetishizing Gaza and Gazans, describing them either as murderous terrorists, helpless pawns of Hamas or poor, passive victims. Since most people only tend to think of Gaza when the bombs are falling and the bullets flying, this is generally about as far as its public image tends to go. Gaza becomes an objectified symbol of people's fears, their political agendas and their own internalized prejudices.
So today, I'm going to try to do my best not to give that sermon. Instead, I'd like to offer you some thoughts and impressions based on my own experiences and on my growing personal relationship with Gazans. I'd also like share a little bit of Gaza's culture and history with you. Information is virtually unknown to most of the world but is I believe, critical if we want to understand Gaza in a three dimensional, non-objectified way. And finally, apropos of this Yom Kippur, I'd like to explore what I believe is the moral and religious challenge Gaza presents to us Jews, as Americans and as people of conscience.
I'll begin with a little geography. What we call the "Gaza strip" constitutes a 140 square mile piece of land on the southeastern Mediterranean coast. While we generally think of "Gaza" as this one little crowded land mass, is was historically actually part of a much larger Gazan territory that has been continuously inhabited for over 3,000 years. In ancient times it enjoyed extensive commerce and trade with the outside world – difficult to imagine given Gaza's current state of economic and social isolation. But once upon a time, Gaza was a major port and an important stop along the Spice and Incense Route. As such, it was located at a significant cultural crossroad, connecting a wide variety of different civilizations over the centuries.
While this is literally ancient history now, it has left a cultural impact on Gaza that continues to this day. One example that was very obvious to me during my stay last year was the unique nature of Gazan cuisine. Anyone who knows Gaza knows that the food in this region is filled with distinctive flavors and spices that are dramatically different from other regional forms of Palestinian food. One common example is Gazan tahini, which is made from roasted sesame seeds, making it a dark shade of red. Gazan food is also typically made with chiles, eastern spices like cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and lots of dill.
For more on this subject, I strongly recommend reading "The Gaza Kitchen" by Laila El-Hadad and Maggie Schmitt – a cookbook that offers local recipes, placing them in the context of Gaza's cultural history and politics. The authors point out that since the strong majority of Palestinians living in Gaza today are refugees from other parts of Palestine, other regional Palestinian foods have been introduced into their culinary mix. And the authors point out that many Gazan fast food joints serve Israeli-style food such as schnitzel, which was brought to the region by European Zionist immigrants.
Now, with Gaza totally isolated, it is easy to forget that for decades thousands of Gazans went every day to work in Israel, that Israeli and Gazan entrepreneurs had partnerships, that both commerce and social relations existed, albeit on unequal footing. Adult Gazans remember this, and many speak admiringly of aspects of Israeli society or maintain contact with Israeli business partners, employers and friends. But for the enormous population of young people who were not old enough to work or travel before Israel sealed the borders in 2000, this is impossible. Because their lives are completely conditioned by Israeli political decisions, they have never laid eyes on a single Israeli person except the soldiers that have come in on tanks or bulldozers, wreaking destruction. And the generation of young Israelis to which those soldiers belong has likewise never met a single Gazan Palestinian in any other context. A terrible recipe for continued conflict.
When most people think of Gaza of course, they don't think of trade routes or cuisine; if they associate Gaza with anything at all, it's refugees and refugee camps. But it's important to bear in mind that the creation of these camps is a very recent phenomenon in its history. As I mentioned earlier, Gaza was historically a much larger district in historic Palestine. Under Ottoman and the British mandate for instance, the Gaza District included what would later become the Israeli cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Sderot, Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi, among others.
The so-called "Gaza strip" was created in 1949, when it became a repository for a flood of Palestinian refugees from cities and villages in the coastal plain and lower Galilee. Before the outset of war, the population of this small region numbered 60 to 80,000. By the end of the hostilities, at least 200,000 refugees were crowded into what we call today the Gaza Strip. The borders of the strip were drawn arbitrarily, determined by the position of Egyptian and Israeli forces when the ceasefire was announced. It ended up being smaller by at least a third than the entire area of the Gaza District during the mandate period.
At the time, most of the refugees fully expected to return home – some could even see their towns and villages through the fences. Those who crossed the border to gather their possessions or harvest their crops were considered "infiltrators" by Israel and shot on sight. Eventually, it became all too clear there would be no return. Over the years the tents turned into concrete buildings that grew ever higher in that narrow corridor. The numbers of that once sparse territory has grown to a population today of almost 2,000,000 people.
Given this context, it was natural that Gaza would become a center for the Palestinian resistance movement. We know from history that when a people are oppressed, they will inevitably resist their oppression. And yes, sometimes that resistance will be violent in nature. As early as the 1950s, groups of Palestinians known as "fedayeen" crossed over the border to stage violent attacks in the surrounding settlements.
This we know: that in order that the hope to destroy us should die we have to be armed and ready, morning and night. We are a generation of settlement, and without a steel helmet and the barrel of a cannon we cannot plant a tree and build a house. Our children will not live if we do not build shelters, and without a barbed wire fence and a machine gun we cannot pave a road and channel water. The millions of Jews that were destroyed because they did not have a land look at us from the ashes of Israelite history and command us to take possession of and establish a land for our nation.
It's clear that the descendants of the original Gazan refugees have lost none of their ancestors desire for return. Most of them know full well where their ancestral homes and fields are located, in some cases just a few miles from where currently live. As in other parts of Palestine, the memory of home and the desire for return are a palpable part of Gazan culture. I experienced this in a simple yet powerful way during my visit to Gaza last year. One afternoon, as we traveled north along the coast from Rafah to Gaza City, I noticed a series of colorful concrete benches along the beachfront. My colleague Ali translated the Arabic words on the backs of each bench, pointing out that each one bore the name of a Palestinian city or town where Gazans lived prior to 1948.
It's not difficult to grasp the sacred significance of these simple seaside benches to the refugees of Gaza. Unlike most memorials, which commemorate what was lost and is never to be found, I'd wager that those who come to these beaches don't believe their home cities and villages to be lost at all. On the contrary, I believe these benches testify that these places are still very real to them. And to their faith that they will one day return home.
In the end my trip to Gaza affected me in ways I could not predict at the time. Most importantly, for lack of a better term, I find I'm taking the issue much more personally. When Israel drops bombs on Gaza, I invariably get a sick, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, and immediately send emails to my colleagues and friends to check on their welfare. When a young Gazan is killed during the weekly Return March demonstrations, it's not unusual for me to read a grief stricken testimony on social media by a friend, or friend of a friend. I increasingly hear their stories of their loved ones whose visas were denied or who cannot travel to access proper health care – and increasingly, I find myself taking their stories to heart.
Of course, I also take it personally when I hear so many in the Jewish community rationalizing this oppression away or worse – blaming Gazans for their own misery. When Israel was bombarding Gaza with bombs this past July, for instance, I recalled the fall of 2014 and how the American Jewish communal establishment characterized Israel's war as a moral and religious imperative. In their view, the leadership in Gaza posed nothing short of an existential threat to Israel and the Jewish people – and in the wake of the Holocaust, ensuring Jewish survival is the most sacrosanct commandment of our time.
More than three thousand years ago, Abraham had two children. One son had been sent into the wilderness and was in danger of dying. God saved him with water from a spring. The other son was bound, his throat about to be cut by his own father. But God stayed the knife. Both sons – Ishmael and Isaac – received promises that they would father great nations.
With these narratives, monotheism and western civilization begin. And the Canaanite practices of child sacrifice to Moloch are forever left behind by the descendants of Abraham.
In my own lifetime, I have seen Jewish children thrown into the fire. And now I have seen Muslim children used as human shields, in both cases, by worshippers of death cults indistinguishable from that of the Molochites.
What we are suffering through today is not a battle of Jew versus Arab or Israeli versus Palestinian. Rather, it is a battle between those who celebrate life and those who champion death. It is a battle of civilization versus barbarism.
I remember when I first read these words. I remember how deeply, how viscerally, I reacted to them – particularly while I had been reading day after day about Gazan children like the four Bakr boys, who were shot down not as "human shields" but while they were playing soccer on the beach one morning. I remember how desperately I wished there were other Jews or Jewish communities ready to provide an alternative religious understanding of what was going on in Gaza.
The problem is the news that keeps coming from Israel. Israel's bombing of residential areas, hospitals and UN schools and shelters is international news. In Gaza, even after Israel's proclaimed "withdrawal," the death toll mounts. Among the dead are children sacrificed for Israel's obvious goal – to deny Palestinians statehood, their political and human rights, which include the right to resist occupation.
The question for Elie Wiesel and the Jewish establishment is not about Abraham's binding of Isaac – a treasure trove for interpreters of all types – but how many Palestinian children in Gaza will be sacrificed on the altar of Israel's national security.
If God stayed Abraham's knife, who will stay Israel's?
"If God stayed Abraham's knife, who will stay Israel's?" This, to me is as profound an articulation of the moral and religious challenge presented to us by Gaza as we are likely to find. And I simply cannot understand how Jewish communities can gather for Yom Kippur every year without even thinking to consider this question. This is after all, the season of our cheshbon nefesh – our moral accountability. On Yom Kippur we are asked to come together and dig deep as a community to search our collective soul and confess our collective sins. How many synagogues will include confessions for what Israel is doing to Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere?
On Yom Kippur we gather to confess our sins and vow to do teshuvah – to actively repair what we have broken in the past year. But if we do believe that Israel is oppressing Gazans and Palestinians in our name, how can this day have any meaning for us at all? How can it be anything but an empty ritual? If we do believe this day still has religious relevance for us, what are we ready to do to make this teshuvah we speak of real?
Our message is that we are human beings. Despite 70 years of exile, 50 years of occupation, and 11 years of a blockade, we still can carry signs in Arabic, Hebrew, and English that say, "We are not coming to fight — we are coming to return to our lands!" Gazans who saw wars and blood, who lost relatives to graves and prisons, who have four hours of electricity, who are besieged and tired — these Gazans still have faith that the international community cares. Will the rest of humanity hear them?
On Yom Kippur we plead to God, "Shema Koleynu" – "Hear our voice!" The people of Gaza – indeed all Palestinians – are calling out to us "Shema Koleynu!" Are we ready to their prayer? And if we are, what will we do to ensure our Yom Kippur prayers have not been made in vain?
G'mar Hatimah Tovah – may this be the year we write the people of Gaza into the Book of Life.
This entry was posted in American Friends Service Committee, American Jewish Community, Gaza, High Holidays, Holocaust, Human Rights, Israel, Jewish Community, Judaism, Nakba, Nonviolence, Palestine, Refugees, Religion, Sermons, Tzedek Chicago, War, Yom Kippur on September 20, 2018 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Writing topical High Holiday sermons is a process fraught with peril. It's common knowledge among rabbis that if you sit down to write at the beginning of the summer, chances are pretty good that your chosen issue will be obsolete by the time the holidays roll around. In the current political moment however, where current events have accelerated to warp speed, it feels as if issues become obsolete every hour on the hour. Thus my challenge this year: how do I respond without contributing to the ever-increasing barrage that has become our current reality?
More to the point: how do I avoid contributing to the widespread despair that so many of us are feeling? I'm sure most of us are experiencing current events as an onslaught. They come at us faster and faster: every new policy strike-down, every new act of deregulation, every new appointment feels like yet another kick to the stomach.
To put it simply, the world that so many of us fought for seems to be unraveling before our eyes. So many of the socio-political gains we've struggled so hard for for so long are being rolled back on an almost daily basis.
So this Rosh Hashanah, I want to forgo the topical sermon in favor of some deeper questions. Namely, how can we maintain our equilibrium during the current political moment? How do we respond to the onslaught? How do we resist the despair that for so many of us, characterizes the nightmare age of Trump?
Since the election, we've been hearing from mental health experts that there's been a dramatic spike in anxiety and depression since the election – a kind of "political stress disorder" – but that's not what I'm talking about. Rather, I'd like to explore why so many of our previously held beliefs about our world seem to have come crashing down on top of us. In particular, I want to look closely at the assumptions that Americans – particularly liberal Americans – use to understand the history of progress in our country.
I'd like to ask, have they been harmful in ways we don't often stop to realize? And if they are, might there be different frames we can use to understand the world around us? Ones that will help us stand down the despair and give us the strength to fight for the world we want to see? And finally, on this new year, I'd like to explore how Torah and Jewish tradition address this question in ways that might help us find a way forward together.
Let's start with one very common assumption: the view that history is a march toward progress. This view is considered a central tenet of liberalism and it dates all the way back to the Enlightenment. In fact, this idea is so deeply embedded in the mindset of so many Americans that it is almost taken for granted.
Now certainly, when we look at the unfolding of American history, we could make a very strong case for this view. It certainly seems that the arc of history bends toward justice. Our march toward progress is well known: the abolition of slavery, the creation of labor laws, the right of women to vote, civil rights legislation, environmental regulation.
The idea in a nutshell: "We struggled, we won, progress was achieved." This linear view of socio-political progress is deeply ingrained in the mythos of liberal America. When these historical moments occur, they enter into our national consciousness and become part of a collective narrative of progress. We venerate them, we celebrate them – often on an annual basis – and then either consciously or unconsciously, we assume that history will continue to progress in a linear fashion from that point onward.
The only problem with this assumption is that it doesn't. And it never has.
Let's use the first example on the list I just mentioned: abolition. Most of us date the abolition of slavery back to 1865 with the adoption of the 13th amendment – but in truth, abolition resulted from over century of struggle on many different fronts. But it wasn't a linear struggle. And the struggle is far from over.
During Reconstruction, former slaves did make meaningful political, social and economic gains. Black men voted and even held public office across the South. Biracial experiments in governance flowered. Black literacy surged, surpassing those of whites in some cities. Black schools, churches and social institutions thrived.
But as W.E.B. Du Bois famously wrote "the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery." After the formal fall of slavery in the South, there was sharecropping, in which black farmers became debt slaves to their white landlords; there was the convict lease system, in which black men were leased out to wealthy plantation owners and corporations; there were widespread lynchings in the South and yes, often in the North as well. There was Jim Crow – a legal caste system that literally divided black and white Americans.
And after the civil rights movement helped bring down segregation, we've seen the emergence of the "New Jim Crow" as a result of mass incarceration. As scholar Michelle Alexander and others have pointed out, more black men are currently behind bars or under the thumb of the criminal justice system than there were enslaved at the height of slavery.
Yes, the abolition of slavery was a significant victory and yes, we should celebrate our victories. But we cannot assume that injustice will simply end or evaporate with these victories. More often than not, it morphs into different forms in insidious ways.
It seems to me that liberal Americans – particularly white liberal Americans – chronically underestimate the tenacity and staying power of injustice. Why? Well for one thing, although we don't often acknowledge it, this country was founded on injustice – on the original sins of indigenous genocide, slavery and the economic supremacy of white property-holding men. Injustice is part of our national DNA. As long as we fail admit this, it's too easy to ignore the ways injustice is chronically manifest in the life of our country.
Our American political culture reinforces the notion that struggles for liberation invariably lead to the eradication of injustice. The way we memorialize the civil rights movement provides a good example. In her recent book, "A More Beautiful and Terrible History," Professor Jeanne Theoharis writes powerfully about the ways political elites – who historically fought the passage of civil rights – regularly use this history as proof of how great our country is. President Ronald Reagan for instance, repeatedly resisted efforts to turn Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday into a national holiday. He finally relented however, when he realized he could co-opt MLK and the civil rights movement.
We've made historic strides since Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus. As a democratic people, we can take pride in the knowledge that that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action to correct it. And we should remember that in many countries, people like Dr. King never have the opportunity to speak out at all.
But it's not only conservative politicians who promote this new mythic history. Theoharis also quotes Barack Obama from a 2007 speech in Selma, Alabama. Referring to the civil rights generation, he said, "They took us 90 percent of the way there, but we still got that 10 percent in order to cross over to the other side." The implication that we have eradicated 90% of the racial problems in our country is of course, serious political hyperbole. And it speaks to a very common trope in our national culture: that our great nation was founded on a struggle for freedom, that these struggles are what make this country great, and that these struggles somehow eradicate injustice from our midst.
In reality, however, these struggles don't succeed because of our country – they succeed in spite of our country. And they certainly do not end racism and injustice once and for all. Whether they stem from hyperbole, ideology or unconscious assumptions, I believe that these false tropes breed complacency. After all, why worry too much if we believe history proves our struggle will eradicate injustice in end? And when injustice metastasizes into new and different forms, it upsets our neat, linear assumptions about American progress. As a result, we're ill-equipped – emotionally and strategically – to respond properly to this new reality.
I'd like to turn now to Jewish tradition and explore whether or not the Torah has anything to offer us on this particular question. It's often been observed by liberal scholars in fact, that this linear view of historical progress can be traced back to Biblical tradition. According to this school of thought, the polytheistic traditions of the Ancient Near East viewed history as circular, embodied in the never ending, constantly repeating cycles of nature. Israelite monotheism however, upended these traditions, sublimating the gods of nature to the one God of history, who alone could control nature and events according to his will.
The consequences of this shift from nature to history reinforce the idea of ethical monotheism. Judaism develops a linear concept of time as opposed to a cyclical one and sanctifies events rather than places. The mountain of Sinai is not holy, or even known, but the moment of revelation is. The Torah intentionally conceals from us the place where Moses is buried. Time is a medium less susceptible to idolatry or polytheism, in which God's presence is made manifest audibly rather than visually. Time becomes for Judaism the realm in which humanity and God join to complete together the work of creation…The triumph of morality will eventually render nature perfect, bringing history to its messianic conclusion.
While this is a popular view of many Jewish scholars, I find it to be problematic on so many levels. Particularly this notion that "the triumph of morality will eventually render nature perfect, bringing history to its messianic conclusion." This kind of linear messianic thinking leads to a concrete end game, a victory that will solve all our problems. Messianic movements of course, have historically arisen during periods of acute crisis – times in which the vision of the ideal world becomes profoundly exciting and intoxicating to the growing numbers of people. But as we know all too well, messianic movements almost always end in upheaval, disillusionment and too often, tragedy.
You don't have to be fundamentalist or even particularly religious to engage in linear messianic thinking. We all have a tendency, particularly during difficult times, to focus our expectations on an idealized conclusion. While this is undeniably inspiring and motivating, we too often end up mistaking the victories we experience along the way as the end game itself. We fall into the trap of viewing progress as an entitlement rather than something that must be constantly, constantly struggled for in every generation. It sometimes feels to me that this fixation on the end game is itself a kind of idolatry. We might say that we create a false god whenever we objectify one idea or concept or movement as the ultimate panacea for the problems of the world.
This is not however, the only Jewish frame for understanding history. I'd like to suggest another – one that I personally find to be much more helpful and inspiring. It is embodied by the word,"Yisrael" which literally means "one who struggles with God." In the book of Genesis, Jacob's name is changed to Yisrael after he wrestles with a mysterious night visitor that turns out later to be God. Jacob is victorious – and this moment marks a critical turning point in his life. But at the same time, he is wounded by the encounter – he limps as he crosses the river the next morning.
It's also notable that Jacob's struggle does not end with this one episode. His life certainly does not follow a straight line from this point on. Nor does the journey of the people of Israel who bear his name. In fact, the Torah narrative always ends before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. Just when they arrive at the threshold, we literally rewind the Torah back to the beginning and we start the journey anew. The cycle begins once again.
In other words, redemption is not located in any particular place or point in time – it is experienced in the act of struggle itself. God cannot be found in a land or place, nor at some literal end time. God is in the struggle. We might even say, God is the struggle.
Now I know for some this might seem on the surface to be a bit on the bleak side. Some might of you might be thinking, "Is this all we have to look forward to? Life is just one long endless struggle? And we never even get to the Promised Land? How is this inspiring?
Please understand: I'm not saying we can ever give up on our vision of our the world we want to see. I am suggesting that at some point it is important to let go of the expectation that we must inevitably get there – because I really do believe that holding on too tightly to that expectation is a set up for despair and disillusionment.
Yes, this spiritual frame does involve an acknowledgement that we will not literally arrive in the Promised Land; that the Messiah will not actually come. But at the same time, its worth considering that we do indeed enter into messianic time in ways we never stop to consider: when we show up for our fellow strugglers, when we celebrate our victories along the way, when our efforts are infused with our highest values of justice and equity and sacrifice, at those moments we find ourselves dwelling in the world we've been fighting for all along. We experience the world we want to see because we create it for one another.
Struggle is hard work, but if we view it exclusively as a means to an end, it will be only that: hard work. However, if we view struggle as an inherently sacred act, we may yet see the face of God in our comrades and those who have gone before us. We may come to understand that the messianic age is not simply a far off dream. We may yet find we are dwelling in the Promised Land in ways we have never been able to realize before.
According to Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah is a kind of "spiritual reboot" for ourselves and our community. In the traditional liturgy we say "Hayom Harat Olam" – it is the birthday of the world! On one level I think this means we never forfeit the ability to view the world with different eyes, through new and different frames. And if we can do this, we may well be able to transform the world itself. Yes, we live in painful, difficult times, but this is nothing new. Yes, there have been significant setbacks to many hard won battles in our country, but the struggle is far from over. In fact, as our liturgy would have it, it may be just beginning.
To all of you in Am Yisrael – and by this I mean all who struggle side by side for the cause of justice in the world – I wish you a heartfelt chazak ve'ematz – strength and courage. May it be a sweet and victorious year for us all.
This entry was posted in Civil Rights, Current Events, High Holidays, Politics, Prison Justice, Racism, Religion, Rosh Hashanah, Sermons, Torah Commentary, Tzedek Chicago on September 12, 2018 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
So what is this, some kind of sick joke?
Why then, you might ask, was this law included in the Torah? Rabbis Judah and Simeon cryptically respond: "Seek and you shall find reward" – a comment commonly understood to mean parents should study this passage and be appropriately scared enough to set their children on the right path.
In this Talmudic understanding, then, the commandment of the wayward and defiant son thus seems to serve as a kind of parental shock therapy. Whether or not we find this advice "rewarding," I do think that these Torah verses reflect every parent's deepest insecurities – and society's latent fear that it might somehow lose control of its children.
Putting more police on the streets or sending in the National Guard will not solve the scourge of gun violence in our communities. There will be no reduction in crime; in reality, nothing will be reduced except the number of people who are left in these neighborhoods. That's what happens when you eliminate schools and allow food deserts to exist: People who can afford to move will do so, and the people left behind will be over-policed.
It's time to invest in our public schools, in job creation and in training programs to give back hope to people who have so little of it left. Chicago's ghettos are in dire need of repair; they can be healed only when our politicians pursue policies that will raise our communities up instead of keeping us under the heel of the police.
This entry was posted in Bible, Capital Punishment, Children's Rights, Judaism, Police Violence, Racism, Religion, Torah Commentary on August 24, 2018 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.


How much is an average 8 hour wedding?
Our sessions vary in length. The minimum amount of coverage for a wedding is 6 hours with the maximum being 10 hours. The price will depend on the length of time spent shooting. See Packages and Pricing for more information.
Yes, we have a backup of everything that is required to continue to take photos!
What are your standard wedding packages?
Our packages are here! However, we will work with you to meet your needs from needing an additional photographer to making a video slideshow of your event.
Photos by Lowry shoots pictures throughout Western Pennsylvania and beyond. Ranging from Washington, PA, Brookville, Mayville, NY to Elk County to State College and Stone Harbor, New Jersey and everywhere in between, no event is too far!
Do I get to keep the digital proofs?
Yes, within a week of your event, you will have a digital copy of all the photos taken at the event.
Can I view my pictures online?
Of course! Once the event is complete, we place the photos on our website, and potentially on our social media sites.
How many photos will I get in the end?
It varies on the length of the event but you can expect many different points of view and plenty of photos to capture the special moment.
What if I loose my disc of photos?
Once the photos are delivered, we recommend copying them to the cloud as well as keeping your disc in a safe place. Chances are, we can get you another disc!
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Q: Add values in where clause using case is giving error I am not good in sql. But I am trying to do some thing like the following
    where 1 = 1
    and case
        when first_criterion = max1 or first_criterion = min1 then 1 else 0
        +
        when second_criterion = max2 or second_criterion = min2 then 1 else 0
        +
        when third_criterion = max3 or third_criterion = min3 then 1 else 0
    end < 2
    order by arbiter_id;

If I just use
where 1 = 1
and case
        when first_criterion = max1 or first_criterion = min1 then 1 else 0
    end < 2
order by arbiter_id;

Then it works
How can I add values using the first one ?
Thanks

A: I assume you are making a typo, can you check this:
where 1 = 1
and case
    when first_criterion = max1 or first_criterion = min1 then 1
    when second_criterion = max2 or second_criterion = min2 then 1
    when third_criterion = max3 or third_criterion = min3 then 1
    else 0
end < 2
order by arbiter_id;

A: If you want to filter out the rows where more than 1 of the conditions apply then you need 3 separate CASE expressions:
WHERE 1 = 1
  AND CASE WHEN first_criterion = max1 OR first_criterion = min1 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
      +
      CASE WHEN second_criterion = max2 OR second_criterion = min2 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
      +
      CASE WHEN third_criterion = max3 OR third_criterion = min3 THEN 1 ELSE 0 END
      < 2
ORDER BY arbiter_id;

If you actually want the rows where exactly 1 of the conditions apply, you should change < 2 to = 1.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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The A-Z MOCA Scandal Index
by Corinna Kirsch on March 14, 2013 · 1 comment Newswire
Courtesy Susan Silton
In case you missed it, MOCA's in the news again. Board member and philanthropist Eli Broad has missed the last two payments of his promised $30 million to the museum and now LACMA is proposing a merger. So too, is the distant National Gallery of Art in D.C.
This all follows a seemingly never-ending stream of news about the museum ranging from the 2010 hiring of New York Dealer Jeffrey Deitch as the museum's head to the firing (or dismissal) of MoCA head curator Paul Schimmel. There are an enormous number of billionaires, egos and op-eds to track, and new gossip keeps rolling in every day, so we've come up with a means to streamline all that information: The A-Z MoCA Scandal Index. It's our definitive guide to navigating the MoCA mess, and we hope you find it as useful as we do.
We recommend clicking on "R" for "Recap" if you're totally new to the story.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L,M, N, O, P,Q, R, S, T, U, V,
W, X, Y, Z
Acronym punditry
Term proposed by ARTINFO's Benjamin Sutton to describe the imagined LACMA-MOCA merger acronyms proliferating the net. LOCA, LACMACA, and LOCA have all been tabled.
Annenberg, Wallis
Billionaire board member
"B" is for "Broad".
Baldessari, John
One of MOCA's three artist board members who resigned in 2012 after Paul Schimmel's resignation. Currently, there are no artists serving on the board.
The Broad
Opening in 2014, the Broad Art Foundation's contemporary art museum, will be located just down the street from MOCA on Grand Avenue, aka Wysteria Lane.
The Broad Art Foundation
One of the Broad family's four foundations.
Broad, Eli
Billionaire philanthropist, lifetime trustee at MOCA and LACMA, namesake of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, writer of many public letters in the Los Angeles Times.
Where to begin? Problems began back in 2008 when Broad, in an attempt to rescue the museum from financial insolvency, agreed to give the museum a multi-million-dollar bailout plan, but as long as it stayed independent and didn't merge with any institution located within a 100-mile-radius. With a proposal set forth by LACMA, which Michael Govan states was initiated by the MOCA board, it appears his agreement might not be so solid. To date, he has declined to comment on LACMA's proposal.
Burton, Betye
One of four MOCA lifetime trustees who wrote a public complaint about the museum's future in the aftermath of Schimmel's departure and MOCA's "celebrity-driven program".
C is for curators, of which MOCA has just two. This is down from a staff of seven curators in 2009.
Cohen, Steve
Currently, Cohen's hedge fund company is under investigation by the federal government for insider trading, but he still manages to give millions of dollars in art to MoMA.
"D" is for "Deitch".
Deitch, Jeffrey
Director, MOCA
Deitch was brought to MOCA in 2010. Previously, he served as founder and director of New York's Deitch Projects. Since his arrival, many have noted an increasingly entertainment-driven program, unmatched by the museum knocking a Jack Goldstein retrospective off its schedule for a show of paintings by the late actor Dennis Hopper.
Destroy the Picture: Painting the void 1949-1962
Chief Curator Paul Schimmel's final exhibition at MOCA.
"E" is for "enemies", i.e. David Geffen, pictured here, is enemies with Eli Broad.
Eli Broad
See Broad, Eli.
What happens when two egos butt heads: Eli Broad and David Geffen are enemies.
Fire in the Disco
Around the time of Schimmel's departure in July 2012, and complaints about Deitch's "celebrity-driven" programming, there were rumors that an upcoming disco-themed exhibition, curated by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, had been cancelled.
Fischer, Urs
In April, MOCA will launch an exhibition of Urs Fischer's work, just three years behind the New Museum's solo show in 2010.
See MOCA.
"G" is for "Govan".
In March 2013, C-Monstah tells the story of LACMA and MOCA in reaction GIFs.
Greenberg, Lenore S.
Govan, Michael
Director, LACMA, former Director, DIA
Govan released a public letter—everyone in Los Angeles seems to do this—announcing that MOCA had approached LACMA to make a proposal for merging the two museums. Will LACMA "take over" the museum? Will it be an "art marriage"? Based on Govan's letter, we don't know any details of the merger. That hasn't stopped speculation.
Geffen, David
In 1996, The David Geffen Foundation granted MOCA $5 million dollars and renamed their contemporary wing The Geffen Contemporary. He will have nothing to do with board though, so long as his enemy Eli Broad is involved.
"Dennis Hopper Double Standard" at MoCA's Geffen Contemporary. Image courtesy of the LA Times.
Hopper, Dennis
Late actor and artist whose show replaced the scheduled Jack Goldstein Exhibition in 2010. Critics were not happy.
Irmas, Audrey
Johnson, David
MOCA Board Chairman
Knight, Christopher
Art critic, the Los Angeles Times
Knight has been the go-to reporter for anything MOCA-related. He's got it covered, and he's been doing a bang up job.
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
An encyclopedic museum located in Los Angeles, headed up by Michael Govan. The idea for a merger between LACMA and MOCA was first thrown around during 2008, giving rise to Eli Broad's demands that with his bailout, there would be no merger between the two.
MOCA Mobilization
Founded in 2008 during the first MOCA financial crisis, the civilian group protested against any potential mergers between MOCA and any other group. Seeing the museum's downward trajectory over the past five years, the group has changed its mind, and would be open to a museum merger.
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
A contemporary art museum located in downtown Los Angeles, headed up by Jeffrey Deitch.
The wildcard for partnering with MOCA, according to theLos Angeles Times, "the terms might include a five-year agreement but no financial support". Potentially, there could be shared programs and exhibitions, but no deep pockets.
Nicholas, Frederick M.
"O" is for "Opie".
Opie, Catherine
She has been vocal about her dissatisfaction with MOCA, and publicly released her resignation letter in The Los Angeles Times.
Victor Pinchuk
A philanthropist, MOCA board member, and the 255tn wealthiest man in the world according to Forbes. Pinchuk has a net worth of $4.4 billion, but MOCA's still got terrible financial problems!
See Baldessari, Opie, Ruiz, Ruscha, Schimmel, Simpson.
Here's the story so far: Despite packing their board with millionaires and billionares, MOCA has been in financial trouble for some time. Except for Eli Broad, it seems like nobody's emptying their pockets. In 2008, MOCA Trustee Eli Broad stepped in to offer the museum money as long as they promised not to merge with any museum located within 100 miles of downtown Los Angeles. That pact, some fear, is about to be broken as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has offered a merger. Will the board members go with a merger from LACMA, or an exhibition swap with the National Gallery, another museum rumored to be vying for merger opportunities? What influence will Eli Broad have in all these negotiations? We may never know the full details to that last question, but come March 15th, the museum board will review merger proposals, and maybe then we'll learn a little more. Or we'll just get confused.
Ruiz, Alma
With Bennet Simpson, one of two curators left at MOCA.
Ruscha, Ed
"S" is for "Schimmel".
Schimmel, Paul
Chief Curator, MOCA
After serving over twenty years at MOCA, Paul Schimmel was let go in June 2012, along with many of the museum's other curators. Critics of the museum were outraged at the lack of transparency over whether Schimmel was fired. This started a turning point in the museum's reception, beginning an onslaught of doubt regarding the museum's financial solvency and programmatic direction.
Simpson, Bennet
With Alma Ruiz, one of two curators left at MOCA.
Silva, Christopher
At a 2012 MOCA BYOB event, Silva claims his artwork had been censored by the event's sponsor, Mercedes-Benz.
MOCAtv
MOCA's YouTube channel
PR-style interviews interspersed with YouTube exhibitions. The channel shows some emerging artists we like, and its low costs makes us think program is probably safe from the chopping board.
U.S.C is rumored to have made an offer for a merger with MOCA as well. Similar to the LACMA proposal, it falls within the 100 mile radius.
This April, the artist Urs Fischer the artist will be given an exhibition called Urs Fischer at MOCA.
See Pinchuk, Victor.
Villaraigosa, Antonio
Former Mayor of Los Angeles and MOCA Trustee
In 2008, Villaraigosa weighed in on the state of MOCA's finances. As tends to happen in Los Angeles, the letter was published in the Los Angeles Times.
Wilmerding, John
Director, National Gallery of Art. He has a funny name.
For dealing with the stress of not knowing what the future holds.
"Y" is for "Young".
Young, Charles
Former MOCA Chief Executive Officer
In July 2012, Young emailed his pal Eli Broad, telling him to fire Jeffrey Deitch.
Zzzzzzzz
Following the MOCA drama isn't going to keep everyone awake.
Tagged as: broad, deitch, LACMA, los angeles, MoCA, opie
Miscellany. 03.18.13. | C-Monster
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Alright. We have an interesting week: Rosh Hashanah is celebrated, 9/11 is remembered. And there is a lot going on in the heavens still during this time period that affects Humanity, that affects the weather patterns, affects the nature of survival, so really all of the kingdoms on the planet are affected by what is going on with planetary configurations and such.
I think the most productive use of this time frame esoterically would be altering the memory, more specifically kind of desensitizing memory patterns. For example, to recall something pleasant and then you can amplify the energy there to modifying that memory. And then you can recall something unpleasant and then just request "Desensitize, desensitize, desensitize". (Exhale) Breathe it out of the body. You can change the molecular pattern of memory at a cellular and sub-cellular level just by moving enough chi through the body.
If you want to look at tapping methods, there's the original TFT, Thought Field Therapy. You can look up EFT which is Emotional Freedom Technique. You can work with acupuncture meridians. But just within the body, within the etheric body, you can make the request and get the channels open.
So the idea here to modifying memory is move the chi or qi, make sure that there is no stagnation. And that when you get a surge of a strong emotion that you don't want anymore, say a strong anger or a strong fear or a strong sadness, breathe it out of the body. Do not let it amplify. That you want to just kind of desensitize or release. And then the good ones you want to get your body tuned to joy and happiness and a sense of love.
So keep working with amplify the good ones, desensitize the bad ones.


text:
Bios of American, Texas heroes won't be yanked, state board member promises
By Gary Scharrer on July 20, 2009 at 4:30 PM
There's been some angst about reports that children biographies of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen F. Austin could be yanked from early grades in new social studies/history curriculum standards currently in the drafting stage.
State Board of Education member Patricia Hardy, R-Fort Worth emphatically says such is not the case.
Pat Hardy
The issue first came up when Brooke Terry, an education analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, alerted the 15-member board this spring.
"We are concerned that important pieces of history are being removed or changed," Terry said at the time.
After suggestions that those biographies have been moved to other grade levels, Terry indicated she could not locate them.
"Those suggested biographies are still expected reading," Hardy says. "To bring consistency to the formatting of the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) it was decided to remover all reference of specific books from one section of the TEKS."
Critics simply don't understand, she says.
"Never did the teachers say that those bios were not to be taught," Hardy says. "Only the listing in that particular section of the TEKS no longer lists specific books."
Social studies/history curriculum standards get rewritten every 10 years, or so. Writing teams made up of about 75 teachers, social science/history experts and some ordinary Texas citizens are working on the draft. An updated version will be available for the State Board of Education's September meeting.
Six experts appointed by the board also are assessing the work. Some of their recommendations are already under fire, such as pulling Cesar Chavez and Thurgood Marshall from history books.
And Terry from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which advocates free-market principles, says, "We see repeated examples of bias against individualism, against the free enterprise system, and against personal responsibility."
The Texas Freedom Network, meanwhile, complains that some of the religious experts appointed by socially conservative board members, are emphasizing too much Christian religion in their recommendations.
All of this will guarantee interesting public hearings before the board casts a final vote on the new curriculum standards – probably in March of next year.
Gary Scharrer | Capitol Reporter


Self Description: I am kind and sincere person, soulful and tender. I am always looking for happiness in little simple things in life.
Comments: I am looking for a man whose words are entirely corresponds with his actions.


text:
Tsunami set off by volcanic eruption kills 222 in Indonesia
Posted 6:38 am, December 23, 2018, by Associated Press
CARITA BEACH, Indonesia — A tsunami believed to be triggered by a volcanic eruption killed at least 222 people in Indonesia during a busy holiday weekend, sweeping away hotels, hundreds of houses and a group of people attending a beach concert.
More than 800 were reported injured and 28 missing after the tsunami hit around the Sunda Strait on Saturday night, the Disaster Management Agency said. The toll could continue to rise because some areas had not yet been reached.
View Gallery (7 images) Inline
Scientists, including those from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency, said Sunday that the tsunami could have been caused by undersea landslides or those occurring above sea level on the Anak Krakatau volcano's steep outside slope following the eruption. The volcano's name translates to "Child of Krakatoa," a volcanic island formed over years after one of the largest eruptions in recorded history occurred at the Krakatoa volcano more than a century ago. The scientists also cited tidal waves caused by the full moon.
Dramatic video posted on social media showed an Indonesian pop band named "Seventeen" performing under a tent on a popular beach at a concert for employees of a state-owned electricity company. Dozens of people sat listening at tables covered in white cloths while others bobbed to the music near the stage as bright strobe lights flashed and theatrical smoke was released.
A child could also be seen wandering through the crowd. Seconds later, with the drummer pounding just as the next song was about to begin, the stage suddenly heaved forward and buckled under the force of the water, throwing the band and all their equipment into the audience.
The group released a statement saying their bass player, guitarist and road manager were found dead, while two other band members and the wife of one of the performers remained missing.
"The tide rose to the surface and dragged all the people on site," the statement said. "Unfortunately, when the current receded our members are unable to save themselves while some did not find a place to hold on."
Tourists were also affected during the long holiday weekend ahead of Christmas.
"I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m (meters, or 50-65 feet) inland," Norwegian Oystein Lund Andersen wrote on Facebook. The self-described photographer and volcano enthusiast said he was taking pictures of the volcano when he suddenly saw a big wave come toward him.
"Next wave entered the hotel area where I was staying and downed cars on the road behind it," he wrote. "Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground (through) forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of (by) the locals. Were unharmed, thankfully."
The Anak Krakatau volcano lies in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, linking the Indian Ocean and Java Sea. It erupted about 24 minutes before the tsunami, the geophysics agency said.
The worst-affected area was the Pandeglang region of Java's Banten province, which encompasses Ujung Kulon National Park and popular beaches, the disaster agency said.
Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 222 deaths had been confirmed and at least 843 people were injured. Rescue workers were still trying to access other affected areas.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo expressed his sympathy and ordered government agencies to respond quickly to the disaster.
"My deep condolences to the victims in Banten and Lumpung provinces," he said. "Hopefully, those who are left have patience."
In the city of Bandar Lampung on Sumatra, hundreds of residents took refuge at the governor's office. At the popular resort area of Carita Beach, some survivors appeared lost.
Azki Kurniawan, 16, said he was undergoing vocational training with a group of 30 other students at Patra Comfort Hotel when people suddenly burst into the lobby yelling, "Sea water rising!" He said he was confused because he did not feel an earthquake, but ran to the parking lot to try to reach his motorbike. By the time he got there, it was already flooded.
"Suddenly a 1-meter (3.3-foot) wave hit me," he said. "I fell down, the water separated me from my bike. I was thrown into the fence of a building about 30 meters (100 feet) from the beach and held onto the fence as strong as I could, trying to resist the water, which feels like it would drag me back into the sea. I cried in fear. ... 'This is a tsunami?' I was afraid I would die."
The 305-meter (1,000-foot) -high Anak Krakatau volcano, located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, has been erupting since June. In July, authorities widened its no-go areas to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the crater.
However, Anak Krakatau remains much smaller than Krakatoa when it blew in 1883, killing more than 30,000 people. Krakatoa launched far-reaching tsunamis and created so much ash, day was turned to night in the area and a global temperature drop was recorded. The violent explosions sank most of the island into the volcanic crater under the sea, and the area remained calm until the 1920s, when Anak Krakatau began to rise from the site. It continues to grow each year and erupts periodically.
Gegar Prasetya, co-founder of the Tsunami Research Center Indonesia, said Saturday's tsunami was likely caused by a flank collapse — when a big section of a volcano's slope gives way. He said it's possible for an eruption to trigger a landslide above ground or beneath the ocean, both capable of producing waves.
"Actually, the tsunami was not really big, only 1 meter (3.3 feet)," said Prasetya, who has closely studied Krakatoa. "The problem is people always tend to build everything close to the shoreline."
Nine hotels and hundreds of homes were heavily damaged. Broken chunks of concrete and splintered sticks of wood littered hard-hit coastal areas, turning beach getaways popular with Jakarta residents into near ghost towns. Vehicles tossed by the waves remained belly up in the rubble or were lodged in the air under collapsed roofs. Debris from thatch-bamboo shacks was strewn along beaches.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and home to 260 million people, lies along the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
In September, more than 2,500 people were killed by a quake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi, which is just east of Borneo.
Saturday's tsunami rekindled memories for some of the massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake that hit on Dec. 26, 2004. It spawned a giant tsunami off Sumatra island in western Indonesia, killing more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries — the majority in Indonesia.
Roads and infrastructure are poor in many areas of disaster-prone Indonesia, making access difficult in the best of conditions.
At least 40 killed, 600 hurt after tsunami hits Indonesia
Powerful quake hits Papua New Guinea, tsunami alert issued
Soldier climbs over railing, falls into volcano
Southwest cancellations will rise due to grounded Boeing 737 Max jet
Many breakfast cereals still contaminated by weed killer, environmental group says
Boeing CEO concedes 'mistake' with planes in 2 fatal crashes
Video: Ten tons of trash left on beach after 'Floatopia' event in Virginia Beach
Majority of sunscreens would flunk proposed FDA safety tests, report to say
The Kentucky River is brimming with dead fish after Jim Beam warehouse fire
Scientists take a peek behind those sad puppy dog eyes
Listen: Song of rare whale 'crying for mate' recorded for the first time
177 sickened in ground beef E. coli outbreak, source of tainted meat still unknown
Man rescued after falling 800 feet into Crater Lake in Oregon


text:
Days ago, America celebrated the birthdays of two brilliant singers, songwriters, and musicians that changed the landscape of popular music forever.
Sir Paul McCartney, one of the most successful composers and performers of all time, who gained worldwide fame as co-lead vocalist, co-songwriter, and bassist for The Beatles, turned 80 on June 18. And Brian Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys, called a genius for his innovative approaches to song composition and his mastery of recording techniques—the co-writer of McCartney's favorite song of all time, "God Only Knows"—turned 80 on June 20.
Those of us who have lived long enough will never forget the screaming fans that welcomed the four lads from Liverpool onto Ed Sullivan's TV stage with their first song, "All My Loving" (Feb. 9, 1964). Or how The Beach Boys' first hit, "Surfin' USA" in 1963 ushered in the California sound of the youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance.
The music from both these pop icons still entertains, standing the test of time and relevance, and is popular among the generations that preceded and followed their songs.
One musical genius from England and one from the United States. History will long take note of their contributions. Happy birthday, Paul and Brian!
The Affordable Web Guy2022-06-20T08:19:09-07:00