The Master and Margarita, a random quote

— Тьма, пришедшая со Средиземного моря, накрыла ненавидимый прокуратором город. Исчезли висячие мосты, соединяющие храм со страшной Антониевой башней… Пропал Ершалаим, великий город, как будто не существовал на свете… Так пропадите же вы пропадом с вашей обгоревшей тетрадкой и сушеной розой! Сидите здесь на скамейке одна и умоляйте его, чтобы он отпустил вас на свободу, дал дышать воздухом, ушел бы из памяти!

- The darkness that came from the Mediterranean Sea covered the city hated by the procurator. The hanging bridges connecting the temple with the dread Antonia Tower disappeared ... Yershalaim — the great city — vanished as if it had never existed in the world ... So you, too, can just vanish away along with your burnt notebook and dried-up rose! Sit here on the bench alone and entreat him to set you free, to let you breathe the air, to go from your memory!

Michail Bulgakov, he whose manuscripts don't burn.

And if, reading this, you don't feel the infinity passing by and the air in your lungs pushing out, you really have to read this book. Possibly again.

Henry Joel Cadbury and American Reform Rabbis

The story of the connection between the two started for me with this disturbing NYT quote:

Not knowing who professor Henry J. Cadbury was, I have started googling, and one of the first links happened to be an archive page of JTA, from the year 1934, referenced in the quote above.

Professor Pleads for Accord Between Jews and Germans

Lo and behold: the quote above was sounded not in some judenrein "safe space", but at annual convention of the Central Conference of American Reform Rabbis.

A plea that the Jewish people “display good will instead of hatred” toward the Nazis who are provoked to committing violence by an attitude of antagonism, was voiced by Professor Henry J. Cadbury, of Bryn Mawr, chairman of the American Friends Service Committee, in an address at the opening session of the forty-fifth annual convention of the Central Conference of American Reform Rabbis held here at the South Mountain Manor Summer Resort. More than 150 rabbis from all parts of the United States and Canada attended.

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Harlan Ellison RIP

• The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity.
• I don't mind you thinking I'm stupid, but don't talk to me like I'm stupid.
• Love ain't nothing but sex misspelled.

Abrasive, enormously talented, somewhat wild: the life was that much better with you around, but your books stay.

RIP. See you later.

Another two gems in my NYT collection

And another gem via Greg Aydt:

With thanks to Noga The Contentious.

To join that other, apparently later, pearl:

Friends of Pallywood, their bloopers and some historical truth

To the people who follow various failures of the "anti-Zionist" propaganda, this case might not be anything special at first.

At issue is a tweet that COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) shared with its 120,000+ followers in order to commemorate the plight of Palestinian refugees on World Refugee Day. The tweet included an iconic photograph from 1950 depicting a group of Jewish refugees who had been placed by the Israeli government into a refugee absorption center, known as a ma’abara.

But the lazy "anti-Zionism" of COSATU is only part of the story. The other part is about a related matter:

Stories abound about one of these groups of refugees—the Palestinian Arab refugees. Even Israelis learn about the creation of the Palestinian refugee crisis in their schools. But, as is clear from COSATU’s blunder with the appropriated photo, many Palestinians and their global supporters aren’t aware of the other refugee population—the “forgotten exodus” of Jewish refugees and the suffering that Jews in nearly a dozen Arab countries experienced on account of hostility toward Jews, Zionism, and the very creation of the state of Israel.

Read the whole article, it is worth your time.

The Russian collision or 80+ examples of futility

I know, I know, it might become an obsession. So I have done two things to alleviate the issue: the intentional typo in the headline and a nice masthead picture that has (almost) nothing to do with the subject. But what can I do, with my unhealthy predilection to spy stories of all kinds, especially where a good juicy conspiracy theory is involved? If it goes on, I will be considered a Trump supporter soon, my pledge of neutrality notwithstanding...

It so happens, that many of my FB friends, those of anti-Trump persuasion, happily disseminated a link to this article:

TRUMP’S RUSSIA COVER-UP BY THE NUMBERS – 80+ CONTACTS WITH RUSSIA-LINKED OPERATIVES

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Israeli operation, Russian one - or both?

Frankly, this meme I have chosen for the masthead of the post isn't even especially funny. But the subject of the post isn't especially funny either. Weird will be the most fitting adjective, but judge for yourself.

The article in question this time is titled: How Russiagate Became Israelgate, with a subtitle It’s not about Vladimir Putin anymore. And it opens a view on a new direction in the ever expanding scope of the Mueller team's activities.

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The real collusion with Russia

Consider this post to be a free gift* to the Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller and his tireless investigation of the above mentioned collusion. Which investigation, after a year of tireless digging in all possible directions, seems to have strayed far away from its original target.

The matter at hand is Russian supply of natural gas to European countries. To remind you:

Russia provides approximately a quarter of the natural gas consumed in the European Union; approximately 80% of those exports travel through pipelines across Ukrainian soil prior to arriving in the EU.

So far so good (for Kremlin, that is): being a provider of the essential substance gives Russia, beside a significant income, a valuable addition to their stranglehold on the European behavior in other aspects.

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Terry Glavin on Gaza - when your friends are worried about you

This post isn't easy for me to write. Not because I don't know what it should say, just because I don't have a solution to the problem raised by Terry Glavin in the article A moral dilemma on the Israel-Gaza border. It is much easier to respond to a relentless propaganda attack by your enemies than to a true concern about you, expressed by your true friend.

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Sarcasm, Middle East Monitor and the Elders

Sarcasm doesn't register with some folks. For instance, so called MEMO (Middle East Monitor), that bills itself in this, slightly pompous way:

The use or misuse of information is central to the conflict in the Middle East. There has been a growing need for supporters of, in particular, the Palestinian cause, to master the art of information gathering, analysis and dissemination. This requires well organised, focused and targeted operations. Such initiatives are virtually non-existent in the West today.

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) was established to fill this gap.

ETC. (Check out the personnel list of this institution, and much of the above will become clear-er).

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People of Jaffa

It will be a grave omission on my side to skip another observation related to the promenade described here. You can see in the picture of the promenade in this post that every 50 m or so there is a sign warning the passerby not to venture onto the rocks. It is heartwarming to state that both Arabs and Jews disregard this warning.

And both throw there some strangely looking garbage that could scare the crap out of an innocent tourist.

As for this act of artistic self-expression: you tell me what it means.

Well, and the last one - just to show off my prowess as a photographer.

Nah, it was just a lucky play of sun, shadows and clouds. Oh well...

CNN fact checking team in overdrive, folks!

CNN deigned to notice a news item that might clash with their  hitherto firm narrative of Israeli soldiers murdering innocent and defenseless "protesters".

A senior member of Hamas' political bureau said during a TV interview on Wednesday that 50 people killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in Gaza on Monday were members of Hamas.

So far, so good. Only in this case, unlike in many other cases where the blame is laid at the Israel's doorstep, CNN diligently sought some input that will sow doubts about that quote. Like this:

Ahmed Abu Artema, widely credited as the person who brought the latest wave of demonstrations into being, cast doubt on Hamas' claims.

I don't know how the Hamas' mandarin reached his number of 50 and, frankly, I don't care.

But the diligence of the CNN employees in our era of fake news is nothing short of amazing, you must agree. Very laudable, that.

And this is the way it rolls, ladies and gentlemen.

Washington Post and complicity in murder

It is already several weeks since Hamas cold-bloodily and calculatingly started to encourage the attempts to breach the border fence. Hamas know perfectly well what the response will be and are consciously sending people to die.

Anyone who understands that and still finds it acceptable to encourage Hamas murderers - directly or by blaming Israel - is covering their hands in blood. That much is clear.

And now to the reason for this post. Here it is:

So - Israelis kill protesters?

Check you hands, WaPo, check your hands.

(Hat tip: James S. Oppenheim).

Cats of Jaffa

Just to make sure that the location and the general environment of the rest of the pictures is clear, this is where they were taken: along the Jaffa seaside promenade.

The rocks, apparently brought in to protect the shore from erosion, provide a kind of a safe space for a sizable feline population, a small part of which is presented here.

Notice that the tuxedo (black and white) cats presented are not several shots of the same cat.

Untied Airlines and me

When it comes to traveling, rarely a person undertaking the voyage is more discombobulated than I. Both acquired with years fear of flying and the unwillingness to leave home add a lot to the dealing with all these Internet sites offering you the most convenient and the cheapest way to get you from point A to point B. In this case, from point Z* to point X with a plane change in point Y. And back, hopefully.

So, being in thrall of all the "best offers", timetables, prices, stopover points, timelines etc., I missed a certain point, when making the final choice and clicking on the fateful "Make the purchase" (or whatever it says) button. My inattention brought me to the bunch of misbegotten malcontents, malfeasance - minded marauders of civil aviation, otherwise known as Untied Airlines**. Yes, the ones whose exploits in passenger-oriented violence, casual murder of animals and other similar innovations in customer service are the sign of the times and the talk of the day.

I noticed my oversight only when it came to the online check-in procedure. The usually simple and quick process of filling in a page of basic data came in this case as a sequence of several pages, with kind of questions more suited for an application to some spy agency. But the breaking point came when somewhere on page 5 the system stopped responding, mulled on some issues for a while and came with a notice: "For security reasons your check-in process can't be continued at this time".

OK, I said, no big deal. After all, that whole home check-in procedure doesn't really save you much time, not in point Z, where most of your time is spent in the security-bound lines anyway. So, after getting to the old-fashioned check-in counter, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that our seating arrangements were changed by the airline - we were bumped about 9 rows back. I've mentioned this discovery to the check-in wallah, with a (feeble, I know) protest of a "But I have reserved these seats several months ago!". His response, coupled with his unwavering steely gaze was  crushing: "No matter, it is the same cabin, after all". No further arguments...

Well, looking forward to the pleasant vacation and keeping in mind that for the flight back I have reserved (and paid for) something called "enhanced seating", I have swallowed this small insignificant crow and otherwise our way to the point X was uneventful and even more or less on time.

On the way back I haven't even attempted the doomed in advance online check-in. So, after repeatedly swapping our passports in that infernal machine at the airport in point X, we have eventually got our boarding passes, and lo and behold: our seats were bumped back again, far away from the general area of the duly paid for "enhanced seating". Now I was pissed off. So, when we got to the terminal, which almost wholly belongs to the Untied Airlines, I have started to search for a service agent. To my chagrin, there wasn't a single one available. About 45 minutes before our flight take-off time a harassed - looking agent appeared at out gate and got swamped immediately by all kinds of needy people, mostly of the stand by category. When my turn came, I was told that the agent can't see my ticketing on the computer (?), so I shall have to defer my issues to the service agents in point Y, where the long flight to point Z is starting.

The first available service agent at point Y was an apprentice (as he himself confessed) who decided to redirect my issue to his neighbor - an important looking lady who, pointedly ignoring the apprentice's attempts to draw her attention, took care meanwhile of several other customers, who came by way after me. When she deigned to take a brief look at the apprentice's screen with my ticket info, she immediately declared that I didn't have a claim for the enhanced seating, since I haven't purchased any. My attempts to demonstrate the ticketing email on my phone were rejected outright and quite rudely.

Only when I asked for the lady's name (for submitting a complaint), did she jump into action. Which action consisted of  a) complaining of me being annoying and b) calling for a supervisor to get rid of the said annoyance.

Well, to shorten the story, the supervisor's intervention resolved the whole drama. She was a rather nice person, who took a look at my ticketing email and, seeing the proof of purchase, moved the poor apprentice aside and, after a few manipulations on the computer, found us two seats in the enhanced seating section. She also told me that, due to cancellation of the previous flight from point Y to point Z, the wave of newcomers caused a turmoil with seating and even (kind of) apologized for the misunderstanding and inconvenience caused.

Well, as an afterword: only in the morning after landing in point Z, I have found an email from Untied Airlines, partially quoted below:

There has been an aircraft swap for your flight today to Tel Aviv, which has resulted in seating changes. We have done our best to keep your original seating preferences, but your seat assignments have changed.

New seat assignments:

[Passenger 1] - 30A
[Passenger 2] - 30B

We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

There are three intriguing points about that email: that it was sent about two hours before take-off time from point X; that it contradicts the flight cancellation story of the supervisor; and the reference to "original seating preferences". Original my foot.

But no matter. What matters is that SWMBO was able to relax in the enhanced seat (having, to be frank, legs longer than mine, it is a significant point), that the justice triumphed and that I have learned to double check the situation before clicking this "Make the purchase" button. Hopefully to avoid the good services of Untied from now on.

So there.


(*) Point Z, being of course the Zionist Entity.
(**) Well, kind of, if you know what I mean.