Pollyanna starts off her new year

Titan and Pollyanna like to think of themselves as retirees who are relaxing after years of hard labor and ranting. They have, in their joint persona of T_P decided that it is not fair to their countless fans and readers to deprive them of the wisdom they can dispense.
 

Yes, Virginia, we have a sense of the absurd. We also think that age is not a big deal; Pollyanna at over 100 and Titan at 4.5 billion hold out hope for all of us to say nothing of Biblical figures.







The Charity Corner has found a home on the Miriam Shlesinger HumanRights Action site. Titan and Pollyanna hope that you will visit there, take the actions and make the donations.

IN MEMORIAM
A truck driven by a terrorist ran into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Sunday and killed four of them. The victims have been identified as:

• 20-year-old Yael Yekutiel from Givataiym,

• 22-year-old Shir Hajaj from Ma’ale Adumim

• 20-year-old Shira Tzur from Haifa

• 20-year-old Erez Orbach from Alon Shvut.

The scene of the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem, January 8, 2017. credit Emil Salman

Hajaj was a commander in the Israel Defense Forces officer's course, while the others were cadets in the same course. read more:


Pollyanna weeps for the victims of this senseless act of terror. As Chemi Shalev writes in Haaretz, there can be no possible justification for this action. "The fact that they were soldiers or that the attack took place in an area of Jerusalem which is supposedly in dispute or that the Palestinians have a legitimate right to fight the occupation cannot justify what is essentially an
act of barbaric cruelty – and inexcusable stupidity." 

The killer not only struck a mortal blow at four Israeli families, he also knew what he was bringing on his own family. As Amira Hass writes in Haaretz "He knew that his body would not be returned to the family for burial – a particularly humiliating and painful blow. He knew that relatives would be arrested immediately and be beaten while in detention. That some might be fired from their jobs in West Jerusalem. And that female relatives without Israeli identity cards who are married to Jerusalem residents might find themselves expelled from their homes and separated from their children. He knew that for months, and perhaps years, his family would be harassed by the police and state authorities. He also knew that the family home would be demolished. All this has happened to other Palestinian attackers from East Jerusalem." read more:
 Nonetheless, he carried out the attack. It is clear, as each  stated in his/her way, that the terrible stupidity of both Israeli and Palestinian leaders places on this blood on their hands.

Will this endless tragedy of two peoples condemned to share a land and spill each others blood ever be resolved?

ZYGMUNT BAUMAN 1925-2016  

Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish-Jewish sociologist and philosopher who authored more than 50 books, has died.

Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman in 2010. (Eloy Alonso/Reuters)

Bauman, who wrote on subjects ranging from the fluidity of identity in the modern world to consumerism, died Monday at his home in Leeds, England. He was 91.
He was one of the first sociologists in postwar Poland, but was eventually driven out of the country in 1968 along with many other Jews. From 1969 to 1971 he lectured at universities in Tel Aviv and Haifa. In 1971 he moved to the United Kingdom, where he became involved with the University of Leeds, becoming head of the sociology department until his retirement in 1990. In recent years he became an outspoken critic of Israel’s government for its treatment of the Palestinians.

In his recent book “Strangers at Our Door” he analyzed the refugee crisis, the panic it caused and the narrative built around it by politicians and the media.

In a 2009 interview, Bauman was optimistic about the Jews’ place in the Diaspora and the possibilities for societies to embrace pluralism.

“Now, however, it looks like that diasporic context of our living
will not go away — it will be there forever, so learning how to
live with strangers day in, day out without abandoning my own
strangeness is high on the agenda,” he said. “You are a stranger, I
am a stranger, we all remain strangers, and nevertheless we can
like or even love each other.” RIP Professor Bauman

YAHRZEIT--ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH RABBI ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL (1907-1972)

The yahrzeit (death-anniversary) of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel is the 18th day of the Jewish midwinter lunar “moonth” of Tevet. In the Western calendar, this year it falls on Sunday evening and Monday, January 15-16  -- the real and the officially observed birthdays of Dr. Martin Luther King. They stood together 50 years ago against racism, against the Viet Nam war, against poverty. In the midst of WWII, when he already knew that his parents had perished in the holocaust, Heschel could write:"We have failed to offer sacrifices on the altar of peace; now we must offer sacrifices on the altar of war.... Let Fascism not serve as an alibi for our conscience.... Where were we when men learned to hate in the days of starvation? When raving madmen were sowing wrath in the hearts of the unemployed? ..."Good and evil, which were once as real as day and night, have become a blurred mist. In our everyday life we worshiped force, despised compassion, and obeyed no law but our unappeasable appetite. The vision of the sacred has all but died in the soul of man." ("The Meaning of This War [World War II]," pp. 210-212, in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, Susannah Heschel, ed. [Farrar Straus Giroux, 1996]).

At the Riverside Church, April 4, 1967

Pollyanna says that because we refuse to offer sacrifices on the altar of peace, we offered up to the Moloch of fascism and racism and aggressive expansion of our borders, four young lives. As Bob Dylan wrote and sang, "...Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died?" For us the answer is not even blowing in the wind.

POLLYANNA IS NOT GLAD AND WANTS TO RANT AS MUCH AS TITAN

PROVOCATION AT KALANSUA

Israeli officials demolished 11 buildings put up without proper permits in the Israeli Arab city of Kalansua. January 10, 2017. Moti Milrod

Thousands protest in Kalansua against house demolitions, January 13, 2016. Courtesy
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.764896

Israeli officials demolished Tuesday 11 buildings put up without proper permits in the Israeli Arab city of Kalansua, stirring political tensions regarding law enforcement and housing in Israel's Arab communities. Their owners, four local families, said they only received notice two days ago and were not given proper time to respond through legal channels. The structures were built on land designated for farming.

In Israel, a Jew can get a building permit and a rezoning easement fairly easily. An Arab will usually encounter a bureaucratic wall that typically would require 7 to 8 years to get a permit issued.It is straightforward ethnic discrimination. As a result Arabs who need housing for expanding families have no choice but to build without permits which leaves them vulnerable to demolition. The present demolitions serve the purpose of distracting attention from the evacuation of the illegal West Bank outpost Amona and the investigation into the prime minister. Pollyanna hangs her head in shame at these despicable actions taken in her name.

CORRUPTION IN HIGH PLACES--SURPRISE!!

 Our First Couple, the PM Netanyahu and his spouse Sara are both facing investigations that have every chance of leading to indictments of both of them for exploitation of their position, accepting expensive gifts from various people and a corrupt and extravagant managing of the household of the Prime Minister. Worse than that, evidence in the form of taped conversations shows that the PM and the owner of the mass circulation daily Yediot Ahronot negotiated a deal under which Netanyahu would get favorable publicity from the newspaper in return for choking the competing handout paper. New excerpts from recordings of the secret discussions between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes, reported by Channel 2 on Friday, illustrate how the two men got down to the nuts and bolts of how they would implement a deal for better coverage for Netanyahu and reduced commercial competition for Mozes. In details published later, Mozes told Netanyahu: "We'll make sure you remain Prime Minister."
 To say that the deal stinks is an olfactory understatement, even if it was not consummated.

A HOMELESS GIRL DIES ON A TEL AVIV STREET 

This is the story of M. who died on the street in Tel Aviv of an overdose. As she lay there K., a homeless woman addicted to drugs, was the only person who tried to offer her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while also asking passersby to call an ambulance. From a gang rape at the club Allenby 44 at age 17 to a pitiful death on the street at age 21, she lived a life of drugs and prostitution.  Over  2700 years ago the prophet Isaiah found the words to describe a society in which such a horrible life could take place. Women in prostitution continue to die and no one sees it happening.

שִׁמְעוּ דְבַר יְהוָה קְצִינֵי סְדֹם הַאֲזִינוּ תּוֹרַת אֱלֹהֵינוּ עַם עֲמֹרָה.
 Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. Isaiah I,10
Yes. the brutality of our life has turned us into the people of the Cities of the Plain. Pollyanna ventures to think that nearly 50 years of occupation and brutal rule of another people might play a major role in creating our callous society.

 ADVICE FOR THE FUTURE 

In the unlikely case that Netanyahu and his spouse get sent to jail, they can continue to run the country from their cell. The public will hardly notice. Slate magazine published an article on ruling from a jail cell. In particular the case of  James Michael Curley, the popular and corrupt Boston politician often credited with coining the winking phrase, "Vote early and often" is the most interesting and amusing.

MORAL BRUTES 

Our beloved army that claims to be the most moral army in the world has taken up a new tactic-abuse and intimidation of children in the middle of the night. Gideon Levy and Alex Levac describe how IDF soldiers burst into a Palestinian home after midnight, and awakened two boys to warn them not to take part in protests. On their way out, they tossed stun grenades into neighbors' yards. Gideon Levy notes what these great heroes never tell their mothers. After all enemies aged 6,11 and 13 are frightening enough to cause a combat soldier to dirty his underpants. God help Israel if these fighters ever have to confront a real army. We are told that the army is having problems finding soldiers from the higher socio-economic strata who are willing to serve in these units. It is attributed to their desire to serve in technological units that are said to give them an advantage in later life. The truth is that they are less eager to commit crimes than the national-religious scum and their friends from the periphery. Not PC, but true.

Kadum's juvenile lineup, from left: Shahad, Mohammed, Muaman, Mahmoud, Maliq, Khaled, Tariq. Since the protests began, 85 residents, 11 of them children, have been hit by live bullets. Alex Levac
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.764648

We must ask ourselves how our young men became capable of such monstrous actions. The abuse of children, the destruction of the only clinic in a Palestinian village, the killing for no real reason, they have become part of our norm. We steadfastly fail to have any empathy for three million people under our rule. Indeed we deplore, as we must, their acts of terror aimed against civilians, but we continue to drive them to the dead end of total despair that can generate a suicide bomber. As failed imperialists have done through the centuries, we are building on political fairy tales and fortifying them with brute force.

Israeli security forces taking a child into custody during a protest in Kafr Qaddum, December 2016. Nedal Eshtayah/Anadolu Agency
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.765005

Fifty years ago Martin Luther King, a close friend and colleague of Rabbi Heschel spoke of the people of Viet Nam in terms that hold well by analogy with the Palestinian people of today. Let us quote:"Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition."  We have heard similar statements from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If we cannot wake up to reality, "...hard rain is going to fall."

TRUMP TAKES OVER 

On January 20 the greatest democracy in the world will fall into the hands of Donald Trump and his coterie of thugs. As Sasha Abramski writes in Haaretz, in the year 2017, the American Republic – founded by Washington, Jefferson and other Enlightenment luminaries, saved by Lincoln, brought to its modern pre-eminence by Roosevelt – is being handed over to an unholy alliance-of-convenience made up of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Islamophobes, Russophiles, supporters of the ultranationalist wing of Israeli politics, billionaire plutocrats and conspirators. In the wider world a sense of uncertainty prevails--both China and Europe have reason to fear a Trump foreign policy that caters to Russia while denigrating traditional relationships. The people who obtained their first health insurance via the ACA (Obamacare) are due for a shock.
 

The use of lies goes on.

HORROR OF HORSE BLOOD USE 

Avaaz asks you to sign a petition to put a stop to the draining of the blood of pregnant mares for pharmaceutical use.

BOOK REVIEW

Zama

by Antonio Di Benedetto, translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen

New York Review Books, 201 pp., $15.95 (paper)

This book is reviewed in the NYRB by J.M. Coetzee. In addition to an extensive review of a book set in 18th century colonial Argentina, we are given a grounding in Latin American literature which should be enlightening to all of us.

 

SCIENCE TIDBITS

ASTRONOMY CATCHES A THIEF--OUR OWN GALAXY  

Some of the most distant stars in the Milky Way may have been lifted from another galaxy, research released Wednesday shows.

The unintended donor, known as the Sagittarius dwarf, is one of dozens of miniature galaxies that loop around the Milky Way. The Sagittarius dwarf is currently located about 70,000 light-years from Earth. It appears that our large and massive galaxy manages to rip off stars from any smaller galaxy that passes by. Pollyanna offers a cosmic apology.

FETAL BRAINS IMAGED 

Colored regions in these MRI images of a human fetus (shown from two perspectives) indicate brain regions where connectivity grows stronger between the 20th and 40th weeks of gestation.

Babies born prematurely are prone to problems later in life—they're more likely to develop autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and more likely to struggle in school. A new study that is among the first to investigate brain activity in human fetuses suggests that the underlying neurological issues may begin in the womb. The findings provide the first direct evidence of altered brain function in fetuses that go on to be born prematurely, and they might ultimately point to ways to remediate or even prevent such early injuries.


SILLY TIME 
WhatIf? Niagara Straw

What would happen if one tried to funnel Niagara Falls through a straw?[1]

—David Gwizdala
  The answer is quite interesting to say the least.

SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE EFFECTIVE

 

THE TRUTH ABOUT EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE

Pollyanna greets you

Titan and Pollyanna like to think of themselves as retirees who are relaxing after years of hard labor and ranting. They have, in their joint persona of T_P decided that it is not fair to their countless fans and readers to deprive them of the wisdom they can dispense.
Yes, Virginia, we have a sense of the absurd. We also think that age is not a big deal; Pollyanna at over 100 and Titan at 4.5 billion hold out hope for all of us to say nothing of Biblical figures.

They will try to alleviate the effects of climate change through which we are all laboring. If you can find a denier, try to keep him/her away from air conditioning--they are not worthy of it. The fact that in the US both the President-elect and his EPA appointee are of that breed does not bode well.


T_P have noted that things have not become better since they retired from active ranting. They have decided, therefore, that they will come back to a schedule, with Pollyanna at mid month and Titan at the end of the month. Their recent move with their amanuenses YandA to a place full of retired people has renewed their energy and desire to bug people. As usual, Titan will rant mightily while Pollyanna will try to be glad, but will allow herself rants about women and girls or blatant human rights violations.

The Charity Corner has found a home on the Miriam Shlesinger HumanRights Action site. Titan and Pollyanna hope that you will visit there, take the actions and make the donations.

Pollyanna, Titan and Yanda hope all their friends enjoy the winter holiday season with Christmas, Hannuka and Kwanzaa awaiting to give us joy.

IN MEMORIAM JOHN GLENN 1921-2016

He was the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, Feb. 20, 1962.

On February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn entered the spacecraft Friendship 7 to begin the first American-manned mission to orbit Earth.

(Photo: NASA [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons)

At a time when the US was suffering from lack of confidence in the wake of the Soviet achievements in space, the short, three orbit flight brought back faith that the United States could indeed hold its own against the Soviet Union in the Cold War and might someday prevail. After leaving NASA, Glenn served as a US Senator from his native Ohio for 24 years. The NYTimes has an obituary as does the Guardian.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRK DOUGLAS 

BORN DECEMBER 9, 1916 

Kirk Douglas is a great American actor, the last survivor of the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was born to a poor Jewish immigrant family as Issur Danielovitch Demsky and broke out of poverty with the aid of a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His career really began after WWII when the lead role in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers got him rave reviews and he never looked back. A detailed biography can be found in IMDb and his birthday party is described by the media.



RANTS OF THE MONTH

ABUSE OF WOMEN 

Girls are more likely than boys to be denied an education, which could open their eyes to new possibilities and job opportunities

Pollyanna calls your attention to a study of the abuse of women shown in the Guardian. Photographer Bhargavi Joshi’s series of images represents the violence and injustices that confront women worldwide, regardless of their age, race, culture, education and socio-economic background. The women are painted white to shift the focus from their physical traits, race or culture to their gender, says Joshi. Pollyanna recommends this series of images strongly--it gets the message about misogyny across most
effectively.

FOR MALTA, A POSITIVE RANT

Malta has become the first country in Europe to ban gay conversion therapy after the parliament in Valetta unanimously approved a bill outlawing attempts to “cure” homosexuals of their sexuality.
Under the new Affirmation of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Act, anyone found guilty of trying to “change, repress or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression” will face fines or a jail sentence.

The new law states that ‘no sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression constitutes a disorder, disease or shortcoming of any sort’. Photograph: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images

 Pollyanna is glad and applauds.

THE OBSCENITY OF ALEPPO

Pollyanna is outraged, as are all decent people at the  reports of massacre of civilians as the Syrian-Russian-Iranian axis completes its conquest of Aleppo. Syrian rebels prepared to withdraw from Aleppo on Wednesday after a ceasefire agreement that ended years of fighting in the city and gave President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory yet after more than five years of war.

Syrian civilians flee towards safer southeastern Aleppo, on December 12, 2016, during an operation by Syrian government STRINGER/AFP
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/1.758513

There appeared to be a truce of sorts  that should have enabled civilians and rebel fighters to leave the city.  The United Nations earlier on Tuesday voiced deep concern about reports it had received of Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters summarily shooting dead 82 people in recaptured east Aleppo districts. It accused them of “slaughter”.
“The reports we had are of people being shot in the street trying to flee and shot in their homes,” said Rupert Colville, a U.N. spokesman. “There could be many more.”
The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured, and Russia said on Tuesday that rebels had “kept over 100,000 people in east Aleppo as human shields."
Fear stalks the city’s streets. Some survivors trudge in the rain past dead bodies to the government-held west or the few districts still in rebel hands. Others stay in their homes and await the Syrian army’s arrival. For all of them, fear of arrest, conscription or summary execution adds to the daily terror of bombardment.
“People are saying the troops have lists of families of fighters and are asking them if they had sons with the terrorists. (They are) then either left or shot and left to die,” said Abu Malek al-Shamali in Seif al-Dawla, one of the last rebel-held districts.
Terrible conditions were described by city residents. Abu Malek al-Shamali, a resident in the rebel area, said dead bodies lay in the streets. “There are many corpses in Fardous and Bustan al-Qasr with no one to bury them,” he said.
 Pollyanna hopes the people can really leave safely as reported. It appears now that the truce is at the point of collapsing and the future appears very dim.

Buses burn--evacuation stalled

DYLAN THE NOBEL LAUREATE

Bob Dylan (born in Duluth MN, cheers!!) received the Nobel Prize for literature this year, which raised some controversy. He did not attend the ceremony, but sent a speech. Patti Smith sang Hard Rain is Gonna Fall. 

She was so excited and nervous that she forgot a line and had to restart. That is OK Patti. Here are the lyrics and they are true today as ever. Click to hear her.

"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall"

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin'
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you meet my blue-eyed son ?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what'll you do now my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll tell and speak it and think it and breathe it
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my song well before I start singing
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

 TRUMP IS THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE US

The Trump presidency is coming at us and we are indeed afraid of what is to be expected. His appointees are the denizens of the Wall Street swamp that he promised to drain.  When the unemployed coal miners of Pennsylvania and West Virginia see that the mines are not reopening because there is no real market for polluting coal, perhaps they might realize that the offer of alternate industries that the Democrats put forward was the preferred option.  The New Yorker presents us with the views of 16 writers on the aftermath of the election. All are worth reading. We expect very little from Trump.




If he compiles an enemies' list as did Nixon, we agree with Taj James "If they create an Enemies/List," says the poet Taj James, "Sign me up." Only by showing our solidarity with those so-called enemies can we hope that the listmakers themselves become the "enemies" of the people. These are words for our unfortunate times.

#EnemiesList

By Taj James

If they create an Enemies
List 
Sign me up
But that hour has not come

The sun has not set and

Though it is cold 

Winter is not yet upon us
While we still can
Stop them from making an enemies list
but if we can’t stop them 

Sign up
While we still can
Stop them from creating a Muslim registry

and if we can’t stop them 

Sign up
While we still can
Stop them from creating internment camps
but if we can’t stop them 

Show up
While we still can
Stop them from seizing power
But if we can’t stop them 

Bring down their Dictatorship
If they create an enemies list 

Sign me up
That is the only way to love & defend my family and neighbors 

That is the only way to not lose my humanity
when invited to participate 

in the dehumanization of myself and others

in our global human family
If all of the people 

are enemies of the state 

at that point

it becomes clear

that the State is an enemy of the people
We must protect all from violence
Especially those with the power 

to do violence to others.

All those who have lost their humanity
We express our love for them 

by denying their ability to do harm
to themselves and others
Now is the time to show 

our limitless Love
We are building a world in which 

#AllOfUs can thrive
Even those who have lost their own humanity

and don’t have the capacity to see ours
Even those who celebrate our death 

and the death of our children
We believe in redemption 

We believe in healing and reconciliation

For All and for the Whole
But the harm that is done must be repaired
And we must stand against those 

who seek greater power 

to do unimaginable and unthinkable harm
We show our love by protecting all people from harm
They gain that power 

only when we allow them to have it
Let us reclaim our power

In the name of Love.

WE ALL ARE WITH YOU, SAYS POLLYANNA 

WHAT IS NOT CRICKET NOW WILL HAVE A COST

 Pollyanna is shocked at the news that red cards and sending players off is going to become part of the sport of gentlemen. The new rules state that “threatening an umpire, physically assaulting another player, umpire, official or spectator; or any other act of violence” will be a sending-off offense that will result in a team being reduced to 10 players for the remainder of the match. What is the world coming to asks Pollyanna.

The red-card penalty, which will apply to all levels of competition from Test to village green, is expected to come into effect next October. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

FEMINISM INVOLVES EQUALITY

RAPE IS A CRIME

The writer Irin Carmon discusses the question of what women really think of men in the Sunday Review of the NYTimes.  She makes many valid points including the idea that simply declaring that men are louts and that there is no way of changing that really lets men off the hook for whatever behavior they choose. We see this now in Israel where a general who raped two woman soldiers  under his command is being helped by his buddies in the military justice system to cook up a plea bargain that will keep the slime out of jail. Ms Carmon is right that in a world in which men and women are equal, men would not get the cop-out pass for any kind of action. Pollyanna sincerely hopes that women and men in Israel will raise their voices against the sort of "boys will be boys" treatment that Brig.Gen. Buchris is getting from this colleagues in the military mafia.

SCIENCE OF 2016 IN REVIEW

Pollyanna would like to link you to a summary of 2016 in science as presented by the science journal Nature. One of the most worrisome problems that is raised is the fate of the planet when the President of the United States thinks that climate change is a hoax of the Chinese. Let us hope that enlightenment comes, although his appointments bode ill for science and humanity.

Another troubling matter is the spread of the Zika virus. 

What we know

• Zika is spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus). These mosquitoes bite during the day and night.
• Zika can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection during pregnancy can cause certain birth defects.
• There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika.
• Local mosquito-borne Zika virus transmission has been reported in the continental United States. Learn more.

The apparent link to microcephaly in infants in Brazil has not been proven. According to the World Health Organization, the expected explosion in microcephaly cases and other Zika-linked birth defects across the Americas has not materialized, despite the virus’s spread across the continents.
Even in Brazil, extremely high rates of microcephaly remained confined to the country’s northeast region — and researchers began to suspect the influence of confounding factors. In July, Brazilian authorities launched a study to find out whether environmental, socio-economic or biological elements, when combined with Zika infection, could explain the odd distribution of elevated rates. They expect preliminary results early next year. On the other hand, CDC laboratories in the US have found that zika virus replicates in fetal brains and placentas implying that it does cause many birth defects including microcephaly.

The virus is still spreading and the news is still bad.

 A four-month-old baby born in Brazil with microcephaly.

JUNO IN ORBIT 

On the positive side of science, we saw the Juno spacecraft get into its polar orbit around Jupiter. The mission’s goal is to determine what Jupiter is made of — including how much water it contains, what powers its Great Red Spot, and whether it has a core. Jupiter is the Solar System’s biggest planet and was the first to condense around the Sun 4.5 billion years ago.

NASA/JPL

From its orbit around Jupiter, the spacecraft Juno will probe what powers the planet's Great Red Spot.

FILM REVIEW 

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA 

 

What happens to people when the worst thing in the world happens to them? What happens when someone just like you has a normal, happy life, and then in one moment, it’s gone? How do you go on living? That is the subject of director Kenneth Lonergan’s beautiful new film, Manchester By The Sea.

We have seen it and we suggest you make sure to see it. It is wonderful and will leave you thinking about basic questions. It is reviewed in the New York Review of Books  (if you can open it) and in Hollywood Life.

The Affleck/Middleton Project/Roadside Attractions/K Period MediaMichelle Williams as Randi Chandler and Affleck as Lee Chandler in Manchester by the Sea , 2016

 SILLY TIME

We have not visited Zack and SMBC for a long time. Perhaps you will understand why, although we like this, unlike Pollyanna who thinks it is idiotic.

THE WORLD'S BEST STARTUP HAS A STAFF MEETING...

  

Pollyanna is with you again

Pollyanna 

is taking her turn now.She has successfully navigated past the holiday season and is now waiting for some winter weather and rain. Anyone, including President-elect Trump who still thinks that climate change is not real, is totally delusional.

The Charity Corner has found a home on the Miriam Shlesinger Human Rights Action site.  Pollyanna and Titan hope that you will visit there, take the actions and make the donations.

IN MEMORIAM 

LEONARD COHEN 1934-2016 

Leonard Cohen, the hugely influential singer and songwriter whose work spanned nearly 50 years, died Monday at the age of 82. Cohen's label, Sony Music Canada, confirmed his death on the singer's Facebook page Thursday evening. Cohen was the dark eminence among a small pantheon of extremely influential singer-songwriters to emerge in the Sixties and early Seventies. Only Bob Dylan exerted a more profound influence upon his generation, and perhaps only Paul Simon and
fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell equaled him as a song poet. A biography is given in Rolling Stone.

POLITICAL SHOCKERS 

Pollyanna, Titan and YandA are all shocked at the victory of Donald Trump in the US elections. In general, we have had surprise results recently, including the Brexit and the initial  rejection of the peace deal with the FARC by the Colombian public. It appears that the pundits are totally out of touch with what the masses of people are thinking.  Paul Krugman writing in the NYTimes puts it in basic terms: "We thought that the nation, while far from having transcended racial prejudice and misogyny, had become vastly more open and tolerant over time. We thought that the great majority of Americans valued democratic norms and the rule of law. It turns out that we were wrong. There turn out to be a huge number of people — white people, living mainly in rural areas — who don’t share at all our idea of what America is about. For them, it is about blood and soil, about traditional patriarchy and racial hierarchy. And there were many other people who might not share those anti-democratic values, but who nonetheless were willing to vote for anyone bearing the Republican label."

These failures of prediction tell us that the media and the pundits, to say nothing of the liberal political class, must become more attentive to the needs and frustrations of the people who have been left behind by technological and cultural changes and who see their familiar world crashing around them. It is indeed not realistic of them to believe that the likes of Trump or Boris Johnson will turn back the clock, revive the moribund coal industry and restore the America or Britain that they remember and in which they held a position of value and prestige. This is particularly true of men--one day you are a foreman at a steel plant and the next day you are  on the dole. So you vent your anger and frustration at the voting place in the futile hope that something will change. Punditry has again turned out to be a false guide as shown so clearly by David Schulz in Counterpunch. Of course, one pundit may have it right.

The failure of punditry did not keep Anthony Dimaggio from providing us with an interesting analysis of what the Trump presidency might hold for all of us. It is not a pleasant prospect by any  means. He puts the question why tens of millions of people voted for Trump. There is no single magic bullet answer to this question, and anyone who claims to have one is not giving you the full story. It seems silly at this point to deny considering a mountain of polling data that much of Trump’s support originates from a noxious blend of sexist, racist, and xenophobic beliefs.
The future of punditry is indeed secure:


It is worthy to consider the situation of minorities under a regime such as may well evolve under Trump. We consider two cases, an Arab-Israeli who went to the US to seek asylum from the position of a second-class citizen in Israel and the other the case of a native American Jew pondering whether he can still trust the country he loves.  The two articles are important in that the breaking of faith that comes when the regime changes is a trauma toward all should feel empathy.

COPS, BE CAREFUL WHOM YOU BEAT. 

Ali Afshar a California physician was driving along when he saw a black man in police custody.  As you may or may not know, the incidence and relapse rates of schizophrenia in African-Caribbean males in Western countries has been reported as being much higher than equivalent white male cohorts. E.g.

We found remarkably high IRRs (inter-rater reliability) for both schizophrenia and manic psychosis in both African-Caribbeans (schizophrenia 9.1, manic psychosis 8.0) and Black Africans (schizophrenia 5.8, manic psychosis 6.2) in men and women Fearon et al, 2006 

He saw what looked like severe mental issues with the prisoner and stopped to offer medical help. The reaction of the cops is something you must read.

A GREAT ARTIST

Enough of politics says Pollyanna and calls our attention to a profile article in the New Yorker by Janet Malcom about the pianist Yuja Wang. At age 29 she is on top of her field and her virtuosity is matched by her mode of presenting herself visually. Yuja Wang has appeared in Israel with the Philharmonic and every concert has been an amazing experience for us

This photograph shows how she attacks the piano. Rather than quote from the profile, Pollyanna says go read it all and be glad that you did.

A BIT FROM HOME 

Ilana Dayan is a major TV journalist in Israel. She has put many a public figure in the frying pan, the latest the PM himself. Pollyanna invites you to read a detailed interview with her by Ravit Hecht. The PM responded to the critique by sending her a vituperative letter which she read out on live television. You can dig out the details yourself, Pollyanna wants you to get into the world of Ilana Dayan. It is worth the read.

SILLY TIME
 Since we seem to be living in an alternate universe in which people like Trump and Netanyahu are elected, let us look at some whatif's from an alternate
universe--ye gads!!

THE WORST RECORD LABELS EVER

The Talmud tell us (Avot, IV) Said Rabbi Meir: Look not at the vessel, but at what it contains. There are new vessels that are filled with old wine, and old vessels that do not even contain new wine.
Apparently this applies to classical records as well. The good folks at KUSC (Los Angeles) have compiled a list of the worst record labels. They have come out with the first ten. For example:




Open the link for the rest of the goodies!!

 

YES, YOU CAN TAKE IT WITH YOU

WUMO show real insight into the male psyche

INTEGRITY ON THE WALL

Pollyanna is glad about the holiday season

Pollyanna 

is taking her turn now. She spent Yom Kippur with her brother Titan at his lakeshore (methane) synagogue.

and is happy to wish you all a very happy Succot(Tabernacles) holiday, coming up on Sunday night.

אתרוג,לולב,הדס וערבה

They (Pollyanna, Titan and YandA) hope you will try to alleviate the effects of climate change through which we are all laboring. If you can find a denier, try to keep him/her away from air conditioning--they are not worthy of it.

In this holiday blog, Pollyanna will try to be glad, but will allow herself rants about women and girls or blatant human rights violations while mostly trying to be glad and positive. As usual, Murphy will provide companionship, humor and legal advice.

The Charity Corner has found a home on the Miriam Shlesinger Human Rights Action site.  Pollyanna and Titan hope that you will visit there, take the actions and make the donations.

IN MEMORIAM 

NEVILLE MARINNER 1924-2016

Conductor Neville Marriner, who led the Academy of St Martin in the Fields to become one of the world's most-recorded classical music groups, has died, the academy said Sunday. He was 92.
 

Marriner, a violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra, joined with several other musicians in 1959 to form a chamber group, which was intended to perform without a leader. The group's mouthful of a name, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, was inspired by the church in central London where they performed. The rest is history.
 

We have all enjoyed Sir Neville's musicianship and he will certainly be missed.   He became music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra from 1968-77. He then became music director of the Minnesota Orchestra 1979-1986, and directed the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart, Germany from 1984-89.He leaves behind a huge discography. The NYTimes has an obituary and the Guardian a personal appreciation by one of his players. 

"Then there’s the famous encore story. Our three stock encores for many years were Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro overture, a Brahms Hungarian dance and the slow movement of Mendelssohn’s Reformation symphony. We had them ready in a prescribed order, all beautiful in their own right, but not when played simultaneously. Neville was standing there waving frantically shouting “idiots, idiots”. I think the Brahms triumphed after about 16 bars..."

PEACE REJECTED-WHY? 

Colombians have rejected a peace deal to end 52 years of war with FARC guerrillas, throwing the country into confusion about its future. With counting completed from 98.98% of polling stations, the no vote led by 50.2% to 49.8%, a difference of fewer than 54,000 votes out of almost 13 million cast. Turnout was low, with less than 38% of the electorate casting a vote. Analysis of Colombia’s "Brexit " moment showed  how politicians misjudged popular anger at FARC amnesty. All sides were left shocked by the narrow rejection of the peace deal which would have seen guerrillas guilty of war crimes escape jail.

Those who supported the peace agreement were shocked when the result was "no"

This result means that the deal cannot now be implemented. Polls before the vote predicted that the yes camp would win with a comfortable 66% share. Santos had been confident of a yes result and said during the campaign that he did not have a plan B and that Colombia would return to war if the no vote won. His opponents, led by former president Álvaro Uribe, said a win for their side would be a mandate for the government and rebels to negotiate a “better agreement”.

While it is unlikely that fighting will resume, it is indeed not clear what happens next. Uribe will certainly play a role in the next stage. Pollyanna wishes the best to the people of Colombia and hopes they manage to work out the problems.

GOOD NEWS 

Pollyanna is delighted to tell you that on Thursday 22 September, Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, announced the ratification of  ILO Convention 189 – an international standard to protect domestic workers from exploitation. The Prime Minister announced the ratification in front of a global audience, while attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York (UNGA).

Mr. Holness said, “We are committed to the protection of rights of the most vulnerable among us and to ensure the welfare of domestic workers within the framework of our determination to promote a decent work for all.”

In the three weeks leading up to the UNGA, the Walk Free movement collected 52,412 signatures showing the Prime Minister the international support behind his mission to end domestic slavery in Jamaica. Pollyanna says Cheers and asks all to ensure that their country does the same.

SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 

Pollyanna would like to call your attention to an Amnesty International campaign on sexual and reproductive rights of young people in South America. We hear from six activists from South America working together through Amnesty’s It’s My Body! program empowering young people aged 13 to 19 years old to claim and promote their  rights.

Joaquin, from Argentina, and Sofia, from Chile (in the foreground) exchange their point of view on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights at the kick-off meeting of the It's My Body! programme. Lima, Peru, May 2016 © Amnesty International

They are from Peru, Argentina or Chile, yet all share the same goal: make sure they have the power and freedom to demand and access their sexual and reproductive rights. Over five years these young activists will work together to empower others to make informed decisions about their bodies and sexuality, and provide their peers with information and training on issues related to
sexual and reproductive rights.

As they meet for the first time in Lima, Peru, we learn what their participation means to them, and how they intend to change attitudes in the region. Pollyanna recommends that you read the full post and wishes them all success.

In this context Pollyanna is delighted at the action of the Polish Parliament. The members rejected by an overwhelming majority a law that would have added new restrictions to abortion rights. Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with terminations legally permitted only when there is severe foetal abnormality, when there is a grave threat to the health of the mother, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.

The new law would criminalize all terminations, with women punishable with up to five years in prison. Doctors found to have assisted with a termination would also be liable for prosecution and a prison term. No one can say that Poland is liberal, but a social catastrophe was warded off for the moment.

AWID

Pollyanna calls your attention to this organization. The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international, feminist, membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. A dynamic network of women and men around the world, AWID members are researchers, academics, students, educators, activists, business people, policy-makers, development practitioners, funders, and more. Pollyanna suggests that anyone interested in promoting women's rights and gender equality might wish to use AWID as a vehicle of activism.

ELECTORAL MADNESS 

Usually Pollyanna does not vent in Titanesque manner about politics, but the tragicomedy of the elections in the US is beyond the pale. Let us look to Shakespeare for some insight.

JooHee Yoon

 

In the early 1590s, Shakespeare sat down to write a play that addressed a problem: How could a great country wind up being governed by a sociopath?

The problem was not England’s, where a woman of exceptional intelligence and stamina had been on the throne for more than 30 years, but it had long preoccupied thoughtful people. Why, the Bible brooded, was the kingdom of Judah governed by a succession of disastrous kings? How could the greatest empire in the world, ancient Roman historians asked themselves, have fallen into the hands of a Caligula?

For his theatrical test case, Shakespeare chose an example closer to home: the brief, unhappy reign in 15th-century England of King Richard III. Read and draw your own analogies.

BOOK REVIEW

TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT

By Maria Semple
Illustrated. 259 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $27.

Reviewed in the NYTimes by MEG WOLITZER and in the Guardian by
Viv Groskop.  
 

Maria Semple: ‘It takes me a long time to get my point across.’ Photograph: Leta Warner

Maria Semple, 52, is the author of the bestselling Where’d You Go, Bernadette, which was shortlisted for the 2013 women’s prize for fiction and is currently being adapted for a film directed by Richard Linklater. Her latest novel, Today Will Be Different, is about a day in the life of Eleanor Flood, a woman who vows every day that she’ll be a better person. The reviews are favorable and she appears to be a writer worthy of further attention. Pollyanna recommends.

Édith Carron 

NEWS FROM PHYSICS 

Pollyanna is delighted to pass on to you some recent updates from the world of physics. This is a website to which you can subscribe and it is always interesting.

Proxima Centauri as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. (Courtesy: ESA/Hubble)

SILLY TIME

An old but amusing What If--beware these wild elementary school teachers.

RELATIVITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

MILITARY TECHNOLOGY STRIKES AGAIN