Behind the Aegis
Behind the Aegis's JournalHolocaust remembrance in Germany: A changing culture
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This quote by Spanish-American philosopher and writer George Santayana can be found at Auschwitz concentration camp. Remembering the Holocaust has basically been a state effort in Germany for years from bureaucrats to members of parliament. But public interest is still strong as well. Former concentration camps and other memorial sites are registering record visitor numbers.
And yet, Jewish organizations say they have seen an increase in anti-Semitism in Germany. "The remembrance world champion is losing the battle against today's hatred against Jews," says Meron Mendel, the director of the Frankfurt Anne Frank Educational Center.
That concern is backed by a recent survey from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in 12 European countries. It found that over the last year, Jews in Germany haven't just faced more hostility than in previous years, but also more than in other countries.
Some 41 percent of Jews in Germany said they were victims of anti-Semitic hostility, compared to an average of 28 percent in the other surveyed countries.
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Oklahoma representative proposes bill that would prohibit teacher walkouts
Source: KFOR-TV
OKLAHOMA CITY After thousands of Oklahoma teachers walked out of the classroom last year, an Oklahoma state representative has proposed a bill that would prohibit teachers from going on strike again.
Last March, the Oklahoma Education Association announced that it was seeking a $10,000 pay raise for Oklahoma teachers over three years, a $5,000 pay raise for support professionals over three years, a cost-of-living adjustment for retirees, and the restoration of funding for education and core government services.
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House Bill 2214 would make it illegal for the board of education or school district employees
to strike or threaten to strike or otherwise close schools or interfere with school operations as a means of resolving differenced with the board of education, the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education, the Legislature or any other public official or public body.
If a person violated the law by engaging in a strike, they shall be denied the full amount of his or her wages during the period of such violation.
The bill goes on to say that if the person is certified by the State Board of Education, such certificate shall be permanently revoked.
Read more: https://kfor.com/2019/01/22/oklahoma-representative-proposes-bill-that-would-prohibit-teacher-walkouts/
We just replaced the "worst governor" in the US, Mary Fallin and replaced her with an even more right-wing POS, Kevin Stitt who is mission is not to make the state function correctly, but to "Align With What G-d Is Doing in Oklahoma".
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!
Egypt sentences TV host to year in prison for interviewing gay man
Source: The Independent
An Egyptian TV host has been sentenced to one year in prison after interviewing a gay man on his talk show.
Mohamed al-Gheiti, who previously expressed his stance against homosexuality, invited the man to discuss his lifestyle on air in August 2018.
The move led to the Misdemeanors Court in Giza charging him with promoting homosexuality, incitement to debauchery and immorality and contempt of religion. He was also fined 3,000 Egyptian pounds (£130.25).
According to The Egypt Independent, lawyer Samir Sabry filed the case against the TV host with the attorney-general, saying he has violated the basic rules, laws and religious constants.
During the controversial interview, the gay guest, whose face was blurred to protect his identity, revealed he was a sex worker and openly discussed his relationship with another man.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/egypt-mohamed-al-gheiti-prison-sentence-gay-guest-interview-lgbt-religion-a8738206.html
WOW! Now that homophobia is affecting heterosexuals (it always has), I wonder if it will make difference in a positive direction. J/K
Auschwitz victims laid to rest in UK synagogue ceremony
The remains of six Holocaust victims murdered at Auschwitz have been buried as the UKs chief rabbi urged an end to an increase in antisemitism.
About 50 Holocaust survivors joined hundreds of other members of the Jewish community at the United Synagogue New Cemetery in Bushey, Hertfordshire, for the funeral service.
During an address, Ephraim Mirvis warned antisemitism was on the rise and unchecked hate speech could easily be translated into hate crime.
The ashes and bones of the six unknown victims were sent from Auschwitz to the Imperial War Museum in London in 1997. Scientific tests later discovered they were the remains of five adults and one child, but nothing else is known about them.
The funeral service was the first for Holocaust victims to be held in the UK. After a 40-minute service, a small coffin, which held the remains of all six victims, was carried to its plot where it was buried with earth from Israel. The survivors and other mourners lined up to throw earth on to the coffin.
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The Trump administration is planning a far-reaching rollback of civil rights law
An internal Justice Department memo directed senior civil rights officials to examine how disparate impact regulations can be changed or removed, the Washington Post reports.
Disparate impact is the idea in civil rights law that a rule might be discriminatory even if it doesnt have that intent.
For example, the Obama administration reached a settlement with the Lodi Unified School District in California after it found that several seemingly neutral policies like allowing schools within the district to set their own disciplinary policies, and schools with a higher percentage of African American students having tougher punishments for the same disciplinary incidents resulted in a negative impact on black people, even though Obama administration lawyers never proved a racist intent.
Disparate impact is a bedrock principle, said Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Through the courts, weve been able to marshal data and use the disparate-impact doctrine as a robust tool for ferreting out discrimination.
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Inside Gab, the alt-right's social media network that is awash with antisemitism
If you thought Twitter and Facebook were awash with antisemitism, you clearly have not spent much time on Gab.com, the favoured social media platform of the extreme-right and neo-Nazis.
Over two hours of research, the JC catalogued posts accusing Jews of carrying out the September 11 terror attacks and one which alleged that Jewish people are in a hurry to implement a final solution on all whites.
The site gained popular attention in October, after it emerged that Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting suspect, was a user. Minutes before the worst atrocity against Jews in American history unfolded, a post appeared on his account that ended with the chilling words: Im going in.
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One particular trend, referred to as Name the Jew, has won popularity on the site in recent months.
Started by white supremacist Patrick Little, who recently ran for a US Senate seat in California, participants are encouraged to publicly shame Jewish people on the site. According to some reports, Gab has since expelled him.
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