ellenrr
ellenrr's JournalTrump’s religion test for immigrants is standard practice in Israel
The widespread political condemnation of Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States and for surveillance of mosques was pretty great yesterday. American leaders left and right said that such policies are unconstitutional and counter to U.S. values. “Donald Trump is a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot,” Senator Lindsey Graham said emphatically.
But those leaders are strong supporters of Israel (“The pro-Israel community has been the heart and soul of my campaign,” Graham told Jewish Insider), and Israel practices many of the policies that Trump wants the U.S. to implement.
For instance, Israeli airport security officials routinely ask travelers what their religion is and often bar Muslims as a result. Last night, Chris Matthews was enraged by Trump’s recommendation that American immigration officials ask travelers if they are Muslim. But our own State Department has blasted Israel for denying “entry or exit without explanation”– notably to “those whom Israeli authorities suspect of being of Arab, Middle Eastern, or Muslim origin.” [emphasis mine].
- See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/trumps-religion-test#sthash.ndhiyTaI.dpuf
Jews gather nationwide on Chanukah to challenge Islamophobia and racism
December 6, 2015 —" This week, American Jews are participating in a series of nationally coordinated actions against Islamophobia and racism to mark the eight days of Chanukah with a rekindling of their commitment to justice. Beginning Sunday, December 6th at 4pm in Rockefeller Center in New York City, each night of Chanukah Jewish activists and community members will gather to make public commitments to challenge state-sanctioned Islamophobia and racism and to call for the United States to welcome refugees."
https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/rekindling-our-commitment-to-justice-on-chanukah/
this is great!
I hope I can create a gathering in my town.
France’s far-right National Front tops first round of regional vote
Source: AFP
France’s far-right National Front (FN) party rode a wave of fear over immigration and terrorism to storm to a commanding position in the first round of voting in the country’s high-stakes regional elections on Sunday.
The anti-immigration party led by Marine Le Pen scored around 28 percent of the vote nationally and topped the list in at least six of 13 regions, according to final estimates from the interior ministry.
The FN came ahead of both former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Les Républicains (formerly the UMP), which earned 27 percent, and President François Hollande’s Socialists, with 23.5 percent, official estimates showed.
Le Pen and her 25-year-old niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen broke the symbolic 40 percent mark in their respective regions, shattering previous records for the party as they tapped into voter anger over a stagnant economy and security fears.
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20151206-france-far-right-national-front-le-pen-tops-first-round-regional-elections
bad news!
a note of hope from the article:
"Despite its commanding position, the FN now faces a tougher battle in a second round of voting next Sunday after the Socialists announced they were withdrawing candidates in three regions in a bid to block the far right from power."
Donald Trump vows to personally ‘knock out’ terrorists:
‘If I’m in there with a gun we’re going down shooting’
oh I would so love to see this.
tv show references renowned Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi
You might be interested in this:
(WLIW is one of the pbs channels - "The World",
and altho this listing is for tonite at 10, they usually repeat shows, so if you are interested can probably find another showing.)
"Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler"
WLIW-DT3 - 132 Sun, 12/06, 10:00 PM 1 hr
"Shikoku"
12/16/2014, Religion, Profile, Topical, Cultural, Politics
Bruce follows a 750-mile pilgrimage route that is said to connect travelers to renowned Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi, talking to American walkers about why they are making the journey and learning about sacred ceremonies along the way.
‘If more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those’ Islamist terrorists
so says Jerry Falwell, president of Liberty University.
way to go-- moron.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/12/05/liberty-university-president-if-more-good-people-had-concealed-guns-we-could-end-those-muslims/
Meditation aids psoriasis
This is an excerpt from a scholarly long article detailing Jon Kabot-Zinn's work with psoriasis patients. I give you the url, but am only posting the conclusion.
below that I give a link to a more popularized, easier to read version.
The skin has long been known as an organ system that responds to emotional stress and to psychological influences with both short- and long-lasting effects.
There is recent evidence connecting psychological stress (in caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer's Disease), rates of wound healing, and levels of the cytokine, interleukin, a potential immunological mediator of wound healing.
The present study sought to investigate the possible effect of a stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with psoriasis undergoing phototherapy as a potential model system for the study of psychological factors related to an observable healing process.
The results {of study} suggest that the rate of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis can be accelerated when subjects engage in an audiotape-guided, meditative stress reduction exercise during their treatment sessions.
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Owner/My%20Documents/Downloads/625.pdf
~~~
To test his theories, Kabat-Zinn connected with dermatologists in the psoriasis phototherapy clinic at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine.
In a pilot study and then a full trial with several dozen participants, psoriasis patients receiving ultraviolet light therapy were divided into two groups. One group listened to recordings of mindfulness instructions while receiving light therapy; another group went through the therapy without the recordings.
Patients who listened to the recordings saw their psoriasis clear significantly faster than those assigned to the group that did not hear the recordings. For example, patients undergoing PUVA [the light-sensitizing drug psoralen and ultraviolet light A phototherapy] while listening to recordings had 50 percent skin clearing in an average of 48.5 days, compared with 85 days for the group that did not listen to the tapes.
The study results were published in 1998 in the academic journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Though the psoriasis studies were small by scientific standards, the results encouraged Kabat-Zinn to use the recordings as part of a program he was developing called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction [MBSR].
Now in use at medical centers around the world, this stress-reduction program is increasingly seen as a litmus test of how meditation can affect medical outcomes.
https://www.psoriasis.org/advance/can-quieting-mind-quiet-psoriasis-mindfulness-meditation
Do Mass Killings Bother You?
We now know this. A young man who had successfully killed on a large scale went to his religious leader with doubts and was told that mass killing was part of God’s plan. The young man continued killing until he had participated in killing sprees that took 1,626 lives — men, women, and children.
I repeat: his death count was not the 16 or 9 or 22 lives that make top news stories, but 1,626 dead and mutilated bodies. Do such things bother you?
What if you learned that this young man’s name was Brandon Bryant, and that he killed as a drone pilot for the U.S. Air Force, and that he was presented with a certificate for his 1,626 kills and congratulated on a job well done by the United States of America? What if you learned that his religious leader was a Christian chaplain?
Do such things still bother you?
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/04/do-mass-killings-bother-you/
Gaza Farmers Give Back by Sharing with Those Less Fortunate
Ahmed Zoerob, a Gaza farmer, walks along a rutted road to a compound of tiny, prefab housing units that serve as temporary shelters for hundreds of families displaced by the 2014 war. He carries a box that says “From Poor Farmer to Poor Family” and it is full of beautiful, fresh produce from his farm.
Ahmed is one of 120 farmers in the Khan Younis area of Gaza participating in ANERA’s farmland restoration project, which is helping to bring war-damaged farms back to life. This is the farmers’ first full harvest after the war and it is bountiful for many of them. They are grateful for their good fortune and, though living very humbly themselves, the farmers know that things could be much worse. So they decided to pay it forward by providing some relief for Gaza families who have been less fortunate.
“We want to say thank you for what we have and share it – even if it’s not a lot – with families whose homes were destroyed during the [2014] war,” says Ahmed. He and his fellow farmers are aware that families and others left homeless by the war are grappling with another harsh winter in flimsy shelters.
- See more at: http://www.anera.org/stories/gaza-farmers-give-back-by-sharing-with-those-less-fortunate/#sthash.jINf7bii.dpuf
Australians visiting America should be warned of gun violence
so says an Australian politician.
After the hostage crisis in Sydney in 2014, the US issued a worldwide travel alert.
"Tim Fischer told ABC News the American attitude is unfair, considering how dangerous America itself is due to the level of gun violence and a lack of effort to change the situation."
Fischer said a person is 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the US than in Australia and that travel advice from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) should reflect this, as it does for Mexico.
Fischer was at the forefront of a sweeping gun reform in Australia launched in the wake of a massacre in Port Arthur in Tasmania in 1996. Forty-six people were killed there, making it one of the world’s deadliest episodes of gun violence committed by a single perpetrator.
The reform pushed by the commonwealth government on Australian states outlawed semiautomatic rifles and restricted gun control regulations. A buyback program launched to compensate gun owners handing over their firearms resulted in over 1 million guns being destroyed.
Since the mid-1990s, Australia's firearm mortality rate has dropped from 2.6 per 100,000 people to just under 1 per 100,000, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. For comparison, the rate in the US is more than 10 per 100,000, according to the US National Vital Statistics Report.
There have been no mass shootings in Australia since the Port Arthur massacre.
https://www.rt.com/news/324839-australia-travel-warning-usa/
Profile Information
Member since: Sun Feb 6, 2011, 09:14 AMNumber of posts: 3,864
