We are in War

We seem to be in an air war in Syria. They fired one missile forcing the closure the only ski facility in Israel. We reacted out of proportion and killed 12 soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard  stationed at Damascus Airport, and a bunch of Syrian soldiers. It is interesting that the recently received S-300 Russian antiair batteries were silent, only Soviet made AA fired. Probably the Russians do not allow the brutish fingers of the Syrians to touch these powerful equipment, to avoid accidents like the last month's felling of a passing Russian carrier.  The confrontation now is between Russian technology versus Israeli/Western technology .

In the Tel Aviv Palace of Justice

Two years ago I gave a written expert opinion on the flooding of a low laying shop. Wrote a short paper, took the money, paid 50% taxes, and forgot the whole business. Yet the Justice never forgets a thing and it grew till the judgment day arrived. Today. Who is responsible for the frequent flooding and sewage overflow? The Judge's own expert wrote that of course it was the occupant's duty to build a pumping station. I said that it was the Authority's legal responsibility to evacuate the sewage. The Judge went out to lunch and left us for half an hour. In this time the insurance woman and the lawyer of the flooded party achieved agreement, 80,000 shekels. When the Judge came back he dictated the conclusion and the problem was who shall pay the experts? Lots of technical discussion that I did not follow, but in the end the lawyer promised to send me the cheque.

The place is a an enormous Brutalist style building, massive cement blocks, some of them with impressed relief signs and mysterious signs (pic). It must have some meaning. I shall read it when I have time.

The Very Long Hand of American Justice

America is policing the world and imposing American morals on everybody. I applauded when a Brooklyn Justice forced Argentina to pay its debt - that was justice. But now America has demanded the arrest and extradition of a Huawei (Chinese) executive for … I don't know what, but certainly not for violating American laws. Probably they included a spy function in their chips. The Economist has noticed that banks and international corporations are increasingly afraid of American activism. In the past, American power was never exercised in such an open way. America promoted democracy, but now it is imposing its own idealist morals in the commercial world. America is following the model of England's international campaign against slavery of the 17th and 18th Centuries. I think it is a good thing. 

Israel Water Masterplan

How fast the time passes! Only twenty years ago I was working in the Water Authority and marginally involved in the preparation of the Israel Water Masterplan 2000 - 2020. That document has been forgotten by everybody and never updated or revised. The only good thing I can say about it that it was a Masterplan. Today we have none and no one is working on a new one. Another comment is that twenty years is nothing, a national Masterplan has to comprise at least fifty years. Singapur has mapped its future till 2060. Admirable!

Israeli Lunar Craft

The Chinese have a vehicle on the dark side of the moon. We too are sending a craft to the moon (left). Israel will be the fourth country with its flag "flapping" in the solar wind on the moon.

Nice, but I am losing lots of sheqels with the Israeli communication sector. The satellite company lost one in space and is broke. Bezeq, the phone company, is being liquidated. Tower, the chip fab, lost half of its worth in the last bear market.

If you ask me, the moon will not go away and the project could wait, but I need money now, here on Earth. 

Mikveh near Tel Aviv

This morning I went to a Mikweh (ritual bath). The Ministry of Religion had invested in the renovation of this facility, and I was invited to do an AS MADE plan and certify it. The entrances for men and women are on different sides of the building, and there are intimidating steel turnstiles to get inside. No gender mixing here. The bathing installations are inviting, nice and clean, so much that I thought about installing a mini-bar at the poolside, and maybe a small nudist gym annex for the religious gay. The mikweh could be then operated on a profit basis like a bathhouse.

The pipes and the machinery were a mix of old and new, and the old badly renewed (see the hot water tank "renewed" with transparent plastic tape!). There are at least ten thermometers, measuring anything between 20 to 55 Centigrades.

Who was the Flint Water Poisoner?

As remembered, the City of Flint changed its water source without adding the necessary buffer, causing the leaching of lead from old house water lines. The fuckup was inflated and made into a racist conspiracy (genocide of the poor Africans) and President Obama declared National Emergency and transferred fantastic budgets to the City. Croft (pic) had been head of Flint's Public Works and in spite of being a rooted Flint African American, he was accused of Conspiracy to Commit False Pretenses.  

Howard Croft: Croft was the City of Flint’s Director of the Department of Public Works from December 2011 to November 17, 2015. He was charged with:

• False Pretenses, Felony: 20 Years and/or $35,000, or 3 times the value of the money or property involved, whichever is greater.
  • Croft is alleged to have aided and abetted Defendants Ambrose and Earley in a process that allowed the use bonds to fund the construction of the KWA pipeline despite the City being broke. The City of Flint exploited an exception to state law by claiming the bonds were needed to fund an emergency cleanup of a retention pond, when in fact the funds were intended to pay for the KWA. During that time, the defendant actively worked in various fashions to discourage a return to using water produced by the Detroit Water and Sewer Department, require the use of Flint River water through a Flint Water Treatment Plant, that was deemed unready for service by several people involved with its management, and to ensure the construction of the KWA.                                                                                
    
    OK, the poor devil tried to do his job and get the pipeline built. His superiors had decided to build the KWA pipe and stop buying water from Detroit when they had the Flint river for free. The river water is certified drinkable, and lead free. A perfectly rational decision and Croft tried to make it happen. The accusation implies that the project was criminal and the Director of Public Works should have known it, is simply ludicrous. If he mis-stated that the money was needed for an emergency cleanup, then it was with the approval of his bosses. Croft looks intelligent; he is not the type to lie without higher protection. Croft is a victim of American Justice.