Amira's Honor

 سبحان الله !....الشعب الفلسطيني المسكين المحتل المهجر المشرد المتآمر عليه دوليا و إقليميا و حتى عربيا من طرف بعض الأنظمة العربية المطبعة الخائنة ، وصلت بهم الدرجة التشكيك في "شرف و عرض " الشعب الفلسطيني ! تحياتي لكل شريف فلسطيني  و شريفة

Glory be to God!...the miserable, occupied, displaced Palestinian people, that were conspired against internationally, regionally, and even in the Arab world, by the treacherous media, have reached the low point that its very honor is being questioned! Greetings to every honest and honorable Palestinian! 

The reactions to the Egyptian film Amira have been very emotional. Above is one comment. (The translation is mine). The story is about a prisoner's sperm being smuggled out by a guard, who substitutes the sperm with his own. Since hundreds of children were born this way, the film undermines the honor and the morale of the Palestinians. 

Rotten tomatoes writes:

Amira is a highly contrived, ridiculous melodrama seeping with endless implausible details that rob the story of any credibility it may have had. The biggest crime of the film though is its portrayal of Palestinian society.

The community of Amira - essentially a microcosm of Palestine as the film implies - is a band of freaks: a company of sexist brutes with not an ounce of empathy in their souls. The Palestine of Amira is a conservative, hypocritical place populated by merciless patriarchs only concerned with preserving their honor rather than safeguarding the daughter who grew with them and among them; a daughter who had no hand in the great shame they plaster her with.

This is an insultingly regressive, bafflingly over-simplified, imprudently outdated treatment of a Palestine clearly concocted by an outsider. Its take on identity is shallow and largely underexplored; its depiction of the downgraded status of women in middle-class families is Victorian in essence. At a time when the evolving discourse around women's rights across the region has shifted towards body integrity and equal rights, Diab is still stuck on honor and virginity.

Cultural Origins of Demographic Transition

 

The mystery is perfectly explained in this research paper by Guillaume Blanc, Brown University. It is secularization. Everywhere. Always. 

Dollar Inflation > 7% p.a.

 

Much of the world's gold is in India. Unfortunately, we use the dollar, which in 2021 lost 7% of its worth. One could even say that the American Government expropriated 7% of the world's dollar income to spend it on public programs, such as food stamps. Also in keeping open and safe sea and air routes. Next year the dollar interest rate will jump from zero to 10-15%. Many will lose their savings. 

Expecting Something

 The American government established a task force dedicated to discovering what are those unidentified (1) flying phenomena UFOs, (2) transmedium objects or devices, and (3) submerged objects or devices. The last point means that they have "seeings" of submerged phenomena that need to be investigated, that were never published. It is probable that they have palpable things in hand, and are preparing the world for some event, say contact.  

Solemnizing Nvidia's 500%

 

Not long ago I bought Nvidia shares. I told everybody to put their savings in it. They thought it was already expensive and no one followed me. Today, I see that my original investment has multiplied by five. Today I bought Kenon. One of the Ofer brothers owns it: his auto factory in China failed but Kenon still holds ZIM, which rocketed 5% yesterday on NYSE while on TASE Kenon rose only 1%. Are Israelis .. slow? 

Flint gets $626 million for incompetence

After Benton Harbor—a city of nearly 10,000 people, over 80% of them black—made headlines for its water crisis this year, Michigan promised to replace all the town’s lead service lines within 18 months. (It is being done on schedule). That did not stop its residents from filing a class-action lawsuit in November alleging deliberate government indifference (against the local Municipality and the State government). The same day a judge approved a $626m settlement for people affected by a water crisis across the state in Flint, which caused a similar media frenzy after residents complained about tainted water in 2014. Getting national attention, it seems, pays off. 

Source: The Economist. In America, baseless accusations of systemic racism get you compensated even if the water is turbid because of your own stupidity and incompetence. In America 2021, you can blame the government for indifference and get paid for it. This way lies madness ... 

Babysitting

 
Ayala feels unwell and asked us to spend the whole day babysitting Shakadudu aged two. Took the computer but produced nothing all day. It is raining. Nahal Raba was wet. At sunset, I could see the lights of Dir Balut or Zawiya, Palestinian settlements in the Shomron. Newe Afek is a nice clean, quiet neighborhood. I like it.