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/ INTERPOL asks UAE to arrest Ex-Spanish King's longstanding friend
Libya's torture camps: How Italy outsources human rights violations
November 19, 2019 at 6:45 pm | Published in: Africa, Article, Europe & Russia, Italy, Libya, Opinion
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (R) and UN Special Envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame arrive on 13 November 2018 for a press conference following an international conference on Libya in Palermo [Filippo MONTEFORTE/ AFP/Getty Images]
Dr Ramzy Baroud
Romana Rubeo
In May 2017, local parish priest, Don Edoardo Scordio, was one of 68 people who were detained by Italy's anti-mafia police in the region of Calabria.
Scordio, who is currently under house arrest, is accused of involvement in a large criminal network, operated by cosca Arena, a local mafia group that preys on refugees and asylum seekers in the town of Isola di Capo Rizzuto. The criminals stole tens of millions of euros in public funds allocated to refugees in the Sant'Anna's migrant reception centre.
This would have been a typical news story in a country that is plagued with mafia criminal activities. But it is not. It is a microcosm of a multi-faceted malaise involving various layers of authority, including the government, which often presents itself as the Italian public's savior from the migrant or refugee "invasion".
This so-called invasion however, was a direct consequence of the NATO-led war on Libya in March 2011 and the political mismanagement of the country following that disastrous war.
A permanent fixture in Libya's political upheaval, and its subsequent militia-led chaos, is the Italian government. In order to continue to exploit the country's natural resources and oil reserves, Rome continues to feed Libya's political bedlam and infighting, while constantly decrying the resultant refugee crisis.
Bija – The officially-sanctioned human trafficker
On 4 October, a newspaper investigation highlighted the sordid role of the Italian government in the Libyan war, particularly with regard to the country's growing humanitarian crisis.
Italy's Catholic newspaper L'Avvenire confirmed (Link in Italian) existing suspicions that the Italian government was working closely with one Abd Al-Rahman Milad – known as Bija – to stem the flow of refugees from the porous Libyan coast.
Bija is a well-known character to human rights groups and United Nations workers, as well as to refugees who escaped Libya. A UN Security Council report identified him as the "head of the Zawiyah coastguard" who is "involved in smuggling activities" and was "directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms."
The Italian Defense Ministry itself concurs with this depiction. In an official report (Link in Italian) that was released on 10 May 2017, the ministry stated that Bija had been the one "controlling the smuggling business from the west of Tripoli to the border with Tunisia since 2015."
READ: Libya PM says elections not quotas can solve crisis
Yet, only one day after the publication of the report, Bija was hosted by the Italian government to take part in the discussions that following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Rome and Tripoli to combat "illegal immigration [and] human trafficking."
The meetings, involving Bija and Italian officials took place in Cara di Mineo, in the city of Catania in Sicily. Officially opened in 2011, Cara di Mineo is considered one of Europe's biggest camps for migrants and asylum seekers. The irony is that many refugees in that camp were trafficked by Bija himself. They were the ones who recognised (Link in Italian) him, detailing crimes he had committed during their harrowing journeys.
Unsurprisingly, Cara di Mineo was shut down in July 2018, by the then far-right Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini. The centre had been rocked by several scandals involving Italian and Nigerian mafia groups operating lucrative narcotics and human trafficking businesses.
Soon following L'Avvenire's report, the Italian government attempted to distance itself from Bija, claiming that he had obtained a visa to Italy using forged documents, however no such documents were ever released. Several media reports pointed to the fact that the Libyan human trafficker was already well known to Italian authorities and to other governments prior to him entering Italy.
Kissing Gaddafi's hand
Bija's story was covered in the Italian media as if it was a major political outrage. But if understood in relation to broader Italian policies regarding Libya throughout the last decade, the Bija matter is hardly shocking.
Former Italian Interior Minister Salvini is often associated with Italy's hardline approach to migration – after all, this populist Italian politician ordered the closure of ports in the face of refugee boats. But the truth is that Italy's anti-migration policies go back years, to the time when former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi was still in power.
Bodies of migrants who drowned off the Libyan coast being pulled out by coastguards. [file photo]
In August 2008, the Italian government, led by Silvio Berlusconi, provided Libya with $5 billion to crackdown on refugees and migrant boats near the Libyan coast. Italy resolved that it was far more beneficial to have the Libyan government shoulder the legal responsibility and political fallout from the refugee crisis. This process often lead to serious human rights violations, including torture.
READ: Airstrike hits biscuit factory in Libyan capital, killing 7
Roberto Maroni, who served as the Italian interior minister when the "Friendship Treaty" was signed with the Gaddafi government in 2008, has boasted (Link in Italian) of the dramatic decrease in the number of refugees arriving to Italian shores. Official numbers from that period, however, don't corroborate Maroni's claims.
Nonetheless, the agreement further cemented a strong relationship that had been growing between Libya and Italy. Libya was and remains Italy's major oil and gas supplier. Before the 2011 war, Libya exported 1.6 million barrels of oil to Italy per day. This special relationship reached a peak with an official visit by Gaddafi to Italy in June 2009. Not only was the Libyan leader received with much fanfare and the highest official honour, but, at Berlusconi's insistence, Gaddafi was given a seat at the G-8 Summit that was held in Italy. On one occasion, Berlusconi was filmed kissing Gaddafi's hand.
This love affair was short-lived but it explains Gaddafi's utter shock at Berlusconi's betrayal when NATO launched its war on Libya in 2011. "I am so shocked, I feel betrayed, I don't even know what to say to Berlusconi," Gaddafi said in an interview with the Italian daily Il Giornale. But for Italian politicians, the relationship with Libya was never guided by trust, honor and friendship, but business and political interests only. As soon as Gaddafi was killed on 20 October 2011, Italy moved in to reap the benefits of the military intervention, a dismal trajectory that continues until this day.
ENI and the hired gun
In July 2018, Italy's largest oil and gas company, ENI – which plays a key role in shaping Italian foreign policy – entered a joint venture agreement with the Libyan National Oil Corporation resulting in the establishment of the Mellitah Oil and Gas Company (MOG).
According to several media investigations, including this by the Associated Press, Libyan militias were reportedly paid by ENI to secure the Mellitah oil complex in the Zawiya district, in Western Libya. These hired guns included a militia headed by Ahmad Oumar Al-Dabbashi, who was blacklisted in 2018 by the UN for being a "significant leader in illicit activities related to the trafficking of migrants."
ENI is merely continuing what appears to be an acceptable Italian policy regarding Libya, whether by government or within the business community. The main goals are for Italy to secure its economic interests in Libya, to pay militias protection money and to shift the refugee problem entirely from Italian shores to Libyan detention centres.
The 2017 Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding resulted in the creation of several detention centres for refugees and migrants in Libya, financed by the Italian government through Italian NGOs, and operated by Libyans. Conditions in these centres were depicted by a Human Rights Watch Report in January 2019 as "inhumane."
READ: Libya's day of shame at the International Criminal Court
One of these centres, near Tajura, in the Mellitah area in north-western Libya, was bombed in July 2019, with nearly 100 refugees killed. The tragic deaths of innocent people who were escaping war or poverty, were blamed on the forces of Libyan militant leader, Khalifa Haftar, who has been leading a foreign-financed war to control the whole of Libya.
However, media and human rights reports suggested that the refugees might have been used as human shields to cover a weapons depot that was concealed below the detention centre.
The human rights violations that take place within these Italian-funded centres have been the focus of much criticism by human rights groups in Libya and throughout the world.
After visiting several detention centres in Tripoli, Misrata and Zuwara in July 2018, HRW researchers documented "inhumane conditions that included severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, poor quality food and water that has led to malnutrition, lack of adequate healthcare and disturbing accounts of violence by guards, including beatings, whippings, and use of electric shocks."
Such accounts are consistent with the overall grim picture emerging in Libya, one that speaks of direct collusion between Italy and the various parties in that war-stricken country.
READ: Malta has deal with Libya coastguard over migrant interceptions
In a report published by the Italian weekly newspaper L'Espresso, eminent journalist Fabrizio Gatti detailed the "systematic torture of migrants in Libya". His report was based mostly on eyewitness accounts by Italian doctors who were involved in aid programmes with refugees and migrants escaping Libya.
The report documents how a young man was beaten by guards with sticks and hammers, and was severely burned during torture. Another was electrocuted repeatedly. A third was branded with a hot iron on his body and had his face slashed with a knife. The stories are harrowing, and are examples of the inhumane and brutal practices underway in these camps.
Outsourcing torture
The discussion concerning refugee rights in Italy is largely centred on one specific issue – Italy's obligations under international law to host and care for refugees immediately following their arrival. However, this only constitutes one aspect in a more complex scenario, for even if the boats are permitted to reach Italian shores, the suffering of the refugees hardly ends there. The story of Isola di Capo Rizzuto is a case in point.
But as we have seen, missing from this story are the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who are held in concentration camp-like detention centres in Libya itself, thanks to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Italian and Libyan governments in 2017.
A group of irregular migrants, rescued by Libyan Coastal Guard, wait after a boat sank off the city of Al-Khoms, Libya 5 miles from the coast on July 25, 2019. At least 150 irregular migrants were reported missing. [Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency]
The Italian government may think that it has found a legal loophole by outsourcing its anti-immigration policies to Libyan militias who operate outside international jurisdictions and pay no heed to humanitarian law. However, given the legal agreements and direct funding provided either by the Italian government or by large corporations to protect their interests in Libya, Rome should be held accountable due to its obligations under international law.
Considering all of this, there can be no doubt that the Italian government must have known that Bija, was a Libyan torturer and human trafficker they wined and dined him in May 2017. In fact, we believe that the Italian government knows a whole lot more about him as well as the many grave human rights abuses of refugees and migrants occurring on their behalf in Libya.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
AfricaArticleEurope & RussiaItalyLibyaOpinion


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Are you in desperate need of siding replacement in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding Twin Cities area? Are you confused by how the process of installing house siding in Minneapolis, MN works? We hope that the following information will help you to understand what St. Paul siding installation entails.
Protect your home with J-Channel (pictured below-right), which is installed around windows and doors to help keep water from seeping in at these areas, as well as cover the ends of the siding to give your home a clean, finished look.
Improve appearance with J-Blocks (pictured below-left) and allow moisture to travel around electrical components, water outlets, and power outlets.
During this step, starter is installed around the perimeter of the building in order to hold the first row of siding in place.
After the project is completed, we clean and inspect the job site.


As you may remember from my previous blog post showing my new beauty products that do not contain Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (have a peek here if you haven't seen it yet) I purchased a new gentle shampoo to wash my make up brushes.
After hunting around the shops for over an hour for a baby/kids shampoo that doesn't contain Sodium Lauryl Sulphate I finally managed to come across Halo n Horns Kids shampoo. It really surprised me that so many baby products contain Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, even the products which claimed to be for sensitive skin and 'gentle' on the skin, yet they contain a skin irritant?! It baffles me!
Anyway, I am here to review Halo n Horns Kids shampoo, not rant on and on about Sodium Lauryl Sulphate again.
No sulphates! Yay! It also doesn't contain any phthalates, MIT, parabens, Triclosan or propylene glycol. It is hypoallergenic and is not tested on animals! It is ticking all of my boxes here.
The colour is a pale green translucent gel and the smell is amazing. It smells just like melons! My brushes also smell lovely after using this as they have a faint smell of mango the first time I use any of them after washing.
At first I thought the shampoo cleaned my brushes much easier than my previous shampoos, however after a few uses I find that it seems to take a bit more cleaning than normal to ensure my brushes are thoroughly clean. However, all in all I think this is a great find and I will definitely be buying this again when I run out.
You can purchase this shampoo for only £2.00 from ASDA here.
If you want to see how I deep clean my make up brushes, take a look at my previous post here.
Wow good to know - thanks for sharing.


What are the dangers of eating TOO LITTLE calories?
We all know that eating too many calories can lead to fat gain and we all know that to achieve fat loss you have to lower your calorie intake. But how low is actually too low for you?
Eating 1000 calories a day for example, you are doing harm to your metabolism which will take time to get back to normal. Your body won't let you lose fat because you are giving it too few calories which it's keeping so you need to keep on eating less and less which is not possible.
But won't you gain fat if you suddenly increase calories?
Yes, if you increase calories, you will gain fat, at first but only untill your metabolism is restored. You need to up your calories, increase a bit the fat and then the minimum you can safely go for is around 1250. But don't take that number for granted, it all depends on how much you weigh, and how tall you are to be able to calculate the amount of calories you should be eating.
Then you should limit yourself from eating complex carbs, like rice, pasta, potatoes etc, and fruits which are high in sugar. Also, reduce diary since it has quite a bit of sugar. Base your diet on loads of veg, lean protein and fruit with low GI.
Do you suggest steel cut whole oats for the oat bran?


Cardio Cerebral Resuscitation: Is it better than CPR?
Despite the development and periodic updating of guidelines for CPR and emergency cardiovascular care from the American Heart Association (AHA) survival rates for victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest are dismal and have remained essentially unchanged in the recent past.
Most bystanders to a person who unexpectedly collapses are willing to activate emergency medical services (EMS) but are not willing to initiate rescue efforts because they do not want to perform mouth-to mouth assisted ventilation. Bystanders are more willing to perform chest-compression-only resuscitation for a person who unexpectedly collapses an approach that all agree is dramatically better than doing nothing.
Interrupting chest compressions for ventilation during cardiac arrest decreases survival.
Positive pressure ventilation during CPR for cardiac arrest increases intrathoracic pressures, which decreases venous return to the thorax and subsequent perfusion of the heart and the brain.
In contrast to CPR, cardio cerebral resuscitation eliminates mouth-to-mouth ventilation for bystanderinitiated resuscitation efforts, dramatically decreases the role of positive pressure ventilation by EMS responders, and emphasizes chest compressions prior to and immediately after a single shock for cardiac arrests not witnessed by EMS personnel.
In a human study, investigators from Japan found that among witnessed victims of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest who had a shockable rhythm upon the arrival of EMS personnel, chest-compression-only resuscitation resulted in better survival than did chest compressions plus mouth-to-mouth ventilation.
The message that needs to be promulgated is twofold but nevertheless simple: firstly-cardio cerebral resuscitation is for cardiac arrest, and secondly CPR with ventilation is recommended for respiratory arrest. The lay public should be taught that an unexpected collapse in an adult is, in all likelihood, a cardiac arrest, to be differentiated from obvious respiratory arrest, such as choking or drowning, where assisted ventilations may be appropriate.
In the absence of early defibrillation, survival beyond the first 5 minutes of ventricular fibrillation (VF) arrest is predominantly dependent on adequate coronary and cerebral perfusion pressures, both of which are generated by chest compressions. It is well established that in the absence of early defibrillation or bystander-initiated resuscitation efforts, survival is rare.
The decades-old recommendation of two ventilations before each 15 chest compressions has recently been acknowledged not to be optimal, as this ratio was changed from 2:15 to 2:30 in the 2005 AHA guidelines to increase the recommended number of chest compressions. However, this change did not address the major problem, which is bystanders' reluctance to initiate resuscitation if ventilation is involved, regardless of the ventilations-to-compressions ratio. The greatest impediment to the initiation of bystander resuscitation is the public's aversion to and/or the complicated nature of performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
When a person collapses with VF, or if VF is induced in an animal model, gasping is present in a significant number of individuals and animals. This abnormal breathing, which varies in duration, can be either fortunate or unfortunate. When chest compressions are promptly initiated, gasping is fortunate in that the subject is likely to continue to gasp and provide self ventilation (negative intrathoracic pressure).
However, gasping also may be unfortunate in that most laypersons interpret it as an indication that the subject is still breathing, causing them not to initiate bystander resuscitation or call for EMS personnel as soon as they should. Education will be essential to ensure prompt initiation of bystander chest compressions in patients who gasp with cardiac arrest, as well as to ensure that chest compressions are not stopped because of continued gasping.
In emergency medical service protocols, laypersons are to be taught to "be a lifesaver." They are to be instructed to call emergency as soon as possible and then to begin chest compressions alone. If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is available, they should obtain it and follow its directions. Rescue breathing is not recommended. The technique for chest compressions is ideally taught with emphasis on a metronomeguided rate of 100 per minute. Additionally, full chest recoil after each compression is specifically emphasized.
Adoption of the cardio cerebral resuscitation technique will prompt some changes in EMS protocols; these are best understood in the context of the three phases of cardiac arrest due to VF. The three-phase time-dependent conception of cardiac arrest due to VF was articulated by Weisfeldt and Becker.
The electrical phase is the first phase, lasting about 5 minutes. The most important intervention during this phase is defibrillation. This is why the availability of AEDs and programs to encourage their use have saved lives in a wide variety of settings, including airplanes airports, casinos, and the community12.
The circulatory phase is next. It varies in duration but runs approximately from minute 5 to minute 15 of VF arrest. During this time, generation of adequate cerebral and coronary perfusion pressure before and after defibrillation is critical to neurologically normal survival. Ironically, if anAED is the first intervention applied during this phase, the subject is much less likely to survive. If preshock chest compressions are not provided, defibrillation during the circulatory phase almost always results in a pulseless rhythm, asystole, or pulseless electrical activity. The previous stacked-shock protocol for the use ofAEDs resulted in prolonged interruption of essential chest compressions, not only for rhythm analysis before shocks but also for rhythm analysis after shocks during this circulatory phase of cardiac arrest.
Successful resuscitation from these pulseless rhythms requires not only preshock chest compressions but also prompt, effective post shock resumption of chest compressions.
The metabolic phase occurs late (sometime after15 minutes) in cardiac arrest due to VF. This is when resuscitative efforts are least successful and is the phase for which new innovative concepts are needed.
One reason why survival of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has been so poor is that paramedics, who almost always arrive after the electrical phase of cardiac arrest due to VF, spend only half their time doing chest compressions.13 Interruptions are frequent because EMS personnel have been following existing guidelines. One of the more unfortunate recommendations of the old guidelines is the emphasis on stacked defibrillation, which results in a lack of chest compressions during prolonged and repeated analysis by AEDs during the circulatory phase of cardiac arrest due to VF—delays that have proved to be lethal. Similarly endotracheal intubation by EMS rescuers causes delay and disruption of the chest compressions. It also causes adverse effects related to positive pressure ventilation and frequent hyperventilation. In contrast, cardio cerebral resuscitation discourages endotracheal intubation during the electrical and circulatory phases of cardiac arrest due to VF.
Defibrillator pad electrodes are applied and the patient is given 200 chest compressions and then a single defibrillation shock that is immediately followed by 200 more chest compressions before the rhythm and pulse are analyzed. These additional 200 chest compressions applied after the shock but before rhythm and pulse analysis represent another important aspect of cardio cerebral resuscitation. Therefore, chest compressions were immediately initiated until an arterial pressure was established.
It has been documented that positive pressure ventilation during VF arrest is detrimental, concluding that "there is an inversely proportional relationship between mean Intrathoracic pressure, coronary perfusion pressure, and survival from cardiac arrest. Adverse effects of positive pressure ventilation include an increase in intrathoracic pressure as well as the inability to develop a negative intrathoracic pressure during the release phase of chest compression. Positive pressure ventilation inhibits venous return to the thorax and right heart, resulting in decreased coronary and cerebral pressures. Additionally, hyperventilation and increased intrathoracic pressure have adverse effects on intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure. These effects are compounded by the fact that ventilation rates by physicians and paramedic rescuers are often much faster than the rate recommended by the guidelines, even after extensive retraining.
Uninterrupted perfusion of the heart and brain prior to defibrillation during prolonged cardiac arrest is essential to neurologically normal survival. It is our conviction that the widespread implementation of cardio cerebral resuscitation for cardiac arrest will dramatically improve survival. This may mandate a paradigm shift away from advanced cardiac life support and basic life support, which emphasize standardization of content and format rather than institution- or agency- specific protocols and training.


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Last February, president of urban music at RCA and CEO of ByStorm Entertainment Mark Pitts let slip that Miguel was "90 percent" done with his follow-up to his excellent 2013 album Kaleidoscope. Miguel has now confirmed this news, announcing that the new album, which will be titled Wildheart, will be released this summer. The first single is "Coffee"—which was originally featured on a surprise EP—and it's newly-released remix featuring Wale. There have been additional whispers about Miguel working with Jai Paul and his brother, as well as Hudson Mohawke.


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Kids & Core Sins
May 15, 2014 by Kathy Tuan-Maclean
Kids & Core Sins May 15, 2014 Kathy Tuan-Maclean
As my kids and I clustered around the kitchen, a child asked me what my core sin was. Anyone who knows me knows I'm more than slightly addicted to personality tests—the Myers-Briggs, the DISC, and these days most of all, the Enneagram. My kids have absorbed some of this language, including the Enneagram idea that each of the 9 types have a core sin—basically Dante's 7 deadly sins: Anger, Pride, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Lust & Sloth plus Deceit and Fear.
Before I could answer, the kids filled in the blank, "Losing your temper. . ."
I nodded, "Anger, rage, control—yup that's me."
"What do you think my core sin is?" asked this child.
"I don't think you really really want to know."
"I do! I do!!"
Hmmm. . . Because my obsession may have more to do with innate narcissism than anything else, I weighed whether I'd be more bothered by her badgering me nonstop or her reaction to an honest answer. I decided to go for the latter.
"Self-Absorption."
"WHAT????"
"You think I'm self-absorbed? That's SO NOT my core sin! I can't believe you think that of me. There isn't one of my friends who would say that about me—I'm really caring of people at school!"
"I'm not saying you're not caring or a good friend at all. The other way to think about self-absorption is vanity."
"I'M NOT VAIN! I'm really hurt. I can't believe you think this about me."
Sigh. Picked the wrong choice.
Yet this child's siblings and I couldn't help hiding our smiles. One even said under their breath, "Case in point."
Several days later, the child came back and said, "I've been thinking about it. I think I am really self-absorbed. Maybe it really is my core sin."
Only God knows if self-absorption is this child's core sin. As the mother, believe me, I can think of others. But I'm struck by how hard it was for my child, and for me, to face what's deeply rotten and broken within us. My spiritual director says the Enneagram is helpful for those who are older, who've come to the end of themselves—who find the same broken patterns everywhere they go because in the words of a sage:
Some say you'll know your Enneagram type by identifying the sin you think is the most awful. I love this test because it helps me invite God's transforming power. I'm an "8" which means my core sin is lust—but not sexual lust—lust for power. "8"s are the archetypal male, the most negative type, the bull-in-a-china shop type who can't stand looking or feeling weak.
When I meet male "8"s, I feel both envious and relieved.. Envious because I experience that same power and energy, but it was so inappropriate for me as an Asian-American woman to show that full force that I've bottled a lot of it up and channeled instead my "7" wing. Relieved because when I tell my friends about that experience, they say, "Aren't you glad you don't act like those male "8"s?" Clearly the "8" I let show through is enough for them!
I don't know if self-absorption is really my child's core sin. Or whether this child will embrace that knowledge and use it for transformation. But I hope so. Because I've come to find that knowing my deep brokenness frees me to be forgiven. To ask God and others for it. To laugh just a little when yet again, wherever I go, there I am.
Put Down That Phone!
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: navigating through a list of components I am using reactjs to try and navigate through a list of components using the keyboard kind of like how you can navigate through facebook using the j and k keys. How can I shift focus to the first component in the list using the j key when I first land on the page and then shift focus between the components after using j and k?

  {this.props.data.map((item, index) => {

      <Component component={item} />

  })}

so what the code does is basically generates components into the ordered list and im just wondering how I can shift focus between them with the j and k keys and not using tab.

A: Currently I am working on similar problem.
Suppose you have such state:
items = [
    {
        name: 'a',
        onFocus: true
    },
    {
        name: 'b',
        onFocus: false
    }
];

In you lifecicle methods add and remove enent listeners
componentWillMount() {
    document.addEventListener("keydown", this.handleKeyDown, false);
}
componentWillUnmount() {
    document.removeEventListener("keydown", this.handleKeyDown);
}

here is handleKeyDown - you just set onFocus value in the handler:
handleKeyDown(e) {
    let index = -1;
    const items = this.state.items;
    items.map((item, i) =>{
        if(item.onFocus)index = i;
    });

    switch(e.keyCode) {
        case 74:
            e.preventDefault();
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Shalom Rav
A Blog by Rabbi Brant Rosen
AOC is Right: Trump is Running Concentration Camps on the Border
Insider the Homestead Concentration Camp, Homestead, FL.
(Cross-posted with Newsweek)
Last December, I was arrested on the border in San Diego while standing with faith leaders to protest, among other things, Trump's unlawful incarceration of immigrants. My experiences on the border and at immigrant detention centers in my home state of Illinois have left me with no doubt whatsoever that our nation is warehousing humanity in concentration camps—and that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is correct when she refers to them by this term.
As a rabbi, I am compelled to act on behalf of immigrants because my religious faith and historical legacy demands that I do so. And I'm not alone: most American Jews embrace progressive values of social justice—and understand that we ourselves have a history of oppression at the hands of state violence.
Yesterday, AOC stirred something of a hornet's nest when she retweeted an article in Esquire by an expert on immigrant detention who characterized Trump's immigrant detention centers as "concentration camps." Almost immediately, some Republican politicians, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York pounced, claiming AOC's "regrettable use of Holocaust terminology to describe these contemporary concerns diminishes the evil intent of the Nazis to eradicate the Jewish people."
It is deeply problematic, highly partisan—and historically incorrect—to declare that the use of "concentration camps" is to be constrained to the limits of "Holocaust terminology" (itself hardly an academic term.) As scholar Jonathan Katz recently pointed out in the LA Times, the term "was invented by a Spanish official …during Cuba's 1895 independence war." FDR, notably, also used the term in reference to his Executive Order to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II. And enough people have pointed out in recent days the usage of the term by the British suppressing the Boer rebellion in South Africa for it to be elaborated on here.
We Jews do not own this term. But in fact, I would argue it is imperative that we Jews use this term whenever these dreadful facilities are imposed on groups of people other than ourselves. History has shown us that the concentration of humanity into forced detention invariably leads entire societies to exceedingly dark places. This practice did not begin with Nazi policies against European Jewry—nor did it end there.
The same is true of AOC's impassioned and all-too familiar call, "Never again." As a rabbi, a Jew and a person of conscience, allow me to put it as plainly as I can: AOC's use of this phrase was altogether appropriate. I do not and cannot view this call as "Holocaust terminology." On the contrary: "Never Again" means never again for anyone, or else it doesn't mean anything at all.
The fact that we are even debating these terms shows just how twisted the conversation has become. Rather than parsing the words of a human rights champion like AOC for petty political gain, these politicians and Jewish leaders should be directing their criticism where it truly belongs: at a morally depraved national policy that parses out access to human rights according to origin and ethnicity, tears apart families, and cages children in, yes, concentration camps.
This entry was posted in American Jewish Community, Children's Rights, Holocaust, Human Rights, Immigration, Racism, Refugees on June 20, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Remembering Stanley Tigerman
(Photo: WTTW)
Below: an excerpt from a eulogy I gave today at the funeral of celebrated Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman. As this Tribune obituary notes, "Stanley Tigerman (was) the most influential Chicago architect of his generation and the ringleader of a group of rebels who opened the way for a more inclusive view of Chicago architecture and changed the course of the city's design."
As I note below, it was a truly an honor for me to officiate at his funeral.
Given that Stanley made no secret of his antipathy for organized religion, some of you might be wondering why a rabbi is leading his service. Stanley actually reached out to me several months ago through my wife – whom he knew professionally – and personally asked me to officiate at this funeral. Somehow, Stanley found out that Hallie's husband was a rabbi and when he asked her about me, she related to him that I had my own issues with organized religion myself. I was humbled and honored that he reached out to me the way that he did – and that he trusted me enough to ask me to help lead this tribute to his life and work.
My wife and I spent a wonderful evening recently with Stanley and Margaret. It was clear that he wanted to share certain parts of his story with me and most importantly, to make sure I knew about the formative influences his life. In particular, he spoke to me at length about his childhood and his experiences growing up in grandfather's Edgewater rooming house during the Great Depression. His grandfather Max was an immigrant tailor from Hungary who, after arriving in America, devoted his life to traditional Jewish Talmud study. Stanley's parents, Sam and Emma, like so many of their generation, were hit hard by the Depression and struggled economically – and eventually had to move in with Stanley's grandfather, where he spent his formative years.
Stanley's stories about growing up as an only child in the rooming house, as you might expect, were colorful and filled of characters that could easily fit into a Damon Runyon novel. The central character in his childhood was clearly Max, who Stanley described as "the most significant individual in my young life." His grandfather was clearly his most important early teacher, teaching him English and Hebrew and enrolling him in the Hebrew school at Agudas Achim, an orthodox synagogue in Uptown.
Of these years, Stanley wrote in his memoir:
My grandpa and I were together constantly. He was a role model of some consequence, and if he had lived somewhat longer than he did there is the distinct likelihood that my life would have taken an entirely different turn. Conceivably, I can imagine studying to become a rabbi. But, given my notoriously short attention span combined with excruciating memories of difficult Hebrew lessons at Agudas Achim, where knuckles bloodied by baton-wielding rabbis were a daily occurrence, I have serious doubts about my ability for such a noble calling with its attendant discipline.
Stanley told me that he only realized later what a profound influence his grandfather had on his life during those early years. As he grew older, he came to believe that his schooling in the interpretive traditions of the Jewish religion and his devotion to the field of architecture were inextricably linked. In particular, he felt a deep kinship to Judaism's culture of inquiry and debate – of contrarianism. Of course Stanley was nothing, if not a contrarian – and he told me he was sure this aspect of his makeup was due in no small way to his childhood education in yeshiva.
When Stanley was eight years old his grandfather died and his yeshiva days came to an end. His mother enrolled him in very different Jewish school: the Reform Temple Shalom on Lake Shore Drive. Stanley told me that as a child from a poor home, he never fully fit in at the high-end Temple Shalom. This experience only exacerbated his sense of being an outsider. It also left him with a lifelong antipathy to organized religion, although his own personal sense of connection to Jewish spiritual tradition remained an important influence on him and his work for the remainder of his life.
There are those who are far more equipped than I to discuss Stanley Tigerman's architectural achievements and the monumental legacy he has left behind: his years as a leader in the post-modernist movement, his role in the so-called "Chicago Seven." There is also so much more to say about Stanley's formative days in the Navy, his love of progressive jazz music, his deep commitment to social justice, his famously irascible sense of humor, his professional partnerships so many important colleagues – and his personal/professional relationship with his beloved wife Margaret. And there is even more than that – much more than we could ever cover in one short service. And I am confident that these tributes and stories will be shared at length as his legacy is discussed and shared by those who were touched by his life and his genius.
For now, I'd like to offer just a few brief thoughts based on Stanley's words to me during that memorable evening we spent together. It was clear to me from the beginning that he didn't need to tell me details of his biography or to recount his specific accomplishments. Rather, he wanted me to understand the essence of his philosophy of life that clearly animated everything he did – indeed, everything he stood for.
Stanley gifted me two books that he had written, and he urged me to read them in order to understand him more thoroughly. One was his memoir, appropriately titled "Designing Bridges to Burn," and the other was an astonishing scholarly work entitled "The Architecture of Exile," that he dedicated to the memory of his grandfather. His ideas, I believe are quintessentially Jewish, quintessentially American, and quintessentially Stanley Tigerman.
In "The Architecture of Exile," he wrote,
We are in a state of exile. Post-modern Americans, like their Renaissance predecessors, yearn for another, simpler, time. America is a land of foundlings and orphans, who are detached from their proper parenthood and wander in search of legitimacy in a world of other histories of longer periods of time. Americans, collectively displaced from the many lands of their separate origins, are torn between the desire to gain their roots and the knowledge that this information, once attained, will do them little good.
When you hear these words, you understand the essence of Stanley's identification as an outsider. You can also plainly see his understanding of conflict as an essential fact of our existence. Throughout his life it seems to me, Stanley embraced these essential contradictions in a brave and beautiful way. Of course we must know and understand our past. But we cannot and must be imprisoned by it, which for Stanley would mean to descend into shallow nostalgia. As Stanley wrote, "While it is common practice to predict where we are going by where we have come from, there is no assurance that memory will help us to ascertain where we are going." The only true way forward, Stanley seems to be telling us, is to simultaneously honor and challenge convention. To be acknowledge the status quo even as we show no hesitation in upending it.
I believe this ideal explains so much about Stanley Tigerman. It certainly explains his fierce devotion to social justice and solidarity with the outsiders, the downtrodden and the oppressed of our world. It also explains why he did not suffer fools – or those whom he considered to be fools – and why he was ready to take the hits for ideas and principles he deeply believed in. When I think of one of his most iconic artistic works, the collage of Mies Van Der Rohe's Crown Hall sinking into the sea like the Titanic, I can't help but think of the Biblical midrash of Abraham destroying his father's idols. There are few in the world such as Stanley, who at once could honor those who blazed trails before him, even as he sent their work sinking into the watery depths.
So let us honor Stanley's legacy. Let us honor his legacy by embodying his courage, his principled iconoclasm, his understanding that conflict is an essential building block of creativity and justice in our world. If we are indeed brave enough to embody these ideals, then the sacred narrative of his remarkable life will live on, perhaps even longer than the buildings he built while he was alive. And I have no doubt that Stanley would have wanted it this way.
Zichrono Livracha – may his memory be for a blessing.
This entry was posted in Architecture, Art, Chicago, Judaism, Religion on June 6, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
When Secular Israelis Claim "God Gave This Land to Us"
(photo: AP video)
Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, created something of viral sensation last week when, during a speech in the Security Council, he dramatically brandished a Bible and declared "This is the deed to our land."
He then continued:
From the book of Genesis; to the Jewish exodus from Egypt; to receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai; to the gates of Canaan; and to the realization of God's covenant in the Holy Land of Israel; the Bible paints a consistent picture. The entire history of our people, and our connection to Eretz Yisrael, begins right here.
Danon's use of an ancient religious text as justification for the State of Israel's right to the land was likely an astonishing moment for many. What on earth was a secular Israeli doing lecturing the UN on "God's covenant in the Holy Land of Israel?" For those familiar with Zionist pedagogy however, his comments were neither unusual nor unprecedented.
When I heard about Danon's Biblical tutorial, I immediately recalled a famous story about a 1937 meeting between David Ben-Gurion and Lord Peel, who was then heading the British Royal Peel Commission of Inquiry into the potential partition of Mandate Palestine. According to the story, Lord Peel asked Ben-Gurion where he was born and Ben-Gurion replied that he was from Plonsk, Poland. Lord Peel responded that the Arab leaders with whom he had met were all born in Palestine and most of the Jewish leaders were from Eastern Europe. Peel noted that the Arab people had a kushan (Ottoman land deed) that entitled them to the land – and asked Ben-Gurion if he also had a document that proved the land belonged to him.
At that point, Ben-Gurion became aware of the Bible upon which he had just sworn as a commission witness. He grabbed it, held it up and exclaimed, "Here is your kushan. It is the world's most highly respected book and I believe that you British regard it with much respect too. We must have this land!"
This phenomenon – that of otherwise secular Israeli Jews proclaiming "God gave this land to us" – is not particularly uncommon. It is actually rooted in the unique form of nationalist ideology that gave rise the state of Israel. If we are to grasp this mentality properly then, we must first understand the early ideological trends that motivated Israel's original settlers and eventual founders.
Many scholars have pointed out that Zionists – particularly those from Russia and Poland – were markedly influenced by the ideas of European Romantic nationalism (also known as "ethnic nationalism," "organic nationalism" or "integral nationalism") an intellectual movement that spread across Europe in the mid-19th century. The early seeds of this ideology were planted in the ideas of Rousseau, Hegel and particularly the German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, who posited that "each nation is separate, distinguished by climate, education, custom, tradition, and heredity."
These ideas were a powerful part of the ideological fabric of 19th century Europe from which Zionism emerged. In his book "The Founding Myths of Israel," Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell notes that "Herder's thinking had tremendous importance in Eastern Europe" during the 19th century and that these ideas were formative for important Labor Zionists such as A.D. Gordon, Berl Katznelson and David Ben-Gurion. Sternhell's work compellingly demonstrates how otherwise secular socialists could espouse an ideology that articulated a deeply spiritual – and at times almost mystical connection of the Jewish people to land, history, language and ritual:
A cultural-organic conception of the nation necessarily included religion, which it saw as an inseparable part of national identity. This was the case in Eastern Europe, but also in Western Europe, in France and Spain. French integral nationalism was no less Catholic than Polish nationalism, and religion played the same role in it as it did in Poland or Romania. It was a focus of unity and identity, over and beyond social divisions. In integral nationalism religion had a social function, unconnected with its metaphysical content. Generally, it was a religion without God; in order to fulfill its function as a unifying force, religion required only external symbols, not inner content (p. 56, emphasis mine.)
In other words, the settlers and eventual founders of the Jewish state instrumentalized religion, emphasizing its social function to unify the people under one national identity. Indeed, the idea of a "religion without God" can be clearly discerned in the words of many pivotal Zionists. Thus Gordon, the father of Labor Zionism, could in one breath excoriate traditional Judaism with incredible vehemence while claiming that "the greatness of nationalism is its cosmic dimension" (p. 62). Sternhell also describes the venerable Labor Zionist figure, Berl Katznelson, as "a kind of secular rabbi whose strength lay in a direct contact with a sect of believers" (p. 135).
As my anecdote above demonstrates, Ben-Gurion's world view was also deeply motivated by this mindset. Decades after lifting a Bible before Lord Peel, Ben-Gurion famously convened a study group of archeologists, academics and military officers to read and discuss the Biblical book of Joshua. It was well known that Joshua, which describes the Israelite conquest of Canaan in vivid detail, was Ben-Gurion's favorite book of the Bible. In keeping with the ways of Romantic nationalists, he considered the Bible to be the Jewish people's "national epic," connecting them to a glorious ancient past as well as the a justification for their contemporary settlement of the land.
As American scholar Rachel Haverlock has noted:
Similar to other national movements, Zionism appealed to the glories of an ancient past and brought biblical words and phrases into spoken Hebrew. The Hebrew Bible served as a linguistic source and literary template in the prestate Yishuv and early decades of the State of Israel…
Ben-Gurion saw the biblical war narrative as constituting an ideal basis for a unifying myth of national identity. Not only could modern Israelis relate to the processes of conquest and settlement, but through the prism of Joshua they could also understand them as reenactments of the biblical past ("The Joshua Generation: Conquest and the Promised Land " p. 309.)
The use of the Bible as national epic was not the exclusive provenance of Labor Zionists. Zeev Jabotinsky, the founder of Revisionist Zionism (the ideology of the present-day Likud party) wrote the 1927 novel, "Samson the Nazirite," which portrays Samson as a Jewish national hero. Though Jabotinsky was a passionate opponent of Labor Zionism, he and his socialist Zionist compatriots clearly shared a deep attachment to the trappings of Romantic nationalism.
Since the founding of the state (when the Bible was invoked in its Declaration of Independence), these romantic mythic narratives have since exerted an indelible hold over Israeli socio-political culture. Well before Danon's UN pronouncement one could choose from a myriad of examples. To offer but one more: Netanyahu's 2015 speech before Congress, in which invoked the Biblical book of Esther to drive home the "threat" of present day Iran to the state of Israel. ("Today the Jewish people face another attempt by yet another Persian potentate to destroy us.")
With the political ascendency of the settler movement, it might be said that the Romantic nationalism Israel's of socialist founders has found common cause with religious Zionists who use the Bible to make unabashedly fundamentalist claims on the land. Thus, an extreme nationalist Israeli politician like Ayelet Shaked can be accurately described as "a secular woman from left-leaning Tel Aviv (who has) become the most successful spokesperson for the religious-nationalist party and the settlement movement it strongly supports." In a sense, we might say that the trajectory of contemporary Zionism has hopelessly conflated secular nationalism and religious ideology into one Biblically-based claim to historic Palestine.
In the end, however, whether it is used by Labor Zionists, Revisionist Zionists or right wing West Bank settlers, the use of the Bible as the "Jewish people's deed of sale" to the land of Israel represents a radical break with Jewish history, throughout which Jews regarded this text as a religious – not a political – document. It is also a profoundly fraught enterprise, particularly when you consider that the Zionist national epic includes God's command in the book of Joshua for the Israelites to take the land by force and dispossess its Canaanite residents.
In an era that is currently witnessing the rise of romantic/ethnic (read "white") nationalism throughout the world once more, it is critical that nations honestly assess what it is that truly binds them together. Is it one people's "organic right" to a particular land or a commitment to the individual rights of all who dwell upon it?
This entry was posted in Bible, God, Iran, Israel, Judaism, Palestine, Politics, Religion, UN, Zionism on May 23, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
psalm 140: deliver me
oh lord deliver me from my people
who wield their weapons with impunity
whose armies rain bombs on the imprisoned
whose apologists equate oppressor and oppressed
who punish resistance without mercy.
keep me from those who speak so easily of two sides
of dual narratives of complexities and coexistence
those who call submission peace and lawless laws justice
who never tire of intoning never again
even as they commit crimes again and again
who have forsaken every lesson they've learned
from their own history and their
own sacred heritage.
like jacob i have dreamed fearful dreams
i have struggled in the night
i have limped pitifully across the river
and now like jacob in my last dying breath
i have nothing left but to curse my own
whose tools are tools of lawlessness
who maim refugees who dare dream of return
and send bombs upon the desperate
for the crime of fighting back.
so send me away from this people
this tortured fallen assembly
keep me far from their council
count me not among their ranks
i can abide them no longer.
This entry was posted in Gaza, Israel, Judaism, Palestine, Poetry, Prayer, Refugees, Religion, War on May 5, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Confessions of a Wicked Child: A Passover Reflection by Jay Stanton
Here are the remarks that Jay Stanton offered at Tzedek Chicago's Passover seder last night. Jay was formerly Tzedek's rabbinical intern – and I'm delighted to announce we've just hired him to be part of our staff for the coming year:
In a traditional seder, four children are described: a wise child, who likes learning all the ins and outs of Jewish law, a wicked child, who pokes fun at the whole idea of a seder, a simple child who seeks basic information, and a child who does not know how to ask. These archetypical children help us explore what it means to fulfill the mitzvah of telling our children about the Exodus from Egypt.
I have a confession to make; I am a wicked child. Of course, there are the ways society and the Jewish community in general have cast me as the wicked child: being queer and trans and supporting Palestinian rights not least among them. But I'm also a self-identified wicked child. I am personality-wise and ethically the kind of person that voices my disapproval of standard approaches and doesn't care what you think of me in response. I'm a contrarian by nature, and I like asking difficult questions. Last year at this time, I asked all of us what we were doing here when we could be somewhere else doing something to make the world better. And here we are this year, doing this peculiar ritual yet again.
I'm a wicked child. I want to know what this means to you and why you think this is the way we should celebrate liberation. Wouldn't it be better to hear directly from people who have escaped modern slavery and to have real conversations about global abolition of slavery and how to establish reparations to address the ongoing legacies of slavery in America? Plus, the Exodus never happened; the seder is an exercise in remembering alternative facts, which is to say lies.
I told you I'm a wicked child. And I'm guessing I'm not the only one here. Despair not! Wicked children are valued by Jewish tradition. Because the Talmud values contrarians. Because the seder itself values the wicked child. After their question, "What does this ritual mean to you?", the wicked child is not sent to bed without their supper. Instead, the parent responds in kind.
"This is because of what God did for me when I went free from Egypt. For me, and not for you, because if you had been there, you would not have gone free." It's a contrarian response, not a real argument. In our Exodus narrative, more people than the Israelites left Egypt together. In Hebrew this is called 'erev rav, translated as a very diverse group or coalition. I imagine the wicked children marched out of Egypt as part of the liberation coalition, where they found ample opportunity to critique the choices of the liberatory leaders, like leading the group directly to a body of water while being chased by the Egyptian military. Maybe a frustrated wicked child yelled at Moses, "What are you going to do now? Hold up your staff and just wait for God?!"
Voices of critique and dissent have pushed our conversation toward progress, inclusion, and more ethical behavior for thousands of years. They are enshrined in Talmud and indeed in the Haggadah. Judaism is enriched, not threatened, by a multiplicity of opinions and approaches.
To put it differently, the vital role of wicked children in our Passover seder exemplifies spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom, one of Tzedek Chicago's core values, is more than active inclusion of atheists, agnostics, and non-Jews in our midst. It is an affirmation of the 'erev rav as a diverse, universalist community, and it is an elevation of critique from an obstacle to overcome to a necessary part of collective liberation. We not only allow the wicked child to derail the Passover seder, we need them. Judaism needs its wicked children.
Just as political freedom provides a check against political tyranny, spiritual freedom provides a check against spiritual tyranny. Both human and so-called divine spiritual authority have tendencies toward the coercive and oppressive. We could dismiss this problem as one that only affects the religious right. However, we are also at risk of spiritual tyranny here at Tzedek Chicago. We could give too much power to our spiritual leader and follow Brant even if and when he's wrong, but spiritual freedom gives every one of us the tools to speak up if Brant starts leading us down the wrong path. We are a community for people who share Tzedek's specific values, and we say freely that people who object to them can find other Jewish communities. There's not much distance between that and establishing some kind of review committee to determine whether you faithfully adhere to every line of each of our core values in every aspect of your life. Don't worry; we're not going to establish an Inquisition. Spiritual freedom ensures we are universalist not only in our outcomes but also in our process. When our leaders are wrong or when we feel excluded, we get to speak up and remain wicked children at the table.
As a wicked child, I wonder how the rest of the wicked child Passover conversation goes. If I were continuing it, I would caution the parent, saying "Now you sound like the oppressor. Do you want to be like Pharaoh?!"
Mah ha'avodah hazot lakhem? What does this ritual mean to you?
This entry was posted in American Jewish Community, Human Rights, Israel, Jewish Community, Judaism, LGBTQ Issues, Palestine, Passover, Pesach, Religion, Tzedek Chicago, Zionism on April 25, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Olives and Maror: A Seder Supplement in Honor of the Great Return March
Here is an excerpt from my new Passover seder supplement, "Olives and Maror – The Great Return March:"
And so, on this night of Passover we affirm: we cannot gather to tell the Exodus story without acknowledging the liberation narrative that is currently unfolding at the Gaza border. We affirm further: if we remember our own persecution yet fail to call out Israel's persecution of the Palestinian people, our seder will not be complete.
We now combine maror and olives, to acknowledge the bitterness of lives lost and dreams denied – together with the eternal hope of justice and return. Let us redouble our resolve to do our part to make these hopes and dreams a reality bimeirah be'yamneinu – speedily and in our own day.
Click here for the entire supplement to print out and read at your seder table this year. (Click here, here, here and here for supplements I've written in previous years.)
This entry was posted in Current Events, Gaza, Israel, Judaism, Nonviolence, Palestine, Passover, Peace, Pesach, Refugees, Tzedek Chicago on April 9, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
Bearing Witness to Root Causes at Radio Progreso
The invitation for our Root Causes Pilgrimage to Honduras came from Radio Progreso, a Jesuit-owned radio station based in the city of El Progreso. As one of the few independent media voices in Honduras Radio Progreso does extensive work in advancing human rights, promoting peace, supporting community-based initiatives, and advocating for environmental justice across the country. The station broadcasts its transmissions in nearby San Pedro Sula and the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa to an estimated audience of 1.5 million people.
Radio Progreso is led by Father Ismail Moreno, known to everyone in Honduras as "Father Melo." Father Melo is one of the most important grassroots leaders in the country and a fierce proponent of human rights. In a time of increasing threats to freedom of speech, Radio Progreso is one of the most fiercely dependable sources of truth in the country.
In 2001, Padre Melo founded a companion project of Radio Progreso — Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (ERIC), which provides grassroots investigation and reporting of the many forms of injustice and violence that plague Honduran activists and peasants working to reform the political and economic structures that stifle the development of the country's poor and marginalized people. Melo has been the director of the radio station since 2006.
It's difficult to understate the courage of institutions like Radio Progreso. In 2011, correspondent Nery Jeremias was gunned down; three years later, marketing manager Carlos Mejia was stabbed to death. The station has also been vandalized repeatedly over the years, After the station was critical of the fraudulent 2017, its antenna was destroyed by vandals. Father Melo himself lives with the constant threat to his life and well-being; his entry into public activism followed the brutal 1989 assassinations of his mentor, Jesuit Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría, and five confreres at the University of Central America in El Salvador.
We also spent the morning touring the station and learning about its work from the staff. As I quickly learned, Radio Progreso understands its work as a radio station in service of its role as an advocacy organization on behalf of the Honduran people. As it was explained to us, RIC plays an important role in researching and conveying news to its listeners on critical issues such as:
Political malfeasance;
The corruption of the electoral system;
The effects of the highly militarized local and national police;
Threats, intimidation and murder delivered against local people, human rights activists, environmentalists and farmers who oppose the ongoing environmental destruction caused by internationally-financed hydroelectric dams, extractive industries, agribusiness and the newly developed tourism industry;
The violence of criminal drug cartels which frequently have links to Honduran government officials or the grieving families whose migrating children who have mysteriously disappeared on the way to the US.
During a presentation by Father Melo and the staff, we participated in a moving ceremony which included an offering of gifts from our delegation. Among others, my friend and colleague Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb brought Father Melo a braid of sweet grass (at right) from the Lakota tribe at Standing Rock as a symbol of friendship and shared resistance.
After visiting the station, our delegation broke up into three groups and boarded buses for trips to different regions throughout the county. My group embarked on a 6 hour ride to Bajo Aguán. We made many stops along the way, however, including \a lovely seaside stop at La Ceiba beach on the northern coast.
We arrived in time for dinner and a briefing on the political situation in Bajo Aguán. It was an unforgettable visit – I'll go into detail in my next post.
This entry was posted in Central America, Civil Rights, Environmentalism, Honduras, Human Rights, Immigration, Interfaith, Politics on April 2, 2019 by Rabbi Brant Rosen.
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text:
Tarot Card Meanings, GemStones.
Gemstones and Crystals
Birthstones by Zodiac
Stone Treatment
Birthday Zodiac
Labradorite: Magical and Healing Effect, Zodiac signs, Chakras, Taking Care, Identifying Fake
Labradorite is a type of feldspar mineral.
In 1770, a Moravian missionary discovers a shining stone on the coast of St. Paul Island on the Labrador Peninsula, Canada. This stone was named labradorite after the place of discovery.
It is now also found in Mexico, the United States and Madagascar.
It is also produced in the Yurema region of Finland. It happened to be discovered during World War II, and it came to be called "Spectrolite" because it has a blacker ground color and a beautiful rainbow color.
How does Labradorite Look:
The characteristic of labradorite is its beautiful flash. The light that seems to be cold and has a very deep depth is called "Labradlessence".
Depending on the stone, the color it emits will vary, but it will show various expressions such as blue, green, gold, orange, and red.
The color of the ground is often dark gray or black, and it is often compared to "butterfly wings" because of its colorful hues. Many Japanese people associate the pattern that floats on the back of the abalone shell.
It's a relatively cheap stone, but high quality stones can also be treasures.
Benefits of Labradorite
Following are the benefits of Labradorite
Message from space,
intuition / insight up,
inspiration / creativity up,
prediction / spiritual ability up,
oppressive personality improvement,
higher self guidance,
soul growth,
aura restoration
Healing effects of Labradorite:
In the field of stone healing, it is said to activate the energy centers in the spleen and sacrum, supplement the lack of sexual energy, activate the respiratory system including the lungs, and activate the blood and nervous system.
In addition, it is said that the work of adding a specific pigment to the aura of the person holding the stone will restore and stabilize the aura balance. Looking at the colorful flashes of labradorite, I feel like that.
Labradorite is often referred to as "shielding (protecting) the owner from external negative vibrations such as jealousy and malice" and "recovering sadness, anger, and depressed mind", which is the above-mentioned aura balance. It may be due to restoration.
However, these effects and benefits have not been proven in modern medicine.
Magical effects of Labradorite:
At first glance, labradorite is a dull green stone with a dull feel, but when the light hits it by tilting it, it suddenly emits flashes of various shades.
The light, which is somewhat cold, yet has a cosmic depth, is very mysterious.
Emmerson's poem on Labradorite
Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th-century American thinker and poet, has left a poem with labradorite. It looks like the following.
"A person is like a piece of labradorite. It doesn't shine when you pick it up, but when you reach a certain angle, it instantly gives off a deep and beautiful glow."
"A man is like a bit of Labrador Spar, which has no luster as you turn it in your hand until you come to a particular angle, then it shows deep and beautiful colors."
It can be interpreted in many ways, but it can also be understood that each person has their own strengths, and by making good use of those parts, they can shine.
Stone connected to the universe
The cold light emitted by labradorite is said to be some kind of information emitted by other planets in the galaxy to those who have this stone on Earth. Humans seem to recognize that information as intuition and insight.
From this point of view, this stone is especially recommended for those who need a keen sense of intuition and those who need inspiration and imagination. Furthermore, it is said to expand the abilities of people with psychic powers such as psychics.
In addition, it is said that the guidance by one's higher self (higher ego) will be smoother, and especially the oppressed personality will be improved.
If you have a gemstone, depending on the stone, there is a compatibility problem that it suits or does not suit the owner's temperament, but labradorite is said to fulfill the task that everyone should do regardless of the owner's energy state I am. In other words, it can be said to be an almighty stone that "fulfills the dreams and hopes of its owner" without causing any harm to anyone, like crystal.
How to cleanse and Purify Labradorite:
It is said that if you let the moon and stars come out on the night of the starlight bath, it will be purified and power charged.
In addition, it is thought that it will be easier to use the power of stones by resonating the waves obtained from space with the waves of the earth, so it is recommended to touch the crystal, which is said to be a stone native to the earth.
Labradorite corresponds to which chakra:
Coccyx, middle abdomen, throat
Properties of Labradorite:
Soka
Ichoseki Feldspar
/ Feldspar group
Spectrolite-Refers to Finnish products
Misnomer
Main production areas
Canada, Madagascar, Finland, USA, Mexico
Silicate mineral
(Na, Ca) AlSi 3 O 8 Sodium, calcium, aluminum, silicon, oxygen compounds
Triclinic system
Crystal habit (shape)
Massive, plate-like
Main shades
Rainbow-colored iridescence on a black or dark green background
Streak color
Complete in two directions
Similar stone non-made
Minerally, it is a type of plagioclase. It is a solid solution consisting of albite, anorthite, neutral feldspar, etc., and each crystal overlaps to form a multi-layer, so the incoming light reflects, diffracts, and interferes to create a unique brilliance. In addition, fine inclusions such as magnetite and hematite affect the light interference phenomenon, producing the cold rainbow-like light peculiar to labradorite.
This kind of rainbow-colored glow is called labra dressing (labrad effect).
Most labradorite is dark green or dark stone, but there is white labradorite with a white background. In this case, it is called Rainbow Moonstone as the distribution name.
Labradorite from Oregon, USA, is sometimes called Oregon sunstone or heliolite.
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© EraTarot


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Q: iOS memory warning breaking EAGLView When I get a memory warning level-1 my EAGLView starts spitting out lines of openGL errors (502 & 506) and the app doesn't crash but the EAGLView becomes unresponsive. the errors are spamming out because of the Cocos2d Director calling draw.
This is how the memory warning callback looks:
- (void)applicationDidReceiveMemoryWarning:(UIApplication *)application {
    [[CCDirector sharedDirector] purgeCachedData];
}

*

*What do the 502 and 506 errors mean, and 2. should there be any effect on the opengl view from memory warnings or is it releasing something it shouldn't in my code?

[Update]
managed to get some verbose logs out of cocos2d:
Received memory warning. Level=1
cocos2d: deallocing <CCSprite = 002657B0 | Rect = (0.00,0.00,32.00,32.00) | tag = -1 | atlasIndex = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCTexture2D = 00265EA0 | Name = 4 | Dimensions = 32x32 | Coordinates = (1.00, 1.00)>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCSprite = 00265A70 | Rect = (0.00,0.00,32.00,32.00) | tag = -1 | atlasIndex = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCSprite = 00266050 | Rect = (0.00,0.00,32.00,32.00) | tag = -1 | atlasIndex = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <LineNode = 0027A630 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <LineNode = 0027AB90 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <LineNode = 0027AF50 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <LineNode = 0027B270 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <LineNode = 00204820 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <PaintingView = 00264970 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <TutorialView = 00266570 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCRenderTexture = 00266660 | Tag = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCTexture2D = 00266750 | Name = 5 | Dimensions = 1024x1024 | Coordinates = (1.00, 0.75)>
cocos2d: deallocing <CCSprite = 00266960 | Rect = (0.00,0.00,1024.00,768.00) | tag = -1 | atlasIndex = -1>
cocos2d: deallocing <EAGLView: 0x24aee0; frame = (0 0; 1024 768); transform = [0, -1, 1, 0, 0, 0]; autoresize = RM+BM; layer = <CAEAGLLayer: 0x2492c0>>
cocos2d: deallocing <ES1Renderer = 0024D0E0 | size = 768x1024>
modifying layer that is being finalized - 0x2fab80

So that's pretty much everything. looks like everything except the scene node is disappearing.

A: As for what the OpenGL errors mean, you can refer to your OpenGL headers, which would tell you that 502 is GL_INVALID_OPERATION and 506 is GL_INVALID_FRAMEBUFFER_OPERATION.
I can't see anything from your question or provided code, but I'm assuming that either you are releasing your framebuffer prematurely (which you probably shouldn't do at runtime), or Cocos2D is releasing your framebuffer when you call purgeCachedData (the latter of which I'm sort of doubtful of) and failing to recreate it completely (if at all).  You may want to check your implementation of EAGLView and see if it's set up to handle recreating the framebuffer when needed (and see if there's somewhere that you're releasing the framebuffer unnecessarily).
That said, if you're getting memory warnings, you might want to address the source of those as well.


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His touch was quite impersonal, but Clare was disconcerted to feel her skin tingling. His hands were strong, cool and calloused, and very brown against her English skin. She snatched her hands away, furious to find herself blushing.
In the hot, dusty Australian Outback, the last thing a woman expects to find is a husband….
Clare, the Englishwoman, Ellie, the tomboy and Lizzy, the career girl, don't come to this harsh, beautiful land looking for love.
Yet they all find themselves saying "I do" to a handsome Australian man of their dreams!
Celebrate three unexpected weddings, Australian style!
EYES narrowed against the glare, Clare watched the cloud of dust approaching through the shimmering haze. Could this be Gray Henderson at last?
She certainly hoped so. She had been waiting for him all morning, with nothing to do but walk Alice up and down the main street of Mathison. It had not taken long, Clare remembered with a sigh.
Apart from the hotel, there was a general store, a bank and a petrol station. A handful of low, functional houses were set in dusty yards and the whole town—if such a straggling collection of buildings could be called a town—had an air of being battened down against the heat. They had seen no one during their walk, and had retreated to the shade of the hotel verandah, where Alice had been happy enough to play with her hands and chirrup gently to herself.
Clare, though, had been heartily bored. The emergence of the dust cloud on the road that stretched emptily out to the horizon had been enough to make her get to her feet, but it was some minutes before it materialised at last into a battered utility truck. It drew up opposite the hotel with a clunk of gears, the passenger door opened and a man got out.
From her viewpoint at the top of the verandah steps, Clare could see only that he was a lean, rangy figure in moleskin trousers and a checked shirt, bending down to say something through the window to the driver. As she watched, he slapped the roof of the cab in a gesture of farewell, the truck roared off, and he turned and walked across the road towards the hotel.
The unhurried stride, the laconic way he settled his hat on his head, matched so precisely the deep, slow voice on the phone that Clare's nerves tightened with a mixture of relief that he had turned up at last and irritation. He clearly wasn't in any hurry, in spite of having kept her waiting all morning!
Not that she would be able to say anything, Clare reminded herself. She would have to be very careful. She had to get this first meeting right, not just for Alice's sake, but for her own. The realisation of just how important the next few minutes would be made Clare bend down and lift Alice into her arms, holding her small, solid body close for reassurance. Having spent the whole morning longing for Gray Henderson to arrive, she found herself suddenly hoping that it wouldn't be him at all.
He had brown hair, brown weathered skin and a pair of unreadable brown eyes. Alice's eyes, Clare realised with a jolt. Somehow she hadn't expected that. Under their steady gaze, Clare was suddenly conscious of how strange and out of place she must look in this dusty outback town, with her pearl earrings and her yellow linen dress and her elegant Italian sandals. She had dressed with special care that morning, wanting to impress him, but if he was impressed, he was giving absolutely no sign of it.
'Yes.' She had a horrible feeling that her smile was as brittle and alien as she looked, and her voice sounded clipped and very English compared to his slow Australian drawl. 'Thank you for coming,' she added, stilted with the effort not to ask him why it had taken him so long.
'You said it was important,' he reminded her.


Click here to contact the Centering Prayer Group.
Meetings: 7:00 pm, every Monday in the Church. Open to All.
• Centering Prayer As a Small Faith Community — Are you curious about Most Holy Redeemer's meditative Centering Prayer community, what it is, who practices this prayer, and how it is different from liturgical prayers, rote prayers of childhood, petitionary and thanksgiving prayers on which we rely so frequently?
• Centering Prayer is a modern meditative prayer practice that renews the ancient Christian contemplative tradition of Silent Prayer. This tradition is rooted in Jesus' teaching — recall the Scriptural reference: "when you pray, go into your secret room and close the door. And your Father, who sees in secret, will hear you". This ancient contemplative prayer was refined by early Church Fathers, and practiced widely by the early Mothers & Fathers of the Desert. It predates all schisms within Christianity and transcends doctrinal differences among Christian traditions.
• The most practical explanation is that Centering Prayer is a simple method to quiet our minds and bring us into the great Interior Silence, where our intent is to be present to God. This is a simple method, because there are no elaborate props, no credentials required, only a willingness and desire to sit down comfortably in a quiet environment, close our eyes and consent to the presence of God within.
• And because we are human, and the human condition is one of nearly constant thoughts and emotions, we are instructed to employ a self-selected Sacred Word as part of the process to gently meet the rising thoughts, bodily sensations or sounds that inevitably pursue us – and by using that Sacred Word, we ever so gently let the thoughts go — once again returning to the Great Interior Silence. For some practitioners, this process of quieting thoughts by using a Sacred Word is difficult at first, but establishes itself as habitual when practiced.
• While the method appears so simple in reading the explanations above, Contemplative Outreach, the organization which teaches Centering Prayer and supports its small faith communities, has learned by experience that the biggest single indicator of successful adaptation to Centering Prayer is by practicing in a small faith community. Therefore, we encourage those of you who are interested to come to Most Holy Redeemer on a Monday evening at 7:00pm and sit in practice with us.
• You can receive individual coaching in Centering Prayer, and we can help you further learn the background and method through watching videos of Father Thomas Keating, Cistercian monk who has helped bring this ancient contemplative tradition out of the monasteries and into the lives of laypeople internationally.
• Centering Prayer is ecumenically inclusive — of the 65 Centering Prayer groups in northern California, half are held in Catholic Churches, and the rest spread among a half dozen other denominations. Centering Prayer is truly compatible with all lifestyles, all ages, all religions. It does not diminish or limit regular spiritual practices and expression, but leads its practitioners to reclaim their Christian contemplative heritage.
• For more information, call Sr. Cathy Cahur SC at (415) 553-8776.


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The Westin Resort & Spa, Cancun
Cancun Hotel Zone, Quintana Roo, Mexico
See All Cancun Hotel Zone Hotels
On a lovely beach and lagoon in a quieter part of Cancun's Hotel Zone
All rooms have ocean or lagoon views; some have balconies
Four triangular outdoor pools with ocean views; one with swim-up bar
Three restaurants, including several seafood options with ocean views, and three bars
Luxurious spa with variety of treatments available
Well-equipped fitness center with lovely views
Family-friendly, with children's meal plan and kids' club
Extensive meeting and event space plus wedding-planning services
Far from the Hotel Zone nightlife (a pro for some)
Fee for Wi-Fi
Some rooms and common areas are dated
Not all rooms have balconies
The Westin is a large, upscale, family-friendly resort set in a quieter, farther-flung section of Cancun's Hotel Zone. The 376 rooms have views of either the beach or the lagoon and many have balconies, but while some have received modern updates, others still feel dated. The resort features four pools, a beautiful and nearly private beach, a spa and gym, kids' club, and four restaurants. While there are some meal-plan options, all-inclusive plans aren't available, except for kids. Those looking for an all-inclusive who don't mind a bit more of a party vibe may want to consider the four-pearl Gran Caribe Resort farther up the coast instead.
Royal Beach Club Room
Ocean Pool
Lagoon Pool
Royal Beach Club Pool
Best Beach Hotels in Cancun
Best Business Hotels in Cancun's Hotel Zone
Best Business Hotels in Cancun
Hotel Class:	Upscale
Upscale family-friendly resort on a quieter stretch of beach
The Westin is a large family-friendly resort that first opened in 1991 and underwent plenty of major renovations in 2014 and 2015, including to the entire wing of Royal Beach Club Rooms. The lobby is dominated by neutral hues, with off-white walls contrasted by bright accent swatches of blue, plus rose-colored stone flooring. More of this rose-colored flooring can be found throughout the exteriors, as can grassy areas full of palm trees. Most guests here are vacationing couples and families, and the resort's location away from the main party strip in the Cancun Hotel Zone deters the party set from staying here.
Beachfront location in a less trafficked section of the Cancun Hotel Zone
The Westin Resort & Spa is located at the southern end of Cancun's Hotel Zone, about a 15- to 20-minute drive to the airport, depending on traffic. It usually takes around the same amount of time to reach the nightlife at the center of the tourist strip, and 45 minutes to reach downtown. There's plenty of on-site parking, and the R2 and R1 buses run 24 hours a day from the city center to the Hotel Zone. The hotel fronts a beautiful stretch of white sand that leads down to turquoise sea, and gets considerably fewer hawkers than at some of the more centrally located beaches. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, otherwise known as the Great Maya Reef (the second largest reef system in the world), starts within view of the hotel, just south of the property.
Rooms are a mix of modern and dated; some have great ocean views.
The Westin has 376 rooms spread across two sections of the property: a primary section with dated rooms that lack proper balconies, and the Royal Beach Club, where rooms were renovated in 2014 and 2015. Older rooms are bland and sterile, with teal-hued tile floors (some with dirty tile grout), dated wall texturing, limited artwork, and simple furniture, while remodeled rooms have far more life and color, with marble-topped furniture, pops of bright yellow and blues, and a more modern look and feel overall. While rooms vary considerably depending on both category and whether they've been remodeled, most have -- at a minimum -- desks and sitting areas, flat-screen TVs, coffeemakers, mini-fridges, and free bottled water water. The one-bedroom Royal Beach Club Ambassador Suites add kitchenettes, the Presidential Suite has its own kitchen, and Master Suites have whirlpool hot tubs. Bathrooms are largely the same in units in both the main building and the Royal Beach Club, with marble floors and countertops and separate bathtubs and walk-in showers.
Two beaches, four pools, and multiple restaurants
The Westin has plenty of resort-style amenities, including lots of palapa-shaded lounge chair seating along the main white-sand beach. Waters here are tranquil most of the time, though they can get a bit rough during periods of high wind, at which point advisory flags are set up warning guests of conditions. There's also a lagoon beach on the backside of the hotel with some additional lounge chairs set up. Additional lounge chair seating can be found at the hotel's four pools, a few of which are practically on the beach. Guests staying in the Royal Beach Club also have their own private pool. The resort has its own signature Westin brand-named Heaven Spa and WORKOUT Fitness Studio as well, which features both a gym with lots of high-end equipment along with six indoor spa treatment rooms, three terrace cabanas, and two palapas directly on the beach.
Family-friendly amenities include a kids' club and a special SPG Kids Pass, which is essentially an all-inclusive meal plan for children. Although there are no proper all-inclusive plans for adults, meal plans can be arranged (with stricter provisions than what one might find at a true all-inclusive). Restaurant options include the ocean-facing Arrecifes, which is open only for dinner and focuses on grills and seafood, as well as El Palmar, which serves both buffet and a la carte meals for breakfast and opens again for dinner. Sea & Stones is a papala-style by the ocean focusing on surf-and-turf meals and wood-fired pizzas. Other options include Sunset Bar, with typical bar food for the afternoons, the Place Bar & Lounge for drinks and light bites in the evenings, and the Brisa Breeze Pool Bar with swim-up access and light cocktails and snacks throughout the daytime hours. Note that dress codes are enforced at dinnertime.
The Westin also offers a total of 16 meeting and event spaces and offers wedding-planning services for those looking to host a beachfront destination wedding. Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel, but it costs extra to access.
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