The Small UAV Coalition commends your leadership in calling on Congress to provide federal law enforcement and homeland security officers with the authority to protect Americans from harmful and dangerous drone operators in your July 4, 2018 op-ed, The U.S. isn't prepared for the growing threat of drones. Congress has a duty to provide these important authorities.
However, two major steps must occur contemporaneously with a law granting the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DOJ) counter-UAS authorities: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must issue overdue remote identification and tracking requirements and Congress must enable the FAA to require all UAS operators to abide by those requirements.
Federal law enforcement agencies must be able to use counter-UAS technology to remotely identify a UAS to assess whether there is a threat in order to provide an appropriate response. The FAA chartered an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) in June 2017 comprised of representatives from the aviation community (manned and unmanned, including many Small UAV Coalition members), as well as academics, researchers, standards groups, and law enforcement. The ARC delivered its recommendations in September 2017, but to date, the FAA has not moved forward with a rulemaking.
Congress must ensure the FAA's remote identification rulemaking will cover all UAS operations by reforming what is known as Section 336, a 2012 law that precludes the FAA from regulating so-called "model aircraft." Model aircraft include more than a million recreational drones purchased at retail stores over the past few years, which comprise a significant percentage of the vehicles in the airspace. The FAA's remote identification and tracking rule should apply to all UAS that must be registered with the FAA, and this requires legislation.
The Coalition urges Congress to close the Section 336 loophole in any moving legislation that reaches the President's desk to ensure the FAA expedites a remote identification and tracking rulemaking that will meet the needs of both law enforcement and the public. The future of U.S. competitiveness in UAS innovation and deployment, as well as aviation technology more broadly, hangs in the balance. Investment, jobs, commercial operations, and innovation await government action. But more importantly, government inaction threatens the safety and security of our skies, people, and structures. A federal counter-measure program with remote identification and tracking is critical to society and the economy: it is that simple.
As you are aware, the national security community has placed a hold on all enabling FAA drone regulations until the FAA has imposed remote identification requirements and Congress granted counter-UAS authority. Once this hold is lifted, the vision of routine UAS operations over people, beyond the visual line of sight, at night, and delivering packages, as well as other innovative use cases, can be realized. Importantly, this would include the necessary humanitarian missions to offer unmatched assistance during natural disaster response and recovery. After Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, drones helped locate imperiled citizens, restore power, and expedite insurance claims. With additional regulations, expanded beneficial applications will include delivering medical supplies and helping firefighters evaluate hotspots before they even arrive on the scene.
As you wrote, "drones will soon become a part of everyday life." The Small UAV Coalition looks forward to a time when all Americans can benefit from this technology. In the meantime, the Coalition echoes your call to Congress to grant federal law enforcement these important new authorities, but also urges both the FAA and Congress to take the necessary steps to ensure these authorities are utilized as safely, effectively, and responsibly as possible.
curity officers with the authority to protect Americans from harmful and dangerous drone operators in your July 4, 2018 op-ed, The U.S. isn't prepared for the growing threat of drones. Congress has a duty to provide these important authorities.


The Knollwood CC Fitness Heart is out there to all membership classifications. The Enterprise Improvement Supervisor might be liable for identifying new opportunities for enterprise growth (together with income streams, enterprise partnerships, advertising and product sales development), supporting the Head of Enterprise Development in steering and securing a-n's future consistent with the company's mission and business plan. a-n has an bold forward business plan, a rising membership and the success of influential and impactful campaigns and programmes to assemble on. We're looking for an distinctive specific particular person with expertise of income era and enterprise improvement to affix our core staff group at this thrilling time for the company.
Program pelatihan (latihan) dan food regimen untuk menurunkan berat badan dalam 30 hari. The solutions to these questions are complex, but have big implications for individuals's well being and properly-being, notably in a society that is getting old and concerned about dwelling longer and higher. Whether or not you prefer to work up a sweat on the cardio tools, improve your power with free weights, or participate within the free group train classes, you'll find all of it at CHF.
We might also like to send you particular presents and information just by e mail from other carefully chosen companies we predict you may like. Your personal particulars won't be shared with these corporations – we ship the emails and you may unsubscribe at any time. Please tick right here if you are completely happy to obtain these messages. Patrons and retailers from the fitness sector can look forward to finding all the important thing trends on show at ISPO Munich. With every part from training and performance diagnostics to rehabilitation and taping coated, all the most important firms in the trade will come together to kind the Well being and … Read More..
The Health & Health product category is a collection of data, product listings and assets for researching numerous firefighter well being and health gear, together with physical coaching, train tools, firefighter well being, nutrition options. Market leader NBC4 will run a multi-week on-air and online attendance promotion marketing campaign prematurely of the Expo, ensuring top-of-thoughts consciousness among tons of of thousands of well being-aware viewers. Within the weeks previous to the event, NBC4 Information — number one rated in all time intervals — will run stories dealing with well being issues addressed on the Expo flooring and broadcast live protection throughout the Expo weekend. Your goal market will likely be attending in large numbers.
Take a class, train with mates, work out in the Health Heart—attempt it all. Have fun whereas gaining power, endurance and increased vitality at any YMCA location in the Twin Cities metro space. Drawing crowds of holiday makers, Halls A5 and A6 will probably be stuffed with exhibitors showcasing the most recent trends and improvements referring to body and thoughts, activewear, athleisure, and health tools, for instance.
The Nutrition sector continues to grow as people turn into extra aware of the impression of diet and life-style on wellbeing and health. An ever-evolving mixture of disciplines – which include biology, chemistry and psychology – makes Vitamin careers unique and engaging. In case you are keen about supporting wholesome eating with motivational and scientific advice, boost your profession with a Vitamin qualification designed in partnership with employers and delivered by TAFE NSW.
If health and health are your obsession, take a look at the newest superstar train traits, from yoga to pilates, and every thing in between. Whether or not your objective is to find a weight reduction diet plan otherwise you simply want to discover ways to … Read More..
The Well being & Health product category is a set of information, product listings and resources for researching varied firefighter well being and fitness tools, together with physical coaching, exercise equipment, firefighter well being, nutrition choices. There will be a well being food & beverage bar within the downstairs restaurant of the constructing. This health food & beverage bar will provide a variety of merchandise like smoothies, dietary shakes, meal replacement shakes, post workout nutrition, pre-exercise photographs and shakes, catered meal prep, Wi-Fi, and extra to develop as demand evolves. Prices will vary accordingly. Free samples and style testing for members will help promote the well being food & beverage bar. A health food & beverage bar would be the major differentiating issue within the industry drawing a great deal of consideration and revenue.
The market is swimming in services and products for health and well being, making the competitors for what you are promoting more fierce than ever. Learn to decode ads for merchandise that promise to treatment every little thing from baldness and cancer to diabetes and dementia, and for companies that say they may shape you up, restore your youthful glow, and turn these abs into a effectively-defined six pack.
How i earn from amazon associates program shoutmeloud on Thu, 30 Nov 2017 23:57:00 GMT Goldcoastcats receives a commission via payoneer as an affiliate for on Thu, 05 Apr 2018 12:31:00 GMT The right way to grow to be a profitable amazon affiliate the work at on Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:25:00 GMT eight greatest amazon affiliate plugins for easy methods to use wordpress on Thu, 07 Sep 2017 12:forty four:00 GMT 20 suggestions i used to make 90 336 sixty five with amazon up gas on Thu, 05 Apr 2018 21:forty two:00 GMT Easyazon v4 jan … Read More..
At LIFECENTER Health & Fitness Club we see your health as a lifelong journey. By way of a New Jersey State Department of Health & Human Providers grant, the JFK for Life Well being & Health Middle gives proof-based mostly workshops to help local seniors deal with and overcome their personal fear of falling and increase their overall exercise stage. The periods concentrate on train, stability, and safety. To seek out out more about our Falls Prevention Courses going down locally, please contact us at 732.632.1610.
Looking for a way to get healthy, reduce weight and generally have extra energy? Why not begin walking! It's easy, you want no special gear, and just thirty minutes a day can dramatically improve and lengthen your life. Plus, walking is usually the gateway to a more lively lifestyle. Did you know that many fitness experts recommend that you simply walk 10,000 steps on daily basis? Monitoring your daily steps with a simple pedometer can be an effective way to increase your exercise stage. Check out our 20% Increase Program , the practical method to build up to 10,000 steps a day.
When you got down to construct something, the finished product is only as robust as its basis. At Core Well being & Fitness we goal to supply our companions a basis backed by the strongest brands in the industry. 4 iconic brands that pioneered whole classes, and whose machines are still the ones members ask for by name. In the present day, we're committed constructing on that legacy by offering one of the best merchandise and programs in every class – and that is greatness you can be ok with constructing on.
The market is swimming in services and products for health and health, making the competition for your corporation more fierce … Read More..
Strength training can be defined as an exercise sort that's designed to increase lean muscle tissue, enhance structural energy, decrease excess body fat, improve endurance, and supply a number of additional bodily and psychological benefits. Benefit from our professional teachers, state-of-the-artwork amenities and in depth business connections to gain specialist abilities and discover your dream job. Select careers in all the pieces from healthcare assist to non-public coaching, or take a TAFE NSW pathway to a degree. Whether you're ageing in place, recovering from an injury, learning about your physique, or getting in form, we have examined the latest equipment, clothes, and technology that can help keep you healthy. From yoga mats to sensible rest room scales, here is the well being tech and fitness gear we advocate.
The mission of the journal is to advertise and distribute correct, unbiased, and authoritative information on health and fitness. With an entire and compelling format, the journal covers all elements of exercise science and diet analysis, with components of ACSM certification workshops, present subjects of interest to the health industry, and persevering with education credit score alternatives.
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Power training can be outlined as an train sort that's designed to extend lean muscle tissue, enhance structural strength, lower extra body fats, enhance endurance, and provide a number of further physical and psychological advantages. 5. The Elusive Good Night of Sleep: It's my Pet's Fault! Nicely, a minimum of for the second as we increase our new Norwegian Elkhound, however, chronic insomnia could also be a problem of poor sleep hygiene as effectively. Remember to learn "Behavioral Strategies, Including Exercise, for Addressing Insomnia," penned by Rachel Markwald, Ph.D., Imran Iftikhar, M.D., and Shawn D. Youngstedt, Ph.D. They share some nice data that you can move alongside to your purchasers.
Program pelatihan (latihan) dan food plan untuk menurunkan berat badan dalam 30 hari. The answers to these questions are complex, but have large implications for folks's health and nicely-being, significantly in a society that is growing old and anxious about residing longer and higher. Whether or not you wish to work up a sweat on the cardio equipment, enhance your strength with free weights, or take part in the free group exercise lessons, you will find it all at CHF.
MSN Well being &Â Fitness allows customers to browse exercise movies, including yoga and pilates, learn about human anatomy, monitor their weight loss plan, monitor their cardio exercises, access a symptom checker, and study medical procedures and medicines. The app additionally connects to Microsoft's HealthVault, which brings in information from different health trackers equivalent to blood glucose monitors, digital scales, and activity and medical monitors.
Due to a young city goal group, we've seen the emergence of modern health training in the life-style of athletes within the city. Public parks have been turned in out of doors gyms as classic coaching has advanced into CrossFit, urban running, practical training, and … Read More..
We create holidays and educated-led and wildlife group excursions to over one hundred places worldwide. Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist , widely considered the premier chemist of the 20 th century. Pauling was a pioneer in the application of quantum mechanics to chemistry, and in 1954 was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work describing the nature of chemical bonds He additionally made necessary contributions to crystal and protein structure willpower, and was one of many founders of molecular biology Pauling received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaign against above-ground nuclear testing , becoming only one among 4 folks in historical past to individually obtain two Nobel Prizes Later in life, he turned an advocate for regular consumption of large doses of Vitamin C Pauling coined the term "orthomolecular" to discuss with the apply of varying the focus of drugs usually current within the body to stop and treat illness, and promote well being.
Take a class, train with mates, work out in the Fitness Heart—strive it all. Have enjoyable while gaining energy, endurance and increased power at any YMCA location within the Twin Cities metro area. Drawing crowds of tourists, Halls A5 and A6 can be full of exhibitors showcasing the newest tendencies and improvements regarding physique and mind, activewear, athleisure, and health gear, for instance.
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We create holidays and knowledgeable-led and wildlife group excursions to over a hundred locations worldwide. As you would know from my weblog posts final spring, I spent very important time and energy in the middle of the primary half of 2017 working with different well being care professionals and legislators all through the state to make sure that the Certificates of Want (CON) program was not repealed right here in Florida. Now, McConnell will seemingly proceed to cross a skinny" invoice that solely repeals provisions that arguably have unanimous support among Republicans: Repealing the medical system tax, the employer mandate, and the individual mandate. So right here is solely the newest embellishment in the march of individuals transiting the revolving door from health care companies, and related corporations, similar to lobbying corporations, the the chief department by the Trump administration. Transparency: Be clear about prices, high quality, outcomes, etc. This may permit for customers to not solely shop companies, but to essentially really feel more snug entrusting their care in your group's palms.
The most extensively accepted definition of health is that of the World Well being Organization Structure. It states: "health is a state of full bodily, psychological and social properly-being and never merely the absence of disease or infirmity" ( World Well being Organization , 1946). In newer years, this assertion has been amplified to incorporate the power to guide a "socially and economically productive life". The WHO definition just isn't without criticism, mainly that it's too broad. Some argue that well being can't be defined as a state at all, but should be seen as a dynamic technique of continuous adjustment to the altering calls for of living. In spite of its limitations, the idea of health as defined by WHO is broad and constructive in its … Read More..
On the lookout for tips on well being, fitness, vitamin, and lifestyle? Thanks to a younger city target group, we now have seen the emergence of recent health training within the way of life of athletes within the city. Public parks have been turned in out of doors gyms as traditional training has developed into CrossFit, city operating, functional training, and sports activities resembling Parkour, all of which have rapidly come to be seen because the fashionable calling cards of on-trend sporty types. The sports activities industry has responded to this development by producing clothing, footwear, and accessories geared toward this target group identified for maintaining with the newest tendencies.
Our YMCAs provide a wide variety of group fitness courses for nearly each potential and interest. Each month our Association holds greater than 300 group fitness lessons throughout YMCA branches throughout Central Ohio. You'll discover low-impact and newbie classes, cardio health, dance, Pilates, cycle and Yoga and extra superior cycle, boot camp and kick boxing lessons.
To get started, kick off your strolling with our quiz , and in accordance with your results, we'll suggest every week-by-week walking program that fits your health stage. Then discover out what kind of exercise persona you've. Be taught one of the simplest ways to warm-up before you stroll and then find out how to stretch out your muscles afterward. And while you're bettering your cardiovascular well being, don't forget to supplement your strolling with strengthening workout routines It can help increase your metabolism and build stronger bones and muscle tissue.
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Solely the health & fitness apps with the perfect user experiences can actually preserve customers engaged and committed to their challenging targets. Take advantage of our professional lecturers, state-of-the-art services and intensive business connections to realize specialist abilities and discover your dream job. Select careers in all the things from healthcare help to non-public training, or take a TAFE NSW pathway to a level. Whether or not you are getting older in place, recovering from an damage, studying about your body, or getting in shape, we have examined the most recent tools, clothes, and know-how that may assist preserve you wholesome. From yoga mats to sensible bathroom scales, this is the health tech and health gear we advocate.
Ikuti lebih banyak akun untuk mendapatkan pembaruan aktual mengenai topik yang Anda minati. Anda akan menghabiskan sebagian besar waktu Anda di timeline ini, di mana pembaruan aktual tentang hal-hal yang berarti untuk Anda akan ditampilkan. FSTA® Food Science and Technology Abstracts FSTA® covers subjects relating to every aspect of the meals chain together with all the key meals commodities plus biotechnology, microbiology, meals safety, and diet.
Along with meeting the final University diploma requirements all majors in Applied Health & Fitness should take the next required coursework. Majors must also complete coursework in certainly one of three focus areas: Health & Train, Fitness for Special Populations, or Health Teaching. We are going to maintain boot camps, lifting classes, sports coaching, group health, personal coaching, lectures, family nights, and much rather more.
Empire des Indes, 1930. Mohandas Gandhi organise « La marche du sel » en vue d'arracher l'indépendance de son pays. L'objectif est clair : marcher jusqu'à l'océan Indien pour y récolter une poignée de sel symbolique. L'action dénonce la taxe sur le sel imposée aux indiens par l'Empire britannique et l'interdiction … Read More..


Opportunity International Australia provides small loans to families in developing countries to help them start a business, earn an income and leave poverty behind. By helping a mother buy a sewing machine to start a tailoring business or a father buy seeds to plant a vegetable garden, small loans enable them to transform their lives, their children's futures and their communities. With 98% of loans recycled, the impact continues year after year.


1 Jonathan is a warrior.
4.	Jonathan has good leadership qualities and the Israelites looked up to him.
5.	Jonathan was a spiritual man and his spiritual character sharply contrasted his father, Saul's. He did not try to make excuses for what he had done and was willing to accept the consequences of his actions.
6.	Jonathan was also David's brother-in-law.
7.	Jonathan's righteousness exceeded that of his father.
8.	Jonathan actually desired that the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies 9.	Jonathan willfully submits to the will of God even though it meant he would not be king.


Tuesday 10 March 1857, page 4.
Saterday 1st May 1858, page 4.
Friday 7 September 1860, page 4.
the wife of Henry Jones, Esq., of a son.
Tuesday 19 November 1861, page 4.
Friday 26 January 1866, page 4.
at Sea View, Isle of Wight, England.
He commanded the 149th Division'of the British army in France, and at the time of his death was in command of the 3rd Questa Infantry Brigade, Indian army.
Attorney under substituibonary, Power ot Attorney of Isabella Anstice Ross and Dame Margaret Egerton the Executrixes of the said will.


Limited to 300 copies (in this version / colour)Opaque Halloween Orange Vinyl w/ Black SplattersGatefold EP7" with exclusive artwork created by Alma Mater designer Joao DiogoLimited & Numbered edition"I WILL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS its our zombie tribute song!" declares Moonspell mastermind Fernando Ribeiro, about thissong. Its slow and fast, repulsively melodic and totally Death Metal inspired, as we think if zombies formed a band theyd have to play death. Were huge fans of the style, namely Romero, and this song that now sees the light of the day via our own ALMAMATER RECORDS, was a challenge and it encloses two curiosities: - the original is a Jazz standard; our version was made toanswer the challenge from FILIPE MELO(director, play writer, pianist, author) who had the balls back in 2003 to produce andrelease a zombie movie made in Portugal. Happy halloween, i will see you in my dreams, now!
Limited to 300 copies (in this version / colour)Transparent Blood Red Vinyl w/ Black SplattersGatefold EP7" with exclusive artwork created by Alma Mater designer Joao DiogoLimited & Numbered edition" "I WILL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS its our zombie tribute song!" declares Moonspell mastermind Fernando Ribeiro, about thissong. Its slow and fast, repulsively melodic and totally Death Metal inspired, as we think if zombies formed a band theyd have to play death. Were huge fans of the style, namely Romero, and this song that now sees the light of the day via our own ALMAMATER RECORDS, was a challenge and it encloses two curiosities: - the original is a Jazz standard; our version was made toanswer the challenge from FILIPE MELO(director, play writer, pianist, author) who had the balls back in 2003 to produce andrelease a zombie movie made in Portugal. Happy halloween, i will see you in my dreams, now!
Limited to 500 copies worldwideGatefold LP10", Transparent Red VinylNew and exclusive artwork by Joao Diogo Pereira (Alma Mater designer)Remastered by Tue Madsen (2019)Says Fernando Ribeiro, Alma Mater CEO:MOONSPELL has always tried to be about the songs we write. We never wanted to reinvent the wheel. We werenever seen ourslelves as progressive or groundbreaking. That ism for us, of little interest when compared withthe chance of songwriting and form a solid body of music with the songs you wrote and decided for an album.Scorpion Flower is one of our songs that was mostly and carefully crafted as a jewel. Its the most melodic songof a quite in your face album and people say its beautiful. Female singers want to join us on stage to sing thatsong, girls feel the sting of the scorpion, and guys to get smell the flowers and thats what a song is for: to leavean impression.Any text about Scorpion Flower wouldnt be completed without a reference to the "original female singer"Anneke V.Giersbergen who paved the way for those who followed. We wanted the original and she came downwith a smile and left us with maybe one of her most memorable vocal contributions to a song.The importance of this song as center piece in the divide of our carrer, as we left Century Media and joined SPVranks, is now fully complete with the release of this single. Thank you so much and let us steal your mind for awhile.


Nice large 3 bedroom 2 bath home on a large 3.64 acre lot. Property has an attached garage with a detached 4 car garage and barn. Property is fenced and gated for horses or animlas. Located at the end of the road. Property sold as-is and cash only.
Listed by Mike Hill of North State Real Estate. Listing data last updated 4/22/2019 at 7:12 AM PDT.
Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of 1/11/2019 8:13 AM. This information is for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties you may be interested in purchasing. Display of MLS data is usually deemed reliable but is NOT guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Buyers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all information and should investigate the data themselves or retain appropriate professionals. Information from sources other than the Listing Agent may have been included in the MLS data. Unless otherwise specified in writing, Broker/Agent has not and will not verify any information obtained from other sources. The Broker/Agent providing the information contained herein may or may not have been the Listing and/or Selling Agent.
I am interested 7599 State Highway 70, Marysville, CA 95901, and would like to request a showing. Thank You.


text:
Honor Your Roots
Most people, whether they have biological or adopted families, grow up learning about their history and heritage. They hear stories about their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins — all the family members that came before them. They learn about their cultures and family traditions, and through these practices, one can create their own identity situated in the community they come from. However, there are people out there like Valerie Kast, whose biological father's identity changed three times throughout her life. Thanks to a secret let slip by a tipsy auntie, a 23andMe DNA test and the persistent emails of her cousin, Kast found her biological father and subsequently her biological family—mine.
When Kast was born, she was told her father was the man her mother was married to at the time. At the age of eight, Kast's mother broke the news to her that her biological father was actually a florist who lived in San Diego. Soon after, Kast's mother took her to meet him.
"He didn't really have a lot of interest in me, I wasn't really something that his lifestyle warranted, he and his partner didn't want kids, so it was a very distant relationship," she said.
Kast did not mind, however. She had her step-dad, who married her mother when she was two. She called him "dad," and loved him as a father until his sudden death when she was 20. Even though Kast was not close with her biological father, she found joy in learning about her heritage.
"My biological father at the time was half-Japanese, half-German, and I really clung to that Japanese culture. I was always looking for something to fulfil that void—half of my history was missing."
Kast carried on with her life, getting married and working as an early childhood educator, running a preschool out of her home. It was when Kast was 30 and visiting her aunt that she learned the truth about her father.
"We had a little bit too much to drink and my aunt goes, 'you know you're not Japanese, right? You know he's not your father?' Everybody was shocked. All she knew was there was a man named Nefty, and he was in the Navy, I looked just like him, and that he was my father."
Kast quickly did a DNA test with the florist in San Diego, and her aunt was right. She once again did not know who her biological father was. She felt betrayed, not by the results of the test, but by the way her mother handled the whole situation.
"I was angry, but at the root of that anger was pain and sadness. It was an unexplainable pain that came after many years of a complicated relationship with my mother."
That year, 2013, Kast's husband got her a 23andMe test for her birthday. At that point, 23andMe was relatively new, so there wasn't a lot of information out there yet.
"We kind of had to piece the puzzle together, but we finally figured out that I was of Puerto Rican heritage. When we found out, everything made sense. So much more of my body shape, my features, coloring, fiery personality, everything." Unfortunately, Kast did not have as much luck finding more information about Nefty.
However, this dead-end did not really bother Kast too much, she had since had a child and thought she had found everything she needed when she became a mother. "I didn't know that I still had this emptiness inside of me. I thought that since I had my child, I had a family of my own, I had everything I ever wanted. But something was missing, and I didn't even know it."
Kast's husband encouraged her to look into Nefty deeper and even tried looking into Naval records himself, but with no luck.
"When you have 'Nefty,' a nickname, and no last name, just an age range and time frame, it's virtually impossible to find them," she said.
Six years after taking the 23andMe test, Kast began getting persistent emails from a man named Jason Cruz, who had recently taken his own 23andMe test and was alerted that he and Kast were related.
"I'm always getting these pings on 23andMe for new fourth and fifth cousins, and I just thought he was from my mom's side. But he kept messaging me and I finally responded, and he told me he was not related to any of the people I was listing off on my mom's side. So I was like…'Do you by chance have anybody in your family named Nefty?' and he said, 'Yes! Nefty Carter!'"
As it happens, Nefty is a family name, and there were two Nefty Carters in our family. With a little more digging, Cruz determined only one Nefty Carter had served in the Navy, narrowing it down fairly easily. However, there was no record of Nefty Carter having a daughter, so if he was Kast's father, it meant he did not know she existed.
"Jason went above and beyond. Most people would not do this for a complete stranger. He was the one that contacted the family on my behalf. He could only get ahold of my dad's brother, Roy, and I wrote him a letter to give to my dad. I just put it all out there. I sent him pictures of me when I was a baby and me and my daughter now, pictures of my mom and people he would have known. My dad was in Argentina at the time, and when he came back, Roy just dropped the bomb on him. He called me two days later, and it was the most incredible phone call. I mean, we knew."
After two DNA tests to confirm it, Kast had finally found her biological father.
"We connected in the beginning of September, and then we went to Florida to meet in March. I would have gone to Florida the next day though. He was telling me all the same things my aunt had told me, filling in all the pieces. And he is just so full of energy and passion, so much of me and my family made more sense. My daughter and my father are so much of the same person. We can't go anywhere without my daughter talking to every single person, and when I went to the store with my dad, he talked to every single person he came in contact with and found something in common with them, and that's my daughter. It was very incredible."
Once Kast and her father reunited, she decided it was time to reach out to her new extended family.
"I didn't know if they were going to be as happy or as excited as I was. But everyone was so warm, welcoming, kind and happy. It wasn't what I was used to. I had a very dysfunctional upbringing. A lot of the people in my family who were supposed to take care of me and make sure I was okay… they didn't. They failed me. But all of a sudden, I had this new family that didn't even know me, but they loved me and embraced me and they embraced my husband and my daughter. We were their family and that was it. There was no question. It was just so weird, and so wonderful."
The Carter extended family
The summer after Kast and her father met in Florida, the extended Carter family came together from all over the country to meet her for the first time. Kast explained the clarity she felt when she met us all in person for the first time.
"When we met in Chicago, that was incredible. To sit and watch each of you, the way you moved your faces when you talked, your mannerisms… I saw me for the first time. I've never seen me in anybody. My whole life we joked that I was the milkman's child because I didn't look like anybody in my family, I was always just a little bit different, and now… I just felt whole."
Not only did Kast find her father, new cousins and aunts and uncles, she also found out about her heritage and her history.
"We have been embracing the food and the heritage more. I took a Latin history culture and heritage class. My daughter will recognize things, too. For example, we were watching the new Trolls movie, and there is this little reggaeton group in it, and she's like, 'Mom, it sounds like Abuelo Nefty!' She always wants to tell Abuelo Nefty about any Puerto Rican related encounter she has."
Kast's story had a happy ending, but she knows that may not be the case for everybody.
"I am beyond thankful for Cruz's persistence in reaching out to me and helping me connect with my Dad once we figured out who he was. I would have never looked, for fear of what I would have found."
Kast and her new extended family, myself included, plan to take a trip to Puerto Rico for her 40th birthday to see where our parents grew up, and learn more about where we came from.
"There is always a risk that the person you're looking for is not going to be who you want or need them to be. But finding out who you truly are and where you come from is something that you don't know you need until you have it. There is comfort in knowing where you come from. If you find someone who doesn't want to be in your life, that doesn't mean that they didn't create you. You can still embrace who you are and where you come from and learn about your people without having that relationship."
Elizabeth Carter is a Professional Writing senior who enjoys developmental and copy editing, grant writing, and social media management. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in political writing, and possibly work on a campaign. When she is not reading, writing, or cross-stitching, she is spending time with her husband and two-year-old son.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Cutter's experts help you apply the latest frameworks in agile, technical debt, devops and software governance practices.
Cutter and its experts were pioneers and leaders in the Agile movement, and they remain on the cutting edge. Cutter's Business Agility & Software Engineering Excellence practice goes well beyond software methods, covering emerging approaches and methodologies that allow you to plan and monitor delivery of your software on an ongoing basis, enabling you to attain much higher levels of predictability so your teams are delivering greater business value faster. Our experts have deep expertise in Agile/Lean/Kanban deployments, human systems dynamics, DevOps, technical debt, systems engineering, software governance, and much more. We carry out technical due diligence and code audit engagements for clients ranging from investors and venture capitalists to software product companies and corporations in a broad spectrum of industries. Our experts also address the strategic aspects of worldwide product development, and we even assist downstream functions and departments, such as marketing, to extend these principles into their fabric. Through consulting, research, training, coaching, and speaking engagements, we help clients embrace excellence and enterprise agility. In so doing, we make clients' software and other systems a source of sustainable competitive advantage in an era characterized by constant change.
Companies around the globe are using Cutter experts to shorten their development cycle and increase product quality. Don't get left behind! Our consultants can help you quickly and efficiently integrate leading practices into your company, getting you started on the path to growth.
Solidify your product management and software development techniques, agile engineering practices, and software governance with access to a vast repository of reports, missives from the field, analyses of exclusive data and insight into its implications — all written by Cutter's team of Agile experts.


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OU Students and Faculty / staff are going to be given access to a new content creation portal called create.ou.edu which will allow them to create and maintain a digital identity that leverages rich, dynamic, and engaging web content with ease using modern tools and plugins like Wordpress and Drupal.

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If you are the site owner, please visit our knowledge base http://askit.ou.edu for more information, or call us at 405-325-HELP for instructions on archiving and downloading your data so that you can use it on another site.

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Insh'Allah Saturday, May 27th will be the first day of Ramadan and Friday, 26th of May will be the first night of Taraweeh prayers. May Allah (swt) inspire us to occupy ourselves in the month of Ramadan in worship and may Allah (swt) accept all of our ibadah; fasting, taraweeh prayers, zakat, fitrah and sadaqah.
At the Selimiye Mosque we are continuously working very hard to serve the needs of our brothers and sisters. As you know, providing iftar dinners as a form of charity is very rewarding. Therefore, iftar dinners will be offered every night at our Mosque with the generous help of fellow Muslims. This way, we also hope to help and provide for Muslims whose time and situation make it difficult for them to eat halal food. For those who would like to provide iftar dinners, please contact the Mosque staff. The cost for iftar during weeknights is $400 and during weekends it is $600. You may also wish to share the cost with other brothers and sisters.


There are a few solicitors, Yair Cohen being one, who truly specialise in Social Media and Internet Law. Yair, who started his internet law career as a coder and a developer of e-commerce websites, in the very early days of internet, is highly knowledgeable, passionate and forthinking in anything linked to internet and social media law.
Yair is the author of the book The Net Is Closing: birth of the e-police, where he sets out, based on his work experience and interviews with hundreds of victims of internet anarchy, the reasons why the internet has been left unregulated until very recently.
Yair is an entertaining speaker and a desired newspapers, radio and television contributor.


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Stuart Z. Grossman Awarded 2019 Al J. Cone Lifetime Achievement Award
Stuart Z. Grossman of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen, award-winning trial attorneys devoted to helping individuals and businesses damaged by others' negligence or misconduct, was recently awarded the Florida Justice Association (FJA)'s Al J. Cone Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award commemorates Al J. Cone, the first president and founder of the Florida Justice PAC, who exemplified the following: a career of leadership, example setting, devotion, and courage.
Award recipients are among those who have followed Al in his footsteps. The award recognizes individuals who have embodied exceptional legal achievement throughout their career and have shown dedication and service to their profession.
Grossman is recognized as one of America's pre-eminent trial lawyers concentrating in medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct, aviation, personal injury litigation, and wrongful death.
His success stems from decades of playing a vital role in high-profile cases, such as the FIU bridge collapse; two major diving cases including one against the Ritz Carlton, which resulted in multi-million-dollar settlements; a $37 million verdict against FPL; and many other favorable verdicts and settlements.
The FJA is dedicated to strengthening and upholding Florida's civil justice system and protecting the rights of Florida's citizens and consumers. Grossman was given recognition for his award on Thursday, Sept. 26, at the 2019 Florida Justice Association Founders Awards Luncheon in Orlando.
Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen has served the Florida community for nearly 30 years and is focused on personal injury, medical malpractice, and complex litigation cases for individuals, small businesses, and large corporations.


Remote sensing – typically from low earth orbit or geostationary orbit uses electro-magnetic waves emitted diffracted or reflected from objects on the earth. Whether the technology is applied to meteorology, earth mapping, natural resource monitoring, urban planning or other application, how remote sensing is conducted falls within a governance regime. The UN Remote Sensing Principles are the only international principles which directly deal with remote sensing activity from space.
The commercial applications and derivative services which remote sensing facilitates is also governed by legal terms – usually licencing of data. It is important to ensure that such licences operate within the limits of what intellectual property law permits – which means understanding fully what the data actually comprises.


What this blog is and some rules.
There has been a lot to think about recently as if I needed more to clutter up my brain.
Differences in opinion are good. It is healthy and allows us to grow. Resisting others views means you have decided to stop learning. I will never stop learning. I want to hear what people have to say without hate or judgment.
Originally this website was going to be the new home of my life coaching business until I realized it wasn't. I still needed a place for my voice. My opinion and a way to reach others in a genuine way. My hope is that this blog will become a place for people of all perspectives to discuss things that are going on in our country and our world.
Listening between the raindrops is a phrase that means "to focus on what isn't obvious." Listening between the irregular pattern of rain is challenging, listening between your hard held thoughts and opinions is just as difficult. If you hold a strongly held belief that you cannot support or provide an argument for, maybe you should look at it again. Doing things because they have always been done a certain way is not a reason to hold that opinion or perspective because you didn't make the choice, you just followed.
I will not tolerate anything other than honest discourse. If you are a jerk, prepare to be evicted. Speak your mind but do so with respect. Speak as if you were speaking to the person (or me) face to face.
I don't mind swearing but name calling is out of the question.
Feel free to email me with questions or topics you would like to see discussed.


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Call For Gen Next Leader To Head Congress Grows Louder
Call For 'Gen-Next' Leader To Head Congress Grows Louder
(L-R) Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia
New Delhi: The view that a young leader should succeed Rahul Gandhi as Congress president is fast gaining traction with the party's youth cadre batting for a Gen Next chief over the old guard.
The young brigade's preference for youth over experience got a boost when Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday asserted that a young person should be chosen as Gandhi's successor.
Though no Congress leader or worker has publicly put forward any name, party insiders said Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia could be front-runners for the top job in the Grand Old Party.
Pilot, 41, led the party to victory in the assembly polls as the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress chief and has a lot of grassroots organisation experience. Scindia, 48, is also seen as a dynamic leader with mass appeal though he could not win his seat in Madhya Pradesh in the Lok Sabha election.
The focus swivelled to the young brigade on Sunday when Scindia made public his resignation as general secretary in-charge western Uttar Pradesh and Milind Deora announced he has quit as Mumbai Congress chief. On Saturday, Keshav Chand Yadav resigned as Youth Congress president.
All three resigned citing accountability, Gandhi's focus after the Lok Sabha polls debacle.
The Congress got only one seat in Uttar Pradesh, that of Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli, and lost all the five of the six seats in Mumbai it contested.
Announcing his resignation as Mumbai Congress president, 42-year-old Deora said he was looking forward to playing a role at the national level to help stabilise the party.
The resignations citing accountability have put party veterans in a spot with pressure mounting on them to follow suit.
Some Youth Congress leaders met Rahul Gandhi last week and told him a young leader who has connect with the youth is the need of the hour and should be handed the reins of the party, sources said.
"Whoever becomes Congress president has to be someone whom people can identify with across the country. People should be able to identify and also look for their long term future with that president," a senior leader said on condition of anonymity.
"Someone who is well-known, articulate and has charisma -- that is the kind of person people expect the Congress to hand over the reins to," he added.
A large section of the party comprising young leaders feels the party needs to connect with the youth and a young leader at the helm is a must as an old guard leader may fail to attract millennials and Gen Next.
"Rahul Gandhi has always encouraged and worked for building a strong second line leadership of young leaders. I completely agree with his vision. Young leaders at all levels of the party, including at the top, must be encouraged," Congress leader Rajesh Lilothia told PTI.
Lilothia also tendered his resignation as working president of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee along with scores of office-bearers after Rahul Gandhi quit as chief.
Asked about the situation arising out of Gandhi's resignation, Jitin Prasada, former Union minister and party's young face from Uttar Pradesh, told PTI, "We urge Mr. Gandhi to reconsider his resignation. However, in the letter (Gandhi put out on Wednesday) he talked about the challenges ahead of the party which must be discussed threadbare and acted upon."
Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge, Motilal Vora and Ashok Gehlot are among the 'old guard probables' for the position of party president. However, there is no official confirmation on it.
On Saturday, Punjab Chief Minister Singh said a young leader with a forward-looking approach would "galvanise" the rank and file of the party after Gandhi's "unfortunate" resignation.
He urged the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to look for Gandhi's replacement in a charismatic Gen Next leader, who can "enthuse" people with his "pan-India appeal and grassroots presence".
"Rahul had shown the way for the youth leadership to take the party's reins and steer it to greater heights," he said, adding that with India leading the world in terms of the largest youth population, it was natural that a young leader would understand and relate to the desires and aspirations of the people more effectively.
"Any change in the party leadership must reflect India's societal reality, with 65 per cent of its population under 35," Singh said.
Gandhi last Wednesday publicly announced his resignation as its president, taking responsibility for the Lok Sabha polls debacle, and called for "hard decisions" to rebuild the party and making people accountable for the "failure" of 2019.
The 49-year-old leader --who has been adamant on his decision to quit as party president since May 25, two days after the results in which his party won 52 seats -- also stressed on the need for the Congress to "radically transform itself".
He succeeded his mother Sonia Gandhi as Congress president in December 2017 and his major success at the helm of the 133-year-old party was winning the three state elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in December last year.
The Congress is yet to finalise the schedule for the all important CWC meeting which will declare a way forward for the crisis-ridden party. Until then, more resignations are likely to happen.


Silver Peak and Avaya offer integrated solution enables LAN-like performance.
On the company's website, Silver Peak Systems announced the availability of Silver Peak's VX family of virtual WAN optimization appliances on the Avaya Secure Router (SR) 4134. Optimizing the performance of enterprise voice, video, and unified communications (UC), this integrated solution ensures that remote users have fast and reliable access to all centralized applications and allows customers to reduce IT complexity by simplifying equipment needs in their branch and remote offices. In addition, employee productivity will be increased by enhancing the performance of enterprise-wide business applications.


The gardens each have their own unique character, and all have something well worth visiting - some are small, some are large, some are new to the event.
Kibworth is a large buzzing village set on the A6 between Market Harborough and Oadby, and hiding some lovely gardens within. We will be giving the gardeners a well-earned rest next year with the Open Gardens event, so please don't miss the opportunity to come along this year.
As Kibworth is large village, you can choose to take a walk around the gardens or jump on our shuttle bus and relax while we take you along the main route free of charge.
Enjoy teas, cakes and scones in some gardens or a ploughman''s lunch at the Railway Arms in the centre of the village. There will be a variety of other fundraising events and stalls.
Disabled access will be limited - not all gardens will be suitable for wheelchairs. Sorry, no dogs please other than assistance dogs.
All proceeds will go to GEMS Charity.
£3.50 adults, accompanied children free.
Tickets will be available from the Grammar School Hall car park, the Railway Arms pub, and participating gardens.
The main car park is the Grammar School Hall car park, situated in the middle of Kibworth, turn onto School Road close to the pedestrian crossing, or The Railway Arms pub.


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Inanna and Jesus: a tale of syncretisation
In an oral culture — one that is not written down — mythology evolves as it is passed from storyteller to storyteller. The Jesus myth was created in exactly this way, pasted together from earlier sources. This process is called 'syncretisation.'
There is no fixed record of an oral tradition, by definition. In an oral culture or tradition, myths grow and develop to reflect the lived experiences and cultures of the people telling them. It was only when writing was invented that these traditions could be codified and by that time, they had been evolving for thousands of years. This means that there are many versions of the same myth, as different peoples carried it forward.
So we cannot say that, because detail differences exist between two similar myths, they are different or have different origins.
Continue reading "Inanna and Jesus: a tale of syncretisation"
How Jan Sobieski saved Europe from Islam
The name of King Jan III Sobieski of Poland is one that every European should know and speak with pride.
In September 1683, the city of Vienna was near to collapse. For months, it had been under siege by the Islamic hordes of the Islamic Ottoman army. Every day now, starvation and surrender grew closer. The city had long since run out of horses and pets to eat and even rats were few and far between now.
Worse, the Viennese knew that other Europeans had been the instruments of their doom. Swiss Calvinists had begged the Turks to attack, so that they could sweep away Catholicism. It beggars belief that Christians could call down the hounds of Islamic hell on their fellow Europeans, but that they had, hoping, no doubt, to negotiate some deal, a reward for their treachery, that might spare them the scimitar or a lifetime of submission to the foul creed of Islam.
The city's defenders, listening in its basements, could hear the scrape-scrap of pick and shovel as the enemy's sappers undermined them. Soon they would plant another huge mine and blow up a section of the city's curtain wall, breaching it and allowing the enemy in. Nobody in Vienna was under any illusion as to what would happen then: the men would be tortured and killed or enslaved, the women would be raped and killed or enslaved and the children slaughtered. The behaviour of triumphant Islamic armies was well known.
Today, the Twelfth of September, was the last. The government of the city knew it. The people knew it and worse, the enemy knew it. They were ready: their final attack was to come on the twelfth of the month. There was nothing left. Vienna would fall. Without a miracle, Vienna must fall, and with it, Europe.
Continue reading "How Jan Sobieski saved Europe from Islam"
Gender Evolution: Division of Tasks and Groups
Gender is innate. It is not a social construct This article discusses how it evolved.
Early human society was fluid, with survival always the goal. It was, in general, divided by sex. Women and children formed a home group, which focussed on protection of the children and nursing mothers, foraging, perhaps trapping small game and birds, and the preparation and cooking of food. This group would have been a sisterhood of equals, but led, in all probability, by the elder women, the grandmothers, who were also the teachers, the midwives and shamans.
The other group was of men and older boys, based on the hunt. This group had to be able to respond quickly to the changing circumstances of the hunt, which could, especially when hunting large game, be lethal. A command system developed, probably around the best and most experienced hunters. We call this the 'away' group.
These two groups have long been identified and are still obvious in non-Western societies today. They are the evolutionary basis of gender.
Continue reading "Gender Evolution: Division of Tasks and Groups"
The New Atheists, New Age woo & Cultural Marxism
The New Atheists, like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens and many others, purported to offer a sane, secular attempt to roll back religiosity for the betterment of society. Instead, their efforts have begat the mother of all calamities.
How did this come to pass?
Scientific atheism, as promoted by the New Atheists, lacks any unifying central structure or code. Essentially it is based on a negative — not believing in God. So it can't have a defining structure. Richard Dawkins, one of the most prominent New Atheists, tried to answer this with his 'brights' — which was an embarrassment. (Since at least 2014, Dawkins has self-identified as a 'secular Christian' anyway.)
After the Enlightenment and especially the French Revolution, European secularism based itself around Reason as the core methodology that would replace, in the minds of those who were atheist, religious belief. This reflected a rejection of hierarchical religious authority, which had begun in the Reformation. The works of philosophers like Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant and Paine promoted the idea of the free-thinking individual whose intellectual scalpel was Reason. Both of these were exported to the US.
Continue reading "The New Atheists, New Age woo & Cultural Marxism"
Southern Baptism: confused cult of convenience
Being a European, of course, I had no direct experience of Southern Baptism or any of the other so called 'Evangelical' cults until about five years ago, and even then it seemed relatively harmless. They were just a bunch of crackpot fringe-dwellers, somewhat like the Moonies or the Baha'i. Still, I was beginning to see pattern, as I read the writings of Baptist seminarians and 'thinkers'. Was there any substance to this cult at all, or was it just anything anyone wanted it to be? Was it, indeed, actually dangerous?
Continue reading "Southern Baptism: confused cult of convenience"
The Church of Hedonism
I'm going to become a Hedonist. No really, I am. Seriously. I am going to join the Church of Hedonism. Yup. Before this happens to me.
Of course, no such church actually exists, and most religions seem to be mainly concerned with stopping people having fun. But anyway. If there isn't one, I think it's time we started one.
I am rapidly approaching that watershed in life, the dawn of my seventh decade. I don't have that much time to waste any more. I quick demographic of my parents' families suggests that if I remain a non-smoker, keep the drink to a moderate level and eat reasonably healthy food, I have maybe another fifteen years of active life, and another five or so of winding down, before parting the mortal coil and becoming one with the Earth again.
That is not an awful lot of time. And I am beginning to resent every moment of it that is not spent, basically, having fun.
Continue reading "The Church of Hedonism"
This Must Stop: Cruelty is evil
A camel being killed by 'halal'
I am proud to be a European. Our culture has many faults, yet at the same time it has given the world so much. Science and democracy, equality under law and social inclusion simply would not exist without it. And across culture, art, science, engineering and technology, our culture remains a brilliant star, without which light, we would still be in the Dark Ages. I am very proud and lucky to be a part of that.
Despite this, I believed, for many years, that other cultures were equal.
But I was wrong. Culture is not a level playing field. The very qualities that define Western culture represent a system of morality, which allow us to judge other cultures. And we definitely should judge them.
Continue reading "This Must Stop: Cruelty is evil"
Ley-lines: how an English Gent launched the New Age movement
Ley-lines were invented by an Englishman called Alfred Watkins, who had spent much time cycling around the countryside near his home. In 1925, he wrote a book called "The Old Straight Track", in which he described a revelation he'd had while looking at a map of Herefordshire four years earlier. He had suddenly seen a network of straight lines that connected points of human activity, such as
"Mounds, Long-barrows, Cairns, Cursus, Dolmens, Standing stones, mark-stones, Stone circles, Henges, Water-markers (moats, ponds, springs, fords, wells), Castle, Beacon-hills, Churches, Cross-roads, Notches in hills,"
Continue reading "Ley-lines: how an English Gent launched the New Age movement"
God proposition: god true or god false?
The god proposition is supported not by fact, but by faith. At the end of the day, the final word that the religiously-disposed have is to say that "It is so because I believe it to be so," before covering their ears. For them, this trumps everything.
This is the hook that caught Descartes when he confronted the issue, and then backed off very quickly. "I think," he said, "Therefore I am." This is fine. He is self-aware therefore he is sure he exists. He cannot be entirely sure that he exists as he perceives himself or that anything that is around him is as he perceives it, but he does make a very convincing argument, based on the progression of rational logic, that it is so (and thus takes several hundred pages to confirm what any pragmatist already knows. But that's an aside.) However, when confronted by the idea of God, God must exist, he says "Because he cannot imagine a world in which he does not." Oops.
Continue reading "God proposition: god true or god false?"
Posted on January 31, 2018 August 26, 2018
Why Islam Cannot Change
Islam cannot change because of an internal quirk that prevents it.
Why does Islam resist change and always revert to its barbaric, bloody, violent nature? The answer is because it has no choice.
Continue reading "Why Islam Cannot Change"


Sut Jhally, a professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, cannot reconcile himself with one simple fact: A significant number of people in the United States do not share his understanding of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Jhally sympathizes with the Palestinians, but the American people sympathize with the Israelis – by about a two-to-one margin.
Jhally does take some comfort in the fact that young people are more likely to be supportive of the Palestinians than the rest of American society, but he nevertheless wants public opinion in the U.S. to be more supportive of their cause. Ostensibly, his goal is to lay the groundwork for a change in American policy in the Middle East by convincing the American people that Israel is not worthy of their sympathy.
To explain why Americans have accorded Israel such unwarranted sympathy, Jhally has concluded that Israel and its supporters in the U.S. have lied to the American people and have fooled them into supporting the Jewish state despite the evil things it has done over the years.
Dishonest and manipulative propaganda, Jhally asserts, has been spread by pro-Israel activists, who have used their money, marketing techniques, appeals to the Holocaust and concern over antisemitism to cajole and bully Americans into believing that Hamas seeks to destroy Israel and will not "change," that Israel wants peace, and that Palestinian terrorism is a real obstacle to peace in the Holy Land.
For Jhally, these things aren't true. By his lights, the continued existence of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the result of Israel's refusal to withdraw from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (which in Jhally's mind is still "occupied" despite the 2005 withdrawal). In Jhally's narrative, Israel is not merely "defending itself" when it attacks Hamas, but is instead oppressing the Palestinians who themselves are merely exercising their lawful right to resist an illegal occupation.
In sum, Jhally asserts that he has been — at least up until now — on the losing side of a controversial debate in American society because his opponents lie, cheat and silence competing narratives in a manner that undermines or circumvent the logical reasoning process of the American people.
In an ostensible effort to correct this situation and bring American public opinion into line with where he thinks it should be, Jhally has produced a movie that depicts pro-Israel activists as regularly violating the norms of honest and open discourse in American society.
The name of the movie is "The Occupation of The American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in the U.S." The Media Education Foundation (MEF), a non-profit organization, headquartered in Northampton, Mass, released this movie in 2016.
Jhally, who serves as MEF's executive director, is listed as the executive producer of the film, which ironically enough, itself violates the norms of honest and open discourse that the professor accuses his opponents of breaking.
Some of the violations are astoundingly transparent and others a bit more difficult to unpack, but when seen as a whole, they demonstrate that Jhally is not intent on educating his viewers, but misleading them.
In at least two instances, Jhally's movie egregiously alters the footage of television news shows to significantly change the meaning of what was said in the original news segments. These deceptive edits are violations of basic academic and journalistic ethics that Jhally is called to uphold as a professor at UMass Amherst. Sadly, the school has indicated it will not hold Jhally accountable for these egregious breaches of trust.
In addition to outright deception, Jhally uses propagandistic techniques — which he claims to oppose — not just to encourage Americans to think in very specific and narrow terms about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, but to achieve something more sinister — to incite resentment against Israel and its supporters in the United States.
To further that end, he seeks to empower and legitimize Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that has a well-documented history of fomenting hostility, contempt, and in some instances perpetrating acts of violence against Jews on college campuses in the United States.
At the heart of Jhally's narrative about the Arab-Israeli conflict is a counter-factual depiction of events that downplays the threats it faces and exaggerates the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In sum, Jhally's propagandizing leaves its viewers worse off and by being misinformed, less able to behave responsibly in a self-governing democracy.
The overall effect of Jhally's activism is to promote a fracturing of American civil society. He does this by portraying supporters of Israel as outside the realm of legitimate civil discourse in the U.S. and promoting resentful suspicion of Jews in American society.
The following analysis of the film is prepared for the general public and for the students at UMass Amherst who are exposed to his anti-Zionist propaganda in Jhally's classroom.
One hint that Jhally is intent on promoting hostility toward Israel and its supporters in the U.S. is his choice of narrator for the film — Roger Waters, the former bass player of Pink Floyd, a hugely successful rock band.
And in an interview published by Counterpunch in 2013, Waters compared the actions of Jews fighting for their survival during the 1948 War for Independence with those of the Nazis in Europe during World War II, stating, "The parallels with what went on in the 30's in Germany are so crushingly obvious." In this same interview, Waters complained about an "extraordinarily powerful" "Jewish lobby" in the music industry.
In light of these and other comments, the Anti-Defamation League, which had previously defended Waters from the charge of antisemitism, sadly concluded that he did in fact harbor anti-Jewish attitudes documented in part, by a list of his statements.
Jhally could have asked a lot of people to narrate this film, but he chose Waters, a man who has a well-documented history of promoting hostility toward Israel and Jews and who is mistrusted by Jews throughout the world. By choosing Waters as the narrator for the film, Jhally alienated a good number of people whose opinions he was ostensibly trying to convince. Furthermore, by picking Waters as his narrator, Jhally was appealing to a base of people who already think ill of Israel and to people who think about Jews in negative ways. These people already agree with Jhally's assessment about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Why incite them any further?
Further proof that Jhally is intent on inciting — not educating — his audience is provided by the numerous factual misstatements, material omissions and in some instances, outright distortions of the historical record that he deploys during the course of the movie. All of these misstatements, omissions and distortions serve to circumvent rational, fact-based thinking and to justify hostility and contempt toward Israel.
In two instances, Jhally's film deceptively edits the audio of network news programs to serve its ideological agenda.
Israeli helicopter gunships deliberately fired a missile into a crowd of civilians last night, killing seven Palestinians and wounding 70 more.
What has happened here? By deleting three crucial words — "Palestinians charged that" — from the NBC story, Jhally took an unproven allegation made by the Palestinians and denied by the Israelis and presented it as a fact — as the expressed conclusion of the journalist — to the viewers of his movie. This is a basic violation of academic and journalistic ethics.
Here it shows an empty street. A rocket hits a car that Israel says is carrying two Hamas militants. Then a minute later, a second rocket. The street is still empty. Only after another minute did a crowd gather. And Israel says it didn't fire again. A mystery. Who killed and wounded the civilians? "Not us," says Israel.
Subsequent news reports indicate that the civilians were killed and injured in the attack because they were not seen by Israeli military officials prior to the launch of the second missile. In other words, the civilian deaths caused by the attack were unintentional and do not support Jhally's narrative of Israeli brutality and intentional slaughter — a narrative he buttressed with the deceptive edit of NBC's reporting.
With this shameful and obvious deception, Jhally attempted to circumvent the reasoning process of his viewers.
In fact the security barrier, which Simon refers to as a "wall," does not completely surround Bethlehem. This error seriously undermined the credibility of 60 Minutes' coverage, which Jhally describes as an example of "exceptional reporting" on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
But Jhally's documentary obscured the error in Simon's reporting by taking words he said elsewhere in the 60 Minutes segment and deceptively placing them before the phrase about Bethlehem being an open-air prison. The results is that in Jhally's movie, Simon is heard to say, "Israel has occupied the West Bank for 45 years, turning the little town where Christ was born into what its residents call 'an open air prison.'" It is a sentence that does not actually appear in the 60 Minutes segment.
This is another act of concealment that circumvents the reasoning process of his viewers to achieve an emotional response on their part.
Jhally engages in yet another act of deception when he tries to portray former President Barack Obama as a victim of a smear campaign by pro-Israel activists.
We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.
But Jhally's chronology is wrong. The Freedom Center's ad was released on July 27, 2010, nearly 10 months before President Obama made his declaration about Israel's borders on May 19, 2011. Moreover, the ad in question makes no reference to the issue of Israel's borders with a future Palestinian state.
This doesn't stop Jhally from casting the ad as a response to President Obama's statement about borders between Israel and the Palestinians.
The use of the Freedom Center's video to substantiate his allegation that President Obama was accused of setting Israel up for a Holocaust because of his subsequent statement about borders is yet another act of subterfuge on Jhally's part.
The phrase "Auschwitz Borders," has long been part of the discussion regarding Israel's security needs. The phrase was coined by Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban in the aftermath of the Six Day War. Eban asserted that given the hostility exhibited by Arab and Muslim leaders in the Middle East toward Israel, it was unreasonable to expect the Jewish state to withdraw to the pre-war boundaries, which many Israeli officials regarded as indefensible.
The phrase is in sum, an expression of concern over Israel's small size and lack of what security experts call "strategic depth." Israel is a small, narrow country that can be easily overrun by a sizeable army and its cities are well within rocket and artillery range from installations just outside its borders. To make matters worse, the Jewish state is surrounded by hostile countries whose governments have used antisemitism as a distraction from intractable societal problems (such as poverty and illiteracy) they have been unable to solve.
With this statement, Jhally is trying to portray Israel and its defenders — and not Hamas — as obstacles to peace with the Palestinians.
And he does this by claiming that Hamas has "disowned" its charter and apparently is willing to recognize Israel's right to exist.
This would be a crucial and compelling fact to prove Jhally's case that Israel is not worthy of American sympathy, but it is an assertion that a lot of people would have a tough time believing.
are designed for internal use only and are not intended in any way to represent the collective view of CENTCOM. Just as importantly, Red Team products are not "position papers." … [T]hey do not make recommendations for changes in policy. These products, instead, reflect the personal views of analysts who may or may not have been involved in the actual Red Team review of whatever issue was at hand.
It is simply astonishing that Jhally would appear on screen in an attempt to downplay Hamas' hostility toward the Jewish state. By its own admission, the organization has used human shields to prevent Israeli attacks against its leaders and in one instance used a TV station in Gaza to recruit children to serve as human shields. Moreover, the organization has a well-documented history of training children for combat, and has murdered hundreds of Israeli civilians with rockets and suicide bomb attacks. As hard as Jhally tries to obscure the reality, Hamas targets civilians while hiding its fighters and weapons in civilian installations, thus guaranteeing human casualties. And it does these things as its leaders regularly call for Israel's destruction.
… for the latter half of 2008 there was a very successful ceasefire that curtailed rocket rocket fire into Israel dramatically — almost to the point at which there was none. This was shattered in November of 2008 when Israel attacked what they said was a tunnel building project, killed six Hamas militants. At that point the ceasefire was off.
By casting doubt on the existence of the tunnel in question, Jhally's film attempts to obscure that Hamas' digging of an attack tunnel is a clear violation of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Most people would understand that digging a tunnel in preparation for a future attack merits some sort of response. Interestingly enough, the film omits a crucial fact — that between the beginning of the cease-fire in June and Nov. 3, 2008, 38 rockets were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip. If Israel's attack on the tunnel was, as Jhally's movie states, a violation of the cease-fire, then why weren't these rockets?
The film's narrative also obscures that after the exchange of fire that took place in the days after Israel's attack on the tunnel, Hamas rocket fire dropped back near zero, up until mid-December 2008.
From November 6, 2008 to mid-December, there were very few rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. But on December 15, 2008, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal declared that the cease-fire would not be extended past December 19, 2008. This demonstrates that the cease-fire was still in effect and not "shattered," as Hart asserts.
And by December 17, 2008, Hamas began firing rockets into Israel in earnest. So, contrary to what Jhally's movie reports to its viewers, the ceasefire did not end as a result of Israel's attack on the tunnel, but was the result of a decision made by Hamas leadership.
On July 8, 2014, Israel launched a devastating military attack on the Gaza Strip. Over the course of 51 days, the Israeli military dropped nearly 20,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, a densely populated area the size of Philadelphia, killing over 2,000 Palestinians and wounding tens of thousands more. The overwhelming majority of these casualties were civilians.
This narration omits a huge amount of information that the average person would need before making a reasonable judgment about the rights and wrongs of the war in question. It omits any reference to the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank by Hamas on June 12, 2014.
It also fails to report that as Israel arrested Hamas operatives in the West Bank after the kidnapping and began attacking tunnels being dug from the Gaza Strip into Israel (dug to perpetrate cross bordering kidnappings), the number of rockets fired into Israel increased substantially.
By repeating the charge that the vast majority of the Palestinian casualties during the 2014 war were civilian, Jhally's film cooperates with Palestinian leaders who have engaged in a notorious campaign to exaggerate civilian casualties to make Israel look bad. These same leaders have also openly intimidated journalists in the Gaza Strip into not covering the misdeeds of Hamas.
"Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don't forget to always add 'innocent civilian' or 'innocent citizen' in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
"Beware of spreading rumors from Israeli spokesmen, particularly those that harm the home front. Be wary regarding accepting the occupation's version [of events]. You must always cast doubts on this [version], disprove it, and treat it as false.
"Avoid publishing pictures of rockets fired into Israel from [Gaza] city centers. This [would] provide a pretext for attacking residential areas in the Gaza Strip. Do not publish or share photos or video clips showing rocket launching sites or the movement of resistance [forces] in Gaza.
The narrative of life vs. the narrative of blood: [When speaking] to an Arab friend, start with the number of martyrs. [But when speaking] to a Western friend, start with the number of wounded and dead. Be sure to humanize the Palestinian suffering. Try to paint a picture of the suffering of the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank during the occupation's operations and its bombings of cities and villages.
Jhally silence about Hamas's intimidation of journalists in the Gaza Strip is interesting. He mentions the mistreatment and threats directed at journalists in "closed societies" in this lecture given to his students at UMASS, Amherst several years ago.
The use of a hospital for military purposes constitutes a war crime and helps explain why the hospital was destroyed. Hamas also used UN facilities to hide its rockets during the war, a clear violation of international law. The UN itself condemned this action.
There were numerous reports that Hamas used Shifa Hospital as headquarters for its leaders during the fighting. Actions like this, which are clearly violations of international law, contribute to civilian casualties. And yet for one reason or another, Jhally keeps filtering information like this out of his film, raising serious questions about his motives.
One of Jhally's major complaints is that, "Israeli perspectives dominate American media coverage" and that this plays itself out in how often commentators and even American politicians repeat the claim that Israel has a right to defend itself. For Jhally and the commentators in the film, the repeated affirmations that Israel has a right to defend itself is somehow proof that media coverage is slanted against the Palestinians.
To set the stage, the film shows footage of Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ron Prosser, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN and Tzipi Livni, former Israeli Foreign Minister, all declaring Israel's right to defend itself.
The way it is presented in the film, it seems that Obama and Tapper are parroting the talking points of Israeli politicians. To drive the point home, Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (which is now called "The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights") appears on screen to declare "That imbalance there was very significant in shaping the way the public understood this conflict." Following this statement, the film then describes how journalists in Europe are much more aggressive in challenging Israeli officials.
There are two problems with Jhally's narrative. The first is that neither Obama nor Tapper were saying anything that was not true. The fact is, Israel does have a right to defend itself under international law under Article 51 of the UN Charter. Jhally's film takes Israel to task for how it exercises this right — and distorts the facts to drive its point home — but never refutes this point.
And in the segment that Jhally quoted from to illustrate how Jake Tapper and presumably other journalists are in the tank for Israel, Tapper himself made it clear that his reporting was not going to be a pro-Israel rant.
With a statement like this, Tapper revealed that he intended to challenge the Israeli narrative about its use of force and that he was going to highlight the impact of Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians. And that's what he did.
Now, I guess the question is, even if that strike took out a Hamas militant, Israel seems to be saying that it is worth it to kill those three children for that one militant. Is that true? Is that a fair way to describe the calculation being made?
That's a tough question that indicates just how aggressive Tapper was in his effort to challenge Israel about the civilian casualties during Operation Protective Edge.
At one point in the film, Jhally declares that rough questioning of Israeli officials is "unthinkable" in American media, but in reality, if he hadn't cherry-picked a quote from the CNN segment, he could have just as easily used it the same way he used the 60 Minutes segment (described above) — as an example of exceptional journalism related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, who see what's happening to Palestinians as a civil rights issue, have refused to be intimidated – they're refusing to back down even though they're being labeled as anti-Semitic and terrorist sympathizers – and their numbers are growing.
Is this what Jhally wants to see on college campuses?
It simply does not make any sense for Jhally to accuse organizations like CAMERA to "silence" critics of Israel while at the same time expressing gratitude for the publicity they provide when they respond to his work.
Jhally does not operate under this agreement. Jhally's attention-seeking response to factual challenge, coupled with his deceptive manipulations of the historical record and his support for SJP — despite its well-documented history of harassing and intimidating Israel's supporters on college campuses — indicate that his work is not motivated by a desire to educate and persuade his viewers, but by a desire to generate controversy and mobilize hostility and resentment against Israel and its supporters in the U.S.
This is a fundamental violation of the societal norms that Jhally depicts himself as protecting.
Note: September 5, 2018: This article has been corrected. It previously mischaracterized Sut Jhally's description of Israeli efforts to influence American public opinion. The original version stated that Jhally asserted Israeli and its supporters were "practicing some kind of mass mind control." In fact, the script of the movie states: "The reason they've been able to so effectively change the subject isn't because they're practicing some kind of mass mind control. The main reason is that the US government itself has had a vested interest in promoting this same narrative for almost 50 years now." The author regrets the error.


The work, practices and assignments you have given me are REALLY HARD AND NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO DO. I decided to let go of my attachments, silly samsaric expectations and selfish reasonings and suddenly your instructions became so much easier for me to follow through and carry out.
Until the end of my life, I will carry out your instructions my precious guru. Your instructions are much better than the 'instructions' given to me by my parents, peers, friends, elders and many people I met along the way. I know I will not heed what they say but will follow what you say all the way. I look at your qualities and the way you lived your life and I know your advice is correct. I just let go of my attachments and it becomes easier. I love you Kyabje Zong Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teachings. Rinpoche's compassion and guru devotion is one example of how devoted Rinpoche to HH Kyabje Zong Rinpoche. We shall never abandon our spiritual teacher no matter what happened along our spiritual path. We are fortunate to have Rinpoche teaching and guiding us all. By letting go our attachment our mind will be more open in life. I found Rinpoche's blog and found Kechara Soup Kitchen. That's where I am today, learning and practice Buddhism and it has changed my life to live a life meaningful.
Thank you Rinpoche for given us the best examples on how we can devote ourselves to a Guru correctly in thoughts and deeds.
The reason Guru instructs challenging tasks are for us to transform our mind so we can accept and work hard to achieve it. The task is hard because of our fixed mind and perception on how things should be done. When we let go of our pride and trust our Guru, all things will become easier.
It is never easy to be the 'bad' person but Guru out of his compassion take up this role to guide us , just so we can transform to be better. Thank you Rinpoche for your teaching.
Rinpoche is no ordinary person. Any "ordinary" person would give up if they were given instructions to teach people like us. Rinpoche's compassion and guru devotion trumps all of us and inspire us to achieve the same.
A short and sweet letter laced with huge doses of Guru Devotion for us to emulate. Thank you, Rinpoche, for showing this humble and ridiculous student what true Guru Devotion should be.
What a beautiful Guru Devotion that Rinpoche is portraying.. Even though Rinpoche said that Rinpoche does not want to go out of the monastery to teach at another country, but because Rinpoche's guru devotion. Rinpoche trusts and go all the way with H.H Kyabje Zong Rinpoche's instructions. I truly admire this trait(among others) of Rinpoche.. Admirable and inspiring!
Thank you, Rinpoche.. For everything!
Today, Tsem Rinpoche received a message from the incarnation of Zong Rinpoche, who invited Tsem Rinpoche to visit him in Gaden. This is evidence of Rinpoche's clean samaya with Zong Rinpoche, which has led one full circle. I know Tsem Rinpoche is very busy with our work here in Kechara and cannot travel at the moment but i do hope that Tsem Rinpoche will be able to meet his Guru again soon! For us students, we can learn from Tsem Rinpoche's example and put aside our attachments to make our Guru's instructions the highest of priorities and if we follow this, and keep a clean samaya with our Guru, we will definitely reap the right results.
By being a devoted student of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, we gained a Guru in you.
Thank you, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, for guiding our Rinpoche.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for guiding us.
Thank you for this message. Thank you for pretending to be a normal student, and showing by example what all students of Buddhism who have the fortune to be near a teacher should do. Thank you for writing this one verse, in which Rinpoche has made concise the essence of Guru Devotion in the Vajrayana tradition. This should be taken as heart advice by all Rinpoche's students as it tells us what to do, whether in times of crisis or on a day to day basis. I will follow.
I look at this post with 'new eyes'. I see now why Rinpoche has been urging us to go on social media in a long time and i see now why I've been resisting. It's all my negative fears and habituations coming in the way.
Just as you observed your Guru, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche's exemplary qualities and how he lived his life, always focused on benefiting others, so have I observed you. We all know that Rinpoche doesn't exactly love to go on social media, but because of your great love and compassion for all,you have not only mastered it, but taken it to great heights. So now we must do the same, always remembering it's not to feed our self-cherishing mind, but to open up our hearts and minds to bring peace and happiness to all, that we now must immerse ourselves in social media.
HE Tsem Rinpoche's guru devotion is legendary among the monastic community. Even though HH Zong Rinpoche passed into clear light so long ago, Tsem Rinpoche's faith and guru devotion to Zong Rinpoche still remains as strong today as it was then. Tsem Rinpoche embodies the "50 stanzas of Guru Devotion" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsnoJEwXjyM). In Rinpoche's iconic book, Gurus for Hire, Enlightenment for Sale (http://vajrasecrets.com/books/english-books/gurus-for-hire-enlightenment-for-sale.html), Rinpoche talks about Zong Rinpoche and how he served Zong Rinpoche when he was a teenager. Rinpoche was never taught how to serve, he just did – out of pure devotion. Even the decision made by Rinpoche to be ordained and go to Gaden was based on his complete faith in Zong Rinpoche as Heruka himself.
Rinpoche shows us by example how the guru-disciple relationship should be and how by following our guru's instructions to the T, and surrender our own delusions, we will achieve all the results we aspire for. Thank you Rinpoche for Rinpoche's guidance always.
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for this short yet powerful teaching. After i met Rinpoche, I realize because of our attachments or bad habituations, we become very selfish. Selfish in a way that we do not even care to follow guru's instructions or assignments that actually will help us in overall. In fact, we become very selective on assignments that we like to do. This is so wrong. This teaching has taught me nothing is impossible, if we have full faith in our guru.
This letter to your precious Guru is so inspiring. I know I am no where near to your qualities, these are the qualities I am putting into practice in every little way I can. May I be able to devote to my guru like you do.
Dear Rinpoche I was immediately drawn to this photo of H.H.Kyabje Zong Rinpoche.It seems to me to capture all the Wisdom of the Ancients.I had the great good fortune to meet H.H.in the early 1980s when He visited London and stayed at the then Manjushri London Centre,now Jamyang B.C. It was clear to all that H.H.was the very epitomy of all that is wise, compassionate and powerful,and a little scary, at least to this rather feeble mind.They were exciting and happy times and feel privileged to have been introduced to the precious Dharma by such great Masters.
And now having found your website it seems like the source, and resource to inspire us all and the fulfillment of the Guru's purpose. Glorious Teacher of our Time.
when i read your words to your lovely Guru H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, i feel so much love and compassion from you to him. i now your mind and the mind of H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche are the same and not different. I am a nobody, i know. But i want you to let know, that you are really the best model for a good student. how could anybody say anything different? samsara is not perfect, i know. but if the motivation is pure, the fruits will be the same.that´s karma, isn´t it? please stay healthy and happy for long long time. i really love you. samsara will be stay a long time, right? so i know we will see us some day. if i don´t come into hell, i will stay in samsara to help all the others.ok…not everyone will be happy to hear, that i will stay ^^ in love and light.
Letting go has been one of the greatest lessons I have learnt since meeting Rinpoche. The biggest thing I let go is my Ego for all the wrong things. Today, I have converted that same energy of preserving my ego to wanting to succeed and fulfill all Rinpoche's instructions to me.
At times I am overwhelmed by how much there is to do, and I go into a silent panic attack. I then just let go of my attachment to "what is a lot" and just tell myself, "If Rinpoche says I can, I can Full Stop." Then I just go!
Thank you Rinpoche for this picture of Zong Rinpoche. I like this picture a lot. He looks very grand.
I have not met him but hearing about Zong Rinpoche from Rinpoche always touches my heart. It put all of us to shame on how we fail to serve Rinpoche compared to how Rinpoche serve Zong Rinpoche. Our Guru Devotion can never be compared to Rinpoche's. Even till today, Rinpoche still holds on to the promises Rinpoche made to Zong Rinpoche 29 years ago in 1983. Many of us, would have forgotten our promises we made even 2 years ago or some a month ago.
I learned a lot about guru devotion from the stories Rinpoche relates to Zong Rinpoche. And I aspire to work towards the devotion Rinpoche has for Zong Rinpoche.
Thank you for this wonderful teaching Rinpoche. What is "possible" or "impossible" are all decided in our own minds and we are usually motivated by things we like and we talk ourselves out of doing things we don't like. In that way, we limit ourselves.
We are all the better because Rinpoche has never let "impossible" situations override his great kindness to teach the dharma.
Without Zong Rinpoche, we will not have Tsem Rinpoche. Without Tsem Rinpoche, we will not have Kechara and all the beautiful teachings, love, care, understanding, changes in lives, people that comes with it!
Thank you for all you have done Rinpoche! For I too will not be here without Rinpoche and have meaning in life.
For a normal people, it is hard to have strong devotion to his/her guru; harder to follow 100% instruction from his/her guru; hardest to let go all the attachments in life. Today with your action, you are our role model and showing us all these can be done. I still have many many things to do and learn in order to strengthen my guru devotion.
I love him too!! silly american women, but I know he recognize me from somewhere..such a big smile .
The way Rinpoche elucidates the wisdom…its so clear and simple yet so profound and I can relate to it so well…your wisdom light dispels the darkness in every crevice in me. Let me never be far from you but always receive your wisdom rays. With Great Devotion!
Thank you again and again Rinpoche for everything you are doing for others. Your way of teaching cuts trough all obstacles and is so beneficial as a strong example of what to do and not do. Your teaching goes right to my heart and even I am very dedicated to my teacher and already as given 20 years of my life to work at his side, I keep learning from you and it keeps me on the right track to work with my teacher in the beat way I can. I am so far from the Nine Attitudes from Guru Devotion and I am so inspire by it as it is exactly what I need to work with. I am such a slow learner but your teaching is giving me precious tools to keep doing my work in the best attitude towards my teacher. I am eternally grateful for everything you are doing to help us all in every way you can. Deeply in my heart I rejoice to have found you on the internet I am so happy for all your guidance that resonate strongly in me and helps me to be a better person and a better student.
You are truly one of a kind. You may be ridiculous (as you said), funny or anything but deep down, you are ridiculously hard working, kind and compassionate. We are so fortunate to have you as our modern day Guru.