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News » Population Replacement » Taxpayers Forced to Fund Anti-White Film For Scottish Art Gallery Exhibition
Taxpayers Forced to Fund Anti-White Film For Scottish Art Gallery Exhibition
by Laura July 31, 2017 September 24, 2018
Flemish painter Sir Anthony van Dyck's final self-portrait usually resides at The National Portrait Gallery in London. Painted circa 1640, the painting is one of only three self-portraits that the artist is known to have painted in Britain and is of huge international importance.
Last month, the painting started on what will be a three-year tour. The painting will travel across Britain to places such as Margate, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London, giving art enthusiasts a chance to see the painting first hand.
Between 24th June and 1st October this year, the painting will reside at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. The exhibition, which is titled 'Looking Good: The Male Gaze From Van Dyck to Lucian Freud', contemplates the theme of "male image, identity and appearance" from the 16th century to the present day.
The exhibition comprises of 28 works of art, including paintings from London's National Portrait Gallery and the National Galleries of Scotland, as well as photographs, drawings and sculptures. Featured alongside Sir Anthony van Dyck are:
Scottish nobleman and influential military leader James Hamilton; the 1st Duke of Hamilton.
19th century Scottish painter Sir David Wilkie.
17th century Scottish poet William Drummond of Hawthornden.
17th century Scottish architect Sir William Bruce of Kinross.
In today's modern world, the chance to celebrate the successes of the native, Scottish man can only be a good thing, right? Well, it appears the "privileged" white man hasn't been let off the hook just yet.
"Dead, Random, White Dude"
Despite the exhibition's focus on the identity of successful and talented white, European men; the National Galleries of Scotland asked predominantly black, Edinburgh-based hip-hop group, Young Fathers, to make a film to promote the above-mentioned exhibition. The film features on YouTube and, according to the Twitter account of Young Fathers, will also be played on loop at the actual exhibition.
https://twitter.com/Youngfathers/status/890562237282361345
The film, which I have featured below, lasts around four minutes long and features a half-naked, angry black man jumping around the exhibition, hurling insults at the paintings and pretending to punch them.
Our protagonist says things like: "You're dead. Dead, random, white dude.", "What's so special about you?" and he calls the people in the paintings "A long line of inbred spawn soon to die out themselves."
Perhaps not surprisingly, comments were recently disabled on the YouTube video after it received a high number of 'down-votes' and negative feedback.
Update: The film has now been removed from YouTube (01/08/2017).
Taxpayer Funded by Scottish Citizens
The problem here isn't with Young Fathers. Despite their best intentions to ignite some fire in the belly of the viewer, the only feeling that is obtainable from the film is jealousy. That is, jealousy of the accomplishments of the native, Scottish man. Perhaps, as white people, we're not supposed to get it. Or perhaps their complete lack of respect towards Scotland's ancestors means we just don't care.
What we do have a problem with, however, is the National Galleries of Scotland. This exhibition is free as it is funded by the Government, meaning it's funded by the taxpayer. This means that native, Scottish citizens are essentially funding a campaign that attempts to abuse and ridicule their heritage. It's understandable in art that there will sometimes be disagreements about what's good and what's not, but this is just downright abhorrent.
It's certainly not a new concept for our institutions to be rife with anti-white fever, but nevertheless, it's not something that we should allow to become the norm, and it's certainly not something that we should tolerate. The Scottish Government are expecting their taxpayers to pay for an angry, non-European man to jump around in their own gallery and celebrate their replacement.
Are we going to do anything about this?
For further information, the National Galleries of Scotland are contactable here, and can be tweeted here.
Thank you to my good friend Dead Younger for providing the information above.
Anti-WhiteEuropeHistorypopulation replacementScotlandShare1
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Laura is an editor and a writer at Defend Europa.
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Ultimately, you have to choose a place to live where you can be happy. Check out the neighborhood before you move in. You don't have to be besties with your neighbors, but you have to get along. You may find it most suitable to rent in a community of others your age, or you might want a quiet home in an elderly community. Such decisions are up to you, and your ability to recognize what you need for balance between your home and social life, and how you can find a balance between the two and maintain your friendships.
When you need apartments in Eden Prairie MN, give us a call at Southwest Station. We'll work with you and help you find an appropriate place to live which will suit your needs.


"The soul of man is originally a pure tabula rasa, capable of any impression either good or evil, and receives its bent from habits and education."
[...] But it would notwithstanding be a very absurd method of proceeding, as from such examples no general rule can be drawn, that can reflect upon the natural rectitude of our nature; for I may venture to affirm, that there are very few constitutional vices, and that a careful and virtuous education will undoubtedly get the better of such as are to be found in some particular persons and that it is only where that is wanting, or a wrong turn given it, that human nature springs up deformed. The soul of man is originally a pure tabula rasa, capable of any impression either good or evil, and receives its bent from habits and education. We are not then, George, to blame providence, or cast reflections upon human nature, when we see any individuals of our species spring up with monstrous appetites and fiend-like inclinations, since the deformity is not owing to their natural make, but to the carelessness of parents, friends and relations, who have had the management of them when young, when their tender minds were susceptible [end page 4] of every impression, without capacity of making an election of such as were most for its happiness. We we see such, we ought to afford them our pity, and tenderest compassion, and endeavour all in our power to reclaim them, and bring them to the light and use of that reason which bad habits has obscur'd.
Old Sportsman. The Humours of Fleet-Street: And the Strand; Being the Lives and Adventures of the Most Noted Ladies of Pleasure; ... By an Old Sportsman. (London: Printed for Anthony Wright; and sold at all the booksellers and pamphlet-shops, 1749).


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UK General Election December 2019
Electoral Calculus made the most accurate pre-poll prediction of the result of the December 2019 General Election. Our final prediction correctly predicted a Conservative victory with a substantial majority.
For this general election, we relied heavily on our own regression analysis of opinion polls. This was particularly important for this election because of the large changes in voter behaviour. As the 'Brexit election' many traditional Labour voters either stayed at home or defected to parties which were more definitive on Brexit. The Conservatives gained pro-Bexit voters in the North of England, and lost some pro-Remain voters in the South of England. Regression analysis was particularly useful in tracking these flows in advance, and was better than the simplistic uniform national swing method.
An interesting comparison of regression methods was possible by chance on 10 December 2019. On that day, both Electoral Calculus and another pollster published regression-based predictions. We used our tested methods which used a moderate sample size of about 6,000 GB voters. The other survey used a much larger sample size of 105,000 voters. But the predictions were very similar with only a one seat difference in the prediction for the number of Conservative seats (details).
The other innovative feature we used was to take the regression analysis as the "base-line" shape for the prediction to give the estimated shape of political support across all the seats. But we also allowed the absolute national level of political support to vary a little up or down, depending on the results of other public polls. This combination of geographic detail from the regression, plus a 'big picture' input from other polling, was helpful.
"We predicted the Conservatives would win 351 seats, which was closer to the actual result of 365 seats than any other final pre-poll prediction."
The Most Accurate Pre-Poll
Electoral Calculus made the most accurate pre-poll prediction of the result of the December 2019 General Election. Our final prediction correctly predicted a Conservative victory with a substantial majority. We predicted the Conservatives would win 351 seats, which was closer to the actual result of 365 seats than any other final pre-poll prediction (source Wikipedia).
Working with our partners, LucidTalk, in Northern Ireland, we also made a successful prediction of the result in Northern Ireland. Our predictions of party support were all within 2pc of their actual vote share. Our LucidTalk poll correctly predicted that the DUP and Sinn Fein would lose support compared with 2017 and that the Alliance would gain support. It also correctly predicted only small increases in support for the SDLP and UUP. In terms of seats, all but two seats were correctly predicted.
Full details of our 2019 predictions, and find out about our regression polling and election prediction services.
We don't just do political polling – we also specialise in quantitative analysis and modelling for our clients market research.
Want to know how we can work together?
Three-D Political Segmentation
Electoral Calculus undertook a project to create a political segmentation of the UK voting population by political attitudes. This has become more relevant in recent years since the traditional single left-right axis no longer captures the reality of the public's political attitudes.
UK European Union Elections May 2019
Electoral Calculus made vote share and seat predictions for the last elections from Britain to the EU Parliament in May 2019. We used our regression analysis of our own commissioned polls, on behalf of Remain United.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Senator Casey Squashes Beef With Ed Rendell
By Mike Bertha·	 10/25/2012, 11:59 a.m.
Former Governor Ed Rendell recently criticized Senator Bob Casey's campaign for re-election—or, as Rendell perceived, a lack thereof. Casey's media consultant met Rendell's criticism head on in an interview with the Inquirer by suggesting that the former guv was unaware of Casey ad buys in multiple Pennsylvania markets.
"I guess it's obvious that [Rendell] didn't know that," Shorr said. "But I guess that's why the people who live out there thought when he left office that he was governor of Philadelphia."
Casey's campaign, though, backed off the consultant's remarks and tried to squash the beef with Rendell by issuing a letter indicating that the comments had not been approved by the campaign and that Senator Casey appreciated Rendell's support and looked forward to campaigning with him. [Politics PA]
Ed Rendell
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Under Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (PAMDA) commissions were regulated. The industry standard commissions were 7% permanent / long term and 12% short term rental. These commissions applied for the services to be provided by the letting agent in the letting of the lot.
It was considered greater servicing was required for short term rental, thus the higher 12% commission. Details of services to be provided were scant but were expected to include provision of cleaning and linen and all daily servicing to keep the lot available for letting.
The owner was expected to pay for the costs of the services provided.
The letting agent was compensated by the 12% commission of the gross rental for providing their servicing. In many instances this letting was undertaken in strata schemes where the agent had exclusive access to the letting pool, providing the agent numerous properties delivering rental commission. The agent's income could be substantial.
Short term rental generated higher tariffs than permanent rental.
A person or company who purchases a Management Rights Agreement is subject to the legislative supervision of PAMDA/Property Occupations Act 2014 (POA) and the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (BCCM Act), including the Code of conduct for letting agents. Section 133 of PAMDA deals with the appointment of a real estate agent. Due to the benefits and protections provided under management rights a higher level of conduct is demanded on letting agents by the BCCM Act Code.
For instance, at Code 3., a letting agent must act in the best interests of the body corporate and individual lot owners. This requires that in a situation of conflict arising between the letting agent and client, the letting agent must put the interests of the client before his own. It therefore follows that in matters of disclosure as required under s. 133(3)(c) the fullest disclosure of fees, charges and commission or benefit that the agent may receive, would be in the owners' best interests to be disclosed. Any failure to fully disclose these details would breach the code.
"Many complaints are made about the expenses incurred by the agent and billed to the vendor. Accordingly, the amount an agent is permitted to expend for expenses on the client's behalf will be clearly set out in the approved form.
The blue text above was quoted by the Judges. The following section shaded orange provides insight into the Minister's intention for fuller disclosure. This required fuller disclosure is not made in current engagement documentation. This failed fuller disclosure has given rise to action taken by the Chief Executive, Department of Justice and Attorney-General. This aspect of the appeal has not been addressed by the Judges.
The question of entitlement needs to be addressed. PAMDA and POA provides reward for letting services by way of commission on the rental payment. Code of conduct contribute to determine how the services are to be exercised or delivered.
supply services at competitive prices.
By not disclosing the contractors actual charge and the commission or benefit that the agent may receive, to establish the recoverable additional cost, breaches the code and PAMDA obligations.
It is argued that strata industry practice is inconsistent with this statement.
The Judges did not address the 12% commissions paid to the letting agent for the provision of the letting agent's services.
The Judges addressed the costs applied by the letting agent that included an undisclosed commission on the charges. What is the basis for the undisclosed commission when the letting agent has already been remunerated within the 12% commission on the gross rental payment for the provision of the servicing? This would seem that the letting agent is seeking to be paid twice for the same servicing.
The Judges addressed the charges of cleaning and Foxtel as if they were independent or isolated to the management of the business of renting the unit. These services are part of the room rental as they are an added value that justifies the higher tariff. The letting agent is paid his commission or share on the higher value.
The Judges did not take into account the "Code of conduct for letting agents" under the BCCM Act. It could be strenuously argued that many of these codes were breached by the manner in which the letting agents operate. What is the purpose of the Code if it has no influence on a letting agents' performance or conduct? The Code may make owners feel warm and fuzzy that their consumer interests are being protected, but it is now evident that the BCCM Act is simply paying lip service to a process without teeth. This judgement demonstrates that the Code is a misleading, disregarded, worthless inclusion in the BCCM Act. and cannot be relied upon to provide the consumer protection it suggests.
For instance, Code 8 requires "Goods and services to be supplied at competitive prices" The letting agent did not advise his clients of the prices of the contractors providing the service. He only supplied his price and in doing so established a conflict of interest between himself and his client, and breached Code 3, "Acting in individual lot owner's best interests".
PAMDA and POA Form 6 agreements are prepared and offered by a letting agent to clients.
It should be understood that letting agents in CTS schemes come into being under the regime of management rights, which provides the exclusive right to let units in the scheme. Owners in the letting pool of a scheme are of the belief that the letting agent acts in accordance with the law and that the terms of the provided agreement comply accordingly. They further believe that the letting agent complies with the Code of conduct not to engage in fraudulent or misleading conduct.
In those circumstances the client believes that the costs applied by contractors are the costs being recovered by the letting agent. S. 133(3)(iii) "the source and the estimated amount or value of any rebate, discount, commission or benefit that the agent may receive in relation to any expenses that the agent may incur in connection with the performance of the service;" must be stated. To include a term into an engagement agreement that does not disclose both the contractor's payment and any commission or benefit that the agent may receive is in breach of the Code of conduct, in breach of the Act and therefore unlawful.
It follows therefore that the judge's decision must be that such undisclosed commissions are lawful – which would appear an absurd proposition and against all intentions of the PAMDA, as described in the second reading speech on the Bill by the Minister in item 1 of this document.
This requirement of the Acts has not been disclosed in many past PAMDA Form (20)(a) and POA Form 6 documentation. The commission or benefit that the agent may receive has not been fully disclosed as required under PAMDA even though the Minister in her second reading speech as referenced stated that details of "expenses incurred by the agent and billed to the vendor" would be included. Those details should and would have fully disclosed the commission or benefit. The POA has been amended to include a statement about any commission or benefit. This requirement has not led to greater disclosure by letting agents in their POA Form 6.
Are these sections of the Acts endeavouring to require by the stating of details, transparency and disclosure in order that the client is able to be fully aware of all transactions in order that he can be satisfied he is not being charged any amount to which he has not agreed.
 S. 133(3)(c)(iii) should be mentioned. Unlike s 133(3)(c)(ii), it is not limited to expenses that the agent is "authorised to incur". It has different work to do, being concerned with undisclosed rebates, discounts, commissions or benefits. No such issue arises in this case. There is no allegation that the applicant received any such benefit, let alone a "secret commission" or "kickback". Each subsection of s 133(3)(c) addresses a different matter. The mischief at which s.133(3)(c)(iii) is directed concerns benefits that the agent may receive in relation to "any expenses that the agent may incur in connection with the performance of the service". S.133(3)(c)(ii) is concerned with a more limited category of expenses, namely the expenses the agent is "authorised to incur" in connection with the performance of each service or category of service.
The section does not go to any mischief but requires that any benefit that the agent may receive be stated. The purpose of the stating of the benefit is to make the client aware of this detail. Letting agents have deliberately decided not to provide this transparency, probably to prevent clients questioning their entitlement to the additional benefit. Refer Code 1,3,5,6 & 8.
The above demonstrates how Mantra has been able to convert an entitled 12% commission estimated to be $140million to room and commission revenue of $414million. It would be reasonable to say that based on the information's being disclosed and the way in which the law is being interpreted, Mantra clients will be unaware of the funds/proportion of letting income flowing to Mantra revenue.
The real question is, given that Mantra employs a manager to act as letting agent, and considering the influence that Mantra would have over these employed letting agents, could the management practices exercised by the Mantra organisation including their employees, considering the opportunity that is available in this incestuous arrangement, by use of a convoluted structure to avoid the disclosure obligations of PAMDA s 133, be considered fraudulent, given the lack of disclosure in the letting process and the substantial undisclosed commissions that are alleged to be applied. The revenue disclosure of the Mantra annual report provides an insight to the extent of monies potentially involved in this alleged fraud.
However, the judges then fail to examine precisely what expenses the agent is authorised to incur. Had they done so they would have been drawn to PAMDA s. 111.
(b) collecting rents for lots in a building complex.
… and nothing more! The agent's license only authorises the services stipulated in (a) and (b).
It therefore follows that the agent is only authorised (under its license) to incur expenses on behalf of the client that are related to its engagement as a licensed letting agent. This is further identified in 114(3)(e), supported in 116(2) and established in 117(1)(b).
This should have brought the judges to then examine whether the agent was indeed authorised to Act under its appointment outside the authority provided by its license.
(e) if a service to be performed is the letting of lots or the collecting of rent and commission is payable in relation to the service and expressed as a percentage, state that the commission is worked out only on the actual amount of rent collected.
It follows that the expenses that the agent is authorised to incur are integral to the business of letting (cleaning, linen, Foxtel) and that the agent is rewarded by way of a letting commission for the provision of those activities or services.
Section 114(3) requires that the appointment must state fees, charges, expenses and commission or benefit that the agent is authorised to incur in connection with the performance of the service. At this section the commission or benefit must be stated in order that the client gives approval at the point of engagement, to the commission or benefit and is provided with the opportunity to strike out the words providing that approval. Failure to state the commission or benefit would go to an amount recovered or retained as an amount to which the person was not entitled and would be recoverable by the client from the agent under s. 118 PAMDA or s. 91 POA.
(1) This section applies to a resident letting agent who performs, for the payment of a commission, a service of letting lots or collecting rents.
(2) The resident letting agent must not claim commission worked out on an amount more than the actual amount collected.
(c) had been properly appointed under division 2 by the person to be charged with the reward or expense.
There appears no ambiguity or confusion between PAMDA sections 111(1), 114(3)(e), 116(2) with the clarity provided by section 117(b).
It can therefore be reasonably held that an agents license does not authorise it to charge any commission, reward, fee or expense for any service that is beyond that of its license and, as such the agent, in this case, was not authorised to incur any such expenses or retain any reward or commission in acting on behalf of the client.
The appeals panel placed considerable reliance on PAMDA s. 114(3)(c). An ordinary person would read this section and reasonably conclude that the disclosure required by the section included the disclosure of any benefit that the letting agent may receive in relation to any expenses that the letting agent may incur in connection with the performance of the service.
Not so, say the lawyers and I am reminded by a lawyer colleague that I am not familiar with the Acts Interpretation Act that requires the appeals panel to rule otherwise.
An ordinary person would therefore conclude that it was the Minister's intent to provide that at the time of appointment of an agent, the engagement document would "clearly set out" the amount an agent is permitted to expend for expenses on the client's behalf and that clarity would include details of amounts of any rebates and discounts or commissions the agent expects to receive for items the agent is authorised to incur.
Should that clarity not be achieved by the legislation, as seems to be confirmed in the appeals panel's decision, must go to failed legislation which should be, in the interests of natural justice, amended immediately to guarantee clients that the clarity intended by legislators is delivered.
The Office of Fair Trading should undertake an investigation into the extent of the practices of Mantra with regard to letting income being directed to Mantra, and become subject to a 30% commission before the rental income is passed to the letting agent, and there is inadequate disclosure of the transaction to the client.
Questions have been raised at paragraphs 70 to 72 of the Appeals decision regarding these fees. These sections deal with Wotif commissions that are disclosed in a client's rental statement. The Mantra commissions are totally undisclosed in both the engagement documentation and the clients rental statement, which makes these transactions totally different to Wotif transactions.
 The primary Tribunal's dismissal of the disciplinary ground alleged in relation to the Wotif bookings in connection with an alleged contravention of s 139(2) should not be interpreted as resolving any issue concerning the use of booking agents which, like Wotif, deduct a fee from the amount of rent which is collected. Whether such a deduction constitutes an expense which must be disclosed in accordance with s 133 of PAMDA or s 104 of POA is a matter which was not the subject of disciplinary proceedings and is not a matter which either the Tribunal or this Court was required to decide.


Of the 54 million people in the United States thought to be living with sleep apnea, it is estimated that about 80% do not have a formal diagnosis. This means millions of Americans are deprived of oxygen each night without even knowing it.
If left untreated, prolonged sleep apnea can lead to irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, heart attack, stroke and sudden death.
Sleep apnea happens when a person lies down to sleep and the muscles in the throat relax. This may lead to a shift in the tongue and soft palate, causing the airway to narrow so much that it briefly closes off completely. This disrupts breathing and may reduce the level of oxygen in the blood.
Drops in oxygen levels alert the brain that something isn't working as it should. As a result, causes the heart rate to spike in an effort to compensate and deliver more oxygen to the body's tissues. As oxygen level continues to drop, the sleeper wakes themself up, tensing the muscles of the airway to re-establish breathing.
In addition to the harmful side effects mentioned above, a lack of sleep can also impair attention and short-term memory, not to mention that groggy, unfocused feeling that can leave us yawning at work or even nodding off behind the wheel the next day.
A recent sleep study followed 400 men and women between the ages of 40-65 over a period of 20 years. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects that sleep apnea had on health. Specifically, they sought to examine possible connections between sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer.
The follow up twenty years later showed significant conclusions. Namely, instances of disease and death for those with moderate or severe sleep apnea were far more common compared to those whose sleep apnea was either mild or non-existent. In fully adjusted models, moderate-to-severe sleep apnea was independently associated with about a fourfold increased risk of all-cause mortality, incident stroke, and cancer mortality within the group.
A separate study followed 1,500 adults over a period of 18 years who were screened for sleep apnea. Some of the subjects were found to have sleep apnea, others did not.
The study's conclusion brought alarming results. 12% of those who had sleep apnea had died, compared with 4% of those who did not test for sleep apnea—a stunning threefold increase in deaths for those with sleep apnea.
A doctor who specializes in sleep disorders will be able to diagnose you for sure, but one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea is that you simply feel tired more often than not.
Additionally, bed partners can be valuable resources in providing their own perspective. If the person who shares your bed reports that you snore exceptionally loudly and sometimes stop breathing—or gasp for breath—you could have sleep apnea. Being a loud snorer is not equivocal to having sleep apnea, but investigating further can be one the best ways to not only improve the quality of your sleep but quite possibly save your life.
Although they provide a wealth of information, overnight stays in sleep labs are exceedingly expensive. Monitoring physiological sleep parameters like heart rate and stopped breathing events on a device like the Beddr SleepTuner (rather than popular fitness trackers, which are primarily designed to track movement) can also help you assess your body's behavior while you sleep and improve your sleep hygiene.
As discussed above, long-term, pathological sleep apnea has been linked to a myriad of health issues and chronic conditions. Speaking with a sleep specialist or a board-certified doctor who is knowledgeable in sleep disorders is the first step in learning more about how sleep apnea specifically affects you, as well as the wide array of treatments available.
Treatment for sleep apnea in the field of sleep medicine varies, and usually includes suggestions for lifestyle changes such as weight loss, positional therapy (like sleeping on your side), cutting back on alcohol in the evenings, and wearing special devices at night that keep your airway open (such as CPAP and oral sleep apnea appliances).
One of the healthiest, most helpful first steps you can take when it comes to your sleep health is learning the most common symptoms of sleep apnea. With a little education, help from a medical professional, and a desire to take control of your sleep health, you'll be on your way to resting easier.
Tom Goff is the Co-founder and CTO of Beddr. Prior to Beddr, he was a founding member of numerous health tech and medical device startups including Shockwave Medical and Kerberos Proximal Solutions and holds over 40 patents. Tom studied Product Design at Stanford University and is an active StartX alumni mentor.
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The Redefiners of Judaism Take Insult as Usual
Tags: Commandments, Conservative, conversion, Diaspora, Israel, Jews, Judaism, leftist.chief rabbinate, Orthodox, Rabbi, Reform, Torah, Uited States
Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz stated in a cabinet meeting that the rate of assimilation among the Jewish community in the United States is "like a second Holocaust." His reference was in respect of the facts known that over fifty-percent of Jews in the United States, Canada and Europe are intermarrying with Christians and secular humanists leaving their Judaism behind ignored and in tatters. Immediately after his comments were leaked, a problem in Israel just as it is in the United States and other Western governments, many Conservative and Reform Jews in the United States. Their insistence is that Rabbi Peretz is ignorant and insensitive to Jews in the Diaspora. This is far from the first time that an Israeli has been accused with lacking the proper attitudes and totally misunderstanding the true reality of what it means to be a Jew in the modern age. This is always how the condemnation of the insistence by Israeli Jews, largely the Orthodox community, for their insensitivity and lack of knowledge of what modern Judaism has evolved into. Their claims are simple, they should define what is a Jew and what Judaism actually believes and means as they call it, in this modern age.
We thought that perhaps as av graduate of this United States Diaspora Jews inculcations by which Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and other non-Orthodox branches of Judaism have redefined the Halacha to fit their social constructs making them estranged from Torah. The main terminology one would hear from these New Age Jews is Tikkun Olam which they define as repair the world. They take this idea and instead of it meaning that they need to perfect and improve themselves in order to make the world right, they think that they need to make everyone else come around and believe as they do in order to repair the world. They have redefined the Commandments of Torah bending them in order to align them with the platform of the Democrat Party and the beliefs of Secular Humanists. Their reactions to anybody who does not fall in line with their beliefs and definitions are immediately considered to be any of any number of stock names, racist, homophobic, sexist or any other of the plethora of labels thrown around to slam their opponents making them easily discarded as ignorant and uninformed boors. So, how is it that things changed to the point that I not only support Rabbi Rafi Peretz and most of what he has stated, all of which has perturbed the Diaspora Jews and their Tikkun Olam warping of the Commandments of Torah and Judaism.
The first thing which probably made my transition to Traditional Orthodoxy since making Aliyah returning home to Eretz Yisroel was our coming home with absolutely no preconceived notions of what to expect of Israel, the societal means or almost anything at all. We came with a wait and see what it is we had come into and exactly what the effects were going to be. It took about six months before finding out that it is far easier to be a practicing Jew in Israel than it was in most places in the United States, especially since I often resided in places like north-central Wyoming where the closest Synagogue was over four-hundred-miles distant and Kosher foods were next to impossible outside of Hebrew National salamis. Then began regular attendance to services, joining classes about Talmud, Torah, Haftorah and other things which covered Judaism and the Commandments giving it straight and without bending, twisting, spindling and otherwise mutilating these writings. This led to noting that most of Judaism was very different from what had been instructed and far more self-centered with the intent for self-improvement. Judaism also had no desire to change other people from outside of Judaism but to improve ourselves to such a degree that others will desire to strive for self-improvement. Judaism, as it has been explained, provides Commandments by which Jews can improve their interaction with others and make of themselves people living an enviable life while not proselytizing others and never even attempting to make converts of others. Judaism is to be practiced by the Jewish People and also converts, despite Judaism making conversion fairly difficult. Often, true conversion takes at a minimum two years of intense studying, and then passing queries posed by a panel of Rabbis.
Conversion brings us to another point which we will utilize to show the difficulty facing the Jews of the Diaspora and the Jews within Israel. The Chief Rabbinate set the rules for which one is considered Jewish, including how to convert to Judaism. Needless to point out, conversion to Judaism has strict rules before it is accepted by the Chief Rabbinate. This has brought great amounts of condemnation from largely leftist Jewish groups and the leadership of the Conservative, Reform and other non-Orthodox folds of Judaism. Their complaint is that many conversions they have performed are unacceptable within Israel and one who converts to Judaism under many of their systems are not acceptable as being a Jew unless they again convert in Israel under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate. The Chief Rabbinate is often labeled as being overly strict, restrictive and narrow-minded in their recognition of conversions and they need to become more liberal allowing for these New-Age Judaism and their open-mindedness allowing for an open definition as to who is Jewish as after all, there should be little difference between conversion to Judaism and conversion to any other religion. They are totally aware that their critics are based on falsehoods as the Israeli Chief Rabbinate accepts conversions conducted by the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America), the Orthodox Union (OU) and here is a list of approved conversion performed outside Israel. The list is relatively extensive and approved conversions can be readily found by any desiring to convert and ready for a minimum of two years of intense learning.
But those Jewish groups and other non-Orthodox branches of Judaism refuse to accept that the Israeli Chief Rabbinate uses identical rules and requirements to those used by every of those listed as approved which in the United States include the RCA and OU conversions. Again, those in the Diaspora insist that Israel bend their rules and accept their definition of Judaism simply because they are more enlightened, open-minded free-thinking and tolerant. That is partly the problem as Judaism must remain strictly defined and steeped in traditions as well as kept honoring, respecting and following the exact rules of Torah given by Moses during the Exodus. Judaism is not to conform to the ideas of the Justice Democrats, the New Israel Fund, IfNotNow and numerous other Jewish leftist groups who all demand Israel accept their unarguable perfect and correct definitions of Judaism and what it means to be a good person. Their vision is an Israel as a subordinate to the Democrat Party platform and the leftist agenda based on their concepts of justice, LGBTQ rights, human rights, and demanding that Israel sacrifice whatever it takes to reach peace with the Palestinian Authority. Basically, these Diaspora Jews refuse to accept Torah Judaism as it has been defined for over three-thousand-years and instead supplant Torah with their LGBTQ, international justice, human tights and numerous other leftist central beliefs replacing Torah. Having lived in both communities, it can honestly be stated that Torah Judaism is centered and planted firmly in Jewish history and practice while the leftist justice warriors who insist that they can make and define a batter Judaism would not be planted and continue into the future with anywhere near the practicality of Torah which has steadies and defined Judaism for three-thousand-years plus. Judaism must remain centered on Torah which has been its anchor and the rock upon which it was founded. This does not mean that Judaism should ignore modernity, Judaism just need remain set in Torah while moderating these other new liberal and leftist concepts and ideas which Diaspora Jews are so enamored. We in Israel need not fear these Jews redefining Israel as the odds for their ever-making Aliyah, if what has been experienced when we decided to make Aliyah, the number of Conservative Jews from our congregation dumbfounded asking why would we ever desire to go to such a forbidding place. After moving here, we can inform these Jews, though they will not believe us, but they are the ones residing in what is rapidly becoming a forbidding place and Israel is the little wonder of the world.
How Will the Arab-Israeli Conflict Finally End?
Tags: Aliyah, Arab, Conflict, Conservative, Democrat Party, France, Germany, Israel, Jews, Orthodox, Reform, Remaining Jews, Russia, Ukraine, United States
There has never been a conflict which ended while both parties were still capable of continuing the fight, neither side has achieved their ultimate goal and neither side has decided the fight is no longer viable militarily, monetarily, politically or publically supported. The Arab-Israeli conflict will not be any different. There will not be any peace agreement no matter the publicity about how it solves the differences in a means which is amicable for both sides. The reason for this comes down to the basic and mutually opposed, antithetical and the sides are inimical. The root of the problem is not territorial which has been how all attempts have been based for settling the differences. The differences are religious as well as political and social. The Arab side is based partially on the Quran and further on their self-conceived belief that they are undefeatable. The Israeli side is based on the Biblical promise that there would come a time when the Jewish People would be gathered by Hashem returning to the lands promised to Avraham in Genesis. What the central problem boils down to is the Jews believe that they are to return to their biblical homeland while the Arabs believe that they are superior in all things military and cannot be defeated and thus no lands which they have held be permitted to be occupied by another people. So the Jews have this Zionist belief that their return to Israel is a promise from Hashem and thus cannot be prevented and once returned will last through the coming of the Moshiach while the Arabs believe that the existence of Israel is an affront to them as a people and against the Quranic promise that they will never lose lands once they have implanted Islam on that land. The simplest explanation is the Jews believe in Israel as permanent and the Arabs believe Israel must be destroyed and obviously, these are incompatible and mutually opposed.
What needs to be understood is that these same Arab nations forced out their Jews between 1948 and 1972, most before 1960 (see map below). This is the problem as it exists and will continue to exist until one side proves victorious in their desire and the other side accepts that reality. If the Arabs permit peace with the existence of Israel, then peace is possible. As the Arabs have already made very clear, that will never happen and they will continue to pursue the destruction of Israel and the death of the Jews until the end of time. That brings us to the Arab version of peace where Israel has been exterminated and millions of Jews have fallen before the marauding victorious Arab armies, charred remains of a nuclear holocaust or corralled into camps to be exterminated or converted to Islam. Israel will simply take whatever measures she needs to keep Israelis alive and protected which means that there is no solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict and the world should simply walk away and leave us to one another. Obviously, only one side will get their way when all is said and done. The next question is one which requires some thought and hopefully the world can find an answer. Why is the outcome of this conflict seemingly so important to the world that a nation about the size of the state of New Jersey, a rather small nation as far as square kilometers are concerned, yet Israel is an obsession for the United Nations, European Union, and much of the rest of the world and, lastly, the United States. Does anybody have any ideas as to why this little nation of Israel takes center stage for so much of the world? There is a simple reason which the leaders of the world understand and some are taking what would appear to be a counterintuitive position. According to doctrines written in numerous societies' compendiums from ancient histories from the beginning of writing including stories even older which were passed down through oral rote memory up to some of the most recent philosophical political theorems have equated the existence of the Jewish People and their final permanence in the Promised Lands with the survival of human civilization. The Jewish Bible told of the eventual return of the Jews to their lands as was also reported in other ancient histories. In the Bible, the return of the Jews would be a permanent return and within a short period of time, all the Jews would return to their promised lands.
Jews forced from Arab World Between 1948 and 1972
Many have claimed that this is impossible as such a complete return would virtually double the population of Israel. Well, if that were true it would be wonderful. First a little bit of Jewish history in relation to their former returns, the exodus from Egypt and their return after Cyrus the great freed the Jewish People from Babylonian occupation and granted them semiautonomous rule. Historians have estimated that somewhere from twenty to thirty-five percent of the Jews left Egypt with the remainder deciding that a life under Egyptian rule to be preferable to the responsibilities of freedom and these Jews disappeared into the stretching of time. The end of the Babylonian Exile resulted in twenty to thirty-five percent of the Jews returning to the Promised Lands to build the Second Temple while the remainder were dazzled by the advance Persian civilization and remained with the Persians and these Jews disappeared into the stretching of time. The current return to the Promised Lands will result in double the response of the former returns from exile thus the Jewish People can expect forty to seventy percent of the total numbers of Jews returning. This would result in a mere twenty percent to a maximum of forty to forty-five percent of the European and American Jews returning to Israel with the rest disappearing into the stretching of time. Disappearing into the stretching of time can also be used to describe what happened to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel which were the Northern Kingdom of Israel which fell first with the Kingdom of Judea which included the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Basically we are using that phrase to describe the tribes and peoples of the Jews who disappeared from the known collection of the Jewish People. What has been amazing has been that numbers of these tribes have reemerged and proven their lineage and have been reincorporated into modern Israel. The return of these lost tribes has added much variety of peoples to the population which will serve the Jewish People as we face our future.
There are those who continue to claim that soon there will be thousands, possibly tens or hundreds of thousands of Jews returning to Israel very soon placing an economic strain as well as making the housing situation dire until sufficient housing can be built. Many claim that such an influx will require extensive use of lands in the south in the Negev Desert. Currently there are approximately seven and three-quarter million Jews outside of Israel. Almost five and three-quarter million reside in the United States, another half million in France, just over a third million in Canada and just over a quarter million in Britain. Currently the majority of the Jews coming to Israel are from France, the Ukraine and Russia. Looking at this and one will notice that of the three nations from which the majority of Jews making Aliyah, only one is amongst the four largest populations of Jews outside of Israel. The Jewish population in the United States, as well as Canada to some extent, lives in insular communities where much of their neighborhoods all belong the same synagogue or ones of similar denomination, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. The Orthodox Jews are probably in the most tightly knit communities.
World Religious Population Distributions
Due to their tightly knit communities and their use of private Yeshiva schooling, their children marry within the community. With Conservative and Reform, and other smaller offshoots of Judaism outside the Orthodox communities, often use the public schools and reside in more mixed neighborhoods, there is a higher rate of their children marrying outside their community. The Conservative and Reform Jews make up the majority of Jews in the United States and with the intermarriage rate reaching almost seventy percent of their children, how much longer will their children and grandchildren continue to follow Judaism? Many of these intermarried children choose to try to raise their children in both Judaism and Christianity. This leads to confusion and due to peer pressure and the basic Christian dominance in American society, the Christianity wins out in most cases and these children are even more likely to intermarry and simply leave the Jewish faith completely. There is something which could alter the adopted non-Jewish identity some of these Jews will adopt. It is the same thing which has occurred to Jews over history many of the times when they become overly assimilated. It happened in Persia with Hamas, it happened in Germany with Hitler and the Nazis and it could even happen in the United States. What happens is the steep rise in anti-Semitism which looks at the grandparents or even further back and decide who is Jewish by this determination. This makes many Jews who had adopted to leave Judaism suddenly returned to their Jewish roots not by any choice of their own.
The more recent of the historical examples is the easier one to describe. The German Jews were well accepted in their society and it was in Germany where Reform Judaism was born. This led to a split of the Jewish population with the Reform Jews often being the most assimilated amongst the Jewish population. There were Jews teaching in Universities and schools, as judges and lawyers, as doctors, technicians, physicists, chemists, tailors, actors, directors, writers and every other field of endeavor. They lived in mixed neighborhoods and some lived in neighborhoods apart (mostly the Orthodox). When the Nazis began to rise to power, the most assimilated Jews felt safe as they were proper Germans and Hitler meant those other Jews, the ones who lived apart and dressed in peculiar clothing and practiced a different life than the average German. Many claimed that the statements and anti-Semitism was simply an election ploy to garner votes, not something the government of Germany would ever allow to happen, after all, the Jews were amongst the highest percentage of those who fought for Germany in the Big War (World War I) and were proven real Germans. They were very much as the modern Jews in the United States are today; they denied the rise in anti-Semitism and continued on with their denial right onto the trains to the Concentration Camps.
Before we made Aliyah, we belonged to a Conservative Synagogue and these Jews mostly resided in an oval of our city which was anchored by our Conservative Synagogue at one pole and the reform Synagogue at the other pole. One could almost apply the formula for drawing an oval and they would incorporate well over ninety percent of the Jews in our little city. We were outliers as we resided miles outside these neighborhoods where our house was probably the only Jewish house within five to ten miles. Where we did not witness much if any outright anti-Semitism, we did hear some anti-Semitic thoughts which were part of the general beliefs and came out in idle conversations. As the area was predominantly Christian, the majority supported Israel but there were some very wrongheaded beliefs about whom and what Jews were. If you had asked these people if they were anti-Semitic they would deny even the wisp of a possibility, yet there were things they believed about Jews which were less than honest. One example was that Jews were wealthy and stuck to living with their own. Where we could not refute the living amongst their own, we easily refuted the wealth canard, as we would ask that they explain why we lived in their moderately priced neighborhood which was far from upper-middle-class, but was comfortable with older homes and white picket fences everywhere. Could these people be turned against the Jews of America, not all or even many of them but the Nazis were a minority with all the guns.
It does not take a majority of the people to turn an entire society into darkness, it just takes an overtly active minority of a mere fifteen to twenty-five percent with weapons and willingness to use violence and fifty percent who would start being complacent and before they could realize that things had become beyond their control, it would be too late to prevent the inevitable. The actual vote received by the Nazi Party received was thirty-seven and two-fifths percent of the popular votes. We can figure that some of these votes were made by people who were not hardcore Nazis but voted for them to remain safe as their neighborhood had so many Nazi flags in their lawns that to vote otherwise might prove to make them suspect. We need to remember that the Nazis were not exactly adverse to the use of violence, and that can persuade people to vote differently. For those who will claim that such things could never happen in the United States, then how would they explain the Philadelphia Black Panther intimidation at a voting station intimidation threats (see video below). Then there has been the use of the FBI and Justice Department as weapons against the Trump campaign during the last election which included a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant sought and received using knowingly tainted evidence. The misconduct and weaponizing of the government is still being pealed back and who knows how many layers this onion will end up having and who else will tumble out before everything is done including possible foreign intervention against Trump from Russia and even some European allies. America is not a sacred and saintly as our sanitized school history taught us back in school, so never say that it cannot happen here.
We hope the United States continued in perpetuity as the protector of liberty and freedom for the world. We have seen one item which Israel should take to heart, that the United States is not and should never be believed to be the protector for the nation of Israel. President Obama allowing the passage of a Security Council resolution which placed almost everything beyond the Green Line as forbidden for Israelis to reside should have served as a wake-up call to the leaders of Israel from this time into the future. This would make the Palestinian Authority demand that no Jews be permitted on the lands they claim enforced by the United Nations under a Security Council resolution. This introduced a new day where support of Israel has become a partisan position where much, if not a large majority, of the Democrat Party will refuse to protect Israel without Israel meeting demands for sacrificing to the Arabs, something which would become such a threat that Israel would become difficult to defend. This is the new reality as things now appear. And the majority of non-Orthodox Jews support the Democrat Party blindly believing that it supports everything they support, and that may be valid as a measurable number of these same Jews do not actively support or care about Israel.
Growing Threat to Judaism in America
Tags: anti Semitism, Conservative, Day of Judgement, Fight the Jews, Hadith number 6985, Islam.Criticism of Islam, Islamophobia, Israel, Jews, Leftists, Liberalism, Muslims, Orthodox, Progressive Jews, Quran, Reconstructionist, Reform, Religious Freedom, Repair One Self, Repair Society, Sahih Muslim Book 041, Tikkun Olam, Zionism
Charlottesville rioting gave cover for headlines blaming the alt-Right for all the hatreds in the United States. They allowed announcements declaring the hatred of Jews and Blacks as well as other minorities of the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and the White Supremacists. These hate groups got coverage which was all aghast that these people were permitted to slide out from the slimy regions under rocks and march in the daylight, presumably the worst example of American allowance of free speech and an excellent argument for limitations on free speech. The limits are now demanded on free speech currently is limited to hate speech. There are demands that all hate speech by these types of right wing groups be made illegal and enforced exclusively against the alt-right. This became so powerful a call that a free speech rally in Boston where there were no alt-right groups or speakers as actually the police cordon around the organizers prevented attendees leaving at most two or three dozen people at the rally surrounded by hundreds of Boston Police holding close to thirty to forty thousand counter-protesters who were reputedly screaming epithets, threats and obscenities while throwing bottles with some containing urine as well as rocks and other objects at the police, none had an arm like former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway thus were unable to throw any object two-thirds the length of a football field's distance to hit the rally organizers and the few attendees who arrived early enough to attend before the police cordoned off the area from counter-protesters and attendees alike. Unlike Charlottesville, the Boston rally for free speech had no hate speech or alt-right speakers, but that does not matter to the far left as they knew there had to be hatred there, conservatives were claimed to have been invited.
This brings us to the growing threat to Judaism in America and the reason it is not the alt-right. The reason it is not the alt-right is because they are such a small segment and already so opposed by even the political middle and even apolitical people who are not aligned with either part or side of the political spectrum. Even the people who do not vote and remain relatively clueless and uninformed know enough to reject anything attached to Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and the White Supremacists. These people could not gain a following no matter how much effort they put forth because as soon as they would be unmasked for who they were, anybody fooled into joining them would walk away cautiously likely praying they did not get injured by the fanatics they were fleeing. That is the lack of acceptability of the alt-right and nobody regarded with even a modicum of respect would join those outcasts. The threat to Judaism in America comes from another group and through another channel which is often called post-Zionism.
The new anti-Semitism does not wear their hatred as an armband and exclaim proudly their hatred for the Jews. No, they wear their Jew hatred wrapped cozily in a righteous cause. The new anti-Semite is out to save the victims or defending the righteous and hold many concepts and ideals that many Jews hold themselves. You see the new anti-Semite is a Progressive and as a Progressive they are allied with the left-leaning Jews and that makes the Jews slow to condemn or even recognize these destructive haters. Most of the American Jewish communities outside the Orthodoxy have replaced the Torah and Jewish principles with those of the leftist Progressive movement. They have redefined Tikkun Olam as "save the world" by which they mean perfect the world by leftist standards and not improve one's self and use their own actions as an example of how one should act. For these Progressive Jews, Tikkun Olam means removing all those considered not to be part of the Progressive solutions and all the while forgiving fellow Progressives of all sins no matter how repugnant they are to Judaism. One of the Capital Offences in Progressivism is love of Israel or Zionism. This forces the Jew to choose between being a good Progressive and being a supporter of Israel. For the Progressive, loving Israel means you now serve two masters and the idea of dual loyalty by the Jew with one loyalty, the forbidden loyalty, being Israel is in and of itself anti-Semitism. The Progressive Jew though views this as only natural and thus they place the Progressive cause before their love of Israel and their fellow Jews. This is part of being a Progressive, the hatred of Israel as a cruel and hateful oppressor of the downtrodden Arabs known as 'Palestinians.'
Following the Progressive code requires the adoption of the Islamic view of Israel as the usurper and also requires that one recognize that all criticism of Islam is Islamophobia and another form of white suppression. This was much of why the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has rewritten their bylaws and no longer protects Judaism or Jews first but rather fight all hatreds other than anti-Semitism, except when it is purported by White Supremacists, the KKK and Nazis. The Islamic hatred of Jews, as long as it is couched in anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism, both of which are against colonialism, white privilege and oppression of helpless Arab victims, is totally understandable and totally natural reaction to the crimes committed by the Israelis. This is what was behind the ADL's lukewarm response where they requested confirmation of what the Northern California Imam meant when he recently called for the murder of Jews. When he redefined his initial wording which included all Jews and narrowed the target to those Jews whose support for causes not Progressive such as Israel or those Jews living in the ever so evil state of Israel all was immediately forgiven. This was the prime example of the Progressive Post-Zionist leftist Jew in America. Progressivism is good and Israel is evil.
This Progressive anti-Semitism has a second and more pernicious angle of blind and total support for everything Islam. This includes the Islamic desire for the annihilation of the Jewish People. Of course, this desire is wrapped within a cocoon of anti-Zionism and anti-Israelism, two of the fundamental leftist positions. American Jews have an ability in great reserves for complete and total blinding self-delusion. They can watch as an Imam declares total war against Jews and Judaism and hear only that the desire is to remove the Israeli cities in Judea and Samaria because these Jews are on Holy Arab Islamic Lands, are sitting on a Waqf (see below). The fact that Mahmoud Abbas has claimed openly that all of Israel is a sacred Waqf and that Islam must reassert total control of all the land and exterminate the Jew presence means nothing to the leftists and thus the American Jew denies this ever occurred. These American Jews have on blinders which restrict their vision to just a narrow definition of what they are shown and to accepting any definition no matter how absurd. But their delusions go far deeper.
The Progressive American Jews have forsaken Torah replacing it with the Progressive calls for social justice, income equality, socialist principles, single payer healthcare and the platforms of the Democrat and Green Parties. They are oblivious to everything around them which screams hatred for Jews and their religion, their country and their survival. Whenever some sound disparaging Jews does finally reach their inner ear and be received by their brains, they interpret Jews to mean those crazed Orthodox Jews who keep the old ways wearing Tzitzit hanging off their beltline, Yarmulkes on their heads, curls of Payot framing their faces, the Black hat and the entire religious uniform, certainly not them as they are enlightened, assimilated Jews; why they are almost Christians with slightly different holidays. These are the modern American Jew who has a good high-paying job, respected in his community by his non-Jewish associates, has forgotten his roots, is all about being a good Progressive leftist American, has no desire to ever live in Eretz Yisroel, believes the customs of his Orthodox brethren are backward, modifies Torah as Moses had no idea of society today, and follows the leftist dogma as if it were the word of Hashem. These Jews value the good pats on the head they receive from their fellow leftists, including those who would prefer to see them gone be it by expulsion, or worse, annihilation. To many leftists the Jews themselves by the fact that they are Jews are a threat to them and to their Progressivism. They view every Jew as a ticking time-bomb who can revert to Torah and realize the errors they were making and then they would become a formidable force against their leftist goals. This is something which has happened all too often to the Jewish People as whenever the Jews have become complacent and disavowed their heritage, their heritage comes back full force and is thrust upon them. This was the case in Persia before Haman thrust the Jew back into the Israelites who remained in Persia and did not return to the Holy Lands. It happened with the Greek occupation until a small band, the Maccabees, rose up to liberate them from Greek rule, cleanse the Temple and bring many of their brothers and sisters back within the fold to confess their acts against Torah and against Hashem. But there are two recent times this has occurred and one definitely applies to the American Jews who have lost their way.
Orthodox Rabbis Meet in New York City
What is sad is this has been the view of the Jews before in Wiemar Germany and the early Soviet Union. It is in these histories we can divine what the future holds for these Jews. German anti-Semitism brought disaster through the Shoah, the Holocaust. The initial beginnings of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) began, obviously, in Germany as did the initial discussions which led to the founding of the Communist Party though the founders of Communism were forced to flee and much of their early work was performed in England. The origins of the Nazi Party emerged from the German nationalist, racist, and populist Freikorps, a paramilitary culture, which fought against the Communist Party. The Communists were expelled from nation after nation finally finding their home in Russia where they formed the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) or Soviet Union. The National Socialists, Nazis, were at odds with the Internationalist Socialists, Communists, and would fight one against the other during World War II just as they had when both were ascendant in the political struggles in post World War I Germany. Where many a political scientist will place the Nazis as right wing and the Communists as left wing, we find that measure to be a false difference. We prefer the more descriptive description where left is replaced by Statist or Socialist and Progressive where the state is seen as supreme in power and the right is replaced by Individualist or Conservative Libertarian. This places the Communist and the Nazi both at the left end as both believe in empowering the government over the governed (see below). Both fear the Jews because the Jew gave birth to the concept of man made in the image of the divine and thus a worthy and regal identity unto itself which required no ruler other than Hashem to guide them. This idea of the enlightened individual is an anathema to the Statist Progressive Leftist.
Both the Nazis and the Communists took over countries in transition and where Jews were part of the national culture. The Jews in Germany were far more advanced than their cousins in Russia during the Soviet Revolution. Further, the Nazis took power through political infighting and maneuvering to attain power and then using that power to consolidate their power while the Communists simply deposed the standing governance and replaced it with their own powers. Both the Nazi and the Communists evolved centralized power and removed all rights and freedoms from their respective nations. The Nazis came to power partly on anti-Semitism where they blamed Jews for the problems Germany was facing. The Communists came to power with some Jews, such as Trotsky, in high regard and high places but that mood soon changed so much so that Trotsky was hunted down and executed for his perceived crimes. So, soon after taking power, both Communists and Nazis did turn on their Jews taking any wealth or weapons they found. They both placed their Jews in camps from which the vast majorities were not expected to survive. Yet, despite all the signs, in both instanced the Jews mostly never saw what was coming. Many a historian has claimed their belief was that they were an integral part of the German society and had been accepted. That is largely the view in Europe again today. Both Communists and Nazis blamed the Jews when things grew more vital of a threat to their ruling. This led most to turn Jews over for reward rather than risk the life of one's entire family for hiding them. Those few who remain true to their religious teachings and chose to be their brothers' keepers despite the risk are today immortalized enshrined at Yad Vashem, the memorial to those who perished and the righteous amongst the nations who preserved what souls they were able.
Where the Nazis came to power preaching hatred for the Jews, during the Communist revolution, there were Jews fighting with those trying to take power as well as on the other side. Despite the Jews supporting the revolution, the Communists blamed them of usury which was the presumed cause for the economic hardships. This brings both sides back in lock-step with one another persecuting the Jew as the enemy who was responsible for the downturn in the economy and the imprisonment of the mentally and physically disadvantaged along with others considered as undesirables. This included the Roma (Gypsies), Baltic Christians, Polish, and for the Soviets it was the Nazis and for the Nazis it was the Soviets as well as the Jews. The camps in the USSR were the gulags and the Jews were placed largely in Siberia which was tantamount to a death sentence. The Nazis sent their Jews to Concentration Camps where they were overworked, underfed, and treated harshly if not murdered outright. The Jews in the USSR believed that their assistance in the Communist Revolution would give at least those Jews protection. The murder of Trotsky in Mexico by Soviet agents put that notion to rest. The Jews were shipped off to Siberia work camps where people were written off by the government, as they were not expected to survive, let alone ever leave.
The American Progressive leftist Jews believe that they are going to play a central role in the restructuring of America. Perhaps initially, they will be utilized for their skills and knowledge assisting in making things function well. In time, there will come a point where the economy begins to falter and the problems will be traced back to the Jews. The rest is a story which has played out over and over and over again throughout history, especially Jewish history. Step one is always the collect the weapons, especially from the Jews. Then come the restriction against Jews working in certain professions, no government positions, no working towards any war effort, educating the youth cannot be permitted and on it goes. Then follows the travel restrictions and finally the shipping from the ghettoes to the camps where anything can be committed against them for the process has dehumanized the Jew. That is one idea from history which has never lost its attraction, the dehumanizing of the Jew. Christians made out the Jews were guilty of the original sin of deicide, the murder of G-d. The Muslims simply stated that the Jew was the embodiment of the stubborn who resisted the true faith and were the initial deceivers who had written the devil's version of the Quran and celebrated their connection with hell and the black arts. These arts were considered capable of the destruction of the wonderful civilization which was to be built once Islam ruled the world. Of course that meant that such time as the Muslim end time were to arrive, first the Muslims must fight and vanquish the Jews. This is made far more difficult the longer Israel exists and the stronger Israel grows. That is why many Muslims believe that the Quran instructs them in Sahih Muslim Book 041, Hadith number 6985, which became part of the Charter of Hamas, states the following:
The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharqad tree would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.
Four Examples of Vegetation Thought
to Represent the Gharqad Trees Mentioned
in Sahih Muslim Book 041, Hadith Number 6985
The real problem in Israel is that it was once part of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate before that and as such must never be permitted to leave the rule of Israel. Many people point to Spain as proof that this is not an article of faith in Islam as much of Spain used to part of Islam. Should one listen to numerous sermons of Imams they will hear of calls for the reconquest of Andalusia, the Islamic name given to the areas of Spain they had conquered. These pale when compared to the true end result which Islam, in the current dominant form which has the violent Medina verses to abrogate the less violent verses in the Mecca Quranic writings. This has led to such ideologies as those posed by the Wahabis, Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Saudi Arabia with the Gulf States, Turkey's President Erdoğan and the Mullahs of Iran where their particular version of the Quran and Islamic history eventually will result in a world conquered and subjugated only to be forced to convert to Islam or die. As has been seen from the Islamic State's horrific videos posted into the Internet, the concept of convert or die is very much alive with them as is the concept that if your knowledge of Islam differs from theirs you are an apostate to be murdered on the spot.
Islam still need unify themselves behind a single ideology and where the Muslim Brotherhood spawned al-Qaeda from which ISIS was born which became the Islamic State, each of these variations of Islam do not match perfectly and would this end up fighting against each other for supremacy and then would face the Wahabis for the honor of being the truest form of Sunni Islam to struggle against Iran and their leadership of Shiite Islam. In the meantime, each group or faction of Islam would also demand that their version of Islam is the correct version. Currently, the war for control over the soul of Islam is being waged in Syria where Turkey's President Erdoğan announced to be at war the Islamic State while actually fighting the Kurds who simply desire to form their own nation of Kurdistan and live in peace, a concept found to be unacceptable in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Then there are the Shiite forces simply fighting everybody else including the Kurds. These forces include Iranians, Bashir al-Assad Alawite militias and the remnants of the Syrian Army plus Hezballah from Lebanon and IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) troops from Iran all backed by Russian air power and artillery. They are also against the Sunni militias and the Islamic State all of whom are backed by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and Iran are also slugging it out in Yemen. Egypt provides some support for the Sunni rebels in Syria and the United States arms the Kurds clandestinely. Until this imbroglio of competing versions and backers of Islam is resolved, there will be slowed progress on other fronts one of which is Israel. Still, the Islamists, who populate the darkened leftist corners of the Western political spectrum, will make every attempt to use political correctness, religious freedom, and civil rights for people of color, anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism to make their case for the suppression of the Jews who do not belong. They will continue on their programs to place Islam into the school agendas wherever possible so as to instruct and indoctrinate American, Canadian and European school children on how to be good little Muslims. In the end, this too will be a dissemination point for anti-Semitism.
Conclusions are numerous but can be summed up fairly succinctly. American Jews, especially those who are not orthodox in their practices, have largely replaced the morals and teachings of Judaism with the relativism of leftist progressive ideology. They have assimilated to such an extent that they believe they are as accepted into the mainstream as their irreligious Christian friends. This is leaving them blind to and horribly vulnerable to being blindsided once again as their forefathers were by anti-Semitism. They ignore anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism often even believing that these are causes which they too must support. They see Israel as their enemy and a representation of everything they despise. They largely would rather die than move to Israel and become real Jews and Israelis. This will leave them no other escape when things go horribly wrong and even if they manage to escape to Israel, they will simply start their same leftist drivel in Israel and should they succeed they will bring destruction down on Israel causing a second and final holocaust and Judaism will become a small group about the size of the Mennonites. These Jews are a danger to all other Jews who do not share their beliefs because they would try to press their anti-Jewish ideas and ideals onto the Jews worldwide never realizing it was their politics which destroyed them the first time. They simply will claim that it was not carried to its conclusion and only required more effort and funding. They are blind and delusional, a dangerous combination.


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Reviewing Top and Bottom Performers Year-to-Date
Jeremy Schwartz, CFA
Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research
Having a broad cross section of Funds across global markets and asset classes gives us perspective on how markets are behaving. Depending on whether one wants to look for positive momentum trends continuing or for a reversal in negative sentiment from the list of poor performers, this review of the top five and bottom five performers in the WisdomTree family could be useful for midyear portfolio check-ups and rebalances. For standardized performance of WisdomTree Funds, click here.
Top Five Performers
In the top five performers list, we see international markets represented exclusively, with a minimum return of nearly 20% required to make this list. The single best performer was the WisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund, CXSE, followed closely by the same ex-state-owned enterprises strategy applied to the broader total emerging market universe, XSOE.
A key differentiator for both of WisdomTree's Ex-State-Owned Enterprise Funds is a shift in weight toward consumer and technology sectors, and away from the state-owned companies that often are financial sector and energy companies. This has played out well, particularly in China, where CXSE's performance is dramatically different from its cap-weighted counterparts from either MSCI or FTSE. While MSCI made news by announcing the A-shares China stock inclusion in its emerging market indexes at this year's review, I believe the bigger story is the sector differentials caused by our ex-state-owned enterprises methodology, which has been a more important factor in driving performance recently.
India also has been a strong performer for WisdomTree in 2017—EPI, which represents a broad cross section of Indian markets, came in at no. 3 on the year-to-date (YTD) list. India has benefited from a strong leader in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is pushing the country to modernize its economy with aggressive changes that included rendering 86%1 of the cash in its society worthless—a bid to cut off corruption and informal parts of society that avoided taxation. This move also helped recapitalize banks as it forced people to deposit cash into the formal sector. Coming in the second half of this year, India will have changes to tax policy, which ultimately will lead to a better flow of goods across the country, but may lead to chaos in complying with a new system in the short run. WisdomTree's earnings-weighted indexing approach for EPI helps manage valuation risks, and by including a broad cross section of the Indian markets—with heavier emphasis on mid- and small-cap stocks than traditional index providers focus on large caps—EPI, we believe, represents one of the better long-run exposures to emerging market growth.
The next two positions on the top five list were both European Funds, with the domestic economy strategy and the quality dividend growth strategy. The domestic economy strategy is designed to target companies most sensitive to economic growth in the eurozone, specifically including companies that derive more than 50% of their revenue from Europe. Sectors excluded from the Index include consumer staples, health care, telecommunications and utilities, leaving the Index more heavily weighted in domestically oriented cyclical stocks in the financials, industrials and consumer discretionary sectors. With WisdomTree's Quality Dividend Growth Indexes focusing on quality screens (return on equity and return on assets), they tend to be under-weight financials more habitually and also under-weight energy in the short run. These Indexes tend to be over-weight sectors such as industrials, health care, consumer discretionary and technology. These sector shifts have paid off well in Europe. I recently wrote a piece about how a quality approach has paid off, not just this year for European assets, but over the long-run research.
Bottom Five Performers
Reviewing the bottom five list, we see three of the strategies were not equity positions—as most of the global equity markets are up this year. A notable underperformer of the bunch was our commodity strategy, GCC. My colleague Jeff Weniger recently wrote a piece on asset allocation strategies that favored the worst performers over the previous five years. He called it the "Stinker Study" and argued that investors should embrace the Stinker. Commodities have been out of favor not only for the last five years, but again this year.
Unwinding Trump trades: Three other exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on this bottom five YTD list can be broadly described as the unwinding of Trump trades.
First, U.S. dollar weakness. One of the supporters for the European domestic economy and quality dividend growth strategies above is the tailwind from a weakening U.S. dollar. USDU, our Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund, took a 6.4% hit to start 2017 on the opposite side of that coin.2
Expectations were set very high for the prospects of tax reform at the start of the year. Perhaps now expectations have been driven so low that the market is undercounting the potential for any changes in tax policies that would boost the U.S. dollar.
Similarly, small caps were some of the strongest performers after Donald Trump's election, with a view that companies more sensitive to the prospects of the U.S. economy would benefit from a reduction in their corporate taxes more so than large caps, which have more offshore tax shields. U.S. small-cap indexes often are described as expensive on the valuation side—but looking at price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios on the two small-cap Funds that are on this bottom performers list, the quality strategy, DGRS, has a P/E ratio of around 17x, and the broader small-cap dividend Fund, DES, has a P/E ratio of 20x.3 These are reasonable multiples, especially if we get corporate tax reform that would boost earnings. These two Funds would make up my shopping list of where the conventional narrative has become too negative and discounting the prospects for meaningful changes in sentiment here.
The final ETF on this bottom five list, the WisdomTree Managed Futures Strategy Fund, WDTI, is one of the more challenging performers recently—like commodities discussed earlier. Managed futures strategies, particularly like those employed by WDTI, utilize a trend-following strategy that takes positions long and short based on recent price momentum. These momentum trends have not been consistent recently, and there has been a whipsawing in positions after they were established. It is hard to say what events will make assets start trending again, but this is another strategy that has been out of favor for a number of years. Because it is a strategy with low correlation to equities and bonds due to the ability to go long and short, when markets are at highs, we'll be watching closely if this strategy starts to perk up again.
1Source: "Are banks equipped to replace 2,300 crore pieces of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes?" The Indian Express, 11/9/16.
2Source: WisdomTree, 12/31/16–6/30/17.
3Source: WisdomTree, 6/30/17.
There are risks associated with investing, including possible loss of principal. Foreign investing involves special risks, such as risk of loss from currency fluctuation or political or economic uncertainty. Investments in emerging or offshore markets are generally less liquid and less efficient than investments in developed markets and are subject to additional risks, such as risks of adverse governmental regulation and intervention or political developments. Funds focusing their investments on certain sectors and/or regions increase their vulnerability to any single economic or regulatory development. This may result in greater share price volatility. Investments in currency involve additional special risks, such as credit risk and interest rate fluctuations. The Funds invest in the securities included in, or representative of, their Index regardless of their investment merit and the Funds do not attempt to outperform their Index or take defensive positions in declining markets.
Dividends are not guaranteed and a company currently paying dividends may cease paying dividends at any time.
Due to the investment strategy of some of the Funds they may make higher capital gain distributions than other ETFs.
An investment in the GCC Fund is speculative, involves a substantial degree of risk, and should not constitute an investor's entire portfolio. One of the risks associated with the Fund is the complexity of the different factors which contribute to the Fund's performance. These factors include use of commodity futures contracts. Derivatives can be volatile and may be less liquid than other securities and more sensitive to the effects of varied economic conditions. The value of the shares of the Fund relate directly to the value of the futures contracts and other assets held by the Fund and any fluctuation in the value of these assets could adversely affect an investment in the Fund's shares. The Fund is not an Investment Company within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and is not subject to the regulations thereunder. Investments in commodities may be affected by overall market movements, changes in interest rates and other factors such as weather, disease, embargoes and international economic and political developments. Commodities and futures are generally volatile and are not suitable for all investors.
While the USDU Fund attempts to limit credit and counterparty exposure, the value of an investment in the Fund may change quickly and without warning in response to issuer or counterparty defaults and changes in the credit ratings of the Fund's portfolio investments. The Fund's investment in repurchase agreements may be subject to market and credit risk with respect to the collateral securing the repurchase agreements and may decline prior to the expiration of the repurchase agreement term. As this Fund can have a high concentration in some issuers, the Fund can be adversely impacted by changes affecting such issuers. Unlike typical exchange-traded Funds, there are no indexes that the Fund attempts to track or replicate. Thus, the ability of the Fund to achieve its objectives will depend on the effectiveness of the portfolio. Although the Fund invests in very short-term, investment grade instruments, the Fund is not a "money market" Fund, and it is not the objective of the Fund to maintain a constant share price.
An investment in the WDTI Fund is speculative and involves a substantial degree of risk. One of the risks associated with the Fund is the complexity of the different factors that contribute to the Fund's performance, as well as its correlation (or non-correlation) to other asset classes. These factors include use of long and short positions in commodity futures contracts, currency forward contracts, swaps and other derivatives. Derivatives can be volatile and may be less liquid than other securities and more sensitive to the effects of varied economic conditions. The Fund generally does not make intra-month adjustments and therefore is subject to substantial losses if the market moves against the Fund's established positions on an intra-month basis. The Fund is actively managed thus the ability of the Fund to achieve its objectives will depend on the effectiveness of the portfolio manager.
Please read each Fund's prospectus for specific details regarding each Fund's risk profile.
Equity Commodities Quality Dividend Growth Emerging Markets Europe Currency Alternative Market News
Jeremy Schwartz has served as our Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research since November 2018 and leads WisdomTree's investment strategy team in the construction of WisdomTree's equity indexes, quantitative active strategies and multi-asset model portfolios. Mr. Schwartz joined WisdomTree in May 2005 as a Senior Analyst, adding to his responsibilities in February 2007 as Deputy Director of Research and thereafter, from October 2008 to October 2018, as Director of Research. Prior to joining WisdomTree, he was head research assistant for Professor Jeremy Siegel and helped with the research and writing of Stocks for the Long Run and The Future for Investors. Mr. Schwartz also is co-author of the Financial Analysts Journal paper, What Happened to the Original Stocks in the S&P 500? He received his B.S. in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and hosts the Wharton Business Radio program Behind the Markets on SiriusXM 132. Mr. Schwartz is also a member of the CFA Society of Philadelphia.


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Benefitfocus Adds F5 Networks Executive & Former Microsoft Executive, Ana White, to Board of Directors
Editor's Note: As the leader in HCM technology consulting services, HRchitect is a founding System Integration (SI) Partner with Benefitfocus, serves on their SI Advisory Committee, and has been involved in more implementations than any other partner. Our Benefitfocus experience includes Project Management, Implementation, Portal Development and Ongoing Support, Process Analysis/Redesign, Training, Integration, and Change Management.
Charleston, S.C. – January 15, 2019 – Benefitfocus, Inc., a leading cloud-based benefits management platform and services provider, today announced the addition of Ana White to its already distinguished Board of Directors. As a newly appointed independent director, she will also serve on the Board's Nominating and Governance Committee (along with directors A. Lanham Napier (Chair) and Douglas A. Dennerline) and Compensation Committee (along with directors Stephen M. Swad (Chair), Douglas A. Dennerline, and Francis J. Pelzer V).
A human resources executive with expertise spanning corporate and consulting environments, White is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at global technology firm, F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV). F5 delivers multi-cloud application services and enterprise-grade application security solutions for the world's largest organizations. Prior to that, White had a nearly 20-year career at Microsoft Corporation, growing into a senior leadership position for Human Resources at Microsoft.
"Every member of the Benefitfocus Board of Directors adds a unique perspective and plays an integral role in guiding the company's continued growth and innovation," said Mason Holland, Executive Chairman of the Board and co-founder, Benefitfocus. "Ana's talent in the benefits and compensation management arena are a perfect complement to our Board's deep talents in finance, sales and technology."
Throughout her career she has demonstrated a strong commitment to fostering organizational learning, diversity and inclusion, talent management, and ultimately, strategic business transformation on both a national and international level.
"I've dedicated my career to helping people and companies build the best workplace relationships possible," White said. "This aligns with Benefitfocus' philosophy of empowering people to make the best benefits decisions they can, as those choices have a tremendous effect on their well-being, both at work and in their personal lives."
White also serves on the taskforce for the Seattle University Center for Science and Innovation and the board of Childhaven, an organization that works to strengthen communities and families, prevent childhood trauma and prepare children for productive lives. She holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Seattle University.
To learn more about HRchitect and how we can help your organization with your Human Capital Management (HCM) technology needs, please request a consultation. As the leader in HCM Systems strategic consulting, we offer end-to-end HR technology consulting services focused around strategic planning, evaluation and selection, change management, implementation, project management, client-side implementation assistance, and ongoing support of HCM systems of all types including Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Learning Management, Workforce Management, Time & Attendance, Benefits, Core HR/Payroll, and more. Over the past two decades, working with over a thousand clients of all sizes and industries across the globe, our knowledge of best practices continues to expand, and our experience is vast and unsurpassed. We have expertise around all major HCM systems including Benefitfocus, Ceridian, IBM Kenexa, Oracle, Saba, SAP, SuccessFactors, Taleo, Ultimate Software, WorkForce Software, and more. HRchitect is a name you can trust for all of your organization's HCM technology-related consulting needs.
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