Opuscula There is A difference

WHEN I WAS A KID, from six years old to teen years, I went to summer camps.

As a six year old, I learned to ride (and care for) horses and shoot a single-shot .22 rifle.

Later, as a teen member of Civil Air Patrol’s (CAP’s) Miami Composite Squadron 2, I went to camp at Eglin AFB in Florida’s panhandle.

 

AT THE “DUDE RANCH”, our weapons of choice were cap pistols and the “enemy” varied — sometimes “bad guys” (e.g., the Daltons), sometimes guys in the next tent. While “Cowboys and Indians” were popular on radio and tv, I don’t recall — 70-plus years later — that indians ever were the enemy. It would have been more likely that the “enemy” would be Germans or Japanese; this was c 1948 and World War Two was not far removed.

Gatling guns and M-1s

At Elgin AFB, we heard 10-second bursts of “Gatling” guns (currently the GAU-19/B .50 caliber Gatling – see video at https://tinyurl.com/3kaubs43) being test fired on Air Force F-104 fighters.

I vaguely recall firing an M-1 Garand rifle, but any fire arms training was limited and only in passing. We were not trained to be combat soldiers.

As a CAP cadet we wore military style uniforms, but we studied flying-related subjects: weather, navigation, search-and-rescue functions, and two-way radio operation among others. CAP in many ways is similar to Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps, or JROTC. No bayonet drills, no bomb making, but lots of close order marching.

Later, as a 17-year-old enlistee in the Air Force, I fired an M-1 Carbine that had more cosmoline than bullets — the Air Force is not famous for maintaining training rifles.

Bottom line: We were not trained to be soldiers and certainly not shahids (martyrs). We were more likely to hear Gen. Geo. Patton’s famous admonition:

No dumb bastard ever won a war by going out and dying for his country. He won it by making some other dumb bastard die for his country.” (https://tinyurl.com/55vaadxc)

than to be encouraged to go gung ho into an unknown situation.

We were not trained as children and teens to volunteer to die for flag or apple pie.

We were trained in schools, from first grade to graduation, to protect ourselves from the “Russians” who were coming. Hiding in a school basement or under a desk (a totally useless exercise in a nuclear attack) were regular drills.

Later I got to know some contemporaries from the Ukraine. We shared stories that turned out to be basically the same; the only thing that changed was the name of the attacking nation: in the U.S., “the Russians are coming”; in the Ukraine, “the Americans are coming.” It seems most “Russians” wanted to avoid war as much as most Americans.

I probably got more actual survival training in the Cub and Boy Scouts (back when the Boy Scouts were for boys).

Not being trained to die for the flag is not the same as being trained as pacifists. There never was a suggestion that we should dodge the draft (although may of my generation did, some due to conscientious beliefs, and some for other reasons).

In Israel

I have three grandchildren, ages 10 and 6 (twin boys).

None are playing soldier, alhough all know they may have to do their time with the military. Their father did his time, as do most Israelis, male and female.

Despite being forced to repeatedly run to a safe room as mortars were fired from Gaza, the children are not playing “Israelis and Gazans.” Armed with water guns, the victims are brother and sister.

When they go to summer camp, they learn thngs children need to know — how to swim being a primary lesson. Singing and dancing are a big part of camp life, be it day camp or overnight camp.

Learning to die for country is not part of the curriculum.

Golda Meyer (nee Goldie Mabovitch, later Myerson) is famously quoted saying: “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.”

Golda Meyer quote

Given what the world knows — albeit hates to admit — Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies apparently are not ready to love their own children, instead teaching them to hate Israel and Jews and preparing them to be shadids — martyrs for a senseless cause.

The PLO/PFLP has numerous times been offered — and refused — opportunities to have another “Palestinian” state. (Jordan is, according to the 1947 partition plan, the “real” Palestinian state and the majority of its population are people who claim to be Palestinians.)

The United Nations, in the form of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East a/k/a UNRWA , allows its facilities to be used to promote hate against Israel and Jews in general.

UNRWA buildings have been used as missile launch sites and UNRWA schools are used as storage areas for war materiel.

UNRWA summer camps are run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to train children to murder Israelis. (https://tinyurl.com/fnvxsy66)

Editorial cartoon by Yaakov Kirschen (https://tinyurl.com/mczb7b2v)

This training is on-going and blatant.

It is not like summer camp in any democracy.

It IS a summer camp that trains children to sacrifice their lives (while their masters hide safely far from the conflict).

It IS a summer camp that trains children to murder others.

It assures that another generation will be raised to hate, will be prepared to die for a senseless cause, a cause that could have been resolved peacefully in 1948.

And the UN looks the other way.

 

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Difference

Opuscula Hospital departments Can’t share data; Patient’s patience gone

I DON’T KNOW IF ALL HOSPITALS in Israel are alike, but departments in a hospital in which I recently was a patient don’t share information.

In a country that is as technologically advanced as Israel, this comes as a shock.

All my medical information at a Florida hospital where I had several stays could be accessed by all departments, the patient’s personal doctor, and the patient. That hospital is “semi-private”; that is it gets some taxpayer dollars. It is not associated with a university. The Israeli hospital is funded by the Israeli government and foreign donations and is a training hospital for a central Israel university/

When I was a young Air Force enlisted man, I hand-carried my medical records from base to base. This was c 1960, before computers were ubiquitous.

 

THIS RANT STRICTLY IS ABOUT inter-department communications at one Israeli hospital. I don’t know if other facilities are as bad, but this lack of inter-department communication is dangerous to a patient’s well being.

For the record, this hospital used to be in Time magazines’ Top 10; it has fallen to the Top 20 worldwide (but the Top Ten brag still hangs at the entrance).

Tesla Kawakami cartoon (https://tinyurl.com/y52x9cay)

Because I first was admitted for “observation,” I was lodged in one department.

Aside from the fact that the food was inedible and no one bothered to test for blood sugar after a meal — despite being on a diabetic meal plan — things were “OK.” The personnel were good to great.

I got a 25 hour pass and had to return to a different department.

My records (apparently) never left the first department. There was no continuity.

To be fair, almost all my test results have been promptly forwarded to my PCP; when he fails to receive an expected report, he chases it down.

A specialist determined that I needed an operation to remove a blockage in my left ureter. (https://tinyurl.com/93b6jnze)

When he was unable to do what he assured me he could do, he managed a biopsy on the blockage and discovered it was malignant.

I was told to do some tests and get back to his secretary.

We did.

We were instructed to see a kidney specialist. We did. She was not part of the hospital so the initial surgeon may, or may not, have received her report. My family doctor, a/k/a PCP, did.

The surgeon’s secretary said he wanted another test, an MRU^(cq) for the next cutter; hopefully one who will remove the cancer.

My wife contacted the hospital to arrange for the MRU.

Hospital: We don’t have an order from a radiologist.

Wife: The test was ordered by the surgeon.

Hospital: We don’t have an order from a radiologist.

This closed loop continued for several minutes before the clerk wisely escalated the issue to her boss.

Someday we will get an SMS that the test is authorized by someone and meanwhile, there is this cancer in my left ureter. (As this is keyed, we still are waiting.)

I had an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair at Memorial Hospital in Hollywood FL. PCP orders ultra sound. Ultrasound tech comes to the PCP’s office the next morning. Ultrasound confirms the PCP’s suspicion. PCP sends me to a vascular surgeon. Surgeon sends me to the hospital for a test to see exactly how big is the aneurysm and its exact location. Next day, the surgeon and the patient decide how to deal with the “bubble.” Shortly thereafter, the patient is recovering from surgery. One hospital. All records in one place, even the surgeon’s. The PCP can see all the records. I can see all the records. My insurance company can see all the records.

Not so in Israel.

First there are multiple departments, each needing its own tests (since nothing is shared). This necessitates numerous trips to labs and xray facilities, then to an EKG location, and finally, to wherever the MRU may be done.

In Hollywood, if I needed an MRI, an EKG, xray, or similar test that did not require an overnight hospital stay, the test was performed at a stand-alone diagnostic center. A few doctors’ offices also could provide some testing. Blood could be drawn at a doctor’s office or at a local lab.

Israel needs stand-alone diagnostic centers. (https://tinyurl.com/ahyjraj9) There are a few but most are limited to xrays and EKGs.

SURPRISE

In the effort to get the MRU authorized by a radiologist (whom I’ve never seen), we discovered that the insurance carrier limits the number of referrals over a specified time period.

We also learned that once referred to a specialist, we can self-refer to that specialist, skipping the family doctor. Hopefully the specialists will keep the family practitioner informed. (So far, this has been the case for doctors in my health plan — but NOT for physicians at the hospital.)

Before anyone comments “Yep, that’s socialized medicine,” realize that almost every place you go, including the USA, you have, or are getting “socialized medicine.” For seniors, it’s called Medicare. It WAS easier to navigate for this scrivener.

One number for everything

The really disappointing thing with Israel’s health care system is that every Israeli has a unique ID. It is used for EVERYTHING, including ALL government offices AND the hospital.

Go into any government office, recite your ID number (like your phone number, it’s “memorable”) and no matter in what office your sitting, the clerk can almost instantly call up all government-related information . Own a car. The government knows. Own property, even a postage-stamp apartment, the government knows. Have a family? The government knows the names of your spouse and children.

Americans would go ballistic if they realized how much the U.S. government knows about them; Israelis seem to take it in stride.

In any event, the government seems technologically aware and the departments are interconnected.

It boggles my mind that a hospital, even one with multiple buildings on a huge campus, cannot get a patient's records from Point A to Point B, and one specialist seems unable to communicate with another specialist.

When I first lived in Israel (1975-79), I thought first level care was bad and hospital care was good. I had experience with the former, but not the latter.

Now I know that, for the most part, first level care is as good as the family doctor, and hospital level care, at least with this particular hospital, is, IMO, sub-standard.

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TO BE ABUNDANTLY CLEAR, most of the medical and ancillary staff are highly competent and personable. That includes everyone from senior doctors to cleaning crews. The demerits all came due to the lack of inter-departmental communication.

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Communications failure

Opuscula FRUSTRATING

IT MUST BE FRUSTRATING for groups such as Honest Reporting and CAMERA to constantly read/see that Israel

✡ Is apartheid
✡ Kills children
✡ Fails to provide “Palestinians” medical care
✡ Maintains "humiliating" checkpoints at borders

and a multitude of other canards.

 

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Late addition — cannibalism?

On May 26, Dr. Fidaa Wishah wrote a post saying, “We will uncover your thirst to kill our Palestinian children. … We sense your fear. The fear of your collapse. A state based on atrocity, inhumanity, racism and cannibalism never last long! Hey #israel … your end is coming sooner than you think.” (https://tinyurl.com/ydttj59k/)

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HONEST REPORTING (https://honestreporting.com/) and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, a/k/a CAMERA (https://www.camera.org/) have full time jobs for full-time staffs to read publications from all corners and to watch videos from around the world, all for one purpose: to identify and publicize errors and outright lies about Israel.

I live in Yavne, a community south of Tel Aviv and north of Gaza.

Being a geezer — I’m only 78 years old — with some medical issues, I have spent far too many days in Israeli hospitals.

I mention that because the doctors, nurses, and aides are a mix of Jews and Arabs, some Muslims, some not. There are Jews who report to Arabs and Arabs who report to Jews.

Cleaning crews generally are new immigrant Ethiopian Jews who came to Israel sans education. They are getting educated and they are, to borrow a line from The Jefferson’s tv program, “movin’ on up.”

 

In the beginning

There have been Arabs — again, Muslim and non-Muslim — in Israel’s parliament (Knesset) since 1948 !

There is an Arab party (Ra’am ) whose leaders promote destruction of Israel in the government. What other country would be so stupid to permit people who are sworn to the state’s destruction to sit in the government. Would the U.S. have allowed Communists to even run for congress back in the days of the “Cold War”? Admittedly there were pro-nazis in high positions during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s reign, but to the best of my limited knowledge, no one in congress was a nazi sympathizer. Granted, today’s congress has its share of members who support anti-American causes and America’s sworn enemies, but so far they have not called for America’s destruction or an end to its democracy.

 

Ubiquitous

In Israel, Arabs — Muslims and non-Muslims — are ubiquitous: on the courts, including the highest court, in the national police, in almost every ministry (government department), in schools through university, in medicine, even in the military. There are newspapers in Arabic (as well as Yiddish, English, and a host of other languages.)

All Israeli citizens have the vote.

Arabs can live wherever they can afford to buy. (Buying a small apartment in Israel is nearly two times more expensive than buying a 3/2 private residence on a quarter-acre in most U.S. communities. (Personal experience.)

In Israel, Arabs and non-Arabs ride the same buses. (There once was an Arab-owned bus service between Haifa and Nazareth [Natzeret] — I rode it c 1977 — apparently it is no more.

There ARE buses where Arabs (from the PLO/PFLP-controlled areas) ride to jobs in Israel.

Keep in mind that some Arabs have been known to (try to) blow up buses with their passengers and to ride a bus to a town to murder civilians. (https://tinyurl.com/kvwcp24k)

So much for the “apartheid” claim.

 

ON THE OTHER HAND, there IS apartheid in Gaza and in the PLO/PFLP-controlled areas.

A Jew cannot freely go into either area. An Arab citizen faces a death sentence if he sells property to a Jew.

 

War Crimes

The PLO/PFLP, Hamas, and leftists worldwide have convinced the International Criminal Court (ICC) that Israel has committed either/both war crimes or crimes against humanity.

For what constitutes a “war crime” see The Washington Post (https://tinyurl.com/exrsj674).

Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon/Syria commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. Samples include: (https://tinyurl.com/yc24haa2)

☠ Attack directed against any civilian population (missiles from Gaza and Lebanon/Syria)
☠ Attack prior to declaration of war
☠ Send civilians, including young children to the border with Israel while Hamas and Islamic Jihad “soldiers” stand behind the human shields
☠ Send civilians, including young children, to protect launch sites
☠ Use civilian buildings (e.g., AP and Al Jazeera offices) as command centers
☠ Use of non-military facilities (e.g., schools, hospitals, mosques) to store war materiel

 

Photo propaganda

The “world” is inundated with images of child causalities of war thanks to both “professional” (e.g., newspapers, tv) and “social” media.

Unfortunately, many times the images were not made (https://tinyurl.com/h2xx2aw2)

When claimed
Where claimed

The media, “professional” and “social,” have been duped again and again, largely because editors/bloggers are too lazy, or as they will claim, too busy, to check available sources.

 

Logical Indian discovers fake (https://tinyurl.com/hpp256kz)

One that checked The Logical Indian (https://tinyurl.com/hpp256kz) did a Google reverse image search of the viral image and found the same image was uploaded by a Quora user Lin Xieyi on April 2, 2020, with a caption, "J-10C". In this image, Soumya is not embossed on the fighter jet.

The same image also was published by the Chinese website Gushiciku.cn. The image is captioned as, "As the J-10C adopts new standards, its craftsmanship is also the best besides the J-20 stealth fighter; this point can be experienced in detail from the J-10B that has been publicly displayed many times." The aircraft belongs to the Chinese air force.

 

The same effort should apply to reporters’ copy, with one caveat: In some locations (e.g., Gaza), outgoing news (allegedly) is censored. Reporters who report stories less than favorable to Hamas, et al, soon find themselves (a) unable to transmit copy to their bosses and/or (b) persona non grata.

 

Borders

Pity the poor “Palestinian” who has to traverse an Israeli check point to come to/return from work In Israel.

According to a news reports,

Hundreds of Palestinians staged demonstrations at the entrance to the Erez border (Gaza) crossing into Israel yesterday to denounce severe security measures imposed by the Israeli authorities, witnesses said. (https://tinyurl.com/64raks56)
Construction of a new pedestrian terminal on the Palestinian (PLO/PFLP area) side of the crossing has worsened the conditions for Palestinians, who must use temporarily use a narrow passage in which thousands push and shove each other. The construction of the new pedestrian passage which has harmed the flow of traffic at the crossing was initiated by the Palestinian Civil Administration. (https://tinyurl.com/2jcmyun3)

Consider, Hamas and other Gaza-based terror organizations use ambulances and other “non-threatening” vehicles to sneak armed men and women into Israel to murder civilians. Would any country that tries to protect its citizens allow everyone to freely enter?

Note it is not Israel that delays entry from the PLO/PFLP areas but the PLO/PFLP.

An Israeli bus company provides transportation from the border crossing to major transfer points in Israel for the “Palestinians” who come to Israel for jobs and better compensation.

What is the problem with border checkpoints?

The United States has border checkpoints with Canada and Mexico. Americans are obliged to go through passport checks after visiting a neighboring country (e.g., Jamaica, Bermuda, Belize) or even taking a cruise.

The inconvenience of border checks is a fact of life any time any national border is crossed.

Why should the “Palestinians” — especially with their penchant to (try to) murder Israelis — be given a free pass?

Beyond documentation control, there also is (again/still) concerns about the Chinese virus.

 

Top: U.S. border with Canada (left) and Mexico (Right)
Bottom: Israel border with PLO/PFLP (left) and Gaza (right)

 

Health & Oslo

The media claims that

Israel is responsible for the health and welfare of the “Palestinians”
Israel refused to give “Palestinians” some of the Pfizer vaccines
Israel was willing to give the “Palestinians” outdated vaccines

False, false, and false again.

The ”Palestinians” insisted they would take care of their own and they made this part of the so-called “Oslo accord,” and “accord” that was broken almost before the signatures were dry. Is is not, by “Palestinian” fiat, Israel’s responsibility to provide care for “Palestinians.”

However, “Palestinians, especially well-connected “Palestinians,” have access to Israeli medical care. When allowed by “Palestinian” authorities, all “Palestinians” have access to the same medical care as Israeli citizens.

It might be noted that Qatar sent not one but two jumbo jets loaded with medical supplies to the PLO/PFLP.

Both planeloads were rejected by the PLO/PFLP authorities since the Qatari planes landed at Lod, Israel’s major international airport. “Palestine” lacks an airport capable of accommodating jumbo jets.

"Palestinians" rejected Israel's offer of Pfizer vaccine that was nearing expiration.

Later, when other countries contacted Israel for its surplus vaccine, the PLO/PFLP had a change of heart and decided to accept the vaccine.

 

Audience

Honest Reporting (ibid.) does a considerable amount of Arabic translations.

This is interesting because what is said in Arabic for local consumption often is drastically different in translation.

Bottom line: Propaganda, a/k/a Public Relations or, in Hebrew, Hasbara, is tailored to the audience.

It pays to know what really was said to the locals; is it closer to the truth? (Usually.)

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on FRUSTRATING

Opuscula Two surgeries When one Was sufficient?

I AM NOT A DOCTOR and I don’t play one on tv, so I put this before any surgeons who may read this blog.

 

A BLOCKAGE WAS found in the left ureter (see image, below). The obstruction was about one centimeter (slightly less than ½ inch) in size.

One surgeon decided he could remove the blockage via the urethra.

In the end, he failed.

Urinary tract system (https://tinyurl.com/yg6l8a3s)

He did manage a biopsy that indicted the blockage was cancerous (malignant).

Unnecessary surgery?

Since he was unable to remove the blockage, he ordered a second surgery, this time by another surgeon who had experience in “pin hole” (“robotic”) surgery. This surgeon is to remove the blockage after I undergo a few more tests.

Having paid a call on a nephrologist I was told I am to undergo an MRU; that's an MRI that focuses on the Urinary tract with aid of a dye and a catheter. The test may take up to an hour; can I lie still that long? A challenge.

The initial surgeon warned that the next surgeon will decide to remove the blockage either robotically or with a scalpel.

(As I already have a 12 inch scar from an open AAA, one more scar in area not normally exposed [by me] is of no consequence. The AAA and following hernia repair may cause the next surgeon some concern, but in this case, I have confidence the cutter will do OK.)

Since the second surgery is not in a normally exposed area (e.g., face, arms, chest) and since the surgery leaves minimal (or no) scaring, in my opinion as the patient this procedure should have been done initially.

My PCP reminded me that it is not surface scars, it is internal scaring from previous surgeries — the AAA (ibid.) and a hernia repair a year later — that may concern the surgeon and will help deteremine access type: pinhole or scapel.

If, following the surgery to remove the blockage a biopsy determines the blockage was malignant, THEN follow-up treatment (as necessary) is appropriate.

I suffered more than a week with painful and bloody urination; my family was inconvenienced, and the government (read “taxpayers”) was stuck for a hospital bill and, in my not at all humble opinion, an unnecessary surgery.

On the bright side, the hospital is a teaching hospital so some student doctors got a chance to see a procedure.

This scrivener is not totally ignorant of medical practice. I worked in both (U.S.) military and civilian hospitals “back in the day.”

My local family practitioner, equivalent to a PCP in the U.S., is aggressive, albeit he focuses on one issue at a time.

Another opinion

My Son-In-Law’s sister works in a kidney cancer facility. According to her (as related to me), the reason the blockage was allowed to remain (vs. being removed) is because the surgeon did not know (a) if the blockage was malignant and (b) the extent of the malignancy.

Having had a skin cancer removed by a MOHS procedure — excise, check, excise some more until an excision is cancer free — I understand the concern.

BUT, the first surgeon inserted a bypass. This tells me that the entire left ureter could have been removed and replaced by a man-made ureter with no ill-effect. Had the cancer spread to kidney or bladder, then more surgery might be in order, but that would be determined by post-op tests to assure the surgeon “got it all.”

I will have to undergo the tests in any event.

Time’s Top 10

According to Time magazine — if you trust the media — I was, and am to be again, a patient in one of the “worlds top ten” hospitals.

I will gladly state that the care I got on my first session in the hospital was almost excellent. The personnel were caring and professional.

The “almost” is because I have Type 2 diabetes and my sugar levels should have been checked after every (largely inedible) meal. They were not and, to the best of my knowledge, I received zero diabetes medications during my stay. While I “donated” what seemed to be at least a gallon of blood — 14 vials at one drawing — apparently no one thought to order an A1C test. A1C is one of the critical tests for Type 2 diabetes.

A post hospitalizaation A1C showed only a slightly elevated number, great considering I have been off diabetes medication for more than three weeks.

The hospital may indeed be “top ranked,” but as with most institutions, there always are “oops.” In this case, I give the facility a low grade for employing a surgeon who failed to recognize his limitations.

Nice enough person, but in the end, he put me through what this patient considers and unnecessary procedure.

For all that, I repeat that I am not a doctor and I never played on on tv.

Updated 16 Jun 2021

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Surgery

Opuscula World silent About Islam’s War crimes

I FIND IT CURIOUS THAT THE International Criminal Court (ICC), encouraged by the PLO/PFLP, Hamas, and other Islamic terror promoters, is seeking to try Israel for war crimes.

 

LET’S CONSIDER WAR CRIMES.

According to The Washington Post (https://tinyurl.com/exrsj674),

The list of potential war crimes is long, but its measures include the intentional killing of civilians or prisoners, torture and the use of child soldiers.

There are numerous web sites that address war crimes and crimes against humanity ¹, but the WashPost article (ibid.) sums it up in the fewest words.

Hamas shelling of Israeli civilians

The Rome Statute (17 July 1998) of the International Criminal Court (https://tinyurl.com/jxekdnc2) defines a war crime as

(a)"Attack directed against any civilian population" means a course of conduct involving the multiple commission of acts referred to in paragraph 1 against any civilian population, pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to commit such attack.

Nothing ambiguous about that.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired mortars and other unguided missiles at Israel with the intention of killing, wounding, or otherwise injuring civilians. The aggressors do not deny the fact.

According to the Rome Statue, adopted by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court on 17 July 1998, Hamas and Islamic Jihad committed war crimes — more than 4000 missiles were fired at Israel sans targeting — yet the ICC and world opinion fail to consider or condemn the actions of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Use of children

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are following in the path of their Iranian masters.

According to Al Arabiya English (https://tinyurl.com/yrzwfvwu)

During the Iraq-Iraq war, Khomeini’s regime used hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren as cannon fodder. It has been reported that most young recruits received between one to three months of military training before they were being sent to the war front.

There were reports of nine-year-old children being used in human wave attacks, while others were asked to run over minefields to clear the path. In fact, many child soldiers captured by Iraqis during the Iraq-Iran war were in their early teens.

Note that the report is from Arab media.

 

Iranian child soldiers marching off to fight Iraq
in the Iran-Iraq War (https://tinyurl.com/ekbts7km)

 

The New York Times’ Terence Smith, writing about Iran in 1984, described the use of child soldiers by Iran to clear minefields. (https://tinyurl.com/a9t5dxv2)

Young boys, aged 12-17 years, wore red headbands with the words ‘Sar Allah’ in Farsi (Warriors of God) and small metal keys that the Ayatollah declared were their tickets to Paradise if they were martyred in their mission. Many were sent into battle against Iraqi tanks without any protection and bound by ropes to prevent desertion.

They were the first wave, making the way for Iranian tanks by clearing barbed wire and minefields with their bodies.

Sending children to their deaths as Iran did is, take your choice, a crime against humanity or a war crime, over which the ICC has jurisdiction. There is no “statute of limitations” for these crimes. Has the ICC brought charges against Iran?

IN GAZA, Hamas and Islamic Jihad

• Store offensive weapons (rockets, etc.) under schools and hospitals, and in mosques (https://tinyurl.com/3u65sd42 and https://tinyurl.com/7zt82z)
• Send civilians, including young children, to protect launch sites
• Send civilians, including young children to the border with Israel while Hamas and Islamic Jihad “soldiers” stand behind the human shields (https://tinyurl.com/ys8k4znk and http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/)
• Use civilian buildings as command centers

Mohammad Suleiman was a boy in Gaza who died because Hamas forced him to be a child soldier. (https://tinyurl.com/ee5awxj8) Note: the cited article includes a video of the child’s training.

The Washington Institute for Middle East Policy (https://tinyurl.com/34hd3c5u) contends Hamas’

willingness to accept high casualty counts suggests that this is part of its political and military strategy. When used as human shields, civilians provide cover for Hamas military activities, and the resultant casualties serve the group's propaganda interests. In short, Hamas is acting more like a guerrilla group fighting an insurgency than a government responsible for the safety of its citizenry.

The Institute then lists six (6) way Hamas could limit civilian casualties in Gaza:

1. Move weapons and fighters away from built-up areas
2. Evacuate civilians from defended localities
3. Do not use civilian buildings for military purposes
4. Use the military tunnel system as civilian shelters
5. Put fighters in uniforms
6. Do not use ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes

Hamas and Islamic Jihad does none of those things.

War crimes? Crimes against humanity?

Is the ICC investigating anyone in Gaza. In a word: NO.

Another Port Arthur

For those who ignored history, the Japanese sneak attack on Port Arthur in 1904 opened the Russo-Japanese War. (Japan later successfully repeated its sneak attack tactic on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1943, bringing the U.S. into World War Two.)

Attacking sans warning, as Japan did twice, is now a war crime.

Hamas began firing missiles at Israeli civilians without warning or declaration of war.

Admittedly, Hamas’ charter calls for total destruction of Israel and perhaps pro-Hamas lawyers could argue that this charter serves as a declaration of war, but would it stand up to legal scrutiny?

Yet another case of a true war crime that the ICC chooses to ignore.

Hamas agrees to a “cease fire” while Iran rearms its proxy, just as it did before.

(The previous cease fire lasted until the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. Make of that what you will.)

 

Homes in Ashdod destroyed by Gaza rockets
(Reuters: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57148097)

 

No Israeli sources

Note that none of the sources cited are Israeli; not government nor non-governmental. This is deliberate.

This scrivener, a dual national, keyed this in Yavne Israel. He has personal experience dodging Hamas, and earlier, Hezbollah, missiles. He has seen both the destruction caused by these missiles, even those destroyed by the Iron Dome defense system that result in falling shrapnel.

He also knows, again first hand, that claims of apartheid in Israel are false; that there are Israeli Muslims who are loyal Israelis. Finally, Israel has an open (exit) door policy; any Muslim who wants to relocate to Gaza or the PLO/PFLP areas, or any other country may do so.

---

 

 

Sources

1. War crimes defined: https://tinyurl.com/z4eux9ts, https://tinyurl.com/ukxru825, https://tinyurl.com/ypj6aymf

 

 

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on War Crimes

Enterprise Risk Management Israel data + Google cloud = STUPIDITY

ISRAEL JUST MADE A DEAL WITH Amazon and Google to store all ministries data in a “cloud.” ^{1, 2, 3}

As an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner I am against commercial “cloud” storage, especially when the”cloud” is owned by someone else. The data in the cloud is at risk: the vendor could fail, the vendor’s security may be lax; the vendor may simply hold the data for ransom.

The REAL concern for this scrivener about Israel using any commercial “cloud” — but especially Google’s — is the number of anti-Israel employees at all levels at Google ^{4, 5, 6} — who might use their access to share Israel's data with others of their ilk?

 

ACCORDING TO NEWS stories,

Israel has selected Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud as the winners of a $1 billion-plus project to deliver a public cloud infrastructure for the country’s government ministries and defense forces.

AWS and Google edged out IBM, Microsoft and Oracle in the bidding for the “Project Nimbus” contract and will develop cloud data center sites within Israel under an initial 4 billion-shekel investment -- the equivalent of $1.22 billion, Reuters reported today, citing an announcement from Israel’s finance ministry. The cloud sites will keep the government and military data within Israel’s borders to adhere to strict data security regulations, the report said. ¹

Anti-Semite heads Diversity team

Google is the company that named Kamau Bobb, global lead for diversity strategy and research in 2018. Apparently Google failed to google it’s employee.

Bobb wrote in a now-deleted 2007 blog post that if he were Jewish, he “would be concerned about my insatiable appetite for war and killing in defense of myself,” and referred to Jews’ “increasing insensitivity to the suffering (of) others.”⁷

According to a Google puff piece,

"These writings are unquestionably hurtful. The author acknowledges this and has apologised. He will no longer be part of our diversity team... and will focus on his Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] work.” ⁸

Secure data regs?

Amazon and Google are to “adhere to strict data security regulations.”

If U.S. government data on U.S. government computers can be hacked, imagine how easy it will be for someone from inside Google (or Amazon) to access Israeli data in the “cloud.”

Right: Al Capp's Joe Bfstplk and his cloud

Data security regulations are, as Napoleon is alleged to have said about treaties, “just a piece of paper.”

Who is going to enforce the regulations? Who will assure that the BDSers inside Google — and if news reports are true, there are several hundred BDSers at Google HQ alone ^{4, 5, 6} — abide by Israel's "strict data security regulations?”

Is anyone foolish enough to think that even in Israel there are no anti-Israel Jews (and non-Jews)?

Is Israel so technologically backward that it must job out “cloud” services to vendors over which it has little or no “absolute” control?

Once data is in the “cloud,” the data’s owner no longer has control of the data and who accesses the data, regardless of “ strict data security regulations”.

”Civilian” data also at risk

All Israeli adult citizens have a national ID number, similar to Social Security in the United States.

Almost everything an Israeli citizen does — buy a home, a car, get a loan, see a doctor, go to the hospital, go to school — is linked to that ID number.

Not only does the number identify an individual, it also identifies members of the person’s family: spouse, children.

How can I trust anyone with my data? I don’t.

Why should Israel trust anyone with its general information, let alone military secrets.

There are enough Israeli — Jewish and non-Jewish — “Kim” Philby’s ⁹ who gladly will steal and share state (and personal) secrets for money or belief that making it easier to access by renting space from Google, in particular, borders not only on “foolish,” but, IMO, “unmitigated stupidity.”

Call me paranoid, but as an Enterprise Risk Management practitioner, I don’t trust “clouds.” If I cannot control access to my data, that data won’t be mine for long.

Final thought We all learned in elementary school that clouds are water vapor. Water is sent heavenward by heat (evaporation). What goes up, must come down. Where is goes up and where it comes down may be distant from one another.

Likewise data to the cloud.

I send data to the cloud and someone else — perhaps someone who should not have access to my data — beings it down.

A cloud is permeable; it leaks.

That’s not a good thing for secrets.

---

Sources

1. CRN: https://tinyurl.com/b2z4ceey **

2. Globes: https://tinyurl.com/9jjakx

3. Cloudtech: https://tinyurl.com/3sv46fwp

4. The Verge: https://tinyurl.com/yye35ss5

5. Israel HaYom: https://tinyurl.com/pcrxmu8k

6. DCD: https://tinyurl.com/34dwcud3

7. Forbes: https://tinyurl.com/vfs3cs

8. BBC: https://tinyurl.com/74xzp9et

9. "Kim" Philby: https://tinyurl.com/53r2wajh

 

 

 

 

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Cloud

Opuscula Arrogance of CVS, Humana Medicare Leaves user in bind

WHAT’S MY PROBLEM?

Companies, specifically CVS and Humana, that encourage people to visit their web sites and then, block the sites to anyone outside the U.S.

 

HUMANA’s Medicare Advantage Plan may be, as my former PCP declared, the “800 pound gorilla” where I used to live.

I would not recommend ANY Humana plan, Medicare or otherwise, to anyone.

Humana

Humana’s Medicare Advantage CMS-approved, cast into concrete Evidence of Coverage states that if an insured is outside the plan’s coverage area and needs medical attention, the insured will get it and submit the bill to Humana that may, or may not, pay it in whole or in part. Weasel words abound.

In order to submit the bill to Humana, the insured needs to access Humana’s web site to download a form.

The website is blocked to all IP addresses originating outside the U.S. (and maybe Canada).

I tried several times, failing each time, to access Humana’s site from Israel, where I currently am visiting my grandchildren.

I am currently a Humana Advantage customer. I am up-to-date with my Medicare payments (in other words, Medicare is funding Humana). I am not getting the service for which I, via Medicare, am paying.

Humana reminds me of the Arpege commercial c1987: “Promise her anything, but give her Arpege.”

Humana sales people will promise prospective clients anything, but there is no Arpege (product).

CVS

I have a CVS sphygmomanometer.

It was made in China, but somehow it still works several years later. It does not get a lot of use.

If I correctly recall, it came with a user guide that, over the years “disappeared.”

Not a problem.

I will go the the CVS site and see if here is a downloadable document. I want to see if a result can be recalled once it times out.

What I read when I went to the CVS web site (https://www.cvs.com/international.html) is shown below. I know I could call the CVS 800 number, but I have a real problem with garbage-on-hold (advertisements, bad music often too loud, etc.)

Customer mistreatment

I am unaccustomed to being told that because I am temporarily outside of the Several States I no longer am considered worthy of basic customer support.

I‘m certain both the Powers That Be at Humana and CVS feel they can justify their cavalier attitude.

I confess, it made an impression on me.

Back in the States, I will take my business to any CVS competitor and, come December, give my Medicare Advantage business to a company that not only WANTS my business (and the Medicare windfall that goes with it) but is willing to provide access to its services via the Internet regardless of where I may be sitting.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Vendor arrogance

Opuscula Stand alone Diagnostic Clinics needed

IF YOU WANT TO START A PROFITABLE BUSINESS IN ISRAEL, consider stand-alone diagnostic clinics.

Every time my family physician orders a test, even a simple ultrasound or CT, I am forced o travel to a hospital in another town. Apparently this is standard procedure for most doctors.

Since I don’t (yet) have a car, I have to depend on others to get me to, and return me from, the test site.

Inconvenient.

 

CAVEAT

Israel is a socialist country with capitalism in its blood. It also is a nation of clerks (left over from the English) and much more bureaucratic than anything this scrivener ever encountered in North America.

When I lived in Hollywood FL, my PCP lacked diagnostic tools. He did have a scale and a sphygmomanometer (https://tinyurl.com/jmr9fd7x); my Israeli family doctor has a sphygmomanometer that gathers dust, but lacks a scale. The most the majority of PCPs in the U.S. can do is draw blood and take urine samples — which they then send to a lab. (I took my lab order to either Quest or LabCorp, both of which have phlebotomists who stick 20 or more people a day with sharp needles and know how to do it as painlessly as possible. General rule: Never let a doctor draw blood or give a shot; they don’t do it often enough to remain proficient.) Here, the phlebotomist is one door down from the doctor.

Diagnostic clinic option

ANYWAY, Hollywood has the Hollywood Diagnostics Center (https://hdc1984.com/), a/k/a HDC. HDC has a whole litany of services, almost anything that does not require hospitalization.

If a test DOES require an overnight stay, there are multiple hospitals within a few miles, including a Level One trauma center. I have first hand experience with both MDC and Hollywood Memorial’s “system.” I rarely needed tests at Memorial.

Minute Clinics are not the same as a diagnostic clinic, although most are equipped for minor tests, e.g., EKGs and x-rays. There are minute clinics in Israel, but, and it is a BIG BUT, unlike the minute clinics in the U.S., these open only after the “regular” clinics (doctors’ offices) close.

Patient options

The daytime options are:

☤ Doctor’s office

☤ Hospital triage center, formerly “emergency room,” but now more accurately named.

After hours options are:

☤ Minute clinic

☤ Hospital triage center, formerly “emergency room,” but now more accurately named.

In the States, trips to the emergency room are discouraged; it simply costs too much and it often unnecessarily burdens the system.

Here, in a triage center, a patient with a true emergency is attended to quickly; walk-ins can cool their heels for an hour or more — just like a U.S. hospital’s ER.

As an aside, based on first hand experience, there is no discrimination in an Israeli hospital’s triage center or minute clinic. A patient is a patient is a patient — Jew, Muslim, “none of the above.”

Center menu

I suspect that the Hollywood Diagnostics Center’s list of available tests is fairly standard for such facilities. It’s menu includes, alphabetically:

☤ Bone Density Scan

☤ CT Scan

☤ Echocardiogram

☤ EKG

☤ High-field MRI

☤ Mammography with 3D tomography

☤ Open MRI

☤ PET Scan

☤ Ultrasound

☤ Ultrasound-guided Breast Biopsy

☤ X-ray

This is not intended as an advertisement for HDC. but as a sample of what would nice to have closer to my neighborhood than a hospital in another town.

In addition to having a majority of tests available locally — even if the tests must be vetted by specialists (e.g., cardiologists, urologists, radiologists) elsewhere, the patient who may have multiple tests ordered (e.g., ultrasound and CT scan) may get several done at the same location. I was transported by ambulance from one part of the hospital to another for tests — huge, multi-building complex.

Is it worth it?

The question investors must ask: Is it worth the aggravation of dealing with a plethora of ministries, the costs of establishing a business, of convincing family physicians that stand-alone diagnostic clinics are as good as hospitals, less expensive for insurance plans, and more convenient for the patient.

Other companies have set up operations in Israel and done well.

But it takes determination and a large start-up budget.

Now, if someone would just put the stand-alone clinic on wheels — PERFECT !.

UCLA Health Center mobile medical lab (https://tinyurl.com/e7899kp5)

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Stand-alone diagnostics