Blog/July 2017/Jul 28th

July 28th

This week’s news brought to you by total idiocy.

We were busy as usual. Sarah started working again, having transferred to another branch of the same chain of stores she was working at here on the edge of the desert. She found out that one of the distinguishing features of the Tel Aviv region is the plethora of Blattidae which need to be dealt with. Heat and humidity, baby!

A couple of our customers reported issues with 8th (‘issue’ being either a bug-report or a request for some feature). So I spent some time dealing with those. The “Hot Summer Sale” ended, and we actually had some people purchase without ever having used 8th before — that’s something new for us. I’ll be pushing hard to increase the appeal of our platform to a wider audience.

I’m redoubling my search for contract-work. I spent a great deal of time expanding my contacts on LinkedIn, with some success. If you hear of anyone looking for programming services, please consider sending them my information!

The “total idiocy” mentioned in the opening line has to do with the magnetometer débâcle. To bring you up to speed: a couple weeks ago, three Muslim Arab terrorists (hereafter “Arabs”) shot and killed two Israeli Druze police officers. It turns out that the terrorists had smuggled weapons into the “holy mosque” on the Temple Mount, with the collusion of Waqf officials. The government’s response was quick and rather limp: emplace magnetometers and more surveillance cameras to catch bad-guys trying to smuggle weapons. The Arab’s response was to riot and claim that this was “unacceptable racism”. To his credit, Bibi the Bungler kept the magnetometers in place.

Until this week, that is, when a Jordanian Arab carpenter, working in the Israeli Embassy in Amman, attacked and stabbed the Israeli guard. The guard opened fire and shot and killed the carpenter as well as another Arab who was there. The Jordanians flew into a rage, and refused to let the Israeli staff leave the embassy, and sued for prosecution of the guard in a Jordanian court — despite his having diplomatic immunity (as embassy staff typically do). But when have Arabs held themselves to the treaties they’ve signed, when it was disadvantageous to them? But I digress…

Instead of telling the Jordanians to stuff it, and withdrawing our Ambassador “for consultations”, as he should have done, Bibi the Bobo caved to the Jordanians’ subsequent demands that the measures put into effect on the Temple Mount be removed, along with all other cameras. As a result Bibi is on thin ice in the heat of mid-summer.

So currently, the security situation on the Temple Mount is far worse than it was last week, because we have a Prime Minister Without Backbone. Oh, and the Arabs are rioting even though the situation is “better” for them than it was before. Because, Arabs.

I know you don’t care what I think, but I’ll tell you anyway:

The most recent outrage on the Temple Mount is only the latest in a virtually non-stop string of provocations, incitement, and riots perpetrated by Arabs with the support and collusion of the “Palestinian Authority” and the Waqf. Our conciliatory responses are taken as weakness, which is something Arabs do not respect, at all.

Therefore, Ron the First would have expelled the Waqf and closed the mosque, until further notice. He would have sent in teams of Military Engineers to remove any other materiel or weapons hidden therein. Those engineers might also have to engage in some explosive rearrangement of the structure, for safety purposes. Ron would then proceed to reclaim our sovereignty over the entire Temple Mount.

Alas, Ron the First exists only in my fantasies.

We had another hot and humid week, and the Fast of the 9th of Av, on Tuesday, is going to be the hottest day this coming week. Appropriate, but not looking forward to it. Here’s hoping the recent turmoil I spoke about is in fact the opening scene of the arrival of our mashiaḥ, and we won’t have to fast on the 9th, but will celebrate instead!

This shabbat, it’s just the two of us. We can make it if we try. Just the two of us. You and I — will have:
home-made ḥalla, slow-baked spicy ribs, lentil salad, egg salad, eggplant, various salatim, carrot cake, and watermelon.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

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