Saving on maintenance is not saving

When I was in the States, visiting relatives 'just out of Chicago' (a suburb at 'only' a two hour drive from downtown Chicago),  my cousin gave me a ride into town 'so you won't have to walk for an hour to the nearest bus stop and hope the buses are going today' but had to make an 'only one hour' detour to go and pay the monthly HOA fee. By check. At the 'local' bank. "You don't do internet banking?" I asked. "Not really. Our bank does have a computer but I think it's from 1984." This didn't happen like in 1994 but in 2019. As a Dutch guy I was shocked. 

It may seem wise - or at least cheaper - to not invest in a new computer but spending less money than competitors won't help your bank if you go bankrupt because customers would rather use a bank-app than having to make payments by showing up in person at the bank to show their face and sign a check.

The federal government's excuses are laughable: "Yeah, but if we give free money to small businesses and local governments, they might use it to actually help people!" Is that government stating the subsidies should go to mega corporations and large projects like (close to) free healthcare and education for Israeli citizens?

Fun fact, especially for the 'no cent to foreign countries!' people: The US has given $260 billion (click. PDF) in [US taxdollars] free money to Israel between 1947 and 2021. Thanks to the 'war' with Hamas that number has gone significantly up.

Another fun fact: Israel provides free abortions for all Israeli citizens who want one, paid for by US taxpayers. For those wondering why tens of thousands US citizens already migrated to Israel. Where they could easily blend in as the country is already full with (descendants of) (European) immigrants called Greenblatt, Weiss and other family names that apparently are evidence the family originates in the Levant and not in Eastern Europe at all. 

The US spends more money on sponsoring billionaires than on support for their own civilians. While small businesses and bridges literally collapse, 'Big Agro', 'Big Pharma', 'Big Tech', the war industry and foreign nations receive tens of billions a year in US taxpayer's money. 

It sounds fair not to hire an external agency to review your construction plan to save a bit of money. But it eventually cost the city and the contractor millions more to be paid in damages to the families of those who died in an accident that could have easily been prevented. If they had only allowed an extra pair of eyes had to look at the construction plans.

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In the Land of the Free bridges and even simple pavements collapse 

because the local counsil (and the governing bodies of the US as a whole) decided to not spend too much on maintenance. A saving in the short term but extremely expensive in the long run. And just plain stupid. 

Some 40% of all roads in the US are in poor or at best mediocre condition. In more than a few states you will find more streets wíth than without potholes. Fun fact: there is no real Dutch translation of the word 'pothole'. 

In this video an American living in The Netherlands asks why the USA claims proven false claims like being one of the countries with the best infrastructure in the world.

She softly moaned (a piece of #stoetry)

Under his hands 

she felt better 

than she had in hours 

after a dreamless night 

with too little sleep 

he touched her once more 

enjoying the smell of her skin 

and the numbness of his fingers

while she softly moaned

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Only fascists say it's okay to kill children

Actual Jewish people (like, famously, Sigmund Freud) reject(ed) zionism. 

Interestingly this simple fact prompted fascists to call many Jews antisemites. It seems like 'antisemite!' is nothing more than the latest derogatory term for fans of fascism to describe people with empathy. In other words: for people who are 'leftist', 'dems' of 'woke'.  

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Libraries have been filled with theories surrounding 'The Land Of Israel'. Was that an area named after some kind of king who once was called Jacob and later Israel? By the current standards of Christian Zionists someone who doesn't use his birth name Jacob but his later chosen name Israel is 'woke'.  

Only really weird people believe that there was a clearly bordered nation called Israel, some 3,000 years ago. The concept of borders between nations wasn't invented yet in the Bronze Age. So, when fascists state that there was no state of Palestine, back in the day, they are not lying. There was, however, a 'Land of Palestine', just like there was a 'Land of Israel'. Respectively meaning: 'A swathe of land where mostly Palestinians live' and 'A swathe of land where mostly Israelites live'. 

Quoting:

During the League of Nations mandate period (1920–1948) the term "Eretz Yisrael" or the "Land of Israel" was part of the official Hebrew name of Mandatory Palestine.

Official Hebrew documents used the Hebrew transliteration of the word "Palestine" פלשתינה (Palestina) followed always by the two initial letters of "Eretz Yisrael", א״י Aleph-Yod

Quoting some more:

The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, who lived in the early first century C.E., occasionally uses the name Palestine when referring to the Land of Israel of his day. For example, he remarks that a considerable proportion of Palestinian Syria is occupied by the populous nation of the Jews.

Fun fact I learned from the same article: a rather famous Palestinian lived in or near modern day Tel Aviv, in the area known at the time as Land of the Philistines (also Filistines, Palestineans and a dozen other ways of spelling. Spelling didn't get standardized until the days of our grandparents). His name was Goliath. 

The lady who captured Samson's heart, Delilah, lived in a city that recently has been thoroughly flattened by people who claim to have that right 'because our ancestors may have lived here 3,000 years ago': Gaza. 

Another quote:

“..almost all the toponyms of the cities of Philistia: Gaza (Ghazzah), Askelon (‘Asqalan), Ashdod (Isdud), Tantur (Tantura), Gath (Jat), Ekron (‘Aqir) survived into the modern era and were preserved in the modern Palestinian Arabic names and were mostly depopulated by Israel in 1948.“

Despite a lot of propaganda, claiming to be 'the truth', the simple fact is that not every single piece of the puzzle is there: literally no one knows the details of the origin of (the names) Israel and Palestine.

These days more christians than jews call themselves 'zionists'. The religion that started to develop around 1880 and even developed its own language (vaguely resembling ancient Hebrew) seems particularly popular amongst evangelical protestants. Guess which famous group consisted of evangelical protestants: the nazis. 

Not only protestans but also catholics and other christian groups thought Hitler was a swell guy. And Jews only had to convert to christianity to escape prosecution. Awfully nice, right?

Yes, Jews have every right to be angry that Hitler and his henchmen killed some 6 million Jews. But did you know they also killed 6 million people from other groups? Yes, God famously promised The Promised Land to the Jews. But also to the people of all other abrahamic religions. Of which Judaism, Christianity and Islam are merely the largest surviving. But also Samaritanism, Mandaeism, Rastafari and the rather new Chrislam religions are considered abrahamic.  

Let me put it simple: if parents promise all their children their house, land and other belonings after their passing, should only the one called Israel get everything, including the right to kill his siblings? 

But you know what? It doesn't matter who's 'right' or 'wrong', it's simply alway wrong to slaughter children. Even when you claim it was 'an accident due to a technical error'. 

What do you think is a valid excuse for murdering thousands of children?