#concerences in brussels

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — What is home? The question sounds like it would best be answered by a children’s book on which each page proclaims a sweet tautology like, “Home is where you feel at home.” There would be a picture of the family nest, parents, grandparents, kids and a dog, a fire in the hearth and soup on the table. Home as Norman Rockwell painted it. Home as so many have sung it: “O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave / Oe’r the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

But pondering what home really is opens us to what is arguably the most troubling political and theological puzzle of our times. For we have entered an age of homelessness and Homeland Security, of mass migrations and refugees fleeing scarcity, tyranny, drought and famine, of rising oceans, poisoned air and water, ongoing wars that destroy homes while killing and displacing whole populations. We have entered the age of the loss of home.

It is especially important for Jews to reflect on the meaning of home today. Not only because that is precisely the philosophical task of this week’s Sukkot holiday, but because we live in the aftermath of a war in which we were almost erased from the earth. And because we live in the presence of a 75-year-old reborn Jewish state, where many Jews feel they have come home to a security unavailable elsewhere.

So what does it mean, for a person or a people or a species, to lose home or to come home?  What exactly is lost when you lose home and what is gained when you recover it?

Historically, Jews know much more about exile than home, more about wandering the wilderness than inhabiting the land. On Sukkot, we are instructed to consider that home may not be fixed, stable and enduring but rather fragile, temporary and portable. How dissonant it can sound then to ears inured to exile when they hear Jerusalem, the object of millennial yearning, described as the “eternal undivided capital” of a state, a national possession, a city like any other.

Consider the reflections of a man born in rural Austria in 1912, the son of an assimilated Jewish father and a Catholic mother who, forced to recognize his Jewish ancestry in 1935 when the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws, finally fled to Belgium with his Jewish wife in 1938 after Hitler annexed his homeland. An adamant atheist, he was arrested by the Gestapo in Brussels, tortured and then bounced among various camps for two years until the war’s end. When he returned to Brussels anxious to reunite with his wife, he discovered she had died. Alone, unknown and penniless, he changed his German name to Jean Amery and became a journalist and essayist.

In one of his essays, he writes: “For there is, after all, something like a transportable home, or at least an ersatz for home. That can be religion, like the Jewish one. ‘Next year in Jerusalem,’ the Jews have promised themselves for generations during their Passover ritual, but it wasn’t at all a matter of really getting to the Holy Land; rather it sufficed to pronounce the formula together and to know that one was united in the magic domain of the tribal God Yahweh.” Amery could still think of home, but he could no longer taste it. In losing home, he had lost himself. And in 1978, he finally took his own life.

Now consider the thinking of a man who left his home in Warsaw voluntarily at the age of 17 to study and teach in Vilna and Berlin before eventually finding himself a refugee in the United States in 1940. In his short classic, “The Sabbath” (1951), Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes of finding spiritual home not in space, but in time: “The Bible is more concerned with time than with space. It sees the world in the dimension of time. It pays more attention to generations, to events, than to countries, to things; it is more concerned with history than with geography.”

Yet just weeks after the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Israeli army’s lightning conquest of Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Sinai peninsula and the Golan Heights, Heschel visited Israel. Smitten by what he experienced there, he wrote a book, “Israel: An Echo of Eternity,” which seemed to many readers a repudiation of his earlier thinking. He writes: “There are moments in history which are unique, moments which have tied the heart of our people to Jerusalem forever. These moments and the city of Jerusalem radiate the light of the spirit throughout the world. The light of the spirit is not a thing of space, imprisoned in a particular place. Yet for the spirit of Jerusalem to be everywhere, Jerusalem must first be somewhere.”

Was Heschel overcome by a moment that felt like homecoming? Or shall we say he lived and thought like a pilgrim who understood that while life is always about the quest, there are nevertheless times when a pilgrim needs, sometimes desperately, glimpses of home both in space and in time?

Amery could not abide homelessness. Heschel was able to take up the task of working for and with African Americans in their own struggle for home. When you feel at home you feel commanded to extend that feeling to others. Sukkot teaches that home is the place and the moment to offer shelter to strangers.

[alleventsnow-blog]

Belgium, a country in Western Europe, bordered to the north by the Netherlands, east by the Germany and south and west by France. It is a sovereign state and a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. This country known for Renaissance architecture, medieval towns and was headquarters of the European Union and NATO. Belgium is also known for thousands of castles, creative minds and highways lit at night. In 2022-23 a list of conferences, events, seminars and workshops are going to be held in the subject of Business and Economics, Health and Medicine, as well as Social Sciences and Humanities. W-Festival 2022 at Klein strand Oostende and the Australians of Ocean Alley have been forging their way forward over the years.

Major conference cities :

Antwerp

Bruges

Brussels

Charleroi

Ghent

Liege

Namur

[survivorfillory]

Tribal Council #6 - Clownie

You should take it as a sign of just how much I hate Alice Quinn as a character that I’ve decided to break the 4-4 tie for the tribe name in favor of a literal demon...

Welcome, Clownie Tribe, to your first merged tribal!

You were all asked questions, but I had zero interest in coming up with 11 game-related questions for y’all, so this is what happened instead!!!

Colin - If you could change Ten (10) Seasons of Survivor to make it so your favorite from the season wins, but in exchange, Cirie Fields was never on Survivor, would you do it?

I dont even think I've watched 10 seasons of survivor tbh and I love Cirie so uh I'm gonna say no???

Dani - What song does the viewing lounge need to know about RIGHT THE FUCK NOW?

Dean - Which Harry Potter character got the worst translation from book to movie?

that would easily be Ginny "waste of space" Weasley. Who literally was reduced to Harry's love interest - even Katie Bell was more interesting than Ginny... where was all the character development? The building of a strong, independent character in her own right? No, let's take everything meanigful about Ginny and make here this boring character who is only concered about Harry and what Harry thinks of her.

Dennis - What’s your most embarrassing childhood memory?

I had an older cousin who I overheard say she was going to be a porn star one day. I had no idea what that was (9yrs old). One day we went to the mall with her parents and a kiosk was selling license plate holders. One said "#1 porn star". I very loudly said "look Angie! #1 porn star!! For you!!" The look on her parents face....

Jacob - You’re at a karaoke night and you have to sing a song. What’s your go-to track?

recently i would go for space cowboy by kacey musgraves too but supercut and dancing queen is my long term brand

Jess - Congrats on immunity! Assign a Buffy the Vampire Slayer character to each tribe member, but don’t give any reasons why you chose them.

Colin- Spike

Dani- Buffy

Dean- Angel

Dennis- Xander

Jacob- Rupert

Jess- Faith

Kage- Riley

Lily- Dawn

Maynor- Oz

Nicole- Cordielia

Stevie-Wesley

Kage - How old were you when you found out Santa wasn’t real? What was the last straw in your belief?

No answer...

Lily - What Disney movie makes you cry the most?

Ah Sweet, Drewie. This is the best tribal question you have asked me all season. Tbh I don’t cry at movies often in general...but I bawled on my 2nd viewing of Up. I don’t want to get into the details but damn. I was real sad. Not sure if I can watch it again.

Maynor - What obscure Pokemon should be the star of their next animated movie, and what would the story be?

i want to see a movie on Delibird. Have a female shiny amd a normal living in the snowy mountains. Where they are going to have to save xmas because a gengar and an alakasam stole the ice heart from their village. And alakasam n gengar live in a cave up the mountain. So they have to travel up and face some of their hencemen (gastly haunter abra kadabra onix hypno drowzee) while the final battle gengar takes down shiny female delibird and she falls into a cave hole not to be seen ever again. Then normal gets emotional and defeats gengar and alakasam. Looks for shiny deli and cant find her. Goes back to return the heart. Articuno comes in thanking deli and reveals that the shiny deli fell on articuno where it was sleeping.

Nicole - What’s your biggest unpopular food opinion?

bitch I love Brussels sprouts idc what anyone says

Stevie - What is the best Emma Stone movie, and why did you pick Easy A?

The best Emma Stone movie is in fact Easy A. First of all, who doesn’t love a good coming of age movie? Especially one shadowing The Scarlet Letter that most people probably had to read in high school. The cast was just great. Penn Badgley? Amanda Bynes pre total meltdown? Aly Michalka? Stanley Tucci? Lisa Kudrow?! ICONIC CAST. And we can’t forget Patricia Clarkson, the reformed slutty mom who brought her husband back to the Hetero life from his stint as a gay man because she is THAT bitch. Their family dynamic was fun to watch in every scene and I needed more of it. “Spell it with your peas!” So she didn’t say “Twat” in front of her little brother is one of my favorite moments. And shortly following the black brother talking about him being adopted and their dad saying “Who told you?!” Is still one of my favorite lines because they are a white family and it’s obvious that they did not have a black baby naturally. Every scene with the family is just filled with jokes and I love it all.

Next we need to talk about Amanda Bynes. The Jesus freak purity cult leader who clearly just needs to get laid. She goes from 0-100 REAL QUICK and down to -100 in a blink of an eye and I feel she did it so well because that’s her in real life. Having a boyfriend that was sleeping with the guidance counselor, who was 22 or something and still in high school, and got chlamydia whilst being in the Jesus purity group was just wild. Honestly thinking in depth about it, this whole movie was just wild. Amanda Bynes’ character was the antagonist that you love to hate and she definitely made the movie.

Seeing Aly Michalka in action again was truly a blessing. The nostalgia of seeing her alone from her Phil of the Future days was enough for me to love her character throughout no matter how much of a stupid bitch she was in the movie when she turned on Olive. Speaking of this, we need to talk about the root of that happening. When Olive gets a card from her grandmother in the mail and it sings “Pocketful of Sunshine” by Natasha Beddingfield. ICONIC SONG. And Emma Stone opens the card and says “ugh I hate this song.” Then proceeds to spend the entire weekend jamming out to the song (FROM THE CARD, NOT DOWNLOADING OR STREAMING) until she wears out the card and it dies. Then she lies and says she visited her older brother at college and lost her V card to a guy at his college. Which I think might be community college? I don’t remember fully. What later on in the movie SENT ME was when her phone rings and her ringtone is Pocketful of Sunshine. I was DEAD.

Most importantly Woodchuck Todd was my favorite storyline. He didn’t believe the sluttiness of Olive because of what she did for him from spin the bottle in 7th grade. I shipped them the whole movie and loved how cheesy all of it was. The most exciting part was the musical number of knock on wood at the end during the basketball game. Stellar performance, so extra, and Emma Stone killed it. So yeah these are all the main reasons why I love this movie and I could easily talk about every single thing that happened and dawn over how much I love it all but I will keep it to these fave scenes.

La La Land was a great movie but this was just so entertaining and funny and a great story. And honestly all of it was a bit ridiculous but not too ridiculous that it went to far. It was the right level. Another honorable mention would be Crazy, Stupid Love because that was also a stellar cast, really funny, and overall just great. Had a great reveal in the end. Easy A was just one of the most memorable movies I’ve seen and I love it equally as much, if not more, every time I see it. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

If anyone has a power and would like to play it, now would be the time to do so!

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NO ONE STANDS.

Once the votes are read, the decision is final. The person voted out will be asked to leave the tribal council area immediately.

I’ll read the votes.

First vote: Stevie

Second vote: Kage (self-vote)

Votes 3-11, and the sixth person voted out of Survivor Fillory and Further,

Kage

Kage, I’m sorry, and I hope you’re doing and continue to do better, but the tribe has spoken.

[mariacallous]

The Greek PASOK-KINAL MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, Eva Kaili, has reportedly been arrested as part of a Belgian investigation into corruption in the European Parliament.

Belgian authorities have detained unnamed suspects for taking funds from Qatar to promote the Gulf state’s interests in the Parliament. The charges relate to participation in a criminal organization, money laundering, and corruption.

The Belgian authorities have not named the four main suspects; however, the newspapers L’Echo and Le Soir said Kaili was among those arrested.

The other three defendants named in the media are the former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, the partner of Kaili, Francesco Giorgi, Panzeri’s associate, and “F”., a Brussels lobbyist. All four are being held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels.

In a search of Kaili’s house, a large amount of cash was seized in bags and a suitcase. This justified the automatic removal of her MEP immunity. Her father was also arrested with a suitcase full of money but was later released.

Kaili gave a speech at the end of November at the European Parliament that raised eyebrows by its support for Qatar.

Responding to widespread criticism of the state of human rights in the World Cup host country, she characterized Qatar as a pioneer in labour rights and said the country was being bullied.

Well-documented reports have revealed human rights violations, and that thousands of workers died while constructing the facilities for the World Cup in Qatar.

“Today, the World Cup in Qatar is proof of how sports diplomacy can achieve the historical transformation of a country with reforms that inspired the Arab world. They committed to a vision by choice and opened up to the world,” she said in her speech.

“However, some here are calling for us to discriminate against them. They bully them and accuse everyone who talks to them or is involved with them of corruption. However, they still get their natural gas [from there],” Kaili said.

The president of PASOK-KINAL, Nikos Androulakis, said: “Following the latest developments and the Belgian authorities’ investigation into corruption of European officials, MEP Eva Kaili is being expelled from PASOK – KINAL,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Thanasis Glavinas, director of PASOK-KINAL’s parliamentary group, told BIRN: “What has come to light and the announcements made by the Belgian authorities are very serious. We reacted instantly by expelling Ms Kaili from our party. After all, for a long time now, Ms Kaili …was essentially out of line. In matters of transparency in politics, we must be relentless. Morality and transparency are an integral part of politics, and we must all guard it against such negative practices.”

Kaili was suspended from her duties in the European Parliament as well. European Parliament president Roberta Metsola “has decided to suspend with immediate effect all powers, duties and tasks that were delegated to Eva Kaili in her capacity as Vice-President of the European Parliament,” a spokesperson said.

Metsola on her Twitter account stated that the European Parliament is against corruption and will do its best to assist the course of justice: “At this stage, we cannot comment on any ongoing investigations except to confirm that we have & will cooperate fully with all relevant law enforcement & judicial authorities,” she wrote.

Qatar’s mission to the EU released a statement on Twitter rejecting accusations of misconduct: “The State of Qatar categorically rejects any attempts to associate with accusations of misconduct. Any association of the Qatari government with the reported claims is baseless and misinformed.”

“The State of Qatar works through institution-to-institution engagement and operates in full compliance with international laws and regulations,” it said.