I remember seeing the headline some days ago referring to someone spraying stars of David on Jewish home somewhere in the Western world. Having seen that headline made this particular news item from French Europe1 radio stand out:
Le couple de Moldaves interpellé après avoir tagué des étoiles de David sur un mur dans le 10e arrondissement de Paris, a été commandité par "un individu en Russie", a appris Europe 1. Le couple a été interpellé pour "dégradation aggravée par le fait qu'elle a été commise en raison de l'origine ou de la religion", a précisé le parquet.
The Apple translation foo renders it like this:
The Moldovan couple arrested after tagifying David's stars on a wall in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, was sponsored by "an individual in Russia", learned Europe 1. The couple was arrested for "degradation aggravated by the fact that it was committed because of origin or religion," said the prosecutor's office.
I’m fairly certain we would describe this in the American context as the couple having been arrested for vandalism as a hate crime against a religious minority.
The big deal in this, of course, is that it is another piece of evidence that Russia is actively inciting such activities in free countries in an attempt to inflame the worst passions, to exacerbate fear and hatred. It demonstrates again that Russia is trying to draw attention in the West away from Russia’s murderous campaign in Ukraine, that Russia clearly feels it benefits from Hamas’s genocidal war launched against Israel.
The article is here. To translate it you can either copy and paste it into Google’s translation pages, or if you’re using Safari on an Apple device, mark the text and select “Translate” from the drop-down menu you get from right-clicking (on Mac) or holding your finger on the marked text (in iOS).
Voting completed. The mayor's son was at my poll. I shook his hand and said I did, in fact, plan to vote for his father, who is a perfectly fine mayor. His opponent is an okay guy, too, though.
One of the signs for a candidate in the "Red Wall" faction said "Fiercely Patriot." I've mentioned before that "Patriot" has become a buzzword that connotes "kind of a kook, actually" especially in contexts where the concept is irrelevant, which is pretty much all contexts except Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans' Day, and when you're joining the military.
You're running for Town Council in Generic Southern Suburban Town. "Patriot" gives me no information about what ideas you might have for fixing the terrible intersection near the Town Hall, and "Fiercely Patriot" makes you seem poorly educated as well as loo-loo.
Thanks, Marque. I read a wonderful piece from Winkfield Twyman about George Washington. I think it was posted yesterday or Sunday. As a country, we were extremely fortunate to start on such good footing. It makes what is going on today all the sadder. Will we hit bottom soon, and start to rise again? I’m starting to wonder. I saw that a Jewish man was killed in a confrontation with a protester. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. What does that say about our country.