💭 When we hear Muslims claim that the State of Israel posed threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, our attention should be turned again to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a collaborator with Nazi Germany and the leader of Arab Palestinian nationalism before and immediately after World War II. Some historians and, briefly, Israels Prime Minister Netanyahu also attributed to Husseini a significant decision-making role in the Holocaust in Europe.
In spring 2021, King County Metro supervisor Daniel Fisseha asked his colleague, Berhanemeskal Gebreselassie, to print something for him from his computer. He made the request in Amharic; both men are originally from Ethiopia.
On May 5 that year, their boss, Riceda Stewart, called the two longtime employees into her office. She told them that she and her superior, Dennis Lock, had received a complaint from an operator, who reported feeling uncomfortable with their use of their native language. Stewart told them they were not “presenting and acting like a professional,” according to an investigation conducted by Metro’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity. Going forward, if they wanted to speak Amharic, they should do so only in a private room, they were told.
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That act was hostile and discriminatory, the EEO investigation concluded, creating “an atmosphere of inferiority, isolation and intimidation.” By implementing such a rule specifically targeted to two Amharic speakers, Metro was sending an “overt” message “that their national origin identities made people uncomfortable and were not appropriate in the workplace, statements that are subjectively and objectively offensive and discriminatory.”
The men, the report concluded, had grounds to sue.
With the damning EEO report in hand, the two men filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court last month, asking for damages and attorney’s fees determined in court, and that Metro adopt policies against language discrimination. The case was recently reassigned to federal court, in the Western District of Washington.
“Our native language is in our DNA,” said Gebreselassie. “That’s our blood. That’s our culture.”
The basic arc of events is largely undisputed. Lawyers with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office acknowledge that Fisseha and Gebreselassie were told they should “be more discreet and use a separate room when speaking in Amharic to each other” in response to a complaint.
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Defendant Stewart and Lock also acknowledged to EEO investigators that they’d received the complaint and had told Fisseha and Gebreselassie to use a private room when speaking Amharic, although they disagree on who came up with the plan. Their focus, they said, was on making the operator feel more comfortable.
But in making that their goal, the two bosses failed to consider how it would make Fisseha and Gebreselassie feel.
“Mr. Lock and Ms. Stewart may very well have been thinking about [the complainant’s] comfort when they agreed to this course of action, but the comfort they wanted to provide was discriminatory against employees who speak a language other than English,” the EEO report concluded.
In a statement, Metro spokesperson Jeff Switzer said the agency works to build a healthy environment free from harassment or discrimination.
“It is not, nor has it ever been, Metro’s policy, practice or culture to require people to speak only English,” Switzer said. “We see this as a single, regrettable incident, rather than a rule, and we took swift steps to correct the behavior with the supervisors, including requiring appropriate King County training.”
Fisseha and Gebreselassie immigrated to the Seattle area from Ethiopia in the early 2000s, becoming American citizens several years later. Both started working for Metro as bus operators in 2008 before becoming supervisors — training and scheduling drivers — roughly 10 years after that.
Getting to that level is a source of pride, particularly for Gebreselassie. As an immigrant, he said he has a chip on his shoulder.
“We have to prove ourselves every day,” he said.
After the meeting, the two men requested that the policy be put into writing, which they never received. Shortly after, they filed a complaint with the EEO office.
Fisseha and Gebreselassie allege they were retaliated against for complaining — spurring them to take leaves of absence and later move to different departments with less desirable shifts, including overnight. In its response to the complaint in federal court, Metro denies any retaliation occurred and said the choice to move departments was the two men’s, pointing out that Fisseha returned to work under Stewart again in 2022.
Regardless, Fisseha and Gebreselassie said they were racked with anxiety following the interaction. Rumor spread among Metro’s diverse staff, giving workers pause whenever they slipped into their native languages.
“Sometimes you start talking and you have that feeling of, ‘Well now I have to always watch where I’m at’,” said Gebreselassie.
Ethiopians have lived in the Seattle region since the late 1960s and early 1970s, when about two dozen university students and their spouses came to the United States to earn college degrees with the intention of returning home. That changed with the deposition of the country’s emperor in 1974, sparking the Ethiopian Civil War and leaving Ethiopian students and urban professionals abroad stranded and fearful of returning.
With the passage of The Refugee Act of 1980, thousands of Ethiopians and Eritreans would ultimately settle in the Seattle metropolitan area as immigrants and refugees fleeing war, political persecution, widespread drought and famine.
Today, about 22,000 people of Ethiopian ancestry live in the Seattle area, according to 2021 Census Bureau estimates. Census Bureau data published in 2015 puts the number of people here who speak Amharic at home at about 14,575, with about 46% reporting they speak English less than “very well.”
With such a large population in Seattle, and presence within Metro, being treated like a “cigarette smoker” for using Amharic, was demeaning, the men said.
“I don’t think they respect East Africans,” said Fisseha. “We work hard like everybody else, but at the end of the day, we don’t get respect.”
“And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.“
🐦 Can Animals And Birds Predict Earthquake?
According to a report from United States Geological Survey, The oldest account of strange animal behaviour prior to a large earthquake dates back to 373 BC in Greece. Rats, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly fled their homes several days before a devastating earthquake.
Animals and birds may sense earthquake by various ways. Some animals may be sensitive to changes in the electromagnetic field that occur before an earthquake. Some may detect changes in barometric pressure, which can occur before an earthquake.
Animals that are close to the ground, such as those in burrows or nests, may be able to feel the ground movements that occur before an earthquake. Earthquakes generate low-frequency vibrations that can be felt by some animals, such as dogs, before they can be felt by humans.
✞ The 129-year-old Assumption Church in Chan Thar in Ye-U township in the northwestern Sagaing region was set ablaze on Jan. 15, along with many villagers’ homes.
Myanmar junta forces have continued their attacks on Christian communities by torching a more than century-old Catholic church in a predominantly Christian village.
The church was completely destroyed in the inferno. However, there were no human casualties as villagers managed to flee before the army arrived.
The place of worship built in 1894 had a ‘priceless’ historical value for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Before setting fire to it, soldiers desecrated it by drinking and smoking inside. Catholics and Buddhists have lived together in harmony in the area for centuries. In the past year, the village has been attacked four times by militia, without any clashes or provocations.
It is a new wound for the religious minority, after two air force fighter jets carried out a raid in Karen State in recent days, destroying a church and killing five people including a child.
The first Catholic presence in the area, which refers to the diocese of Mandalay, dates back about 500 years and the village of Chan Thar itself arose and developed thanks to the work of descendants of Portuguese Catholics who then inhabited it for centuries.
In the village, the population has always been predominantly Catholic, scattered in 800 houses in close contact and harmony with two neighbouring Buddhist centres. Last year, the military set fire to the houses of Chan Thar on 7 May and a second time a month later, on 7 June 2022, destroying 135 buildings.
The third assault took place on 14 December, just before the start of the Christmas celebrations; the last was a few days ago, on 14 January 2023, when the Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) men razed and burnt almost all the houses.
Local sources, on condition of anonymity, report that the soldiers attacked and set fire to the church “for no apparent reason”, because there was no fighting or confrontation going on in the area, and without any provocation.
The soldiers had been stationed in the area in front of the church since the evening of 14 January, and before leaving the area, they carried out an “atrocity” by setting fire to the building and “completely burning” the church, the parish priest’s house and the centuries-old nunnery, which collapsed after being enveloped in flames.
The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was a source of pride for Catholics in Upper Myanmar not only because of its centuries-old tradition, the baptism of the first bishop and the birth of three other archbishops and over 30 priests and nuns.
The place of worship was in fact a historical and cultural heritage for the entire country, including Buddhists, and proof of this is the climate of fraternal cooperation that was established between the different communities.
The church, bell tower and other buildings were destroyed on the morning of 15 January. Government soldiers, an eyewitness revealed, also “desecrated” the sacredness of the place by “looting, drinking alcohol and smoking” inside.
In response to the attack, a number of Burmese priests on social networks have been raising appeals to pray for the country and for the Christian community itself. On the other hand, there have been no official statements or declarations from the Archdiocese of Yangon and Card. Charles Bo.
“We are deeply sorrowful as our historic church has been destroyed. It was our last hope,” a Catholic villager, who did not want to be identified due to repercussions by the army, said.
Villagers said a Marian grotto and the adoration chapel were spared. But the parish priest’s house and the nuns’ convent were destroyed.
They said the army arrived in the village in the conflict-torn Sagaing region on the evening of Jan. 14 and set many houses on fire and stayed in the church overnight before setting it ablaze early on Jan. 15, when local Catholics were expected to arrive for worship.
More than 500 houses in the village were also destroyed. in what was the fourth raid on the village in eight months.
“We have no more houses and the church where there was an antique painting of St Mary, which can’t be replaced,” another resident who wished to remain anonymous said.
The junta is targeting the Sagaing region to tackle growing resistance to its rule by people’s defense forces who are suspected to be based there.
Christians make up around 8.2 percent of Myanmar’s 55 million population. The junta has repeatedly raided Chan Thar since May, 2022. Nearly 20 houses were destroyed and two Catholics, including a mentally disturbed person, were killed during a raid on May 7, 2022. More than 100 houses were set ablaze a month later on June 7. In a raid on Dec.14, more than 300 houses were torched.
Thousands have fled the village since last May and taken shelter in churches near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, and at relatives’ homes in other parts of the country.
Chaung Yoe, Mon Hla and Chan Thar, which are part of Mandalay archdiocese, are known as Bayingyi villages because their inhabitants claim that they are the descendants of Portuguese adventurers who arrived in the region in the 16th and 17th centuries. These villages have produced many bishops, priests, and nuns for the Church.
✞ São Paulo: The Oldest Orthodox Church in Brazil Was Destroyed by a Fire
💭 The Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, in São Paulo, was destroyed in a fire yesterday and today. It had been founded in 1904 by Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, seven years after the first Divine Liturgy in Brazilian history had been celebrated in a room in the same street. The community had mostly merged with that of the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, but there were still weekly liturgies that kept the memory of the temple alive. Only the altar survived, but some icons could be retrieved from the walls.
The fire started in a nearby store, and it doesn’t seem anyone was hurt.
In 2016, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church visited The Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Annunciation to the Theotokos, which was founded in 1904
The Karen are a large and dispersed ethnic group of Southeast Asia. They trace their origins to the Gobi Desert, Mongolia, or Tibet. Karen settled in Burma/Myanmar’s southern Irrawaddy Delta area and in the hills along the Salween River in eastern Myanmar and in neighboring Thailand. In the past numerous peoples were considered Karen sub-groups: the Pwo Karen (mostly delta rice-growers), the Sgaw Karen of the mountains; and the Kayahs (also called Karennis), Pa-Os, and Kayans (also called Padaungs), who live in the Karenni and Shan States of Myanmar. Now all of these groups consider themselves distinct ethnic groups.
The total population of Karen in around 6 million (although some it could be as high as 9 million according to some sources) with 4 million to 5 million in Myanmar, over 1 million in Thailand, 215,000 in the United States(2018), more than 11,000 in Australia, 4,500 to 5,000 in Canada and 2,500 in India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and 2,500 in Sweden,
🔥 ‘A Living Hell’: Churches, Clergy Targeted By Myanmar Military
On Thursday, a Baptist pastor and a Catholic deacon were killed in Lay Wah village, two women wounded, hundreds flee. Karen rebels call the attack a “war crime”, urge the international community to cut off fuel supplies to ruling military junta. Myanmar’s government-in-exile condemns the attacks, extends condolences to victims’ families.
Thursday afternoon two jet fighters attacked Lay Wah, a village located in Mutraw district, Karen State, south-eastern Myanmar.
The area is under the control of the Karen National Union (KNU) whose armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), has been repeatedly engaged in heavy fighting with Myanmar’s regular army.
At least five people were killed as a result of the bombing. Hundreds of residents hastily left their homes and fled, fearing further raids and more violence.
Local sources report that at least two bombs were dropped. Over the past few days, two churches and a school, as well as several other buildings were hit.
The mother and the child died instantly, while a Baptist pastor and a Catholic deacon succumbed later to their injuries. Two other women were wounded albeit not seriously.
The child, Naw Marina, would have turned three next month; she died along with her mother, Naw La Kler Paw; Catholic deacon Naw La Kler Paw; Rev Saw Cha Aye; and the last victim, Saw Blae, a villager who helped out in church.
Four large craters now dot the area, the result of the blasts; some believe the churches were the target. But luckily, the death toll was limited because the school was closed. For some time, its pupils have been attending lessons in a nearby forest.
KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee described the bombing as a “war crime”. For him, “It is very important to stop the supply of fuel for the junta military’s aircraft,” to limit the attacks.
“I ask again that the international community take more effective action against the junta,” he added.
Following the bombing of Lay Wah, Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG), which includes former MPs from Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy, issued a statement condemning the raid.
“We convey our condolences to all those who have lost their lives,” the press release said. “ We pledge that we will do our utmost to bring justice for all those lives lost, be it national or international,”
Myanmar’s military junta has repeatedly attacked civilian targets in Karen and Kachin states and Sagaing and Magwe regions. So far, the bombing campaign has killed at least 460 civilians, including many children.
👉 Just in:
One person was killed and eight others wounded when rebels opposed to the ruling junta attacked a state celebration in eastern Myanmar today, the military said.
The nation has been in turmoil since Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government was toppled in an army coup almost two years ago.
Long-established ethnic rebel groups, as well as dozens of “People’s Defence Forces” (PDF), have emerged in opposition.
The junta said one man was killed when a rebel group and PDF shelled an event in eastern Kayah’s capital Loikaw early Sunday as people gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the state’s recognition.
“The artillery fell at the celebration area near city hall and at the ward where people were staying,” a junta statement said.
Among those wounded were six students, as well as a man and a woman, the military said, adding that some security services personnel were also hurt.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
More than 2,700 civilians have been killed since the military grabbed power in February 2021, according to a local monitoring group.
The junta blames anti-coup fighters for a civilian death toll it has put at almost 3,900. — AFP
💭 In your lifetime, have you ever seen a prime minister and cabinet, provincial and municipal politicians, the medical community, international leaders, the influencers in Hollywood, everyone with an opinion on social media, unions, newspaper editors, radio and TV hosts, neighbors and even family members, all piling on one group of people all at the same time, regardless of their religion, colour, ethnicity, sexual orientation or Indigenous heritage, describing those people as the filth of society and then forbidding them from traveling, denying them work and even firing them, all because they refused to be coerced into accepting something they didn’t believe in? Never in my lifetime have I ever seen such open hostility towards one group of people, day after day after day for months on end, and I hope I never will again.
💭 Researchers call on authorities all across the world to heal the divisions in society left by the COVID-19 pandemic as the vaccinated are motivated to exclude the unvaccinated from family relationships and even protected political rights.
People show prejudice and discriminatory attitudes towards individuals not vaccinated against COVID-19 across all inhabited continents of the world. This is the finding of a global study from Aarhus University in Denmark, which has just been published today (December 8) in the journal Nature.
Many vaccinated people do not want close relatives to marry an unvaccinated person. They are also inclined to think that the unvaccinated are incompetent as well as untrustworthy, and they generally feel antipathy against them.
The study reveals that prejudice towards the unvaccinated is as high or higher than prejudice directed toward other common and diverse targets of prejudice, including immigrants, drug addicts, and ex-convicts.
In sharp contrast, researchers found that the unvaccinated display almost no discriminatory attitudes towards the vaccinated.
“The conflict between those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and those who are not, threatens societal cohesion as a new socio-political cleavage, and the vaccinated clearly seem to be the ones deepening this rift,” says postdoc Alexander Bor, who is the lead author of the study “Discriminatory Attitudes Against the Unvaccinated During a Global Pandemic.”
Human explanation for prejudice
According to the researchers, the reason for these discriminatory attitudes appears to be that the vaccinated perceive the unvaccinated as free riders. High vaccination uptake is crucial in order to combat the pandemic and secure the public good of normal everyday life without great human or financial losses. And when some people help increase vaccine uptake while others do not, it evokes negative sentiments.
“The vaccinated react in quite a natural way against what they perceive as free-riding on a public good. This is a well-known psychological mechanism and thus a completely normal human reaction. Nonetheless, it could have severe consequences for society,” says co-author Michael Bang Petersen, who is a professor of political science at Aarhus University and head of the research project of which this study is part.
”In the short run, prejudice towards the unvaccinated may complicate pandemic management because it leads to mistrust, and we know that mistrust hinders vaccination uptake. In the long run, it may mean that societies leave the pandemic more divided and polarised than they entered it,” says Michael Bang Petersen.
Fundamental rights could be in danger
A survey fielded solely in the United States as part of the overall study shows that not only do vaccinated people harbor prejudice against the unvaccinated, they also think they should be denied fundamental rights. For instance, the unvaccinated should not be allowed to move into the neighborhood or express their political views on social media freely, without fear of censorship.
“It is likely that we will encounter similar support for the restriction of rights in other countries, seeing as the prejudice and antipathy can be found across continents and cultures,” says Michael Bang Petersen.
Researchers warn against condemnatory rhetoric
In many places, low vaccine uptake still poses a challenge to pandemic management, but the researchers warn authorities against employing a rhetoric of moral condemnation in their attempt to make more people get vaccinated. A strategy otherwise deployed in a number of countries, including France, where president Emmanuel Macron has stated that he wants to ‘piss off’ the unvaccinated to a degree that will make them get vaccinated.
”Moral condemnation may strengthen the cleavages and further feelings of exclusion that have led many unvaccinated to refuse the vaccine in the first place. Our prior research has shown that transparent communication about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines is a more viable public-health strategy for increasing vaccine uptake in the long term,” says Michael Bang Petersen.
💭 The Islamic State in Mozambique (ISM) has ordered Christians and Jews to pay a Jizya tax for infidels as a sign of their submission to an Islamic Caliphate, the Barnabas Fund reported Thursday.
Christians and Jews in the region have been threatened with death unless they either convert to Islam, vacate the area, or pay the tax.
“We will escalate the war against you until you submit to Islam,” states a handwritten message from ISM. “Our desire is to kill you or be killed, for we are martyrs before God, so submit or run from us.”
The letter, which menaces Christians and Jews with “endless war” if they do not submit to Islam or pay the tax, also threatens moderate Muslims with death if they do not join the Islamist cause.
The ISM publishes a weekly newsletter, which has also demanded that Jews and Christians either convert to Islam or pay the infidel tax.
In demanding the Jizya, which according to sharia law allows Jews and Christians to remain in the land as second-class “dhimmi,” the ISM is echoing the tactics applied by the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere.
In 2014, the Islamic State issued a statement demanding that Christians in Mosul either convert to Islam, pay the Jizya, leave the city, or be killed. This led every in the region to leave, ending 2,000 years of Assyrian Christian presence.
In 2015, the Islamic State launched a series of attacks on Christian towns along the Khabour River in northeast Syria, during which the jihadists abducted hundreds of Christian hostages, who were similarly told they must convert to Islam, pay the Jizya, or face death.
The imposition of the Jizya has repeatedly been employed as a means of emptying regions of Christians.
💭 Selected Comments:
☆ Islam is incompatible with human life.
☆ Islam has always used the edge of the sword to evangelize. Muslims do not assimilate. They always try to dominate. The West had better recognize this, or they will be the next Mozambique.
☆ Mozambique has a Christian majority at least 60% mostly from the Portuguese ,
and about 20% Muslim.
☆ Where is the UN? As always, selective response measures to radical Islam.
☆ The UN hates Jews and Christians.
☆ The UN is composed of a Muslim majority voting bloc. The OIC. The organization of Islamic cooperation. The rest are communist that side with them. The UN will do nothing but run interference and cover this up. And attack any that try to speak out about it.
☆ Yet we still give them foreign aid? That is ridiculous.
☆ God bless and protect these Christians in danger for their faith in our Lord and Savior , Jesus Christ.
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