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Ruth King

P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

Skip the Children’s Instagram Pageant Kids need to know their parents are paying close attention to them, not playing to an audience. By Jennifer L. Taitz

By on November 26th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/skip-the-childrens-instagram-pageant-1543175539

‘How many likes did I get?” When I overheard a friend’s 8-year-old daughter ask how her back-to-school portrait had performed on her mother’s Instagram, my heart fell. No child should grow up believing life is a continuous popularity contest judged on social media.

I have two toddlers myself and people ask why I don’t post their photos. I’ll admit it’s tempting: Who doesn’t get a dopamine rush from a burst of likes or heart emojis? It’s not surprising that the average mom checks Instagram six times a day, according to the platform’s data. Yet I wonder how parents can navigate sharing while relaying the message that life is about more than presenting the perfect image. In weighing the costs and benefits of social media in my life, I realized that signing up for Instagram would only tempt me to be more superficial.

I also worry about the example I’m setting. Since social-media use is associated with disordered eating and body-image issues, do I want my daughter and son to see me documenting my life and then imitate that behavior? When studies link social-media use with depression and anxiety in young adults, and the average teenager spends nine hours a day in front of a screen, it’s worth considering the impact being visibly tethered to our phones may be having on our kids.

In my mind, healthy living requires participating in the moment in a meaningful way. That’s not easy to do while staging and posting photos, then tracking responses. Robin Berman, one of my favorite psychiatrists and author of “Permission to Parent,” prescribes looking at your children with “hearts in your eyes”: truly seeing who they are with warmth. But it’s difficult to appreciate a child’s inner world from the vantage point of an iPhone camera.

Your social-media feed may be full of kids bearing toothy smiles, but will these children be grinning when they reflect back on their meticulously documented childhoods? Since my toddlers have no idea I’ll be broadcasting a photo I’ve taken of them, it doesn’t seem fair for me to do so. If I were a teenager today, I think I’d be furious if my parents had spent my early years urging me to pose for anyone scrolling.

As a psychologist who teaches people how to regulate their emotions, I can imagine the young girl I overheard sitting on my therapy couch a decade from now, describing how her well-meaning mother chronicled her every move for a distant audience rather than paying close attention to her.

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MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

The Favourite – A Review By Marilyn Penn

By on November 26th, 2018

http://politicalmavens.com/

There’s a grand guignol atmosphere in “The Favourite,” with 18th century men coiffed in long sheep-like wigs, made up to look like drag queens and Queen Anne herself looking more like a madwoman than a regal character. Though the story of the queen and Sarah and Abigail, the two women who service her in every sense of the word, is loosely based on historical fact, the language is full of contemporary curse words which seem anachronistic. Surprisingly, they turn out to have been in use during that century – especially the two four letter words with a “u” as the only vowel; this is significant because it lends credibility to some of the sexual behavior you might have thought was not in vogue at that time. Certainly there is no historical record to support the movie’s contentions.

Everything about The Favourite is over the top – the incredible paneled palace, the background music which occasionally rises to the foreground, the oversized ambitions of Sarah and Abigail, well-played by Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone and the complicated, convoluted character of Anne herself in a tour-de-force performance by Olivia Colman. She is sickly and dependent yet willful and demanding; at times a fool and then surprisingly capable of rising to the exigencies of her rank. She remains a deeply unhappy woman who mourns her miscarriages and stillbirths and the early death of her child. She is supremely eccentric and prone to childish tantrums such as summarily dismissing her various ministers so she can return to her bed. Though she is the fulcrum around whom the plot revolves, the main subjects of interest are the two women who are distant cousins, each vying for Anne’s attention and rewards.

Lady Sarah Churchill is a commanding presence who, as the queen’s main lady in waiting, has taken over most of the decision making for the country. She is clever, informed and the wife of the Duke of Marlborough who was leading the British troops in a war against the French. Historically, Sarah is credited with having been the most powerful woman in France in her day. After noticing that Abigail has been demoted to being a scullery maid, Sarah rescues her, bringing her upstairs where the work is more pleasant and where she subtly manages to insinuate herself into the queen’s affections and bedchamber.

How this happens is told in graphic scenes involving nudity, sex, politics, violence, treachery, romance, disillusionment and some surprises. At a certain point, the movie begins to feel like a pile-on that actually makes you lose interest because there’s just too much to digest. The soundtrack, effective at first in foretelling an ominous development, eventually turns into a headache-producing disturbance. But the movie will make you run to the internet to learn more about this unusual triangle of women – no mean accomplishment for director Yorgos Lanthimos.

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ISRAEL, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Airbnb’s Anti-Israel Hypocrisy The tech company will operate anywhere and serve anyone—except Jews in the West Bank.

By on November 26th, 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/airbnbs-anti-israel-hypocrisy-1543175767

Two very different organizations took action last week against Jews owning property in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority sentenced two Palestinians to 15 years hard labor for selling land to Jews. And Airbnb, the tech behemoth and online marketplace for lodging, announced it would no longer serve Jewish communities in the West Bank. The two actions differ in brutality but are based on the same idea: Jews should have no home in the West Bank.

Under Airbnb’s policy, an American Jew with a rental property in the West Bank is barred from listing it for rent on the website. But an American Arab is welcome to list his home a few hundred meters away, even though the Palestinian law forbidding real-estate deals with Jews carries a maximum penalty of death. That openly racist policy doesn’t trigger Airbnb’s delisting policy.

Airbnb admits the West Bank is the site of complicated “historical disputes.” Until 1948, the West Bank was part of the League of Nations’ 1922 British Mandate for Palestine, created to become a “national home” for the Jewish people. In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution suggesting the territory be divided into Arab and Jewish states, an idea the Arabs immediately shot down. Indeed, when the mandate ended and Israel declared independence in 1948, all its Arab neighbors invaded immediately. Jordan occupied the West Bank and massacred or expelled every Jew in the area, took their homes and destroyed their synagogues. Israel only regained the West Bank after Jordan foolishly attacked again in 1967. Many Jews then returned, including to lands Jews had purchased before Israeli independence.

Since then, the dispute has narrowed. Israel signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinian leadership in 1993, leaving all settlements—the new and returning Jewish communities—under complete Israeli control. Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1994. To be sure, the Palestinians still demand the removal of Jews from the entire West Bank. But Airbnb’s policy applies only to the Israeli—primarily Jewish—communities in the disputed territories.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

A quick refresher course to remind us of previous global warming/cooling scares By Jack Hellner ****

By on November 25th, 2018

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/11/a_quick_refresher_course_to_remind_us_of_previous_global_warmingcooling_scares.html

In light of the new, much-hyped “official” report on global warming that is being pushed by almost all the media and the record cold that is occurring now in many parts of the U.S., it would be helpful if some enterprising journalist actually reported how often the people have been scared by previous warnings of global warming or cooling.

An article in Wattsupwiththat.com from 2014 encapsulates the multiple intentional scares from 1895 on. Throughout the entire 120 year period fossil fuel use was growing exponentially, population growth was exploding, and CO2 concentration was increasing. The fact that temperatures both rose and fell during this period shows that there is no correlation between temperature, fossil fuels, CO2 and the human population. Storm activity, floods, droughts, and sea levels have also fluctuated throughout billions of years.

There are a huge number of bullet points in this article. I have left in some to highlight the difference in scare tactics at various points in time by the media who seem to just repeat whatever they are told and don’t care how far off previous predictions have been:
A brief history of climate panic and crisis… both warming and cooling

For at least 120 years, climate “scientists” have been claiming that the climate was going to kill us…but they have kept switching whether it was a coming ice age, or global warming.

(A timeline of claims follows, updated to 2014)

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MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

‘The Enemy of the People’ By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on November 25th, 2018

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/trump-media-criticism-enemy-of-the-people-charge/

Criticism of the media by a president is not necessarily a bad thing

Depending on your perspective, one of President Trump’s real talents, or one of his most baleful traits, is his knack for the zinger label, pinned on a political or institutional foe. “Crooked Hillary,” “Lyin’ Ted,” “The Swamp” — the labels often stick . . . and sting.

In commentary about the media that is sometimes withering and sometimes unhinged, the president uses the term “the enemy of the people.” The epithet has gotten under the skin of many journalists. Some of them worry aloud about being targeted for retribution, a concern that is overwrought as applied to Trump partisans generally, but that cannot be dismissed out of hand — Cesar Sayoc’s attempted pipe-bomb rampage against Trump critics, like James Hodgkinson’s gunfire spree against Republican congressmen, reminds us that no one has the market cornered on evil and dementia.

But who exactly is “the enemy of the people”? Trump maintains that he is not referring to the entire press, only to “fake news” coverage by mainstream-media outlets. Is such line-drawing appropriate? Even if the public at large may validly make such distinctions, should they be drawn by a president of the United States, or does that specter imperil constitutional free-press protections?

The Pretense of Objectivity
Before Trump zapped our politics with his lightning rod, it was a commonplace in conservative circles to complain about that most pernicious practice of the political press: the pretense of objectivity. No, we did not begrudge the New York Times and Washington Post their editorial pages, nor resent opinion pieces and programs clearly advertised as such. Our objection was to patently biased news coverage that was presented as if it were dispassionate, just-the-facts-ma’am reporting. The bias is seen and unseen, but pervasive. It is found in the reporting itself. It is intimated in the description of sources (e.g., conservatives always described as “conservative”; left-wing sources — the ACLU, SPLC, CAIR, etc. — described as civil-rights groups with no partisan agenda). Most important, it is concealed in editorial decisions about what gets covered and what does not, camouflaged by the thread that gets emphasis and the “lede” that gets buried.

To people who follow the news closely, it is patently obvious that the mainstream media — specifically, the news divisions of the broadcast networks and many major national newspapers, magazines, and websites — tote water for the Democratic party and progressive causes in general. Again, they are perfectly within their rights to do this. The problem is: They pretend they are not doing it. And it is a profound problem. By reporting this way, the media inculcate in the public the assumption that there is no other side of the story. The Left’s Weltanschauung is not presented merely as a worldview; it is portrayed as objective, inarguable fact, and any other way of looking at things is subversive, cynical, or psychotic.

Because this situation is so corruptive, conservatives and other fair-minded commentators have complained about it for decades. It is why National Review has been “standing athwart history” since 1955.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Zombie Statistics The terrifying power of useful bad data. Katherine Mangu-Ward see note please

By on November 25th, 2018

https://reason.com/archives/2018/11/02/zombie-statistics

Linda Goudsmit responds to this very powerful column: “Zombie statistics are used in the marketing campaigns that sell leftist policies to unsuspecting Americans including global warming, gun control, open borders, population shifting, and the “safety” of opioids to doctors. Corrupt and falsified data in “scientific” studies used to support political science is a threat to freedom everywhere. Zombie statistics are used because society still naively believes in the credibility and integrity of the studies. They have not understood the malevolence and purposefulness of zombie statistics.” (http://goudsmit.pundicity.com/21767/the-problem-with-capitalism)

“You’re about to be untricked,” boasted the opening line of a groundbreaking 1981 Reason investigation about high-profile chemical leaks in upstate New York. In the early ’80s, Love Canal had already become synonymous with corporate willingness to destroy the environment and human health in the name of profit. But careful reporting revealed the anti-corporate narrative was wrong; the primary malefactor wasn’t the greedy businessmen at Hooker Chemical but the Niagara Falls Board of Education, which developed a plot of land despite many warnings from Hooker about the presence of dangerous chemicals. Unfortunately, Reason’s story did little to change the anti-market tenor of the environmental reforms that followed.

That’s because when a narrative is powerful and useful to highly motivated activists, it can be fiendishly difficult to roll it back. Zombie statistics, in particular, are tough to defeat. These undead tidbits can sustain incredible blows and yet continue to crawl forward, like the plodding, inexorable zombies in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead—a film that debuted in 1968, the same year as Reason. These raggedy facts terrorize the debates over important issues for years after they have been definitively debunked.

At a time when #MeToo and Title IX are dominating the headlines, for instance, it can seem like sexual assault is everywhere. But one of the central statistics responsible for that perception rests on an astonishingly weak foundation. You’ve probably heard this shocking figure: One in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college.

One of the sources of support for that number is a 2002 study by David Lisak, who concluded that what had previously been referred to as “date rape” was actually the result of repeated infractions by serial campus predators. Lisak urged administrators to view every accusation “as an opportunity to identify a serial rapist,” a way of thinking that in turn validates harsh treatment for accused students and justifies funding a massive bureaucracy for adjudication. The Obama White House cited Lisak in memoranda, anti-rape activists promoted his work in movies and books, and university administrators invited him to give lectures and sit on panels.

But as Davidson College administrator Linda M. LeFauve explained in our pages three years ago, Lisak’s study was based on survey data cobbled together from his students’ dissertations and masters’ theses. The central data set drew from interviews with just 76 nontraditional, nonresidential students whose offenses “may or may not have happened on or near a college campus, may or may not have been perpetrated on other students, and may have happened at any time in the survey respondents’ adult lives.” Despite all these problems, the figure is still widely used and widely believed.

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HISTORY Comments turned off

YORAM ETTINGER: THE LEGACY OF CHANUKAH IN THE UNITED STATES

By on November 25th, 2018

https://bit.ly/2SbCQ9B

The legacy of Chanukah – the centrality of liberty and morality, freedom of religion and defiance of immense odds – has played a major role in shaping the American ethos and state of mind from the Early Pilgrims, through the Founding Fathers’ War of Independence and their composition/ratification the US Constitution until today.

The Chanukah holiday sheds light on Judeo-Christian values, which have imbued the United States since the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620, including the unique and positive attitude, by most Americans, toward the Jewish State.

On October 16, 2018, the US Postal Services issued the annual Chanukah stamp, portraying a Menorah, which is a nine-branched candelabrum lit during the eight-day holiday of Chanukah, commemorating the 167 BCE rebellion of the very few, conviction-driven Jewish Maccabees against the most powerful and oppressive Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanies.

On December 8, 2017, President Trump stated, during a candle-lighting at the White House: “The miracle of Chanukah is the miracle of Israel…. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have endured unthinkable persecution and oppression, but no force has ever crushed [their] spirit and no evil has ever extinguished [their] faith….”

On December 14, 2016, President Obama held a candle-lighting at the White House, stating: “We take heart from the Maccabees’ struggle against tyranny, even in our darkest moments, a stubborn flame of hope flickers and miracles are possible…. George Washington was said to have been stirred by the lights of Chanukah after seeing a soldier with a Menorah in the snows of Valley Forge….”

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on November 25th, 2018

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Brain bleed detection approved. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s MedyMatch and its Artificial Intelligent Accipio Ix intracranial hemorrhage detection software. MedyMatch (renamed MaxQ AI) has now received both FDA and CE approval to sell its systems in both the US and in Europe.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/maxq-ai-receives-fda-clearance-for-accipio-ix-intracranial-hemorrhage-diagnostics-intelligence-platform-300745201.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UrqJ84BJbc

US approval for portable blood test. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (8th Apr) on Israel’s PixCell which received a multi-million grant by the EU to help advance its HemoScreen portable blood test. The US FDA has just approved HemoScreen to sell in the USA. Meanwhile, Israel’s SightDx has launched its OLO blood tester.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hemoscreen-hematology-analyzer-for-point-of-care-receives-fda-510k-clearance-300745234.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xjPf1N8T0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1iSO1KaJ-Y https://www.sightdx.com/

Treatment for advanced Parkinson’s disease. I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Intec Pharma which is developing treatments based on its innovative Accordion technology. Intec’s COO Nadav Navon provided an update of Intec’s pipeline on ILTV. Phase 3 trials have now commenced on Intec’s Parkinson’s treatment.
https://ir.intecpharma.com/news-releases/news-release-details/intec-pharma-completes-enrollment-pivotal-phase-3-clinical-trial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQEAH5L6Ng0

Quadriplegic bridegroom stands at his wedding. (TY TIP) I reported previously (Dec 2015) about a paraplegic bridegroom who walked down the isle in an Israeli ReWalk exoskeleton. Now a quadriplegic Israeli, Adir, was able to stand next to his bride, Liat, thanks to ReWalk’s latest “UPnRIDE” mobility solution.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-device-lets-wheelchair-bound-groom-stand-under-chuppah/

The right treatment is in the DNA. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s 2bPrecise takes sources of patient genetic data to help physicians determine the best treatment for individuals. 2bPrecise is partnering with US-based Innovation Institute and Avera Health’s GeneFolio to deliver a pharmacogenomics knowledge base to the point of care.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181102005411/en/2bPrecise-Honored-Israel%E2%80%99s-Top-Startups https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180307005764/enhttps://2bprecisehealth.com/

Pediatric orthopedic training for 50 African doctors. Professor Mark Eidelman of Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center led a unique 4-day training course in Addis Ababa. 50 doctors from Ethiopia and neighboring countries learned how to fix pediatric orthopedic deformities.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254979

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

From Ethiopian immigrant to Israeli Parliament. (TY UWI) Penina Tamanu-Shata is the first Ethiopian-born woman to become a member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset). Penina came to Israel in 1984 at the age of 3 during Operation Moses. She tells of her Aliyah and her work helping other immigrants to integrate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-wNynsw0Ec

Audio books for kids with reading difficulties. (TY Moshe K) The Israel Audiobook Project provides children with reading difficulties free access to texts in audio, rather than written, form. Now they too can enjoy the pleasure of well-known children’s stories and their characters.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/listening-to-a-world-of-adventures-one-magic-book-at-a-time/

Training program for special needs. Tel Aviv University and AKIM have launched a training program for those with learning difficulties to become professional dental sterilization technicians. Skills include decontamination, assembling, packaging, and distribution of re-usable surgical instruments and equipment.
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/training-program-for-adults-with-intellectual-disabilities-opens-at-school-of-dental-medicine/2018/11/21/

The guy who saves wild animals. Avihu Sherwood runs the “For the Wildlife” Animal Rescue at the Dear Park Country Zoo, founded by Tzvi Adiv, on Israel’s Moshav Elishama, in Central Israel. Avihu tries to save any injured animal and reintroduce it into the wild – some 3,000 – 4,000 animals per year.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/interviews-and-profiles/healing-nature/2018/05/28/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo61yiz6Mwg

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Turkey Wipes Out the Christian Culture of Occupied Cyprus by Uzay Bulut

By on November 25th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13341/turkey-cyprus-christian-culture

“Turkey has been committing two major international crimes against Cyprus. It has invaded and divided a small, weak but modern and independent European state… Turkey has also changed the demographic character of the island and has devoted itself to the systematic destruction and obliteration of the cultural heritage of the areas under its military control.” — from “The Loss of a Civilization: Destruction of cultural heritage in occupied Cyprus.”

“More than 550 Greek Orthodox churches, chapels and monasteries located in towns and villages of the occupied areas, have been pillaged, deliberately vandalized and, in some cases, demolished. Many Christian places of worship have been converted into mosques, depots of the Turkish army, stockyards and hay barns.” — Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“UNESCO considers the intentional destruction of cultural heritage a war crime.” — Artnet News, 2017.

A sixth-century mosaic of Saint Mark, stolen from a church after Turkey’s military invaded Cyprus in 1974, was recently recovered in a Monaco apartment and returned to Cypriot officials. The ancient masterpiece was described by Arthur Brand, the Dutch investigator who located it, as “one of the last and most beautiful examples of art from the early Byzantine era.”

Many other cultural Cypriot relics, from churches and other sites, were stolen from Cyprus by Turkish invaders and smuggled abroad. Some were recovered and returned in the past. In 1989, mosaics stolen from the Church of Panagia Kanakaria, discovered in the United States, were returned to Cyprus.

In the summer of 1974, Turkey mounted two major military campaigns against Cyprus and occupied the northern part of the island (which Turkey now calls the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” recognized only by Turkey). Since the Turkish invasion, much information has emerged not only about the atrocities committed against the Cypriots, but also of the destruction of historic, cultural and religious monuments.

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“We Will Displace You” Extremist Persecution of Christians, by Raymond Ibrahim

By on November 25th, 2018

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13348/we-will-displace-you

There were 128 incidents of church vandalism or other anti-Christian attacks in France during the first five months of 2018, according to a Paris-based Roman Catholic non-profit organization that tracks attacks against Christians.

Zanzibar “has concealed Christian persecution for decades…. issues that the international community knows too little or nothing about….[T]he Christian body has been persecuted for so long.” — Simon, pastor of a church, quoted by International Christian Concern.

Extremist Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Egypt: Police stood by and encouraged a Muslim mob attacking a church. After local Muslims in Ezbet Sultan Pasha village learned that Christians, who form about 20% of the population, were on their way to legalizing a church building, they surrounded it on July 6, after Friday prayers. “The protesters were chanting slogans against us [Christians], such as ‘We don’t want a church in our village,'” said one resident. “We locked ourselves in our homes during the demonstration because we were afraid that they would attack us. Police didn’t do anything to disperse the demonstrators and didn’t arrest anyone of them.” Demonstrations continued into the next day with no police intervention.

On the following Friday, again after Muslim prayers, local Muslims and others from neighboring villages, surrounded the church again and hurled stones and bricks at it and a at nearby Christian home. “They were shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ [‘Allah is greater’] and chanting hostile slogans against Copts, such as: ‘We will not allow any church to exist in our Muslim village,’ ‘We will not allow any other prayers to be held in our Muslim village except our prayers,'” said another Christian resident. According to the report:

“While police did not intervene, one of the officers apparently promised the protesters that no church would be allowed in the village. … [T]his declaration encouraged the protesters who clapped shouting ‘Allahu akbar’…. There are at least approximately 3000 pending applications from churches that still need to be examined by the government commission set up to verify whether they meet legal requirements.”

Archbishop Makarios released a statement saying, “We are saddened by official appeasement of and acquiescence to demands by some who possess no right to such demands [the demands to have no church in the village], to the detriment of Coptic rights.” A local said, “Terror dominates the village because the Muslims can demonstrate and gather at any time. We are in great fear and in anticipation of the situation.”

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