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h, however.

“We’re not so optimistic. They’ve tried to make phone calls and get people to show up and be vaccinated, but there was little response. People are still scared,” said Sheikh Jarrah clinic director Dima Bitar, a member of Clalit’s Jerusalem coronavirus command center.

The Beit Hanina clinic was one of four new vaccination centers that Clalit opened in East Jerusalem on Tuesday — the others were in Sur Baher; near the Old City’s Damascus Gate; and in Musrara on the seam between East and West Jerusalem. Previously, a clinic in Sheikh Jarrah had been the only place to get the vaccine in East Jerusalem.

Everyone offers different explanations for the low demand for the shot, but most officials agree that unfounded rumors and conspiratorial thinking have taken hold among some East Jerusalem Palestinians….

Fear about the vaccine’s long-term effects can range from the mild to the extreme, according to Bitar.

“Many are telling one another conspiracy theories: they want to kill us, they want to sterilize us, this will distort our genetic sequences. I’ve been getting some very strange questions. I even have employees here, in this clinic, convincing one another not to get vaccinated,” she said.

The reason for the different rates of vaccination for Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, then, would appear to be caused by ill-informed rumours and conspiracy theories circulating among the Arab population – not by any particular anti-Arab or anti-Palestinian animus on the part of the Israeli authorities.

If the Guardian gets hold of this story, mind, I can see how that little detail might get lost in the glee with which they'll report the basic figures – "Only 20 percent of Palestinian East Jerusalem residents over the age of 60 have been vaccinated, compared to about 75 percent of Jews over 60 in the city as a whole". 

Los Angeles ca. 1954-57, from the files of Pacific Outdoor Advertising:

[Photos: Shorpy/Pacific Outdoor Advertising]

Well, that's a good start. It's widely expected to be a whitewash anyway, but still…

A World Health Organization (WHO) team due to investigate the origins of Covid-19 in the city of Wuhan has been denied entry to China.

Two members were already en route, with the WHO saying the problem was a lack of visa clearances.

However, China has challenged this, saying details of the visit, including dates, were still being arranged.

The long-awaited probe was agreed upon by Beijing after many months of negotiations with the WHO.

Feeling gloomy, with the new lockdown? Be inspired by these North Korean children:

From the official Rodong Sinmun news agency:

A performance of schoolchildren "We Are the Happiest in the World" for greeting the New Year Juche 110 (2021) was given at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace on December 31.

In the performance began with prologue "We Offer New Year's Greeting to Fatherly Marshal", the performers offered the New Year's greeting to Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in reflection of the minds of best wishes for his good health cherished by schoolchildren across the country.

They also extended greetings to all the fathers and mothers of the country who are performing feats for glorifying the Congress of the mother Party.

The repertoire included folk play "The New Year's Day Is so Nice", jugglery, rhythmic gymnastics and small chorus.

The performance was pervaded with boundless thanks to the Supreme Leader who have made ceaseless journey of loving care for the children to make the song "We Are the Happiest in the World" always resound throughout the country.

Put on the stage were also numbers showing the bright and cheerful appearance of schoolchildren who are preparing for the pillars of future, equipping themselves with knowledge, good moral character and good health and other numbers representing their pledge to fly the flag of the Korean Children's Union on the road of following the mother Party by inheriting the tradition of the Anti-Japanese Children's Corps.

Let us all aim to inherit the tradition of the Anti-Japanese Children's Corps.

Long Live the Sacred Bloodline of Mt Paektu, you miserable peasants.

Well maybe not that last bit. That's understood.

Not a Michelangelo fan, then.

Sudanese Imam Muhammad Al-Amin Ismail finds The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling – you know, the one with the touching fingers – in a sixth-grade history textbook, and is duly horrified. After repeatedly shouting out "Allah", he bursts into tears, and demands that the schools be closed.

It's quite a performance.

Apparently the man responsible for this outrage, director of the National Centre for Curricula and Educational Research Dr. Omar El Garai, who had showcased the book in a press conference and is accused here of defending heresy and atheism, has now been fired. 

lassified as "reconstructive surgery", and be available to girls regardless of age.

Reconstructive surgery is defined as "surgery performed to correct or repair abnormal structures of the body caused by congenital defects…"

Something to think about….

0px”>Reporters haven’t asked these questions, because to do so requires accepting that bad Palestinian decisions invariably produce bad outcomes for their population – the adoption of a view of Palestinians as not merely victims that would represent a radical break from decades of reporting from the region, and implicitly acknowledge the profound cognitive distortion that lies at the heart of their obsessive demonisation of the Jewish state.

Round Temple Mills yesterday, with the FedEx-TNT Depot and the Eurostar Engineering Centre:

was no doubt in Heminsley’s mind that they would divorce (they are still in this process). She was not gay. She longed to fall asleep in the arms of a man. For a few years they lived apart, with shared custody. When the pandemic hit there was no question that D would move back in during lockdown. “It was really good fun actually . . . we still love each other,” Heminsley says. Her son understands that he has two mothers.

Does he really now? Two mothers? 

Most recommended comment:

There are more books appearing in this genre, including two aimed at children, explaining that the best way to cope with a man who transitions in the family is complete acceptance and allyship. Negate the impact, swallow your feelings, pretend his narcissistic manipulation is ok. Turn it into a book that the scary trans lobby will accept.

When my father transitioned I was eleven. I turn 50 this week, and the eating disorder I developed to cope with my trauma and grief is still here, albeit thankfully much more manageable after therapy. No one’s interested in what most families experience, the messy reality of dealing with an autogynephile with narcissistic personality disorder. Seeing all the money disappear. Handling his increasing rage when you don’t say or do the right thing to validate his identity. It’s like being run over by a truck that everyone insists is the real victim, while the paramedics praise the truck for its bravery and ignore you.

We talk a lot about grief, the ‘trans widows’ and ‘orphans’. It feels just like grief. I think at the very least we should be honest. He isn’t a woman, the psychology and science make this clear. So people can make faith-based statements about how they feel, but there needs to be a dose of reality so people understand what is really going on in these scenarios.

All I see is grooming and propaganda in media exercises like this.