Postcript "New- Speech" or World Upside down.

 "People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest." "Words do not express thoughts well. They are always a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish." Hermann Hesse. "To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some kind of meaning in the suffering." "Convictions are more dangerous foes than lies." "What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger." "Germany is a great nation only because its people have so much Polish blood in their veins." Friedrich Nietzsche.   "The person ignorant and the person jellous hate the successful."  Moustafa Nourreden. "However much you deny the truth the truth goes on existing."  G. Orwell.   An unknown, ignorant (the usual suspects) person, dumped 2 kittens, approx. 3 to 4 weeks old, next to my entrance door. Their screaming for their mummy can be heard from some distance. For me, neither young, healthy, nor rich, this is a kind of blackmail. My big feral family doesn't welcome further additions, my husband gets angry. This morning there were in addition 4 lovely, long haired kittens (later on they disappeared) and a very young, frightened, black and white, baby cat. I feel exhausted. I even sadly experience from time to time a cat deciding to leave my house, on account of too large a community. Yesterday evening my sweet, gentle, Persian beauty, Fleur, walked out. I only saw her again this morning, outdoor feeding time. A Siamese tomcat, showing his interest in this cat lady, made her leave quickly. I hope she will decide to return and come inside, remembering her vice mummy loving her. She may have been put off by the screaming kittens. I can't be a real substitude for the cat mother, poor babies, they require feeding (with cat's milk!!!) every 2 or 3 hours, in addition their mother's love and basic education. The ignorants from the neighborhood are "killing" me. Meanwhile 1 of the baby kittens passed over the rainbow, another one is close to death, inspite of my feeding every 3 hours (longer period at night). There is nothing like mummy milk, these people who don't respect nature, but remove much too early the babies off their loving mothers' paws, this depresses me. By the way, the 3rd one refuses to drink, so it will also not survive much longer. - While the new year started off well, daily household waste collection, this changed with the begining of Ramdan. Once it happened only on the 3rd day and another time finally on the 4th day. It is an unpleasant job, in particular when it comes to removing waste that stupid folks just drop near a container. Unfortunately the dustmen usually work without gloves or other protection clothes. The Bananas from e. g. Costa Rica are sold at 7 Dinar a Kilo (but are in Germany on offer for approx. 50% less) , sugar remains a rare commodity on the shelvings, the same applies to milk lately, first strawberry are sold on the streets. Eggs, and chicken supply seems to be okay. Due to birds' flue parts of Europe, including Germany, and US experience also a shortage of eggs (during Easter especially in demand there, painted ones are often used for decoration, old custom ). MR. Trump now wants Germany to supply US with eggs. Too much food is wasted here not just in restaurants. Apparently (even poor?) folks tend to buy too large quantities of food, in particular during Ramadan. Estimated 900,000 loaves of bred are thrown away every day, much due to bad quality, cheap bred. It tastes nice while fresh, but that doesn't last long. We prefer the higher priced, better quality, from the baker and refresh it with a toaster, or cut it in chunks, fry and springle on top of a salad, thus rarely ever (only moldy) bred gets wasted in our house. My parents had taught me that throwing bred into the bin is a sin. - Putin stated as his reason for invading Ukraine was the wish to de-nazificate. Does he perhaps mix up the Ukraine with another country where the far - right is very much on the rise? We are living in a dangerous world. The US mainly imports vine and champagne from France and Italy. Mr. Trump now plans to rise the import tax to 200 % for these products. Interesting idea, as it will largely effect restaurants and hotels, including his own. Pro-Palestinians protesters (not agreeing with the arrest of a well known Palestinian activist) stormed the Trump hotel, surprise, surprise: 100 Jews got arrested. They demanded: "Fight against Nazis, not Palestinians!!! "  In view of quite a few catastrophic desasters

 in America like wild fires, floodings, extreme weather conditions, ( presently storms and hurricanes in Missouri and 6 other states , leading to at least 100 wild fires and causing the death of 40 persons)  President Donald Trump ordered a rather strange roll-back on 31 environmental protection measures. He proudly declares the largest deregulation in Amercican history. Due to funds and stuff reductions the weather station was not able to warn sufficiently the concerned citizens. Simular actions concerning several state agencies, including the international operating, highly esteemed USAID, now declared "corrupt, criminal, a waste of money". The president tasked Elon Mursk with instant dismissals of loyal, long service, employees. Meanwhile 2 US judges ordered the re-employment of thousands of civil servants. While by law various documents, files, including personal files, etc. are to be achieved for several years, Mr Trump lately instructed employees to first shredder, than burn these.  Experts of the justice section warned that such actions violate the still valid laws and whoever ignores that will be held accountable. Elon Murks' company, Tesla, is loosing customers, folks in US are demonstrating in front of the cars' selling firms, several arson attacks, in Berlin 4 cars were set on fire and many Germans are returning Tesla cars. Canadians avoid buying US products. Donald Trump ordered the close down of the 83 years old "Voice of America", NBC, etc. in many countries, in particular those with dictators in charge, a source of independent, extensive, professional information. Critical voices are declared "illegal and corrupt". Brave new world. Heaven help us all. But there is a ray of light, a warning to dictators, the former Phillipines' president Duterte has at long last arrived in Den Haag, ICC court. He is accused of thousands killed, no court cases, capital punishment for random folks, alleged to be "drug dealers".  A large number he was proud to shoot himself on the street while riding a motorbike. Donald Trump warned Palestinians /Hamas that if not all hostages are freed, hell's gate will be opened. Many believe that heaven's/paradise gate is guarded by angels and I often wondered, who opens hell's gate, I guess now I know. 

. 

"New- Speech" World Upside Down

j

 "I love humanity only humans get on my nerves."  Linus (Charly Brown),  "Préjudices are what fools use for reasons." Voltaire.  "It is possible to love human  beings if you don't know them too well." Charles Bukowski.  "Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied." Bismarck.  "It is not by musle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment."   Tullius Cicero.   "Freedom is the power to choose our own chains."  "You can buy anything with money, except morality." Jean Jacques Rousseau.                                                                            Black beauty, Jimmy, was recovering well, enjoying his meals and cuddling, then after 3 weeks he suddenly disappeared after breakfast. He must have sneaked out when my husband left the house. I searched for Jimmy everywhere in vain and called his name. I hoped that maybe he would at least turn up in the morning, together with the other visitors to my Cat's Table. Nobody had seen him. Two days later my prayers were heard. There he was, my sweet Jimmy, early in the morning standing in front of my house, ready to have his breakfast. I was so happy, my Habibi looked well and had a good appetite. I stroked his lovely black fur and decided to follow him, as he refused to come indoors again (too many cats there for his liking?). I was lucky and discovered his (?) house, a few streets away, he jumped on the windowsill, a warm blanket waiting for him and there were a bit of fish bones left on a plastic plate. Difficult to judge whether Jimmy is allowed to enter that house, at least sleep inside. When I rang the bell, nobody answered. Now Jimmy comes most morning to visit his vice-mummy, sometimes also during the day. He is one of those cats that call/greet me on arrival. Such a darling. His eyes look okay early in the morning, but later on still not quite the way they should. His place on the windowsill is sometimes taken by another cat. As Jimmy's fur feels cold on low temperature mornings, I don't think my black treasure sleeps indoors, poor darling. He is welcome to return to my house at anytime. The vet, by the way, estimated his age at 3 years, compared to humans' that means 21.   Sweet, gentle, Persian beauty, Amelie, lost some weight and stopped eating. The blood test revealed disturbenly severe problems with kidneys and liver, grave reduction of life expectancy . It is really tough and very sad, I may loose my darling any day now, she is only approx. 7 years old and has been part of my big feral family for at least 6 and a half years . Our veterinarian's treatments improved Amelie's condition a bit and I hope and pray for a miracle. Well no, it did not happen. My precious darling went over the rainbow, at least her death came gently, apart from one brief cramp and I had a chance to massage her a bit in order to make her relax during her last minutes. -  The deportation of Moslems from Thailand to China has been condemned by Germany and US. Good, but aren't they aware of their own comparable practices (e. g. dangerous deportations to Afghanistan) ? Anyhow, we are living in a period of very strange and bad actions of persons in power.  Mr. Trump decided that English should no longer be the first official language in US. Which then will be the language of his choice for US citizens, French, Spanish or maybe Russian? Does he himself master another language? To the best of my knowledge the EU was originally created to further the economy within the member states, later on also social, human rights, environmental protection, and other standards, including supports in the field of criminal investigations. Last not least, a joint currency for a stronger Europe. Mr. Trump now advised us that the EU was founded "to screw the US".  He apparently contests Europe (where his family originates from) and the Ukraine. Mr. Trump's brother in spirit, vice-président Vance, already insulted Europe, called Mr. Selenskyj an aggressor and dictator. Surprising news from the US government:  "Selenskyj started the war against Russia, he is a dictator and was not elected by his people, Putin is not the aggressor, Selenskyj is gambling with the 3. World War. " In addition there is a lot of other disinformation on social media, more than ever. Scientist discovered a rising amount of micro-plastic particules in human brains, even higher quantities than in liver and kidneys. Is this an explanation of our bizarre, upside-down new word? A curious invitation to the White House, the world watching the strange reception Mr. Selenskyj received by his host, Donald Trump. While mainly Republicanians and Trump followers were impressed, Europeans, Australians and others, united in stronger supporting the quite impressive Ukrainian president. Hitler had signed a secret agreement with Stalin to divide Poland among them ("Lebensraum", additional land for  Germans). Mr. Trump declared that US needs rare mineral earth from Ukrain. Their resources are valued at 500 Billions Dollars. Donald Trump wants compensation for weapons supplied by the ("stupid") Biden government, but actually his figures are exaggerated. Without US support he alleged the war would have been over in 2 weeks. "No," Selenskyj replied, "in 3 or 2 days, I know what Putin said."  Didn't Europe supply weapons etc. as well, on a big scale? Anyhow, Donald Trump appears to believe that it is perfectly okay if Mr. Putin keeps (land grab) at least some parts of Ukraine (the law of the jungle) . Without any security garantees the Ukrainian president refused to sign a deal/ contract which would allow Mr. Trump to exploid their important resources. When the US president tried to put pressure on Mr. Selenskyj, insisting that all Ukraine houses are already destroyed, the Ukrainian president corrected him, stating that several cities are still functioning, even schools. I wonder whether Mr. Trump mixed up Gaza with the Ukraine??? By the way, both Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance declared that they haven't yet visited Ukraine, nonetheless they feel well informed and no need to view with their own eyes. Heaven help us all. 

Postscript Learn or Allow History to Repeat Itself.

 "Every word has a meaning, every silence too." Jean Paul Satre. "Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to." "What people call fate is mostly their own stupility."  Schopenhauer.  "Live your life as though every act were to become an universal law."  Emanuel Kant.  "They are sons of bitches, but they are our sons of bitches."  Eisenhauer (about South American dictators).   "The Hitlers come and go, but the German folk remains."  Stalin.                                                                                  Perl, a Persian regular visitor to my Cats' Table, who had lost one eye, and 2 teeth lately,  has disappeared. I was under the impression that I successfully treated her (according to what I learned from vets) and she enjoyed her food, but I haven't seen her for 4 or 5 days now, a bad sign. From time to time Jimmy suddenly shouts. Is he missing something or someone from his previous life? Hard to say. When I call him, he stops and when I cuddle him, he appears to be perfectly happy, no problems with the rest of my feral family, thus most probably not a sign of pain, but rather temporarily nerves effected, resulting from his road accident. Integrating an adult adoption isn't always that easy. Sweety, our baby kitten, likes to jump on my back. She's so cute and loves to sleep among the other cats. Madonna (grey) looks as if she were her mother, but she's not. Cats usually have one kitten looking like a copy of mummy and the others like their daddies. When on heat, these feral ladies tend to get "engaged" to several tomcats. If you want your females and males to remain relaxed, you must get them spayed and neutered. It also stops the markings of " their area" with urin. Some tomcats outside from time to time mark my house as their property. Guess when we leave one day the land of the living, they will announce their claim (actually not contrary to my last will). Early in the morning I had a pleasant surprise, lovely Perl returned and is looking well. The world is full of surprises, the formally most expensive cat in the world (Siamese) is also visiting my Cats ' Table. Does it make me proud? No, just sad. Tunisia is - to the best of my knowledge - the only country in the world where several of these gorgeous little treasures have to sleep rough, what a contrast to their former life in the past, in a palace in Birma, living among the royal family and no one else in the country was allowed to have this breed .   -  Putin,who once described Trump as unpredictable, declared that Trump "will set the EU right". Change Europe to a different standard ( he had already called the EU an atrocity) ? We unfortunately experience lately a lot of changes, not exactly improving our world, putting it mildly, the far right is on the rise. Never again,..... Is it all forgotten? Still, there are many demonstrations against them, this gives me a bit of hope. But when you think it can't get worse, it sure does. Hitler had tried out how far he can go. Chamberlain believed his appeasement politic could prevent Hitler starting a war. It didn't work, some call it naive, they say appeasement is like making friends with a crocodile, hoping to be eaten last. Trump appears to be testing now how far he can go "as the most powerful man in the world". I recall him saying, should he become president again, he will a dictator from day one and should he not be re-elected, then there won't be another election. His threat to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland (to exploit its treasures, presently often protected by environmental laws and regulations), set to start a trade war with Canada, Mexico, China and Europe, stopping USAID worldwide aid programs (created by J. F. Kennedy) shocked the world. Ten thousand work for this organisation, Trump wants to reduce the staff to 300, saying the employees are " a bunch of radicals and lunitics." He fights not for the poor, but against them, by the look of it. Several evangelical folks in America believe that if you are poor, it's your own fault and it means God doesn't like you. What will be next? Having already offered Canada to become another state of America (no import taxes, Canada can be "great like the US") , perhaps offer Europe the status of a colony (after all his grandfather emigrated from Germany and Germany refused to take the Trumps back, years later)? Trump believes in revenge, I better don't give him ideas. His plan to publish the names of FBI and other department officials who investigated his possible violations of US laws and that of his supportors (i. e. the attack on and in the White House), has been stopped by a judge, now he wants to even dismiss these FBI officials, who were just doing their job.  Don't arbitration laws, designed to protect employees, exist there, no development since the period of the Wild West? Donald Trump made his money as a property developer  and surrounded himself with "Yes-men" and folks who worked in the same trade, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had already "a look around Gaza." Nice waterfront beach, when cleared of the rubble, suitable to become a Rivera (with Trump hotels?) for the rich from various countries, maybe even some Palestinians. The world a playground for billionaires, Trump's vision? According to Trump not only Netanyahu and his far right government, no, All love his idea. And the Palestinians can live happily in Jordan, Egypt and other Arabic counties in lovely houses....why should they want to stay where there are most houses destroyed, including hospitals, schools, Mosques, churches (one dating back to the Middle Ages) streets, gardens, infrastructure? Arabic countries should naturally meet the costs for Trump's New Order, really ? Does Trump know who did the destructions? Does he know Palestinian history, that Palestinians had beautiful houses, lovely gardens, fields with fruits and vegetables, life stock, etc., and that they love their country? Trump suggests that once Netanyahu "has finished his job in Gaza" and the Palestinians are transferred to other countries, it should be handed over to the US "to clean and make beautiful", for his idea of redevelopment and real estate investors. Are International laws non-binding? Is there no red line that must not be overstepped? A paper tiger (the international community?) no one takes seriously. Trump doesn't run out of ideas, now: US Sanctions against the ICC in Den Haag, revenge for investigations (war crimes and crimes against humanity) against US citizens or Israeli. One journalist in a TV discussion: "Thank God, we aren't living in USA." 

Rashida and Sweetie

Amelie and Jeremy 

Kaja and Madona 

"Feral flower" Justine 

Fleur (Tausendschoen) 

Nikola

Ricardo

Learn or Allow History Repeat Itself.

 "You can't just blame things on evil. Everyone's a human, so when people say that somebody's behaving inhuman, it's not. It is very human it's just not the nice side of it."  Eric A. Johnson.   "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong."  H. L. Mencken.   "There are good reasons to be tired of the Holocaust. And one of the reasons is because it's so bleak . It is an atrocity and with an atrocity you don't have the balance that comes out of tragedy.  In tragety, what you learn equals, or someone balances the prize that you pay. "   " Sometimes you shout at the world to change the world, and sometimes you shout at the world to make sure it doesn't change you. "       Enric A. Johnson.    " Pessimism goes. Optimism stays. " Michael Berenbaum                           Black feral beauty Jimmy calling. Does he want to order food or water? No, he's just complaining that Chiquita is sitting in his basket. Good to see our recently adopted family member  is feeling at home. He recovered well from his road accident, but his pupils are still not okay. It may take some time, I've been advised. It is getting warmer, our cats enjoy sunbathing on the roof terrace. Colder days are yet ahead, winter isn't over, wish it was, though. Lucky are those who  can live in a house, not just a tent or some kind of makeshift shelter. Human intelligence seems to on the decline, judging by the state of our  present world, blackmailing, threatening, violations of human rights, flexible truth, successful tools in modern politics, so it seems. Massive violations of internatinal laws make people lose trust. Brave New World. It is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Ausschwitz concentration camp, freed by Russian and Ukrainian troops. Germans were very frightened of the Russians, fearing their revenge for the atrocities that Germans did to them. Hitler treated them like subhumans. Why he hated them so much I don't know.  Incredible and depressing what the "master race" (or Arier, term orginating from an Indian valley ) was capable of doing. According to Nazi believe Arier are a Nordic race, tall, athletic, blond and blue eyes, - neither Hitler himself, nor most of the big Nazis resembled this model, isn't it strange? The Nazis not only practised collective punishments, but also randum punishments to spred insecurity. They tried to kill the intelligence in Poland in order to facilitate enslavery of the others and clear the country for German settlements (land grab for "Lebensraum"). Trump's idea to clear Gaza and resettle Palestinians in Agypt and Jordania ("for a better life") is not acceptable for those concerned. Strange, Trump himself doesn't want immigrats in US........ UN and EU stressed the only solution is two states, Palestinians need to have their own state. Underneath the skin we all look alike, why rasism? It appears to be helpful to have scapegoats, allows exploitation, is welcomed by those who are full of envy, don't mind getting in an evil way rid of successful competitors. As James Baldwin once explained, those who deep down feel inferior, feel better if they can believe persons exist who are even less worthy than they are. The Nürnberg Trail was a good idea, but it ended too quickly, more war criminals and mass murders should have been held accountable and received harsher sentences. All too often Nazis who appeared to be useful, got away without punishment, even with the help of US government officials, not just in Germany. This included Shiro Ischili, the Japanese leader of Unit 731, a department of the Imperial Japanese Army that carried out horrible unethical experiments on prisoners and civilians. Shiro Ischili managed to offer his test results - "experiments that you could never carry out in your country" - in exchange for immunity, given by the Supreme US Commander of the Occupation, Douglas McArthur. Difficult to stomach. Animals could and would never do what humans are capable of doing. By the way, abused children, those who have been subjected to a lot of cruelty, if left to grow up without therapy, can either become very sensitive and develp deep empathy, or become hard and cruel. Lord have mercy. 

Postscript Expect the Best and Prepare for the Worst.

 "Human beings seem to have an almost unlimited capacity to deceive themselves into taking their own lies for truth." "Schizophrenia can not be understood without understanding despair." "The way out is the way you came in." R. D. Laing.  "The majority of men are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and are not accessible to reason, but only to authority."  "A pessimist is an oponist in full possession of the facts." Arthur Schopenhauer.  "Civilization is a helpless race to discover remedies for the evil it produces."  George  Wilhelm Friederich Hegel.                                                                                 Fierce knocking on my door. An unknown religiously dressed woman asked me to help a cat that got hit by a car, an emergency, the cat screaming with pain. I went to have a look, further down the road than I expected. There was some blood seeping out of the mouth, couldn't discover more injuries at first sight, but obviously lots of pain. Not sure whether any bones were broken, so I tried to place the poor feral victum as gentle as possible into my transport box. A young man and two ladies went with me to catch a taxi. It was Friday afternoon, couldn't reach my vet, tried 3 times in vain, we therefore travelled to a nearby veterinarian clinic. Their diagnosis : The cat is under shock, traumatised, concussion, tongue and mouth injured, his eye pupils (1 big, 1 small) in addition show there is something wrong with the poor treasure. Bones probably not broken, needs to be examined at a later stage. The cat received infusion with various medications and I was told I could take him home after 2 hours and than return the next day. I decided that it would be less stress for the poor darling to stay over night, and after consecutive treatments the next morning be taken to his "nursing home." I wasn't sure how my crowd of foster ferals would react to the new patient. Since the black beauty (male, approx. 3 years old) wasn't fit to leave the transport box, the introduction was a bit easier. Next problem feeding with a syringe, due to the injuries, and medication (3 different types of tablets, including pain killing pills, plus antibiotics), I was lucky the boy is gentle, no aggressions against me, thank heavens. I named him Jimmy. Meanwhile 3 people inquired about Jimmy's well being, speaks for them. The young man, who went with us to the clinic, by the way, paid the taxi fare. Still, I hope the word doesn't spred that I deal with the cost for injured street cats (I definitely can't). The veterinarian said they at least receive one cat a day hit by a car or motorcycle. Don't I know it!!! Speeding is around here unfortunately a big hobby of the folks, not just youngsters. Jimmy is slowly getting better, still a bit wobbly while walking. Thank heavens, nothing broken, but the neck was also effected by the crash (not visible, just sore). Further improvement of Jimmy's condition. He manages to eat croquettes meanwhile and simply loves his pieces of cats' sausage, even asks for a second helping. Only medication now is Tetra B for a month. Sweetie, a kitten young kids brought to me, after it nearly got hit by a car, has been with us for several weeks. Looks like she decided not to grow. After all, she's the only Baby in my house. May be she sees a certain advantage in this. The children were very persistent that she needs to be protected and they wanted to know her new name. I appreciated their empathy. Perl, a regular visitor to my Cat's Table, Persian blood, lost one eye due to an unknown cause. In addition she now also lost a tooth or 2, bleeding from her mouth. I tried to clean and treat her mouth with the blue stuff veterinarians prescribed for gum infections, mixed a pill against pain under her food and gave her antibiotics left over from Jimmy's treatment. . She remained very gentle, no aggression, better than some of my foster ferals indoors. She appears to be getting better, 2 days later. - The new "Emporer", Donald Trump, has big plans to reshape the world, supported by Dollar Billionars. Stopping the war (not just a cease fire) in Palestine and Ukraine has yet to happen. "Every idiot can start a war, but it takes hundreds of geniuses to end a war." Wise words of a former Russian president. Anyhow, Mr. Trump decided that the WestBank belongs to Israel and this is "God's will", biblical dominion. I thought that the Pope is supposed to be God's deputy on earth (at least according to Christian believe) , it will be interesting to hear what the Pope has got to say about this subject. At present the violence of Israelian settlers into the WestBank is escalating, more than 750,000 are - corresponding to international laws - living illegally on occupied land. Against some violent settlers the former US government (and several other countries)  imposed sanctions. Mr. Trump now lifted those of the US. The UN humanitarian official, Tom Fletcher, advised that up to 1 million children in Gaza are in need of mental health support. In view of what they have experienced and seen, what no innocent child should be subjected to, nearly 15 months of bombardements, parents that can't protect them, their homes reduced to rubbles, nothing to look forward to, their anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts are hardly surprising. Oh Lord, have mercy. - The population of the United States once all arrived as immigrants, in several waves, the First Nation (Indians) came from India, people from West Africa were probably the first who discovered America, much later mainly Europeans came (majority driven by famine or religious prosecutions). The Trumps originate from Germany, but Germans are not proud of them and Mr. Trump is aware of this. Strange, this urge to deport (illegal) immigrants. Effected by Trump's deportation orders are approx. 11 Million people, about 41 % work in 3 sectors: agriculture, building trade and health service. Deporting them not only reduces human resources in US but also largely increases costs and prices, creates suddden vacancies of unattractive badly paid jobs. It will be interesting to see how folks who applauded " the biggest scale of deportation the US has ever seen", will react once they realize the consequences. Manipulation of public opinion has never been as easy as nowadays, thanks to social media, more or less smart fake news and artificial intelligence. What goes around comes around. Heavens help us all. 

Siames beauty, once the most expensive cat in the world and only the Royal family in Siam was allowed to have her. 

Expect the Best but prepare for the Worst

 "Insanity  a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world." "The range of what we  think and do is limited to what we fail to notice."  R. D. Laing.   "The first person who, having enclosed a plot of land, took it into his head to say this is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the true founder of civil society. What crimes, wars, murder, what miseries, and horrors would the human race have been spared, had someone pulled out the stakes or filled the ditch and cried out to his fellow men: "Do not listen to this imposter. You are lost if you forget that the fruits of the earth belong to all, and the earth to no one."  Rousseau.  "We can make our hell out of the people around us." Jean Paul Satre.                                                                                                                                       Kids from the neighborhood required "first aid", no, not Betadine and plaster but sweets. Well, they did make it sound like an emergency. One young lady brought me a handful of croquettes for the ferals, a pleasant surprise. Returning from the veterinarian with my lovely, gentle Nikola (urinary problems and stones starting to develop), a neighbour passing by greeted me with his thumb up. Folks occasionally do this and I am happy to see they share my believe that cats deserve good care. The new year is starting off well with daily household waste collection, much appreciated. Recently President Said made it clear that he wants to see clean streets and won't tolerate household waste piling up on roads. Raising coffee prices due to a bad harvest in Brasilia and other countries. Kenya and Uganda are the only countries with a twice yearly harvest of coffee beans. EU refused to make an advanced payment to these countries, so China bought the whole lot. One can at least hope for the second harvest. Perhaps we should try "Africa first."  The fees for medical consultation are going up wef. 01.01.2025, general practitioner 40 to 55 Dinar, specialist 55 to 80 Dinar (most of the later used to charge 70). The amount is about the same as in Germany (paid by the obligatory Health Insurance System) though, covering there a 3 months period, independent of how often a patient arrives during that time. Anyhow, folks who cannot afford to pay 80 Dinars for a specialist (plus possible extra costs, e. g. for injections) will just consult the pharmacy, not without risks. With a bit of luck the pharmacist is a qualified doctor. Several say they have enough problems already paying for their medication. CNAM (national health insurance organization) could be an alternative, but unfortunately mainly in theory. Waiting quite a while for a partly refund of a larger amound, I finally received just about the sum I had paid for the taxi. Don't expect much so that you won't get disappointed. Hopefully veterinarians won't decide to also raise their consulation fees.  Animals already suffer sufficiently because quite a few owners prefer to spend their money on essentials like cigarettes. A lady told me that I've got cats' eyes (well, not exactly the shining bright shade of blue famous for the Siamese). Some say pets and those who adopt them tend to resemble each other. With the cold nights some of my visitors to my Cats' Table arrive a bit later than usual. As long as all my feral friends are okay, I am happy. I have 3 beautiful new guests who obviously either still do or did until recently live in a house. They are gentle and enjoy cuddling. One lovely cat with Persian blood sadly has lost an eye, could be a reason for kicking him out, poor little darling. Still no sign of my one-eyed, 3 coloured, gorgeous, gentle, treasure Myriam. I fear she's no longer in the land of the living. I miss her. -  "No justification for Israelian continued attacks on Gaza." President Macron advised. The World Food Programm convoy was recently attacked, shoots fired at them (even though clearly marked trucks), their aid donations for Gaza robbed. Meanwhile at least 1,054 health workers have been killed. 16 of 36 hospitals are partly still working in Gaza, none in the North, 815 Mosques are destroyed, 150 damaged, 19 cemetries destroyed, 3 churches also (one dating back to the Middle Ages). Joe Bidden decided to send 8 Billion Dollar worth weapons to support Israelian " self defence." The Hind Rajab Foundation (based in Europe), named after an 8 year old, killed Palestian girl, tries to pursue legal cases abroad (e.g. in Brasil and Chile) against Israelian soldiers for war crimes. Proof of such is often produced by videos that the soldiers made and posted themselves. - Donald Trump declared that he wants to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada. Just dreaming or real threat of US Colonial actions? Greenland actually belongs to Denmark. Should he use military force, which Trump didn't rule out as "US needs Greenland for Security reasons" (experts suspect he is after the resources, in Greenland presently protected by their environmental laws), this could well mean war with NATO. At the same time war with Panama? Trump's offer for Canada is to become the 51st state of US, no import tax, a better life.... None of those countries concerned feel amused. In addition Trump, seemingly considering international laws as non-binding, suggested to change the name "Golf of Mexico" to American Golf. Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, replied: "Why not change the name of US to Mexican America....." (part of the US actually used to belong to Mexico. So when folks from Mexico try to cross the border, I always wonder whether they as a matter of fact are trying to visit old Mexico.........). 

Nearing the End of the Year.

 "Keep true to the dreams of your youth." Friedrich Schiller. "A man is not idle because he is absorved in thoughts. There is visible and invisable labour." "To die is nothing, but it is terrible not to live." Victor Hugo. "If you are going to live by the riverside, make friends with the crocodiles." Ubuntu African Proverb.  "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but becausd of those who look on and do nothing." Albert Einstein. "A man without education is like a building without foundation." George Bernhard Shaw.                                                                                                                                        In US a German shephard dog went missing, then the door bell of the owner rang - it was the dog (caught on camera), waiting to be let back in. A knock at our door. My husband called: "I am coming." In front of the door stood a cat. Some ferals manage to open doors, if there is a handle. In addition we had a cat that used to bang the key attachment against the door, when he wanted to enter a certain room. Several cats learned this method from him. Experts say cats can approx. reach the intelligence level of a 2 year old child. In spite of the meanwhile often cold and rainy days the majority of the youngsters on my road still wear the open summer sandales. A homemade drum from an empty paint bucket and a wooden kitchen utensil, covered in plastic, ensures it doesn't get too quiet around here, it's to celebrate the starting school holiday, I am told. It never gets boring in our quarter. Poor, gentle Schmusi went over the rainbow. He lately lost a lot of weight, a sad sight, just bones and fur. The vet had diagnosed anemia. Our sweet little treasure loved to cuddle and loved his food, but it didn't stop him from getting thinner and thinner in spite of this and his medication. In Germany it was discovered that so called "chewing bones", made in China out of cows' skins, caused 50 dogs to suddenly fall sick, suffering panic attacks, cramps and sudden aggresion. Luckily it can be cured, first step to calm down and relax, keep the dog in a dark room, without noise. Plus veterinarian treatment .  Now that less folks are sending letters (mainly elderly folks), the post office in France has taken on additinal tasks, delivery of cooked meals and on 6 days per week checking that elderly folks, living on their own, are okay and don't require help. Sounds like a good idea. We can learn so much from each other, i. e. fighting rabbies. Old methods that aren't very effective, why continue (some vaccinatons are meanwhile carried out here, but not on a big enough scale), when other countries are actually successful without killing the poor, so called strays (all too often pets kicked out for convienence, to save money, owners' lacking sense of responsibility). Antoine De Saint-Exupery once said that we are during our whole life responsible for that what we have made known to us. Wise words, but how many are listening? We seem to be living in a world that usually doesn't allow the best to make it to the top. The other day Jimmy Carter, 100 years old, Nobel Peace Price holder, passed away. In my opinion the best president the US ever had and will have for the foreseeable future, highly dedicated to human rights, peace and democracy. Now politicians all over the world praise him (including  Joe Biden and Donald Trump), even though, many of them don't share his values - judging by their actions. At least the Pope condems the cruelity of war that kills children and the bombing of schools and hospitals. UNRWA says that a child is killed every hour in Gaza, more than 14,500 since the start of war. So far

7 babies have frozen to death. In view of 70 % of destroyed houses, makeshift shelters that don't deserve to be named as such, minus 10 degree centigrate, heavy rain falls, lack of blankets, food, water and medication, it is getting worse. Meanwhile all hospitals are destroyed in Northern Gaza. Alon Pinkas, a former Israelian ambassador, has a clear opinion: "Hospitals should be out of bounds, hospitals should not be targeted, period." What was or was not in the hospitals "doesn't matter."  Netanyahu sees Hamas terrorists everywhere, it's a magic word that excuses everything, but he all too often fails to produce proof. Violation of international laws and regulations are the new standards, who can say he/she didn't know? At the end of the year we always hope the next one will be better. May God/Allah have mercy with us, punish the evil and provide those in charge with wisdom, empathy and respect for human and animal rights.