The Ilhan Omar Kerfuffle- Another Reich Wing Tactic To Divide The Dems

 Left:: Hillary Clinton pandering to reactionary lobbyists of AIPAC in March, 2015. Right:Ilhan Omar, now the target of a smear campaign by the Right and Xtian Evangelical Repukes.

"The demonization of Rep. Ilhan Omar is a hari-kari move for the party, led by people dug in against almost any real change, doing as little as possible about all the actual crises. Demonizing a forthright congresswoman from Minnesota, who came to this country as a 12-year-old refugee from Somalia, is reactionary, mindless, unjustified and fundamentally stupid. Stupid? Yes, stupid, because it helps Republicans inflame division among Democrats with no offsetting gain."  - William Boardman,  "The Sins Of Ilhan Omar Star With Challenging Rigid Orthodoxy', smirkingchimp.com (see link at end)

After the midterm blue wave and the election of Minnesota Muslim Ilhan Omar, I told Janice it wouldn't be three months before she'd be attacked for some specious, overblown BS.  Well, I was only off by a couple months as Twitter and the forlorn Dems "blew up" after a comment (tweet) by Omar which was highlighted in a recent blog post by William Boardman:

"So what is the case against Ilhan Omar? There are a variety of alleged “smoking guns” claimed against Omar, all of which, on close examination, shoot blanks. The one that touched off the current rush to misjudgment was a short, simple tweet on February 10, 2018, here in its entirety:

“It’s all about the Benjamins, baby” [musical-notes emoji]

This is obviously a quote from a Puff Daddy song (on the album “No Way Out,” 1997), that’s what the musical notes mean. The quote is about as anti-Semitic as saying, “Money makes the world go ‘round.” It’s not anti-Semitic, it’s just true, in a pretty obvious and superficial way. It’s also a truth widely subjected to political denial."

So there you have it: one tweet interpreted in ignorance and out of context,  triggers yet another division - this time within the Dems - because too many "centrists" are still tied to the AIPAC  (America-Israel Political Action Committee) lobby.  But this goes back to when Hillary pandered to this lot three years ago.

In the case of her March, 2016 AIPAC speech,  Clinton meant every word of her saber rattling.  She professed unashamed backing of  AIPAC's Israeli nationalist agenda and even supported the warmonger Bibi Netanyahu  - who has a thing about taking out Iran-    even if it vaporizes the Middle East and Israel with it.


For the memory lapsed recall that a year before Hillary's bowing and scraping to AIPAC, Netanyahu delivered an hysterical performance on Capitol Hill.  At the invitation of the Repukes, and with fire-breathing rhetoric, "Bibi" blasted any deal apart from total Iranian nuclear disarmament and - effectively -  demanded the only alternative had to be war.

Bibi's histrionics even caught the attention of Philip Stephens  in a Financial Times article on Mar. 5, 2015  ('The Answer for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu Is War Against Iran')  which highlighted the total awkward impropriety of it all.   Of course, the Repugs would lap it up as they're always looking for wars as a means to ramp up deficits to find excuses to cut social spending.

What was most puzzling was how this unhinged Irsraeli jackass - who more and more resembles the 'boy who cried 'Wolf!' -  has any creds left, especially after the EU and most European states "shut him out" (according to Stephens) long ago. His rants became so predictable and the over the top rhetoric so absurd that they basically tuned him out. But not the warmongering Neocons (and their evangelical allies salivating for Jews to fulfill their Armageddon prophesies) in the U.S.  

Stephens also observed that Israel's own security and political establishment - including former generals and other officials- had been critical of the speech and believed its only effect to be "a clear and present danger to Israel".

According to one observer attending the AIPAC  2016 event:

"The speech that Hillary Clinton gave to AIPAC took pandering to a new level,”

As he continued, quoted in a salon.com piece:

“Clinton promised to never be neutral and yet most Americans consistently express that they want the United States to be even-handed between Israel and the Palestinians. When one looks at public opinion among Democrats alone, this sentiment is even stronger and sympathy for Palestinians is even higher. This is especially true in the progressive base of the Democratic party — indeed the future of the party — made up of youth and minorities.”

Meanwhile, the social justice group Jewish Voice for Peace, or JVP, which is very critical of the Israeli government and its oppression of the Palestinians, blasted Clinton for her remarks. Rebecca Vilkomerson, the executive director of JVP, said in a statement that the discussion at AIPAC “relies on racist and Islamophobic tropes to justify unquestioning support for Israel.”

She went on to say:

"From Democrats to Republicans, the message is the same: more arms for Israel, a stronger relationship between Israel and the U.S., no mention of Palestinian rights, and no recognition of the impossible contradiction of being both democratic and Jewish when the state is predicated on maintaining systems of unequal rights and rule by military occupation,”

Now back to Ilhan Omar. American University Professor Pamela S. Nadell has  correctly noted (Sunday Denver Post, Perspective, March 10) that in one of the tweets that got so many worked up, Omar wrote:

"I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in congress or serve on committee"

Pointing out that "she didn't say or even imply anything at all about the Jews. She said she was being asked to support Israel in order to have the privilege of serving on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which was true."

Then nailing it:

"Dual loyalty is precisely what AIPAC demands and what it gets. Again, it makes this demand not of Jews but of every member of congress and even of politicians at the state level whom you wouldn't think would be conducting foreign policy and it works. "

Well, indeed it works because no congress critter wants to be called "anti-Semitic" or some permutation of it.  Am I an "anti-Semitic"? No, not at all, merely someone intelligent enough to discern the difference between vigorously criticizing a LOBBY, or having to kowtow to it,  and going after a nation state or its people.  Besides, I have written numerous posts warning of the dangers of holocaust denial, as well as the role of the RC Church in protecting escaped Nazis, see e.g.

Brane Space: An Enemy of Humanity is Right!

And:

Brane Space: Of Dangerous Ideas - And 'Dumb And Dangerous Ideas ...

brane-space.blogspot.com/2016/11/of-dangerous-ideas-and-dumb-and.html

Most relevant here, Professor Nardell adds:

" 'Supporters of Israel' hasn't been a synonym  for the Jews since 1980.  I have to now repeat this: In America today a 'supporter' of Israel is much more likely to be an evangelical Christian Republican than a Jew."

Why is this? Well, because the Jews are configured into the crackpot apocalyptic fantasies and prophesies of the evangelicals and fundamentalists. They  have been (most notably) since Hal Lindsey's book ‘The Late, Great Planet Earth’ – which set the stage long before the “Left Behind” series to reel in already weakened brains.   

Lindsey built his interpretation on the identification of Israel with the “fig tree” and the coming of the Beast  (Antichrist) within one generation of its emergence (birth of a state). Since that birth occurred in 1948, and Lindsey designated one generation = 40 years (biblically) .  From this, he reckoned that the Antichrist would make his first public appearance in 1988(likely after recovering from a massive head wound of the type that killed JFK).  The Tribulation (the horrific 7-year period for his reign) would commence soon after since so many would now "worship the Beast". Everyone in the AC’s dominion would have to be marked with the magic letters ‘666’ which Lindsey surmised would be like an electronic code – similar to the product UPC codes triggered at checkout in a supermarket – to get prices. Without this special numerical code, no one would be able to buy or trade, or work – and hence couldn’t’ survive.

This tableaux also fit in with Lindsey’s other interpretations, including for the “ten heads” in Revelation – since at the time, the European Union featured ten members. Thus, the Antichrist was to arise directly out of what was the original Roman Empire, and also to be in charge of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem (atop one of Islam’s holiest sites). The price for this was for the "Son of Satan" to be worshipped by the Jews.

As any one familiar with this twaddle now knows, that timeline never materialized.  Never mind, though Lindsey's nonsense predictions have long been forgotten,  a good fiction idea (interweaving the Antichrist, Armageddon and Second Coming)  never dies. So no surprise the ensuing generation of bible punchers has run with it,   using similar statements that:

“As of 1948, the Jews have a restored national identity helps to fulfill such biblical prophecies as Ezekiel 37 and Matthew 24”

Which  totally makes  light of the mass suffering of the Jews, and the ongoing struggles they've endured just to survive day to day. And all this for what? To expeditiously fulfill “prophecies” for modern day Christian fundies - who have even admitted openly (i.e. on assorted 'Donahue' shows in the 90s) that  "The Jews have no chance to be saved unless they convert".   Even then the prophesies disclose only "144,000" will get through those pearly gates. Go figure! 

 The takeaway for me?  Many more Jews  ought to be railing against the Xtian fundie Repukes and Right extremists who back AIPAC,  and praising Ilhan Omar.  This is a time, it seems, when too many citizens have lost track of whom their real enemies are. 


See also:

More Denunciation of Omar, More Bullshit: Enough!

by Jeffrey C. Isaac | March 11, 2019 - 5:30am |

And:

Foreign Policy

The Sins of Ilhan Omar Start With Challenging Rigid Orthodoxy

by William Boardman | March 10, 2019 - 5:52am |

And:

The Slandering of Ilhan Omar

Naomi LaChance

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Peace & Justice

by Naomi LaChance | March 7, 2019 - 7:05am  

And:

This Jew Tells Speaker Pelosi: "You May Well Prove Ilhan Omar Correct"

Jeff Cohen

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Peace & Justice

Brace For A Wave Of Terror After Dotard Tosses Lit Match Into Middle East Tinderbox

"Damned straight I wanna bring some terrorism back into the world! So I'm movin' the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem".


For Middle East history buffs, the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917 and was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that:

"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”

Thirty years later, in November 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of the partitioning of Palestine, proposing the creation of a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a UN-administered Jerusalem. Partition was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by Arab leaders, leading to civil war.  The strife and agonizing battles and terror strikes - many involving Jerusalem - were brilliantly covered in the book, O, Jerusalem by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre.  The story recounts virtually moment by moment the founding of the modern Jewish state and also the intense acrimony it aroused in the Palestinians - who believed they were deprived (by the UN) of an ancestral home.

Through seven decades, the U.S. has tried to steer a policy to mitigate that simmering acrimony - with varying degrees of success. At other times the rage has erupted with numerous altercations, such as between the Palestinians and Israelis, as well as Hezbollah and the Israelis. To say the whole region remains a tinderbox is an understatement.

Heightening the stakes, evangelical Christians since the year dot have claimed special significance for Jerusalem and Israel in their Armageddon scenarios. They base these on "prophecies" made in Ezekiel 37, Matthew 24 and John's Book of Revelation, among others. The essence is that the restored national identity of the Jews (by 1948) reinforced the fulfillment of Bible prophecies. Nowhere was this elucidated more forcefully than by Hal Lindsey in his book. 'The Late, Great Planet Earth'.

Thus, for Lindsey, the fig tree parable in the Olivet Discourse of Matt. 24 was prophetic of a restored Israel .  Since that "birth" occurred in 1948, and Lindsey designated one generation = 40 years (biblically) - he reckoned that the Antichrist would make his first public appearance in 1988, and the Tribulation (the horrific 7-year period for his reign) would commence then.  Earthly events would finally terminate with the battle of Megiddo (Armageddon) and the Antichrist's defeat.  Several markers had to transpire before this, including the Jewish Temple rebuilt on the site of the Dome of Rock, and the total takeover of Jerusalem by the Jews.

Against this background of high-powered religious ideation and apocalyptic fantasies we now have Donnie Dotard tossing a kerosene -soaked rag which he's just lit.  That "rag" harkens back to an ill-advised congressional fiasco called the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995, which included a line recognizing the city as Israel’s capital. Despite that fitful act, no U.S. President - not Clinton, George Bush Jr. or Barack Obama,  felt reckless enough to actually  implement it - by decree or otherwise. Not until the arrival of Dotard that is.

Dotard campaigned on a promise to implement the act, and his campaign advisors had to know this would be a huge bone tossed to the Xtian evangelicals to gain their votes. They (Trump advisors) knew the significance of Jerusalem to the evangelicals in looking to having the Jews fulfill their Armageddon and "Second Coming" prophecies. Hell, who knows? The evangelicals who backed Dotard may even be waiting breathlessly for him to punch in the nuclear codes to trigger Armageddon himself - like the "Greg Stillson" character in 'The Dead Zone'. See e.g.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj9M34DzAKo&t=21s


But in any case the eruptions to be set off today will likely result in terror attacks across the globe, especially in the Middle East. This is because  yesterday we learned  Trump will declare formal recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at 1 p.m. today  EST.  This fell and reckless move breaks with years of precedent, potentially leading to unpredictable consequences for the Middle East.. To say this act is maniacal and tempting fate, by which I mean thousands of future acts of terror - would be to put it mildly. 

One member of the Israeli parliament, on learning of Trump's plan said:  "Trump is a pyromaniac who could set the region on fire with his madness. It proves that the US can't be the sponsor in negotiations.."    True, and even days before this Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman highlighted the problems of world leaders in dealing with an erratic U.S. president with the temperament of a dyspeptic toddler. A "Greg Stillson" 2.0.

Let us note that modern Jerusalem (which my father-in -law visited in 1980)  has twice been enlarged in the 50 years since its annexation, a decision taken each time through acts of parliament.  Let us also emphasize that Israel’s "mutant" version of Jerusalem is far larger than any historical iteration of the city. It contains Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps, as well as Israeli settlements. The Geneva Conventions exist in parallel with human rights legislation, making Israel responsible for the welfare of many hundreds of thousands of people. Within these city limits, Israel presides over deeply deprived and lawless communities, where substance abuse is endemic and health services are poor or non-existent. These zones have no proper sewage provisions, and neither do the adjoining Jewish zones. The effluent has turned the Kidron stream into an open sewer, polluting the desert and the Dead Sea.

To put things bluntly, Jerusalem was a veritable tinderbox just waiting to explode even before Donnie Dotard now prepares to light the match and hurl the kerosene -soaked rag into it   Never mind, this is what you get when a madman leads a nation, and the one bulwark against mischief of faction - the Electoral College- failed in its prime directive. As a result the U.S. since Jan. 20th  has lost all respect and credibility. Especially after Dotard retweeted fictitious anti-Muslim videos last week - confected by a British nationalist group. The act set off such an eruption that members of the House of Commons have declared Dotard persona non grata and don't want any invitation extended for a formal visit next year.

The word regarding this imminent announcement is that Dotard will base his decision "on ancient history and current political realities", i.e. that the Israeli legislature and many government offices are already in Jerusalem. In fact, this move is pure political opportunism, to try to make sure Dotard has his evangelical puppets as part of his base for a possible re-election campaign aiming at 2020. Let us hope that doesn't materialize!

To add fuel to the fire, Dotard also plans to order the State Department to start the process of planning and building a new US embassy in Jerusalem, but White House officials said that process would take at least three years.  One hopes we can rid ourselves of Dotard and his pathological administration by then.

More ominous, Dotard's declaration will mark the latest unilateral break from U.S. allies on a major issue, after decisions to walk out of the Paris Climate accord, to abandon multilateral trade negotiations with partners in Europe and Asia, and to threaten to abrogate an international nuclear deal with Iran.  Any one of these portends higher threat levels to our civilization, but again we must recognize Dotard is likely trying to distract from his Mueller investigation worries - and also stir up a shit storm for his pathetic base.

In the meantime, agencies and nations far and wide are readying plans to ramp up security  - from the capitals of Europe to the back alleys of the Middle East and virtually anyplace else on the planet. The other ironic aspect: Dotard has succeeded in uniting both Sunni and Shia Muslims with this brainiac move - with the Saudis coming out against it as aggressively as Iraqi Shias.

Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the Palestinian leader had warned Trump of the dangers of such a decision to Middle East peace efforts as well as security and stability in the region and the world.    Jordan's King Abdullah issued a statement telling Trump that such a decision would have “dangerous repercussions on the stability and security of the region” and would obstruct US efforts to resume Arab-Israeli peace talks.

And Saudi Arabia's King Salman was reported by the Saudi Press Agency to have told Trump: “Such a dangerous step is likely to inflame the passions of Muslims around the world due to the great status of Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Does Donnie the Dotard care? Of course not! Because he has no more comprehension of Middle East history and tensions than he does of the U.S. He's a  degenerate, toddler imbecile and madman trapped in the body of a 71-year old.

Best advice to U.S. citizens for now? Stay away from any European capitals, say visits to London or Paris, as well as visiting Middle East sites - especially in Israel, Egypt, or anywhere else. These are now officially potential terror site locations thanks to the mental age two- year old in the White House.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/p-m-carpenter/76602/trump-and-his-love-of-watching-the-world-burn

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/phyllis-bennis/76607/no-peace-process-exists-to-destroy-but-trumps-jerusalem-decision-dangerous-as-hell

No, There'll Be No "Blood Moon Apocalypse " In September!

"Blood Moon" visible in Barbados last April.

During a lecture I gave on lunar eclipses in 1975, several attendees - on seeing a slide image of the Moon at the total phase- expressed concern. "Did this bloody Moon not portend the last days or an apocalypse? Was it not one of the signs and wonders written about in the good Book? Should we not begin to prepare ourselves for the end?"

To all of these questions, and to the astonishment of the questioners, I answered a firm 'No'. The phenomenon was a totally natural event that occurred at least twice a year- due to an alignment of Earth, Moon and Sun and had no supernatural overtones. Nor should one extrapolate such overtones.   To grasp more clearly what is going on I show a sketch below of the lunar eclipse situation:



Note the alignment (top) fixes the Sun at one end and the Moon at the other with Earth in between. The light  from the Sun - on intersecting the Earth -  produces a smaller, darker umbra and a lighter outer shadow cone called the penumbra.  If the lunar transit is such that the Moon (as seen from Earth ) only passes through the penumbra, we have a partial lunar eclipse.

If, on the other hand, the Moon passes through the darker umbra, we have a total lunar eclipse and what is called a "blood Moon" because the luanr surface appears reddish or ochre on account of being seen through the Earth's atmosphere. Thus, we observe the Moon as seen in the photo.  A special case for attention is the lunar tetrad. This marks a consecutive sequence of four lunar eclipses, spaced s ix months apart. (The most recent blood Moon occurred in April ).

As may be inferred from the diagrams, on account of the Earth casting a much larger shadow than the Moon (say when there are solar eclipses) the duration of lunar eclipses is longer, including the total phase. An entire lunar eclipse can last for hours as opposed to minutes for the solar eclipse.

Having now dispensed with the notion there is anything supernatural regarding blood Moons and lunar eclipses, it is somewhat astonishing to note that here in the year 2015, there is a United States congressman who actually believes that a so-called blood Moon prophecy determines the fate of the Middle East as well as the fate of the world, of all of us. .

Says Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia:

“Blood moons have preceded world-changing, shaking-type events,”

WHICH ones? He doesn't say but never mind,  This balderdash is gaining surprising traction in conservative media, and is being adopted as legitimate by prominent figures, including Hice in Congress and the Family Research Council, the powerful social conservative lobbying group in Washington.

Ironically, as these yahoos are getting all worked up over blood Moons, we are facing a genuine catastrophe as now the pace of global warming appears on track for a 4C rise in global mean temperatures and even a 6C.  People in TX may not think their 34 trillion tons of rain pouring down causing flooding the past week has  anything to do with climate change - but they'd do well to rethink that. Anyone who's taken basic basics knows that a hotter atmosphere  (because of greenhouse gases like CO2) absorbs more moisture - and this can be triggered to pour down when that warmer, moister air encounters much colder air - as has been spinning off the Rockies the past couple weeks (seeing our night temperatures sometimes diving to 32 F or less)

It's true that singleton events or even temporary phases of weather do not "prove" global warming, but we are talking about a trend of  climate that has appreciably warmed the atmosphere over years enabling it to hold more water. More water, means more rain - depending on when and how it is triggered, whether in the NE or SW.

Anyway, we also know that mega-pastor John Hagee, the leading purveyor of blood Moon prophecy talk, is powerful in Washington, and able to command the attendance of influential conservative politicians to his events. According to Hagee here’s how the prophecy is supposed to shake out:

It was “discovered” that blood Moon tetrads  that coincide with traditional Jewish feasts and holidays announce world-historical moments for Jews; and because the fate of the Jewish people determines the fate of humanity, according to fundamentalist Christians, each of these revelations signals the approach of the End Times.

Thus, a blood Moon tetrad coinciding with Jewish holidays in 1493 is said to have marked the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and the European discovery of America. Another in 1948-49 signaled God’s pleasure with the founding of the state of Israel; and the next, in 1967-68, coincided with the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, which allowed Israel to acquire Arab territory, much of which it still maintains. The occupied territory is considered prophetically necessary and in accord with Scripture by many conservative Christians.

But all of that was merely a prelude to the tetrad currently underway. The third blood Moon fell in April, and the final prophetic moon will occur in late September. This tetrad, according to the prophecy, signals the beginning of the end of the world. (Though strangely, we've yet to hear a peep from Hagee or anyone else in his camp of where the "AntiChrist" may be hanging out - and bear in mind there's supposed to be a 7-year reign before everything comes to perdition in the "Tribulation"

Ah - but WAIT! Earlier prophet and bloviator Hal Lindsey in his book 'The Late, Great Planet Earth', already forecast that was all to unfold in 1988 (using 'one generation' = 40 years, marked from the birth of the Jewish state in 1948.)  But a funny thing happened in 1988, nothing!

Never mind! The current crop of bumpkins is forecasting that the  apocalypse is coming this September. So it’s crunch time in the land of the apocalyptic crazies. All hands on deck! This is not a drill. As a heads up. on May 14, a large banner atop World Net Daily, the popular conservative Christian website, advertised its “exclusive” report on the four-month “countdown” to the “Biblical day of reckoning.”

In addition, in order to pump up the expectation and fear, a movie about the prophecy was released last month in theaters, and pastor John Hagee’s bestselling book about blood moons spent months on Amazon’s top 100 books list.  (I suspect it will meet the same eventual fate as Lindsey's effort.)

The impending doom even compelled Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Rev. Billy Graham, to issue a call for a seven-day “mayday” prayer offensive, to appeal to God, with this warning to motivate:

“Institutions will collapse. Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge. Planes will fall out of the sky. Cars will crash on the road. Government in America at every level will disintegrate. Families will be torn apart. In the unprecedented turmoil, our nation will be vulnerable for our enemies to seize the moment and attack us. There will be mass chaos, confusion, fear, grief, despair, anger, threats, danger… judgment.”

The Family Research Council urged its flock to heed Lotz’s call. And note: The FRC is not some ramshackle backwoods chapel filled with snake handlers; the well-heeled D.C. lobbying group’s “Values Voter Summit” in late summer will be a who’s who of conservatism, with Rush Limbaugh, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Sean Hannity and a host of others expected to speak at the conference.

Again, all this huff and puff is going on while the actual, impending threat to humanity, global warming, is considered a “hoax,” a whole cloth invention by pointy-headed liberals and scientists,  Meanwhile the color of the moon and the spotty wisdom of goat herders from 3,000 years ago is stitched together into some kind of astro-hermeneutics, used to determine whether or not October happens.

John Hagee again:

“When you take scientific fact and historical fact and line it up exactly with prophetic fact and they all are in perfect agreement, now is time to put doubt aside and to believe that God is trying to communicate to us in a very special way…and something is about to change.”

The problem for Hagee and his Hag-ee-ites is that you can't use scientific facts to cook up codswallop.You cannot use science, in other words, to carry grist to the fantasy and superstition mill. If Hagee and his lot had any sense at all they'd instead be doing all they can to make sure that the 6C increase mark for warming isn't reached. If it is, they will have a real apocalypse to fret over - and alas, no one coming to "save" them.