@tedfolkman@federate.social
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tedfolkman

@tedfolkman@federate.social

Boston lawyer and arbitrator. Private international law, international judicial assistance, and civil and commercial litigation. Author of the Letters Blogatory blog (since 2011!). #fedi22 #lawfedi #catsofmastodon

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tedfolkman, to random
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We could not make the bed this morning ... early

tedfolkman, to boston
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Here is my post on the embarrassing Boston City Council resolution. https://lettersblogatory.com/2024/05/01/the-boston-city-council-gets-it-wrong-on-gaza/

tedfolkman, to random
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While traveling this weekend in Halifax, NS, I came across protesters at an intersection waiving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans. That's fine--I'm sure they had the right to be there. But I was taken aback by their two slogans, which they chanted alternately. The first: "Ceasefire now!" The second: "No justice, no peace!" (1/)

Protesters waiving a Palestinian flag on a street corner.

tedfolkman,
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I had never heard these two chants together. Maybe these particular folks were just confused or hadn't gotten the memo about the approved chants. But isn't it absurd to call for "ceasefire now," which as far as I can tell means, "Israel, stop shooting immediately," at the same time you say, "no justice, no peace," which as far as I can tell means, "Israel, we are going to keep shooting at you until you pack it up and go back to Poland." (2/)

tedfolkman,
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@LouisIngenthron Does it mean the same thing when chanted in a civil rights movement as it does when chanted in a shooting war by people on the side that started the war with a mass atrocity? I think context matters. Perhaps the protesters I saw are committed to nonviolence. It could be!

tedfolkman, to random
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Case of the Day: In re Aperture Imaging Industries (Fed. Cir. 2024). When you serve process on a foreign company by serving a US lawyer, is the service effected abroad, or in the United States? https://lettersblogatory.com/2024/01/28/case-of-the-day-in-re-aperture-imaging-industries/

tedfolkman, to random
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Can The Hague Evidence Convention be used to take evidence in cases not yet pending? https://lettersblogatory.com/2024/01/13/the-evidence-convention-and-contemplated-proceedings/

tedfolkman, to Israel
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

The Greater Boston Jewish community held a one-mile march today starting and ending at the Harvard Chabad house, near the Harvard campus, to mark one hundred days since Hamas abducted hundreds of Israelis and others, and one hundred days of captivity for the more than 130 still not free. (1/)

People walking in the cold along the Charles River for the release of the hostages

tedfolkman, to random
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I am proud of Israel for its respect for the rule of law and its commitment to defend itself against the genocide allegation in the ICJ. As I’ve written before, I am not an expert in international humanitarian law and cannot really address the merits as an expert, other than to say that if the law is what South Aftica claims, then there is surely something wrong with the law.

With that said… (1/2)

tedfolkman,
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FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, PLEASE, PM NETANYAHU, DO NOT SENT ALAN DERSHOWITZ TO THE HAGUE!

That would be the most Jewish way imaginable to squander the case. Please send a serious person who is expert in the relevant international law issues. (2/2)

tedfolkman, to random
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A great miracle happened there!

tedfolkman, to random
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The Jewish Question at Harvard. https://lettersblogatory.com/2023/12/05/the-jewish-question-at-harvard/

tedfolkman, to random
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I find the expressed in the riot at the high school in Queens to be deeply distressing, because it appears to be socially acceptable to some. We know how to deal with the old, white supremacist kind of antisemitism--with social ostracism. Our institutions and society are failing to call out this new antisemitism.

https://lettersblogatory.com/2023/11/28/the-new-socially-acceptable-antisemitism/

dankennedy_nu, (edited ) to random
@dankennedy_nu@journa.host avatar

I don't quite get how commuter rail ridership could be back at 90% of pre-COVID levels if people are working at home on Mondays and Fridays, even if weekend ridership is up. Thoughts, @jaloisi? (1/2) https://commonwealthbeacon.org/transportation/what-commuter-rail-ridership-gains-mean-for-boston/

tedfolkman,
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@dankennedy_nu @jaloisi I have found myself having to stand in the aisle on the train into town more and more often recently, so I believe it! The service is reliable, but I hope the MBTA will add more frequent service to improve the quality for those of us who prefer the train but want a more comfortable commute. $200 a month isn’t nothing.

tedfolkman, to Israel
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In today's post, I take a look at an expert view on the legality of Israel's use of force that is pretty far removed from the rights and wrongs of the situation. Lawyers are super creative, and I have to wonder why anyone who says, "I'm sorry, Israel, the law doesn't allow you to use force against Hamas" isn't out there doing what lawyers do, working creatively to find ways to argue that the law should be construed so that it accords with right and wrong?
https://lettersblogatory.com/2023/10/29/the-law-should-be-worthy-of-our-respect/

tedfolkman, to Israel
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A serious question. If we are for real when we say that what we most want is to minimize harm to civilians in Gaza regardless of the rights and wrongs and who did what to whom in the past, why do we not hear human rights groups calling on Hamas to surrender and, for instance, to hand Gaza back over to the Palestinian Authority?

tedfolkman,
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@MoBlack I guess I am just asking why folks say that, because we need to protect civilians, Israel should stop trying to achieve its aims, but no one says that, because we need to protect civilians, Hamas should stop trying to achieve its aims. You might be right, for example, that a Hamas surrender could lead to an occupation of Gaza rather than a new PA government. But again, if the most important thing is reducing harm to civilians ...

tedfolkman,
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@MoBlack I think you are right that Israel aims to destroy Hamas even if that harms civilians along the way. What I am asking is: can anyone explain why the answer is for Israel to stop that instead of for Hamas to give up? I don’t think one can do that by saying only that the goal is to reduce harm to civilians. One can do it by saying that Israel is a settler-colonial state and that Hamas is the legitimate voice of just Palestinian resistance or whatever.

dankennedy_nu, to random
@dankennedy_nu@journa.host avatar

It’s unconscionable to keep using the SAT. New data show in stunning detail that it does little more than measure family wealth. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/23/upshot/sat-inequality.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

tedfolkman,
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@dankennedy_nu I think I disagree with this. Only a minority, even in the top 0.1%, get a good score. So isn’t the SAT an engine of social mobility for those in the bottom 20% who do score well?

tedfolkman, to random
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

Friends, if you are asking yourselves what you can do to support Israel and Israelis in the current crisis, here are some things you may consider:

  1. Donate to a relief fund through your local Jewish federation. Each big city has one. For example, in Boston, we have CJP, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, which has launched an Israel Emergency Fund:

https://give.cjp.org/give/525536#!/donation/checkout

(1/)

tedfolkman, (edited )
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar
  1. Or you could donate to Magen David Adom, Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross.

https://secure.afmda.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2000&2000.donation=form1&s_src=GNRLWEB&FURL=UR

(2/)

tedfolkman,
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

You could let your elected representatives know that they should speak out in favor of Israel's right to defend itself, reject terrorist groups like Hamas, and encourage good relations between your country and its people and Israel and Israelis. For Americans, here is an easy way to do that.

https://actnow.ajc.org/MZv1XNO

(3/)

tedfolkman,
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

Finally, reach out to your Jewish friends and colleagues, ask how they are doing, and offer friendship and support! It makes a big difference. There are only 15 million Jews in the world, and only about 8 million outside Israel, so the chance that you don't know any Jews is high. That's okay, too! If there is a synagogue or a Jewish community center where you are, you might want to check to see if they are hosting any events or commemorations that are open to the public.

(4/4)

tedfolkman,
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

@bp ooh, thank you! I do have a website on my own server, which means that I should be able to do something like this. Great idea!

fj, (edited ) to random
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I knew about Laika (the soviet dog - 1957) and Ham (the US chimpanzee - 1961) who went to space, but I had no clue that the French had sent a cat, named Félicette in 1963, using a Véronique rocket.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/09/first-cat-space-felicette-orbit-humans-earth-atmosphere

tedfolkman,
@tedfolkman@federate.social avatar

@fj this is not a happy cat.

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