Brave peace loving Israelis like Sofie require safe rooms in their home as protection from monsters. Whiny, privileged, pampered American college students demand safe places on campus in case they are misgendered. The trauma Sofie suffered and the courage she displayed are impossible to imagine. In America we remain mostly safe, but don’t forget everyday similar monsters are invited across our border by the Biden Administration. And they hate us every bit as much as they hate Jews.
I've spent time on the border. The vast majority of those crossing are better citizens than native born. There's a few, but not many that aren't.
Islamists come here as refugees, by plane, and ship. We are about to bring another 800,000 or so here from Gaza. The problem is the invites from congress NOT the border!
We brought in tens of thousands from Egypt. Political refugees that Egypt was "persecuting" for terrorism. THAT'S THE PROBLEM.
You have no idea who is crossing that border. None. Nor does any government official. Worse, no idea how many. I cringe every time I hear estimates of "getaways". The US is being carved up into cartel territories as I type.
We spoke to a woman who works for ICE in the airport. She said at that time, which was last year, most of the people crossing the border were Eastern Europeans. She also stated that the Obama administration sent many more illegals back than subsequent administrations. The press just painted a different picture.
At best your ICE lady just provided a snapshot, as you acknowledge. My understanding is that at different points in time the composition of the country of origin of those turning themselves in at the border has varied. And my larger point is referencing those turning themselves in as representative is just naive at best, dangerous at worst. Again, we have no idea - zero, zip, nada, zilch - who is in the country, where they come from, how many they number or why they are here. Kumbaya is not an effective border strategy.
If she worked for ICE at the airport, consider her a lower level employee sharing anecdotal information at best or the same nonsense gleaned from the msm. The amount of people deported by the Obama administration is not the measure of how safe we are. It also doesn’t mean they haven’t re-entered since then. Lynne is correct. We have no idea who is here and presently, the Biden Administration and no democrat in Congress cares to give it the critical attention it deserves. Be careful.
Please don’t use all caps that is insulting. I too have experience with who crosses the border. In 1980 when I worked in Texas almost all the border crossers came for migrant work and went home. Five years ago I retired from teaching. Many of my students were members of fine civic organizations such as. MS-13 and 18th street. They mostly crossed illegally. More than a few said they like America because there is a lot of free stuff. Today HHS reports that many border crossers come from Islamic countries. The Biden Administration has turned it a
into a one way turnstile. Most are military age unattached males. The least desirable entrants. The border is a problem, much more then boats.
Let's agree on both being a problem. There's agitation in congress to bring in those INNOCENT Gaza refugees as we write.
The historical political game at the border has been:
- Democrats enforce border security to punish Republican farmers and food processors. Obama set a deportation record & had more lawsuits on bad treatment than all other presidents. Dem press gave him a pass.
Democrats built the first border wall to keep Californian Dem voters safe.
Democrats make pathways to citizenship for illegals to get more Dem voters.
-Republicans caterwaul about illegals to activate their working class voters, and quietly defund the border so their rich donors are supplied with cheap labor.
Republicans fight pathways to citizenship to stop new Dem voters.
To some extent, Trump turned this upside down. All that caterwauling in the press about Trump’s bad treatment of asylum seekers? He improved it from Obama. Obama threw tem back and separated families more. Read the lawsuits. Those lawsuits cited right away under Trump? Those were filled years prior.
A powerful interview. We have been fortunate to live through historically peaceful times, but it has made many of us forget the harsh realities of the world, it has made us underestimate what others are capable of—being reminded of this truth once again will be painful, and we will morn that lost innocence as yet another casualty of war.
This was really beautiful and sad and thought provoking. What she said about having a child being a statement of being alive in the world really spoke to me. I will pray for healing for them.
I was afraid at first to read this interview, but I'm glad that I did. It was the most horrific but, at the same time, life-affirming interview I've ever read. Thank you, Sofie, and thank you, Max. I'm sharing this interview with everyone I know.
We live in the merkaz and were woken up by the sirens at 6:30am. We watched channel 12 all morning, asking the same question: where is the army. Not yet aware of the complete terror and horror you and others went through.
Thank you Bari for reposting this interview.
And the museum Man in the Living World is simply superb and wonderful.
As far as I can tell, the evidence--and there is a lot of it--is that we do in fact survive the final malfunctions of our biological shells, which are really just skins we put on for a time. I think something close to that metaphor was in the Bhagavad Gita.
To take just one example of many, Dr. Eben Alexander had a powerful Near Death Experience that as a professional neurosurgeon he found impossible to explain in purely materialistic ways, despite possessing as good a scientific understanding of brain structure and functioning as it is possible to get. Most NDE's cannot be accounted for using the superficial guesses of determined deniers who have not really studied the issue.
But our religious beliefs really don't matter. This is physics, not fantasy. Good people who are atheists are the same as good people who are religious, and I really thought the epiphany she describes really is the essence of spirituality. You don't need belief in an afterlife, per se, to grow and do your work as a human.
On a personal level that really was a harrowing account. Everything is worse when children are involved.
I have no idea what you meant by that. Is that true for both of us?
If you're drinking, you may want to wait until tomorrow to respond.
My view is that everything we do and feel is to some extent conditioned by our metaphysical beliefs; that belief in survival makes happiness and trust easier; and that such belief is perfectly at home in contemporary science. These are important claims, of intrinsic importance to everyone.
I know the song, but my best guess was he was trying to imply I was out of touch. Maybe I am, but as I said it seems to me that the seeming fact of survival is a highly relevant fact to all of us, and particularly when faced with the violent death of ourselves or those we love, making, I think, my comment appropriate.
I'm not sure he was disagreeing. The song is about dying alone in outer space. Very similar vibe to the article itself. "Tell my wife I love her very much, She knows."
What a moving interview with a remarkable woman. What a hell she survived and yet her beautiful humanity remained intact. I can’t imagine the terror she felt and my heart goes out to her and all the others who have, and continue, to suffer. God bless you all.
Thank you for the compelling interview. It was hard to read, but I had to read it all to the end. After all the horror and an acceptance that death was inevitable, Sophie spoke of wanting another child. Hope springs eternal.
This is an important piece, and Sofie is amazingly strong to give this interview. But it strikes me that she is still unbelievably naïve. There are worse things than death, worse even than a violent death, things that actually happened to her community - she is lucky she didn't have a more active imagination, or she could not have felt that peace when she believed she would die; she would have worried that death would not be what came next but the torture or abduction of her children. The advice not to dwell on and relive trauma, though, is solid.
Emily S. I imagine you wrote these words from the safety of you home and you have never known this terror. Better not to have commented. I’d like to see you handle this - your comment in and of itself is naive and shameful. I have 3 words in mind and their acronym is GFY
Her comment is absurd. And not exactly kind to be honest. So yeah, calling it out. Maybe you missed my other comment. I live in Israel. Our tolerance and “sensitivity” is quite thin at the moment.
Among many other things this article demonstrates clearly that the actions of the Hamas, and Gazan, attackers were true, unadulterated, unequivocal terrorism. Just look at how many times this articulate, sophisticated human used the word terror.
I’ve read many essays published by the FP, but this is the first one that actually made me cry. I was able to empathize with everything you went through and the interview really conveyed the range of emotions you must have experienced that horrible day. I just hope you can find peace, move on with your life and stay optimistic about humanity. Shalom.
I'm having to scale back my time on Twitter because the level of hate and evil I'm seeing so many people express is just too much for my mind and heart to bear.
Brave peace loving Israelis like Sofie require safe rooms in their home as protection from monsters. Whiny, privileged, pampered American college students demand safe places on campus in case they are misgendered. The trauma Sofie suffered and the courage she displayed are impossible to imagine. In America we remain mostly safe, but don’t forget everyday similar monsters are invited across our border by the Biden Administration. And they hate us every bit as much as they hate Jews.
Every household in the US needs to be prepared to defend itself. The Army is not coming.
Some parts of some of our inner cities are pretty awful. I've heard some of the stories firsthand.
I've spent time on the border. The vast majority of those crossing are better citizens than native born. There's a few, but not many that aren't.
Islamists come here as refugees, by plane, and ship. We are about to bring another 800,000 or so here from Gaza. The problem is the invites from congress NOT the border!
We brought in tens of thousands from Egypt. Political refugees that Egypt was "persecuting" for terrorism. THAT'S THE PROBLEM.
You have no idea who is crossing that border. None. Nor does any government official. Worse, no idea how many. I cringe every time I hear estimates of "getaways". The US is being carved up into cartel territories as I type.
We spoke to a woman who works for ICE in the airport. She said at that time, which was last year, most of the people crossing the border were Eastern Europeans. She also stated that the Obama administration sent many more illegals back than subsequent administrations. The press just painted a different picture.
At best your ICE lady just provided a snapshot, as you acknowledge. My understanding is that at different points in time the composition of the country of origin of those turning themselves in at the border has varied. And my larger point is referencing those turning themselves in as representative is just naive at best, dangerous at worst. Again, we have no idea - zero, zip, nada, zilch - who is in the country, where they come from, how many they number or why they are here. Kumbaya is not an effective border strategy.
If she worked for ICE at the airport, consider her a lower level employee sharing anecdotal information at best or the same nonsense gleaned from the msm. The amount of people deported by the Obama administration is not the measure of how safe we are. It also doesn’t mean they haven’t re-entered since then. Lynne is correct. We have no idea who is here and presently, the Biden Administration and no democrat in Congress cares to give it the critical attention it deserves. Be careful.
Please don’t use all caps that is insulting. I too have experience with who crosses the border. In 1980 when I worked in Texas almost all the border crossers came for migrant work and went home. Five years ago I retired from teaching. Many of my students were members of fine civic organizations such as. MS-13 and 18th street. They mostly crossed illegally. More than a few said they like America because there is a lot of free stuff. Today HHS reports that many border crossers come from Islamic countries. The Biden Administration has turned it a
into a one way turnstile. Most are military age unattached males. The least desirable entrants. The border is a problem, much more then boats.
Let's agree on both being a problem. There's agitation in congress to bring in those INNOCENT Gaza refugees as we write.
The historical political game at the border has been:
- Democrats enforce border security to punish Republican farmers and food processors. Obama set a deportation record & had more lawsuits on bad treatment than all other presidents. Dem press gave him a pass.
Democrats built the first border wall to keep Californian Dem voters safe.
Democrats make pathways to citizenship for illegals to get more Dem voters.
-Republicans caterwaul about illegals to activate their working class voters, and quietly defund the border so their rich donors are supplied with cheap labor.
Republicans fight pathways to citizenship to stop new Dem voters.
To some extent, Trump turned this upside down. All that caterwauling in the press about Trump’s bad treatment of asylum seekers? He improved it from Obama. Obama threw tem back and separated families more. Read the lawsuits. Those lawsuits cited right away under Trump? Those were filled years prior.
My experience is very recent.
You're criticizing hate and yet hating at the same time.
A powerful interview. We have been fortunate to live through historically peaceful times, but it has made many of us forget the harsh realities of the world, it has made us underestimate what others are capable of—being reminded of this truth once again will be painful, and we will morn that lost innocence as yet another casualty of war.
This was really beautiful and sad and thought provoking. What she said about having a child being a statement of being alive in the world really spoke to me. I will pray for healing for them.
I was afraid at first to read this interview, but I'm glad that I did. It was the most horrific but, at the same time, life-affirming interview I've ever read. Thank you, Sofie, and thank you, Max. I'm sharing this interview with everyone I know.
We live in the merkaz and were woken up by the sirens at 6:30am. We watched channel 12 all morning, asking the same question: where is the army. Not yet aware of the complete terror and horror you and others went through.
Thank you Bari for reposting this interview.
And the museum Man in the Living World is simply superb and wonderful.
As far as I can tell, the evidence--and there is a lot of it--is that we do in fact survive the final malfunctions of our biological shells, which are really just skins we put on for a time. I think something close to that metaphor was in the Bhagavad Gita.
To take just one example of many, Dr. Eben Alexander had a powerful Near Death Experience that as a professional neurosurgeon he found impossible to explain in purely materialistic ways, despite possessing as good a scientific understanding of brain structure and functioning as it is possible to get. Most NDE's cannot be accounted for using the superficial guesses of determined deniers who have not really studied the issue.
But our religious beliefs really don't matter. This is physics, not fantasy. Good people who are atheists are the same as good people who are religious, and I really thought the epiphany she describes really is the essence of spirituality. You don't need belief in an afterlife, per se, to grow and do your work as a human.
On a personal level that really was a harrowing account. Everything is worse when children are involved.
Ground control to Major Tom
I have no idea what you meant by that. Is that true for both of us?
If you're drinking, you may want to wait until tomorrow to respond.
My view is that everything we do and feel is to some extent conditioned by our metaphysical beliefs; that belief in survival makes happiness and trust easier; and that such belief is perfectly at home in contemporary science. These are important claims, of intrinsic importance to everyone.
I think he was referencing a song: "Space Oddity" by David Bowie
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
(Ten)
Ground Control
(Nine)
To Major Tom
(Eight, seven, six)
Commencing countdown
(Five)
Engines on
(Four, three, two)
Check ignition
(One)
And may God's love
(Lift-off)
Be with you
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
She knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you he—
Here am I floating 'round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
I know the song, but my best guess was he was trying to imply I was out of touch. Maybe I am, but as I said it seems to me that the seeming fact of survival is a highly relevant fact to all of us, and particularly when faced with the violent death of ourselves or those we love, making, I think, my comment appropriate.
I'm not sure he was disagreeing. The song is about dying alone in outer space. Very similar vibe to the article itself. "Tell my wife I love her very much, She knows."
What a moving interview with a remarkable woman. What a hell she survived and yet her beautiful humanity remained intact. I can’t imagine the terror she felt and my heart goes out to her and all the others who have, and continue, to suffer. God bless you all.
Thank you for the compelling interview. It was hard to read, but I had to read it all to the end. After all the horror and an acceptance that death was inevitable, Sophie spoke of wanting another child. Hope springs eternal.
This is an important piece, and Sofie is amazingly strong to give this interview. But it strikes me that she is still unbelievably naïve. There are worse things than death, worse even than a violent death, things that actually happened to her community - she is lucky she didn't have a more active imagination, or she could not have felt that peace when she believed she would die; she would have worried that death would not be what came next but the torture or abduction of her children. The advice not to dwell on and relive trauma, though, is solid.
Emily S. I imagine you wrote these words from the safety of you home and you have never known this terror. Better not to have commented. I’d like to see you handle this - your comment in and of itself is naive and shameful. I have 3 words in mind and their acronym is GFY
Your kindness and sensitivity is uplifting. I presume from your tolerance of others voices that you are a dedicated liberal.
Her comment is absurd. And not exactly kind to be honest. So yeah, calling it out. Maybe you missed my other comment. I live in Israel. Our tolerance and “sensitivity” is quite thin at the moment.
Among many other things this article demonstrates clearly that the actions of the Hamas, and Gazan, attackers were true, unadulterated, unequivocal terrorism. Just look at how many times this articulate, sophisticated human used the word terror.
This brought me to tears. Thank you, Sophie, for sharing your story.
I’ve read many essays published by the FP, but this is the first one that actually made me cry. I was able to empathize with everything you went through and the interview really conveyed the range of emotions you must have experienced that horrible day. I just hope you can find peace, move on with your life and stay optimistic about humanity. Shalom.
That glimmer of realization that she's been naïve about human nature...
Wow. Visceral interview.
civilization verse anti-civilization
Curious how many people are reading this and feeling joyous glee at the terror she faced, and the depravity she saw.
I know they are here.
I know, too.
I'm having to scale back my time on Twitter because the level of hate and evil I'm seeing so many people express is just too much for my mind and heart to bear.