Say it in gender neutrality: Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.

Xem xer Orchids: Phalaneopsis "Xe xirs". Photo Xe and Ze

Say it in gender neutrality: Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.

This is exciting news for crosswords fanatics. The two and three letter pool for personal pronouns got richer, and gender neutral, thanks to an academic achievement of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. It recommends banning the Paleolithic “he, she, his, hers, him, her” and replace them by the Committee for Inclusion approved neutral designations in the table below. This is my first training exercise: try it, include yourself:

Xe had hir stop xem car and ze gave xem xir keys saying xe were xirs.

In Paleolithic primitive idiomatic expression, where gender was an unwarranted but pervasive determinant in the nascent language, saying what isn’t is saying what is, and would have translated in the following primitive form:

He had her stop their car and she gave him her keys saying they were hers.

Now comes the hard part. I’ll try to figure out a system for the German language, with a Sprachanleitung for nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. What the heck is that “gen” in “genitive”?

This is an exciting and practical table 

to help you over the initial inclusion moments 

Traveling US Marines stop a French train massacre

My Orchids. Phalaenopsis "Good Luck". Photo ET

Traveling US Marines stop a French train massacre

This terrorist (officials are still struggling with the word in this case) had everything against him, including a failed martyrdom. According to the BBC:

“French media said the passengers who overpowered the suspect were US Marines who had heard the man loading a weapon in a toilet cubicle and confronted him when he came out.”

Yes, it takes a Marine and a professional ear to interpret noises coming from the toilet as loading a Kalashnikov. And an acute sense of danger to be ready to jump. Bravo.

The 26 year old Moroccan terrorist had enough ammunition to commit a horrible bloodbath.

US Corruption investigation looks for part of $1 billion bribes in Luxembourg

My Orchids: Oncidium. Photo ET

US Corruption investigation looks for part of $1 billion bribes in Luxembourg

The Wall Street Journal reported today about the US Department of Justice’s effort to seize $1 billion in bribes allegedly stemming from global telecom companies seeking licenses in Uzbekistan. The investigation has been underway at least since last year. A string of front companies close to the glamorous Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the immovable President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov were used in the operation. 

Members of the excellent “Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project” (OCCRP) reported in March 2015 about the money trail “Following Gulnara’s Money”. Properties were seized in Switzerland and France.

As the US probe develops, we are witnessing the effects of US legislation and long arm policies. An estimated $300 million are supposed to sit in banks in Ireland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It is always amazing that politically exposed persons can use banks’ services without raising suspicions. It is true that those individuals use associates as front people and companies in obscure places. But at these levels of transactions, it is amazing that not more effort is spent on vetting the beneficiary owners and the origins of funds.

There will be more and more focus on international corruption in the years to come, with possible amendments strengthening the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and its cousin the UK Bribery Act. The US and UK standard will become international standard, the EU timidly following rules at the European level, and the rest of the world committed by a recent UN Convention against Corruption.