From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
Jewish community in former USSR under threat of assimilation
Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
The Jewish community in the former Soviet Union could disappear in a generation unless assimilation is curbed there, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday.
The government decided to set up a special body to increase immigration from those countries and strengthen Jewish identity there.
In the special cabinet discussion, a representative from Nativ - a once-covert agency founded in the Prime Minister's Office in the 1950s to bring Jews to Israel, and to serve as a liaison for Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union - told the ministers that there are some 880,000 people in its former territories who are eligible to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. More than half, the representative added, are not Jewish according to religious law. …
The briefing on the state of the Jews in the former Soviet Union revealed that only 10 percent of this population are involved in Jewish activity, with assimilation reaching 80 percent in some communities.
Nativ's director, Naomi Ben Ami, told Haaretz that, in light of these figures, "the Jewish Diaspora is going to lose this region's Jewry in one generation." …
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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51 comments:
What's of real concern to all red-blooded men is what this does to the supply of uber-hot Israeli women. Many of whom come from Russia originally, or their parents.
Funniest blog post title ever.
Oy vey.
A people that shall dwell alone, indeed.
Didn't Israel use terrorism against the Jewish population of Iraq in order to convince Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel?
These 880,000 who "qualify" under the Law of Return for the most part are not Jewish according to Jewish law and do not self-identify as Jews. This non-story is simply a case of a quasi-governmental agency squeezing a few more shekels out of the public coffers. If these anti-religious socialists really gave a squat about Jewish continuity as such (and I don't believe they do), they would not have imported a half million non-Jews from the former USSR to Israel during the 90s.
In their press, they speak frankly about programs intended to avoid assimilation and intermarriage. To head off one obvious canard -- no, this isn't about religion (the Torah isn't mentioned in either of the Birthright links) but about race and halacha.
Nothing wrong with that, just admit that it's ok to tell your kids not to marry out.
1) From Jewcy, on Birthright Israel
http://69.36.40.219/tags/birthright
Two recent articles join the chorus of Jewish publications wondering if Birthright Israel is a good thing. Birthright, in case you’ve been living under a rock for a decade, is a program that brings Jewish 18-26 year olds to Israel for free for a 10-day trip in the hopes of countering assimilation and alienation among young Jews, especially North Americans...
Birthright isn’t a magic pill to cure assimilation and alienation, but it has the capability to do way more than it’s doing now.
2) From Jewcy again:
http://69.36.40.219/post/homeland_taking_birthright_israel
In our liberal circles, we are often deprived of the opportunity to believe in anything whole-heartedly. My liberal arts education taught me that any distinct concept or idea will crumble under the scrutiny of too many questions. Birthright set an example where it was okay and even honorable to believe in the state of Israel, to adopt, so to speak, the settler's original dream....
Perhaps, on a basic psychological level, my attraction to Israel is not so different from that of the original settlers. I recently found a quote by Chana Senesh, words she wrote shortly after her aliyah at age seventeen, describing how Zionism functioned in her life: "One needs something to believe in, something for which one has whole-hearted enthusiasm. One needs to feel that one's life has meaning, that one is needed in this world. Zionism fulfills that for me."
In Israel I found a source of pride that I can carry for the rest of my life--no matter what I end up doing.
3) From John Hartung -- Ashkenazi ancestry, currently Associate Editor of the Journal of Neurosurgical Anesthesiology and an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at the State University of New York, Harvard graduate.
http://strugglesforexistence.com/?p=article_p&id=16
The Silent Holocaust
Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Gentiles who fall in love with Jews and Gentiles who haul them off to concentration camps. But Rabbi Epharim Z. Buchwald has a special insight in this regard -- the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts.
In a letter, tape and book campaign decrying "The Silent Holocaust," Rabbi Buchwald's National Jewish Outreach Program has been reaching out to individuals who might be sympathetic. You can get on NJOP's mailing list by buying a copy of The Talmud, The Midrash Rabbah, the Codes of Maimonides, or Jewish Publication Society translations of The Bible. Then you will learn about "a study commissioned by Harvard University" which found that "by the American Tricentennial year of 2076, there could be as few as 10,000 Jews in America!"
That's down about 10 million because of "a life-and-death battle" with shiksas...
Hey, Steve, can I just say...
F*** THE MOSSAD!
And...
F*** THE SAYANIM!
Is that OK, dude? Does that sentiment pass your censor? I did edit out three letters of the four-letter word after all.
Why do Jews feel they have to maintain a presence in every country, anyway? Since when did it become a plank of Judaism to have an influential minority stationed in every nation throughout the world?
Wow, now there is a question that can lead you down some paranoid thought trails...
Justin Halter:
More than you might think.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/june18/toledotext-618.html
In all this, Stanford was central. Not least because it was at Stanford that I met my wife, my life companion, Eliane Karp, Peru's and my first lady, who is right here with us. She has been and is currently an enormous source of inspiration and support for me. I have had 128 death threats in my fight to liberate my country from a dictatorship. Eliane's Jewish background and my Andean persistence for survival converged to confront the highest challenge in life. And that encounter happened right here at the Stanford coffee shop.
It was here at Stanford I started to craft my plans to serve my country. The mute scream of my soul reverberated in my head: I had gotten out but my brothers and sisters were still [stuck back] in poverty, and I could not remain enjoying such great things at Stanford, at the World Bank, knowing that I had my brothers and sisters back home sentenced to live below the extreme poverty line -- the poverty that robs the freedom of people, [the] poverty [that] steals human dignity and the right to choose. Democracy and freedom do not circumscribe only to a day of an election.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/june18/toledo-618.html
Eliane Karp de Toledo, the president's wife and a Stanford alumnus, also spoke Sunday; she delivered a short address at the Department of Anthropological Sciences diploma and awards ceremony, held at the New Guinea Sculpture Garden.
"In everything that you do, think of the world as one," said Karp, who was born in Paris and met Toledo at Stanford while earning a master's degree. As Peru's first lady, she is dedicating herself to emancipating and empowering indigenous Peruvians, she said. Describing her background as being in "anthropology, archaeology and linguistics," she said she hoped that Andean issues would move from "anthropological considerations to political considerations."
"I hope you will become important agents in the public sector, because this is where change is promoted," she told students. Karp said she had particularly high hopes for the dozen Peruvian students at Stanford -- five of whom received advanced degrees on Sunday. "I think we are going to prepare somebody for the next president. After the Andes, we will have someone from the Amazon.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/images/20060310-3_d-0162-3-515h.html
President George W. Bush welcomes Peru's President Alejandro Toledo and his wife, Eliane Karp de Toledo, to the Oval Office, Friday, March 10, 2006 at the White House. White House photo by Eric Draper
http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2032562.html
PERU'S president Alejandro Toledo has just ended a foreign trip that took him to nations in Asia and the Middle East. Reports are that he has skipped some places and previously-planned appointments, for the only reason that his wife has resented them.
Dear readers, see the importance people give to their wives in civilized societies. Here is a president's wife telling him not to visit a place during his official tour, and he takes it in the right spirit and acts accordingly. That is how life is changing. Tradition in many societies dictates that women do what men say; and not the other way round. In progressive societies today, husbands and wives see themselves as companions, and listen to each other in their personal lives. They do not dictate, but discuss, understand each other's point of view, and decide. Toledo represents the new generation.
http://newcenturyinstitute.us/pages/198.asp
2005 New Century Institute International Conference
on a New Constitution for Taiwan
Conference Agenda
Participants' Biographies
Thomas S. Axworthy
Richard A. Matasar
Michel Rosenfeld
Jiunn-rong Yeh
András Sajo
Wen-Chen Chang
James F. Simon
Lung-chu Chen
Tom Ginsburg
Jordan J. Paust
W. Michael Reisman
Nadine Strossen
Richard C. Bush
Jerome A. Cohen
Andrew J. Nathan
John J. Tkacik Jr.
Ing-Wen Tsai
------
So: Matasar, Rosenfeld, Simon, Ginsburg, Reisman, Strossen, Cohen, Nathan, based on Googling surnames. Possibly also Sajo.
Pretty impressive that they're more heavily represented than the Asian names -- especially when you consider this is a conference on the **Constitution** of Taiwan. Wouldn't it be kind of interesting if there were 8 Australian Aborigines on the advisory committee to draft the Constutition of Taiwan?
Someone else linked the Iraq Constitution, which had heavy input from the AJ as well.
I'd be surprised if there was a "new" state that didn't have significant input from them. Someone should dig into the South African constitutional convention, the post-Serbian war legal proceedings, and so on...results could be enlightening.
Why do Jews feel they have to maintain a presence in every country, anyway?
You just don't get it. A new and improved world society is being established while you cling to your primitive concept of "country".
Blood & soil? Gimme a break. Global social justice is clearly beyond your reptilian abilities. Just stay on the sidelines and watch us create the new reality.
Yes, the US phone system computer architecture is controlled by Mossad; yes, the US politicians are controlled by AIPAC; yes, the US media is controlled by non-affiliated, random, independent, pyschologically "intense" Jews; yes, the US borders are largely maintained (in a permanently open status) by Jewish millionaire and billionaire targeted funding; and, yes, the same sort of program is being implemented in other countries.
So what? Stop complaining. The whole process is leading toward global social justice. That is all you need to know right now.
Has there ever been another ethnic minority in history which has exerted so much worldwide power and control? Serious (not rhetorical) question.
The potential loss of talented young people to the likes of Putin's Russia and Germany must really stick in the Israelis' collective craw.
I laugh, then I weep, as I expect the US taxpayer will pick up the bill for any program hatched to encourage migration to the Holy Land. As we have before.
"Didn't Israel use terrorism against the Jewish population of Iraq in order to convince Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel?"
Sure, and the Mossad also expropriated all of the Iraqi Jews' property. While they were at it, they did the same thing in every other Arab country with a significant Jewish population in the early 1950s. Despite the exhortations of those respective Arab countries' dictators for their beloved Jews to stay, they nevertheless fled to Israel, leaving all of their property and businesses behind. All due to the machinations of the Mossad.
"Why do Jews feel they have to maintain a presence in every country, anyway?"
There are ~200 countries in the world. You obsessives really believe that there are significant Jewish minorities in all of them? Maybe in a dozen, depending on how you define "significant". In most of these countries, Jews can be found in the higher echelons of business and the professions, as you would expect from their higher average IQs, but they often have little impact on the broader policies of those countries.
In the old USSR, citizens were required to carry an internal passport which, in addition to the usual information, also listed the person's "nationality" (e.g., Russian , Ukrainian, Georgian, etc.) One of the nationality choices was "Jewish," which led to a lot of problems. I wonder if that practice still persists in Russia now?
Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Gentiles who fall in love with Jews and Gentiles who haul them off to concentration camps. But . . . the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts.
That's a good one. Can I try?
"Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Gentiles who obtain our money by sales of goods to us in voluntary exchanges and Gentiles who rob us at gunpoint. But the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts."
Or:
"Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Gentiles who impregnate us through marital intercourse and Gentiles who impregnate us by rape. But . . . the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts."
Or:
"Most of us would agree that a distinction should be maintained between Republicans who come to power by winning more votes than the Democrats in a lawful election and Republicans who come to power by stuffing the ballot box. But the net effect is indistinguishable, and it's the bottom line that counts."
I agree with "the international jew" but I would take it further.
It is a play by Euro-Jews, the Ashkenazi elite, to increase their numbers and power.
Orthodox Jews in Israel know the Russian "Jews" that immigrate are not Jews.
The Ashkenazi elite really doesn't care. In fact, they use the fact that Russians are not being converted in great numbers as a club against the Orthodox. (as if the halacha of conversion is some governmental regulation that can be waived in an emergency).
The reality is that the number of Orthodox Jews is increasing in Russia, largely due to the support and encouragement of a variety of Orthodox outreach groups.
What gives both the Orthodox and the secularists pause is the growth of Christian churches (aka messianic Jews) that ARE willing to reach out to Russians a la Baruch Maoz and the Grace and Truth Christian Congregation
Don't the Russians still have a Stalin-era Yevrei Autonomous Oblast out on the Amur River where Stalin intended to deport all (surviving) Russian jews instead of letting them make aliyah? Perhaps these 880,000 could head out there and establish an alternative Jewish homeland.
"Didn't Israel use terrorism against the Jewish population of Iraq in order to convince Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel?"
According to Christopher Hitchens, that unimpeachable source of truth, yes.
In building a new constitution, to avoid undue influence of rich minorities, it would be important to have all elections minimize importance of campaign contributions.
My favorite idea is to require each candidate to speak by himself in prime time for 30-60 minutes each week in the last 8 weeks of the campaign ... without visual aids other than a few charts. TV time would be paid for by the government.
Perhaps also it would be necessary for the campaigns themselves to be publically funded.
Getting back to the point ... what does the Taiwan constitution say about campaign contributions, I wonder?
We hated the Tzar who opressed and persecuted us. Now we have Putin who is a great friend of Russian Jews, and we still complain. It seems like a Jewish joke, I know, but here we are.
Interesting wording by Mr. Sailer. When Jews choose to marry other Jews, it is "Jewish ethnocentricism". When they don't, it's "Russian tolerance".
Has there ever been another ethnic minority in history which has exerted so much worldwide power and control? Serious (not rhetorical) question.
The normans in the middle ages would be up there - the elite of almost all Europe - france, sicily, (they still say 'norman eyes' for light eyes) the British Isles.
Jewish influence is still minimal in Asia.
If this story is true (and I'm not saying it is), then Steve owes Jews a big apology.
For sometime now Steve has complained about the negative actions of various Russian Jews, broadly hinting that the cause of their actions is their Jewishness and not their Russianness.
However if Russian Jews have overwhelmingly assimilated, then if must be their Russianness and not their Jewishness that is the cause.
(Of course it could be neither... oops I forgot where I was posting)
Waiting for the apology. Waiting... waiting...
Finally I can agree with something t99 says. Nothing lot a hot woman with a 115+ IQ
"Didn't Israel use terrorism against the Jewish population of Iraq in order to convince Iraqi Jews to emigrate to Israel?"
Yup. Also, in 1982 Israel bombed Lebanon's only synagogue.
The best part was the comments; seems pretty much every post by an Israeli or a Jew was one flavor or another of "is it good for the Jews?"
("Reuben" is a real gas, btw, loved the bit about how the difficult process of Jewish conversion was enacted to appease Christian and Muslim overlords! W...T...F???)
There are ~200 countries in the world. You obsessives really believe that there are significant Jewish minorities in all of them? Maybe in a dozen, depending on how you define "significant".
About 60 of them are probably around Polynesia -- you know, where every 2-square mile island is called a "country." If we subtract another 50 from sub-Saharan Africa, and sort the list based on how much of the world economy each country holds, we'd probably be left with something like 3 dozen countries. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Jews are not known to be prominent elements of Waziristan or Trinidad and Tobago. So what the hell are you drivelling about? If you can control the US, the UK, Germany, and France -- and a few others -- you pretty much control the world, you hypocrite. And no, "significant," in the context of countries, is generally not defined by "prominent in goat fucking."
Amazing, this degree of hyper-ethnocentric blindness to one's particularism. If we held a global competition on ethnic success at creating a cultural "reality distortion field," the 2nd and the 50th after you would probably be indistinguishable in rank -- that's how big a margin you'd win with.
JD
Significant numbers?
Don't know about that.
But the Washington Times devoted a whole column a few months ago to the last two Jews living, I believe, in Kabul.
Imagine the same being written about the last two micks living in South Boston.
I'm really annoyed that all those Swedes back in my ancestral land are no longer observant Lutherans. Someone should do something about that.
The following will have no effect on those people who believe that anything written that has the word "Jews" in it can be twisted into evidence that they have some dire and disproportionate effect on the world, but I believe I should mention it anyway: Evidence that some Jews somewhere have or desire to have influence - even disproportionate influence - is not evidence that supports your dark suspicions that they have or desire to have influence over everything. There is a great deal of people hearing whole chords, even symphonies, when a single note is struck.
JD writes,
"If you can control the US, the UK, Germany, and France -- and a few others -- you pretty much control the world, you hypocrite."
Notice how this fellow ignores India and China -- two countries that contain half of the world's population and two of its fastest-growing economies. Why? He is obsessed with Jews, and those two rising superpowers don't have any to speak of.
Roger Challait writes,
"But the Washington Times devoted a whole column a few months ago to the last two Jews living, I believe, in Kabul."
"Imagine the same being written about the last two micks living in South Boston."
Maybe if JD explains to Roger why a handful of Jews are more interesting than half the world's population, this article will make sense to Roger.
Ze'ev Jabotinsky
svigor~
What do you find so surprising about my concern for my country's immigration policies? More to the point, could you please explain why it is "patriotism" when an American is against unrestricted immigration to his country, but "ethno-centricism" when a similar view is held by an Israeli Jew?
Frankly, I doubt it.
I'm probably going to regret adding this in the context of this discussion, but here's one prominent Indian Jew.
http://en/wikipedia.org/wiki/J._F._R._Jacob
What do you find so surprising about my concern for my country's immigration policies? More to the point, could you please explain why it is "patriotism" when an American is against unrestricted immigration to his country, but "ethno-centricism" when a similar view is held by an Israeli Jew?
He does have a point. You could be against immigration to Israel and America. Plenty of people aren't, but it's a consistent position.
For the record, Israelis are often a lot more sensible about these things. I had a girlfriend who was always asking why there were so many Chinese people in my country.
Only 10 % engage in "Jewish activity"? Insert joke here!
generalissimus said
Interesting wording by Mr. Sailer. When Jews choose to marry other Jews [exclusively], it is "Jewish ethnocentricism". When they don't, it's "Russian tolerance".
Interesting wording by ADL-types. When Whites choose to marry other Whites exclusively, it's "hate." When they don't, it's "tolerance."
That's right, evil neocon - there's nothing sexier than a Jewish woman, like Sarah Jessica Parker. Keep spreading that meme, m'kay? It's matrilineal descent that makes a Jew.
It seems to me that in both cases (Israelis who want restricted immigration and Americans with the same attitude) it's both ethnocentrism and patriotism. They're not mutually exclusive.
Remember the context, though. In the Prevailing Wisdom, Americans who oppose open borders are said to be UNpatriotic, while those who want to welcome just anybody are said to be the true expression of the American way.
And usually, the Israeli principle of admitting only Jews and practically any Jews is seldom commented on at all in public discourse. It's taken for granted. Whereas in the US context, those who seriously want restrictions of any meaningful kind are vilified.
The interesting part, of course (and it should go without saying, but doesn't), is that the very same people can approve of Israeli restrictionism and denounce any idea of restrictionism here. Orwell would love it.
SJP is not sexy; she is rather unattractive to say the least.
Natalie Portman (Israeli citizen) and Emmanuelle Chriqui (born in Canada to Moroccan Jewish parents) certainly are sexy, at least according to most straight men.
I wonder how many of the white nationalists or antisemites posting here would say no to a night with either of these two young ladies. (I suspect very few would, but I suspect that very few of these posters would be of interest to Ms. Portman or Ms. Chriqui, or any other attractive females).
"That's right, evil neocon - there's nothing sexier than a Jewish woman, like Sarah Jessica Parker. It's matrilineal descent that makes a Jew."
Is SJP's mother even Jewish? I know her father is.
"The fact remains that you and others can name VERY, VERY FEW attractive Jewish women who are fully Jewish"
Most of the hot American Jewish women I can think of are 100% Jewish, as far as I know. E.g., Winona Ryder, Mia Kirschner, etc. In any case, Testing99 specifically referred to Israeli women. That's a different kettle of fish than American Ashkenazi Jewish women. There are some attractive Ashkenazi Jewish women, but there is probably a higher percentage of attractive Israeli women, partly because they are, to some extent, an ethnic melange, and partly because of the California effect: when it's sunny out and there are lots of beaches, folks tend to get a tan and take better care of themselves.
Here's an example of an attractive Israeli woman, the fashion model Bar-Refaeli.
- Fred
What do you find so surprising about my concern for my country's immigration policies? More to the point, could you please explain why it is "patriotism" when an American is against unrestricted immigration to his country, but "ethno-centricism" when a similar view is held by an Israeli Jew?
There is no difference for an Israeli. I fully support a patriotic Israeli immigration policy. I just wish the Jews in America who also support a patriotic Israeli immigration policy would support a patriotic American immigration policy on occasion.
Fred, that Bar-Refaeli model has a manlike face like so many supermodels do.
Zsdizos is right. Beautiful Jewish people are a very rare breed.
If American Jews TRULY supported a patriotic Israeli immigration policy, they'd be living here, not there.
I cannot, however, comment on the attitudes of the American Jewish community's stand on American immigration policy, as most "evidence" in that regard is anecdotal at best, and rarely presented without some additional agenda.
What do you find so surprising about my concern for my country's immigration policies? More to the point, could you please explain why it is "patriotism" when an American is against unrestricted immigration to his country, but "ethno-centricism" when a similar view is held by an Israeli Jew?
It's ironic that the only reason Israelis are in a position to oppose unrestricted immigration is that they and the Brits overrode the Palestinian Arabs' wish to restrict immigration. Talk about pulling the ladder up.
Earlier I fleshed out a comment that I made yesterday on this blog...maybe some of you would like to read it? --> http://zsidozas.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/ugly-jews/
seamus~
How do you reach the conclusion that "Israelis are in a position to oppose unrestricted immigration"?
Certainly, this assertion is nowhere to be found in Steve's original post.
The second paragraph of the original article:
"The government decided to set up a special body to increase immigration from those countries and strengthen Jewish identity there."
And most of these would-be immigrants to Israel are NOT Jewish.
In fact, many left wing Israelis describe themselves as "post-Zionist" and welcome this further dilution of the already negligibly Jewish character of the country.
Do you surmise that "Israelis oppose unrestricted immigration" based on my posts here?
If so, I'm flattered, but I'm not particularly impressed by your cognitive reasoning skills.
It's also clear you've never heard of the 1939 White Paper which limited Jewish immigration to Palestine to 15,000 a year for 5 years. Great timing!
But I guess the "Palestinian" cause is a good a cause as any to hang your hat on, eh?
Anonymous,
If you don't find Bar Refaeli attractive, perhaps this Israeli model is more your speed: Adi Cohen.
Different strokes, for different folks, I guess.
- Fred
Patrick said:
"SJP is not sexy; she is rather unattractive to say the least."
True. Cant imagine any normal man finding her attractive in the least.
"Natalie Portman (Israeli citizen) and Emmanuelle Chriqui (born in Canada to Moroccan Jewish parents) certainly are sexy, at least according to most straight men.
I wonder how many of the white nationalists or antisemites posting here would say no to a night with either of these two young ladies."
And your point is in fact...? As so often these arguments fall apart when turned around. Many non-whites openly revel in the demographic demise of whites but funnily enough many black nationalists wouldnt turn down a night with some white starlet.
"I suspect very few would, but I suspect that very few of these posters would be of interest to Ms. Portman or Ms. Chriqui, or any other attractive females"
Really, now you are just in silly territory.
How do you reach the conclusion that "Israelis are in a position to oppose unrestricted immigration"?
Oh, I don't know. Could it possibly be your reference to the possibility that "a similar view [i.e., opposition to unrestricted immigration] is held by an Israeli Jew"? It seemed pretty clear to me that you believed that Israeli Jews were in a position to hold such a view.
It's also clear you've never heard of the 1939 White Paper which limited Jewish immigration to Palestine to 15,000 a year for 5 years. Great timing!
I guess I also never heard that the White Paper stayed in effect to this day, that there was next to no Jewish immigration into Palestine before 1939, and that the Arab majority of the population of Palestine successfully excluded Jews from coming in after 1944. Oh wait, none of that is true.
Many non-whites openly revel in the demographic demise of whites but funnily enough many black nationalists wouldnt turn down a night with some white starlet.
I don't see any inconsistency between "revel[ing] in the demographic demise of whites" and taking steps to increase the likelihood that white starlets will have non-white children.
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