HAT TIP: Allen
ISRAELI DATA SPIES HAVE EYES FOCUSED ON U.S. CITIZENS
NOVEMBER 23, 2013 AFP
By Keith Johnson
While the National Security Agency (NSA) spying scandal continues to grab national headlines, the equally egregious intelligence gathering on United States citizens by Israeli security firms has virtually flown under the radar.
A recent article in Rolling Stone magazine, entitled “Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters,” comes close to scratching the surface by identifying the four major security contractors that have been aggressively hawking their invasive surveillance products at various trade shows and police conferences throughout the nation. However, they fail to mention that at least two of those companies are owned and operated by members of a foreign nation with a long and notorious history of spying on the U.S. government and its citizens.
Among them is NICE Systems, Ltd., an Israel-based company founded in 1986 by seven “Israeli ex-army colleagues.” NICE’s current CEO is Zeevi Bregman, who formerly helmed Comverse Technology, Inc., an Israeli-run private telecommunications firm that provides wiretapping equipment to U.S. law enforcement.
In 2001, Comverse was the subject of a Fox News investigation into Israeli spying, where it was alleged “that the wiretap computer programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door through which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by unauthorized parties. Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli government, and under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50% of its research and development costs.”
More recently, Comverse subsidiary Verint Systems, Inc. has been linked to the current NSA spy scandal. AMERICAN FREE PRESS has previously reported on how the company was hired by the feds to wiretap U.S. telecommunications networks and even offered back-door access to major U.S. technology companies like Facebook, Microsoft and Google.
Bregman now oversees NICE Systems projects that are just as intrusive. One product marketed to law enforcement is “NiceTrack Target 360°,” an intelligence gathering tool that collects and monitors the activities of persons targeted in surveillance operations. According to their brochure, “The solutions retrieve target location, relations and conversation content from any type of communication including telephony, IP and satellite, resulting in a multi-dimensional intelligence picture.”
Nice Systems also provides a suite of video surveillance products that monitors street activity 24/7 and alerts law enforcement of potential disruptions. In a promotional video for the “NICE Security Portfolio,” a group of protestors are depicted as posing a “security risk” by demonstrating in a city center. The fictitious activists are shown chanting slogans and hoisting signs that read “No More” and “Stop It Now” as the narrator explains how a variety of NICE Systems products can be used to help mitigate the “situation.” The narrator concludes by saying, “The entire event is then reconstructed on a chronological timeline, based on all multimedia sources,” to help “managers evaluate and understand trends and prepare for, predict and even prevent the next event.”
According to foreign trade portal Israel Gateway, NICE Systems products are already being used at the Statue of Liberty and the New Jersey Transit System.
A spokeswoman for NICE declined to provide Rolling Stone with specific clients, but said “Thousands of customers worldwide” use their products, including “law enforcement and other government agencies.”
A quick review of NICE’s website however, reveals some high-profile “leading customers” the Jewish firm has accumulated, including:
- Air France
- Beijing Metro
- Bank of Tokyo
- American Airlines
- Dallas-Ft. Worth Int’l Airport
- Mitsubishi UFJ
- American Express
- Eiffel Tower
- India Parliament House
- HSBC
- T-Mobile
- Miami-Dade Police Department
- NJ Transit
- New York Police Department
- Port of Miami
- Belgian Railways
- UBS
- Shanghai Pudong Int’l Airport
- Washington Mutual
- Statue of Liberty
The other Israeli-owned security firm referenced in Rolling Stone is 3i-MIND, which is profiled in the below article. 3i-MIND’s founder and CEO is Israeli-born billionaire Mati Kochavi, who also owns AGT International, a security firm managed by a team of retired Israeli generals and Mossad agents, according to an article in Le Figaro.
Though AGT has only been in business since 2007, it has already secured $8B in contracts and has become a leading supplier of surveillance technologies to the governments of India, the Netherlands, Brazil, China, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and others.
In 2010, AGT entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft as an initial foray into the U.S. security market. According to a press release, the two companies plan to “provide government homeland security and corporate customers with complete solutions” in a shared “belief that the benefits of globalization for the world economy need to be accompanied by in-built sophisticated security technology.”
More recently, AGT’s Kochavi has ventured into the realm of journalism by launching a digital news website called Vocativ, which produces pro-Israel news content targeted at the young adult demographic. According to a recent article in Forbes magazine, Kochavi “has organized his newsroom along the lines of an intelligence agency in the belief that journalism needs to undergo the same transformation that’s already swept the field of spycraft.”
Although Kochavi wants his staff and clients to enjoy full-spectrum intelligence gathering capabilities, he doesn’t believe the general public should be afforded the same. In 2011, Kochavi and former President Bill Clinton appeared together in a CNBC interview to push for the creation of a regulatory agency that would prevent “misinformation and rumors” from being spread over the Internet.
“Why can’t we have a credibility bar near every resultive search,” Kochavi asked. “When we buy food we have ingredients on the food. When we go to see a movie we have ratings.”
It’s certain that if Kochavi had his way, real news organizations like AMERICAN FREE PRESS would be given a “zero” credibility rating.
Israeli security companies like AGT and NICE Systems can only survive if their sordid pasts are concealed from public scrutiny. And that’s precisely why AFP will continue to expose them at every opportunity.
Israeli Firm Peddling Technology to U.S. Cops to Spy on Dissenters
• Former members of Israeli intelligence work to help crush free speech
A multinational security firm with ties to Israeli intelligence is providing U.S. law enforcement with intrusive surveillance tools to spy on American citizens and track the movements of political activists.
According to the above-mentioned Rolling Stone article, for-hire intelligence group 3i-MIND has been found peddling their highly advanced data-mining system at various security trade shows and police conferences throughout the nation.
The product, marketed to law enforcement as “OpenMIND,” scours the so-called “deep web”—that 80% of the Internet inaccessible to other search engines—for insights about upcoming demonstrations, identifies and collects information on political activists and monitors their activities in real-time.
“Your insight is distributed to the local police force warning them that the political rally may turn violent and potentially thwarting the violence before it occurs,” says promotional material for the product on the 3i-MIND website.
Very little is revealed about 3i-MIND in the Rolling Stone article. They don’t mention that its founder and CEO is Israeli-born billionaire Mati Kochavi, who made his fortune in real estate after serving as an intelligence operative for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
“Several years ago he became involved in the homeland security field, and this involvement increased after the September 11 attacks in 2001,” reads a 2008 article from Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “He forged contacts within Israel’s military establishment and began hiring high-ranking former officials in the field.”
Kochavi’s companies reportedly employ dozens of former IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet security service officials, including Major General Amos Malka, who headed Israel’s Military Intelligence from 1998-2001.
This isn’t the first time an Israeli-linked company has been implicated in spying on American activists exercising their First Amendment rights. In 2010, public outcry forced the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to end a contract with the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response after it was discovered that the Jerusalem-based intelligence group used the Internet to spy on peaceful protestors and then generated misleading “terror bulletins” on their activities, which were in turn distributed to Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies.
If American citizens are upset that the federal government is eavesdropping on their communications, they should be more than outraged that proxies of an oppressive and untrustworthy foreign nation like Israel are helping their local police departments do the exact same thing.
- See more at: http://americanfreepress.net/?p=13798#sthash.laX4DCZJ.dpuf
It seems the EU is getting fed up with our ally
ReplyDeleteHas a European Boycott of Israeli Colonies in the Palestinian West Bank Begun?
By Juan Cole | Dec. 12, 2013 |
First, the European Union decided last summer to exclude Israeli Occupation institutions from Israel-EU cooperation initiatives. That is, Israeli institutions are routinely invited to European scientific conferences and projects as though they were members of the EU, but those based in the Palestinian West Bank are no longer welcome. Nor will the EU give them grants. The move was dangerous for the Israeli Right wing’s project of colonizing and annexing the Palestinian West Bank (home to 2.5 million Palestinians), because many Israeli companies, universities and other institutions are developing West Bank wings, so that the boycott could blow back on the enterprises in Israel proper.
Israeli firms operating in the West Bank had been exporting $12 billion a year to Europe, a sum beginning to be in peril.
Then EU member nations began acting on it. The British government has issued an alert to UK companies saying, “EU citizens and businesses should also be aware of the potential reputational implications involved in economic and financial activities in settlements, as well as possible abuses of the rights of individuals.” I think the point of mentioning abuses of the rights of individuals (a daily practice of the Israeli occupying authorities) is that European companies might be exposing themselves to lawsuits or penalties in the terms of European Union law.
It continues,
“Financial transactions, investments, purchases, procurements as well as other economic activities (including in services like tourism) in Israeli settlements or benefiting Israeli settlements, entail legal and economic risks stemming from the fact that the Israeli settlements, according to international law, are built on occupied land and are not recognized as a legitimate part of Israel’s territory . . . This may result in disputed titles to the land, water, mineral or other natural resources which might be the subject of purchase or investment.”
My guess is that this warning is coming under the influence of Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister. But it is also just reflecting a growing European consensus.
Then Vitens, the Dutch water supply company, cut off ties with its former partner, the Mekorot Israeli water company. Netherlands journalists have reported that Mekorot delivers water to Israeli colonies on Palestinian land in the West Bank, but denies water access to the villages of the Palestinian natives. Israel is in contravention of its 1995 Oslo 2 agreement with Palestine, which limits how much water Israel can extract from the West Bank. In fact, Tel Aviv gulps down far more Palestinian water than allowed.
Vitens is not the first European company abruptly to cease cooperation with Israeli firms doing business in the Occupied West Bank.
A few days before, Lilianne Ploumen, the Netherlands Minister of Trade, all of a sudden cancelled a consultation with Mekorot in Israel. Vitens said that the Dutch foreign ministry and other ‘concerned parties’ had advised the step.
This trickle of European boycotts of Israeli firms in the West Bank or firms with major West Bank branches could become a flood, with significant economic implications for the Israeli colonization project.
Likewise, the United Church of Canada has announced a boycott of goods made by Israeli firms on the West Bank.
{...}
{...}
It's an improvement, they used to put us in cattle cars and murder us by the millions..
DeleteNow they just don't want to do business with us?
I can live with that.
Europe has it's own "islam" problem...
DeleteAfter it murdered almost 7 million Jews? It created the space for the moslems to come and roost.
Now? Europe is fighting being taken over by north africans, arabs and islamic folks from asia.
They deserve every one...
DeleteISRAEL - APARTHEID AND OCCUPATION
More than 5 million Palestinians are denied equal rights by the state of Israel under a system of apartheid, a deliberate policy of racial or ethnic segregation.
Under Israeli military occupation, millions of Palestinians live in conditions which closely resemble the apartheid system that existed in South Africa:
• No right of free speech, assembly or movement
• Arrest and imprisonment without charge or trial
• Torture
• House searches without warrant
• Assassination, extra-judicial murder
• No right to vote for the Israeli government (even though it controls their lives)
Israel controls all Palestinian borders, all imports and exports, and all movement between towns and cities.
THE GAZA STRIP, still surrounded, besieged and controlled by Israel, has been sealed off and effectively turned into the world’s largest open-air prison.
Cool...
DeleteMost of the people in American prisons claim to be innocent too...
THE GAZA STRIP, still surrounded, besieged and controlled by Israel, has been sealed off and effectively turned into the world’s largest open-air prison.
DeletePlease look at a map. Look to the LEFT...
DO you see Egypt? The world's largest arab country?
No?
You map shows Israel surrounding Gaza on BOTH east and west?
AMazing
I personally like this one...
Delete"• Assassination, extra-judicial murder"
Is this not what Desert Rat did in Guatemala? As a paid merc?
Hey Rat, you were a gun for hire by America.... Explain how your butchering innocent Guatemalans was legal
the Arab World - APARTHEID AND OCCUPATION
DeleteMore than 11 million Jews are denied equal rights by 21 nations of the Arab league, under a system of apartheid, a deliberate policy of racial or ethnic segregation.
Jews are not even allowed to own property in most arab countries today.
In fact in the Palestinian controlled land? They actually USE Jordanian laws to execute real estate agents that sold land to Jews.
DeleteReally...
execute fellow palestinians for selling land to jews....
and that stems from the Israeli assertion (which is absurd) that buying land transfers the 'nationhood' of that land with the title.
DeleteYou and allen have regularly asserted that since Israelis bought land it is then Israeli land which is absurd. It is like saying if a Mexican bought land in the US it is now part of Mexico. It doesn't work that way.
The 'execution' part follows in that transferring land to Israel is then tantamount to Treason and the punishment for Treason is execution.
DeleteAsked why he thought it is that Jews have won so many Nobel Prizes, Dawkins was forthright with his uncertainty.
ReplyDelete“I haven’t thought it through. I don’t know. But I don’t think it is a minor thing; it is colossal. I think more than 20 percent of Nobel Prizes have been won by Jews.”
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, since the Nobel was first awarded in 1901 approximately 193 of the 855 honorees have been Jewish (22%). Jews make up less than 0.2% of the global population.
Richard Dawkins Perplexed by High Number of Jewish Nobel Prize Winners
http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/10/29/richard-dawkins-perplexed-by-high-number-of-jewish-nobel-prize-winners/
Statistically, it would take orders of magnitude growth in earth's population to begin to account the Jewish Nobel anomaly. About 2% of human beings are born with an IQ of 130+. IQs of 160+ 1/100/000//000. Plug that into a population of about 12 M and the wins are impossible.
Have a sunny day! We will be out there making the world a better place. Today, we will continue leasing drones to Germany which, after spending $800M in joint venture with an American drone specialty company had to abandon the project.
:-)
DeleteStella {Goldschlag} Kübler Isaacksohn.
was a Jewish woman born in Germany who collaborated with the Gestapo during World War II, exposing and denouncing Berlin's underground Jews.
Kübler was very successful at finding her former schoolmates and handing their information over to the Gestapo.
The number of her victims varies from between 600 to 3,000 Jews.
Kübler's charisma and striking good looks were a great advantage in her pursuit of underground Jews.
The Nazis called Stella "blonde poison".
Stella {Goldschlag} Kübler Isaacksohn was a Fifth Columnist..
allen,
DeleteYou seem to conflate "Jews" with "Israel". Please note that not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israelis are Jews. The two are not equivalent.
In case you are perplexed, above you wrote:
"Asked why he thought it is that Jews have won so many Nobel Prizes," to start your post. Then you wrote at the end:
"We will be out there making the world a better place. Today, we will continue leasing drones to Germany"
The we you are referring to is Israel is it not? It certainly would be an odd statement to make if you were referring to Jews - "Jews will be leasing drones to Germany".
As I've noted to you before there are Jews who do not embrace Zionism. To conflate objections to Israeli policy and actions with the actions of Jewish people is simply wrong.
"
Thanks ash for the lesson.
DeleteMaybe you should teach deuce that one..
It has been my impression that all criticism has been of Israel and its policies (i.e. bulldozing homes). It appears to me that the conflation of Israel and Jew is done primarily by you WiO and allen though I do have recollection of Ms T, while trying to be humorous, making Jew jokes. The other meme that seems to go toward that route but doesn't quite get there, is the "Jewish European Colony in the ME" but part of that conflation is brought on by the "Israel is Jewish" meme.
DeleteIt is an European colony in the Middle East, Ash.
DeleteIt is the Eurpeans that make the claim to Judaism, not their opponents.
One of the pieces to the puzzle I have found most interesting, in all this, was one by a Palestinian leader, one not affiliated with the Israeli/US subsidized lap dogs, but one of the 'radicals'.
His position was that the rulers of Israel were not of 'The Book', but were really secular atheists.
This at first seemed unreasonable, but when dovetailed to the fact that half of the Ashkenazi Jews are secularists, that Bibi himself is listed as being a 'secular Jew' on his Wiki biography page, does seems to lend credence to that anonymous Palestinian's position.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIs that any way to thank Deuce for his tip o' the hat?
DeleteDear Ms T,
DeleteHow is your fake cancer going? Along with your fake catholic lesbian lifestyle?
Hell of an invention...
DeleteThe Palesitnians tried to "invent" themselves and all they got was an exploding vest..
Delete“The Bible tells us to be like God,
and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer.
This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization.”
― Robert Anton Wilson
Take your miserable transparent attempt to salt this blog with inflammatory use of anti Jewish derogatory language somewhere else. One more attempt and everything you post will be taken down.
ReplyDeleteGet it “Marine”?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteDeuceThu Dec 12, 06:34:00 AM EST
DeleteTake your miserable transparent attempt to salt this blog with inflammatory use of anti Jewish derogatory language somewhere else
LOL this coming from a pathological anti-Semitic?
Now that's funny...
DeleteHenric Ştefan Streitman was a Romanian Jew, a journalist, translator and political figure,
who traversed the political spectrum from socialism to the far right.
He was a physicist, social commentator and publisher,
known for both his polemical stances and his erudition.
Streitman turned to Nazi collaborationism during World War II,
serving the NAZI cause becoming president of the Central Jewish Office.
Henric Ştefan Streitman was a Fifth Columnist.
allen, and WiO, through their own postings, are their own worst enemy. Deleting their crap actually helps them.
Deletethank ash...
Deletebtw the draft dogging days are over, you can come home now.
Ash, I agree with you, but I leave enough of it up to let everyone see what they are all about.
DeleteI've run into that accusation before - draft dodging. I was born in 1959 so there was no draft to dodge but Canada is a nice place. I like it here and I've chosen to stay. Now that I am getting older and have a family I have come to appreciate the single payer medical system that we have up here but that is only one reason of many that has led to my choice to stay here.
DeleteNot one regular poster but you has ever used that language on this blog. When they appear by anonymous posters, they are removed.
ReplyDeleteWhit was right about you from the beginning. He didn’t know who you are but he sure knew what you are.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Delete
DeleteJózef Andrzej Szeryński. was a Polish-Jewish police-colonel inspector.
Working in the Lublin district and as the commander of the Jewish Ghetto Police during the Second World War.
Born Józef Szenkman to a Jewish family.
Becoming a collaborator with the Nazis following the invasion of Poland.
In August 1942, Szeryński survived being shot twice in an assassination attemptS
Józef Andrzej Szeryński was a Fifth Columnist.
There have been many examples of Jews making bad decisions.
DeleteLike the jewish doctor your mother begged to get an abortion from.
He had a bad decision not terminating you when he had the chance.
The most interesting number I heard yesterday was "less than 1%.
ReplyDeleteThat's the amount that Medical Costs rose by last year.
Less than 1%
That's the slowest rate of growth in 50 years.
That Really changes the outlook for Government Deficits in the "out years." Big Time.
2,341,715
DeleteThat's the number of people that have been Insured through Obamacare, to date.
ACA Signups dot net
yeah, what are you smoking?
Deletemy insurance jumped $100 a month last month. to $1552 a month.
But facts confuse you fake marine.
Whatever happened to ins premiums in Israel is of no concern to me, or any other American voters.
Deletefuck you asshole...
Delete
DeleteAbraham Gancwajch . was a prominent Jewish Nazi collaborator.
Operating with impunity in the Warsaw Ghetto during Second World War.
Abraham was described as the "kingpin" of the ghetto underworld.
Abraham Gancwajch was a Fifth Columnist.
Rufus IIThu Dec 12, 08:53:00 AM EST
DeleteWhatever happened to ins premiums in Israel is of no concern to me, or any other American voters.
Sorry to burst your drunkin stupor, but I am amerikan. Just as much as you are..
and yes I spelled it wrong JUST to piss of a fake marine like you.
SO rufus, you are a drunk? and an indian...
Deletetalk about stereotypes
Not a chance in the world that you are an American.
Delete
DeleteThe Jews in Jerusalem ...The Nazis in Germany…the Japanese in Shanghai…
Treating people as less than human because
of the shape of their faces or the sound of their names.
Sometimes it feels like the whole damn world is unraveling.
Anonymous
Rufus IIThu Dec 12, 10:41:00 AM EST
DeleteNot a chance in the world that you are an American.
this coming from a fake marine like you?
An interesting thing about American Democracy is that, when Republicans get in power, they tend to create a lot of poor people; and, poor people vote Democratic.
ReplyDeleteThis, also, tends to work in the reverse.
Poor illegals vote for Democrats 99 out of 100 times...
Delete
DeleteThere are so few of them, what does it matter?
If you wish to be concerned about foreign influence in the domestic politics of the United States, look to foreign interests in the news media.
On both sides of the political spectrum.
On the left, at the New York Times there is Carlos Slim, Mexican billionaire.
On the right, at FOX News, the is the Saudi royal family and Mr Murdock, himself.
Fret all you wish about 'poor illegals', but the danger to your liberty comes from the rich foreigners, replete with documentation.
You are a fool, especially so for an Anonymous activist.
We are the Collective - so toe the line, bitch.
Look to the MILLIONS of dollars the Chinese government has funneled into the political campaigns during he last cycle, where their man from Macao spent well over $30 MILLION dollars on the political campaigns of various Republican candidates.
DeleteSimly use the Google search engine and you can see for yourself.
macau republican contributor
About 9,510,000 results (0.41 seconds)
Sheldon Adelson
On one side of the argument, there are faceless, Anonymous hordes of 'poor illegals'
Deletebut little documentation of their actually voting in elections across the country.
Not in numbers that would influence a state wide election, ever.
On the other side, there are actual real people, with names and addresses in foreign lands, with huge off-shore funding sources, that are spinning the information flow to the people of the United States, and making unprecedented cash contributions to unelectable candidates, just to move the debate in directions that suit their foreign agendas.
For political Zionism to come to fruition –
ReplyDelete- for a Jewish state to be created in Palestine -
it was necessary to carry out a systematic ethnic cleansing
on as large a scale as was possible of the country’s unwanted Arab natives.
But even in 1948, and especially in 1967,
Israel was unable to fully ‘cleanse’ the land of the Palestinians.
As a result, Israel’s fallback position was to implement
an apartheid regime of exclusion and discrimination.
Where the dispossession had been most effective –
inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders –apartheid could be less explicit.
But in the OPT, home to a vast majority of Palestinians,
Israeli apartheid had to be overt and iron-fisted.
Deuce,
ReplyDeleteThe Romanian neo-Nazi Christmas carol is big news today. Among others, Der Spiegel is carrying the story as its lead. It is using the language the Romanians used. The Romanian government is appalled, it says, that it public broadcasting station would stoop so low.
Are you now going to start censoring anything coming from Der Spiegel?
No one needs to salt your site with inappropriate language, you and others do that on a daily basis.
I have no idea what Whit thought; he is gone, as are others. Could that have something to do with you? No matter what others have said about me on this site, in whatever form, I have never supported censorship or banishment. You on the other hand are one of those who can dish it out, but who cannot take it.
'Only in the Chimney': Anti-Semitic Carol Causes Uproar in Romania
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/romania-anti-semitic-christmas-song-causes-uproar-a-938703.html
"...In the broadcast, a choir was shown singing a Christmas song that indirectly glorifies the Holocaust. The song, which rhymes and uses the word "jidovi," a pejorative word for a Jew, includes the lyrics, "only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the 'jidov' is good for..."
DeleteIsrael Pays Students For Pro-Israeli Social Media Propaganda
The move was publicised in a statement from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Associated Press reported. Students will receive scholarships to "engage international audiences online" and combat anti-Semitism and calls to boycott Israel, it was alleged.
In 2012, a Palestinian-run blog reported similar arrangements between the National Union of Israeli Students and the Israeli government. Students would be paid $2,000 to post pro-Israel messages online for five hours a week.
According to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the most recent proposition is being spearheaded by Danny Seaman, who was slammed by the media for writing anti-Muslim messages on Facebook.
Students will be organised into units at each university, with a chief co-ordinator who receives a full scholarship, three desk co-ordinators for language, graphics and research who receive lesser scholarships and students termed “activists” who will receive a “minimal scholarship”, the Independent reported.
Deuce,
ReplyDeleteI do know what Whit thought about Desert Rat and his anti-Jewish ramblings. Whit put that in writing.
DeletePost 'em if you got 'em!
.
DeleteI am surprised you would bring up Whit.
You and rat share equal responsibility for Whit's departure with your constant bickering over all things Jewish and Israeli. In fact, it was an ongoing argument with you, Allen, that was the final straw that led to his departure. He simply refused to put up with the bullshit anymore.
After he was gone for some time, I recall he stopped back here to say hello and add a comment. Within a few posts following his arrival the same bullshit arguments started up again with the same dicks doing the arguing and that was the last we saw of Whit.
You two are both equally annoying.
.
That is a crock of shit.
DeleteThere is only one person responsible for Whit leaving, and that was Whit.
I do not recall him ever mentioning his reason or reasons for leaving.
I do recall he had a desire to move and open some sort of small business.
A pizza parlor in a college town was one option.
If he did that, took that option, he would have little time for this frivolousness.
People do what they do, the responsibilities for what they do, reside with those that do it.
"If for a tranquil mind you seek,
These things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how, and when and where. "
Anonymous
Quirk,
DeleteI did not bring up Whit, Deuce did. I responded only.
When Whit left, I was on one of my multi-year sabbaticals from the Elephant Bar. That leaves me having to take your word for a characterization rather than a quote from Whit. Convenient, no?
As to all things "Jewish and Israeli", please pay heed to the title of this thread.
Try reading the thread before commenting next time. Otherwise, you run the risk of appearing peevish and obtuse.
:-)
.
DeleteEveryone here at the time has their opinion as to why Whit left. I gave you mine.
If you want to deny your part in it, fine.
.
Delete“Responsibility is a unique concept...
You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished.
You may delegate it, but it is still with you...
If responsibility is rightfully yours,
no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else.
Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”
― Hyman G. Rickover
The idea that Whit left 'because something was wrong' is without foundation.
The idea that any others here were responsible for an idea without foundation is laughable.
The idea that if the conversation did drive Whit away, then the commentators were responsible for his leaving, even further from any form of reality.
Little wonder that the Japanese and Koreans have kicked Detroit's ass.
.
DeleteI will give you your point on the word 'responsibility', rat. It was Whit's decision. That your bullshit was a key factor in his leaving, no doubt.
.
Indeed, my first visit was sponsored by a group in London called the Friends of Israel.
ReplyDeleteThey offered to pay my expenses, that is,
if on my return I would come and speak to one of their meetings.
I still haven't submitted that expenses claim.
The misgivings I had were of two types, both of them ineradicable.
The first and the simplest was the encounter with everyday injustice:
by all means the traffic cops were Jews but so, it turned out,
were the colonists and ethnic cleansers and even the torturers.
It was Jewish leftist friends who insisted that I go and see towns and villages under occupation,
and sit down with Palestinian Arabs who were living under house arrest
—if they were lucky—
or who were squatting in the ruins of their demolished homes if they were less fortunate.
In Ramallah I spent the day with the beguiling Raimonda Tawil,
confined to her home for committing no known crime save that of expressing her opinions.
For some reason, what I most remember is a sudden exclamation from her very restrained and respectable husband, a manager of the local bank:
'I would prefer living under a Bedouin muktar to another day of Israeli rule!'
DeleteYou know you are in the deep shit when ...
You have radicalized the bank mangers
ReplyDeletePutin defends Russian conservative values
USA TODAY
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin cast Russia Thursday as a defender of conservative values against the "genderless and infertile" Western tolerance that he said equates good and evil.
.
ReplyDeleteI recall the speech where Obama was speaking about the problems with the ACA and said
“we have these big agencies, some of which are outdated, some of which are not designed properly”:
“We’ve got, for example, 16 different agencies that have some responsibility to help businesses, large and small, in all kinds of ways, whether it’s helping to finance them, helping them to export. . . . So, we’ve proposed, let’s consolidate a bunch of that stuff. The challenge we’ve got is that that requires a law to pass. And, frankly, there are a lot of members of Congress who are chairmen of a particular committee. And they don’t want necessarily consolidations where they would lose jurisdiction over certain aspects of certain policies.”
After five years, the problem with Obama is that even when he speaks the obvious, you assume it is just one more excuse.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-obamas-tardy-epiphany-about-governments-flaws/2013/12/11/437bcd20-61d0-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story.html?tid=pm_pop
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Good for Steny Hoyer
ReplyDeleteBy ANNA PALMER and JOHN BRESNAHAN | 12/12/13 12:26 PM EST
House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer withdrew his support at the last minute for a resolution calling for additional sanctions on Iran, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), along with Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had been trying to craft a non-binding House resolution calling for more punitive measures against the Islamic Republic.
The resolution called for Iran to allow “including no-notice inspections of all suspect sites, including military facilities, and full access to all Iranian personnel, scientists, and technicians associated with Iran’s nuclear program” by International Atomic Energy Agency officials.
It also called on Iran to release U.S. citizens “held unjustly in Iran.”
This position, however, is in conflict with the White House call for patience as Secretary of State John Kerry tries to forge a deal to end Iran’s nuclear research program.
Hoyer was personally involved in crafting the resolution, which was originally scheduled to be released Wednesday night, according to the source familiar with the discussions. Hoyer then asked for it to be delayed until Thursday morning, but then withdrew his support for the measure.
“Mr. Hoyer believes Congress has the right to express its views on what should be included in a final agreement, but that the timing was not right to move forward this week,” Hoyer spokeswoman Stephanie Young said.
The draft resolution also stated that the policy of the United States should be to seek a “verifiable” end to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, requiring dismantling of the country’s nuclear infrastructure and processing capabilities, and verification and monitoring to ensure the Iran is abiding by the terms of the agreement.
“Majority Leader Cantor hoped to move forward with a bipartisan resolution this week,” Cantor spokesman Doug Heye said. “He will continue to work with Whip Hoyer, Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel to get the agreed upon resolution to the House floor as soon as possible.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/steny-hoyer-iran-sanctions-101083.html#ixzz2nHjYcaxk
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DeleteI don't worry about a non-binding resolution in the House. What would be worrisome was if the Senate and House passed a joint resolution which would require the president to veto it.
It's easy to vote for a tough resolution if it has no consequences. Not so easy to override a presidential veto. Politics involved in both cases but they would definitely shift.
Haven't seen any vote counts projected were one of these resolutions to come to the floor.
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As the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela, it is worth looking at why the state of Israel was such a close ally to apartheid South Africa. Both states were proud ethnocracies. Both claimed to exist in “bad neighborhoods,” using geopolitics to justify their policies of blatant racial discrimination. Both spent inordinate effort to keep the wrong type of people out of large areas of their respective countries. Both labeled their opponents, such as Mandela, as terrorists in an effort to discredit their just demands.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, 19 years after the official ending of South African apartheid, Israeli apartheid is more entrenched than ever. This is why, as in the case of South Africa, the worldwide movement of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel is so hopeful. Israel will not change without pressure.
I've heard it asked: Where is the Palestinian Mandela? Plenty of candidates are languishing in Israeli prisons. The more important question is this: Where is the Jewish Israeli De Klerk? Who will tell the Israeli public that their Jewish ethnocracy cannot continue forever, and begin a transition towards a multiethnic democracy?
GUIDELINES FOR IMPROVISATIONAL BLOGGERS
Delete;-)
AshThu Dec 12, 10:04:00 AM EST
ReplyDeleteallen,
You seem to conflate "Jews" with "Israel". Please note that not all Jews are Israeli and not all Israelis are Jews. The two are not equivalent.
In a case settled by the Supreme Court of Israel (about two months ago, as I recall), the Court held there was no "Israeli" nationality. Consequently, Israel will keep doing what it has been doing: If you are a citizen of Israel (and ALL Jews are, whether they like it or not, according to law) your passport will give your nationality as "Jew". Furthermore, whether you like it or not, your religion will be recorded on your passport as "Jewish".
As to title to land, when an owner utilizing sharecroppers or tenants dies, the land does not revert to the sharecroppers or tenants. Rather, title passes to the owner's estate. Ottoman law concerning fees, was very much like Feudalism. The land in question, Palestine, was either owned by the state or by a small number of large land owners. The sharecroppers or tenants had no interest in the land and did not acquire an interest with the passing of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain and France were tasked by the League of Nations with administering the land. Again, those living on the land were not titleholders, although they used the land at sufferance.
Work out the rest for yourself, please.
So, you are saying that all Jews are Israelis. Are all Jews now required to serve in the IDF unless they have a special waiver ? That would be an interesting task getting all Jews to conform to Israeli law. In any case, I find it interesting that you are now asserting because of this uncited Supreme court decision that "All Jews are Israelis" A link to that decision would be interesting to see if the decision should be interpreted as broadly as you suggest. It also has implications for the anti-Semitism charges you are wont to lay because if it means that criticising the Israeli government and its policies is anti-Semitism it renders the charge of anti-Semitism moot - as in not a problem to be given that label. Heck it could be considered a good thing. This would, however, not do the drive to reduce discrimination against Jews.
DeleteAs to land title, your blathering about Ottoman law says nothing about land title governing nationality changing with land title change.
Are you also asserting that all Israelis are Jews?
Got it. If you are a Jew anywhere on the planet, Israel is your home. If you are Palestinian anywhere under Israeli occupation, it makes no difference how long you lived there, you are not a Jew and that is the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteA Jew is a Jew, under Jewish law. His home is where he is home on the planet. Under Jewish law, a Jew from anywhere in the world may move to Israel and have full rights of citizenship by virtue of being a Jew.
DeleteWhen you can discuss the Palestinian question without the baggage of propaganda and without resort to censorship or banishment if you are displeased, someone might take the time to have that conversation.
Since you took down my post, which was a direct quote from a reputable newspaper, The Jerusalem Post,(later circulated by Der Spiegel) concerning neo-NAZI caroling in Romania on Romania's state run broadcasting system, I am perplexed, because what I posted was not rumor or personal opinion, it was news - NEWS.
DeleteOn average, all Ashkenazi Jews are genetically as closely related to each other as fourth or fifth cousins, said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a pathology, pediatrics and genetics professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the author of "Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People" (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Maternal DNA
Richards and his colleagues analyzed mitochondrial DNA, which is contained in the cytoplasm of the egg and passed down only from the mother, from more than 3,500 people throughout the Near East, the Caucusus and Europe, including Ashkenazi Jews.
The team found that four founders were responsible for 40 percent of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA, and that all of these founders originated in Europe. The majority of the remaining people could be traced to other European lineages.
All told, more than 80 percent of the maternal lineages of Ashkenazi Jews could be traced to Europe, with only a few lineages originating in the Near East.
Virtually none came from the North Caucasus
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/most-ashkenazi-jews-are-genetically-europeans-surprising-study-finds-8C11358210
Jewish Law?
DeleteThis year, the rabbis cited
“the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Rabbinic Treaty: Israel Chief Rabbinate Leads Jewish World
An historic agreement is signed between European and American rabbinical councils, declares Israeli Chief Rabbinate heads world Jewry.
First Publish: 11/13/2013, 12:28 PM
An historic agreement was signed Monday by European and American rabbinical councils, in which world rabbinic leaders declared that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel leads the Jewish world.
The agreement was signed during a conference in Berlin by the chief rabbis and representatives of the European Rabbinical Council as well as the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home/Bayit Yehudi) also signed the treaty.
In the text is written
, "We, the European Rabbinical Council and the RCA, see in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel the pillar of fire leading the global Orthodox Jewish camp, lighting and guiding the way."
The reference is to the Biblical pillar of fire that led the Jews in the desert on their way to Israel after leaving slavery in Egypt.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173962#.UqolgeLCmZQ
This year, the rabbis cited
“the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
Crow to us some more about the Israeli Kruppwerks for Drones
ReplyDeleteAir strike kills 15 civilians in Yemen by mistake: officials
Thu Dec 12, 2013 1:34pm EST
(Reuters) - Fifteen people on their way to a wedding in Yemen were killed in an air strike after their party was mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, local security officials said on Thursday.
The officials did not identify the plane in the strike in central al-Bayda province, but tribal and local media sources said that it was a drone.
"An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital," one security official said.
Five more people were injured, the officials said.
The United States has stepped up drone strikes as part of a campaign against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the most active wing of the militant network.
Yemen, AQAP's main stronghold, is among a handful of countries where the United States acknowledges using drones, although it does not comment on the practice.
Human Rights Watch said in a detailed report in August that U.S. missile strikes, including armed drone attacks, have killed dozens of civilians in Yemen.
Stabilizing the country, which is also struggling with southern separatists and northern rebels, is an international priority due to fears of disorder in a state that flanks top oil producer Saudi Arabia and major shipping lanes.
On Monday, missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed at least three people travelling in a car in eastern Yemen.
(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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DeleteAs they say in the DOD, "Shit happens".
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And this has what to do with either Israel or Germany? Indeed, what does it have to do with drones, per se.
DeleteBeginning in 2003, Germany worked with an American firm to develop its own drone capability. One week before the unveiling of this technical wonder, the Minister of Defense pulled the plug on the project after spending $800M. While the drone could fly, it could not recognize other aircraft, like large civilian passenger carriers. The Germans were unwilling to have aloft a drone that might be killing hundreds of the traveling public, willy-nilly, because it was as blind as a bat.
Given the Israeli track record, the Germans have made a wiser choice.
As an aside, the Germans fielded three drones in Afghanistan, leased from Israel. All three crashed almost immediately. Investigation revealed that the operational codes had been given to the Taliban as well as the instrumentation necessary to accomplish the end. The prime culprit is Iran.
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DeleteOne wonders who ran the 'investigation'.
:)
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Gee, I went to Drudge, saw this:
Delete"Drone strike kills 15 civilians heading to wedding in Yemen..."
And was gonna ask the question: "Anybody Else Remember back in the Bush Years when this sort of thing was a Headline For Days in the NY Times, MSM TV," etc etc."
Only to come here and see that Deuce beat me to it, and and find further that my comment is wildly off topic wrt Drone Strikes, Mussie Weddings, Funerals, and etc.
My bad. Wrong War.
Times Change, Administrations Change, and Topics Change.
During the intervening DECADE, Doug, the public has worn weary of discussions of dead foreigners.
DeleteWhat once was 'news' is now pretty much standard operating procedure.
The new technology becomes commonplace and what was new, is old again.
Either that, or your wailing about how insignificant those deaths really were, in the scope of things and that they were not worthy of all the coverage they received during the Bush years convinced the MSM of the validity of your position, then.
And they are applying the Doug Standard, now.
;-)
Really can't hold them responsible for falling prey to such a Determined and Sexy Salesman.
DeleteA Decade in the fight to bring Democracy to the ME doesn't seem so long when you consider that WWII drug on for 3 years and 10 months.
DeleteBig Fight in Arizona:
DeleteCops vs Angry Customers at MacDonlds.
QuirkThu Dec 12, 03:15:00 PM EST
Delete.
One wonders who ran the 'investigation'.
I have no idea. What I think I know with certainty is that it is bad form and bad business for about $400M worth of technology to be wiped out on mountain sides. Since Israel is the world's largest drone merchant, it does have a reputation to protect in terms of quality. The Germans are not blaming Israel; if that means anything.
If you have an example of shoddy Israel drone technology, please share.
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DeleteHow about the software for the helmet for the F-35?
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DeleteThis year, the rabbis cited
“the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
.
DeleteWhoops, misunderstood the question.
Drone technology? Why would I have an example of shoddy drone technology? Unlike you, I have no reason to follow Israeli drone sales. My question was specific to the three drones that crashed and the investigation that followed.
It is always interesting to know who is conducting the investigation when screw-ups happen.
.
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DeleteEspecially when accusing Iran of giving the Taliban Israeli codes and equipment to use them in bringing down Israeli drones leased by Germany for use in Afghanistan.
.
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DeleteWhich I guess brings up the further question of how Iran got the Israeli codes.
Or, am I missing something here.
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QuirkThu Dec 12, 05:27:00 PM EST
Delete.
How about the software for the helmet for the F-35?
This has what to do with drones and shoddy drone technology?
I am unaware of any problem with the Jewish input into the helmet. Of course, you may be referring to the overall, monumental screw-up known as the F-35.. Projections now put the price tag at about $1.2T.
But again, how does this relate to drones and shoddy drone technology supplied by Israel?
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DeleteAs noted above, I misread your question.
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QuirkThu Dec 12, 06:03:00 PM EST
DeleteIt is always interesting to know who is conducting the investigation when screw-ups happen.
...can't argue with that...The finger-pointing at Iran came from NATO, I would guess. The report did not specify finder of fact, but since this is supposed to be a NATO show, that would be the likely source.
How would Iran get the codes? It would have to be from someone on the inside. Given the "disorder" in Afghanistan, the possibilities are staggering.
Had a single drone crashed, the problem might have been a technical glitch or a technician's error. For three to crash out of the gate would reduce that possibility greatly.
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DeleteAs to the F-35 helmet, the last I heard using the helmet, the plane can't be flown at night, there is still lag time for information transfer through the HMD, and on high velocity turns there is data shift and fluttering through the HMD.
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Hmm...I will check it out.
Delete
ReplyDelete... at their peak in 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for 92 percent of the world's Jews. Figures vary for the contemporary statistics. Some sources place Ashkenazi as making up approximately 83-85 percent of Jews worldwide
On average, all Ashkenazi Jews are genetically as closely related to each other as fourth or fifth cousins, said Dr. Harry Ostrer, a pathology, pediatrics and genetics professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and the author of "Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People" (Oxford University Press, 2012).
Maternal DNA
Richards and his colleagues analyzed mitochondrial DNA, which is contained in the cytoplasm of the egg and passed down only from the mother, from more than 3,500 people throughout the Near East, the Caucusus and Europe, including Ashkenazi Jews.
The team found that four founders were responsible for 40 percent of Ashkenazi mitochondrial DNA, and that all of these founders originated in Europe. The majority of the remaining people could be traced to other European lineages.
All told, more than 80 percent of the maternal lineages of Ashkenazi Jews could be traced to Europe, with only a few lineages originating in the Near East.
Virtually none came from the North Caucasus
the fury that came from the usually buttoned-up Boehner was pent-up.
ReplyDeleteThe same organizations - the Club for Growth, Heritage Action and FreedomWorks - wielding their considerable clout with conservative rank-and-file House members, had pushed Boehner against his better judgment into a September funding showdown over demands from the small-government, low-tax Tea Party movement for a delay or defunding of Obamacare, President Barack Obama's healthcare law.
That led to a 16-day government shutdown and a plunge in standing in polls for Republicans.
And some of the Tea Party members of his caucus in the House had done their best to oust Boehner as speaker last year.
Boehner was having no more of it.
"Frankly," Boehner said of the outside groups at a news conference,
"I think they're misleading their followers.
I think they're pushing our members in places where they don't want to be.
And frankly, I just think that they've lost all credibility."
"You know, they pushed us into this fight to defund Obamacare and to shut down the government. Most of you know, my members know, that wasn't exactly the strategy that I had in mind," Boehner told reporters.
"But, if you'll recall, the day before the government reopened, one of the people at one of these groups stood up and said,
'Well, we never really thought it would work.'"
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-usa-fiscal-republicans-20131212,0,2197227.story
DeleteAn uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been executed, the Korean Central News Agency reported early Friday. The execution comes just days after Jang Son Thaek was removed from his military post. (CNN)
ReplyDeleteWow! ...no sweetly engraved gold watch and a party at the office...
DeleteAlfred Nossig was a Polish Jewish sculptor.
Following the Nazi German invasion of Poland, Nossig co-operated with the Abwehr.
While living in the Warsaw Ghetto, Al would provide regular reports to the Nazis.
This done during the deportation of Jewish residents to concentration camps.
Alfred Nossig was a Fifth Columnist.
"Żegota" (Polish pronunciation: [ʐɛˈɡɔta] ( listen)), also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee",[1][2] was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland active from 1942 to 1945.
DeleteThe Council to Aid Jews operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Żegota aided the country's Jews and found places of safety for them in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such an organization.
Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski.
Deletewas a Polish Jew and businessman who was appointed as the German Nazi-nominated head of the Ältestenrat ("Council of Elders"), or Jewish authorities in the Łódź Ghetto.
Some remember him for his haunting and tragic speech,
" . . . . Give Me Your Children" . . . .,
in 1942, when the Germans insisted on deporting 20,000 children to death camps.
He was also remembered as an autocrat and tyrant who built a personal empire within the ghetto.
He made work the basis of survival and created profit for the Germans
Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski was a Fifth Columnist.
"Żegota" (Polish pronunciation: [ʐɛˈɡɔta] ( listen)), also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee",[1][2] was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland active from 1942 to 1945.
DeleteThe Council to Aid Jews operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Żegota aided the country's Jews and found places of safety for them in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such an organization.
South Korea has scrapped an order to its commercial airlines to ignore the air-defense zone China declared late last month—Seoul's first acquiescence to a Chinese act that has soured diplomatic relations in the region.
ReplyDelete...
Chinese officials said last week the 55 airlines, including U.S. carriers, are obeying the new rules. When China announced the zone on Nov. 23 it said any unidentified aircraft entering it could face a military response, but it has since toned down its rhetoric.
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DeleteThe US made a show by sending in military aircraft to make a point I guess. But then is letting commercial airliners abide by China's new rules.
Hard to say what to make of it. For safety reasons, it probably is prudent to notify the Chinese. However, on the other hand it could be sending the wrong signal.
Push will come to shove, the first time an aircraft reports and China refuses to grant it permission to enter the airspace. At that point, we will see how the US responds.
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QuirkThu Dec 12, 06:18:00 PM EST
ReplyDeleteHard to say what to make of it. For safety reasons, it probably is prudent to notify the Chinese. However, on the other hand it could be sending the wrong signal.
...agree on prudence in the air...We might consider facing off on the water where S. Korea, Japan, and the United States have an overwhelming advantage.
What troubles me is why now? The PLA has to know that this threat will drive Japan and S. Korea to nuclear arms production. How does it benefit China to be surrounded by well armed adversaries? I am missing something.
I dunno but I imagine it is much like Israel where they are much more interested in gaining the territory than in their neighbors getting upset about it and trying to do something about it.
DeleteAsh,
DeleteIt is NOTHING like Israel and its neighbors, which are mere gnats compared to the contestants in the Western Pacific...some perspective, please.
Iran a gnat, if you say so. In any case the desire for territory out-weighs the risk of the neighbors arming up more than they would if the claim wasn't made as forcefully.
DeleteGiven the acquiescence the Chinese are encountering it looks like a good play from their perspective. 'whot r they gonna doo 'bout it?'
DeleteAshThu Dec 12, 07:47:00 PM EST
DeleteIran a gnat, if you say so.
Google the percent or number of Iranian women engaged to prostitution. One of "Spengler's Laws":"When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
DeleteExporting Israeli Prostitutes - Tablet Magazine
www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and.../exporting-israeli-prostitutes
Dec 10, 2012 - Angelique Sabag Gautiller calls herself a pioneer and, indeed, the smiling, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 40-year-old is, in fact, something of a ...
DeleteAge of child prostitutes in Israel dropping, report finds
Knesset study cites cases of 11-year-olds used for commercial sex that are among the several thousands of teenagers involved in prostitution.
By Vered Lee | Aug. 20, 2013
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.542420
DeleteMeet the Israeli prostitutes who are ready to pay income tax
A women’s group seeking to regularize prostitution in Israel says that institutionalizing the world’s oldest profession will benefit those working in it.
By Neri Livneh | Jul. 25, 2013
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/.premium-1.537903
DeleteUnlike many countries, prostitution in Israel is legal.
To many people it is shocking to learn that in the "Holy Land" prostitution is allowed.
Prostitution is legal, but what is not legal, is running a brothel or living off the earnings of a prostitute, in other words being a pimp.
Prostitution in Israel is not kept on the down low.
Everyone knows about it and where to go to find a prostitute.
It is a choice whether they decide to pay for sex or not.
Prostitutes are known to be discrete.
They do not go around talking about the men they have sex with.
Some of the places where prostitution is more popular is in cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
That could be because the population is more secular and not as religious.
Prostitutes can be found on the streets, strip clubs and "massage parlors."
Politicians, businessmen and even police officers are known to visit the upscale "massage parlors" and high price strip clubs.
Regular citizens are more likely to just look for a prostitute on the streets.
When Arab Israelis or Orthodox Jews, whether married or not, want to have sex with a prostitute, they go somewhere far from their homes.
The reason for them going far is so they will not be recognized by anyone.
One negative effect of the rising popularity of prostitution is that venereal diseases have
rapidly increased over the years.
http://adsocceriloveran.blogspot.com/2013/05/prostitution.html
"Spengler's Laws":"When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Delete"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
DeleteThis year, the rabbis cited
“the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
Delete"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Many Israeli-born prostitutes do not like prostitutes that come from other countries because often, men prefer the outsiders.
Israeli-born prostitutes claim that outsiders are taking their money.
They say that a lot of the time men overlook them to go with the blondes.
It is unfortunate to learn that most of the women that go to Israel from other countries, are taken illegally. These women are usually tricked by the mafia.
They are told that they will be given jobs as models, dancers, masseurs, nannies, or domestic workers. They voluntarily go, not knowing where they will really end up.
These women are trafficked into Israel with borrowed, stolen or fake passports.
The ATZUM Organization presented some facts about prostitution in Israel.
The US State Department found in The 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report, that a significant amount of human trafficking takes place in Israel.
It is estimated that between 500-600 women a year are trafficked illegally into Israel for sex. Israel's prostitution and sex trafficking industry makes between $500-$750 million per year.
The average age of a woman who enters prostitution in Israel is between 12-13 years old.
That is horrifying because they are not even women, they are still little girls.
In regards to men in Israel, they make about one million visits to prostitutes every month.
It is no wonder why prostitution makes so much money and venereal diseases are on the rise.
"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Delete"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Myth vs reality, by Rebecca Hughes,
prostitution is discussed in terms of what is believed and not what the reality is.
Hughes quoted Yoav Kotler, the head of the investigative branch of Tel Aviv district police as saying "99% of prostituted women in Israel willingly work."
Basically he said that women are prostitutes because they want to be.
She claims that Kotler's assumption is wrong because most women do not choose to be prostitutes. There is a small percentage of women who say it is their choice, but the majority are prostitutes against their will.
Women forced into prostitution experience sexual, physical, and emotional abuse before entering the sex trade, so how could they possibly chose such path.
Many of these women do not report what they are going through because they are alone, away from their homes and they also fear that their traffickers will retaliate against them or their families.
"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Delete"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Government inaction,
lack of data stymie efforts to combat teen prostitution in Israel by Or Kashti,
presents a possible reason for the continual growth of prostitution in Israel.
Kashti claims that their society does not give the attention required to teen prostitution.
When society does not see it as a problem, neither will the government, and that is exactly what is happening. Children in prostitution have been abandoned because neither society, nor the government, have the interest to protect them.
The few that protest against this problem want harsher punishment and increased enforcement, but the budget is too small to get anything done.
To make matters worse,
there is not enough data on teenage prostitution to make people aware of how bad it is.
Throughout the years there have been very few cases found by police of juvenile prostitution and pimping. There are several instances where the cases were started, but then they were closed and were never finished.
The problem of prostitution affect the whole country and without the support from everyone, improvements will never take place.
When the problem is minimized, the victims' chances of escaping are scarce.
It is crucial that Israeli society realize the problem they have in their nation and begin to try to make changes.
The articles are reliable because the authors discuss issues that are relevant to Israeli society. These articles are advocating a cause and some people could say that are making the problem of prostitution bigger than it is, but that is not the case.
There is evidence provided for the claims and facts that are presented.
We do see their point of view because what is happening is morally wrong and they are just trying to make people aware. We can do a little research and easily find that what these people are saying is true.
For those reasons, the articles are trustworthy and accurate.
http://adsocceriloveran.blogspot.com/2013/05/prostitution.html
"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
The heaviest December snowstorm in 60 years swept through Jerusalem today, prompting Palestinian kids with plastic-bag mittens to engage in rousing snowball fights and others to just revel in the white stuff.
ReplyDeleteBut while snow in Jerusalem is a rare if cold delight for many, the stormy weather – which is forecast to continue into the weekend – brings a harsher sting elsewhere in the region, particularly for Syrian refugees, whose population has grown to 2.2 million.
Several days ago, President Peres was asked if he would meet with his Iranian counterpart (that is the new "liberal" president). Peres answered affirmatively.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, a press conference was broadcast from Iran across the ME, wherein Mr. Peres's token offer was scornfully derided. The Iranian president stated that now and forever Iran would never recognize the Zionist entity and would continue to work toward its destruction.
How does one negotiate with people who will be satisfied with nothing less than your death? To even contemplate such negotiations is suicidal in my opinion.
As for the Palestinians, as represented by Hamas and Fatah, there is no hope of a country as long as they cling to such a fantasy.
Christians and Muslims already serve in the IDF as volunteers. It is my understanding that the Knesset is working on legislation that would require all of Israel's citizens - Jew, Arab, and Christian - to serve the country.
“I believe four key principles should guide us,” said Netanyahu, speaking at the opening meeting of a Knesset panel recently established to come up with a replacement for the Tal Law, the 2002 temporary draft scheme that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court this past winter. “First, an equal distribution of the burden of service; second, a gradual implementation; third, the inclusion of Jews and Arabs alike; and fourth, do all this in accordance with the Basic Laws,”
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allen wrote:
Delete"The Iranian president stated that now and forever Iran would never recognize the Zionist entity"
Got a link for that one?
AshThu Dec 12, 07:52:00 PM EST
Deleteallen wrote:
"The Iranian president stated that now and forever Iran would never recognize the Zionist entity"
Got a link for that one?
Ash, start with this and dig on your own.
Iran dismisses Peres's offer to meet with Rouhani
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Iran-dismisses-Peress-offer-to-meet-with-Rouhani-334565
Delete“But in our camp, his story was everyone’s story, a single tale of dispossession,
of being stripped to the bones of one’s humanity,
of being dumped like rubbish into refugee camps unfit for rats.
Of being left without rights, home, or nation
while the world turned its back to watch or cheer the
jubilation of the usurpers proclaiming a new state they called Israel.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin
DeleteYou seem to be surprised to hear that there are still problems of 1948 to be solved, the most important component of which is the right to return of Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established “normally” and happened to occupy another country in 1967.
Palestinians are not struggling for a “state” but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.
Well, fellas, drop them there guns and say, "Howdy".
DeleteLOL the Palestinians are struggling to murder every Jew in the world..
DeleteAint it a bitch those Jews won't die without a fight?
Since you come from such tough stock, how did six million of you get carted off with hardly a whimper?
DeleteI forgot - LOL
DeleteWell, Willy, for the same reason that tens of millions of Slavs were blown away without a whimper: When you have the best army in the world, using the best equipment in the world, you can get away with stuff, like, invading Russia and fighting on four fronts simultaneously.
DeleteAs to hardy stock, we have kicked every rear-end dumb enough to cross our border since becoming a state in '48. Willy, that's what happens when you get guns and stuff.
Delete“Do you know, Mother, that Haj Salem was buried alive in his home?
Does he tell you stories in heaven now?
I wish I had had a chance to meet him. To see his toothless grin and touch his leathery skin.
To beg him, as you did in your youth, for a story from our Palestine.
He was over one hundred years old, Mother.
To have lived so long, only to be crushed to death by a bulldozer.
Is this what it means to be Palestinian?”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin
DeleteWet Willie
"Keep on Smiling"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg0BNTebcbY
Allen, I believe you would whimper; with or without guns and stuff.
DeleteOn this day in 1915, legendary singer Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, N.J.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed getting a "HT" for this thread. What can I say? Well, first, I want to thank my lord and savior...
ReplyDeleteReally, I do not deserve it.
...sorry...
ReplyDelete:-)
American who disappeared in Iran reportedly was working for CIA
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON – An American who vanished nearly seven years ago in Iran was working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission that, when it came to light inside the government, produced one of the most serious scandals in the recent history of the CIA -- but all in secret, an Associated Press investigation found.
The CIA paid Robert Levinson's family $2.5 million to head off a revealing lawsuit. Three veteran analysts were forced out of the agency and seven others were disciplined.
The U.S. publicly has described Levinson as a private citizen.
"Robert Levinson went missing during a business trip to Kish Island, Iran," the White House said last month.
That was just a cover story. In an extraordinary breach of the most basic CIA rules, a team of analysts -- with no authority to run spy operations -- paid Levinson to gather intelligence from some of the world's darkest corners. He vanished while investigating the Iranian regime for the U.S. government.
Details of the disappearance were described in documents obtained or reviewed by the AP, ...
There is no confirmation who captured Levinson or who may be holding him now. Although U.S. authorities have investigated possible involvement of drug traffickers or terrorists, ...
The AP first confirmed Levinson's CIA ties in 2010 and continued reporting to uncover more details. It agreed three times to delay publishing the story because the U.S. government said it was pursuing promising leads to get him home.
The AP is reporting the story now because, nearly seven years after his disappearance, those efforts have repeatedly come up empty. The government has not received any sign of life in nearly three years. Top U.S. officials, meanwhile, say his captors almost certainly already know about his CIA association.
There has been no hint of Levinson's whereabouts since his family received proof-of-life photos and a video in late 2010 and early 2011. That prompted a hopeful burst of diplomacy between the United States and Iran, but as time dragged on, promising leads dried up and the trail went cold.
Immediately after Levinson's disappearance in March 2007, the CIA acknowledged to Congress that Levinson had previously done contract work for the agency. But the agency had no current relationship with Levinson and there was no connection to Iran, the CIA assured lawmakers.
But in October 2007 Levinson's lawyer discovered emails between Levinson and his friend Anne Jablonski, who worked at the CIA. Before his trip, Levinson had told Jablonski that he was developing a source with access to the Iranian regime and could arrange a meeting in Dubai or an island nearby.
Problem was, Levinson's contract was out of money and, though the CIA was working to authorize more, it had yet to do so.
"I would like to know if I do, in fact, expend my own funds to conduct this meeting, there will be reimbursement sometime in the near future, or, if I should discontinue this, as well as any and all similar projects until renewal time in May," Levinson wrote.
There's no evidence that Jablonski ever responded to that email. And she says she has no recollection of ever receiving it. She said she had no idea he was going to Iran.
In a later email exchange, Jablonski advised Levinson to keep talk about the money "among us girls" until it had been officially approved.
Jablonski signed off: "Be safe."
Levinson said he understood. He said he'd try to make this trip as successful as previous ones. And he promised to "keep a low profile."
...
The hotel's registry, which Levinson's wife has seen, showed him checking out on March 9, 2007.
What happened to him next remains a mystery.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/12/disappeared-american-in-iran-was-working-for-cia/
Delete...sorry for stepping on your lead, below...
Delete
DeleteHenric Ştefan Streitman was a Romanian Jew, a journalist, translator and political figure,
who traversed the political spectrum from socialism to the far right.
He was a physicist, social commentator and publisher,
known for both his polemical stances and his erudition.
Streitman turned to Nazi collaborationism during World War II,
serving the NAZI cause becoming president of the Central Jewish Office.
Henric Ştefan Streitman was a Fifth Columnist.
"Żegota" (Polish pronunciation: [ʐɛˈɡɔta] ( listen)), also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee",[1][2] was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland active from 1942 to 1945.
DeleteThe Council to Aid Jews operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Żegota aided the country's Jews and found places of safety for them in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such an organization.
DeleteSo these Zegota were Fifth Columnists?
That is what is at issue, allen.
Fifth Columnists, folks just like you
Teresita RedingerTue Nov 19, 02:31:00 PM EST
ReplyDeleteYeah, uh, after about another half hour or so, if you ever again see someone named "Teresita" posting here, it's WiO. I'll be over at Wretchard's place.
desert ratThu Dec 12, 04:02:00 PM EST
ReplyDeleteDuring the intervening DECADE, Doug, the public has worn weary of discussions of dead foreigners.
or at least Rat hopes so..
How many civilians did you murder in Guatemala Rat?
Is the International War Crimes Tribunal still looking for you?
DeleteWhen Congress forbade U.S. forces to train the internal police forces of other countries-passed in 1974 - the Israelis stepped in and
"set up their intelligence network, tried and tested on the West Bank and Gaza."
Israeli noncommissioned officers were also said to have been hired by big landowners to train their private security details.
These private squads, together with "off-duty military officers formed the fearsome 'death squads' which later spread to neighboring El Salvador, where they have been responsible for an estimated 20,000-30,000 murders of left-wing dissidents."
The Guatemalan military is very conscious of that achievement, even proud of it.
In 1979, the Guatemalan interior minister paid a "secret and confidential" visit to Israel, where he met with the manufacturers of "sophisticated police equipment.
In March of the following year Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez Ruiz was in Israel to conclude an agreement for police training.
Following the overthrow of Lucas Garcia, the home of Interior Minister Alvarez was raided, "uncovering underground jail cells, stolen vehicles...[and] scores of gold graduation rings, wrenched from the fingers of police torture victims."
In 1983 that there were 300 Israeli advisers in Guatemala, working "in the security structures and in the army."
Other reports were less specific as to numbers, but suggested that these Israeli advisers, "some official, others private," performed a variety of functions.
Israelis "helped Guatemalan internal security agents hunt underground rebel groups."
Israeli advisers have worked with the feared G-2 police intelligence unit. overseen by the army general staff, the G-2 is the intelligence agency - sections charged with "the elimination of individuals" are stationed at every army base - which has been largely responsible for the death squad killings over the last decade.
Delete“A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.”
"Żegota" (Polish pronunciation: [ʐɛˈɡɔta] ( listen)), also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee",[1][2] was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland active from 1942 to 1945.
DeleteThe Council to Aid Jews operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Żegota aided the country's Jews and found places of safety for them in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such an organization.
DeleteSo these Zegota were Fifth Columnists?
That is what is at issue, allen.
Fifth Columnists, folks just like you
Well, it looks like the Republicans have kicked 1.3 Million People off of the unemployment rolls as of Dec 28.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas from the party of jesus.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteFeds: Ex-soldier stole military IDs for militia
Thursday December 12, 2013
BY AMY FORLITI
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota National Guardsman and Iraq war veteran charged with fraud for allegedly stealing personal information of roughly 400 members of his former Army unit was likely responsible for analyzing the military's enemy intelligence.
Keith Michael Novak, 25, planned to use the stolen names, Social Security numbers and security clearance levels to create fake identities for members of his militia group. He also wanted to sell the information and use the money to expand his radio communications capability, according to an affidavit and criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.
The affidavit said he also took combat gear from his former unit at Fort Bragg, N.C., including flak jackets and prepared "gear bags," for members of his militia group.
Novak, of Maplewood, was in federal custody Thursday and unavailable for comment. The federal defender's office has the case, but no attorney had been chosen to represent him by Thursday evening.
His father, whose home was searched Wednesday, has an unlisted number. Attempts to reach him Thursday by phone and email were unsuccessful.
Lt. Col. Alayne Conway, an Army spokeswoman, said in an email that, in general, "appropriate precautionary actions will be taken in this matter."
According to the affidavit, Novak was an active-duty soldier and intelligence analyst with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg from Feb. 26, 2009, to Sept. 3, 2012, and served in Iraq in 2010. He is currently a human intelligence analyst with the Minnesota National Guard, serving one weekend a month.
When Novak was in the Army, he would have been responsible for giving personnel information about enemy forces and potential battle areas. Other duties typically include assessing the significance of incoming information and preparing maps, charts and intelligence reports, according to a job description on the Army's website.
Novak went to a training camp in Utah in late January and met two undercover FBI employees who posed as members of a Utah-based militia, the affidavit said. Novak told the undercover employees that he took classified materials from Fort Bragg and would share the materials with them.
In July, the undercover employees came to Minnesota, where Novak gave them an electronic copy of classified documents and taught them how to encrypt files, the affidavit said. He also said that he had a personnel roster of a "Battalion's-worth of people" from his former unit.
The undercover employees said they knew someone who could make fake IDs, which Novak said he needed for his militia, the affidavit said.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/235523981_Minn__guardsman_accused_of_stealing_military_IDs.html?page=all#sthash.H9HP3nv7.dpuf
DeleteHe's another 'Dirty White Boy!'
As it turns, he is a white boy. He was never briefed of Franklin's golden adage, "Three can keep a secret if two are dead."
DeleteEverybody is a bad guy until that fatal slip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6s7afYOk_0
DeleteThis year, the rabbis cited
“the extreme seriousness involved in killing fetuses, which is like actual murder.”
"Żegota" (Polish pronunciation: [ʐɛˈɡɔta] ( listen)), also known as the "Konrad Żegota Committee",[1][2] was a codename for the Polish Council to Aid Jews (Polish: Rada Pomocy Żydom), an underground organization of Polish resistance in German-occupied Poland active from 1942 to 1945.
DeleteThe Council to Aid Jews operated under the auspices of the Polish Government in Exile through the Government Delegation for Poland, in Warsaw. Żegota aided the country's Jews and found places of safety for them in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where there existed such an organization.
The anchor who might beat Bill O’Reilly gets her eyelash extensions applied one at a time, with tweezers and dabs of glue, about 90 minutes before showtime, right after a motorized gun sprays foundation over her face, neck, shoulders, collarbone and sternum, wiping out a galaxy of light freckles that spreads across her —
ReplyDeleteLet me stop you right there.
Would you write this way about a man?
About O’Reilly himself?
At least that’s what Megyn Kelly might ask at this point.
...
There are two sides to every story. She herself believes that old cliche.
...
Now wait wait wait.
That sounds like typical journalist jargon.
Like you’re exaggerating for dramatic effect, or hiding an agenda under a veil of wishy-washiness.
Megyn Kelly is very easy to like.
...
The real Megyn Kelly, the Megyn Kelly you can see every weeknight, grew up the youngest of three in a vanilla suburb of Albany. No, she says, politics were not discussed in the Kelly household; “The Jeffersons” or “The Golden Girls” were watched more than the nightly news.
Brightest Star
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ReplyDeleteSnowden to Testify to EU Parliament by Video
Leaders in the European Parliament have agreed to allow NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to answer questions by video, despite efforts by some conservative parliamentarians to block the testimony out of fear it could further harm trans-Atlantic relations.
Parliamentary leaders of the European Parliament voted Thursday to allow the planned video appearance of the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to take place despite an attempt by conservative members of the European People's Party (EPP) to block it.
ANZEIGE
The American former intelligence contractor will answer questions that had been submitted by members of the parliament in a pre-recorded video message that will be shown at a sitting of the interior and justice committees.
"We now have a clear mandate to send written questions to Snowden, and I hope that he can answer this with a video message by mid-January," said Jan Philipp Albrecht, who, as a representative of the German Green Party in the European Parliament, is coordinating the body's NSA investigation. Snowden's video message was originally planned for Dec. 18, but the dispute over his questioning necessitated a postponement.
Snowden is expected to answer the questions on pre-recorded video because he would risk arrest by US authorities if he were to leave Russia, where he is living under temporary asylum. A live video feed could also enable the Americans to pinpoint his whereabouts...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/edward-snowden-to-make-video-appearance-to-european-parliament-a-938725.html
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ReplyDeleteThe F-35 isn't the only multi-mission weapons system being developed. We've seen the Littoral, no enter the Zumwalt-class ships.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/1199432702df
Stealth but let's hope the first big wave doesn't sink it.
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ReplyDeleteIRS Targeting: Round Two
The first time around, targeting conservatives was a secret. Now, not so much.
President Obama keeps claiming that he had no knowledge of the Internal Revenue Service's abusive muzzling of conservative groups. That line is hard to swallow given that his Treasury and IRS are back at it—this time in broad daylight.
In the media blackout of Thanksgiving week, the Treasury Department dumped a new proposal to govern the political activity of 501(c)(4) groups. The administration claims this rule is needed to clarify confusing tax laws. Hardly. The rule is the IRS's new targeting program—only this time systematic, more effective, and with the force of law.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303932504579254521095034070?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
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The wailing you hear is Rufus protesting the actions of our young dictator.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteToo Cold for Angels to Fly
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Inspirational!
DeleteDeuce wrote earlier during the thread that the EU boycott was going to bite Israel. It looks like a lot less than he might want.
ReplyDeleteIsrael voted full member of CERN, first non-European country to be admitted
http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Israel-voted-full-member-of-CERN-first-non-European-country-to-be-admitted-334866
Israel is supplying lots of physicists and doctoral and post-doctoral fellows. I think CERN is going to be very pleased it did not buy into the rot.
Delete"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
Sanctimonious Spengler bullshit. Look at the pigs that are the consumers. What does it say about their nation.
DeleteLas Vegas!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDonna Rosenthal book The Israelis covers a wide variety of issues in Israel,
ReplyDeletebut an interesting topic worth discussing today is the problems of prostitution and drug smuggling in Israel, and the impact it has on a social, political, cultural, and economic standpoint.
Rosenthal describes that the rise of prostitution is evident in Israel through advertisements, where there are as many as 700 brothels/massage parlors through Israel (Rosenthal 383).
One of the reasons for the rise of prostitution can be the legality of it.
However, it is also important to note that while prostitution is legal, running a brothel and making a living off only prostitution is considered illegal.
Another reason for the rise of prostitution is immigration, specifically Russian immigration, where the Russian Mafia is known to control the majority of the prostitution ring, some making up to 50,000 to 100,000 annual salary while prostitutes will only get a small percentage of the profits.
However, we must also note that not all immigration by Russians is done illegally, but rather Rosenthal does state that a large percentage do acquire tourists visas to visit Israel.
The leniency in the court system can explain the rise of prostitution, where federal officials are concentrated on drug smuggling instead of prostitution, despite of the alarming increase of sexually transmitted diseases.
"Spengler's Laws": "When a nation is reduced to selling its women, it's lost."
It says more about the pigs the take the woman as is does about the unfortunate woman caught in the trap.
DeleteIt is estimated that there are 200,000 prostitutes in Tehran alone. The heroin flowing in from Karsai's plantation in Afghanistan is starting to take a major toll.
DeleteOver the years, on average, the government has collected about 19.8% of GDP.
ReplyDeleteHow many people realize that, if we collected that amount in fiscal year 2014 we would have an, essentially, Balanced Budget?
$17 T X 0.198 = $3.37 T
We don't have a "Spending" problem.
DeleteAt least, now that we've ended one foreign adventure, and are winding down the other one.
Last year's budget numbers
DeleteHere
Last year we collected about 16.8% of GDP in taxes, tariffs, and fees.
DeleteIt would take a huge optimist to think that the U.S. will collect more than 17.2% of GDP in 2014. So, the question is, why can't we get back to average in collections?
The answer, of course, is "Velocity of Money" (there ain't none.) The money is getting locked up in the top 0.01%, and isn't getting down to the people that will get it flowing.
DeleteThe best, and, just about only, possible help that I can see on the horizon is a few local/state minimum wage initiatives.
DeleteIt's not much, but with the 0.01% now firmly in control of the levers of National power, it's hard to see much getting done outside of citizen petitions.
You can go
DeleteHere
and
Here
and ascertain that the proportion of HHS spending to GDP is slightly less, today, than it was in 2010.
Oh, and Social Security continues to run a Surplus.
Delete