COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
As the sun begins to sink over the Mediterranean, groups of Israelis gather each evening on hilltops close to the Gaza border to cheer, whoop and whistle as bombs rain down on people in a hellish war zone a few miles away.
ReplyDeleteOld sofas, garden chairs, battered car seats and upturned crates provide seating for the spectators. On one hilltop, a swing has been attached to the branches of a pine tree, allowing its occupant to sway gently in the breeze. Some bring bottles of beer or soft drinks and snacks.
On Saturday, a group of men huddle around a shisha pipe. Nearly all hold up smartphones to record the explosions or to pose grinning, perhaps with thumbs up, for selfies against a backdrop of black smoke.
Despite reports that millions of Israelis are living in terror of Hamas rockets, they don't deter these hilltop war watchers whose proximity to Gaza puts them within range of the most rudimentary missiles. Some bring their children.
In the border town of Sderot, which has been struck by countless missiles from the Gaza Strip in recent years, one family gathers on a top-floor balcony, draped with an Israeli flag and banner of the army's legendary Golani Brigade. A house with a war view may even command a premium price these days.
Sorry they don't have candy to pass out like the palestinians do..
DeleteThe "Cults of Equivalency" another proof
DeleteThe Semite tribes of Arabia were inspired by Mithras patriarchal dogma, plagiarized the Egyptian’s l religious manual: the Book of Death, to invent Judaism and Torah, or Old Testament and the Talmud as their religious manuals.
Then came the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad and then there were two Semitic, barbaric, misogynist, man-made, warmongering, pedophile, children raping, slave holding and slave marketing, patriarchal religions.
Judaism and Islam are, and have always been the agents and promoters of ignorance, hate, violence, rape, murder, plunder, mediocrity and stupidity.
http://www.venusproject.org/reason/brief-history-of-patriarchal-religions-on-planet-earth.html
An atmosphere of anticipatory excitement grows as dusk falls, in the expectation that Hamas militants will increase rocket fire after breaking their Ramadan fast, and the Israeli military will respond with force.
ReplyDeleteThe thud of shellfire, flash of an explosion and pall of smoke are greeted with exclamations of approval. "What a beauty," says one appreciative spectator.
Shimrit Peretz, 19, has come with her off-duty soldier boyfriend, Raz Sason, whose army-issue assault rifle is slung across his shoulders.
"We come to look at the bombing," Peretz says, adding that this is their fourth visit to the hilltop. They plan to stay several hours: "It's interesting." The pair have brought a backpack filled with bottles of water and bags of crisps.
Peretz says that she doesn't worry about the Palestinian civilians caught in the bombing; Sason disagrees. Despite his concern for the innocents caught in the assault, the young conscript soldier wishes he was with his comrades across the border in Gaza. "I'd like to be going in, to help my country and help the soldiers inside," he says.
Given the dramatic views, media crews are coming to the area to cover the fighting. On a nearby hilltop, an ugly scene develops as a group of Israeli men threaten a photographer, accusing him of being a "leftist". We are warned against asking for interviews, as another cheer goes up.
-GUARDIAN
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like...victory.
DeleteFiction - that what Ms T is quoting.
DeleteReality ....
That is Israelis killing children, for Bibi' political posturing.
All the while Hamas continued to shell Israel including an attempt to infiltrate a 10 man commando team set out with the express purpose to murder and kidnap israelis. They were all shot dead.
ReplyDeleteAs Deuce has told us.
ReplyDeleteUnless Israel is willing to dismantle Israel and change it into Palestine, and live with a majority arab population that will rule by majority rule, the palestinians and the islamists across the glide will resist and intact are preparing for a major painful "payback".
IF this is the case? israel should seek total destruction of the Hamas. They have nothing to lose since the Palestinians and Islamists will never stop shooting rockets and trying to kill Israelis.
Hamas Spokesman Urges Gazans to Act as Human Shields for Hamas Leaders
ReplyDeleteWhen Israel bombs Hamas targets and civilians die, they’re not just collateral damage. Many of them are conscious human shields who have deliberately chosen to get their 72 virgins this way.
Hamas is making a bet that using human shields will deter Israel. And if it doesn’t, they get to shout “Atrocity” and scream that Israel is cold-bloodedly murdering civilians
Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: Al Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza)
Host: “Are people still going up to the rooftops? Witnesses told us there is a large gathering and people are still going to the Kawari family house, in order to prevent the Zionist occupation’s warplanes from targeting it. What is your comment about this?”
“People are reverting to the (human shield) method which proved very successful in the days of martyr Nizar Riyan…”
Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri: “This attests to the character of our noble, Jihad-fighting people who defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood. The policy of people confronting the Israeli warplanes with their bare chests in order to protect their homes has proven effective against the occupation.”
“Also this policy reflects the character of our brave, courageous people.”
“We in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy.”
‘This is the Israeli army calling. Am I speaking to Bassem?” The officer spoke Arabic slowly and clearly, using an impeccable Gaza dialect. “Yes,” came the answer.
ReplyDelete“Listen to me carefully, Bassem. You have five minutes to evacuate your house because we are going to bomb it.
Do you understand?” The caller was assertive, not aggressive, and his voice was empathetic, even compassionate. When I asked him about this later, he answered: “They are human beings. My job is to do everything I can to save them.”
We watched real-time imagery of the house, as people exited.
“Count them. Each and every one of them,” the commander ordered, a tense expression on his face. “Are they all out?” Someone gave the number and confirmed that the procedure had been completed, but then a major intervened: “Let’s verify this again. If we can save even one person, it’s worth it.”
I spent a long night in the “knock-on-the-roof” cell, where targets were being attacked after a meticulous process of verification aimed at getting uninvolved civilians out of harm’s way, including phone calls, and warning shots to the roof, before dropping the bomb.
As Operation Protective Edge unfolded, I visited the operational nerve center of the Air Force. My objective was to discover the organizational culture, the operational atmosphere and the spirit of the airmen. As a reserve lieutenant-colonel, I received official approval, on condition that I strictly follow operational security regulations and comply with requested omissions. Naturally, not all of my experiences can, or ever will, be revealed, but those described are true and accurate.
...
It is a known phenomenon that inside operational units there is humor that would sound heartless to outsiders. I had prepared myself for this, but to my amazement, I witnessed nothing but reserved and restrained conduct. I could also sense a touch of modesty which I had not seen in the past. It seemed as if the organization had matured. I could tell that the focus was on the mission, not on personal ego.
Frankly, I feared that I might find a bunch of trigger-happy officers, but there was no sign of it. When a bomb hit its target, I could see relief, pride and satisfaction – no cheering or gloating. Everything about the place demonstrated severity and professional conduct.
What I saw was an implementation of Proverbs 24:17: “Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.”
I remember that back in the 1990s, Hezbollah fighters were sometimes referred to by a nickname which implied contempt. Not anymore. Hamas terrorists are referred to as well equipped, well trained, serious, professional and challenging rivals.
I was stunned when I saw the crowded air picture.
I asked a senior air controller how they could safely manage so many aircraft in such a small airspace.
He showed me a colored chart, dividing the sky into “blocks” ranging from low-flying helicopters to high-altitude strategic assets. “That’s a lot of airpower,” I remarked. “You bet,” he smiled, proudly.
Operation Protective Edge is led by the Southern Command. The Air Force headquarters in Tel Aviv is connected to Southern Command via an embedded liaison team which works in full collaboration with its “green” (ground forces) partners. The integration is superb – the product of many years of combined operations, training and implementation of lessons learned.
I attended a planning session, where a target was processed before attack. The level of detail, amount of time and attention invested in one target was above and beyond what I had expected. Operational research engineers were consulted as to “adjusting armament to target,” as there are multiple options to choose from. Every aspect is scientifically analyzed: from the direction from which to approach and angle of penetration, to the precise point of impact and how many milliseconds of delayed detonation to set in order to ensure destruction of the target and minimize collateral damage. The various armaments allow for pinpoint targeting of individual terrorists, destruction of partial segments of a target such as a room or a floor, or the toppling of an entire building.
DeleteLegal advisers from the International Law Department at the IDF Military Advocate General serve as a strict buffer, assessing the legality of the target according to the guidelines of international laws of war, mainly ensuring that it is clearly defined as a military target, used by Hamas for terror activity. I personally witnessed a debate relating to a target which I thought would be a legitimate strike against Hamas, but the mission was postponed until a better legal case could be constructed.
Multiple other professionals are involved in the planning process, such as meteorologists and intelligence officers. The final product is an operational order disseminated to the squadrons for execution.
DeleteThis meticulous and uncompromising process was carried out for each and every one of the many targets attacked during the operation (of course this does not apply to real-time targeting of terrorists as they launch rockets).
I was thunderstruck by the proximity of many targets to civilian infrastructures.
Hamas intentionally situated weapons caches and launch sites near (or inside) sensitive civilian institutions such as schools, hospitals and mosques.
I was also very impressed with the teamwork demonstrated. The IAF is known to be a hierarchal organization, yet when working together side by side during operations, the atmosphere is that of camaraderie and professional respect.
The IAF’s operational staff is presently undergoing a dramatic reorganization, or rather transformation, with the overall goal of boosting operational effectiveness and a remarkable boost of attack capacity, i.e. the number of targets that can be attacked every day. Technical aspects have been made to allow swift layover between sorties (flights), making the process look much like a “pit stop” in motorsports, where the plane is refueled and rearmed for immediate departure.
It’s not only a matter of planes and bombs. A major bottleneck in air operations has always been the ability of the operational headquarters to plan and control, and the new organizational structure addresses this.
In modern warfare, success is not measured simply by the number of enemy targets destroyed, but by rendering fighting pointless in the eyes of the enemy. Some even claim that the damage we inflict during the current conflict hardly affects the outcome of this “round” of violence, but the probability and proximity of the next one. The enemy will remember the consequences of attacking Israel, and have this as a major factor in his calculations.
Observing from the outside, it sometimes may look as if “the owner went crazy,” as the Hebrew saying goes (going berserk). I would say that the Air Force’s mode of operations is exactly the opposite, and is characterized by restrained, calculated and measured operations.
The IAF acts within a unique paradox. On the one hand, it employs extremely lethal capabilities, but on the other hand, it is fighting a delicate operation of surgical strikes, with a key consideration of preventing collateral damage and innocent casualties. It is therefore important to realize that this scenario does not reflect what an overall campaign would look like, when the full capabilities of the Air Force are unleashed.
I found that there is a deep understanding of the limitations of military might.
Everyone knows that the military’s goal in asymmetric warfare is not to win a decisive victory, but to bring about a reality which will enable the political echelons to shape the strategic environment.
The Israel Air Force is a key component of Israel’s defensive and offensive capabilities.
It is an incredibly lethal war machine, but at its core are the most dedicated, professional and morally driven group of people I have ever met.
The writer is a former pilot in the IAF, founder of Cross-Cultural Strategies Ltd. and Project Manager at CockpitRM. www.CCSt.co.il
IF Israel was TRYING to kill civilians? The totals would be thousands a day...
ReplyDeletehttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A5WRjiiTZCw/U8zdOs-Zg3I/AAAAAAABmSg/TBq8NtbHIuQ/s1600/Shuja%27iya+evidence.jpg
Deletethis is a declassified from the air photo of 4 "civilian" sites used as rocket launching sites.
In case you were wondering why the IDF expended so much blood and effort on Shejaiya on Sunday.
Great video of Hamas shooting from a civilian building..
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfbjO2WznEk
If the Israeli were killing thousands of children each day, the audience on the Israeli hilltop would appauld, but the US would cut off the funding.
DeleteThat would not help Bibi's political fortunes, so he strikes a balance.
Just a dozen children can be killed each day.
That satisfies his "Base" but does not close the payout window.
You really think 3 billion a year is that important to Israel?
DeleteHeck even Sodastream earns 25% selling soda....
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, former US Attorney General Michael Mukasey explains that what really matters to Hamas in this war is not its rocket supply, but its tunnel network, which could God Forbid allow it to kidnap Israelis.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Yigal Carmon, who heads the Middle East Media Research Institute, his organization's monitoring of published material and discussions with Israeli officials indicate that Hamas's tunnels—and not the well-publicized episode of kidnapping and murder involving young Israelis and a Palestinian teenager—were the spark for the conflict.
Consider: On July 5 Israeli planes damaged a tunnel dug by Hamas that ran for several kilometers from inside the Gaza Strip. The tunnel emerged near an Israeli kibbutz named Kerem Shalom —vineyard of peace.
That Israeli strike presented Hamas with a dilemma, because the tunnel was one of scores that the group had dug at great cost. Were the Israelis specifically aware of the tunnel or had their strike been a random guess? Several members of the Hamas military leadership came to inspect the damage the following day, July 6. A later official Israeli report said that the Hamas inspectors were killed in a "work accident." But what if the Israelis had been waiting for the follow-up and struck again?
Hamas now saw its strategic plan unraveling. The tunnel network gave it the ability to launch a coordinated attack within Israel like the 2008 Islamist rampage in Mumbai that killed 164 people. Recall that in 2011 Israel released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, more than 200 of whom were under a life sentence for planning and perpetrating terror attacks. They were exchanged for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who had been taken hostage in a cross-border raid by Hamas. Imagine the leverage that Hamas could have achieved by sneaking fighters through the tunnels and taking hostages throughout Israel; the terrorists intercepted Saturday night were carrying tranquilizers and handcuffs.
If the Israeli strike on the tunnel near the Kerem Shalom kibbutz presaged a drive to destroy the entire network—the jewel of Hamas's war-planning—the terrorist group must have been thrown into a panic. Because by this summer Hamas was already in desperate political straits.
DeleteFor years Hamas was receiving weapons and funding from Shiite Iran and Syria, under the banner of militant resistance to Israel. But when Mohammed Morsi became president of Egypt in June 2012, Hamas abandoned its relationship with Iran and Syria and took up instead with Mr. Morsi and the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas also took up with Turkey and Qatar, also Sunni states, describing them at one point as the saviors of Hamas. Former benefactors Syria and Iran then called Hamas traitorous for abandoning the resistance-to-Israel camp.
The Hamas romance with Mr. Morsi was especially galling to Shiite-led Iran and Syria. The Shiites are only 10% of the world's Muslims, and neither Iran nor Syria welcomed the loss of a patron to Sunni Egypt. The coup that removed Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood regime in June 2013 brought a chill in Egypt's relationship with Hamas that has kept Egypt's border with Gaza closed, denying Hamas that route of supply.
But Iran and Syria did not rush to embrace their former beneficiary. When Hamas tried to re-ingratiate itself with Iran this May, its political bureau head, Khaled Mash'al, was denied an audience in Tehran and could only meet a minor diplomat in Qatar. On June 26 the Iranian website Tabnak posted an article titled, "Mr. Mash'al, Answer the Following Questions Before Asking for Help." The questions included: "How can Iran go back to trusting an organization that turned its back on the Syrian regime after it sat in Damascus for years and received all kinds of assistance?" and "How can we trust an organization that enjoyed Iranian support for years and then described Turkey and Qatar as its saviors?"
So on July 6, Hamas stood politically isolated and strategically vulnerable. It had lost the financial support of Egypt and could not get renewed support from Iran in the measure it needed. To some in the organization it appeared that Hamas had only one card to play—and on July 7 it played that card with rockets. As to the tunnels, last Thursday Israeli forces intercepted 13 armed terrorists as they emerged from a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa in Israel.
I suppose we should thank Hamas for refusing the 'cease fire' last week that would have kept us from even starting on the tunnels.
People are, pretty much, assholes (which is to say, "people,") no matter where you go.
ReplyDeleteWe all tuned in to watch "Shock and Awe."
Pretty much.
DeleteTERRORIST THREAT
ReplyDelete“Listen to me carefully, Bassem. You have five minutes to evacuate your house because we are going to bomb it.”
Hamas doesn't tell the Israelis even which CITY they are going to bomb and they have had 10 years and 10,000 rockets to figure it out.
DeleteCall it what you will, Israel notifies the people inside the ammo dump BEFORE bombing it.
We are going to destroy everything you have and have worked for. You can save yourself and your family if you are lucky enough to do this in under five minutes , head in the right direction, don’t look back and don’t get hit from flying shrapnel. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteTERRORISM
Nah.
DeleteIt is called very polite war.
Almost 18th Century or something.
"We are going to emerge from this homicide tunnel in five minutes, Jakob, and blow your family to hell."
DeleteI bet no one has ever said that.
What do you think?
What about: "We announce we are going to launch on Tel Aviv in five minutes."
Ever hear an announcement like that?
Nah......
Sebastian Gorka: Christian Holocaust Underway in Iraq, USA and World Look On
ReplyDeleteWhen U.S. troops invaded Iraq in 2003, there were at least 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Over the last ten years, significantly in the last few months with the emergence of ISIS, that figure has dropped to about 400,000.
In a region where Christians predate Muslims by centuries, over one million Christians have been killed or have had to flee because of jihadi persecution, while America is basically standing by and watching. This is the sad news that Breitbart’s National Security Editor and one of the world’s leading experts on asymmetric warfare, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, brought to Breitbart News Saturday, hosted by Editor in Chief Alex Marlow on Sirius XM Patriot Radio.
Dr. Gorka explained that “in the last 48 hours, ISIS, which is now called the Islamic State in Mosul, has painted the letter “N” for Nazarene on the houses of all the surviving Christians in the city. ISIS has basically given an ultimatum to all the Christians left: You can either flee or convert to Islam, or we will kill you.”
Gorka points out that, over the last 20 years, America has stood up around the world to save Muslims. “Whether it was to save the Muslims in Bosnia or the Albanians, Kosovars, and Muslims in Serbia, it is now time for a humanitarian operation to save the remaining Christians in Iraq,” he said. “It is time for the American people and our representatives to do something for our co-religionists remaining in the Middle East.”
Marlow observed that the blatant religious cleansing is horrifying and asked Gorka: “Why is it that the mainstream press is not interested in the story?” Gorka first responded by saying "Let's face it, this is a Christian version of the Holocaust and nothing less.”
The Middle East expert went on to explain that the mainstream media is in full support of the White House narrative “that the President single-handedly killed Osama Bin Laden, and that Al Qaeda is now on the ropes; therefore, jihad must be shriveling up around the world.” This myopic strategy of only targeting Al Qaeda has provided great opportunities for other jihadists and has given rise to ISIS.
“On top of that,” Gorka asserts that, "the mainstream media are warped in terms of their world view.” According to Breitbart’s national security expert, the media is “post-modernist, sophisticated, and secularist. So when it comes to the idea of religious persecution, they say, ‘Well who really cares because I don’t believe in God. If you are not sophisticated enough to be a post-modernist secularist... tough on you!’”
Gorka didn't finish there with his scathing indictment of the mainstream media. He added that it is their racism that will let this genocide of Christians continue. “To the mainstream media,” Gorka charged, “the dark skin person always has to be the victim. Either the Hamas terrorist in Gaza, the Nicaraguan gang bangers coming across the border likened to juvenile political refugees... the idea that the white skin Christian or the Israelis as victims, that goes against every narrative this media wishes to pedal. They are necessarily so locked into their own ideological vision of the world.”
Marlow summed it up by saying, “Christians are politically targeted in America frequently; they are being physically targeted in Africa, Syria, and Iraq.” Gorka emphasized that, from his first hand experiences in Africa, Christians will always be blamed for starting any upheaval.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/19/Christian-Holocaust-Underway-in-Iraq-as-USA-and-World-Looks-On
While Hamas continues to fire on Israel, the IDF allowed 148 trucks with 3222 tons food and medical supplies, 250 tons of natural gas, and 720,000 gallons of gasoline to cross the border into Gaza on Sunday alone.
ReplyDeleteObama is responsible for this by taking out the troops too soon.
ReplyDeleteYou are dumber than dumb, Robert Peterson.
DeleteStupid is to generous a description of what you just wrote.
Blah blah blah
DeleteJack HawkinsFri Jul 18, 12:36:00 AM EDT
DeleteI mean, you are an Israeli, and here is nothing worse than that.
In all the world, the Arabs of Israel are the scum.
Now if you were a European, well thatd be different, but Israelis are all Arabs, Semites.
Scum of the Earth
;-)
Have a nightmare tonight and a shitty tomorrow,
QuirkFri Jul 18, 01:13:00 AM EDT
.
And the voice of the rat is heard in the land.
And the world once again cringes.
Jack HawkinsMon Jul 21, 09:32:00 AM EDT
DeleteYou are dumber than dumb, Robert Peterson.
Stupid is to generous a description of what you just wrote.
Ad hominem...
LOL
It took me five minutes to gather my thoughts, type them and post them. Imagine what Bassem was supposed to do.
ReplyDelete
DeleteIsrael - a nation founded by terrorists - sustained by terrorism.
Jack HawkinsFri Jul 18, 12:36:00 AM EDT
DeleteI mean, you are an Israeli, and here is nothing worse than that.
In all the world, the Arabs of Israel are the scum.
Now if you were a European, well thatd be different, but Israelis are all Arabs, Semites.
Scum of the Earth
;-)
Have a nightmare tonight and a shitty tomorrow,
QuirkFri Jul 18, 01:13:00 AM EDT
.
And the voice of the rat is heard in the land.
And the world once again cringes.
The Palestinians KNOW that if they get a call? Get the hell out of there.
DeleteAfter ALL they KNOW that the house stores weapons and rockets...
Finally, in "Shabtai Tzvi", Labor Zionism and the Holocaust, which was published also by Modiin, Barry Chamish writes (on pg. 232) that, about a year before he became Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon said that had Jabotinsky been head of the Jewish Agency instead of Ben-Gurion, millions of Jews would have been saved from the Holocaust.
Delete" Perfidy, The Transfer Agreement", and "The Scared And The Doomed" are accurate books (which were created by Jewish people, not anti-Semite bigots) that detail how Labor Zionism prevented the rescue of European Jewry.
http://firstlightforum.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/zionists-collaborate-with-hitler-to-squeeze-the-lesser-jews-into-palestine/
It's a shame Jack that you have no actual thoughts, just posting the same bullshit day after day...
DeleteBut the good side? What you post shows viewers of the blog that your hatred of Jews, Judaism and Israel is 100%
Iran has turned all of its enriched uranium closest to the level needed to make nuclear arms into more harmless forms, the United Nations' nuclear agency said Sunday.
ReplyDeleteBased on what is happening, Iran would be insane not to obtain nuclear weapons ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThe Western world and Israel have been insane not to have prevented it by now.
Delete“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”
Delete― George Orwell
Deuce, you have completely now passed into the world of iran and Hamas. Congrats.
DeleteFormer Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy not only has publicly opposed an Israeli attack on Iran as anything but a last resort;
Deletehe is a longstanding supporter of a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue.
In September of 2012, Halevy told Haaretz‘s Ari Shavit that Israel needed to understand the Iranian perspective:
The basic feeling of that ancient nation is one of humiliation.
Both religious Iranians and secular Iranians feel that for 200 years the Western powers used them as their playthings.
They do not forget for a moment that the British and the Americans intervened in their internal affairs and toppled the regime of Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953.
From their perspective, the reason why, to this day, there is no modern rail network and no modern oil refineries in Iran is that the West prevented that.
Thus, the deep motive behind the Iranian nuclear project
− which was launched by the Shah −
is not the confrontation with Israel,
but the desire to restore to Iran the greatness of which it was long deprived.
I believe that if the West could find a way to propose to Iran alternative methods to acquire that sense of greatness,
Iran would forsake the nuclear road.
If Iran were offered trains and oil refineries and a place of honor in regional trade, it would consider this seriously.
A month later, in an interview with al-Monitor‘s Laura Rozen just before the U.S. presidential election,
Halevy defended President Obama’s willingness to negotiate with Iran as ” very courageous.”
http://2164th.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-brutal-truth-our-president-got-his.html?showComment=1385263221963#c2669905476206837535
Arabs train for jihad by blowing up Muslim women purchasing corn in the market, and Muslim children attending elementary school. About the only jihad operational facet that survives a general engagement with an actual First World army is the psyops in the blogosphere where they do excel, primarily due to their fifth "columnists".
ReplyDeleteYou go, girl.
DeleteThat's so 2 months ago..
DeleteGet with the program, the world moves forward and you are a stick in the mud...
LOL
When you were killing civilians in Central America you bragged that SINCE you were not arrested charged and convicted, you were "not guilty"
LOL
Staff at the al-Asqa martyrs hospital are in state of shock that a medical facility was targeted by the Israelis, according to Fikr Shalltoot, director of programmes at Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza City.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to the Guardian after talking to her nephew who works at the hospital, Shalltoot said: "People can't believe this is happening - that a medical hospital was shelled without the briefest warning. It was already full with patients." She added:
Five people, I gather were killed, and 15 were injured, including medical staff. I know the staff very well. My nephew is a medical doctor there. It is very difficult to believe it, but it is really happening in Gaza. My nephew doesn't know what's going on and can't understand why they are hitting a hospital. It is not realistic that they can do any military activity in this hospital.
But Shalltoot said the attack appeared to be deliberate.
If it was one (shell) people would think it was a mistake. But if they are targeting it by more than one tank shell this is not a mistake.
It is very strange that they are hitting a hospital without a previous warning. It is very strange that they are hitting a hospital which is known to be small and it's the only one in that area.
All the rumors fit to print.
DeleteI need to see more info.
The hospital sits atop a set of underground bunkers and tunnels, storing high ranking hamas members and weapons.
Deleteit's a military target according to the law
You said warning was the same thing as terrorism, maybe Israel read your statement and decided not to "call or warn" as you said that was terrorism.
DeleteBut everyone KNOWS that Hamas has a bunker UNDER the hospital and stores weapons and uses the hospital as a command and control.
Jack HawkinsMon Jul 21, 10:13:00 AM EDT
Delete... the “Stern Gang,
LOL still rehashing 60 years ago...
DeleteIsrael - Founded by Terrorists - Sustained by Terrorism
There is no denial that Israel was founded by terrorists.
DeleteIndeed, "O"rdure laughs it off, out loud.
That Israel is sustained by terrorism ...
Delete28,000 plus Palestinian homes have been destroyed by the Israeli.
1,500 Palestinian children have been killed by the Israeli in the 21st century.
The evidence is beyond dispute, it cannot be denied.
Just laughed at by the NASI.
Then you are a terrorist as well...
DeleteAnd using your standards? So is America.
And of course every other nation in the world
One standard for all not just one for Jews.
But since you put the standard the way you do? It loses all meaning.
DeleteAPARTHEID 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.
http://www.seamac.org/EqualRights.htm
DeleteWhat is "Occupation"Mon Jul 21, 10:48:00 AM EDT
DeleteThen you are a terrorist as well...
"O"rdure has now elevated Jack Hawkins to equivalency with Israel
Thanks, for the demeaning of Israel.
Stay the Course !
"O"urdure has claimed that Jack Hawkins is a murderer, a traitor, the scum of the earth.
DeleteHe now wants to create equivalency between Jack Hawkins and the state of Israel.
Confirming the claim that Israelis are the "scum of the earth".
Thank you, "O:rdure, for confirming the claim of Jack Hawkins, as it concerns the Israeli.
DeleteThere is a price to be paid for using ad hominem arguments at the core of your debating style, and then claiming equivalency between the object of the ad hominem arguments and the position being defended.
Take note of that "O"rdure and learn, grow, try to expand your horizons.
I never called you "scum of the earth" I think you are just being honest.
Deletethe actual person behind the online alias "jack hawkins" aka the rat aka farmer rob aka so many other names its down right amazing...
DeleteStands with Hamas, Jihadists, Islamists and Iran.
I stand with israel and it's right to defend it's self against a enemy that is a sworn enemy of the USA.
Hamas & iran are both sworn, public enemies of the United States.. Supporting them? Makes a guilty of treason.
This is not an baseless personal attack, it is a rational and conclusive decision based on hundreds, if not thousands of posts by the above referred to person.
To support Hamas and Iran? is treasonous to the United States and should be punishable by arrest, and if found guilty, life in prison
But you do acknowledge the equivalency between Jack Hawkins and Israel.
DeleteAnd that "O"rdure is all that matters.
You acknowledge that Israel was founded by terrorists -
You acknowledge Israel is sustained by terrorism.
That, "O"rdure is the moment we've all been waiting for.
Stay the Course !
DeleteElvis Presley - Puppet on a string
That is our song, "O"rdure.
No, sorry Jack, all I "Acknowledge" is that you stand for terror and terrorists.. And for enemies of the United States.
DeleteI wonder how the Colonial well treat you once he finds out your Iranian and Hamas leanings....
so long for now, traitor
Gov. Rick Perry to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops to RGV
ReplyDeleteKelly West
National Guard Capt. Martha Nigrelle takes a photo of a washed-out bridge to show the hazardous terrain Border Patrol agents encounter on May 19, 2014, in Laredo, Texas. Border Patrol agents are guided to illegal immigrants by National Guard troops in Lakota helicopters equipped with thermal imaging camera systems. (Kelly West/Austin American Statesman/MCT)
JACOB FISCHLER | STAFF WRITER | Posted 11 hours ago
Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to announce he will activate the Texas National Guard at a news conference Monday in Austin, said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen.
Hinojosa did not have details of the effort, but an internal memo from another state official’s office said the governor planned to call about 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley — at a cost of about $12 million per month.
The memo was provided to The Monitor on the condition of anonymity because the information is not yet public.
Troops are expected to enter the area gradually, building up to 1,000 after about a month, the memo said.
The troops will join the Texas Department of Public Safety in its recent surge to combat human smuggling and drug trafficking amid the influx of mostly Central Americans illegally crossing the Rio Grande. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus announced the $1.3 million per week effort last month.
Moving Texas policemen around Texas sure seems to be an expensive proposition.
DeletePaul Krugman: The Fiscal Fizzle
ReplyDelete"We don’t have a debt crisis, and never did":
The Fiscal Fizzle, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: For much of the past five years readers of the political and economic news were left in little doubt that budget deficits and rising debt were the most important issue facing America. Serious people constantly issued dire warnings that the United States risked turning into another Greece ...
I’m not sure whether most readers realize just how thoroughly the great fiscal panic has fizzled...
In short, the debt apocalypse has been called off.
Wait — what about the risk of a crisis of confidence? There have been many warnings that such a crisis was imminent, some of them coupled with surprisingly frank admissions of disappointment that it hadn’t happened yet. For example, Alan Greenspan warned of the “Greece analogy,” and declared that it was “regrettable” that U.S. interest rates and inflation hadn’t yet soared.
In fact, even within Europe the severity of the debt crisis diminished rapidly once the European Central Bank began doing its job, making it clear that it would do “whatever it takes” to avoid cash crises in nations that have given up their own currencies and adopted the euro. Did you know that Italy, which remains deep in debt and suffers much more from the burden of an aging population than we do, can now borrow long term at an interest rate of only 2.78 percent? Did you know that France, which is the subject of constant negative reporting, pays only 1.57 percent?
DeleteSo we don’t have a debt crisis, and never did. Why did everyone important seem to think otherwise?
To be fair, there has been some real good news about the long-run fiscal prospect, mainly from health care. But it’s hard to escape the sense that debt panic was promoted because it served a political purpose — that many people were pushing the notion of a debt crisis as a way to attack Social Security and Medicare. And they did immense damage along the way, diverting the nation’s attention from its real problems — crippling unemployment, deteriorating infrastructure and . . . .
Fiscal Fizzle
There is no legal right to Social Security, and that is one of the considerations that may decide the coming debate over Social Security reform.
DeleteMany people believe that Social Security is an “earned right.”
That is, they think that because they have paid Social Security taxes, they are entitled to receive Social Security benefits.
The government encourages that belief by referring to Social Security taxes as “contributions,” as in the Federal Insurance Contribution Act. However, in the 1960 case of Fleming v. Nestor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workers have no legally binding contractual rights to their Social Security benefits, and that those benefits can be cut or even eliminated at any time.
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/is-there-right-social-security
For nineteen years, Nestor and his employers had made regular payments into the Social Security system. In 1955 he became eligible for payments from Social Security. When he was deported, the government cut off his payments. Nestor sued.
ReplyDeleteNestor lost. The case, Flemming v. Nestor (Flemming was the secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare), established the principle that entitlement to Social Security benefits is not a contractual right.
Seniors today worry about that principle even though they have never heard of Ephram Nestor. They are right to worry, and all the more so when they read statements like the following one from Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson.
He described as "highly misinformed" Americans, which includes the elderly, who believe that the elderly have "earned" their Social Security through their lifelong payroll taxes. Both Social Security and Medicare, Samuelson writes, "are pay-as-you-go. Today's taxes pay today's benefits; little is 'saved.' Even if all were saved, most retirees receive benefits that far exceed their payroll taxes."
http://spectator.org/articles/37814/social-security-and-ghost-ephram-nestor
ReplyDeleteEuropean sanctions on Russia seen limited for now, despite tough talk
U.S. President Barack Obama has piled pressure on Europe for a more forceful response and the three leading EU powers - Britain, France and Germany - said they should be ready to ratchet up sanctions.
Britain, in particular, said it was willing to suffer the economic consequences.
But diplomats said Tuesday's meeting was not expected to go further than agreeing on companies and people to be hit with asset freezes under a more aggressive framework agreed last week. Previously, they had only said they would decide on the list by the end of July.
ReplyDeletePhilip Hammond threatens EU exit
UK’s new foreign secretary reiterates earlier stance on EU membership
London: Britain’s new Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond reiterated his position from two years ago that if Britain does not get good renegotiation, it should leave the European Union.
In an interview with Andrew Marr of the BBC, Hammond reiterated his earlier stance that if the European Union failed to change and to agree to new terms for Britain’s membership, he would rather leave the bloc.
“If there is no change at all in the way Europe is governed, no change in the balance of competences between the nation states and the European Union, no resolution of the challenge of how the Eurozone can succeed and coexist with the non-Eurozone — that is not a Europe that can work for Britain in the future, so there must be change, there must be renegotiation.”
ReplyDeleteFilipinos move to impeach President Aquino
CTV News - 4 hours ago
MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-eight Filipinos, including prominent activists, have filed an impeachment complaint against Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for implementing a major economic stimulus program that the Supreme Court has declared partly unconstitutional. ...
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s focus on wages to help gauge the strength of the job market could need fine tuning as baby boomers approach the twilight of their careers and millennials jump in to fill the void.
ReplyDeleteAs today’s middle-aged Americans grow older, they are leaving their prime working years behind, trading big salaries for part-time gigs or retirement, just as an even larger group of young people come into the labor force at entry-level salaries. The seismic shift may be one reason behind the sub-par wage growth that Yellen says still shows “significant slack” in the job market.
“If wages are softer for demographic reasons, that’s just a fact of life,” said Ray Stone, managing director at Stone & McCarthy Research in Princeton, New Jersey. “The extent of labor-market slack may be less than is being advertised by Janet Yellen.”
As the labor pool becomes weighted toward these age extremes, average earnings could be depressed for years, making them a less-useful tool in signaling a tightening of the labor market. A similar dynamic is influencing the unemployment rate, which is dropping faster than central bankers predicted in part because of the retirement of baby boomers.
Rapid improvement in the labor market would prompt the Fed to raise interest rates sooner to prevent inflation from rising too much, while slower employment gains would keep rates low for longer. Fed officials currently anticipate raising their benchmark interest rate from almost zero sometime next year, according to projections released in June.
DeleteAgeing Boomers
Boomers, the more than 76 million people born between 1946 and 1964, began turning 65 three years ago and all will have reached that age by 2030. All millennials, the 82 million people born between 1981 and 2000, will have entered prime-working years -- the age group from 25 to 55 -- by the . . . . . .
Millennials - The Wild Card?
Senior IDF commander: Terrorists who infiltrated from Gaza wore IDF uniforms
ReplyDeleteOC Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Sami Turgeman says infiltration in which ten terrorists were killed by IDF soldiers underlines threat posed to South; says IDF's destruction of tunnels is disturbing Hamas work which took years.
This morning's tunnel infiltration by two Hamas squads underlines the threat posed to the South, OC Southern Command, Maj.-Gen. Sami Turgeman, said Monday.
Dozens of terrorists in military uniform emerged from a tunnel, and were successfully stopped by the military, Turgeman added.
Uncovering the tunnels is a complex and challenging task, requiring intelligence and technology, he added.
The IDF's work in destroying tunnels, both inside Gaza and cross-border tunnels, "is disturbing the enemy," which spent years digging them,Turgeman said.
Two terrorist attack cells entered Israel from northern Gaza via a smuggling tunnel on Monday morning.
They were identified by IDF lookouts, and an aircraft was dispatched to intercept them. The first cell was struck from the air, and ten of its members were killed.
Hmm..
Israel has, by right of international law, the right to execute any Hamas team members that were wearing IDF uniforms.
Just think of the time, money and energy spent (and wasted) by the Hamas.... Glad to here they are all dead.
Go TEAM IDF.
Now what is also interesting, Hamas which has an annual budget of over a billion dollars and has over 165 thousand troops doesn't wear uniforms..
DeleteThis is also a war crime.
They ought to put the billion towards a water desalination plant.
DeleteThat would be well spent.
Then you are claiming that Hamas is the legitimate government of a legitimate state?
DeleteThat their legitimate government is obligated to conform to the Geneva Accords, as Israel is?
Do you deny that Israel has committed "War Crimes"?
Collective punishments
Article 33. No persons may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed.
Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against persons and their property are prohibited.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishment is a war crime.
One has to keep in mind that the concept of unlawful combatants is relevant only in international armed conflicts, because the law applicable to non-international armed conflicts does not foresee combatant status (thus, the issue of unlawful combatants does not arise).*19
Deletehttp://www.juridicainternational.eu/?id=12632
If Gaza is not a legitimate country, then the Hamas combatants are not committing "war crimes".
If Gaza is a legitimate country, why are they not a member of the UN?
Indeed it would appear that Gaza is, at best, a Bantustan, a pseudo state invented by colonial British and codified by the National Party government of South Africa, as part of its Apartheid Policy.
Gaza is part of the state of Israel.
Thus, the Hamas combatants are NOT committing "War Crimes".
DeletePoor "O"rdure, he and the NASI regime would like to have their cake, and eat it, too.
So sorry Jack that your law expertise aint up to par.
DeleteTerrorists, like you, are in fact capable of committing war crimes.
And Hamas are the elected government of the Gaza Strip, either way?
DeleteKill them as the are attempting to kill Israeli civilians on purpose, Just let us know when you will be in Gaza and the address… Sure love to watch that video.
The research from the Energy Economics and Management Group in the School of Economics shows that wind energy – particularly in South Australia and Victoria – has a big impact on wholesale prices, but not just at night-time when wind energy blows the most, and demand is normally lowest.
ReplyDeleteIt has the most dramatic impact on pricing during those peak events that usually occur during the day or early evening.
It has long been recognized that fossil fuel generators make a large part of their revenue and profits during those peak events, when expensive peaking plant is brought into production. Prices can soar above $10,000/MWh, and even the “cheap” coal fired generators get that price.
The university research shows that these peak event prices have been sharply reduced by the impact of wind energy.
In Victoria in 2011, its modeling showed that without wind, and using only thermal generation to meet the peak demand, cost $338 million. That is almost 20 per cent of annual revenue from just 6.5 hours of peak demand.
But when wind energy is included, the cost of those peaks is reduced to just $126 million. The impact on fossil fuel generators should not be underestimated, because the finance of some coal generators had been heavily geared with debt on the assumption that these revenue events would provide funds to meet interest payments.
In a one hour peak period on January 31, 2011, from 10.30am, the heavy demand required the most expensive forms of generation to dispatch, which raised the price to the maximum and a wholesale cost of $45.6 million when only thermal generators could respond.
But the inclusion of wind power and its very low marginal cost reduced that half hour to just $1.4 million of wholesale . . . . . .
And, That's Without Solar
Deuce was just trying to scam us with that hospital story.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, WiO.
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ReplyDeleteKrugman is an idiot.
I still think Obama's idea of cutting back Payroll Taxes as a stimulus method was incorrect, first as the cut was too small for the individual to notice and second as it further aggravated the funding problem. Obama was considering a move that would have helped the SS problem (i.e. more money going out than coming in) immensely, that is, changing the way the cost of living adjustment was calculated; however, that was another idea that fell to election year politicking.
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Why spend a Billion Dollars on a Desalinization Plant, just so the Israelis can "accidentally" blow it up?
ReplyDeleteThey don't want a water plant; they want their land back.
And, they will, eventually, get it.
What land?
DeleteIsrael?
Isn't their land.
Gaza?
They already got that.
The problem is the only thing they use it for is to launch missiles at Israel.
That's the rub.
They'd be a lot better off playing checkers in the sun.
Rufus IIMon Jul 21, 11:57:00 AM EDT
DeleteWhy spend a Billion Dollars on a Desalinization Plant, just so the Israelis can "accidentally" blow it up?
They don't want a water plant; they want their land back.
And, they will, eventually, get it.
Just like the American Indian? Or the Aztecs?
Eventually the arab/israeli conflict will morph again. This time the next morph? The Jihadists against the Crusader west and the jews.. Arab nationalism is dying. And in it's ashes? islamic caliphate..
Rufus IIMon Jul 21, 11:57:00 AM EDT
DeleteWhy spend a Billion Dollars on a Desalinization Plant, just so the Israelis can "accidentally" blow it up?
Then why build 5 star hotels and thousands of million dollar mansions in the Gaza strip? But they do….
"Off-Budget," ie. Social Security is $58,620,000,000.00 in Surplus so far this year.
ReplyDeleteIs that the "funding problem" that you're referring to, Quirk?
Treasury Report - Current Issue
The Social Security Trust Fund has a Surplus in the neighborhood of $2.7 Trillion, and is adding to it, systematically.
DeletePlease explain to me again the definition of "Funding Problem."
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DeleteRufus, I have explained it to you a dozen times and you still don't get it. You still are confused with the whole idea of a trust fund. Also with interest on trust fund dollars. In this case, trust fund interest is like the rest of the 'trust fund', a fart in the wind. It has nothing to do with actual money coming into the general fund. It is just a shifting of dollars.
You revisit this subject about every other month. If the following doesn't convince you, then in the future don't ask me to explain it to you again. there is just so many ways to say the same thing.
In 2012, Social Security’s cost continued to exceed the program’s tax income and also continued to exceed its non-interest income, a trend that the Trustees project to continue throughout the short-range period (2013-22) and beyond. The 2012 deficit of tax income relative to cost was $169 billion. The temporary 2-percentage point reduction in the 2012 OASDI employee payroll tax rate, for which the trust funds were fully reimbursed by the General Fund, accounts for $114 billion of the 2012 deficit.
In 2012, the HI fund used interest income ($11 billion) and asset reserves ($24 billion) to help finance expenditures beyond those that could have been made solely on the basis of tax and premium income. For SMI, transfers from the General Fund of the Treasury represent the largest source of income. Because Part B account asset reserves were above the level considered to be adequate at the end of 2011, Part B financing for 2012 was set intentionally to draw down some of the excess reserves, resulting in a decrease of about $13 billion.
2013 Trustee Report on SS
n calendar year 2010, for the first time since the enactment of the Social Security Amendments of 1983, annual outlays for the program exceeded annual tax revenues (that is, outlays exceeded total revenues excluding interest credited to the trust funds). In 2012, outlays exceeded noninterest income by about 7 percent, and CBO projects that the gap will average about 12 percent of tax revenues over the next decade. As more members of the baby-boom generation retire, outlays will increase relative to the size of the economy, whereas tax revenues will remain at an almost constant share of the economy. As a result, the gap will grow larger in the 2020s and will exceed 30 percent of revenues by 2030.
CBO Projections on SS
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DeletePolitifact explains what I think is your misunderstanding.
Including interest, the Social Security trust funds held a surplus of $69 billion in 2011, $68.6 billion in 2010 and $121.7 billion in 2009, according to Social Security Administration records.
"To that extent, it’s actually reducing the overall federal deficit," Van de Water said.
But, other analysts argue the interest payments earned by Social Security only amount to a re-shuffling of government dollars.
As noted in the prior PolitiFact rulings, the Social Security trust funds may be considered separate, but, in reality, they are not "locked boxes" or closed-off savings accounts. Rather, Social Security is required by law to put its entire surplus into interest-earning government bonds.
The dollars invested in Treasury bonds are frequently mixed and invested with other revenue sources in the government’s general fund, and, together, the money is used for other government purposes, including spending, repaying debts and cutting taxes.
So, when the Social Security trust funds collect interest, they are merely accepting money from other parts of the government, according to Howard Gleckman, an analyst for the Tax Policy Center, a joint effort between the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute.
Without considering interest, Social Security has actually been running a deficit over recent years, Gleckman noted. And, when Social Security runs a deficit, the program draws on interest from the Social Security bonds, forcing government officials, already operating at a deficit, to borrow more money from other sources to make up the difference.
"It’s an accounting fiction," Gleckman said of the interest payments. "It helps make the Social Security funds look more solvent, but really you've just taken (money) out of general fund. … The money is simply being transferred from one government account to the next."
In 2010, the program ran a "cash deficit" of $49 billion, according to the Social Security Administration’s summary of its 2012 annual report. The following year, the deficit stood at about $45 billion, and, looking forward, the program’s future doesn’t look much brighter.
Jeanne Sheehan's Claims Rated Mpstly False
This is why the future SS payments are not dependent so much on revenue as on politics.
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Give it up, Q.
DeleteRufus is Always confused.
Yah, after all the bullshit, the Social Security Tax is bringing in more than Social Security is paying out.
DeleteBut, "I" am the one that is "confused."
Bob, I don't think you have the slightest clue as to what is going on with Social Security funds.
DeleteQuirk, I too am puzzled. I thought SS funds collected merely went into the general revenue of the Fed. Gov. and then dispensed with as all other Federal revenues. But your article states above:
"Rather, Social Security is required by law to put its entire surplus into interest-earning government bonds."
So, it is not true that the Social Security surpluses are lumped into the general revenue but rather they buy Treasuries with the surplus. Is this the case?
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DeleteAsh, the SS funds come into the government and go into the general fund. They are actually taxes just like any other tax.
The idea of it being a 'paygo' system is false. The idea of a SS lockbox is a fantasy promoted I would imagine for political reasons.
To accommodate the idea of a trust fund, they came up with the idea of special bonds. The SS money goes into the general fund and you can't have a 'trust fund' if there is nothing in it. So the government takes in taxes, uses them for whatever reason they choose, and gives the 'trust fund' what amounts to IOUs. These are special bonds. They are not like the bonds you are thinking of. They cannot be sold or traded. They are jots on a spreadsheet. The difference between these and the bonds you are thinking of is that they create no legal obligation on the part of the government only a political one.
The interest on those bonds is an even bigger fantasy. It is not even partially offset by incoming revenue. As I noted above, it is no better than farts in the wind.
SS is a construct of Congress. If some future congress wants to cancel the program there does not appear to be any legal constraint on them. The only thing stopping them would be the political cost.
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oh, ok, that's what I thought. That's absurd! At least if they actually bought US bonds, like the fed is doing, they'd have an asset with some value. These special bonds - has there ever been a court challenge to see if they satisfy the "by law they must buy US government bonds with the surplus"?
DeleteThe Canadian Pension Plan actually buys stuff - like equities and such.
DeleteBob, I don't think you have the slightest clue as to what is going on with Social Security funds.
DeleteYou're right, Ash. I really don't, and couldn't care less.
I'm just still ticked at something Ruf said 6 months ago, and saw an opening.
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ReplyDeleteThis blog has turned into a microcosm of the war between Israel and the Palestinians. There is no compromise or accommodation merely excuses. None here seems to realize that there is plenty of blame to go around and that both sides share in it. Nonsense is uttered by both sides and it is hard to tell whether it is ignorance or just bullshit.
On the one side, you have Deuce suggesting that the Jews in Germany (a group representing less than 1% of the population in 1933) could have prevented the Holocaust had they just manned up, and on the other, WiO offering us choice excerpts from the WiO and Allen Alternate History of the Universe.
And Don Quixote Kerry thought he would be able to solve everything in 9 months.
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If the Jews of Europe had killed one German for every ten Jews, the Germans would have modified their program.
DeleteIt would not have been worse for the Jews of Europe, if they had.
BEFORE HITLER CAME – By Dietrich Bonder
DeleteDietrich Bronder’s monumental book exposes the occult roots and shadowy organizations behind the rise of Adolf Hitler. From philosophers that helped to shape the political doctrine of national socialism to secret societies (such as Thule) that later implemented it as the 3rd Reich slowly gained its final form as envisioned by the secret founders. But all this was not the real reason why the book was (and still is) banned from print.
It is truly an irony that Bronder, a Jewish professor of history, would discover the forbidden history of dominant Jewish involvement in building the 3rd Reich. He shows in incredible detail which Jews financed Adolf Hitler and thus helped him to power.
As it later turned out many high-level Nazi dignitaries had Jewish ancestry and were actively working to terrorize the European Jews to get them into Palestine. Later the Zionists have done everything in their power to suppress information of their co-operation with the Nazis in the years before the Second World War.
It turned out that it was the Jewish B’nai B’rith, in co-operation with the Zionist organization, LICA (Ligue International contre l’Antisemitisme) in Paris that was behind the so called Kristallnacht on 9 November 1938. The aim of the LICA provocation was to encourage the emigration of German Jews to Palestine. B’nai B’rith had previously infiltrated the Nazi movement’s vital parts: the SS, the SA and the party. The Nazi leadership took no legal action against B’nai B’rith, which was allowed to continue its subversive activities. It had 12 000 members in 80 lodges in Germany, three of them in Berlin.
http://firstlightforum.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/zionists-collaborate-with-hitler-to-squeeze-the-lesser-jews-into-palestine/
"O"rdure has already acknowledged and confirmed the participation of the NASI Stern Gang with the NAZI of Germany
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DeleteAnd this also from rat's unimpeachible source,
Depraved Jews concoct alien abduction stories to help them explain way the imminent resurrection of true Christians
I should have made on distinction when referencing the two EB parties I mentioned above. The rat, is unique unto himself as he scurries about doing the bidding of his Illuminati overlords.
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On the one side, you have Deuce suggesting that the Jews in Germany (a group representing less than 1% of the population in 1933) could have prevented the Holocaust had they just manned up....
DeleteYour math and logic is wrong. 6,000,000 seems to be the commonly accepted figure of Jews murdered. The population of Germany was about 60,000,000 and 500,000,000 in all of Europe. In the early 1930’s When Hitler and Goering started their wave of terror and started driving Jews out of the civil service and beating them in the streets, they numbered less than 10,000 with a truly hardcore in the few hundreds. Goering in his long knife purge killed less that 200. Not standing up to them early, when it was clear as to what they were all about, was a disaster Relative passivity in the face of that emboldened them. It was not inevitable and no sane person could have predicted it would reach the proportions that it did but it could have been resisted at a low cost in lives.
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DeleteSorry, I simply assumed the Jews would know what they were talking about when it came to population figures.
Jews in Prewar Germany
According to the census of June 1933, the Jewish population of Germany consisted of about 500,000 people. Jews represented less than one percent of the total German population of about 67 million people. Unlike ordinary census-taking methods, the Nazi racist criteria codified in the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and subsequent ordinances identified Jews according to the religion practiced by an individual's grandparents. Consequently, the Nazis classified as Jews thousands of people who had converted from Judaism to another religion, among them even Roman Catholic priests and nuns and Protestant ministers whose grandparents were Jewish.
Jews in Prewar Germany
As for a map of the breakdown in Europe,
Jewish Virtual Library Map
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51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis
ReplyDelete51 Documents
by LENNI BRENNER
In 1983, Croom Helm Ltd. published "Zionism in the Age of the Dictators".
American writers don’t expect favorable reviews from the London Times, but editorialist Edward Mortimer declared that “Brenner is able to cite numerous cases where Zionists collaborated with anti-Semitic regimes, including Hitler’s.”
Still less could a Trotskyist dream of a review from Izvestia, the Soviet government gazette, but they hailed it.
“During the world war, Brenner points out, Zionism showed its real meaning: for the sake of its ambitions, it sacrificed the blood of millions of Jews.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2002/12/23/51-documents/
Jack HawkinsFri Jul 18, 12:36:00 AM EDT
DeleteI mean, you are an Israeli, and here is nothing worse than that.
In all the world, the Arabs of Israel are the scum.
Now if you were a European, well thatd be different, but Israelis are all Arabs, Semites.
Scum of the Earth
;-)
Have a nightmare tonight and a shitty tomorrow,
QuirkFri Jul 18, 01:13:00 AM EDT
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And the voice of the rat is heard in the land.
And the world once again cringes.
As well it should, cringe, because the NASI are replicating the actions of the NAZI
DeleteWe know that both the Israeli and the NAZI embrace the concept of
Lebensraum ("living space") as being a law of nature for all healthy and vigorous peoples of superior races …
Both seeing their own people as the 'superior' beings on the planet.
With our resident Israeli "O"rdure claiming a moral equivalency between the state of Israel and Jack Hawkins.
DeleteAcknowledging ...
Israel - Founded by Terrorists - Sustained by Terrorism
A couple of observations:
ReplyDeleteWiO has, on numerous occasions stated that the civilian deaths are the fault of victims because they refused to heed the warnings to evacuate. I find this interesting because one of the prime sticking points is the Palestinian requests for "right of return". Basically back in 1948 the Palestinians evacuated the war zone but they were never allowed to return home even thought it is generally agreed amongst Nations that refugees be allowed the right to return home. Now the Israelis send leaflets out warning Palestinians to evacuate that Gazan border area. Given the history of their fleeing and never being allowed back one can understand why they would be reluctant to flee now.
WiO, and Allen, have both maintained that to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic. Does that sword cut both ways? i.e. does Israel's current actions tar all Jews world wide?
It is diabolical and the Israelis are too smart not to see it. They know it, use it and revel in it.
DeleteYou have five minutes to leave everything you have worked for as we are going to blow it up. If you don’t leave, you die. If you die, while we are destroying everything you own, it’s your fault.
Cynical terroristic bastards.
...my observation.
Deleteand if you run away we won't let you come back - but it is all Hamas fault...
DeleteDeuce, you are TOTALLY illogical.
DeleteIf it weren't for iron dome, those missiles would hit home god knows where with no warning at all.
And you call the Israelis the terrorists.
Jesus Christ !!!!!
To Quirks point:
ReplyDelete"Who’s Right and Wrong in the Middle East?
Nicholas Kristof
WITH Israeli troops again invading Gaza and the death toll rising, some of the rhetoric from partisans on each side is oddly parallel. Maybe it’s time to correct a few common misconceptions among the salvos flying back and forth.
This is a struggle between good and evil, right and wrong. We can’t relax, can’t compromise, and we had no choice but to act.
On the contrary, this is a war in which both peoples have a considerable amount of right on their sides. The failure to acknowledge the humanity and legitimate interests of people on the other side has led to cross-demonization. That results in a series of military escalations that leave both peoples worse off.
Israelis are absolutely correct that they have a right not to be hit with rockets by Hamas, not to be kidnapped, not to be subjected to terrorist bombings. And Palestinians are absolutely right that they have a right to a state, a right to run businesses and import goods, a right to live in freedom rather than relegated to second-class citizenship in their own land.
Both sides have plenty of good people who just want the best for their children and their communities, and also plenty of myopic zealots who preach hatred. A starting point is to put away the good vs. evil narrative and recognize this as the aching story of two peoples — each with legitimate grievances — colliding with each other.
Just because the underlying conflict is between two peoples who each have plenty of right, that’s not to say that there are no villains. Hamas is violent, not only toward Israel, but toward its own people, and, in contrast to Israel, it doesn’t seem to try to minimize civilian casualties — its own or Israel’s. Hamas is not as corrupt as the Palestinian Authority, but it is far more repressive, and my impression from my visits to Gaza is that it’s also unpopular at home. Hamas sometimes seems to have more support on certain college campuses in America or Europe than within Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Israeli right undermines the best partner for peace Israel has had, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and Israel’s settlements are a gift to Palestinian extremism. These days, in both Gaza and Jerusalem, hawks are in charge, and they empower each other.
The other side understands only force. What else can we do but fight back when we are attacked?
Israeli leaders, starting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, think that the way to protect their citizens is to invade Gaza and blow up tunnels — and, if Gazan civilians and children die, that’s sad but inevitable. And some Gazans think that they’re already in an open-air prison, suffocating under the Israeli embargo, and the only way to achieve change is fire rockets — and if some Israeli children die, that’s too bad, but 100 times as many Palestinian children are dying already.
In fact, we’ve seen this movie before: Israel responded to aggression by invading Lebanon in 1982 and 2006, and Gaza in 2008; each time, hawks cheered. Yet each invasion in retrospect accomplished at best temporary military gains while killing large numbers of innocents; they didn’t solve any problems.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Likewise, Palestinian militancy has accomplished nothing but increasing the misery of the Palestinian people. If Palestinians instead turned more to huge Gandhi-style nonviolence resistance campaigns, the resulting videos would reverberate around the world and Palestine would achieve statehood and freedom.
DeleteSome Palestinians understand this and are trying this strategy, but too many define nonviolence to include rock-throwing. No, that doesn’t cut it.
What would you do if your family were in Gaza/Israel, at risk of being killed. You wouldn’t just sit back and sing ‘Kumbaya,’ would you?
If any of us were in southern Israel, frightened sick by rockets being fired by Hamas, we, too, might cheer an invasion of Gaza. And if any of us were in Gaza, strangled by the embargo and losing relatives to Israeli airstrikes, we, too, might cheer the launch of rockets on Tel Aviv. That’s human nature.
That’s why we need to de-escalate, starting with a cease-fire that includes an end to Hamas rocket attacks and a withdrawal from Gaza by Israel. For Israel, this is a chance to use diplomacy to achieve what gunpowder won’t: the marginalization of Hamas. Israel might suggest an internationally supervised election in Gaza with the promise that the return of control to the Palestinian Authority would mean an end to the economic embargo.
Here we have a conflict between right and right that has been hijacked by hard-liners on each side who feed each other. It’s not that they are the same, and what I see isn’t equivalence. Yet there is, in some ways, a painful symmetry — and one element is that each side vigorously denies that there is any symmetry at all.:"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-whos-right-and-wrong-in-the-middle-east.html
Hamas needs to be disarmed. Tunnels into Israel and under Gaza destroyed
DeletePeriod
So too then does Israel.
DeletePeriod and exclamation point
At last check Israel is a nation
DeleteHamas is a terror group
As you acknowledge up thread in the discussion with Jack Hawkins
DeleteIsrael - Founded by Terrorists - Sustained by Terrorism
lol jack's too lazy to sign in now...
Delete.
ReplyDeleteI have often mocked John Kerry here. He is elitist, pompous, and a bit of a poseur in my opinion. However, I had to develop a grudging admiration of his idealism and persistence in his quixotic efforts to attain against all odds ME peace between the Israel and the Palestinians.
The following article explains in detail his journey on that front and its denouement as expected in defeat.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118751/how-israel-palestine-peace-deal-died
It's a long article but I found it interesting because it makes clear the same problems we see laid out at the EB every day. However, of more interest it pointed out one of the approaches the US uses in its diplomacy, and approach that has led us to failure for the past 45 years.
Despite Palestinian reservations about some of the evolving document’s language—Indyk was negotiating with Erekat in parallel—Kerry truly believed the gaps could be bridged with creativity and ambiguity.
In other words, in Kerry's opinion just get a signature on paper. We'll work out the details later.
Ridiculous. The US has always preferred process over substance. The wording of UN Resolution 242 with the exclusion of the infamous 'the' was at the US insistence in order to provide more 'flexibility' in the negotiations. We have seen the result over the last 45 years. As was noted in the article. Everyone hears the same words but how they interpret them is entirely different.
That's why I tend to agree with Avi Dichter,
“I see it from a mathematical point of view,” said Avi Dichter, the former chief of Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency. “The American effort will always be multiplied by the amount of trust between the two leaders. So if Kerry's pressure represents the number five, and then Obama's help brings the American effort to ten, it really doesn't matter. You’re still multiplying it by zero. The final result will always be zero.”
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Our entire relationship with Israel is based on “zeros”
DeleteMultitudes of zeros behind $$ and zero returns on our so-called investment.
Bullshit.
DeleteOur relationship with Israel is based on a multitude of shared cultural values.
Bullshit.
.
DeleteI think my point is made.
.
So, last year "Off Budget" (social security) ran a Cash Surplus of $39.461 Billion, and, this year, so far, it's running a Cash Surplus of $58.62 Billion, but Paul Krugman is an "idiot," and I'm "Confused."
ReplyDelete2013 Full Year Numbers
Maybe, I need to learn to do me a little bit of that vaunted "critical thinkin."
DeleteIt seems to me a whole mitt full of US Bonds is better than no US Bonds. Is it true that SS has a mitt full of US Bonds?
DeleteC'mon Bob, you claim to not be confused, to know stuff. Does SS buy US bonds with the surplus?
DeleteWeell, Quirk is correct in that you have to take those Social Security "Special" Bonds with a whole train-load of salt.
DeleteThey are really not much more than a "score-keeping" device, used mostly for political purposes.
BUT, the fact is that, despite "predictions" to the contrary, the social security tax IS bringing in more money than social security is paying out.
The Millennials are bigger than the Baby Boom generation, and they are just beginning to earn wages and pay into Social Security. Life's good for us'uns flannel-wearing Nirvana-listening GenXers.
Delete.
DeleteAsh, I answered your question on the bonds above.
As for the rest of it, take your pick, you can believe Rufus or you can believe the Trustees of Social Security and the CBO (along with about a billion other articles that have been written on the same subject).
.
Why not just Trust the Numbers?!?
DeleteFuck "Predictions."
The Numbers are available. I linked to them.
The "Predictions" have been Wrong. The Numbers are in.
DeleteJust Read the fucking Numbers.
Or, ain't that "critical thinkin" enough for you?
There is no surplus, there is no debt.
DeleteSocial Security is part of the government. It is not separate from it.
It is not an independent entity.
That the Congress has developed a booking fraud, and sold to to the sheeple....
Well, there you have it.
Every dime collected goes into the General Fund of the Treasury.
It is then dispersed, from there.
Fleming v Nestor, the SCOTUS decision in 1960 makes that perfectly clear.
The entire discussion is diversionary.
BUT, the fact is, the Social Security Tax takes in more money (so far this year, as well as last year) than Social Security pays out.
DeleteIt's right there in my links.
Rufus is right.
DeleteBesides we can always mint up trillion dollar platinum coins if we must.
Thanks Quirk - I did read your response.
DeleteRufus, just because it is running in surplus doesn't make the money any more saved than it is (well, it hasn't been, not a buck it seems).
"Teresita RedingerMon Jul 21, 02:31:00 PM EDT
The Millennials are bigger than the Baby Boom generation,"
Is this actually the case? I'd love to see some reference numbers showing those demographics. I remember when "Boom, Bust, and Echo" came out and I looked at the numbers for the population data showing the "Echo". It wasn't there and, I guess, it was 'projected' but the actual charts showing the birth population didn't show an "Echo".
Anyway, I'd greatly appreciate any demographic data showing the Millennials outnumber the Boomers.
Ash: nah
DeleteAsh, I posted the breakdown of the percentage of the different demographic groups as a percent of the workforce a few days ago.
DeleteMeantime, I posted this, from Bloomberg, earlier today
Wage - gauges blurred by Boomer / Milennial workforce interplay
That rufus and Robert Peterson both choose to ignore the SCOTUS decision is not surprising.
DeleteThe "Social Security" tax is just another tax. It is not dedicated to Social Security.
That you fellas think that it is, that you have some type of debating point because of the fraudulent use of language, by the government, is heart warming to the propagandists, but nothing else.
Sure, the FICA revenues are higher than the dollars paid to the recipients of FICA benefits.
But that is meaningless, a diversion.
That you two, and so many others, have 'bought into the fraud' does not validate it.
Sorry fellas. but you've been had.
As today’s middle-aged Americans grow older, they are leaving their prime working years behind, trading big salaries for part-time gigs or retirement, just as an even larger group of young people come into the labor force at entry-level salaries. The seismic shift may be one reason behind the sub-par wage growth that Yellen says still shows “significant slack” in the job market.
DeletePlease, Rat, give me a break. I'm not "ignoring," or "denying" anything. BUT, when one side babbles about "the funding problem," how else would you answer it?
DeleteWhen they wave their arms, and hyperventilate about the "Social Security Crisis," what would you / can you say?
I would say that there is a crisis in the government, that they have lied to the people for 54 years.
DeleteThat "everyone" knows all about 'Brown v Board of Education', but very few know about 'Fleming v Nestor' and it affects more people than Brown v BoE.
There is a debt crisis, it is a Federal crisis and Social Security is a large part of that crisis.
As is the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, the FAA and a host of other Federal programs.
The Dept of Agriculture and BLM included.
Federal priorities must be debated and set. Spending cut, taxes raised.
Debating a fallacy is not the solution.
Discussing reality is the first step on the path to solutions..
.
DeleteWhen you have Bob Orwellian saying 'Rufus is right', the tendency is to go "Wha?"
:-)
But seriously, Rufus talks about 'cash receipts' in the treasury report but all the report provide is a single number with no breakdown of what goes into (as far as I could find but of course small numbers are getting harder for me to see.) As you say, you can't argue with the numbers but I still do, no so much with the numbers themselves but only with what they represent. As a matter of fact, it is not that I argue with them at all but only that I don't fully understand them.
It is evident the term 'cash receipts' means different things to different people. The 2013 SS Trustee Summary Report I put up showed a detailed breakdown of their number for 2012 which actually showed a budget surplus. However, they then specifically mentioned that if you take out the 'interest' (and I have made clear my position inter-govenmental interest payments) you were actually running a deficit on a cash flow basis.
The following is a report that was put out by OBM that provides historical data that supports the Trustee assertion that starting in 2010 receipts (less interest) did not cover outgo.
OBM Historical
The data is on page 323 of the report which is 327 of 368 on the PDF file. You will note that the section called Cash Income includes about $108 billion in interest. When pulled from the $102 billion 'surplus' noted below, it gives you a deficit which supports the Trustees (and that of CBO) assertion that starting in 2010 receipts less income did not cover outflow.
The same applies to the 2011 actuals.
Admittedly, I could be wrong with the 2014 status on SS, but before I would admit that I would need to see notes on what is included in Treasury's income figures.
Regardless, it doesn't change the validity of my comment that started off this little brouhaha,
I still think Obama's idea of cutting back Payroll Taxes as a stimulus method was incorrect, first as the cut was too small for the individual to notice and second as it further aggravated the funding problem. Obama was considering a move that would have helped the SS problem (i.e. more money going out than coming in) immensely, that is, changing the way the cost of living adjustment was calculated; however, that was another idea that fell to election year politicking.
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.
.
Delete"...it gives you a deficit which supports the Trustees (and that of CBO) assertion that starting in 2010 receipts less interest did not cover outflow."
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MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-eight Filipinos, including prominent activists, have filed an impeachment complaint against Philippine President Benigno Aquino III for implementing a major economic stimulus program that the Supreme Court has declared partly unconstitutional. ...
ReplyDeleteP-Noy is so deep in the closet he can see Narnia.
http://www.filipinoreporter.us/editorials/on-my-watch/3110-king-pnoy-with-no-queen.html
ReplyDeletePRESIDENT Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III is shaking the foundation of Philippine democracy with an evident aim of lording it over the two other co-equal and co-independent branches of government: the Legislative and the Judiciary.
The obvious end-goal is so he could get what he wants all the time.
If he succeeds, the native country will have a “King PNoy.”
A king without a queen.
Multitudes of zeros behind $$ and zero returns on our so-called investment.
ReplyDelete$3 000 000 000 000 invested in Iraq
4 000 body bags
Zilch point squat return.
And a holocaust of Christians to boot.
DeleteAll Obama's fault.
Worked out good for the Kurds though, and Israel looks to have gained something of an ally.
Delete.
DeleteWhat, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. I wouldn't plan any picnics.
:-)
.
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/the-flight-of-the-redback/
ReplyDeleteStratospheric real estate prices have benefited, in no small part, from the influx of rich mainland Chinese who have been flocking to buy properties there, and in other Western cities, as a safe, stable store of wealth.
This is true, our tax assessment went way up this year.
...there are 77 million Boomers and 82 million Millennials...
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Deletehttp://www.infowars.com/cnn-confirms-israelis-cheer-as-civilians-are-murdered-in-gaza-video/
ReplyDelete"This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with the video has been terminated"
DeleteThe Israeli woman being interviewed admits to being a fascist.
DeleteHere is a video of them cheering
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbkbt4-JLZ0
Ash: WiO, and Allen, have both maintained that to criticize Israel is anti-Semitic. Does that sword cut both ways? i.e. does Israel's current actions tar all Jews world wide?
ReplyDeleteAsh, please post anywhere that allen or I said that.
What we have said is to apply one standard to Israel and non standard to anyone else is anti-semitic.,
To criticize Israel and not to apply that same standard to others IS anti-Semitic.
Please use language more precisely.
Hamas seeks the death of all JEWS.
Deletejihadists firebomb and murder JEWS across the globe.
That is anti-Semitism at it's purest.
Hamas is Semitic, and is in conflict with other Semites.
DeleteThe cycle of anti-Semitic actions in Israel and around the world is pretty much Semite on Semite violence, at this point.
Much like Black on Black crime in the US.
Does not really matter much to the white folk, what those Semites are doing, as long as they stay on their side of the tracks..
DeleteYou criticize Palestinians regularly but not the North Koreans.
DeleteOne standard for Palis no standard for others?
nah, foolish argument WiO.
So, do all Jews, or should all, accept responsibility for what Israel does? No, of course not.
But the more important point I was trying to make WiO is how Palestinians not fleeing is reasonable given past Israeli behavior when they have fled.
DeleteAsh,
DeleteAshMon Jul 21, 06:04:00 PM EDT
You criticize Palestinians regularly but not the North Koreans.
One standard for Palis no standard for others?
Actually Ash I do blast the Nkor all the time
AshMon Jul 21, 06:06:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteBut the more important point I was trying to make WiO is how Palestinians not fleeing is reasonable given past Israeli behavior when they have fled.
Ash bullshit squared.
When the IDf calls your home, drops a leaflet or drops a knock knock bomb on your rock?
Get the fuck out…
To stay is child abuse
Yeah because the Israelis will kill you if you stay and take (or bulldoze) your home and land if you leave. Nice folk!
ReplyDeleteThat has been the consistent pattern since 1948 and you wonder why people who follow the history have little sympathy for the Israelis.
Delete“Do you know, Mother, that Haj Salem was buried alive in his home?
DeleteDoes 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
A map of Israel from 1948 onward reinforces and confirms your point Ash.
ReplyDeleteThe birth of the Palestinian refugee crisis was around 1948. The Irgun, whom Begin was a member, blew up Palestinian homes, sometimes with the families still inside. War started and the Palestinians were further encouraged to flee the war zone. Israel never let them return too their homes.
Delete.
ReplyDeleteDeuce, it took a few hours for me to notice your post to me upstream but I did respond.
.
Actually Ash I do blast the Nkor all the time
ReplyDeleteJust not here where anyone has seen or can remember them.
The Nkor are not as much fun to watch as their children die.
DeleteThe Palestinians are so much more entertaining to watch from the hills overlooking Gaza, it is a real time blast!
One of your links supports my hypothesis. From 1933 onward,the hostility and intentions of the Nazis should have been apparent to anyone, yet six years later on ”kristallnacht” a non-spontaneous riot of nazi thugs killed 91 Jews and arrested 30,000 more while looting and destroying thousand of homes and business.
Delete91killed and 30,000 arrested is .03%.
The same link claims that there were 500,000 Jews in Germany. If nazi intentions had not been made clear from 1933 to November of 1938, when 6% of the Jews were arrested for being Jews, they should have been crystal clear on ”kristallnacht”.
Moreover, that still left 94% of the Jewish population.
What should have been done from 1933 onward would have saved millions of lives. It perplexes me that it did not happen.
Clearly, if current events are indicative, you could not do that to the Arabs or the Afghans. I doubt you could do it to the Kurds or the Turks. They resist and kill to survive.
My premise is that it could not happen to the Anglo-Saxons, certainly not to the Cockneys of East London or the Scots/Irish, Welshman or the Ausis.
The first responsibility of a people is for the men to protect themselves and their families and tribe, but that must come from themselves. You can’t trust others to do it for you.
It may be Darwinian but God doesn’t seem to be up to the job.
So sorry that reality is not the politically correct, but ...
Delete... in "Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust", which was published also by Modiin, Barry Chamish writes (on pg. 232) that, about a year before he became Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon said that had Jabotinsky been head of the Jewish Agency instead of Ben-Gurion, millions of Jews would have been saved from the Holocaust. "Perfidy, The Transfer Agreement", and "The Scared And The Doomed" are accurate books (which were created by Jewish people, not anti-Semite bigots) that detail how Labor Zionism prevented the rescue of European Jewry.
http://firstlightforum.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/zionists-collaborate-with-hitler-to-squeeze-the-lesser-jews-into-palestine/
The first responsibility of a people is for the men to protect themselves and their families and tribe
DeleteHence the Tribe of Judah's Iron Dome and their operation to seal the tunnels.
In "Holocaust Victims Accuse" (1977), available on line, Rabbi Moshe Shonfeld says some Zionists sabotaged many attempts to organize resistance, ransom and relief.
DeleteThey undermined an effort by Vladimir Jabotinsky to arm Jews before the war.
They stopped an attempt to send food to the ghettos.
Dr. Makow says the Zionist Rabbi of Sweden, Dr. Ehrenpreis, scuttled a Swedish attempt to rescue 10,000 Jews.
Pro-Labor Zionists torpedoed a similar attempt by the British parliament.
http://firstlightforum.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/zionists-collaborate-with-hitler-to-squeeze-the-lesser-jews-into-palestine/
Rubbish. Who is the invader? Who has the mechanized army, the air force, the ships; who built the walls, who harasses and humiliates the captives? Who forged the casus belli. Your guy Bibi and your tribe.
DeleteSays the guy who blames Lincoln for the Civil War when it was Beauregard telling the SC militia to fire.
DeleteI hope you learn to eat your words...
DeleteStand with Hamas.... It says a lot about you...
No justice, no peace.
DeleteNo cajones, no piece.
DeleteI guess you are right, the arabs stole our land in Mecca and for 1600 years tortured and murdered and looted from us..
DeleteIn 1948 the arabs threw out 850 thousand Jews, stole their lands, factories that had been in their ownership a full thousand years before the arabs crawled out of arabia.
No justice no peace...
The arabs stole the Jewish lands of Israel and built a butt fuck ugly mosque on the Jewish temple mount...
No justice no peace.
The Jews? have had to put up with arab criminal and war crimes for centuries...
No justice no peace....
Now Israel IS..
Sits on a sliver of land.. 1/900th of the middle east.
The arabs stole all the rest of the middle east from the berbers, the druze, the Jews and the coptic...
No justice no peace...
Now after many times to genocidally wipe out the jews the arabs turned to asymmetrical warfare.
Hamas. Hezbollah the PLO...
So sorry we fight back against savages.
yes savages...
You stand with them....
I dont..
you say: Deuce ☂Mon Jul 21, 08:37:00 PM EDT
Rubbish. Who is the invader? Who has the mechanized army, the air force, the ships; who built the walls, who harasses and humiliates the captives? Who forged the casus belli. Your guy Bibi and your tribe.
My tribe?
Yep that's been the calling card of jew haters for centuries...
My tribe.
Kill us and solve all the problems...
So sorry we just won't put up with your bullshit anymore..
I am so sorry, I meant medina... Not mecca...
DeleteAsh: Here is a video of them cheering
ReplyDeleteReminds me of this photo:
http://media.silive.com/advance/photo/2011/05/9539480-large.jpg
The "Equivalency Standard" at it best.
DeleteSame standard applied to Israel as others
Next time I see a GOP President standing under a "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner and the Marines going "Ooo rah!" I'm going to call you and Deuce on it.
DeleteThe first responsibility of a people is for the men to protect themselves and their families and tribe
ReplyDeleteThe Zionists have an agenda that is not "Judaism".
The Zionist 'tribe' is not the 'Jewish' tribe.
To conflate the two a falshood. The Zionists are flying a false flag, and have been since the inception of their POLITICAL, COLONIAL ideology.
Whether it's Hamas firing rockets at Israeli schools and getting their ass handed to them on a platter in the ensuing war, or a home invasion robber coming in armed with a .22 ladies' gun and getting two rounds from a 12 gauge in his chest, look at all the fucks I give----> [] <------
DeleteDeuce ☂Mon Jul 21, 08:37:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteRubbish. Who is the invader? Who has the mechanized army, the air force, the ships; who built the walls, who harasses and humiliates the captives? Who forged the casus belli. Your guy Bibi and your tribe.
Actually the arabs are the invaders... learn history...
Deuce ☂Mon Jul 21, 08:37:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteRubbish. Who is the invader? Who has the mechanized army, the air force, the ships; who built the walls, who harasses and humiliates the captives? Who forged the casus belli. Your guy Bibi and your tribe.
Like it or not deuce, Israel IS
it's a nation....
Hamas is a terror group
you side with a terror group.. you make excuses for a terror group.
You do not accept the right of Jews to self determination and accept the right of arabs to butcher jews in any way possible.
you put that blame on the "tribe"
says a lot.
No matter, hamas still is shooting rockets into Israel..
DeleteAs long as Hamas does that? They will get their ass handed to them...