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."

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Secretary of State John Kerry warned that Israel is on the verge of becoming an Apartheid state. Strike the phrase “on the verge”.


Gaza by the Numbers: Who the People are, how They got There



By Juan Cole
Population of Palestinians of Gaza: 1.7 million

Number of Palestinians in Gaza whose families were expelled as refugees from their homes in what is now southern Israel: 1.2 million

Number of Palestinians in Gaza still living in the 8 recognized refugee camps, “which have one of the highest population densities in the world”: over 500,000

Compensation Palestinians of Gaza have received for the billions of dollars of property taken from them by Israelis in Beersheva, Sderot, etc.: $0

Years since Israel allowed Palestinians of Gaza to export what they produce: 7

Unemployment in Gaza as a result of Israeli blockade on civilians: 38.5%

Estimated unemployment rate in US during the Great Depression: 25%

Percentage of children in Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition: 13.2%

Rate of anemia in Palestinian Children in Gaza: 18.9%

Percentage of water in Gaza that is potable: 10%
Years, according the the UN, before Gaza becomes “uninhabitable”: 6

Number of airports in Gaza rendered inoperable by Israeli airstrikes: 1

Number of airports working in Gaza: 0


Number of ports allowed by Israelis to operate on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast: 0

171 comments:

  1. I was going to make a comment about apartheid but changed my mind; it would be useless. Like so many other words and concepts, it has lost any meaning when applied in this context, e.g. Arafat and the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Mr. Kerry has graciously offered to broker some sort of deal. Given Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, I hope he was told that Mr. Netanyahu would be getting back with him later.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A fellow who knew exactly what apartheid was, is, and expressed himself on the subject, in regards to Israel ....

    The Palestinian state cannot be the by-product of the Jewish state, just in order to keep the Jewish purity of Israel.
    Israel’s racial discrimination is daily life of most Palestinians.
    Since Israel is a Jewish state, Israeli Jews are able to accrue special rights which non-Jews cannot do.
    Palestinian Arabs have no place in a “Jewish” state.

    Apartheid is a crime against humanity.
    Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property.

    It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality.
    It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians,...
    .... contrary to the rules of international law.

    It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.


    Nelson Mandela

    Gaza is the equivalent of the Warsaw ghetto.
    It is fully controlled by the Israeli, and Israel has deprived the Semitic residents there their legal rights
    Or the Israeli have been a war with the Semitic people living there since 1967, or both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL Wow now that is fiction….

      But keep telling yourself that as Hamas member after Hamas member launches thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians.

      And don't look at the Egyptian border, the full markets of food, the thousands of Israeli trucks a DAY bringing in food to the strip.

      No the Gaza Strip is the same as the south side of Chicago, except they have billions given to them (and arms and rockets) to murder jews….

      Delete
  3. Over 10,000 Jews were killed or maimed between 2000-2009. Over 2,000 "bottle rockets" were fired into Israel last year. Some gloated when Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were hit, yesterday. Payback is a motherfucker.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Over 1,500 Palestinian children have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces, since 2000.
      That number trumps the 'injured'.

      28,000 Palestinian homes have been destroyed by Israelis, no Israeli home has been destroyed by a Palestinian.

      Delete
    2. So sorry if the palestinans thousands of rockets failed to murder innocent Jews. I am sure you are sad…

      But the good news? The arabs started the war and Israel is now finishing it..

      Meanwhile in Syria, 180,000 arabs are DEAD, 500,000 wounded, and 8 MILLION homeless. All by the hands of the Arabs of Syria… LOL

      Popcorn popping...

      Delete
  4. The white farmers in South Africa are getting killed by the thousands.

    The white farmers were the back bone of the old South Africa.

    The whole place is going to shit.

    Zimbabwe is the new thing.

    Out and out starvation is just around the corner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is called "freedom'.


      Meanwhile, in Israel, the desert is blooming.

      I like that.

      Delete
    2. Bob continues to dissemble and lieThu Jul 10, 12:33:00 AM EDT

      His statement about South Africa is an outright lie.

      32.12 - The number of murders per 100,000 people in South Africa in 1970

      30.9 - The number of murders per 100,000 people in SA in 2011/12

      1.8% - The number of white murder victims in a police analysis of murder dockets


      - See more at: http://africacheck.org/reports/are-white-afrikaners-really-being-killed-like-flies/#sthash.whS9IV6N.dpuf

      Delete
    3. Bob needs to expand his information sourcesThu Jul 10, 12:37:00 AM EDT

      “Whites are far less likely to be murdered than their black or coloured counterparts,”
      Lizette Lancaster, who manages the Institute for Security Studies crime and justice hub, told Africa Check.

      This is supported by an analysis of a national sample of 1378 murder dockets conducted by police in 2009.
      In 86.9% of the cases, the victims were Africans.
      Whites accounted for 1.8% of the cases (although whites make up 8.85% of the population).

      According to Lancaster official police statistics show that between April 1994 and March 2012 a total of 361 015 people were murdered in South Africa.

      Applying the 1.8% figure, it would mean that roughly 6,498 whites have been murdered since April 1994.


      - See more at: http://africacheck.org/reports/are-white-afrikaners-really-being-killed-like-flies/#sthash.whS9IV6N.dpuf

      Delete
  5. I like farmers that can produce.

    They are the best.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like farmers that don't sit around and-----

    whine

    I like good producing farmers


    They are the best

    ReplyDelete
  7. Israeli farmers are some of the very very best.........

    ReplyDelete
  8. Drip drip drip irrigation.......

    They KNOW what the hell they are doing...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gaza farmers grow watermelon on former Israeli settlements

    For almost a decade now, Israel’s apologists and propagandists have used a simplistic argument as part of efforts to blame the people of Gaza for their own suffering. According to this argument, Gazans squandered an opportunity to develop their agriculture by destroying the greenhouses “evacuated” by Israeli settlers in 2005.

    The recent history of watermelon production in Gaza illustrates that the argument is dishonest. While some destruction of the settlement infrastructure did occur (much of it by Israelis prior to their departure), the sites in question are currently used to grow delicious fruit.

    Seventeen former settlements today play host to a network of Palestinian watermelon growers. Nader Alokka is one of them. His farm in the Beit Lahiya area of northern Gaza is located on the former Israeli settlement of Dogheit. He is hoping that the watermelons he planted will yield an abundant harvest by the end of this month.

    His family bought this land some thirty years ago but was unable to access it for many years. The Israeli authorities used his land as a “passage gate” for Palestinian farmers working in the areas surrounding the settlements.

    “Every farmer who wanted to enter his land had to have a special permit from the Israelis,” he said.

    Gunfire

    As Alokka’s land is just one kilometer away from the boundary between Gaza and present-day Israel, he regularly hears Israeli gunfire. This is a reminder of the constant dangers faced by farmers here.

    Watermelon farmers had to cease working during Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s three-week attack on Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. Last year, farmer Ahmad Hamdin was shot and injured by Israeli fire while he was picking watermelons in northern Gaza (“Israeli forces shoot, injure Gaza farmer,” Ma’an News Agency, 2 June 2013).

    ReplyDelete
  10. See white farmers killed by blacks in South Africa.............

    ReplyDelete
  11. Replies
    1. Did look that up, it is not tough at all.
      You are a liar, Bob.
      A draft dodger, a coward. a racist, a bigot, and unloved.

      ttp://africacheck.org/reports/are-white-afrikaners-really-being-killed-like-flies/#sthash.whS9IV6N.dpuf

      Delete
  12. Tough reading for the apartheid fans

    Telegraph- Robert Tait By Robert Tait, Beit Hanoun
    7:33PM BST 09 Jul 2014

    As midnight approached on Tuesday Hafez Hamad relaxed on a sofa outside his red-stone house chatting with family, enjoying the warmth of a Gaza summer’s evening.

    Twelve hours later, his body was brought back to the same spot in Beit Lahoun – wrapped in a shroud and borne on a stretcher – amid scenes of hysterical grieving as relatives and neighbours lamented his death and that of five others in a deadly missile strike.
    Hamad, suspected of belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, was killed instantly on when what is believed to have been an Israeli drone scored a direct hit where he and his family sat, relatives said.

    While he had apparently been targeted for his affiliations, the strike also killed his wife, his mother, two brothers, Ibrahim and Mahdi, and a 16-year-old niece.

    The resulting scenes of devastation were still evident on Wednesday.

    Part of the sofa where Mr Hamad sat had been blown away, the remainder matted with blood. A deep hole was left on the earth behind it, while a mosaic of uniformly-shaped circular pockmarks decorated the stonework of the family home.

    "I was in the house and ran outside after hearing the explosion and saw his body lying in a pool of blood," said Hamad Hamad, 22, a cousin who added that it was the second attempt on his relative's life. A previous missile strike in the eight-day war with Israel in November 2012 had destroyed the home, which had subsequently been rebuilt.

    It was the latest in a series of strikes on homes of known militants in the latest Israeli military offensive aimed at combating rocket fire and code-named Operation Protective Edge that have contributed to a rising toll of casualties.


    Relatives have died or been wounded despite Israel's stated policy of making warning telephone calls or firing cautionary missile shots before hitting the targeted building. Some appear to have died either because they ignored the warnings or failed to heed them quickly enough.

    In the case of the Hamad family, there was little sign of adequate notice having been given, according to relatives.
    "It has never happened like this. They usually fire a warning rocket to let the people escape," said one female relative who did not give her name. "But this was sudden. This is a crime.”

    Even worse destruction with similar human consequences could be seen on Wednesday in northern Gaza’s Zeitoun area after a missile struck the home of Mostafa Malaka, 28, a police officer in Hamas' security services.

    The strike, at around 11am on Wednesday, killed Mr Malaka’s wife, Hana, and three-year-old son Mohammed and reduced the family home to a heap of rubble and twisted metal, much of which had fallen into a massive crater caused by the force of the blast.

    Clothing, bedding, school books and a water tank could be seen among the wreckage, which also included the remains of an uncle’s chicken farm, where many of the birds lay dead or wounded.

    Mr Malaka himself and two other children had been injured but survived, according to the uncle Majid Mostafa Malaka, 37.
    "There were children around this house. They weren't firing rockets," said Mr Malaka, as three Israeli drones hovered overhead.
    As such tales of death and destruction spread across the tiny coastal enclave, the streets of Gaza City and nearby towns were uncharacteristically quiet as many people chose to stay home rather than go out shopping for food to break the Ramadan fast.

    Occasionally, the telltale smoke signs of rockets being fired towards Israel could be seen. The booming sound of explosions – some of it apparently from naval gunfire – was heard early in the evening.

    At Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, there was an atmosphere approaching panic as many acutely ill patients were evacuated to make way for an expected deluge of casualties from the brewing conflict.

    One child with severe burns was seen being wheeled through the hospital reception area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Such a description.

      I notice you never write or post the same type of article about the THOUSANDS of palestinian rockets, ied's or suicide bombings that were AIMED at innocent civilians.

      One standard for Israel and no standards for anyone else? et tu?

      Delete

  13. Robert Fisk

    Wednesday 9 July 2014
    The true Gaza back-story that the Israelis aren’t telling this week

    A future Palestine state will have no borders and be an enclave within Israel, surrounded on all sides by Israeli-held territory




    OK, so by this afternoon, the exchange rate of death in two days was 40-0 in favour of Israel. But now for the Gaza story you won’t be hearing from anyone else in the next few hours.

    It’s about land. The Israelis of Sederot are coming under rocket fire from the Palestinians of Gaza and now the Palestinians are getting their comeuppance. Sure. But wait, how come all those Palestinians – all 1.5 million – are crammed into Gaza in the first place? Well, their families once lived, didn’t they, in what is now called Israel? And got chucked out – or fled for their lives – when the Israeli state was created.

    And – a drawing in of breath is now perhaps required – the people who lived in Sederot in early 1948 were not Israelis, but Palestinian Arabs. Their village was called Huj. Nor were they enemies of Israel. Two years earlier, these same Arabs had actually hidden Jewish Haganah fighters from the British Army. But when the Israeli army turned up at Huj on 31 May 1948, they expelled all the Arab villagers – to the Gaza Strip! Refugees, they became. David Ben Gurion (Israel’s first Prime Minister) called it an “unjust and unjustified action”. Too bad. The Palestinians of Huj were never allowed back.

    And today, well over 6,000 descendants of the Palestinians from Huj – now Sederot – live in the squalor of Gaza, among the “terrorists” Israel is claiming to destroy and who are shooting at what was Huj. Interesting story.

    And same again for Israel’s right to self-defence. We heard it again today. What if the people of London were being rocketed like the people of Israel? Wouldn’t they strike back? Well yes, but we Brits don’t have more than a million former inhabitants of the UK cooped up in refugee camps over a few square miles around Hastings.

    {...}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. {...}
      The last time this specious argument was used was in 2008, when Israel invaded Gaza and killed at least 1,100 Palestinians (exchange rate: 1,100 to 13). What if Dublin was under rocket attack, the Israeli ambassador asked then? But the UK town of Crossmaglen in Northern Ireland was under rocket attack from the Irish Republic in the 1970s – yet the RAF didn’t bomb Dublin in retaliation, killing Irish women and children. In Canada in 2008, Israel’s supporters were making the same fraudulent point. What if the people of Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal were being rocket-attacked from the suburbs of their own cities? How would they feel? But the Canadians haven’t pushed the original inhabitants of Canadian territory into refugee camps.

      {...}

      Delete
    2. {...}And now let’s cross to the West Bank. First of all, Benjamin Netanyahu said he couldn’t talk to Palestinian “President” Mahmoud Abbas because he didn’t also represent Hamas. Then when Abbas formed a unity government, Netanyahu said he couldn’t talk to Abbas because he had unified himself with the “terrorist” Hamas. Now he says he can only talk to him if he breaks with Hamas – even though he won’t then represent Hamas.

      Meanwhile, that great leftist Israeli philosopher Uri Avnery – 90 years old and still, thankfully, going strong – has picked up on his country’s latest obsession: the danger that Isis will storm west from its Iraqi/Syrian “caliphate” and arrive on the east bank of the Jordan river.

      “And Netanyahu said,” according to Avnery, “if they are not stopped by the permanent Israeli garrison there (on the Jordan river), they will appear at the gates of Tel Aviv.” The truth, of course, is that the Israeli air force would have crushed Isis the moment it dared to cross the Jordanian border from Iraq or Syria.

      The importance of this, however, is that if Israel keeps its army on the Jordan (to protect Israel from Isis), a future “Palestine” state will have no borders and will be an enclave within Israel, surrounded on all sides by Israeli-held territory.

      “Much like the South African Bantustans,” says Avnery. In other words, no “viable” state of Palestine will ever exist. After all, aren’t Isis just the same as Hamas? Of course not.{...}

      Delete
    3. {...}

      that’s not what we heard from Mark Regev, Netanyahu’s spokesman. No, what he told Al Jazeera was that Hamas was “an extremist terrorist organisation not very different from Isis in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Boko Haram…” Tosh. Hezbollah is a Shia militia now fighting to the death inside Syria against the Sunni Muslims of Isis. And Boko Haram – thousands of kilometres from Israel – is not a threat to Tel Aviv.

      But you get the point. The Palestinians of Gaza – and please forget, forever, the 6,000 Palestinians whose families come from the land of Sederot – are allied to the tens of thousands of Islamists threatening Maliki of Baghdad, Assad of Damascus or President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja. Even more to the point, if Isis is heading towards the edge of the West Bank, why is the Israeli government still building colonies there – illegally, and on Arab land – for Israeli civilians?

      This is not just about the foul murder of three Israelis in the occupied West Bank or the foul murder of a Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem. Nor about the arrest of many Hamas militants and politicians in the West Bank. Nor about rockets. As usual, it’s about land.

      Delete
    4. Jordan is Palestine...
      Get used to it...

      Delete
    5. The Palestinians of Gaza – and please forget, forever, the 6,000 Palestinians whose families come from the land of Sederot


      Why don't the 850,000 Jews (and their 3.1 million offspring) revert to terror to reclaim the lands the arabs stole in 1948?

      Delete
    6. They have no balls, they are cowards of the highest order.
      That is why,

      Delete
  14. The following speech was given by Jews for Justice in Palestine, a Chicago-based collective working in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli occupation, at an emergency protest on Saturday. The demonstration was held to protest Israeli escalation in the West Bank and Gaza and the international media’s biased reporting on the events on the ground.

    Salaam Alaikum. Thank you for inviting Jews for Justice in Palestine to speak. We are honored to stand with the Palestinian community and to join protests the world over on this solemn day.

    Occupation and apartheid are not Jewish values. Collective punishment is not a Jewish value. Racism and colonialism are not Jewish values. Strengthening U.S. imperialism is not a Jewish thing to do. As Jews we say ‘No More!’ to the racist Israelis who take to the streets of Jerusalem chanting ‘death to Arabs’; we say ‘No More!’ to Netanyahu’s calls for revenge; we say ‘No More!’ to the cold-hearted murder of Palestinian youth; we say ‘No More!’ to the Israeli army’s home demolitions, raids, mass imprisonment, detention of youth, and murder of Palestinians in the West Bank. We say ‘No More!’ to the brutal shelling of Gaza. We say ‘No More!’ to the crackdown in East Jerusalem. We say ‘No More!’ to the racism, apartheid, and occupation being committed by the Israeli state in our name.

    We stand with Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation and with everyone else suffering under American imperialism the world over. May people of all faiths, races and creeds unite to build a world of justice and peace.

    Our people did not suffer oppression and exile for centuries so that we could turn around and become the oppressors of another people. Three times a day, throughout our history, religious Jews have turned to face Jerusalem from wherever they are around the world, and have said the Hebrew prayer ‘May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in compassion’. My grandmother’s grandmother did not chant this prayer from her small town of Sharnov in Poland, crying for redemption, so that a settler-colonial nation-state could send the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine into exile, and crush those who remained under a brutal regime of occupation. Israeli apartheid is a shame not only to the world, it is a shame upon the memory of our Jewish ancestors.

    May the Israeli army end its siege of Gaza and the West Bank. May al-Quds soon become what Yerushalayim means in Hebrew- a city of peace. May the land of Palestine soon become a free and democratic place for all its inhabitants. May the refugees return and may people of all races and creeds coexist in that land as in a sanctuary of refuge. May we continue and amplify our struggles for BDS here in the United States, and continue to hold rallies like these to make our voices heard. May we struggle and win a free Palestine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. useful idiots…

      of course, they are safe from Jewish retribution, if the shoe were on the other foot? A palestinian speaking good of Israel? They'd be dead..

      Now that is the truth...

      Delete
  15. The drip, drip drip is not the sound of clever occupation farmers, it is the corrosive drip of spreading Worldwide indignation calcifying the Israeli lies about the hideous conditions of brutally occupied Palestine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so far in the bag of the palestinians you cannot even acknowledge that Israel has a right to be a nation.

      I hope you and your grandkids move to Gaza or some other Palestinian controlled lands and live there….

      you would deserve it.

      Delete
    2. The European Ashkenazi have no right to a country in Arabia.

      Delete
    3. Especially an Apartheid Nation.

      Delete
  16. Justice will triumph over ignorance, arrogance and criminal repression.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yep it will… expect to see hamas leaders executed by palestinians and dragged down the street by motorcycles soon..

      Delete
  17. Norman Finkelstein, a man of Jewish descent, but who has abandoned the faith, has written extensively on the injustice that is Israel.

    He take on the subject, prior to 1967 there was scant interest in Israel, from American Jewry. No interest in Zionism by American Jewry. Bu that after the '67 war there wa a change in attitude, that Israel came to 'represent' the United States. And that an American Jew could support Israel and not be hyphenated.

    But American Jewry remains liberal, and the youth of that American subculture is quite liberal. Israel is not at all 'liberal'. In deed it is Fascist in nature, Zionism is fascist in nature and that truth s spreading.

    “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
    Silent encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

    ― Elie Wiesel

    The truth will out, it may take time, but there is unlimited quantities of that.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. His take on the subject ...

      It's tough living in a first draft world, esecially when you're used to having an editor.

      Delete
    2. I thought all your ant--israel shit was prewritten and paid for by qatar

      Delete
  18. http://www.france24.com/en/20140709-iraq-heritage-danger-isis-militants/
    Iraq’s heritage 'in danger' from ISIS militants


    “We know that ISIS wants to destroy Iraq, its museum and its archaeological sites,”

    "...Numerous witnesses have attested to the atrocities of ISIS’s fighters, including the destruction of Shiite and Christian places of worship. In the Mosul region..."

    "...ISIS fighters had also ransacked the museum in Mosul, the second largest in the country..."

    ReplyDelete
  19. http://www.france24.com/en/20140710-iraqs-kurds-say-hysterical-maliki-must-quit/
    10 July 2014 - 11H25
    Iraq's Kurds say 'hysterical' Maliki must quit


    "You must apologise to the Iraqi people and step down. You have destroyed the country and someone who has destroyed the country cannot save the country from crises."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. The "Copperheads" want a 'change', Maliki wants continuity of government.
      He is rebuilding the Iraqi military. New recruits, new supplier of arms and equipment.
      New trainers and advisers.

      It is the Kurds that seem to be hysterical, not participating in Parliament, holding a referendum to further dismantle the country. The Kurds are becoming traitorous to the the government of Iraq, by plan of by unintended consequence, does not matter much. The government in Baghdad / Basra will regroup and do what they will.

      Delete
    2. ... by plan OR by unintended consequence ...

      Delete
  20. Jobless claims: 304,000

    Another pretty good number

    ReplyDelete
  21. Having brilliantly, totally alienated Iraq's Sunni, driving the leadership into exile or into the arms of IS, Mr. Maliki decided, yesterday, to remove Iraq's only fit fighting force, the Kurds, from his greater Iran by castigating them as traitors. Today, he has escalated his rhetoric, guaranteeing an ungovernable, fragmented Iraq. Mr. Maliki may also have a busy pen and telephone. Nothing is yet reported on Mr. Kerry, who is busy trying to stand up a tottering Hamas – Hamas once more having shot its bolt.

    Meanwhile, America’s southern border is still under siege by The Children’s Crusade, in the main composed of prepubescent and adolescent girls from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Whether Mr. Kerry is making busy there is as yet unreported.



    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/10/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0FF14V20140710
    Baghdad halts Kurdish cargo flights after ministers' boycott

    ReplyDelete
  22. The cost of the "Banana Wars" rising with time.
    Unforeseen consequences of armed intervention and political tinkering in other lands ....

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is not important news compared to other stories. It is a little tale about IS trying to take Kurdish territory is Syria. What may prove interesting, eventually, is the possible participation of Iraqi Kurds in the defense of a foreign Kurdish territory. A collaboration by Syrian and Iraqi Kurds in the defeat of IS might just strengthen the evolution of a united Kurdistan. This would offer an ideal opportunity for a putative Kurdish ally to become an ally indeed by up-arming the Kurds liberally.

    Mr. Kerry may be on the phone as we speak trying to put a halt to that Kurdistan nonsense. He would not be the first American to betray the Kurds. I do hope he is the last to try.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Washington — - Some 9.5 million Americans gained health coverage during the recent marketplace enrollment period as the uninsured rate for working-age adults fell from 20 percent to 15 percent, according to a new national survey by the Commonwealth Fund.

    Young adults ages 19-34, whose participation in the Affordable Care Act’s coverage initiative was crucial but always uncertain, saw some of the largest coverage gains. Their uninsured rate fell from 28 percent to 18 percent.

    Uninsured rates for Latinos fell from 36 percent to 23 percent, the survey found. And low-income adults earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level saw their uninsured rate drop from 35 percent to 24 percent.

    The findings suggest the health law is meeting its goal of increasing coverage for hard-to-reach groups. Sixty-three percent of adults with new coverage through Medicaid or the insurance marketplaces were previously uninsured, the survey found.

    “Adults who are being helped the most are those who historically have had the greatest difficulty affording health insurance and getting the care they need,” said Sara Collins, the lead survey researcher and Vice President for Health Care Coverage and Access at the Commonwealth Fund.

    The national survey of more than 4,400 people found that in states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid, the uninsured rate among people below the federal poverty line fell from 28 percent to 17 percent. In non-expansion states, the uninsured rate for these adults fell only slightly, from 38 percent to 36 percent.

    Young adults ages 19 to 34 made up the largest share of new Medicaid enrollees at 42 percent, the survey found.

    Sixty percent of adults with . . . . . .

    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/10/232830/survey-95-million-people-gained.html#storylink=cpy

    clickable

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By June, 60 percent of adults with new coverage through the marketplaces or Medicaid reported they had visited a doctor or hospital or filled a prescription; of these, 62 percent said they could not have accessed or afforded this care previously.

      Commonwealth Study

      Delete
    2. Of course, it Is a job killer.

      What's that?

      288,000 Jobs last month?

      uh . . . . . . .

      Delete
  25. Syria Kurdish Leader: Solution Must Include Assad

    Salih Muslim, co-chairman of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said a solution in Syria without President Bashar al-Assad is not easy. “A solution without Assad means the death of 2 million Alawites," he said.


    http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurds-assad-solution-salih-muslim.html##ixzz374q2g0VP

    Israel prefers al-Qeada.
    Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told the Jerusalem Post


    http://www.jpost.com/Syria-Crisis/Oren-Jerusalem-has-wanted-Assad-ousted-since-the-outbreak-of-the-Syrian-civil-war-326328

    ReplyDelete

  26. Syrian Kurds recruit regime loyalists to fight jihadists

    According to local Arab and Kurdish sources, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been enlisting Arab loyalists in its armed wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG), in a bid to boost its credibility among Arabs and join efforts with the Syrian regime on the battleground against the opposition. This military strategy was reportedly accompanied by some intense consultations held in Qamishli between the regime and its Arab allies immediately before the formation of the PYD-led autonomous government on Jan. 21.


    http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/pyd-kurds-syria-regime-assad-autonomy.html##ixzz374rYnSxg

    ReplyDelete
  27. The Israeli contingent continues to spread disinformation.
    Continues to fly false flags.

    Continues to back al-Qeada.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The self confessed murderer that murdered innocent civilians in Central America continues to spread lies and distortion.

      I wonder if the human rights council got my care package?

      After all a gringo murderer is now fetching top DOLLARS in the jails of Central America...

      I heard they are sending bounty hunters north....

      Delete
  28. A report from the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association says uncompensated care at hospitals statewide was down by 31 percent in the first four months of this year when compared with the same period in 2013.

    During that period, enrollment in the state’s Medicaid program swelled. Enrollment was encouraged communitywide as part of an effort to meet a federal requirement through President Obama’s Affordable Care Act that all Americans, with certain exceptions, have health insurance this year.

    The Arizona hospital report shows the average operating margin of Arizona hospitals has gone up from 4 percent in 2013 to the current rate of 5.2 percent — a signal to some health experts that the Affordable Care Act will be a net positive for hospitals’ bottom lines.

    “We were hoping people would take advantage of the . . . . . . . .

    <a href="http://azstarnet.com/news/local/arizona-hospitals-doing-less-uncompensated-care/article_ddde554d-462b-5538-8ca7-33d144337581.html'>Arizona Daily Star</a>

    ReplyDelete
  29. "Although foreign purchases of U.S. homes have helped revive the U.S. housing market they also "might have masked what's really going on in the housing recovery," says Newman. "It tells us where that housing recovery came from last year." And it helps explain why the housing market is slowing this year."

    "There are a lot of markets that haven't recovered as much as these hot coastal markets have," says Newman. "A lot of people are struggling to get a down payment...They're not earning enough money...They can't get a bank loan...These things are still holding back the housing market...It's going to take a few more years until we get back to normal."


    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-u-s--housing-market-goes-global-143716386.html
    U.S. housing market in recovery...thanks to China?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We live in a global economy ....
      Incomes are stagnate, there is a glut of labor ...

      Dodge and GM pays $3.20 per hour to build Ram trucks and Cadillac Escalades that are sold in the US.

      'Bigotry does not consort easily with free trade. - Peter Ackroyd


      Delete
  30. If Iranian, Iraqi, and Syrian Kurds join in battle against IS, the demand for a national identity will be strengthened. This is a hypothesis; to my knowledge there has been no recognized unification; therefore, my hypothesis is falsifiable, i.e. a legitimate hypothesis. Should there be collaboration against IS, my hypothesis may be proved. Time will tell if credible demands for a Kurdistan are in the cards.

    As to alliances, as the US has proved repeatedly under this administration, they are useful in restrooms.

    For example, if Israel dismantles Hamas, Mr. Abbas will be broken hearted at the fate of his late ally. However, as a patriot and leader of Fatah, he will sorrowfully take control of Gaza for the good of the Palestinian peoplez. He will cry all the way to the bank, to be sure.

    For the value and longevity of alliances, I suggest a brief look at the French alliances during the Thirty Years’ War.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. US alliances, no need to look at France.
      Just look to recent US history.
      In Vietnam and Iran.
      In Lebanon and Panama.
      In Chile and Bolivia
      In Argentina and Ukraine

      The current administration, just like the last administration.

      "Stay the Course" was the call to arms, Mr Obama answered it.

      The U always does what is in the perceived "Best Interests" of the US.

      Delete
    2. The US always does what is in the perceived "Best Interests" of the US.

      Delete
  31. .

    OTOH

    Just saw a story on TV with officials from the CBO indicating that with all the changes Obama has been arbitrarily making to the ACA and other programs, it almost impossible to figure the actual costs for the budget and more especially for the ACA.

    As I've said before we won't know the true costs of Obamacare until next year (at the earliest).

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well! You just have to be wrong!

      Delete
    2. On the other "other hand"

      We DO know that the "budget deficit" is running 30% Below what it was this time last year.

      Delete
    3. .

      OTOH

      Given the base it was coming from it would be hard to go the other way.

      .

      Delete
    4. Yeah, well let the Republicans get their way, and start another Mideast War, and I'll guarantee you the deficit numbers will start going "the other way."

      Delete
  32. Meanwhile Maliki must be satisfied with outdated Russian planes. The US has not begun the process of supplying him with the heavy armaments he demands. It may be that those overseeing such things are of the opinion that Mr. Maliki might just turn his new toys on the Sunni generally rather than IS specifically. Moreover, there is the concern that the Iranians may end up owning the new toys...troubles and woe...heavy rests the crown...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The SU-24 beats any aircraft the Islamic State can field.
      It can easily target T-72s

      The US Senate held up delivery of the F-16s contracted for by the Iraqi.

      The Iraqi won't need them, their supply lines to Russia are secure.
      The equipment supplied, more than adequate to the task at hand.

      "Cast Lead" ended when the US closed the logistic pipeline.
      Mr Maliki will not find himself held over the same barrel.

      Smarter by half, to not depend upon US.

      Delete
    2. Reports from Mosul, the Iraqi are using C-130s as bombers.

      No ManPads on the ground, obviously.

      Delete
    3. Mr Maliki and the Iraqi military, not allowing perfect to become the enemy of good.

      Delete
  33. The Mystery of the Missing $1,000 Per Person: Can Medicare’s Spending Slowdown Continue?

    Jul 08, 2014 | Tricia Neuman and Juliette Cubanski


    As Medicare and budget wonks eagerly await the 2014 edition of the Medicare Trustees’ report, the big story in the Medicare world these days is the slowdown in program spending. Based on our comparison of CBO’s August 2010 and April 2014 baselines, Medicare spending this year will be about $1,000 lower per person than was expected in 2010, soon after passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which included reductions in Medicare payments to plans and providers and introduced delivery system reforms that aimed to improve efficiency and reduce costs. By 2019, Medicare spending per person is projected to be nearly $2,400 lower per person than was expected following passage of the ACA. Medicare spending projections in CBO’s August 2010 and subsequent baselines take into account the anticipated effects of the ACA, along with other factors that are expected to affect future Medicare spending. So it seems that the ACA may be having a bigger than expected effect, but something . . . .

    Kaiser

    ReplyDelete
  34. A Scary Warning From Portugal About Europe's Doom-Loop Risk

    as equity markets slumped sharply after the parent company of Lisbon-based Banco Espírito Santo missed payments on its short-term debt.

    What’s spooking investors is the risk of a doom loop. That’s a vicious cycle in which weakened banks lean on governments for support, draining the public finances, which in turn drag the banks down with them. It was the fear that overshadowed all others during the worst days of Europe’s debt crisis. And despite the progress made in easing that crisis, ”policymakers have done little to weaken the doom loop between banks and sovereigns in the euro-zone’s periphery,” ...
    ...
    The country’s central bank says it has acted “to avoid risks of contagion” from Espírito Santo, but markets aren’t buying it. They’ve hammered stocks Europewide, sending banking shares overall to their lowest level this year. As for Espirito Santo, its shares were suspended today after losing almost 20 percent of their value. “Espírito’s stresses have brought questions over the underlying health of peripheral banks and the still-evolving mechanisms for dealing with struggling institutions, back into the spotlight,” ...

    The weakness on the periphery might not seem so scary if the rest of Europe were doing well–but it’s not. Disappointing economic numbers continue to trickle out of the region’s major economies, including reports today that French industrial production fell 1.7 percent in May, while Italian production fell 1.2 percent. Even Germany is showing signs of stress.


    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-10/a-scary-warning-from-portugal-about-europes-doom-loop-risk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Portugal banking crisis sends tremors through Europe

      A mounting crisis at one of Portugal’s biggest banks and signs of a deepening economic slowdown in Europe have sent tremors through financial markets, triggering a sharp fall on European bourses and a flight to safety across the world.

      Portugal’s regulator suspended trading of Banco Espirito Santo after its share price crashed 17pc in Lisbon, reviving worries about the underlying health of Europe’s banks. The STOXX index of European lenders fell to its lowest this year following a bank run in Bulgaria and a profits shock from Austria's Erste Bank. The index is down 11pc since early June.

      Yields on Portugal’s 10-year debt surged 20 basis points on Thursday to 3.95pc, with contagion spreading to Greek, Spanish and Italian debt.


      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/10960563/Portugal-banking-crisis-sends-tremors-through-Europe.html

      Delete
  35. The failure of the Israeli air force is brought into focus, again.
    It failed in the last conflict, it is failing, today.

    Seven hundred tonnes of explosive ordnance, and Hamas does not seem to miss a beat.

    It cannot control the ground, in close proximity to it's bases of operations.
    It cannot stop the rockets from being launched, not those that were fired from Lebanon, nor those fired from Gaza.

    All the Israelis can do, kill civilians, burn children.

    Dreams of attacking Iran, are being dashed on the shore of the Med.

    The Israeli air force has performed hundreds of sorties as part of its "Protective Edge" operation, which is aimed at stopping the rocket barrage from the Gaza Strip. All types of aircraft – including unmanned – are taking part in the huge air campaign.

    So far some 700t of munitions have been used in the strikes, which have mainly been directed at hidden rocket launchers, storage sites and manufacturing facilities.Hundreds of targets inside the Gaza Strip have been hit by air force fighters since the start of the operation.


    http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/israeli-air-force-details-39protective-edge39-401269/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe the IDF should take a page from your personal history and just shoot kids?

      Delete
    2. Seems you are projecting and speaking of your own experiences again, aye?

      Delete
    3. Hamas accused Israel of “crossing all the redlines” by bombing the homes of its military commanders. This shows that Hamas did not expect Israel to take such a drastic move. Less than 24 hours after the beginning of the IDF offensive, Hamas talked about the need to return to the truce that was reached with Israel in 2012.

      A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, listed this demand as part of his movement’s effort to end the current confrontation. The spokesman called for an end to the IDF crackdown on Hamas members in the West Bank, which began after the abduction and murder of three Israeli youths last month.

      On Tuesday night, Hamas and other Palestinian groups appealed to Egypt and Arab countries to intervene to stop the IDF operation. Given Hamas’s bad relations with the Egyptian authorities, it’s unlikely that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would rush to save the movement that is openly aligned with his enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood.

      The Palestinian Authority, which has condemned the Israeli “aggression,” is also unlikely to make a big effort to save Hamas from destruction. In fact, President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction would be happy to see Hamas severely defeated.

      Hamas is beginning to feel the heat and that’s why its leaders, who have gone into hiding, are seeking an “honorable” way out of the confrontation, which, they say, they didn’t want to begin with.

      Delete
    4. Over 1,500 Palestinian children killed by the NASI, Princes of Judea.

      Documentable, which is more than can be said for the Israeli's gas.

      That's what so funny, the Israeli have nothing to say, so they make foolish and unsustainable claims. It's in their jeans.
      The Semitic jeans.

      Delete
    5. Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 05:03:00 PM EDT
      Seems you are projecting and speaking of your own experiences again, aye?

      Heck No, Jack/Rat, i am referring to your black opps in central america where you bragged about offing civilians...

      we all KNOW what a cold bloody hired killer you were.... maybe still are....

      Just letting the folks that read this KNOW that you are a self confessed killer of civilians in central america....

      After all WE all KNOW who you really are... The AZ FBI knows you, the Colonel KNOWS you... and of course I KNOW you...

      Delete
    6. You are rambling again, Israeli agent.

      Document your claims.
      Have at it NASI.

      Or go burn a book

      Delete
    7. That's what NASI are good at, burning books and children.

      Both are documentable facts.

      Delete

    8. ANALYSIS: Stunned by Israel's fierce response, Hamas sends distress signals

      Delete
    9. Both are documentable facts.


      As is your death threats, stalking and human rights violations....

      Delete
    10. Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 05:11:00 PM EDT
      You are rambling again, Israeli agent.

      Document your claims.


      I have...

      Just not on a public blog.

      Like when you said I was under a National Security Threat investigation?

      Document your claims horse fucker....

      Delete
    11. That's what so funny, the horse fucker from AZ have nothing to say, so he makes foolish and unsustainable claims. It's in their jeans.
      The horse fucker jeans.


      "You are rambling again, Israeli agent.

      Document your claims. "


      Israeli Agent?

      We;ll shucks horse fucker, I am JUST as much born and bred American as you!

      Except in my family we don't fuck horses....

      Delete
    12. That is the best the book burner can do, call his betters names....

      Really must be getting to the Israeli, he's going to have to go get serviced, in Tel Aviv.

      Delete
    13. NASI book burning and sexual deviancy, it's all they can think about.
      They promote the Sex Trade in Tel Aviv, that must be where the Israeli learn all about horses, too.

      They did bring a riding team to Florida, that won by losing.
      You see, even though the Israeli rider fell of his horse, they collected a lot shekels, for putting on the show.
      Next year they will find a more docile horse for the NASI to mount.

      Delete
  36. AP - No "Stand-Down" Order

    WASHINGTON (AP) - The testimony of nine military officers undermines contentions by Republican lawmakers that a "stand-down order" held back military assets that could have saved the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans killed at a diplomatic outpost and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya.

    The "stand-down" theory centers on a Special Operations team of four - a detachment leader, a medic, a communications expert and a weapons operator with his foot in a cast - who were stopped from flying from Tripoli to Benghazi after the attacks of Sept. 11-12, 2012, had ended. Instead, they were instructed to help protect and care for those being evacuated from Benghazi and from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.

    The senior military officer who issued the instruction to "remain in place" and the detachment leader who received it said it was the right decision and has been widely mischaracterized. The order was to . . . .

    A Weapons Guy with a Foot in a Cast

    Oh, and they would have been about 4 hours late.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Better to not have tried since we KNEW they Ambassador would already be dead...

      What difference would it have made...

      Delete
    2. Better to stand in defense, than go on offense without the capacity to win.
      They call that 'Escalation of Commitment',
      It is how amateur soldiers get sucked into losing ever more lives, blood and treasure.

      Delete
    3. A Lt. Colonel whose "command" consisted of a radio operator, a medic, and a "weapons guy with a foot in a cast."

      That guy was/is a shitbird. You have to wonder if he would have even managed to get his men on the right plane.

      Delete
    4. I don't think I'd want to send that guy to get my least favorite mother-in-law across a street.

      Delete
    5. Rufus II : That guy was/is a shitbird.

      Such respect for men in our armed services...

      Delete
  37. It's starting to look as if Obamacare is about as good at killing jobs as Obama is at being a socialist.

    In short: Not very.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 04:18:00 PM EDT
    The failure of the Israeli air force is brought into focus, again.
    It failed in the last conflict, it is failing, today.


    Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas spoke to the chairman of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, on Sunday, and asked him to calm the situation in Gaza.

    Abbas asked Meshaal to avoid escalation of the situation, which would give Israel an excuse to launch an operation in Gaza.

    Meshaal reportedly told Abbas that he would not act to stop the rocket fire unless the PA met its financial obligations to Hamas, including paying the overdue salaries of several Hamas officials.

    The PA is currently embroiled in a conflict over wages with Hamas; some 40,000 Hamas employees are not being paid backlogged wages by the newly established unity government, even while the PA's 70,000 employees in Gaza continue to be paid.



    So it's all about Hamas and getting it's welfare check...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. ANALYSIS: Stunned by Israel's fierce response, Hamas sends distress signals

      Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns; The organization is concerned the IDF's operation could be the end to Hamas’s rule over the Gaza StDespite fiery statements issued by Hamas spokesmen over the past 48 hours, it was obvious Tuesday night that the Islamist movement was searching for ways to rid itself of the current escalation.

      rip.

      Delete
    2. lol

      SO sorry charlie, hamas we expect you to DIE...

      Delete
    3. The massive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours have surprised Hamas and other Palestinian groups. Hamas apparently expected a limited response to the recent rocket attacks on Israeli cities and towns. But as the IDF intensified its strikes against Hamas targets – including the homes of some of its top commanders – it became clear to the movement’s leaders that Israel means business.



      payback is a bitch...

      Delete
    4. On Tuesday night, Hamas spokesmen were sending distress signals to various parties. The organization is concerned that if the IDF operation continues for another few days, the movement will pay a very heavy price – one that could even bring about an end to Hamas’s rule over the Gaza Strip.

      Hamas accused Israel of “crossing all the redlines” by bombing the homes of its military commanders. This shows that Hamas did not expect Israel to take such a drastic move. Less than 24 hours after the beginning of the IDF offensive, Hamas talked about the need to return to the truce that was reached with Israel in 2012.

      A spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, listed this demand as part of his movement’s effort to end the current confrontation. The spokesman called for an end to the IDF crackdown on Hamas members in the West Bank, which began after the abduction and murder of three Israeli youths last month.

      On Tuesday night, Hamas and other Palestinian groups appealed to Egypt and Arab countries to intervene to stop the IDF operation. Given Hamas’s bad relations with the Egyptian authorities, it’s unlikely that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would rush to save the movement that is openly aligned with his enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood.


      Dear Hamas.

      the party is over... Run and hide.... better escape to the Sinai while you can...

      like rats to a sewer..

      Delete
    5. IDF tells 100,000 Gaza civilians to move back from Israeli border – sign of impending ground incursion

      the IDF advised 100,000 Palestinian civilians to leave their homes in the northern Gaza villages of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, Greater Ibsen and Smaller Ibsen and head west to the coast or south, to remove themselves from danger. This order, issued shortly after a special Israeli cabinet meeting, suggested that an Israel military incursion is impending. During the day, Hamas kept up its barrage, firing 100 rockets, so demonstrating that its rocket capability was not impaired by three days of massive Israeli air strikes.

      Ground invasion time...

      Bye Bye Hamas.

      Delete
    6. Couldn't do it in "Cast Lead", couldn't do it against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

      The IDF is a sham, a piece of propaganda that is casualty adverse.
      Watch a learn, NASI, the IDF will kill women, burn children and do nothing to obliterate Hamas.
      That would take bravery, which the NASI have only shown when fighting for their cousin, Adolf
      In some twenty cases, soldiers of Jewish descent were decorated with the Ritterkreuz, one of the highest awards of merit in the German army..

      It's genetic, the NASI either collaborate, or run to the train...

      Delete
    7. Watch and learn, NASI, the IDF will kill women, burn children and do nothing to obliterate Hamas.

      Delete
    8. Tell that to the dead hamas leaders and the others hiding under hospitals and schools

      Delete
    9. Nothing to tell them, the "real" leaders are not in Gaza.
      They are watching it all on TV, cheering 'the IDF on.

      Delete
  39. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli leaders are signaling that a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip could be quickly approaching. Israel’s intelligence minister told Israel Radio that his country ‘‘will have to take over Gaza temporarily, for a few weeks.’’

    For a second day today, Israel today struck targets in Gaza as part of what Israel says is an effort to stop rocket attacks. Palestinian officials say more than 20 people were killed.


    Militants in Gaza, meanwhile, continue to fire rocket salvos deep into Israeli territory.


    Meanwhile Hamas, KEEPS inviting Israel to bomb them....

    dumbasses..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Israeli are doing just what Hamas wants ...
      By your own admission.

      Who is the dumb ass, NASI?

      Think about it ...
      Pull your head out of your ass, and think 'strategically'.

      Do their bidding, why?

      Delete
    2. You call me a "nasi? and yet you are the self confessed killer of civilians...

      Delete
  40. Gaza fires more rockets, Israel hits back

    On Wednesday, after Hamas fired nearly 100 rockets into Israel, Netanyahu met with senior military commanders near Gaza and vowed to press on. He said that with public support “the operation will be expanded and will continue until the firing at our communities stops and quiet is restored.”

    Does this sound like the Warsaw Ghetto? Nope...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hamas continued to fire longer-range rockets across Israel, keeping many Israelis at home or in shelters. One Syrian-made M-302 rocket hit near Hadera, about 70 miles from Gaza, according to an Israeli army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, who said that Palestinians in Gaza had “tens” more like it.

      Iranian/Syrian supplied rockets aimed at Israeli civilians..

      Time to level these creeps...

      Delete
    2. ah arabs murdering arabs again...

      Syrian rebels rampaged through a Sunni village in the central province of Hama on Wednesday, firing indiscriminately at civilians and killing 14 people, including seven women, state media and opposition activists said.

      State news agency SANA said an ‘‘armed terrorist group’’ was behind the dawn attack on the village of Khatab, located six miles northwest of the provincial capital. SANA and Syrian state TV said 14 people were killed.


      Syrian Minister of Justice Najm al-Ahmad called the attack in Khatab ‘‘a terrorist crime’’ and ordered a judicial inquiry.

      Delete
    3. That is only because the Jews in the ghetto were without balls, and the Zionists had cut off the logistical supply line.

      In Holocaust Victims Accuse (1977), available on line, Rabbi Moshe Shonfeld says some Zionists sabotaged many attempts to organize resistance, ransom and relief. They 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.


      Unless you wish to claim the Rabbi is a lying, self-loathing Jew.

      Delete
    4. no, I'd say what you post is out of context, misleading and dishonest.

      coming from a troll like you that misquotes talmud, lies and makes up stuff about jews, israel and zionism on a daily, if not hourly basis.

      Delete
    5. Do not misquote it. If you wish to challenge the context, go right ahead.

      If you wish to challenge the statements, claim they are lies, go right ahead, document your claims.
      The truth is you cannot document any of your claims, you never have been able to.
      You are an emotional NASI, one that would not know the truth if it bit you on the nose.

      Delete
  41. WASHINGTON--Top U.S. military leaders fully supported the decision to exchange five Taliban prisoners to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive in Afghanistan for five years, according to letters released Thursday.

    The Joint Chiefs of Staff and their chairman unanimously supported the decision to swap the detainees to win the freedom of Sgt. Bergdahl, according to the letters, released by the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich).

    In the letters, the seven top military leaders said their support was motivated by the U.S. commitment not to leave service members behind on the battlefield. Abandoning Mr. Bergdahl would have been a "greater and more damaging risk," said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After five years, the transfer "was likely our last, best opportunity" to free Sgt. Bergdahl, he said.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Netanyahu owns this and the consequences. His provocations started it and the educated world, that is paying attention will deal with it. 90 are dead, over 150 children injured.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. he idea that Bibi would have ordered the murder of those three Jewish teens, not far fetched. Zionists have murdered Jews before, for political gain, expediency.

      On Nov. 25, 1940, a boat carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, the “Patra,” exploded and sank off the coast of Palestine killing 252 people.

      The Zionist “Haganah” claimed the passengers committed suicide to protest British refusal to let them land.
      Years later, it admitted that rather than let the passengers go to Mauritius, it blew up the vessel for its propaganda value.

      “Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the few in order to save the many,”
      Moshe Sharett, a former Israeli Prime Minister said at memorial service in 1958.


      The Zionist killed 252 Jewish refugees ...
      "... for its propaganda value."

      Delete
    2. The idea that Hamas would not suffer casualties to its civilian population,
      ... for its propaganda value."

      Just plain dumb.
      Bibi is playing into their game.
      He is still playing checkers.
      "O" thinks that a few more Israeli soldiers killed will be worth the gain ...
      But cannot articulate what that gain will be.

      Hamas will not be annihilated, obliterated or destroyed.
      But the disinvestment campaign against Israel will be accelerated.

      American Jewry will be made more distant from Israel. As has been the trend.
      A trend which the Israeli government used to be concerned about. Which is now moving beyond the 'tipping point'.

      A self-centered life will have a tendency to confuse its selfish desire with God's will.
      - Santanu Mishra

      No people in the world are more self-centered than the Zionists of Israel.

      Delete
    3. Deuce ☂Thu Jul 10, 07:25:00 PM EDT
      Netanyahu owns this and the consequences. His provocations started it and the educated world, that is paying attention will deal with it. 90 are dead, over 150 children injured.


      hardly... Hamas OWNS it...

      deal with it.

      Delete
    4. that happens DAILY in Syria...

      so what?

      Hamas shot 170 rockets today and publicly said it targets all civilians...

      SO deuce, should Israel just take it up the ass to make folks like you happy?

      Delete
    5. Israel has embargoed Gaza, an act of war. That started the dance.

      Israel dropped 700 tones of munitions of Gaza, that trumps 170 rockets.

      Delete
    6. Israel has been shoving it up the ass of the people in Gaza, since 1967, the Israeli seem to enjoy it.

      Look at how they promote that recreational activity, in Tel Aviv, internationally.

      Delete
    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

    8. Israel dropped 700 tones of munitions ON Gaza, that trumps 170 rockets.

      Delete
    9. your reading of history proves you know nothing.

      "Israel has been shoving it up the ass of the people in Gaza, since 1967"

      Try reading what Gaza did from 1948 to 1967 that caused the gaza to be conquered.

      But that would mean you'd have to admit that Gaza started it...

      and lost...

      Defeat Hamas, kill them.

      If you cheer on Hamas? You are in fact a supporter of islamic nazis.

      And personally? I hope you are arrested and incarcerated.

      Delete
    10. Who cares about what a NASI hopes for?

      You Arabs arre all the same, Jewish, Islamic, Christian, all the Arabs are related, all from the same gene pool.
      Brothers and sisters, cousins, uncles and aunt.

      Go kiss your cousins, for me.
      I already did your momma.

      Delete
  43. Replies
    1. Adolf Hitler developed the belief that a country required Lebensraum ('living space') in order to survive.

      About 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
      What to do about the Israelis in the growing settlements


      NASI policies in the 20th century and the 21st remained unchanged.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. .

      I tend to agree with you Deuce. Precipitating events merely move the ball forward. There are numerous reasons to believe that the long term policy will be as you describe.

      .

      Delete
  44. So has President Obama, in fact, broken the law and abused his constitutional authority by delaying the Affordable Care Act's "employer mandate"? This may be the top Republican talking point right now. But what does the law actually say about this?

    Mostly, the heated rhetoric of the past few weeks ignores what the Administration has actually decided and how it has delimited the scope and purpose of that decision. The Treasury Department's announcement provides for one year of "transition relief," to continue working through 2014 with "employers, insurers, and other reporting entities" to revise and engage in "real-world testing" of the reporting requirements, simplify forms, coordinate requisite public and private sector information technology arrangements, and engineer a "smoother transition to full implementation in 2015." The announcement describes the postponed requirements as "ACA mandatory" -- i.e., not discretionary or subject to indefinite waiver. On July 9, Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Mazur added, in a letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton, that the Department expects to publish proposed rules implementing the relevant provisions "this summer, after a dialogue with stakeholders." In effect, the Administration explains the delay as a sensible adjustment to phase-in enforcement, not a refusal to enforce

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In Sunday's Washington Post, Bush II Health & Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt concurred that "The [Obama] Administration's decision to delay the employer mandate was wise," in light of the Bush Administration's initially bumpy but ultimately successful phase-in of the 2004 prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Though "wise," is the current postponement "illegal"? On the contrary, Treasury's Mazur wrote to Chair Upton, such temporary postponements of tax reporting and payment requirements are routine, citing numerous examples of such postponements by Republican and Democratic administrations when statutory deadlines proved unworkable.

      In fact, applicable judicial precedent places such timing adjustments well within the Executive Branch's lawful discretion. To be sure, the federal Administrative Procedure Act authorizes federal courts to compel agencies to initiate statutorily required actions that have been "unreasonably delayed." But courts have found delays to be unreasonable only in rare cases where, unlike this one, inaction had lasted for several years, and the recalcitrant agency could offer neither a persuasive excuse nor a credible end to its dithering. In deciding whether a given agency delay is reasonable, current law tells courts to consider whether expedited action could adversely affect "higher or competing" agency priorities, and whether other interests could be "prejudiced by the delay." Even in cases where an agency outright refuses to enforce a policy in specified types of cases -- not the case here -- the Supreme Court has declined to intervene. As held by former Chief Justice William Rehnquist in a leading case on this subject, Heckler v. Chaney, courts must respect an agency's presumptively superior grasp of "the many variables involved in the proper ordering of its priorities." Chief Justice Rehnquist suggested that courts could lose their deference to Executive Branch judgment if an "agency has consciously and expressly adopted a general policy that is so extreme as to amount to an abdication of its statutory responsibilities." The Obama Administration has not and is not about to abdicate its responsibility to implement the statute on whose success his historical legacy will most centrally depend.

      Delete
    2. Nor is the one-year delay of the employer mandate an affront to the Constitution, as Professor Michael McConnell and Congressional Republicans insist. The relevant text requires that the President "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Scholars on both left and right concur that this broadly-worded phrasing indicates that the President is to exercise judgment, and handle his enforcement duties with fidelity to all laws, including, indeed, the Constitution. As McConnell himself notes, both Republican and Democratic Justice Departments have consistently opined that the clause authorizes a president even to decline enforcement of a statute altogether, if in good faith he determines it to be in violation of the Constitution. But, McConnell contends, a president cannot "refuse to enforce a statute he opposes for policy reasons." While surely correct, that contention is beside the point.

      The Administration has not postponed the employer mandate out of policy opposition to the ACA, nor to the specific provision itself. Thus, it's misleading to characterize the action as a "refusal to enforce." Rather, the President has authorized a minor temporary course correction regarding individual ACA provisions, necessary in his Administration's judgment to faithfully execute the overall statute, other related laws, and the purposes of the ACA's framers. As a legal as well as a practical matter, that's well within his job description.

      The Atlantic

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    3. .

      I have no problem waiting for the courts to decide.

      .

      Delete
    4. :) :) :)

      Brutha, pleeze

      No court in the country will hear that nonsense; Boehner's just trying to get through the election.

      Delete
    5. There is not a Court in the land that will allow the Congress to dodge its Constitutional responsibility or the prescribed process.

      Delete
    6. .

      The point of the article is that 'judicial precedent' says Obama has the right to do what he is doing.

      If you didn't want that point made, why the hell did you put up the article?

      I merely stated I can wait for a court ruling.

      What's wrong with you boys?

      .

      Delete
  45. Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 08:59:00 PM EDT

    Israel dropped 700 tones of munitions ON Gaza, that trumps 170 rockets.


    Maybe Israel should drop those 700 tons directly on the civilians of Gaza, then you would have a case...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh wait, Israel doesn't target civilians, the savages of Hamas does...

      Just like Assad of Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah are cut from the same cloth. And you support them.

      sick pricks you are..

      Delete
    2. 700 tonnes of munitions, spent on the mot heavily congested urban environment on the planet.

      You lie like a rug.

      Delete
    3. 700 tonnes of munitions, spent on the MOST heavily congested urban environment on the planet.

      The Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, spoke plainly...

      Israel prefers al-Qeada

      http://www.jpost.com/Syria-Crisis/Oren-Jerusalem-has-wanted-Assad-ousted-since-the-outbreak-of-the-Syrian-civil-war-326328

      Delete
  46. The Talmud book of Yebamoth.

    Although Moses commanded that if a woman have intercourse with a beast, both should be killed (Leviticus 20:16),
    and that a priest must not marry a harlot or woman who is profane (Lev. 21:7),

    the Talmud teaches that
    “unnatural intercourse does not cause a woman to be forbidden to marry a High Priest,”
    since then “you will find no woman eligible … .”
    (Folios 59a-59b)

    Rulings of the “sages” follow:
    “A woman who had intercourse with a beast is eligible to marry a priest — even a High Priest.” …

    If she had intercourse with a dog while sweeping the floor, she is likewise reckoned to be pure, and suitable.

    For, “The result of such intercourse being regarded as a mere wound, and the opinion that does not regard an accidentally injured hymen as a disqualification does not regard such as intercourse either.”

    This alone gives a fair idea of the systematic deformation of Scripture by the Pharisees

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tel Aviv devotes about $100,000 — more than a third of its international marketing budget — to drawing gay tourists.
      Though no exact figures exist, officials estimate that tens of thousands of gay tourists from abroad arrive annually.

      "We are trying to create a model for openness, pluralism, tolerance,"

      Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai told The Associated Press.
      > "Live and let live — this is the city of Tel Aviv."


      http://cnsnews.com/news/article/tel-aviv-emerges-top-gay-tourist-destination>

      Delete
    2. SO when are you going? It's all you talk about...

      Delete
    3. Jack Hawkins, aka Rat aka Farmer Rob is a gayboy!

      No wonder he could not keep a wife...

      LOL

      Delete
  47. Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 09:28:00 PM EDT
    700 tonnes of munitions, spent on the MOST heavily congested urban environment on the planet.

    is Gaza the most densely populated place on earth? A comparison to prominent world cities (using data from the UN Statistics Division) reveals that this is far from the case.

    Paris and Athens, for example, are more than four times more densely populated than Gaza.



    Major American cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco are all more densely populated than Gaza – as are the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.



    wrong again rat boy....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. City - Paris . . .Density (/km²)=21,196 -
      Gaza strip - Palestinian Territory . . . Density (/km²)= 66,754

      Delete
    2. Paris is so open it is not even listed in the crowd.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_districts_by_population_density

      Delete
    3. heavily congested urban environment on the planet.

      you said URBAN asshole

      the Gaza Strip is not URBAN just the cities and towns...

      You really do not know shit.

      Delete
    4. top 50 cities by density..

      gaza doesn't even make the list

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population_density

      Delete
    5. It is constantly claimed that Gaza is 'the most' or 'one of the most' densely populated areas in the world. Well, here's yet another area that's more densely populated: Tel Aviv.
      Israel's total population is about 7.4 million and its total population density is 316 people per square kilometer, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. However, large areas of Israel, such as the Negev desert, are unpopulated or sparsely populated, while others, such as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, have population densities of more than 1000 people per square kilometer. The Tel Aviv district has a population density of about 7073 people per square kilometer.

      By contrast, the total population in the Palestinian Territories is 3.9 million, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. About 2.4 million live in the West Bank and, of these, about half a million live in the densely populated city of Hebron. Overall population density, including all people and land mass, is 427 people per square kilometer in the West Bank and 4,010 people per square kilometer in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.



      try again liar

      Delete
  48. In the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan, Gaza was assigned to be part of an Arab state in western Palestine but was occupied by Egypt following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

    So egypt COULD have made Gaza a part of Palestine but refused and used it as a base of attack against israel.... then lost it...

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reality, which you may well know.

      The General Assembly passed on 29NOV1947 - Reslution 181, which RECOMMENDED that the ...

      Recommends to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to the future Government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union set out below;

      Requests that

      The Security Council take the necessary measures as provided for in the plan for its implementation;


      The Security Council consider, if circumstances during the transitional period require such consideration, whether the situation in Palestine constitutes a threat to the peace. If it decides that such a threat exists, and in order to maintain international peace and security, the Security Council should supplement the authorization of the General Assembly by taking measures, under Articles 39 and 41 of the Charter, to empower the United Nations Commission, as provided in this resolution, to exercise in Palestine the functions which are assigned to it by this resolution;

      The Security Council determine as a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, in accordance with Article 39 of the Charter, any attempt to alter by force the settlement envisaged by this resolution;

      The Trusteeship Council be informed of the responsibilities envisaged for it in this plan;

      Calls upon the inhabitants of Palestine to take such steps as may be necessary on their part to put this plan into effect;

      Appeals to all Governments and all peoples to refrain from taking any action which might hamper or delay the carrying out of these recommendations, and

      Authorizes the Secretary-General to reimburse travel and subsistence expenses of the members of the Commission referred to in Part 1, Section B, Paragraph I below, on such basis and in such form as he may determine most appropriate in the circumstances, and to provide the Commission with the necessary staff to assist in carrying out the functions assigned to the Commission by the General Assembly.


      The "Plan" was never voted upon, by the Security Council, and the inhabitants of the area did not sign on, either.
      The Resolution was ignored by all the parties. The Israeli UNILATERALLY declared an independent state on 15MAY1948
      Seems that no one accepted Resolution 181, concurrent to its passage, the Plan was never implemented..

      On 11MAY1949 the UN accepted the state of Israel as a member.

      Delete
    2. You are correct, Gaza is part of Israel, that is what makes Israel an Apartheid Nation.

      Maybe it is beginning to sink in through your NASI armor

      Delete
    3. Once again, you are like an arab, cannot pat your head and walk at the same time.

      No herr Rodent, Gaza aint Israel's..

      It was given to the PA years ago.

      Now very soon?

      It very well maybe conquered again..

      For someone who brags how smart you are all the time, you certainly are one dense racist anti-Semite.

      BTW, you stand against Israel and for Hamas.

      That says it all... I hope the Homeland Security knows you support Hamas..

      Delete
    4. Who cares what you hope for, you are a NASI.

      Delete
  49. Hamas now targeting US Negev bases. IF hamas hits and kills Americans? Herr Rat supports killing American solders.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Herr Rodent supports the shooting of rockets at israeli civilians...

      And Hamas today ordered it's civilians NOT to evacuate and be human shields...

      LOL

      Die for the cause... On purpose...

      That's our Jack Hawkins/FarmerRob/Rat for ya...

      Delete
    2. So we have established that Jack doesn't know shit..

      as usual

      Just distortion and lies, insults and name calling.

      But it all boils down to the fact he prefers Hamas to Israel.

      that says it all.

      Delete
    3. Just as the Zionis killed 252 Jewish refugees, the leaders of Hamas are going to let civilians die for propaganda purpoes, it was so stated
      Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 07:30:00 PM EDT
      ...
      “Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the few in order to save the many,”
      Moshe Sharett, a former Israeli Prime Minister said at memorial service in 1958.

      The Zionist killed 252 Jewish refugees ...
      "... for its propaganda value."

      Farmer RobThu Jul 10, 07:38:00 PM EDT

      The idea that Hamas would not suffer casualties to its civilian population,
      ... for its propaganda value."

      Just plain dumb.
      Bibi is playing into their game.
      He is still playing checkers.


      You really are an ignorant Arab "O".
      Whether or not you are a Jewish Arab, that is up for debate, but that you are are a stupid Arab, that is plain as day.

      Delete
    4. Farmer Rob aka Rat aka Jack stands with Hamas

      i stand with Israel.

      Kiss my ass....

      Delete
    5. It's quite telling, the land thief, who squats on 350 acres of other people's lands, stand with Hamas, a terrorist group the USA calls a terror group.

      He stands with terrorists.

      i stand with Israel.

      Truth is clear.

      Delete
    6. As for fearing the government, because of my political views, this ain't Israel, you NASI piece of shit.

      Delete
    7. US soldiers should not be involved in civil wars, in foreign lands.
      If they are there, targets in a civil war, the responsibility lies with Obama, and his commanders.

      Just as Reagan was responsible in Lebanon, for putting the USMC in an untenable position, there.

      Delete
  50. When the Palestinians left their homes in the face of Zionist aggression, in 1948, they were never allowed to return to their homes.

    Little wonder then that the leaders of the Palestinians in Gaza do not want their people to leave their homes in the face of Zionist aggression, in 2014.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “In this context let me mention the pioneering work of Erskin Childers [Irish journalist].
      Childers was first to show that the Zionist claim that Arab propaganda had called on the Palestinians to run away from their homes was a gross lie.
      He inspected all broadcasts [the BBC recorded them and kept transcripts as did the American government] of the Arab radios of the time to find that no such call had ever been made.”


      http://www.wrmea.org/wrmea-archives/179-washington-report-archives-1994-1999/september-1999/9607-behind-the-myths-what-israeli-historians-say-about-1948-ethnic-cleansing.html

      Delete