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."

Friday, October 16, 2015

Israel, Creating Terrorism Abroad and Assaulting US Freedoms and First Amendment Rights in the USA










OCTOBER 9, 2015

The End of Academic Freedom in America: the Case of Steven Salaita

In the twenty-one years I spent at Columbia University, there was always some professor or another coming under attack from the Israel lobby—starting with the famous brouhaha of Edward Said throwing a rock or two at an Israeli military watchtower near the border with Lebanon. AIPAC would have had you believe that this was not a symbolic act but an existential threat to a state armed with nuclear weapons. But no matter the intensity of the witch-hunt, I was always proud to see my employer stand up for the free speech rights of the faculty.
As such my attention has been riveted on the trials and tribulations of Steven Salaita who was unfortunate enough to be the victim of a combined assault by the Israel lobby and a university officialdom that was determined to make him pay for telling the truth, no matter how bitter that truth. Since I am very close to some tenure-track professors, I have a better handle than most on what it means to be robbed of a tenured position. Getting tenure nowadays is almost like winning the American Idol contest, so the very idea of being denied a position and thrown to the wolves (no offense meant to a member of the animal kingdom far more noble than the University of Illinois mucketymucks) struck me as a wantonly destructive act—all the more so since it was defended in Pecksniffian terms by the likes of Cary Nelson.
When I posted an excerpt from Salaita’s newly published “Uncivil Rites: Palestine and the Limits of Academic Freedom” on my blog this week, I was struck by the sharp rise in page views. Clearly, just about everybody on the left has a feeling that in this case the IWW slogan rings as true as ever: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”
Everybody has a stake in the outcome of his legal action against the University of Illinois. Student activists in the BDS movement understand that his persecution was an attempt to silence a high-profile academic supporter. People on the left in general recognize that it is not just “academic freedom” that is under attack. In a period of deepening repression that includes snooping on electronic communications, a university’s firing of a tenured professor because of some controversial tweets is an omen of things to come. Finally, it is Salaita’s peers who have the greatest stake in the outcome of his legal action. If you signed a contract for a new academic position, sold your house, and resigned your prior position, what a shock it would be to receive a letter a month or so before the semester starts informing you that the contract was meaningless.
“Uncivil Rites” is both a personal and political account of what it is like to endure such a Kafkaesque fate. I was deeply moved by Salaita’s confession that his first reaction was one of shame, as if he had somehow failed his family. It reminded me of what my Trotskyist educators once told me after I joined the movement in 1967. Since they had lived through the 1930s, they understood what it meant to be jobless. They explained that for the average worker, unemployment was experienced as a personal failing. In 1930 there was no mass outpouring of protests, only a sense of resignation and a yearning for personal salvation. When no such salvation was forthcoming, the workers took to the streets.
For all of the talk about professors being a privileged elite, we should never forget that the only thing that they can rely on is their intellectual labor power. As pawns of market relations, they can be victims as well—all the more so when the visible hand of political repression enters the marketplace and tilt the scales in favor of injustice. Given the increasingly “precariat” nature of academic labor, perhaps we will see its various tiers from adjuncts at the bottom to full professors at the top come together and make a stand against corporatization that would put a smile on the face of John L. Lewis.
The tone of “Uncivil Rites” is conversational. Like all great writing, the voice of the author is paramount and Steven Salaita is a very engaging conversationalist, something I can attest to as having heard him speak at the New School during a nationwide tour. salaitauncivilPart of everyday discourse is profanity. In a bracing departure from academic cant, he lets loose with a “shit” or a “fuck” as the spirit moves him. Considering the abuse he has had to put up with by those using far more “civil” language, his formulations are appropriate to the circumstances. Indeed, new curse words would have to be coined to describe the malignant forces arrayed against him.
Among them are a trio of professors at the University of Illinois who are a disgrace to their profession, starting with Cary Nelson whose “Manifesto of a Tenured Radical” once sat upon my bookshelf. A new edition should properly be titled “Manifesto of a Tenured Ex-Radical Serving Corporate Power.” Nelson, who has led the crusade against Salaita, has the temerity to cite the testimonial of Michael Berube, who replaced him as head of the AAUP, on his website. Berube describes him there as a fearless defender of free speech. Evidently, Berube’s subsequent opinion that “Nothing in Professor Salaita’s Twitter feed suggests a violation of professional ethics or disciplinary incompetence” was overlooked.
Nelson’s partners in academic malfeasance are Nick Burbules and Joyce Tolliver who have slandered him as an “anti-Semite”. In the chapter aptly titled “Puffery”, he describes their attack as an “impeccable example of civilized defamation”. The two are walking embodiments of liberal cant with Burbules and Tolliver writing articles and books about “globalization” and “feminism”, all the while opposing trade unions at the University of Illinois. It reminds me of the time when Judith Shapiro, the president of Barnard College and a leading feminist theorist, provoked the mostly black and Latina clerical workers to go on strike after she sought a cutback in the health insurance benefit. For such people, diversity and tolerance are very important except when it comes to outspoken Palestinian professors or lowly paid trade union members.
My favorite chapter in this eminently readable book that I devoured in one sitting is titled “Injustice: a Bull(shit) Market” (I told you that Steven Sailaita does not mince words.) It is a combination of autobiography and political analysis that reveals the author at his sardonic peak. We learn that he had trouble with authority from an early age. He spent a lot of time being suspended from school and at the time knew that “adults are full of shit.” He advises:
Children need to develop a type of literacy that allows them to articulate their natural skepticism; instead, we teach them to suppress their instinctual dissidence so that they will be prepared for the rigor and discipline of a capitalist marketplace.
Whenever Salaita was suspended, his father punished him by giving him a list of chores that would leave him sore in the evening. But instead of bowing to the school’s strictures, he remained defiant. He writes, “I would have rather mowed the lawn down to dirt than spend any time in school.”
As he grew older, he discovered that higher education can be as authoritarian as any other institution in capitalist society, even more so. With the growing corporatization of the university, the administrative staff metastasizes while the number of tenured faculty decreases. With no protection against unemployment, the adjuncts tend to bow to authority. The net effect of such an environment is to prepare students for a job in a factory or a cubicle with little to hope for except a paycheck.
In protecting the “brand name”, universities go to extreme lengths to suppress bad news—especially about sexual assault. An administrator at the U. of North Carolina tells a rape survivor, “Rape is like football, and when you look back at the game, what would you have done differently in that situation.”
Before Salaita was crucified for his tweets, he had already gotten a taste of civilized repression at Virginia Tech after writing an article for Salon in 2013 questioning the use of “support our troops” since it was a way of discouraging critical examination of US foreign policy. That article led to a feeding frenzy like the one that led to his firing. Lawrence Hincker, a Virginia Tech administrator, issued a statement that included this mealy-mouthed formulation: ““While our assistant professor may have a megaphone on salon.com, his opinions not only do not reflect institutional position, we are confident they do not remotely reflect the collective opinion of the greater university community.” Hincker made sure to identify himself as a Vietnam era Navy veteran at the bottom of the statement.
Salaita’s take on this affair is filled with Swiftian irony:
As the controversy raged, I met with Hincker, along with my department chair and dean. Hincker was in a helpful mood, assuring me that all would be well if I produced a statement clarifying my position. The chicanery of the request intimated a coalescence of corporation and university, with the state, as usual, obeying the corporations and embodying the universities. My department chair silently watched, later calling me repeatedly to confirm that I wouldn’t in fact be releasing a clarification. In these moments, persistent obedience is a virtue.
To corporations, clarity is not a virtue. They thrive on the poetics of euphemism and treat truth as the verisimilitude of focus groups and consumer spending. Ambivalence and obeisance are their greatest assets. In this world of smirking plutocracy, clarifying a controversial statement means declaiming the substance of the controversy because clarification is supposed to comfort the powerful. Clarity in reaction to controversy is capitulation to the need of power to reassure itself of permanent reign.
Keeping in mind that Steven Salaita will earn some royalties from the sale of this book, let’s make it a bestseller. He will need money to tide him over until his job is reinstated at the U. of Illinois and he receives a cool million or so for damages. Buy a copy for yourself and for your friends on the left. It is a manifesto for our time with fighting words to inspire us for the struggle ahead.
Louis Proyect blogs at http://louisproyect.org and is the moderator of the Marxism mailing list. In his spare time, he reviews films for CounterPunch.

108 comments:

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  2. You didn’t watch the video and you posted your first inanity.

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    1. One standard for Bob and none for anyone else? (except me off course because I am a proud ZIONIST)

      That in anti-bobism.

      Shame on you Deuce.

      Open dialogue is a sign of strength. You are complaining that the israelis are infringing on speech in America and what do you do?????

      Delete what you don't like...

      LOL

      Deuce, you are an Israeli by proxy!!!

      LOL

      Delete
  3. THE FULL TEXT OF THE SPEECH BY PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS.

    To our Palestinian people in and around sacred Jerusalem,

    The Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, land and holy places continues to escalate. The racist barbarism exacerbates the ugliness of the occupation, in a way that threatens peace and stability and the igniting of a religious conflict that would burn everything, not only in the region but perhaps the whole world. This warrants the immediate positive interference by the international community before it is too late.

    We are clearly saying that we will not accept a change in the status quo of al-Aksa Mosque compound, as we will not allow any Israeli schemes aimed at compromising its holiness and Islamic identity to pass. It’s our exclusive right: for the Palestinians and Muslims everywhere in the world.

    We are asking for our rights, justice and peace, we do not commit aggression on anyone and we do not accept aggression against our people, our nation and our holy places. We have conveyed to the whole world from the United Nations that we will not accept the continuation of the current situation in occupied Palestine. We will not give up to the logic of brute force, policies of occupation and aggression practiced by the Israeli government and the herd of settlers who are engaged in terrorism against our people, our holy places, our homes, our trees and the execution of our children in cold blood as they did with the child Ahmed Manasra and other children from Jerusalem.

    We will continue our legitimate national struggle, which is based on our right to defend ourselves and on non-violent popular resistance and political and legal struggle. We will work with needed patience, wisdom and courage to protect our people and our political and national achievements, which we have achieved after decades of hard work and persistence through a long path of martyrs, injured people and prisoners.

    {...}

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      My hero Palestinians, we have - through your struggle and steadfastness- achieved several political victories whereby our national case and because of your steadfastness has become of interest and respect throughout the world, It’s true that we paid a big price through the blood of our martyrs, the injured, the tears of our mothers and the pain of our prisoners. However, it’s the price of our freedom, which is around the corner. Therefore, I salute all of you my great people. Greetings to Jerusalem and its great people… greetings to Gaza and the West Bank and our people in the diaspora. Victory is coming with God’s will but many people don’t know.

      We will together continue with you our national, political and legal struggle. We will not remain hostage to the agreements that are not respected by Israel, and we will continue to join the international organizations and treaties Our files about the settlements and the aggression on Gaza, prisoners and the burning of Al Dawabsheh family and before them the child martyr Mohammed Abu Khudair, are in front of the International Criminal Court and we will submit new files on the field executions committed against our sons and daughters and grandchildren. Those who fear the international law and its sanctions should stop committing crimes against our people.

      The Israeli government’s rejection of our open hands for peace, which guarantees the rights of our people, freedom and national dignity, and the Israeli government’s insistence on settlements, are the cause of insecurity and instability. Peace, security and stability will not be achieved unless the occupation ends and a Palestinian independent state with its capital east Jerusalem on the boarders of the fourth of June 1967 is established.

      Here, I invite you my great people, wherever you are, to, unite and be wary of the occupation schemes designed to abort and terminate our national project. We will never hesitate to defend our people and to protect them this is our right.


      A tribute to the martyr’s… greetings to the wounded, greetings to the prisoners.

      Peace, mercy and blessings of God.

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    2. Here is a reply to the Abbas statement:


      Avatar
      גַבְרִיאֵל • 15 hours ago
      i know a great place for Abbas, Erekat and other Palestinian leaders of terrorism. Arrest them sentence them and put them in special prisons open to the public where they are displayed in tiny cells kneeling or standing before crowds of Palestinian and Jewish students receiving lectures about their crimes. Cells enclosed in Plexiglas where their hands are chained behind their backs and their necks and feet collared in chains, facing the crowds who hear commentators reciting the list of their crimes and punishments. A one way speaker blaring these discussions to each prisoner in their sound proof cells amidst displays with photos, news articles, and sundries depicting their crimes and lawless actions. I would even suggest merchandising such as pens and paper for note taking with the prison logo and perhaps pictures of individual terrorists behind bars and of course refreshments. School buses could bring students on field trips during visiting hours. It should be an extension to Israel's Museum of Natural History.

      That is the perfect place for senior Palestinian leadership.

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    3. I think the senior palestinian leadership should be arrested and executed by the Palestinian people for crimes against humanity.

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  4. (CNN) -- Resentment has peaked in a spate of violence that has cost dozens of lives in Israel and in occupied Palestinian areas in just a few weeks' time.

    On Friday, the U.N. Security Council will take up the matter.

    Palestinian attackers have wielded knifes against Israeli civilians and police, and Israeli security forces have turned their guns on them, but they have also fired during protests that have turned riotous.

    In the past month, eight Israelis died in 30 attacks with knives and other weapons that wounded many more. In the last two weeks, 34 Palestinians have been killed, including some who pulled knives.

    But others have been shot in clashes with Israeli security forces, Palestinian authorities have said. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been injured.

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    1. I notice the report misses the attacks on babies and children...

      LOL

      typical

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  5. New kind of attack

    The knife attacks have confounded Israeli authorities. They have spent millions to prevent suicide bombings with high concrete barriers or stop rockets flying in from Gaza with the high-tech "Iron Dome" anti-missile system.

    But a knife is easy to obtain and carry into a crowd. Israeli authorities so far don't believe the attacks are the result of any campaign of violence organized by militant groups.

    Hamas, the militant group that rules over Gaza, has praised the attacks but not claimed responsibility for them.

    It's often young Palestinians who may be acting out alone or after being recruited or at least encouraged via social media, Israeli authorities have said.

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    1. Response to knife attackers should be swift and lethal.

      Another terrorist palestinian attack today, this time dressed as a "PRESS" member...

      He was killed.

      Good

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  6. Jewish settlements

    Attempts by the United States to revive the Mideast peace process have fallen flat again and again for over a decade, with the most recent hopes being dashed last year, followed by the third Gaza war.

    In the meantime, Israel has forged ahead with the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which cut crisscrossing furrows through Palestinian territory.

    This week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talked about the boom.

    "There's been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years," he said. "Now you have this violence because there's a frustration that is growing, and a frustration among Israelis who don't see any movement."

    The U.N. Security Council holds monthly briefings on the situation in the Middle East, including the "Palestinian question."

    CNN's Ben Wedeman, Ingrid Formanek, Michael Schwartz, Amir Tal, Abeer Salman and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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    1. No NEW settlements have been created in the west bank in 15 years.

      Of course construction within the boundaries of existing Jewish neighborhoods have grown, just as arab neighborhoods have grown.

      Of course arabs are spreading into new settlements across America and Europe too as we speak.

      Maybe the Americans and Europeans should view those as implantations of an arab colonial project that should be resisted?

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  7. BOTTOM LINE

    The Palestinians cannot and will not accept the miserable reality in which they live.

    The bullshit phony “peace process” as well as what has been happening in occupied Jerusalem, with raids, incursions, attacks and violations of every possible human right in Gaza have not broken the Palestinian human spirit.

    The Palestinians know their enemy an oppressor is the “settlers”. Of course they want to kill them. In similar situations who wouldn’t?

    That is the downside of oppression and occupation. Occupiers and oppressors create spontaneous rage and riot.

    I side with David and so do fair minded people everywhere.

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    1. The Palestinians have chosen blood lust and murder, that is why Assad has killed almost 10 thousand of them (if not more).

      Jerusalem, a LIBERATED, UNITED city, the Eternal Capital of the Jewish State of Israel is not occupied. The areas in which the pro-palestinians claim to be the "arab" areas are infact the Jewish Quarter, the Western Wall and other historic Jewish sites, including the Temple Mount.

      Moslems have access to their places of worship, provided they do not use them to store weapons, bombs, firebombs and other assorted methods of violence. No nation on the planet would allow any group to use churches, temples or mosques to be ammo dumps.

      Fair minded people has spoken, they have recognized the Jewish State. It sits on 1/900th of the middle east and have allowed the arabs to sit on 899/900th.

      This is fair?

      1/900th for the Jews 899/900th for the Arabs.

      Now the arabs? Want more.

      In fact they want it all.

      Fair minded people are watching the arab world gut it's self and cannot fathom another arab nation that will bring famine, plague and violence to the world.

      As we speak, hundreds of thousands of arabs are on the move across the world, settling and changing the face of european and the americas.

      The issue aint Jewish settlement as the arabs themselves have proven since they have been murdering jews out for decades before ONE "settlement" was ever built.

      In modern times from 1948 to 1967 the arabs controlled and never sought to create a state in the west bank or gaza.

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  8. Deuce you are an American settler.

    By your logic?

    The native Americans have a right to kill you.

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  9. The palestinian people are going to die, by the hands of their worthless leaders.

    Abbas is inciting these morons to stab and kill jews and they are going to die.

    Palestinians burned down Joseph's tomb last night.

    Yeah, those settler Jews, been there for 3200 years.

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  10. Maybe the Palestinians need to be defeated.

    Really defeated.

    Like Assad is doing to them...

    Hmm?

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  11. Israel and the USA have offered the Palestinians statehood numerous times to no positive response with either Arafat or Abbas.

    They were offered 97% of the west bank, all of gaza and 1/2 of Jerusalem and land swaps to connect gaza and the west bank.

    That offer of course is now null and void.

    Abbas has said oslo is dead.

    Fine.

    Time for Israel to annex any and all lands it chooses and cut the palestinans loose to sink or swim.

    Any Israeli arabs caught doing terror? Should be expelled and stripped of citizenship.

    Any palestinian caught doing terror? Should be shot when attacking, if they survive? They should be expelled to syria.

    Happy deuce?

    Your friends, the Palestinians have chosen the path of terror, they shall be repaid.

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  12. Hundreds of Palestinian rioters to set fire to the Joseph's Tomb compound in Nablus on Friday morning, according to reports by Israel radio.

    The religious site suffered severe damage in the fire.

    As Deuce says, when you kick a dog he will bite.....


    Maybe it's time to burn down a Moslem Mosque?

    Like the Dome of the Rock?

    Fair is fair...

    Moslems burn a major holy site of the Jews?

    Jews should retaliate.


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    1. Oh wait? But the Jews have no rights to be there our esteemed host will say, they are "settlers" they have no rights!!!

      But what you say?

      Joseph's tomb has been there for thousands of years?

      What? Jews are FROM the middle east?

      Who knew?

      Our host thinks they come from Europe and Miami

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  13. The Palestinians have despair, they lost 600 good paying jobs from Sodastream who moved into the Negev.

    Think of the justice, the BDS claims success in driving the good jobs out of the west bank...


    As the buses rolled down the road, away from the savages and violence of the west bank, the shout "so long suckers" was heard from the bus...

    Poverty sucks, that's what BDS wants for the Palestinians.

    As I write over 100,000 arabs from the west bank currently have jobs inside Israel, typically these jobs pay 3 times the amount that arabs pay for employees inside the PA controlled lands...

    If the Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence?

    These jobs will be lost and more misery will beset the arabs of west bank.

    Abbas and Hamas are feathers of the same bird as ISIS and Hezbollah, this will not end in peace.

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  14. This one for quirk

    Security forces arrested a 13-year-old Arab boy in possession of a knife in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.

    According to police, officers noticed the youth approaching them in a suspicious manner.

    Authorities detained the boy and brought him in for questioning. The youth's parents were also summoned to the precinct.

    http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Police-arrest-13-year-old-Arab-youth-carrying-knife-in-Jerusalem-426171






    Darn, not shot and killed, didn't bulldoze the family home...

    Maybe the innocent child will try to murder a jew again?

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    1. .

      Security forces arrested a 13-year-old Arab boy in possession of a knife in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday.

      According to police, officers noticed the youth approaching them in a suspicious manner.

      Authorities detained the boy and brought him in for questioning. The youth's parents were also summoned to the precinct.



      So police see a kid on the street.

      They stop him and find he has a knife.

      They arrest him instead of killing him.

      Well, good on them.

      .

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    2. Happens hundreds of times a month.

      Not newsworthy

      But the ones that are attacks and result in the attacker being shot or killed?


      Fair game

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    3. .

      Hundreds of times a month.

      That's telling.

      Hundreds of times a month Palestinians are stopped on the street and frisked?

      .

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    4. Where did anyone say "stopped on the street and frisked"?

      Quirk, I guess you never heard of metal detectors and border checkpoints?

      Why must you SPIN everything into an issue?

      Your heart is a black one..

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    6. .

      Talking of the 13 year old the police stopped on the street,

      So police see a kid on the street.

      They stop him and find he has a knife.

      They arrest him instead of killing him.

      Well, good on them.

      your response,

      Happens hundreds of times a month.

      Merely, taking your comment within context.

      Try and be a bit more specific.

      .

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  15. It turns out being a democratic socialist can pay.

    Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent running for the Democratic presidential nomination, raised $26 million in the third quarter, his campaign said earlier this month.

    That’s about twice as much as what Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor seeking the Republican nomination, brought in, according to numbers released Thursday. Bush brought in $13.4 million between July and September.

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  16. Steven Salaita is suing due to the fact he was not given a promotion of tenure.

    That is LIFELONG employment without fear of being fired.

    And the PEOPLE who pay for his salary, the major donors objected to his promotion/tenure.

    Where is it a constitutional right to get a promotion when you hold views that are antagonistic against those who pay your salary?

    Steven Salaita now chairs the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut.

    He should fit in well there.

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  17. I’ll do more posts on how Aipac destroys Americans practicing free speech.

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    1. American advocating the murder of Israelis and Jews is not "free" speech.

      And that's why yelling fire in a theater is illegal.

      Not all speech is legal.

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  18. The unorthodox presidential campaign of Ben Carson took another twist late Wednesday when the retired neurosurgeon announced he would temporarily suspend his campaign.

    Unfortunately he’s not doing this for the usual reasons one suspends a campaign – cratering poll numbers, a juicy sexual-harassment scandal, a sudden onset of sanity. No, Carson will instead step off the trail to spend a couple of weeks on a book tour supporting “A More Perfect Union,“ his just-released guide to interpreting the Constitution for people who think Ben Carson ever knows what he’s talking about.

    The reaction on the right has been one of utter befuddlement. A candidate does not take time off from the Bataan Death March that is a modern presidential campaign just to read a few pages of his book to a bunch of elderly wingnuts in the back corner of the Hackensack Barnes and Noble. Especially not when he is in second place in the polls, nearly even with the frontrunner and far ahead of the rest of the pack. And he got there with hardly doing any traditional campaigning. Why stop now?

    The shock would be a lot easier to take seriously if a) Ben Carson had not already shown himself to have a grasp of reality best described as “tenuous” and b) if there was not a whole conservative ecosystem of publishers, TV and radio producers, think tanks, con artists and assorted other flimflammers all dedicated to making conservative politicians and media figures rich(er) through a combination of generous funding by wealthy benefactors and sucking money out of the pockets of rubes inclined to buy mail-order survival seeds as a hedge against the imminent Communist takeover of America, all because Fox News told them Obama is coming to steal their guns. It’s a perpetual motion machine of grift. Ben Carson is simply cashing in.

    {...}

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      Historian Rick Perlstein traced the history of the right wing’s money-making cons in a 2012 essay in The Baffler. After describing the product pitches he was inundated with by conservative publications after he subscribed to their email lists, Perlstein said this:

      [T]his stuff is as important to understanding the conservative ascendancy as are the internecine organizational and ideological struggles that make up its official history—if not, indeed, more so. The strategic alliance of snake-oil vendors and conservative true believers points up evidence of another successful long march, of tactics designed to corral fleeceable multitudes all in one place—and the formation of a cast of mind that makes it hard for either them or us to discern where the ideological con ended and the money con began.

      One need only look at the Republican candidates from the last two election cycles to see the cycle of grift at work. There was Ron Paul and his newsletters promising to show you how to put all your money in gold in advance of a worldwide economic collapse that never seems to arrive. (But please don’t cancel that subscription!) There was Mike Huckabee, recently busted for hawking a cinnamon-based cure for diabetes to the elderly diabetes-prone conservative base, using his 2008 campaign to land a talk show on the Fox News channel. There was the grandmamma of them all, Sarah Palin, who famously quit the governor’s mansion in Alaska after running for vice president in 2008 because she could make way more money babbling on Fox News occasionally, selling books defending that oft-endangered celebration of Christmas, and starring in reality shows.

      No matter how many times it happens, I never fail to be gobsmacked by how gobsmacked Republicans are when one of their own presidential candidates turns out to be a huckster shilling a get-rich-quick scheme or a miracle cure for diabetes or a fanciful interpretation of the Constitution that gives Cleon Skousen’s corpse a stiffy. It is as if conservative media figures and political operatives do not read their own publications.

      Delete
    2. SHOCK AND AWWW SHUCKS - BEN WAS SELLING A BOOK :) :

      Aside from showing up at the debates and sitting for interviews, Carson has done very little campaigning. He has not had to put forth much in the way of serious, detailed policy proposals, and he is still polling around 20 percent (the next-closest candidate in most polls, Marco Rubio, is hovering around 10 percent). Why shouldn’t he take advantage of his newly-raised media profile to sell his book and maybe dredge up some interest in his entire literary back catalog? The more books he sells, the more he can raise his speaking fees after the campaign by promoting himself as a best-selling author. The more speeches he gets highly paid to give, the more talk radio and Fox News see him as a valuable commodity to bring on as a pundit or even to give him his own show. Sure, he is already wealthy from his successful career as a neurosurgeon, but isn’t the essence of the capitalist system that conservatives revere to make as much money as you possibly can?

      Conservatives are supposed to hate the government and love the free market. Then they turn on their candidates who prize enriching themselves over actual governing. The irony is significantly more delicious than a barrel full of survival seeds.

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    4. .

      I don't particularly care for Carson, but the same guys complaining about him taking a couple weeks off from the campaign were yesterday no doubt complaining about how drawn out is the nomination process and about the Citizens United decision.

      Simply another partisan rant.

      .

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    5. .

      The same applies to the Nation article Rufus put up yesterday. The CBO can't win. If they cranked the numbers another way, the other side would complain. The Nation was against the way the CBO projects numbers even though they are following the law in doing it.

      As I said, CBO can't win. Take Social Security for instance. If a trust fund became exhausted, there would be a conflict between two federal laws. Under the Social Security Act, beneficiaries would still be legally entitled to their full scheduled benefits. But the Antideficiency Act prohibits government spending in excess of available funds, so the Social Security Administration (SSA) would not have legal authority to pay full Social Security benefits on time. It is unclear what specific actions SSA would take if a trust fund were exhausted.

      As in the past, Congress would likely respond. But that is not up to the CBO. They report the numbers under the assumptions they are given.

      Like the article on Carson, the Nation article is simply a partisan sob story.

      .

      Delete
  19. As for the Ferguson and Palestinian unity?

    I'd be worried if I was a white fat cat living in a major American city with a large unhappy, restless minority population.....

    Deuce has lectured us that you can only kick a dog so much much til he bites back.

    Deuce's advocacy of street justice stands in the headline.

    If Palestinians can knife civilian men, women and babies, the Blacks, Latinos and American Natives will be doing the same here soon.

    And the question arises...

    Deuce do you support the violent attacks in America on ordinary citizens by angry "folks" as some sort of
    we are mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore" mentality?

    After all, you are in fact, a perfect target...

    Will you still have love in your heart when it shares a 6 inch shank?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No the level of indignation foisted on Palestinians is universal in Israel and Israeli controlled territories. There is no comparison anywhere.

      Can anyone imagine the Pennsylvania National Guard bulldozing down a North Philadelphia house because one of the teenagers in the house threw a rock at a police car?

      Israel stands alone as a pretender to be a country that stands for western values.

      Delete
    2. Deuce you don't know reality.

      Hamas controls gaza.

      the PA controls the West Bank.

      they have guns and all sorts of weapons..

      Can anyone imagine what the USA has done to the Natives of this land?

      No Deuce your comparisons suck.

      In a warzone? America used nukes. It carpet bombed, heck it even drone strikes hospitals....

      But I love how you deescalate the description to "teenager throwing a rock at a police car"

      If a 19 year old drops a concrete block thru the windshield of a women and her baby and he and his friends do this 100 times a week? I bet Philadelphia Cops would do more than bulldoze a house..

      Hey wait a minute, didn't old Philadelphia Cops fire bomb and burn down 23 homes???? can we say MOVE?


      Deuce if put into the same position as Israel?

      Phila Cops, Boston Cops, Chicago Cops would do more.

      Delete
    3. Deuce: Israel stands alone as a pretender to be a country that stands for western values.

      Sorry you don't like it, i'd suggest you don't live there.

      But since you have never even visited it?

      I doubt you understand or even really know what it's about.

      As you continue to trash israel?

      Arabs are butchering arabs... and palestinians, and everyone else they come in contact with...

      Israel? "Israel stands alone as a pretender to be a country that stands for western values." It has more western values than you can understand.

      The 1st value?

      SURVIVAL

      Delete
  20. 2 palestinians tossed their lives away today... 13 others wounded...


    The IDF fired on and struck some 15 Palestinian rioters on the Gaza border fence on Friday, after they ignored verbal warnings and shots fired in air, and sought to approach the barrier to damage it, the military said.



    Deuce, please let your friends know that if they seek to invade Israel from the Gaza border?

    They will be viewed as terrorists and be shot dead?

    But in the meantime.

    2 more idiots tossed their lives aside for nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Interesting note on Sanders' fundraising: His average donation was $32.00 (and, change.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bernie's Core Group, 18-29 year olds, is being consistently under-polled.

      When a serious pollster such as ABC/Wash. Post (their last poll had 65% cell phones) gets around to releasing a poll, some people are going to be surprised at his strength.

      Delete
  22. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let explain something to you. If I DELETE something, it means it was deleted for a purpose. You don’t get to repost it.

      Delete
  23. "I don't particularly like Ben Carson"

    Quirk

    You are coming around, Quirk.

    That is a level above your mantra

    "They are all dicks"

    Maybe there is a little hope for you yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (I doubt it, but in Catholic theology, hope is a virtue, so why not hope ?)

      Delete
  24. The continual knife attacks by the arab savages in the West Bank show that the argument that guns cause crime, therefore ban guns, get rid of crime is false.

    In Rwanda during the last cycle of recurring attempted genocide most of the killing was accomplished using machetes.

    The machetes were sold to the folks there by the French, always on the lookout for good arms selling possibilities.

    Guns don't cause crime, stupidity and hatred cause crime.

    If not a gun, a knife or machete can do nearly as well.

    If a machete or knife is not available, stones work too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of the no-nos underlined by Gautama the Buddha was dealing in the arms trade.

      Selling arms is very bad, as it darkens one's spirit, and is not conducive to liberation.

      Delete
    2. This has always seemed a little naive to me.

      It depends on the situation.

      I'm for selling arms to the Kurds, for instance, among others....

      Delete
  25. PALESTINIANS TORCH JEWISH SHRINE AMID 'REVOLUTION' CALLS...................Drudge


    The 'Palestinians' don't deserve a State.

    Say, speaking of 'apartheid', am I correct in thinking that it is a crime among the 'Palestinians' to sell your land to a Jew?

    I think I read that somewhere.

    If that is true, how does this fit in with the 'apartheid' canard against the Jews ?

    ReplyDelete






  26. DNC: IT'S HILLARY OR NOTHING...
    KNIVES COME OUT FOR DEBBIE!
    PARTY IN DISARRAY...
    Biden aide urges Dems not to count him out...
    Criminal probe of Clinton email focused on 'gross negligence' provision...
    AGENT: HILLARY COULD FACE 10 YEARS IN JAIL...................Drudge






    FBI FURY: OBAMA SABOTAGING HILLARY INVESTIGATION..................Drudge


    10 years is jail for Hillary sounds about right to me.

    Not a slap on the wrist, but not draconian either.

    And, it would be in a Club Fed prison.

    Might do her sinful old soul a lot of good, really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. October 16, 2015
      Hillary's email legal peril: 'Gross negligence' under terms of 'Espionage Act'
      By Thomas Lifson

      According to leaks from the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s homebrew email server, she could be in deep legal peril, on charges that sound absolutely terrible for someone seeking the office of commander in chief. The reliable, smart, and well-connected Catherin Herridge of Fox News reports:

      Three months after Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address and server while secretary of state was referred to the FBI, an intelligence source familiar with the investigation tells Fox News that the team is now focused on whether there were violations of an Espionage Act subsection pertaining to "gross negligence" in the safekeeping of national defense information.

      Under 18 USC 793 subsection F, the information does not have to be classified to count as a violation. The intelligence source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe, said the subsection requires the "lawful possession" of national defense information by a security clearance holder who "through gross negligence," such as the use of an unsecure computer network, permits the material to be removed or abstracted from its proper, secure location.

      Subsection F also requires the clearance holder "to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer. "A failure to do so "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."

      The source said investigators are also focused on possible obstruction of justice. "If someone knows there is an ongoing investigation and takes action to impede an investigation, for example destruction of documents or threatening of witnesses, that could be a separate charge but still remain under a single case," the source said. Currently, the ongoing investigation is led by the Washington Field Office of the FBI.

      As Paul Mirengoff of Powerline comments:

      That sounds a lot like what Hillary Clinton did.

      Delete
    2. It seems beyond dispute that Hillary had possession or control of documents relating to the national defense. Indeed, some of her documents have been designated as “originally classified” which means, by definition, that their disclosure “reasonably could be expected to cause damage to the national security.”

      In addition, the case seems strong that Clinton removed such information from its proper place of custody and/or delivered it to someone in violation of her trust. I would argue that having information relating to the national defense on a private server constitutes removing it from its proper place of custody.

      Furthermore, Clinton apparently delivered national defense information to Sidney Blumenthal, who lacked a security clearance, thereby violating her trust. One example is a November 10, 2011 email exchange between Blumenthal and Clinton in which “the Blair option” (having to do with the Israel-Palestine “peace process,” I assume) was discussed. The document is “originally classified,” which means, by definition, that it contains information “the unauthorized disclosure of which could be expected to cause damage to the national security.”

      It also seems to me (as it apparently does to Fox News’ source) that it was gross negligence for Clinton to set up the arrangement whereby national defense information ended up on her private email server. That Clinton was aware of the risks involved is clear from her warnings to State Department employees about the risk posed by hackers.

      The questions facing us now are: 1) Will the FBI refer the case to the DoJ for prosecution? If not, will there be resignations or other public protests? Will the Benghazi Special Committee subpoena FBI files in that instance? And 2) Will the DoJ follow a referral with an indictment? The same follow-up questions apply.

      The very fact that these specifics were leaked to Fox News from the usually tight-lipped FBI is worrisome, implying that there is worry that the whole thing may be dropped. James Comey, the FBI head, enjoys a fine reputation in the media for standing up to political superiors. But that dates back to the Bush administration, when he was head of the New York FBI Office. Whether or not the same independence applies to the Obama administration is an open question in my mind.

      It is pretty clear that a vast alliance wants Hillary Clinton to be the next president. I suspect that a subterranean battle is underway over whether or not to charge her.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/10/hillarys_email_legal_peril_gross_negligence_under_terms_of_espionage_act.html

      Delete
  27. Over 100,000 palestinians from the west bank travel daily to / into Israel.

    it is an international border. People go thru metal detectors.

    With a daily traffic of 100,000 people, going back and forth, creating a traffic dynamic of over 1 million a week, or 4 million a month, a few hundred arrests for smuggling weapons is tiny.

    Sorry quirk, but I'd LOVE to see a NYC style stop and frisk of palestinians in Israel, but as of this moment Israel doesn't do that.

    Keep trying to spin shit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Shit Spinner" sounds like a great name for an advertising executive, come to think of it.

      :)

      later

      Cheers!

      Delete
    2. .

      :o)

      International border?

      Nonsense.

      Israel has never declared their borders. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid declaring borders. They are an occupying force controlling an occupied population.

      .

      Delete
    3. It was funny when WiO responded to your notion of Israelis stopping and frisking young Palestinians looking for knives by saying that the Israelis use checkpoints and metal detectors.

      Delete
    4. Well, it was funny when he did it on the other thread. I just noticed this little sub-thread and his headline comment (shows you how often I actually try to read what he posts).

      international border indeed -

      "Since the 1990s, Israel has created hundreds of permanent roadblocks and checkpoints staffed by Israeli Military or border police.[3]

      In September 2011, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said there were 522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstructing Palestinian movement in the West Bank, up from 503 in July 2010. That number does not include the temporary checkpoints known as "flying checkpoints," of which there were 495 on average per month in the West Bank in 2011, up from 351 on average per month in the previous two years.

      According to B'Tselem, there were 99 fixed checkpoints in the West Bank in September 2013, in addition to the 174 surprise flying checkpoints. In August 2013, 288 flying checkpoints were counted.[4]

      However, according to the Israel Defense Forces, after withdrawing the majority of checkpoints as a goodwill gesture, in May 2013 there were 13 checkpoints in the West Bank.[5][6] This figure does not include the numerous road blocks that prevent Palestinians from crossing the wall, which in many cases blocks access to areas within the West Bank."

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_checkpoint

      Delete
    5. .

      And for those who argue Gaza isn't an open air prison,

      "If the terrorist attacks continue, we will begin deporting the families of terrorists to the Gaza Strip," Channel 10 TV quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying on Friday...

      Israeli officials believe that expelling the families of Palestinians to Gaza as well as revoking residency permits of Arabs in east Jerusalem will have a sufficiently deterring effect on those seeking to cause mischief...


      .

      Delete
    6. .

      The Israelis are to be applauded for not 'stopping and frisking Palestinians'. If such is the case.

      On the other hand,

      Collective punishment.

      Destroying the homes of the 'families' of 'suspects'. Or rather, destroying the homes of the 'families' of 'Palestinian suspects'.

      Sending the 'families' to Gaza where they can be controlled.

      Revoking residency permits of and deporting East Jerusalem 'suspects'.

      Hmmmmm.

      .

      Delete
    7. .

      http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/If-violence-continues-Israel-to-begin-banishing-Palestinians-to-Gaza-426195

      .

      Delete
    8. Quirk, your armchair quarterbacking is humorous.

      Israel is fighting a war. I remember when America was at war it collected every single japanese and locked them in camps and the Japanese were not knifing, shooting and bombing any Americans.

      One standard for Israel? No standards for anyone else?

      So you are saying israel should just be like you, a pussy, and roll over and afford the terrorists all the right America does...

      Oh wait a minute. GITMO...

      America snatches off the street in any nation it chooses and looks up people with no charges or simply drone strikes their wedding or hospital..

      Yes Israel is much worse... expelling suspects/terrorists and bulldozing their empty homes.

      Maybe Israel should be more like America and just drone strike the entire family?

      Delete
    9. My bad typing...

      LOCKS up people not looks up people

      Delete
    10. .

      Does anyone really applaud the locking up of the Japanese in WWII?

      Does anyone really approve of what has gone on in Gitmo ther than the neocons?

      If so, I guess I missed it.

      I know the Geneva Conventions, documents most civilized nations have signed up to, don't.

      .
      .

      Delete
    11. I say send Shit Spinner, aka Quart, to Gaza.

      I've offered a free airline ticket.

      Delete
    12. .

      Why the fuck would I want to go to an open-air prison, you asshole?

      A place with no access by plane or boat.

      A place where I would have to spend a day at Israeli customs explaining why I want to go there with no guarantee I would get in (much less that I would be able to get out).

      A place were the water is undrinkable.

      A place with 40% unemployment, 60% among the youth.

      A place where you only have electricity for part of the day.

      A place where going to the beach can get you bombed.

      A place that has been bombed and gutted and looks like a scene from some dystopic, post apocalyptic movie.

      A place where if you happen to wander into the no-man's land declared by Israel that run's the length of wall/fence put up by Israel, you are likely to be shot from one of the guard towers put up by Israel.

      Are you nutz?

      .

      Delete
    13. .

      Your offers are the musings of an idiot.

      Why would I want to go to Gaza? Why would I want to go to the WB? Why would I want to go to Israel? They are all fucked.
      Why would I want to go to Saudi Arabia, or Iraq?

      I wouldn't go to anyplace in the ME. None. Every country there sucks. EVERY country.

      Delete
    14. .

      Send my daughter?

      You are nutz.

      By the way, didn't you say you were going take your 'niece' to Portugal? Didn't happen? Gee, surprising.

      But it raises the question, 'Why in the world wouldn't you take her to Israel'?

      There are a couple guys here promoting trips to Israel. They say it is heaven on earth.

      Why haven't you suggested it to her?

      Could it possibly be because you fear hearing, "Are you friggin crazy, Uncle Bob?" followed by "Your veto powers are henceforth revoked."

      .

      Delete
    15. Quirk Israel is a great place.

      Wine, women, song, art, diversity.

      You really are talking out your ass when you feebly compare Israel to any, and I do mean ANY Arab nation.

      Of course I have been told that Quatar has the finest hookers modern day slavery can buy, you might like that...

      And of course, if you are a moslem, you could go to Mecca and see what a trillion oil dollars can purchase.


      But for my bet?

      Israel beats to shit all it's neighbors.... Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and of course Gaza or the Arab controlled areas of Judea and Samaria.

      Might I suggest you visit that evil shitty little country once in your life? you might be surprised and learn something

      Delete
    16. For the educational value of the experience, Shit Spinner.

      That's why you should go to Gaza, or the West Bank.

      A crash course in Adult Continuing Education.

      It's never too late to learn !

      Delete
  28. "The tragedy of America’s gun crisis, most often epitomized for the world by mass executions in schools, has now moved into a new era of absurdity – toddler shootings.

    You read that correctly. Over the past two years, the incidence of children in diapers killing or injuring themselves and others with handguns has become frequent enough to merit notice.

    On Wednesday, a reporter for the Washington Post who has been compiling toddler shootings found that 13 children aged between one and three have killed themselves with guns so far this year. Another 18 have injured themselves with firearms.

    As well, two toddlers killed someone else with guns. One, a boy aged two, shot his father in the head. The other, aged three, shot a year-old baby in the head.

    Ten toddlers have injured other people, including a three-year-old boy who wounded both of his parents with a single shot in a New Mexico motel. On Monday, a three-year-old boy in a car in South Carolina found a handgun in a back-seat pouch and accidentally shot his grandmother, who was riding in the passenger seat.

    American children have long been involved with guns, only they were usually on the other side of the trigger. Between 2004 and 2014, guns killed 4,207 American children under 16 and injured another 48,379, according to U.S. government figures. That’s an average of 438 children hit by a bullet every month.

    So far this year in America, 566 children under 11 have been killed by guns, and another 2,059 have been injured, according to the website gunviolencearchive.org.

    The same website says that, during one 72-hour period this week, there were 229 guns incidents in the U.S. that killed 65 people – almost one death per hour.

    The shocking statistics help make sense of this latest twist. Given the reverence for guns in the U.S., and the fact that a weapon does not discriminate about the age of the shooter or the victim, it makes sense that the violence that defines American society would one day trickle down to children in diapers.

    Gun-rights activists will no doubt argue that careless adults are to blame, not the weapons themselves. But how low have you sunk when your argument amounts to “guns don’t kill babies, babies kill babies”?"

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/in-america-now-the-toddlers-are-shooting-each-other/article26812846/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How many people has Syria's Assad murdered this year using barrel bombs?

      Delete
  29. AshFri Oct 16, 03:16:00 PM EDT
    that is appalling!

    Deporting people from Israel is appalling?

    Why Ash.... WHY?

    ReplyDelete
  30. QuirkFri Oct 16, 03:10:00 PM EDT
    .

    And for those who argue Gaza isn't an open air prison,

    "If the terrorist attacks continue, we will begin deporting the families of terrorists to the Gaza Strip," Channel 10 TV quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying on Friday...

    Israeli officials believe that expelling the families of Palestinians to Gaza as well as revoking residency permits of Arabs in east Jerusalem will have a sufficiently deterring effect on those seeking to cause mischief...



    It aint an "open air prison" but it aint ISRAEL....

    Arabs who cause terror have no right to be in Israel or the west bank.

    Gaza? Syria? Execute them?

    Who cares..

    Just get them out of Israel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These are families of suspects that who live there are they not?

      Delete
    2. And now your claiming the west bank is part of Israel are you?

      Delete
  31. QuirkFri Oct 16, 02:11:00 PM EDT
    .

    :o)

    International border?

    Nonsense.

    Israel has never declared their borders. In fact, they go out of their way to avoid declaring borders. They are an occupying force controlling an occupied population.


    Actually the gaza border and the lebanese border are recognized international borders. The only borders that have not been drawn is the one with the disputed lands of Judea and Samaria.

    Regardless of what you call the non-border border, it's a place where palestinians cross into Israel to go to their jobs.

    You love to be an ass and split meaningless hairs.

    But the funny thing?

    Palestinians are dying because their cowardice culture send their kids out to attack what their pussy-like men are too lazy or afraid to do

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The IDF is not exactly a profile in courage.

      Delete
  32. The real issue is how many stupid palestinians will be killed trying to murder Jews before they admit that once again they are dumber than a donkey's ass in mud...


    Sending their youngsters out with knives to attack Jews..

    Now that's a plan...

    Yeah...

    May they all die. Anyone attacking civilians and babies on purpose? May they die.

    Isis=Hamas=Fatah=al queda.

    Not a dam bit of difference between the bunch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      May they all die. Anyone attacking civilians and babies on purpose? May they die.

      I agree.

      The difference of course is I apply it to everyone.

      .

      Delete
    2. You wish all people to die?

      wow you are evil

      I just wish terrorists that target civilians and babies on purpose to die, jew, gentile, moslem, christiania makes no difference to me...

      Terrorists are terrorists.

      Of course there are 10,000 times more moslem terrorists than there are israeli or jewish terrorists.

      Delete
    3. I notice your reading comprehension problem is still with you.

      Delete
    4. .

      You've noticed that.

      WiO is concocting his answer before he ever reads what he is answering about.

      Hell, he and his bro, Farmer Bob, don't even read the posts they themselves put up. They don't have the attention spans necessary to make it past the headline.

      .

      Delete
  33. Abbas is just another PA asshole who is probably making a deposit in a Swiss bank as I type -



    The Obama Intifada
    Column: How coddling Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas led to terrorism in Israel


    Palestinians improvise a barricade during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank, Saturday, Oct. 10 / AP

    BY: Matthew Continetti
    October 16, 2015 5:00 am

    More than 30 dead in Israel as Palestinians armed with knives attack innocents. What’s responsible? A campaign of incitement, which slanderously accuses Jews of intruding on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and murdering Arab children in cold blood.

    And who is legitimizing this campaign? None other than Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, whom President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have long held up as a peacemaker. “I think nobody would dispute that whatever disagreements you may have with him, he has proven himself to be somebody who has committed to nonviolence and diplomatic efforts to resolve this issue,” Obama told writer Jeffrey Goldberg in 2014.

    That’s a strange view of commitment. This is the same Abbas, remember, who rejected then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s absurdly generous 2008 peace offer. The same Abbas who resisted negotiations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 10-month settlement freeze in 2010, which Obama demanded explicitly on the grounds that it would give Abbas the cover he needed to begin talks. Abbas finally relented to Saudi pressure, and attended a few meetings with Netanyahu that September. But under no definition of what the word “negotiation” actually means were these meetings for real: The freeze was about to expire, the get togethers were perfunctory, and nothing of significance was discussed. The farce ended soon after.

    It is a lie to say that Mahmoud Abbas is committed to a diplomatic resolution. Just as it was a lie when, the other day at Harvard, Secretary Kerry attributed the bloodshed to “a frustration that is growing” because of the “massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years.” As Elliott Abrams points out, there has been an increase in the population of the settlements, but not in their size. As if the settlements have any connection to what’s happening in the first place: The terror gripping Israel is the result of a Palestinian leadership so adrift and corrupt, so aggrieved and conspiratorial, that it encourages the radicalization of its youth and promotes an atmosphere of hatred and murder.................

    http://freebeacon.com/columns/the-obama-intifada/

    ReplyDelete
  34. Bwabwabwahahaha -


    Unless She's Indicted, Hillary is Dems' Nominee
    Charles Krauthammer, NRO



    I found that one hell of a hill-arious headline...

    Unless she is indicted.......


    hahaha

    What a bunch of worthless scoundrels, all them, Hillary, Bernie the Commie who honey mooned in the Soviet Union, Obama, The Faux Indian what's her name......compared to these turds Drinkin' Joe Biden comes off as an honest man....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After all, about the worst one can say of Joe is he stole speeches from a left wing Brit.......

      Delete
  35. .

    Snowden and Ellsberg both applaud the emergence of new leaker.

    According to the Guardian,

    Classified documents published by the Intercept include pages from a 2013 study of the drone program by a Pentagon taskforce. The documents came from “a source within the intelligence community who worked on the types of operations and programs described in the slides”, the Intercept said...

    “In some ways it reconfirms and illuminates much of what we knew, or thought we knew, about a lot of these programs, like that the administration firmly prefers kill over capture despite claiming the opposite, and that there’s not ‘a bunch of folks in the room’, as Obama calls it – that there’s a clear, bureaucratic process for this.

    “It clearly shows, as we’ve known, that the United States does not know who it’s killing...”

    The White House and National Security Council declined to comment on the leak...


    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/16/drone-documents-whistleblower-edward-snowden-daniel-ellsberg

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well rest assured when Israel deports some slime ball savage and bulldozes his or her home, they go the right person..

      So the standards are higher for israel than America.

      kinda makes me laugh

      Delete
    2. .

      Once again you prove yourself the dolt.

      Standard? What standard?

      You try to excuse Israeli acts of collective punishment, actions taken against 'suspects', by pointing out unconscionable acts by the US.

      So far I haven't seen anyone here applauding the US drone policy that was being used at one time and now is 'supposedly' not.

      .

      Delete
    3. So no applause.

      I am taken back.

      Collective punishment?

      Hardly.

      The terrorists family home is theirs to be destroyed, they are not destroying random folks homes.

      But maybe they should since you toss about terms like "collective punishment"

      Might as well earn it..

      Delete
  36. QuirkFri Oct 16, 04:16:00 PM EDT
    .

    Why the fuck would I want to go to an open-air prison, you asshole?

    A place with no access by plane or boat.

    A place where I would have to spend a day at Israeli customs explaining why I want to go there with no guarantee I would get in (much less that I would be able to get out).

    A place were the water is undrinkable.

    A place with 40% unemployment, 60% among the youth.

    A place where you only have electricity for part of the day.

    A place where going to the beach can get you bombed.

    A place that has been bombed and gutted and looks like a scene from some dystopic, post apocalyptic movie.

    A place where if you happen to wander into the no-man's land declared by Israel that run's the length of wall/fence put up by Israel, you are likely to be shot from one of the guard towers put up by Israel.

    Are you nuts?



    Go thru Egypt the main border access...

    After all Egypt is the modern historic occupier of Gaza.

    Leave Israel out of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd never get out of Gaza under the terms of my free airline ticket offer, Spinner.

      That's the whole point.

      On the other hand, if you visited Israel you could leave anytime you wanted to do so.

      Delete
  37. .

    It was your bro that brought up Gaza.

    I'm sure you noticed that access to Gaza was only mentioned in 2 of the 9 points I made to your buddy.

    As for that access, getting in through Israel is next to impossible. Getting in through Egypt sure ain't the easiest thing in the world and definitely not guaranteed.

    Preparing for Gaza and crossing the divide

    There are only two entry and exit points for the Gaza Strip: Rafah lies on the southern end of Gaza, bordering Egypt, and Erez is on the northern end, bordering Israel.

    Erez is strictly for international aid workers, press, and those Israel deems acceptable to let in and out. Very rarely are Palestinians permitted exit and entry through this point, and months of prior coordination with the Israeli government is needed to cross at Erez.
    A multi-entry visa must be obtained prior to landing in Cairo…internationals need to present an invitation letter from a major NGO working in the Gaza Strip

    Rafah is a bit less of a challenge…but a challenge nonetheless. Coordination still has to be made with the Egyptians for any international crossing of the border. A multi-entry visa must be obtained prior to landing in Cairo, and in order to have clearance for the Rafah border crossing, internationals need to present an invitation letter from a major NGO working in the Gaza Strip so the Egyptians know there’s a purpose for your travel.

    Overall, the process is a bit complex and takes persistence and patience. People are turned away at Rafah all the time, and it can take weeks to enter in such cases. There’s never a guarantee with the crossing, and travelers should always be prepared to be denied entry.


    http://matadornetwork.com/trips/how-to-travel-to-gaza/

    And that is just trying to get into the place. Getting out is like Hotel California.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the tunnels?

      Hamas has no problems smuggling in and out weapons and fighters into the Sinai.

      maybe you are reading the public access shit...

      Delete
  38. The Bettors at Predictwise are now making Rubio the favorite to win the Republican nomination (30%,) and 11% to win the Presidency.

    Hillary has moved up to 76% to win the nomination, and 48% to win the big job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Wouldn't surprise me. I expect Trump and Carson will remain up there until Super Tuesday but then fade.

      Bush doesn't seem to have the fire in the belly except when defending his brother. Rubio does and likely would be acceptable to the GOP establishment.

      .

      Delete
  39. ah yes the collective Israel sucks choir...

    But the good news?

    the islamic nazis, the Palestinians who you defend?

    Suck even more...

    and you stand for them.

    ReplyDelete