More Heresy from The Economist: Time to Scrap Affirmative Action

Labels:
As noted a few weeks ago, The Economist has gone off the reservation on climate change, and in the current issue it has done so again on the issue of affirmation action and race-conscious policy.  The issue is featured on the cover, which means it is the subject of the first “leader” (house editorial), “Time to Scrap Affirmative Action,” as well as the focus of a long feature news story.  In particular The Economist takes note of the important original research on the “mismatch hypothesis” by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor.

Time to Scrap Affirmative Action: In 1997 Thomas Espenshade of Princeton analysed the scores on SATs, a widely used test for college admissions, that different races needed in order to get into private universities. He found that Asian-Americans’ SAT scores had to exceed those of whites by 140 points out of 1,600, those of Hispanics by 270 points and those of blacks by 450 points. A study by Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank, found that black students with average grades and test scores were almost three times more likely than Asians with similarly average qualifications to get into medical school.
Not mentioned here is that the proportion of Asians declined simultaneously and converged at almost the identical percentage at most of our leading universities, almost as if admissions directors colluded on the outcome. Seems like an ideal subject for an investigation by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights or the Justice Department. Don’t hold your breath. More likely the Justice Department will investigate The Economist to find out why it has suddenly become so politically incorrect.

Did Jews rule #Jerusalem in 614 CE?

Labels: » » » » » » » »
One of the reasons given for today's Lag B'Omer celebrations is to commemorate the Bar Kochba revolt of 132-136 CE. Most Jews believe that this was the last time of Jewish sovereignty over the land of Israel before the 1948 War of Independence.
However, there may have been another brief period of Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, many centuries later.
In "A History of the Jewish People" by Haim Hillel be-Sasson, we learn:

In the last days of Byzantine rule over the Land of Israel the Jews made an attempt to exploit the rivalry between the powers ruling the orient - Persia, Byzantium and Rome - in order to regain their political independence. For hundreds of years they had repeatedly hoped that the redemption of the Jewish people would come with the conquest of Palestine by Persia; and now the time seemed to have arrived. At the beginning of the seventh century, the Persians set out on their conquests in the East, and in the year 614 they reached the borders of Palestine. Their approach set off a powerful messianic fermentation, which is reflected in several works written at the time whose theme is the Redemption. The Armenian historian Sebeos reported (Chapter XXIV): 'As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined the Persians and made common cause with them.' The Jews assisted the invaders materially in their conquest of Galilee. From there the invading army turned to Caesarea and continued its conquests down to Apollonia, then eastwards to Lydda and from there to Jerusalem, which was captured in May 614. Jewish forces also took part in the conquest of Jerusalem. Sophronius, a contemporary monk who lived near Bethlehem, wrote in a poem: 'God-seeking strangers and citizens of the city [Jerusalem]; . When they faced the Persians and their Hebrew friends/Hastened to close the city gates.'
The Persians handed Jerusalem over to Jewish settlers, who proceeded with the expulsion of the Christians and the removal of their churches. At the head of Jerusalem stood a leader whom we know only by his messianic name: Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph. The sacrificial cult may even have been resumed. Jewish rule in Jerusalem lasted three years. In 617 there was a reversal of Persian policy. For reasons that are not sufficiently clear, the Persians made peace with the Christians. The Jews, on the other hand, did not, and the Persian authorities were forced to fight them: 'And they waged war against the saints and brought down many of them. and Shiroi [the king of Persia] stabbed Nehemiah ben Hushiel. and sixteen of the just were killed together with him (Book of Zerubabel, page 101).
There are other accounts of this episode as well.
The Jews saw another opportunity to take back Jerusalem in the early seventh century, just before the rise of Islam. The Persians conquered what had been Judea from the Byzantine Empire, capturing Jerusalem in 614 CE. The Armenian historian Sebeos described the Jews' reaction to the Persian campaign: "As the Persians approached Palestine, the remnants of the Jewish nation rose against the Christians, joined the Persians and made common cause with them." The Persians even installed a Jew, Nehemiah ben Hushiel ben Ephraim ben Joseph, to rule the city.
But this regime was short-lived. Hoping to accommodate their Roman Christian subjects, the Persians apparently withdrew their support for any Jewish self-government. Moreover, in 629 CE the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered Jerusalem, where the former anti-Jewish edicts were again renewed. The city's new rulers banned public recital of Judaism's core prayer, the Shema, and executed many Jews or evicted them to neighboring countries. Five years later, the Byzantines required all the empire's Jews to become baptized. This harsh regime did not last long, however, for in 638 CE Muslim armies from Arabia conquered Jerusalem, thus opening a whole new chapter in the Holy City's history.
Thirteen hundred years would pass between the last Jewish self-government in Jerusalem in 614 and the establishment of a Jewish national home under the British that would later become the State of Israel. During that time, Jerusalem would remain the center of Jewish national aspirations as well as religious ritual. But the quest to return to Jerusalem was not left as an eschatological task for the distant future. Jews returned to Jerusalem whenever the bans on Jewish settlement were lifted; thus many Jews came back to the Holy City after the second caliph of Islam defeated the Byzantines, establishing a new Jewish Quarter that was populated until the First Crusade. Jerusalem's main Jewish synagogue in the first decades of Islamic rule, known as "the Cave," was located under the Temple Mount, at the point along the Western MA closest to the Holy of Holies.
The Jewish Encyclopedia does not mention this, however.

Israeli jets buzz Assad palace, bomb chem weapons site outside Damascus

Labels: » »
I have not seen this reported anywhere else in Israel yet, but UPI is reporting from Maariv (one of our Hebrew papers) that Israeli jets buzzed the Damascus palace of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday, and then went on to bomb a chemical weapons facility outside Damascus.
The Free Syrian Army says Israeli air force jets flew over President Bashar Assad's palace and bombed a chemical weapons site near Damascus, Maariv reported.
The report said the Israeli jets entered Syria's airspace close to 6 a.m Saturday and flew over Assad's palace in Damascus and other security facilities before striking a chemical weapons compound near the city.
The Hebrew language daily said a Syrian army air defense battery positioned in the city fired at the Israeli jets that left Syria's airspace unscathed. FSA rebels posted a video showing smoke rising up from the headquarters for chemical weapons. There were no reports of the extent of damage or casualties.
Neither Damascus or Jerusalem responded to the report.
In January, the IAF allegedly attacked a convoy moving Syrian weapons of mass destruction to Hezbullah in Lebanon. In 2006, the IAF buzzed Assad's summer palace on its way to Lebanon.

'The UN Has Inverted Right and Wrong', Says Expert.

Labels: » »

'The UN Has Inverted Right and Wrong', Says Expert.(INN).

It's time to re-think the United Nations, which turns Israel into a villain, says human rights scholar Anne Bayefsky.

The United Nations has been a “major disappointment” in the 21st Century and has “inverted right and wrong,” human rights scholar and activist Anne Bayefsky.
The UN “was founded in the middle of the 20th Century to offer a new world order based on peace and security and protection of human rights, and it has inverted right and wrong so that Israel becomes the villain and the victims become those who are some of the most intolerant people in the region,” said Bayefsky.
She said that a “re-thinking” about the organization is in order, adding, “I think there is some mistaken belief on the part of democracies that the UN is some kind of harmless talking shop and that the kind of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist, anti-Americanism that goes on at the United Nations won’t have its effects. But it does.”
Two weeks ago, noted Bayefsky, “the major committee that’s been tasked with drafting a comprehensive convention on terrorism for the first time in history ended once again - as it has done year after year - in disarray, because they can’t agree to define terrorism. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation believes that there should be an exception clause for so-called ‘legitimate struggle.’”
She mentioned the remarks this week of Richard Falk, the United Nations Human Rights Council-appointed “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” Falk implied that the Boston terror attack was a justified response to U.S. policies in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
This isn’t harmless talking,” stressed Bayefsky. “When people don’t understand the difference between right and wrong it encourages terrorism to the detriment of both Israel and the United States.”

#TheRentIsTooDamnHigh guy is running for mayor and hates #Jews

Labels: » »

...in 2005 McMillan had a specific idea of who was to blame for the rent being, well, too damn high:
"There are over (25) Twenty Five Thousand Newly Rented Apartments, Available, Now Renting in the Williamsberg Section of Brooklyn, NY. as is all throughout the (5) Five Boro’s. But… they are only being Rented to the Jewish People.",says Jimmy McMillan
(NYPost) Two years ago Jimmy McMillan ran for govenor and became an instant viral sensation after explaining the platform of his "The Rent Is Too Damn High Party" during a debate that featured future Governor Andrew Cuomo and his main challenger Carl Paladino.
Now McMillan has thrown his hat into the ring for the 2013 New York City mayoral race with a musical anthem and accompanying YouTube video.
"Jimmy McMillan, the political candidate whose slogan represents the one issue that all New Yorkers can agree on–that the rent is too damn high–is running for mayor," says Animal New York in the introduction to the video.
"It's been two long years since I been on the scene, now I'm back in the game looking mean and lean," McMillan sings in the video.
"The race may be different but the message is the same, R.I.T.D.H. is going to change the game!"
"My mustache and haircut are too damn fly!"
Watch the video bellow:

'Palestinian' prisoners' wives to be artificially inseminated? | #Sperm #SpermJihad

Labels: » » »
The 'Palestinians' fatwa council has approved the artificial insemination of the wives of 'Palestinians' in Israeli prisons. Yes, of course, only with the terrorist husbands' sperm.
The Razan Medical Center for Infertility, which has clinics in Ramallah and Nablus, has offered free insemination treatment to the wives of political prisoners who manage to smuggle sperm out of Israeli jails.
In February, the clinic announced that four prisoners' wives were pregnant as a result of artificial insemination.
The clinic's director-general, Salim Abu al-Khayzaran, explained the insemination process to the Fatwa council, which issued a decision approving the treatment on Wednesday.
The council set over a dozen conditions to make the process religiously acceptable.
The couple must be married, and the pregnancy must be agreed by both partners and preferably their families, the council ruled. Several of the couple's next-of-kin relatives must witness the insemination, and the process must be made public.
The council also ruled that artificial insemination must be the only possible option for pregnancy. It said the couple must have consummated their marriage, ruling out marriages entered into in prison, as unconsummated marriages are considered engagements.
It must be the prisoner's first child to qualify as an emergency, and the detainee must be serving a long sentence which would prohibit childbearing upon his release. 
We've heard this claim before. But there's just one small problem: Sperm cannot live outside the human body for more than an hour  and it must be kept in a sterile container.
Either the 'Palestinians' are able to smuggle semen out of Israeli prisons within an hour (where are the Israeli prison authorities?), or the 'Palestinians' have discovered the secret of immaculate conception, or this story is a lie in one of two ways.
I leave the intellectual exercise to figure out the two ways in which this story could be a lie to the reader .
give em pig sperm instead. they won't notice the difference

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Unarmed When Barrage of Bullets Hit Boat

Labels:
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Unarmed When Barrage of Bullets Hit Boat.(WaPo).Although police feared he was heavily armed, the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had no firearms when he came under a barrage of police gunfire that struck the boat where he was hiding, according to multiple federal law enforcement officials.
Authorities said they were desperate to capture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev so he could be questioned. The FBI, however, declined to discuss what prompted the gunfire.
Other law enforcement officials said the shooting may have been prompted by the chaos of the moment and some action that led the officers to believe Tsarnaev had fired a weapon or was about to detonate explosives.
Law enforcement officials said they do not believe the brothers were connected with a terrorist organization, but they cautioned that the inquiry is at an early stage.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a confrontation with police in the early morning hours Friday, four days after the marathon bombing. A transit police officer was seriously wounded in the exchange, in which more than 200 rounds were fired and the suspects lobbed homemade explosives at police. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev escaped and was the subject of a massive manhunt. He was cornered hiding in a boat in the driveway of a house in Watertown, Mass., on Friday evening.
Law enforcement officials described the 30 minutes before the arrest of Tsarnaev as chaotic. One characterized it as “the fog of war” and said that in a highly charged atmosphere, one accidental shot could have caused what police call “contagious fire.” Hmmmm......Suspect Throat Injury: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Reportedly Attempted Suicide, Firing Gun in Mouth. Read the full story here.
SIlence! Obama kill you for talking

#Norway funding the US Left // No wonder everyone thought #Socialism was working in #Europe

Labels: »
We've known for a while now that the Norwegian government supports 'Palestinian' and Leftist Israeli NGO's. It turns out that Israel is not the only country where the Norwegians are attempting to practice thought control. According to this report, Norway has been a big supporter of US Leftist 'think tanks' like Think Progress and the Brookings Institute.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported on Wednesday that around NOK 250 million (USD 43 million) from the ministry’s foreign aid (bistand) budget was sent to some 40 organizations in the US in 2011 alone. About half of it, according to a confidential state report obtained by Aftenposten, was sent further to developing countries, but the rest stayed with organizations including The Brookings Institution and the Center for American Progress.
...
Aftenposten reported that the internal document, which had been withdrawn from the public domain, was ordered by the ministry and written last year by the Norwegian Peace Building Resource Center, which was established as an independent organization by the ministry itself in 2008. Its report offers an overview of how the Norwegian government is trying to buy influence among US organizations that in turn can influence US policy in Washington. The organizations mostly conduct research, foreign aid projects of their own and environmental protection.
The Brookings Institution, a long-established think tank that aims to strengthen American democracy along with economic and social welfare, received NOK 10 million over a three-year period for studies on changes in the balance of international influence. The New America Foundation received NOK 580,000 to study regional dimensions in the conflict Afghanistan, including relations with Iran. The Center for American Progress, a major think tank for the Democratic Party, received NOK 1.3 million to look at fairness in the workplace. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, meanwhile, received NOK 3.5 million in 2010 for peace research in Latin America.
The list goes on, with the resource center’s report noting that only the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have given more money to the various organizations in the US, according to Aftenposten.
 But don't worry: All that money being sent to the US isn't distracting the Norwegians from their real mission.
The money sent to the US organizations accounts for a fairly small percentage of Norway’s foreign aid budget, which amounted to NOK 27 billion last year. The five largest recipients of Norwegian foreign aid in 2011 were, according to the most recent figures available, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Palestine, Somalia and Mozambique.
I wonder whether the US Federal Election Commission might take a look at how much Norwegian money went to the Obama campaign.
What a silly thought....
Hello liberals... please can I have my job back?

#KatherineRussell, Widow of Marathon Bomber #TamerlanTsarnaev, Converted to Islam, Wore Hijab, Was 'Brainwashed' by Extremist Husband

Labels: » »
Such an ultimate bummer that this young lady got mixed up with that jihadi loser scum.
Katherine Russell photo 3d77f4cd-f4ab-4fc7-ae24-0edc5a580917_zps95acadc7.jpgAt London's Daily Mail, "EXCLUSIVE - How doctor's daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband 'brainwashed' her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21":

None who knew her as a child could have dreamed that this would be the face she would one day present to the world, nor that her life and those of so many Bostonians would be so violently caught up with two brothers from Chechnya and a cause as unclear as it was brutal.
As a girl growing up in Rhode Island Katherine was known to her friends as Katie. One school friend who asked not to be named recalled: ‘I saw her like a few months ago and she was just totally transformed. She was not the same person at all.’

#Hamas asking EU to take it off the terror list

Stupid.:
"European countries set only one condition to do that - avoiding martyrdom attacks inside Israel, and Hamas hasn’t carried out any attack since 2004," senior Hamas member Ahmed Yousif was quoted in Ma'an as saying.

More #MediaBias from the #BostonMarathon Bombing

Labels: » » »
Like Nicolas Kristoff:
Or Michael Moore:
(it gets worse... read on)
I was experiencing this as it happened. Usually I'm off by a few minutes... this was totally surreal.

U.S. ARAB Professor who blogs at ‘What would Mohamed Do?’, Passes off Holocaust picture of murdered Jews as 'dead Palestinian Arabs'

Labels: » » » »
From Will at THE OTHER NEWS:
U.S. ARAB Professor who blogs at ‘What would Mohamed’, Passes of Holocaust picture of murdered Jews as 'dead Palestinian Arabs'.
HT: TundraTabloids.
Special thanks to This Ongoing War and Elder of Ziyon for linking, who notes that:
In fact, this photo is of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp, part of the Buchenwald complex, and the dead bodies were victims of a Royal Air Force bombing raid in April 1945.
UPDATE II: Safi changes the picture and leaves this as an explanation:
An earlier version of this article had incorrectly used a Google image that was not associated with the Deir Yessin atrocity. That mistake has been corrected, and I apologize about the mistake. I have replaced that image with one from http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/2012/04/09/remembering-the-deir-yassin-massacre/.
After reading Vlad’s piece on the BDS movement copying PETA’s despicable use of the Holocaust in their promotion of animal rights, I began digging into the websites where these holocaust pictures were being misused, I came across the blog post (screen shot below) of Professor Omid Safi, of contemporary Islamic thought at University of North Carolina, hosted at Religious News Service (RNS). Safi is according to his Wikipedia page: Professor Safi is recognized as a leader of the progressive Muslim debate.
Also, don’t you think that the title of the blog itself ”What would Muhammad do?” in connection with the picture is somewhat…..ironic?
So my question is, does the RNS website owners approve of professor Omid Safi’s use of murdered Jews in the Holocaust, as Arab Palestinians, in order to smear the Jewish state of a false massacre?
The other question we should be asking here is, what wouldn’t this Arab professor do in order to smear the state of Israel?
His actions are not an anomaly, the websites associated with the misuse of this picture are anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian websites.
NOTE: For a real understanding of what happened at Deir Yassin, here’s a couple of videos explaining the incident, and also showing Arabs admitting that it wasn’t a massacre, and in their own words. Read Myths and Facts report on it as well. Read and see the full story here.
Deir Yassin Massacre actually had me convinced was real when I first started interacting online with people. The Wikipedia post has improved a little, but it still slants along the lines that it was real.

#ChrisMatthews: Did #Boston Bombing Have Anything To Do With Tax Day? | #BostonMarathon #MSNBC #MSLGBT

Labels: » » »

After saying shortly into his Hardball program, "Normally domestic terrorists, people, tend to be on the far right," Matthews later asked his guests if Tax Day had something to do with the event since it doesn't mean "a whole lot to the Arab world or Islamic world or the, certainly not to al Qaeda" (video follows with transcript):

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well, Michael, Tax Day today. That came up. You know, I was thinking of all the iconic events, or being told about them today. Of course, I knew it was Tax Day because I got them in. But of course, it's Patriots Day. It's also the Boston Marathon. And would you as an expert be thinking domestic at this point? I don't think Tax Day means a whole lot to the Arab world or Islamic world or the, certainly not to al Qaeda in terms of their world. It doesn't have any iconic significance.

CLINT VAN ZANDT, FORMER FBI PROFILER: At this point, as an investigator, you don't want to shut down any options, but based upon the type of explosive that appears, the size of the explosive, the way it was done, this is well within the capability of somebody with too much time in front of the internet who was looking up bombs and who hates government, who hates America. For whatever his or her reasons for doing something like this, this is well within the realm of one person.

#CNN Analyst: 'Right-Wing Extremists' Could Be Behind #BostonMarathon Bombing

Labels: » »

 

--  

Less than two hours after the horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen was already speculating that "right-wing extremists" could be behind the attack. He told CNN anchor Jake Tapper:

I'm reminded of Oklahoma City, which was a bombing, which was initially treated as a gas explosion. First reports are often erroneous.

Then Bergen went on to offer up this "first" report:

Once the device -- if it a device -- is found; what kind of explosives were used. So for instance, if it was hydrogen peroxide, this is a signature of al Qaeda. If it was more conventional explosives, which are much harder to get hold of now -- that might be some other kind of right-wing extremist. … We've also seen, for instance, right-wing groups  trying to attack the Martin Luther King parade in Oregon in 2010.

So Bergen starts off with comparing what happened at the Boston Marathon to Oklahoma City and then suggest right-wing extremism, even though -- like the rest of us -- he knows nothing.

"The Most Trusted Name In News."

NOTE: There has been speculation on Twitter that CNN's Wolf Blitzer said something similar. I have found nothing that indicates that is true.

LOLZ

#BostonMarathon: Authorities ID suspect as Saudi national in marathon bombings, under guard at Boston hospital

Labels: » » »
AP Police clear the area at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon.
Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned.
Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect was under guard at an undisclosed Boston hospital.
It was not immediately clear why the man was hospitalized and whether he was injured in the attack or in his apprehension.
The man was caught less than two hours after the 2:50 p.m. bombing on the finish line of the race, in the heart of Boston.
12 DEAD, 50 INJURED AFTER 2 EXPLOSIONS ROCK BOSTON MARATHON
NY AUTHORITIES RAMP UP SECURITY AFTER BOSTON EXPLOSIONS
PHOTOS: EXPLOSIONS ROCK BOSTON MARATHON
In addition, Boston police have has surveillance video of someone bringing multiple backpacks to blast site, according to CBS News.
Police also confirmed that there was a third explosion, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It was not immediately clear how much damage was done or whether it was related to the bombings at the marathon finish line.
The library bombing occurred about 4:30 p.m. and more than a mile from the marathon.
A law enforcement source confirmed to The Post that 12 people were killed and nearly 50 were injured in today's blast.
of course NBC and Esquire Magazine say or hint it is a WHITE SUPREMACIST
oh... but it gets better... check out Alex Jones

(Carl) Investigators have a suspect — a Saudi Arabian national — in the horrific Boston Marathon bombings, The Post has learned.
Law enforcement sources said the 20-year-old suspect was under guard at an undisclosed Boston hospital.
It was not immediately clear why the man was hospitalized and whether he was injured in the attack or in his apprehension.
The man was caught less than two hours after the 2:50 p.m. bombing on the finish line of the race, in the heart of Boston. 
In addition, Boston police have has surveillance video of someone bringing multiple backpacks to blast site, according to CBS News.
Three months ago, the Hussein Obama administration ended post-9/11 restrictions on Saudis entering the US. Less than three weeks ago, 'our friends the Saudis' were added to the US trusted traveler list. That didn't take long did it?
I understand this story has now disappeared down the memory hole at the New York Post. So here's a screen cap of the headline.<
The Atlantic Online has posted 16 images from the aftermath of the Boston Marathon terror attack. One of them, which you have to click on separately, clearly shows a man who has lost at least one leg and maybe both (Hat Tips: Lance K and Memeorandum).

Here's one of the pictures.

ABC News just interviewed a doctor on the scene who said he saw one person with both legs blown off.

They are reporting at least 86 people hospitalized in Boston.&nbsp;

New York Post reports 12 runners were killed in Boston marathon bombings.(Pictures).

Labels: »

New York Post reports 12 runners were killed in Boston marathon bombings.(Pictures).
Warning contains graphic images.HT: Read and see more @ Breitbart.More pictures here from RussiaToday.
Related:  Obama notified of Boston explosion, directs 'whatever assistance is necessary'

#UNESCO silent as #Hamas destroys heritage site; #Obama wants to fund UNESCO despite #sequester

Labels: » » »
(Carl)Hamas has partially destroyed a 3,000-year old seaport in Gaza that is a UNESCO World Heritage site in order to expand a military training facility (Hat Tip: Israel Daily News Stream). UNESCO has greeted the move with silence. Meanwhile, with the United States trillions of dollars in debt and with basic necessities for Americans being subject to automatic sequester, the Obama administration has asked to restore $77.7 million in funding that was taken away from UNESCO when it made 'Palestine' a member (Hat Tip: Monica S).
This is from the first link.

Earlier last month, amid overwhelming criticism from public figures and nongovernmental organizations, the military wing of the Islamic movement of Hamas, Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, bulldozed a part of the ancient Anthedon Harbor in northern Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea. The Brigades damaged the harbor in order to expand its military training zone, which was initially opened on the location in 2002, according to Ejla.
The Anthedon seaport, which dates back over 3,000 years to the Mycenaean era, is considered one of the most important sites in the Middle East and is the oldest harbor in Gaza.
It was designated an international heritage site by UNESCO in 2012. The location was discovered in 1997 on the space of 180,000 square meters. It contains mosaic floors with historical pillars from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ages.(Read the Complicated Details. Of course Hamas said they would do otherwise and then changed their mind)
The administration argued that the defunding legislation “runs counter to U.S. national security interests by allowing the Palestinians to isolate the United States and prevent the active U.S. engagement necessary to pursue U.S. policy objectives in international organizations.”
“In turn, the United States would lose influence and eventually voting rights in international organizations,” it added.
....as if all the money we have spent on Palestine so far has given influence?

#Chavez protege #Maduro election result is not recognized by #Capriles

Labels: » » »
(Nicolas Maduro), a former bus driver and protege of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, has been declared the narrow winner of that country's elections. But the opposition is not accepting the results.Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles said he did not recognize the official results that gave Maduro 50.7 percent support versus 49.1 percent for him, a difference of just 235,000 ballots."Mr. Maduro, if you were illegitimate before, now you are even more loaded with illegitimacy," Capriles said, adding that his team had identified more than 3,000 "incidents" during the voting.Capriles' refusal to accept the result raised fears of political unrest in Venezuela, an OPEC nation with the world's biggest oil reserves.
It would be dangerous to question Maduro. Something tells me that this election really was rigged. Something also tells me that there have been other elections that have been rigged, inside of Venezuela and outside.

How is this piece process working out?

Labels: » »

Federal study concludes man-made #ClimateChange not cause of 2012 #drought | #AlGore #GlobalWarming

Labels: » » » »

(Michelle Malkin) @ThePowersThatBe Doug Powers
When there was a drought last year in the Central Great Plains, Al Gore naturally and instinctively said it was related to man-made climate change crisis chaos.
Not so much, according to a multi-agency federal government study:
The historic drought that blazed across America’s corn belt last year was not caused by climate change, a federal government study found.
The summer of 2012 was the driest since record-keeping began more than a century ago, as well as one of the hottest, producing drought conditions across two-thirds of the continental United States.
Barack Obama and other prominent figures have repeatedly cited the drought as evidence of climate change. But the report released on Thursday by scientists at five different government agencies said that was not the case. The drought was “a sequence of unfortunate events” that occurred suddenly, the report said. The circumstances were so unusual the drought could never have been predicted.
“The Central Great Plains drought during May-August of 2012 resulted mostly from natural variations in weather,” the report said.(MORE)
turn up those air conditioners this summer folks!

The Bush letter nine years on

Labels: » » » » » » » » » » » » » »

(Carl) Rick Richman reminds us that Sunday is the 9th anniversary of the famous Bush letter that effectively promised Israel the 'settlement blocs.' At the time, the letter was overwhelmingly endorsed by both Houses of Congress, but in 2009, President Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, tried to pretend that it didn't exist, and Obama has continued to behave as if the letter did not exist.
US Secretary of State John FN Kerry is unable to pretend the letter didn't exist. But that doesn't mean he's going to back Israel's position. Rick Richman explains.

At an April 9 press conference in Tel Aviv, Bow Shapira from Israeli TV (Channel 1) told Kerry he wanted to ask about “a guarantee from the past”–the 2004 Bush letter, which he described as “telling that blocs of settlements can stay, cannot [be] removed from the territory.” His question about the guarantee was straightforward: “well, does it exist?” Kerry responded in part as follows:
I remember that commitment very well because I was running for president then, and I personally have supported the notion that the situation on the ground has changed, and obviously, we’re talking about blocs that are in a very different status. I’m not going to get into telling you what ought to happen with respect to any particular piece of geography today because that’s for the parties to decide in their negotiation. But I have certainly supported the notion publicly myself that we need to deal with the ’67 lines, plus the swaps that reflect some of the changes that have taken place since then.
It is not surprising that Kerry remembered the commitment so well. He appeared on “Meet the Press” on April 18, 2004–four days after the Bush letter was issued–and was asked directly about it by Tim Russert:
MR. RUSSERT: On Thursday, President Bush … said that Israel can keep part of the land seized in the 1967 Middle East War and asserted the Palestinian refugees cannot go back to their particular homes. Do you support President Bush?
SEN. KERRY: Yes.
MR. RUSSERT: Completely?
SEN. KERRY: Yes.
Kerry’s response to the Israeli reporter last week is significant, because he recognized: (1) that the Bush letter was in fact a commitment, subsequently endorsed by both the Senate (95-3) and the House (407-9) in concurrent resolutions; and (2) that he supported it at the time, in unambiguous terms.
But it is indicative of the continuing problem President Obama created with his refusal in 2009 to endorse the Bush letter that an Israeli reporter felt it necessary to ask whether the U.S. commitment exists. The president has been attempting to assure Israelis with his have-your-back, all-options-on-the-table rhetorical commitments, but they remember that in the past he did not feel constrained to respect even a written commitment to Israel.
Given that Obama doesn't live up to his commitments, why should Israel give up real assets to appease him?
unbelievable!

Without #Fayyad there would be no one the dhimmis trust to take the money! #Fatah probably will keep him

Labels: » » » » » »
Abu Mazen's plan: 'interim government' headed by... Salam Fayyad... and the American (and European) aid money will continue to flow...
The western countries that donate money to keep the 'Palestinian Authority' running are pressuring 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen not to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the only 'Palestinian' whom the West entrusts with money.(DATAILS) Ka-Ching!(It's official: Fayyad is gone; replacement head of university that mocked Sbarro massacre?) According to the official, Fayyad had submitted his resignation to Abbas in February, but the PA president asked Fayyad to delay his resignation until after the visit of US President Barack Obama to the region. Fayyad's decision to quit is believed to be linked to a sharp dispute that erupted between him and Abbas over the resignation of PA Finance Minister Nabil Qassis. Qassis, who was handpicked by Abbas, was appointed as Finance Minister last year. While Fayyad accepted Qassis' resignation, Abbas demanded that the finance minister be reinstated. Fayyad's decision is also linked to recurring attacks against him and his government by senior Fatah officials. In recent weeks, several Fatah officials have publicly demanded the resignation of Fayyad, holding him responsible for the sharp financial crisis in the Palestinian territories. (MORE ABOUT THE SBARRO MASSACRE MOCKERY GUY)

Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin, to sue PA for terrorism at The Hague

Labels: » » » »

NGO Chairwoman: PA starting war against soldiers, ‘we’ll defend them’.

Shahar Chai’


An Israeli civil rights NGO is preparing to sue the Palestinian Authority in the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its alleged responsibility for thousands of terrorist attacks on Israel.
Shurat HaDin’s Nitsana Darshan-Leitner – Photo: Zvika Tishler
The publicity material shows the tagline on top of photographs of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismayil Haniyeh behind bars.
After the United Nations upgraded its status to non-member observer state in late November, the Palestinian Authority hinted its intentions to sue Israelis for alleged war crimes at the ICC in The Hague.
Though recent attempts to revive the peace process appear to have halted these efforts, Shurat HaDin started preparing thousands of cases against the Palestinian Authority and its leaders.
“We call on all Israeli citizens who were harmed in terror attacks to testify through our Facebook page and tell their traumatic experiences,” the organization’s chairwoman Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner explained.
Shurat HaDin, founded in 2002, is an Israeli civil rights non-governmental organization aimed at using litigations against groups it alleges are terror organizations.
So far the NGO won cases to the sum of over a billion US dollars, of which over $120 million were collected.
On 2012 the organization aided in the thwarting of a Gaza bound flotilla and is currently involved in the campaign against the BDS movement.
“Our aim is to prevent this move (suing soldiers) by the Palestinian Authority,” said Darshan-Leitner.
“We’ve realized that when the Palestinian Authority is accepted into the ICC, it becomes exposed to lawsuits as well. “We’ve received dozens of terror victims’ testimonies, from relatively ‘light’ stories to truly shocking ones,” she said.
“I’m certain anyone who hears about the campaign will know at least one victim and encourage them to turn to us.
“They are starting a war against our soldiers, and we’ll do everything we can to defend them,” Darshan-Leitner said.

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4367659,00.html

New York attacks First Amendment

Labels: » »

(Examiner)The Washington Examiner reports that a town in New York has forced the removal of the historic Gadsden Flag, which has been a symbol of American determination to fight for liberty ever since the American revolution.
Media_httpcdn2bexamin_cawuuAccording to Jim Hoft's Gateway Pundit, a group of U.S. veterans is fighting the local city council in New Rochelle, N.Y. for the right to display the flag at the local armory. The Navy and the Marine Corps have been flying the flag since 1775. The Gadsden Flag has long been considered a patriotic symbol.
But the New Rochelle City Council says that the Gadsden Flag is a symbol of the Tea Party and has right wing connotations.
No one in the veteran's group, however, is a member of the Tea Party.
Some of the members of the council itself appear to be carrying their own unjustified bias concerning the flag. One council member likened the Gadsden flag to a flag used by homosexuals on gay pride day. Another stated that the patriotic flag is like the Nazi flag, or graffiti, or a Mickey Mouse flag.
The display of symbols traditionally has been viewed as an aspect of free speech and is thus protected by the First Amendment. But apparently in New York State, not only is the private ownership of guns considered tantamount to an act of violence but free speech is viewed with disdain.(MORE)

#Apartheid Roads

Labels: »
I've asked that question, too:- 
The entire world denounces the "apartheid roads" in Judea and Samaria, although in broad daylight Jews and Arabs share every road open to Jews. On the other hand, large signs in bright red ban Jews from traveling on roads in areas specified by the Oslo Agreements for Palestinians. Route 443 has been opened to Arabs as well following a High Court order, but a nearby road – which would have cut the time it takes to travel from Gush Dolev-Talmonin to Jerusalem by at least 30 minutes – remains closed to Jews to this very day. Both apartheid and racism: Israel's Arab citizens are free to enter Jenin, while a Jew will be prosecuted.
When was the last time a state official took journalists on a tour on the ground, to get them to realize that the apartheid on the roads of Judea and Samaria is exclusively against Jews. And which of our media outlets ever exposed the shamefulness of their apartheid: That God forbid should a Jewish-Israeli set foot in Nablus or in 90% of Hebron or in any Arab village? Because that's the rule: The state of the Jews should be brought to trial. Why? Because it put itself there in the first place.

Elyakim HaEtzni
^

Amphibians in hot water?

Labels: » » » » »
the luckless amphibian that relaxed when the waters were tepid,
adapted when they became hotter, and died when they began to boil?(Details)

...if politics is the extension of war and the objective of war is to impose one’s will on the enemy, can there be any doubt that if a 21st-century Sun Tzu were to review the constant Israeli submission to the will of its foes, his only comment would be an appalled: Oy vey – or whatever the Chinese version of that is? (Details)

Abortionist Slit Necks Of Babies Born Alive In Front Of Teenage Employee, Told Assistant, “That’s What You Call A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off”

Labels: »

From CNS News:
According to a Pennsylvania grand jury, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the wealthy Philadelphia abortionist now on trial for seven counts of murdering babies who had survived his late-term abortions, repeatedly sliced the necks of born babies in front of a teenage employee, and once told his long-time assistant (the teenager’s mother) that a writhing born baby whose neck he had just severed was like a “chicken with its head cut off.” 
“Ashley Baldwin also saw Gosnell slice the neck of moving and breathing babies,” said the report of the grand jury that recommended charging Gosnell with multiple counts of murder. 
Baldwin’s mother, Tina, worked for nine years as Gosnell’s assistant. The teenager herself went to work for the abortionist when she was a 15-year-old high school sophomore.

This Might Explain Why We Have Not Done a Pre-Emptive Strike

Labels: »

China and US Make North Korea Nuclear Pledge (Libra) BBC: China and the US have vowed to work together to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear programme and to settle tensions through dialogue. A Chinese statement issued during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry said the nuclear issue was the "shared responsibility of all parties". Mr Kerry said the two sides must decide "very quickly" how to proceed. North Korea has recently threatened nuclear attacks, and is feared to be preparing a missile launch. (Envy?This Might Explain Why We Have Not Done a Pre-Emptive Strike: From Yahoo News: A former North Korean spy who bombed a South Korean airliner said Wednesday that the North's leader Kim Jong-Un is struggling to control his military and using war talk to shore up support. Kim Hyun-Hee, who said she was ordered by Jong-Un's father Kim Jong-Il to bomb the airliner in 1987 killing 115 people, said she believes the son is still trying to establish himself following his father's death in December 2011. "Kim Jong-Un is too young and too inexperienced," she told Australia's ABC television in an exclusive interview from Seoul, where she lives at an undisclosed location surrounded by bodyguards. "He's struggling to gain complete control over the military and to win their loyalty. That's why he's doing so many visits to military bases, to firm up support."  A flurry of warlike statements from Pyongyang has prompted speculation that a launch could happen on 15 April, when the country marks the 101st birthday of the nation's founder and former leader, Kim Il-sung. (+ BBC video)

The #Vassar Experience

Labels: » » »

Have left-liberals killed liberal education? I’ve come to think so, and recent developments at Vassar and Bowdoin help confirm my fear.
The indispensable Stanley Kurtz is on top of both stories. At Vassar, the subject of this post, he reports on attempts to block a speech by Alex Epstein, a proponent and defender of America’s conventional energy industries. Epstein was invited to speak by Vassar’s Moderate, Independent, Conservative Alliance (MICA).
The presentation of Epstein’s point of view was particularly important at Vassar. For, as Kurtz demonstrates, the college has attempted, in the context of an aggressive fossil-fuel divestment campaign, to brainwash its students on issues of climate change, energy, and the environment. As one student told Kurtz, “I don’t feel that [conservative students at Vassar] are able to freely express their views at all.”
The reaction to Epstein’s appearance is consistent with that impression. Posters advertizing his lecture were promptly covered or ripped down. The head of MICA, whose room lock was broken, was ridiculed mercilessly and eventually came under pressure from leftist students to pay Epstein not to appear. One student threatened to inflict bodily injury on himself at Epstein’s lecture in order to disrupt it.
At the lecture, protesters (some believed to be from the Occupy Wall Street movement) appeared. Some of them wore Dick Cheney masks. Wearing masks, a cowardly act, is an Occupy tactic. Vassar students told Kurtz that the presence of masked protesters created considerable tension that detracted from the lecture experience.
About half an hour into the lecture, a protester interrupted Epstein to read a prepared statement. Then, on cue, approximately 30 people (about a third of the audience in the room) walked out. The good news is that some students criticized the protesters as they left.
How did Vassar respond? Its acting president issued a tepid statement to the effect that the students who left the lecture lost an opportunity to engage and question the speaker. Apparently, he has not addressed the tearing down of posters, the attempt to pay Epstein not to speak, the threat of a student to harm himself if the speech occurred, and the interruption of the speech itself.
As Kurtz concludes, Vassar appears to have passed a tipping point beyond which the classical ideals of liberal education no longer meaningfully operate where they are most needed. And Vassar is not an isolated case, as I will argue in my next post on the subject.
yup

#JayCarney denies #WhiteHouse involvement with #JayZ & #Beyonce’s #Cuba trip

Labels: » » » » »
I'm not sure why I'm bothering to reblog this. The economy is in shambles. Men are out of work... the feminists deny it... and people are worried about Jay Z getting clearance from a guy who said Ayers was just some guy in his neighborhood.

 **Written by Doug Powers (Michelle Malkin)
After it was reported that Jay-Z and Beyoncé traveled to Cuba to soak up some warm Havana weather and maybe get a chance to meet Jimmy Carter, even some of President Obama’s fellow Democrats, including Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were critical of the fact that somebody in the federal government gave the couple permission to make the trip (rumor has it Beyonce was asked to leave Cuba after being caught lip-syncing El Himno de Bayamo).
Thursday, Jay Carney insisted the person who ok’d the trip was from the Treasury Department, and not a certain White House resident who likes golf and just happens to be good friends with Jay-Z:
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today denied the White House had any involvement with their trip, saying the Treasury Department handles all clearances for travel to Cuba.
“I guess nothing rhymes with Treasury,” Carney joked.
In the song, Jay-Z also recounts a conversation he had with President Obama about his trip. “Obama said, ‘Chill, you, gonna get me impeached… We don’t need this s-t anyway, chill with me on the beach,” he raps in the nearly three-minute song.
Carney dismissed the claim. “It’s a song,” he said. “The president did not communicate with Jay-Z over this trip.”
Carney said it was preposterous to think that the White House was involved in Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Cuba trip, which might be true. Jay-Z could have given himself permission from the Situation Room for all we know.
I haven’t seen anything like this since Marlin Fitzwater’s flat denial of reports that then-President Reagan gave Run DMC permission to perform in East Germany:
The blog Naked D.C. performs a more in-depth analysis of Jay-Z’s “Open Letter” here.
Oh, and North Korea might have nuclear weapons capable of being delivered by ballistic missiles. Hopefully at tomorrow’s presser Carney will be asked what Beyoncé thinks of that.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

#Wikileaks: April 6, 1973 cable #SaudiArabia Recognizes #Israel h/t @DebbieSchussel

Labels: » » »
SECRET
PAGE 01 CAIRO 01025 061031 Z
54
ACTION SS-25
INFO OCT-01 ADP-00 /026 W
——————— 127347
R 060945 Z APR 73
FM USINT CAIRO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 2860
S E C R E T CAIRO 1025
EXDIS
DEPARTMENT PASS JIDDA
EO 11652: XGDS-1
TAGS: PFOR, SA, XE, EG
SUBJECT: THE FUTURE OF THE PALESTINIANS
1. IN CONVERSATION APRIL 4 ARRANGED BY SAUDI ARABIAN AMBASSADOR NAZIR AT HIS RESIDENCE, KING FEISAL’ S ADVISOR KAMAL ADHAM TOUCHED SEVERAL TIMES ON THE PROB- LEM OF THE PALESTINIANS. HIS MAIN POINT WAS THAT NEITHER THE PALESTINIANS NOR ISRAEL REALLY WANT A PEACE AGREEMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST. IN ALL THIS, I REFRAINED FROM TAKING UP THE REFERENCE TO ISRAEL, BUT SOUGHT TO ELICIT HIS VIEW OF THE FUTURE OF THE PALESTINIANS; I TRIED TO SET THE CONTEXT OF A RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ARAB GOVERNMENTS TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM.
2. THE FOCUS NARROWED DOWN TO THE ” MILITANT” PALES- TINIANS, AND ADHAM SAID THAT ARAFAT HAD EXPLAINED TO HIM THE PROBLEM HE AND THE PLO HAVE WITH THE HUSSEIN PLAN AS BEING ” WE ARE NOT PART OF IT.” IN OTHER WORDS, UNLESS THEY ARE INCLUDED IN THE DELIBERATIONS, THEY WILL NOT ACCEPT THE RESULTS. HE SAID THAT WHAT ” PALESTINIANS”– HE DID NOT SPECIFY WHICH ONES– WANT IS TO BE ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THE AREA ONCE CALLED PALESTINE AND THERE LIVE IN PEACE WITH THE JEWS.
3. I NOTED THAT THE USG IS ON RECORD THAT ANY SETTLE- MENT MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE LEGITIMATE ASPIRATIONS
SECRET
SECRET
PAGE 02 CAIRO 01025 061031 Z
OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. THIS DOES NOT , HOWEVER, MEAN THAT WE REGARD ELIMINATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL AS A LEGITIMATE ASPIRATION. ADHAM SAID ” OF COURSE NOT– NEITHER DO WE.”
4. ADHAM REFERRED TO GAZA, AND SAID HE THOUGHT THAT, AS EGYPT HAD OPENED THE WAY, THAT PROBLEM COULD BEE [sic].
[Emphasis added.]
Analysis @debbieschlussel

The Buraq Conspiracy Theory and Natan Sharanksy

Labels: » » » » » »
Media_httppalestinema_uyrmy
(My Right Word)The Al-Aqsa Foundation in a statement today announced that
the Israeli occupation continues excavation and destruction in by the Mughrabi Gate - which is considered an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque - and operates dozens of diggers a day to accelerate the creation of empty spaces underground for
...synagogues that would be linked to the rest of the Buraq square [the Western Wall], and noted a "Plan Sharansky"...part of the comprehensive plan to Judaize the whole area - which includes the Wailing Wall...and around the Wailing Wall to the place of prayer Israelis under the name "Wailing" -, while confirming the institution that the entire Western Wall is part precious al-Aqsa mosque is the exclusive right of the Muslims alone,
image via palestine-mandate.com

Translate