The way in which the New York Times reports good vs. evil is one of the most important stories of our time.Still more at the link.
Take the war between Israel and Hamas that is taking place right now.
This war is as morally clear as wars get. Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating the Jewish state. It runs a theocratic totalitarian state in Gaza, with no individual liberty, and no freedom of speech or press. In a nutshell, Hamas is a violent, fascistic organization.
Israel, meanwhile, is one the world’s most humane states — not to mention a democracy that is so tolerant that Arab members of its parliament are free to express admiration for Hamas.
Over the past decade, Hamas had launched thousands of rockets into Israel with one aim: to kill and maim as many Israeli citizens as possible — Israelis at work, at play, asleep in their homes, in their cars. Finally, Israel responded by killing Ahmed al-Jabari, the chief organizer of Hamas’s violence — the Hamas “military commander” as he was known among Palestinians.
The next day, three more Israelis were killed by rockets.
Then Hamas targeted Tel Aviv, Israel’s most densely populated region, and Israel shelled Hamas rocket-launching sites.
In other words, an evil entity made war on a peaceful, decent entity, and the latter responded.
How has the New York Times reported this?
On Friday, on its front page, the Times featured two three-column-wide photos. The top one was of Gaza Muslim mourners alongside the dead body of al-Jabari. The photo below was of Israeli Jews mourning alongside the dead body of Mira Scharf, a 27-year-old mother of three.
What possible reason could there be for the New York Times to give identical space to these two pictures? One of the dead, after all, was a murderer, and the other was one of his victims.
The most plausible reason is that the Times wanted to depict through pictures a sort of moral equivalence: Look, sophisticated Times readers! Virtually identical scenes of death and mourning on both sides of the conflict. How tragic.
If one had no idea what had triggered this war, one would read and see the Times coverage and conclude that two sides killing each other were both equally at fault.
This is the mainstream (i.e., liberal) media’s approach...
Thursday, November 22, 2012
How the New York Times Covers Evil
From Dennis Prager, at National Review:
Entitlement America
An outstanding O'Reilly Factor from a couple of nights back, worth every minute:
And I think this is the WaPo editorial he's referencing, "Mitt Romney’s parting ‘gifts’."
And here's O'Reilly's election night rant, on video.
O'Reilly's politically incorrect. For progressives that's RAAAAACISM!!
And I think this is the WaPo editorial he's referencing, "Mitt Romney’s parting ‘gifts’."
And here's O'Reilly's election night rant, on video.
O'Reilly's politically incorrect. For progressives that's RAAAAACISM!!
Church of England Votes Against Ordination of Women Bishops
At the New York Times, "Crisis in Church of England After Rejection of Female Bishops":
LONDON — In a sign of deepening crisis in the Church of England after it rejected the appointment of women as bishops, its spiritual leader said Wednesday that the church had “undoubtedly lost a measure of credibility” and had a “lot of explaining to do” to people who found its deliberations opaque.
The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, was speaking after an emergency meeting of bishops called to debate Tuesday’s narrow balloting by its General Synod rejecting the ordination of women as bishops, even though female priests account for one-third of the Church of England’s clergy members.
Female priests hold senior positions like canon and archdeacon, and some had been hoping to secure appointments as bishops by 2014 if the change had been approved.
The vote represented a direct rebuff to Archbishop Williams’s reformist efforts during his 10 years as head of the church and a huge setback to a campaign for change that has been debated intensely and often bitterly for the past decade.
More than 70 percent of the 446 synod votes on Tuesday were in favor of opening the church’s episcopacy to women. But the synod’s voting procedures require a two-thirds majority in each of its three “houses”: bishops, clergy and laity. The bishops approved the change by 44 to 3, and the clergy by 148 to 45. The vote among the laity, though, was 132 to 74, six votes fewer than the two-thirds needed.
The Church of England is the so-called established church, meaning that it is recognized by law as representing the official religion, enjoys special privileges and is supported by the civil authorities.
Some lawmakers suggested on Wednesday that the synod vote would create a crisis of church-state relations, since the rejection of female bishops contradicted national laws on gender equality. Prime Minister David Cameron, already at loggerheads with the church over the government’s plans to legalize same-sex marriage next year, urged the church authorities on Wednesday to devise a way out of the impasse.
“I’m very clear the time is right for women bishops; it was right many years ago,” he told Parliament on Wednesday. “They need to get on with it, as it were, and get with the program. But you do have to respect the individual institutions and the way they work while giving them a sharp prod.”
Baby Boy Dies From Meningitis After Doctors Twice Fail to Spot Symptoms
This was at yesterday's Daily Mail, "One-year-old boy, died of meningitis because doctors ignored his mother: Instinct told Jane that her son was gravely ill - but she was dismissed as hysterical."
And these were National Health Service physicians, the same folks who were immortalized at the London Olympics opening ceremonies last summer. And it's coming to America!
DAILY MAIL FRONT PAGE: "Boy died because doctors ignored his mother" #skypapers twitter.com/SkyNews/status…
— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 20, 2012
And these were National Health Service physicians, the same folks who were immortalized at the London Olympics opening ceremonies last summer. And it's coming to America!
Victoria's Secret Fashion Fittings
The fashion show's coming up on December 4th.
Some of the most beautiful women in the world.
Some of the most beautiful women in the world.
West Coast Port Shut Down
Keep your eyes peeled for more "worker" agitation this weekend at the West Coast ports.
See Michelle, "More Big Labor-induced misery: The looming port strike."
See Michelle, "More Big Labor-induced misery: The looming port strike."
Gaza is the Epicenter of Jew Hatred
A profound commentary, from Glenn Beck:
Via Caroline Glick, "The liberal anti-Semitic projection syndrome."
Via Caroline Glick, "The liberal anti-Semitic projection syndrome."
Dispatch From Israel: Liberal Rabbi's Rebuttal to Criticism of Israel
From Bruce Kesler, at Maggie's Farm:
Rabbi Bill Berk, who retired from a large Reform congregation in Phoenix to lead educational cultural tours in Israel, is definitely a liberal -- by US or Israeli standards -- politically. Regardless of liberal or not, almost all Israelis are unified in supporting the Israeli actions in Gaza. That may come as a shock to many Western liberals who have become accustomed to taking positions negative toward Israel.Continue reading.
Below is Bill Berk's "Letter To My Old Friend" in the US who wrote to him criticizing Israel's actions against Hamas in Gaza. Berk's old friend wrote him (as Berk summarizes)...
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanksgiving Dinner 2012
My wife's working Thanksgiving, in the afternoon, so we thought it'd be easier to have a full dinner tonight and then the family can have leftovers tomorrow. I tweeted out a message as well.
I am first and foremost thankful for my family. But I feel this year more thankful than ever for my --- and our nation's --- liberty. I see huge chunks of that eroding as government becomes more expansive and progressive ideology enjoys its brief ascendance. But thank goodness especially for the U.S. Constitution, for in that document is enshrined the principles of limited government and the protection of private property. If Americans preserve and protect that document, even amid dramatic social change, I'm confident that our historic emphasis on personal independence and self-sufficiency will continue to keep the greedy clutches of the Democrat Party away.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal readers as well.
I'll continue plugging away. And I hope you'll join me for the ride.
I am first and foremost thankful for my family. But I feel this year more thankful than ever for my --- and our nation's --- liberty. I see huge chunks of that eroding as government becomes more expansive and progressive ideology enjoys its brief ascendance. But thank goodness especially for the U.S. Constitution, for in that document is enshrined the principles of limited government and the protection of private property. If Americans preserve and protect that document, even amid dramatic social change, I'm confident that our historic emphasis on personal independence and self-sufficiency will continue to keep the greedy clutches of the Democrat Party away.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal readers as well.
I'll continue plugging away. And I hope you'll join me for the ride.
Hamas Rocket Fire Continues After Cease-Fire Announced
JTA reports, "Israel-Hamas cease-fire goes into effect, rockets launched at Israel shortly after."
And at Astute Bloggers, "EVEN AFTER THE CEASEFIRE, MORE MISSILES."
And Hamas backers are celebrating their "victory" over Israel.
And here's Melanie Phillips, "A Most Uneasy Truce" (via Memeorandum):
I'll have updates throughout the night...
And at Astute Bloggers, "EVEN AFTER THE CEASEFIRE, MORE MISSILES."
Cease fire between Israel and #GAZA holding perfectly...well, except for 12 rockets fired at 1 million people#IsraelUnderFire
— ASoldiersMother (@ASoldiersMother) November 21, 2012
And Hamas backers are celebrating their "victory" over Israel.
Those celebrating in the street in #Gazafeel that this is a victory 4 them, that they withstood #Israel aggression
— Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 21, 2012
And here's Melanie Phillips, "A Most Uneasy Truce" (via Memeorandum):
The way this cease-fire was reached sounded alarm bells from the get-go. It was brokered by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with the driving actor apparently being her protégé the President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi.The left's hyenas are circling.
But Egypt is hardly a neutral actor in this drama. Morsi owes allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood -- the parent body of the very Hamas that Israel has been fighting. The Brotherhood is pledged to wage both cultural and military jihad upon the west in order to Islamise it.
It is the mortal enemy of both Israel and the west. Yet the Obama administration, along with the UK and France, actually helped put the Brotherhood into power in Egypt by helping get rid of President Mubarak. Under Morsi, Sinai has been allowed to become a real threat to Israel; in the past week, there were reports that Egypt was doing nothing to prevent jihadis from all over the region from going through Sinai into Gaza to join the war against Israel. In addition, Morsi is cosying up to Iran. Indeed, even Obama himself blurted out recently that
‘the U.S. would no longer consider the Egyptian government an ally, “but we don’t consider them an enemy.”’Hillary Clinton, moreover, has astoundingly expressed her enthusiasm for the Brotherhood as ‘moderates’. There are also claims (which have been denied in a furious row) that her long time adviser Huma Abedin comes from a family with Brotherhood ties; and also that the State Department has been cosying up to the Brothers in a most alarming fashion.
In other words, this ceasefire seems to be some kind of nightmarish joke.
I'll have updates throughout the night...
Not Impressed
Via The Looking Spoon: "A Brief History of the Terrorist Attack In Benghazi."
RELATED: From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "CBS: “Office of the DNI” cut al-Qaeda and terrorism references from Benghazi talking points." And especially, The Blaze, "KRAUTHAMMER DOUBTS INTELLIGENCE HEAD JAMES CLAPPER REALLY EDITED BENGHAZI TALKING POINTS — HERE’S WHY."
Not impressed with that Benghazi cover-up, you know?
RELATED: From Ed Morrissey, at Hot Air, "CBS: “Office of the DNI” cut al-Qaeda and terrorism references from Benghazi talking points." And especially, The Blaze, "KRAUTHAMMER DOUBTS INTELLIGENCE HEAD JAMES CLAPPER REALLY EDITED BENGHAZI TALKING POINTS — HERE’S WHY."
Not impressed with that Benghazi cover-up, you know?
Terrorist Bus Blast at Tel Aviv's Shaul Hamelech Street
At the Jerusalem Post, "Terror attack on Tel Aviv bus injures 21 people":
Terrorists detonated an explosive device on a public bus on Tel Aviv's Shaul Hamelech Street around noon Wednesday. A total of 21 people were injured the attack.And at Telegraph UK, "Gaza Israel conflict: Tel Aviv bus bomb - live updates."
One person was severely injured, one moderately and one light to moderately, according to a spokesperson from the city's Ichilov Hospital. The remainder of the casualties were lightly injured or suffering shock.
Of the 21 victims brought to the hospital, the two most seriously wounded are teenagers, head of emergency medicine Prof. Halperin said, although he noted that none of them had life-threatening injuries.
Progressives Sink Knives Into Walmart
In all my years of politics and political science, I can't recall as aggressive or intense attacks on American business than the current era. It's nothing short of demonization of private property and the right to earn profits. The collectivist mentality asserts that if businesses are successful, it's because workers have been raped. And of course Walmart's the biggest criminal of them all, especially as it's a non-union shop and is among the richest companies in the world. It must, therefore, pay for its crimes. You can just feel the contempt and hatred dripping off the screen at this MSNBC clip:
And here's this, from Cole Stangler, at The American Prospect, "Wal-Mart: Always Low Wages" (via Memeorandum):
And here's this, from Cole Stangler, at The American Prospect, "Wal-Mart: Always Low Wages" (via Memeorandum):
Part of why the recent actions are so remarkable is that Wal-Mart is one of the most notoriously anti-union companies in the country. Based in right-to-work Arkansas, the retailer has maintained an almost entirely union-free workforce for most of its existence, even once resorting to shutting down a store in Quebec shortly after a successful union drive there. The company has never before dealt with coordinated labor protest on this scale. “In the past, Wal-Mart would fire people, would threaten people … and that would be enough to stop people in their tracks,” said Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, another organization backed by the UFCW which works closely with OUR Walmart. “The difference now is workers are using Wal-Mart’s own tactics to challenge the company and not backing down. Really, for the first time in Wal-Mart’s history, the tools that are used to keep people silent and under control are now being used against them. That’s significant.”"OUR Walmart" stands for "Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart." And it's a bullshit meme that the groups isn't pushing for collective bargaining. Frankly, if they're using the NLRA to pressure the company, they're already acting as if they have union power. The right to strike is a collective bargaining right protected under the law. They're making distinctions without a difference. This New York Times report confirms it, "Wal-Mart Labor Protests Grow, Organizers Say." And keep in mind who these organizers are. The United Food and Commercial Workers is a self-proclaimed Marxist workers revolutionary organization committed to the overthrow of capital. Heres's this from Labor Union Report, "Marxists Meet, Part I: UFCW Rep. Calls for Seizing Private Property & World Socialism." And the union's website spouts the same bullshit boilerplate from the Occupy Wall Street movement:
Indeed, OUR Walmart has framed its strikes and the upcoming Black Friday action as an “unfair labor practice strike”—that is, as a response to the company’s alleged retaliation against employees. Workers have already filed a handful of unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board—the independent federal agency that governs labor relations in the private sector. While Wal-Mart employees aren’t unionized, they’re still covered under the National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right of nonunion workers to go on an unfair labor practice strike without being permanently replaced.
Venanzi Luna, a deli manager at the Wal-Mart in Pico Rivera, California, said she’s witnessed management retaliate against her co-workers. At Luna’s store, where she and some of her co-workers went on strike in October, workers have filed two unfair labor practice charges. “If an associate speaks out, they retaliate by taking their hours, not giving them full-time hours, they write them up, they can ‘coach' them,’” Luna says. “It’s the little things that that they do, whatever they can file, anything for them to retaliate against associates that are either part of OUR Walmart or speak out against [Wal-Mart]. They’ve gotten to the point where they’ve fired associates because of it.”
When asked to address those allegations, Fogleman said that the company has “strict policies prohibiting retaliation.” He adds: “If someone feels they have been retaliated against, we want to know about it, so we can look into it and take the appropriate actions to resolve the situation,” Fogleman says.
OUR Walmart isn’t trying to push for union representation for Wal-Mart workers. The campaign is organizing behind a broad set of demands by building a network of allies and trying to pressure the company. “The fundamental difference is this isn’t a collective-bargaining organization, it’s a rights-based organization. At this point, there’s not a battle for a collective-bargaining agreement, there’s a battle to change the company,” Schlademan said of OUR Walmart. “All the other things that are the heart and soul of the labor movement and of workers’ organizing are there, which is collective action, workers pulling their resources together so they have a bigger voice, and utilizing the public to educate and build power to change the company.” As the organization builds toward a Black Friday strike, OUR Walmart is partnering with the nonprofits Engage Network and Corporate Action Network to spread the message to Wal-Mart workers and potential allies nationwide. Organizers have set up a website where the general public can access a list of picket lines and “sponsor” strikers by making a donation.
Workers have the right to stick together on the job, to go to the boss and negotiate the kind of wages, benefits, and safe working conditions we need to raise our kids, to live a decent life, to put a little something aside for a rainy day, and to retire with dignity.This right to stick together is a basic, fundamental right at the heart of the labor movement, and our union.So that's really what this is all about. Forget this bunk about decent wages and "respect." This is really all about overthrowing private property and establishes a people's dictatorship over the business sector. It's coming to America. The Obama administration is the vanguard fomenting a "fundamental transformation" of America.
We join together in our union because we know the fate of the American worker can’t be left entirely in the hands of the wealthiest one percent. After all, no one knows the issues that impact working America better than the workers themselves.
Hamas Rockets Obliterate Obama's 'Hope and Change' in the Middle East
Frank Gaffney's slamming the Obama administration's Arab appeasement policies, "Middle East melting down into ‘Obamawar’." (via Memeorandum).
And Gaffney, who leftists constantly attack as a "racist" and a "neocon," isn't the only one. Check the Los Angeles Times, "Gaza conflict threatens Obama's plans for Mideast diplomacy":
Jeez, you'd think Baracky built some creds with his Middle East apology tour? Folks sure thought that Cairo speech was da bomb, IYKWIMAITYD!
RTWT.
And Gaffney, who leftists constantly attack as a "racist" and a "neocon," isn't the only one. Check the Los Angeles Times, "Gaza conflict threatens Obama's plans for Mideast diplomacy":
WASHINGTON — The increasingly bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is threatening the Obama administration's plans to reinvigorate its Middle East diplomacy, creating new obstacles across the region as the president prepares for his second term.Struggled?
With negotiators struggling to craft a cease-fire agreement, diplomats and experts say the strife is hampering administration efforts to help resolve the civil war in Syria, improve relations with Egypt's new government, support moderate Palestinian leaders and check Iran's growing ambitions.
In a region thrown into turmoil by the "Arab Spring" uprisings, U.S. support for Israel and its right to defend itself has been one of the few constants. That has not changed, despite the well-publicized rocky relationship between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But by all accounts, the damage to U.S. influence in the region is likely to grow if Israel sends ground troops into Gaza to stop the Hamas militant group from firing rockets into Israel.
"The bottom line is that this will poison everything the United States is trying to do in the region," said Shadi Hamid, research director at the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Qatar.
President Obama has spoken repeatedly with leaders in Israel and Egypt, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has spoken with other officials while she and Obama went ahead with a visit to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia that was intended to emphasize the administration's efforts to refocus U.S. foreign policy on Asia.
Ben Rhodes, the president's deputy national security advisor, told reporters on the trip that the U.S. position is that "those nations in the region, particularly nations that have influence over Hamas, and that's principally Egypt and Turkey, also Qatar… that those nations need to use that influence to de-escalate the conflict. And de-escalation has to begin with, again, an end to rocket fire from Gaza."
U.S. officials don't have direct contact with Hamas, which they consider a terrorist organization.
Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to both Israel and Egypt, said the crisis appeared close to a tipping point. If Israel sends armored columns into Gaza, Washington would be caught between pressing Israel to stop a conflict that has Obama's support, or being seen in the Arab world as complicit in the bloodshed.
"We will be put in the same corner as Israel," said Kurtzer, now with Princeton University. "This will be an extremely awkward position."
While U.S. officials have sought to avoid judging Israeli tactics, Obama said at a news conference Sunday in Bangkok, Thailand, that it was preferable for Israel to avoid sending troops into Gaza, for the sake of both Palestinians and Israelis.
Washington has struggled to regain its influence in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 brought to power populist Islamist governments that are more wary of Washington and more responsive to pro-Palestinian public opinion.
Jeez, you'd think Baracky built some creds with his Middle East apology tour? Folks sure thought that Cairo speech was da bomb, IYKWIMAITYD!
RTWT.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Hamas Rocket Hits Rishon Lezion Apartment Building
At Jerusalem Post, "IDF soldier, civilian killed as over 140 rockets hit Israel."
Gazan fire killed an IDF soldier and an Israeli civilian on Tuesday, as over 140 rockets rained down on Israel throughout the day.Continue reading.
Cpl. Yosef Partuk, 18, of Emanuel was killed Tuesday morning in a mortar attack in the Eshkol Regional Council area, the IDF released for publication Tuesday evening. Partuk was posthumously promoted to corporal. The civilian killed was a Beduin from one of the South's unrecognized villages.
The announcements came on the heels of a Gaza rocket attack that lightly injured six people after striking an apartment building in the central city of Rishon Letzion.The upper floors of the building went up in flames, according to Channel 2.
Also Tuesday evening, a person was moderately to seriously wounded when a rocket fired from Gaza struck a building in Ashkelon.
Cindy Crawford Shape Magazine Cover Girl
She's 46-years old and smokin'!
At London's Daily Mail, "Still got it! Cindy Crawford returns to the cover of Shape magazine 20 years on... and still looks as amazing as ever."
At London's Daily Mail, "Still got it! Cindy Crawford returns to the cover of Shape magazine 20 years on... and still looks as amazing as ever."
What? No Israel-Hamas Cease Fire?
Seems like hostilities are escalating to me, but Hillary Clinton's swooped in for some shuttle diplomacy, so who knows? Maybe she'll work some magic in the end after all?
At the Los Angeles Times, "Hope for cease-fire fades":
PHOTO: The Israeli Prime Minister's Office, on Twitter.
Added: From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine, "Should Israel Agree to a Cease-fire?"
At the Los Angeles Times, "Hope for cease-fire fades":
GAZA CITY -- Hopes rose Tuesday for a halt to hostilities after seven days of devastating fighting between Israel and Hamas, with officials from the militant group predicting a cease-fire would take effect at midnight.
But as the evening wore on, Israeli and Egyptian officials began downplaying expectations, warning that no deal had been signed.
According to one senior Hamas official, the parties reached a “major breakthrough” Tuesday when Israel agreed to halt attacks against the Gaza Strip, stop targeted killings of Hamas leaders and ease border restrictions.
Israel is seeking an end to the rocket fire into its territory by Gaza militants and assurances – backed up by Egypt and the international community – that Hamas won’t be allowed to rebuild the weapons caches that Israel has destroyed.
Israeli officials have not commented on the talks, which are being conducted in Cairo through Turkish and Egyptian intermediaries since Israel and Hamas don’t formally recognize one another.
All sides hinted that a deal might be reached Wednesday. Arab League leaders and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have sought to help negotiate the deal; President Obama also sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the region from Cambodia.
By sending Clinton, "we are all hoping for a de-escalation, we are all hoping for a restoration of calm, we’re all hoping to open space for deeper, broader conversations," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Tuesday in Washington.
PHOTO: The Israeli Prime Minister's Office, on Twitter.
Added: From Robert Spencer, at FrontPage Magazine, "Should Israel Agree to a Cease-fire?"
Mediation Fails: Hostess Will Shut Down and Liquidate Assets
So much for union compromise.
At USA Today, "Hostess mediation fails, so Twinkie company to liquidate":
At USA Today, "Hostess mediation fails, so Twinkie company to liquidate":
Hostess announced Tuesday night that mediation with its bakers' union has failed and that the 82-year-old company will proceed with liquidation plans.More at the link.
In an update on its talks with the striking Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, the company behind Twinkies and Wonder Bread said it would have no further comment before a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. ET Wednesday in White Plains, N.Y.
The union, which represents about 30% of the company's 18,500 workers, walked out Nov. 9. Hostess closed its 33 plants on Friday and sent workers home as it seeks court approval to wind down its iconic brands and sell its assets.
Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain urged Hostess and the union to mediate. "Not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark in this case," he said Monday.
Gaza's Motorcycle Lynch Mob
Well, no doubt international human rights groups will be all over this.
At London's Daily Mail, "Six Israeli 'spies' executed before baying mob in Gaza City, before motorbike gang drags one bloodied victim through the streets."
And see this amazing post at Twitchy, "Horrible (Graphic pic): Anderson Cooper tweets pic of Hamas dragging a man behind motorcycle in Gaza; Update: Sick defense of Hamas; Update: 6 men viciously brutalized, killed by Hamas."
And here's this clip from Ofir Gendelman, Israeli Prime Minister's spokesperson to the Arab media, on Twitter, "Video: Hamas' ruthlessness and brutality: execution of 6 Palestinians in Gaza by Hamas' terrorists":
Added: From Israel Matzav, "How Hamas treats collaborators and how Israel treats collaborators."
And at Atlas Shrugs, "#Savages Six Israeli 'collaborators' executed before baying Muslim mob in Gaza City."
At London's Daily Mail, "Six Israeli 'spies' executed before baying mob in Gaza City, before motorbike gang drags one bloodied victim through the streets."
And see this amazing post at Twitchy, "Horrible (Graphic pic): Anderson Cooper tweets pic of Hamas dragging a man behind motorcycle in Gaza; Update: Sick defense of Hamas; Update: 6 men viciously brutalized, killed by Hamas."
And here's this clip from Ofir Gendelman, Israeli Prime Minister's spokesperson to the Arab media, on Twitter, "Video: Hamas' ruthlessness and brutality: execution of 6 Palestinians in Gaza by Hamas' terrorists":
Added: From Israel Matzav, "How Hamas treats collaborators and how Israel treats collaborators."
And at Atlas Shrugs, "#Savages Six Israeli 'collaborators' executed before baying Muslim mob in Gaza City."
Mary Breckinridge Treks Across the High Sierra
This piece at the Los Angeles Times came out before the election. The woman makes an annual trek across the Sierra Nevada, a way for her to keep alive the spirit of American exceptionalism and rugged individualism ---- traditions that are fading fast in the hardening regime of the Obama dependency state. She's getting too old for the expedition, but she was able to do it again this year with the companionship of an old mountain packer she used to work with.
An amazing piece, "A High Sierra state of mind":
An amazing piece, "A High Sierra state of mind":
MONO PASS TRAIL — Mary Breckenridge crosses the High Sierra every year, with only her horse and two mules for company.Read it all at the link.
She always leaves in September, when heat still tents the Central Valley but cool mountain breezes stir silvery-green aspen leaves.
Higher up, the nights could be so cold that the water in her coffee pot turned rock-hard. It's happened. She kept going. Packing and unpacking 300 pounds of gear daily, making and breaking camp, starting her fire from twigs.
It made her feel thrillingly self-reliant. A true Western woman.
Except, now she's 64, and she's not sure she can do it anymore. Not alone.
Bucko Davis had sworn he was done with packing. He'd had enough of being so tired that he would unload a pile of gear from a mule, plop down on top of it and have people walk by without realizing there was a limp body beneath the cowboy hat pulled over his face.
Then Mary tracked him down. They've been friends for 30 years, since he was a packer and she was a cook on commercial High Sierra trips. She needs him as backup.
Once long ago, Bucko said he would never tell her "no." He agrees to the trip.
He's spent his whole life in these mountains. He loves how the junipers line up for sentry duty along the ridges, the way edible mushrooms pop out amid the damp undergrowth.
Maybe now he can know if they will ever let him leave in peace.
Rachel Maddow's Morally Bankrupt Campaign Against Israel's Right to Exist
I don't know. I guess I endure MSNBC's vile global solidarity programming so you don't have to.
I watched Rachel Maddow last night, and I'll tell you, it's not easy. She's not only unintelligent but also unbelievably dishonest (as readers recall, I've chronicled her mendacity many times at this blog). But last night's program reached new levels of depravity with its truly evil propaganda dump against Israel. Watch especially the introduction until about 6:20 minutes into the clip (or more briefly, after about 4:00 minutes for the key smear regarding the so-called global consensus on "deescalation" in Gaza):
After the first six minutes Maddow goes off on a truly bizarre attack on the GOP's foreign policy, using a long history of John McCain outtakes as some kind of evidence that Republicans haven't a clue on foreign affairs. I'm not commenting on that except to say that if Rachel Maddow had a single shred of the moral fiber that Senator McCain possesses she would not be hosting hate-Israel fests on cable's most anti-American network. But I'm not breaking new ground here with that.
No, the key is her roundup on the alleged world agreement on a deescalation in Gaza. Maddow cites President Obama's comments yesterday on Israel's right to self-defense, although the president's position is particularly nefarious. As noted here previously, Obama is pressing Netanyahu against a ground incursion, while simultaneously muttering about Israel's right to self-defense. The stupid actually burns on this, because if one says that self-defense is justified by definition that means the potential resort to force by all means, not just by use of targeted air power. Boots on the ground are going to be required to root out the key Hamas strongholds and rocket positions, a campaign that would in fact preserve civilian lives, since ground troops would be more discriminating than air power and rocket strikes.
But notice, even more importantly, that for Obama and Maddow --- and also all the global sources she cites --- the burden of deescalation is on Israel and Israel alone. There is no condemnation of Hamas' reign of terror against Israel civilians. This is nothing less than blood libel against the Jewish people, for failing to correctly identifying the nature of the military escalation in the first place serves only the needs of global solidarity's program of delegitimation. It's sickening. Look whom Maddow cites. The United Nations. Egypt. The EU. Hello? And she throws in the British foreign minister as well, although the idiot makes the same attack on Israel as everyone else. (And don't forget that virtually the entire British establishment has repudiated Israel's legitimate right to self-preservation in the face of this barbaric onslaught from Islamic terrorists.)
The left is implicated across the board in what is nothing less that a worldwide resurrection of the Nazi regime's program of Jewish annihilation. Israel is not the aggressor. Israel is the subject of a international campaign of repudiation and terror. It's actually shocking to watch. Today's Democrat Party rejects Israel's right to self-defense as measured in that CNN poll out yesterday. And here's Obama mouthpiece Maddow spouting these exterminationist talking points on MSNBC and she's citing the United freakin' Nations as a source of authority? I think people have lost their minds. This is the world turned upside down. Israel is the beacon, as I've been saying. If Israel's democracy can be destroyed by the world's progressives and communists then God help those who come after that. There is no hope that the current administration in Washington will stand up for liberty against global Islamic hegemony. Americans are already dying in diplomatic outposts and the Democrats threw their bodies under the bus to win reelection. It's perverted, truly. All people can do is hold up the light of truth against these people, because their lies are relentless. It's not just media bias anymore. People like Maddow are state propagandists. Only on MSNBC could their top-ranked anchor devote almost a complete opening segment to the character assassination of an American who spent 5 1/2 years in a communist prison camp in North Vietnam. But we're in a new era. People have to resist the natural inclination to futility and surrender. At times it seems like the messages of decency and right can't gain traction anywhere. But I'm a dissident now and recent history shows that dissidents have toppled tyrants and that's what I intend to do with these progressive freaks like Maddow and her lying scumbag of a Democrat mountebank president.
I'll have more later...
ADDED: My good friend Norm Gersman writes: "Great post. I cannot even watch her because she is such a shallow and transparent person. Keep on her!!!"
MORE: Dana Pico links, "Rachel Maddow, Donald Douglas, and the questioning of our friends on the left of Israel’s right to exist, free and in peace."
I watched Rachel Maddow last night, and I'll tell you, it's not easy. She's not only unintelligent but also unbelievably dishonest (as readers recall, I've chronicled her mendacity many times at this blog). But last night's program reached new levels of depravity with its truly evil propaganda dump against Israel. Watch especially the introduction until about 6:20 minutes into the clip (or more briefly, after about 4:00 minutes for the key smear regarding the so-called global consensus on "deescalation" in Gaza):
After the first six minutes Maddow goes off on a truly bizarre attack on the GOP's foreign policy, using a long history of John McCain outtakes as some kind of evidence that Republicans haven't a clue on foreign affairs. I'm not commenting on that except to say that if Rachel Maddow had a single shred of the moral fiber that Senator McCain possesses she would not be hosting hate-Israel fests on cable's most anti-American network. But I'm not breaking new ground here with that.
No, the key is her roundup on the alleged world agreement on a deescalation in Gaza. Maddow cites President Obama's comments yesterday on Israel's right to self-defense, although the president's position is particularly nefarious. As noted here previously, Obama is pressing Netanyahu against a ground incursion, while simultaneously muttering about Israel's right to self-defense. The stupid actually burns on this, because if one says that self-defense is justified by definition that means the potential resort to force by all means, not just by use of targeted air power. Boots on the ground are going to be required to root out the key Hamas strongholds and rocket positions, a campaign that would in fact preserve civilian lives, since ground troops would be more discriminating than air power and rocket strikes.
But notice, even more importantly, that for Obama and Maddow --- and also all the global sources she cites --- the burden of deescalation is on Israel and Israel alone. There is no condemnation of Hamas' reign of terror against Israel civilians. This is nothing less than blood libel against the Jewish people, for failing to correctly identifying the nature of the military escalation in the first place serves only the needs of global solidarity's program of delegitimation. It's sickening. Look whom Maddow cites. The United Nations. Egypt. The EU. Hello? And she throws in the British foreign minister as well, although the idiot makes the same attack on Israel as everyone else. (And don't forget that virtually the entire British establishment has repudiated Israel's legitimate right to self-preservation in the face of this barbaric onslaught from Islamic terrorists.)
The left is implicated across the board in what is nothing less that a worldwide resurrection of the Nazi regime's program of Jewish annihilation. Israel is not the aggressor. Israel is the subject of a international campaign of repudiation and terror. It's actually shocking to watch. Today's Democrat Party rejects Israel's right to self-defense as measured in that CNN poll out yesterday. And here's Obama mouthpiece Maddow spouting these exterminationist talking points on MSNBC and she's citing the United freakin' Nations as a source of authority? I think people have lost their minds. This is the world turned upside down. Israel is the beacon, as I've been saying. If Israel's democracy can be destroyed by the world's progressives and communists then God help those who come after that. There is no hope that the current administration in Washington will stand up for liberty against global Islamic hegemony. Americans are already dying in diplomatic outposts and the Democrats threw their bodies under the bus to win reelection. It's perverted, truly. All people can do is hold up the light of truth against these people, because their lies are relentless. It's not just media bias anymore. People like Maddow are state propagandists. Only on MSNBC could their top-ranked anchor devote almost a complete opening segment to the character assassination of an American who spent 5 1/2 years in a communist prison camp in North Vietnam. But we're in a new era. People have to resist the natural inclination to futility and surrender. At times it seems like the messages of decency and right can't gain traction anywhere. But I'm a dissident now and recent history shows that dissidents have toppled tyrants and that's what I intend to do with these progressive freaks like Maddow and her lying scumbag of a Democrat mountebank president.
I'll have more later...
ADDED: My good friend Norm Gersman writes: "Great post. I cannot even watch her because she is such a shallow and transparent person. Keep on her!!!"
MORE: Dana Pico links, "Rachel Maddow, Donald Douglas, and the questioning of our friends on the left of Israel’s right to exist, free and in peace."
Progressives Are the Biggest Threat to Freedom of Speech in America
An excellent clip from FIRE.
Rauch, who is a far-left progressive, nails it on who's the biggest threat to freedom of speech, thought and expression in the country today. What's surprising, though, is that harassment-blogger Walter James Casper III "liked" it on Twitter --- tweeting it out a couple of times in fact. And it's ironic too, since Repsac3 is the epitome of the hateful, speech-controlling progressive that Rauch is denouncing. From racism to anti-Semitism to the recent attacks on Ann Coulter at Fordham, Repsac3 is down with it. He never, ever speaks out against it, and in fact joins in with his progressive hate-commentariat in mounting campaigns of personal destruction against those with whom he disagrees. I've chronicled Repsac3's criminal campaigns of intimidation many times. If he truly "likes" the ideas of Jonathan Rauch he should in fact practice them. Sadly, the record shows that while the demonically hate-addled Repsac3 purportedly champions this kind of classical liberal thought, his actual political loyalties are with those who stand against it. It's not just that Walter James Casper III is a stupid man. It's that he's also been psychological corrupted by progressive evil. Where there's a bodily inclination in him that says leftist thought suppression is not just wrong but massively vile, his raging primordial rage at conservatives kicks in to advance the exact kind of censorship that Rauch excoriates above. Repsac3 is a rodent of a person, and hardened, blackened chip of human refuse. Honestly, his only hope is to follow the words of people like Rauch and literally repent his ideology of hatred and secular demonology.
PREVIOUSLY: "Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Greg Lukianoff, 'How Free Speech Died on Campus'."
Rauch, who is a far-left progressive, nails it on who's the biggest threat to freedom of speech, thought and expression in the country today. What's surprising, though, is that harassment-blogger Walter James Casper III "liked" it on Twitter --- tweeting it out a couple of times in fact. And it's ironic too, since Repsac3 is the epitome of the hateful, speech-controlling progressive that Rauch is denouncing. From racism to anti-Semitism to the recent attacks on Ann Coulter at Fordham, Repsac3 is down with it. He never, ever speaks out against it, and in fact joins in with his progressive hate-commentariat in mounting campaigns of personal destruction against those with whom he disagrees. I've chronicled Repsac3's criminal campaigns of intimidation many times. If he truly "likes" the ideas of Jonathan Rauch he should in fact practice them. Sadly, the record shows that while the demonically hate-addled Repsac3 purportedly champions this kind of classical liberal thought, his actual political loyalties are with those who stand against it. It's not just that Walter James Casper III is a stupid man. It's that he's also been psychological corrupted by progressive evil. Where there's a bodily inclination in him that says leftist thought suppression is not just wrong but massively vile, his raging primordial rage at conservatives kicks in to advance the exact kind of censorship that Rauch excoriates above. Repsac3 is a rodent of a person, and hardened, blackened chip of human refuse. Honestly, his only hope is to follow the words of people like Rauch and literally repent his ideology of hatred and secular demonology.
PREVIOUSLY: "Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Greg Lukianoff, 'How Free Speech Died on Campus'."
The Left's War on Israel
More commentary from the lovely Katie Pavlich.
And bear in mind the discussion here is the left's war on Israel. As I reported earlier, just 4 in 10 Democrats consider Israel's self-defense justified in the latest CNN poll. And don't even get me started about the current global communist delegitimation campaign. These are the same folks from the Occupy movement who got big huzzah endorsements from President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. These people are the foundation of today's left, from the White and the halls of Congress to the worldwide progressive-communists protesting Israel's right to exist.
There's evil in the world. The left embodies it.
PREVIOUSLY: "Israel is Beacon of Liberty Against Global Communist Solidarity and Mainstream Media's Enablers of Extermination."
And bear in mind the discussion here is the left's war on Israel. As I reported earlier, just 4 in 10 Democrats consider Israel's self-defense justified in the latest CNN poll. And don't even get me started about the current global communist delegitimation campaign. These are the same folks from the Occupy movement who got big huzzah endorsements from President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. These people are the foundation of today's left, from the White and the halls of Congress to the worldwide progressive-communists protesting Israel's right to exist.
There's evil in the world. The left embodies it.
PREVIOUSLY: "Israel is Beacon of Liberty Against Global Communist Solidarity and Mainstream Media's Enablers of Extermination."
Democrat Media Complex Hammered Romney in Last Days of Campaign
From Pew Research, "Obama Enjoys Surge in Positive Coverage the Last Week of the Race; Attention to Romney Drops."
The report indicates that both Fox News and MSNBC became "extremely" negative in the final weeks, especially the sick progressive hacks at MSNBC:
The report indicates that both Fox News and MSNBC became "extremely" negative in the final weeks, especially the sick progressive hacks at MSNBC:
In the final week of the campaign, both Fox News and MSNBC became even more extreme in how they differed from the rest of the press in coverage of the two candidates. On Fox News, the amount of negative coverage of Obama increased-from 47% in the first four weeks of October to 56% the final week. Meanwhile, positive discussion of Romney grew, from 34% of segments to 42%. On MSNBC, the positive coverage of Obama increased from 33% during most of October to 51% during the last week, while Romney's negative coverage increased from 57% to 68%.The "voice of Obama's America" was just pounding on the GOP nominee. These people are like freakin' animals.
'Isn't It Totally Awesome That Nate Silver Sucks Cock?'
Ha!
This is what happens when Robert Stacy McCain discovers Huffington Post's "Gay Voices" homosexual hub:
And at The Other McCain, "HuffPo and the Homo-Supremacy Agenda."
Funny thing, I didn't even know Silver was flippy-floppy on the side, but that does explain why flaming baker-boy Kevin Robbins has a perpetual woody for the dude. These people are freakin' disgusting.
This is what happens when Robert Stacy McCain discovers Huffington Post's "Gay Voices" homosexual hub:
Shorter HuffPo: Isn't It Totally Awesome That Nate Silver Sucks Cock? huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/pol…
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 19, 2012
And at The Other McCain, "HuffPo and the Homo-Supremacy Agenda."
Funny thing, I didn't even know Silver was flippy-floppy on the side, but that does explain why flaming baker-boy Kevin Robbins has a perpetual woody for the dude. These people are freakin' disgusting.
Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade' Marketing Campaign
A fascinating interview with the skateboarding pioneer, at the Los Angeles Times, "Bones Brigade's wheeler dealer":
PREVIOUSLY: "Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade'."
Pro skateboarder turned filmmaker Stacy Peralta takes a suitably maverick approach to the marketing of his new 'Bones Brigade: An Autobiography.'Read it all.
PREVIOUSLY: "Stacy Peralta's 'Bones Brigade'."
Katie Pavlich Analyzes GOP's Electoral Prospects
An interesting discussion, and note that Pavlich eschews the Democrat Hispanic realignment thesis.
RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "Demography Schmemography."
RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "Demography Schmemography."
Fox News Anchor Brian Kilmeade Jokes That Network Hires Female On-Air Talent by Flipping Through Victoria's Secret Catalog
This was during a segment on Kilmeade's radio show, who was joined by Alisyn Camerota at the time. I guess some folks thought that was inappropriate, but hey, Fox boasts the hotties.
See London's Daily Mail, "Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade sparks outrage after joking his network 'hires women by flipping through the pages of Victoria's Secret catalog'."
See London's Daily Mail, "Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade sparks outrage after joking his network 'hires women by flipping through the pages of Victoria's Secret catalog'."
Monday, November 19, 2012
'Only four in ten Democrats think the Israeli actions in Gaza are justified...'
And that's compared to 74 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents. But this isn't shocking at all. What's shocking is the Jews still overwhelmingly support President Obama and Democrat Party (although the numbers are down substantially). Talk about voting against your interests.
See Daniel Halper at the Weekly Standard, "Only 40 Percent of Democrats 'Think the Israeli Actions in Gaza Are Justified'."
And check the full report at CNN. Fifty-seven percent of Americans support Israel right to self-defense against Hamas. (Via Memeorandum.)
See Daniel Halper at the Weekly Standard, "Only 40 Percent of Democrats 'Think the Israeli Actions in Gaza Are Justified'."
And check the full report at CNN. Fifty-seven percent of Americans support Israel right to self-defense against Hamas. (Via Memeorandum.)
IDF Calls Up Thousands of Reservists for Operation Pillar of Defense
It's only a matter of time now.
And at the Times of Israel, "As Israeli airstrikes continue, US warships reportedly on the way."
And at the Times of Israel, "As Israeli airstrikes continue, US warships reportedly on the way."
Israel's Necessary Ground War
At the Jerusalem Post, "Ground invasion?":
And see Gilad Sharon, "A decisive conclusion is necessary."
PHOTO: Israeli troops near the Gaza border, c/o Elder of Ziyon.
As Israel enters the sixth day of Operation Pillar of Defense, Hamas and other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip continue their assaults on civilian centers.Keep reading at that top link.
Southern cities such as Beersheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon (just to name the largest) have been bombarded constantly since the start of the operation on Wednesday. Out of an apparent desire by Hamas and the Iran-aligned Islamic Jihad and other Salafi and jihadi terrorists to escalate the conflict, the scope of fire has expanded to the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas.
Gazans have fired more than 500 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli communities since the start of the IDF offensive. Attempts by Egypt to mediate a cease-fire that would bring about long-term quiet are under way.
At the same time, Israeli leaders are seriously considering implementation of the next potential stage in the operation – a ground invasion.
Over the weekend, the cabinet authorized the call-up of up to 75,000 reservists for military service. Defense Ministry director-general Udi Shani noted that there has been a nearly 100 percent positive response.
In pondering a ground operation, our leaders are no doubt weighing the pros and cons. The five Iron Dome batteries deployed since the beginning of the present round of escalation – which have so far shot down about 250 potentially deadly rockets at almost a 90 percent success rate – provide our leaders with the precious breathing room to make a balanced, logical decision regarding the efficacy of a ground invasion.
The most obvious outcome of a major ground incursion would be a spike in the number of noncombatant casualties on the Palestinian side.
In Operation Cast Lead, for instance, 1,166 Gazans were killed, 709 of them combatants, according to IDF figures. This is about one civilian for every three combatants.
In contrast, according to a 2001 study by the International Committee of the Red Cross, there have been on average 10 civilian deaths for every soldier killed in wars fought since the mid-20th century.
During the 1999 Kosovo War, NATO forces killed four civilians for every Serbian soldier. Clearly, even the most moral armies make mistakes, particularly in dense urban areas.
Although the international community has generally been supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself, it has in the past shown little understanding of its need to complete its mission. The purpose of the current operation is to halt all rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called this the “Goldstone threat,” after the so-called “fact-finding” mission appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and headed by Richard Goldstone. In the event of a ground invasion, we must, therefore, be prepared for a new wave of delegitimization focused against Israel, no matter how unjustified and unsubstantiated.
And see Gilad Sharon, "A decisive conclusion is necessary."
PHOTO: Israeli troops near the Gaza border, c/o Elder of Ziyon.
Diplomats Try to End Israel-Gaza Conflict
At the Wall Street Journal:
The five-day conflict between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers reached its deadliest point yet, as diplomats in Cairo and elsewhere tried to forestall an Israeli ground invasion that would lead to a far bloodier battle.Israel will go in on the ground. It's only a matter of when.
An Israeli envoy traveled to Cairo, where he met briefly with Egyptian security officials, as Hamas and other regional powers met for cease-fire talks whose outcome will help determine whether the thousands of troops Israel is massing along the Gazan border will be ordered to enter the coastal enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that "the Israeli military is prepared to significantly expand the operation." Israel's military has already called up 40,000 reservists, in addition to its regular standing army of about 175,000, and said it could yet call up another 35,000.
The conflict saw its most violent day yet, lending greater urgency to the cease-fire talks, as Israeli missiles killed 30 Palestinians and Gazan militants fired dozens of rockets deep into Israel, whose defense system destroyed two of them headed toward Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Israel faces the painful decision of whether to launch a ground offensive, which would likely raise casualties on both sides, risk international reproach and further inflame a region already confronting a civil war in Syria and widespread unrest.
The U.S. and Britain both reiterated their support for Israel's right to defend itself against Palestinian rocket fire on Sunday, but both countries also warned against a ground attack, suggesting the robust Western support Israel has enjoyed so far may not last if it invades.
"My message to all of them was that Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired onto its territory," President Barack Obama said during a visit to Thailand. "If that can be accomplished without the ramping up of military activity in Gaza that's preferable. That's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of fatalities or being wounded."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with top officials in Egypt, France, Qatar and Turkey this weekend in an effort to end the hostilities, her office said.
In Cairo, the leaders of Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and Hamas are aiming for an ambitious cease-fire proposal aimed at ending the cycle of violence in Gaza once and for all by convincing Israel to end the blockade of the coastal strip it enforces to keep out arms and materiel.
"After this aggression, I think the cost for achieving any cease-fire should be higher than the normal things," said Ahmed Youssef, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. "The minimum people would like to have is a cease-fire that would end the siege of Gaza."
Israel is looking for a cease-fire deal that brings it more than a brief window of calm before rocket fire resumes again. It also wants Hamas to take responsibility for the security situation in Gaza, allowing Israel to hold Hamas responsible for any attacks, said a person close to the negotiations in Cairo.
An Ever-Weakening America Has Invited War
At IBD, "Obama Re-Election Brings Israel Mideast War":
The re-election of a U.S. president with a weak foreign policy has, on cue, brought war to Israel. Islamist aggressors have sized up the next four years based on the last four years.Continue reading.
The month after his inauguration, after meeting with the woman who would help him win the Cold War, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Ronald Reagan recited a favorite Churchill quote.
It was a grave warning that "peace will not be preserved without the virtues that make victory possible in war. Peace will not be preserved by pious sentiments expressed in terms of platitudes or by official grimaces and diplomatic correctitude, however desirable these may be from time to time. It will not be preserved by casting aside in dangerous years the panoply of warlike strength."
President Obama's re-election telegraphed that the world's lone superpower will continue the sentimentalist diplomacy of the last four years.
It also confirmed that America would continue gutting its military, shutting down the production of key weapons systems like the F-22 Raptor, which the Air Force calls critical in sustaining U.S. tactical air power.
As House Armed Services Committee Republicans have warned, cuts will mean the Army and Marines losing 200,000 troops, and the Navy shrinking from 300 to 238 vessels while losing two carrier battle groups.
Hamas, whose rockets now target Jerusalem, know that America is weakening both its military and its support for the Jewish state — just as they know our "tough diplomacy" against Iran is a dismal failure as Tehran nears nuclear weapons capability.
The thousands of Egyptians who on Friday began protesting Israel's self-defensive air strikes on Gaza, from which the rockets are launched, know it.
So You Want to End the Israel-Hamas War? Here's How to Do It
From Barry Rubin, at PJ Media:
A lot of people have asked the purpose of Israel’s defensive war against Hamas. Some, including those supposedly expert on the region, have been mystified. They cannot seem to figure out what is going on or what the goal of this Israeli operation could be.Continue reading.
The answer is simple. Given the premise that Hamas is in a permanent state of war with Israel and will attack Israel whenever it can get away with it, Israel needed to do three things.
First, Israel had to show Hamas that it cannot daily attack Israel and Israeli civilians without a cost.
Second, Israel had to show Hamas that the cost is unsustainable and that it needs to keep the peace or suffer massive losses to its governmental, economic, and military infrastructure. This includes a personal cost to those who have taken the lead in attacking Israel and especially to those who have organized terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
Third, Israel had to remove from Hamas the means of making war by destroying its rockets, missiles, and other weaponry. Of course, they will rebuild, but it is better to have an enemy that must start over again from near-zero than one that is adding thousands of weapons onto the thousands it already possesses, including the addition of more advanced arms and especially longer-range missiles.
Gaza Counts Its Dead as Israel Plans Invasion
At the Independent UK, "Bloodiest day yet of Israel's assault on Gaza as desperate last-minute diplomacy attempts to forestall ground assault":
And remember, much of what Gaza is counting is its own dead. See CAMERA, "In Gaza, Macabre Manipulations of a Child Victim."
Gaza suffered its bloodiest day since Israel launched a military offensive in the Hamas-controlled enclave, with a sharp escalation in the ferocity of attacks from both sides amid frenzied last-minute diplomacy to try and forestall an Israeli ground assault.Still more at the link.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a “significant expansion” of Israel’s military onslaught, even as an Israeli envoy was reported to be travelling to Cairo for ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators. Nabeel Sha’ath, a senior Fatah official, was dispatched to Gaza by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to intercede with the leaders of the rival Hamas group.
At least 24 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air and artillery attacks yesterday – raising the Palestinian death toll to 69 and marking the day as the bloodiest since Operation Pillar of Defence began last Wednesday with the assassination of the Hamas military chief, Ahmed al-Jabari. Israel said the commander of the Hamas rocket unit was among yesterday’s targets.
Eleven Palestinian civilians were reported killed when an Israeli missile levelled their home in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in an apparent strike against the home of a senior Hamas militant. The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency said that four women and four children from the same family were among the dead.
The Israel Foreign Press Association, meanwhile, lodged an official complaint with the Israeli army after six journalists were injured, one seriously, when Israeli missiles destroyed the offices and studio of two television stations linked to Hamas in Gaza City high-rises that also house Sky News Arabic and other international media bureaus.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Israel had bombed the Al-Quds bureau “because it had enraged the Zionists by its coverage” of Israel’s “crimes in Gaza.” Both pro-Hamas networks continued broadcasting from other locations, but their programmes were interrupted by messages from the Israeli army warning Gaza residents to stay away from Hamas installations and personnel.
At least four Israelis were injured as Palestinian groups unleashed repeated barrages of rockets at Beersheba, Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod throughout the day. There were several direct hits on homes and cars. One Grad rocket hit the roof of a four-storey apartment block in Ashkelon and drilled through to the second floor.
“The apartment was torn to pieces. It’s a miracle I am still alive,” 71-year-old father of nine Malai Molalem told The Independent, huddling in a bomb shelter as the hollow boom of falling rockets sounded again and again.
Hamas fired two long-range Fajr 5 missiles at Tel Aviv, 40 miles away, making four attempts in three days. They were both destroyed by the Iron Dome missile defence system.
Addressing the Israeli cabinet in Jerusalem, Mr Netanyahu said Israel had attacked more than 1,000 targets since Wednesday and was “achieving significant hits on weapons aimed at Israeli citizens, as well as on those who use these weapons and those who dispatch them.”
“The IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations,” Mr Netanyahu warned as the cabinet approved the mobilisation of 75,000 troops. Roads were blocked as thousands of reservists and military transporters loaded with tanks and armoured cars rumbled southwards.
With rumours of an imminent ground offensive, other countries in the region moved to try and find a negotiated settlement.
And remember, much of what Gaza is counting is its own dead. See CAMERA, "In Gaza, Macabre Manipulations of a Child Victim."
Hamas Looks to Sponge Some Credibility Off Regional Islamists
They're all terrorists, so they get no respect from where I stand, but see the New York Times, FWIW, "An Outgunned Hamas Tries to Tap Islamists’ Growing Clout":
CAIRO — Emboldened by the rising power of Islamists around the region, the Palestinian militant group Hamas demanded new Israeli concessions to its security and autonomy before it halts its rocket attacks on Israel, even as the conflict took an increasing toll on Sunday.
After five days of punishing Israeli airstrikes on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and no letup in the rocket fire in return, representatives of Israel and Hamas met separately with Egyptian officials in Cairo on Sunday for indirect talks about a truce.
The talks came as an Israeli bomb struck a house in Gaza on Sunday afternoon, killing 11 people, in the deadliest single strike since the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated on Wednesday. The strike, along with several others that killed civilians across the Gaza Strip, signaled that Israel was broadening its range of targets on the fifth day of the campaign.
By the end of the day, Gaza health officials reported that 70 Palestinians had been killed in airstrikes since Wednesday, including 20 children, and that 600 had been wounded. Three Israelis have been killed and at least 79 wounded by unrelenting rocket fire out of Gaza into southern Israel and as far north as Tel Aviv.
Hamas, badly outgunned on the battlefield, appeared to be trying to exploit its increased political clout with its ideological allies in Egypt’s new Islamist-led government. The group’s leaders, rejecting Israel’s call for an immediate end to the rocket attacks, have instead laid down sweeping demands that would put Hamas in a stronger position than when the conflict began: an end to Israel’s five-year-old embargo of the Gaza Strip, a pledge by Israel not to attack again and multinational guarantees that Israel would abide by its commitments.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel stuck to his demand that all rocket fire cease before the air campaign lets up, and Israeli tanks and troops remained lined up outside Gaza on Sunday. Tens of thousands of reserve troops had been called up. “The army is prepared to significantly expand the operation,” Mr. Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
Reda Fahmy, a member of Egypt’s upper house of Parliament and of the nation’s dominant Islamist party, who is following the talks, said Hamas’s position was just as unequivocal. “Hamas has one clear and specific demand: for the siege to be completely lifted from Gaza,” he said. “It’s not reasonable that every now and then Israel decides to level Gaza to the ground, and then we decide to sit down and talk about it after it is done. On the Israeli part, they want to stop the missiles from one side. How is that?”
He added: “If they stop the aircraft from shooting, Hamas will then stop its missiles. But violence couldn’t be stopped from one side.”
Hamas’s aggressive stance in the cease-fire talks is the first test of the group’s belief that the Arab Spring and the rise in Islamist influence around the region have strengthened its political hand, both against Israel and against Hamas’s Palestinian rivals, who now control the West Bank with Western backing.
It also puts intense new pressure on President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who was known for his fiery speeches defending Hamas and denouncing Israel. Mr. Morsi must now balance the conflicting demands of an Egyptian public that is deeply sympathetic to Hamas and the Palestinian cause against Western pleadings to help broker a peace and Egypt’s need for regional stability to help revive its moribund economy.
The Liberal Gloat
From Ross Douthat, at the New York Times:
Liberals look at the Obama majority and see a coalition bound together by enlightened values — reason rather than superstition, tolerance rather than bigotry, equality rather than hierarchy. But it’s just as easy to see a coalition created by social disintegration and unified by economic fear.
Consider the Hispanic vote. Are Democrats winning Hispanics because they put forward a more welcoming face than Republicans do — one more in keeping with America’s tradition of assimilating migrants yearning to breathe free? Yes, up to a point. But they’re also winning recent immigrants because those immigrants often aren’t assimilating successfully — or worse, are assimilating downward, thanks to rising out-of-wedlock birthrates and high dropout rates. The Democratic edge among Hispanics depends heavily on these darker trends: the weaker that families and communities are, the more necessary government support inevitably seems.
Likewise with the growing number of unmarried Americans, especially unmarried women. Yes, social issues like abortion help explain why these voters lean Democratic. But the more important explanation is that single life is generally more insecure and chaotic than married life, and single life with children — which is now commonplace for women under 30 — is almost impossible to navigate without the support the welfare state provides.
Or consider the secular vote, which has been growing swiftly and tilts heavily toward Democrats. The liberal image of a non-churchgoing American is probably the “spiritual but not religious” seeker, or the bright young atheist reading Richard Dawkins. But the typical unchurched American is just as often an underemployed working-class man, whose secularism is less an intellectual choice than a symptom of his disconnection from community in general.
What unites all of these stories is the growing failure of America’s local associations — civic, familial, religious — to foster stability, encourage solidarity and make mobility possible.
This is a crisis that the Republican Party often badly misunderstands, casting Democratic-leaning voters as lazy moochers or spoiled children seeking “gifts” (as a certain former Republican presidential nominee would have it) rather than recognizing the reality of their economic struggles.
But if conservatives don’t acknowledge the crisis’s economic component, liberalism often seems indifferent to its deeper social roots. The progressive bias toward the capital-F Future, the old left-wing suspicion of faith and domesticity, the fact that Democrats have benefited politically from these trends — all of this makes it easy for liberals to just celebrate the emerging America, to minimize the costs of disrupted families and hollowed-out communities, and to treat the places where Americans have traditionally found solidarity outside the state (like the churches threatened by the Obama White House’s contraceptive mandate) as irritants or threats.
This is a great flaw in the liberal vision, because whatever role government plays in prosperity, transfer payments are not a sufficient foundation for middle-class success. It’s not a coincidence that the economic era that many liberals pine for — the great, egalitarian post-World War II boom — was an era that social conservatives remember fondly as well: a time of leaping church attendance, rising marriage rates and birthrates, and widespread civic renewal and engagement.
No such renewal seems to be on the horizon...
Forward! U.S. Business Investment Over the Cliff Amid Economic Uncertainty, Recession Fears
Well, the voters spoke a couple of weeks ago --- and the markets have been speaking ever since. More grim news, from the Wall Street Journal, "Investment Falls Off a Cliff: U.S. Companies Cut Spending Plans Amid Fiscal and Economic Uncertainty":
U.S. companies are scaling back investment plans at the fastest pace since the recession, signaling more trouble for the economic recovery.
Half of the nation's 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders have announced plans to curtail capital expenditures this year or next, according to a review by The Wall Street Journal of securities filings and conference calls.
Nationwide, business investment in equipment and software—a measure of economic vitality in the corporate sector—stalled in the third quarter for the first time since early 2009. Corporate investment in new buildings has declined.
At the same time, exports are slowing or falling to such critical markets as China and the euro zone as the global economy downshifts, creating another drag on firms' expansion plans.
Corporate executives say they are slowing or delaying big projects to protect profits amid easing demand and rising uncertainty. Uncertainty around the U.S. elections and federal budget policies also appear among the factors driving the investment pullback since midyear. It is unclear whether Washington will avert the so-called fiscal cliff, tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to begin Jan. 2.
Companies fear that failure to resolve the fiscal cliff will tip the economy back into recession by sapping consumer spending, damaging investor confidence and eating into corporate profits. A deal to avert the cliff could include tax-code changes, such as revamping tax breaks or rates, that hurt specific sectors.
President Barack Obama called a number of business executives over the weekend, including Warren Buffett, Apple Inc. AAPL Chief Executive Tim Cook and J.P. Morgan Chase's JPM +0.36% James Dimon, to promote his solution to the looming budget crisis. All sides in Washington, in a departure from a year of deep divisions, have pledged to work together and compromise to avoid going over the cliff.
"The whole world is looking for stability and clarity from the United States," said David Seaton, chief executive of Fluor Corp., a large engineering and construction firm. If uncertainty isn't removed, he said, "people will sit on their war chests of cash and return it to shareholders. You'll have a retarded growth trajectory."
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Coach Lane Kiffin Will Return to USC Football
I watched yesterday's highly-anticipated cross-town matchup, and it was something else.
The Los Angeles Times reports, "UCLA snaps five-game rivalry losing streak with 38-28 win over USC."
But here's Bill Plaschke's column, "Double shock: USC falls, and Pat Haden says Lane Kiffin to return":
Anyway, here's T.J. Simers on the new realities, "No question the Rose Bowl is Jim Mora's house now."
The Los Angeles Times reports, "UCLA snaps five-game rivalry losing streak with 38-28 win over USC."
But here's Bill Plaschke's column, "Double shock: USC falls, and Pat Haden says Lane Kiffin to return":
Not since Paul Hackett was the coach have I seen a USC team so humbled by the Bruins. Never would I believe a 50-0 score — last season's USC win — could turn around so far, so fast.And here's this from yesterday, "Lane Kiffin says he will be back as USC's football coach":
The biggest differences between the two seasons have been a quarterback and a coach. Here we all thought Kiffin and Barkley were this town's star duo when, in fact, it has become The Scowling Jim Mora and The Unstoppable Brett Hundley.
Is it any wonder lots of us have been critical of Kiffin? Is there any surprise that, with the Trojans down 24-0 midway through the second quarter, folks were calling for him to be fired at halftime? Heck, after a bad loss in this game last year, the Bruins' Rick Neuheisel was fired two days later. Before Saturday, the three bad USC losses, heaped on top of many distractions, led some university insiders to believe that Kiffin had to win his remaining games to keep his job.
While his team has not performed up to expectations, Kiffin has found controversy off the field. He lied about voting USC No. 1 in a poll early in the season, became embroiled in a tiff about media access and the false accusation of a reporter who wrote about an injury, ruffled feathers by changing the numbers of players during a blowout win over Colorado and most recently denied he had anything to do with a student manager deflating footballs below regulation level during a loss to Oregon.Oh brother.
Anyway, here's T.J. Simers on the new realities, "No question the Rose Bowl is Jim Mora's house now."
London's Daily Mail Previews Playboy's Marilyn Monroe 50th Anniversary Nude Photos
Well, this is something of a history lesson, even for an old-timer like me.
See: "EXCLUSIVE: Inside Playboy's special edition showing Marilyn Monroe's nude photos on 50th anniversary of her death."
See: "EXCLUSIVE: Inside Playboy's special edition showing Marilyn Monroe's nude photos on 50th anniversary of her death."
Hamas Kills Children, Blames Israel
This story's been getting widespread coverage, at Elders of Ziyon, "Dead child cradled by Egypt's PM was killed by Hamas! (UPDATED)." (And check the blog for phenomenal comprehensive coverage.)
And Telegraph UK picked up the story:
And Telegraph UK picked up the story:
...there were signs on Saturday that not all the Palestinian casualties have been the result of Israeli air strikes. The highly publicised death of four-year-old Mohammed Sadallah appeared to have been the result of a misfiring home-made rocket, not a bomb dropped by Israel.
The child’s death on Friday figured prominently in media coverage after Hisham Kandil, the Egyptian prime minister, was filmed lifting his dead body out of an ambulance. "The boy, the martyr, whose blood is still on my hands and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about," he said, before promising to defend the Palestinian people.
But experts from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights who visited the site on Saturday said they believed that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket.
Israel Prepares Gaza Ground Incursion
At the Jerusalem Post, "Israel prepares to send ground forces into Gaza: In spite of reservations of international community, PM says IDF prepared for expansion of Operation Pillar of Defense":
Israel continued to prepare to send ground forces into Gaza, in spite of warnings that the international community might not support the move.And see the Times of Israel, "Liberman: If Israel launches a ground incursion into Gaza, IDF needs to ‘go all the way’."
On Sunday Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held a meeting with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak for the third night in a row.
On Sunday morning Netanyahu told the government at its weekly meeting, “the IDF has attacked over 1,000 terrorist targets [since Wednesday afternoon] in the Gaza Strip and it is continuing its operations as we speak,” Netanyahu said.
“The IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations,” Netanyahu said.
Israel is Beacon of Liberty Against Global Communist Solidarity and Mainstream Media's Enablers of Extermination
As I've said many times, one's position on Israel's right to self-defense --- the Jewish people's right to self-preservation --- determines one's position on freedom, universal right (goodness), and civilization.
With Israel's operation Pillar of Defense in its fifth day, the world again has divided into combatant blocs, with the enemies of Israel mounting a worldwide campaign of delegitimation, from San Francisco to New York, across Europe to Cairo and Jerusalem. It's an exterminationist's dream of global struggle against (the fiction of) "Israel apartheid." The Times of London reported previously, "Activists around the world hold rallies denouncing Israel’s campaign in Gaza." And check this morning's report from Anne Sorock, at Legal Insurrection, "Defending Israel, freedom, and the future of civilization." And following the links takes us to Rebel Pundit's report, at Big Government, "Anti-Israel, Anti-America Protest Outside Obama HQ in Chicago":
Zombie has more, at PJ Media, "As the war in Gaza heats up, so too do the anti-Israel protests in the U.S."
And it goes without saying that amid the left's renewed campaign against Israel, Western governments and media elites mouth hollow condemnations of Palestinian aggression with tepid support or Israel's right to self-defense. Melanie Phillips, always among the most penetrating on the left's media-backed anti-Semitic jihad, comments on the establishment's moral bankruptcy, "Between a rock and a hard place":
More at The Blaze, "MSNBC Anchor Tells Israeli Ambassador Hamas Rockets 'Rarely Do Damage'."
And remember, MSNBC is "the voice of Obama's America."
Plus, "Obama, Muscling Netanyahu, Presses Israel Against Ground Invasion."
I'll have more, as always. But remember, never cave to the forces of world totalitarianism. Stand up for Israel and freedom. Your life depends on it.
With Israel's operation Pillar of Defense in its fifth day, the world again has divided into combatant blocs, with the enemies of Israel mounting a worldwide campaign of delegitimation, from San Francisco to New York, across Europe to Cairo and Jerusalem. It's an exterminationist's dream of global struggle against (the fiction of) "Israel apartheid." The Times of London reported previously, "Activists around the world hold rallies denouncing Israel’s campaign in Gaza." And check this morning's report from Anne Sorock, at Legal Insurrection, "Defending Israel, freedom, and the future of civilization." And following the links takes us to Rebel Pundit's report, at Big Government, "Anti-Israel, Anti-America Protest Outside Obama HQ in Chicago":
On Thursday night, Nov. 15, anti-Israel protesters gathered outside of President Obama’s re-election campaign headquarters in Chicago to protest what they call “Israeli war crimes.”Continue reading.
The protest was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Group, the Chicago Movement for Palestinian Rights , the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, and Ameican Muslims for Palestine. Ahmed Rehab of the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), John Beacham of the Party for Socialism and Liberation/ANSWER Coalition, and friend of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Leah Bolger, the President of Veterans for Peace were featured speakers at the event.
None of the speakers were short on controversial comments; however, John Beacham and Leah Bolger’s remarks were particularly stunning. Beacham declared:
The biggest terrorists in the world today are in the Pentagon, they're in Washington and Tel Aviv… And we can win here in the United States for Palestine, by building a movement, that shakes the foundations of this country by building international solidarity with all those who are standing up to the terrorist acts of the U.S. and Israeli Government.”Bolger echoed Beacham, asking the crowd, “You know who the real terrorists are? The United States, the people in the uniforms.”
Zombie has more, at PJ Media, "As the war in Gaza heats up, so too do the anti-Israel protests in the U.S."
And it goes without saying that amid the left's renewed campaign against Israel, Western governments and media elites mouth hollow condemnations of Palestinian aggression with tepid support or Israel's right to self-defense. Melanie Phillips, always among the most penetrating on the left's media-backed anti-Semitic jihad, comments on the establishment's moral bankruptcy, "Between a rock and a hard place":
The reason why this conflict goes on and on in this interminable way, leaving Israel in a state of permanent siege, is quite simple. It is that the so-called civilised world, for all its empty pledges of support for Israel, actually leaves it to swing in the wind.And then see Barry Rubin, "Here’s How — As With This Israel-Hamas War — Western Elites Are Baffled by the Middle East."
It persists in casting the conflict entirely falsely as a fight over land boundaries. It totally ignores the Judeophobic incitement to hatred and murder of Israelis with which the Palestinians indoctrinate their children; it totally ignores the Nazi-style (and yes , it is straight from the Nazi lexicon) deranged racist demonisation of the Jews as cosmically evil people responsible for all the ills in the world and controlling everything that moves in the west; it totally ignores the statements made even by so-called moderates such as Mahmoud Abbas that the Palestinians will never accept Israel as a Jewish state, thus committing them to permanent war against it; it totally ignores the fact that this is a religious war against the Jews (read the Hamas Charter); it totally ignores the gross inversion and misrepresentation of history by which the Arabs have concealed the fact that it is only the Jewish people for whom Israel was ever their national homeland.
Instead it ludicrously blames Israel for the impasse because of the ‘settlements’, thus taking demonstrably absurd Arab propaganda at face value; states that the Palestinians ‘deserve’ a state of their own (since when did racist aggressors deserve anything at all?); and insists that Israel must negotiate with the Palestinians to arrive at a solution (with increasing voices urging it to negotiate even with the Hamas). But the only solution that can be negotiated with fanatics committed to the eradication of a country is a final one.
More at The Blaze, "MSNBC Anchor Tells Israeli Ambassador Hamas Rockets 'Rarely Do Damage'."
And remember, MSNBC is "the voice of Obama's America."
Plus, "Obama, Muscling Netanyahu, Presses Israel Against Ground Invasion."
I'll have more, as always. But remember, never cave to the forces of world totalitarianism. Stand up for Israel and freedom. Your life depends on it.
Sunday Cartoons
At Flopping Aces, "Sunday Funnies."
Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Jill Stanek, "Stanek Sunday funnies 11-18-12."
CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.
Also at Reaganite Republican, "Reaganite's Sunday Funnies," and Jill Stanek, "Stanek Sunday funnies 11-18-12."
CARTOON CREDIT: William Warren.
'Hamas’s charter is itself a declaration of war, and all who join Hamas are automatically sworn enemies of Israel...'
Great letters to the editor, at the Jerusalem Post, "November 16: Readers react to Pillar of Defense":
Sir, – At long last, after so much restraint on the part of Israel, the Defense Ministry has taken much needed action (“IAF hammers Hamas targets in Gaza offensive, November 15).Still more at the link.
The Palestinians in Gaza cannot wage an undeclared war against Israel without a real response.
Even the UN Security Council should understand that in no way can Israel exist under a constant barrage of rockets.
Ban Ki-moon persists in asking Israel to show restraint. Instead, he should call a meeting of the Security Council and state his point of view, which should be that Israel must be supported in stopping the hostile actions against it.
We have reached the point in our struggle for our very existence where we must take into account the anti-Israel hostility of practically all the nations of the world because the Palestinians have been so successful in blackening our name – to which we have allowed ourselves complicity.
We are right in doing something drastic about the need to defend ourselves.
We must state this constantly, with no ifs, ands or buts. God bless our soldiers, our citizens and the justice of our cause.
TOBY WILLIG
Jerusalem
Sir, – Hamas says the killing of one of its top terrorists was a declaration of war (“Hamas: This means war,” November 15). But who declared war first? The official Hamas Charter, written in August 1988, says:
1. “Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it has obliterated others before it.”
2. “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”
Hamas’s charter is itself a declaration of war, and all who join Hamas are automatically sworn enemies of Israel. The fact that Israel chooses not to attack for long periods of time does not in any way absolve Hamas of its guilt for being in a permanent state of war against Israel for the past 24 years.
When its spokesmen try to influence public opinion by accusing Israel of starting a war, they are the worst kind of hypocrites.
Let no one be deceived: Those who founded Hamas declared war on Israel in 1988, and no amount of media hype can change this.
ROBERT KLEIN
Beersheba
'Anonymous as an organization now must be considered a national security threat...'
An extremely interesting post, at The Other McCain, "Neal Rauhauser’s Sick Obsession and the #Anonymous #OpIsrael Hamas Scam."
Read it all at that top link.
RELATED: At the Daily Caller, "Anonymous declares cyber war on Israel, targets The Other McCain blog [VIDEO]." And at Zero Hedge, "Israel Releases Another Gaza Pinpoint Strike Video, Anonymous Retaliates By Taking Down IDF Blog."
BEWARE: #OpIsrael is a deliberate fraud. #Anonymous is being dishonestly manipulated by anti-#Israel activists.
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) November 17, 2012
Read it all at that top link.
RELATED: At the Daily Caller, "Anonymous declares cyber war on Israel, targets The Other McCain blog [VIDEO]." And at Zero Hedge, "Israel Releases Another Gaza Pinpoint Strike Video, Anonymous Retaliates By Taking Down IDF Blog."
New Heidi Montag Bikini Pics!
At London's Daily Mail, "Another day, another bikini shoot! Heidi Montag shows off her $30,000 surgically-enhanced body in a sparkling blue bikini."
BONUS: From Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 News Special Report: Lebanese Loreleis."
BONUS: From Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 News Special Report: Lebanese Loreleis."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
