From Ron Lin:
#Facebookdown causes people to call 911; L.A. County sheriff's sergeant says, "don't call us" http://t.co/L2uNl4rZhs pic.twitter.com/8xjQIeHbVI
— Ron Lin, LA Times (@ronlin) August 2, 2014Saturday, August 2, 2014
Facebook Outage Causes People to Call 911
Well, that's obviously a life or death emergency.
From Ron Lin:
From Ron Lin:
Linda Sarsour, White House 'Champion of Change,' Threatens Black Activist on Twitter
At Free Beacon, "White House ‘Champion of Change’ Goes After Black Pro-Israel Activist."
An Obama administration-endorsed “champion of change” has lashed out at an African American pro-Israel activist, accusing her of forgetting “where she came from” and implying that she is being manipulated by the pro-Israel community.HAT TIP: Weasel Zippers.
Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American Muslim activist who has been honored by the White House as a “champion of change,” upbraided pro-Israel activist Chloe Simone Valdary Thursday on Twitter after she criticized the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has come under fire for engaging in anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The heated exchange between Valdary (@Cvaldary on Twitter) and Sarsour (@lsarsour on Twitter) elicited multiple responses from observers who accused Sarsour of engaging in racist and anti-Semitic stereotypes.
“Please understand Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), that this year, we are coming for you,” Valdary wrote online, referencing the heated battle on college campuses between Israel’s detractors and its defenders.
Two Dead Pico Rivera Hostage Standoff
From NBC News Los Angeles, a few hours ago, "Bystander, Suspect Killed in Pico Rivera Standoff."
And from last night, at CBS News Los Angeles, "Armed Parolee In Hostage Situation Says He Loves His Daughters And Is Sorry."
Apparently, the victim's family "took in" the parolee "several weeks ago" when he told them he needed help. Lesson learned: Don't take in parolees.
And from last night, at CBS News Los Angeles, "Armed Parolee In Hostage Situation Says He Loves His Daughters And Is Sorry."
Apparently, the victim's family "took in" the parolee "several weeks ago" when he told them he needed help. Lesson learned: Don't take in parolees.
'The dinosaur lineage that evolved into birds shrank in body size continuously for 50 million years...'
This is cool.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Dinosaur line that became birds shrank incredibly fast, study finds."
At the Los Angeles Times, "Dinosaur line that became birds shrank incredibly fast, study finds."
5-Year Old Has Meltdown When She Learns Her Baby Brother's Going to Grow Up
I think this clip caught some viral action earlier in the week.
Spanish Journalist on Why Hamas Never Photographed in Action: 'If Ever We Dared Point Our Camera on Them They Would Simply Shoot at Us and Kill Us'
At Algemeiner.
And follow the links to Eler of Ziyon, "Spanish journalist - off the record - says Hamas would kill Gaza reporters if they filmed rocket fire."
And follow the links to Eler of Ziyon, "Spanish journalist - off the record - says Hamas would kill Gaza reporters if they filmed rocket fire."
Benjamin Netanyahu to Obama Administration: Don't 'Ever Second Guess Me Again' on Hamas
Via Ron Fournier:
Wow RT @nycjim: Netanyahu to US: Don’t "ever second guess me again” on #Hamas. http://t.co/9WTBOKouxQ pic.twitter.com/gS1dmChZs3
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) August 2, 2014Australian Couple Leaves Their Baby with Surrogate Mother After Discovering Medical Issues
It's a beautiful baby.
Hope for Gammy page raises thousands for baby with Downs Syndrome left with surrogate mother http://t.co/RCT5I1cirM pic.twitter.com/S2Mnjik0d8
— The Independent (@Independent) August 2, 2014The truly awful Australians who just abandoned their sick, newborn baby in Thailand because he has Down Sydrome. http://t.co/CnYAMDZwFP
— Mamamia (@Mamamia) August 1, 2014Selfish & sad - children are not like "products" to be returned if they don't have a hipster fashion label http://t.co/Bc8TfuKUF7
— Craig Wallace (@CraigWtweets) August 1, 2014'Hope for Gammy' takes off after Australian couple abandons surrogate twin with #DownSyndrome http://t.co/TrUCWm6I6y pic.twitter.com/8hVabrdBXW
— The Stream (@AJStream) August 1, 2014Gaza Truce in Tatters, Obama Blames Hamas
At the Wall Street Journal, "Israeli Soldier Goes Missing, Possibly Taken Captive":
Israeli forces spread across southern Gaza in search of a missing infantry officer who was presumed captured by militants Friday, as President Barack Obama blamed Hamas for the quick breakdown of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire.More.
The officer's fate added a volatile element to Israel's conflict with Hamas, with the potential to draw the military deeper into a densely populated Palestinian enclave largely devastated by 25 days of combat. If confirmed, his capture could give Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza, powerful new leverage in its effort to end the fighting on its terms.
The officer, 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, disappeared in a fierce battle for control of an underground tunnel shaft that left two Israeli soldiers dead near Rafah, the military said. Israel responded with air and artillery strikes that leveled homes and killed at least 35 people in and around the city of Rafah, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The fighting shattered a cease-fire, brokered by the U.S. and United Nations, that was barely 90 minutes old. Speaking at the White House, Mr. Obama expressed pessimism that an agreement to end the violence could be reached soon, and called on Hamas to release the soldier unconditionally and as soon as possible, although neither Israel nor Hamas have confirmed his capture.
"I think it's going to be very hard to put a cease-fire back together again if Israelis and the international community can't feel confident that Hamas can follow through on a cease-fire commitment," he said at a news conference.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Israelis Shaken by Scope of Hamas' Network of Cross-Border Underground Tunnels
Netanyahu is committed to eradicating the tunnels, and perhaps Hamas as well.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Gaza tunnel network threat leaves Israelis shaken":
At the Los Angeles Times, "Gaza tunnel network threat leaves Israelis shaken":
Yesterday, IDF paratroopers discovered another Hamas tunnel & a large weapons cache in the home of a Hamas operative http://t.co/PPKJ3CYeuW
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) August 1, 2014Beneath the wheat and watermelon fields surrounding this farm community just outside the Gaza Strip lies a threat that helps explain the overwhelming public support in Israel for the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
A little over a week ago, assailants dressed in Israeli military uniforms clambered out of an underground passageway about halfway between this hamlet of 400 or so people and a neighboring kibbutz, Nir Am. Israeli troops killed nine of them, but not before the attackers killed four soldiers.
The specter of such assaults via a large and sophisticated network of subterranean passageways has profoundly shaken Israelis long accustomed to a different threat from the coastal strip, that of rocket and mortar fire. Four such infiltrations have taken place since the start of the Gaza offensive, killing at least 11 Israeli soldiers and haunting the collective psyche.
"From this, you can't protect yourself," said Ruti Sheves, 64, who has lived in Kibbutz Erez for 40 years. "You don't have a shelter where you can run and be safe. You can't be safe from this."
Troops operating in and near Gaza have tracked 36 tunnels with dozens of access points, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said Wednesday, as the Israeli offensive in Gaza entered its fourth week. Miles of passageways, many stocked with weapons and reinforced against explosions from above, pass near or directly beneath schools, mosques and hospitals, threading their way under some of the most densely populated terrain on Earth.
"We already finished destroying more than 22, and it's going on day and night," Hanegbi said. "We want to go as fast as possible."
Hamas for years has boasted that tunnels are an equalizer in an asymmetric battle. This week, Israelis were horrified by video Hamas released of an attack outside Nahal Oz, another farming community just outside the Gaza boundary, that left five Israeli soldiers dead.
Grainy but gripping, the attacker's-eye images begin underground, emerging to open fields and blue sky. Lasting nearly four minutes, the video shows the assailants — faces blurred to prevent identification — exchanging fire with Israeli soldiers. They stand over one body and fire repeatedly at close range. One attacker triumphantly displays a seized machine gun.
The army has countered with its own brand of tunnel video, releasing almost daily images of specially trained troops gingerly dismantling booby traps and uncovering dark passageways.
The presence of the tunnel network has long been known to Israel; one was used to stage the 2006 attack that resulted in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He was held captive in Gaza for five years before being freed in a massive prisoner exchange.
But the underground grid's scope, scale and sophistication, which has become clear over the course of the current offensive, has caught many by surprise. Concrete-lined, with electricity and metal tracks for transport, the carefully ventilated passageways appear to have been designed as the conduit for both large-scale assaults and clandestine abductions. Israel says it has found "kidnap kits" consisting of handcuffs and tranquilizers in some of the tunnels...
The Hannibal Directive: Did Givati Battalion Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin Blow Himself Up?
Israel's "Hannibal Directive" indicates that if an Israeli soldier is abducted he should blow himself up, rather than be taken into captivity.
Considering the case of Gilad Shalit, it's not clear if or when the directive is operational.
But with the developments today of Hamas rejecting the latest cease-fire truce, and the suspected kidnapping of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, there's some chatter that the Israeli military operationalized Hannibal.
At Israel Matzav, "Report: IDF implemented Hannibal Protocol right after kidnapping, and Toronto's National Post, "Israel ... employs ‘Hannibal Procedure’ to bombard kidnappers’ escape routes — even if it kills captured soldier."
And from Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace, "Did Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Follow IDF Hannibal Protocol, Blow Himself and Kidnappers Up?"
Considering the case of Gilad Shalit, it's not clear if or when the directive is operational.
But with the developments today of Hamas rejecting the latest cease-fire truce, and the suspected kidnapping of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, there's some chatter that the Israeli military operationalized Hannibal.
At Israel Matzav, "Report: IDF implemented Hannibal Protocol right after kidnapping, and Toronto's National Post, "Israel ... employs ‘Hannibal Procedure’ to bombard kidnappers’ escape routes — even if it kills captured soldier."
And from Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace, "Did Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Follow IDF Hannibal Protocol, Blow Himself and Kidnappers Up?"
Massive #Israel bombardments now in the southern #Gaza Strip in attempt to prevent IDF captive being spirited away (Hannibal directive)
— Anshel Pfeffer (@AnshelPfeffer) August 1, 2014
Netanyahu tells Kerry ‘Hamas will pay’ as IDF hunts for soldier seized in Rafah during truce http://t.co/rQLePjZdHr pic.twitter.com/nDVxwc8dnL
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) August 1, 2014
Brief Statement from Dr Simha Goldin, Father of Kidnapped Israeli soldier Hadar, req IDF do e/thing to bring son home pic.twitter.com/UQVO60mIaD
— Lisa Daftari (@LisaDaftari) August 1, 2014
'Stop Patriarchy' (@StopPatriarchy), Front Group for Revolutionary Communist Party, Rallies for Abortion in Texas
At the Other McCain, "Commies for Abortion":
Keep reading.
COMMIES FOR ABORTION http://t.co/38Dbtfvq2g cc @No1Important00 @KevinNR @MelissaTweets @texasbryanp @AmPowerBlog pic.twitter.com/NkBdd0h0pc
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 1, 2014@rsmccain Ugly, ugly feminists! #RadFem @JessicaValenti @AmandaMarcotte
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) August 1, 2014Yeah, that makes them wrong! RT @AmPowerBlog: @rsmccain Ugly, ugly feminists! #RadFem @JessicaValenti @AmandaMarcotte
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) August 1, 2014“Stop Patriarchy” (@StopPatriarchy) is a front group for the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), a Maoist cult led by Bob Avakian, a septuagenarian leftover of 1960s Berkeley radicalism. (For background on these deranged freaks, read the entries “Robert Avakian” and “Revolutionary Communist Party” at Discover the Networks.) So when RCP activist Sunsara Taylor organized “the movement to End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women,” you think maybe somebody would have noticed that these feminists are, by their own declaration, revolutionary communists.Actually, the media never reports on the hardline revolutionary programs of the protest groups. They either ignore them, or they're too stupid to do a little background research.
Keep reading.
'Self-Righteously Suicidal Jews': J-Street Spinoff 'If Not Now' Reclaims 'Jewish Values from War and Occupation...'
Recall William Jacobson's post from a few weeks back, "“Self-righteously suicidal” Jews":
Background at Forward, "J Street's Gaza War Support Wins 'Moderate' Praise — But Alienates Some Backers: Grassroots Peaceniks Take to Streets to Oppose Israel":
Notice how they "reject" others who understand that Israel's right to self-defense is non-negotiable.
They need to read Time Rutten's piece, "Hamas Causes Tragedy, but Israel Gets Blamed."
They ignore the reality of Jew hatred as a powerful motivating anti-Israel force.Yes, it's all moral relativism with the self-righteously suicidal Jews, like "If Not Now, When?", a new leftist Jewish organization founded by Tammy Shapiro, the former director of J Street U, the student organizing arm of J Street.
Background at Forward, "J Street's Gaza War Support Wins 'Moderate' Praise — But Alienates Some Backers: Grassroots Peaceniks Take to Streets to Oppose Israel":
Turns out that J Street has "moderated" its peacenik position, issuing a statement recognizing Israel's right to self defense. And that didn't sit too well with the more radical former J-Streeters, like Ms. Shapiro: In New York, J Street did not co-sponsor a large pro-Israel rally organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, held near the United Nations on July 29.And live on Twitter:
Two hours before the JCRC rally, dozens of activists gathered outside the building where the Presidents Conference has offices to say Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, in protest of Gaza deaths. The same group, #ifnotnow, had organized a similar action in the same space days earlier.
The effort was launched by four activists, two of them former high-ranking J Street staff members: Carinne Luck, who joined J Street before its launch in 2007 and left in 2012, when she was the group’s vice president of field and campaigns, and Daniel May, director of J Street U, the group’s university arm, from 2010 through 2013. A third, Max Berger, worked as a new media assistant at J Street. He was arrested with eight other protestors during the July 29 action after entering the lobby of the Presidents Conference building and refusing to leave.
Some of the arrested activists were held until midday the following day.
Other former high-ranking J Street staffers attended one or both of the #ifnotnow protests, including J Street’s vice president of communications and new media from 2008 until 2011, Isaac Luria, who wrote the 2008 Gaza letter that [Rabbi Eric] Yoffie condemned, and Tamara Shapiro, director of J Street U from 2009 to 2010. Simone Zimmerman, the national president of J Street U’s student board in the 2012-2013 school year, is #ifnotnow’s media liaison.
Some of the former staffers said that they didn’t oppose J Street’s long-term strategy but felt hemmed in by its tactics.
“I understand the strategy that J Street has adopted, and I think it’s fine to have an organization like J Street moving that strategy,” May said. “I also think that there’s a need for an approach that fits this moment.”
Others described a sharper split between J Street and their new group. “This group has come together because we don’t share J Street’s patience with the Jewish institutional community,” Luck said.
The power of ritual joined with the power of protest. We are reclaiming our Jewish values from war and occupation. pic.twitter.com/m5eqbbAtFh
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
As we grieve, it is powerful to find community. We are not alone. Together, we reclaim our Judaism and fight for dignity for all #IfNotNow
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
We just said Misheberach for the many, many thousands of Israelis and Palestinians. #IfNotNow pic.twitter.com/OVL9s5sZCJ
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
This is the saddest Shabbat of the year. Together, we recite the mourners Kaddish #IfNotNow
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
Lighting candles to mourn the dead, mourn this war, and mourn the occupation. Freedom and dignity for all. #IfNotNow pic.twitter.com/c05RvtRT2k
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
So many names. So many people. So much death. None of this was necessary, and we reject those who say it was. #IfNotNow
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
After all actions, we take time to check in with each other and share why we're here. #IfNotNow pic.twitter.com/P2Jk32el7e
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) August 1, 2014
Notice how they "reject" others who understand that Israel's right to self-defense is non-negotiable.
They need to read Time Rutten's piece, "Hamas Causes Tragedy, but Israel Gets Blamed."
Hamas Causes Tragedy, but Israel Gets Blamed
Perhaps the best, most concise commentary on the war so far, from leftist Tim Rutten, at the San Bernardino Sun:
More at the link.
As the philosopher Bernard Henri Levy has observed, the “spirit of Munich” is once again abroad in the world.Well, it's not like we don't have pro-Mexican irredentists, heh. Maybe they'll start lobbing rockets into San Diego, lol.
It is important to remember, though, that while the Munich spirit ended in appeasement — as it still may do in the Ukraine — it built on the Western democracies’ years of deceit, denial and self-deception concerning what was happening around them. Those three shameful qualities also characterize much of the international outrage and calumny now being showered on Israel over its heartbreakingly unavoidable incursion into Gaza.
As the civilian casualty toll in that unhappy strip of land climbs past 1,300, no decent person, which includes the overwhelming majority of Israelis, can regard the fighting in Gaza as anything but a tragedy. It is, however, a tragedy whose script was not written in Jerusalem, but in the furtive councils of Hamas, the terrorist clique that seized control of the area following the Israelis’ 2005 withdrawal. As a self-proclaimed Islamist organization, Hamas was an early adapter of jihadism. Its charter, which few of those protesting on its behalf ever will have bothered to read, still calls not only for the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an Islamic state, but also for the killing of all Jews. Since it’s seizure of Gaza’s government from the PLO, Hamas has held power by intimidation, torture and the assassination of other Palestinians. Note the absence of any international protest over that.
If Hamas confined its oppressive depredations to its own people, others might have grounds to insist on Israeli forbearance, but that isn’t the case. Over the past two years it has fired literally thousands of rockets and mortar rounds into Israel. If the Jewish State’s defenses were not so proficient and Hamas’ artillery skills so poor, we’d now be counting Israeli casualties in the hundreds, if not thousands. If an irredentist Mexican group seized one of Tijuana’s barrios and began lobbing rockets into San Diego, what would the American public demand our government do?
More at the link.
The Times of Israel Retracts 'When Genocide is Permissible'
It's never permissible.
What idiot at the Times agreed to publication? Sheesh.
Oh, wait. The author, Yochanan Gordon, had the right to post with no editorial oversight.
At JTA, "Times of Israel, 5 Towns paper, remove posting pondering genocide in Gaza."
Mondoweiss reposted the essay, available via their Twitter feed.
And naturally, the "genocide" author Gordon has pulled his Twitter page.
And top trending as well.
Keep in mind, leftists are staging Israel genocide protests around the world but this umpteenth tier blogger causes a Twitter meltdown with his idiocy. The world is upside down.
What idiot at the Times agreed to publication? Sheesh.
Oh, wait. The author, Yochanan Gordon, had the right to post with no editorial oversight.
At JTA, "Times of Israel, 5 Towns paper, remove posting pondering genocide in Gaza."
Mondoweiss reposted the essay, available via their Twitter feed.
And naturally, the "genocide" author Gordon has pulled his Twitter page.
And top trending as well.
Keep in mind, leftists are staging Israel genocide protests around the world but this umpteenth tier blogger causes a Twitter meltdown with his idiocy. The world is upside down.
The 'Third Intifada': 2 Palestinians Dead as Clashes Erupt in Hamas' West Bank 'Day of Rage' (VIDEO)
Intifada redux.
At the New York Times, "2 Palestinians Killed in West Bank Clashes":
More, "As Gaza burns, some West Bankers are calling for a third intifada."
ADDED: More video, in Arabic, but just look at all the "protesters" all set up like jihad fighters and suicide bombers: Here.
At the New York Times, "2 Palestinians Killed in West Bank Clashes":
Hamas had called for a “day of rage” on Friday in the West Bank in solidarity with Gaza. An Israeli military spokeswoman, speaking on the condition of anonymity under army rules, said more than 1,000 Palestinians participated in a violent protest in Tulkarm, hurling rocks and firebombs at troops and a nearby industrial center.
More, "As Gaza burns, some West Bankers are calling for a third intifada."
ADDED: More video, in Arabic, but just look at all the "protesters" all set up like jihad fighters and suicide bombers: Here.
'Terrorism 101': Hamas Handbook Gives Tips for Terror
Free Beacon reports, via Protein Wisdom, "Hamas Issues ‘Terrorism 101 Handbook’."
But Israel is the bad guy :/ MT @FreeBeacon: #Hamas Issues ‘Terrorism 101 Handbook’ http://t.co/xTBpjpYiDu @Kredo0 pic.twitter.com/e6mm94YrTr
— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) August 1, 2014'In the summer of 2014, is it not clear that reality is neoconservative?...'
From Abe Greenwald, at Commentary, "Reality Is Neoconservative":
In the summer of 2014, is it not clear that reality is neoconservative? That is to say, disposed toward violence and chaos in the absence of an American-led liberal world order. Recently, the case was made unwittingly not by a neoconservative, but rather by CBS News’s Bob Schieffer. “Trying to understand the news of this terrible summer,” he said, “it is hard to come away with any feeling but that we are in the midst of a world gone mad.” He went on:Continue reading.
On one side of the world, an ego-driven Russian leader seems to yearn for the time of the czars, when rulers started wars on a whim or a perceived insult — and if people died, so be it. In the Middle East, the Palestinian people find themselves in the grip of a terrorist group that has embarked on a strategy to get its own children killed in order to build sympathy for its cause — a strategy that might actually be working, at least in some quarters.Schieffer closed with his own apt quote from Will Durant: “Barbarism, like the jungle, does not die out, but only retreats behind the barriers that civilization has thrown up against it, and waits there always to reclaim that to which civilization has temporarily laid claim.” The barbarians are back.
And just think of what Schieffer’s inventory of barbarism ignored. This week in Iraq, ISIS forced the last of Mosul’s Christians from the city under the threat of death. The United States evacuated its embassy in post-Gaddafi Libya, owing to an orgy of violence taking place there. In a recent 10-day period 1,800 Syrian civilians were killed in the ongoing civil war—a new conflict record.
And when Iran develops its fervently sought nuclear weapon, this will look in retrospect like our last carefree summer...
Friday Blog Roundup
A little roundup to kick off some babe blogging.
At Maggie's Farm, "Friday morning links."
Also at the Other McCain, "LIVE AT FIVE: 08.01.14."
And from Blazing Cat Fur, "Pics from last night's Calgary 'Hamas Solidarity' Rally." And at Lonely Con, "Oops! Debbie Wasserman Schultz Admits Obama Isn’t Doing His Job."
More at iOWNTHEWORLD, "TB And Scabies Spreading In Illegal Immigrant Holding Facilities."
Still more at Director Blue, "Larwyn's Linx: Boehner Has Time to Salvage a Ridiculous Farce Descended to Stupidity."
At Pat Dollard's, "Hundreds of Dead Illegal Alien Border-Crossers In Single Texas County – Photos."
Also from Cassy Fiano, at Right Wing News, "More Pettiness From the Obama Administration: State Department Cancels Visa Applications for Israelis." And here's Cassy at Victory Girls, "The Real Rape Culture: Where Men are Guilty Until Proven Innocent."
Finally, at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a house collapsing because of climate change, you might just be a Warmist."
BONUS: Jodie Gasson on Twitter.
At Maggie's Farm, "Friday morning links."
Retweet this if you want to see @Jodie_Gasson in @ZOO magazine again before she retires pic.twitter.com/XWMNucDqqU
— JodieGassonFansPage (@FansOfJodie) July 16, 2014
Also at the Other McCain, "LIVE AT FIVE: 08.01.14."
And from Blazing Cat Fur, "Pics from last night's Calgary 'Hamas Solidarity' Rally." And at Lonely Con, "Oops! Debbie Wasserman Schultz Admits Obama Isn’t Doing His Job."
More at iOWNTHEWORLD, "TB And Scabies Spreading In Illegal Immigrant Holding Facilities."
Still more at Director Blue, "Larwyn's Linx: Boehner Has Time to Salvage a Ridiculous Farce Descended to Stupidity."
At Pat Dollard's, "Hundreds of Dead Illegal Alien Border-Crossers In Single Texas County – Photos."
Also from Cassy Fiano, at Right Wing News, "More Pettiness From the Obama Administration: State Department Cancels Visa Applications for Israelis." And here's Cassy at Victory Girls, "The Real Rape Culture: Where Men are Guilty Until Proven Innocent."
Finally, at Pirate's Cove, "If All You See……is a house collapsing because of climate change, you might just be a Warmist."
BONUS: Jodie Gasson on Twitter.
Time to Smack Down These Roaches!
From Wayne Dupree:
#Hamas breaks truce once again? Time to lay the smack down on these roaches! Use the #IronFist #IStandWithIsrael pic.twitter.com/ijelimSW3p
— Wayne Dupree ★彡 (@WayneDupreeShow) August 1, 2014RT's Abby Martin Spews Anti-Israel Propaganda, Claims 'Human Shield' Used to Justify State-Sponsored Massacres
This woman is frankly bizarre, deranged even, especially given that Hamas' own spokespeople assert that Palestinian civilians are willing to die in the name protecting terrorist operations against Israel. See, "Hamas Caught Using Human Shields in Gaza."
Leftists can't rebut the facts so they invent their own version of truth. There are so many big lies coming out of the current self-defense campaign it's hard to keep up.
RELATED: At FrontPage Mag, "RT’s Abby Martin Hysterically Defending Putin on Twitter."
Leftists can't rebut the facts so they invent their own version of truth. There are so many big lies coming out of the current self-defense campaign it's hard to keep up.
RT's @AbbyMartin claims evidence of #Hamas' human shields is "propaganda" justifying Israel's 'massacres." Yeah, it's RT, so you know.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) July 31, 2014
RELATED: At FrontPage Mag, "RT’s Abby Martin Hysterically Defending Putin on Twitter."
French Christian Decency and Hamas Evil
From Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:
Goodness and mercy coexist with evil in the world. At a moment when the Hamas terrorists in Gaza have horrified the world with the extent of their evil in using Palestinian children as slave labor to build underground tunnels in Sinai and as human shields in Gaza in their strategy to kill Jews and eliminate the State of Israel, the chronicle of goodness and mercy by French Protestants heroically saving persecuted Jews during World War II in a small farming village is being retold.Keep reading.
The story of the courageous and noble 5,000 inhabitants of the village Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, located in the mountains of south-central France, 350 miles from Paris, has been told several times. It was remembered for its good deeds when it was honored in 1990 by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as a place of Righteous among the Nations. The memories of those deeds are recalled in the new release of a revised version of the documentary film Weapons of the Spirit, written and directed by Pierre Sauvage, who was born in the village in 1944 and hidden there, and in a new book, Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorehead, that provides an accurate account of events, enhanced by personal diaries and interviews with survivors...
Toronto's Racist Rally Against Israel and the Jews
Worldwide racism.
More in evidence in Canada, via Blog Wrath, "Toronto Rally against the Israeli Jews with Sid Ryan, CUPE Fred and NDP Communists."
More in evidence in Canada, via Blog Wrath, "Toronto Rally against the Israeli Jews with Sid Ryan, CUPE Fred and NDP Communists."
Thursday, July 31, 2014
At Least 24 Dead in Taiwan Gas Explosions
Looks like a terrorist attack, but apparently not.
At the New York Times, "Videos Capture Terror of Deadly Taiwan Explosions," and "Gas Suspected in Fatal Blasts That Jolted a City in Taiwan."
Also at AP, "Raw: Rescuers at Taiwan Explosion Scene," and Rupty, "China: Deadly blasts rock Taiwan."
At the New York Times, "Videos Capture Terror of Deadly Taiwan Explosions," and "Gas Suspected in Fatal Blasts That Jolted a City in Taiwan."
Also at AP, "Raw: Rescuers at Taiwan Explosion Scene," and Rupty, "China: Deadly blasts rock Taiwan."
VIDEO: Obama's IRS Targeted Pro-Israel Groups for Harassment, Denial of Tax-Exempt Status
At Jihad Watch, "IRS and Obama State Department conferred about ways to deny tax-exempt status to pro-Israel groups":
Obama ought to be impeached for this alone. He has turned the United States government into an instrument to punish his political enemies, and shows in this particular incident how deeply he hates Israel and how ardently he supports the “Palestinian” jihad. Obama and the Left seem bent on destroying what was one of the great achievements of the United States: the continued existence of a loyal political opposition that was not subject to violence or oppression, but allowed to operate freely and accorded respect, as it accorded the same respect to the majority. Those days are over. There is a single perspective that is allowed in the mainstream media, the educational system, and the entertainment industry, and now Obama has gone one step beyond that and endeavored to make a group’s legal privileges subject to its submission to his political line. Dark days, indeed.Keep reading. Robert quotes the Wall Street Journal's editorial at length, "The IRS's Foreign Policy."
Hamas Solidarity Protesters Issue Death Threats Against Kedem Cosmetics Shop in Manchester, U.K.
Europe is a tinderbox of left-wing racism waiting to explode.
At the Times of Israel, "Protesters threaten British store selling Israeli products: Callers say they will kill Kedem’s staff and burn down the shop." And at Arutz Sheva, "Pro-Palestinian Thugs Threaten Israeli Store in Manchester: Kedem cosmetics store a focal point for anti-Semitic violence; owners face death threats over operation in Gaza":
Here's the Manchester Evening News, "Jewish community suffering anti-semitic backlash in wake of Gaza conflict," and "Police make five arrests during city centre clash during Gaza protest."
At the Times of Israel, "Protesters threaten British store selling Israeli products: Callers say they will kill Kedem’s staff and burn down the shop." And at Arutz Sheva, "Pro-Palestinian Thugs Threaten Israeli Store in Manchester: Kedem cosmetics store a focal point for anti-Semitic violence; owners face death threats over operation in Gaza":
Violent pro-Palestinian protesters have focused upon the Kedem cosmetics shop in Manchester to vent their rage at Israel, according to the Jewish Chronicle and Manchester Evening News - threatening the owners and Jews in general with death.
Here's the Manchester Evening News, "Jewish community suffering anti-semitic backlash in wake of Gaza conflict," and "Police make five arrests during city centre clash during Gaza protest."
Sixty-One Soldiers Killed So Far in Operation Protective Edge
At Arutz Sheva, "Five Soldiers Killed Near the Border with Gaza":
The IDF Spokesperson has cleared for publication that five soldiers were killed Thursday evening while performing operational activities near the border with Gaza.And at the Times of Israel, "5 soldiers killed in mortar strike; 3-day ceasefire to start at 8 a.m."
According to the IDF statement, there was high trajectory fire (usually meaning rockets or mortars) towards the soldiers.
The names of the five have not yet been cleared for publication.
As well, the IDF said, 19 soldiers were wounded on Thursday as part of Operation Protective Edge. Their families have been informed.
Since the beginning of the operation, 61 officers and soldiers have been killed.
Obama Sides with #Hamas Against Israel
From Caroline Glick, "Israel, Hamas and Obama's Foreign Policy":
When US President Barack Obama phoned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday night, in the middle of a security cabinet meeting, he ended any remaining doubt regarding his policy toward Israel and Hamas.Keep reading.
Obama called Netanyahu while the premier was conferring with his senior ministers about how to proceed in Gaza. Some ministers counseled that Israel should continue to limit our forces to specific pinpoint operations aimed at destroying the tunnels of death that Hamas has dug throughout Gaza and into Israeli territory.
Others argued that the only way to truly destroy the tunnels, and keep them destroyed, is for Israel to retake control over the Gaza Strip.
No ministers were recommending that Israel end its operations in Gaza completely. The longer our soldiers fight, the more we learn about the vast dimensions of the Hamas’s terror arsenal, and about the Muslim Brotherhood group’s plans and strategy for using it to destabilize, demoralize and ultimately destroy Israeli society.
The IDF’s discovery of Hamas’s Rosh Hashana plot was the last straw for any Israeli leftists still harboring fantasies about picking up our marbles and going home. Hamas’s plan to use its tunnels to send hundreds of terrorists into multiple Israeli border communities simultaneously and carry out a massacre of unprecedented scope, replete with the abduction of hostages to Gaza, was the rude awakening the Left had avoided since it pushed for Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.
In other words, in their discussion Sunday night, Netanyahu and his ministers were without illusions about the gravity of the situation and the imperative of winning – however defined.
But then the telephone rang. And Obama told Netanyahu that Israel must lose. He wants an unconditional “humanitarian” cease-fire that will lead to a permanent one.
And he wants it now.
And by the way, the eventual terms of that cease-fire must include opening Hamas-controlled Gaza’s borders with Egypt and Israel and ending Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza coast. That is, the cease-fire must allow Hamas to rebuild its arsenal of death and destruction quickly, with US political and financial support.
Until Obama made the call, there was lingering doubt among some Israelis regarding his intentions. Some thought that US Secretary of State John Kerry might have been acting of his own accord last Friday night when he tried to force Israel to accept Hamas’s cease-fire terms.
But then Obama made his phone call. And all doubts were dispelled.
Kerry is just a loyal steward of Obama’s foreign policy.
Obama is siding with Hamas, and its Muslim Brotherhood patrons in Qatar and Turkey, against Israel, and its Sunni Arab supporters – Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates...
Gisele Bündchen Bikini Hotness in Costa Rica
She's awesome.
At Egotastic!, "Gisele Bündchen Shows Off Her Bikini Body on a Beach in Costa Rica."
At Egotastic!, "Gisele Bündchen Shows Off Her Bikini Body on a Beach in Costa Rica."
'Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us...'
At Blazing Cat Fur, "WSJ Notable & Quotable: Eric Hoffer, 1968: ‘Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us’":
The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources.
Yet at this moment, Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general.
I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us.
Illegal Alien Suspect in #USC Murder Wanted by ICE for Deportation: Victim's Family Fought for Entry Visa (VIDEO)
Oh man.
Another story on America's FUBAR politics.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in fatal USC attack entered country illegally, feds say." ICE wants the guy for deportation proceedings upon his release from local custody. Also at Pat Dollard's, "And So It Begins: Suspect In Fatal USC Attack Entered Country Illegally."
And at Truth Revolt, "Parents of USC Student Slain by Illegal Alien Were Delayed Entry by U.S. State Department."
Another story on America's FUBAR politics.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Suspect in fatal USC attack entered country illegally, feds say." ICE wants the guy for deportation proceedings upon his release from local custody. Also at Pat Dollard's, "And So It Begins: Suspect In Fatal USC Attack Entered Country Illegally."
And at Truth Revolt, "Parents of USC Student Slain by Illegal Alien Were Delayed Entry by U.S. State Department."
'No details at all given about this situation. You couldn't make the effort to explain why he was moved out of there?...'
This video, which is unbearably sad, is a perfect summation of the ideological left. One commenter calls out the producers in the thread: "Homeless man had a request for police..."Can I watch?"
No details at all given about this situation. You couldn't make the effort to explain why he was moved out of there? Why his home was destroyed?Some guy named Sam has been living in a small shack, apparently on private property, for a couple of years, and the authorities come in and tear it down. The shack's destroyed as the man watches his abode crushed and the music pounds while you see him quivering with tears. It's sad. But there's no background about why this shanty was torn down. How was this man living there without breaking the law? We have laws and we have property rights. Without those things you don't have society. So, what is the purpose of this other than to generate leftist outrage at how terrible this county is? Seriously. Just read the comments at Huffington Post, linked at Barbara Starr's tweet:
Utter sadness..Homeless Man Tearfully Watches As Police Destroy His Shelter http://t.co/y5ZfJbNSFF via @HuffPostImpact
— Barbara Starr (@barbarastarrcnn) July 31, 2014Tucker Carlson Smacks Down Kirsten Powers' Leftist Talking Points on Obama's Illegals
This is pretty good.
For awhile I thought Kristen Powers was going to escape from the dark side, but she's been so far to the left these days it's ridiculous.
Watch: "Tucker Carlson and Kirsten Powers Mix It Up Over Immigration."
For awhile I thought Kristen Powers was going to escape from the dark side, but she's been so far to the left these days it's ridiculous.
Watch: "Tucker Carlson and Kirsten Powers Mix It Up Over Immigration."
Poll: Massive 68 Percent Disapprove Obama's Handling of Illegal Alien Invasion — #SecureTheBorder!
At the Washington Post:
And from John Nolte, at Big Journalism, "BORDER CRISIS POLL: PUBLIC TURNS AGAINST OBAMA, DEMOCRATS & MEDIA":
Be sure to skim the raw poll numbers. Democrat identifiers are down 5 percent since the 2012 election. And way more Americans identify as moderate or conservative than as "liberal" (leftist).
Progs are in bitter denial if they think immigration won't affect the outcome of the November midterms. The Dems are going to get hammered.
A new poll from AP-GfK shows more than two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) disapprove of Obama's handling of the immigration issue in general. Just 31 percent approve -- down from 38 percent two months ago.The raw toplines are here.
And from John Nolte, at Big Journalism, "BORDER CRISIS POLL: PUBLIC TURNS AGAINST OBAMA, DEMOCRATS & MEDIA":
A new AP-GfK poll is all around bad news for President Obama, Democrats, and a mainstream media determined to push his amnesty agenda. Not only is public approval souring towards Obama's handling of the issue, the idea of a path to citizenship for illegals, and the policy of offering asylum for this wave of Central American children; a plurality now see the Republican Party as better able to handle the issue of immigration.More.
When asked about the President's handling of the immigration issue, only 31% said they approve, while a whopping 68% disapprove. That's a 14-point shift against the president since the middle of May, when he sat at 38% approve, 60% disapprove.
Be sure to skim the raw poll numbers. Democrat identifiers are down 5 percent since the 2012 election. And way more Americans identify as moderate or conservative than as "liberal" (leftist).
Progs are in bitter denial if they think immigration won't affect the outcome of the November midterms. The Dems are going to get hammered.
Chicken Pox Lockdown at Illegal Alien Detention Facility in Artesia, New Mexico — #SecureTheBorder
Everything's FUBAR and there's no end in sight.
At NewsMax, "Chicken Pox Outbreak Locks Down Immigrant Facility":
No "health risk to the local community." Well, just wait 'till these illegals are processed and released into the general population. Our freakin' entire country should be on lockdown. Sheesh.
At NewsMax, "Chicken Pox Outbreak Locks Down Immigrant Facility":
An outbreak of chicken pox has slapped a quarantine lockdown on a New Mexico detention facility housing 500 illegal immigrant families and halted all deportations.Right.
The Washington Times reported that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) facility in Artesia, NM, has been placed under quarantine because of an outbreak of varicella, or chicken pox, in the center's residents.
Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., said in a statement, "As the FLETC facility reaches maximum capacity, I am increasingly concerned for the health and safety of the women and children at FLETC and for the local community. The virus, that has caused two residents to be put in isolation, has halted all departures."
Pearce noted that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has confirmed the quarantine, and KFoxTV 14, El Paso, quoted ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa as saying, "One of the residents at the Artesia Residential Family Center has been diagnosed with chicken pox.
"The individual is being treated by medical professionals, and necessary precautions are being taken to protect the other detainees at the center. ICE has contacted both local and health officials, and is closely monitoring the situation. This case does not pose a health risk to the local community. Out of an abundance of caution, ICE has temporarily halted the intake and removal of detainees from the facility."
No "health risk to the local community." Well, just wait 'till these illegals are processed and released into the general population. Our freakin' entire country should be on lockdown. Sheesh.
Gaza Operation Continues as Israel Calls Up 16,000 More Reservists
At Telegraph UK, "Gaza conflict: Israel calls up 16,000 more reservists as US supplies army with ammunition":
Israeli call-up comes in face of intense international pressure to curtail operations in Gaza, where more than 100 Palestinians died on Wednesday – but US agrees to provide Israel with new ammunition supplies.
Israel mobilised 16,000 additional reservists on Thursday to bolster its forces waging military operations in the Gaza Strip that left more than 100 Palestinians dead in a day.More.
The call-up came after Washington announced it had agreed to restock Israel's dwindling supplies of ammunition despite its sharp condemnation of an attack on a United Nations school in Gaza blamed on Israel's army.
"The army has issued 16,000 additional mobilisation orders to allow troops on the ground to rest, which takes the total number of reservists to 86,000," an army spokeswoman said.
Israel's security cabinet, which met for five hours Wednesday, unanimously decided to pursue attacks against Hamas "terrorist targets" and other operations to destroy a network of tunnels used by the Islamist movement between Gaza and Israel, public radio said.
Public radio quoted Major General Sami Turgeman, the senior officer for the Gaza region, as saying that the destruction of militants' remaining tunnels into Israel could be complete "in a few days".
Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe
Following-up from yesterday, "ADL's Abraham Foxman: 'Anti-Semitism on the Rise' in Europe; Protesters 'Want to Harm the Jews...'"
Here's another report from CNN:
Here's another report from CNN:
Abigail Disney Goes #BDS, Withdraws Investment from Israeli Company Over 'Occupation'
From Phyllis Chesler, at Big Peace, "DISNEY HEIRESS TAKES CODE PINK LINE, WITHDRAWS INVESTMENT FROM ISRAELI COMPANY OVER 'OCCUPATION'":
Abigail Disney, Walt’s great-niece and heiress, has just withdrawn her 12 million dollar investment in the Israeli Company Ahava because, she says, it is “stealing minerals” from an “Occupied West Bank.” Ms. Disney believes this violates both the 1970 Hague Convention and the Geneva Convention “by exploiting natural resources in occupied territories.”Continue reading.
Well—not exactly, and not so fast...
The Real Immigration Crisis Is Not at the Border
A must-read essay from Michelle Malkin, "Want a real anti-poverty plan? Stop amnesty now!":
There are no longer two separate parties in Washington. There’s just one big Amnesty Inc. conglomerate addicted to Big Business donations and Big Government grievance politics. The Obama White House needs to buy off Hispanic voters, keep immigration lawyers employed and secure a left-wing permanent ruling majority. Establishment Republicans need to pay off the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pander to minority lobbyists and curry favor with open-borders CEOS led by Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.As always, RTWT.
The real crisis is not at the border. It’s being fomented inside our nation’s capital. The “border crisis” is a bipartisan D.C. catastrophe of craven politicians abandoning their constitutional duties to defend our sovereignty and put American workers first.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Amid Ballooning Costs, Millions Raided from Other Programs to Deal with Illegal Alien Border Invasion!
We're running out of money to fund Obama's illegal scamnesty, as I reported earlier, "Illegal Alien Emergency Funding' Stalls as Dems Refuse Changes to 'Inapplicable' '08 Human Trafficking Law."
And now at the Los Angeles Times, "Budgets raided to address border crisis amid Congress' inaction":
And as I wrote earlier, "the Obama White House is mounting a demonic Alinskyite campaign of manufactured crisis, putting untold alien migrant lives at risk, to say nothing of the dozens upon dozens of American communities now fearing for their safety and trying to protect themselves from Third World diseases."
And now at the Los Angeles Times, "Budgets raided to address border crisis amid Congress' inaction":
Surveillance drones that hunt drug smugglers along the Mexican border could soon be grounded. Installation of pole-top cameras and ground sensors to intercept illegal crossings might be delayed.More at the link.
About $44 million has already been diverted from the government's health-related accounts, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to pay for food, beds, clothing and medical care for the crush of unaccompanied minors who have crossed the Southwestern border.
And that's just the beginning.
With the expected failure of Congress to agree Thursday on emergency funds to cope with the border crisis, the Obama administration is shifting an additional $94 million from other government programs and accounts — some far removed from the immigration debate — to meet the swelling costs of caring for the children through the summer, according to congressional aides.
Congress is scheduled to leave town Thursday for a five-week break without acting on the president's request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding or agreeing on an alternative.
But border agencies say their existing budgets — sapped by added costs from overtime, detention and transportation for the children, more than 57,000 of whom have arrived since October — will start running dry before lawmakers get back in September.
Administration officials warn that the price of congressional inaction will be steep, estimating the cost of caring for each immigrant youth runs between $250 and $1,000 a day.
"Scary," Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, said about the agencies' budget outlook.
On Wednesday, officials at the Office of Management and Budget were putting together plans to scrounge up funds. But without congressional approval, President Obama is limited to moving around money only in small amounts. That probably means the redistribution will touch many different programs — a distressing prospect for officials in vulnerable agencies.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has already diverted funds from immigration enforcement, and is now reviewing other programs in what he has described as a "dramatic" effort to locate money. Another casualty of the budget crunch might be new X-ray screening equipment to speed up truck cargo traffic at the border, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said in a recent interview.
"We have huge investments in technology to speed up people traveling lawfully into the U.S. and [for] cargo advancement," Kerlikowske said. "There is money in those programs, but we would have to reprogram to keep up with the money that is now being spent on the Southwest border."
And as I wrote earlier, "the Obama White House is mounting a demonic Alinskyite campaign of manufactured crisis, putting untold alien migrant lives at risk, to say nothing of the dozens upon dozens of American communities now fearing for their safety and trying to protect themselves from Third World diseases."
New Video of #UCLA Flooding: Up to 20 Million Gallons Spilled, No Injuries; Pauley Pavilion Court Ruined
RT has some really dramatic footage, "Flood surge soaks UCLA: 93-yr old pipe rupture unleashes 50ft geyser."
And from CBS News KCAL Los Angeles, "As new video continues to come in of Tuesday's massive flood at UCLA, a new picture is painted of what it was like to be amidst the millions of gallons of water":
Also, "Work Continues to Fix Street, Broken Water Main Near UCLA"; "Pauley Pavilion May Be Ready For Basketball Season After Flood Damage"; and "More Than 900 Cars Stuck In UCLA Parking Structures After Westwood Water Main Break."
That third report linked indicates that up to 20 million gallons of water may have spilled, almost twice the estimates from last night's report embedded above.
And from CBS News KCAL Los Angeles, "As new video continues to come in of Tuesday's massive flood at UCLA, a new picture is painted of what it was like to be amidst the millions of gallons of water":
Also, "Work Continues to Fix Street, Broken Water Main Near UCLA"; "Pauley Pavilion May Be Ready For Basketball Season After Flood Damage"; and "More Than 900 Cars Stuck In UCLA Parking Structures After Westwood Water Main Break."
That third report linked indicates that up to 20 million gallons of water may have spilled, almost twice the estimates from last night's report embedded above.
Europe Prepares Tough Sanctions Against Russia
Meh.
I'm pretty skeptical about any talk of European sanctions against Russia.
But here's Der Spiegel, "The Wake-Up Call: Europe Toughens Stance against Putin":
I'm pretty skeptical about any talk of European sanctions against Russia.
But here's Der Spiegel, "The Wake-Up Call: Europe Toughens Stance against Putin":
It took the shooting down of a Boeing jet carrying almost 300 people before the EU agreed on the first true economic sanctions against Russia. The Americans want further action, but it is impossible to know if punitive measures can sway Vladimir Putin.More.
It was the images. Absurdly tattooed pro-Russian fighters, cigarettes dangling from their lips and Kalashnikovs tucked under their arms, stomping around in the field of bodies and wreckage at the crash site, as if the dead children from the downed Boeing had nothing to do with them. Experts holding their noses as they opened a railroad car full of dead bodies. A seemingly endless convoy of hearses leaving Eindhoven Airport in the Netherlands. And Russian President Vladimir Putin took it all in without losing his composure.
It's usually the images.
It's part of the occasionally cynical business of political experts to refer to a tragedy of this magnitude, and to the endlessly repeated TV images of the suffering of innocent people, as a "game changer." It's the moment that divides the course of a crisis into "before" and "after" -- a time when the public and politicians hold their breaths and take a new look at the situation. But one of the unique features of the European Union is that in the "after" period, it often continues for a time to behave the way it did in the "before" period. Supporting evidence was provided by an exchange from last Tuesday, almost a week after Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 was shot down:
Let's at least do an arms embargo, argued British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
No, you can't even do financial sanctions, responded his French counterpart Laurent Fabius in the hearing room of the European Council building in Brussels.
Prior to the meeting, EU foreign ministers had seemed deeply disconcerted. But behind closed doors, the overriding objective was apparently not to determine how best to force Putin to back down, but how best to protect their own domestic economies...
23-Year-Old Serbian Heart Doctor Swamped with Patients After Winning Bikini Competition
Actually, she's still in medical school, finishing up her program as a "trainee" and treating patients who apparently can't get enough.
At London's Daily Mail, "The cardiologist who's BREAKING hearts: Serbian doctor swamped with patients feigning illness after winning bikini competition."
At London's Daily Mail, "The cardiologist who's BREAKING hearts: Serbian doctor swamped with patients feigning illness after winning bikini competition."
'Death to Israel' Pages A-Okay at Facebook: Not Hate Speech Under Social Network's 'Community Standards'
I was over there this morning. Blazing Cat Fur links to a "Death to Israel" page on Facebook, and it's still totally available at this hour.
At BCF, "Facebook says calling for death to Israel isn’t hate speech because it’s a country."
No violation of Facebook's "community standards," I guess. Or, well, communist standards, pfft.
At BCF, "Facebook says calling for death to Israel isn’t hate speech because it’s a country."
No violation of Facebook's "community standards," I guess. Or, well, communist standards, pfft.
Israeli Public Opinion Poll: Overwhelming (91%) Support for Operation Protective Edge — #IsraelUnderFire
It's almost unanimous support for Israel's war of self-defense in Gaza.
At Arutz Sheva, "Poll: Overwhelming Support for IDF Operation, Netanyahu":
For the rest of the world, if you're against Israel's self-defense operations, you're against the Jews in Israel. Man.
Still more.
At Arutz Sheva, "Poll: Overwhelming Support for IDF Operation, Netanyahu":
Ninety-one percent (91%) of Israeli Jews support Israel's self-defense campaign against terrorism in Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, according to a survey published Monday - and just 4.2% believe the operation is a "mistake."Wow.
Over 1,000 people were polled by Dr. Yuval Feinstein, a Sociology and Political Science researcher at University of Haifa, on their opinions regarding the operation and other current events. All participants were Israeli, Jewish, and over 18.
The survey also revealed that 85% of respondents would only support a cease-fire agreement if Israel eliminated every Hamas rocket and destroyed the full network of terror tunnels before agreeing to do so.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Israeli Jews polled "very strongly support" Operation Protective Edge's airstrikes on Gaza; 17% "support" the airstrikes; and 4.5% had "weak support" for the airstrikes. Just 1.5% of respondents opposed the airstrikes on Gaza.
Similarly, 50% "strongly support" the IDF's ground offensive in Gaza; 28% "support" the ground campaign and 14% have "weak support" for the campaign. By contrast, only 9% of respondents oppose sending ground troops into Gaza.
Eighty-two percent (82%) of respondents "strongly disagree" with the statement "Israel launching Operation Protective Edge was a mistake"; 11% only "slightly disagree." Just 7% of respondents "agree" or "strongly agree" with that statement.
As to the operation's success, 74% of respondents overall believe the IDF is "achieving its goals" in Gaza; of those, 23% "very strongly agree" and 51% "strongly agree." Just 22.5% of respondents were neutral on the issue and only 3% believe the operation is failing.
Ninety-five percent (95%) of respondents said the operation has "made them proud of the IDF, the State of Israel, and the Jewish people," and only 2% disagreed with that statement...
For the rest of the world, if you're against Israel's self-defense operations, you're against the Jews in Israel. Man.
Still more.
Bruna Marquezine Brazilian Bikini Shots at Ibiza
She's another soccer WAG, girlfriend to Brazil forward Neymar.
At Egotastic!, "Bruna Marquezine Bikini Booty on a Yacht in Ibiza."
Also at London's Daily Mail, "Neymar continues recovery from injury on holiday with girlfriend Bruna Marquezine."
At Egotastic!, "Bruna Marquezine Bikini Booty on a Yacht in Ibiza."
Also at London's Daily Mail, "Neymar continues recovery from injury on holiday with girlfriend Bruna Marquezine."
ADL's Abraham Foxman: 'Anti-Semitism on the Rise' in Europe; Protesters 'Want to Harm the Jews...'
This segment aired a couple of days ago. Wolf Blitzer, bless him, tries to get Abraham Foxman to agree that the Jew-haters are "just a small segment" of the protests. Foxman's not having it. He's not sure exactly what's going on, but we're seeing "a new dimension" of outright left-wing racism, inflamed by European imams preaching "death to the Jews."
Foxman has never come off as hardline Israel-backing "neocon." In fact, he's often criticized as being soft on Islamic jihad. But he's emphatic here. An excellent clip:
Foxman has never come off as hardline Israel-backing "neocon." In fact, he's often criticized as being soft on Islamic jihad. But he's emphatic here. An excellent clip:
Phil Robertson of A&E's 'Duck Dynasty'
I just like the photo at this hit piece from the L.A. Times, "'Duck Dynasty' audience ebbs even as Phil controversy fades."
Actually, the audience is hardly "fading," but the "cultural elites" at the Times can't disguise their contempt for the Robertsons.
Actually, the audience is hardly "fading," but the "cultural elites" at the Times can't disguise their contempt for the Robertsons.
Growing Backlash Against Celebrity Attacks on Israel
The Jewish Voice for Peace, the same useful idiots who staged the Seattle "die-in" this week, have organized a celebrity attack on Israel's right to self-defense, including some big names on the anti-American, anti-Israel left. See the press release, "Gloria Steinem, Chuck D, Jonathan Demme and Other Celebrities, Artists, Activists and Nobel Peace Laureates Stand Up for Palestinian Rights in New Video."
The video's here, "Freedom for Palestine: #GazaNames Project." Communist Angela Davis is the first far-left celebrity featured at the clip, followed by epic Jew-hating scum Roger Waters.
Meanwhile, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz have published a strongly-worded open letter attacking Israel. See the Hollywood Reporter, "Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem Denounce Israeli 'Genocide' in Open Letter."
Ben Shapiro, at Truth Revolt, takes Hollywood Jews to task, "Hollywood Jews Ignore Hollywood Jew-Hatred."
But according to CNN, some powerful people in Hollywood are committed supporters of Israel, so speak out at your peril.
Heh, it usually goes the other way.
The video's here, "Freedom for Palestine: #GazaNames Project." Communist Angela Davis is the first far-left celebrity featured at the clip, followed by epic Jew-hating scum Roger Waters.
Meanwhile, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz have published a strongly-worded open letter attacking Israel. See the Hollywood Reporter, "Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem Denounce Israeli 'Genocide' in Open Letter."
Ben Shapiro, at Truth Revolt, takes Hollywood Jews to task, "Hollywood Jews Ignore Hollywood Jew-Hatred."
But according to CNN, some powerful people in Hollywood are committed supporters of Israel, so speak out at your peril.
Heh, it usually goes the other way.
Gaza Civilians Lash Out at Hamas
Palestinians want a cease-fire.
Lisa Daftara, on last night's "The Independents" with Kennedy:
And here's her piece, at Fox News, "War-weary Gazans lash out at Hamas."
Lisa Daftara, on last night's "The Independents" with Kennedy:
And here's her piece, at Fox News, "War-weary Gazans lash out at Hamas."
TERRIBLE! OUTRAGEOUS! Hamas Releases Graphic Propaganda Video of #Gaza Tunnel Attack at Kibbutz Nahal Oz
At the Jewish Daily Forward, "5 Israeli Soldiers Killed During Thwarted Attack on Kibbutz Nahal Oz: IDF Death Toll Rises to 53."
And at Arutz Sheva, "Five Soldiers Killed During Attempted Terrorist Infiltration."
Here's the propaganda video:
A longer, graphic version is here, "Hamas Posts Video of Deadly Attack on Israeli Outpost via Tunnel."
And at Arutz Sheva, "Five Soldiers Killed During Attempted Terrorist Infiltration."
Here's the propaganda video:
A longer, graphic version is here, "Hamas Posts Video of Deadly Attack on Israeli Outpost via Tunnel."
Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes — #KYSEN: Iron Dome Defends Against Terrrorist Tunnels
Low-information Democrats.
At Free Beacon:
At Free Beacon:
Bless her heart. RT @billmurphy: Alison Lundergan Grimes Thinks Iron Dome Goes Underground http://t.co/grVJsFVL8z #KYSEN
— Jackie Wellfonder (@Wellfonder) July 30, 2014Democrat Candidate in KY @AlisonForKY thought the Iron Dome dealt with tunnels! This is your low info democrat. What an embarrassment. #tcot
— Brittany Pounders (@LibertyBritt) July 30, 2014VIDEO: Newcastle 'Hamas Solidarity' Protesters Chant 'From the River to the Sea...'
"Palestine will be free..."
Because they plan on murdering the Jews.
Watch: "Pro Hamas / Gaza / Palestine protest in Newcastle city centre 26/07/2014." (Via Douglas Murray.)
Because they plan on murdering the Jews.
Watch: "Pro Hamas / Gaza / Palestine protest in Newcastle city centre 26/07/2014." (Via Douglas Murray.)
Pilot of 'Quadcopter' Drone Ordered to Stay Away from Massive #SandFire East of Sacramento (VIDEO)
The dude may have been interfering with low-flying aircraft dropping water and fire retardants.
At the Los Angeles Times, "Pilot of drone ordered away from California wildfire posts video." (Click through for videos at the link.)
At the Los Angeles Times, "Pilot of drone ordered away from California wildfire posts video." (Click through for videos at the link.)
The Genocide Libel
From Dennis Prager:
In order to justify killing Jews, Jew-haters throughout history made up libels about the Jews that were so awful that they justified, at least for the Jew-hater, the mass murder of Jews. The charge that the Jews of every age — not just some Jews at one time — killed God Himself was used by medieval Christians to justify mass murdering of Jews.Keep reading.
Then came another grotesque libel — what is known as the blood libel. Also prevalent in the Middle Ages, this charged Jews with kidnapping Christian children, sacrificing them and using their blood to bake matzo (the unleavened Passover bread).
Later libels against the Jews included the forgery known as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which purported to prove that Jews plotted to rule the world.
At this very moment, we are living through as enormous a libel — directed not against all Jews, but against the Jewish state: Israel is committing genocide of Palestinians and is, therefore, morally identical to the Nazi regime.
This libel is spread by left-wing radicals and by Muslims, especially in the Middle East. Some examples...
Boston 'Gaza Solidarity' Protesters Demand Extermination of Israel
An astonishing photo-roundup at CAMERA:
What The Local #Media Missed: Days of Rage in #Boston - http://t.co/Ill56WybGT #MediaBias #Israel
— CAMERAorg (@CAMERAorg) July 29, 2014"No justice, no peace- Free Palestine." RT @JVPBoston: 2 protesters holding roses for Palestine #Boston4Gaza pic.twitter.com/LoXgW0JtLU
— Stop The Wars (@sickjew) July 26, 2014The... hostility displayed at these putative "peace" rallies cannot be excused, justified or explained by the tragic deaths currently taking place as a result of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The underlying emotion at these rallies is hate toward the very notion of Jewish sovereignty and hate toward Jews who support Israel.
If these protesters were serious about promoting peace and human rights, they would have confronted the terrible acts of violence perpetrated by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, where thousands of people have been turned into refugees and hundreds, if not thousands, of young men have been murdered, and in some instances, have had their heads cut off.
These atrocities have largely gone unnoticed by the activist organizations that organized these days of rage in Boston. They have, however, held more than five anti-Israel rallies in the last month alone.
This is not about peace. This is not about justice. And it's not about human rights.
It's about hate.
And lots of it.
Los Angeles Officials Discuss #UCLA Flooding Aftermath
Lots of coverage on yesteday's flooding at the Los Angeles Times.
And here, "Stunning images from the UCLA water main break."
And from CBS News Los Angeles:
And here, "Stunning images from the UCLA water main break."
And from CBS News Los Angeles:
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Ransoming Citizens, Europe Underwrites al-Qaeda Terrorism
At the New York Times, "Paying Ransoms, Europe Bankrolls Qaeda Terror":
BAMAKO, Mali — The cash filled three suitcases: 5 million euros.More.
The German official charged with delivering this cargo arrived here aboard a nearly empty military plane and was whisked away to a secret meeting with the president of Mali, who had offered Europe a face-saving solution to a vexing problem.
Officially, Germany had budgeted the money as humanitarian aid for the poor, landlocked nation of Mali.
In truth, all sides understood that the cash was bound for an obscure group of Islamic extremists who were holding 32 European hostages, according to six senior diplomats directly involved in the exchange.
The suitcases were loaded onto pickup trucks and driven hundreds of miles north into the Sahara, where the bearded fighters, who would soon become an official arm of Al Qaeda, counted the money on a blanket thrown on the sand. The 2003 episode was a learning experience for both sides. Eleven years later, the handoff in Bamako has become a well-rehearsed ritual, one of dozens of such transactions repeated all over the world.
Kidnapping Europeans for ransom has become a global business for Al Qaeda, bankrolling its operations across the globe.
While European governments deny paying ransoms, an investigation by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates have taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008, of which $66 million was paid just last year.
In news releases and statements, the United States Treasury Department has cited ransom amounts that, taken together, put the total at around $165 million over the same period.
These payments were made almost exclusively by European governments, who funneled the money through a network of proxies, sometimes masking it as development aid, according to interviews conducted for this article with former hostages, negotiators, diplomats and government officials in 10 countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The inner workings of the kidnapping business were also revealed in thousands of pages of internal Qaeda documents found by this reporter while on assignment for The Associated Press in northern Mali last year.
In its early years, Al Qaeda received most of its money from deep-pocketed donors, but counterterrorism officials now believe the group finances the bulk of its recruitment, training and arms purchases from ransoms paid to free Europeans.
Put more bluntly, Europe has become an inadvertent underwriter of Al Qaeda...
Associated Press: 'Members of Congress are falling over one another to show their support for Israel...'
It's not just on Twitter. AP's lede at the article claimed "Members of Congress are falling over one another" to show support for Israel.
At Twitchy, "‘Like the title of a Hamas press release': This is how the AP does ‘objective journalism’."
At Twitchy, "‘Like the title of a Hamas press release': This is how the AP does ‘objective journalism’."
As much of world watches Gaza war in horror, members of Congress fall over each other to support Israel: http://t.co/DepO2etLQS
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 29, 2014
Massive Flooding at UCLA After Water Main Breaks
Sunset Boulevard is shut down in both directions and UCLA's Pauley Pavilion is "threatened."
Water soaks UCLA campus as seen by @GadiNBCLA http://t.co/TR6BHiTMLk pic.twitter.com/2s2mtXir5T
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) July 30, 2014Flooding on UCLA campus threatens Pauley Pavilion http://t.co/dHqnYexUl5 via @usatoday
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 30, 2014#SunsetFlood: 10630 West Sunset Blvd. Water rising. Drivers avoid area #TRAFFICALERT http://t.co/5ldkqHexCI pic.twitter.com/2WpSEl08Yg
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 29, 2014#SunsetFlood: UCLA Medical Center not affected by water main break at this time http://t.co/u5lTvejony
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 29, 2014PHOTOS: Water main break floods Westwood street and parts of UCLA #SunsetFlood http://t.co/3v8f7MBxWR pic.twitter.com/8qkgrCoCcR
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 29, 2014MAP of #SunsetFlood http://t.co/5ldkqHexCI pic.twitter.com/bEt1GZyobH
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 29, 2014#SunsetFlood update: fire officials making requests for sand bags to stop significant water flow on #UCLA campus.
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) July 29, 2014#LAFD Captain reports that #DWP officials expect water to progressively decrease within the next two hours in #Westwood.
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) July 30, 2014#UPDATE: Officials say at one point 36,000 gallons of water was flowing per minute from the water main break near #UCLA
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) July 30, 2014Islamic State's Black Flag Waves as Crowds Chant 'Death to the Jews' in Europe (VIDEO)
Coming to America?
From Nadette De Visser, at the Daily Beast, "ISIS’s Black Flags Are Flying in Europe." (Video here.)
And at Atlas Shrugs, "VIDEO: Al Qaeda and Islamic State flags in London’s tunnels."
From Nadette De Visser, at the Daily Beast, "ISIS’s Black Flags Are Flying in Europe." (Video here.)
And at Atlas Shrugs, "VIDEO: Al Qaeda and Islamic State flags in London’s tunnels."
WAR CRIMES VIDEO: Islamic State Killing Fields in Iraq, Jihad-Suicide Martyrdom Operation — GRAPHIC!
ISIS released a new propaganda video, including images of mass slaughter in Iraq.
At Gateway Pundit, "HORROR! NEW VIDEO ~~>>> ISIS Terrorists Slaughter HUNDREDS
OF SHIITES in Iraq."
And London's Daily Mail reports, "The Islamic State Killing Fields: Terror group releases horrifying video showing drive-by shootings, suicide bombings and dozens of other victims rounded up and executed."
More at the Long War Journal, "Analysis: Islamic State advertises war crimes in video commemorating end of Ramadan."
At Gateway Pundit, "HORROR! NEW VIDEO ~~>>> ISIS Terrorists Slaughter HUNDREDS
OF SHIITES in Iraq."
#ISIS posts a video for Eid al-Ftr showing how it massacred dozens of Shiite hours after the fall of #Mosul & Tikrit pic.twitter.com/Jh1N5rjAUo
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) July 29, 2014
ISIS's latest video: unimaginable barbarism. An ISIS-run state would be a menace to all. http://t.co/U4SF5Yr8B4
— Roland Paris (@rolandparis) July 29, 2014
And London's Daily Mail reports, "The Islamic State Killing Fields: Terror group releases horrifying video showing drive-by shootings, suicide bombings and dozens of other victims rounded up and executed."
More at the Long War Journal, "Analysis: Islamic State advertises war crimes in video commemorating end of Ramadan."
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