I can assure you will spend an extremely gratifying and educational half an hour with this revelation. Mind you, though: the guy is way too optimistic. He thinks that the world is currently at 11:55 PM, as far as Illuminati's plans are concerned.
Tee hee.
And I did deliberately parody the NYT tagline.
I notice that this item (from the Henry Jackson Society - good guys on the Middle east - check out the reason for their name via their website) hasn't been referenced on the Simply site. So, although it's almost 3 weeks old, here goes.
The Society took its story from Ha'aretz (Snoopy, you're slipping: it's your job - and Gideon's of course - to keep an eye on these things, not leave it to someone 2000 miles away), and they head it "Will Hamas Ever Moderate?" You don't need me to tell you the answer to that (rhetorical) question.
Early in the article is this quote: "According to a Haaretz report last week, a secret vote in Hamas was conducted to elect new members to the group’s political bureau and Shura Council. The results saw Ismail Haniyeh, the Prime Minister of the Hamas’ administrative wing in the Gaza Strip, get elected to head the movement’s political bureau in Gaza." Translation: real hard-liners elected to replace/control not quite such hard-liners.
And this is important because? Well, because "Haniyeh is a noted hardliner who is less amenable to finding a political solution with Hamas’ Palestinian political rival Fatah or Israel for that matter."
It's not good, but it's hardly news, even if we do need to to be told.
By Brian Goldfarb.
That was a doubly (at least) mysterious news item for me. To start with, the name of the person who pitches the parking:
The private garage at 66 E. 11th St. is "for someone who wants complete privacy," said Prudential Douglas Elliman Vice Chairman Dolly Lenz.How is she/he called at home (or in the office, for that matter), I wonder? And then:
"You can drive in and not be seen again," Lenz said.Hm... a million dollar for that? I know places (including parking lots) where people drove in and where never seen again for free.
An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on the explosion in Sudan's east...Of course. It's a simply absurd allegation. For many years already Israel doesn't produce any cars. And those that were produced weren't such a blast too. Rather died a natural, albeit painful death.
I've spent all morning and the better part of the afternoon hunting for two stories in the media. None was reported by the major news wire services and newspapers. No big surprise there, as the media has been so busy for several years now denying that the iranian leadership ever thought of harming the israeli corner of the world - rather the other way round.
Story number one, first published in the printed edition of Israel Hayom, brings us the words of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, as recounted by Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Israel National News reports:
"In a private discussion we held in Tehran in October of 2000, Ali Khamenei told me that Israel must be burned to the ground and made to disappear from the face of the Earth," Aznar told the audience, according to a report in Israel Hayom.Story number two, fresh form Fars News, brings us the words of another iranian leader, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi:
Addressing a defense gathering here in Tehran on Sunday, General Firouzabadi said that nations should realize the threats and dangers posed by the Zionist regime of Israel.
He reiterated the Iranian nation and Supreme Leader's emphasis on the necessity of support for the oppressed Palestinian nation and its causes, and noted, "The Iranian nation is standing for its cause that is the full annihilation of Israel."
After showing some (not bad at all) examples of the right wing trashing Obama's election efforts, here is an example of an overexcited Republican: Christian Toto, a Breibart writer, tries to trash Sacha Baron Cohen, because... try to read it carefully:
Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator" features a political speech that could have been stripped from any Occupy Wall Street protest.
I have been neglecting my self-appointed task of providing links to items readers of this blog might find interesting. I know I've been away (and Costa Rica was wonderful), but that's no excuse now I'm back. So here's what I can only hope and pray is the last word we might need to worry about on Ken (I wanna be Mayor again) Livingstone.
To take one example from the start of this long article, 'The litany of public run-ins between Livingstone and Jews eventually broke the camel’s back. It was, to use an older Jewish phrase, “enough already.”' Dave Rich, of the CST, writing in Forward, is relating how come Labour canvassers in the just past London Mayoral elections kept getting this reaction on the doorstep when they canvasses Jewish voters. Although I wasn't canvassed, I'd have said the same.
Among the other elements is Livingstone's continued support for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a confirmed anti-semite, misogynist, homophobic Islamist as some sort of liberal; Ken's inability to see the complexities in the London Jewish community; and his tendency to fall into the same trap as the likes of Mearsheimer and Walt. At the same time, Rich insists that, despite all this, Livingstone is, on an individual level, antisemitic, just one-eyed.
From my perspective, I think he's being very generous. But, perhaps, Rich is far more in the public world of London politics that I will ever be.
By Brian Goldfarb.
CST had this on their website: it's a brief obituary of Vidal Sassoon. I posted the following comment on another site, when it was suggested that he was a veteran of world War 2:
Umm, Francis, he was too young for WW2, in that he was sub 18 when the war ended – even The Grauniad got that bit right. However, he did join up with the 43 Group to fight fascists on the streets of London, while a hair-dressing apprentice. There’s one lovely story from this time: he arrived at work badly bruised one morning, and when the boss asked him how he got the bruises, he reportedly said he’d tripped over a hair-band.
He did go to what was then Palestine and fought in the War of Independence in the Hagana.
He may not have been religious, but was surely very Jewish and very anti-fascist.
The CST item is well worth a read.
By Brian Goldfarb.
It is possible that Assange who, via good services of his buddy Israel Shamir, already caused torture and death of opposition activists in Belarus, can chalk up a new "achievement": this time in Iran.
So prepare your favorite armchair, your drink and your snack. If you have an advantage of watching the campaign from the outside, double the quantities. Here come a few examples where the gloves come off:
Can you do this?
If you can, I want to be your friend.
And if you also got the allusion in the title of this post - I, probably, already am your friend.
That is, after being swallowed:
I am using the opportunity to show off one of my very few and not successful shots of a hoopoe:
This article immersed me in a sea of confusion.
A Justice Ministry bill that would expand the state's power to track cell phone and e-mail conversations has provoked outrage from privacy advocates.
The bill would almost double the number of state agencies allowed to access such data when conducting investigations.
Currently, the only agencies authorized to obtain communications data are the police, the Military Police, the Justice Ministry unit that investigates police misconduct, the Israel Securities Authority, the Antitrust Authority and the Tax Authority.
