Thursday, March 10, 2016

Here it is. Whether Romania realizes it or not, Netanyahu is building his coalition.

March 7, 2016
By Tovah Lazaroff
PM tells visiting Romanian President Werner Iohannis (click here) that Israel is a "beacon of democracy" that protects the world from dangers such as Iran, ISIS.
Israel is a beacon of democracy that protects Europe and the entire world from the dangers of Iran, Islamic State and a radicalized Middle East, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Romanian President Klaus Werner Iohannis on Monday.
“When you look at the Middle East there isn’t one country, a beacon of freedom, of democracy, of human rights, that protects not only itself, but by so doing protects everyone else, including Europe.
“It is this basic understanding that we want to impart to our European friendship,” Netanyahu said. The two men made brief statements to the press at the start of their meeting in Netanyahu’s office....

 Where does Netanyahu think he is going with this? He refuses to meet with the USA and then courts Europe.

 Trudeau is correct and every country approached by Israel needs to take the same policy. Embrace Israel but make it emphatically known the peace process is not an option.

 March 8, 2016
By Ryan Maloney
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (click here) says Canada will be a frank voice in the Middle East, even if that means criticizing a friend and ally in Israel.
Trudeau made the remarks Monday at a global town hall hosted by The Huffington Post Canada, dedicated entirely to foreign policy. Paul Darlaston, a HuffPost reader, asked the prime minister why he appeared unwilling to differentiate his government from the past Conservative leadership by calling out Israeli actions that "block the peace process."...

This is the perfect response to Israeli paranoia.

Northern town demands 1,263 euros for helping suspicious armed 'agents' whose car entered a prohibited area and got stuck in the mud.

 March 7, 2016
By Ofer Aderet

 The town of Quarnbek (click here) in northern Germany is demanding reimbursement to the tune of 1,263 euros for extracting the vehicle of two “Israeli agents,” ostensibly members of the Mossad, who got stuck in the mud.
A report about this strange incident, which took place in mid-December 2015, was broadcast Saturday on Germany's NDR television station.
According to the report, the story ostensibly involved two armed members of the Israeli espionage agency – thought to have been dispatched to monitor the transfer of a German submarine from the North Sea port of Kiel to Israel – who got stuck in the mud in their Ford Focus on the banks of the Kiel Canal....

 Perhaps Germany needs to put the submarine on hold for now to bring Israel to the peace table.

 I think the UN Security Council needs to convene. Unfortunately, Netanyahu is not giving anyone choice to end hostilities.
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The Israeli military does not want conflict. The problem is Netanyahu.

Others within the Israeli government should be sought to bring pressure for a peace negotiation. The extremists have the power and they are putting Israel in the direct path of a conflict. That is completely unwise and lends to extremist views.

 March 6, 2016
By Mike Smith
Jerusalem (AFP) - Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot's (click here) mother said he was destined to be a wise man, but some of Israel's rightwing politicians were not so sure after a recent speech.

 The plainspoken military chief of staff, with his familiar greying buzzcut, said what in other situations may seem obvious, but it touched a nerve in Israel.

 "When there's a 13-year-old girl holding scissors or a knife and there is some distance between her and the soldiers, I don't want to see a soldier open fire and empty his magazine at a girl like that, even if she is committing a very serious act," he said.
"Rather he should use the force necessary to fulfil the objective."
Many have described his comments as common sense, but the remarks were only the latest from Eisenkot to stir debate.
The 55-year-old, who recently marked a year as Israel's top soldier, has won praise from those advocating a moderate approach in the face of calls to crack down more harshly on Palestinians.
But rightwing politicians, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, have called such comments inappropriate.
The controversy has come amid violence since October that has killed 181 Palestinians and 28 Israelis.
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Here is a clue. Israel has to go to the peace table. Enough already. Israel is driving everyone crazy.

March 7, 2016
By Avaneesh Pandey
Indonesia (click here) is ready to take “concrete steps” to end Israel’s “colonization of Palestine,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Monday in opening remarks during a special summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jakarta. Indonesia is one of the few countries that do not recognize Israel as a nation.
“As part of the international community, Israel must immediately stop its illegal activities and policies in occupied territories,” Widodo reportedly said. “As long as the independence of the Palestinians has not been handed over to the Palestinians, Indonesia will stand against the Israeli occupation.”
The two-day OIC summit, organized at the request of the Palestinian Authority, is being attended by representatives from 57 nations. Additionally, the Middle East quartet — the United Nations, Russia, the United States and the European Union — are also present at the meeting.

 No one can deliver Natanyahu to the peace table. If an Israeli Prime Minister won't come to the table, why would Palestine?

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (click here) turned down a U.S. peace initiative presented to him during a West Bank meeting with Vice President Joe Biden, a Palestinian newspaper reported on Thursday.
The report in the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds cited a “source familiar with the details” from Wednesday’s meeting in Ramallah, the seat of the PA.
The new American initiative to restart peace talks included designating East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state, halting settlement construction in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation-state and giving up the demand for a Palestinian right of return....

 Reporting services like Haaretz doesn't come better. Haaertz always has leaned into peace with the Palestinians. If this is what is occurring there are problems. Netanyahu has become impossible to deal with and the rest of the world is tired of the tensions that give radicals reasons to carry out their violence.
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The Daily Star is the Lebanese newspaper. It doesn't sound as though Lebanon welcomed Israel's actions.

I don't think the sheep can make it over the fences.

 The land behind the fence is Israel. It is nicely green and lush. Is the land in Lebanon the same way?

 March 10, 2016
The Israeli army (click here) has heavily deployed troops and equipment along the Lebanese border and stepped up military activities there, a report from Beirut says.
For the second day on Wednesday, Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters at Lebanese herders and farmers working near the border with the occupied Palestinian territories, The Daily Star reported.
“We were proceeding with our lives normally and everyone was working their land. Then we saw the Israeli patrol and its members begin shooting tear gas at us,” Mustafa Ahmad, one of the herders, said. 
Residents said the Israeli army repeatedly shot tear gas canisters during the morning. Hours later, a large number of Israeli troops were stationed in an Israeli settlement across the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila.
According to witness accounts, Israeli troops used trees and shrubs for cover and monitored the movements within Lebanon as motorized patrols were conducted.
Local sources say Israeli patrols along the border have increased in the past week , with soldiers taking up ambush positions in the area....

 The attacks were in multiple different cities in Israel. I think the American was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those attacks would have occurred anyway.
Last Updated Mar 8, 2016 8:53 PM EST
Jerusalem -- Palestinian attackers unleashed multiple assaults (click here) on Israeli civilians and police on Tuesday, including an attack in the ancient Mediterranean port city of Jaffa in which an assailant stabbed seven people, killing one man and wounding the others before he was shot and killed, police said.
Israeli police later said the man stabbed to death in Jaffa was an American tourist. Vanderbilt University confirmed that Taylor Force, a graduate student, was fatally wounded....

 I rarely agree with Pew studies. But, this is probably accurate. Prime Minister Netanyahu was elected by the extreme right wing. There have been changes in schooling children that increase SEGREGATION. The movement in segregation and even expulsion within Israel is troubling.

 8 March 2016
By Peter Beaumont 
A major survey of Israeli attitudes (click here) conducted by one of the world’s leading social research centres depicts a country moving further to the right politically, more polarised on the issue of religion, and with about half in favour of “the expulsion or transfer of Arabs”.
Among the most striking findings of the survey, conducted by the highly regarded US Pew Research Centre, was that a slim majority of Israeli Jews “strongly” or “mostly agreed” with the idea that Arabs should be expelled or transferred from Israel. Israeli Arabs make up 19% of the country’s population of 8.4 million.
Twenty-one per cent of those surveyed “strongly agree” with the proposition and 27% “mostly agreed”, giving a total of 48% of Jewish Israelis who support the transfer of Arab citizens. Forty-six per cent said they were opposed. The remaining 6% did not give an opinion.
In addition, the Pew survey reported that:
  • Forty-two per cent of respondents believe that continued building of West Bank settlements helps Israel’s security, against 30% who found them harmful.
  • Seventy nine per cent believe that Jewish citizens of Israel should have preferential treatment over Arab citizens....
Something is brewing though. There are inflammatory reports about missiles from Iran that can reach Israel imprinted with Jewish writing that condemns Israel. I don't know if that is true. Those reporting it tend to be rhetorical. There is just too much aggression by Israel and as a result Palestine and probably Iran are finding tensions increasing. Netanyahu needs to step back from rhetorical hatred and any potential of ethnic cleansing. Seriously.

 Everytime there are tensions and increased incidents Israel takes more land and increases tensions all over again. We have very real problems. Israel should never be this extreme in it's governance. Netanyahu should have been defeated. I think I'd forget the Chicago Blackhawks were at the White House, too.

 March 9, 2016
By Barak Ravid

 Israel will complete construction (click here) of the separation barrier in the Jerusalem area and the southern West Bank following Tuesday's terror attacks, the Prime Minister's Office announced.
During security consultations held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister's Office said it was immediately decided to close gaps in the separation barrier in the Jerusalem area, and to complete construction of the barrier in the Tarkumiya area in the South Hebron Hills.
Gaps in the separation barrier are used by Palestinians to enter Israel illegally without the proper permits. The assailant behind the Jaffa attack entered Israel illegally, from a West Bank village near Qalqilya. In recent months, opposition chair MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) called on Netanyahu to close the gaps and complete construction of the barrier....


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Marco Rubio is pandering to Israel with rhetoric to attempt to boost his potential for votes.

 March 10, 2016
Washington (JTA) — Sen. Marco Rubio, (click here) in the fight of his political life to win his home state of Florida in the Republican presidential primaries, will take questions on his Israel policy at a Palm Beach synagogue.
On Thursday, a statement from the Rubio campaign said the candidate will be joined by Jewish and national security leaders at Temple Beth El in Palm Beach on Friday “to discuss his commitment to stand with Israel.”
Rubio, who trails front-runner Donald Trump in the polls in Florida, must win the state’s primary on Tuesday if he is to keep his presidential bid alive after suffering bad losses in a number of contests. He has been subjected to attacks by Trump, a billionaire real estate developer who maintains a second home in the state.
Rubio and other Republican rival have taken Trump to task for saying he would be neutral in brokering Israeli-Palestinian peace....

I think they call this progress. A year? I suppose settlements could be established in a years time if land/homes appear to be abandoned. ????

March 10, 2016
By Amira Hass
Israel will permit residents of the Gaza Strip to go abroad ((click here) via the Allenby border crossing with Jordan, on condition that they do not return the same way for at least a year. This is in addition to the weekly quota of up to 100 exit permits via Allenby that are given to people who fall under the categories of needing special medical treatment, attending special conferences and students pursuing advanced degrees abroad, according to a public document from the office of the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories.
This appears to mark a change in a policy of almost 20 years: Since 1997, Israel has not permitted Gazans to travel abroad and return via the Allenby border crossing, i.e., through Israeli territory and the West Bank, with very few exceptions. Thus, the Rafah border crossing became the only departure gate for Gazans to go abroad. Theoretically, Israel is now increasing the number of Gazans who will be able to travel abroad. On the other hand, the condition that one must remain outside the country for at least a year is a strong deterrent, since there is hardly any possibility of returning via Egypt....
...The COGAT spokeswoman said that the announcement of the change was relayed to the head of the Palestinian Civilian Committee “for the sake of informing the population.” Yet, according to Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, earlier this week the Civilian Committee and concerned NGOs still did not know about the new clause.
The COGAT spokeswoman did not respond to an inquiry from Haaretz about the logic behind the condition of not being able to return for a year.

Someone needs to reach out to the slain man's family. Where is the Secretary of State? The family is really struggling. It isn't right to ignore their pain because it is an inconvenient death.

 March 9, 2016
Nashville, Tenn. -- A Vanderbilt University graduate student (click here) stabbed to death in Israel during a school trip was exploring what to do with his life as a civilian after graduating from West Point and serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan....

 ...Force was finishing his first year of business school and wasn't yet sure what he was going to do when he graduated.
"He just wanted to further his education and explore more of the civilian side of life," Stuart Force said.
Taylor Force had been making friends and having a great time at school, and he was very excited about the trip to Israel, his father said.
Stuart Force said it would be an understatement to say he was immensely proud of his son.
"He really fit it all in," Stuart Force said. "He lived really large."
Asked about a favorite memory, Stuart Force asked for a moment to compose himself before describing a recent family trip: "We were all on vacation after New Year's, and I got to spend it with my son and daughter. I went skiing on my 65th birthday with my son."...
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My, my, my, how Republicans lie.

Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee (click here) marked up the 2016 Veterans Affairs funding bill, and slashed more than $1.4 billion from the president’s requested budget for America’s Veterans. Today, VA Secretary Bob McDonald appeared beforethe Senate Appropriations Committee to discuss that budget proposal.
While some may argue this is not a drastic move, every cut and rescission of funds has real-world implications for Veterans across the country. Here are three ways these proposed congressional cuts will adversely affect the quality of care and services provided to Veterans next year if they are not reversed:...
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March 11, 2016
By Fabiola Santiago

Don’t let the machine-gun-bacon enthusiast fool you.
The senator from Texas has no idea what a Miami welcome feels like — or he might have judged his appearances less generously. Reactions may have been polite, but by our standards of warmth, the temperature was tepid.
“You go, Ted!” some shouted, prompting Cruz’s manipulative remark at Miami Dade College, home to scores of the undocumented he’d like to wall off.

 I’m one of you, Cruz was saying, but we know better, don’t we?
Miami’s native son, Marco Rubio, a climate-change denier, isn’t faring any better in the popularity department. He may scoop up some Jeb Bush votes, but he won’t win Florida.
At his rally Wednesday at Milander Stadium, where the Hialeah Senior High T-Breds play to big crowds, Rubio couldn’t even pack the end-zone. There were cheers, but his run-of-the-mill line “I’ll end Obamacare!” was laughable given the geography. Hialeah leads the nation in Obamacare enrollments....

 It is impossible to build a wall around Florida.

 November 18, 2014
By Melissa Montoya

 A Pew Research Center (click here) report released Tuesday shows Florida’s population of undocumented immigrants has increased.

 Between 2009 to 2012, about 55,000 new immigrants chose to settle in Florida. Only New Jersey saw a larger increase with about 75,000 immigrants choosing to settle there.

 The surge brings Florida’s total population of undocumented immigrants to an estimated 925,000. Only Texas and California have larger populations of people living in the U.S. illegally.

 “These statistics are not surprising and underscores the immediate need to secure the border before any other action can be taken,” said U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Bonita Springs.

 Ricardo Skerrett, an immigration attorney in Southwest Florida, said he is not surprised by the increase of undocumented residents in Florida.

 “Florida is a big agricultural state so we are going to have big immigration here,” Skerrett said.Natalia Jaramillo,...
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fabiola-santiago/article65337662.html#storylink=cp
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I really want to know if Republicans care about the natural world?

That's a dead Bald Eagle. They are priceless. Do Republicans realize that. The American Bald Eagle can't be incorporated and sold for a profit. Priceless. And to think such status would actually protect them. How naive can a country get?

 10 March 2016
By Oliver Milman

 The dead eagles were found on 20 February and were thought to have fallen victim to a disease – but now officials say ‘these were human-caused deaths’

Wildlife officials (click here) have said 13 bald eagles found dead in Maryland last month did not die from natural causes. A hunt for whomever killed the birds is under way.
The bodies of the 13 eagles were found in a field in Federalsburg, Maryland on 20 February. It was first thought the birds may have fallen victim to Avian flu or another disease, but after necropsies by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) this possibility has been ruled out.
Neil Mendelsohn, assistant special agent in charge for the USFWS’s north-east region, urged people to come forward with information.
“We know these were human-caused deaths and someone has got to know something,” he said. “This is a very serious situation, the worst eagle kill I’ve seen.
“This kind of thing does happen and it seems to be happening more and more across the north-east. We’ve seen eagles shot and poisoned.”
The USFWS is not providing details on how the eagles were killed but Mendelsohn said the agency was “actively pursuing the case and all lines of enquiry”.
The deaths have prompted the USFWS and private conservation groups to put up rewards for information leading to arrest and conviction. A total of $25,000 is on offer....

 Budget cuts weaken our protections of the wild lands of the USA, including the protections of Maryland's American Bald Eagles.
The House Appropriations Committee (click here) passed a fiscal year 2012 (FY12) Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill on July 12 that included substantial cuts to agency spending and key conservation programs, as well as policy riders impacting natural resource related issues, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. After 10 hours of debate on amendments, the bill was passed on a party line vote sending it to the full U.S. House of Representatives for consideration later this month.

Overall, the bill would fund the Department of the Interior (DOI) at $9.9 billion, $720 million less than it received in the fiscal year 2011 (FY11) continuing resolution and $1.2 billion less than the President’s request.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) allocation would be cut $500 million from its budget request ($315 million less than FY11) to $1.2 billion, the largest agency cut for the entire Department.  The Bureau of Land Management would be funded at $1 billion ($63 million less than FY11); the National Park Service would be allocated $2.5 billion (a $129 million reduction from FY11); and the U.S. Geological Survey would receive $1.05 billion ($30 million less than FY11).  The USDA Forest Service would be funded at $4.5 billion—a $164-million cut from FY11 and $412 million less than the President’s budget request....
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Raise the cap on Social Security !

April 14, 2010
By Allen W. Smith

 David Leonhardt’s article,  (click here) “Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer,” in Tuesday’s New York Times was excellent, but it just scratches the tip of the iceberg of how the rich have gained at the expense of the working class during the past three decades.  When Ronald Reagan became President in 1981, he abandoned the traditional economic policies, under which the United States had operated for the previous 40 years, and launched the nation in a dangerous new direction.  As Newsweek magazine put it in its March 2, 1981 issue, “Reagan thus gambled the future — his own, his party’s, and in some measure the nation’s—on a perilous and largely untested new course called supply-side economics.”

 Essentially, Reagan switched the federal government from what he critically called, a “tax and spend” policy, to a “borrow and spend” policy, where the government continued its heavy spending, but used borrowed money instead of tax revenue to pay the bills.  The results were catastrophic.  Although it had taken the United States more than 200 years to accumulate the first $1 trillion of national debt, it took only five years under Reagan to add the second one trillion dollars to the debt.  By the end of the 12 years of the Reagan-Bush administrations, the national debt had quadrupled to $4 trillion!...
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When the USA began trade with Japan and then China and now Columbia it always begins with flowers.

By Brenna Haragan
Puente Piedra, Colombia—Dozens of pairs of hands I(click here) wearing thick, clumsy rubber gloves bundle thousands of rose bouquets in clear plastic sheets. More hands, these deft and ungloved, slide young buds still on the bush inside socks of protective red mesh to ensure uniform growth. Nine hours spent bent over roses—clipping thorns, measuring stems, wrapping, and shipping the vegetal symbol of love—this is the daily reality of the rose farmers of Puente Piedra.

 How many pairs of hands? A dozen. Oh. Not 144 people or any multiple of a dozen but ONLY a dozen people.
Colombia is one of the world’s foremost producers of flowers, exporting $1 billion per year and growing. In 2013, 65 percent of all cut flowers imported into the U.S. were from Colombia, up from 55 percent a decade earlier. Exotic species of orchid, anthurium, and bird of paradise are all regularly shipped to the U.S. But the ubiquitous rose is, by far, the country’s biggest flower seller....

Fresca Farms. Hm? A Columbian company? No? Oh, I thought CAFTA was about improving the lives of the Columbian people.

Fresca Farms is a family-owned and operated, (click here) fresh-cut flower grower, importer and distributor located in Miami, Florida.  With extensive combined experience in the floral industry, the owners share a passion for flowers.  Cecivon Contag Vicente and Mario Vicente each have been in the flower business for over twenty years. Fresca Farms has grown from a 10 employee team to over 40 team members.  Each team member is carefully chosen to ensure the company culture remains family-style with employees that share the same drive, ethics, and love for the industry.  We consider our team an extended family; we share triumphs and help pick each other up from set-backs.  Fresca Farms is a member of and supports industry organizations such as AFIF, SAF Asocoflores and WF&FSA....

Fresca Farms is a USA company that now exports CHEAP flowers from Columbia. CAFTA is a Wall Street trade agreement and does NOTHING for the people of Columbia.

 Why is there a militia in Columbia if the country is benefiting the people? Why? Government CORRUPTION. CAFTA is facilitating corruption.

 March 11, 2016
By AFP

Havana (AFP) - Colombia (click here) will miss a March 23 deadline for a peace accord between the government and FARC rebels, after the guerrillas agreed Thursday with the president that more time is needed.

Speaking a day after Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he would not sign a "bad deal" just to meet the self-imposed deadline, FARC peace negotiator Joaquin Gomez said the rebels agreed an extension was needed to end the half-century conflict.

"We agree with what (the president) said, that conditions aren't in place for the 23rd," Gomez said. "We agree that we should set another date by consensus."

The government and the FARC have been holding talks in the Cuban capital Havana since November 2012, seeking to end a grinding, complex conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people and uprooted 6.6 million.

Santos and FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez announced the deadline with much fanfare on September 23, when they met for the first time for the signing of a landmark deal on post-conflict justice, part of the hoped-for overall peace accord.

But as the date approaches the two sides have increasingly raised doubts about the feasibility of signing a final accord on schedule....

 The USA has a trade agreement with whom exactly in Columbia? The rebels? Or a legitimate government that is corruption free. Maybe it is the same thing.

 July 1, 2005
By Deborah James

 ...The biggest upset was Hillary Clinton, (click here) who voted against CAFTA -- a surprise to many who projected that her national aspirations would portend a Yes vote, and whose husband shepherded NAFTA through the Congress 11 years ago....
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March 9, 2016
By Tom Sietsema
The White House will pass out poutine (click here) – that late-night Canadian beer sponge of French fries, cheese curds and gravy — at the state dinner in honor of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife on Thursday night.
One of the country’s most popular exports, the greasy rib-sticker with ties to Quebec (and really late nights) will be spiffed up and scaled back in the hands of White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford. Her more formal take on the fast food involves shavings of smoked duck and cheese curds finished with red wine gravy and served on delicate wafer fries: a one-bite canapé....

 How to make the ultimate potine. It is intense concentration on perfection.

 ...This past summer (click here) I went up to Montreal and managed to squeeze in a fair amount of poutine eating. Some examples I tried were so good—like the one from Comptoir 21 shown above*—that I wondered why I couldn't get something like that back in New York. Ever since, I've been on a journey to develop the ultimate poutine recipe, and I'm now ready to share it with you all. If you're looking for a poutine that you can whip up after you've already shotgunned a six-pack, this is not the poutine for you. There are no shortcuts here....
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