An unarmed Palestinian man received a sentence today by an Israeli sniper.

Because he was Palestinian he was sentenced to death. No other reason. 

July 22, 2014
By Chris Hughes, Martin Bagot

A young Palestinian (click here) has allegedly been killed by an Israeli sniper as he searched through rubble for his family after heavy shelling.

The man had been rescuing casualties and was hunting for his own relatives when he was shot twice in Gaza City, according to a TV crew from activists the pro-Palestine International Solidarity Movement.

Member Muhammad Abdellah said: “Israeli soldier sniper hit him in his hip, so he laid down. And I started to ask him ‘can you move?’ But he said ‘no, I cannot move, my blood is going everywhere’.’’

Moments later, with the activists unable to reach him for fear of being shot themselves, the man was seen taking a second bullet.

Mr Abdellah said: “I guess it was in his heart or almost there, because he was dying in front of our eyes.”

The unverified footage was taken in the Shijaiyah neighbourhood which Israel claims has been the source of rocket attacks.

The deadliest conflict in five years between Israel and the Palestinians has now killed more than 600 Palestinians, many of them civilians, including 120 children....

Who needs it? If El Al wants to take enemy fire, more power to 'em.

July 22, 2014
By Patrick McCarron, Stephen Rex Brown

Major American airlines (click here) were banned Tuesday from flying to Israel for 24 hours after a Hamas rocket landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport. 

The Federal Aviation Administration order that halts Delta, U.S. Airways and United Airlines flights into Israel’s main international airport went into effect at 12:15 p.m. 

“Due to the potentially hazardous situation created by the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza, all flight operations to/from Ben-Gurion International Airport by U.S. operators are prohibited until further advised,” the FAA said. 

The rocket landed about one mile from the airport.

November 29, 2002

Lod Air Force Base, Israel (Reuters) (click here)
Secret on-board defenses, not pure luck, may have saved an Israeli airliner from being shot down over Kenya by two missiles, intelligence and arms experts said Friday....

As for me? No, thank you.

January 20, 2014

By Stephen Trimble

Passengers on a possibly (click here) imminent flight by a particular El Al Boeing 737-800 – with registration 4X-EKA – may not realise it, but they will be flying onboard arguably the safest commercial aircraft in the skies.

That’s because in addition to the airworthiness criteria observed by all commercial aircraft, this particular 737-800 could be the first commercial aircraft protected by a directional infrared countermeasure (DIRCM) system in the El Al fleet. For the first time, a commercial aircraft will be both airworthy and missile-safe.

The Elbit Systems C-MUSIC pod was shown installed on 4X-EKA last June, but the DIRCM system still had not been activated in commercial service as of mid-December.

“We are very close,” says Mike Yanoov, director of business development and marketing for Elop, the division of Elbit producing DIRCM systems.

The first flight with a working C-MUSIC pod will not be announced for obvious reasons. “I’m sure the security will not allow it,” Yanoov says....

See, El Al is the one sure way anyone in Israel can come and go from within it's borders. I am sure they have taken great pains to be sure El Al fleet is quite safe.

The current North Dakota government is destroying lives and land.

...With a legislature that meets only every two years, (click here) North Dakota has given an unusual amount of power to the agriculture commissioner and two other members of the state's Industrial Commission, charging the triumvirate with oversight of permitting and other issues critical to the oil industry, which hopes to drill 35,000 new wells within 15 years.

North Dakota produces 1 million barrels of oil each day - more than any state except Texas and even some OPEC members - affording Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, a Republican, outsized influence over energy development thanks to his seat on the commission alongside the governor and attorney general.

Now, Goehring, armed with donations from executives and political action committees at Continental Resources Inc, Whiting Petroleum Corp, Marathon Oil Corp and other companies active in the state's Bakken shale oil formation, is in the fight of his political life.

His opponent in the November election, Ryan Taylor, is a rancher and former Democratic state senator who threatens to impose stiffer regulations on an industry used to operating with little intervention in what is typically a conservative state....

The current North Dakota government has given free reign to any drilling company. That means the toxic remnants of the industry are unregulated and expose the public to many dangers including radioactive waste.

Bakken Health: (click here)
...Living in the center of the industrial mess, I see many health hazards from buckets and barrels of toxic chemicals laying along side the road unattended to extreme high readings of toxic gases and chemicals released into the air that we breath.  All of this comes with a price to pay, the workers seem to think the money is worth the risk, the people, livestock and wildlife that are forced into exposure with no choice are just "unfortunate"....

No lie.

...Radioactive wastes (click here) from oil and gas drilling take the form of produced water, drilling mud, sludge, slimes, or evaporation ponds and pits. It can also concentrate in the mineral scales that form in pipes (pipe scale), storage tanks, or other extraction equipment. Radionuclides in these wastes are primarily radium-226, radium-228, and radon gas. The radon is released to the atmosphere, while the produced water and mud containing radium are placed in ponds or pits for evaporation, re-use, or recovery.

The people most likely to be exposed to this source of radiation are workers at the site. They may inhale radon gas which is released during drilling and produced by the decay of radium, raising their risk of lung cancer. In addition, they are exposed to alpha and gamma radiation released during the decay of radium-226 and the low-energy gamma radiation and beta particles released by the decay of radium-228. (Gamma radiation can also penetrate the skin and raise the risk of cancer.) Workers following safety guidance will reduce their total on-site radiation exposure....

It is very easy to see how erionite pulverized and airborne is a carcinogen no different than asbestos.

January 21, 2014

Since the oil boom in western North Dakota (click here) began several years ago, the roads in this sparsely-populated corner of the state have been taking a beating. A typical shale oil well requires 2,300 truck trips in its lifetime, driven mostly over gravel roads. With nearly 6,800 wells currently operating in the Bakken oil field, that’s a lot of heavy traffic. County road commissioners are struggling to keep up with all the maintenance, and dust has become a major nuisance. Now there’s concern that the dust clouds could have negative health effects: in certain areas, the road dust contains a carcinogenic mineral called erionite....

Where are the erionite deposits found in western North Dakota? (click here)
Gravel deposits that contain erionite are located in or near the Arikaree, Brule and Chadron geologic formations, which correspond to the Chalky Buttes, Little Badlands and Killdeer Mountain areas in Slope, Stark and Dunn counties. These geologic formations are also present in other high buttes in western North Dakota, but testing has not been done to see if erionite is present there, as well. 

The map (click here) to the right outlines the enormous numbers of wells in North Dakota and where it involves erionite in the three counties currently of concern.

...Goehring has raised about $87,000 more in campaign contributions than Taylor, according to state records. Continental, the state's largest oil producer, called Goehring "a staunch advocate for agriculture and oil and gas."

Marathon declined to comment. Other producers did not return calls seeking comment.

Goehring has received contributions from at least ten oil companies or their executives. Taylor has received none; his prominent supporters include U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp and Sarah Vogel, the state's agriculture commissioner from 1989 to 1997, according to state records....

It is time for the citizens in North Dakota to stand up to Big Oil and demand the election of a man proven to be 'of the people' and interested in the health of North Dakotans. Ryan Taylor is the people's candidate. He needs support from local political organizations to knock on doors and hand out flyers. If money can't compete then it is a race of 'miles walked' to overcome this unfair advantage. The health of North Dakota relies on it.

If there is any way the righties can disrupt sanity in the USA, they'll do it.

...The majority opinion concluded that the law, as written, "unambiguously" restricts subsides to consumers in exchanges established by a state. That would invalidate an Internal Revenue Service regulation that tried to sort out confusing wording in the law by concluding that Congress intended for consumers in all 50 states to have subsidized coverage....

...The inaction stems in many instances from opposition by Republican governors to the Affordable Care Act....

The words in contention are taken out of context.

 ..."established by the state."...

The law clearly states the Premium assistance credit amount is established by the federal government as per it's definition. The State has an insurance commissioner that offers the individual market place. "...established by the state..." refers to the market place within the state itself. It will receive an assistance credit in the amount of.....as prescribed by the federal law. Yes, the ACA overrides any hideous idea a state might have in limiting the ability of a family, even if that family is only one person, to receive AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE INSURANCE. That is what the law is for. Standing one phrase on it's head doesn't change the content of the law.

(b) Premium assistance credit amount (click here)

For purposes of this section—

(1) In general

The term “premium assistance credit amount” means, with respect to any taxable year, the sum of the premium assistance amounts determined under paragraph (2) with respect to all coverage months of the taxpayer occurring during the taxable year.

(2) Premium assistance amount

The premium assistance amount determined under this subsection with respect to any coverage month is the amount equal to the lesser of—

(A) the monthly premiums for such month for 1 or more qualified health plans offered in the individual market within a State which cover the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in section 152) of the taxpayer and which were enrolled in through an Exchange established by the State under 1311  [1]of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or

(B) the excess (if any) of—

(i) the adjusted monthly premium for such month for the applicable second lowest cost silver plan with respect to the taxpayer, over

(ii) an amount equal to 1/12 of the product of the applicable percentage and the taxpayer’s household income for the taxable year.

What do we know about righties? They stand in offense to any word or group of words to their own means of their meaning. This is not new and it what happens when right wing judges make it to a bench of influence. Have we not seen the same idiocy by those of the Supreme Court with the same self-righteousness to redefine words better than Merriam Webster? The same Supreme Court that states money is more a citizen than a human being? 

One would fully expect citizens of the USA to understand when the right wing political party runs for office, they talk a pretty picture, but, their reality is some of the saddest interpretation of words that ever existed. One might say the RNC is the party of the illiterate. Words are not defined within the RNC, they are 'toys of confusion and influence.' Their appointed judges are the same way.

The law does not transfer power to the states, it overrides the power of the state to exclude Americans from Affordable Health Care. The state in this instance is simply the commissioner that regulates health insurance sold in the state.

The entire law federalizes health care. Why? Because the states did a really lousy job with it. Why would a law written to bring about equity to all Americans in receiving health care hand over federal authority to a state that blew it in the first place. It's ridiculous, but, that what right wing judges conduct in court, confusion.

How many definitions does the word "the" have?

According to Merriam-Webster, many (click here).

Laws are NOT written one word at a time, they are written with CONTENT and CONTEXT. No one ever accused a right wing judge of practicing law either.

President Obama's policies are having an impact.

22 July 2014

Russian oligarchs (click here) have lost more than $14 billion since the start of the year as Russia's richest men brace for new sanctions following the fatal crash of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 in eastern Ukraine

Later today, Britain will urge the EU to extend travel bans, asset freezes and economic sanctions on any individual deemed to be "influencing or supporting" the Putin administration.

Yesterday, Russia’s Micex index slumped to its lowest point since mid-May, falling below 1,400 points in Moscow trading, while the rouble lost ground against the dollar for the sixth day in a row as investors waited for further developments ahead of today's Brussels summit.

Russia's 19 billionaires have already lost more than $14 billion since January, data compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaire Index shows, with steel tycoon Vladimir Lisin losing $2.8 billion year-to-date followed by Alisher Usmanov, Russia's richest man. The iron magnate has lost $2.5 billion so far this year, or the equivalent of a 14 per cent drop in his net worth....

The insanity of capitalism and wayward government policy.

If today's populous is so frantic about a warming planet as it should be why then is everyone still mining and drilling for carbon?

Does anyone believe Earth can be a complete depository for burned carbon? If the idea is to bury the carbon burned when does that stop?

July 21, 2014
Henry Fountain

...But as with even the most modern coal plants, (click here) its smokestacks still emit enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, the invisible heat-trapping gas that is the main contributor to global warming. So this fall, a gleaming new maze of pipes and tanks — topped with what looks like the Tin Man’s hat — will suck up 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from one of the boilers so it can be shipped out for burial, deep underground.

If there is any hope of staving off the worst effects of climate change, many scientists say, this must be part of it — capturing the carbon that spews from power plants and locking it away, permanently. For now, they contend, the world is too dependent on fossil fuels to do anything less....

The problem with a warming planet is not people, but, their economy dictated by Wall Street and Big Oil. That is the problem. That has always been the problem. It is truly unfortunate Wall Street economies still dictate the burning of carbon as a profit motive, now isn't it? 

What is Tesla stock doing these days?

No one actually believes 'things can stay as they are' and expect to survive this? Sincerely.

The summer 'frigid air cool down' isn't simply an oddity of Earth that occurs once in a Blue Moon. It is heat exchange between the planet's ice regions to the much hotter lower latitudes. It is physics. 

What happens when an arctic region of Earth is NORMALLY -60 F and then heat exchange occurs? What happens? Will the -60 F normality remain normal or will it shift to a far warmer troposphere?

Does anyone with a brain and thinks believe that 'heat exchange' across a planetary dynamic will lead to a benevolent Earth or a very hot one?

What happens to ice when it comes in contact with hot air and hot seas? 

I mean no one actually thinks arctic air migration is normal, right? How diluted is the reality the world lives with?

Earth doesn't have enough storage space for all the carbon that can be produced by Old World Values.

12 September 2012
U. Komer, G.R. Sonnemann
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (1984–2012)

A global three-dimensional model (click here) of the dynamics (0–150 km) and chemistry (30–150 km) of the middle atmosphere has been developed and applied to the problem of the water vapor distribution of the mesosphere-mesopause region. The mesopause region is one of the most intricate domains of the atmosphere and requires an extraordinarily careful modeling. In order to interpret the specific feature of the water vapor distribution, particular attention was paid to the problem of the effective characteristic chemical time and the comparison of this time with the characteristic transport time. The results confirm measurements which show highest concentrations during the summer months and lowest concentrations in the winter in the middle and high latitudes of the mesosphere because of the seasonal variation of the vertical wind system and change in the altitudes of levels of constant pressure as a result of a mean cooling or warming below the respective heights. The equator region is marked by a semiannual variation with maxima around the equinoxes. By way of contrast, the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) measurements show maxima around solstices, however, with some exceptions for which a maximum also occurs during the equinox. This points to a dynamically sensitive equatorial region. At high latitudes the extremely low temperatures within the mesopause region in summer and the relatively high water vapor concentrations cause a supersaturation of water vapor which is the condition for the formation of noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The calculated seasonal and latitudinal border of the domain of supersaturation corresponds quite well with the mean areas of the occurrence of NLCs; however, it is impossible to model specific events on the basis of such a coarse model as the occurrence of NLCs at middle latitudes. There is no direct hemispheric transport from the summer to the winter hemisphere within the mesosphere-lower thermosphere, but the meridional transport occurs in a more complicated manner.

Wake up boys and girls, you have already changed the atmospheric layers of Earth. If that doesn't worry you, it should.

No one is still waiting to see what will happen with Human Induced Global Warming, are they? For real now. There are permanent changes to Earth's air masses already. That is REAL, NOT IMAGINARY. This is not a horror picture starring Freddy Krueger. It is the horror reality Wall Street has subscribed to.

When I first set out on the venture to bring a message to the world a very dear friend said, "People will go by way of the Dodo. It is in their nature to ignore warnings that are not immediately registering on their survival centers." I told him I had to try. He has children, too.

Happy Birthday, George.

Congratulations to William and Kate for being devoted parents, it shows. He is truly engaged in his world and unafraid. Everyone knows George is sincerely loved and treasured by his parents. 

Do I smell corruption or do I smell corruption?

September 13, 2012 and December 13, 2012 Oil and Gas Lease Sales Postponed (click here)

Thick basalt flows (click here) overlay the potential reservoirs, making exploration and development costly. With rising gas prices, advances in technology, and the lack of previous development, there has been a dramatic interest in oil and gas leases in Oregon and Washington in the past few years. Half of the revenue derived from leasing and royalties is returned to the state where the leases are located. Currently there are about 140 federal leases representing about 226,000 acres in Oregon and Washington. There are currently no active oil and gas drilling or exploration sites in Oregon or Washington.

The Kochs are attempting to be the defacto ruler of the USA.

July 21, 2014

By Brendan Fisher and Nick Surgery

Newly-obtained documents (click here) show that the billionaire Koch brothers' political giving is much more expansive than has previously been known.

In addition to the hundreds of millions flowing into politics by way of the Kochs' network of foundations and funding vehicles like Freedom Partners, David Koch writes millions of dollars in personal checks to political organizations every year, and funds from the Koch Industries corporate treasury are used to bankroll the right-wing infrastructure the Kochs have developed. Koch Industries, the company David runs with his brother Charles, is the second-largest privately-held company in the country.

In some cases, Koch giving through largely untraceable personal or corporate checks outstrips the known donations made through the Koch family foundations and secretive pass-through groups like Freedom Partners.

Overall, the size of the Koch-funded political universe is vaster than has ever been reported....

...Known donations from David Koch himself include:

• $850,000 to Americans for (Koch) Prosperity in 2003 (making him the top donor that year), $1 million to AFP in 2001, and $1 million to AFP's predecessor Citizens for a Sound Economy in 2000
• $100,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute in 2009
• $125,000 to the Massachusetts-based State Policy Network member think tank Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research in 2007 (making Koch the largest single donor that year), and $100,000 to the Pioneer Institute in 2005
• $25,000 to the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom in 2009
• $150,000 to the Bill of RIghts Institute in 2011
• $400,000 to the Institute for Humane Studies in 2007...

July 19, 2014

By Dana Tims

The conversation blew up Friday (click here) after we posted a story looking at two national stories detailing major media ad buys in Oregon by a group affiliated with the conservative Koch brothers.

The stories, which ran in The Washington Post and Politico, said Freedom Partners, on behalf of Oregon Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Monica Wehby, has purchased upward of $2 million worth of ads in at least four Oregon markets -- Portland, Eugene, Bend and Medford.

We called a television station in Medford and talked to the general sales manager, who confirmed that Freedom Partners has bought 13 weeks worth of ads. They'll start running Aug. 8.

Within an hour of our post going up on OregonLive, readers had weighed in with more than 150 comments. As we're preparing this roundup, that number has now nearly doubled....

Cigarette taxes in NY did not kill Eric Garner. Hannity is a sick man.

Eric Garner, right, poses with his children during during a family outing in this undated family photo provided by the National Action Network, Saturday, July 19, 2014.

Eric Garner was a good man with a family he loved and children he was raising to be successful. He was proud of his children. When the nation should be proud of successful minority families, it would seem the profile doesn't fit the stereotypes of police.

July 21, 2014
By Josh Margolin and Mark Crudele

The four EMTs (click here) who responded to the scene where New York City cops had taken Eric Garner down after an apparent chokehold and he died an hour later have been suspended without pay while their actions are being investigated.

The Fire Department of New York, which handles citywide emergency medical dispatch, on Sunday barred them from responding to 911 calls. The latest move is by Richmond University Medical Center, which employs them. The hospital declined to explain the decision.

"The EMTs are suspended without pay while the investigation continues as they are placed on operational restriction," the hospital said in a statement announcing the move. "This restriction means they are not working at this hospital or throughout the 911 system. Richmond University Medical Center continues to fully cooperate as this matter is under investigation."...

While the EMTs are part of the picture, they did not cause the reason for the necessity for EMTs to respond. The responsibility for Mr. Garner's death falls to the police department.

I find the entire circumstance around this man's death extremely strange.

To begin with if this was about Mr. Garner conducting an unlicensed business in selling cigarettes it required the delivery of a summons to the municipal court, not an arrest. If he was conducting a large volume of merchandising of untaxed cigarettes on the streets of NY then where was the ATF? 

July 21, 2014
By Brad Health
...At least 91% of the people agents (click here) have locked up using those stings were racial or ethnic minorities, USA TODAY found after reviewing court files and prison records from across the United States. Nearly all were either black or Hispanic. That rate is far higher than among people arrested for big-city violent crimes, or for other federal robbery, drug and gun offenses.

The ATF operations raise particular concerns because they seek to enlist suspected criminals in new crimes rather than merely solving old ones, giving agents and their underworld informants unusually wide latitude to select who will be targeted. In some cases, informants said they identified targets for the stings after simply meeting them on the street....

Just for the record, the 'idea' of selling single cigarettes to people who cannot afford a pack isn't really the focus of the ATF. Why is it the focus of NYPD? 

...Illicit tobacco trade, (click here) which includes smuggling, bootlegging and related tax evasion schemes, is a major global problem....

Mr. Garner would never be the focus of a federal probe. Why was he the focus for New York? This is hideous. Completely hideous and a man is dead because the police aren't rounding up murderers and those smuggling drugs and tobacco into the country. There were at least seven police involved in the death of Mr. Garner. Really?

The real grim reaper is Wall Street.

It would seem as though Wall Street is already picking over the bones of Malaysian Airlines. It is disgusting to say the least.

There is every indication there may have been people alive in their fall to Earth after the missile hit the Malaysian Airliner. The reports coming from the crash site describes people intact still strapped into their seats with clothing and jewelry.

No one could ever survive the fall. The person falling through the sky IF there was enough oxygen to support them at 33,000 feet when the initial missile exploded would have met death as soon as their seat hit the ground. The velocity alone may have proved too much for the human respiratory system to actually breath.

I was more than impressed that Russia has consented to a UN resolution regarding this tragedy. With all the anger leveled at Russia, it's current leadership is attempting to rise above the anger to bring about an understanding they are willing to be a part of the global consensus to resolve all there is to resolve.

Russia has sincere responsibility to bring about a reality to this event as they were monitoring their border with eastern Ukraine. But, Russia also has to realize the separatists that appear to be the people responsible for this tragedy identify themselves with an overthrow of a sovereign nation in Ukraine. The dissolution of the treaty was an impetus to the separatists current standing, buoyed by the Russian hubris regarding the Crimean Peninsula. Now, while that seems like an insult to Russia, the treaty was an international document.

Russia should build it's way back to status by recapturing the spirit of the treaty and return it's status to secure the borders and economy of Ukraine. If Russia willed the end of the separatist movement by returning an international treaty to it's status it would limit any legitimate reason for the continued conflict and would place Ukraine and Russia on the same side against any violence within Ukraine borders.

July 19, 2014

Red Reed Contributor

After two fatal crashes (click here) in five months, Malaysia Airlines faces a high barrier to continued operations, because history shows that the combination of crashes and financial difficulties has repeatedly contributed to carriers’ demise.

Aviation consultant Bob Mann said Malaysia Airlines’ continued existence was already threatened by poor financial results, particularly following the March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370.  The crash of Flight 17, shot down over Ukraine on Thursday, “is not going to help,” he said.

Although Malaysia Airlines is highly regarded for its service levels, “there’s a big distinction between service quality and technical merit, on the one hand, and being financially solvent enough to be around,” Mann said....

As far as Malaysian Airlines, it has a future. There are many people employed within an airline once considered a superior flight company. There will be no doubt some struggles until responsibility is assigned to this current tragedy, but, I doubt anyone wants it to fail.

The UN needs to invoke standards as to when a region of the world cannot be trusted for commercial flights. This was obviously a surprise in the missile launch that killed 285 people. It was hardly Malaysian Airlines fault as it was as naive as any other airline in route from Europe that day.

Wall Street needs to find CIVILITY within it's ranks as it would actually prevent financial failure as if it needs to reminded about financial failures. It was believed Wall Street was once lined with gentlemen and gentlewomen whom actually conducted business to benefit people. Not wolves looking forward to destroying economic vitality at every OPPORTUNITY. 

I always believed Wall Street's character descriptions was that of bears and bulls. It would seem as though the real character description is a blood thirsty pack of wolves comprised of Alphas competing for the same territory.

It isn't Hamas that doesn't care. Israel is diluted to believe this is not their problem.

Israel has been violating the trust of the Palestinians and the global community for decades now. The last agreement was a "Road Map" in 2003. The original UN partition plan is startling to realize how much land has been lost by the Palestinians. The original partition was from 1947. 

July 21, 2014
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) blamed Hamas on Monday for trying to “pile up the bodies” of its own Palestinian people to generate sympathy while it fires more rockets into Israel — and Hamas responded by pointing the finger back at Israel.

In an interview with NBC News' Brian Williams, Netanyahu said that Israel had no choice but to defend itself and said the Palestinian militants are culpable for mounting civilian casualties.

"They just don’t care," said Netanyahu It’s important to make that clear. They are responsible for all the civilian deaths, which we seek to minimize."...

The whittling away of the Palestinian Territory over sixty-seven years has been astounding and the USA has been right in the middle of it. Every peace process was a more and more allowance to Israel.

I am quite confident everyone knows these maps as well. It is a crime if not a human rights tragedy to realize what blatant power can do to a nation of people.

The Palestinians are being forced to move from their land with a moving border and fence or wall at any whim by Israel. The Palestinian cry for their homeland has been muted by a BRANDING of "Terrorists."

When one considers the impoverishment of these people and their inability to live within their homeland; can it be a branding as terrorists sincerely deserving of their actions? Not anymore. The lack of faith in Israel to settle within borders is a growing concern to the stability of the entire region. What will stop Israel once the Palestinian lands are finally absorbed into it's borders?

I have heard the ranting by Israelis about how after 20 years of occupation any nation of people are entitled to it's borders. Somehow, the land Israel was presented with in 1947 was insufficient and the future would only hold a promise to defeat the rightful inhabitants of more and more of their land. The war and hostilities between these two nations of people GREW over the decades and it isn't Israel that is the aggrieved. 

The USA has been an ally of Israel since it's inception and rightfully so. But, to continue to ignore the problems the Palestinians have faced that have brought them to this precipice is the greatest injustice.

The Palestinians have a right to their homeland and it was President Obama that has called for the return of the 1967 AGREED border swap. That means the Palestinians have a homeland as due Hebrews. 

August 4, 2011
...Israeli officials (click here) said this framework would be a package deal whereby Israel would agree to entering negotiations using the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed upon swaps, as the baseline of talks; and the Palestinians would agree that the final goal of negotiations would be two states, a Palestinian one and Jewish one....

The Palestinians cannot live in mid-air. They cannot live forever on promises while their land disappears before their eyes. The killing has to stop. The peace agreement has to prevail and the border swaps concluded and finalized. We have all had quite enough of the labeling of terrorists while their future disappears as I write this. Israel is wrong. Israel is wrong in every meaning of the word and it has lost the moral stranding to continue their wars against a people unable to defend themselves.

I didn't need a Palestinian to brainwash me. I have watched and listened and supported efforts with Israel as a champion of peace. Israel lost it's moral arguments. They are old words and old images and it is quite enough.

Deaths in Israeli - Palestine conflicts since September 2000.

I agree with Secretary Kerry. Israel simply doesn't bother to engage in policing, it engages in disruption of  lives to drive them from Gaza. The strategy of "...we will continue the assault on Gaza until the rockets stop..." is to provide a reason, not a necessary reason, to remove and/or kill Palestinians while Israel continues it's settlements in West Bank lands.

July 21, 2014
..."It's a hell of a pinpoint operation. (click here) It's a hell of a pinpoint operation," he said during the call, which was broadcast on Fox News Sunday.
While Washington says Israel has a right to defend itself from rocket attacks launched out of Gaza, American diplomats have called on the Israelis to restrict themselves to a precise operation in the ground campaign launched on Thursday.
On Sunday, more than 60 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed as Israel shelled a Gaza neighbourhood and battled militants. Thirteen Israeli soldiers also were killed. Mr Kerry was expected to travel to the Middle East soon to press for a ceasefire.
"We got to get over there," Mr Kerry said in his overheard comments, apparently to an aide. "I think, John, we ought to go tonight. I think it's crazy to be sitting around."...

There was a time when Israel could target militants and kill them once there were known to be hostile to peace policies. I witnessed the exactly measure Israel used without killing innocent people. Today, that technology no longer serves the political narrative in Israel for more Israeli settlements. 

July 19, 2014
By Ben Lynfield
 

The Israeli operation in Gaza (click here) has aroused intense feelings of solidarity among West Bank Palestinians for their Gaza counterparts, fueling anger that could easily be sparked into widespread unrest.
''People can't sit idly and watch their brothers dying in Gaza,'' says Mahdi Abdul Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs. ''What happens in the West Bank now will depend on how far the Israeli army will go ahead with reoccupying and dividing Gaza. It's too early to say but there is anger and frustration among the youth.''
Although there have been localized clashes in the West Bank since the brutal murder of an East Jerusalem teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, was followed by the launch of Israel's Gaza operation, mass protests have been noticeably absent. Although the anger is there, Palestinian security forces' efforts to contain demonstrations coupled with reticence to see a repeat of the violence and chaos of the second intifada seems to have so far curtailed greater action. 
Neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority want to see another front of the war open in the West Bank, which is mostly under Israeli military control but contains self-rule enclaves nominally governed by the Palestinian Authority....

More abuse by NYPD. Eric Garner should be alive today.

There have been over 1,000 complaints of New York City police misconduct (click here) in recent years regarding officers’ use of chokeholds, a city agency that is investigating the incidents said days after a man put into hold by police died in Staten Island.
 
The Civilian Complaint Review Board has received charges of about 1,022 instances since 2009 in which New York Police Department (NYPD) officers were accused of using chokeholds. Use of such holds are prohibited by the NYPD’s patrol guidelines, which outline a chokehold as a “any pressure to the throat or windpipe, which may prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air.”
Richard Emery, the chairman of the complaint review board, said the agency was “in the unique position of being able to look at the chokehold complaints it has received to attempt to discern why officers continue to use this forbidden practice.”
 
In only nine of the 1,022 instances has the board gathered enough evidence to definitively say a chokehold had been used. In hundreds of other cases, the board did not have enough evidence to make a determination, or the investigations fell apart when the person lodging the allegation could not be reached or stopped cooperating. 

The review board’s study of the incidents was announced on Saturday, two days after Eric Garner, 43, died when officers appeared to use a chokehold - Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has confirmed - in the process of arresting him on a sidewalk in Staten Island.... 

Albequerque is looking for more homeless victims of violence while it's police force is still under surveillance and investigation.

July 21, 2014
By Tracy Connor
The vicious beating death (click here) of two homeless home in Albuquerque, New Mexico — allegedly by three teenagers who claim to have assaulted 50 vagrants in a few months — has detectives trying to track down other victims.

A police spokesman said Monday that investigators are reviewing unsolved homicides and an outreach team is asking transients if they heard about any attacks that may not have been reported, Officer Simon Drobik told NBC News.

"Because of the nature of the violence they committed on these victims, this isn't the first time they done this," Drobik said. "We believe they did commit other crimes like this."...