12/31/14

Indiana Bones – Raiders of the Lost Bark

Hat Tip: BB / The Real Revo

This is too funny… we used to have a dog named Indiana Bones – no, really. Seriously… you made the cats into Nazis! Oh well, instead of Nazi gold, you get hair balls. Happy New Year everyone!

Tweet Link: http://ctt.ec/BXnm3
When his owner Zach leaves for the afternoon, little Indiana Bones discovers adventure in search of his lost bark. This video was created with 3 rolls of duct tape, 108 glue sticks, 18 large boxes of cardboard, a few all nighters with an adorable puppy.

Music by:
Andrew Gerlicher & Trevor Alan Gomes
https://www.youtube.com/ForgeTrackAud…

Sound Design by the Wave Shop Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/waveshopaudio

Amazing Poster Artwork by Josh Kenfield. See the Indiana Bones Poster here: http://www.indianabonesmovie.com
http://www.joshkenfield.com

Bark Ceremony Visual Effects by
Rick Cortez of Brotherhood Workshop

Puppy – http://instagram.com/thekingspuppy

Produced & Directed by
Zach King & Jadon Gauthier

Special Thanks
Aaron Bentiez
Annie King
Nolan Scott
Miles Bocianski

12/31/14

We Must Hope

Arlene from Israel

I comment every year at this time about the difference between the way the secular new year and the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) are celebrated.  In the Jewish tradition it is a time for prayer and introspection.

This year in particular, I think, the difference is marked.  For the year 2014, in retrospect, does not leave much room for celebrating (except, of course, on a personal level).

 

Nor can we face the advent of 2015 filled with facile optimism.  I, myself, don’t see this as a time for fireworks and champagne – although I am sure there will be much in the way of fireworks and champagne in various venues.

This said, we are forbidden to despair. There is always room for hope. We SHOULD hope for better times, and resolve to do all possible to bring them to fruition.  And there is something about turning that calendar page, with a new year marked on it, that increases the sense of hope – makes hope feel more possible.

 

And so, I extend to my dear readers my heartfelt wishes that at a personal level you should find the year 2015 a very good one.

And for the larger world, I pray for the serious weakening of radical forces, (they should self-destruct) with strong and wise leadership in the democracies holding sway (I can dream).  A diminution of disease and poverty and hatred.  An increase in loving-kindness and acts of simple humanity, one to the other.

May we all be able to sleep easily and have much reason for laughter in the 12 months ahead.

~~~~~~~~~~

If not for the incoming year, I would not have written again today.  For today is the Likud primary – a time when all those who are members of the party have the opportunity to select the candidates who will appear on the list for the elections.  We will not have results for a day or two.

What we know, with almost a certainty, is that Binyamin Netanyahu will head the list, and is likely to emerge, once again, as prime minister. What also seems to be the case – we shall see – is that a number of right wing/nationalist candidates will be high up on the list, thus guaranteed seats in the Knesset.

Perhaps in the end, when the Israeli election is held, there will be cause for great hope. For Habayit Hayehudi seems to be growing stronger as well, while certain other parties, such as Livni’s, seem to be on the cusp of disappearing.

But right now, the political circus – when monitored carefully – tends to promote a headache.  Or a stomach ache.  I will examine some of the diverse parameters in an upcoming posting – at the same time that I report on the Likud primary results.  I confess, the situation has been so fluid and frequently unpleasant that I’ve been reluctant to report on it in any detail.

~~~~~~~~~~

What I will report on here are the results of the vote on a Palestinian state held last night in the Security Council: It did not pass – there were eight votes for, and not the required nine, so that the US did not have to veto.

But here too we see a situation that was very fluid.  At one point late yesterday, PA spokespersons said that they had the necessary majority of nine, as France – a big disappointment – and Luxembourg had decided they would vote in favor.  But at the very last moment, Nigeria had second thoughts and decided to abstain instead because a negotiated settlement is required.

Along with France and Luxembourg, China, Jordan, Russia, Argentina, Chad and Chile voted for the resolution, while the UK, South Korea, Rwanda, and Lithuania abstained.  The US and Australia voted against.

What will happen next is anyone’s guess, as PA representatives are prone to making a variety of threats.

~~~~~~~~~~

For the last post of 2014, a site that describes some of Israel’s innovations of the past year:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/10-israeli-tech-ideas-that-changed-the-world-in-2014/

My favorite is the ReWalk, which is an “Israeli-developed exoskeleton system that enables the paralyzed to walk…Using computers and motion sensors for the heavy lifting, ReWalk allows independent, controlled walking similar to that of an able-bodied person. The system controls movement using subtle changes in the center of gravity, mimics a natural gait and provides functional walking speed, enabling even paraplegics to move independently.”

The ReWalk in action (Courtesy)

Courtesy
Amazing.  If things such as this are being done, there is definitely hope.

12/31/14

Russia denies shooting down Santa, blames U.S. propaganda

The People’s Cube
By Oleg Atbashian | First published in the American Thinker

Santa Kremlin rocketThis isn’t satire and I’m not making this up. When an obscure American satirical blog, The Daily Currant, posted a funny spoof titled, Russia Shoots Down Santa’s Sleigh Near North Pole, the story quickly became viral on the Russian Internet thanks to the Russian-language version of the RT website, which translated several excerpts and posted them with some editorial comments.

This is where the “life imitates satire” part begins. While everyone realized this was a joke, many Russian readers, swept by the current wave of militant nationalism, turned the comment sections of blogs and news websites into an anti-American hate-fest, gloating over Santa’s death, praising Russia’s military, disparaging Western consumerism, and wishing that Western leaders attending Santa’s funeral on the North Pole would drown along with St. Nick’s dead body. Some even expressed concern that certain nitwits out there may think the story is real and will draw incorrect conclusions about Russia’s peaceful policies. All of them unwittingly proved the point of the Daily Currant’s satire:

Several ultra-nationalist politicians in Moscow have praised the downing, which targeted a popular Western celebrity. “Santa Claus is a symbol of Western decadence and consumerism,” said Alexei Onnatopp, leader of the far-right Golden Bear party. “Whoever killed this fat, corrupt man is a patriot and a hero.”

But it gets curioser. Some serious publications, such as the Moscow-based business daily Vzglyad (Viewpoint) and the National Defense magazine, added to the controversy by describing this satire as vicious imperialist propaganda, unleashed by the U.S. government against Russia and its glorious president, Vladimir Putin.

Santa shot down

Below is my somewhat shortened translation of the article from Vzglyad, which is chillingly reminiscent of the Pravda editorials of the Cold War era.

Foreign jokesters reported the sensational news: Russian military has allegedly destroyed the sleigh of Santa Claus over the Arctic Ocean, on his way to deliver gifts. Jokes aside, experts believe that this story draws an analogy with the real tragedy of the downed Boeing over Ukraine and the world’s reaction to it. They see this “news” as yet another wave of attacks in the information campaign organized by the West against Russia.

American satirical blog The Daily Currant reported that Russia’s Air Defense shot down Santa’s sleigh over the Arctic Ocean, with a missile launched from the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

According to the source, fragments of the sled were allegedly found in Arctic waters by a “Norwegian fisherman.” He said that Santa and most of his reindeer have died, except for the famous Rudolph, who was quickly identified by the red nose, reports RT.

dead Santa“Although Russia has officially denied involvement in the incident, U.S. intelligence forces say they have proof the missile was fired from a Russian military installation on the island,” the joke goes on. “Several ultra-nationalist politicians in Moscow have praised the downing, which targeted a popular Western celebrity.”

Washington, meanwhile, vowed an “appropriate response to the tragedy,” the article says. President Barack Obama, in particular, promised the tightening of sanctions against Moscow. “Vladimir Putin has threatened the hopes and dreams of children around the world. He will be brought to justice,” the website quotes the American president.

Yet another provocation

According to the editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, we can laugh at this “news,” but we can also draw some disturbing conclusions.

“This is just more of the same information war that is being waged against our country,” he said. “Santa’s flight is of an entirely virtual nature, it is modeled on NORAD computers, and no one ever actually observes any flying objects. This is to some extent a tribute to the Western New Year’s culture.”

“As for the sensationalist news that the Russians have shot someone down over the North Pole – and not just anyone, but Santa Claus’s sleigh… This is another attempt to continue with the devious smear campaign, to reinforce in the heads of the narrow-minded Westerners the previously disseminated lie that it was Russia’s fault that the Malaysian Boeing had been shot down over Ukraine. What they’re telling us is this: look, Russians are now so brutal, they’re even shooting down Santa Claus,” added Korochenko.

According to him, not everyone will see this as a joke. “For some people in the West who are ignorant of certain technical subtleties, for those children who believe in Santa Claus, this news undermines their New Year expectations (the speaker once again confuses the New Year with Christmas – O.A.). That is, there is an ongoing effort to demonize Russia by means of such vulgar and repugnant injections of manufactured information,” said the head of the National Defense magazine.

He also commented in jest that Russia’s Aerospace Defense would surely “provide Santa Claus and his escort the necessary corridor and would not only shoot it down, but would give it the green light all the way.”

The military expert also advised that the (American) authors of the jocular provocation should see a psychiatrist and “check themselves for certain phobias that make them look bad.”

I kid you not. The article further recalls the crash of the Malaysian Boeing-777 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, which killed 298 people on board. This is followed by an obligatory recitation of “alternative” versions of events and conspiracy theories that have since been disseminated by Russia’s state-run news agencies, ending with blaming the U.S. and other Western governments of immediately “using this tragedy in their information war against Russia,” citing such “notorious warmongers” as Obama and Biden.

“By the way,” writes Vzglyad, “we would be interested in hearing the comments about the Santa’s sled ‘downed’ over the Russian Arctic from certain representatives of the U.S. government, such as, the spokesperson for the Department of State, Jen Psaki. Will she also lay the responsibility on Moscow? And in how many hours after the ‘tragedy’?”

Santa shot down

It remains unclear if the quoted Russian journalists seriously believe that Barack Obama’s government had orchestrated The Daily Currant’s satire, or they are simply throwing out clues for inflamed minds to connect the dots. In any event, such simultaneously parochial and angry articles have lately become more of a rule than an exception in Russia, inadvertently illustrating the pitiful intellectual and moral condition to which the official media and about 80% of its audiences have been reduced to by Putin’s “postmodern” dictatorship.

Santa Kremlin rocketHaving grown up in the USSR and seeing the workings of the Soviet propaganda first-hand, I used to attribute the success of the centralized, state-sponsored ideological brainwashing to the lack of competition. The unholy trinity of the Party, the State, and the KGB had conveniently blocked all outside sources of information, enjoying an absolute, 70-year-long propaganda monopoly in the media, culture, and education.

But today’s success of Putin’s propaganda machine operating in the open information space has put that idea to rest.

It’s important to realize that to a Soviet citizen, “propaganda” was not a derogatory term, but rather an inevitable default setting of the Cold War reality. The so-called “Propaganda Departments” officially functioned in the open, disseminating “correct” opinions about various events happening domestically and internationally, to be repeated by the Soviet media and internalized by the population. Thus propaganda was generally accepted as an essential, even vital part of life: our “good” propaganda was necessary to immunize us from their “evil” propaganda. dead Santa

My generation grew up believing that we were surrounded by deadly imperialist enemies, whose capitalist media, motivated by hatred and money, conducted a planned, centralized, state-sponsored ideological brainwashing of their own populations, in addition to manufacturing anti-Soviet propaganda for distribution inside the USSR.

Years later, it took a lot of effort on my part to dismantle, metaphorically speaking, the intricate system of curved mirrors and screens that had been installed in our heads by the “benevolent” propaganda with our own consent. In our defense, we didn’t know better at the time. What’s this generation’s excuse? And what causes a sizeable number of people in the West to fall for the propaganda coming out of the Kremlin today?

Santa Kremlin rocketA Western reader must also realize that in modern Russia the term “propaganda” has outlived its usefulness and has been replaced with a more comprehensive term, “political technologies.” “Political technologies” is a science of massive mind manipulation that has been perfected in Russia to a state of art – dark art, to be sure – involving politics, sociology, psychology, public relations, marketing, advertising, as well as a great deal of cynicism and corruption. In comparison, Barack Obama’s election campaigns, OFA, Acorn, and Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals are mere child’s play.

And, just as erstwhile Propaganda Departments, modern Russia’s “political technologists” operate in the open, protected by the general acceptance of a planted notion that the rest of the world also lives by these rules: “everyone is doing it, and if it’s our political technologists against theirs, we’ll be better off sticking with ours.”

The 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire once said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” That is, indeed, a great trick, but hardly the greatest. The devil’s even greater and, therefore, less known trick, was to convince the world that God is just as much of an evil, corrupt, and conniving trickster as he is, if not worse. The acceptance that both sides are morally equal has allowed the devil to stop living incognito, get out into the big wide world, start a legitimate business, print out business cards with his real name and contact information, put his face on a billboard, and make a good living by consulting the Russian government.

If truth and justice are nowhere to be found and every political system is equally evil and corrupt, the only way to survive it is to stick to your own kind, right or wrong. Hence, the fervent nationalism and xenophobia that are sweeping Putin’s Russia, now officially endorsed by the President and blessed by the corrupt Russian Orthodox Church.

Perhaps, the most effective and harmful “curved mirror” that had been planted in the minds of the Russian public since the times of the previous Cold War was the idea that nothing happens in the Western world outside the control of the “capitalist ruling class,” and that everything that gets written or published in the Western media has been carefully orchestrated by the powers to be.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Western “ruling classes” in this picture are indistinguishable from Russia’s ruling classes except for the foreign, harder-to-pronounce names – and now they even get their suits made by the same fashion designers.

dead SantaLiving in a non-Western totalitarian country with state-run media, it’s easy to believe that American and European “imperialists” are likewise running a well-oiled, state-run, and centrally operated propaganda machine that manufactures and distributes cynical disinformation. Such a perception affects even those Russians who are sympathetic towards America and Europe, distorting their judgment of events – let alone those with an aversion to all things Western.

By convincing people that “the enemy” is engaging in the same kind of propaganda and disinformation as the domestic state-run media does, Putin’s “political technologists” have as much as cloned the Iron Curtain, placing its small replicas in millions of individual heads. The individual, portable Iron Curtain works even better than the former big one that encircled the entire country: it effectively captures and filters out any “undesirable” information even if the carrier speaks English, watches Fox News, browses the World-Wide Web, or travels overseas.

Not only is the Kremlin pulling this trick domestically – for the longest time it has been exporting this thoroughly foreign idea to the Western world, where it already has taken root and blossomed in perverse imaginations of conspiracy theorists (World Trade Center, Kennedy assassination, etc.), as well as various leftist intellectuals in the media, Hollywood, and academia.

Some of my American friends will argue that the Western media is indeed a well-oiled, centrally operated propaganda machine – except that it is controlled, not so much by the capitalists as by their opponents on the international Left. I’d say those are apples and oranges. But whatever the case, it is ridiculous to suggest that The Daily Currant is controlled from the same bunker as The New York Times.

Santa Kremlin rocketThe notion that nothing in the West happens outside the control of the ruling class is, of course, a forced projection on the part of “projectionists” – previously of the Soviet totalitarianism and now of the so-called “postmodern” or “soft” totalitarianism as it exists in Russia today.

Such projections are usually effective in destroying and demoralizing the opponent, but they also have a weak spot. The projected picture can give us a good preview of what the “projectionists” are up to themselves. In this case, the plans and the mindset of Putin’s political technologists are clearly visible in the talking points and the choice of words of the above media and defense “experts”:

…Ongoing effort to demonize Russia… Vulgar and repugnant injections of manufactured information… Devious smear campaign, to reinforce in the heads of the narrow-minded Westerners the previously disseminated lie… Information campaign organized by the West against Russia… Yet another provocation… More of the same information war that is being waged against our country…

Quite some time ago I have discovered a rule that is being proven over and over by current events: the dark image of the “evil and corrupt” Western societies that the Kremlin rulers have always painted to the world is, in fact, precisely the dystopia we would all have lived in had the same rulers taken over the world.

The latest example is the eastern Ukraine. First, the Kremlin uses its subservient media to “zombify” many Russians, as well as some sympathetic Ukrainians and Westerners, into believing that the recent Ukrainian revolution was engineered and paid for by the U.S. government according to a widely publicized but a completely paranoid, manufactured scenario. Next, the Kremlin itself enacts exactly the same scenario in the Crimea and the eastern regions of Ukraine, saying that if the Americans could pull it off, so can the Russians, and be entirely justified in doing so. Right away, a host of FSB, SVR, and GRU agents infiltrate Ukraine to stage a “popular” uprising against the Ukrainian “junta” – an uprising that wouldn’t last a day without the Kremlin’s money, weapons, military intelligence, and the non-stop media propaganda.

dead SantaThe result is two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” called DPR and LPR – or, rather, two devastated, impoverished, angry, and crime-ridden quasi-socialist dystopias ruled by rival military gangs, with no hope for the future and no signs of healing in sight. The Crimea was spared the war due to a quick annexation by Russia, but the situation there isn’t much better.

The previous Cold War was fought not just on the proxy battlefields of the Third World; a much bigger and a more important fight was happening on the information battlefield worldwide – a battlefield of perceptions that was conceived, designed, and almost entirely controlled by the Kremlin. That was how America lost Vietnam – not to the North Vietnamese Army, but to the Soviet propaganda machine operating in the West.

Make no mistake, Putin has already started a new Cold War against the United States, fighting it with the same methods and using the same networks he inherited from the old KGB, which he himself used to be a part of. It’s time America stopped pretending this isn’t happening and began to fight back.

12/31/14

CNN Moves on to New “Scandal”

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

CNN contributed to the atmosphere in which two New York City police officers were murdered last week. Then, it shed tears for the dead cops. Their contribution included their inaccurate and sensationalized coverage of police confrontations with black criminals. Now, CNN is moving on, as Republicans prepare to take over both Houses of Congress. The new target: a top House Republican who associated with extremists.

CNN wants people to believe the GOP is racked by various New Year’s scandals, including that House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) spoke to a pro-white group in 2002. Scrambling to answer to the liberal media mob, Rep. Scalise is putting out various statements, such as that he didn’t know what the group was all about. He said he now finds the group’s pro-white views abhorrent.

But why hasn’t there been a smidgeon of attention on CNN for the fact that Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis (IL) was honored at the Communist Party’s headquarters in Chicago for a lifetime of “inspiring leadership.”

The Davis “honor” was only two years ago, in 2012. Scalise spoke to the pro-white group 12 years ago.

Welcome to the world of liberal media bias.

Another difference is that Rep. Davis knew precisely what the event was all about. In fact, he was proud of being honored by communists. But that’s not a story, even though communism is still very much alive, having already killed about 100 million people. The North Korean regime, the subject of so much attention in recent days, is run by communists. So is Cuba.

Once again, for the umpteenth time, we are given a demonstration of the liberal media’s double standard. Associating with alleged extremists is only a problem for Republicans, not Democrats.

Republicans have to learn that being perceived as pro-white is wrong; being pro-black and/or pro-Red is fine. That’s why Republican Senator Rand Paul (KY) gets praise for meeting with racial agitator Al Sharpton to talk about “criminal justice reform.”

But speaking 12 years ago to a group, started by David Duke, who wasn’t even at the event in question, is now a major scandal for the Republican Party, as defined by CNN.

Davis, of course, is given even more leeway because he is President Obama’s buddy. Davis and Obama were members of the Chicago New Party, a group designed to move the Democratic Party to the left. They appeared together to talk about their shared values.

Jeremy Segal, a disciple of the late Andrew Breitbart, produced a video of Rep. Davis being honored by the communists. No video of Rep. Scalise’s 12-year-old speech has yet surfaced. But it’s bad enough, from CNN’s perspective, that he apparently did speak to the group and that information about the appearance was dug up by a liberal blogger. This makes it a huge scandal.

The stench of the double-standard is made worse by the fact that CNN employs cop-killer apologist Marc Lamont Hill as a paid contributor. Hill sings the praises of convicted terrorist Joanne Chesimard, who was involved in the “execution style” murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. She fled to Cuba to escape justice. Hill’s Twitter page had once been plastered with police mug shot photos of the convicted terrorist. In one post, Hill praised the terrorist, saying she was “one of the great heroes in the black freedom struggle.”

The Scalise “scandal” is based on the allegation that he spoke to a group run by David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who was not even at the event and had “moved to Russia,” according to various reports. As we have noted, Duke now has connections to a Vladimir Putin adviser and apparently sees the Russian regime as the savior of white people worldwide.

Scalise ran the group of House conservatives known as the Republican Study Committee. Speaking of extremists, we noted in 2013 that Scalise failed to take a stand against the expansion of terror TV channel Al Jazeera in the U.S. He told us through a spokesperson that he “believes Al Jazeera has a First Amendment right to expand its broadcasts in the United States and that a congressional investigation of Al Gore’s deal with the channel is not warranted.” We had asked for his position on the deal when Gore was selling his stake in Current TV to Al Jazeera.

We noted, “By offering the First Amendment excuse in favor of the deal, Scalise is ignoring the evidence that Al Jazeera is not a legitimate news operation but rather a conduit for propaganda from terrorist groups, with whom it has intimate and ongoing relations.” We explained that, in the United States, it is against the law to provide material support to terrorists, with “material support” defined as including expert advice or assistance and communications equipment.

The deal went ahead because Rep. Scalise and other top Republicans, including Rep. Michael McCaul (TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, refused to investigate or hold hearings on the deal. We later found out that Al Jazeera and Qatar had hired Capitol Hill lobbyists to push the deal through.

Regarding the aforementioned Marc Lamont Hill, Fox News fired him as a paid contributor on the channel, after we brought his extremist views to the attention of News Corporation executive chairman Rupert Murdoch. CNN didn’t bat an eye in picking him up as a commentator and contributor.

We noted that, on December 6, 2006, when reports indicated that Cuban dictator Fidel Castro was sick, Hill declared on his blog that he was afraid the information might be true. “My fears about Fidel’s health are not only personal but political,” he wrote.

Some of the more extreme material has been scrubbed from his site, but he still features a letter from Chesimard from an undisclosed location in communist Cuba. Chesimard declared, “I am 60 years old and I am proud to be one of those people who stood up against the ruthless, evil, imperialist policies of the U.S. government.” Hill commented, “Let us give thanks for her life and her sacrifice.”

This is apparently acceptable to CNN, which now pretends to honor the sacrifices of our police officers.

On her birthday, Hill tweeted, “Happy Birthday to Assata Shakur on her 67th Birthday. Wishing you 100 more years of love, struggle, and freedom.”

CNN has no problem paying an apologist for a cop-killer living under the protection of the communist regime in Cuba. But it will be on top of Scalise’s 12-year-old speaking engagement to a pro-white group as long as it thinks it can milk some ratings from the controversy.

But forget about CNN covering Danny Davis’s communist connection. If they raised that, they might have to take a look at Obama’s relationship with Rep. Davis—and another Davis, the one named Frank Marshall Davis, his communist mentor. And that is definitely a taboo subject.

How can these CNN anchors and commentators keep a straight face? Should we really take them seriously? Is acting like MSNBC one of their New Year’s resolutions?

12/31/14

Try not to kill anyone…

By: T F Stern
T F Stern’s Rantings

DWIThe year is ending and a new one’s just around the corner.  Tennyson touched on the topic, Ring Out, Loud Bells, the passing of moments, change and hope all rolled into a cautiously cadenced hymn.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

You’ve likely seen infomercials warning folks not to drink and drive, images of police painted to blend in with their surroundings as inebriated individuals stagger down the sidewalk on the way to the parking lot without care.

A few moments later the irresponsible individual is driving down the road, crossing the double yellow stripe into on coming traffic and weaving back at the last moment, the lights and siren bring the warning home as the driver is placed in the back of a police cruiser in handcuffs.  Don’t let this be you.

While working night shift as a police officer I had my share of DWI arrests.  The tell tale signs would present themselves; trouble holding the vehicle in one lane, poor reactions or inappropriate reactions alerted me to follow and observe a little longer.

One fellow was driving well below the speed limit down the main lanes of Interstate 10 from downtown.  He caught my attention when he began braking for traffic lights that were on the service road.  He’d stop and wait for the light to turn green prior to continuing down the freeway as other drivers figured out how to get past without tangling fenders.   Thank goodness it was four in the morning and traffic was very thin.

Then there was a rare ‘foot chase’ DWI; not making this up, stopped a DWI on foot.  The suspect was bouncing from one curb line to the other all the way down Kempwood in an industrial area; but headed for a residential area.   My rookie was on his 2nd week of night shift so he’d earned the opportunity to actually drive the police unit.  He wasn’t sure what to do as we followed the DWI suspect at speeds reaching between 3 to 5 miles an hour; but wouldn’t stop.

The red lights and siren hadn’t gotten his attention so I stepped out of the police car and ran along side the suspect, tapping on his window to get his attention.  The look on his face was priceless as he came to a stop; believing his vehicle had been traveling at posted speed he must have thought he’d been arrested by Superman.  He was actually relieved as his nightmare ended without anyone being killed.

Of course there are other threats on New Year’s Eve, idiots shooting guns into the air as they ring in midnight.  The laws of gravity make this type of behavior doubly dangerous as pieces of lead can be heard falling through the leaves on trees all about.

I did my best to be tied up on some unimportant incident requiring a police report, a very long police report that would last until well after midnight and most of the insanity; you don’t make it to retirement by being stupid.

We had a ‘gung-ho’ new night shift sergeant one year who wanted to impress everyone with his bravado.  Several units, myself included, were told to meet about a block or so from a major low income apartment project where several fireworks complaints had been reported.  Off in the distance we could hear shotguns going off, an occasional rifle being discharged; all this mixed in with bottle rockets and other sundry fireworks that lighted up the night sky.

We were about to get under way when some fool let go with a fully automatic 9mm machine pistol in the middle of the project followed by a few more shotgun blasts into the air.  It was about that time when our fearless leader realized how futile our presence would be; but beyond that, furnishing some tanked up idiot to use our police cars for target practice.

DWIIt was decided that we’d hold off until such time as an actual complaint from one of the citizens was lodged.  Until that time we were instructed to remain in service and to ‘be careful’.

It’s become even more serious in our present day world, a world where a certain element of our society has declared war on police officers.

What’s to keep these degenerates from using the chaos of New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to take out an unsuspecting cop responding to a fireworks complaint?   The suspect can claim it wasn’t him, must have been a stray bullet from some other fool’s gun.  The world has gotten much more dangerous for the ‘thin blue line’.

I’ll pass the same instructions on at this time, y’all be careful out there.  Happy New Year; and oh, try not to kill anyone and make sure you get home at the end of shift.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

12/31/14

A Somber View

Arlene from Israel

Very somber, my friends.  The situation in the world is not worrisome – it’s terrifying.  Consider:

In an interview with NPR, President Obama said that Iran could become a “very successful regional power” if it agrees to a nuclear deal.  He said things must move slowly but he wouldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of opening a US embassy in Tehran before his term ran out.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-iran-could-be-a-very-successful-regional-power/

~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT?  There is nothing on the table in negotiations with Iran at the moment that is serious enough to prevent Iran’s nuclear advancement. The Iranians – a threat to the world – are running rings around an eager Obama.

In fact:

“A commander of Iran’s widely feared Basij paramilitary corps has inadvertently confessed that the Tehran regime aims to build up an arsenal of nuclear and chemical weapons.

“Abdul Reza Dashti, the head Basij commander in Bushehr – a city on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast that contains the Bushehr nuclear power plant, one of the regime’s key installations – had been addressing the fight against ‘foreign influences’ in Iran when he made the admission, according to a report by the official news agency IRNA.”

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/12/29/iranian-paramilitary-commander-reportedly-admits-tehrans-goal-of-achieving-atomic-and-chemical-weapons/

And see this article by Jonathan Tobin, editor of Commentary, on the Iranian situation:

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/12/08/iran-cheating-debunks-biden-kerry-boasts-nuclear-arak/

~~~~~~~~~~

Obama is worthless on this because of his own orientation, motivation. But where is everyone else? This is the stuff of nightmares.

~~~~~~~~~~

Then, as if there isn’t enough with the Iranian situation to prevent peaceful sleep, there is the on-going situation at the UN Security Council. Not nearly as troubling as Iran, but, yes, troubling, on several scores because of diplomatic implications, not legal ones.

Jordan has submitted a draft PA resolution to the Security Council.

Originally, Kerry had hedged on whether the US would veto such a proposal.  It was clear that he was looking for revisions that would soften its terms, so that he wouldn’t have to veto it.  But what has happened instead is that Jordan strengthened the terms, with the approval of the Arab League.

The current version calls for a complete end to Israel “occupation” within three years, with a Palestinian state to be established within the “June 1967 borders” (sic) and East” Jerusalem to be the Palestinian capital.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-palestinian-bid-calls-for-e-jerusalem-capital-just-solution/

~~~~~~~~~~

As for “East Jerusalem,” there is no such thing. There is one city of Jerusalem.  What is meant, in actuality, is all of Jerusalem past the Green Line, which includes northern and southern parts of the city as well as eastern. This is sometimes referred to as “Arab Jerusalem.”  It most certainly is not “Arab” today, as there are many Jewish neighborhoods in this part of the city. What is more, the Old City is in the eastern part of the city, as is the Jewish cemetery at Mt. of Olives – the oldest Jewish cemetery in the world, with 150,000 Jewish graves.

 

Demographic Map of Jerusalem

Credit: Keep Jerusalem

The division of the city came about at the end of the War of Independence in 1949, when Jordan (illegally) held part of the city, and an armistice line was drawn.  It is the only time in Jerusalem’s 3,000 year history that Jerusalem was divided, and it became “Arab” only because Jordan rendered it Judenrein. Prior to the Jordanian occupation, the heart of Jewish residency was to be found in this part of the city.

Jerusalem will never be divided again.

~~~~~~~~~~

And as to “occupation,” my friends, they can use this loaded buzz word all they wish.  Israel is not an occupier in Judea and Samaria.  It is Israel that has legal rights there.  The corollary point to be made here is that the land in no way “belongs” to the Palestinian Arabs. There has never been a Palestinian state.

~~~~~~~~~~

The behind the scenes politicking on this resolution issue are convoluted.

At this point Kerry will veto if necessary (the “strengthening” of its terms made this more likely), but he prefers not to.  He had implored Abbas to wait to call a vote until after the Israeli elections on March 17. His reason is infuriating: a fear that what is happening in the UN will push the Israeli electorate to the right.

Abbas said yesterday that the vote would be called in “a day or two.” And the most interesting questions have to do with why Abbas chose to ignore Kerry and move ahead anyway. It’s clear that he’s not afraid to figuratively bite the (US) hand that feeds him – this tells us a good deal about loss of American influence.

I will suggest something that is counter-intuitive on the surface but is actually reflective of the way Abbas has consistently conducted himself: Abbas does not want to win here.  We must conclude this if he is willing to buck the US, secretary of state.  Had he waited, he might have said to Kerry, look, I did as you asked, now don’t veto. Abbas does not want a state, with the concomitant burdens it implies. Nor, I would imagine, does he think he could hold on to a state for more than a week or two before Hamas pushed him out.

Abbas wants to squeeze Israel and garner PR.  Part of that PR involves showing the world how the poor Palestinian Arabs suffer setbacks in their heart-wrenching efforts to achieve self-determination.

Another possible motivation for Abbas: this may give him the excuse to go to the International Criminal Court, something he’s been threatening to do. This remains to be seen – as that too may be just a ploy.

~~~~~~~~~~

With this, there is one other factor at play.  The Security Council consists of 15 members: five permanent – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States -and 10 others who rotate every two years.  Only the permanent members can veto a resolution.  For a resolution to pass, nine votes are required.  Right now, Abbas does not have those nine votes.

But here is the catch: The terms of the temporary members is up at the end of the year. As it happens, nations not supportive of this resolution – such as Lithuania and South Korea – will be replaced by nations hostile to Israel – such as Malaysia and Venezuela.  Then the chances of getting nine votes in favor would be greater.  It has been suggested that this would strengthen Abbas’s position – he would be able to say that most of the Security Council is with him because his cause is just even if the US is not.

But Abbas seems bent on not waiting for this transition in membership.  Again, we must ask why.

Since Abbas does not want to win anyway, this may be a way to allow Kerry to save face: he will not have to veto if there are not nine votes in favor.

Commentator Michael Freund, however, has another idea.  He refers to what is going on in the UN as “a diplomatic terror attack.”  No, he agrees, they don’t want to win: What they want is a rationale for “resistance,” since they can say they’ve tried diplomacy and it doesn’t work.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/FUNDAMENTALLY-FREUD-A-diplomatic-terrorist-attack-at-the-UN-386085

~~~~~~~~~~

I hope all my readers are still with me.

~~~~~~~~~~

Before closing I want to share a couple of painful, but hardly surprising, insights into the true nature of the Palestinian Arabs:

Last year, two Palestinian Arab terrorists who were involved in throwing rocks that killed Asher Palmer and his infant son Jonathan (when the rocks made Asher lose control of his car) were convicted of murder.  This was a much welcome landmark decision.  It was followed recently by a court decision requiring one of the terrorists, Ali Saada, to pay a hefty fine as compensation to the Asher family.

Now Issa Karake, a PA Minister in charge of “prisoner affairs” has complained about this, saying that this delegitimizes “the national resistance against the occupation.” (Emphasis added)

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=13544

In other words, he approves of killing innocent babies.

~~~~~~~~~~

Last Thursday evening, Avner Shapira and his daughter, Ayala, 11, were driving in the Shomron, when a firebomb was tossed at their car.  Avner yelled at his daughter to get out of the car. Had she not, she would have been killed, as it went up in flames.  As it was, she was very seriously injured – with third degree burns over more than half of her body and damage to her respiratory system.

Ayala Shapira

Where does it end?  My thoughts when this happened were murderous, I confess.  This child, whom her mother described as very intelligent in a special way, was on her way home from a special math class.

Her father, who was mildly injured, protested that such attacks are not criminal in nature, but acts of war, and should be treated as such:

We have an enemy who is trying to annihilate us and states this day and night. It’s not the IDF’s fault, rather [it’s the fault of] the security establishment which treats these acts as criminal. Criminals that need to be caught and made to stand trial as if you can stand trial during a war…it is a case of us or them; they want to kick us out of here.” (Emphasis added)

http://www.timesofisrael.com/security-forces-arrest-2-in-firebomb-attack-that-injured-israeli-girl/

Ayala, who was burned in the face, has before her the prospects of months of hospitalization and many surgeries to do reconstruction.

~~~~~~~~~~

Within a day or two, the firebomb perpetrators were picked up by the Shin Bet in the Arab village of Azzoun in Samaria.  They are both teenagers, and one, at 16, is under age. They told of hiding in the bushes at the side of the road, waiting for a car to approach, throwing the firebomb and then running back to their village.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4608327,00.html

They will not be handled with sufficient severity, I am afraid – although I always wait to be surprised. It is not clear which of the two actually tossed the bomb.

~~~~~~~~~~

Let us circle around for a moment: if Freund is correct about diplomatic terrorism, then the PA loss in the Security Council will be used to strengthen the rationale for the sort of horrors I’ve just described.

~~~~~~~~~~

And yet at a bare minimum, Kerry – who will oppose certain UN gambits by Abbas – thinks we should negotiate with the PA, never mind how violent the nature they’ve exposed is. In fact, I believe if he does veto, he’ll then come to Netanyahu and say we have an obligation to sit at the table with Abbas to negotiate since he “saved” us.

See the article below that describes Abbas’s refusal to cooperate with the US last March in an arrangement that would have pressured Israel and moved a “deal” forward.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mahmoud-abbas-is-again-insisting-on-failure/2014/12/29/6119435e-8f87-11e4-a900-9960214d4cd7_story.html?wpmk=MK0000203

This look at Abbas’s perennial insistence on failure reinforces the speculation that he also wants to fail now in the UN.

But it leaves us pondering what Kerry’s game is, since he KNOWS that Abbas is not truly on board for a two-state deal.  I will leave speculation aside here, but none of this is reassuring in the slightest.

~~~~~~~~~~

The good news – this is who we are:

Israel has made the world’s largest per-capita contribution to halt the spread of Ebola in West Africa, Part of the $8.75 million pledge is committed to UNICEF, for care of children stricken with the disease.  In addition, Israel has sent into West Africa fully equipped clinics and medical specialists.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.634360

The IDF recently saved the life of a Palestinian Arab baby with heart problems, who collapsed while on the way to Jordan for medical treatment. A medical helicopter airlifted him to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, thereby saving his life.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4608295,00.html

Sometimes it’s not hard to wonder if we are nuts. But I have concluded we most certainly are not.  We can stand proud.