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geek tragedy
geek tragedy's Journal
geek tragedy's Journal
February 25, 2017
I favored Ellison, but if the 'establishment' is a progressive Latino who worked
as a garbage collector to put himself through an Ivy League college, maybe the establishment has been transformed from within.
February 19, 2017
Bibi gave the part in bold up so he could keep Herzog out of his coalition.
Netanyahu rejected a regional peace initiative this time last year
Remember when it was the Palestinians who supposedly never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity?
http://theweek.com/speedreads/681229/netanyahu-rejected-regional-peace-initiative-time-last-year
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly met with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in 2016 to consider a regional peace initiative negotiated by then-Secretary of State John Kerry, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday. The covert talks took place in Jordan last February, and terms of the agreement Netanyahu would ultimately reject included renewed peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leadership as well as Arab nations' recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that the meeting took place and said in a gathering of Likud ministers that it occurred at his initiation. He did not accept the conditions Kerry proposed because he did not believe he could win approval from his coalition government.
History will "definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity," tweeted Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog in response to the news on Sunday.
Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that the meeting took place and said in a gathering of Likud ministers that it occurred at his initiation. He did not accept the conditions Kerry proposed because he did not believe he could win approval from his coalition government.
History will "definitely judge the magnitude of the opportunity as well as the magnitude of the missed opportunity," tweeted Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog in response to the news on Sunday.
Bibi gave the part in bold up so he could keep Herzog out of his coalition.
February 16, 2017
Lots of negotiating to be done, starting with what to call the new state.
Top PA negotiator floats single state as US casts doubt on Palestinian independenc
And away we go. Palestinians--the smart ones anyways--have been planning for the post-two-state solution era.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-pa-negotiator-floats-single-state-as-us-casts-doubt-on-palestinian-independence/
The only alternative to the creation of a Palestinian state is a one-state solution in which all Palestinians will get the right to vote, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said Wednesday, hours after a senior White House official appeared to withdraw the US’s traditional support for a two-state solution.
“Contrary to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s plan of one state and two systems, apartheid, the only alternative to two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 border is one single secular and democratic state with equal rights for everyone, Christians, Muslims, and Jews, on all of historic Palestine,” Erekat said during a meeting with the speaker of the UK House of Commons, John Bercow, in Ramallah.
“Contrary to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s plan of one state and two systems, apartheid, the only alternative to two sovereign and democratic states on the 1967 border is one single secular and democratic state with equal rights for everyone, Christians, Muslims, and Jews, on all of historic Palestine,” Erekat said during a meeting with the speaker of the UK House of Commons, John Bercow, in Ramallah.
Lots of negotiating to be done, starting with what to call the new state.
February 10, 2017
Elliott Abrams, who served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, will not get the No. 2 job at the State Department, three Republican sources told CNN.
But Abrams was nixed from the list of contenders after President Donald Trump learned of Abrams' biting criticism last May of his fitness to become president, the Republican sources said.
The President found out about Abrams' outspokenness against Trump after meeting with him on Tuesday to consider him for the position, which would have made him Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's deputy. The meeting went well, but Trump could not get past Abrams' past criticism, the sources said.
Abrams, Bush's deputy national security adviser, had emerged as the top contender to become Tillerson's right-hand man.
"This is a loss for the State Department and the country and, for that matter, for the President," said one Republican source.
Another Republican source with knowledge of what happened said Abrams would not get the job because of "Donald Trump's thin skin and nothing else."
I'd be appalled if this were a qualified, responsible individual, but fuck Elliot Abrams.
Trump nixes war criminal Elliot Abrams for State Dept. (for predictable reason)
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/elliott-abrams-trump-state-department-tillerson/Elliott Abrams, who served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, will not get the No. 2 job at the State Department, three Republican sources told CNN.
But Abrams was nixed from the list of contenders after President Donald Trump learned of Abrams' biting criticism last May of his fitness to become president, the Republican sources said.
The President found out about Abrams' outspokenness against Trump after meeting with him on Tuesday to consider him for the position, which would have made him Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's deputy. The meeting went well, but Trump could not get past Abrams' past criticism, the sources said.
Abrams, Bush's deputy national security adviser, had emerged as the top contender to become Tillerson's right-hand man.
"This is a loss for the State Department and the country and, for that matter, for the President," said one Republican source.
Another Republican source with knowledge of what happened said Abrams would not get the job because of "Donald Trump's thin skin and nothing else."
I'd be appalled if this were a qualified, responsible individual, but fuck Elliot Abrams.
February 9, 2017
A vice president of the New Israel Fund, Jennifer Gorovitz, was detained for questioning at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday by Immigration Authority police.
Gorovitz, who had arrived in Israel to attend the fund’s executive committee meeting, told Haaretz that she was detained for about 90 minutes and underwent three rounds of questioning, during which she was asked to give details about the New Israel Fund’s activities and the funding that it transfers to Israeli NGOS. This is the first time a senior NIF official has been detained at the airport.
Gorovitz, 50, joined the NIF in 2015, after serving for a decade in various positions in San Francisco’s Jewish community, the most senior of which was director of the San Francisco Jewish Federation. Gorovitz serves as the NIF’s vice president for operations and administration, and is responsible for budget issues, among other areas.
...
Gorovitz said that she asked the border control official if there was any problem, saying that she was Jewish and a Zionist, but that the officer made a sarcastic remark about her Zionism. He made her wait 10 minutes and then asked her to wait in a nearby room, where she underwent further questioning.
While she was questioned, Gorovitz saw that her interviewer was holding a document with a considerable amount of information about her. One of the words highlighted on the document was BDS.
Netanyahu regime must have Trump envy.
New Israel Fund's Vice President Delayed and Questioned at Airport by Israeli Officials
Liberal American Jews are approaching "enemy of the state" status over in the least awful state in the Middle East.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.770601
A vice president of the New Israel Fund, Jennifer Gorovitz, was detained for questioning at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday by Immigration Authority police.
Gorovitz, who had arrived in Israel to attend the fund’s executive committee meeting, told Haaretz that she was detained for about 90 minutes and underwent three rounds of questioning, during which she was asked to give details about the New Israel Fund’s activities and the funding that it transfers to Israeli NGOS. This is the first time a senior NIF official has been detained at the airport.
Gorovitz, 50, joined the NIF in 2015, after serving for a decade in various positions in San Francisco’s Jewish community, the most senior of which was director of the San Francisco Jewish Federation. Gorovitz serves as the NIF’s vice president for operations and administration, and is responsible for budget issues, among other areas.
...
Gorovitz said that she asked the border control official if there was any problem, saying that she was Jewish and a Zionist, but that the officer made a sarcastic remark about her Zionism. He made her wait 10 minutes and then asked her to wait in a nearby room, where she underwent further questioning.
While she was questioned, Gorovitz saw that her interviewer was holding a document with a considerable amount of information about her. One of the words highlighted on the document was BDS.
Netanyahu regime must have Trump envy.
February 8, 2017
We thought a woman would be the leader of the free world in 2017, and we were right.
In a bitter turn of fate, however, that woman turned out to be Angela Merkel and not Hillary Clinton.
A world without the USA playing a role of leadership is such a radical change, the entire planet is still trying to process it.
February 6, 2017
Barack Obama is the last US President to support a two-state solution. The debate going forward will be between apartheid and a bi-national state.
History has shown us how that debate ends.
In historic first, Israel legalizes West Bank outposts with sweeping new legislation
The annexation of the West Bank just got turbocharged.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-historic-first-israel-legalizes-west-bank-outposts-with-sweeping-new-legislation/
Following months of coalition wrangling, damning criticism from internal and international opposition, and bleak warnings from legal experts, Israel on Monday legalized all West Bank outposts with sweeping legislation that aims to prevent future demolitions of settler homes built on private Palestinian land.
In a late-night session, the Knesset passed the final readings of the controversial so-called Regulation Bill, which paves the way for Israel to recognize some 4,000 illegally built settler homes.
In a late-night session, the Knesset passed the final readings of the controversial so-called Regulation Bill, which paves the way for Israel to recognize some 4,000 illegally built settler homes.
Barack Obama is the last US President to support a two-state solution. The debate going forward will be between apartheid and a bi-national state.
History has shown us how that debate ends.
February 6, 2017
Full speed ahead on the annexation.
Also, this tidbit:
In other words, his message to the Palestinians is:
Netanyahu backs contentious outpost bill after warning White House
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-backs-contentious-outpost-bill-after-warning-white-house/The legislation, which would allow Israel to retroactively claim private Palestinian land where Israeli settlers live in exchange for compensation, is expected to be voted on late Monday after a Knesset debate, which began in the afternoon.
....
Netanyahu had reportedly sought to delay the vote until after he could speak with Trump when the two meet in Washington next week, though the Jewish Home party hd pushed it forward for its final readings in the Knesset over his objections.
....
Netanyahu had reportedly sought to delay the vote until after he could speak with Trump when the two meet in Washington next week, though the Jewish Home party hd pushed it forward for its final readings in the Knesset over his objections.
Full speed ahead on the annexation.
Also, this tidbit:
The Israeli leader added that he laid out his positions on the question of Palestinian statehood, saying he has not changed his position that any peace agreement be conditioned on a Palestinian recognition of Israel as the Jewish state and an Israel security presence from the Green Line to the Jordan River.
In other words, his message to the Palestinians is:
February 2, 2017
I guess Bibi's flattery of Trump's wall didn't do the trick. I wonder who got to him on this.
Trump warns Israel: Stop announcing new settlements
Congratulations, Bibi, you traded in President Obama for this guy. Good luck.
http://live.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Trump-warns-Israel-Stop-announcing-new-settlements-480446
WASHINGTON – The White House warned Israel on Thursday – in a surprising statement – to cease settlement announcements that are “unilateral” and “undermining” of President Donald Trump’s effort to forge Middle East peace, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post.
For the first time, the administration confirmed that Trump is committed to a comprehensive two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict negotiated between the parties.
....
The official told the Post that the White House was not consulted on Israel’s unprecedented announcement of 5,500 new settlement housing units over the course of his first two weeks in office.
“As President Trump has made clear, he is very interested in reaching a deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is currently exploring the best means of making progress toward that goal,” the official said.
"With that in mind, we urge all parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements,” the official added. “The administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward.”
For the first time, the administration confirmed that Trump is committed to a comprehensive two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict negotiated between the parties.
....
The official told the Post that the White House was not consulted on Israel’s unprecedented announcement of 5,500 new settlement housing units over the course of his first two weeks in office.
“As President Trump has made clear, he is very interested in reaching a deal that would end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and is currently exploring the best means of making progress toward that goal,” the official said.
"With that in mind, we urge all parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that could undermine our ability to make progress, including settlement announcements,” the official added. “The administration needs to have the chance to fully consult with all parties on the way forward.”
I guess Bibi's flattery of Trump's wall didn't do the trick. I wonder who got to him on this.
February 2, 2017
There's no reason why Mexicans shouldn't hate Trump, the United States government, and each and every moron who voted for him.
President Trump Threatens to Send U.S. Troops to Mexico to Take Care of 'Bad Hombres'
Source: Time/Associated Press
President Donald Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop "bad hombres down there" unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself, according to an excerpt of a transcript of the conversation obtained by The Associated Press.
The excerpt of the call did not make clear who exactly Trump considered "bad hombres," — drug cartels, immigrants, or both — or the tone and context of the remark, made in a Friday morning phone call between the leaders. It also did not contain Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's response.
Still, the excerpt offers a rare and striking look at how the new president is conducting diplomacy behind closed doors. Trump's remark suggest he is using the same tough and blunt talk with world leaders that he used to rally crowds on the campaign trail.
Read more: http://time.com/4657474/donald-trump-enrique-pena-nieto-mexico-bad-hombres/
There's no reason why Mexicans shouldn't hate Trump, the United States government, and each and every moron who voted for him.
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