The press, the Israelis, and Gaza
Supposedly as a result of the recent action in Gaza by the Israelis, anti-Semitism is rising around the world—or at least, demonstrations of anti-Semitism are rising.
But Ron Fournier has been deeply asleep if he thinks the anti-Israel press is new. It was already very deeply entrenched when I started paying close attention after 2001. The Al Durah incident and its resultant worldwide anti-Israel propaganda occurred even before that, and was one of the worst offenses; Jenin was in 2002. I’ve written about both at great length on this blog.
The Palestinians and Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers around the world learned long ago that one of the best propaganda methods for reaching liberals of the west was the dead child and the grieving family. And so, not only are such civilians killed as the inevitable collateral damage of war exploited for propaganda purposes, but even if it is actually the Arab world causing the damage to its own people by accident, that is blamed on the Israelis and exploited, as well.
Did I say “by accident”? Surely that occurs sometimes. But somewhere along the line—and quite a long time ago, too—the Palestinians graduated to using techniques of asymmetrical warfare in order to purposely cause more casualties of that exact nature, in order to parade them before the world as fodder for propaganda. Chief among such cynically evil tactics are storing armaments among civilians, including (or perhaps especially) in family homes, schools, and hospitals, and then parading the victims before an Arab and western press willing and eager to spread the word. Thus, the press shares some of the culpability for these deaths.
Some of this was exposed many years ago, and more than once. But much of the MSM hasn’t cared that in the past so many Palestinian reports of civilian deaths at Israeli hands have turned out to be lies of one sort or another. They still all-too-often report without caveats what the Palestinians say during such conflicts, knowing that the corrections they so frequently have to offer (if they bother to acknowledge their errors at all) almost never filter down to the majority of the public. That’s why a great many in the MSM still consider these lies very much worth telling, because no matter what contradictory facts later reports may reveal, these lies have for the most part become the public’s perception of the truth.
Thus, in the recent fighting in Gaza, we have this correction of a false report of Israeli wrongdoing (also discussed at Powerline). Volokh writes:
The media has engaged in journalistic malpractice by reporting casualty figures for civilians coming from Gaza as gospel. The figures come from the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas. The Ministry of Health counts everyone not in uniform as a civilian. Most Hamas fighters don’t wear uniforms. The UN is sometimes sourced for the figures, but the UN gets its figures from ”¦ the Gazan Ministry of Health. Contrary to early reports that 80% or so of the early casualties were civilians, Al-Jazeera published names and ages, and about 3/4 were men of fighting age (16-50), compared to a rough estimate of 20% of the Gazan population (40% to 50% of which is fourteen and under). Some of those men were undoubtedly civilians, but it strains credulity to believe that 80% of the casualties were civilian but just-so-happened to be overwhelmingly fighting-age men. (Here’s the most recent analysis from the IsraellyCool blog). For that matter, how do we know that the Minsitry of Health isn’t counting deaths from natural causes as deaths from Israeli actions? A simple “the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health claims” before reciting casualty figures that the media has not itself verified would resolve the problem.
Remember Jenin?:
”¦the U.N. report said 52 Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by April 18””the same death toll reported by Israel. It called the Palestinian allegation that some 500 were killed “a figure that has not been substantiated in the light of evidence that has emerged.”
Seeing the mendacity of the reporting about that battle, and the paucity of meaningful retractions of the false reports, as well as the lies’ lasting influence, was one of many incidents in my political change experience.
With the continuation of similar events, one could ask the old “fool or knave?” question, this time as applied to the press. Whether or not a reporter on board with this is consciously lying or is unaware he/she has been duped and manipulated into telling lies, at this point every reporter should be aware of the entire process and how common it is. After Jenin, when even the Israel-hating UN substantiated the Israeli claims and unfounded the Palestinian ones, there is no excuse for not being extremely careful to make sure that the casualty figures are correct, and to be extremely suspicious of the initial Palestinian reports. One can only conclude that when that doesn’t occur, the press is either purposefully lying or acting with reckless disregard for the truth.
The UN is a player in Gaza, too. Just as the final UN report on Jenin exonerated the Israelis, long after lies accusing the Israelis of barbarism there had been successfully promulgated around the world, the UN periodically issues small announcements which implicate the Palestinians in Gaza now. For example, we have the third report of rockets found in Palestinian schools in Gaza administered by the UN. Now, how do you suppose they got there? The UN is mum on the subject:
The United Nations Relief & Works Agency For Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced Tuesday that another rocket stockpile has been found at one of its schools in Gaza. This instance marks the third time since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge that a weapons arsenal has been found at an UNRWA school in Gaza.
UNRWA has yet to place blame on any individuals or organizations for placing the weapons stockpile within a children’s school. The UN body refused to do so on the past two previous occasions as well.
The UN body, after both previous findings, has handed the rockets it had found back into the possession of “the local police,” otherwise known as the terrorist group Hamas.
Does anyone believe these rockets won’t go back more or less where they came from?
It’s no surprise that Israel does so poorly in the propaganda wars, with so much stacked against it. And yet ignoring those wars is not the answer, either. Israel itself and its spokespeople have been slow on the draw and fairly inept at dealing with it, too. I’ve noticed a slight improvement this time around from Israel—their disclaimers of responsibility seem to be coming faster, anyway.
[ADDENDUM: In addition, some journalists are also intimidated by the Palestinians into reporting as they are ordered.]
NEO: The Palestinians and Islamic terrorists and their sympathizers around the world learned long ago that one of the best propaganda methods for reaching liberals of the west was the dead child and the grieving family.
You have to note that the liberals fell for the Hitlerian point that if you do things for or to children, the masses will debase themselves. It’s the whole point of feminisms “do it for the children” Pavlovian missives. Its why they are willing to murder innocent children to get what they want, and this murder is not just in Gaza, its in abortion centers too, and now they are floating down the rio grande.
i forgot to mention that this really got its biggest push after the left lied and played games with the photo of Phan Thi Kim Phuc
The liberal mind is attuned to the squalling face … preferably so close up it’s all lips and eyes. Nothing else matters.
NEO: The figures come from the Gazan Ministry of Health, which is controlled by Hamas.
you see neo, you have it all wrong (According to the liberal leaders):
Frau Blucker Pelosi…
UN should be charged with war crimes!
NEO: Seeing the mendacity of the reporting about that battle, and the paucity of meaningful retractions of the false reports, as well as the lies’ lasting influence, was one of many incidents in my political change experience.
but neo… you didnt change, you just figured out that they were lying to you… its like the illusions mentalists use. not one thing that i have heard you say actually refers to changing. if it did, then you would have changed from a person who likes to hurt people to a person that is concerned for them. ie. your concerned for people and you followed those that lied that they too were concerned – whenyou found out the truth, you stopped
you were nevr actually in their camp
if you were, you would not leave it, but embrace it
the values you had when you thought they served you, are the same values you have when you decided they didnt.
their image changed not your morals
NEO: It’s no surprise that Israel does so poorly in the propaganda wars, with so much stacked against it.
thats not why…
the cards are stacked against it for the same reason a white guy cant defend himself. IE. to act is to prove the others right, and remove ability to deny you do that.
ie. the jews are accused of controlling media, and so if they use media to control the propaganda, they can then be revealed as controlling media.
catch 22…
if a guy has his buttons pressed by his girl, like a certain football player, if he acts out and points that out, then he is jumped by the rook protecting the propaganda. like a certain football player
if white men decide to go in and take care of the criminality in certain communities, then what do they become? they prove they are oppressors.
its so common, only air is more common
sorry too much mansplainig
Mansplaining is a vestige of a past when men did know more than women due solely to the privilege of education and experience, a privilege imposed by men
have pity on the mansplainer. His is the merely the voice of a patriarchal world eclipsed by a new one …
beware toxic mansplaining
ie. whatever you do, dont listen to the toxic mansplainer…
Artfldgr:
On Kim Phuc, I was going to mention her in this post, too, but it was getting too long. You may recall that learning about the lies told about her photo was also an important part of my political change experience.
I’ve written quite extensively about her, too, especially here and here.
100 Spanish celebrities accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza
“This is a war of occupation and extermination against a whole people without means, confined to a miniscule territory without water and where hospitals, ambulances, and children are targeted and presumed to be terrorists,” Bardem
“Being Jewish is not synonymous with supporting this massacre, just as being a Hebrew is not the same as being a Zionist and being Palestinian does not mean being a terrorist from Hamas. That is as absurd as saying that being German means espousing Nazism.” Bardem
in order to insure his acting career is ok
he adds the offensive racist missive “some of my friends are jewish”
“My son was born in a Jewish hospital because I have Jewish people who are very near and dear to me.” Bardem
Artfldgr:
If you’ve read my “change” series, you should see that I never say that I changed. And I emphasize that one of the most important parts of the process was that I learned more about when I’d been lied to.
I continually refer to my “change” as my “political change.” I am very clear that I am talking about a change in political affiliation and voting behavior, not some deeper change in values or reasoning ability.
I find that you often seem to fasten on a word (like “change,” in this instance) and look at it in isolation, interpreting it literally rather than looking at the context and understanding what the person is actually saying. This leads to a lot of misunderstanding.
Isreal reveals conversation of obama
Obama cries fabrication (like soviet leaders)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/day-22-five-soldiers-killed-four-of-them-in-mortar-attack-idf-bombards-gaza/#liveblog-entry-1038715
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-07-29/shocked-white-house-slams-fabrication-after-israel-tv-leaks-damning-transcript-obama
be prepared to hear that the jews tried to make a capitailst deal rather than do the right thing. that after people load up the audio and compare it themselves using one of many pieces of software
the DICTATOR of the WORLD has spoken…
he has ordered the oppressors to unilaterally lay down their weapons, and let themselves be attacked.
OBama is channeling the feminsits..
….the oppressed have a right to class-hatred against the class that is oppressing them.” — Robin Morgan, Ms. Magazine Editor
the west is looking through the training they got in oppresson over the past 70 years in feminism and black politics.
and since the jews ARE capitalism to the marxists…
(which is why i said that discourse will be used to prove this by the jewish leader asking what do i get)
i would also suggest
Revolutionary Communist League
Basis of Women’s Oppression
https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/basis.htm
its easier to learn things from them, as they are not oppressed in their dialectic and so there are reams and reams and reams of explanitory stuff which applies…
but also, one has to see things like this
Facts All US Citizens Need to Know About Israel and Palestine
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/07/facts-us-citizens-need-know-israel-palestine.html
of course, this person has his facts all wrong..
but that doesnt matter as the wrong facts presented the right way, are believed….
Shoa II is not overt like Shoa I
next post discussing the “facts”
In Iraq, the casualties openly caused by insurgents were conflated and then blamed on the US.
the facts are too numerous and wacko with too many ommissions for me to address… the retorts would be book long… sorry guys, your on your own.
Artfldgr:
The Israelis have said that’s a bogus transcript (see the update towards the end of this post).
On Kim Phuc, I was going to mention her in this post, too, but it was getting too long. You may recall that learning about the lies told about her photo was also an important part of my political change experience.
i do remember it well, and i ended up expanding my knowlege of that incident thanks to you… so i guess it was a nice unplanned lead in…
but may i also add:
now there is no proof of this happening, but as i pointed out before, a whole lot of what they do is learned from the bible. spaning the neurolinguistic games of lucifer, to the feminism of lilith, and so on
the larger point is their desire to use the archtypes that are in people.
then there is
The Srebrenica Children Massacre refers to the killing of as many as 62 children among the victims when the elementary school in Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia, was shelled by the Army of Republika Srpska in April 1993.
and once mentioned here in addressing a person who thought resisting the nazis would have been easy… or that they woud have done things and want to think poorly of peope
Lidice
while the hebrews murdered whole races (see bible), it was the assyrians who made it an art… an art that has been passed down and still in play
They would reward their soldiers for every severed head they brought in from the field, whether enemy fighters or not. They would decapitate or club to death captured soldiers; they would slice off the ears, noses, hands and feet of nobles, throw them from high towers, flay them and their children to death, or roast them over a slow fire.
for those that dont know… flaying is basically skinning, but in pieces, not a whole. so they peeled the skin of children off….
Mongol Tolui in persia, as punishment, went in and did a job on the innocent people of the area.
the problem i have with the sources i found is that they inflate numbers to the point of absurdity if one knows about what it takes to haev such numbers living in a place.
so they will say
In the 16th to 19th centuries alone the death toll among African slaves being transported to the New World may have been over 1,500,000,10 possibly 2,000,00011; millions more died in capture and in transit to the Orient or Middle East. And just among those kept in Africa some 4,000,000 may have died
Until the development of agriculture around the 11th millennium BC, it is estimated that the world population stabilized at about three million people who subsisted through hunting and foraging — a lifestyle that by its nature ensured a low population density. The total world population probably never exceeded 15 million inhabitants before the invention of agriculture
note that the africans did not practice agriculture during the time of D’souza;s social experiment in buying human beings to prevent genocide using slaery as a better option than that.
note that slaves in the US and england were paid, and could and often did buy their own freedom.
one only has to remember and read about Crispus Attucks and others during the revolutionary war to find this out…
“This is a war of occupation and extermination against a whole people without means, confined to a miniscule territory without water and where hospitals, ambulances, and children are targeted and presumed to be terrorists,” Bardem
Factually and historically, he has it exactly backwards. A narrative that wrongly reversed is not accidental, though Bardem is almost certainly a “useful idiot” of the left.
I continually refer to my “change” as my “political change.” I am very clear that I am talking about a change in political affiliation and voting behavior, not some deeper change in values or reasoning ability.
perhaps switch is a better word?
When you switch something, you move from something to something else without changing…
while in most cases they can be exchanged, in some cases they cant.. when talking people change would imply that the person changed, while switch would imply no change in the person but a move
ergo my stepping in the same thing over and over.
from BBC course in proper english:
we now live in a world where a cyclist is a biker which used to mean a motorcycle rider, and so i do understand that easyspeak has been dominating…
if you wanted to use change for this you might say you had a change of heart… but in truth, we agree that this did not happen. nothing changed with the items in discussion…
the left remained the left and what they always were
and you remained you, as you always were.
so you switched sides, not changed
call me old fashioned, but i do remember when words used to mean somethnig and that the different words were used more for this nuance than for making writing more interesting by switching words.
(See? you would not say you changed words, you may exchange words to switch them, but not change them)
this stems from my aspergers in which i take things more literally and less fluidly…
the common thing in wich someone says sometning wrong and says. oh. you know what i mean, drives me nutters
🙂
you say potato, i say potatoe
and neither of us is a vice president…
Artfldgr:
Well, as a writer I certainly pay attention to what words mean.
The word “switch” would indeed indicate a change in political affiliation, as would the word “change.” But “switch” tends to indicate a quicker process, whereas by using the word “change” I am meaning to refer to a fairly lengthy process that resulted in a switch or change of political affiliation. The switch, however, was the culmination of the process of political change, and it’s the latter I am most interested in.
But as I said, it was not a fundamental change in my values.
one last thing on this point:
“political change” and it pops to “social change”
Social change may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic structure, for instance a shift away from feudalism and towards capitalism. Accordingly it may also refer to social revolution, such as the Socialist revolution presented in Marxism, or to other social movements, such as Women’s suffrage or the Civil rights movement. Social change may be driven by cultural, religious, economic, scientific or technological forces.
and while they use change to define switch sides, you would never use switch sides to encompass the above… would you?
change implies difference
switch implies movement
but then again, i like those old high level books like fenimore coopers leatherstocking… which USED to be a childrens book… a 13th grade level childrens book…
when i was a kid, i was taught to drop to 8th grade in common speech… which now has dropped to what then was 5th grade…
social/political CHANGE has happened
🙂
Artfldgr:
See my comment right above yours.
The Israelis have said that’s a bogus transcript
THANKS!!!!
i REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate that update and am very glad i saw it…
THANKS!!!!
The left will never condone harsh measures for the Palestinians. As long as the Palestinians are in proximity to Israel, there will never be peace. Ergo, in order for there to be peace, Israel must suffer the anger of the left. There’s no clever solution that will satisfy them.
The most humane solution I can imagine is for Israel to forcefully depopulate Gaza and move the inhabitants somewhere far away. I doubt anyone would be willing to take them.
The alternatives are then either true genocide, or the admission that this will go on for generations with no end in sight. I expect the latter will happen.
Anyone who can not see who holds the moral high ground in the Israeli-arab conflict is either extremely stupid and gullible or antisemitic or both.
“The Israelis have said that’s a bogus transcript” neo
Yes they have but… the Israeli denial used exactly the words used by the WH. The transcript itself and the Israeli’s choosing to use the WH denials exact construction lead me to strongly suspect that the Israeli’s issued a politically expedient lie in support of the WH for politically expedient reasons.
Arguably, it might do Netanyahu more harm than good for his conversations with Obama to be publicized. More importantly, in publicly minimizing any embarrassment for Obama, it makes it much harder for Obama to politically retaliate against Netanyahu and Israel. Something that I at least am convinced Obama desperately yearns to do.
IMO, the transcript had the ring of truth to it. I rather doubt that any fabrication could have so accurately constructed such a plausible dialog.
Geoffrey Britain:
Oh, I realize we’ll never know for sure, and that denials can be false denials. But if both sides deny it, short of a recording we’ll have to accept the denials.
I have no problem, though, imagining that someone can imagine the dialogue. But I don’t believe in saying “well, it’s fake but accurate.” It has been denied by both parties, and that’s enough for me to discount it.
Ron Fournier is a Democrat.
Ron Fournier is a Liberal.
Ron Fournier voted for Barack Obama. Both times.
At my house, “Ron Fournier” is never said in polite company.
Another thought; how exactly did a private conversation over a presumably secured line between the President of the US and the Israeli Prime Minister ‘just happen’ to leak?
Quite a coincidence that.
In the released transcript, Obama ended his conversation with the implied threat that “the’ ball’ was in Israel’s ‘court'” and Obama began by demanding that an independent foreign power obey his commands. But an order with an implied threat that is refused, demands a response and the only response Obama could make is a political one…
But with a ‘somehow’ leaked transcript, quickly followed by Israeli support for the predictable WH denial, Israel preempted any political move by Obama.
Thus we have a case of either accidental leakage, in which case Israel brilliantly ‘counter-punched’ Obama or… it was an exceedingly clever propaganda operation that pulled the metaphorical rug’ out from under Obama.
In either case, Obama got played and that is a sweet thing indeed.
” It has been denied by both parties, and that’s enough for me to discount it.” neo
That’s very generous of you neo, clearly you are far more willing to extend the benefit of the doubt than I.
The supposed transcript doesn’t sound like bho. Where are the ah, ah, ahs, the let me be perfectly clears, and the as I’ve said befores??? Plus there was no reference to the people of the 57 states upset with the disproportional response to the attacks by hamas.
I am almost certain that GB is absolutely correct on this.
Obama is biding his time. Has been for years, in fact.
He will strike when he feels the iron is at its hottest (probably some time after the November mid-terms).
But he is preparing the ground. Has been for a long while. It’s the political equivalent of a “softening up” barrage.
And Kerry’s feelings have been profoundly hurt. By the country for which Kerry and Obama has done so much, so much, so much, so much.
And you can count on hearing that over and over and over again.
Softening up, softening up.
For certainly, consulting with Hamas’s sponsor Qatar and Hamas’s supporter Turkey is really, truly a case of Israel’s greatest friend looking after Israel’s best interests.
So what is this feigned outrage? This pathetic righteous indignation?
What was it that Mary McCarthy said about Lillian Hellman?
File under: We are all Hamas.
I remember being horrified when talking with leftists during the Second Intifada that began in 2000. To them, it was all Ariel Sharon’s fault and Arafat had nothing to do with it. And when Israelis were blown up in restaurants and on school buses, they said the Palestinians had no other choice.
Very hard to see that this is all due to something other than a deep animus toward Israel. And then one has to ask why.
Ann,
There is no need to ask why. They are enemies of Western Civilization. They seek a return to the sword of the dark ages and the rise of muhammad. They are nihilists. Fthem and the horse they rode in on.
parker,
Two points; it’s not a full transcript of their conversation and it has been at least somewhat edited. I also suspect that in private when Obama is chastising the head of a client state he regards as dependent, he has no problem expressing himself. His ahs and uhms I suspect are the result of being highly aware of how easily political opponents can attack off the cuff remarks.
Parker,
I really don’t think the kind of leftist I’m talking about wants to see the dominance of radical Islam. To me, the “why” that I asked above is anti-Semitism. There was a brief pause after the Holocaust, but it never died. They’ll stamp their feet and say how dare you, but that’s what it is.
Ann FWIW
Speaking of the left’s antisemitism, the bully needs someone to bully, to dominate and punish. Though they will vociferously deny it, the left loves totalitarianism because to create utopia (better to rule in hell than serve in heaven) requires tight control of human nature.
Was there ever a totalitarian who wasn’t a bully?
The less aware on the left need intellectual justification for their bullying and the meme that it is “for their own good” is the perfect justification because it allows the bully to project their victim’s innocence upon themselves.
Perhaps more than any other quality, self-righteousness defines the left. The irony that it is that flaw that most irritates the left about stereotypical Christians is not really surprising, given their desperate search for something in which to believe.
Funny….Just got home, opened up my yahoo and instantly saw the current keening and wailing from the tiresomely usual sources:MSM; Worldwide Anti-Semites;Libs/Lefties; Blah-Blah-Blah over those awful Israelis hitting (GASP!!) the UN School.
Ann,
You are obviously a kind and gentle person. However, the left, from the tepid to the hard core, hate the foundations of Western Civilization. What else explains their words and actions? They do not promote individual freedom and personal responsibility. They support totalitarianism. They are the enemy. I do not wish them harm up until they show up on my door step.
BTW, please donate to Joni Ernst running for Harkins open seat in Iowa. She is the real deal. I know her on a personal basis. She will be another Cruz in the senate
GB,
You passed over the reference to the 57 states. 😉
Throughout the Gaza-Israel conflict, the media, both in this country and in Europe, keep reporting the number of dead or injured Palestinians in Gaza. Some of these numbers are astonishingly precise, 569, 1,120, etc. Where do these figures come from? Well, they come from Hamas and allied organizations. With one or two exceptions, no one in the media has questioned their accuracy. Why? Why has our media served as an unfiltered conduit for Palestinian propaganda? Is it laziness, stupidity, or bias, or a combination of these three factors?
“Why? Why has our media served as an unfiltered conduit for Palestinian propaganda? Is it laziness, stupidity, or bias, or a combination of these three factors?”
Individually, it could be any one of the three or any particular combination. On a larger scale, there’s no need for the leftist media to question the numbers because they are not interested, at all, in the particulars of the truth. They are only interested in advancing the larger ‘truth’, the narrative, the agenda.
IMO, it is not Islam they seek to advance but instead see it as a means to attack the right’s championship of national sovereignty. Which is the primary obstacle to a one world order of ‘truth and social justice’.
Of course, the narrative is the public meme for the rubes, for the liberal “useful idiots” who are the left’s political shock troops providing the political leverage needed to advance their agenda.
The Rahm Emanuels on the left find the Paul Krugmans very useful… for now. The Obama administration’s disregard for the liberal press is a perfect indicator of how the left actually views its liberal useful idiots.
BK,
It is an intense hatred for all things that are the foundation of Western Civilization. They hate us without mercy or a sense of remorse. Return that in kind once it all comes down to dust.
cease whining, Jews. The more women and children the Zionists massacre in Gaza, the more anti-semitism elsewhere in the world, and the more Jews frightened into joining the Zion-in-Palestine racket. And you should be grateful to B. Hussein Obama. In addition to maintaining the usual sluice of American weapons/$$$ into Zion, he has
1. returned the Pentagon/Israel stooge military to power in Egypt, via the appropriately-named General Sissi
2. and via Isramerican armed and trained Isis, broken the Shia Crescent which Bush ’43 established when he shoved Iraq back onto the petrodollar during the ’03 War. The Sunni Caliphate in western Iraq has already cut off Iranian arms shipments to Hezbollah – which is also tied up in Syria fighting Isramerican -back Sunni terrorists. Overall,
3. Zion-in-Palestine has never been more powerful or secure. Which in turn has freed it to massacre the Gazans. And don’t worry about all those photos of butchered babies and dead children. It’s just a little collateral damage, nothing to trouble a neoneo-con. Especially one living safe and sound in the ‘Kwa.
usa getting the israel treatment
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) suggested that Border Patrol agents were torturing illegal immigrants by making detention centers too cold during the summer. At a Congressional Progressive Caucus hearing on the border crisis, Schakowsky said she recently visited a detention center in Illinois where “all the kids I talked to at the shelter mentioned the cold.” “Cold has been used as torture in the past. I mean, really,” she said. “It just makes no sense that they would, it seems deliberately, be held in really uncomfortable situations.”
Schakawsky should’ve figured out that these kids had never experienced air conditioning — and that cool and cold get crossed up in translation.
Having lived decades in the tropics, I can assure this ‘Dilly’ that those born and bred there are shocked when temperatures drop below 70 degrees. During this summer season temperatures and humidity would be sky high at home. Any American would consider their native conditions to be pure Hell: just too hot and humid.
Wise Cave Owl, apart from his baiting and usual blather, has one or two interesting points:
1) Obama returned NOTHING to Egypt, returned nobody to power. He was content with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were on the cusp of establishing their dictatorship when Al-Sisi saw the writing on the wall.
The people were already alarmed at the MB, and Al-Sisi must’ve known he would be purged, probably sooner than later, so he acted.
IMO, Obama was discomfited by this greatly. Not only was his chosen ally de-throned, but Egypt was now hostile to him because of his part in the whole MB debacle.
Egypt is now a free agent, and not inclined to follow Obama’s lead. Quite the opposite. Hence, their reasonableness in dealing with Israel.
2) Possibly this is true; that ISIS has broken the supply chain from Iran to Hezbollah. In that case, they are serving the same role that Saddam used to serve. However, they are more radical, more violent and less controllable than Saddam was. They can strike out in any direction, at any time.
They wouldn’t make a suitable counter-balance to Iran, and should be destroyed.
The only reasonable group in the region that might not cause further problems by rising to power would be the Kurds. I’m not sure they would want the whole of Iraq, even if given the chance.
I’m not sure how other regional powers would react to their rise, other than Turkey (!), who seems to have taken a liking to the Kurds suddenly.
3) WCO is correct that Israel is relatively safe, for now. Hamas isn’t going to even moderately hurt them.
Even though I advocate a much tougher stance for Israeli action, they won’t do it.
And I know that WCO will rest easy knowing that I won’t lose a second of sleep over dead Palestinian civilians.
His attempts to pull on our heartstrings is really quite amateurish.
“a neoneo-con … living safe and sound in the ‘Kwa”
Huh? Never heard of the “‘Kwa”. Where is it in relation to your universe?
I read elsewhere, that another “flotilla” will be sailing from Turkey again, bound for Gaza. It was mentioned that this one will have military protection. Turkey is a NATO member. Could this be the aforementioned opportunity? I agree that it/he/they are biding their time, and will do as much damage as long as able.
And don’t worry about all those photos of butchered babies and dead children.
Most of them are reused footage of Palestinians killing Israeli children in homes, plus fake ones.
FOAF…
FYI: “Kwa” is used in some blog circles to refer to (African) homelands — or homelands of any character.
It has also been picked up by anti-(Black) supremacists. [ ie, Those opposed to the creation of a Black super caste, lording it over America, while scolding all with the race card. ]
It, IIRC, comes from the Zulus, and is linguistically appended in the manner of “stan” —
Like Zulu-kwa :: Zulu land.
Pakistan :: land of the Paki
(land of the pure… in this case ‘pure’ of Hindus and Sikhs.)
And so forth.
That the moonbat things he’s an owl — and cracking wise — ’tis to laugh.
His usage of Kwa is absolutely weird in neo’s venue.
It’s usage is still obscure and pretty much restricted to (Black) activist radicals.
Another usage is krackers with attitude — posted to the Urban Dictionary. The problem is that any activist can create such a posting — and the acronym does not line up.
::
” Amerikwa
A derogatory way of referring to what the United States has become socially and politically; namely a ‘melting pot’ of blacks, browns and jews.
Alex Linder “I say ‘Amerikwa’ because it has the ring of Kwanzaa to it and the Kwa-ha-ha of the jungle.”
::
As you can see, it doesn’t quite fit.
Even the Urban Dictionary posters are unaware that Kwa is used to denote “land of” in various African linguistic groups.
( BTW, all African languages are strikingly simple compared to any Indo-European language. They simply have primitive vocabularies, and everything else. Their written forms only began with European (colonial) attempts at transcription. So, be prepared for plenty of homonyms. )
( The European exposure has even imposed a certain level of language blending (pidgin) to the point of increasing the number of verb tenses. The original oral languages typically lacked time sensitive verb cases. This is still embodied in Black culture — as in Black Americans have had major issues with ‘timeliness’ going all the way back. (In all pre-agricultural societies, — especially in the tropics — seasons, and all the rest, had no relevance. Everyone, all the time, lived in the present.)
Yep, the first casualty of war is the truth.
Zulu-kwa can also work as kwa-Zulu.
Oral languages are much more flexible in such regards.
Unlike written forms, the oral delivery favors euphony… and obviously permits on the spot correction if references are confusing.
In all written languages, it’s VERY important to make sure that pronouns point to the right noun… and all the rest.
This cross up in linguistic priorities goes a GREAT distance towards explaining why young Black students get off to a terrible start in Western formal education. Correct word order has NEVER been a priority in their homes.
&&&
I’m reminded of my precocious niece. She made perfect sense when talking face to face. Yet her phone conversations were impossible to follow: too many dangling and implied references — both pronouns, subjects and objects.
This is such a sharp break in language structure that it’s one of the first things addressed at West Point. Plebes are required to use ONLY full and complete sentences — at all times. Implied objects and the like are forbidden. The result is that military orders take on full descriptive natures — even under intense stress.
This ‘break point’ is a huge factor when the US Army fights in Third World Hell holes. The opfor can only fight to very simple instructions. Their consequent fighting turns into a turkey shoot. ( Which constantly amazes American soldiers as to their ‘stupidity’ and bravery. )