Sunday, November 23, 2014


News Clips For The Day


https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/mehta-datalab-executiveorders1.png?w=773&h=1413

A very interesting and telling chart is given at this website which is taken from The American Presidency Project, and gives a bar chart of all Executive Orders by president from the very beginning of our nation. Look it up. It's fascinating.


http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/

The American Presidency Project
John Woolley and Gerhard Peters

The American Presidency Project (americanpresidency.org), was established in 1999 as a collaboration between John T. Woolley & Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Our archives contain 107,941 documents related to the study of the Presidency.


American Presidency Project State of the Union Data
State of the Union Index Page with research notes
Length of State of the Union Messages and Addresses in Words
Length of State of the Union Addresses in Minutes (from 1966)
List of Acknowledged Guests Sitting in House Gallery
List of Opposition Responses

The Document Archive Contains 107,941 Records
• Executive Orders
5706
• State of the Union Addresses
94
• Proclamations
7418
• State of the Union Messages
138
• Press Conferences
2028
• Inaugural Addresses
57
• Saturday Radio Addresses
1474
• Addresses to Congress (non-SOU)
49
• Fireside Chats (FDR)
27
• Addresses to Nation
249
• Veto Messages
1147
• Addresses to the United Nations
46
• Radio & TV Correspondents Dinners
38
• Addresses to Foreign Legislatures
71
• Party Convention Addresses
33
• College Commencement Addresses
158






http://thinkprogress.org/election/2014/11/21/3594461/jeb-bush-mysterious-businesses/

Jeb Bush’s Four Mysterious Companies Share The Same Address And Have Never Done Any Known Business
BY JOSH ISRAEL  
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 21, 2014 AT 10:32 AM

Photograph -- The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL is home to Jeb Bush’s business empire

Jeb Bush and his capital investment company have set up several companies that, despite being registered to his office and being approved for “any and all lawful business,” have seemingly not yet done anything. A ThinkProgress review of corporate registration records with the Florida Department of State revealed several companies registered in Bush’s name but little additional information.

In addition to his lengthy and troubled history as a business consultant and corporate board member, in recent years former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has ventured into a new territory: capital investment. Since 2008, he and his partners have registered a lengthy array of secretive companies with the state of Florida.

Bush has registered Altara Investments LLC (November 2011), Columbus Equity Holdings LLC (May 2013), De Soto Partners LLC (May 2012, with his son Jeb Bush Jr.), and Granada Investment Holdings, LLC (January 2012) with the state of Florida. Aside from the names of officers, registered agents, and the Coral Gables address, virtually no information is available online or in state and federal records about these entities. ThinkProgress searched through state registration sites in Florida and Delaware, the EDGAR database of all SEC filings, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s databases, Nexis, federal court records, and multiple Internet search engines for each.

ThinkProgress reached out to Bush’s office to ask about what the companies are and what they are doing. A spokeswoman responded only to ask “for what purpose” was the inquiry being made. Each is based out of the same Coral Gables office suite at the historic Biltmore Hotel as his Jeb Bush & Associates consulting firm — they appear to be the only ones registered to Jeb Bush at that address.

In recent months, a few of these entities have filed disclosures with the federalSecurities and Exchange Commission. A July Bloomberg news story cited these in a story, entitled “Jeb Bush Raising Private Equity Funds as Campaign Weighed,” noting that a few of these companies are involved in venture capital investments in oil and gas interests. An AP story also noted that his Three B Partners is involved with Maghicle Driverless LLC, a self-driving car company.

In 2008, Bush co-founded Britton Hill Partners LLC and registered the company in the state of Delaware. The company website consists of its name and an “info@” email address. It registered its offices to Florida in 2012.

Several related entities have been registered in Florida since: Britton Hill Holdings, LLC; Britton Hill Holdings GP, LLC; Britton Hill Holdings I, LP; Britton Hill Holdings I GP, LP; Britton Hill Partners HK, LLC; BH Logistics, LP; BH Logisitcs GP, LP; BH Aviation Holdings, LP; BH Aviation Holdings GP, LLC, and BH Aviation Holdings GP, LP.

According to the Securities Exchange Commission’s records, three of those entities (Britton Hill Holdings I, LP, BH Logistics LP, and BH Aviation Holdings, LP) reported that they had sold securities for their funds, but all that is really known about them is that they have invested in a company that makes gas carrier ships and one involved with fracking.

As a private citizen, Bush’s holdings and investments need not be disclosed. But, should he opt to run for president in 2016, he would not only need to complete a personal financial disclosure, but also would likely face the same sort of scrutiny Mitt Romney faced over his holdings and Bain Capital record.



ThinkProgress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ThinkProgress is a liberal American political blog that "provide[s] a forum that advances progressive ideas and policies".[3] It is an outlet of the Center for American Progress. Since a 2011 re-design, the blog operates a number of sections, including Climate, Economy, Health, Justice, LGBT, Security, and Culture. The Wonk Room was a blog under ThinkProgress which was published until 2011.[4]


Center for American Progress
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Center for American Progress (CAP) is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization.[2] According to CAP, the center is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action."[2] The Center presents a liberal[3]viewpoint on economic issues. It has its headquarters in Washington, D.C.[4]

The president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CAP is Neera Tanden, who worked for the Obama and Clinton administrations and for Hillary Clinton’s campaigns.[5] The first president and CEO wasJohn Podesta, who served as chief of staff to then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Podesta remained with the organization as chairman of the board until he joined the Obama White House staff in December 2013.Tom Daschle is the current chairman.

The Center for American Progress runs a campus outreach group,Generation Progress, and a sister advocacy organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Citing Podesta's influence in the formation of the Obama Administration, a November 2008 article in Time stated that "not since the Heritage Foundation helped guide Ronald Reagan's transition in 1981 has a single outside group held so much sway".[6]

The Center for American Progress was created in 2003 as a left-leaning alternative to think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute.[7]

Since its inception, the center has assembled a group of high-profile senior fellows, including Lawrence Korb,Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan; Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama; Ruy Teixeira, political scientist and author of The Emerging Democratic Majority; and, most recently, former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Elizabeth Edwards, late wife of former presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator from North Carolina John Edwards. Sarah Rosen Wartell, a co-founder and executive vice-president of the center, has been named President of the Urban Institute[8]

The center was often featured prominently on the Al Franken Show on the now defunct Air America Radio network, where Christy Harvey and Al Franken criticized the Bush administration at length, accusing it of dishonesty and incompetence.[citation needed]

The center helped Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) develop "strategic redeployment",[9] a comprehensive plan for the Iraq War that included a timetable and troop withdrawals.

Criticism[edit]

Some open government groups, such as the Sunlight Foundation and the Campaign Legal Center, criticize the Center's failure to disclose its contributors, particularly since it is so influential in appointments to the Obama administration.[20][21]

In March 2008, ThinkProgress, a blog outlet of the Center for American Progress, posted that John McCain had plagiarized from a 1996 speech by Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer. However, it was revealed that McCain had used similar lines in a speech during 1995 and ThinkProgress retracted the error the next day.[22][23][24]

In October 2010, ThinkProgress posted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was bypassing campaign finance laws by using foreign money to fund campaign attack ads.[25] FactCheck.org called it "a claim with little basis in fact",[26]while The New York Times wrote, "[T]here is little evidence that what the chamber does in collecting overseas dues is improper or even unusual, according to both liberal and conservative election-law lawyers and campaign finance documents".[27]

CAP was criticized by several Jewish organizations after some center staffers for the CAP "publicly used language that could be construed as anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic".[28] Bloggers associated with CAP published several posts using phrases such as "apartheid" and "Israel-firsters", causing NGO Monitor, the American Jewish Committee, theAnti-Defamation League and others to label them anti-Israel and call on CAP to disassociate themselves from these statements.[29] Officials at CAP said the “inappropriate” language came only in personal tweets – not on CAP’s Web site or its ThinkProgress blog. The tweets were deleted, and the authors apologized.[28]

The Center for American Progress is classified as a 501(c)(3) organization under U.S. Internal Revenue Code. The institute receives approximately $25 million per year in funding from a variety of sources, including individuals, foundations, and corporations, but it declines to release any information on the sources of its funding. No funders are listed on its website or in its Annual Report. From 2003 to 2007, the Center received about $15 million in grants from 58 foundations. Major individual donors include George Soros, Peter Lewis, Steve Bing, and Herb and Marion Sandler. The Center receives undisclosed sums from corporate donors.[32] In December 2013 the organization released a list of its corporate donors.[33]





“ThinkProgress searched through state registration sites in Florida and Delaware, the EDGAR database of all SEC filings, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s databases, Nexis, federal court records, and multiple Internet search engines for each. ThinkProgress reached out to Bush’s office to ask about what the companies are and what they are doing. A spokeswoman responded only to ask “for what purpose” was the inquiry being made. Each is based out of the same Coral Gables office suite at the historic Biltmore Hotel as his Jeb Bush & Associates consulting firm — they appear to be the only ones registered to Jeb Bush at that address.... A July Bloomberg news story cited these in a story, entitled “Jeb Bush Raising Private Equity Funds as Campaign Weighed,” noting that a few of these companies are involved in venture capital investments in oil and gas interests. An AP story also noted that his Three B Partners is involved with Maghicle Driverless LLC, a self-driving car company.... As a private citizen, Bush’s holdings and investments need not be disclosed. But, should he opt to run for president in 2016, he would not only need to complete a personal financial disclosure, but also would likely face the same sort of scrutiny Mitt Romney faced over his holdings and Bain Capital record.”

Raising unlawful campaign funds, if this situation is unlawful, and tax dodges would go against Jeb Bush if he runs for President in 2016. A number of large companies that are registered, but are not apparently doing any business, just looks funny. Could such funds be used for bribery or slush funds? It sounds like some kind of unethical activity, to me, and “big money” muscle flexing at the very least.






http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/11/texas-approves-textbooks-with-moses-as-founding-father/

Progressive Secular Humanist
Texas approves textbooks with Moses as Founding Father
November 21, 2014 by Michael Stone 

Christian conservatives win, children lose: Texas textbooks will teach public school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible, and the American system of democracy was inspired by Moses.

On Friday the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education voted along party lines 10-5 to approve the biased and inaccurate textbooks. The vote signals a victory for Christian conservatives in Texas, and a disappointing defeat for historical accuracy and the education of innocent children.

The textbooks were written to align with instructional standards that the Board of Education approved back in 2010 with the explicit intention of forcing social studies teaching to adhere to a conservative Christian agenda. The standards require teachers to emphasize America’s so called “Christian heritage.”

In essence, Christian conservatives in Texas have successfully forced a false historical narrative into public school textbooks that portray Moses as an influence on the Constitution and the Old Testament as the root of democracy.

Critics called the whole process into question after publishers posted a number of last-minute changes to the textbooks yesterday, leaving board members and observers without time to figure out exactly what was in the approved texts.

According to reports, scholars did not have an opportunity to review and comment on the numerous changes publishers have submitted since the last public hearing. Some of those changes appeared to have been negotiated with state board members behind closed doors.

Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller issued the following statement:
“What we saw today shows very clearly that the process the State Board of Education uses to adopt textbooks is a sham. This board adopted textbooks with numerous late changes that the public had little opportunity to review and comment on and that even board members themselves admitted they had not read. They can’t honestly say they know what’s in these textbooks, which could be in classrooms for a decade.”

In addition to Miller’s complaints about the process, the Texas Freedom Network issued a statement on today’s State Board of Education vote to adopt new social studies textbooks for Texas public schools, noting: the new textbooks also include passages that suggest Moses influenced the writing of the Constitution and that the roots of democracy can be found in the Old Testament. Scholars from across the country have said such claims are inaccurate and mislead students about the historical record.

Emile Lester, a professor of history in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, claim the textbooks contain “inventions and exaggerations” about Christianity’s influence on the Founding Fathers and, by extension, the formation of American democracy.

Credible historians warn the misguided attempt to suggest biblical origins for the Constitution would lead students to believe that “Moses was the first American.”

Scholars claim the decision to include the biblical figure of Moses in social studies education is part of a concerted effort by Christian extremists to promote the idea that the United States is a “redeemer nation” – giving a divine justification for supposed American exceptionalism.

The proposed textbooks are deeply flawed, and have no place in a public school classroom. It is wrong and factually incorrect to teach Texas public school students that the Founding Fathers based the Constitution on the Bible.

Despite the efforts of Christian conservatives to pervert and twist U.S. history to satisfy their religious superstition, the fact remains Moses was not the first American, and America is not a Christian nation.
Children deserve the truth.




When I read this article, not the first of its kind in the last ten or so years, it is clear to me why conservatives are so strongly against the use of the Common Core curriculum. In another article one woman said the Common Core presents US history in a “negative” light and not as the “city upon a hill” that we are. The American treatment of the Native Americans even today, the My Lai Massacre, the rampaging of the KKK without states reigning them in, all the Jim Crow laws preventing blacks from voting in elections or eating in public restaurants or receiving equal justice in court, and other things I could think of if I sat here long enough, to me must be taught in history so those things won't be repeated.

Textbooks like these are unspeakably dishonest and nothing more than government propaganda. We really have no room to criticize the Russians and the Chinese when we allow such things here. Texas as it exists today is at least “a backwater,” and even an undemocratic region, yet they brag about their democracy. Luckily the whole US population aren't like so many of those Texans. Florida is very much a part of the deep South, but we aren't this ignorant. When I see things like this I'm ashamed of our country. Our country is more than our Constitution, which is fairly enlightened I believe, but the total of all its parts. It is the mentality and philosophy of some of our population as well, and we have a lot of work to do there. May the Great Spirit help us.





http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/11/21/gop-led-report-debunks-right-wing-medias-bengha/201676

GOP Led Report Debunks Right-Wing Media's Benghazi Hoax
Blog ››› ›› THOMAS BISHOP
November 21, 2014 9:02 PM EST ›

On November 21, the Republican-led House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) released the findings of a nearly two year-long investigative report into the September 2012 attacks on two U.S. facilities in Benghazi. This report, like many before it, debunked right-wing media's myths about the attacks, concluding that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks, no stand down order was issued during attacks, and the administration's initial talking points about the attacks were based on the Central Intelligence Agency's assessment at the time, as the administration has long maintained.

[T]he CIA ensured sufficient security for CIA facilities in Benghazi ;and, without a requirement to do so, ably and bravely assisted the State Department on the night of the attacks. Their actions saved lives. Appropriate U.S. personnel made reasonable tactical decisions that night, and the Committee found no evidence that there was either a stand down order or a denial of available air support. The Committee, however, received evidence that the State Department security personnel, resources, and equipment were unable to counter the terrorist threat that day and required CIA assistance.

Second, the Committee finds that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks. In the months prior, the IC provided intelligence about previous attacks and the increased threat environment in Benghazi, but the IC did not have specific, tactical warning of the September 11 attacks

The report added that "after the attacks, the early intelligence assessments and the Administration's initial public narrative on the causes and motivations for the attacks were not fully accurate" as "[t]here was a stream of contradictory and conflicting intelligence that came in after the attacks." According to the HPSCI, the CIA's initial assessment that the attack was inspired by protests -- on which Ambassador Susan's Rice infamous Sunday show talking points were based -- was inaccurate and corrected after "closed caption television footage became available" two days after Rice's Sunday how appearances.

The HPSCI report echoed findings from the Accountability Review Board for Benghazi and bipartisan U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that there were no intelligence failure before the attacks, no stand down order given to Benghazi response teams, no specific tactical warnings of an attack, and that Rice's reports were based on CIA assessment at the time.

Conservative media outlets spent more than two years relentlessly promoting these myths, despite being repeatedly debunked. Fox News alone hyped the idea of a "stand-down order" on more than 100 segments.




“On November 21, the Republican-led House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) released the findings of a nearly two year-long investigative report into the September 2012 attacks on two U.S. facilities in Benghazi. This report, like many before it, debunked right-wing media's myths about the attacks, concluding that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks, no stand down order was issued during attacks, and the administration's initial talking points about the attacks were based on the Central Intelligence Agency's assessment at the time, as the administration has long maintained.” So there! Put that in your pipe and smoke it! “Conservative media outlets spent more than two years relentlessly promoting these myths, despite being repeatedly debunked. Fox News alone hyped the idea of a 'stand-down order' on more than 100 segments.” To me the “always fair and balanced” Fox News is no problem, because I very, very, very rarely clip one of their articles or watch their pundits on TV. That's why we have a free press in this country, so all the versions of a story can come out and be available for viewers.





Most binge drinkers are not actually alcoholics
CBS NEWS November 21, 2014, 2:42 PM

People who regularly have a few too many drinks don't necessarily meet the criteria for alcoholism, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study finds that while 1 in 3 Americans drink excessively, they don't necessarily have an alcohol addiction.

"Definitely the most surprising aspect of the study was how many people drink excessively," CBS News medical contributor Dr. Holly Phillips told "CBS This Morning." "So excessive drinking is two things. It includes binge drinking, which is four or five [drinks at a sitting] for men. And it also includes heavy daily drinking: eight or more drinks [per week] for women or 15 for men. What the study pointed out though is that 90 percent of people who drink this way are not considered alcoholics."

For the study, researchers analyzed National Survey on Drug Use and Health data on drinking patterns from 2009 to 2011, which accounted for 138,100 adults.

The researchers found the prevalence of alcohol dependence was 10.2 percent among excessive drinkers, 10.5 percent among binge drinkers and 1.3 percent for non-binge drinkers.

Excessive drinking, binge drinking, and alcohol dependence were most common among men and those aged 18 to 24. Binge drinking was most common among higher income individuals -- $75,000 or more per household -- but alcohol dependence was more common among people with household income of less than $25,000.


Phillips said a person is considered an alcoholic when drinking interferes with their work or home life, damages important relationships and continues despite legal troubles and other serious consequences. "It also has to do with problems controlling your consumption. Sometimes people who start can't stop," she said.

Excessive drinking still raises the risk for a number of chronic and fatal diseases, even if the person isn't actually an alcoholic. There are some 88,000 deaths in the U.S. each year linked to excessive binge drinking, including accidents and also illnesses such as heart disease, liver disease and breast cancer. "Women who drink alcohol are, in fact, more likely to get breast cancer than women who drink no alcohol," notes Phillips.




This article seems to be classing binge drinking as something that the individual is able to control if he wants to, and is prevalent among well-to-do people who go to parties and bars for fun. Fun for them involves getting sloshed. Then the article speaks of alcohol dependence, which is more common among the poor. Maybe they mean that to maintain a reasonably happy outlook those people have to drink. Their life as poor people is harder to tolerate without experiencing a high degree of depression. Alcohol is for them an anti-depressant.

From my experience within AA rooms, in which we talk about ourselves and listen to others talk, one type of AA member has the hardest time staying sober. The daily drinker, though he probably has “tissue tolerance” which makes him physically dependent on alcohol, he is more likely to see his problem with more clarity and pure honesty than the binge drinker. Binge drinkers, who don't drink every day and who can have “just one,” learn very quickly to “talk the talk,” but they don't really believe it when they say “I'm an alcoholic.” They always think they can stop anytime they want to, so they don't need any stinking AA meetings, thank you! So they stay sober a few weeks or even months, stop going to meetings and then find themselves in some motel room with a strange man and have no idea how they got there. Or maybe they decided to steal a car for the fun of it and find themselves in a jail cell.

All drinkers tend to be distinctly amoral and self-indulgent. That's what several of the Steps of the program are about. It makes us rethink our assumptions and try to be better citizens. Daily drinkers have found this magic way to “feel good” for awhile and they use it, but they are primarily depressive individuals whose life without alcohol even one day is misery. Both types, to me, are “alcoholics.” This article makes a highly artificial distinction between types of drinkers. The binge drinker isn't really able to control his drinking for more than a few days or even weeks, but even that ability gives him the feeling that he is superior to us poor daily drinkers. He is often of the philosophy that a “real man” can “hold his liquor,” which means that he is to drink with his friends and enjoy it, but not embarrass himself. Duh. That only works so long.

Mental health centers have tried drugs that cause intense nausea if the person drinks, long term removal from friends and their daily environment (mostly a month or so), intensive psychotherapy, downers to prevent anxiety, and psychiatrist led group therapy. AA, of course, is part religion (which you don't have to buy into) and part group therapy with the difference that it is completely a peer group with no parent figure like a therapist. Not only does it cost very little, or nothing at all if you really can't afford to put a dollar into the collection plate, it is a strictly voluntary path toward a gradual change of viewpoint through the encouraging attention from your peers and the gradual realization that you can change, and that the change will be gradual. AA is actually the most painless way to recover from the craving for a drink, and a great way to party with your friends (non-drinking friends, that is).

The more a person makes friends within the program and talks frequently with his new friends, both to get past the difficult times when he may crave a drink and to provide himself with lots of positive new ideas. Somewhere along the way he will find himself having a very easy time with his sobriety and he will be grateful for the change. If he has tried the recommended step of praying to a higher power, ANY higher power – one man I know used to say his higher power was Mickey Mouse, he will come to the realization that he now has someone to express his newly found gratitude to or ask for help, and will find that he actually believes in the higher power which was an imaginary thing to him at first. The thing all AA members have to remember is that there is no absolute cure for alcoholism, but there is a path to complete sobriety anyway. The value of calling yourself an alcoholic is that it is an ever present reminder of the need for absolutely avoiding that first drink. The real trick about being an alcoholic is that on one night you may be able to have just one drink, (though for God's sake, who wants just one?) but after a week or so of that you will probably have six or seven. Just accept that and walk forward, and you will have a successful and happy future.






In Response To Attacks, Israel Takes Down Palestinian Homes – NPR
Emily Harris
November 22, 2014

A relative of Abdel Rahman Shaludi, a Palestinian who killed two Israelis with his car last month, stands at his family home after it was razed by Israeli authorities in east Jerusalem Silwan neighborhood on Wednesday.

After a spate of deadly violence in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to speed up home demolitions of attackers as a punishment and deterrent.

This week, the family home of Palestinian Abdel Rahman Shaludi was destroyed. Last month, Shaludi, age 20, drove a car into a crowd of people waiting for a light rail train, killing a 3-month-old baby immediately and injuring eight others, including a woman visiting from Ecuador who later died.

Police fatally shot Shaludi at the scene.

At half past midnight Wednesday, Israeli soldiers arrived at the East Jerusalem building where he had lived with his parents and five siblings.

"They didn't ring or knock on the door," says Shaludi's mother, Enas Shaludi, 43. "They only pushed in the door, rushed in and began to scream."

She says they were given five minutes to get on warm clothes and told to each take a blanket. Their family home is four stories tall, each floor with two apartments, each apartment the home of an extended family member.

Five days before the soldiers arrived, Israel had warned the family their home would be destroyed. So the parents and remaining five children had moved out their belongings and were sleeping in a relative's apartment on the same floor.

Everyone was forced to leave, waiting a few blocks away for several hours.

The military says soldiers used explosives to destroy the front outside wall and most interior walls of the apartment.

"It was dark, but we see the flashes and lights," says Enas Shaludi. "We heard breaking stones."

By the time they returned, the floor of the destroyed apartment was covered in concrete rubble. One wall of the attacker's bedroom was still standing, the lower half decorated in blue wallpaper with a pattern of hot air balloons.

All the apartments of the extended family were ransacked.

Tamir Shaludi, an uncle of Abdel Rahman, the attacker, owns the apartment just upstairs. He says soldiers broke his door and a mirrored table, turned over furniture, and emptied drawers and cupboards.

"Why?" he asks.

He worries his apartment is no longer structurally sound, and he feels this Israeli practice is patently unfair.

"I am very upset at what happened to my brother's apartment," he said, referring to the father of attacker Abdel Rahman Shaludi. "But I am even angrier that I'm punished too. Because I have never had one thought of even picking up a stone and throwing it at Israelis."

Not far away, the West Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof is recovering from Tuesday's synagogue attack, in which five Israelis died.

Neighborhood resident and young father Abraham Dick is studying to be a rabbi.

"Obviously everybody's still in pain," he said.

Israel plans to destroy the family homes of the two Palestinians who attacked the synagogue. Dick says he wishes Israel didn't have to.

"We are never in favor of aggression," he said. "But I would be in favor of it, if that's what it takes to save lives."

Israel stopped such home demolitions after military leaders questioned its effectiveness nearly a decade ago. According to statistics of the Israeli human rights group B'tselem, Israel destroyed just over 650 family homes of attackers between 2001 and 2004. Since then, the military has destroyed six homes for what B'tselem calls "punitive" reasons, including that of the Shaludi family.

Israel decided to revive the practice earlier this year. With the recent spate of attacks in Jerusalem, Netanyahu vowed to speed them up.

Knesset member Dov Lipman says he knows much of the world sees the practice as vindictive and collective punishment. But, despite the long hiatus of the practice, he believes it works.

"We know from interrogations over the years there are young people who do not carry out terror attacks because they know there will be implications for their families," he said. "The moment we know that, we have to do it. "

At least a half a dozen families of Palestinians who carried out attacks recently have received notices that their homes will be destroyed. They can appeal.

Meanwhile, Enas Shaludi isn't sure where her family will live now. But she tells her kids God will give them beautiful houses in heaven.




“A relative of Abdel Rahman Shaludi, a Palestinian who killed two Israelis with his car last month, stands at his family home after it was razed by Israeli authorities in east Jerusalem Silwan neighborhood on Wednesday. After a spate of deadly violence in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to speed up home demolitions of attackers as a punishment and deterrent.... Police fatally shot Shaludi at the scene.... Five days before the soldiers arrived, Israel had warned the family their home would be destroyed. So the parents and remaining five children had moved out their belongings and were sleeping in a relative's apartment on the same floor.... He worries his apartment is no longer structurally sound, and he feels this Israeli practice is patently unfair. 'I am very upset at what happened to my brother's apartment,' he said, referring to the father of attacker Abdel Rahman Shaludi. 'But I am even angrier that I'm punished too. Because I have never had one thought of even picking up a stone and throwing it at Israelis.'... At least a half a dozen families of Palestinians who carried out attacks recently have received notices that their homes will be destroyed. They can appeal.”

This Israeli policy is as uncivilized as some of the things that ISIS is doing. When the young man drove into the crowd, the police shot him on the spot. There. He was punished. Punishing family members is a hallmark of the mafias in various parts of the world, and is grotesquely unfair. If the Israelis and the fundamentalist Islamic groups both keep doing things like this, they can never hope for any peace. I don't understand why they don't want peace.

The Israelis need to vote Netanyahu out of office and find an intelligent, honest leader for the future. He looks intelligent, but he's not, because what he's doing is sheer stupidity. It would make more sense and be more fair in the end, if he would amass his entire army and march into Palestine and simply conquer them completely like the Romans used to do. That's also what General Sherman did to the South. It is brutal at the time, but it successfully quashes the ability of the rebels to fight back. Sometimes after that experience a true peace can grow among the young. In the South there are many of us who see the error of our ways – we know that slavery and racism was vile and evil. Many in the South still hate the North, but not all. Many young white people have made friends with black people and live in the same neighborhoods. That's the way it should be.





President for life? Vladimir Putin opens up
CBS/AP November 23, 2014

MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin says he will not remain Russia's president for life, but will step down in line with the Russian constitution.

Putin did not rule out running for a fourth term in 2018, which would extend his time in office through 2024. He said staying beyond that, however, would not be good for Russia and to him is "in no way interesting."

"This is not good and detrimental for the country and I do not need it as well," he said in an interview with the Tass news agency released Sunday. "You see I am in such position that there is nothing secret."

Putin, who is 62, has effectively led Russia since he was first elected in 2000. He stepped aside after two four-year terms to abide with constitutional term limits, retaining power as prime minister. He was re-elected in 2012 for a new, now six-year term in an election tainted by widespread fraud allegations and massive protests.

After that election, Putin tearfully thanked supporters, declaring: "I promised that we would win and we have won! We have won in an open and honest struggle."

Putin said in his most recent interview he would decide whether to run in 2018 depending on the situation in the country and his "own mood."

Putin is allegedly somewhat of a recluse in Moscow. In his office he shuns technology, instead relying on paper documents and Soviet War-era landlines.

The Russian president is also allegedly obsessed with knowing what the world is saying about him. Aides prepare daily press clippings, and while he rarely uses the Internet, his advisers show him parodies. "He must know how they mock him," sources say.

His inner circle calls him "Tsar," implicitly linking him to the iron-fisted rulers of Russia's past.




“He was re-elected in 2012 for a new, now six-year term in an election tainted by widespread fraud allegations and massive protests. … The Russian president is also allegedly obsessed with knowing what the world is saying about him. Aides prepare daily press clippings, and while he rarely uses the Internet, his advisers show him parodies. 'He must know how they mock him,' sources say. His inner circle calls him 'Tsar,' implicitly linking him to the iron-fisted rulers of Russia's past.”

I wonder if they call him Tsar to his face? It's interesting that he is reclusive and sensitive to what people say about him. He doesn't seem that way at all. He strikes me as being almost completely ruthless and completely dishonest. I really don't like him much at all after Ukraine.





When Thanksgiving Was Weird – NPR
Linton Weeks
November 23, 2014

Photograph – Thanksgiving maskers, circa 1910-1915.

Oddest thing: Thanksgiving in turn-of-the-20th century America used to look a heckuva lot like Halloween.

People – young and old – got all dressed up and staged costumed crawls through the streets. In Los Angeles, Chicago and other places around the country, newspapers ran stories of folks wearing elaborate masks and cloth veils. Thanksgiving mask balls were held in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Montesano, Wash. and points in between.

In New York City — where the tradition was especially strong —a local newspaper reported in 1911 that "Fantastically garbed youngsters and their elders were on every corner of the city."

Thousands of folks ran rampant, one syndicated column noted. "Horns and rattles are worked overtime. The throwing of confetti and even flour on pedestrians is an allowable pastime."

It must have been like a strange American dream.

Mince Pies And Masquerades

Of course there was the familiar Thanksgiving fare for those who could afford it – turkey, pork, apples, figs and mince pies. But there was also a widespread weirdness that has faded away over the years.

In fact, so many people participated in masking and making merry back then that, according to a widely distributed item that appeared in the Los Angeles Times of November 21, 1897, Thanksgiving was "the busiest time of the year for the manufacturers of and dealers in masks and false faces. The fantastical costume parades and the old custom of making and dressing up for amusement on Thanksgiving day keep up from year to year in many parts of the country, so that the quantity of false faces sold at this season is enormous."

Popular get-ups at the time included heads of parrots and other birds and animals and face-coverings of various colors. "Masks of prominent men and the foremost political leaders are made by some manufacturers, and large-sized false hands, feet, noses, ears, etc., are also new and amusing," the California newspaper reported.

Some Americans wore masks that made fun of people of other nations "with greatly exaggerated facial peculiarities." More refined revelers donned soft, ghostly, painted veils made of gauzy mesh that both disguised, and improved – according to the wry writer – a person's appearance.

Most of the false faces – crafted from papier mache — came from Germany. But several U.S. companies also got in on the act.

Ragamuffin Day

In New York: "Newspapers advertised 'Thanksgiving masks' and'lithographed character masks' for the tots," The Bowery Boysblog notes. "These featureless disguises were often sold in candy stores alongside holiday related treats like spiced jelly gums, opera drops, crystallized ginger and tinted hard candies."

Throughout the city, people wore disguises. "There were Fausts, Filipinos, Mephistos, Boers, Uncle Sams, John Bulls, Harlequins, bandits, sailors, soldiers in khaki suits," the New York Times observed on Dec. 1, 1899. Some masqueraders rode horses; others straddled bicycles. Everyone "was generous with pennies and nickels, and the candy stores did a land-office business."

So many youngsters in New York City dressed as poor people, Thanksgiving Day took on the nickname: Ragamuffin Day. "Parades of ragamuffins — sometimes called 'fantastics' because of the costumes — can be dated at least to 1891," historian Carmen Nigro of the New York Public Library tells NPR.

"Children would dress themselves in rags and oversized, overdone parodies of beggars (a la Charlie Chaplin's character 'The Tramp')," Carmen writes on the library's blog. "The ragamuffins would then ask neighbors and adults on the street, 'Anything for Thanksgiving?' The usual response would be pennies, an apple, or a piece of candy."

By 1930, the library blog reports, some New Yorkers were ready to move on. School Superintendent William J. O'Shea instructed administrators that "modernity is incompatible with the custom of children to masquerade and annoy adults on Thanksgiving day" by asking for gifts and money.

Others kept the tradition alive. The Madison Square Club for Boys and Young Men, for instance, put on Ragamuffin Parades in an attempt to bring order to the occasion. The 1940 parade, according to the library blog, featured more than 400 children and touted the group's motto: "American boys do not beg."

Ragamuffin Parades continued to be popular into the 1950s but they were eventually overpowered by another burgeoning tradition catapulted into prominence by the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street. The new symbol of Thanksgiving also showcased people in fantastic masks and costumes and, in addition, hoisted giant character-based balloons. It was called Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.




This is the first I've heard of anything except the famous story of the Pilgrims and the Indians, who willingly help the newcomers. It didn't take more than a few decades for that to change, unfortunately. It certainly is interesting, though. When I was reading War and Peace there was a part in which a young Russian teenager and her family were visited by “mummers.” Mummers are people in masks and costumes who play music, dance and have lots of silly fun. In Philadelphia there is a traditional Mummers Parade, and England there was a mummer's play. Sometimes racism with the use of blackface plays a part in it. According to Wikipedia, the Philadelphia parade was not allowed to include women until 1970, but rather men in drag. The origin of the Mummers is not given in Wikipedia. See the following article on origins of the tradition.


http://www.browardmummers.com/origins.htm

Here are some similarities, differences, and other information regarding the idea of the origin of Mumming

Rome
400 B.C.
To celebrate the feast of Saturnalia

England and Germany
16th and 17th Centuries
To celebrate the Christmas Mosque

Scotland, Wales, Ireland
17th - Present
Folk dramas that evolved

Philadelphia
Early 19th cen. – Present
Medieval European customs

The Roman laborers used mumming to observe a festival in honor of their god, Saturn, and the gathering of crops.  The festival began December 17th, and it was generally the norm to visit friends and exchange gifts.  It was a day of equality and joy.  Slaves donned costumes and enjoyed the festivities with their masters.  Music was heavily involved.

England and Germany used mumming practices to celebrate their Christmas Mosque. It consisted of popular dramatic traditions that integrated an allegorical theme, pageantry, dancing, and music.  Also, these festivals had a tendency to become very boisterous and lively.  In German, the word mummer means mask, thus explaining why the costumes grew to be such a large part of the tradition.

The accepted idea in these areas (England too) is that mumming plays are really folk dramas that are set around the legends of St. George and the Seven Champions of Christendom.  This would support the idea mention in the History of Mumming. Mumming shows began as miming performances and eventually grew to become more.  This is where the term mummers derives from because the Middle English wordmum means silent.  Words were finally added, but the original stories were often partially lost through translation and retellings of the story.  It is also believed that these plays were performed around the end of the year and during the harvesting season because it was intended to be a celebration of the death of the year and its coming again in Spring.

The mumming customs in Philadelphia came from nothing more than old European customs that were altered to fit the desires of the new settlers and immigrants.  They picked from many different cultures and, in combining them, found that the easiest (and most fun) thing to do was turn the plays and performances themselves into one large parade.  More information can be found on the Philadelphia page.