quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Watched some of it on TeeVee, be a perfect time to use water cannons on these twerps, 40 degrees, a little ice cold water....

I would pay to watch that. Even with TicketMaster fees.

Isn't it "snowplow season" up there?

Those things are pretty fair at clearing roads, aren't they?

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:

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40 demonstrators

Not even enough reason to air down the tires…

quote:

Pro-Palestinian protesters block traffic at three NYC bridges, Holland Tunnel

What is it with the Jews in NYC?
Democrats first, Jews second. They seem to love their tormentors:

A New Exodus for Jewish Democrats
By James A. Betti

Before the United States instituted the National Origins Quota of 1924 and limited immigration, over two million people of Jewish heritage, mostly from central Europe or Russia, had entered the United States. The old world was rampant with anti-Semitism and America’s freedoms made it a place where Abraham’s Biblical descendants could make a new beginning.

To ensure their next generation would get ahead, American Jewish immigrants focused on education and hard work. Given the Jewish people's history of enduring terrible anti-Semitism, it was not surprising that they would preferentially aid one another. Initially, there was significant anti-Semitism in America, but the hard-working Jewish Americans took any job they could. Their children studied hard, and Jewish Americans used any newfound influence to help their youth achieve their individual goals.

An example of this dynamic is that in the 1930s the Ivy League and other elite colleges discriminated against Jewish applicants. Knowing admission to an elite Ivy-like college was a key to success, Jewish Americans fought this injustice. Using the argument that admissions should be based on merit they were able to gradually gain access to the elite corridors of power. The Jewish percentage of students at Harvard reached a high of 25% and is now around 10%. American Jews account for 14% of physicians and over 60% of lawyers. Congress is 6% Jewish, the Senate 8% and at present one Supreme Court judge is Jewish (It has been as high as three). Twenty-five percent of Forbes' list of billionaires are Jewish, and the entertainment industry is dominated by Jewish Americans. These numbers are remarkable given that Jewish Americans make up approximately 2% of the population.

Throughout the 20th and early 21st century a significant majority {67%} of Jewish Americans aligned with the Democrat Party. In opposition to the anti-Semitic Republican WASP power structure; Jewish Americans found common ground and common cause within the Democrat coalition of other marginalized groups such as Black Americans, blue-collar workers, and socially liberal thinkers. Powerful Jewish Americans have become very influential Democrat supporters.

Over the last several decades America’s political coalitions have drastically changed and progressives have taken control of the Democrat party. The Democrat Muslim vote is growing and will eventually outnumber the Jewish vote. The Progressive Democrat Party has become the party of rich college-educated white-privilege-hating elites and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) minorities. Blue-collar non-college-educated voters have migrated to the GOP.

The new progressive Democrat party in which Jewish Americans have a significant influence has forced DEI policies on America. They have turned their back as elite colleges have systematically excluded traditional conservative Americans. The same elite colleges that once discriminated against Jewish Americans.

During this same period, to avoid the wrath of radical progressive faculty and students, traditional American thinkers have been forced to hide their politically incorrect views. Campus First Amendment rights have become reserved for progressives such as think Pro Hamas, LBGT, and Pro-choicers, while traditional American values were deemed hate speech.

But the winds of change are blowing and an evil that has haunted the Jewish people for centuries is rearing its ugly head.

The progressive Democrat response to the October 7th Hamas massacre of 1200 innocent Jews has exposed their latent anti-Semitism and is a likely harbinger of what is to come. Despite their huge financial contributions and party leadership positions, Jewish Americans only represent a small percentage of the modern Democrat party and they are now being perceived by their fellow progressives as “White Privileged.” Perhaps best summarized in a recent WSJ Opinion:

The only logical way around this conundrum is for the woke left to say that Jews are “white.” Jews are now privileged people of European origin who game the system. The horrors of past antisemitism are seen as general oppression, and it is an accident that the focus of that oppression happened to be Jews. They see Israel as a place where European whites who happen to be Jews colonized the land of native nonwhites.

To the DEI-obsessed progressives, being “White Privileged” is an unforgivable sin and it is only a matter of time before they will turn on their Jewish colleagues. It is more than ironic that many left-leaning progressive Jewish Americans supported the DEI movement, and it has morphed into an anti-Semitic monster.

To avoid the evolving likelihood that Jewish Americans will suffer escalating progressive anti-Semitism it makes sense that they consider becoming part of the new GOP coalition. Capitalism with achievement based on merit is the hallmark of the Jewish people and the bedrock principle of the new GOP. Rallying around the Judeo-Christian principles that forged the American Constitution would be essential. Compromise on social issues would also be necessary, but in trade, the American Jewish Community would no longer have to fear that the light at the end of the tunnel is an anti-Semitic progressive train.

There are no nefarious reasons that the Jewish Americans have achieved power and influence. America’s freedoms provided the perfect environment for the Jewish immigrants to thrive, and they did. Once the Jewish people arrived in America with all their cultural dynamics intact, events were set in motion and the present Jewish success was inevitable.

But there are signs that American Jewish culture and its model for success is fraying. Jewish scripture forbids marriage outside of the Jewish faith and in 1930 only 2% of Jews intermarried. Starting in the 1970s, intermarriages rapidly increased and in 2020 sixty-one percent of American Jewish marriages have one spouse who is not Jewish. Following the general American trend of feeling religion is not important in their lives, 53% of Jewish Americans believe religion is not essential, and not surprisingly 50% of American Jews under 30 believe caring about Israel is not important to what defines them as Jewish. Some sectarian progressive Jews, such as Senator Bernie Sanders, are perversely anti-Israel and despite the October 7th Hamas massacre, do not support aid to Israel, or its right to defend itself.

Jewish American Democrats are facing a time of internal turmoil and dangerous uncertainty, and they have a choice. A new Exodus to the GOP and control their destiny, or continue to believe that their fellow progressives will not come for them. If present Democrat Party support is an indicator, they probably will choose the wrong path and hold on to the fantasy that modern progressives want them on their team.

Perhaps the Jewish American Democrats believe they have amassed such power, wealth, and political influence that Europe-like 20th-century events can never happen again. The October 7th Hamas massacre, rampant American college campus antisemitism, increasing worldwide violence against Jews, and history says otherwise.

https://www.americanthinker.co...ewish_democrats.html

Israel can trust Hamas

(Op ed)

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/383349

"Jerusalem can trust its enemies more than its allies to keep their promises.
Hitler also kept his promise to try to annihilate the Jews. ..."



I believe the administration wants Israel and the Arab States and Iran to be on parity", even to the point of letting Iran get the bomb, as it would "temper Israel, lead to the "Two State Solution" so the Arabs (who call themselves Palestinians) will believe they have won a "Great Battle for Freedom", allow Iran to "feel their massive balls" and then "everyone will calm the fuck down".

And nothing could bring about a greater reality of world wide destructive disassembly, than this folly.

Trying to "level" a field that is so grossly one sided against Israel and the Jewish people's existence, by seeing Israel as having some advantage (size of the state, and number of Jews worldwide compared to the size and number of Arabs, not to mention, adherents to Islam that support them) in all of this, is so far off point, as to forget where the point ever was from the wilderness the idea takes one thinking such foolishness.

For the past 75 years, Israel has been at a state of war with most of the Arab states, exception of Egypt and then Jordan, and while Israel has just now, 78 years later, finally recovered to the number of Jews worldwide, that existed before the Holocaust, and through great effort, stiff necked and flinty forehead, has managed to become the fourth most powerful military, a great player in the technology arena and many other things.

What have those who are neighbors done or become in that same time, and amount of increase of population that is on order greater proliferation?

The PLO brought world wide terrorism, and planted the seed that has resulted in Pan Am Flt 103 in Lockerbie, Black September, 1972 Munich massacre 1968, El Al hijacked, 1970: Simultaneous hijackings of five planes to Jordon, 1972: Sabena hijacking, 1976: Hijacking to Entebbe and so much more.

Yet, the world stands and accuses Israel of being too harsh, too much, too long, in a war that they did not start.


So many of the wrong people are in position of making policy and shaping things on the world stage, and could not screw it up worse if they actually set out to do just that.

Just hope it does not become a "perfect storm" situation.

Reminds me of Ocean Gate, but instead of one self absorbed guy with to much money, influence and control, we have an army of his type.


And then, "PINK!!!", just like that, they were gone.

As soon as Israeli spies verify that Iran is about to assemble a working atomic weapon, that facility will be razed to the ground. If they somehow assemble or obtain one in secret from an outside source, we will find out when Iran touches it off inside Israel. Those Stone Age savages must never obtain that power.

So what is the state of the war these days ? Last I heard Gaza was still active but the Lebanese terrorists might be gearing up in some significant way. With the potus politics heating up, seems like the war is getting second fiddle coverage.

Federal employees from multiple agencies who disagree with US policy regarding the Israel / Hamas war plan to walk off the job tomorrow (Tuesday 1/16) in protest. Every last one of them should be fired. Period. I don't see Biden having the balls to do it.
https://www.al-monitor.com/ori...bidens-gaza-policies

Holy shit, I wouldn't believe it except that these days the only believable stuff is actually the stupidest stuff. Yea, in a private sector company for sure just fire them. Unfortunately federal employees can't really be fired, short of murder 1. I know, I used to be a contractor working for
DoD civillians civil service people. They are never fired, no matter how bad they do, literally, never, it just doesn't happen. Pornography, insubordination, security violations, theft, fraud, nothing is ever bad enough to get fired, not even failing to show up for work, working intoxicated, you name it, they can't be fired. So these people just walking off in their stupid "protests" will just go home, watch a movie, and collect a paycheck. Easy peasy for those dishonest shitheads.

^^^^^^^^^^ President Ronald Reagan fired 11,359 air traffic controllers on August 5, 1981. ^^^^^^

From a few posts above: "Holy shit, I wouldn't believe it except that these days the only believable stuff is actually the stupidest stuff. Yea, in a private sector company for sure just fire them. Unfortunately federal employees can't really be fired, short of murder 1. I know, I used to be a contractor working for
DoD civillians civil service people. They are never fired, no matter how bad they do, literally, never, it just doesn't happen. Pornography, insubordination, security violations, theft, fraud, nothing is ever bad enough to get fired, not even failing to show up for work, working intoxicated, you name it, they can't be fired. So these people just walking off in their stupid "protests" will just go home, watch a movie, and collect a paycheck. Easy peasy for those dishonest shitheads."


"On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan begins firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. The executive action, regarded as extreme by many, significantly slowed air travel for months.

Two days earlier, on August 3, almost 13,000 air-traffic controllers went on strike after negotiations with the federal government to raise their pay and shorten their workweek proved fruitless. The controllers complained of difficult working conditions and a lack of recognition of the pressures they face. Across the country, some 7,000 flights were canceled. The same day, President Reagan called the strike illegal and threatened to fire any controller who had not returned to work within 48 hours. Robert Poli, president of the Professional Air-Traffic Controllers Association (PATCO), was found in contempt by a federal judge and ordered to pay $1,000 a day in fines.

On August 5, an angry President Reagan carried out his threat, and the federal government began firing the 11,359 air-traffic controllers who had not returned to work. In addition, he declared a lifetime ban on the rehiring of the strikers by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). On August 17, the FAA began accepting applications for new air-traffic controllers, and on October 22 the Federal Labor Relations Authority decertified PATCO."

CLICK LINK FOR STORY

I remember this well. There is a lot more info on the web, you can google and read as much as you want for more info.
.

It is against the law for federal employees to strike against the US Government. So Reagan had a stronger position and was able to make the firings stick. The air traffic controllers weren't just engaging in improper conduct. They broke the law and the violation was job related. I was a manager of a Social Security district office. It was very rare for a SS employee to commit a crime that was related to their employment. I never saw it personally. But I am aware that it happened a few times during my 43 year career in other parts of the country. Any employee caught misdirecting or stealing SS funds was fired. No exceptions. And every last one of them went to Federal prison. All of them.

As far as these employees who plan on walking off the job for a one day protest, they are absent without approved leave. If they applied for leave (a vacation day) in advance and it was approved, they will not be subject to any discipline at all. They can do whatever they want on their own time, including marching in a stupid protest. But if they walk off the job or don't show up without approved leave (and they are smart enough not to call it a strike) then they would be subject to progressive discipline.

At SSA not showing up without approved leave (and it was intentional, not a sickness or something) it would get you for the first offense a three day suspension with no pay. I know it sounds kind of nuts, but I always got the impression that SSA ran a tighter ship that some other agencies.

I got a little claustrophobic watching this Gaza tunnel video



https://hotair.com/john-s-2/20...an-predicted-n605340

Israeli officials and soldiers who have since been in the tunnels — as well as current and former American officials with experience in the region — say the scope, depth and quality of the tunnels built by Hamas have astonished them. Even some of the machinery that Hamas used to build the tunnels, observed in captured videos, has surprised the Israeli military…

In December, the network was assessed to be an estimated 250 miles. Senior Israeli defense officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, are currently estimating the network is between 350 and 450 miles — extraordinary figures for a territory that at its longest point is only 25 miles. Two of the officials also assessed there are close to 5,700 separate shafts leading down to the tunnels.

There are actually two different tunnel systems. The ones designed for Hamas fighters to get around unseen are usually narrow and fairly shallow. They are also heavily booby-trapped with bombs placed in the walls for remote detonation. But there is a second layer of tunnels designed for long term occupation by Hamas leaders. These tunnels are often much deeper and tend to be wider and more comfortable. It’s in these deeper tunnels where the suspected mastermind of the 10/7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, is still hiding, probably surrounded by hostages.

Fortunately, Israel’s incursion into Gaza has turned up some information including partial maps of the system. The IDF is using those to destroy the tunnels and has also gotten better at recognizing where they will be found. An Israeli official called Hamas’ model the “triangle” which meant that anywhere there was a school, a mosque or a hospital, there would always be a tunnel nearby.

So whatever happened to Israel’s plan to flood the tunnels with seawater? About a month ago that effort had started and there were early reports the tests had gone well. But apparently Israel has given up on it. At the very end of today’s story the Times reports, “attempts to demolish the tunnels by flooding them with seawater have failed.” I’ve looked for more information on that but it doesn’t seem to be out there.

https://www.breitbart.com/midd...l-cant-defeat-hamas/

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that Israel cannot defeat Hamas — that there is no “military solution,” and that Israel will have to accept a Palestinian state.

Blinken told Netanyahu that ultimately there is no military solution to Hamas, according to the officials, and that the Israeli leader needs to recognize that or history will repeat itself and violence will continue. But, the officials said, Netanyahu was unmoved.

The officials said the Biden administration is trying to lay the groundwork with other Israeli and civil society leaders in anticipation of an eventual post-Netanyahu government. In an attempt to work around Netanyahu, Blinken also met individually with members of his war Cabinet and other Israeli leaders, including opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, officials said.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, delivered a comprehensive summary Wednesday night of the war’s progress. While fighting in the southern portion of Gaza remains challenging, he said, the IDF had largely destroyed Hamas in the northern and central regions of the territory. The south is where Hamas’s leaders are believed to be hiding underground — surrounded by over 100 Israeli hostages, whom they are using as bargaining chips and human shields.

quote:

I got a little claustrophobic watching this Gaza tunnel video

With ya, sdy! I'm sure the camera angle/movement doesn't help, but still...

I will say it's an incredible feat to construct them.

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https://www.breitbart.com/midd...l-cant-defeat-hamas/

Where are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt in this incompetent's discussion? After all, it is occurring in their back yard is it not? The only thing those countries have contributed to the problem is complete silence on the matter. Oh I believe Egypt did build a WALL to keep out refugees (how dare they!).

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Blinken told Netanyahu that ultimately there is no military solution to Hamas, according to the officials, and that the Israeli leader needs to recognize that or history will repeat itself and violence will continue. But, the officials said, Netanyahu was unmoved.

Blinken is a FUCKING CLOWN...What an incredibly unimpressive individual he is! And unfortunately, he's not unlike many of the 'wizards of smart' in the .gov pretending to do 'work' on behalf of the American People! His lack of perspective re: history is astounding. Did his gain all that naivete and stupidity during his education at Harvard and Columbia, or was he born that way?

I hope Netanyahu told him to go fuck himself!

^^^^^^^ Yup. Many world leaders have enjoyed the opportunity to bitch slap him.