text:
Netanyahu May Have Finally Decided on Government
Filed under: 1949 Armistice Line,1967 Borders,1967 War,Act of War,Al-Quds Force,Anti-Israel,Anti-Semitism,Anti-Zionist,Appease Islamic Interests,Appeasement,Arab Appeasement,Arab Authority,Arab World,Arabs,Avigdor Lieberman,Ayatollah Khamenei,Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,Ayatollahs,Balfour Declaration,Bayit Yehudi Party,Bedouin Tribes,Beit El,Ben Gurion,Benyamin Netanyahu,Bethlehem,Bible,Bible Study,Binding Resolution,Blood Libel,Borders,Breakout Point,Building Freeze,Cabinet,Calaphate,Caliphate,Cave of the Patriarchs,Checkpoints,China,Churchill White Paper,Colonial Possession,Condemning Israel,Crusades,Defend Israel,Defense Minister,Demonstrations,Dhimmi,Disengagement,Ditherer in Chief,Divestment,East Jerusalem,Eilat,EMP Device,Europe,European Council,European Governments,European Pressure,European Union,Extreme Leftist,Extreme Right,Fadjr,Fatwa,Federica Mogherini,Forced Solution,Fordo,Foreign Funding,Foreign Minister,Foreign NGOs,Framework,France,Gaza,Gaza Blockade,Golan Heights,Government,Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hussani,Great Britain,Green Line,Guard Border,Hamas,Hamas Charter,Hassan Rowhani,Hate,Hezballah,History,Holy Sites,HUMINT,IDF,IDF,Infiltration Tunnels,Inteligence Report,International Politics,Intifada,Iran,Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps,IRGC,Iron Dome,Islam,Islam,Islamic Jihad,Islamic Pressure,Israel,Israeli Capital City,Israeli Interests,Jehrico,Jenin,Jerusalem,Jerusalem Day,Jewish Heritage,Jewish Home,Jewish Leadership,Jewish State,Jews,Jihad,Jihad,Jordan River,Jordanian Pressure,Joseph's Tomb,Judea,Judean Hills,Kever Yosef,Knesset,Kotel,Labor Party,Land for Peace,Leftist Pressures,Legal Blockade,Levi Eshkol,Levy Report,Likud,Mecca,Media,Medina,Mediterranean Sea,Menachem Begin,Middle East,Military,Ministers,Mohammad Javad Zarif,Moses,Mount of Olives Cemetary,Muslim Expansionism,Muslim World,Muslims,Naftali Bennett,Nationalist Pressures,Netanyahu,New World Order,Nobel Prize,Non Binding Resolution,Nuclear Program,Nuclear Scientist,Nuclear Sites,Nuclear Weapons,Nuclear Weapons,Obama,Old City,One State Solution,Oslo Accords,P5+1,Palestinian,Palestinian Authority,Palestinian Pressures,Parchin,Parliament,Parliamentary Government,Peace Prize,Peace Process,Persia,Persians,Plutonium Production,Politicized Findings,Politics,President Obama,President Vladimir Putin,Prime Minister,Progressives,Promised Land,Protect Citizenry,Protests,Public Service,Qom,Quds Force,Quran,Rafah Crossing,Recognize Israel,Resolution,Response to Muslim Takeover,Russia,Samantha Power,Samaria,San Remo Conference,Sanctions,Secular Interests,Security,Separation Barrier,Settlements,Shiite,Six Day War,Smuggling Tunnels,Society,Soviet Union,Sunni,Support Israel,Supreme Leader,Taqiyya,Temple Mount,The Twelfth Imam,Threat of War,Twelvers,Tzipi Livni,UNHCR,Unify Party,United Nations,United Nations Presures,United States,United States Pressure,UNRWA,Uranium Enrichment,Vlad the Invader,War on Religion,War on Women,Weapons of Mass Destruction,Western Wall,WMD,World Opinion,World Pressures,World Without Zionism or America,Yitzhak Herzog,Zionism,Zionist — qwertster @ 2:29 AM
Tags: Anyone but Bibi, Change in Government, Chapter Seven Binding Resolution, Chapter Six Nonbinding Resolution, Governance, Israel, Leftist Democrat Interference in Israeli Election, Naftali Bennett, President Obama, Refuse Protection in Security Council, Right Leaning Government, San Remo Conference, Threats, Tzipi Livni, United States, Unity Government, Yitzhak Herzog
None of us are ever likely to be on the inside and be privileged, or should I say cursed, to know exactly what outside pressures Prime Minister Netanyahu has had to face while deciding what kind of government to form. To most of us it appeared so simple, gather over sixty seats with right leaning to far right wing parties and include a minimal number of parties who might go weak under pressure. That is the sad part, that if Israel chooses the governance best for her that we are assured that the world will come down on us heavy and hard demanding that we bend this way and that until we make a Philadelphia pretzel look like a piece of straight bread. But it is easy to suspect that things were somewhat different this time as one of the few friends Israel has depended upon has turned into her greatest threat in far too many ways. We can all assume that President Obama made it very clear that if Prime Minister Netanyahu went ahead and formed that sixty-one or sixty-seven or whatever number right-leaning government that he would face an adversarial Washington which would not guarantee support in all the usual places. We all know what that threat means and what usual place that President Obama references, the United Nations Security Council. What is left out of that formula is that thus far the United States has not faced the need to exercise their veto purely to protect Israel as the usual Arab state demands either never reached the Security Council or failed to attain the necessary nine votes in favor despite their belief that had it in spades when they presented their petition. We heard some of the caterwauling over the past week if we listened to the wind which carried with it demands that Netanyahu make a demonstrative demonstration of his dedications and whole-hearted support for the two state solution which the Europeans and President Obama and company hold so dear. What may have escaped us was the real meaning of those threats and demands emanating from Secretary of State Kerry, Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, State Department spokespersons such as Jennifer Psaki, and President Obama who may have even pressured Netanyahu directly in a personal phone call made necessary due to the reason that it is within weeks, months, years, centuries or millennia to the Iran Agreement, Israeli elections, solar eclipse, arrival of Halley's Comet or convergence of the planets with the center of the galaxy so President Obama must not appear to permit any public meetings between he and Bibi though he can call and berate him endlessly to toe the line and support the two-state-solution. All this pressure was around one single, but likely unspoken demand, as speaking its name would be uncomely, though why that might matter now is beyond me. That demand was for Prime Minister Netanyahu form a broad coalition and a unity government with Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni and reward these coequal partners with top cabinet spots such as Justice for Livni as she was so effective in carrying out the Obama principles in the last government, and Herzog to get Foreign Minister and their other highest members to get the Defense Minister and be granted complete control over any building to be approved for Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria. The people placed in that last position need only have one requirement, the ability to say 'לא' or 'no' in English. This was the real reason Prime Minister Netanyahu kept vacillating and putting off the natural right leaning parties and particularly Jewish Home as I can guarantee you that Naftali Bennett's name figured prominently in President Obama's demands for people he refused to find comfort should they be included in any coalition.
Even by American standards the interference by President Obama and his Administration in Israeli politics, at levels even exceeds those of President Clinton or anybody before him. The interference by providing election assistance had been done previously most notably by President Clinton and Democrat Party assistance for the Labor Party in Israel has gotten to the point I'm waiting for them to have joint conventions in the future, especially if an Israeli election can be scheduled to fit in relative close proximity to an American elections cycle, preferably a Presidential election. I can see it now, the newly nominated Democrat President with the newly chosen Vice Presidential candidate to his right and the selected Labor Party leader on his left with all three with their hands held together raised in a sign of might and unity of purpose. Why not, is that any sillier than an election group in Israel using the slogan 'Change the Government' and 'Anybody but Bibi'? The only thing they were missing was the Hope for the Future so that could be abbreviated and they would have the proven formula, 'Hope and Change'. Some slogans are too good to let die. First President Obama launched the campaign to unseat Bibi and the Israelis chose Netanyahu despite being informed what was good for them if they understood what the President of the United States demanded of them. Apparently President Obama missed the parts in the Bible when he learned all about Christianity from the Pastor Reverend Wright whose sermons he never heard, probably had snuck out for a smoke break and missed every last sermon, but he missed the part where the Jewish people were defined by their greatest of leaders, Moses, as well as the all-powerful One when they would discuss the difficulties and presented the main excuse that these were a stiff necked and stubborn people. If Moses and the L0rd found the Jews at their most timid to be frustratingly stubborn and stiff-necked, what did they expect of us today? Demand we vote as instructed by our what? Betters, was that the word? No, I don't think so, we have our own ideas and will decide what is best for us and not somebody who had appeared all too ready to throw us under the bus for any reason and especially if it would grant him a second Nobel Peace Prize, as that is the only thing President Obama sees Israel as being good for, permitting herself to be splayed out before her enemies and lain low for easy conquest just so before the Middle East explodes into a thousand shards as everything is broken being cut by the jagged and sharp edges of the stone known as Jerusalem and the people who hold her as their only capital city for the last three thousand years and then some. The lesson President Obama missed was on Zechariah 12:2-3 where it is said, "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves." What might this have told President Obama about trying to influence the Israelis through word or threat? Oh, most likely that we as a people have been threatened by the worst and the best of them and somehow we always seemed to find our own path and walked merrily listening to our own drummer and dancing to our own beat come what consequences may come.
Apparently Bibi has finally chosen to fear the threats of the people of Israel above the threats from the ditherer in Washington who has grown so infatuated with his own voice that he still believes it can move mountains and control the minds of the weak and weary. For far too long the leadership of Israel has been too weary and acted too weak when facing this menace when the best route was to stand firm and let it rip and give as good as you got. The funny thing is despite the demands and pressures; President Obama only respects one thing, strength. As a community organizer he knows how to argue from a position of strength which has always meant his position when it was backed by a group ready to fight for what they desired. President Obama, as an effective community organizer would only take on the causes for which he had a ready and willing populace group which he could call out to do whatever was required to gain those demands which had been presented in their name. This is what was behind his threat that he "has a pen and a phone and knows how to use both." The pen was the obvious reference to Executive Orders and the phone was presumably connected to a group in the society which he knew supported everything he does and would gladly show up wherever needed and provide the agitation required to put the correct measure of force behind the cause, whatever that cause might be. The pen does not work in Israel and who could President Obama call out to protest beyond those who are already out there protesting, thus his two biggest weapons are nullified. That leaves the only single threat which might appear to hold water and be a meaningful threat, the threat to no longer protect Israel before resolutions brought before the Security Council, so exactly how vulnerable and what are the probabilities and realities about the threat itself?
The first thing we must ascertain is exactly how far might President Obama go in leaving Israel vulnerable to United Nations whims and fancies? Whatever is going to happen in the General Assembly is going to happen and usually against Israel and there is little anybody is willing or even could do even if willing, that is a dead zone for Israel. Then there is the Human Rights Commission which as part of its own laws and procedures is required to denounce Israel at the start of every session whether there is anything Israel related even to review, it does not matter as the bylaws require the denunciation of Israel before the session is permitted to continue. To point out that the Human Rights Commission is probably the only place outside of UNRWA where Israel is held in such unpopular esteem, makes it another lost cause. The rest of the commissions, agencies and organizations attached or circulating the United Nations all have their preconceived levels of disdain for Israel and her people and the reverse is surprisingly not necessarily a given, most Israelis have little care about the numerous appendages of the United Nations. So, thus far the threat by the United States President to stop support for Israel has absolutely no effective change as these areas are already universally against Israel by a large majority. That leaves the Security Council which is the one place where the veto power of the United States matters just as do the veto powers of Great Britain, France, Russia and China. So, it is possible that Israel might find another benefactor to provide the veto coverage needed. But would that be necessary? It would if Israel was concerned with everything the Security Council produced. There are basically three classes of resolution which the Security Council can issue, the Chapter Seven binding resolutions, the Chapter Six nonbinding resolutions and referential resolution which carry advisory weight and will likely receive more weight once should the General Assembly also validate it but still it would not be binding. The nonbinding resolutions passed by the Security Council are still heavy weight resolution and often carry the threat of being voted on again as a Chapter Seven binding resolution, and that brings us to the crux of the matter, Chapter Seven Resolutions. We have to face it that even if the President instructs Ambassador Samantha Power not to veto everything else, Israel will survive even if we may suffer a slight rash. But would President Obama instruct Ambassador Power to not veto a Chapter Seven binding resolution? Such a move allowing such a resolution to take effect requiring Israel to comply or face potential military force from the United Nations, and do not weigh such lightly as it was just one such Chapter Seven resolution which led to the Korean War, would President Obama, the Ditherer in Chief, actually deploy United States military personnel against Israel in order to back a Chapter Seven edict? To quote President Obama, "I was elected to end wars, not to start them." It is our contention that the threat of not protecting Israel from every vote in the United Nations Security Council will only apply to Chapter Six nonbinding resolutions and not Chapter Seven where the United States veto would be utilized as it would not be prudent to set up a situation where United States military would enter into a shooting war against Israel. So, once again we see that President Obama has made a threat which costs him nothing and in the instance where his words would also require action by the President and the armed services, then the likelihood is that he will crumble before the pressures. Yes, Bibi made the correct choice to call the President's bluff and listen to the Israeli people and forge a right leaning coalition. Now let us hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu can muster the stomach for some real pushback and he can start actually building and not pretending to support additional residences in Judea and Samaria. Also, start every cabinet meeting with a reading of the San Remo Conference Treaty as it is fairly short and Israel needs to get the reality of how much land we have surrendered which the Sinai Peninsula was a coequal part compared with Jordan which was built on lands set aside for the State of the Jews. Below is a copy of the San Remo Conference Agreement. Read it and remember it as it is a great place to start in communicating to every corner of the world who claim that Israel and the land promised to the Jewish People after World War I which had nothing to do with the Holocaust which had yet to occur and had everything to do with reinstating the Jewish People in their homelands. The restitution of the Jewish homelands was seen as a good and necessary step to start to make amends for the evils perpetrated against the Jews throughout the world and it was reasoned that restoring them to their Biblical Lands would make a great start. Let us press for this start to be made good and end the perfidy perpetrated today by the same governments under presumably more civilized leadership than in all of history yet they will require great amounts of jolts from the past, a retelling of the worlds they themselves transcribed at San Remo and made a solemn oath which must be attended to before the past no longer has meaning as history is no longer a vestige within the curricula where history has been replaced with lessons in proper acceptance of the new tolerance and acceptance which has little time or regard for promises past. Those who care not for the past will soon find themselves in the midst of it as it has a way of sneaking up on us with great stealth followed by a roar as it swallows the present whole immersing all in the retelling of tales of history ignored.
San Remo Conference Agreement
It was agreed –
(a) To accept the terms of the Mandates Article as given below with reference to Palestine, on the understanding that there was inserted in the proces-verbal an undertaking by the Mandatory Power that this would not involve the surrender of the rights hitherto enjoyed by the non-Jewish communities in Palestine; this undertaking not to refer to the question of the religious protectorate of France, which had been settled earlier in the previous afternoon by the undertaking given by the French Government that they recognized this protectorate as being at an end.
(b) That the terms of the Mandates Article should be as follows:
The High Contracting Parties agree that Syria and Mesopotamia shall, in accordance with the fourth paragraph of Article 22, Part I (Covenant of the League of Nations), be provisionally recognized as independent States, subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The boundaries of the said States will be determined, and the selection of the Mandatories made, by the Principal Allied Powers.
The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory, to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 8, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
Temple Mount Status-Quo Not so Static Though
Filed under: 1949 Armistice Line,1967 Borders,1967 War,Absolutism,Administration,al-Aqsa Mosque,al-Aqsa Mosque,Amalekites,Anti-Israel,Anti-Semitism,Anti-Zionist,Appease Islamic Interests,Appeasement,Arab Appeasement,Arab League,Arab World,Arabs,Blood Libel,Borders,Britain,British Mandate,Bullying,Cabinet,Calaphate,Catholic,Catholic Institutions,Christians,Church,Church of the Holy Sepulchre,Civil Disobedience,Civilization,Colonial Possession,Condemning Israel,Conflict Avoidnce,Consequences,Corruption,Court Order,Covenant,Dhimmi,Dome of the Rock,Domestic NGOs,Equal Responsibility,Equal Rights,Equal Treatment,Equality,Europe,European Council,European Governments,European Pressure,European Union,Executive Order,First Temple,Forced Solution,Foreign Funding,Foreign NGOs,Galilee,Gaza,Golan Heights,Government,Green Line,Halal,Hamas,Hamas Charter,Hate,Hevron,History,Holy Site,Holy Sites,Holy Temple,Iberian Peninsula,Internal Pressures,International Politics,Intifada,Intifada,Islam,Islam,Islamic Jihad,Islamic Pressure,Islamist,Israel,Israeli Capital City,Israeli Interests,Jerusalem,Jewish Heritage,Jewish Home,Jewish Leadership,Jewish State,Jewish Temple,Jews,Jordan,Jordan River,Jordanian Pressure,Judea,Judean Hills,King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein,Lamentations,Leftist Pressures,Levi Eshkol,Mahmoud Abbas,Middle East,Moshe Dayan,Mount of Olives,Mount of Olives Cemetary,Murder Israelis,Muslim World,Muslims,Negev Desert,Netanyahu,Old City,One State Solution,Oslo Accords,Palestinian Authority,Palestinian Liberation Organization,Palestinian Pressures,Peace Process,PLO,PLO Charter,Pogroms,Politicized Findings,Politics,Promised Land,Promised Land,Prophets,Qatar,Ramallah,Recognize Israel,Regulations,Religious Jews,Response to Muslim Takeover,Response to Terrorism,Riots,Rock Throwing,Rocket Attacks,Roman Empire,Rome,Samaria,Saudi Arabian Pressure,Second Temple,Secular Interests,Secularist,Sharia,Six Day War,Society,Statehood,Submission,Supreme Court,Taqiyya,Temple Mount,Terror,Theocracy,Third Intifada,Tisha B'Av,Tradition,Turkey,Two State Solution,United Nations Presures,United States Pressure,Waqf,War of Independence,West Bank,World Opinion,World Pressures,Yasser Arafat,Zionism,Zionist — qwertster @ 3:37 AM
Tags: al-Aqsa Mosque, Arabs, Caliphate, Christians, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, Dhimmi, First Temple, Islam, Jews, Jordan, King Solomon, Muslims, Ottoman Empire, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Riot, Second Temple, Six Day War, Status Quo, Temple Mount, Waqf
When Israel gained control of all of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount after defeating the Jordanian Army after Jordan which, in a misadvised act, joined the Six Day War the morning of the second day, the Israeli government faced a situation which they imagined might cause difficulties after the fighting ended. As the Israeli government of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was largely secular and placed minimal religious importance to the Temple Mount figuring while both Muslims and Christians had holy structures on the Temple Mount making it a religious site for both religions, Judaism's last Temple was destroyed almost two thousand years earlier by the Romans led to the decision that the Temple Mount was mostly a historic site for Jews and not as much sacred grounds. The figuring was to not make any disagreements over the Temple Mount a religious subject thus adding religious overtones to what the Israelis perceived as simply a territorial conflict. As those who have followed the growing conflict between Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb have realized that as far as Muslims are concerned, everything is a religious conflict and nothing is merely territorial as even once any territory is integrated from Dar al-Harb, the world of war, into Dar al-Islam, the world of Islam, then those who are not or have not accepted Islam as their faith initially are permitted to retain their religion but must follow restrictive rules designed to forcibly coerce conversion through the imposition of a punitive tax, Dhimmi second class status, complete ban of constructing new religious buildings, no proselytizing, no repairs without special permission on existing religious structures and even threat of death for not converting if all else fails. This is simply proof that all conflict with Islam is a religious conflict regardless of the basic inspirations of their enemies. This little fact has finally, after the better part of a century, begun to sink in to the perception of the average Israeli, yet even now there are a sizeable number of Israelis, almost universally secular Israelis, who still deny this reality refusing to grasp what has slowly become more and more obvious to others.
The realities must be realized even by the deepest skeptic with the riotous behavior designed and inspired solely to prevent Jews from ascending to the Temple Mount as their presence is being described by Palestinian political and religious leadership as prevention of the Jews despoiling and desecrating the al-Aqsa Mosque, a structure located on the Herodian expanded area of the Temple Mount that despite its rather impressive size, the Mosque is about 35,000 square meters (380,000 sq. ft.) and could hold up to 5,000 worshippers, is completely located outside of the areas where the two Jewish Temples stood. The Muslims, especially those instigating the current Arab confrontations, are fully aware that the al-Aqsa Mosque would not need to be touched in order for the Third Temple to be constructed which is why they have expanded the area which they claim are parts of the al-Aqsa Mosque to include the entirety of the Temple Mount and through this description they now claim it would be sacrilegious for Jews to enter the al-Aqsa Mosque. This is why Mahmoud Abbas referred to Jews ascending to the Temple Mount as herds of unclean beasts when initially urging the Arab rioting on the Temple Mount recently, but this is nothing new and is a form of Arab protest which has been witnessed before which is all part of the supposed status-quo which really has been more of a sliding definition than a static set of realities.
When after the Six Day War in June of 1967 the hostilities were brought to an end the Israeli government was faced with a set of situations unique and new. Israel had taken control of the Sinai Peninsula during the 1956 Suez War which saw Israel allied with France and Britain demanding that the Suez Canal be reopened for universal maritime traffic and that the Straits of Tiran be reopened to allow Israeli shipping from their southern port of Eilat, after both of the waterways were closed by Egyptian President Nasser. Israel had been pressured, especially by the United States, into returning all of the Sinai Peninsula receiving in exchange the promise that the Straits of Tiran were promised to remain open with assurances from the United States, many European nations and the United Nations and with any such closing being described under international agreement that such future closings would be considered as an act of war against Israel and a casus belli into the future. Israel now also held the entirety of Judea and Samaria, Jordan had renamed the area West Bank and that name should have been relegated to the trash bin of history once these lands were liberated by Israel, as well as the Golan Heights taken from Syria as part of the defensive war Israel fought, the Six Day War. When allowing the Jordanian appointed Waqf to continue to adjudicate the maintenance and other day-to-day care and other duties the Israeli government of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan set forth rules whereby the Christians continued to be responsible for the care and operations of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Muslims were responsible for the care and maintenance of the Islamic structures located on the Temple Mount including the al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and other Islamic buildings while the Waqf would be responsible for most everything else while access to the Temple Mount was to be permitted freely by peoples of all religions and not restricted to the three Abrahamic faiths and while Jews were to be granted totally free access to the Temple Mount, they would be barred from conducting prayers. This arrangement was referred to as the status-quo.
Back after Israel was assailed by over a half dozen national armies upon being founded and declaring her statehood in mid-May of 1948 and fought almost a year and a half war to establish her existence against a genocidal war which eventually left Gaza occupied by Egypt and Judea and Samaria occupied by Jordan. Egypt never annexed Gaza nor offered the Arabs in Gaza Egyptian citizenship. Jordan, on the other hand, annexed Judea and Samaria renaming it West Bank and granting the Arabs living there Jordanian citizenship while expelling every last Jews residing there, particularly the Jewish communities in Hevron, East Jerusalem and other towns, kibbutzim and farms across Judea and Samaria. Jordan also destroyed all the synagogues throughout the areas they held including many centuries old structures, used the grave stones to build latrines for the Jordanian military barracks and generally attempted to remove all evidence of Israeli or Jewish history throughout the areas they controlled. Compared to being forbidden from even approaching the Temple Mount, which being in the Old City Jerusalem was within the areas of East Jerusalem held by Jordan, any access permitted by a negotiated status-quo was an improvement. This improvement was not going to remain consistent as the status-quo mediated with Jordan, the controllers of the Waqf, was altered through treaty when peace was finally reached between Jordan and Israel which left Judea and Samaria as belonging to Israel. There has been another manner by which the status-quo has been altered, that being violence. This was accomplished by the Arab leaders of the Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria who had been granted Jordanian citizenship only to have it nullified by Jordan after they lost the areas to Israel in the Six Day War. This was most likely done by Jordan to avoid having the population of Judea and Samaria from remaining Jordanian citizens and thus being relocated into Jordan as part of any peace treaty or even by Israel as part of retaining the lands gained in a defensive war. The eventual actual reason was to allow these Arabs to take on an independent identification with which to wage a new war on Israel through their new identity being defined such they had equal or superior claim to the Jews to the lands between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea eventually leading to their supplanting the Jews from within their ancient homelands.
Whenever there was a desire to alter the status-quo, either by the Jordanians or the Arabs who remained within Israel, the Arabs residing in Judea and Samaria would riot and continue ramping up the levels of violence forcing Israel to accept further and further compromises by which Jewish rights, and by association Christians, and limiting further Jewish freedoms on the Temple Mount. From the original status-quo which permitted universal access to the Temple Mount for Jews and others as long as the Jews refrained from conducting prayers while on the Temple Mount that being the sole restriction; the status-quo currently being enforced only permits Jews to access the Temple Mount from the Mughrabi Gate via a dangerous wooden bridge that rises above the Western Wall plaza, as are all non-Muslims. Starting last spring the Arabs began a systematic set of confrontations taunting Jews who were permitted to access the Temple Mount. Jews also began facing longer and longer wait times and excessive and invasive searches of their effects and bodies in order to assure they were not taking any religious objects onto the Temple Mount as the display of such objects might insult and disturb the sensitivities of the Muslims. Additionally, despite numerous rulings that all of the Israeli guarantees for religious freedoms are applicable everywhere throughout lands under Israeli control including particularly the Temple Mount and the uttering of prayers by the Israeli Supreme Court in a number of separate decisions through the years. All of these rulings had no effect or change to the reality that any Jews who attempted praying on the Temple Mount would find themselves whisked off the Temple Mount and likely banned for days, weeks or months, all depending on the whims of the Israeli police who are tasked with securing the Temple Mount and enforcing the orders from the Jordanian Waqf. The confrontations which began in the spring ramped throughout the summer into rioting at the request of the Arab leadership in Ramallah who continued calling for increased levels of violence where now the Arab rioters are stoning and throwing Molotov cocktails and shooting flaming fireworks at the Israeli police. These violent riots have produced the desired result of Israeli police forbidding Jews from accessing the Temple Mount.
The frightening thing came when we heard Prime Minister Netanyahu guaranteed one leader after another including but not limited to the King of Jordan, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, United States President Obama and numerous European leaders or almost anybody who demanded Israeli compliance to any restrictions the Arabs leadership in Jordan or Ramallah desired to impose. While thus far the rhetoric has only referred to keeping the sacred nature of the status-quo intact with extra identification of willingness to comply with the prohibition of Jews uttering prayers or even appearing to have thought of a prayer while and if they were permitted to enter the Temple Mount, or as the Arabs are fond of calling it, the al-Aqsa Mosque. This obsessive attention paid to complying with the oppressive, dehumanizing and belittling impositions of the so-called status-quo is disturbing enough and the claim that enforcing these observances are required in order to placate the Arabs thus bringing the rioting to an end. The problem is that these riots are not being controlled from Ramallah but instead are being supported by Hamas, paid for out of Qatar and choreographed from Hamas headquarters in Turkey. Mahmoud Abbas could jump up and down and hold his breath until he turned blue and his demands would have no effect on the rioting. His call for riots came after the rioting had been escalating for weeks possibly months. These riots are serving two important goals, the first being the restricting and prevention of Jews accessing the Temple Mount and the other is to provide endless violence which will prove to be beyond the ability of Abbas and the Fatah leadership to control and bring to an end. The aim is to order up a constantly escalating violence level throughout Judea and Samaria with the highest concentration being in Jerusalem, both Eastern and Western Jerusalem. This is presumably to eventually prove Abbas is incapable of ruling the unity government or even the areas he claims he was elected to high office to coordinate and exercise authority which would lead to Mahmoud Abbas and company calling for help from the Israelis. The hope is then to double down and call for the rioting to grow into a full-fledged intifada attacking throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and potentially throughout Israel from the southern tip of the Negev to the northern farms of the Galilee. The continuing escalation is planned to result in the calling for IDF troops to regain control that Hamas has planned to instigate their takeover of Judea and Samaria replacing Abbas and then miraculously ending the chaos and rioting. Then the status-quo will have finally reached its end-point where Jews are not permitted to set foot on the Temple Mount. Then all will have hopefully realized that the Arab-Israeli war has little if anything to do with territories and borders, it is a religious war between Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. The actual conflict only has a tip of the iceberg and only one of numerous tips showing in this war to impose Islamic rule across the entire world. The war with Israel is the front where Islam must reassert their supremacy over the lands where Israel now sits as it was once ruled over as part of the last Caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, and as such must always be under Islamic rule. That is the real status-quo, the return of these lands called Israel to Islamic rule with the Jews and everybody else currently residing in Israel either converted, dead or paying the Jiyza and accepting their position as Dhimmis. After Israel the next target will be Europe but for now I pray for an Israeli miracle and the government extending Israeli law to all of Jerusalem and returning the members of the Islamic Waqf to Jordan with a note informing the Jordanian King that his controllers are no longer required and that free access and right to pray just as things were under King Solomon had announced after he completed the building of the First Temple saying according to scriptures, "Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built" (I Kings 8:43). This was King Solomon's invitation to all people from every corner of the globe and from slave to ruler to come and make their sacrifices to Hashem and learn to know Hashem's laws. The pledge of King Solomon to openly share the Temple Mount and the abundance of spiritual greatness which emanated from that holy place be accessible to all without any searches of their bodies and artifacts and restricting the time allotted each visitor was the status-quo of which Hashem would approve. And that should most definitely and even defiantly be the status-quo we need to have rather than the existing Sharia compliant rioting and lawlessness which is the status-quo defiling the Temple Mount with the blessings and approval of the Waqf and all those who believe the supposed status-quo should be applied.


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SAPD investigating after report of shot fired early Saturday morning
Apr 9, 2019 at 11:12 AM Apr 9, 2019 at 9:10 PM
The St. Augustine Police Department is investigating an incident of a shot being fired in the downtown area early Saturday morning.
In a Monday evening news release, the Police Department said officers initially responded to Carmelo's Marketplace in the 100 block of King Street around 2 a.m. after someone reported hearing a shot being fired.
"When officers arrived to the area, there were no signs of activity or injury," the release said.
But a review of store surveillance images later showed what appeared to be a "large brawl" in the parking lot near the store's fuel pumps. During a portion of that footage, the release said, several people can be seen "ducking down suddenly."
A closer search of the area turned up one spent shell casing and officers later found a gun in the street near the Flagler College dorms after receiving a tip from bystanders.
"A short while later, officers received information that minor injuries had been reported that may be related to the incident," the release said.
Police did not release any other information and said the investigation is ongoing.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ok, so it isn't exactly how the song goes but I needed an appropriate intro.
Tonight we went to our "fellowship group's" annual costume party. It was a sports/game theme. When considering costumes that we could all pull off, I was a little stumped. After some consideration I had a break through!
So...... Josh and I were working the concession stand and we had our little "tasty treats" with us.
Rebekah was pretty, sweet, pink COTTON CANDY!
Anna was just as sweet in her popcorn suit! Come on, have you ever seen a cuter bowl of popcorn in your life!?
In front of our house with Daddy. (Who by the way put together the popcorn box prop! It was "engineered" to perfection, complete with metal "u-bolts" on the side.) WOW!
Here we are at my parents for a quick photo session.
Our cotton candy was so tired she fell asleep on the way to the party.
And for some reason I am having a serious craving for popcorn!
Adorable!! I especially love the popcorn hair piece.
You guys were truly a hit! You could easily become a professional costume maker! Thanks for talking with me last night. Your words were such an encouragement. While we don't cross paths often, I am thankful for the connection we have when we do.
Thanks, Emily... It was such a pleasure to meet you, too! Your costumes were adorable and very creative!
Thanks, also, for coming to my blog! It's so fun to meet new friends, and you seem to be a very great friend!
p.s. can you tell me how you get the drop shadow on all your pictures? I love that.
too cute emily, so creative! i really need to learn how to sew & i think i may have to invest in a cricut...such a clever contraption!


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Honor is more than just behavior change. Honor comes from the heart. It affects the way people think, the way they act, and the way they treat others around them. Honor motivates parents to treat children differently. It gives children more constructive ways to interact with their parents. It helps siblings develop tolerance and patience. Honor builds incredibly strong bonds that, in turn, benefit all members of the family. This book shows you in practical ways how honor can transform your family.
Families can thrive today. But success is more than just having two cars, a nice house, a dog, and 2.5 children. It has to do with character development and how equipped family members are to relate to others outside the family. It involves creating homes where children and adults are able to make mistakes and learn from them, growing spiritually, emotionally, and relationally with each other. Even families that have broken apart or who have suffered significant wounds can develop the qualities necessary to be successful. Single-parent families, blended families, and reconstructed families are all finding real solutions through honor.


text:
Kopa (belorusko капа́, kapá, litovsko kapa, poljsko kopa, češko kopa, ukrajinsko копа́, кoпа́, latinsko sexagena) je bila srednjeveška srednjeevropska in vzhodnoevropska merska enota, zlasti v 15.-18. stoletju v poljsko-litovski Republiki obeh narodov. Označevala je 60 kosov ali 5 ducatov blaga, ki se je štelo. Uporabljala se je za štetje večjih količin denarja, predvsem praških grošev. Odkupnine in vojne odškodnine po bitki pri Grunwaldu, na primer,  so se štele v kopah praških grošev. Zakladnica Velike litovske kneževine se je štela v kopah litovskih grošev. Kopo so uporabljali tudi za štetje žitnih snopov, žebljev, jajc, zelja in drugega.

Kopa v prvotnem pomenu je bila število grošev, ki jih je bilo mogoče izkovati iz grivne (češko hřivna) srebra. V Veliki litovski kneževini je bilo to število 60. Na Poljskem se je med vladavino Kazimirja Velikega (1333–1370) masa grivne zmanjšala za približno 20 %. To je pomenilo, da je bila na Poljskem kopa enaka 48. V 15. stoletju je Poljska sprejela litovsko definicijo, da je kopa enaka 60.

Nemci so imeli podobno enoto, Schock, za štetje meissenskih grošev, ki sta jih kovala volilni knez Saške Friderik II. in deželni grof Turingije  Viljem III.

Rusko carstvo je enoto uradno odpravilo leta 1825, vendar je v vsakdanji rabi preživela do začetka 20. stoletja.

Izraz se pogosto nepravilno uporablja za litovske dolge kovance, saj so prejšnji raziskovalci verjeli, da je beseda kopa izpeljana iz litovskega izraza kapoti (sekati). Dejanska etimologija kope ni popolnoma jasna.

Sklici

Merske enote

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


SHOULD CHILDREN BE TAKEN TO FANCY RESTAURANTS? — Golly Gee-pers!
SHOULD CHILDREN BE TAKEN TO FANCY RESTAURANTS?
If it's a very nice restaurant most people agreed that fussy infants and babies should be left at home. The reason being that diners have an expectation of and feel entitled to an undisturbed dining experience.
There was some empathy, however for parents who might have been caught in a baby sitting lurch and rather than forgo a special event decide to muster up the courage and patience to go out anyway. In this case diners were willing to overlook the intrusion as long as it was understood that a crying or disruptive baby should be promptly removed from within ear shot (or food shot) of their neighboring diners.
When it came to children there was much more debate. Some said it depended on the number of children while others thought it depended on their disposition. Still others felt fancy restaurant dining should be off limits to children under 10 years old, regardless!
1. If you must take a baby or a toddler to a fancy restaurant be prepared to promptly remove the little darling if she becomes fussy enough to disturb your dining neighbors. To be fair, Mom and Dad should take turns. If you do, people might notice and compliment your team work rather than begrudge your crying baby.
2. Don't do it on a whim. Let's say grandma and grandpa are celebrating their 40th anniversary and have invited you and the kids to their favorite restaurant. In this case you probably have advance notice and can prep the kids for this special event using games and progress charts (a little plug here for golly gee-pers! www.gollygee-pers.com). You know your kids best and if they are not ready to dine out in this kind of environment it's best to own up.
3. Do start early in setting expectations for proper dining behavior. Too often in an effort to simplify life, we dumb down the dining experience for kids. Periodically sitting down at a real table with real dishes (not plastic) while having polite conversation may go a long way in improving your family's next restaurant experience.
4. Resist abandoning your expectations just because you are at the local pizza place. Although the noise level may be louder kids can still chew their food with their mouth closed.
5. Qualify what you mean when you say "behave." Manners are skills that need to be learned not a litmus test for good or bad kids.
6. Diners without children can do their part as well by complimenting a child for sitting up straight even if he's lost a meatball to the floor.
Finally, even children with good manners can become disruptive if over tired or feel ignored. If you are going to bring kids along, make sure you include them in the conversation and know when it's time to go home.


At Home Run Inn, giving back drives who we are and what we do. It is in our brand DNA and informs every piece of our business, and we believe that it is our responsibility to do our part to help create a healthy, happy and sustainable future for all.
This deep sense of purpose is passionately demonstrated in our actions and service to our employees, our customers and to our communities as we strive to create long-term value and a positive social impact.
Everyday, your visits to our restaurants or purchases of our frozen pizza help support our Giving Back Efforts, allowing us to fund access to basic food for starving children throughout the world and education about healthy eating habits for underprivileged children in the United States. Thank you for being part of our efforts to make the world a better place and ultimately drive positive social impact that we all can be proud of.
Our Home Run Inn family visits Feed My Starving children facilities to help pack food for starving children throughout the world multiple times a year. This year Home Run Inn employees have totaled 506 volunteers and together we've produced 228,744 meals! That is enough to care for and feed 626 starving children for an entire year.
Click here to learn more about FMSC's mission.
In 2018, Home Run Inn has teamed up with Big Green to help build a national food culture that promotes youth wellness. We're helping to connect underprivileged kids to real food through a network of learning gardens and food literacy programs. Home Run Inn supported Big green with our dock sale this year raising over $9,000 to help Chicago area children receive learning gardens to develop healthy eating habits.
Click here to learn more about Big Green.
Each year Home Run Inn employees deliver toys and pizza to sick children staying at Anne & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. We take great pride in bringing joy and love to these children around the holidays!


The Green Camel comes in different shades of, you guessed it, green. I kept the main colour from the original greetings card in the centre.
I applied the same principle with The Pink Fox.
They are available now in the shop.


text:
Q: parallelograms formed by horizontal and vertical lines Can anyone help me with this problem or give me an hint on how to solve it? I don't think I do not understand this problem well. How can two horizontal and vertical lines create 360 parallelograms?

In a plane, there are n parallel horizontal lines and 9 parallel vertical lines. If there are 360 possible parallelograms that can be formed by using 2 horizontal lines and two vertical lines, what is n?

A: There are not two horizontal and vertical lines - there are $9$ parallel vertical lines and $n$ parallel horizontal lines. As they are parallel, all that is needed to create a parallelogram is to choose any two vertical and any two horizontal lines. The number of parallelograms that can be formed is thus given by the number of ways to make this choice.
Two horizontal lines can be chosen in $\binom{n}{2}$ ways. Two vertical lines can be chosen in $\binom{9}2$ ways. The choice of each is independent. Thus, we have
$$\text{Number of parallelograms}=360=\binom{n}{2}\times\binom{9}{2}$$
$$360=\binom{n}{2}\times36$$
$$\binom{n}{2}=10$$
$$n=5$$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Healthcare is within the midst of an ideal storm of change driven by affordable technology, buyer expectation, and new national policy that dramatically modifications all features of the healthcare business. The recordings saved with LHSA will likely be underneath strict control of the archivist, the place access will likely be limited to permit analysis and, if requested by the interviewee, some might have their access restricted for a requested size of time. This is comprehensible as a result of subject being discussed – you could get a more frank discussion if the interviewee is aware of there is a time restrict earlier than the recording shall be released.
Longhorns are captivated with making the world a better place, united by the belief that creating and sharing data can save lives and remodel society. Come explore our huge analysis enterprise — or higher yet, create, innovate and uncover with us. the strike pressure was created in the fall of 2015, with five dedicated legal professionals working on about a dozen of probably the most advanced corporate fraud cases in the health care area.
Frankly I am shocked at what number of crummy resumes I see come throughout my desk on a weekly foundation. However, I'm extra shocked that job candidates don't realize it's crummy and take the prospect that employers will overlook the matter. Please folks, understand that you are likely competing with a dozen or more candidates for a single job and you'll want to look sharp. Frequent sense? You would think so. Take time to do it right, or find a skilled service that will help you.
Truth is, if you happen to want a life saving procedure, you come to the U.S. We are answerable for over half of all medical developments in technology and drugs for the 20th and twenty first century. This is due to our free market, and competitors drives development, plain and easy. Further fitness activities and events can be found at Duke to assist faculty and employees who are fascinated with starting an exercise program or enhancing their current train routine.
In the case of compelled labour, it's quite the contrary. There is no such thing as a contract; moreover, there must be intimidation and thus oppression grows. Our soldiers abroad, rejecting the universalism of the mother nation, apply the 'numerous clauses' to the human race: since none might enslave, rob or kill his fellowman without committing against the law, they lay down the precept that the native shouldn't be one in every of our fellow-males.


Despite the fact that she is slaying the award season game with her film debut, my dear friend Lady Gaga will always be the scrappy little recording artist that could. While I irrationally hated Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta from the first moment I saw her, I am so grateful that Tony Bennett was able to talk sense into me and allow the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
I mean, 100 of my fellow celebrities had told me that I would love Gaga's sweet, creative soul but it took just one to get through to me and for that, I will always be grateful to Tone.
But enough about Tone, this is about thrice Academy and Emmy Award nominated, six time Grammy winning and my dear friend, Gaga. As I said, my own stupidity kept me from years of friendship with Ga – as only her best friends call her – and while that often wakes me in a cold sweat, I am glad at how quickly we developed the beautiful friendship we have.
Given she is busy residenc-ing and attendee literally every single award show on the planet, I decided to swing by for a post Oscar-nominees luncheon date and, you guessed it, run the odds for the Grammys.
Given she has made a splash in the film world I bequeathed her the honour of helping me pick who will take out Best Music Film and while I see merits in Whitney winning like Ga thinks, I can't go past Quincy. While I am a dear friend of both Jay and Bey, neither of us can see them beating Childish Gambino's This Is America.
Obviously I couldn't bet against Gaga for Best Pop Solo Performance or Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, so we focused on me betting the house on Tony Bennett and Diana Krall's Love Is Here to Stay for BEst Traditional Pop Vocal Album – though Babs is my most likely spoiler – and my love for Kelly Clarkson isn't enough to make me bet against Camila Cabello's creatively titled Camila taking out Best Pop Vocal Album.
While running all those odds can be hungry work, I know that the Academy serves calorie rich food at the nominees luncheon – checky during awards season, no? – so I opted to keep it light with a delicious Lady Gaugamole.
Nobody loves avocados more than I – excluding Queer Eye's Antony, obviously – however I had never tasted guac perfection until I encountered Chipotle. Oh Chipotle, how I love you so! The spicy, glorious guac bursting from a burrito and washed down with some Pibb Extreme is my idea of heaven. But this is not an add, focus on their guac – fresh and zingy, it is perfect all by itself.
Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and mash the flesh.
Fold through the remaining ingredients.
Devour, with a big bowl of Tortea Leoni Chips.


text:
Manufacturing and support industry expos open in Ha Noi
Two major events on manufacturing and support industries opened at the Ha Noi International Exhibition Centre on Wednesday, creating business opportunities and aiming to increase the use of local parts for the domestic machinery and support industries.
The three-day events, the 11th Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME2019) and the eighth Vietnam-Japan Supporting Industries Exhibition (SIE 2019), attracted more than 200 top brands from 20 leading technology countries including Japan, China, South Korea, Thailand and the US.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said that thanks to the active participation of the Government and localities, Viet Nam's support industry has gained remarkable results in recent years.
ABB Vietnam shows off its robots at the exhibition.
Hai said supporting businesses have increased in both quantity and quality, improving their production capacity and integrating more deeply into global production chains.
"However, the support industry's development has been limited by weak management capacity and limited self-supply, meaning imports of auto parts still exceed exports," Hai said.
During this year's mid-term review meeting of the Viet Nam-Japan Joint Initiative, Hai said the two countries agreed to support the development of Viet Nam's supporting industries through investments in worker training, business management, external trade and market promotion to increase sales and the reduction of production costs.
"Co-operation between the two countries through the Viet Nam-Japan Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement has become an important link, opening new opportunities, transferring technologies and enhancing production capacity for businesses," he said.
Visitors learn about new technology at the exhibition.
According to Minister Daisuke Okabe from the Embassy of Japan in Viet Nam, promoting support industries is one of the top priorities for the Vietnamese Government. Among 1,800 enterprises that are members of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Viet Nam, up to half operate in supporting industries. However, transactions between Vietnamese and Japanese businesses remain limited.
"In this context, small- and medium-d enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam will play a vital role," Okabe told Viet Nam News. "For the Vietnamese Government, it is necessary to enhance SMEs in competition, research and development and marketing."
He said SMEs account for 99.7 per cent of all the enterprises in Japan and about 70 per cent of its total labour force, making them central to support industries. The Japanese Government has instituted laws and regulations to bolster small firms.
Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Hironobu Kitagawa said in the past 10 years, JETRO has held the event annually, alternating between HCM City and Ha Noi, to strengthen the localisation rate and improve the capacity of part suppliers. Over this period, Japanese firms' investment in Viet Nam has rapidly increased.
"Our survey shows that 70 per cent of Japanese businesses want to continue investment in Viet Nam," Kitagawa said. "This figure is high compared with other ASEAN countries. It will help improve Vietnamese businesses' production capacity."
VME 2019 and SIE 2019, organised by JETRO, the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency and Reed Tradex, will focus on Vietnamese enterprises, especially SMEs, and serve as a platform to connect technology providers with industrial manufacturers.
To support SMEs, VME 2019 partnered with LinkSMEs project, funded by USAID. The project has a total budget of US$22.1 billion for 2018-23 to catalyse systemic changes in business relationships and build links between Vietnamese businesses and the global value chain.
Related Stock (1)
HCM 21,600 -250 -1.14%
Tet shopping begins in earnest
Viet Nam-China import-export turnover reaches $117 billion
Steel industry not likely to have the best of times in 2020
VN wood products must focus on designs, branding
PetroVietnam profits drop despite revenue surge
Wood processing industry targets $20 billion in exports by 2025


The Sixers won a game! Ish Smith took over! Jason Richardson is an NBA player. Nerlens Noel is shooting all the free throws. What?! All of that, and going in on #RTRS arch rival, Andrew Sharp. Another early plug, the 2015 #RTRS/Liberty Ballers Lottery Party is May 19th at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Great Northeast. It's going to be legendary.
A trade deadline so big it deserved a second mini-podcast. We're here, where's Eskin?
IT'S BEEN REAL GUYS. CYA-KJ-MCW. We thought it would be a quiet trade deadline. WE WERE WRONG. We announce the 2015 RTRS/LB Lottery Party. Nowhere in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that the Sixers would do something as extreme as trading the rights to Cenk Akyol, even for Always-Gonna-Be-A-Sixers Javale McGee. Another day, another first round pick. AND CHU CHU!
Spike went to the All-Star game! Not really.
Spike did go to All-Star practice (thanks to his lovely wife), so we talk about that, the Sprite Slam Dunk, the Hawks All-Star failures, Patrick Beverly, Kenny Smith, Zach LaVine vs. Dario, Bob and Nerlens in the Rising Stars game, the failed NBA After-Dark takeover, Evan Turner's game winner, make fun of Charles Barkley, and much, much more!
Another podcast, another day for hot takes on the Hawks! Oh, but it's a Sixers podcast, so the topic list is long. Included are Tim Frazier's debut, a Rights To Ricky Sanchez Birthday Present, some early info on the 2015 Lottery Party, looking ahead to the trade deadline, the NBA After Dark live podcast takeover, the Sixers legwarmers, the return of Hollis Thompson, Nerlens' free throws, the new mascot and, why not, Evan Turner.


text:
Home / Industry / Media / Apple taps Jessica Alba, others to push for online video streaming
Apple taps Jessica Alba, others to push for online video streaming
The show will echo and reflect a cultural transformation in our society led by technology companies like Apple, said Ben Silverman, an executive producer of Planet of the Apps Photo: Reuters.
1 min read . Updated: 08 Jun 2017, 01:58 AM IST Lucas Shaw
A day after Apple announced updates to its products, it packed a couple thousand software developers into a theatre for an early look at an online TV show featuring Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow
Los Angeles: A day after Apple Inc. announced updates to its computers, watches and phones, the company packed a couple thousand software developers into a theatre for an early look at its next big thing—an online TV show featuring Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow.
On Tuesday, Apple releases its first original series, Planet of the Apps, starring the two successful Hollywood businesswomen, rapper Will.i.am and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Would-be inventors partnering with the four will design and present apps that help people shop, exercise or look after friends in a series that looks a lot like The Voice or Top Chef.
With $250 billion in cash and securities sloshing around, the tech giant could have tackled online powerhouses like Netflix or Amazon.
Instead, the company is starting small and staying close to what it does well, challenging Spotify and YouTube with a slate of new videos about music and technology.
"This show will echo and reflect a cultural transformation in our society led by technology companies like Apple," said Ben Silverman, an executive producer of Planet of the Apps. With the new videos, Apple's aims to get fans watching on their iPhones, which deliver almost two-thirds of the company's sales.
Planet of the Apps will be available only on Apple Music.
Each judge spent weeks helping their proteges develop ideas and features in preparation for a pitch to venture capital firm Lightspeed Ventures, an early backer of Snap Inc. For the hosts, it was a chance to display a side less known to consumers.
Apple's involvement was a draw for both Paltrow and Alba. The show gave each a chance to showcase their business acumen—Paltrow co-founded Goop, a media and lifestyle brand, while Alba started Honest Co. Bloomberg
mint-india-wire


Have we found the next Tom Brady in Deshaun Watson? Joy Taylor breaks down why she believes Watson can replace Brady as the best QB in the league. Then Brandon and Joy discuss the pitfalls of Halloween, the Pittsburgh Steelers TD celebrations, Britney Spears, and the proper way to deal with catching a homerun during the World Series. Joy enters the Loser Power Rankings as she deals with getting a cat.


I added a few more icons that where suggested by Kaleida and made a sort of "unique" looking key for the chat conditioner (new name!).
You can use any key really but I figured a special one bundled with it would be a good idea.
Before you ask it's based on a French safe deposit box lock.


- The Handcuffs, The Bon Mots and Le Concorde at Abbey Pub - The Handcuffs, described earlier this week by Jim DeRogatis of the Sun-Times as "drawing on a range of glam and cool pop influences from David Bowie to Blondie to Britpop," will celebrate the release of their new CD, "Electroluv." You also get two other quality local bands, The Bon Mots and Le Concorde. 8 p.m., $6 advance, $8 at door. More info and tickets.
- The Fleshtones with The Hentchmen and Moto at Bottom Lounge - A classic New York City garage rock band, The Fleshtones debuted at CBGB in 1976 and have since released a hefty amount of records, including this year's "Take a Good Look." 8 p.m., $12 advance, $15 at door. More info and tickets.
- Ben Weasel with The Challenged and The Girls at Reggie's - Local punk mainstay Weasel will play two shows at Reggie's this weekend, kicking things off Friday evening. 5 p.m., $15. More info and tickets. Also Saturday at 2 p.m.
- The Sea and Cake with Death Vessel at Empty Bottle - Local indie rockers The Sea and Cake will also play two shows, both on Saturday. Last month the band released their eighth LP, "Car Alarm." 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. $16 advance, $18 at door. More info and tickets.
- Deerhunter with Times New Viking and Disappears at Metro - Atlanta noise rockers Deerhunter are promoting their recently released album, "Microcastle." The first 150 guests (21 and over) to arrive will receive an invitation to the Official MGD After Show Party featuring a special DJ set by the band, and a chance to win autographed Deerhunter merchandise. 6 p.m., $17. More info and tickets.


text:
Das Einzelfehlerkriterium  wird als wesentliches Hilfsmittel bei Störfallanalysen in Kernkraftwerken verwendet.

Es bedeutet, dass Störfälle auch dann beherrscht werden müssen, wenn während eines Störfallablaufes ein weiterer Fehler an beliebiger Stelle an den zur Störfallbeherrschung notwendigen Systemen auftritt.

Quellen
 TüV Bayern, Mitteilungen.  Heft 2, April 1981, S. 5–13 v. Chr.Rüffler

Weblinks
Richtlinie für schweizerische Kernanlagen. Auslegungskriterien für Sicherheitssysteme von Kernkraftwerken mit Leichtwasser-Reaktoren, 2.1.
Einzelfehlerkonzept - Grundsätze für die Anwendung des Einzelfehlerkriteriums, RS-Handbuch (PDF; 37 kB)

siehe auch Sicherheit von Kernkraftwerken

Nukleare Sicherheit


text:
'use strict';

/* jshint ignore:start */
/**
 * This code was generated by
 * \ / _    _  _|   _  _
 *  | (_)\/(_)(_|\/| |(/_  v1.0.0
 *       /       /
 */
/* jshint ignore:end */

var _ = require('lodash');  /* jshint ignore:line */
var Holodeck = require('../../../../../holodeck');  /* jshint ignore:line */
var Request = require(
    '../../../../../../../lib/http/request');  /* jshint ignore:line */
var Response = require(
    '../../../../../../../lib/http/response');  /* jshint ignore:line */
var RestException = require(
    '../../../../../../../lib/base/RestException');  /* jshint ignore:line */
var Twilio = require('../../../../../../../lib');  /* jshint ignore:line */

var client;
var holodeck;

describe('TollFree', function() {
  beforeEach(function() {
    holodeck = new Holodeck();
    client = new Twilio('ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa', 'AUTHTOKEN', {
      httpClient: holodeck
    });
  });
  it('should generate valid list request',
    function() {
      holodeck.mock(new Response(500, '{}'));

      var promise = client.api.v2010.accounts('ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa')
                                    .availablePhoneNumbers('US')
                                    .tollFree.list();
      promise = promise.then(function() {
        throw new Error('failed');
      }, function(error) {
        expect(error.constructor).toBe(RestException.prototype.constructor);
      });
      promise.done();

      var solution = {
        accountSid: 'ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa',
        countryCode: 'US'
      };
      var url = _.template('https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/<%= accountSid %>/AvailablePhoneNumbers/<%= countryCode %>/TollFree.json')(solution);

      holodeck.assertHasRequest(new Request({
        method: 'GET',
        url: url
      }));
    }
  );
  it('should generate valid read_full response',
    function() {
      var body = JSON.stringify({
          'available_phone_numbers': [
              {
                  'address_requirements': 'none',
                  'beta': false,
                  'capabilities': {
                      'mms': true,
                      'sms': true,
                      'voice': true
                  },
                  'friendly_name': '(800) 100-0052',
                  'iso_country': 'US',
                  'lata': null,
                  'latitude': null,
                  'locality': null,
                  'longitude': null,
                  'phone_number': '+18001000052',
                  'postal_code': null,
                  'rate_center': null,
                  'region': null
              }
          ],
          'first_page_uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=50&Page=0',
          'last_page_uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=50&Page=0',
          'next_page_uri': null,
          'num_pages': 1,
          'page': 0,
          'page_size': 50,
          'previous_page_uri': null,
          'start': 0,
          'total': 1,
          'uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=1'
      });

      holodeck.mock(new Response(200, body));

      var promise = client.api.v2010.accounts('ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa')
                                    .availablePhoneNumbers('US')
                                    .tollFree.list();
      promise = promise.then(function(response) {
        expect(response).toBeDefined();
      }, function() {
        throw new Error('failed');
      });

      promise.done();
    }
  );
  it('should generate valid read_empty response',
    function() {
      var body = JSON.stringify({
          'available_phone_numbers': [],
          'first_page_uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=50&Page=0',
          'last_page_uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=50&Page=0',
          'next_page_uri': null,
          'num_pages': 1,
          'page': 0,
          'page_size': 50,
          'previous_page_uri': null,
          'start': 0,
          'total': 1,
          'uri': '/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/AvailablePhoneNumbers/US/TollFree.json?PageSize=1'
      });

      holodeck.mock(new Response(200, body));

      var promise = client.api.v2010.accounts('ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa')
                                    .availablePhoneNumbers('US')
                                    .tollFree.list();
      promise = promise.then(function(response) {
        expect(response).toBeDefined();
      }, function() {
        throw new Error('failed');
      });

      promise.done();
    }
  );
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


We had an excellent time at ESCRS 2018 in Vienna this year, where Rod and Laura presented the Practice Development Masterclass on the 1st day and Rod presented a session on copywriting during the 2nd day. In this post, we announce our prize winners and where to get our Masterclass slides and handouts.
Each of these course licenses cost £995.
Congratulations to the winners. We'll be contacting them by e-mail with instructions on how to redeem their prizes this week.
We collected a surprisingly large number of names and e-mails at both Rod and Laura's Practice Development Masterclass and Rod's 1-hour session the following day. We'll be sending them the Masterclass slides and handouts directly as PDF documents.
Thanks to the organisers and the participants and see you all at ESCRS 2019!
ESCRS 2018 was our 9th ESCRS, speaking and moderating panels for the Practice Development Program.
Together and independently, the group of speakers, moderators, panellists and the committee have developed an educational program that has gone from strength to strength and attracts both top business professionals and ophthalmologists to this podium.
We'd like to send a big thanks to Colin Kerr, Paul Rosen, Kris Morrill, Arthur Cummings and all of the members of the ESCRS Practice Development Committee who have helped put this together along the way, and have been so kind to invite us to be a part of it year after year.
We also thank all of the hundreds of participants who have attended, asked questions, given reviews and implemented what they've learned.
Thanks for the great Masterclass!
I tried now several times to subscribe to the blog, but I doesn't work. I never got the e-mail to confirm.
Julia, thanks so much for letting us know. You're not alone (technology! Grrr!) Sometimes the old-fashioned methods are more reliable. We'll get you on our list ASAP if we have not yet done so. Watch your email for a message soon.


text:
Moreton is a tranquil Dorset village famous for its association with the prolific writer, celebrated soldier and pioneering archaeologist, T. E. Lawrence, perhaps better known as Lawrence of Arabia.Situated on the River Frome, just eight miles east of Dorchester, the village is achingly picturesque and cluttered by little more that a church, a pub and a tiny railway station.
Moreton Tea Rooms
After years of notoriety working and fighting in the Arabian deserts, Lawrence, hungry for obscurity, was drawn to Moreton's sleepy charm and enlisted as a Private in the Tank Corps, stationed at Bovington. His cousins, the Frampton family, owned the Moreton estate, which borders Bovington, and Lawrence first rented and then bought a cottage from them called Cloud's Hill, now owned by the National Trust.
T.E. Lawrence grave
During his time at Cloud's Hill, Lawrence struck up a friendship with Louisa Frampton and some of their correspondence is on display in the Moreton tea rooms.
A keen motorcyclist, Lawrence was killed just outside the village at the age of forty six when swerving to avoid hitting two children on bicycles who were playing in the road.Lawrence's tragic death inspired the neurosurgeon who tended him after the accident, Hugh Cairns, to begin a long study into potential safety measures that eventually led to the widespread introduction of the motorcycle helmet.
Moreton church
Lawrence was buried in the local churchyard and a funeral was held in the village, attended by such luminaries as Sir Winston and Lady Churchill. His much-visited grave, which features an open book carved from stone, can be found by passing through an ornate portico in the graveyard.
The nearby church of St Nicholas is also famous for its windows, all of which were designed and engraved by another Lawrence, Sir Lawrence Whistler, to replace the mundane panels that were hastily installed when a bomb blasted the church during the Second World War.
Moreton photos
Things to do in Moreton
Moreton accommodation
Moreton cottages
Moreton apartments
Moreton B&Bs
T.E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia
Weather nearby
Light breeze, 4 mph from Southeast
Moreton - The Street
Moreton Chruch Interior
Grave of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)
Moreton Signpost
River Frome Crossing - Moreton
Cloud's Hill - Moreton
Farmer Palmers Farm
Weymouth Sea Life Park & Marine Sanctuary
The Dinosaur Museum
Lulworth Castle and Park
The Keep Military Museum


text:
On This Day: Bill Clinton's historic visit to Northern Ireland
Defying history and long odds, the President of the United States brought peace.
Niall O'Dowd
@niallodowd
President Bill Clinton gives a speech in Belfast in 1995 to a warm reception.
On November 30, 1995, US President Bill Clinton made a historic visit to Northern Ireland. Below, Niall O'Dowd recounts the impact of the day
23 years ago this week Bill Clinton broke an ironclad rule of American diplomacy with a move that led to peace in Northern Ireland.
That rule that stood well over 200 years was that America never interfered in the internal affairs of Great Britain and Ireland was specifically the target of that rule.
For Irish Americans over the centuries no matter their power, that rule had stood. Despite contributing blood and sacrifice in the US Civil War, despite the strength of the Irish vote in the early part of the last century, despite the new Irish Republic in 1921, no president ever gave them a hearing.
Until Bill Clinton.
Here now on a bright Autumn day President Clinton and wife Hillary were descending down the steps from Air Force One at Belfast International Airport.
Ireland would never be the same again.
I vividly remember that moment, one of the highlights of my life. Irish America had finally found its voice and there was nothing surer in my mind but that peace would follow.
Later that day I stood among the 200,000 people crammed into the center of Belfast waiting for President Bill Clinton to appear for the city's Christmas tree lighting.
While we waited Van Morrison warmed us up on a cold and frosty afternoon with the song "There Will Be Days Like This."
With perfect hindsight, I can say Van was wrong. There will never be another day like that one.
On the chairs beside me sat Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, and Joe Cahill, the leadership of the Irish Republican movement. Not far from me sat David Ervine, Gary McMichael and Gusty Spence, heads of the Loyalist movement.
Gerry Adams and Bill Clinton in Belfast (Getty)
Read More: "To honor him we must finish his work," Bill Clinton at the Martin McGuinness funeral
Adams and the Loyalists had met the American president, an unheard of occurrence. It was clear Clinton was all in.
Once the organizations they headed had been trying to kill each other. Now they were seated feet from each other, making moves for peace thanks in large part to the work of the Irish American president.
Up until that day the notion of an American president in Belfast was fanciful in the extreme, yet here Clinton was. I'll always remember Martin McGuinness especially, and the disbelief and joy in his eyes, that this day had finally dawned.
If there is ever a day that will stand out in history, this was it. Indeed, it was the greatest day of my journalism career.
I was reminded of the day recently by an excellent article by James Carroll in the Boston Globe remembering the occasion and what the message of the first American president ever to visit Northern Ireland meant to the multitudes.
Read More: Clinton told Northern Irish to wake him up in the middle of the night if needed
Interestingly, as Carroll noted, Clinton reached back to the American Civil War.
"I grew up in the American South," Clinton said. "My forebears were soldiers in the Confederate Army...They lived the experience so many of you have lived."
Bill Clinton on Shankil Road in Belfast (Getty)
And then Clinton recalled the first post-Civil War Arkansas governor, who had fought for the Union.
"We have all done wrong," Clinton said, quoting a speech the earlier Arkansas governor gave to his constituents, who had been split between the two sides.
"No one can say his heart is altogether clean, his hands altogether pure. Thus, as we wish to be forgiven, let us forgive those who have sinned against us and ours." Then Clinton drew the lesson: "That was the beginning of American reconciliation, and it must be the beginning of Northern Ireland's reconciliation."
Maureen Dowd of The New York Times later wrote that she never saw Clinton happier than that day when he stepped out onto the stage before Belfast City Hall and thousands chanted his name. (Though in the Belfast accent, hilariously, it sounded more like "bull bull" than "Bill, Bill.")
"In Ireland Mr. Clinton discovered the joys of being a foreign policy president," Dowd wrote.
And Ireland discovered the incredible potential when American soft power – no troops, no drones, no bombs – was unleashed.
President Bill Clinton's motorcade in Belfast (Getty)
It all seems long ago and far away now, but life for many Irish reached a zenith that December day in Belfast in 1995. America had, at last, stepped into the Irish/British conflict, and peace for the first time had a chance.
When we look at ethnic conflicts all over the world today and the inability to stop them the Clinton intervention in Ireland stands as a beacon of hope.
US President Bill Clinton on Falls Road in Belfast (Getty)
In the recent release of his oral histories the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a champion of the peace process, gives massive recognition to the role of Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, who galvanized community groups and women's groups on both sides.
I'm just glad to have had the chance to witness history in the making. Bill and Hillary cut a triumphant swathe from Belfast to Derry back to Belfast and then on to Dublin where he received a rapturous reception. By the end, a deep and irrevocable bond had been forged.
It had all started for Irish Americans and Clinton in January 1992 when, on a cold and damp Monday evening, about two dozen Irish Americans met in the Fitzpatrick Manhattan hotel to create a new organization, Irish Americans for Clinton. The speakers that night were former Congressman Bruce Morrison, myself, and Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform President Ciaran Staunton.
Hotelier John FitzPatrick kindly gave the room gratis. The new organization had no money raised.
The Clinton in question, who many barely knew was a governor of Arkansas, was then considered a long shot for the presidency and even the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
The gathering heard there was to be an ethnic fundraiser for Clinton a month later at the Sheraton Hotel. They hardly seemed impressed.
At the fundraiser itself, the new group scraped together just one table partly made up of visiting Irish students.
Everyone we called was too busy or gave Clinton no chance. It was very tough going. Nowadays a few hundred I've met claimed they were there.
Read More: How British tried to stop President Clinton "meddling" in Northern Ireland
The fledgling candidate at that banquet stopped by the table and seemed delighted he had an Irish following.
The dream since Famine times had been to engage an American president on the side of Ireland, not the British. But the Atlantic alliance and special relationship between the US and Britain had proven far too durable a kinship to crack.
Maverick politicians who evinced sympathy for Irish nationalists, such as Congressman Peter King, were untouchable. In a bizarre moment, King, then an elected official, was told by the secret service that he could not meet President Reagan during a visit to Long Island in the early 1980s.
It seemed an even longer shot that the isolation could be breached in 1992. After the first Iraq/Gulf war (the successful one) George Bush Senior looked unbeatable. His ratings were sky high. His interest in Irish issues was zilch.
During the Bush administration, a group of Irish Americans met with a State Department official overseeing Ireland. The diplomat looked like he had barely started shaving.
He told them his Irish post was merely a function of the country being alphabetically closest to Iceland, a NATO ally and his real interest. As for Ireland, he pulled a batch of Daily Telegraph clippings from his drawer. The notoriously anti-Irish newspaper was his main source of information. The anger in the room was palpable, expressed best by Dr. Bob Lennon of the Irish American Unity Conference, who called the diplomat's attitude "a complete disgrace."
Outside on the sidewalk, the sense of despair was evident and the need to find an alternative plan starkly clear.
Read More: Bill Clinton awarded Freedom of Belfast at Good Friday Agreement 20th anniversary
Leaders in the Irish lobby knew Bush was very unlikely to press for action on Northern Ireland. They were looking for a different kind of candidate and homed in on Clinton among the Democrats.
The Irish soon discovered there was something different about Clinton. Unlike 90 percent of American politicians, he needed no staffers to hand-hold him during discussions.
His time at Oxford University during the birth of the Northern Irish Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s had placed Ireland on his radar forever. Though he was from a state without an active Irish American base, he had followed the history of The Troubles ever since attending Oxford.
He was ready when the Irish came calling.
Clinton spoke at an Irish candidate's forum night in April 1992 and, most importantly, promised a visa to the U.S. for Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, then an international pariah.
Most observers shrugged at the time. Campaigning was different to governing, such a promise would never be fulfilled, they thought. A visa for Gerry Adams was a pipedream.
Later that year, in September, Irish American legend Mayo-born Paul O'Dwyer and I met Clinton at the Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan and came out of the meetings glowing.
O'Dwyer, former New York City Council president, had been meeting with American politicians about Ireland since the 1930s. He'd never met one like this. "He will turn the Irish issue upside down," he predicted. He never spoke a truer word.
Once in power, Clinton overturned 200 years of British oversight on American policy towards Ireland.
Read More: Unable to make NI trip to help break political stalemate, Bill Clinton explores Hurricane-struck Dublin
Urged on by a group of Irish American leaders who were intermediaries with Sinn Fein, Clinton jumped on board the Irish bandwagon. The State Department spluttered. Tom Foley, the Anglophile Speaker of the House, objected strongly.
But Clinton, the consummate politician saw something. In January 1994, after a titanic struggle between pro-British and pro-Irish forces, the decision on whether to give Gerry Adams a visa landed on Clinton's desk.
On the night he had to make the decision he was sandwiched at a dinner between Speaker Foley and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Both men pounded him on reasons why Adams should not be given a visa.
Clinton, however, was not for turning. Despite the advice of the FBI, CIA, State Department and the British, on January 31, 1994, he gave a visa to Gerry Adams. In the end, the key counterweight was Senator Edward Kennedy, who had decided the Sinn Fein peace outreach was for real.
Clinton's campaign promise had been fulfilled, and all hell broke loose.
John Major refused to take his calls and the British media lambasted him for it, calling it the greatest insult ever offered a British government. In America, of the major newspapers, only The New York Times approved.
Adams arrived amid a welter of excitement. He spoke at the Waldorf Astoria at an event hosted by Irish American business leader William Flynn and he went on Larry King Live, forcing British authorities to ban the show in Britain.
Read More: The story behind teenage Bill Clinton and JFK's handshake
The Adams move was one of three key triggers that brought about the historic August 1994 IRA ceasefire. The American president's unorthodox, outside the box maneuver had played a massive role in bringing an end to the violence in Northern Ireland.
He had also proven that the soft power of an American president, when used so brilliantly, could solve a problem so difficult some people even admired its enigmatic nature and pronounced it unsolvable.
Happily, Bill Clinton was not one of those.
To activist Irish organizations, Bill Clinton was a hero and his wife Hillary was not far behind. On their first visit to Ireland, in December 1995, they were feted and celebrated in Belfast, Derry, and Dublin like no one since JFK. Even the British admitted their mistake in opposing the visa.
Hillary too became a committed Irish peace activist. She hosted teas for women from deprived nationalist and loyalist areas. Her Vital Voices conferences gave voice to the North's female leaders, who had never been heard before. She was soon on first name terms with Irish leaders of every stripe.
Hillary Clinton with women in Belfast (Getty)
Read More: WATCH: Hillary Clinton urges Northern Ireland to form interim government
Down the long years, Hillary gathered a tight group of Irish American supporters around her. One of her last visits as Secretary of State was to Belfast, where she practically pleaded to stay involved post-State.
Ireland and the successes there have meant much to the Clintons, almost as much as they have meant to the American Irish activists, who see in Bill the first American president to step up for their cause. Hilary also has a large share of the reflected glory, which she will no doubt draw on in the 2016 campaign
A small meeting in 1992 at Fitzpatrick's Hotel culminated in the greening of a US president in a way no one had ever thought possible. We can thank our lucky stars he came along when he did.
*Originally published in 2015
Related: US Politics, Irish Politics, Democrats, Republicans, Belfast City, Dublin, Irish American, Northern Ireland


We recycle! Please donate gently used uniforms by dropping them in the bin in the school lobby.
If you need a recycled uniform, please send your request to the PTO Recycled Uniforms Committee at RecycledUniforms@stmarthacs.org.
The PTO Committee Chairperson will let you know if your item(s) are available and fulfill your request as soon as possible. IMPORTANT NOTE: Inventory of specific items and sizes varies.
Payment is due at time of pick-up in the school office and can be made via cash, check or credit card.
If paying by check, indicate 'Recycled Uniform' in the memo section. If using a credit card, a 2.75% service charge applies to all transactions.
For information on how to purchase a new uniform, go to our Uniforms page.


As I mentioned in my last post, I'll be working at an Upward Bound program in Maine for the next six weeks. If you want to learn more about Upward Bound, here's a link to the official government site about it. (http://www2.ed.gov/programs/trioupbound/index.html). And this is my program: http://www2.umf.maine.edu/upwardbound/. Essentially, my summer program is designed to giving rising sophomores, juniors, seniors, and college freshmen an academic boost heading into the next school year and to help connect them to resources and people who can support them in their efforts to become first generation college students.
My role in the program is primarily as an English teacher. I teach four sections of students (the rising sophomores and juniors) three times each week. In addition to my classroom responsibilities, I am also in charge of an "advisory group" — a small group of students that functions as sort of a "family" while we're here, am involved in evening study sessions and "free time," get to plan and organize activities for evening events, and live in the dorm on the girls' floor. The amount of time that I can spend interacting with these adolescents over the next six weeks is truly boundless!
We started our classes on Monday and I was feeling quite nervous about making the transition from teaching second graders to teaching high schoolers. But, so far, things have been wonderful! The depth of our discussions and their engagement in my English class has been unbelievable so far. It is blissful to not have all of the (charming) interruptions of the younger set and to be able get through everything that I have planned without getting sidetracked by behavior or other issues. I'm sort of spoiled, because these students applied to be here and are highly motivated, but it is just so fantastic to work with them. They talk with me about what we're doing in class in the lunch line (really!) and are thinking hard about the issues that we're discussing around the media and technology — even outside of class. It's been really invigorating — even more so than I could have possibly imagined!
While I'm loving the program and feeling great about being part of such a grand vision for supporting these students who will really benefit from the hard work all of the staff is doing, I can't help thinking from time to time about how there were students who applied to be here who didn't get accepted. I hate that programs that do such good can't take on all students. Everyone who wants an opportunity to pursue an education ought to have that chance — it really frustrates me that the deck is stacked against so many students and that for each student who does get to engage with a program like Upward Bound, there are others who get left behind. I'm trying hard to stay upbeat and focus on doing everything that I can for the wonderful students who are here, but I can't help but think about the other kids at their schools who were not as fortunate as they were in the application process.
Of course, it's not the job of one program to solve all of the problems relating to inequality of educational opportunity, but I think it's worth thinking about what we, as educators and citizens, might do to help make sure that no one falls through the cracks, that all students get a chance to feel like they can realize their dreams and live the life that they've imagined. It's something I know that I'll keep thinking about in the weeks ahead, while I spend time with students that may not appear to be obvious college-material on paper, but who are flourishing in the rich environment here at Upward Bound.
I am really passionate about and interested in home-school relationships. So far in my classroom, I've been doing everything that I can think of to get information out to my students' parents about what we're doing in class and how they can help out at home. All of my weekly homework assignments require the involvement of a parent to help to build in opportunities for my students and their parents to grapple with academic material at home. I also send home a bi-weekly newsletter and maintain a parent website: https://sites.google.com/site/newsfrommisshewes/.
Late this week and throughout this weekend, I've been thinking about what the disconnect might be between the parents saying that they are working hard with their students and the lackluster performance of their students. It occurred to me that just as we don't hold our students accountable for content that we haven't taught them, we also should not hold parents accountable for teaching their students things if they have never been instructed on how to effectively work on academic material at home.
To this end, I've spent the last few days working on a home literacy packet that I'll be sending home with each of my students on Monday. I also plan to try to disseminate this information and model these practices with my parents in a workshop format, for those who want to attend. My packet is titled, "A Menu for a Healthy Home-Reading Diet" and emphasizes that just as a healthy diet requires eating from a variety of different food groups, becoming a healthy reader requires having many different experiences with texts.
I sent home a notice last week that informed my parents how their student had done on our benchmark assessments and included items that gauged their interest in learning more about how to support their child's literacy development at home. Unfortunately (but predictably), the greatest interest so far has been shown by the parents of the students that are already thriving in terms of literacy. I'm hoping to reach the parents of the struggling readers with my packet — I hope that it will prove successful!
What strategies do you use for engaging your more reluctant parents? I'd love to hear suggestions and comments!
P.S. If you are interested, my complete literacy packet is available for download on Teacherspayteachers. I am just getting started on this site, but I appreciate the way that it opens the doors of different classrooms and helps to break down teacher isolation and celebrates the great work that teachers are doing every day!


Welcome to our 5th edition of NeverlandSwing!!
Your combination of dancing West Coast Swing the entire weekend while the luxury of staying at a great 4-star hotel all under one roof!!
We are extremely proud to introduce to you our staff for NLS2018!!
Dancing 'til the early morning!!
Welcome to the 5th edition of our NeverlandSwing!!
We are so looking forward to be seeing all of you again for a week full of dancing till dawn and enjoying the great times during competitions and social dancing!