When our car breaks down or we have electrical problems in our homes we always seek out professionals to fix our problems. These professionals have many years of experience and often have credentials to back them up. I've noticed a trend lately in the web design and development field. More and more people want a website, but they don't hire professionals. They spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars on a website only to find out that the person or company they hired has no real experience in web design or development. They get stranded with a poorly, if at all, functional website that does not perform well across multiple platforms and devices. These sites also perform poorly in search engines.
Why do unprofessional sites perform poorly?
Overuse of frameworks and plugins: Many people use open source software to build websites; WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are among some of the most popular. Inexperienced people or companies will use frameworks and plugins to build sites because they have no coding experience. If something breaks or you need more functionality, they will not be able to provide this to you. This also causes thousands of lines of unnecessary code to run on your site, causing slow load times and sometimes even security issues.
Bloated markup and code: Many sites use more markup and code than necessary. A professional has years of experience refining markup and code to be efficient and minimal.
Non-semantic HTML: Most unprofessional sites have little to no semantic HTML. Semantic HTML gives your content meaning. Headings, sections, and other important data can be given different levels of importance throughout the page. Without semantic HTML, your site will perform poorly in search engines.
No Optimizations: Optimizations go a long way. Optimizations include: minimal markup and code, compressing images for the web and choosing the correct formats, and even properly loading resources.
Outsourcing: Many firms have started outsourcing work to India and other countries. Much of the outsourced work is outdated or not properly coded.
How can I know I am hiring a professional?
It can be a difficult task to hire a professional. There are quite a few companies out there that outsource 100% of their work offshore or to the lowest bidder to maximize profits. Their goal is to churn out unprofessional sites to unsuspecting clients looking for cheap website options. These companies prey on customers not knowing how the web works and can cost customers a lot of money in lost revenue and missed opportunities.
To know if you are hiring a professional, you should always ask for credentials.
Does the company hire professionals with college degrees? Or if you are working with an individual, do they have a college degree?
Will the company or individual provide references to past clients?
Check out the company's or individual's portfolio? Make sure their past websites look and function properly.
Hiring a professional is important with so many options in the market. Your website is your potential customer's first impression, make sure you have a professional website that turns visitors into sales.
At GraphicTEN, we only hire professional designers and developers to work on your projects. We take pride in offering only the best quality websites to our clients.


text:
Open Houses Have Rebounded But Remain Far Less Common Than Last Year
Surging homebuyer demand has prompted some sellers to host open houses during the pandemic, but group showings remain much less common than normal due to coronavirus risk, Redfin agents say.
Nationwide, 6% of homes that were put up for sale in July held an open house in their first seven days on the market. While that marks a rebound from 1% in April, when millions of buyers and sellers across the country were placed under stay-at-home orders, it remains below the 15-20% levels we saw both a year ago and in February, before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic.
Iconic Mermaid Beach Sizzler restaurant space listed for lease
Key tenancies are up for lease in the prominent Mermaid Beach precinct.
Key tenancies within a prominent Mermaid Beach commercial precinct including Sizzler, a medical centre and a former cinema have been advertised for lease.
The Sizzler space at 2506 Gold Coast Highway is being marketed as 'The Best Retail Space in Mermaid Beach. First Time on the Market in 35 Years'.
Leasing agent Ricky Mahuika said he couldn't comment on "whether they're [Sizzler] staying or they're going", citing commercial in confidence.
Sizzler has long been a family favourite on the Gold Coast.
Sizzler has long been a family favourite

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Knicks Hire Former Cavaliers Coach David Blatt as Consultant
Posted by Sam DiGiovanni | Dec 18, 2019
Knicks president Steve Mills will bring in former Princeton teammate David Blatt as a consultant in his front office, the team announced.
The New York Knicks announced on Wednesday the hire of David Blatt as a basketball operations consultant.
In the team's statement, Steve Mills and Scott Perry said that Blatt is "a great basketball mind and we look forward to adding him to the organization. He will be a great asset to our front office, G League team and international scouting."
NY Knicks announce the hiring of David Blatt as a basketball operations consultant. pic.twitter.com/m8eHSASaQH
— NY_KnicksPR (@NY_KnicksPR) December 18, 2019
Blatt coached for 26 years, 24 of which with clubs in Europe and Asia. His only two years coaching in the NBA came with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he served as head coach in the 2014–15 season before being let go 51 games into the next season.
Blatt resigned from coaching in October when he stepped away from Olympiakos, a Greek team, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He took the position in June of 2018.
With the Knicks' announcement comes Blatt's official retirement from coaching. Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports that Blatt's role is "solely a front office gig for him."
Blatt, Mills, and Knicks' VP of player development Craig Robinson were teammates at Princeton University. He was in the running for Knicks head coach back in 2018, but the club chose David Fizdale instead at that time.
Blatt was seen at practice on Wednesday morning, according to SNY's Ian Begley.
David Blatt's consulting role will include helping on the operations side (scouting, G League etc). It is not expected to include any assistance with coaching. Blatt, who has retired from coaching, was at the NYK facility today with Steve Mills, Scott Perry and Allan Houston: https://t.co/w1G5bzJbbL pic.twitter.com/s2HW2zbHOx
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) December 18, 2019
The Knicks announced Tuesday evening that Reggie Bullock will begin practice on Wednesday. Bullock was signed in the offseason but hasn't played yet this season due to recovery from a cervical disc hernia.
Bullock underwent successful surgery in July. Bullock and the Knicks originally agreed on a two-year deal worth $21 million, but later re-negotiated to a two-year, $8 million deal. The 28-year-old wing spent time with the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers last season.
On Wednesday morning, the team announced neither Frank Ntilikina (illness) nor Julius Randle (sore left leg) practiced this morning after a dominating home win against the Atlanta Hawks. Ntilikina and Randle both started and played 18 and 23 minutes, respectively.
»READ: Is Masai Ujiri worth the high asking price for the Knicks?
»READ: Steve Mills could be on his last legs as Knicks executive
»READ: Julius Randle has been nothing short of maddening this year
PreviousIs Masai Ujiri Worth the High Asking Price for the Knicks?
NextTKW Highlights: RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson Score Career Highs in Hawks Win
Head Coach David Fizdale Axed by Knicks Brass
REPORT: Steve Mills Scouting David Fizdale's Potential Removal
Mitchell Robinson Makes His Season Debut, Elfrid Payton to Start vs. Nets
Fizdale Reveals Knicks Season-Opener Starting Lineup


Sometimes I'll hop into Rec Room to test a few things out with my VR rig. I don't want to appear rude when I get invited to stuff!
You can set your online status as Visible To: Everyone, Friends, Favorites, or No One.
@SnugPig: That doesn't solve the problem though.


How did it happen that we built a company of all women? Well, it just sort of happened that way. With the exception of our CTO, we started hiring people who would be the best matchmakers possible. We were looking for employees who were trustworthy, good listeners, good salespeople, and good client managers. We interviewed several men, but the women kept being the best candidates. Our employees have impressive resumes, working at companies like Google and Goldman Sachs, and they were just drawn to working with us, giving us a unique talent pool. Ultimately, these women now work as managers, in business development, and as advisors. We want to hire male matchmakers (we really do!) but women just keep rising to the top.
Perhaps you would think that working in a company of women might be problematic – that we are plagued by cattiness and conflict – but you would be wrong. Maybe you think that we're all overly nice, and tiptoe around the issues we face as a growing start-up, but that's not the case. Maybe you think we're icy, unemotional workaholics, single and lonely. That the drinks in our office fridge are fruity, and that we eat salads for lunch every day. That we outsource the accounting and finance to men, because we're not good at math. Or that we're all "on the same cycle," or just working in a startup to buy time before finding a husband.
Sure, this might sound over the top. But we have heard all of those sentiments, and more, about working with a team of all women. Stereotypes abound, and we mostly laugh them off. Technology companies, and especially startups, are usually comprised of men. At Google, Twitter, and Apple, who recently released diversity data, 70% of all employees are men. And in studies at MIT Sloan School of Management, when men and women, categorized by relative attractiveness, are asked to present the same pitch deck to investors, the most "funding" was received by attractive men, followed by unattractive men, then unattractive women, with attractive women receiving by far the least theoretical funding. That seems a bit unfair, doesn't it?
Whatever the reason for the gender disparity in tech companies, one fact is quite apparent in our majority-female business: we are incredibly good at working as a team. Instead of the cattiness that people assume takes place, we are highly collaborative, listen to each others' ideas, and support each other in a way I have never experienced at another company. It is the most unique and inspiring work environment I have witnessed.
Although there are few female-only companies by which to test this hypothesis, research shows this collaborative dynamic should be the case. Two studies were conducted to measure the average "intelligence" of different groups – the groups were arranged to determine whether it was the intelligence of individual group members, or rather collective intelligence level of the entire group that would make a group "smart." Are there smart groups, or just groups of smart people? What the studies found, however, was that neither of those intelligence factors mattered – it was solely the proportion of females in the group that determined the group's success. You read that correctly – the more women, the better the group performed. It was an accidental finding, but an important one. The studies suggested that women are better in general at "average social sensitivity" – reading non-verbal clues, understanding context, listening, and predicting outcomes – all of which are traits that contribute to success within a group, as well as the group's productivity. And all of which are incredibly important when you're working at a startup.
This research has been covered in The Atlantic, in the New York Times, and in Science magazine, but it has really yet to sink in. Why aren't more tech startups embracing the potential power of working with all groups of women? This isn't simply a matter of helping women thrive in a micro-environment, like at an all-girls school – women working together in tech can actually solve problems better and make better products. It's a huge untapped resource.
Don't get me wrong – we love working with men, and we're looking to hire both men and women right now. Diversity is key! But through our accidental experiment, we've seen firsthand how much women can contribute to the startup world. We push each other, we inspire each other, and mentorship evolves organically. It has been an incredible learning experience as a leader.
I'm thrilled to see growth in diversity at big tech companies, and hope the trend will continue with smaller companies as well. If companies that are afraid to hire women don't catch on soon, they might be left in the dust.


text:
Movie Review – Leave No Trace
Written & Directed by Deborah Granik
PTSD is a quicksand nightmare, especially if the person afflicted by it doesn't have a support system or rejects the support available. Too often, American culture tells people to tough out mental illness which is entirely unrealistic. The trauma of conditions like PTSD is also infectious, particularly on the children of those with the disease. As a schoolteacher, I often have a heartbreaking front row seat of seeing how the conflicts and challenges of the parents are visited upon their children. Some of the most deeply affected are veterans, returning home to a nation that has no limit to cheering to send off soldiers but is awkwardly silent with receiving them back home. So many of these stories end with suicide because a person is told they must be firm but simply doesn't possess the ability to push through such a devastating condition.
Deborah Granik hasn't directed a narrative film since 2010's Winter's Bone. She broke her near decade long absence from the film genre (she has made some documentary pieces) with this portrait of a teenage girl struggling with a father who can't overcome the phantoms of war. Tom lives with her father, Will in a public park in Portland, Oregon. They rarely go into the city, only to spend some of her father's military pay for food and supplies, but also to fill Will's prescriptions so they can sell them to a fellow vet who deals out of the park. Will is rattled out of his sleep by the sounds of helicopters and gunfire, remnants of his time in the service. Eventually, Tom and Will are found, and social services try to find a home and employment for them, with the intent of getting the family to comply with what is considered a decent standard of living. But that standard is something Will finds oppressive, the walls closing in on him at all moments.
Just like with Winter's Bone Granik is master of shooting her setting, in this case, the thick, lush green of the Pacific Northwest. The most peaceful and also harrowing moments occur in the wilderness, it starts as a place of comfort because Tom has had the external world veiled for her. Once she re-enters society with her father, the role of the open wilderness becomes a dark and dangerous place for Tom. Her relationship with her father schisms when Tom finds a warm place with other people, and Will continues to withdraw into his shell. It's a massive coming of age story but one that is deeply relevant.
We can easily replace Will's status as a veteran with a survivor of abuse or a person struggling with drug addiction, even simply a person with chronic depression. The urge to withdraw is so strong because you feel shame about your pain. It's important to note how dissonant the standard way of living feels to Will. He's put through a computer quiz at a social services job assignment program and can't comprehend some of the questions put forward. He's put up in a small house on the property of a Christmas tree farm, which also provides him with a job. His work is to help fuel a nostalgia of Western culture, preserve the dream of the concept of Christmas for consumers. Will complies with an invitation to the church by his employer/landlord, telling Tom he went because he was expected to go.
The story of Will hints at a tragic ending, one we won't get to see. Instead, Tom's life is one with possibility, but it becomes clear it won't become that as long as she goes along with whatever Will decides. At various moments in the film, she makes connections with a boy raising rabbits for 4-H, a veteran medic who has a therapy dog, and an RV camp landlord who leaves supplies for homeless people in the woods. Tom feels a pull towards people who take care of others, mainly because that is the role she's held with her father. Tom may become a nurse or social worker, shaped by her experiences in childhood, there's no doubt she will be someone who tries to save those like her father, even if she can't save him.
Leave No Trace is a vital, relevant picture. It takes on the issue of mental illness sensitively and thoughtfully, continuing the beautiful work of Deborah Granik. She has an eye and a heart for people living on the margins, the homeless and poor, and wants to shine a light on their struggles, showcasing the beauty and the tragedy of their lives.
Author PopCultPosted on September 6, 2019 Categories 2018, drama
4 thoughts on "Movie Review – Leave No Trace"
observationblogger says:
It's very well acted. It's refreshing to watch a movie which could have steeped into violence at various stages, but it didn't. It was handled with a lot of restraint. I loved that song in the credits too. Great review as always.
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text:
package com.intellij.framework.library.impl;

import com.intellij.facet.frameworks.beans.Artifact;
import com.intellij.facet.frameworks.beans.RequiredFrameworkVersion;
import com.intellij.framework.FrameworkAvailabilityCondition;
import com.intellij.framework.FrameworkVersion;
import com.intellij.framework.library.DownloadableLibraryDescription;
import com.intellij.framework.library.DownloadableLibraryService;
import com.intellij.framework.library.DownloadableLibraryType;
import com.intellij.framework.library.LibraryVersionProperties;
import com.intellij.ide.util.frameworkSupport.CustomLibraryDescriptionImpl;
import com.intellij.ide.util.frameworkSupport.FrameworkSupportModel;
import com.intellij.ide.util.newProjectWizard.impl.FrameworkSupportModelBase;
import com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger;
import com.intellij.openapi.roots.libraries.LibraryType;
import com.intellij.openapi.roots.libraries.ui.LibraryEditorComponent;
import com.intellij.openapi.roots.libraries.ui.LibraryPropertiesEditor;
import com.intellij.openapi.roots.ui.configuration.libraries.CustomLibraryDescription;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;

import java.net.URL;

/**
 * @author nik
 */
public class DownloadableLibraryServiceImpl extends DownloadableLibraryService {
  private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getInstance("#com.intellij.framework.library.impl.DownloadableLibraryServiceImpl");

  @NotNull
  @Override
  public DownloadableLibraryDescription createLibraryDescription(@NotNull String groupId, @NotNull final URL... localUrls) {
    return new LibraryVersionsFetcher(groupId, localUrls) {
      //todo[nik] pull up this method after moving corresponding API to intellij.platform.lang
      @Override
      @NotNull
      protected FrameworkAvailabilityCondition createAvailabilityCondition(Artifact version) {
        RequiredFrameworkVersion groupVersion = version.getRequiredFrameworkVersion();
        if (groupVersion != null) {
          return new FrameworkLibraryAvailabilityCondition(groupVersion.myGroupId, groupVersion.myVersion);
        }
        return FrameworkAvailabilityCondition.ALWAYS_TRUE;
      }
    };
  }

  @NotNull
  @Override
  public CustomLibraryDescription createDescriptionForType(Class<? extends DownloadableLibraryType> typeClass) {
    final DownloadableLibraryType libraryType = LibraryType.EP_NAME.findExtension(typeClass);
    LOG.assertTrue(libraryType != null, typeClass);
    return new CustomLibraryDescriptionImpl(libraryType);
  }

  @NotNull
  @Override
  public LibraryPropertiesEditor createDownloadableLibraryEditor(@NotNull DownloadableLibraryDescription description,
                                                                 @NotNull LibraryEditorComponent<LibraryVersionProperties> editorComponent,
                                                                 @NotNull DownloadableLibraryType libraryType) {
    return new DownloadableLibraryPropertiesEditor(description, editorComponent, libraryType);
  }

  private static class FrameworkLibraryAvailabilityCondition extends FrameworkAvailabilityCondition {
    private final String myGroupId;
    private final String myVersionId;

    FrameworkLibraryAvailabilityCondition(String groupId, String versionId) {
      myGroupId = groupId;
      myVersionId = versionId;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean isAvailableFor(@NotNull FrameworkSupportModel model) {
      FrameworkVersion selectedVersion = ((FrameworkSupportModelBase)model).getSelectedVersion(myGroupId);
      return selectedVersion != null && myVersionId.equals(selectedVersion.getId());
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Garvín de la Jara () is a municipality located in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 109 inhabitants.

References

Municipalities in the Province of Cáceres

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Feeney happy with sixth straight win
Post Match | Liam Feeney (Port Vale)
Liam Feeney voiced his delight after Rovers picked up a sixth straight win in all competitions after victory over Port Vale at Prenton Park.
"We are really happy, it was a difficult game with the way that they played, they hit the ball into their target man and tried to work around that. We had to stand up to that challenge and we got the ball down when we had our opportunities and try and play through them.
"We had to play higher up the pitch at times but we did it well, we took our goals well and James Vaughan was on fire, but overall I felt it was a comfortable victory.
"It is going really well for us at the minute and the aim is for that to continue."
Despite the absence of fans at Prenton Park, Feeney insists that the home form is a basis of consistency that the side need.
"We are trying to make Prenton Park as much as a fortress as possible, it is hard without the fans and we are missing them, but we are trying our best to make them proud.
"We have a really strong squad going into the final run of matches, and everyone is on their toes and players are ready to step in. We have positive competition for places and we are driving each other on to do well but it is great that we have so many good players."
Liam's full interview is available to watch on iFollow here
Tranmere Rovers vs Port Vale on 06 Feb 21


Nice lot, located in quiet, yet convenient area of Port Charlotte. Some newer homes nearby, but still lots of natural surroundings. Easy access to local amenities: shopping, dining, entertainment, etc. Building on this lot would require a well and septic system.
Pet Restrictions Domestic Animals Only - Check County Zoning.


The bylaws available on this site are the most frequently requested bylaws that apply within the Town of Millet and are provided for convenience and information only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of these bylaws however, these are not official versions. Only the printed, signed and sealed version of a bylaw issued by the Chief Administrative Officer is an official version.
The Town of Millet will in no case be held liable or responsible for damages of any kind arising out of the use of online copies of bylaws.
Authorization of West Central Planning (WCP) to undertake subdivision processing work.
This is referred to as the Town of Millet Land Use Bylaw.
Office consolidation – Bylaw 2011/05 & all amendments up to May 27, 2015 consolidated into one bylaw.


text:
This Freedom Caucus member isn't getting punished for killing Trumpcare
(Steve Cannon / AP)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rep. Ron DeSantis didn't face any backlash from his GOP supporters tonight for opposing Trumpcare. Instead, some audience members at a constituent event said the Freedom Caucus member helped avoid making Obamacare's problems worse. And he barely heard anything from Obamacare's supporters.
It was a lot tamer than the town hall events where other Republicans have gotten hammered over health care. The event was structured differently than a typical town hall — a moderator interviewed DeSantis, then the congressman took questions — and the setup minimized conflict. No signs were allowed, and many people showed up wearing DeSantis or Trump gear.
So DeSantis hardly had to engage on tough health care questions, except with one audience member with a disability who asked about pre-existing conditions. But from interviews outside the event, it was clear that this Freedom Caucus member was in a safe space. Many of the audience members were supporters, and although there were more liberal audience members who worried about Obamacare repeal, they barely made themselves heard.
DeSantis said the bill fell short of Obamacare repeal, was rushed through the House and would have likely raised costs. "I think it was a false start legislatively and I think if you're going to do it, slow down, do it right, and make sure the American people see the benefits of what you're doing," he told the audience.
His constituents on Trumpcare:
The Freedom Caucus got blamed for the failure of the bill, but "I think it's probably a better thing we don't turn out some bad sausage from the legislative machine," Vic Baker, communications chair for Volusia County Republicans, told me. "I think the ultimate product that will come out will be better because of [Freedom Caucus] opposition."
John Franks told me he didn't like the House health care bill. "It just transferred the expense, made things more expensive" for older people especially, and "it didn't really get rid of the defects in Obamacare." He's not upset with DeSantis or President Trump, but is underwhelmed by House leadership: "Paul Ryan's not my favorite guy. He's just Boehner-lite."
The other side: Many liberal or independent constituents expressed concern with repealing Obamacare. Several said family members or people they know depend on it for health coverage.
One audience member asked DeSantis about coverage for pre-existing conditions, saying "pre-Affordable Care Act, I could be denied for health insurance." DeSantis said he supports creating high risk pools where "the cost is dealt with in a separate fund rather than imposed through higher premiums" on the rest of the market.
Ellen Juliano, who has voted for both parties in the past, told me the House bill was a "big embarrassment" for Republicans after years of opposition to Obamacare. "They now have it all and they could not get it done...it shows they can't govern."


For teaching me how to look at my body and understand not only my colors, but my body shape and the actual lines, textures and detail lines that flatter it, and even the impact that the design and spacing of my features have on the size of those lines. And how to be able to look at a piece of clothing and know what statement it is making. I think that has been the most valuable tool of all it's been almost like learning a foreign language or breaking a secret code! I can really "see" what I have merely looked at in the past.
Thanks for sending the eBook; when you changed the original site it frightened me because it's a kind of a Bible for me. — Anna Nureeve from Rouen France.
My 36-year odyssey to discover my most flattering personal colors and wardrobe design finally reached its wonderful destination when I met the remarkable Irenee Riter. Prior to discovering Irenee, unsatisfying results from many personal color consultants I worked with had kept me searching for what seemed to be elusive—a convincing personal color harmony experience. I had amassed 15 different color palettes that sometimes varied dramatically, even with the most basic selections of hair, skin and eye colors. Wearing many of the colors did not feel complementary or harmonious, nor did I feel more confident or radiant.
Considering myself a veteran color analysis client with a lot of experience of my own, I was immediately compelled to work with Irenee after studying her color material and the science of body shapes and line. Her approach is insightful, thorough, practical and usable. It is a testament to elegant simplicity. After I explained to her my long search for color and wardrobe answers, Irenee graciously agreed to personally work with me. I was elated!
My consultation with her was a revelation. Irenee extraordinarily gifted, and experienced. During our 3 hours together we went over much of the material in her book and I learned the precepts of personal color harmony. Irenee did a color analysis with her color tester and I learned my "Home Base Season" and which colors from other Seasons are also flattering. I learned about "balanced colors" which is a vital piece of information I had not encountered working with anyone else. We discussed hair, makeup and clothing lines. In short, Irenee guided me to better understand and express myself through my wardrobe by using her "universal language" of color and style.
Irenee's positive perspective on life and continual affirmation of our individual uniqueness and beauty stimulated me to rally after having previously felt confused in my quest. I finally discovered answers and my colors, thus, my odyssey has ended, and in the most beautiful way—aglow in the wisdom of Irenee's harmonic light. However, it is Irenee's sincerity that is perhaps the loveliest gift I received from being with her. Thank you so much, Irenee, for sharing your sincere love and guidance.


text:
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text:
Power Projection: Fleet Action at Dushaam
The Friday Night Pals met to play a session of the Traveller/Full Thrust hybrid, Power Projection: Fleet. Set in the Sol Sector, during the 3rd Interstellar War between the Terran Confederation and the 1st Imperium, the scenario saw an Imperial fleet sent to bombard a ConFed facility on the contested planet Dushaam. Two ConFed cruiser squadrons were tasked with preventing this and also to drive the Vilani fleet from the system. Rob C. and DJ were tasked to play the earthlings, while Kenzie and myself played the Imps.
The scenario was generated using the PP:F Scenario Generator.
Fleet elements were pointed at about 200 points per side – the Terrans having a slight advantage, which seemed fair, considering that the Imperials had been savaging them in previous games.
To design ships in PP, I use the MegaTraveller design sequences. Once the ship is run through the sequence, it is then converted to Power Projection. All of the ships, except the Terran Light Cruisers, were based on units from the GDW board game "Imperium", converted to MegTrav, then converted to Power Projection.
The Terran light cruisers were based on a GURPs Interstellar Wars design (thus were missile-heavy and defenses light), and were then adjusted to fit into the MegTrav design sequence.
The two Terran squadrons each consisted of a single 9,000 dton cruiser, with two 5,000 dton light cruisers in support.
The Imperials had two dedicated squadrons; a squadron of three 9,900 dton cruisers, and a squadron of two 12,200 dton dreadnoughts.
The Imperium enjoyed a Tech Level advantage of TL11 to the Terran TL10. At these tech levels, there are no nuclear dampers nor meson guns. The primary weapons are the 100-ton nuclear missile bay for thumpage and the 100-ton particle accelerator bay for "detailed work". Spinal mounts, of which none were represented, are all particle accelerators.
Turn 1 saw the Imperials enter at speed 4. They were slowed down by their dreadnoughts, which have Maneuvre 2 drives (hurrah for TL 11). The Terrans accelerated from speed 8 to speed 12(!). Nukes were launched.
Turn 2: Began with a mis-communication amongst the Imperials, who pivoted in two opposing directions. Chalk it up to myself and Kenzie not having played much on the same side before.
Turn 3: The Imperial cruisers attempted a breakthrough, accelerating to speeds 11 and 12. The lead cruiser was going to make a feigned run for the planet, while the trailing cruisers pivoted 180° to lend support to the distressed dreadnoughts.
The lead Imperial cruiser took a moderate thumping from missiles, and lost her fuel tanks (four sixes on the systems check). She would be carried from the fighting by momentum.
DJ's ConFed squadron passed through the Imperial battleline, got on the other side of the DNs, and pivoted 180° to catch them a close range.
Turn 4: The Imperial cruiser with the shattered fuel tanks fired high-intensity missile vollies as it hurtled away. DJ's cruisers were trading close-range shots with the Imperial DNs. Two Terran CLs blew up, and then the unthinkable - an Imperial DN heeled over and exploded.
Rob's Terran squadron had been supporting DJ's, and had been bumped and bruised, but was still fightable. DJ's remaining cruiser was down to the last hit row. The surviing Imperial DN was down to the last hit BOX.
We called a marginal Terran victory, though we should have diced for initiative, for although the Imperial cruisers could have defeated Rob's remaining squadron, the DN firing would have finished off DJ's cruiser. At the end of the day, the Imperials would probably not have had sufficient missile power to complete the bombardment.
New House Adjustments to the rules
Initiative defaults to an IGOUGO system.
When a side wins initiative, a single ship resolves fire and damage. Then the other side resolves a single ship's fire and damage. This includes System Checks. Rinse and repeat. This prevents an entire squadron from getting wiped out by massed fire, at the expense of slowing down play a bit. A chit is put down to show ships have fired for the turn.
Point Defense Fire against missiles affects an entire "attack", not a single missile. An attack is defined as a volley against a ship by another ship - hence, a single stick of 8 nuclear missiles have their attacks degraded by a single laser battery operating in point defense. Note that if a single ship is firing two types of missiles, that is two "sticks" and the defender will need two PD laser batteries to affect both. This is also in line with High Guard's mechanics, and allows some tactical flexibility in missile load-outs on the part of the aggressor.
This last also speeds up play a bit, as all the modifiers affect all the missiles in a stick, making throwing a handful of eight-or-so dice at a time possible.
Communications is Key.
The botched pivot on turn 2 was a key factor in the disappointing Imperial showing. The idea was to concentrate on DJ's squadron, cripple it, and then continue advancing the cruiser elements on the planet. My cruisers became detached from Kenzie's DNs, and I was unable to lend him much-needed fire support –the result was the loss of two Dreadnoughts. My captain can look forward to leading a vanguard Forlorn Hope in the next big fleet action, you can rely on it.
The Terrans cannot Stand Off.
Terran Confederation ships tend to be lighter and faster than their Imperial counterparts, and must use their speed to offset Imperial firepower. This isn't easy in a vector-movement system.
In the previous playtest, the Terrans hung back and were being wiped out by the end of turn 2. In addition to correcting some pointing errors on my part, I sent DJ over to the ConFed side for the replay, knowing he would off-set some of Rob's inherent caution. Pairing Rob (who sticks to the plan) with an aggressive player (who attacks to defend) made for a good showing on the Terran ConFed's part.
Well done, lads. Ω
Labels: Interstellar Wars, Power Projection, Sci-Fi Miniature Wargames, Traveller wargaming


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His leave-taking of Andromache in the sixth book of the Iliad, and his departure to meet Achilles for the last time, are most touchingly described.
Romer 1 this is exactly the variation which a poet would introduce to relieve the primitive ballad-like sameness of question and answer; and moreover it forms the transition to the lines about the Dioscuri by which the scene is so touchingly brought to a close.
Thus the captain touchingly recounted the story of his love for a fascinating marquise of thirty-five and at the same time for a charming, innocent child of seventeen, daughter of the bewitching marquise.


On December 31st, 1999 Vladimir Putin ascended to the president's chair in Russia. Renowned documentarist Vitaly Mansky, well known at the festival, was there to capture the transition. Mansky dips into his archives: he takes materials from his film on Putin's first year in power reinterpreting and commenting images that have remained mostly unreleased.
LV - CH - CZ, 2018, col., 102' v.o. russa / Russian o.v. sott. it. / eng. subt.


text:
Counter Rhythms
What Really Happened in Gaza?
by David Gilfix
This article was published in the Fall 2009 Issue of Midstream magazine.
Imagine that you wanted to understand Beethoven's 6th Symphony, and were then given a recording only of the string section – the entire wind, brass, and percussion section had been left out. Imagine further that no one told you that those sections were missing, so you believed that Beethoven's 6th Symphony involved only string instruments. Now, imagine that you wanted to understand the Gaza war, and decided to follow the news. You were presented with photographs, videos and seemingly play-by-play reports of the fighting. Imagine further that no one told you that anything was missing in your news reports, so that you believed you understood what really happened in Gaza.
If you followed the news about the Gaza war, metaphorically you've already heard the strings. This discussion will try to fill-in some of the wind, brass, and percussion section.
Two Blockades
To develop a perspective on any political event one must not focus exclusively on that event. Our discussion about Gaza will begin 47 years ago, in a different place: On November 15, 1962, US reconnaissance photos discovered intermediate- range Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. President Kennedy spent the following week in intensive discussions and debate with twelve of his most trusted advisors. Then on November 22, Kennedy publicly disclosed the existence of the missiles and announced that he was imposing a naval blockade to prevent additional offensive weapons onto Cuban shore. Further, Kennedy declared that any missiles launched from Cuban soil would be considered an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union, including missiles not directly aimed at the United States.
During September 2005, Israel dismantled 21 settlements of 8,500 people from Gaza, leaving Gaza Judenrien for the first time since the 1967 Six-Day War and free, for the first time ever, to establish its own government on its own territory. Prior to 1967, Gaza was under control of Egypt. Many hoped that Israel's withdrawal would bring about an end to all acts of terrorism emanating from Gaza, including the launching of rockets and missiles into Israel. It did not. Instead, there was an increase in missile attacks from Gaza into Israel.
On January 25, 2006, the militant Islamic group Hamas, which had openly called for the annihilation of Israel, was elected to the leadership of Gaza. Rocket attacks increased even more. According to the Jewish Policy Center, from 2001 until the Hamas takeover in 2007, Palestinians launched roughly 2,021 Qassam rockets into the Western Negev, mainly into the Israeli town of Sderot. Under Hamas rule between mid-June 2007 through January 2008, Palestinians launched 2,227 rockets into Sderot, an average of almost four rockets every day.
Israel's initial response to the rockets was to impose a blockade around Gaza, similar to Kennedy's response to the Cuban missile crisis. Israel wanted to prevent residents of Gaza from receiving more offensive weapons. However, therein ends the similarities with the United States. Kennedy had imposed a blockade in response to the mere existence of missiles on Cuban soil. The blockade was a first step. Kennedy made clear that the act of launching a missile – even one directed at a non-US target – would be met with a military response. Israel, on the other hand, was responding to hundreds of rocket attacks with a blockade.
Responding to Threats
Thirty-nine years after the Cuban missile crisis, the United States demonstrated to the world how it would respond if attacked on its own soil. Immediately after 9/11, the United States unloaded with an overpowering military might to topple the Taliban controlled Afghanistani government within which the terrorist group, Al Qaeda, had found safe harbor.
In contrast to the international sympathy and support bestowed upon the United States for their military operations in Afghanistan, critics of Israel decried the country's response of a blockade as collective punishment. As terrorist attacks increased, Israel responded by closing the borders between it and Gaza. Again, critics bemoaned this as more collective punishment. The United States, as do most countries, restricts those who are allowed to cross her border, but somehow Israel was supposed to allow unrestricted access to citizens of a territory who had elected a party sworn to Israel's destruction and had since ramped up an organized assault with daily missile launches and numerous attempted suicide bombings. That Israel did not achieve worldwide respect for its military restraint is noteworthy, as was the absence of public criticism of Hamas. Certainly, if Gaza wanted the blockade to end or the freedom for its citizens to travel within Israel, all it needed to do was cease terrorist and rocket attacks.
Apologists for Hamas point out that the Qassam rockets fired into Israel are crude by Israeli standards, difficult to aim accurately, and produce a lower ratio of kills-per-attack than Israel's more sophisticated missiles – as if this made the attacks acceptable. Regardless, many Israelis have been killed, maimed, or permanently scarred, and from years of rocket bombardments countless children have been traumatized.
Curiously, justification for the ongoing assaults from Gaza is rarely questioned, just as the logic behind the justification of terrorism is rarely challenged. For decades, terrorist apologists have claimed that terrorism was a weapon for battling Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. These apologists conveniently ignored or obfuscated information that contradicted their claims, such as the fact that Palestinian terrorism commenced prior to the 67 War -- before Israel controlled the disputed territories. Further, they ignored the history of Arabs and Palestinians rejecting Israel's offers to return land for peace both at Khartoum in 1967 and at Camp David in 2000.
Of course, even Israel's severest critics had understood that in light of Israel's complete withdrawal from Gaza, the "occupation" theory no longer held water. Instead, Palestinian apologists scrambled for new reasons to justify the daily barrage of rocket attacks into Israel:
They blamed Israel for the blockade of Gaza, which restricted free trade, conveniently ignoring the fact that the blockade was a response to, rather than a cause of the rocket attacks.
They criticized Israel for restricting travel of Gaza citizens into Israel, once again ignoring the cause of the restrictions.
When travel was allowed, they criticized Israel for searching women and children, conveniently ignoring that Hamas had used both women and children as suicide murderers. Recently, in fact, Hamas made an official ruling that women can also achieve salvation through suicide murders.
They criticized Israel for restricting free travel of ambulances, conveniently ignoring that Hamas had used ambulances both to transport terrorists into Israel and weapons into Gaza.
The list goes on and on. While Gaza was sending rockets into Israel, Israel was supplying Gaza with electricity, water, and other necessities, marking perhaps the first time in human history that one country provided for the welfare of a country with whom it was at war. Amazingly, Palestinian apologists criticized Israel for this, too, because when rocket attacks increased, Israel responded by restricting (but never eliminating) their handout of these necessities.
So why does Hamas attack Israel? This author believes that in order to understand the motivation of a people or the goals of a movement, step one is to respect what they say. Here is what the Hamas Charter says about Israel:
'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.' (Preamble)
'The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.' (Article 6)
'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.' (Article 7)
'Palestine is an Islamic land... Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.' (Article 13)
Interestingly, the Hamas Charter mentions none of the aforementioned talking points around which apologists usually excuse terrorism and missile attacks. The reason Hamas battles Israel, according to the Charter, is because Israel exists on "Islamic land," and therefore the liberation of Palestine is the "duty" of all Moslems.
Palestinians loyal to the Hamas Charter understand that the missile attacks should be viewed as part of a battle against the existence of Israel. Sderot, because of its proximity to Gaza, is simply the first of many towns that must be attacked. In February 2006, shortly after Hamas came to power and after a marked increase in daily missile attacks into Israel, Worldnet News service reported the following:
The only way to stop the regular rocket fire on Sderot, an Israeli city of about 20,000 nearly three miles from the Gaza Strip border, is for the Jewish state to evacuate the entire city, Hamas announced in a statement Wednesday. "Only the departure of residents from Sderot will stop the rocket fire," Abu Abaida, spokesman for Hamas' so-called military wing, said in a statement to reporters.
Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 without a peace treaty to guarantee its safety. Many considered that decision rash, especially because Israel was defending itself daily from rocket and terrorist attacks from Gaza. Defenders of Israel's decision argued that once Israel withdrew, Gaza citizens would no longer have reason to attack. One person who disagreed was Minister of Finance (and now Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu, who resigned from Ariel Sharon's cabinet in protest. Netanyahu said that the pullout would create a huge base for Islamic terror. Sadly, Netanyahu was right.
Cease-fire; Resume Fire
The proximate cause for the recent fighting was the decision by Hamas to terminate an Egypt-brokered truce that had commenced in August 2008. In reality, there was never a complete truce; even during the six-month official cessation in hostilities, Gaza has occasionally lobbed rockets into Israel. Additionally, Hamas has used the ceasefire both to resupply itself with rockets, including the medium-range Grad-type Katyusha rockets, and to smuggle out its soldiers for training in Iran and Syria.
Israel had requested that the truce be extended another six months. Ten days before the truce was to terminate, Palestinian spokesmen announced that Hamas was rejecting Israel's request. Gaza commenced an unprecedented barrage of missile attacks. During the first eight days after Hamas formally rejected the ceasefire, Gaza fired 170 rockets into Israel; this includes 80 rockets fired on December 24, alone.
Israel issued several warnings, which Hamas ignored, and then finally Israel struck back. War had begun.
More than once this writer has encountered good people who have questioned why Israel should be considered the victim when many more Palestinians than Israelis have been killed. Implied in the question is a supposition: that victimhood is related to loser status. It simply is not. Victimhood has to do with issues of aggression and defense. A wrongful attack remains a wrongful attack regardless of whether or not the attackers are successful; the target of that attack should be considered the victim.
People who struggle with separating numbers of casualties from their concepts about morality in the Middle East conflict should understand that their feelings, however sincere, are neither logical nor moral. Instead, they are viewing the conflict as if it were a friendly game of Parcheesi, where both sides are supposed to be evenly matched.
Under Parcheesi thinking, an even number of casualties is preferred, and when there is a disparity of casualties, the loser is conferred victim status, and the winner is dubbed the villain. While absurd, the reader might have noticed variations of this type of thinking prevalent in much of the anti-Israel rhetoric. It involves a standard of ethics based on a reverse assessment of military prowess, where the side with the most inferior military wins sympathy simply for being the underdog (more Parcheesi thinking).
To such critics, the only way Israel could successfully assert that they are the victims in this conflict would be to lose their battles. Presumably, Israel should only defend itself marginally; then after Israel suffers massive casualties, those same critics might finally be convinced about the enormity of Palestinian terrorism and missile attacks.
So how should clear thinking people view the disparity in the number of Israeli and Palestinian casualties? They should understand that war is not a game, and that being open-minded doesn't mean being morally ambiguous. There is a clear moral difference between committing acts of aggression and responding to acts of aggression.
Certainly, any amount of casualties is hard to accept and bespeaks the tragic consequences to war. However, the reality is that Gaza, by its own admission, wanted to destroy the Jewish community of Sderot and had been pounding Sderot and neighboring regions for eight straight years. The war began when Gaza refused to extend the truce for six months and unleashed an unprecedented barrage of missile attacks into Israel. The war could have ended immediately if Gaza had simply agreed to stop attacking Israel.
Conversely, should Israel have chosen not to fight back, it would have inevitably suffered massive casualties. Eventually, shell-shocked residents would have uprooted themselves, and businesses would have failed or relocated. Under these circumstances, Sderot would have soon become a ghost town. The aftermath of such a situation is easy to predict (one need only read the Hamas charter): Hamas would have then directed its rockets and terrorists attacks at the next closest Israeli town, starting the cycle all over again.
People should not expect Israel to cease retaliatory measures prematurely for a war it did not initiate, especially when the defense of its citizens and their long-term security were paramount. Given this reality, clear thinking people should actually view the disparity in casualties as morally justified, since Israel is not the aggressor and is simply trying to exist.
Proportionality
Like the term "victim," critics of Israel banter about the term "proportionality," often without any understanding of how that word applies to international conflicts.
Many people believe proportionality requires that the military force of a country be even in capability with the military force of an aggressor. So for example, if Palestinians attempt repeatedly to kill citizens in Sderot but have a low kills-per-missile success rate, then out of fairness Israel should be equally unsuccessful when it retaliates. That, in essence, was at the roots of the recent criticisms of Israel. During the war in Gaza, many more Palestinians were killed in response to attacks on Israel than Israelis who had been killed by the attacks on Israel; therefore Israel's response was considered disproportionate.
Taken to its logical conclusion, Israel would have to wait until it first suffered a devastating attack before delivering a knockout blow to the Gaza terrorist apparatus, in order for their military response to be considered proportional. Of course, such a scenario would be absurd. It is the responsibility of every country to defend its citizens before they suffer a devastating act of aggression. Further, the laws of proportionality are guided by an understanding and acknowledgement that this responsibility is both logical and moral.
Rosalyn Higgins, president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, wrote in her book, Problems and Process, that "[proportionality] cannot be in relation to any specific prior injury – it has to be in relation to the overall legitimate objective of ending the aggression." Further, she wrote, "…and that may mean that the use of force is proportionate, even though it is a more severe use of force than any single prior incident may have seemed to have warranted."
In other words, international law recognizes that a military response does not have to be proportional to the success of previous acts of aggression; rather, it must be proportional to the goals of those acts of aggression. Israel does not have to wait until a hospital is blown up or for Sderot to be liquidated before responding with overwhelming military force. The goals and acts of Hamas, both of which are war crimes, justify Israel's response.
The photographs and television images from the recent war in Gaza are distressing. Good people reflexively flinch at the sight of death and suffering, and Gaza has certainly experienced its share of both since Israel launched its military response to years of aggression. The challenge is to prevent this reflexive flinch from becoming a reflexive condemnation of Israel.
The renowned physicist Haim Harari, president of the Weizmann Institute, has written a fascinating article on the topic of media manipulation, "A View From the Target Zone." Throughout the Gaza war, major television stations and newspapers throughout the world provided their audiences with a plethora of reports, videos, and photographs. Harari charges that the media failed to divulge that the sources for much of their information were Palestinian operatives or the UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees. The UNRWA is a controversial if not heavily biased organization that many people believe has perpetuated the refugee problem by resisting all efforts to resettle Palestinian refugees outside of Israel. The UNRWA employs many Hamas members. Among those include the headmaster and science teacher of a UNRWA school who was eulogized as being a member of Islamic Jihad and a leader in rocket designs, as reported on CNN. When media declares that its information about either Gaza or the West Bank comes from "UN sources," it usually refers to the UNRWA.
According to Harari, the reason news media got their information from pro-Hamas Palestinian operatives or from the UNRWA is that there were few real journalists operating in Gaza. Most left after numerous episodes of reporters being threatened, beaten, or kidnapped, and at least one who was murdered; charges that are supported by the non-partisan CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), which provides details about numerous incidents.
Since virtually all the information provided to news agencies came from pro Hamas sources, readers can better understand why their emotional response to the war might not have been based on accurate journalism. Harari cites several examples of journalism bias including:
Almost all photographs and films of Palestinian casualties focused on children, even though most of the casualties were males in their late teens to early twenties; the exact profile of most Hamas militants.
Televisions and newspapers displayed photographs of Israelis fighting near schools, but showed no photographs of hundreds of rockets being launched at Israel from schoolyards or crowded neighborhoods. (On television, Hamas always launched their rockets from open fields). Nor were there reports about Hamas using schools to store rockets and explosives.
Newspapers displayed several photographs that were revealed to be fakes, such as a famous picture of poor Palestinians using candles (supposedly because the bad Israelis had cancelled their electricity). However, through cracks in the black-curtain background the reader can clearly see sunlight. In another instance, the same child, wearing painted blood, was photographed in different settings, each time with a different father.
Television stations worldwide broadcast testimony of a Norwegian doctor describing horrible Israeli abuses. The stations failed to mention that this man was a supporter of Hamas and had demonstrated support for the 9/11 attacks on national Norwegian television.
On January 7, 2008, CNN's Anderson Cooper reported, "Inside Gaza, press controlled by Hamas is heavy handed. There are few press freedoms inside Gaza, and Hamas controls who reports from there and where they can go. While pictures of wounded children being brought to hospital are clearly encouraged, we rarely see images of Hamas fighters or their rockets being fired into Israel."
Palestinian apologists often counter that Israeli sources are equally biased, however this argument is demonstrably false. One merely need read the on-line versions of Israeli newspapers to find numerous articles that are starkly critical of Israel. Israeli papers, like newspapers everywhere, print the most malicious accusations against Israel. Clearly, journalists in Israel are not kidnapped, beaten, or murdered for printing anti-Israel articles.
Of course, none of these examples are meant to imply that Israel is blameless or that it doesn't make mistakes. However, it is important to recognize both that the media hyper-focuses on Israel's blemishes to the exclusion of much worse actions elsewhere, and that almost all accusations against Israel originating from Gaza or the West Bank come from sources that must demonstrate pro-Palestinian bias in order to continue working there.
Given these realities, responsible news organizations should go so far as to include disclaimers with every news story to inform readers that since reporters are aware of colleagues being harmed, physically threatened, and deported for writing stories critical of the Palestinian government, all news reports from Gaza or the West Bank are most likely biased.
Since no news organization has yet demonstrated the integrity to include such a disclaimer with their stories, responsible news consumers should prepare a simple response to all accusations about Israel: "Sez' who?"
Innocent Victims
In April 2002, following months of terrorists' attacks in Israel that culminated in a suicide explosion at a restaurant on Passover in which 29 civilians were killed, the Israeli army entered the Jenin refuge camp to root out the terrorists. Shortly thereafter, television stations and newspapers worldwide reported that Israel had committed a massacre. Quoting from Palestinian spokesmen like Saeb Erekat, news organizations reported that Israel had killed 3,000 Palestinians, and was hiding the bodies in mass graves. Spokesmen for Yasser Arafat appeared on American television describing Israeli atrocities.
The outcry was deafening. Major newspapers printed editorials blasting Israel's actions and comparing them to Pol Pot and Nazis. Israel was widely condemned by church leaders, human rights groups (including Amnesty International), heads of the European Parliament, members of the United Nations, Desmond Tutu, and even Bianca Jagger, just to name a few. Even certain left-leaning Jewish groups voiced their condemnation. This writer remembers discussions with Jewish friends who declared that Israel's actions in Jenin made them "ashamed."
The figure of 3,000 deaths was later reduced to 500 deaths. Then, after the military operation terminated, Palestinian hospitals reported that the total number of deaths was not 500, but 52 – corroborated by the group, Human Rights Watch. Even the Palestinian Authority finally admitted that there had been no massacre.
Post military analyses of Israel's operation in Jenin revealed that Israel had taken on unusually high risks and incurred high casualties (23 Israelis were killed) in order to avoid killing innocent victims. Of the 52 Palestinian deaths, all but 3 were combatants. As a testament to Israel's military conduct in Jenin, the US Marines studied Israel's operation as a model of how a moral army should fight terrorism in an urban setting.
Unfortunately, not all military operations can be so flawless. The sad truth about wars -- any war -- is that sometimes it is impossible to avoid civilian casualties. On January 7, 2009, one of the worst incidents in the Gaza war made newspaper headlines: Israel had shelled a UN school and 43 civilians were killed. The civilian casualties were assumed to be students. As expected, the outcry against Israel was deafening; even some conservative newspapers like the Wall Street Journal printed columns criticizing Israel. Editorials charged that Israel had responded "disproportionally" to the Gaza rockets. John Ging, UNRWA's operations director in Gaza, quickly condemned the attack as "horrific" and claimed that Israel knew it was targeting a UN facility. The charges went on and on.
There was only one problem: the charges that Israel had fired on a school were false. Newspapers and televisions had relied on UNRWA sources without checking the veracity of the claims. In post-war analyses, even the UN, which had released the story, admitted that their school had not been attacked. It is also quite doubtful that 43 civilians were killed from the military attack near the school. Initial reports from Palestinian Medical sources claimed that 12 people were killed in fighting near the school. Different Israeli sources estimated the casualties to be between 12 and 23 people, and suggested that many of those killed were combatants.
Fighting Terrorists
The Gaza war claimed the lives of more Palestinian fighters and Palestinian civilians than Israelis. This is a reality. However, it is facile and illogical to draw conclusions about liability based on casualty comparisons, despite what many in the media might assume.
Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying that Hamas committed two war crimes, first by attacking Israeli civilians, and second by attacking them from civilian areas. People who are knowledgeable about the rules of war concur; the Geneva Convention clearly proscribes both activities; the first because it involves willfully killing innocent victims, and the second because the act of fighting in a heavily populated territory de-facto uses innocent civilians as human shields (hostages) to prevent counterattacks. However, under internationally recognized rules of engagement, a country defending itself under these circumstances is not responsible for the civilians it accidentally kills; responsibility lies with the country that created the human shields.
In the Gaza war, Hamas was clearly attacking Israel from highly populated areas, including apartment buildings, schoolyards, mosques, hospital zones, and so on. They created a strategy in which it would have been impossible for any country to defend itself without inflicting some civilian casualties. Moreover, by formally breaking the ceasefire and unloading an unprecedented barrage of rockets attacks into Israel, Hamas created a situation where Israel had to defend itself. A country under attack is not only responsible for defending its citizens, it is morally obligated to do so.
Readers might do well to consider whether there is any other country – including their own – that would have waited eight years, withstanding over 4,000 missile attacks and countless suicide murders (and many more failed suicide attacks), before deciding to fight back.
To better understand why Hamas was responsible for the civilian casualties in Gaza, imagine the geo-political and moral implications of accepting a different standard of rules of engagement. Imagine how citizens of any country would be able to defend themselves if the situation were reversed and the country defending itself from attacks was now legally responsible for the death of the human shields (hostages) of the attacker:
First, there would be no incentive for terrorists not to hide behind civilians, since the laws would protect the terrorists and discourage victims from retaliating against their crimes.
Second, there would no longer be any legal distinction between targeting civilians and accidentally killing civilians in defense against terrorist attacks; this would de-facto suggest that terrorism is not a war crime.
Even in the US, hostages accidentally killed in an attempt to subdue a criminal are the responsibility of the criminal; the legal term for this is "felony murder."
Certainly, a moral country should take measures to minimize civilian casualties during a war, which Israel has done: Israel sent phone calls and text messages to Gaza residents warning them of an impending strike against Hamas. When a Palestinian house was targeted, for either storing weapons or housing combatants, residents were called and given fifteen minutes to evacuate. In addition, numerous military activities were aborted at the last minute to avoid civilian casualties. As Haim Harari wrote, "Never in history, has any country made such an enormous effort to avoid civilian casualties in fighting against murderers who target only civilians and never anything else. No one in Kosovo, Serbia, Georgia, or Iraq was offered such a courtesy by the bombing and attacking powers."
Unfortunately, even with Israel's best efforts innocent civilians were killed. In the Gaza war the total casualties were somewhere between 1400, as cited by UN sources, and 600, as cited by Italian Journalist Lorenzo Cremonesi of Corriere della Sera. Cremonesi felt that the UN figures were grossly overstated, and based his own figures on interviews with doctors and civilians as well as reviews of hospital records. If 25 percent of the casualties were civilians, as UN sources claimed early on, then at the high end the Gaza war claimed 350 Palestinian civilians.
The Facade of Morality
Every civilian casualty in Gaza, Israel, or anywhere else is a tragedy. In an ideal world, these senseless deaths would propel people to protest those who instigate war for their own pernicious goals. In a cynical world, people would ignore the senseless deaths, remain mute about those who cause wars, and point their collective finger in judgment again one nation over all others. Which world do we live in?
Even before the Gaza war ended, Israel was accused of war crimes. Many people, especially those on the political left, were sympathetic to these accusations. Recently, The U.N. Human Rights Council approved authorization of a delegation to investigate the charges. The U.N. Human Rights Council includes countries like Libya, Angola, Cuba, Nigeria, and China. A complete list of countries on the U.N. Human Rights Council includes many of the worst violators of basic human rights such as freedom of speech, press, religion, women's equality, and sexual persuasion. Israel, on the other hand is one of the few countries in the UN that upholds these freedoms, albeit imperfectly.
In 2005, The UN passed 19 resolutions condemning Israel, and not a single resolution against Sudan for the 200,000 people killed in the genocide in Darfur. The UN never investigated war crimes in the Lebanese civil war which claimed over 150,000 lives between 1975 and 1990, or in Algeria where Islamists slaughtered over 200,000 people between 1999 and 2006, or the recent fighting between Russia and Chechnya, in which Russia killed tens of thousands of people (many civilians) in their attempt to oust the Islamists. There were few outcries about civilian casualties.
According to German sociologist, Gunnar Heinsohn, who heads the Raphael-Lemkin-Institute for Comparative Genocide Research at the University of Bremen, in the last sixty years, 11 million Muslims have been killed in wars and terror attacks; almost all the victims were killed by other Muslims. The reader would do well to ask how many times the UN investigated "war crimes," for any of those acts.
Hudson Institute Scholar Anne Bayefsky writes that The U.N. Human Rights Council has passed more resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations than any other country. In fact, according to Bayefsky, The U.N. Human Rights Council has adopted more resolutions condemning Israel than resolutions condemning all 191 UN member states combined. Are we supposed to believe that Israel has committed more human rights violations than the sum total of 191 countries, including Sudan, North Korea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Chechnya, Egypt, Syria, Iran, China, Cuba, and Afghanistan?
An examination of the unique membership makeup of the U.N. Human Rights Council provides grounds to question their impartiality: Bayefsky asserts that when the Council is in session "all U.N. member states meet to strategize and share information in one of the U.N.'s five regional groups. All that is, except Israel. At the Council, Israel is denied membership in any regional group, including the amalgam of Western states to which the United States belongs." Since Israel is denied membership in regional groups it is also the only country denied membership in the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
In the first year of US military activity against Afghanistan, estimates of civilian casualties ranged from 3,000 to 5,000 according to various news organizations. Thankfully, most people understood that even with their best efforts the US military could not avoid civilian casualties in a war against terrorists. In contradistinction to the widespread condemnations against Israel for its military operation in Gaza, there were no accusations about US war crimes, even though the US military made mistakes, including sometimes firing on buildings that housed civilians, and sometimes shooting civilians who they believed to be terrorists. There were few protests about the US using "disproportional" force, even though Afghanistan suffered way more casualties than the US military (and way more civilian casualties than Gaza). Newspapers did not plaster their pages with photos provided by Taliban operatives of dead or maimed children from Afghanistan.
The war crimes accusations against Israel should be understood for what they really are: a cynical attempt to delegitimize Israel under the façade of morality by nations and people who habitually turn a blind eye to real moral issues.
The same UN delegates and Hamas apologists who constantly put a microscope to Israel in hope of discovering an accusation that will stick pretend that they are unaware that Hamas is an organization with a stated goal of destroying a member nation of the UN. Such a goal is criminal by all measures of international law.
The same people who accuse Israel under the pretense of concern for civilians pretend that they are unaware of the tactic by which Hamas pursues its goal of destroying Israel: targeting innocent civilians in rocket attacks and suicide bombs. Targeting civilians is a war crime by all measures of international law.
The same people who accuse Israel under the pretense of concern for rules-of-war, pretend that they are unaware of the Geneva Convention, which proscribes all of the methods of Hamas, including these: fighting without a uniform to distinguish combatants from civilians; attacking from civilian locations, like schools, hospitals, and building, thereby creating human shields; and targeting civilians. Every one of these violations is a war crime by all measures of international law.
A full-scale investigation into Israel's war efforts by the UN would be tainted with the same bias that the UN has demonstrated by authorizing such a study against Israel while ignoring the obvious crimes committed by Hamas, and remaining mute about numerous acts of mass killings committed by other countries. Still, this writer believes that an unbiased review would certainly reveal some real mistakes made by Israel in protocol and execution. Such findings are likely because Israel is an imperfect country with imperfect citizens; yet all countries, including the US, make many mistakes in war.
Nevertheless, a military should not be judged by their mistakes, which are inevitable in any major campaign, but by their overall performance on the battlefield. Richard Kemp, a retired British Colonel and military expert, reviewed and analyzed Israel's tactics in the Gaza war. Speaking on the BBC, Colonel Kemp said there is "no time in the history of warfare when an army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties and the deaths of innocent people than the Israel Defense Force" did in Gaza.
The Tragedy of Gaza
In September 2005, Israel made a unilateral decision to withdraw its citizens from Gaza. Gaza responded with a unilateral decision to fire thousands of rockets into Israel and ramp up suicide murders of Israeli citizens. Israel chose to risk its own security in pursuit of peace; Gaza chose to risk the security of both Gaza and Israeli citizens in pursuit of war.
Regrettably, Israel had no other option than to defend itself. People who understand this imperative are not insensitive to the tragedy of civilian deaths. However, they refuse to support the double standard that Israel must exercise indefinite restraint as its people withstand daily barrages of military attacks. In fact, they bemoan the unnecessary devastation and personal hardship inflicted upon Gaza civilians as an inevitable yet totally avoidable consequence of the egregious acts of terror by Hamas and its supporters, sworn to do whatever it takes to obliterate the Jewish State.
(c) copyright 2009 David J. Gilfix
The following video is worth watching:
British Colonel Kemp discusses Israel's Military Operation in Gaza at the UN
Speaking for UN Watch at an emergency debate about the UN Council on Human Rights's "Goldstone" report, British Colonel Kemp discusses the conduct of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) during Operation Cast Iron Lead in Gaza:
Posted by David Gilfix at 2:15 PM
ssancetta said...
Wow. Thank you. I am very rarely persuaded by blog entries, but this is very thorough and convincing, and I will now be reading the news about the middle east with different eyes.
Jerry said...
A thoughtful and well-informed analysis that should make people think about this issue in a way that goes far beyond what the mainstream media can possibly provide.
Thank you for an article about the Arab Israeli conflict that relies on well-researched information instead of polemics. I have forwarded this to many people who's criticisms of Israel are based on poorly researched information.
David, I finally found time to read your article and I'm very impressed. You demonstrate errors and inconsistencies in much of what I have heard and read about Israel, and have forced me to reconsider my own opinions. Thank you.
Pattianna Harootian said...
Thank you for providing well researched information written in an easy to understand fashion.
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(Some uncommon thoughts for the graduating class of 2011)
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text:
Brabec Introduces Resolution to Affirm Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court Decision
LANSING, Mich., March 8, 2022 — Today, state Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Pittsfield) introduced a resolution affirming that the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court decision was decided correctly. Griswold v. Connecticut bars states from restricting access to contraceptives and set the precedent used in the Roe v. Wade decision.
"Overturning Roe v. Wade begins with undermining the decisions that paved the way for it," Brabec said. "Griswold v. Connecticut played a pivotal role in the fight for gender equality and forms the foundation for modern-day civil rights. This resolution would reaffirm our commitment to the laws and rights made possible by that decision. It reaffirms our belief that to take away an individual's right to birth control is to take away the fundamental right to privacy, bodily integrity and family planning."
The resolution comes on the heels of comments made by Michigan Republican attorney general candidates in a recent debate. When asked what they thought of the Griswold v. Connecticut decision, all three of the Republican candidates spoke critically of it, claiming that it was an issue of states' rights.
"Reproductive health decisions are personal and private, and they should be made solely between a person and their doctor," said state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia), chair of the Progressive Women's Caucus. "Let me be clear: The government does not belong in the exam room. Griswold v. Connecticut ruled that states do not have the right to restrict access to contraception. The constitutional right to privacy is fundamental and cherished by all Americans."
"Contraception serves more purposes than preventing pregnancy," said state Rep. Christine Morse (D-Texas Township). "Restricting access to contraception will make it more difficult for doctors to treat the non-reproductive health concerns that patients use birth control for, like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and painful, irregular or heavy periods. It would also increase the number of unplanned pregnancies and have a disproportionately negative effect on already vulnerable communities. We, as lawmakers, do not have the right to override the medical expertise of doctors and restrict how they care for their patients."
The resolution has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
2022-03-10T14:23:22-05:00March 8, 2022|


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The project also received a Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award from the Institution of Engineers Singapore and an Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.


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