BREAKING: Gaza Ceasefire To Take Effect Tonight ( And The Back Story)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Egyptian equivalent Mohamed Kamel Amr held a joint press conference today announcing a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel with Egypt as a mediating partner.

The deal basically takes effect at 8 PM local time. Both sides are to cease attacks on each other, Israel is to cease targeting Hamas leaders, and to take some undefined steps to ease its sea blockade of Gaza after a 24-hour period.

Now,here's what actually happened.

According to a couple of my notorious lil' birdies who are very much in a position to know, the Israelis fully intended to go into Gaza and eradicate Hamas. A country like Israel doesn't call up that many reserves and affect its economy unless they were serious about the matter.

But then the Obama Administration intervened.

They were perfectly happy for Israel to go in to Gaza and take out Hamas, but insisted that they then turn Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority. This was supposed to strengthen PA President Mahmoud Abbas as 'Palestine's savior' . As as a kicker, President Obama insisted that Israel immediately declare a Palestinian State in Gaza and most of Judea and Samaria, including areas currently under Israeli sovereignty from which the Jewish residents would then be removed. These were also to be turned over to Abbas.

If the Israelis were unwilling to have the IDF do Mahmoud Abbas' dirty work for him and then give up large areas populated by Jews, then the Obama Administration told the Israelis the U.S. would not back an IDF ground assault in Gaza.

So they Israelis took the ceasefire, essentially meaning that Hamas is going to be left in place to regroup and fight another day. And can claim a victory.

That's way Israel appeared to be delaying their ground operation for so long..the real back and forth was between the Obama Administration and Israel.

As a sop for being cooperative, President Obama said in a statement that he congratulated PM Netanyahu for accepting the truce and that the US would use the opportunity offered by a ceasefire to intensify efforts to help Israel address its security needs, especially the issue of the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Gaza.

How that is going to happen is, shall we say, problematical. Apparently - wait for it- The White House expects the new Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt to take charge of policing Hamas.After all, that approach worked so well in keeping Hezbollah in Lebanon from rearming after the 2006 war, even with a UN peacekeeping force on the ground.

The President also said that he was committed to seeking additional funding for Iron Dome and other US-Israel missile defense programs.

What's really behind this, of course, is an effort to strengthen Egypt's Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government as a regional player and improve ties between the Islamists and the U.S.

It also takes the heat off Morsi since had Israel gone into Gaza, there would have been widespread agitating for Egypt to send 'volunteers' to fight the Jews.

We'll see if this takes hold. I'd be surprised if it didn't, since it's mostly on Hamas' terms.

Truce? Hamas Celebrates Bus Bombing In Tel Aviv

This morning, a bus was bombed in Tel Aviv on Shaul Hamelech Street ( King Solomon Street) in the heart of the city's downtown.

28 people were reported injured, with four of them suffering what are described as moderate injuries. 'Moderate' in this context can mean anything from severe cuts and abrasions to the loss of an eye or limb.

This is the first time Tel Aviv has been hit with a terror bombing since April 2006, when a Palestinian homicide bomber murdered 11 people at a felafel stand near the old central bus station.

 That was the attack where Daniel Wultz, American citizen   was mortally wounded and later died for the crime of picking the wrong felafel restaurant to eat at at the wrong time (Z"l). He was just 16 years old.

This device was not a homicide bombing, but  a  bomb apparently placed under a seat by someone who rode the bus and then exited. I would also say that since Israel's defensive barrier has made it almost impossible for an Arab from Judea and Samaria to cross over and blow up Jews, and since the device itself, while no joke lacked the heavy duty firepower of the sort of bus bombs Hamas and the PA's al-Aksa used to detonate, the perpetrator was likely an Arab living in Israel.

The clip above is from Hamas TV. It was celebration time there.

AFter today's attack in Tel Aviv, I'd be very surprised if there was a ceasefire or truce without an Israeli ground operation to go into Gaza. The vast majority of Israelis are tired of this scenario repeating itself every few years and want Hamas dealt with once and for all.

Hillary Clinton is in the Middle East, flying between Cairo and Jerusalem to try and broker that ceasefire. If it happens, you will know that the Israelis were subjected to extreme pressure by the Obama Administration.

Watcher's Council Nominations -Am Yisrael Chai Edition

The Israelis finally got sick and tired of having rockets, Iranian supplied missiles and mortars being fired at their civilians by Hamas and decided to do something about it. And as always, every time Israel defends itself, it's somehow controversial.

The whole scenario reminds me of the old movie 'Groundhog Day'. The Israelis are attacked, they defend themselves, they're forced by international pressure to stop short of totally eradicating the threat, there a sort of ceasefire and the whole cycle repeats itself a few years later once their enemies regroup and re-arm.

The same accusations of 'disproportionate response' likewise resurface each time. Protesters in the EU probably know by now to store those defaced Israeli flags with a swastika replacing the Mogen David in the closet for future use rather than buying new ones.

The case of Gaza is particularly egregious. When the Israelis agreed to sign on to the Road Map and ethnically cleanse Jews from Gaza as one of the conditions, they were given iron-clad security guarantees by the U.S., the EU,The Egyptian government and the Palestinian Authority who were supposedly going to be running the place that Gaza would never be allowed to become a security threat to Israel again.

Surprise, surprise.

At this point, the entire situation is something Lewis Carrol couldn't have dreamed up in his wildest opium fantasies.

Israel has nothing to do with running Gaza, yet they're deemed 'occupiers' officially by the UN.

Hamas is an openly genocidal organization, yet the Israelis are faulted because negotiating with Hamas has been a dead end.And they're also expected to treat seriously with countries like Egypt and the Palestinian Authority that defend them.

Israel is at war now with Hamas, yet Gaza still receives gas, electricity and water courtesy of Israel.

And wackiest of all, here we have terrorist entity shooting Iranian supplied missiles at Israel's major cities and hiding behind a civilian population and it is the Israelis who are being told on one hand they have a right to defend themselves and in the same breath are cautioned not to defend themselves by dealing with the threat decisively, something any other nation would do in a heartbeat.

Secretary of State Clinton is in the region and there are rumors of another 'ceasefire' being brokered. Unfortunately, there's no lasting peace possible in this instance without removing Hamas from the equation permanently. We'll see what develops.

This week's contest, of course, is dedicated to the land and people of Israel, her armed forces and to a true and lasting peace.

For those of you interested in investing a little time seconding that sentiment, my friend Lori Lowenthal Marcus of Z-Street has something happening this week that will allow you to get directly involved with the Decision Maker in this situation if you wish.

It's geared towards Jews, but those of you whom aren't can improvise quite easily, and your input will be most welcome.

-Selah-

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Ask Marion and Right Truth took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some excellent pieces they sent in.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (which won't be published) in the comments section of any entry no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then just return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

Simple, no?

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

And last but not least, I and my fellow Council members also join together in wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving.


OK! So let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Colossus of Rhodey – It Ain't Time to S.T.F.U. Yet, I Guess
• The Noisy Room – Going Galt and the Neo-Comms
• The Political Commentator –
  Presenting the Democrat plan for going over the fiscal cliff!
• The Independent Sentinel – Obama Is a Narcissist Who Rules a Narcissistic Nation
• Joshuapundit-An Answer For Rupert Murdoch - Why The U.S Jewish Press Is So Anti-Israel
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Miss Calculation
• Bookworm Room – Too much education makes people economically dumb
• VA Right! - Democrats Always Blame Racism When They Get Caught in Lies
• The Mellow Jihadi – Ethics Training Inbound
• The Razor – Freedom of Choice: Why Liberals Should Exercise Their Freedom to Pay Higher Taxes
• Rhymes With Right – Hiding Behind Race And Sex To Avoid Truth About Susan Rice
• The Glittering Eye -Demographics
• Gay Patriot – Patronize restaurants liberals want to boycott
• Simply Jews – PETA requests sign to memorialize fish
• The Right Planet – Fed Tells Banks to Test for 12% Unemployment

Honorable Mentions

• Right Truth - Holly Petraeus
• Ask Marion - 2016 – The Election of the First Female President of the United States?

Non-Council Submissions

• Truth Before Dishonor – Cumulonimbus + AgI = ?? submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Mark Steyn –How The GOP Earned Its Date With Destiny submitted by The Noisy Room
• S. E. Cupp/Townhall -Unlocking Obama's Economic Vision (Spoiler: It's Blurry) submitted by The Political Commentator
• CNS News – Treasury Secretary Geithner: Lift Debt Limit to Infinity submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Via Meadia – America, Israel, Gaza, the World submitted by Joshuapundit
• Washington Wire – Specter of Iran Looms Over Gaza Crisis submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Ralph Peters-It's Not Adding Up submitted by Bookworm Room
• Atlas Shrugs – Six Israeli 'collaborators' executed before baying Muslim mob in Gaza City submitted by VA Right!
• Crucis Court –Real world vs. Union fantasy submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• Militant Libertarian –Real Danger of “Obamacare”: Insurance Company Takeover of Health Care submitted by The Razor
• Daily Kos – Libertarians provided the margin for Democrats in at least nine elections submitted by Rhymes with Right
• Neo-Neocon – Obama's Outrage submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Powerline -“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to cash welfare checks…” submitted by Gay Patriot
• Tina Trent – They’re Just Not That Into You: Republicans And The Hispanic Vote submitted by The Watcher
• Seraphic Secret – Operation Pillar of Defense, Day Seven: Hey, Maybe the Ethnic Cleansing of Jews from Gaza Wasn’t Such a Bright Idea submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Office Of DNI Blamed For Deleting al-Qaeda, Terrorism references from Benghazi CIA Memo

According to CBS, its now leaked out that the editing of the CIA memo and talking points calling the 9/11 Benghazi debacle a terrorist attack carried out by al-Qaeda affilites was done in the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), run by Obama Appointee James Clapper :

CBS News has learned that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) cut specific references to “al Qaeda” and “terrorism” from the unclassified talking points given to Ambassador Susan Rice on the Benghazi consulate attack – with the agreement of the CIA and FBI. The White House or State Department did not make those changes. …

However, an intelligence source tells CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan the links to al Qaeda were deemed too “tenuous” to make public, because there was not strong confidence in the person providing the intelligence. CIA Director David Petraeus, however, told Congress he agreed to release the information — the reference to al Qaeda — in an early draft of the talking points, which were also distributed to select lawmakers.

“The intelligence community assessed from the very beginning that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack.” DNI spokesman Shawn Turner tells CBS News. That information was shared at a classified level — which Rice, as a member of President Obama’s cabinet, would have been privy to. …

The head of the DNI is James Clapper, an Obama appointee. He ultimately did review the points, before they were given to Ambassador Rice and members of the House intelligence committee on Sept. 14. They were compiled the day before.

You might remember James Clapper as the man who once called the Muslim Brotherhood 'a secular organization'.

The report is pretty careful not to actually say it was Clapper who edited the CIA memo, but if not him, who else could it have been? Some low level aide or staffer? And if it was done with the agreement of the FBI and CIA, why is General Petraeus saying publicly that he has no idea who redacted his memo?

The explanation now being given for the selective editing was that the link to Al-qaeada was “too tenuous.”

Yet, General Petraeus, a military man, knew “almost immediately” that this was a planned terrorist attack because of the presence of heavy weapons and the obvious planning involved. So did others in the CIA.

This was no 'spontaneous mob' incensed by a YouTube video. Yet the actual intelligence was removed and that even more tenuous nonsense substituted.

Who made that decision? I doubt it was James Clapper, since the decision was ultimately a political one.

It almost certainly came from the White House, who also made the decision to send Susan Rice out to push that bogus narrative about a video on no less than 5 Sunday talk shows.

Other questions have to do with how the White House handled General Petraeus. He had to know that the talk about the video was sheer nonsense, yet he said nothing. In fact, he even parroted the Administration narrative before Congress on September 13th.

Was he being blackmailed? Did someone at the White House have a chat with him about his extramarital activities and promise him that if he kept quiet and played ball,it would all just remain their little secret? Did the White House double cross him after the election was safely won and out the story about his affair in order to make sure that anything he said about Benghazi would be discredited? Were there other people that were pressured to keep their mouths shut about the truth in order to keep Benghazi off the front pages and make sure it didn't effect the president's re-election campaign?

And once again..why weren't our easily available military assets sent in to rescue of diplomats? And why was security from the Benghazi consulate removed and Ambassador Stevens' requests for increased security ignored?

Ultimately, this smells like a scandal that dwarfs Watergate. It will take time, especially since the media is so involved in protecting this president, but we'll eventually get answers to those questions.

Allen West Concedes

 

Florida Representative Lt. Col. Allen West has conceded to Democrat Patrick Murphy.

The controversy started with a last minute surge of early Democrat votes from St. Lucie County that Democrat officials claimed weren't counted properly. West managed to get a partial recount, but in the end he made the strategic decision that he was not going to spend time and money on a drawn out court battle to force a full recount.

He ended up with 1,904-vote, or 0.58 percent, deficit, just outside the 0.5 percent threshold to automatically trigger a recount of all votes.

“For two weeks since Election Day, we have been working to ensure every vote is counted accurately and fairly. We have made progress towards that goal, thanks to the dedication of our supporters and their unrelenting efforts to protect the integrity of the democratic process,” West said in a statement to POLITICO. “While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election.”

West congratulated Murphy, saying, “I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own.”

West was a high profile target,and the Democrats spent a great deal of money to get the fiery patriot out of office.I'm sure they're absolutely ecstatic about it.

I'm sorry to see him go, but I have a feeling destiny isn't through with Colonel West yet. Such men don't just disappear in times like these, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if future events prove that the left  would have been better off leaving him where he was.

An Answer For Rupert Murdoch - Why The U.S Jewish Press Is So Anti-Israel

Media baron Rupert Murdoch is as pro-Israel as they come.

Which of course, means he's now being attacked as anti-Semitic for the following tweet:

Why Is Jewish owned press so consistently anti-Israel in every crisis? 

Of course, Britain's left wing anti-Semitic rag The Guardian took him to task for it, the absolute height of irony.

Mr. Murdoch apologized, which is unfortunate. Because his question was totally legitimate.

While some people took his remarks to refer to the New York Times, Pravda-on-the Hudson isn't actually Jewish owned per se,but controlled by a corporation overseen by the Sulzberger family, with Arthur 'Little Pinch' Sulzberger functioning as chairman and publisher.

And yes, the Times is almost reflexively anti-Israel.

But even worse than that is the truly 'Jewish owned' press, the community newspapers, many of them funded by the local Jewish Federation.

The Los Angeles Jewish Journal is typical of the breed. Funded by the local  Jewish Federation (and one reason I do not donate to them),  it's run by Rob Eshman, whose political position could accurately be characterized as somewhere between Peace Now and J Street. While the paper does feature columns by conservative thinker Dennis Prager, the overwhelming slant of the paper, especially in the way it reports news is leftwards and yes, anti-Israel. And the Jewish Journal is far from unique.

There are Jewish newspaper in America like New York's Jewish Press, but they're outnumbered by the Jewish Journal types,  which keep going because they get Federation funding which allows most of them to give the paper away for free.

I must also could also mention the whole 'industry' of Jewish columnists with obviously Jewish names that make a living bashing Israel, while using the fact that they were born Jews to protect the outlets they appear in from charges of rank anti-Semitism. Roger Cohen, Phillip Mondoweiss, Peter Beinart, and Lara Friedman are excellent examples of this type,  just to name a few.

So now that we've established that Rupert Murdoch was right on the money, let's answer his question.

The answer varies a bit with individuals, but here's what it basically comes down to for a significant number of Jews on the left.

Most of these people left the actual practice of Judaism and any identification with its principles some time ago, although a Jewish name comes in handy, as does the turgid phrase 'as a Jew' when it comes to getting attention and getting their views aired. What they actually identify as is secular leftists, and Israel embarrasses them with their leftist friends. So in a particularly Jewish version of the Stockholm Syndrome, they identify with those who mean them no good in order to prove that they're 'good Jews',  not like those horrid Zionists.And more than happy to bash Israel.

This goes back, believe it or not to the early days of Marxism and socialism,when many Jews in Europe and later on in America were suffering from anti-Semitism in spite of their best efforts to be accepted in their respective societies. Some of them embraced this doctrine because it was anti-religion,or so it appeared. Without religion, they subconsciously reasoned, there would be no further basis for the daily hatred and alienation they faced. It is worth remembering in this context that Karl Marx was a self-hating, apostate Jew who wrote many fiercely anti-Semitic articles over the course of his career.

Others unconsciously or consciously embraced this because it also aligns with the basic philosophy of the left in a way many self-styled progressive Jews themselves are unaware of. Judaic philosophy, like Christianity stresses the individual and his or her choices,or free will as theologians term it.Marxism and socialism stresses the collective, with the individual merely a cog in the machine.

That, by the way, is one of the points of affinity between Islam and the Left, because Islam also stresses the collective and the submission of the individual.

For many Jews who embrace this 'progressive' mindset, the very existence of Israel is a horrid embarrassment. It is a nasty bit of old time nationalism in an ideology that embraces 'solidarity' and a New World Order where such tiresome concepts are put to rest under the banner of the UN. Not only does the necessity of a strong and powerful Jewish State as a haven for Jews in a world that has demonstrated its hostility and even murderous intent towards them more than once escape them, it serves to single them out once again amongst their 'progressive' brethren.

Is it any wonder that the most vicious condemnation of virtually everything Israel does to preserve its security and nationhood should find its harshest critics among Jewish 'progressives' on the Left? Is it really a mystery that outspokenly pro-Israel Christians like Sarah Palin and Pastor John Haggee should come in for special vilification? It shouldn't be. 'Progressive' Jews need to prove their bonifides to their philosophical comrades.

There's your answer, Mr. Murdoch. And as a Jew, let me say no apology necessary.

Forum - Are Comedians And Comedy Less Funny Today Than They Used To Be?

 

Welcome to this week's Watcher's Forum, where each Monday the Council and their invited guests weigh in with short takes on a single topic.

This week's question: Generally speaking, are comedians and comedy less funny today than they were previously? Has America lost touch with its sense of humor?


The Razor: Having been a fan of Comedy from the 3 Stooges to Dave Chappell, I think that Comedy today is much less free than it was 40 years ago. On one hand I can watch a comedienne talk in detail about masturbating on stage on the Comedy channel, something that would have been unthinkable in the era of George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Yet that same station has censored South Park for fear of offending Muslims.

Comedy used to be a revolutionary force. During the Renaissance, wandering groups used to stage puppet and stage shows that made fun of the clergy and aristocracy, stoking the fires that inevitably lead to the Reformation and revolutions in England, the US and France. In more recent times comedy was a countercultural force led in the underground by the likes of Lenny Bruce and Carlin and in the mainstream by shows like “Laugh In” and later “Saturday Night Live.” Comedy played an important role and breaking the color barrier, with Bill Cosby, Pryor and Eddie Murphy proving that black people were just like other ethnic groups.

Unfortunately today the subversive nature of Comedy has been lost, smothered by the corporate nature of the business that has adopted political correctness as a doctrine to avoid being sued when someone is offended. Today it’s only okay to poke fun at white males. If you think that ethnic humor today is alive and well, see an early routine by Eddie Murphy. If you think we are freer today than the past watch a re-run of Laugh In. Neither would be acceptable in today’s politically correct climate.

When President Obama is portrayed, as he is in the Key and Peele show, he is played as a “straight man,” calm, above the fray and respected. Similarly Saturday Night Live has struggled to do skits about the President that are funny yet respectful, with a bland result. Since Obama has taken over the genre is brain dead, kept on life support by the likes of Jon Stewart who does his best to make new jokes about safe subjects as Republican lawmakers and Tea Party activists.

When the cows are too sacred to slay Comedy is boring.

Bookworm Room: A very good question, Rob. Here's my answer, for what it's worth:

When I was in high school, a lot of the more precocious students in my English class wanted to write just like e.e. cummings or John Dos Pasos. Who needs grammar, they asked. We are artists. Our teacher quickly disabused them of this notion, explaining that there's a difference between deliberately abandoning formalism and just be too dumb, or uneducated, to know better.

Formalism has its virtues, and one of those virtues is rigor. In the old days, when there were clear boundaries which entertainers (outside of burlesque) could not cross, comedians didn't complain about having to work within a social framework. Instead, they became masters of their small canvas. In much the same way, Jane Austen described her social comedy masterpieces as "the little bit (two Inches wide) of Ivory on which I work with so fine a Brush, as produces little effect after much labour?"

I defy anyone to watch "I love Lucy" without at least cracking a smile. These episodes poked fun at the human condition. Young or old, black or white, we all understood and could laugh at the eternal battle between the sexes (one waged on the show with a great deal of love), at Lucy's childlike machinations, at the abiding friendship binding together two disparate couples, and just at the plain silliness that ensued every week. Small canvas; big humor.

Nowadays, humor is an instrument of attack. Even outside of the Alinsky political model, humor has been politicized. On every Disney or Nick show, all of which are aimed at children, the "jokes" are savage -- siblings hate each other (where's the love Wally and Beav showed?); the sexes battle perpetually without any affection; and adults are buffoons. The adult shows are worse. They're meaner, less moral, and less funny since they lack the slapstick that intermittently lightens the kids' shows.

So yes, we're not as funny as we once were, because we're much meaner than we once were.

JoshuaPundit: I suppose it depends on whom you ask, but generally, I'd say yeah. There are a lot of reasons for it.

A lot of the essence of comedy can be summed up in three words...someone else's misfortune.  This is why we laugh at the man slipping on the banana peel, ethnic jokes and those one liners...either because they relate to situations we've found ourselves in, or because it's funny to see someone else experience them and react. It's why Lucille Ball and the Honeymooners  were so funny.  It's why a lot of the truly great comedians came out of poverty or prejudice they experienced and why Charlie Chaplin's films still break em' up a century after they were made.The great comedians used that experience in their material.

However, in today's America, everyone's a victim. Which means no one is.That's why a lot of comedy is so mean spirited and unfunny these days, because we're no longer willing to laugh at ourselves.

And it isn't the language either. I have live CDS of standup club sets from people like Red Foxx, Belle Barth, Nipsey Russell and others that were delightfully smutty but they approached in a good natured, earthy way.Eddie Murphy had the same quality, Almost all of today's comics lack that sort of playful sensibility.

Another reason is that with some notable exceptions,  the talent isn't really there, largely because there are fewer and fewer places for them to work and develop their art. Comedians like the Marx Brothers, Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Richard Pryor, Jim Carey and Redd Foxx had a lot more clubs to play and years to get their acts together. Whole club circuits, like the one in the Catskills where yesteryear's Jewish comedians got their start and the one for black comedians known colloquially as the Chitlin' Circuit have simply disappeared.

Los Angeles is one of the entertainment centers of the world, and you can literally count the clubs where you can see live comedy on your fingers. When someone does come along with talent, they're frequently pushed out into the spotlight before they've really had time to develop.

The lack of seasoning shows. I saw a delightful video of an 80-year-old Don  Rickles on Jimmie Kimmel's show  and the old pro could barely walk to his seat, but he still understood funny in ways most of today's comedians simply don't.


The Colossus of Rhodey :YES! Comedy SUCKS these days! Political correctness and constant vigilance over "sensitivity" and "intolerance" have made mainstream "comedy" completely unfunny these days. Comedians are literally afraid of who they'll offend, and how it may affect their careers. There's not a single funny comedy on television these days, and there hasn't been since "Seinfeld" in the 1990s. Personally, I maintain my funny bone with healthy doses of "M*A*S*H" (first through fifth seasons only!) on TVLand network, "Cheers" on Reelz network, and "Seinfeld" in syndication. Not to mention, I am a prodigious fan of the Three Stooges. Their earliest shorts are approaching eighty -- EIGHTY!! -- years old, and they still cause me to bust a gut every time I watch them. How many comedians can say their efforts have endured for so long?

But -- contemporary comedies which break the PC mold, so to speak, have been incredibly successful. Comedy Central's "Tosh.0" is totally irreverant, featuring jokes that will offend every race, ethnicity and orientation. E!'s "The Soup" is successful for the very same reasons. These shows' "I don't give a sh**" attitude is extremely refreshing in a glossy, polished, and scripted comedy world. But you'd never see these programs on a big network. Just as you'll never again see shows like "All in the Family," "Sanford and Son," and "The Jeffersons" again.

Movies are suffering from the same. I haven't seen a single funny comedy movie since the 1980s. Will we ever see another "Animal House"? "North Dallas Forty"? "Slap Shot"? "Used Cars"?? Not in my opinion. Many modern comedies considered "funny" simply aren't: "Wedding Crashers," "Old School," "The Forty Year Old Virgin" ... no way. They all may include a few small chuckles here and there, but they essentially follow the same script and formula. And, hence, they're boring as balls.

Some of personal faves have already been listed, but for specificity's sake, here are Hube's highest comedy recommendations:

Television:
* Three Stooges (any Curly short, as well early Shemp shorts)
* M*A*S*H (as mentioned, seasons 1-5. Seasons 2 and 3 are by far the best)
* Cheers
* Barney Miller
* Seinfeld
* Three's Company (skip the last few seasons)
* All in the Family (but not very good after Mike and Gloria move away)
* Sanford and Son
* The Carol Burnett Show

Movies:
* Used Cars
* Animal House
* Vacation
* Hollywood Shuffle
* Planes, Trains and Automobiles
* Fast Times at Ridgemont High
* This is Spinal Tap
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
* Caddyshack
* Take the Money and Run
* 10

The Glittering Eye:Yes, but it's not just the U. S. British humor isn't as funny as it used to be, French humor isn't as funny as it used to be, and Italian humor isn't as funny as it used to be. German humor was never funny.

If you don't believe me, compare the classic sketch comedy and sitcoms of the 70s and 80s (even the 90s) with those of today. What British sketch comedy series is as funny as Monty Python or The Two Ronnies? Is today's SNL as funny as that of the 70s or 80s?

I don't entirely know why it is. Part is novelty. Every sitcom wants to be "All in the Family" nowadays. There can be only one and that was 40 years ago.

But part is the writing. Carl Reiner said that the secret to comedy is "Talk British. Think Yiddish." I don't think today's writers are thinking Yiddish any more.

Finally, Langston Hughes said "Humor is laughing at what you haven't got when you ought to have it."

The guys getting jobs as TV writers today have too much already to be funny.

The Noisy Room: Comedians and comedy are definitely less funny today than they were in the past. Sadly so.

Gone are the slapstick, whacky days of the Three Stooges, Red Skelton, Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. How I miss and long for the original Looney Tunes that I watched as a child and colored in coloring books. I used to watch Benny Hill with my dad and we would laugh till we cried. I loved the wit of Monty Python and the genius of Mr. Bean.

America has become so jaded and partisan, that as a nation, she seems to have gone somewhat psychotic. Laughing at inappropriate times and going stone faced during periods of obvious levity. In the midst of a national depression, our humor has turned dark and non-existent, unless it is at the expense of those who oppose us.

There are a few shining bits of light in comedy still however... Eddie Izzard is brilliant and uproariously funny (see his standup and Mockingbird Lane). But you know things have gone bad when what few laughs you get these days are from Jack In The Box and Allstate ads. I long for Bob Newhart or Carol Burnett. Heck, I even miss Phyllis Diller. I watch Carey Grant, Bing Crosby and Danny Kay just to get a chuckle.

I don't know why I am upset - I mean every day we have the Keystone Cops in our government running around, smacking the crap out of us. Daily, evil whackiness ensues.


 Well, there you have it.

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum. And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere, and you won’t want to miss it.
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WH Denies Deleting Reference To Terrorist Attack From CIA's Benghazi Memo

 

The White House has officially denied that it deleted references to a terrorist attack and to al-Qaeda from the CIA's memo on Benghazi, or that talking points provided by the CIA were changed to edit those references out.

Which of course directly contradicts what ex-CIA head General David Petraeus testified to in front of Congress on Friday, November 16th.

“The only edit that was made by the White House and also by the State Department was to change the word ‘consulate’ to the word ‘diplomatic facility,’ since the facility in Benghazi was not formally a consulate,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters aboard Air Force One.

“Other than that, we were guided by the points that were provided by the intelligence community. So I can’t speak to any other edits that may have been made.”{...}

“The main question today is that somebody briefed Susan Rice and she said she took the best information that the intelligence community had,” said Rep. Peter King (R-LI), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, probing the botched response. “Now we’re trying to put all the pieces together.”

But he added, “It’s going to be a long process before we find out anything else.”

What General Petraeus had to say on Friday directly contradicted what he told congress on September 13th, which was in lockstep with the White House line about a spontaneous mob attack sparked by a video. If General Petraeus is telling the truth now, did he dissemble back on September 13th because the White House informed him they knew about his extramarital hijinks and offered to keep it quiet if he played ball?

Did he change his story now because they didn't keep their word and outed him?

The president knew this was a terrorist attack with al-Qaeda involvement within 72 hours and almost certainly beforehand when he was briefed at 5PM Washington time by Secretary Leon Panetta. There was a drone overhead broadcasting what was going on to the Situation Room in real time, and phone contact between the consulate and the CIA annex telling the White House what was going on.Why did the president and major members of his Cabinet tell the American people a story about a spontaneous mob and outrage over a video for 8 days?

Why was the security at Benghazi removed in spite of Ambassador Stevens' request for more at the consulate?

Why were none of the military assets we had with easy reach of the consulate sent in to rescue our people? We had an ex-Navy SEAL in the CIA annex with a laser sight phoning in exact coordinates of targets that could have been taken out either by helicopter gunships or a unit of the Commander's In-extremis Force (CIF), a unit specifically designed for exactly these kinds of situations already deployed at our base in Sigonella, Sicily, less than a two-hour plane ride away. Why weren't they called in?

And what was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi anyway? The city is a hotbed of  Islamist terrorists and al-Qaeda linked groups and we know from the ambassador's own journal that he knew he was on an al-Qaeda hit list.

Rep. King is entirely correct. This is like a bunch of children around a broken lamp, all saying 'not me'!

Eventually, we'll get the answers and it isn't going to be pretty.

Benghazi: 'Who Are You Gonna Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes?"

 

Former CIA head General David Petraeus testified behind closed doors before Congress Friday, and what he had to say not only differed from what he told Congress back on September 13, but it raised new questions about the Benghazi debacle.

Back on September 13th, General Petraeus pretty much parroted the Administration line that this was an out of control mob incensed by a YouTube video. At that time, as we now know, the Obama Administration had full knowledge of the General's extramarital affairs and it's not out of the realm of possibility at all that he was promised his indiscretions would not be trumpeted publicly in exchange for his cooperation.

As I mentioned previously, the General is not the first high ranking DC figure to have been caught with an inappropriate part of his anatomy caught in the cookie jar, but this kind of public outing is quite rare.

If it was done after he cooperated and the election was safely over, it could only have been done with the idea of totally discrediting anything he had to say about what really happened, which gives what he had to say Friday an added kick.Especially if he was given private assurances by Congress that no charges would be filed for perjury.

The General is now claiming that he and the CIA knew from the very beginning that Benghazi was a terrorist attack primarily staged by al-Qaeda militia Ansar al Sharia, and that he issued a memo containing talking points to that effect that somehow got changed after they were distributed to multiple departments, including the State Department, National Security Council, Justice Department and White House.

No one seems to know exactly how that happened, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, who were also questioned.

It's also leaked out now that the President was formally notified within 72 hours that this was a terrorist attack with al-Qaeda involvement.

He almost certainly knew this before then, because a drone was overhead and providing a live, real time feed shortly after the attack was reported, both the consulate and the CIA annex were in live phone contact with the White House and the president was personally briefed by SecDef Panetta at 5PM DC time.

Yet Ambassador Susan Rice, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, the president and White House spokesperson Jay Carney all pushed the narrative that this was a spontaneous protest over a video that just got out of hand:

Petraeus' testimony both challenges the Obama administration's repeated claims that the attack was a "spontaneous" protest over an anti-Islam video, and according to (Rep. Peter} King conflicts with his own briefing to lawmakers on Sept. 14. Sources have said Petraeus, in that briefing, also described the attack as a protest that spun out of control.

"His testimony today was that from the start, he had told us that this was a terrorist attack," King said, adding that he told Petraeus he had a "different recollection."

Still, the claim that the CIA's original talking points were changed is sure to stoke controversy on the Hill.

"The original talking points were much more specific about Al Qaeda involvement. And yet the final ones just said indications of extremists," King said, adding that the final version was the product of a vague "inter-agency process."

King said a CIA analyst specifically told lawmakers that the Al Qaeda affiliates line "was taken out."

A congressional source familiar with this week's testimony also told Fox News that the language in the CIA talking points about Benghazi was changed from "Al Qaeda-affiliated individuals to extremist organizations" -- which had the effect of minimizing the role of terrorists in the attack.

"It really changed the whole tone of it," King told Fox News.

The White House, of course is denying that anything was changed, and sticking to the new narrative that Susan Rice and other Administration figures were merely repeating info they were given 'based on the best assessments at that time'.

Which leaves us with this question: why, when President Obama knew within 72 hours (at the very latest, and almost certainly before then) that this was a terrorist attack did he and members of his administration continue to talk about a riot sparked by a video for over a week?

And if they really believed it was merely a riot, why not send in military assets we had readily available to rescue our people?

We had helicopter gunships within easy reach, and a unit of the Commander's In-extremis Force (CIF), a unit specifically designed for exactly these kinds of situations already deployed at our base in Sigonella, Sicily, less than a two-hour plane ride away.

There was even an ex-Navy SEAL with a laser sight in the CIA annex that was in live communication with the White House phoning in exact coordinates of targets.

Why weren't they sent, if the White House and this president really believed it was just a mob?

The obvious lies and outright misrepresentations to the American people about what did and did not happen in Benghazi r4esemble the way Fast and Furious was handled.

It remains to be seen whether either of these fiascos is going to be pursued in any meaningful way.

Bye Bye Twinkies And Ding Dongs...Hostess Forced Out of Business

Ah, A sign of the times.

Hostess Foods, maker of Ding Dong, Wonder Bread, Twinkees and a number of other popular (and healthier) bakery foods is selling off it's assets and shutting its doors:

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," said CEO Gregory Rayburn in a statement.

What happened is simply this...in spite of being the number 2 bakery company in the nation, Hostess was already in trouble because of increased costs for fuel, energy, grains and supplies, and like GM, the cost of a unionized workforce.

They filed for bankruptcy back in January, but managed to keep going because hedge funds like Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital purchased their debt and came up with a plan to restructure the company an dmake it viable again, but part of that eventually meant that the unions were going to have to bear some of the pain in the form of reduced pay and benefits.

The Teamsters were willing to deal, and signed a new agreement to keep Hostess alive.The AFL_CIO affiliated Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union which represents 5,000 workers at Hostess refused, and voted to strike.

So Hostess is ceasing production, closing down and selling off its assets to pay its creditors.With Obamacare and increased regulations and taxes on the horizon, they figured it was time to shut their doors.

"It's been a very sad day," Rayburn told CNN. "I think that this was just a monumental failure on the part of everyone involved, and it was just the wrong outcome."

It's even sadder for the over 18,500 workers who are going to lose their jobs because 5,000 members of the Baker's union decided to go for broke.In a reprise of that old proverb, instead of half a loaf, they're going to end up with none.

Hostess, among its other assets has its brand names and proprietary recipes to sell, and someone will probably be eventually making Ding Dongs, Wonder Bread, and Twinkees again. But it probably won't be the people that used to work at Hostess.Those jobs are history.

Richard Trumka, the openly socialist head of the AFL-CIo made the expected remarks about 'Bain-style Wall Street vultures' and 'crony capitalism, and I'm sure it was a fine show that will get plenty of favorable attaboys on the left.

Of course, without those so-called Wall Street vultures Trumka is so exercised about, Hostess would have folded back in January,but hey, why ruin a good show?

Because that's where we are now. Circuses, but no bread.

Hamas Missiles Hit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem early last night as a Hamas missile crossed the sky of Israel's capitol, just before the Jewish Sabbath. No injuries or damage, as the missile ended up landed near an Arab village in the general area of Gush Etzion, in Judea.

This follows an earlier missile that struck Tel Aviv's metro area:

Shortly after the air raid siren sounded in Jerusalem, Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the rocket fired at the capital area. According to the organization, it fired a homemade rocket called Qassam M76.

The rocket Hamas fired at Tel Aviv is nicknamed Qassam M75.

Shortly before the rocket hit the Jerusalem area, Hamas' military wing promised "a surprise in a short while."

At the same time the rockets were fired at Jerusalem, a factory in the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council in southern Israel sustained a direct hit. Later, a rocket hit the backyard of a house in the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council. There were no reports of injuries in both incidents.

This, strange as it sounds is a positive development. Here's a quote from some Yerusalamim(Jerusalem residents):

"We were sitting together and listening to music, when suddenly the siren sounded," said two 16-year-old Jerusalem residents, Denise and Inbar. "The first feeling was shock. We thought it wouldn’t happen to us."

The same sort of shock is being voiced by residents of Tel Aviv.

Gaza has been an open sore even since the Israelis pulled out, with guarantees and assurances from the EU, the United States, the Egyptians and the Palestinian Authority that it would never be allowed to become a security risk to Israel. The American guarantees were a primary reason Israel agreed to the disengagement and signed on to President Bush's Roadmap.

That those guarantees were worthless has been evident for some time, but a part of the Israeli political establishment, especially on the left, has always been able to look the other way as long as the attacks were confined to places like Sderot in the south.

Now, with missiles landing in the own backyards, with they and their children having to scramble for shelters, the war has come home and they realize that they are going to have to do something about it. It isn't just Sderot and Ashdod any more.

The Israelis are going to send ground troops into Gaza and deal with this once and for all.They have no choice.

Once again, Hamas has been willing to be the fall guy for Iran. This time,it's going to cost them more than they bargained for, with G-d's help.

A Superb Comment On Hamas And Gaza..In Today's London Times

As the Brits say, "hear hear"!

Kudos to Peter Brookes.

(H/T, Huffington Post Monitor)

The Council Has Spoken! This Week's Watcher's Council Results

The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast, and the results are in for this week's Watcher's Council match up.

But before we get to that, we have some important biz to deal with..because it's our pal Tom White of VA Right's birthday!



Actually, the big day was yesterday, but we're dealing in WoW time here, so I thought we'd celebrate it today. I don't think I'm revealing anything top secret when I say that Tom's just one of those people I instinctively liked right from the jump. As an illustrious member of our crew, aside from his stellar blogging talent (he was chosen a top political blogger by the AFP) I've never seen him fail to help out someone in the Council with a techie problem, or to give me an honest and useful answer whenever I've asked his advice...and isn't that one definition of a good friend ?

To go with this cake (carrot with chocolate pralines), in honor of the Old Dominion  I picked up a nice couple of bottles of Williamsburg Winery's 2010  Vintage Reserve Chardonay to share around. As I'm told they  like to say in VA, Virginia makes wine, Napa makes auto parts...or something like that.


Happy birthday bro...many, many more.





OK, on to business.

There has been a great deal of handwringing and circular fire squading going on among Republicans and conservatives because of President Obama's re-election.

Chicken Little has definitely been working overtime .

 

In this week's winner,Joshuapundit's  Taking DC By Strategy - A Battle Plan   I had a few things to say about that mentality..and more importantly, what's really needed to turn things around. And trust me, this sort of stuff is exactly what you're not hearing from the GOP establishment or much of the consultant class. Here's a slice: 


Looking at some of the wailing and moaning coming from various Republican pundits and politicians, you would think the GOP's days are over.

Well, maybe they should be if this is how they respond to what happened Tuesday.But as someone who is a conservative (that is, a classic liberal in the true sense of the word) rather than a doctrinaire party man, I'm far more interested in victory than appeasement.

That victory is eminently doable, but it will take some real soul searching and an answer to the age old questions: what are you prepared to do? How bad do you want it? Because it's time to let the pretty, convenient lies die if you do want it.

I've already gone over a lot of the tactical reasons Mitt Romney lost, and some of the lessons learned from that I'll expand on here.

The first thing we need to do is tune out the media static and realize that this was a far closer election than we're being told.

Barack Obama is the only president in history to be re-elected with a smaller percentage of the popular vote than he won initially.. He won 53 percent to 46 percent in 2008 but his official numbers right now are 50.6 percent to 47.8 percent over Mitt Romney. The numbers might change slightly as the states finish their counts, but the president still won by a much smaller percentage than in 2008.As the National Review's Jim Geraghty observed, Had Romney won just another 407,000 or so additional votes total in the battle ground states of Virginia, Colorado, Ohio, and Florida, he'd be president.

The bottom line, when all's said and done is that about 3 million Republicans stayed home last Tuesday,mostly because they had no compelling reason to show up, and partly because, as we now know, the Romney campaign had an abysmal ground game. When you have only 6 campaign offices in a state like Ohio while your opponent has 130, you're asking for a beating.

Those voters who were supposedly willing to crawl over broken glass to vote against Obama existed, but 3 million others simply took a pass. If even half of them had showed up, we'd have a different story to tell today.So the key to our little puzzle is not only figuring out why they didn't show up, but why a relatively unpopular incumbent battling huge deficits, record food and energy costs and an 8% unemployment rate managed to prevail because enough of his people did.Again, not nearly as many as showed up in 2008,(which ought to tell you something about that so-called 'decisive victory') but enough to win.

In order to see how this works, it's first necessary to realize a few things.

Republicans have always told themselves that this is a center right nation. It still is, but it's moving in the opposite direction..Here's why.

Since the 1970's, when the unions took over, the left has gradually assumed almost total control of public education, and in K-12, not just the universities. Ever wonder why so many radicals found a home in academia, and why radicals like Bill Ayers became so interested and influential in public education, particularly of young children?

The results are obvious. Today, half the children produced out of this dysfunctional system may have trouble reading and writing, they may be ignorant of their culture and history, but boy are a lot of them proficient in repeating the leftist talking points they've been indoctrinated with for years!

As an added bonus, the teachers unions, like the other public employee unions are a major component of the Ponzi scheme that funds the Democratic Party at the taxpayer's expense.

The good news is that this is very slowly starting to change in some parts of America simply because it's financially unsustainable, but for now, especially in deep blue states like California and Massachusetts, that's simply how it is.

So the first major requirement of winning the White House is a candidate capable of educating voters on conservative principles in terms they can easily understand , why they work, and why leftist statism merely produces equal misery.

The last presidential candidate the Republicans had whom could do this was Ronald Reagan, Ronaldus Maximus. He wasn't known as the Great Communicator for nothing.Since Reagan, the only one who's even come close is Sarah Palin, and at this point, considering the way she was shafted by her own campaign and the GOP establishment, she might very well have been better off turning John McCain down in 2008, serving out her term as governor and running for the top of the ticket in 2012 or 2016.

One of the reasons Sarah Palin was so effective at it was that she promised a change in the very climate of Washington...which is exactly how Ronald Reagan approached it.That's something people turn out for.

Mitt Romney, for all his sincerity and obvious fitness for office never promised that kind of change in Washington and was surrounded by enough of the Republican establishment to ensure that it wasn't going to happen.

To a lot of people, the promise of a better managed Washington bureaucracy wasn't enough to get them to the polls.

And he certainly never explained conservative principles of government consistently and effectively and why they work. He tried, especially later in the campaign, but it was like listening to someone speak a second language. And by the time he started to get better at it,he'd already been defined by the Obama Campaign and their sycophants in the media.

It goes on from there...

In our non-Council category, the winner was Victor Davis Hanson with a dynamite look at Anatomies of Electoral Madness submitted by Joshuapundit.It's an excellent look at what happened November 6th, written in VDH's one of a kind  style.

Here are this week’s full results. Rhymes With Right, Gay Patriot and Simply Jews were unable to vote this week, but none of them were subject to the  2/3 vote penalty:

Council Winners

• *First place with 3 votes! Joshuapundit – Taking DC By Strategy - A Battle Plan


• Second place with 2 1/3 votes – The Razor- Invincible


• Third place  with 1 2/3 votes – The Independent Sentinel- Benghazi Bombshell: Lies Upon Lies in an Extraordinary Cover UP


• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Noisy Room- The Fog of Misdirection


• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – Bookworm Room-Getting outside of the bubble: taking liberal arguments seriously


• Fourth place *t* with 1 vote – The Right Planet - When Liberals (Socialists) Offer Advice


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Mellow Jihadi- What Can You Do to Help Our Vietnam Veterans?


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – The Colossus of Rhodey – The results (and what now?)


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – VA Right! –The Republican’s “Obama Lite” Candidate Loses (AGAIN!)

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Victor Davis Hanson-Anatomies of Electoral Madness  submitted by Joshuapundit


• Second place  with 2 1/3 votes – Caroline Glick –A time for courage, and action  submitted by The Watcher


• Third place *t* with 1 2/3 votes – ZeroHedge –Why President Obama Was Reelected   submitted by The Razor


• Fourth place*t* with 1 1/3 votes -Melanie Phillips-America goes into the darkness   submitted by The Noisy Room


• Fourth place*t* with 1 1/3 vote Commentary/Abe Greenwald -Democrats Better Start Soul Searching submitted by Bookworm Room


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 votes - Wired – Is Anti-Islam Filmmaker a Political Prisoner? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD


• Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote - Blake Hounshell/Foreign Policy –Did Petraeus mistress reveal new Benghazi details? submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -Powerline –Where Do Republicans Go From Here? The Social Issues   submitted by Gay Patriot


• Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote -PJ Media –European Socialism is Collapsing, Is America Next?  submitted by The Independent Sentinel

See you next week! Don't forget to tune in on Monday AM for this week's Watcher's Forum, as the Council and their invited guests take apart one of the provocative issues of the day and weigh in...don't you dare miss it. And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us Twitter..'cause we're cool like that!

Sirens Sound In Tel Aviv As Gaza Missile Hits Suburb Of Holon

Islamic Jihad claimed credit for an Iranian Fajr missile fired at Tel Aviv's southern Holon suburbs..and alarm sirens sounded in Tel Aviv for the first time since the Gulf War.There were no reports of injuries.

Again, look for the Israelis to do something decisive about this.

Hamas Missile Hit Tel-Aviv Suburb

Apparently the IDF hasn't gotten all of Hamas' long range Iranian missiles yet. This morning, a missile hit just outside the Tel-Aviv suburb of Rishon Lezion.

No injuries or damage reported, but this is the first time Hamas has managed to hit central Israel.After this, I'd be very surprised if Israel didn't mount a ground assault on Gaza.>

Israel's leftists were able to ignore or rationalize what was going on in places like Sderot, but Rishon Lezion is different. This is where they live. It's their cafes, their homes that are under the gun now.

Here's the proof:

At an emergency meeting in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the security cabinet authorized Defense Minister Ehud Barak to mobilize reservists if needed.

The cabinet also agreed that the IDF should continue to act against terrorist infrastructure and activity in Gaza. It instructed the Foreign Ministry to begin a diplomatic public relations campaign to explain that Israel was acting in self-defense against military targets, as the continued rocket barrage had become intolerable.

Of course, a lot of the reserves were already mobilized, but this puts the Knesset's stamp of approval on it.

The IDF,by the way, has already started working the public relations angle. They're using special high impact low explosive warheads in targeted vermin control like the one of Ahmed al-Jabari. And they're dropping thousands of leaflets in Arabic warning the population "avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives."

Hamas Missile Kills 3 In Direct Hit On Israeli Home

 

Three Israelis were killed today and several others wounded when a Hamas missile scored a direct hit on a house in Kiryat Malachi, a town about 11miles from Ashkelon.

Among the dead was a 25 year old Chabad “shlucha (female emissary)” to New Dehli, India,  Mirah (nee Cohen) Scharf, who was visiting Israel for a memorial service for Chabad Mumbai terror victims Gabi and Rivka Holtzberg. (HY"D)The Hebrew anniversary of their brutal murder is today.

Mrs Scharf, who was  was pregnant at the time of her death was also the mother of three young children.

Another victim was  Ahron Smadga, the father of the 8-month-old baby girl pictured above:

“He was married for 20 years and couldn’t have children then he had twin boys nine years ago, and 8 months ago his daughter was born and he was walking around with a smile on his face that he had a daughter after all this years,” Daniels told The Algemeiner.

“He was one of the first Chabad soldiers to join the Israeli Army,” he said.

The third victim was 22 year old Yitzchak Amselam. The funeral is planned for later today.

The IDF told the Israeli people to gird the home front.  They were under no illusion about the sort of enemy they were facing.

 

The Latest From The Gaza War

Hamas fired several Grad missiles at Beersheva today. The Iron Dome knocked out two of them, along with an additional 17 in other parts of southern Israel, and there are no reports of injuries, damage or casualties.

Air strikes are continuing, and a number of the missile sites were located in or near mosques, schools and apartment buildings. As usual Hamas is using civilians as human shields.

Below, here's IDF spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich as she replies to an obviously hostile interviewer on Al Jazeera:



One of my little birdies told me that a ground operation is imminent, but I wasn't able to confirm that independently.The Israeli press is finally reporting publicly that reserves have been called up.

Twitter is also figuring in this war:



Nachon, Tzahal!

The US, at least fo rnow is still supporting Israel's right to self defense, condemning the rocket attacks on southern Israel.

"We support Israel's right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties," US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement on Wednesday.

"We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence," he added.

Stay tuned...

The Petraeus Affair Raises New Questions On Benghazzi

The David Petraeus sex scandal is resonating far beyond its original borders.

Since I wasn't particularly interested in the sleazier aspects of the story, my main thought was to wonder why General  Petraeus was  sandbagged in this fashion.

After all, plenty of men in high places have been caught with inappropriate parts of their anatomies caught in the cookie jar before, and while it may lead to resignations for various contrived reasons, it rarely leads to this kind of public scandal...unless somebody in power wants it that way. The general's little love triangle ( or is it a hexagon?) didn't need to be outed, especially since people leave White House  jobs in DC all the time after an election. Yet it was. Why?

Charles Krauthammer thinks he knows:



What Dr. Krauthammer is talking about is the fact that the FBI knew all about General Petraeus' extracurricular activities way back in May of 2012, yet he was allowed to continue in place until now, with the White House ignoring the national security implications of possible blackmail or security leaks.

While I originally thought that the delay was just to avoid embarrassing the president during election season, it looks like this goes even deeper.

It is, of course, an old tradition in certain political circles to collect useful tidbits like this and hold them in reserve for when you need them.If the Obama Administration in fact did that,it's a serious matter - a major security lapse allowed solely for political purposes.

But now, it appears that a question has been raised about whether Petraeus was promised a chance to resign gracefully or even to stay on provided he toed the Administration line about an out-of-hand mob incensed by a video..which is pretty much what he did in his testimony of September 13th.

But then the question remains..if this is how it went down and General Petraeus submitted and did what the administration wanted, why destroy him anyway?

I can think of reasons.

General Petraeus was never one of the president's Chicago circle, he's always conducted himself with honor, he's not particularly an Obama loyalist and as such, there's no telling when he might roll back over. This way, he's disgraced and discredited no matter what.

No matter what he says about Benghazzi when he testifies before Congress, it can now be ignored with a nudge, a smirk and wink by the regime and their media allies.

Not that I think the General is going to contradict his performance of September 13 all that much unless something special happens, like an offer of immunity. There is this thing called perjury.

What he will likely have, for now at least, is a few rough hours as congress parses his Libya Report to the White House, provided they can manage to pry it loose form the Obama Regime.

Strike , Zion! IDF Takes Out Top Hamas Commander, 20 Underground Missile Sites.

Israel finally decided it had enough of rockets and mortars being fired at its civilians in the south.

For starters, they took out Ahmed Jabri, the head of Hamas' military wing, the Izzadam Kassam Brigades, and a man directly responsible for numerous attacks on Israel:







They then went after a number of underground missile sites in Gaza City,destroying 20 of them as well as targeting Hamas facilities and destroying stockpiles of longer-range Iranian-supplied Fajr-5 missiles that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza.

The campaign, entitled Amud Anan in Hebrew, which means Pillar of Cloud (but is being translated in English as Operation Defensive Pillar) may have just begun. Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch said the attack is the "start of a broader operation."

According to IDF spokes person Yoav Mordechai, the IDF believes it has eliminated the majority of the long-range threat:

"The first aim of this operation is to bring back quiet to southern Israel, and the second target is to strike at terror organizations," Mordechai said. "The homefront must brace itself resiliently," he added, describing Jabari as a man with "a lot of blood on his hands."

The IDF has reportedly called up some of its reserves and are prepared to put boots on the ground in Gaza if necessary. Don't be surprised if they go in. The Israeli Navy has also positioned itself off Gaza's coast.

The back story on this is kind of interesting. Over 110 missiles were fired into southern Israel in the past few days, to the point where the Israelis simply couldn't tolerate it any more.The capper was Hamas' Popular Resistance Committee releasing a video showing them targeting an IDF jeep in Israel. That attack that left four IDF soldiers wounded – one in serious condition who may end up losing his sight.

It was the Egyptians who first told Hamas that enough was enough. Not wanting a war on their borders, they informed Hamas Monday that they were on their own and not to expect any support from Egypt if things unfolded to their logical conclusion and the Israelis went to war.

According to my sources, Israel also let the Egyptians know that this de facto cease fire was acceptable to them. And for their part, Hamas seemed to accept it as well. On Tuesday, only one rocket hit Israel, in Ashdod.

But the next morning, Wednesday, Hamas launched 4 missiles at Sderot, which exploded inside the town (one near a school) and only avoiding killing or injuring anyone by sheer chance.

After that, the 'ceasefire' that was never a ceasefire ended, and the IDF struck back hard.

I would speculate that the Iranians pushed Hamas  on this one, and Hamas figured it was safe to break the truce and Egyptian popular sentiment would probably demand Egypt get involved.

So far, there's been no comment from the Obama Administration, although U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro reiterated ”Israel’s right to defend itself and its citizens from these attacks” three days ago.

Stay tuned.

Watcher's Council Nomination - Autumn Leaves Edition

Welcome to the Watcher's Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the 'sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

First off, I'd like to mention that the city of Sderot, Israel has been under attack for several days. While the rocket attacks have stopped for now, the ongoing assault in these brave people continues.

I urge you to read the Gates of Vienna post down as a Watcher's pick this week. There's a link therein where you can, if you wish, donate some money to help in the relief efforts.They can use it.


This week, Ask Marion, Crazy Bald Guy, Liberty's Spirit and The Pirate's Cove took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won't be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out Wednesday AM.

It's a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let's see what we have this week....

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – The Fog of Misdirection
• The Political Commentator – L.A. Lakers fire coach Mike Brown and America rehires Barack Obama?
• The Razor – Invincible
• Joshuapundit-Taking DC By Strategy - A Battle Plan
• The Colossus of Rhodey – The results (and what now?)
• Bookworm Room – Getting outside of the bubble: taking liberal arguments seriously
• The Right Planet – When Liberals (Socialists) Offer Advice
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – P4 Finis
• The Glittering Eye -I Love The U.S.A.
• VA Right! - The Republican’s “Obama Lite” Candidate Loses (AGAIN!)
• The Mellow Jihadi – What Can You Do to Help Our Vietnam Veterans?
• The Independent Sentinel – Benghazi Bombshell: Lies Upon Lies in an Extraordinary Cover UP
• Gay Patriot – Jerry Brown'’s scorn for wealth creators
• Rhymes With Right – An Observation On The Petraeus Resignation
• Simply Jews – Of Mice And Men

Honorable Mentions

• Ask Marion - A Black Veil of Mourning Hangs Over America
• Crazy Bald Guy - Our long national nightmare is NOT over
• Liberty's Spirit - Hubris and Hoohahs…..The Fault is in Ourselves
• The Pirate's Cove - Washington Post: “Know What Would Be Awesome? A Carbon Tax”

Non-Council Submissions

• Melanie Phillips –America goes into the darkness submitted by The Noisy Room
• The Economic Collapse Blog -Share This Massive List Of Post-Election Firings And Layoffs With Everyone You Can submitted by The Political Commentator
• ZeroHedge –Why President Obama Was Reelected submitted by The Razor
• Victor Davis Hanson – Anatomies of Electoral Madness submitted by Joshuapundit
• The First Street Journal – Ending your career with a thud submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Commentary/Abe Greenwald -Democrats Better Start Soul Searching submitted by Bookworm Room
• Misfit Politics – Capitalism Vs. Democrat Policies submitted by The Right Planet
• Wired – Is Anti-Islam Filmmaker a Political Prisoner? submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Blake Hounshell/Foreign Policy – Did Petraeus mistress reveal new Benghazi details? submitted by The Glittering Eye
• David Limbaugh – Before We Give Up, Could We At Least Try Selling Our Ideas? submitted by VA Right!
• Bring the heat, Bring the Stupid –Is it Time for a Cold War Victory Medal? submitted by The Mellow Jihadi
• PJ Media – European Socialism is Collapsing, Is America Next? submitted by The Independent Sentinel
• Powerline -Where Do Republicans Go From Here? The Social Issues submitted by Gay Patriot
• Gates of Vienna – News from Front-Line Sderot submitted by The Watcher
• Caroline Glick – A time for courage, and action submitted by The Watcher

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