On This Day: Senator Barack Obama leaves the stage after making a speech in front of the Victory Column in Berlin on July 24, 2008
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Today
9:50 PDT: The President attends a DNC fundraiser, private residence, Los Angeles
1:25 PDT: Delivers remarks, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College
3:05 PDT: Departs Los Angeles
5:0 EDT The President’s interview with CNBC’s Steve Liesman is aired
10:50 EDT: Arrives White House
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@petesouza: Pres Obama disembarks from AF1 in LA
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LA Times: In Los Angeles, Obama Gives His Die-Hard Supporters A Tough-Love Talk
President Obama delivered a tough-love talk to his biggest boosters Wednesday, telling Democratic donors gathered in Los Angeles that they need to step it up before November if he’s going to get much done in his last two years in office. “You thought, ‘OK, we elect Barack and that’s it,’” Obama told a crowd big-dollar donors gathered in the lush Hancock Park backyard of TV producer Shonda Rhimes. He reminded them that he’d warned that it wasn’t about electing him but about getting “our democracy to work.” “I have got to have a Congress that has some sense and is willing to work and is willing to compromise and is focused on the American people. And we don’t have that right now.” Obama is often candid about what he describes as Democrats’ chronic problem: low turnout in midterm elections. But his remarks Wednesday came with a sharper ribbing for a crowd he seemed to think could take it.
Democrats like the fun of a presidential campaign, Obama said. But “we’ve got to step it up in the midterms. Not when it’s easy, not when it’s sexy, not when there’s hope posters….” While Democrats “don’t even know there’s an election,” Obama said, Republicans get to the polls. “Lo and behold we’re surprised when John Boehner is speaker of the House! What happened to Nancy Pelosi? What happened is y’all didn’t vote. And that’s when all kinds of … stuff happened,” Obama said, pausing as if deliberating on whether to keep the rant clean. “That’s what it was — stuff.”
More here
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Marketwatch: Jobless Claims Lowest In More Than Eight Years
The number of unemployed workers applying for jobless benefits tumbled in the most recent weekly data to the lowest level in more than eight years, signaling that employers are letting go of very few workers.
Applicants for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits in the week that ended July 19 dropped by 19,000 to 284,000 — the lowest level since February 2006, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected initial claims of 310,000 in the most recent weekly data.
More here
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Steve Benen: Jobless Claims Improve To Eight-Year Low
The last time the Labor Department published a report on initial unemployment claims this good, the Great Recession hadn’t even started yet:
The number of people who applied for regular state unemployment-insurance benefits in the week that ended July 19 tumbled by 19,000 to 284,000 – the lowest level since February 2006 – signaling that companies have further slowed down the pace of layoffs and are letting go of few workers, according to government data released Thursday….
Regular readers know I run the above chart every Thursday morning, highlighting initial unemployment claims since January 2007, the year the Great Recession started. Look closely, however, and you’ll notice that today’s report is the best since before the chart began.
More here
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Chicago Tribune: U.S. Health Insurers To Pay $330 Million In Premium Rebates
U.S. health insurers will send out about $330 million in rebates to employers and individuals this summer under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday.
The law, often called Obamacare, requires insurance companies to refund customers when they spend less than 80 percent or 85 percent of healthcare premiums they collect for medical care.
The rebates will go to about 6.8 million people and have a value of about $80 per family. They are to be sent by Aug. 1 either directly to consumers or to the employer providing the health coverage, who is required to pass the savings onto employees, the agency said in a report.
More here
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#ACASignups VINDICATION! ProPublica confirms a good half-million+ #ACA QHPs via HCgov since 4/19: http://t.co/0f9RHs5Oie #Obamacare #HIX
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) July 24, 2014
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Pro Publica: Even After Open Enrollment, Activity Remains Unexpectedly High On Federal Health Insurance Exchange
New federal data, obtained by ProPublica under the Freedom of Information Act, shows nearly 1 million insurance transactions since mid-April.
For months, journalists and politicians fixated on the number of people signing up for health insurance through the federal exchange created as part of the Affordable Care Act. It turned out that more than 5 million people signed up using Healthcare.gov by April 19, the end of the open-enrollment period.
But perhaps more surprising is that, according to federal data released Wednesday to ProPublica, there have been nearly 1 million transactions on the exchange since then. People are allowed to sign up and switch plans after certain life events, such as job changes, moves, the birth of a baby, marriages and divorces.
The volume of these transactions was a jolt even for those who have watched the rollout of the ACA most closely.
More here
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#ACASignups California: Expect the uninsured rate to drop by *another* 600K by Labor Day: http://t.co/yzV1Yflck8 #Obamacare #HIX @CoveredCA
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) July 24, 2014
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CNN: CNN Poll: Is Obamacare Working?
More than half the public says Obamacare has helped either their families or others across the country, although less than one in five Americans say they have personally benefited from the health care law, according to a new national poll. A CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that a majority of Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act, but that some of that opposition is from people who don’t think the measure goes far enough.
The poll, conducted this past weekend, was released on Wednesday, one day after a federal appeals court upheld Obamacare tax subsidies. That ruling came just a couple of hours after a separate appeals court struck down such subsidies for the millions of Americans enrolled in the federal government’s HealthCare.gov exchange. 53% say that Obamacare has helped either their families or others across the country.
More here
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First Lady Michelle Obama to attend Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Chicago today http://t.co/uwjdFTdAIc pic.twitter.com/phVXEjy3Y7
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) July 24, 2014
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ThinkProgress: Demonizing Migrant Children Proves An Epic Fail For Anti-Immigrant Groups
Anti-Immigrants can’t even throw a good rally anymore.
Anti-immigrant groups have hit upon the issue of children fleeing violence who are arriving unaccompanied by adults at our southern border. These children are coming from three countries: El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. All three countries have very serious problems with gang violence, murder and child trafficking into prostitution. Under current US federal law these children have the right to have their cases thoroughly evaluated to ensure that no child is returned to a country where they might be killed, injured or trafficked.
… To make their case that Americans are really upset about an increase in unaccompanied children at the border, anti-immigrant groups staged what was supposed to have been a massive number of protests around the country. They staged a “National Day of Protesting Against Immigration Reform, Amnesty & Border Surge”….
…. Despite this all in effort, the anti-immigrants failed miserably to turn people out to protest children. If these rallies around the country were meant to demonstrate the power of the anti-immigrant movement, they may instead signal its end. In many cases, no one showed up at all.
More here
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Brian Beutler: The Conservative Judges Who Ruled Against Obamacare Missed This One Very Important Detail
We now know that two conservative judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals have declared it illegal for the government to subsidize Obamacare health plans in states that didn’t set up their own insurance exchanges. In reaching that conclusion, Judge Thomas Griffith, who authored the opinion of the court, sought to rebut each of the Obama administration’s arguments to the contrary—that the law clearly contemplates subsidizing health plans in every state whether or not a state built its own marketplace. But in one instance he based his counterargument on information that became outdated less than one week ago.
And the recent development turns that counterargument on its head. One of the White House’s most straightforward arguments is that neither Congress nor the administration would have approved a punitive system so at odds with the ACA’s ultimate, stated goal of achieving near-universal insurance coverage. The law seeks to achieve near-universal coverage by mandating the purchase of guaranteed, subsidized (and thus affordable) health plans. Take away the subsidies, and the plans are no longer affordable. If the plans aren’t affordable, they’re no longer compulsory. And if they aren’t compulsory and affordable the coverage expansion goal will be unattainable.
More here
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we must seal our border to protect us from this little one’s adorable cheeks, right wingnuts? pic.twitter.com/hUW9bSAwZq
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 24, 2014
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On This Day
Senator Obama waves to the crowd after making a speech in front of the Victory Column in Berlin, July 24, 2008
Sen. Obama waves from his car on July 24, 2008 in Berlin, Germany
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President Obama shares a lighter moment with Vice President Biden in the Oval Office on July 24, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama meets with leaders from the disability community in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on July 24, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama shakes the hand of a young military family member at the Marine Barracks evening parade in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2009Photo by Samantha Appleton)
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the U.S. Marine Barracks evening parade in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2009 (All photos by Samantha Appleton)
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The Obama Diary 
Seriously!
Even though you cheated DF, I’ll reward you on behalf of Nerdy:
Let me just say, that I posted something even BEFORE I posted stupid comment, and it never showed up! That’s WHY I posted this stupid comment…it was to WP for being STUPID:) So I made it here even before this…I did not cheat, I did not cheat, I did not cheat. WP is a poopy pants.
😆 You are not wrong, it is a poopy pants!!!
How are you doing, girlfriend?
Good morning DF. My thoughts and prayers are with you as you mourn the loss of your precious dog. so close to the anniversary of the loss of your mom. We have all been there and we grieve with you.
Newstastic!! Thanks a gazillion Nerdy – especially for battling through endless WordPress glitches this morning. Legend.
Thanks, Chips.
Some days, WordPress truly is the devil’s spawn. LOL.
When they start fiddling, I start panicking. Still reading through their support forum to see if others are having similar problems. Grrr.
Thanks a million again Nerdy, a wonderful R&S.
Ah ha Nerdy, you are not alone!
http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/wordpress-not-working-7?replies=11#post-1959663
Hopefully now that they’ve been alerted, they’ll fix the damn thing!
Very pleased I did not throw iPad off the roof, as I felt impelled to do. 🙂 morning, and DF, you just bask in that Golden Light, k?! 😉 ❤
Thanks, Chips. It’s a “bang head on the wall” situation that’s for sure.
Awesome Rise and Shine…
The News that will keep us informed…aware…motivated to organize…..while it debunks the lies and spins of the MSM….
#MovingForwardTogether
Thanks, PF.
🙂 Yeah…”STUFF” HAPPENED! We better make some GOOD “STUFF” happen this November, because we have SERIOUS “STUFF” to take care of!! So people, get your “STUFF” together and get out there and VOTE!!
Hahahahaha….well, good morning to you too, DF.
Love how POTUS substituted “stuff” for “shit,” because you know he wanted to let the word “shit” fly multiple times. I bet he lets it rip in private like any other normal human being when frustrated at the apathy of some Democratic voters; especially during midterms.
I wish he could let let shit fly all over the place! If anyone has a right to cuss out the lunatics, it’s him!!
I’VE SAID THE SH…FILL IN THE BLANK WORD SEVERAL TIMES LATELY…PEOPLE JUST AREN’T HUMAN ANYMORE…GOD IS NOT HAPPY…PUSH ON PBO…MAY THE GOOD LORD’S HEDGE OF PROTECTION BE WITH YOU!
Think I am going to take a break and take a load off today. I can’t handle what’s going on Israel and feel my anger building every day over this. It’s time to relax and try to focus on things more positive before I explode.
And it just gets worse Jeff, every single day:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28468526
If I ever saw Bibi in real life I would raise my hand in a Hitler solute. Believe me that would enrage him or anyone Jewish. One of the biggest insults you can give and he deserves every last bit of scorn for this. Many Jews including Stewart (I know I went there on here) have condemned what Israel is doing. Steven Spielberg even spoke out against the practices that Israel has been doing. Never forget I’ve been told by those who are Jewish. I haven’t forgotten but now I wonder if these some of these same people telling me never to forget if they have forgotten.
I think I’m going to go cry for a while.
It’s a living nightmare Jeff, the whole damn thing, I just prefer to leave references to Jews and the Holocaust out of it, just as I prefer Islam wasn’t slandered when evil is done in its name. This, to me, is about a monstrous Israeli government slaughtering civilians, and the whole world just standing by. I don’t care about the religion of anyone in the nightmare.
This. It’s wrong no matter who/why. Wrong is wrong. The world knows. Like I said the other day, we can support the Israeli people, support the Palestinians…and condemn the leaders that choose this destructive and ugly path for their countries. People just want the right to have dignity and live with peace and security. That is NOT too much to ask! Israel’s PM is taking the cowards way…..Hamas is taking the cowards way….their people deserve more!
And there’s just no end to the cycle DF. It reminds me of the situation in Northern Ireland years back, every time a Catholic was murdered by the British Army/police, recruitment for the IRA soared. Multiply that by thousands in Gaza right now. With every atrocity, on both sides, the hate just deepens.
I know. My heart/head hurts. Someone needs to be strong and courageous enough to stop the madness.
not sure why not… Israel constantly raises money off the holocaust and often uses it to justify their behavior.
I am upset also, Jeff. Try to keep your eyes on the longterm high ground—peace and long life to Gaza and Israel.
I am Jewish, read the jewish newspapers daily and I can clearly distinguish between the atrocities of the jewish state and the necessary response from Gaza.
If I can do this, so can many other Jews.
Don’t fall into cynicism and despair or blaming the Obama Administration.
The better path is to help make the case that the people of Gaza have been living with intolerable imprisonment and the violence of deprivation for the 7 years of the stranglehold of the siege and blockade.
Compassion for the victims of the israelis seems to me the way to go.
Also detail the Israeli LIES: ” We don’t target civilians.” Yes, You Do. 5,000 Gaza citizens are dead and wounded.
Hamas’s unbearable bombardment has so far claimed 3, yes, 3 Israeli civilian lives.
I responded to your comment about nuclear bombing of Israel on the previous thread. Plese don’t do that. L’chaim. To Life.
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/492313581623324672
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/492321092145385474
Obama is often candid about what he describes as Democrats’ chronic problem: low turnout in midterm elections. But his remarks Wednesday came with a sharper ribbing for a crowd he seemed to think could take it.
Democrats like the fun of a presidential campaign, Obama said. But “we’ve got to step it up in the midterms. Not when it’s easy, not when it’s sexy, not when there’s hope posters….”
While Democrats “don’t even know there’s an election,” Obama said, Republicans get to the polls.
“Lo and behold we’re surprised when John Boehner is speaker of the House! What happened to Nancy Pelosi? What happened is y’all didn’t vote. And that’s when all kinds of … stuff happened,” Obama said, pausing as if deliberating on whether to keep the rant clean. “That’s what it was — stuff.”
G’day mates. It’s time to really sound the alarm……GENERAL QUARTERS, ALL HANDS MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS. BRING ALL GOTV GUNS TO BEAR. Target ALL block clubs, neighborhood/community groups, SAC’s, and volunteer org’. Let’s get ‘er done!
Moooooorning Shipmate, you are truly ready for battle!!! 🙂
All the time Admiral. All the time! 🙂
I salute you, Shipmate!
Reporting for Duty….
Signed up to work in the Wolf for Gov campaign with a focus on Voter Registration….and GOTV
Firedddddddd UP, READY to Go!!
All engines ahead full……:)
Ahoy, JO’B and other @VP Biden supporters (count me in!):
Also agree with everyone who posted yesterday their support for an O’Malley/Deval Patrick ticket in 2016 if @VP Biden doesn’t run (so hope he does, he’s always been a true progressive, and has the biggest heart of anyone except for PBO).
Forgot to say — compare to snooty HRC.
I prefer to not give a thought to PUMAs and emoprogs, though, LOL.
I’d vote for that ticket in a hot second!
Oh my God, no words.
Good Morning TODVille!
Wow, such sad news. What’s going to happen? Tsar Putin will increase his infiltration…
OMG, so Yatsenyuk has resigned.
why??….what happened?
There’s been some turmoil in Parliament with collapse of key governing coalitions.
I’m sure when Bobfr arrives, he’ll fill everyone in on the backstory.
ok…whew…..amazing happenings in the world….i know that it has been said so many times…but I MUST say it again…We…and indeed the world are so very fortunate to have Barack Obama in the WH…..
Bob. Please tell us what you think about this. OMG is right,meta
https://twitter.com/latinorebels/status/492329471706279936
He’s rocking it with key demographic.
⭐ ❤ and a 🐻 To hf2, totally awesome intuitive work getting the dark covers pulled off that msnbc stunt! I don't watch teevee, was following that story here, very pleased you have the techy skills to find and expose the subterfuge, thank you, thank you. I hope they know you're onto them! It's all so devious and lame, how can their lies be so very empty? One wonders.
GM TOD! Congrats on first DF, and wonderful R&S NW.
Unfortunately this is still going on, and now Bibi’s propaganda machine is out in full force….it started w/ *sponsored tweets* now grants?
Okay, I’m going to say something very controversial, and I may lose friends.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I HATE THE SUMMER!1!
I HATE HEAT!1!
I HATE THE SUN!1!
I WANT WINTER – NOW!1!
Okay, that’s it.
Actually, I couldn’t agree w/ you more……I always thought I was a weirdo, but It seems I’m not alone….maybe there is a legion of “people on the right side of history” 🙂
😆 I feel like a revolutionary here LP, I am freeing TOD people to reveal their loathing of that yellowy ball in the sky!
We already have a battalion!!!! Meta & 57 have already enlisted 😎
🙂
I think you have an “IBM Watson” generated algorithm that produces relative scree caps…..I’ve always been impressed w/ the speed & precision of your responses. I will follow you into battle any day!!!
“an “IBM Watson” generated algorithm”
LP, speek inglush pleese!
😆 That is hilarious – and slightly weird!! Watson standing there is, well, a hoot!!!!
Wait, how does he press his buzzer?
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/ibm-watson-the-inside-story-of-how-the-jeopardy-winning-supercomputer-was-born-and-what-it-wants-to-do-next/
“Watson, consisting of ten racks of ten Power 750 servers, had to be kept apart from the human contestants because of the roar of its cooling system and was represented at the podium by an avatar of IBM’s Smarter Planet logo, whose moving lines would go green when Watson had cracked a thorny problem, orange when the answer was wrong.
While Watson had the questions delivered in text rather than by listening to the quizmaster, he played the game like his human counterparts: puzzle over the question, buzz in, give the answer that’s most likely to be right, tot up some prize money.”
“had to be kept apart from the human contestants because of the roar of its cooling system”
😆
Good grief, I’d give anything for a blast of Watson’s cooling system today 😦
Maybe it can help you out with your kitchen encounters?
Top 9 Commercial Uses for IBM Watson: Beyond ‘Jeopardy’
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/top-commercial-ibm-watson-jeopardy/story?id=21477280
Cooking:
While Watson is learning about the world as it is, its next step is creativity. Florian Pinel, a senior software engineer with IBM, is working on an application that tries to create novel and tasty recipes built around a knowledge base of food.
Watson already knows the molecular makeup of foods and its nutrition. Pinel is creating an application that allows a user to choose a type of cuisine, such as Thai or vegetarian, and other characteristics, such as manner of cooking (like sautéed), and then an algorithm can walk you through possible ingredients, proportions and more.
Watson, for example, can create trillions of combinations of ingredients based on your preferences, like novelty, aroma and pairing abilities. Watson, for example, knows that bay leaf is a common ingredient in Thai cuisine, Pinel explained.
Inorite? How does she do it? Complete relevance in 4 seconds. Psychology papers have been written on how long it takes the human brain to establish relevance and Chips aces it every time……..She must have bots!
I AM SO WITH YOU, SISTER.
GIVE ME FALL.
I’d take any other season Meta, although right now I’m dreaming of snow and ice and frost and ….. 😥
Fall. Not winter, but fall.
I can accept that compromise. Should note, however, that today is a cool 70 degrees with a slight breeze. Couldn’t ask for a nicer summer day.
Like the rent, 70 is still too damn high!
70 is room temperature, for God’s sake.
Not in my room, it’s not!
Oh gawd, that photo makes me want to cry.
It’s beautiful here in Chicago the last two days.
THIS. 🙂 🙂
Okay, I’ll take Fall!
Oh well, I am loving the summer. The heat is delicious on my old bones.
Still love you, Chips. We don’t have to agree on everything.
Spam-blocked!!! 🙂
sounds like you need a nice soothing “summer” song to relax a little. here’s one for you, chips:
4More? You. Are. EVIL!!!!!!!! 😆
I love summer too…and Chips as well.
Sorry Dakota, you have to choose between us: the decision is yours.
Let me get back to you….
Agree 100%.
Overheard conversation between mother and daughter (about 10 years old) the other day, the daughter saying she liked winter better.
First reaction was, “Of course you do, we’re in SoCal, where the winter temps average around room temp around mid-day.”
When I was growing up, could never understand why people seemed so excited about summer, but now realize that the long days are such a plus the further north you go, with the amazingly long twilights, which don’t happen here.
Vying for the top news story today in LA with the President’s visit is how hot (100F+ it will be for at least the next 5 days).
Grateful I live in north facing abode, where it stays cool — until temps are over 100F degrees.
Oh Arapaho415, five days plus of 100F+ – where’s that faint picture when I need it?
Was 114 here yesterday. More of the same today. Quit whining:)
Okay, found him:
I know! Sucks.
It’s generally phenomenal weather where I live but we get an occasional heat wave high 80s – low 90s (like now through the next few days) and UGH!!
Sorry….
despite the heat….
i like the feel of the sun of my tenda toes….. 😀 😀
I need to set up two TODs:
The Hot Obama Diary
The Chilly Obama Diary.
Okay, off to do it now.
hhahahahahahah
Chips – there’s a cruise ship leaving for Sarah Palin’s “Country” in 5 minutes – BE ON It!
Oi! I’m not that desperate!
I will never come back here again….signed MOTHER NATURE.
P.S. Don’t get caught walking under a tree!
🙂 🙂 : )
What really lies across the surface of Mars? Rovers have scurried about the red planet for years, drilling, scooping and analyzing for signs of life, past or present. But to really understand the Martian landscape, scientists need to look at the entire surface. What they have needed is a global geologic map.
The red planet is long overdue for a new one. The last major effort in Martian cartography was published in 1987, scraped together from the early Viking probes’ scant images and datasets. Since then, four additional orbiters with superior imaging capabilities have journeyed into Martian orbit, collected data and transmitted their findings back to Earth.
Now, scientists at the United States Geological Survey have used that data to create an updated map of the entire Martian surface. The new map shows that ancient rock — dating back billions of years ago, when Mars’s environmental conditions might have closely resembled Earth’s— exists in many more locations than previously thought. Because the map highlights the location of the oldest rocks on Mars, it could help future missions chart a course for these areas.
“We are disproportionately interested in the early part of Martian history,” said David Beaty, the chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Directorate at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., who was not involved in the research. “It was during that period that more water would have been around, which is one of the key aspects of the origin of life.”…continued
great read.
” People of Jewish descent have every reason to be hyper-vigilant about anti-Semitic language and it is stupid to pretend that there’s none of it in the global movement for Palestinian freedom. It’s stupid to pretend that nobody ever conflates Jews with Zionists, or labels the Jewish people bloodthirsty and barbarous. And it hurts like hell to hear hoary old words of hate trickling through a movement that is about justice, about freedom, about protecting some of the world’s most persecuted people. It hurts just as much, however, to hear right-wing Israelis tell Jews around the world that the violence is for us, for our ancestors, for our children.
It is not anti-Semitic to suggest that Israel doesn’t get a free pass to kill whoever it likes in order to feel “safe”. It is not anti-Semitic to point out that if what Israel needs to feel “safe” is to pen the Palestinian people in an open prison under military occupation, the state’s definition of safety might warrant some unpacking. And it is not anti-Semitic to say that this so-called war is one in which only one side actually has an army.
It is not hate speech to reiterate the wild disparity in casualties. More than 600 Palestinians have been killed this past week, most of them civilians. Fewer than 30 Israelis have died, and most of them were soldiers.
SNIP
Over 20 centuries of faith and survival, the Jewish people have been persecuted, forced into exile, tortured, traumatised, ridiculed, harassed and finally murdered in their millions, and that matters – it still matters, to the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who survived, including me.
But the abused sometimes go on to abuse others. Countries formed in response to genocide expand their borders with murderous intolerance. People whose communities are bombed and bulldozed fire rockets back. Cycles of violence are comprehensible. That doesn’t mean they are acceptable.
SNIP
Jews would be horrified to see what is being done in their name today. Maybe it’s crass to put words in the mouths of your dead relatives, but right-wing hawks have been putting their opinions in the mouths of my dead relatives for weeks, so I think I’m entitled to a say, too.
Because in the end, it is about blood. Not blood as metonym or metaphor, but the actual stuff, wet on the faces of screaming children in Gaza. It’s about blood, and how much more of it will have to be shed before Israel finally feels “safe”, and how long the international community will stand by.
https://twitter.com/word_34/status/492342611831566337
Go, Hammerin’ Hank!
Dudette, swgablue — are you excited?
And Linda, too. 😳
Playing catch up for today’s post….
Yes, Arapaho415, I am excited!!! Georgia has a good chance of turning several key seats blue.
He made 755 home runs and is asking people to donate $7.55 in a moneybomb for Michelle. I did! I also donated $3 this morning to the DCCC because Boehner, GOP voted on the lawsuit for Pres Obama. Small amount but it’s what I can do and together it all adds up, just like votes!
KA-Booooooooooooom!!!!!
The IRS is about to start taxing churches that engage in electioneering.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has reached a settlement with a prominent atheist organization, agreeing to crack down churches and religious groups for infringements of its prohibition against ‘electioneering.’
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-irs-is-about-to-start-taxing.html
Oh, baby!! 🙂 🙂 About damn time…
I’m so glad! Great news.
Will this impact on…Souls to the Polls….
I don’t see why it should. Souls to the Polls is about encouraging & getting people TO VOTE, not telling them HOW TO VOTE like some evangelical groups are doing.
ok…..I hope so…
POTUS is going in:
Obama: Companies that avoid taxes are renouncing citizenship
President Barack Obama plans to go on the offensive later Thursday against companies that use cross-border mergers to avoid U.S. taxes, accusing them of essentially renouncing their American citizenship to shield profits. Bloomberg reports Obama will say in Los Angeles that companies using so-called inversions benefit from the economic advantages of being in the U.S. while adding to the tax burden of middle-class families. Democrats have called for action to stop inversions but analysts say near-term chances of legislation being enacted are very low.
http://linkis.com/marketwatch.com/rUHHQ
Hubby and I agreed that we would get out for our walk early today. His boss with some wild story about hubby knowing how to speak Spanish, which he doesn’t, and now I’m cooling my heels while this guy blathers on. I mouth that I’m just gonna go and he can catch up, he mouths “5 more minutes.” Why am I so pissed?
How wonderful to come back after eleven days out of the country and catch up with news here at TOD. Had a wonderful trip and great time with my sister and her husband’s choir. We visited Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich, but truthfully, there is no place like HOME!!!
It was wonderful to get back to my husband, home and little dog.
I’d like to say one thing to people in the U.S. who yell about “freedom.” They don’t know how good they have it! In Germany, almost every item you have is registered, counted, and a tax paid, even your computer. About the only thing that isn’t, is one’s lawnmower. If you change houses, you have to de-register your old address, and register your new address. Every tree is counted. Every move is noted. Of course every gun is registered. And, a fee or tax is paid for all these.
Wow Carolyn, what a trip, so many amazing cities – hope you had the best of times!!
NW, this is a fabulous collection of articles, tweets, pictures and all around Obama goodness! I wanted to share this tweet.
Israel says Hamas rocket hit the UN refuge. Not the IDF. Ha!
Bibi=Putin
Blame-shifters. Liars.
What a great rise and shine. Thanks Nerdy! I am with the ladies who want to stay cool but not knocking the folks who love summer!
I especially hate all the nasty bugs (flying and crawling) that summer in Iowa brings.
Exactly muscatinegal! Creepy crawlies EVERYwhere!!
Chat away:
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/07/24/chat-away-400/
State of Tennessee Sued for Depriving Residents of Medicaid Coverage
According to the lawsuit, the state has violated federal law by discontinuing in-person help for applicants to its Medicaid program, TennCare. Instead, Tennessee forces applicants to apply for TennCare through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace website, which was not designed for this purpose, causing some residents – including those with serious medical conditions – to go needlessly without health care. To make matters worse, the state has stopped accepting TennCare applications in person.
Several people are listed as complainants in the case including an infant:
One plaintiff in the lawsuit is a baby identified as “S.G.,” who was born two months premature. He was born into CoverKids coverage, but Tennessee revoked it the moment he left the hospital. S.G. has not had coverage since leaving the hospital.
As a premature child, S.G. is at high risk of contracting the potentially fatal respiratory and airway virus RSV. He requires monthly shots – at $3,000 each – to prevent this illness. His parents can’t afford the treatment.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/23/1316238/-State-of-Tennessee-Sued-for-Refusing-Medicaid-Expansion
Great R&S NW.
The Toon with Fluffy Christie got me going this afternoon.
The Twitpic with the baby and Immigration is just lovely.
Hello TOD and congrats to all the Gold medalists starting with this post and 3 back.