The Israel lobby in the US has had its hands full recently trying to get its agenda of total US support of hardline Israeli government policies implemented, and is fighting back rising criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as well as of its own role in influencing US foreign policy. In doing so it has become much more visible than it once was and has been subjected to much more criticism.
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The Shadows were a British instrumental group, the equivalent of The Ventures in the US. Both groups pioneered the three guitar (lead, rhythm, bass) plus drummer format, though the former had less of the driving, pulsing, beat that characterized the latter.
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Pope Francis, please call your office. The German bishop whose high life that you have been critical of has a worthy US competitor.
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You may recall the case of Jonathan Martin, the football player for the Miami Dolphins who walked off of the team in the middle of the season because he could not tolerate any more the hazing that he was being subjected to by his teammates, principally Richie Incognito, and some coaches. I wrote about it here, here, and here.
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As rumored, the reporters who first broke the stories based on documents released by Edward Snowden have received the prestigious Polk journalism awards for 2013, in their case in the category for national security reporting. As the press release says:
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Over a year ago, I had a post in which I wondered why it was that snake Pentecostal snake handlers, who regularly handled poisonous snakes because Jesus promised true believers that they would not be harmed, seemed to be bitten a lot less than one might expect. Various suggestions were offered.
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There has recently been a rise in criticism of the way that Israel is acting in the Occupied Territories and the fact that its treatment of Palestinians that has been getting increasingly worse. An Israeli human rights group Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) has published a report “which claimed that children suspected of minor crimes were subjected to “public caging”, threats and acts of sexual violence and military trials without representation” and “accused the government of torturing children after it emerged some were kept in outdoor cages during winter.”
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I am a very risk-averse person. It is not just about risks to myself but also risks to others. This is one reason why I never watch high-risk sporting events live because I just can’t bear the tension of wondering if something will go horribly wrong and result in the competitor suffering serious injuries or even dying. Fortunately this rarely happens in the Olympics where the athletes know what they are doing (I hope).
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There has been an interesting public split emerging among Catholic bishops over the attitude the church should take towards gays. Some bishops have taken a hard line, especially among those in Africa where they have supported vicious anti-gay legislation that has been passed in nations like Nigeria and others have been proposed in Uganda, Cameroon, and Tanzania.
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The latest revelations from the Edward Snowden documents is that the Australian government spied on members of an unnamed US law firm that was representing the Indonesian government in a trade dispute with the US, violating attorney-client privilege in the process. The conversations were picked up by the Australian Signals Directorate, their equivalent of the NSA, who then offered to share their information with the NSA, because what are friends for if they don’t help each other in taking advantage of others?
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