Hamas comes clean; claims responsibility for the murders of three Israeli teenagers

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Thursday August 21, 2014 · 6:57 AM PDT

2014/08/21 · 06:57

Israel struck back at the Hamas rump in Gaza following the murders of three yeshiva students living in the West Bank. At the time, a number of Kossacks publicly questioned the pretext, accusing the Netanyahu government of put up job. When Israel produced a known Hamas militant and admitted bagman behind the plot, some went so far as to accuse law enforcement of obtaining his confession through torture.

Well, time to scratch another conspiracy theory off the list:

A top Hamas official said members of his militant group kidnapped three Israeli teenagers whose deaths in June provoked a spiral of violence that led to the war in Gaza, the first acknowledgement of the movement's involvement.

Poll

148 votes Show Results

Did you ever doubt Hamas' complicity in the murder of these three West Bank yeshiva students?

148 votes Vote Now!

Did you ever doubt Hamas' complicity in the murder of these three West Bank yeshiva students?

Yes

34 votes

92 votes

Pie

22 votes

"No change in procedure for arming Israel"

rduran

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 18, 2014 · 10:58 AM PDT

2014/08/18 · 10:58

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House and State Department had halted or delayed a shipment of AGM 114 Hellfire missiles and would now require senior policymaker review of all Israeli armament requests. The report indicated senior staff and Cabinet officers were upset with recent diplomatic uproars between Israeli and American delegations in Cairo.

Last Friday, JTA reported this:

U.S. officials denied reports of a change in the procedure through which their government supplies arms to Israel.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said: “Let me be clear: There has been no change in policy, period.” But she also said that, “Given the crisis in Gaza, it is natural that agencies take additional care with deliveries as part of an inter-agency process.”

Poll

23 votes Show Results

When will the United States government release the Hellfire shipment to Israel?

23 votes Vote Now!

When will the United States government release the Hellfire shipment to Israel?

In a matter of days

10 votes

In a matter of weeks

2 votes

Before the November electoin

3 votes

After the November election

0 votes

Never

2 votes

Pie

6 votes

Israel redeploys as it announces 7 hour Monday cease-fire

rduran

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday August 03, 2014 · 4:23 PM PDT

2014/08/03 · 16:23

From 10 AM to 5 PM Monday, Israel will unilaterally cease fire throughout Gaza Strip except for East Rafah. Same conditions as previous cease-fires:

Maj. General Mordechai said that the IDF would respond to fire if the cease-fire is violated, and additionally called for the residents of several neighborhoods east of Khan Younis to return to their homes.

Israel also commenced redeployment of ground forces to the interior of the Gaza-Israel barrier to continue "offensive operations." Read More

Time travel and Special Relativity

rduran

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday June 20, 2014 · 3:37 PM PDT

2014/06/20 · 15:37

Fig. 1: Bertha sends a message back in time

Here's the essential setup.

1. We have two pairs of distantly separated lovers: a) Bill and Bertha and b) Jim and Jane. Woes is them.
2. If you haven't figured it out from the graph yet, Bill and Bertha are colocal (not moving with respect to one another), as are Jim and Jane.
3. Jim and Jane are also moving at some velocity with respect to Bill and Bertha (that's why the x' and t' axes for Jim and Jane are tweezed inward with respect to the x and t axes for Bill and Bertha). This is very important, and is the second most essential geometrical intuition you must develop to understand SR.
4. Missing from the graph are lines indicating the "world (or light) cone". Simply imagine four lines intersection points A at opposing 45 degree angles from the x and t axes. That represents the motion of light in each of our four traveller's frame of reference. You'll note that the light cone lines are the same for Jim and Jane as they are for Bill and Bertha despite Jim and Jane's odd set of axes (x' and t'). This is also very important, and is the most essential geometric intuition behind special relativity.

So for the past week or so a few diarists have pointed out that FTL motion violates causality in some frame of reference. Let's see why that is.

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