4-YEAR OLD MURDERED BY MORTAR ROCKET FROM GAZA

The Hamas attacks have claimed the life of a young innocent:

A four-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip on Friday afternoon. The boy, named late Friday as Daniel Tragerman, was at home with his parents and siblings at Kibbutz Nahal Oz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Region, close to the border with Gaza, when the attack took place.

An Israeli army spokesperson said the fatal shell was fired from near a school used as a shelter for Palestinian refugees. Earlier Israeli officials had said it was fired from an UNRWA school — an assertion the IDF later corrected.

Sirens wailed only very shortly before the mortar shell struck outside the Tragerman family home at the kibbutz, and his parents — Doron and Gila — were unable to get their son Daniel into their protected room in time. He was killed by shrapnel from the explosion that smashed into the house.

Daniel is the first Israeli child to die in the current Israel-Hamas conflict. His death brought the Israeli death toll since Operation Protective Edge began on July 8 to 68.

He was critically wounded, and later died of his wounds.

Several cars and buildings sustained damage from the fire following the explosion of the mortar shell.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas would pay a “heavy price” for the killing. In a phone call to local Sha’ar Hanegev council head Alon Shuster, Netanyahu said the IDF and Shin Bet would intensify their operations against Hamas and other Gaza terror groups until sustained calm was guaranteed for Israel.

Absolutely repulsive, and the government/army is going to have to get a lot more serious if they want to prove they can put a genuine stop to Hamas and their barbarism. The kid's parents wanted him to be able to grow up normally, and now, tragedy has struck instead.

CO2PHOBIA HARMS THE POOR AND THE THIRD WORLD: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS A HARVARD NOBEL PRIZE-WINNER BY 5 YEARS!

WHAT A FAMOUS HARVARD NOBEL PRIZE WINNER WROTE THIS WEEK...

TAB 5 YEARS AGO...

TWICE.

AND EVEN 8 YEARS AGO,

NO BRAG, JUST FACT.

MAYBE IT'S TIME FOR BIBI AND THE IDF TO THINK OUTSIDE-THE-BOX: DEMOLISH ISIS IN RETURN FOR ASSAD'S RECOGNITION OF THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL

JUST A WILD, OUTSIDE-THE-BOX IDEA.

I MEAN, NO ONE IS BETTER SITUATED TO DESTROY ISIL/ISIS THAN THE IAF - IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SYRIAN ARMY.

BUT ONLY ON ONE CONDITION: ASSAD MAKES FULL AND PRIOR AND PUBLIC RECOGNITION OF THE JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL.

IT'S ASSAD'S BEST CHANCE AT SURVIVAL.

AND THE WEST'S BEST SHOT AT DEFEATING ISIS ASAP.

IT WOULD ALSO PUT A WEDGE BETWEEN IRAN AND SYRIA.

(HEY: IT'S NO STRANGER THAN THINKING THE USA AND IRAN COULD BE ALLIED AGAINST ISIS....)

HAMAS ADMITS THEY KIDNAPPED AND MURDERED THE 3 YESHIVA STUDENTS

Now, after all the rocket fire they last caused, they're willing to admit it:

A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June -- the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.

Saleh Arouri told a conference in Turkey on Wednesday that Hamas's military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, carried out what he described as a "heroic operation" with the broader goal of sparking a new Palestinian uprising.

"It was an operation by your brothers from the al-Qassam Brigades," he said, saying Hamas hoped to exchange the youths for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas has repeatedly praised the kidnappings, but Arouri, the group's exiled West Bank leader, is the first member to claim responsibility. Israel has accused Hamas of orchestrating the kidnappings and identified two operatives as the chief suspects. The two men remain on the loose.

Arouri's admission shows "Hamas has no qualms whatsoever about targeting innocent civilians," said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.

If the Israeli government maintains any further "negotiations" with Hamas at this point, it will only be an insult to the memory of the students and many other victims of jihad. For now, the government and army have done something positive, by wiping out 3 Hamas leaders after the last rocket attack. But they've still got a lot more improvements to make, and that includes obliteration of the entire Hamas infrastructure.

TALKING WITH HAMAS IN EGYPT ONLY MAKES IT HARDER TO COMPLAIN IF OTHER COUNTRIES DO THE SAME

Another rocket attack was launched, but what's really angering here is that the Israeli government would choose to "negotiate" with them over in Egypt to broker a cease fire. First, here's what was said at the Knesset:

Israeli politicians across the political spectrum are calling for a tougher response to Hamas, following a barrage of rockets launched at southern and central Israel on Tuesday, in violation of the temporary cease-fire agreement that had been in place.

"When you negotiate with a terrorist organization, you get more terrorism in return," said Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi). "Sooner or later, Israel will have to defeat Hamas."

Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Habayit Hayehudi) shared Bennett's sentiments, saying, "We must attack our enemy Hamas until we achieve victory. I support the prime minister and the security forces in responding to the terrorists with a heavy blow and restoring security to Israeli citizens. There is no way we will cease as they fire."

Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) criticized the government's attempts to reach a long-term deal through negotiations thus far, also suggesting a need for a tougher approach to Hamas.

"It is the prime minister's job to provide security and calm to residents of the south," he said. "If, as the prime minister claims, Hamas has been defeated, then he should reach a diplomatic deal under the best terms possible for Israel. But, if the government buckles to provide a false sense of quiet, as we experienced today [Tuesday] -- this indicates a failure on the part of a weak government."

Netanyahu did a fine job giving a leftist politician a weapon with which to slam him. Until now, they had a valid complaint against foreign governments like Britain's associating with Hamas. Now they've damaged that objection by having anything to do with them over in Egypt. I'm sorry, but that was defeatism. And if they want to rectify the damage, they'll have to start raining down hard on Hamas now until it's destroyed.

FRANK MILLER INTERVIEWED ABOUT HIS CAREER

Miller was interviewed by Playboy prior to the premiere of the new movie sequel for Sin City, and he's got some interesting stuff to tell them about his past and present work, including Holy Terror, and what he thinks of Superman too. Some of the more challenging topics come on the second page of queries, like the reception 300 got in Iran:

PLAYBOY: Through a spokesman, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the film “an insult” to Iran, as well as a “fabrication” and an act of “cultural and psychological warfare.” Do you consider it an accomplishment to have pissed off Ahmadinejad?

MILLER: I’m ready for my fatwa now. [laughs] I’m banned from Iran, but believe me, I’ve made much greater sacrifices. What I love is that I actually made the Iranian government change its historical policy toward Persia. It went from despising the empire of Persia to all of a sudden loving it, after 300. Persia had been a globe-spanning empire, then Muhammad came along and changed the mentality and rewrote all the histories. Iran’s days of empire are long gone, and they were just looking for something to get pissed off about.

Very courageous answer! And he's right about how Islam changed much of the middle east, save for Israel (and Armenia, which is more or less mideastern too), and Islamofascists like Iran's are always looking for excuses to turn into tantrum machines.

PLAYBOY: More recently you angered a lot of people with Holy Terror, your 2011 comic book about a superhero who fights Al Qaeda. In Wired, a writer called it “a screed against Islam,” and others accused you of depicting Islam as a violent religion. Do you stand by the book?

MILLER: Yes. Why not? I felt the response to 9/11 was tepid, if not disgusting. It’s almost as though they killed 3,000 of my neighbors and we spent the next bunch of years apologizing for it. Since superheroes have a tradition of fighting fascism, why not do it one more time? I don’t know where anyone got the idea it was anti-Islamic. I used, I believe, three Islamic words, which are common Al Qaeda usage. I didn’t feature their religious services. I happen to believe terrorism is a pungent evil, and I’m glad we’re fighting it. It’s incomprehensible to me that people apologize for it or pretend it never happened.

PLAYBOY: You described Holy Terror as “propaganda” in the tradition of Thomas Paine and predicted it would “offend just about everyone.” Has offending people been a goal in your career?

MILLER: I’ve been through periods when I wanted to spend my career annoying or offending people and other times when I wanted to inspire or spin a good yarn or draw a particular kind of car. I remember coming into the worlds of Marvel and DC and wanting to shake things up because they’d been the same way for so long. I wanted to be the bull in the china shop. And sometime in the 1970s along came Will Eisner with A Contract With God, which showed that comic books could have a shelf life and be read repeatedly, not just come out and disappear in time for next week’s cycle.

While his desire to be defiant in the face of tyrants is admirable, this got me to thinking about a downside: it's not always a good idea to anger people, depending on what the subject is, and if it's pissing off the Spider-Man and Green Lantern readerships, as Terry Kavanaugh, Ron Marz, J. Michael Straczynski and Dan Slott have done, that's where it's something very bad. So while I'm sure Miller's intentions of who to outrage were meant for all the right reasons, I think it's fair to argue that "pissing people off" does have a downside, and it pays to be careful not to take steps that can alienate people, as Marvel and DC have spent the last 20 years doing with superhero fans, for all the wrong reasons.

That aside, it's impressive he brings up Eisner, because, as noted earlier, Eisner's last graphic novel, The Plot, focused on Muslim anti-semitism, so I think it's safe to say that, whatever his opinions on the finished product, Eisner would support his old buddy Miller's idea on principle. Since we're on the subject, it makes me wonder what people like Slott might think of Eisner. I'm sure there's some people in comicdom today whose alleged admiration for Eisner turned to hatred and spite after they heard he was going to confront Islamofascism in his last days, and would probably denounce him as a "racist", and it wouldn't make any difference that he apologized long ago for his embarrassing renditions of Ebony White's character design in the original Spirit strips.

Miller also reveals something that happened in the mid-80s I wasn't aware of till now:

PLAYBOY: Early in your career the first thing you did to annoy people was to kill off Elektra, a beloved female ninja you created for the Daredevil comic. Did you have any hesitation about doing that?

MILLER: Sure. I had the jitters. There were death threats: “You killed the woman I love. I’m coming after you,” that sort of thing. I was worried for my girlfriend, so I went to the FBI, which explained that because the letters had been opened and had no postmarks or proofs of postage, they couldn’t be considered mail, so I was to take the threats and like it. But killing her was true to the character and true to the story. That’s all that matters.

Yikes. So Marv Wolfman and George Perez weren't the only ones who got a threat letter after the ending they wrote for the Judas Contract in New Teen Titans. And the worst part is that, at the time this happened, anti-stalking laws in the USA hadn't been properly drafted yet (it took at least until 1990 before that happened), otherwise, Miller could probably have gotten a case filed more easily and the authorities wouldn't have refused to help.

Despite what he says about Elektra Nachios, either he or another writer reversed her fate 4-5 years afterwards, so that's something he hasn't clarified fully here. (And how doesn't it occur to the interviewer that the real word for female ninja is "kunoichi"?)

He also has an interesting take on masculinity:

PLAYBOY: Your work is clearly influenced by film noir and pulp magazines. Do you prefer the older ideal of masculinity to the one you see represented in culture these days?

MILLER: I believe there has been a crisis of masculinity in modern times, and the 1940s-style gentleman needs to make a comeback—the sort of man who opens the door for women and compliments them and does things for them. I believe it’s a biological function of men, because we tend to be larger than women, to be protective of them. If I were to try to zero in, comic-book-like, on when masculinity went awry, I’d say it was when Rod Stewart sang, “You are my lover, you’re my best friend,” rather than allowing there to be two people in his life who served two very important functions.

I agree that, no matter how helpful it can be for women to learn self-defense and keeping their calm when faced with danger, honorable men who can defend an innocent lady in distress is an idea in serious need of improvement. Lastly, he has something to say about Superman:

PLAYBOY: A lot of Dark Knight readers think you love Batman and hate Superman. Any truth to that?

MILLER: The Dark Knight series is all from Batman’s point of view. But if you look at Dark Knight 2, you’ll see a Superman who’s much calmer than the one in the first Dark Knight. Batman and Superman are dead opposites. I love Superman. Do I love Batman more? They’re not people. They’re only lines on paper.

Rest assured, I don't think he dislikes the Man of Steel (or even Wonder Woman, though he had a very questionable take on her in his All-Star Batman book), though it's worth arguing guys like him should have tried writing Superman's solo tales more often, and using an optimistic POV more often too. But if he's acknowledging that the World's Finest are only fictional characters, that's good, because it shows he's one writer who recognizes why it makes no sense to think of fictional characters as though they're real people we bump into on the streets. Even today, there's still people out there who haven't grown up and understood the differences, which has only resulted in a lot of bizarre hatred for fictional people instead of criticizing the writers/editors for any faults they see in how the characters are depicted.

GOP SHOULD USE FERGUSON RIOTS TO PROMOTE THE FACT THAT LIBERAL POLICIES HAVE FAILED BACKS AND CITIES...

ALL CITIES WITH HIGH CRIME, HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, HIGH RATES OF HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUTS AND LOTS OF RACIAL STRIFE ARE CONTROLLED BY THE DEMOCRATS AND HAVE BEEN LIVING UNDER LIBERAL POLICIES FOR GENERATIONS.

IT'S TIME THE GOP AGGRESSIVELY WENT AFTER THESE VOTERS BY PLAINLY SAYING THIS AND REVEALING A 21ST CENTURY AGENDA FOR URBAN AMERICA.

We must take the fight to the cities - and we can do this by merely articulating AN URBAN AGENDA FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM which is based on the core principles of the GOP: empowerment, opportunity, and ownership.

(1-a) Push for school choice and school vouchers. These empower parents and dis-empower the teacher's unions (and other unions - like custodians and principals) which are bleeding school budgets without improving the academic results.

(1 -b) We should also make all school systems accountable to mayors - not school boards - so that there is political accountability for results. We do this by making federal aid to schools conditional on these two changes.

(2) Privatize public housing. This uplifts the working poor and makes them independent stakeholders, instead of people dependent on the state. Jack Kemp floated this idea 20 years ago; it's time to dust it off and implement it - perhaps by bringing him back as HUD Secretary! We need to ramp up low cost loans for this purpose and dispatch co-op advisers and incentivize local general contractors to undertake much needed improvements to these newly privately held assets.

(3) Incentivize economic activity by cutting taxes on new businesses in the cities - and make this a federal/state/local partnership by making the federal portion of tax incentives dependent on equal participation of the state and the city. This would be a twist on revenue sharing; this would be "tax-cut sharing." This would incentivize the states and cities to "buy into" supply-side economics (which have been proven to work).

BOTTOM-LINE: BLUE cities all have higher unemployment, and lower high school graduation rates, and more crime than RED counties. This is in part due to several decades of failing Left-wing policies foisted on the the cities by the Democrat machines merely to get votes.

The aggressive 3-point GOP program for the cities will end the decline of the cities, improve the lives of city-dwellers, and end the Left-wing Democrat Party's cynical and demagogic stranglehold on the cities.

That's a win-win-win for everyone.

HOUSES OF JIHADISTS KAWASME AND ABU AYSHA DEMOLISHED

The IDF has destroyed/sealed off the houses of the terrorists who murdered the 3 yeshiva students:

IDF forces demolished the homes of the two Hamas terrorists suspected of the kidnapping and murder of three Israel youth in June in Hebron late Sunday.

The army announced the completion of the operation on Monday. Forces also sealed off the home of a third suspect who took part in the attack.

Security forces blew up the homes of Hussam Kawasme, the mastermind of the attack, and Amer Abu Aysha, who is suspected of carrying out the kidnapping and murder of the three youth. The home of Marwan Kawasme, the accomplice of Abu Aysha, was sealed off.

“We are determined in bringing the ruthless murderers of Gilad, Eyal and Naftali to justice,” IDF spokesman Lt.-Col. Peter Lerner stated on Monday.

“The demolition of the terrorists’ homes conveys a clear message to terrorists and their accomplices that there is a personal price to pay when engaging in terror and carrying out attacks against Israelis,” he added.

It most certainly does, and delivers something for their relatives to think about too. The only home the terrorists deserve is an isolated cell in prison.

Michael Brown Bumrushing Policemen When He Was Shot? Next Stop for Media, "Why Do Our Young Black Males Feel They Have Nothing To Live For?"

The evidence suggests Michael Brown was bumrushing the police when he was shot.

He was shot in the top of the head. In other words, he was likely running towards the policeman, with his head in a downward position, as football players do when the ball is hiked at the line of scrimmage.

This corresponds to what other witnesses have said.

If this is the truth, if Michael Brown was, indeed, bumrushing a policeman who had his gun drawn, the media will have nothing left in their arsenal.

When the media has nothing left in their arsenal, nothing more to accuse authorities of, the next step is for the media to ask, "Why do (such and such people) feel like such victims that they are forced to resort to (such and such tactics)?

The media does this with the Palestinians: "Why do they feel the need to do suicide bombings?"

The media does this with this with Jihadists in general: "Why do they feel the need to support ISIS?"

The media does this with any group of people, other than the white males the media likes to portray as the "power structure".

It's called "Looking for Root Causes".

Root causes are the justifications - the excuses - that the media gives for the wrong behavior of individuals and groups whom the media favors.

So the media will ask, "Why did Michael Brown bumrush the Police man? Why did he feel as if he had nothing to lose?"

And the excuse (Root Cause) will be, "Because he felt he had nothing to lose."

And "felt he had nothing to lose" will be attributed to "oppression".

And what is "oppression"?

It means a person like Michael Brown lives in a society where other people have more than people like him.

So the solution to "Oppression" is "Free Stuff".

"Free Stuff" means the tax man will take more of your money.

When the Palestinians are shown to have "Root Causes" for their bad behavior - when they are shown to be the victims of "Oppression", then we give them more "Free Stuff". The tax man takes more of your money and gives it to the Palestinians.

And in the case of Michael Brown, well, he is a symbol of Oppression. So, the answer will be, the "community" needs to be given more "Free Stuff", because they are the victims of "Oppression".

DE BLASIO'S POLICIES ALREADY TAKING EFFECT: ALREADY 10% MORE SHOOTINGS TO-DATE THAN SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR

NYTIMES: 2 Killed and Dozen Are Injured as Weekend Shootings Plague New York

All told, at least 14 people in New York were struck by bullets overnight, adding to a tally of shooting victims that is an increase of more than 10 percent over last year, to more than 822 citywide. The increase has persisted despite efforts to tamp down potentially violent situations before they escalate.

THIS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF DE BLASIO'S ANTI-STOP &FRISK POLICY AND HIS APPEASEMENT OF CRIMINAL ELEMENTS - AND IT'S EXACTLY AS WE PREDICTED.

DE BLASIO HAS ALSO APPEASED THE ISLAMO-TERORISTS, SO I EXPECT THEY WILL SUCCEED IN AN ATTACK HERE IN NYC BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR.

SIGH.

ALL THIS COULD BE AVOIDED.

ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS GET RID OT THE LEFTISTS!

Genetically Modified E. Coli Bacteria Can Now Synthesize Diesel Fuel

From the Smithsonian:

... the team has genetically engineered E. coli bacteria to produce molecules that are interchangeable to the ones in diesel fuels already sold commercially. 

The products of this bacteria, if generated on a large-scale, could theoretically go directly into the millions of car and truck engines currently running on diesel worldwide—without the need to be blended with petroleum-based diesel. 

The group, led by John Love, accomplished the feat by mixing and matching genes from several different bacteria species and inserting them into the E. coli used in the experiment. These genes each code for particular enzymes, so when the genes are inserted into the E. coli, the bacteria gains the ability to synthesize these enzymes. 

As a result, it also gains the ability to perform the same metabolic reactions that those enzymes perform in each of the donor bacteria species. 

By carefully selecting and combining metabolic reactions, the researchers built an artificial chemical pathway piece-by-piece. Through this pathway, the genetically modified E. coli growing and reproducing in a petri dish filled with a high-fat broth were able to absorb fat molecules, convert them into hydrocarbons and excrete them as a waste product. 

Hydrocarbons are the basis for all petroleum-based fuels, and the particular molecules they engineered the E. coli to produce are the same ones present in commercial diesel fuels.

Thing is, they excrete Diesel.

If scientists learn how to do this on a mass scale to where we can eliminate what are not called "fossil fuels", it will not stop the Chicken Littles of the Gaia Movement from shrieking that the end is nigh.

I guarantee you they would turn their hatred, like Sauron's eye, away from "fossil fuels" and onto the problem of E Coli farts, which they would proclaim will destroy all life on Earth if all humans don't stop enjoying life right this very minute.

SUSPECT IN ABU KHDER MURDER RECOUNTS HIS OBSCENE ACT

The leading suspect in the murder of the abu Khder teenager in Jerusalem's Shuafat neighborhood has relayed his account to the court. It goes without saying what he did was repulsive, and hurt Israel even more. The culprits should be locked up and the key thrown away.