The Jerusalem Post reports: Around 70 West Bank settlements were on the list of communities eligible for housing and development grants that the cabinet approved on Sunday. Most of them – 57 – are settlements located outside the boundary of the security barrier’s planned route. Israel has promised the international community that it would not provide special incentives for settlement development and construction. [...] According to the Prime Minister’s Office, [...]
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/31/israel-continues-to-offer-financial-incentives-to-move-to-settlements/
Palestinian Media Watch is carrying a story that shows Palestinian Authority TV glorifying Hakim Awad, the leader of the attack in Itamar that killed the Fogel family in their home.
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/31/palestinian-authority-tv-glorifies-itamar-murderers/
NGO Monitor is now going after left-wing Israeli blog +972 Magazine. Disgraceful.
Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/28/ngo-monitor-continues-to-try-stifle-open-discussion/
Speaking of tax rates and rich Americans, here’s a great clip from The West Wing.
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/27/video-sam-seaborn-on-the-1-percents-tax-rates/
Jon Stewart asks: “How in the world, do you, Mitt Romney, justify making more in one day than the median American family makes in a year, while paying the same effective tax rate as the guy who has to scan your shoes at the airport?” Responding to a clip where Romney says “I don’t think you want a candidate who pays more taxes than he owes,” Stewart replies, “No, but you might want one who thinks that’s wrong.”
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/27/video-mitt-romney-earns-50000-a-day-but-pays-the-same-tax-rate-as-someone-who-earns-that-in-a-year/
Brilliantly funny, as always, from Israeli sketch comedy TV show “Eretz Nehederet”. I also love Bradley Burston’s description of the skit as “portraying Birthright Israel participants as sweetly loutish, cluelessly hyper insta-Zionists.” UPDATE: It seems the video on YouTube as been disabled. You can go instead to this video, and scroll to 39:50. No English subtitles though, sorry. It’s on Vimeo now, so I re-added the video. (Via Rachel)
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/26/video-eretz-nehederet-takes-the-piss-out-of-taglit-birthright/
Supporters of SOPA and PIPA say as much as $250 billion a year and 750,000 jobs, but that’s most likely highly exaggerated and untrue.
Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/26/how-much-does-piracy-hurt-the-us-economy/
Obama’s third State of the Union begins soon, and in it he’ll prioritise tax reform to combat income inequality.
Related reading: Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/26/in-state-of-the-union-obama-to-push-for-tax-reform-to-combat-inequality/
According to Egyptian writer Bassem Sabry, not only is it entirely expected that Egyptians would vote for the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties, we shouldn’t be alarmed by it. “It is time for the critics to stop haranguing Egyptians for voting the way they did, realize that their vote was only a logical and expected result of all conditions considered, and instead focus on the core of what the democratic process is all about: how the wider array of Egyptian political parties can learn to positively and constructively better compete for the votes and betterment of the lives of Egyptians.”
Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/25/egyptians-didnt-vote-for-islamists-because-they-want-to-become-another-afghanistan/
Great feature from the Economist on the state of the Israeli hi-tech scene: Israelis innovate because they have to. The land is arid, so they excel at water and agricultural technology. They have little oil, so they furrow their brows to find alternatives. They are surrounded by enemies, so their military technology is superb and creates lucrative spin-offs, especially in communications. The relationships forged during military service foster frenetic networking [...]
Permalink: http://liamgetreu.com/2012/01/24/the-economist-reports-on-the-state-of-the-start-up-nation/
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