What could be called the Mother and Father of Zionism’s propaganda lies is the assertion that all the Jews of the world are descended from the ancient Hebrews and therefore have a common ethnic origin and national heritage. In other words, according to Zionism’s assertion, Palestine is by definition the ancestral homeland of all the Jews of the world; and this, it is further asserted by Zionism, means that Israel has the right to sovereignty over all the land it occupies today and Jews from anywhere have the right to settle on it.

As Israeli historian Shlomo Sand explains in his book The Invention of the Jewish People, that is simply not true. And as I noted in my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews (which was published before Sand’s work), almost all the Jews who went to Palestine in answer to Zionism’s call had no biological connection to the ancient Hebrews.

They, like almost all Jews, were the descendants of peoples from many homelands (mainly in Eastern and Western Europe) who converted to Judaism centuries after the brief rule of the ancient Hebrews ended and who, after their conversion, had only their religion and its rituals in common.

By the time Zionism declared itself into existence around 1897, there were more Palestinian Arabs, who had descended from the ancient Hebrews, than Palestinian Jews who could count the ancient Hebrews as direct ancestors. That is because many descendants of the ancient Hebrews had converted to Islam and Christianity over the centuries. Thus,
Zionism’s claim that the Jews of the world have a right to the land now occupied by Greater Israel does not bear honest examination.

climateadaptation:

The United States has double the amount of oil and three times the amount of natural gas than previously thought stored deep under the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, according to new data the Obama administration released Tuesday.

In announcing the new data in a conference call, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell also said the administration will release within weeks draft rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing, technology that has come under scrutiny for its environmental impact but that is essential to developing all of this energy.

“These world-class formations contain even more energy-resource potential than previously understood, which is important information as we continue to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil,” Jewell said in a statement.

This article is circulating among the anti-peak oil crowds. To me, the bigger story is about the left’s environmental heroine, Sally Jewell, who used to frack wells. As new head of the Dept. of Interior, she will (with Obama’s encouragement) - will - allow aggressive fracking on more public lands, possibly much more in our National Parks. To forgiving environmentalists, she’s Obama’s replacement for the DOI and former CEO of REI.

laughingsquid:

Patti Smith’s Advice to Young Creative People

themadeshop:

Concrete Stool by Elise Burbaud

climateadaptation:

It will be approved. Nearly half of the line is already built, the land from Canada to Texas is already secured, Sec. State John Kerry signaled his support, and redstate politicians are salivating for a knockout punch to the environmental movement.

RI Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (whom I interviewed back in 2005) predicts the approval will be wrapped in green packaging. He thinks Keystone approval will be surrounded by “a whole formidable array of environmental and anti-carbon measures that can not just offset the harm that they do by approving [Keystone] … but actually turn the whole package into a very strong, anti-carbon pollution suite of strategies.”

laughingsquid:

Star Wars Chewbacca Bathrobe

denverpost:

Colorado’s Billionaires 

Forbes magazine released its annual tally of billionaires around the globe. Here are some Coloradans who made the list: 

• Investor Philip Anschutz, No. 109, $10 billion

• Cable-TV operator John Malone, No. 198, $6 billion

• Cheese magnate James Leprino, No. 458, $3 billion

•Gary Magness, cable and investment interests, No. 931 (tie), $1.6 billion

•Pat Stryker, heiress of a medical-device company, No. 931 (tie), $1.6 billion

• Janus mutual-fund founder Thomas Bailey, No. 1,342, $1 billion

(Photo: Getty Images)