Zappa.com

Jerusalem is Israel's capital, says Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has announced that the US now recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital, overturning decades of official US policy.

Mr Trump described the move as "a long overdue step" to advance the Middle East peace process.

The fate of the ancient city is one of the thorniest issues between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel called Mr Trump's move "historic" but there has been sharp international criticism.

Mr Trump said the US still supported a two-state solution to the longstanding conflict, if approved by both sides, which would essentially see the creation of an independent Palestinian state living alongside Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Mr Trump's announcement "deplorable", saying the US could no longer be a peace broker.

Eight of the 15 nations who are currently members of the United Nations Security Council have called for the body to hold an urgent meeting on the US decision by the end of the week.
Why is this significant?

The decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital puts the US at odds with the rest of the international community's view on Jerusalem's status.

The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, and according to the 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords, its final status is meant to be discussed in the latter stages of peace talks.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42259443

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Michigan doctor gets 60-year prison sentence for child porn


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- An elite Michigan sports doctor who possessed child pornography and assaulted gymnasts was sentenced Thursday to 60 years in federal prison in one of three criminal cases that ensure he will never be free again.

U.S. District Judge Janet Neff followed the government's recommendation in the porn case, saying Larry Nassar "should never again have access to children."

Neff said Nassar's federal sentence won't start until he completes his sentences for sexual assault. The 54-year-old will get punishments in those two cases in state court in January.

Nassar worked at Michigan State University and at USA Gymnastics, the Indianapolis-based group that trains Olympians. He admits he molested girls with his hands when they sought treatment for hip and back pain.

"Underneath this veneer lurked a predator," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Lewis said in a court filing.

Olympians Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas say they were victims when Nassar worked for USA Gymnastics and accompanied them at workouts or international events.

Nassar is a "monster" who "left scars on my psyche that may never go away," Maroney said in a letter to Neff.

In a court filing, defense lawyers said Nassar "deeply regrets the pain that he has caused the community."

The child pornography was discovered last year when Nassar was being investigated for assault.

Aside from the criminal cases, more than 100 women and girls are suing Nassar. Michigan State and USA Gymnastics are defendants in many of the lawsuits.

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Man who used potato chip bag to skip work for years has been fired
http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2017/11/30/man-who-used-potato-chip-bag-to-skip-work-for-years-has-been-fired.html
An Australian electrician was fired recently for using a potato chip bag to ditch work and play golf, and he actually got away with it for two years before he was caught.

According to Yahoo News Australia, 60-year-old Tom Colella was a senior union delegate and had worked as an electrician for the same company for 20 years. Then one day his employers got an anonymous tip saying Colella had actually been playing golf while he was supposed to be at work at least 140 times during the past two years. Somehow, nobody had noticed his absence.

Like other employees at his company, Colella had a personal digital assistant that tracked his assigned and completed job tasks and also had a GPS that monitored his location. Colella allegedly hid his PDA in an empty foil potato chip bag and sealed it up, which blocked the GPS signal and hid his location from his employers.

Aussie are so inventive

After months of speculation on the possible publication of apparently disastrous Brexit impact assessment reports, the UK's Brexit secretary David Davis claims that there have been no "systematic" impact assessment reports drawn up...
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ssessments

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"I have learned from my mistakes, and I am sure I can repeat them exactly."

I hope there are some people who know a little bit about engineering here...

In May, a parking garage that was almost ready, collapsed near Eindhoven Airport. Luckily nobody got injured. This week it transpired that engineers had warned the builders about serious cracks on the floor. The builders deemed it nothing much and pasted filler on them.

Here's a photo of the cracks:
https://www.ed.nl/eindhoven/bam-wist-va ... ~aebc4a15/

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^^^^^ Could be cheap/fake steel from China, we have had some pop up here with concerning results ^^^^^

Chris Rea collapses on stage, in stable condition in hospital
Last updated 08:45, December 11 2017

Chris Rea's Road Songs For Lovers Tour of Britain has been cut short following an on-stage collapse on Saturday night.

The Let's Dance and Fool (If You Think It's Over) singer had been performing in Oxford when he fell to the stage mid-song. The 66-year-old Middlesbrough-born musician had suffered a stroke in 2016 and had his pancreas removed in 2001 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Shortly after the incident on Saturday night, Rea was thought to be in a "stable" condition, but his show in Brighton on Sunday night was cancelled and Tuesday's night tour closer in Bournemouth was also in doubt.

Concertgoer Darren Fewins told the Press Association that Rea had been on stage for around three-quarters of an hour before he fell backwards.

"He was standing by the microphone and he had the guitar in his hand and he kept shaking his left hand as if there was something not quite right with it," the 46-year-old said.

"He walked forward to the microphone and he was trying to grab the microphone with his left hand, and it was swinging from side-to-side.

"I thought at first there was something wrong with it and he was trying to keep it steady. He then took three or four steps backwards.

"Then he just collapsed on the stage backwards. There was no-one there to catch him, he just fell into a clump.

"He was on his back for about two minutes before they brought the curtain down and then that was it."

Back in August, Rea told BBC Breakfast that despite stopping smoking after his stroke, he still felt the effects of the health scare. "I'm fine when I'm sitting down, I've just got a little bit of balance – it's a bit dodgy, just in case anyone thinks I'm drunk on-stage."

- Stuff

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/m ... n-hospital

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hey punk, what are you doing with that very very big ahhhhh brain?

The center of all blowback, jihad, and islamic/western tension just got immeasurably worse.

I'd venture a guess many cable propaganda watchers figure this is a good thing cuz America did it.

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Lesser-evilism is war.

...related, this from http://www.antiwar.com

Dennis Kucinich Discusses the ‘Permanent Government’ Behind US Foreign Intervention

Full Story Here

...“There’s an unbroken line going back over the last 30 years where American presidents have continued to proceed with an interventionism that has been counterproductive,” states Kucinich. This “continued commitment to a failed foreign policy of interventionism, of unilateralism, of first strike,” Kucinich continues, “imperils America,” “does not make us safer,” “separates us from the world community,” “has people looking to extract vengeance on Americans,” and “has made the world a more dangerous place.”

Saying we need to look beyond the personalities of the succession of US presidents from George W. Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump, Kucinich recommends we “look at the foreign policy establishment of the United States of America” that, he explains, includes people in the State Department who have a neoconservative ideology, in the Pentagon who are dedicated to the military-industrial complex, and in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who can “conjure conflicts” and “try to justify the further involvement of the military and the State Department.” This, Kucinich says, “is the permanent government, which we see reflected through Democrat and Republican administrations, no matter whether they are so-called conservative or liberal or populist; it’s all the same.”

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Lesser-evilism is war.

Bomb in New York near Time square...the daughter Plook the Younger and Izzy were at that very location Friday when they took a day trip from Visiting the daughter Plook the Elder in Providence...she's having an OMG moment...

Thanks to new DNA research techniques, Dutch police finally managed to track down the culprit of a murder committed 25 years ago.

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shit terror attack in Melbourne just one tram stop from where i went home from 14 injured bastards

Sorry to hear about that Eddie...

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^^Thanks BBP it can happen anywhere, I was in PAris 2 years ago - 2 days after the incident there.

Looks like the Melb incident was "deranged" Afgan and not linked to IS, lets wait and see

http://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/car-mows-down-pedestrians-report/news-story/89f4b0171c6cca674b2a5e1117a6c612

ice ice Baby
Australia seizes $760m of meth in its largest ever bust
Read more at https://www.thephuketnews.com/australia ... cYRuA8i.99

https://www.thephuketnews.com/australia-seizes-760m-of-meth-in-its-largest-ever-bust-65241.php#GahjtpMGKVIahWqz.97

Perth man makes ridiculously Aussie Christmas tree out of 2500 VB beer cans
https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/33392344/perth-man-makes-ridiculously-aussie-christmas-tree-out-of-2500-vb-beer-cans/

Bomb squad responds to manure-filled package sent to Mnuchin's LA home



(CNN) A package filled with manure that was addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was found near his Bel Air home Saturday night, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

According to CNN affiliate ABC7, the package was from "the American people." It was left in a neighbor's driveway and prompted a response from the LAPD's bomb squad.

Police eventually determined the package did not contain an explosive device, and the scene was cleared around 9:30 p.m. PT.

I was going to ask "Which one's Moe?" But I think everyone knows the answer...

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I'm petulant, and I'm having a frenzy...

^^

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Ha! Nice, just what I was thinkin' Milt.....

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hey punk, what are you doing with that very very big ahhhhh brain?

2017 Trump Administration Accomplishments (UPDATED):


~ over $5 Trillion in wealth created
~ best job #s in quantity (currently 153.9 million employed) EVER
~ more positively consistent monthly labor force participation rates (currently 62.7%...but would be at least 63% without Harvey & Irma) than most months Obama was in office
~ 2 consecutive 3%+ GDP quarters (soon to be 3 quarters), which hasn't happened in nearly 4 years
~ the largest tax cut bill (individual and corporate rates) in nearly 30 years - and as a result, AT&T, Comcast and 5 other similar sized companies are EACH giving $100-200 million dollar bonuses to hundreds of thousands employees
~ Obamacare mandate repealed, giving free choice to consumers, instead of being financially penalized for not conforming to the plan
~ highest stock market performance EVER (currently the DOW is nearly 25,000)
~ lowest unemployment rate in nearly 17 years
~ lowest youth unemployment rate in 28 years
~ lowest Hispanic unemployment rate EVER
~ highest homeownership rate in 10 years
~ highest African American homeownership rate EVER
~ over 900 job-killing regulations eradicated
~ 75% less illegals crossing the US/Mexican border already, even without a completed Trump wall
~ a 58% increase in coal exports in the 1st quarter
~ an infrastructure bill (that includes eliminating wait times for large building permits/licenses and related regulations of up to 17 years down to 2 years)
~ a veterans' health care bill (that transfers almost all power to veterans, who then can fire their health care provider if they don't match their expectations)
~ dozens of legislative & executive orders

Etc., etc., etc., etc., etc.


Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

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"...I'm absolutely a Libertarian on MANY issues..." ~ Frank Zappa, Rochester, NY, March 11, 1988

All activity in a presidents first year other then new business (Tax Bill for the rich) can be directly linked to the previous administration...thank you President Obama one last year of growth because of your leadership, now if we can slow Cheetos roll we may continue to benefit from President Obama's leadership another year...

Breaking News Disco Boy is found on Trumps Pay roll

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/us/politics/corey-lewandowski-donald-trump-payroll.html

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ROTFLMFAO!

You're BOTH fucking idiots!!!

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"...I'm absolutely a Libertarian on MANY issues..." ~ Frank Zappa, Rochester, NY, March 11, 1988