Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wins Clippers bidding war for $2 billion

rmer Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has won a frenetic bidding war for ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, with a $2-billion offer that would set a record price for an NBA team.

Ballmer bid higher than competitors that included Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh and a group that included David Geffen and executives from the Guggenheim Group, the Chicago-based owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Donald Sterling's payday: 15,900% return on Clippers' investmentREAD THE STORY

The Geffen group offered $1.6 billion and the Ressler-Karsh group $1.2 billion. People familiar with both those offers said they were rejected.

Ballmer and Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling concluded a deal late Thursday afternoon. But Bobby Samini, an attorney for Donald Sterling, said as he left the team co-owner's home: "There's been no sale. There can be no sale without Donald's signature."

The sale price would be almost four times the previous NBA franchise high: the $550 million paid earlier this month for the Milwaukee Bucks. It is the second highest price ever paid for a sports team in North America. The Dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion.

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Donald Sterling agreed last week to allow his wife to conduct a sale of the team. The process was rushed to beat a Tuesday deadline five days ahead of an NBA hearing to oust her family from ownership.  Donald Sterling had insulted African Americans in a secret audio recording.

Donald Sterling has waxed and waned on the question of whether he would allow his wife to sell the team he has controlled for more than three decades.

The deal also needs the eventual approval of three-fourths of the 30 NBA owners, but is expected to clear that hurdle as long as Ballmer reaffirms his pledge to keep the team in Los Angeles and not move it to home in Seattle.

Ballmer, 58, left the software giant in February and has an estimated net worth of $20 billion. Unlike other bidders, he did not immediately seek out partners for the purchase of the Clippers.

Ballmer last year joined a group, led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, to bid on the Sacramento Kings, intending to move the team to Seattle. NBA owners voted to reject the proposed move.

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The businessman said in a recent interview that he had no intention of moving the Clippers. He said that the high valuations for the team only made sense in Los Angeles, the second biggest media market in the country. 

Meet Directive 3025.18 Granting Obama Authority To Use Military Force Against Civilians

While the "use of armed [unmanned aircraft systems] is not authorized," The Washington Times uncovering of a 2010 Pentagon directive on military support to civilian authorities details what critics say is a troubling policy that envisions the Obama administration’s potential use of military force against Americans. As one defense official proclaimed,"this appears to be the latest step in the administration’s decision to use force within the United States against its citizens." Meet Directive 3025.18 and all its "quelling civil disturbances" totalitarianism...

As The Washington Times reports,

Directive No. 3025.18, “Defense Support of Civil Authorities,” was issued Dec. 29, 2010, and states that U.S. commanders “are provided emergency authority under this directive.”

“Federal military forces shall not be used to quell civil disturbances unless specifically authorized by the president in accordance with applicable law or permitted under emergency authority,” the directive states.

“In these circumstances, those federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances” under two conditions.

The conditions include military support needed “to prevent significant loss of life or wanton destruction of property and are necessary to restore governmental function and public order.” A second use is when federal, state and local authorities “are unable or decline to provide adequate protection for federal property or federal governmental functions.”

A U.S. official said the Obama administration considered but rejected deploying military force under the directive during the recent standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed supporters.

“Federal action, including the use of federal military forces, is authorized when necessary to protect the federal property or functions,” the directive states.

Military assistance can include loans of arms, ammunition, vessels and aircraft. The directive states clearly that it is for engaging civilians during times of unrest.

There is one silver lining (for now)...

“Use of armed [unmanned aircraft systems] is not authorized,” the directive says.

Medicare on drugs: 24,000 tests for 145 patients

Three Connecticut doctors billed Medicare for nearly 24,000 drug tests in 2012—on just 145 patients. Despite the extraordinary number, Medicare administrators paid the doctors a total of $1.4 million, according to a Reuters analysis of government payments to health providers.

The three physicians stand out in the Medicare data released last month because they conducted three to four times more drug tests per patient than any other provider in the country. In fact, they ordered so many individual tests, their patients averaged one every other day.

A surge in prescription drug abuse among older Americans has been accompanied by a big increase in urine and blood tests nationwide. Part of an effort to detect that abuse, the tests generate millions of dollars for providers. Medicare, the government insurance system for the disabled and people 65 years and older, is footing the bill.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Medicare administrators declined to comment on the doctors' bills or to say whether they were investigating. But experts in laboratory billing said the high frequency of tests was extremely unusual and underscored the need for Medicare to improve oversight of potentially lucrative drug tests to guard against billing for unnecessary procedures.

"Those numbers are ridiculously high," said Dr Stuart Gitlow, acting president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. "There is no medical indication I can think of that would require such frequency of testing. I can't come up with a scenario at all."

Two of the doctors work together in New London, Connecticut. The third doctor works in Ellington, about 60 miles away. Two of the three, contacted by Reuters, denied any wrongdoing, with one saying he was simply following Medicare's billing rules as he understood them. The third declined to comment.

Read MoreOne Therapist, $4 Million in 2012 Medicare Billing

Each of the doctors requested only the most expensive and comprehensive drug test, for as much as $94, rather than the simpler $19 one. This was done to improve the accuracy of the results, one said.

'Spigot of money'

Medicare paid medical providers $457 million in 2012 for 16 million tests to detect everything from prescription narcotics to cocaine and heroin, according to the Reuters analysis.

"In some parts of the country every doctor and his cousin is hanging out a shingle to do (addiction) treatment. There's a tailor-made opportunity for ordering a profusion of tests instead of one," said Bill Mahon, former executive director of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.

Read MoreMale doctors earn much more in Medicare than women MDs

"It's like turning on a spigot of money," he said.

Urine and blood tests are potential areas of fraud and abuse because guidelines for drug testing are vague, leaving the frequency of testing to the discretion of the provider. Unlike private insurance companies, which sometimes dispute charges and pay providers only when they have vetted a claim, Medicare almost always pays first and asks questions later.

There is often a legitimate need for such drug tests, to determine whether an addict has relapsed or to ensure that patients prescribed painkillers are taking them rather than selling them.

Read MoreAMA challenges accuracy of Medicare data dump

In 2011, the average number of older Americans misusing or dependent on prescription pain relievers grew to about 336,000, up from 132,000 a decade earlier, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Urine drug testing first showed up on the radar screen of Medicare investigators in 2011. Since then the Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, has settled three cases in which it charged providers whose billings for drug tests were deemed excessive.

When Medicare administrators released the payment data for 880,000 health care providers last month, officials said they hoped outside experts would comb through it for possible waste, fraud, and abuse.

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Deciphering bills

Addiction psychiatrist Erum Shahab of Ellington conducted 8,518 drug tests for 43 Medicare patients in 2012, the Reuters analysis found. That's an average of 198 per patient and the most of any Medicare provider in 2012.

Shahab declined to comment on her billing.

Medicare reimbursed her billing number $207,046 for these tests, which detect multiple classes of drugs. Ninety-five percent of her Medicare revenue came from the tests.

Read MoreReal Medicare waste? Uncle Sam stayed mum too long

New London-based Dr Bassam Awwa, who also specializes in treating addiction, conducted 13,260 drug tests for 90 patients in 2012, or 147 per patient. That's about three per week for every patient. Medicare paid his billing number $983,894.

Dr Ammar Traboulsi, who shares an office with Awwa, was paid for 2,142 drug tests on 12 patients in 2012, or an average 178 tests per patient. Medicare paid his billing number $159,107.

Among the thousands of providers who charged Medicare for drug tests, the next highest number of tests per patient in 2012 was 50. Excluding the three Connecticut doctors, the median number per patient nationwide was 1.3.

Read MoreHere's what really fueled the Obamacare surge 

"We would never do that many drug screenings here, even in our intensive outpatient treatment center," said Dr Elizabeth Howell, the director of the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, when Reuters read her the numbers for the three Connecticut doctors.

"There's a big question mark in my mind about what they're doing," she said.

It is not possible to tell from the Medicare data how many providers are fraudulently or wastefully billing for drug tests. For instance, some physicians may be ordering tests on the vast majority of their patients, even those with no history of abuse.

Read MoreInsurance a tough sell for young? Blame mom and dad 

Recent court cases, however, hint at the extent of the problem.

In February, SelfRefind, a chain of addiction treatment centers in Kentucky, agreed to pay $15.75 million to settle allegations that they billed Medicare and Medicaid for drug tests that were medically unnecessary and many times more expensive than other suitable alternative tests, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

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How to bill

Doctors Awwa and Traboulsi run a program in which patients addicted to opioids are given Suboxone, a drug made by Britain's Reckitt Benckiseras a safer substitute, much as heroin addicts are weaned off that drug through methadone.

Awwa said the payment numbers for his practice were correct, but misleading. He conducts drug tests only once a week for patients in the Suboxone program, not the three times per week the Medicare data suggest.

Read MoreDoc who 'received' $12M from Medicare: Not so fast 

But he billed Medicare separately for each drug he tested. Rather than charging Medicare once to test a patient for ecstasy, ketamine and bath salts, for instance, Awwa charged the program three times.

"This is the way we were told to bill," he said. "We are not doing them artificially to generate revenue."

Traboulsi, in a separate interview, offered similar explanations.

Read MoreMedicaid enrollment jumps by 3 million under Obamacare

Medicare billing rules effective Jan. 1, 2011, however, prohibit providers from charging for each drug tested.

"If you did one drug, if you did 50 drugs, it should have been times one," said Melissa Scott, a laboratory billing consultant.

Awwa said he believed the guideline was effective as of 2013 and since then has charged Medicare for only one test per patient visit. Medicare has not responded to Reuters' requests for Awwa's 2013 and 2011 billing data.

Read MoreKeep future Medicare costs in mind

Medicare uses an automated procedure to halt payments to providers who bill multiple times for the same drug test, according to Rob DeConti, assistant Inspector General of Legal affairs at the Office of the Inspector General. But providers can skirt the automated denials by changing the way they submit their bills.

Awwa said Medicare audited him and found nothing wrong with his laboratory billing practices. Medicare said it does not confirm or deny whether it has investigated any provider.

IRS: Employers Face $36,500 Per Worker Tax for 'Obamacare Dumping'

The Internal Revenue Service ruled it will impose a tax penalty on employers of up to $36,500 per worker for dumping employees into the Obamacare exchanges.

The New York Times, which broke the story, reports:

When employers provide coverage, their contributions, averaging more than $5,000 a year per employee, are not counted as taxable income to workers. But the Internal Revenue Service said employers could not meet their obligations under the health care law by simply reimbursing employees for some or all of their premium costs.

The IRS ruling is an effort by the Obama administration to stop employers with 50 or more workers from doing what critics of the health law said they would do: pay a penalty for not providing insurance and dump workers into the unpopular Obamacare program.

With the Nov. 4 midterm elections looming, the Obama administration could not allow massive waves of employer cancellations before Democrats face an already angry electorate. So the IRS ruled it would slap any employer with a $100 tax penalty per day per worker that used tax-exempt health insurance monies to cut workers a lump check and dump them on the Obamacare exchanges.

The new IRS rule comes on the heels of the Obama administration's announcement that it will bail out insurers which participate in the Obamacare program which lose cash. As theTimes notes, "Administration officials hope the payments will stabilize premiums and prevent rate increases that could embarrass Democrats in this year’s midterm elections."

IS THIS GETTING TOO DANGEROUS WITH THE GOV'T MAKING UP ARBITRARY RULES FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES

Netanyahu: "Brussels shooting result of constant incitement"

The shooting dead of four people at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on Saturday was “the result of constant incitement against Jews and their state,” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

“Slander and lies against the State of Israel continue to be heard on European soil even as the crimes against humanity and acts of murder being perpetrated in our region are systematically ignored. Our response to this hypocrisy is to constantly state the truth, continue a relentless fight against terrorism and build up our strength," Netanyahu said, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman also blamed anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement for inspiring the attack.

European Jewish leaders are already comparing the attack to the 2012 massacre at the Ozar HaTorah school in Toulouse, France, when four people, including three children, were killed at a Jewish school by a French-Algerian Islamist.

Police have not yet arrested a suspect in the Saturday afternoon shooting, when three people were killed immediately and a fourth victim later died. However, this evening they published pictures from video surveillance cameras apparently showing the gunman.

Belgian authorities are treating the attack as racially-motivated. The interior minister, Joëlle Milquet, said: “It's a shooting at the Jewish Museum. All of this can lead to suspicions of an act of anti-Semitism.”

On the Continent: Germany, France and the earthquake

Charles de Gaulle once said: "Europe is France and Germany. Everything else is just the garnishes."

Last night it looked like Europe's meat and potatoes might be heading in different directions.

While France rocked the Continent with a triumph for Marine Le Pen and her anti-EU National Front, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right pro-EU governing coalition emerged with a majestic 35.5 per cent of the vote, untouched by the eurosceptic forces sweeping France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Italy.

The only real change in Germany was the emergence of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is anti-euro but not anti-EU. The party supports the EU but hates and fears the way German taxpayers have been forced to underwrite the multibillions in bailout money for the collapsed eurozone economies. It took seven per cent of the vote and will send seven members to the European Parliament.

It took some daring for the AfD to emerge at all, because in Germany there is an orthodoxy that is the EU which keeps Germany pure: to abandon the Union, so the faith goes, Germany would risk stirring up old nationalist spirits.

Meanwhile in France, the new top politician Marine Le Pen was happy to stir up her old nationalist spirits, demanding after her victory that “France must be run by the French, for the French and with the French” and not by “foreign commissioners.”

In Denmark, the eurosceptic Danish People’s Party (DPP) topped the poll with 26.6 per cent, putting their leader, the splendidly named Morten Messerschmidt, back in the parliament with double the number of MEPs from two to four of Denmark’s 13 seats.

The DPP wants Denmark to take back control of its borders and curb benefits paid to citizens of other EU states living in Denmark. In 2009, British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to allow the DPP to join the Tories’ group at the parliament because they found some of Messerschmidt’s policies objectionable. Cameron is now understood to be trying to entice the DPP to leave their alliance with UKIP and join his Conservatives.

But euroscepticism is not all right-wing. Indeed, one could say that this election’s surge against the EU came from the suffering unemployed, overtaxed and indebt workers, traditional socialist supporters, who have born the worst of the eurozone crisis and now are voting in rage.

British commentator Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has characterised this election as “a verdict on debt servitude.”

In Greece, this meant a lurch to the far left, with the Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras topping the poll. His party has demanded the government abandon the austerity policies designed by the EU and IMF. As the election results were announced, he said his party’s victory robs the government of any “political or moral legitimacy” to continue with the painful economic and fiscal policies.

He demanded a general election be called immediately.

At the same time, the Greek voters sent three members of Golden Dawn anti-EU to the parliament, from a party that its critics call neo-Nazi.

In Spain, where there is no eurosceptic party, there emerged instead a left-wing, anti-EU-impose-austerity party, Podermos, which took almost eight per cent of the vote.

In Austria, a prosperous country by EU standards yet worried by immigration, the eurosceptic Austrian Freedom Party came in third with 19.5 per cent.

In Italy, Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-EU, anti-euro Five Star Movement, won a spectacular 25.5 per cent of the vote, but failed to top the governing Democratic Party, which took 34.5 per cent, despite the feeble national growth shrinking again in the last quarter.

The suffering Italians are not alone. The EU now has 26m unemployed, most of them trapped in the disastrous European project of the single currency.

The European establishment was tonight bragging that for the first time in the history of the elections to the European Parliament – that first elections were in 1979 – turn-out had actually increased on the previous elections.

It had increased just one-tenth of one per cent at best. And they were bragging.

But you have to wonder why the eurocrats were bragging at all. You could guess that the only thing that kept the anaemic turnout up was just voters driven to the polls by anger.

UKIP: why these election results matter - and why the political class will tell you they don't

A quip which has been doing the rounds on Twitter the last few days concerns the official projection of how many seats UKIP stands to win in Westminster next year, based on its stellar performance in the local and European elections.

The answer is a big fat zero.

No doubt it's a figure which will afford enormous comfort to the mainstream political class and their many friends in the mainstream media this morning as they strive to explain in various different clever ways why it is that last night's seismic election results across Europe mean nothing whatsoever.

In one way they are quite right: the European parliament is a fake parliament, none of whose elected members have any say on any issue that matters. (All the important decisions are taken by the unelected European Commission).

But in another way they couldn't be more wrong. The elections of the last few days mark the beginning of a revolution which will completely transform the face of politics across Europe and which will inevitably lead to the destruction of the European Union.

And this is mostly very good news, by the way, despite what you'll read on Twitter, hear on the BBC or read in the newspapers or get told by politicians. Sure they'll pay tribute - through gritted teeth - to the remarkable success of UKIP and Nigel Farage. But they'll also seek to distract from it by drawing attention to the victory of "far right" parties like Marine Le Pen's Front National in France and the growth of the fascistic Golden Dawn in Greece, a) in an attempt to sully UKIP with the racist tag by association and b) to create the impression that far from being something we should celebrate, these election results represent a flight from commonsense, decency and stability. "If you're going to indulge yourself with protest votes," the message will run, "Prepare to reap the tempest."

But in truth this tempest is entirely of the political class's making. If the mainstream politicians had done an even half way decent job of actually representing the interests of the people they supposedly serve, there'd be no call for all these protest votes, would there?

What these election results symbolise is the depth of disgust felt across Britain and through continental Europe at the remoteness, incompetence, complacency and dispiriting saminess of the political class (and its amen corner in the mainstream media, in the corporations, in the bureaucracy and the judiciary).

In Britain - until the arrival of UKIP forced them to sharpen up their act - there has been so little discernible difference between the three main parties they might just as well have renamed themselves LibLabCon. As for the European Union, it was never even designed to be democratically accountable, so it was always inevitable that one day its bluff would be called.

What are these election results are, above all, is a massive two fingers flicked by the people of Europe against the political masters who - if there were any justice - should be their political servants.

Reconciliation: Hamas & Palestinian Authority Children's TV Both Teach 'There Is No Israel'

In at least one realm, the recent reconciliation between Hamas and the Fatah appears to have taken hold: children’s television. Both Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, which governs the West Bank Palestinian Authority (PA), have produced children’s programming teaching that there is no such country as Israel, reportsPalestinian Media Watch.
There is currently no substantive difference between official Palestinian Authority and Hamas TV programming for children when it comes to not recognizing Israel's existence and envisioning a future without Israel. Both Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' PA teach children to ignore Israel's existence, emphatically reject Israel's right to exist, and anticipate its eventual destruction and replacement by "Palestine."
Since reconciliation between Hamas and the PA was announced several weeks ago, the same "no Israel" message has been taught repeatedly, including on both PA TV children's program, Best Home, and on a Hamas children's program, Tomorrow's Pioneers.
In one instance on PA TV, the moderator held up a drawing of a map of Israel and the Palestinian Authority areas and said:
"Can you see the map of Palestine? All of it will return to us, Allah willing. All of this map will return to us."
In another, the PA TV host said:
"Who told you we will forget [Israeli cities] Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Jerusalem? We will never forget them - we won't forget any of our beautiful cities occupied by the occupation. We will return to them one day. They will return to us one day, my children friends." 
In another instance, the PA TV host said:
"I want to tell you, my children friends, that the land that was stolen from us - the occupied land - will return to us one day... (adding later) the Ramle district (i.e., central Israel), our stolen lands, our occupied lands to which we will return one day.
A Hamas TV program educated children to reject Israel's existence by asking a young girl questions about capital cities in the Middle East. When asked about Israel's capital, the girl made a sign with her hand rejecting the existence of such and responded: "There is no Israel - Palestine." The host responded: "There isn't. You're so clever, sweetie."
Host: "What is the capital of Palestine?"
Very young girl: "Al-Quds [Jerusalem]." ...
Child host: "And Egypt?"
Girl: "Cairo."
Child host: "Cairo, good. Israel?"
Girl [makes gesture of negation with her hand]: "There is no Israel - Palestine."...
Host: "There is no Israel - only Palestine. Superb."
Nahul the bee: "It doesn't exist, doesn't exist. Excellent..."
Host: "Speak up, speak up. Tell me again, does Israel have a capital?" ...
Girl: "There is no Israel - Palestine."
Host: "There isn't. You're so clever, sweetie."
In another instance of incitement on Hamas children’s programming, a TV host and a cuddly puppet on the show encouraged a child to "shoot all the Jews."

Nasrallah’s latest war speech is taken literally by Israeli military chiefs

The Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s belligerent speech Sunday night, May 25, on the 14th anniversary of the IDF’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, was taken by Israel’s top military chiefs as the precursor for operational plans to bring his forces up to the Israel border in South Syria and the Golan – not just to fight Syrian rebels, but to challenge the IDF.

This conclusion is shared by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and his deputy Maj. Gen. Gady Eizenkott. DEBKAfile’s military sources say they have been watching the spate of reports Damascus and Beirut have been planting in the last fortnight, which describe Hizballah as poised for a major offensive to prevent Syrian rebels taking Quneitra opposite Israel’s Golan border.

The Israeli army is accused of backing them with firepower.

The official Saudi publication Okaz reported Saturday, May 17, that Hizballah had sent surveillance teams to the battle ground to lay the ground for an operation to keep the vitally important Golan town from falling to rebel forces.
The next day, Sunday, Damascus issued an official notice of the death of Lt. Gen. Hussein Ishaq, Syrian Air Defense Chief, of wounds he sustained Saturday in an Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra attack on the Mleia base outside Damascus.

The Syrian government is known never to report the deaths of high-ranking officers. This unusual release raised suspicions in Western intelligence sources. They wondered what an officer so senior was doing in this small base, and how he came to be caught up in a local firefight.

The answer they came up with was that the late general was sent to Mleia to prepare Syria’s air defenses as cover for a Hizballah operation. The rebels discovered this and ambushed his convoy before it reached the base.

Other Saudi sources disclosed Saturday, May 24 that the Iranian Al Qods Brigades chief, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who is in charge of his country’s military operations in the Syria conflict, had arrived in Damascus to study the state of battle on the Golan, although no other source has confirmed this.

From the Israeli side, our sources report that no major Hizballah troop advances have been sighted heading in the direction of southern Syria and the Golan - only the advance surveillance teams which turned up briefly last week on the Syrian side of the Hermon range overlooking the Golan.

Nevertheless, Nasrallah’s speech set off alarm signals.
In all the many pugnacious speeches the Hizballah chief has delivered against Israel in his 22 years as secretary general of the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah, he has never before gone into detail on the intelligence he claims to have obtained on IDF operations. But in his latest peroration, he did just that - in reference to alleged IDF actions in southern Syria.
“When the senior strategist of Hizballah – or any military group – shows off his intelligence on enemy moves in detail, that is a declaration of war,” said one Western military source.

Nasrallah made it clear he was not talking about Israel’s medical aid to rebels wounded in battle, but the IDF fire he said was aimed at Syrian units and positions on the Golan. Its purpose, he said, was to carve out a security zone in southern Syria.

“This would not be a ‘good fence,’” he said (in reference to the friendly border between South Lebanon and Israel in the years 1978 and 2000, that was manned by the IDF-founded South Lebanese Army). It will be much more than that.”
Nasrallah accused Israel of incursions across the “land border between Hizballah and Israel,” including the shooting of farmers. “Until now we haven’t reacted, but left it to the Lebanese army and UNIFIL,” he said. “But no more: For the next violations, we will hit back at once,” he said.
This was taken by Israel’s military chiefs as a threat by Hizballah to make war on Israel from two fronts: Lebanon and Syria.

More Unreal Estate

From the Slope of Hope: I have the good fortune to live in Palo Alto, and - mercifully - I bought my house way back in 1991, which was three bubbles ago. Over that time, the house in which I live is worth nine times what I paid for it. Those outside the Silicon Valley might find perverse comfort in the relative bargains of their own neighborhood.
Below is a simple chart showing the median sales price of Palo Alto houses and - helpfully - the percentage of the list price received. It's a pretty interesting litte chart. At first, it gently descends, as the Valley dipped from the Internet bubble bursting. Next, it began a steady ascent, as interest rates plunged (thanks to Greenspan) and the housing bubble went into full swing. The financial crisis took the froth out (although Palo Alto didn't suffer the 50%+ drops of less attractive areas, like Stockton) and, most recent, we have soared into unchartered territory, both in terms of median sales price and price received (as you can see, the price being paid is actually averaging 11.6% above the already lofty asking price).

The same realtor who put together the chart above also keeps a blog, and they showed the amazing jump higher in prices since the financial crisis (Palo Alto +86%) combined with the plunge in available inventory (Palo Alto -74%). Personally, I think the poor souls buying at today's prices are going to find themselves underwater in a big hurry and, just to add salt to the wound, will be paying 1.1% property taxes on the purchase price every year until they manage to sell the house, irrespective of the mark-to-market value (my own taxes, thanks to Prop 13, are pegged at a value 80% less than the actual present value).

For those of you who figure I'm just being a pessimist and are eager to jump on board this gravy train, I can bring to your attention a couple of plum properties. Here's one in Los Altos - not quite as expensive as Palo Alto, but still a nice town - for $2 million (probably more like $2.1 million+, given the bidding wars). Just look at that curb appeal, ladies and gentlemen! Ever see such a sweet garage? And, yes, this is the actual color newspaper ad. This is the very best "face" they could put on the property.

If that's too low-end for you - - that is, if you've got something along the lines of $3 million you want to spend instead - - fear not, I've got you a listing. It is shown below. As you can see, it hasn't been on the market in 91 years (nor, apparently, has it been cleaned in the same timespan). Something tells me the family who owns the property decided, after nearly a century, it would be a good time to cash out.

Get in line. Sign right here. Could you possibly write that in blood?

Huge Ukip(United Kingdom Independent Party) British victory sends message of hope to North American Patriots

Tea Party voters of America, take heart! THIS UKIP PARTY IS A THIRD POLITICAL PARTY IN BRITAIN AND THEY MADE TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN GAINING SEATS FROM THE TWO MAINSTREAM POLITICAL PARTY

Nigel Farage’s Ukip in Britain just went a long way in ridding the oh-so-politically correct David Cameron Tories of 105 of their seats (At press time).  And there’s still another day of votes to count.

The message?

“Dave and Ed just don’t get it: By branding Ukip racists they’re damning millions of decent Britains”-Stephen Glover, Daily Mail, May 22, 2014.

Obama comrade, Prime Minister David Cameron, Labour Leader Ed Miliband and Liberal Leader Nick Clegg threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Ukip trying to impact their voter turnout by branding them “racists”.

But supposedly low information voters in Britain didn’t buy the Party propaganda.

“A surge in support for Ukip has cost all the mainstream parties seats and control of councils, as Nigel Farage’s People’s Army marches into town halls across the country. (Daily Mail, May 23, 2014)

“The Tories, Labour and Lib Dems all saw their grip on local authorities eroded as dozens of seats fell to Ukip in local elections in England.
“After 62 councils had declared results, Ukip had gained 89 seats, with the Tories losing 105 and Labour gaining 115.
“A jubilant Mr Farage declared: ‘The Ukip fox is in the Westminster hen house.’
“Ukip gains cost the Tories control of Basildon, Castle Point and Southend while a surge in Essex saw Mr Farage’s party erode the Labour grip in Thurrock - a key Westminster target for Ed Miliband’s party.
“In the north, Ukip showed it could pose a threat to Labour in its strongholds, taking 10 of the 21 council seats up for election in Rotherham, including nine gains, and polling an average of 47 per cent where its candidates stood.

“The Lib Dems lost control of Portsmouth after Ukip won six seats, including defeating under-fire Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock who was standing for re-election to the council.
“Speaking to reporters outside his home this morning, Mr Farage said: ‘There are areas of the country where now we have got an imprint in local government. Under the first-past-the-post system we are serious players.’
“He suggested that the idea that Ukip had only damaged the Tory vote had been blown away by the results.
‘There were two conversations going on last night. One was in Westminster amongst commentariat and MPs… The other conversation was going on in Swindon where the Labour leader said: “We’ve been hurt by Ukip”,’ he told the BBC.
‘Another conversation was going in Rotherham where Ukip won 10 seats and Labour won 11 seats.
‘In the West Midlands Labour were saying ‘Ukip are splitting our vote and letting the Tories in’. And I think this idea that the UKIP vote just hurts the Tories I think is going to be blown away by these results.’
“But Ukip appeared to be struggling to make progress in London, where the big battles were between Labour and the Tories.
“David Cameron saw his party ousted from Hammersmith and Fulham, a flagship authority in the capital. The Tories were also facing defeating by Labour in Croydon.
“Tory party chairman Grant Shapps was forced to rule out a pact with Ukip at the general election to stem the loss of support.
“More than 4,000 council seats at 161 English local authorities were up for grabs, including the London boroughs and those in Northern Ireland.
“Votes were also cast throughout the UK for the European Parliament contest to return 73 MEPs - but those results will not be announced until Sunday night.
“Mr Farage has predicted Ukip will trigger a ‘political earthquake’ by topping the poll in the Euro vote.
“Labour hailed a ‘spectacular’ victory in Hammersmith and Fulham, taking control of the flagship Tory council.”

The British election proves that little people everywhere can rise above government-issued propaganda to take back their town halls.

North America is smothering under an airtight blanket of the marching propaganda of the Politically Correct—even as important election campaigns are underway.

In America, where the Obama regime hides major scandals including the VA, Benghazi, the IRS, NSA and Fast and Furious, under the rug of divisive, racist and gender propaganda, it’s November midterms .

In the equally Liberal-oppressed Canadian Province of Ontario, the unelected but only appointed Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, proletariat-dubbed “Mrs. Windmill” FINALLY faces voters on June 12.

Not far behind is Canada’s 2015 federal election, with Liberal Justin Trudeau, son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, having last week banned all potential pro-life Liberal candidates from admission to the Liberal Party, long known as the ‘Natural Governing Party.

North American voters can look to Ukip who once and or all proved to the outside world that the people—not propagandizing elected incumbents and the mainstream media—run the show. 

Hip, Hip, Mr. Farage!

Jews, Get Out of Europe

The Anti-Defamation League created a stir last week byreleasing the results of a global survey of antisemitism, the most comprehensive ever.

These results are considered shocking by many. Actually, for those who bother to keep up with reality, they contain no surprises.

The Middle East and North Africa come out worst, with 74 percent among population groups qualifying as antisemitic according to the poll’s 11-question index. The most antisemitic political entities in the world? The West Bank and Gaza, coming in at 93 percent. (Yes, those same Palestinians with whom Israel is always under pressure to “make peace.”) 

The next worst region is Eastern Europe, with 34 percent scoring as antisemites. But not too far behind is Western Europe—the home of multiculturalism, advanced environmental awareness, bevies of human rights NGOs, and so on—at 24 percent.

The West European countries scoring highest for antisemitism were Greece with a whopping 69 percent, France at 37 percent, and Spain at 29 percent. Germany did itself proud by coming in above the West European average at 27 percent—a bit over one-quarter antisemitic seven decades after the Holocaust.

Over the weekend the European Jewish Association (EJA), along with other European Jewish organizations, held a briefing on the survey in Brussels for EU ambassadors and officials. 

One of the West European countries scoring lowest for antisemitism was the Netherlands at 5 percent. Yet Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, chief rabbi of the Netherlands, told this gathering: 

Today, there is a strong political polarization, especially in Holland. Radicals from both sides of the political spectrum have become more extreme, and the middle ground is disappearing. I can’t walk a whole day in the street without having at least one person shout the words “dirty Jew” at me, because I am visibly Jewish.

If so, one hates to think what it’s like in the high-scoring countries.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the EJA, “called upon all EU member states to establish central committees, directly accountable to the respective prime ministers, in order to lead the fight against anti-Semitism.”

But would establishing committees really be an adequate response at this stage?

Then things got really ugly.

In Milan, Spain on Sunday night, the Israeli professional basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv won the European championship in a stunning upset by beating Real Madrid. Many Israelis—not least the 9,000 loyal fans who flew to Milan to cheer their team—were ecstatic. The prime minister and the president congratulated the team, and on Monday night Tel Aviv held huge celebrations.

Spanish fans reacted differently. Of course, they weren’t expected to be happy that their team lost. But it wasn’t just a matter of not being happy.

It turns out that Spanish Twitter users reacted to the loss by “post[ing] 17,500 messages of anti-Semitic abuse.” After the game they “created an expletive anti-Semitic hashtag in their messages…, which briefly became one of the most popular keywords on Twitter in Spain.”

Specific reactions included “Jews to the oven” and “Jews to the showers.”

By the way, in Spain today—with its antisemitism ranking of 29 percent—there are about 45,000 Jews out of a total population of 47 million.

The report goes on to say that “Twelve Jewish groups in the northeastern Catalonia region lodged a legal complaint over the messages.” The leader of one of these groups “presented copies of anti-Semitic tweets to state prosecutors.”

Again, getting some of these vicious people in trouble—if that indeed happens—might be worthwhile; but would it really solve the problem?

Instead of committees, lawsuits, and the like, I would suggest a different solution: for Jews, at last, to give up on Europe. For good. To leave it and not go back to it (to live, at least) for a long time, if ever.

If the Holocaust was not enough to convince some Jews that they are not wanted in Europe; if, seven decades later, the situation is one where a rabbi in one of the less antisemitic countries cannot walk the streets without being called “dirty Jew,” is it not time to conclude that one is in the wrong place?

I would prefer for European Jews to come to Israel—which also has to cope with an antisemitic environment, but where Jews are in a qualitatively different situation because they stand on their own two feet and look out for themselves.

But if not Israel, at least not Europe.

The only remaining dignified response is for Jews to bid Europe adieu.