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Update: The Washington Postreported on Oct. 26, 2009, that Congress had passed and President Obama would sign a bill to end pay-for-performance systems used by the Defense Department and intelligence agencies. The Wall Street Journal on April 11, 2009, noted strong union opposition to merit-based pay for federal employees.
Several trends have emerged from the federal government's experience with performance-based pay systems, according to Alternative Personnel Systems in the Federal Government — A Status Report on Demonstration Projects and Other Performance-Based Pay Systems, issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The report, which includes information based on agency data, evaluations and studies, concludes that the performance-based pay systems that now cover some 298,000 federal employees "work."
Among the key findings:
• Performance-based pay systems continue to be successful, as evidenced by many evaluations and a stronger link between pay and performance than under longevity-based pay systems.• Success entails significant effort but pays off by achieving a results-oriented performance culture. • Managers and supervisors manage performance more effectively under performance-based pay systems. • The ability to recruit and retain a high-quality workforce increases with performance-based pay.• Payroll costs are being controlled, but cost discipline must be maintained as these systems expand and mature.
"This report shows performance-based pay systems drive improvements in managing performance, recruiting and retaining quality employees, and achieving results-oriented performance cultures," said a statement from OPM Director Linda M. Springer.
The study includes profiles of demonstration projects operating under OPM authority as well as independent systems (including the Department of Defense's national personnel security system) and executive pay systems (including the senior executive service and senior foreign service) where employee pay is linked to performance.
Although each of these alternative pay systems is unique in some respects, all systems share common design features, according to the OPM's report. Among these:
• Open ranges of pay rates,rather than fixed steps, are used. • Pay increases are usually contingenton an assessment of fully successful employee performance. • Pay increases that move employees through their pay ranges are linked directly—and differentially—to performance assessments rather than the passage of time.• Position classificationsare streamlined.• Pay ranges cover more broadly defined levels of work than the narrower grades under the federal government's general schedule (GS) classification and pay system.
Overall, these pay-for-performance systems emphasize and reward employees' performance and contribution to mission, the report notes. Employees receive an annual pay increase commensurate with their level of performance—the higher the level of performance, the higher level of annual pay increase. Annual pay increases range from 0 percent for low performers to as much as 20 percent for top performers.
-------------------------------------------Annual pay increases range from 0 percentfor low performers to as much as20 percent for top performers.-------------------------------------------
While the total amount of money distributed as salary increases is comparable to what would have been distributed under the GS pay system, "the important difference lies in the basis used to make pay determinations and the value that basis represents," the report states.
Changing the Culture
Significantly changing workplace culture takes time. OPM studies of pay-for-performance systems show that "it takes at least five years for the majority of employees to be supportive of the change—but the support inevitably emerges."
Implementing pay for performance "requires commitment, communication, training and follow through," the report notes. Most of the demonstration projects reached the 50 percent benchmark of employee support within five years. And measures of support for the demonstration projects are as high as 80 percent.
Even where the explicit support is more temperate, the largest proportion of employees is undecided rather than opposed, the OPM found. In those settings where employees are still uncertain, statistics suggest that agencies need to monitor and focus more closely on their implementation efforts.
Pay for Performance at the IRS
At the Internal Revenue Service, a pay-for-performance system has been in place for senior and second-level managers since March 2001. The first two evaluation cycles produced pay and ratings distributions suggesting that the system had raised the bar for executives and managers and linked pay with individual and organizational performance successfully. In September 2005, all other managers (front-line) were brought into the system, which was then redesigned in March 2006.
The IRS used a phased approach to implementing new performance measures, starting at the top. To change employee perceptions and the broader IRS culture effectively, leaders and managers had to "walk the talk" with new individual goals and measures linked to performance-based pay. Executives and managers are evaluated on what they accomplish and how they meet their responsibilities.
The positive correlation of performance ratings to pay increases is strong. The IRS's servicewide performance increases are differentiated by performance rating, and all covered employees with the same performance rating received the same percentage increase. The January 2007 pay increases by performance rating were:
• Outstanding = 6.5 percent • Exceeded = 3.6 percent • Met = 1.7 percent • Less than Met = 0 percent
The average increase was 3.2 percent.
Annually, the formula for increases in performance-based pay factors in the performance ratings distribution and the pay pool funds. The IRS then adjusts the percentages for servicewide performance-based increases to stay budget neutral.
-- From Alternative Personnel Systems in the Federal Government — A Status Report on Demonstration Projects and Other Performance-Based Pay Systems
Stephen Milleris manager of SHRM Online's Compensation & Benefits Focus Area.
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text: Runaway Parrot Lured Home With Red Wine And PringlesKaty Kelleher5/07/10 12:20pmFiled to: Fine feathered friendsBirdsBoozered winePringlessnack foodsPetsGettypic50EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalinkAfter escaping from his London home, Reggie the parrot returned to his cage when his owner put out his favorite things: red wine and Pringles. "If there is any alcohol around, he's there in a flash," explained Hubbell Walker. [TheSun]Reply50 repliesLeave a reply

subset: commoncrawl


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i didnt know their system and was trying to figure what to do
and just cause ppl tell u to do something u do it?
i didnt know their system and was trying to figure what to do
and just cause ppl tell u to do something u do it?
You're really bad at trying to be a smart ass. Nobody specifically told you that you had to do anything. You asked what to do and if "GS" would allow it. You received several replies back, all saying the same thing. Instead of listening you continuously asked more questions that, if you were paying attention, you would have known the answers to.
I'm not telling you to go jump off a bridge. I was trying to help you out. There's not other way around it. It's either what several people, including myself, have said, or you could just go get the game at the store further away from your house. It's your choice.
@America, you can probably close this thread, as his question has already been answered, and now he's just making things more difficult.
if you have the money, you could prolly just go to the closer store at midnight and get a copy without preordering. the GS near me had more then enough copyies to pass out to the people who didn't preorder the game. Then you could go back to the other store and get your money back. When I got my last game early I had preordered it at GS but found it early somewhere else. When I finally got back to GS they just simply gave me my money back.
i just wanted someone who works at gamestop to answer cuz theyll know and i believe its more of hassle to go change pre order store so im not ignoring that response its just not what id do
you can only pick up the game where you preordered it. you can however get your money back, and then go to the closer GS and get it ordered again... unless you have an inside man and im sure he can just make a phonecall and probably transfer your data over for you... but thats if its even possible to begin with.
Also at the midnight release you wont be able to buy the game you would have to wait until the store actually opens to do that.
dude im in gamestop so much i myswell work there if u lived so far away u shouldt have pre ordered there sorry i tryed to help but ur stuck goin to bum fxcked to get ur game wheree YOU chose to pre order
either way im going to midnight release i was just trying to save some time
and when i did preorder at the further one i was in area so just pre ordered it
i wasnt thinking bout one that was closer
It's obviously you're only option. You've gotten 3 pages full of responses, all telling you the same thing! Your question has been answered. No GameStop employee is going to tell you anything different. If that's not what you're willing to do, than you're shit out of luck. Yes, it's more of a hassle, but there's no other way to do it.
I am preordering Black Ops for the Wii..yes the Wii..I want a challenge. I cannot make the 12AM thing, because I will be to tired lol.


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Monday, October 12, 2009
Christopher Columbus, Third Order Franciscan.
Columbus was not only a good man. He was extraordinary.
"What is not commonly known is that the growing power of the followers of Mohammed had closed the normal pathway from Europe to the Orient. In God's providence, this is what occasioned the search for another way to the Indies. Most historians claim that this was the dominant motive for Columbus going west so that the wealth of the East might be found. The Book of Prophecies shows the opposite. Commercial interests were certainly prominent in the minds of others. But Columbus had deeper spiritual interests at heart. It was surely part of God's mysterious design that Columbus should have planted the true faith in the New World at the same time that Islam was overrunning Africa, the Near East, and was being driven out of Southern Europe.
As early as 1493, Columbus wrote a letter to the Royal Treasurer of Spain in which he speaks of the discovery of the New World as a great victory. Yet, it was not a victory by force of arms but a victory of bringing the truth to people who were sitting in the darkness of unbelief. He wrote, "Since our Redeemer gave this victory to our most illustrious King and Queen and to their famous realms, in so great a manner, it is fitting for all Christendom to rejoice and to make celebrations and give solemn thanks to the Holy Trinity with many solemn prayers for the great exultation which it will have and the turning of so many peoples to our holy Faith."
Franciscan tertiary.
All that we know about Columbus testifies to his having lived up to his Franciscan Rule. We know that he would wear the Franciscan habit, especially when he appeared before the Royalty or nobility. Except for the Franciscans with whom he stayed before leaving on his historic voyage, he would never had received the entree to Ferdinand and Isabella which opened the door to the New World. He went to confession to Franciscan priests. He would spend long periods of time in worshiping before the Blessed Sacrament in Franciscan chapels. When he left Palos, Spain on August 3, 1492 to cross the Atlantic, he left his son in the care of the Franciscans at their monastery.
There was one feature of Columbus' Franciscan spirituality that by now we have seen was dominant in his historic discovery. It is the zeal of St. Francis, as expressed in his Rule of Life, "To go among the Saracens or other unbelievers." As we know, Francis himself did the incredible thing of personally visiting the Moslem Sultan in the Near East to bring him the Gospel of the Christian faith. To this day, Franciscans are the authorized guardians of the sacred places in the Holy Land." - Fr. Hardon on Christopher Columbus
6 comments:
Now there's a history of Columbus kids won't hear about in public schools. In fact, I didn't know about it either (and I went to Catholic schools).
Seems like I have to educate my sons again on the selective truths of American History. Thanks for posting on this, Terry. It was interesting.Gabriella has a most beautiful post on Columbus, as well. Thank you for making this known; Catholicism and the "white European male" are the "lepers" of our day...and yet, where would Western civilization be without them? No hospitals; no universities; no schools; no science; ...how easy it is to forget.
ReplyDeleteFr. Gary - then you know who she is - I consider much of her work outside of film to be performance art and her singing quite good. She did a new album in 2008 as well as another 'art' video for her song 'Corporate Cannibal' (youtube) which is quite good, and of course provocative - gratefully, not in a sexual way. She's obviously still around at 61 years old, albeit a little heavier. Sadly, I doubt she is at all religious.


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Located on Big Stone Lake and in Harbor Campground. We welcome patrons by boat, car, snowmobile, plane and bikes. Come try our famous fish bowl drinks and hand breaded Friday Fish Fry.
Hours: Summer: 10am - Close. Winter: Wednesday, Thursday 2pm - Close, Friday thru Sunday 11am - Close.
Articles: Mai Tiki Bar & Grill


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"Good taste is the excuse I've always given for leading such a bad life"
Oscar Wilde
"Have you ever heard people say "you are what you eat" I completely disagree. You are what you think!"
Philip T. M.
"Creative people must entertain lots of silly ideas in order to receive the occasional strokes of genius"
Marshall Cook
"The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours - it is an amazing journey - and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins."
Bob Moawad
"It is wise to direct your anger towards problems -- not people; to focus your energies on answers -- not excuses."
William Arthur Ward
"And oftentimes excusing of a fault doth make the fault the worse by the excuse."
William Shakespeare
"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself."
Henry Ward Beecher


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Added: November 24, 2009
Channel: Big Butts Like It Big | More Videos
Missy Stone might be the elite top model at the Brazzers Fashion show, but she's giving everyone a hard time with her "divaesque" attitude. After her walk on the runway ends in a nice plunge, she still throws attitude at Danny who wants to lend a helping hand. Not able to stand this little bitch's spoiled brat attitude, he decides to rip her a new asshole to show her who's the real boss.
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Psychology & Culture Ebooks
Studies in the psychology of sex, volume VI. Sex in Relation to Society
Downloads: 810 Pages: 1200
Published: 4 years agoRating: Rated: 4 times Rate It
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Author: Havelock Ellis.
Book Description HTML
In the previous five volumes of these Studies, I have dealt mainly with the sexual impulse in relation to its object, leaving out of account the external persons and the environmental influences which yet may powerfully affect that impulse and its gratification. We cannot afford, however, to pass unnoticed this relationship of the sexual impulse to third persons and to the community at large with all its anciently established traditions. We have to consider sex in relation to society. In so doing, it will be possible to discuss more summarily than in preceding volumes the manifold and important problems that are presented to us. In considering the more special questions of sexual psychology we entered a neglected field and it was necessary to expend an analytic care and precision which ...


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A Tavola, the much-anticipated pizzeria on Vine Street, is now open for business. There are already reports on Twitter about drinks and such. It was supposed to be a soft opening, but it seems like the word spread like wildfire on Twitter.
A Tavola features wood-fired pizzas, craft cocktails, and charcuterie from charcutier Billy Draznik (who, I hear, makes some mean prosciutto). I'll be interested in trying it in a few weeks once they've gotten the kinks worked out (but don't be surprised if I preview it beforehand– I can't resist wood-fired pizza).
The venture started as a monthly pizza happening at Take the Cake, but the event proved so popular that they decided to open a restaurant. The location, 1220 Vine, is in the prime Gateway Quarter area.
[…] 6:15 p.m. Tuesday update: Reports from the scene say A Tavola is now open. […]
Why would anyone invest or live in that hellhole. Can't wait to finally kill this trolley folly to nowhere in november
You are a sad little person, GoCOAST
I'm with Mark GoCo…..
Me, too.
Warning: Don't feed the trolls.
Billy uses Dean Family Farm Red Wattle Pork. I delivered a pork belly to him a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure it is delicious bacon now. I can't wait to try them, Pizza is my favorite food!
You are all a bunch of racist assholes. Why don't you leave decisions about downtown and OTR to people who actually utilize these areas. I live in Clifton and go downtown everyday of the week.
Please remove the first comment by whomever falsely purports to be "GoCOAST." COAST respects and honors all 52 of Cincinnati's neighborhoods. OTR is not a "hellhole," and we would never refer to it as such. It's a valued part of our local family.
While we're here we'd like to thank A Tavola. They had many choices as to where to locate their business, and we appreciate them choosing Cincinnati. Delicious food prepared by talented artists using quality ingredients is always a welcome addition to our city. We wish them much popularity, prosperity, and a long life.
We're happy to have spirited debates about politics and streetcars with all comers, but not on a restaurant blog. Coming "to the table" is about fellowship and sharing good food, and we look forward to enjoying a meal soon at A Tavola.
That's some funny pr coast, whichever one you are, because I've heard your members say far worse about the city and the mayor
I've also seen you post this drivel for the last 3 years in random cincinnati blogs. I respect your statement here but 3 years of vicious inflammatory insults on numerous blogs has made everyone skeptical
I was a big fan of thier pizza nights at Take the Cake and can't wait to try their new home in OTR.
I for one want to try the pizza. Can we please talk about the pizza again?


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Family Session … Rosas … Mt Baldy
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Drive-by artist leaves decorative doorways where there was only blight
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We have regular sleeping rooms and kitchenettes with two beds in each. Microwave, coffee pot, refrigarator, tv and free wifi. Fishing tackle shop on premises. We are 500 feet from Marina. We have fishing guide trips for the Wht. River & Lake.
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Taking Trump Literally And Seriously
February 23, 2017 § 1 Comment
Everyone will recall the debate that unfolded during the 2016 presidential campaign over how to treat Donald Trump's utterances on various policy issues. His detractors were increasingly alarmed by the ideas that spilled forth from his lips at rallies, many of which seemed to be blurted out without much thought into their wisdom or the details of their implementation. Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it; ban Muslims from coming into the country; slap a tariff on American companies making products overseas. His defenders exhorted those who were panicking at what seemed to be a litany of questionable proposals to stop taking Trump literally, and instead to take him seriously. So, for instance, when Trump threatened to punitively tax companies that were moving jobs overseas, the interpretation was supposed to be not that he would follow through, but that he was serious about finding a way to increase domestic job growth. It turns out, however, that taking Trump literally was not as silly as his campaign surrogates suggested, and that his words do indeed provide a guide for where he will initially land on policy. So applying this frame, what does it mean in the Israel context?
Largely forgotten alongside his more famous comments about wanting to make the "ultimate deal" between Israelis and Palestinians is that early in his campaign, Trump actually laid out a precise roadmap for how he was going to approach Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In some of his first comments on Israel during an interview with the Associated Press in December 2015, Trump refused to be pinned down on a host of specific Israel-related issues, which in itself was a strategy. But he did say enough to make it easier to predict what he is going to do going forward, and figure out how it meshes with his comments during the joint press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu last Wednesday.
Talking to the AP before the first primary votes had been cast, Trump said that the first thing he was going to do was sit down with leaders in the region to gauge not only their feelings about the contours of a deal and whether it is workable, but also to test their commitment to peace. He said that "I'll be able to tell in one sit-down meeting with the real leaders" what is possible, and that he would know for sure within six months of taking office. He also said that he was not convinced that either Israel or the Palestinians were serious about an agreement and that he had greater concerns about one of the sides, but refused to say which side. He did, however, very clearly place the burden of resolving the situation on Israel; "A lot will have to do with Israel and whether or not Israel wants to make the deal — whether or not Israel's willing to sacrifice certain things. They may not be, and I understand that, and I'm OK with that. But then you're just not going to have a deal." He also, in what is now a familiar refrain, would not commit to moving the embassy, would not refer to Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital, called settlements "a huge sticking point," and would not commit to a two-state solution so as not to prejudice negotiations ahead of time. On whether he would want to dive into Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as president, he said, "I think if I get elected, that would be something I'd really like to do. Because so much death, so much turmoil, so much hatred — that would be to me a great achievement. As a single achievement, that would be a really great achievement."
The Trump playbook so far has followed the literal script he laid out before the politics of the campaign forced him to adopt more traditionally hawkish positions. The first thing he said he would do was talk with regional leaders. Not only did he sit down with Netanyahu early on, he also sat down with Jordan's King Abdullah, spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and White House aides have been making the rounds of Arab ambassadors in Washington. He said that the burden would be on Israel to resolve the situation, and lo and behold he stood next to Netanyahu and warned him that both sides would have to compromise and again alluded to settlements being a sticking point in asking the prime minister to hold off on them for awhile. If we take Trump literally as we should, it means that he is going to make a very heavy early push on getting the two sides together, and will lean on Israel to stop taking actions in the short term that make a negotiated solution more difficult.
In this light, Trump's pronunciations at last week's press conference should not have come as a surprise. His infamous "I'm looking at two state and one state, and I like the one that both parties like" is not a declaration of policy. It is a declaration of tactics. Similarly, his repeated characterization of settlements as problematic in some limited way, in the AP interview and in the White House statement following Netanyahu's announcement of new construction and then in his request of Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit" is not a policy position but a tactical position. Trump wants to get to a deal and he doesn't terribly care what is in it, so his primary strategy is to not get pinned down on any specific variable. He will focus on the tangible things, like Palestinian incitement and Israeli settlements, that each side points to as a specific barrier, and he will ignore what the actual end result will look like.
It is important, however, not to ignore the other part of the equation that is clear from Trump's words. He wants to get a deal, and he thinks the burden is on the Israelis to do the heavy lifting, but he also does not want to waste his time on a drawn out process and has no interest in convincing a party that does not want to be convinced. Contrary to President Obama and Secretary Kerry, he is not going to keep going back to the well if he is not able to work out an agreement in his first year in office, and he is not going to pressure Israel into changing its mind if it is unwilling at first to sacrifice in the ways that he asks. What the larger consequences of that may be for either Israel or the Palestinians are unknown, but if there is one thing that we know so far about this president, it is that he is deeply transactional. Understanding Israel's reluctance to take certain steps is not the same as giving Israel free rein on every issue without fear of blowback for that reluctance. Hopefully Netanyahu is wise enough to take his new American partner both literally and seriously.
The Legalization Bill Is Not Just About Settlements
December 8, 2016 § 5 Comments
The Regulation Bill, which aims to legalize thousands of homes in the West Bank built on private Palestinian land and that passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Monday and a first reading yesterday, is a disaster for more reasons than I can list in one place. But that's no excuse not to try. So (deep breath):
To start with the glaringly obvious, legalizing thousands of homes inside existing recognized settlements and legalizing fifty-five illegal outposts makes a permanent status agreement resulting in a two-state solution farther away than it has been at any time since before Oslo. It hardens Israel's presence in the West Bank to a degree that makes it impossible to envision a withdrawal of civilians that will not result in violence and bloodshed or exact a crushing emotional toll. Given the location of these outposts, it also enormously complicates what is the best way in the current environment to create a de facto two-state solution on the ground – namely, the plan from Commanders for Israel's Security to freeze expansion east of the security barrier and renounce any claims to Israeli sovereignty in that territory. Should it pass and become law, the Regulation Bill not only makes negotiations down the road that much harder, it eviscerates Israel's own unilateral options. It is self-binding in the worst sort of way, since it does not do anything productive in deterring an enemy or reassuring an ally – which is the purpose of the self-binding contained in the North Atlantic Treaty, for instance – but instead creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom for Israel's future. You need to have zero regard for your political successors or for your own political independence to take an action that boxes you in like this to one and only one trajectory going forward.
The bill also puts the lie to long-standing Israeli claims about settlements. Prime Minister Netanyahu gives no quarter in claiming that settlements are in no way the issue in preventing Israeli-Palestinian peace. He instead argues that they are a smokescreen that the other side hides behind to mask its refusal to accept Israel's legitimacy. Netanyahu has also gotten lots of mileage from his claim that Israel has not authorized any new settlements on his watch, relying on the fact that most outside observers do not know how illegal settlement activity has proliferated. But that rhetorical flight of fancy is now gone for good. Plenty of people, myself included, have never seen settlements as the core issue behind the conflict, but recognize that they are in fact an enormous obstacle and not anything that can be blithely dismissed as insignificant. When you throw any and all restraint to the wind, however, and let settlements swallow up everything else, they become a core issue. Imagine a Palestinian living in Area C whose home is one of the 11,000 structures under a demolition order for having been built without a permit, and he wakes up to see that with a stroke of a pen Israeli homes in the exact same situation are now deemed legal. If you think that his anger is motivated by a desire to drive Tel Avivians into the sea rather than the blatant discrimination and injustice to which he is being directly subjected, you are deluding yourself.
But it is more than just arguing about the role of settlements that is at stake here. I have enormous sympathy for settlers who moved to the West Bank because they were repeatedly encouraged to do so by the government and were provided all sorts of financial incentives to go. They cannot and should not be hung out to dry. Legalizing what was blatantly illegal activity, however, creates a completely different and perverse set of incentives, and accelerates a moral hazard problem that will become impossible to overcome. We are talking about Israelis who moved onto private Palestinian land without permits and without explicit or clear government approval, and even though the bill as drafted only retroactively legalizes the activity if they didn't know they were building on private land, it now makes everything they did completely consequence-free. There is no reason from now on for anyone to heed the laws or directives of the Israeli government with regard to building in the West Bank, since the precedent has been set that it will be treated as perfectly fine and that someone else will bear the costs. This decimates the rule of law and encourages a wide range of bad behavior that cannot be put back in the box.
The Regulation Bill also reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be democratic. A majoritarian theory of democracy, in which leaders and parties that win elections get to do anything they please with no checks and balances, is precisely what political philosophers and creators of longstanding democracies like Great Britain and the United States feared. It is why checks and balances and separation of powers exist. Supporters of this bill seem to think that its almost-certain rejection by the High Court is a sign that the High Court is undemocratic because it is thwarting the will of the people, or that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's determination that the bill is unconstitutional does not matter because nobody elected him. This is precisely how democracies turn into populist non-democracies controlled by demagogues, and supporters of Israel who dismiss this attitude as irrelevant do so at their own peril.
Finally, the legalism being used to justify the Regulation Bill is reaching Orwellian heights, and should not be viewed as anything positive. One of the ironies of the three Soviet constitutions was that they guaranteed a wider range of rights than Western constitutions; if an alien landed on Earth and read the Soviet Union's constitutional and legal documents, it would assume that the Soviet Union was the most free and liberal country on the planet. For similar reasons, countries in which elections do not matter to the transfer of political power almost all go to great lengths to hold elections and make big shows of how they are respecting the will of the people. A patina of legality is used to legitimize that which is illegitimate. I am not suggesting that Israel is an authoritarian country, and it shares no resemblance to the totalitarian Soviet Union. But the focus on what is narrowly legal – the structures being legalized must have been built with no direct knowledge that they were built on private land, there had to have been implicit or explicit government or municipal support – is designed to make what happens appear as if it is above board. It is not. To seize private land without authorization and pay the landowners compensation whether they are willing to cede their land or not is not legal, full stop. The Israeli High Court does not view it as legal. The Israeli attorney general does not view it as legal. No source of international law views it as legal. Tying it up with a phony legal bow almost makes the entire thing worse.
Make no mistake about what this is. It is not an attempt to right wrongs. It is not an attempt to administer fair and impartial justice. Naftali Bennett, to his credit, has not been cagey but has said what this is proudly and clearly: "The Israeli Knesset shifted from a path to establish a Palestinian state, to a path of extending sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. Let there be no doubt, the Regulation Bill is what will spearhead the extension of [Israeli] sovereignty." The bill will not pass the High Court and will not become law, but what it says about the current state of political affairs in Israel is as disturbing as anything that has happened since Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. It is an attempt to radically overhaul Israel's system of democracy, and that it is playing out in the Knesset does not make it any more democratic.
Bibi's Trump Dilemma
November 18, 2016 § 1 Comment
Natan Sachs and I argue today in Foreign Affairs that despite the jubilation on the Israeli right at Trump's election, it actually creates some real political problems for Bibi Netanyahu.
On November 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated President-elect Donald Trump through a video message, in which the Israeli leader could barely contain his giddiness at the prospect of a friendlier White House. The ruling Israeli right-wing coalition, which sees Trump as a potential champion of Greater Israel, believes that the United States' next president will finally remove any outside constraints on settlement construction in the West Bank or the legalization of already existing settlements built without governmental approval. Settlement-friendly politicians in Israel are already working hard on such moves; on Wednesday, a bill legalizing settlements built on private Palestinian land passed its first reading in the Knesset, despite the objections of the attorney general and a near certain rejection by Israel's High Court of Justice. Some in Israel even view the next four years as an opportunity to annex the West Bank outright. This is a "tremendous opportunity to announce a renunciation of the idea of founding a Palestinian state in the heart of the land," Naftali Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party, stated. "The era of the Palestinian state is over."
It's not clear what Trump will do, of course, nor whether he even knows his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. During the campaign, he initially said that he would like to remain a "neutral guy"—a contrast to decades of U.S. policy that his tilted toward Israel—but he later shifted to a more traditional pro-Israel stance. To the delight of the Israeli right, the Republican platform omitted any mention of a two-state solution. And since the election, the co-chairs of Trump's Israel advisory committee have reiterated controversial statements about Trump moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem. They've also said that Trump does not view settlements as an obstacle to peace. At the same time, Trump himself told The Wall Street Journal of his desire to close the "ultimate deal" between Israelis and Palestinians. "As a dealmaker, I'd like to do … the deal that can't be made," he said. "And do it for humanity's sake."
Despite the myriad conflicting signals, it is reasonable to assume that Netanyahu will now have a freer hand to implement the policies he desires with regard to settlements and negotiations with the Palestinians. Politically speaking, he may no longer have to run the gauntlet between a coalition that demands more building in the West Bank and a White House that insists on less.
But Netanyahu may soon find out that he needs to be careful with what he wishes for. Freedom from U.S. pressure would be a mixed blessing. Rather than solving his problems, it could cost him his political leverage, his ability to play two-level games.
Head over to Foreign Affairs to read the rest of the piece.
Your Guide to Settlements and Ethnic Cleansing
September 13, 2016 § 7 Comments
Prime Minister Netanyahu stirred up a cocktail of controversy on Friday when his latest attempt at creating a viral video did not get the reception he anticipated. In the two minute clip, Netanyahu opened by saying he was perplexed by the charge that "Jewish communities" in the West Bank are an obstacle to peace since it is clear that Arabs living inside Israel are not an obstacle to peace. He then alleged that the sole precondition the Palestinian leadership has demanded for a future state is that it be free of Jews, which he said is an example of ethnic cleansing. He went on to criticize this demand as outrageous, criticize the world community for not finding this outrage to be outrageous, and firmly state that those who say that Jews cannot live somewhere should think through the implications. Since the video has provoked responses all over the map from the right, the left, the Israeli opposition, and the U.S. government, here is your concise and handy guide to Jews in the West Bank, ethnic cleansing, and what Netanyahu is up to.
Netanyahu is right. It is outrageous that a future Palestinian state won't allow any Jews to live in the West Bank! Yes, it would be if that were the case. If an independent Palestine forced out all of its Jews and barred any Jews from living there, it would certainly be a textbook case of ethnic cleansing, and there is no defensible argument to construct such a policy.
What do you mean, "if that were the case" – haven't Palestinian leaders said there will be no Jews allowed? Nope. Netanyahu was in all likelihood referring to Mahmoud Abbas's statement in 2013 that he would not accept the "the presence of a single Israeli – civilian or soldier – on our lands" in the aftermath of an Israeli-Palestinian final status agreement. As Matt Duss helpfully points out, PLO leaders have explicitly said that Jews are welcome to live in a Palestinian state while categorically ruling out Israelis living in settlements where they maintain their Israeli citizenship. To put this into some perspective, this would be like a presidential candidate saying that Syrian Muslims are welcome to come and live in the U.S. so long as they are not living in extra-territorial enclaves that are sovereign Syrian territory and they are subject to the laws and authority of the U.S. Makes sense, right? A presidential candidate would be on much shakier and more discriminatory ground if he, say, I don't know, ruled out all Syrian Muslims entirely just because they are Syrian Muslims. Now, it is certainly possible – and even likely – that there are members of the Palestinian leadership who have said they would bar all Jews, Israeli citizens or not. Given the way that the Old City of Jerusalem was administered while under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967, or the calls from various quarters to ban Jews from the Temple Mount entirely today, there is certainly some precedent that warrants suspicion. But given the public record of Abbas's comments, it is clear that he was referring to Israelis living in Palestine as Israeli citizens under Israeli sovereignty. So much like Netanyahu's rhetorical excess back in October regarding Haj Amin al-Husseini and the Holocaust, once again his imprecision with pesky little details has cost him some credibility.
So it comes back to settlements? Indeed it does. Note Netanyahu's rhetorical sleight of hand in the video, where he begins by talking about Jewish communities in the West Bank, and then pivots to talking about Jews writ large. It is one thing for Israel to absorb the large settlements blocs into Israel proper once an agreement is signed, but it is quite another for Israel to maintain settlements that are in Palestinian state territory, that are only open to residents who are Jewish, and that are Israeli sovereign territory guarded by Israeli soldiers. That is what Netanyahu was actually arguing for in the video and positing that there is no reason that such an arrangement should be an obstacle to peace, when the reality is that describing it for what it actually is, as I have above, demonstrates precisely what an enormous problem it is. If Palestinians who before 1948 lived in territory that is now part of Israel wanted to come back and live in their old houses but as Palestinian citizens subject to the law and authority of the government of Palestine, they'd be dismissed out of hand, and rightly so. Once a permanent status agreement is signed, the Israeli government should make every conceivable effort to persuade settlers to relocate to Israel and provide compensation for them to do so, which will likely result in the evacuation of the overwhelming majority of settlers. Any settler who greets the IDF with violent resistance should be arrested and immediately moved out of the West Bank. But any peaceful, law-abiding settler who is willing to renounce Israeli citizenship and wants to remain in his or her home should absolutely be allowed to do so, but only as citizens of Palestine under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian government. In other words, settlers are fine; settlements are not.
So why would Netanyahu put out a video like that? This brings us to the essence of Netanyahu, which is that he subsumes all policy goals to political ones. There is a reason that Netanyahu has provoked the wrath and scorn of nearly every general and intelligence chief who has served under him. Why negotiate a new defense package when you have maximum leverage when you can instead shore up your rightwing base at home by giving a speech before Congress instead? Why keep an extremely competent and respected and supremely qualified defense minister during the midst of a wave of violence – and following an Iran deal that you say has put Israel at greater risk – when you can enlarge your coalition and neutralize an ultranationalist foe by making him defense minister despite a pitiful lack of qualifications? In this case, Netanyahu was coming off the debacle of shutting down train repairs on Shabbat in order to mollify his Haredi coalition partners and then having the public squarely blame him for putting politics ahead of soldiers trying to get home for the weekend, and then facing down polls that show Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party besting Netanyahu and Likud were an election to be held now. On top of that, the polls show Likud losing ground to its farther right coalition partner Habayit Hayehudi. In this instance, the obvious move for Netanyahu was to say something controversial that would fire up the rightwing base, provoke rebukes abroad, and thus benefit Netanyahu even further as he rails against foreign interference and vows to stand up to those who would smear Israel and try to discriminate against Jews. I'd be surprised if Netanyahu anticipated quite the depth of the pushback that he would face, but this is all part of his domestic political calculations.
So in conclusion, I agree 100% with the principle that Netanyahu espoused, namely that it is outrageous bigotry to prevent Jews from living in the West Bank. Unfortunately, in this instance Netanyahu was not speaking theoretically, and everyone should see through the smokescreen that he constructed in order to use anti-Semitism as a cover in defending settlements.
Opining On Outposts
September 8, 2016 § 2 Comments
In 2011, the Israeli High Court ruled that Migron, an outpost in the West Bank built without government approval on private Palestinian land, had to be dismantled. After the government ignored the court order and instead worked out an agreement with Migron's residents that delayed the evacuation, the court stepped in again and ordered Migron evacuated before the deadline that had been agreed upon with the settlers. The Israeli government complied, but rather than end the Migron experiment entirely, it simply moved Migron slightly to the south, where it would now sit on state land, and retroactively legalized its status.
Were Migron an isolated incident, it would be bad enough. But as the current fights over Amona and Netiv Ha'avot – two other unauthorized outposts ordered to be demolished by the High Court – make clear, the story of Migron is the rule rather than the exception. Just like with Migron, Amona is slated to be torn down at the end of the year but the government is planning on relocating it a few hundred yards away and retroactively approving it as an authorized settlement. The fight over Netiv Ha'avot is only just beginning as the High Court ruled last week that it had to be demolished and could not be retroactively legalized, but given the parade of ministers who vowed to prevent its destruction, there is no doubt Netiv Ha'avot will live on. It is critical to understand what is taking place in these unauthorized outposts and to recognize the "solutions" for just how damaging they are, since they are critical to a key talking point that Prime Minister Netanyahu uses when speaking to foreign audiences and point to just how malleable rule of law is within Israel.
While there is controversy over any and all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, Israel has attempted to deal with the contested legality of settlements in general by establishing rules and processes for determining when Israeli law deems a settlement legal or not. The two main components that a settlement requires to be legal in Israel's eyes are government approval in a formal planning and authorization process, and being built on land that is not privately owned by Palestinians. The outposts, which number in the hundreds, violate both of these requirements, which is why the High Court continues to order their demolition. Yet, either because the orders are ignored, the state retroactively legalizes the construction, or the outposts are relocated to the closest parcel of state land, once an outpost goes up it almost never disappears. Even though outposts do not, by definition, have formal government approval, they are often supported by government officials and ministries.
Migron, for instance, was funded by the Housing Ministry at the behest of then-Minister Yair Rafaeli despite never having been formally approved or planned. The best way to understand how outposts get built, evade government efforts to tear them down, and manage to leverage political support and connections to tie up the bureaucracy and keep expanding, is not by reading the news but by reading Assaf Gavron's 2014 novel The Hilltop, which is an engrossing work of fiction but also a cutting analysis of the dynamics that allow illegal outposts to thrive.
And as Isabel Kershner's recent New York Times article on illegal outposts makes clear, they are indeed thriving, as the Israeli government retroactively legalizes them and does everything in its power under Israel's legal system to let them stay. I am not someone who thinks that the presence of a few caravans on isolated hilltops makes it impossible to create a fair and contiguous Palestinian state, but I still think that the largest spotlight possible needs to be shined on this process for a variety of reasons.
First, one of Netanyahu's favorite rhetorical devices is to note that Israel has not built any new settlements during his current run in the prime minister's office. He uses this fact to shut down criticism of Israeli settlement activity and as proof that it is only the Palestinians, and not he, who are the real obstacles to achieving a two-state agreement, and when he trots it out before sympathetic or uninformed audiences, it is an effective trick. The trick is that while it is technically and narrowly correct, it ignores the fact that Israel under Netanyahu's – and his predecessors' – watch may not be authorizing brand new settlements, but the government doesn't have to when it can just take the illegal ones that exist and make them legal. The more that interested observers get the sleight of hand at work, the less Netanyahu will be able to make unsubstantiated claims that muddy the waters.
Second, and more substantively important, the process of making illegal outposts legal is devastating to a two-state solution, not because the outposts themselves are such an obstacle but because they point to just how hard it will be for Israel to undertake the big moves that will be necessary down the road. If the government cannot commit to evacuating tens of settlers living in caravans and tents, what will happen when it agrees to evacuate thousands of settlers living in stone structures, like in Kdumim or Shilo or even Ariel? These outposts are a test of the government's will, and it almost always fails the test miserably. If settlers can establish a community in contravention of Israeli law, clash with the IDF, repel government efforts to make them evacuate, refer to politicians and IDF commanders as Nazis, dictators, and enemies of Jews (all of which routinely happens), and still draw support from ministers and face little worse than having their homes picked up and relocated just yards away, then I wish the government good luck in working up the courage to move tens of thousands of settlers out of the West Bank who actually followed the rules.
Third, the process of dealing with illegal outposts shows how the rule of law in Israel can be more dependent on whom you are than on what you do. When Israeli Jews build illegally in the West Bank, the government has to be dragged kicking and screaming by NGOs who file lawsuits before it takes an action, and that action more often than not is to legalize what was illegal. When Palestinians build illegally in the West Bank – something that they are often forced into by circumstance as Israel issued only one building permit for Palestinians in Area C in 2014 and issued zero in 2015 – their homes are not retroactively legalized or relocated to Area B on the state's dime, but are torn down. When Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that he was going to comply with the order to tear down Amona, he made sure to add that he was going to comply with the order to tear down the Palestinian village of Susya as well, which seems defensible on its face since the same rules should apply to everyone until you consider that Israel is going to rebuild Amona right next door while the residents of Susya are more likely going to have to fend for themselves.
In the greater scope of things, a tiny illegal outpost deep in the West Bank is irrelevant compared to the problems presented by places like Givat Hamatos or Givat Ze'ev, neighborhoods that do indeed make a contiguous Palestinian state with access to East Jerusalem overwhelmingly difficult. But these outposts matter because of what they say about the Israeli government and its willingness to give in to extremists and small interest groups at the slightest hint of political pressure. In many ways, as the fate of these outposts go, so goes the fate of the two-state solution.
A Primer on Building Beyond the Green Line
July 7, 2016 § 2 Comments
Israel announced its plans this week for new construction in a number of different places in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the variety of locations provides a great primer for why I think that not all settlements should be treated equally. Whenever Israel announces that it is constructing new units across the Green Line, it is instinctively condemned, but this is not always the most productive approach. There is no question that settlements are a large problem that cannot and should not be brushed aside as if they are ancillary to the difficulty in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is also no question that the problem that the settlements present has grown exponentially as a direct result of purposeful Israeli policy to move as many Jews into the West Bank as possible. I do not give the Israeli government a free pass on this issue nor do I justify the activity after the fact, and look no further for why the Palestinians are so rightly distrustful of Israel constantly seeking to establish facts on the ground. Nevertheless, while I wish that we were not at this point, it does not change the fact that some settlements are a lot worse than others. Looking at the most recent announcements demonstrates precisely why.
Following the horrific terrorist attacks last week in Kiryat Arba and Route 60, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Lieberman approved a tender for 42 new homes in Kiryat Arba, intended partly to signal that terrorism against Israelis in the West Bank will never drive them out. Netanyahu and Lieberman also approved plans for 560 new units in Ma'ale Adumim, and 140 and 100 new units in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Har Homa respectively. Finally, they approved 600 new homes for Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa. None of these announcements are helpful in that they all complicate matters to one degree or another, but the question to be asked is to what extent they make arriving at a permanent status agreement more difficult. These announcements taken as a group represent four distinct types of areas, all of which should be treated differently: settlements that will have to be evacuated in a final deal, settlements that will be annexed to Israel, neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that have the potential to be the decisive nail in the coffin of the two-state solution.
Kiryat Arba is an example of the first category. It sits right next to Hebron and was one of the first settlements that was built after the Six Day War, and has historical and emotional resonance given the millennia-old Jewish connection to Hebron, considered to be the second holiest city in Judaism after Jerusalem. It is also a settlement that will unquestionably have to be evacuated when the time comes. Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank and Kiryat Arba is located far into what will be the future state of Palestine. It was not part of the Jewish state envisioned in the 1947 partition plan, it is outside the current security barrier, and was not included in the areas to be annexed by Israel under its own proposals at Camp David in 2000, at Taba in 2001, or at Annapolis in 2008. The Israeli government could approve one thousand new units there tomorrow and all it would do is complicate the eventual evacuation of Kiryat Arba. This type of housing approval is completely unproductive and unnecessarily provocative, but it thankfully does nothing to change the facts on the ground by making a two-state solution more difficult to negotiate.
Ma'ale Adumim is an example of the second category, although it is more problematic than some of the other settlements that share this distinction. It anchors one of the five settlement blocs, is the third largest settlement in the West Bank and one of only four Jewish cities across the Green Line, and it is inside the planned route for the security barrier. The vast majority of Israelis consider it to be completely non-controversial and part of Israel, and it has been included in the territory that Israel would like to annex during each negotiation with the Palestinians, including in the 2003 Geneva Initiative. If one takes the position, as I do, that settlement construction inside the blocs should be treated differently than construction outside the blocs, then more housing in Ma'ale Adumim should essentially be ignored. What makes Ma'ale Adumim a little different is that because it is significantly east of Jerusalem, its continued growth poses problems for Palestinian contiguity in the West Bank and – depending on which way it expands – Palestinian access to Jerusalem. But assuming that the new construction does not move north or west, the new units in Ma'ale Adumim are ultimately going to be part of Israel under a permanent status agreement.
Ramot is one of the ring neighborhoods attached to West Jerusalem to the north, and there is an even smaller likelihood than there is with Ma'ale Adumim that it does not remain part of Israel under an eventual peace deal. Far more complicated is Har Homa, which was approved by Netanyahu in 1997 during his first term as prime minister, and is one of only two Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to be built post-Oslo. What makes Har Homa so controversial is that it is one of two pieces in the jigsaw puzzle cutting off Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and it seriously damages Palestinian continuity in the area south of Jerusalem. Despite being inside the security barrier and the municipal boundary of Jerusalem, it is obvious in glancing at a map why Har Homa makes a final resolution far more difficult, and the fact that its boundary has now outgrown the territory that Israel proposed to annex at Camp David and that it was not included by the Geneva Initiative in Israeli territory illustrates this point further. Its population is now over 25,000 and when push comes to shove it is likely to be part of Israel under a permanent status agreement, but it is one of the best examples there is of how Israel establishes facts on the ground that are specifically intended to make an agreement harder to reach, in this case by strategically expanding what is considered to be part of Jerusalem and cutting off Palestinian access from the southern West Bank.
This leaves the second part of the jigsaw puzzle between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, which is Beit Safafa and Givat Hamatos. The former is an Arab neighborhood, the latter a planned Jewish neighborhood and one of two absolute red lines for the U.S. when it comes to Israeli construction (the other being E-1, across from Ma'ale Adumim) since it would cut off the last remaining corridor between Bethlehem and Jerusalem and make dividing Jerusalem in any permanent status agreement exponentially more difficult. The importance of Givat Hamatos to opponents of two states is evident in the reactions to the approval for Palestinian construction in Beit Safafa, with Zeev Elkin slamming the construction announcement since it does not also include Jewish housing in Givat Hamatos and Naftali Bennett calling it a "Palestinian arrow in the heart of Jerusalem" and a de facto division of the city. The government didn't have much choice in the matter as the Jerusalem District Court in May ordered the construction of housing in Beit Safafa to move forward since it had already been planned and approved, but the fact that it instantly created pressure on Netanyahu from his right is dangerous. There is no more precarious area beyond the Green Line than Givat Hamatos, and should the neighborhood ever be built, it is hard to see a worse obstacle for the two-state solution.
The policy of the United States is to criticize any building by Israel over the Green Line, and this week's announcement prompted the expected deep concern from the State Department. Were I the president, however, knowing that Israeli politics and public opinion are where they are and understanding that some construction is nearly innocuous while other construction is deeply deleterious, I would criticize the new units in Kiryat Arba, keep my mouth shut about Ramot and Ma'ale Adumim, project concern over Har Homa with a call not to expound the boundaries of the neighborhood in any way, and make it clear that any moves in Givat Hamatos will be treated as the equivalent of a nuclear option. Yes, this is much more complicated than just criticizing any and all new building, but it would be a policy designed to prevent Israel from doing harm in places where it really matters and get to a two-state solution that both sides will be able to live with.
Blocs and Borders
March 14, 2016 § 3 Comments
Shaul Arieli has a smart op-ed in Ha'aretz today arguing that the concept of the sanctity of settlement blocs is leading Israel astray. Arieli goes through the history of how the blocs came to be, and more importantly demonstrates the way in which their contours have changed, from security zones in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem envelope to settlements intended to obliterate the Green Line to more recent efforts on Prime Minister Netanyahu's part to include areas that bifurcate the West Bank and make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. Arieli argues that the blocs have no security, demographic, economic, or political logic, and that in fact the idea of these inviolate blocs that Israel will keep in any permanent status agreement actively harms Israel by establishing an incoherent and unstable border. Were Israel to adopt a border that incorporated only settlements not separated by the Green Line from Palestinian towns or infrastructure, Arieli writes that it would significantly shorten the length of the border, leave 75% of Israelis living over the Green Line in their current homes, and create a border that is more secure without hurting the social fabric and contiguity of Palestinian locales.
It's an excellent piece and I want to highlight it so that people go and read it, but I also want to make two brief complementary points. First, the history of the changing definition of blocs to include, in Netanyahu's current formulation, places like Ofra, Kiryat Arba, and Kfar Adumim demonstrates the urgent need to define the border of the blocs. The idea that negotiations for two states proceed with an assumption about Israel keeping blocs and nobody knows what those blocs entail means that an agreement in principle might easily blow up once the details have to be hammered out. Furthermore, allowing the blocs to gobble up more and more area destroys any semblance of trust among the Palestinians, and is fundamentally unfair to Palestinian society in the West Bank. The current government's definition of a border for the blocs would be a very different one than I would draw, but limiting things at all would still be a positive step. It would also force the Israeli government to provide a visual for its current settlement policy, which would make it more difficult for it to insist that everything is fine as is. "Blocs" cannot continue to be an amorphous concept that everyone tiptoes around as if it is – pardon the pun – settled, when in fact the blocs continue to be defined differently depending on who's doing the talking.
Second, Arieli's rundown demonstrates to me why a complete settlement freeze is unworkable. I get the argument that any deviation from the 1967 lines as a starting point undermines the core Palestinian conviction that agreeing to negotiations on that basis was their key concession. But Israeli politics cannot be ignored either, and a complete settlement freeze that includes Jerusalem neighborhoods like Gilo is going to be anathema to 95% of Israeli Jews. Each side is going to have to bend on something, and defining the blocs in a fair manner and then freezing everything outside of them – along with a concurrent declaration that everything, including territory inside the borders of the blocs, is subject to future negotiation – is my view of what constitutes a reasonable and likely way of moving forward. Just as the Palestinians view their core concession as recognizing the 1967 lines as relevant at all, Israelis view their core concession as recognizing the PLO and agreeing to negotiate towards a Palestinian state. The reality is that both sides are destined to be deeply disappointed in some manner, and that is how agreements are forged.


text:
Paulo Sousa
Former Manager
Viseu, Portugal
5ft 9
23rd June 2009
Former Clubs
Portugal 51 caps
Pen Pic
Paulo Sousa took over from Roberto Martinez as our new manager, signing a 3-year deal on June 23rd.
After receiving more than 100 applications for the job, Huw Jenkins and the board decided that Portuguese Paulo Sousa was the best man for the job. The likes of Gary Speed, Gus Poyet and Aidy Boothroyd were some of the other candidates considered for the job.
The 38 year-old made an excellent impression in front of the media at the press conference, and spoke highly of the club along with his long term ambitions and plans for Swansea City.
Playing Career
Sousa was a highly successful defensive midfielder who was excellent at maintaining possession and was particularly superb at long range passing.
He won 51 caps for Portugal, and was also a member of the squad that won the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.
He played in Euro 96 and 2000, and also travelled to the 2002 World Cup but didn't make an appearance.
He started his professional career with Benfica in 1989 and in 1991 he won the National league with the club.
He then joined Sporting CP in 1993 where he spent a single season in midfield alongside Luis Figo. He joined Juventus in 1994, and won the Champions League with them in 1996 and the Domestic League in 1995. Other club honours include the Italian 1995, Supercup and 1995 UEFA Cup runners-up.
Sousa also had spells with Borussia Dortmund, where he won the Champions League a second time, beating his former club Juventus in the final, Inter Milan, Parma, Panathinaikos and Espanyol.
His career ended prematurely due to injury.
Coaching / Management Career
Sousa's coaching career began when he joined the Portugese national team, taking charge of the under-15s side. In 2008, he joined first team senior coach Carlos Quieroz as his assistant.
In November 2008, he took charge of a club for the first time, at fellow Championship side QPR. His stay was a short one ho


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Definition of lacerative
a. - Lacerating, or having the power to lacerate; as, lacerative humors.
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d - declarative
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From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishapathyap‧a‧thy /ˈæpəθi/ ●○○ noun [uncountable] INTERESTEDDON'T LIKEthe feeling of not being interested in something, and not willing to make any effort to change or improve things The campaign failed because of public apathy.
Examples from the Corpus
apathy• I have heard therapists say matter-of-factly that in old people, withdrawal, depression, and apathy are normal.• The fatalistic apathy that this creates becomes a part of the induced passivity that I have seen in thousands of illiterate adults.• There is apathy within the A&R departments of major record companies.• Dimitri Volkov was in a fog of mental apathy and confusion.• Then there will come the tears and despair of apathy.• Authoritarian management often leads to apathy among employees.• The constant repetition of an untruth did not make anyone believe, but it could batter the brain into unthinking apathy.• Many health education campaigns are still greeted with apathy.• Worker apathy has been and remains rampant.
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You are spot on about this Jack. Hind's flying in Russian livery always seem to have a bit of the FarmAll tractor look to them. Gives them personality in my mind. US Army Apaches don't shine either. Once deployed they take on the used look, especially in terrain like Afghanistan and Iraq have to offer. |
Yep Jack,
Semi scale only, the retracts are especially difficult to mimic the full size, you could use a gear door sequencer to get it working right on the gear doors, but it seems a liitle too much for a 600 sized heli ( in my personal opinion). Hmm, maybe on the 800 ? |
Inspired by this project , I will try to build my own scale landing gear for the 600 size Hind. This guy did it for a T-Rex 250 size using brass tubes, springs etc. .. so it should be possible to do the same for the 600 size.
This probably will delay the build a little bit. On the other side I think it's worth the efford. Maybe Kin wants to produce such a scale retract mechanism some day ? Rivets, Decals, Weathering, original retracts .. and who knows, maybe a real turbine some day ( I know somebody developing a small shaft turbine ) - that's the goal. |
Today I got the good news from Kin that the fuse is on the way, also have
in a slow manner starting to convert the Rex 600 mechanics to go "scale" the Scorpion motor and the RCA head is mounted, the 5 bladed head look so god mounted, really gone get a low and scalish profile once inside the fuse compared to the flybar head, hope SM gone release the 600 scaleblade soon. Cheers Jack |
Recived min Hind from smartmodels finally and the building has started, unfortunally I dont have the time to made a complete buildthread but gone post some words and pics along the building for those who are interested.
First imp is good when opening the box, everything seems well packed and whats hit me when opened is the huge amount of parts for this model, negative side is that the painted canopy is made out of thin lexan plastic and mine had a crack in it, nothing major that cant be fix, gone reinforce it from inside with epoxy and model GF sheets, also ordered the scale tailgearbox but it was unfortunally forgoten to put in the package, have notified Kin about this and he said he will send me a new canopy and tailgearbox ASAP due the building has started= good service I think, have told him that he dont have to bother about the canopy due im fixing it by myself but the tailgerabox is needed of course, for now I have began to assemble the bulkheads, everything fits in smothly without anything to remarkable, the painting is high class and fortunally survived the long journey fro Asia. Cheers Jack |
Hi Jack,
Nice .. and have fun building the bird. I bet yours will be airborne faster than mine, since I'll put rivets on and paint it myself. Oh well .. it's winter time - building time. I am waiting for missing parts also, but service is very good so I am sure I'll receive them before I need them during building. |
Well the progress goes one, the bulks are in place and glued, also took the oppurtunity to reinforce them with GF sheets, one tricky part was to align the front part of the fuse that are holding the canopy, it cant be glued due it has to be removable because theres have to be space when sliding the bom+mechanic in place, as usual before glueing pay attention to dry fit parts and align them correctly before fixing them permanently, next up is to install the retracts, must say that these retracts are the cutest one I seen, hope they work equaly well, one of the pics shows a part of the parts that comes with the kit, Smartmodel should really pay attention to release a full manual that are showing where to use which screw, as for now the builder has to guess. Cheers Jack |
Thanks for posting your progress. I will follow it with great inerest. Are you planning on turning the 5 blades with a stock Align motor?
29.6Vx630=18648/11.33=1645xeff 0.9 1481 Rpm Hope this should be fine, purhased the pinion and motor from Fung at Flying Hobby Cheers jack |
Hello guys
as the building goes on I today Noticed something I didnt like and that are going to require major mods to the trex mech, I have the 5 bladed rca head and when i fitted the mech to the fuse I saw that rotorhead are way up to far for a scalish appearence, a two bladed would be even higher, looking on pics on Smartmodels site I doubt thats a trex mech that are fitted when they testflying it, judging to those pictures maybe a logo or swift?? For now the mech gone require a major mod that includes to cut of the bottom of the carbon mainframes to get mech fit lower and get a good looking scale, I dont doubt it would be flyable as it it but would look so non scale and would please the eye in the same way, maybe the guys on SM should consider to include the lower mainframes sides as for the UH 1B? Im gone post some pics in the nearby so you can compare the original height with the moded one and judge for you self. Cheers Jack |
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13.01.11 by Jeff
18.03.09 by Jeff
April Gertler
I found these beautiful photographs of dioramas by April Gertler and as I browsed through the work on her site it struck me that I'd posted about a similar artist before. Then when I came across the fifth image (the owls) I was sure I had already posted Gertler's work but her name didn't ring a bell.
11.12.08 by Jeff
Mary Emma Hawthorne
If you haven't noticed already, I kinda have a thing for bird-related artwork. Enjoy the collage work of Mary Emma Hawthorne.
01.10.08 by Jeff
Mystery Lake
My friend Scoot and I went for a little hike and a swim on Sunday morning. I like to keep my spots secret but this one really is called Mystery Lake. You can't really swim in a lake in late-September out here too often, but summer has stuck around a bit.


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Lot 151: Chinese Famille Rose Jardiniere, Daoguang
Estate Auction, November 6
by Auctions at Showplace Antiques
06 November 2016
New York, NY, USA
Live AuctionSold
Looking for the realised and estimated price?
Description: Mid-19th century, the mottled green exterior with incised pink and purple camellias on branches, rockwork, and an occasional butterfly. 10.5" H X 14.5" diameter. Old tight 3" vertical hairline crack at rim; rim further with numerous glaze pops; interior water-stained.


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Click here to print the obituary below
In Memory of
Nancy Trimble Agerton
April 17, 1951 - September 30, 2012
Nancy Trimble Agerton -- A 61 year-old native of Birmingham, AL and longtime resident of Mobile passed away Sunday, September 30, 2012. Mrs. Agerton was a 1977 graduate of the Mobile College School of Nursing where she received the Dr. James G. Donald Award. She was a former cardiovascular nurse at Mobile Infirmary and was a member of Christ United Methodist Church. Mrs. Agerton was preceded in death by her father, Woodrow Trimble. She is survived by her husband of 35 years, Bill Agerton; daughter, Melissa Agerton Smilie (David); mother, Lila Trimble; brother, Gary Trimble (Carolyn); nieces, nephews, and many friends. The family would like to offer a special thanks to all the doctors, nurses, and caregivers who have cared for Mrs. Agerton over the years. A memorial service will be held at Christ United Methodist Church on Friday, October 5, 2012, at 11 a.m. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. until the service hour. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the , 900 Western America Cir., Ste. 101, Mobile, AL 36609. Condolences may be offered at www.radneyfuneral
Friday, October 05, 2012 | 10:00am - 11:00am
Christ United Methodist Church
Mobile, AL
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Memorial Service
Friday, October 05, 2012 | 11:00am
Christ United Methodist Church
Mobile, AL
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The iconic image of last week was in the Gaza Strip. It was of a Palestinian gunman astride the local office of the European Union. All the diplomatic staff had fled, tipped off ahead of time. The source of the militant's ire? A series of satirical cartoons originally published in Denmark. Yes, cartoons.
A Danish paper, a while back, had commissioned a set of cartoons depicting the fear that many writers and artists in Europe feel when dealing with the subject of Islam. To Western eyes, the cartoons were not in any way remarkable. In fact, they were rather tame. One...
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Sight of the pitcher's mound for the first modern era World Series. Northeastern University, Boston.
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Accommodation in Santa Maria Xadani
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"This is the best hotel option in Salina Cruz. Although it is a budget hotel, it has comfortable beds and pillows, good A/C, cable TV, Wifi, nice bathrooms, and a free breakfast. I have tried all the other hotels in Salina Cruz over the years, and this is the one I always return to."
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19.03.17 22:48
Muslims in Mannaar expose systemic inability of SL State in delivering justice to victims
Muslims in Mannaar expose systemic inability of SL State in delivering justice to victims
No change in curfew in Jaffna - SLA[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2008, 14:45 GMT]Sri Lanka Army (SLA) announced Wednesday night over its radio in Palaali that the curfew hours will be extended, the new hours being 7:00 p.m to 5:00 a.m daily with effect from Thursday night. But, later on Thursday the SLA announced that the curfew will be between 9:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., as usual. Artillery fire exchanges that took place between the SLA at Palaali and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from their territories Wednesday evening may have caused the initial announcement, residents said. Shells launched by the LTTE on Palaali SLA military complex Wednesday evening fell and exploded around the complex, informed sources said. Chronology: 05.07.08 SLA extends curfew hours in Jaffna
26.06.08 No change in curfew in Jaffna - SLA
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Christmas Greetings with a Contest!
Source: hdwallpaperbackgrounds.net With more than half of the world celebrating, I bring you the season's greetings folks,Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! Sending you all bundles of love and joy, for Christmas is the season of giving and I take absolute pleasure in doing the same. Source: searchquotes.com This is not just another Christmas wish … [Read more…]


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Dreier's Apartment Fetches $8.2 Million at Bankruptcy Auction
The luxury midtown Manhattan apartment of disgraced attorney Marc S. Dreier was sold at auction yesterday for $8.2 million, about $2 million less than the $10.43 million he paid in 2007.
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There's a war! And you're in the middle of it. Join a team or create your own team. Whatever you choose to do, make sure your team will win this war. Start your journey, keep your weapon ready and shoot all opponents you encounter.Controls
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Shop Strawberry Fields Revisited Collection
Your next quilting fabric project may need this small polka dot print on a butter yellow color.
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Build a Website
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I have a project to build a joomla website based on my designs, using modules on the page. The design is very simple, it will need to be responsive and all elements editable via the editor in the admin panel.
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Santa Ana DMV Office - Map, Hours, Contact
Santa Ana DMV Office Contact Information
Santa Ana DMV Office Address
Santa Ana DMV Office Hours
Online Services Available - Guide
Sponsored AdsSanta Ana DMV Office Holidays
New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Lincoln's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Cesar Chavez Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day. Holidays occurring on Sundays are generally observed the following Monday. When Veterans Day, November 11th, falls on a Saturday, the office will be closed on Friday, November 10th.
Armenian, Chinese/Mandarin, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese.
By far the worst dmv .
By far the worst dmv . employees walking around talking to their co workers . The start line has 3 employees 2 working on the appointments 1 working on non appointments this lady takes the longest time to assist but walks away every minute or so I've been here since 9 am it's 11:30 I haven't even gotten a number yet this is terrible awful service . 4 windows open 18 chairs empty really people! Oh! and I tried to get an appointment but they will give me one till October. Who is the supervisor here ? Supervise!!!
My mother took her driving
My mother took her driving test today, she did well on everything but the examiner was beyond rude. He wrote on his score sheet that she "must learn english" what does the driving exam have to do with the language she speaks? And by the way "learning english" isn't what she's being evaluated on. The DMV needs to seriously consider hiring examiners with people skills.
Examiner for behind the wheel
Examiner for behind the wheel test (looks like old chinese/ mexican man).. was so rude.. right from the beginning he started demoralizing me. And unnecesary asked me to move when cars were coming frmo other side. He was so rude in his words and did knew how to talk to a lady. He should be thrown out of DMV or atleast get trained to put the person at ease and not to tense him/her during BTW test
Its been the worsse
Its been the worsse experiance ever. It wasent the first time that i had gone through rough times with them.Once they had lost a payment i had made personally in the office and i had to pay again another 300 dollars never got a refund or apoligy nothing just attitudes and rudeness, this most recent one they had asked to to step out because my 1year old was being a little loud in the most indesent manor then ,i had gone to the restroom and when i came out i had missed my number and they wanted to make me stay another 2 hours and a half to called up yet again. It was the most disrepectful most agravating experience i have ever had in any public place.Im never going back their again i dont care how far i have to drive fro good coustomer service.


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How's this for a super cute and really quick 3" x 3" notecard? I like these notecards in place of tags for a gift. I have used a cute stamp set called "Every Litte Bit". You can find it on page 46 of the main Idea Book & Catalogue. It has 28 images for every occassion you can think of and is just perfect for these notecards. I made a bunch of these to put with gifts this year.
I stamped the image in Staz On Black, then used my Stampin' Write markers to colour it in. I then punched the image using the 1 1/4" Square punch. I punched another coordinating piece of cardstock (Old Olive) with the 1 3/8" Square punch, layered them with Dimensionals and stuck to the card front. I then tied a mini bow, using THIS tutorial, with the new Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine from the Summer Mini Catalogue, and stuck that above the ornament using a spot of Tombow Multi.
Another nice, quick project, although not when you are making multiples, like I was! I also stamped the front of the Mini Envelopes, although, opted not to colour the image in this time.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
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