Purported letter from inside Gaza tells of tunnel toil, Hamas cruelty

An emotional letter purportedly smuggled out of Gaza details one man’s harrowing participation in digging the tunnels that Israel blames for triggering the latest round of fighting and paints a bleak picture of life under Hamas control.
The 30-year-old Palestinian to whom the letter is attributed describes accepting a cryptic job offer, then being taken in a windowless truck with five others to a building where they were forced to dig tunnels for long, gruelling shifts in stretches that lasted 10 days.
“We drove for an hour and finally they stopped and took us into a closed building. We didn’t know where we were,” reads the letter, the text of which has been released on the Internet. “They showed us a hole in the ground and told us to go down.

“We didn’t know where we’d been, or what tunnel we dug.”- Purported letter smuggled out of Gaza City

“We walked for a few hundred meters, and when we got to the end, two Hamas members were waiting for us,” the letter continues. “They gave us working tools and explained to us what to do in order to make the tunnel longer.”
It goes on to describe back-breaking labor performed in unventilated shafts, with Hamas overseers screaming and even assaulting workers not deemed to be working hard enough. In the end, after the workers were taken back home and paid meager wages for their work, “We didn’t know where we’d been, or what tunnel we dug,” the letter said.
Earlier this week, The Times of Israel reported that Hamas killed dozens of tunnel diggers after their work was done to prevent leaks to Israel about the locations of the underground shafts. In addition to tunnelers purposely killed, The Journal of Palestine Studies in 2012 reported that Hamas leaders had admitted that, "at least 160 children have been killed in the tunnels," reflecting the fact that many children are also used as forced labor to dig the terror tunnels.
The writer, who sources told FoxNews.com lives in Gaza City, had the handwritten, Arabic letter smuggled out by courier to Itzik Azar, a resident of central Israel and friend of the writer’s late father.
In the letter, the writer also claims his father’s metalwork shop was commandeered by the U.S.-designated terrorist group soon after it came to power in Gaza in 2006, and used from that point on to turn out rockets.
“They [Hamas] set the prices and [placed the orders] from the workshop,” he wrote. “From that day, every morning an armed Hamas member used to come to the shop and give us orders to make winged metal pipes. Straight away I understood that they were used to launch rockets. One day a pickup truck came and the Hamas members took my father from the shop. We never saw him again. Later I learned they killed him and threw his body into a pit.”
The death of his father and the seizure of the family shop drove the man to jump at the chance to earn money, he said. When the latest hostilities between Israel Defense Forces and Hamas broke out more than two months ago, he realized his own work had played a role.
“We heard about the tunnels that Hamas dug and I understood that I helped them,” read the letter. “We pray that the world will help to free us from the fearful and cruel Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip. I pray for death to all Hamas members and that we will get freedom and a chance to live a normal life for our children in Gaza. Inshalla.”

Ferguson shooting: Police, protesters clash after disclosures

Bailey: "One picture says more than a thousand words."What has this got to do with Justice?

Anger spurred by the death of a black teenager at the hands of white police officer boiled over again early Saturday morning in Ferguson, Missouri, when protesters stormed into a convenience store — the same store that Michael Brown was accused of robbing.
Police and about 200 protesters began clashing late Friday after another tense day in the St. Louis suburb, a day that included authorities identifying the officer who fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9. At the same news conference in which officer Darren Wilson was named, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson released documents alleging that Brown stole a $48.99 box of cigars from the convenience store, then strong-armed a man on his way out.
Just before midnight, some in what had been a large and rowdy but mostly well-behaved crowd broke into that same small store and began looting it, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson.
Some in the crowd began throwing rocks and other objects at police, Johnson said. One officer was hurt but details on the injury were not immediately available.
Johnson said police backed off to try and ease the tension. He believes looting may have spread to a couple of nearby stores. No arrests were made.
"We had to evaluate the security of the officers there and also the rioters," Johnson said. "We just felt it was better to move back."
Meanwhile, peaceful protesters yelled at the aggressors to stop what they were doing. About a dozen people eventually blocked off the front of the convenience store to help protect it.
Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday appointed Johnson to take over security after concerns were raised about how local police had used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters earlier in the week. Johnson said one tear gas canister was deployed Friday night after the group of rioters became unruly.
Jackson's decision to spell out the allegations that Brown committed the robbery, and his releasing of surveillance video, angered attorneys for Brown's family and others, including U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay. Earlier Friday night, the Democratic congressman took a bullhorn and told protesters, "They have attempted to taint the investigation. They are trying to influence a jury pool by the stunt they pulled today."
Family attorney Daryl Parks acknowledged that the man shown in the surveillance footage "appears to be" Brown. But he and others said Brown's family was blindsided by the allegations and release of the footage. They said that even if it was Brown, the crime didn't justify the shooting of a teen after he put up his hands in surrender to the officer, as witnesses allege.
Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said police "are choosing to disseminate information that is very strategic to try to help them justify the execution-style" killing, said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder.
The surveillance video appears to show a man wearing a ball cap, shorts and white T-shirt grabbing a much shorter man by his shirt near the store's door. A police report alleges that Brown grabbed the man who had come from behind the store counter and "forcefully pushed him back" into a display rack.
Police said they found evidence of the stolen merchandise on Brown's body.
Brown's family and supporters have been pushing for release of the officer's name. Wilson is a six-year police veteran — two in neighboring Jennings and four in Ferguson — and had no previous complaints filed against him, Jackson said.
The police chief described Wilson as "a gentle, quiet man" who had been "an excellent officer." Wilson has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said it could be weeks before the investigation of the shooting wraps up.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley on Friday asked Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to take over the case, saying he did not believe McCulloch could be objective. Koster said Missouri law does not allow it unless McCulloch opts out. McCulloch spokesman Ed Magee said McCulloch has no plans to surrender the case.
Also Friday, the Justice Department confirmed in a statement that FBI agents had conducted several interviews with witnesses as part of a civil-rights investigation into Brown's death. In the days ahead, the agents planned to canvass the neighborhood where the shooting happened, seeking more information, the statement said.

A lot of Balls Cartoon

Fox News poll: Voters to Congress -- Do something! Anything! on immigration

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/15/fox-news-poll-voters-to-congress-do-something-anything-on-immigration/

Iraq's al-Maliki agrees to step down as prime minister

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/15/iraq-al-maliki-backs-new-prime-minister/

Transparent Cartoon

Disputes over Gaza conflict reportedly mark new low in US influence over Israel

Why wouldn't it with Obama constantly trying to throw Israel under the bus!

Disputes over the conduct of Israel's recent offensive in the Gaza Strip have left the Obama administration with little influence over Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu's government and kept the U.S. largely on the sidelines as Egypt attempts to negotiate a long-term truce between the Israelis and Palestinians, according to a published report. 
According to The Wall Street Journal, White House officials regard Netanyahu and key members of his security Cabinet as "reckless and untrustworthy." In response, the report claims that Israeli officials regard the Obama administration as "weak and naive," a view best expressed by Netanyahu's reported remark earlier this month that the U.S. should not "ever second guess me again" after an earlier cease-fire quickly collapsed amid a flurry of Hamas rockets.
Ties on the diplomatic front deteriorated late last month after Secretary of State John Kerry sent a confidential draft of a proposed cease-fire to Netanyahu's government for feedback. Instead, The Journal reported, Netanyahu sent back no comments and put the proposal to a vote among his security Cabinet. The proposal was also leaked to the Israeli media, angering U.S. officials who saw the move as retribution for Kerry's outreach to Turkey and Qatar, two of Hamas' most prominent backers.
During the current ongoing cease-fire negotiations in Cairo, Egypt has taken over the mediating role customarily held by the U.S., most recently in 2012, when the most recent cease-fire prior to the present fighting was agreed under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A five-day cease-fire reportedly agreed upon Wednesday appeared to be holding as of Thursday morning. 
Due to the ongoing friction with the White House and State Department, Israeli officials have reportedly turned to supporters in Congress and the Pentagon. The Journal reports that Israel's Defense Ministry moved last month to secure additional munitions, including mortar shells, through military-to-military channels and without the knowledge of U.S. diplomats or White House officials. 
When the White House found out that the weapons request had been approved, it instituted a review procedure that required the Pentagon to consult with the White House and State Department before approving any new Israeli requests. 
Similarly, the Journal reported that Israeli officials were lobbying Congress to accelerate a $225 million bill to replenish the country's Iron Dome missile defense system. U.S. officials claimed to the Journal that the Israelis told Pentagon, State Department, and White House officials that they had enough interceptors to see them through the current Gaza operation, and consented when the administration told them the White House would not seek immediate emergency funding. Consequently, U.S. officials told the Israeli counterparts to expect the bill to be approved sometime in the fall. 
By contrast, Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., told The Journal that Israeli officials had informed members of Congress that the money was desperately needed because the Iron Dome system was running low on interceptors and the military could not wait for Congress to return from its August recess. In the end, the bill passed Congress, and Obama signed it into law August 4.

Report: Companies desperate to avoid ObamaCare 'Cadillac tax' shifting costs to workers

You can thank Obama for this!

A national business group representing the nation’s large employers reported Wednesday that companies desperate to avoid a 40 percent ObamaCare “Cadillac tax” are finding ways to shift the costs to workers.
The so-called “Cadillac tax,” now four years away, will affect health plans that spend more than $10,200 per worker.
“The excise tax, when it hits in 2018, will affect both employers and employees,"said Brian Marcotte, president of the National Business Group on Health.
Employees will get incentives to reduce costs through such arrangements as wellness programs, including losing weight or stopping smoking.
Meanwhile, employers are shifting workers into plans with higher deductibles, just as ObamaCare does in the health care exchanges, and using health savings accounts to help defray the costs.
Another cost saver, Marcotte added, is to increase premiums for spouses who have access to other plans.
"If the spouse has coverage through their own employers, employers are beginning to charge more if they elect to stay on their employee’s plan rather than go with the spouse's plan."
Rosemary Gibson of the Hastings Center said, "Employees are going to be paying more and more of their income for health care. And the same with people even on these exchanges if they don't get subsidies."
The “Cadillac tax” was originally intended to take effect sooner, but unions and other groups convinced officials to delay it until 2018, reducing the anticipated income from $137 billion to $80 billion over ten years. But many analysts predict it will be far less than that.
Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution said, "before then, it's expected that most of the businesses that offer that form of insurance will back off and make the insurance less generous, so the tax won't bite."
Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates said he doubted many will end up paying the tax.
"What we're finding is almost no employers are going to be hit by this ‘Cadillac tax.’ You'd be stupid to get hit by this ‘Cadillac tax,’” he said. “They're all cutting their benefits right now."
One analyst noted the tax had less to do with health care than it did with revenue.
"The ‘Cadillac tax’ is not about health care, it's about the money.It's about getting the money," said Dan Mendelson of Avalere Health.
But if employers are able to avoid it and less than expected is collected, ObamaCare could fall tens of billions short in paying for itself as promised.
Meanwhile, the administration has sent letters to 310,000 people signed up for the exchanges threatening to cut off their insurance if they don't submit missing verification of their citizenship by September 5.
At the same time, Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services Wednesday noting that its own Inspector General had found "1.2 million applicants have unresolved inconsistencies related to income verification."
She pointedly asked if there was an action plan or a deadline to deal with them, noting $17 billion will be paid in subsidies this year alone.