Kerry leaves Middle East without deal, but says gap has been narrowed

Secretary of State John Kerry completed negotiations with Israel and Palestine without striking a deal for the two countries to re-engage in peace talks. However, Kerry said all sides were cautiously optimistic, and plans to return to the region soon.

By Lesley Wroughton,?Reuters / June 30, 2013

Escorted by security, US Secretary of State John Kerry, (l.), walks with Frank Lowenstein, senior advisor to the secretary on Middle East issues, through the streets of Jerusalem just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, after finishing a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that took over six hours.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP

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US Secretary of State?John?Kerry?ended a shuttle diplomacy mission on Sunday without an agreement on resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but said gaps had been narrowed and he would return to the region soon.

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"I'm pleased to tell you that we have made real progress on this trip. And I believe that with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach," he told a news conference before his departure from?Tel Aviv's airport.

"We started out with very wide gaps and we have narrowed those considerably," he said, without elaborating. "We are making progress. That's what's important and that's what will bring me back here."

Over four busy days,?Kerry?met Israeli and Palestinian leaders repeatedly and separately to try to find a formula for reviving direct negotiations stalled since late 2010 in a dispute over Jewish settlements in the occupied?West Bank.

Kerry?said both Israeli Prime Minister?Benjamin Netanyahu?and Palestinian President?Mahmoud Abbas?had asked him "to return to the area soon". "(That is) a sign that they share my cautious optimism," he added.

Palestinian chief negotiator?Saeb Erekat?said there had been some progress, "but we can't say there's been a breakthrough".

Erekat said he would hold further meetings with US representatives to follow up on some issues raised during the?Kerry?visit, the secretary's fifth since taking office.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called on Abbas to return to negotiations. But he has balked at Abbas's demand thatIsrael?first halt settlement expansion in the?West Bank?and East?Jerusalem, areas it captured in a 1967?Middle East?war and which Palestinians want for a future state.

An Israeli official, who asked not to be identified, said Abbas was also seeking the release by?Israel?of scores of long-serving Palestinian security prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

But Netanyahu believed the issue should be addressed only after talks resume, the official added.

NO PRECONDITIONS

"Israel?is prepared to enter into negotiations without delay, without preconditions, and we are not placing any barriers on the resumption of final-status talks on a permanent peace agreement between the Palestinians and us," Netanyahu told his cabinet after six hours of overnight talks with?Kerry.

For new talks to be held, Abbas has said Netanyahu must also recognise the?West Bank's boundary before its capture by?Israel?as the basis for the border of a future Palestinian state.

Israel, seeking to keep major settlements under any peace accord, has rejected those terms, deeming them preconditions, and has said its security forces would not be able to defend the pre-1967 frontiers.

A US State Department official said?Kerry's discussions with Netanyahu and advisers in a?Jerusalem?hotel suite ended shortly before 4 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Sunday.

Afterwards,?Kerry?strolled through the deserted streets of the city accompanied by his security and one of his advisers on the?Middle East,?Frank Lowenstein. He then drove to?Ramallah, the Palestinian hub city in the?West Bank, to see Abbas.

Kerry?is keen to get fresh peacemaking under way before the?United Nations General Assembly, which has granted de facto recognition to a Palestinian state, convenes in September.

Netanyahu is concerned that the Palestinians, in the absence of direct peace talks, could make further moves at the U.N. session to get their statehood recognised, circumventing?Israel.

But?Kerry?said the pace of his diplomacy was set by the two sides, whom he described as sincere about finding a way forward.

"We're not going to get stuck with artificial deadlines. That's a big mistake," he said before flying to?Asia.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in?Ramallah, Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Dan Williams

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/GKLGd_kddaE/Kerry-leaves-Middle-East-without-deal-but-says-gap-has-been-narrowed

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Actor James Gandolfini's funeral on Thursday

NEW YORK (AP) ? A funeral service for actor James Gandolfini is scheduled to take place in one of New York City's largest churches.

The ceremony at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine is planned for 10 a.m. Thursday. It comes after a private wake for the former star of "The Sopranos" on Wednesday in New Jersey.

The 51-year-old actor died of a heart attack last week while vacationing in Italy with his son.

Broadway theaters paid tribute by dimming their lights briefly Wednesday night. Gandolfini was nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 as an actor in "God of Carnage."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/actor-james-gandolfinis-funeral-thursday-061748888.html

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Russia rejects US demand for Snowden's extradition

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's foreign minister has rejected U.S. demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who has apparently stopped in Moscow while trying to evade U.S. justice.

Sergey Lavrov said that Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border and insisted that Russia has nothing to do with him, his relations with U.S. justice or his travel plans.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, he angrily lashed out at the U.S. demands for the extradition and warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

Lavrov said that accusing Russia of "violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy" with regard to Snowden is "absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable."

He wouldn't specify the location of Snowden, who booked a Havana-bound flight from Moscow Monday but didn't show up on the plane.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-rejects-us-demand-snowdens-extradition-092352868.html

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Peloton's Android-powered static bike lets you spin from home (video)

Here's some gear that'll ensure you'll never again have to fight for space in that hyper-competitive spin class. The Peloton Bike is two grands' worth of static bike that's designed to bring the gym experience to your home with a number of innovative touches. First up, the Android 4.1-running unit is controlled by a 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4470 with 1GB of RAM and 16GB storage with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, ANT+, Bluetooth 4.0 and Ethernet. It's connected to a 21.5-inch 1080p multitouch display, which'll let you stream classes from Peloton's NYC studio live and on-demand. The display also holds a webcam and microphone, so you can still swear at your friends / the instructor as if you were there in real life.

Secondly, the New York design house has abandoned the bike chain, replacing it with a belt drive that'll prevent your training getting too noisy, and a magnetic resistance system to reduce wear and tear on the flywheel. The company has taken to Kickstarter to raise funds for the initial production run, requesting $250,000 before it can release the hardware. Pre-ordering now means that you can get the bike for $1,700 with a year's worth of subscription to the spin classes, after which point will cost you $40 a month. Interested in learning more? There's a video after the break.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Kickstarter

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ezjfq0v2Oxs/

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Putting Office apps on your smartphone

Sometimes you want to view or edit a document on your smartphone.? I’ve found a couple of apps that allow you to do just that: CloudOn and Kingsoft Office.? They have a lot in common: they’re both free, they both offer a wealth of features, they both connect to your cloud accounts, and they are [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/22/putting-office-apps-on-your-smartphone/

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National GOP slow to embrace Mass. moderate Gomez

BOSTON (AP) ? Massachusetts Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez's credentials would seem to fit the gold standard for the new breed of mass-appeal Republican that the GOP called for in an exhaustive postelection autopsy.

Yet the Washington-based national party and its most powerful allies have been reluctant to rally behind the fresh-faced Republican with the all-star resume, raising questions about the GOP's commitment to candidates who might help improve its standing among women and minorities.

"I told them from the beginning I'm going to win this with or without D.C.," Gomez said this week. In a tough race in Democrat-friendly Massachusetts, he acknowledged that Democrat Ed Markey and Democratic allies have dramatically outspent him in the special election to replace former Sen. John Kerry, whom President Barack Obama chose as his secretary of state.

The election comes Tuesday, just three months after Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus released a high-profile internal report that found many voters disillusioned with the modern Republican Party. Working to recover from Obama's re-election, the report's authors determined that future GOP success would depend upon Republicans who generate stronger support from women, Hispanics and younger voters.

In particular, the study called on Republicans to embrace "comprehensive immigration reform," recruit minority candidates, and become more "inclusive and welcoming" when dealing with contentious social issues.

Gomez, 47, is a native Spanish speaker born to a first-generation Colombian immigrant family. A former Navy SEAL turned businessman, he supports gay marriage and immigration reform, and while he personally opposes abortion, he says he wouldn't spend "a single minute of any day" changing abortion law in Washington if elected ? all positions that seemingly would play well in liberal-leaning Massachusetts, where Republicans don't often win statewide races.

GOP officials say national party leaders see Gomez as exactly the type of candidate they want to broaden the party's appeal beyond its conservative base. The officials requested anonymity to describe party strategies they were not authorized to discuss by name.

For much of the campaign, Gomez was outspent by Markey and his national Democratic allies, who sent a river of money and political stars to Massachusetts ? Obama and first lady Michelle Obama among them ? on Markey's behalf.

National GOP leaders believe they did as much as they could by funneling resources through the state party, according to the party officials. And they did so under the radar, the officials said, in a careful effort not to link Gomez to an unpopular national GOP in a state Obama won by 23 points last fall. Still, pro-Republican outside groups, who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2012 elections, largely ignored the race.

"He's an American hero and he was being abandoned by the Republican establishment," says John Jordan, a California-based Republican donor who was driven by frustration in recent weeks to create a super PAC that pledged to spend up to $1.3 million to help Gomez. "The Republican establishment says they want middle-of-the-road Latino candidates ? here they had one."

With Jordan's help, Gomez and his supporters have narrowed Markey's spending advantage in recent weeks. As of Friday afternoon, Democrats invested $5.2 million in television advertising compared to $3 million on the Republican side, according to the Smart Media Group, which tracks political advertising. The figures don't include hundreds of thousands of dollars more than Democratic groups have devoted to political mailings and get-out-the-vote efforts designed to defeat Gomez.

"He was just left on the beach. I couldn't live with it," said Jordan, a self-described political centrist and 41-year-old CEO of the Jordan Vineyard and Winery.

He suggested that Gomez's case would create a chilling effect on the centrist Republican candidates needed to broaden the party's appeal in other parts of the country. Indeed, it's unclear whether Republican candidates gearing up for 2014 will be rewarded or punished for embracing the RNC's recommendations.

Former Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, is the president of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group that promotes a centrist GOP agenda. He said Republican moderates such as West Virginia Senate candidate Rep. Shelly Moore-Capito, and former Reps. Robert Dold of Illinois and Doug Ose of California could face more conservative challengers in 2014 GOP primaries where moderation on immigration and social issues is often not rewarded.

LaTourette sees signs that the Republican Party already is beginning to distance itself from its new roadmap. He was initially encouraged by the RNC recommendations, but said that Republicans have been "doubling down" recently on far-right positions on abortion, immigration and health care.

"It's depressing. I just don't see the shift, at least at the national level," LaTourette said. "In order to become a national party, not just a regional party, we have to have more guys like Gomez in Massachusetts."

To be sure, national Republicans have not ignored Gomez altogether. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP's formal Senate campaign arm, devoted four staff members to the Massachusetts Senate contest. The group also transferred more than $800,000 to the state GOP to help fuel a pro-Gomez television advertising campaign, in addition to contributing $45,800 directly to the campaign and spending another $68,400 on polling and web ads.

"We are extremely proud to have invested so heavily ? and worked so hard ? to elect a first-generation American, Latino, Navy SEAL to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts," said NRSC spokesman Brad Dayspring. "Our efforts forced Democrats and liberal interest groups to spend millions upon millions in the bluest of blue states."

Former Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate Maine Republican who retired this year, says it's still unclear whether the national GOP will follow through on its plans to broaden its appeal.

"How aggressively they embrace moderate candidate across the country is the true test," Snowe said, suggesting that GOP leaders may have to experience more than one painful election cycle to commit to change. "I just don't know at what point they're going to confront the reality of the situation they're in."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/national-gop-slow-embrace-mass-moderate-gomez-192229957.html

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Bipartisan proposal on student loans circulating

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students applying for financial aid for the coming school year could find some comfort in a bipartisan student loan compromise taking shape in the Senate that would prevent interest rates from doubling and set a single rate each year for undergraduate students, rich or poor.

Interest rates, which would be tied to the financial markets, would rise slightly to 3.8 percent for low-income students receiving new subsidized Stafford loans this year but not double as they're scheduled to do July 1. Despite the increase, the rate is still lower than the 6.8 percent students would face absent congressional action. The current rate is 3.4 percent.

More affluent undergraduates would see a bigger decline; the interest rate on new unsubsidized loans would drop from 6.8 percent to 3.8 percent under current market conditions.

Rates for all new federal student loans would vary from year to year, according to the financial markets. But once students received a loan, the interest rate would be set for the life of that year's loan.

Rates for parents and graduate students also would be tied to the markets.

A draft of the proposal was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Congress is grappling with student loans for the second straight year, with each party pointing fingers at the other about who would shoulder the blame if rates double. The House passed legislation that also ties rates to the markets but the Senate earlier this month voted down two competing proposals.

The latest Senate compromise, developed during conversations among Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, was being passed among offices. None of them publicly committed to the plan until they heard back from the Congressional Budget Office about how much the proposal would cost.

A day earlier, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters negotiations were afoot and predicted a deal could be reached. He mentioned talking with Manchin and King, as well as Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

"The last 24 hours, I've spent hours working with interested senators," Reid said Tuesday.

"We're not there yet," he added.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House economic adviser Gene Sperling would have lunch with senators on Thursday, Reid said.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been unrelenting in their criticism of Democrats for opposing tenets of Obama's student loan proposal, chiefly rates that change every year to reflect the markets. Without action, Republicans said, students were left not knowing how much they would be paying for classes this fall.

"It's not fair to these students and not fair to students across the country who need to know what the cost of their loans is going to be and what the interest rate is going to be," Republican House Speaker John Boehner told reporters.

Last year, Congress voted to keep interest rates on subsidized Stafford student loans at 3.4 percent for another year during a heated presidential campaign. Without the attention, education advocates worried that the interest rate would revert back to former rates on July 1, leading to extra out-of-pocket costs for students.

Six sometimes overlapping versions of student loan legislation were being considered in the House and Senate. Two bills ? Senate Republicans' and Senate Democrats' proposals ? both failed to win 60 votes needed to advance last week, seeming to suggest student loans were going to double.

Other proposals had champions among wings of their parties but only the House had passed student loan legislation that ties interest rates to Treasury notes. That bill drew a veto threat from the White House.

"The House has done its job. It's time for the Senate to do theirs," Boehner said.

It seemed work was afoot behind the scenes.

The bipartisan Senate proposal being circulated with just days to spare before interest rates increased borrowed pieces from the various suggestions.

In the potential compromise, interest rates would be linked to 10-year Treasury notes, plus an added percentage ? just like Obama's proposal, as well as those from House and Senate Republicans.

When students sign for loans each academic year, their interest rate would be locked in for the life of that year's loan. For instance, students could wind up paying a higher interest rate for their sophomore year than their freshman year if the economy continues to improve and 10-year Treasury rates increase.

Students from lower-income families are eligible for subsidized Stafford loans, in which the government covers interest costs while they are in college. Those loans make up about a quarter of all federal student lending.

At the end of their studies, students could consolidate their loans, as is the case now. The current system caps that rate at 8.25 percent and lawmakers were considering keeping that in place.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-proposal-student-loans-circulating-194829125.html

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Memo Reveals How Feds Use Domestic Intelligence, Aaron Swartz ...

Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.

Fist of Etiquette| 6.20.13 @ 4:30PM|#

The feds can collect and use domestically sourced intelligence, and a leaked memo shows how.

Now we pivot from full denial to explaining how it's necessary and legal.

DJF| 6.20.13 @ 4:34PM|#

Next they will say that the Commerce Clause mandates it, since terrorism interferes with commerce

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 4:43PM|#

Jerry on the boat| 6.20.13 @ 4:47PM|#

Clearly, not engaging in terrorism is also a national security concern.

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 4:54PM|#

MJGreen| 6.20.13 @ 5:07PM|#

Terrorists receive their funds across state borders.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:45PM|#

It's a tax. An information tax, if you will.

Warrren| 6.20.13 @ 5:05PM|#

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:07PM|#

That's what Old Man Bush said, "Read my lips, know new taxes!"

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:31PM|#

| 6.20.13 @ 4:40PM|#

Hot in here, my eyes started sweating.

NoVAHockey| 6.20.13 @ 4:46PM|#

fucking gawker commenter has to ruin it.

That is wonderful, but it is also sad to think how the corporate entities involved are thinking "this is going to be a great revenue stream, imagine what money-capable people would be willing to pay for this.. BUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Yes, they are. They are. You know they are. I know they are. We know they are.

Marc F Cheney| 6.20.13 @ 4:47PM|#

"Money-capable people"?

Whoever this is, their thinking is a model of clarity.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:50PM|#

Why? Why look? Just enjoy the triumph of money over ignorance.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:53PM|#

money-capable people

It's a PC term for rich people. Why? Shouldn't this person be using rich as a slur? Or would using the word rich make people feel who are money-incapable(?) have hurt in their hearts?

Ugh, just say moneyed.

TANSTaaFL| 6.20.13 @ 4:59PM|#

"fucking gawker commenter has to ruin it."

Pretty good retort to that comment, however, just a bit down the thread,

"And YOU do what for free for the betterment of humanity?"

Ted S.| 6.20.13 @ 5:03PM|#

Wait until they start dealing with the "deaf culture" people.

Warrren| 6.20.13 @ 5:06PM|#

NeonCat| 6.20.13 @ 5:22PM|#

And money-capable deaf-culture people would be the worst.

Honestly, though, that was my first thought as well.

MJGreen| 6.20.13 @ 5:09PM|#

As with buying organs, the major fear is that only rich people will be able to buy organs and live longer.

And if that's the case, well, then no one should get organs. They'll just have to die.

| 6.20.13 @ 5:12PM|#

"In the early 1930s an assistant of Jane Addams, the famous social worker, went on a visit to Soviet Russia and wrote a book about her experience. The sentence I remember is: 'How wonderful it was to see everybody equally shabby!' If you think you should try to appease altruists, this is what you are appeasing." --Ayn Rand

LynchPin1477| 6.20.13 @ 5:15PM|#

You know they are. I know they are. We know they are.

I sure as hell hope they are!

robc| 6.20.13 @ 5:31PM|#

Ive seen a couple of these videos before. They can only be viewed from dusty rooms, apparently.

Also, because, you know, it has to happen, deaf advocates think the parents are evil for inflicting hearing upon the child.

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:31PM|#

Ted S.| 6.20.13 @ 4:39PM|#

SLD that he shouldn't have to choose either.

(I haven't read the article.)

| 6.20.13 @ 4:57PM|#

His punishment stemmed from an incident last Anzac Day (Australia and New Zealand's version of Memorial Day), during which Wild "pushed over four port-a-loos, exposed himself and threw his own urine at rangers at Litchfield National Park,"

Eh, unless you are completely against creative punishments I think an alcohol ban is a suitable punishment in lieu of putting him in jail. Maybe 3 months jail time or 2 years alcohol probation is too much but shorter of each seems warranted.

TANSTaaFL| 6.20.13 @ 5:01PM|#

"pushed over four port-a-loos, exposed himself and threw his own urine at rangers at Litchfield National Park,"

Heeeeell! that's juss called "tursdeey" 'round dees pots

| 6.20.13 @ 4:41PM|#

O'Neill said he found Wild's claim "extraordinary," adding: "There is nothing to do in Darwin for a strong, healthy young man except to drink?"

"And root, yer 'onor."

Archduke Pantsfan| 6.20.13 @ 4:31PM|#

A Serious Man| 6.20.13 @ 4:34PM|#

Do they curse using the phrase "Gods damnit!"?

Rasilio| 6.20.13 @ 4:40PM|#

These Guys are much more interesting, it is just a shame that they attract so many white supremacists

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 4:50PM|#

It's easier to join these guys.

Rasilio| 6.20.13 @ 5:09PM|#

Eh I don't have to worry, I'm already on register as a founder of a Druidic church in New Hampshire (a splinter group of These Guys) but if I really was going to join up with a neopagan church I figure I may as well stick with one that has a distinctly libertarian origin and promises plenty of free sex (as long as your tastes are closer to John's) like This one

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 5:15PM|#

I'm afraid to click This one now.

Maybe just before going to sleep.

Rasilio| 6.20.13 @ 5:29PM|#

Lol don't worry, no pictures that I know of, it is the homepage for the Church of All Worlds, a neopagan church based on the teachings of Valentine Michael Smith from Robert Heinlein's novel Stranger in a Strange Land

Warrren| 6.20.13 @ 5:08PM|#

Their gods can't help them with website design?

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:48PM|#

I assume that's just some new bullshit thing, like praying to crystals in Sedona, right?

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 4:52PM|#

Some of that, but it's also tied to Greek nationalism.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:58PM|#

Are they also advocating the restoration of the Byzantine Empire? Because if they are, I'm in.

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:02PM|#

No, that's Christian. They want to go back to the Athenian Empire, I'd guess.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:15PM|#

Most of it was Christian, but the empire itself wasn't really Christian when it was founded.

They could claim the Alexandrian Empire, I suppose.

mr simple| 6.20.13 @ 4:49PM|#

When is the festival for Dionysus?

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:01PM|#

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 4:52PM|#

I've read about this attempt to revive the Greek religion before. One big problem is that the public aspect of the religion is well-documented, but the Mysteries that were the private--and probably most important--part of the religion were (obviously) not documented.

As is also pointed out in the article, this whole thing has a strongly New Agey feel to it that is at odds with the religious attitudes of the ancient Greeks. They didn't worship gods so much as try to placate them.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:59PM|#

Yes, the mysteries are largely lost, right? Or is there a secret cult out there that's been operating nonstop all along?

Rasilio| 6.20.13 @ 5:05PM|#

Generally speaking this falls into the neopagan religious spectra as many modern Hellenists also consider themselves to be Wiccans (at least in the US) and while you will find a few who claim that there is some secret unbroken line back to antiquity their claims are always bogus linking back to some well documented historical charlaitan like Gardner or Crowley

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:16PM|#

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:27PM|#

Some of the Hellenists in Greece seem to be more serious about truly reviving the religion, rather than merely creating a form of New Age spiritualism that features Greek costumes.

One difference is that the public aspect of the Greek religion is well-documented. Wiccan belief is drawn from Celtic and Germanic tribes that were largely pre-literate. Their beliefs and rituals are only known either from contemporary Roman sources or from later Christian historians. A lot of that isn't to be trusted, course.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:32PM|#

I think it would be awesome if we could dig up a family that had stuck to the old religion for the last two thousand years.

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 4:59PM|#

The Gospels were written in Greek by Greeks well after Christ was supposedly executed.

I maintain Christianity is a Greek religion since its origin is certainly Greek fiction.

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:06PM|#

Not to mention the strong Gnostic influence on Christianity, which was primarily a Greek phenomenon.

In fact, Christianity likely started as a form of gnosticism practiced by Hellenized Jews, possibly a century or more before the putative birth of Jesus.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:17PM|#

Regardless of your religious affiliation or lack thereof, I think it's hard to argue that Christianity isn't, in part at least, Hellenized Judaism.

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:22PM|#

True, but the theory I described is more a matter of putting a Jewish gloss on gnosticism, not the other way around.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:24PM|#

I'll buy that. There's not much Jewish in Christianity, not really. Hasn't been for nearly 2,000 years.

The Immaculate Trouser| 6.20.13 @ 5:27PM|#

This is rather silly. One can make the argument that gnostic or mystery religions contributed to Christianity or that Christianity was highly Hellenized, but there isn't much of a case to date the founding of Christianity 100 years before Christ or to cast it as an entirely Greek phenomena. That's simply poor historiography.

The Immaculate Trouser| 6.20.13 @ 5:30PM|#

Hell, it's dubious that gnosticism as a developed set of ideas (rather than a poorly-defined tendency in some non-mainstream religions at the time) pre-dated Christianity; certainly after Christianity's rise it was almost always defined in the context of Christianity either as an oppositional force to or outgrowth of the religion.

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:50PM|#

The way I've seen the case made stems from one main point: the fact that the Gospels were written decades after Paul's letters, despite their contrary presentation in the final version of the New Testament.

Supposedly, if you read the Letters without having the Gospels as a reference, the entire thing becomes much more gnostic. I haven't cracked a Bible in years, but other material I've read indicates that Paul had only scant interest in Jesus' human life, but mostly treated him as a divine figure that sounds suspiciously like the divine intermediary found in gnostic belief.

The letters are also written to far-flung communities across the Mediterranean only a couple decades after Jesus was killed. That seems highly unlikely, given the modest state of Jesus' followers at the time of his death, as well as the primitive state of communications and travel at the time.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:58PM|#

The gospels could be based on an earlier document (so-called Q), so the timing isn't entirely clear.

The Immaculate Trouser| 6.20.13 @ 6:05PM|#

That seems to rely heavily on speculation regarding the size and reach of Christianity at the time. I would point out Christianity's spread in 16th-century Japan as an example of how quickly a religion can spread, and pre-Tokugawa Japan wasn't nearly as developed as the Roman Empire in terms of political and economic unification. Mediterranean trade and political organization was very far-flung and subject to variation; there are plenty of well-attested migrations and political unions that were both rapid and far-flung (the Greek colonization of the Mediterranean, for example).

In addition, oral traditions of the evangel had great import in early Christianity -- some parts of Christian India still maintain an oral tradition. Even if one doesn't assume a Q source for the synoptic gospels, there was most likely a strong oral tradition in the churches that Paul wrote to.

Finally, I would put forth the non-Pauline letters as further evidence against gnosticism predating Christianity, as they can't really be interpreted as non-Gnostic and rely heavily on the Jewish tradition. (I believe that Paul does as well in certain epistles, especially if Paul is the author of Hebrews, but I agree that the case for pre-Christian gnosticism is stronger if we restrict ourselves to letters of Pauline authorship.)

Killazontherun| 6.20.13 @ 5:11PM|#

I've always wondered if there were families who kept consistently unconverted over the generations.

ChrisO| 6.20.13 @ 5:20PM|#

Total societal conversion took a long time in many places, but the early Christian leaders were clever in adapting local pagan practices, so that it usually wasn't a difficult transition.

That's the reason for having zillions of saints in the Catholic and Orthodox sects. The older ones are all replacements for one local god or another.

| 6.20.13 @ 7:55PM|#

You see the same sort of syncretism in Mexico. The cult of Santa Muerte, for instance, is just some local death goddess or other with a Christian veneer over it. Or so I've read. I don't know shit about Mexico.

The Immaculate Trouser| 6.20.13 @ 5:38PM|#

Entire towns in the Byzantine Empire kept to Hellenic beliefs as least as late as the 9th Century.

| 6.20.13 @ 7:57PM|#

I hope these guys are into Rotting Christ. ???

Fist of Etiquette| 6.20.13 @ 4:31PM|#

Small businesses continue to shy away from expanding their payrolls out of fear of costs related to Obamacare.

Well, this is coming at us from out of nowhere.

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 4:38PM|#

Talk about low-info idiots.

If you have less than 50 employees Obamacare does not effect you.

If you have more than 50 just offer them some qualifying group plan at their expense. And if you don't want to you're a scumbag anyway.

Problem solved.

Jordan| 6.20.13 @ 4:40PM|#

If you have less than 50 employees Obamacare does not effect you.

It effects your insurance rates and your choice of plans, moron.

And if you don't want to you're a scumbag anyway.

If it's so trivial, then why aren't you out buying insurance for everyone who needs it?

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 4:46PM|#

Reason Magazine surely has less than 50 FTEs. I will look forward to their hardship account.

Marc F Cheney| 6.20.13 @ 4:47PM|#

PURPLE MONKEY DISWASHER BLARRRGGGH

Lord Peter Wimsey| 6.20.13 @ 4:47PM|#

Oh yes, huge money-sucking, liberty-smashing government programs won't effect you if you work for a mom and pop bidness, 'cause you is insulated from the economy.

And from your own brainstem, evidently.

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 5:06PM|#

Now you are onto a different topic - macroeconomics.

And since you admit Obamacare does not directly effect small business you have a bone to gnaw on.

More will be insured thus less subsidies to hospitals and other service providers. As those costs are bucketed accurately we will see efficiency rewarded with lower premiums.

C. Anacreon| 6.20.13 @ 5:13PM|#

AARRGH! Every single one of you. It AFFECTS small business, not EFFECTS small business.

Now go and effect change in government policy and your own grammar.

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 5:17PM|#

Guilty here. I stand corrected.

Sevo| 6.20.13 @ 5:03PM|#

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 4:38PM |#
..."If you have less than 50 employees Obamacare does not effect you."

Dipshit has some real fantasies there, don't he?

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 5:07PM|#

BigT| 6.20.13 @ 5:43PM|#

My small business suffered a 17% rise in insurance rates already this year. So, sorry, we ALL will suffer.

Palin's Buttplug| 6.20.13 @ 7:24PM|#

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 5:17PM|#

He's correct, Sevo.

Obamacare *effects* only babies.

MJGreen| 6.20.13 @ 5:18PM|#

So, fuck those people who could have been an employed by a scumbag.

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

| 6.20.13 @ 4:35PM|#

I get it now! California's plan to handle its budget crisis is to drive as many people as possible from the state, including businesses, so that it doesn't have to pay for...wait, uh...what's the plan again?

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:39PM|#

Didn't someone post an article in the AM Links about Kalifornistan trying to impose regulations on egg farmers, so that any eggs brought into the state had to come from facilities that were up to Cali's standards?

| 6.20.13 @ 4:41PM|#

I have no idea. The AM Links are a disgusting display of early rising and East Coast tyranny that I ignore. Only classless buffoons read the AM Links.

(stares at ProL)

Fist of Etiquette| 6.20.13 @ 4:45PM|#

Anyone who only contributes to one daily Links is half a man.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:48PM|#

Call me the Imp, then. I mean, I am an ill-made, spiteful creature full of envy, lust, and low cunning.

Warrren| 6.20.13 @ 5:12PM|#

I've always imagined you as a homunculus.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:49PM|#

This. Epi's west coast snobbery is as dated as the Seattle coffee culture and as coherent as Kurt Cobain's cerebellum.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:49PM|#

Weren't you born in the sacred time zone that is Eastern Time?

| 6.20.13 @ 4:56PM|#

Where I was born is irrelevant. Where I am is what matters.

"He's not meltin', he's chillaxin'. If you can't speak the language, go back to Mexico, where you were born, and are from."

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:58PM|#

Look, aliens in galaxies 500 million light years away operate principally on ET.

Fist of Etiquette| 6.20.13 @ 5:00PM|#

Just as there is only one global temperature, there is but one earthly time zone and it is right now, right here, 5:00PM.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:02PM|#

Embrace the temporal harmony, Eastern brother.

Ted S.| 6.20.13 @ 5:07PM|#

Actually, it's just after 2100 UTC everywhere on Earth. Just do your offsets from UTC.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:18PM|#

Really, England is the center of your universe? How quaint.

robc| 6.20.13 @ 5:39PM|#

Just as there is only one global temperature, there is but one earthly time zone and it is right now, right here, 5:00PM.

4 PM, or 4:30 now. Eastern STANDARD Time is God's time.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 5:43PM|#

What? No, embrace the extended light, brother.

Archduke Pantsfan| 6.20.13 @ 4:49PM|#

but then again, the PM links has you, so it's a wash.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:57PM|#

You're just going to have to live with that. I am an infestation.

Rich| 6.20.13 @ 4:52PM|#

Only classless buffoons read the AM Links.

Careful, Epi.

Mary got banned for less.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:59PM|#

Once Sacramento has driven everyone away, I'm tearing down all of my neighbor's homes and homesteadding the shit out of their property.

Adam330| 6.20.13 @ 6:51PM|#

| 6.20.13 @ 7:22PM|#

Don't care, who will stop me when there are no more people?

Tejicano| 6.20.13 @ 7:14PM|#

Why don't they just pass a law which makes the density of lead less than the density of air so the expended bullets will just float up to outer space rather than into the ground - where it came from.

Archduke Pantsfan| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:35PM|#

I kind of agree. Until the cost of batteries goes down and they significantly increase the distance while significantly decreasing the charge times, they will not take off.

C. Anacreon| 6.20.13 @ 5:15PM|#

Pfft. Since we will have already reached the singularity by 2035, this won't even be an issue.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:44PM|#

Well, no shit. I had to do those fucking calculation sfor 3 fucking classes. Chemical storage in liquid hydrocarbons is pretty optimal for storage, transportation, consumption, and safety.

Sevo| 6.20.13 @ 5:06PM|#

Brett L| 6.20.13 @ 4:44PM |#
"Well, no shit. I had to do those fucking calculation sfor 3 fucking classes. Chemical storage in liquid hydrocarbons is pretty optimal for storage, transportation, consumption, and safety."

And the revolutionary battery is only ten years off, as it always will be!
Or just waiting for that next gov't grant.

ant1sthenes| 6.20.13 @ 6:34PM|#

Especially once we can use solar power to produce gasoline.

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

| 6.20.13 @ 4:44PM|#

"Mr. President... we cannot afford... a mine shaft gap!"

Fist of Etiquette| 6.20.13 @ 4:51PM|#

One guy brings bath salts down there and it's all over.

Hash Brown| 6.20.13 @ 5:07PM|#

Butts Wagner| 6.20.13 @ 5:34PM|#

*Butts Wagner shows up wild eyed and frothing from the mouth*

MMMXFDJB!!! YDJSFIHKJ!! SKHGFSJBN!!!

*He spits and wipes the froth from his lips*

Cot Damn!! Doing the Mentos and Diet Coke thing in your mouth is fuckin' awesome!

Matrix| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

Eduard van Haalen| 6.20.13 @ 4:38PM|#

This needs to be hammered home as often as possible.

Marc F Cheney| 6.20.13 @ 4:48PM|#

And then counted as a victim of hammer violence.

| 6.20.13 @ 4:45PM|#

Chris Dorner's name also on the list.

Pro Libertate| 6.20.13 @ 4:50PM|#

Is bin Laden's name on the list? I understand he was shot by guns as well.

While we're at it, looks like Hitler was a victim of a shooting incident, too.

| 6.20.13 @ 5:14PM|#

I like how their excuse there was trusting Slate's list.

SugarFree| 6.20.13 @ 5:23PM|#

Slate ran an article today defending the practice. Even though Tsarnaev probably died from being run over and dragged under and SUV, because he was shot in the arm, his death was gun violence.

| 6.20.13 @ 5:27PM|#

Yeah, well, like Dirty Harry says, nothing wrong with shooting, so long as the right people get shot.

A Serious Man| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

Small businesses continue to shy away from expanding their payrolls out of fear of costs related to Obamacare.

Small businesses Kulaks continue to shy away from expanding their payrolls show their racism out of fear of costs related to Obamacare.

Archduke Pantsfan| 6.20.13 @ 4:32PM|#

STEVE SMITH hunter claims he was bullied by police

http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/20/memo-reveals-how-feds-use-domestic-intel

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HTC Butterfly s revealed: 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, UltraPixel camera sensor (video)

HTC's just pulled back the proverbial curtains on the Butterfly s at its Taiwan launch event. It'll arrive boasting a familiar-sounding 5-inch 1080p display, front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers and Sense 5 as expected. When it comes to internals, the Butterfly s runs Android Jelly Bean on a quad-core 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 (faster than the HTC One), an impressive 3,200mAh battery, quad-band HSPA/WCDMA radio, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, expandable once again through microSD. As for imaging, alongside that primary UltraPixel camera and Zoe software features, there's a 2.1-megapixel wide-angle shooter on the front. It's currently scheduled for a release in July in Taiwan, accompanied by a NT $22,900 (roughly $766) price tag, but no word when (or even if) it'll reach foreign shores.

Update: Our Chinese sister site just spent some hands-on time with the device. Check out their first impressions right here. And look! A gallery right below!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

Comments

Source: Engadget Chinese

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/mcGAGh6ZRMI/

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