Weather It Is (Hmm Weather)

Good Afternoon:

It's the kind of summer weather that makes you want to say "hmm."  It's not super hot, but it's not exactly pleasant either.  In fact, the northwest flow has brought some broken clouds in off the sea.

The hot, sultry weather is courteous of strong high pressure over Africa combining with low pressure over Syria.  Both systems are fairly stationary, and the results is the northwest flow.  But because the air originates in both Africa and the desert areas to our northeast, we just end up hot and a bit on the humid side.

Without much to look at in the sky, I have taken to noticing what's going around me at eye-level.  The other day there was a long line of cars passing through the open lane of the check-point on the way to Gush Etzion.  I was in that line when I noticed a person speed down the adjacent lane, headed towards the unopen gate at the check-point.  I wondered what this person thinks about before making his move. Considering that this person could not have seen whether the lane was open before he took the plunge, he really made a bold move.   For instance, if the rest of us are dumb, he'd sail right through past everyone else.  But, if the lane is closed, he'd have to go back to the end of the line -- right?  No,  he just cuts in and goes ahead of everyone else.

What about the person that goes around the speed bump, crossing the yellow line, just so he (or she) doesn't have to slow down.  Does that person think: "I bet I can outsmart that speed bump," or is it: "they're not going to make me slow down, even if I have to break the law."

In The Times of Israel, there is an article entitled: "Will the West Cede the Golan to a Psychopath?" (https://www.timesofisrael.com/will-the-west-cede-the-golan-heights-to-a-psychopath/) The authors mean: to Bashar Assad. When the editor wrote the headline did they try to convey how illogical that would be or did they purposely try to convey that Israel does not own the Golan?  After all, if the Golan is part of Israel then how can other nations turn it over to Mr. Assad?

The Israeli Knesset passed a law deducting Palestinian payments to murderers in Israeli jails from tax obligations (https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-passes-law-freezing-pa-funding-over-terror-payouts/).  Supposedly, the law sends a message to the Palestinian that terror doesn't pay. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instead called prisoners in Israel jails "Political Prisoners" -- not terrorists -- and "victims of the 'Occupation.'" Ironically, he went on to say that the same prisoners are not the "creators of the occupation."  It's a great line, but does he really believe it?  Until the war in 2000, Israel had vacated Area A (under the Oslo Accords), and offered most of the area  west of the Jordan River and east of the old "Green Line" (Armistice Line)  (and Gaza) to the Palestinians for their own state, including parts of Jerusalem.  So, who is the creator of the "Occupation?" It's the Palestinians -- no Israel will in his or her right mind cede land to a people that pays its citizens to murder others.


Barry Lynn