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The Point

Saudi “Palestinian” Negotiator Claims His Family Was in Palestine for 9000 Years

Considering that no such name or term as Palestine existed 9,000 years ago, or for that matter much more recently, and that there has never been a Palestinian ruler or kingdom, that’s quite an accomplishment… for a compulsive liar.

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator over the weekend again ruled out the notion of Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Speaking at a Munich conference, on a panel with his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, Erekat said the demand was unacceptable: “When you say ‘accept Israel as a Jewish state’ you are asking me to change my narrative,” he claimed, asserting that his ancestors lived in the region “5,500 years before Joshua Bin-Nun came and burned my hometown Jericho.”

That darn Joshua.
In what conceivable sense was Jericho, Erekat’s hometown?
Erekat was born in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem. I found an interview with another Erekat who was born in Abu Dis, named Hussein Mohamed Erekat. He says that his family actually comes from the Huwaitat region of the northwestern Arabian Peninsula.
Indeed, this article about the dialects and clans of Saudi Arabia confirms the existence of the Erekat (sometimes spelled Areikat or Ariqat) families in Huwaitat, and they are one of seven clans that ended up in Palestine.
Is Saeb a member of this clan? Yes, he is.
This Facebook page of the Erekat family traces the Erekat family history, and this article confirms that the family came from the Huwaitat region, and it also that mentions prominent Erekats – including Saeb.
That article also says that before Huwaitat, their ancestors emigrated from Medina.

Only 17% of ObamaCare Exchange Enrollees are Fully Paying for Their Health Care

About one in five Obamacare enrollees never paid their first month premium, meaning they weren’t actually insured in January, The New York Times reports.
According to The Lund Report, the CBO predict 5 out of 6 million exchange enrollees (or about 83%) in 2014 will receive a federal subsidy. That means only 17% are actually paying for their own plans without the help of Sugar Daddy government.
And, then there’s this… One-quarter of new enrollees are ages 18 to 34, below the 40 percent threshold the administration at first said was necessary to keep premiums steady. Moreover, 55 percent of enrollees are women, who are generally more expensive to insure than men, mostly because of maternity care.

And, despite the mandate, this is a self-selecting group, especially thanks to the website problems, so that the people most likely to climb on board the ObamaCare train are likely to have medical problems already or expect to have them.

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Bill de Blasio May Ban Barnum & Bailey Circus from New York

At least the old lefties went in for bread and circuses. The new lefties like William Wilhelm Jr. aka Bill de Blasio are out to ban the circuses too. Maybe they hate the competition from professional trained clowns.

The engine behind the ban is the deeply controversial animal rights group NYCLASS that helped bankroll Bill de Blasio’s win. With so many top politicians in its pocket, it’s moving on from attacking horses to attacking elephants.

The circus is coming to town — and some advocates want it to be for the last time.
NYCLASS, the animal rights group that’s been the key player in pushing for a ban on Central Park horse carriages, says it also wants the city to bar the use of animals in circuses — one item on an expanded agenda it plans to pursue this year.
“Animals in the circus are horribly abused. Animals in nature don’t naturally wear tutus and stand on their hind legs,” said Allie Feldman, the group’s executive director.

Well you learn something new every day. But wait, here’s an elephant doing just that in nature.
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 Comment:  You just can't make this stuff up-so the world turns!!