marcf's comments

Do you support Facebook blocking the developer pages of those who are creating the various AdBlock* browser extensions? Isn't that pretty much the same thing as FB Purity is doing but in a more general sense?

They shouldn't be allowed to ban a company from having an account on Facebook for a web extension?

Will the developers of all the AdBlock variants need to worry about their accounts being blocked as well (as they surely are against Facebook's terms of service as well)?

Can they optimize Skype so that it doesn't require 80MB-130MB just to run in the background? How can it require this much memory to run an instant messenger? Couldn't they delay load some of the features if they aren't yet being used (such as video codecs and audio codecs and other such features?)

The issue is that there is a dual system of rights in place depending on whether you are Jewish or whether you are a Palestinian Arab and that is deeply wrong. I am not in favor of barring Jews from living in the West Bank (which seems to be the topic of your reply) but rather against different rights for different ethnic groups (which is what people mean when they bring up the spectre of Apartheid.)

> If you don't like the security measures then don't go there.

But what happens if you are Palestinian like the people in these stories and as a politically aware Palestinian you become active in pro-Palestinian activism because you care about the rights and freedoms of your people? Those are the people that Israeli is targeting if you read these articles.

Your posts which highlight LGBT rights while completely ignoring the elephant in the room (the 40+ year occupation affecting millions) fits well with what is described in this New York Times editorial as Pinkwashing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/opinion/pinkwashing-and-is...

It's weird that you were down voted for being factually correct.

I didn't say there is a simple solution but rather that Israeli permanent occupation has become akin to Apartheid South Africa for the non-citizen Arabs and the citizen Jews living in the West Bank. The fact that you didn't mention this as a wart is pretty big blind spot given that the number of disenfranchised non-Jews living in the West Bank is in the millions and this has been going on for over 40 years.

But stamping down such opinions is actually pretty common. These email searches are about preventing people with those opinions from entering Israel. It isn't about terrorist threats but it is about keeping out pro-Palestinian activists who do not agree with the policies of the Israeli government.

AJ007 wrote:

> This just sounds like an attempt to keep individuals of certain backgrounds out of a country.

Absolutely correct. The security officials believed that the individuals where pro-Palestinian activists. Here is a quote and article that details this:

"The agent, suspecting Tamari was involved in pro-Palestinian activism, wanted to inspect her private email account for incriminating evidence. The 42-year-old American of Palestinian descent refused and was swiftly expelled from the country."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-palestinian-activist-says-s...

Israel does prevent those with sympathy to the Palestinians from entering Israel.

I posted this quote/article in response to another comment but it is pertinent here:

"The agent, suspecting Tamari was involved in pro-Palestinian activism, wanted to inspect her private email account for incriminating evidence. The 42-year-old American of Palestinian descent refused and was swiftly expelled from the country."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-palestinian-activist-says-s...

You will notice this isn't about security but about identifying pro-Palestinian activists:

Quote: "The agent, suspecting Tamari was involved in pro-Palestinian activism, wanted to inspect her private email account for incriminating evidence. The 42-year-old American of Palestinian descent refused and was swiftly expelled from the country."

http://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-palestinian-activist-says-s...

nyellin wrote:

> We also have our warts...

But you didn't mention the elephant in the room in your comment, which is pretty strange:

Israel also has run a 40+ year occupation that denies non-Jewish residents of rights and freedoms while subsidizing Jewish settlements in and around the disenfranchised non-Jewish population. Many many people, including former Israeli PMs and many respected academics, consider Israel's occupation and its settlement practices to be a form of apartheid or leading to it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_apartheid_analog...

I am against the occupation

The NGO Monitor aims to undermine non-violent actions against the Israeli occupation in order to maintain it. It tries to cut funding to peaceful NGOs because they don't align with Zionist values.

NGO Monitor is pro-occupation and pro-Israeli settlers.

So your response seems to be out of place. I criticize A, you say "but B" which is unrelated to A as a counter argument.

You were working without a contract.

I would suggest that is the whole reason this experienced sucked, not because of Apress.

I would argue the issue is more about the priorities of the American government and also its economic decline. America has fundamental issues that means it can not longer fund such a mission, but it is likely that other governments and economies that are healthier and with different priorities could do manned missions to the moon.

It is important to differentiate between human capacity and the capacity and priorities of the American government. They are not the same thing, even if when one lives in the US, it can seem like it.

One could argue (similarly incorrectly) that human capacity in Britain peaked in the late 1800s, but again that was because that was the peak of the Britian empire.

Israel's academics are quite good outside the realm of politics. Within the realm of politics, currently departments are being forced to close if they have the wrong views (namely if they are against the occupation.) This is quite unlike what happens in Western countries:

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/international-acad...

I don't believe in censoring the ugliness of Israel's current policy against Arabs within its borders, it is a major component of what Israel is today unfortunately.

Very cheap robotics will decimate China's low skilled labor force.