Saturday Morning Pre-Apocalypse Open Thread

I guess this might be good-bye...

Comments

[Minimalist Poster]

Let me be the First to say that it hasn't been Good bye yet . . .

[bgates]

That prediction was wrong. The world ended yesterday, when my lovely wife emailed me to say that she was dissatisfied with the friendly email correspondence I had, six weeks ago, suggested we try, after she announced she would not return to counseling and was going to divorce me.

My best friend doesn't love me anymore.

[saveliberty]

The weather forecast, from iowntheworld.com:

http://iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/1.jpg

[BumperStickerist]

sorry to read that bgates.

Ignore most of the well-intentioned bad advice people will give you, but thank them for the well-intentioned part.

-

[Jack is Back!]

Synagogues are packed, even saw Anduril there. I have been to confession. Working on my 5,000th rosary. Hope I make it in time. Whoa! What's that glow and who the he'll is playing that trumpet?

[Thomas Collins]

That sucks, bgates. I suspect it's of little solace now to know that the JOM brigade loves you, but I hope you get a few smiles from JOM posts this weekend.

[Thomas Collins]

I thought only the saved souls were checking out today. The rest of us will continue to hustle and bustle in the City of Man. Which means, I would guess, that JOM will still be going strong tomorrow!

[hit and run]

Uggghhhh,bgates.

Just uggghhhh.

[Barry]

Aaaaurgh. I am suffering from PASD* -- what with Bibi taking me to the woodshed yesterday and my not having gotten to the golf course in days. . . It would just be so much easier if I was like, you know, ahhh, Emperor of China or something, so I could tell you ungrateful racist peons to phuque off and do what I say--or off to the re-education camps.

Did I mention that I hate this job, and I hate you, too, peon.

Re-elect me, Jews, give me all of your money and I will delay your invitation to the final solution.

*Pre-Apocalypse Stress Disorder

OOs & XXs,
Barry

[Thomas Collins]

Well, the man who thinks today is the Big Day is probably no more delusional than the folks who think Ronald MacDonald is a threat to children's health. See LUN (via Instapundit).

[rse]

Oh bgates.

How about a group hug via the internet?

Or a group happy hour later this afternoon?

No hit. Not this morning. No, not Greenwich mean time either.

[hit and run]

rse:
No hit. Not this morning.

You obviously mean not a group happy hour this morning,of course.

Guess that means I'm flying solo. 'Til my main man Threadkiller shows up.

[centralcal]

I awoke this morning to discover I am still here. Guess I wasn't among the saved souls.

Oh dear, bgates. I am sorry. I do like rse's suggestion of a group happy hour later this afternoon. Sounds like you could use one.

I assume BHO and his lovely bride are still with us too? He didn't get raptured? That is the truly dismal news of the day.

[Janet]

My best friend doesn't love me anymore.

I am SO sorry, bgates. My husband is my best friend too. I cannot imagine...

Well, the man who thinks today is the Big Day is probably no more delusional than the folks who think Ronald MacDonald is a threat to children's health.

Exactly TC. It is kinda weird how people are suddenly interested in something said on Christian radio. I'd have loved this nationwide mocking of Rev. Wright & any kooks that listened to him!

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

bgates:

I ditto TC, that really really sucks.

Remember we are here for you.

[Mustang0302]

Breaking: A series of major earthquakes and other strange phenomena have just been reported in the Island Nation of Tonga, which is the first timezone west of the International Date Line. It is just past 10:00PM May 21st there, here is a live stream:

www.foxnews.com/livestream/36758/

(somebody had to do it!)

[Melinda Romanoff]

bgates-

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to toss the coffee and go wash out my mouth with some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Hit, you in?

That just sucks.

[Mustang0302]

bgates! Chin up, lad.

[hit and run]

Melinda:
Hit, you in?

In like Flynn.

Though I suppose he's still in bed.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I like Flynn, but one of my goals was to be more like Coburn's role.

[OldTimer]

FWIW, bgates, if you're still able to focus some energy on those of us who look forward to your unique wit and insight, maybe the hurt will lessen a bit, just long enough to pull you through the really rough spots. You have JOM friends you don't even know about who are interested in the clever, analytical way you think about current events, politics and life in general. I personally have learned a lot from you. As you process personal experiences and your understanding of the world as you've studied it, we benefit when you share. :)

[narciso]

So sorry to hear that, bgates,

Does anyone bother to read the Bible anymore, notably Matthew 24, before they go on such pronouncements, it just makes some of us 'bitter clingers' look more foolish, of course
ignore the Discover piece, with the water's covering Boston's main square, that's just science

[peter]

I took Mrs. Peter to a French restaurant, Cafe Boulud, on East 76th Street last night for her birthday., It was quite remarkable how many of the men dining in the place resembled DSK. I'm sure he's eaten there. It is probably in his bail arrangement that he is still allowed to go there. Food and service was very good, but the average age of the customers was in the sixties. And they really do treat the French customers, of which there were quite a few, slightly better than us Americans. We enjoyed the whole absurd experience,however.

[Old Lurker]

We are always here for you bgates.

[Danube of Thought]

Minus 10 at Raz today.

[Danube of Thought]

Ah hell, bgates. Really sorry.

[Danube of Thought]

WaPo editorial board excoriates Obama on Israel. Buncha wingnuts.

[narciso]

What does the 'Puppy Trainer' LA Times, say Danube?

[BR]

Elsewhere I've seen Obama described as looking like a deer in headlights after Netanyahu told him to wake up to reality. (The last time I heard that phrase, it was used to describe Mary Mapes when the spotlight first hit her during CBSgate.)

[hit and run]

Well good morning Instalanche...

[jimmyk]

Sorry, bgates.

[bgates]

Thanks, guys.

[Ignatz]

Geez, bgates, that's terrible, terrible news.
Not much anyone can say to give comfort but you are cared for greatly around here.

[anduril]

Good article by Roger Cohen: Obama Draws the Line. He makes two points, although in a sort of reverse logical order. Both Netanyahoo and Obama touch on realities (Netanyahoo in a veiled sort of way) that, taken together, point in one direction:

1. Netanyahu still talks of “Judea and Samaria,” a lexicon that, true to his Likud party’s platform, does not acknowledge those [1967] lines but sees one land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean.

2. President Obama made a brave speech telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “the dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation” and urging him to accept Israeli borders at or close to the 1967 lines.

These two points summarize the inexorable logic that has already established the one state of Greater Israel--and which renders talk of two states simply irrelevant.

Israel will not allow a separate Palestinian state that is sovereign in any meaningful sense.

But the apartheid system of permanent occupation is not a viable long term solution.

The only long term solution is one state.

[centralcal]

OMG - how come I can see anduril comments? My narcisolator is running and everything! This is terrible!

[MarkD]

Isn't it supposed to be 6pm, local time? My daughter sent me a limited edition bottle of Full Sail Black Gold Imperial Stout. Bourbon Barrel Aged, no less. It would be a shame to leave it behind.

So, do I drink it for breakfast, or figure I'm going to be left behind anyway and share it with my son next Saturday? If there is a next Saturday. Assuming he's not raptured.

That Middle Eastern stuff is easy. These are the tough calls.

[Ignatz]

--It is kinda weird how people are suddenly interested in something said on Christian radio.--

Occasionally on the road the last two or three years I'll tune in good old Harold, if for no other reason than to hear him repeatedly say in his peculiar droning baritone "Thank you for sharing, next caller please."
Many times he mentions the new "revelations" [or "apocalypses", if you prefer the Greek]he receives from God that negate those portions of the bible, such as those narciso mentioned, letting us know that no man will know the day or hour when the Christ will return.
Any person claiming to have some special knowledge that counters the bible and that he is instructed to dispense to his acolytes from on high seems to me closer to being a Gnostic than a Christian.

[BR]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
and thus the beholder becomes beautiful :)

[centralcal]

I though my son had a great idea, he wrote yesterday ...

If things look bad I'm going to the zoo tomorrow. You know everything gets saved at the zoo first. I'll be rowing on Noah's Ark.

[anduril]

Steve Sailer reminds us that, Rapture or no Rapture, It's AIPAC Policy Conference time!

He quotes a Dana Milbank article from 2005:

How much clout does AIPAC have?

Well, consider that during the pro-Israel lobby's annual conference yesterday, a fleet of police cars, sirens wailing, blocked intersections and formed a motorcade to escort buses carrying its conventioneers -- to lunch.

then asks:

Wouldn't it be simpler if American Jews just had a college football team to root for, the way American Catholics had the Notre Dame Fighting Irish?

[centralcal]

Hey, bgates - I am not joking around, something is wrong with my Grease Monkey and Narcisolator this morning. I checked my troll array and everything looks okay, but all of a sudden this morning I can see anduril comments!

Is this a sign of the rapture? Any suggestions? Last night I did add another troll - the Bush nut.

[clarice]

bgates, I am so sorry it hasn't worked out as you might have wished, but you know we all are terribly fond of you . Why, we love you more than we do Cary Grant. really.

[BR]

I delight in the meaning of apocalypse - it's apo - to take away and calypso - cover: to reveal beauty, to uncover, become a nudist, enjoy the sun, enjoy life!

[centralcal]

Nevermind - I deleted and then re-typed anduril and all is now right with my JOM world. Phew! I thought for sure it might be a "sign!" lol.

[MayBee]

XOXOXOX, bgates.

[Danube of Thought]

Mine's working fine, CCal. But from what you say I infer that I'll have a lot of scrolling if I go to the IPad.

Over at Insty there's a fascinating reprise of 1967 MSM commentary on the refugee issue. Amazing how clear-headed they were back then.

[MayBee]

So nobody mentioned Gregory Peck? That man was gorgeous his whole life.

[MayBee]

I think Obama just said the 1967 thing to sound balanced. It wasn't meant to be something he's going to fight for or anything (as if). He just didn't want to sound too much like he was supporting Israel without an "on the other hand". He doesn't think about what he's saying as President of the United States.

[BR]

The Apo-calypso Dance :)

[Jane]

Aww BGates, I'm so sorry. That truly sucks.

[Extraneus]

Can we get back to the t-shirt girls now?

[clarice]

MayBee..Gregory Peck, of course. Count me in on that.

No, MayBee, he doesn't quite think things yhrough. He's the kid in school who knows you can get a better grade by offering up something "creative and original" to a teaching assistant who doesn't know any more than you do about the facts and consequences.

[Melinda Romanoff]

MarkD-

I'd address the problem this way. After the stout, do you notice much of what the second beverage tastes like? If no and supplies are ample of the secondary sort, proceed at will.

[Threadkiller]

I already started drinking, that is how I missed this new thread.

bgates, I wish you well. I am sorry you are going through this.

If this is it, maybe DoT and I should settle the NBC thing.

Of course, if this is it, who cares?

[Jane]

I just came back from the tea party stand-out about 2 minutes from here at the scene of the League of Women Voters state wide annual meeting.

They seemed pretty shocked as they drove in with their Obama, Deval and Martha Coakley bumper stickers.

There were about 30 of us. Most over 50, all well behaved. I should have pix by this afternoon Clarice if you still want them.

[BR]

Bgates, this one's for your eyes only :)
(Hm, I thought you were a she, and if you are, let me know, and I'll find another link to cheer you up :)

[clarice]

Sure, Jane.

[Danube of Thought]

Sure, Gregory Peck and Clark Gable are great. But let's get serious:

[Danube of Thought]

(I'm talking about the guy on the left.)

[MayBee]

When King Hussein (?) of Jordan was at the White House the other day, did Obama make any announcements that they must be willing to absorb Palestinian refugees?

[MayBee]

Sorry. King Abdullah.

[Threadkiller]

Is that a sign, DoT? Should we be thinking about packing a trunk?

[centralcal]

Jane - will you post your pictures at YouTooCongress, too?

[MayBee]

Obama has done this before:

Friday, June 6, 2008
Facing criticism from Palestinians, Sen. Barack Obama acknowledged yesterday that the status of Jerusalem will need to be negotiated in future peace talks, amending a statement earlier in the week that the city "must remain undivided."

Obama's statement, made during a speech Wednesday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, drew a swift rebuke from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"This statement is totally rejected," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "The whole world knows that holy Jerusalem was occupied in 1967, and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state."

The Bush administration's official position is that the status of Jerusalem must be decided by the parties. Before he left office, President Bill Clinton proposed a formula under which "Jerusalem should be an open and undivided city," including locating the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem.

Obama quickly backtracked yesterday in an interview with CNN.

"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," Obama said when asked whether Palestinians had no future claim to the city.

Obama said "as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute" a division of the city. "And I think that it is smart for us to -- to work through a system in which everybody has access to the extraordinary religious sites in Old Jerusalem but that Israel has a legitimate claim on that city."

-- Glenn Kessler

[Danube of Thought]

The Arabs react:

Saudis dismissed US President Barrack Obama's much-anticipated "Arab Spring address" as meaningless, predictable drivel while Egyptians and other Arabs, to whom Obama offered some sops, also did not find anything new in the speech, which according to them focused on US interests. "He did not say anything of consequence," said Riyadh-based historian Hatoon Al-Fassi. "It was a long speech and what I remember the most is his defense of Israel.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

If we are going with actors, I will add Burt Lancaster and Richard Widmark to my list of manly men.

[Jim Ryan]

Hang on folks, the apocalypse cult issues following statement by Rutherford B. McGuillycutty, chief epistemology officer and assistant metaphysician of the cult:

There has been a lot of confusion about the end day. It is in fact here. However, empirically it is indistinguishable from the continuation of ordinary times. Yes, the world has ceased to exist but God has fostered an illusion of its continuance such that there is no practical possibility of discovering that it is an illusion by empirical inspection. Those who say that the end time didn't come today are really chasing red herrings. Whether you're in heaven or hell is for you to figure out (IYKWIMAITYD) but get used to it, people. Afterlife? You're soaking in it.

This makes sense to me. I can't really find any holes in the argument.

[Jim Ryan]

bgates, I am sorry to hear this news.

[Porchlight]

I'm so sorry, bgates. Here on JOM you are loved.

[Threadkiller]

That does make things clear, Jim. I am a still a little confused though.

Should MarkD drink the stout or not?

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I'm trying to figure out how the Palestinians claim any right to the City of David.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

I was looking up the Jerusalem timeline and found this little factoid.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times

Is there any other city that comes close to this?

[Threadkiller]

Compton.

[Danube of Thought]

I'm trying to figure out why they call themselves Palestinians.

[Ignatz]

--I'm trying to figure out how the Palestinians claim any right to the City of David.--

Through this odd but convenient myth.

[Jim Ryan]

Netanyahu's own A Durable Peace is a good primer on the dispute if you don't know the basics.

[Ignatz]

--I'm trying to figure out why they call themselves Palestinians.--

Here's succinct etymology of the word though why anyone would prefer to associate themselves with what happened to the Philistines at the hands of the Jews is anyone's guess.
Pretty good argument in support of pops' thesis that Arabs are inbred knuckleheads.

[Jane]

I'll certainly try Centralcal.

[Jim Ryan]

DoT, because if they called themselves Arabs it wouldn't make it seem like they had special rights to live in Israel and the West Bank. It's PR.

[Threadkiller]

I'm peeling out of here to go support our military.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Through this odd but convenient myth.

Well if that is their claim, they are a few thousand years too late.

[Janet]

Hahaha! Thanks TK!

[Threadkiller]

This link includes a video of last years event.

See you guys later, I hope...

[matt]

bgates;

Been there, done that. Have the scars. The world does in fact go on, and life does get better. Have faith in the future.

So I guess we on the West Coast have the day to do as we please before the rapture begins. Maybe it all starts on Pacific Daylight Time and the good broadcaster's calculations were only slightly off.

[Janet]

via Instapundit - Barney Frank blasted for debt ceiling panic.

“This is Barney Frank’s M.O. — burn the house down, then take his hand off of the gas can and say, ‘It’s (the GOP’s) fault,’ ” Massachusetts Republican Party executive director Nathan Little said.

So true. Ol' Frank has never had to answer for ANY of his crap ideas at Fannie (insert joke here) or answer for his boyfriend working there.
"...he (Moses) was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."

[Ignatz]

--"...or answer for his boyfriend working there."--

--"...he (Moses) was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses "helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs."--

You'd think the bolded fact would cause any potential employer to question the guy's sanity, let alone judgement, and preclude anything like the responsibility mentioned in the italicized quote.

[Threadkiller]

--"(insert joke here)"--

Is that what Barney Frank's tramp stamp says?

[OldTimer]

Are there a slew of bureaucratic 'helpers' busy inserting phony information into public documents pertaining to BHO for the purpose of driving his political adversaries into a frenzy, or do we have a legitimate criminal posing as president of the USA sitting in the Oval Office? Truly, I'm sent emails from friends that link to websites that are supposedly doing research on Barry's past. They consistently come up with information derived from public documents (Selective Service, Social Security Administration, the Trust holding the home of Barry and Michelle in Chicago, etc.) that appear to show a voluminous amount of identity fraud or some such highly questionable behavior on Barry's behalf. I've known about the weird SS#'s since before the '08 election, but now it all seems rather improbable, since no government agency or the opposing political party has shown any apparent publicized interest in pursuing these claims. It would seem at the very least, the FBI would have been investigating and reporting to Congress if any of these claims had validity, right?

All I want to know is, is there a REASONABLE explanation for the BHO SS# issue going around the web? Freepers are discussing the latest find by an Obama voter who describes himself as a debt collector. He alleges that he has discovered another alias using Barry's SS#: Harrison J. Bounel.

Are we being hoodwinked? And if so, who's doing the hoodwinking?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2722489/posts

[Rocco]

"Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store."

Charles Krauthammer - The Weekly Standard, May 11, 1998

"A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent mournful expanse.... a desolation.... we never saw a human being on the whole route.... hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country."

Mark Twain - The Innocents Abroad, p. 361-362

Working on my 5,000th rosary

Wow JiB, that's great! I started praying the Rosary everyday in January so I've a long way to go to reach that mark. But I have to admit, the more I pray it, the more I love it. I find it's like a mini Bible as I meditate on the mysteries of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

My heart's breaking for you too bgates, you're in my prayers today.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

How cool is this? (I stole it from Big Peace.)

[Rocco]

I should have noted that the quote from Twain was from his trip to Palestine in 1867.

[narciso]

Just like Doughty, Arabia Desertica, (1889)
sometimes the older volumes are more candid about the realities of a land.

[Ignatz]

Is that a picture of more dolls, excuse me 'action figures', Sara or are those the real thing?
I'd hate to get into another discussion about what kind of tiny, inch long plastic firearms they're carrying.

[jimmyk]

I'm trying to figure out why they call themselves Palestinians.

Marketing.

Interestingly, the Romans named the area Palestine for a similar reason. Hadrian explicitly wanted to try to wipe out any association of the region with the Jewish population that had been killed or exiled after the rebellion. So it's all marketing.

[larry]

So very sorry, bgates. I've been there, too. Hang in there, Bud. It does get better.

Talkin manly, ya can't leave out Gary Cooper, Bogey, Spencer Tracy, Mitchum, tha Duke.

[Stephanie]

Yes, the world has ceased to exist but God has fostered an illusion of its continuance such that there is no practical possibility of discovering that it is an illusion by empirical inspection.

Welcome to the Matrix?

On the bright side, since we are all batteries, the energy crisis is solved.

And in the 'it sucks to be you' category, just realized that it's possible the guy or gal in the next charging bay over could be Obama or Michelle. Damn.

[Rocco]

One of my all time favorite web sites is the Jewish Virtual Library and their Myths & Facts section is a great source to counter the anti Semites we encounter. Worth bookmarking IMO.

[Danube of Thought]

"Marketing"

Yeah. I think Arafat post-1967 was the first to hang that moniker on them, and it was a hugely shrewd PR stroke.

[anduril]

Jon Entine is the author of the frequently cited book, Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People, and is himself a Cohan. Here are some of the scientific conclusions regarding Jewish genetic identity that he cites (gleaned from reviews):

He presents fascinating evidence from DNA studies: the genes of Jewish males around the world can be traced back to the ancient Middle East; the genes of Jewish women cannot. Among Africans who claim Jewish ancestry, the Falashas of Ethiopia do not have Jewish genetic markers; but the less well known Lemba of South Africa do. A majority of cohanim, or priests, have a common genetic marker, but Levites (of whom priests are supposedly a subset) do not.

...we learn about CMH (the Cohen Modal Haplotype) - 98½% of Jews who describe themselves as Cohanim (the descendants after 3,000 years of the Jewish priesthood in biblical times) do in fact have the same haplotype, compared with only 3% of the general Jewish population. Research reveals that Middle Easterners like Lebanese, Arabs, Kurds and Armenians and in Europe Hungarians and Southern Italians have a high incidence of the CMH marker

The male Y chromosome is pretty stable among a majority of Jews, and there is "powerful DNA evidence that Jews from around the world [i.e. whether Sephardi or Ashkenazi] share a common Near or Middle Eastern ancestry". (An exception seem to be some 50% of Ashkenazi Levites whose marker "does not even trace to the Middle East"...

In Africa there are tribes which claim Jewish descent. The best known are the Beta Israel (better known as Falasha) of Ethiopia. Their Judaism must be that of conversion rather than descent, since their DNA does not have any of the most common Jewish genetic markers. The Lemba in Southern Africa, on the other hand, do have such markers; 9% of them even carry the CMH; but among one of their clans, the Buba, it is as high as 53%. And the CMH is also prominent among the 4,000 or so Bene Israel group of Jews, living near Mumbai (Bombay) in India.

It turns out the Ashkenazim came to Northern and Eastern Europe mainly via Italy and the Khazaria story is mostly nonsense.

Steve Sailer did a Q & A with Jon Entine, from which I take this excerpt:

Q: Are Jews a "pure race" descended unchanged from the early days of the Bible?

A: No. Like all human populations, they've married outside the group at times. The first signs of it are in the Bible itself. For example, the wives of Jacob's 12 sons included a Canaanite and an Egyptian. Moses married a Midianite woman and then a Cushite. Samson married a Philistine. At least two non-Israelite female ancestors figured in King David's genealogy. Mixed marriages between Samaritans and Judaites were common.

Q: Have there been earlier eras similar to this one in which many Jews married gentiles and their descendents tended to be gentiles?

A: Yes. For example, during the Hellenistic period after Alexander the Great's conquests, Jewish intermarriage with gentiles was rampant. There was definitely a net "outflow" of Jews from the religion, yet Hellenized Judaism survived.

Q: Were there times when Jews married gentiles, but the children tended to remain within the faith?

A: Under the Roman Empire, the Jewish community in Italy was quite sizable for a time, with lots of flow in and out. During the early Christian period in the Roman Empire, Jewish males who had left the Mideast often took on Gentile wives. Their offspring probably became the core of Ashkenazi Jewry.

However, some time around the fall of Rome is when the taboos on intermarriage (imposed by both Jews and Gentiles) became stringent. The real end to Ashkenazi Jewish out-marrying did not come until the Middle Ages...

And Reform Judaism Magazine also did an interview with Entine, from which I excerpt this relevant snippet:

Q: Do you mean to say that this is proof that the Abraham of Genesis really lived at that time?

A: We have to be careful about what DNA can and cannot tell us. It can prove common ancestry, but it cannot prove that Abraham, Moses, or Aaron actually existed. That’s why DNA works in tandem with the findings of research in genealogy, history, and anthropology.

Based on the anthropological and genetic record, we’ve been able to ascertain that the core Israelite population was not a single homogenous population, as the Bible says, but really an amalgam of local populations—Canaanites, Semites, and others—who merged in one form or another over many centuries and achieved a kind of tribal unity by about 1000 B.C.E.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Rocco: Thanks for that link.

Interesting this:

Prior to partition, Palestinian Arabs did not view themselves as having a separate identity. When the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations met in Jerusalem in February 1919 to choose Palestinian representatives for the Paris Peace Conference, the following resolution was adopted:

We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds.6

In 1937, a local Arab leader, Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, told the Peel Commission, which ultimately suggested the partition of Palestine: “There is no such country as Palestine! ‘Palestine’ is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.7

So Syria should be wetnursing the present day Palestinians, not Israel.