The bombs are still falling and the rockets still flying tonight despite rumors of s cease fire deal all day.

Moon of Alabama covers the basic Ceasefire Conditions And Interests and touches on meaning of the assassination of Hamas military wing leader Ahmed al-Jaabari.

The Agonist was wondering earlier if Netanyahu had targeted al-Jaabari to preclude the possibility of a more permanent truce that was being negotiated in Egypt prior to the Israeli air assault.

The US is out of the loop in this situation because we refuse to talk to Hamas. Hamas won the election and is the majority in the Palestinian parliament. If you don’t talk to them, you aren’t in the process. Talking to Abbas is a waste of time. His term has expired, but the Israelis have prevented a new election, so he still is the nominal head of the Palestinian Authority. He lacks the power to make a deal of any kind. The US is participating in kabuki, not a real attempt to broker peace.

Even the BBC noticed that Tea Party Whacko Allen West has finally admitted defeat. This was after a partial recount in St Lucie County showed that he lost to Patrick Murphy by an even bigger margin than originally reported.

I noticed that a lot of people are talking about West running for re-election, but that’s not actually true. Florida redistricted and the make-up of the new version of his district was a much tougher place for a Republican, so he moved to a different district to run again. Murphy, who lost to West in 2010, also moved because he wanted to directly challenge West and would have had to spend a lot of money changing his campaign materials if he didn’t face West again.

A lot of money was wasted on not much of anything, but that’s Florida politics.