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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
U.S. Officials Confirm Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Airliner
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
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4 18:08 M. Murcek [3] 
6 12:59 Abu Uluque [14] 
1 08:20 Procopius2k [6] 
18 15:35 Tarzan Elmeretch9587 [10] 
7 17:52 Whiskey Mike [11] 
30 22:05 Barbara [13] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 3: Non-WoT
3 21:50 Thing From Snowy Mountain [6]
4 13:25 M. Murcek [3]
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1 01:13 Woodrow [6]
4 10:13 Rambler in Virginia [7]
11 18:15 Crusader [5]
Page 6: Politix
1 17:12 M. Murcek [6]
12 23:11 Lex [4]
1 19:26 Woodrow [9]
21 22:47 Lex [10]
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7 16:48 g(r)omgoru [8]
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
It Was Just A Matter Of Time....
[via Whatfinger]
[WLTX] GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - A convicted sex offender who says he identifies as an eight-year-old girl will spend at least a decade in prison for dozens of images of child pornography found on his home computer.

Joseph Gobrick, 45, claims the images were computer-animated and protected under the First Amendment.

"I've always been an 8-year-old girl, Gobrick said at sentencing. "And even my drawings and fantasies, I am always an 8-year-old girl.

Gobrick, a convicted sex offender from New York, was arrested in 2018 after a 17-year-old Ohio girl listed as endangered/missing was found at his Grand Rapids home.

During that investigation, the child pornography was found on his computer.
Gobrick, who has a 2001 sexual abuse conviction out of New York, contends he is not sexually attracted to children.
I know whatfinger I give this
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/09/2020 07:04 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
This basket of dividend growth stocks can help your portfolio stand out in 2020
[Market Watch] These stocks have low price-to-earnings valuations relative to the S&P 500 that also appear likely to continue raising their dividend payouts more quickly than the broad market.

Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 06:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  there are exchange traded funds that do this also
Posted by: lord garth || 01/09/2020 15:15 Comments || Top||


Europe
Why Europe hates Trump more than Iran
[Politico] Behind the sober public pronouncements from Brussels and national capitals, officials are seething.
Time to disband NATO. If they hate us this much, what are we doing there?
Reckless, illegal, unhinged.

When it comes to finding adjectives to describe U.S. President Donald Trump’s assassination of Iranian military guru Qassem Soleimani, which prompted the Iranians to respond by launching missile attacks on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops overnight, European officials have displayed rare unity. At least in private.

Behind the sober public pronouncements from Brussels and national capitals about the need for "de-escalation," officials are seething.

Plus ca change? While Trump has been reviled by Europe’s establishment from the day he took office, his other major "outrages" ‐ such as the decisions to pull out of the Paris climate accord and the Iranian nuclear deal or to impose tariffs on EU steel ‐ were well-telegraphed.

No one saw the Iranian escalation coming. Within hours of Soleimani's assassination, Europe’s shock over the Iranian general’s killing morphed into anger at Trump.

One of the indirect victims of the U.S. strike may prove to be the transatlantic relationship.
We don't need them. They need us. Fuck 'em.
Just how bad is it? Even as Iran’s supreme leader promised "severe" retaliation for the killing over the weekend, EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, invited Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for a sitdown in Brussels. The U.S., which recently placed sanctions on Zarif, won’t even grant him a visa to visit the United Nations.
UN out of USA, too. Move it to Geneva.
Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow.

Berlin appears to have concluded that sitting down with Vladimir Putin (who met with Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad this week to celebrate their success in crushing Syria’s civil war) would be more productive than a trip to Washington, on paper still Germany’s most important ally.

Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the Soleimani attack as a "1914 moment." The new leadership of Germany's Social Democrats, Merkel's coalition partner, called on the U.S. to remove its nuclear arsenal from the country.

Though other senior SPD officials, including former European Parliament President Martin Schulz, have endorsed such a move in the past, the timing of the latest demand underscored the degree of German unease over Trump's course. Under Trump, the transatlantic relationship "has fundamentally changed," SPD co-leader Norbert Walter-Borjans said on Tuesday.
Time to leave. Disband NATO, pull out the troops, and last one out turn off the lights. Europe prefers gay-executing, protester-killing, terrorist-sponsoring theocratic Iran to us. So be it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [13 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the real reason is that Iran has the goods on who took bribes for accepting and supporting Obama's agreement with Iran and have threatened to release that information unless it is supported.
Posted by: daniel || 01/09/2020 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  The only committed NATO members are the former Warsaw Pact countries. Trump's actions are like a searchlight showing the weakness and shallowness of the Western European leadership.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 01/09/2020 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  *Shrug* How many former East Germans are in the government of present day Germany, and the EU, that secretly wish the Soviets had won the Cold War?
Posted by: magpie || 01/09/2020 0:35 Comments || Top||

#4  /\ And how many people in the aristocracies that run Europe are looking back to the glory days of the Age of Colonialism™, where their families ran the world, and see the USA as a primary villain in ending that period?
Posted by: magpie || 01/09/2020 0:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Former German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel described the Soleimani attack as a "1914 moment."

Moron. We don't have anything remotely close to the conditions that prevailed in August 1914.

The Middle East is not the most important region in the world.

There is no major rival to the US hyper power. The other great powers are not organized into alliances bound by "reinsurance" treaties. Mass mobilization doesn't even exist anymore as a feature of advanced societies. China is not even present, let alone relevant, let alone a major player, in the Middle East. Russia has zero obligations to its deadbeat, shitshow-customer Iran.

How can anyone propounding such a foolish comparison be taken seriously?
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 0:57 Comments || Top||

#6  "Sigmar Gabriel" sounds like a gay bath house disease.

Sigmar Gabriel Political party Social Democratic Party.

Heh. I was right.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/09/2020 1:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow.

Returning to the mother ship for consultations ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 6:29 Comments || Top||

#8  Wrong. They don't hate Trump. They hate you - and he's your representative.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 6:54 Comments || Top||

#9  #7 Angela Merkel, Europe’s de facto supreme leader, responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow.
Puts one in mind of the Molotov-Ribbentrop tea party.
Posted by: b || 01/09/2020 7:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Buncha parvenus, that’s us, g(r)oomgoru— with all the annoyingly brash self-confidence and indifference to forms of the breed. We can’t help but annoy a certain kind of mind, as dear Mrs. Trollope so clearly demonstrated.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/09/2020 7:20 Comments || Top||

#11 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/09/2020 7:50 Comments || Top||

#12  responded to the crisis by arranging a "working meeting" later this week ‐ in Moscow

That's nonsense. These meetings are planned and arranged months ahead.

As for Gabriel, he's a very leftist friend of Schröder.

"They" dislike Trump? Cry me a river. I dislike him, too. Do I hate Americans?

My bottle of fine Kentucky Bourbon is 30% more expensive now due to that tariff nonsense.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/09/2020 7:54 Comments || Top||

#13  BP that was good. Spot on boyo.
Posted by: Dale || 01/09/2020 8:11 Comments || Top||

#14  EC you can always move closer to the source. Think of the money you'll save.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/09/2020 8:13 Comments || Top||

#15  Trump decided to kill 1 man, so he did not have to kill 10,000 later. As a result, he got a good excuse to kill 100,000, and said "No, I'm not really interested in killing people that attack us with steaming bowls of angry sauerkraut. That is beneath me".

I would not call that escalation, but then again, I am neither Islamic or European (redundant these days?). They got smacked, they took a groin shot and missed, and now they are going back to their caves. They should stay there, they were given a reprieve.
Posted by: Beau || 01/09/2020 8:21 Comments || Top||

#16  Islamic or European (redundant these days?)

Ding! Ding! DING! We have a winner!
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#17  You know, bourbon is dual use. You can drink it, cook with it, disinfect a wound. If over 100 proof it's an accelerant or motor fuel, though it's a shame to use waste it that way...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||

#18  Soviet/Russian anthem misheard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqR1V3DN8hM
Posted by: Unosh Hupinelet8756 || 01/09/2020 8:48 Comments || Top||

#19  I keep seeing this word 'assassination'. A term I had heretofore thought a legal term but now seems corroded and softened to mean anything and nothing.

How exactly does one go about 'assassinating' the uniformed general in charge of international operations of a nation that declared war on us 41 years ago and have maintained that state ever since?

Other than that, who gives a laughing damn what the euros 'think' about anything.
Posted by: Cesare || 01/09/2020 8:53 Comments || Top||

#20  #15 Procopius2k
Don't give me ideas...
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/09/2020 9:01 Comments || Top||

#21  I think the main answer to this question is simply "Where's the graft in that?"


Trump seems to personify all the characteristics of the US that Euros have despised since the beginning. He often acts like those early Civics lessons about how things should work took hold and he just won't play the aristocrat game.

To quote some of my wive's victorian romances "He's in trade" therefore should be ignored...until they need his money.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/09/2020 9:13 Comments || Top||

#22  #17

The bourbon I drink is 100% single use. And I wouldn't touch stuff below 100 proof
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/09/2020 9:18 Comments || Top||

#23  Why Europe hates Trump more than Iran

Can we take that as a "Yes" that you think Trump is doing a good job then.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/09/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#24  I wouldn't touch stuff below 100 proof

OK, that's hard core.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/09/2020 12:11 Comments || Top||

#25  I would say we should get out of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the EU all at once, and take all our FMS, USAID, and NATO/UN dollars with us. We could turn those dollars into US military and welfare programs and still lower taxes to the blue collar world...
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/09/2020 15:45 Comments || Top||

#26  I saw a figure that we had spent $11 trillion in the mideast wars. If true, that's about half of the reported national debt.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/09/2020 15:58 Comments || Top||

#27  Many in Europe opposed Reagan because they fear brinksmanship even if the result could be a lasting peace.
Posted by: ruprecht || 01/09/2020 17:20 Comments || Top||

#28  #24

But consumed moderately
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/09/2020 20:40 Comments || Top||

#29  #3 - 99.9%?
Posted by: Barbara || 01/09/2020 22:03 Comments || Top||

#30  Nailed it, #8 grom.
Posted by: Barbara || 01/09/2020 22:05 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Deceased Iranian General Soleimani surges into 4th place in Democratic primary race
[GenesiusTimes]
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/09/2020 08:45 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


GOP Sen. Mike Lee's shorts in a wad over Soleimani briefing
[FOX] Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee declared in a heated press conference Wednesday afternoon that national security officials had just delivered the "worst military briefing" he had ever seen on Capitol Hill, even claiming that one official had warned during the "lame" and "insane" meeting that Congress shouldn't debate whether additional military action against Iran would be appropriate.

Democrats piled on, with Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerald E. Connolly calling the briefing "sophomoric and utterly unconvincing." Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, for her part, asserted that she has been "stricken with PTSD" due to recent developments and condemned President Trump's new sanctions against Iran as "economic warfare." (Omar and her family fled war-torn Somalia and spent years in a refugee camp. She also openly supports sanctions against Israel.)

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., called Omar's comments "a disgrace and offensive to our nation’s veterans who really do have PTSD," prompting Omar to respond, "I survived war as a child and deal with post-traumatic stress disorder‐much like many who have served or lived through war. It’s shameful that you as a member of Congress would erase the PTSD of survivors."

Amid the melee, Lee made clear that his response was directed primarily at the classified briefing for lawmakers on the Iran situation and not the White House's Iran policy generally. But, he said, the slapdash sit-down would have consequences.

"I want to state at the outset: I support President Trump," Lee began,
...good to know...
telling reporters that he appreciated the administration's efforts to keep the U.S. out of war. "The briefing lasted only 75 minutes,
...a substantial amount of time, given that the war itself, as Fred pointed out yesterday, only lasted four hours...
whereupon our briefers left. This, however, is not the biggest problem I have with the briefing, which I would add was probably the worst briefing I've seen at least on a military issue in the nine years I've served in the United States Senate."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 00:50 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is likely Senator Lee and the rest received a collateral level briefing, a briefing with no special access caveats. Simply having a TS/SCI and sitting in a SCIF doesn't cut it.

Please, please spare us the notion that Rep. Ilhan Omar and others of a like mind, need to be 'read-on' to special access programs.

Get a fok'n grip senator.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Can anyone any longer deny that our esteemed national representatives are just actors in a total, complete utter Shitshow?
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 1:11 Comments || Top||

#3 

Absolutely, Positively False” – Senator Lankford DESTROYS Turncoat Sen. Mike Lee on Bogus Meltdown following Today’s Iran Briefing

A senator from LSD Utah, who's a grandstanding demagogue? Where have I heard that before?

Also famous for putting foreign workers before US workers.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/09/2020 1:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Lee and Rand Paul look stupid going all over the map. Paul went from infuriated at the Soliemani strike to thrilled at Trump not escalating to moping about this classified briefing. At step two I was starting to like him again, he burned that in only a few hours.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 8:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Senators Flake.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 11:42 Comments || Top||

#6  #1 - So, IOW, they're such a bunch of clowns that they cannot be trusted with the good stuff and must settle for the kind of information the rest of us can get from CBS?
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/09/2020 12:59 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Springfield SAINT Victor .308 Rifle Unboxed at the Gun Counter
[Guns America Digest] The SAINT Victor series from Springfield Armory are made for ultimate reliability. Coming in at only 7.8 lbs. the SAINT Victor .308 delivers the firepower you want in a lightweight package. All Victors are designed and built to professional standards and come loaded with features way beyond its price point.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 05:21 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is much more pricey, but the oohs and ahhs at the range are worth it. Video of the full auto version...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how this compares to a Bushmaster .308.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/09/2020 16:57 Comments || Top||

#3  There are two similar but not the same AR-10 type platforms. Different mags and so on. I can't tell you one way or the other about the Bushmaster. It's one or the other, don't know if it is similar or different from the Springfield product.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 18:04 Comments || Top||

#4  You can always try this...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/09/2020 18:08 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
VDH: Iran's Options in Showdown with America Are All Bad
[Town Hall] - After losing its top strategist, military commander and arch-terrorist, Qassem Suleimani, the Iranian theocracy is weighing responses.

One, Iran can quiet down and cease military provocations.

...The chances, however, for such a logical and passive readjustment by Iran are nil.

Iran believes that Trump's beefed-up sanctions have all but destroyed its economy and could now extend to secondary boycotts of nations trading with Iran. U.S. sanctions have also squeezed Iranian expeditionary efforts to forge a permanent hegemony and a Shiite crescent extending to the Mediterranean.

...Two, Iran can agree to re-enter talks about its nuclear program and offer a few concessions.

Iran could concede that the prior agreement was designed to bank Iranian cash and nuclear expertise that would eventually lead to the country developing nuclear weaponry after a period of feigned good behavior.

Yet a return to direct negotiations with Washington is also unlikely, especially since Iran once enjoyed a lopsided gift from the United States. Renegotiating anything less would be too humiliating for the revolutionary regime to endure.
Face is everything
...Three, Iran can escalate its military operations and its use of terrorist surrogates. The death of Suleimani is Iran's most grievous setback in decades, and Iran seeks vengeance.

The theocracy will view his death not just in terms of a strategic loss, but as a humiliation that cannot stand. Governments elsewhere in the Middle East are gloating over Suleimani's killing, and especially over the thought of Iran's inability to do much about it.

In reaction, Iran could strike American bases and allies in the region. The possibilities are endless. It might send more drones and missiles against other nations' refineries. Hezbollah could shower Israeli cities with missiles. Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz in hopes of seeing the rest of the world suffer as it has.

Iran could also unleash its terrorist appendages to stage attacks on American and Israeli assets throughout Europe and the U.S., including military bases, airliners and soft civilian targets.

Yet this choice is also unlikely.

The U.S. would not have to invade Iran to end it as a modern state. A strike against the U.S. or its overseas military installations would result in a devastating response. The theocracy knows that in hours, U.S. air power could take out all of Iran's oil refineries, power stations and military bases while suffering few if any causalities.
Common sense is as rare among the Ayatollahs as it is in DNC
...Given U.S. oil independence and the global adjustments to existing sanctions on Iranian oil, the near-permanent loss of Iran's oil would not greatly damage the world economy.

Iran will bluster and threaten, but waging an all-out war with the U.S. would be suicidal, and Iran knows it.

Four, Iran can continue its periodic attacks on U.S. allies and on troops and contractors in the region.
Meaning Israel
Constant provocation is a not a good alternative, but it's probably seen as preferable to the other poor choices. The strategic aim in such endless tit-for-tat would be to wear down the patience of the U.S. public in an election year.

Given the quick criticism of Suleimani's killing from Trump's progressive domestic opponents, and given the Obama administration's past appeasement in response to Iranian provocations, Tehran might conclude that a hit-and-pause strategy is preferable.

It could incite Trump's political opponents to brand him a warmonger who acted illegally by "assassinating" Suleimani.

Iran's hope would be that Trump would lose the support of the antiwar members of his base in key swing states.

If such periodic attacks continued until Election Day, Iran might hope for a President Elizabeth Warren or President Bernie Sanders. Either one would likely resurrect the flawed Iran deal and ignore Iranian aggression in Syria and Iraq.

Iran's goal might be something like re-creating the melodrama of the 1979-1981 hostage crisis, Saddam Hussein's rope-a-dope strategy, or Bill Clinton's three-month bombing campaign in Yugoslavia. Tehran hopes for American strategic ossification that could prove politically toxic.

But that scenario, too, is unlikely. As long as Trump replies with air power disproportionate to any Iranian attacks, he, not Tehran, governs the tempo of the confrontation.

Iran created the current crisis. It has choices, but for now they are all bad.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 10:18 || Comments || Link || [14 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And being mad, they'll pick the worst.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  How's that Flotilla doing?

Bueller? Bueller?
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/09/2020 11:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Problem with #4: Iran is spread thin now, overextended across the region, with paramilitary commanders easily identified and vulnerable to more targeted hits like the one that took out Suleimani.

The "anti war voters in the US" aren't likely to desert Trump for a very focused and calibrated 52 Pick Up strategy of targeted hits against Iranian proxies and their commanders in theater.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 11:23 Comments || Top||


Ilan Berman: "US Now Has a Crucial Opening to Weaken Iran Even Further"
[RealClearDefense] Exploiting Iran’s Imperial Overstretch.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Uh, so we're going to meddle in Iran with regime change again?

The CIA already did this in 1953 and installed the Shah because their elected government wanted to spend oil revenues on their people. In 1979 Carter greenlighted the overthrow of the Shah and installed that nice man the Ayatollah Khomeni. I'm thinking a third overthrow isn't the problem. The problem is the US government's fatal attraction of overthrowing other governments and causing more problems than are ever solved.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/09/2020 0:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Someone didn't read the article.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/09/2020 0:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Trump just ooffered to support the government of Iran if it abandoned its meddling in other countries and stopped supporting the Houthis Hezbollah etc. got its people out of the Arab world, and halted its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons and means to deliver them.
And that is what the domestic opposition in Iran has been demanding as well.
Posted by: daniel || 01/09/2020 0:47 Comments || Top||

#4  He's not demanding regime change. He's suggesting the vile, murderous, hideously corrupt regime change its behavior in exchange for peace and prosperity.

As opposed to sending billions for these thieves to steal and also plow into operations and arms used to slaughter their neighbors as well as Americans.

He's offering a DEAL, 'Erb.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 1:03 Comments || Top||

#5  The neocon objective is not a deal with the mullahs, it is regime change. Jeez, people.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/09/2020 2:41 Comments || Top||

#6  He's not a neocon. He's a Jacksonian who loves dealmaking.
Jeez indeed
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 2:54 Comments || Top||

#7  FWIW: asking a vile, murderous pack of thieves to change their behavior is less than realistic.

They need to be cornered, contained, harassed at every turn -- and killed as/when, like Suleimani, they threaten to kill our people.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 2:56 Comments || Top||

#8  State, Pentagon, and the rest are stuffed with neocons. They can and do do things on their own.

> and killed as/when, like Suleimani, they threaten to kill our people.

If we weren't meddling in the Middle East in the first place, nobody would be getting killed. I love this statement because it is 100% true and 100% irrefutable.

We get out of the Middle East and all of these problems go away like ice on a hot summer day.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/09/2020 3:36 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't know what the neocon label means, or if any serve in your military. I just know that war-profiteering had long altered from simple war to cold war budgets. And if someone would want to profit from actions against Iran, they'd want to prolong the decision-making, make the pentagon approve payments to more and more contractors, drum up spectres and rumours of hostility and let Iran run circles around the US forces.

A final, direct strike on their top generals is the last thing they would want. Because that stops hostilities. That deters States from escalation and moves forces away from posturing and lollygagging. It brings the reality of the musims' favorite word 'War' home and that's what it did. Anything Khomeini and his savages are saying now, is being looked upon by Iranians with suspicion and wariness. At any rate it's to keep their faces before the umma. Democratic forces will try to oust them because it's demonstrated they'll get Iranians killed. Already Iranians aboard the jet that went down are dead.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/09/2020 5:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Neocon is Herb's "Nazi", an all-purpose slur to cast about to cover anybody that the twat doesn't like
Posted by: Frank G || 01/09/2020 5:22 Comments || Top||

#11  I know some people at reddit call Rantburg a neocon site. Maybe they're his friends then.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/09/2020 5:33 Comments || Top||

#12  People at Reddit talk about Rantburg? Why?
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/09/2020 5:54 Comments || Top||

#13  I didn't even know reddit until I stumbled on a link from an article. Something far-left antifa types. Don't remember the context, just that a couple of guys were told to 'Go spout their Right Wing bullshit at the neocon Rantburg and Breitbart.' Something like that. Some other conservative sites too. Anyway, I found reddit to be full of crazies from the entire spectrum of politics.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/09/2020 6:40 Comments || Top||

#14  #2 Herb was triggered: the headline plus the (obviously Hebrew name) of the author.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 6:50 Comments || Top||

#15  OK__ let's ease up on Herb. He provides a valuable service of having a different view. Let's not turn into a JournoList echo chamber. I disagree with most of his positions, but every now and then, he's right on. I'm willing to wade thru the horseshit to find an occasional pony.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/09/2020 8:11 Comments || Top||

#16  If we weren't meddling in the Middle East in the first place, nobody would be getting killed. I love this statement because it is 100% true and 100% irrefutable.


Sure Herb. I would say though the Middle East has been starting to meddle with us seriously from the 7th century.

And of course in that Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s nobody got killed.
Posted by: European Conservative || 01/09/2020 8:18 Comments || Top||

#17  Herb, You got me to agree with EC, so you must've said something particularly silly.

Islam meddles with its especially civilised AKA non-muslim neighbours.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/09/2020 9:02 Comments || Top||

#18  Herb? Negoiate much?

You don't start with an 23' pole vault. You start at 16'. Art of the Deal, guy. Give them something (Mullahacritcy) in exchange for the other stuff. I am surprised every day that people still don't understand how Trumpn works. Amazing.
Posted by: Tarzan Elmeretch9587 || 01/09/2020 15:35 Comments || Top||


Iran and America are suddenly both naked
[Tabletmag] Iran’s ability to respond to the U.S. was already limited by the fact that its conventional military forces are old and rusting away. Yes, IRGC speedboats can harass, and target, the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf. But it can’t move large land forces into Iraq, never mind drop them into Florida or Alaska.

A good measure of Iran’s military weakness is that Qassem Soleimani was commander not of its regular army but rather the Quds Force, the expeditionary unit of Iran’s parallel military structure, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The Quds Force is relatively small, with estimates ranging from 3,000 to 15,000 fighters–i.e., a force the size of Hezbollah. For protracted campaigns like the Syria war, the Quds Force relies on what Israeli analyst Shimon Shapira calls the Shiite International—paid militias drawn from Middle East and Central Asian countries with Shiite populations, like Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

The threat that Iran poses to a superpower America is “asymmetric”—kidnappings, embassy attacks, hijackings, bombings, etc., typically conducted by Iranian proxies. The military experts and political scientists who coined the term usually fail to note that the ability to wage “asymmetric” warfare is wholly dependent on an adversary’s willed blindness. If Iran’s targets decide to unsubscribe to the fiction that the Islamic Republic is not directly responsible for the actions of its proxies, Iran is rendered virtually powerless–with terror attacks being met with direct military hits on Iranian bases, airfields, ports, power plants, dams, and other infrastructure.

It is only because Americans and other Western powers have declined to call out Iran and have instead appeased it, that an obscurantist regime whose major exports are energy, pistachios—and terror, of course—appears like a formidable adversary.

In making Iran accountable, Trump has knocked Iran down to its natural size—and likely made Americans safer from Iranian aggression than they have in fact been at any point in the last 40 years, during which Iranian proxies have repeatedly killed large numbers of Americans. Killing Soleimani is a much more important operation than those targeting ISIS leader al-Baghdadi and even bin Laden, since it will likely shape the future actions of a state, not the leadership rotation of terror groups.
Posted by: 3dc || 01/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1 
Posted by: Jack Barnsmell4237 || 01/09/2020 6:50 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Creamble Omomonter4968 || 01/09/2020 6:52 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Creamble Omomonter4968 || 01/09/2020 7:08 Comments || Top||

#4  The military experts and political scientists who coined the term usually fail to note that the ability to wage “asymmetric” warfare is wholly dependent on an adversary’s willed blindness.

Or, in case of Israel, external constraints.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 7:26 Comments || Top||

#5  the ability to wage “asymmetric” warfare is wholly dependent on an adversary’s willed blindness.

Part and parcel of the problem with treating acts of terror as civil law violations. "Everyone knows Y is a proxy for X, but do we have *proof* X was involved?". By whacking Soleimani, Trump just short-circuited that nonsense. I'd be surprised if future Iranian attempts to invoke plausible deniability were not met head-on with an American (or Israeli) response.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/09/2020 11:49 Comments || Top||

#6  The message Trump sent with the Soleimani strike is the exact opposite of the message the US sent by negotiating with the Taliban.

Will the Trump administration now whack a couple of Taliban who were thought to be off limits due to political considerations and start a unilateral, precipitous withdrawal?
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/09/2020 15:53 Comments || Top||

#7  We can only hope.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/09/2020 17:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Handicapping The Democrat Losers
It's Kurt
[Town Hall] - The Democrat field is starting to narrow as some of the biggest losers drop out in humiliating failure. The flatulent, pro-nuke Eric Swalwell is gone. Whichever Castro bro was in just quit. And that hapless furry Beto is off selling autographs on the weirdo convention circuit dressed as a cartoon fox named "Yiffy."

The ones still in the race are even more pathetic.

Here are my thoughts on where the race is now. In the general, it’s Trump’s to lose. Between a sprinting economy and a staggering Democrat field, he’s the odds-on favorite in the general. But the real election issue is not going to be his past achievements. Trump’s achievements are now baked into the pie ‐ those who dig him assume them and those who hate him don’t care how good he’s doing. They want him gone even if he takes the economy and America’s newfound standing in the world as Earth’s Rebel Badboy with him.

The deciding factor is going to be personality, and Trump has the advantage because he has one. The question is going to be, "Who does America trust not to screw up all the repairs that Trump has made to America post-Barack Obama?"

The answer is going to be, "Not one of those quasi-commie Democrat dorks."

There are six real candidates ‐ sorry Yangbangers and Tulsi-touters, but those two are not in the mix.

There’s Biden. What a putz. From his bizarre behavior to his brazen demand that we just accept the manifest corruption of his boy Lil’ Crackpipe, Gropey Joe is not merely of the Swamp. He is the Swamp. And there’s no reason to believe Trump won’t drain him.

...Then there’s Chief Spewing Bull. Her own brother recently dissed her for inventing more fake family history. Trump would chew her up, spit her out, and wash the residue into the gutter. Where’s the enthusiasm for a serial fraud who compares poorly to every bitter spinster public elementary school teacher who either demanded you use your inside voice or tried to make her class celebrate Kwanza? Maybe at Harvard or The New York Times offices, and nowhere else.

...Maybe Bernie Sanders will get it ‐ which would be great because then all the nimrods who pushed the phony dossier would have to concede that they were going to vote for the one candidate we absolutely know has had sex in Russia ‐ shiver.

...Pete Buttigieg...why? Why is he even part of this? He’s a sub-par mayor of a sub-par town in a state most Democrats have never even heard of. Really, if he’s the one the Dems are looking to for salvation ‐ oh yeah, he says he’s a Christian too, incessantly ‐ then they’re pretty hosed already. His candidacy will soon Pete-r out

...And tiny Michael Bloomberg’s zillion-dollar ad budget has captured him...fifth or sixth place. Fascist Frodo’s not going anywhere. He’s already lost.

So, the smart money is on the dumb bunny, Wandering Paws Joe. And Trump will annihilate him ‐ all the cover the garbage media has provided him will only serve to keep him weak and vulnerable for when Trump lays into him. And if you think Biden’s got a real shot in November, well, Hunter wants his Columbia Fun Dust back.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/09/2020 09:30 || Comments || Link || [17 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I still think it is going to be Warren. Biden is an old, white guy. None of them have a chance of beating Trump (without really, really massive voter fraud), but at least with Warren they get to enjoy the fake outrage from Trump insulting a person of the female persuasion.

Option #2 would be Sanders. He's got the old white guy thing going on in spades (can you still say 'spades'?), but he is a hard-core socialist. Last time around, that made people disturbingly giddy here in Michigan.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/09/2020 11:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Colombia Fun Dust.

Lil'Crackpipe used his connections to go to Yale - the same institution that gave us Fartacus, Ciaramella-Pajama and the Clintons.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 12:05 Comments || Top||

#3  DNC will ensure Bernie-Squeaky's kept out. By foul means or foul.
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 12:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Back to hate Trump. That's all they got. They need to be more concerned with their getting their asses handed to them in the house and Senate.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 01/09/2020 14:05 Comments || Top||

#5  I am of the late comer school. Now who? Moochele? I doubt it. She is not someone who wants to be around crowds (LOL, as if she could attract them). Some gift from God like another Kennedy or another Clinton? No. I think it is time for someone like Harvey Weinstein, or Oprah, or Ellen, or Rachel to step in and save the Demoncrats.

Hey! Two lesbos in the WH together. Film at 6.
Posted by: Tarzan Elmeretch9587 || 01/09/2020 15:29 Comments || Top||

#6  There is a YouTuber, H.A. Goodman, who swears Hillary is going to run again. I think he must be smoking wacky weed.
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/09/2020 16:21 Comments || Top||

#7  "Democrat losers"

That's all of them. :-(
Posted by: Barbara || 01/09/2020 22:12 Comments || Top||


As Part Of Settlement With Nick Sandmann, CNN Hosts Must Wear MAGA Hats During All Broadcasts
[Babylon Bee] ATLANTA, GA‐According to a report, as part of the settlement with Nick Sandmann, CNN hosts will be required to wear MAGA hats throughout every broadcast.

"Let the punishment fit the crime," counsel for Sandmann said as Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Anderson Cooper, and Wolf Blitzer all solemnly donned Make America Great Again caps.

Hosts were seen with downcast expressions as they commented on the day's events, MAGA hats in place.

Sandmann says the hosts will be forced to wear the hats until they've learned their lesson, which could take a while. "Just be careful you don't make an expression some could construe as 'smug.' Wouldn't want you to get punched or your lives to get ruined, or anything like that."

CNN hosts must also finish every broadcast by saying, "Good night, and I am a big, fat dummy, while Trump is the best president we've ever had."

Brian Stelter requested an exemption and was allowed to wear a clown nose instead, as usual.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/09/2020 05:45 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It has to be a red MAGA clown nose, right?
Posted by: gorb || 01/09/2020 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  And smile! Smile, smile, smile. Every time they stop smiling, it's another million bucks.
Posted by: Elmitle Omiter5032 || 01/09/2020 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Snark of the YEAR! Love it!
Posted by: Lex || 01/09/2020 11:37 Comments || Top||


CNN Settles Sandmann Defamation Suit - Real Lawyer Explains - Viva Frei Vlawg
If Sandman got 5-20 million it is a victory. CNN peed their pants at entering into discovery and having Sandman’s legal team seeing their dirty laundry.

Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/09/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You settle to get resources to sustain your actions against other players, usually those with even deeper pockets.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/09/2020 8:20 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1Govt of Pakistan
1Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2020-01-09
  U.S. Officials Confirm Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Airliner
Wed 2020-01-08
  Iran informs the United Nations and #UNSC that they ''do not seek war and warn of any military adventures"
Tue 2020-01-07
  Iraq Under Missile Attack From Iran
Mon 2020-01-06
  3 Americans Dead, 6 Aircraft Destroyed Or Damaged, Including A Rare Spy Plane, In #Kenya Attack
Sun 2020-01-05
  Iran Puts $80M Bounty on Trump's Head for Soleimani Hit
Sat 2020-01-04
  6 More Iran-Backed Leaders Zapped, incl. Shibl al-Zaidi, commander of Kataib Imam Ali
Fri 2020-01-03
  Lebanon Hizbullah: "It's war!"
Thu 2020-01-02
  Qassim Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds force, zapped in Iraq
Wed 2020-01-01
  Hashid Al Shaabi #PMF leader Abo Alaa Al Walae threatens to attack Embassies of #Saudi, #UAE, #Bahrain and others in #Baghdad.
Tue 2019-12-31
  Crowd storms US Embassy compound in Baghdad
Mon 2019-12-30
  Qais al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Sun 2019-12-29
  Iraq launches new military operation against ISIS 4 provinces
Sat 2019-12-28
  US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
Fri 2019-12-27
  Libya's Tripoli-based govt makes formal request for Turkish military support, Turkey gets ready to rock
Thu 2019-12-26
  Jihadists suffer heavy losses in failed attempt to retake strategic southeast Idlib town


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