[Bee] RED BLUFF, CA — As people ring in the new year by taking on resolutions meant to improve their lives, local wife and mother Karen Moore took it upon herself to graciously announce a number of resolutions for her husband so he wouldn't have to.
"He never makes New Year's resolutions," she said. "But I know that deep down he really wants to be a better person for me — I mean himself."
Karen's husband, Tim, is now resolved to lose 30 pounds, take the kids to school everyday, make more money, take a romantic trip to Cancun [with her?]
, learn to salsa dance, and buy new curtains for the house. All for his benefit.
"New Year's resolutions are hard, but I know he can do it," Mrs. Moore said. "He has no choice."
When asked to comment, Tim's wife helpfully spoke for him, noting that Tim was "very happy" to have so many New Year's resolutions to work so hard on and that he was "very excited" about all the salads he would be eating.
At publishing time, Karen Moore had already failed her New Year's resolution to stop being so controlling.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2025 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11125 views]
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[IsraelNationalNews] Liri Albag, one of five female IDF soldiers still being held hostage in Gaza, was the subject of Hamas’s most recently released video. The video of Liri alive was filmed on Jan. 1. Available online on pro-Hamas websites, it shows the 19-year-old in emotional distress, shaking at times, as she begged for her life.
The hostages have been held in Gaza for 457 days. And the question of why they are still there, why has Israel been unable to bring them home, gets asked with increased frustration and alarm every day from all quarters.
On Saturday, we received an answer to that question. Shortly after news broke of the release of the video of Liri Albag, The New York Times published an interview with outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken. Blinken said that Hamas has refused to agree to release the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire for two reasons.
In his words, "There have been two major impediments, and they both go to what drives Hamas. One has been whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we’ve seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
...Under harsh questioning from the Times’ anti-Israel reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Blinken revealed that U.S. pressure on Israel began immediately after Oct. 7, 2023, and became a central feature of U.S. policy in relation to the war from its very earliest days. From the outset, the provision of unlimited supplies to Gaza—euphemistically referred to as humanitarian aid—has been the constant focus of U.S. pressure on Israel.
Almost immediately after the Oct. 7 invasion, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a siege of Gaza. The move was self-explanatory. The Gazans had taken 256 Israelis hostage to Gaza. So long as they weren’t released, Gaza would remain under siege. Siege warfare has long been considered one of the most humane, least destructive forms of warfare, and it is legal under the laws of war.
The Biden administration would have none of it. Blinken described how he compelled Israel to resupply Hamas from day one of the war.
...Blinken also admitted that the reason that the 100 hostages are still in Gaza is that Hamas perceives the administration as pressuring Israel to capitulate to Hamas. I'm sure there are appropriate Vietnamese & Pashtun sayings.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
01/06/2025 02:12 ||
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Link ||
[11126 views]
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#1
I am glad she is alive. I believe that Trump has a plan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/06/2025 14:07 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Ahmed al-Sharaa is hoping to convince the world that he’s left his jihadist past behind, but FM Gideon Sa’ar and other senior officials are not persuaded.
As Syria’s new government strives to gain international legitimacy after overthrowing the Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... regime, Western countries seem open to giving a chance to the government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... group.
At the same time, Israel is focused on making sure its allies don’t give a free pass to a man who led a brutal jihadist organization.
"It’s too early to believe this rebrand," an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.
On Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock became the most senior Western diplomats to visit the Syrian capital since Islamist-led forces toppled longtime ruler Assad last month.
The two diplomats warned Sharaa that the transfer of power must be peaceful and inclusive. "This requires a political dialogue involving all ethnic and religious groups, involving men and equally women," said Baerbock. "Sure, sure. Whatever. Give us money"
She also told Sharaa that the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... stood ready to support the transition in Syria but cautioned that "Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... will not finance new Islamist structures."
Barrot met with Christian leaders in the country to discuss the transition toward a democratic Syria.
In Israel, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is leading an effort to press the world to treat Sharaa’s government with extreme suspicion, while warning that European countries are too eager to overlook any potential problematic aspects of the new government in order to send back the millions of refugees who have fled the fighting since 2011.
"The world is talking about ’an orderly change of government in Syria,'" he told a conference last month. "But it’s not like a new government that today controls all of Syria was democratically elected.
"This is a terrorist gang that was previously in Idlib and took over the capital Damascus and other areas. The world would very much like to see them as a new and stable government because the countries want to return the refugees on their territory to Syria. But that’s not the case."
Sa’ar argued that minorities like Alawites, Kurds, and Christians are threatened by Sharaa’s new government.
"This is an Islamist government that will try to achieve unified control over all of Syria," he said.
Also last month, Sa’ar’s deputy Sharren Haskel accused Sharaa of being "a wolf in [sheep’s] clothes."
Speaking at a presser, Haskel held up a photo collage of Sharaa, showing his past as a member of various jihadist organizations.
"It is important to avoid falling for the attempt to whitewash jihadist [groups] in Syria. We know who they are and their true nature, even if they change their names, and we understand how dangerous they are to the West," said Haskel.
Sharaa, now Syria’s de facto leader, joined al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2003, where he was captured by US troops. After his release, he created the jihadist al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front to fight against Assad in Syria.
The US State Department designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, and placed a $10 million bounty on his head four years later. Sharaa eventually broke his organization’s ties with al-Qaeda, and since 2017 has been working to present HTS as a moderate organization focused on governance and toppling Assad.
The US removed the bounty in December amid an attempt to improve relations with the new Syrian leadership.
Since coming to power in December, Sharaa has preached religious coexistence and promised not to enforce strict adherence to Islamic fundamental principles. He also traded his military garb for suits, and dropped his nom de guerre, Abu Muhammad al-Julani.
Israeli leaders besides the foreign minister have also been warning against too readily buying into Sharaa’s ostensible transformation.
During a visit to the recently captured peak of Mount Hermon, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that the new Syrian rulers "pretend to present a moderate image, but belong to the most extreme Islamic sects."
Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had thought to pack sun block... Arab diplomats have hurried to Damascus to meet Sharaa. After a sit-down in late December, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi expressed support for "a government that represents all spectrums in Syria," as well as for "the drafting of a new constitution," according to official Jordanian TV.
"We agree to support the Syrian people in rebuilding their state," he was quoted as saying, adding that "the Arab countries agree to support Syria at this stage without any external interference."
Senior officials from Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... and Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... have also been to Damascus to meet Sharaa.
Ukraine too has rushed to reset ties after the fall of Assad, who allied himself closely with Russia. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met Sharaa last week, and President Volodymyr Zelensky sent 500 tons of grain to Syria and said Kyiv could contribute to stabilizing the country.
Though HTS leaders celebrated the devastating Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... assault on Israel on October 7, 2023, the new Syrian leadership stresses that it is not interested in a fight with Israel.
Sharaa said that his new regime is "committed to the 1974 agreement and we are prepared to return the UN [monitors]," referring to peacekeeping forces that manned the demilitarized zone alongside Syrian troops.
"We do not want any conflict, whether with Israel or anyone else, and we will not let Syria be used as a launchpad for attacks. The Syrian people need a break, and the strikes must end and Israel has to pull back to its previous positions," Sharaa told The Times of London earlier this month.
The new governor of Damascus has also emphasized that the newly installed government wants to have cordial relations with Israel. "We have no fear toward Israel, and our problem is not with Israel," Maher Marwan told NPR last month. "There exists a people who want coexistence. They want peace. They don’t want disputes."
"And we don’t want to meddle in anything that will threaten Israel’s security or any other country’s security," he said. "We want peace, and we cannot be an opponent to Israel or an opponent to anyone."
Israel has also signaled its desire to have "correct ties" with the new regime, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in early December. But "if this regime allows Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to reestablish itself in Syria, or allows the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah, or attacks us, we will respond forcefully and we will exact a heavy price from it."
[IsraelTimes] The Biden administration plans to announce Monday that it will ease restrictions on US humanitarian aid for Syria, speeding delivery of basic supplies without lifting sanctions that restrict other assistance to the new government in Damascus, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The step, approved by the administration over the weekend, authorizes the Treasury Department to issue waivers to aid groups and companies providing essentials such as water, electricity and other humanitarian supplies, the WSJ reports, citing officials.
“Go ahead and give ‘em money, guys. Don’t worry that some of them are evil, or that President Trump will have a different policy in two weeks.”
#1
I would like to see a stop to the flow of US government direct and indirect payments into Ukraine, Afghanistan and Iran. No need to set up a new flow into Syria.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/06/2025 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
[RedState] A daring Israeli commando raid deep into Bashar Assad's Syria in early September not only destroyed an Iranian factory producing missiles for Hezbollah to shoot into Israel, it may have been a test of a concept that puts all of Iran's nuclear facilities at risk.
On the night of September 8-9, a 120-man unit of elite Israeli Air Force Shaldag commandos in CH-53 attacked the underground factory in the Masyaf area of Syria, west of Hama, using a combination of landing and fast roping.
This is a video of US Marines fast roping from the same type of helicopter used in the Israeli operation.
See video at link with dramatic footage and even more dramatic music.
The site lies more than 125 miles north of the Israeli border and some 30 miles from Syria’s western coastline. The CH-53s flew in from the Mediterranean to evade Syria's air defense system; as the CH-53 has a range of about 430 miles, aerial refueling was required. The video is a 3-D model of the target site and gives perspective to the scope of the mission and the difficulties accomplishing it.
Because the last Iranian missile factory in Syria was smashed flat by an Israeli airstrike in 2017, the Iranians built this one to be bombproof.
The destruction of that site, as well as other IDF strikes in Syria targeting weapon shipments to Hezbollah, led Iran to rethink its strategy, according to the military, and to establish a new underground facility that would be safe from Israeli strikes.
The site that Iran constructed was 70-130 meters (230-430 foot) underground and thus virtually impossible to destroy from the air.
Iranian digging into the mountain at the research center began in late 2017. The IDF said it had intelligence on the facility from the moment construction began.
...
The facility was built in the shape of a horseshoe, with one entrance on the side of the mountain for raw materials and an exit nearby for the completed missiles. A third entrance adjacent to those two was used for logistics and to reach offices inside the facility. The office section also connected to the manufacturing section inside.
Along the horseshoe were at least 16 rooms housing the production line for the missiles, from planetary mixers for the rocket fuel to missile body construction and paint rooms.
The facility was not yet completely active when Israel launched its operation against it, but according to the military, it was at the final stages of being declared operational by Iran. At least two missiles had been successfully manufactured as part of testing, and rocket engines were already being mass produced.
The raid was reported at the time in Syrian opposition media and picked up by some Western outlets, but the details were only revealed this week.
Reports of a Sunday night attack began to emerge earlier in the week, including one by Syria TV, an opposition news site, which said that Israeli forces landed by slipping down ropes from hovering helicopters.
Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute think tank, who has closely monitored developments at the site based on people in Syria and abroad and local news reports, said the Israeli raid was directed at a factory inside a mountain that develops missiles and rockets.
That facility, he said, is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and is part of a larger military complex that is managed by Assad’s regime in Syria.
Israel has accused Iran of using a scientific research center in military sites near Masyaf to develop weapons and missiles intended for its aligned regional militias, including Hezbollah, analysts say.
The Israelis also revealed a surprising level of tactics, techniques, and procedures that were either a blunder or calculated to send a message.
The first of the CH-53 "Yasur" helicopters landed close to the entrance, dropping off several Shaldag commandos, while another two choppers simultaneously landed at another position in the area overlooking the science center. The fourth helicopter waited behind for several minutes before landing where the first one had, dropping off additional troops.
The four helicopters then flew away to other positions in the area, where they landed and waited for over two hours for the 100 commandos to carry out their mission.
The 20 Unit 669 members, still on board the choppers, were to spring into action if any of the commandos were wounded. The plan was to treat any wounded soldiers, but not to leave until the end of the mission. Therefore, Unit 669 brought along additional medical equipment to act as a makeshift hospital in the event of an injury.
At the facility, a first team of commandos began to secure the area while a second team advanced toward the entrance, killing two guards. Another team set up on a nearby hill, from which they flew a small drone to observe the raid and eliminate anyone approaching the facility.
...
One of the central challenges of the mission was getting through the heavy duty doors at the entrance to the underground site. According to officers who participated in the planning and the mission itself, this was no easy task.
At the mission’s 50-minute mark, the first team of commandos managed to break through one of the entrances — the one used for logistics and to reach the offices. The soldiers entered the site and reached the two production entrances — the horseshoe — opening them using forklifts that were inside the facility. The IDF had known in advance that the facility had such equipment, and had sent some of the commandos participating in the raid to get forklift certification.
At the same time, another team of commandos carrying explosives arrived at the entrances. The troops had brought a quad bike with them in one of the choppers to enable them to quickly move to and through the facility to plant the explosives.
Some 50 commandos then moved along the facility’s production line, attaching bombs to all of the equipment, and especially the three planetary mixers. The other 50 waited outside and continued to keep the area clear by scanning the area and firing at threats.
At the same time, fighter jets continued to pound the surrounding region to prevent dozens of people identified on the ground — apparently Syrian soldiers — from approaching. In all, 49 munitions were used by IAF aircraft during the raid.
After the commandos had rigged up all the explosives — around 300 kilograms’ (660 pounds’) worth — to a remote detonator planted at the entrance to the site, all 100 evacuated to the initial landing site. The helicopters flew in from their waiting positions, picking up the soldiers after two and a half hours on the ground.
So why the big media rollout on a raid that happened three months ago? I think the first reason is to impress the locals with Israeli military capabilities. This media event, in addition to the happenings on the ground, goes a long way toward undoing any damage to the psychological dominance Israel has established over its enemies since 1948 by the October 7. 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. The second reason is to send a message to the Iranians that you can't dig a facility deep enough to get away from the IDF if they want you.
The attack at Masyaf looked a lot like a rehearsal for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In the aftermath of the rout of Assad's forces and the fall of the Ba'athist regime, Israel carried out a punishing campaign of air attacks on Syrian radar, fighter bases, and air defense sites. So much so that it is fair to say that Syria is incapable of knowing who is using its airspace, much less contesting that usage; see Israel Bombs Syria's Military Capability and Infrastructure Flat to Send a Message to Iran.
[IsraelTimes] Iran's arrest of the Italian journalist has all the hallmarks of a cautionary tale for the useful idiots of the West
Cecilia Sala, the intrepid Italian journalist who boarded a flight to Tehran with all the enthusiasm of Alice stepping into her Persian Wonderland, is now seeing the Iranian rabbit hole for what it truly is—a dark, damp cell with fewer whimsical creatures and more Revolutionary Guards.
Sala’s Iranian adventure was not the typical tale of starry-eyed, keffiyeh-clad correspondents storming Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in solidarity with the local terrorists. No, Sala’s approach was far subtler. Her criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s perennial Voldemort in left-wing circles, rested on the notion that Bibi’s "far-right" extremism had somehow pushed Israel into isolation. After all, she once mused on her podcast that Israel’s isolation was simply Netanyahu’s isolation. A profound observation that might now seem a tad less profound from behind Iranian prison bars.
Before embarking on this enlightening journey, Sala expressed her deep affection for Iran, describing it as the country she "missed the most," presumably after a Gay Pareeian café ran out of oat milk. Reflecting on her time away, Sala noted that Tehran had been bombed by Israeli jets for the first time in history. In her wisdom, she deduced that Netanyahu’s bombast was impeding the winds of Iranian reform — as if the Ayatollahs were just a nudge away from installing rainbow pedestrian crossings and hosting drag brunches.
Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian, Sala declared, was a reformist. The same Pezeshkian who dons the uniform of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) like it’s haute couture, condemned America as "terrorist," and described shooting down drones as a delightful pastime. In Sala’s world, slipping on an IRGC jacket is merely a quirky fashion statement. Perhaps a "hot girl summer" trend for the reformist-at-heart.
While in Tehran, Sala channeled her inner Jane Austen, podcasting about Iranian patriarchy and interviewing dissident comedians, blissfully unaware that she was dining with Revolutionary Guard grandees like Hossein Kanaani. For nearly half a century, Kanaani helped orchestrate militias across the Middle East—a charming dinner companion if ever there was one.
But Sala’s luck ran out when Tehran police detained her, roughly two days after Italia and the US arrested a pair of Iranian operatives. Coincidence? Hardly. Sala, it seems, stumbled straight into a diplomatic tit-for-tat—a curious byproduct of regimes that consider "press freedom" an oxymoron.
She now has ample time to reflect. Perhaps in solitary confinement, she’ll have a moment of clarity, realizing that "far-right" Netanyahu isn’t tossing journalists into cells, and that the real threat to press freedom does not wear a Likud pin.
This ordeal has all the hallmarks of a cautionary tale for the "useful idiots" (copyright: Bibi) of the West. Like turkeys enthusiastically marching for Thanksgiving, Sala may come to miss Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... a little less after sampling its hospitality. One imagines her sitting on the prison floor, longing for the relative oppression of Tel Aviv’s beachfront cafes.
And if she ever pens a memoir about her stay, it may be: "Eat, Pray, Don’t Leave the Hotel."
Two hours long, so you know what to do, dear Reader. If you’re in today’s snow belt, enjoy staying inside.
[TuckerCarlsonNework] Permanent Washington is trying to prevent Tulsi Gabbard from becoming Director of National Intelligence. Bernard Hudson ran counterterrorism at CIA, and says the country needs her.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Bee] RED BLUFF, CA — As people ring in the new year by taking on resolutions meant to improve their lives, local wife and mother Karen Moore took it upon herself to graciously announce a number of resolutions for her husband so he wouldn't have to.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
