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Today: 71 articles and 268 comments as of 8:04.
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Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT        Politix   
PLA mobilized to deal with Wuhan
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 4: Opinion
28 16:41 M. Murcek [5] 
3 11:46 Lex [3] 
13 22:30 Snang Thrinesh2108 [6] 
10 22:05 Snang Thrinesh2108 [] 
1 09:25 M. Murcek [3] 
3 16:37 charger [11] 
5 08:26 Frank G [6] 
3 03:09 newc [4] 
1 07:50 Mercutio [6] 
19 23:09 Dale [6] 
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
2 16:52 John Frum [5]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
2 14:48 Frank G [7]
4 23:46 BrujoTejano [14]
12 15:14 swksvolFF [3]
7 19:41 SteveS [5]
7 08:10 M. Murcek [5]
11 19:29 trailing wife [10]
1 09:17 Mullah Richard [5]
1 08:16 Lex [4]
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5 08:19 49 Pan [7]
6 10:46 DarthVader [3]
3 12:49 lord garth [7]
6 15:03 Dino McCoy5459 [5]
2 09:24 Mullah Richard [4]
6 13:07 g(r)omgoru [3]
Page 6: Politix
7 18:22 Alaska Paul [6]
4 12:31 Dale [6]
10 14:23 USN, Ret. [3]
4 12:10 Abu Uluque [4]
5 16:22 charger [4]
2 10:55 JohnQC [5]
19 18:13 Barbara [3]
-Short Attention Span Theater-
The Dangerous Rise Of Men Who Won't Date The Author Of This Article, Uh, I Mean ‘ Woke’ Women
[Refinery29] Written by one Vicky Spratt, who appears to be a bit of a prat.

Vicky should ask her sister-in-law how she landed Vicky's brother Jack, despite being so fat.
Posted by: charger || 01/24/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm 60 years old and get hustled all the time because I can apparently afford to dine out and shop at Home Depot.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  At first I thought this was a parody. But it's depressingly real.

The Left is getting further and further out there. Only talking to itself. They think we are monsters and will not brook any evidence to the contrary.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/24/2020 2:30 Comments || Top||

#3  The sense of entitlement is staggering - kinda like 18th century French aristocrat. Wonder if she ever heard of la Terreur?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2020 4:00 Comments || Top||

#4  There are always cats. Lots of kitty cats.
Posted by: Menhadden Fliter8511 || 01/24/2020 4:06 Comments || Top||

#5  media has realized that the goal is to get ad revenue. someone clicking on a link generates that ad revenue.

they don't care one way or the other why someone clicks on a link.
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 01/24/2020 7:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Saw this article the other day. Couldn't get past the first sentence then either.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/24/2020 7:46 Comments || Top||

#7  I haven't dated in fifteen years, period. Quite happy with things as they are - no crazies or extra bullshit in my life, and I don't get ripped of for untold thousands by nutbag girlfriends.

As far as these 'woke' broads are concerned - go to hell with your pink hair and two dozen cats.
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2020 7:48 Comments || Top||

#8  AH, but if you didn't read some of it, you missed this little gem:

Fox is denying racism and sexism, irrespective of whether or not they exist. It's nothing short of gaslighting. It's all very Donald Trump.

Dangerous rise of dipschiffs.
Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2020 8:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Can we banish that fugly and stupid word gaslighting from all discourse?
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:51 Comments || Top||

#10  #7 so true. Industrialized world at this time. So you import a young lady from say Malaysia. In a year she becomes Americanized. With child and divorced from you and then child support. Women teach each other the game well. I tell people my age and they can't believe me. I say its because I am single. I look 10-15 years younger. Jokingly I say to women I think I should become a sugar daddy. They light up. That's what they really want. Go on a date and 1- do you own your home. 2- Where do you work. How much do you make. On first date.
Posted by: Dale || 01/24/2020 9:02 Comments || Top||

#11  Can we banish that fugly and stupid word gaslighting from all discourse?

I was hoping to use that term whenever I whip out the Bic, put it between my legs and lettin' 'er rip. Please reconsider!
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2020 9:28 Comments || Top||

#12  Ah... ye good ol' Blue Blazer! Got it!
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 9:35 Comments || Top||

#13  Why would a woke woman even want to date a non-woke male?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 01/24/2020 10:58 Comments || Top||

#14  In an age of sexual fluidity in 57 varieties, what does it mean to be a "woke woman?"
Posted by: JohnQC || 01/24/2020 11:11 Comments || Top||

#15  All you have to do is stay happily married to the same woman for 44 years and there's no need to date.

Of course you have to choose wisely, not poorly.
Posted by: AlanC || 01/24/2020 13:40 Comments || Top||

#16  Ah... ye good ol' Blue Blazer! Got it!

Would you believe that's the very first thing I learned at college? Maybe you would!
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2020 15:54 Comments || Top||

#17  Yes, biologically derived methane burns hotter because of the delivery system and the flux.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 16:19 Comments || Top||

#18  Good ol' Rantburg U!
Posted by: Bobby || 01/24/2020 18:08 Comments || Top||

#19  34 years wasn't enough time I guess.
Posted by: Dale || 01/24/2020 23:09 Comments || Top||


-Land of the Free
Supreme Court may decide in favor of public funds for Christian schools
[NPR] In a case with potentially profound implications, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority seemed ready to invalidate a provision of the Montana state constitution that bars aid to religious schools. A decision like that would work a sea change in constitutional law, significantly removing the longstanding high wall of separation between church and state.

The focal point of Wednesday's argument was a ruling by the Montana Supreme Court that struck down a tax subsidy for both religious and nonreligious private schools. The Montana court said that the subsidy violated a state constitutional provision barring any state aid to religious schools, whether direct or indirect.

On the steps of the Supreme Court Wednesday, Kendra Espinoza, a divorced mother of two, explained why she is challenging that ruling.

"We are a Christian family and I want those values taught at school," she said. "Our morals as a society come from the Bible. I feel we are being excluded simply because we are people of religious background."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 06:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Schools shouldn't be any more gummint concern than churches.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 9:25 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Survey: Nearly Half of Afghans Want US Troops Out after Deal
[AP via Mil.com] KABUL, Afghanistan ‐ Nearly half of all Afghans want U.S. and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan once a peace deal to end the country's 18-year war is signed with the Taliban, according to a survey released Thursday.

The American Institute of War and Peace Studies also found that an overwhelming 80% of Afghans surveyed said a political solution was the only way to bring about an end to fighting, Twenty percent said a military solution was possible.

The survey found that 46% of Afghans want U.S. and NATO troops out of the country once a deal is struck, while 33% would have them stay.

The survey polled 5,038 Afghans in 34 provinces. It was conducted between Nov. 23-Dec. 20 and has a 5% margin of error. Sixty-one percent of participants answered online with the remaining 39% were interviewed in person.

While 57% of those surveyed wanted the Taliban to evict the foreign fighters among them. Many of those foreigners are believed to have links to al-Qaida and other militant organizations.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 07:20 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think better than 75% of US voters agree...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 7:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree with Herb and Andrew Bacevich on this. That's saying something.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Now it's 'Erbie this, an' 'Erbie that, and "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's Saviour of 'is Website when the pixels start to shoot
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 7:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Easy to trivialize an issue by bringing Herb into it. But the Stan is a total waste of American resources. We need to fucking leave.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 7:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Now, I don't disagree wit' your conclusion, guv'nah.

But - beggin' your pardon, Sir - 'twas you what brought 'Erb into it.
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Herb is a resource here. He keeps us honest. I'd actually like to have a beer with Herb.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 8:17 Comments || Top||

#7  I don't disagree with Herb on all issues btw. We shouldn't be in the Nation-Building mission where the locals are too tribal and/or primitive to make it work. Go in when you have to, break things and people, and leave
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2020 8:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Yes but would you have some 'erb wif' your beer?
You may talk of gin and beer...
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#9  No three cups of tea for me, though.
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:26 Comments || Top||

#10  "Go in when you have to, break things and people, and leave." My position, exactly.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/24/2020 8:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Punitive expedition w JDAMs works for me.
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:29 Comments || Top||

#12  I'm PeeAye I saw people put salt in their beer. All the more reason to have a side water glass of Wild Turkey neat.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#13  Tribalism sucks ass. No wonder dems like it so much.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||

#14  Number Ten has it right. It's the 'staying on' that leads to debacle.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||

#15  NB: That was a quote from my Warmonger NeoConning in #7
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2020 8:34 Comments || Top||

#16  Herb must be sleeping in today. We deserve a report on what he was drinking last night.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 8:50 Comments || Top||

#17  Keep a couple kill teams on standby in the region to go after the really motivated American haters and leave the rest of it to rot.
Posted by: DarthVader || 01/24/2020 9:30 Comments || Top||

#18  #17 Keep a couple kill teams on standby in the region to go after the really motivated American haters and leave the rest of it to rot.Posted by DarthVader


Don't forget to napalm and salt the poppy fields on the way out.
Posted by: Thimp Clusort2035 || 01/24/2020 10:07 Comments || Top||

#19  Half of Americans want US troops out (of America) - except if they're used to disarm the other half of Americans.
Posted by: Procopius2K || 01/24/2020 10:20 Comments || Top||

#20  Ditto #7 and #10: Stay on to do what, exactly?
Posted by: magpie || 01/24/2020 10:34 Comments || Top||

#21  unless staying involves De-Islamification, (it never will), there's no reason to waste lives & treasure on neanderthals
Posted by: Bob Grorong1136 || 01/24/2020 13:00 Comments || Top||

#22  ^Tribalism, IMO, is genetic.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2020 13:07 Comments || Top||

#23  That’s a country that wants a lot of hunter-killer teams. The problem is that there is a cultural propensity to produce jihadis, and many of them will happily go from battleground to battleground like the Turkmen, etc that Turkey is currently moving from Syria to Libya. If we don’t want them to flow elsewhere, we need to keep Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for them.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2020 13:08 Comments || Top||

#24  we need to keep Afghanistan from once again becoming a safe haven for them.

offer Pathans bounties for foreign jihadis.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2020 13:11 Comments || Top||

#25  Hello, what about the Afghan rare metals? That country has some of the world's richest deposits.

We sure as hell don't want the chinese getting them. Not to mention the jihadists. I have no solution simply pointing out a major issue.
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/24/2020 13:20 Comments || Top||

#26  Enough is enough. Either we stay, depopulate the place of people who annoy us and take what we want, or we leave. The only reason to be there should be our interest. I vote leave and spray the poppy fields with persistent nerve agents on the way out.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 01/24/2020 13:39 Comments || Top||

#27  33% eh, well that's better than parts of Washington, Oregon, and California.

Should have built a superhighway from Karachi to Kabul.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/24/2020 15:25 Comments || Top||

#28  They want US troops out but 300% increase in aid. Good luck with that.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 16:41 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Democrats Warn That American People May Tamper With Next Election
[Babylon Bee] WASHINGTON, D.C.‐In his opening statement at Trump's impeachment trial, Rep. Adam Schiff reminded the Senate of their solemn duty and the gravity of just what it is they will be discussing at the trial.

Schiff warned that if Trump is not impeached, the American people may have a chance to tamper with the next election.

"If President Trump is not impeached, the American people might get a say in who is president," Schiff said gravely. "We simply can't allow that to happen. We must diligently defend our electoral process against electoral outcomes we do not like. If that means seizing power through a sham impeachment trial, so be it."

"When the Founders wrote that founding document thing, they never imagined there would be electoral outcomes that Democrats did not agree with."

Democrats also said they even have hard evidence that the 2016 election was compromised by Republicans voting for Trump.

"We know this horrible outcome could happen, because it's already happened once before."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 07:07 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We know this horrible outcome could happen, because it's already happened once before."

And history will repeat itself in ten months. I can't wait to watch CNN that night!
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Planning on tampering big time I am...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Just this side of satire. Close call.
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 11:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Why Pakistan Is Stuck in a Broken Carousel: Pakistan's deep state of military and intelligence community is the cause of Pakistan's problems, not its solution
[HudsonInstitute] A quotation often misattributed to Albert Einstein defines insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results". The Pakistani establishment's assumption that control over all levers of power and a single national narrative can rid Pakistan of its myriad problems definitely matches that definition.

Pakistan's generals see themselves as the solution to Pakistan's problems instead of realising their own contribution to the country's long-standing issues.

Pakistan's praetorian establishment has run the country since its inception in 1947 on the basis of a narrow state ideology. There have been modifications, but the official worldview has shifted only within the narrow space between an Islamic nationalism and complete Islamisation. At the heart of Pakistan's state ideology is a constant sense of insecurity, the fear that external and internal forces are out to undo Pakistan.

The country has been caught in a vicious circle. The large army inherited from the British Raj must keep this sense of insecurity alive to justify the allocation of a significant portion of the country's resources for the military. That leaves little money for social or human development, which in turn constrains economic growth.

Economic difficulties make Pakistan dependent on assistance from outside powers, which have their own expectations and demands. These demands become fodder for conspiracy theories, which further feed the national sense of insecurity. The insecurity strengthens the military's hand and limits debate about what really ails Pakistan.
A lesson for any country whose deep state threatens to take it over. Like America. They will happily run the country into the ground and keep it there.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/24/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Science & Technology
Chinese Coronavirus Outbreak Traced Back To Snakes, Study Finds
[StudyFinds] WUHAN, China ‐ The emergence of a new coronavirus strain in Wuhan, China last month has put the entire world on alert. Following the recent revelation that the virus can in fact be spread via human-to-human transmission, Chinese authorities have halted flights and trains departing the city and inhabitants have been advised not to travel. Meanwhile researchers have been working tirelessly to understand this new health risk, both its origins and nature, in order to formulate the best way to stop a full blown epidemic. Now, researchers appear to have zeroed in on how the virus, officially named 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization, first spread to humans: exposure to snakes at a wholesale market.

The study concludes that the first human diagnosed with this strain of coronavirus had, in all likelihood, visited a market in Wuhan where a large assortment of wildlife were available for purchase, including snakes, bats, farm animals, poultry, and seafood.

A detailed genetic analysis of the virus was performed, in which it was compared to any available genetic information on other viruses from across the world and the animal kingdom. This work resulted in the conclusion that this new virus first formed due to the combination of a coronavirus strain usually found in bats with another coronavirus strain of largely "unknown origin." The product of this combination was a new virus that featured a mix, or "recombination," of a viral protein that recognizes and binds to host cell receptors. This ability to recognize and bind to host cells is effectively what allows viruses to enter new hosts, leading to infection and disease.

So, while the very beginnings of 2019-nCoV appear to be linked to bats, researchers also found evidence that the coronavirus at some point made its way into snakes before ultimately reaching human patient zero. It was this aforementioned ability to recombine within the viral receptor-binding protein that likely facilitated the virus’ cross-species transmission from snakes to humans.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 06:53 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But were they baby snakes?
Posted by: Raj || 01/24/2020 7:42 Comments || Top||


#3  In light of this iguana meat sounds like a risky proposition.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/24/2020 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  They say the snakes got the virus from bats. Video at link.


Cute girl but...eew.



Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/24/2020 12:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Ooops. Now I see that Skidmark already posted the same link.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 01/24/2020 12:56 Comments || Top||

#6  You added photos, Abu Uluque. Put it down to great minds thinking alike. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/24/2020 14:48 Comments || Top||

#7  You can only learn this stuff at Rantburg.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 16:25 Comments || Top||

#8  speechless
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 16:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Might be tolerable if they could be cooked on the Green Egg.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 17:02 Comments || Top||

#10  'I've eaten many strange and scrumptious dishes in my time,
Like jellied gnats and dandyprats and earwigs cooked in slime,
And mice with rice - they're really nice
When roasted in their prime.
(But don't forget to sprinkle them with just a pinch of grime.)

'I often eat boiled slobbages. They're grand when served beside
Minced doodlebugs and curried slugs. And have you ever tried
Mosquitoes' toes and wampfish roes
Most delicately fried?
(The only trouble is they disagree with my inside.)

'For dinner on my birthday shall I tell you what I chose:
Hot noodles made from poodles on a slice of garden hose -
And a rather smelly jelly
Made of armadillo's toes.
(The jelly is delicious, but you have to hold your nose.)
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 17:06 Comments || Top||

#11  And put a little cinnamon on that Fledermaus, and, voila!
Posted by: Clem || 01/24/2020 20:12 Comments || Top||

#12  An epicure, dining at Crewe Wu,
found quite a large mouse bat in his stew,
said the waiter, “Don't shout,
and wave it about,
or the rest will be wanting one, too!
Posted by: SteveS || 01/24/2020 20:38 Comments || Top||

#13  Nice.

Confucius say, "Marketing rat
Auspicious this year! Can't fall flat!
Key selling points: Glatt,
Halal, very low fat...
And let's call it 'terrestrial bat!'"
Posted by: Snang Thrinesh2108 || 01/24/2020 22:30 Comments || Top||


Doctors issue medical warning against playing with your banana
[NYP] Doctors have warned horny young men to refrain from using banana peels to masturbate ‐ the latest bizarre sex trend circulating on social media.

"It’s the closet thing to a blowjob," wrote one randy Redditor, who claims "he’s been doing it for years."

However, Dr. Diana Gill of prescription service Doctor-4-U cautions against the perverse practice. "You could develop a rash and sores on the penis which can be painful and might lead to infection," Gill told the Sun. Not only that, but she claims a person with a fruit or latex allergy could be more susceptible to a reaction from a banana skin.

"A person with a banana allergy is more likely to be allergic to other substances such as latex or other fruits and vegetables," she said. "So if you’re allergic to latex condoms you may also be allergic to banana skins."

Gill’s not the only naysayer. One Reddit user recounted a harrowing, cautionary tale where he used a banana skin to masturbate and allegedly ended up "falling in the mess I made, hit my head on the toilet and barely lived to tell the tale."

However, supporters of the organic orgasm inducer feel it’s too good to pass up. Subscribers to JackInWorld, the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Male Masturbation Resource," gave the "banana man" 4.5 out of 5 stars with 359 votes cast so far. The site also provides a tutorial on how to perform the act and even advised warming the peel for added effect.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/24/2020 06:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm really old school on that one. Rosey Palmer gets the job done....
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 7:25 Comments || Top||

#2  When I was young, lo, these many years ago, we just smoked our bananas.....um, somehow that didn't come out just right.....
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/24/2020 7:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't do anything rash!
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Something of a twist on Beserker's typical gun article.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/24/2020 8:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I wish I could unread that. Not what i was expecting.
Posted by: Vespasian Ebboting9735 || 01/24/2020 9:05 Comments || Top||

#6  ".. So it IS both a banana in your pocket and you ARE happy to see me..."
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 01/24/2020 14:34 Comments || Top||

#7  EVERY COMMENTER ON THIS ARTICLE, BACK TO YOUR ROOMS.

And put down that banana.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/24/2020 18:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Something of a twist on Besoeker's typical gun article.

This is my banana, this is my gun.
One is for shooting, the other for fun.
Posted by: SteveS || 01/24/2020 19:28 Comments || Top||

#9  So, life's a big bore. Lemme flip
A risque magazine, take a grip,
And get me some action!
A fatal attraction:
A slip... and a clip... and a yip.

Did I mention I'm hung like a horse... pistol... cartridge? Er, was.
Posted by: Snang Thrinesh2108 || 01/24/2020 21:54 Comments || Top||

#10  And in other hanging banana news... "Banana will be smeared on the execution ropes to soften them and ensure a smooth and quick hanging"
Posted by: Snang Thrinesh2108 || 01/24/2020 22:05 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Interesting things are happening in Iran following Soleimani's death
[American Thinker]
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2020 04:28 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Once again wishful thinking from exaggerated extrapolation of a very small number of facts.
Posted by: Thorong Grundy1520 || 01/24/2020 4:52 Comments || Top||

#2  ^Hear, hear. Sovietologists ride again!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2020 8:09 Comments || Top||

#3  The article offers reason and evidence. You offer baseless assertions. Ill believe the article.
Posted by: Ebboluns Shong6204 || 01/24/2020 8:14 Comments || Top||

#4  No idea about the strength or extent or capabilities of the regime's opponenrs, but these two assertions about the IRGC seem to be true:

Soleimani was betrayed by fellow IRGC members. They are killing each other,” said Zand.
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 8:21 Comments || Top||

#5  It's an Opinion piece, that's why it's on the Opinion page. Agreed that more and sustained "incidents" are needed. The country is under tremendous pressure without and within. Thank you, Trump
Posted by: Frank G || 01/24/2020 8:26 Comments || Top||


Time is running out for Lebanon. Sovereign debt has risen to 160 percent of GDP, with a projected debt service of $10 billion, equivalent to 22 percent of GDP
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  ZH wags say "no problem..."
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  The wages of sin are death.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/24/2020 1:40 Comments || Top||

#3  What you get for letting Iran and Hezbollah run your country.
Posted by: newc || 01/24/2020 3:09 Comments || Top||


Hezbollah had a heavy hand in creating Lebanon’s new government
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/24/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Hard to believe that Beirut was once called "The Paris of the MidEast"....though given the state of Paris these days, it may be a case of meeting in the middle.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/24/2020 7:50 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
When Will Conservatives Understand That It's Not a Contest of Ideas?
American Greatness via Instapundit
Even as Donald Trump continues to frustrate #TheResistance after three years of ceaseless fabrication and hysteria, conservatives must not forget just how close they are to the edge. We have a defender in the White House, but the social ideas of the Left prevail in nearly every other elite and cultural space in the United States.

The election of November 2016, the elevation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Mueller report debacle, the Iran turnaround, and other wins for conservatives may be satisfying, but they have not shaken the leftist lock on our institutions one bit. The simmering stew of LGBT rights, toxic masculinity, white privilege, disparate impact calculations, and Millennial social justice campaigns has become dogma in corporate America, media, higher education, K-12 public schools (and many private schools, too), Silicon Valley, Hollywood, Broadway, the art world, museums, libraries . . .Even as Donald Trump continues to frustrate #TheResistance after three years of ceaseless fabrication and hysteria, conservatives must not forget just how close they are to the edge. We have a defender in the White House, but the social ideas of the Left prevail in nearly every other elite and cultural space in the United States.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/24/2020 04:44 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Successful conservatives find the idea of gummint service appalling, and rightly so. Unfortunately, that leaves the field open for people who attend the "John Kennedy School of Government" at Harvard and we wind up with a professional governing class. Only hard term limits and anti-dynasty laws can moderate this problem.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/24/2020 6:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Bauerlein nails it. The model here is not Lenin but Stalin, who saw early on that the HR position was by far the most important in the Bolshevik hierarchy.

This is exactly right:
One thing I saw in more than 30 years in academia was that while leftists on the faculty were not always the brightest bulbs in the room, they often managed to populate university and department committees where policies were created and passed. While we were teaching and researching, they were reshaping the institution. We were getting on with our work, pushing our individual careers, getting our names in print, and believing we were advancing the field and the school. They were taking over
Posted by: Lex || 01/24/2020 7:35 Comments || Top||

#3  The left wants to win and rule, the (professional) right want to score debating points and show how smart they are.

This is due to the fact that many professional "conservatives" have internalized the left's assessment of them as being stupid, and have a desperate need to prove otherwise.

So they publish loads of white papers and cram for debates, while the leftist takeover chugs merrily along, and shuts down anyone on the right who actually proves effective and/or popular -- often with help of "conservatives".

Just look at the attacks on the Covington kids by creeps like Rod Dreher and Ben Shapiro.

I have a feeling that if the right eventually attains the power and status that the left currently holds, it won't be due to the efforts of "conservatives", but to the work of more proactive, not to say much nastier rightists.

And the "conservatives" can thank themselves for that outcome.

Conservatives had better learn how to "do power", before someone more sinister does it for them
Posted by: charger || 01/24/2020 16:37 Comments || Top||



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