I am a member of neither party but:
1. The GOP won handily in the 6th House District in Georgia. The Democratic Party inclined MSM is doing all it can to whittle away at the numbers each day but their defeat is apparent. This make four in a row that the Democrats have lost in special elections conducted to fill open seats. The Dems poured money into the election in this suburban Atlanta district. They hugely outspent the Republicans. Most of the money came from the film industry and Silicon Valley. In California the local media continue to reflect an attitude of "we came close." IMO the out of state money increased the turnout for Karen Handel the local Republican politician. The Democrats keep saying that her predecessor won by 20 points but in fact he won unopposed by anyone significant. Nevertheless the national Democratic Party shows no sign of coming down from whatever kind of trip they have been on since November. Since that time they have been controlled by the street jihadis in screeching slogans in harmony, a chorus of secular maenads. What they need to do is formulate a party wide economic program but they show little interest in doing that. They would rather screech insults at the other side while implying publicly that the Republicans would be Democrats of they were not so ignorant and deplorably Southern. Mike Barnicle on the Mika's Joe program actually said yesterday that the Republicans won Atlanta because it was all "Chinatown" there. This is a reference to the Polanski film and it implies a total lack of order and civilization in the 6th District of Georgia. If I were a Republican I would hope that the Democrats stay on their present "high" for a long time.
2. The health bill is not going to receive a single vote from any Democratic senator. Harry Reid abolished the senate rule that required 60 votes for cloture. 51 votes will pass an action in the senate. The law does not require hearings before a floor vote. The health care bill is a roadblock to passing the rest of DJT's program. A lot of Trump's presumptive legislature program looks very promising. They should pass the bill and send it back to the House so that the process is visibly under way. Whatever needs be given or promised to dissident Republican senators should be presented to them with a nice red bow tied around it. There will time enough later to bargain over what has been promised.
3. Trump himself is a menace to the party's future. His erratic behavior, egotism and uncontrolled statements will eventually come to irritate far more people than now. At his rally last night he actually told the world that he has a low regard for poor people. A corollary of such an attitude is usually "I don't care how you got your money." There will be a cost attached to such statements. And then there is his mindless bellicosity with regard to foreign policy. I am told that his hair trigger temper has brought us very close to war in Korea. Such a war would be a disaster for all concerned. He listens to no one except his daughter and son-in-law. In Syria he is being "advised" by neocons, Zionist operatives and jingoist generals who desire war against the SAG and Iran. The GOP has to find a way to get this man under control. BTW the Salman action making his young son crown prince may seem like a good idea now but there will be intense resentment withing the royal family over this violation of the principle that established the idea that the most able in the family should rule. pl
Re:
“They would rather screech insults at the other side while implying publicly that the Republicans would be Democrats if they were not so ignorant and deplorably Southern.”
A lengthy article which delves into this point: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-blathering-superego-at-the-end-of-history/
Re:
“BTW the Salman action making his young son crown prince may seem like a good idea now but there will be intense resentment withing the royal family over this violation of the principle that established the idea that the most able in the family should rule.”
I think there are good odds that little Salman gets whacked by the growing crowd of unhappy Saudi Mafia family members. Or perhaps by a commoner; they are aware of the growing friendship of the dictatorship with Israel and they don’t like it.
http://www.moonofalabama.org/images5/salman.jpg
re: ” . . the national Democratic Party shows no sign of coming down from whatever kind of trip they have been on since November.”
You should be more specific here, Col., and specify November, 1992. That’s when the Democratic Party fully turned its back on what had once been its working class base. Over subsequent years the Party became adept at diverting said base’s attention from the fact that the party had sold out to the financial oligarchy. The recently stood up Herbal Tea Party (aka ” . . street jihadis . . screeching slogans in harmony, a chorus of secular maenads” LOL) is just the Party’s latest tactic in the pursuit of service to its new masters. The PRIMARY PURPOSE of the the Herbal Tea Party, in the Party establishment’s view, is to divert the attention of the rump of the Party’s base from demanding a no-holds-barred analysis of why the its electoral performance has tanked and from demanding effective change, which as you point out is primarily one of economic advocacy. If Trump is brought down and/or chaos is sown in the opposition, so much the better. But that’s just frosting on the cake. (For other elements seeking Trump’s ouster, such as the CIA perhaps, said ouster is their priority.)
Ironically if the Democratic Party doesn’t change, and soon, what remains of their legacy base will also drift away. They are the new working class although they don’t view themselves as such. As they increasingly lose jobs and have growing difficulty making ends meet more and more of them will stay home from the polls since neither legacy party advocates for their economic interests. Some of them will be taken in by future analogues of Clinton, Obama and Trump with their bait-and-switch campaigns, but over time many of them will catch on to the scam. But some never will. When the Party has gone far enough down that slope Wall Street will no longer see a need to support it and the Democrats will be on its way to the ash heap of history.
Sir, you may or may not be aware of it, but you have a lot of fans among rightwing combat vets who believe that Donald Trump cannot destroy failed boomer conservatism fast enough.
Although your site here is not mentioned on this particular episode, you have been mentioned, by name, on the below, several times. They are listening to you. Some of them even comment here. Or try to. I challenge to listen to this all the way through. Just hit the blue arrow. Get some SA. Be the one guy over 60 that’s not completely delusional about what is going on in country…
Think about it.
https://radio.therightstuff.biz/2017/06/20/the-daily-shoah-164-vanned-in-the-uk/
“In Syria he is being “advised” by neocons, Zionist operatives and jingoist generals who desire war against the SAG and Iran. The GOP has to find a way to get this man under control.”
Col, if the standard issue GOP was in control (let’s say Rubio or Cruz were president), would the foreign policy be any less belligerent? Perhaps the only difference would be confrontation as a strategy rather than whim.
On #2: I’m suspicious of any piece of legislation developed in secret.
Colonel
It has started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8At4yxnRac
and from AngryArab this one:
https://angryarab.blogspot.ca/2017/06/abdul-aziz-bin-fahd-is-clearly-not-into.html
Huckleberry
I am a paleoconservative, libertarian, original intent constitutionalist and a combat veteran in SE Asia and several other SOF wars as a GB and MI soldier. My message would be to clutch the constitution and your oath to your bosom. pl
Lemur
Would it be better with the standard issue Democrats like Clinton and Holder? pl
The Blathering Superego at the End of History, by Emmett Rensin, may not be interesting to this outsider alone. Well written, anyway.
Public America as Theater of the Absurd?
Urban Dictionary already offers the top definition for Covfefe.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Covfefe
I am not an enemy of neologism, quite the opposite. … If this is not simply a matter for misspelling detectives.
Well yes, what I said, here it definitively gets absurd:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/06/01/hillary-clinton-gets-covfefe-joke/102377756/
“People in covfefe houses shouldn’t throw covfefe,” she wrote in response to Trump calling her “crooked Hillary.”
Perhaps she was a little late to contributing to the Twitter chatter, but that’s because she was busy speaking at Recode’s Code Conference — where she also mentioned covfefe.
“I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians,” she said.
*****
Crazy. Really crazy.
The problem with Team R getting Trump under control is that the Team R leadership shares the opinions of the worst of the neocons, Zionist operatives, and jingoist generals.
Incidentally, and apologies for the thread archaeology, but comparing Trump to Huey P. Long is an insult. An insult to Senator Long.
I have met many combat vets who shipped out to Iraq or Afghanistan as standard issue neocons, and who came back as something entirely different.
http://upriser.com/posts/you-grow-up-wanting-to-be-luke-skywalker-then-realize-you-ve-become-a-stormtrooper-for-the-empire
Could not say it better.
Would it be much different if Hillary were in charge?
About Saudi Arabia, there is a growing tension between Saudi society and Wahhabism:
“…remarks underlined just how much resistance Wahhabis face in a peninsula relandscaped as their own.”
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/10/13/saudi-arabia-can-it-really-change/
I don`t see much discussion of this problem. MbS does seem to want to loosen the Wahhabi grip. But can he do it successfully?
Do you have an opinion Pat?
If I were a Democrat I would drop Hillary down a deep dark hole as fast as I could. She may be the party leader still, but they need to tell her to go away and never appear in public again. Every time she opens her mouth she costs the party votes.
They also need to move off of the the “all transgender, all the time” policy platform. That is an issue that .0001% of Americans will care enough about to sway their vote.
The move to change the Senate rules is just going to lead to even more division in the country. If you hold the White House, Congress and the Senate and still can’t get a bill with a 38% approval rating passed with out changing the rules is it really a bill that should be passed or should they put some water in their wine? This is an invitation for the Democrats if they ever get in power again to repeal, repeal, repeal just as the Republicans are currently doing. Some thing more middle of the road is required by both parties if you want long term government planning rather than endless chaos.
>”Even among GOP voters, a 54-percent majority wants the party to work across the aisle on the final product.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/21/poll-health-care-bill-obamacare-239784
Changing the rules to jam it through really doesn’t sound like working across the isle.
An apropos comment I read today describing democratic congressional leadership:
“We no longer have a party caucus capable of riding this wave. We have 80-year-old leaders and 90-year-old ranking members. This isn’t a party. It’s a giant assisted living center. Complete with field trips, gym, dining room and attendants.”
Col. Lang
The Democrats are becoming a regional party. A party of the PC crowd – a coastal/urban party.
In all their hysteria about Trump there is no reflection that they are the minority party in 32 state legislatures.
Unfortunately for the Democrats there is no movement within their party to challenge their statist party leadership. The so-called “Sanders wing” always toe the line when push comes to shove, unlike what the “Tea Party wing” did inside the GOP. They challenged establishment GOP candidates in primaries and their primary voters were willing to lose elections to the Democrats to challenge their establishment. One can argue about how good or bad the ideas of the “Tea Party wing” are but at least the GOP primary voters were willing to lose.
It seems that relentless negative campaign adds against Rep. Handel rallied the Republican base instead of depressing turnout.
This article about the South Carolina 5th district special election points to what the Democrats should be focusing on. Instead of continually attacking President Trump they need to create a coherent message about how they will help middle class America.
How Archie Parnell Ran the Best Democratic Campaign of 2017 – Politico Link
Col.,
I think you pointed this out in 2008. Your post then pointed out:
“Regional parties that represent particular ethnic constituencies do not win national elections in the US….”
“The Democrats should look carefully at the results of this election. I do not see evidence that a general ideological shift to the Left is taking place in the American electorate. People were disgusted with what the Bush Administration, the “K Street Project” and the Jacobins had done to them. In retaliation they voted Democratic in great numbers. Blacks voted for a Black. Will they show up in the same kind of numbers to vote for a White?”
It’s almost a decade later and the regional (Coastal) party that represents particular ethnic constituencies didn’t win the national election. The Black vote didn’t show up for a White (Hilary; or for that matter Bernie). People seem pretty disgusted with the new speak neo-Bolshevik Utopia project.
Reporting is from Fars, so skepticism is warranted but this would be mighty unprecedented, no?
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960401000674
At this point, being a member of either party indicates a severe form of brain damage. The only people who make any sense these days are the ones who have freed their minds from the partisan lunacy in DC and the media.
Colonel,
I can’t argue with you. Even the Washington Post is aware of the imminent danger of a shooting war with Iran with the attempt to partition Eastern Syria at Israel’s and Saudi Arabia’s request. There is no way nuclear armed Russia can avoid being dragged into an Iranian War.
It is me or it is the media’s projection; but, the picture of President Trump glowering from the wall at the VA Hospital reminds me of Forrest Gump. I don’t put any hope the Republican Party. The Democrats are flailing around everwhere because they are Republican Lites who cooperated with the trashing of working America. If mankind survives the Forever Wars, the only way our fifty state Republic will be preserved is the rise of a Peace Party that supports job guarantees, Medicare for All, Free Public Education and a write off of Student Loan Debt.
In other words, America desperately needs a political party that will end the corruption and bring the money home from overseas and places the good of society above individual greed.
From what I understand right now: MOST of what the Republican health care “replacement bill” does is strip Medicaid funding “to deliver tax cuts”. Republicans apparently can’t come up with a replacement because what “Democrats” passed in 2009 WAS the “Republican Health care plan”. Democrats are powerless to complain since Democrats went along in 2009 and now the party leaders do not have the guts to propose any thing that would be a real fix of our health care system because it would upset “funders” i.e. the people and entities who fund campaigns, set the national agenda, write the legislation, and run the country (into the ground). Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership continues to consumed by “Putin Derangement Syndrome” and their out of touch “leadership”.
Here’s Steven Brill in Market watch:
“Back in January, also as a guest on MSNBC, Brill had said he was willing to be that 10 years after the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, there would still be no replacement — in large part because Obamacare was a Republican-style plan at its inception, rendering redundant any Republican replacement.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/steven-brill-republican-repeal-and-replace-health-care-efforts-do-neither-2017-06-22
In terms of Trump being a menace to the party’s future, there’s a few points to be made. Firstly, Trump used the GOP as a means to his own ends… Trump has no great loyalty to the party itself, and I doubt he thinks the party’s future is particularly important anyway. From this perspective Trump is in it for Trump.
Secondly, Trump does have some love for his country (at least for his own vision of what the USA should be, and I know that’s not the same for everyone), and Trump also wants to support the hard working “middle Americans” by offering them aspiration and appreciation, and most importantly helping them get their jobs back. We can argue about whether Trump’s economic strategy will work (certainly I’m skeptical, but anyhow Obama’s stimulus failed miserably so at least trying something else MIGHT work). From this perspective Trump doesn’t really fit with mainstream Republicans, although I see President Trump as a somewhat rough-edged version of President Hoover.
Thirdly, if it wasn’t for Trump the Republicans would have lost, and would keep on losing. Mainstream Republicans got into a narrow niche where their only supporters were big business, war industries, and globalization enthusiasts, and perhaps a few rusted on faithful gritting their teeth year after year. People like “Jeb!” or Rubio come across as hollow and unauthentic (because they are). Picking boring candidates like Romney just does not win elections. I think Romney is a very capable man, would have been a competent President, but incapable of attracting votes.
According to the Asia Times piece linked below Iran launched six missiles of various types from its territory into the Dier Ezzor of Syria this past Sunday. I’ve neither seen nor heard anything about this on the USA MSM nor, for that matter, any mention of it here on SST. I must admit I’ve been away from the ‘net quite a bit this week, however, so I may have missed it. Any thoughts, anyone?
http://www.atimes.com/article/five-takeaways-irans-missile-strike-syria/
For what it’s worth the Israeli Debkafiles reported the Iranian “strike” as a grotesque flop; that five went wildly astray, three of which detonated in Iraqi airspace, and the sixth missed its target by several hundred meters. I have no link. Received it as an email — subscription service. Yes I realize they would have incentive to pour cold water on the Iranian claims. Belief in the aforesaid might inspire defeatism. I merely report.
Quote:
Iran’s Big Flop: Homemade Ballistic Missiles Go Wildly Astray.
Iran’s “strong missiles successfully hit their targets with pinpoint accuracy, destroying the headquarters, ammunition and logistics depots of the terrorists,” Gen. Ramazan Sharif, head of the Revolutionary Guards PR Department, boasted on Sunday, June 18.
He said that the operation, codenamed “Layfat al-Qadr,” sent six medium-range ballistic missiles to various ISIS targets in the Deir ez-Zour region of eastern Syria, a distance of 650-700 kilometers, and they ”entered Syrian airspace through Iraq” after previous coordination with the Syrian government.
The IRG general stressed that the missile attacks were in retaliation for the Daesh-claimed terror attacks in Tehran on June 7.
DEBKA Weekly’s military and intelligence sources confirm that the Iranian spokesman was talking through his hat. He spoke fast to disguise one of the Revolutionary Guards’ most resounding flops in recent years, the failure of Iran’s much-vaunted ballistic missiles.
The missiles that were launched from Iran’s western Kermanshah province belonged to its top-line Zulfiqar medium-range series, which entered operational service only late last year. This homemade missile has multiple warheads, a range of up to 750 kilometers and is powered by solid fuel.
But the number fired into eastern Syria was seven not six, as claimed. What really happened was that three landed and exploded inside Iraq only 300 kilometers from the launch pad; the fourth and fifth exploded in the air over the Iranian-Iraqi border shortly after being launched; the sixth did reach Deir ez-Zour, but fell hundreds of meters short of target; and the seventh landed in another part of eastern Syria, Al Mayadin, where ISIS has set up an operations command center.
For the first time in the 32 years since the Iran-Iraq war, Tehran had fired surface-to-surface missiles from its soil into another Middle East country – and this historic event was a flop.
The fiasco was compounded by the importance Tehran attached to the event, to the point that it was assigned in person to a top man: Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Force of the Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (AFAGIR).
Iran had been aiming at three strategic objectives:
1. High prestige for the Islamic Republic as its passport for admission to the world-class club led by Russia and the United States, the only powers to have fired cruise or ground missiles into Syria.
2. A message to the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan that Iran would not hesitate to deploy its ballistic missiles – not just against the Islamic State, but against their forces inside Syria and around its borders, should they dare step into the battle for control of southeastern Syria waged by pro-Iranian militias, the Syrian army and Hizballah.
3. A special message for Israel and Saudi Arabia that Iran possessed missiles with “pinpoint accuracy” for destroying targets on their soil. Iran had moreover supplied Zulfiqar missiles to their hostile neighbors, Hizballah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
That all three objectives fell flat on June 7 laid bare Iran’s military weaknesses:
a) By launching the missiles from Kermanshah in the Kurdish region of Iran, Tehran gave away the location of a key missile base, useful knowledge for the Americans and the Israeli military in any conflict.
b) Since Hizballah’s surface missile arsenal is based on the Zulfiqar and Fatah-110 – both of Iranian manufacture – Hassan Nasrallah’s favorite boast of weapons able to reach every strategic target in Israel with high accuracy need no longer be taken seriously.
c) The riddle which perplexed Saudi, American and Gulf generals, of why the missiles the Yemeni insurgents keep on firing into Riyadh never connected, has finally been solved.
Unquote
I am also concerned about the talk coming from the Trump administration about North Korea. I think that what is holding back overt action is South Korea’s position right next to North Korea, and there is likely almost no way to quickly and completely knock out North Korea’s ability to hit at South Korea.
As odd as it sounds, the policy should publicly be that the U.S. will do all it can to bring about the unification of Korea. It is one of the most homogeneous areas on earth, with one ethnic/racial group with one language. As usual, political ideology came in and messed things up. The chubby young guy who is allegedly North Korea’s present “dear leader” looks very much out of place. There is some information that he has made some slight changes in economic and social policy, but I do not know the accuracy of it.
Trump should hold a joint press conference with Xi Jinping of China and announce that the U.S. and China are henceforth going to work on reunifying Korea, to assist all the people of Korea to have a productive and happy future. That will shake things up a little.
“Mainstream Republicans got into a narrow niche where their only supporters were big business, war industries, and globalization enthusiasts, and perhaps a few rusted on faithful gritting their teeth year after year. People like “Jeb!” or Rubio come across as hollow and unauthentic (because they are)”
Add on the tech industries to your list of supporters and you can equally well substitute “mainstream democrats” for “mainstream republicans” and “Hillary” for “Jeb” or “Rubio”.
The entire GOVT is an assisted living facility. Term limits, maybe. But age limits, across the government, including the Supreme Court, yes.
In large part, the ACA incorporated most provisions of medicaid. I’m not sure whether the ACA’s republican antecedent from the Heritage Foundation proposed that.
In any event as you say the goal of the current Gop legislation appears more to be an assault on the medicaid provisions of the ACA than on its core model of private exchanges/subsidies, etc., which are largely left intact–with reduced subsidies, more restrictive policies, etc., of course. A clever ruse by the gop–under the guise of repealing Obamacare (which it doesn’t), they get to dismantle medicaid.
Leave it to a British newspaper to report that today (22 June) former FBI director James Comey was seen going into the New York Times newspaper building in New York City–
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4630824/Ousted-FBI-director-James-Comey-visits-New-York-Times.html
However, the State Department appears to be doing some type of inquiry about Hillary Clinton’s handling of e-mail and whether she should still have a security clearance. If the State Department controls whether she has a clearance or not as to State Department matters, Rex Tillerson should just revoke her clearances now–
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/20/state-department-probes-clinton-handling-government-emails-could-pull-her-security-clearance.html
I do not know who may have authority over any other security clearance she might have.
He meant qui vive; he spelled it like many Americans would mispronounce it. Most U.S. college students today couldn’t do much better, I assure you. Re-read his tweet and consider it in context.
I don’t expect what pass as journalists today to know much about those ‘word’ things, but no ex-military here caught that?
The elevation of MbS will lead to resentment, probably in the open, by other members of the clan. Especially by the supporters of MbN and his father. How this plays out in domestic policies in KSA will be fascinating to watch.
The distraction of the royals will give room for various groups (especially the wahhabis and the shi’a (supported by Iran, of course) to cause domestic problems. I expect to see payoffs to the wahhabis, and (more) suppression of the shi’a. And more bombing of Yemen, because what is more effective than arousing patriotism than a “war”?
If things go sideways there will be action against Iran, and then who knows what will happen.
I’m sure smart people in the US have gamed out the possibilities. The question is whether the C-in-C will listen, and comprehend the implications.
Add my name .. well said PFC, well said.
Paveway IV
“:He meant qui vive” What is the reference? pl
ann
The US military already has retirement by statute at designated ages, none of them very old. pl
‘Blathering Superego at the End of History’: Great stuff. Perhaps a reformulation of the Colonel’s warnings on the perils of overlooking the daemonic forces of humans and their history. Or Colonel Lang reformulating Freud.
From the article:
“Sigmund Freud conceived of the superego as a normative instrument, but it is better understood as a censorious machine. Its strictures, after all, do not come from some interior wellspring; it is not a moral imagination. The rules — and they are rules, nothing more — are received from outside, then internalized and enforced. The superego, even in Freud, does not direct the ego toward high principle or even a particular sensitivity to injustice. “The super-ego can be thought of as a type of conscience that punishes misbehavior with feelings of guilt,” Freud wrote in Introduction to Psychoanalysis. When a transgression is detected, the superego inflicts a psychic wound. It is not a conscience so much as a fully automated priest. The mechanism is simple: sin goes in, censure comes out. Slip up too much and you’re excommunicated.”
What could be more dEmonic than social creatures such as humans governed by morally blind automatic agency and essentially helpless to do otherwise ?
it would take a constitutional amendment to force retirement age on supreme court justices
not happening
besides, Douglas was at his best in old age, and so is Ginsburg today
in fact, I cannot think of a Justice who was too demented to work, not in my experience since graduating from law school 53 years ago
perhaps you had someone in mind, if so, please explain
quote
The Constitution provides that judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behavior.” The term “good behavior” is interpreted to mean that judges may serve for the remainder of their lives, although they may resign or retire voluntarily. A judge may also be removed by impeachment and conviction by congressional vote (hence the term good behavior); this has occurred fourteen times.
wikipedia
Trump has virtually abdicated the position of Commander in Chief, delegating it for all purposes to Mattis and the Pentagon.
It is perhaps the one single function he realizes himself that he is unfit for.
His de facto C-in-C was originally supposed to be General Misha, but that hasn’t worked out.
This abdication is momentous and should give pause to all tactical Trump supporters. IMO a president who is unable to be C-in-C, even in semblance, is no more than a jester.
Speculation on my part, but based on a rather painful task in a former life of reviewing grad students’ papers. ‘Butchering Idioms’ must be part of their curriculum somewhere along the way. I claim no special expertise in the English language other than figuring out what animal the sausage probably came from.
Just came across this and thought it might be a topic on SST:
https://thesphinxblog.com/2016/12/15/achilles-as-philosopher/#more-3982
Best
Paveway IV
So, You were referring to nothing? pl
I think NK is sort a family run business, like Saudi Arabia. The Peninsula will be reunified only if SK becomes a subsidiary of NK. Little chance of a peaceful acquisition. A large corporate raider, like China might do it.
Good example of the tyranny exercised by Greece and Rome on the minds of men – even now.
Why not study the makers of modern strategy: Stalin, Hitler, and FDR instead?
This must be considered at the same time as the statement by Ayatollah Khamenei uttered in 2013; that should Israel attack Iran, they will burn down Haifa.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-khamenei-idUSBRE92K0LA20130321
In my opinion, that was not an empty threat.
All
The GOP is the flipside of the same coin as the Democrats. There’s nary a difference. One side favors the rights of the fetus while the other side favors LGBT rights. One side favors government unions to increase their pensions to stiff future generations while the other side favors outsourcing government to their friends. Actually both sides like that. Both sides are eager to increase their own pay and benefits and exempt themselves from the laws they pass. Both sides like big and bigger government and interfering in everyone’s lives here at home and abroad. Both sides are subservient to the Likudniks. Both sides are equally incompetent. The partisans among the voting populace are fervent in their belief that the other side are pure evil.
Clearly the GOP have done a better job in selling themselves to the American voter as they have two-thirds of the states.
The conclusions reached by the Debka organization can not be justified on the basis of the information reported anywhere I’ve looked. The attacks may have been meant to send a warning, not to cause serious harm and thus were deep-sixed intentionally by Iran. If IS is truly an outlaw terrorist collective, then retaliation by a state such as Iran by causing damage within the territory of another sovereign country would possibly send far too harsh a message. Iran certainly knows IS is a criminal organization. In which they have demonstratively protected their dignity without descending to the depths of Daesh.
Not to mention that an accurate punishing cruise missile attack by Iran in full view would be reckless in present circumstances. They have their own troops in Syria. Possible deception valuable. The whole thing is fairly puzzling.
You reminded me to this:
*
http://www.jsums.edu/arotc/duty-honor-country/
*
I am assuming country = constitution.
Being a Huey Long buff, I’d have to agree.
I neglected to add to my previous post that Reid abolished the filibuster only with regard to executive and judicial nominees in response to monolithic GOP refusal to approve President Obama’s judicial nominees. The 60-vote filibuster rule remains in place with regard to legislation. Anything passed via the reconciliation process can pass with 51 voted and cannot be filibustered.
In regard to poor people, Trump said he didn’t wan’t a poor person as Commerce Secretary. That would seem to be a rational view. He didnt say he had a low regard for poor people.
To pass under reconciliation, as I understand it, the bill must not affect the deficit over a 10 year horizon. That’s why the medicaid cuts are so important to the republicans. All the money that is taken from the poor can then be shoved upstairs to the rich in tax cuts, also under reconciliation.
If it is not done under reconciliation, then the bill is subject to filibuster, where the republicans don’t have the votes.
Iowa Steve,
Assange would be dead. Missiles would be flying toward Russia.
I believe Bush v. Gore was incorrectly decided and that Reinquist was too ill in his last few years to be effective in leading the court. It is also troubling to me that three of the judges appointed during the years Bush (41) was in the White House (including as VP), Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas, appointed his un-elected son as president.
And, yes, I do know it would take a constitutional amendment to change this.
marku52,
Yes, that is right. If the AHCA fails, the GOP can go on to tax cuts, but such cuts will need to sunset. The elimination of Medicaid – which is what we are really talking about – would obviate the need for a sunset clause.
I should note that many of the people who receive Medicaid are the working poor, who have jobs but few if any benefits. A lot of them voted for Trump, and this is their reward.
What Nancy Pelosi can tell us:
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/21/nancy-pelosi-fallout-georgia-special-election-239804
On the other hand, just take a look at Nancy’s favorability rating with the general public!
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/nancy-pelosi-favorable-rating
How can it be that San Francisco Nancy is so successful at fundraising,
but is so unpopular with the general public
(to the extent that the GOP practically begs the Dems
to keep her as their leader in the House,
so they can link Dem congressional candidates to her)?
Easy:
The crowd that donates supports her values (and we know what those are).
The general public does not.
It’s not too hard to discern the reason for the difference.
And in fact, although some go WAY out of their way to obfuscate it,
the reason for this glaring values gap is much the same as
the reason for our obsessive and counterproductive involvement in the Middle East.
It really shouldn’t be too hard to see the connection.
A side note on “Chinatown”, because it is a favorite of mine.
“…Mike Barnicle … actually said yesterday that the Republicans won Atlanta because it was all “Chinatown” there. This is a reference to the Polanski film and it implies a total lack of order and civilization in the 6th District of Georgia…”
No doubt that is his reference. I wonder if we all understand the movie and the meaning a little differently.
When the movie and I were both young, a scholar of East Asian history observed that control of the water resources was the key to power and wealth in imperial China. He suggested this is the key to the film.
In the film, Noah Cross has taken control, by crime and subterfuge, of the water resources of southern California, in his pursuit of more power, more wealth, and whatever he wants. Murder, fraud, intimidation, and charm – all are necessary means. He owns the water company and the police. So L.A.’s Chinatown becomes the physical metaphor for Noah Cross’s world of power and wealth, where gumshoe Jake Gittes ends up with a dead client, when he attempts to help her.
Both Chinatown and Cross’s world represent, not so much a total lack of order, but a violent order, that is separate, foreign, a forbidden, indecipherable territory, where the city’s laws cannot reach. Noah Cross is the darkness at the heart of the city, stealing,controlling, enriching himself with the water that feeds all of L.A.
Mike Barnicle borrows the reference only in the sense of a geographic location, I think, a place that is inscrutable and impervious to outside intervention, “deplorably southern” in Pat Lang’s delightful (to one raised southern) phrase.
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” If Barnicle understood the metaphor of the movie, he might have a clue to what is amiss in the Parties and the government.