Open Thread – 22 March 2024

I usually avoid posting articles about our internal politics… it’s been like a religious war lately, at least rhetorically. At least there’s not a lot of actual witch burnings yet. But we have March Madness on the Potomac today.

The House passed a budget, pretty much a status quo budget based on the Biden – McCarthy compromise of last Summer. And MTG immediately filed a motion to vacate in response. To add to the melodrama, several Democrats, including Abigail Spanberger, have said they would motion to table Greene’s resolution, if it came to a vote, if Johnson put a Ukraine aid package on the House floor for a vote.

Have at it.

TTG

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43 Responses to Open Thread – 22 March 2024

  1. F&L says:

    Today in Moscow. Terrorist attack, 15 already dead many more wounded and the concert hall now burning down. Link is in Russian. Are these the “Neo-Vlasovites” that Putin spoke of yesterday? It’s heating up since the election, that’s all I’ll say other than that Peskov referred to it yesterday, the day of the huge infrastructure attacks in Ukraine, as a war rather than an SVO (special military operation).

    https://vz.ru/news/2024/3/22/1259537.html
    The fire started at Crocus City Hall after the shooting.
    In the north-west of Moscow on Friday evening there was a shooting, at least three people in camouflage opened fire, and then a fire broke out.
    According to the RIA Novosti correspondent, people in camouflage broke into the stalls of the hall and opened fire from automatic weapons, and then threw a grenade or an incendiary checker.
    People had to lie on the floor to escape the shooting, and then gradually crawl out of the hall

    • F&L says:

      Two videos of the concert hall massacre. Cowardice and depravity off the charts
      https://x.com/immeme0/status/1771240770432835861

    • Eric Newhill says:

      Vive la resistance! Maybe Russia shouldn’t have stolen Palestinian land and put the Palestinians in an open air concentration camp. Oh… wait a minute…sorry…. wrong excuse. Well, maybe the Russians shouldn’t have……um er what exactly? It can’t be that Muslim maniacs, like violent toddlers, just like to kill infidels when their plans for a world wide theocratic umma are thwarted.

      Well, at least this is one jihadi attack that our antisemites can condemn.

    • Laura Wilson says:

      Islamic State has claimed responsibility…what does this mean to Putin in the Middle East? I have no idea…anyone????

      • Eric Newhill says:

        If Trump can survive assassination plots by the US and EU deep state, he will be re-elected. Then he and Putin can work together to arrive a settlement in Ukraine and on other issues. From there, openly coordinate on wiping out the Islamic scourge.

        After the wave of Islamo-terrorist attacks that is coming to the US, all but the Marxists, Islamo-moles and hopeless self-hating fools amongst us will be down for the mission and it will be a great way to heal US/Russian relations; working together to eradicate a true scum bag enemy.

        Hopefully, Iran can be blasted off the map. Cells in Afghanistan will have to be constantly targeted (yes, wedding parties and all). Russia can be effective in this, like Israel. It is not bound by an effete culture, including a media that seeks to destroy the country from within. Russia knows how to deal with traitors that would seek to hamper efforts. The US not so much (yet). However, the US, with Trump appointments in place of what we have now, can still provide intelligence, covert ops and occasional air and missile attacks. Probably, provided the right conditions, the US can have the opportunity to wipe out Hezballah, while Israel finishes off Hamas. Without restrictive ROEs, the world can be free from jihadi scum in a decade or so, and a better world it will be for it. All it takes is will and two great Christian powers working together.

        Then, together, we can turn our attention on China.

        • F&L says:

          Eric,
          Are you really this much of an optimist or did you drop several tabs of acid?

          • Eric Newhill says:

            F&L,
            Neither. A man can dream the impossible dream once in a while, can’t he?

            Where can one obtain good LSD these days?

      • F&L says:

        Nonsense. Fake news. Concocted by the US to evade responsibility and possible retaliation. The NY Times actually plastered that all over its internet edition, diving to new depths. An utter disgrace but not surprising.

    • leith says:

      False Flag a la the 1939 Gleiwitz incident that led to Hitler’s invasion of Poland; and the 1999 Russian apartment bombings that Putin used to start the 2nd Chechen War. He’s blaming the Ukrainian HUR.

      • Laura Wilson says:

        Interesting, I immediately thought of Putin and the Chechen War.

        In this case, I think I would rather the truth be ISIS. I really hate the thought of killing your own people to score war points.

      • aleksandar says:

        According to your logic 09/11 was also a false flag ?

  2. F&L says:

    In reference to my earlier post on the Crocus City Concert hall in Moscow I’ve just read that 40 are dead and over 100 are wounded. Unable to verify.

    • Wunduk says:

      ISIL just took credit. “Security source to ‘Amaq Agency: Islamic State fighters attacked a large gathering of Christians in the city of ‘Krasnogorsk’ in the suburbs of Russia’s capital Moscow, and they killed and wounded hundreds and inflicted great damage on the place before safely withdrawing to their bases.” – I note that there is no attribution to a “province” and that their weekly al-Naba bulletin has not been issued. This would have been #434, it normally drops every Thursday. Given the suicide attack in Kandahar yesterday – for which also the central Diwan al-I’lam took credit without mentioning a “province” they might have chosen to delay the publication. Kandahar announcement came with a photo of the attacker, though. Text was “The Taliban militia suffered dozens of deaths and injuries in its ranks in a martyrdom-seeking attack in southern Afghanistan. Security sources told ‘Amaq Agency that a martyrdom-seeking fighter from the Islamic State set off this Thursday morning towards a Taliban militia gathering in Police District One of Kandahar city. The sources added that the gathering included nearly 150 militiamen who congregated close to one of the government banks in the city to receive their salaries. According to the sources, the martyrdom-seeker detonated his explosive belt among them, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries among the militia.” Previous attacks in 2023 mainly focused on North Afghanistan, they targeted in October a Shia mosque, in June Taliban leaders in Badakhshan, in March Taliban governor Balkh was killed, prior to that three attacks in Kabul targeted Taliban officials twice and once Chinese businesspeople. So this finishes a lull of eight months in which the Taliban had not been on the menu.

      • Eric Newhill says:

        The “religion of peace” will be conducting similar attacks in the US in the coming months. Count on it.

        We always hear that we – in the US – are the “great satan” because of Israel and positive relationships with the “apostate” government of Saudi Arabia. What on earth is the jihadis’ excuse for attacking Russia? Stopping ISIS/Al Qaeda et al in Syria, I suppose.

        • Stefan says:

          Eric,

          Jihadis would only have a reason to attack Russian based on Syria? Really? Instead of spreading hate on other Middle Easterners, you should really pick up a book.

          Are you really that deluded in your Muslim Derangement Syndrome or just that woefully unaware of modern history?

          Chechnya and the other “stans” in the Russian sphere. Man, does hate kill brain cells?

      • F&L says:

        I don’t believe a single word of that story. It’s pure propaganda and lies.

        • Eric Newhill says:

          F&L,
          You’d rather do pretzel contortions of your mind than face the obvious facts. Your heroes of Palestine are not the noble freedom fighters you want them to be, rather just putrid cells of a larger cancer – and that cancer kills innocents, including women and children, not for noble reasons, but out of the rage that comes from being impotent losers and nothing more.

          • F&L says:

            Eric,
            Somehow my mind has to fit into a brain with several lobes and two hemispheres.
            According to you my mind is contorted whereas by his own estimation TTG’s mind is Twisted. Are you more surprised or disappointed? My mind has the

  3. English Outsider says:

    Hope I’m not causing offence by sometimes being critical of the European politicians. Fact is, I think they’re vicious and incompetent whatever country they come from.

    Also ludicrous. Barbarossa Scholz with his broomstick army, Churchill Johnson and now Sunak with their claims to the “leadership” of Europe, and bringing up the rear in fine style, Napoleon the Fourth with his 20,000 men of steel to ward the Dnieper. The comedy cast of all time, if 71,000 of the extras hadn’t been killed or wounded since Christmas, and the Totentanz of the Ghouls since they have.

    And always the question hovering over the whole. What sort of people are we Europeans that we can elect, and elect and elect again, these psychos without a soul to run our countries?

    • Barbara Ann says:

      EO

      Fear not. As one of your greatest countrymen put it:

      A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone’s feelings unintentionally

      • English Outsider says:

        This English Deplorable will now be trying to work that out for the rest of the day!

  4. Fred says:

    Looks like Speaker Johnson is just as capable of passing ‘crisis’ spending bills as McCarthy. Followed up by a republican resignation – effective just days after deadline that would allow a replacement before the November election. Never Trump strikes again. Maybe the Democratic speaker they get as a result can pull a quick “insurrection” impeachment to disqualify Trump and save the establishment?

  5. Scythe says:

    Seriously, are you people trying to start World War Three?

    Everyone knows who did the attack in Moscow.

    You even announced it before hand!

  6. Scythe says:

    Is it fun in Moscow today? I think it’s a lot of fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often. After all, they are “brotherly” people, and you need to please your relatives more often and visit them more often. “So, we’ll go ,”

    – Head of the National Security and Defense Council Danilov.

    Here is a full confession from Ukraine for the terrorist attack!

    Do you idiots know what a Sarmat is?

    You fools seem to have mistaken Russia for Iraq.

    This time your fat little retarded children are going to die too!

  7. al says:

    US Intell had picked up on an ISIS-K plan to wage a terror attack in Russia and had warned Russia in early March. Putin discounted the US intelligence.
    US had also warned Iran of an impending ISIS terror attack which then occurred

  8. al says:

    Per NY Times: …“ISIS-K has been fixated on Russia for the past two years,” frequently criticizing President Vladimir V. Putin in its propaganda, said Colin P. Clarke, a counterterrorism analyst at the Soufan Group, a security consulting firm based in New York. “ISIS-K accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Syria.”
    https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/22/world/moscow-shooting?campaign_id=190&emc=edit_ufn_20240322&instance_id=118330&nl=from-the-times&regi_id=87967048&segment_id=161558&te=1&user_id=4ae95cece46074f892c425dc4f28903a#isis-moscow-attack-concert-hall

  9. al says:

    Back on March 8 US State Dept warned US citizens in Russia of pending terror attack:

    PUBLISHED 1:16 PM ET Mar. 08, 2024
    The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is warning American citizens in Russia’s capital city to avoid large gatherings Friday and Saturday over concerns about a potential terror attack.
    https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/international/2024/03/08/u-s–warning-attack-large-gatherings-moscow

  10. jim.. says:

    Looking at the Wiki Report and Other Accounts on the Web…Something Doesn’t Look
    Right About This Attack….First…Russia Warned By US Government…Ignored by PUTIN…
    The Conert Was for a Russian Rock Band..””.PICNIC..Which was banned By Ukraine…..and Was Sold out…A Dance Hall in The Building Was Full of Children Dancing…

    The Attack Gunfire Started at 8 PM…No Armed Guards At Any Doors…No Security..
    The Attackers Set off Bombs at 9:20 PM.Start Fires in the Roof….Still No Security Responses.. Finally
    the Russian National Guards Shows Up….Really…????

    Reports The Shooters have Left the Area in a White Car…Really…??
    One and a half Hours Later…??? NO Confirmation Validation of ISIS-K Claims..

    Q.. This was a Big Day For Putin..Just Won Reelection…Has All the Power…Had MANY Protests…Against Him Among The Population.Was This CONCERT Aimed at The Population Who Were Likely ANTI PUTIN…?? Explain The Untypical Russian Response…Really..????…Dirty Work..is Dirty Work…Typical Russian…

    .Had A Big Day Hitting Ukraine With 100 Missiles and Drones..Threatens Japan..
    Has Now Stated..Russia IS at WAR…The Same Day..These Events Happen..

    Mark It…

  11. d74 says:

    Crocus city hall.

    The terrorists attempted to flee to the west (Ukraine). Is this meaningful ?
    No. To the east, it’s even more Russia.

    Terrorism is cowardice by other means.

  12. F&L says:

    This is Margaret Simonyan’s response to the (false) claims of ISIS involvement by the US and its whorish media. She published the clips of interviews with the captured assailants posted with links above in reply to Barbara Ann.
    ——————
    https://t.me/margaritasimonyan/13853
    We already know the names of the performers. We have already seen their faces and know what they sing during interrogations. (We do not publish so as not to interfere with the investigation.)
    And it immediately becomes obvious why yesterday the American media shouted in unison that it was ISIS*.
    Because this is not ISIS. It’s just that the performers were selected in such a way that they could convince the stupid world community that it was ISIS.
    Basic sleight of hand. Station thimble level.
    So, yes. This is not ISIS. These are crests. And the fact that just yesterday, even before the arrests, even before the names and names of the perpetrators, Western intelligence services began to convince the population that it was ISIS – this is what set the cap on this thief on fire.
    This is not ISIS. This is a well-coordinated team of several other, also widely known, abbreviations.
    * ISIS is an organization recognized as terrorist by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.

  13. F&L says:

    A very interesting excerpt from an interesting article this morning.
    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/03/23/cxcp-m23.html
    In 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence agents and elite counterinsurgency troops, who had been trained by the CIA and the Pentagon during the 20-year US occupation of Afghanistan, were joining the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the group that now claims responsibility for the attack in Moscow. As the WSWS explained at the time, the CIA had “intimate connections to the emergence of ISIS.” The CIA had also trained Osama bin Laden and other future al-Qaeda leaders as part of the US-funded mujahideen guerrilla war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

  14. F&L says:

    Make of this what you will but it sure is interesting. Pasted from Telegram with translation. Photo of culprit included.
    —————–
    https://t.me/c/1184922086/308252
    This shaitan’s name is Abdulkhakim Shishani, by which name he has been known for the last few years.
    In the photo he is in the border zone near the Belgorod region, during the attack that took place a few days ago.
    This dirty animal is not just ordinary Barmaley, but one of the leaders of the Idlib gangs, which included fugitive militants from the CIS.
    This baboon has been on Saloreikha for a long time and is the link between the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the radical rabble he commanded in Syria.
    Let us note that the gang of this animal was directly connected with major terrorist organizations, as well as with the so-called “moderate” groups financed by the United States and Britain.
    Attempts to pretend that Hochland has nothing to do with these freaks have failed completely.
    Now let’s bring together a few facts: could terrorists from Crocus break through to this Abdulhakim (who in turn is supervised by Ukrainian intelligence, and those by US intelligence and Mi-6)? Of course they could and most likely do. They drove straight towards the border to their patrons in the hope of salvation.

  15. jim.. says:

    Interesting Storys Online…They Have 11 “Suspects” Chopped The Ear off One and Shoved it in Hids Mouth…P( The Chechens who Tracked Them down toward “Ukraine

    Photos At “METRO”,,online….,Talk on TV Says This is ALL Isis..Anti Russia…Anti Talibahn ISIS Across Border in Afghanistan…And Russia is Happy Yo Have Ukraine
    To ACCUSE,,,Putin….Uber Alles…Mit Alles…CIC…(Sing Patriot Songs Comrads)

    Meanwhile…The HUR…Ukraine Military Intelligence..spokesman Andreii YUSOV…is Online…Saying Russia/Putin ..And ALL His Systems..Say Russian Will Now Be Mobilizing Full Out For WAR….And Using This Concert Arttack to Justify Bigger
    and More Brutal Attacks… on Ukraine..In a Far Flexible Enviroment Eh……..

  16. aleksandar says:

    Feb, 22, 2024
    Victoria Nuland warn Russia about « surprises » and asymmetric warfare.

    Feb, 2024
    Ukrainian embassy in Tajikistan post add to recruit fighter for Ukraine.

    March 5, 2024
    Nuland id fired.

    Mar. 08, 2024
    The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is warning American citizens in Russia’s capital city to avoid large gatherings Friday and Saturday over concerns about a potential terror attack.

    Mar, 22,2024
    Terrorist attack in Moscow

    Mar, 22,2024
    US asap : Not Ukrainian !.

    Maybe Nuland has gone too far.
    Planning this terrorist attack with Budanov and CIA.
    And I tend to believe that Biden’s administration has not full knowledge of this operation.

    • TTG says:

      aleksandar,

      You left out the US warnings to Moscow about a possible ISIS-K terrorist attack and the Russian’s foiling of an earlier ISIS-K attack on Moscow a month ago.

      • aleksandar says:

        No
        I simply guess that this time, US has not enough intels to give to Russia.
        Such terrorist attack bring no benefit for US.

        But US administration stopped controlling the CIA a long time ago.
        Remember Syria ?
        CIA sponsored jihadists groups fighting against Pentagon “moderate” rebel groups.
        Or Afghanistan ?
        When I asked my US counterpart : what’s all these US but not ISAF helicopters flying at night over Taliban zones.
        He replied “I don’t know”.
        For a long time I thought he was fucking with me.
        He was not .
        The Pentagon didn’t know what CIA was doing.
        Time has come to clean out the Augias’ stables.

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