Home » Open thread 10/7/23

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Open thread 10/7/23 — 30 Comments

  1. Hamas/Gaza war on Israel underway today. Over 100 Israelis confirmed dead; toll will probably be higher.

  2. Kate, at least so far many world leaders are condemning the attacks. Hamas is using a lot of new ways to attack Israel. Israel will retaliate with great force, and the Palestinians will complain about them being killed. This is a major escalation by Iran. Didn’t Biden just release millions back to Iran? Cause and effect? I don’t know.
    I am getting more militant in my thoughts about terrorist, including ours here in the US. No, not MAGA or any Trump supporters, but Antifa, BLM and just plain garden variety Dems.

  3. RE: Major Hamas attack against Israel

    According to reports coming in, a major, apparently unprecedented in scope attack by Hamas against Israel and it’s citizens.

    Thousands of missiles launched against Israel and, simultaneously, Hamas terrorists infiltrating Israel, traveling around and attacking individual Israelis, going into people’s homes, killing some, and grabbing others to take back to Palestinian territory as hostages, etc., etc.*

    This on the heels of the Biden Administration’s recent action of “restoring” hundreds of millions of dollars in “aid to the Palestinians” which President Trump had withheld, amid warnings that such aid to the Palestinians would inevitably flow to and benefit Hamas.

    * See https://nypost.com/2023/10/07/israel-says-palestinian-militants-are-infiltrating-from-gaza-residents-told-to-remain-indoors/

  4. Money is fungible. Money for “humanitarian aid” frees up other funds for military actions, and that’s even if the “humanitarian aid” is actually used for that purpose.

  5. RE: Hamas Attack on Israel

    Keep in mind that the State Department has a reputation for being hostile to Israel.

    President Trump was the best friend that Israel ever had, this demonstrated not by cheap words, but by actions.

    In contrast, neither Biden nor the State Department is a friend of Israel.

  6. RE: Hamas Attack on Israel

    I expect a lot of fake, crocodile tears from Biden but no real, substantial U.S. aid for Israel in her time of need.

    One way to help might be to donate to things like the Israeli volunteer ambulance service Magen David Adom.*

    * See https://afmda.org/

  7. Useful links to news about the Hamas/Israel war

    Regular updates from “The Times of Israel”:
    https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-7-2023/

    Regular updates from “The Jerusalem Post”:
    https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/2023-10-07/live-updates-762053

    In response to the Hamas attack, the IDF has launched “Operation Swords of Iron”
    Regular updates from the IDF:
    https://www.idf.il/en/articles/hafatzot/real-time-updates-07-10/

  8. remember who blinken still listens to, even though he is officially out of office,

  9. RE: Iran and Hamas

    It might also be remembered that Biden just gave $6 billion dollars to Iran in exchange for five hostages.

    How much of that money do you think made it’s way to Hamas and other terrorist organizations?

    This, of course, on top of the estimated $85 billion dollars worth of U.S. military equipment we, in essence, recently gave as a gift to the Taliban, by hurriedly evacuating our military personnel from Afghanistan.

    (Usually such logistically challenging withdrawals are meticulously planned, and take quite a bit of time to execute, all of our equipment and armaments either destroyed or put on aircraft, on ships, or trains, all of it transported out of the area, and back into our control.)

    This time, at Biden’s command, we just headed for the door, and left it all behind.

    An apocryphal quote from Lenin went something like “we capitalists would sell the Communists the rope they could use to hang us.”

    It seems to me that feckless and malevolent Biden and his Administration have very eagerly taken hundreds of millions of our taxpayer’s money (and likely a lot more when you add it all up), our military supplies and equipment, and given them to our enemies, so that they would have a lot easier time trying to destroy us and our allies.

  10. Thank you for the video, Neo. Amazing story all around from
    the triplets to the doctors to the couple who took on the challenge
    of adopting them and then raised them to be the exuberant, well-
    adjusted little girls they are.

  11. jd:

    Yes, I’m in awe of the parents and the kids, too. I worry a bit about the triplet who’s okay physically; sometimes that situation can mean that child gets overlooked. But these parents and this family are so great that I think they’ll handle just about anything.

  12. IrishOtter49–

    Actually, several decades ago some researchers at the premier Federal research organization I did research at were tasked with verifying this quote, and despite many man hours of research–delving into Russian language and other sources–they were never able to verify that Lenin actually said it.

  13. @ IrishOtter49, Snow on Pine

    China: We will sell them the rope we use to hang them.

  14. @ Art Deco

    “I suspect one precaution they did not take was bringing along a 12 gauge or two.”

    • Not sure why you made your comment, in part because you have come across as a thoughtful person – who does not mind doing research (i.e., being informed).

    • My experience – backpacked & climbed on 6 continents – is that National Parks/ Game Preserves/ etc. do not permit firearms.

    • There are exceptions – ex: ANWR or known Polar Bear territory – but Banff is not one of them. ^^

    • I’ll add that I have backpacked and camped in Grizzly/ Black Bear/ Wolf/ Lion/ Hippo/ Cape Buffalo/ SA Cougar/ etc. territory – came very, very close to being attacked by a black bear with cubs, have had lions, hyenas, honey badgers, elephants come into tent camps at night, shared a flooded trail with venomous brown snakes, faced a spitting cobra, was circled by a wolf, etc. – and understand that encounters with dangerous wildlife is always a possibility if you truly wish to experience the wild. But for me some of my most favorite memories in life entail being dropped off by a bush plane in the “middle-of-nowhere”, with nothing but my backpack, topo maps & compass. Strikes me that that couple felt the same way.

    • From what I have read the couple was very experienced and took every precaution, they just had the misfortune to encounter a predatory bear – just like others not in-the-wild encounter predators (see any town/ city). I feel for them.

    • Lastly, your comment does not make you a “bad person” – maybe just a little uninformed.

    ^^ = The use of firearms (including pellet guns, bear bangers, bows, sling shots etc.) and hunting are not permitted in Banff National Park. The possession of firearms is prohibited except at a person’s primary premises or in a motor vehicle that is travelling on a highway. During transport, firearms must be unloaded and in a case or wrapped and tied securely in such a manner that no part of the firearm is exposed.

  15. • Not sure why you made your comment, in part because you have come across as a thoughtful person – who does not mind doing research (i.e., being informed).
    ==
    The bear was shot dead by park wardens. Pity all the couple had was a can of bear spray.

  16. …they were never able to verify that Lenin actually said it.

    that guy, Snow on Pine, IrishOtter49:

    Nobody every said anything!

    Although it appears William Goldman actually said:
    ____________________________________

    Nobody knows anything…… Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.

    –William Goldman, “Adventures in the Screen Trade”
    ____________________________________

    That’s a relief!

  17. that guy; Art Deco:

    It does seem odd that people entering such a potentially dangerous environment are not allowed to have guns. Perhaps the parks don’t want hunting there, but wouldn’t it be better to just prohibit hunting? It’s a terribly disturbing story, what happened to those people.

  18. No firearms are allowed in US National Parks IIRC to echo “that guy.” Glacier National Park in MT is notorious for grizzly bears killing hikers and campers, to the point that some campgrounds have tall chain link fence enclosures for tent camping IIRC.

    Canada is very strict about firearms (not allowed) in national parks (memory from 30 yrs ago).

  19. My wife is terrified of bears. She was camping in Glacier National Park on the “Night of the Grizzlies”.

  20. well the fact, the German General Staff gave him a ride to the finland station, tells all,, two generations later, the Mexican interior ministry, sent the Granma back to Cuba,

  21. Open Thread Sunday: Russo-Ukranian War

    Ukraine’s Counteroffensive – Breach, not Breakthrough: Minefields, tactics and emerging lessons – Perun

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjf_vAkaBS8

    Timestamps
    00:00:00 — Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
    00:01:06 — What Am I Talking About?
    00:03:09 — Sources And Exclusions
    00:03:42 — Background
    00:08:02 — The Defences
    00:22:16 — Ground Offensive: South
    00:26:08 — The East And Russian Actions
    00:29:32 — Escalating Commitment
    00:38:36 — The Crimean Campaign
    00:42:07 — The Nature Of The Fighting
    00:52:13 — Evaluation, Trends And Significance
    00:57:02 — What Next?
    01:01:11 — Conclusion
    01:01:57 — Channel Update

  22. Biden may build a little wall in the Arizona desert. That can be justified on humanitarian grounds — you don’t want migrants dying of thirst out there. It also gives a nice visual for Arizona Democrats to point to. But it won’t affect the flow of illegals across the border.

  23. On bears: When we spent a few days on the Kenai peninsula, Alaska, our birding guide was always armed with a large pistol and a rifle, both with heavy shot. He would not permit us even to walk up a nice-looking trail alongside a lake. Instead of hiking a lot to do birding, as we had expected, we drove to good spots in a pickup truck, got out and stayed near the truck, and got back in.

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