Home » Open thread 10/1/2024

Comments

Open thread 10/1/2024 — 83 Comments

  1. OCTOBER!!
    OK, don’t keep me waiting, what is the big Surprise this month.

    Anyone watching the “debate” tonight. Looks like they are trying to paint Tim as being nervous, which is a load of Horse Puckey. I just hope that Vance isn’t too over confident.

  2. Looking again at the destruction caused by the hurricane, it seems to me that National News would be covering this non stop if it happened in CA or some foreign country (but I repeated myself). Very slow response coming from the US Govt. As has been pointed out, Musk was trying to get his StarLink in the areas long before the Hurricane. But was stopped by the Feds.
    They Hate Us, don’t they.

  3. So, it’s just a “stenographer’s report” as opposed to an event. Nevertheless, if in fact such an attack occurs it holds great potential as a trigger to alter the strategic equilibrium of the middle-east:

    Daily Mail, “Iran is ‘preparing imminent ballistic missile attack against Israel’ after IDF’s Lebanon invasion, US reveals as it warns Tehran of ‘severe consequences’ with Middle East on the brink of all-out war
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13911787/Iran-preparing-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-against-Israel.html

    Barak Ravid, an Israeli journalist and political reporter for Axios, claimed the official said Iran is planning to attack ‘in the immediate time frame’.

    In a sense such an attack would constitute “just the ticket” for a series of decapitation strikes on the MadMullahs and their nuclear-weapons systems development sites should Israel see fit. But we’ll have to wait and see.

  4. Anyone watching the “debate” tonight.

    Not me. Have already seen enough of what the Democratic and Republican parties have to offer, e.g., one offers Child Grooming, and the other offers a Federal Data Collection website designed to turn pregnant women into criminals—Walz and Vance are both perfect examples of those two examples.

  5. SHIREHOME

    Looking again at the destruction caused by the hurricane, it seems to me that National News would be covering this non stop if it happened in CA or some foreign country (but I repeated myself)

    Judging by what happened in 2005 and this year, the MSM approach to hurricane disasters is to report them nonstop if the incumbent President is Republican(GW Bush), but to downplay them if the incumbent President is Democrat.

  6. I thought today was the day… (sigh)

    “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today.”
    -Wimpy

    Let’s turn that around.
    I’d gladly pay you today, for a book of Gerard’s essays in November!
    -tallowpot

  7. I’m having trouble guessing what Walz’ approach will be tonight. He must know Vance is a more talented debater, and Vance is very quick on his feet and fairly unflappable. Vance will almost certainly have a larger database of facts, policy and past statements by Walz in his memory bank.

    So what does Walz do? I guess he has to go emotional. Just try to hammer home the notion that Trump/Vance are mean, bullies and Harris/Walz are joyful uniters?

  8. Gringo has it right on the MSM response to NC.

    I’m watching the debate. I just read from a commentator that the best strategy for Vance would be to answer Walz, and then immediately pivot to Harris. As VP debates don’t matter too much, it’s still a chance to showcase Harris’ poor record as VP.

    Interesting analysis of Harris by Kelly and VDH:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ8H3huAvz0

  9. “…..Looking again at the destruction caused by the hurricane, it seems to me that National News would be covering this non stop if it happened in CA or some foreign country………..”

    If the president was a republican, the media would be all over Ashville, NC , 24/7 reporting on the ineptitude and negligence of the president’s response to the disaster regardless of how well relief efforts were conducted.
    The media does not care about anything at all – and I really do mean anything – other than promoting their own political agenda and promoting those politicians that are in accordance with their political views.

    The media are the epitome of “useful idiots.”

  10. OCTOBER!!
    OK, don’t keep me waiting, what is the big Surprise this month.

    Does a Longshoreman strike that hampers the economy count?

  11. Daily Mail reporting that a ballistic missile attack on Israel from Iran is “imminent”.

    Hunker down ladies and gentlemen; it’s about to get real. And we have Mush for Brains and Ms Cackle in charge.

  12. Karmi seems to have taken the Dims claim about a “pregnant women surveillance database” whole. Why?

  13. I get most of my national news from the internet and radio. Both the Fox News Website and the CNN website have been covering the hurricane.
    That being said, it was obvious during Katrina that the media weaponized that against Bush.

  14. I’ve been away a few days. What did I miss?

    ”…and the other offers a Federal Data Collection website designed to turn pregnant women into criminals…”

    Apparently an overreaction of some sort.

    ”Musk was trying to get his StarLink in the areas long before the Hurricane. But was stopped by the Feds.”

    SpaceX has been authorized to install Starlink terminals throughout the entire U. S. for years, including the hurricane areas. The only thing the feds did was refuse to pay for it, as they saw no need to use taxpayer money to subsidize something that was going to happen anyway.

  15. I expect Vance to be debating the so called moderators like every debate.
    Only seen a little bit of the destruction in NC. Leftists do only care a little for their backers and nothing of their opponents.

  16. Grooming is a lifelong vocation and hate crime in Rainbow (i.e. albinophobia) jurisdictions.
    Homicide is a criminal Choice in all 50 states including California, the abortion of human life past 6 weeks (i.e. viable nervous system function) with exception for self-defense through reconciliation. This addresses rape-rape with impregnation without carving exceptions that normalize corruption.

  17. @Michael K:Karmi seems to have taken the Dims claim about a “pregnant women surveillance database” whole. Why?

    He heard the Dem narrative first, and then he did some “digging”. He found that some Republicans do want to create a pregnancy.gov website, where you can put in your contact information just like a million other government websites that Dems approve of. He found that some other Republicans want the CDC (which Dems approve of) to report better on abortion mortality in addition to all the million other things the CDC reports on that Dems approve of. And from those facts he decided that the Dem narrative in its entirety is completely confirmed.

    This is a bit like hearing that Queen Elizabeth ordered the Freemasons to murder JFK, and then deciding that because the Queen and Freemasons are real people and JFK really was murdered, the conspiracy theory must be true.

    If you question Karmi’s narrative he will cheerfully provide links showing that the Queen of England was real and Freemasons are real and that JFK was really murdered, and then demand you prove his conspiracy theory wrong.

  18. https://x.com/Doranimated/status/1841155315246461417

    IDF spokesman:

    A SHORT TIME AGO MISSILES WERE LAUNCHED FROM IRAN INTO THE TERRITORY OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL

    You are asked to be vigilant and act exactly according to the instructions of the Home Front Command.

    In the last few minutes, the Home Front Command has distributed life-saving instructions in various areas of the country. The public is asked to obey the directives of the Home Front Command, and when an alarm sounds, you must enter the protected area and wait there until further instructions.

    The IDF is doing and will do everything necessary to protect the citizens of the State of Israel.

  19. I learned a new Greek phrase on the Kristofferson thread — sounds like a nice way to greet the change in calendar pages, so —
    Good month to everyone!

    Xylourgos on October 1, 2024 at 3:43 am said:
    … Kalo Mina to all.

  20. So far, 250-300 ballistic missiles is on par with the strike Iran launched back in April when they launched some 300 missiles and drones.

  21. Missiles inbound on Israel now.

    How does Israel respond? How does the US respond? How does Russia and China react?

    For 70 years the Mideast was always regarded as the flash point for WW3 and nuclear exchange

  22. The Biden-Harris administration is reportedly telling a U.S. enemy what level of assault against a U.S. ally is acceptable.

    That sent me searching for this quote:

    The likeliest way of securing peace is this: only to use one’s power in the cause of justice, but to make it perfectly plain that one is resolved not to tolerate aggression – Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

  23. Iran’s reason for gifting Hezbollah those often claimed but not necessarily verified “150,000 missiles” was to provide cover for Iran. In the event of an all-out war between Israel and Iran, those “150,000 missiles” were to be fired at Israel, neutralizing any attacks on Iran.

    Moreover, from what I have read, if Hezbollah were to fire many- thousands?- simultaneously, they would overwhelm Israel’s Iron Dome defense.

    As such, it would seem to me that Iran would have coordinated firing its missiles with Hezbollah’s missiles. But as far as I can tell, there has been no massive attack from Hezbollah’s medium- or long-range missiles.

    What are the reasons for this?
    1) Hezbollah refuses to fire them
    2) Hezbollah’s command structure has been so degraded that it cannot fire missiles in coordination with Iran.
    3) Hezbollah cannot fire the missiles, because Israeli attacks have greatly degraded
    a) the # of missile launchers
    b) the # of medium- or long-range missiles.

    (My understanding is that Hezbollah has thousands upon thousands of anti-tank missiles, but I haven’t seen any indication that they have been fired at Israeli tanks in Lebanon.)

    If the US is telling Israel that it should refrain from attacking Iran if there are only a certain number of missiles launched from Iran, the Biden administration is useless. (As if we didn’t already know this?)

    In the previous Iran missile attack, US and Jordanian forces shot down some Iranian missiles. Are they doing so now?

  24. It certainly looks as though “Biden”’s ally in Teheran is putting those tens of billions of dollars gifted to them (but sssshhhhh) to good use.
    I guess we’ll soon see how good…

    + Related:
    Pulling out all the stops…
    “Terrorists open fire on civilians in Jaffa, killing 8 and wounding 7. Security forces searching for 2 attackers.”
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/397037

  25. Unmentioned as yet, earlier last hour two Arab gunmen in Jaffa got off a lightrail commuter train and murdered 8 people, injuring many others. Those two are dead.

    Thus far in the missile barrage no reports of death have emerged, though 2 lightly wounded shrapnel victims have been reported.

    Interesting, no? This isn’t to say missiles don’t or won’t kill Israelis eventually, but that the results so far aren’t commensurate with Iranian bluster.

  26. Yeah, to me it seems like Iran would have to commit far more than 250ish missiles if they truly wanted to overwhelm Iron Dome. So far, this seems like a face-saving response more than something that is attempting to be devastating, and therefore escalating.

  27. When Iran is finally free – and that moment will come a lot sooner than people think – everything will be different,

    –Benjamin Netanyahu, UN Address 09/27/24

    What does he know that we don’t?

    Hmm…

  28. My friend in Asheville is still without electricity. She said their worst case scenario is to get power on by Friday, though it could be much sooner. Some places nearby are coming back on now.

    Water service is at least weeks away, she said. Maybe months.
    _______

    Did I hear that Israel had already struck some of Iran’s nuclear sites?

  29. “So far, this seems like a face-saving response more than something that is attempting to be devastating, and therefore escalating.”

    Doesn’t that appear as though the Ayatollah has walked himself into a potentially fatal trap, Nonapod? Sure does to me. Israel, it seems to me, has already shown the old rules are over. No holds barred, in other words, will not favor the IRI’s survival. But events of course alone will prove, my speculations be damned.

  30. Did I hear that Israel had already struck some of Iran’s nuclear sites?

    TommyJay:

    I haven’t heard that yet, but I believe that is Israel’s endgame and the mullahs are getting the message.

    It’s also brilliant timing with the US election so close and the Biden/Harris administration “in disarray.”

    Obama, Biden and the Deep State have kept Israel in check, but now Israel is creating its own facts on the ground and Biden/Harris/Deep State aren’t nimble or competent enough to respond.

  31. Daily Mail also has the most complete reporting and pictures from the Middle East, including some maps that make sense of the conflict geographically.
    (see next comment)

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13911787/Iran-preparing-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-against-Israel.html

    The Israeli military has announced that more than 100 missiles have been launched from Iran into Israel – with the Islamic Republic ignoring warnings that any such attack would invite ‘severe consequences’.

    Dramatic footage shows dozens of missiles raining down on Israel, with some exploding as they are intercepted by Tel Aviv’s Iron Dome defence system.

    An Iranian attack was expected today and there are fears it could exceed the scale of a previous bombardment in April which saw hundreds of drones and missiles launched at the country, sources have claimed.

    The IDF has not confirmed which missiles were used, but Israel was expecting ballistic missiles to be launched by Iran this evening in yet another major escalation that leaves the Middle East on the brink of an all-out war.

    These can reach their targets in just 12 minutes are expected to be used in the attack, rather than drones or cruise missiles which can take longer, a source told Axios.

    The attack comes after Iran vowed on Saturday that Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah would be avenged.

    It also comes just hours after Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to carry out raids against Iranian-backed Hezbollah targets.

    But will they launch?

    Hard not to see this as Biden giving the Mullahs permission, as he did implicitly with Putin about Ukraine. (9/30/2024)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13908177/Biden-shares-blunt-message-Israel-imminent-ground-invasion-Lebanon-U-S-embassy-frantically-works-Americans-Beirut.html

    President Biden gave an emphatic answer when asked if he was comfortable with Israel’s plan as the U.S. ally masses forces on the border with Lebanon, and it stopped well short of an endorsement.

    Biden got asked Monday at the White House if he was ‘comfortable’ with what is being called a limited invasion. His answer took that word and instead called on Israel to hold back.

    ‘I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now,’ Biden said.

    It came hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said ‘diplomacy remains the best and only path to achieving greater stability in the Middle East.’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13906543/Israel-assassination-Hassan-Nasrallah-strike-Hezbollahs-lair-Beirut-Iranian-mole-bunker-busters.html

    A Lebanese security source informed Le Parisien that an Iranian mole was responsible for leaking the information to Israel.

    Though this is yet to be corroborated, it would constitute a devastating intelligence breach for Hezbollah and its backers in the Islamic Republic.

    Both Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) now face the enormous challenge of plugging the infiltration in its ranks that allowed its arch-enemy to destroy weapons sites, booby-trap its communications and assassinate the veteran leader.

    If Mossad had an Iranian mole in Hezbollah’s leadership structure, then how many more do they have in Iran?

    (h/t someone yesterday)
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/396984

    In an interview with the Turkish CNN network on Monday, former President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claimed that a unit had been set up to fight against Mossad agents inside Iran – but the head of the unit was a Mossad agent himself.

    He also claimed that in addition to the head of the unit, twenty Israeli Mossad agents were working with him and were responsible for directing significant intelligence operations inside Iran.

    Among others, according to Ahmadinejad, the same Mossad agents stole documents about the Iranian nuclear program and killed several Iranian nuclear scientists.

    But, what does he know and when did he know it?
    Or is he just guessing?
    He’s probably at least partially correct: Israel seems to have an amazingly broad and deep intelligence operation.

  32. @ Niketas Choniates and Michael K

    Niketas Choniates, if someone misinterpreted your comments and words like you did to mine – at October 1, 2024 at 12:36 pm, then you would immediately throw a bigger Temper Tantrum that Trump, and whine about it for days…Jeez.

    He found that some Republicans do want to create a pregnancy.gov website

    Some Republicans? Like U.S. Senators Katie Britt, Marco Rubio, and Kevin Cramer for the MOMS Act.

    Like the H.R.517 – Standing with Moms Act: Rep. Mace, Nancy [R-SC-1] – Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27]* – Rep. Salazar, Maria Elvira [R-FL-27]* – Rep. Fallon, Pat [R-TX-4]* – Rep. Lamborn, Doug [R-CO-5]* – Rep. Miller-Meeks, Mariannette [R-IA-1]* – Rep. Foxx, Virginia [R-NC-5]* – and Rep. Letlow, Julia [R-LA-5].

    The Republican Bill (by “some other Republicans”) is actually based on the Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership.

    Project 2025 is stocked with a lot more Republicans and/or Conservatives – as is/are the many Republican groups who help sponsor Project 2025. Suddenly, when the DEMs discovered what “some other Republicans” were doing, Trump just as suddenly disavowed Project 2025.

    Have used up link allowance, Michael K, but what I had actually said is at comment September 29, 2024 at 6:57 am in the Open thread 9/28/2024. I had other comments on the subject in the same thread…

  33. From the DailyMail article:

    “… that leaves the Middle East on the brink of an all-out war.”

    Except for launching nukes (and it doesn’t appear Iran has that capability yet, thank God), this may be about as “all-out” as it can get.

    How would Iran execute a ground attack into Israel? The attack would have to come from Lebanon or Syria. Israeli intelligence would pick it up at the onset (or sooner) and use air defenses to obliterate the ground troops.

    I don’t think the lack of a ground offensive by Iran and or Hezbollah is indicative of a reduction of commitment level. They are waging all-out war against Israel. But Israeli defenses are such that missile launches like this, and guerilla attacks like October 7th and isolated terrorism within Israel are the only options they have.

  34. Except for launching nukes (and it doesn’t appear Iran has that capability yet, thank God), this may be about as “all-out” as it can get.

    –Rufus T. Firefly

    That’s another aspect of Israel’s timing. I don’t know how close Iran is to a functional nuclear weapon, but they are busy at it. Obama and Biden have been enablers. A policy Harris & Cabal will continue.

    This really might be Israel’s last best hope to shut Iran down, along with Iran’s proxies, before the election and a possible Harris presidency.

    It’s not verified, but there are persistent stories that the Obama administration was ready to intercept and shoot down Israeli jets attempting to take out Iranian nuclear weapon facilities.

    Would Biden/Harris be willing to make such a move on the eve of the 2024 election?

    I doubt it.

  35. ESPN hates baseball fans so easily they can’t for the life of themselves imagine why fans don’t want to hear Michael Kay and the rest of the NYY crew calling Houston-Detroit.

    spit

  36. No rest for the weary….

    “Commander of weapons transfer between Iran, Hezbollah eliminated;
    “The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced that today, the IDF eliminated the terrorist Muhammad Ja’far Qasir, the Commander of Weapons Transfers from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/397038

    Weary?
    Guess we’ll have to see….

    File under: We have just begun to fight(TM)….

  37. ”So far, 250-300 ballistic missiles is on par with the strike Iran launched back in April when they launched some 300 missiles and drones.”

    If these numbers are correct, then this is bigger. Drones fly slower and at lower altitude, making them easier to shoot down. Switching from drones to ballistic missiles will increase the number of targets destroyed, all else being equal.

    ”Iran’s reason for gifting Hezbollah those often claimed but not necessarily verified ‘150,000 missiles’ was to provide cover for Iran.”

    Not all missiles are created equal. Most of those 150,000 missiles in Lebanon are going to be small short-range missiles with small warheads — basically long-range artillery. The ones fired from Iran are going to be of necessity larger, faster, longer range, and flying at a much higher altitude (or they couldn’t make it to Israel).

    ”For 70 years the Mideast was always regarded as the flash point for WW3 and nuclear exchange.”

    Neither Iran nor Israel have had nuclear weapons that long, nor do either of them have enough weapons to end the world.

    PS: Please bring back the larger edit box. This tiny one is a royal pain.

  38. Musk proposed a rural internet solution that didn’t require any land-based infrastructure that Biden could take credit for, and use to line the pockets of favored contractors across the country.

    Just a pizza box that had the hated word “SpaceX” on the outside. If you have a portable generator or battery bank, you have high speed internet. A Democrat’s nightmare.

  39. So it looks like this is another one of those face saving measures by Iran. But to whom are they so desperate to save face? Their own people I’d say.

  40. Sixtieth comment now; am I the first commenter here to note that Jimmy Carter turns 100 years old today? That makes him our very first centenarian U.S. President evah.

  41. Neither Iran nor Israel have had nuclear weapons that long, nor do either of them have enough weapons to end the world.

    mkent:

    True, Israel hasn’t had nuclear weapons for 70 years, but likely they have since the early 1970s. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied nuclear capacity.

    I know which way I bet on that.

    Similarly, it is widely believed that in the face of a nuclear, or otherwise existential, attack, Israel would counterattack all its enemies with nuclear weapons. The so-called “Samson Option.”

    While that in itself wouldn’t mean the end of the world, I understand that according to nuclear wargame scenarios, such a limited attack would inevitably trigger a global nuclear war, which would be the end of the world as we know it.

  42. mkent- at the lower right of the edit box, from there you can expand it…after expanding it will stay that size until the next comment. Suks, but better than working in that stamp sized box… 😉

  43. PS: Please bring back the larger edit box. This tiny one is a royal pain.

    You can enlarge the edit box by putting the mouse cursor on the lower right side of the edit box, and moving the mouse cursor to the right. Not perfect, but bearable.

  44. PS: Please bring back the larger edit box. This tiny one is a royal pain.

    I doubt it’s neo’s choice. I would be surprised if she has an option setting for this.

    WordPress changed some code and broke the comment box. After enough complaints they may fix it.

  45. mkent:

    There’s nothing I can do to change the edit box size. It has something to do with the plugin itself, and some sort of change that happened spontaneously. But as others have suggested, you can make the edit box nice and big if you mouse on the lower right corner with the two little diagonal lines, and drag the box to the right.

  46. @Michael K: By all means, if you’re interested, check the original thread and see for yourself if I or anyone else have misrepresented Karmi’s position.

    That little food fight seems a bit trivial compared to Iranian ballistic missiles and I don’t plan on engaging Karmi further on it here or elsewhere.

  47. Obama and Biden must be happy that all money they funneled to Iran went to good use.

  48. ”While that in itself wouldn’t mean the end of the world, I understand that according to nuclear wargame scenarios, such a limited attack would inevitably trigger a global nuclear war…”

    I don’t see how. Neither Russia nor America are going to launch against each other because of what happens in the Middle East.

    ”at the lower right of the edit box, from there you can expand it…after expanding it will stay that size until the next comment.”

    I don’t see how there either. It’s just a square with rounded corners. There’s no control to manipulate.

    ”But as others have suggested, you can make the edit box nice and big if you mouse on the lower right corner with the two little diagonal lines, and drag the box to the right.”

    I don’t have a mouse, and I don’t have two little diagonal lines. Just a box with rounded corners. Thanks for looking into it, though.

  49. Niketas Choniates on October 1, 2024 at 12:36 pm = Engagement…

    Magic wand waves – POOF!!!

    Niketas Choniates on October 1, 2024 at 3:19 pm = Engagement magically ends…

  50. @mkent:Neither Russia nor America are going to launch against each other because of what happens in the Middle East.

    The only reason nuclear deterrence works is because if anyone starts anything for any reason, everyone loses. That norm has prevented nuclear war. A new norm where smaller countries nuke each other a little bit from time to time is the kind of thing that will make a global nuclear war more likely eventually, I think, if not immediately.

    Might be moot in this case as Israel probably doesn’t survive a small nuclear war anyway, and there’d be nothing left there to deter further. Which means the calculation is pretty different for Israel and it would be pretty dumb to start it with them. The leaders of Iran are not seeking martyrdom, that’s for the chumps: the splodeydopes as we used to call them back in the LGF days.

  51. @Karmi: Engagement magically ends…

    Yes, and? At some point you’ll drop this shiny thing and say something different that’s interesting, and I might engage with that. The current thing you’re doing is dull, and dumb. I can get Dem narratives and conspiracy theories anywhere.

  52. mkent:

    You can do it with a wheel. We are talking about the edit box, not the regular comment box. The edit box only appears when you try to edit your comment. The regular comment box should be the same size as always.

    If you’re on a phone I don’t think it can be done. But on a desktop or laptop, it should work. On my phone, the edit box isn’t all that small, although it’s smaller than the regular comment box.

  53. The comment box can be enlarged the same way as the edit box. It’s a great feature. I usually create longer comments in Wordpad since it’s such a hassle scrolling back and forth.

  54. I note that the regular comment box can also be enlarged by pulling on the lower right corner.
    I do it all the time 😉

  55. MKent: “I don’t see how. Neither Russia nor America are going to launch against each other because of what happens in the Middle East.”

    You could be right. But your comment made me think of Bismarck’s 1888 prediction that the next great European war would be caused by “some damned foolish thing in the Balkans”.

    P.S. I don’t use a mouse either. If you have a trackpad, try positioning the cursor on the bottom right-hand corner of the comment box and dragging it.

  56. ” The only reason nuclear deterrence works is because if anyone starts anything for any reason, everyone loses.”

    That’s not how nuclear deterrence works. It’s not magic. It works by making it highly likely that using nuclear weapons against a major nuclear power will make your country to effectively cease to exist (or literally cease to exist in Russia’s case).

    How does a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel make America, Europe, or, say, Japan cease to exist? It doesn’t. Iran may make Israel cease to exist, and Israel might, with its last dying breath, make Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Yemen to effectively cease to exist, but how does it spread to the rest of the world?

    Is Russia or China going to then commit suicide by launching against America? Why? Is America going to just say “Screw it! Let’s end it now.” and launch against Russia or China? Again, why?

    Westerners seem to regard nuclear weapons as some type of magic. Wave the black magic wand and Poof! The whole world vanishes.

    It doesn’t work that way.

    ”If you’re on a phone I don’t think it can be done.”

    I’m on an iPad.

    ”On my phone, the edit box isn’t all that small, although it’s smaller than the regular comment box.”

    On my iPad it’s pretty tiny.

  57. Will the humble Kermit stomp his stumps and demand that Niketas engage? Ala The Black Knight?

  58. On my iPad the comment box is unchanged, as large as it ever was and no obvious size controls.

  59. COMPARING the Democrat Party Platform to Communist Party USA platform — is there and distance between them? Very little if not none.

    Concluding an examination, the editor of The New American writes:
    “There appears to be very little difference between the Democratic Party and the Communist Party USA. Those who’ve been saying the former has been taken over by the latter have a strong case. Moreover, before their blatant alignment on policy, the two parties were already strongly ideologically aligned. Both have long believed in the supremacy of the State in all matters. Both are led by people who believe rights are derived from government and not God. Both believe ‘the ends justify the means,’ even if violence is involved. Both believe in exerting federal control over law enforcement….”
    https://thenewamerican.com/us/comparing-communist-party-usa-and-democratic-party-platforms/

    You might save this to share with frenemies. I bet it’s sure to annoy them, yet some will THINK about this.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>