And why would the Berbers, Egyptians, Indians/Pakistanis, Persians, Turks, et al. continue to accept a religion imposed by conquest on them, given their current relative power vs. that of the Arabs? Comparing “western” prosperity and liberty and general social success vs. Islamic societies might be a valid point to emphasize as well.

The guy with the “plot armor” (protection by the deep state) is one of our Covid villains, although not one that’s gotten the most press, as I recall.
Apparently, he is about to be hit by a #MeToo sledgehammer.
Not that Democrats care about that anymore, but the charges look legit to Jeff Childers, who is a lawyer familiar with the genre.

You wanted accountability? I bet you never saw this coming— the latest comeuppance-slash-morality tale with the most unlikely cast of characters, some of the most astonishing plot twists imaginable, and a villain who looks like a poorly groomed garden gnome. On Saturday, the New York Post —and only the New York Post— reported, “Vaccine expert lusted after Northwell Health scientist — then got her canned, she claimed.” Oh, it’s so much more.

I’m just going to say what we are all thinking. Don’t cancel me. Possibly the last person we would ever imagine to be a concupiscent sex pest, taken down by his randy hormonal misadventures, would be one Peter “Captain Bowtie” Hotez, 68, who is much better known as a first-order pandemic villain.

Lot of water under the news bridge since then!

***
AesopSpouse and his immediate family rafted down some river 50 years ago when they capsized. I didn’t go, because we had a couple of kids then who were too young for that adventure.

While the kids were growing up, he took them with the Scouts on river trips every other year, alternating with Philmont. We have some perennial stories from those expeditions, including wrapping an aluminum canoe around a large boulder (one of the other boys).
There were some adventures I didn’t learn about until many years later.

I also didn’t go on the rafting trip about 10 years later with his siblings & in-laws at the Grand Canyon. I didn’t have the kids for an excuse by then, as they were all out of the house.

Guess it’s just me. 😉

You might have heard the news that Fender has sent “cease and desist” letters to many other guitar makers, with a list of draconian demands–demanding that the stop making guitars duplicating Fender’s ”Stratocaster” body shape, that they destroy all of their existing stock, etc.

This based on a default judgement they got in a court in Dusseldorf, in Germany, which ruled that the shape of Fender’s “Stratocaster” guitar deserved copyright protection under German and European law, because it was an “original creative expression.”

On the surface, this seems like an extraordinarily stupid, even suicidal decision, one which is already infuriating many in the “guitar community,” especially stupid because most legal experts see a German default ruling as a very weak reed to base such a letter and it’s draconian demands on, especially given the history of Fender guitars and their development, and on directly relevant U.S. court cases.

However, the linked article points out that the majority owner of Fender is now actually a company whose main business is car distribution, and that these are not “guitar people.”

This article also points out that this same company has recently acquired “Reverb”–the major musical instrument marketplace–and the article presents an interesting theory about why this company has decided to make this particular business decision, and to take this seemingly suicidal action.*

• See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvbUJG4bbNs

If you are out of patience, shout at clouds, or pray, or spend more time on the water, or …..

But don’t light your hair on fire.

I’m not foolish enough to think I can give President Trump foreign policy advice from where I sit and what I know.

Trump actually promised “no forever wars” and “no endless wars”- and this action against Iran is not that. He promised “no boots on the ground,” and this action against Iran is not that. He also said “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars”. Although some would argue that’s a promise he broke, he would say that we’ve already been at war with Iran for 47 years, and he struck in order to stop a larger war.

I guess you’re one of those people who takes Trump literally, which is an error. So far, in matters not connected with Iran, he’s had a better connection with reality than most people and most politicians and statesman, and has been more effective.

Just to take one example, remember when he warned Western Europe that they shouldn’t depend on Russia for their energy needs, and they laughed at him? Who had the better grip on reality?

That doesn’t mean he’ll be successful in Iran; I have grave doubts about it myself. But don’t think he means everything he says.

Oh, and about those weapons of destruction in Iraq – that was almost 25 years ago, and our intelligence-gathering has gotten better. We’re not guessing about Iran; we know it. What to do about it is the question.

In addition, see this post of mine from 2008, in which I described the situation and which is still relevant now.

Yup. And he did.