Home » Open thread 4/15/24

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Open thread 4/15/24 — 64 Comments

  1. So the Iranian attack on Israel is now Trump’s fault, according to the WH.
    Countries are lining up with Iran, telling Israel not to attack Iran, because the Iranian attack was a “failure”. Any of these countries, including the US, would not hesitate to attack those that attack them.

  2. Saudis: Iran Instigated Gaza War to Sabotage Israel Normalization – looks like they are openly lining up w/ Israel against Iran. This is more & more looking like a major mistake by Iran:

    Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of instigating the conflict in Gaza to undermine progress in reaching a normalization agreement between Riyadh and Jerusalem.

    “Iran is a nation that endorses terrorism, and the world should have curtailed it much earlier,” the Saudi royal said.

    The Kan interview appears to be the first Saudi acknowledgment that it helped fend off the attack, along with the United States, United Kingdom, Jordan and France.

    “We confront every suspicious object that enters Saudi airspace. This is a matter of sovereignty,” the source said.

    Riyadh put U.S.-brokered Israeli normalization talks on ice after the Oct. 7 massacre and amid the ensuing war, but has maintained that a deal is still on the table.

    Yeah, the new ‘Iranian Candy Store’ is open for Israel, and the Iranian citizens know it – Footage ‘shows terrified Iranians queuing for petrol as they prepare to flee for possible Israeli retaliation for missile and drone attack’

  3. Two more cops killed in New York (upstate). As of this morning no information on the killer (apparently also killed in the shootout), but I think we can guess. No doubt someone with a ling criminal record but out on the streets thanks to the governor.

  4. Knock out the electricity going to Tehran. Or as the Democrats call it ,” Fighting Climate Change.”

  5. yet prince salman has fallen down on the job, giving the pallywood credence,

  6. Ironic, a Muslim Country is supporting Israel, but so called free, Western Countries are not. US and others calling for Israel to play nice with Iran.

  7. Trump has to be in the courtroom every day for the duration of his criminal trial.

    “If you do not show up there will be an arrest,” Judge Merchan said.

    https://twitter.com/JesseRodriguez/status/1779907073553109157?t=wQtPSRCErDBVCE2x-WLvMg&s=19

    So I understand the assertion of coercive force by a twisted court. I can imagine the web of legal devices enabling that tyrannical gesture. But finally? It’s baffling.
    I remain perplexed at the vehement stupidity of it all. I mean, what the everloving hell is going on here.

  8. well it’s been largely of the ‘dead armadillo’ variety, see the preening queen, go in all in for hamas propaganda, then maybe the defense minister noted the missile trajectories go over their territory,

    but yes Westerners have proven to be very dhimmi, with a few exceptions,

    he’s just earning more coin for her daughter,
    I remember the same judge presided over the dubious trump university suit, essentially a glorified real estate seminar,

    but remember in Gotham the real criminals go free, the law abiding citizens have to stay indoors or face arrest, like daniel penny,

  9. A few fun facts on Taxman:
    _________________________________________

    George Harrison wrote this song. The music was inspired by the theme song for the popular 1960s TV series Batman…. Harrison was a big fan of the show.

    George Harrison said: “‘Taxman’ was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes.”

    https://www.songfacts.com/facts/the-beatles/taxman
    _________________________________________

    BAT-MAN!
    TAX-MAN!

    Let’s call the whole thing off.

  10. ah pobrecito, but they probably still voted labour,

    that song has a whole different rhythm than the theme

  11. My memory goes back the Six-Day War, when I was an American teenager. At that time (1967) Vietnam was a big deal and I asked my father if American soldiers would also be sent to Israel to help them as we were doing for South Vietnam. He said that is was our nation’s policy never to have American soldiers in open combat alongside the Israelis, for complicated reasons.

    Things have changed. Big time.

    Even ChatGPT – queried during this writing on the question of active US Combat in support of Israel –
    “As of my last update in January 2022, there hasn’t been a situation where American armed forces have been openly engaged in active combat in support of Israel. The United States has a strong diplomatic relationship with Israel and provides military aid, but direct involvement in combat situations would be a significant escalation and departure from past policies. ”


    The recent highly effective joint action by Israel, US, UK, French, Saudi, Jordan, MUST have been co-ordinated ahead of time – if for no other reason than to keep all the friendlies from shooting one another in what had to be a complicated tactical situation with 300 some airborne threats all active over a very short interval.

    Yet, no one in the Biden administration has explained the policy change that has to date kept the US Armed Forces from direct engagement in support of Israel as well as the demonstrated advanced planning by us and our allies working hand-in-hand with the Israelis to create and activate complicated battle plans. Pilots would have to be briefed, aircraft armed with the right ordinance for the task, in-flight refueling set up and staged, etc. etc. etc.

    Not sure what all this means, but it seems to have been accepted with little complaint from anyone.

  12. Looks like Trump coordinated with Iran after killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an air strike (?!). Am I reading that right? “Ayn Al-Asad Number Two”:

    To understand what happened last night during Iran’s direct attack on Israel, one has to go back four years to the killing by the United States of Iran’s Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Iran needed to react symbolically in retaliation to save face and asked to do so. The United States allowed it to attack its own Ayn Al-Asad airbase so that no one there would be hurt. Fifteen missiles were fired at the base, with the result being minor damage and not one drop of blood. Iran may deserve a Nobel Peace Prize for being able to fire 15 missiles without killing anyone.

    Trump told Fox News in February 2024: “Do you know, we hit them [Iran] very hard for something that they did, and they had to hit back, they feel they have to do that and I understand that. Do you know, they called me to tell me ‘We’re going to hit a certain location but we’re not gonna hit it, it’s gonna be outside of the perimeter’… They let us know. And we had 16 missiles that went off… And we knew they weren’t going to hit. And now I reveal it… So they aimed those missiles and they said, ‘Please don’t attack us, we’re not going to hit you.’ That was respect, we had respect.”

    Iran’s then-foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Iranian regime had informed Iraq of its plans to launch missiles at the U.S. bases. This move guaranteed that Iraq would then inform the U.S., so that precautions would be taken to prevent the loss of life.

    Are they saying that Trump allowed Iran to—to hit a U.S. military base?!

  13. Ayn Al-Asad Number Two – Iran Pre-Coordinated Its Attack Against Israel With The U.S. So That No One Will Be Hurt And War With Israel Will Be Avoided – follow up:

    Now, let’s come back to Iran’s bombing of Israel last night. Iran wanted to retrieve its deterrence after the killing in Damascus of Iranian General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who, by Iran’s own testimony, was the mastermind of the October 7 attack. The U.S. then did to Israel what it had done to itself: It coordinated with the Iranians so that civilians would not be struck. Arab media are already reporting this coordination. Iran made it easy for the U.S., Israel, Britain, and Jordan to know what it would and would not do, and where it would do it. Israel was not part of this coordination.

    This is why I will not vote for either Biden or Trump – both equally useless! Arab media knew about it, but who knows about the US Media.

    Our Presidents working behind our back with Iran!?!?!?!?!?!?!

  14. well they had a purchase tax, essentially a sales tax of 33% and an income tax about that, so that was kind of steep, you only hold onto a third, at those brackets,

  15. I remember reading that James Herriot was paying a tax rate of about 90% on his earnings from the “All Creatures Great and Small” books, and his tax advisor told him that he should move to France. He refused. He loved Yorkshire and would not leave it. However, that is a truly ridiculous–iniquitous–tax rate.

  16. At least James Herriot had a choice. American citizens have to pay American income tax, even if they are expats.

  17. and hence the national health service and it’s peculiar practices were built up

  18. A friend was a doctor in Sweden before the political changes. They had a tax rate of about 80%. Doctors all took off the last three months and went to the Mediterranean. No appointments after October 1.

  19. This is why I will not vote for either Biden or Trump – both equally useless! Arab media knew about it, but who knows about the US Media.

    Our Presidents working behind our back with Iran!?!?!?!?!?!?!

    To keep this from escalating into WWIII by letting Iran save face? Seems ok to me, if that’s really how it happened.

  20. Today, a real insurrection. The coordinated attacks on US infrastructure by anti Israeli demos shows how impotent the US authorities really are. These have to be coordinated by an Outside Power (Russia, China, Iran). If they are not delt with harshly, it will get much worse.
    Chicago will be lit, in more ways than one this summer. Stay safe out there, it is going to get a whole lot uglier.

  21. Karmi; IrishOtter, et al:

    No, Trump did not allow Iran to hit a military base.

    He said:

    Former US President Donald Trump says Israel was a part of the plans to assassinate Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in early 2020.

    Speaking to Fox News, the Republican presidential frontrunner says: “When we took out Soleimani, you know Israel was supposed to do it with us. Two days before the take-out they said ‘We can’t do it. We can’t do it.’ I said ‘What?’ ‘We can’t do it.’”

    Trump went on: “Then I had a certain general, who’s great, I said, ‘So general, do we do it ourselves?’ He said ‘We can, sir, it’s up to you.’ I said ‘We’ll do it.’ …

    Trump asserted that attacks by Iranian militias on US forces that killed three troops “would have never happened with me.”

    “I had Iran in check. Do you know, we hit them very hard for something that they did, and they had to hit back, they feel they have to do that and I understand that. Do you know, they called me to tell me ‘We’re going to hit a certain location but we’re not gonna hit it, it’s gonna be outside of the perimeter’… They let us know. And we had 16 missiles that went off… And we knew they weren’t going to hit. And now I reveal it… So they aimed those missiles and they said, ‘Please don’t attack us, we’re not going to hit you.’ That was respect, we had respect.”

    So what Trump is saying is that – unlike with Biden under whom a base was struck and three US soldiers killed – no US base was struck by Iran when Trump was president because they knew that Trump would NOT allow it without strong retaliation.

    Aside from what Trump says or doesn’t say about it, Trump’s actual objective record with Iran compared to Biden’s actual record with Iran are night and day. Karmi, your equating them is absurd.

  22. Neo: You agree that it was OK for Trump to work w/ Iran behind American’s backs – so that Iran could “save face”? Basically setting up a theatrical scene, and then telling us about the real thing years later…

  23. miguel cervantes:

    I don’t know how they voted or whether they continued to vote, but both John and Ringo came to live in America. John had a green card and was on his way to being allowed to become a US citizen but then he was murdered.

    Here’s Ringo speaking in 2016:

    Former Beatle Ringo Starr has spoken about his reasons for voting in favour of Brexit.

    He also says in the same interview: “The US is my town. America is my town.”

    Speaking to Bloomberg Businessweek, Ringo said: “I voted for Brexit, because I thought the European Union was a great idea, but I didn’t see it going anywhere lately.

    “It’s in shambles, and we’re all stuck with people who want to make arrangements for their own country and don’t think for the other countries.

    “Britain should be out and get back on its own feet.”

  24. Karmi:

    I believe that we know only about 5% o what happens behind the scenes in world affairs. I don’t even know if Trump is telling the truth with that story. What I do know is what actually happened under Trump vs. Biden, and the policies under Trump of which we ARE aware and always were aware. In other words, Biden appeases and gives money to the Iranians and removes sanctions, and wanted to extend Obama’s “deal.” Trump did the opposite: replaced sanctions, didn’t give money, and ended the deal. Under Biden, 3 US servicemen were killed by Iran. Under Trump, none, and Trump also killed the head of Iranian terrorism.

    And yet you say Trump and Biden are the same regarding Iran, which is an absurdity on its face.

  25. }}} Any of these countries, including the US, would not hesitate to attack those that attack them.

    Not the USA, with Democrats in charge, no they wouldn’t.

    Perhaps Hillary, just because she could not stand the challenge to her superior authority… but any other one — Gore, Obama, Biden? They’d dither and hem and haw while the merdia said it was good they did not “over-react”.

    }}} So the Abraham Accords are cool again?

    https://asiatimes.com/2024/04/preliminary-takeaways-of-irans-assault-on-israel/

    What, you mean those treaties Biden induced the ME to sign? 😀

    }}} that song has a whole different rhythm than the theme

    True, but he did say, “inspired by”, not a “riff-off-of”

    And yeah, they voted Labour. Just like idiots who flee Cali because of all the insanity, then vote for the same lunatic policies and politicians they fled from.

    Logical consistency is not only not the strong suit of the PostModern Liberal, it’s really more of an Uno card in the Pinochle deck they use to play Hearts.

  26. Neo: both Trump & Biden worked behind our backs w/ Iran – to help Iran save face. Apparently the Arab world knew about it, but America & the western world were kept in the dark.

  27. Karmi, you’re talking irrationally. One is not the same as the other.

    What was the net effect. Iran lobbed a few missiles into the desert. We killed their highest ranked general leading their QUDS force, along with other top military personnel.

    MIght want a reality check. Trump’s administration had the Iranian’s on their back feet. How much money has the Biden administration sent to Iran, which funded the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.

    This containment of Iran by Trump allowed the Arabs to forge the Abraham Accords. You may dislike Trump, but allowing Biden’s strategy of empowering Iran will lead to even greater instability in the ME.

  28. }}} Karmi: This is why I will not vote for either Biden or Trump – both equally useless! Arab media knew about it, but who knows about the US Media.

    No, they are not “equally useless”. Trump may have allowed THAT to give them a chance to save face while costing the USA effectively nothing. This prevented any escalation requiring an attack-counterattack-countercounterattack, etc.

    This is not the same thing as Biden abandoning all our allies in Afghanistan as well as billions of dollars worth of functional equipment. Not by a long long long shot.

    }}} Jimmy: To keep this from escalating into WWIII by letting Iran save face? Seems ok to me, if that’s really how it happened.

    Exactly.

    }}} Neo: Karmi — I believe that we know only about 5% o what happens behind the scenes in world affairs.

    Probably true. There is what we’re told, what appears to have happened, and what actually happened totally behind the scenes and under cover of events.

    Some things are too big to cover up much… 911 was an example of something that went pretty much as advertised. The only real question might be whether Bush allowed it, much as FDR probably allowed Pearl Harbor.

    }}} At least James Herriot had a choice. American citizens have to pay American income tax, even if they are expats.

    Not if they give up their American citizenship. 😀

    }}} Stay safe out there, it is going to get a whole lot uglier.

    It would not amaze me to find out this is the actual plan the Dems have for the election…

  29. }}} A friend was a doctor in Sweden before the political changes. They had a tax rate of about 80%. Doctors all took off the last three months and went to the Mediterranean. No appointments after October 1.

    In 2017 I was diagnosed with colon cancer after a routine colonoscopy on Mon, Nov 6. I was in to see a surgeon by Thu, Nov 9, and scheduled for surgery on Fri, Nov 17. I was released the day before Thanksgiving, on Wed, Nov 22. It was caught early, so it was about as benign as possible — no chemo, no radiation needed.

    My surgeon pointed out that, he and his surgeon father personally knew Canadian doctors, and, had I been in Canada, I would not have been able to see a doctor until 2018, and that would be after everyone before me — so, probably Feb to Mar for the surgery. Who knows what would have happened with an extra 3-4 months to metastasize?

    a — there is a reason Canada has “medical tourism” to the USA.
    b — there is a reason why the USA’s cancer survival rates are better than either Canada’s or Britain’s. And probably Sweden’s.

    “Oh, but you had good insurance! Suppose you had no insurance!!”

    Frankly, I’d rather have to flat out BEG — via a GoFundMe — for charity from strangers and friends than have to beg for charity from a f***ing government bureaucrat.

    Remember, it was UK bureaucrats who tried to prevent two parents from bringing their likely doomed infant child to America for an experimental treatment… Charity and compassion are not generally a “feature” for bureaucrats.

  30. Brian E. — sometimes this blog reminds me of the Daily Kos (etc.) – muddying the waters to avoid one simple fact.

    American Presidents are working behind American’s backs in order to help Iran “save face”. Setting up theatrical productions to show how they stopped 16 or 300 missiles/drones.

    Iran has been attacking us for decades—in one form or another, and both Trump & Biden have worked w/ Iran in order to help them save face – *UNBELIEVABLE*!!!!!!. Heck, Biden didn’t even let Israel in on this deception of the American voters…

  31. Karmi:

    You keep barking up the same absurd tree.

    Foreign affairs will never be totally transparent. The point is WHY a certain president or administration does something – what is the goal – whether it has been achieved, and what the actual result has been. In all these elements, Trump and Biden differ significantly.

  32. neo:

    I wasn’t referring to Trump with my comment. I was speaking in general terms. When I said “I’m sick of this shit,” I meant . . . everything. I.e., the times in which we live. The constant agita. . . it’s getting to me.

    I’m actually very, very pro-Trump. Always have been. Roger Kimball (of The New Criterion) is the writer who best articulates my pro-Trump views.

    Do I need to further clarify what I mean with the phrase “this shit”? That, today at any rate, I’m tired of the world?

  33. IrishOtter:

    I didn’t think YOU were referring to Trump; Karmi was and is, however. I thought you just meant the whole Iran/Israel business.

    I also am heartily sick of the mess the world seems to be in these days. On the other hand, it’s certainly interesting – as in “interesting times.”

    Hopefully our worst fears won’t be realized.

  34. Fun fact: “May you live in interesting times” was the invention of the English author Ernest Brahmah (1868-1942), creator of the absolutely delightful, charming, and frequently hilarious “Kai Lung” series of novels. Kai Lung, a wandering story teller in a mythical China that has a passing, and decidedly fantastic, resemblance to China in the Tang Dynasty period, often uttered this aphorism to people he encountered in his travels.

    I have collectors’ editions of all of the Kai Lung books. I’m a Kai Lung aficionado!

    See the Wikipedia on Brahmah for a pretty decent write-up of his Kai Lung oeuvre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Bramah

  35. BTW, in a less depressing mold of comment:

    Anyone else seen the new remake of Shogun?

    It’s actually pretty good (not quite complete, just yet).

    It seems as good as I recall the old 80s Shogun series being (I have not seen it in >2 decades, so not sure if it would stand up to modern standards for good TV)

    So far, it’s the best thing this year… the “One Piece” of 2024.

  36. In the family of hallucinogens, homunculus Orange Man chaotically bouncing inside a cranium (aka TDS) produces highly entertaining behavior among its addicts. 2020 blue city protest mayhem was a spectacular (albeit short-lived) example. Except for talk show meltdowns, the MSM version is more subdued.

    Don’t try to rationally talk the poor deranged things down. As the phenomenon’s underlying purpose is entertainment, better to enhance the effect by suggesting that if/when Orange Man reascends to the throne, his exercise of absolute power might be worse than they imagine.

    Why spoil the fun?

  37. If one cant discern between someone who is funding islamists whose govt js riddled with enemy agents i cant help you

    I vaguely recall the original it was probably one of the better adaptations with exception with king rat (which ive seen parts of)

  38. What a horrible way to start a new week. How low will the left go?

    Interview on Megan Kelly, including an explanation by a former FEC official why this can’t be a campaign violation. Includes commentary by Dershowitz.

    Truth About Faulty Legal Theory Behind Trump Case, and “R-Rated” Trial Ahead, w/ Dershowitz & Hammer
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjwjcVYHTA

  39. I’ve seen reports of protests shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge and the road into O’Hare Airport. The one down in Florida was stopped by the cops moving the protesters off the road.

    My question for any medical types – when the people put their arm into the pvc pipes for extended times, are they putting themselves in medical risk? The police don’t seem to remove the pipes, so are they chained together and would that increase the risk?

  40. Neo wrote: “Karmi: You keep barking up the same absurd tree. Foreign affairs will never be totally transparent.”

    Karmi, I retired as a foreign policy professional, a career diplomat privy to a lot of unpleasant people and decisions, and you’re welcome to hate me for it.

    But Neo is correct, foreign affairs at any level is as clear as mud to the public at large, but at the level of war-making or war-preventing it makes mud look like clear spring water. And in many ways, that’s as it should be. You and I sleep free and easy at night because (at the risk of repeating a cliché) hard men and women are willing to do some pretty unpleasant things on our behalf, and because the politicians and diplomats who direct them all too often must operate in a fog of secrecy. I’m not saying to just sit back and trust, though. But it is how the real world works, like it or not.

    As for not wanting to vote for either Biden or Trump, I have one more cliché: please don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. When we vote for an individual candidate we’re not voting just for that person, we’re voting for the entire direction of the government, a huge apparatus, or a leviathan, if you prefer. That matters.

  41. Btw, I was hoping there would be more discussion about Revolver, imo The Beatles’ finest album, and George Harrison’s 1st real moment in the limelight. Three strong songs (one to lead off the album!) and a strong influence on much of the rest of the album, especially She Said She Said, a Lennon song that Harrison practically helped write and record.

    Especially curious about Huxley’s take on the album.

  42. Yet again, blue cities are bearing the brunt of pro-Palestine protests.

    Bummer

  43. Especially curious about Huxley’s take on the album.

    Telemachus:

    I still hold out for “Sgt. Pepper’s” as the Beatles album which was the rock equivalent of the first moon landing. Historic. I remember where I was when both happened. We weren’t in Kansas anymore.

    However, I love “Revolver” equally well and I am persuaded that in terms of innovation and perfection “Revolver” is the better album.

    No question “Revolver” was a breakthrough rock album, but “Sgt. Pepper’s” changed the world or let the world know it had been changed.

    The Beatles were a great band, but there have been plenty of those. No other band has had the cultural impact of the Beatles.

    You’re right that “Revolver” was also George Harrison’s breakthrough album.

  44. Love the Paul McCartney guitar solo in Taxman.

    Alan+Colbo:

    Quite! I was surprised when I learned that was McCartney. I thought George was finally rocking out! I didn’t realize then how much McCartney was a musical genius.

    But when I thought a bit more, that solo wasn’t Harrison’s style. He specialized in those small perfect licks, which don’t jump out at the listener, but keep the song whole.

  45. huxley is correct, writing on April 15, 2024 at 7:34 pm said:

    “Especially curious about Huxley’s take on the album.
    Telemachus:
    “I still hold out for ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ as the Beatles album which was the rock equivalent of the first moon landing. Historic. …”

    Historic. Indeed. The annunciation of prog rock, as well as the pop culture christening of the Power of Production (along with Glenn Gould), as Peter Jackson’s recent documentary proves.

    But. In terms of longevity by paradigm, I think “Abbey Road” defined the lasting path through the 1990s, as seen by the Gallagher brother’s Oasis and Karl Wallinger’s World Party. Delightful echoes of Abbey Road…

    Channeling John in this video music clip of “Wonderwall”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc
    MTV backstory
    https://www.mtv.com/news/ol81nx/oasis-bigger-than-the-beatles

    Ditto “Put The Message in a Box” music video, pure Beatles celebration!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udCaa-Ju3dk
    As is the entire album “Goodbye Jumbo” (1980)
    (Reading the posted comments, I read that Wallinger died lat month, only 67yo. How sad. I never got to see him live, and now I never will.)

    Which raises a subsequent question: Where in the 2000s did it peter out?

  46. }}} and the road into O’Hare Airport.

    FWIW, from experience, if you’re anywhere north of Chicago, your best bet is either Madison WI or Milwaukee,WI (latter preferred), over O’Hare. If O’Hare is more than a half-hour drive from where you are (which is almost anywhere), you’re better off going to the other two — it’ll take you a lot less time to get in, out, and around the place, even with a longer drive.

    Can’t speak for south and west. But probably other airports are easier to get in, out, and around, I’d bet. O’Hare is flat out a total nightmare.

  47. }}} Btw, I was hoping there would be more discussion about Revolver, imo The Beatles’ finest album,

    Frankly, I argue for Rubber Soul, as it’s the one that set off the “battle” between The Beatles’ and The Beach Boys, which culminated in more advanced sounds from both. The later albums are inarguably more sophisticated, but RS led the way to that sophistication.

  48. Telemachus on April 15, 2024 at 6:42 pm
    “… the politicians and diplomats who direct them all too often must operate in a fog of secrecy. ”
    With your experience, and also recognizing these people are still supposed to be “public servants” and accountable to “the People”, would you (do you?) favor some form of public exposure after a set period of months or years, depending on the nature of the event/ issue at hand?

    E.g., by now perhaps almost everything done or said about the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, even the JFK assassination should be made public. In contrast, much but maybe not yet all about the 9/11 reactions/ responses might be made public (hiding or exposing the decisions around letting Saudi residents to leave, etc.) while still hiding (perhaps) selected military responses or communications with other Muslim countries. More recent events still retain controls for maybe another 20 or 40 years? Is there a time span after which it should all become public?

    I suspect most of us would like more info made public sooner, perhaps not fully recognizing how some info is more sensitive than other content. Intelligence sources and whistle blowers still deserve protections, for example.

  49. Where are we now? is a nice thought piece by Albin Sabor at American Thinker. He seems to be channeling Victor Davis Hanson this past week.

    He opens by describing how Obama started his “fundamental transformation” of America into division and repulsion,and post-trump, put his fingers inside his puppet Biden until today.

    “One could say that the MAGA movement is the Tea Party supercharged. The latter was pushback against Obama’s early years in office, with a large portion of the country seeing what “fundamental transformation” really means—pitting poor against rich, black against white, women against men, children against parents—and saying these are not the ideals upon which our country was founded nor for which it fought.”

    The result is “The Fundamental Unraveling of America” we see today.

    “Whenever Democrats and the Far Left talk about Trump supporters, they always sneer when saying the name ‘MAGA.’ In other words, they never say the words to which the letters refer. Why not? They do not want people to hear that those opposing their leftist views want to ‘make America great again.’

    “If you love this country, why would you not want to see it great, now and in the future? And the opposite is also true. If you do not love this country, wouldn’t you naturally want to change it in a whole other direction, thus the need to manufacture a transformation?”

    So, I say my current T-shirt reads “[Democrat logo] HATE America FIRST!”

    CONFRONT THE BASTARDS WITH THE UGLY TRUTH.
    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/04/the_fundamental_unraveling_of_america.html

    Make them embrace the suck — and own it, out loud!

  50. Rubber Soul

    When I was young, popular music was just background music to me. The only music device I had was an AM clock radio. I didn’t know or follow pop music much. I knew all the words to all the songs, and I had a nice singing voice and could do a nice rendition of “if You Could Read My Mind” for example but if you asked me who sang it, I would have a hard time coming up with Gordon Lightfoot.

    That changed when I moved abruptly to Seattle before my senior year of HS. I had gotten a hold of this Akai reel-to-reel tape deck. The same model that was later used in “Apocalypse Now” for the “Ride of the Valkyries” scene. Most of the tapes were classical. First time I heard “Lay Lady Lay” though. I asked for an amp for Christmas, but I got a nice Kenwood amp and turn table and three albums. Must have been my sib’s input. One of the three was “Rubber Soul”.

    Flash forward to Halloween 1982. The spacecraft had flown I went to a Halloween Party…

    We danced. We danced again three more times. It didn’t matter what the music was, we danced slow, in each other’s arms, her face aglow, and her eyes sparkling.

    The first song was “Eleanore Rigby.”

  51. Re: Rubber Soul

    What a brilliant album! “Drive My Car,” “Norwegian Wood,” and “In My Life” to name a few.

    I will cavil and say “Rubber Soul” was the Beatles absorbing Bob Dylan and some Soul, not yet blazing their own trails of “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s.”

    For those who prefer the Beatles-Beach Boys competition, here’s Bob Dylan’s hilarious send-up of “Norwegian Wood” on “Blonde on Blonde”:
    ____________________________________________

    I stood there and hummed
    I tapped on her drum and asked her how come
    And she buttoned her boot
    And straightened her suit
    Then she said, “Don’t get cute”
    So I forced my hands in my pockets
    And felt with my thumbs
    And gallantly handed her
    My very last piece of gum

    –Bob Dylan “4th Time Around”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkBF7URH98

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