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We welcome Conversation
But without Vituperation.
If your aim is Vilification ––
Other forms of Denigration ––
Unfounded Accusation --
Determined Obfuscation ––
Alienation with Self-Justification ––
We WILL use COMMENT ERADICATION.
IN ADDITION
Gratuitous Displays of Extraneous Knowledge Offered Not To Shed Light Or Enhance the Discussion, But For The Primary Purpose Of Giving An Impression Of Superiority are obnoxiously SELF-AGGRANDIZING, and therefore, Subject to Removal at the Discretion of the Censor-in-Residence.
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ReplyDeleteThat cowardly incompetent pussy Obama drew a line in the sand and then chickenshitted out and children were gassed and Trump had to deal with the problem.
Dengration of Democrats past and present is a WASTE of TIME. Try instead, please, to emphasize POSITIVE points about public figures of whom you do approve.
DeleteThank yu.
The current situation in Syria, has gone from bad to worse this week, as a chemical weapons attack left dozens dead, and dozens more critically injured in a northern Syrian community, the Idlib province described as a rebel enclave.
ReplyDeleteIt has been described as the worst chemical attack in the war-torn country in years, but the real question is…what to do about it?
Well it seems that last night. President Trump gave the order to Fire 50 Tomahawk Cruise Missles into Syria. And that seems to be the correct thing to do, at least in MY estimation. They hit the air fields controlled by Assad, where the chemical weapons attack seemed to be carried out from. Killing 7 and injuring several others, That place is ashes now. Yes, the US knew exactly where the chemicals originated from.
Showing that this is not a cowardly Red Line Drawing President, and that we finally have a president with some balls.
Bottom line. This is a message to the world that America is serious and will back up words with actions in 2017. Furthermore, it will be a message to their government, and/or a precursor to more launches if the U.S chooses. It is a guessing game for Assad while America decides, destroy more of their capabilities or wait and see.
With all the talk about North Korea, as well as Chinese officials in America tomorrow, this is a sign that America won't be a docile do-nothing Nation anymore.
Look, I am not supportive of war without purpose. I am also very angry that other Nations don't ally with America as they should when there are threatening leaders in Iran, Syria or North Korea for example. These problems are global problems and deserve at least as much focus as climate change does.
As for Russia, and their big mouths! This has nothing to do with the Russians. This is about Assad. This has been going on for much to long, only because Obama was the problem, he warned Assad and drew “Red Lines” in the sand and then chickenshitted out. Obama was the worst Commander in Chief we ever had and now Trump is having to deal with it.
Somewhere in Tahiti a cowardly former president has just dirtied his diaper.
But, DD, do you honestly bekieve that Presdent Trump's dramatic gesture is certain to have any lasting beneficial effect to the demoralizing situation in the Middle East? –– Or is it just more apt to CONTINUE the unending MISERY that has defined the region ever since I can remember [about 65 years]?
DeleteSyria is a sovereign nation. Force is justified only in response to an act of aggression. The nation of Syria committed no act of aggression against the USA.
ReplyDeleteTrump acted out of raw emotion. In direct reversal of his prior stated position. He ought to have stuck with his stated earlier position.
Anonymous,
DeleteI tend to agree!
It all depends on how we choose to define, "An Act of Aggression," doesn't it?
DeleteAre both of you stating that any form of intervention on behalf of oppressed people anywhere in the world should always be be OFF the TABLE?
That's a question not a criticism –– and certainly not an indictment ––, so please respond accordingly in like fashion.. ;-)
I'm saying that the United States should not be the world's policeman.
DeleteI'm also saying that anything to do with Islamic nations of the Middle East is about as clear as mud. As our friend SF wisely said, "There are no good players there."
And let's be clear about the matter of Syria: take on Syria, and we take on Iran.
Related reading: Tammy Swofford's recent essay Congratulations! You have twins!, which states as follows:
Any ground forces military action against Syria is military aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Syria serves as a convenient land bridge for black market armaments, land mass with IRG chain of command oversight, refuge for HizbAllah, and source of dabbling about with nuclear weapons acquisition.
Seeking to “remove Assad” is like using a trowel to take down an oak tree. Iran is an oak.
We will not be successful in this venture and Trump may end up with an undesirable twin meme of his own:
LBJ had his Vietnam. Trump had his Syria.
And remember who first reported the gas attack -- not exactly a reliable source, IMO.
DeleteAll I have to say –– and will EVER have go say to that is
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If we continue to be too SQUEAMISH, too OBEDIENTto IDOTIC LAWS, and too STUPID too avoid adopting DIDADIN we DESERVE to be cast onto the Ash Heap of History –– a certain destination in the not-too-distant future, if we fail to act decisively.
THE US CONSTITUTION IS NOT A SUICIDE PACT.
It seems like Donald Trump has succumbed to the pressures of the deep state military industrial complex. Not exactly the rhetoric that he displayed during the election.
ReplyDeleteIt's particularly disgusting watching the Mockingbird repetition of the CIA controlled American media responding on key to this very timely alleged chemical weapon attack of the Syrian government on its own people. Hardly believable since it's been done before this time any more than previously/
It really looks like like piling on and instead of helping a legitimately elected government restore order the biggest bully on the planet comes along to kick the victim while he's down and struggling.
Nothing new here since America has aided and abetted the opposition to the Assad government over the years—even to the extent of arming the terrorists opposing Assad.
Anybody that thinks FoxNews is anything but a mouthpiece for the CIA and the military industrial complex should now be disabused. Instead they're the Voice of RIYADH. Is John Brennan still running the CIA from behind the curtain?
While i continue to cast a Weather Eye on the workings of government –– as Thomas Jefferson solemnly enjoined us to do –– I have not reached your stage of cynicism just yet, Waylon.
DeleteI want to believe in the essential virtue of our having made Mr. Trump our president, but he is, after all, only human, and THIS particular maneuver looks as though it MAY have been prompted more by the wishes of his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner for reasons of their own than from motives broader or nore noble.
I don't LIKE having been made to consider such an appalling possibility, but since several prominent leftists –- including the execrable senator from "Noo Yawk," Charles Schumer –– have publicly aplauded the move, and it seems to serve better the immediate interests of ISRAEL more than our own, naturally I feel cmpelled to question rather than applaud the action.
It seems like only yesterday the liberal gas bags were saying Trump allowed the gassing in Syria. Isn’t It Funny How Quiet The Democrats Are This Morning
ReplyDeleteSome KEY Democrats have actually come ot in FAVOR of Trump' military initiative.
DeleteGo figger!
I thought Obama "forced" Assad to get rid of all his chemical weapons?
ReplyDeleteObama failures are showing once again. Maybe he can draw a red line with his crayons in his hut in Hawaii? Or wherever the hell he is!
Dengration of Democrats past and present is a WASTE of TIME. Wedon't need to be told over and over again what we already know ––and have known in many instance for YEARS.
DeleteTry instead, please, to emphasize the VIRTUES of people you LIKE, and share POSITIVE points about public figures of whom you do approve.
Thank you.
Im sick and tired of all you anti-Trumpers piling up on every word he says, or does, the guys been in office for 3 friggin months, what the hell do you want?
ReplyDeleteFor 8 years we've been putting up with all that CRAP from Obama and his stooges, and now that we got rid of the POS, no body is satisfied with giving Trump a chance. These Morons wanted him assassinated , or Impeached since day one!
He has had more adversaries than Carter has pills. I never hear anyone speak about shooting Ovomit, like these idiots on the left do. Just look at what that Moron Snoopy Dog did just last week. And how about that Idiot Congressman and so called “Civil Right leader” John Lewis who said he's NOT a legitimate President? Why don’t all you Jackass’s go to Canada like you promised?
The Russians did it, the Count was fixed, Hillary had the popular vote, ENOUGH ALREADY, don’t like it, put on your Pussy Hat and go March!
? :|
DeleteJMJ
Surely BOD's intention is clear, Jersey? Like so many others he or she just wants to denigrate Democrats and blame our present problems on the Obama administration.
DeleteI do agree with BOD n this point:
"[Trump] has had more adversaries than Carter has pills. I never hear anyone speak about shooting [Obama], like these idiots on the left do [about getting rid of Trump –– no matter what it takes.]"
But I object to the TONE of BOD's post –– and of the many others like him, her or it, who use witless terms of insult and base vulgarity instead of intelligent, fact-based analysis to make a point worth considering.
Dear, Basket of Deplorables,
DeleteDenigration of Democrats past and present is a WASTE of TIME. We don't need to be told over and over again what we already know and have known in many instance for YEARS.
Try instead, please, to emphasize the VIRTUES of people you LIKE, and share POSITIVE points about public figures of whom you do approve.
Thank you.
I just don't know what it had to do with this post!
DeleteJMJ
Not worth worryin' about, if you ask me, buddy, ;-)
DeleteI don't know, but when I see people writing things like "so called “Civil Right leader” John Lewis," or making fun of Jimmy Carter for being sick, or pretending Obama never faced threats to his and his family's lives, I have to wonder... exactly what kind of scumbag is this? Does he have a brain tumor? Was he raised by wolves? ;)
DeleteJMJ
Jersey,
DeleteIt's a simple Fact of Life that many whom people of your political persuasion want to regard as heroes, people of ours tend to regard either as fiends or fools.
As you may or may not have noticed, I am trying to institute an Anti-Denigration policy here.
By that i don't mean any enforced lack of Opposition, but I, personally am SICK to DEATH of endless Name-Calling, Witless Derogation, Irresponsible Mud-Slinging, and Regurgitation of Canned Talking Points gleaned from Purely Partisan Poopaganda Mills.
I think from what you've been saying lately, that you may agree with me on that.
We've GOT to stop acting like silly adolescents indulging in ina Food Fight, or we will not survive as a people.
Anger and resentment may be natural, but they are useful ONLY if they prompt an honest search for the TRUTH which may –– or may not –– confirm our pet prejudices, beliefs and suspicions.
This is what MATURE people of mirla and intellectual INTEGRITY are supposed to do. Unfortunately, such admirable souls seem in very short supply these days.
But hasn't that always been the case?
As Hume advsed us way back in the eighteenth-century:
“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”
“Truth springs from argument amongst friends.”
~ David Hume (1711-1776)
Notice please that he added "amongst friends." Argument for the sake of argument –– something I feel we see entirely too often in the blogosphere –– is too often a childish, exhausting, utterly fruitless endeavor.
Hey! I'm like Trump! I just "counter-punch!" ;)
DeleteJMJ
Disquieting information:
ReplyDeleteUK doctor who documented Syria ‘chemical attack’ was considered “committed jihadist” by MI6.
Why do they call him a "BRITISH" doctor, when his name Shajul Islam?
DeleteHe's no more "BRITISH" than you and I are HOTTENTOTS.
That kind of blind, ideological stupidity just burns me up.
He trained in Britain.
DeleteI also note that he runs this nonprofit.
Having been born in Britain could no more make one an ENGLISHMAN than having been born in in a garage could make you a CAR!
DeleteRunning a non-profit institution for the probably benefit of ISLAMIC TERRORISTS in a ROGUE NATION shoud qualify anyone born ANYWHERE in the West to be a TRAITOR to the country and indigenous culture of his birth.
YUP! I'm an ardent NATIVIST –– and poud of it.
Now ask me what i MEAN by that, and I'll probably tell you in a few-thousand well-chosen words –– as if I had not already done that hundreds of times here in numerous corners of Bogistan, –– itself an obvious Rogue Nation, if ever one existed. ;-).
I have felt very strongly all my conscious life, –– but especially since 911 ––. that clasping individuals to our bosom from places, cultures and ethnic groups fundamentally hostile to our established Beliefs, Traditions, Mores and Way of Life, then allowing them to share what we own, what we know, and what we have developed by dint of superior intelligence, hradier spirital values, and nust plain hard work WITHOUT requiring ALLEGIANCE from them –– a condition we should be willing to IMPOSE on them, and MONITOR for YEARS, until all doubt of their loyalty to us has dissipated –– is frankly SUICIDAL.
DeleteAnd for this I am regarded by many as Narrow-Minded, a Racist, an Intolerant Nativist, a Bigot, a "Nazi.," probably a Homophobe and certainly a Misogynist –– and God only knows what all else.
Well, PHOOEY on THAT!
Frankly, my dears, I DON'T GIVE a DAMN.
Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. };^)>
59 Tom Cruise Missiles were sent. The US says all significant things were destroyed and the Russians say nothing of significance was destroyed.
ReplyDeleteMain point.
I am not in favor of engaging the moslem vermin outside of removing every one of them from the Earth, but OTOH, sending the message that America is not being run by a moslem loving pussy anymore is a plus.
"Tom Cruise Missiles?" Were they sent with a few good men?
Delete];^}>
DeleteCan you launch missiles from inside a closet?
DeleteJMJ
Well, there are a few misconceptions out there. First, this was not a false-flag attack by the rebels, or our own "Deep State." But the evidence is overwhelming, given the way it was deployed, and no rebels or terrorists in that part of the world have successfully deployed, or even produced, weaponized Sarin. We know Assad had Sarin, he admitted it, though coyly, and after Obama threatened to get involved, Russia stepped in and brokered a deal to ostensibly get rid of it. This is why people are bringing up Russian culpability or even compliance. As for the "Deep State," it would simply be impossible to pull of such a thing. The joke of America's obsession with secrecy is that we are absolutely terrible at it.
ReplyDeleteThere's certainly a misunderstanding of Obama's role in this, but I did pay attention, and recall when Obama so much as mentioned going to the Hill for a new AUMF to deal with Syria, the GOP wanted no part of it, along with as many Democrats, and when he talked about and many times used these sorts of actions outside Iraq and Afghanistan, Mitch McConnell called them useless "pinpricks." Donald Trump, until the other day, had long said he wanted no part of it either.
With the air cleared a bit, we can see that Trump is indeed "flexible," and is capable of making decisions without regard for ideological rigidity. That's good.
Trump also showed a decisiveness that may be a little reckless, but note he was very careful to avoid casualties, by warning the Russians. I don't know what role he played in that part of the decision-making, but it was done very smartly.
Now, Trump seems a little confused about how and why this happened, but the lesson he should learn here is never trust Putin, and given this action, I think he knows now. It was Putin who promised to get those weapons out of there, as we couldn't go in to "verify," and now we see he either lied, or Assad got it back or made more, but as we know Putin holds major sway over there, so it's hard to believe he didn't know. I would think the weapons were always there, in case the regime really started to really fall.
I believe this was a test to see what Trump would do, and he passed it, to the consternation of Putin and Assad.
It's also good to see the leadership on the Hill, on both sides of the aisle, were supportive of this. In the case of the GOP, aside from the far right fringes ("Deep State" conspiracy theorists, white ethno-nationalists, etc), and the peaceniks on the left, it was refreshing to see the leaders get on board, though it would be nice to see them spend more political capital than just talk, but it's a start!
JMJ
Jersey,
DeleteYou underestimate the ability of determined power elites and propagandists to steer society.
Why don't we see pictures of the atrocities going on in Yemen? They don't have cameras there?
Actors in that part of the world have a history of plucking our heartstrings in order to rouse our war machine and destroy the enemies of the propagandists who manipulated us.
We are a stupid nation being manipulated by foreigners smarter than us, the neocons, and the war profiteering industry.
If we are going to spend well over a half-trillion a year on the MIC, we could at least use it for good once in a while. Heck, for this sort of stuff, all you really need a strong active navy, and a small but highly skilled marines. It's the endlessly standing Army, that is really only useful if you are invading other countries or being invaded ourselves, that's killing us financially.
DeleteI have no problem with a strong military, but I think we should be doing it at much less cost and scope. The Founders were right about that and it remains true today - we can project power just fine with a powerful navy.
JMJ
Jersey, your first statement basically in support of President Trump's decision was surprising, and very interesting –– especially coming from you, when you've been so vehemently opposed to Mr. Trump all along.
DeleteNanny Pelousy, Upchuck Schemer and Benjamin Cardin –– among others on the left –– were ALSO enthusiastic about this action.
Hmmmmmmmmm ...
SilverFiddle, you never cease to astonish me. (More on this later. I have a date with Father Dowling right now ;-)
DeleteMeanwhile, I'd like BOTH of you to consider just WHO and WHAT the "neocons" really are. I'd be most interested to see your views on that tawdry subject.
I'll tell you THIS to start with:
The "NEOCONS" are NOT –– and never have been –– OUR friends.
JMJ,
DeleteWe know Assad had Sarin
Yes, he did.
But could that preclude "the rebels" having sarin? Furthermore, it seems that some of Assad's military have gone rogue.
Now, I would hope that our military intelligence have definitely determined that Assad did indeed order the deploying of sarin. But I still have a hard time figuring out what advantage it was for Assad to do so. A test for Trump? Yes, that's a possibility, and if that's the case, the world just found out that Trump isn't all bluster.
What Assad had or didn't have, and what he did or didn't do is particulary important in my opinion. What SHOULD concern us most is the MOTIVATION behind President Trump's attack on that Syrian Arid Force Base.
DeleteWHY did he do it, and for WHOSE ultimate benefit? –– Ours? –– His? –– or Someone Else's?
WHO influenced him in that direction and WHY?
A careful, hopefully-objective study of the Motivations, Machinations and primary IDENTITY of the NEOCON Movement might serve us well in answerng these questions.
Well, FT, this was a symbolic act. We used 59 (very expensive) Tomahawk missiles to destroy a handful of old planes. We didn't even take out the runways. But it's something. We'll see in the near future where exactly we stand.
DeleteI was thinking about how to define "Neocon" when I saw this quote from Wiki:
"During January 2009, at the end of President George W. Bush's second term in office, Jonathan Clarke, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, proposed the following as the "main characteristics of neoconservatism": "a tendency to see the world in binary good/evil terms", a "low tolerance for diplomacy", a "readiness to use military force", an "emphasis on US unilateral action", a "disdain for multilateral organizations" and a "focus on the Middle East"."
I would add 'a patriotically questionable devotion to Israel's political right-wing,' 'profiting from the American war machine,' and 'really bad at everything they do, except for the profiting.'
The Neocon's lust for war and confrontation is nothing new. It goes back to the Cold War. And so we never really had a chance to breath after the Soviet Union fell. It was straight off to the Middle East and we've been fighting over there ever since 1990. 27 long, miserable, failed, wasted years. The Neocons simply replaced Soviet Communism with "radical Islam." And so, as the Rev. Wright pointed out, when 9/11 happened, the "chickens came home to roost." And it's been hell ever since.
Trump is not surrounded by Neocons. I'm sure they're there, but he doesn't seem to share (or perhaps even understand) their perspective. I think he thought we had to respond somehow and was given a relatively harmless way of doing it.
AoW, no non-state entity, aside from that weird cult in Japan, has ever successfully made and deployed Sarin. Meanwhile, we KNOW state actors over there had and used it. As well, the way it was deployed, the bombing of the hospital afterwards, it just wouldn't make sense at all. The rebels do not have the capacity for all that, and no history of such acts.
JMJ
Della Lugosi said
Delete[... 'a patriotically questionable devotion to Israel's political right-wing,' 'profiting from the American war machine,' ...]
Now you're talking.
How many ways can you spell K-U-S-H-N-E-R?
There's one of them in every woodpile.
Well, it isn't just Jews. Plenty of Jews, here, in Israel, and elsewhere, are not Neocons, nor have any affinity for Likud and such, and would love to see Israel go back to the pre-1967 borders and the "two-state solution."
DeletePolitically, here in the US, it was the right wing evangelical movement who became the constituency for the Neocons when it came to Israel. Ironically, it was that same crowd, among a few similar others, who kept the Jewish refugees out of this country after WWII, which facilitated the Zionist takeover of Israel at pretty much the very worst time in history for that to happen. Today's Israel is a historic accident. There should not be an Israel right now. It happened because Western Christians drove them to it. Had we, and the British Commonwealth, accepted the refugees, 70 years of non-stop misery over there could have been avoided, or at least alleviated a bit.
Regardless of the merits, Israel makes the perfect scapegoat for all their troubles over there. Middle Eastern leaders use Israel as an excuse for every bad thing they do. And it sure doesn't help when Israel behaves as poorly as they have in recent years.
I've been warning Neocon-friendly Jewish friends of mine for years that these evangelicals are NOT their friends, and their motives have NOTHING to do with the well-being of the Jewish people. In their minds, Judea and Samaria must be reunited under Jewish rule, so that a new Temple can be built (what they expect put inside this Temple, I have no idea), and then Jesus will return, and the Jews can either convert to Christianity, or be "left behind" to face the forces of Satan (or join him) in a thousand-year Apocalypse.
Kushner is not known as an ideologue, and his association with the Neocons is mixed. So far, he has mostly disappointed them.
JMJ
It IS complex, Jersey, I readily admit that, and I think you have a good point abut Zionism, except for one thing:
DeleteToday's Jewish State would NEVER have come into existence had it not BEEN for Zionism. Also, one of the major things that has kept Jews together for literally thusands of years, –– despite the Diaspora, despite relentless Persecution, and being forced to live in relatively small numbers in many different countries and cultures often thusands of miles apart ––, is the fervent belief –– a persistent MYTH really –– that a Return to Reclaim JERUSALEM and rule once again over what-they-insist-is-their-rightful heritage –– the Promised Land God gave them according to the Bibe –– is a vital necessity if they are ever to fulfill their promose and God-ordained identity as a people.
Israel today is the PRODUCT of Zionism, so its very hard for me to believe that a significant facition of Israelis today would take an anti-Zionist position.
The incredible irony, of course, as SilverFiddle already mentioned, is that ATHEISM –– NOT JUDAISM –– is the true religion of about 85% of Israel's population–– a undeniable fact that seems to BELIE the authenticity of the claim that "ZION" is the Rightful Heritage of the Jews.
Frankly the more one thinks about about it, the more bizarre, mysterious, and maddeungly illogical it gets, and yet WE feel we MUST be BOUND by it.
Zionism was around a loooong time before the events of WWII, and was never seen as a realistic option by the vast majority of Jews and everyone else until after WWII when the refugees had no where to turn, and were understandably furious and desperate to get away from Europe and the Soviets.
DeleteAs for atheism, you can be a Jew and essentially be an atheist. They have a very different understanding of of religion than Christians or Muslims.
JMJ
'Tain't RELIGION, Jersey, it's ETHNICITY. In a sense the jews make a quasi0religiin out of their ethnicity. It's UNIQUE in all the world, and I do believe it may be the reason the vast majority of people un Europe Engkand and the USA have found the presence of Jewsin their midst puzzling, disturbing, –– even threatening.
DeleteIt's an extremely interesting topic and one that deserves close, careful, intensive study. It's much too bad that we can't really talk about it without stirring up a whole lot of flack and ugly fits of temper.
JMJ,
DeleteThe rebels do not have the capacity for all [making and deploying sarin], and no history of such acts.
As far as we know. There's always a first time, a seminal moment.
To kill a bunch of their own children and then bomb the hospital, when they don't even have planes...
DeleteNo, AoW, they didn't do it. Assad is essentially making a burn-field. It's the only way to secure his fortress. He wants them out of there or dead.
JMJ
FT, most every society relates their religion to their ethnicity and vice versa. The Jews are unique in that their religion and ethnicity go waaaaay back, long before many of our ancestors even arrived at our "ancestral" homelands or even were our "ancestral" ethnicity!
DeleteSo, yeah, they are unique. Good for them! Without them - no Christianity, no Islam. Most people think that's a good thing (I'm not so sure that was very good).
They have been in more or less diaspora throughout the Western World since the final fall of Jerusalem by the Romans almost 2,000 years ago.
The reason they still get a hard time all these years later has to do with the New Testament and the way Jews are portrayed therein. Certain Christian European leaders, of church and state and localities, parlayed that representation into their segregation and flat-out of abuse. Some were smarter, taking advantage of the trade opportunities the diaspora created, with Jews having connections scattered throughout Europe (east and west), North Africa, and the Middle East and Iran, and their social status relegating them to the "unseemly" professions involving money, precious metal, interest-profit - the stuff of capitalism, which used to be considered by Christians to be inherently un-Christian. But they also got a lot of abuse for that.
So, yes. They are unique. But puzzling, disturbing, threatening? Not the least to me. Just unique. A tough little tribe who managed to maintain their identity and culture for 5,000 years, through many, many horrors and ethnic cleansings. Good for them!
JMJ
JMJ,
DeleteHe wants them out of there or dead.
I don't disagree. Assad is determined to hold onto his rule of Syria. Is that so different from any number of Middle Eastern nations?
" ... So, yes. [the Jews] are unique. But puzzling, disturbing, threatening? Not the least to me. Just unique."
DeleteWell, Jersey, you are a nost unusal person, yourself, –– and unusually kind and charitable –– especially toward individuals and groups most in our country regard with suspicion, resentment, and even fear.
I hasten to add to that to distrust, dislike or fear the motives of any person or persons regarded as The Other does NOT mean that one harbors a desire to PERSECUTE or DESTROY them.
That's a false conclusion leftists love to draw in order to strengthen their grip on political power and reinforce their determination to SHAME those who see the world differently from them into keeping in line –– with the worldview leftists are determined to FORCE upon the entire world.
Until the Great Day finally arrives, when cynics cease their sour, manipulative promptings, and ALL people are willing to GIVE EACH OTHER the Benefit of the Doubt, and act accordingly, there will continue to be endless Strife that too often leads to violent, massively destructive froms of reprisal.
Meanwhile, when violence-prone, barbaric entities such as the so-called ISLAMISTS still feel justified in committing horrific acts of SADISTIC, MURDEROUS VIOLENCE against wholly INNOCENT PEOPLE –– even to the point of sending their CHILDREN out laden with EXPLOSIVES to commit SUICIDE for nothing nobler or more purposeful than SHEER SPITE –– those of us who still hope to maintain OUR version of CIVILIZATION must continue to arm ourselves to the teeth in preparation both to DEFEND ourselves and to VANQUISH the prfoundly EVIL forces that threaten –– not only US, but the ENTIRE WORLD.
Well, just a couple generations ago, it was true of much of Europe! Just ask a Roma or a Jew!
DeleteThe Palestinians tried to overthrow the government of Jordan, but the Jordanians didn't gas them. Instead, they tried to help them even more, so as to avoid revolutionary urges in the first place.
Assad has been so terrible, there's no turning back. It's either keep on killing, or be killed. It's a horrible situation...
AND ALL BECAUSE OF COLONIALISM.
These stupid lines the colonial powers drew over there, these sleazy power-groups they put in charge between these stupid lines, have been NOTHING but trouble.
JMJ
JMJ,
DeleteAND ALL BECAUSE OF COLONIALISM.
That region of the world has long been in turmoil -- even before colonialism. Tribalism and its effects predate colonialism.
The above said, the West's meddling in the Middle East has been a huge problem and the apparent cause of much misery.
FT! Thank you for your kind words. And you are proof that being unusually kind and charitable is not a partisan matter!
DeleteAs for critical perspectives of "others," though it does not necessitate confrontation, it can and often is an impetus for it. This is where folks like me part from Marx - class, or any "otherness" distinction, in and of itself, does not necessitate conflict. People can use otherness, attach nefarious beliefs or actions to that otherness, to incite people to do things certain interests want them to do, like spend a fortune on the military, or distract the people from pressing issues that certain interests were rather not addressed.
Those others fighting it out in the Middle East, and somewhat abroad, are a tiny minority of the world. They are also s#!t broke, with failed states, ruined infrastructures, and on and on. We most certainly do not need to arm ourselves to the teeth to deal with this. Between us, the Russians, China, Europe, India - if these mad hashashins ever did pose a serious existential threat to the great powers, we could stomp them out of existence in a matter of minutes with a tiny fraction of our capacity. The world is patiently trying not to do that. But I don't doubt for one minute that if things got that bad, it'd be set right in pretty short order.
JMJ
By the way, Jersey, while we in the Christian West certainly have committed our fair share of atrocities, I don't believe, even at our worst, which was, indeed horrific [See IT's the BELLIGERENCE, STUPID! at FreeThinke's Blog in 2012 - the first year of our existence], we haver QUITE stooped to the level of brainwashing our children to COMMIT SUICIDE for SHEER SPITE, or DECAPITATING small children, or DROWNING PEOPLE LOCKED in STEEL CAGES, or GOUGING OUT the EYES of WIVES caught –– or merely SUPECTED of –– some minor infraction of CANON LAW –– or MURDERING OUR OWN DAUGHTERS or SISTERS for some absurdly trivial "offense" that "DISHONORED" her FAMILY, etc.
DeleteMy wife has a book she bought it in Germany when she was young and traveling. It's called "Criminal Justice Through The Ages (from divine justice to modern German Legislation)," an English translation of "Volume IV of the publications of the Mediaeval Crime Museum, Rothenburg ob der Tauber." A good reading of that would quickly disabuse you of the notion that we are somehow better human beings than those others by virtue of our religion, or anything else.
DeleteWhat's happening over there is atrocious. It's horrifying. No one seems to have any answer. There's only one thing I can think of, but the Neocons have done a splendid job making sure this never happens...
Throughout Western History, multilateral balances of power were always the key to resolving problems, or avoiding them in the first place. After the Crusades, which were just a series of headaches and debacles that ended in destroying the Byzantine Empire and losing Eastern Europe to the Muslims, the European powers realized that multi-lateral power balances, with sphere's of influence that overlapped so as to avoid losing territory to forces outside that structure, were the key to maintaining order and peace, and actually getting things done. Europe, though not without plenty of turmoil, grew rapidly from then on, and was then able to exert it's tremendous new influence around the world.
If were are going to straighten things out over there, we need a huge multi-lateral effort, followed by a huge multi-lateral Marshall Plan, with realistic goals based on realities on the ground. The Alawites will never again be able to maintain a secure and peaceful Syria. They should get their old little kingdom back, and that's that. The Kurds must have a state. F the Turks if they don't like it. The Sunnis and Shiites are simply going to have to get along, or separate, the Sunnis to the West, the Shiites to the East. "Iraq" and "Syria" would no longer exist, unless they like the names.
JMJ
Oh, and Israel has to knock the hell off with the settlements, and the Palestinians need a viable, contiguous state.
DeleteJMJ
AoW, the specific problems we're seeing now, with the disintegration of Iraq and Syria, can be specifically tracked to decisions by the colonial powers in the 20th century.
DeleteJMJ
JMJ,
DeleteIf were are going to straighten things out over there
Anything that "we" try to do is tainted in the eyes of the various inhabitants of that region.
They view us as meddling -- or invading -- infidels.
Can we really blame them for thinking in that manner?
Syria did not threaten the US, and we have not compelling national interest over there. The bombing was illegal.
ReplyDeleteThe neocons have risen from the swamp that still hasn't been drained, and they are reasserting themselves.
People have been burning, maiming, raping, stoning and murdering each other over there long before the US was a nation, and we can't make them stop it.
There are no good options over there because there are no good solutions and no good guys. Anyway, its not up to us to pick winners and losers.
We are a monster, a giant war machine. We killed hundreds of thousands of people over there and serially wrecked whole nations.
Does anyone remember candidate Trump saying he wouldn't do shit like this?
I see you are not a fan of this!
DeleteJMJ
SF,
DeleteDoes anyone remember candidate Trump saying he wouldn't do shit like this?
Yes, I remember!
I'm absolutely certain that Mr. Trump never used a vulgar term like in ANY of his public discourse. And frankly, I wish ALL of us would stop doing that HERE –– except in thee kost extreme cases when it may truly be warranted.
DeleteYou know I don't swear gratuitously. I called it what it is.
DeleteJersey,
DeleteYou're right. We've spent trillions, killed thousands of our own troops and hundreds of thousands of other people, wrecked entire countries, and...
Are we better off than we were before 11 September, 2001?
Is the overall situation in the Middle East and the Muslim world better than before September 11th, 2001?
Has terrorism increased or decreased?
Is the world more appreciative of the United States, or less so?
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rice should be imprisoned for what they have done. At the very least they should have the sense of shame to just go away and hide their faces until they die a quiet, un-lamented death.
Hey, I hear ya' brother! Eisenhower warned us about this, but we didn't listen. This is what you get with an endlessly standing, gigantic military state.
DeleteJMJ
There was only one "legitimate" target... and THAT was Assad himself. We failed to target the responsible party. And since we did so, nothing will have been accomplished except the waste of $50 million in capability.
ReplyDeleteIn other wrods, this was not an "effective" act... it was merely a "symbolic" one.
DeleteI tend to agree, Thersites. A truly "effective" act would have been if President Trump had issued a directive to destroy ALL the airports and military installatioins and SUPPLY LINES in Syria in One Fell Swoop.
DeleteHOWEVER, this "symbolic" gesture seems to have born good fruit –– at least in the short run –– for President Trump from a political standpoint.
We must remember, of course, how then-President B.J. Cunton suddenly discovered a compelling need to BOMB KOSOVO almost immediately after the Lewinsky Scandal moved into high gear.
And didn't THAT send a lot of tongues clucking with assertions of "Wag the Dog," et.al.?
Thersites: Amen. If we were hell bent to striking Syria, we should have targeted every home, command post and hidey hole suspected to contain Assad.
DeleteCompletely dismantled Syria's military apparatus, the regime falls and the jihadis turn it into a giant Somalia. Not a smart move.
DeleteIF we REALLY wanted to eliminate any and all threats –– both internal and international –– from this Demented, Depraved, Degraded, thoroughy Disreputable, Blghted, Dehumanized Region, we would take a determined UTILITARIAN approach, and just lay waste the ENTIRE region, and kill off most of its miserable, benighted, barbaric inhabitants.
DeleteBut of course, WE wouldn't even CONSIDER such a thing, because it's IMMORAL and ILLEGAL and the God-Damned Fucking Bastards that make up the fucking International Community would think ill of us! [See I TOO can call a Spade a Nigger when I feel it warranted };^]>.
Instead we prefer to nurse an unending MIGRAINE HEADACHE that WE have INFLICTED in OURSELVES out of a mistaken sense of obligation we have taken on to support the best interests of a small foreign nation with an inflated sense of entitlement we dare not even name –– no matter what it may cost us in the long run. Aren't you SICK to DEATH of IT?
"There was only one "legitimate" target... and THAT was Assad himself."
DeleteWell, assassinations are tricky business. There's a LOT to be considered there, which is why we really don't do it.
JMJ
Who said "assasinate"? I said "target". One is above board. THe other is not.
DeleteLeaders must learn "responsibility" and the consequences of irresponsible leadership.
DeleteWell, hitting Assad would be tricky. You may take out someone you shouldn't!
DeleteJMJ
...and hitting that airbase, didn't?
DeleteHuh... I thought I responded to this...
DeleteI meant people like foreign diplomats and such.
JMJ
I don't understand the thinking behind the ban on assassinating heads of state –– especially ROGUE states.
DeleteAfter all, think how many hundreds of thousands –– perhaps millions –– of lives would probably have been saved, –– how much property would NOT have been destroyed, –– and how much money would have been saved, if only someone had had the wit, wisdom –– and guts –– to have knocked off HITLER before he marched into Poland and the Sudetenland –– and before he staged KRISTALLNACHT?
Too many of the rules we accept –– virtual chains that bind us to inaction –– are absolutely ASININE.
I think it's really just hard to do. On top of that, Assad's constituency, the military and the Alawites, are just going to keep fighting without him. They'll just find another leader. They have to. They've gone too far.
DeleteJMJ
Only it's not all that easy to "agree" upon a new leader, Jersey. After all, it's what gave us the Shi'a-Sunni split.
DeleteWhen President Barack Obama spoke at a Christian university in Washington, D.C., he required the name of “Jesus Christ” to be hidden while he spoke. But during his recent speech at a radical mosque with the Islamic Society of Baltimore – a mosque that has been linked to actual terrorists – Allah can be seen everywhere! In fact, the White House was passing out Qurans!
ReplyDeleteObama has announced that America is no longer a Christian nation. And at his speech at the Mosque was a glass wall that said the word “Allah” 99 times in Arabic calligraphy. He used his platform to attack conservative businessmen and Presidential candidate Donald Trump for the supposedly “inexcusable anti-Islamic rhetoric in the political sphere.”
What makes this entire event a slap in the face to Christians is that while giving a speech at Georgetown University in 2012 the White House told the Catholic school to cover up all religious signs and symbols, including the small letters IHS displayed inside the triangular pediment directly behind and above where the President would stand since the 3 letters signify the name of Jesus Christ.
Dengration of Democrats past and present is a WASTE of TIME. Wedon't need to be told over and over again what we already know and have known in many instance for YEARS.
DeleteTry instead, please, to emphasize the VIRTUES of people you LIKE, and share POSITIVE points about public figures of whom you do approve.
Thank you.
GOOGLE on MICHAEL SCHEUER
ReplyDeleteAt least SOME of this material OUGHT to interest anyone with a sincere interest in trying to get to the bottom of what's going on, and WHY we are where we ARE in the Middle East.
MICHAEL SCHEUER was last seen three or four years ago on the redoubtable Judge Andrew Napolitano's Show on the FOX Business Channel. In that fateful interview Scheuer said, "YOU CAN BE VERY SURE that ISRAEL is NOT OUR FRIEND."
FOX allowed the episode to air, [I know, because I remember vividly seeing it, myself] BUT the following day Judge Napolitano was summarily FIRED by FOX, and his SHOW was CANCELLED. I call that significant in this land of the free and hime of the brave where Freedom of Speech is supposed to be an unalienable GOD-GIVEN RIGHT. It ought to make ALL of us wonder just WHO is REALLY Running the Show in Washington, DC, don't you think?
Michael Scheuer - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Scheuer
Michael F. Scheuer (born 1952) is a former CIA intelligence officer, American blogger, author, foreign policy critic, and political analyst. He is currently an adjunct ...
Michael Scheuer's Biography · Publications · Views · Bibliography
Michael Scheuer's Meltdown - The Daily Beast
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/03/michael-scheuer-s-meltdown.html
Jan 3, 2014 - It's been a long way down for the former CIA hand and over-the-top Iraq ... to the career of Michael Scheuer, once one of the most prominent critics of the ...
from the former CBS News analyst, bestselling author, and CIA officer.
CIA's "Queen Of Torture" Married To Former CIA Official Who Urges ...
www.buzzfeed.com/.../cias-queen-of-torture-married-to-former-cia-official-who-urg ...
Jan 26, 2016 - Michael Scheuer is a 63-year-old former CIA official who back in the ... A former senior intelligence officer told BuzzFeed News that Alfreda and ...
Ex CIA Michael Scheuer Talked to Congress - YouTube
Video for Michael Scheuer ex-CIA agent▶ 9:16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vaSbq1c464
Nov 23, 2015 - Uploaded by Mohammed Badruddoza
Ex CIA Dr Michael Scheuer׃ “Obama Was Behind Fisa Warrant On Trump“ - Duration: 16:15. R Finn 28,487 views ...
Ex-CIA officer who led Bin Laden hunt, on ISIS attacks - CNN.com
Video for Michael Scheuer ex-CIA agent▶ 5:59
www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/.../exp-scheuer-on-paris-attacks.cn...
Nov 21, 2015
Smerconish interviews Michael Scheuer, former CIA intelligence officer who led the hunt for Bin Laden ...
Michael Scheuer Non-Intervention.com
non-intervention.com/ Michael Scheuer\'s Official Website. Foreign policy ... political organizations, all of which you should immediately force to register as agents of a foreign power.
Ex-CIA Bin Laden chief Michael Scheuer speaks out | Veterans Today
www.veteranstoday.com/2014/02/17/scheuer/
Feb 17, 2014 - My latest Press TV article 'Americans speaking out about “Israelification” of the USA' could have cited Michael Scheuer, who headed the CIA's ...
US Refusing to Intervene as Ex-CIA Agent Faces Extradition, Prison in ...
https://www.algemeiner.com/.../us-refusing-to-intervene-as-ex-cia-agent-faces-extradit...
Jan 16, 2017 - US Refusing to Intervene as Ex-CIA Agent Faces Extradition, Prison in .... Former CIA official Michael Scheuer exposed the Abu Omar case in a ...
'Monumental Liar': Ex-CIA Officer Disputes New Clinton Audio on Bin ...
insider.foxnews.com/.../ex-head-cia-bin-laden-unit-new-clinton-tape-hes-monumental...
Aug 1, 2014 - Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Usama Bin Laden unit, pushed back against Bill Clinton's contention that he could have killed ...
Channel 4 Regrets Letting Ex-CIA Agent Claim Baghdad Massacre ...
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/.../channel-4-news-michael-scheuer_n_6523262.ht...
Jan 22, 2015 - Michael Scheuer, who was in the CIA from 1982 and 2004 and was involved in the hunt for Bin Laden, said Sunni and Shia Muslims should be ...
Why did you bury this deep in a comment thread?
DeleteThis should be a stand-alone blog post, you doololly!
Stay tuned ... It's pertinent here, but undoubtedly WILL be used again in a more prominent location with considerable addenda no doubt.
DeleteDid you not know about the Scheuer-Napolitano Kerfuffle?
Hardly surprising if you don't, since "The Lowering Powers behind the Scenes" I hardy dare denigrate, except by implication, do everything they can to SUPPRESS, DISCREDIT, PUNISH and ERADICATE anything and everything that fails to flatter THEM and heartily support THEIR aims and objectives.
Haven't you caught on YET to my pointed determination to produce and foster observations and conversations of SUBSTANCE in the COMMENTS attached to most of our posts here?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteDengration of Democrats past and present is a WASTE of TIME. We don't need to be told over and over again what we already know and have known in many instance for YEARS.
DeleteTry instead, please, to emphasize the VIRTUES of people you LIKE, and share POSITIVE information about public figures of whom you do approve.
Thank you.
I use 'neocon' in its plainest, broadest sense; not as a coded attack on Jews. In fact, the neocons I despise the most are all not Jewish, except for Bill Kristol.
ReplyDeleteYou comment on Michael Scheurer is interesting. Don't know much about him.
About his comment "YOU CAN BE VERY SURE that ISRAEL is NOT OUR FRIEND"
In one sense, he is correct. Nations do not have friends. Nations spy on "friends" all the time. Nations have interests, prime one being self-preservation, and half the nations of the world have been relying on Uncle Sam for that while spitting on us and publicly castigating everything we do.
Israel has fought their own wars, but they did it with cheap or free armaments from us. In other words, You and I and the rest of the taxpayers have been paying Israel's freight.
Also, I don't understand why the religious right waxes all moist and warm for a nation of leftwing atheists. There are more observant Jews in the US than in the "Jewish state."
Having said that, they are the one free, prosperous bastion of democracy and individual liberty in that part of the world.
Let's face it. The rest of the world hates us, and much of it is out of envy, but they still all want to come here.
We have borne many burdens, paid the price in blood and treasure, suborned many friends, and empowered our foes.
We have earned nothing but opprobrium, scorn and outright hatred for our many attempts (clumsy, often well-intentioned, sometimes nefarious) at "helping" other nations of the world.
We need to stop it. We haven't won a war since 1945, and the Soviet Union payed a heavy price to help us defeat Hitler.
All our supposed benevolence has purchased us no safety, no security, and no goodwill.
So, we must learn to tell the rest of the world--especially those gassed, raped, burned, displace and murdered by co-religionists and proximate tribes--to leave us alone, stop with the propaganda pictures and video crafted to tug at the heartstrings, and go seek help from the sanctimonious pricks and America-haters in Europe and at the UN.
When those dithering poobahs--who are good for nothing but feel-good gestures and self-praise for their right thinking--fail, we can pour out our scorn and scalding criticism upon THEM from our own commanding heights of Mount Sanctimony.
We must maintain strategic and beneficial military, economic and social ties with Australia, Japan, and other responsible nations of clear-eyed adults, even as we cut sling on the delusional, infantile fabulists in Europe and leave them to their own slowly deflating fantasy bubble.
The Old Word Order, so brilliantly crafted--post WW II--by the last generation of Americans who knew what they were doing, has collapses, but the neocons cannot escape their clapped-out ideology, mired in discredited dogma as they are.
New times require new thinking, and the Western world's Foreign Policy Establishment is not up to it. Fire them all and hire the latest graduates from Hillsdale College.
Once we were superman. Not anymore. The weight of the world will pull us down if we don't cut sling.
"NEO-CONSERVATISM" is for the most part a latter-day invention of ATHEISTIC JEWS, formerly devoted to the spread of MARXISM, who –– cynically for self-serving purposes of their own made a 180º turn during the Reagan Years, when it looked as though real Conservatism was about to achieve permanent ascendancy, in order to reap the benefits –– for THEMSELVES –– of what-looked to be an emerging New World Order.
DeleteYes Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Dick Cheney and a few other members of the goyim were considered to be part of this assertive, highly questionable new movement, but largely because of their participation in PNAC (Project for a New Amerian Century) which ostensibly sought and schemed to aggrandize our prestige in the world by revitalizing and redoubling our efforts to make unabashedly a Great Show of Force and Determination to DOMINATE the World's Stage sans meaningful opposition.
I believe this to have been largely a SMOKE SCREEN to disguise or at least downplay the TRUE motovation of the movement which was to ensure optimum protection of The Jewish State against the brutally hostile forces surrounding her at OUR expense.
Of course, it is MY contention that the forceful implantation of The Jewish State in that perennially benighted region was a gigantic Error of Epic Proportions. Something that should never have been.
A cursory glance at the barbarous, tumultuous history of the region –– a vile condition that has only grown exponentially worse in my 76-year-old lifetime –– should indicate that the West would have been better off if it had kept its oh-so-advanced, oh-so-enlightened hands OFF the accursed region entirely.
I think it safe to blame the arrogant assumption of a Divine Right to Manifest Destiny prevalent in Nineteenth-Century England and the United States for what we're forced to deal with today.
EVERYONE in the ENTIRE WORLD must REAP what he SOWS.
So, it's hardly the SOLE reponsibility of the JEWS for the way things are today, BUT to allow them to claim a Permanent Victim Status that ABSOLVES and IMMUNIZES them against accepting any form of responsibility for the part THEY have, indeed, played in the dreadful drama is frankly every bit as illogical and unfair as it is asinine.
TRUTH sets us ALL free.
See? I posted a lengthy analysis, but it is clear you wanted it only as a springboard for your carefully-prepared broadside. I should have saved myself the time and effort and simply, posted something like, "What do you mean, FreeThinke? Please tell us more!"
DeleteAnyway, glad I could be the inconsequential opening act that enabled you to get it off your chest...
Oh fer CHRISSAKES!
DeleteEt tu, Kurtus? };^)>
I expected to get torrents of abuse from the brainwashed multitudes for daring to contradict The Orthodox View they've been conditioned to accept as real and binding. I only say what I believe to be the truth from decades of observation as a Native New Yorker, but I never expected a petulant response like that from YOU of all people.
What did you WANT me to say?
YOUR well-chosen words are on record, so are MINE. I did not denigrate yours. I simply responded honestly in a manner that seemed appropriate to me.
Readers, –– if such there be, which often seem doubtful in these here parts ––, are perfectly free to look at ALL the remarks (at least the ones I don't delete ;-), and make up their OWN minds what to think.
What could be wrong with that?
Are we SO hyper-conditioned here in the bogosphere to take virtually ALL opportunities to communicate as a throwing down of the gauntlet –– a slap on the cheek –– or some other form of invitation to a DUEL that we can't engage in conversation –– or simply ALLOW each other to speak –– without attempting to contradict or remonstrate with one another?
Perhaps you didn't notice, but I posted THIS (just below) after I read what-I-thought-was your suggestion that the legnthy quotation from Google on Michael Scheuer ought not to have been "buried" in the comments section:
"Stay tuned ... [The information on Scheuer] is pertinent here, but undoubtedly WILL be used again in a more prominent location with considerable addenda no doubt.
"Did you not know about the Scheuer-Napolitano Kerfuffle?
"Hardly surprising if you don't, since 'The Lowering Powers behind the Scenes' I hardy dare denigrate, except by implication, do everything they can to SUPPRESS, DISCREDIT, PUNISH and ERADICATE anything and everything that fails to flatter THEM and heartily support THEIR aims and objectives."
Like Jefferson "I am unalterably opposed to any form of tyranny against the human mind."
I am morally CERTAIN that the fearsome TABOO against saying anything even faintly derogatory, or the least bit critical of the Jews –– a taboo, which in too many places has behind it the full force of the Law punishable by FINE and IMPRISONMENT–– is the ROOT of the accursed thing we call Political Correctness, which Iview as ANATHEMA.
Civilized people used to be guided by the unwritten rules of Basic Decency and Good Taste, which unfortunately were kicked in the groin, stomped in the gutter, and flushed into the sewers back in the SICK-sties.
I believe in applying tact and consideration for the feelings of others, and in trying to communicate diplomatically during normal social intercourse, but in public venues of THIS sort no one should ever be subjected to having braces put on his brains –– especially me.
};^)>
No worries, FreeThinke. A lot gets lost in translation in these threads.
DeleteI merely pointed out that your "response" addressed nothing in my comment, but no hard feelings.
I'll provide more succinct prompts next time.
FYI: A minute segment of the WIKI article on Neoconservatism:
DeleteThe term "neoconservative" refers to those who made the ideological journey from the anti-Stalinist Left to the camp of American conservatism.[2] Neoconservatives typically advocate the promotion of democracy and American national interest in international affairs, including by means of military force ... The movement had its intellectual roots in the JEWISH monthly review magazine Commentary, published by the American JEWISH Committee.[5][6] They spoke out against the New Left and in that way helped define the movement.[7][8]
the mogives I attribute to them in doing this are decidedly cynical, but then I've had a long, often fractious relationship with too many of these people in my professional life not to see a clearly identifiable pattern in the way they tend to approach relationships –– combative, unduly competitive, manipulative, self-serving, underhanded, and hypocritical.
I felt your analysis, Kurt, sought to avoid my obvious implication of the heavy, frankly dominant, Jewish involvement in the Neocon movement, and wanted thereby to deflect attention from that sensitive, highly controversial theme.
So in a sense you were right in your mildly rebarbative response to my statement, but since you raised the issue after saying I should have made it the central feature of another blog post, I felt justified in making the point at which I'd been hinting rather too obviously more directly
I meant no disrespect. Many of my responses tend to be oblique anyway, as I'm sure you've known for a long time. If that's a fault, I apoolgize for it
I knew where you were going. Your view are well-established.
DeleteYou asked me what I though, so I told you...
FT,
DeleteFor me, the word neoconservatism means nation building.
The definition you cited from Wikipedia includes that idea: Neoconservatives typically advocate the promotion of democracy and American national interest in international affairs, including by means of military force.
Promoting democracy would definitely mean removing any leader who is not democratic in ideology.
I find the idea of creating a democracy from the top down to be flawed and bound to fail. Democracy is formed from the bottom up.
Frankly, the idea that the United States should run around the world and impose our ideals to be utopian -- good intentions and all, but really none of our damn business. Furthermore, utopias always fail.
I conclude that nation building is not in the American interest.
I agree TOTALLY, AOW. I have always been against ANY form of AGGRESSION, and despise INTERVENTIONISM, which is what this "Nation Building" thing is really all about.
DeleteGetting involved in "Foreign Entanglements" is EXACTLY what the Founding Fathers warned future generations AGAINST. So Nation Building should be regarded as downright un-American.
I, personally, don't like people who take it upon themselves to MIND OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS "FOR THEIR OWN GOOD," and that is precisely what this NEOCON movement has been all about. It's what EVERY overly ambitious, potentially tyrannical ideas, schemes and vain ambitions have been about since the beginning of organized society.
"Spreading Democracy," my foot! Those people want to jockey themselves into a position to be able to RULE the WORLD. By hook or by crook they want to be BOSS. Sorry, but I think that STINKS.
About 90% of the entire world is suffering what to us would be UNIMAGINABLE hardship and deprivation, and WE are supposed to drop everything and RUN to their RESCUE? Nuts to that!
YES we have managed to acquire more of these world's goods than any other nation, and we've done a lot of that by exerting undue force on weaker people. But that kind of thing is typical of the whole history of the human race.
How far back should we be expected to go to "right the wrongs" of our ancestors? And should we REALLY be expected to evaluate the PAST using PRESENT DAY standards? To me that's impracticable and absurd, yet we've been virtually HYPNOTIZED by leftist intellectuals into BATHING in GUILT over sins WE, ourselves, have NEVER committed. GEDOUDDAHERE!
We've been "loused up" by devilishly clever Intellectual Aggressors, and I for one have ever reason –– and every right –– to resent the hell out of it.
I really believed Mr. Trump meant to FREE us from that, and here he is, apparently, letting himself get sucked in –– by the Neocon Mentality –– of keeping on with the same old enervating, physically and financially depleting routines.
I see the hand of his glamorous, very LIBERAL daughter and smooth, highly-polished, probably-far-too-ambitious son-in-law in this, and I don't like it. Do you?
Jefferson said, "As soon as a man casts a longing eye on [political power] a rottenness begins in his conduct."
That gives me a creeping chill up and down my spine. Depressing, and very unnerving!
Love the Jefferson quote!
DeleteThere is very little that Jefferson said that I have ever found reason to challenge.
DeleteTruth and wisdom rooted in Principle NEVER go out-of-date. NEVER!
Interesting article regarding the topic of your blog post on the bombing of the Syrian air base.
ReplyDelete"Although Western media immediately accused Bashar al-Assad of participating in a gas attack against his own people, the evidence indicates that the intended target was not immediately in a civilian area and was in fact a location where Syrian White Helmets were on the scene with rebel groups at what observers have claimed was a storage facility for conventional and chemical munitions. Additionally, evidence indicates that rebel groups may have had prior knowledge of the attack and knew that there was a risk of chemical weapons being unleashed. The attack also came in the aftermath of a trip by Senator John McCain to meet with groups known to associate with radical jihadist factions in Syria, at a time when the United States government has been engulfed in a power struggle between different political factions who disagree strongly over what should be appropriate policy in regards to the Syrian civil war."
Not only that but none other than John "tokyo Rose" McCain had only recently made a "business" trip to northern Syria, likely to set things in motion. And with the White Helemts on the ground and waiting to record the action, it's looking more ans more that President Trump has been had by his own internal enemies.
McCain is a senile old fool who should have been put out to pasture long ago. His form of dementia is dangerous to the health and strength of our republic.
DeleteIf he weren't a renowned War Hero for having endured FIVE YEARS of CAPTIVITY at the Hanoi Hilton where he was tortured and brutally beaten, he would surely be up for charges of TREASON, although NO INE has been gtrued or cinvicted of that heinous crime within living memory as far as I know –– not even that poor stupid deserter Bow Bergdahl.
I think The Execution of Private Eddie Slovak by order of then-General Dwight D. Eisenhower may have been the last time anyone was severely punished for ANY heinous offense.
The Democrats tried to use that sad story against Eisenhower wen he ran for president the first time, but they failed, thank God. Eisenhower was cerainly the best president we've had in my lifetime. Ronald Reagan was a close second. Richard Nixn WOULD have been high on the list of our best presidents if only had not been targeted by that viciius, filthy rag –– The Washington Post.
Wayon,
Delete"Although Western media immediately accused Bashar al-Assad of participating in a gas attack against his own people, the evidence indicates that the intended target was not immediately in a civilian area and was in fact a location where Syrian White Helmets were on the scene with rebel groups at what observers have claimed was a storage facility for conventional and chemical munitions...."
It seems to me that the above is an important point.
... more
ReplyDelete"The trip to meet with rebel groups is not McCain's first. On May 27th, 2013, The Daily Beast ran an exclusive report revealing that Senator John McCain had made another secret trip into Syria to meet with "assembled leaders of Free Syrian Army." McCain made the trip in spite of the fact that documents obtained by Judicial Watch which state that the United States was fully aware of the growing jihadi presence among Syrian rebel groups, and reports emerging in the American press indicating that rebels were increasingly engaging in war crimes. In August 2013, three months after McCain's visit, civilians in the Ghouta neighborhood of Damascus were hit with a chemical attack after rockets containing sarin struck the area. Though most of the mainstream press immediately blamed the Syrian government for the tragedy, German paper Die Welt has since run a report alleging that the sarin did not come from the Syrian government, but from stockpiles held by jihadist rebel group Al-Nusra."
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSue,
DeleteIf I've told you once, I've told you a hundred tmes at least, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME to POST at THIS BLOG. PERIOD!.
Founder of Freedom Watch and attorney, Larry Klayman, is calling on former President Obama to quit partying on the beaches of Polynesia and get back home to face justice.
ReplyDeleteThe former federal prosecutor is waiting to serve Obama with two lawsuits he filed against him for “inciting violence” against President Donald Trump following his executive order halting immigration into the U.S. for those coming from several Muslim countries.
FT,
ReplyDeleteEarlier you asked the following, for which I'll venture my opinion:
WHY did he do it, and for WHOSE ultimate benefit? –– Ours? –– His? –– or Someone Else's?
For multiple benefits, IMO. First, Trump was the point that the United States under his direction would no longer be a wimpy nation -- likely to send a message to North Korea. Second, he needed a winning moment after the losing vote on the AHCA. What was bombed in Syria was a guaranteed winning moment. Third, he needed to acquire some political capital so as to further his agenda in Congress and with the American people. Fourth, the man cannot stand to see children suffer. In his daily briefings this week and on cable TV shows, he saw the graphic photos and video footage of the gassing of the Syrians, particularly the children.
WHO influenced him in that direction and WHY?
I'm less sure about the answer to that question. Any number of his advisers are hawks. Yesterday, Nikki Hailey (sp?) indicated that Assad needs to be taken out of power. Danger, Will Robinson! Assad is brutal -- no doubt about that -- but someone else in power in Syria could be even worse.
Thanks, AOW. I'm too tired to answer right now, but I'll get back to you after I've gotten some sleep.
DeleteDespite my sneakng suspicion that this action may have stemmed
Deletefrom ulterior motives emanating from his daughter and son-in-law, which I admit may or may not be true, the logic of your reply is entirely plausible.
There is a GREAT deal more to Donald Trump than too many would prefer to believe. I've taken the time to LISTEN to his speeches, campaign rallies, and comments he's made at various strategic meetings VERBATIM –– unedited, unexpurgated, courtesy of C-Span –– and came to the conclusion that he is not only deeper and more complex than his public persona appears to indicate, but that he is also a master STRATEGIST whose thinking indicates Vision, Daring, Courage, and a high degree of CANNINESS more popularly known as "Street Smarts." He also revealed himself to be a much KINDER and more LOVING person than his popular generally indicates.
We is have a President with guts and who will not take any crap from these Marxist Dictators The world has been notified that there's a new sheriff in town and he has an arsenal instead of a pen. No more sending troops into battle in a pink tutu, or in Pussy Hats!
ReplyDeleteSo, Our President does something that the Fomer Gutless President never did and that my friends may be the reason why this country is in the terrible Politically, and Militarily shape that we are in today!
ReplyDeleteThis display of disgusting behavior has been brought to you by the anti-Trumpers as they march, and march, protest, and protest with every move and or decision that Mr. Trump makes.
The fact is that the ball is now in Putin’s court, and his reaction to President Trump’s military action was“aggression against a sovereign state” and
President Trump put al Assad, and the entire region on notice last night…and he also issued that notice to Putin and the United Nations…the message is unmistakable…”We will act alone, if necessary,” and the United States is “no longer leading from behind..
I think that Mr. Trump sent a message to China, Iran, North Korea, and all the other fleabag countries in the world that you do not mess with us, not now that we have a new Sheriff in Dodge City..
The real question is, did Mr. Trump act impulsively, or "Did Assad mess with us?" The answer is an unequivocal Assad needed to have someone call his bluff.
Our Former President drew a “Red Line” in the sand on Assad’s use of chemical weapons in Syria. The dictator Bashar al-Assad, sensed Obama’s determination to avoid further military conflict, has crossed that line, for the obvious tactical reason that such arms are ideal in a terror war against a civilian population in revolt. Lets not forget that weapons of mass destruction are the great equalizers!
America’s credibility in that reign was just about as low as it could possibly get.
So what is the new President to do if, as Assad decides to call his bluff? And thats exactly why Americans who voted for the United States of America’s NEW leader, so get over it, Trump is the leader that the USA has been missing.
The Obama administration may have known that it failed to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons well in advance of Tuesday’s deadly attack.
ReplyDeleteIn the wake of a chemical weapons attack Tuesday in Syria that killed innocent civilians, including women and children, observers immediately recalled former President Barack Obama’s 2013 deal, which allowed the president to back down from his red line on chemical weapons, and the administration’s comments in the aftermath.
On Tuesday, three refugee boys — two from Iraq ages 7 and 10, and one from Sudan aged 14 — pleaded guilty in juvenile court to multiple counts of sex crimes in an incident that occurred last June at Fawnbrook Apartments in Twin Falls. It was there where a 5-year-old girl with special needs was lured into a laundry room, stripped of her clothing and sexually assaulted while the oldest boy filmed the entire incident.
ReplyDeleteThey urinated on the girl, in her mouth, and committed other lewd acts captured on video.
Disgustingly, liberal local authorities initially tried to dismiss the crime.
Mudhamhed al Didadin said
DeleteBoys will be boys, darlin.' You might as well get used to it. After all they didn't kill the little bitch, did they? Learn to be grateful for small favors. She probably loved it anyway. Girls always do. They were born to be abused for male pleasure, so the sooner they start the better. ALLAHU AKBAR!
Just wondering if Elizabeth Warren becomes the President, would the States be renamed to be "reservations ", and would Senators be renamed to be called "Chiefs"?
ReplyDeleteLizzie Warren's sharpened axe
DeleteWaits to give "Kapital" forty whacks,
And when she has destroyed the banks
She'll say you owe her many thanks.
Then engines of th' economy
She’s reduced to beggary
Will go down on bended knee
To save themselves from bankruptcy
At your expense, and then you'll see
The end of private property,
And all forms of democracy.
Once in power none will balk
As Lizzie swings her tomahawk.
Lizzie’s worse than Hillary.
You'll be reduced to penury
By Lizzie Warren's axe.
She longs to heavily levy on thee
A FULL ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT TAX!
~ FreeThinke
Spawn of Satan leaves door open for possible 2020 White House run..
ReplyDeleteChelsea Clinton hinted Tuesday at the possibility of running against President Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but downplayed whether she would be the right person to run. But if something changes, I’m leaving the door open.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for two bombings on Palm Sunday in Egypt. Christians are being driven from the Middle East in droves. The religious war continues but the West is in complete denial.
ReplyDeleteDIDADIN!
DeleteISIS has claimed responsibility for two bombings on Palm Sunday in Egypt. Christians are being driven from the Middle East in droves. The religious war continues but the West is in complete denial.
ReplyDeleteAs per usual the Communist Lester (RN) and his role model Shaw has nothing to say.The Obamarhoids appear to be abusing power again for partisan purposes.
D-I-D-A-D-I-N!
DeleteThose who would be kind to the cruel are sure to be cruel to the kind."
"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
~ Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
DIDADIN!
However illegal, impolitic, inadvisable, unconstitutional, un-American, immoral or impracticable others claim it to be we should maintain a position of absolute intolerance for a Muslim Presence in OUR world.
When the Handwriting on the Wall sends a clear, uncompromising message, and STILL we fail to heed its stern warning, we DESERVE to be ECLIPSED.
FACE IT: Either it's DIDADIN or BE DAMNED.
Possibly encouraging...
ReplyDeleteDefeating IS is 'first priority' in Syria: Tillerson.
Odd, then, to bomb any of Assad's forces. Assad clearly does want to defeat ISIS.
PRECISELY! Now get a load of THIS:
Delete" ... Steve Bannon, the engine and soul of President Trump's hard-edged approach to his first months in office, is increasingly isolated and will be forced out unless he can adopt a more cooperative approach, a top source told me.
"On both style and substance, Bannon got crosswise with JARED KUSHNER and IVANKA TRUMP, who are pushing for a more competence –– and results-driven focus for the West Wing..."
"In their view, Bannon is too inclined to want to burn things down and blow things up. They want a more open process driven by the interests of the president, not ideology ..."
"A senior official said Chief of Staff Reince Priebus is 'with the program' of a more inclusive style, and will stay. Insiders have been feverishly discussing possible replacements and Trump considered a change, but the official said: 'Reince is staying.' ..."
The rest mayl be found at DRUDGE.
Unh Hunh!
SO VUTT DID I TELL YOU?
It looks like this far-too-liberal, overly-ambitious Power Couple –– with strong ties to ISRAEL –– is SUBVERTING the ideas and promises that ensured President Trump's VICTORY.
How depressing!
FT, it may be way more serious than we know since the shuffling of Bannon and the increased influence of Jared Kushner. Ascendant neo-con influence? Maybe. Definitely some ugly stuff involved with the Syrian bombing though.
DeleteAnd apparently Jared Kushner has some serious financial links and obligations to George Soros."George Soros’ Soros Fund Management has quietly been financing the Kushner-backed real estate finance startup Cadre with a substantial credit line, according to sources familiar with the matter.
A source familiar with the financing arrangement told The Real Deal that “Soros has had a long and productive relationship with the Kushner family.” Another source told TRD that Kushner Companies TRData LogoTINY president Laurent Morali played a key role arranging the financing, but a Kushner Companies spokesperson disputed that account, claiming that “Kushner Cos. has never been involved in Cadre in any capacity.
The irony of the Soros-Kushner connection is that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which Jared Kushner helped orchestrate, vilified George Soros. A November campaign video showed Soros’ face while Trump’s voice sounded off on “global special interests” who “don’t have your good in mind.” The video was criticized by many for playing on anti-Semitic conspiracy theories targeting Soros, a wealthy former hedge fund manager who has long backed liberal causes around the globe.
Soros vocally opposes Trump. “I have described him as an impostor and a con man and a would-be dictator,” Soros told Bloomberg last week. “But he’s only a would-be dictator because I’m confident that the Constitution and the institutions of the United States are strong enough.” He donated $10.5 million to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to Center for Responsive Politics data cited by CNBC."
FT,
DeleteI don't know what to make of all the chatter you mention in your comment of April 9, 2017 at 2:31 PM. The Enemedia of all ilks are ever yapping about how the Trump White House is in chaos.
Let's see if the shake-up actually occurs.
Waylong Thankyou for that information. Gorge Soreass is the serpent in the garden. He is pure evil, and it looks like he has infiltrated teh Trump admin.
ReplyDeleteI don't like him either, Billy, but I wish we would all tone down our rhetoric a bit, and speak in more adult language. This includes me, because I too get carried away when aroused, but it's generally considered poor practice. In order to restore our prestige and reclaim our former status in the world we need to start acting more like sober, thoughtful, well-informed, God-fearing adults, instead of wayward seventh graders.
DeleteSo Obama Wire Tapped Trump Tower! This is an all out coup attempt and a subversive effort to overthrow the Presidency!
ReplyDeleteHow dare the president actually point out the truth, while the press is doing everything possible to hide and alter the truth while fabricating their own versions of events so as to match up with the false narratives they have previously created.
Talk about interfering with an election and committing high crimes and misdemeanors.. Talk about the Russians, the Russians would be impressed by the scheming and skull duggery of Obama and his cronies. Especially Susan Rice..
This is an extreme abuse of his office and is actually a felony, and is a violation of his oath of office to defend the constitution and our individual liberties, and far worse than what Nixon did..
This will be the legacy of Obama.
Gudrun Kleine-Zweischuen said
DeleteOne must cross check several sources in order to try to discover what may be real and what may be fabricated or distorted reportage. We must not let our feelings run away and lead us around by the nose. We must use our minds as well, don't you agree?
In his book, RATHER OUTSPOKEN, the then 81 year-old liberal lying con artist and disgraced former CBS anchorman didn't say word one about the fact that he was FIRED form his News Show, or should I say his Throne.
ReplyDeleteJeepers! I didn't even know that arrogant SOB was still alive.
DeleteI'm awfully sorry to find out that he is.
Did you HAVE to tell me? §;-(>
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN FREETHINKE and SILVERFIDDLE
ReplyDeletePART ONE
SF: I use 'neocon' in its plainest, broadest sense; not as a coded attack on Jews. In fact, the neocons I despise the most are all not Jewish, except for Bill Kristol.
FT: Who, besides Bill Kristol, did you have in mind? I’d like to know whom you identify as a neocon?
SF: You comment on Michael Scheuer is interesting. Don't know much about him.
FT: He has for the most part been kept hidden as much as possible. I believe, because he holds highly controversial views that don’t please
Our Fearful Masters who control the flow and decide the content of News and Information.
SF: About his comment "YOU CAN BE VERY SURE that ISRAEL is NOT OUR FRIEND.” In one sense, he is correct. Nations do not have friends. Nations spy on "friends" all the time. … [H]alf the … the world has been relying on Uncle Sam for its survival] while spitting on us and publicly castigating everything we do.
FT: Agreed!
SF: Israel has fought her own wars, but she did it with … free armaments from us. In other words, you and I and the rest of the taxpayers have been paying Israel's freight.
FT: That’s exactly the point I’m trying to discuss openly. Why do we –– and why SHULD we –– do this? What is force compelling us in this regard?
SF: Also, I don't understand why the religious right waxes all moist and warm for a nation of leftwing atheists. There are more observant Jews in the US than in the "Jewish state."
FT: Christian Fundamentalists want to believe that God, Himself, has ordered Christians to support Israel. Because the Fundies insist on taking the Bible LITERALLY they honesty believe “Israel” HAS to BE that minute sliver of arid land on the Mediterranean. As an “intellectual Christian, I reject that notion, because I believe the true meaning of both “Israel”and “Zion” is SPIRITUAL –– a blessed place in the HEART and CONSCIENCE one can take with him wherever he may find himself physically or geographically.
SF: Having said that, they are the one free, prosperous bastion of democracy and individual liberty in that part of the world.
FT: Yes, that is what we are supposed to believe, and it’s partly true, but from what I can see this “friendship” we are supposed to enjoy with The Jewish State has been largely One Way. AIPAC, the immensely powerful Israel Lobby, has exercised consummate skill in throwing its weight around the halls of OUR congress in ways that ensure our heavy and apparently eternal support of Israel. What Israel does for us in return seems nebulous to me, but I’d be happy to listen if anyone has evidence that might persuade me to think otherwise.
(CONTINUED)
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN FREETHINKE and SILVERFIDDLE
ReplyDeletePART TWO
SF: Let’s face it. The rest of the world [resents] us, … much of it out of envy, but they still all want to come here. We have born many burdens, paid the price in blood and treasure, suborned many friends, and empowered many
of our foes. We have earned nothing but … scorn and outright [contempt] for our many attempts … at "helping" other nations of the world. We need to stop it.
FT: I’m no sure we’re despised to that extent, because I’m well acquainted wth a number of “foreigners,” who give every indication of looking at us with cordiality, although their approbation is rarely devoid of criticism, which is all right with me, since I am highly critical, myself of what we have become in the past fifty-odd years, myself. I think it good to offer the less fortunate a helping hand –– as long as it doesn’t constitute an attempt at BRIBERY or BLACKMAIL.
SF: We haven't won a war since 1945, and the Soviet Union paid a heavy price to help us defeat Hitler. All our supposed benevolence has purchased us no safety, no security, and no goodwill.
FT” You’re certainly right about our, apparent, NO-WIN policy in International Conflicts – something I’ve never understood ––, but as for the Soviet Union, don’t you think it is WE who paid the heaviest price for our bizarre alliance with STALIN, when all along it was THEY, –– even more than HITLER ––, who was our bitterest, most dangerous, dos ENDURING foe?
SF: So, we must learn to tell the rest of the world –– especially those [benighted Muslims] gassed, raped, burned, displaced and murdered by co-religionists and proximate tribes –– to leave us alone, stop with the propaganda, pictures and video crafted to tug at the heartstrings, and go seek help from the sanctimonious … America-haters in Europe and at the UN.
FT: My heart always goes out to helpless victims of wanton destruction and deliberate cruelty, but since we seem unable to do what may be necessary to STOP any of that –– either in Asia or the brutally barbaric Islamic states –– I have to agree that WE –– and probably the rest of the world –– would have been better off, if we’d just stayed home, and left the savages to fight it out amongst themselves.
(CONTINUED)
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN SILVERFIDDLE and FREETHINKE
ReplyDeletePART THREE
SF: When those dithering poobahs –– who are good for nothing but feel-good gestures and self-praise for their right thinking –– fail, we can pour out our scorn and scalding criticism upon THEM from our own commanding heights of Mount Sanctimony.
FT: I feel and understand your rage, but surely recognize it as a profitless expenditure of vital energy –– as so may of our fervid expostulations in the blogosphere usually are? But surely life is too short and energy too precious to waste it on bilious denunciations, is it not?
SF: We must maintain strategic and beneficial military, economic and social ties with Australia, Japan, and other responsible nations of clear-eyed adults, even as we cut [reject] the delusional … fabulists in Europe, and leave them to their own slowly deflating fantasy bubble.
FT: Aren’t we as Christians supposed never to give up hope for even the worst among us? Allowing ourselves to feel empathy for the plight of the foolish and feckless does not imply that must emulate them or aquiesce to their flawed worldview. Their arrogance infuriates me too, but I have found that turning away from things over which I have no control helps me maintain a better sense of equilibrium
SF: The Old World Order, so brilliantly crafted –– post WW II –– by the last generation of Americans who knew what they were doing, has collapsed, but the neocons cannot escape [the consequences of] their [failed] ideology, mired in discredited dogma as they are.
FT: Ironic, is it not, that both the TOTALITARIAN aims and ambition of the false enlightenment of the Left, AND the scheming EQUALLY domineering ambitions of what I now choose to call The New Right have BOTH come a cropper?
SF: New times require new thinking, and the Western world's Foreign Policy Establishment is not up to it. Fire them all and hire the latest graduates from Hillsdale College. Once we were superman. Not anymore. The weight of the world will pull us down if we don't [stop pursuing our present course].
FT: Here we disagree. I am morally certain that SPIRIT, TRUTH, LOVE, MIND, SOUL, PRINCIPLE, and LIFE, itself (all synonyms in Metaphysics for our triune God) are both eternal and immutable –– “The Everlasting Arms” which are always there to support and sustain us –– no matter what. To rely on Eternal Truth and the Love of God for guidance could never fail us, if only we had sense enough to do it.
Now, please never let it be said that I have been either inattentive to or disrespectful of a cherished friend.
};^)>
"God, grant me the wisdom to accept the things I cannot change, to change what I can, and the wisdom to the know the difference."
ReplyDelete____________________________________
Let nothing disturb thee
Nothing affright thee.
God never changeth.
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things.
To whom God pleaseth
In nothing is lacking.
Alone God sufficeth.
~ St.Teresa of Avila
Lines Written in Her Breviary
as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
____________________________________
To be alive is power,
Existing in itself,
Without a further function,
Omnipotence enough.
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Remember when President Trump said “ I think Sweden has a problem with Islam”? It was denied, of course, by the Swedish government and by Leftists, Democrats and Progressives the world over, they even called him “NUTS” .. Two days later there were outright riots conducted by Muslim Refugees in Stockholm, Sweden’s capitol. Rather inconvenient for a narrative, eh? Now, people and news outlets in the EU are asking: was Trump correct all along? Well I guess that he was!
ReplyDeleteAnd last week, a homemade bomb was found in the truck that was used to kill at least five people in Stockholm.
Police sources said that the device was found in a bag, and had not been detonated, adding that the attacker had “burned himself”.
Forensics officers and bomb squads worked through the night at the site of the massacre in Drottningatan, a busy shopping area of the Swedish capital.
The truck was left partially embedded in a department store after being ploughed into pedestrians on Friday afternoon, killing five people and wounding many others.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, although both Isis and al-Qaeda have recently released propaganda calling on followers to carry out vehicle ramming and containing bomb-making instructions.
So now we have a new souse of weapons that these creeps are using, if you remember, trucks were also used by ISIS in the attacks in Berlin and Nice last year, while cars were used in Westminster and at Ohio State University.
So once again, Donald Trump was right, Sweden DOES have a problem. Europe falling like a house of cards....one country after another
Goodbye Sweden, you were great while you lasted.
But on the Bright Side! Oh, wait a minute, there isn’t any “Bright Side”!
ReplyDeleteJoy Behar Got Humiliated On ‘The View’ After Shrugging Off The Dead Children In Syria Chemical Attack.
What a moron she is!
___________ EXCELSIOR! ___________
ReplyDeleteThe shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
EXCELSIOR!
His brow was sad; his eye beneath,
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath,
And like a silver clarion rung
The accents of that unknown tongue,
EXCELSIOR!
In happy homes he saw the light
Of household fires gleam warm and bright;
Above, the spectral glaciers shone,
And from his lips escaped a groan,
EXCELSIOR!
"Try not the Pass!" the old man said;
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead,
The roaring torrent is deep and wide!"
And loud that clarion voice replied,
EXCELSIOR!
"O stay," the maiden said, "and rest
Thy weary head upon this breast!"
A tear stood in his bright blue eye,
But still he answered, with a sigh,
EXCELSIOR!
"Beware the pine tree's withered branch!
Beware the awful avalanche!"
This was the peasant's last Good-night,
A voice replied, far up the height,
EXCELSIOR!
At break of day, as heavenward
The pious monks of Saint Bernard
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer,
A voice cried through the startled air,
EXCELSIOR!
A traveller, by the faithful hound,
Half-buried in the snow was found,
Still grasping in his hand of ice
That banner with the strange device,
EXCELSIOR!
There in the twilight cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a falling star,
EXCELSIOR!
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - first published in 1841
[NOTE: Excelsior in this context means "Ever Higher."]
ReplyDelete___ TO PROMOTE INNER PEACE ___
Divorce yourself from everything that's "pop"
Visualize a cabin in the pines
Close by a silver lake or sparkling stream
Detached from every aspect of the grid.
Chop wood, fetch water so you may survive
Eating fresh caught fish or game you kill
Along with berries, nuts, and tasty leaves.
Carry with you a supply of books
Writing paper and a clutch of pens
Allow yourself an oil lamp for the night
Embrace austerity, and get to know
Yourself, and only what may be essential
To survival in the coming winter months.
Emulating Thoreau may provide
The antidote to hellish modern life.
~ FreeThinke
Thoreau was a hero in the eyes of the many hippies whom I know while I was in college. Just sayin'.
DeleteThoreau's influence. A social justice warrior in his time!
Delete