What I have always liked about Friedman is that he is adept at explaining situations in such a way that it is easy for a lay person to understand the various facets of them.
The times, as a recent Nobel prize winner once said, they are a changing. Friedman is right in that we must find ways to adapt. It is that flexibility that has allowed the West to thrive.
Btw, this post is probably the first time I have lauded the eloquence of Joe Biden. After listening to just a few Trump speeches it is scary to think I will miss him.
In deference to Marcus' accusations of bias I will leave a link regarding the displacement of civilians from the city of Mosul, the other battle raging alongside Aleppo.
I will make a small note that so far there have been no reports of summary executions of civilians on buses, as we have seen in Syria. But I will keep looking, just for you, Marcus.
Our all time record lowest temperature was set 135 years ago and it was 20 degrees warmer than that! We had our first light frost of the season the night before last. That was "chilly". Tomorrow our temperatures will be back up to around 55 F which is fairly usual, though odd when you consider you'd have to head to northern Ontario to hit our latitude.
"I will make a small note that so far there have been no reports of summary executions of civilians on buses, as we have seen in Syria. But I will keep looking, just for you, Marcus."
Lynnette, those buses are for evacuating both rebels and civvie out of Aleppo. The Syrian regime certainly wouldn't need them to go on any buses in order to round them up and/or execute them. The buses weren't attacked by the regime Lynnette. They wouldn't even have been there if the regime didn't let them in.
The regime LET IN the buses to evacuate mostly civvies but also rebs who had left their heavy weaponry behind. They were even allowed to keep their small arms.
The aim was to basically get the opposing populace away from Aleppo and towards Idlib and in return get a few thousand beleagured Allawites from villages close to Idlib now hostage to rebs.
But it was soem faction of the hundred-headed rebel "coalition", AKA Al Qaida and friends, who decided that was a no go. Better to keep the Allawite hostages in and around Idlib and force the remaining sunnis in Aleppo to remain behind. Hopingly in as dreadful conditions as possibly so as to make good headlines in the Gyardian and NYT.
PBS (at least, my local PBS, probably yours too) is doing a repeat this week of the Frontline special ‘From Jesus to Christ’, a history of the early Christian religion. Four hours and worth the time it takes. I'm putting it on DVR, finally gonna get it recorded start to finish. It's on tomorrow night here. If I recall correctly, they cut off the history just a little before the Council of Nicea and thus avoid that controversy. And they cover, but avoid answering, the question of whether the early Christians left the Jewish religion or were cast out. They dodge resolution of that controversy as well. But, it's nevertheless worth the time it takes. If you're too busy for it, it'll still likely keep your parents occupied and out of trouble for a whole night.
Hmmm.... Newt Gingrich is floating the idea that Trump needs even further exemptions from the standard governmental ethics and conflict-of-interest laws than he already enjoys, and seems to be suggesting that Trump preemptively pardon all his governmental appointees for any self-dealing and public plunder they may be able to rack up in the next four years. (Politico.com) This is a little more extreme than anything I've seen suggested so far, and it might serve to prevent The Donald from throwing Gingrich completely aside, to live out his last days in the wilderness with Chris Christie and Rudy Guliani and other early on Trump supporters.
PBS (at least, my local PBS, probably yours too) is doing a repeat this week of the Frontline special ‘From Jesus to Christ’, a history of the early Christian religion.
That does sound interesting. I'll have to see when it's on and if I can stay awake. But, if not, I can probably pull it up on the computer from their site.
If you're too busy for it, it'll still likely keep your parents occupied and out of trouble for a whole night.
Oh, give my Mom a book and she's happy. I don't know if my Dad could sit through the whole thing.
Enjoy moar cultural enrichment, Marcus. Lolol, European (and US) media claim motive of Muslim truck driver unknown. Thank you for your service. You will probably be the first to be blood sacrificed for Allah when the Eurabian Caliphate is established in the coming years. What a time to be alive!
I've been thinking about the current fuss between Trump and the CIA regarding Putin's contribution towards getting Trump elected; it occurs to me that, unlike the rest of us and in spite of the fact that it's technically illegal, the CIA has probably seen Trump's old tax returns and probably has a pretty good idea of just how much money Trump still owes the Russians.
Petes was haranguing me earlier for suggesting that the Trumpkins could be influenced to believe that the Evil Liberals and Democrats might actually be as bad or worse than is ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ (under whatever name they give it today, assuming they recognize that the various terror groups actually have specific names).
Well, consider this: More than half of the Trumpkins already believe that Trump actually won the popular vote. (WashingtonPost) Trump said that was true; therefore they believe it. This is the same sort of blindness and pliability that got more than half of them believing that Russia is America's friend. And Trump didn't even have to work at it to make those switches happen. He merely announced the creation of a new perception of reality, something out of nothing, Quantum Trumpism, and his followers followed right along; ‘nuff of ‘em to be dangerous anyway.
Lee: "May not have let them in for the purpose of letting them out. Purpose may have been to gather folks together for an easier kill."
No they most decidedly want to evacuate Aleppo. Then there's the question if they aim at creating a "kill-box" in Idlib. Might be so. Might be that the regime allows for all anti-regime elements, rebels and civilians both, to evacuate into Idlib only to have them in one place.
Might be the regime has a very harsh play in mind. But it was NOT the regime that bombed them busses.
Zeyad: "Enjoy moar cultural enrichment, Marcus. Lolol, European (and US) media claim motive of Muslim truck driver unknown. Thank you for your service. You will probably be the first to be blood sacrificed for Allah when the Eurabian Caliphate is established in the coming years. What a time to be alive!"
Thank you for being so honest at least, Zeyad. I too see that kind of development in the coming decades. But unlike you I say that the WHITE MAN will come out on top. No matter ya'll saracen hordes being numerous it was always down to the superiour mind, the superious technology and ya'll dune coons just don't have what it takes. All we whites need now is WILLPOWER. We've got everything else in line already. And once we muster WILLPOWER then ya'll desert monkeys are shit out of luck.
I was always defending Zeyad when he claimed Iraq was for Iraqis, Arabia for Arabs. I protested the war on Iraq. I was of the opinion they deserved their own nation, and that if they had quarrels they should get to sort them out among their own.
Now we see Zeyad for what he really is. And I come to the realisation I might have treated his ilk way too friendly. He's apparenly of the strange mind of the beduin arab who is always, 24/7, aligned on conquest. He's nothing but a saracen foe, who must be countered. Deus Vult!
Whenever Trump tweets something that makes the news I start looking for whatever else might be happening that Trump doesn't want me to notice. Apparently the news organizations haven't figured that out yet. Or, maybe they have but their audience hasn't, so they have to cover Trump's tweets to keep their audience and advertisers from going to some other source which will cover Trump's tweets.
"Elections are won by the marginal voter, the swing voter, the guy right at 50 percent. And in American politics he’s generally a Catholic. That’s the story this time, too. "It wasn’t the white Evangelicals. They went overwhelmingly for Trump, but that was also true in 2012 when they weren’t even sure Romney was Christian. They aren’t the swing voters. "Catholics, on the other hand, were plus-2 for Obama in 2012 and plus-7 for Trump this year. Evangelicals helped Trump in states he was mostly going to win anyway. Catholics? Now we’re talking about Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. And that was the election." NewYorkPost
Salt in the wound as the Clinton camp puts it. When the FBI so very, very publicly ‘reopened’ its case against Hillary on the eve of the election, they had nothin’ and they knew they had nothin’. It was, at best, a long shot fishing expedition, a shot in the dark conspicously publicized as ‘new evidence’ against Hillary. (Gotta wonder what Comey thinks of himself these day, having so well served the interests of Vladimir Putin here. And Trump almost certainly ain't gonna make his life easier for this; Comey's proven he can't keep control of his subordinates, but rather he can be rolled by them instead--that makes him a liability for Trump.)
FoxNews is confirming that Kellyanne Conway is moving to Washington DC and taking a job with the Trump administration. Exactly what job hasn't been decided, but she's getting some reward for holding hiim to semi-straight line during the election.
But, I've come to really dislike that woman. She's gotten grim and angry during the election campaign, and she's begun to rub me the wrong way for some reason--has to do with her being always angry now, but that's about as close as I come to being able to describe why. I's kinda hoping she'd go ‘way now that the election was over.
Newt Gingrich tells us that Trump is now trying to distance himself from his campaign promise to ‘drain the swamp’. Mediate We're not gonna be hearin’ that anymore, at least, not from Trump. That's goin’ the way of ‘build the wall’, probaby goin’ ‘way even faster.
It may take a few days before the Trumpkins are convinced that this was never on the agenda in the first place, but, I'm sure they'll make the adjustment in time to cheer him on at his inauguration.
Well, now ya know how the Republicans felt ‘bout Hillary.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ "We will see how quickly his supporters become disillusioned."
Ain't gonna happen soon. This won't be ‘nuff to do it. They'll likely take this one pretty much in stride, bare stagger over this, if that, and they'll be back in stride again.
On another subject…. The assassin who took out the Russian Ambassador to Turkey showed all the hallmarks of a Da‘esh supporter, but the Turkish government has decided that he was instead a follower of that Turkish exile who lives in Pennsylvania, Fethullah Gülen. The Turks have been wanting us to extradite him for awhile now, and so the Da‘esh guy is apparently not Da‘esh at all, at least not in Turkey, but is instead a follower of Fethullah Gülen. The Russians show every sign of being willing to play along.
Clear cut evidence would be a tall order, I don't have that. But I do know the Syrian regime really, really wanted to evacuate the last remaining rebel strongholds to declare victory in Aleppo. Can't do that until them jihadists are actually gone from there. This is why they let them out even with smallarms on display:
No heavy weaponry though, they had to leave that behind. But the regime REALLY wanted them evacuated in order to secure the whole city and declare a major victory. So that the regime would bomb the evacuation buses is far fetched.
Plus you can take to the bank that IF the regime had been behind them bombings then sure as shit they would have been blamed for it too. But the MSM while reporting on the blown up buses has been curiously scilent on who the blower-uppers were. That alone should tell you something Lee.
But I suspect you will get another chance at saying "look Assad and the russians aren't about attacking Daesh, they focus elsewhere". Because now the non-Daesh rebels, AKA Original Al Qaeda, is packed tight in Idlib.
I think Assad will want to strike hard at Idlib. Finish this thing. Finish off the rebels who are getting the most aid from abroad now that they are clustered together in one place. Then it will be upto Russia and Iran if they concur. Assad can't do that without help.
BTW Zeyad, ya might wanna be a lil' bith careful 'bout the Jihadi crap ya spew online. America is TRUMPLAND now and in Trumpland Moslems are in for extensive vetting. It's not yet quite clear if this vetting will be applied retrospectively but it might.
An Iraqi moslem cheering attacks at a Christian Christmas market mightn't make the cut, in Trumpland. Then you'd be sent back to the other arabs in arabia and I am not sure that's at the top of your agenda.
Anyway: best chill with that Jihadi stuff. Just some friendly advice.
You seem to forget that the ‘regime’ is not in charge of the Syrian military operations. Assad hasn't been in charge there since the Iranians sent in their Special Ops guy, Qassim Suleimani, to turn the situation around after Assad's forces go themselves ground up in the early fighting. (Given that there are Iranians, Russians and Hezzbollah all fighting on the ‘Assad’ side, it's questionable that any of them other than maybe Suleimani could have prevented some local commander from deciding on his own to shot the shit outta the evacuation busses just on a whim--takes some balls to go against Suleimani just for a whim, but otherwise….) Also the government side wasn't willingly letting people take out small arms (doesn't mean some didn't get through, but your assumption that the Assad side was allowing it willingly appears mistaken).
"A Syrian official source said the evacuation was halted because rebels had sought to take out people they had abducted with them, and they had also tried to take weapons hidden in bags." BusinessInsider (emphasis added)
Even Trump recognized that it was somewhat ‘impolitic’ for Gringrich to have come out and admitted that the ‘drain the swamp’ rhetoric was, to us the famous phrase from the Nixon administration, ‘inoperative’. Kinda dumb to admit that. So, Gingrich has been forced to make a hostage video recanting that admission. (NBCNews) For those who've been watching it's been fairly obvious that Trump has no intention of ‘draining’ any swamp, and is instead creating his very own great gator farm where the great big gators get fed and little gators get ‘et right along with the rest of us.
Amis Amri shot dead in a Italy. He was stopped while driving and pulled a gun on the cop who stopped him. Shot the cop (cop's gonna live). Cops shot back. Amri's dead. Score one for the Euroweenies.
Pete: "I get the sinking feeling you picked that up from your far right buddies, rather than any particular fondness for Pope Urban II"
I picked that up from Jan Guillou, a swedish author seriously to the left to all our political parties but still a really good author, and his trilogy about "Arn" a fictional sewdish crusader. I leave it to you though to feel :-( about my posts when I'm replying to someone who wishes me killed by jihadi scum. Yeah, my retorts were the problem. For sure Pete. Noted.
Hopefully I'll avoid that fate. We do have enough crazy and hostile saracens here that you just MIGHT get your wish fulfilled but the odds against me being run down by a truck are in my favour.
How's the family Zeyad? How's life in the Great Satan nation? Do you need any more donations sent to you these days? If you need medication I might dole out $100 like I did before. You just open up your blog again and I'll send you a Christmas gift. But only for medication mind you. Don't go buy fertilizer and diesel fuel.
"The recently liberated city of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, has erupted into euphoria on the cusp of Christmas Day.
The video shows Christians and Muslims celebrate as a Christmas Tree is lit up. It demonstrates the symbolism on the defeat of radical Islamist forces in the city."
Good for the folks of Aleppo I say. They have been through hell but finally the ones who managed to live through hell were saved by the Righteous Alliance, and the forces of evil were repelled. I would donate to the rebuilding of Aleppo if only I knew how to.
Thank GOD that Trump is about to scale the throne in the USA so that we'll stop seeing the US on the wrong side in situations like this one. With Trump the people of Aleppo could have been free long ago, or maybe even starved off the Al Qaeda invasion in the first place.
Life here in Trumpland is fantastic, Marcus. Just fantastic, believe me. Come visit in TX some time. I'll take you for a tour around the saracen parts of town and give you your donation back.
"With Trump the people of Aleppo could have been free long ago, or maybe even starved off the Al Qaeda invasion in the first place."
Or, quite possibly, the regional Sunni powers would have proceeded with absolutely no restraint (working from Trump's hints that they're on their own in this) and the Sunni takeover of Aleppo would have been the first bloodbath, with the Russian/Iranian/Hezzbollah counter-offensive finishing off the place entirely--and there'd be absolutely nobody left to celebrate Christmas.
But I might actually one day take you up on the offer to show me around town. I do have Texas on my plan to visit list.
You'll of course have to promise not to slay me. But as far as I know Beduin code goes completely against violence against visitors so I think I'd feel safe enough.
It might not be until a few years hence though, but I hope your invitation is open ended.
It's gonna be fucking brilliant Zeyad! You, a saracen moslem fanatic and me a white nationalist swede on a road-trip together where YOU is the guide and I drive (I insist I drive). I'm gonna rent a Caddilac for the occasion, a nice one. You'll show me around Texas, you show me the "moslem texas" and then I'll take you to sleazy cowboy bars and teach you how to drink like a Scandinvian and maybe hook up with lose kuffar-women. Fuck - we could film the whole trip and sell it to MTV! I'm really pumped up about this whole deal Zeyad. Just gotta keep not getting run over by a truck here at home for some time and we´re on. Im game! You game?
^ Look Zeyad, this appalachian hick wants in on our roadtrip. My vote is we just don't allow him to come along. But, that said, I don't want to be a dictator here. If you would wish to invite Lee C I guess I'd have to go along. I demand though that he's seated in the back seat and shuts the fuck up as we go. If you think you can sway that the so be it, but I still say we leave him the fuck back home and go on our ownes. What say you Zeyad?
I'm afraid I don't know what that means, other than that maybe, just maybe Trump will turn out to be hostile to Putin in the end?
I don't think anyone really knows what Donald Trump is thinking. But I suspect he is quite adept at looking out for Donald Trump. And that means using others to get what he wants. I wouldn't put it past him to use Putin as well.
Real estate guy up against a fella was a star in the old KGB? I'm leaning towards bettin’ on the KGB guy to come out on top of both any contests and any mutual hustles they might attempt together.
You are assuming he thought that comment through before he made it. I assume to the contrary that he was just talkin’ tough ‘cause that's what he does, and he hadn't considered that there might be consequences. The Donald is not accustomed to having to deal with consequences.
It has occurred to me…. We're gonna be hearing lots of people tellin’ us in the coming days that The Donald is employing disorder as a negotiating strategy, to keep his opposite numbers off balance. They're gonna be tellin’ us how smart The Donald is, how well this is working for him and for us. For the most part these are the same people who were telling us that The Donald was gonna be shortly makin’ a ‘pivot’ of some sort and was suddenly gonna seem more ‘Presidential’. That never happened in spite of the many times the Trumpkins assured us it was just about to happen.
So, now they've come up with the story that disorder is his negotiating strategy This is BS. It's always been BS; it's always gonna be BS. He has not strategy. There is only the one Donald Trump. And that Donald Trump doesn't bother with strategy. He wings it. That is the one and only Donald Trump. He doesn't even plan out those twitter outbreaks in advance, just tosses one out there whenever it seems like he needs to distract the reporters from something. But, they're not planned in advance either. He just wings it; that is the one and only Donald Trump; that's how he works.
65 comments:
John Glenn ate my hamster.
lol! Why did I know you were going to say that as soon as I saw the byline?
I haven't had a chance to start this book yet, but here is a review of that Thomas Friedman book I mentioned.
Thank You for Being Late
What I have always liked about Friedman is that he is adept at explaining situations in such a way that it is easy for a lay person to understand the various facets of them.
The times, as a recent Nobel prize winner once said, they are a changing. Friedman is right in that we must find ways to adapt. It is that flexibility that has allowed the West to thrive.
Btw, this post is probably the first time I have lauded the eloquence of Joe Biden. After listening to just a few Trump speeches it is scary to think I will miss him.
In deference to Marcus' accusations of bias I will leave a link regarding the displacement of civilians from the city of Mosul, the other battle raging alongside Aleppo.
Mosul citizens fleeing
I will make a small note that so far there have been no reports of summary executions of civilians on buses, as we have seen in Syria. But I will keep looking, just for you, Marcus.
Now things to do before I attend a play today.
Btw, a little chilly this morning, 21 below zero.
Our all time record lowest temperature was set 135 years ago and it was 20 degrees warmer than that! We had our first light frost of the season the night before last. That was "chilly". Tomorrow our temperatures will be back up to around 55 F which is fairly usual, though odd when you consider you'd have to head to northern Ontario to hit our latitude.
It looks like Ontario is about 20 degrees cooler
Ontario average temps in December
Your climate is impacted by that nice cozy Gulf stream (part of the thermohaline circulation), which at the moment is sending warm water your way.
Thermohaline circulation
Of course all that might change if climate change interferes. But I know you know that. :)
We are going to see some warming temps this week. That will be a welcome change.
"…this post is probably the first time I have lauded the eloquence of Joe Biden."
Probably you've yet to fully absorb the wonder that is Mike Pence. That'll make Biden look even better.
Lynnette:
"I will make a small note that so far there have been no reports of summary executions of civilians on buses, as we have seen in Syria. But I will keep looking, just for you, Marcus."
Lynnette, those buses are for evacuating both rebels and civvie out of Aleppo. The Syrian regime certainly wouldn't need them to go on any buses in order to round them up and/or execute them. The buses weren't attacked by the regime Lynnette. They wouldn't even have been there if the regime didn't let them in.
The regime LET IN the buses to evacuate mostly civvies but also rebs who had left their heavy weaponry behind. They were even allowed to keep their small arms.
The aim was to basically get the opposing populace away from Aleppo and towards Idlib and in return get a few thousand beleagured Allawites from villages close to Idlib now hostage to rebs.
But it was soem faction of the hundred-headed rebel "coalition", AKA Al Qaida and friends, who decided that was a no go. Better to keep the Allawite hostages in and around Idlib and force the remaining sunnis in Aleppo to remain behind. Hopingly in as dreadful conditions as possibly so as to make good headlines in the Gyardian and NYT.
"The buses weren't attacked by the regime Lynnette. They wouldn't
even have been there if the regime didn't let them in."
May not have let them in for the purpose of letting them out. Purpose may have been to gather folks together for an easier kill.
The Russian Ambassador to Turkey has been killed.
I may not like Putin but I feel for that poor man laying on the floor. It wasn't his policy, he was merely a useful tool for his boss.
@ Lynnette,
PBS (at least, my local PBS, probably yours too) is doing a repeat this week of the Frontline special ‘From Jesus to Christ’, a history of the early Christian religion. Four hours and worth the time it takes. I'm putting it on DVR, finally gonna get it recorded start to finish. It's on tomorrow night here.
If I recall correctly, they cut off the history just a little before the Council of Nicea and thus avoid that controversy. And they cover, but avoid answering, the question of whether the early Christians left the Jewish religion or were cast out. They dodge resolution of that controversy as well.
But, it's nevertheless worth the time it takes. If you're too busy for it, it'll still likely keep your parents occupied and out of trouble for a whole night.
Hmmm.... Newt Gingrich is floating the idea that Trump needs even further exemptions from the standard governmental ethics and conflict-of-interest laws than he already enjoys, and seems to be suggesting that Trump preemptively pardon all his governmental appointees for any self-dealing and public plunder they may be able to rack up in the next four years. (Politico.com) This is a little more extreme than anything I've seen suggested so far, and it might serve to prevent The Donald from throwing Gingrich completely aside, to live out his last days in the wilderness with Chris Christie and Rudy Guliani and other early on Trump supporters.
PBS (at least, my local PBS, probably yours too) is doing a repeat this week of the Frontline special ‘From Jesus to Christ’, a history of the early Christian religion.
That does sound interesting. I'll have to see when it's on and if I can stay awake. But, if not, I can probably pull it up on the computer from their site.
If you're too busy for it, it'll still likely keep your parents occupied and out of trouble for a whole night.
Oh, give my Mom a book and she's happy. I don't know if my Dad could sit through the whole thing.
I did listen to the Mormon Tabernacle choir tonight. They were doing a Christmas special on PBS. Lovely.
Enjoy moar cultural enrichment, Marcus. Lolol, European (and US) media claim motive of Muslim truck driver unknown. Thank you for your service. You will probably be the first to be blood sacrificed for Allah when the Eurabian Caliphate is established in the coming years. What a time to be alive!
I've been thinking about the current fuss between Trump and the CIA regarding Putin's contribution towards getting Trump elected; it occurs to me that, unlike the rest of us and in spite of the fact that it's technically illegal, the CIA has probably seen Trump's old tax returns and probably has a pretty good idea of just how much money Trump still owes the Russians.
Petes was haranguing me earlier for suggesting that the Trumpkins could be influenced to believe that the Evil Liberals and Democrats might actually be as bad or worse than is ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ (under whatever name they give it today, assuming they recognize that the various terror groups actually have specific names).
Well, consider this: More than half of the Trumpkins already believe that Trump actually won the popular vote. (WashingtonPost) Trump said that was true; therefore they believe it. This is the same sort of blindness and pliability that got more than half of them believing that Russia is America's friend.
And Trump didn't even have to work at it to make those switches happen. He merely announced the creation of a new perception of reality, something out of nothing, Quantum Trumpism, and his followers followed right along; ‘nuff of ‘em to be dangerous anyway.
Lee: "May not have let them in for the purpose of letting them out. Purpose may have been to gather folks together for an easier kill."
No they most decidedly want to evacuate Aleppo. Then there's the question if they aim at creating a "kill-box" in Idlib. Might be so. Might be that the regime allows for all anti-regime elements, rebels and civilians both, to evacuate into Idlib only to have them in one place.
Might be the regime has a very harsh play in mind. But it was NOT the regime that bombed them busses.
Zeyad: "Enjoy moar cultural enrichment, Marcus. Lolol, European (and US) media claim motive of Muslim truck driver unknown. Thank you for your service. You will probably be the first to be blood sacrificed for Allah when the Eurabian Caliphate is established in the coming years. What a time to be alive!"
Thank you for being so honest at least, Zeyad. I too see that kind of development in the coming decades. But unlike you I say that the WHITE MAN will come out on top. No matter ya'll saracen hordes being numerous it was always down to the superiour mind, the superious technology and ya'll dune coons just don't have what it takes. All we whites need now is WILLPOWER. We've got everything else in line already. And once we muster WILLPOWER then ya'll desert monkeys are shit out of luck.
I was always defending Zeyad when he claimed Iraq was for Iraqis, Arabia for Arabs. I protested the war on Iraq. I was of the opinion they deserved their own nation, and that if they had quarrels they should get to sort them out among their own.
Now we see Zeyad for what he really is. And I come to the realisation I might have treated his ilk way too friendly. He's apparenly of the strange mind of the beduin arab who is always, 24/7, aligned on conquest. He's nothing but a saracen foe, who must be countered. Deus Vult!
"But it was NOT the regime that bombed them busses."
And what is your evidence for that?
What a time to be alive!
Yet many who are fighting for this "Caliphate" are so intent on being dead. Perhaps they don't really agree with you, Z?
Apparently Trump was not happy with Bill Clinton's assessment of his abilities.
*sigh*
Four years of the media covering Trump's thin skinned tweeting.
*Double sigh*
Jesse Ventura redux.
Whenever Trump tweets something that makes the news I start looking for whatever else might be happening that Trump doesn't want me to notice.
Apparently the news organizations haven't figured that out yet.
Or, maybe they have but their audience hasn't, so they have to cover Trump's tweets to keep their audience and advertisers from going to some other source which will cover Trump's tweets.
Ah hah! Now we know whom to blame….
"Elections are won by the marginal voter, the swing voter, the guy right
at 50 percent. And in American politics he’s generally a Catholic. That’s
the story this time, too.
"It wasn’t the white Evangelicals. They went overwhelmingly for Trump,
but that was also true in 2012 when they weren’t even sure Romney
was Christian. They aren’t the swing voters.
"Catholics, on the other hand, were plus-2 for Obama in 2012 and
plus-7 for Trump this year. Evangelicals helped Trump in states he was
mostly going to win anyway. Catholics? Now we’re talking about
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. And that was the election."
NewYorkPost
Salt in the wound as the Clinton camp puts it. When the FBI so very, very publicly ‘reopened’ its case against Hillary on the eve of the election, they had nothin’ and they knew they had nothin’. It was, at best, a long shot fishing expedition, a shot in the dark conspicously publicized as ‘new evidence’ against Hillary. (Gotta wonder what Comey thinks of himself these day, having so well served the interests of Vladimir Putin here. And Trump almost certainly ain't gonna make his life easier for this; Comey's proven he can't keep control of his subordinates, but rather he can be rolled by them instead--that makes him a liability for Trump.)
@ Lynnette,
FoxNews is confirming that Kellyanne Conway is moving to Washington DC and taking a job with the Trump administration. Exactly what job hasn't been decided, but she's getting some reward for holding hiim to semi-straight line during the election.
But, I've come to really dislike that woman. She's gotten grim and angry during the election campaign, and she's begun to rub me the wrong way for some reason--has to do with her being always angry now, but that's about as close as I come to being able to describe why. I's kinda hoping she'd go ‘way now that the election was over.
Newt Gingrich tells us that Trump is now trying to distance himself from his campaign promise to ‘drain the swamp’. Mediate We're not gonna be hearin’ that anymore, at least, not from Trump. That's goin’ the way of ‘build the wall’, probaby goin’ ‘way even faster.
It may take a few days before the Trumpkins are convinced that this was never on the agenda in the first place, but, I'm sure they'll make the adjustment in time to cheer him on at his inauguration.
But, I've come to really dislike that woman.
Me too.
...she's begun to rub me the wrong way for some reason...
I believe she has adopted the arrogant bullying attitude of her boss.
I's kinda hoping she'd go ‘way now that the election was over.
Yes. Unfortunately we are destined for disappointment.
Newt Gingrich tells us that Trump is now trying to distance himself from his campaign promise to ‘drain the swamp’.
It was inevitable since he brought it with him.
We will see how quickly his supporters become disillusioned.
"Yes. Unfortunately…"
Well, now ya know how the Republicans felt ‘bout Hillary.
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"We will see how quickly his supporters become disillusioned."
Ain't gonna happen soon. This won't be ‘nuff to do it. They'll likely take this one pretty much in stride, bare stagger over this, if that, and they'll be back in stride again.
On another subject…. The assassin who took out the Russian Ambassador to Turkey showed all the hallmarks of a Da‘esh supporter, but the Turkish government has decided that he was instead a follower of that Turkish exile who lives in Pennsylvania, Fethullah Gülen. The Turks have been wanting us to extradite him for awhile now, and so the Da‘esh guy is apparently not Da‘esh at all, at least not in Turkey, but is instead a follower of Fethullah Gülen. The Russians show every sign of being willing to play along.
Lee: "And what is your evidence for that?"
Clear cut evidence would be a tall order, I don't have that. But I do know the Syrian regime really, really wanted to evacuate the last remaining rebel strongholds to declare victory in Aleppo. Can't do that until them jihadists are actually gone from there. This is why they let them out even with smallarms on display:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faqDclpqLdo&feature=youtu.be
No heavy weaponry though, they had to leave that behind. But the regime REALLY wanted them evacuated in order to secure the whole city and declare a major victory. So that the regime would bomb the evacuation buses is far fetched.
Plus you can take to the bank that IF the regime had been behind them bombings then sure as shit they would have been blamed for it too. But the MSM while reporting on the blown up buses has been curiously scilent on who the blower-uppers were. That alone should tell you something Lee.
But I suspect you will get another chance at saying "look Assad and the russians aren't about attacking Daesh, they focus elsewhere". Because now the non-Daesh rebels, AKA Original Al Qaeda, is packed tight in Idlib.
I think Assad will want to strike hard at Idlib. Finish this thing. Finish off the rebels who are getting the most aid from abroad now that they are clustered together in one place. Then it will be upto Russia and Iran if they concur. Assad can't do that without help.
Zeyad:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/95/8b/d1/958bd105f22132f3359cb4c064afa0ee.jpg
LOL!
BTW Zeyad, ya might wanna be a lil' bith careful 'bout the Jihadi crap ya spew online. America is TRUMPLAND now and in Trumpland Moslems are in for extensive vetting. It's not yet quite clear if this vetting will be applied retrospectively but it might.
An Iraqi moslem cheering attacks at a Christian Christmas market mightn't make the cut, in Trumpland. Then you'd be sent back to the other arabs in arabia and I am not sure that's at the top of your agenda.
Anyway: best chill with that Jihadi stuff. Just some friendly advice.
"But the regime REALLY wanted them evacuated…"
You seem to forget that the ‘regime’ is not in charge of the Syrian military operations. Assad hasn't been in charge there since the Iranians sent in their Special Ops guy, Qassim Suleimani, to turn the situation around after Assad's forces go themselves ground up in the early fighting. (Given that there are Iranians, Russians and Hezzbollah all fighting on the ‘Assad’ side, it's questionable that any of them other than maybe Suleimani could have prevented some local commander from deciding on his own to shot the shit outta the evacuation busses just on a whim--takes some balls to go against Suleimani just for a whim, but otherwise….)
Also the government side wasn't willingly letting people take out small arms (doesn't mean some didn't get through, but your assumption that the Assad side was allowing it willingly appears mistaken).
"A Syrian official source said the evacuation was halted because rebels
had sought to take out people they had abducted with them, and they
had also tried to take weapons hidden in bags."
BusinessInsider (emphasis added)
Even Trump recognized that it was somewhat ‘impolitic’ for Gringrich to have come out and admitted that the ‘drain the swamp’ rhetoric was, to us the famous phrase from the Nixon administration, ‘inoperative’. Kinda dumb to admit that. So, Gingrich has been forced to make a hostage video recanting that admission. (NBCNews) For those who've been watching it's been fairly obvious that Trump has no intention of ‘draining’ any swamp, and is instead creating his very own great gator farm where the great big gators get fed and little gators get ‘et right along with the rest of us.
...instead creating his very own great gator farm where the great big gators get fed and little gators get ‘et right along with the rest of us.
Got it in one, Lee.
Have faith in your fellow countrymen Marcus.
;^}
Just some friendly advice.
Get trucked, cuck.
Amis Amri shot dead in a Italy. He was stopped while driving and pulled a gun on the cop who stopped him. Shot the cop (cop's gonna live). Cops shot back. Amri's dead. Score one for the Euroweenies.
[Marcus]: "Deus Vult!"
I get the sinking feeling you picked that up from your far right buddies, rather than any particular fondness for Pope Urban II
:-(
You know, I can't help but wonder if maybe Vladimir Putin might have been "Trumped". Just a passing thought before I run some errands...
"You know, I can't help but wonder if maybe Vladimir Putin might
have been ‘Trumped’."
I'm afraid I don't know what that means, other than that maybe, just maybe Trump will turn out to be hostile to Putin in the end?
Pete: "I get the sinking feeling you picked that up from your far right buddies, rather than any particular fondness for Pope Urban II"
I picked that up from Jan Guillou, a swedish author seriously to the left to all our political parties but still a really good author, and his trilogy about "Arn" a fictional sewdish crusader. I leave it to you though to feel :-( about my posts when I'm replying to someone who wishes me killed by jihadi scum. Yeah, my retorts were the problem. For sure Pete. Noted.
Zeyad:
"Have faith in your fellow countrymen Marcus."
I would think those aren't "swedes" but "germans" Zeyad. Looks like north/east Africans celebrating Oktoberfest in Germany to me.
Zeyad: "Get trucked, cuck."
Hopefully I'll avoid that fate. We do have enough crazy and hostile saracens here that you just MIGHT get your wish fulfilled but the odds against me being run down by a truck are in my favour.
How's the family Zeyad? How's life in the Great Satan nation? Do you need any more donations sent to you these days? If you need medication I might dole out $100 like I did before. You just open up your blog again and I'll send you a Christmas gift. But only for medication mind you. Don't go buy fertilizer and diesel fuel.
Now that American Al-Qaeda allies have finally been thrown out of Aleppo the populace can again celebrate Christmas:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/video-christmas-celebrations-begin-aleppo/
"The recently liberated city of Aleppo, Syria's second largest city, has erupted into euphoria on the cusp of Christmas Day.
The video shows Christians and Muslims celebrate as a Christmas Tree is lit up. It demonstrates the symbolism on the defeat of radical Islamist forces in the city."
Good for the folks of Aleppo I say. They have been through hell but finally the ones who managed to live through hell were saved by the Righteous Alliance, and the forces of evil were repelled. I would donate to the rebuilding of Aleppo if only I knew how to.
Thank GOD that Trump is about to scale the throne in the USA so that we'll stop seeing the US on the wrong side in situations like this one. With Trump the people of Aleppo could have been free long ago, or maybe even starved off the Al Qaeda invasion in the first place.
Life here in Trumpland is fantastic, Marcus. Just fantastic, believe me. Come visit in TX some time. I'll take you for a tour around the saracen parts of town and give you your donation back.
"With Trump the people of Aleppo could have been free long ago, or
maybe even starved off the Al Qaeda invasion in the first place."
Or, quite possibly, the regional Sunni powers would have proceeded with absolutely no restraint (working from Trump's hints that they're on their own in this) and the Sunni takeover of Aleppo would have been the first bloodbath, with the Russian/Iranian/Hezzbollah counter-offensive finishing off the place entirely--and there'd be absolutely nobody left to celebrate Christmas.
It was a gift Zeyad, not a loan. Keep it.
But I might actually one day take you up on the offer to show me around town. I do have Texas on my plan to visit list.
You'll of course have to promise not to slay me. But as far as I know Beduin code goes completely against violence against visitors so I think I'd feel safe enough.
It might not be until a few years hence though, but I hope your invitation is open ended.
It's gonna be fucking brilliant Zeyad! You, a saracen moslem fanatic and me a white nationalist swede on a road-trip together where YOU is the guide and I drive (I insist I drive). I'm gonna rent a Caddilac for the occasion, a nice one. You'll show me around Texas, you show me the "moslem texas" and then I'll take you to sleazy cowboy bars and teach you how to drink like a Scandinvian and maybe hook up with lose kuffar-women. Fuck - we could film the whole trip and sell it to MTV! I'm really pumped up about this whole deal Zeyad. Just gotta keep not getting run over by a truck here at home for some time and we´re on. Im game! You game?
"But as far as I know Beduin code goes completely against violence
against visitors…"
‘Guests’ not visitors, the distinction may be important.
^
Look Zeyad, this appalachian hick wants in on our roadtrip. My vote is we just don't allow him to come along. But, that said, I don't want to be a dictator here. If you would wish to invite Lee C I guess I'd have to go along. I demand though that he's seated in the back seat and shuts the fuck up as we go. If you think you can sway that the so be it, but I still say we leave him the fuck back home and go on our ownes. What say you Zeyad?
I'm afraid I don't know what that means, other than that maybe, just maybe Trump will turn out to be hostile to Putin in the end?
I don't think anyone really knows what Donald Trump is thinking. But I suspect he is quite adept at looking out for Donald Trump. And that means using others to get what he wants. I wouldn't put it past him to use Putin as well.
I hate to interrupt this love fest that has developed between Marcus and Zeyad, but it is time for my Christmas post.
"…this appalachian hick wants in on our roadtrip."
Not so much. I'd hold out for the prospect of better company.
Real estate guy up against a fella was a star in the old KGB? I'm leaning towards bettin’ on the KGB guy to come out on top of both any contests and any mutual hustles they might attempt together.
Hmmm...possibly so. But he did get elected, maybe with Putin's help. Starting an arms race would seem to be an odd way of saying thank you.
You are assuming he thought that comment through before he made it. I assume to the contrary that he was just talkin’ tough ‘cause that's what he does, and he hadn't considered that there might be consequences. The Donald is not accustomed to having to deal with consequences.
Post Script:
It has occurred to me…. We're gonna be hearing lots of people tellin’ us in the coming days that The Donald is employing disorder as a negotiating strategy, to keep his opposite numbers off balance. They're gonna be tellin’ us how smart The Donald is, how well this is working for him and for us. For the most part these are the same people who were telling us that The Donald was gonna be shortly makin’ a ‘pivot’ of some sort and was suddenly gonna seem more ‘Presidential’. That never happened in spite of the many times the Trumpkins assured us it was just about to happen.
So, now they've come up with the story that disorder is his negotiating strategy This is BS. It's always been BS; it's always gonna be BS. He has not strategy. There is only the one Donald Trump. And that Donald Trump doesn't bother with strategy. He wings it. That is the one and only Donald Trump. He doesn't even plan out those twitter outbreaks in advance, just tosses one out there whenever it seems like he needs to distract the reporters from something. But, they're not planned in advance either. He just wings it; that is the one and only Donald Trump; that's how he works.
Not gonna worry ‘bout the typos; it reads well enough to get the point across.
It's going to be a long four years.
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