Sit back and enjoy a tour through an ancient place that I am hoping will still be around for generations to come.
Sunday 2 April 2017
The Tongass
There are places on this Earth that you remember. They stick in your mind as something special. For me this is one such place. I have walked in this forest, I have stood by a tree just like the one in this video. It was an amazing experience that made me feel humble and in awe of what nature has created. I wanted to share this video so that others may see, perhaps, what I saw. A place that needs to be preserved for others to enjoy, for others to understand that we are but a small part of this ecosystem of Earth. When our elected officials talk about cutting regulations, or slashing budgets for the EPA, or even ignoring the possibility that we may have some, however small it may be, effect on our changing climate I wanted to remind people of what we have at risk. We are stewards of our environment.
Sit back and enjoy a tour through an ancient place that I am hoping will still be around for generations to come.
Sit back and enjoy a tour through an ancient place that I am hoping will still be around for generations to come.
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152 comments:
Humbling. On a positive note from my own country 70% of Sweden is covered in forests and we do have a thriving economy based on that natural resource but also strict legislation protecting the environment. For one thing our forests are actually growing since companies need to plant more trees than they cut down. And many forests are protected all together, for bio-diversitys sake.
I guess adding a couple of Billion people onto earth and moving 10's of millions of them up here will put an end to that and ruin the environment forever, but hey - we weren't called racists! (actually we were called that anyway but we tried our best not to be).
We have some remaining rain forest the lower 48 (temperate rain forest--Tongass is more sub-arctic in nature). There's some left in Washington state, and smaller chunks scattered about the southern Appalachians. You might look them up next time you want to go looking.
On a positive note from my own country 70% of Sweden is covered in forests and we do have a thriving economy based on that natural resource but also strict legislation protecting the environment.
Your country is a perfect example that you can have both economic development as well as preserve natural resources for future generations. We can learn something from your policies if only our leaders would take note.
I guess adding a couple of Billion people onto earth and moving 10's of millions of them up here will put an end to that and ruin the environment forever,...
You found a solution to environmental issues, you can find a solution to this too.
You might look them up next time you want to go looking.
I would love to see so many things closer to home. I haven't been to California or Washington state, nor have I been to the Carolinias.
I would love to see Yosemite as well as go back to Yellowstone or Glacier. I was actually invited down to Texas too, another place I haven't seen. Unfortunately I am kind of stuck at the moment with family issues that prevent me from doing much traveling. Maybe someday I could do it again. I miss it.
Actually, come to think of it, I have been to Washington state. But I was only in the airport for a couple of hours waiting on a connecting flight. But I did get to see a little lovely scenery from overhead.
When I visited Alaska I did the float plane tour of the Mendenhall Glacier. I thought I would check to see what the area looked like now so I grabbed a link to a tour that someone took recently.
Yes Sweden!
I notice that Shorthands has sent his Jewish son-in-law to Iraq to mellow those people out a little bit, Orthodox Jew no less.
And, for those of us who are not Zeyad, I notice also that Shorthands is preparing his very own tax reform package to present to his congressional Republicans. Apparently he's of the opinion that he shouldn't have let them prep the ‘repeal and whatever’ bill to get rid of ObamaCare, and so he's gonna get involved up front this time, and he's gonna have them pass his version of tax reform instead of him signing on to their version. This time he's gonna take charge coming right outta the blocks. Politico.com
Yeah, right, like that's gonna work.
TrumpTweets: He's on a tear this morning, cheering for FoxNews (specifically, in the form of ‘Fox and Friends’, which even Fox admits isn't really a news show--or, at least they used to admit that--hard to say where they're going with it these days), and, inexplicably, he's still trying to cut into that 3 million vote lead that Hillary Clinton ran up on him.
I'm thinking the bombing on the subway in St. Petersburg is probably jihadi.
Radio-Right-Wing is going absolutely nuts today (and one assumes FoxNews will follow obligingly along tonight). They have discovered that Susan Rice, former Senior National Security Advisor to Barack Obama, requested the ‘unmasking’ of the names of persons (Americans) to whom Russian Intelligence was talking last year. As Senior National Security Advisor, one would think that this is information she'd have a professional interest in knowing.
However, Glenn Hannibaugh and even the second-stringers are going into hysterics upon learning this news. It'll likely be playing loudly on FoxNews for the next few days, and probably take a prominent position in the next few days' worth of TrumpTweets.
It is equally newsworthy with the revelation that we were keeping known Russian Intelligence agents under surveillance in the first place. But, they're gonna run with it anyway.
This strongly suggests that they ain't got squat--several weeks of Trump howling for evidence, and his government investigators haven't turned up squat, so they gotta pretend means something. Strongly suggests that they ain't got squat and don't expect to find anything untoward with further looking.
Typo there: ‘…so they gotta pretend this means something.’
Yes Sweden!
Hmmm...I am thinking that the training for the police in Sweden may need to be adjusted some.
I notice that Shorthands has sent his Jewish son-in-law to Iraq to mellow those people out a little bit, Orthodox Jew no less.
Oh, now there's a good choice. lol!
I'm thinking the bombing on the subway in St. Petersburg is probably jihadi.
I am reading that they found another device elsewhere. You might be right. I'd keep looking, as they tend to do things in threes.
Second possibility is Chechens, but half of them are jihadi too.
(And then, of course, there's alway Putin himself, perhaps wanting to charge up the patriotism capacitors; he's bombed Russia before. But, I deem it not likely just yet. Those protests weren't large enough to call for such drastic maneuvers--he's worried some, but not that much I don't think.)
Al-Qaeda does threes. The other jihadi organizations lean away from that as it's considered a signature al-Qaeda play.
Speculation on who is responsible for terror attack in Russia.
I didn't realize that Russia was such a large contributor of recruits for Daesh.
Lynnette:
"You found a solution to environmental issues, you can find a solution to this too."
Did you mean:
"You found a solution to one environmental issue, you can find a solution to this one too."
As a soon forgotten former President used to say: "yes we can!"
Zeyad:
"Yes Sweden!"
I saw that. It's kinda embarrassing tbh. Not to say women should play no part in law enforcement but when the station receive a complaint about a freakout at an asylum facility and can expect rowdy middle easterners it's insane to send a squad car with three female cops. They should count themselves lucky there was just one crazy arab to try to handle and that the rest of 'em untypically didn't join in for a riot for once.
The Russians know how to handle moslem migrants they need to arrest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW9mOr0NHY4
No need for guns, just a firm hand with the promise of a stomping if they go on a typical middle eastern freakout session, and look, they look downright cowed.
Or in this case in Sweden one could take the American approach and just put 12 bullets in the guy's torso. That's frowned upon here though.
Yeah sure, Marcs, but the few dozen Russians who were killed and maimed in their metro yesterday morning would probably disagree with you there.
That's probably got more to do with Groznyj or Aleppo than with OMON-troops rooting out wellfare-migrants in a firm manner. Wouldn't you say?
So far they're saying it was a Kazakh Muslim so yeah maybe
Chemical attack in Syria
At least 70 people, including at least 10 children, have been killed in what is suspected to be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria in years, activist groups say.
Airstrikes hit the rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday morning, giving off a "poisonous gas," according to Anas al-Diab, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center.
The Russians say they had no planes in the area. However, Assad's forces did. The same Assad that the Russians are propping up.
I have always liked John McCain. I might have mentioned that in the past.
Republican Sen. John McCain told CNN's Alisyn Camerota there was more than enough blame to go around for Obama and Trump.
The Arizona Republican compared Trump's lack of action to that of the Obama administration, saying neither president took the situation seriously enough.
"We've seen this movie before, when Barack Obama said they would have a red line and they crossed it and he did nothing," he said on "New Day."
But McCain also had scathing criticism for Trump, saying: "Bashar Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what Americans say. I'm sure they took note of what our secretary of state said just the other day that the Syrian people would be determining their own future themselves -- one of the more incredible statements I've ever heard."
"I'm sure they are encouraged to know the United States is withdrawing and seeking a new arrangement with the Russians," he added. "It is another disgraceful chapter in American history and it was predictable."
One of those infamous "green light" moments for the Trump administration.
I saw that. It's kinda embarrassing tbh.
Maybe some training in hand to hand combat? Or a taser.
"The Russians say they had no planes in the area."
They also said they didn't have any soldiers in Crimea.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
"Or a taser."
Some folks seem to be able to walk right through those tasers. (The right dope often helps with that.)
And, John McCain would have us stuck up to our waist in the mess that is Syria, with no way to make it end short of nuking the place.
You may like John McCain, but you wouldn't like that. (And, if he actually managed to get that done you might end up rethinking how much you like John McCain.)
I've been monitoring Shorthands' preparatory moves in advance of his coming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. I've come to the conclusion that there's a high risk of Shorthands embarrassing himself during the meeting, and quite possibly a fairly high risk of him embarrassing himself publicly. This could cause him to engage in unfortunate behaviors (like his accusations that Obama ordered him ‘wiretapped’, for instance) only this time in the international arena. We can only hope that he confines his embarrassing behavior, if any, to twitter and doesn't try to start a war or something. (He has hinted at doing the war thing, and he is suffering record low approval ratings; a ‘wag the dog’ gambit isn't an impossibility with this guy.)
(He has hinted at doing the war thing, and he is suffering record low approval ratings; a ‘wag the dog’ gambit isn't an impossibility with this guy.)
Coincidentally the classic gambit of dictators. Find someone they can blame all of the country's ills on and divert attention from their own inadequacies.
I see the GOP has resurrected the health care bill again. This time they have a version that apparently is intent on doing away with the health part. We will be back to square one with non coverage of preexisting conditions and apparently there is no need to encourage people to maintain good health with wellness visits. Much better to wait until they really get sick and end up in the emergency room. Yup, a health care bill without the health, and apparently, any caring.
Well here is a possible candidate for our esteemed leader to take to task.
It might not be Syria where the real danger lies.
Tillerson or Kim? You weren't entirely clear there about whom to take to task.
"I see the GOP has resurrected the health care bill again."
I saw that. Apparently the new Trump-centric plan (replacing the dog's breakfast Ryan drafted), apparently the plan now is to cover preexisting conditions only for people who don't have any. (This one's not goin’ anwhere either.)
Apparently ex-General H.R. McMaster is a a persistent bastard. It has just been announced that Steve Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council. Good for McMaster (good for the rest of us too).
Lot left to do to get Trump under control, but, it's a start.
I am watching Schwarzenegger on CNN. Interesting interview. He's a Republican I might vote for.
Yes, I saw that about Bannon and I hope it bodes well for other changes.
"He's a Republican I might vote for."
The true-believers and the dedicated Trumpkins (not the same folks although there is some considerable overlap where true-believers pretend to be Trumpkins), they'd tell ya that Schwarzenegger isn't really a Republican; he's a RINO.
My guess, the true-believers eventually gonna havta get a new political party going (Schwarzenegger probably gets to stay with what's left of the Republicans after that--wrong folks deciding who's a RINO and who's not these days). The dedicated Trumpkins are gonna just be dejected and bitter for several years--no tellin’ what they come up with after that's over.
"If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good, and to make a
positive impact, then I'm complicit."
Ivanka Trump
I'm not gonna rag on too much, sometimes ya can blame people for how their kids turned out, but blaming them for their parents is a bit beyond logic. But, I will say that this girl's clearly not ready for prime-time in the Trump administration.
"poisonous gas" Yeah.
Still haven't made up my mind whether you shills are just brainwashed zombies or just putting on an act, like these western-backed Al-Qaida White Helmet faggots.
Faggots? You know those guys personally, do ya?
I for one do not buy the Sarin-gas story. I can't understand how these guys here just seems to swallow that bullshit hook line and sinker.
Assad is winning in Syria. He just recently scored a big success in Aleppo. The rebels are being pushed back and are fragmentized. Just a few days ago the Trump-crew were kinda opening the door for an acceptance of Assad and the Syrian regime remaining in control of a post conflict Syria. The aim was ISIS only.
At THAT point, Assad would be foolish enough to gas civvies in a location very far from his seat of power in Damascus and blow away any hope of acceptance from the USA and also by proxy throw a spanner into any new and improved USA-Russia relations? Really?
Can't you see that the Trumpists denouncements of Assad and harsh words at his Russian backers, this turnaround, WAS the aim of the attack? It succeeded in doing that.
It doesn't even matter if the gassing was real. As in wait until a regime plane is close enough to be blamed then blow up some Sarin gas and film dying kids, which would be my best bet. Or as Zeyad seems to suggest a set up, a hoax. The aim was never the attack itself but the pictures of gassed children in the news that made Trump and his crew come back into the Anti Assad war-mongering camp.
Mission accomplished.
waaaaah
So, the wannabe in Texas and the fascist fan from Sweden find themselves in agreement yet again. Not really a surprise.
@ Lynnette,
It looks like Devin Nunes will not grow up to be the next Trey Gowdy. The next Trey Gowdy will be none other than Trey Gowdy his very own self.
"Assad is winning in Syria. He just recently scored a big success in
Aleppo."
Assad already lost the war in Syria. He's allowed to stay on now as front man for the Russians and the Iranians, both of whom have reasons for wanting to keep the war alive instead of letting the Turks and the Saudi have it out to a conclusion via their proxy forces.
Chemical weapons would terrorize Assad's opponents who're gathering crumbs with him, and just might make him into a player again.
^
Took farmboy about 7 hours to find a counter argument against how INSANE it would be for Assad to gas civvies for the world to see at this point in time. I wonder what was the source of that theory? He probably had to venture into Neocon thinktankland for that nugget of wisdom.
Over here the theory put forth so far is that Assad felt so emboldened by Tillersons remark the other day about regime-change not being a priority that he thought he just got a green card to do whatever the hell he wants - and what he wants is to gas children. An even more outlandish proposal.
I just didn't have the energy last night on account of it wasn't important. Trump's scatterbrained. Today's outrage over Syrian gas attacks mean nothing; he'll be preoccupied with a Twitter war with Schwarzenegger or Liz Warren or some such other shit by tomorrow morning.
The generals are in charge of what goes down in Syria, and their modus operandi is to slide down a slippery slope, not charge in all at once on account of Trump's political considerations of the moment.
Your explanation is bullshit and was bullshit last night. Doesn't matter about Trump being outraged one evening; he'll get over it; blame it on Obama.
You didn't have "energy" to make points about points? Now that's a first!
Nah, I don't buy it. You didn't have our talking points in order, because they were not constructed for you yet. What was the outlet where you learned them Lee? Weekly Standard? American Enterprise Institute? The National Interest? PNAC?
Care to share a link?
"I don't buy it."
I don't care.
I don't care that you don't care. You have a weak position on this and you know it. And I know that you know it. You can perhaps fool Lynnette but that's about it. Not even Pete would be swayed by your position is my guess.
I'd actaually like Pete's view on this whole Assad is gassing his people right about when he needs it the least and it could hurt him the most storyline. He's usually a shill for the powers that be but I'd like to see if he would go that blatantly against any kind of logic.
Please read this:
https://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
Just read it and then once you've read it think about the present "gas attack", ask yourselves qui bono? And then keep an open mind. Just letting CNN feed your brains with so called "truths"... while easy it's not very intelectually honest of you.
Read far enough to see the name Seymour Hersh; pretty much all I needed to know right there.
From that article in case you're too lazy to read it:
"The foreign policy expert told me that the account he heard originated with Donilon. (It was later corroborated by a former US official, who learned of it from a senior Turkish diplomat.) According to the expert, Erdoğan had sought the meeting to demonstrate to Obama that the red line had been crossed, and had brought Fidan along to state the case. When Erdoğan tried to draw Fidan into the conversation, and Fidan began speaking, Obama cut him off and said: ‘We know.’ Erdoğan tried to bring Fidan in a second time, and Obama again cut him off and said: ‘We know.’ At that point, an exasperated Erdoğan said, ‘But your red line has been crossed!’ and, the expert told me, ‘Donilon said Erdoğan “fucking waved his finger at the president inside the White House”.’ Obama then pointed at Fidan and said: ‘We know what you’re doing with the radicals in Syria.’"
You really should read the whole piece Lee. It's interesting. You might question it but still... read it.
None of that supports the notion that the gassing is a fake news item intended to turn Trump against Russia and against Assad. If you're gonna quote a piece to ‛interest’ me in your theory, you gotta make the connection to your theory, and you've done it yet.
I don't have such an article Lee. Not yet anyway. As you well know it's difficult to prove a non negative.
What I do have is my own reasoning saying it would be INSANE for Assad to gas his own people and make himself a villain when he, finally, after a 6 years war as an underdog, he finally has both success on the battlefield and signs are showing that he might not be ousted after all.
He's got a golden opportunity to press the military advantage he already has (with Iranian and Russian support) and hope that the US sides with not him but with his side in taking out ISIS.
Why, why, would he throw that away to gas some possible jihadists and a whole lotta civvies?
It does not make sense. I don't believe it.
"I don't have such an article Lee. Not yet anyway."
And I can't see the point in you directing me, in support of your theory, to random other articles that don't address your theory.
Fact is - I don't think YOU actually believe it either. You're not that dimwitted. I think this is one of those times you just shill for the home team. And if the home team, CNN, MSNBC, etc, tells it like Assad is the culprit yoou run with that. But you do it knowing it's likely a fucking lie.
That's the main reason I don't like you Lee. You are dishonest and a shill.
Lee: "And I can't see the point in you directing me, in support of your theory, to random other articles that don't address your theory."
They point to a history of lies and dishonesty when it comes to the same topic we're now discussing. So of course they're relevant.
"That's the main reason I don't like you Lee."
I suspect that's not really it, but it's not worth arguing about ‘cause, once again, I don't care.
"So of course they're relevant."
Your problem was in making them interesting; we can take up relevance later if you ever get over the first hurdle.
Zeyad is a moslem arab who hates white folks probably because he feels inferior to them and had to flee his own homeland to live amongst a better people. I understand that. I don't want him or his ilk in the west to begin with but I acknowledge western (American) actions ruined his homeland and he might have been forced to relocate. OK. We're never going to be pals him and me but we can agree to agree or agree to disagree. Fine.
But you Lee. You are not even possible to reason with. If I didn't know better I would think your sole aim was to be such an obnoxious bastard as to scare every single poster away from this blog, and zeyads blog before it, just by attrition.
Even Zeyad, the sunni fanatic who hates more than any other things the Shia death squads in Iraq and the syrian government backed Shabiha killers in Syria realises this whole gas-civvies-scenario is just a hoax.
You're running a little far afield there Marcus. The subject was whether or not I should take seriously the conspiracy theory that the whole world, and most especially Shorthands, was being snookered by, well, by whomever, the Evil Media probably, into believing that Assad might acually gas his own people. (Like that's never happened before.)
Raggin’ on me don't get ya any closer to makin’ that case.
And, just by the way, a guy laying in fake rubble from a faked high explosive strike doesn't shed much light on who's gassing whom. Zeyad's predilections notwithstanding.
We'll see. The previous "gassings" were pretty much all debunked after the initial hysteria, so you might want to be cautious at this point in time... It's quite early you know and the Ghouta gassing (biggest one to date - designed to push Obama over that red line) was only credibly pinned on the "rebels" after a few weeks had gone by. Fog of war and all. You probably wouldn't understand. (or wouldn't want to understand)
Lee: "And, just by the way, a guy laying in fake rubble from a faked high explosive strike doesn't shed much light on who's gassing whom. Zeyad's predilections notwithstanding."
Oh, so you actually watched his video did you? You want more of those? Because there are WAY more. WAY many pictures of "white helmet one day - jihadi the next". Those "white helmets" are a HOAX. They are to Al Qaida what Sinn Fein was to the IRA. The public front.
When someone (can't remember who) proposed the "white helmets of syria" should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Price I almost threw up. But then again warlords such as Arafat and Obama had already been awarded that "peace price" so what the fuck - might give it to Al Qaeda as well since it's already lost all credibility.
"…the Ghouta gassing…was only credibly pinned on the ‘rebels’ after a few
weeks had gone by."
It's been a few years now, and it's not been credibly pinned on the ‘rebels’ yet.
"Because there are WAY more. WAY many pictures…"
Hard to believe the concept of relevance escapes you so completely.
Lee:
"It's been a few years now, and it's not been credibly pinned on the ‘rebels’ yet."
Funny then that for all the evidence supporting that it was actually the rebels back then, this time it took only about 1 hour for ya'll to be certain it was the regime.
Double standards much?
good night btw. i'll look at lees ramblings in the morning...
Looks like Shorthands didn't give himself any time to get over his recent lurch towards outrage.
Those tomahawks cost $1 million to $1.5 per each.
Lotta money to take out a runway for a few days (maybe a few weeks).
... this whole gas-civvies-scenario is just a hoax.
Dead people don't lie, Marcus.
Why, why, would he throw that away to gas some possible jihadists and a whole lotta civvies?
It does not make sense. I don't believe it.
There are a couple of theories I have, one of which is that this attack was to send a message. But I suspect that the message will not have the desired effect because it was meant for people who do not really care about civilian deaths. It will instead have the opposite affect.
As for what Trump has done in reaction to this event, I can't say what his thinking is. But if I were him it would also be to send a message.
If Obama were still the CinC I'd expect to hear a lot of Republicans yammering on about useless ‘pinprick’ strikes. But, I don't think anybody wants to let Shorthands start a war, so they'll not be saying much of that. (Be thinkin’ it maybe, but not a whole of saying it out loud.)
Still haven't made up my mind whether you shills are just brainwashed zombies or just putting on an act, like these western-backed Al-Qaida White Helmet faggots.
Al-Qaida is a death cult, just like Daesh. They do not rescue people.
If Obama were still the CinC I'd expect to hear a lot of Republicans yammering on about useless ‘pinprick’ strikes.
Interesting thought. This tactic actually reminded me of President Clinton. It seems like his MO.
'Dead people don't lie'
Fools. You are being taken for a ride, again
'They do not rescue people'
They just stand by while their rebel buddies finish filming their executions, so they can rescue the decapitated people.
It doesn't matter though. When you went to war with Iraq you did not have thousands of Muslim sleeper cells in every western city but now you do. This is a war you will pay for very dearly in your own backyards.
"…thousands of Muslim sleeper cells in every western city…"
I'm glad I came by to see that. That was worth a laugh.
On a more sober note: Zeyad's clips do point up the need to be selective about ones sources. I don't think either of those would have made it past the corroboration requirements of most of what he derides (along with the right-wingers) as ‘Main Stream Media’. At least, I've not seen either of them popping up in my usually reliable sources. Those tend to live and prosper in the internet among the gullible (unfortunately, with the advent of politically sided news organizations the gullible are increasing in both absolute number and, more importantly, in percentages)
But, it should help Marcus to understand why I reject a good number of his sources. He's not very discriminating, and shows a marked tendency to favor unreliable sources because they tell him what he wants to hear.
And, it should help explain to
Hanging last line there; should have been deleted, but didn't delete.
Enjoy masturbating over the dead, barn cuck. You will get yours at some point.
Oh no! I've been threatened by a keyboard warrior. Whatever shall I do?
More rescuing
What do your think your humanitarian rescuers were doing here?
Lynnette:
"There are a couple of theories I have, one of which is that this attack was to send a message. But I suspect that the message will not have the desired effect because it was meant for people who do not really care about civilian deaths. It will instead have the opposite affect."
Because Assad is so stupid and you are so smart you mean?
Assad, educated Doctor and President of Syria, was unable to foresee the consequences of gassing children for fun. It takes the sharp political analytical mind of our Lynnette here to reach conclusions as complex as that.
I'm getting first reports of a vehicle being driven ‘into people’ in Stockholm, Sweden. No solid details as of yet.
Preliminary indications are that Trump's sudden change in attitude towards Assad and the Syrian conflict are not much agreeable to the collection of ‘alt-right’ Trump Trolls who supported him going into his election. (This is a very different contingent from the dedicated Trumpkins whom Shorthands picked up during his campaign.)
It also occurs to me that a more aggressive military position in Syria, the probability I liked least about Hillary Clinton, has now been brought to us by Shorthands. This is the worst of both worlds (as I see it).
This matter will probably be of little interest to our international readers whilst the air-strike against Assad's forces in Syria is still fresh news, and the apparent jihadi attack in Stockholm is even fresher news, but, I'm not one of the internationalists, and it's still of interest to me of at least equal weight with the Stockholm incident and maybe even equal weight to the Syrian air strikes. So…
Our newest Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch, has just been confirmed by a 54-45 vote margin. The Democrats had successfully filibustered his nomination and then the Republicans had sucessfully repealed the filibuster rule. Gorsuch picked up three (3) Democratic Senators for confirmation although four (4) Democrats had originally indicated they'd vote for him and that they'd vote to end the filibuster. (Senator Mike Bennet of Colorado apparently switched to an ‘anti-’Gorsuch vote after the filibuster rule was discarded, probably as a protest over discarding the rule.)
Anyway, the pundits are all speculating now on what this will do to the proceedings in the Senate going forward. They almost universally agree on the idea that the Senate will become ‘more like the House’ a volatile and even more highly partisan body than is the Senate currently. That very well may be true, but there's another outcome nobody's much talking about just now.
I'm afraid the pronouncements of our Supreme Court will lose legitimacy in the eyes of our general population, especially those which come down 5-4 in favor of conservative principles and policies. There's gonna be a certain branch of hard left-wingers, the equivalent of the right-wing crazies, but out on the other wing, who'll now not accept rulings by the Supreme Court as valid if they come about with the vote of Gorsuch breaking the tie. Now, there are fewer left-wing crazies than there are right-wing crazies; they're just not as populous on the left wing, but they're there. And they form a core which will begin arguing that some Supreme Court decisions are not valid and may properly be opposed and even defied.
This will be a bad thing. I don't know how bad it will get; I don't know how widely it will spread, but it will be a bad thing.
@ Lynnette,
I just heard Sean Hannity telling his audience that Shorthands was right when he told people, weeks ago, that there was an attack ‘last night in Sweden’. Turns out that ‘last night in Sweden’ was actually this afternoon in Sweden--so Trump got it right, but just had the day wrong.
I shit you not. He's peddling that on the air.
Lee: "I'm getting first reports of a vehicle being driven ‘into people’ in Stockholm, Sweden. No solid details as of yet."
Summation so far: the attacker stole a truck which was delivering beer at a restaurant just moments before the attack. He then drove it into a crowd killing 4 and injuring 15 (those are the numbers as of yet). He got away but was captured on a train shortly after, and confessed to the crime. The culprit is an Uzbeki national who had apparently expressed a liking for ISIS on his Facebook and uploaded images of past terror attacks.
While you shoudn't jump to conclusions I think it's fair to say this was most likely an islamist terror attack.
"The culprit is an Uzbeki national who had apparently expressed a
liking for ISIS on his Facebook and uploaded images of past terror
attacks."
Seems to be clear enough evidence to get ya out of any criticism for "jumping to conclusions", albeit this may still be considered circumstantial evidence at this point.
Quaere then, was he with Da‘esh or just a self-starter type? That'll probably take longer to figure.
I notice that Zeyad has replaced his personal avatar with an image of the Iraqi flag, complete with Islamic inscription.
I reckon this signifies he's come to a decision on whether to go for American citizenship.
I notice that Zeyad has replaced his personal avatar with an image of the Iraqi flag, complete with Islamic inscription.
Huh? Where do you see that?
Fri Apr 07, 03:29:00 am ↑↑
Perhaps you need to clear your cache?
Because Assad is so stupid and you are so smart you mean?
I do not think the people behind that attack are stupid, just too used to having people bend to their will. Sometimes things don't work out the way they may expect. Call it chaos theory, if you will.
Fri Apr 07, 03:29:00 am ↑↑
Really? All I see in that post is the shadowy picture he usually has up. Hmm...which cache should I try to clear?
"Hmm...which cache should I try to clear?"
Internet cache, where depends on which browser you're using.
This is a war you will pay for very dearly in your own backyards.
At the moment it appears that the people who are paying dearly are in the Middle East. And they are paying dearly at the hands of their own people. It would seem to me to be more productive to try to mend the divisions, stop killing each other, and stop obsessing about all of the grievances that can be laid at the doors of western countries. Because in the long run we are all only here for a short while...and perhaps all of our futures hang in the balance anyway.
Internet cache, where depends on which browser you're using.
Okay, I'll snoop around and see what I can find.
I sent you an e-mail on that cache clearing thing.
I found it. Yeah, clearing the cache brings up the flag image. Strange. You would think it would reset automatically.
There are generally ways to make it clear on exit, just a matter of setting it up to do that (again, depending on which browser you're using).
Because in the long run we are all only here for a short while...and perhaps all of our futures hang in the balance anyway.
Yawn. Not how it works, halfbrain. You don't get to tell people to get along and sing kumbaya while you go around bombing and destroying nations. You get to pay a price, and it will come eventually no matter how long it takes.
"You get to pay a price, and it will come eventually no matter how
long it takes."
Ah…. That explains his recent falling-in with angry Islam. He's wanting Allah to punish some folks for him.
"Not Allah, barn hippie…expendible useful idiots…."
Well then, unless you're gonna fall in with Hindu reincarnation Lynnette's almost certainly not gonna havta worry ‘bout how your vengeance gonna ‘come eventually’. Odds are astronomical, she's off the hook, no matter how much you wish it were otherwise.
Dream on if ya wish to. Odds are just as I called ‘em.
You're almost certainly hopin’ in vain. Usually that catches up to ya in a bitterness ya can't shake. I've seen it happen before. I may be lookin’ at it again now.
You seem to be awfully protective, bikercuck. I'm addressing her half witted brain farts on foreign policy and who gets to bomb brown kids and how that will have devastating consequences on her own communities and you go on white knighting. Get lost.
I'm an American. Her communities are my communities. (That's the part you don't get.) I think I'll just hang in here.
Besides, I left ya plenty of room to argue with her over your initial point. I was commenting on your somewhat fallen status as a human being, which is a whole ‘nother thing entirely from the odds of you gettin’ your vengeance. I didn't ask to be dragged into your vengeance calculations; you dragged me into that because you wanted to drag me into that.
You're the idiot for bringing up vengeance fantasies or making it personal. I'm stating the fact this stuff is happening and will happen even more as you can see from the news but yeah my fault for falling for your bait. Will go back to ignoring your barntrolling candyass henceforth.
"…You get to pay a price, and it will come eventually no matter how long it takes."
You're talking God/Allah or karma/reincarnation or some such thing there. The ‘no matter how long it takes’ can't be interpreted to mean ‘maybe, just maybe, a terrorist will git ya in the short haul’. Just ain't enough play in those words for the place you want to go with it now.
As far as making it personal, the personal insults you continually indulge yourself with are fairly clear indication it's you who choose to view this as personal.
I would however much encourage you to go back to ‘ignoring’ my comments; you'll come out much better in the longer run if you don't keep trying to turn your unreasoning anger into a presentable argument.
It'll be better if you just let me have my say and you move quietly along.
"It'll be better if you just let me have my say and you move quietly along."
Better for you anyway.
Great, have your 'safe space', snowflake
Just remember, I'm the one who made it safe.
I'm off to a movie this morning and hopefully spending some time in the yard this afternoon, so I will have to read and address the "comments" *sigh* later.
Lee: "Quaere then, was he with Da‘esh or just a self-starter type? That'll probably take longer to figure."
Looks more like a self starter to me. 39 YO with 4 kids who worked part time in construction. There are two things that might point in another direction though.
Police have apprehended, as far as I can tell, 2 other people. But one was a 17 YO living at the ame adress and he was realeased soon after. The other one I am not sure about. Could be he had helpers could be they were just swept up based on some connection to the terrorist.
Second, police apparently found some sort of home made bomb in the truck. That doesn't mean he was in a terror group but it means it was no spontaneous attack where he just saw a truck with the door open and got crazy. It was at the very least planned.
Maybe he was planning to plant the bomb when he saw the truck with the door open and decided that was a better idea?
Possible. Or drive the truck into people and then crash it into a mall and blow it up there. One witness said part of his clothes were burned when he got arrested so it's possible he tried to blow up a bomb but it wouldn't go off. Mere speculation though.
Thankfully he seems to be less than talented. To throw your life away to kill other people in an atttempt at terror you'd think a toll of 4 dead and some injured was on the low side of his expectations. He could've done worse with a knife. So all in all, no disrespect to the victims, we probably got off easy.
"…you'd think a toll of 4 dead and some injured was on the low side
of his expectations."
That had crossed my mind. I ‘spect Da‘esh will still claim him though.
The wannabe doesn't seem too awful proud of him though. Which reminds me that I'm not sure whether our wannabe wants to be a secular terrorist or a religious terrorist. Could be he's just wishing he could kill people and doesn't much care about the justification for that desire.
Probably the terrorist got to strike because he wasn't on the radar of our police. Probably he couldn't do any better because he's just one of those jihadists who don't have all his muezzins in his minaret.
"Could be he's just wishing he could kill people and doesn't much care about the justification for that desire."
Nah, he's as you said before, a keyboard warrrior. Sometimes you do get something right Lee and I'm not above crediting you when you do.
"Nah, he's as you said before, a keyboard warrrior."
Doesn't mean he don't wannabe.
Don't kid yourself, we're all keyboard warriors here (at least since '99), so let's play 'which European country gets hit next by a Truck of Peace'. I nominate France
What would you know Zeyad? Maybe I'm in with the Soldiers Of Odin out cracking skulls of swarthy bastards every night!
Nah, you're right, I too fight my fight at the keyboard. Have too much of a cozy lifestyle to bother about anything else. Plus the Soldiers Of Odin is a faggy group of low intel morons tbh.
I nominate Belgium. They have been worse swarmed by Zeyad's peoples crazy bedouin decendants than most Euro countries, yet it was a while since they got stung.
It would signal that you're at least fighting back against the self-destructive faggotry your first feminist government in the world is perpetuating. Method doesn't matter that much. But no, you're just a sheltered cuck who would rather spend his time visiting with trannies in Southeast Asia instead of saving his culture.
Also, note that it is almost never Bedouin descendants who carry out these attacks. (There was that one instance many years ago of an Iraqi doctor in Scotland I went to school with who drove into their airport and got life in jail), but it's always some self hating Berber mongrel or a Caucasian, Central Asian rape baby.
Belgium seems to be more of a plotting and hiding location for some reason. Netherlands comes to mind instead. My Iraqi Christian friend in Amsterdam tells me things are heating up there.
I'm no cuck and I visit SEA because my closest friend runs a business there and I like scuba diving. I expect scuba diving is alien, maybe seems frigthening, to a sand monkey like you but I like it.
And who cares where ya'll dune coons trace your lineage. Lesser people with a barbarious religion celebrating a known and admitted paedophile. You're not even allowed to draw pictures of that bastard, probably because those pictures would show him sodomising small boys - just like the "unaccompanied refugee children"-filth we get here are prone to do.
I say Belgium, you said France (and I'm already giving you odds there since France is so much bigger), and now you wanna side-bet with Holland? OK, my sside bet will be Germany then.
Muslims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM-xe6wHjnw
smdh.
Zeyad, why don't you just convert to Christianity? Or denounce religion all in all?
Or perhaps you get off on boy buggery like the rest of em'.
Same as worshipping a dune kike on a stick or a mythical ice warlord anyway. I don't have any use for religions but my cousins can't seem to live without it. And yeah, Belgium or France or Netherlands. You're right, who cares. They're all the same shitholes now.
Yeah, they both became shitholes after letting arabs and africans in en masse.
Like I always said - let arabs in and you'll get arabia. Let africans in and you'll get africa. We foolishly did both and are gona suffer for it.
"…dune kike…
I understand you never been there, but ya coulda at least looked at the pictures. They ain't plagued with dunes there, even today.
"I don't have any use for religions…"
Well, that flirtation didn't last long. But, I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or not.
Washington Post says Assad had his airbase back up and running within 24 hours.
You don't get to tell people to get along and sing kumbaya while you go around bombing and destroying nations. You get to pay a price, and it will come eventually no matter how long it takes.
What price do those people who commit fratricide pay? What price do they pay when they destroy their own history? Will their civilization eventually disappear from this planet, only to be remembered as a chapter in a dusty history book that some kid will ignore while he plays on his cellphone?
'm addressing her half witted brain farts on foreign policy and who gets to bomb brown kids and how that will have devastating consequences on her own communities and you go on white knighting.
That's not the reaction that I am seeing from the Syrian community in Minnesota. They were far more unhappy with Trump's travel ban than they were with the bombing. In fact, the bombing actually made them rethink their dislike of Trump. You forget that hatred of Assad runs deep in some places.
Appears the wannabe had second thoughts ‘bout leaving those posts ‘bout him sidin’ up with ‘expendible useful idiots’ and the like hangin’ ‘round up there for Homeland to find later. Those done gone and vanished.
He does get worked up. I'm not sure what set him off now. If he were Marcus I'd say he'd been drinking. (Sorry Marcus)
Btw, Lee, I assumed you noticed the movement of the carrier group to the Korean peninsula? So shortly after the Syrian airstrike. Perhaps sending another message?
I think he's trying to leverage the strike against Assad. Hoping that Kim will get nervous now that he's proven himself impulsive on the other side of the world.
I rather doubt that it'll work. When it comes to pretending to be crazy Trump don't hold a candle to Kim. And, if they're not pretending--well, Trump's still an amateur at the crazy game compared to Kim.
Lynnette "I'm not sure what set him off now. If he were Marcus I'd say he'd been drinking. (Sorry Marcus)"
Yeah, drinking does tend to see my posts here become a tad bit more... "radical". You should try it Lynnette, and maybe then you could be entertaining just once.
Zeyad got set off this last time by the sheer idiocy of ya'll buying the obvios hoax that Assad gassed children for fun. Not that he's pro-Assad, he isn't, I think it just reminds him of the great big WMD-hoax that led to te destruction of his homeland. He sees the same fucking chickenhawks baying for even more blood and the same useful idiots (that'd be you) swallowing it all like a turd dressed as a doughnut. That's my take. Zeyad can speak for himself, but I don't think I' far off here.
BTW, I'm not sure if Zeyad drinks at all. I have a feeling he might. Now, he's an arab and all but he's still my #1 pick for a guy to have a few beers with among this here assortment of "friends". Maybe if I get to Texas one day...
"…the sheer idiocy of ya'll buying the obvios hoax that Assad
gassed children for fun."
In that case the two of you are both fighting a straw man of your own creation. Neither I nor Lynnette ever thought nor ever claimed that he did it for fun. I suspect you create that strawman to fight because that's the arguement you think you can win. I have no particular objection to you winning an argument with your own imagination. (I suspect it happens rather often.)
Post Script:
On occasion I do object to you pretending in public that I actually hold to the position you want assign to me in your imaginary world. I don't see why you can't have a wholly imaginary enemy--name him Charles or Scooter, or, better yet even, name him Liam or Nils, or some such Swedish sounding name, maybe even pick a female name, rather than always pretending that I am the one who believes whatever it is you want to imagine up as the alternate position for your imaginary argument.
Why, then why would Assad gas children if not for fun? Clearly he's not a moron and even if he was one he has advisors. Can you think up any credible scenerio where Assad thought: a gassing is just what we need right now!
Cui Bono
That's a time honored and established way to assess incidents such as this. You might think it outdated but it's not.
Cui Bono?
Well certainly not Assad.
"Can you think up any credible scenerio where Assad thought: a
gassing is just what we need right now!"
You keep assuming that Assad was in charge of that decision. Assad hasn't been in charge of the ‘defense of Syria’ from the rebels and the jihadi for years now. He lost that fight a long time ago. The Russians and the Iranians compete for the prize there as they simultaneously contest with Turkey and the Gulf States in an even larger scale conflict. In the meantime, Assad's just a sock puppet. (Changing that dynamic might just constitute a rationale to Assad for using chemical weapons, but that theory assumes that it was Assad's decision in the first place, and we still don't know that to be true.)
"That's a time honored and established way to assess incidents such as this."
That's the most common of the open-ended justifications for rambling off on endless conspiracy theories. But, that's the reason you think it's ‘time honored’. You wish it to be so, therefore you believe it to be so.
And, just by the way…
You may well be mistaken in your assumption that the wannabe shares your skepticism of the general understanding that it was Assad's forces who carried out the recent gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun. I don't think he's ever expressed any doubt about it being Assad's forces who did it. I think you imagined that up too, just so you could have an imaginary ally.
You keep assuming that Assad was in charge of that decision.
Exactly. I did try to hint earlier, but he just didn't seem to get it. Same goes for who our message was for.
Yeah, drinking does tend to see my posts here become a tad bit more... "radical". You should try it Lynnette, and maybe then you could be entertaining just once.
But Marcus that is not my role to play. I will leave the...ummm...entertaining, if that is what you call it, to others.
That was just me, I double posted for some reason.
Lee: "You may well be mistaken in your assumption that the wannabe shares your skepticism of the general understanding that it was Assad's forces who carried out the recent gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun. I don't think he's ever expressed any doubt about it being Assad's forces who did it."
I think he was pretty clear about that in his post: Thu Apr 06, 01:55:00 am
Nevertheless, I maintain my intense skepticism.
I took that post as a challenge to the idea that there'd been any poison gas release at all (which I think even you would acknowledge is hardly a credible position, and which I didn't think he'd made seriously--just him being a troll). After all, it was the Putin government's position that the poison gas was an accidental release from a rebel stockpile; even they didn't try to argue that there was no poison gas at all. Only the wannabe went there, and I didn't think any of us were taking him seriously on that point (nor did I think he expected to be taken seriously).
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