What is happening between the US and Iran is a consequence of what I describe in Winter Is Coming: an aggressive dictatorship's sense of impunity leading to the crossing of one line too far.
This is how appeasement kills. This is why inaction can be a deadly choice. It raises the stakes, postpones the inevitable, and encourages aggressors to assume they can act with impunity until the eventual response is massive and destabilizing.
We'll never know how many more innocents Qasem Soleimani would have murdered or how many hundreds of thousands more refugees he'd have helped create. But don't pretend you know that what is to come is worse than the world with such a person in it.
Threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children – which is what you’re doing by targeting cultural sites – does not make you a “tough guy.”
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar Accuse President Trump Of Plotting ‘War Crimes’ Over List Of Iranian Targets”
“Two members of the progressive “squad,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), were quick to condemn President Donald Trump for potential “war crimes” Saturday night after the president threatened 52 possible targets in and around Iran, including what he called “cultural sites.”
The pair, of course, were not so quick to condemn Iran or slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the architect of hundreds of deaths and maimings across the Middle East.”
The NYTimes is worried that the left’s attempts to brainwash your kids might have some competition.
PragerU, a growing hub of the online right-wing media machine, is using YouTube as a way to circumvent professors — and parents — to reach a new generation of studentshttps://t.co/chu4L5BZCE
Quick everyone! Clutch your pearls and wring your hands. 🙂
Framing this as a war of the “right-wing media machine” vs “professors” makes it seem like @prageru is Goliath trouncing on the “David” professors, when it’s precisely the opposite.
The Left controls both academia and the media and conservatives have to claw their way to a voice
“There is an excellent reason why the media largely are ignoring the bill that President Trump signed on Monday: when voters hear about it, they will want to vote for him out of sheer gratitude.
Simply put, one of the most annoying aspects of life at home, robocalls, are now subject to federal legal sanction. S. 151, the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act:
This bill implements a forfeiture penalty for violations (with or without intent) of the prohibition on certain robocalls. The bill also removes an annual reporting requirement for enforcement relating to unsolicited facsimile advertisements.
The bill requires voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shall promulgate rules establishing when a provider may block a voice call based on information provided by the call authentication framework, but also must establish a process to permit a calling party adversely affected by the framework to verify the authenticity of their calls. The FCC shall also initiate a rulemaking to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or texts from a caller using an unauthenticated number.”
“Graham gives Pelosi ultimatum, proposes Senate rule change to remove her from impeachment process”
“Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insisted Sunday that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not deliver articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate by the end of the week, the Senate should “take matters in our own hands.”
Graham accused Pelosi of playing political games and trying to exert control over the Senate trial by keeping it from starting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized Friday on the Senate floor the chamber’s rules prevented him from doing anything until Pelosi does her part, but Graham proposed a solution that could remove what McConnell has called an “impasse” in the process.
“What I would do, if she continues to refuse to send the articles as required by the Constitution, I would work with Senator McConnell to change the rules of the Senate so we could start the trial without her, if necessary,” Graham proposed on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
When asked how long he would wait before taking this step, Graham replied, “Days, not weeks.”
Graham justified this by claiming that Pelosi was engaging in a “political stunt” by holding off on sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, weeks after they were approved by a House vote. He said McConnell would not let her dictate how events unfold.”
“Republican AGs Say Bloomberg Is Secretly Embedding An Army Of Anti-Trump Attorneys Inside State Offices”
“Republican attorneys general say billionaire Michael Bloomberg is engaging in a politically partisan ploy to use Democratic AGs to go after energy companies.
Bloomberg Philanthropies plowed millions of dollars into a nonprofit group that has embedded 18 attorneys into 11 Democratic AG offices, some of whom have gone on to sue ExxonMobil and the Trump administration.
The head of the Republican Attorney General Association argues Bloomberg’s work would be a major scandal if he was President Donald Trump and was financing GOP AGs.”
—–
“Republican attorneys general are arguing that billionaire Michael Bloomberg is using his vast wealth to embed an army of lawyers into state offices for the purpose of taking on oil companies and President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg Philanthropies financed a group that is planting private attorneys into state attorneys general offices for the explicit purpose of pushing back against Trump’s regulatory rollbacks.
“What’s problematic is the arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees,” Indiana Attorney General (AG) Curtis Hill, a Republican, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, citing a common criticism of New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC).
Bloomberg’s philanthropy supported the center with a $6 million grant. The NYU School of Law launched the group in 2017 to “identify and hire NYU Law Fellows who serve as special assistant attorneys general in state attorney general offices, focusing on clean energy, climate and environmental matters,” according to the NYU Law website.
Bloomberg, a prominent Democratic donor and presidential contender in 2020, is effectively weaponizing attorneys general offices for his own purposes, Republicans say.
SEEIC said in a December 2019 report that state attorneys general had taken 300 “significant” actions since the start of the Trump administration in early 2017. The report fleshed out work AGs are doing to combat Trump’s climate policies.”
“There Is Something Fundamentally Wrong With Democrats”
“It’s odd how the political left cheers America’s shortcomings and mourns its victories.
The United States killed the top terrorist on the planet Thursday, and Democrats were…upset. Perhaps “upset” is too vague, they were a combination of angry and scared.
They were angry that President Trump ordered an air strike on Qassem Soleimani, a man responsible for the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers and thousands more wounded. They tried to pretend they were glad he was dead, that he deserved to die, but their quick condemnation of the action that took him out exposed what they were really thinking. Any statement on the death of a terrorist leader containing the word “but” is not a good statement.
Weirdly, the people who use the word “justice” most often saw no justice in the death of a man who’s been killing innocent people for their whole lives. Ilhan Omar reacted the way someone would when their childhood hero passes away, then tried to fundraise off of it because anti-Americanism translates into cash on the left.
Rashida Tlaib warned about a “lawless President recklessly moves us closer to yet another unnecessary war that puts innocent lives at risk.” She expressed no concerns for the innocent lives Soleimani had taken over his career.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whined that “the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.” The girl who saw “concentration camps” on our southern border has her head so far up where last night’s dinner resides that she can’t see the death right in front of her.
While all of these people, and all of their fellow travelers in Congress and the media, lament that the killing of a man actively murdering people will only lead to more murder, what do they think leaving him alive would’ve done? Did they think he was getting bored of killing and was about to take up knitting?
Nancy Pelosi seems to think so, saying the killing “risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence.” That implies that to her and Democrats there is an acceptable level of killing Americans by foreign powers. “Fine, you can kill 50-75 Americans per year, but don’t go too far beyond that or we might issue a scathing statement and start a hashtag against you, depending on who the president is” is not a foreign policy strategy.
It’s hard to tell if they, and every Democrat running for president (all of whom issued “It’s good he’s dead, but…” statements of their own) actually believe what they’re saying, or if they simply oppose the action because President Trump did it. Neither option is good for the country.
If they oppose it because Trump did it, they’re worse people than we thought. “
Re: 6:39 et.al.
Iran is fighting a religious war.
The problem is that the US cannot fight a religious war.’
So, we restricted in what we can do.
And the opponents are not always the identified enemy.
6:45 — since when is hearing the “other side” not permissible and labeled the product of some kind of “right-wing machine”? I have listened to Prager from time to time and have seen some (not many, maybe a handful) of his videos. He’s not way “out there,” he’s a pretty thoughtful conservative voice.
Why shouldn’t other views (contradicting “professors”) be allowed to be heard? What’s with labeling that (essentially) as subversive and dangerous?
If that’s their argument, they have none. That’s total garbage, which isn’t surprising given the anti-anything Trump source. Funny, I never heard such concerns when his old boss Bush was bombing Iraq and Afghanistan for years.
““They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people,” the president said. “And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.””
I think the issue in bombing cultural sites might be the fear of civilian casualties. I don’t know why we would target those kinds of places unless they are secretly also being used for military storage or military R&D—perhaps underground. That would be a clear rational for targeting those sites.
Whatever happens with Iran, I seriously hope we are preparing to leave Iraq.
Muslims’ know we don’t want to bomb civilian or cultural sites. That’s why they hide equipment and soldiers among them, to use a shield. The Palestinians have used this tactic for decades, as has Boko Harem, ISIS, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and just about anywhere Muslims war with their neighbors, which let’s be honest here, is pretty much anywhere you find them.
That might work to spare them from some politicians, but thankfully not strong leaders like Trump.
Update: We now have more reporting and I spoke to some CBP contacts. Unfortunately, a lot of the reporting continues to cite CAIR.
1) There is no evidence to support CAIR's claim of a CBP directive aimed at detaining Iranian descendants. Original claim below is 100% false. pic.twitter.com/hJ5fVcrxNR
AJ – The author of the article I linked, John Bellinger : “served as The Legal Adviser for the Department of State from 2005–2009, as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council at the White House from 2001–2005, and as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997–2001.”
“Although the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which makes intentional attacks on historic monuments a war crime, the United States is a party to the 1954 Hague Convention on Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which the Senate approved in September 2008, when I was legal adviser. The Bush administration strongly supported Senate approval of the treaty, and I testified in favor of it in April 2008, along with Defense Department Deputy General Counsel Chuck Allen and a senior Joint Chiefs of Staff military representative. The Bush administration supported ratification of the treaty because it reflected longstanding U.S. practice of not targeting cultural sites in wartime. I testified at the time that “we have concluded that U.S. practice is entirely consistent with this Convention and that ratifying it will cause no problems for the United States or for the conduct of U.S. military operations.”
W
Trump can likely remove us from international agreements as easily as he did from nafta. I personally have no problem with such targets apart from the probability of too many civilian casualties which would make more political trouble that Trump doesn’t need.
Iran has been desiring open confrontation for some time in hopes of quelling internal descent by unifying the country against external threat. Targeting cultural sites might have that effect unless there’s a real military reason for the target.
I’d have more respect for his opinion were the same thing not happening under Bush, where the lawyer above served. It seems hypocritical of him at this point.
“U.S. troops clashed with suspected Sunni insurgents holed up in a mosque north of Baghdad and launched an air-to-ground Hellfire missile into the structure. One American soldier was killed in the fighting, the military said Friday.
The soldier was killed and another was wounded when troops stationed at a nearby outpost came under heavy small-arms fire from the Honest Mohammed Mosque late Thursday in Tarmiyah as they targeted about six insurgents who were believed sheltered inside, according to the military.”
—————-
Like I said……
And the majority of these deaths were under Bush and Obama, not Trump.
Yet where was Mr. Bellinger’s complaints then?
The answer is simple. He didn’t complain when he was getting paid for the type of advice that led to just what he complains about now. He’s a hypocrite.
And people like this should be afforded no sanctuary anywhere, not even in a house of worship. When they know they have no safe place, then you have a murderer who maybe thinks twice.
The world is a better place with this man gone from it. And this doesn’t even touch on the thousands of civilian deaths he caused.
And yet when you point that out to them, they never believe you. In part because many didn’t grow up as fabulously wealthy (and out of touch) with the world as they are now.
All the lectures I’ve been given . . . and now they’ve shifted to explaining the central tenents of Christianity . . . Sigh.
I kust red a piece on Reuters that a general seely (?) has written a letter to the iraqi government stating we respct their sovereignty and will be withdrawing in the coming days and weeks. I’m at work and can’t confirm. Can anuone else? It is great news if true.
Yes the press keeps pointing out that Iraq wants us out.
But of course they keep leaving out that it’s the Shiite, pro-Iran politicians that want us out, and not the Sunni, or other politicians. They skipped the vote in protest.
But hey, anything that gets us out of there and Afghanistan, I so go for it. Leave, ASAP. After destroying or removing all the weapons we gave them.
“President Donald Trump leveled new warnings to Iraq and Iran on Sunday in response to increased threats from Iran and in response to Iraq’s parliament voting to expel the U.S. military from its country.
“The nonbinding resolution – passed with the backing of Shiite politicians – urges Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to rescind Iraq’s invitation to U.S. forces that helped rescue the country after Islamic State overran about one third of its territory in 2014,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Mr. Abdul-Mahdi called on lawmakers to support the resolution, but it wasn’t clear how he would proceed. He resigned as prime minister last year and has since presided over a caretaker government.”
In remarks to reporters while on Air Force, Trump slammed Iraq over their vote, saying that if U.S. troops are forced to leave the country, he will hit Iraq with “very big” sanctions.”
————–
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that it was “very clear” that the world was a “safer place” after the U.S. made the decision to remove Soleimani from “the planet.”
“You know the history: hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, millions of refugees, Lebanon, Beirut, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, death to Americans in Iraq in the earlier war,” Pompeo said. “This was a bad guy. We took him off the playing field, and that’s important because this was a fellow who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against the United States of America – putting American lives at risk. President Trump made the right decision to stop Qassem Soleimani from the terror campaign that he’d been engaged in against America.””
“BAGHDAD (AP) — A push led by pro-Iran factions to oust U.S. troops from Iraq following the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general is gaining momentum, bolstered by a Parliament vote calling on the government to remove them.
But the path forward is unclear, and in Iraq’s deeply divided terrain, with a resigned prime minister and raging proxy war between Iran and the U.S., ending America’s 17-year military presence in Iraq is a risky undertaking.
Iraq was barely starting to recover from a devastating four-year war against the Islamic State group when a mass uprising against the country’s ruling elite erupted on Oct. 1, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi two months later. He hasn’t been replaced.
A pullout of U.S. troops could cripple the fight against Islamic State militants and allow the extremists to make a comeback. Militants affiliated with IS routinely carry out attacks in northern and western Iraq, hiding out in rugged desert and mountainous areas. Iraqi forces rely on the U.S. for logistics and weapons in pursuing them.
An American withdrawal could also enable Iran to deepen its influence in Iraq, which like Iran is a majority Shiite country.
“It is not that simple,” Lebanese political analyst Ibrahim Bayram said of any withdrawal. “This will increase the complications inside Iraq, the conflicts and contradictions … and the clash, both political and non-political, between the Iranians and Americans.”
I spent all weekend trying to type with a FIRE and it’s not helpful suggestions. Why give me choices if it’s just gonna ignore me? I feel your pain Debra. 🙂
“At a press conference held on Capitol Hill Friday, mourning Democrat leaders called for flags to be flown half-mast to honor the death of Qasem Soleimani.
Flags were spotted flying at half-mast around the country, notably at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and in front of several celebrities’ homes. The celebrities went out and bought an American flag for the first time just to fly it at half-mast for this important time of grief.
“The grieving process is painful but necessary,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar. “As a nation, we need to stop and grieve this great, austere, revered religious scholar. He was one of the good ones.”
In a rare moment of unity with The Squad, Pelosi gave each of the girls a hug, telling them to just “let it all out” in their time of sadness.
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t seem to know what was happening but adjusted her glasses to look smart.”
Wandering Views 
———-
————
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Traitors. Sometimes they’re easy to spot.
————
https://www.dailywire.com/news/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ilhan-omar-accuse-president-trump-of-plotting-war-crimes-over-list-of-iranian-targets
“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar Accuse President Trump Of Plotting ‘War Crimes’ Over List Of Iranian Targets”
“Two members of the progressive “squad,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), were quick to condemn President Donald Trump for potential “war crimes” Saturday night after the president threatened 52 possible targets in and around Iran, including what he called “cultural sites.”
The pair, of course, were not so quick to condemn Iran or slain Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the architect of hundreds of deaths and maimings across the Middle East.”
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Only the hottest of hot takes from the New Yorker.
Who’s up for lionizing a dead terrorist?
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1213471370077597702
———–
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And in other news…..
The NYTimes is worried that the left’s attempts to brainwash your kids might have some competition.
———–
Quick everyone! Clutch your pearls and wring your hands. 🙂
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This right here should ensure Trump’s re-election. 🙂
You’re welcome!
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/01/trump_signs_the_bill_that_ought_to_ensure_his_reelection.html
“There is an excellent reason why the media largely are ignoring the bill that President Trump signed on Monday: when voters hear about it, they will want to vote for him out of sheer gratitude.
Simply put, one of the most annoying aspects of life at home, robocalls, are now subject to federal legal sanction. S. 151, the Pallone-Thune TRACED Act:
This bill implements a forfeiture penalty for violations (with or without intent) of the prohibition on certain robocalls. The bill also removes an annual reporting requirement for enforcement relating to unsolicited facsimile advertisements.
The bill requires voice service providers to develop call authentication technologies.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shall promulgate rules establishing when a provider may block a voice call based on information provided by the call authentication framework, but also must establish a process to permit a calling party adversely affected by the framework to verify the authenticity of their calls. The FCC shall also initiate a rulemaking to help protect a subscriber from receiving unwanted calls or texts from a caller using an unauthenticated number.”
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Put up or shut up time Nancy.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/graham-gives-pelosi-ultimatum-proposes-senate-rule-change-to-remove-her-from-impeachment-process
“Graham gives Pelosi ultimatum, proposes Senate rule change to remove her from impeachment process”
“Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., insisted Sunday that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does not deliver articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate by the end of the week, the Senate should “take matters in our own hands.”
Graham accused Pelosi of playing political games and trying to exert control over the Senate trial by keeping it from starting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized Friday on the Senate floor the chamber’s rules prevented him from doing anything until Pelosi does her part, but Graham proposed a solution that could remove what McConnell has called an “impasse” in the process.
“What I would do, if she continues to refuse to send the articles as required by the Constitution, I would work with Senator McConnell to change the rules of the Senate so we could start the trial without her, if necessary,” Graham proposed on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
When asked how long he would wait before taking this step, Graham replied, “Days, not weeks.”
Graham justified this by claiming that Pelosi was engaging in a “political stunt” by holding off on sending the impeachment articles to the Senate, weeks after they were approved by a House vote. He said McConnell would not let her dictate how events unfold.”
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Bloomberg is taking a page from the Obama/Soros book.
https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/04/michael-bloomberg-donald-trump/
“Republican AGs Say Bloomberg Is Secretly Embedding An Army Of Anti-Trump Attorneys Inside State Offices”
“Republican attorneys general say billionaire Michael Bloomberg is engaging in a politically partisan ploy to use Democratic AGs to go after energy companies.
Bloomberg Philanthropies plowed millions of dollars into a nonprofit group that has embedded 18 attorneys into 11 Democratic AG offices, some of whom have gone on to sue ExxonMobil and the Trump administration.
The head of the Republican Attorney General Association argues Bloomberg’s work would be a major scandal if he was President Donald Trump and was financing GOP AGs.”
—–
“Republican attorneys general are arguing that billionaire Michael Bloomberg is using his vast wealth to embed an army of lawyers into state offices for the purpose of taking on oil companies and President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg Philanthropies financed a group that is planting private attorneys into state attorneys general offices for the explicit purpose of pushing back against Trump’s regulatory rollbacks.
“What’s problematic is the arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees,” Indiana Attorney General (AG) Curtis Hill, a Republican, told the Daily Caller News Foundation, citing a common criticism of New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC).
Bloomberg’s philanthropy supported the center with a $6 million grant. The NYU School of Law launched the group in 2017 to “identify and hire NYU Law Fellows who serve as special assistant attorneys general in state attorney general offices, focusing on clean energy, climate and environmental matters,” according to the NYU Law website.
Bloomberg, a prominent Democratic donor and presidential contender in 2020, is effectively weaponizing attorneys general offices for his own purposes, Republicans say.
SEEIC said in a December 2019 report that state attorneys general had taken 300 “significant” actions since the start of the Trump administration in early 2017. The report fleshed out work AGs are doing to combat Trump’s climate policies.”
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Here’s some comedy….
Oh wait, they’re serious…..
Bwahahahaha! 🙂
———–
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TDS is real.
And like I said, sometimes the traitors are easy to spot.
https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2020/01/05/there-is-something-fundamentally-wrong-with-democrats-n2558953
“There Is Something Fundamentally Wrong With Democrats”
“It’s odd how the political left cheers America’s shortcomings and mourns its victories.
The United States killed the top terrorist on the planet Thursday, and Democrats were…upset. Perhaps “upset” is too vague, they were a combination of angry and scared.
They were angry that President Trump ordered an air strike on Qassem Soleimani, a man responsible for the deaths of more than 600 American soldiers and thousands more wounded. They tried to pretend they were glad he was dead, that he deserved to die, but their quick condemnation of the action that took him out exposed what they were really thinking. Any statement on the death of a terrorist leader containing the word “but” is not a good statement.
Weirdly, the people who use the word “justice” most often saw no justice in the death of a man who’s been killing innocent people for their whole lives. Ilhan Omar reacted the way someone would when their childhood hero passes away, then tried to fundraise off of it because anti-Americanism translates into cash on the left.
Rashida Tlaib warned about a “lawless President recklessly moves us closer to yet another unnecessary war that puts innocent lives at risk.” She expressed no concerns for the innocent lives Soleimani had taken over his career.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez whined that “the President engaged in what is widely being recognized as an act of war against Iran, one that now risks the lives of millions of innocent people.” The girl who saw “concentration camps” on our southern border has her head so far up where last night’s dinner resides that she can’t see the death right in front of her.
While all of these people, and all of their fellow travelers in Congress and the media, lament that the killing of a man actively murdering people will only lead to more murder, what do they think leaving him alive would’ve done? Did they think he was getting bored of killing and was about to take up knitting?
Nancy Pelosi seems to think so, saying the killing “risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence.” That implies that to her and Democrats there is an acceptable level of killing Americans by foreign powers. “Fine, you can kill 50-75 Americans per year, but don’t go too far beyond that or we might issue a scathing statement and start a hashtag against you, depending on who the president is” is not a foreign policy strategy.
It’s hard to tell if they, and every Democrat running for president (all of whom issued “It’s good he’s dead, but…” statements of their own) actually believe what they’re saying, or if they simply oppose the action because President Trump did it. Neither option is good for the country.
If they oppose it because Trump did it, they’re worse people than we thought. “
LikeLiked by 1 person
Re: 6:39 et.al.
Iran is fighting a religious war.
The problem is that the US cannot fight a religious war.’
So, we restricted in what we can do.
And the opponents are not always the identified enemy.
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I hope President Trump rethinks targeting cultural sites, which is a war crime.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/attacking-irans-cultural-sites-would-violate-hague-cultural-property-convention?fbclid=IwAR1PppGwfLTbhzLaazuM1ZJAq6btQHAItNL0umahVCOriQuxf9Q3JeQ-j5E
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“rethinks”? Should have been “reconsiders”.
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Can I like signing the robo called post a thousand times? (One for every irritating call in 2019?)
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6:45 — since when is hearing the “other side” not permissible and labeled the product of some kind of “right-wing machine”? I have listened to Prager from time to time and have seen some (not many, maybe a handful) of his videos. He’s not way “out there,” he’s a pretty thoughtful conservative voice.
Why shouldn’t other views (contradicting “professors”) be allowed to be heard? What’s with labeling that (essentially) as subversive and dangerous?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kizzie,
Oh please…..
If that’s their argument, they have none. That’s total garbage, which isn’t surprising given the anti-anything Trump source. Funny, I never heard such concerns when his old boss Bush was bombing Iraq and Afghanistan for years.
But Orange Man Bad now, so…….
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And as Trump said….
““They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people,” the president said. “And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.””
Nor should it.
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I think the issue in bombing cultural sites might be the fear of civilian casualties. I don’t know why we would target those kinds of places unless they are secretly also being used for military storage or military R&D—perhaps underground. That would be a clear rational for targeting those sites.
Whatever happens with Iran, I seriously hope we are preparing to leave Iraq.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yeah well that’s the problem here Debra.
Muslims’ know we don’t want to bomb civilian or cultural sites. That’s why they hide equipment and soldiers among them, to use a shield. The Palestinians have used this tactic for decades, as has Boko Harem, ISIS, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and just about anywhere Muslims war with their neighbors, which let’s be honest here, is pretty much anywhere you find them.
That might work to spare them from some politicians, but thankfully not strong leaders like Trump.
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As examples….
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/09/hamas-quietly-admits-it-fired-rockets-from-civilian-areas/380149/
———-
Even Vox admits this, while wringing their hands and saying they don’t have to bomb them.
All that does is enable, embolden, and give them a no fail method to hide equipment they use against their enemies.
Not gonna work this time.
https://www.vox.com/2014/7/17/5912189/yes-gaza-militants-hide-rockets-in-schools-but-israel-doesnt-have-to
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And speaking of enabling terrorists, here’s Barbara Lee, a Dem Rep. doing her part with today’s bold face lie from CAIR, the terrorist front group.
————
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AJ – The author of the article I linked, John Bellinger : “served as The Legal Adviser for the Department of State from 2005–2009, as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council at the White House from 2001–2005, and as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997–2001.”
“Although the United States is not a party to the Rome Statute, which makes intentional attacks on historic monuments a war crime, the United States is a party to the 1954 Hague Convention on Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which the Senate approved in September 2008, when I was legal adviser. The Bush administration strongly supported Senate approval of the treaty, and I testified in favor of it in April 2008, along with Defense Department Deputy General Counsel Chuck Allen and a senior Joint Chiefs of Staff military representative. The Bush administration supported ratification of the treaty because it reflected longstanding U.S. practice of not targeting cultural sites in wartime. I testified at the time that “we have concluded that U.S. practice is entirely consistent with this Convention and that ratifying it will cause no problems for the United States or for the conduct of U.S. military operations.”
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Oops. Sorry. Upon re-reading, I see that you did know who he was.
LikeLiked by 1 person
W
Trump can likely remove us from international agreements as easily as he did from nafta. I personally have no problem with such targets apart from the probability of too many civilian casualties which would make more political trouble that Trump doesn’t need.
Iran has been desiring open confrontation for some time in hopes of quelling internal descent by unifying the country against external threat. Targeting cultural sites might have that effect unless there’s a real military reason for the target.
Debra
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t know where the W came from. :–)
Debra
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kizzie,
I’d have more respect for his opinion were the same thing not happening under Bush, where the lawyer above served. It seems hypocritical of him at this point.
August 2007, during his tenure.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-troops-battle-insurgents-in-mosque/
“U.S. troops clashed with suspected Sunni insurgents holed up in a mosque north of Baghdad and launched an air-to-ground Hellfire missile into the structure. One American soldier was killed in the fighting, the military said Friday.
The soldier was killed and another was wounded when troops stationed at a nearby outpost came under heavy small-arms fire from the Honest Mohammed Mosque late Thursday in Tarmiyah as they targeted about six insurgents who were believed sheltered inside, according to the military.”
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Like I said……
And the majority of these deaths were under Bush and Obama, not Trump.
Yet where was Mr. Bellinger’s complaints then?
The answer is simple. He didn’t complain when he was getting paid for the type of advice that led to just what he complains about now. He’s a hypocrite.
https://insight.livestories.com/s/v2/five-facts-civilian-deaths-in-iraq/4911d75d-bcef-410d-9f80-547aec168616/
There’s a whole lot of death and destruction of property when he was working for Bush.
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And people like this should be afforded no sanctuary anywhere, not even in a house of worship. When they know they have no safe place, then you have a murderer who maybe thinks twice.
The world is a better place with this man gone from it. And this doesn’t even touch on the thousands of civilian deaths he caused.
“Qassem Soleimani long targeted the United States
Blamed in hundreds of U.S. soldiers’ deaths”
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True.
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And yet when you point that out to them, they never believe you. In part because many didn’t grow up as fabulously wealthy (and out of touch) with the world as they are now.
All the lectures I’ve been given . . . and now they’ve shifted to explaining the central tenents of Christianity . . . Sigh.
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A different take on the video.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/06/no-michelle-williams-women-dont-need-to-kill-their-kids-to-get-ahead/#.XhONsF6sJBM.twitter
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I kust red a piece on Reuters that a general seely (?) has written a letter to the iraqi government stating we respct their sovereignty and will be withdrawing in the coming days and weeks. I’m at work and can’t confirm. Can anuone else? It is great news if true.
Debra
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I just. I didn’t kust…or even cussed. :–)
Debra
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Yes the press keeps pointing out that Iraq wants us out.
But of course they keep leaving out that it’s the Shiite, pro-Iran politicians that want us out, and not the Sunni, or other politicians. They skipped the vote in protest.
But hey, anything that gets us out of there and Afghanistan, I so go for it. Leave, ASAP. After destroying or removing all the weapons we gave them.
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More here Debra,
https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-iraq-votes-to-kick-u-s-out-trump-drops-the-hammer-in-response
“President Donald Trump leveled new warnings to Iraq and Iran on Sunday in response to increased threats from Iran and in response to Iraq’s parliament voting to expel the U.S. military from its country.
“The nonbinding resolution – passed with the backing of Shiite politicians – urges Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to rescind Iraq’s invitation to U.S. forces that helped rescue the country after Islamic State overran about one third of its territory in 2014,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Mr. Abdul-Mahdi called on lawmakers to support the resolution, but it wasn’t clear how he would proceed. He resigned as prime minister last year and has since presided over a caretaker government.”
In remarks to reporters while on Air Force, Trump slammed Iraq over their vote, saying that if U.S. troops are forced to leave the country, he will hit Iraq with “very big” sanctions.”
————–
“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that it was “very clear” that the world was a “safer place” after the U.S. made the decision to remove Soleimani from “the planet.”
“You know the history: hundreds of thousands of people in Syria, millions of refugees, Lebanon, Beirut, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, death to Americans in Iraq in the earlier war,” Pompeo said. “This was a bad guy. We took him off the playing field, and that’s important because this was a fellow who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against the United States of America – putting American lives at risk. President Trump made the right decision to stop Qassem Soleimani from the terror campaign that he’d been engaged in against America.””
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And here.
https://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-top-leaders-mourn-shiite-124359278.html
“BAGHDAD (AP) — A push led by pro-Iran factions to oust U.S. troops from Iraq following the U.S. airstrike that killed a top Iranian general is gaining momentum, bolstered by a Parliament vote calling on the government to remove them.
But the path forward is unclear, and in Iraq’s deeply divided terrain, with a resigned prime minister and raging proxy war between Iran and the U.S., ending America’s 17-year military presence in Iraq is a risky undertaking.
Iraq was barely starting to recover from a devastating four-year war against the Islamic State group when a mass uprising against the country’s ruling elite erupted on Oct. 1, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi two months later. He hasn’t been replaced.
A pullout of U.S. troops could cripple the fight against Islamic State militants and allow the extremists to make a comeback. Militants affiliated with IS routinely carry out attacks in northern and western Iraq, hiding out in rugged desert and mountainous areas. Iraqi forces rely on the U.S. for logistics and weapons in pursuing them.
An American withdrawal could also enable Iran to deepen its influence in Iraq, which like Iran is a majority Shiite country.
“It is not that simple,” Lebanese political analyst Ibrahim Bayram said of any withdrawal. “This will increase the complications inside Iraq, the conflicts and contradictions … and the clash, both political and non-political, between the Iranians and Americans.”
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And who steps into the void? Why Iran, of course.
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Debra, “an honest mistake” according to General Milley. Not supposed to have been sent out.
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Mumsee,
Drats. I was afraid of that. :–/
AJ, if we just got out of the way, iran and iraq would probably keep each other in check fpr a long time to come.
I don’t see any glaring typos or wrong words, so I think I’ll respect the sovereignty of this thread and sign out until I go home. :–)
Debra
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I spent all weekend trying to type with a FIRE and it’s not helpful suggestions. Why give me choices if it’s just gonna ignore me? I feel your pain Debra. 🙂
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🙂
Democrats Call For Flags To Be Flown At Half-Mast To Grieve Death Of Soleimani
https://babylonbee.com/news/democrats-call-for-flags-to-be-flown-half-mast-to-grieve-death-of-soleimani?fbclid=IwAR0SOzbbtZXw-g0Onbi1NUA-YwOw8PZJdlSTkkLam5Q4GV8jDXcjJDXliRM
“At a press conference held on Capitol Hill Friday, mourning Democrat leaders called for flags to be flown half-mast to honor the death of Qasem Soleimani.
Flags were spotted flying at half-mast around the country, notably at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and in front of several celebrities’ homes. The celebrities went out and bought an American flag for the first time just to fly it at half-mast for this important time of grief.
“The grieving process is painful but necessary,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar. “As a nation, we need to stop and grieve this great, austere, revered religious scholar. He was one of the good ones.”
In a rare moment of unity with The Squad, Pelosi gave each of the girls a hug, telling them to just “let it all out” in their time of sadness.
Ocasio-Cortez didn’t seem to know what was happening but adjusted her glasses to look smart.”
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https://www.kpax.com/news/local-news/flathead-county/glacier-national-park-to-remove-all-glaciers-will-be-gone-by-2020-signs
Glacier National Park to remove all ‘glaciers will be gone by 2020’ signs
Posted: 7:20 PM, Jan 06, 2020
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