They're clonking onto the pavement today.
Anyway... just a photo from my morning walk.
Treat this post as an open thread.
June 20, 2019
Swan song of the peonies.
The bulgy peonies have their June days here Madison, but they can only hold up their overstuffed heads for so long.
They're clonking onto the pavement today.
Anyway... just a photo from my morning walk.
Treat this post as an open thread.
They're clonking onto the pavement today.
Anyway... just a photo from my morning walk.
Treat this post as an open thread.
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178 comments:
There’s a hickory tree in our yard that grew up kind of sideways and was beautiful and quite dramatic looking. This year it got irrigation and fertilizer and was full of new growth which made it top heavy and it snapped at the crook near the base. Along with the peonies victims of their own success, I suppose.
I lived in Ohio for a while. It's where I first saw peonies and grew to love them
Clonking--lovely word!
Narr
Lovely flowers
Egypt’s Deposed Islamist President Morsi Dead.
Remembering the days of wine and peonies in Madison City. Everybody must get clonked.
Was it Noel Coward who mentioned a woman who started out as an English rose, but with age turned into a peony?
I get my peonies from my garden, ie. Trader Joe’s. My favorites are the ones that look like hot pink walnuts on a stick, that are ugly as sin. Over a few days, they explode into spectacular blooms 5-6 inches across, that change color to medium pink and then salmon color. I like to give them to people as gifts. Often people have no idea what they are.
here's a twist, it was the medic, not senior chief Gallagher who delivered the fatal blow, to the terrorist,
From Tyler Cowen's Wednesday assorted links -
The new civility start-ups
Description on app store:
"Civility lets you arrange and participate in face-to-face discussions with small groups. Each discussion has 5 to 7 participants and delves into a specific topic."
Meade should offer to sell them peony supports.
I had the greatest peonies along side the first house I owned. Loved them, but hated the ants.
Looks like Hunter Biden is up to usual antics. After dumping his dead brothers widow after bonking her for awhile, someone women has come forward and accused him of knocking her up. He's lucky he's not Hillary's son, the fucker would have been dead a long time ago.
I'm reminded I have to go to the cemetery tonight to deadhead the peonies on Mom's grave.
He's lucky he's not Hillary's son, the fucker would have been dead a long time ago.
No, the girls would have been. You don’t know how entitlement works.
I’d love to see what happened if President Trump asked Congress to declare war on Iran — assuming Iranian aggression considerably worse than shooting down a drone.
Marriage equality means divorce equality—and I feel pride, as well as sadness, about my split from my husband.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/gay-marriage-gay-divorce/592006/
Divorce is a failure. Sometimes it has to happen, but this is ridiculous.
Friends expressed their sorrow over “our split” or the fact that we’d “broken up.” I was surprised that I found such language disrespectful, and I wrote in my journal at the time: “This isn’t a break-up. It’s a separation. A legal thing. There’s a weight and history to what’s happening.”
Yes, nobody ever uses words like broken marriages or talks of splits! We need to use the exact right words that meet the man’s political ends! Otherwise, and you know what’s coming, otherwise you are a homophobe, no matter how heartfelt your expression of sorrow was at the end of the marriage (air quotes) <<-- OK, that was a little homophobic (air quotes) oops, I did it again!
Anyway, he cares much more about you having the correct political thoughts about the end of his marriage than that you acknowledge his pain and loss (air quotes) [Stope it! - ed].
I was thinking about the reparations story and how pointless that is. Money isn't going to solve racism or economic inequality. Who wants to get into that subject of race? Anything you say will be cause for offense and accusations, especially if you are honest.
Maybe what we need in the US is a day of remembrance -- like they have in Israel for the Holocaust, where on a certain day at a certain time all the sirens go off and everyone stops what they are doing and stands in silence for several minutes. We could all mourn the horrible things which did happen in the history of the US to African Americans and American Indians, etc., all innocent victims of racism. Then, after a minute or two we get on with our lives.
RJ Chatt - I suggest we extend the mourning period for at least a minute more so that American blacks can mourn those African blacks who were cast into slavery by other African blacks and those Native American Indians who were murdered and enslaved by other Native American Indians both before and after Europeans arrived to colonize the western hemisphere. Xenophobia is part of the human genome. Let's not pick and choose who to mourn. Mourn the human race in its entirety. As a species, we wallow in oceans of waste and regret. Enter Jesus...
One of the neat things about the Biltmore mansion in Asheville, North Carolina is the gardens were designed so that something would always be in bloom, at least when it was not winter. This is especially impressive given how many large gardens the place has.
Papadapolous's mom "a cheap prostitute"?
So says his 'honey-pot/spook' wife.
a Kardashian-esque 'reality' show in the make?
That we're treating this seriously rather than laughing at "Reparations" as s freak show show how far the USA has devolved.
Assuming one massive group of unrelated people can ever owe another massive group of unrelated people ANYTHING - that debt was paid by the Civil war with 350,000 dead Union soldiers. And paid again, with interest, by 50 years of Affirmative action, quotas, and set asides.
But of course, this is NOT about anything about the past. Its about bribing African Americans into voting Democrat. Make no mistake, the D's if they win in 2020 will push this through. Not just an "apology" but a huge cash payment. But the D's have plans to spend $Trillions$ if they win in 2020. Just add this to the list.
In an post with words, it's a good idea to use the right words yourself. It should be something other than "clonking".
"An abrupt, heavy sound of impact."
"To make a dull hollow thumping sound."
I knew that because I clonked in jr. high marching band.
rcocean - I'm beginning to identify as an African American. How much do I get in reparations?
Um did she introduce him to mifsud, having worked with him.
Large numbers of White Americans REALLY get off on feeling "guilty" about what "we" di to the blacks, the Jews, the Indians, the Japanese, the Chinese, the Mexicans, the Hispanics, etc.
I concur with the "National Atonement Day" - then all the white people can wear sackcloth and ashes, cry in public, and generally talk about how THEY -unlike those nasty other white people - REALLY feel bad. Very bad. We could have parades of "White Shame" maybe even some burning of the US flag and some effigies of Washington, FDR, and Jefferson. White chicks would LOVE it.
"rcocean - I'm beginning to identify as an African American. How much do I get in reparations?"
Remember its the one-drop rule. Got a drop? You're in.
I seem to recall my long-dead father telling me a story about a distant black ancestor.....
Just prove you have "One drop" AND voted D - and your check is in the mail.
Re: The writer "celebrating" his divorce in the link put up by Nobody earlier. One word that he repeats obsessively in that column is "pride." He took pride in his marriage, pride in his divorce. Pride all the way, sometimes two or three times in one paragraph. The word "pride" would never occur to me in reference to my marriage and certainly not to a divorce. I would say "fortunate" or "blessed" regarding my marriage. It was a gift given to me, to find someone I could merge my life and soul with. I came close once to divorce and that was devastating. If it had come to actual divorce I would not be proud. I would be depressed, broken, sorrowful, mournful. I can not even imagine being proud of such a thing.
The pæonies are spent.
Headline in the local USToday-pustule recently was "Pride Is Fifty Years Old."
Think of it, a whole half-century! What did we do without pride before?
Narr
Probably takes some getting used to
MadisonMan said...
I'm reminded I have to go to the cemetery tonight to deadhead the peonies on Mom's grave
Deadheading at the cemetery?
Ouch!
a distant black ancestor.....
A distant African ancestor, who was black, was not a slaver, was a slave, had a white master, was exported specifically to America and not another global destination. White and other color slaves with other color slavers from Africa need not apply.
that debt was paid by the Civil war with 350,000 dead Union soldiers. And paid again, with interest, by 50 years of Affirmative action, quotas, and set asides.
350,000 dead human rights leaders and collateral damage. With a forward looking perspective, they would have kneeled, and opened their pocketbooks.
Just imagine if there was assimilation and integration. Not diversity, exclusion, political congruence, and other manner of PC.
That said, round and round we go. Where we stop, no one knows.
@narciso
they supposedly met through LinkedIn, in September 2016, when he noticed their mutual connection to the now defunct London Centre of International Law Practice.
Mifsud introduced him to Turk and Olga Polonskaya/Vinogradova, the "niece".
Mangiante was also a "niece".
PapaD was single at the time and maybe hot spookettes were his weakness
but this flaming twitter battle between wife/mother is odd--
PapaD has been "dropping bombs" and maybe this is a distraction?
PapaD doesnt seem like he gets any support from Team Trump.
Maybe he just decided to "make lemonade" by cashing in on the whole fiasco.
(book/Wapo Magazine piece,etc) Maybe this is just to draw more publicity for $$
DM
"...Boris Johnson will face Jeremy Hunt in the final run-off for the Tory leadership after dramatic votes by MPs
Rumours his allies helped knock out Michael Gove for betraying Johnson during the 2016 leadership battle
Mr Gove lost out to Mr Hunt in second place by just two votes and was was eliminated to gasps this evening
Mr Johnson only increased tally by three votes in the last round despite at least four extras publicly pledging
Hunt allies had warned MPs against against rerunning the 'psychodrama' between Mr Johnson and Mr Gove..."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7162691/Then-THREE-Sajid-Javid-Tory-leadership-battle.html
In other DM news...
"...[Rory Stewart (the candidate with the planet of the apes look)] called for followers to form a 'movement' to enter the Conservative Party
Asked them to do 'what you will be reluctant to do ... re-engage with politics'
Mr Stewart crashed out of race yesterday after securing support of 27 Tory MPs
The former challenger could now be the king-maker in battle for second place
Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt fighting for right to take on Boris Johnson"
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7162029/Rory-Stewart-organises-LOSERS-RALLY-refuses-endorse-remaining-candidates.html
Rory Stewart (a British version of Beto O'Rourke) will not be a king-maker.
Boris Johnson will be the next British Prime Minister because (unlike most of the other PM candidates) he isn't a stiff.
PEE-oh-knees
Pee-OH-knees
PINE-knees
Your call.
Looks more like the blanket in the dark knight rises:
https://newrepublic.com/article/154252/america-need-talk-reparations
and I feel pride, as well as sadness, about my split
Pride in dysfunction. Weird, but between consenting adults... Sure, why not.
Now that we are past the archaic evolutionary fitness thing, why is political congruence ("=") limited to two and other arbitrary exclusions? So many labels. So judgmental. So liberal. A progressive condition.
From the Boston Herald:
A federal judge in Boston has temporarily banned ICE agents from making arrests in or around Massachusetts courthouses. The preliminary injunction came down today from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, and gives Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins and Middlesex DA Marian Ryan a big victory. Both had filed suit in federal court seeking to boot immigration officers from district courts.
Judge Talwani states in her two-page preliminary injunction that the court “ORDERS that Defendants” ICE and the acting Director Matthew T. Albence, and ICE’s Todd M. Lyons in Boston along with the federal Department of Homeland Security stop any “civil immigration actions inside courthouses.”
The judge adds ICE agents cannot civilly arrest “parties, witnesses, and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending, or leaving the courthouse.”
The judge is allowing ICE agents to seize “individuals brought to the courthouse in state or federal custody.”
Rollins and Ryan said in April they worked with public defenders, prosecutors, and various community groups over the past year to file the suit, which alleges that the increased ICE enforcement is scaring away immigrants and therefore making it harder to bring cases.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06/20/ice-agents-banned-from-making-arrests-at-massachusetts-courts/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=fb-bostonherald&utm_campaign=socialflow&fbclid=IwAR2GVMDtx-zcfr8VhjXDEiFL5K9uwmbEs3lzfa18HqKfwu9lY
Don't forget about the 300,000 Confederate dead, their widows and orphans, the maimed, and the millions impoverished in atonement, most of them not slaveholders. And the economic losses hurt many more freedmen than it helped.
What does Planned Parenthood charge for this? About $1,000. For two pills.
Planned Parenthood may be overcharging for abortion rites. Cults operate under a legal and ethical presumption of privacy.
State Closes Midtown Miami School Tied to NXIVM "Sex Cult" Leader
"Rainbow Cultural Garden Miami is a multicultural tutoring center that has nothing to do with any cult," Pietra said through a spokesperson.
...
Frank Parlato Jr., a former NXIVM spokesperson-turned-whistleblower credited with first raising concerns about NXIVM, says he believes the schools were a tool to help Raniere and NXIVM members "indoctrinate children" into the cult
A link between a sex cult, immigration reform, and rape or rape-rape (h/t Whoopi et al).
5 Ways Michael Flynn’s New Lawyer Could Expose More About Spygate
https://thefederalist.com/2019/06/18/5-ways-michael-flynns-new-lawyer-expose-spygate/
Don't forget about the 300,000 Confederate dead, their widows and orphans
"Germans", some good, some, perhaps many, not. Collateral damage. It raises a fair question about war, justice, and social justice.
Mary H, I'd like to know how the anchor babies are getting their birth certificates (and who's paying for their births). ICE should be deporting some parents. That will solve some of the anchor problem--they won't try to get the certs.
The standard of living for blacks in the US is much higher than the standard of living for blacks in Africa. Consider that to be your reparations.
Rollins and Ryan said in April they worked with public defenders, prosecutors, and various community groups over the past year to file the suit, which alleges that the increased ICE enforcement is scaring away immigrants and therefore making it harder to bring cases.
Immigrants are not at risk. Illegal aliens? Judges, public defenders, prosecutors, and various community groups violating civil rights.
in addition to the titillating "50 Shades" aspect of NXIVM
involved/tangentially involved:
-a senator/presidential candidate(Gillibrand)
-son of Mexican (ex)president(co-conspirator)
-Hollywood actress(es)(A. Mack)
-illegal money bundling for H->
-hacking of a senator's financial records(Schumer)
-(child) sex trafficking
-backed by billionaire Bronfmans (Seagrams booze)
gee, have we missed anything? the links for all posted in past cafes
Now, with all this excitement, you're probably asking yourself: "Why isnt this a huge story?" Well, no one on the Right was involved, so, you're just out of luck, punk.
That will solve some of the anchor problem
It would be sufficient to separate the rights of citizens and immigrants. The children of legal immigrants are naturalized with their parents. The children of illegal aliens should not be separated from their parents.
Sen. Gillibrand
She's the abortionist, right? And now we know, with a compelling cause.
Any suggestions on a more conservative print media?
My Father is very proud of being up to date with the economist, the week, Bloomberg and time magazine. And the la times for daily news.
I’m astonished at what they don’t cover...
And not a tds one either please.
Claremont Review of Books sounds good.
@n.n
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] has a well known and powerful political father from the state capitol, Albany, New York. His name is Doug Rutnik. What is not widely known is that Doug worked for the sex slaver cult of NXIVM — about a dozen years ago.
Step-mom in NXIVM.
Kirstyen Jellybrains is a #MeToo phony-
nothing says "empowering women" like literally branding/enslaving them
Most every angle that matters ray, eli lake is pretty good of foreign policy at Bloomberg, the time profile of Sanders
leaves out his communist past or the fraud investigation.
Meredith Raimondo
per Greg Jarrett on Hannity today: IG report is delayed because a large number at FBI and DOJ are coming forward to AG Barr and 'singing' to cut deals.
Solomon has a piece on Manafort and Black Ledger--
also commented we are only 1/4 to 1/3 through Spygate
Tweet of the day:
On Tuesday, Trump refused to apologize to the Central Park Five -- which registered a blip on the Trump Outrage Scale ™
The next day, 2020 Dems piled on Biden for saying he could work with Eastland/Talmadge,
That asymmetry is a big advantage for Trump.
https://mobile.twitter.com/mmurraypolitics/status/1141691543839002626
He thought I wished for 10 inch peonies..
Hazelnut Spread M&M's are the real deal. FYI. 😋
Ray - SoCal... Conservative Talk Radio... My faves Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager.
Timely topics and fascinating guests ALWAYS.
Find a station locally or stream online!
Chuck, you ignorant slut! Trump had no power over the criminal prosecutions of those defendants and nothing to do with their convictions. He expressed an opinion regarding their guilt as a private citizen, much the same as you, a private citizen vehemently slanders Trump and wishes a pox on his house at every opportunity. When are you going to apologize for your own vituperous harangues? Pissant!
Claremont Review of Books sounds good.
That and City Journal are the two I have read for years. No more Weekly Standard or NR.
Hewitt is a good interviewer and I listened to him for years. Now he seems to be on different schedule.
@Fen:
Does anyone know the reasoning behind auto-granting citizenship if born on American soil? I'm assuming it goes back to the founding but I can't seem to find a Federalist Paper arguing for/against. Thanks.
Judicial interpretation of the 14th amendment.
@Michael K:
That and City Journal are the two I have read for years. No more Weekly Standard or NR.
I second City Journal. It is published by the Manhattan Institute and regularly produces quality work. I am a particular fan of Heather MacDonald's contributions.
A federal judge in Boston has temporarily banned ICE agents from making arrests in or around Massachusetts courthouses. The preliminary injunction came down today from U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, and gives Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins and Middlesex DA Marian Ryan a big victory. Both had filed suit in federal court seeking to boot immigration officers from district courts.
Judge Talwani states in her two-page preliminary injunction that the court “ORDERS that Defendants” ICE and the acting Director Matthew T. Albence, and ICE’s Todd M. Lyons in Boston along with the federal Department of Homeland Security stop any “civil immigration actions inside courthouses.”
The judge adds ICE agents cannot civilly arrest “parties, witnesses, and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending, or leaving the courthouse.”
So I've got some outstanding traffic warrants in Boston. What's that legal term where 3rd parties like me are allowed to join those party to a legal ruling? Can anyone here file it on my behalf? I'm afraid of getting arrested if I show up in a courtroom, and would like all police and officers of the court from being in the courthouse with me. Thanks!
Judicial interpretation of the 14th amendment.
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
Right, but it was intended for former slaves, not anchor babies. I'm curious if there was any debate about that.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof
So what. about the babies born in sanctuary cities?
Chuck: Tweet of the day:
I visited the link. Funny crowd. They think that likening detention centers to "concentration camps" is a good move since "euphemisms help the wrong people".
I think one of them just received another order from ACME. Where's the popcorn?
“immigrant” is a euphemism for “illegal alien” or “illegal border crosser”
“concentration camp” is a pejorative for detention camp for lawbreakers.
Yes, we have gone through the looking glass.
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”.
This quote is evergreen.
Chuck would maybe do better if he chose his battles, instead he just presents as an obsessive, like one of those troofers after 9-11 who used to wander around with their decorated shopping carts full of pamphlets buttonholing every passer by.
Oh man, you guys have got to scroll through Chuck's Cuck Link, the people there are hysterical. Great insight into an Asylum of Ingas. Choice picks:
"This election is too important to risk. If I have issues with a candidate, I plan to keep it to private convos."
Right on the heels of:
"people who have ethical principles will always have a tougher road to victory than those who do not have ethical principles."
Honorable mention:
"The evolving, self-correcting, arc-bending-towards-justice nature of public discourse can also make one party smarter and more just than the other. The question is whether the walk-in-lockstep-with-45** approach of the Rs can win an election"
It's like they are missing the part of the brain that checks for consistency. Like Chuck's "principled stand" where he confesses to deliberately misrepresenting what Trump said into order to slime him.
But I'm glad he found some friends to play with. It's where he belongs now.
"No. These are not in the same moral universe. His side is racist. Ours believes in holding our own accountable for racism. That's the difference."
LOL.
any word about the seal master chief who was railroaded by jag, or the greatens case, which shows abuse of authority by gardner, no of course not, of course linda fairstein, who has been a very fair prosecutor, is subject to trial by Netflix, which is really carrying forward Sharpton's vendetta.
"His advantage is you in the media always catering to the GOP"
On what planet? These people are serious. I think it's the radon.
"GOP will do anything to protect their guy but we Dems are on a high horse."
With Hillary and her cloth. Unbelievable.
This is why we are not going to be able to reason with the Left. Sorry, but when a dog goes mad with rabies, the only solution is to put it down.
he does have a way with words,
https://www.steynonline.com/9463/the-brother-who-blew-it
oh that's curious
https://twitter.com/BrianHubbs1/status/1141802410362335232
well forget about that:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/19/if-greenland-is-catastrophically-melting-how-do-alarmists-explain-nasas-growing-greenland-glacier/
The Tampa Bay Rays have received permission from MLB to explore playing their home games in two different cities, reports ESPN's Jeff Passan. The first is their current home of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.
It would be nice to have major league baseball within an hour’s drive. I just wish it was National League.
There is an adjustment on photo editing software called temperature and the wamer you set it, the warmer it looks. I am sure that the picture that they took of the glacial meltwater was adjusted to make it look like a tropical beach, it’s just a little tweek to the frequencies of the light, but it fools our brain.
"I am sure that the picture that they took of the glacial meltwater was adjusted to make it look like a tropical beach, it’s just a little tweek to the frequencies of the light"
Climate scientist Steffen Olsen took this picture
Agreed. Climate scientists are notorious for "adjusting" the data.
They believe that in "saving the planet" the ends justifies any means.
Their latest propaganda drive is enlightening - full frontal marxism, where they explain you can't honestly discuss climate change solutions without taking into account all the oppressed peoples. They aren't even hiding it now.
It's why they oppose Nuclear solutions - no opportunity for Marxist graft and corruption.
In all the fuss about Joe Biden cooperating with his segregationist fellow Democrats in the Senate, no one has mentioned that these guys from the agricultural South also were bred in the bone fiscal conservatives. another black mark against Biden, so why did they miss it?
connecting the dots,
https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/1141837195831066624
they're chewing a lot of bamboo
https://www.theepochtimes.com/our-response-to-nbc-news-inappropriate-questions_2971493.html
One year I transplanted some red peonies and they bloomed white the following year. In WA I always had peonies---they are prettier than roses, IMO. But they don't hold up well in the rain. Of course, in the PNW everyone has rhododendrons and azaleas, also beautiful and which grow wild in the forests.
Replying to Lucien at 2:15. Congress should be asked to declare war. What an obvious (now that you've said it) and excellent insight. In the past, I've been sucked into debates about whether war is justified in some particular set of circumstances; but when the US goes to war without a very strong popular mandate, and then support for the effort erodes (as happened when Bush's 2001 war eroded in 2006) we end up not being able to win, and only finding some face saving way of pulling out.
But of course, this is NOT about anything about the past. Its about bribing African Americans into voting Democrat. Make no mistake, the D's if they win in 2020 will push this through. Not just an "apology" but a huge cash payment. But the D's have plans to spend $Trillions$ if they win in 2020. Just add this to the list.
If they'd finally shut up about it, it might be worth it.
But they wouldn't.
you would think so, but congress actually taking a decision of on principle, with real consequences, get out of town,
narciso asked: "any word about the seal master chief who was railroaded by jag...?"
The Seal team medic admitted today the he killed the prisoner, not the Seal team leader. The prosecution team is now in a tizzy.
PS: The medic was given immunity prior to the trial.
Can you guys believe that Mann V Steyn still hasn't gone to trial?
We can’t “win” a war with Iran. All we can really do is make them sorry they fucked with us, at best.
Of course with fracking, the Strait of Hormuz is not so much our jugular as it once was, it’s more like Iran’s jugular. Both Russia and the US would probably benefit from a war there, if you strictly looked at it in terms of oil revenue. Consumers would be poleaxed though.
Perry Mason-Like Shift in Gallagher Case: Medic Admits Killing Insurgent
Conclusion to another warlock trial? Progress.
Clonk
1. an abrupt, heavy sound of impact.
A perfectly good word, clonk, but does it really fit in this context?
Headed back to Boston after a week in CA. I imagine all the flowers will have clonked off the shrubs and trees while I've been away, especially because it's been raining most of the week.
Autocorrect keeps changing clonked to clocked; annoying.
Congress will pretend to be worried about a war, but they're really just worried about taking responsibility back from an Imperial President. Too bad they spent the last 60+ years feeding the very same beast.
The reason we consistently lose wars is that we don't enter them with clear goals; we also have a bad habit of assuming that everyone ought to be thrilled when Uncle Sam shows up.
In the current brouhaha, it doesn't matter who did what when, it only matters if one side or the other sees advantage in war now rather than later.
Narr
See H. Ullman and A. Bacevich for more
Another odd thing is that the news announcers states that the Army medic testified he killed the young ISIS fighter by holding his finger over the tracheotomy tube until the patient died, but do not mention how the tube got there. It seems unlikely that the medic put it in and then proceeded to plug it. So was it Gallagher? The other Seals say they saw Gallagher stab the boy in the neck, which is what I believe you do to insert a tracheotomy tube.
At times like this, I wish we had a trustworthy news media, instead we have a grave crisis, and so Schumer doesn’t miss an opportunity to try to undercut Trump.
The "Iraq War" was won when Saddam Hussein's regime fell. The enemy we have been fighting with since has been Iran and its Shia collaborators in Iraq.
The trouble with declaring a war won, per SH's removal, is that the enemy may not be fighting the same war.
If you go into a troubled region with no clear idea of who is who and what what--as we have been doing since 1945 over there--you can't win anything.
Narr
I'll be happy to pay more for gas in peace, not so happy to pay more and get a war too
On the Khashoggi murder, one way for it to have happened is more or less as it is alleged to have gone down, but that assumes the Saudis thought their consulate was located in friendly territory and they had the cooperation of the Turkish government, which seems credulous, and if so, it still would be a little much for them to make a copy of their tape recording for the Turkish intelligence agency.
So, exactly what went on there? I think I will wait to see if anything more comes to light about this caper.
WASHINGTON — As disaster costs keep rising nationwide, a troubling new debate has become urgent: If there’s not enough money to protect every coastal community from the effects of human-caused global warming, how should we decide which ones to save first?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/climate/seawalls-cities-cost-climate-change.html
Lefties sure love playing games of who gets shoved off of the ice floe. Here’s a hint, don’t cripple the economy with pointless high taxes and socialism, and there will be plenty of money!
I love this line: "And there could be extra points for cities that take in people forced to flee other parts of the country.” I think that people fleeing New Orleans for this catastrophic sea level rise liberals are expecting would naturally move to other areas at risk!
“Another option would be for the federal government to distribute climate protection money based on a city’s property value, its historical and cultural importance, and how much it contributes to the national economy,"
We better put something in there to make sure NYC is covered!
I am not even going to bother with the comments, which doubtless prattle on about how red. states should be left to drown in this imaginary flood.
Sea levels have been rising for thousands of years, BTW, so it’s probably a good idea not to build at too low of an elevation.
@Hagar:
The "Iraq War" was won when Saddam Hussein's regime fell. The enemy we have been fighting with since has been Iran and its Shia collaborators in Iraq.
What about the Sunnis of western Iraq who formed part of ISIS?
The Dutch held back the sea and built their polders with manual labor and wooden windmill powered pumps. We could never do that today with our earth movers that can do the work of hundreds of men and diesel pumps!
Can you guys believe that Mann V Steyn still hasn't gone to trial?
Yes. The entire point was to take Steyn off the playing field. Tie him down with lawfare.
That's why my Bucket List is full of names.
I think W. was containing Iran, but unwilling to admit to the shadow war lest there be a demand to know why he was not proceeding to open warfare.
Then Obama reversed our course, perhaps just to be contrary to W., and delivered Iraq to Iran with an unannounced anschluss, and now Trump is back to containing Iran again, but we no longer have Iraq for a base.
They were largely ex Republican guard and mukharabat the steel fist of Saddam's regime.
The Seal team medic admitted today the he killed the prisoner, not the Seal team leader. The prosecution team is now in a tizzy.
PS: The medic was given immunity prior to the trial.<
Good ! Those bastards. Obama ROE may finally be gone.
The Sunnis of western Iraq were screwed when Obama abandoned Iraq to Iran and reacted accordingly.
I am not even going to bother with the comments, which doubtless prattle on about how red. states should be left to drown in this imaginary flood.
Yup. If any of this was real, I'd be out burning tires every day.
Since America is the 1% and the Blue City States on the Coasties are the 1% of the 1%, responsible for the most significant majority of Global Whatever, I say we cut power to them and let the food riots sort out who gets "saved" from Global Whatever Doom 5.0
Lefties sure love playing games of who gets shoved off of the ice floe
Excellent insight. They are already deciding who gets kicked out of the Inner Party and who doesn't survive the 2nd Purge. Premature.
When two men get divorced, who's supposed to be the offending party?
'If there’s not enough money to protect every coastal community from the effects of human-caused global warming, how should we decide which ones to save first?'
Why should any of those communities be saved? If they believe the AGW predictions, then they should be spending their every extra hour and dollar moving to higher ground. That it's not happening is more evidence that they don't believe their own bullshit.
I hope the medic's admission doesn't queer his immunity deal. It would be funny if the prosecutors were so single-minded about the SEAL that they forgot to ask him.
It would be funny if the prosecutors were so single-minded about the SEAL that they forgot to ask him.
It wouldn't be the first time US Navy officers screwed up, now, would it?
I also hope the officers who approved bugging the defense's computers go to prison.
So again with the major college in Williamstown, MA. Spoke with alum what was a fin aid student back in the day, now a major donor with campus buildings paid for and named after. Well, suggested it might not be the best thing to matriculate as the quality of the institution had declined since the primary focus had turned to race and gender and sexual orientation. 2k students, 37% white, trying to even out all the genders. 10k applicants. It was hard to disagree about the SJW based on the student tour guides. Two gay guys, one a member of the more militant queer group on campus (It has queer in the name), latino, a young black woman, asian pole vaulter girl. The guide we had was a dim bulb, relating her three tales of struggling with her coursework but how much extra help and nurturing she received from faculty. A rising sophomore what seemed to use up four years of goodwill. She fibbed on the answers to two questions about campus I knew the answers to. It was...disappointing. 8 years prior the guide was entertaining and well informed.
We used to say near ivy but it must be happening with them too.
WASHINGTON — As disaster costs keep rising nationwide, a troubling new debate has become urgent: If there’s not enough money to protect every coastal community from the effects of human-caused global warming, how should we decide which ones to save first?
@Nobody, why should the rest of us contribute? Glenn Reynolds is right: address coastal flooding by taxing the blue zones to reduce development.
From Powerline: WHAT WAS MUELLER UP TO? HIS VICTIMS SPEAK
Earlier this month RealClearPolitics posted Paul Sperry’s intensely reported account of the Mueller investigation from the perspective of its objects in “‘Scorched Earth’: Mueller’s Targets Speak Out.” Sperry prefaced his report:
It's a continuation of what sid vicious did to Michael ledeen 20 years ago, which was part of a vendetta from 15 years before, when he was states counter terror consultant
Replying to Lucien at 2:15. Congress should be asked to declare war. What an obvious (now that you've said it) and excellent insight. In the past, I've been sucked into debates about whether war is justified in some particular set of circumstances; but when the US goes to war without a very strong popular mandate, and then support for the effort erodes (as happened when Bush's 2001 war eroded in 2006) we end up not being able to win, and only finding some face saving way of pulling out.
On the contrary, war was declared after 9/11.
As then Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden put it in response to a question from the floor during a speech he made on October 22, 2001: [quoting…]
Question: Senator, thank you for this broad gauged approach to the problems we face. My question is this, do you foresee the need or the expectation of a Congressional declaration of war, which the Constitution calls for, and if so, against whom? (Scattered Laughter)
Biden: The answer is yes, and we did it. I happen to be a professor of Constitutional law. I'm the guy that drafted the Use of Force proposal that we passed. It was in conflict between the President and the House. I was the guy who finally drafted what we did pass. Under the Constitution, there is simply no distinction … Louis Fisher(?) and others can tell you, there is no distinction between a formal declaration of war, and an authorization of use of force. There is none for Constitutional purposes. None whatsoever. And we defined in that Use of Force Act that we passed, what … against whom we were moving, and what authority was granted to the President.
[/unQuote]
____
(Quoted from Joe Biden's own [now defunct] senatorial website)
@Birches:
When two men get divorced, who's supposed to be the offending party?
The top?
Big Mike: "It wouldn't be the first time US Navy officers screwed up, now, would it?"
I can neither confirm nor deny my participation in a high speed flyby of Admiral Benjamin's daughter Penny.
Fen sounds like one of those wannabe hardguys who post on the antiidiotarian podleboys
According to Hagar the Horrible, the Viet Nam conflict was won after Tet '68 because winning is body count
Jarheads prefer a long hot slog through the bush than some high speed wiff.
Professor Biden was the William Fulbright of this era, I'm dying here.
Ours are just opening - 'course the Madison climate sucks.
According to Hagar the Horrible, the Viet Nam conflict was won after Tet '68 because winning is body count
Well he's wrong. We won Vietnam when we left because we:
A) Totally destroyed the North Vietnamese military and its ability to invade the South.
B) Totally destroyed the Viet Cong insurgency in the South.
C) Signed a peace treaty ending the war while South Vietnam was a viable nation, and free and independent.
The problem was, after we left the Soviets rebuilt the North Vietnamese military and when North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam again in 1`975, the Democrats in Congress turned their back on the promises they made to South Vietnam.
We won the war and lost the peace.
And similar things happened in Cuba when the lefties at the state department, rubottom and Weiland block the armed sales to Batista, of course most of the company was with Fidel after his brothers future wife vouched for them not being communists, I'm not making this up.
This is much like Laughlin Currie blocking a key loan to Chiang ten years before, I think harry dexter white had a role in that too.
That's why the effort against the kingdom as reaboi puts it, fitz into the greater Iran strategy, they have sensed weakness thanks to lindsay and Romney's virtue signaling and subsequently pounced.
Fen sounds like one of those wannabe hardguys who post on the antiidiotarian podleboys
Whereas you are the footie jammy Obama boy.
NYT: Trump calls back jets.
How can we believe that?
Here in Milwaukee some distance from Lake Michigan, down by the river, the peonies are mostly unopened. Six hours of sun a day, they are supposed to get. I think with all the clouds and rain they've got a sun deficit like the US trade balance. But still a few have opened and others have swelling buds. The alliums opened about four days ago.
The Dem slogan for 2020. You read it here first. Fits them all - the Commies, the Kiddies, the Novelties and the Random White Dudes.
Make America Decline Again.
So he wasnt just 'crossing the aisles'
https://mobile.twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1141873766726885377
wildswan: "The Dem slogan for 2020."
That should read the Dem/LLR slogan for 2020.
Dems and LLR's...peas in a pod.
The fact there are no specifics. I mean if you're gonna leak.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/06/report-trump-ordered-strike-against-iran-but-pulled-back.php
Here’s a link to Biden’s foregoing speech re the 9/11 declaration of war preserved at the Internet Archive.
Discussion of these issues including Biden’s comments in this regard by UCLA constitutional law professor Eugene Volokh: 1 2 3.
With 18 years hindsight I would say they were wrong, of course the fact that we'd be in Afghanistan longer than our phillipines war is troubling in itself
10 years ago yesterday was the murder of neda sultan, during the Iranian election.
And three makes it enemy action:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-now-word-of-a-mysterious-third-scope-memo-for-robert-mueller?fbclid=IwAR2bgHwIDm1hsemU5YrzTqmUD1vUnuA4jiyMlGP4khQlO7ZU_-4IGMCc1w4
@Hagar:
I think W. was containing Iran, but unwilling to admit to the shadow war lest there be a demand to know why he was not proceeding to open warfare.
Bush was containing Iran by eliminating two of their regional rivals and installing a democratic system of government in Iraq, which guaranteed a Shia-dominated Iraq more aligned with Iran.
Then Obama reversed our course, perhaps just to be contrary to W., and delivered Iraq to Iran with an unannounced anschluss, and now Trump is back to containing Iran again, but we no longer have Iraq for a base.
That is a complete neocon myth used to provide ex post facto justification for the war and to mitigate its disasters. The surge failed by its own standards. Political reconciliation never occurred, and a residual military force cannot make it occur. Plus, the Iraqi government was under a great deal of public pressure not to allow immunity to US soldiers. Iraq was demanding that US soldiers accused of crimes in Iraq would be tried within the Iraqi judicial system. The US was obviously (and correctly) not willing to make this concession, and thus the SOFA negotiations stalled.
Except we saw with almost all the world supporting Iraq, it had still stalemated by the summer of 1988, trench warfare but with missiles
In fact Saddam seemed more focus on crushing the Shia and Kurds inside the country than the Iranians without. Furthermore what lesson did Iraq learn but to go after Kuwait and Saudi arabia.
Both predominantly Sunni countries which had bankrolled Iraq you do remember that do you.
Mind you the gulf war doesn't seem that smart considering what happened a decade later.
@narciso:
Except we saw with almost all the world supporting Iraq, it had still stalemated by the summer of 1988, trench warfare but with missiles
"Almost all the world" is a bit of a stretch. Iran was desperate to get out of the war by 1987.
In fact Saddam seemed more focus on crushing the Shia and Kurds inside the country than the Iranians without. Furthermore what lesson did Iraq learn but to go after Kuwait and Saudi arabia.
Hussein was undoubtedly primarily concerned with crushing internal dissent. His foreign policy was part and parcel of this concern.
Both predominantly Sunni countries which had bankrolled Iraq you do remember that do you.
Cheney himself was asked in the mid-1990s about the criticisms that the administration did not take the war to Baghdad and topple Hussein. The reasons Cheney cited for opposing such an action are precisely what came to pass after the 2003 war. Sadly, Cheney like the shock and horror of 9/11 cloud his earlier good judgment.
The biggest trouble I had was when the info session reviewed academic requirements for admission. Most of the student body had nearly perfect SATs, super scored. It was hard to believe from the sample size we were given...
Somebody besides the Full House mom is trying to fake it.
> Mayor Peduto (D-Pittsburgh) lays down the red carpet (and voter registration forms) for Syrian refugees.
> 21-year-old Mustafa Mousab Alowemer (D-Syria) is arrested for planning to bomb a local Pittsburgh church.
> His Honor, the mayor, states the bomb plot was a result of geopolitical differences and not religious issues.
> Nigerian Christians worshiped at the church.
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-church-bomb-plot-suspect-had-several-targets-authorities-say/
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Amen.
The problem was, after we left the Soviets rebuilt the North Vietnamese military...
Just like the Anglo-Dutch war, winning battles doesn’t win the war, and losing them doesn’t lose it, the war is won when one side gets tired of building ships.
U of Michigan baseball team plays at 1 today. See it on ESPN.
Leftism is about parceling out scarce goods through government force. (Spoiler Alert!) They always end up going to the powerful. What the left is genius at in the first place is creating scarcity.
I started watching ESPN again after that story about how they were cutting out the politics, so far, so good, and I have discovered that I really enjoy college baseball.
How can we believe that?
We simply can’t. The NYT flushed the last dingle balls of its credibility when they went full TDS. It started when they first were calling out Bill Clinton for his sleaze in the ‘90s and their Manhattan readership rebelled. If they had stuck to their guns and nipped Clintonism in the bud, there would be no POTUS Trump. As Glenn says, they chose the form of their destructor.
“RBG must be rolling in her grave!” - Some Internet Wag
WASHINGTON — President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.
As late as 7 p.m., military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.
Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.
The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.. - NYT
The article then goes on into speculation, I am going to respect the NYT copyright and not quote the whole thing. But there is this: “It was not clear whether Mr. Trump simply changed his mind on the strikes or whether the administration altered course because of logistics or strategy.”
Drudge is the boy who cried wolf. That schtick is old.
I guess this isn’t that serious of a crisis, since Schumer is out trying to undercut POTUS.
Pelosi and Trump are the two grown ups. I never saw that coming.
We need a less punitive criminal justice system.
If you want safer neighborhoods don't you mean a more punitive criminal justice system?
Pelosi and Trump are the two grown ups. I never saw that coming.
It's all relative.
Conservative reading?
I recommend Sultan Knish. Always swings for the bleachers...
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2019/06/slavery-reparations-for-millionaires.html#comment-form
Lizzy Warren (D-Clown Car) leading the charge on student debt reparations.
Peonie prolapse.
I convinced Trump to deport our Democrats to Iran.
That will fix the fuckers.
Apparently we have had perfect peony precipitation. I agree with Ferdnanistan that clonk is not usually associated with peonies but this year is an exception. I have taken to wearing a pith helmet in the garden after being knocked unconscious several times by falling peonies the size of watermelons. And yes, there was a hollow thud.
Blogger David Begley said...
“NYT: Trump calls back jets.”
“How can we believe that?”
Does it matter? Launching and recalling jets is essentially equivalent to leaking that jets were launched and recalled, whether or not the leak was accurate or not. The effect either way was to ratchet up the pressure a bit on Iran. Is Trump really that crazy, and his generals intervened in the last minute? Or is that just what we want the Iranians to think? We don’t know at this point, and probably more importantly, the Iranians don’t know. They may have seen some distant echos on their long distance radars. Maybe a lot of them. Or, maybe they are just being led to believe that the planes involved were just too stealthy for them to detect. Doesn’t really matter.
One thing for sure is that our military isn’t going to risk manned aircraft until they know precisely where every radar, every SAM site is located. We (and the Iranians next door) saw how this operated in the opening phase of Desert Storm, almost 30 years ago. If the Iranians can take down a Global Hawk drone in international airspace flying at 60k or so feet, they can very likely take down at least some of our non stealthy jets. So, at a minimum, they need to light up all, or at least all of the relevant part, of the Iranian air defense system in order to know where to send the missiles that would be inevitably launched in front of any serious air assault.
My guess is that this is a ruse, because I think that a real attack would probably be mostly, if not entirely, missile based. That is the low risk alternative on our part, we have shown that this is the case in the past, is our preference, and, no doubt have the assets in place or nearby already to pull it off.
Erectile dysfunction
"With all this manure, there must be a peony in here somewhere!”
Blogger rehajm said...
“We need a less punitive criminal justice system.”
“If you want safer neighborhoods don't you mean a more punitive criminal justice system”
This is where the distinction between de facto and de jure comes in. Making a lot of offenses into capital crimes doesn’t make any difference, if no one is ever charged, convicted, and executed for those crimes. There are plenty of laws on the books to make neighborhoods safer. The question is whether there is a political will to make it happen, and in the deep blue inner cities where we are currently seeing a significant violence problems, that doesn’t seem to be the case right now. Instead we are, for example, seeing the police being told by the politicians that they report to in some of those places to ignore property crimes below a certain threshold, and that threshold seems to have moved out of the misdemeanor range into the low felony range in some of the worst.
Ann-
Have you see the Rolling Thunder movie? Thoughts?
until they know precisely where every radar, every SAM site is located.
Another possibility is that the next drone will be a Reaper with ARM missiles attached.
The greater power allows the Reaper to carry 15 times more ordnance payload and cruise at about three times the speed of the MQ-1.[6] The aircraft is monitored and controlled by aircrew in the Ground Control Station (GCS), including weapons employment.
more advanced ARMs such as the AGM-78 Standard ARM and AGM-88 HARM missiles, which have inertial guidance systems (INS) built-in. This allows them to remember the radar's direction if it is turned off and continue to fly towards it. ARMs are less likely to hit the radar if the radar is turned off shortly after the missile is launched, as the longer the radar is off (and assuming it never turns back on), the more error is introduced into the missile's course. The ALARM even has an added loiter mode, with a built in parachute, enabling it to descend slowly until the radar lights up, when the rocket motor will re-ignite.
If “bulgy peonies” last more than four hours you should call a gardener.
We should just give gov't employees an extra holiday each year. They can call it Reparations Day. We'll probably come out ahead, given that it's one less day for them to waste our tax dollars.
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