COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, December 08, 2014

Old City Warsaw - 8 December 2014

They put this tree up in record time



Still traveling and I don’t have much time. I’m going to Estonia tomorrow. I’ll see if there is anything interesting happening. I know this is happening:


83 comments:

  1. .

    Iraqi Officials Push to Take Fight to ISIS in Mosul as U.S. Urges Restraint

    MANAMA, Bahrain — Allied warplanes and Iraqi ground troops are increasingly isolating Islamic State militants in the captured city of Mosul, prompting Iraqi officials to push for a winter offensive to wrest control of the area months ahead of the previous schedule — and over American warnings.

    The ground campaign to retake Iraq’s second-largest city from the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, is still likely many weeks away, American officials said. Its timing will depend on the pace of training for additional Iraqi ground troops to retake the city and for a holding force afterward, as well as sorting out a brewing dispute between Baghdad and Washington over whether Iraq is ready to carry out such a complex urban battle...


    [The story contains a link to some interesting maps and pictures]

    The story goes on to ask the question that if Iraqi government forces attack Mosul, will US special forces accompany them.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/world/middleeast/iraqi-officials-push-to-take-fight-to-isis-in-mosul-as-us-urges-restraint.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

    If Iraq attacks IS forces in Mosul, it will present the opposite situation to Kobani where the Kurds hold the defensive positions and IS is trying to force them out.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course US Special Forces will go with them.

      But why would they need US Special Forces, that is, ground troops, to accompany them?

      The rat Doctrine, which is in collapse, dictates you use the locals in conjunction with our air power.

      The rat Doctrine is a failure except perhaps around some motivated Kurdish areas.

      Delete
    2. rat Doctrine fail -

      America’s anti-ISIS strategy in Syria collapsing
      posted at 2:01 pm on December 8, 2014 by Noah Rothman

      Share on Facebook 3
      33 SHARES

      When confirmed as the next Secretary of Defense, as he will likely be, Aston Carter will have his hands full as he seeks to steward America’s national defense strategy. Among his hardest challenges will likely be the situation the United States and its coalition partners face in Syria as they seek to contain and eventually destroy the Islamic State.

      President Barack Obama’s present strategy for dealing with ISIS in Syria is essentially an embrace of the path of least political resistance, despite its dubious efficacy......................

      http://hotair.com/archives/2014/12/08/americas-anti-isis-strategy-in-syria-collapsing/

      Delete
    3. Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, it is YOUR doctrine of indiscriminate bombing that is failing in Syria.

      The only locale where the Rat Doctrine was tried, in Syria, it was a smashing success.
      Daesh still does not control Kobane, does it?

      It is the 'carpet bombing' campaign in the other parts of Syria that has failed.

      Your reading and intellectual abilities are at least sub-par, well below President Obama's, that is for sure.

      Delete
  2. You could see this coming a mile away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AshMon Dec 08, 01:19:00 PM EST
    Re: Ladue, Missouri

    Ash,

    My old synagogue was in that area. Know why?

    Back in the bad old days, many of St. Louis's Jews lived on the border of St. Louis City in University City (U. City equals Jew City -- ha ha). Long story short, criminals from St. Louis operated in "Jew City" cause Jews have money, don't you know. In fact, most Jews living in U.C. were middle class working people at a time when St. Louis was still an industrial and rail center (St. Louis used to be the shoe making capital of the world). Facing the criminal onslaught, the Jews moved west into the hinterland of an undeveloped St. Louis County (unaffiliated with St. Louis City).

    Today, Ladue et al are home to professionals, many of them Jews. The median home price in the area your reporter slights is at least $800,000 -- lots (if one can be had) go for at least $200,000. So, yes, Ladue et al are reluctant to have Section 8 projects erected in their towns. They have been there and done that. Many are still around who remember the socialist wonders of the Pruitt-Igoe and Peabody–Darst–Webbe housing projects. Needless to say, they do not want a repetition on Ladue Road.

    The thugs in Ferguson have made and are making poor choices in life -- the doctors in Ladue, not so much. Here is something to think about. From 1880 - 1920, several million predominately poor Jews came to the U.S. Within a quarter-century of arrival, their kids were graduating high school at a rate 4 times the national average. Within another quarter-century, the same could be said about college graduation. An example would be my former father-in-law. His folks worked like mules to get him and his siblings through college. WWII came along and he joined the US Navy (JOINED). Following the war, he went back to school under the GI Bill and worked like a mule, leaving school with a PhD. in organic chemistry. He joined the staff at UCLA and spent his life teaching and consulting, remaining a reserve naval officer. Over the course of a lifetime, he became wealthy, putting five daughters through school, four of whom became M.D.s. Had the fifth daughter joined the happy band, the family would have set a world record -- she chose business, instead, and is comfortably settled in Silicon Valley.

    Now, Ash, that is how you make it in this world. And please, don't tell me about discrimination because Hymie had it in spades. But Hymie didn't whine: Hymie WORKED; Hymie STUDIED; and Hymie PROGRESSED. Nothing will change in Ferguson and a thousand places like it until those people get with the program.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The whites are fleeing Ferguson.

    The reason is obvious.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bob OreilleMon Dec 08, 03:08:00 PM EST

    Aha, the Quirkster, always a sucker for a pretty leg, is getting stuck on Fox.

    This is the third time in four days he has mentioned his now favorite program.


    Bob OreilleMon Dec 08, 03:11:00 PM EST

    And, what's an ugly oaf named The Quirkster got against a beautiful woman with the name Jedidiah?

    ReplyDelete
  6. ObamaCare making shortage of primary care doctors worse, of course

    Associated Press


    Health law impacts primary care doc shortage
    Associated Press
    By KELLI KENNEDY 18 hours ago

    MIAMI (AP) — When Olivia Papa signed up for a new health plan last year, her insurance company assigned her to a primary care doctor. The relatively healthy 61-year-old didn't try to see the doctor until last month, when she and her husband both needed authorization to see separate specialists.

    She called the doctor's office several times without luck.

    "They told me that they were not on the plan, they were never on the plan and they'd been trying to get their name off the plan all year," said Papa, who recently bought a plan from a different insurance company.

    It was no better with the next doctor she was assigned. The Naples, Florida, resident said she left a message to make an appointment, "and they never called back."

    The Papas were among the 6.7 million people who gained insurance through the Affordable Care Act last year, flooding a primary care system that is struggling to keep up with demand.

    A survey this year by The Physicians Foundation found that 81 percent of doctors describe themselves as either over-extended or at full capacity, and 44 percent said they planned to cut back on the number of patients they see, retire, work part-time or close their practice to new patients...................

    http://news.yahoo.com/newly-insured-struggle-primary-physicians-155516875.html



    You best keep your poorly trained Doc, allen, if you can, it may be your only chance.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. Pallipanatomacatchawhatame (Biff) and I are like this "=".

      Delete
  7. Report from Bezerkely, California -


    December 8, 2014
    Berkeley rocked by a second night of violence
    By Thomas Lifson

    The hard-left cadre of revolutionary activists that always turns up to light fires, smash windows, block traffic, and inflict nuisance on civil society in the East Bay at any excuse (Occupy Wall Street, police shootings, or any whaddya got opportunity) were out again last night in Berkeley. Perhaps angered by their failure Saturday night to smash the state and create socialist utopia on Earth, they were more violent Sunday, targeting banks and national chains such as Jack in the Box hamburgers, but also attacking small businesses and assaulting peaceful demonstrators who tried to restrain the mayhem.

    Once again, the most detailed coverage was provided by local news website Berkeleyside, whose reporter Emilie Raguso bravely stayed with the fracas from its 5 PM start through the wee hours of the morning today. Ms. Raguso’s report is full of detail, and she captured many key moments on video as well as via still photography. The most affecting to me was this short video showing a nonviolent protestor attempting to restrain violence, and getting attacked with a hammer by a masked thug:

    Despite its national image as a haven for crazies, Berkeley is a complicated place, with substantial business and real estate interests right now making big money, and thereby enriching the city’s coffers. Downtown, where the crazies rampaged most violently last night, has seen big development take place, and even bigger development is planned. That is now in jeopardy. Who is going to want to build or stay at the high-rise luxury hotel planned downtown?

    The usual progressive blather from local politicians thinly disguises the money-making at stake with the violent thugs running wild on the streets. I don’t expect the comfortable lefties who own expensive homes and pay big taxes to suddenly have any epiphanies., but I do think the hard leftists, with their violent nastiness, are raising consciousness in ways they don’t intend.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/12/berkeley_rocked_by_a_second_night_of_violence.html


    Berkeley is mostly a drugged up shit hole.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Timothy Leary bronze was untouched, I hope? I thought it a mistake to pose him in the nude, but there you have it. Old guys positioned contrapposto can be jarring.

      Delete
  8. For the year 2014, America's least educated city is ... ... LAKE HAVASU CITY-KINGMAN, ARIZONA ...

    Whether some award, certificate, or trophy accompanies this designation, I do not know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's real close to where the rat hangs out.

      Delete
    2. I would never have guessed.

      Delete
    3. No, Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson, you are wrong, again.
      Kingman is far, far away from my locale.
      Just a little less further than it is from the coast line of Syria to Derna, Libya.

      Delete
    4. Geography is just not Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's forte.

      Delete
  9. Ann Compton on Obama: He Launches 'Profanity-Laced' Tirades Against Press

    By Scott Whitlock | December 8, 2014 | 12:42 PM EST
    Share it

    According to retired ABC News journalist Ann Compton, Barack Obama launches into "profanity-laced" tirades against the press in off-the-record meetings with reporters. In a C-SPAN interview, Compton also derided the President for leading "the most opaque" administration of "any I have covered."

    The journalist, who retired in August after a 40-year career, revealed to C-SPAN's Brian Lamb: "I have seen in the last year Barack Obama really angry twice. Both were off-the-record times. One, profanity-laced where he thought the press was making too much of scandals that he did not think were scandals." [MP3 audio here.]

    She explained, "And I don't find him apologetic. But I find him willing to stand up to the press and look them in the eye, even though it was off the record and just give us hell."

    After Lamb wondered if the President had a point, she chided, "We cover what we are allowed to cover. And when policy decisions and presidents are inaccessible and don't take questions from the press on a regular basis, I think they reap what they sow."

    Despite Obama's apparent rage against the press, he hasn't had much to complain about. The Media Research Center documented how journalists covered-up his failures and scandals..........

    - See more at: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2014/12/08/ann-compton-obama-he-has-profanity-laced-tirades-against-press#sthash.DNbyDAIL.dpuf



    Obama is losing it. He is beginning to attack his friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is he eating the children? That would be a very disturbing sign -- the "Kronus Syndrome". On the other hand, no less disturbing to the victims, the "Bunker Complex" often finds a shooting of the messenger. Playing Nintendo while eating Cheese Doodles from a golden bowl is usually harmless unless the patient is the impotent king of Saudi Arabia, intent on getting nuclear weapons.

      Delete
    2. I'd rather be shot than eaten alive.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son#mediaviewer/File:Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_%281819-1823%29.jpg


      >>>Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. According to the traditional interpretation, it depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus (in the title Romanised to Saturn), who, fearing that he would be overthrown by one of his children,[1] ate each one upon their birth. The work is one of the 14 Black Paintings that Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house sometime between 1819 and 1823. It was transferred to canvas after Goya's death and has since been held in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.<<<




      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son

      I have seen this painting.

      Delete
  10. Hey Quirk, the Christmas decorations are up at The Five.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The "Draft Dodger" is truly losing his mind.
    Presidents have no friends, they have interests.

    Check out how General Dynamics stock value has done, since Barack Obama became President, his interests are doing just fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From $36.29 on 6MAR2008 to $144.96 today.

      With interests like that, President Obama's friends have been well taken care of.

      To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.
      - George Santayana

      Delete
    2. From $36.29 on 6MAR2009 to $144.96 today.

      Mr Obama not being in the Oval Office in 2008.
      Mea Culpa

      Delete
    3. To put the good thing that Mr Obama has done to support his interests ...
      In July of 2014 Forbes reported ...
      Crowns still have $3.8 billion in GD shares, the single biggest source of their fortune

      Now, supposing that the Crowns have not been trading in the stock, since March 2009, but merely maintaining their holdings...On 16 July 2014 GD was trading at $117.51. which means the Crowns held approximately 32.5 million shares of GD stock.

      Mr Obama serves his interests well.

      Delete
    4. To put the good thing that Mr Obama has done to support his interests in the proper perspective

      Delete
    5. 32 million times $36.29 or ...
      32 million times $144.96
      The Crowns have garnered over $3.75 billion dollars during Mr Obama's tenure.

      Whose interests is Mr Obama serving?

      Delete
    6. Why would Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson presume to know who Mr Obama's 'friends' are?

      Delete
    7. His 'friends' I was referencing are the compliant press, up to this point, nitwit.

      "Despite Obama's apparent rage against the press, he hasn't had much to complain about. The Media Research Center documented how journalists covered-up his failures and scandals.......... "

      Read the article Jack 'Ass' Hawkins.

      Delete
  12. As for the tactical wisdom of going directly at "the big enchilada" (Mosul,) even before you're truly ready . . . well, in this case, I could argue it either way without feeling too uneasy.

    From "our" side, it just doesn't much matter - other than a little political embarrassment from a possible temporary setback.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Iraqi are moving along, on schedule.
      The troops that are being trained, takes about 120 to 160 days.

      We've been over this timeline, before.
      Those that demand 'instant gratification', they are mostly "Draft Dodgers".
      Fellas like Robert Peterson and Dick Cheney, cowards that tell us, now, that they had 'better things to do' than their civic duty.

      Delete
    2. One thing's for sure; the Dead Haidcutters Walking had their fun,

      but the country of 25 Million, with $250,000,000.00 Oil Income/Daily, and powerful friends with hundreds of available Aircraft bats last.

      Delete
    3. The Iraqis were supposedly trained before.....

      Delete
  13. The 4% drop in crude oil prices crimped Wall Street, pushing the Standard & Poors 500 Index down 0.7% to 2060 and igniting big losses among already hard-hit energy producers and oil patch stocks. But the latest drop in oil is expected to fuel fresh cuts in gasoline prices in the weeks ahead, saving consumers, shippers and airlines billions. And oil prices have yet to find a bottom.

    "We're in a tailspin,'' says Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service. "The world is facing a possible glut of oil in 2015. Consumers typically paid $470-$480 billion for motor fuel between 2011 to 2013. We're on track for about $449 billion this year and likely to pay $75 to $100 billion less next year."

    Gasoline prices, now averaging $2.67 a gallon nationwide - vs $3.26 a year ago - are likely to fall to about $2.50 before year's end, Kloza says.

    West Texas Intermediate crude - the benchmark for U.S. oil prices - ended at $63.04 a barrel, down 4.3% and its lowest close since July 2009. Brent crude - which reflects the broader, global market - sank 4% to $66.22, its lowest since September 2009. Since peaking at about $107 a barrel in June, West Texas crude has now dropped over 40%.

    "It's just the path of least resistance right now,'' says Tamar Essner, lead energy analyst for NASDAQ. "Until the market senses that (investors) don't need to be long crude, it's going to go lower."

    Monday's plunge was nowhere near last month's Black Friday selloff, when oil prices sank 10% after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) couldn't agree on production cuts. But the the damage was widespread, roiled by investment bank Morgan Stanley, which said in a new report that without OPEC cuts and U.S. production surging, Brent crude could fall to as low as $43 a barrel in the second quarter of 2015, a 35% drop from current levels.

    Separately, ConocoPhillips, the world's fifth-largest refiner, announced plans to slash capital spending by about 20% and reduce spending on development energy drilling by 23%. Meanwhile, China, the world's second biggest economy, said November exports grew at a lower-than-expected 4.7%, while No. 3 Japan said its economy shrank at a larger-than-expected 1.9%.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Haaretz

    Does Netanyahu belong to the same club as Putin, Erdogan and Sissi?

    Benjamin Netanyahu likes to be seen as the leader of a democratic state, but in some of his actions and attitudes he resembles those other political strongmen

    Birds of a feather, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Israeli 'democracy' is a False Flag, one flown by an Apartheid police state.
      One that denies basic citizenship rights to almost half of its residents.
      Five million people are held without political or legal rights in ISrael.

      APARTHEID AND OCCUPATION
      More than 5 million Palestinians are denied equal rights by the state of Israel under a system of apartheid, a deliberate policy of racial or ethnic segregation.

      Under Israeli military occupation, millions of Palestinians live in conditions which closely resemble the apartheid system that existed in South Africa:
      • No right of free speech, assembly or movement
      • Arrest and imprisonment without charge or trial
      • Torture
      • House searches without warrant
      • Assassination, extra-judicial murder
      • No right to vote for the Israeli government (even though it controls their lives)
      Israel controls all Palestinian borders, all imports and exports, and all movement between towns and cities. 
      THE GAZA STRIP, still surrounded, besieged and controlled by Israel, has been sealed off and effectively turned into the world’s largest open-air prison.

      WHAT IS ISRAELI APARTHEID?
              Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter was the first prominent figure in this country to apply the term apartheid to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories—East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank. Israel’s apartheid system, however, also affects Palestinian Arabs who make up 20 percent of the population within Israel itself.
      Apartheid is a central feature of the Zionist state that proclaims it is exclusively for Jews.


      http://www.seamac.org/EqualRights.htm

      Delete
  15. .

    The only locale where the Rat Doctrine was tried, in Syria, it was a smashing success.
    Daesh still does not control Kobane, does it?

    It is the 'carpet bombing' campaign in the other parts of Syria that has failed.



    Don't you get it, Bob? If an operation is a success it is an example of the 'rat doctrine'. Where it falls short it is an example of 'carpet bombing'.

    :o)

    Typical rat.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Different words have different meanings, Quirk.

      That's so we don't confuse concepts such as "carpet bombing," and "Targeted Bombing."

      It's important for "critical thimkers" to understand this.

      Delete
    2. Not at all, Legionnaire Q.

      The locales where the coalition air power was used in Clos Air Support it has been a success.
      Th only place and time that has been tried, in Syria, is at Kobane.
      It has been a smashing success, there.

      No where else in Syria is the coalition acting in suport of local ground forces.
      Now, perhaps I am wrong about that. If so, tell us where else in Syria there are ground forces being backed by Close Air Support provided by the Colition.

      Enlighten us with better data sets, Legionnaire Q.

      Delete
    3. I do not think you can, but I was wrong, once.
      Back when I thought you were smarter than Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

      Delete
    4. It should be easy enough for Legionnaire Q to find where the US and its Coalition partners are supporting ground forces fighting Daesh, in Syria, away from Kobane.

      And losing the fight, that is the other particular.
      "Draft Dodger" was bemoaning the failure of the air supremacy doctrine he was touting, strategic or 'Carpet Bombing".
      It won't work in Syria, never was going to. Where the US and the Coalition has followed Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's doctrine, the results have sucked, as his cut and paste indicated.

      But where the Coalition is not providing Close Air Support, to local forces, it is following the "Draft Dodger" Doctrine and it has come up a crapper, Robert is correct about that.

      Delete
    5. .

      Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large aerial bombing done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land.[1][2][3][4] The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in the same way that a carpet covers a floor. Carpet bombing is usually achieved by dropping many unguided bombs. In contrast to precision bombing, it is not aimed at a small target[3] such as a bunker, an airfield, or a military unit. One of its uses is the aerial bombing of cities.[1]

      All of the bombing done by the US in Iraq and Syria has been precision bombing. There has been no carpet bombing. It doesn't take a 'critical thinker' to know that. Although evidently it would help.

      As for Kobane, since there is continued fighting there on a daily basis (after four months) it appears a little early to declare victory. However this is in line with the rat's statement months ago that IS had been stopped and was unable to continue offensive actions.

      Merely my observations, gentlemen.

      .

      Delete
    6. I don't think Rat said that ISIS would not "be able to continue offensive actions," only that they would, over time, get their asses handed to them - and, they have.

      Delete
    7. Strategic Bombing vs Close Air Support, Legionnaire Q.

      That is the terminology.
      Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson used 'Carpet Bombing' as an euphemism for Strategic Bombing, or he is even more ignorant than was previously indicated.

      Strategic Bombing and Close Air Support both use precision, now that the US has JDAMS, but the tactical similarities end there.

      The Rat Doctrine is using close air support in conjunction with local forces.
      Where, other than Kobane, has that been done in Syria?

      Delete
    8. The idea of Carpet Bombing in Syria, that was Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's plan.
      That is the strategic bombing now being done across the Daesh occupied areas of Syria.
      It is not providing the results that the American Stinker and Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson had foreseen, or had hoped for. Now they will soon be advocating for a US invasion of both Iraq and Syria.

      Delete
  16. 30% of the uninsured obtained coverage through Obamacare this year. Once you allow for the approx. 35% that are illegal aliens, and the 10 to 15% that would have qualified for expanded Medicaid, had their states taken the free money, and you can see that well over half of the people eligible for Obamacare have signed up.

    And, this year's enrollments are going very smoothly, with an even higher level of acceptance.

    Not Bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Especially considering we've had the lowest level of healthcare cost increases is 50 years.

      Delete
  17. Guess the Legionnaire Q just does not understand the difference between Close Air Support and strategic or carpet bombing

    The only similarity, the bombs fall from the airplanes in the sky.
    Tactically, that is about all that is the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      It is obvious you either do not know what carpet bombing is or that you think the US is actually indulging in 'carpet bombing' in the other parts of Syria outside of Kobane.

      It is the 'carpet bombing' campaign in the other parts of Syria that has failed.

      .

      Delete
    2. Notice the the little ' marks, Legionnaire Q?

      As mentioned earlier, the term Carpet bombing was Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's.
      I assumed it was a euphemism for Strategic Bombing, if it was not, mea culpa.

      But, one more time, where has the Coalition flown Close Air Support for local ground forces, in Syria, but in the Battle of Kobane?

      If there were no local ground forces, if the aircraft were not being used in Close Air Support of those local ground forces, it was not the Rat Doctrine being utilized.

      Delete
  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Stories happen in the mind of a reader, not among symbols printed on a page.”
      ― Brandon Mull

      Legionnaire Q does not use quotes, Rufus.
      He does not substantiate the facts, he goes with his feelings.

      He battles "Strawmen" and feels vindicated.

      Delete
    2. He battles "Strawmen" that he constructs himself and feels vindicated.

      Delete
    3. I've said from the start that the Daesh are, basically, a gang of head-cutting psychopaths that had no chance, whatsoever, once we took on the role of close air support. Dead Men Walking, as it were.

      I've said from the start that the cool thing, as far as we were concerned, was that we were up against No Time Constraints. We could bomb'em as we see'em, and if it takes a year or more, so be it.

      Delete
    4. There was never any doubt that the daesh would remain an effective force "for awhile," but one with absolutely Zero chance in the long run.

      Delete
    5. Exactly, the Kurds that are a part of the Iraqi security forces ...
      No longer seem to be on the edge of defeat. Far from it.

      The Iraqi Security Forces are now doing battle against the Daesh, in Syria, in Kobane.

      The Iraqi Security Forces, the Army, the Militias, are no longer running for the exits.
      They held their ground, the Daesh are now on defense in most parts of Iraq.

      The discussion, when will the Iraqi Security Forces go on a major offensive.

      But, to repeat the question, one more time ...

      Where in Syria is the Coalition providing Close Air Support to local ground forces but in the Battle of Kobane?

      Delete
    6. Because Close Air Support provided by the US and its Coalition partners, to local ground forcs is the essence of the Rat Doctrine.
      So, if the case is put forward that the Rat Doctrine has failed in Syria, as Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson put forward ...
      The question is where?

      Delete
    7. Derna. Libya ... a minor coastal city that is not near any seaport in Syria.

      Delete
  19. .

    But, one more time, where has the Coalition flown Close Air Support for local ground forces, in Syria, but in the Battle of Kobane?

    Who gives a shit, general?

    It was you who set the standard.

    That is the terminology.

    There is no carpet bombing going on in Syria by the US or its coalition. There is hardly any bombing going on there at all. What there is is precision bombing taking out specific target.

    The idea of Carpet Bombing in Syria, that was Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson's plan.
    That is the strategic bombing now being done across the Daesh occupied areas of Syria.


    Nonsense, all the bombing being done in Syria is precision bombing. THERE IS NO CARPET BOMBING BEING DONE BY THE US IN SYRIA. Your obsession with the term reminds one of your obsession about equating all homicide with murder.

    It is not providing the results that the American Stinker and Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson had foreseen, or had hoped for. Now they will soon be advocating for a US invasion of both Iraq and Syria.

    Bob, was the only reason you brought up the term 'carpet bombing'. It was to get a dig at him. You used the term incorrectly and now you continue to try to dig your way out of it.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're just mad because your team is losing.

      Delete
    2. .

      Derna. Libya ... a minor coastal city that is not near any seaport in Syria.

      Again, who gives a shit? My comment that started that started this off was 'typical rat'. This too is typical rat. If you are losing an argument, change the subject.

      Bob, admitted he made a mistake weeks ago. Despite that, it goes into the rat rolodex for the next time the rat makes a fool of himself and needs to change the subject.

      .

      Delete
    3. Of course the only reason I use the term "Carpet Bombing" is because Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson used it as a euphemism for Strategic Bombing.
      He was the one that wrote the Rat Doctrine had failed in Syria, when, if there has been a failure, it has been with the Strategic bombing campaign. Not with anything that resembles the Rat Doctrine

      And you are right, again, Legionnaire Q.
      It was you who set the standard.
      Quite correct. The Rat Doctrine is the standard, and I set it.

      Close Air Support of Local Ground Forces.

      Not 'Carpet Bombing'. Not strategic bombing of 'Targets of Opportunity'.

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    4. .

      You're just mad because your team is losing.

      My team?

      Spell it out, asshole. Who is my team?

      .

      Delete
    5. Where in Syria has the use of Coalition Close Air Support in support of local ground forces failed?

      Certainly not in Kobane

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    6. Where else, Legionnaire Q, has it even been tried, in Syria?

      Delete
    7. "Your" team, asshole, is any team that isn't quarterbacked by a guy named Obama.

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    8. My team?

      Spell it out, asshole. Who is my team?


      The Legion that has dedicated itself to the Responsibility to Protect Robert "Draft Dodger" Peterson.

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    9. Which is why Legionnaire Q's blood pressure is spiking, right about now.
      He has allied himself with a loser

      Delete
    10. But he feels so good about being wrong.

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    11. Big Time.

      Quirk hasn't exactly knocked the cover off the ball this year.

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    12. .

      "Your" team, asshole, is any team that isn't quarterbacked by a guy named Obama.

      :o)

      I should have known. It must have taken extraordinary restraint to have left out the 'a black guy' like Obama.

      .

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    13. Not much talk, or many inches of press being dedicated to an Independent Kurdistan is there?

      That storyline went no where.
      The Kurds of Iraq, they are still Iraqis.
      The Peshmerga still an integral part of the Iraqi Security Forces.

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    14. .

      I haven't knocked the cover off the ball? Explain to me again how you and 'team Obama' are doing so great this year.

      .

      Delete
    15. It looks to me like Obama's had a damned good year. The Dow is a tick away from 18,000, Unemployment continues to fall, The Deficit is plummeting, and GDP is doing nicely.

      Obamacare has been a rousing success, and his strategy in Iraq is looking better, and better, while the economy is going to be within a whisker of creating 3 Million Jobs.

      Pretty damned good year in anyone's book, I'd say.

      Delete
  20. Now Legionnaire Q is playing the Race Card while trying to tell us it was Rufus that played it, first.

    Let's get Legionnaire Q back to the Rat Doctrine and where, when and how it has failed, in Syria.
    Where in Syria, other than Kobane, where the Rat Doctrine has been a smashing success it has been tried and has failed?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Legionnaire Q cannot quote a quote, he has to read between the lines and get a feeling which, for many folks are more important than truth, facts or quotations.

      Legionnaire Q is back to battling "Strawmen" of his own construction, to get a feeling of vindication from a discussion were he has struck out, if we are using baseball terminologies.

      Delete
    2. from a discussion where he has struck out, if we are using baseball terminologies.

      Delete
    3. "restraint" was what it took for me to not go find that little ditty, and post it. :)

      Delete
    4. .

      Let's get Legionnaire Q back to the Rat Doctrine and where, when and how it has failed, in Syria.
      Where in Syria, other than Kobane, where the Rat Doctrine has been a smashing success it has been tried and has failed?


      Still, rat?

      Let's go back to the quote fellas since it was only just upstream.

      QuirkMon Dec 08, 07:40:00 PM EST

      .

      Rat: The only locale where the Rat Doctrine was tried, in Syria, it was a smashing success.
      Daesh still does not control Kobane, does it?

      It is the 'carpet bombing' campaign in the other parts of Syria that has failed.



      Quirk: Don't you get it, Bob? If an operation is a success it is an example of the 'rat doctrine'. Where it falls short it is an example of 'carpet bombing'.

      :o)

      Typical rat.


      .


      You will note that I didn't say the close air support in Kobane wasn't successful in helping halt the IS advance into Kobane.

      What I was laughing at was the rat's use of the term 'carpet bombing' in describing the precision bombing being carried out in the rest of Syria and his conclusion that the bombing had 'failed' as if any single tactic would be successful in achieving Obama's goal of degrading and destroying IS in Iraq/Syria. While the precision bombing may be insufficient to meet the overall goal set by Obama in taking down IS, any 'single' tactic would be.

      As to the rat's characterization of the Kobane operation as a 'smashing success' I have to smile at the hyperbole. I can only assume the rat has grown comfortable with the concept of the 'long war'. While the IS push into Kobane has been blunted, as far as I know, after four months the dead men walking are still walking in parts of Kobane and the situation remains fluid. IMO, had the US acted earlier and with more vigor we might really have had what could have been described as a 'smashing success' in Kobane. Now, not so much.

      Hell, in a month or so the Battle of Kobane will have lasted as long as the Battle of Stalingrad.

      The hyperbole you boys throw around is laughable.

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    5. .

      Legionnaire Q cannot quote a quote, he has to read between the lines and get a feeling which, for many folks are more important than truth, facts or quotations.

      As to the quote the rat demands,

      Farmer RobMon Aug 11, 02:22:00 PM EDT
      Quirk is seeing the problem exactly reversed from reality.

      Those that now have a "front" to defend, are not the Kurds, but the ISIS combatants.
      They are now in a completely new phase of the conflict. Not on offense, but on defense, defending the Caliphate...


      Their continued assault on Kobane is enough to put the lie to rat's comment. The numerous towns and villages they have attacked (and continue to attack) in Iraq since September provide more examples.

      How are you feeeeeling Rufus?

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