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."

Wednesday, May 09, 2018

The chickens come home to roost on Obama's disregard for the US Constitution

Pollak: In Leaving Iran Deal, Trump Ends Obama’s Legacy of Appeasement

Carsten Koall/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. is leaving the Iran deal marks the end of what his predecessor, Barack Obama, considered his main foreign policy legacy.

Trump will earn credit from his supporters for keeping his promise. But in truth, the Iran deal was undone by its own terms. It did not stop Iran from enriching uranium; it did not stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon, eventually; and it did not stop Iran’s global aggression.

In fact, the Iran deal was not even a deal at all.

It was never signed by any of the parties (the U.S., Iran, France, the UK, Germany, China, and Russia). It was unclear about crucial subjects like ballistic missiles, because the “deal” was described differently by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and by the UN Security Council Resolutions that were meant to implement it. And, crucially, it was never sent to the U.S. Senate for ratification.
Obama’s disregard for the Treaty Clause of the U.S. Constitution was of a piece with his general disregard for the constitutional constraints on the power of the federal government and the presidency. His refusal to submit the agreement to Senate scrutiny, and his party’s abuse of the filibuster to prevent even a weak Senate vote, deepened the damage that Obamacare — his other struggling “legacy,” in domestic policy — did to American civic culture.

More than Obama’s autocratic style, what Trump ended is Obama’s legacy of appeasement.

Barack Obama came to power convinced that the United States was at best a negative force in world affairs, and at worst the cause of the world’s problems. He believed that America could be a force for good, but only if it renounced its traditional allies, abandoned its principles of freedom, and gave up its national interests in favor of rising regional powers elsewhere.

In his first year in office, Obama backed away from agreements that his predecessor had made to provide missile defense in Europe. He also reached out to the Muslim world, beginning with obsequious speeches in Cairo and in Ankara, and deep genuflection to the Saudi king. When the Green Revolution took to the streets of Iran, Obama allowed the regime to consolidate power. He criticized Israel openly while cozying up to the Cuban dictatorship.

Trump has reversed most of that. He launched attacks on Syria for using chemical weapons — policing the “red line” Obama drew but would not enforce. He withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords and exposed it as a fraud. Later this week, he will move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

“The United States no longer issues empty threats. When I make promises, I keep them,” he said. Thus ended Obama’s experiment with appeasement and autocracy.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

80 comments:

  1. Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday was just the latest example of his efforts to undo his predecessor Barack Obama’s legacy, as he promised on the campaign trail:

    1. Trans-Pacific Partnership

    2. Paris Climate Accord

    3. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

    4. Obamacare individual mandate

    5. Absurd Environmental Regulations

    6. Obama' appeasement tours

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      5. Absurd Environmental Regulations

      Right, buck up. Who the hell needs clean air and water? Especially, when it cuts down on profits for Trump's real constituency.

      .

      Delete
    2. Who in hell needs the EPA approval to build a small earthen dam on my own seasonal creek, which is good for wildlife AND helps with erosion control ?

      Delete
  2. Obama took the American out of Afro-American.

    ReplyDelete
  3. resident Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday was just the latest example of his efforts to undo his predecessor Barack Obama’s legacy, as he promised on the campaign trail.

    ...

    Trans-Pacific Partnership

    Trump hit the ground running to undo Obama’s work, signing an executive order a few days after his inauguration to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation deal that Obama negotiated to slash tariffs for American imports and exports with the participating countries.

    ...

    Paris Climate Accord

    Trump last June withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, which provided a framework for countries to phase out fossil fuels and adopt clean energy practices, and was the cornerstone of Obama’s environmental legacy.

    ...

    Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

    Trump last September ended Obama's landmark immigration policy, DACA, which allowed undocumented immigrants who were brought into the U.S. under the age of 16 to apply for protection from deportation and obtain renewable two-year work permits. The program protected nearly 800,000 young immigrants from deportation in the five years before Trump repealed it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Iran Deal was absurd. A little passage of time, and they are good to go to do anything.

    I think of Thelma and Louise heading over the cliff, and WE are Thelma and Louise.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      I think of you more as Wily Coyote.

      .

      Delete
    2. I think of you as Thelma, the dimwit of the duo.

      Delete
  5. Is Iran Preparing To Attack Israel?

    ALLAHPUNDITPosted at 4:31 pm on May 8, 2018


    The timing is no coincidence, I’m sure, but Trump tearing up the nuclear deal (probably) isn’t the proximate cause. Last month Israel announced that it had shot down an Iranian drone in February that was launched from Syria. On April 9, the T-4 airbase near Homs in Syria was destroyed in an attack blamed on Israel, allegedly to take out air defense systems that threatened IAF patrols over Syria and Lebanon. Then, 10 days ago, a mysterious missile attack attributed to Israel destroyed a munitions site in Syria said to have been operated by Iran, killing 16 people. Yesterday Israel’s energy minister warned Assad that if Iran continued to threaten Israel from his home base, Israel would “eliminate” him.

    Literally as I’m writing this, news is breaking that Israel has hit Syria again, this time with a strike on a military base near Damascus. In this case the strike may have been preemptive: Reports have been swirling all afternoon that Iran is about to act.

    [Israel’s] military instructed local governments on Tuesday to open bomb shelters to residents of the Golan Heights following the identification of “abnormal movements of Iranian forces in Syria.”

    The army also said it raised preparedness of “troops for an attack” and deployed air defenses in the north of the country…

    On Sunday, it became known that the IDF had uncovered involvement by Hezbollah commanders, under the command of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force Commander Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in a planned attack on IDF military positions using precision-guided missiles or armed drones launched from a base in Syria…

    It is thought that Israel’s electronic systems may also be targeted. That threat was identified by the IDF Home Front Command, which recently instructed civilians to have on hand portable radios with spare batteries, bottled water and electrical chargers.

    It’s not just Israel that suspects something’s up:


    Liz Sly

    @LizSly
    CNN’s @barbarastarrcnn reports that Pentagon officials say they are seeing signs that Iran is preparing to strike Israel, perhaps from Syria.

    11:50 AM - May 8, 2018

    Israel’s been expecting a reprisal attack from Iran because of the strike on the T-4 base last month. But it may be that Iran held off, fearing that hitting back before Trump formally announced his decision on the nuclear deal would either convince him to tear it up or, more likely, would be cited by the White House as a pretext for tearing it up when they had already secretly resolved to do so. Now that Trump has pulled the plug on the agreement, Tehran is free to respond to Israel’s bombings. Or possibly more than free: With Trump having just dealt them a blow by reinstating sanctions, the mullahs will want to flex some muscle and take a defiant swing at a national enemy and U.S. ally. That’ll encourage national unity at a perilous moment, with the economic fallout from Trump’s move unpredictable.

    Israel’s chief of staff was supposed to attend a security conference today but has canceled due to the likelihood of an attack and is meeting with the country’s defense minister this evening. Stand by for updates.

    Update: Noah Rothman flags this NBC report from a week ago:

    In the past two weeks Iran has increased military cargo flights to Syria, stocked with additional weapons and supplies like small arms, ammunition and surface-to-air missiles that two U.S. officials believe are meant both to shore up Iranian ground forces and to strike at Israel. For years the U.S. has tracked arms shipments from Iran to Hezbollah fighters in Syria supporting the Assad regime, but recently Iran has been supplying Hezbollah with more material and logistical support…

    “The Iranian forces … or the proxy forces have tried to get down closer to the Israeli border, I mean very close to it, and you’ve seen Israel take action over that,” Mattis said.

    https://hotair.com/archives/2018/05/08/iran-preparing-attack-israel/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Quirk, if you haven't already done so, I suggest you take all the money you have stashed in Iran out of there NOW.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (quirk has assets stashed around in some really odd places)

      Delete
  7. May 9, 2018

    Was Plato a Trump-Supporter?

    By Jeffrey Folks

    As far back as 360 B.C., thoughtful individuals recognized that career politicians are bad news. In Book VII of the Republic, Plato wrote that ordinary citizens, accomplished in areas other than politics, make the best leaders. These wise individuals are those who "have other honours and another and a better life than that of politics" (The Portable Plato, ed. Scott Buchanan, New York, 1948, p. 555).

    Plato was talking about Donald Trump, not Nancy Pelosi (or Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and the entire gang of lifetime politicians). The quality that President Trump possesses, and that so many in D.C. lack, is real-world experience of practical matters. From this experience, he has derived insight and wisdom.


    As Plato recognized, an entrenched ruling class is the greatest danger to the state. This danger is apparent in both parties but more so among Democrats. In the Senate, the longest serving member is Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), "serving" since 1975. There are plenty of GOP dinosaurs as well, in the Senate and the House, but among the House leadership, Nancy Pelosi has served the longest (31 years), while Chuck Schumer has been hanging around the House and Senate for 37 years.

    That's pretty remarkable, since Schumer was born in 1950. Schumer went straight from law school to elected office, having now held office at the state and federal levels for a total of 44 years – his entire "working" life.

    It's not just that professional politicians have no experience in the private sector – they hate the private sector because it is at odds with their interests. Pelosi's disregard for markets is obvious in her absurd comment about creating "an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance." For most people, reality is all about "keeping their day job," not about the liberal fantasy of a society in which everyone can be an artist on the government dole. Pelosi seems to have no comprehension of the fact that it is the day jobs that fund our economy.

    If she is ill informed and dismissive of the private sector, it may be because Pelosi, so far as I can tell, has never worked outside government. Since her graduation from college in 1962, she seems to have been fixated on politics.

    Plato's definition of the ideal leader centered on the idea of excellence in areas outside politics, but it went farther. Future rulers should be educated in "useful" arts such as mathematics, he wrote (Portable Plato, p. 557ff) – a subject Donald Trump would certainly have studied at the Wharton School. As Plato went on to explain, "those who have a natural talent for calculation are generally quick at every other kind of knowledge" (Portable Plato, p. 563). The ultimate goal of education is to arrive at the "perfection of knowledge" – a form of abstract reasoning that Plato called "dialectic." The dialectician is "one who attains a conception of the essence of each thing" (574).

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    1. Once could say President Trump's gift for cutting through the "fake news" and arriving at the essential truth, as he did in his conception of his opponent as "crooked Hillary," is just what Plato meant by dialectics. During the presidential primaries, Trump stood head over heels above the other candidates because he was a dialectician among politicians. He seemed more "real" because he was. His opponents were speaking the false language of politics, while he was speaking the truth straight to the American people, just as he is doing today.

      Plato added one more qualification for political office: no one should enter politics until after reaching the age of 50. "Then let those ... who have distinguished themselves in every action of their lives and in every branch of knowledge come at last to their consummation" (583) – a role in ruling the State.

      Donald Trump went to the heart of the matter with his slogan "Make America Great Again." It is the swamp-dwellers who have sapped America's greatness over the past hundred years. Without the political corruption of the ruling elite, America would be vastly richer, more powerful, more prosperous, and more secure. That is the president's crucial insight, and it is the insight of what Plato called a "philosopher" and a "dialectician." It is the product of the highest order of knowledge. By comparison, Hillary's slogan of "Forward" was pathetic.

      In the 2018 midterms, once again, it's Democrats who are running as professional politicians. Florida's Senate race features the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson. Born in 1942, Nelson has served continuously in public office since 1972. Other than two years practicing law (one of them as a legislative assistant), Nelson has spent his entire working life in public office. His likely opponent is Rick Scott, the popular two-term governor.

      Unlike Nelson, Scott excelled in the Navy; became a partner at a prominent law firm; and co-founded a major medical company at age 34, which, after merging with Hospital Corporation of America, became the largest private medical company in America. After resigning as CEO of HCA, Scott founded several other health care companies, became co-owner of the Texas Rangers, then ran for political office for the first time in 2010 at age 57. He is, in other words, the epitome of what Plato described as the accomplished man of business who turns his attention to politics out of a sense of duty, and only in his later years.

      Gov. Scott is not the only GOP candidate who meets Plato's standard. A leading candidate in the Arizona Senate race is Rep. Martha McSally, who retired in 2010 as a colonel after 26 years in the Air Force. McSally entered public office for the first time in 2014, at age 52. In Missouri, Dem incumbent Claire McCaskill will likely face Josh Hawley, a longtime attorney and professor of law who first gained political office in 2017. In Tennessee, the GOP candidate will probably be Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who first entered political office at age 48 after a long and successful career in business.

      Delete
    2. The list of accomplished conservative candidates in U.S. House and statewide races would be even more impressive. Meanwhile, the list of liberal political hacks is depressingly long.

      The solution is for voters in 2018 is to focus on the election of accomplished GOP anti-politicians. More Donald Trumps, fewer Hillarys. More Rick Scotts, fewer Bill Nelsons. And it would not hurt for voters to rid Congress of its leading GOP benchwarmers as well.

      Plato was right in his advice. Our leaders must have broad experience outside government, must seek office out of a sense of duty and not for gain, and must be wise beyond the cunning of mere politicians. Schumer and Pelosi are the personification of everything Plato despised, and nearly every liberal in Congress fits their mold.

      President Trump is the epitome of the mature man of business that Plato so admired. A similar standard of service and practical experience can be found in many conservatives running for office in 2018. Were he around today, some 23 centuries after his death, Plato would recognize the value of President Trump – and he would see the liberal hacks in D.C. for what they are. Based on what he wrote in the Republic, he would be an enthusiastic Trump-supporter, delighted to see an American president bring "a better life than that of politics" to Washington.

      Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).



      https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/05/was_plato_a_trumpsupporter.html#ixzz5Ezk3bDWC

      Delete
    3. No, Plato would not have been a Trump supporter.

      Plato was a totalitarian who wanted an educated elite to run things enforced by a well armed and well trained goon squad, thus allowing the truly favored time to sit on their arses and meditate about the good, the true and the beautiful, a behavior well out of reach of the commonality of mankind.

      Aristotle makes a much better template. He had the good sense to understand the best thing for any country was a robust middle class.

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

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Remove

      AshWed May 09, 07:01:00 AM EDT

      too, Ash.

      Clean up your act !

      Delete
  9. Like I said "Deuce's lips are firmly attached to Trump's ass." Even to the point where he reversed his years of criticism of Netanyahu and Israeli policy. Deuce has no sense of his own hypocrisy - he is simply Trump's poodle.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Trump just got the three captive Americans held by the Norks their freedom.

      They are on the plane with Pompeo, coming home.

      Delete
    2. I bet they and their families are happy.

      Delete
    3. Here's the Drudge headline, Ash -


      NKOREA RELEASES AMERICAN PRISONERS

      Delete
  10. May 9, 2018

    Venezuela: Always a bad sign when your military deserts

    By Monica Showalter

    One of the most vivid lectures I remember from studying the Russian Revolution during my junior year abroad at St. Antony's College, at Oxford, was the one on what sealed the tsar of Russia's fate. My superb tutor and lecturer, Dr. Harold Shukman, said it was the scene in St. Petersburg, where the rather insufficiently studied photos of the era showed thousands of troops, thousands, hanging around, idle, doing nothing. They were deserters, and their choice to walk away showed the extent of just how far the tsar was gone as a force of government. This scene became the tinder and backdrop of the October Revolution of 1917.

    More than a century later, half a world away in the tropics, and this time under a Soviet-derived socialism, a similar picture is occuring, in Venezuela. According to Bloomberg:


    Military officers are joining the exodus of Venezuelans to Colombia and Brazil, fleeing barracks and forcing President Nicolas Maduro’s government to call upon retirees and militia to fill the void.

    High desertion rates at bases in Caracas and the countryside are complicating security plans for the presidential election in 13 days, which by law require military custody of electoral materials and machinery at voting centers.

    “The number is unknown because it used to be published in the Official Gazette. Now, it is not,” said Rocio San Miguel, director of Control Ciudadano, a military watchdog group in Caracas. She said soldiers are fleeing for the same reason citizens are: “Wages are low, the quality of food and clothing isn’t good.”

    Seems that 18,000% inflation rate reported a few days ago (another study has it at 13,779%) is having an effect on soldiers' pay, the money is effectively worthless, and hungry soldiers are not happy soldiers. Bloomberg reports that many, rather than revolting, are just fleeing abroad.

    The same has also been reported of Venezuela's oil workers, who aren't being paid in any currency of value. Oil is the source of 90% of Venezuela's export earnings and probably 100% of the government's financing. The government, of course, is in default. It has attempted to fix that by replacing its oil workers with ... soldiers

    Obviously that hasn't worked.

    And yet the regime still clings to power, despite this obvious catastrophe. When the money is worth nothing, utterly nothing, let's put it this way, other regimes have not held on. Why would anyone still stay? Perhaps because they are not being paid in the local toilet paper money. If so, it would mean they are being paid in dollars and the only thing that could bring that is the drug trade. Perhaps the narcowar is the final frontier in the dislodging of this regime. But I suspect there aren't that many narcodollars to keep the entire economy afloat.

    I know we have been calling the end of the Venezuelan regime many times over, and it hasn't happened. But the desertion of an army over hyperinflation doesn't seem to have precedent for success. Regimes that ruin their money (think Serbia, Zimbabwe, Weimar Germany, Allende Chile) eventually get dislodged, it never happens that they recover on their own. What follows from it is the next matter. A regime can't last if it ruins its money.



    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/venezuela_always_a_bad_sign_when_your_military_deserts.html#ixzz5F0d7rNa9

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stock market yawns as Trump trashes Iran Deal - 5/9/18
    Trump haters had hoped that the financial markets would rebuke President Trump for killing the Ian deal. No such luck. More


    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/05/stock_market_yawns_as_trump_trashes_iran_deal.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      Who in hell needs the EPA approval to build a small earthen dam on my own seasonal creek, which is good for wildlife AND helps with erosion control ?

      Surprisingly, I wasn't thinking of your piddly-ass concerns when I made my comment and I suspect you are talking to an audience of one, possibly two if you count Wayne. But even Wayne is likely busy with more important things.

      I remember Wayne once saying (after a couple of tumblers of Manischewitz red)...

      "I don't know much about vampires but I do know about the different kinds of wolves. I've hunted them all my life in all their forms. I remember the time I shot an eventually tracked down a werewolf, a shape shifter and a particularly nasty form of the beasties. Unfortunately, by the time I caught up to him he was dead and had already changed his form back into that of the neighbors dog."

      .

      Delete
    2. I'm glad you've gotten to know Wayne, and are now on a first name basis with the fine man.

      Hang around Wayne and you'll finally learn what work is about.

      It ain't advertising, I'll tell ya that !

      Delete
  13. .

    The Hill...

    President Trump early Wednesday suggested taking away news networks' press credentials over "negative" coverage.

    "The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake)," Trump wrote on Twitter.

    "Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?"


    :o)

    What a slug.

    .

    .

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    ReplyDelete
  15. .

    Gina Haspel, who has been criticized for using torture during her career at the CIA, and for involvement in destroying records of such torture, promises to play nice in the future.

    Gina Haspel, another of Trump's bizarre nominee choices, says she wouldn't restart 'enhanced' interrogation program.

    The CIA released excerpts of the opening remarks Gina Haspel will make at her confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate intelligence committee. Haspel's fate hinges on how well she fields tough questions from senators who want details of her time running a covert detention site where terror suspects were brutally interrogated and seek an explanation for why she wanted videos of the sessions destroyed.

    Ms. Haspel, who bears a strong resemblance to Rosa Klebb, arch villainess in the James Bond film From Russia with Love says...

    "I understand that what many people around the country want to know about me are my views on CIA's former detention and interrogation program," Haspel says in the excerpts. "Having served in that tumultuous time, I can offer you my personal commitment, clearly and without reservation, that under my leadership, CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program."

    Will this help her confirmation? Who knows?

    Will it help her with Trump? Unlikely, as he has said he loves torture and wants more and better forms of it.

    What a slug.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Ms. Haspel, who bears a strong resemblance to Rosa Klebb, arch villainess


      What a low blow.

      And she's out there on the front lines keeping your silly ass safe.

      Why, I don't know.

      You're blessed to have such fine women out in front for you.

      Delete
    2. (she reminded me a little of Nurse Rached)

      Delete
  16. You don't want to admit it, Quirk, but The Donald is getting some good stuff done.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. .

      True. I don't especially want to given my overall disgust at the man; however, I do.

      I have.

      Getting those three guys out of NK is a great deal. If he gets a deal with NK that is meaningful that will be a huge achievement. Unfortunately, I suspect any deal he gets and brags about will the same or less than the deal he just quit with Iran.

      Any thing the man does that promotes peace is more than offset by his beating the drums for war.

      .
      When I look at Trump in total he just comes up wanting.

      .

      Delete
    2. What was so great about the Iran deal?

      Delete
    3. They had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons and allowed inspectors in to confirm. Do you think Trump will be able to negotiate something like that with the NORK's especially now that he reneged on an agreement already in place?

      Delete
    4. What is the benefit the US gains by reneging on the agreement Doug?

      Delete
    5. Come on Doug, think, give us an answer.

      Delete
    6. Cat got yoyr tongue Doug?



      Naw, you are just acting true to form - nothing but pithy comments a from you with no sign of thought or intelligence. I presume you think it is a good thing that Boeing can't sell planes to the Iranians allowing the Russians to get the gig?

      All this so your Hero, Your idol, Trump, gets to do something.

      Delete
    7. They had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons

      Well no, not really Ash. For a period of years, is all. After that, free to waltz away.

      It must be your reading comprehension.

      Also, the 'inspection' agreement was a farce. Military bases off limits, for instance. Two week I think it was notice on the other sites.

      Only a fellow suffering from brain fog due to leaky gut would take it seriously.

      Delete
    8. Oh,Oh,look the b00bie is chiming in. Tell us b00bie, one, just one benefit, for the US in reneging on the Iran deal.

      Delete
  17. Gut Check:

    Sorry, off topic, but this video perfectly capture my intelligent authoritative look:

    http://thenewgutfix.com/?n=db

    (Be sure to watch the whole thing and tell me how long it is.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I always knew your brain fog was caused by leaky gut.

      I think Quirk and Ash have the same problem but much much more dramatic.

      Those two have no possibility of cure.

      It had been going on forever when I turned it off so I don't know how long it was except it went on forever.

      Delete
    2. I also know "it's not your fault".

      Delete
    3. I didn't mean to imply you have brain fog, Doug.

      You don't.

      Don't even have leaky gut either, far as I know.

      Delete


  18. AshWed May 09, 05:59:00 PM EDT
    They had agreed not to develop nuclear weapons and allowed inspectors in to confirm


    WEll, not really like forever, Ash,and only kinda, a little bit of inspections, with notice, etc.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully soon there will be another 'Green Revolution' in Iran, this time successful.

      "Remember Neda"

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKqY_44gNcw

      Delete
    2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbdEf0QRsLM

      Delete
  19. IN FIRST, ISRAEL CLAIMS IRAN'S QUDS FORCE BEHIND ATTACK
    IDF: Iranian forces fire 20 rockets at Israel; Iron Dome intercepts some
    No Israeli injuries reported in attack; sirens blare in Golan Heights; Syrian army post comes under fire in Quneitra as tensions skyrocket on Israel-Syria border


    By JUDAH ARI GROSS

    Today, 12:26 amUpdated at 1:11 am 78

    Some 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military bases by Iranian forces in southern Syria just after midnight on Thursday, with some of the incoming missiles being intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, the army said, amid sky high tensions on the northern border.

    There were no reports of Israeli casualties in the attack. An army spokesperson said damage was caused to Israeli military bases, but that it was “limited.”


    The Israeli army said the missile barrage was carried out by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Forces. This appeared to be the first time that Israel attributed an attack directly to Iran, which generally operates through proxies. The late night rocket barrage was also the largest attack, in terms of the number of rockets fired, in the seven years of the Syrian civil war....

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/sirens-sound-in-golan-heights-residents-urged-to-enter-shelters/

    ReplyDelete
  20. .

    Well no, not really Ash. For a period of years, is all. After that, free to waltz away.

    It must be your reading comprehension.



    Damn, Bob, if that were your only problem. That was one of your really dumb ass statements of all time.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's obvious you aren't up to speed on what the Iran Deal involved.

      Delete
    2. Meanwhile Israel and Iran are starting to go at it.

      Delete
    3. .

      I know exactly what was in it you dumb hick.

      You only get what you are fed by a few faded TV hosts and AT.

      .

      Delete
  21. In an effort to keep Quirk up to speed -

    The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is intended to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. If fully implemented, the physical constraints and verification provisions of this comprehensive nuclear agreement will effectively prevent Iran from producing fissile material for nuclear weapons at its declared nuclear facilities for at least 10 to 15 years.

    https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/iran-nuclear-deal-definitive-guide

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the scheme of international relations 10 to 15 years is the blink of an eye.

      Delete
    2. .

      Right.

      And the alternative? Plan B? What exactly did the US get out of Trump's gesture?

      He merely once again proved the US doesn't keep it's word. Libya, Iran, Iran. If Kim agrees to a deal with the US he truly is nutz.

      Trump went through with this deal for a number of reasons.

      1. He's trying to erase every thing Obama did. It's like the pharaohs of old who deface the monuments of their predecessors. They figure they will look better if there is nothing to compare them with.

      2. As was his wont, he opened his mouth during the campaign and said something truly stupid. Then he was reminded of it by the usual suspects (Bibi, Bolton, and all the chicken hawks and neocons in Congress) and told he would look weak like a little sissy boy with small hands if he broke that promise (every knows how to jerk his chain be now).

      3. He's got the hots for Bibi. Two of a kind. They're this close (holds up two crossed fingers). Can't tell which one is on top.

      4. He's looking for real estate deals in Saudi Arabia and figures the will grease the skids for him. You lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. I'll let you decide who's laying down.

      .

      Delete
    3. .

      Libya, Iran, Iraq and that is Just in the ME.

      .

      Delete
  22. Bob's right once again, as usual.

    Quirk suffers from leaky gut, and all that implies.

    ReplyDelete
  23. TRUMP ENDS OBAMA’S IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS
    In 1,251 words, Trump crushed every lie about the Iran deal.
    May 9, 2018 Daniel Greenfield

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270127/trump-ends-obamas-iran-hostage-crisis-daniel-greenfield

    ReplyDelete
  24. n Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump fulfilled one of his campaign promises and took the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In doing so, he broke the United States’ commitment to implement the deal in good faith and, notwithstanding his positive words on future talks, imperiled the possibility of a diplomatic settlement of the nuclear issue by undermining U.S. credibility in diplomacy.

    ...

    Though many of Trump’s cheerleaders believe that the United States can enforce its will on the rest of the planet through brute sanctions pressure, the United States will find it extremely difficult to repeat the success of the 2006 to 2013 sanctions campaigns that brought Iran to the table if it is opposed by most of the international community. The sanctions campaign of that era was based on three interrelated concepts: that sanctions pressure could shift Iranian strategic calculus, that multilateral sanctions pressure would be more effective than unilateral sanctions pressure, and that willing, cooperative, and multilateral pressure would be even better.

    ...

    Paradoxically, the weakened sanctions regime will do just enough to push Iran out of the nuclear agreement, without exerting the type of crippling pressure that can result in meaningful concessions. As companies leave Iran and trade significantly decreases, supporters of the nuclear agreement will face increasing pressure from hard-liners to respond and will over time likely begin violating the deal.


    Nuclear Deal

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's like the pharaohs of old who deface the monuments of their predecessors. They figure they will look better if there is nothing to compare them with.

    News to me. I never had read of that practice before.

    But I take your word for it, and add pharaohology to your list of expertise.

    I wonder though, how do we, then, know anything at all about the pharaohs of old except for the very last one ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's looking for real estate deals in Saudi Arabia

      Nonsense. He can do real estate deal in Saudi Arabia right now.

      He is looking to ignite another green revolution in Iran and when the mullers are gone do real estate deals there.

      You never think BIGLY enough.

      You got to learn to think YUUUUGLIE.

      Delete
    2. Donald Trump launched 8 companies in Saudi Arabia during his ...
      https://stepfeed.com/donald-trump-launched-8-companies-in-saudi-arabia-during-his-...

      "[Saudis] buy apartments from me," Trump said during a campaign rally last year, ... Trump registered eight companies in Saudi Arabia during campaign: ...
      Donald Trump's history doing business in the Middle East - Donald ...
      www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-20/donald-trumps-history-in-the...east/8543206

      May 19, 2017 - "Saudi Arabia, I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me," Mr Trump said during his campaign. He also once declared that ...
      Donald Trump's Many, Many Business Dealings in 1 Map | Time
      time.com › Politics › Donald Trump
      Jan 10, 2017 - The President-elect oversees a vast real-estate empire with .... In February 2016, Trump said Saudi Arabia “blew up the World Trade Center.
      http://time.com/4629308/donald-trump-business-deals-world-map/



      Nifty map. About the only place The Donald doesn't do business seems to be Africa. (if you think of Egypt as not being in Africa)

      Delete
  26. It was all there on paper in black and white, down to the precise number of centrifuges: the terms of a potential "fix" that President Donald Trump had demanded for the United States to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.

    ...

    Trump had just celebrated the anniversary of becoming president in January when he issued his ultimatum: If there's no fix to the deal by May 12, the U.S. would be out. There was no chance that three of the deal's members — Iran, Russia and China — would consider changes, so Trump focused on the Europeans — Germany, the U.K. and France — in hopes that the rest would go along once a fix was agreed to by the rest.

    ...

    At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley led a parallel effort to get France and the U.K. to toughen up on other Iranian behavior, such as its support for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and for Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen. Haley's argument to the Europeans: Helping us with these side issues can only help you make your case to Trump to stay in the deal.


    Iran Deal

    ReplyDelete
  27. Two of the three Korean/Americans who are an hour away from landing in the USA, to be met in the middle of the night by The Donald, are Christians. One of those two is a pastor of the church.

    I imagine their opinion of The Donald is a little higher than Quirk's opinion of The Donald.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you are an American and are offered a job teaching at The University of North Korea, by all means turn the offer down.

      Delete
    2. The University of North Korea. What kind of degree can you get there? How to fertilize your farm using your own shit?

      Delete
    3. I think it's call the University of Pyongyang or something.

      I think it is American funded, of all things.

      The syllabus does list:

      PhD offered in:

      How To Fertilize Your Farm Using Your Own Shit

      Wayne and I were thinking of going but at the end decided not to after reading of Warmbier.

      Delete
    4. There is also a degree in:

      Advertising In A Totalitarian State

      Quirk once mentioned he was thinking of attending but, always looking out for Quirk, I was able to talk him out of it.

      A major problem is advertising don't work good if no one has any money.

      Delete
  28. We should never forget about the poor souls who have never escaped the Kim regime’s evil clutches. Specifically, one person comes to mind: University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, who somehow became deathly ill after he was imprisoned and most likely tortured by the North – and died soon after he was released at the age 22 in June 2017.

    ...

    Kim Jong Un’s grandfather and father – who ruled before him – compiled a record of lying, cheating and stealing whatever they needed to survive, along with a human rights rap sheet filled with millions of innocent dead men, women and children. Kim Jong Un has proudly carried on the family tradition.

    While I am hopeful that Kim Jong Un truly wants to give up his nuclear weapons and potentially open his nation economically and politically, history cries out for us to cautious. And the Kim family’s victims – Otto Warmbier and millions more – demand such skepticism from us.

    Let’s hope the new prisoner release signals that Kim is choosing a new and verifiable path.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I see, as per usual, Doug has run off in silence with his tail between his legs leaving the b00bie to try to defend his position. The b00bie isn't any better on his own then when part of the b00bie and Dougshit show.

    ReplyDelete
  30. It also appears that the Trump march to a wider ME war won't receive any criticism from Deuce. Even an Israeli attack doesn't. He sure loves the Trump.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Your little picture there, Ash, always reminds me of a Warning: Radioactive Piece of Shit; I don't know why, really.

    ReplyDelete