tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post6682478234417947352..comments2024-03-29T06:35:11.321-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: The beginning of an American air strike campaign in Tikrit marks an important shift in the ISIS warDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-68321762979491340632015-03-27T21:45:30.633-04:002015-03-27T21:45:30.633-04:00Reuters -
LAUSANNE, Switzerland/ANKARA (Reute...Reuters - <br /> <br />LAUSANNE, Switzerland/ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran and major powers are close to agreement on a 2- or 3-page accord with specific numbers that would form the basis of a long-term settlement aimed at ending a 12-year standoff Jack Hawkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00342056653466462640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-46031186740294355122015-03-27T21:31:30.637-04:002015-03-27T21:31:30.637-04:00Which Italian court are you referring to?Which Italian court are you referring to?Ashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688752302081088907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-55169313866084631092015-03-27T21:15:56.061-04:002015-03-27T21:15:56.061-04:00Discount by 75% anything Quirk might say.Discount by 75% anything Quirk might say.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-6718093165166993262015-03-27T21:14:12.339-04:002015-03-27T21:14:12.339-04:00Gonzaga 70
UCLA 55
Less than 2 minutes left.........Gonzaga 70<br />UCLA 55<br /><br />Less than 2 minutes left......<br /><br />Casino Time !<br /><br />Warning to casual readers:<br /><br />Discount by 100% anything that Ash, Rufus or d. rat might say.<br /><br />Cheers !Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13309093248140267282015-03-27T21:11:34.914-04:002015-03-27T21:11:34.914-04:00UCLA's magic is gone.
They are getting thumpe...UCLA's magic is gone.<br /><br />They are getting thumped by Gonzaga.<br /><br />Unless they make a remarkable historic recovery in the next few minutes this game is in the record books.<br /><br />Gonzaga has TWO really good inside white guys. You don't see that very often these days.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-17835363607970430222015-03-27T21:08:58.286-04:002015-03-27T21:08:58.286-04:00Stick with your Budweiser and your Jim Beam. You k...Stick with your Budweiser and your Jim Beam. You know something about them.<br /><br />Just don't make any more 'perdikcions' under the influence.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-10903558036690903192015-03-27T21:07:47.406-04:002015-03-27T21:07:47.406-04:00You are an idiot.
The numbers of ISIS fighters is...You are an idiot.<br /><br />The numbers of ISIS fighters is just the same as it was, maybe even more.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-49821496090093961892015-03-27T21:06:37.440-04:002015-03-27T21:06:37.440-04:00Our Courts would have ruled in her favor.
You don...Our Courts would have ruled in her favor.<br /><br />You don't "think" at all.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53002976783674922962015-03-27T20:32:32.310-04:002015-03-27T20:32:32.310-04:00Hamas and Egypt are on a collision course as Egypt...Hamas and Egypt are on a collision course as Egypt cuts power to Gaza over unpaid bills. <br /><br />Egypt cut power to the Palestinian cities of Khan Younis and Rafiah in the southern Gaza Strip this week after residents accumulated a large electric bill and refused to pay it.<br /><br />Dozens of people demonstrated in front of the Khan Younis district headquarters of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Corporation (GEDCo) in the Gaza Strip late Monday in protest of the blackout, Palestinian Ma’an news agency reports.<br /><br /><br />lol<br /><br />Hamas's magic is GONEWhat is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-91791656684470358972015-03-27T20:18:41.966-04:002015-03-27T20:18:41.966-04:00Paul Krugman: Mornings in Blue America
Conservat...Paul Krugman: Mornings in Blue America<br /><br /><br /><b>Conservatives have GNDS (good news derangement syndrome):</b><br /><br /> Mornings in Blue America, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: ...remember how Obamacare was supposed to be a gigantic job killer?<b> Well, in the first year of the Affordable Care Act..., the U.S. economy .,, added 3.3 million jobs — the biggest gain since the 1990s.</b> ...<br /><br />But recent job growth ... has big political implications — implications so disturbing to many on the right that they are in frantic denial, claiming that the recovery is somehow bogus. Why can’t they handle the good news? The answer actually comes on three levels: Obama Derangement Syndrome, or O.D.S.; Reaganolatry; and the confidence con.<br /><br />Not much need be said about<b> O.D.S.</b> It is, by now, a fixed idea on the right that this president is both evil and incompetent, that everything touched by the atheist Islamic Marxist Kenyan Democrat — mostly that last item — must go terribly wrong. When good news arrives about the budget, or the economy, or Obamacare ... it must be denied.<br /><br />At a deeper level, modern conservative ideology utterly depends on the proposition that conservatives, and only they, possess the secret key to prosperity. As a result, you often have politicians on the right making claims like this one, from Senator Rand Paul: “When is the last time in our country we created millions of jobs? It was under Ronald Reagan.”<br /><br /><b>Actually, if creating “millions of jobs” means adding two million or more jobs in a given year, we’ve done that ... eight times under Bill Clinton, twice under George W. Bush, and three times, so far, under Barack Obama</b>. ...<br /><br />Which brings us to the last point:<b> the confidence con.</b><br /><br />One enduring puzzle of political economy is why business interests so often oppose policies to fight unemployment. After all, boosting the economy with expansionary monetary and fiscal policy is good for profits...<br /><br />As a number of observers have pointed out, however, . . . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2015/03/paul-krugman-mornings-in-blue-america.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EconomistsView+%28Economist%27s+View%29" rel="nofollow">Economists View</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11261234898939310832015-03-27T20:09:24.237-04:002015-03-27T20:09:24.237-04:00Btw, This:
"[O]ne of the main things it does...Btw, This:<br /><br /><i>"[O]ne of the main things it does is raise taxes rather dramatically on a pretty small number of high-income people in order to give subsidized health insurance policies to a substantially larger number of low-income people."</i><br /><br />Is what got Gruber all Grubered up; He seemed to think that he was the only one that understood this. The man is an <i>Academic Idiot.</i><br /><br /><i><b>Everyone</b></i> understood this. It's just that, for different reasons, neither party was interested in talking about it.Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-10638917754972800022015-03-27T20:05:26.325-04:002015-03-27T20:05:26.325-04:00One of the odder subplots of the health reform sag...One of the odder subplots of the health reform saga has been the almost pathetic efforts of Republicans to come up with Obamacare horror stories. You might think that given the complexity of the law and the almost unlimited resources of the propaganda machine, they’d be able to come up with someone to serve as the poster child of the law’s terrible effects on innocent Americans. As far as I know, however, we have yet to see a single credible example — all the characters featured in Koch brothers ads or GOP speeches have turned out to be potential beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act, if only they were willing to look at their actual options.<br /><br />So Cathy McMorris Rodgers went on Facebook to ask for Obamacare horror stories — and instead got<b> an avalanche of testimonials from people who got essential insurance and care thanks to the ACA.</b><br /><br />Why can’t the GOP find the horror stories it knows, just knows, must be out there? Matthew Yglesias gets at most of it by noting that Obamacare does, in fact, redistribute from the few to the many:<br /><br /><br />[O]ne of the main things it does is raise taxes rather dramatically on a pretty small number of high-income people in order to give subsidized health insurance policies to a substantially larger number of low-income people. Indeed, this is one of the main things Republicans don’t like about it!<br /><br />But there’s a bit more to the story. Millionaires . . . . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/27/hidden-healthcare-horrors/" rel="nofollow">Healthcare Horrors</a><br />Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13454428643833542782015-03-27T19:51:57.143-04:002015-03-27T19:51:57.143-04:00I Guess the Iranian-loving Kenyan Got Confused.<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/27/intel-official-iran-pissed-at-iraq-for-joining-with-us-in-tikrit-fight/" rel="nofollow">I Guess the Iranian-loving Kenyan Got Confused.</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-47683888582921173372015-03-27T19:50:35.341-04:002015-03-27T19:50:35.341-04:00An intelligence official told Fox News that Iran&#...An intelligence official told Fox News that Iran's government is fuming over the U.S. joining forces with Iraq in the fight for Tikrit -- a decision that led Iran-backed militias to stand down. <br /><br /><b>"They are really pissed that Iraq is choosing to partner with the U.S</b>. in the battle for Tikrit," the official said. <br /><br /><br />The heavy involvement of Iran-backed Shiite militias in the battle for Tikrit, currently held by the Islamic State, was a big factor in the United States' initial reluctance to get involved. <br /><br />But with the U.S. launching airstrikes, Iran has threatened to order all its Shiite militias, including members of the powerful Badr Brigade, out of the area and in some cases out of Iraq, according to the official. <br /><br />"They will probably send them to Yemen," he said, referring to the widespread fighting in the unstable nation where Saudi Arabia and others are now battling Iran-backed forces for control. <br /><br /><br />But when asked to characterize the feeling inside the Pentagon about Iran's pull-back in Tikrit, the official answered, "We are pleasantly surprised how pissed off they are." <br /><br />While the Iran-backed militias say they withdrew in protest, the Defense Department has maintained <b>that was a precondition of U.S. involvement. </b><br /><br />Gen. Lloyd Austin, leader of U.S. Central Command, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee <b>that before airstrikes in Tikrit began, the Iraqi government agreed to preconditions stipulating the U.S. would participate as long as the Iran-backed Shiite militias withdrew from Tikrit.</b> <br /><br />"I will not, and I hope we never, coordinate or cooperate with Shiite militias," Austin told lawmakers Thursday. <br /><br />The battle to defeat ISIS in the Sunni stronghold of Tikrit began on March 2, but stalled after three weeks, according to Pentagon officials. U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Tikrit began Wednesday. The U.S.-led coalition announced 17 strikes by U.S. warplanes against targets in and around Tikrit. <br /><br />A spokesman for Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, which mostly consist of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, maintained . . . .<br />Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-83734630684998176062015-03-27T19:31:53.528-04:002015-03-27T19:31:53.528-04:00GDP Growth was virtually nonexistent in the first ...GDP Growth was virtually nonexistent in the first quarter (again,) and the Jobs number for March is probably going to be pretty weak, But,<br /><br />it's looking like the April number (published the first Friday in May) will be gangbusters. Gallup's Job Creation Index just jumped to the highest it's been since they started the series:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/151553/Gallup-Daily-Job-Creation-Index.aspx" rel="nofollow">Gallup Job Creation Index</a>Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-101000819613794712015-03-27T19:28:30.399-04:002015-03-27T19:28:30.399-04:00What you "think" has nothing to do with ...What you "think" has nothing to do with reality.Ashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688752302081088907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-53254463729306413352015-03-27T19:23:45.843-04:002015-03-27T19:23:45.843-04:00Ash, Hamas CONTROLS it's border.
It doesn'...Ash, Hamas CONTROLS it's border.<br /><br />It doesn't allow ITS people to leave.<br /><br />Learn to understand words.What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-6159714714228762082015-03-27T19:23:19.674-04:002015-03-27T19:23:19.674-04:00Our performance is good enough that the Iraqi Gove...Our performance is good enough that the Iraqi Government sent 20,000 Shiite troops home, just to have our help in Tikrit.Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-739015377228065062015-03-27T19:22:53.961-04:002015-03-27T19:22:53.961-04:00Your best comment of the day, Ash.
If she had bee...Your best comment of the day, Ash.<br /><br />If she had been found guilty by the Italian Court, an interesting legal situation would have arisen, as she was found not guilty here.<br /><br />She would argue 'double jeopardy' and fought extradition.<br /><br />I think she would have been right. Our Constitution and our Courts should rule our citizens.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-47025054633113837422015-03-27T19:20:55.523-04:002015-03-27T19:20:55.523-04:00You're an idiot.
We've already cut thei...You're an idiot. <br /><br />We've already cut their numbers by between 1/3 to 1/2.<br /><br />At a cost of Zero lives, and very little treasure.<br /><br />Stick with chickpeas, and alfalfa.Rufus IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05297231055991566183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-9678114484965927922015-03-27T19:15:55.312-04:002015-03-27T19:15:55.312-04:00In short, as I've often said, you need and des...In short, as I've often said, you need and deserve a good non-lethal mugging.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-32673106728421536282015-03-27T19:13:20.143-04:002015-03-27T19:13:20.143-04:00And, you are not even a real American.And, you are not even a real American.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-79674228567425714032015-03-27T19:12:18.852-04:002015-03-27T19:12:18.852-04:00Naive, lame brained liberal, shallow, poorly read,...Naive, lame brained liberal, shallow, poorly read, grubbered plumb to death, memmed, and doped up to the point of being unable to recall what others have said, even if repeated four or five times. One seriously messed up young punk.<br /><br />;)Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-45616038066650181602015-03-27T19:08:26.925-04:002015-03-27T19:08:26.925-04:00Waste of aviation fuel.
Futile.
You need to up t...Waste of aviation fuel.<br /><br />Futile.<br /><br />You need to up the daily sorties by 20x, General.<br /><br />That might make a dent.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51642595662710473222015-03-27T19:05:41.289-04:002015-03-27T19:05:41.289-04:00You are a young idiot.You are a young idiot.Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02337923317977922025noreply@blogger.com