Imagine my surprise to look for something to write about and to find nothing. I suppose I could go full retard and write about Obama's secret plan to infect the US with ebola. That's making the rounds on the less stable blogs... courtesy of Alex Jones. But that requires a level of stupidity that I can't even fake. Impeachment talk is back, as if it ever left. This time it's based on Obama claiming he will do something about the trillion-plus diseased illegals sleeping under our beds. BOO! The NFL started, but it's preseason. Hillary is now more popular than Obama, but so is herpes. Kerry is finally backing Israel 100%, just as Obama has chosen to condemn them for blowing up some UN school. Perhaps they should instead have kidnapped the school's girls and murdered them in the name of Allah? Then the UN wouldn't care. Wow, I got nothing. You know, maybe we should just make up our own news? Anything interesting you've heard about?
39 comments:
Alex Jones is claiming Obama is bringing Ebola to the US? I think Alex Jones is secretly an liberal plant to force sane conservatives to have to defend Obama and go "Well, he's not that bad."
Israel and Hamas agreed to a 72 hour truce over the weekend… which Hamas broke within 90min by killing 2 Israeli soldiers and kidnapping (and likely killing) a 3rd, Lt. Hadar Goldin while searching a tunnel. Israel warned beforehand that they would continue searching the tunnels with or without a truce.
Hamas went for the "We don't actually know what are own people are doing" excuse.
Now, a 7hr truce has been declared for Monday (let's see how long it lasts). Israel is beginning to pull out of Gaza, though rocket attacks continue. Lieutenant Goldin is now believed to be KIA due to DNA tests taken from body parts in the tunnel.
I read a 50 page e-book on Nigeria and Boko Haram. Evil, fanatical terrorists who claim that the "evaporation of water" is a false idea perpetrated by the decadent west wage a brutal war against a corrupt and incompetent government that attempted to arrest the #BringBackOurGirls protestors for bringing attention to the fact that they cannot stop the aforementioned evil, fanatical terrorists tearing their country apart.
Now, I'm reading John Keegan's Face of Battle and First World War, courtesy of the 100th anniversary of the war*. After that, its Tuchman's book on the beginning of World War 1, The Guns of August.
*Face of Battle touches in part on the Battle of the Somme, though it also covers Agincourt and Waterloo.
I do want to read a book about the Dreyfus Affair, I'm thinking of For the Soul of France.
The UN school thing is interesting. If I were a betting man, I'd bet it was an accident (its touching that everyone has absolute faith in the ability of the US and Israel to only hit what they mean to hit, but I simply don't believe reality works that way).
Of course, a lot of people defending the strike in the media are saying that Hamas launches attacks from UN schools (implying that strike was deliberate) so maybe it was intentional. Time will tell. Not that the answer will change the battle lines...
I've been sick since Thursday, I'm pretty sure it was Ebola. I feel like ten miles of bad road. It's funny that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are all backing Israel against HAMAS, but no mention of this by the media.
Ebola would be a stupid way for anyone to wage biological warfare since it ain't airborne.
The drug resistant TB that some of the illegals are bringing over is much more dangerous than ebola.
I can understand some concern, given the CDC's latest Snafu's, but ebola is nothing to get concerned about.
Personally,
i despise idiots like Alex Jones for playing on peoples fears with yet more conspiracy theories and false info about ebola.
Jones thrives in a political environment like this one because the Obama Administration does lie a lot and the press is actually helping Jones and his followers by making this sound like the worst disease ever. For their ratings, of course.
Just a wee bit of research shows that in this case, the Obama Admin. is not lying, so I guess that's historic or something. :)
Seriously, I never thought Kerry had the cajones to not echo Obama irt Israel.
Maybe he got an earful from other senior dems like Schumer? Or perhaps maybe he's considering a run for President again? Be interesting to see if he sticks to his guns.
Hope you feel better soon, Critch. Hang in there!
No news is good news, I guess. :-)
(There have been some good comments posted over on the Body Double review, including my thoughts on another movie entirely.)
The Gaza conflict has brought out the conservative side of my otherwise liberal relatives, at least if Facebook is any indication. And a kid in my poster design class did a "Boycott Israel" poster for the final project... so for our daily poster assignment, I did a WW2-style "Join the IDF!" poster, just for him. :-)
And f--- Alex Jones! I was forced to listen to him at a job once because my boss listened to him (seriously or ironically, I don't know).
Kit, Nice reading list. I wish I had more time to read.
On Alex Smith, I'm of two minds. Part of me says that he's a cynic who is milking the weak-minded. The other part says he's just a paranoid fool who totally lacks any sense logic or reason.
I'm just not sure which he is. Most conspiracy theorists actually believe their own stupidity, but Smith is so over-the-top retarded that I have a hard time believing that he actually buys into anything he says.
No News???? Are you kidding?? It's Barack Obama's birthday! How is THAT not news?? Gaaaah...
Kit, that's probably the best explanation for Alex Jones I've ever heard of. Not because I believe it, but because it's the write-off that Jones deserves. I really think that we should embrace and disseminate it.
Anthony, I suspect that Hamas used it to stage an attack in the hopes that the Israelis either would not shoot back or would get bad PR.
In terms of it being an accident, that's very possible. One thing I find frustrating is how little people understand about what is real and what isn't when it comes to military capabilities. The movies have taught people that the military has the capability to do real time observations of anything and can target individual targets in seconds... see e.g. Jason Bourne, Tom Clancy, every other Hollywood film involving special forces. None of that is true, however.
Critch, Sorry to hear about the ebola. LOL!
Ben, There was an interesting incident in the 1990s when they were working with an airborne version of ebola in Reston, Virginia and it escaped. Fortunately, it morphed into a non-killer version before anyone caught it. That could have been a disaster.
" I guess that's historic or something"- LOL!
I have no idea what got into Kerry. I never thought he had the nerve either.
Scott, Are you kidding?! No news is death for bloggers!
Glad to hear your relatives are seeing the light this time. :)
Bev, I had no idea! Why isn't that a national holiday? What an outrage!!
tryanmax, Alex Jones should be locked in a rubber bunker.
Andrew - Alex Jones is locked up in a rubber bunker, but of his own choosing. Somehow, I don't think he puts on a suit and tie and goes to "the office" every morning. Tin foil hats just don't go well with worsted wool and silk prints.
I was kind of surprised to see all the positive reviews of the James Brown movie on conservative websites (none of which were big fans of the director's prior film, The Help). I had forgotten that Brown was a lifelong but unconventional Republican. Nothing like choosing the right subject to help a director turn critics into admirers.
I'm not much interested in the movie (I'll catch it if it pops up on Netflix or HBO) but within the next few weeks I'll probably get one of the several biographies about Brown floating around.
Admirer of Strom Thurmond and mentor to Al Sharpton are two things I am having a hard time squaring.
I must share these videos:
FOIL
1 2 3 4
Someone at Huffington Post wrote a while back that while Hamas is wrong to use human shields Israel should not be attacking targets where human shields are being used.
Let's quote Article 28 of Geneva Convention IV (1949):
"The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
LINK
Translation: Use of human shields around or at a military site does not render said site immune from attacks by your enemy.
Clearer Translation: Hamas is the guilty party here, not Israel.
War is awful. But the loss of civilian life is, in almost every case in the current Gaza War, the result of Hamas' method of using human shields, a war crime.
Anyway, the IDF says all tunnels have been destroyed and there are indications that a truce is in the works.
LINK
I'm watching FB and my liberal Jewish friends are all posting memes about supporting Israel etc...funny how a little war brings out different attitudes in folks. On a side note, biological warfare is one of the most dangerous ways to wage war, you never know when that crap comes back to haunt you..the theory is that your troops are inoculated against whatever you're spreading, but that doesn't really happen. During the First Gulf War Ol' Saddam used human shields and we hit our targets anyway. HAMAS is just another bunch of thugs, they're probably kin to Yasser Arafat. I put Alex Jones up there with snake oil salesmen and other low lifes.
Tyranmax,
I loved that "Foil" video. The David Icke joke at the end was kinda funny. (A man who makes Alex Jones seem sane)
Actually, I think its non-airborne bio-weapons that are the best for the reason Critch described: "biological warfare is one of the most dangerous ways to wage war, you never know when that crap comes back to haunt you..the theory is that your troops are inoculated against whatever you're spreading, but that doesn't really happen."
Think ancient and medieval armies catapulting dead cows and horses into cities and poisoning wells to sicken the people in the city. By simply contaminating their food supply with fungi or germs you lessen the chances of it blowing back on you.
We are getting into dark territory so I will make it clear I fully support the 1925 Geneva Convention's prohibition against biological agents in warfare.
OMG! David Icke, I forgot about him. His belief of a shape shifting reptilian underworld led by our world leaders is very entertaining. Yea, I would say he makes Alex Jones seem downright mainstream.
re Alex Jones,
He looks a lot like the late John Ritter but his voice sounds like a hoarse Rush Limbaugh. Really, look him up and watch one of his videos.
But what of him? He is a man completely outside even the fringe parts of mainstream of American thought. Heck, Glenn Beck and Mark Levin on their wackiest days are downright moderate compared to him.
This is why I was ticked when Piers Morgan had him on his (now-cancelled) show to represent the pro-gun arguments. Its dishonest in its representation of pro-gun arguments.
By the way, this is why I also don't like Fox News trotting out communist terrorist Bill Ayers to provide a counter-point to their views. This is a man who is, like Alex Jones, utterly outside mainstream American views and its dishonest in its representation of the other side. Yes, modern liberalism is rather flawed in its worldview (understatement) but it is not Bill Ayers crazy.
Yeah, bringing in nuts might be more entertaining than the cable news networks' usual schtick of having two partisan hacks (a.k.a., "strategists") spend five minutes "debating" each other in the most smug and self-righteous manner imaginable but, at least that gives you some idea of the party's views on the manner.
Even if their self-righteousness saps your faith in American democracy.
Even if they are so predictable you know their views before they've even spouted them.
Even if they are so freakin' boring you want to open up your wrists 30 seconds in.
(Really, if I go to hell, my punishment will consist of being forced to watch two "strategists" debate each other for all eternity.)
Ok, rant off. Calm down, calm down.
There, calmed down.
Long story short, I have a lot of problems with the way major news networks cover their "news".
I went from ranting on Alex Jones to ranting about mainstream news. Quite a segue. Its also said that Alex Jones allows for such a great segue into a rant on the deficiencies of cable news.
The problem with spreading plague into a city you are trying to capture is that as soon as it falls your troops go pillaging and plundering without thinking about what they are coming into contact with.
Biological and chemical warfare can be as dangerous to you as to your enemy. My grandfather was gassed in the Great War when phosgene from British shells blew back into the American trenches. I used to work on chemical weapons and they are spooky at times. Per some briefings I had over the years our interest in biological warfare in this country has waxed and waned. Although there was research, there were never any serious over the top pushed to build the weapons. Too many variables. And, once that genie is out, then you are giving your enemies free rein to do what they want. I firmly believe that if terrorists had gotten hold of a nuke during the fall of the Soviet Empire or had gotten one from North Korea then it would have been used against Israel or us; but hey haven't, thank God.
"The problem with spreading plague into a city you are trying to capture is that as soon as it falls your troops go pillaging and plundering without thinking about what they are coming into contact with. "
Good point.
Fascinating story about your grandfather and the Great War. Also good point about the problems of using Bio or Chemical weapons.
There were only a few items of ordnance that bothered me: Hand grenades, 2.75 inch rocket motors and chemical weapons..the other stuff was safe. I would occasionally get nervous around fuel trucks when we were loading munitions while they were refueling...with the jets running..too many things to watch, too many variables.
I concur with Thomas Sowell, irt Hamas:
"If you want to minimize civilian casualties, then minimize the dangers of war, by no longer coming to the rescue of those who start wars."
And this:
"There is something grotesque about people living thousands of miles away, in safety and comfort, loftily second-guessing and trying to micro-manage what the Israelis are doing in a matter of life and death.
Such self-indulgences are a danger, not simply to Israel, but to the whole Western world, for it betrays a lack of realism that shows in everything from the current disastrous consequences of our policies in Egypt, Libya and Iraq to future catastrophes from a nuclear-armed Iran."
It's true, allow Israel to thoroughly crush Hamas then tell the Palestinians they need to hold new elections, and this time they better not elect terrorists.
It's waaay past time we stop coddling terrorists and their supporters.
Critch, egads! No kidding. That must've been before my time, because when I worked at the fuel farm at NAS Fallon, NV, we were told to never refuel any aircraft if they were loading weapons.
Every once in awhile one of the airdales would mess up the scheduling and ask us to do it anyway, but I always refused.
Hell if I was gonna be fodder for another safety video.
Andrew, I had no idea they had developed an airborne ebola. I'm glad it didn't work out but sheesh! What a bullet to dodge.
Kit, I don't condone chemical warfare because (1) I've never seen it work all that well and (2) it tends to ruin the prize you are after, which is the other guy's land. I say blow the other guy up.
Bev, True! LOL! It's too bad he remembered to put an air vent into his bunker. In all seriousness, I don't mind the idiots who push silly conspiracy theories (e.g. the "fake" moon landing). But I hate the guys who are serious about pushing things that upset and hurt people.
Anthony, I saw the ad and I am mildly interested. Of all the Motown guys, James Brown never interested me all that much, but I do enjoy a good biography.
Kit, not for nothin', but I figured less time doing anything to secure the affections of the newly singly Jennifer Lawrence, before some athlete scoops her up, would be time well spent. Brainy guy, meet brainy gal. Go, go, go!!!
Anthony, I love the story Al $harpton tell in the "Good Hair" documentary about how James Brown recommended the Rev. got his hair straightened before accompanying JB to a White House visit with Reagan re. securing the MLK Day holiday. If only $harpton also would have taken more from JB's beliefs and a catalog which contained such funkalicious guides to life as "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open up the Door I'll Get It Myself)," "Don't Be a Dropout," and "King Heroin." If only.
USS Ben,
"It's true, allow Israel to thoroughly crush Hamas then tell the Palestinians they need to hold new elections, and this time they better not elect terrorists."
My thoughts as well. I have read this recent conflict has hurt Hamas' reputation among Palestinians, at least in Gaza. It can't be good when the Israelis are blocking every attack and the only effective tactic you have is using human shields —Palestinian human shields.
The best way is to pummel them to an extent where they can't rig elections or threaten opponents.
Really, Hamas is far better at killing Palestinians than they are at killing Israelis.
Anyway, Israel and Hamas have announced a 72 hr ceasefire. The last one was supposed to occur over the weekend —and only lasted 90 minutes.
They were called "combat turnarounds", I didn't like them one bit.
Well, we stomped Germany and Japan into the bedrock and we didn't have any kind of insurrections or any trouble for that matter from them. I hate to put it this way, but, if you go to war: then go to war and crush the enemy. Don't stop when they run, or when they whimper, but only when they say "I surrender". My middle son says the problem is that we don't drink our wine from the skulls of our vanquished enemies...that kinda stuff always made a point.
Good points, Kit and Critch!
Aye, we could sure use some General Pershing's in the war on terrorists.
The PC stuff that our politicians have cooked up to make them feel better only results in more of the good guys getting killed.
In the long run it actually saves more lives to crush the enemy we are fighting.
PC just gives the enemy more time to regroup and slaughter more people, mostly civilians.
PC helps them, and that shouldn't make anybody feel better.
The best way to negotiate with terrorists is to not negotiate but to use overwhelming force.
That's the only thing they understand.
Oh, and we must demand that the Palestinians stop teaching their children to hate Jews and westerners and to stop turning them into homicidal maniacs.
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