In a totally predictable response to the killing of Iranian Gen. Soleimani Iran launches a dozen or so ballistic missiles against a couple of Iraqi military bases housing US military personnel in Western Iraq. Baghdad is between Iran and the Al Asad base, and Iran apparently threw in the attack on Irbil for good measure.
No need to link to articles on this – they are everywhere, so just open your eyes. For me the title of this comment says it all.
from hague convention preamble:
“… that any damage to cultural property, irrespective of the people it belongs to, is a damage to the cultural heritage of all humanity, because every people contributes to the world’s culture…”
BTW Donald, cultural property does not mean or include mal an ego, trash tower or your jersey golf course.
…unfathomable stupidity of the American people, more like.
We like to blame everyone else, of course- we, Americans.
Q: What would Jesus do?
A: Bomb cultural sites, obviously.
The evangelicals love Joshua…..Jesus, not so much.
tweet by reporter safi from the guardian:
Iraqi PM saying he was given heads up about the Iranian attack and passed it to US troops – adding to sense this morning’s attacks were a piece of elaborate theatre https://twitter.com/mina_aldroubi/status/1214855203796570113 …
Breaking: #Iraq Prime Minister @AdilAbdAlMahdi said that Iranian officials had verbally informed him of their response to the killing of Qassem Suliemani.
He then informed US and Iraqi troops of incoming attack- according to PM statement.
40
also reported earlier at same link:
Iran warned Iraq that airstrikes would begin, says Iraqi PM
The Twitter account for the Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, has issued a statement saying he received a verbal message from the Iranians shortly after midnight saying that their “response to the assassination of the martyr Qassem Soleimani had begun or would start shortly” and would be limited to US military stationed in Iraq. At the same time, they were informed by the Americans that strikes had begun against US forces at various locations in Iraq.
The statement said there had not been any Iraqi casualties reported so far and they had not been told of losses by coalition forces.
Here is a passage, translated using Google translate: “We have called, and we call on all, to exercise restraint … adhere to international covenants, respect the Iraqi state and the decisions of its government, and help it to contain and overcome this serious crisis threatening it, the region, and the world with a devastating, comprehensive war.”
If SFB reads this blog he may ask Pompous what this Hague Convention thing is. I’m certain he has no clue.
“…damnit, another NPR pledge-drive?” is not a thought Trump has ever had.
I wonder if the Iranians can hire Carl Spackler, from Caddy Shack, to take care of a few golf courses?
BB
If the Iranians really wanted to get back at Trump personally anything with a Trump name on it is a big fat soft target. And would get Trumps attention fast.
Not that I would or will stay at a Trump property. But the idea sounds risky and to be avoided.
Jack
Joshua… there is a name I haven’t heard in a while. John Boy and Billy do a gag about the Reverend Billy Ray Collins and the Sword Of Joshua Independent Full Gospel Pentecostal Assembly, which is located just off State Road 23 on the Frontage Road. It is a hoot .
Here’s a link to one of the Reverend Billy Ray Collins’ visits to the JB&B show.
Oh, and Bink, I’d have a hard time arguing with your 7:17 post except to say …45% of the American people. (SFB’s current average approval rating at RCP).
Pogo…. LOVE the title!
Sitting here wondering what the idiot in chief will say this morning.
i associate with mostly Republicans, and they seem like perfectly reasonable people with the acumen necessary to be successful in their careers, and then they start babbling literal nonsense when it comes to politics- it’s bizarre. It’s just that they hate ethnic minorities and gays but they can’t say that out loud- hence the nonsense.
Watch how liberal they get when their house value goes down.
OK, time to pretend i’m one of them. Have a good day!
Rick’s brother, Dan… works for a company up the road a piece that the Germans bought about 10 yrs ago. They make filters for medical and computer devices. It’s the biggest employer in this region and they have invested heavily in this plant. As a quality engineer, Dan, has to travel all over the world to other plants that make filters for his parent company. He says lots of people from other countries have told him they think the USA is going nuts… but that anyone could make a mistake once. They tell him they will regain faith in the USA if we defeat Trump in our next election. If he gets re-elected all bets are off.
Or their Union retirement pension.
That’s the secret of the working class Obama/Trump voter. Times are good so they can afford to vote their bigotry and they will
Jack
Spikkin of vangelism
I took this history course one time and the perfessor was fond of pointing out that the ancient Greeks were schizophrenic.
Not sure I buy the Iran standing down theory, maybe for any more direct hits, but they can wreak havoc on us in so many other ways, and have the patience and long memory to wait.
Craig
Yep, from what I’ve been reading Iran plainly understands their weakness and their strengths. They have been very good at playing the game. The question is will they continue that level of play with one of their major strategists gone.
The attack last night was out of character.
Jack
Yes Jack, question is whether Iran’s leadership vacuum allows crazy radical hawks in their ranks to take action. Same issue we face.
Kristin Chenowith is producing a musical about Tammy Faye Baker. I don’t know if she’s planning to play Tammy Faye, but I hope so.
I still think if we’re embroiled in conflict, it helps Mayor Pete. Folks will be more hawkish, so Bernie and Warren might lose ground with them. I still don’t know who they are polling to get those competitive numbers for Joe.
I saw on twitter where there is a left wing conspiracy that Mayor Pete is a CIA plant to disrupt <
I guess Bernies inevitable coronation
Jack
Well it certainly hurts Bernie and Warren in the general. In the primaries I don’t think their supporters care. And probably support their isolationist tendencies.
Jack
BiD – Morning Consult’s poll sample is 17,213 registered voters in their latest poll – so who are they polling? A shitload of people. The other polls have much smaller sample sizes – 410 – 756 voters. His smallest margin is the Economist/Yougov poll at 5%, but That’s a curious poll – it being the only poll of the 3 that has Lizzie ahead of Bernie!. That seems to be an outlier being the only one of the bunch showing her as stronger now than a month or more ago.
Liz wins Iowa.
The adult in the room will shine when it matters.
Can you people please not tip off the media, for now? Thanks.
mean while both Bloomberg and Trump are blowing, uh I mean investing in superbowl ads. More money than brains?
Jack
Really – who watches campaign ads during the Superbowl? Puppies and horses -yes, stupid funny ads – yes, car ads – yes; beer ads – definitely; campaign ads – time for a bathroom break.
BiD & pogo, a pew poll of interest for y’all reported by the guardian:
The world is still skeptical that after nearly three years in office Donald Trump will do the right thing on foreign affairs, according to new polling from the Pew Research Center.
The survey was conducted well before Trump signed off on a US drone strike that killed Qassem Suleimani last week. The strike has pushed tensions between America and its longtime Middle Eastern nemesis to high alert and led to Tehran launching ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house American troops.
[….]
Sentiment against Trump is common across western Europe, where roughly 75% or more of people in Germany, Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands lack confidence in the US leader.
That feeling runs even deeper in Mexico, where 89% have no confidence in Trump, who has made Mexicans the target of his barbs and anti-immigration policies like the border wall.
But the world isn’t entirely against Trump.
Majorities in Israel, the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria and India have confidence that he will do the right thing on the world stage.
Five leaders were rated in the poll, with Trump receiving the most negative views. Low shares expressed confidence in Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping as well.
Confidence in Germany’s Angela Merkel was the highest among the leaders. Views of France’s Emmanuel Macron were slightly more positive than negative.
[…]
The survey of nearly 37,000 people in the 33 countries was conducted from 18 May to 2 October 2019, based on telephone and face-to-face interviews.
The reviews are showing up on the twitter feed of SFB and his attempt at speaking. Overall, Adderall is the winner. Sniffing, symptom of lots of Adderall, ties for first. The rest are the guy is out of his mind, lost in space (not even our real space), senile, demented, should be in a home (if not a prison), along with a bunch of hateful stuff. Apparently he is forgetting what an Iran is and is ready to move on to his next outrageous statement.
And on the weather front, high temps here beginning tomorrow for the next week are 55, 63, 71, 55, 57, 60 & 59. Lows range from 42-54. That doesn’t often happen here in January. Average high in East Bumfuck in January is 39 so our average over the next week will be 21 degrees above average for the month. Average low is 22. The record January high was 78 on 1/1/73. I guess I’ll go wash the car Saturday – in shorts.
I don’t think that stupidity can explain trump’s remarkable ability to harm American interests to the benefit of putin. Stupidity would produce hit & miss results. The accuracy with which trump cracks the NATO alliance and propels our Middle Eastern clients into putin’s waiting arms indicates what Hollywood evangelicals like jim bakker and franklin graham call ‘Intelligent Design’.
Here are Paul Waldman’s 5 takeaways from SFB’s address today:
1. Trump’s Iran policy has been a catastrophic failure.
2. Trump desperately wanted to find a way to declare victory and back off.
3. Trump is still obsessed with Barack Obama.
4. Trump is comically insecure about his manhood.
-and, drumroll, please…..
5. Trump still has no idea what he wants to accomplish with regard to Iran or how to do it.
Shocking, no?
XR – if SFB is the product of “Intelligent design”, the supreme being better go back to design school. There are more than a few bugs in that design that need to be worked out.
I had to sit a lot as me old muddah lay dying and there was only one book in the whole house. So I figured ok, it’s no Anna Kerenema but any old port in a storm, wot ye? I’d had quite enough of Moses, thank you, so started in on Joshua and leaving out the psalms and proverbs, read the rest of it. But Joshua is the key.
Once you cross the Old Jordon, Hoss, the sword is still the king……
Evanghoulicals.
Pogo – sometimes in mass production a product which should have been tossed in the reject trash can makes it through quality control.
My point was not that trump is the result of intelligent design, but that his pro-putin actions are the result of intelligent design. The russian mole could not have screwed things up so badly for us through mere accidents of stupidity.
Well, now Russia knows that if they want the U.S. to drag itself into an inopportune war, they just have to stage a riotous protest at a U.S. Embassy (if they didn’t know that already😉).
Putin’s playing chess; Trump is still learning Chutes and Ladders.
Strike that- Putin’s playing chess: Trump’s the pawn. As true as it is trite.
“THE UNFATHOMABLE STUPIDITY OF DONALD TRUMP” gets a big amen!
yes there is
blue one
Yeah, people go to sleep with the chickens these days…..I don’t know whether to play mustang sally or brown-eye girl.
I know……this is maudlin…..
Too bad. It’s also Sam.
No one died in Iranian attack. No one died in the attack on Ft. Sumpter, but eventually more than 600,000 perished.
Trump lied again today about Obama giving billions of US dollars to Iran. That was their money unfrozen in the nuke deal.
…came in a few tracks after your Sam Cooke, Sturge:
Warning: deceased male in two-tone leather jacket
…and remember: Keep looking up!
Warning: electronic music for young 20-somethings made by 40-somethings, hence the title.
✌️in🇺🇸🇮🇷
Ooh, wait, one more- just because i want to write the warning, and it’s a good song:
Warning: simulated sexual noises, kissing, canoodling, sexually-suggestive dancing, implied inebriation, tobacco use, gyration, French people (strike that- Russians!🤯)
Sturge, I don’ wanna hear nobody dis Sam because he sings gospel and the blues. Maudlin? Beautifully done. I got nuthin in gospel but I hear him and it’s like one of those male angels singing. The man is a national treasure I tells ya.
So this morning I couldn’t have told you that I might agree with Mike Lee and Rand Paul but tonight I can tell you that I do. And Lindsey Graham has lost his mind. Hope he’s enjoying the golf.
It’s going to be hard to get rid of the corrupt Electoral College, but it has to go.
it all makes sense if his goal is to help putin. from money laundering via trash tower condos to his latest of opening the doors (and the ports) of the middle east for vlad.
the pattern is staring us in the face: With Trump, All Roads Lead to Moscow
NEW THREAD