True but I did Not Know if you had seen this . You did Mention AFGHANISTAN & this article mentions that topic also . Is there a better way to send you Articles ???
You should read the last 20 year of writing on Afghanistan, including the years I was deployed there. It is all available for free. I'm good on that topic, trust me.
Got it . I was just bringing Up something to do with the Cluster F...k withdraw & WhiteHouse Directives setting the Stage for the End Game where there was Not sufficient US Troops in Country. The 'Blame Game' Game .
I forget who said it first, but for 15+ years of consistent bipartisan policy in this regard, America is universally regarded as treacherous as a friend, harmless as an enemy.
Soros, Holder, Obama and the other Usual Suspects are working overtime to make sure the Democrats win the Presidency. Far too much power and $$ to do otherwise.
I'm afraid you are very mistaken. PA illegally counted 600,000+ ballots that were illegally accepted after polls closed. Court unconstitutionally overruled legislature. In Wisconsin more than 150,000 ballots were illegally collected and counted in unconstitutional (state level) drop boxes as a court ruled in the past few weeks. AZ, GA, and MI had limited chain of custody, destroyed records and ballots, reduced or zero transparency, and hundreds of affidavits about counterfeit and duplicate counted ballots and other irregularities.
The elections were compromised in at least 6 states, probably more. It is impossible for an objective viewer to not see it.
IIRC Jake Sullivan is the one who came up with the _It's a spontaneous protest against a video_ for the terrorist attack in Benghazi. Another one of those guys who just keeps failing upward.
Exactly. I have written this, variations of this, before. Deterrence is a function of the swiftness, and the certainty, of consequence to the point that to a small degree (stressing small degree) the severity of the consequence is less of a factor. This is the critical insight that has been ignored in both our foreign affairs as well as the criminal justice system domestically. A consequence that is not swift OR not certain, does not deter no matter how severe it is. Of course both factors are missing in our current response system – neither swift nor certain – and the woeful results are abundantly clear. Thus is crime rampant on our streets and our constitutionally guaranteed liberty abridged. No differently are the unrestrained attacks upon our people and our interests internationally inflicting wanton death and injury, restricting freedom of commerce, flouting any suggestion of consequence. Our government must do better.
Negotiation with those determined to do violence, as with calibrated responses to actual violence (another conceit of the Biden administration) is the refuge of the unsure, the dithering, the cultured elite, the self-identified globalist sophisticate as much as the unprincipled fretters wringing their hands over what others might think or do, when the consequences should be immediate, destructive and out of all proportion to the abilities, standing or interests of the offender. Dictate the consequences, do not calibrate them.
The response should have been immediate - the commands should be authorized to act at once and overwhelmingly without having to wait for approval. Reinstitute the time-tested concept of punitive expeditions ... exact severe consequences and go home, with the explicit understanding there is more where that came from if you do it again. The reason to respond is not to even the score or induce negotiations. It is to end the contest.
No occupation, no gradual escalation, no pause for reflection, no wringing of hands about international comity, no inducements to join in the brotherhood of nations, no ground troops or democracy building ... f**k with us and pay a price – do not dare to attack us, our national interests or those of the free world we represent. "This Government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." FAFO is an excellent policy.
there is a an account, I think by Gibbons, that a Roman citizen could walk from one end of the Empire to the other, safe in the knowledge that either his person and property were inviolate or a Legion would descend on the Province in 6 months and start planting crucifixes along side the road topped with the alleged malefactors, and their tribe
"I am (a) Roman citizen") is a phrase used in Cicero's In Verrem as a plea for the legal rights of a Roman citizen.[1] When travelling across the Roman Empire, safety was said to be guaranteed to anyone who declared, "civis Romanus sum".
Yes, it did indeed. "A band of Cilician pirates kidnapped a 25-year old Roman nobleman on the way to Rhodes. He charmed them, telling his captors to double their ransom demand and joking about how he would punish them. When the ransom was paid and he was released, Julius Caesar returned at the head of a Roman fleet. The future master of the Mediterranean captured all of his ex-captors and crucified each one."
Swift & Certain works with house-breaking puppies, rearing children, curbing juvenile delinquency and in dispatching poison snakes in the barn. Meaning no offense to the man himself, we have an Arnold Stang style of leadership in D.C. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO8UdaLAucM
The Brits called their Afghan policy, "Butcher and Bolt"
the term proportionate should not be in the lexicon. It also helps if the enemy thinks of your leader, "be careful, no telling what that crazy SOB might do.
Part and parcel to my KGB hostage story below:
"KGB Resident Perfilyev then met up with Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, then spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites and told him: “A great power cannot wait forever. From waiting and observing, it can proceed to serious action with unpredictable consequences”. Met with silence from Fadlallah, the KGB station chief spoke bluntly:
We aren’t only talking about people in Beirut. I’m talking about Tehran and Qom [Shiite holy city and the residence of Ayatollah Khomeini], which is not that far from Russia’s borders. Yes, Qom is very close to us and a mistake in the launch of a missile could always happen. A technical error, some kind of breakdown. They write about it all the time. And God or Allah forbid if this happens with a live, armed missile.
The visibly shaken Fadlallah responded after a moment of silence: “I think everything will turn out well”. Later, his closest advisor “Hassan” (Nasrallah?) told Yuri Perfilyev that no one dared to talk to the Grand Ayatollah in such a fashion."
Interesting tale. Bullies do indeed backdown in the face of a credible threat but not since facing down Corn Pop has Brandon been able to respond like that.
What do you get when you go against human nature? More of the same. Wrote about this a while ago https://aviationsceptic.substack.com/p/deterrence-behavior-and-three-year . With three year olds and terrorists, you get more of the behavior you reward and less of what you punish. This is apparently a strange concept to the current administration, or they are actually getting what they want...perhaps AND they are getting what they want?
I like your thinking here. The difference between dealing with three year olds and terrorists being the level and duration of force employed. There is hope for three year olds and we should encourage that.
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” ― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
And there are actual discussions happening in our government to let Gaza terrorists emigrate to the US, I guess so that they can join their brothers and sisters protesting on college campuses. Secondly, why would we give Gaza one red cent of aid to rebuild when the need to rebuild was 100% their fault.
"On September 30, 1985, a group of gunmen seized four Soviet diplomats and embassy workers (Arkady Katkov, Valery Myrikov, Oleg Spirin, and Nikolai Svirsky) in Beirut. During the kidnapping right outside the embassy, Katkov was wounded in the leg.
[T]he KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate kinsman with a bullet in the brain.
In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were not freed immediately.
Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the Soviet embassy “from a late-model BMW that couldn’t drive away fast enough” and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped in Lebanon.
Yes! This made quite the statement throughout the region back in the day. If you were contemplating the downrange effects of doing this for the first time, do you prefer an American flavored pig or a Russian flavored one? Willpower, not latent capabilities.
1. I submit that you read the "Don Pacifico" affair with regard to the British Navy in the 1800s. Seems Don Pacifico was a dual Portuguese/British citizen who was being harassed/stiffed by the Greek government. While Britain had multiple motives for intervening int Greek politics, the Don Pacifico affair gave HM government a good PR reason. So after some months, the British Navy appeared on the horizon and the Greek government caved. Lesson: British citizens are protected wherever they are -- if you screw with them at some point in time, Britain will come to their aid.
2. Lebanon in the 80s. While the US was being bombed and attaches and professors at the American University in Beirut were kidnapped (and I think a military officer was killed), the various factions thought they could also get away with screwing with the Russians. So a Lebanese faction kidnapped a couple of Russian embassy personnel who were also regarded as KGB agents. Russians determined who was responsible and tracked down some relatives of the kidnappers. Small body parts (fingers/ears) of the kidnappers' relatives started showing up. Poof -- the KGB agents were deposited on a Beirut street corner within a couple of days.
3. Libya I think in '86 or thereabouts. US GI and some Germans are killed in a nightclub bombing in Germany. US determines Libyan connection -- Reagan executes El Dorado Canyon operation and snuffs Qadaffi's family members 10 days later.
4. I'd argue that we do negotiate with terrorists -- just the method of negotiation and the "signaling" pathway varies. And I agree that instead of verbal negotiation, kinetics are more feared and respected.
On 4 March 1987, Ronald Reagan made a nationally televised address, saying he was taking full responsibility for the Iran/Contra affair and stating that "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."
At no point in that article was any proof offered that Ronald Reagan knew of any negotiations with Iran to keep the hostages locked up until after the election, and your allegation that he did is deceitful and beneath you.
Ronald Reagan taking responsibility for what any efforts may have turned into was honorable- the Buck stopped at his Desk. There was zero evidence that Reagan directed or knew what any of his underlings or acquaintances may have been up to prior to his election.
"The House and Senate separately authorized investigations and both ultimately rejected the claims. The bipartisan House task force, led by a Democrat, Representative Lee H. Hamilton of Indiana, and controlled by Democrats 8 to 5, concluded in a consensus 968-page report that Mr. Casey was not in Madrid at the time and that stories of covert dealings were not backed by credible testimony, documents or intelligence reports."
The Steele Dossier was real. Hunter's laptop was a hoax. Hillary was cheated out of the Presidency. OK. But why would Norfolk-Southern, CSX or BNSF negotiate with Iran? I don't get it.
Yesterday I was listening to Ward Carroll's interview with Jack Murphy on the most recent IDF rescue. Apparently, we had operators shifted to Cyprus almost immediately after 10/7. Someone in the Administration decided not to pull the trigger.
Pax Americana did not survive into the 21st century. No country or group sees the United States today as a ruthless and implaccable foe. The State Department elite have insured that we reflect an image of a country that will negotiate anything and whatever cost or loss of face. We could use someone like Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston circa 1850.
"I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this House, as representing a political, a commercial, a constitutional country, is to give on the question now brought before it; whether the principles on which the foreign policy of Her Majesty’s Government has been conducted, and the sense of duty which has led us to think ourselves bound to afford protection to our fellow subjects abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those who are charged with the Government of England; and whether, as the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England, will protect him against injustice and wrong."
A character in a book I read long ago said: “Respect is merely the civilized term for the installation of utter fear.” That was once us. That isn’t us anymore.
That should not be us. Alexander Hamilton and George Washington charted a clear path for the US.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?"
Washington's Farewell Address should be required reading in elementary, junior high and High School. I've read it a few times over the decades and every time I am impressed with the wisdom and foresight of George Washington.
Worth noting is that this is from the same guy who led a fifteen thousand man army against the Whiskey Rebellion, was known as "the Town-burner" among the Iroquois, and sent Mad Anthony Wayne to crush a confederation of Indian tribes in the old Northwest.
They are Americans, and we allow ourselves to be divided with "well, you were just goofing off on holiday, you're fair game" or "you're a citizen by marriage" (which is how you get dual citizenship) - you're fair game then the USA shows weakness and shows that it will allow itself to be divided today, destroyed tomorrow.
"Think about how cheap this administration holds the value of American citizens." I do think about it, and for me the evidence is overwhelming that this administration only appears to have a care for those it can suborn into an absolute fawning subservience. Be a malleable tool or GTFO.
DEC 2020..JAN 2021 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals
That has nothing to do with this.
True but I did Not Know if you had seen this . You did Mention AFGHANISTAN & this article mentions that topic also . Is there a better way to send you Articles ???
You should read the last 20 year of writing on Afghanistan, including the years I was deployed there. It is all available for free. I'm good on that topic, trust me.
Got it . I was just bringing Up something to do with the Cluster F...k withdraw & WhiteHouse Directives setting the Stage for the End Game where there was Not sufficient US Troops in Country. The 'Blame Game' Game .
I'll be curious to see if the same 480 who authored and signed the pro-Biden letter four years ago still stand behind it.
Of course they do.
That depends on which side gets them elected again.
I forget who said it first, but for 15+ years of consistent bipartisan policy in this regard, America is universally regarded as treacherous as a friend, harmless as an enemy.
Not harmless as an enemy, though we are not feared or respected. Agree with being regarded as treacherous as a friend.
Oh, it goes back a lot further than that. More like 50 years.
At least a century.
They know exactly who and what HAMAS is and why Israel is doing what it must.
They just don't care.
The only thing this administration cares about is remaining in power.
And they despise traditional American values like equality before the law.
The have calculated - and perhaps correctly - that if they concoct some sort of a deal, it will carry them through November.
If things fall apart - which could happen- they won't even be able to win a rigged election.
I am going to go out on a limb and say they have outsmarted themselves and they will soon be a bad dream, but that may be wishful thinking.
I do not underestimate them. They have shown themselves capable of rigging an election and have had almost 4 years to fine tune that apparatus.
Soros, Holder, Obama and the other Usual Suspects are working overtime to make sure the Democrats win the Presidency. Far too much power and $$ to do otherwise.
JFC, people still believe this rigged election crap? Completely debunked man.
You should hook up with Tom Yardley. I would go into more detail, but Sal gets pissed when I do so.
I'm afraid you are very mistaken. PA illegally counted 600,000+ ballots that were illegally accepted after polls closed. Court unconstitutionally overruled legislature. In Wisconsin more than 150,000 ballots were illegally collected and counted in unconstitutional (state level) drop boxes as a court ruled in the past few weeks. AZ, GA, and MI had limited chain of custody, destroyed records and ballots, reduced or zero transparency, and hundreds of affidavits about counterfeit and duplicate counted ballots and other irregularities.
The elections were compromised in at least 6 states, probably more. It is impossible for an objective viewer to not see it.
Get. Better. Sources.
I pity the fool.
That's pithy. Seemed particularly long-winded. A far cry from "I pity da foo'"
Smells like cheese…
BZ
IIRC Jake Sullivan is the one who came up with the _It's a spontaneous protest against a video_ for the terrorist attack in Benghazi. Another one of those guys who just keeps failing upward.
He's not failing. He's just not on our side.
Exactly. I have written this, variations of this, before. Deterrence is a function of the swiftness, and the certainty, of consequence to the point that to a small degree (stressing small degree) the severity of the consequence is less of a factor. This is the critical insight that has been ignored in both our foreign affairs as well as the criminal justice system domestically. A consequence that is not swift OR not certain, does not deter no matter how severe it is. Of course both factors are missing in our current response system – neither swift nor certain – and the woeful results are abundantly clear. Thus is crime rampant on our streets and our constitutionally guaranteed liberty abridged. No differently are the unrestrained attacks upon our people and our interests internationally inflicting wanton death and injury, restricting freedom of commerce, flouting any suggestion of consequence. Our government must do better.
Negotiation with those determined to do violence, as with calibrated responses to actual violence (another conceit of the Biden administration) is the refuge of the unsure, the dithering, the cultured elite, the self-identified globalist sophisticate as much as the unprincipled fretters wringing their hands over what others might think or do, when the consequences should be immediate, destructive and out of all proportion to the abilities, standing or interests of the offender. Dictate the consequences, do not calibrate them.
The response should have been immediate - the commands should be authorized to act at once and overwhelmingly without having to wait for approval. Reinstitute the time-tested concept of punitive expeditions ... exact severe consequences and go home, with the explicit understanding there is more where that came from if you do it again. The reason to respond is not to even the score or induce negotiations. It is to end the contest.
No occupation, no gradual escalation, no pause for reflection, no wringing of hands about international comity, no inducements to join in the brotherhood of nations, no ground troops or democracy building ... f**k with us and pay a price – do not dare to attack us, our national interests or those of the free world we represent. "This Government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." FAFO is an excellent policy.
there is a an account, I think by Gibbons, that a Roman citizen could walk from one end of the Empire to the other, safe in the knowledge that either his person and property were inviolate or a Legion would descend on the Province in 6 months and start planting crucifixes along side the road topped with the alleged malefactors, and their tribe
"I am (a) Roman citizen") is a phrase used in Cicero's In Verrem as a plea for the legal rights of a Roman citizen.[1] When travelling across the Roman Empire, safety was said to be guaranteed to anyone who declared, "civis Romanus sum".
Julius Caesar was famously captured and held for ransom by pirates. I doubt whether other, less wealthy and influential Romans, were immune to crime.
I seem to remember this ended badly for the pirates.
Yes, it did indeed. "A band of Cilician pirates kidnapped a 25-year old Roman nobleman on the way to Rhodes. He charmed them, telling his captors to double their ransom demand and joking about how he would punish them. When the ransom was paid and he was released, Julius Caesar returned at the head of a Roman fleet. The future master of the Mediterranean captured all of his ex-captors and crucified each one."
https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860715_1860714_1860702,00.html#:~:text=He%20charmed%20them%2C%20telling%20his,captors%20and%20crucified%20each%20one.
On the other hand, a Roman citizen could not walk the streets of Rome after dark without a substantial risk of being robbed or murdered.
That is probably true, but I have to wonder the what effects on the murder rate in Chicago would be if the criminals faced damnatio ad bestias.
I think we should try it and see if there is a reduction in crime, especially murder.
Swift & Certain works with house-breaking puppies, rearing children, curbing juvenile delinquency and in dispatching poison snakes in the barn. Meaning no offense to the man himself, we have an Arnold Stang style of leadership in D.C. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO8UdaLAucM
The Brits called their Afghan policy, "Butcher and Bolt"
the term proportionate should not be in the lexicon. It also helps if the enemy thinks of your leader, "be careful, no telling what that crazy SOB might do.
Part and parcel to my KGB hostage story below:
"KGB Resident Perfilyev then met up with Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah, then spiritual leader of Lebanese Shiites and told him: “A great power cannot wait forever. From waiting and observing, it can proceed to serious action with unpredictable consequences”. Met with silence from Fadlallah, the KGB station chief spoke bluntly:
We aren’t only talking about people in Beirut. I’m talking about Tehran and Qom [Shiite holy city and the residence of Ayatollah Khomeini], which is not that far from Russia’s borders. Yes, Qom is very close to us and a mistake in the launch of a missile could always happen. A technical error, some kind of breakdown. They write about it all the time. And God or Allah forbid if this happens with a live, armed missile.
The visibly shaken Fadlallah responded after a moment of silence: “I think everything will turn out well”. Later, his closest advisor “Hassan” (Nasrallah?) told Yuri Perfilyev that no one dared to talk to the Grand Ayatollah in such a fashion."
Interesting tale. Bullies do indeed backdown in the face of a credible threat but not since facing down Corn Pop has Brandon been able to respond like that.
"Bullies do indeed backdown in the face of a credible threat"
Some do, some don't.
What do you get when you go against human nature? More of the same. Wrote about this a while ago https://aviationsceptic.substack.com/p/deterrence-behavior-and-three-year . With three year olds and terrorists, you get more of the behavior you reward and less of what you punish. This is apparently a strange concept to the current administration, or they are actually getting what they want...perhaps AND they are getting what they want?
I like your thinking here. The difference between dealing with three year olds and terrorists being the level and duration of force employed. There is hope for three year olds and we should encourage that.
I tend to think your latter supposition is correct
As long as we get to the children before the government school system does.
“it is much safer to be feared than loved because...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” ― Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
And there are actual discussions happening in our government to let Gaza terrorists emigrate to the US, I guess so that they can join their brothers and sisters protesting on college campuses. Secondly, why would we give Gaza one red cent of aid to rebuild when the need to rebuild was 100% their fault.
OMG. We're fcukee-fcukeed.
Has NSA Sullivan suggested there's contingency plans in case things go awry? Or are they depending entirely on the good offices of Hamas?
He gets a multi-million/year contract at MSNBC as a journalist.
Sullivan has always been an Iran apologist
"On September 30, 1985, a group of gunmen seized four Soviet diplomats and embassy workers (Arkady Katkov, Valery Myrikov, Oleg Spirin, and Nikolai Svirsky) in Beirut. During the kidnapping right outside the embassy, Katkov was wounded in the leg.
[T]he KGB kidnapped a man they knew to be a close relative of a prominent Hezbollah leader. They then castrated him and sent the severed organs to the Hezbollah official, before dispatching the unfortunate kinsman with a bullet in the brain.
In addition to presenting him with this grisly proof of their seriousness, the KGB operatives also advised the Hezbollah leader that they knew the indentities of other close relatives of his, and that he could expect more such packages if the three Soviet diplomats were not freed immediately.
Soon thereafter, the surviving three hostages were dropped off by the Soviet embassy “from a late-model BMW that couldn’t drive away fast enough” and never again was a Soviet (diplomat or otherwise) kidnapped in Lebanon.
https://chroniclesmagazine.org/web/how-to-deal-with-hostage-takers-soviet-lessons/
Thus ended the problem...
Yes! This made quite the statement throughout the region back in the day. If you were contemplating the downrange effects of doing this for the first time, do you prefer an American flavored pig or a Russian flavored one? Willpower, not latent capabilities.
Some observations:
1. I submit that you read the "Don Pacifico" affair with regard to the British Navy in the 1800s. Seems Don Pacifico was a dual Portuguese/British citizen who was being harassed/stiffed by the Greek government. While Britain had multiple motives for intervening int Greek politics, the Don Pacifico affair gave HM government a good PR reason. So after some months, the British Navy appeared on the horizon and the Greek government caved. Lesson: British citizens are protected wherever they are -- if you screw with them at some point in time, Britain will come to their aid.
2. Lebanon in the 80s. While the US was being bombed and attaches and professors at the American University in Beirut were kidnapped (and I think a military officer was killed), the various factions thought they could also get away with screwing with the Russians. So a Lebanese faction kidnapped a couple of Russian embassy personnel who were also regarded as KGB agents. Russians determined who was responsible and tracked down some relatives of the kidnappers. Small body parts (fingers/ears) of the kidnappers' relatives started showing up. Poof -- the KGB agents were deposited on a Beirut street corner within a couple of days.
3. Libya I think in '86 or thereabouts. US GI and some Germans are killed in a nightclub bombing in Germany. US determines Libyan connection -- Reagan executes El Dorado Canyon operation and snuffs Qadaffi's family members 10 days later.
4. I'd argue that we do negotiate with terrorists -- just the method of negotiation and the "signaling" pathway varies. And I agree that instead of verbal negotiation, kinetics are more feared and respected.
Of course we negotiate with terrorists. RR negotiated with Iran to keep the hostages locked up until after the election.
Do you have any evidence for that allegation?
On 4 March 1987, Ronald Reagan made a nationally televised address, saying he was taking full responsibility for the Iran/Contra affair and stating that "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/18/us/politics/jimmy-carter-october-surprise-iran-hostages.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zE0.AwKM.rk5e38fomNtK&smid=url-share
At no point in that article was any proof offered that Ronald Reagan knew of any negotiations with Iran to keep the hostages locked up until after the election, and your allegation that he did is deceitful and beneath you.
Ronald Reagan taking responsibility for what any efforts may have turned into was honorable- the Buck stopped at his Desk. There was zero evidence that Reagan directed or knew what any of his underlings or acquaintances may have been up to prior to his election.
"The House and Senate separately authorized investigations and both ultimately rejected the claims. The bipartisan House task force, led by a Democrat, Representative Lee H. Hamilton of Indiana, and controlled by Democrats 8 to 5, concluded in a consensus 968-page report that Mr. Casey was not in Madrid at the time and that stories of covert dealings were not backed by credible testimony, documents or intelligence reports."
Remove your tinfoil hat.
Hell, Newsweek and a Mother Jones writer (neither of which exactly scream "right-wing reactionary") also looked at the claim and called BS on it.
The Steele Dossier was real. Hunter's laptop was a hoax. Hillary was cheated out of the Presidency. OK. But why would Norfolk-Southern, CSX or BNSF negotiate with Iran? I don't get it.
lol
Turns my stomach. At best these fools are Feckless surrender monkeys at worst active agents for the enemy.
Yesterday I was listening to Ward Carroll's interview with Jack Murphy on the most recent IDF rescue. Apparently, we had operators shifted to Cyprus almost immediately after 10/7. Someone in the Administration decided not to pull the trigger.
Pax Americana did not survive into the 21st century. No country or group sees the United States today as a ruthless and implaccable foe. The State Department elite have insured that we reflect an image of a country that will negotiate anything and whatever cost or loss of face. We could use someone like Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston circa 1850.
"I therefore fearlessly challenge the verdict which this House, as representing a political, a commercial, a constitutional country, is to give on the question now brought before it; whether the principles on which the foreign policy of Her Majesty’s Government has been conducted, and the sense of duty which has led us to think ourselves bound to afford protection to our fellow subjects abroad, are proper and fitting guides for those who are charged with the Government of England; and whether, as the Roman, in days of old, held himself free from indignity, when he could say Civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]; so also a British subject, in whatever land he may be, shall feel confident that the watchful eye and the strong arm of England, will protect him against injustice and wrong."
Yeah the White House published pictures of Biden meeting with some Delta operators in Israel. Showing their faces and nametags IIRC.
A character in a book I read long ago said: “Respect is merely the civilized term for the installation of utter fear.” That was once us. That isn’t us anymore.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
dacowits and gloria steinem are enjoying their success.
Gah, Ahmed! "DACOWITS"
You are true to your Avatar. https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_176,h_176,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F145be193-f154-4530-9fa5-cbb16bcee203_730x733.jpeg
https://media4.giphy.com/media/13UgFgW4PXRII/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9527x5mkbw155zv0z4m6ipoek2a31ykaz0zxh0uqn3o&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
That should not be us. Alexander Hamilton and George Washington charted a clear path for the US.
"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?"
Washington's Farewell Address should be required reading in elementary, junior high and High School. I've read it a few times over the decades and every time I am impressed with the wisdom and foresight of George Washington.
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Washingtons_Farewell_Address.pdf
Worth noting is that this is from the same guy who led a fifteen thousand man army against the Whiskey Rebellion, was known as "the Town-burner" among the Iroquois, and sent Mad Anthony Wayne to crush a confederation of Indian tribes in the old Northwest.
were the americans visiting? tourists? business? haven’t heard much about them at all. dual-citizens?
They are Americans, and we allow ourselves to be divided with "well, you were just goofing off on holiday, you're fair game" or "you're a citizen by marriage" (which is how you get dual citizenship) - you're fair game then the USA shows weakness and shows that it will allow itself to be divided today, destroyed tomorrow.
Sigh.
"Think about how cheap this administration holds the value of American citizens." I do think about it, and for me the evidence is overwhelming that this administration only appears to have a care for those it can suborn into an absolute fawning subservience. Be a malleable tool or GTFO.