Patterico's Pontifications

12/31/2017

Open Thread: Iran Protests

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:09 am



I have always said that many among the Iranian people are pro-American. One of the pro-America vigils across the world after 9/11 took place in Tehran. What is happening now is a reminder that the Iranian regime is not synonymous with the people of Iran.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

210 Responses to “Open Thread: Iran Protests”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (b56031)

  2. Do you think 35% of Iranians support the Regime?

    Parallels everywhere..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  3. So far, I welcome the response of this administration compared to Obama’s.

    But I guess since Trump is such an authoritarian, and admires authoritarian responses (at least according to comments on this site), once the mullah’s crack down violently on a massive scale Trump will “praise” them.

    random viking (d78021)

  4. Trump will “praise” them

    He’s itching to demonstrate his strength when he fires Mueller and the streets explode.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  5. i like their version of mole

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  6. here you go it’s one of the best things and it’s fabulous without the rice too you can plate it over baby spinaches and cut a lot of carbs out of it for America

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  7. The Resisters are educated sophisticates with a Cosmopolitan face, as opposed to the Tyrants of oppressive Religion.

    Sound familiar?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  8. Protests began the night of 12 June 2009, following the announcement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won nearly 63% of the vote, despite several reported irregularities.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Iranian_presidential_election_protests

    Sound familiar?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  9. Oh I see. TRUMPTYRANT TRUMPS Mooslim tyrant.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  10. As we all know the streets of Tehran used to resemble L.A. under the Shah of Iran. Short skirts and a western attitude.
    Mitra a close friend went back a few months before the Revolution and brought her parents and brother back to the states. She is praying for a new Iran.

    mg (8cbc69)

  11. @7- white rice is a no no no, happyfeet.

    mg (8cbc69)

  12. TEHRAN, Dec 31 (KUNA) Iran on Sunday described reports claiming that an oil pipeline in the Islamic Republic’s southwestern province of Khuzestan was hit by a “terrorist” attack as “baseless and untrue.”

    “The news of oil facilities in Khuzestan province coming under attack is completely false,” state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Aghajari Oil and Gas Production Company’s public relations manager as saying.

    A number of media reports on Saturday indicated that an oil pipeline in Khuzestan province was the target of a “terrorist” attack. (end)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  13. yes yes white rice is no good i abjure it 100% Mr. mg

    brown rice too for that matter

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  14. yes, brown rice is overrated.
    love me some spinach.

    mg (8cbc69)

  15. where’s useless Rex Tillerson btw?

    not a peep from him or his pendulous manboobs about these protests

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  16. 8: The Resisters are educated sophisticates with a Cosmopolitan face

    Wrong thread. The Russian Revolution is being discussed in the other one.

    random viking (d78021)

  17. Protests all over Iran with narry a Death to America or Stars and Stripes barbeque to be found.

    Buck up Ben. If you pine for Iran of yesteryear, a reasonable facsimile can be found on the Boston Commons https://youtu.be/P1tsbWvqDdE

    papertiger (c8116c)

  18. Obama on Iran (June 15th 2009)
    https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/06/15/president-meets-with-prime-minister-berlusconi-comments-iran

    PRESIDENT OBAMA: Obviously all of us have been watching the news from Iran. And I want to start off by being very clear that it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be; that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran, which sometimes the United States can be a handy political football — or discussions with the United States.

    Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process — free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent — all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they’re, rightfully, troubled.

    My understanding is, is that the Iranian government says that they are going to look into irregularities that have taken place. We weren’t on the ground, we did not have observers there, we did not have international observers on hand, so I can’t state definitively one way or another what happened with respect to the election. But what I can say is that there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy who now feel betrayed. And I think it’s important that, moving forward, whatever investigations take place are done in a way that is not resulting in bloodshed and is not resulting in people being stifled in expressing their views.

    Now, with respect to the United States and our interactions with Iran, I’ve always believed that as odious as I consider some of President Ahmadinejad’s statements, as deep as the differences that exist between the United States and Iran on a range of core issues, that the use of tough, hard-headed diplomacy — diplomacy with no illusions about Iran and the nature of the differences between our two countries — is critical when it comes to pursuing a core set of our national security interests, specifically, making sure that we are not seeing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East triggered by Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon; making sure that Iran is not exporting terrorist activity. Those are core interests not just to the United States but I think to a peaceful world in general.

    We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us. But even as we do so, I think it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we’ve seen on the television over the last few days. And what I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was. And they should know that the world is watching.
    And particularly to the youth of Iran, I want them to know that we in the United States do not want to make any decisions for the Iranians, but we do believe that the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected.

    And now, the Trump Regime:
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/13/donald-trump-expected-promise-tough-action-iran-landmark-speech/

    • Donald Trump unveils tough new stance on Iran
    • US President refuses to certify Iran nuclear deal
    • Kicks issue to Congress to decide whether to impose new nuclear sanctions
    • Imposes sanctions on Revolutionary Guard Corps
    • Theresa May and European leaders express concern for nuclear deal

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/30/trump-redoubles-support-iran-protests-saying-world-is-watching.html

    “Many reports of peaceful protests by Iranian citizens fed up with regime’s corruption & its squandering of the nation’s wealth to fund terrorism abroad. Iranian govt should respect their people’s rights, including right to express themselves. The world is watching! #IranProtests,” Trump tweeted late Friday.

    Trump, since at least the start of his 2016 presidential campaign, has been critical of the Iranian leaders, arguing they have not fully complied with a 2015 international deal in which they agreed to curtail their pursuit of a nuclear weapon in exchange for the lifting of billions in crippling economic sanctions. The president, as a result, has refused to recertify the deal, brokered by the previous Obama administration.
    ….
    The State Department issued a statement Friday supporting the protests, referencing Tillerson’s earlier comments.

    “Iran’s leaders have turned a wealthy country with a rich history and culture into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos,” the statement said.

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/leading-from-behind

    Obama “leads from behind”.
    By Ryan Lizza

    April 26, 2011

    The phrase “leading from behind,” which an Obama adviser recently used in an interview with me to describe the Administration’s approach to Libya, has sparked a lively debate, especially among conservatives. (See John Podhoretz, Michael Rubin, Erick Erickson, Danielle Pletka, and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.)

    Trump is not leading from behind.

    BfC (5517e8)

  19. nevermind they found Rex

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  20. Great article somewhere yesterday on the changing nature of the federal government work force. Don’t have time or inclination to go search it out again right now, but it you can find it, worth the read.

    Some nuggets I recall:

    Some agencies so top heavy with “professionals” that AVERAGE salary for entire agency is over $100,000. SEC at top of the list because so much of its work force is attorneys and accountants.

    Only 1/3 of all attorneys employed by Feds work for DOJ.

    Post Office and VA employ over 1/3 of ALL federal employees.

    VA employs almost 5000 police officers, but could not provide statistics on a single arrest made by any of them.

    Federal workers with more than 15 years of service receive almost 6 weeks paid time off — 13 federal holidays (2 weeks and 3 days), and they receive 1 vacation day each pay period, with 26 pay periods per year.

    The nature in which the bureaucracy has grown over the past 4 decades needs to be addressed, and it needs to be restructured.

    The two biggest agencies do jobs that could be performed better if done by private industry, even if funded by the government via contract.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  21. Happyfeet,

    You will be happy(?) to learn that Rex is not leading from behind either. Back in June:
    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/tillerson-transition-remarks-prompt-protest-iran-170620133829894.html

    Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who looks after US interests, over comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing “peaceful transition” in the Islamic republic.

    Bahram Ghassemi, the ministry spokesman, informed Iranian media on Tuesday about the diplomatic protest and said Tillerson’s comments were “contrary to international law and the UN charter”.

    Iran also sent a protest letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to the ISNA news agency.

    Tillerson accused Iran of seeking “hegemony” in the Middle East at the expense of US allies such as Saudi Arabia in last Wednesday’s testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

    “Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony … and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government,” Tillerson said.

    “Those elements are there certainly, as we know,” he said, without elaborating on the groups he was referring to.

    And here is the State Department’s statement from two days ago (again, Rex’s baby):
    https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/946886912446488583/photo/1

    BfC (5517e8)

  22. i did see that Mr. BfC which puzzles me all the more why he’s so quiet now

    you’d think this would be like Christmas coming early for him

    but there’s no indication he had much to do with that Nauert statement… they reached back to June for something relevant from Rex instead of getting a fresh quote relevant to the current happenings

    that’s not impressive at all, but what does it mean

    has he just checked out?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  23. It’s encouraging to see Donald Trump speak out unequivocally in favor of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, in Iran.

    Perhaps one day he’ll even feel able to speak out in favor of those same principles here, in America.

    “It’s frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.” – Donald Trump, October 11, 2017

    “Knock the crap out of them … I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees” – Donald Trump, February 2016

    “One of the things I’m going to do if I win, and I hope we do and we’re certainly leading. I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected. You see, with me, they’re not protected, because I’m not like other people but I’m not taking money. I’m not taking their money. We’re going to open up libel laws, and we’re going to have people sue you like you’ve never got sued before.” – Donald Trump, February 2016

    Dave (ee4aca)

  24. Hamedania’s a dirty ayatollah-licker Mr. narciso

    he’s pretending the Iranian people just need to be slopped some more food stamps like little piggies

    obviously a huge obama fan

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  25. Up your meds, Dave.

    mg (8cbc69)

  26. Good for Ted!

    What exactly, in the report he’s complaining about, is false or inappropriate?

    Amidst the anti-government rallies, CNN also reported – in quite neutral language – the occurrence of a pro-government rally/demonstration.

    Is CNN supposed to conceal the existence of events we disapprove of?

    Sad to see Cruz resort to Trump-style dishonesty and demagoguery.

    Dave (ee4aca)

  27. The NYTimes says they are only protesting economic conditions, you know – along with climate change the two things Obama said were responsible for terrorism committed by otherwise peaceful and benign Muslims.

    harkin (8256c3)

  28. Right erdbrink filling regime talking points from Tokyo, they spent a great deal in Syria and Yemen, in men and material. Sort of their analog to Angola for the Cuban regime

    narciso (d1f714)

  29. “Nearly a year into his takeover of Washington, President Trump has made a significant down payment on his campaign pledge to shrink the federal bureaucracy, a shift long sought by conservatives that could eventually bring the workforce down to levels not seen in decades.

    By the end of September, all Cabinet departments except Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and Interior had fewer permanent staff than when Trump took office in January — with most shedding many hundreds of employees, according to an analysis of federal personnel data by The Washington Post…

    “Morale has never been lower,” said Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 150,000 federal workers at more than 30 agencies. “Government is making itself a lot less attractive as an employer.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-trump-era-is-changing-the-federal-bureaucracy/2017/12/30/8d5149c6-daa7-11e7-b859-fb0995360725_story.html?tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.fe9b483e5b34

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  30. Kish noted they made a big deal about a certain trend, however they left off a detail:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/LahavHarkov/status/947371524423671809?p=v

    narciso (d1f714)

  31. You Literalists have difficulty understanding how Iranian dissent is the polar opposite of your/Trumps intent.

    The advantage has shifted already.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  32. Truly the Resisting Iranians are the direct opposites of closed-loop conservatives lascivious for the Trump.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  33. here you go it’s one of the best things and it’s fabulous without the rice too you can plate it over baby spinaches and cut a lot of carbs out of it for America

    happyfeet (28a91b) — 12/31/2017 @ 9:46 am

    I tried some chickpea Penne pasta yesterday that was really good. Brand name Banza. More protein and fiber and about a third less carbs if that’s your jam. The texture was good. That’s where a lot of atypical pasta falls down, IMO.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  34. Sharia Law, Evangelical End-Times Enforcers populate the Iranian Ayatollah THEOCRACY.

    How does the Huckabee Bund differ?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  35. along with climate change the two things Obama said were responsible for terrorism committed by otherwise peaceful and benign Muslims.

    Why tell such ridiculous lies? Obama never said climate change was responsible for Islamic terrorism.

    What he said was:

    “What we know is that — as human beings are placed under strain, then bad things happen. And, you know, if you look at world history, whenever people are desperate, when people start lacking food, when people — are not able to make a living or take care of their families — that’s when ideologies arise that are dangerous.”

    As historical generalizations go, that one seems pretty uncontroversial. People who are prosperous and content with their lives generally don’t embrace violent, nihilistic ideologies.

    He also said (attempting to justify his earlier statement that “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change”):

    “There will be ongoing efforts to — disrupt the world order from terrorists, from rogue states, from cyberattacks. There’s always some bad people out there tryin’ to do bad things. And we have to be vigilant in going after them. But, if you start seeing the oceans rise by five, six, seven feet — if — you see major shifts in weather patterns so that what have been previously— bread baskets to the world suddenly can no longer grow food, then you’re seeing the kind of crisis that we can’t deal with through the deployment of the Marines.”

    If you accept the apocalyptic scale of climate change he conjures up, his conclusion is irrefutable; but the point at issue is whether, in fact, climate change on that scale will actually occur.

    Dave (ee4aca)

  36. Appears to be a renunciation of the Obama Doctrine, vis-à-vis Iran…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  37. the point at issue is whether, in fact, climate change on that scale will actually occur.

    I hope you can do better than that. It willoccur. The question is when, not if.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  38. Ben Rhodes
    @brhodes
    The Iranian people are rightfully demanding dignity, less corruption, more opportunity, and greater control over their lives. In looking at US twitter, it seems lost on too many that this is about what Iranians want for Iran, and not about us.”

    _____

    “Benny
    @bennyjohnson
    Raise your hand if you gave this regime legitimacy, $1.7-billion in unmarked pallets of cash & then smugly bragged about how you lied to the press about the deal.

    You go first. “

    harkin (8256c3)

  39. You would think he would have shame, but you would be wrong.

    narciso (d1f714)

  40. I got Banza as part of a christmas basket for my vegetarian friend F – they have it at the Mariano’s – I haven’t heard yet what he thought – i hadn’t even thought about the carbs – on the box they sell the high protein

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  41. You big city dwellers should buy a barrel of 00 flour and break it down into dime bags. I bet you would end up face down in a loaf of bread Tony Montana style.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  42. “Why tell such ridiculous lies? Obama never said climate change was responsible for Islamic terrorism.”

    _____
    “In an interview with The New York Times’s Thomas Friedman, which will be featured in the final episode of Showtime’s climate series “Years of Living Dangerously” on Monday, Obama voiced grave concern over how global warming can be a national security issue for the United States.

    Instability brought on by climate change, Obama said, is what creates an environment for terrorism.”

    Erasin’ History, it’s what they do.

    harkin (8256c3)

  43. Truly the Resisting Iranians are the direct opposites of closed-loop conservatives lascivious for the Trump.
    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 11:36 am

    Compare and contrast Trump vs Obama and the Iranians.

    Ben, what would you do with the Iranians? Direct Force? Special Forces? Pay monies to disrupt their elections? Infiltrate their society?

    At this point, Trump is using diplomacy, media, and social media against the interests of those in power in Iran. You want to do more?

    BfC (5517e8)

  44. Fathead has an almost unmatched record since 1982, hard to top that, then again he married the Canadian developers daughter and consequently has a carbon footprint the size of an aircraft carrier.

    narciso (d1f714)

  45. Anything beats handing them billions in secret cash and oh yeah nuke technology, you’d think N Korea would have taught them something but I guess maybe peace and prosperity were not the goals.

    harkin (8256c3)

  46. Trump will “praise” them

    He’s itching to demonstrate his strength when he fires Mueller and the streets explode.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 9:32 am

    Maybe if you tell them he fired Mueller and ran Popeye’s out of chicken

    Popeye’s runs out of chicken

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  47. Same idiot, Wendy Sherman negotiated both deals.

    narciso (d1f714)

  48. “What we know is that — as human beings are placed under strain, then bad things happen. And, you know, if you look at world history, whenever people are desperate, when people start lacking food, when people — are not able to make a living or take care of their families — that’s when ideologies arise that are dangerous. They will be defeated. There will be ongoing efforts to — disrupt the world order from terrorists, from rogue states, from cyberattacks. There’s always some bad people out there tryin’ to do bad things. And we have to be vigilant in going after them,” he said. “But, if you start seeing the oceans rise by five, six, seven feet — if — you see major shifts in weather patterns so that what have been previously— bread baskets to the world suddenly can no longer grow food, then you’re seeing the kind of crisis that we can’t deal with through the deployment of the Marines.”

    — Barack Hussein Obama

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  49. Its like his a Mrs universe contestant runner up. Who steve Harvey read the wring envelope again.

    narciso (d1f714)

  50. Iran is like China Bfc. You can lead them, but you can’t bridle. The US should understand this as we are the same in that sense.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  51. Pin

    Imagine if they run out of chicken Hawks.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  52. Ben,

    Lead them how? They have no desire to follow (both from my Iranian friends and Chinese relatives, and simply reading the news).

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/washington/world/chinese-general-threatens-use-of-abombs-if-us-intrudes.html

    BEIJING, Friday, July 15 – China should use nuclear weapons against the United States if the American military intervenes in any conflict over Taiwan, a senior Chinese military official said Thursday.

    “If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” the official, Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, said at an official briefing.

    Mr. Freeman quoted Mr. Xiong as saying that Americans should worry more about Los Angeles than Taipei.

    I leave it to the reader to figure out if China would use first strike or not.

    My observation, watch two brothers fight tooth and nail. Stand in between, and have hell rained down on you from both sides.

    BfC (5517e8)

  53. “Shah! Shah! Ayatollah so!” – Robin Williams

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  54. “But, if you start seeing the oceans rise by five, six, seven feet……” Barack T Firefly

    I had no idea that when he promised to slow the ocean’s rise that he was also stating his anti-terror policy.

    harkin (8256c3)

  55. Instability brought on by climate change, Obama said, is what creates an environment for terrorism.

    Except that’s an inaccurate paraphrase, not what he actually said:

    “They don’t have a lot of margin for error, and that has national security implications. When people are hungry, when people are displaced, when there are a lot of young people, particularly young men, who are drifting without prospects for the future, the fertility of the soil for terrorism ends up being significant,” Obama said, “and it can have an impact on us.”

    In no way, shape or form did Obama say, as you falsely claimed, that climate change was “responsible for terrorism committed by otherwise peaceful and benign Muslims.”

    He said impoverishment makes people more receptive to dangerous ideologies, and that climate change could lead to more impoverished people.

    Personally, I think it’s kind of dumb to make this argument, not because it’s wrong, but because it’s silly.

    In a doomsday scenario where the oceans rise six or seven feet, terrorism would probably be relegated to relatively minor importance among all the other calamities we would be confronted with.

    Dave (ee4aca)

  56. 57

    Sammy. Fooking stop the sock puppetting arsewipe!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  57. Ok Dave. I understand..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  58. As we all know the streets of Tehran used to resemble L.A. under the Shah of Iran. Short skirts and a western attitude.
    Mitra a close friend went back a few months before the Revolution and brought her parents and brother back to the states. She is praying for a new Iran.

    mg (8cbc69) — 12/31/2017 @ 9:53 am

    The streets of Tehran resemble the streets of Birmingham

    Birmingham 1940 and 2017

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  59. Sammy Finkleman

    I’ve tried to convince you discreetly but now you’re fooking it up. Cease. Desist.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  60. The velvet “color revolution” failed in 2009 when the “green movement” could not convince the Iranian people that it was more than a foreign supported attempt to overthrow their republic.
    What we currently see in Iran is a combination of chapter 6 and 7 of the Brookings plan. Behind a somewhat popular movement that protests against the neo-liberal economic policies of the Rohani government a militant movement, as seen last night (below), is implementing an escalation strategy that could lead to a civil war. We have already seen a similar combination in Libya and at the beginning of the attack on Syria. (Tony Cartalucci at the Land Destroyer Report has written extensively on the Brookings paper as a “handbook for overthrowing nations”.)
    Last June the Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA had set up a special operation cell for such attacks on Iran:
    The Central Intelligence Agency has established an organization focused exclusively on gathering and analyzing intelligence about Iran, reflecting the Trump administration’s decision to make that country a higher priority target for American spies, according to U.S. officials.
    The Iran Mission Center will bring together analysts, operations personnel and specialists from across the CIA to bring to bear the range of the agency’s capabilities, including covert action.
    Head of the new office is one of the most ruthless CIA officers:
    To lead the new group, Mr. Pompeo picked a veteran intelligence officer, Michael D’Andrea, who recently oversaw the agency’s program of lethal drone strikes and has been credited by many of his peers for successes against al Qaeda in the U.S.’s long campaign against the terrorist group.

    Mr. D’Andrea, a former director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, is known among peers as a demanding but effective manager, and a convert to Islam who works long hours. Some U.S. officials have expressed concern over what they perceive as his aggressive stance toward Iran.
    D’Andrea is the CIA guy who “dropped the ball” when he could have prevented 9/11. He was intimately involved in the CIA’s torture program and drone murder campaign in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He is suspected to be the brain behind the U.S. cooperation with extremist Wahhabis in Libya, Iraq and Syria.
    Yesterday morning a Sunni terror group blew up a pipeline in south-west Iran near the Iraqi border:
    Ansar al Furqan states that “a major oil pipeline was blown up in Omidiyeh region of occupied Ahvaz, Iran.” The group added that it had established a new unit, the Ahwaz Martyrs Brigade. The area of Ahvaz has historically had a large Arab population. However, it is unclear if this purported brigade is comprised of Iranian Arabs or Baluchis, as most of its members are thought to be Baluch. The jihadists say the “operation was conducted to inflict losses on the economy of criminal Iranian regime.”

    http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/iran-early-us-support-for-rioters-hints-at-a-larger-plan.html#more

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  61. Trump should be following the Experts with years of experience:
    https://twitter.com/AmbassadorRice/status/947454339400028161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    How Can Trump Help Iran’s Protesters? Be Quiet. https://t.co/w0MNlWMkxG

    — Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) December 31, 2017

    She quotes the NYT:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/opinion/iran-protests-trump.html

    How Can Trump Help Iran’s Protesters? Be Quiet.

    Or, I guess Trump could send them another $Billion and let them ship/sell drugs the US.

    BfC (5517e8)

  62. @11. As we all know the streets of Tehran used to resemble L.A. under the Shah of Iran. Short skirts and a western attitude. Mitra a close friend went back a few months before the Revolution and brought her parents and brother back to the states. She is praying for a new Iran.

    We will pray for short skirts.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  63. Actually that was regime fake news, but there was expected to be spreading to azeri and Kurdish areas.today.

    narciso (d1f714)

  64. They are shooting protesters in luristan, an area explored in the early 20th century by freya
    stark. The baloch don’t need reminding about the regimes perfidy, btw they worked with the baathist
    in Iraq, thank you for playing

    narciso (d1f714)

  65. We will pray for short skirts.

    Reminds me of that glorious day back in 2003, when the 101st Airborne Division entered Najaf:

    In the giddy spirit of the day, nothing could quite top the wish list bellowed out by one man in the throng of people greeting American troops from the 101st Airborne Division who marched into town today.

    What, the man was asked, did he hope to see now that the Baath Party had been driven from power in his town? What would the Americans bring?

    ”Democracy,” the man said, his voice rising to lift each word to greater prominence. ”Whiskey. And sexy!”

    Around him, the crowd roared its approval.

    Dave (ee4aca)

  66. I just met Mike and Steve Porcaro’s second cousin. If I hang out south of here I’m likely to run across Jonathan Cain’s nanny at some point, if I’m lucky.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  67. Much like Salisbury swooned over andropovs love of jazz, and ignored say Budapest and the psychiatric commitment of dissidents:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/947557571384164352/photo/1

    narciso (d1f714)

  68. Truly the Resisting Iranians are the direct opposites of closed-loop conservatives lascivious for the Trump.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 11:36 am

    Is that like the Never Trump Hyperloop that leaves from DC to LA every twenty minutes?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  69. Sharia Law, Evangelical End-Times Enforcers populate the Iranian Ayatollah THEOCRACY.

    How does the Huckabee Bund differ?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 11:40 am

    I heard Stefan Molyneux floating this idea of a separation between Economy and State. How do you feel about that?

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  70. It’s almost like Valerie Jarrett is getting rolled back.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  71. Pin

    Imagine if they run out of chicken Hawks.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 12:08 pm

    My so called 35% isn’t trying to start a war with Russia.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  72. The niqab was not standard wardrobe till after 1979.

    narciso (d1f714)

  73. “VIRGINIA DEM: GOP GOVERNMENT ‘DANGEROUS TO ALL LIVING CREATURES,’ ESPECIALLY FEDERAL WORKERS.

    Related:

    ● Rand Paul Has 5 Broken Ribs After Assault by Bernie Supporter.

    ● GOP Whip Steve Scalise Shot During Baseball Practice in Virginia.”

    https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/284757/

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  74. I drew the latest news fro. Ghavanud feed.

    narciso (d1f714)

  75. Instability brought on by climate change, Obama said, is what creates an environment for terrorism.”

    Erasin’ History, it’s what they do.

    harkin (8256c3) — 12/31/2017 @ 11:55 am

    What about the instability of food resources brought on by planned economies? They can starve people to death in the best soils and climates.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  76. I’ll crack the remaining ribs for him. It’s his whining that inspires me.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  77. Innernetz tough guys are teh bomb.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  78. According to gatewaypundit, flights are leaving Iran that are secret or hidden from normal traffic. Could be the mullahs getting out?

    FWIW

    Patricia (5fc097)

  79. What’s a better use of resources BB?

    Terraform Mars

    Use wealth and technology to mitigate the effects of the Martian climate on the people actually affected by it ie people we send to explore it

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  80. Enormous story breaking today in aftermath of dubious NYT story trying to deflect attention away from Trump dossier, and onto cooperator George Papadopolous.

    The blogosphere is alive with stories deconstructing the story, and showing it to be a transparent effort by likely former DOJ and FBI officials who now see themselves at risk for having used the Trump dossier contents to get a FISA warrant to surveil members of Trump’s campaign team.

    Lindsay Graham called for a Special Counsel on Friday night to look at the manner in which the Trump dossier was used by DOJ in the months leading to the election — no small step for Trump skeptic Graham.
    The House has had several conservative members calling for a special counsel for a while, but if Graham begins to lead a similar call in the Senate based on what he’s been shown, then it will happen.

    Why would that be significant? Because it means that current and former DOJ attorneys, FBI officials, and Intelligence community members will all be forced to give statements about what they did, why they did it, and who gave the command instructions.

    The story put up by the NYT and ONLY the NYT yesterday is a transparent effort to create an alternative narrative for the genesis of the FBI investigation that began in the summer of 2016, a narrative that does not rely on the Trump dossier.

    The sheer absurdity of the anti-Trump forces in the media now is revealed by the fact that six months ago the dossier was the Rosetta Stone that explained everything. Now, its not even the basis upon which the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion got started.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  81. There will always be Maggie Habermans among us…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  82. The series of tweets yesterday about Iran were merely quotes of Trump, with accompanying video, from his U.N. speech, of which I approved when he made it, and the regurgitation of which in social-media-sized bites I likewise approve of now.

    This is Teleprompter Trump, on message and at his very best, whatever else you think about him.

    Today’s tweet about Iran is the more typical Trump, off-‘prompter, but he’s still basically repackaging phrases from that same speech:

    Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!

    He’s still on-message, though. I have no fault to find with this.

    I am an unabashed and extreme Iran hawk. I believe they have been at war with us continuously since the fall of the Shah and the seizure of the American embassy; not a year has gone by since then without provocative acts of Iran against America, including the killing of thousands of Americans, through repeated means, any one of which would have been considered a compelling casus belli in any past era of human history. There is no time left to waste, either.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  83. ‘The British government long ruled Iranian oil through the UK-owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company that began operations in 1908. British disregard for Iranian interests and London’s staunch refusal to negotiate changes in the oil concession, led to a rising nationalist opposition. When Mohammed Mossadegh, a respected elder statesman, become prime minister in 1951, he finally succeeded in nationalizing Iran’s oil industry, but Britain demanded a reversal, cutting off Iran’s foreign oil sales. As British power waned, the CIA staged a coup in 1953 to oust Mossadegh and install in power the authoritarian, pro-US shah, Reza Pahlavi. Soon thereafter, US companies took a large share of the oil concession and Washington replaced Britain as the most influential foreign power. For 25 years, Iran served as a key US ally in the Middle East region, buying expensive US military hardware. But a mass-based revolution finally overthrew the Shah in 1979, leading to a new Islamic government. When student militants in Tehran seized hostages at the US Embassy that year, Washington cut off diplomatic and economic relations with Iran, imposing comprehensive sanctions. US oil companies have not been able to return to the country since then, but European and Asian companies have large and growing operations in Iran, especially in the oil and gas sector, leading to new and potentially explosive international rivalries.’ -source, globalpolicy.org

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  84. And we will always have the likes of ASPCA among us, at least until the self-hating gene is eradicated.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  85. Actually they provided assustantce to a natural alliance of merchants and mullahs who had been angered by mossadeghs modernization policies,the latter was only narrowly supported by a niche group of technicratuc students which Bani sadr was once upon a time, and the tudeh the communists. Bani sadr took it upon himself to spread the black legend of the shah, to gullible sorts like Eric rouleau, Pierre malinger of abc and Edward Randall of the times, he succeeded in toppling the shah, after 25 years, but his narrow clique ended up like mystique in the previous x men film, nit having incurred enough karma he vouched for the October surprise figment (this account is drawn from taheri and Andrew Scott coopers histories.

    narciso (d1f714)

  86. The deposed and deceased Shah’s son, Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, was in pilot training at Reese AFB in Lubbock, Texas, when his father’s government fell. (He’d have flown his T-37 or T-38 over my hometown, 60 miles south from there, marking its small civilian airport as an emergency divert site.) He’s lived in a moderately prominent exile ever since, now residing in Bethesda, Maryland. He has his own political website and his Twitter feed is calling for regime change within Iran and soliciting support for the Iranian protesters from foreign media and governments. Apparently some older Iranians are calling for his return, but that strikes me as quite unlikely.

    Beldar (fa637a)

  87. Apparently History 101 is in session for the ineducable..

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27état

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  88. yes, and the narrative, which Kermit Roosevelt spread for his own purposes, and the truth is not the same thing, crane brinton, the French revolution historian who served in the oss, well understood the preconditions of revolts, the ingredients can clearly be seen in the regimes mismanagement of resources, both human and material

    narciso (d1f714)

  89. some elements considered here:

    http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/before-1800/was-the-american-revolution-a-revolution/crane-brintons-theory-of-revolution.php

    a mass movement in order to succeed would likely include many factions,

    narciso (d1f714)

  90. this is a general overview, even without prince talal, twitter has certain biases

    https://mobile.twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hashtag_click

    narciso (d1f714)

  91. “The blogosphere is alive with stories deconstructing the story, and showing it to be a transparent effort by likely former DOJ and FBI officials who now see themselves at risk for having used the Trump dossier contents to get a FISA warrant to surveil members of Trump’s campaign team.”

    Lol – not even CNN is buying it and Drudge moved it down with the man bites dog stories.

    harkin (e6b10c)

  92. Sunday NYT New Year’s Eve news dump… Clinton-backing sh*theels David Brock & Susie Tompkins Buell steered a total of $700k to @LisaBloom’s firm to try to bring forward sexual misconduct accusations against Trump before Election Day.

    https://twitter.com/kenvogel/status/947590949022117889

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  93. the ingredients can clearly be seen in the regimes mismanagement of resources, both human and material

    At long last…irony.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  94. you think that hasn’t happened with the socalled Islamic republic of iran, the real version of gilead, that’s the dystopia of the handmaids tale, for those without the rosetta,

    narciso (d1f714)

  95. Yeah well, God is an American. Ask any Cubs fan.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  96. the sleazy FBI made that drunk-ass Australia diplomat moron look like a brain-damaged kangaroo in front of the whole whirl

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  97. “With humility about how little we know about what’s happening inside Iran, this much is clear: it’s an Iranian moment and not anyone else’s. But the rights of people to protest peacefully and voice their aspirations are universal and governments everywhere should respect that.”

    — John Francois Kerry

    Marvel at the fact that this idiot had a hand in shaping US foreign policy for several years.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  98. 1984 was not merely a depiction of Stalinist, although Orwell borrowed liberally from trotskyite James Burnham, conception of three terror states in the machiavelians (O’brien theory and practice of collectivism is largely derived from thoset insight. Koestler’s darkness at noon, shares some of the same milieu, but it described what a radical Islamic state like khomeini recommended. Evin prison the bastille of the pahlevi regime, where the current ayatollah, who may or may not have attended Patrick lumumba university, has become even more cruel under wardens like future president ahmedunejad. Very recently a pregnant British citizen of Iranian extraction, had been imprisoned by the very moderate regime described above.

    Burnham like chambers and frank meter went over to the otherside to form national reviews braintrust.
    Unlike Buckley who saw communism as a theoretical exercise, they had seen the beast within. Chambers had even served as a contact for the soviet’s till the time of the krivitsky defection. The tale of betrayed revolutions is an issue of not entirely theoretical import to me, re events in my parents native land, there as mentioned before an autocrat of small measure was painted into a great beast by men who should have known better, and preferred a young revolutionary of nouveau rich status.

    narciso (d1f714)

  99. This bill of goods was sold to Herbert Matthews and also the like of graham green who formulated our man in havana from it, (which this dippy dossier plagiarized fragrantly) the most economic advanced society south of the border was caricatured as merely the off shore appendage of Vegas re the godfather part deux. The ones who came to be the most prominent figures of the Cuban diaspora dismissed as dinosaurs by the most ignorant people in journalism and public affairs were not members of the old regime for the most part.

    narciso (d1f714)

  100. Trump Doesn’t Know Difference Between Climate and Weather

    Chris Cillizza, CNN

    these CNN Jake Tapper fake news propaganda sluts are sadly lacking in self-awareness

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  101. Had not seen this before, but over at Conservative Treehouse there is a video up from a hearing back in Feb. 2017 (I think), of Comey testifying before a House Committee. I’m sure this never made any major network feed, as the Congresswoman doing the questioning is backbencher Elise Stefanik from upstate New York. She’s a GOP member, first elected in 2014, so she’s just in her second term. I’m sure Comey wasn’t expecting much from her — I don’t think he was feeling under much scrutiny at that point at all.

    But Stefanik is someone to watch. She’s the youngest member of Congress, but is a Harvard grad. Following graduation, she entered government service as a staff member on the Domestic Policy Council in the Bush administration. But she eventually was hired by the WH Chief of Staff’s office, as an assistant to Josh Bolton, Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff. That would have given her a pretty good vantage point to learn “How things work” on the inside of things like the workings of the NSC.

    She starts off by asking Comey about the protocol for the FBI briefing the DOJ, WH, DNI, and Cong. leadership about sensitive intelligence investigations that impact national security. Comey said that the re is no real rule or regulation but the practice that has developed has been to do such briefings quarterly.

    She then asks when was the WH, DNI, DOJ, and Cong. leadership first briefed about the Trump-Russia investigation — now this is way back in Feb. 2017, so not a lot was known at that point.

    Comey is visibly uncomfortable as he tries to obfuscate his way through an answer. He says DOJ was involved all along, so didn’t need briefing. He’s not specific about the WH, but says the Trump DNI, Dan Coates was only just recently briefed because there was not DNI for Trump before that.

    He then admits that senior Cong. leadership — with both Chambers controlled by the GOP, was only “just recently” briefed for the first time. But this is at least 8 months after the intelligence investigation was initiatied. She asked him twice why this matter had not been included in the quarterly briefings to Cong. leadership that had taken place per the protocol, and all he could say was “because of the sensitivity. In response to questions about whose decision it was to leave it out of the Cong briefing, he dimed out FBI Counter-Intelligence Chief Bill Priestap — but not by name, only by title.

    Priestap is Peter Strzok’s boss.

    So even though protocol was to brief the bi-partisan leadership of Congress on all major counter-intelligence matters, a decision was made in the FBI to NOT brief the only organization that had GOP members.

    Credit Stefanik for having known what should have happened in terms of the FBI briefing other parts of the government, knowing that it hadn’t happened like it was supposed to, and putting Comey on the spot to explain why that was.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  102. Someone who relies on downer as a source for anything, is much like the lawyer who had himself as a client, not advisable.

    https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/tim-blair/gosfords-man-of-gob/news-story/db1a8966b56cd4bece819bb49bf77544

    Yes they made this ridiculous story about papafop on the spot, like say pineapple exoress

    narciso (d1f714)

  103. Sort of gives a whole new meaning to Brave Sir James and his Bullsh*t… https://twitter.com/comey/status/938214524926267392?lang=en

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  104. Koestler’s darkness at noon, shares some of the same milieu,… narciso (d1f714) — 12/31/2017 @ 4:43 pm

    That would be due, in part, to Koestler’s penchant for projection. But that is not a bad thing – a large part of the human experience (real or imagined) would ,otherwise, not have been recorded.

    felipe (023cc9)

  105. Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/31/2017 @ 5:13 pm
    LOL. I suspect James was channeling Obama’s sensibilities in the choice of photo construction.

    felipe (023cc9)

  106. Possibly, at the time of its writing, it was Churchill’s ‘a riddle wrapped inside an enigma inside a puzzle, as trotskyite hitchen relates:
    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/book_blitz/2005/09/darkness_at_noon.html

    But just as Stalin targeted trotsky and kirov, khomeini targeted as many opponents of the shah as much as far regime officials

    narciso (d1f714)

  107. Imagine, if Stalin had executed kerensky,
    http://www.iranchamber.com/history/sbakhtiar/shapour_bakhtiar.php

    narciso (d1f714)

  108. I know much of these last posts could fit re the non existent terror states of Marxism, that’s not an accident.

    narciso (d1f714)

  109. narciso (d1f714) — 12/31/2017 @ 5:26 pm

    Exactly.

    felipe (023cc9)

  110. I’ll crack the remaining ribs for him. It’s his whining that inspires me.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd) — 12/31/2017 @ 1:38 pm

    I guess you didn’t read the Ted Cruz Twittah. You’ll be tackling the Cuban immigrant yard boy.

    Pinandpuller (16b0b5)

  111. Sounds a little like the first years of president snow

    http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/who-killed-camilo-cienfuegos-6548166

    narciso (d1f714)

  112. Watch just 10 minutes of CNN’s New Year’s telecast and you’ll appreciate why North Korea wants to wipe out the U.S.A.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  113. One of the rare times we agree disco:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/drawandstrike/status/947626422079819778

    Chaveyfky could not have conceieved of CNN, actually pat weaver would have reconsidered starting the today shoe

    narciso (d1f714)

  114. Reza I: 1925-1941, 16 years
    Reza II: 1941-1979, 38 years
    Mullahs: 1979- present, 38 years

    ?

    nk (dbc370)

  115. You note the parallelism, most count from 1953, the year of the deposing of mossadeq in that fairy tale that disco entertains

    narciso (d1f714)

  116. @122. Paddy may just have inked something similar to what’s being broadcast worldwide tonight, then tossed it in the trash as too silly and an insult to satire. What CNN is shoveling out puts Stewart’s tenure at The Daily Show in a league w/Chet, David and Walter.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  117. As tom lehrer said satire is dead, but the pivot point was long before 1973,

    narciso (d1f714)

  118. Ok, you’ve piqued my curiosity and I don’t want to turn on the TV. What is CNN shoveling out?

    nk (dbc370)

  119. Happy New Year to you, too, Kishnevi.

    felipe (023cc9)

  120. Reaching way back upthread to a comment by SWC

    Federal workers with more than 15 years of service receive almost 6 weeks paid time off — 13 federal holidays (2 weeks and 3 days), and they receive 1 vacation day each pay period, with 26 pay periods per year.

    That bit should raise no qualms. It’s very similar to what I received at my old job once I had worked over 15 years. When I left after 27 years, I found my last paycheck bulked up by six weeks of PTO. Had I stayed, I would have received that plus five legal holidays (the sixth being New Year’s Day was paid in my regular paycheck at the start of the year)

    Kishnevi (a77570)

  121. Anderson Cooper, isn’t it?

    Kishnevi (a77570)

  122. Happy New Year to all!

    felipe (023cc9)

  123. Happy new year all.

    narciso (d1f714)

  124. “When I left after 27 years, I found my last paycheck bulked up by six weeks of PTO.”

    Carry-over is one of the ways employees with way too many ways to get paid for not working to bilk the system.

    Use them or lose them the way most private sector companies who are forced to meet an actual bottom line do it.

    harkin (8256c3)

  125. Speaking of demonstrators……

    City where activists demonized and alienated police now begging for them to patrol more:

    ”We need the front line police officers and we need the heart of the black community to step to the forefront of this discussion,” he says. “And that’s when we’re going to see a decrease in crime.”

    The pastor was asked if the goal was to get the police to back off after the death of Freddie Gray.

    “No. That represented our progressives, our activists, our liberal journalists, our politicians, but it did not represent the overall community. Because we know for a fact that around the time Freddie Gray was killed, we start to see homicides increase. We had five homicides in that neighborhood while we were protesting.”

    https://www.npr.org/2017/12/31/574824963/baltimore-residents-blame-record-high-murder-rate-on-lower-police-presence?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2060

    Change You Can Believe In!

    harkin (8256c3)

  126. Protesters “must certainly know that improper behavior will be to their detriment, and the nation will come out and stand against these actions and throw a hard punch in their faces,” the Revolutionary Guard’s commander for security in Tehran, Brigadier General Esmail Kowsari, said, according to a statement carried by the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency late Saturday.
    Keep your head on a swivel.

    mg (8cbc69)

  127. Harkin, I worked for a department store (do so now, but for a different one). One week was carryover, the rest had to be used or losed. I had that much because I was employed there so long. And because I had so much, I was offered early retirement, and took it. Their preferred model now is to have only part-time employees who get only minimal benefitd. Really standard for the industry now.

    Kishnevi (a77570)

  128. PALLETS OF CASH. And a John Kerry deal.

    nice.

    GUS (30b6bd)

  129. An agreement between an employer and an employee for pay and benefits is not a bilking of anything.

    nk (dbc370)

  130. Are the citizens of Iran…”brown people”??

    Just trying to keep up…..

    GUS (30b6bd)

  131. Wishing Comey years behind bars.

    mg (8cbc69)

  132. I also wish the prosecutors who were caught rigging the Bundy trial a slow painful 2018.

    mg (8cbc69)

  133. I think Harkin was thinking of public sector employees such as SWC’s original comment was talking about.

    Kishnevi (a77570)

  134. They’re less brown, closer to caucasoid, and have a lot of Mongol blood without asking. They’re a chess playing people unlike the connect 4 players of MENA land.

    urbanleftbehind (87ccb0)

  135. Consider Sarah shahi formerly of person on interest, or aghadasloo, of the expanse among other projects, they are the origunally aryans hence the name change from Persia.

    narciso (d1f714)

  136. They are literally Caucasians and their language is the mother of all the major European languages.

    nk (dbc370)

  137. Mollie
    @MZHemingway
    “Oh that dossier we’ve been pushing all year? Didn’t mean a thing. You can stop asking questions about it and let us not answer them.”

    harkin (8256c3)

  138. so,they are NOT BROWN. MEXICANS. Are they brown??

    GUS (30b6bd)

  139. GO soak your HEAD, gus.

    nk (dbc370)

  140. He’s a little like spiny Norman, he’s mostly harmless.

    It is illuminating however how those who evince such great concern for thrvmiddle east, when push crimes tie shove, just push cover with a pillow.

    narciso (d1f714)

  141. 143 – “I think Harkin was thinking of public sector employees such as SWC’s original comment was talking about.”

    That is correct, I have no problem with a private sector company offering any scheme of benefits they wish, they don’t soak taxpayers to make it good.

    As to how many companies offer much less these days, taxes and regulations are part of that equation.

    harkin (8256c3)

  142. Nk, before I go soak my HEAD, would you care to ATTEMPT to answer my question??

    {{They are literally Caucasians and their language is the mother of all the major European languages.}}

    Spanish???

    GUS (30b6bd)

  143. Harkin, the PRIVATE SECTOR companies, offer pay and benefits, based on THEIR MONEY.
    The PUBLIC SECTOR, hires BUREAUCRATS on YOUR and MY dime.

    No skin off of THEIR BACK.

    GUS (30b6bd)

  144. They are much more european, than the typical middle easterner,

    narciso (d1f714)

  145. lmAo, nK

    mg (8cbc69)

  146. Of course Narciso, I’m just trying to understand, whether they are BROWN or MUSLIM, for DISCRIMINATION purposes? Does TRUMP support their BROWN-ness, or their ISLAM-ness.

    I think you probably get it.

    GUS (30b6bd)

  147. Gus, did you used to be Big Chief at Politico in the mid 2000s?

    urbanleftbehind (87ccb0)

  148. I just think he likes their version of meatloaf.

    nk (dbc370)

  149. Nk, I really don’t care, what your snarky silly link is. You’ve shown yourself to be unable to respond to things, that challenge your ideology. I’m pleased. You are not up to being challenged logically. Off to……soak my HEAD. Take care.

    GUS (30b6bd)

  150. You’re the one missing the point, GUS.
    Whom are the Iranian hoi polloi protesting?
    The Mullahs who run the country.
    What are Mullahs?
    They’re super-Muslims. The Muslimest Muslims. Tremendous Muslims. There are no bigger Muslims, I guarantee you.
    Ipso facto, as they say.

    nk (dbc370)

  151. The mullahs stopped running g. Things seriously years ago, you have the fmr revolutionary guard that runs things birth in Iran and elsewhere.

    narciso (d1f714)

  152. Heh!

    For more laughs, I recommend Dave Barry’s Year in Review. Something for everybody — he is an equal opportunity snarker.

    nk (dbc370)

  153. Yes he compressed this year unto a concise package without causing a singularity of opening the hellmouth

    narciso (d1f714)

  154. I was noticing the change in the nature of leadership

    https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2012/08/the-guards-strategic-brain-trust-part-1-ghasem-soleimani-and-ahmad-vahidi.html

    Maybe has more like kruschev, with better table manners

    narciso (d1f714)

  155. this is a good reflection on the antics of the climate change hoax propaganda sluts vis a vis the extremely enduring cold weather outside

    One climate scientist quoted in USA Today said the frigidity proves climate change is real: “We can still expect periods of very cold temperatures, snowstorms, and even days of record low temperatures,” the University of California’s Zack Labe told the paper. “However, climate change continues to shift the odds towards more periods of warmer weather and less so for colder weather.”

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  156. And puffington dialed to eleven, early today, I know they are unpaid but that’s no excuse.

    narciso (d1f714)

  157. please to contrast the above with this article from New York Times propaganda slut Porter Fox

    The answer is, this is not about skiing. It is about snow, a vital component of earth’s climate system and water cycle. When it disappears, what follows is a dangerous chain reaction of catastrophes like forest fires, drought, mountain pine beetle infestation, degraded river habitat, loss of hydroelectric power, dried-up aquifers and shifting weather patterns. Not to mention that more than a billion people around the world — including about 70 million in the western United States — rely on snowmelt for their fresh water supply.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  158. Whereas most Middle Eastern countries are ruled by secular autocrats focused on repressing primarily Islamist opposition, Iran is an Islamist autocracy focused on repressing secular opposition. This dynamic—unarmed, unorganized, leaderless citizens seeking economic dignity and pluralism, versus a heavily armed, organized, rapacious ruling theocracy that espouses martyrdom—is not a recipe for success.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/the-battle-for-iran/549446/

    Christendom has their own Sharia cuz ya know sand negros, but at least they don’t publicly execute non-beliebers.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  159. Does this quote need citation?

    I know more about the big bills. … Than any president that’s ever been in office. Whether it’s health care and taxes. Especially taxes. And if I didn’t, I couldn’t have persuaded a hundred. … You ask Mark Meadows [inaudible]. … I couldn’t have persuaded a hundred congressmen to go along with the bill. The first bill, you know, that was ultimately, shockingly rejected … I know the details of taxes better than anybody. Better than the greatest C.P.A. I know the details of health care better than most, better than most. And if I didn’t, I couldn’t have talked all these people into doing ultimately only to be rejected.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  160. Does this?

    “The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years,” he wrote. “They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!”

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  161. GUS is truly not so different.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  162. Cowards die a Thousand deaths..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  163. Reports of armed attacks on military makes this much like Trumplandia in the cultural mirror-images.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-rallies-rouhani-cabinet/rouhani-iranians-have-right-to-protest-but-must-avoid-violence-idUSKBN1EP0J7

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  164. The New York Times
    @nytimes
    Iranian authorities have clamped down on Tehran after demonstrators across the country ignored calls for calm

    —-

    John Doiron
    @jfd196
    to @nytimes
    Ignored calls for calm? Is that what you’re going with? Wow. It’s almost like you’re supporting the Iranian government more than you do the American government.

    —-

    B.T. Samuel
    @JustBeaTee
    Replying to @jfd1965 and @nytimes
    Trying to hide Obama’s dirt and protect dem interests

    —-

    Chuck Vipperman
    @Chuckvipperman
    Replying to @nytimes
    “I told her to be quiet, but she just kept talking, Your Honor.”

    harkin (8256c3)

  165. Reports of armed attacks on military makes this much like Trumplandia in the cultural mirror-images.

    And overheated nonsense like this makes you look like a Ben Rhodes groupie. Give it a rest.

    JP (aa4555)

  166. Social scientist Bella DePaulo studied Trump’s first 298 days in office and the 1,628 lies he told and found that he was lying on average about six times per day (and 9 times per day in more recent months), far exceeding the average lie rate of roughly 1.5 per day. And in Trump’s case, the only lies we know about are the ones he’s told publicly.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-study-liars-ive-never-seen-one-like-president-trump/2017/12/07/4e529efe-da3f-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html?utm_term=.31f0d24c889f

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  167. And of course some #Resist! ingrate has to make Iranian protests about Trump. Quoting the Head Thug in Charge in Teheran no less.

    Yeah, buddy wants you to know that every day the reality show orangutan in the White House is known to say things that are at odds with empirical fact.

    Way to blow the lid off that one, none of us who have read this blog for years had noticed.

    JP (aa4555)

  168. June 6, 1989

    TEHRAN — Millions of frenzied mourners carried away with grief tore the white shroud from the body of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, toppling his half-naked corpse to the ground, before the Iranian leader was buried today.

    Just sayin’

    harkin (8256c3)

  169. Oh I refuse to believe that harkin. It doesn’t involve that buffoon Trump or any of his gap-toothed disciples, so it just can’t be true.

    JP (aa4555)

  170. I think many of the problems we’re experiencing these days are caused by too many people refusing to believe what’s right in front of them.

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/12/texas-imam-tries-to-walk-back-call-for-muslims-to-kill-jews/

    harkin (8256c3)

  171. useless p.o.s. Rex Tillerboobs *still* hasn’t engaged?

    definitely the wrong boy for the job

    we need an adult Secretary of State toot and also sweet

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  172. Was the shah more violent than Algeria with the cercle sportif, or Jordan with their fingernail palace, so what’s the difference.

    narciso (d1f714)

  173. I found the irony with the former spokesman for the eradicateurs brahimi lecturing first the Iraq government then the Syrians amusing in a dark way

    narciso (d1f714)

  174. Hmmm….

    http://dailycaller.com/2018/01/01/kim-jong-un-just-flipped-the-script-on-talks-with-south-korea-and-the-big-question-is-why/

    Kim Jong Un Just Flipped The Script On Talks With South Korea, And The Big Question Is Why

    North Korea has spent the past year largely ignoring its southern neighbor, but in his New Year’s address Monday, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said he’s “open to dialogue” with South Korea.

    “When it comes to relations between the North and the South, we should lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment,” the young despot said in his speech, adding, “Both the North and the South should make efforts.”

    South Korean President Moon Jae-in has extended his hand several times for talks only to have it rejected by Pyongyang.

    South Korean officials have called into North Korea every day for over a year without any response. Officials from the South Korean Ministry of Unification visit the border town of Panmunjom on a daily basis, making calls into North Korea once in the morning and once in the afternoon. No one ever picks up the phone, the Associated Press reported in October.

    BfC (5517e8)

  175. Interesting:

    Social scientist Bella DePaulo studied Trump’s first 298 days in office and the 1,628 lies he told and fou…

    Do a google search on bella depaulo +obama -trump

    No results found for bella depaulo +obama -trump.

    Lieing did not seem so important these last 8 years, for some reason… Almost like they were paid off or had situational awareness issues:

    Executive Order — Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve …
    https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/…/executive-order-using-behavioral-science-in…

    USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE INSIGHTS TO

    BETTER SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

    A growing body of evidence demonstrates that behavioral science insights — research findings from fields such as behavioral economics and psychology about how people make decisions and act on them — can be used to design government policies to better serve the American people.

    Where Federal policies have been designed to reflect behavioral science insights, they have substantially improved outcomes for the individuals, families, communities, and businesses those policies serve. For example, automatic enrollment and automatic escalation in retirement savings plans have made it easier to save for the future, and have helped Americans accumulate billions of dollars in additional retirement savings. Similarly, streamlining the application process for Federal financial aid has made college more financially accessible for millions of students.

    To more fully realize the benefits of behavioral insights and deliver better results at a lower cost for the American people, the Federal Government should design its policies and programs to reflect our best understanding of how people engage with, participate in, use, and respond to those policies and programs. By improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Government, behavioral science insights can support a range of national priorities, including helping workers to find better jobs; enabling Americans to lead longer, healthier lives; improving access to educational opportunities and support for success in school; and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy…

    Maybe, these papers are hardly worth the paper they are written on:
    https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-half-psychology-papers-are-not-reproducible

    A landmark initiative to reproduce the findings of 100 prominent psychology papers has been successful in less than half of cases.

    The Reproducibility Project: Psychology was launched in 2011 by the Center for Open Science, a US non-profit organisation, in the wake of a number of fraud scandals in psychology, such as that involving Diederik Stapel, who admitted in 2011 to faking more than 50 papers.

    One hundred papers were chosen from 2008 issues of three important journals in psychology, and about 350 scientists were involved in meticulous attempts to reproduce them.

    Replication attempts used powerful statistical methods, and approaches were independently reviewed and posted on a central repository. The authors of the original studies were also consulted regularly.

    The results of the project are reported in a paper, “Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science”, published in the journal Science.

    Based on five different measures of reproducibility, the paper concludes that reproduction was successful in less than half of cases. For instance, while 97 per cent of the original studies reported statistically significant results, only 36 per cent of replications did so.

    Replication rates were particularly low in social psychology, compared with cognitive psychology.

    The paper also reports that even where the original effects were replicated, the statistical size of the reproduced effect was typically less than half that of the original.

    BfC (5517e8)

  176. BfC

    How do you view the unlawful protests by the common man? Is it a good thing?Twenty five words or less pleasem

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  177. Trump says it good

    What do you say?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  178. JP:

    Orangutan in the White House

    I have to steal that…

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  179. Yeti free
    the white house be

    mg (8cbc69)

  180. Yeah can I get the decoder ring for whatever it is “Admiral Ben” is babbling about.

    Also that link was posted earlier. It doesn’t change the fact that the US President (like the last one) is of infinitesimal relevance to Iran’s protests.

    JP (aa4555)

  181. Not good? Trump sad. AntiFa protester. “Bike Lock” professor:

    Eric Clanton, a former adjunct professor of philosophy at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, was arrested in Oakland on three counts of suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that isn’t a firearm and assault causing great bodily injury, East Bay Times reported.

    Ben, how many people live in your mind rent free (besides Trump, Sammy, Sammy II (me), the jews, etc)? Become a capitalist and charge them rent or move them out.

    BfC (5517e8)

  182. It doesn’t change the fact that the US President (like the last one) is of infinitesimal relevance to Iran’s protests.

    I disagree with logic instead of bombastic declarations…

    His uber-narcissism insists on his presence in every matter and you are prime enablers of his addiction.

    His public statements of support for the populist side screams for the context of his Authoritarian predisposition.

    Trumpet silence of the above means you’re smarter than Trump who couldn’t recognize cognitive dissonance if it bit him on his rosy arse.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  183. Answer the question in 25 wol, BfC..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  184. Not good? Trump sad. AntiFa protester. “Bike Lock” professor:

    BfC (5517e8)

  185. See? Cowards die a thousand deaths..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  186. That’s all you got hoagie..

    Keep an iron grip on antiquity..

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  187. Truly today’s Trumpettes are Authoritarian, concerned only with their personal freedoms and unconcerned with actual LIBERTY!

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  188. I prefer not to die…

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article191430714.html

    Escalating the state’s showdown with the Trump administration over illegal immigration, California Gov. Jerry Brown used a Christmas holiday tradition to grant pardons Saturday to two men who were on the verge of being deported for committing crimes while in the U.S.

    Brown, pairing his state’s combative approach to federal immigration authorities with his belief in the power of redemption, characterized the pardons as acts of mercy.

    Kong was convicted on felony joyriding in 2003 in Stanislaus County at age 25 and sentenced to a year in jail. Neth was convicted on a felony weapons charge with a gang enhancement and a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property with a value of $400 or less in 1995 in Stanislaus County.

    Brown combats Trump, Californians die.

    BfC (5517e8)

  189. His public statements of support for the populist side screams for the context of his Authoritarian predisposition.

    My goodness, hadn’t even considered that line of thought.

    Don’t those Iranian students and workmen shot and beaten to death by government militiamen know they’re enabling Trump?

    God forbid they validate that poor man’s Alec Baldwin impression.

    JP (aa4555)

  190. That will teach Trump a lesson.

    BfC (5517e8)

  191. My goodness, hadn’t even considered that line of thought.

    Bingo! You did it.

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  192. Don’t you want to also take credit for being smarter than Trump?

    Or is that not a compliment?

    Admiral Ben Bunsen Burner (69b6bd)

  193. If you are going to make up rumor, like gave Sherman’s fan fiction, make it interesting he hasn’t even avoxed single journalist (Jim acoata) is at the top of the list.

    narciso (d1f714)

  194. Tired: domestic protests against chief state sponsor of Hezbollah, Bashar Assad

    Wired: am I truthier and good-thinkerier than Donald J Trump

    JP (aa4555)

  195. Does fake news central even try for the truth anymore.

    http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2018/01/ap-notches-first-fake-news-of-2018.html?m=1#more

    narciso (104f4d)


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