Open Thread - 14 September 2016

pl

Comments

[Jack]

Agree, Sir.

I wish we followed that maxim when USS Liberty was attacked. We'd have half the trouble we have today.

[toto]

The UK House of Commons report on the Libya intervention is available online:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmfaff/119/11902.htm

It's basically breathing fire into the face of both Cameron and Sarkozy.

[Imagine]

Weird conspiracy website has photo of 2014 medical letter from Dr. Lisa Bardack diagnosing Hillary with Complex Partial Seizures, Subcortical Vascular Dementia. If it's a hoax, it's a good one.
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index2089.htm

Will Kaine back Nuland's/NATO's crusade against Russia? Would he struggle against the ZOG, or has he been absorbed already?

[turcopolier]

toto

I feel pretty good about this since the report says that the basic error was not maintaining a short presence until the place stabilized a bit. pl

[Jack]

toto

We can be certain there will nary a mention in our MSM. How can they point to the Borg Queen's poor judgment as to her capabilities as Commander-in-Chief?

[HaHaHerman]

In reply to FkDahl
If you are a northerner, you might find Bruce Catton interesting.

[Jack]

All

The Socialist Paradise of Venezuela, long a beacon for our own leftists who were all Chavistas, is slowly imploding as the necessities of life get harder to acquire.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-14/venezuelas-death-spiral-dozen-eggs-cost-150-hyperinflation-horrors-hit-socialist-uto

This is one example of what happens when big government keeps getting bigger. And this is one type of outcome that those who promote infinite spending of governments in their sovereign currency as costless will never note. They will always hand wave this as country specific. Note that hyperinflation is only one type of outcome. The downside to untrameled credit expansion could also be depression and other types of outcomes. History and literature provide great insight into the folly of societies.

[The Beaver]

@ TJ

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/14/mps-deliver-damning-verdict-on-camerons-libya-intervention

And two fellows in this picture in the Guardian are running to become the next French President (one has been who tried to get the support of the Saudis last month in Morocco and the other a crook)

[doug]

As far as our health care costs are concerned I've no idea why it costs us twice relative to Germany or Canada.

It's pretty simple really. When you combine markets and a source of funds that has little resistance (gov. spending, mandated insurance, etc.) this is what you get. It also shows up in education the costs of which have spiraled with little increase in results. The fact is that Obamacare passed because it feathered the nests of the pharma, medical and care businesses. Any change that gets through Congress will have to do the same. Similar process for "No Child Left Behind."

Markets work well when you have competition and elastic prices where value received has some relationship with the price one pays. But there are many areas where this doesn't work. I'm not sure a solution exists. The general thinking amongst the elites is that growth in the tech sector will allow for these inefficiencies. I'm not so sure.

[Tyler]

Cooked these, came out delicious.

Made my own prickly pear syrup as well.

http://honest-food.net/2011/09/13/texas-dove-hunt/

[gowithit]

Trump had nothing to say about the Russian jet incoming at 10 ft, tho!

[Fred]

Eric,

In your response to TTG you left out water. That's the latest issue of note locally for the democratic party push for socialized control. After Detroit went broke and Flint managed to screw up a resourcing action for supply to their own treatment system (to avoid the tens of millions in obligation the regional authority was going to stick them with as part of the Detroit bankruptcy action) it has suddenly become an issue. Unlike with all the years of mis-management of the Detroit water system to which Flint and other cities are linked.

[Fred]

Does anyone know where Omar Mateen's wife has gotten off too?
http://unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com/orlando-shooter-omar-mateens-wife-noor-salman/

[richard rogers]

My graduate students are forced to read these books:

Edward Said, The Question of Palestine

Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Irene Gendzier, Dying to Forget: Oil, Israel, Palestine and the Foundations of US Policy in the Middle East

Abdel Takriti, Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman, 1965-1976

Ben White, Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide

Norman Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

Andrew Bacevich, America's War for the Greater Middle East

Ervand Abrahamian, The Coup: 1953, The CIA, and The Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations

Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War

Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq

Adam Hanieh, Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States

[Valissa]

I'm seriously considering writing in Cthulhu this year.

Cthulhu doesn't appreciate Stephen King's Trump comparison https://www.cnet.com/news/cthulhu-doesnt-appreciate-stephen-kings-trump-comparison/

Cthulhu's twitter acct https://twitter.com/cthulhu4america

Cthulhu 2016 https://cthulhuforamerica.com/

Fun pics https://www.google.com/search?q=cthulhu+2016&biw=1422&bih=686&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjngtTuzI_PAhXHdx4KHTZZAusQ_AUIBigB

[pj]

Thanks. Do you have an opinion on the books by Bacevich, or "Kingmakers, the Invention of the modern Middle east" by Mayer and Brysac?

[LondonBob]

I always found Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson very readable.

[LondonBob]

Crispin Blunt does some very good work, they are currently finishing up a report on relations with Russia. I hope it will be equally damning.

[turcopolier]

pj

No. I am past the point of educating myself by reading such things although Bacevich is a good man. pl

[turcopolier]

LondonBob

Too Yankee for my taste. pl

[FkDahl]

Thank you both, colonel & generalfeldmarschall!

[shepherd]

If you're sick of reading the news, you can always watch bears fish: http://explore.org/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

[turcopolier]

FKDahl

If you want some Northern oriented books; "The Ordeal of the Union" Alan Nevin (six volumes), Bruce Catton's Books, the trio on Grant, "Captain Same Grant," "Grant Takes Command," and "Grant Moves South." More Southern stuff, "Lee's Last Campaign," by Dowdey and "Lee's Lieutenants" by Freeman. pl

[turcopolier]

Richard Rogers

Scholarship is a business that endlessly churns out reiterations of opinions that must be shared to earn tenure, etc. pl

[turcopolier]

gowithit

That was not an attack. When they ram you or fire on you or attempt to board, that is an attack. pl