Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Mike]

Armed combatants using hospitals and schools as shelter is an actual war crime. This guy worked at the Kamal Adwan hospital that was in the news last week after the Israelis conducted a siege at the site. Another false narrative pushed by the Hamas Homies that crumbles under any scrutiny.

[Hannibal]

Hamas is simply using a proven strategy -- turn civilians into human shields and then blame the opposing army for their inevitable deaths.

[Hannibal]

Been a great year for the stock market. I'm considering retiring next year. I've had enough of corporate America.

[iam416]

BIDEN BOOM!!!!!!!!

[Hannibal]

Fortunately a huge part of the inflation that comes from all of our money printing has gone into assets being overpriced (e.g. the stock market). I just hope that it stays that way long enough for me to cash out.

The next generation, of course, is pretty much fucked.

[iam416]

No, no. This is a consequence-free world.

[CGVT]

No, no. This is a consequence-free world.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Says The Prog...

[Mike]

Hamas is simply using a proven strategy -- turn civilians into human shields and then blame the opposing army for their inevitable deaths.

It's nice that, up to this point, Israel is giving 0 fucks.

[lineygoblue]

And they shouldn't. They were invaded and attacked. Hundreds of their citizens were killed in an unprovoked attack. Israel is a soverign nation that was attacked by a terrorist organization. Their response is just and correct. If Hamas didn't want this Israeli response they shouldn't have started the fight. Israel was minding its own business. Hamas changed that with their murderous attack. Now they have to deal with the consequences.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Its hard to understand the ME reality when the news reporting about it is prog biased. That leads to the current narrative that focuses on getting a ceasefire, I.e, stopping Israel from obtaining its strategic objective of rendering Hamas leadership and infrastructure supporting it unable to function.

From what I can tell, the IDF is making progress. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas' political wing, is in Cairo today. There's no information on what he's attempting to do. Dief, the head of the military wing remains in hiding. Mike points out the Israelis "give 0 fucks" about dead civilians and I have to wonder how many of these are Hamas combatants that were targeted hiding out among civilians because those are the kind of war crimes these terrorists commit. But, yeah, let's blame the IDF for the killings and Netanyahu for ordering civilian slaughter. The blame for that falls squarely at the feet of the Hamas leadership and the Iranian government that has abetted them in the prosecution of both Iran's and Hamas's strategic goal - the elimination of Israel. Here's Bebe's public announcement today and I'm thinking his narrative is a result of Intel he's getting about Hanyie's trip to Cairo and what's going on there.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured Israelis on Wednesday that the military won't stop fighting until Hamas is crushed, all hostages are released and the threat to Israeli's security posed by Gaza is extinguished.

"Those who think we will stop are not connected to reality," he said. "We are attacking Hamas with fire − infernal fire. Everywhere, including today. We also attack their assistants from near and far. All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are mortal. They have only two options: surrender or die."

[Jeff Buchanan]

In a related story, the Houthi's, an Iranian proxy militia, is reigning down drones and now, an anti-ship cruise missile, on cargo ships in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic passage that connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Where does any sane person think these weapons are coming from?

In 1973, the Egyptians similarly blocked commercial ship traffic prompting an Israeli response called the Yom Kipper War. In the end the Egyptians lost in an overwhelming IDF response that wiped out half of Egypt;s armed forces. We've learned that within the last 48h, the west has cobbled together a naval response intended to protect commercial shipping transiting this region. I'd call this the first salvo in a widening ME conflict that is going to intensify.

It appears that the partner's in this naval operation want to hold to a purely defensive stance for now. The whole thing from the POV of the Axis of Resistance is clearly related to the joint strategic goals of this group to destroying Israel. How far Iran is prepared to go in the short term in achieving this goal is in question. This is largely due to the political instability of the current Iranian Islamic leadership.

Rather than attack the Houthi's as some are calling for, it appears this is a watch and wait operation. A lot of future outcomes depend on what happens to Hamas in Israel ...... the point being that critics of Israel's offensive in Gaza have got to view the larger picture as context. Forcing a cessation of Israel's operation to destroy Hamas is going to advance the goals of the Axis of Resistance. Putting an end to Hamas in Gaza will severely dent the strategic objectives of Israel s enemies. We should be focusing on enabling the IDF to do that as part of the larger goal of blunting Iran's expansionist agenda (a Shiite Caliphate) in the ME. Embrace the Sunni Arab's who hold similar strategic goals with that of the western alliance.

[lineygoblue]

Music video break:

Some of the best guitar you'll ever hear. Eric Clapton and George Harrison from 1987.

Clapton takes over near the end.

[CGVT]

Thanks for that, Liney.

[Mike]

I hadn’t seen that before. George Harrison. Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Phil Collins, and Jeff Lynne. That’ll play.

Another great version is from the tribute to George Harrison when Prince stole the show with the guitar solo. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne share vocal duties, Steve Feronne on drums,