Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

What the fuck is wrong with you.

We would need a Buchanan-sized post to scratch the surface of this question. But I'd start with "Alabama" and run with it from there.

[hack]

Yep. With the moderate solution unreachable the drift toward less moderation was almost inevitable. And now Israel certainly does share the burden.

So, you're Mr. Geopolitical -- what's your sense on Palestine accepting a deal comparable to the one Clinton brokered? Is that still a dead letter? I honestly have no clue other than assuming they wouldn't be keen to acquiesce re EJ.

I presume they'll do what the Saudis tell them to do, and it's hard to find any leverage they have other then putting themselves in harm's way as they have in the past, but I really have no idea anymore what the dynamic is. Given that devils are in details, any deal broadly similar to that was offered in the past will have plenty of hidden horribleness for the Palestinians. Israel knows its leverage is so much higher now and is no longer led by decent humans.

[Ed Balzer]

Are you Ed? I need you to affirm or deny.

Yes, I affirm that I am Ed.

At CNNSI and WorldCrossing I went by Opinionated Ed.

You were very pro Hezballah iirc.

As I stated above, I voted for Donald Trump in the general election. I have voted third party in every election from 1984 to 2012, as I had no interest in supporting a lesser evil. But never before had I determined a candidate to be more of a threat to this country and the world as Hillary Clinton, so I broke with my trend and voted to give her a negative one vote. That was in no way indicative of support for Trump, just abject fear of Hillary. That, and I want the potential opportunity to be able to support a true progressive on a major party ticket in 2020.

Regarding Hezbollah, any support I may have shown for them in the past is similar to my vote for Trump in the past election. The restoration of 'Greater Israel' in the Mideast would not have been a good thing (like a Hillary presidency), and it was mostly Iran and their allies that stood in their way. You can put Hamas in that same basket.

I don't know where you stand in support or opposition to Daesh, but Hezbollah (with massive support from Iran and Russia) has been a key component of defeating them in Syria. Israel as all but officially announced their formal support and preference for Daesh.

[hack]

We would need a Buchanan-sized post to scratch the surface of this question. But I'd start with "Alabama" and run with it from there.

Jeff has time. Get him the data and he'll analyze it.

[iam416]

Re "Alabam""Alum" -- he's actually from Louisiana. So, you know, it's worse than you even thought. He claims to be Scottish, and no sane man would do that unless it were the unfortunate truth. So that means he's probably descended from halftwit Scots-Canucks who weren't fit enough to survive in that dilapidated society and thus ran screaming for the bogs of Louisiana. He voluntarily went to "school" in Alabama, played nurse and is consistently outsmarted by his border collie, Ranger.

Fancystats would blow up.

[Wild Hoss]

Jeff has time. Get him the data and he'll analyze it.

He has the time...but do we have the server space?

[Da Geezer]

Richest counties in the US:

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/census-bureau-5-richest-counties-are-dc-suburbs

[Ed Balzer]

The biggest problem the US faces is in keeping the Saudis completely in our orbit, as there has been distancing with Turkey and Qatar.

Who else are the Saudis going to turn to? It's hard to imagine.

This is not an all-or-nothing situation. It was Saudi and Qatari money that funded Daesh in Syria and Iraq. With Qatar now in conflict with the Saudis and being close to normalizing ties with Iran, our absolute control of the GCC is in question.

The Saudis have made a significant purchase or Russian weapons (Syria was their best trade show ever), and oil prices have started to rise again.

IMO the bigger question for the US is which horse to back in the region. Saudi is a dead end and the rationale for the relationship in the first place is gone. Iran could be a real country one day, with regular people and a regular and diversified economy and a set of geopolitical interests that aren't so narrow or defined by its basic internal tension. I don't think we should formally walk away from the Saudis, but they aren't our friends, never have been, and pretending such makes other US policy goals more difficult.

Everyone knows that the days of the KSA are numbered, it will be broken into pieces. MbS knows this, and is doing his best to either delay the inevitable or to minimize its impact. If he were smart, he would follow the lead of Qatar and end the proxy wars with Iran. However that would not be in the interest of either the US or Israel.

[Ed Balzer]

Whoever the new guy is, he's weird.

You sound like you know me.

I like it. He says strange things that are hard to reconcile with other things in the very same post, and other things that are interesting.

I do not fit in any one basket, either politically or religiously.

One thing I will do my best at is to honestly answer any questions you ask about any of my posts.

[Wild Hoss]

Would you say you fit into a case of baskets?

[Ed Balzer]

If it is Opinioned Ed from Worldcrossing, he's a great addition here.

Thank you!

And congrats to UAB for being bowl eligible.

[Ed Balzer]

What the fuck is wrong with you.

Bwahahaha!!!

[iam416]

Ed Balzer:

No one really believes me, but please confirm that Old Scribe and lil red devil were both far smarter in all things everywhere than The Wizard.

Thanks in advance.

[Ed Balzer]

Would you say you fit into a case of baskets?

Absofuckinglutely!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Al Gropen has announced he will resign in the coming weeks.

And Conyers is gone.

Put aside Roy Moore...why has there been almost no pressure on Blake Farenthold to resign on the Republican side?