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RomaVicta

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by RomaVicta

  1. Here in Idiot World, we have the press chasing the story of whether or not babies were beheaded. Were we lied to? Is it propaganda? Clearly the issue here is the fate of those babies' heads and people lying about it! If it turns out that no babies were beheaded, so what? It's a fucking minute detail against everything that we know happened during the assault. Will anyone really say, "It wasn't as bad as we thought. No baby beheadings." The facts of what happened are enough. The response to those facts has been moral outrage and disgust. That's good for business if you're the press, a politician, or a right wing rabble rouser. They need those baby heads to squeeze record levels of emotion from their audiences and voters. They've just about promised baby heads. This whole thing will be an outrage letdown without those baby heads. In some ways, this is heaven for the parties mentioned above. I can't even argue that we should focus on possible solutions in a discussion of policy because nobody in the world can think of one. Everybody's not stupid; it's just a Gordian Knot of aspects and issues. Rabble rousers can keep the emotional flames going ranting about ever harsher measures one should take against the dirty Arabs. CNN can program endless panel shows rehashing every useless aspect of analysis. The whole bloody sundae won't be complete without that baby head cherry. Sorry, whole dead babies aren't quite enough this week. Ghoulish times.
  2. Tough, tough football player. A great name from my past. I think he was close to scoring a touchdown towards the end of a Super Bowl or playoff game and just fighting and straining trying to get across the goal. He didn't make it, but that effort and determination made the moment so dramatic and memorable. RIP to a Cowboy from the shiny pants days. Walt Garrison.
  3. I know the MAGA cult is irony deaf, but the beauty of him saying Israel must be careful about saying the wrong things while he is saying all the wrong words should not be overlooked. Trump accusing someone else of trying to steal credit for things they haven't done is rich. Maybe the only richness that can be associated with that non-Forbes-List pustule of penury.
  4. Holy shit. It commemorates the conquest of Judea and features the depiction below as a detail from Titus' triumph. I guess Italy using this monument is like the Germans lighting up a Nazi building with stars of David. History has been so hard on those people.
  5. That's my limited understanding as well. Hamas worked to better conditions in Gaza and make connections to the people which allowed them to, as I recall, supplant the incompetent PLO. I don't think it would have taken much economic effort for Israel to have done more than Hamas. However, I don't know that doing so would have prevented Hamas from finding other ways to win the favor of the populace. I don't think enough could be done by Israel to eradicate the resentment of being displaced. I really just don't know what might have worked regarding Palestinian resistance to Israel and the outside forces encouraging that resistance. Would the common Palestinian, provided a means to a better life, decide that what he/she has in hand is better than the risks of resistance? We've had these people defined for us so many different ways that I can't pretend to have a clue. No matter what, your point about how Israel should dispose themselves towards Palestinians is a solid one.
  6. Wrong side of the equation for us.
  7. A lot of good posts on the same page as this one. I've pos repped people who disagree because of the strength of their arguments. 956 Worldwide has made some of those posts. I read the first several paragraphs of Twice Horn's link. You now also reference the number of Jews killed in reference to the Holocaust. I don't think this is a productive direction as it's inapt, IMHO. First, I don't think there is any sort of general denial of the atrocities here committed or much weight given to possible exaggerations from Israeli witnesses. I'm skeptical of Israel's policies and actions over the last several decades. The placement of Israel was problematic, but that point is moot. They're there. No matter, I recognize the brutality of what has occurred. I can also appreciate an established reporter distinguishing between what he knows and what he has heard second hand- the babies with cut throats. Second, going back to the emotional well of Holocaust referencing doesn't really fit a situation where the Jews, in this case, are anything but an underdog struggling to survive something they cannot resist. The US was not made an underdog by the attacks of 9/11. The US was not on the verge of helpless extermination. We're a military giant. It is the same for Israel in the MidEast. Politically organized racist murderers going home to home to slaughter Jews does recall brown shirts in the streets of Germany. But these killers do not have the backing of what would become a giant engine of conquest and atrocity. Putting current events in the context of WW2 is a dreadful error we do whenever we get the notion that we need to invade somebody. We're always the good guys who people love to see raining artillery on their homelands! For Israel, the distortion of using WW2 puts them in the permanent state of victimhood and plucky resistance of the bully. No. They're the US in that world. They have the planes, tanks, trained and well-equipped soldiers, and advanced technology. They don't need an American carrier group off the shore of Gaza. They don't need the armed forces of the leading nations of NATO. The joint statement from those NATO leaders likely has some political value in warning other outside powers not to get involved, so maybe it's a good idea. On the other hand, I'd prefer the US stay quiet and remote beyond a position of condemning the terrorist attacks and providing moral support. We're not seeing a repeat of the Holocaust here. Leave those heartstrings be.
  8. I notice that they are now touting Alabama as "the most talented team in the nation" using the source that says the Aggies are number 4. They say it as if it has any meaning at all compared to on-field performance. If anything, team performance is indicating how worthless the rating system is. You are what your record says you are.
  9. Maybe they're like us when we blast non-combatants. But we didn't mean to kill them. They're just collateral damage! The decision to use high explosives is a decision that will kill women and children and the innocent. Still, it may be a reasonable combat decision. Just own it. And don't be surprised if non-combatants in your lands are targeted. Filthy business no matter how you cut it. You don't want to stick your hands in it unless it's the only way.
  10. This is probably pretty small of me, but I was curious about the only person who negged my post above with the terrorist pictures. Henderson Horn? Seemed vaguely familiar with no negative connotations. So, I hit the person's profile and see it's some person who posted once years ago and now just negs people. Now for the petty part. I'm going to his five year old post to neg that sorry ass. I think I'm doing mainly because this wad seems like a coward. Anyone wanting to join me is welcome. Or neg me for being a punk. I'm conflicted.
  11. Fuckin' tunnel has been dug from the Football board. The motto there is: If I repeat the same thing in enough places, I will be the genius.
  12. Fuck. I'd put that out of my mind. If I recall correctly, the Liberty would have discovered that Israel was attacking Jordan which the US did not approve. The ship fought well considering it was for intelligence gathering. Israel sent medical helicopters, but the Americans told them to fuck off. Liberty limped back to an American base. That attack was an outrage. I believe that was the key moment of me not buying into the mythology of our relationship with Israel. I think I may have realized around then that our habit of thinking of other countries as either friends and good guys or enemies and bad guys just might be a little simplistic. Yes. He's Spartacus. Let's get that nice and straight.
  13. I'm beginning to think that ol' Chris Colombus is dying for our sins. If we can lay all the bad shit that happened at his feet, we're all clear on what follows. How convenient that he is a dirty foreigner!
  14. I hate to be the asshole, but I don't want to defend Taiwan with the USN. I'd be glad of the excuse of being overextended to avoid doing so. I think the surface fleet would be in terrible peril from submarine attack. We'd be in the position of deciding if all out war with China in their backyard is worth it. If a carrier goes down because we put it between China and Taiwan, we'll plunge into massive war. Would anybody in hindsight think continuing to support a stupid 2-China policy is worth that? But they sank our boat! Of course. Remember the Maine! And the Lusitania! And Tonkin Bay! And the WMD in Iraq! We'll be greeted as liberators. Weeping-with-joy citizens will rain candies and flowers on our boys! Idiot World.
  15. They're assholes, no doubt. Young guys. Still, I'm more worried that these guys are allowed in my country. From similar US demonstrations: [Oh, sorry, the middle guys are ISIS terrorists. Don't know how I could have got them confused with the red-blooded Americans.] Sensible response alert! Head for the bunker over at DT. Yes. Those four teenagers could bring down the US any day now. TLDR: Fuck you.
  16. It's also typical of those fucks that they think they learn core values in college ROTC or from their honor code. Their formalized honor code is like the SEC patch on their football uniforms. See, this thing here proves we're honorable! See this patch? It means we're really good at football. Dumbasses
  17. Nah. Let's name them after presidents.
  18. The court rules that leopards may continue to eat the faces of counsel.
  19. The fabo class of '22 will be meat-eating juniors in 2024. That's the year! It's always been the year!
  20. The USAF has always hated the low glamour of the A-10. If they don't want to fly them, turn the program over to the Army and Marine Corps. I recall Air Force generals saying the A-10 shouldn't be funded because the more expensive planes could do with interdiction what the A-10 did on the battlefield. Absurd when said decades ago. Still so. The USAF doesn't want to risk the enormously expensive new airframes just as the Army doesn't like to lead with the expensive Abrams tanks. The A-10 will, IMHO, be viable for at least as long as we have helicopters over the battlefield. If choppers can survive, surely the warthog can. I doubt the USAF is enthusiastic about unmanned fighters for the same reason: glamour. Pilots are an elite group of fighting men/women. It's a club most of us wish we had the stuff for. Still, there's no reason to maintain that club once technology renders its members a constraint on battlefield/sky performance. Shit. I'm sidetracking this again. What should we name the A-10s?
  21. You've posted many excellent takes on this thread. I disagree with the factuality of the bolded. This started with settement by Zionists. I'll get tiresome recommending An Indigenous People's History of the US, but it's so instructive about so many things. One of those things is the pattern of invading a land, making peace with agreements on territory, the conqueror not stopping settlers from violating the agreed territory of the conquered then having the settlers start a conflict that the conquerors join to save the settlers. It didn't start in N. America. The author points to Ireland as an example. Here we see it again. The natives revolt and get blamed for the war that ends up crushing them. Israel gives de facto permission for illegal settlements then acts in outrage when they cause problems. There are plenty of things to list about the crimes and cruelties of the Muslim world in response to Israel's existence and US intervention in that part of the world. That's a different discussion just as our record of errantly firing missiles into weddings and homes is a separate discussion from the outrage of 9/11. Israel is often a bad actor in their region. It is not a defense to say that some of their opponents may be worse actors. No country should use the standards of the foulest terrorists to justify brutal standards of their own. To be clear, I will support merciless hunting down and killing persons planning to harm the US. I insist on precision. Otherwise, you're fighting a Hydra.
  22. Anyone doubt that the embattled criminal enterprise that is the GOP would happily start a war with anyone to "unify" the people" and change the domestic focus? They could give a shit about who dies, what it costs, or how much it harms the remaining shreds of the republic. They could give a shit. They should give a shit. But they don't. If they are willing to sacrifice lives to save their own skins, shouldn't they pay for that abhorrent crime with their own skins? I'm debating whether I mean that literally. It's a close call.
  23. If this were a Democrat, we'd all be for investigating and throwing the rat out if the story were true. The GOP circles the wagons and starts talking about how the Dems do it, too! Hunter Biden! They operate exactly like a criminal organization. They even steal like one.
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