Out With The Strong, In With The Wrong

The NY Times discovers the dark side to the Arab Spring:

Jihadists’ Surge in North Africa Reveals Grim Side of Arab Spring

By ROBERT F. WORTH

WASHINGTON — As the uprising closed in around him, the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi warned that if he fell, chaos and holy war would overtake North Africa. “Bin Laden’s people would come to impose ransoms by land and sea,” he told reporters. “We will go back to the time of Redbeard, of pirates, of Ottomans imposing ransoms on boats.”

In recent days, that unhinged prophecy has acquired a grim new currency. In Mali, French paratroopers arrived this month to battle an advancing force of jihadi fighters who already control an area twice the size of Germany. In Algeria, a one-eyed Islamist bandit organized the brazen takeover of an international gas facility, taking hostages that included more than 40 Americans and Europeans.

Coming just four months after an American ambassador was killed by jihadists in Libya, those assaults have contributed to a sense that North Africa — long a dormant backwater for Al Qaeda — is turning into another zone of dangerous instability, much like Syria, site of an increasingly bloody civil war. The mayhem in this vast desert region has many roots, but it is also a sobering reminder that the euphoric toppling of dictators in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt has come at a price.

Interestingly, their presumably careful reporting is careful not to mention either Hillary or Barack, for either credit or blame. Late in the story we do get this suggestion of Western culpability:

The Algerians also have little patience with what they see as Western naïveté about the Arab spring, analysts say.

“Their attitude was, ‘Please don’t intervene in Libya or you will create another Iraq on our border,’ ” said Geoff D. Porter, an Algeria expert and founder of North Africa Risk Consulting, which advises investors in the region. “And then, ‘Please don’t intervene in Mali or you will create a mess on our other border.’ But they were dismissed as nervous Nellies, and now Algeria says to the West: ‘Goddamn it, we told you so.’ ”

Oh, well - a bunch of cranky Algerians who don't understand modern kinetic military actions.

While on the topic, let's revisit this Times account of America's role in the utter debacle in Mali:

For years, the United States tried to stem the spread of Islamic militancy in the region by conducting its most ambitious counterterrorism program ever across these vast, turbulent stretches of the Sahara.

But as insurgents swept through the desert last year, commanders of this nation’s elite army units, the fruit of years of careful American training, defected when they were needed most — taking troops, guns, trucks and their newfound skills to the enemy in the heat of battle, according to senior Malian military officials.

“It was a disaster,” said one of several senior Malian officers to confirm the defections.

Then an American-trained officer overthrew Mali’s elected government, setting the stage for more than half of the country to fall into the hands of Islamic extremists. American spy planes and surveillance drones have tried to make sense of the mess, but American officials and their allies are still scrambling even to get a detailed picture of who they are up against.

Now, in the face of longstanding American warnings that a Western assault on the Islamist stronghold could rally jihadists around the world and prompt terrorist attacks as far away as Europe, the French have entered the war themselves.

...

Some Defense Department officials, notably officers at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, have pushed for a lethal campaign to kill senior operatives of two of the extremists groups holding northern Mali, Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Killing the leadership, they argued, could lead to an internal collapse.

But with its attention and resources so focused on other conflicts in places like Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya, the Obama administration has rejected such strikes in favor of a more cautious, step-back strategy: helping African nations repel and contain the threat on their own.

Over the last four years, the United States has spent between $520 million and $600 million in a sweeping effort to combat Islamist militancy in the region without fighting the kind of wars it has waged in the Middle East. The program stretched from Morocco to Nigeria, and American officials heralded the Malian military as an exemplary partner. American Special Forces trained its troops in marksmanship, border patrol, ambush drills and other counterterrorism skills.

But all that deliberate planning collapsed swiftly when heavily armed, battle-hardened Islamist fighters returned from combat in Libya. They teamed up with jihadists like Ansar Dine, routed poorly equipped Malian forces and demoralized them so thoroughly that it set off a mutiny against the government in the capital, Bamako.

A confidential internal review completed last July by the Pentagon’s Africa Command concluded that the coup had unfolded too quickly for American commanders or intelligence analysts to detect any clear warning signs.

FWIW they don't blame Bush. But they could! Here is a poignant December 2008 flashback to the start of our program in Mali:

U.S. Training in Africa Aims to Deter Extremists

By ERIC SCHMITT

KATI, Mali — Thousands of miles from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, another side of America’s fight against terrorism is unfolding in this remote corner of West Africa. American Green Berets are training African armies to guard their borders and patrol vast desolate expanses against infiltration by Al Qaeda’s militants, so the United States does not have to.

...

American officials say their strategy is to contain the Qaeda threat and train the African armies, a process that will take years. The nonmilitary counterterrorism programs are just starting, and it is too early to gauge results.

“This is a long-term effort,” said Colonel Connors, 45, an Africa specialist from Burlington, Vt., who speaks French and Portuguese. “This is crawl, walk, run, and right now, we’re still in the crawl phase.”

With the benefit of hindsight we think he meant "Crawl, walk, stage coup".

Comments

[narciso]

This is not unique to the Falcons, but too many teams, do seem to rely on Newton's second law,
as their fallback.

[sbw]

she's suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and often drinks to excess to "deal with it"

Libtards have a rationalization for everything they feel.

The rest of us think.

[daddy]

Thanks for that link narciso,

“Wendy Button has written for Democratic Senators John
Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John Kerry

So a speechwriter for that bunch is completely crazy. Who would have thunk it.

[sbw]

Those I know on medication used to deal with RA, drink in moderation, if at all.

[Extraneus]

Incredible that she was able to keep the sunglasses in position through it all.

[Jack is Back]

maryrose,

This a No Grudge Zone at JOM. Would you feel better if we refer to them as the Browns?

[Captain Hate]

There is nothing more American than to cheer against the Patriots but there's no way I can wish for Art Modell's torments in Hell to diminish by a Raven's win.

So I'm torn...

[maryrose]

The Browns in a SuperBowl. I wonder if I will live that long?

[Captain Hate]

The Browns and the Lions are the only franchises not to appear in the SuperBowl.

[daddy]

Over at Red State writer Kowalski has advice for Wendy:

Wendy, all you have to do to stop yourself from buying a gun is not buy one, and then voluntarily commit yourself. Commit yourself. To an asylum. Really! Just do it. If you’re that afraid you’re going to kill yourself, by all means, right now – get to the hospital and have yourself admitted as an inpatient. Dial 911 and shout at the top of your lungs: “I’ve just written an article for the New York Times and I’m afraid I am going to kill myself!”

[narciso]

There's also a Puffington Host piece back in 2008, where she exhibits category error, of an agregious kind, in other news, I've lost any respect I had for him, in the LUN

[Jack is Back]

JiB rule leads to Niners interception of Ryan.

Wonder if the Times would take an Op-Ed from me about Giving Up my First Amendment Right so that I don't have to read the Times or any press accounts as it makes me suicidal? [Which unlike Wendy, is more probable that it does].

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Frau,

I'm in - especially if you are going to make an appearance but I hold no illusion that the press will report on it except to say "40 racists showed up and left no trash".

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Oh, to be 63 again, Maryrose.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Niners shoulda let Akers go.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

WHo is supposed to win this game?

[caro]

I'm in, too. I wonder what the trigger will be because it feels like that's all we're waiting for.

maryrose, I have been out four of the last five days. Good but not great as we can always use more snow. I'm loving the bump runs. Please come!

[narciso]

Well it's a good thing they are responsible handlers of weapons;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/01/va-democrat-who-brandished-ak47-on-house-floor-was-jailed-and-disbarred-in-1999/

[Jack is Back]

Jane,

Niners are favorite on the road but the Falcons have the better regular season record.

[hit and run]

Wait. It's the 20th????

A week-long conference and I lose all sense of what the date is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARYROSE!!!!!

[daddy]

More on 2nd Amendment Wendy:

I needed a job right away and so I took the one in front of me with Senator Barack Obama. When we first met, Obama and I had a nice conversation about speeches and writing, and at the end of the meeting I handed him a pocket-sized bottle of Grey Poupon mustard so he wouldn’t have to ask staff if it was okay to put it on his hamburger. At the bottom of the bottle was the logo for “The South Beach Diet” and he snapped, “Oh so you read People magazine.” He seemed to think that I was commenting on his bathing suit picture.

Senator Joe Biden is a “good looking” man...

...it was a privilege to help Michelle Obama with a stump speech...

At first, certain Democrats and the press called Senator Clinton “dishonest.” They went after her cleavage.

Would somebody please give Wendy a handgun. Loaded.

[caro]

Speaking of age, I went to a birthday party Friday night. My friend, who I know because of bridge, invited about 120 of her closest friends. There was a 50s rock and roll theme and many poodle skirts were worn. And letter sweaters. There was a great dj and two couples who were professional dancers who performed and also gave refresher instructions on the dance floor in the hand jive and the stroll, among other favorites.

Pat was turning 80. She was out on the dance floor with the best of us in her capris and white Keds with bobby socks. And a square neck scarf. With those crazy winged glasses. Other over 80s and in fact nearly 90 year olds out there too. It was inspirational, and the best party I have been to in years.

Sixty-three is just a babe.

[Captain Hate]

I don't know why but I've never liked cheering for the Patriots going back to the old AFL days. There is nothing concrete I can put my finger on, and I liked almost all of the old teams. God knows they got screwed numerous times against the Raidazz including that forward fumble that the zebras gacked on before the "tuck rule" made that all null and void. And it's not like the Red Sox who I used to cheer for before they finally won it all and most of their fans became insufferable douches.

It's a mystery.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

She can borrow one of mine, daddy.

[Danube of Thought]

Jessica Nicole Lee, mother of two:

[Jack is Back]

Boy, did the Falcons miss a bullet there. Tough field position but better than being down 4.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

Same here Captain.
That they wrecked the Raiders's perfect season was more than made up for by the refs giving the Raider's the playoff win and that Brady tuck play wasn't the Pats fault, just a stupid rule, but I still can't stand em for whatever reason.
It aint Boston cause I've never had a problem rooting for the old Celtics.
Brady seems like a genuinely good guy and while Bellichek is an ass I could probably count on one woodshop teacher's hand the number of head coaches who aren't.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Niners weree favored by four or five, Jane.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

She must have pretty good luck finding her bikinis after losing them; she even seems to cook in them.
Bacon must be fun.

[daddy]

Too bad Manti Te'o didn't pronounce his name like Manteo, and say his girlfriend was Virginia Dare. That chicks been missing now for 426 years and nobodies ever been upset much about it except maybe Walter Raleigh.

[sbw]

Who fotoshopped that Lee pix with the funhouse mirror filter?

[Jack is Back]

That play was worth it just to watch Harbaugh completely lose any composure his locked jaw has ever had:)

[marlene]

Happy Birthday maryrose!
caro's mention of a 50s birthday party has me wondering if FLOTUS was inspired by Mamie Eisenhower's bangs? I read somewhere that Mamie's hairstyle with the bangs was first styled in Paris by Elizabeth Arden.Where did FLOTUS have her hair styled?

[Danube of Thought iPad]

Kathleen Turner affects the most absurd phony accent since George Plimpton.

[daddy]

Breaking BBC Story says that 5 of the "Hostage Takers" may have been captured alive at the Gas Plant in Algeria. Five suspected members of the Islamist group which held foreign and local workers hostage at an Algerian gas plant have been arrested, reports say.

It is unclear whether they were captors or captives...,
but "Five terrorists were found still alive this morning," said the private Ennahar TV channel, quoted by AFP news agency.

If so, I hope we don't resort to Waterboarding to get information from them. That would be inhumane.

[Jack is Back]

Looks like the Falcon's lose. Even Arthur Blank knows it. How good are the bookies and oddsmakers? Niners were favored by 4 pts. and it looks like they cover.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and express grave doubts that the winner of the Sea-Atl game is going to the Super Bowl.

[daddy]

And this one's just breaking so I suspect we'll hear about it in the Inaugural: (Albuquerque) Boy, 15, 'shoots his pastor father and family dead with military-style assault rifle' in bloody shooting rampage

[daddy]

Clarice just got Instalanced.

Congratulations Clarice. Well deserved.

Insty comments beneath, but I think I'd modify it to "It Takes a Potemkin Village."

[Jack is Back]

daddy,

I still say it was an inside job. You have to really know your way around a NG processing plant in order to understand the most vulnerable equipment to blow up and where the "foreign workers" can be found. Despite their very desolate locations these plants are highly sophisticated especially their control instrumentation, SCADA and computerization (e.g. this is where the foreign workers come in).

Since it is the headwaters of the pipeline and gathering fields this is why you got the quick deadly Algerian response. You can't lose the line or the fields. You can always lose the plant capacity and transfer the fields via the line to other processing plants. Biggest loser would have been....drum roll....the Europeans, Algeria's biggest customer.

[daddy]

JiB,

Wouldn't surprise me a bit and I defer to you Sir. I recall in early reports that freed hostages mention that one of the Terrorists had a perfect Brit accent.

To the dogs....

[NJJan]

Happy Birthday, Mary Rose! Keep celebrating

[daddy]

JiB,

Somewhat related, I am still wondering how all 4 engines of the brand new $200 Million tug ship pulling the Kulluk Oil Platform up here lost power at the same time. In a plane I would have to expect contaminated fuel. Any ideas from anyone on that?

[Extraneus]

I hope we don't resort to Waterboarding to get information from them. That would be inhumane.

It couldn't work anyway, as we know.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

--Somewhat related, I am still wondering how all 4 engines of the brand new $200 Million tug ship pulling the Kulluk Oil Platform up here lost power at the same time.--

Fiat power?
Chevy?

[narciso]

Happy birthday, maryrose, hit you're falling down on the job,

Accuracy is paramount, don't you think;

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2965265/

[Jack is Back]

daddy,

What do you think the odds are that you can lose all 4 engines? I was on a buffer that lost 2 inside P&W's and that was so rare that the tech reps were sweating bullets when we landed. Pinched hydraulics and a kid on maintenance with a drug problem. So uncommon that they ran a model to show it was like 100 million to one.

Something like the tug tells me humans are involved either purposefully or incompentently.

[hit and run]

narciso:
hit you're falling down on the job

...and I can't get up.

[Jack is Back]

Edward Lee. Luckiest man in America, after me!

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

HB Maryrose! I hope it's the best ever.

I like Bellichek, mostly because he never says anything, and because I rarely watch so I don't know enough to dislike him. I'm getting a big taste of sports these days since I like background noise and am trying desperately trying to not watch news.

[Jack is Back]

How can I continue to foget to wish maryrose a big lasting Happy Birthday. But maryrose, you are a true JOM trooper and today you get to present the colors at last post.

Tell hubby to take you to Pier W.

[Beasts of England]

Bacon and bikinis. These are a few of my favorite B's...

[henry]

Happy Birthday maryrose!

[Danube of Thought iPad]

If the line was 4 they didn't cover, they pushed. Most lines I saw were 4.5 or 5. I think the line on the Pats has dropped from 9.5 to 7.5.

I like Belichick because I knew and liked his dad Steve when he was coaching at Navy. Some of my buddies say they remember Bill as a little boy hanging around, but I can't say that I do.

[NJJan]

Jane,
Along with sports, HGTV is great mindless background noise instead of news.

[Extraneus]

I hate the Patriots and Belichick, but as a Jets fan I respect his decision to stiff the team after 1 day as their head coach.

[Rick Ballard]

Happy Birthday, Maryrose.

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

I'd like to add my birthday felicitations to the lovely and youthful Maryrose too.
Very pretty name incidentally.

[Extraneus]

Yes, it is. My mother's name was Rose, and it's my daughter's middle name.

Happy Birthday!

[narciso]

So a couple of questions come to mind, first what was the security around facilities like Al Amenas, shades of Benghazi, also if the Pentagon officials in the Schmitt piece, four years ago,
had BelMoktar pegged as an up and coming jihadist leader, and Porter, had him a year and a half ago, why wasn't anything done,

[Beasts of England]

Happy birthday, maryrose! Cheers!

[Extraneus]

Top Democrats optimistic Congress will pass gun control legislation, with outside Washington help

What does a gun grabber look like, anyway?

[Jack is Back]

For those of you disappointed in TM missing the obligatory Krugman piece today, I give you this from Commentary. LOL.

[Agent J]

Wonder what video will get blamed for Algerian attack?

Happy Birthday Maryrose, an anyone I missed in the last few weeks, or in the next few weeks. I can not keep up..an having eye problems.

[sbw]

Happy Birthday, Maryrose, and many more.

[narciso]

Well today, they had a special 'Spring surprise' from Joseph Stiglitz, the fellow who vouched for
Fannie Mae's soundness, backed Chavez's central banking plan, Carlos Slim was a very dark sense of humor,

[Jack is Back]

DoT,

Cover.com and Dimes.eu had the Niners at +3.5. That is what I based it on. They covered. No one had them more than +4. Its only a push if you use +4.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

HGTV is great mindless background noise instead of news.

I'm not sure I get it. I only have perfunctory channels because I never ever watch the thing but it is always on.

I never thought I' be happy to not be on the radio, but I am since this election.

[Captain Hate]

So where did maryrose go for her birthday? The Grovewood or is that too close to the old 'hood to make it special? Anyway, we've gotta meet up sometime.

On a completely unrelated topic, I was listening to music today when the phone rang. Mrs H told me it was somebody I used to work with who, after she got married, seemed to turn kind of weird and I thought I needed to talk with her like I needed a third nut. Anyway Mrs H insisted that I talk so I rolled my eyes and, after an hour effortlessly disappeared, it was just like old times and we'll get together for lunch pretty soon.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

BTW how do you regular football watchers bear these announcers?

[Frau Kuchen]

Happy, happy birthday, maryrose. Out here on the Left Coast, the skies are sunny and bright in your honor.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

I didn't see the 3.5 line, JiB, but anyone who had the Niners and gave 3.5 surely covered. The Caliente line this morning was 4.5. There are any number of books in Vegas and I haven't checked them in recent days.

[hit and run]

Jane:
BTW how do you regular football watchers bear these announcers?

I treat them like the background noise the rest of your tv experience seems to consist of.

[narciso]

Not surprisingly, Max Fischer is a nearly totally useless source, about most anything;

http://gunpowderandlead.org/2013/01/al-qaeda-in-the-islamic-maghreb-and-al-qaedas-senior-leadership/

[Captain Hate]

BTW how do you regular football watchers bear these announcers?

By boycotting the entire thing. I assume Game one was Troy Aikman and Joe "Does Anybody Believe I'm Still in the Closet" Buck and that the AFC game will be Nantzy Boy and Opie Simms. I like Aikman a great deal, particularly since he doesn't want anybody to think he shills for the Cowpies so comes down really hard on them. Also when Jimmy Johnson had been dancing on the stage when the Brian Setzer band had been playing Christmas songs, he said "I wish I could say that's the first time I've seen that".

[Janet]

Happy Birthday, maryrose! Lots of love to you!

[hit and run]

CH:
By boycotting the entire thing.

I am glad to hear it.

Because I would hate for you to have just seen the ad for the 2nd Annual NFL Honors award program on CBS

The ad for the show that will be hosted by . . . drum roll . . . Alec Baldwin.

Nothing says football like Alec Baldwin.

Oh wait. You also missed the Fox broadcast that repeatedly featured that other NFL giant . . . Ryan Seacrest.

No, your boycott is probably "creating or saving" any number of years to your life.

[Jack is Back]

Jane,

Gee, I don't know but one them went to Disneyland after winning the Super Bowl. Not bad for a kid from Lebanon, Kentucky and Morehead State. BTW, his son, Chris is on 'Hoodie's staff with the Pats.

Belichick, unlike the Harbaugh brothers is calm, patient, relaxed and constantlly thinking how to turn the knife. His direct snap to Woodhead should have been seen in prior films but the Ravens were caught napping. Exactly what Bill does to you. There is a reason the Pats are there somewhere every year and its not all Brady and Welker. Think those guys would be winning this way under Norv Turner or Romeo Cannell?

[Captain Hate]

hit, the irritation factor of the enneffell seems to have clicked up a major notch under the stewardship of King Roger the Stoopid. It takes a fresh face like RG3 to counteract that.

[Danube of Thought iPad]

"Niners were favored by 4 pts. and it looks like they cover."

That's what I was alluding to, JiB.

What will be the SB line if it's SF-NE? SF-Baltimore?

[Captain Hate]

There is a reason the Pats are there somewhere every year and its not all Brady and Welker.

They didn't make the playoffs in 2008 when Brady was injured.

[DrJ]

Signs that winter if over in Northern California:

The 49ers go to the Super Bowel?

Nope. Try again.

The Narcissus and Cherries are blooming?

Nope. Try again.

It is 65 and sunny?

Nope. Try again.

It is maryrose's birthday?

Ding Ding Ding!

Happy birthday!!

[Danube of Thought iPad]

I mostly like both pairs of announcers because you don't notice Buck or Lantz--which is part of their job--and Aikman is informative. Simms's grammar is so horrible I'm surprised they allow him on the air. Reminds me of Dizzy Dean but not funny.

[DrJ]

Yikes! Super Bowel??

[Jack is Back]

CH,

True but to even suggest that they are who they are without Belichick is to deny reality. You may not like him but he is by far the best coach in professional football today. Do you really think Tom Brady could have led the Browns to 5 super bowls had he been their QB?

[hit and run]

DrJ:
The 49ers go to the Super Bowel?

Tell me that was intentional.

That was awesome.

[hit and run]

I take it that's a no.

Still. Awesome.

[DrJ]

hit,

Depends (*grin!*). It will be with Super Bowel if Baltimore is the 49ers opponent.

[Jack is Back]

DoT,

Rounding error:) You got me.

[Jim Miller]

Jane - That's what the mute button is for, shutting up annoying NFL announcers. And, of course, the talking heads on news shows. (If there is a good announcer on the radio some get their picture from TV and the sound from the radio.)

Can't remember when this happened, but I still remember with some pleasure the game they did without announcers. (If I recall, they were taking a crack at Howard Cosell.)

Now, if they would just do that and show us the full 22 from time to time . . .

(The NFL tapes the entire filed -- the full 22 -- but refuses to show it to the fans, though the teams get copies. I've never figured out why they do that.

[narciso]

Well any game, is a process, which the coach and the team have to reassess constantly, the Niners were behind, but the Falcons rested on their laurels, with a few occasional breakthroughs at the end,

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

I treat them like the background noise the rest of your tv experience seems to consist of.

Does that mean you have to watch?

One or two guys on the show can barely speak english - or anything else. They must be football wizards.

I can certainly remember when the Pats won nothing, (and the Celtics won everything). I also knew more than a few people who died without ever seeing a Red Sox WS win.

[Captain Hate]

Do you really think Tom Brady could have led the Browns to 5 super bowls had he been their QB?

Where did I suggest anything like that? I'd be a fool to suggest that Belichick is anything but a very good football coach but I'd like to see how he'll do there when Brady is gone. I saw what he was like in Cleveland and "genius" isn't the word I'd use to describe him. I'd be the first to state that he was doubtlessly hamstrung by Modell's pitiful excuse for an organization but I'd like to shoot him full of sodium pentothal and grill him about some of the things he did here that didn't work out so well.

[Captain Hate]

Can't remember when this happened, but I still remember with some pleasure the game they did without announcers.

I remember that; I don't know what year it was but I'm pretty sure that NBC did it in a game where one of the teams was the Jets iirc.

[narciso]

Back when I wasn't following football so diligently, I still recall how there was almost a decade, when the 49ers went to the Superbowl
almost every year with Montana, the Cowboys were
almost as regular with Irvin, etc, there seems to be a whole lot of turnover from that era,

[Captain Hate]

Here is the info on the game brought to you by the home of some of the more annoying announcers: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=5906858

[hit and run]

Jane:
Does that mean you have to watch?

Yeah, I'm watching. But without having to mute the tv, I don't really catch much of anything the announcers are saying. Mostly because I'm alternating between the game and reading/typing at JOM.

[Janet]

Top Democrats optimistic Congress will pass gun control legislation, with outside Washington help

This whole "Destroy the 2nd Amendment" show seems media driven. If TVs & newspapers went silent...is this what Americans would be calling their Congressmen about?
It is anti-2nd Amendment propaganda vs. real American citizens pushing back.

[centralcal]

Been busy all day, speed scrolled through the last page of this thread - have no idea what y'all are talking about, but I did not want to miss out wishing MaryRose a very happy birthday! Go girl!

[Janet]

Long ago we started muting the sound when we watched sports. Sometimes we turn it up for a replay...but that's it. Basketball & football.