Potemkin Coalitions

The NY Times went on the road looking for the US-backed "Syrian Democratic Forces", and met a lot of Kurds:

New U.S.-Backed Alliance in Syria Exists in Name Only

By BEN HUBBARD  NOV. 2, 2015

IN EISSA, Syria — After abandoning its last effort to train and arm Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State, the Obama administration has turned to a newly announced alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces, to beat the jihadists in northern Syria.

But 10 days of interviews and front-line visits across northern Syria with many of the forces in the alliance made clear that so far it exists in name only, and that the political and logistical challenges it faces are daunting.

...

Beyond the early logistical factors, the new alliance faces what is perhaps a more serious challenge in the long term: Though it is intended to begin clawing back territory from the Islamic State in mostly Arab areas, nearly all of the group’s fighting power comes from ethnic Kurdish militias.

That demographic reality is likely to further alarm Turkey, a vital American ally that considers Kurdish autonomy near its southern border a security threat. It also limits the forces’ ability to strike the jihadists in predominately Arab communities — Kurdish fighters have less motivation to fight for those areas, and could deeply anger residents by doing so.

“The backbone of these forces are the Kurdish groups because of their experience fighting ISIS and their numbers,” said Redur Xelil, a spokesman for Syria’s dominant Kurdish force, the Y.P.G. But he talked about how that could be a limiting factor in fighting for cities like Raqqa, the Islamic State’s headquarters in Syria: “We have to be realistic that the Y.P.G. can’t go by itself into Raqqa, or people will say, ‘What are you doing there?’”

Well, yes. The Kurds have shown their willingness to fight, but they are pretty clearly fighting for the possibility of a Kurdish homeland. How and whether that can be exported remains untested. Will the Kurds fight for an area they will have no chance of incorporating into their de facto state? Will local non-Kurds greet them as liberators or resist them as alternative oppressors? Time will tell.

 

Comments

[henry]

Yes, Chalabi died of a heat attack. Not sure what his true role was.

[henry]

Link on Chalabi.

[jimmyk]

As I said before, I am sure Obama is going to find some way to screw the Kurds yet again before he leaves office.

[JohnH]

rse,
Safety first with a mandolin. I have found that the "safety" gripper provided works poorly. I use a kitchen towel between my hand and the item to be sliced. You can't push a towel through the blade, it just gets hung up.

[jimmyk]

The WaPo doesn't exactly adhere to "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" in that Chalabi link. The Bush hatred is still overwhelming.

[sbw]

I can disagree with people without despising them. I have democrats in my family and we seem to get along just fine.

Too many Dems, leftists, and progs who disagree with people seem to despise them, too.

[rse]

Thanks john. JOM seems to be as hesitant on the mandolin as my family has been. My husband's face was a sight. I promise not to use it before morning caffeine and to always use it BEFORE opening wine for cooking dinner.

[Cecil Turner]

Alliance schmalliance . . . if you don't have a plan, it really doesn't matter how you go about implementing it.

[jimmyk]

I have democrats in my family and we seem to get along just fine.

My family (parents and sibs) is entirely hard left Dem. My father is the only one who is more moderate, and also the only one who doesn't seem to despise conservatives. The rest of them act just like Obama. I just try to avoid politics with them.

Thanksgiving should be fun. /sarc

[Rick Ballard]

What is the strategic interest of the United States in being involved any longer in ME dump fires? I would much prefer Mahometans being killed there than having to kill them here but if they are sincere in their efforts to kill themselves there, why should I support the expenditure of effort to interfere in intramural sporting events?

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.amazon.com/Cheney-One-Conversation-Controversial-Statesman/dp/1621574628#featureBulletsAndDetailBullets_secondary_view_div_1446544914241

Book by James Rosen. Three days of oral interviews from December, 2014.

I will buy the thing if it trashes Karl Rove. LOL!

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/11/02/polish-football-fans-unfurl-50-foot-stand-defend-christianity-banner-premier-league-match/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Impressive banner with a large crusader knight.

[jimmyk]

What is the strategic interest of the United States in being involved any longer in ME dump fires?

I'm not sure what Obama's interest is, but if I were President I would be concerned about Israel's security, and given the splintering of Iraq and Syria I'd help the Kurds carve out a state. They would be a second node (along with Israel) in an axis of sanity.

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/426494/if-anything-needs-fixing-governor-its-our-governing-class-contempt

Wherein that we discover Jeb had a good working relationship with Arne Duncan, amongst other things.

[Old Lurker]

Give each group in the ME three nukes but imbed a GPS chip that prevents their use outside the ME or in Israel.

How's that?

[Miss Marple 2]

http://freebeacon.com/blog/hillary-clinton-funeral-networking/

[Rocco]

I cut meat for a few years and we used to wear stainless steel mesh gloves on the opposite hand the knife was in.

http://www.honeywellsafety.com/Products/Gloves/STAINLESS_STEEL_MESH_GLOVES.aspx?site=/usa

[matt]

So the new Left meme is that the Republicans are trying to control the debates unfairly. I am convinced there is a room or teleconference where everyone gets their talking points.

I really do feel that the Comintern is at work in the Democratic Party.

[sbw]

Mesh safety glove

Not for use when playing a mandolin.

[Miss Marple 2]

I did not know stainless steel mesh gloves even existed. Fascinating, the things you learn on JOM!

[Rick Ballard]

jimmyk,

The long term security interests of Israel are best met by the dissolution of the UN. I have very high confidence that Israel will manage it's own survival through alignment with the Sunni Arabs.

I'd recognize Kurdistan right now if it were my decision.

[James D.]

Matt @ 9:40, there IS one. Do you really think the Journo-list ever went away?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

"Obama mocks GOP hopefuls for CNBC snit"

Snit? I guess Barry was correct in mocking the little snits, according to Politico's headline anyway.

[narciso]

Its the journolist, duh. Shame about chalabi, they called him an Iranian agent, but they tolerated a real one for 8 years.

[James D.]

Rick, I think the security interests of the U.S. ( not to mention whatever's left of Western civilization) would be best met by the dissolution of the UN, too.

[narciso]

Apologies to the prince, his villages were teal, one of them was Sebastopol.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--they tolerated a real one for 8 years--

We've tolerated a real one for nearly seven years so far.

[rse]

Have my children reached out to JOM using the email list to stress safety?

They just do not want anything interrupting the service of their favorite personal chef.

[henry]

These people need to read the memo, the Darwin Award does not come with a Cash Prize. Armed robbery (even if the arm is simulated) is a good way to get shot by a CCW holder. No one will cry over your demise.

[Miss Marple 2]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/616253/Calais-migrant-crisis-violence-truckers-tasers-CS-gas-Britain

Truckers are arming themselves with tasers and CS gas if they can get them, even though it's illegal in Britain. Also crowbars, screwdrivers, etc.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--What is the strategic interest of the United States in being involved any longer in ME dump fires?--

1. We've allowed in the neo Soviets who bring with them fire hoses pumping gasoline.
2. Historically, seemingly localized dumpster fires left unattended often burn together until they create a world wide conflagration.
3. Even if they don't they may burn bright enough to engulf Europe which despite its dissipation is still a fairly important strategic interest of ours. A muslim Europe will demonstrate just how useful a dissipated secular one was to us. It may have been going muslim anyway but a trickle is possibly reversible in a way a flood is not.
4. I am not so sanguine about Israel being able to ally with the sunnis, especially of the Arabian peninsula, because I am not so sanguine about the long term viability of the sunnis of the Arabian peninsula, at least not the semi sane ones.
5. The world would eventually adjust to a massive disruption of ME oil exports should the dumpster fires catch the oil trade on fire, but it would be a catastrophe while the adjustment took place.

The US has no business being the world's policeman stomping out every smoldering fire but it does have an interest in acting as the world's fireman and containing and separating these fires so they burn themselves out without setting the nicer neighborhoods on fire too.
And it's in our interests to fill the vacuum that the Russian arsonists will fill if we don't.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Bet those truckers wish they could buy a gun, MM.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Unlikely headline of the day;
Woman stabs boyfriend with sailfish.

[henry]

Another day, another VA official takes the 5th, and not the bottled kind of 5th. (found by our lurker).

[DublinDaveForever]

"So the new Left meme is that the Republicans are trying to control the debates unfairly"

It's true. They are.

Republicans,you wanna know what your problem is?All Righties have borderline personality disorder-or another way of looking at it is people with BPD tend to vote Republican.

Your mind continually engages in an inflexible pattern of perception.Perception of people and situations that does not reflect reality and that continually leaves you politically weak.

Examples.

Benghazi;When an inept government response to a terrorist attack goes through the mind of someone with Borderline personality disorder it becomes 'a cover-up of mammoth proportions in which the President and Secretary conspired to preserve a narrative'.

And the rest of the world tunes out.

Another example.

GOP debates;When incompetent,unprofessional and rude moderators who suck at their job goes through the mind of a persona with borderline personality disorder it becomes "a Liberal media conspiracy designed to take down the Republican party".

Yawn.

Republicans,you're almost doomed by genetics. I'm a rabid dem hack who lives in constant fear of the GOP getting it's act together.Why? Because when that happens that is the beginning of a permanent Republican majority.

Advice;hire democratic strategists to run your campaigns.

[Man Tran]

DrJ,

When I was at ASU in the 60s, there was a Columbian kid named Aukie (sp) who played the baby grand in the NW corner of the MU. He was a richie rich kid who's father had emerald mines, or something. Had a gold wristwatch with chunks of gold linked together for a wrist band. Anyway he played for hours at a time and was extraordinarily good.

[jimmyk]

Had a gold wristwatch with chunks of gold linked together for a wrist band.

Was his name Liberace, perchance?

[DublinDaveForever]

sorry....secretary of state

[Miss Marple 2]

Ignatz,

I bet they wish they could buy guns, too.

I note that on Twitter the lefties are trying to shame the Brits into taking huge numbers of the poor Calais refugees before winter comes.

Personally, I think the EU and outside countries should start running public service announcements in the Middle East and Africa telling them that if they come, they will be living in tents throughout the winter and there will be a good chance they will freeze to death.

If people think this is hard-hearted, then make an exception for the children, but tell the parents they cannot guarantee they will get to visit them unless they are collecting them to take them back to their homeland.

Also tell them children will be hosted in Catholic monastery's and there will be no 5 times a day prayer areas.

I am serious. This is like the Camp of the Saints and it is only a matter of time before it hits us.

[Cecil Turner]

The US has no business being the world's policeman stomping out every smoldering fire but it does have an interest in acting as the world's fireman and containing and separating these fires so they burn themselves out without setting the nicer neighborhoods on fire too.

I agree. But the problem with this strategy is that it requires a ground force in the mideast, which I'm told is politically impossible.

. . . it becomes 'a cover-up of mammoth proportions in which the President and Secretary conspired to preserve a narrative'.

Yeah, and worse, they got caught:

To underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet·video, and not a broader failure of policy;

[Rick Ballard]

Ignatz,

If the EU is in danger, one might anticipate them sending a fire truck rather than throwing open their borders. If the thug, Putin, is a danger to the EU, perhaps they could do something that doesn't involve laying down?

There is going to be a catastrophic adjustment to the abject failure of socialism whether it is triggered by an oil crisis or by recognition of insolvency.

ISTM that withdrawal and isolation until the dust settles should be examined as an alternative to further involvement in the dump.

[Miss Marple 2]

Ari Fleischer ‏@AriFleischer 11m11 minutes ago

Debate moderators should b asked to raise hands & pledge they won't work in a D WH. After all, more than 20 reporters went to work 4 Obama.
8 retweets 2 likes

[Man Tran]

Re the ISS UFO, I've always been curious how it is that these stories are always cut off without any official curiosity or follow through. It's always the little man who wasn't there. If anyone really had any sense of scientific curiosity there would be some follow up, but nooo! Nothing to see here, move along.

[Miss Marple 2]

Man Tran,

For years I have griped about these weird stories which appear and then disappear like nothing happened.

What ever happened to the mutilated livestock story out in the West?

What about those huge UFO's which were seen over Phoenix several years ago?

Why doesn't anyone ever research what Obama was doing in Pakistan when he was a traveling college kid?

Drives me nuts!

[DublinDaveForever]

"Ari Fleischer ‏@AriFleischer 11m11 minutes ago
Debate moderators should b asked to raise hands & pledge they won't work in a D WH. After all, more than 20 reporters went to work 4 Obama"

Ari Fleischer is a weak minded coward.

Bitch if you can't debate a few dem hacks how are you going to manage the scumiest sickest world leaders who need to be taught a lesson?

I swear....Republicans are weak!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Another bout of logorrhea scrolled on by.
Can you buy Kaopectate with an EBT?

[hrtshpdbox]

Too many Dems, leftists, and progs who disagree with people seem to despise them, too.

Conservatives think liberals are wrong, liberals think conservatives are evil.

[Miss Marple 2]

Seems to me the GOP handled those flacks just fine.

At least Trump, Rubio, Christie, and Cruz did.

Carson and Fiorina get honorable mention.

[sbw]

National Sailfish Association: If we outlaw sailfish, only outlaws will have sailfish.

Honest, officer, I didn’t know I was loaded.

[Miss Marple 2]

Actually, I think a great many democrats are evil, beginning with Obama and Hillary.

And no one will convince me otherwise.

[And the Pubs won, heh.]

Eh, Duda admits the debate was between the dem hacks and the Repub hacks.

[DublinDaveForever]

"Actually, I think a great many democrats are evil, beginning with Obama and Hillary.And no one will convince me otherwise"

B.D.P

[sbw]

[News from a Consumers Union email]

So who do you suppose it was in the House that snuck into the federal budget bill the provision to allow robocalls to cellphones?

It had to have been a Republican. It had to have been an *ss.

[hrtshpdbox]

All Righties have borderline personality disorder

This is pretty much what comedian and failed radio host Jeanie Gar-awful-o used to say, i.e. that conservatives are brain-addled and crazy. In that view, there's no John Maynard Keynes vs Adam Smith debate, just the normals (libs) vs the loons (us). Hey, if results don't back up your worldview, might as well call the other side nuts.

[Old Lurker]

SBW wouldn't you like to see a system whereby Congress posts all Bills, Regs & Laws in a Word format with all those bubbles for who changed what?

[DublinDaveForever]

"All Righties have borderline personality disorder"

"This is pretty much what comedian and failed radio host Jeanie Gar-awful-o used to say, i.e. that conservatives are brain-addled and crazy"

No. That's not even close to what I said.

[Marlene]

OT,just drove back from the having the dog groomed and saw the first truckload of Christmas trees. Sirius XM has started playing Christmas music!

[jimmyk]

I swear....Republicans are weak!

As has been noted, it was the Dems who were afraid of Fox News.

[Some.]

How many people will die from answering a robocall on a cell phone?

[hrtshpdbox]

No. That's not even close to what I said.

I could pretend I just cherry-picked one line from your post, but the truth is that it's as far as I got into your post (further than usual!).

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The EU is a sick relative. It has a chance of surviving if it is isolated from the contagion and its immune system of rational people has time to grow and replicate.
If we stand back and watch millions of new bacteria and viruses overwhelm it in the next few years hard to see how it won't be terminal.
There's no guarantee it will survive either way of course and I suppose it's possible a rapid influx might trigger a rapid reaction that a gradual one wouldn't but historically a ME in general turmoil tends to become a more widespread problem no matter how much we try to ignore it.
The problem is dumpster fires unattended not only tend to spread but the reason they spread is because they usually don't result in the annihilation of all creeps but the crowning of a newer, more powerful, more expansionist tyrant or group of tyrants.

Maybe if President Trump can get the A-rabs, Persians and Paks to pay for a giant wall around the ME with a couple portholes for oil pipelines we could finally let it burn itself down. The Israelis have phase one started on the West Bank.

[Fox Mulder]

The truth is out there.

[Cecil Turner]

Dr K, as usual, nails it (4:20):

The Republican candidates should quit while they're ahead. They won this debate against the media. The debate about the debate is over and they crushed the media.
There is a general consensus, including in the liberal media, that it was an awful debate run by disrespectful and kind of useless moderators, who clearly showed the world that there's a liberal bias, so the GOP won, and actually came out of the debate looking good as a group. At this point, I think to continue to beat the horse is kind of pointless. Christie and Fiorina are right: 'we won that argument, we're ready to show up anywhere and at any time'; and it actually helps them.
I think the idea of having conservative moderators — say Rush and two people he chooses — would be a splendid idea if that panel would be the moderators for the Democratic debate. And the GOP will take any liberal, because obviously when they took on the CNBC liberals, they won."

[DublinDaveForever]

"I could pretend I just cherry-picked one line from your post, but the truth is that it's as far as I got into your post (further than usual!)"

Trust me, you're not missing anything.

[Art Bell]

I'm still on the air, you know.

[pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

Rick, I think the security interests of the U.S. ( not to mention whatever's left of Western civilization) would be best met by the dissolution of the UN, too.

Posted by: James D. | November 03, 2015 at 09:57 AM

Seconded.

Every penny the US sends to the UN in wasted, IMO.

[jimmyk]

Cecil@10:54, I like that: Let the Rs choose the moderators for the D debates, and vice versa. I know which party would refuse that arrangement.

Of course, best of all is to have no moderators. Did Lincoln and Douglas have moderators? I don't think so.

[Man Tran]

FTL from yesterday:

Microsoft under Gates with their anti-competitive rent-seeking preload agreements and predatory pricing across product lines retarded tech advancement by at least five years. Gates wielded more negative power against the free market than even the most moonbat, socialist, Mussolini wannabe bureaucrat could ever dream of possessing.

Hear, hear!

I despised that muthaf*cker with the glow of a 1000 supernovas. I had to work everyday with the consequences of his shit strategy.

It is also one of the rare times I've disagreed with Rush on a major issue. He was locked down on the free market aspect, but it was hardly a free market when you were forced to buy that crap or starve.

[sbw]

I would point out that Ed Driscoll at Instapundit just linked to a previous JOM thread but I won’t because of the same reason I denounce prancing football goal scorers — good ones act like they have been there before.

[pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

" After all, more than 20 reporters went to work 4 Obama."

Corrected to read what they meant: "more than 20 leftist propaganda spreaders went to work 4 Obama."

[sbw]

At the outset, I would defund certain UN programs and explain why. Publicize that we are not against international cooperation, but against centralized oppression, hypocrisy, over extending the charter, heavy-handed bureaucracies, gold-plated secretariats, and misuse of funds.

[Stephanie]

Just for you wee davey... don't say I never gave you anything.

http://twitchy.com/2015/11/02/jake-tapper-recalls-when-dems-were-cool-with-boycotting-debates/?utm_content=buffer67b73&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[Buckeye]

"Also tell them children will be hosted in Catholic monastery's and there will be no 5 times a day prayer areas."

And they will have to attend Catechism class.

[narciso]

Well he touts Apple products mostly, so we see from dawisha, that volodya was part of the skim from the beginning, he shared his piece of the action with the local bratva, which was manned by fmr security men and ex Russian military.

[Stephanie]

It is also one of the rare times I've disagreed with Rush on a major issue. He was locked down on the free market aspect, but it was hardly a free market when you were forced to buy that crap or starve.

Yep. When Gates talks about the downfalls of capitalism he is just projecting his own undermining of it on others. It's also an extension of moral relativism used to justify in his mind that he didn't do anything wrong as everyone else does it too... even though there is no proof everyone else did.

Projection, it's what libs do.

[DublinDaveForever]

"Just for you wee davey... don't say I never gave you anything"

Honestly,Stephanie,Jake Tapper tweets are great but I'd rather some hot lingerie pics....but you're point is well taken;Obama was a weak ass-creep to run from Fox news.

Obama you weak.

[Man Tran]

Iggy,

If we stand back and watch millions of new bacteria and viruses overwhelm it in the next few years hard to see how it won't be terminal.

I've been thinking about the same issue regarding the drug problem. What if we consider addiction like a virus that some of us are susceptible to and some not. How would we handle it differently? What if the effect was like the 'other' that Heston fought in Omega Man? Should we develop a vaccine that makes us immune to the rush?

[Stephanie]

Morning funny.

You'll like this one.

http://patriotretort.com/anybody-else-think-of-plumbers-crack/

[narciso]

Yes f chuck worked for harkin, rapper for chelsea's mother in law, msnnc more often for franken's grift operation.

[rse]

Amen sbw. I have been following up on global conferences the US goes to and the local policies we agree to implement. I do not want to keep encountering the same ed practices being touted with the exact same sales pitch by the local ed super as well as a Chinese Vice Premier. I also do not appreciate being told in China that it is necessary for a 'market socialist economy', when the precise same ed philosophy and classroom emphasis is being forced on us here.

The UN is a mixture of naive d0-gooders and social parasites. UNESCO's General Conference is this week in Paris and I managed to get around the wall protecting the Formative Framework for Action going forward.

I can see why they were trying to protect it. I went back this morning and reread UNITAR's Decentralized Cooperative Program where they train mayors, council members, school supers, etc so the UN policies come in invisibly at the local level. The Progs now call this subsidiarity and they love it. Too many Conservatives do not appreciate the institutions that keep the local from actually being local or subject to any veto from constituents.

[Dave (in MA)]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz1nHA2OWCc

[jimmyk]

I had to work everyday with the consequences of his shit strategy.

Yeah, he produced crap products, but I still would say it's a valid distinction whether someone succeeds by cronyism versus exploiting aspects of the free market. No one was ever literally forced to by MS stuff. He's a bit more like Shkerli, but Shkerli takes advantage of government loopholes.

[Rick Ballard]

The EU is addicted to socialism and the sooner the stench of its rotting corpse stops being masked by US provided perfume, the better off the US will be.

The fervor of the US progressive fascists is derived from the certain knowledge the OPM available won't even pay for makeup and perfume for their corpse.

The only thing achieved by feeding addicts is prolongation of addiction.

[rse]

jimmy-my understanding is that yes most people wanting a non-Apple pc for years were in fact forced to buy MS. It was a tying agreement most of the public was unaware of, but that was the requisite operating system and provided lots of revenue with little in marketing costs for a very long time.

Hubby has us buy ms stock when we first got married.

[Cecil Turner]

Interesting stuff this morning on that Russian plane crash, including a report that a spy satellite saw a heat flash over the Sinai:

The midair heat flash detected by the U.S. satellite over Sinai could suggest a number of scenarios, though U.S. officials say intelligence has ruled out a missile strike.

Analysts say heat flashes could be tied to a range of possibilities, including a bomb blast, a malfunctioning engine exploding or a structural problem causing a fire on the plane.

"The number of heat signatures is crucial," said CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien. "If, in fact, only one was detected, that in some respects might steer one away from a missile launch and onto some idea of an explosion on board the aircraft."

I don't know if they're sure it's not just the fire on the ground, but if it's an airborne explosion, that seems to me to support the bomb theory more than the others. Black boxes being looked over . . . should have more concrete info soon.

[Jane]

I bet it was a bomb. The only contradictory evidence appears to be the pilot's contact with the ground that he was having problems.

[rse]

"Mayor Bill de Blasio announced new measures to prevent school suspensions on Monday, including more training for school police officers and staff in restorative justice practices and behavioral health treatment options for high school students."

That's not behavioral health treatment options for those who misbehave, but all students. Restorative justice practices in all classrooms.

This was a topic at the school justice summit I went to last month. It also fits with mandating the kind of classroom focus that unesco has wanted all along without saying so.

[Man Tran]

Jimmyk,

No one was ever literally forced to by MS stuff.

In the tech world, all the CAD suppliers went that way, unless you could afford 50k workstations. Even when Linux started to make inroads, the yuge customer base of microsquish users left them orphaned. It was not a rare thing to see the BSOD.

[Cecil Turner]

I would've leaned toward engine failure followed by pilot error (it wouldn't be the first Airbus tail departing because of aggressive rudder action). But the news of the hard landing, the Russian maintenance (and apparently this airline is dubious, reports of pilots not being paid and changed its name after the last crash), and now a midair heat flash, gives too many plausible explanations. Remind me not to get on a Metrojet, especially in the Mideast.

[Beasts of England]

I only wear a steel mesh safety glove when I'm playing the ukulele.

[henry]

Janet, emails on your gun store. A little conspiracy.

[rse]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/11/academic-liberals-say-shred-the-constitution.php

Project Veritas goes after Oberlin and Vassar where the admins are sympathetic to seeing the Constitution as a microaggression.

[FTL]

In the late 90s, I worked for a systems integrator reselling a voice response product that ran on OS/2. Every computer we bought (server machines) came with a copy of DOS/Windows that would never be used and could not legally be transferred to another machine. Ordering an identical system without Windows often cost more.

Gaining the monopoly on client operating systems was not the crime. It was their leveraging that monopoly to extract the Microsoft tax on every computer purchased and to pollute several other functional areas (office productivity suites, email & scheduling, file and directory serving, and database and application serving) with their half-baked crapware that retarded tech advancement.

[Beasts of England]

Who in the heck would admit that they captured a signature from the Russian jet anomaly? How much extrapolation do they need for orbit, bandwidth, focal plane cooling, and other sensitivities? Idiots.

[henry]

Well, Obama being petty because Vlad kicked sand in his face.

[Beasts of England]

At any cost, henry. Per usual.

[jimmyk]

In the tech world, all the CAD suppliers went that way

I understand, and that if you worked for an employer who went for Windows, you had no choice, but still, these were private decisions not forced by the government. I'm not saying it was great, just drawing a distinction between scum like Gates and bigger scum who rely on cronyism with politicians to get exclusive contracts or protection from competition.

[Jack is Back!]

buckeye,

Just back from errands but here is a link to the ISS spots an alien story.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2920426/Nasa-cuts-live-ISS-video-feed-UFO-hovers-sight-Conspiracy-theorists-claim-space-agency-hiding-alien-life.html

[GUS]

DouchebagDave wears a steal mesh glove when he's chokin' the chicken.

[Rick Ballard]

If aliens have arrived, it is incumbent upon conservatives to provide information to them concerning the nutritional value of progressives as well as comprehensive evidence of progressive's docile natures and willingness to be enslaved.