What Does China Want With North Korea?

Chinese leaders undoubtedly have a strategy with respect to North Korea and the West, although it is also likely they have hard-liners and moderates creating dynamic tension.

This piece describes the North Korean strategy, with the familiar point that the North Koreans have an ongoing crisis of legitimacy and believe they need their nukes to stave off a US overthrow (Libya and Qadaffi are mentioned here, although She Who Must Not Be Named is omitted as the architect of that venture.)

But a key point is made in the discussion of what it might take to soothe the fears of the North Korean rulers:

The High Costs of a Deal

Any agreement that North Korea would be likely to consider minimally acceptable would come at huge cost to the United States and its allies. North Korea would be likely to require:

■ A tacit acknowledgment of the country’s right to retain its existing programs.
■ A declaration that the United States considered the North Korean government legitimate and would not seek to topple it.
■ The lifting of sanctions.
■ The withdrawal or reduction of the American military commitment to South Korea.

“They want to see the end of that alliance,” said Joshua H. Pollack, the editor of the Nonproliferation Review, suggesting that North Korea has drawn inspiration from the way that the United States broke with Taiwan in order to normalize relations with China in the 1970s.

Mr. Pollack emphasized that North Korea probably saw this as a long-term goal to be accomplished over many years, rather than something to demand up front and all at once.

Still, he said, North Korea may see this as the only way to reduce the existential threat that its weapons program is meant to curb.

Any partial or full American withdrawal would risk sending the American relationship with South Korea and Japan into crisis, empowering North Korea and weakening American influence in Asia.

Hmm, breaking the South Korea/Japan/USA alliance and booting the US out of that part of the world... who else might benefit from that? China, maybe a bit?

Which suggests that as much as we exhort China to bring Kim Jong Un to heel, there are surely Chinese hard-liners arguing that in the longer run, North Korean and China have a broad overlap of interests. Troubling!

But then again, in what is presumably a signal to those North Koreans, the Chinese leadership has allowed some moderate dissent:

Criticism of Beijing’s North Korea Policy Comes From Unlikely Place: China

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING — When China’s best-known historian of the Korean War, Shen Zhihua, recently laid out his views on North Korea, astonishment rippled through the audience. China, he said with a bluntness that is rare here, had fundamentally botched its policy on the divided Korean Peninsula.

China’s bond with North Korea’s Communist leaders formed even before Mao Zedong’s decision in 1950 to send People’s Liberation Army soldiers to fight alongside them in the Korean War. Mao famously said the two sides were “as close as lips and teeth.”

But China should abandon the stale myths of fraternity that have propped up its support for North Korea and turn to South Korea, Mr. Shen said at a university lecture last month in Dalian, a northeastern Chinese port city.

“Judging by the current situation, North Korea is China’s latent enemy and South Korea could be China’s friend,” Mr. Shen said, according to a transcript he published online. “We must see clearly that China and North Korea are no longer brothers in arms, and in the short term there’s no possibility of an improvement in Chinese-North Korean relations.”

Whoa! It's hard to imagine that China would be willing to accept a re-unified Korea under South Korean leadership as part of a Western alliance. On the other hand...

China’s “traditionalist view that views the U.S. as a much greater threat than North Korea is deeply entrenched,” Bonnie S. Glaser, an expert on Chinese foreign policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an email. “But the proponents of change are vocal, too. They argue that North Korea is a growing liability.”

What China really wants is stability and calm:

Mr. Shen has gone much further than other scholars in calling for a reset.

“The fundamental interests of China and North Korea are at odds,” he said in his lecture. “China’s fundamental interest lies in achieving a stability on its borders and developing outward. But since North Korea acquired nuclear weapons, that periphery has never been stable, so inevitably Chinese and North Korean interests are at odds.”

With Obama in office the Chinese were never really worried that the US would do something daft, so placating North Korea and annoying the US was the lower-risk path. George Bush, of course, was mired in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bill Clinton had his own distractions, some in Iraq and some closer to the Oval Office.

But Trump? There is a guy who can play the 'crazy' card with as much gusto as Kim Jong Un (I always thought that was a modest talking point in favor of the McCain Presidency, for what that was worth).

If - yuge IF - forced to acknowledge that their current path leads to a potentially disastrous confrontation China might yet try to walk a different road. My ongoing hope is that they try to preserve North Korea as an independent buffer on their border under sane new puppet leadership provided by the son of the recently-poisoned legitimate heir. Such a great deal can be worked out!

Comments

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

TLG,

Tell them to turn ESPN off, liked the rest of the world has, or there are plenty of other places to change your oil.

[henry]

Kev and any other Bay area people:

SF BART blackout turns into area blob. Warn Kev, its spreading.

(from our Chicago friend)

[lyle]

Tell them to turn ESPN off, liked the rest of the world has, or there are plenty of other places to change your oil.

Tell it, brutha.

[lyle]

Hope you're sitting down...

https://spectator.org/dirty-harry-reids-role-in-obamagate/

Last October, Harry Reid, the ruthlessly partisan former senator from Nevada, wrote a nasty and bumptious letter to FBI director James Comey. The letter remains a significant piece of evidence in Obamagate, as it confirms his role as conduit for Obama administration’s political espionage against Trump.

“In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government,” he wrote. “The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information.”

Who's going to go to jail over this shit?

[lyle]

Another quick, good read at AmSpec:

https://spectator.org/winning-is-for-losers/

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

If the Searchlight Creep says "others", that definitely means Zippy, the Ferret and Schoooooomer.

And they still lost the election.

[lyle]

Since I seem to have this joint to myself, yet another update on one of our favorite frauds:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-secretly-bought-outside-lab-gear-ran-fake-tests-court-filings-1492794470

[Frau Einladung]

lyle - Another case of "too big to jail."

KKid - A two-fer...it's also an invitation. I saw no mention of RSVP required. I hope they are rounded up to attend the hearings.

[daddy]

Just caught up to Captain Hate's 06:33 on Diesel Car's and this bit on the "Settled Science" involved in that scam:

After VW's diesel emissions scandal, European cities are moving to ban diesel passenger cars. It's the beginning of the end...

Settled Science 2004: "In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today—more serious even than the threat of terrorism." That is what British scientist and government advisor Sir David King wrote in 2004, four years after the government of that country began a "dash to diesel" largely at his recommendation. As part of that "dash," the vehicle-tax scheme in the United Kingdom was changed to heavily favor the purchase of diesel cars.

Settled Science 2017: Two weeks ago, Sir David King admitted to having known at the time that diesel passenger-car engines produced an elevated level of certain dangerous emissions as compared to gasoline-powered cars. At the time, he felt that the threat of climate change outweighed potential emissions-related health effects, which have been accused by some of contributing to 12,000 additional deaths per year just in the UK. He told a BBC radio program that, "I think we, as it turns out, were wrong."

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

daddy,

One wonders how much good old Sir David had invested in diesel engine stocks.

[matt, deplore me if you must]

Mercedes has been selling diesel automobiles for 50 years successfully. In fact, a lot of people chase after them on the used market. If maintained, emissions are minimal, I believe. At least there's not much smoke coming out the tailpipes of the ones I see in the 'hood.

On the other hand I was told by my Mercedes mechanic not to touch the 1980's/1990's SL's. He said that parts are a real issue. I don't understand that, as almost every part for my 1971 SE was in stock in Germany or sometimes here in the States.

Of course one could install a crate Chevy LS3 in the thing and it would run forever and really fast.

I love my diesel. It uses diesel exhaust cleaning technology and so the emissions are way down from prior models.

Putting a heavy diesel engine in an econobox just makes no sense. We rented, of all things, an Alfa sports car with a diesel a couple of years ago on a trans European trip. Never again. What an utter dog. It bogged down horribly in low gears so i would have to rev every time we took off from a traffic light or entered a circle.

The worst was being in the Austrian Alps on an icy road and feeling the car sliding backwards down the hill. No torque at all and a POS in icy conditions. Luckily, with my mad driving skillz I was able to spin the car around downhill and get back to a dryish stretch.

We parked in the village and my friend came down in his Skoda diesel 4WD, no problem. Germans actually like Skodas.

[Account Deleted]

"SF BART blackout turns into area blob. Warn Kev, its spreading."

Chez Kev has a secret weapon against Moonbeam's crumbling infrastructure:

Generac 7037 16kW Guardian Generator with 200A SE Transfer Switch

My turret mounted .50 cals are backup in case the blackout mob decides to climb the 300 yards from the lowlands up to Grizzly Peak lookin for ice cream.

Prepare. Prepare. Prepare.

[Jane]

Frau,

Schiff lived in MA? Where?

[henry]

My turret mounted .50 cals

now that is style!

[daddy]

Rush in Hour 3 is highlighting this A B Stoddard article in Real Clear Politics: Dems, Tell Hillary to Go Back to the Woods

Before Hillary Clinton puts more miles on her comeback tour, Democrats should let her know she’s done enough damage and it’s time to pack it in...Democrats don’t owe Clinton anything and no longer need to fear the Clintons. They should keep her rehabilitation journey as far away from their own as possible. Lucky for her, President Trump no longer wants to lock her up, but it's high time the Democrats lock her out.

The only part that bums me is the part about Trump not wanting to lock her up:(

[Account Deleted]

The EPA was spending hundreds of millions badjacketing diesel exhaust using private practice medicos to moonlight as "humanitarian researchers" looking into the link between diesel exhaust and infant death, early onset asthma, and a whole host of maladies.

There are nine medicos here in Berkeley who had kids that played soccer with Baby Kid in elementary school.

Pearl clutching bag holders the lot of them.

No hypotheses to test. Just conclusions from which they'd march ass-first to the smoking gun.

Diesel technology has come a long way in the last 20 years. A long way. Volkswagen lying about their test data was EU pressurized.

Zealous bureaucrats in Brussels want the changes to happen yesterday for an impending crisis which has yet to be defined with any scientific credibility.

Meanwhile, "experts" get whipsawed in the frenzy of "we've got to do something!" speculation while manipulating the purse strings for more ass-first forays into the unknown.

Embarass these morons every chance we get.

[Account Deleted]

"I hope they are rounded up to attend the hearings."

yes, Frau, yes.

And just for effect the cars that come for them should be sounding those funny-sounding two tone euro-polizei horns.

Nee-nar! Nee-nar! Just give em a taste of "home."

Jackals.

[henry]

Our Chitown lurker sends a link concerning the BART / Bay area brownout.

[lyle]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-get-smart-in-georgia-1492728548

Strassel is way off her game:

Voters in Georgia’s conservative Sixth District had a dizzying 18 candidates on the ballot Tuesday, though one in particular stood out.

It was the politician who touted a background of “working with our military and intelligence community to keep Georgians safe,” and who vowed to “honor law enforcement.” It was the candidate who boasted of being an entrepreneur, who promised to “reduce the tax burden” and “simplify small business tax filing.” It was the candidate who promised to get rid of “wasteful spending” and “corruption” in Washington and to promote a “fiscally responsible economic policy.”

That candidate? The Democrat. Jon Ossoff.

Anyone gullible enough to believe this stuff coming out of any D mouth is too stupid to breathe.

[Account Deleted]

re DJT not wanting to lock up Shadoobie...

It's disturbing to me on one level. On the other, he'd face a firestorm unneccesarily if he were to proclaim he was seeking to toss her into Leavenworth Lady Jail.

Meanwhile, there is a ton-o-caca from Clinton Inc to bury her rotundo behind. May the wheels of justice grind slowly and force her to up her vodka consumption.

Have theory: maybe they'll grand jury her mug if she starts organizing to run again. Just take her out.

[lyle]

The only part that bums me is the part about Trump not wanting to lock her up:(

Neither does the Uniparty™.

[Sjimmyk]

Lyle, she does go on to say, not in so many words, that it's all a lie, that Osoff is a typical prog. But she seems to think that Dems can fool enough voters. I doubt it.

[narciso]

That polituco piece was too full of spark, Lyle , mollies is pro trump umkay, there are some feints toward reciprocity and mire judicious use if military force, and that is subject to negociation

[Account Deleted]

Reported from a local Darkland rag---

" Health officials in tourist-friendly Hawaii are defending themselves from criticism that they have for years downplayed the severity of a rare brain-invading parasite that has infected dozens on the islands, including a San Francisco couple stricken by the disease on a recent honeymoon.

A cluster of rat lungworm cases in Maui caught widespread attention.

They had become severely ill in January after they eloped on the island. But researchers say the disease had been centered in poorer parts of the Big Island for years and received little notice until state health officials started investigating the Maui cases, which number half a dozen already this year. Susan Jarvi, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences, said the state is over a decade late in alerting the community, visitors and health care providers.

Jarvi said, “I would guess that they don’t want to hurt the tourism industry. Rat lungworm disease is primarily acquired by consuming snails and slugs that host the parasite larvae, or by eating raw, unwashed produce contaminated by a slug.

It can cause a rare form of meningitis and fatal complications when larvae invade the brain after being passed on to humans by mollusks that come in contact with rodent feces.

“Why haven’t the tourists been told about this back in 2005?”

Some people who contract it lead fairly normal lives, while those with severe cases can face long-term effects such as paralysis, an inability to speak, or loss of bowel and bladder control.

The state’s tally is underreported, owing in part to the difficulty of diagnosing the disease."
Jenna Lyons, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Apr 17

[matt, deplore me if you must]

Her sentence is sitting at home every day with a bottle of gin and having to put up with Bent Willie and the EverReady Bunny.

On Thursdays she goes into Manhattan to examine the Spawn's spawn. They ejected her from the Oyster Bar at Grand Central for making a spectacle of herself wailing drunk and throwing shells at passing commuters one too many times so now they have an Uber short bus for her with a minibar in the back.

[Account Deleted]

Big day for Uber and Lyft. Getting stragglers out of SFO who need to be East Bay side.

Contingency plans? Naw. We're a sanctuary city.

[lyle]

More Tossoff lies:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/politics/kfile-jon-ossoff-2012-election/index.html

Jon Ossoff didn't vote in 2012 presidential election because he was studying abroad, campaign says

Uh huh.

[Account Deleted]

"now that is style!"

Mrs. Kid was reluctant at first.

Eased her concerns with the old "but think of how it will increase the resale value" until it dint.

;)

[Frau Einladung]

Roundup time in DC? I hope the invited scorpions get a rough ride to the House hearings.

[lyle]

I hope the invited scorpions'

daddy, don't you dare post that gif of the scorpion molt again! ;)

[Frau Einladung]

Jane - Schiff is an native Masshole!

"Adam Bennett Schiff, June 22, 1960, Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S."

[Account Deleted]

re "Her sentence...."

DJT is going to one drip at a time her into a gravesite.

Come Christmas she'll make Eb's nightmare look like a church picnic.

Psy-ops. Methinks DJT knows a thang or two about them.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

So, since when did those repulsive Wachowski Hollywhack brothers become the even more gag inducing Wachowski sisters?
These mental defectives are who we need lecturing us?

[narciso]

One of the slain cops was at the bataclan, his luck ran out, thank to the merde French judicial juggernaut.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

The only part that bums me is the part about Trump not wanting to lock her up:(

daddy,

Let me remind you that Trump NEVER telegraphs his intentions to his enemies.

"What ever happened to the element of surprise?"

Candidate Trump, Summer, 2016

"I'm not going to tell you what I will do."

President Trump, April, 2017

We don't know what investigations are on-going. We don't know if there is a secret grand jury.

We don't know what was in those PDB's that showed evidence of surveillance.

You have to remember that Trump has a good chunk of Congress, a huge number of people ion the bureaucracy, the media, the democrats, Hollywood, FOREIGN intelligence services, and more all arrayed against him.

He has to be very careful as he moves forward. My preerence is to lay out all of the evidence and give her a pardon with the stipulation that she, her husband, and her daughter are banned from any sort of political activity, including donations, for life.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--peter, the alternative is vesting it in one person.--

It is ultimately vested in 435 people who largely refuse to use the power the constitution gives them to rein in an out of control judiciary.
Jurisdiction is king and the congress lets the judges crown themselves.

[daddy]

Jon Ossoff didn't vote in 2012 presidential election because he was studying abroad, campaign says

How odd. Even back in the 1980's when I was a young kid stationed in the Philippines and cruising in the Indian Ocean off Diego Garcia and the Straits of Hormuz I was able to figure out how to vote via absentee ballots, and due to my current job I've been voting Absentee Ballots on and off now for 25 years up here. How strange that a such a brilliant "Victory For The Ages" guy as Ossoff is, who worked in super secret Intelligence for 5 years plus went to fancy schools overseas, couldn't figure out how to Absentee Vote in London. Damn peculiar!

Hopefully if he's elected he'll take as his own personal project knocking down the barriers that currently make it so difficult if not impossible for Ex-Pat American students at The London School Of Economics to be able to Vote by Absentee Ballot! You go girl!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Jack, I do not speak Boontling but Mrs Iggy and I used to stop in Boonville whenever we went to the Mendocino coast.
Goofy little town in the lovely Anderson Valley approximately one Mrs Iggy bladder from Clear Lake where we would stop for lunch.
A pit stop in weird little Boonville and then through the redwoods along the Navarro River and usually south to Elk or Anchor Bay.
Mendocino itself is even weirder than Boonville.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

daddy,

If Ossoff couldn't lie he wouldn't be a Democrat and/or running for office. No campaign where the truth gets in the way of a lie.

narc,

He was also a LBGTQ campaigner in Gay Paree! But its Trump that community needs to worry about.

[-peter]

Let's not forget that the biggest shareholder of VWAG is the State of Saxony, so it was just one crony socialist cheating another (the EU) when they cheated on the emissions test.

[daddy]

Dems, Tell Hillary to Go Back to the Woods

"Go back, go back, go back to the woods,
Your Team ain't got no voters
and your Candidate's no good!"

[daddy]

The only part that bums me is the part about Trump not wanting to lock her up:(

daddy,

Let me remind you that Trump NEVER telegraphs his intentions to his enemies.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Does anyone speak French well enough to tell us what this man is saying in this video? Granddaughter is gone until tomorrow or I would have her translate.

I got "criminale" "j'accuse" and "Bacatlan."

https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/855499606460960768

[Clarice Feldman]

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/please-god-stop-chelsea-clinton-from-whatever-she-is-doing

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

MM,

He is telling the Mayor(ess) Hildago, "You created this mess, you are the one to blame".

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

daddy,

To continue that old-time cheer which I learned in 3rd grade:

Wrap her up in tissue paper!

Send her down the elevator!

[lyle]

Driscoll @ Insty advises everyone to think of the BART shutdown due power outage as an homage to V. I. Lenin's birthday Earf Day. I concur!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Thanks, Jack!

My French skills are minimal, as you can tell.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

Clarice,

Well, at least I know someone other than me and you who won't be getting many invites to Croydon's cocktail parties. Wonder what T.A. does with all his spare time?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

lyle!

It's performance art!!

[Hammurabi]

Working class? GFY.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/21/15386602/trump-executive-order-finance

[narciso]

Yes,when they picked her instead,of the attractive fmr Sarkozy minister it was all over, mdmselle dati if memory serves,

So cop killer is released and having attempted to resume his craft, he is let loose again and succeeds like this punk in Fresno or the other jackalope up in ahia.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/21/trump-ex-im-bank-politics-237455

Trump continues to run circles around them all. Even when they list the things he has done with the Ex-In Bank, they don't see what he's doing, which is dissolving entrenched party positions.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

narc,

In his world he got a 3fer: A non-belilever, a gay and a policeman. That's 126 virgins by my count.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://thefederalist.com/2017/04/21/dnc-chair-just-endorsed-pro-lifer-abortion-fanatics-furious/

[Porchlight]

I forgot it was Earth Day. What a stupid commie holiday.

[daddy]

.

So what happens if you send in your $89 for your simple TELOYEARS DNA Test, and instead of it coming back saying you're only really 29, like this gorgeous 42 year old surfer babe,

it comes back saying you're actually 92?

[mad jack]

Clarice: That was from VF? Must have been bizzaroVF. Excellent Omen take-down.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

That surfer babe must be 29 in Stepford years.

Hillary looks about 1000 in dog years.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

...Croydon s/b Graydon (Carter)....

MadJack,

Hitchens and Junger used to write for them, so there are some fairly decent writers there but more like a broke clock.

[Frau Gemeine Merkung]

Clarice - another Chelsea sighting...

Chelsea has two daddies?
Her lips say Webb Hubbell, but her fingers say Billy Jeff.

[Clarice Feldman]

Isn't it, Mad Jack--I suspect they were swamped with comments from angry readers.

[narciso]

So the monaco fan, turned out to be a short trader, guess which nationality.

[Hammurabi]

Ha! Trump is running circles by himself leaving aides and staff in the chaos of his 'strategery'

[Hammurabi]

It's a shame the name SEMANTIC LEO strikes fear in that place where Maguire's heart should be.

[daddy]

He is telling the Mayor(ess) Hildago, "You created this mess, you are the one to blame".

Paris Becomes Massive Camp for Illegal Migrants

(June 6, 2016): Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced plans to build a "humanitarian camp" next to one of the busiest train stations in the city, (Gare du Nord) so that thousands of illegal migrants bound for Britain can "live with dignity."

Hidalgo, who has often sparred with French President François Hollande for his refusal to accept more migrants, says her plan to help illegal migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East is a "duty of humanism..."

...Thousands of illegal migrants, many from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan, have gathered at a nearby public park, the Jardins d'Eole, and turned the area into a massive squatter camp where conditions are squalid. The area, which is so dangerous that the government has classified it as a no-go zone (Zone de sécurité prioritaires, ZSP), has become a magnet for human traffickers who charge migrants thousands of euros for fake travel documents, for passage to London.

etc.

[Hammurabi]

I hope Trump leaves some kind of rudimentry Constytooshun.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Hammurabi

[lyle]

Its performance art!!

Too good, MM.

[Hammurabi]

Alex Jones says he smokes pot once a year to test the strength, just like the Feds do.

BWAAAAAAAAAA!

[Marlene]

Good afternoon! We're ready for Earth Day! Hubby has a yuge burn pile ready to go tomorrow morning.

A local northern Maine news outlet is reporting that a group of students and their teacher and parent chaperones from Fort Kent were on the Champs Elysees yesterday when the terror attack happened. The group was in a tourist shop and stayed in lockdown for three hours.
One of the students on the trip stayed in contact with her mother on Facebook. The mother said she was so proud of her daughter because she helped a terrified elderly Spanish woman contact her relatives.
I'm not sure I'd want my middle school/high school student on a tour of Europe.

[daddy]

Its performance art!!

Too good, MM.

Ditto that, Lyle! Brilliant Miss M:)

[Hammurabi]

It's another episode of Walking Dead
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2017/04/20/1654639/-Republicans-hope-to-fake-it-till-they-make-it-with-new-twist-on-zombie-Trumpcare

[daddy]

I see that that married American Teacher who ran off with the underage student got captured and will spend the rest of his life in prison.

I see that that married French Teacher who ran off with the underage student will probably be The First Lady of France.

Wonder what her age is in TELOYEARS?

[Michael (fpa Patriot4Freedom)]

JiB - Glad to see that you're back safe and sound, and on the road to recovery.

Keep up the good work!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

And now, time for one of my favorite poems:

The Destruction of Sennacherib

By Lord Byron (George Gordon)

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

[jimmyk]

Must be something in the air today--daddy and MM are outdoing themselves.

[Hammurabi]

Babylonian..Hammurabi.

Not Assyrian.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

jimmyk,

There definitely is something in the air in Southampton. Not only am I walking with a cane but I also tooling around the house without the cane!!!

Whoa! That means driving soon and going out to eat and helping more with the dogs and Frederick. Big deal for me.

[Clarice Feldman]

http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/the-big-amazing-list-of-people-obama-spied-on/How Obama weaponized the intel services for his own political ends.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Interestingly, Sennacherib not only attempted to conquer Jerusalem, but he was already the KING OF BABYLON by conquest!

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

Wrong link, Clarice but just as tragic and another result of Zippy's lack of performance on so many fronts.

[Clarice Feldman]

Don't know how hat happened, JiB--correct link
http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/the-big-amazing-list-of-people-obama-spied-on/

[Hammurabi]

The Assyrians were notorious liars. Kings in the linear claimed each ruled for thousands of years.

Hey no wonder you celebrate them.

[jimmyk]

Congrats, JiB, glad to hear you are doing so well.

[Jane]

"Adam Bennett Schiff, June 22, 1960, Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S."

I wonder if he lived there when Dudu did. Or when I did.

[mad jack]

JIB: Congrats on the knee success. My bride has subscribed to VF for years so I'm familiar with their MO. When the hip kids won't let the Omen sit at their table in the cafeteria then you know it's the beginning of the end for the hope of a new generation.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Apparently some people cannot read poetry for beans.

Let's review the meaning of the last stanza:

"And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!"

This celebrates the defeat of Sennacherib by the hand of God.

So it is not celebrating Sennacherib, but rather the power of God.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconservativetreehouse.com%2F2017%2F04%2F21%2Fapril-21st-2017-presidential-politics-trump-administration-day-92%2F

The tweet iis "Welcome home, Ata!"

There is a video with it, so I have provided the link to his feed instead.

[daddy]

That surfer babe must be 29 in Stepford years.

Iggy,

She's too cute for an Otezla Ad, too nice looking for a Viagra Ad, too healthy looking to be believable in a TacoBell Ad, and she looks athletic enough that she probably knows how to parallel park so an Infiniti Self Parking Car Ad doesn't work for her either.

Geico?

[Captain Hate]

VF has run some anti-Clintoon articles in the past, including one highlighting Slick's cooch addiction. The Omen's tweets are embarrassingly bad and somebody has to break through the hive mind and point out the obvious.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

WARNING FOR CABE VIEWERS!

Jenner will be Carlson's first guest tonight.

Fortunately, I don't have cable, but thought I would warn those who do.

I sure would have liked to hear the discussion about programming for his show.

[maryrose]

JIB
Prayers answered.
You are on the road to recovery
Clarice:
Excellent timetable for Obama spying activities.
Daddy and MM- great work today!
CathyF:
So glad to see you posting.
RSE:
Hope you are on the mend.
McMullin has campaign debt - predictable.
Appointment or election for Chaffetz seat?
Mitt Romney , next senator from Utah.-prediction.
Russia and Ernst can express opinions.
That doesn't make them anti- Trump.

[maryrose]

Russia should be Cruz and yes I still trust him.

[Captain Hate]

Fort Marcy Park might be getting some new visitors:

http://pagesix.com/2017/04/19/hillary-camp-scrambling-to-find-out-who-leaked-embarrassing-info/

[Buckeye]

A few months back I posted a Rachael Price YouTube that y'all seemed to like.

Here is Rachael with the rest of the band, including Bridget who is definetly a "badass bass babe".

https://youtu.be/_hkh1cZjxGo

Recorded at Paste Studios in NYC, their recording engineer is an ace.

[exdemocrat]

- from Omen smackdown:
"To find fault with the former First Daughter is to invite the wrath of thousands. Love of Chelsea correlates closely with love of Hillary, toward whom her fans have long felt an odd protectiveness, as if she were a stroke survivor regaining the power of speech rather than one of the most influential people in the world. That goes even more for Chelsea, who is often treated less like an independent 37-year-old multi-millionaire and more like the 12-year-old who still deserves to be left alone."
lol

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Oh, good. I see Paul Begala has called the photo of Trump, Palin, Nugent and Kid Rock "white trash Mt. Rushmore."

Keep it up, Begala. Next time we will get 400 electoral votes.

[Captain Hate]

Teh Forehead calling anybody white trash is disturbingly obtuse.

[narciso]

Its a slow purge, but methodical.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/21/sahar-nowrouzzadeh-reassigned-state-department-237466

[narciso]

But of course he was:
www.itv.com/news/story/2017-04-21/paris-police-shooting-gunman-named-by-authorities