Israel just killed Ahmed al-Jabari, head of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, and they posted the video on Youtube.
This is going to get ugly.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
Stewart Misses the Point
Jon Stewart faults his own journalistic chops on l’affaire Petraeus:
Yes, he interviewed Paula Broadwell, and did not pick up anything untoward, but so did a lot of people.
What he has is enough self-awareness to realize that he missed a big story.
It could be worse. Robert MacNeil, formerly of the MacNeil/Lehrer report, on November 22, 1963, at Dealy Plaza, he ran into a man, and asked where he could find a phone.
The man he ran into was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Journalists don’t have any more senses than the rest of us, and Jon Stewart has an almost unrivaled ability to call out bullsh%$ in a clear and concise matter.
I do think, and Jon Stewart would agree, that it’s f%$#ed up that a comedian is arguably one of the finest journalists on cable today, but we are living in a f%$#ed up world.
Paul Ryan Assumes the Role of a Scooby Doo Villain Bigot
They tore off the mask, and Paul Ryan’s response was, “I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling N*****s:
Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin on Monday blamed Democratic turnout in “urban areas” for the loss by the Republican presidential ticket last week, saying he was surprised that he and Mitt Romney did not do better in the nation’s big cities.
“The surprise was some of the turnout, some of the turnout especially in urban areas, which gave President Obama the big margin to win this race,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview with WISC-TV. “When we watched Virginia and Ohio coming in, and those ones coming in as tight as they were, and looking like we were going to lose them, that’s when it became clear we weren’t going to win.”
The remarks prompted scorn from some liberals who viewed Mr. Ryan as blaming inner-city minorities for the Republican defeat.
Including this liberal.
What a miserable excuse for a human being.
I Gots to Get Me a Super PAC
Stephen Colbert retires his Super Pac, and talks with his lawyer.
Spoiler: He gets to keep all the money and do whatever he wants with it.
I am laughing and wicked pissed off.
Support Gay Marriage
The folks at College Humor are all over this.
Who Knew that I Would Be the Proprietor of a Cat House?
No, I don’t mean a house of prostitution, I mean a house for cats.
You may recall that I have a bit of a cat infestation.
We have still been unable to figure out how the cat is getting in, so I’m attempting to provide an alternative place to escape the weather.
The first floor overhangs the basement by about 2 feet, so I’ve used some plywood to make a shelter, where we can set out food, and the feral cats in the neighborhood can shelter there.
Hopefully RP, the cat that has found a way to break into our house, will find this a suitable alternative, and stay the F%$# out of my house.
(on edit)
I added a picture of the little cat shelter. It’s not painted, but the cats don’t care.
Also, as to the folks that would argue that my making a cat-house would be giving into terrorists, all I can say is, “Welcome to life with cats.” It is what it means to love cats.
Who Knew that Big Bird Came from Jersey?
Signs of the Apocalypse
James Fallows of The Atlantic, has written the following:
For the first time in my conscious life, the Democratic party is now more organized and coherent, and less fractious and back-biting, than the Republicans. It is almost stupefying to imagine that.
OMFFSM!*
He’s right, and it’s a sign of the end of times.
I fully expect cats to start sleeping with dogs.
*Oh My F%$#ing Flying Spaghetti Monster.
OK, This is F%$#ing Nuts………
The US Army’s next infantry combat vehicle, the successor to the Bradley is set to weigh more than an M-1 tank:
What may weigh more than an M1 Abrams tank and carry 12 soldiers? The Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle. New weight estimates for GCV, released this week by the Congressional Budget Office, will likely go over like a lead ballon with the program’s critics in Congress and in the Army itself.
Depending on the model and add-on armor package, an M1 weighs 60 to 75.5 tons. According to the CBO report, the General Dynamics design for the GCV weighs 64 to 70 tons. BAE s proposal is still heavier, at 70 to 84.
There’s a tactical reason for all this weight: It’s armor. The Ground Combat Vehicle is supposed to replace the Army’s current frontline infantry carrier, the M2 Bradley, carrying more foot troops in back — nine instead of six — and protecting them better against everything from rocket-propelled grenades to roadside bombs. Even the most heavily uparmored models of the M2, at almost 40 tons, proved too vulnerable for the worst streets in Baghdad during the “surge,” so commanders often sent 70-plus-ton M1s to clear the way. Even some of those M1s blew up, in part because the insurgents could build huge improvised explosive devices, in part because the M1’s armor is mostly on the front to protect against enemy tanks, not on the underside.
Let’s start with the first thing: The Bradley could carry 9 troops if they went with an unmanned remotely operated turret, (see also here) which eliminates the gunner, and his station, which rotates along with the turret.
Even the Israeli Namer, the highest weight IFV in the world, does not top 60 tons, and unlike the US army, they do not have to deploy half way around the world.
It should also be noted that the Nammer does not carry an autocannon in the turret, it carries either a .50 cal machine gun or 40mm grenade launcher, because the Israelis realized that they would have to reduce the armor levels to keep the weight to a manageable level.
The US army should separate what it wants from what it needs, as the Israelis did.
If they do that, and avail themselves of new developments in armor that are in the pipeline, they could keep the weight below 60 tons.
Deep Thought
I Haz a Sad
The Big E has finished its last tour, and it will be decommissioned and scrapped:
ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE – The world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ended its remarkable career at sea on Sunday when it pulled into its home port for the final time after participating in every major conflict since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
The USS Enterprise began shutting down its eight nuclear reactors almost as soon as it arrived at its pier at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, where thousands of cheering family members and friends welcomed the ship home from its 25th and final deployment after nearly eight months at sea. The ship will never move on its own power again and will eventually be scrapped in Washington state.
………
The Navy will officially deactivate the Enterprise on Dec. 1, but it will take several more years for it to be decommissioned as its reactors are taken out. About 15,000 people are expected to attend the deactivation ceremony, which will be its last public ceremony after several days of tours for former crew members.
It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!
And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
- Heritage Bank of Florida, Lutz, FL
- Citizens First National Bank, Princeton, IL
Two more banks this week.
So, here is the graph pr0n with last years numbers for comparison (FDIC only):
How is Karl Rove Different From Solyndra?
I’m not sure, and neither are the rich pigs who donated to Crossroads GPS.
Petraeus Resigns
He resigned as head of the CIA after admitting to having an affair, and it is rumored that she may have had access to his emails.
Great Googly Moogly.
Over ½ Million Uncounted Ballots?
In Arizona there are over 600,000 uncounted ballots state wide, both early votes and provisional ballots.
It appears that the problems with people voting in person were worst in the precincts with the highest level of minority voters.
Arizona is one of the states required by the Voting Rights Act to pre-clear, what a surprise.
F%$# That
Yes, I am quoting Repo Men
John Boehner is say that
tax cuts for the rich should be extended for a year as a start of negociations:
Obama’s proposal is at odds with the position of House Speaker John Boehner, who earlier Friday said all the tax cuts — including those for the rich — should be extended until next year to provide more time to work out a bigger deal on taxes and spending cuts.
“I’m proposing that we avert the fiscal cliff together in a manner that ensures that 2013 is finally the year that our government comes to grips with the major problems that are facing us,’’ Boehner said.
I will make a point here: John Boehner cannot be trusted, so tax increases on the rich pigs™ need to be passed at the start.
I should be clear here: I do not mean that the Orange Avenger of Congress® is tremendously dishonest by the standards of the Republican party,* but rather that he is incapable of keeping his promises, because is arguably the most incompetent and most ineffectual House Speaker in at least the past 100 years.
If he promises something, get it in your hand before moving on to the next item.
*Which is kind of like saying that he is the world’s tallest midget.
John Roberts Looks to Keep Pigment Rich Folks From Voting
It’s no surprise that mere days after non white voters gave Democrats their margin of victory in the Presidential and Senate elections, the Roberts court has decided to review the voting rights act:
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to review a legal challenge to the Voting Rights Act, a landmark law adopted in 1965 to protect African-American voters who had faced decades of discrimination at the polls.
The court’s decision comes just days after a presidential election in which Latino and African-American voters played a big role in re-electing Democratic President Barack Obama, reflecting a basic shift in national demographics.
The high court accepted an appeal brought by Shelby County, Alabama, challenging a core provision of the act that requires nine states and several local governments with a history of bias to get federal permission to change their election procedures.
Arguments in the case will likely be heard by the Supreme Court in early 2013, with a decision expected by the end of June.
Some justices on the nine-member court, including Chief Justice John Roberts, have signaled in earlier cases discomfort with policies that draw distinctions based on race.
In a 2009 Voting Rights Act case, the Supreme Court avoided ruling on the law’s constitutionality. The court suggested that the federal “preclearance” requirement may no longer be needed or constitutional. Roberts, dissenting from a 2006 voting-rights decision, criticized what he called “a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.”
………
Make no mistake here, this is the conservative wing of the supreme court looking to get Jim Crow voting regulations going again, because it favors conservatives in elections.
“The America that elected and reelected Barack Obama as its first African-American president is far different than when the Voting Rights Act was first enacted in 1965. Congress unwisely reauthorized a bill that is stuck in a Jim Crow-era time warp,” he [Edward Blum, professional bigot and American Enterprise Institute Scholar*] said in a statement.
Yes, Mr. Blum, no racism in the good old USA.
You might want to check out the Jezebel post, “Twitter Racists React to ‘That Nigger’ Getting Reelected.”
*But I am repeating myself.
Why Do Conservatives Keep Defending Child Rapists
First, it was the Catholic Church, and now it’s the Conservative Party in the UK which is trying blame the victims and those reporting the abuse:
Downing Street has denounced “trial by Twitter” and a “silly stunt” by the ITV presenter Phillip Schofield who ambushed David Cameron live on air by handing him an internet-sourced list of suspected paedophiles – causing a shocked Prime Minister to complain of a “witch hunt” against gay people.
Schofield was forced to apologise after it emerged he had “misjudged the camera angle” and the names of several former senior Conservative politicians were visible on a card which he thrust into the hands of the Prime Minister before an audience of around 1.2 million. “You know the names on that piece of paper,” the This Morning presenter told the Prime Minister. “Will you be speaking to those people?”
The presenter claimed to have found the names of the Conservative Party figures in “three minutes” during a “cursory glance at the internet” for details of a scandal relating to abuse at children’s homes in north Wales during the 1970s and 1980s.
It’s been about 30 years since this all happened, so I’m not sure why they are going into full stonewall mode over this, unless a major Tory icon of that period, was somehow involved in the original abuse or the original cover up.
H/t Atrios.
We’ve Always Been at War with Eastasia
The Pentagon is claiming that Iranian aircraft fired on a US drone while in international airspace:
Iranian warplanes shot at an American military surveillance drone flying over the Persian Gulf near Iran last week, Pentagon officials disclosed Thursday. They said that the aircraft, a Predator drone, was flying in international airspace and was not hit and that the episode had prompted a strong protest to the Iranian government.
The shooting, which involved two Russian-made Su-25 jets known as Frogfoots, occurred on Nov. 1 and was the first known instance of Iranian warplanes firing on an American surveillance drone. George Little, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department’s weeklong silence about the episode was a result of restrictions on the discussion of classified surveillance missions. He answered questions about it during a Pentagon news conference on Thursday only after it had been reported by news organizations earlier in the day.
Even so, the failure to disclose a hostile encounter with Iran’s military at a time of increased international tensions over the disputed Iranian nuclear program — and five days before the American presidential election — raises questions for the Obama administration. Had the Iranian attack been disclosed before Election Day, it is likely to have been viewed in a political context — interpreted either as sign of the administration’s weakness or, conversely, as an opportunity for President Obama to demonstrate leadership.
………
“Our aircraft was never in Iranian airspace,” Mr. Little said. “It was always flying in international airspace.”
Yeah, right.
We Finally Find Some Vote Fraud
And it’s a Republican:
Authorities in New Mexico are investigating an Albuquerque father who allegedly showed up at a polling place to vote on behalf of his 18-year-old son, news station KOB reported on Tuesday night.
According to Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver, elections workers got suspicious when the silver-haired father showed up to vote and told them he was born in 1994. He was still allowed to cast a ballot, but the workers took down his license plate number when he left. Later, he showed up at a different location and voted under his own name, according to KOB.
………
The elder Pino later called Schwartz to tell him he had made a mistake by voting on behalf of his son, but said his son had given him permission. Both were registered as Republicans at the same Albuquerque address, according to KOB.
Seriously, how many times have I said that the ‘Phants are like the Soviets, in that you know what they are doing, because they accuse us of doing it?
Un-dirtyword-believable.