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Iran seizes another oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Gulf crisis erupts
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
1 16:35 Abu Uluque [1] 
5 12:24 Skidmark [2] 
18 22:21 Zhang Fei [2] 
4 14:35 magpie [3] 
4 03:14 M. Murcek [] 
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Page 6: Politix
6 18:50 trailing wife [2]
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30 22:08 Mullah Richard [1]
23 21:43 Lex []
18 21:57 ruprecht [2]
-Land of the Free
Chicagoans aren’t born cynics. We’ve just had it beaten into us from birth with stories like this one
[Chicago Tribune] Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, is the powerful reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
Democrat who got rich in his private law practice, lowering property taxes for the well-connected, while also running the city’s Finance Committee for some 40 years.

During that time Burke had a hobby ‐ picking judges and putting them on the bench. He’s under a federal extortion indictment for allegedly squeezing the owners of several Burger King restaurants.

As you may know, Burke’s wife, Anne, has been a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court since she was appointed in 2006. Her term as chief justice runs through October of 2022.

I’ve always found her to be a warm and gracious lady. And in his prime, her husband was ruthless and brilliant old school Chicago Irish pol worthy of respect in a tough business. He carved the great public roasts, and if he got the largest, bloodiest piece, well, he had made sure he was the one with the big knife.

But in January 2018, Ed Burke threw a fundraiser at the couple’s home for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is also chair of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Preckwinkle had hired the Burkes’ son and put him on the Cook County payroll in a $100K job.

Lori Lightfoot used those public relations disasters to launch herself past the befuddled Preckwinkle and into the mayor’s office.

And cleaning it all up, like cartoon janitors with push-brooms in those old "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" cartoons, complete with the ironic tuba music, came the state’s Judicial Inquiry Board, which investigates complaints about judges.

The Judicial Inquiry Board ruled that Anne Burke didn’t violate the rules when Ed threw the Preckwinkle fundraiser at their home. But the board wouldn’t explain its ruling, saying it wasn’t allowed to disclose "specifics regarding its decision, findings or information about it’s deliberations on any matter."

Translation: shuddupyoumouth.

And if that doesn’t say Chicago, what does?

Posted by: Fred || 09/16/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  BINASH
Posted by: Lex || 09/16/2019 1:06 Comments || Top||

#2  ||: Chicago, that swaddlin' city!
It's loopy, it's poopy, it's... pretty.
The pols sit around
While brown sausage is ground
And the youths toot this flatulent ditty... :||
Posted by: Snomolet Dingle1191 || 09/16/2019 3:05 Comments || Top||

#3  it's not poopy, dammit. Parts of speech... why do they all always conspire against me? [ball bearings ring like wineglasses]
Posted by: Snomolet Dingle1191 || 09/16/2019 3:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Reanimate Joe Mendiola...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/16/2019 3:14 Comments || Top||


Arabia
A clear and blatant Act of War!
[Asia Times] Events in the Arabian Peninsula have upstaged the Israeli elections, supposedly the big story of the week.

The confrontation between Iran and its allies and Saudi Arabia and its allies is on the verge of boiling over into overt warfare.

Attacking the Saudi oil infrastructure is the equivalent of attacking the heart of a living creature – it is the source of its existence as a country. It is not yet clear if the drones came from Iran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen, from Iran itself or from Iraq. What is clear is that Iran is directly or indirectly responsible for the attack, which is a clear and blatant act of war.
If the drones came from Iraq, that would be another Iranian proxy — Iran is awfully fond of coming at a problem from two sides...

Edit late afternoon:
Posted by: 3dc || 09/16/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  My, an incident that gives neocons everything they wanted? Amazing how well it worked out. Now we have to start a war, it's the only choice?

Conflict initiation is tough, said Bolton.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 09/16/2019 6:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Sure Erb. It's obviously a false-flag Sooper Sekret Op by our NeoCon Warmongering Mil-Industrial Complex™.


Macro F7, idiot
Posted by: Frank G || 09/16/2019 6:47 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd start to suspect Herb is actually Tyler Durden from ZeroHedge, but Tyler let's other rabid droolers write most of the copy over there. So who are you actually, Herb? Kunstlerhead or Danny Sjerkoff?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/16/2019 7:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Herb, we didn't start this war, Iran did.
Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance || 09/16/2019 9:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Every time I see some liberal/chickenshit paleoconservative/chickenshit libertarian taking Herb's line of thought I have to bite my lip because actually getting pieces of my life back relies on the plurality of decisionmakers in this country being that exact sort of vicious retard, leading to a massive increase in the price of oil.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/16/2019 10:17 Comments || Top||

#6  ^Have you hugged a fracker today?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 09/16/2019 10:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Curious that the plaintiff clings to the same NOM to which we are generally alerted.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/16/2019 12:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Look, Herb must be very young - let him who wasn't a Libertarian (or even a Randite, in my case) at 15 throw the first stone.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/16/2019 13:11 Comments || Top||

#9  I wasn't. Ordered liberty requires, y'know, order.

A complex capitalist economy requires clear and extensive rules backed up by the enforcement mechanism of a strong state. Anyone who's ever worked in a wild-west cowboy-capitalist environment knows that market capitalism requires extensive regulation for its own sake.

Libertarianism is idiocy. Adolescent drivel that's been successfully exploited by cheats, market manipulators and predatory pricing monopolists.
Posted by: Lex || 09/16/2019 13:55 Comments || Top||

#10  At 15, Lex?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/16/2019 14:03 Comments || Top||

#11  At 15 you were probably an anarchist, Lex. You just choose to remember it different.☺
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/16/2019 14:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Instead of making shit up about me, like leftists do, how about a little skepticism regarding an event that is everything the neocon warmongers wanted?

Personal attacks aren't arguments.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 09/16/2019 14:48 Comments || Top||

#13  It would help to know who are these warmongers first. Any theory with an intangible 'they' is unhealthy tinfoil hat stuff. You think the attacks were carried out by American proxies, is that it ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/16/2019 14:54 Comments || Top||

#14  Iran wants a war because the Mullahs actually believe — as Osama bin Laden did — that this will force Allah to step up on their side, conquering the infidels for them.

Separately, it is very interesting that President Trump just openly said he is discussing a mutual defense treaty with Israel, but there is nothing like that at this time for the Saudis — an open “make me an offer” gambit. Good find, 3dc.

Incidentally, a friend of a friend, who is Israeli, apparently will be voting for Bibi Netanyahu this time — though he loathes him — precisely because he believes their friendship will benefit Israel’s security. And I’ve been seeing more and more quiet admissions on this side of the pond that the writer will choose Trump this time because it is clearly necessary, regardless of personal dislike. The latest voted for Evan McMullin last time.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/16/2019 16:52 Comments || Top||

#15  neocon warmongers wanted?

Senor Cut-n-paste: show some new thought?
Posted by: Frank G || 09/16/2019 19:12 Comments || Top||

#16  at 15, I had saved about $8,000 from my own little business. At that time, interest rates were about 14% and mortgage rates were even higher, and inflation was also in double digits. I remember, because I put my $$ in a passbook savings account which of course earned less than the banks' lending rate.

When I graduated from HS, the unemployment rate in my metro area was close to 25%. My father was working several jobs. Our thermostat was set to 62 degrees in the winter in a state bordering Canada.

So yeah, I paid VERY close attention to all the ways that an economy, including a capitalist economy, can get seriously f---ed up. And no, it wasn't because of the evil government, it was mainly - in our patch - due to the combined incompetence of idiot management and greedy bolshevik labor unions. I've never believed that anyone, not "entrepreneurs" or managers or anyone else, has any lock on wisdom.

Posted by: Lex || 09/16/2019 19:44 Comments || Top||

#17  Iran wants a war because the Mullahs actually believe — as Osama bin Laden did — that this will force Allah to step up on their side, conquering the infidels for them.

Too complicated. Foreign wars are a test of resolve, especially for Western democracies thousands of miles away. Based on their current military capabilities, without Western intervention, the Iranians can unify the Middle East (ex Israel) under their rule. The only thing that stands in the way is Pax Americana. The invasion of Kuwait came close to not being reversed. The Congressional vote was pretty close. It was approved in the House 250-183 and 52-47 in the Senate. If the expedition hadn't occurred, Iraq would encompass all of the Arab Middle East east of the Suez today.

Iran now faces a president who is unwilling to use force against it - the second in a row over its repeated armed provocations. This is a president who won't even act to evict a leader of a Venezuela that is facing famine and mass unrest. I'd say they're probing their way forward and will push until they meet resistance. No divine intervention expected, although it would obviously be welcome.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/16/2019 22:09 Comments || Top||

#18  Another way of putting this is that the world views of the West are not the world views of the non-West. The non-West has adopted the technologies of the West without adopting its weltanschaaung. For the non-West, territorial acquisition for personal glory and eternal fame is not some kind of dastardly crime. How many Iraqis really regret the invasion of Kuwait except for the part where Uncle Sam evicted them?
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 09/16/2019 22:21 Comments || Top||


Britain
Our democracy is being overthrown by the EU's Hideous Strength
h/t Instapundit
[Telegraph] It’s not about Brexit any more, at least not primarily. It’s about whether we remain a democracy in the fullest sense. Our system depends on unwritten conventions and precedents. We expect winners to show restraint and losers to show consent. We expect our officials ‐ including judges, civil servants and, not least, the Commons Speaker ‐ to be impartial. We expect the electorate to be the final umpire.

All these norms are coming under pressure as the campaign to reverse Brexit intensifies. The EU, as well as being undemocratic in itself, tends to degrade the internal democracy of its member nations.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/16/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That Hideous Strength (Space Trilogy, Book 3) by C.S.Lewis

Written during the dark hours immediately before and during World War II, C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, of which That Hideous Strength is the third and final volume, stands alongside such works as Albert Camus's The Plague and George Orwell's 1984 as a timely parable that has become timeless, beloved by succeeding generations as much for the sheer wonder of its storytelling as for the significance of its moral concerns.

The final book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which includes Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, That Hideous Strength concludes the adventures of the matchless Dr. Ransom. The dark forces that were repulsed in Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra are massed for an assault on the planet Earth itself. Word is on the wind that the mighty wizard Merlin has come back to the land of the living after many centuries, holding the key to ultimate power for that force which can find him and bend him to its will. A sinister technocratic organization is gaining power throughout Europe with a plan to "recondition" society, and it is up to Ransom and his friends to squelch this threat by applying age-old wisdom to a new universe dominated by science. The two groups struggle to a climactic resolution that brings the Space Trilogy to a magnificent, crashing close.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/16/2019 6:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't like how the vote turned out? Just call for another vote!
Posted by: jpal || 09/16/2019 10:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, that democracy! I thought it was about the real democracy.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 09/16/2019 11:27 Comments || Top||

#4  The referendum is now being apologized for, by the likes of Cameron. The idea being aired is - it should never have been given to the people to decide in the first place. With Corby saying it should be annulled in light of the 'long term interests' of the UK.
Posted by: Dron66046 || 09/16/2019 11:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh man!
Now Ah'm going to have to read that again.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/16/2019 12:24 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
S-400 purchase could severely limit Turkey’s future airpower
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...Qatar's satrapy in Asia Minor...
’s purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile system has seen it removed from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and an offer to buy the US MIM-104 Patriot air defence system cancelled. While Ankara believes it can weather the diplomatic storm resulting from the purchase, it may soon find it has far fewer options when it looks to buy new jet fighters and air defense systems.

Ottoman Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/16/2019 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  Why all the "regrets" in not supplying the tyrant Yippy with our best stuff? Regime change should be the ultimate goal to restore secularists and democracy
Posted by: Frank G || 09/16/2019 7:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, Frank, it stinks out loud. If Raytheon needs that business so bad we are all in trouble.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/16/2019 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Of course Bidness Roundtable and Star Chamber of Communism is saying our economy will collapse unless everyone in Honduras and Guatemala comes here right now. So there's that...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/16/2019 8:30 Comments || Top||

#4  What about the Saudis purchasing essentially the same system? That's different because oil ( or really big bribes IYKWIM). (/s)
Posted by: magpie || 09/16/2019 14:35 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
MEET THE QUDS 1
h/t Instapundit
[ArmsControlWonk] On September 14, several explosions rocked the Khurais oilfield as well as the Abqaiq refinery, one of Saudi Arabia’s most vital petrochemical installations. Several hours later, the Houthis claimed that they had targeted both facilities with ten drones as part of their "Balance of Deterrence" campaign.

What made this attack different from other recorded Houthi drone attacks was not only the unprecedented amount of material damage caused but also lingering doubt about the nature and the attribution of the attack. First, a video allegedly showing flying objects entering Kuwaiti airspace led to speculation that like a previous "Houthi" drone attack this strike might actually have originated in Iraq or even Iran. While the video remains unverified, the fact that the Kuwaiti government launched a probe into the issue lends some credence to the idea that something might have happened over Kuwait that day. Speculation about the origins of the attack was further fueled by a tweet by Mike Pompeo in which he claimed that there was no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.

Then the question arose whether drones had been used at all, or whether the attack might in fact have been a missile strike. Previous Houthi drone strikes against oil facilities tended to result in quite limited damage which could be an indication that a different weapons system was used this time. Indeed, Aramco came to the conclusion that its facilities were attacked by missiles. Even more curious, several pictures began to emerge on social media purportedly showing the wreckage of a missile in the Saudi desert. While the images appear real, neither the date the photos were taken nor their location can be verified. Social media users quickly claimed the images showed a crashed Iranian-made Soumar cruise missile. The Soumar and its updated version, the Hoveyzeh, are Iran’s attempts at reverse-engineering the Soviet-designed KH-55 cruise missile, several of which the country illegally imported from Ukraine in the early 2000s. Others claimed it was the Quds 1, a recently unveiled Houthi cruise missile often claimed to be a rebranded Soumar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/16/2019 13:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  Fog of war. First casualty is always the truth.
Posted by: Abu Uluque || 09/16/2019 16:35 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
16[untagged]
6Taliban
6Govt of Iran
4Arab Spring
4Islamic State
4Govt of Syria
4Sublime Porte
3Govt of Iran Proxies
2Govt of Sudan
1Hamas
1Houthis
1Moslem Colonists
1Palestinian Authority
1al-Shabaab (AQ)
1al-Qaeda
1Commies
1al-Nusra
1Govt of Iraq
1Govt of Pakistain Proxies
1Govt of Pakistan

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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2019-09-16
  Iran seizes another oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Gulf crisis erupts
Sun 2019-09-15
  Turkey orders arrest of 223 military personnel over suspected Gulen links: State media
Sat 2019-09-14
  Parliament to discuss removal of U.S. forces from Iraq in new session
Fri 2019-09-13
  Over 2,000 militants fled to Turkey from Idlib: Al-Watan
Thu 2019-09-12
  Illegal Alien Sentenced to Six Years for Having Enough Fentanyl to Kill Half a Million Americans
Wed 2019-09-11
  18 Years Ago...
Tue 2019-09-10
  Bolton FIRED!
Mon 2019-09-09
  Inner Harbor buildings evacuated in downtown Baltimore after vehicle found with 1,000 gallons of gasoline
Sun 2019-09-08
  Pakistan denies Indian president's request to use its airspace for overflight
Sat 2019-09-07
  Taliban loses deputy intelligence chief, dozens of militants in Farah city clash
Fri 2019-09-06
  Comrade Robert ''Bob'' Mugabe Finally Croaks at 95
Thu 2019-09-05
  Arrested Terrorist Admits Being Pak National, Says Many Waiting At Launching Pads
Wed 2019-09-04
  Libya's Coast Guard rescues over 100 migrants off the coast of Sabratha
Tue 2019-09-03
   Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen rebel-run prison kill over 100
Mon 2019-09-02
  Haftar's forces strike Murzuq in southern Libya

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