Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 6,866 Comments »
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  2. Iran has been trying via proxies to stir up unrest in Jordan recently via Hamas. So far it has been repelled.

    Hashemites are not friends of Israel. The population of Jordan is 98% anti-Jewish or Jew Haters!

    Tooth Fairy is not really going to take over Jordan, in-spite of creative tales.

  3. If the King of Jordan or his son are booted from power it most likely would be the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas who would take over which would be worse than the King by far.

    Not true. The ‘kingdom’ of Jordan is little more than an American colony in the Middle East. The only reason the so called crown sits on the over inflated head of the latest rendition of the Hashemite brigand king is due to American support. Should that American support be turned elsewhere, the fortunes of the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies would be dependent upon the support of the leadership which the US chose to replace the Hashemites. Should that choice be someone such as Mudar, there would be no place in Jordan for the Brotherhood or its Islamist allies to hide, as they entirely oppose Mudar and everything he represents and stands to change in Jordan.

    In short, the Islamists are tolerated in Jordan because the US supports a regime which both tolerates and wields the Brotherhood against their Pal subjects to keep the Hashemites in power. It would be a gross error to suppose that the Brotherhood are, instead of the US, the base of the treacherous Abdullah’s power, as they are instead an extension of the power which the US extends to Abdullah. There would be no such extension in a govt which opposes the Islamists, and no place for them in the state of Jordan in such a scenario, and no possibility of them gaining the support from the Americans who chose to support an anti-Islamist leadership.

  4. Israeli planes where allowed to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones in several Arab Countries.

    I wonder if these countries would also allow Israel to flyover on the way to Iran as the IAF is ready to do some target practice in Iran?

    A secret de facto alliance worked wonders on a crucial night against Iran
    Even in the Regional Cooperation Department of the IDF’s Strategic Division, they were burning the midnight oil in the late hours on Saturday and early Sunday. The language used in those hours was Arabic, and the content of the conversations was intelligence updates based on developments before, during, and after the attack. More than one country was on the line with the Israeli officers – and not all have formal ties with Israel.

    This article is very interesting I suggest reading it all at https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/04/16/a-secret-de-facto-alliance-worked-wonders-on-a-crucial-night-against-iran/

  5. @Peloni

    As you stated then, I stated below, we will have to agree to disagree.

    We should probably get to this conclusion much sooner if we keep discussing things and save useless strokes on the keyboard.

    If the King of Jordan or his son are booted from power it most likely would be the Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas who would take over which would be worse than the King by far.

  6. @Bear

    Zero point in trying to tell them the tooth fairly is just a faker.

    You see, this was what I tried to explain to you for three years regarding election fraud, and yet you clung to your “reliable sources” stating “facts are facts”.

    As you stated then, I stated below, we will have to agree to disagree.

  7. Facts are facts. Fakers are Fakers. Enemies are enemies. Sometimes the fakers make up stories 99% of the people when they examine those stories realize they are simply made up to try and maintain their cover.

    Yes 1% maybe hold such strong views the facts, simply can not be true to them, no matter how many reliable sources there are for the facts. The tooth fairy is who they believe in and he has told them it is not so. Zero point in trying to tell them the tooth fairly is just a faker.

  8. Laura

    Netanyahu has decided to postpone the operation in Rafah

    It would be folly to pursue two military ventures at once, and in fact, as Israel pushes forward with its declaration to attack Iran, this might actually lend itself towards leveraging the Americans to support the attack in Rafah which they are ardently opposing, for the moment in any event. As Ted has recently suggested, Rafah must be destroyed, and it remains to be the more relevant target for Israel at the moment. Also, note that had Israel been intent on responding to Iran, they could have done so on Saturday, and yet, four days later there is nothing but talk about what will come in the coming days. So, are we actually watching the public face of a bartering between Israel and Washington over the fate of Rafah as Israel delays its response against Iran? Perhaps. Time will tell.

  9. @Bear

    numerous Israeli sources

    Numerous Israeli sources say that Bibi is a threat to democracy. Numerous American sources said that Trump was a Manchurian candidate. I recognize that you hold these sources as relevant, but I find them highly suspect. Note that the Hashemites waited more than a day to take credit for the deed which they likely did not perform. So we will have to agree to disagree on this point.

    You are quite correct in any event in stating that the Hashemites are our enemy, as they clearly are. Looking forward to seeing the end of their malignant regime, sooner rather than later with any luck.

  10. @Peloni, numerous Israeli sources confirm that Jordan shot down drones. This does not make Jordan our friend or the Hashemites it was simply part of the alliance between several countries temporary or otherwise. Facts are facts!

    Most were shot down by Israeli pilots. Also some by USA and British pilots and some by Jordan.

  11. IDF assassinates two senior Hezbollah coastal commanders
    According to the IDF, Ismail Yusef Baz had served for decades with Hezbollah in a variety of posts before becoming a coastal commander.
    By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
    APRIL 16, 2024 15:31
    Updated: APRIL 16, 2024 22:36
    Email Twitter Facebook fb-messenger

    IDF kills Hezbollah coastal commander in the Ain Ebel area of Lebanon. April 16, 2024. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson Unit).

    The IDF on Tuesday announced it had assassinated a senior Hezbollah commander for the Lebanon coastal region, equivalent to the rank of an Israeli brigade commander.

    According to the IDF, Ismail Yusef Baz had served for decades with Hezbollah in a variety of posts before becoming coastal commander.

    Among his various roles was managing both rocket and anti-tank missile attacks from the coastal region into Israel.

    In addition, Baz masterminded various terror operations against Israel.

    Baz continues the list of close to a dozen senior Hezbollah officials whom Israel has killed during the war, with a smaller number of those being as high as the rank of brigade commander.

    A drone carries a Hezbollah flag, May 21, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/AZIZ TAHER)Enlrage image
    A drone carries a Hezbollah flag, May 21, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/AZIZ TAHER)
    The attack also comes following Iran’s failed attempt to strike Israel with around 350 aerial threats and as Jerusalem contemplates the severity of its expected response.

    Redwan Force
    The IDF eliminated on Tuesday Muhammad Hossein Matzafa Shouri, the commander of the rocket and missile unit of the western sector of Hezbollah’s Redwan Force in southern Lebanon in the village of Kfar Dunin.

    Shouri was responsible for the planning and execution of many rocket firing plans towards Israel from the central and western sectors of Lebanon.

    IDF kills commander of the rocket unit of the Radwan forces in the area of Kfar Dounine in Lebanon. April 16. (Credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit).
    Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, an operative in the rocket and missile unit of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, was also killed in the attack.

    Two explosive drones from Lebanon fall in Israeli territory
    Earlier on Tuesday, residents of northern Israel said that two explosive drones had crossed from Lebanese territory and fell in Beit Hillel in the Galilee on Tuesday, which lightly wounded three people, Israeli media reported.

    No alarm had sounded in the area, and the incident is under investigation.

    Israel’s northern National Fire and Rescue Authority spokesperson said in response that three fire crews had been extinguishing a fire that had erupted as a result of the drones falling in the area.

    https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-797389

  12. @Harris Saying Massey doesn’t give a shit about Israel is understating his animosity. This is what he said in the Twitter link i posted in which he’s channeling Ilhan Omar:

    Why does Israel historically get more foreign aid than any other country? Because they have the most aggressive lobbyists working for them. I voted NOT to send another $14.3 billion overseas, so now they’re running ads on radio, TV, and facebook. I won’t vote to give them your $.

    https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1725330510560325760

  13. @Bear

    Jordan clearly shot down Iranian drones as part of alliance

    I disagree. In fact, Israeli planes flew over Jordan and were more likely the source of drones/missiles being downed over the Hashemite realm. Stolen valor is a disgusting and dishonorable act which intends to deligitimize those whose valor was actually stolen. Of course, this would be nothing at all for the Hashemites whose crimes against the Jewish people have been of a far more mortal nature over the years, and continue to be so to this day.

  14. Jordanian FM: We would have acted the same if the attack came from Israel
    Foreign Minister Safadi, in comments made to CNN, said that Jordan would have intercepted any threats entering its airspace whether they had come from Iran, Israel, or elsewhere.

    Jordan clearly shot down Iranian drones as part of alliance (whether temporary not). The sole article or tweet to the contrary by Mudar Zaharan appears to be incorrect.

  16. @ Laura
    I wouldn’t put much faith in this new Israel-Arab ‘alliance’.
    Remember that the Arab street is still vehemently anti-Israel.
    The leaders ultimately have to, in some way, satisfy the street in order to stay alive.

  17. @Laura
    The State Dept. has been Arabist since pre-1948. A glimmer of light shone with Pompeo at the top, but the most of the old rank and file remained.
    @Sebastien, Laura
    I used to think Massey was an honest pennypincher but that changed with a couple of his votes in the past year. He doesn’t give a shit about Israel.
    With MTG, I think her ignorance has lessened. I recall Chaya Raichik saying she got a long and encouraging call from MTG after she was doxed by lefties.I have a hunch that with MTG it’s more out of anti-spending principal than anti-Jew bias.

  19. The good news is that Trump stands with Speaker Johnson. I hope Trump will rein in Green and Massey behind closed doors. He needs to anyway because anymore turmoil regarding the speakership will impact upon his chances for reelection.

  20. The Strategic Implications of the Iranian Attack on Israel

    https://jcpa.org/video/the-strategic-implications-of-the-iranian-attack-on-israel/
    or
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEmhifOMj5A

    “Streamed live on Apr 15, 2024 JCPA Daily Wartime Briefing
    War Room Briefing by JCPA Intelligence, Military, and Diplomacy Experts

    Featuring Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser – Former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division; Director, National Security and Middle East Affairs, at the Jerusalem Center

    Also featuring:
    Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch, Former Director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria

    “Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch served as Director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria. Since retiring from the IDF, Hirsch worked as the Head of Legal Strategies for Palestinian Media Watch, as a Senior Military Consultant for NGO Monitor, an advisor to the Ministry of Defense, and head of an advisory committee in the Ministry of Interior. Hirsch was the architect of the Israeli law that strips citizenship from Israeli terrorists who have been convicted for terror offenses, sentenced to a custodial sentence, and receive a payment from the Palestinian Authority as a reward for their acts of terror.”

  21. All U.S. House districts, including the 14th Congressional District of Georgia, are holding elections in 2024. The general election is November 5, 2024. The primary is May 21, 2024, and a primary runoff is June 18, 2024. A general runoff is December 3, 2024. The filing deadline was March 8, 2024.

    The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House in 2025.

    All 435 seats are up for election. Republicans have a 218 to 213 majority with four vacancies.[1] As of March 2024, 42 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

    For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

    https://ballotpedia.org/Georgia%27s_14th_Congressional_District_election,_2024

    https://ballotpedia.org/Kentucky's_4th_Congressional_District_election,_2024

  22. @Laura Thank you. We can’t just vote blindly Republican, we have to look at every individual. Marjorie Taylor Green is an isolationist, or at least she claims to be now, I do recall her making some kind of smear against Israel in the past, accusing Israel of causing wildfires with secret space lasers, and Thomas Massey is an antisemite. They are both opposed to aiding Israel as a matter of principle.

    https://greene.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=589
    https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1725330510560325760

    They should definitely be primaried and I wouldn’t rule out voting for their Democrat opponents whoever they may be but I’d have to look at them. I would certainly never vote for either of them.

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  23. Right now, Marjorie Taylor Green and Thomas Massey may be the biggest obstacles for getting aid to Israel. These clowns need to be put in their place.

    2

  24. US expects Israel to respond to Iran’s attack on Saturday night, but in a limited scope
    Despite cautions against further escalation in the region, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s representative to the UN, said that Israel ‘reserves the legal right to retaliate. The world cannot settle for inaction.’
    Israel National News
    Apr 16, 2024, 8:21 AM (GMT+3)

    NBC News reports that the US announced it expects Israel to respond to Iran’s attack on Saturday night, but in a limited scope, most likely targeting Iranian military forces and Iranian-backed proxies outside Iran, or striking shipments or storage facilities with advanced weaponry that are sent from Iran to Hezbollah.

    This announcement comes following conversations that were held between US and Israeli officials even before Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel. Iran’s attack on Israel comes in retaliation for an April 1 Israeli strike on an Iranian consular building in Syria, killing two of Tehran’s top generals.

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388568

    So, now the US is completely in charge of anything Israel does.

    My only hope is that this will not result in the TSFS or one (Arab) state in place of Israel.

  25. @Sebastien Zorn

    Report: Netanyahu has decided to postpone the operation in Rafah

    This means he is in on it – he wanted a good excuse and the US/Iran supplied it.

  28. @Edgar I just remembered another of my favorite biting satires when I was a kid. I had a modern library paperback (remember those from a 100 years ago, all cloth content and they never decay, real works of art) of “Zuleika Dobson” by Max Beerbohm. (1911)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuleika_Dobson

    My memory was triggered by my saying “in the ’20s and ’30s of the last century” I’ve I grew up reading fin de s’iecle (turn of the century really) novels and always wanted to be able to say that (a phrase that was frequently used i( I mean, “employed” see I just wanted to sound fancy schmancy and pretentious-like with my limited vocabulary 😀 ) in the works I read. Werkes. Woikes*) 😀

    *Little bit of assimilated Jewish self-satire in Victor Borge’s “phonetic punctuation” bit: he says with a Brookllyn, now Long Island, Jewish accent, “hoid” and then corrects himself to “heard’ in his usual aristocratic Danish accent. 😀

    Reminds me of the joke I heard from my parents – a lot – when I was a kid about the Jewish lady who is trying not to give away her ethnicity at some duke or baronet’s dinner table and accidentally spills the salt. “Oy” she exclaims. And quickly follows with, “Whatever that means.” 😀

  29. @Sebastien
    Yes, I saw that. It is intolerable that the Israeli population should be forced to uniquely suffer such outrages as these with impunity as the perpetrators of these crimes are hailed as heroes and victims. This can not be allowed to persist.

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  30. @Sebastien Zorn

    Does anything ever change [emphasis mine]?

    … it is certain that the Jews were among the ablest soldiers of ancient times… …Throughout their history they had to fight powerful and aggressive nations, far better equipped, situated and numerous than they, including the successive lords of the earth. the Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks and Romans.

    Access to weapons and armor was poor. An even greater weakness from the aggressive viewpoint of the ancients, was the Jewish preoccupation with moral problems under a philosophy of living dominated by what the baffled Romans described as “the superstition of an invisible god”.

    The Hebrew Impact on Western Civilization, Ed. by Dagobert D. Runes, 1951 (p. 721)

    2

  33. Somebody on Facebook posted a meme about a Jewish tradition that says goodness will be saved in the world by 36 good men who won’t know who they are or that they have been chosen by God to play this role. This is how I responded:

    This is a joke I learned as a kid (I'm a 2nd generation Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor on my father's side and my Jewish-American mother learned Hungarian so I could have learned it from either of them, by way of background: Scene takes place on a commuter train from Budapest to the suburbs either between or before the 2 world wars: So, this guy is sitting on the aisle and a young man walking buy says, hi, and he studiously ignores hiim. Hey, the guy sitting next to him says, why did you snub that polite young man. He's from Pocs (pronounced Poksh, nobody knows where it is but it sounds a lot like Chelm, there are no honest men in Pocs. If I say hello to him back, he might invited me to his home, and then I'd have to invite him to my home, he might meet my daughter, get married. Nol way! Wait just a minute, I'll have you know I'm from Pocs. There's lots of honest men in Pocs. Oh, yeah, name 20. Name 20, what do you mean, who knows 20 names off the top of his head, do I carry my rolodex around? OK, name 10, Tem. tem. look my tooth hurts, I had a fight with my wife, I can't think straight. Alright then, name ONE. Thinks a moment then comes back brightly, "Must be from Pocs?

    1

  36. TOI:

    TV report: War cabinet decides to hit back forcefully at Iran for Saturday’s missile and drone attack

  38. @Ted Belman

    It was a put up deal.

    EXACTLY.

    I wouldn’t even find it unimaginable that Israel was in on it also.

    Here is something from 10 days ago:

    https://swentr.site/news/595497-iran-warns-us-israel/

    Don’t fall into Israeli ‘trap’, Iran warns US
    Iran has warned the US to “stay away” from any potential clash between itself and Israel, while Washington has cautioned Tehran against targeting American facilities, Iranian presidential aide Mohammad Jamshidi said on Friday.

    1

  41. I believe that Bidan arranged with Iran, the extent of the response and Biden agreed to prevent retaliation.
    Thus after the response was over, all partners in defending Israel including Britain, France and Saudi Arabia all came out against retailiation.
    It was a put up deal.

    1
    1

  42. @Michael “A travelling salesman drove past a farm one day and noticed a pig with one wooden leg. He didn’t think much of it until a week later, driving by the same farm, the pig had two wooden legs. The third week, the pig had three wooden legs, and finally, after seeing the pig the fourth week with four wooden legs, he had to stop to inquire about it.

    He tracked down the farmer and asked him about the strange sight. The farmer told him, “Well, that’s the greatest pig alive. About a month ago, he saved my wife and kids and me from our burning house by waking us up in the middle of the night just in time to escape without any harm!”

    The salesman continue to prod the farmer about the pig’s wooden legs. “Well,” the farmer replied, “this pig is just like one of the family. He’s a really great pig. A couple of weeks ago, our youngest boy fell in the creek, and this truly wonderful pig fished him out just in time to save him from drowning! He’s one really great pig!”

    The salesman, starting to lose his patience, again inquired about the wooden legs, to which the farmer replied, “Last week, I fell off my horse and my foot got caught up in the stirrup. This great pig ran along side of the horse and me and untangled me and truly saved my life. What a great pig – the greatest pig in the world!!”

    Losing his patience, the salesman finally shouted, “All right already, That’s enough! He’s a really great pig – a REALLY great pig! But what about his wooden legs?!”

    To which the farmer replied, “Well now, a great pig like that – you don’t eat him all at once!”‘

    -Prairie Home Companion

    1

  43. I think perhaps Michael is a fan of Jonathan Swift and means the opposite of what he says? I try to think the best of people for as long as I can.

    A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick,[1] commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift in 1729. The essay suggests that poor people in Ireland could ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to the elite. Swift’s use of satirical hyperbole was intended to mock hostile attitudes towards the poor and anti-Catholicism among the Protestant Ascendancy as well as the Dublin Castle administration’s policies in general.[2] In English writing, the phrase “a modest proposal” is now conventionally an allusion to this style of straight-faced satire.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

    I read it when I was in high school in the 1720’s. I only read contemporary literature at that time.

    —
    Oh, apropos of nothing, here’s an interesting historical tidbit courtesy of Wikipedia. Edgar, what’s your opinion?

    “Juvenal’s Satires, giving several accounts of Jewish life in first-century Rome, have been regarded by scholars, such as J. Juster and, more recently, Peter Nahon, as a valuable source about early Judaism.[11]”

    “11. Peter Nahon, 2014. Idées neuves sur un vieux texte : Juvénal, Saturae, 6, 542–547. In: Revue des études latines 92:1–6”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenal

    —
    Though I must confess I’m more familiar with contemporary scholarly accounts of the period like that of Mel Brooks on the Last Supper

    https://youtu.be/VA1sx-vyWVk?si=tKG1PsayX2wFIjgt

  44. @Michael

    What IS your day job? FSB, like others here?

    no,

    FSBPT: The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy

    like others here, present company included. 😀

  45. Sebastien, you said,

    I think you hate Russians.

    You think wrong. Obviously, you have never been downwind of a pig farm. It stinks to high heaven; but I still had bacon this morning. As usually, you’re trying (unsuccessfully) to be funny.

    BTW, What IS your day job? FSB, like others here?

    2

  47. @Bear’ Someone is watching over us

    I do believe that based on objective evidence not faith as I explained to Michael. This was another article that convinced me.

    Hand of God’ prevents rocket from striking its target: Israeli Iron Dome operator says sudden gust of wind blew missile into sea when defence system failed
    The commander claims that the divine intervention stopped the missile
    ‘I witnessed this miracle with my own eyes,’ the commander
    Obama has signed bill granting xtra $225 million to the Iron Dome system
    Israeli officials say it has a success rate as high as 90 percent
    By JILL REILLY

    PUBLISHED: 05:43 EDT, 6 August 2014 | UPDATED: 12:02 EDT, 6 August 2014
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2717659/Hand-God-prevents-rocket-striking-target-Israeli-Iron-Dome-operator-says-sudden-gust-wind-blew-missile-sea-defence-failed.html

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  48. @Bear Well, proportionality would seemingly dictate that the same number of missiles be fired at anyplace Khamenei might be lurking and give them an opportunity to shoot them down if they can.

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  49. @Seb, there were many missiles aimed at the Knesset. All shot down. The fragments of one of them did Al Aksa ironically! Someone is watching over us.

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