Peter

Very interesting. My Dad was in charge of munitions at Sasebo Naval Base in 1966 and I lived there for a while, maybe a little over half a year. And then I moved to Madison Lane at UVA in Charlottesville to camp out in my brother’s apartment. I looked at some recent photos of Sasebo just now and only the gate seemed familiar.

It worked. "She," Christine is French. Very high pitched.

Hamas not only commits “war crimes” in a broader definition but they are the Hannibal Lecter’s of current reality. They are monsters who need to be eradicated and America needs to do more to assist Israel and to bring all of the hostages, and not just Americans, back home. And then Hamas, wherever it roams, needs to vanish from existence. We and Israel, do not need or deserve, another 9/11. Peter From Wikipedia. A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostages, unnecessarily destroying civilian property, deception by perfidy, wartime sexual violence, pillaging, and for any individual that is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings including genocide or ethnic cleansing, the granting of no quarter despite surrender, the conscription of children in the military and flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity.

Who are two of my possible picks, from the following article? House GOP conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Maybe the campaign has started . . . for real. But which VP candidate fits the Trump posse best and who would bring in the most votes? Peter Here’s who was with Trump at RNC’s Spring Meeting at Mar-a-Lago Story by Rachel Scully . . . The fundraiser was largely seen as an audition for Trump’s vice president within the GOP. The guest lists included many of those who are rumored to be on that list, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), Gov. Doug Burgum (R-N.D.), Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R), House GOP conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) . . . . Trump reportedly called some of those on his VP shortlist to the stage, except for Noem, who left early, NBC reported. She has been under controversy after an anecdote in her book about killing her dog went viral. Trump, however, highlighted Stefanik, praising her as “an amazing talent, according to CNN. He also said Rubio was doing a great job. Other high-profile GOP leaders also attended the private event, such as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) Dave McCormick, a Republican running for Senate in Pennsylvania, Bernie Moreno, the GOP nominee for the Senate election in Ohio, and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy were also in attendance . . . .

Thank you, Michael. I tried the "replica" you embedded but it doesn't work but the one you embedded in my contribution / email, did. I listened to it again. Very sad and wistful.

I thought I would add this to the “sad” thread. Christine and the Queens “Full of Life.”

I may have mentioned this before? Part of the song is used in an Amazon Prime commercial: Christine and the Queens “Full of Life.” ‘She” was a male when born, if I get the story right, but is now a female . . . in mind. Very sad sounding song with the “F” word.

Shooting your dog eliminates you from the running, even if she, oh what's her name, wants to show how tough she is.

From Explainer: Donald Trump has said the survival of Ukraine is important to the US, in what Reuters describes as a shift in tone days before Republicans are due to vote on a $61bn aid package in the US House of Representatives. “As everyone agrees, Ukrainian Survival and Strength should be much more important to Europe than to us, but it is also important to us! GET MOVING EUROPE!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social Thursday. The former president did not endorse the aid package directly, but instead dedicated most of his post to America’s European allies not spending enough to support Ukraine. The post is arguably one of Trump’s first acknowledgments that Ukraine’s survival is an important US security interest, according to Reuters. Some hard-right Republicans nevertheless interpreted the post as a signal that he opposes the current aid package, though Trump did not say that explicitly.

I keep hearing BS about the use of nuclear weapons from members of Putin’s staff and even his Russian allies. And there are stories about Putin detonating a nuclear bomb in the outer layers of earth’s biosphere which might destroy a lot of the world’s ability to communicate. And various NATO countries have been moving troops to border areas. Where’s Machiavelli when you need him? Is it in Putin’s “best interest” to spend lives and money on an invasion? No. Despite all the ‘IFS’ and past history, Putin started this “latest invasion,” he is the initiator of force, and attempted genocide AND he deserves what he gets . . . as long as it isn’t Ukraine. I have seen news stories about rebelliousness among Russian draftees too. In the meantime, his fighting capabilities may be eroding, and hopefully his popularity among the Russian people and his few allies is going downhill. NATO, militarily has one hundred times the capability of defeating Russia vs Russia defeating NATO. His ace in the hole is his nuclear threat. Peter

Judy Collins, “Send In The Clowns.” It is odd. It is sad, but what other emotions does it evoke in you?

Damn. Would the following be Karma? The article says, after the collapse of the Russia Federation, but I wonder if Russia, would / could, still use nukes? Another great scenario separate from this wish, is maybe some good Samaritan will kill Putin? Poison would be in line with how he kills some of his own people. They could say he died of a brain aneurism caused by excessive evil. “Yeah, that’s the ticket, as John Lovitz,” would say. From Daily Express US: China is waiting for the Russian Federation to collapse so it can seize a slice of land taken from it by Russia 200 years ago, it has been claimed. Beijing has been a crucial supporter of Vladimir Putin since he invaded Ukraine and was essentially cut off from the Western world due to sanctions. But Canadian journalist and author Diane Francis believes that China is also preparing to take back a slice of land in the far east of Russia. Speaking to Times Radio, she explained how the war in Ukraine may have just Beijing-Moscow relations. She said: "China was put in a terrible position. They had an Olympics they were proud of in 2022, and Putin went there and got Xi to sign a partnership agreement without telling him that three days later he was going to genocidally invade his neighboring country. "He never told Xi. This was hugely embarrassing." Mrs. Francis believes the Russian Federation will collapse after the war in Ukraine, allowing China to reclaim land previously under its jurisdiction. She added: "China is very much involved in what happens to Russia after this is over. Many of us speculate that once the center doesn't hold and they lose the war, whoever replaces Putin is not going to be able to hold on to 11 time zones of nation.

From The Hill: Biden vs. Trump vs. RFK Jr. polls. Tie polling average based on 130 polls. Apr 27, 2024 . . . end quote They compiled and averaged over ten major and a lot of "lesser" polls and it came up Trump 41.3, Biden 41.3, Kennedy 7.7 percent. Odd. I assumed it would take more away from Biden but what will the future hold?

From the Telegraph: Iran has chosen self-destruction, and is happy to take the world down with it Story by Sherelle Jacobs. The Iranian regime has chosen suicide. True, it will take some time for the logical conclusion of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s fatal and probably irreversible course of action to play out. Like a pre-AI automaton incapable of adapting to the input of new information, the BBC will continue to blather about Iran’s capacity for “strategic patience” and the risks of Israel “dragging” the US into a regional war. Tehran faces either a Soviet-style collapse amid a regional war it cannot afford, or bloody regime change as the revolution is eaten by its children. By directly attacking Israel from its own soil, Iran has initiated a battle of brinkmanship that it cannot possibly win. Some will argue that it was Israel that ripped up the playbook when an Iranian general was killed in Syria in an airstrike that hit parts of Tehran’s “consulate”. Still, Jerusalem’s new red lines are by now perfectly obvious to anyone of sound mind. Israel knows that it cannot afford to let the Iranian onslaught pass without a response. It also knows that Tehran – possibly soon with nuclear weapons – is likely to escalate co-ordinated displays of aggression from Syria in the east and from Hezbollah in Lebanon in the north. And with the West whispering that a pivot to Asia looms, Israel may well have decided that it is now or never. Today, it can count on America’s support in the event of a full-blown regional war; this may not be the case in a few years’ time. In other words, Jerusalem is unlikely to back down. But while a regional war would test Israel, it would destroy Iran, for the simple reason that Tehran cannot afford to take on its adversary. To raise the billions needed to bankroll its nuclear program and prop up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, it has already raised taxes by eye-watering amounts and devalued its currency to dangerous levels. The situation may have reached a tipping point where Iran cannot increase spending to meet the demands of military escalation without bringing about its effective bankruptcy or presiding over an economic collapse likely to trigger a popular revolt. It seems equally unlikely, however, that Tehran can back down without a tremendous loss of face. Its credibility among the new generation of Islamists who prop up the regime would surely be destroyed. Khamenei would struggle to revert to his earlier strategy of channeling their bellicose energies into a domestic war on headscarf rebels . . . .