It’s raining pretty hard here, so I’m off the hook for walking the dogs.
Looks like a deal was reached on Iranian nukes. Via the NYT:
VIENNA — Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions, Western diplomats said.
The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement that President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a new relationship between the United States and Iran — after decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions —remains a bigger question.
The White House said that President Obama would speak at 7 a.m. in Washington, beginning a process to sell the deal to Congress and the American public.
Whitehouse.gov will carry the statement live, and I’ll be watching while I have my coffee. Please feel free to discuss that or whatever else is on your mind. Open thread!
Baud
Got Joe on mute waiting for the president to speak. Even in silence, I can’t stand him.
David Koch
David Koch
David Koch
Aimai
Wow. What a president.!
David Koch
Keith G
The rainy season in Texas seems to have shifted your way. Hot and dry here.
Will be a fun news day ahead. It is very cool that Obama and Kerry (and team) have slogged it out in the face of such high odds against.
OzarkHillbilly
Juan Cole has something to say to Netanyahu about Iran: No, Mr. Netanyahu, Iran Isn’t Trying to Take Over the World and It Isn’t Islamic State
In contrast, Netanyahu’s country illegally occupies Gaza and the West Bank, refused to sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation treaty, has several hundred nuclear warheads, and launched wars in 1956, 1967, 1982, 2009 and 2014.
David Koch
Stoopid fucking Fox can’t get anything right
Heh!
David Koch
All of the networks are breaking into programing with special bulletin coverage.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: I’m hoping Congress doesn’t fuck the Iran deal up. From the analysis I’ve read, it looks like we’ve got enough votes to carry it through.
wilfred
A great and courageous achievement by this President. Well done to all concerned and a deserved spit in the face to the warmongers on both sides of the aisle.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: LOL! Why do y’all torture yourselves. There are so many other stations.
For the Iran Nuclear Deal: Thanks Obama!! He’s such an active and successful lame duck President.
JPL
@David Koch: Has Fox cut away from the President yet? The announcement is a bfd.
David Koch
…. and then there was the day he lifted the ban on transgender in the military, commuted the sentences of 46 drug offenders, ended Iran’s nuclear program, and brought Iran back into the community of nations…
dmsilev
Netanyahu hates the deal, which as far as I’m concerned is definitive proof that the deal is a Good Thing.
LanceThruster
Israel is going to bust a blood vessel over this.
Baud
Give war a chance! #GOP
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I can help ya out with what Joe is saying. He said that 70% of the American public oppose this Iranian deal, WAIT.. It’s 75% now.
Is Joe in a location that’s underwater? His audio feed sounds distorted.
NotMax
Iran has no nukes, has never had nukes, has never enriched fuel anywhere close to the level required to build nukes.
Baud
@NotMax:
President said they did just now.
Baud
Kerry shout out!
Baud
President is done. TV off before Joe comes back.
PaulW
A few days ago Jeb Bush accused Obama of sowing chaos because he “used big words” in diplomatic efforts.
Today Obama offers up a historic deal through diplomatic efforts. Most likely using big words to achieve it.
Actions are the best rebuke to criticism. By this action, Obama demonstrates the power and effectiveness of GENUINE foreign policy that works WITH nations rather than bomb and occupy them.
The sign of a successful foreign policy is 1) you go into a meeting with hostile nations and 2) you come out of said meeting with more allies and trade partners than you had going in. By that 2-point metric, Obama has been one of the best foreign policy Presidents since… Bush the Elder. SUCK ON IT, JEB.
BillinGlendaleCA
Wonder if VP Biden will say it’s a BFD?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
In Farsi.
Keith G
@Betty Cracker: Since this is an agreement and not a treaty, vote thresholds are favorable and I believe that the administrations option are good, ie. one of the few ways Congress can touch this is to pass legislation that would be vetoed.
Now, that is what I recall reading 4 hours ago when the NYT news alert (that I forgot to shut off!!) woke me up.
Anyway the regular sides will say their regular things, but it doesn’t matter since this is a good thing in all and a Biden (B.F.) deal at that. Most citizens will want this to have a chance (even if the odds of failure might be significant with such a deal) and if the new and improved Obama messaging process is used, the good guys will be alright.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’ll keep you updated, buddy. Then again, need to get to bed so I can see Amir at his garden later in the day.
NorthLeft12
@Betty Cracker: I am surprised that there are enough votes to carry this treaty [it is a treaty isn’t it?] through. With a Republican majority in the Senate and enough pseudoDems who either love them some war or are virtually in thrall to Netanyahu, I would think it would be a very tough slog to get fifty-one [or sixty??] votes to ratify this treaty.
I realize it would be absolutely insane to undercut a lengthy, multinational, and significant negotiation like this……but we are talking about the 21st century Republican party.
wilfred
The Israeli megaphone will be blaring at mega volume with this. Would be a useful exercise to track the ethical bankruptcy of both parties as they clamor to be heard. Country first, only it’ll be another country, not ours.
BillinGlendaleCA
@BillinGlendaleCA: Tom Cotton’s on, the American public don’t like this and Congress will kill it.
Baud
@Baud: @NorthLeft12:
If doesn’t need Congress’s approval.
@wilfred:
Go to hell.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m surprised. He’s usually so reasonable.
NotMax
@Baud
Did? Or possessed the technical structure to do so?
They have (or had) the theoretical capability to do so, but never have. 20% enrichment has been internationally verified. 80% or more is needed for weaponization.
bystander
@LanceThruster: You remind me of the line in “Auntie Mame” spoken by Emory, “Mah sistah’s gonna bust a gut.” He’s speaking of his evil sister Sally Cato who has just learned that her plot to destroy Mame has been foiled in the worst way.
I like the analogy between Sally Cato, a duplicitous schemer, and the current government of Israel.
Gimlet
And just think of the peace dividend we can expect. Unless…
Wiki
Since 2002, the U.S. had been in talks with Poland and other European countries over the possibility of setting up a European base to intercept long-range missiles
According to the United States government, the missile defense system was intended to protect against future missiles from Iran.[1]
It was intended to contain 10 silo-based interceptors: two-stage versions of the existing three-stage Ground Based Interceptors with Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles that had a closing speed of about 7 km/s.
In October 2009—during a trip by Vice President Joe Biden to Warsaw—a new, smaller interceptor project to go forward on roughly the same schedule as the Bush administration plan, was proposed
NotMax
@NorthLeft12
No, not a treaty.
Baud
@NotMax:
I recall the president saying that Iran currently has enough enriched uranium to build 10 bombs, but this deal would reduce it by 98%, so they wouldn’t have enough to build one.
brantl
@PaulW:
The Bushes don’t get that specificity is crucial to any real understanding of the world and achieving anything in it. But then, the don’t understand words like ‘specificity’, and ‘diplomatic’ and ‘achieve’. either.
MattF
I’ve always thought that our natural allies in the Mideast are Iran and Israel. And not the f*cking Saudis. This is a first step to a rational policy.
Gimlet
If only Obama could negotiate as successfully with the Republicans.
JPL
@MattF: Just because Saudi money was used, and Saudi’s hijacked planes to attack us on 9/11, doesn’t mean they are not our friends.
JPL
@Gimlet: Unpossible.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Enough uranium that they could enrich to 80% to make 10 bombs? As NotMax said, they don’t have anything anywhere near 80% right now.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gimlet: Republicans aren’t sane.
NorthLeft12
By the way, congratulations to all that have persevered through this process to arrive at this agreement. You guys have some kind of President there…..too bad you can’t keep him on the job as he seems to be getting the hang of it now.
As a Canadian, I have always winced whenever I hear the mighty US pundits howl about the lack of American leadership in the world. I always felt [and rightly I think] that what they meant was the US government forcing their solutions on enemies and allies alike, and backing that up with military and economic punishment.
The current leadership being shown by the US/Obama is more about a strong commitment to engagement and negotiation to reach a mutually beneficial resolution. Yeah its tough, frustrating, slow, and you don’t get everything you want but it is the only way to reach a long lasting and workable agreement.
THANKS OBAMA!
Baud
@MattF: Iran was our ally before 1979. The Iranian Revolution and the hostage taking really screwed that up. Poor Reagan tried to restore relations by selling them arms, but he failed.
JPL
President Obama and Hillary Clinton were able to convince other countries, to impose strict sanctions on Iran. Our sanctions alone did nothing. Clinton deserves some of the credit for developing the coalition.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I clearly heard him mention 10 bombs. I may have misheard what it was they had that would make 10 bombs — maybe it was something other than uranium.
David Koch
LOL
Baud
@JPL: She’ll take it! ;-)
BTW, I expect all the Dem candidates will support this deal and all the GOP candidates will oppose it, because they are all the same.
David Koch
How ’bout that – not everyone in press is heartless.
Keith G
@JPL: But wait, I was told HRC had real accomplishments she could point to.
qwerty42
@NorthLeft12: I am surprised that there are enough votes to carry this treaty through. …
This isn’t a treaty, which would need a Senate agreement. It is simply an agreement between the powers negotiating. Congress has managed to insert itself, partly because removal of most (if not all) of the sanctions will require Congressional approval. However, a rejection is likely to sour the other negotiators on US’s ability or willingness to negotiate. In which case, they are much less likely to join in any new sanctions. There is, of course, a seemingly permanent war party in Congress, who want a war somewhere: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine? Who knows? They seem to believe foreign policy is conducted by their preposterous stump speeches.
David Koch
NotMax
@Baud
That’s one of the problems with the word “enriched.” It applies broadly to refined and processed uranium, and correctly can be used as a blanket term, but provides little technical data beyond that. There has been no, zero, zilch, evidence of any stocks enriched by Iran much beyond 20% to date.
Japan (which officially maintains a nuclear breakout capability – not a status, but a capability), for example, has enough enriched uranium to build more than 10 weapons, if stockpliles are further enriched up to weapons grade.
Gimlet
While all this praise is being heaped on the Obama negotiating team, we are forgetting the past negotiating triumphs of GWB.
Wiki
On April 1, 2001, the Hainan Island incident occurred when a mid-air collision between a United States Navy EP-3E ARIES II signals intelligence aircraft and a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) J-8II interceptor fighter jet resulted in an international dispute between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China.
The EP-3 was operating about 70 miles (110 km) away from the PRC island province of Hainan, and about 100 miles (160 km) away from the Chinese military installation in the Paracel Islands, when it was intercepted by two J-8 fighters. A collision between the EP-3 and one of the J-8s caused the death of a PRC pilot, and the EP-3 was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan.
The crew of the EP-3 was released on April 11, 2001, and returned to their base at Whidbey Island via Honolulu, Hawaii, where they were subject to two days of intense debriefings, followed by a heroes’ welcome.[19] The pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for “heroism and extraordinary achievement” in flight.
China refused to allow the plane to be flown off Hainan island. The disassembled aircraft was released on July 3, 2001, and was returned to the United States by the Russian airline Polet in an Antonov An-124.[34]
In addition to paying for the dismantling and shipping of the EP-3, the United States paid for the 11 days of food and lodging supplied by the Chinese government to the aircraft’s crew, in the amount of $34,000. The Chinese had demanded one million dollars compensation from the U.S. for the lost J-8 and their pilot, but this was declined and no further negotiations were held.
Republican congressman Tom DeLay described the episode as “communist piracy” and Chinese demands for compensation as “the deluded daydreams of a despotic regime”.[35][36]
raven
Joe notes that conservatives “eviscerated Regan” for his weak-kneed arms agreement with Russia.
Shakezula
OH NOES GAY IRANIAN NUCLEAR HEALTHCARE!!
I can’t wait for the thing beneath Trump the Hairpiece to tell us what it thinks.
Gimlet
@David Koch:
Did he end with a song?
Baud
@Gimlet: I remember how Bush was lauded in the press for his handling of that issue.
Baud
@raven:
It’s true. It’s because of that that there are still things in America not named after Reagan.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he did say 10 bombs, with the caveats I added. Of and by itself that would not be an inaccurate statement. One of the freak out issues was the amount of enriched uranium Iran was keeping and the # of centrifuges that would allow them to enrich it to the point of being able to weaponize it. The argument was that it was way beyond what Iran needed to have for ‘legitimate research’. (redefined daily)
OzarkHillbilly
Vox has the full text of the deal, if anyone wants to fall asleep.
NorthLeft12
@qwerty42: and Baud and NotMax: Thanks for the clarification. Thank dog for that.
So how can Congress sabotage this agreement? Is there anything that they need to contribute to this process?
raven
Pitty Pat no likey
Baud
@NorthLeft12:
I believe they can’t do much unless they have votes to override Obama’s veto, which would require significant Dem defections. I don’t see that happening, despite the pressure that will be put on them.
NorthLeft12
@raven: Eviscerated? I don’t think that word means what Joe thinks it means.
satby
Well, so far FB is quiet on the issue, so the wingnut talking points must not have gone out yet. I’ll give it an hour.
It’s my version of checking on Fox to keep track of the enemy.
beltane
Best president of my lifetime.
raven
@satby: Lindsey has em.
NotMax
@satby
Memo has already gone out.
Graham just called it a “death sentence for Israel.”
Patrick
@raven:
Really? I could have sworn that conservatives today regard Reagan as a hero.
JPL
On this historic day Go Set A watchman, Harper Lee’s book is being released. Of course, Mike Luckovich of the AJC commemorates the occasion ajc.com/gallery/news/opinion/best-luckovich-july-2015/gCTdc/
Sorry for the OT but sometimes, it’s okay to smile.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I hope he has a good supply of diapers on hand.
JPL
@raven: Who is Pitty Pat?
beltane
@JPL: Lindsay Graham.
raven
@JPL: JPL. . . .come on lady!
Patrick
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Tom Cotton, who sent that infamous letter to the Iran leaders. How did that letter work out for you Senator Cotton?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Patrick:
Hero, no a Saint.
debbie
Glenn Beck’s taken a month off to rest his vocal chords (as he likes to spell them) for a large event he’s holding at the end of August. I can’t imagine he’ll stay silent in the face of this morning’s news.
sparrow
I sadly don’t have the mental energy to figure out if this is a good deal, but as someone said above, if Netanyahoo is against it, it must be at least somewhat good. I have Iranian friends and I always feel terribly nervous when they fly home since they have been using old planes for their airlines for so long (and have the accident record to prove it). Iran is also a place I would like to visit someday, it’s a country with a very rich heritage.
Otherwise, I’m still in Greece and very depressed about the situation here. A friend said “it feels like you are continuously coming home from a funeral”. The people here see that Germany has won the “war by other means”, and I don’t think they have the courage to fight. Maybe in a few months or years when employment, homelessness, and suicide rates are even higher, there will be a revolt, but I’m not sanguine. I think this is the end of Greece as an independent sovereign country. At the hands of the Germans, who let 10% of the population starve during WW2. Ironic to note that they will reportedly take 112 tonnes of gold from the Greece as part of the new “bailout” — last time they just stole it on their way out.
sparrow+4
Diana
Know what we should do to Iran?
Put ’em in the Euro and impose austerity.
Now there’s a black hole no nation can ever escape…
NotMax
@JPL
Several ways to get a taste outlined here.
Closest approach to Pluto by space mission launched nine years ago also today, but gonna be a .litlte while until data received and processed for release (five hours for signals to get from Pluto to Earth, craft transmits at about 1kb/sec.)
gogol's wife
I love you, Obama!
And in other big news today, Shirley Temple’s personal collection is being auctioned off in Kansas City, MO. I couldn’t afford any of it. Only $20,000 for her Stand Up and Cheer dress.
wilfred
@NotMax:
Guess it’s time for Israel to attack, then. Time to wake up your sons, Lindsay – country first.
debbie
@NotMax:
I read that if all goes well, communication will restart at 9 pm EDT tonight.
Iowa Old Lady
Can I just complain that Chuck Grassley left three messages on my voice mail yesterday inviting us to a rally? We’re registered Democrats, for god’s sake. And the election season has a long way to go.
debbie
@gogol’s wife:
My mother was one of those little girls whose mother forced her into a Shirley Temple perm. She hated it.
Gimlet
@NotMax: five hours for signals to get from Pluto to Earth, craft transmits at about 1kb/sec.
They use B-J’s comment software?
MattF
@NotMax: I read that encounter data will be sent from the spacecraft for the next 16 months.
ETA: I”m expecting that the photographs will show an image of “I [heart] Alpha Centauri.”
NotMax
@MattF
Yup yup. But we’ll get to see some early raw images well before that.
Cervantes
@Gimlet:
Its actual microwave transmission rate varies with location; in the vicinity of Pluto it’s about 1 kilobit per second.
Keith G
@sparrow:
It is good enough. I have spent a few moments sending out letters to editors (and such) to combat the wingeing that I have been reading. This is the gist of what I have been typing.
It is either an agreement such as this (and it is not perfect) or it is war. There are some who still seem to think that military action is always quick, clean and effective. That is only in the movies. And certainly our recent experience show the very true limits of the type of military action that the citizens of the US are willing to give long term support.
Our sanctions have worked, but the support for them around the world is not permanent. Nothing in the world of diplomacy is. This is the best chance to get through the 2010s and a bit beyond without the need for the US to go to war with a major Islamic state.
We need to use this chance.
Denali
I am getting a little nervous about too much good news. When the sky going to fall?
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Amazing thing to me is that it will take 10 months to transmit to Earth all the data it collects in this flyby.
Elizabelle
Arthur Brooks is on drugs.
Anyone who says Obama is polarizing and divisive … on this morning, too.
Asshat.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
They feel entitled to their hatred, so they are forced to blame Obama for the resulting divisiveness that their hatred causes.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
He’s from the AEI. Would you have expected anything different?
Baud
@Denali:
The sky fell two years ago when we got news about Tunch and Stuck. So enjoy this while it lasts.
MomSense
We are going to have to come up with something to replace “lame duck” for our Prwsident’s fourth quarter. This has been an incredible couple of months.
Heading off to NYC for a few days. Looking forward to seeing the old haunts and some new things.
May even tune in to a few minutes of wingnut radio just to hear the panic.
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: Right now, according to relativity, the probe’s closest approach to Pluto is outside of our light-cone, so the event is actually either in the future, the present or the past depending on one’s rest frame of motion. (Conventionally, I think it happened about an hour ago.)
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: Obama is polarizing and divisive, especially compared to the Great Unifier ™ George W Bush.
ThresherK
@BillinGlendaleCA: Well, the numbers went from 70% to 75%, in about a minute. By the end of his show, Joe will be telling us that the opposition is 110%.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Indeed. And the NYTimes frequently gives him a column. They don’t have enough Brookses over there calling themselves rational, compassionate conservatives.
It’s a big lie. Conservatives are not about heart, or love, or caring about poverty. Trump and Walker are the face of their modern iteration, and those are not their issues.
Betty Cracker
@Denali: Well, a massive earthquake and tsunami could devastate the Pacific Northwest at any moment, and we are almost completely unprepared for that event, which has a one and three chance of occurring within the next 50 years.
MattF
@Elizabelle: ‘Polarizing and divisive’ means ‘disagrees with me’. There’s a special AEI dictionary where you can look it up.
Belafon
@Gimlet: That would require both parties to be rational.
GregB
So apparently now the sanctions that the rightwingers have been saying were totally weak, feckless and useless are now a great political cudgel with which to beat Iran with.
Oof.
Also, Lyndsay Graham has said that Obama has declared war on Sunni Muslims. Does this douche realize who ISIS is?
debbie
@GregB:
That’s just it. They don’t know what they think or want anymore. Their hatred has made them schizophrenic, like dogs willing to do anything for another treat from their masters (in this case, the RWNJs).
Belafon
@NorthLeft12:
Congress doesn’t have any direct involvement in the agreement itself, but they will have to lift some sanctions. The could ruin the agreement this way, but the rest of the world would definitely start ignoring us.
Patrick
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Goodness. Ok – let’s go there. The American public was also in favor of the Iraq war when it started. 10 years later, most Americans realize it was terrible idea to start the same war they supported 10 years earlier. The American public is not always right.
By the way, Joe, has the American public seen what’s actually in the treaty? I didn’t think so. So how is their opinion relevant to anything?
rikyrah
Where’s Bibi’s freakout?
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: SEP.
NorthLeft12
@Denali: You remind me of my uncles who are wheat/rapeseed/soya bean farmers in Northern Saskatchewan [just north of Prince Albert]. Last time I talked to them about how things were going on the farm, they conceded that the rain and temperature had been perfect for their crops and they had avoided some nasty weather [hail and very high winds] that had damaged some of their neighbour’s crops. I said that sounds great you guys should have a productive and profitable year. One uncle sighed and the other said, “Yeah, that’s what has us worried. We are due for something bad to happen.”
Gimlet
OT, but does anybody want to turn the reins of government over to these “adults”
An all-Republican county commission in Missouri voted unanimously Monday to observe a full calendar year of “mourning” after the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision, a protest that will include lowering flags to mark the somber occasion.
Flags at the Dent County Courthouse and Judicial Building will now fly at “below half-staff” on the 26th day of every month from July 2015 until July 2016
Matt McIrvin
@Keith G:
And a war against Iran would probably make Iraq look like an actual cakewalk.
wilfred
Let the rhetorical wankfest begin. Early leader:
Brilliant. It’s more of a ‘free day for the dark world’, but no matter.
Who’ll be the first candidate to ask for Dylan’s permission to campaign?
Matt McIrvin
@GregB:
Hell, does he realize what Bush did in Iraq?
Gimlet
@wilfred:
Anything specific, or just “I don’t like it”?
Matt McIrvin
@Denali: You could read the global economic news (Greece, China) to get your fix of doom.
GregB
Huckleberry Shitheel has laid the toppling of four Arab governments at the feet of the Iranians.
He’s not even willing to give George Dubya credit anymore.
OzarkHillbilly
@NorthLeft12: Farmers are such optimists.
Betty Cracker
@GregB: If the Iranian hardliners were honest, they’d have portraits of Bush, Cheney & Co. in places of honor throughout their government buildings. No one has done as much to increase Iran’s influence in the world.
rikyrah
I read something a few months ago that the RW was so crazy about this because, of course, they wanted war. And, they knew, only Barack Obama could go to war with Iran. Even though he told them in everyway possible that he didn’t want it, they kept pushing.
This agreement with Iran is huge.
HUGE.
Literally a reset in the Middle East.
Go, Mr. President.
GO!!!
And thank you. Thank you so much.
Cervantes
@debbie:
There are a few exceptions: Norm Ornstein, for example.
Amir Khalid
@GregB:
Lindsay Graham is a very confused man. Making peace with a major Shiite state is not per se a hostile act against Sunnis. In fact, there are plenty of Sunnis who welcome this deal, like the Gulf Cooperation Council states. After all, it removes one major source of headaches for Iran’s Sunni neighbours.
The Islamic State is no friend of the Sunni Muslim. With its ambition of establishing a Sunni caliphate by conquest, it is as big a problem to Sunni countries as it is to anyone else.
debbie
The Minions’ current talking point is that the agreement is bogus: It only gives inspectors 24/7 access to facilities. An honest agreement to them would have been “unfettered” access.
MattF
@debbie: Call out to “Eight Days of the Week.”
Thoughtful David
@Gimlet:
That requires that both parties doing the negotiation are sane.
The Iranians are rational. They live in the real world, and realize that they have to deal with reality, whether they like it or not.
Republicans simply don’t live in the real world. They don’t deal with facts and reality. They enclose themselves in a bubble so they don’t have to hear inconvenient truths. They are insane. You can’t negotiate with the insane.
Keith G
@NorthLeft12:
As per your question…From HuffPost:
Hawks In Congress Are Furious About The Iran Deal, But There’s Not Much They Can Do To Stop It
Belafon
Here’s a great page about the Pluto mission, including some of the newest pictures: telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11737854/Pluto-flyby-the-first-pictures-of-dwarf-planet-from-New-…
dmsilev
@wilfred: Netanyahu’s Twitter account had a tweet over the weekend saying that Iran wanted to “take over the world”. No reports yet on whether it’s Pinky or The Brain who is impersonating the Grand Ayatollah.
dmsilev
@debbie: No kidding; a _real_ agreement would have given access all 25 hours of all 8 days of the week!
Central Planning
I’m sure if Iran does anything stupid 30 years from now the Republicans will look back and blame Obama.
OT, but the cat just brought two baby bunnies to the door. Both were in her mouth at the same time. I guess she thought I wasn’t pulling my weight around here and decided I needed some training. Ugh.
Elizabelle
@MomSense: Have fun, MomSense. Are you gonna check out the High Line?
FWIW, you and baud are in my “universally beloved” personal category. Among others.
If “universally” can have a “personal” category.
GregB
@Amir Khalid:
Which is why the governments of Sunni states like Turkey and Saudi Arabia should stop assisting the ISIS with money, weapons and logistics.
Elizabelle
@Cervantes: I think that’s the only reason they keep Norm Ornstein around. He’s the only fig leaf I am aware of, but that is one yoooooge fig.
And even Norm Ornstein has taken pot shots at these loving, poverty-concerned conservatives. Will look for it later, but in a WaPost article, he did not go with the usual “both sides” crapola. He called the Republicans out.
It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism
MattF
Via Wonkette, it looks like Dinesh D’Souza isn’t done with his community service.
dmsilev
Since today is July 14th, Happy Bastille Day!.
pamelabrown53
@Elizabelle:
I own that book. The only problem is every time I try to read it I have to put it down after a couple of pages because my blood pressure skyrockets.
Elizabelle
Did a little Fox-watching this morning, not much, since MSNBC disgraced themselves with fawning over Arthur Brooks. Mika thought he was just the cutest!
Mind you, we are talking about 15 minutes tops. And: Fox stuck with its planned programming, as they did after the Charleston shootings. Charming segment with Steve Doocy in Denver, visiting with dads braiding their young daughters’ hair. Best braid was to get a six-pac, but Doocy said they’d all get them.
Then: segment on parallel parking. Someone did it disastrously — on security cam, maybe — and they’re seeing if their guest can do better.
Parallel parking.
They do have this chyron at bottom; forget precise wording, but it was that Iran deal could be a disaster.
At show’s end: one of the power blondes, telling audience they’d be discussing Iran nuclear deal up next, and shaking her head from side to side, again and again, despite the relatively measured script. She looked angry but in check. Maybe that’s titillating to Foxbots.
They’re bringing in Bob Corker and John Bolton. No morning is improved by John Bolton. Click.
Later, they’ve got a still of Netanyahu up.
He is Fox World’s real president. Not saying that in a religious sense. If you can go stupid, bombastic, and short-sighted, he is your guy.
debbie
Now they’re bringing in Kerry’s Congressional testimony about Viet Nam as proof the Iran agreement is illegitimate. Smacks of desperation to to me.
shell
I forget…why is Kerry on crutches…
Belafon
@shell: Broke his leg, femur if I remember correctly, after falling off a bicycle.
Omnes Omnibus
@shell: He broke his femur recently while cycling.
Cervantes
@shell:
Because he’s Frenchy.
Hope this helps.
Elizabelle
@dmsilev:
Happy Bastille Day back atcha!
For those celebrating Bastille Day with Siubhan Duinne and her DC BJ pals, I think this is the time and place — hope I have not jumped the gun.
I think we’re set for 7:00 p at
Many thanks to Valdivia for coming up with the venue and making the reservation for seven people. If there are more BJ pals, please come on down, but maybe alert us via this blog or shoot an email to SiubhanDuinne at gmail and we can all stay up to date.
Merci, merci, merci to Valdivia and Mme Duinne for putting this together.
The Penn Quarter is home to several Jose Andres properties too. We can bar-hop and show him some love, for giving Donald Trump the boot. Eat and drink well while doing so …
CaseyL
I’ve avoided all TV and such, just getting my news via website and Twitter, so I’m quite happily missing the lamentations in RWNJ Land.
The usual suspects are against it, but not in any entertaining way. Like, say, Corker or Bolton setting themselves on fire in protest. Now, that, I’d tune into TV to watch.
Obama’s legacy, impressive as is; even more when seen in the context of the monolithic obstruction he’s endured from the moment he took the oath of office. He’ll rank among the Best Presidents in US History.
Elizabelle
@pamelabrown53: Yeah. It’s too aggravating.
And it is too sad to think of all the opportunity cost, if Obama and Democrats and other moderates had not been so impeded, at every turn, by our loving, poverty-abhorring and Constitution-loving, patriotic conservatives.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Are they talking about mental health and opioids?
That was their go to, morning after the Charleston murders.
Going to be happy about the Iran accord. I think of all those young Iranians, and how they have no cause to hate us, and maybe cause to appreciate us now. They believe their government and news sources even less than we do. They still have to grow up, and live their lives.
Redshift
@Patrick: Don’t get too worked up about it – Joe is just lying. Despite the wingnut talking point that Obama is “going against the will of the American people,” in fact polling has been strongly in favor of the negotiations for months.
Gimlet
Reaction from the loyal opposition
“You’ve created a possible death sentence for Israel,” fumed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “This is the most dangerous, irresponsible step I’ve ever seen in the history of watching the Mideast.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) accused the president of not keeping his word on dismantling Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and holding sanctions to Iran until international investigators verified that the country’s leadership is holding up its end of the bargain.
“This ‘deal’ will only embolden Iran – the world’s largest sponsor of terror – by helping stabilize and legitimize its regime as it spreads even more violence and instability in the region,” Boehner said.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that he anticipated that Congress would at the very least withhold majority support for the deal, if not vote to block it altogether.
“Failure by the president to obtain congressional support will tell the Iranians and the world that this is Barack Obama’s deal, not an agreement with lasting support from the United States,” said Rubio
ThresherK
@Elizabelle: Hey, NPR isnt any better right now.
On Point has half the story of this agreement being “…or is it a biiiiig mistaaaaake?”
bystander
@qwerty42: Little Luke Russert just told us that the real focus is on the Senate since it’s the body that ratifies treaties. So much expertise on MSNBC. No wonder Little Luke gets paid the big bucks. No nepotism to see here.
Elizabelle
@Gimlet: Putting up Thoughtful David’s comment, #129, again.
Perfect rejoinder to the GOP early responses (and later ones too, I’d guess).
japa21
@Gimlet: Just once, I would like to hear one of these buffoons state exactly why this deal is going to do what they say it is going to do. Don’t just say it is going to be a disaster, or a death-sentence to Israel, or embolden Iran, etc. Tell us exactly, in specifics, how this deal does those things.
Yes, I would like them to do that, but they can’t, so I won’t.
bystander
MSNBC has Netanyahu on right now. Why does he look like The Little Rascals’ dog?
Elizabelle
@ThresherK: Sitting outside on deck, drinking coffee, and listening to birds, crickets, and the air conditioner laboring.
No Nice Polite Republicans. No Fox. Just you guys and a green world, still moist from overnight rain. It’s coolish and lovely.
My sisters and I have to sell this house, to settle my mom’s estate, later this year and I will miss the green world outside the French doors. Backs up to parkland. Out here every chance I get.
After that: something else wonderful. TBD. It’s a big country.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
More likely than not, they’ll tie all this in to Obama’s desire to establish a Caliphate in America.
Keith G
@Elizabelle:
Serious question, Why the hell are you doing this?
In a world where there are so many cool things to experience and so little time, why devote any to crude polemicists?
You are one of B-J’s most endearing Obots. You know what the good news is. You know what ‘that’ crowd are going to say about it and you know how that will impact you.
Why. Do. It?
So much time is wasted here reporting that mouth-breathing lizard brains are being mouth-breathing lizard brains and, “Oh my god isn’t that terrible.”
Just sincerely curious…why do this?
Kerry Reid
WHY CAN’T OBAMA LEAD?!?
Iowa Old Lady
@debbie: I knew Jade Helm meant this betrayal was coming!
MattF
@Elizabelle: I’m a maybe, if I get home without feeling exhausted.
bystander
@bystander: MSNBC is apologizing for the poor satellite transmission of Netanyahu’s speech. His face was pasty white except his left eye and the entire socket was tea brown. It was like looking thru the alien detector glasses in “They Live.” Good job, MSNBC!
Belafon
@debbie:
“If you don’t fight any wars, how are you supposed to have brave soldiers die for your country?”
dedc79
@ThresherK: Look, I support the deal and think there’s a lot of BS fear-mongering going on about what it will/won’t do. That in no way rules out the possibility that it turns out to be a big mistake. So I would hope and expect media coverage would get into the potential problems.
The problem for me is that the media’s idea of “is it a mistake?” coverage is to put Lindsay Graham on to spew the kind of stuff a previous commenter already excerpted above. Now that the details (or most of them anyway) are out for everyone to see, I would hope (but do not expect) that we’d get some nuanced coverage of the pros and cons of the terms of the agreement.
Elizabelle
@Keith G: Tis a good question. Sheer curiosity, I think. I wonder what they’re saying, since they’re a funhouse mirror. Mostly with good hair.
I don’t watch MSNBC much, because it’s preaching to the choir, and I prefer getting my news from you all and websurfing anyway. You all put up good links.
On happier news:
today is publication day for Harper Lee’s “To Set a Watchman” (maybe you’ve heard a little about that)
and for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me.”
Due to arrive from Jeff Bezosland next week. Eagerly awaited.
JPL
Just returned from the dentist and no cavities. Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Will Obama’s team get together and send out emails, to let me know where I can buy my BFD t-shirt.
Punchy
Senator Pittypat is going to suffer an aneurysm with these pronouncements. And I thought they couldn’t get much more hyperbolic. Has “Obambi is the new Hitler” been uttered yet? How about “Hitler treated the Jews better than Obummer!”? Which pol will barf that out?
Elizabelle
@MattF: Please come, exhausted or not. Have a drink and a tapas. Get that blood sugar (and blood alcohol!) up.
Collect your ersatz Cole pet button.
I am indebted to you for introducing us to Steve Randy Waldman and his interfluidity blog. New post up today.
Frankensteinbeck
This deal is wonderful. In particular, I am glad it is being well received in Iran. Netenyahu and the Republicans will be ballistic in their anger, and will make great political hay over it. It will be easy for them to paint this as a failure, not a success. Their constituents want a war, and truly believe only war will stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and using it on Israel. Those constituents include the American press.
@NorthLeft12:
Yes, you are exactly right. Our national journalists, as a group, love war, lust for war. They believe that bullying is the best way to get anything done, and that kindness and understanding are never effective for achieving any goal. They judge both foreign and domestic policy this way. It suggesst they’re racist and guarantees they’re Republicans.
@Belafon:
The odds of any Republican voting to lift sanctions are low. If that will affect our foreign relations, we need to prepare for that possibility.
@Baud:
This is one of the most true and well phrased things anybody has ever said on Balloon Juice.
Conservatives believe hate is their basic right.
boatboy_srq
@MattF: @Elizabelle: Ditto Elizabelle. FYI: anyone needing a ride home on the NoVA side (@SD: strongly advise you leave the car somewhere on this side of the river – parking in DC is FUBAR), let me know: the car will be at Clarendon.
MattF
@Elizabelle: Well, doing it in the Penn Quarter makes it a lot easier for me– just take the train from Bethesda. Let’s say probably.
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: @MattF:
Great!
Agree re using the Metro. Way easier. Weather forecast tonight is 69 degrees and scattered T-showers.
We can walk around a bit. DC at night, illuminated, with or without rain, is gorgeous. Best time to see the monuments, IMHO.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
This is pretty much why I listen to Glenn Beck most mornings, at least for a few minutes: Know Thy Enemy.
Plus, the sheer entertainment of those moments when he cries on air or makes an absurd prediction (“There will be 18,000 American deaths from Ebola by January 2015.”)
Some guy
Great news. Now, can we start sanctions against the rogue terrorist state in the Middle East that actually does have nukes, and that has actually invaded it’s neighbors, repeatedly?
Gimlet
@debbie: Plus, the sheer entertainment of those moments when he cries on air or makes an absurd prediction (“There will be 18,000 American deaths from Ebola by January 2015.”)
Sometimes God mumbles when he talks to Glenn.
Belafon
@Some guy: Wouldn’t it be nice if the world worked that way?
rikyrah
Never forget
Iran is NOT Afghanistan. Iran is an actual country, with a very large educated population. Not only within the borders of Iran, but those in exile who would only been too happy to help their fellow countrymen. And, they have an excellent entrepreneur class.
Folks wanna begin making serious money in Iran.
Make no mistake…the Chamber of Commerce is very happy this morning.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Punchy: I think this may be the day Graham finally lapped McCain as the Village’s most should-be-embarrassing (elected) foreign policy expert. I’m sure he’ll have at least one Sunday show segment all to himself (I first typed “all too himself”, which seems like an appropriate typo)
JPL
Oh No! Putin likes the deal, what will the hawks say now.
Some guy
@Belafon:
IT would. Unfortunately I read recently that HRC has jumped on the anti BDS bandwagon. Expected, but disappointing nonetheless.
MattF
@Punchy: He just keeps beshitting himself. One would think he’d run out of, um, raw material, at some point– but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
boatboy_srq
@JPL: Dressed Putin likes the deal. Shirtless Putin still wants to ride roughshod over all of Eurasia.
Central Planning
@Frankensteinbeck:
I suspect that’s the parenting MO for republicans/conservatives.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
It’s awesome to wake up to good news once in a while. So, so happy about this.
boatboy_srq
@debbie: Pity that statistics for other diseases never bothered Beck – oh, wait, those illness afflicted Those Other People. Nevermind.
Tom Q
@Frankensteinbeck: A great example of the syndrome you note:
In 1994, Clinton sent warships toward Haiti to try and force the Haitian government to step down in accordance with public sentiment.
At the last minute, Jimmy Carter led a delegation (including Sam Nunn, so not a super-dove-y group) to negotiate with the government. They got them to acquiesce/step down before the ships arrived.
You’d think the reaction would be, Incredible — goal achieved without a shot being fired.
But the cover headline on Newsweek (the “liberal” newsweekly) was “Blinksmanship” — that it represented some failure of nerve on Clinton’s part.
My thought then was, many people (press definitely included) can’t enjoy a victory that doesn’t give them some kind of military erection.
boatboy_srq
@Some guy:
ComputerAdelson says “no.”elmo
@Elizabelle: Call me craven (I frequently am) but Metro for me means the Green Line out of Branch Ave, and my fat middle-aged female ass has been advised to stay well clear. When I go downtown, I always drive. And get hopelessly lost. And struggle to find parking.
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: He’s just throwing shit at the wall & seeing if any of it sticks.
SOP for Repubs.
chopper
@Gimlet:
10 bucks says rubio couldn’t even find iran on a map.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
You might be right, but I’m not sure. The rich are as racist, mean, and crazy as the poor. Often more so, since they’re insulated from their mistakes. Sure, they’ll take advantage, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy about a peaceful resolution.
@Central Planning:
I believe this is a major political and social issue that we, as a society, don’t want to see and refuse to look at. It’s much like racism among whites.
Pappenheimer
Someone way upline asked, “Why watch Fox News?”
If there’s a wasp in the room I like to know where it is.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I almost never watch Fox News, but I do look at National Review and other wingnut sites for entertainment sometimes. On election night 2012, my daughter and I were watching the returns on one of the major networks, and it was becoming clear Romney was going to lose. The kiddo suggested we switch over to Fox to watch the fun, and that’s how we got to see Rove’s meltdown live. It was awesome.
FortGeek
Already seeing wingnuts pissing on the deal in my FB feed, with a side of “that moron in the oval office.”
If it pisses the wingnuts off, infuriates Nuttenyoohoo, and makes McCain’t grit his teeth even tighter on “Meet the Press” this weekend, it’s a good deal.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I used to read Sullivan and (sometimes still do) watch Tweety just to see what the VSPs are thinking. I couldn’t get through Morning Joe, much less Fox News
Davis X. Machina
Of course, the deal is good only until Hillary is elected, and she bombs Iran.
She will bomb Iran.
All my friends tell me she’ll bomb Iran.
In fact, it’s why she wants to be president.
El Caganer
Breaking on Fox News: Obama and the ayatollahs launch massive butthurt strike on Jerusalem and Riyadh!
wilfred
The Israel Firsters have not yet begun to fright. Netanyahu has scribbled “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” on the ass of the American dream for far too long to be taken seriously so it’s high time some of the cockroaches behind the scenes to step into the light and put their own reputations on the line.
Putting the interests of another country before your own is part and parcel of being a traitor. Step up.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
I saw that too, and only because I was following comments here on election night and switched in time for Karl’s temper tantrum and Megyan’s legs(TM 2012, FOX) taking her to the Brain Room and her subsequent scolding of Karl for wasting her time.
It was delicious.
trollhattan
@Davis X. Machina:
Well duh, who doesn’t?
BBC had a former administration guy on “Hard Talk” the other day and the host was grilling him about the Iran negotiations. It was hilarious because the guy specifically cited a concerned ally–Bibi, and member of congress–McCain as two Very Important People who were not happy in the least.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: tee hee.
Does anyone have a link to footage of the Rove meltdown? Have heard of it, but never saw it.
Elizabelle
@Central Planning: Bunnies update? Did they survive their forced by kitteh visit to your house?
My [childhood] cat brought a live bunny inside once. Happy outcome; we distracted Boots and bunny was taken back outside.
I feel for the chipmunks in our neighborhood. They’re so clueless. Even stupid and lazy cats are catching them.
Frankensteinbeck
@trollhattan:
I saw that! It was depressing to watch the guy on CNN rant that these results were impossible, because America was a center-right nation. I switched to FOX out of curiosity, and got to watch Karl Rove actually refuse to believe the numbers were right, and storm away from his desk as a camera desperately tried to follow him around.
Matt McIrvin
Pentaquarks discovered at CERN, apparently for real this time (there had been spurious claims before).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the ex-Obama admin guy? Or the BBC host ?
a couple of weeks ago Andrea Mitchell interviewed Ernest Moniz and it seemed like every other question was, ‘but what about all the former high ranking officials, Republican and Democrat, including Obama officials, who oppose this deal?”
Elizabelle
The morning Obama was selected for the Nobel Peace Prize, I tuned into CNN (it was O dark hundred in California) and am pretty sure John Roberts and the female anchor were smirking about it. At the time, I thought smirking in not a nice way. I could be wrong, but the disrespect, because our well-compensated media can live in a rightwing bubble too, whether they are aware they do or not …
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The host. For those who’ve never experienced it, Hard Talk is kind of a parody (unintentional, I think) of US news wherein they’re conducting really, really pushy interviews. Veddy non-British.
? Martin
It would be nice if Congress spent half as much energy looking out for the US as they do looking out for Israel. Sometimes I wish Israel were nuked just so we could finally get some roads built.
dogwood
@Elizabelle:
Just Google it or go to YouTube.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
God bless Pierce
I wonder if, even with the hint about selling missiles, Luke Russert would get what Pierce was referring to?
Roger Moore
@JPL:
They’ll suddenly remember what a terrible, evil guy he is. He’s only worth listening to when he disagrees with Obama.
Elizabelle
@dogwood: Yeah. I may have just found a too long youtube video on first attempt. Lots of good stuff out there!
opiejeanne
Gawd, Andrea Mitchell is an idiot.
dogwood
@Elizabelle:
Just Google “election night Karl Rove”
opiejeanne
and now Bob Corker. AARGH!
Cervantes
@opiejeanne:
She nearly ran me over once.
And she was on foot.
les
@Betty Cracker: Fortunately, congress can’t fuck this up. Russia, China, Europe don’t care if repub nihilists don’t agree to release US sanctions; and US biz will want in on the deal.
No One of Consequence
Fuck you Bibi. Piece of shit. You’re not welcome here, and your country can fend for itself.
No more US taxpayer assistance for Israel. If they want US Defense weaponry, they can buy it on the open market.
End your apartheid on the Palestinians, negotiate a functional two-state solution, or fuck right off into the history books as a feckless short-sighted Zionist, whose bluster and self-importance kept him and his people from being at the table when the negotiations went down. Instead, you’ll get fucking goose-egg for your intransigence and belligerence.
Keep that shit up schlameel, and we’ll negotiate a peace with the Palestinians *FOR* you, and impose it at the end of bayonets. Shit-sucking war monger.
Sincerely,
– NOoC
? Martin
The thing that gives me hope is how one-dimensional and Trumpish the GOP response to this has been. It strikes me as them broadcasting their purity right before they start scheming for a way to save face since they likely know it’s going to happen.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
Ir depends which GCC countries you’re talking about. The Qataris are, I believe, relatively laid back about this. The Omanis will be thrilled; they’re the ones who acted as the original intermediaries in the process that led to this deal. The Saudis, however, are going to go fucking ballistic. Like Bibi, they’re opposed to any deal AT ALL.
? Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No. That has been purged from the Book of St. Ronnie. It’s just hippie lies that Reagan did anything unpopular, let alone illegal.
Kathleen
I can’t wait for Chuck Todd to ask Rand Paul why Obama doesn’t lead and how will Paul fix Obama’s destructive, America hating foreign policy.I’m willing to start a pool. Bueller? Anyone?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Those of you monitoring the Very and not so Serious Persons response, does anyone point out that almost everyone declaring this to be the greatest blunder ever was telling us just over a decade ago that Iraq war was not only right, just and smart, but a cakewalk that would last months, certainly not years, and that by now grand squares and baby boys of Iraq would be named in honor of George W Bush?
ETA: also, too: The road to Jerusalem (i.e. a peaceful two state solution) runs through Baghdad, and corrupt autocratic regimes will fall like dominoes once we take out Saddam.
? Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And all of that would have happened if Obama had only stuck with the plan instead of wasting time trying to shove gay healthcare down our throats.
Central Planning
@Elizabelle:
The cat dropped both at the sliding glass door. I was able to get her in and keep the two bunnies outside. One was dead. The other perked itself up and got away. I have no idea where the nest is, so hopefully it found its way back.
Maybe the cat will think she did a good job and leave the other bunnies alone. Otherwise, I might be getting another lesson in hunting.
Chris
@Thoughtful David:
The curse of Iranian-American relations for years has been that each side had a contingent of lunatic hard liners deeply invested in the ongoing “cold war” sabotaging the good guys – IIRC, the Pasdaran and Supreme Leader did quite a bit of that to Khatami in the nineties, and we, of course, have Republicans.
We’ll see if this deal can survive the loonies. If Congress refuses to lift sanctions, I can see this fizzling out pretty quickly. On the other hand, the rest of the world might see that, say “fuck it,” and lift their own sanctions, which the Iranians would alo be happy with – unilateral American sanctions don’t do shit in and of themselves.
Matt McIrvin
@No One of Consequence:
This is the United States you’re talking about? I’ll believe it when I see it.
Elizabelle
@Central Planning: Thanks. Wish both had survived. Good that one bunny lives to — avoid cats, bunny, avoid cats.
Turgidson
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Morning Joke’s “poll numbers” are taken from his rolodex of neocon bedwetters. Not from real people. Yeah, 75% of a polling survey where the participants are Bloody Bill WRONG Kristol, David Frum, Joe Lieberman, and, [token liberal] are against the Iran deal. Shocker.
Paul in KY
@? Martin: Martin, what is that yellow diamond thing by your name?
? Martin
@Paul in KY: It’s a children crossing sign. I put it up when the GOP was hysterical over terrorist Mexican 5 year olds crossing into the US. I should find something topical to replace it with.
opiejeanne
@Cervantes: Ha!
Was she jogging?
J R in WV
I wish DC wasn’t such a long drive from here in SW West Virginia. I think it would be swell to meet some of the people I “talk” with at 3 am, or regular hours, either one.
I’ve been laid up for months now, with terrible pain that is somewhat over now from medical miracle or joint replacement. Now nearly an invalid from the last surgery. Three week appointment with surgeon tomorrow, probably OK’d to start physical therapy soon, will take 2 or 3 months to complete that.
Being with all of you here in B-J land has kept me socialized. We can’t really do company here at home, imagine the house with 2 to 5 dogs and 2 cats, and no one really able to handle a sweeper, or even a broom or mop.
What great news, AGAIN, from the Obama administration! I knew he was going to have a hard row to hoe after his inauguration – the Republicans were obvious in their racist hatred, disbelieving that a Black man, an African, was going to be leader of the free world, commander in chief, boss of the whole federal government. Sure in their own minds that he would fail almost immediately, as he was bound to be incompetent. He’s black, right? Must be incompetent!!
Not! Totally competent, politically savvy, able to wait for the right moment to strike to move the nation and the world a little bit in the positive motion, into a better future!
Hurray for President Obama !!
Calouste
@Baud:
Iran before 1979 was a brutal dictatorship installed by the US in a coup over a democratically elected government. Not so much an ally as a client, and not one to be particularly proud of. But pretty much par for the course in those days (e.g. Chile).
FortGeek
@J R in WV: You have my sympathy for the medical stuff. I’m 5 years past a dissected aorta (same thing that killed John Ritter) and 3 months into recovery from the most recent repair (stents running the entire length of the aorta). I’m still not feeling much improvement, still tired as hell after very little exertion, and it’s the blogs that keep me from just staying in bed.
Hope your doc okays you for PT–even a little bit of exercise makes a big difference.
Paul in KY
@? Martin: Thank you. Very small sign, couldn’t tell.
Paul in KY
@J R in WV: Man, I sure hope you get some relief from your pain/problems. Best wishes for your recovery!
Chris
@Calouste:
The interesting thing there is that before the coup, America was actually pretty popular in Iran. The Iranians had longstanding beef with the Russians and British, but America was known mostly as the nation of Wilson and Roosevelt’s speeches against imperialism and for decolonization, so there was hope it might be different.
The coup, of course, put an end to that. But now that it’s been over a generation since the revolution, America’s unpopularity is supposedly way down in the general public, again. I’m hopingwhat Obama did here will boost our ratings some more.