Headlines

Voters in deep-red Oklahoma weigh Medicaid expansion as virus cases soar

Top CEOs see business impact from coronavirus lingering through 2021

LOL, Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump over death of Soleimani

Supreme Court strikes down abortion safety law

Schumer, Pelosi to McConnell: Move on coronavirus relief

NY malls can’t open without air systems that filter coronavirus, Cuomo says

Oklahoma DA hits rioters with terrorism charges — ‘This is not Seattle’

New Jersey Democrats charged with mail-in voter fraud

House Dems propose strengthening Congress’ contempt powers to break administration’s stonewalls

Supreme Court leaves CFBP standing, but backs president’s ability to fire director

One dead and another critical after ANOTHER CHAZ/CHOP shooting

Over 60 shot, 16 killed, during weekend in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago

Check Mate

Kim after Soleimani ... where is Trump’s Christmas present? Is Trump’s foreign policy working?

Soleimani

From Powerline blog

Headlines

Booker drops out of presidential race

Iran is closer ‘than ever before’ to regime collapse, says former Obama security advisor

Fight for Bolton testimony echoes Lewinsky ...

Report: Bernie Sanders told Warren that a woman can’t win in 2020

New poll shows Biden leading Dem field in Iowa

US will remove China from currency manipulator list ahead of trade deal signing

Queen agrees ‘period of transition’ [for Harry and Megham] ...

Dem group began investigating Trump-Ukraine long before whistleblower

Trump attacks Bloomberg on healthcare with misleading claim

Trump authorized Soleimani’s killing 7 months ago, with conditions

Will alleged CIA misbehavior set Assange free?

Trump taunts Cory Booker for ending campaign ...

Tidbits

- During the attack on the US compound in Benghazi, our intelligence agencies picked up electronic communications coming out of there in Farsi (Persian). The suspicion was that this operation was directed by Iran’s Soleimani.

- The Diplomad suggests that the above Benghazi speculation may be true and also that Iran may have given up Soleimani to the US because he was creating too many problems for the Iran leaders ... see: The Diplomad.

- It is reported that President Trump convinced Putin NOT to supply Iran with Russia’s latest anti-ballistic missiles last year ... a major win for us and loss for Iran. (Obviously another case of Trump colluding with Russia.)

- DC scuttlebutt has it that Pelosi’s timing of sending the impeachment articles to the Senate may have been to disadvantage Senators Bernie and Warren by tying them up before the Iowa caucus ... and therefore favoring Biden.

- Mark Steyn revealed today on the Rush Limbaugh radio show that Prince Harry and Meghan Markel, while in Canada, will be staying at the house of the billionaire who had sold 20% of America’s uranium to Russia ... with the blessing of Comey and Hillary. You can’t make this stuff up!

- Mark Steyn also revealed that, during the Bill Clinton impeachment trial, he was covering it and staying at the Mayflower hotel in DC. Toward the end of the trial, Monica Lewinsky, as a potential witness, was also staying at this same hotel. One morning, Mark Steyn pushed the elevator button to go up to his room. When the elevator door opened, there was Monica who waved him off saying, “I’m going down.”

Imminent

Schimminent! Whether any “imminent” Irani-sponsored attack was to be forthcoming is irrelevant in America’s decision to take out Qasem Soleimani. This Irani terrorist deserved to die for his decades of killing our soldiers and sailors in the Mideast ... including the Lebanon Marine barracks bombing, the Saudi Khobar Towers explosion, the USS Cole attack, hundreds of Iraqi, Syrian and Afghanistan killings of Americans by Iran-supplied IEDs ... capped by many tens of thousands of innocent Muslims murdered for sport.

Our only regret should be that his death was instantaneous and not lingering ... as occurred in many of his killings. Good riddance! And those who question his demise are overcome by Trump hatred to the point of irrationality. Damn them too!

Headlines

Pelosi not budging on impeachment articles

Iran missile appears to have shot down Ukrainian-bound Boeing airliner

Impeachment trial next week?

Donald Trump blames Barack Obama for helping fund Iran missiles

Lawmakers approve Brexit bill, U.K. on course for January 31 exit

CEO confidence in the economy appears to have cratered, while consumers believe things are OK

Israel unveiled ‘laser sword’ to ward off threats ...

Court releases $3.6 billion for border wall

Trump says Soleimani was planning to blow up U.S. embassy

Jail video of Jeffery Epstein’s first suicide attempt was deleted, prosecutors reveal

Fed pumps $83 billion more ...

5 states craft measures to prevent transgender sports chaos

Headlines

White House prepares to brief lawmakers on Iranian leader’s killing

Wall Street market analyst see ‘developing Iranian conflict’ leading to deeper market sell-off

Pelosi: House to vote on limiting Trump actions

Iran formally announces it will continue violating the nuclear deal

Julian Castro endorses Warren for president

Defense stocks double S&P 500’s return six months after Middle East turmoil, history shows

Judge Judy will join Bloomberg on trail ...

AOC: Biden and I would not be in the same party in any other country

John Bolton willing to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial

Donald Trump Jr. shows off rifle magazine that shows Hillary Clinton behind bars, crusader cross

More pump: Fed adds $76.5 million in overnight money to markets ...

Bloomberg: ‘Outrageous’ to call Soleimani death an ‘assasination’

Pins and Needles

Pins and needles — there are a number of important issues pending at the moment:

- Iran’s response to Soleimani’s killing

- Kim Jong Un’s “Christmas present” to Trump

- Results of the Barr/Durham investigation into the origin of the spying on Trump

- Pelosi’s delivery of the Impeachment Articles to the Senate

- The next stock market correction

- The signing of the USMCA and Chinese trade deals

- The building of the Mexican border wall

-  Who the Democrats’ nominee will be

- Fate of Netanyahu and his coalition

- Brexit actuation

- Possible John Bolton testimony in the Senate impeachment trial

Headlines

Iran official says Israeli cities can be revenge targets

Iraqi parliament calls for US troops to be expelled — coalition suspends operations against ISIS

CARR: Trump ordered the strike, and came down to dinner cool, collected ...

Carlson: ‘Washington has wanted war with Iran for decades’

Flush with cash Yang wrestles with where to spend it

Trump threatens to hit 52 Iranian targets if Tehran retaliates over top general’s death

Patriots eliminated ...

Britain backs Trump on Iran, deploys Royal Navy to Persian Gulf

Britain orders navy to protect ships after Soleiman's killing

Graham wants to start Trump impeachment trial in days: ‘We need to take matters into our own hands’

Netanyahu, in apparent stumble, calls Israel ‘nuclear power’ ...

Iranian ex-pats in Canada celebrate [Soleimani’s] death ...

The Duel

Let me paint the scene ... an analogy to the current US-Iran standoff.

You are armed. Facing you is a well-known evil person also armed. This person snarls, “Say goodbye chump, I’m going to shoot you and your whole family through your heads!”

What do you do? Do you wait for the fatal shot ... knowing your family is also dead ... or do you shoot first?

In other words, is such a verbal threat enough to take lethal action? Or do you need more blatant evidence ... at the risk that all is lost?

My take. Shoot the bastard first and repent in leisure.


Now, imagine that your evil opponent’s name is Qasem Soleimani ...

Headlines

NATO suspends Iraq training mission

Trump says US not seeking war or regime change in Iraq, but is still ready to act if ‘necessary’

Iran unveils red flag at mosque warning of severe battle to come ...

Zumwalt: Soleimani demise could end Iran’s long, one-way war with America

Booker raises $6.6 million in fourth quarter

Oil prices surge to highest level since April after US kills Iran’s top commander in airstrike

Poll: Bloomberg pops to third place in Dem race ...

Russian pranksters: Maxine Waters fell for call from ‘Greta Thunberg’

Fed officials saw decreased recession risk in December meeting

Australia fires kill half a billion animals as crisis mounts

Worst flu season in decades ...

Gaetz: The world is witnessing a ‘change in doctrine’

Sour Grapes

The contrast between how Obama dealt with Iran and how Trump does is so dramatic that it makes Obama supporters uncomfortable. Here is a typical liberal quote: “I’m kinda happy that this evil man Soleimani is dead ... but, but I still want to blame Trump for something. Let’s see, perhaps he didn’t think things all the way through to 2034? Or perhaps Trump will certainly have blood on his hands when the Iranians strike back.” (Not that this Iran Revolutionary Guard leader didn’t kill and wound thousands of Americans already.) Or even, maybe this was Trump’s attempt to distract the public from his impeachment.

All rubbish! What’s the saying? “Having your cake and eating it too?” Particularly if topped with sour grapes.

Puppet-Masters

The strategy is simple. Russia and China use surrogate puppet states ... Iran and North Korea ... to distract America and draw down our resources rebuffing the crazed antics of their puppets while they plan their world domination.

America has for many years been cowed by the bluster emanating out of Iran and North Korea. These two nut-job countries have continually threatened mayhem in order to get their way. And they have been egged on by their puppet-masters, Russia and China. And the United States, fearing World War 3, has backed down. This brinkmanship, of course, has exacerbated the situation ... for every capitulation and appeasement has led to the next confrontation.

It was inevitable that the limit of American patience had to be reached ... and it was last week ... when President Trump cut the head off of the Iranian snake ... namely Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ... while he was in Iraq planning more lethal mischief.

Of course, it is unclear whether this dramatic step will trigger the escalations that Iran has threatened. Trump and most Americans hope it doesn’t. But, if it does, it is only precipitating what would have happened eventually anyway, as the bluster-ers would have done something horrendous that they could not retract. So Trump’s calling Iran’s bluff has only changed the timing of things ... not the actual event itself ... whatever it may turn out to be.

Our president has busted the bluster that kept us backing up...  both in Iran and North Korea ... at what cost is still to be determined. Will their puppet-masters now step in to cool things down before the world ends? One would expect so. But, at least America is no longer groveling and our attention can be focused on our real adversaries, China and Russia ... more so China ... for Russia I think sees the wisdom in counteracting China’s growing threat.

Headlines

Trump fiercely defends killing Soleimani as he plunges U.S. deeper into foreign conflict

“Dangerous escalation”: World reacts to the US killing of Qasem Soleimani

Ex-CIA director: ‘There will be dead Americans’ ...

Nancy Pelosi complains: No notification before attack on Soleimani

Bill Gates calls for higher taxes on the rich

US to deploy 3,500 additional troops to the Middle East after Iranian general killed

Factory gauge unexpectedly falls to lowest since 2009 ...

USMC firearm policy updated to allow concealed carry for self-defense

Israel’s Netanyahu seeks immunity from corruption charges

Sales of priciest Manhattan apartments plunge almost 40% in fourth quarter

Terrorist wearing explosive vest shot dead in Paris after stabbing four people ...

Biden slams Soleimani assassination: Trump ‘tossed a dynamite stick into a tinderbox’

Tough as Nails

Crying over Soleimani’s death ...

Praying Mantis

Was the US’s killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard General Soleimani in Iraq justified? The Smerconish program on CNN this morning asked this question of its viewers. Surprisingly, 72% of respondents said it was NOT justified. This suggests that Liberals in general do not approve of this Trump decision ... not a surprise. But, was this a never-Trump knee-jerk or, perhaps, an indication of fear of Iranian retaliation?

Probably a bit of both. And yes, Iran might respond in kind. But the repercussions of Trump’s boldness will likely be felt in other spheres: North Korea, China, Syria, Venezuela ... maybe even Russia. And remember that Iran went quiescent for a number of years after President Reagan destroyed half its navy in 1988 after it had mined the Persian Gulf ... see: Operation Praying Mantis.

Maybe Reagan’s boldness was a template for Trump’s decision?

Today’s Poser

Did General Qasem Soleimani believe that all his grotesquely evil deeds were, in fact, his being good?