RBG gonna be back in for treatments before the election.

@1 - Really? You think it's odd that a government who, in their view, just had one of their leaders assassinated and now won't turn over a black box from a plane crash to the government that did the assassinating? Because I think it's the most expected result imaginable.

Go, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg!!! Kick some serious RepublikKKan SHIT!!
@2: Awwwwwww, do intelligent, capable women scare youse???

@Mehlman. Because of what @3 said. The Iranians said as much earlier today. From the BBC and others...

In comments published by Iran's conservative Mehr news agency, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO), Ali Abedzadeh, said: "We will not give the black box to the manufacturer and the Americans."

I find it a bit odd that everyone is so in love with Iran, lately. That government is an authoritarian theocracy where women have no rights and gay men are executed on the spot, and where workers have no rights. And that General lived by the sword, so why is his the manner of his death so abhorrent?

The idea that the enemy of your enemy is by definition your friend is extremely stupid. It is possible, and the case here, that the enemy of Trump is also your enemy.

The real question is not whether Iran is the good guy or the bd guy, the question is, is war with Iran necessary? I would argue that it is not. Whatever we replace that government with would likely be no improvement, as shown by our bumbling incompetence in the post- Hussein Iraq and the post-Gaddafi Libya. We should not attempt nation building, merely because we are bad at it. The short term lease of our commanders-in-chief (they hold that office for four, maybe eight years at the most) discourages long term planning. Our military, by design, has the attention span of a hyperactive mayfly, incapable of thinking beyond one or two election cycles. Backdraft is inevitable under such circumstances.

Just as the short sighted decision to assassinate Mossadegh led to the backdraft we have experienced in a Tehran since 1979, the backdraft from whatever idiotic scheme this bungling set of idiots under Trump will be painful and bloody for us years from now.

Read any book by Chalmers Johnson and then come back to me about how you think John Bolton is the right man to be making decisions about Iran.

No, I do not have any love for the fucking Ayatollahs or their repulsive system of government. I just don’t think we are the right people to redesign whatever replaces them, and we must think about what will fill the vacuum we create by deposing them.

I'm not a fan of monarchies (although I confess that I have a soft spot for Elizabeth), and I hope that what Harry and Meghan propose will be the trend for the British Royal Family - Make most of the holdings a collection of museums. If there is a king or queen, have them be just sort of figureheads that show up for holidays and funerals. Like Elizabeth, but to a much lesser degree.

But of course the other half of that equation is to reform the British parliament so there's no more house of lords.

@7 The possible motive is fear that the US will fucking lie about it to create a war. And given Iran's history with the US (which includes, among other things, the US overthrowing their government, supporting a dictator, controlling their oil industry, funding both sides of a war that cost a million lives even though the US had to break its own laws to do it, sanctioning their country, supporting dissidents inside their country, and shooting down one of their passenger airliners killing hundreds of civilians on board and giving awarding medals to the pilots who did it) it's pretty reasonable that they would not trust the US to honestly assess what happened at this moment.

Shit and I didn't even get to the history of the past twenty years which includes invading multiple of their neighbors, surrounding their country with military bases, creating and destroying international deals with them, and then murdering their top general... I mean who can honestly fucking ask "why wouldn't they trust the US to be impartial"?

15,

The monarchy has to die, as do all monarchies everywhere. The age of kings and queens is long gone. Britain opened the floodgates by ushering in the capitalist state of development in the 16th century. It was only a matter of time and time before the throne got washed away.

The Lords, and all titles of nobility, must also go as mere relics of feudalism. The Feudal stage ended in 2008 on the isle of Sark, and these relics- the monarchy, the nobles, the Lords, all of it- have no place in the modern world.

By the by, Iran was allied with the Nazis during World War Two. The name Iran literally means “Land of the Aryans”.

There’s a reason why people run away from Iran, but nobody runs to Iran. This isn’t the nice friendly peace loving place you think it is.

@ Wandering Stars

The idea that there are good guys or bad guys in the world is stupid and childish.

Iran is a theocratic dictatorship that is ruthless with dissent in its own borders and has an active competent intelligence branch and supports military actions in its interest around the region. It actively fights the sort of Islamic terrorism, sunni radicals that blow up civilian targets around the world and has been their main and most successful enemy for decades. It's also against US control of its petroleum industry and has successfully resisted US dominance in its politics and military affairs for decades, despite crippling sanctions and constant US interference and attempts to overthrow it. It has an educated and very online civilization with an active underground resistance that bubbles up to the surface from time to time.

Whether or not it's a good guy or bad guy is a matter of perspective- I see levels of bad guys, the US is more dangerous and erratic and responsible for bloodshed by far than they are but I'd prefer to live in the US than Iran for the obvious reasons you named. It all depends on personal interests. What they are not is irrational or unpredictable players who prefer chaos and a void of state authority as do the salafis that they actively oppose, and I think it's them- al qaeda, boko haram, ISIS, al nusra, al sharia- that most Americans care about. I don't think most Americans want to put their own lives on the line nor spend trillions of taxpayer dollars to get involved in regional disputes abroad, that's not what "war on terror" means to AMericans. I think most Americans simply want to defend their own homeland and fight terrorists of the sort that blow up metros, bomb marathons, did 911, and those guys are all sunni fundamentalists with historic (and sometimes recent) connections to Saudi Arabia, our great ally and Iran's biggest enemy. In short, though there are no good guys and no bad guys, I feel pretty comfortable saying that we've made friends with the wrong bad guys.

As for what they did in the 1930s, let's keep in mind that the Ottoman Empire and the British occupation persisted into the 1920 and that after that the Shah's family had problematic ties to Germany (as did most European aristocracies at the beginning of the war) but it really seems hypocritical to call them "bad guys" over it when it was the British first and then the US that supported the Pahlavis in power until 1979. Like I'm not claiming that Iran ever consisted of "good guys" (so childish) but rather that what the US says makes them "bad guys" is a bunch of fucking bullshit and has no bearing on US policy in the region. As if the Saudis are good guys? As if the US are?

And when most on the left say Iran is the enemy of our enemy, we're not referring to Trump but ISIS and al Qaeda.

In short, I'm not suggesting we should support Iran nor turn a blind eye to all its internal human rights violations. But that doesn't mean we should wage war with them or attempt to overthrow their government (again). Leave them be, make economic deals with them, have diplomacy in foreign policy, and let their own people rise up for reforms in their own way.

But the US can't do that because they cannot allow another country to control its own oil industry nor make close economic alliances with regional competitors nor stand up to US military dominance in the region. These are the reasons the US hates Iran, not its human rights atrocities- as evidenced by the fact that our allies in the region are not only guilty of the exact same dictatorial human rights atrocities (against women, gays, ethnic minorities, journalists, political dissidents) but also of exporting radical salafi terrorism targeting civilians around the world, including being the source for al qaeda and 911 etc. This is all fine to the US because they are pro-US markets and military dominance which is what this shit is really about, not who is nice friendly peace loving- grow up.

@17 Iran was neutral at the start of ww2, likely because it took Iran decades to restore independence from the soviets and the Brits after the ww1 invasion, and they were concerned about the same happening during another world conflict. They were shown to be right since Hitler had plans to invade Iran but was beaten to it by the Soviets and the Brits who seized Iranian oil fields in 1941.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/iran-during-world-war-ii

"The Goop Lab" looks like it mixes the worst elements of Dr Oz and Crossing Over with John Edward, along with the most boring elements of HBO's Real Sex, hosted by one of the most unliked, out-of-touch celebrities in Hollywood. Sounds dreadful. If it means Lindy comes back for another wildly popular review like she did for Sex in the City 2 though, I'm all for it.

For those that have not enjoyed Lindy's review of that film, it's been nearly a decade. Go read it: https://www.thestranger.com/seattle/burkas-and-birkins/Content?oid=4132715

@11, 17: Who are these people "so in love with Iran, lately" that call it "nice friendly peace loving place" (sic)? Where have you encountered them? Are you sure they're real? And I'm pretty sure you mean "blowback," not "backdraft."

Goop is basically Alex Jones for dumb rich women.

Go ahead. Nominate Bernie. Then watch Trump waltz like a hippo to reelection.

Bernie. Cannot. Win. Remember this.

Here's my crazy conspiracy theory. Someone mistook the 60 Canadian passengers for Americans and saw their opportunity for revenge. Once they realized their mistake they hid the evidence for fear of uniting all of North America against them. Like I said, it's crazy but maybe it would be a good idea for a book.

Bernie or Dust

@25 Most Americans don't want Bernie's socialist nonsense. Nominate him and a lot of moderate Democrats will hold their nose and vote for the dumpster fire that is Trump, because they like their health plan and don't want to pay 50% of their income as tax to the Federal government.

Most Americans don't want want more corporate welfare and continued wars in the middle east, which is all biden represents. Nominate him and democrats will stay home.

College Humor out of business. Lol. You know what they say, get woke go broke. :)

Also, not surprising how leftist hypocrites preach "tolerance and acceptance" but support an Iranian regime that supports open anti-semitism and executes gays. Very progressive! :) Lolski

Biden is THE democrat. Nominate him and democrats will pour out in droves to vote for him. Problem is democrats are the same as trump voters, white boomers. The only difference is democrats are slightly less racist. If the democrats pick Biden the choice is AIDs or chlamydia. Seems like an easy choice.

Emma Liz, thank you so much for your insightful and edifying comments.

Here's more background on trumpfy's Final Distraction:

"AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

On Monday, I spoke with another retired colonel. That was U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff from 2002 to 2005. Wilkerson talked about how the U.S. worked with the Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who Trump just had assassinated, how the U.S. worked with him to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.

LAWRENCE WILKERSON: Soleimani and his entourage were actually helping us in Afghanistan in 2001, early 2002, to fight the Taliban. We got indispensable help from Iran in that regard.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you elaborate on what Soleimani did back when you were in the Bush administration? You were working with him.

As I said, once President Bush had given his speech about the “axis of evil” and included Iran in that, their desire to help was not quite as ardent as it was before. But they, nonetheless, realizing, as Iran almost always does — I hate these people who say they’re irrational. They’re far more rational than we are.

Let me say that again: The leadership in Tehran is far more rational than the leadership in Washington. So, they decided they would continue to help us, because, after all, the enemy of my enemy — you know, all that old, good business about the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

And they did in fact continue to help us, all the way through the Bonn conference. And Soleimani was part of that at the time.  

ANDREW BACEVICH: Yes. I think Larry Wilkerson was making the key point. And that is that Iran is a nation-state that pursues its own interests. We tend to think — many Americans tend to think of Iran in ideological terms, that it’s a revolutionary state. Now, there is a veneer of ideology. There are these demonstrations in which people chant “Death to America.”

It seems to me we would be wise to take all of that with a grain of salt — not to ignore it, but to not let that define our understanding of what to expect from Iran.It would make far greater sense to assume that they were concerned with the security of their nation, the well-being of their people and the survival of the regime.

We have, for far too long — we, the United States, have, for far too long, tended to view this part of the world through a Manichaean lens, in which there are good guys and there are bad guys. And we find ourselves in this peculiar situation where the Iranians are bad guys, and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia ends up being the good guys. This is absurd. 

That Manichaean perspective is one of the things I think that sustains the militarized approach to U.S. policy that we have been following in this region for decades now: the conviction that somehow the appropriate use of American military power is going to destroy the evildoers and enable the good guys to prevail.

That hasn’t happened. It hasn’t worked. It won’t work."

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/9/andrew_bacevich_trump_iran

Swifty: "Most Americans don't want Bernie's socialist nonsense."

Bingo. 'Cause whotf wants the EIGHTYSEVEN MILLION un- and underinsured (healthcare-wise) American CITIZENS to have access to Good healthcare?

Whotf wants to drive on decent roads?

Whotf needs a fucking Fire Deptment?

Whotf wants for ALL Citizens to have access to good Education?

Whotf wants to have Billionaires and multinational MegaCorps to pay Their Fair Share?

Not US! We're (thee richest fawking country in The History of Earth) Selfish.

@33 Sure, just like how they poured out for hillary.

I concur, Kenny -- instantly outlawing private insurance's (probably) gonna turn too many people off -- it seems like it's gotta be transitional, but soon become some kind of Medicare plus private, as does immediately eliminating mult-multi-multi-Billionaires' economy-destroying (for the Citizenry) hoarding.

But, getting back to employer-sponsored healthcare, how many business owners wanna be part of the Healthcare Industry?

@40 -- Dude.

"The bleakest headline today: Being labeled a domestic terrorist may be making Rep. Matt Shea more popular"

Seattle progressives, socialists, and others on the left remain blissfully obtuse about how right-wing the rest of the state as well as the US still is.

biden is bad in the long term too. If elected he'll continue down the same path that led us to trump. People are dissatisfied with the way things have been going under both conservative democrats (like obama and biden and the clintons) and republicans, it's time to try something different.

@45 -- It's Inspiration v. Status Quo.

We've (more than Once) tried the Former.

@48 -- Yeah!
Like WE could do that Here!?!

True -- except both of them turned out to be profoundly Status Quoers, with Clinton selling the Democratic Party down the river and Obama attempting to placate intractable lock-stepping Reactionaries -- sans the Citizenry.

Nah -- we need a Paradigm Shift
cum (NON-Violent) political revolution.

@51 was for @47.

Its awesome that conventional wisdom is that Democrats = 50% and Republicans = 50%.If I had to guess its more like D=25% and R=20% so yes they Democrats fully turned out and creamed themselves to vote for Hillary and would do the same for Biden. You just need more than your party to win.

@4 fucking lol. Your massive, extreme fragility is showing.

@18 & @19 -- WILD APPLAUSE!

Fuck the Hardcore headcases, Kenny. Most of trump's supporters are gonna be fucking Elated when they find out there's no such thing as "Pre-existing Conditions." Or becoming Homeless because you got sick (well, got sick, missed work, bankrupted, and then, final insult, de-Homed. Care for some Drugs? You'll Barely even feel the Street....); and the geezers'll LOVE expanded Social Security (raise the fawking Cap); oh, and Actual Family Planning that helps to keep Abortion rare, oh and Daycare and preschool ('casue Accidents can happen), so parents can afford go to Work, and being able to afford sending their kids to school.

Democratic Socialism means to the Citizenry go the Spoils.

Billionaires'll still be fabulously-well-to--do, but instead of 7 yachts and maybe a dozen homes (poor john McCain -- when running for Prez, someone asked him how many Mansions he had, and he wasn't quite sure, knew it was either 5 or 6 -- but also he picked $arah Paylin, so it looks like we dodged a bullet there) they'll have 3 yachts and only half a dozen homes. I bet they'll be able to get use to it.

EmmaLiz,

I remember seeing an article about how two fifteen year old boys were hanged in Tehran because they’d had sex together.

And frankly, if gay men- and especially gay teenage kids- are getting murdered by the Iranian government just for being gay- then fuck Iran. Bomb the shit out the bastards. I don’t care. You can blather on all you want about blah blah blah sovereignty and respect their right to self rule and we can’t be anti-Muslim or whatever. It’s all bullshit.

I hate Saudi Arabia for the same reasons. I’m not particularly fond of the United States, but Iran? Fuck Iran.

Now if Tudeh ran the country, sure, I’d like that. But the Ayatollahs can kiss my gay ass.

On another subject, Gwynneth Paltrow. I’m of two minds. On the one hand, her bullshit kills people. On the other hand, you have to be fucking rich to afford her bullshit. So if she’s just killing one percenters, fine, sell all the jade vaginal eggs you want. It’s not exactly the socialist revolution I was hoping for, but if a bunch of capitalists want a yeast infection up the twat, I guess that’ll do for now.

@55: LOL. Take a look in your mom's bathroom mirror. In Webster's Dictionary, under massive, extreme fragility----as well as flaccidity----see Sportlandia. How old are you, Sporty, 40 years going on 14 months?
@56 Beetlecat: I LOVE your avatar!!

@59 why are such a dry ass bitch? Like literally, omg a 85 year old 4 time cancer patient, hmm the only reason to doubt her health MUST be misogyny! You dumb, worthless fuck. Is it any wonder why you're alone and will die alone?

61,

Word salad. Take your medications, and come back an hour later to rewrite.

@62 fuck you too then bitch. tell your little friend to buy a vibrator and 4 quarts of motor oil and quit starting shit she's too much of a coward to finish.

@63: There there Sporty. Everybody already knows that you don't like women, certainly not ones who have the temerity to talk back to you. You don't need to get QUITE so obvious about it. xoxo

@65: I'm still waiting on your answer from @21. Or are you too busy, uh... raising the level of discourse to have bothered backing up your assertions?

@61 & @63: Awwwwwwwwww, did I strike a prostate nerve, Sporty? Come in from your self-induced shit storm, have a cup of cocoa and chill, already. It's like Lindy West says: The Witches are Coming. Get over it, Sporty. :)

@64 Lissa: Sporty can't help himself--he hangs on Hunter's, Doofus in Shoreline's, and Kokonut Kenny's every trolling word, mistakes FOX TeeVee for reliable news, and watches waaaay too much South Park. My guess is that he's inhaling too much formaldehyde in his mother's dank, dark fruit cellar :)
@62 & @65 Wandering Stars: lol Methinks Sporty's functionally is as illiterate as well as he's mentally unhinged. :)

@68: Yikes--the typos! And I haven't touched a drop of alcohol. I do need to drink more. Make that: "lol Methinks Sporty is as functionally illiterate as he is mentally unhinged."

Happy Snowmageddon 2020 and to all a good night.:)

66,

Eh? Oh, I just had to work a lot of shifts and hadn’t noticed your post. You’re right, the correct term is indeed Blowback, as used by Chalmers Johnson. I guess mentally Blowback sounds more like a rather pleasant sex act, so I was using Backdraft, which sounds more like an explosive fart. I mean, would you rather your lover ask you for a blowback or a backdraft? Then again, maybe you’re kinkier than I am, so maybe I shouldn’t ask that question.

As to the Iranian adulation, I refer to the weird Blabbermouth episode where the three panelists (Dan, Rich and Katie) all agree that the only possible rationale for bombing the glorious Iran must be because they’re “people of color” (which Iranian people? They have like ten different ethnicities. If you meant the 60% of them who are Persians, they’re whiter than Dan is. Like, napkin kinda white.). Not only is this reductive, it’s extremely intellectually lazy. The Wikipedia entry for the country takes like ten minutes to read, it isn’t that long. I’m also kinda shocked that Dan of all people would show so much love for a country that would publicly hang him and Eli if they ever visited the country- they’ve got the death penalty for homosexuality over there and they’re pretty hardcore about it. I don’t know what kind of oppressed Disneyland they thought Tehran was, but this is not the Rubiyat. The Ayatollahs are fucking horrible, and that General who got killed was an evil motherfucker who killed people to support an evil regime.

There’s this bizarre view of politics where every fight has to have a good guy and a bad guy, so if Trump is the bad cowboy Iran must be the innocent victim. It’s bullshit, because more often than not, most foreign policy conflicts have no good guys, it’s just evil versus evil. Mossadegh was relatively good, and I like Tudeh, but the ayatollahs? Fuck that. They’re horrible.

@31: Let me guess: You're 40 years going on 14 months, balding, flaccid, goateed, still living in your mom's basement, can't read past the third grade level, and have another four years before you can use the car. Oh, and intelligent, capable women scare the shit out of you.
It's like Lindy West says: The WItches Are Coming. Get over it, Laughing Boy.