And so it begins.

It’s a quarter to seven where I am now and the Iranians are firing rockets at American positions in Iraq. The dotard has backed off on his threat to trash the country’s cultural sites, but who knows what he’ll do when Fox News airs a talking head who says it’s OK to blow up a few mosques. You know?

I do not have enough stress capacity to deal with another Middle East war. Do you? I mean, I have job stress, house stress, day-to-day stress and all the general free-floating stress and I don’t think I have any more room for the insane level of bullshit that will be falling on all of us in the coming…however long this takes. Maybe years.

Anyway, fresh thread for the discussion. I’m sorry it’s only seven days into Dry January, because I sure could use one.

Posted at 7:50 pm in Current events |
 

32 responses to “And so it begins.”

  1. Brandon said on January 7, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Antiwar.com

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  2. alex said on January 7, 2020 at 9:10 pm

    I tried to find solace in the people saying that Iran doesn’t really want to escalate with the U.S., ignoring the talking heads talking otherwise. Guess it’s anyone’s guess at this point.

    No dry January for me. Doing vodka martoonis instead of whiskey to cut down on sugar and they’re just not satisfying. On the other hand, I notice my upper respiratory system isn’t full of molasses in the middle of the night and I sleep better so there’s that.

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  3. LAMary said on January 7, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    I have had the most insanely stressful year. I look back fondly at the charming days of my ugly divorce. The insanity coming from our commander in chief doesn’t help. This guy needs to be removed from office.

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  4. Deborah said on January 7, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    What are the odds that we will be hit in some form in the homeland? I’m feeling for anyone and their families serving in the military anywhere right now.

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  5. susan said on January 7, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    We need to shut down January and restart it. Sometimes that helps, unless, of course the hard drive is gone.

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  6. Dexter Friend said on January 8, 2020 at 2:23 am

    “This aggression will not stand”, and off to war we went after Saddam invaded Kuwait. I was on evening shift when the first salvo was unleashed; I was driving a forklift, wearing a headset radio, listening on NPR. And for the first time in 20 years, it hit me. Clammy forehead, palpitations, slight general quivering. I was having a mild panic attack just like I had the first time I was diving into a sandbag bunker in Vietnam as rockets and mortar shells were exploding all around my company area. I stopped and told my good friend, who had done a year in the bush in the USA Army infantry, and he and I just talked for a few minutes as I regained my composure. I had forgotten how awful that feeling was. Bush43’s Shock and Awe made me feel angry and sick, but the panic did not return then. Soleimani’s assassination then Trump’s threats, promises, and lies of imminent threats to USA military personnel plainly infuriated me. This time he’s done it. Leon Panetta said Obama probably could have taken Soleimani out, but never really considered it, for the unification of the Iranians and their proxy militias would not end well. Bush43’s assassination squads actually had Soleimani isolated and easily could have wasted Soleimani, but Wolfowitz , Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld, they all realized this would only end up with many USA deaths via revenge. And still, no proof of any imminent attacks by Soleimani, just lies. Like WMD, smoking gun, Yellow Cake uranium, trucks carrying nuclear materiel, and Gulf of Tonkin made-up tales. So stress is here, and I do not want to die from it. I also want to know what the fuck this moron will do next. Now I even tune into WCBS AM, NYC, on my Radio.com app on my i-Phone while I walk the dog four times a day.

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  7. Dorothy said on January 8, 2020 at 6:14 am

    As the parent of a full time military employee, the stress is nearly paralyzing. He’s not anywhere near the danger zone, but who the f knows where he might have to go if this goes seriously wrong? It’s been my number one worry ever since the day after the election and I knew how completely wrong that man was to be the President.

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  8. David C said on January 8, 2020 at 6:31 am

    In the light of day, it looks like a fairly restrained “don’t fuck with us” response by Iran. Now we have to wait for the dick measurer-in-chief and the keepers of the ruler at Fox. I don’t have a lot of confidence that they won’t escalate.

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  9. Suzanne said on January 8, 2020 at 8:22 am

    I imagine Iran will do some sneak attacks on our soil. Where? Who knows, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a Trump property in the coming months.

    This makes a lot of sense:
    https://twitter.com/gregolear/status/1214880956298989569?s=21

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  10. basset said on January 8, 2020 at 8:38 am

    I would have thought, even before these recent developments, that there would have been a bomb or a chemical attack or something in a seemingly random place, just to show that they could hit us anywhere.

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  11. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2020 at 9:20 am

    If Iran sent agents around to tear up the greens at a bunch of Trump golf courses, I would traitorously find that both amusing and also the thing that would most upset the President* while giving him little or no basis for a response of the sort he no doubt electorally wants.

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  12. Connie said on January 8, 2020 at 10:50 am

    Just saw a news clipping about reopening the Eckhart library. JoeK, was that your daughter carrying the last book?

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  13. Joe Kobiela said on January 8, 2020 at 11:03 am

    Connie,
    I didn’t see it but it very well could have been, when it does open you should go check it out, from what I have seen it is amazing. The fountain has been redone and the huge mural of the civil war was cleaned and touched up.
    Should be a great library with a great assistant director.
    ‍✈️ Joe

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  14. Jeff Borden said on January 8, 2020 at 11:22 am

    My old friend Mary Jane –who is now legal for enjoyment in the Land of Lincoln– helps me get through the daily horseshit, though I only indulge at the end of the day. It’s depressing as hell to see an even worse version of our last Middle Eastern adventure. . .this time against an opponent far more formidable than Saddam Hussein.

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  15. Deborah said on January 8, 2020 at 11:33 am

    I’m getting the brake pads replaced at the car dealership, Trump just came on TV and no one in the waiting room is watching Trump currently on the TV. Whatever he’s saying is probably a lie so why bother.

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  16. Deborah said on January 8, 2020 at 11:39 am

    I should obviously proof read before I hit submit.

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  17. Deborah said on January 8, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Dorothy, I have been thinking about your family lately. Let’s hope we get rid of Trump soon.

    Suzanne, I have been worried about the Trump Tower in Chicago, it’s huge and I know people who work in the building across the street from it.

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  18. alex said on January 8, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    So I hear Illinois was sold out of Mary Jane after the first six days.

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  19. Deborah said on January 8, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    This is the best synopsis of Trump’s speech today that I found on Twitter:

    Threat.
    Sniff.
    Lie.
    Brag.
    Mispronunciation.
    Sniff.
    Brag.
    Sniff.
    Brag.
    Slurred something.
    Threat.
    Brag.
    Threat.
    Lie.
    Bye.

    He sniffed 58 times

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  20. alex said on January 8, 2020 at 4:24 pm

    I forget who psychoanalyzed Trump’s debate performances in 2016, but it was mentioned that his sniffs are a telltale sign of defensiveness.

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  21. Dexter Friend said on January 8, 2020 at 5:34 pm

    Trump’s assassination order was simply a President going rogue. Not thought out, not necessary, with many consequences, just not yet…Iran has no timetable. Trump is going to be acquitted , it appears certain, and hopefully enough fence-sitters will see the folly of re-electing an impeached president. I cannot even imagine what a Trump second term would be like, with an uncapped Trump just wreaking havoc upon America and the world. Just hours ago we found out the truth: no imminent threats for mayhem against the USA by Soleimani. Nothing but lies.

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  22. David C said on January 9, 2020 at 6:04 am

    Sniffing is also a telltale sigh of snorting Adderall.

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  23. Jeff Borden said on January 9, 2020 at 9:14 am

    Republican strategist Rick Wilson has compiled a list of things tRump enablers in Congress must do. It’s kind of funny:

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/rick-wilson-pens-11-new-rules-for-republicans-who-have-decided-to-worship-donald-trump-as-their-god/

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  24. Connie said on January 9, 2020 at 11:49 am

    This is the picture I referred to, of moving back in to the Eckhart Library in Auburn.
    https://www.kpcnews.com/thestar/image_e9108c30-c692-5fed-a95b-f9c7b8be297a.html

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  25. Joe Kobiela said on January 9, 2020 at 11:52 am

    Connie,
    Thanks for the post but she is not in this picture.
    ‍✈️ Joe

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  26. Deborah said on January 9, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    LB and I are going to a war protest at noon in Santa Fe. It’s cold here today so I’m not sure how long we’ll last out in the wind, it’s also cloudy which is rare for NM. We made our signs this morning, they’re crude but simple, the protest will be at a busy intersection so we want the signs to be easily read by passing cars, obviously. I hope there will be a good showing, but because of the weather who knows.

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  27. LAMary said on January 9, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    Belated thanks for the very sweet birthday wishes.

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  28. Deborah said on January 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

    Well, the war protest had about 50 people, we got lots of honks, thumbs up and peace sign gestures. Only saw 2 people in their cars give us the finger. It was cold.

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  29. Scout said on January 9, 2020 at 5:05 pm

    Thank you for representing, Deborah. We are planning to attend the annual Women’s March here in Phx on 1/19. Nationwide, most cities are marching on Saturday, 1/18, however, there is an anti-choice march scheduled that day at the AZ state capitol. The organizers of that march (the AZ Federation of Republican Women) are doing their best to try to confuse people into attending their rally.

    The new decade is off to a rough start. I’m glad we all have each other to vent to and commiserate with. My grandson intends to join the military after he graduates high school in May. I am extremely anxious about that. I hope he can be convinced to wait and see what happens with the election before he enlists.

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  30. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 9, 2020 at 5:59 pm

    He might have saved the best writing for last. Hat tip, Ken, whom I did not know but now feel as if I did.

    https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/desmoinesregister/194969073

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  31. Kim said on January 9, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    JeffTMMO @30 – thank you for posting that obit. He was a fine writer and I an unsurprised but sad to know he was tortured by addiction. Newsrooms when they had people were interesting places.

    The weather story was a gem and I made the unfortunate decision to use it as an example of not following the verse-chorus-verse of a weather story in an intro to newswriting class I was teaching. I must have said “Don’t do this. No one will ever be able to do this weather story again.” I must have, because earnest college journo students are a touch too literal. Anyway, I assigned a weather story for a spot news assignment and every kid turned in the one-sentence weather story.

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  32. Mark P. said on January 9, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    JeffTMMO @30 – It makes me want to write my own obituary. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there is no one left alive who would want to read it.

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