@Lily O Lady
once you get to know them.

Obama publicity blitz. It included an "isn't Dubya adorable" section with Michelle fawning over him. It looks like the status quo factions are closing ranks. Their interests are not ours. They serve the Vampire Squid that feeds them.

@Lily O Lady
and slobber over him. He's being marketed now like he was before his first election, this dreamy good looking black man who everybody loves and who's America's dreamboat. Sentimental fluff to use on those that read things like People Magazine and Huffington Post and watch KUWTK.

I'm just waiting for them to crank out another picture of him running down the beach in his bathing trunks. (Obama eats it up. He sure is a camera whore.)

During the healthcare hearings I got into it with some of his more 'zealous' supporters who were telling me how racist I was for criticizing this guy. You know who I mean. They said I had no right to criticize him because I was white and any criticism RACIST!!! I told them I sure as hell did have that right because he was plastered all over the media with those 'sexy' pictures and he was sold to all women like movie stars are sold in tabloids and gossip magazines. Since he was supposedly the new heartthrob of the left and he was sold that way, they were full of shit saying white women had no reason right to criticize him. Plus he was half white. THE HOWLS OF OUTRAGE WERE HILARIOUS.

Is there a way to go back and find that stuff? Are comments saved or just OPs? I would love to go re-read that shit again. Even Meteor Blades said that he 'gave me credit' for what I was trying to say, but it probably wasn't going to go over with the in-crowd. It didn't. But it was fun.

I was always destined for a short shelf life on TOP. And I made the most of it.

Obama publicity blitz. It included an "isn't Dubya adorable" section with Michelle fawning over him. It looks like the status quo factions are closing ranks. Their interests are not ours. They serve the Vampire Squid that feeds them.

@eyo Absolutely horrific. Man`s inhumanity to man.
I don`t like having to thank you for some of these insights into history, but if not for those like you, historians all, the truth remains hidden, so, Thank you.
And please, do read my sigline.

Probably. Ignore the inflammatory click bait subject. Thanks.
The Tokyo Fire Raids, 1945

Wherever there was a canal, people hurled themselves into the water; in shallow places, people waited, half sunk in noxious muck, mouths just above the surface of the water. Hundreds of them were later found dead; not drowned, but asphyxiated by the burning air and smoke. In other places, the water got so hot that the luckless bathers were simply boiled alive. Some of the canals ran directly into the Sumida; when the tide rose, people huddled in them drowned. In Asakusa and Honjo, people crowded onto the bridges, but the spans were made of steel that gradually heated; human clusters clinging to the white-hot railings finally let go, fell into the water and were carried off on the current. Thousands jammed the parks and gardens that lined both banks of the Sumida. As panic brought ever fresh waves of people pressing into the narrow strips of land, those in front were pushed irresistibly toward the river; whole walls of screaming humanity toppled over and disappeared in the deep water. Thousands of drowned bodies were later recovered from the Sumida estuary.

Sirens sounded the all-clear around 5 A.M. - those still working in the half of the city that had not been attacked; the other half burned for twelve hours more. I talked to someone who had inspected the scene an March 11. What was most awful, my witness told me, was having to get off his bicycle every couple of feet to pass over the countless bodies strewn through the streets. There was still a light wind blowing and some of the bodies, reduced to ashes, were simply scattering like sand. In many sectors, passage was blocked by whole incinerated crowds."

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/firebombing-of-tokyo

On this day, U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

Early on March 9, Air Force crews met on the Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan for a military briefing. They were planning a low-level bombing attack on Tokyo that would begin that evening, but with a twist: Their planes would be stripped of all guns except for the tail turret. The decrease in weight would increase the speed of each Superfortress bomber-and would also increase its bomb load capacity by 65 percent, making each plane able to carry more than seven tons. Speed would be crucial, and the crews were warned that if they were shot down, all haste was to be made for the water, which would increase their chances of being picked up by American rescue crews. Should they land within Japanese territory, they could only expect the very worst treatment by civilians, as the mission that night was going to entail the deaths of tens of thousands of those very same civilians. “You’re going to deliver the biggest firecracker the Japanese have ever seen,” said U.S. Gen. Curtis LeMay.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-firebombing-of-tokyo-continues

Early in the morning, the B-29s dropped their bombs of napalm and magnesium incendiaries over the packed residential districts along the Sumida River in eastern Tokyo. The conflagration quickly engulfed Tokyo’s wooden residential structures, and the subsequent firestorm replaced oxygen with lethal gases, superheated the atmosphere, and caused hurricane-like winds that blew a wall of fire across the city. The majority of the 100,000 who perished died from carbon monoxide poisoning and the sudden lack of oxygen, but others died horrible deaths within the firestorm, such as those who attempted to find protection in the Sumida River and were boiled alive, or those who were trampled to death in the rush to escape the burning city. As a result of the attack, 10 square miles of eastern Tokyo were entirely obliterated, and an estimated 250,000 buildings were destroyed.

During the next nine days, U.S. bombers flew similar missions against Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe. In August, U.S. atomic attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki finally forced Japan’s hand.

The world is not my enemy, includes Iran. Peace.

@eyo @CB

And this has been true for two decades. The US has been so intent on spending its treasure on wars and military interventions, both overt and covert, it failed to notice it was badly losing an economic/demographic war across Eurasia. China and its partners will most likely have a 7,500 mile HSR right across Eurasia well before the US finishes the 520 mile California HSR (scheduled to be completed in 2029).

Trump is a businessman. Do you think he will notice what is going on? Or has the war mongering Deep State finally managed to get a ring firmly attached to his snout?

First ‘Silk Road’ train arrives in Iran from China
16 Feb, 2016
The first freight train to resurrect the ancient Silk Road route arrived in Iran from China on Monday.

It took just 14 days for the 32-container train loaded with Chinese goods to complete the 5,900 mile (9,500km) journey from China’s eastern Zhejiang province through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

It’s 30 days shorter than the sea voyage from Shanghai to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to the head of the Iranian railway company, Mohsen Pourseyed Aqayi.
...
“The arrival of this train in less than 14 days is unprecedented,” he said, adding that the revival of the Silk Road is crucial for the countries on its route.

The new silk road: From China to the U.K., world’s longest train route arrives in London
January 19, 2017
It was once known as the Silk Road, the route along which trade first flourished between China and Europe, bringing silks, spices, Chinese porcelain and gunpowder from the east.

But Wednesday the arrival of a freight train at Barking, east London, signalled a new chapter in the history of the centuries-old trading route.

The East Wind train pulled up at its destination at 1 p.m. yesterday, after a 16-day journey, to become the first direct freight train linking China and Britain.

Its 34 wagons, carrying 68 containers loaded with £4-million of household goods such as clothes, socks, suitcases, purses and wallets, travelled 12,000 kilometres — making it arguably the longest train journey in the world.
...
The train’s name is taken from Chairman Mao’s dictum: “The east wind will prevail over the west wind.”

The China Railway corporation has already begun operating rail services to 14 European cities, including Madrid and Hamburg.
...

Probably. Ignore the inflammatory click bait subject. Thanks.
The Tokyo Fire Raids, 1945

Wherever there was a canal, people hurled themselves into the water; in shallow places, people waited, half sunk in noxious muck, mouths just above the surface of the water. Hundreds of them were later found dead; not drowned, but asphyxiated by the burning air and smoke. In other places, the water got so hot that the luckless bathers were simply boiled alive. Some of the canals ran directly into the Sumida; when the tide rose, people huddled in them drowned. In Asakusa and Honjo, people crowded onto the bridges, but the spans were made of steel that gradually heated; human clusters clinging to the white-hot railings finally let go, fell into the water and were carried off on the current. Thousands jammed the parks and gardens that lined both banks of the Sumida. As panic brought ever fresh waves of people pressing into the narrow strips of land, those in front were pushed irresistibly toward the river; whole walls of screaming humanity toppled over and disappeared in the deep water. Thousands of drowned bodies were later recovered from the Sumida estuary.

Sirens sounded the all-clear around 5 A.M. - those still working in the half of the city that had not been attacked; the other half burned for twelve hours more. I talked to someone who had inspected the scene an March 11. What was most awful, my witness told me, was having to get off his bicycle every couple of feet to pass over the countless bodies strewn through the streets. There was still a light wind blowing and some of the bodies, reduced to ashes, were simply scattering like sand. In many sectors, passage was blocked by whole incinerated crowds."

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/firebombing-of-tokyo

On this day, U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

Early on March 9, Air Force crews met on the Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan for a military briefing. They were planning a low-level bombing attack on Tokyo that would begin that evening, but with a twist: Their planes would be stripped of all guns except for the tail turret. The decrease in weight would increase the speed of each Superfortress bomber-and would also increase its bomb load capacity by 65 percent, making each plane able to carry more than seven tons. Speed would be crucial, and the crews were warned that if they were shot down, all haste was to be made for the water, which would increase their chances of being picked up by American rescue crews. Should they land within Japanese territory, they could only expect the very worst treatment by civilians, as the mission that night was going to entail the deaths of tens of thousands of those very same civilians. “You’re going to deliver the biggest firecracker the Japanese have ever seen,” said U.S. Gen. Curtis LeMay.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-firebombing-of-tokyo-continues

Early in the morning, the B-29s dropped their bombs of napalm and magnesium incendiaries over the packed residential districts along the Sumida River in eastern Tokyo. The conflagration quickly engulfed Tokyo’s wooden residential structures, and the subsequent firestorm replaced oxygen with lethal gases, superheated the atmosphere, and caused hurricane-like winds that blew a wall of fire across the city. The majority of the 100,000 who perished died from carbon monoxide poisoning and the sudden lack of oxygen, but others died horrible deaths within the firestorm, such as those who attempted to find protection in the Sumida River and were boiled alive, or those who were trampled to death in the rush to escape the burning city. As a result of the attack, 10 square miles of eastern Tokyo were entirely obliterated, and an estimated 250,000 buildings were destroyed.

During the next nine days, U.S. bombers flew similar missions against Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe. In August, U.S. atomic attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki finally forced Japan’s hand.

The world is not my enemy, includes Iran. Peace.

@native Since the elites won't be the ones to suffer, and in fact a war will benefit the rich until the poor run out of money. Then they'll move to their private estates and pay whatever country takes the place of the US to buy their weapons.

Essentially they're holding a gun to the US and smiling as we pray they won't pull the trigger.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9mJ82x_l-E]

is just political posturing. It's crazy-talk. There is no way the USA could possibly attack Iran without incurring serious damage to itself, its global influence, its economy, its oil industry, and god knows what else. To do so would be a potentially suicidal blunder. I find it hard to believe that America's ruling elite, greedy and obstreperous and Zionist though it often seems to be, would ever resort to something quite that bat-shit crazy.

@native
Assuming something suicidal for the United States would not be part of the agenda of the CIA/PNAC is short-sighted. They are in the business of expanding company power, not national power. Clearly they are opposed to democracy in any form, including especially the false kinds in Syria and Iran, where women vote, where there is (was) healthcare, education, and small business. That is what they are working to eradicate. And they'll stop at nothing.

is just political posturing. It's crazy-talk. There is no way the USA could possibly attack Iran without incurring serious damage to itself, its global influence, its economy, its oil industry, and god knows what else. To do so would be a potentially suicidal blunder. I find it hard to believe that America's ruling elite, greedy and obstreperous and Zionist though it often seems to be, would ever resort to something quite that bat-shit crazy.

@native At this point, I am beginning to think that our ruling elite ARE just that crazy. I wish I could be as optimistic about all of this as you are, native. And I am pretty much an optimistic person, but the last several years have sorely tested what remains of my own optimism. These people are so crazed by their greed and desire to rule the world that I think they believe a nuclear war is both survivable and winnable.

is just political posturing. It's crazy-talk. There is no way the USA could possibly attack Iran without incurring serious damage to itself, its global influence, its economy, its oil industry, and god knows what else. To do so would be a potentially suicidal blunder. I find it hard to believe that America's ruling elite, greedy and obstreperous and Zionist though it often seems to be, would ever resort to something quite that bat-shit crazy.

@native

There are those among the Parasite Class who believe that if they only clap hard enough for themselves, they can create any 'reality' they want reality to really be and have it somehow made real. These are crazy-people. Unfortunately, they're taking the rest of us with them, because we are letting the few destroy all democracy, civilization, life on the planet...

is just political posturing. It's crazy-talk. There is no way the USA could possibly attack Iran without incurring serious damage to itself, its global influence, its economy, its oil industry, and god knows what else. To do so would be a potentially suicidal blunder. I find it hard to believe that America's ruling elite, greedy and obstreperous and Zionist though it often seems to be, would ever resort to something quite that bat-shit crazy.

@doh1304

Well, in that case, the cream of the joke will be on the instigators, huddled in their quake-wracked bunkers, having made Earth inimical to life and, however dressed up they may be, having left themselves absolutely nowhere to go when the power dies and their oxygen - the last breathable air on Earth - is gone... That's assuming that the globe remains in roughly the same shape, of course.

War with Iran will lead to war with China - before the Chinese are ready. The Chinese ecological meltdown will occur in about five years, and China will have to go to war or starve and drown in a flood of cholera epidemics and COPD. They will need oil for that war - middle eastern oil. That is why W started the whole damn process, and why Obama escalated it.
Interesting: China's ICBMs cannot be fired fast enough for a retaliatory strike, while America's can, meaning that if the US fires first we win, but if China fires first we all die. Enter Russia.
If China can convince (or if the US proves) that Russian survival requires a first strike, then Russia will provide enough nukes to strike "successfully" (China also probably doesn't have enough nukes to "succeed" alone) while also bleeding off enough of the US retaliatory strike to give China a chance to "survive". Enter the Ukraine.
If Russian/EU tensions continue, Russia will have to target most of its nukes against the EU. Thus Obama's strategy - "let's you and him fight". (and if the "Russian Spies!" story is real then it makes sense)
Then all we have to do is wait until China gives us justification for a first strike.
How's that for cynicism?