sherpa

"What a fool believes."

A few points. Minor edit. The Reagan Administration did not react to them in the same way. It is my belief that they offered them an ultimatum after the election, and the offer was release the hostages of we were going ashore. In my view......First, no administration wants to commit a full scale military response to them. That is a very big deal, and their pin-prick offensive actions have never pissed anybody off enough to really go after them. The US deals with an election cycle. That cycle has a huge impact on foreign policy. To get them to cease, you either destroy them militarily, of work significant internal opposition to the Islamic regime that controls them. No real motivation on western countries to commit the resources to deal with them militarily, and the internal resistance, though significant, has never reached critical mass, so the regime survives. They have responded to direct military action. Operation Praying Mantis shut them down for a bit and ended the insanity of them mining and attacking shipping in the Persian Gulf. A similar response would probably be effective, but we don't have the leadership to do so, though some quite large events are likely in the near future. Ultimately, unless the regime is removed, they will threaten the world with nuclear weapons. That will trigger and Israeli action, and the stuff will hit the fan, as that is the course we have been on for decades.

Whether anybody addresses the undeniable reality, Iran has been at war and killing Americans since 1979. Claiming that US support for Israel, in their justified Gaza action suddenly triggered them is false. It is the usual excuse for energizing their subcontractors to kill US folks. They always have a reason, but the real reason is that they are a wacky regime intent on pushing Shiite Islam at any cost, down to the last Arab they can con into doing their wet work. They simply don't care.

By the way, and from a tactical viewpoint--not that anyone here cares about this stuff.... The excuse for the penetration and fatal attack was that the US had it's air defenses standing down as it was expecting to recover a friendly drone. Transponders are built for this very purpose. In strike planning, we always built an evacuation route, complete with transponder codes that identified us a friendly. We build multi million dollar drones and don't give them a box that ID's them as friendly to protect their egress. I'm not familiar with what is being done here, but it seems like an obvious oversight.

Like it or not, there has to be a retaliation, and it must be strong.

Not making sense to you is an accolade. Congress is not isolationist, and even if they were, it would have no restraint on the President's ability to respond to Iran. What Congress is doing; what has been done for years, makes perfect sense. The Administration wants to support Ukraine. Congress does as well. They also want to support Israel. But....Pay attention to this, because you seem to be completely ignorant of how the sausage is made, Congress wants a firm stand against the border invasion, and is linking aid to that issue. Perfect sense. Perfect logic and in our best interests, and has nothing to do with a response to Iran. Nothing. What you post about me doesn't concern me.

The more you post, the more goofy you get. Bizarre judgement. Idiotic accusations. Refusal to acknowledge reality. Refusal to back up wacky claims. Ignorant lack of understanding of the US military or the Administration's options regarding that. It goes on and on.

You are truly an #######. Your repeated claims of partisanship on my part are preposterous. There is nothing in my posts regarding military stuff that is pro party. This is a product of your incredibly idiotic imagination. Biden is an abject failure.

Another "absolute nonsense" claim. The US president has remarkable and almost totally discretionary authority by law and precedent responding to anti US military actions, and that extends to preemptive actions to prevent them. I can name scores of strikes that support that claim. Biden is viewed as a clown, and unfortunately, he's going to have to use his powers to prove otherwise. Suggesting this is a Congressional failure is ludicrous.

Very big deal. Might be an interesting week.

Count me in.

Absolute horsecrap. Absolute, complete horsecrap. Take the cost of border enforcement. Add to it the cost associated with housing illegals and their healthcare, add to it the cost of deportation, which is all done by the wonderful US taxpayer, and present any reasonable argument that illegals are a net positive. The claim is preposterous.

Any claim that illegal immigration is a net revenue positive for US taxpayer is pure lunacy. Absolute lunacy. https://www.heritage.org/immigration/commentary/shocking-cost-the-illegal-immigration-crisis-americans

We have laws to stop it. This administration chooses to not enforce those restraints for political reasons. Same as the goofy strategy of buying votes by promising to strap the US taxpayer with student loan obligations. Pure nonsense from a failed administration.

Oh. I wonder what race? Ten years of South/Central America trips watching this industry. Ya. Must be racist.

I'm not sure what you are inferring, but the US taxpayer cannot support this level of illegal immigration. Simply economically impossible.

And who came here legally? Welcoming should not be suicide. That's why we have laws.

We're both on the same page. I am merely pointing out that US influence is much less than it used to be. The first thing we need to do is lock the border to illegal immigration. Unless that happens, and we develop a spine, nothing else matters.

That would be great, and I fully agree, but we are much further away from attaining change than we were decades ago. The US' reputation in South/Central America has declined over the years. Trump didn't help and polling revealed that. Biden certainly hasn't moved the ball forward. I spent ten months a year going down there from 2003 until 2015. Had a business partner in Paraguay who is still one of my best friends. Had the opportunity to witness the entire Chavez political nonsense up close. The systemic problems are immense. Corruption is an intractable, accepted way of life. There is profound class structure and sexism. Anyway, it's a problem that the US does not, currently, have the ability to influence. The first step is to lock the border to any non legal immigration. Once these failed govs are unable to dispose of those they don't want, they will have to deal with the very significant problems they are not addressing. Each country is different, but the ruling political entities are all powerful.

Not true. The US has been very effective in thwarting missile attacks. What we should do is demolish these non-state attacks against commercial, non combatant commerce. It would take less than a day, if the administration had the nuts to do it. Otherwise, we have what we have, which is a task force under constant alert, responding to a threat we could end in a wink. Make sense to the Biden group here? Not to me.

Jesus. The claim that the US Navy "lost a battle at sea" is idiotic.

First, Israel did not invade the Gaza. I was responding to a claim suggested by someone else. Perhaps you didn't, or couldn't read it, so I'll post it again: "What if this is about natural gas in Gaza? Would your opinion of Israel and our government change if there’s gas in Gaza? " I have no idea why you couldn't figure this out, but my claim that it is a preposterous theory stands. Hamas did this, and actions cause reactions. Maybe you can get this without a Trump/Putin reference. By the way, still waiting for anything that supports your revisionist claim. Total, unsupported nonsense.

Look at how the media has framed the New Hampshire thing. Trump suggested she claimed victory. Absolute nonsense, unless you disregard her acknowledgement of his win and her congratulations directed to him. He made the ridiculous claim and they ran with it. Perhaps they are deeply concerned with how Haley demolishes Joe in current polling.

You post the most stupid crap, If you are inferring that Israel "invaded" Gaza as a desire to obtain a potential energy source, that is lunacy. If not, I don't get what you are suggesting. Nobody on planet earth is desirous of the potential fuel resources in the Gaza strip. Hamas broke a ceasefire. Hamas has had 16 years of rule to advance those people's lives. All they have done is take all their resources and build an underground war bunker designed to eliminate Israel. Neither Putin nor Trump has anything to do with this, but like a drug addict, you simply cannot resist.

Got it. I'm not there yet, but all signs affirm your view. My hope is that a more reasonable, less martyr mission candidate causes Congress to shift in ways Trump's presence has been woefully horrible in the past two elections. While I detest this "lawfare," it is what it is.