The man on the street in the Middle East does not like the Israelis, particularly after their current pogrom which has liquidated 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

People in non-democratic Egypt and Jordan do not like the Israelis, but the mukhabarat keep a tight lid on them and dissent in general.

This is the price those regimes pay for annual American taxpayer largesse of billions of dollars.

Recognize Israel and keep the peace, to heck with your angry population.

This is called "baksheesh."

The non-democratic Saudi regime faces a similar dilemma. While some of their wealthy oligarchs want to make money with Israeli hi-tech and security firms, the man on the Jeddah street does not like the Israelis.

And Saudi Arabia has a Shia minority of two to two and half million supplicants (10-15% of their population) who are at the bottom of their caste system. They are called "fishermen" or something perjorative like that because they live mainly by the coast.

A surefire way to increase instability in Saudi Arabia would be for Muhammad Bone Saws to recognize Israel.

A Palestinian I know has no problem with Jews but despises the murderous Israelis. "OB" saves his most vocal vituperation for the hypocritical Saudis, a regime that plays lip service to peace and last year executed 356 poor Ethiopians or Somalis caught for drug smuggling -- something the Saudi population wants under the table.

Thanks for the background info, Doc Sarvis.

Barron Trumpf -- the male gammerstang with the "dead eyes" -- idolizes the Tate maniacs.

Yes indeed, Clownshack, and a method to perpetuate medieval serfdom -- feudalism -- on Americans in the US.

"But I must the till the land, milk the cows, and barrow the goods for Milord or else where would I go?"

Decades ago I knew someone who was quickly hired because she was pregnant out of wedlock and the boss knew her.

She was competent, but then "IK" went out on maternity leave so we picked up her workload anyway.

That's no way to run an organization, but we are channelized into this survival mode approach to life, like people in the former USSR and today's Russia.

@2 Accurate parallel. Lipstick on a pig.

'Always Enough Money for War' - James Talarico Speech (a la Corky's OP)

Oof!

@15

According to a 2022 analysis of Google search trends, 15 of the 20 states with the highest search interest in transgender porn voted Republican in the 2020 presidential election.

"I work my furry little paws to the bone on my MS XP PC for you people and this is the thanks I get!"

Language is important.

The word "mafia" itself comes from the Sicilian term for "swagger" or "bravado."

From the article: "Hamas and Hezbollah have continued fighting despite enormous losses."

As did the Viet Minh and then the Viet Cong in South Vietnam after the 1954 demarcation.

Irish casualties accumulated over the centuries in their resistance against the British. Probably ~50,000 Irishmen died fighting John Bull between 1800 and 1923.

Algerian resistance casualties fighting French occupation from 1830 to 1962 = ~5.6 million

Resistance is part of the name HAMAS, which is a portmanteau like the German words STALAG and GESTAPO, or the Russian term GULAG; none of these words existed before 1900.

Hamas = "Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya"

When I used the term "muqawama" (resistance) in Iraqistan or Pashtunistan, my bosses hated it.

I also used the term "US occupation" which further irritated them.

Around the time of the "Surge," I said "Oh, we're gonna flood Iraq with more of our boys to stop the Intifada."

I was never going to make Colonel (O-6) anyway.

The USIC estimated there were about 10,000 to 15,000 Hamas resistance fighters in Oct 2023 out of a total population of two million Palestinians in Gaza, an area the size of Philadelphia PA.

The Lancet UK estimates the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) liquidated over 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 7 Oct 2023.

The crassly opportunistic Trumpf Crime Family (TCF) became aware of the sloppy bookkeeping at the world's most powerful and privatized military in the world in 2017 when they seized power the first time.

"Did someone say sloppy bookkeeping at the Pentagon? Let's get on the war bandwagon, family! Keep the real estate stuff going, push crypto-currency, and buy stock in drones and missile companies because there's lots of Muslims to kill in the Middle East."

*Cha-Ching!*

Poor Joey. A case of PTSD late in life for him over a darned bug.

~

Decades ago I would recommend books and films to my junior officers (LTs, CPTs, and O-4s).

One of the films I would ask them to watch if they hadn't seen it was An Officer and a Gentlman.

The black USMC DI instills "character" into----------- misogynist Zack Mayo.

'Twas a wee bit of wry humor tossed into the salad, Boyo.

;-)

Hot damn! to quote Holden Caulfield.

We have the terrifying Trumpf Diarrhea Explosion Disease spreading in the US and now an explosion of armed and masked sex fiends prowling our streets.

No wonder these sex offenders wear masks.

"Hey, I know you! Aren't you Enos ---------- who got busted for molesting Boy Scouts a couple of years back?"

And just think, we'll have two more years of "explosions" of grief and misery ahead of us in the Dystopic States of Amerikkka.