Recent Comments

1. about 1 hour ago on Mike Lester

   Jumpy youngsters with guns don’t need an order. I’d put blame on the fools who brought National Guard to put down a student protest where the worst violence was students throwing beer bottles at cops for shutting down college bars.

   It’s worth noting the current campus protesters are even more restrained than those at Kent State. I don’t agree with “river to the sea” nonsense, but it’s speech. No one is throwing beer bottles.

2. about 1 hour ago on Henry Payne

   Iran does not have nukes, but they’ve learned through experience to put their centrifuges deep underground. They have enough material to enrich to the point that they can make several nukes in a week or two. Unfortunately, Iran recently spent most of their ballistic missiles in an attack that saw almost every one of them destroyed without hitting the ground in Israel.

   Israel already has ~ 100 nukes & some of them are on submarines that can exact revenge, even if Tel Aviv is hit by an Iranian nuke. Israel routinely shows they can hit targets in Iran with impunity. In nuclear terms, Israel is the Goliath by a wide margin.

   But, what about conventional forces? Iran has 10 times the population of Israel & most reports suggest their army is more capable & more committed than the forces Saddam has in Iraq, back in 2003. They could field a huge army, if they want. But, they don’t have the ability to send hundreds of thousands of troops to the borders of Israel without quickly being detected. Israel has complete air superiority & would be hitting Iranian troops as they tried to make the 800 miles trip to Israel’s border. So, Israel is still the Goliath.

   This is something I think the “river to the sea” protestors miss. US support of Israel is a luxury, but history suggests even if the US completely cuts off arms sales, Israel will find another weapons supplier. The State of Israel isn’t going anywhere. If it disappeared, the region would be thrown into even more chaos & violence.

3. about 2 hours ago on Michael Ramirez

   So, Iran could build a nuke in as little as a few days, but they haven’t. They claim their interpretation of Islam forbids it. Your depiction of Muslim nations being the only ones that use lies & ambiguity in foreign policy would be amusing if it weren’t so horribly bigoted. Iran recently launched nearly every ballistic missile they had capable of reaching Israel & it was a dud.

   Meanwhile, Israel has nukes & missiles capable of pinpoint accuracy with a demonstrated ability to strike targets in Iran, not to mention a submarine based second strike capability that means anyone nuking Tel Aviv will get payback.

   Iran getting nukes would be bad because it would likely trigger other countries in the region to acquire their own nuke. More nations with nukes, means more chances someone makes a mistake & launches them. A second Trump term brings back the neo-con regime change crowd. Heaven help us, but the best hope of survival is if Jared Kushner comes back to run a morality free foreign policy that prioritizes lining pockets over aggression. I’m guessing you missed Jared’s op-ed on Biden’s effort to bring back the JCPOA:

   “While many were troubled by the Biden team’s opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, I saw it as a smart diplomatic move,” Kushner wrote.

4. 1 day ago on Scott Stantis

   Imo, the West Bank is a bigger obstacle to peace between Israel & Palestine than Gaza in the long term. The rest of the world is starting to recognize Likud’s policy as apartheid & 30 years of settlement building & eviction will need to be dealt with, if there’s going to be a two state solution. Hamas is equally opposed to the 2SS & would rather keep things festering until they get a single state with a Palestinian majority. I shudder to think how that plays out.

5. 1 day ago on Scott Stantis

   Or, we could focus our efforts on the diplomacy that’s brought peace agreements to nations that used to be hostile?

6. 1 day ago on Al Goodwyn Editorial Cartoons

   I think the war in Gaza is the same kind of drastic overreaction as the US response to 9/11. A lot of terrible things happen, as is the case with every war. The hysterical cries of “genocide” cheapen the word. UNICEF says there are nearly 10,000 births per month in Gaza, which suggests the Palestinian population there will be larger when the war ends, than when it started. Either the IDF is doing the least competent genocide in history, or they’re taking measures to limit civilian casualties as they fight Hamas.

   I’m all for a ceasefire & using diplomacy to get back any surviving hostages. If you demand nothing less than a ‘river to the sea’ Palestine, you’re supporting a real genocide. 9 million Israelis (not just the Jewish ones) do not want any part of it.

7. 1 day ago on Al Goodwyn Editorial Cartoons

   This is NYC, not Bumpkinville. There are Jews in the protest group who held a Seder.

8. 5 days ago on Michael Ramirez

   You can pretend the repub Freedom Caucus hasn’t been holding up aid to Ukraine. The rest of us know the truth.

9. 5 days ago on Michael Ramirez

   $30 billion went into Reagan’s Star Wars fantasy, with no results. The idea it lead to Arrow 3 or David’s Sling is no more real than The Force.

   Funny how repubs will always excuse government waste when it’s in their political interest.

10. 7 days ago on Jeff Danziger

    Withdrawing from the JCPOA was very much what Netanyahu & GOP hardliners like Mike Pompeo & John Bolton wanted. If Trump gets back in office, a war with Iran is all but guaranteed.