3 things that could upset the electoral applecart

As I remarked yesterday, things are very quiet on the electoral front. 

Comrade Harris's handlers are running a textbook "basement campaign", just as they did with Senile Joe four years ago. Since the couple of interviews she gave were dumpster fires, she doesn't do interviews any more. She's appeared at a few small rallies and fundraisers, but doesn't do pressers. When someone somehow asks a question, her stock answer is, "So, I was raised in a middle-class family." That's it, that's all. Nothing to see or hear here, folks.

As for the Donald, he's out there doing rallies, making speeches, putting himself forward. Yesterday he spoke at events in Ohio and Indiana, in the same day. We're told the campaign plan for the next 40 days is to get out there into the red states, the blue states, and the purple states -- anywhere he can get a crowd, and that includes New York, California, Wisconsin and North Carolina!

The trouble is that getting out to see the American people and let them see him -- "They didn't get me yet!" -- is risky. It's not as if presidential candidates, and even sitting presidents, haven't been shot before. I'm minded of George Wallace, because this Routh, apparently suffering from severe TDS, is the same kind of nutjob who nearly killed the Little Judge and certainly ended his campaign. I do hope someone other than the security forces of the Deep State has Mr Trump's back.

Here are three things that could happen between now and the Day of Reckoning which would force the Cackler's hand and throw the election into confusion and chaos.

Demented Joe dies, or Article 25 is invoked. Brandon's "good days" -- when he knows what's going on around him -- are becoming increasingly rare. The gaffes and "senior moments" are becoming downright embarrassing. Even staunch Dimocrats should be uncomfortable when their President's wife starts running cabinet meetings!

If the President [pro tem! Ed.] kicks the bucket or is found to be non compos mentis so there's no choice but to remove him from office under the provisions of Article 25 of the Constitution, that would make the Cackler... wait for it... President. Ready or not. Among the issues she would be forced to deal with would be

The outbreak of a full-on war by Israel against both Hamas and Hezbollah. Things are starting to get hot and heavy in and around Israel. Yesterday, campers, the government you (allegedly) elected sent more American troops to the Middle East in the run-up to the next Gulf War. How many troops or where they will be deployed is, of course, a state secret. 

What will Hock Ptui (or, more accurately) her handlers do when the shit-hammer falls? Whose side will she take -- the Jews or the Arabs? It won't be possible to remain on tghe fence, or to say "I was raised in a middle-class family" any longer. 

Questions will also be raised, quite properly, about why the administration of which Ms Harris is so proud to be a part didn't do anything to prevent the hostilities reaching this boiling point. Senile Joe and Winken Blinken have put forth no plans, drawn no red lines, or done anything except to urge the warring parties to keep talking. Is the Biden-Harris tag team going to do anything of substance between now and November 5th, ot just wait and hope the whole thing blows over?

There is also the possibility that Deep State may finally succeed (God forbid!) in its efforts to assassinate President Trump. Let's skip the outrage and recriminations and consider the reality. Walt's legal advisor (Agent 3) is weak on US constitutional law, but believes that it is now too late to remove Citizen Trump from the ballot. And even if his name no longer appears on the ballot, you could write him in. So you will be able to vote for him, even if he's dead.

What happens, then, if the late Donald Trump wins? Remember that he has a running mate, the estimable Senator J.D. Vance, and (Agent 3 thinks) in most states you vote for them together, as a team. So if the Republican team, now down its star quarterback, wins, doesn't that make the second-string quarterback President?

But wait (as Vince Offer would say), there's more... It's not the popular vote that really counts, but the vote in the Electoral College. When you vote Republican -- you will, won't you? --  you are really voting for a slate of electors bound to cast their votes for... well, it could be anyone. And their votes would almost certainly go to J.D. So the death of President Trump could very well result in the election of J.D. Vance as 47th President of the United States of America!

VIDEO: From Lebanon: the exploding goats story

This is all over the Internet, but ICYMI... a report of a third wave of booby-traps rigged by the IDF to explode in the faces (or other parts) of Hezbollah jihadis in Lebanon.

This is too good -- too funny -- to be true. And it's not even from the Babylon Bee. Kudos to those responsible.

"But we won, in the end, right?"

"I mean, we ended the Muslim civil war, we brought peace and democracy to Iraq and all those other places, and we saved the world from Al-Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban. So we won... right?"

Errr... actually, NO! Ever since WWII, and particularly since the fall of the Twin Towers, the Paranoid States of America has considered itself the World's Policeman, on a mission to spread freedom, democracy, and the American way of life (ugghhh, brrrrr) throughout the rest of the world, whether ROTW wants it or not.

After 9/11, the words "al-Qaeda" became shorthand for Islamic terrorism anywhere in the world. The cry "Allahu akbar!" was  heard in London, Paris, Berlin [That's enough world cities. Ed.] and is still our best guess any time there's a suicide bombing or mass shooting or terror attack anywhere in the Middle East or the Western world.

With the US of A as the unwitting midwife, Al-Qaeda begat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Muslim civil war in Iraq begat the same in Syria. The American-led (but really America-only) missions in Iraq and Afghanistan ended in ignominious retreat. 

Saddam Hussein and Muammar Ghadafi were deposed and killed, but today the countries they ruled remain no-go zones for Westerners, as does the entire Muddled East from the Mediterranean all the way to Pakistan. (The possible exception is Israel, although it has its own wars with Palestinians and Hezbollah to worry about.) 

Instead of bringing the Islamic republics, sheikdoms, etc into the New World Order, American intervention (read: meddling) has turned the region into one huge shithole, stuck in the mentality of the Middle Ages and intent on bring the ROTW down to its level. I call our mission a failure, utter and complete.

Further reading: And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East, by Richard Engel, Chief Foreign Correspondent, NBC News. Simon & Schuster, 2016. Clear and concise, not overly biased, easy reading.

Footnote: Regular readings should know that Walt fully supports Ukraine and Ukrainians in their reistance to the illegal Russian invasion and occupation of their land. Слава Україні! Героям слава! 

I believe we should give the Ukrainians as much humanitarian and military assistance as we can, short of putting US or NATO boots on the ground. Why stop at that? Precisely because of the mess America has made of every foreign intervention since (and including) Korea. That kind of "help" is the last thing Ukraine needs!

Muslim civil war continues: great editorial cartoon

A few minutes after we posted "Muslim civil war continues as ISIS strikes Iran", Agent 3 sent along this fine editorial cartoon by Brian Gable, in the Globe and Mail.

Mr Gable was referring to the decision of several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, to sever ties with the tiny (but rich) emirate of Qatar, which they say sponsors terrorism -- Islamic terrorism -- in the form of organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah etc. But the cartoon applies pari passu (as Agent 3 puts it) to today's ISIS terrorist attacks in Iran.

Where next? Syria? Iran? Walt's morning line

Last week was a slow news week. Republican presidential wannabes are chewing on each other's haunches. The Greeks and the EU are still in denial about the former's effective bankruptcy and the inevitable demise of the euro. (Lifetime pct .986) And sound of gunfire and explosions reverberates through the streets of Baghdad, Tripoli, Homs, Damascus, Cairo etc. etc. ad infinitum.

As to Syria, the usual forces for Peace and Progress are shrieking that Something Must Be Done. And since the Arab Union (sic) and the United (sic) Nations can't agree to do anything, who better to take matters in hand than the good ole US of A.

There's also been some talk that Weapons of Mass Destruction -- to wit, nuclear bombs -- are being developed by Iran. You may think you've seen this movie before, but that was Iraq and the intended target of the non-existent WMDs was... well... that was never altogether clear but it didn't really matter, since the WMDs were really just a pretext to start a fight that the US was pretty sure it could win. (Lifetime pct .010)

No, the next American invasion of a Middle Eastern country will be a sequel to the glorious successes of Iraq and Afghanistan. And it's been in the pipeline -- the oil pipeline, that is -- for at least nine years.

In February of 2003, John Bolton (then "under-secretary of state for arms control" -- how's that for a title?!) told Israeli government officials that it would be "necessary to deal with" Iran, Syria and North Korea after the war in Iraq. Source: respected journalist Gwynne Dyer, in his column of 30 March 2003, reproduced in With Every Mistake (Random House, 2005).

Note, please, that Bolton was speaking to Israeli officials. Today the high-ranking American "advisor" doing the talking is General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. General Dempsey, echoed by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, is warning the Israelis not to attack Israel, because an Israeli attack is "not prudent". Since that phrase was already taken, Mr. Hague said an attack would not be "a wise thing".

Walt's translation and sub-text: "Hang on a minute. We're not ready yet!"

Clearly, if the Jews start a war with Iran, they will be counting on the West to intervene on their side. And plenty of people in high places in London, Ottawa and (especially) Washington would be happy to do so. The only problem is that the West is broke. The war in Afghanistan is still syphoning billions of dollars a month out of the American and Canadian economies, and the governments of Britain and other EU countries are still pouring their pounds and euros down the rathole that is Greece. The West can't afford another war.

Nor can Israel, if the West doesn't send troops, arms and matériel. Yet Iran is the Middle Eastern power the Jews fear most. Israel believes a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its very existence, citing Iran's support for Arab militant groups, its sophisticated arsenal of missiles capable of reaching Israel, and its leaders' calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

The Jews have been known to attack their neighbours before. There was the infamous Six-Day (Non-)War in 1967. In 1981, the Israeli air force destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. And in 2007, Israeli warplanes are believed to have destroyed a target in Syria that foreign "experts" think might have been an unfinished nuclear reactor... or possibly a hospital, who knows?

But Iran would prove a much tougher nut to crack than Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq or Syria. It is doubtful that the Israelis could single-handedly destroy, Iran's nuclear facilities, if such there be. And the Iranians (not being Arabs) would surely fight back. They could fire missiles at Israel, get their Muslim friends Hezbollah and Hamas to launch rockets into "the Jewish entity" and cause global oil prices to spike by striking targets in the Gulf.

So... if the Jews are smart ["if"? Ed.] they'll wait until Western support has gone from rhetoric to military readiness. That should take until 2013, at least. Walt's prediction: no war against Iran... this year. (Lifetime pct .986)