Free Republic

I just said that, but we have to continue paving the way by destroying whatever remains of Iran’s military capability. But I agree that we must at the same time arm the anti-regime civilians and let them remove the regime, because they know exactly who they are and where they are, from the top all the way down to the local IRGC thugs.

Trying to be president of the Middle East is like herding cats. Wastes a lot of time and energy.

No need to do that. What should be done is that our military (with the Israelis - STOP the ridiculous and obscene demonizing of Israel) goes all-out against what remains of the IRGC’s military assets, while simultaneously launching a massive effort to arm the large segment of the population that is pro-western and crying out for help.

We pave the way by finishing the job of destroying Iran’s military assets, and equip the Iranian people to go remove and replace the regime themselves.

I understand why Trump pivoted to the terrible idea of trying to slap together some kind of “deal” and declare victory. He’s trying to get this out of the news until after the midterms. But the first problem with this misguided approach is that the Iranians are fully aware of the politics of the midterms, and they know that if the dems take over Congress the chaos they will unleash will keep Trump distracted with investigations and more impeachments for the rest of his term, making it highly unlikely that he would be able to reopen the war against them.

So, that’s why the Iranians are playing games, trying to dangle enough of an imaginary carrot to keep him involved in trying to negotiate, but never quite allowing a true resolution to occur. And they don’t really care, either, if their games cause trump to periodically launch limited strikes. They’re just trying to do whatever they can to prolong the chaos until the midterms, to try to sway them toward the dems. Trump and our military were on the right path initially and were close to finishing off that regime, but then right at the crucial moment something weird happened and Trump went wobbly. It’s been all downhill since then.

Whatever happened to fighting to win, total victory, if and when we have to use our military? Once we made the decision to attack Iran (which I think was the right decision), the ONLY path out of it was to destroy that regime and pave the way for a democratic replacement. And just to pre-empt the isolationist naysayers, NO, Iran is not Afghanistan or Iraq. Instead, Trump is now pursuing the worst possible path, trying to manufacture a quick resolution through a meaningless agreement that the mullahs will never honor, just for political expediency. So we’ve wounded the dangerous animal, but now we’re going to let it live so that it can spend day and night plotting revenge against us, while we also stab the pro-western Iranian people in the back, and demonstrate once again for all the world to see that America talks big, but doesn’t have the stomach to finish what we start. Other bad actors around the world are learning that all you have to do to defeat the U.S. is just make it politically uncomfortable for us to back up our big words.

I still love Trump, but he is really snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with this.

Let me guess: They day they were taught about the ADA, they all developed “disabilities” by sunset.

This is a big, big mistake. The Iranian nuclear and missile programs were NOT the problem, they were merely symptoms of the problem. The problem was a fanatical Islamist regime that wanted to destroy Israel and secondarily, America.

Destroying their weapons and then walking away is a similar mindset to the one that drives the anti-gun movement domestically. In both cases, the implement of destruction is blamed instead of dealing with the true source of the danger, the human being who harbors murderous intent. What’s worse, we have now filled the Islamists with an even greater hatred for us, and a perfect motive and rallying cry to seek future retaliation against us.

You don’t leave a wounded animal, you kill it. We will very likely one day regret this move.

“The talking camel out front shoulda told ‘ya.”

…because the old one is physically broken due to stupid design ...microswitches requiring a long, hard press while only supported by their tiny surface mount solder pads

That sounds more like cheap membrane switches than micro switches.

I think the idea of a “deal”, given where we are now and given the demonic nature of these Islamist “twelver” mullahs, is insane. First, there is zero chance that these slimy little demons will ever abide by any agreement. Islam obligates them to lie to the infidels and then when they are not paying attention, destroy them. Second, we know that this regime was doggedly pursuing nuclear weapons so that it could attack Israel, but there is every reason to believe that we would have eventually ended up on the target list as well. They have already launched a satellite into orbit, proving the ability to reach anywhere on Earth. And that was BEFORE we attacked them and did nearly apocalyptic damage to their regime and military.

How do you think they will act if, after that, we let what’s left of them remain in power? Now they’re like a wounded animal seeking revenge. At least before they seemed to be mostly plodding along on their own in the nuclear pursuit. But now, even if they actually turn over their uranium (which I don’t think they will ever do) they will have nothing to lose. I can easily see them agreeing to some meaningless “deal” only to wait for us to fall asleep again before buying (or trading for) a nuke, or several, from someone like North Korea, or Pakistan, or China (I think Russia is less likely to be that stupid) and come after us with a suddenly very real nuclear mini-arsenal, driven by a burning desire for revenge.

The ONLY way to end this threat is to end the regime, period, whatever it takes. You don’t leave a wounded animal alive. There are still millions of Iranians desiring the removal of this regime, and waiting to take their country back, but we have been sending such mixed signals they now can’t dare stick their necks out lest Trump suddenly strike some “deal” that leaves them at the mercy of these murderous devils. We had unprecedented momentum building among the Iranian public at the same time that we were prosecuting a relentless military campaign, total victory was in sight, and then we just stopped and sat on our hands while we pursued an unattainable easier way out.

What happened to “get in, win the war, and get out?” Striking some fantasy deal with these monsters that leaves them in power is NOT victory. It will leave a worse problem than the one that drew us in in the first place. SMASH these bastards, and get fully behind the Iranians who CLEARLY want to replace them with a pro-western, modern society.

This is a distinction but there is no underlying difference. It'll take a Constitutional amendment to change anything spelled out in the original Constitution or its existing amendments.

I don’t know, it seems to me that, hypothetically speaking, legislatively imposing a requirement to be a citizen for 10 years, or 25 years, etc. would not affect the constitutional requirement to have been a citizen for AT LEAST 7 years. Ten years IS at least seven years, as is 25, for example. A requirement to be a natural-born citizen, in concert with the constitutional requirement to be at least 21 years of age, would work mathematically as well, though it would probably draw much stronger scrutiny since the requirement to have been a citizen for “at least” seven years strongly implies that the authors did not intend for this level of public service to be limited in that way.

Changing requirements for Congress members will take a Constitutional amendment, not federal legislation.

You could impose all of the additional requirements that you want and it would not contradict the constitutional requirements. They are only minimum requirements, which leaves open any manner of more restrictive requirements. They are not written in a way that grants eligibility. Read them again with that thought in mind and their true meaning becomes clear (at least I think it does, which counts for nothing).

Yet if her poem had been pro gay or pro tranny should would have been allowed to read it.

They would have broadcast it on the school PA system.

The way the two aircraft oddly pasted themselves together, they were very fortunate that the jets didn’t end up with one of the aircraft overlapping the canopy of the other or worse, canopy to canopy. The fact that all four were able to eject safely is incredible.

Almost as if she looks like a girl.

I think this is a boy operating under the delusion that he’s a girl.

That story isn’t as crazy as some of the Alien junk I hear every day. THAT would put a monkey wrench into the religious folks beliefs.

Just how do you explain your own existence, on a planet obviously and uniquely tailor-made for such life? And “inanimate matter just somehow assembled itself into a living cell, including creating a hyper-complex code and the encoding, decoding, and error-correction capabilities necessary for it to function” isn’t a valid answer.

What if we are the aliens and before we could leave a Trex ate the crafts?.

Sounds like the basis for a Twilight Zone script.

It could challenge religion and the theory of evolution, or it could do neither.

Yep, we don’t know what is happening yet. But one thing seems apparent at this stage: There are non-human entities, either physical or “spiritual” (interdimensional) who possess intellectual and technological abilities that are FAR beyond human capabilities. It’s important that at least that one Earth-shaking fact be revealed to the public, regardless of whether further details are immediately disclosed. Most everyday folks still think “UFOs” are just a big joke, and nearly all media coverage of the topic is nothing more than an opportunity for empty-headed talking heads to yuck it up. It’s time those morons were slapped by the cold hard reality and made to face the truth that, regardless of whatever the ultimate answer is, what we think of as daily life is a very small bubble in an enormous reality that we can’t always see.

There would be great benefit to shaking people awake to the reality that there is vastly more to our existence and ultimate destination in life than television, social media, the Kardashians, and the other trifles of daily life.

Alien life would be the new religion. (again)

Yep, I can see “aliens” and “alien technology” becoming the basis for a scientism-based religion. I have no idea what these things are, but I am confident they do exist. My personal hunch is that they are not extraterrestrial aliens (for all sorts of reasons), but are instead demonic entities. That would explain their often sadistic behavior, their claimed efforts to create “alien”-human hybrids (similar to the nephalim), and their spirit-like abilities (walking through walls, appearing and disappearing, etc.). I also find it interesting that they seem to have always been with us, throughout human history, rather than having just suddenly arrived at some point in time.

I also have an admittedly wild theory that if these are spiritual beings of some kind (demons), and given that the Bible briefly describes demons mating with human women in ancient times to produce a race of hybrid beings, I’ve wondered if the explanation for cattle mutilations may be be that demons are using the biological material from them (flesh, DNA, etc.) to assemble fake alien entities that they control (possess) to deceive humans?

When they say they’re trying to “save democracy” what they mean is that they’re trying to “save” their ability to be as degenerate and rebellious as they desire and to silence or destroy anyone who disagrees with it.

My neighbor’s cat is missing. Will he be found too?

Well, I have good news…and bad news.

We have moved into Godwins Law territory. Have any discussions about Israel or Jews and your an Anti-Dentite. 😁

C’mon now, you know it wasn’t that. You instantly went beyond any reasonable debate about our role as it pertains to Israel and jumped straight to ridiculing the religious faith of anyone who mentioned the Bible. That’s an indication that YOU have a problem, not them. You obviously have an obsession for whatever reason that immediately jumps to the surface any time someone even lightly touches on God or the Bible.