http://www.livescience.com/48536-vlad-the-impaler-dark-secrets.html
Despite his horrible personality, he had a really cool 'stache based upon his portrait:
I mean, look at that curl in a day before curling irons.
Aside from that cool 'stache, though, this Vlad was a really nasty character. As his nickname implies, he terrorized his enemies using impalement as a means of deterrent.
When Mehmet II, the Sultan of the Ottoman empire in 1462 arrived in the capital of Wallachia (in what is modern day Romania), the only people there to "greet" him were the rotting remains of Mehmet's soldiers who had been captured by Vlad's army. Each had been impaled on a stake.
From the article cited above, it's not clear if that impalement took place before or after death, but it doesn't paint a pretty picture in any case.
So now we have news of a modern-day Vlad doing the sabre-rattling thing with Turkey. In the exchange, Turkey is accusing Vlad of conducting an "ethnic cleansing" in the north of Syria. Vlad responded with a reminder that Russia has nukes, nuke subs and the power to wipe out a goodly part of the planet Earth. It's just a veiled threat to stir the pot a bit more and make things even more interesting.
Now I'll be blunt and honest and will probably offend most people who read this but, if we could be absolutely 100% certain that everyone in northern Syria is radicalized, a member of Daesh, and out to kill everyone who doesn't buy into their belief system, I would have no problem with nuking them.
Except for the fallout thing, which would be a horrific side effect. Maybe there would be another alternative? Nonetheless, this is a case of "do unto the other before they do unto you" and I would have no problem with "doing unto" if I knew for an absolute certainty that those being done unto were really 100% the bad guys.
In any case, is this where WWIII is going to take off? In Syria and Turkey? That would still leave the Plain of Armageddon (Har Megiddo or Mount of Megiddo) as a future option. Unless the final battle ends up in and around Megiddo in which case prophecy would be fulfilled.
Yahoo News and several other outlets have a story about this, and all it seems destined to do is muddy the waters and stir the pot and all of the other confusion induced metaphors.
I don't think that nuking a region of the planet is really going to solve anything except the overpopulation problem. I think it is a really terrible idea, and one I hope never comes to fruition.
I mean, we wipe a few million people off the Earth, we sicken many millions more who die off prematurely because of cancer or other after-effects of nuclear fallout. Several millions of people no longer using water and food resources aside, that doesn't solve the other problem.
Is this something I think is really going to happen?
No. Not at all because I don't think Vlad is that stupid (and that's what he would have to be to press that particular button). If he pressed his button, we would have to press ours... Well, no, we wouldn't because we have an incompetent spineless mealy-mouthed wuss in the Oval Office. But someone would have to press theirs because Turkey is an ally of someone else who has nukes. So if Russia launches and two or three other countries launch... POOF. There goes half or more of everything.
And so what? We take out 1/3 or 1/2 of the planet Earth and what does that "solve"? Nothing. It creates a plethora of new problems that have nothing to do with Daesh. In the meantime, while the survivors are running around like headless chickens, bumping into one another out of shock and fear, it's likely Daesh will take advantage of the discombobulation to take out several thousand more of us westerners.
So what makes Obie-One an incompetent spineless mealy-mouthed wuss incapable of finding his butt with both hands and a mirror?
Well, after San Bernardino the other day, he's recanted his statement that it was an act of terror. God forbid we should offend anyone by suggesting it was an act of terrorism incited by religious belief!
He cannot say "Radical Islamist" or "Islamic Terrorism" even when it's as plain as the butt in the mirror that that is what it is. Which is why he can't find his butt with both hands. He refuses to acknowledge what's right there.
And suddenly, in her bid to say anything to get elected, Hilliary is distancing herself from Obie-One and his failed policies. No doubt she'll say, if she hasn't already said, that the deficiencies that led to Benghazi were all Obie-One's fault. That Obie-One prevented her from doing many wonderful things that would have made America more popular and therefore more secure throughout the world.
He wouldn't approve the funding for additional security forces. He wouldn't approve the closure of the embassy. Never mind that as Secretary of State those matters fall squarely in her lap. She, as Secretary of State, was the head diplomat responsible for all things diplomatic - including security and staffing and so on.
Anyway. The question remains, will Vlad lose his cool and press that button that will lead to someone else pressing theirs?
I doubt it. Of all the things Vladimir Putin might be, stupid is not one of them. Cunning, yes. Ruthless, yes. Determined, yes. Foolish, no. Stupid, no.
Besides, I think Vlad can find his butt with both hands, no mirror required.
And, whether you like him or despise him, so can Donald Trump.
He is a smart man - a very smart man with, according to an article I stumbled across yesterday:
"Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and anthropology. Mensa doesn't accept SAT scores
from after 1994. However Mr Trump was a student at Wharton when it was
possible to derive an accurate IQ core from known SAT scores. Given
the usual requirements for admission to a top school like Wharton, I
estimate that Mr. Trump has a 156 IQ at the minimum.
http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2015/08/donald-trump-is-a-genius-but-thats-just-his-iq-3038790.html
Now, I cannot speak to that, but it's interesting if you Google Donald Trump's IQ. There are all sorts of articles, including one in The Huffington Post - a very left-leaning, Obama-apologist rag. There they give a passing nod to Trump's IQ but denigrate his "EQ" - the "emotional quotient".
Hon? Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can:
When it comes to dealing with the vermin of Daesh, I do not need some namby-pamby, mealy-mouthed, squishy-as-fresh-dogshit, in-touch-with-their-emotions loser.
We already have that sitting square in the Oval Office in the person of Barack Obama, and look where that's gotten us. Since he's taken the Oath of Office - which he has violated again and again and again by not putting America's best interests first and by circumventing Congress via Executive Fiat (Order) - we have seen terrorism flourish until it is out of any hope of control.
There is no way to solve or contain Daesh "nicely", as Obama and Clinton and Kerry have tried to do. These are not nice people.
We need someone who has no problem taking names and kicking ass.
We need someone who clearly sees the problem, defines a path to tackle and solve it, and then gets it done without excuses or apology.
But golly gee whiz, Phil, what if their feelings get hurt?
Excuse, me, but who the hell cares about their feelings? Who the fuck cares one speck about their religious or cultural sensitivity?!
We are talking about a group of people who want to kill us. We are talking about a segment of the world population that has declared their beliefs are tied to a single religion: Islam.
Given that, I cannot care one iota less about their freaking "feelings".
I am worried about families being blown up in airplanes and people being shot to death simply because they attend the "wrong" concert or office party.
I am worried about people down the street who might be plotting to kill me or my family or my co-workers or friends - or even other people on my street. I do not give one instant's caring to their "feelings" when it comes to one person or a group or larger segment of the population wanting and plotting to do harm to me or to anyone else.
We need someone leading this country who isn't going to lose sleep because our enemy has a hangnail or an ingrown toenail or is having relationship problems.
We need someone who doesn't give a flying rat's butt about what people think or say about him when he speaks his mind plainly and clearly.
We need someone who isn't afraid to speak his mind plainly and clearly, and who is going to lead from the front, not try to "lead from behind" which is what Obama has tried to do.
Is Donald Trump the nicest guy on the planet? No. But he might well be the smartest guy in the room when it comes to getting stuff done - problem solving, analytical thinking, the weighing of options and implementation of solutions.
And for me, and for a lot of other Americans who are hearing what he's saying and seeing the front he's presenting, he is the leader we need.
Not Ben Carson who looks like a really nice guy who's about to fall asleep.
Not Marco Rubio who talks the talk but doesn't convince me that, when the time comes, he will walk the walk.
Not Ted Cruz who is saying many of the right things but doesn't have the iron-clad pair that Donald has and who is beholden to the PACs and special interests who will determine what he does regardless of what he says.
Certainly not Hilliary Clinton who is as much a part of this disaster we're in as her former boss. Giving lip service now, after years of denial and ignoring and pretending it'll all just go away, is far too little far too late.
So, for us to go up against this:
I genuinely think we need this:
Now, here's wishing you a lovely, nuke-free day.
Best~
Philippa
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