Category: Current Events

More Antifa News – Prison is in Their Future

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Down in Texas, the Antifa cell members that attacked an ICE facility last Fourth of July were sentenced for their parts in the attack.  The man who shot a police officer in the neck got one hundred years in prison.  The shortest sentence of the eight was thirty years for a conspirator who wasn’t present but hid evidence from the police.  The rest got fifty-year sentences.

Okay, no one, not even I can say that these defendants were treated too leniently.  That’s throwing the book at them.  And not only did they get what they deserved but this will be an extremely powerful deterrent to other Antifa gangs who try to act up in red states.  Of course, in places like Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, Minnesota the judges and prosecutors are leftists and very unlikely to punish Antifa to the full extent they deserve.  But even in these deep blue areas these sentences are going to throw the fear of God into these psychopaths.

It was interesting to hear how the shooter in Texas tried to justify what he had done.  He claimed that he shot the officer because he thought the officer was about to shoot one of the protestors.  So, in his mind he was the one defending the law and the police were the criminals.  Well, apparently the jury and the judge didn’t quite see it that way.  Maybe they figured that police officers were entitled to carry their guns without being shot by terrorists who were attacking a federal law enforcement facility that was carrying out its lawful activity of deporting illegal aliens.

I wonder how long the shooter will actually serve?  I looked up the federal sentencing guidelines and other than some small good behavior reductions he has to serve the whole sentence.  So, unless the next Democrat president pardons him he’s going to stay behind bars for the rest of his life.  And since he’s 33 years old that could be a very long time.  And I’m good with that.  That officer that got shot in the neck and his family probably aren’t upset that this nut will be safely behind bars for the better part of the twenty first century.  As for the rest of the Antifa maniacs that got very lengthy sentences, well there needs to be a penalty for being stupid enough to help a guy who’s willing to shoot it out with the police.  And they are paying hefty penalties indeed.  You rarely hear of fifty-year sentences for even some murder convictions.  I would say the judges were making a point.

Now without a doubt the convicts will appeal their sentences and that is something I’ll be keeping an eye out for.  The fact that it’s Texas this is happening in leads me to believe that even shortening those sentences will still leave the convicted Antifa members with a very long time to think over what they did.  So, this is a story where justice triumphed and chaos and anarchy took it in the neck.  About time.

NO PETS FOR YOU!!!! NEXT!!!

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For many years Camera Girl has been legendary among her friends and family for keeping an actual menagerie of varied pets.  She has kept insects, arachnids, crustaceans, mollusks, worms, marine invertebrates, salt and fresh water fish, frogs and toads, salamanders, various lizards, snakes, turtles (mostly tortoises), parakeets, canaries, finches, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits and decades of dogs (everything from Newfoundlands and basset hounds to miniature long haired dachshunds and German short haired pointers).  She even has adopted some local wild life having become a close friend to a crow pair (Moe and Flo), an acquaintance of a raven pair (Poe and Mrs. Poe) and a witness to the frightening visitations of a pair of hawks that habitually pick off the less cautious mourning doves at Camera Girl’s feeders.  So, it goes without saying that she’s no amateur at keeping critters.

This week it was decided that in deference to Princess Sack of Potatoes’ summer sleep over schedule, her request to add a hamster to the local zoo would be granted.  Now why the present rodent in resident (guinea pig Laylee) isn’t sufficient representation for that phylogenetic order (Rodentia) in the house I could not say.  But youth must be served so we headed off into the rain today to bring home a handleable (and cute) representative of Mesocricetus auratus also known as the Syrian hamster who will forthwith be known as “Chucky.”

And we were successful in finding Chucky and establishing her bona fides vis-à-vis “nipping” and were requesting the sales help to package Chucky for the trip home when a catch appeared.  We were asked to provide “proof of enclosure.”  Now this is a New England thing.  The states here are more concerned with the rights and privileges of hamsters than they are with the rights of people.  And it’s not even close.  So, what these two young people wanted was a photo on a phone showing the cage that Chucky would inhabit when we got her home.  Now Camera Girl and I both travel through life “sans phone.”  Other than a land line back at the Compound we are solely connected to the world around us through sounds produced by our mouths without any electronic amplification.  So, no phone, no pictures of a hamster cage.

This floored the young sales staff.  They said it was forbidden to send out a hamster without proof of enclosure!  I thought this was hilarious but Camera Girl was incensed.  Basically, they were accusing her of not knowing how to keep a hamster which from her point of view was a deadly insult.  She began describing in gory detail the dietary, housing and psychological regimen for hamsters that she had learned over the years.  She demanded to speak to the manager and know why this requirement had not been communicated over the phone when she had called earlier to find a hamster at the store.  The young sales staff were noticeably chastened and retreated to the manager’s office for more instruction.  And of course, the manager used discretion noting that the “proof of enclosure” was understood to be a way of ensuring that novice keepers didn’t get home with their pets and promptly lose them because of inadequate housing.  And of course, Chucky was promptly packaged and purchased and headed home with us.

But on the way home I quickly adapted the scenario into a variant of the Seinfeld episode “Soup Nazi.”  In my version it became “Pet Nazi” with a short mustached tyrant in a Pet Smart uniform shouting to customers who wanted to buy hamsters without cage photos, “No hamster for you!  Next!!!!

And this was a comical event but just multiply this aspect of life by a thousand and you get an idea of the suffocating nature of life in the nanny states of New England.

Father’s Day 2026

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So, I got every father’s Father’s Day dream come true.  I didn’t have to go anywhere or do anything at all today!  I slept an hour late and I ate a leisurely breakfast and I went outside to breath in the Summer Solstice air and stare at the sky and enjoy the experience of time standing still at the top of the solar roller coaster ride before it comes crashing down in the Winter Solstice and Christmas.  And it occurred to me that I would only be getting a handful more of these.  How many exactly, was a secret that the big guy upstairs plays relatively close to the vest but a dozen or two is an optimistic range.  From the point of view of probabilities even zero more summers isn’t that very unlikely.  So, I decided I should treat this occasion with the proper respect and commune with the spirit of the day.

So, I saw something I’d never seen before.  Two rabbits were standing outside of the living room window and almost nose to nose facing each other.  And suddenly one of them jumped vertically in the air and landed in the same exact spot.  And a few moments later it did the exact same thing.  I was very curious about this ritual.  Was it a male and female in some strange mating dance or was it two males trying to decide who was the bull goose rabbit of the area.  But I never found out because just then they must have seen me moving behind the window and took off (like rabbits).  I thought it was interesting how an animal with such a lopsided set of limbs could manage to launch itself so precisely square.  Its entire back remained parallel with the ground throughout its rise and fall.  Or at least that is how it appeared to me.  Well, you live and you learn.

Today the neighbors began delving into their Fourth of July stash of high explosives.  For the most part it seemed to be some kind of a series of about ten detonations in a row that seemed larger than fire crackers but smaller than M-80s.If I were going to guess I’d say it was some kind of a small mat of interconnected charges that branch off from a common fuse.  And this moderate sized munition doesn’t have a bad effect on the dogs so far.  They haven’t gotten worked up or frightened or even seemed to notice them so far.  But that is a temporary situation.  My neighborhood is sort of the Yucca Flats of fireworks testing.  One of the close neighbors (although because of vegetation cover I’ve never been able to determine exactly which one) must have access to fairly large thermonuclear devices.  The seismic events are somewhere around eight on the Richter Scale.  The fact that the recoil of the ground has shifted the orientation of my house by forty degrees over the course of the last few years is a testament to the quality of his firework merchant.  But Dunwich doesn’t have a noise ordinance or an atmospheric test ban.  So, I expect the show will be spirited this year.  Let the games begin!

To the Marriage of True Minds

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So, I was at one of those parties today and I met a bunch of nice folks and spent time with some old friends too.  And one of my friends was telling a story about a relative of his who had a job that involved a lot of international travel including Europe where he met his future wife.  And because of his desire to build up some equity in a home he bought a house in a town where he did not necessarily want to eventually settle down when he returned permanently to the US.

So, when he and his new wife took up residence in this home, he had his eyes open for his dream house which would include a huge garage that would accommodate his hobby of rebuilding classic old cars.  And one day he found it.  It had everything he wanted and was in the part of town he liked best.  So, he informed his wife of his find and that they should get ready to sell their house and move to the new location.  What he didn’t realize was that since moving back his wife had put down roots in the neighborhood and made friends and after moving to a new continent she would be devastated if she had to pull up roots again and start from scratch.

So, he stayed and had to forego the dream garage.  And my friend finished by saying that he had always been extremely shocked that his relative hadn’t insisted that they move in order to get the garage he really wanted.  So, I said to him, “But aren’t they still happily married?”  And he said “Yeah.”  “Well,” I said, “what’s harder to find, a good wife or a good garage?  And what are the chances of finding a second wife as good as the first?”  He chuckled and said, “I see your point.”

Now mostly this is just an amusing story.  The whole reason that his relative didn’t demand a move is that in any halfway decent marriage there is always a whole continuum of tradeoffs and negotiations that go on between a husband and wife.  We all have our “garage” that we want badly and also a laundry list of things that come ahead of it in the calculus of family life.  The kids’ braces come before that man cave you lust after.  A minivan has to be financed before the fishing boat you’ve always wanted.  Sometimes by the time it’s your turn to buy your heart’s desire, your heart no longer desires it.  Or you’re too old to put it to good use.

But managing to raise a family in today’s society and still being married to someone you like at the end is something of an accomplishment and I guess that was what I was trying to say.  It’s a trite saying, “Happy wife, happy life.”  But if you’ve had a happy marriage, it rings true.  Now before I get too sappy, I’ll append the classic answer that Art (Deputy Marshal in “Justified”) gave to the criminal when asked if he loved his wife, “Well, most of the time!”  But even that limitation admits to the fact that (mostly) happily married men recognize that even if a marriage is fraught with feminine annoyances the alternative is much sadder and lonelier.

Parties and Stories

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Tomorrow Camera Girl and I are double booked for parties.  We have a graduation party and a friend’s family party.  And they’re both at about the same time.  So, I suggested that we go to the graduation party for an hour or so and then head to the second one.  Camera Girl spent a couple of days telling me why that was a stupid idea.  And then she told me that we would split up and each go to only one party.

So, then I suggested we start off going to separate parties but then I would come back and pick her up and both of us would go to the friend’s party.  I think she wanted to hit me.  She shook her head and walked away.  I don’t think she understands optimization.

You see if I show up at a party by myself everyone is going to want to know where she is and why I showed up without her.  I’m not the draw.  She’s much more interesting because she’s telling stories about all the stupid things I do.  And when she tells them they’re funny.  Now I can’t tell stories about myself.  It would sound stupid.  I need a straight man to tell the story and then let me weave my defense.  It would be like Costello asking “who’s on first” without Abbott.  It’s just not the same without the cross-talking.

So today I checked my stats on Amazon.  So far, “The Sniper” has sold a total of 303 books (65 paperback copies and 238 e-books) and 3,657 pages on Kindle Unlimited.  On Kindle Unlimited my book is about 210 pages long so 3,657 pages is about 17 copies.  Not bad for about a month on Kindle Unlimited.  But I may have to cancel the yacht.

But the lack of fabulous wealth from my book sales has not dampened my enthusiasm for writing.  In fact, I’ve become much more excited about the sequel.  And what has me most intrigued is not so much the plot or even the new and old characters.  What I’m interested in is injecting more dialog.  Specifically, I want to get some of the characters to tell their stories.  And I know that this is backward.  The author is supposed to show the reader the story and not tell it. But storytelling within a story is an interesting technique that I’d like to try.  And I’d like to introduce dialog between characters about politics, economic policy, religion, traditional family, artificial intelligence, the war between the sexes, energy policy, the future of the human race, space exploration and a million other things.

Of course, I’ll have to be careful I don’t drown out the action under such a heavy soaking of blather but I think it’s time for my world to start exhibiting brains and not just marksmanship.  One thing I haven’t worked out yet is whether I get Connors and Grace to go out on a date.  I’ve been bouncing some stuff off of Camera Girl but I still don’t know whether any of it makes sense.  Oh well, the only way to find out is to start writing and see where it goes.

Antifa in the News, Finally

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So last night I wrote about the crazies who are practicing to be the next Lee Harvey Oswald.

In a related vein, Antifa has been in the news a few times lately.  The first major headline a few months ago was that a group of Antifa who attacked ICE in Texas were successfully prosecuted and sentenced to serious prison time.

Then this week up in Minnesota about a dozen more were arrested for both obstruction of law enforcement but also threats of violence against officers.

So, what we’re seeing is the Trump administration’s decision to brand Antifa a domestic terrorism organization and prosecute its members as co-conspirators is bearing fruit.  If one member has a gun or a knife but the rest of the gang funnel victims his way, he’ll get the lion’s share of the sentence, but they all get to enjoy a part of the jail term.  Nice!

But the latest fun news item came from James O’Keefe.  You remember that intrepid undercover reporter from his hilarious expose on Anthony Wiener and his wiener.  But also, for the work he did exposing ACORN as an NGO scam.  But in his most interesting new work his organization managed to crack into a New Jersey Antifa group called NJ BURN.  They got access to the Signal chat group used by this Antifa cell and managed to identify a large number of the Antifa members.  They were a mix of the usual students and dirtbags but also professors, computer scientists and even politicians.

Well, that’s got to feel like a kick in the head for these guys.  When law enforcement and the general public know that you’ve been supporting Antifa and a whole year of your communications including information on tactics and resources have been exposed, that can’t be helpful for a terrorist organization.  And it’s also kind of embarrassing to get outsmarted by a tiny media company that doesn’t have the resources or scope of the FBI or the Justice Department.

Anyway, my takeaway is that these guys are going to start feeling a lot more heat than they used to and the less radical members with actual lives may decide that going to prison for a few years is more of a commitment than a computer programmer cares to invest into social justice.  But the real breakthrough has been identifying the NGOs that have been supporting the “activists” who wander from city to city acting as the shock troops for these operations.  These organizations pay the rent, food bills, gas, transportation, legal fees and medical costs for the protestors and probably various supplies that they use in their riots.

I hope that in the near future we’ll hear of additional prosecutions and eventually this should put a real damper on the anti-ICE movement and if done correctly might eventually depopulate Portland, Oregon.  But seriously, I once again have to give Trump high marks for working his Justice Department through the maze of left-wing allies that have protected Antifa up till now and prevented these disgusting people from being locked away where they belong, in prison.

The Crazies are Reaching a Boil

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So, the Left has stirred up their unstable radical base and they’re now bouncing off all the walls of their mad houses and will soon be overflowing onto the streets in full force.  Here’s the early information on the nuts in Ohio, California, Missouri and Nebraska who were planning some kind of drone/bomb/sniper attack on the White House during that recent UFC fight there.

As far as I can tell they didn’t have any drones or explosives, just guns and bullets, but there are still more than a dozen other co-conspirators out there and maybe one of them was connected to a source for these more potent weapons.  But even if this plot was more ambitious than their skills and resources warranted, it’s clear that the Left, including the Democrat party and leadership is doing everything in their power to demonize Trump and his administration and nothing to moderate the terms of “resistance.”  They’ve been throwing around the terms fascist, criminal and dictator for years and now they’ve told their constituents that Trump’s policies are destroying the US democracy and must be stopped at any cost.  And the crazies are listening.  And now they’re starting to react at a higher and higher rate.

Well, the FBI and the Secret Service better bring their a-game from now on.  But what the Republicans should be doing is making commercials for the midterm elections emphasizing that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are whipping up violence against the president and that electing more Democrats to Congress will make this even worse.

And even though this is an effective strategy it’s also not a lie.  It’s absolutely true that the Left is intentionally agitating these emotionally and mentally unbalanced people in ways that they know will spark this kind of violence.  This needs to be called out and stressed in a way that will alert the voters to the choice they have.  If they don’t want Leftist killers roaming the streets defying law enforcement and assassinating government leaders and conservative spokesmen then they’re going to have to vote in Republicans.  That’s right.  We have to make the case that the stupid party is the lesser of two evils.  And once again that is not a lie.  We can’t tell the voters that the Republicans are good leaders.  We have to tell them that the Democrats are advocating armed rebellion and anarchy.  That should be enough to make the case for electing those Republican idiots.

So how many attempted Trump assassinations have there been five or six?  Well, let’s hope that the Justice Department is competent enough to protect the White House and the rest of the Trump Administration for the next two and half years.  That should give Trump the time to try and straighten out as much of this screwed up federal government as anyone can rightfully expect at this point in our history.  If he lives to get some good things done that might convince America to elect Vance and finally getting a third Republican term might be enough to really break the deadlock and clear away some of the rot.  Maybe.

Guest Contributor – Tregonsee – 16JUN2026 – An Alternative Iranian Plan

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I would love to hear the details of these plans, but so far everything I see is in the “Trust me its Good” phase. Trump is a skilled negotiator, unfortunately, the Islamic tradition holds that negotiating with those not in Islam (Dar Al Harb, the House or Abode of War, any nation NOT under Islamic rule in most interpretations of Islamic tradition) is forbidden except for brief periods and in those negotiations deception is not just acceptable but the rule. This is a culture far more dangerous than say the Japanese of the WWII era with their bushido code. That group took mass firebombing and direct destruction of 2 cities, and without the direct intervention of their Emperor (and luck having a coup fail) we would have had to fight on.

The terms need to be dictated, not negotiated, and enforced with a ruthlessness we seem no longer able to muster. At a minimum, these must include:
1) All enriched nuclear material must be handed over to the US within 30 days. Any nuclear material found in country after that period is grounds for declaring the treaty null and void potential peremptory destruction of the site.
2) There must be constant presence of US/Israeli (not IAEA the feckless boobs they are) inspection teams and they must be able to perform surprise inspections with 3 hours or less notice. Violation of this clause yields the same actions as in 1)
3) All missiles and drones of range greater the 50 Miles shall be destroyed and construction of them forbidden. The presence of the remaining limited range weapons within 100 miles of the Straits of Hormuz is forbidden. Violation of this clause results in the immediate destruction of the offending item by whatever means seems necessary and immediate termination of the treaty.
4) All tanks, IFV, Ships , and Military aircraft (fixed wing or Rotary) shall be impounded in such a fashion that they can be inspected by US National technical means. The removal of vehicles from said impounds without notification shall be cause for the destruction of the removed vehicles as well as ALL other impounded vehicles at the discretion of US/Israeli forces. Violation of this clause will indicate termination of the treaty.
5) The presence of Hospitals and places of worship shall be marked and provided to the Us/Israeli forces. The presence of any weaponry or military items in violation of the traditional codes of war for perfidy shall make attacks on such perfidious sites free of any taint of the violation of the rules of war and be a reason for termination of this treaty
6)The US/Israel may overfly Iran freely for military or national reconnaissance purposes without intervention by the Iranian government. Any resistance to this may (up to and including illuminating said vehicles with search or fire control radars) be met with destruction of said resistance by whatever means deemed appropriate. This constitutes a reason for the termination of the treaty
7) The government of Iran shall officially sign an instrument of surrender explicitly specifying these conditions within 14 days of agreeing to this treaty

Honestly, as draconian as the terms I specify are, I do not believe they would be sufficient, even if we were willing to follow through. The only safe path I see is an ugly one: reduce Iran’s technological level to the early 19th century and then let Israel target them as needed to keep them there. I really hate that, but a Germany/Japan like occupation is just not in the cards. We have neither the stomach, the experience, nor the troop levels to provide that kind of oversight. Our treaties with Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War have taught us that not responding aggressively to violations is problematic against this particular culture. We need to make sure the nuclear threat to us and our Allies (and it is NOT just Israel, the missiles used to attack Diego Garcia can also reach Paris, Berlin and London) is gone, and let the locals deal with Iran as they see fit.

The Cost of Ideology

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I know a woman who is extremely progressive in her beliefs and because of this orientation she is surrounded by people who agree with her on every single point of the narrative.  So naturally, she and her friends are squarely behind the Zionism = Genocide talking point.  But she has a very old friend who was also on the Left who is also Jewish.  And she was relating to this friend a story about a high school student graduating in America who was a Palestinian refugee and who spoke movingly about her experiences in living in and then leaving Israel and the Palestinian areas.  What she told me was that her friend became extremely angry by any attempt to portray Palestinians as victims and Israelis as aggressors.  She asked me if this attitude makes sense and whether she could somehow bring her friend around to her way of thinking.

I was adamant that her friend would never change her point of view about who were the aggressors and who were the victims in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  I said that to this woman the Israelis were more than countrymen, they were tantamount to family.  And then I went further and said I thought it was very likely that her opposing opinions might mean that this woman might not even consider her a friend any longer.

I told her that I have lost friends and had angry confrontations even with family over deep differences in belief and ideology.  I am of the opinion that family still represents the most important relation and must override even differences in ideology but the way forward involves agreeing to disagree and avoiding the subjects that will trigger anger.  So, I hazarded the opinion that if indeed this woman was now unfriendly toward her, it would probably require an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the difference and an agreement by both to avoid this irreconcilable difference of opinion in the future to preserve the friendship.  Of course, I’m not sure how good my advice was but it was my honest opinion.

So, what’s interesting about this story?  I think the radical nature of the new progressives is causing considerable strain on the Left.  Just as the trans-ideology caused rifts with feminists and even lesbians so the Gaza orthodoxy is causing a very considerable portion of American Jews to revolt against this plank of the Left’s platform.  And even beyond this there is someone like Democrat Senator Fetterman who refuses to reject the Israelis even in the face of incredible abuse by his own party.  So, if the radical fringe of the Democrats continues to control places like New York City and Los Angeles I think they will continue to alienate significant portions of the Democrat coalition.  And that is all to the good.  It gives the rest of the country a clear idea of exactly what the Left will do if they take over.

So, I ran into a case where the radical Left is tearing up old friendships.  Possibly this will give some people pause.  But either way it’s an indication of just how toxic this new radicalism really is.

Forty-Seven Years of Insanity and Counting

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Well, Trump says the Iranian war is over.  Hmmm.  How does that work?  Does Iran stop attacking its neighbors and does that mean Israel and Hezbollah are ready to stop trading missiles too?  I saw gasoline below $4/gallon today.  Is that because of these headlines today or is that just the latest price bouncing off of lower demand?

Of course, I’d love for this to be the end of this war.  It would give the Republicans a big boost in November and would almost certainly deny Democrats the Senate.  But it just doesn’t seem likely to me that Tehran will just back off and play nice.  It’s just not in their DNA.  But of course, I’ll give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt and wait and see if he’s pulled off a coup with this announcement.

I’ve always wondered just how dysfunctional the Iranian nation is.  Back in the 1980s they fought a war with Iraq in which a million young Iranians died during “human wave” attacks against a mechanized Iraqi army.  The stupidity of something like this can’t be overstated.  But now the next generation of Iranians seem to be completely directionless.  They despise the mullahs and hate their religious extremism and mismanagement of the economy but they have been brutalized by the Basij Resistance Force to such an extent that they’ve withdrawn back into their homes and have failed to organize any resistance of their own.

Think about this country, since 1979 their whole people have been led by lunatics whose whole plan is to restore a theocratic government that fell apart almost a thousand years ago because it has never had a reliable way of choosing new leaders and because its tenets are not conducive to a thriving society.  But at the same time, the strongest faction in the country is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.  The actual power in Iran is in their hands and they are in control of both the armed forces and the Basij Resistance Force that they use to control the general population and crush dissent.  And they’ve become so strongly ensconced that really the only way to pry power from them would be to send in an enormous army and defeat them on the ground.  And everyone knows we’re not going to do that.

So, what we have is a perpetual stalemate.  Iran spends its oil money on building bunkers in their mountains and filling them with missiles and drones.  And they use these weapons to supply Hezbollah and Hamas with the means to kill Israelis.  I guess the day could finally come where Iranians just get so fed up with their miserable lives that they rise up and murder the Basij agents with their bare hands.  Or the Israelis just get so good at technological warfare that they manage to infiltrate all of Iran’s bunkers and blow them all up at the same time and follow it up with exploding cell phones that kill the entire Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in one fell swoop.

But until one or the other of these two fantasies come true Iran will exist to nauseate the world of normal people that just want a sanity to prevail.