Took an oath to do more harm.

https://bloodyelbow.com/2024/11/24/...-find-out-after-ufc-ko-of-the-year-contender/
‘The Doctor’ is an extremely fitting fight nickname for Shi who serves as a full-time doctor outside of her fight career.

 

Happy Holidays from Portland.

 

I've been playing the guitar (acoustic) since I was 6. This is outrageous:

More than 3,000 fake Gibson guitars seized at Los Angeles port


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Gibson guitars have been such a fixture in music history that rock-and-roll visionary Chuck Berry was laid to rest with his instrument, blues musician B.B. King affectionately named his “Lucille,” and rock guitarist Eric Clapton borrowed one from George Harrison to play the solo on the Beatles’ song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

 

A genuine "Chibson".

 

A little trouble in Syria. The bad and the worse.

 

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm."

 

https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-997c22ac93f6a9bece68454597e577c1
South Korean parliament votes to defy president by lifting his declaration of martial law

 

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The last point kind of contradicts the message, but oh well...

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https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/n...-fall-damascus-opposition/?intcid=CNR-01-0623
Syrians celebrate end of the Assad family's half-century rule after president flees country


A man tries to take a lamp as people search for belongings in the ransacked private residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Malkeh district of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.

Those looters are quick.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx89reeevgo
Where is Bashar al-Assad?

Bashar al-Assad has "stepped down" as president and "left Syria", his ally Russia says, hours after rebel forces took control of the capital Damascus.

The Russian foreign ministry gave no further details about Assad's whereabouts, but it was the first official statement saying he had fled the country.
...
Reuters news agency meanwhile cited two unnamed senior Syrian army officers as saying that Assad had boarded a Syrian Air plane at Damascus airport early on Sunday.

It noted that a Syrian Air Ilyushin Il-76T cargo plane took off from the airport at 03:59 local time (01:59 GMT) with an undisclosed destination.

According to data from Flightradar24, the plane initially flew east away from the capital before turning to the north-west and heading towards the Mediterranean coast, which is a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect and is also home to Russian naval and air bases.

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/n...-fall-damascus-opposition/?intcid=CNR-01-0623
Syrians celebrate end of the Assad family's half-century rule after president flees country

View attachment 337559
A man tries to take a lamp as people search for belongings in the ransacked private residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Malkeh district of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024.

Those looters are quick.

Whenever something like this happens, I think it's just going to be more of the same. They will only switching one tyrant for another. I very, very much doubt that the rebel army that took Damascus has a democratic system in mind ... it takes many generations for a people to evolve from autocracy to democracy. And I doubt Syria's gonna be an exception

 

Whenever something like this happens, I think it's just going to be more of the same. They will only switching one tyrant for another. I very, very much doubt that the rebel army that took Damascus has a democratic system in mind ... it takes many generations for a people to evolve from autocracy to democracy. And I doubt Syria's gonna be an exception

True but this is something that was inevitable. The Russians propped him up for warm water base access. It will be interesting to see what Russia will do to keep them.
https://www.reuters.com/world/russi...en-orders-peaceful-power-handover-2024-12-08/

The Tartous facility is Russia's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment hub, and Moscow has used Syria as a staging post to fly its military contractors in and out of Africa.

Losing Tartous in particular would be a serious blow to Russia's ability to project power in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa, say Western military analysts.
Russian war bloggers, some of whom are close to the Russian Defence Ministry and get more freedom from Russian authorities to speak out than military officials, have warned that the bases are now dangerously exposed regardless of what Moscow says officially.

https://www.bairdmaritime.com/secur...by-insurgent-advance-say-moscows-war-bloggers

Igor Girkin, a prominent Russian ex-militia commander who fought in Ukraine and who is serving a four-year jail term after accusing Putin and the army's top brass of mistakes in the Ukraine war, said Moscow's position in Syria had always been exposed from a reinforcement and supply point of view.

"Now our enemies have naturally decided to take advantage of our weakness at the moment when we are busy on the Ukrainian front," he wrote from prison.

"We are overstretched. The defeat of the Syrian side will also be our defeat."

 

Whenever something like this happens, I think it's just going to be more of the same. They will only switching one tyrant for another. I very, very much doubt that the rebel army that took Damascus has a democratic system in mind ... it takes many generations for a people to evolve from autocracy to democracy. And I doubt Syria's gonna be an exception

 

Taking advantage of the power vacuum to clean house.

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-832652
Israel says it will destroy Syria's heavy strategic weaponry

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would "destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defense systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles."

https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS...of-airstrikes-to-eliminate-isis-camps-in-cen/
U.S. Central Command conducts dozens of airstrikes to eliminate ISIS camps in central Syria

 

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Whenever something like this happens, I think it's just going to be more of the same. They will only switching one tyrant for another. I very, very much doubt that the rebel army that took Damascus has a democratic system in mind ... it takes many generations for a people to evolve from autocracy to democracy. And I doubt Syria's gonna be an exception

My point exactly:

Expert says toppled dictatorships have never led to democracies in Middle East​

 

Middle eastern countries are basically kingdoms, don't expect that to change anytime soon.

The best that can be hoped for is a less oppressive dictator and no fertile ground for terrorism...but I wouldn't hold my breath on either of those.

 

Middle eastern countries are basically kingdoms, don't expect that to change anytime soon.

The best that can be hoped for is a less oppressive dictator and no fertile ground for terrorism...but I wouldn't hold my breath on either of those.

That's exactly why we're using this opportunity to destroy as much of the military hardware in Syria as we can before the next dictator has a chance to gain control.

 

Elton John believes legalizing marijuana ‘is one of the greatest mistakes of all time’


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“I maintain that it’s addictive,” he said. “It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned—and I’ve been stoned—you don’t think normally.”