If he did, the conflict with Iran would have escalated.

It’s more likely that someone in the intelligence services saw this assassination as Important to US interests and this found its way into the President’s Daily Brief. Trump probably has no idea who Soleimani was, and I rather doubt he even cares. He probably just saw the request and approved it.

In response to the assertion that Iranians are people of color.

Firstly, there are several ethnic groups in Iran. Iranian is a nationality, not a race, much in the same way that American is a nationality and not a race.

The majority of Iranians (61-65%) belong to the Persian ethnicity, which has less melanin in their skins on average than Eli Sanders has in his. If you met a person of Persian origin on the street and did not know their ethnicity, you would assume they were white. That’s because they are white. They even describe themselves as Aryan. Yeah, you know that word the Germans used to describe themselves? Same ethnic grouping the Persians claim to be a part of.

Dan, Eli and Rich claim this assassination only occurred because Iranians are people of color. Which Iranian people do you mean? And are we now applying the term “people of color” to mean anyone who is not of direct European lineage? Do you actually need to have any color to be a person of color, or is color just a colloquialism now? If a previously white person converts to Islam, do they become a person of color, or do they remain white? At what point does the definition lose all meaning?

3,

None of that answers the question. I wasn’t being rhetorical.

Words have to have meanings if any serious dialogue is to take place. We cannot have a discussion unless we can at least agree that the words we are using mean the same things. If you cannot define the term “people of color” then what is the point of using the term? And if you are using the term to refer to a people that see themselves as white, what is the purpose of that reference? Also, to refer to all IranIans as people go color ignores the fact that there are multiple very different ethnicities in Iran. And you can’t just smear everyone who finds this confusing as a white supremicist, because that in itself both waters down the meaning of the phrase white supremicist and implies that you aren’t using the term in any meaningful way.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say. And be clear about your meaning. Otherwise, you have no point, nothing to contribute, and you are merely intimidating your opponent into silence.

Which isn’t going to work on me. I don’t get intimidated.

5,

Oh. Jolly good. Carry on, then.

Desperate, heartless war criminals do desperate, heartless things. The Iranian government has placed an $80 million dollar bounty on Trumpty Dumpty's ugly head for willfully assassinating Iran's General Qassem Soleimani. ITMFA, and may the bloodshed of the Trump / Pence Evil Empire and mass extinction of the GOP begin.

I’m sure you feel really clever, what a rhetorical coup you’ve scored knowing the origin of the name Iran. You can google! Congrats!

But what matters is how the average American perceives the ethnicity of everyone from the Levant to Central Asia. And, bud, to Joe Dipshit ... they brown.

Google image search “Iranian people.”

Then open another tab and Google image search “American people.”

Compare. Boy. They suuuuuuure look different!

Are Iranians generally “darker skin?” No. But in the minds of the average American they wear funny clothes, have goat herder beards, wear head coverings and to them they are “ay-rabs.”

And that is certainly enough to kill them indiscriminately like we have other people’s throughout the region. Which is why many of us are just a little skeptical of painting Iran with moral absolutes.

Ps. This stupid “buh buh buh their Arayans!” only speaks to the stunted mythology of the Nazis. Not some miraculous link between a “white” ethnicity.

The Nazis also called themselves “socialists” but outlawed the socialist and communist parties and all labor unions (but theirs that ironically cut wages).

You may as well say the Republic of Iran are Republicans. But It’s right there in the name!

I mean. This hard on you dipshits have for demonizing Iran is absurd. Yes. The mullahs are “bad.” So the fuck what. We’re bad.

Invading, and occupying Iraq based on complete lies killing 400,000 mostly innocent human beings was bad.

I don’t vote in Iran. I vote here.

In my opinion, the only color that matters is orange - the color of Trump, and his infinitely-sized ego.
Trump, Trump, Trump.
Bullying, lying, dominating every freakin' news cycle. More Trump. Details at 10.
The fact that I'm even making this post proves the point. It's just a big circus show with our Orange P T Barnum at the center. Stay tuned!

@2: The bloggers at The Stranger have no idea what Iranian people look like generally, have no idea of the history of the land, the people or culture, and are never going to do any research to figure it out. That is just how it is.

They simply assumed that since it is in the Middle East, the people must be brown and therefore that is the only reason possible for the strike. After all, the killed general was kinda brown, right?

Basically anyone who is not a white American is an "other" in their eyes and therefore oppressed by white Americans. This is a dogmatic belief to them, which is why it is so hilariously nonsensical and self serving. Look at #9 to see how stupid and hysterical you get when you swallow this dogma all day.

@13 I don't think you know that "othering means. It's like how stupid people overuse the word 'narrative.' Somebody used it, you thought it sounded smart, so you throw it around like you understand it. It's cute.

So, Einstein, when's the last time you were in Iran? (Or anywhere else for that matter?)

I've been there. Iranians are people just like anywhere else. Good and bad. Liberal and conservative. Their government is oppressive. The interpretation of their religion is oppressive.

It's exactly the opposite of "othering" to see the common humanity in people.

It's not othering to know that America consistently engages in decades long terror campaigns in non-white non-christian countries. It's just a fact. Like the sky is blue. Or that you're a loser.

I know this: No Iranian has ever orchestrated and funded a coup de dat of one of my elected leaders. No Iranian has propped up and funded a secret police to press me. No Iranian has bombed one of my cities. Or invaded a country that neighbors me and murdered hundreds of thousands of my neighbors. No Iranian has ever shot down one of my nations civilian airliners in my nations airspace.

Your attempts at "no YOU'RE the real racists"are hilarious. Like you're the bold truth teller with a striking penchant for independent thought. But. Dude. You repeat almost daily the same stupid, debunked racist tropes in here found on ignorant SubReddits or fed to you by troll farms.

• I challenge you. All of you trolls to just try - TRY - for a week or two - to NOT post here and just try to experience the world. Just try. I bet you can't do it. you can't. This is all you have. *

"Did Trump Rush Into the Iran Conflict to Distract from Impeachment? "

Yes. Next question?

Trump assassinated an Iranian leader because he likes to pretend he's some sort of commander in chief with a grasp on international/foreign relations. He believed this action would get him accolades and help him get "re-elected."

Everyone was horrified that he did it. When it didn't get the response he wanted, he made up a bunch of bullshit and barfed it all over the place and everyone responded with an ever greater WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK???

Everyone in this country needs to be grateful that the rest of the world is well aware that Trump is off the rails and does whatever he wants. He's got a body count that's been climbing since he took office (Americans and immigrants) and the best we can hope for is that the count remains low instead of skyrocketing while he tries to soothe is insane, insatiable ego.

Biker McBike Face dear, he'll be lucky if he makes it to election day. The man is seriously messed up. Yesterday's drug-addled, slurred, sniffy, performance should have shown that. I think he's worse off than Reagan was, and that's saying something.

@17 Catalina Vel-DuRay: Bullseye.
@19 BigMac MAGA Bozo: Your hopeless drivel is equally meaningless. Is that your point?

You know what really distracted everyone on impeachment? Pelosi not sending the articles to the Senate. If she does, it would be front page news again.

Timeline of events leading up to the drone strike:
1. Iranian backed militias kill several Iraqis and one US contractor
2. US fires back and kills 25 militia
3. Iranian militias "protest" US embassy
4. US drone strike kills Solemani before he can leave Iraq. The US wouldnt strike if he was in Iran.

"Trump Furious at Iran for Distracting People from Impeachment for Only Two Days"
--satire by Andy Borowitz, New Yorker, January 8, 2020

“'When I did that drone strike, I was under the impression that it would knock impeachment out of the news for at least a month,' a visibly enraged Trump said. 'Instead, it’s Wednesday and we’re back to this Pelosi garbage.'

Trump said that he had hoped that Iranians would react to his provocation in a way that might have forced Democrats to forget about impeaching him altogether, but 'all I got for my trouble was a chickenshit couple of days.'"

I think that pretty much settles it, right there.

More at:

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-furious-at-iran-for-distracting-people-from-impeachment-for-only-two-days

@23 kristofarian: At this point, the only way to remove the toxic shit illegally occupying the White Trash House is to kill it. I wonder how many of the 8.5 billion people worldwide are eager to take up the Iranian government on their offer of an $80 million dollar bounty on Trumpty Dumpty's head.

Think about it----a foreign nation has now placed a bounty on the head of the current occupant of the White House who is supposed to be the President of the United States and represent the free world! That's how dangerously unfit Trumpty Dumpty is to govern. And he's LAUGHING about all the damage he's willfully done to humanity, democracy, and to the Earth.
Death to the GOP in 2020. The world can't wait.

@24 -- While I can appreciate the sentiment, auntie gee, fumigation thru extermination is what the Nazis did to the Jews.

Do you want commenters here following your lead when the Shoe's on the other foot?

Yes, he's admitted as much. And it helped shore up republican senators for his impeachment trial. Again, he's admitted as much.

Um Iranians are Caucasian. Thought Dan and Eli were smarter than this. Rich, no.

They're half Persians
Sreech.

"The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group that make up over half the population of Iran.They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language, as well as languages closely related to Persian.

The ancient Persians were originally an ancient Iranian people who migrated to the region of Persis, corresponding to the modern province of Fars in southwestern Iran, by the ninth century BC.

Together with their compatriot allies, they established and ruled some of the world's most powerful empires, well-recognized for their massive cultural, political, and social influence covering much of the territory and population of the ancient world.

Throughout history, Persians have contributed greatly to art and science. Persian literature is one of the world's most prominent literary traditions."

To be a Negro once required 1/4 or 1/8 Black heritage (depending onwhat state you lived it) to be Negro -- for the purposes of Commerce, you see. So we could buy and sell you, if they were 1/8 Black.

But, back then, who didn't have at least one 'darky'* in the woodpile (family genepool), somewhere?

If we call them Brown, it just makes it so much easier to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb them back to the Stone Age, and beyond...

*darky, once used patronizingly, then contemptuously,
has (largely) fallen out of favor

@26 kristofarian: Do you want another 4 years of Trumpty Dumpty's / Dencey Pencey's Evil Empire, after all the desecration and severe damage they have done in three years to the U.S. Consititution, humanity, democracy, and the environment in three years already? You're already worried about the shoe on the other foot? The GOP is INFINITELY more corrupt, aggressive, racist, misogynist, bigoted, oppressive, and violent than all the Democrats, Green Party, Independents, and their supporters COMBINED.
Seriously, kris. The dying Earth can no longer sustainably nurture all of its human inhabitants. There are over 8 BILLION of us, and growing. My question again: how many people from poor nations would love to see $80 million in their hands upon accepting Iran's offer and taking Trumpty Dumpty down?
And meanwhile, Trumpty Dumpty is all too eager to push the Big, Shiny, Red, Candy-like Button.
This is not a Ren & Stimpy cartoon on Nickelodeon. This is the shit that is coming down.

@31: I truly wish I could rock everybody to sleep now.

2nd AMD solutions're equally
inappropriate regardless of party.

Perhaps that's just me...

@33 kristofarian: I'm not pro 2nd Amendment. Please re-read my comment @31. I don't own, carry, or have a desire to carry a gun, kris. I'm more concerned about grossly irresponsible nutcases out there who do, though (i.e.: Clyde and Ammon Bundy, et al., for starters). And they're currently the ones beyond reasoning with.

What Ms Herzog missed (which reinforces her reaction) was that Ms Warren's question was a set-up.

Auntie Gee @34 -- then we're pretty much on the same page.

Other than:
".. the only way to remove the toxic shit illegally occupying the White Trash House is to kill it."

And -- "Do you want another 4 years of Trumpty Dumpty's / Dencey Pencey's Evil Empire, after all the desecration and severe damage they have done in three years to the U.S. Consititution, humanity, democracy, and the environment in three years already?"

I thought you knew me better than that, auntie, gee!

@36 & @37 kristofarian: Thank you for the clarification, kris. I was getting worried there for a while.
In my comment @24: "the only way to remove the toxic shit illegally occupying the White Trash House is to kill it", what I meant was this: How many average U.S. citizens out of 350,000,000 has Trumpty Dumpty cruelly screwed out of sheer audacity? How many would love to see this heartless inhuman monster and shameless fraud fed to large mutant sewer rats? I, Griz, won't lie: I sure would. Have I committed any treason to this country by openly saying so?
Meanwhile, how many counts of indictment has Trumpty Dumpty accumulated within the last three years? ITMFA!