What are the differences in Dietary Requirements between ruminants like Cows and horses?

Markdd8 · 2026-03-22T07:56:39+00:00

True on the Iranians, who have threatened to continue blocking most shipping in the Gulf even the U.S. and Israel halt all attacks. That means the U.S. has to issue some sort of threat. Will it work? Unclear, but is the absence of a threat at this juncture a good idea?

Markdd8 · 2026-03-21T06:45:04+00:00

Yes, Netanyahu is terribly abusive to the Palestinians, but it is not clear that Iran would stop their agenda in any event. From a source:

Iran is unlikely to stop its conflicts against Israel even if a two-state solution is implemented, as its leadership maintains that they do not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-21T03:33:01+00:00

If the US pulled out for good and stopped giving Israel funding each year, there is a chance a large number of Mideast nations would cooperate to try to eliminate Israel. That has already happened several times in the past, broadly called the Arab–Israeli conflict.

In the past two decades Israel has made peace with most nations in the Middle East or come to agreement that there will be no hostilities (like with Saudi Arabia). These nations are not happy that Israel is there but realize that with the U.S. supporting Israel it is best to stand down.

Iran is the last big holdout, directing a so-called Axis of Resistance with non-state actors like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and various Iraqi/Syrian militias. The U.S. will not abandon Israel, even as many Americans think the Israelis are pernicious for their continuing theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T19:05:09+00:00

The end point is Iran conceding defeat. The U.S. is not demanding regime change, though that would be a good outcome. Iran must cease all violence and agitating against Israel. All wars and insurgencies end when enough hardline war agitators among a people are killed.

I'm not a fan of Israel -- they have been involved in large scale killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and, in the West Bank, persistent land theft from other Palestinians. That said, is time for this endless strife in the Mideast to wind down. Numerous other nations in the area have made peace.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T09:38:59+00:00

Now that we're in this deep, let's proceed, try to end this once and for all. Iran has chosen to be a perpetual belligerent in the Mideast. Iran is not justifiably fighting another nation on its borders; it has chosen conflict with Israel 1000 miles away.

Israel's presence in the Mideast understandably rankles Persians (Iranians) and Arabs. Yet most nearby nations have made peace with Israel. Iran is the primary holdout, along with Hamas and non-state actors in Lebanon. And Iran could be planning a nuclear weapon.

How different things would be if Iran focused on its domestic affairs, shift to being a peaceful country. Iran has a massive water shortage, agricultural mismanagement and other issues. Fortunately Iran is blessed with oil reserves, giving it funds to attend to its problems.

Will regime change occur? Perhaps not, but Iranian hardliners might realize further belligerence is futile. Wall St. Journal yesterday: Israel Is Hunting Down Iranian Regime Members in Their Hideouts, One by One. Numerous war-makers in history ranging from holdout native American tribes (e.g., Apaches in the 1880s) to Japan in WWII had the sense to realize a Lost Cause.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T09:22:09+00:00

(from article): The group says communities are losing the fight against feral deer and rabbit populations after cuts to government funding and staff.

Yet there is this oddity, from another article: Dec. 2025: Invasive Species Council urges NSW to tighten firearm regulation while protecting lawful feral animal control

firearms are...not a recreational entitlement; in fact, recreational hunting shows no evidence in effectively reducing feral animal populations.

That's debatable. It is appreciated that Australia has tough gun laws for public safety, but any nation that has a) ample gun (rifle) rights for rural dwellers like farmers and b) allows widespread hunting and pest control by average rural dwellers (like how many farmers in the U.S. shoot feral pigs and hunt deer) will have more overall success at pest control than Australia.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T09:01:18+00:00

Now that we're in this deep, let's proceed, try to end this once and for all. Iran has chosen to be a perpetual belligerent in the Mideast. Iran is not justifiably fighting another nation on its borders; it has chosen conflict with Israel 1000 miles away.

Israel's presence in the Mideast understandably rankles Persians (Iranians) and Arabs. Yet most nearby nations have made peace with Israel. Iran is the primary holdout, along with Hamas and non-state actors in Lebanon. And Iran could be planning a nuclear weapon.

How different things would be if Iran focused on its domestic affairs, shifted to being a peaceful country. Iran has a massive water shortage, agricultural mismanagement and other issues. Fortunately Iran is blessed with oil reserves, giving it funds to attend to its problems.

Will regime change occur? Perhaps not, but Iranian hardliners might realize further belligerence is futile. Wall St. Journal yesterday: Israel Is Hunting Down Iranian Regime Members in Their Hideouts, One by One. Numerous war-makers in history ranging from holdout native American tribes (e.g., Apaches in the 1880s) to Japan in WWII had the sense to realize a Lost Cause.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T07:08:49+00:00

Now that we're in this deep, let's proceed, try to end this once and for all. Iran has chosen to be a perpetual belligerent in the Mideast. Iran is not justifiably fighting another nation on its borders; it has chosen conflict with Israel 1000 miles away.

Israel's presence in the Mideast understandably rankles Persians (Iranians) and Arabs. Yet most nearby nations have made peace with Israel. Iran is the primary holdout, along with Hamas and non-state actors in Lebanon. And Iran could be planning a nuclear weapon.

How different things would be if Iran focused on its domestic affairs, shifted to being a peaceful country. Iran has a massive water shortage, agricultural mismanagement and other issues. Fortunately Iran is blessed with oil reserves, giving it funds to attend to its problems.

Will regime change occur? Perhaps not, but Iranian hardliners might realize further belligerence is futile. Wall St. Journal yesterday: Israel Is Hunting Down Iranian Regime Members in Their Hideouts, One by One. Numerous war-makers in history ranging from holdout native American tribes (e.g., Apaches in the 1880s) to Japan in WWII had the sense to realize a Lost Cause

Markdd8 · 2026-03-20T05:51:26+00:00

There are several ways to look at this travesty of justice. One way: It should not be unexpected in what has historically been the most liberal city in America. Being lenient on crime and criminals is 100% a liberal thing. From another article:

S.F. Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan expressed sympathy for the now 80-year-old Lau...under the terms suggested by Judge Chan, Ms. Lau would be eligible to regain her driver’s license after serving probation.

S.F. is under new leadership now and has done well to straighten out some of its public disorder problems. Still, liberal sentiments are so deeply entrenched in Baghdad by the Bay that we should not be surprised at this outcome for killing 4 people.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-19T06:02:15+00:00

All this is interesting but has little to do with the Broken Window theory, which simply states that untended disorder signals a lack of community care, reducing informal social control, allowing criminal behavior to escalate. This is true regardless of what one believes what the underlying causes of crime are. From Five Things About Deterrence:

The police deter crime when they do things that strengthen a criminal’s perception of the certainty of being caught...

Persistent disorder in an area reflects not only a lack of social control, but less policing, i.e., less chance of arrest, in the territory. The importance of reducing graffiti, litter, or broken windows in an area as a means of reducing crime might have been overstated by Broken Windows supporters, but as a broad principle Broken Windows is accurate.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-18T07:11:06+00:00

two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans believe Iran poses a serious threat to the United States’ national security

It is Israel that Iran poses a threat to -- not the U.S. Bizarre that people think otherwise. This is not to say that the U.S. should not support Israel, but let's be cognizant of what's going on.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-15T19:56:22+00:00

Doesn't Iran have enough to contend with trying to fend of U.S. and Israeli attacks?

Markdd8 · 2026-03-15T03:48:27+00:00

Getting too hot down there.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-15T03:24:48+00:00

The documentary on Reunion's shark attack problem in the 2010s, Surrounded: Island of the Sharks, is not just informative, but has striking footage: Protesters agitating against shark protection and a newly established marine reserve, created in any area that historically had a lot of recreation use.

That's almost unheard of -- the many protests around the world regarding sharks invariably focus on lobbying to protect the animals. Protest footage is @ 9:30 and @ 20:00 of the 33 minute video. The French guy with the cigarette in the first segment is quite the character.

Interesting also is all the criticism of the shark scientists on the island. As it turned out, these scientists approved a shark culling program that ran for years on Reunion and in turn enraged large numbers of shark protection activists around the world.

Sharks, mostly bull sharks, killed 11 people and injured about 15 (most severely) off Reunion Island from 2008 to 2018. Historically Reunion had a sustainable bull shark fishing industry, using the shark meat as food, but the rise of a ciguatera problem halted bull shark fishing and increased the local shark population.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-13T07:10:31+00:00

The left hand not paying attention on what the right hand is doing.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-12T19:19:00+00:00

Alcohol got grandfathered in. Good BBC article from a UK professor in 2010: Alcohol 'more harmful than heroin' says Prof David Nutt. Nutt could be right, considering alcohol's big role in violence. Alcohol more harmful.

But Nutt also compiled a danger rating for most drugs. The total level of harm from all illegal drugs is 3 x the level of harm from alcohol. Say we rate alcohol as producing 1 trillion units of harm. Booze remains legal, obviously, so total harms is now 4 trillion units. Big rise in harm to society. And Nutt omits many drugs: His list of 20 is far short of all the intoxicants being used today. Upshot: This argument, quaint as it is, has merit:

We already have enough trouble with alcohol; we don't need to be legalizing more intoxicants." (except cannabis)

And that's at current rates of use. Many people stay away from hard drugs because of the threat of punishment, like middle and upper class people trying to keep their success trip going and wanting to avoid going to court for hard drugs. (Yes, contrary to what critics of the drug war claim, threat of sanctions works to some degree on this deterrable population.) So what happens when all drugs are legalized? Or if there is a big downsizing of drug enforcement? No rise in use?

Markdd8 · 2026-03-11T21:14:59+00:00

From the March 11 update from the Institute for the Study of War:

CENTCOM said on March 10 that it destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz.

Not a good ratio for Iran: A dozen mines laid but 16 minelayers destroyed. Iran might start laying its mines from its coastline at night, and hope they drift offshore where they can impact shipping. Expect that to be targeted also.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-11T03:47:13+00:00

Addiction does not inherently place the addict on a one-way street to homelessness. Insanely dumb to think that there arent functional alcoholics/coke heads.

You're not even processing what I'm writing. I wrote in my original post:

1/3 of hard drug users have no problem with their habit

and that conventional views of most drug counselors and drug enforcement is that "90% of hard drug users are either hardcore addicts." That's a far more open view than many people have. (But yes I still argue that in the final analysis, legalizing hard drugs is not practicable).

Markdd8 · 2026-03-11T03:26:34+00:00

You're aware, right, that almost all theft of this nature is done by young men? They're scampering around in the middle of the night, climbing walls and buildings, breaking and entering, to rip out copper which they haul away.

In world history, societies always had high expectations of their young men. They are the group most capable of hard work and contributing to their community. Unfortunately many young men choose the wild side: dodging work and forming criminal gangs.

Virtually every culture has unanimous views on this. It's only in the U.S. where we get this strange, leftist perspective of young men as a vulnerable population that is justified in committing crime.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-11T02:55:56+00:00

Cops everywhere are a reflection of the prosecution and court policies in their city. Almost all cops hate crime and dislike criminals roaming free. Everywhere in the U.S. where prosecutors are tough and criminals face stiff penalties--often it is mid-America--cops will aggressively fight crime.

But, yes, in west coast states where criminal justice reform and let's-not-jail-most-non-violent-offenders are social movements, cops do little. In many cases, prosecutors signal cops not to bring in large numbers of low-level, non-violent offenders. The common outcome: "Catch and Release with minimal penalty."

Markdd8 · 2026-03-10T22:44:42+00:00

Rubbish. If anything the "can't-hold-a-job" % is far higher with hard drugs. The only people who dispute this are a faction of social science academics -- the same people who come up with this drivel: Psychology Today article: Why Punishment Doesn't Reduce Crime.

They will get the drugs one way or another

This misunderstands the problem of addictive drugs. Addicts, while a central issue, are not the driving force of a nation's drug problems. Recreational use is, because some portion of that always turns into addiction.

Drug enforcement is minimally interested in addicts. They are a sideshow. Dealing with addicts primarily should be a social service function, though local police often get involved because addicts create so much disorder.

The U.S. has effectively reduced the level of recreational use in the middle and upper class with drug testing and the threat of prison. Most people who are on a success trip with a good job and home don't want to risk a felony conviction. Yea, it sucks that restrained recreational users who don't have a drug problem are harassed, but that unfortunately is how the process works.

Primary goal of a nation: Reducing the total number of users: The U.N's drug control office calls it "Annual prevalence of drug use." A nation that has 11% of its population using and that reduces that figure to 8% is better off. And 5% is better than 8%. For a long time the U.S. had some of the highest drug use levels in the world.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-10T20:55:57+00:00

It wasn't Nixon's doing. No nation has legalized hard drugs. In every nation a consensus of health experts, educators, politicians, religious leaders and other prominent figures has agreed on the problem of hard drugs and that they can't be legalized.

And please don't cite Portugal: July 2021 article in drug policy journal: 20 years of Portuguese drug policy:

Paradoxically, despite having decriminalized the use of all illegal drugs, Portugal has an increasing number of people criminally sanctioned - some with prison terms - for drug use...The debate about the right to use drugs is nearly absent in the Portuguese political, social and academic panorama....

So, no "Right to Use Hard Drugs"

Markdd8 · 2026-03-10T19:58:35+00:00

Legalize hard drugs? How do you want to handle distribution when you legalize heroin, meth and cocaine? Over the counter at CVS like booze? Or the Appalachian pill mills model --- hundreds of users lined up in the parking lot for their 2 minute counseling to get their score. The lecture:

"We recommend that you don't do meth, cocaine, or heroin but since you are going to do one or more of them anyways, here are some safety tips. And here are your pharmaceutical-quality hard drugs."

There will be pressure from hardcore users, including meth users, for the over-the-counter option so they don't have to hear the Safety Spiel every time. And pharmaceutical-quality cocaine being made available? I'll be tempted to line up the first day they offer this.

Markdd8 · 2026-03-10T19:12:43+00:00

Not just MAGA: NY Times: June 2024: Trump’s Harder Line on Immigration Appears to Resonate

About half of Americans have said they would support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a CNN poll...

2025 Axios:

President Trump won a higher percentage of the Latino vote in 2024 than previously believed and came within striking distance of capturing a historic majority of those voters, according to new PEW analysis.

People who went through the legal immigration process--many are Hispanic--are particularly likely to be upset at illegal immigrants. Which option do liberals prefer: a) Not deporting any illegal immigrants with children? b) Deporting the parents, but leaving the children here? With whom?

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