IT’S COMPLICATED:

Well, the headline is complicated. The reality is pretty simple: Qatar uses oil money and cunning to colonize the West.

FROM CAROLINE FURLONG:  The Guardian Cycle, Vol.1: In Dreams and Other Stories.

#CommissionEarned

A man whose debts must be paid by vengeance. A woman desperate to save her husband. A grieving father finding a young enemy soldier on his veritable doorstep…

These fantasy and soft sci-fi stories wonder whether or not heroes need families. Are we not told that families slow the hero down? Is it not typically implied that they get in the way of the adventure? Are they a burden, or truly the greatest strength from which the hero and those he loves can draw?

Six tales in this collection center on family, faith, and self-sacrificing love as men and women fight for the ones whom they hold most dear. Whether the enemy is inner turmoil, a nightmare, or a demon really does not matter. If the threat seeks to harm a member of the family, it is going to pay dearly.

I MEANT TO POST THIS HERE BEFORE. MY PERMISSION FOR YOU TO BE A REAL AUTHOR:  The Velveteen Author.

OPEN THREAD: You know what to do.

SHOT: “We fixed the part where men die in wars, and we didn’t fix the part where women have to go through childbirth.”

CHASER: Russia and Ukraine’s combined war casualties could reach 2 million soon, report estimates.

Meanwhile, that statement comes from a woman who never gave birth; the first words the Insta-Wife spoke after delivering our daughter were “That was great! Let’s do it again!” Of course, she had had an epidural, which means maybe we did “fix” that childbirth stuff.

WELL, THE CITY WAS COMPLICIT:

STAY TUNED: Iran’s Doomsday Clock Is So Close To Midnight, the Ball Is Dropping.

On the movement of assets front, the Lincoln is pretty much ready to go, and has gone dark.

And another carrier group is now on the way. Say hello to the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush.

That’s an awful lot of firepower. Included in those carrier groups are destroyers, submarines, as well as the jets on board the Lincoln and Bush. One destroyer, the Delbert D. Black, should be on station about now to help Israel with missile defense/intercepts.

As for land assets, Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that there were around 40,000 American troops stationed across eight or nine bases across the greater Middle East. That’s a lot of well-trained bodies to throw at a problem if necessary.

With regard to air capabilities, besides the planes on the carriers, we had all sorts of other not normal flights taking place over the last couple days.

Including, but far from limited to: US ‘nuke sniffer’ arrives in UK after Trump threatens Iran. “A US air force plane dubbed the ‘nuke sniffer’ has landed in Britain amid growing tensions with the Iranian regime. The USAF WC-135R Constant Phoenix jet, which is used to detect radioactive particles in the atmosphere, has touched down at RAF Mildenhall, an American airbase in Suffolk. It comes amid growing speculation that the US is considering striking Iran, following last June’s attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities.”