John Guardiano

John Guardiano: writer, analyst, investor, observer—the antithesis of an influencer. Retweets=1 of 4 things: news, interest, agreement, or disagreement.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

The American war aim in Iran ought to be elimination of the country’s Islamist regime. Worryingly, that does not appear to be the case.

The American strategy to achieve this war aim ought to involve three lines of effort:

1. Destroy Iran’s military capabilities and military production infrastructure.

2 Strangle the country economically so that it has no choice but to submit to American will.

3. Aid and assist opposition forces in Iran with weapons and communications technologies so that they can overthrow their country’s Islamist regime.

This aim and this strategy are utterly achievable. Yet it remains unclear whether President Chump understands this and is committed to winning the war.

Too often, Chump has seemed eager not to win the war, but to strike a “peace deal” with supposedly moderate elements within the regime.

Wake up, Donald! Smell the coffee and get with the program. Fight to win or don’t fight at all.

Got it? Get it? Understand, Donald? Good. Now get it done.

[Rich Lowry @RichLowry]

Many of the right-wing criticisms of The Odyssey are miscast. Yes, Nolan modernizes Odysseus for a contemporary audience, but what was he supposed to do?

Was he really supposed to show, among other things, the mythical Greek hero slaughtering unarmed suitors, ordering the execution of the household maids (after forcing them to clean up the gore from the massacre of suitors), sleeping around with nymphs, and abducting women from Cicones?

And we are supposed to believe that these gaps are offenses *against Western civilization*? That stringing up enslaved women by a ship’s cable or physical intimacy with a witch are what made the West great, such that it speaks to Nolan’s hostility to our own culture that he left them out? Please.

Now, the director does significantly soften Odysseus in ways that I think go too far, but, as has been widely noted, Nolan changes him in a generally in Christian direction, which isn’t anti-Western, either.

By the way, Nolan also toughens up Odysseus for a modern audience by not showing him repeatedly crying. If he had, he surely would have been accused of feminizing Odysseus, when the weeping is in the original. At one point, when he hears the songs of the Trojan War, he breaks down like a bereaved widow—i.e., cries like a girl.

The thing about The Odyssey being foundational to the Western literary tradition is that … it’s foundational to the Western literary tradition. There are all sorts of interpretations of Odysseus that derive from that tradition, ranging from Sophocles, to Virgil, to Dante, to Tennyson.

It’s the last, as Spencer Klavan has pointed out (in his voluminous and brilliant commentary on the movie) that informs the very ending, with Odysseus setting out for yet another voyage.

In this, Odysseus is the very embodiment of the questing, endlessly curious spirit of Western culture that has forged so many new discoveries and done so much to transform the human condition.

As Tennyson puts it at the end of his poem:

Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Here is the ambition and drive of every great explorer, and one of the best and most important elements of our culture. That Nolan makes this quality of Odysseus the punctuation mark of his film is another reason to appreciate his achievement.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

In other words: veritable losers in America.

People who can’t cut it in the marketplace but who nonetheless feel a sense of entitlement because of their inflated academic credentials.

Don’t cry for them, Argentina. The truth is they could never hack it.

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Income and education are usually positively correlated. But sometimes the relationship breaks down. What's the most Democratic voting group in America? People with post-graduate degrees but lower-to-middle incomes.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

This is a great and insightful point—very true, very important, and seldom remarked upon:

Israel has many enemies. The Palestinians have few friends.

[David Frum @davidfrum]

Reconstruction has scarcely begun in Gaza, only about 5% of rubble has been cleared. Almost none of the pledged aid to Gaza is yet flowing. The key impediment: donors (including Arab donors) require Hamas disarmament as a precondition for aid - and Hamas won't do it.

Humanitarian improvement is held hostage by Hamas, which has put its own dominance ahead of its subject population's human needs.

The Palestinian dilemma is that while their political movements are very successful at stoking anti-Israel odium, those same political movement's feel almost zero concern for the people they purport to speak for.

Israel has many enemies. The Palestinians have few friends. True friends would push for Hamas to lay down its arms so reconstruction can begin.

The strategy of "resistance" has failed again and again since the Arab Revolt of 1936. It's time for a strategy of "Take the deal even if you don't love it because it's better than living in tents waiting for the next war to turn out better for you than the last war did."

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

Chump’s problem is that he listens to the crap peddled to him by Iran’s highly skilled diplomats. Yet he tends to ignore the actions of its zealous Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The former may want a deal, but the latter have the guns and missiles and, quite literally, are calling the shots.

[Raylan Givens @JewishWarrior13]

🚨 WATCH: Q: "There are no signs Iran wants to stop fighting"
TRUMP: "How would you know? Why, do you know something I don't know? You don't know the dialogue behind the scenes; they want to meet desperately because they're getting decimated. You don't get that when you listen to your fake station. You don't know anything. You know something I don't know"

[Nikki Haley @NikkiHaley]

It is important to remember that yes, Iran struck our military bases and killed and injured many soldiers but who is giving them the satellite imagery to do so? China and Russia.

[Max Abrahms @MaxAbrahms]

US policy to Iran is adrift.

We are just engaging in tit for tat.

Our strikes are limited and won’t fundamentally change anything.

Throughout the limited strikes we’re told negotiations are continuing.

Iranian leaders say every possible thing depending on the person.

There’s no coherent strategy.

This current approach doesn’t seem likely to open Hormuz.

Meanwhile, any financial inducements will strengthen the regime and be shared with terrorists.

What a mess.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

🙏

[Jennifer A. Frey @jennfrey]

I'm asking for prayers for a successful surgery & complete recovery. It's been a long road to get here and I'm hopeful that we are getting closer to the end of these troubles. Even if surgery is successful, we are looking at 3-7 days in hospital & one month recovery at home.

[Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius]

A major reason soccer will never supplant America’s core professional sports is because we value physical bravery above all other attributes in our sports stars.

Curt Schilling’s bloody sock.

Ronnie Lott chopping off the tip of his finger so he could stay in the game.

Mark Bavaro dragging half the 49ers’ secondary while his broken jaw was wired shut.

Michael Jordan having the best game of his life with a 103 degree fever.

Willis Reed limping onto the floor for Game 7.

Lou Gehrig playing with ALS until his body said “no more.”

Dave Dravecky pitching so hard that his arm had to be amputated.

Kirk Gibson hobbling to the plate in the 9th.

Tiger Woods winning the US Open on a knee that days later required reconstructive surgery.

Kerri Strug sticking the landing on her busted ankle for the gold.

Sure, we have our LeBron Jameses acting like little babies, but the one thing I learned about futbol during the World Cup is that acting like a little injured baby is not only not frowned upon, it is ENCOURAGED as a strategic advantage.

Americans want stoic heroes who persevere through pain. Soccer ain’t that, at least not in the day-to-day elements of the game.

That’s why soccer will never be anything other than second-rate in the USA.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

lol What a fraud! What a hypocrite. What a tool.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

Maryland Governor Wes Moore attacks President Trump's nationwide school choice program at Randi Weingarten's convention.

Wes Moore went to a private school.

He sent his kids to private school.

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

“Even Dems agree.”

Yes we all know Democrats believe in the sort of economic collectivism that destroyed the economies of European and to a lesser extent blue states.

The job of conservatives in the next few years is to understand Vance has the same views as them.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

I’m not sure that the sentiment this gentleman is describing is vengeance. It sounds to me as if he is describing justice. And a thirst for justice is no sin. To the contrary, a thirst for justice is a virtue.

[Patrick Fox @RealCynicalFox]

There are moments in my life when I know I'm not being a good Catholic. This is one of them. Vengeance may be up to God, but it's in our power to accelerate that meeting for every member of the Islamic Regime.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

Getting up at 4 AM every day and doing a serious and debilitating bout of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is no one’s idea of fun. In fact, I dread thinking about it. And yet, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[Spencer Pratt @spencerpratt]

Isn’t it weird how unsubsidized consumer goods like TVs, appliances, clothes, all get cheaper and cheaper…while anything government puts its hands on, healthcare, housing, food, tuition, cars, utilities…just gets more and more unaffordable?

Oh well. Probably nothing.

[John Podhoretz @jpodhoretz]

The key thing about THE ODYSSEY, and why we need it now, is the reminder it provides us that Western culture has presented us with the highest expressions of human greatness from the get-go. It is the first story, it's 2600 years old, and nothing better has come along since.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

Good grief. This is so embarrassing—and so typical of the clueless and narcissistic Chump.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

😂 Spain won the World Cup — but somehow Trump still became the center of the celebrations

After presenting the trophy, the U.S. president apparently decided the champions' photo wouldn't be complete without him and calmly stayed in front of the cameras.

Gianni Infantino tried several times to usher Trump out of the frame, but Trump clearly considered himself part of the winning squad.

[John Guardiano @ResCon1]

Congratulations! I am so happy for you and Usha. Wonderful news!

Now, please resign from office and from public life. Spend more time—more quality time—with your family. They need you; the nation does not.