We don’t know a lot. Yet. What we do know is that a US drone strike hit Baghdad airport killing Qasem Soleimani (and one of his deputies), a top general and very powerful man in Iran. Additionally, the U.S. will be sending thousands more troops to the Middle East in case of retaliation. The State Department claims that the drone strike happened to prevent an “imminent attack” in the region that would put American lives at risk. 

CNN is quoting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, Kentucky) as saying: 

"Soleimani made it his life's work to take the Iranian revolutionary call for death to America and death to Israel and turned them into action. But this terrorist mastermind was not just a threat to the United States and Israel. For more than a decade, he masterminded Iran's malevolent and destabilizing work throughout the entire Middle East,"

And the Democrats seem to agree with Schumer saying that no one will shed a tear over Soleimani’s death. Although top Democrats, especially those on the Intel Commities were not briefed beforehand about the strike which is potentially problematic. 

Okay.  So those seem to be the general facts as everyone is reporting. Since both sides agree this guy was a terrorist mastermind I will take it on faith that his death will save innocent lives. But … now what? Well, the cynical side of me agrees with many folks who have pointed out that President Trump predicted this very event - for Obama. In 2011 and 2012 Trump tweeted that Obama would start a war with Iran in order to win an election. Here they are: 

@realDonaldTrump

In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.

1:48 PM - Nov 29, 2011

@realDonaldTrump

Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran.  He is desperate.

3:39 PM - Oct 9, 2012

@realDonaldTrump

Don't let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected--be careful Republicans!

10:43 AM - Oct 22, 2012

@RiegerReport

Trump on Nov. 16, 2011:

“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He's weak and ineffective. So the only way he figures that he's going to get reelected — and as sure as you're sitting there — is to start a war with Iran.”

8:48 PM - Jan 2, 2020

So, is this just a Wag the Dog tactic? Is Trump doing what he “predicted” Obama would do? Even though … Obama never did that thing, but whatever. Let’s just ignore that for now. 

War Presidents are popular. It’s true; however, I suspect the truth is … all of the above. This Soleimani guy was clearly a terrorist scumbag and I don’t care that he’s dead. The drone strike also helps Donald Trump in the popularity polls because war sells. So, I think we have a little of column A and a little of column B. 

To be honest, I don’t think this will lead to a full scale war. The U.S. launches drone strikes a lot. Probably more than you realize. Remember that Obama was and still is criticized for the large amount of drone strikes he sent out. Well, it was widely reported that in 2009-2010, President Obama launched 186 drone strikes on Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. In 2017 and 2018, President Trump launched 238 drone strikes in those regions. Again, Obama was openly criticized for launching too many drone strikes. And Trump has launched much more. So, this is nothing new, especially to the people living in said regions. 

I’m not going to weigh in too heavily with the “but drone strikes create terrorists” argument, even though it's true. But I will say that if Iran was going to start a war with the U.S. because of drone strikes - they probably would have already done it. On the other hand, this was a very popular person in Iran who is publicaly claiming that they will retaliate the U.S.

Let's hope cooler heads prevail. An all out war with Iran would be ... ugly. 

I got a lot of phone calls last week from the many people who have one of my numbers, not about the content but about the word I used to describe the House Democrats.  Retards.

Frankly, it was the only printable term I could think of at the time.

I certainly mean no disrespect to those who have, what we call today, learning disabilities.  Even the thought of comparing any of those folks to the vast majority of House Democrats—who are just plain stupid and unpatriotic—places an innocent person with a low intelligence quotient in a bad light and I certainly don’t wish for that.  You see, a person with learning disabilities, a low IQ and other issues can usually go on to live a good life and become a productive member of society.  They just have to work at it.  And many—if not most—of them do.

Not so much for the House Democrats who participated in the impeachment scam.

They and their faux leader are just plain stupid.  As we say in rural America, dumb as a box of rocks.  Also, mean.

Want to know how stupid?

Let’s take Tom Steyer from the billionaire left wing.

Here’s a guy who is real proud of his business experience as long as he doesn’t specifically tell the lefties whose vote he is courting exactly what that experience is.  The truth is he got rich the same way a lot of people do—private equity and hedge fund management.  You know those private prisons which ICE uses.  His funds invested early.

Yet he calls President Trump, who got rich building things, a “criminal in the White House”.

Seriously?

Also, he says that climate change is the biggest problem we’re facing.

As Kellyanne Conway would say, that’s a load of crap.  To put it in the words of the late George Carlin, “The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles … hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages … And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet isn’t going anywhere. WE are!”

But people will get rich on the hysteria.  And guys like Steyer think that’s enough to get them elected President.

Then, take Joe Biden.

When he was Vice President to Barack Obama, his portfolio included the Ukraine.  Yet he doesn’t understand why his neer’do well son, Hunter, suddenly popping up with a huge paying job with a suspicious Ukrainian gas company raises any red flags at all.

What a schumck.

Where do these people come from?

Well, trust me, it’s NOT like they are inspired by the concept of public service.  Many if not most of them simply look down on their fellow Americans.  They are under the misapprehension that we are too stupid to live our lives without their divine intercession.  They also like the money and the notoriety.

That’s where the Adam Schiffs, the Eric Swalwells and, God help us, the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ come from and they will decide they have what it take to be the top dog soon.  (Swalwell already has.)

What can America do?

To quote Nancy Reagan, “just say no” .   These folks may be worse than street drugs.  And the media will drop them like a hot rock if they lose a few elections.  The media may have its favorites, but at the end of the day, it’s a business.  No ratings, no money goodbye AOC and friends.

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Fred Weinberg is a guest columnist and the CEO of USA Radio Network. His views and opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of GCN. Fred's weekly column can be read all over the internet. You can subscribe at www.pennypressnv.com. This is an edited version of his column, reprinted with permission. 

Once upon a time, I had three “full service” phone numbers, plus my mobile number. Two (including the mobile number) were used for business, another number for personal calls, and the last for faxing.

Yes, faxing.

Faxes, of course, are yesterday’s news for the most part. But some companies and some individuals still use them, so I needed that capability. I also wanted to keep the other phone numbers active to separate personal and business activities.

But there was the cost of maintaining extra phone numbers, and I wanted to cut costs. My solution is as economical as I can make it without giving up those numbers and faxing capability.

So my fax number has been ported to Metrofax, but I got a somewhat better deal than the ones advertised. Their cheapest listed package, Essential, is $9.95 per month for up to 500 pages, but I was able to order a cheaper package, limited to maybe 100 pages or so, for $4.00 per month. I have to pay fees for extra faxes, but I’ll never exceed the limit.

Eventually, when the rare need for fax capability is gone and forgotten, I’ll terminate that number.

But what about the others?

One of the better VoIP phone providers, Voipo, offers a Could VoIP Phone Service for $4.95 a month. You get 500 incoming calls free per month and you pay one cent per minute for calls forwarded to another number. At worst, it’ll never be more than a dollar or two extra a month. So I ordered up two of these packages for two of the phone numbers, which were easily ported to the service. Calls from the personal number are forwarded to my iPhone.

The business number? Well, I also signed up for Google Voice, which is free for incoming calls and call forwarding. It sets up a valet or call screening system, so I know who is calling my business line, which forwards to the service. I also have the free Google Voice number. In turn, the screened calls go to my iPhone, and the phone screener alerts me that I’m receiving a business call.

So I have a grand total of four phone numbers (including Google Voice) for $13.90 per month above my wireless bill. Plus, as I said, another dollar or two for incoming calls from the cloud numbers.

At some point, I’ll kill the personal number and, as I said, the fax number, when they are no longer needed.

Now when it comes to printing, I long ago realized that there was no paperless revolution. Sure, magazines and newspapers have largely gone digital, but there are times when a hard copy is needed, so I had to get a printer.

The ideal solution is a black-and-white laser printer. It is much faster than the typical low-cost inkjet, and consumables are far cheaper per page. My Brother HL-L5100dn cost maybe $150 when I bought it several years ago. It appears to have been discontinued, but there is a similar HL-L5200DW for $169.99 available now at Amazon. The original and the new model promise print speeds of up to 42ppm. In the real world, you might get 25-30 based on my estimates.

Now the big expense for a laser printer, as with the inkjet alternative, is toner. If you buy the OEM (Brother) version, Amazon sells the required TN850 cartridge for $109.99 with a rating of up to 8,000 copies. But I learned long ago that third-party toner can be had for a fraction of that price. While your mileage may vary, most of the ones I’ve tried provide print quality just about as good as Brother’s cartridge.

Prices are usually in the $30 range for a TN850 compatible. I recently found a Kingjet compatible priced at $17.99 for a pair of cartridges. I’m still using the second, but it’s not listed as available at Amazon right now. So the best I found, in terms of price, was an EasyPrint selling for $17.83 for a single cartridge. But the product doesn’t have any customer ratings yet, and I’d suggest you read the reviews carefully before buying a compatible replacement for any printer.

For now, until the second Kingston cartridge is spent, I’m paying less than two-tenths of a cent per page, and I buy the very cheapest copying paper I can find.

In order to complete a recent project, though, I needed a printer with copying and scanning capability. I wanted to do it on the cheap, too, and I found a suitable machine. HP makes some of the best printers in the business, and their OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One is an ideal choice with a condition I’ll explain shortly. I was able to find it at Amazon for $49.89; it’s now $69.89.

As multifunction inkjets go, the 3830 is quite good for black and white or color prints, with average print speeds. But, as you know, color ink is expensive. This model uses one black and white and one color cartridge (other models provide separate cartridges for each color). Consumer Reports estimates print costs at 8.3 cents per page for black and white, and 32.6 cents per page for color. That’s on the high side, and you can see where the costs add up.

You can save roughly 50% on third-party ink. Unfortunately, I’ve had bad luck with compatibles for inkjets. But HP has a special service where you can actually save a lot of money on OEM consumables. It’s HP Instant Ink, and you pay monthly for a fixed number of copies. The supplied ink cartridges have a higher capability than the store-bought ones, according to HP, and they are shipped to you before you need them. It’s based on the number of copies you print.

A pretty basic Instant Ink package, suitable for most home or casual users, is $4.99 for 100 copies per month, or roughly 5 cents per page. That’s for either black and white or color. If you need more capacity, there’s a $9.99 package that covers 300 pages per month, or three-and-a-third cents per page. It maxes out at $19.99 per month for up to 700 pages per month, or less than three cents per page. You can also rollover unused pages to the next month. If you exceed the limit plus your rollover pages, you pay extra.

So I’m saving a lot compared to Consumer Reports’ estimates, which I’ll take as accurate.

Now getting color prints for pennies a page is a great deal, and is well worth considering. Yet there is an even more efficient option, a printer with refillable ink tanks, such as the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 Wireless All-In-One, which sells for $179.99 at Amazon and Best Buy. Replacement ink bottles are $13.97 for each of four colors. Epson rates yield from these ink bottles as sufficient to print 4,000 to 6,500 copies; it’s one-and-a-third cents per page for the former. Now we’re getting somewhere!

But an EcoTank printer has a higher upfront cost than equivalent printers with regular ink cartridges. If you print a lot of copies, thought, it won’t take very long to cover the extra cost. While I haven’t had a chance to test an Epson EcoTank, the company’s products generally get high ratings for print quality and speed.

But with my modest needs, such a printer doesn’t make any sense.

So while some of you might look to spending more money on tech gear and services in 2020, I think I’ve found an affordable solution, at least for now.

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Gene Steinberg is a guest contributor to GCN news. His views and opinions, if expressed, are his own. Gene hosts The Paracast - broadcast on Sunday from 3:00am - 6:00am (CST) and is the former host of The Tech Night Owl LIVE, which was on the network for ten years. The Paracast is still nationally syndicated through GCNlive. Gene’s Tech Night Owl Newsletter is a weekly information service of Making The Impossible, Inc. -- Copyright © 1999-2020. Click here to subscribe to Tech Night Owl Newsletter. This article was originally published at Technightowl.com -- reprinted with permission.

The most exciting evening of the year is coming and we start celebrating hours, even days before.  Champagne, beer, vodka, rum…you won’t find a venue without it. Unfortunately the pace at which alcohol is consumed can be just as deadly as the quantity. What you read below may be difficult to swallow, but it’s necessary to know to stay healthy.

What is acute alcohol intoxication?

Simply put, it’s alcohol poisoning. Alcohol consumed in high quantities and at too fast a pace will disrupt metabolic processes in the body. A healthy human body will break down alcohol at a rate of 1 oz per hour.  So if the average shot glass contains 0.6 – 1.5 oz. of alcohol and if one takes in 4 shots in one sitting, math dictates that the body will not be able to keep up.

Whatever the liver does not metabolize will continue to circulate in the body.  As a defense mechanism, your gut may try to throw it up, which is why vomiting is a red flag of acute alcohol intoxication.

Alcohol is additionally a sedative so respiratory rate can drop to the point of causing the drinker to become unconscious. Slow respiration coupled with high alcohol blood content will cause drinkers to have impaired brain function (loss of memory, acting confused) and dilation of blood vessels. This can hypoperfuse certain organs as your body tries to preserve blood flow to the heart and brain, thus giving the drinker a pale, clammy look.

Chronic alcohol intoxication could cause scarring of the liver called cirrhosis.

How much alcohol is safe to drink?

The CDC website defines quantities of alcohol as the following:

A standard drink is equal to 14.0 grams (0.6 ounces) of pure alcohol. Generally, this amount of pure alcohol is found in

• 12-ounces of beer (5% alcohol content).
• 8-ounces of malt liquor (7% alcohol content).
• 5-ounces of wine (12% alcohol content).
• 1.5-ounces or a “shot” of 80-proof (40% alcohol content) distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka, whiskey).

Women metabolize alcohol differently from men, so they are encouraged to drink less. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, a man should drink no more than 2 standard drinks a day and for women, no more than 1. “Binge Drinking” is defined as 4 or more drinks (woman) or 5 or more drinks (man) in a 2 hour period.

According to their website they state:

MODERATE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION:

ACCORDING TO THE “DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS 2015-2020,” U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, MODERATE DRINKING IS UP TO 1 DRINK PER DAY FOR WOMEN AND UP TO 2 DRINKS PER DAY FOR MEN.

BINGE DRINKING:

• NIAAA DEFINES BINGE DRINKING AS A PATTERN OF DRINKING THAT BRINGS BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION (BAC) LEVELS TO 0.08 G/DL. THIS TYPICALLY OCCURS AFTER 4 DRINKS FOR WOMEN AND 5 DRINKS FOR MEN—IN ABOUT 2 HOURS.
• THE SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (SAMHSA), WHICH CONDUCTS THE ANNUAL NATIONAL SURVEY ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH (NSDUH), DEFINES BINGE DRINKING AS 5 OR MORE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS FOR MALES OR 4 OR MORE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS FOR FEMALES ON THE SAME OCCASION (I.E., AT THE SAME TIME OR WITHIN A COUPLE OF HOURS OF EACH OTHER) ON AT LEAST 1 DAY IN THE PAST MONTH.

HEAVY ALCOHOL USE:

SAMHSA DEFINES HEAVY ALCOHOL USE AS BINGE DRINKING ON 5 OR MORE DAYS IN THE PAST MONTH.

What if I’m taking medication? Can I still drink?

There is no official list of what medications can be swigged with alcohol.  Some sources will incorrectly say “Tylenol” however one’s liver may not agree as both acetaminophen (its key ingredient) and alcohol may cause liver disease.  We suggest speaking with your medical provider first before drinking.

The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides a list of medications that could produce serious side effects when mixed with alcohol (even during the same night).  For example, NSAIDS (non steroidal antiinflammatories, such as ibuprofen), could increase the risk of GI Bleed.

How much alcohol is toxic to the body?

Any amount of alcohol may be toxic to the body depending on one’s baseline health and how his/her body metabolizes alcohol.  One drink has even been linked to cancer such as those of the throat and/or GI tract. So we don’t have an official “safe level” of alcohol to consistently promote. How we determine ranges of toxicity depends on one’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) which can be measured.

The following tables come from the University of Notre Dame, Student Well-Being McDonald Center…….

BAC-Specific Effects

Estimating Blood Alcohol Level (Based on Weight) – Males

Estimating Blood Alcohol Level (Based on Weight) – Females

Time Factor Table

Time is the only factor to lower one’s Blood Alcohol Content. Coffee, cold showers, etc… are all myths.

A Happy New Year should also be a Healthy New Year.  So be warm, dry, safe and have fun!!

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Daliah Wachs is a guest contributor to GCN news, her views and opinions, medical or otherwise, are her own. Doctor Wachs is an MD,  FAAFP and a Board Certified Family Physician.  The Dr. Daliah Show , is nationally syndicated M-F from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm and Saturday from Noon-1:00 pm (all central times) at GCN.