Murderer Most Foul!

Finally someone in charge is putting some blame on those Afghanis that enabled the Taliban.

Laraine Newman liked my response.

He has been summoned.https://t.co/H4bpIme83W

— Edwin (@EdMix13) August 31, 2021

re: #4 gocart mozart

Laraine Newman liked my response.

“Caaaaandygram …”
“Pizza delivery.”
“I’m just a dolphin, ma’am.”

from downstairs

i dont know much about this stuff admittedly
why do they use each other as protection/cover? i mean aside from their size

Let’s check in on how it’s going at ACME Combat Training, Cryptocurrency and Supplements: https://t.co/wuy0Iu2bks

— tsam (@tsam1000) August 31, 2021

re: #68 lawhawk

It’s time to mute Nate Silver.

He’s a sports data guy, who doesn’t get much outside of his wheelhouse.

The reality is that what he thinks is substantial new burdens is masking, eating outdoors, and limiting ways covid can spread.*

The reality is that Duke is an island surrounded by people who aren’t vaccinating and aren’t taking steps to prevent spread of covid. Duke has to protect its own, and the best way to do it is with minimal steps, like masks, outdoor eating, and insisting on vaccinations.

The problem remains that the GOPers around the nation are undermining the public health response at every turn, and if we listened to those experts we would not be in the mess we’re in.

*nate is also ignoring that the asymptomatic vaccinated can still be carriers

re: #7 Dangerman

*nate is also ignoring that the asymptomatic vaccinated can still be carriers

That’s the big issue.

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

When wishful thinking moves up the chain of command, it takes on solidity and a high polish.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

Such a quick collapse just looks bad. Like seeing your ex with a new partner a week after you break up.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

Wasn’t the State Department’s report saying it would be a couple of months?

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

I’m sure that there was no-one at the Pentagon who wanted to tell the President that 20 years of nation building had been a complete and utter waste. Humans have vast powers of rationalization and wishful thinking.

If you’re curious why NBC’s Richard Engel is so upset about the US withdrawing from Afghanistan, he talks honestly in his book War Journal about how he knew the Iraq War was going to be great for the careers of people like him https://t.co/0KXEOCNuKL pic.twitter.com/yUGCVQwFxu

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) August 30, 2021

My guess is that there will be more US coverage of Afghanistan over the next year than there was in the previous ten years combined. “The Hideous Cost of Joe Biden’s Abandonment of Afghan Democracy,” etc.

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) August 31, 2021

re: #7 Dangerman

*nate is also ignoring that the asymptomatic vaccinated can still be carriers

Asymptomatic vaccinated people can become symptomatic vaccinated people who can become hospitalised symptomatic people who can become ICU-case symptomatic people, if there are enough asymptomatic vaccinated people to start with. Vaccines aren’t magic, they’re the best thing we’ve got though even if all they can do is reduce the chances of infection and bad results.

re: #14 Belafon

[Embedded content]

Benghazafghanistan!

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

That’s the conclusion I’ve reached in the past week, which is based largely upon our track record over the past century. We didn’t really have to do too much to slap together standing armies in Germany or Japan in the wake of WWII because both were industrialized nations with long histories of fielding modern military forces. In virtually every other example, the moment we leave the fighting to the locals, they either tuck tail and run or they start working for the other side. South Vietnam collapsed so quickly that we barely got 7000+ people out by the time Saigon fell, while we had to surge troops back into Iraq to halt the advance of ISIS after the Iraqi Army drops their rifles and ran away.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I think Joe is floating the idea that while we suspected that the Afghan Government and Law Enforcement and Military structure that we supported was suspect, we assumed that some kind of self-interest would be evident as the people in charge and with the weapons and training would fight for themselves and their loved ones. Apparently we (the US, its allies, the media) were completely wrong about that as the structures built were more facades than anything else based on how their leadership took their cues from what the 45 Administration put in motion and the 46 carried out.

I still have to remind myself that there’s an element here where the Afghans had an opportunity to support the framework that we gave them to become real partners, build a real government but neither had the fortitude or desire to do so. A good part of that could be on us as to who we chose to elevate and work with… did we just find people compliant who would take our money and steal half of it and smile and nod or was there really no desire to establish a modern government with real democratic values by those who were involved in this proxy government?

re: #9 Charles Johnson

How much of this is also due to the fact that Trump delayed the transition, the GOP slow-rolled confirmations on State Department and DoD and natsec positions (not just the Secretary level, but other confirmation positions)? If you’ve got holdovers and those who are not looking out for Biden’s best interests, they can feed a rosy picture that is unsupported by the facts.

It’s also quite likely that we just didn’t capture how bad things were in Afghanistan that it would collapse like a house of cards in hours, which is a major intel failure all of its own. Why would they fail like that? Why would no one see those warnings signs?

And yet, even with the swift collapse, the admin managed to pivot to fly out more than 120,000 in a short period of time.

re: #15 Nojay UK

Asymptomatic vaccinated people can become symptomatic vaccinated people who can become hospitalised symptomatic people who can become ICU-case symptomatic people, if there are enough asymptomatic vaccinated people to start with. Vaccines aren’t magic, they’re the best thing we’ve got though even if all they can do is reduce the chances of infection and bad results.

I posted that tweet, not so much for Nate’s take, but to demonstrate the power of universal vaccination. With a 98% vaccination rate on campus, there were zero hospitalizations among 15,000 people. If we had gotten full buy in for vaccination nationally, this thing would be all but over.

re: #14 Belafon

[Embedded content]

Sept 11th this year is gonna be one long string of stories and specials about how we lost the “War on Terror” this week, not because fighting a tactic is impossible and it was a massive waste, but because “THE TALIBAN IS BACK IN POWER!!!”

QL’ed

Naturopath in Canada barred from LITERALLY MAKING PILLS OUT OF SHIT IN HIS “HOME LAB” to sell to the desperate, misguided parents of #autistic kids for $15,000. https://t.co/I9hjut7Vaa

— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) August 31, 2021

You know it’s bad when even the naturopath licensing board is saying this quackery is a bridge too far.

Tone police are toning… and policing.

I’d be angry too when you’re tone policing that he’s doing what the American people wanted overwhelmingly so, that was initiated by Trump w/his Taliban deal that kneecapped the regime in Kabul, and rescued 120,000+ on the way out when journalists were saying it couldn’t be done.

— lawhawk #vaxxingforafriend (@lawhawk) August 31, 2021

re: #11 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Such a quick collapse just looks bad. Like seeing your ex with a new partner a week after you break up.

unless it was True Love, i’d be thinking ‘poor bastard’

re: #15 Nojay UK

Asymptomatic vaccinated people can become symptomatic vaccinated people who can become hospitalised symptomatic people who can become ICU-case symptomatic people, if there are enough asymptomatic vaccinated people to start with. Vaccines aren’t magic, they’re the best thing we’ve got though even if all they can do is reduce the chances of infection and bad results.

which is why nate should stick to sports

re: #16 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Benghazafghanistan!

banana stand

Yeah, Joe, but couldn’t you have done this better?
///

re: #21 Targetpractice

Sept 11th this year is gonna be one long string of stories and specials about how we lost the “War on Terror” this week, not because fighting a tactic is impossible and it was a massive waste, but because “THE TALIBAN IS BACK IN POWER!!!”

Yeah that’s gonna suck. but Fox will be Fox. The real terror danger is Fox viewers or those that switched to OAN. And it’s way past time for us to (a) argue so much about our own leadership, yet think we should (b) pick it for distant foreign peoples.

IMHO, when the sum total of the analysis of the past two weeks (and really the past 18 months) are reviewed, the conclusion will be that Trump set Biden up with an impossible task. He deliberately drew down troop numbers to a level that made holding the country impossible, knowing that any increase in numbers would not only set the “liberal media” off on a tangent about prolonging the war but also effectively shred the “agreement” with the Taliban which would mean a resumption of hostilities. But trying to operate within the constrained numbers Trump left him meant gambling on reports that turned out to be overly optimistic about the situation on the ground.

Kobayashi Maru.

re: #27 stpaulbear

Yeah, Joe, but couldn’t you have done this better?
///

Trump would have made the Taliban pay for the evacuation!!!

re: #2 Teddy’s Person

Teddy looks like you just told him that your favorite album is “Tusk”.

re: #30 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Trump would have made the Taliban pay for the evacuation!!!

Trump would have evacuated the military people, told the Americans to get out, and left everyone else behind.

re: #30 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Trump would have made the Taliban pay for the evacuation!!!

Like I noted downstairs, this is part of the whole bad faith offensive being waged by the “liberal media.” They know that Trump was never going to go through with the withdrawal, that as soon as the election ended or as soon as he realized the optics of leaving in May would look absolutely terrible, he would have shredded the “deal” and surged troops back in to applause for “protecting the Afghan people from the Taliban!”

re: #26 Dangerman

banana stand

i keep using that because, well Afghanistan
and we saw the movie (the hot rock) two weeks ago

re: #29 Targetpractice

i think that this is an excellent take and I have to give Trump “credit” for this malicious bit of political sabotage as a political strategy, but speaking as a human being and not a member of the 4th estate, those were real people that died, US and Afghan alike, who wanted nothing more than to move on and start over somewhere else. Kind of sad that the best Republican penchant is a skill to fuck over everyone else (and sometimes even themselves) and pay little public cost for it.

As far as we know, the Taliban acted in their own self-interest and ISIS is doing what religious fanatics do, try to elicit a response that allows them to point to the evils of those responding, and not those performing said initial heinous deed because in the eyes of ISIS, they deserved to die anyway, so why not as a method for us to create more “believers”.

re: #21 Targetpractice

Sept 11th this year is gonna be one long string of stories and specials about how we lost the “War on Terror” this week, not because fighting a tactic is impossible and it was a massive waste, but because “THE TALIBAN IS BACK IN POWER!!!”

We lost the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror… maybe we should stop going to war against nouns?

(joke stolen from somewhere online, can’t remember where)

I tend to wince a bit at Biden’s bragging about our military capabilities. Maybe it’s just his way of saying fuck around and find out, but is always sounds like he’s saying it to every other country, including our allies.

I wish he’d start finding ways of saying it more to US politicians.

re: #32 Belafon

Trump would have evacuated the military people, told the Americans to get out, and left everyone else behind.

Evacuating Americans would be the key to reviving Trump Airlines (or whatever the fuck it was/is called). He’d charge $10,000 a head to show up that piker, Eric Prince.

Another reason that Trump would never go through with the withdrawal? The isolationists would never hold it against him (they hadn’t done so with Syria, so why start now?), while the xenophobes would love him for keeping our Afghan allies “over there” instead of going through with promises to evacuate them.

re: #34 Dangerman

i keep using that because, well Afghanistan
and we saw the movie (the hot rock) two weeks ago

My mind goes to Arrested Development.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

+1

lol

F.U. I won’t do what you tell me. pic.twitter.com/aLasvWypaQ

— Tom Morello (@tmorello) July 8, 2019

Wars Can Be Won. Permanent Occupations Cannot. Headline of David Atkins’ article in Washington Monthly.
washingtonmonthly.com

“Biden should have held Bagram, held Kabul, and kept tens of thousands safe! That he didn’t do that is a failure of leadership!”

“How was he supposed to do that with the 2,500 soldiers that Trump left him with?”

“Fuck you, that’s how!”

Weird and Amazing Things

With skis this would be an aerosan, which were actually widely used by the Soviets in World War ii. Also a favorite of present day modelers:

re: #45 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo

Weird and Amazing Things

[Embedded content]

These machines are first cousins to the airboats found in swamps and bayous in the US.

“Please Sir, I want some war.” pic.twitter.com/NC9ywLqhN4

— Mike B (@MadHominem) August 31, 2021

re: #45 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo

Also an early answer to jaywalkers.

Surprise!

A tornado with absolutely no warning passed about a mile from here and is on it’s way out of town. No reports of touchdown yet. We usually have very good weather TV reporters, but it looks like the intern is on duty. Sirens came on 10 minutes after it passed.

re: #48 gocart mozart

[Embedded content]

If the DC Press Corpse wants war so bad march into the recruiter’s office, sign up and get their collective asses on the front line.

Citizens are sending in their cell videos—at least one funnel, on the ground. Too soon for damage rpts.

re: #51 JOE 🥓

maybe they can find employment with Eric Prince……

re: #50 Decatur Deb

Surprise!

A tornado with absolutely no warning passed about a mile from here and is on it’s way out of town. No reports of touchdown yet. We usually have very good weather TV reporters, but it looks like the intern is on duty. Sirens came on 10 minutes after it passed.

Wow! Glad y’all are okay. I’d be interested to know how it escaped their attention; usually, weather folks are pretty good at picking up the patterns.

Breaking: Texas legislature passes sweeping voter suppression bill #SB1

Eliminates drive-thru voting & extended hours, bans mail ballot drop boxes, makes it crime for election officials to distribute vote by mail applications, allows “free movement”for partisan poll watchers

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) August 31, 2021

re: #55 jaunte

Sigh. So much for ever turning Texas blue.

re: #55 jaunte

“allows free movement for Republican poll watchers thugs”

Checking on twitter… I see Sony fired Mike Richards. I wonder why it took the Sony execs so long to figure this one out.

And I see… get this… that Paul Ryan says Trump lost the 2020 election.

How is this news?

Because this is America.

re: #55 jaunte

[Embedded content]

“Do you know how you can tell this is a voter suppression bill? Because Houston ran all of these with no issues and Republicans didn’t think ‘Hey, let’s let everyone have these.’”

Long ago, when I was a kid, the “21st century” sounded like it would such a marvelously advanced era.

How disappointed I’ve become to discover what the 21st century really is.

re: #60 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus

Long ago, when I was a kid, the “21st century” sounded like it would such a marvelously advanced era.

How disappointed I’ve become to discover what the 21st century really is.

The 21st century: The 19th century, but with the Internet.

re: #60 Love-Child of Cassandra and Sisyphus

Long ago, when I was a kid, the “21st century” sounded like it would such a marvelously advanced era.

How disappointed I’ve become to discover what the 21st century really is.

We’ve still got 79% of the 21st century to go… things can turn around.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

but Pompeo & tfg promised…

oh shit…wait…

re: #12 Belafon

Wasn’t the State Department’s report saying it would be a couple of months?

the State Department that Pompeo and tfg’s administratoin gutted?

re: #59 Belafon

“Do you know how you can tell this is a voter suppression bill? Because Houston ran all of these with no issues and Republicans didn’t think ‘Hey, let’s let everyone have these.’”

It is a voter suppression bill because it was done by Republicans.

re: #55 jaunte

So the TX Dems just said “fuck it” and didn’t bail this time?

re: #56 Dopamine Fish

However, the population of rural Texas is shrinking.

“Two Texases: Greatest growth and greatest declines in population

Ninety-nine Texas counties have reported losses in population; it could be an even hundred by April of 2020. “
mysoutex.com

re: #62 KGxvi

We’ve still got 79% of the 21st century to go… things can turn around.

Unfortunately, it looks like the historical trend in the 21st century so far is an echo of the early part of the 20th century.

re: #66 Eclectic Cyborg

So the TX Dems just said “fuck it” and didn’t bail this time?

The House doesn’t need the same quorum the Senate does.

re: #56 Dopamine Fish

Sigh. So much for ever turning Texas blue.

If a legislature ever deserved to have an angry armed mob descend upon it and seize and terrorize its leaders …

I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

Patrick Byrne, one of the largest funders of the Arizona audit who claims widespread election fraud in 2020, is registered to vote in Utah using a business address - a great scoop from @ChrisA0213 https://t.co/GdCFApoi34

— Jen Fifield (@JenAFifield) August 31, 2021

The claim that the Taliban executed a man via helicopter hanging - promoted by Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and numerous others on the right - has been thoroughly debunked. Here’s the most thorough fact check so far, from @zoo_bear: https://t.co/fVQrGrDGrq

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 31, 2021

re: #7 Dangerman

*nate is also ignoring that the asymptomatic vaccinated can still be carriers

*but ALL unvaccinated symptomatic/asymptomatic/justmaskholes are still the worse carriers.

re: #72 DodgerFan1988

What’s the point of fact checking Republicans? The media should just run with everything said by a Republican is a lie (like they mostly do vs. Democrats).

The problem with fact checking Republicans is that they spew 10 more lies in the time it takes to refute 1 lie, so it is a perpetually losing game.

The message has to be that all Republicans are incorrigible liars, from Trump on down, and none of them have any credibility or deserve to be given the benefit of any doubt.

OT The other day I got a new watchband from amazon. I got the band on a watch but before I finished one of those *&^% spring bars went flying. I just found the little devil right next to my small trash can under my desk.

re: #39 Targetpractice

Another reason that Trump would never go through with the withdrawal? The isolationists would never hold it against him (they hadn’t done so with Syria, so why start now?), while the xenophobes would love him for keeping our Afghan allies “over there” instead of going through with promises to evacuate them.

He would have withdrawn all our troops (as he did in Syria) and left our Afghan allies behind. My guess is he would not have made any effort to evacuate American citizens; he would have said that it was up to them to leave; that they had plenty of warning.

OH NO THEY DIDN’T

re: #78 JOE 🥓

OH NO THEY DIDN’T

[Embedded content]

re: #78 JOE 🥓

re: #80 jaunte

Medicare can’t fix bad choices.

re: #13 No Malarkey!

I’m sure that there was no-one at the Pentagon who wanted to tell the President that 20 years of nation building had been a complete and utter waste. Humans have vast powers of rationalization and wishful thinking.

We are not thinking machines that feel. We are feeling machines that think. - António R. Damásio

re: #83 Romantic Heretic

Every so often.

re: #79 Dopamine Fish

[Embedded content]

re: #85 BeenHereAwhile

[Embedded content]

re: #78 JOE 🥓

OH NO THEY DIDN’T

[Embedded content]

Looks like Cam Newton found out. Patriots cut him from the squad.

re: #78 JOE 🥓

OH NO THEY DIDN’T

[Embedded content]

That’s a beautiful image. I hope someone filmed it.

Yep, nothing to hide here. https://t.co/cLC9LgcCtx

— Schooley (@Rschooley) August 31, 2021

re: #18 piratedan

did we just find people compliant who would take our money and steal half of it and smile and nod or was there really no desire to establish a modern government with real democratic values by those who were involved in this proxy government?

Both, with a slight emphasis on the latter.

Just look at how many here in our countries misunderstand, indeed loathe, democracy. With over two hundred years of experience and generally good results from it.

A place like Afghanistan, which like so many post-colonial ‘countries’ is just borders slapped on a bunch of tribal areas, stood no chance at all of becoming a modern country.

All the telecom companies should respond to that threat.

They learned a key lesson from Trump: you won’t be charged with obstructing justice if you commit the crime totally out in the open. https://t.co/rCTMvEUPuk

— Joshua Holland (@JoshuaHol) August 31, 2021

re: #36 KGxvi

We lost the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror… maybe we should stop going to war against nouns?

(joke stolen from somewhere online, can’t remember where)

Unfortunately, a war is pretty much the only thing that can get Americans to do something as a group. It’s no guarantee either.

re: #90 jaunte

More than a few of them were involved in the attempted coup and belong in prison.
Nothing less would be worth declaring themselves the lawless pro-sedition party by fighting the investigation and threatening businesses.

— Jeff Flanagan (@JeffMFlanagan) August 31, 2021

re: #92 jaunte

All the telecom companies should respond to that threat.

They are writing the checks now…..

re: #93 jaunte

There will never be another Republican Majority with those assholes that are there now.

re: #9 Charles Johnson

I understand the politics of why he’s doing it, but Biden isn’t being completely straight about the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government. There were many, many warnings about the corruption and waste and lack of real force discipline over the years - the Afghanistan papers published by the Washington Post make that VERY clear.

If it’s true that nobody advising Biden foresaw the collapse being this fast, there must have been a lot of wishful thinking going on. But I think he’s downplaying this for political reasons.

At this point I think there’s a cultural element to it, because there’s a series of recurring explanatory structures that Americans re-use.

The US trains an army in Iraq and it can’t hack it, the local politicians we raise up are corrupt…
The US trains an army in Afghanistan and it can’t hack it, the local politicians we raise up are corrupt…
The US trains an army in Vietnam and it can’t hack it, the local politicians we raise up are corrupt…

…our allies have let us down.

This is narrated as a problem of the character of the people not suggestive of some kind of system of bad assumptions on the part of the superpower what had all the money and power and just kept re-committing in a way that spent money while not tracking where it was going.

It’s realpolitik that the nation had to do until it fails completely, at which point comes the lamentations about how our ideals were let down by grubby little mortals (mostly brown and foreign, but also the hippies and the war skeptics, but also just anybody other than the people who called the shots). It’s a refusal to acknowledge that the men who thought themselves smart enough to make utilitarian gambits have over and over lost those wagers and the rest of us have paid in blood with interest.

[That there is a self-contained cartel of defense and intelligence flacks that collaborate to create these plans and repeat them, over and over, is not to be mentioned. …to say nothing of the ongoing bad faith in which most of these clever men operate, because having frightened the population of a superpower with Communism, then Drugs, then Terrorism to make money and accrue personal power.]

Which is precisely why we have butchers and fools like Kissinger and Bolton opining on this situation: they accurately assess that in the moment then can once again present themselves as both heroic decider and victim of lesser men as long as they maintain the idea that America can only lose by being stabbed in the back.

This works because it’s in the culture, built into how we talk about Vietnam and specifically how we don’t talk about how we lost or the specifics of what went wrong or the specifics of the bad things we did. But even more important, it’s built into all the stuff we don’t talk about: the really violent, ugly things that have been done that just didn’t make the cut when creating a story of who the country is—some because they’re failures, some because they’re so ugly they refute the idea of the country that the culture reinforces.

re: #97 darthstar

That is certainly true.

re: #97 darthstar

There will never be another Republican Majority with those assholes that are there now.

Nah, there will be. Voter suppressions laws (and Kyrsten Sinema) will make sure of that.

re: #91 Romantic Heretic

Both, with a slight emphasis on the latter.

Just look at how many here in our countries misunderstand, indeed loathe, democracy. With over two hundred years of experience and generally good results from it.

A place like Afghanistan, which like so many post-colonial ‘countries’ is just borders slapped on a bunch of tribal areas, stood no chance at all of becoming a modern country.

Minor quibble: Afghanistan - though it is most definitely “borders slapped on a bunch of tribal areas” - isn’t really a “post-colonial” country, more like “extra-colonial” : “Afghanistan” was typically maintained as a quasi-client state by the British in the 19th Century for two main reasons: 1) to keep down the threats of raids/invasions into British India (what’s now Pakistan), and 2) to keep the Russians out.

re: #78 JOE 🥓

re: #51 JOE 🥓

If the DC Press Corpse wants war so bad march into the recruiter’s office, sign up and get their collective asses on the front line.

I suspect a lot of them are too old.

And those who aren’t won’t pass any psychiatric guidelines.

Too bad. I wonder if it’s possible to waive those requirements?

re: #88 darthstar

Looks like Cam Newton found out. Patriots cut him from the squad.

Chatter on FB implied that he wasn’t vaxxed.

Dems need to get behind an organized effort to bring McCarthy to task over this. It cannot stand. This committee cannot be cajoled, threatened, or undermined. Especially THIS committee. No weak ‘it was a joke’ or ‘that’s not what I meant’ can be allowed to stand, either.

— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) August 31, 2021

re: #95 Punish Domestic Terrorists

[Embedded content]

I’m detecting very strong “DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT!” vibes here.

re: #104 Sherlock Hound

Chatter on FB implied that he wasn’t vaxxed.

He refused to say if he was (which is a pretty good indicator he isn’t), and he had to follow unvaccinated protocols (daily testing, masking indoors, limited interaction with teammates). So yeah, they decided to cut the line. I hope the Vikings do the same to Cousins. Or bench him until he’s vaccinated. Fuck these guys.

re: #106 Targetpractice

I’m detecting very strong “DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT!” vibes here.

McCarthy’s good at sticking his foot in his mouth.

re: #90 jaunte

[Embedded content]

Indict that ass for Obstruction of Justice. Lock McCarthy Up!

DOOBIE BROTHERS - Santa Barbara, California, 1982 - FULL CONCERT

This may not be criminal, but it is a colorable law school exam question for obstruction of justice, worth the analysis. https://t.co/bY7DI2tdyW

— OneHitPopehat (@Popehat) August 31, 2021

Trump REPEATEDLY demanded that we bring our soldiers home, but only President Biden had the balls to do it.

Here are a few of Trump’s wuss, B.S. - I mean “masterful” - tweets: pic.twitter.com/4iLD02Pn0G

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 31, 2021

re: #112 gocart mozart

And now we know the effect that ivermectin has on witches.

re: #112 gocart mozart

That woman is starting to scare me. This is twice now she’s said something I actually agree with.

1,055 of those comments came from IP addresses not in Colorado or the United States.

10,961 of those came from IP addresses that submitted more than 2 responses….

On IP address submitted more than 6,800 responses…another about 2,300.

— Steve Staeger (@SteveStaeger) August 30, 2021

Half of the 18,000+ total responses sent to the Arapahoe County Board were from two IP addresses.

— Steve Staeger (@SteveStaeger) August 31, 2021

These school board mask fights are astroturfed theater.

re: #112 gocart mozart

Hmm. Going against DT has cost some folks their livelihoods. Can she really afford that?

re: #112 gocart mozart

Weird. I still think Ann Coulter’s garbage, but glad she’s on the right side of this issue.

“…Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States, or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—

Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both.”

https://t.co/IcYiMRkJGP

— OneHitPopehat (@Popehat) August 31, 2021

Yeah, after today, the Dems should make subpoenaing this asshat to testify one of their priorities. If they really wish to dig it in, mention in the official statement that they didn’t feel it necessary until Kevin decided to start criming out in public, but the public needs to know just what a “Republican majority” intends to do to any telecoms that refuse to cover for their asses.

re: #119 jaunte

I think this is the operative part:

or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress—

Pretty sure that’s exactly what he’s aiming for.

re: #112 gocart mozart

My hunch is that the word has gone out from the GOP donor class that the orange idiot is no longer good for business. So now the talking heads will slowly turn on him, so that come 2024 he will not be able to hijack the primaries again.

re: #103 Romantic Heretic

I suspect a lot of them are too old.

And those who aren’t won’t pass any psychiatric guidelines.

Too bad. I wonder if it’s possible to waive those requirements?

Some are like Richard Engel who repeatedly expose themselves to danger on the front line. They may not be military but they are not armchair warriors critiquing the policies from the safety of home.

Richard Engel does a lot of good work, most of the time, but he’s also susceptible to “forest for the trees” blinders.

Policies that are broadly good for a town or a province or a region, in the aggregate, are undoubtedly going to have specific selected individuals who did better with the previous policy and the change will hurt them. Or the policy-maker overseas has a whole different constituency and set of priorities than Richard’s local pal who isn’t at the front of anyone’s mind.

“I agree with Ann Coulter” has for more than a decade been my designated signal that I am being held at gunpoint and to immediately alert law enforcement. I shall now replace that with “Matt Gaetz can date my teenage daughter.” https://t.co/F6PIVlZz61

— David Simon (@AoDespair) August 31, 2021

re: #122 KGxvi

My hunch is that the word has gone out from the GOP donor class that the orange idiot is no longer good for business. So now the talking heads will slowly turn on him, so that come 2024 he will not be able to hijack the primaries again.

The GOP establishment tried this in 2016, with absolutely no effect vs. Trump. I don’t think a longer lead time (if that is what’s happening) will help — Trumpism is too much a part of the GOP for it to be removable.

IMO, if Trump is alive and not in jail in 2024, he is the GOP nominee if he wants it.

pic.twitter.com/9o2l7S6ubY

— 𝙒𝘽 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙜 🍕🐀😷 (@FormerDirtDart) August 31, 2021

Our earlier tornado is confirmed—it was pretty wimpy. Another is due to pass within 2 miles, this time to our north. At least the freakn’ sirens are providing a soundtrack this time.

re: #123 Hecuba’s daughter

Some are like Richard Engel who repeatedly expose themselves to danger on the front line. They may not be military but they are not armchair warriors critiquing the policies from the safety of home.

What made Engel good in the field is the reason he is bad covering this story. He made contacts, he made friends, he immersed himself into the environment to report the story. That closeness has made him too emotionally invested to unbiasly report on the withdrawal.

re: #116 teleskiguy

When we had the uproar here in our county, I noticed that most of the people screaming and bitching were far too old to have kids in school here. You could see the stark difference in the pro mask/vaccine crowd and the idiots. The pro people were maybe in their 40s at the most, the idiots were almost all people in my age group, early 60s. I had my kid later than most of the moms in my son’s classes, I was 33, close to 34 when he was born. He graduated in 2012.

School districts need to look at all their online responses and throw out the ones not from there and require ID for school board meeting attendance. I bet a LOT of this bullshit would stop. Good people have quit school boards over death threats and targeted harassment. It’s time to crack down on this shit before someone gets shot or beat to death.

re: #130 A Mom Anon

In the meantime, our school district just sent out an email blast announcing all elementary and middle school kids and staff must be masked (and vaccinated where applicable), and nobody so much as batted an eyelash. Which is astounding, since I live in an area with a relatively high proportion of Republicans compared to the rest of the county.

I’m sorry but this is the best thing I’ve seen all week
pic.twitter.com/gen1V3YqVr

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) August 31, 2021

This TV weatherkid is starting to piss me off. He’s wearing a sky-blue suit and bowtie, like Pee Wee Herman announcing the Apocalypse.

re: #115 Michele: Recovering Social Media Addict

That woman is starting to scare me. This is twice now she’s said something I actually agree with.

The absolute Republican-Republican at work is the only person around me that agrees about the importance of Object Oriented design and patterns.

re: #78 JOE 🥓