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berlinerbaer

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Posts posted by berlinerbaer

  1. 1 hour ago, Brothahorn said:

    So why keep the shitty deal in place if it was so shitty? Why not trash/ignore it and come up with something better? It's not like he hasn't amended or scrapped other Trump policies. So why keep this one?

    Competent adults don't do stupid shit because the person in front of them did some stupid shit.

    This ain't the Paris climate deal, bro. Scrapping this one means the Taliban starts sending hails of bullets at our people and puts some of them in Arlington.

    It's easy to forget that foreign parties negotiate with the United States, not just with Joe Biden or Donald Trump.

    • Like 2
  2. Yeah, I'd be shocked if Biden didn't make a stop in CA before this is all over. Hell, I think he should do a mini tour of the state. Everyone's approval rating is taking a Delta-related hit right now: Desantis, Biden, probably even Abbott. But unfortunately for Newsom, only he is up for recall. He mandated facemasks and several local jurisdictions went further. Trumpkins are pissed. The fact is that this recall will be closer than it should be. I fully expect it to be closer than the governor elections in Virginia because McAuliffe won't have suffered through Covid blowback as an incumbent.

    Homework assignment to ask my parents which way they're leaning. 

    The ridiculous thing is that CA is going to do this all over again for the regularly scheduled election next year, and the Dem will be a lock. A Republican sneaking into the governorship for 16 months isn't going to move the needle at all in CA policy-wise (Dem lockdown in the leg and all other statewide positions), but fuck if I want to hear any GOP crowing.

    A silver lining: I expect a proposition banning recall elections to be on the ballot soon. 

  3. In a visit with a friend in 2012, I had a long chat with a young active duty marine who her younger sister had recently eloped with. The dude was kind of a bum and a weirdo for sure, but what he said about his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan have since been prophetic to me. He swore that the Iraqis would fight alongside the Americans when they came under attack, while the Afghans would drop their weapons and retreat when things got too hot. Fast forward almost a decade and the Iraqis have since driven ISIS out of their country, admittedly under cover of US airstrikes and special forces, but the Afghan army is now literally melting away despite there still being a few thousand US troops there and the same degree of air support.

    The fact is that the 20 years of nation building we've payed billions for haven't convinced Afghans to risk their skin to protect it. A soldier deserting their post in the middle of the night doesn't feel compelled to fight for the generation of girls who have been able to go to school, to speak nothing of their government. There isn't much inspiration in defending what an occupying force has constructed. Let's look at morale. While one side is deserting, the other is sending suicide bombers. 

     

    Quote

    This thinking extends to ordinary Afghans as well, many of whom do not subscribe to the Taliban’s extremist political vision but are sympathetic to their invocation of Islamic principles against foreign occupiers. The 2012 Asia Foundation survey, the most respected survey of the Afghan people, found that of those Afghans who strongly sympathized with the Taliban, 77 percent said they did so because the Taliban were Afghans, Muslims, and waging jihad.

    Quote

    The largest popular upheaval I witnessed firsthand in Afghanistan was not over the government’s mistreatment of the people or Pakistani perfidy. It was hundreds of angry villagers marching miles to the dusty bazaars of Garmser, protesting a rumor that an American had damaged a Koran.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/07/06/afghanistan-war-malkasian-book-excerpt-497843

    • Hook 'Em 3
  4. My son started his first day of Kindergarten today. This afternoon we all got an email from the principal that 4 "individuals of the ____ community" have tested positive. Already. What I don't understand and what I probably won't be able to figure out is if these people set foot on campus in the last couple of days. Possibly, since there was a meet the teacher on Monday. 

    My son is super excited about starting school and we want him to do in-person learning. I doubt we could swing home schooling or remote learning. Even if we did, it's not available until two weeks from now, so lots of FAAFO between now and then. The emotional roller coaster between watching him start this next chapter in his life and worrying about his health is jarring.

    We are supposed to go to a wedding up in Wisconsin at the end of the month. We have been thinking of pulling the plug on that, but by some twisted irony it may be good to get out of the hot zone that is Texas if only temporarily.

    • Hook 'Em 1
    • Like 5
    • Rage+1 2
  5. 6 hours ago, kopp0e said:

    Even if the Big Ten turned predatory and offered membership to the California schools en masse, Cal and Stanford are more likely to stop playing major college football than lunge for cash in a conference 2,000 miles away.

    Agree on Stanford. Cal has massive debt to pay off from their stadium renovation (a few $100 million) so that they will jump through whatever hoops necessary for cash. If it wasn't for that, they'd also settle for relegation without putting up a fight.

     

    • Like 1
  6. 9 hours ago, Napoleon said:

    The problem with the USWNT is that the senior citizens of this squad are 1) National Icons, 2) World Champions, 3) Examples of Perseverance, and 4) Politically Active Leaders. A first time coach could not axe:

    This reminds me of the controversy Klinsmann got after cutting Donovan leading up to the 2014 WC. But did he replace Donovan with Wondo or Green?

  7. Woah. Joe Biden saying something off the cuff? Must be dementia.

    He has always been like that. One major knock against him his entire political career is that he is a "gaffe machine". 

    Here's a throwback from 2008 (aged 65). 

     

  8. On 7/1/2021 at 5:13 PM, Satchel said:

    Why won’t the media ask McCarthy why he gave up subpoena and veto power in a proposed external investigation in favor of a Select Committee composition that puts him and his party at a distinct disadvantage?

     

    18 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

    catching up, someone may have already answered, but quoting this forward in the event no one has addressed, because that's a damn good question

    Two main reasons:

    1) To relieve himself of responsibility

    2) So he or whomever on the Right can claim it's all a partisan witch hunt

    Before you reply that all that doesn't make any sense, consider that right wing media has already scrubbed the first vote from memory.

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