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Tuco

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Posts posted by Tuco

  1.  
    My BIL is an aggy engineer. He works for.....
     
    wait for it.......
     
     
     
     
     
    TXDoT. 
     

    I’d wager that 80% of civils are paid via tax dollars, either directly or through contracts. That being said, familiarity breeds contempt and the government flaws shine when working with them.
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  2. I get confused with that.  Because they quote that number but that's the Book of Genesis estimate.  And assuming it was a First Edition printing when the New Testament was added, isn't that at least 8,000 years old...or more?  And it all also depends on the understood age of the Torah.  and mainstream Judaism doesn't take nearly the hardline view of the Earth/Universe's age as Evangelical/Baptist faiths in the West.  Even the most rudimentary anthropological and archaeological estimates say 70% of all humans lived and died before any version of the Torah/Bible existed.  So if none of them were married in a Abrahamic tradition...then we're all illigitimate children of god.  Which makes sense because as much as I believe in a higher power...I frequently get the distinct impression he loves us, but went out for cigarettes, and hasn't talked to us since.  

    Wkipedia says young earth creationists believe the earth is 6k to 10k years old. My experience must have been with those on the more idiotic end of the timeline. A distinction without a real difference. At any rate, it’s difficult to argue logic with the delusional.
  3. I was having lunch with a buddy today, and we were both expressing how we can't understand people get so angry at admitting that they might have had an easier time becuase they are white males. It doesn't diminsh anything hard you've done, it doesn't mean you haven't worked hard, it doesn't mean you haven't earned what you've gotten, it just means you can acknowledge that you've probably been dealt a better hand than many in this world. 

    Which is weird, as most people would admit that being born in America in general versus anywhere else in the world means you were born on 3rd base. And that doesn't damage anyone's egos at all, but somehow being a white male to many means your achievements have been marginalized. 

    I just don't understand the anger and grievance people most generate. I wonder, how many of thsoe people would trade being a white male for anything else? Because the answer is zero, and not just because they're inherently racist.

    Are you and your buddy blue collar workers whose wages haven’t kept up with inflation? Do you live in the dying slums know as rural America?

    I get it. It’s hard to say you been given an advantage when you see yourself doing worse than the generation prior. When you’re doing worse than your average black man. That can be a tough reality to accept. Doesn’t make it less real. Trump sells them something easier to believe.
  4. Seriously, the CNN reporters are killing it right now.
    Eight GOP members that ousted McCarthy are offering to "accept some consequence" in exchange for colleagues to support Jordan
    From CNN's Melanie Zanona and Haley Talbot
    Rep. Matt Gaetz speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill on October 11. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
    GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz said the eight Republicans that voted to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy sent a letter to their colleagues encouraging them to vote for Jim Jordan for speaker and that they are willing to “accept some consequence” in order to get them to do so. 
    “If what these holdouts need is a pound of our flesh, we're willing to give it to them in order to see the election of Jordan for Speaker,” Gaetz said standing alongside GOP Reps. Crane, Good and Tim Burchett just after the failed vote. 
    “If what people need is to see the eight of us rapped on the knuckles in order to get onto the business of governing, what we're saying is we're open minded,” Gaetz added. 
    In terms of specific consequences, Gaetz said they “are willing to accept censure, sanction, suspension, removal from the Republican conference, we of course will remain Republicans, we will continue to vote with Republicans on Republican principles.”  
    Many holdouts have expressed that their hesitation lies with the strong arm tactics used. Gaetz insisted that was the work of outside groups and not Jordan.
    “We know Jim Jordan, I've worked with Jim Jordan on the House Judiciary Committee. He's not a person who leads to strong arm tactics. I think Jim Jordan has been unfairly blamed by some for the tactics of outside groups that Jim Jordan has no control over,” Gaetz said. 
    The eight that voted to remove McCarthy said they don’t support removing Patrick McHenry as Pro Tem. “Speaker McHenry Pro Tem deserves credit for resisting calls to expand the pro tem role beyond how it is contemplated in the Constitution. Patrick McHenry has earned our respect for having abided by the limitations on the power of the pro tem position and for that you should be commended.”  

    In other words, there really isn’t any Republican consequence that actually matters.
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  5. As Americans, I think we are predisposed to perceive the state of the world as consequences to our actions, or inactions.  

    13 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

    While I agree that a harder stance would have been better, did Ukraine have the political and military chops to engage Russia in 2014 like it did in 2022? Was NATO ready for that fight then?

    Yep.  On the military front, obviously providing weapons for six years had a big effect on their military.  That's not just a credit to Obama, but to even to complete shitstains like Graham and McConnell.  And, of course, it's a credit to the Ukrainian military for preparing for this.  

    But, the difference in politics is probably bigger.  It is not only the reason why we are more likely to support them, it is why Putin felt he needed to invade.  In 2014, Ukraine was at a turning point.  By 2019, they were clearly moving westward after Zelensky's decisive victory.    

     

    13 hours ago, Eastwood said:

    Obama was new school, with all of his national political experience being post-Cold War. With the response we see now from Biden as President, I’m betting Biden was in his ear about a firm and hard response but didn’t get any traction. 

    Can someone provide a clear distinction between Obama's 2014 response and Biden's early 2022 response?  In both cases, I see 1) provide arms, 2) pressure allies for sanctions, 3) absolutely, positively do not risk American lives over it. Ok, the level of arms and sanctions may be different, but the basic response was the same.  And Biden early 2022 is not responding the same as Biden July 2023.  As the war goes on, we increase the sophistication of the weapons we send.  It's not about Biden becoming more old school; it's about gaining the confidence that the Ukrainians can make good use of it.  It's also about recognizing that there is little escalation the Russians can do at this point.  2014 was just different in both aspects.

    That being said, there are very few people I would rather have dealing with this.  In 2008, I supported Biden over Clinton and Obama, precisely because of his foreign policy chops.  As the VP, Ukraine was one of Biden's pet projects. In 2014 and 2015, he travelled to Kiev to push anticorruption measures.  Remember when Trump was whining that Biden threatened to withhold funds if Ukraine (Poroshenko) didn't fire the Prosecutor General (Shokin)?  Well, it is true, but that is because Biden was pushing hard to change the corrupt political culture in Ukraine and Shokin is a corrupt sack of shit.  And it was precisely those kind of political challenges that made it difficult to go all in on Ukraine in 2014-2016.  I don't think Biden was "in Obama's ear," as much as he was guiding the policy. 

     

    11 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

    Did Americans really start caring before the Russians shot down the Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in July, 2014? Even then it took awhile before the investigation proved conclusively that it was the Russians who did it, even though I think everyone pretty much knew that it was. 

    I don't think the Malaysian airliner made any difference in the American perception of situation.   

    Regarding our allies, we couldn't even stop Germany from codeveloping Nordstream II with the Russians, despite making their gas shipments Ukraine-proof.  It wasn't until 1) Russia did the full scale invasion and 2) the Ukrainians repelled it that people started giving a shit.  If Kiev had fallen in March 2022, you know we would currently be working on "normalizing" relations, including rolling back sanctions.  People like underdog stories, and this is an amazing story.  

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  6. 11 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

     

    The fucker might not make July.  He hasn't been seen since Rostov and Russian state media announced "jk, he is still under investigation for armed revolt."  

    On one hand, this weekend has been a major tease.  He had a shot at Moscow and Putin.  Shit, even if he had just camped in Rostov for a couple of days, choking out supply and diverting troops, you have to think the Southern front would have collapsed.  

    But, that stupid shitstain is all but dead and his forces are scattered and pissed off.  That's a pretty good weekend. 

  7. 10 minutes ago, Hermanator said:

    Now that's some wishful thinking. Gotta imagine given Russia's history if Putin is deposed then someone is going to seize power and that person will pretty quickly realize they can do what they want. 

    I'm okay with not solving the whole problem at once.  What happens in Russia is pretty low on my priority list.  For now, I will celebrate the complete fucking implosion of the Russian war effort.  

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  8. …and, even if Wagner stops now and doesn’t move on Moscow, you have to think logistics are completely fucked. Putin isn’t going to resupply troops through Wagner held Rostov. Unless this shit is fixed in the next 24 hours, I’d expect to see mass desertion, surrenders, or possibly organized retreat from the fronts in the next 72 hours.

    And I have no idea what is going on in Belarus. That can’t be a coincidence, but I don’t know who is driving it. Could be a similar dynamic where suddenly a major supply line is completely fucked.

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  9. Does he have a desire to continue the Ukraine conquest?

    Well, since he is saying the invasion was built on lies I doubt he will continue the pointless war of attrition. I think that is his selling point to get the regular army flips. My bet is he would pullback to pre invasion lines and fortify. So, conflict would continue over Crimea, but probably be a cooler stalemate, possibly an outright ceasefire.
  10. Just now, Hook1997 said:

    Just checked Moscow time and it’s only 10:30 am, I’m guessing the real fireworks won’t happen until later in the afternoon or tomorrow.  Pringles can’t roll up to Moscow with a rushed convoy and no plan, he has to stage for a bit.  Or that’s what a smart man would do atleast.  

    You don't think he has a plan?  I don't know if he reaches for Moscow today, but I doubt he just launched a major military operation because he had a bad day.  

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  11. 1 minute ago, Hook1997 said:

    You’re telling me Russia doesn’t have enough planes and helicopters left inside of Russia to start mowing down this advance?  Very strange all of it but I highly doubt Putin’s plan is to fake a militant coup.  

    1. Do pilots want to fly that mission?  You all are assuming that the military still wants to fight for Putin.  The coup is their best hope for the war in Ukraine being over in the next three years. 

    2. The limitations of air superiority have definitely been demonstrated during the last year. I am curious about artillery. 

     

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  12. 5 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

    There’s been an announcement of a “counter-terrorist regime” in Moscow and Moscow region. This mostly means that security forces are off the chain to do what they want and then beyond that it’s situational when it comes to putting resources in the field. 
     

    Putin is either genuinely worried, or he wants to act like he is. 

    He certainly should be.  

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  13. 50 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

    SouthParkdouchevsshitsandwich.gif

    Looks as believable as Ted Cruz fishing, Obama shooting pigeons, or Trump driving the tractor.  

    In Obama's defense, he was asked whether he ever shot a gun, he said that he shot clay pigeons "all the time" at Camp David, and then the White House released a photo of Obama shooting a gun.  He didn't look like a someone who was an experienced shooter, but he didn't really claim to be an experienced shooter.   And that's what the Republicans focused on during the discussion on the gun control, because it was an easy distraction. 

    In Trump's defense (can't believe I typed that), he has never, ever tried to appear working class.  His whole brand is high-rolling business man.  He is also white trash, which tends to have some overlap with the "white working class" voting block.  He genuinely likes professional wrestling, McDonalds, and fucking anything that moves.  He is racist, sexist, and profoundly ignorant.  Playing around in a tractor cab was just playing.  His bullshit is always geared at looking wealthier than he is.  Well, and pretending to be religious.  

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  14. 16 hours ago, Incredulity said:

    In big brain leftist world the phrase , “shut the fuck up for a while” is semantics.

    You decided to remove the context.   

    Once, again, I think everyone know that Fetterman has brain damage from the stroke and that has resulted in an impairment of his speech.  He has a disability. That's true of millions of Americans.  

    What makes you a shitstain is the insistence to project that beyond what is you can observe.  Millions of disabled deal with that shit on a regular basis.  You claiming it to be perfectly legitimate would be like saying, "this is a thread about Obama being black so why are people complaining when I say he loves fried chicken and watermelon."  You have extrapolated something unsupported from what little you can observe.  It is what millions of disabled people have to deal with on a daily basis.  My crazy liberal woke mindset is that perhaps you should actually try to determine whether a disabled person is capable of performing a job before just discarding them based on irrelevant attributes.  Since we have that codified in our federal law, I consider it to be a shared American value.  

    So, getting back to my original comment: Do you have any indication, other than the speech issues, that Fetterman is having cognitive issues that are interfering with his job?  If not, maybe just shut the fuck for a while.  

    And now I can assume the GOP talking point is that Fetterman is a trust fund baby.  The fucking irony.  

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