Everything posted by Brisketexan
-
What's happening in Iran?
It's both not working out great....and probably working out about as well as (or better than) any of the other realistic options. I actually think that, all things considered, the transition is working reasonably well. In realpolitik world, the best choice is quite often the "least bad" option. You can't grade a country like Syria, with its recent history, challenging neighbor relations, etc., with, say, Canada. Syria has a recent history of brutal dictatorial alawite/clan government, active violent islamism within its borders, and a quite hostile neighbor in Israel that doesn't look to be cutting the new government much slack or providing much patience. Not many new governments would create a paradise on earth in the single year they've held power in those circumstances. Will it ultimately work out "well" for Syria? That's a relative concept. So, we'll see. At present, it could be going better. But it also could be going MUCH worse. Iran has a different history and different challenges, as well as different strengths. There is just always the danger of the zeal of revolution creating a new set of similar problems that the previous zealous revolution created. If Iran ends up with a regime that represses with a different flavor of repression, and/or is incapable of the blocking and tackling of government and economic/resource management, then....will things really be that improved? At the end of the day, governments need to do the basics like keeping the wheels of commerce moving, providing basic services (water, power, etc.), and some measure of stability with respect to all those things. Shit, it's why the cartels have some local credibility in some areas of Mexico. You gotta handle those things first. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've seen this hopeful dance before in Iran. This time sure looks different. But then, I suspect many of the same people said "this time sure looks different" the last couple of times the people took to the streets (and they were right....it just wasn't enough).
-
What's happening in Iran?
I would like to agree with that. But I've seen enough transitions manage to find that shittacular path of "from bad to worse" that I will remain nervous about any Iranian governmental transition for a decade or so. If the secret police dragging you out of your home are the IRGC or SAVAK, doesn't much matter to the guy getting dragged away.
-
America's Foreign Policy & Other Shit Going On Around the World thread
When he says that he does not intend to abide by treaties, he is flatly stating that he does not intend to follow the law. Article VI of the Constitution - which is not an optional document - makes treaties (along with the Constitution and statutes passed by Congress) the supreme law of the land. There is no grant of authority in the Constitution, and no colorable argument, that grants the Executive the authority to disregard and violate the supreme law of the land. Trump has told you that he is above the law. Even the idiotic presidential immunity decision does not go that far - there can be no argument that actions wholly outside of and contrary to the Constitution and Treaties of the United States are legitimate actions of the executive. Not only does he not have such enumerated or implied powers, he is subject to the Constitution. And for the record, the military is ABSOLUTELY subject to the Supreme Law of the Land, and if they follow orders to attack a member nation of NATO (for example), they have followed an illegal order, and have actually (by the express terms of the treaty) committed treason by levying war against the United States, which is punishable by death. Donald Trump is the most dangerous man this country or world has ever seen. He must be stopped. Resistance in all possible forms is no longer optional.
-
What's happening in Iran?
Need to see pictures of curtains to determine actual location. Oh, and I'm just referring to the most recent polling (which, granted, is a couple of years old): We shall see. Step 1 is shaking off the shackles of the current regime. I hope that the Iranian people can make it happen.
-
Gumbo
Stringy Chicken is my favorite bluegrass band.
-
Elon Musk: Nazi traitor piece of shit [Confirmed]
Grok would reject that, until you tell it “make Sela Ward 12 years old.”
-
Gumbo
Just had a bowl of gumbo at the Old Fulton Seafood Cafe in Rockport. My colleague agreed with me - it’s actually really damned good.
-
ICE activity/raids
When you realize it long ago blew past “argument” territory, and is just full-on “use deadly force to suppress any dissent,” then you’ll really understand the dynamic.
-
Trump/MAGA has ruined sports
Man....I've had her on an installment plan for decades. By my reckoning....I still owe more than the original price.
-
Trump/MAGA has ruined sports
Yeah, my wife have become mildly "Vegas people" the past few years, driven entirely by going to see concerts and have nice meals and chill in a nice hotel together. We tried gambling our first couple of trips. We can't even understand the "slot machines" that are out there. Seriously, no more "3 pairs of cherries, you win $10." Instead, it's a complicated screen, where a monkey runs in from one side, two presidential portraits come up, and a gunboat fires 3 salvos, maybe at the monkey. I end up just looking at the card reader to tell whether I won or lost. I might as well just hand money to a guy and ask him "did I win?", which he answers with "no" and keeps my money. I like blackjack, but not enough to go to a $50 minimum table. I DID have fun on one occasion. Was during CFB season, wife made a spa appointment. I went downstairs, sat at a bar, and played video poker. I could watch a couple of games, have some fun (was up $80 at one point), and got free beers handed to me. She came downstairs, sat next to me, and I said "I either leave with $100, or $0" (I'd started with $10). I left with $0, but didn't mind - it cost me $10 to sit and watch football and drink beer for a coupla hours. Not bad. In any case....neither of us gets any charge/thrill out of it. Even when I win a nice hand of blackjack, it's cool, but there's no high I'm driven to chase. I understand that will real gamblers....that's not the case. It's all about chasing the high. I'd rather just spend the money on a nice french dinner and then enjoy some sexy time with my wife. Costs WAY less, with a guaranteed payout.
-
Papers, please. Surly thread of deportation cruelty dominance
This.
- ICE activity/raids
-
What's happening in Iran?
Love of homeland? I'm sure most Iranians have a baseline love of their country. But these didn't erupt because "we love Iran, but the mullahs don't." It arose for the reasons almost all such movements arise: economic failure/collapse, water supply collapse, exhaustion with same, etc. Rejection of Islam? I see no evidence that's anything but you wishcasting. Now, is there likely a broader social desire for less THEOCRATIC Islam? Probably. But this isn't a movement that is looking to denounce Islam, turn into a Baha'i or Christian movement, etc. Rejection of the mullahs and repressive Islam as a form of government is far from a "rejection of Islam." Love of monarchy? Yeah, that is DEFINITELY you wishcasting. No polling I've seen shows any overwhelming or even majority support for a return to a monarchy. Almost all of the positions boil down to "something else, and definitely not this shit we've been dealing with for decades." I hope that the Iranian people find some degree of freedom, peace, and prosperity. I know that it wouldn't be what I would choose, because guess what, I'm not Iranian, I'm not muslim, etc. Trying to impose our individual beliefs/desires onto an entire population is just lying to ourselves.
-
ICE activity/raids
Well, fuck. I thought that me drinking a buncha Dr. Pepper was all the license I needed to start blastin'.
-
Gumbo
My daughter's 8th grade science project -- thickening propensity/viscosity of different roux colors/doneness. A basic white roux thickened liquid to infinitely slow to flow. Deep chocolate? Hardly thickens at all.
-
ICE activity/raids
..cheered on by the majority of the country. Don't forget that. It's the important part. The murderous Gestapo was bad. The German population that supported and empowered them was the actual poison, though. We are drinking poison, celebrating extra-judicial murder by lawless and above-the-law government forces, and we have the gall to wonder how that will end up going for us all. It will go the way it always does. Gestapo, Stasi, SAVAK, it doesn't matter -- they are all the same, and it always turns out the same.
-
Greenland
It's not just that this is the play, it's that it's a play that started with a Putin manipulation (a fake letter years ago) intended to achieve this result. And we are being played -- either as useful idiots, or intentional collaborator idiots. But idiots however you cut it.
-
Trump/MAGA has ruined sports
It's made sports TV (pre-game talk shows and the like) fucking unwatchable, to me at least. But we are on the fast-track to the lowest common denominator of literally EVERYTHING these days, so sure, why the fuck not? Everything in this country is geared at the amygdala of fucking meatheads, might as well be consistent.
-
Mamdani's Mamdate
I do love how anything left of Attila the Hun and mass deportations and death camps is ZOMG COMMUNISTSOCIALISM, all while ignoring multiple high-functioning western democracies that have similar policies in place and are doing just fine, no gulags or giant May Day parades with ICBMs and shit. Meanwhile, the current American regime is literally exercising significant control over "the means of production" in numerous industries (it's no fucking argument, you can't operate freely without the blessing/permission/paying the vig to the current regime). You know, the ACTUAL exercise of socialism, happening right here in River City, to the detriment of all of us. Nope. That's not socialism, or a problem. Instead, the greatest crisis America has faced in its history is a dirty mooslem NYC mayor proposing....policies that are already in place in numerous Western European countries and cities.
-
Elon Musk: Nazi traitor piece of shit [Confirmed]
Counterpoint: non-consensual sexual exploitation is how you MAGA. Epstein files out front shoulda told ya.
-
Things not going well in Venezuela
Oh, don’t worry. He’ll have us there alongside them within 4-6 years.
-
Trump’s America
Here's a nice little conundrum. NATO is a treaty, ratified by Congress in 1949. What force does a treaty have under US law? It is literally the supreme law of the land: "Article VI Supreme Law Clause 2 Supremacy ClauseThis Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land" What does the NATO treaty, which is the supreme law of the land provide? Article 5 plainly states that an attack on one member is an attack on all (functionally those exact words), and all members (including the US) are obligated to come to the defense of the country attacked. That is, we are legally obligated to come to the defense of Denmark if someone attacks Denmark. There is no exception if WE are the attacker. But there IS a prohibition on us being the attacker, as stated by the Supreme Law of the Land, the NATO treaty, at Article 8: "Each Party declares that none of the international engagements now in force between it and any other of the Parties or any third State is in conflict with the provisions of this Treaty, and undertakes not to enter into any international engagement in conflict with this Treaty." In no uncertain terms, Article 8 -- which is the Supreme Law of the Land pursuant to the Constitution -- PROHIBITS an attack by the US on any member nation of NATO, necessarily including Denmark. Bottom line: if the Trump administration orders an attack on the territory of Denmark, that order will be an illegal order, in violation of the Constitution of the United States. Pursuant to the UCMJ, all service members will be obligated to REFUSE to follow that order. And, if by some way, forces following orders of the Trump administration do attack the territory of Denmark in plain and open violation of the Constitution of the United States, we can and should be in a state of civil war, with all Americans -- especially including American service members -- obligated to protect and defend the Constitution against....well, the mad men in the administration who are openly at war against the United States (recall that the NATO Treaty, which is the Supreme Law of the Land, states that an attack on one is an attack on all). Thus, an attack by the administration on the territory of Denmark is an attack on the United States. By attacking the territory of a NATO member nation, the administration will have attacked the United States, will be levying war against the United States, and well....I'm just reading the Constitution: "Article III Judicial Branch Section 3 TreasonClause 1 Meaning Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court." The punishment for treason is set by federal statute: 18 U.S. Code § 2381 - TreasonWhoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. Old Brisket kinda wishes someone would put this out there plainly, so that the nation knows that if this administration attacks Greenland, it is committing unambiguous treason against the United States as defined by the Constitution, and all who levy war against the United States should face the death penalty. Want to test "Presidential immunity?" There is not and can be no argument that open treason - levying war against the United States - is within the scope of the Executive's duties. If we attack Greenland, we are well beyond a mere constitutional crisis. We are in an existential crisis, and we will be in a state of civil war. Will you side with the United States, and the Constitution of the United States, or with those who levy war against it?
-
academic fuckery at aggy
You live in a timeline where universities are banning the teaching of.....Plato. In a parallel universe, where Idiocracy is real, they are laughing at US for being dumbasses.
-
RFK Jr. off the chain and off his rocker
Silly rabbit. The dead kids are what tells you the Freedom is working.
-
Greenland
Understand that this is exactly what the admin wants, because it has been completely manipulated and played by Putin (seriously, the original letter that started this Greenland shit in Trump's brain years ago was a Russian plant). The game plan is to kill NATO, and the admin is on board with that goal. The Regime also wants this outcome. They want all of those troops and assets coming back to the US. Why? So he can use them. Here. Against us. 2,000 US tanks in Europe do the regime no good. 2,000 tanks back here, available to be deployed against the American people, are essential to the regime's goals and long-term planning. None of this is mysterious. They've said so.