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Everything posted by Ghost of LL
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Went there a couple years ago. The Falls really are worth the trip. It’s rare that something exceeds expectations when traveling, but the Falls definitely did.
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I know exactly where my pith helmet is, thank you very much. It’s in my closet where it belongs until the next time I go on safari in Africa.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
I think the quick and easy answer is "political punditry as to why a candidate might appeal to some part of the electorate is your job, not mine." And then shift easily to explain why voters should vote for her. It's a stupid fucking question. Dismiss it as such. -
My story, though, dates from 2002--three years before the movie. But in neither case is it an original observation. Stated in various forms, it's a comment made by members of various administrations dating back to Roosevelt.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Give us a shout--we're always up for a warm, warm cheddar blanket. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Yeah--I don't know about all that. But what I will say is that the Democrats have finally flipped back to playing traditional politics against Trump. And the traditional style of politics had a tradition behind it because it worked. From 2015 to just a couple months ago, Democrats were purely reactive to Trump. They framed themselves as the Contra-Trump. Whatever Trump said he was for, they were against. And for the most part, that worked because Trump is generally in favor of policies that are noxious, racist, or often just plain dumb. Harris has abandoned that. Now, Trump says "I will get rid of taxes on tips." It's kind of popular. So Harris, instead of instinctively rejecting it, steals it and makes a few tweaks to ensure that it can't be used by hedge fund managers to evade taxation. That's fucking old-school politics. Your opponent has a popular policy proposal? Fucking steal it. Democrats were so drawn offside by Donald Trump for sixteen goddamned years that we forgot how to do that. It's good to see us remember how to actually do electoral politics. And now it's Trump who's completely off balance. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Everyone gets a "pass" for supposed "flip-flopping." Because nobody cares about flip-flipping. And really, why would they? Why would we expect anyone--politician or otherwise--to maintain the same position year after year? Why would we expect anybody not to change position as they receive new information? And in a democracy, we expect our leaders to reflect the positions of the people who elect them. If Kamala Harris said "defund ICE" in 2020 and it became apparent that defunding ICE was a powerfully unpopular position, why should we expect her not to change that position? In a democracy, shouldn't her position reflect the position of the vast majority of the people who elect her, even if that means that she changes her position? That is not to say that you can change your position willy-nilly from one day to the next based on what group you're talking to. That just indicates you're untrustworthy. And that's why Trump is suddenly getting into a little bit of trouble with the single-issue anti-abortion crew. But that's different from the run-of-the-mill flip-flopping that all candidates do. -
As someone who has toured much of the old Empire and who has visited many of those delightful clubs with verandas, I think this is a popular, but ungenerous, take. Many of the overseas dominions and territories once ruled by His Britannic Majesty were previously ruled by some other foreign empire. The British took over India from the Mughals, who were not indigenous rulers but were instead a Turcic-Mongol dynasty descended from Tamerlane. They took over Egypt and the Levant from the Ottomans. And much of Africa they took over from other European powers (e.g., the Dutch in South Africa; the Germans in Tanzania). You're right that the partition of India was a clusterfuck. But let's just be real honest about India--that country has a very long history of ethnic and religious strife. It's hard to foresee a purely peaceful history of 20th Century India even if Lord Curzon had never put pen to paper.
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Many years ago, I was on a cruise on a very nice little ship that had a very international passenger list. I was there, of course. And there were a bunch of Brits and Germans and a handful of French and Japanese folks. And among them was this Saudi couple. It was a small ship, so everyone socialized and interacted to some greater or lesser degree. And the Saudis were pretty sociable (which is pretty interesting, given that this was not that long after 9/11), particularly in the cigar lounge after dinner. I mean, that's where the Saudi gent would go--I have no idea what his wife did. Anyway, one night we're down in the cigar lounge. It's me, the Saudi fellow, a couple of Brits, and various other people. And the Saudi is kind of gently advocating the Saudi view on international relations, which, as I said, was kind of interesting given that it wasn't that long after 9/11. The Brit is having none of it. I later learned from another British couple that he was a "proper lord." I never figured out what would make one an improper lord. Some of the vagaries of the British social caste system escape me. In any event, the Saudi is getting more and more frustrated in the discussion, and at some point very loudly expressed his view that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest GDP/capita in the world and merits respect on the world stage. The British "proper lord," in his very smooth and measured Oxbridge accent replies, "you see, my dear boy, nobody is going to respect you because a hundred years ago, you were herding goats in the desert; and a hundred years from now, you'll be herding goats in the desert." That's when I--more than mildly intoxicated, I must confess--let out a laugh that was louder than was polite for the size of the room. The Saudi was pissed, stabbed out his cigar, and stormed out. Happily, he didn't blow up the ship after that.
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2024 Season Surly Horns Tailgate Thread of Dominance
Ghost of LL replied to immamac's topic in Football
My mother is in a coma, George. -
2024 Season Surly Horns Tailgate Thread of Dominance
Ghost of LL replied to immamac's topic in Football
So is this where we talk about the new "no in-and-out" policy at the stadium? -
For the record, I said baseball attracts assholes. It’s hockey that attracts morons. I say this as a former baseball and hockey player.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
It’s a fair question. It’s extraordinary that the GQP has allowed the sitting vice president to frame herself as the candidate of change. It’s extraordinary that the sitting vice president would even try to frame herself that way. And yeah—Booker handled it really well. So what’s the problem? -
Jesus—what happened to the ponies?
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Yeah, and that's fair. I was also thinking about Fussen.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
My nephew told me and Mrs.LL he was voting for RFK Jr. when we saw him over Thanksgiving. Probably ought to circle back with him on that given that he's in a swing-ish state (Virginia). -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
This is the kind of hot take that keeps me coming back to this site. -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
Who was your favorite emperor? Nero? Perhaps Diocletian. -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
Yeah—that was the best offer the Republicans were ever going to get. The bill that gets passed next year through a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate is going to look very different. -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
Jesus, this is tough. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
What? She's the incumbent. You don't think she's going to keep her seat? -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
By the way, Mary Peltola got more than 50% of the vote in Alaska's jungle primary this week. And that's kind of interesting, because she was the only Democrat of any significance in the race. That is to say that one would expect the Republicans to be more motivated to vote to get their preferred Republican in the top 4, as Peltola was almost guaranteed to make the general election. All that is to say that anybody writing off Alaska is wrong. -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
That would genuinely be one of the most awkward scenes in modern American political history. It's not just that Bush is from the opposite party. It's that many partisan Democrats genuinely consider him to be a war criminal (an opinion I don't share, btw, but I guess I understand). I'm just not at all sure what kind of reception he would get even if he is there to strongly endorse the Democratic nominee. -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
Weren't ewe? -
[Harris+Walz] The 2024 DNC: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT?!
Ghost of LL replied to Bullneck's topic in Cloak Room
I think you're misunderstanding who has fucked around, and who is finding out. The "uncommitted delegates" may not be the actual people who have heckled Harris at her campaign rallies or who are blocking delegates at the Convention or who have repeatedly promised to turn Chicago into a replay of 1968. But they are closely aligned with those people. And the fact that those actual people have actually done those things tells me either (1) the uncommitted delegates are complicit, or (2) the uncommitted delegates are not leaders in the movement and have no sway or credibility. Either way, there is no benefit to giving them airtime. There is, however, a huge detriment. They're unpredictable. They could completely fuck things up because you absolutely cannot guarantee that these people aren't going to go rogue. They're also unpopular. Their position is not supported by the vast majority of Americans. So why would you possibly give valuable airtime to a group that, on their best day, are going to get up there and say shit that most Americans don't really support? Finally, there is a big benefit to excluding them. It sends a message. It's general deterrence. The days of the Democratic Party playing nice are over. This is back to LBJ-style politics. And that style of politics is damned effective. Don't think you can fuck with us and we'll still give you what you want. You may have gotten away with that shit under Biden and under Obama. But fuck that noise. We're keeping the receipts. You can't trot around calling the President "Genocide Joe" and then think you're getting any time to talk at Joe's going-away party. You can't heckle Kamala Harris from the crowd and then think you're going to get to talk on the night she accepts our nomination. And you know what? Telling these people to "fuck off" shows strength. And strength is popular. It may lose Harris like five votes in Michigan. Guess what--she'll still win Michigan by about six points. But it'll also gain her votes in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, and Ohio. Oh, yeah--the Democrats are going to find out all right. They're going to find out that telling people to fuck off in a very public fashion is often the popular political move.- 5091 replies
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