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Ghost of LL

Burnt Ends
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Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. That is definitely the goal. And I think it's a good goal. We neither need nor want a war against Iran right now.
  2. Well, it looks like our initial response is on its way. To be delivered after the markets close.
  3. Yeah--I don't know. The shelter is obviously a magnet for them. But at the same time, most homeless people don't want to be around an area that is full of normal people. And that's going to be particularly true if those landlords hire private security to protect their investment.
  4. Well, inasmuch as we are now a net exporter of petroleum, we don't really care that world oil prices might go up. But the immediate issue isn't Iran's nuclear program or world oil prices. It's three dead Americans. The only way to deal with Iran's nuclear program is through diplomacy. We don't have any way to eliminate Iran's nuclear program through military or covert action. We can (and have) delayed it. But there's really no way to stop it unless the Iranians themselves agree to a halt. The best way to accelerate it, however, would be a general war. In that event, Iran would go full Manhattan Project to finalize its development of nuclear weapons (and the necessary delivery vehicles). So that's yet another reason to take a measured approach and avoid escalating to the point of bringing about a general war. All these various considerations take time to parse out and think through. There's just no benefit to rushing into military action that could spark consequences that we haven't fully thought through. Taking a week or two or three doesn't make us look like an "aggressor;" anybody who thinks that already thinks we're the aggressor by having troops in Iraq in the first place. But taking that time could enable us to explore diplomatic solutions that would achieve our goals without risking American lives, treasure, or prestige.
  5. There seems to be a lot of diplomatic action. Iran desperately wants not to get hit directly. At the same time, we don't necessarily want to hit Iran directly for fear of sparking a general war in a region in which we have fewer and fewer strategic interests. Or maybe we do, as a way to weaken the Iranian regime and in the expectation that Iran will just eat shit and smile. There's a lot of uncertainty on both sides, and so a lot of incentive to avoid increased confrontation. And so it seems that there is a lot of activity through various intermediaries and a lot of signaling. And sorting that out is going to delay whatever play we decide to make. And all that is fine. Because there's really no hurry. A tomahawk delivered tomorrow is no less effective than a tomahawk delivered today.
  6. I'm just going to drop this here: The Palace Hotel is one of my favorite hotels in America. It's an historic hotel, but it's been updated and is really comfortable. The location is great with an F-train stop right out front. But the real winner for me is the bar across the street. House of Shields--the bartender makes the best martini I've ever had.
  7. I'm going to echo York. Between the York Minster and the Shambles, I think York is worth a day. After that, you can take the train or drive up to Edinburgh. I know you've been there before, but I don't think you've done the Tattoo. I have to tell you, I was kind of skeptical. I mean, how many military bands can a person really take? But my skepticism was misplaced--it is really cool. But otherwise, you've got three things on your list--Oban, Skye, and the Orkneys--that are really far apart and difficult to get to. I don't think you cand do all three in two weeks. You kind of need to pick two (and those two can't be Oban and the Orkneys). But if you're going to try to do all three, that's really a Northern Scotland trip. You need to fly into Inverness and do a loop north of Loch Ness. Big question: do you want to take the ferry out of Oban down to Islay to take a day around the island and visit the distilleries there? And if so, how much Lagavulin are you bringing back for me?
  8. The Tigers are not in town that weekend, unfortunately. I'm going to head up with some good friends whose daughter will be a sophomore at UM. But damn--hotels in Detroit that weekend are fucking expensive. And hotels in Ann Arbor are non-existent.
  9. That's not exactly true. He's not putting his money anywhere. He's putting the taxpayers' money where his mouth is. And as a taxpayer, I don't really like my money being in that position.
  10. I'm not necessarily disputing the issue-ownership theory that you lay out. I'm saying that by having a bipartisan Senate border bill, it makes the issue less salient to the independent voter. Those voters are not good at nuance, and there being a bipartisan bill introduces a lot of nuance to the issue. So on something like abortion, there's no nuance. Depending on your point of view on the issue, you think D=Good, R=Bad, or vice-versa. But with a bipartisan bill being debated, that makes that Manichean viewpoint untenable. And that means that not very many independents are going to be voting on it. . . . all of which illustrates how badly Johnson and Trump have mishandled it. If they were smart, they'd voice some displeasure and pass the bill. Make sure it's "Biden's Border Bill." And then when it doesn't succeed at keeping out every last brown person, campaign on the failure of Biden's Border Bill. "I mean, haven't you heard--as a result of BIDEN'S BORDER BILL, literally every Mexican is throwing themselves at our border." It's like a scene out of World War Z, dontchaknow?
  11. But it's far worse than all that. After they impeach Mayorkas for not doing anything about the border, the impeachment will go over to the Senate. And the Senate will have . . . wait for it . . . passed a bill to do something about the border. So Fox News is going to have wall-to-wall coverage of the impeachment trial. Because IMPEACHMENT! of a Democratic officeholder. But during that, they're going to hear a bunch of senators--including a bunch of Republicans--talk about how the Republican House isn't passing the bipartisan Senate bill to address the border. And that gives Democratic challengers a line of attack against Republican House members--"GQP Member X refuses to do anything about the Border; vote him out now!" And that's going to be consistent with what GQP voters heard on Fox News during the impeachment trial. It's an attack that is going to stick. So Republican House members are literally harming their own reelection efforts to forestall a border bill from being passed. All on the theory that this helps Trump's campaign. Whether it actually helps Trump's campaign is very questionable at this point. It has become such common knowledge that the Republicans in the House are preventing a border bill from passing to help Trump--they're so stupid that they've said so themselves--that it takes the effectiveness out of the issue entirely. Fox News viewers may still be fired up. But not a single independent is going to have his vote swayed by the issue now. And that's pretty much the definition of a cult. House members are sacrificing themselves on the alter of Trump solely because Trump asks them to. There's no obvious benefit. There's not even a non-obvious benefit. But they'll do it all the same, because the cult leader demands it.
  12. Yep--Confirmed that Cori Bush is in the crosshairs for doing something stupid.
  13. I thought I saw that it was a Democrat who was alleged to be misappropriating his security allowance.
  14. I'm sorry--are you meaning to imply that your search history is a lot more genteel or some shit? Because you and I both know that's a goddamned lie.
  15. It's not about fighting over for me. It's about dying over. Because while I don't mind shooting these traitors in the fucking face, presumably they're going to be liable to shoot back. And no--I have no interest in getting shot for this shithole state. And I say that as a 6th-generation Texan. But you know why I'm not a whatever-th generation Czech or Englishman? Because my forebearers had the good sense to leave when the time was right. And I have no intention of staying someplace when it makes a lot more sense to leave. Let these fuckfaces have fun as their own shithole country if they want. I will move to California or New York or Ontario or some other place that isn't 10,000* in the summer and where I'm not surrounded by a bunch of fucking morons.
  16. I mean, that's been my question for a while. China's economy is the one that is most at risk from yet another interruption in the global supply chain. Their inaction up to this point hasn't been consistent with the risk they face.
  17. And that's why it's smart to keep rope, duct tape, and cement on hand.
  18. I guess I don't refresh the Drudge Report frequently enough. So, . . . which wrestlers?
  19. It's literally the top story on the Washington Post website. It's the top story on the Drudge Report. It's on Fox News. It's completely everywhere. I actually kind of like that.
  20. And we'll have plenty of time to shoot them all in the fucking face after the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. But for right now, confronting this bullshit plays right into Abbott's hands.
  21. No. Today, the entire narrative is Romney and McConnell making clear to god and everyone that the Republicans are spiking a deal on border security so that Trump can run on the issue. They're making clear that the Republican cries of "border crisis" is cynical bullshit. And to the extent there is a "border crisis," the blame lies with the GQP. Why would we do anything to get in the way of that?
  22. I hate McConnell. He has destroyed the Senate as an effective deliberative body. He is a hypocrite of unbelievable proportions. He has undermined America's political culture and the ability of Congress to act as an effective branch of government. And he's done so all in furtherance of a white-christian-nationalist vision for America that is noxious to anyone with any moral code developed after the seventeenth century. But Mitch McConnell knows what he's doing. Romney's shouting it from the rooftops that "Trump is preventing a deal on the border." But what McConnell is doing is infinitely more clever. And more cynical. He's saying, "we all need to get in line and support Trump, and that prevents us from doing anything on the border because Trump wants to campaign on that." He's saying the same thing as Romney. But he's doing so from the purported position of supporting Trump. And in so doing, he gives it greater weight, credibility, and creditability. It's fucking cynical as hell. But in this instance, it works to the benefit of issue positions I favor. So I'll support it.
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