This is the world globalists want!
“Green Lives Matter” – Yes, our Border Patrol actually believes this shit.
Earlier this week, President Trump delivered his second annual speech concerning his administration’s national security strategy. In it, Trump presented a Manichean world, in which America’s cultural, economic, and military hegemony must be maintained at all costs against an insidious Asiatic peril that consists of the combined forces of Cathay and the Volga Tartar. While it is encouraging to finally see recognition of the fact that “history” is far from over, with Trump specifically, and without obfuscation, declaring Russia and China as “rival” nations of which “protection” of a nebulously defined American economic interest is a prerequisite for “cooperation,” one is forced to inquire in what essential way does Trump’s national security policy deviate from the zero-sum Weltanschauung of the neoconservatives?
After all, it was Trump’s putative national security and foreign policies that were the banner Rockwellians held aloft, front and center, when declaring a ‘libertarian case for Trump’. Instead, the bill of goods sold to libertarians by Bannon, Gorka, Miller, et alia was merely the The Project for a New American Century covered with a lamina of mercantilistic trade protectionism. Thus, what we have now is a mandate to para-militarize our borders to serve the triple purposes of escalating the Wars on Drugs, Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration; increased federal spending to defense and infrastructure cronies; going all-in on the Israeli position in the Middle East, the provision of arms to Ukraine, and continued support for adventures abroad to “confront, discredit, and defeat radical Islamic terrorism and ideology.” As we have learned on Monday, there is no meaningful distinction between the Trump administration’s strategy and the six major articles of the Wolfowitz Doctrine.
Considering that this is the time of year when two and a half billion Christians gather in their homes and places of worship to herald the arrival of whom they believe to be the world’s savior, I suggest that we also take time to acknowledge the birth of a new “king” – Neoyokelservatism, and may wise men present it with three gifts: derision, opprobrium, and rebuke.
WOLVERINES!
Someone needs to make the text of this into copypasta.
but I thought you were a Nigerian look alike?
I am a chameleon.
No Irish need apply, and taxes!
Do you know any Nigerian mulattoes?
He Mentioned something like that in another post,
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.
Thinking about it, my son has a lot of Mulatto friends, All I assume are good people and some may in fact be Nigerian
Do mulatto Nigerians run 209-1/2 schemes?
I…dont think I’ve ever seen a ginger that didn’t look like he’s explode in direct sunlight before.
I Tan very well
/ Old Man Ginger=transparent Hair
I knew one. She was super cute and would steal anything not nailed down in your room. Worth it.
So, your concern is the latest “news” that we might pull an Osirak on Lil Kim?
I say why not, Who does he think he’s kidding?
I’m not opposed, per se, to a preemptive strike on a country that we are legally still in a state of non-peace with. What I am opposed to is pissing on my leg and telling me it’s raining.
Yes, true
Don’t I get a first? I think it Qualifies,,,,,,,
/2 in a day?????
*sigh*
Ok, fine.
Osirak was specifically designed to be useless for providing weapons grade plutonium.
Why Trump won, exhibit 92Y
Pennsylvania family ordered to take down Jesus Christmas display after neighbor said it was ‘offensive’
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/23/pennsylvania-family-ordered-to-take-down-jesus-christmas-display-after-neighbor-said-it-was-offensive.html
***
A Pennsylvania family was ordered by their homeowner’s association to take down their Jesus Christmas display after one of the neighbors reported it as offensive.
Mark and Lynn Wivell of Adams County, a Gettysburg subdivision, said they put up their Jesus display last Saturday, FOX43 reported.
“As part of our Christmas decoration, we would display the name Jesus to point out to everyone that we in this family believe that the reason for the season is to celebrate the birth of Jesus,” said Mark Wivell told FOX43.
But the homeowner’s association wasn’t having it.
On Sunday, the association told the family to take down the sign after a neighbor complained it was offensive. The homeowner’s association also claimed the display was a sign, not a decoration – which is a violation of the rules, USA Today reported.
***
Trump won because people don’t want to abide by the rules that they agreed to?
Well, he did promise we would all be saying “Merry Christmas” again.
Not me Bah Humbug! Brian Setzer, The Trans Siberian Symphony and Burl Ives can join Mr Moore and Mr. Dickens in kissing jolly red ass.
Buble, Martin, Crosby and Sinatra Agree
So, you’re Transsiberiaphobic?
not me, just thought it would be a good come back, they are all better than me,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQpqL3gWZIY
*narrows gaze*
What?
“Transsiberiophobic”
Bah.
I think there’s some disagreement as to whether the rules were being violated.
No signs means no signs, just cause a sign says JESUS doesn’t make it a non sign. Live in a stupid rule laden community live by the stupid rules.
Yeah, if I were the neighbor, I’d be annoyed.
In the article, the HOA says the sign does not count as an xmas decoration. I presume they allow other signs, as well as lights that say “Merry Christmas”.
But let’s suppose it’s OK for HOAs to ban signs, or even specific signs. What else can they ban? Can they ban different races, religions, or political parties? Can they tell you what to wear and what car to drive?
I think it’s possible to believe in free association and also be against stupid rules. An HOA shouldn’t be able to over-rule the 1st amendment.
Sure it should, If me and you decide to buy some land and build houses next to each other with the conditions that we don’t paint out homes green and no signs, concrete geese, or lawn jockeys (unless very tastefully done) and only allow Kias (on our jointly owned roads) that is our business and ours alone and the congress of the United States of America should have fuck all to say about it.
Any private association should be able to over-rule the first amendment.
My club, my rules. You agree to those rules when you join. If you don’t like it, feel free to leave.
I think the real issue at hand is the sign is tacky as hell.
Someone needs to plant “H Crhist On a Popsicle Stick” next to it. That would class it up.
It’s odd to me that being libertarian requires me to approve of mini police states.
I thought the whole point was the live and let live philosophy.
What you guys are saying is basically what Team Blue hellholes like NJ and Chicago say- if you don’t like the rules, leave.
NJ and Chicago are run by governments that one never signed a contract with. A person voluntarily enters in a contract with a HOA. If you signed the contract, then you have to abide by the rules of it. If you don’t like the rules, then don’t sign the contract.
People in NJ and Chicago never signed any contracts to agree to rules applied to them by those governments. That’s the difference.
Yes, it’s a live and let live philosophy. However if while you are doing your living, you sign a contract, then you are obliged to let others live by honoring your obligation.
Well good news! It doesn’t. What it does require is that you accept that other people might want to voluntarily live in a mini police state, so long as everyone there joined voluntarily, and to not call for some external force to make them live how you’d want to.
I’m happy my neighborhood’s HOA died in 2009, with the rest of the real estate market. This would prompt me to build a nativity set from dildos.
You mean you haven’t done that already?
Adams County, a Gettysburg subdivision
Huh? Gettysburg is part of Adams County.
Uproar as top MSNBC hosts denounce their own network for firing beloved contributor Joan Walsh for unknown reasons
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/12/23/uproar-as-top-msnbc-hosts-denounce-their-own-network-for-firing-beloved-contributor-joan-walsh-for-unknown-reasons.html
Too liberal for MSNBC? Ouch.
Watch your back, Maddow.
If she’s who I think she is, many years ago she was a sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle or Examiner, who essentially wrote nonstop about how women’s sports don’t get the attention they deserve and/or all men are assholes. She eventually moved into the Op/Ed section so she could go full progtard, still basically keeping with the ‘all men are assholes’ viewpoint, which she could now dedicate 100% of her writing to, without icky sports getting in the way. What a shame to see this valuable voice be let go by MSNBC.
Escaped inmate with skull-face tattoo found in California
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/12/23/escaped-inmate-with-skull-face-tattoo-found-in-california.html
***
He probably wasn’t too hard to find.
An escaped inmate with a skull tattoo on his face was found less than a month after he escaped from a work crew in central California.
***
I propose a program offering free tattoos to criminals, with a cash bonus for getting a face tattoo.
I think MS-13 already has that program.
He probably wasn’t too hard to find.
Not that he would be able to get it in prison, there are productsthat can cover it up.
“Takin ’em off here, Boss!”
Fiancee caught me ogling the girl in the lead photo..now I’m in peril. Does that count?
As a criminal? or a Mulatto?
there will be a test
So you’re in yellow peril?
Yes. Run.
OKCupid determined to make their website even worse:
OkCupid begins enforcing real-name rules, insists it’s a good idea
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/12/okcupid-begins-enforcing-real-name-rules-insists-its-a-good-idea/
The Band?
Wait until a stalker finds someone that way.
It’s a plus if all the creepy weirdos flock to another dating site.
So which daring site will *you* be flocking to? :-p
Dating, fucking auto-correct!
Works either way Ted,
Yep, I didn’t bat an eye.
What could possibly go wrong?
During my last and what will probably be my final stint on OKCupid, I stumbled on the account of a morbidly obese woman whose handle was “i_fuck_to_cum”. I didn’t contact her.
So, uh, lead photo girl. Damn. Nice.
Here’s an unobstructed view:
China definitely is a rival, a threat and up to no good. Russia wishes it could be China…but we don’t need to be dumb about this.
IMO it would be wise to work With Russia, much as we use Israel for a quasi Puppet State, Russia would be good for protecting against the entire Sino flank,
freeing our forces to keeps the Sea free for Commerce.
The issue with Russia is that they absolutely need oil prices to be high. Is $100 a barrel, and all that entails, worth a friendly Russia?
That is not our concern IMO. they can use us to the extent they are able, and they keep China busy, petty harassment type stuff. The U.S. doesn’t have that much influence on oil prices
The US does not have influence on oil prices? We tanked it. Fricking frackers did the price of oil in bro.
It is for me. I could go back to my former profession. Oil will never be $100 a barrel again though. Never. Regardless of world politics the Canucks and the US produce too much now.
So the Russians need to adjust to a new reality, more leverage for us, is kinda my point, I suck at making a point
Bingo.
A rival that we can completely bankrupt by merely choosing not to honor our debt. If the Chinese are a threat, maybe because they feel threatened by being completely surrounded by stanch US allies to the north, east, and south; and to the west they have their border with India to worry about. We think in chess, but they think in weiqi (or as we call it, Go). And if you know anything about the rules of Go, to be surrounded is death. Even if you don’t know how to play Go, it’s common sense that you don’t antagonize a cornered animal.
I will add that China has been invaded many times, and the last time they were invaded, millions of them were killed.
It’s not surprising that they want a strong military and view foreigners with suspicion.
….Is also deeply imprinted by history in the souls of every Russian.
Millions of Russians and Chinese were killed without any invasions at all.
This is also very true. That’s one reason I’m not overly afraid about the Dragon. It’s going to collapse under its own weight eventually.
If we default, We will be bankrupt as well functionally and by any definition. It’s a weapon we cannot use.
MAD Doctrine, my friend.
https://mises.org/blog/why-not-repudiate-national-debt
“During the deflationary 1840s succeeding the panics, state governments faced repayment of their debt in dollars that were now more valuable than the ones they had borrowed. Many states, now largely in Democratic hands, met the crisis by repudiating these debts, either totally or partially by scaling down the amount in “readjustments.” Specifically, of the 28 American states in the 1840s, 9 were in the glorious position of having no public debt, and 1 (Missouri’s) was negligible; of the 18 remaining, 9 paid the interest on their public debt without interruption, while another 9 (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida) repudiated part or all of their liabilities. Of these states, four defaulted for several years in their interest payments, whereas the other five (Michigan, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida) totally and permanently repudiated their entire outstanding public debt. As in every debt repudiation, the result was to lift a great burden from the backs of the taxpayers in the defaulting and repudiating states.”
We wouldn’t be bankrupt, our givernment would just have its credit score shot to hell. I personally think it would be great if other countries quit loaning the fedgov money.
The fegov is going to eventually go bankrupt anyway. Repudiating the debt would just hasten that outcome.
At that time, our currency was not government fiat founded on debt. If we repudiate our debt, it will collapse our currency, our financial system, and our economy,
“Apart from the moral, or sanctity-of-contract argument against repudiation that we have already discussed, the standard economic argument is that such repudiation is disastrous, because who, in his right mind, would lend again to a repudiating government? But the effective counterargument has rarely been considered: why should more private capital be poured down government rat holes? It is precisely the drying up of future public credit that constitutes one of the main arguments for repudiation, for it means beneficially drying up a major channel for the wasteful destruction of the savings of the public. What we want is abundant savings and investment in private enterprises, and a lean, austere, low-budget, minimal government. The people and the economy can only wax fat and prosperous when their government is starved and puny.”
One of the reasons the Amur River is such a dangerous place.
You have the Chinese with a fear of being surrounded with nowhere to go, and the Russians who have learned to value nominally independent vassal states between themselves and their foes, and you have a geopolitical powderkeg. That border can’t satisfy either nation, yet there it is. The Amur Valley and the 300-miles to the west up to Lake Baikal is one of the last places I’d want to be if world diplomacy broke down.
Russia is a nuisance, and can harm states that border them. But they are not much more than that.
They’re no threat to us, but they’re a significant irritant to China at the moment, although their power is declining. That’s one of the reasons the Chinese are moving ‘migrants’ into that real estate between the Amur and Lake Baikal.
I don’t think a table game perception of doom made them tear a chunk off India, annihilate Tibet, invade Vietnam, help the Norks invade the South, declare they are Lords of all the oceans around their nautical neighbors and say if there is fish or oil, we get it.
They are a Communist totalitarian state that means ill for anyone or anything that opposes their desires.
And we have the nerve to say that while holding dominion over 90% of the Pacific?
I don’t remember the US Navy setting up atolls to claim mineral or fishing rights in anyone’s waters?
No, we just forcibly depopulate them and then nuke the shit out of them.
While I don’t believe China has a right to all of the Spratlys, etc., we surely don’t have the moral high ground in the argument when we’ve kept Guam, Micronesia, Saipan, etc. as post-WWII vassal states. I mean, China had the decency to ask Djbouti before building a naval base there. The Okinawans have asked us to leave for decades and we still flip them the bird.
What I’m saying is that China’s imperialism is no more insidious than our own. It’s not a secret plan for world domination, it’s just rational behavior under realpolitik.
This right here
Additionally, if you’re talking about the Sino-Vietnamese War, the Chinese performed a punitive expedition in response to Vietnam’s occupation of Cambodia. How is that different than our actions in Iraq in response to their invasion of Kuwait?
We Must Save Pol Pot’s regime ain’t chasing Saddam out of Kuwait.
Annihilating Tibet and tearing off a piece of India isn’t a defensive board game move either.
From whose perspective? I don’t see any meaningful difference in morality between a Sino-Soviet proxy war and the mercenary motives behind ensuring a favorable port for uninterrupted petroleum exports in the Gulf.
While the messy relationship between Tibet and China is worthy of an entire essay, I will say that I strongly disagree that 1951 wasn’t a “defensive board game move”. Mao certainly didn’t want a British client state at his backdoor, much less one that was under Chinese sovereignty until the British invaded 50 years prior.
As for India, let’s not forget that Nehru did all he could to provoke the PRC, believing that both the USSR and the US would come to India’s aid. He admitted as much afterwards.
MAGA
I see the orgasm in her eyes
I’ll admit I regret never having had sex with a hot chick with bright blue hair. Especially if the carpet had matched the drapes.
She can’t even bother to do her eyebrows. Why would she do her nether region?
Why would you care? really?
Portland State student op-ed: ‘White people are sick’
I’ll link directly to the op-ed so you can see how horrid it is.
http://psuvanguard.com/moore-lessons-white-people-are-sick/
***
Remember, this contest was set to replace the Senate seat previously held by America’s racist great-uncle Jeff (a racist who can never seem to recall how fucking racist he is until he’s being racist, and even after he’s just been extremely racist cannot recall those repugnant thoughts that have thoroughly corroded his tiny Keebler-elf brain).
***
I don’t expect great writing in a college newspaper, but this is just embarrassing.
New drink invention: equal parts Fireball and Rum Chata.
I like the name Rumball. Thoughts?
Oops was supposed to be not a reply
Still works, sounds tasty
That sounds terrible, but I might have the ingredients and it might get my mind off my hands smelling like
Winston’s momturkey brine.“And I totally would not be writing this same exact article if the Republican happened to be Romney or someone like him running for Senate in Alabama.”
Wasn’t Romney a racist devil in 2012? (And not to mention a fool for thinking Russia was an enemy.)
I was laughing at how often the writer used ‘fuck’, as if that made his impact more profound or something. And at the bottom it said he is a regular columnist! If this is the next wave of journalists, wow.
Someone left a great comment, looks like they noticed the same thing I did:
I fuckin love your fuckin writing style. You are so fuckin cool the way that you actually put some words in between the fuckin use of “fuck” that you use to pepper your fuckin liberal points. Now, not everyone can fuckin use this kind of fuckin language as fuckin naturally as you do. I sure as fuck can’t. I am fuckin anxious to see your next shit-stained article. You make me fuckin optimistic about the fuckin future of this shit-stained country.
Fuckin edgy af.
https://i.imgur.com/eeaFLuA.jpg
Why none of you are getting anything from Santa. It’s mostly Qs fault.
Why did none of you assholes get me this for Glibsmas?
Because you don’t drive a manual transmission vehicle. Otherwise I would have.
It’s true. Last week, I had my eye on this, but I got a better deal on an automatic.
That didn’t look like a bad deal. I got a good deal several years ago on my chevy sonic that I. It’s a 2013 I bought in 2014. Brand new, standard, 40mpg, no bells or whistles included. I got it for 10,500. It’s been a good commuter vehicle.
It was a good deal, which is why I inquired about it. However, I ended up with a Mazda 6, for the same price, but with only 14,000 miles.
That does sound like a good daily driver.
It’s a shame those relatively stylish Mazda 6s now come with a little clunky “Skyactiv” 4 cylinder.
I have a love/hate relationship with that marque. Love Miata/hate no rotary Wankel Miata
That is the tackiest thing I’ve seen in my life. And I’ve seen a lamp that was a bust of Elivs’ head with the lamp part sticking up out of the bust.
I know, isn’t it amazing?!?
Really? You need to up your game. I see tackier things then that on a regular basis.
Because it’s only December; Glibsmas is in Glibuary.
I thought Glibsmas was in Glibtember.
It’s always Glibtember, Western, always.
Egypt: Hundreds of Muslims storm church, destroy its contents, assault Christians inside it
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/12/egypt-hundreds-of-muslims-storm-church-destroy-its-contents-assault-christians-inside-it
***
CAIRO (AP) — Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators assaulted an unlicensed church south of Cairo, an Egyptian Coptic Christian diocese said on Saturday, in the latest assault on members of the country’s Coptic minority.
The incident took place after Friday prayers when demonstrators gathered outside the building and stormed it. The demonstrators chanted hostile slogans and called for the church’s demolition, the diocese in Atfih said. The demonstrators destroyed the church’s contents and assaulted Christians inside before security personnel arrived and dispersed them.
The wounded were transferred to a nearby hospital but didn’t elaborate.
The church in Giza just outside of Cairo is yet to be sanctioned by the state but has been observing prayers for 15 years. The diocese said it had officially sought to legalize the building’s status under a 2016 law that laid down the rules for building churches.
Local authorities often refuse to give building permits for new churches, fearing protests by Muslim conservatives. That has prompted Christians to illegally build churches or set up churches in other buildings. In contrast, building a mosque results in few restrictions….
***
Do we know what their motive was?
And why the fuck does the AP stylebook require that it be referred to as an “unlicensed” church? Why’s that relevant?
In Islamic countries, it is often very difficult to build or operate a church. Special permits are always required. This is because sharia forbids the construction of churches or even the repair of old ones.
It’s Because of the Baby Jesus isn’t it? Darned Mooslims need a Stern Letter I tells ya!
I fear this will only lead to a backlash against peaceful Muslims in our country. That’s the real threat here.
I remember a grenade attack by some Muslims over in Europe, and one of their dipshit politicians was quoted as saying that he was “concerned that this is playing into the hands of right-wing extremists“.
“How dare those right wing extremists say that is Muslims are violent, I’ll show them.”
One of HM’s links crashed my computer. Not just the browser, the whole damn thing. Nice work.
I am not sure I buy into the upcoming Neoyokelconservatapocolyps yet. I am holding out that His Orangeness keeps US interest close to his chest which would be no wars and pulling back from the ones we are in. I may be delusional though. Or drunk, or both.
I have the same hopes. I don’t know if they are realistic or not. I have been waiting for us to get out of the middle east since I was in the 8th grade. I hope that our newfound oil independence will help us with the idea that we don’t need to be mucking about in the ME as much.
Something about foreign entanglements, i never got why we paid so much attention, was Saudi oil THAT much cheaper to extract than U.S. oil? and if so, why?
We’ve been in the ME so long, I suspect a lot of people forget the importance of OPEC in the 90’s. Operation Iraqi Freedom was at least in part a mission to secure access to oil for the US, and deny it to our rivals. Shale Oil was a technical possibility, but wasn’t much more than that. America needed to import about 50% of its hydrocarbons.
The other thing is that while oil is a fungible commodity, not all crude oil is the same. Refineries are designed and built to consume crudes of varying grade of sourness (sulfur content).
But yeah, continuing the destruction of OPEC’s influence was and is a huge win for the US and the West.
I was around for the OPEC embargoes of the 70s, odd/even gas days, all due to Our own regulation as much as the OPEC gangsters
In the 70’s even at the elevated prices of crude, the US reserves exploitable at that price wouldn’t have met the shortfall, even if we had been able to ramp production up.
Offshore production was low, and much of what we have since brought online in the Gulf hadn’t been fully prospected. Most of the Atlantic/Pacific fields were barely recognized. Once the bans on development off the coasts were introduced, there was no point in hunting down reserves, because permits wouldn’t be issued, but in fairness, the West- and Central Gulf Basin was and is lower-hanging fruit. In 2022, IIRC, the ban on development of the East Gulf Basin will be lifted.
It will be, unless Florida fucks it up. A ton of talk here about how to scuttle that politically.
It’s also a win for the people in that area. Look at the crown Prince in Saudi Arabia and his attempt to modernize the country. This is necessary because of the drop in oil price: they need new industry and to put their people to work, instead of just spreading the oil lucre around.
Which one?
I don’t know. I had most of them open on different tabs and I stepped outside for a smoke, (bought myself a pack of smokes for Christmas after years of quit) and when I came back in I had blue screen. I am smoking over Christmas so I can quit at new years and feel successful.
Maybe your computer was just concerned about your health.
If my computer was concerned about my health it would buy me a hot tub. I think I need a hot tub. Then I could smoke while sitting in hot water.
Yes. Hot tubs are awesome.
Intex makes a cool one for 350$ It lasted for 3 years,
I’m not sure if you’re drunk, but you’re delusional.
That was one facade that was dropped around the time he took office. You can put it on him or on (((us))) or on the military industrial complex, but intervention will always be what we do, because if we’re not messing around with other countries that’s “isolationist” and bad.
They also dropped the line that Trump was a closet Prog. (which I believed) He has been nothing like that and has surprised me over and over. He seems to be on a mission to piss off the establishment and I can only pray the next chunk of the establishment he sets his sights on to piss off is the warmongering douche nozzles. I have to hang on to my delusion.
I’d like nothing more than to see that happen. But … it won’t. You can dream, I might be too cynical, but it’s the one thing I’m pretty sure will never happen, no matter how “anti-establishment” our President is.
I still dream of a future (perhaps 50 – 100 years) where the whole ME is ruled with a iron fist by a tripartite trade alliance of Eretz Israel , Greater Kurdistan, and Persia Major.
It would be better than the current line up, more Radiation though
Greater Kurdistan is not likely to be much better than Iraq or Syria have been in the past.
Due props to them as tactical allies, and I think the US should support them in a bid for nationhood out of gratitude, but let’s plump for Lesser Kurdistan – or even better Kurdistan Minor.
I don’t know. My personal belief is that the Kurds (of N Iraq) have no desire to fuck with any neighbors (given they get nationhood) unless in a defensive manner. I am not keen on Syrian history, but Iraq can’t claim the not fucking with neighbors badge.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are not the kind of people who would make good allies, unless you think that Saddam Hussein was a good ally.
The Turks have good reason to fear a Kurdish nation-state on their border. We should be grateful for the help the Kurds have given us, and we should support their struggle for self-determination; but they’re the perfect reason why we should avoid foreign entanglements.
The PKK is but a small faction. The PDK and PUK are the ruling parties in Kurdistan. The PKK lives in the hills, and I agree they are not good allies. Maybe not as bad as the Syrian Kurds, but close.
And fuck Erdogon. He is an ass. I am of the mind he set up his own coup. Ya I am one of those.
I’m a Kurdish nationalist because I expect the Kurds to fight till they get (at least) the whole damn country back
You have a driver issue.
Good collection of gibberish.
And your addition Sir? rather than snark?
Was watching Fox news. They did a report on how awesome the F35 is. It has very advanced electronics, you see. Get this- it allows the pilot to talk to other planes and ground units.
I’m pretty sure WW2 fighter planes had radios.
Anyway, the gist was the plane is awesome and so we should spare no expense. They neglected to mention the current and future costs.
I know it’s cool to think we’ll beat the Taliban with robots and lasers, but pack mules would be more useful.
The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.
—-
I’m waiting for the Giant Mecha wars. We’d do great, China would do great, Japan would become an international superpower. South Korea would finally stomp the North. The EU would spend 3 years discussing their mech and end up trying to build an environmentally friendly solar-powered robot. It wouldn’t work very well, but boy would they crow about it. Russia’s robot would explode about 2 minutes into the fight.
This needs to be an anime.
Do you know what the fine is for killing a Chinaman?
A bullet from Morris “Two-Guns” Cohen?
How about a little fire, scarecrow?
Reports: U.S. to send anti-tank missiles to Ukraine
***
“The United States has decided to provide Ukraine enhanced defensive capabilities as part of our effort to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity, to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Friday night. “U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature, and as we have always said, Ukraine is a sovereign country and has a right to defend itself. The United States remains committed to the Minsk agreements as the way forward in eastern Ukraine. We have no further comment, at this time.”
The Kremlin criticized the anti-tank plans.
“The United States in a certain sense crossed the line, announcing the intention to transfer weapons of direct damaging action to Ukraine,” Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, said in a statement. “American weapons can lead to new victims in our neighboring country, to which we cannot remain indifferent.”
***
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes
I heard they said No to Javelin missiles, but yes to Sniper systems
weapons of direct damaging action
?
As opposed to what? Weapons that don’t do damage?
People? Tanks? IDK
meh, you far overstate the case. national security speeches, with some stylistic flourishes aside, are largely vapid reformulations of the same few basic ideas. trying to read any sort of actual ‘coherent geopolitical strategy’ into trumpian bluster is mostly a waste of time.
that said, if you’re going to go there…
neoconservatives were far more ideologically motivated by the idea that permanent US hegemony was achievable should we destroy our enemies ASAP in the wake of the cold war.
trump seems – if anything – to be communicating to people a different view, where there is no US hegemony and its not achievable, either; there’s an uneasy balance of power between an overpowered but-ambivalent-to-its-own-interests, vs. a gaggle of 2nd rate “Frenemies” like the rooskies and the chinks, and some possible 3rd rate ‘problem causers’ like the Norks and Iran.
iow, its not at all like the neocons, who prioritized opportunity for action, and a clear vision of how they intended to ‘remake’ certain relationships. Trump isn’t really espousing that sort of ‘activist’, messianic sort of thing. He has no Telos, basically. Its more of a “hey, if we don’t look out for #1, who will?” thing. ‘Defensive realism’?
I just read about your avatar photo guy passing away a couple of weeks ago. RIP.
Look who didn’t drink tonight
*guilty as charged
I agree and disagree. I agree that the Trump administration’s strategy is a chimera of the aspirations of Sy Sperling and the wish-lists of the generals and admirals he’s surrounded himself with in place of the usual DoS apparatchiks. However, going by this latest speech I have to disagree with you that he’s communicating a different view concerning US hegemony.
Let’s take a look at the transcript:
What’s a synonym for “unrivaled power”? Again, textbook neoconservatism.
You think Trump would be satisfied with a balance of power? U.S. primacy, or in the vernacular of Trump, “winning” is probably the pillar of the Wolfowitz Doctrine that appeals to him the most. Again, I ask you to read the transcript of this speech and tell me where he meaningfully deviates from the six articles of the Wolfowitz Doctrine: Maintenance of the U.S. as the premier superpower status, U.S. world leadership, unilateralism, the right of intervention, Russia as threat, and the strategic objective of maintaining political and military hegemony in the Middle East and S.W. Asia.
Neocons as bloodthirsty Wilsonians is more of a product of their critics’ imagination than their actual beliefs. Not that neocons were inherently opposed to “nation building”, but that defensive realism could just as be applied to them as to Trump.
“You think Trump would be satisfied with a balance of power?”
I have no idea. I also don’t think Trump himself has a whole hell of a lot to do with U.S. foreign policy. He didn’t make up the content of the speech he gave nor do i believe he has much insight into the million different conflicts going on around the world. Trump regurgitates whatever is fed to him by his advisors, and his advisors tell him whatever the military tell them. I doubt the President has a whole hell of a lot to do with the direction of our foreign policy.
this is generally true. the dominant POV in any given area of Dept of State ebbs and flows, and presidents are at best simply the guys who elevate one pre-existing view over one of its pre-existing competitors in any given subject. The ideas pre-existed the president, and all he does is get a speechwriter to spin someone else’s basic argument in a style that personally appeals to him /makes him feel like he looks good/smart.
there are some exceptions. I think Reagan actually influenced the way we handled Russia. its sort of remarkable how deluded/wrong much of the State dept and CIA were about the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union. i think it was a small number of people close to him who really shaped things.
Clinton was also a ‘hands on’ guy, but mostly in a terrible way, where he personally sponsored lots of ‘small, very bad ideas’.
Bush II i think was mostly just a rubber stamp who trusted others to have a plan. Obama wasn’t at all concerned with having a plan, but was obsessed with the idea of *looking like he did*. his was FP as PR.
no its not. its absolutely nothing.
even *libertarian* foreign policy has often described itself as purely defensive: and yet it nevertheless similarly aims to maintain material superiority over any potential threat. And so have dozens of other security-strategy theories.
Merely having a goal of maintaining advantage over rivals isn’t so much significant of “neoconservatism”, as it is a feature common dozens of different approaches to geopolitics. If people *can*, they will.
Having an ambition to merely *maintain* a degree of power-superiority has nothing at all to do w/ neoconservative theory, which was explicity moaning that all of our power and advantage was being wasted through disuse
the principle features of neoconservatism missing in trump’s vague-Rah-Rah-USA bluster:
neoconservatism shared w/ the wilsonian idealists the idea of global manifest destiny for ‘democracy’. Wherever non-democratic regimes existed, it was part of our national purpose to see them ended. Trump, by contrast, seems to characterize the state of world affairs where US has zero interests beyond its own prosperity and security. if other people suffer under tyrranical regimes, too bad for them. If evildoers threaten the stability of regions we’re not invested? not our concern, apparently.
that was not how neocons described the role of the US in the post-cold-war world. it wasn’t merely ‘gather power for powers sake’, as you pretend. It was power with a specific purpose and objective. it made a moral case for intervention and implied that the US was responsible for the security of ‘freedom’ of others.
(shrug) says you. what you say isn’t consistent with what i’m familiar with.
Neoconservatism draws on several intellectual traditions. The students of political science Professor Leo Strauss (1899–1973) comprised one major group. Eugene Sheppard notes that, “Much scholarship tends to understand Strauss as an inspirational founder of American neoconservatism.”[39] Strauss was a refugee from Nazi Germany who taught at the New School for Social Research in New York (1939–49) and the University of Chicago (1949–1958).[40]
Strauss asserted that “the crisis of the West consists in the West’s having become uncertain of its purpose.” His solution was a restoration of the vital ideas and faith that in the past had sustained the moral purpose of the West. The Greek classics, (classical republican and modern republican) political philosophy, and the Judeo-Christian heritage are the essentials of the Great Tradition in Strauss’s work…
…For Strauss, the American awareness of ineradicable evil in human nature, and hence the need for morality, was a beneficial outgrowth of the premodern Western tradition.[44] O’Neill (2009) notes that Strauss wrote little about American topics but his students wrote a great deal, and that Strauss’s influence caused his students to reject historicism and positivism as morally relativist positions.[45] Instead they promoted a so-called Aristotelian perspective on America that produced a qualified defense of its liberal constitutionalism.[46] Strauss’s emphasis on moral clarity led the Straussians to develop an approach to international relations that Catherine and Michael Zuckert (2008) call Straussian Wilsonianism (or Straussian idealism), the defense of liberal democracy in the face of its vulnerability.[45][47]
Strauss influenced Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, editor John Podhoretz, and military strategist Paul Wolfowitz.[48][49]
in which National Review hears the same speech, and teases their own “Trump Doctrine” out of its vague-mess of phrasing
I think they also let their cup run over a bit. the instinct for journos to project their own biases into presential speechmaking, and the need for something to call “the Trump Doctrine”, overwhelms them.
a lot of it seems to me to be trying to shape oatmeal into the appearance of a porterhouse-steak. But there are a few moments where i think the author does accurately tease out some distinctions that might actually matter:
(1) clear reference to trying to democratize Iraq + Afghanistan
(2) Fukyama
(3) what the more-teleological wilsonians + neocons tend to call people who suggest they’re nuts
(4) a hamfisted summation of realist calculation
(5) probably the best summary-sentence: self-interest comes first; cooperation is preferable to conflict; altruism isn’t a mandate but can be done where necessary and where we don’t sacrifice our interests; grand visions of shaping world-orders should be abandoned
nothing there about the singular moral mission of the victors of the cold-war, or of the importance of shepherding global liberal-democracy wherever it lives.
Its a clear attempt at distinguishing and distancing himself from the ideological + moral motives of neocons, and embrace a more practical, pragmatic realism.
that said, i still think making a big deal out of speeches – trump-speeches above all – is dumb. if anything we’re reading into the product of a Ben Rhodes-esque speechwriter who lives in the basement of the white house.
China. From top to bottom, top to bottom. They may sleep for a couple centuries, but they’ve proven to be pretty resilient.
Fucking Packers. Can’t you at least TRY this game? I was kind of hoping the Eagles wouldn’t have anything to play for anymore by Monday.
Facederp reminded me of an article that I had shared around December 2015 when the Trump Train was really getting going. It basically talked about how the author hated Trump, he hated the people who loved Trump, he hated the people who hated Trump. For the record, that was my position on Trump then and it’s still my position on him now, even though I’ve tried to give the man himself chances (still hate his supporters and detractors regardless, but then again I’m a misanthropist.)
Kind of the same thing with the NFL. I hate the political NFL. I hate the people who love the politicization of the NFL. I hate the people who hate the politicization of the NFL (mostly because of their overreaction to kneeling over the national anthem). I hate that all those people caused the politicization of the NFL in the first place after last year, when a few players decided to kneel over the national anthem because of police violence and then Kaepernick wore socks with pigs on them, which was just. so. goddamn. hilarious. I hate that Kaep then threw it all away by wearing Che and Fidel t-shirts. I hate that Kaep became this face of it because he wasn’t signed, which was down to him being a shitty QB and not because of his political stances. I know this because Michael Bennett, who did it as well, then went and lied about an interaction with the Las Vegas PD this past offseason, is still on a roster, AND despite the fact that he’s currently the biggest piece of shit on an NFL roster (now that James Harrison has been released), is still starring on a team with a huge contract, because he’s got talent. And I hate myself for being this emotionally attached to a sports team that’s going to suffer a crushing defeat because we can’t play ANY FUCKING DEFENSE.
You hate a lot of people. Unclinch the fist and let that shit go. The people you mention do the stuff they do out of attention seeking and hate is a type of attention. Don’t give them even that.
No, embrace the hate and the anger, come, join the Dark Side.
“I can feel your finger.” *Cut!* “It’s ‘anger’, you asshole.”
Sir, I believe you are on the wrong website.
I was told by the present commentariat at Reason.com that everyone on Glibs is only here because they love Trump.
AHAHAHAHAHAAAA!
Hating Clinton ain’t the same as loving Trump.
Being angry is like holding a hot coal in your hand so you can throw it at someone else. You are the one who gets burned.
Take hope. At least you are not a Broncos fan. We are a forehead slapping bunch with brain damage after this season.
Is it Christmas tune-time yet?
Yes it is
The Night Santa Went Crazy.
It’s been so much Christmas Music, i’m in my Office listening to Polaris by Deadmau5, something not Xmas!
Yes it is, other Barry.
Zat You Santa Claus?
Back Door Santa
New documents: Tiananmen Square protest death toll was 10,000
***
The document describes in detail the massacre. Wounded female students begging for their lives were allegedly were bayoneted, human remains were “hosed down the drains” and one mother was shot attempting to help her injured 3-year-old daughter.
“Students understood they were given one hour to leave square but after five minutes APCs attacked,” he wrote. “Students linked arms but were mown down including soldiers. APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make ‘pie’ and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains incinerated and then hosed down drains.
***
Not true socialism, didn’t try hard enough, wrong people in charge, you know the rest
Dammit, Derpy. I am not going to get irrationally pissed off. I am not. I’m-
HRRRRRGH
TOO LATE.
I ignore the pain because the pain will never stop.
I don’t fret about things I can’t control. Most things don’t matter. In the long run, we are all dead.
I enjoy the good things and stoically endure the bad things. Change is the only constant and the only time is now.
Today was a good day. I hiked on basalt cliffs and looked at petroglyphs. Yesterday was good too. I visited Carlsbad caverns. That place is amazing.
If you come up to visit Bandelier then look me up and I’ll buy you a beer at the Pub.
… Hobbit
Naomi Klein, citing her own imagination as the source, maintained that the protests were against the economic liberalisation started by Deng Xiaoping.
The Yokels have been moving towards a Scott Horton type view of foreign policy and away from the Rockwellian one. Not all, but most. That’ll speed up, hopefully, once more of The realpolitik emerges in Trump’s FP.
Over Xmas Music?
Black Swan, Megadeth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leoLPWAcwT4
My favorite Christmas song.
The Vandals, Oi To The World.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKk-2Pu2N8g
And No Doubt (still good mid-90s no doubt) did a great cover of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFLExwIQKto
/looks at the last thread
It checks out.
I was a teeager when No doubt was big. Gwen was celebrity fantasy girlfriend for years. I had to break it off with her when she went B-A-N-A-N-A-S sometime in the 2000s.
I saw No Doubt in August 1993. They played at the opening of a pet store in Whittier, CA. I thought they were pretty good.
I’ll hold mine off for few days, it’s interesting
Meanwhile, Kebu,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOJ6-IgMd1M
Just in case you wanted to find something different for Christmas.
ESPN’s win probability goes from 98% to 74% after Minnesota fails to convert on a 3rd and 4. What a worthless stat.
How do they get that stat? I could kind of get behind it if they were doing something like running millions of Monte Carlo simulations of the game, and updating the initial conditions and re-running every time the game state changed. But I suspect they aren’t doing that.
Chicken bones and a trippin’ priestess?
The win probability should have been at 100% the minute Minnesota scored.
Dom Capers should have been fired five years ago, after the first San Francisco playoff game.
TLDR MAGA SORRY UR GIRL LOST FAGGOT GO BACK TO COLLOGE
WARTY! Merry Christmas, long time no see….
Merry fucking Christmas to you and to all. I’ve been lurking here and there, but I’ve been busy working a lot at the new job, and I haven’t had much worth saying about the news. My boss told me that I saved Christmas, though, so that was nice.
I understand that the Koch Brothers run the internet for Russia now, or something. That sounds bad.
Always cool to know the OGs are still around, rock on!
I await your judgement of the 3 metal bands I linked to.
Derision,these guys are fresh and Fucking kick ass!
Opprobrium, too derivative, good but boring
and Rebuke. Sound was bad, could be good, too much screamo
Derision was my favorite of the 3 as well.
Derision gets major points for managing to sing in a Scottish accent. Opprobrium is a good illustration why we only remember four 80s thrash bands. Rebuke is more fun than black metal usually is, and gets points for singing about something other than winter and Satan (I think).
All in all, A+, would headbang again.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Review of SP’s Pecan Praline Bits done on a half sheet with parchment paper and Chipotle Chili Powder. (I can’t find Habinero Powder around here):
Excellent delicious stuff. Will make again.
I wanted to do the Pecan brittle but I don’t own a microwave. I might dabble with it on the stove tomorrow and see what I come up with.
Here you go… a good place to order spices. Habanero powder. If you like spicy, I highly recommend the Vulcan’s Fire salt.
Thanks, bookmarked. I have often ordered spices from amazon sellers but I also suck at planning ahead.
I recommend them as well. I just got a package from them myself.
Glad you liked them. They are addictive.
You can make brittle on the stove easily. Do you have an instant read thermometer?
More Satchmo Xmas: https://youtu.be/OVFEadOKBYE
Very Cool!
Vince Guaraldi, Peanuts, the Whole album……
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHQfOPNnLqE
How much do we have to pay just to have Trump in the name?
http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/satellites/a14471796/luxury-hotel-iss/
Give us a link to zero sum, but not Weltanschauung? You manage to simultaneously overestimate and underestimate my intelligence.
Not the best Yankee Christmas lyrics but at least he wasn’t one of those hypocritical slave-holding Yankees
Shit
“Yankee Christmas lyrics“
Another day ends, tomorrow means more Beer and Ganja, friends and fun, Good night, i’ll be back to start trouble in the morning,
Glibs !
I always hated this song and was happy my kids were adults when this movie came out. But now there is a version I endorse with great pleasure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thR473oQZtA
Xmas was never (((my))) holiday but I always liked this song. This is a great version done with great heart and simplicity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAEJKg0lSPk
The Packers got blanked by the Vikings at home. The last time the Vikings blanked them was in 1971 (3-0). Well this makes my January weekends more open.
That was great. Thanks.
Aren’t you Sailing?
/Kind of Jealous
Sailed Friday after work and will sail Sunday. Monday’s sail will be with other single misanthropic people and will include significant alcohol abuse. I will be bringing some of my aged egg nog to make sure of that.
Luckily we have a misanthrope who doesn’t drink to be the emergency skipper if we need it.
We don’t sail to any neighboring islands for three weeks.
I was waiting for it….
And it delivered.
It?
Law and Order: all chickens, all clucking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfWnITmT1Ws
One of my all time favorite Robot Chicken sketches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F1d3QWsyk0
Now that’s how you satire.
Millions of Dead Cucks?
I didn’t even RTFA
Geezus, that sucks. Three orphaned children just in time for Christmas. Sounds like they had his number when they told their daughter to dump his ass. Too bad he killed them.
Tired. So tired. Can’t keep up…
https://youtu.be/f0HOf3uR5-4 I like Led Zeppelin. He’s a good singer.
I forget who was talking about John’s triplettes but now that I know I can’t stop hearing. He was amazing.
https://youtu.be/Z9PsBJt92eY That Max Webster feller is alright, too.
https://youtu.be/a3RJnmTwjck Just one more.
Facing GOP attacks, FBI’s [partisan & ethics challenged] deputy director to retire in early 2018″
Fire his ass now and save taxpayers from supporting this parasite for the rest of his life.
Hearty plutocratic laughter.
More labels? I cant keep up with the ones we already have.