Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[WingsFan]

There are no Do-gooders Jon - You either for us or against us - Pick a side.... and if it bleeds it leads

[WingsFan]

Well Gary Sinise, that guy is a Do Good killer!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Oh, for fuck's sake. Wiz, please do your thing with this imbecile.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't get it

[Dr. Strangelove]

Forget the shutdown, these two stories are more concerning

***************************

Trump lambasted acting AG Whitaker for not doing more to 'rein in' the SDNY's investigations into Michael Cohen/himself.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-lashed-out-at-matthew-whitaker-over-cohen-court-filings

Trump has been telling people he wants to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not being more considerate of his short-term political ambitions. If he does so that would basically end all independence of the Federal Reserve

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-22/trump-said-to-discuss-firing-fed-s-powell-after-latest-rate-hike

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ohhhhhhhhhh

Yeah, fucking nerve

[Dr. Strangelove]

Is that game held at prestigious Legion Field?

[CGVT]

Satire from The Borowitz Report
By Andy Borowitz

April 5, 2018 Photograph by Chip Somodevilla / Getty
MEXICO CITY (The Borowitz Report

[Dr. Strangelove]

ahahaha...this is embarrassing. Tucker's show turning into part-infomercial.

[The Oracle]

I don't think you know what actually means.

[Ghengis Jon]

Words that Mitch McConnell (aka Cecil Turtle) uttered to suspend Senate activity while CR negotiations are in process:

"I move to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R. 695."

E eye E eye oh.

jkwtshm.jpg

[Dr. Strangelove]

That mystery foreign company that's been resisting federal subpoenas, has lost twice, and is thought to be connected to the Mueller investigation, is now asking the US Supreme Court to step in.

[millenwasmyfavorite]

I find the lionization of Mattis to be a little odd. His resignation letter was definitely noteworthy, its about as close to an FU as possible but if Tom Cotton becomes Secretary of Defense it won't be much different. The problem with the listen to the generals rationale is generals will always want to extend their assignment/occupation whatever. It is Maslow's hammer if you will. We shouldn't have troops stationed in these countries forever.

Trump is more on the right side than not in this case, of course he is going about it in the most bumblefucky way possible so everyone is up in arms. One of his big campaign promises was that he alone was going to destroy ISIS, this looks like a betrayal of that promise, but in insurgencies it is never possible to totally defeat a group like that you take a all of their territory and they regroup in the shadows. It seems to me Mattis was overrated and Trump began to realize it and came to the same conclusion that Obama did about Mattis when Obama canned him. Too hawkish.

The silver lining is perhaps maybe the Congress takes a more active role in these deployments and military actions than giving a rubber stamp to it all.

What you are saying is true, but I think people held Mattis (and the Kelly/McMaster) in such high regard because -- even in a world where they made a career out of strategic-level planning/execution for war -- they would have to be bulwarks of restraint compared to Trump.

The other issue is that Mattis' issue isn't simply: "I want to remain in Syria, you didn't listen to me" -- but, rather:
-Declaring the withdrawal to be swift
-Announcing it to the world

Even if Mattis' agreed that we needed to get out of Syria -- no sane/militarily sound mind would announce a swift withdrawal on a global platform.
-It kneecaps our Soldiers on the ground
-It undermines any current operations
-it endangers any joint-national ops
-It undermined all military leadership the moment he tweeted

All those things happened the moment Trump tweeted and address the context-specific issues that come up... Like Turkey explicitly telling Trump they are going to slay the fuck out of the Kurds -- all while Mattis knows US forces have and are working closely with the Kurds.

That is the betrayal Mattis is talking about.

It has always been a fear that because Trump idolizes Strongmen -- he'd surround himself with them and go to the most obvious well (military), but the truth is -- how could he possibly wrangle/inspire any of these men long enough to enact any sort of movement that would require a military cabinet? Trump literally fails the eye test -- and none of that is remedied by a closer look. Flynn saw an opportunity. McMaster saw a challenge.. probably similar to Kelly.. And Mattis got to operate with quite a bit of autonomy until Trump got too stupid to endure. None of these guys could last.

Any way, this probably seems like I am trying to sway you on Mattis -- and I am really not. I just think the concern on his departure has less to do with possible criticisms on his potential hawkishness and more about the realization that Trump is now surrounded by the vulturish 2nd and 3rd stringers.

[froot loops]

I have no problem with that, I probably agree with most of it, I think my take is people believe that they had adults in the room to guide them but in reality they were very ineffective anyway. They are going apoplectic when they should have been that way long ago.

[Ghengis Jon]

The last surviving fighter from the Warsaw Ghetto uprising has died.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46662860