Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[klondike]

Gee, Feinstein sure looks a lot like Emperor Palpatine, which is probably why the D's and Cali voters still keep her around. They live in a world where they think Star Wars is real life.

Doesn't this just show to be a dem you don't need to be anything but still be breathing and be able to vote with the rest of the lock step pack and their deeply ingrained lefty policies.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Progs are a cult.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Occupying headline news on Sunday are reports about the G7 Forum just convened in Hiroshima Japan. Most of the reports are about Zelenski's appearance there. His standard pitch to attendees was, "we need more ........" I've already posted about F16s. On the ledger covering the "given" there's a column for war fighting hardware, money and soft aid (medications, hospital equipment, etc.). There's also a column for countries who are with Ukraine. There are a lot of missing countries in that column and Zelenski spent the better part of his time in Japan trying to rally other nations to Ukraine's side. Why are some nations not on the bandwagon of what appears to be a reasonable COA - that is to kick Russian troops out of the globally recognized and legally defined boarders of Ukraine and from the Ukrainian territory that Russia has grabbed since 2014?

Putin and his minions in the Kremlin cast these land grabs by military action as ordained. There is no room for debate. His latest line, made even clearer by his press releases during the G7 Summit, that Russia (along with China) are being "restrained" by the western alliance that seeks to eliminate them from having global influence commensurate with their political suasion and military power. The current world order represents western imperialism and exploitation of global markets to the advantage of the western alliance (democracies). The influence China and Russia seek is to spread their way of governance and life to their geopolitical advantage. That is anathema to governance in liberal democracies. In the world of geopolitics, this is a big deal as the two geopolitical rivals - autocracies and democracies - are moving closer to armed conflict in defense of the interests of these two groups.

The point is that early in the conflict, while a reasonable argument could be made that the US should not get involved with Zelinski's and Putin's very personal war, it fails at this point in time. IOW, that ship has sailed. Nations like South Africa, Iran and India that claim allegiance to Russia or, at best, non-alliance with either side, make the point that the current rules based order is founded on an unequal share of global influence that was awarded to the western alliance at the end of WWII such a basis being no longer warranted. Support for Ukrainian interests in this conflict has become tantamount to support for maintaining the status quo of the current world order - established agencies such as the UN, the WTO and international courts that adjudicate claims involving trade and between governments. Putin and Xi would rather have all of that replaced by a world order that is defined by autocratic states, on their terms and with as many others that wish to join an alliance of autocrats under the influence of both Russia and China.

In a recent interview I posted about up thread that the Economist did with Henry Kissinger, he said that diplomats representing the interests of autocrats and liberal democrats alike have 5 to 10 years to implement strategies and infrastructure to support these where the two side can co-exist. This frames the most challenging diplomatic undertaking of our time. Failing that, a world war involving armed conflict that carries the risk of becoming nuclear conflict that will destroy all of humanity, is highly likely..... and there you have your uplifting thought for this Sunday, May 21st, 2023.

[Mike]

Well, that doesn’t afford us much time to get to net zero emissions…

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, that doesn’t afford us much time to get to net zero emissions…

Right.......the human race is doomed either as a result of "the next pandemic," nuclear war, AI taking over the world and killing humans or scorching temperatures from climate change.

Tough world we live in.

[Mike]

Harbaugh will see us through it.

[lineygoblue]

Harbaugh will see us through it.

Not if he keeps cowarding out like he did with Shemy.

Joint quote by Manuel and Harbaugh:

“Effective this afternoon, Shemy Schembechler has resigned his position with Michigan Football,” Harbaugh and Manuel said in a joint statement released Saturday night. “We are aware of some comments and likes on social media that have caused concern and pain for individuals in our community.
“Michigan athletics is fully committed to a place where our coaches, staff and student-athletes feel welcome and where we fully support the University’s and Athletic Department’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Neither of them seem concerned about a constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech and expression.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I watched part of this interview with former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Face the Nation today then read the entire transcript at the link.

It will take you a good 30 minutes to get through the transcript and absorb what's in it. It adds some meat to the bare bones diplomatic challenges I mentioned above involving Xi and China. Secretary Gates outlines some of the significant obstacles that are holding back problem solving from our Congressional leadership on a number of disparate problems that are connected to US national security issues vis-a-vis China and Russia. At base Secretary Gates believes we can't solve these problems facing the US with a polarized Congress and nation. He calls for more civility and less political posturing - passing the borrowing limits of the federal government being a prime example of the gridlock paralyzing the nation's ability to act on important challenges.

There is a short exchange on Ukraine in the interview and how the outcome is being carefully watched by Xi re Taiwan. Gates argues the US should be taking a very long term view on what the endgame should look like in Ukraine. What happens in the short term in Ukraine will dictate what is achievable long term. No mater the scope of arms and aid provisioning to Ukraine, Zelenski is not going to be able to take back all of what Putin has occupied. The objective for Ukraine should be to achieve a reasonable amount of success in Ukraine's counter-offensives with a goal of causing Putin to accept he is not going to force the collapse of the Zelenski government allowing the entirety of that country to be absorbed by the Russian Federation.

What can happen is first to convince Putin that the losses he has inflicted on the Russian Federation by his invasions and subsequent occupation of Ukraine are not sustainable and he needs to negotiate an end to the conflict. Zelenski needs to accept he's not going to drive the entrenched occupiers out. Given these two realizations by the leaders of the two involved nations, a negotiated settlement would involve Russia keeping most of the Donbas (pre-the start of the invasion) and Crimea. Gates offers that over time, when Putin is no longer President, the western alliance, with appropriate security guarantees for Ukraine in place, can negotiate with the next Russian president over Crimea and the territory including and outside of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts in the Donbas. That's a ways off but stopping the killing and destruction is a reasonable short term goal.

Worth a read:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-...pt-05-21-2023/

[Dr. Strangelove]

Not if he keeps cowarding out like he did with Shemy.

Joint quote by Manuel and Harbaugh:



Neither of them seem concerned about a constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech and expression.

Well think of it this way. He still has his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech. He just doesn’t have a recruiting position anymore where he can impart “wisdom” to black kids about how, akshully, Jim Crow was a good thing.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Unlike 3rd Base Ryan, Shemy can proudly claim to be a self made man.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Shemy’s triumphant return to Michigan.

[lineygoblue]

Well think of it this way. He still has his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech. He just doesn’t have a recruiting position anymore where he can impart “wisdom” to black kids about how, akshully, Jim Crow was a good thing.

He may have his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech, but if he uses it, he will be tortured into leaving his job.

I thought progs were opposed to torture?

[iam416]

Well think of it this way. He still has his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech. He just doesn’t have a recruiting position anymore where he can impart “wisdom” to black kids about how, akshully, Jim Crow was a good thing.

Did he say that or are you making up shit?

[CGVT]

Did he say that or are you making up shit?

He "liked" tweets that said that and some other ignorant shit. He's a dumbass.


Screenshot 2023-05-21 10.53.17 PM.png

[CGVT]

Well think of it this way. He still has his constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech. He just doesn’t have a recruiting position anymore where he can impart “wisdom” to black kids about how, akshully, Jim Crow was a good thing.

Exactly.

I have a house on the beach that I rent out. One of the applicants had QAnon, MTG bullshit on her Facebook page.

As far as I know, she is still looking for a place to live, because I sure as hell wasn't renting my house to her.