Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

At this point, the real and true next question is why have we given up so many civil liberties in the name of national security if we aren't actually going to be serious about national security?

Because Left and Right in this country each see the other as a greater threat than the people who actually want to kill us.

We should be grateful that our national security apparatus is diligent and efficient enough to allow us that luxury.

[iam416]

I'd start to feel pretty good about things if Bannon was removed. I don't really care about Reince. I'm encouraged by the "reports" that Kushner's "wing" is starting to carry the day.

[hack]

It seems possible that Rice was unmasking Trump campaign folks with a direct political motive.

POTUS would like you to think so certainly. Do you swear an oath before talking to NPR? At one time, swearing an oath and lying would trigger an impeachment attempt. Now it apparently means lets try and fool people into blaming the previous administration for doing their jobs.

[hack]

Which is another strike for Gessen, Sullivan and all those others who say ``watch out for the autocrat". I still think he's an accidental kleptocrat, but what's happening now is certainly right out of the autocrat playbook. As is pointless military action. The parallels are there.

[iam416]

Do you take oath before talking to NPR?

I'm not going to do your homework for you. You'll have to look that one up one your own.

At least we don't have any dispute as to her evolving story.

[hack]

Because Left and Right in this country each see the other as a greater threat than the people who actually want to kill us.

We should be grateful that our national security apparatus is diligent and efficient enough to allow us that luxury.

LOL. Well said. It's definitely true that the center doesn't hold, that there is no sense of shared destiny and desires, that the parties are now taking turns feeding at the trough, and voters are selective in what's bad or good depending on who is in power. That's exactly what it looks like in the factionalized kleptocracies I work in.

[hack]

I'm not going to do your homework for you. You'll have to look that one up one your own.

I'm really not sure. But I'm willing to be open-minded about it.

[iam416]

Still, LOL @ autocrat. I can't imagine anyone seriously concerned with that. I mean, of course, man with absolute power hasn't had his two biggest initiatives bitchslapped by, well, ummm, republican government.

That one will always crack me up.

Now, there is, of course, a strong argument to made that the Executive doesn't have free reign to bomb anyone. It's being made against the targeted Syria action -- sincerely by conservatives and insincerely by lefties.

[iam416]

I'm really not sure. But I'm willing to be open-minded about it.

Heh. Well done. We're all open-minded folks around these parts!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Kushner's wing = Goldman Sachs. Heh

Alt Right melting down over the past 12 hours. They're nearly all Putin/Assad fanboys.

Predictable Russian bluster from their media.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Still, LOL @ autocrat. I can't imagine anyone seriously concerned with that. I mean, of course, man with absolute power hasn't had his two biggest initiatives bitchslapped by, well, ummm, republican government.

That one will always crack me up.

Now, there is, of course, a strong argument to made that the Executive doesn't have free reign to bomb anyone. It's being made against the targeted Syria action -- sincerely by conservatives and insincerely by lefties.

Plenty of 'lefties', like the Greenwald types, have been pretty consistent between Obama/Trump on random airstrikes as far as I can tell.

Meanwhile Republican Senators/Congessmen objected to Obama making this exact sort of airstrike in 2013. Now Obama also claimed the authority to launch the strike anyways, but ultimately did nothing. But let's not paint conservatives as if they've been very consistent on the issue of a 'symbolic show of force". 4 years ago they believed this exact sort of limited strike on Assad would be pointless. No vote was held because Obama would've lost; Boehner said only about a dozen Republicans were on board.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/01/world/middleeast/syria.html

[iam416]

Kushner's wing = Goldman Sachs. Heh

Alt Right melting down over the past 12 hours. They're nearly all Putin/Assad fanboys

.

I think the choice is rather clear, even in your pejorative take. The alt right needs to go.

Incidentally, Beinhart did a sort of pondering piece for The Atlantic a week or two ago wondering if the decline in religion has played a role in the decreasing civility. It's a thought that had crossed my mind before. I generally disagree with Beinhart, so I must be wrong. But his take was the "alt right" is what we get when we remove the christian element from conservatives. In my experience growing up in what can only be described as "Trump Country", the massive church in our community may have produced fairly strident christian conservatives, but they were almost all polite as hell. I think Beinhart also looked at if from the left, too, but whatever.

Anywho, the roundabout point is that you could think of the alt-right as christian conservatives operating free of religious mores and decorum. And probably more right than those people, too. F Bannon. WAR KUSHNER!

[crashcourse]

trumps crisis will be when the NK dr. evil looking dude with hair explodes a nuke underground

they Syrian response was a softball tossed to trump who did the right thing with basically universal support.

dr. evil I fear is the one that's going to spark an intensive regional conflict one of these days unless somebody can take him out without him having time to react

and I imagine trumps poll numbers will start trending up up up

[Wild Hoss]

Predictable Russian bluster from their media.

You'll need to paraphrase...I dont subscribe to Breitbart.


Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[iam416]

Plenty of 'lefties', like the Greenwald types, have been pretty consistent between Obama/Trump on random airstrikes as far as I can tell.

Meanwhile Republican Senators/Congessmen objected to Obama making this exact sort of airstrike in 2013. Now Obama also claimed the authority to launch the strike anyways, but ultimately did nothing. But let's not paint conservatives as if they've been very consistent on the issue of a 'symbolic show of force". 4 years ago they believed this exact sort of limited strike on Assad would be pointless. No vote was held because Obama would've lost; Boehner said only about a dozen Republicans were on board.

There are exceptions to my statement. IMO, my statement is correct as a general rule. Those who actually make the argument sincerely are far more likely to be conservatives. There will be gads of folks making the argument insincerely. To reference Michael Barone -- there is nothing more insincere than a process argument (I saw that the other day wrt filibuster). There are, however, some conservatives who very much take the Constitution at face value.