[Malankazooie]

huh, Cuomo resigned. Thought he would keep fighting, based on his family's narcissistic history. What an uber-creep.

[Malankazooie]

Had the unpleasant experience of catching clips of Cuomo's PR blitz (it was hard to avoid tbh, as it was airing everywhere). That was a master class in gaslighting.

[Malankazooie]

Was listening to the reporting coming out of Afghanistan. It's grim. A few weeks back, I caught a Vice News piece where an embedded reporter was with Taliban troops moving to take some territory. They are scary dudes. They look like they walked out of the Old Testament of the Bible, except they have rocket launchers.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 12 August 2021 - 05:21 PM, said:

Was listening to the reporting coming out of Afghanistan. It's grim. A few weeks back, I caught a Vice News piece where an embedded reporter was with Taliban troops moving to take some territory. They are scary dudes. They look like they walked out of the Old Testament of the Bible, except they have rocket launchers.

Is it too late for the US and other nations to offer to take in asylum seekers (after a 2 week holding / testing period, or maybe mandatory full vaccination in a holding facility)?... Especially girls who want to go to school and women who don't want to be oppressed (wonder if that would upset the Saudi Wahabists... oh well! least we owe them for 9/11, Bush family connections be damned).

[Cause]

Im not a general, I don’t know what info the USA had it’s disposable but why are people pretending to be shocked that the Taliban have taken over Afghanistan so quickly?

If the best case scenario is the taliban will only control half the country is the worst case scenario that they will control all of it so suprising?

[Lady Bliss]

I’m not sure what to think of what is going on in Afghanistan. Maybe it could be handled better, or maybe this was inevitable. I hate what is happening to the Afghan people, but I don’t know that there has been much benefit in our presence in the Middle East. I feel like a lot of people in that reason haven’t wanted us there, and we can’t force change and our beliefs on people that don’t want them. I’m at a loss to say whether we should have stayed or not.

[Lady Bliss]

Lady Bliss, on 15 August 2021 - 09:26 PM, said:

I’m not sure what to think of what is going on in Afghanistan. Maybe it could be handled better, or maybe this was inevitable. I hate what is happening to the Afghan people, but I don’t know that there has been much benefit in our presence in the Middle East. I feel like a lot of people in that region haven’t wanted us there, and we can’t force change and our beliefs on people that don’t want them. I’m at a loss to say whether we should have stayed or not.

[Malankazooie]

Biden's address about Afghanistan. Anyone catch it? What was said?

[Grief]

One of the things that really strikes me with Afghanistan is the demographics. There is a very large cohort of young people growing up who will experience this shift.

64% of the country is under 25 (42% is 14 and under).

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham directed their anger toward Afghans attempting to flee for the country they helped during the 20-year war.

"The people who made the Afghan occupation possible would like to see a lot more of our southern border, a lot more unrestrained immigration. 'Bring in the refugees,'" they're screaming," Carlson said.

After reading a Mitt Romney tweet calling on Biden to "urgently rush to defend, rescue, and give and expand asylum," in a mocking voice, Carlson smirked and compared the situation in Afghanistan to fentanyl overdoses in the United States.

"If history is any guide—and it's always a guide—we will see many refugees from Afghanistan resettle in our country in the coming months, probably in your neighborhood. And over the next decade, that number may swell to the millions," Carlson said.

"So first we invade, and then we're invaded. It is always the same," Carlson said, adding that his show will "be spending a lot more time on that subject in the coming weeks, because it matters."

Carlson's diatribe is just the latest variation on his theme of terrifying white people with the prospect of the U.S. becoming less white. [...]

"Is it really our responsibility to welcome thousands of potentially unvetted refugees from Afghanistan?" Ingraham said[...] "All day we've heard phrases like 'We promised them.' Well, who did? Did you?"'

https://www.vice.com...s-already-begun

'Ron DeSantis May Have Already Delivered the House to Republicans in 2022

By stacking the Florida Supreme Court with ultraconservatives, the governor paved the way for an extreme new GOP gerrymander. The fight for control over the House of Representatives is already a nightmare for the Democratic Party. Currently, Democrats hold a mere five-seat majority in the chamber, and Republican-controlled state legislatures are preparing to draw new gerrymanders that will entrench GOP power for a decade. [...] the redistricting process in [...] Florida, may make or break Democrats' majority. In theory, Democrats should face a relatively level playing field in Florida. Although the state Legislature is dominated by the Republicans, voters passed two constitutional amendments in 2010 that prohibit partisan gerrymandering of legislative and congressional districts. [...] During the last decade, Republican lawmakers egregiously violated the "fair district" amendments—leading the Florida Supreme Court to shoot down their maps. This time, however, that court looks very different: The progressive majority of last decade has departed, replaced by an ultraconservative 6–1 supermajority. This new bloc has repeatedly disregarded precedents, laws, and constitutional commands that conflict with its political agenda.

[...]

[...] lawmakers were secretly colluding with GOP operatives, allowing them to manipulate district lines behind closed doors. These operatives even wrote scripts for ostensibly ordinary citizens to read at hearings.

Republican lawmakers destroyed many of their own communications with the operatives, but the remaining evidence still demonstrated that legislators' staff regularly sent draft maps to operatives—apparently for their approval. Circuit Court Judge [...] eventually ruled that these efforts "made a mockery of the Legislature's proclaimed transparent and open process of redistricting" and amounted to "a conspiracy to influence and manipulate the Legislature into a violation of its constitutional duty." The Florida Supreme Court affirmed that conclusion and struck down eight gerrymandered congressional districts, forcing major revisions to the map and substantially more competitive elections.

[...] the two conservative dissenters from last decade's redistricting wars [...] have taken control of the court. [...] the current] justices [...] have exhibited hostility toward state constitutional amendments that clash with their policy preferences.



Perhaps the most egregious example of this habit arrived this spring, when the court struck down two proposed ballot initiatives that would have legalized recreational marijuana. [...] Under precedent, the Florida Supreme Court is only allowed to shoot down proposed ballot initiatives under the most extreme circumstances. But this court flyspecked the marijuana proposals in blatant bad faith. In 2020, it struck a proposed initiative banning assault weapons using a similarly nitpicky justification. [...] Sure, the progressive rulings that settled last decade's redistricting remain precedent. But the conservative justices have essentially abolished the doctrine of stare decisis, or respect for precedent, so it can ignore or overrule those earlier decisions. Moreover, DeSantis has suggested that he appointed justices who will trash their predecessors' liberal legacy and toe the line on gerrymandering. [...] If his justices are as biased as he hopes, their court may let Florida Republicans draw as many gerrymandered districts as it takes to seize the House.'

https://slate.com/ne...epublicans.html

'Following Trump's presidential election loss, DeSantis' Fox News airtime requests soared, with the Florida governor being asked to appear on the network "nearly once a day." [...]

"This heightened exposure has boosted DeSantis's name recognition and made him a familiar face to important Fox viewers, potentially furthering his presidential ambitions," [...]

"He's been given the first Fox audition for 2024, which also means he gets to set the bar, [...] That means all the other competitors when they have their chance to have their day on Fox, there's a measuring stick that they're going to be up against, and that's the governor of Florida."'

https://www.alternet...tis-2654692505/

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 18 August 2021 - 01:51 AM

[Not-So-Great-Raven]

Briar King, on 18 August 2021 - 01:22 AM, said:

How are our citizens and allied citizens/refugees actually going to get out? News coming in that we may have 40K citizens alone in AF…

I fear we all may be in store for even grimmer headlines in the coming days.

How will this all emboldened Russia, China or NK? Are we fixing to hear more about Ukraine, Taiwan or missile test over Sea of Japan?

Shit is making me a nervous wreck.

(Correct me if I'm wrong but,) From my understanding the U.S. has already negotiated with the Taliban not to interrupt their own evacuations from the Kabul airport. But I think this only applies for U.S. citizens.
After spending two decades at war, I'm sure even the Taliban want the U.S. out as quick as possible and hence will not risk angering it by preventing the evacuations.

Russia and China have known for ages that the U.S. is fighting a losing war in Afghanistan. Personally I doubt this emboldens them any more, since this outcome does not reflect the fighting capability itself of the U.S. or NATO. (Besides, also the Soviets got their asses handed to them in their Afghan war)

This post has been edited by Not-So-Great-Raven: 18 August 2021 - 05:12 AM

[Malankazooie]

With the AF and Haiti news, I missed all the hubbub with Hungary. What was the deal with that? Some Fox News personalities went over there and were pedestaling their way as the shining example of how things should be or something?

[Macros]

You really think they don't already have the specs for it all?

[Malankazooie]

Dear weird MAGA guy, you can remove that "Trump/Pence 2020" sign from your yard and sticker off your car. It'll be fine. Tomorrow will come and go just like any other day.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 23 August 2021 - 09:31 PM, said:

Dear weird MAGA guy, you can remove that "Trump/Pence 2020" sign from your yard and sticker off your car. It'll be fine. Tomorrow will come and go just like any other day.

One of those near my parents, didn't take them down until last week (hmm, maybe because August 13 passed? lol). Still have other 'thin blue line' nonsense on display iirc....

[Malankazooie]

Biden spoke earlier? What was said? Anyone got the break down?

[Malankazooie]

Do you guys think Biden's tough talk was out of character for him?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 27 August 2021 - 04:49 PM, said:

Do you guys think Biden's tough talk was out of character for him?

He's gonna take ISIS-K behind the gym and beat the hell out of the suicide bombers....

https://www.cnn.com/...rump/index.html

[amphibian]

Malankazooie, on 27 August 2021 - 04:49 PM, said:

Do you guys think Biden's tough talk was out of character for him?

My thinking is that he's a giant giant upgrade from Trump, but not someone who is going to rise to the occasion even moderatel. We've had presidents like FDR and Lincoln who rose to handle massive trauma and country breaking situations (incompletely, with plenty of racist things done, but with a path towards recovery and a better state for all).

This is a wild pandemic and he can't get the Democratic senators to vote right on huge shit. He can't bring the shithead state governors and legislatures into a model of regulation that has some modicum of protecting people.

He can't oversee an Afghan withdrawal that doesn't leave behind tens of thousands of people to be hurt (the US should never have invaded, should have left ASAP, and every president who kept the war going was a huge asshole there).

He's doing stuff, but it's not enough and Pelosi + Schumer aren't the people to step up and get the massive things done either.

I wish we had Sanders as president instead.

[Malankazooie]

Isn't it interesting how each presidency is tested? (with events occurring at the same time or very close). Dubya 9/11 and Katrina. Biden now Afghanistan and Ida. I personally think Biden is too advanced in age to have the stamina to keep up with the daily briefs. His Cabinet better pull their act together.