FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
And every gimmick hungry yob
Digging gold from rock n roll
Grabs the mic to tell us
he'll die before he's sold
But I believe in this
And it's been tested by research
He who fucks nuns
Will later join the church
User ID: 195
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
4hr ago
I don't think base rates are super useful for painting values differences. I'm not familiar with the numbers one way or the other, so you're probably correct about them.
But unless we're talking 10:1, or something like that, it's not indicative of "X is a trait of Y, but not of Z" so much "X is a trait of Y and Z."
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
6hr ago
And just because it didn't happen on twitter, doesn't mean they didn't offer a deal or produce good reasons why a deal didn't happen!
The better view is that the right wing equivalent is religious leaders. I don't typically indulge in the priest jokes (except the funny ones), but it's a pretty universal problem:
‘Nearly 200 Christian leaders accused of child abuse in 2025’, says report
The Witnesses the Southern Baptists:
In response to an explosive investigation, top Southern Baptists have released a previously secret list of hundreds of pastors and other church-affiliated personnel accused of sexual abuse. The 205-page database was made public late Thursday. It includes more than 700 entries from cases that largely span from 2000 to 2019.
The pattern isn't: Left Wing political leaders engage in sex abuse because leftist libertinism. The pattern is: Religious Leaders engage in sex abuse, Left Wing political leaders are religious leaders. Leftists like Chavez are preaching a religion, an ultimate truth about Life the Universe and Everything, and once you get in that deep the sex abuse starts.
If pastors preaching chastity can get handsy, it's not the values being taught, it's the power and the hierarchy.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
6hr ago
And instead of being willing to deal at all or even producing good reasons why the deal should not be done, everyone says, "it's our sovereign territory!" Well, yeah, can we do a deal about it? "It's ours! Not yours! You can't have it!"
What was Trump's offer? Was there ever an offer on the table?
Sounds to me like making irrational demands can just be "Art of the Deal"-ing you!
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
7hr ago
Do what you like doing.
Unless you're entering a comp, the hypertrophy focused sets will get you stronger, and the strength focused sets will make you bigger. Compound lifts should form the core of your work, and assistance work can target the lagging muscle groups in between if you feel the need.
These kinds of aesthetics vs performance details are ultimately unimportant.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
10hr ago
What comment are you replying to exactly? It sure ain't mine. Either that or you're truly arguing for a system of periodic slavery. Nowhere did I ask that the president share targeting information or war plans, just
clearly communicate the causes of the war, the motivations behind the actions of the war, the aims of the war.
That's not a big lift, if you have clear justifications for the war.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
10hr ago
I think it's important to be very cautious around this assumption. Would the Iranian people vote for a different government?
Probably, but it's not so just because a few Iranians say so, keep in mind how many Americans believe that an entirely different government would be elected if only we could get rid of the management of whatever mix of the deep state/corporate donors/AIPAC/woke media/civil rights law/voter fraud they think is keeping it from happening.
It's likely that whatever ultimately came out in a fully free democratic Iran wouldn't necessarily be what we would like, and certainly not in every case. If the Ayatollah's unconditionally surrendered, and we instituted a full liberal democracy with the US constitutional order ported over in full, and the Iranian people turn out to vote in a free and fair election, and the result is a government that abolishes the morality police but is hostile to Israel, what then?
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
Grudges that long are pretty odd in American history. We were in a decade long shooting war in Vietnam in between the overthrow of Mossadeq and the Islamic Revolution, and now Vietnam is practically an ally and a major trading partner despite being run by the same people who killed 50,000 Americans.
This could probably be better framed as a conflict between traditional values and Globohomo than as about the Shah or the hostages or Israel.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
What is your standard for democracy that this system as written fails? Technically, the constitution vests sovereignty in God, but all power follows from elections. The Supreme Leader is appointed by a group of elected experts (see eg our own Doge system). The guardian council vets candidates, but the guardian council is half appointed by the supreme leader and half by Parliament, so itself it has a democratic base.
There are obviously problems with how it has developed, but many of them can be analogized to undemocratic or dead hand problems with the American conditional order. They have one supreme leader who serves for life appointed by 14 elected experts, we have nine supreme court justices chosen by one president and 100 senators.
Iran is an illiberal democracy. They don't have free speech or freedom of expression. They have a significant dead hand problem of an entrenched set of interests which steer the country through approval of candidates. But then, so do we, through other means, and it's tough to look at our candidates sometimes and not wish for Guardian Council to protect me from them.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
I've actually long been an admirer of the Islamic Republic's constitutional system, since learning about it in AP World Gov in high school.
Iran is a democracy, full stop, with certain elements that manage democratic change, similar for the most part to the US Judiciary. The Supreme Leader is chosen by the Assembly of Experts, who are directly elected. The Guardian Council, which vets candidates (including the Assembly of Experts) are appointed by the Supreme Leader.
The only real difference between our Constitutional Scholars at SCOTUS and their Islamic Jurists is the kind of law and tradition they study.
The actual government leaders, the parliament and the president, are elected by the people. The candidates are vetted by the Guardian Council.
It's a system designed to manage change and create stability.
That it has evolved (under pressure of repeated invasion, blockade, sanction, outside subversion against Iran and its neighbors) into a mix of theocracy and military state is unfortunate.
The ideas themselves aren't per-se bad. A similar system that produced a Supreme Leader that happened to be exactly to my tastes and values, and where the Supreme Leader held himself more aloof and less involved, would seem ideal for producing a consistent state and reduce values drift over time.
One can easily fantasize about an American Supreme Leader, the living embodiment of American values, who doesn't act day to day to carry out governance, but gets involved when the current government drifts out of line with core values. Or an American Guardian Council, which vets candidates to keep those out of line with American values from reaching the voters, demagogues and radicals. Eventually, if America shifts enough, both are subject to democratic change, but slowly.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
This is painful for me to admit, because I'm at my emotional core an American patriot, but I don't really think Americans would have cared about that all that much if we had clearly succeeded in our goals.
Smaller, successful regime change actions in Latin America have generally been well received, and the reasons for doing so have rarely been well communicated and reasoned.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
So not "unconditional surrender" but more like what we saw in Japan post WWII: the Emperor stays, but the rest of the constitution is written by the United States.
Something like, Iran is still an Islamic Republic run by a supreme leader Ayatollah, but one neutered and friendly to US interests?
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
I haven't really seen one, because defending the Trump administration's actions here requires a lot of guesswork as to their ultimate goals. There's a lot of "they could" or "they might" or "maybe they will" hedging involved. Trump and Hegseth have not communicated a clear plan to the public, so rooting for its success means assuming there are more moves coming that will deliver success.
I pray nightly that such a plan does exist and will succeed. The better outcome by far for my family at home and abroad will be if this results in the transition from an evil isolated clerical Iranian state to a modern open Iranian state that can participate in the global economy. Even better: 52nd state, after Venezuela won 51st in the WBC.
But prayer isn't much of a strategy, and it's definitely a pretty poor argument, so where you see open debate at all you're seeing a lot of "don't be a Negadelphian" type discourse or flameouts from pro-war commenters.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
The problem was that we ended up funneling a bunch of guns and money to allegedly "moderate" Salafists who would go on to become the Islamic State, effectively making shit worse.
That was the solution found to the problems with the first few years of nation building.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
what exactly a lot of republicans (and more moderate Democrats) found objectionable about the establishment's handling of Iraq and Afghanistan.
That he failed.
If we're being honest.
If Trump can deliver a clear success, one so clear that no one can whine about media bias, Americans will accept it, regardless of the morality. Changing Supreme Leaders and another inconclusive war in Lebanon isn't going to count for much.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
1d ago
First, I think it needs to be pointed out that, with the Biden-era environmental limits removed the US is once again a net petroleum exporter and the US economy is much better situated to weather possible energy-trade disruptions than say China is.
The USA was a net exporter throughout the Biden administration.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
They should really watch the WBC final togehter.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
These problems won’t be fixed because fixing them would require stepping on the toes of powerful industries or interest groups who have skilled lobbyists. The current situation pleases enough of the middle class+ that even appeals to the power of the voters won’t work to create change...
We’re in the situation because it’s a stable equilibrium since the 80s.
Yes one explanation is that we have an 80% party and it's the corporate uniparty.
Alternatively, there's the corporate/deep state capture explanation, that as soon as a president seeking to change foreign policy gets into office, he's subject to deep state efforts to undermine him. Obama spoke of clashing with "the generals" when he tried to change course in the Middle East, while generals directly lied to Trump when he tried to pull out of Syria.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
I really just can't figure out if this was an important post or a make work admin sinecure. Never heard of him before, never heard of the job before. Is this a nobody or near cabinet level? The name tells you nothing.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
I kind of assumed it wasn't a president of the USA.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
Because neither party actually solves national problems, and so each cycle one party comes into power promising to fix problems, doesn't fix them, and the public turns against the party in power. ((This is both people changing their vote and members of either party being more energized to turn out or demoralized and staying home))
Every winning presidential candidate this century has run promising a more restrained foreign policy and every one of them has started wars or foreign entanglement abroad. With the exception of Dubya's reelection in 2004 during the Iraq war, which sort of goes to the point.
2008 Obama runs on getting us out of Iraq, and wrapping up Afghanistan by the end of his term we're still in both and add Libya and Syria, Trump runs on no more forever wars but doesn't pull back anywhere, Biden finally gets us out of Afghanistan but drags us into entanglements in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump II we are back in a fresh middle eastern war.
High cost of healthcare, big corporate malfeasance, immigration etc. Every president comes in promising to fix the issue and doesn't fix it.
We might see a dominant party if one party could deliver actual results.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
In related news a counterterrorism functionary has resigned from the government in protest of the Iran war.
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.
In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS. Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.
As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives. I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.
It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation. -- Joe Kent
(Formatting altered)
Is that an important role? I've certainly never heard of the guy before, and I'm not sure I've heard of the center either.
Were there any examples of similar defections from an administration during military events, or lack thereof, in the past?
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
Lindsey Graham forces us into a war with the gay Ayatollah, Schearer said something about how the Roehm era S.A. was riven by the kind of bitter interpersonal strife only possible among homosexuals.
FiveHourMarathon
Wawa Nationalist
2d ago
Good strategy to imitate the Taliban, now if only they could raise the perception that their enemies excuse child molesters in their midst...
Accusations that become culturally important scissor statements tend to be the ones that are delayed past the expiration of any possible proof or disproof. Like Brett Kavanaugh, how is he supposed to prove he didn't do something in high school?
That leaves everyone to fall back on their priors.
Less vague accusations, like those against Roger Ailes, don't make big waves.
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