aeqno
3mo ago
We will see a return to the spoils system where government appointments are cycled in and out with every new administration as payoffs to supporters
Hey, just like the late Roman Republic!
aeqno
3mo ago
So after Sec Def Hegseth denied posting classified info in the leaked Signal chat, the Atlantic has released more screenshots of him describing the full play-by-play warplan:
Also, looks like it might have been Waltz's deputy Alex Wong who accidentally e-vited Goldberg to the chat:
https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/1904883964072124642
What gets me is that none of this even matters anymore, so I don't get the big deal made over it.
When you've refused to concede a national election, your supporters have stormed the central seat of government, and you've then not only been allowed to run again but been resoundingly re-elected, why would something like this be even a ripple? I'm surprised even right-wing rags like the NY Post have this at the top. What do they think will be the outcome of any of this? Trump already said he's not firing Waltz. The GOP will remain dutifully silent. The public sure as shit don't care.
Yeah, in 2012, this would've been career-ending for everyone involved, but these are different times. Absolutely nothing comes of this.
aeqno
3mo ago
EY's three frames scenario was excellently debunked in this Less Wrong post:
Someone also pithily asked what physical theories the AI would arrive at if the three frames involved a helium balloon.
aeqno
3mo ago
If Trump invalidates these pardons, what do you think is going to happen to his own pardons when the Dems return to power?
aeqno
3mo ago
Vance does listen to the online right, but his kids are literally half Indian so it’s hard to see the wignat message converting him
Guy tweeted that the "normalize Indian-hate" DOGE kid should be reinstated.
aeqno
3mo ago
Before we engage in fantasies of mighty Russian army reaching the English channel like the last three years never happened, how long would you estimate it would take them to reach Zaporizhzhia & Odessa, let alone Lviv?
The current situation is the equivalent of the entire US army being halted in Tijuana during an attempted invasion of Mexico (and indeed, having to fight the Mexicans in Arizona two years into the war).
All of Russia's "superpower" credentials are gone.
aeqno
3mo ago
I mean one of Russia's stated aims, halting NATO expansion at its borders, has resoundingly failed.
Those NATO arms also erased vast quantities of Russian invaders and their hardware, making Russia even less of a threat to NATO than they were before the war. I do agree with RandomRanger that Russia is unlikely to try invading the Baltics. Not because they don't want to, but because we and they now know they're completely incapable of such a feat.
aeqno
3mo ago
NATO isn't totally broken right now
NATO is, in fact, larger than it was at the start of the war.
aeqno
4mo ago
He's gambling with WW3
This kind of thing always reminds me of Richard Hanania tweeting:
"lt's aways World War III with these people. We're never on the brink of a medium sized conflict like the Iran-Iraq War."
aeqno
5mo ago
There's a similar thing with Trump but nowhere near to the same extent as it was for Obama
C'mon, are you kidding me with this?
aeqno
5mo ago
I feel like this whole thing is a microcosm of how the world works.
So these DOGE kids can push their way past the weather nerds at NOAA, but what would happen if they tried that at the Pentagon or CIA? Surely the billions vanishing into thin air at those two places are far more pressing.
aeqno
5mo ago
It doesn’t make a difference if Musk can keep refusing to disburse apportioned funds
Wait, who's the President, again?
aeqno
5mo ago
Looks like they're going after Medicare and Medicaid:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14364811/doge-elon-musk-target-fraud-medicare-medicaid.html
That's the big one. Do it, Elon. And social security while you're at it. It's what the people voted for, after all.
aeqno
5mo ago
As nation states are a relatively new phenomenon, I'm afraid most examples wouldn't be able to meet your stringent demands for longevity.
So maybe we should take a wider view. How long did the incredibly multiethnic Roman, Persian, and Ottoman empires last?
Btw, was pre-1990 South Africa a multiethnic country under your definition?
aeqno
5mo ago
I think we may be using different definitions. Was pre-1990 South Africa multiethnic under your framework?
But if for some reason the United States doesn't count as a long-term stable multiethnic country, Israel certainly does, as do Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia and Chile.
aeqno
5mo ago
The two countries that will be carrying out the ethnic cleansing have been multiethnic since their inception, though largely of one faith.
aeqno
8mo ago
But Biden talks like this as well.
And didn't Hillary use to go on about arriving at Sarajevo or wherever under fire?
aeqno
8mo ago
Except tried to overturn the results of an election and coup the most powerful country on Earth.
aeqno
9mo ago
there must be a class that the law protects but does not bind, and a class that the law binds but does not protect
There was indeed such a class in Alabama and the rest of the South for several centuries. The framework you're struggling to come to terms with just works so much smoother when there's a large number of completely unprotected women in your midst.
This mentality and philosophy is a holdover from that time. The problem for those who hold it is that it's hard if not impossible to reconcile it with modern America.
aeqno
9mo ago
Someday, people will realize that Arabs are happy to fight wars that never end.
But today is not that day.
Would Nero or Caligula have had the full support of the Evangelical community, tho?
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