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Post by miscmisc on Sept 12, 2017 7:40:43 GMT 1
It's been more than 15 years since 9/11.
Jeez.
I'll repeat: Let's say you had someone from a different era listen to music from 2001, an "edgy" tune even, and one from 2017. They would go, "Nice. In what year did they come out?", and you'd say, "2001 and 2017, respectively", and they would be confused because they weren't expecting an answer with two different years more than 15 years apart. Like, what? What? What happened in those 15+ years? Nothing?
Same can be said about many other fields. It has nothing to do with my own age; It's just objectively true.
15 years used to be culturally a long time in the 20th century. 1965 was drastically different from 1980, which was drastically different from 1995.
The Great Cultural Stagnation, the opposite of what those tech utopians predicted around the end of the 20th century.
The time traveller might even say, "Man, you guys must be living in very peaceful times!"
Nope, we aren't.
It's kinda tragic, really.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 12, 2017 11:23:22 GMT 1
OK, you win, Twitter.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 12, 2017 21:03:54 GMT 1
I'll do something that no one wants, and that's giving you a special (very, very lazy, rough) review of Hillary Clinton's new book, What Happened. Most people out there haven't read it yet, so feel special!
OK, now... damn, I don't even know what to say. I'm trying to say something here, obviously, but I'm really struggling. I mean, it's a dumb book. It's exactly the book that I expected it to be.
That's the problem. I will have to actually write a real review this weekend, and I don't know what to say even in this thread. I don't know if I should laugh at it, or be concerned, because it seems that Hillary is staying. I even suspect that she'll try to run again in the next election. I suspect she'll keep doing (or having her surrogates do) this "I did little wrong, but Bernie. But Russia. But Comey. But Bernie. But fake news. But Bernie" crap for months and years ahead.
She is publishing this stupid book while many of the prominent Democrats are joining the Bernie Sanders camp on the single-payer healthcare; Someone who said that the single-payer would "never, ever happen" last year is publishing a book that is essentially about how she is the victim, while so many others in the party see the writing on the wall and are thinking of acting accordingly.
Unlike so many other politicians under similar circumstances, she didn't quite throw her loyal underlings under the bus. That's admirable in a way, but the problem is that she totally should've thrown those useless buffoons under the bus.
It's painfully clear that part of her brain still doesn't believe that she lost to that clown. She was totally unprepared for the defeat. She was 120% sure, until the last minute, that she was going to win. You can tell.
She can't take it. She really can't.
In other words, she certainly doesn't understand what happened. The title is almost Freudian. She wrote What Happened to rather look away from what happened, because she can't take it.
OK, I tried. I tried to say something, and at this point this is all I could.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 14, 2017 20:08:02 GMT 1
A regrettably large part of the "Russian desinformatsiya" craze is actually a simple racket. Louise Mensch is certainly part of it - as much of an idiot as she is, I suspect that she doesn't actually truly believe any of that shit herself - but only a tiny, tiny part of that lucrative booming industry. Case in point: John Lansing, the CEO of Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), alleges that the "Russian-state media" spends about $7.5 billion on "disinformation and propaganda". Crikey. He seems to all but admit there that orgs like his are in "disinformation and propaganda" as well, but in any event, this is another proof that you can say any fucking bullshit you want when it comes to The Official Enemies. You might wonder who the hell in their right mind would buy such a wildly, ridiculously, childishly unrealistic claim, as childish as believing Dr. No and his huge dungeon actually exist, it doesn't even add up in the simplest calculation, but realism is not what they are going for in their fiction because, again, they know they can get away with any bullshit when it comes to Russia. Remember those American "experts" back in the Cold War days making wild claims about the Soviet Union, and when it collapsed (which none of them had predicted - hell, they had pretty much predicted the opposite), and when it turned out that those claims were indeed super-ridiculous exaggerations and even plain lies, none of them had to pay the price for that. So, John Lansing will have no problem. No one cares. It's just that he wants more money from the government. He wants $6.75B more. Well, maybe not that much in actuality, but it's basically the same as negotiations for a business deal. That's the bottom line. These people are the real "parasites living on government hand-outs".
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 15, 2017 9:19:33 GMT 1
I won a bet over this for real: Statement from Dean Elmendorf regarding the invitation to Chelsea Manning to be a Visiting Fellowwww.hks.harvard.edu/announcements/statement-dean-elmendorf-regarding-invitation-chelsea-manning-be-visiting-fellowOh, you don't say! LOL Anyway, there was just no way, no fucking way, "they" would allow the school to even slightly honor Chelsea Manning in any possible way. Just not Chelsea Manning. They invite and honor (or hire, for that matter) atrocious criminals and asswipes all the time, but not Chelsea Manning. No way Jose. It's Harvard, a prep school for the so-called Intelligence Community. I suppose Dean had a lapse, some nice brain fart for that initial decision, but it was just not going to happen, man. I was almost upset when I heard the announcement first. Hell, I'm surprised she's still coming to the school at all.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 19, 2017 22:52:54 GMT 1
This might shock some of you: Committee to Investigate Russiainvestigaterussia.org/advisory-boardNo, I'm not talking about the "Advisory Board", which is of course, naturally, inevitably, filled with known neocon/interventionist hacks slash morons like Max Boot, Rob Reiner (LOL), and Norman Ornstein; I'm talking about that famous Hollywood actor on the right that everyone seems to adore. Yeah, check out that video on the linked page. It's such bad-anti-Soviet-Union-nuttery-from-the-70's stuff that it makes you weep, whether because you're sad or because you find it absolutely hilarious in a grim way. The latter was the case with me. I happen to have known for years how shallow an individual Freeman is in real life, and a lot of people didn't believe me. So this is very good for my credibility. Thanks, Morgan, and Rob! I still remember a producer gushing over Freeman, saying, "Morgan really can turn the switch on, and play the role of a wise man with plenty of smart behind his charming face, behind his eyes." He was implying that Freeman was anything but that man in real life, and that shows when you catch him off guard, without a script, and ask him questions; He usually sounds a bit like an idiot. Anyway, enjoy that warmongering crap, with a barf bag ready.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 20, 2017 7:40:59 GMT 1
This man really seems to get all of his opinions on foreign policies directly from Gulf-funded think thanks. Boris Johnson: I won't quit over Theresa May's Brexit speechwww.theguardian.com/politics/2017/sep/19/boris-johnson-i-wont-quit-over-theresa-mays-brexit-speech"the reconstruction card" Of course, in reality, that "one big card" is not even a fucking card. This delusional crap has been peddled by those think tanks for a few weeks now. I guess we should congratulate him for being up to date. In case you're also delusional, I can assure you that Assad wouldn't give a flying fuck about British "cash".
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 20, 2017 7:55:34 GMT 1
The conspiracy theory that I'm willing to believe now is that Samantha Bee is a right-wing mole in a mission to make American liberalism appear so hideous to most Americans that they will keep voting right-wing forever.
God, that "comedian" is out-of-this-world-ly atrocious.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 21, 2017 6:32:04 GMT 1
Well...
Now, this guy doesn't represent All Saudi Men. Most of them are aware deep down that this no-driving-for-women thing has more to do with Saudi male insecurity than with Islam. Hell, perhaps so is this guy.
But he's not some random crazy dude barking in the street either. He's a Mufti, a religious authority in the area that he's in charge of. He's a member of the scholars council, which means a fairly high-level (religious) government employee.
And he's hardly the only Mufti in Saudi Arabia who has this kind of an opinion on women. He merely simplified in that crude language the round-about arguments that the others would make. Their argument basically boils down to the idea that a woman is a half-person, and that's that.
Whenever some prince made a nice public gesture for women, these people, who have real political power, reliably push back. And the truth is, that prince fully expected the push-back, and knew that nothing would come out of his gesture anyway. He knew that he wouldn't have to actually do a thing, and that there was no political risk there. It's all just pantomime, a PR move mostly for the outside world.
Yet Mohamad Bin Salman gives some of this pocket money to Ivanka Trump's "female entrepreneur" foundation, and we are supposed to be impressed by that. Funny world.
Speaking of funny, this shit is extra funny because if you visited Saudi Arabia, you would think that all the drivers there, who are all male of course, are half-brains who can't tell the difference between Grand Theft Auto and real world. "Imagine, the traffic police gives a man with half a brain a license to drive"? Well, that's what they do, so you don't have to "imagine" that. Saudis are fucking animals in the driving seat, with the rational side of the brain completely switched off.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 21, 2017 8:11:18 GMT 1
This appalling display of naked cruelty isn't considered a cruelty in the American conservatives' "personal responsibility" dystopia. Remember many conservatives think that there's too much compromise even in this Graham-Cassidy monstrosity. A clear majority of Americans wouldn't be able to survive if all the American conservative promises were to be fulfilled. Many of them would literally die prematurely. Yet the Republican party keeps winning the elections, both local and national. And if you think that's simply because the voters are stupid, you know nothing about politics.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 21, 2017 8:44:05 GMT 1
Mariano Rajoy's move in Spain re: the Catalan independence referendum seems very, very, very unwise. They seem to have lost their cool. Maybe Brexit and Trump's victory partially fried those leaders' brains, but I don't know what was the political rationale - not the legal one - behind that move. Are they actually trying to help the Catalan (and other, for that matter) separatists or what? Because that's what they are doing basically. Catalans are very much divided on the issue of independence, with the pro-remain camp having a slight edge, but this kind of provocative moves can potentially tip the balance in favor of the pro-independence camp, particularly among the Catalan youth. You'd think that's obvious.
It's not just the voters that are "irrational", I guess.
Incidentally, I personally find the case for Catalan independence substantially weaker than the one for Scottish independence. I mean, obviously I don't quite understand their historical grievances, outside the context of Real Madrid vs. Barcelona that is, but I just see too much "Why should I pay to subsidize the poor peasants in Andalusia" sentiment for my liking.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 21, 2017 21:55:37 GMT 1
Good God, these American liberal interventionists are out of their fucking swiss cheese mind. Trump’s Bigger Russia Problemwww.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-silent-on-russia-political-repression-by-anne-marie-slaughter-and-nina-jankowicz-2017-09I know, it's Ann-Marie Slaughter and her stupid sidekick, but it's quite something still. This article is a crystalized perfection of the idiocy of those liberals. It's basically a call for meddling in Russian politics, which is exactly what the same people accuse Russia of doing in America, except that they are advocating doing so on a much, much, much larger scale than anything that Russia has been accused of by the Americans, because, because: Hey, it's me, Ms. American Liberal here, hello, hear me out, we should risk chaos and major wars because I need a therapy session to save my soul. What do you think?Jesus fucking Christ. This incredible, utter incredible level of narcissism is sadly, in a way, the hallmark of American liberalism today. It's actually not about Russia; It's all about themselves, America, and their yearning for self-satisfaction. They only care about this imaginary Russia that exists only in their tiny fucking mind, merely as a prop to boost their morale; They don't give a tinker's cuss about actual, real Russians. They constantly talk about Russia, but real Russians don't exist in their world. These people simply don't live in reality. Their world is a fantasy, a virtual reality that feels real only to them. If the US actually does what these morons are proposing, the anti-Kremlin opposition in Russia would be fucked, period. If there is one thing that they do NOT want, that's the perception that they are, in any way, US puppets/pawns. Once such a view took hold among Russians, even among those who hate Putin/Kremlin, the opposition would be royally fucked. Instant fifth-column with virtually no domestic support. And I haven't even mentioned the memories that Russians have about the Yeltsin days, those shit salad days of the US propping him up through rigging the fucking elections. These morons have absolutely no sense of history whatsoever. Hell, you don't even have to go there; They don't know how human beings think and feel because they are fucking androids I guess. I can't even go on. This entire article is one gigantic stupidity, from the first word to the last one. I mean, scheming to meddle in a foreign country's politics, which the US routinely does anyway, is one thing, and this kind of stupid moralizing bullshit/masturbation with no care in the world about reality and history is entirely another. Seriously, who the fuck do they think they are? Has this simple idea ever occurred to them: Most Russians, including the people who are sick and tired of Putin's authoritarian crony-capitalist rule, hate them too?
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 23, 2017 18:38:08 GMT 1
At the end of the day, what should be painfully clear from the presidential election result, the way it happened, Clinton's behaviors after the defeat, that predictably dumb book, and the general direction in which the Democratic party seems to be slowly moving now, etc. is that so many American liberals wasted more than 15 years of their valuable time by sticking with Hillary Clinton.
She's an idiot. I don't know any better word to describe her.
She's not a monster, she's not a criminal, she's not even anyone's puppet. Neither the Wall Street nor insurance companies nor military-industry complex "own" her. She's actually one of the less corrupt among the US politicians. You don't know what you're talking about if you thought that her real problems were any of these things.
She's just a fucking useless idiot for your cause, liberals. You should've ditched that "smart" woman years and years ago. If you read What Happened (I actually recommend it to all liberals, as a definite proof to vindicate my long-held view on her), and still can't see that, well, it's either you decided to bet all of your career and financial future on her and thus can't back down now, or you're an even bigger idiot than Hillary, in which case I even pity her for having a politically retarded one like you as a supporter. Maybe I should blame you first and foremost.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 23, 2017 19:04:44 GMT 1
Hell, I almost feel like I'm punching down when I talk shit about Clinton these days.
Maybe that's the sign that I should stop talking about her altogether.
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Post by miscmisc on Sept 24, 2017 19:46:24 GMT 1
You know, you can look up the German election results yourself, and there's not much I can say about that unless you allow me to repeat the same goddamn thing that I've been saying in this thread forever.
Just one thing, though: AfD was bound to do well in this election, but the level of support that it seems to have gotten from people above working class this time means that it's a real political force in Germany now. Those nationalist right-wingers now occupy the sweetest spot in the German political system, the third largest party, and will largely shape the German political discourse from now on no matter what.
And AfD did worse in the east (although it did do well there) and better in the west (although it did do significantly worse than it did in the east) than I thought it would. I thought the party would rely more on voters in the east, where SPD in particular was bound to be reduced to a joke. That's why I'm worried: It seems that there's more to AfD's success than simple scapegoating/xenophobia.
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