Agiel
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Everything posted by Agiel
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Dropping a lot sooner than people were expecting. Hope it's awesome this time.
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General James Mattis has been floated as a possible SecDef under Trump. Purportedly from their meeting, Trump was honestly shocked when Mattis told him that he was against waterboarding. Emphases and annotations mine: *I've spoken with quite a few enlisted guys in my time and I'm not entirely sure the term "a general's general" carries positive connotations for them, neither would any of them say this was an adequate description of Mattis. **Believe it or not, I tend to be someone who strongly believes in civilian checks on military power and abiding by institutional norms (keep in mind that normally someone would have to be out of the service for at least six years prior for this posting, but as was the case for Marshall and for Flynn when he was supposedly on the shortlist for SecDef, this requirement may be waived), so in spite of Mattis' sterling record I remain somewhat wary about his potential appointment.
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Food for thought:
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Please address the substance of the video. Say that "it isn't representative of the 'real America,"" anything, but don't give me whataboutism that Putin apologists resort to.
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At an event hosted by a man praised by Bannon: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/
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Is there not a spot before the actual character creation where you can save the game? And isn't there an opportunity to change your appearance a bit before the opening sequence ends?
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The writer of the original comic worked with Enki Bilal on some fantastic comics like <<La ville qui n'existait pas>> and <<Les phalanges de l'ordre noir>>, and also my favourite comic of all time, <<Partie de chasse>>: Oh, and yeah, Valerian is a bit like Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China; despite appearances, he isn't actually the hero of the story.
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Saw Arrival with some buds today. I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Great cinematography from Villeneuve, but there was quite a few things I saw coming from miles away like the horse**** kangaroo story, the rogue soldiers, and the twist about Amy Adams' daughter.
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Oh huh, a man who ran on a platform against political correctness now advocates for "safe spaces." I guess it's the great walk-back in more ways than one, or twenty.
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The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread
Agiel replied to Rosbjerg's topic in Way Off-Topic
Well KMW and Nexter have merged together, so we could see some new MBT come out of this endeavour (Eurokampfpanzer Leoclerc, anyone?). Though knowing French procurement policies once the design work is finished they'll demand that the only thing that gets done in a German factory is the paintjob. -
The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread
Agiel replied to Rosbjerg's topic in Way Off-Topic
The Leclerc is actually a very solid tank as well. Between its state-of-the-art electronics package, "hyperbar" engine, and GALIX multi-spectral protection system it's a tough nut to crack. -
Something I got a laugh from:
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Jeffrey Lewis of Arms Control Wonk had a pretty epic tweet storm regarding Trump's incoherent East Asia proliferation/non-proliferation policy: https://twitter.com/ArmsControlWonk/status/798158687533613057
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Well, I can't say this is particularly heartening:
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I am very much partial to jasmine green tea as well as chrysanthemum tea with a spoonful of raw rock sugar.
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Stephen Colbert coined the term "truthiness" way back in 2006, which seems a thousand centuries ago, now sounding so quaint in the context of the Bush administration. But I had my first inkling of its 2010s incarnation of "post-truth" from a translation of a piece on the going-ons in Donbass on the tank-net forums back in 2014 and like many I still had that litany play out in my head "it couldn't happen here": Emphasis came from a Ukrainian pal I shared this with. Who knew that most tired of modern game franchises had the most prescient words for our times? "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
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Tiny bit late, but still moving nonetheless:
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Slightly concerned that we will say historical fallacies on the order of "The Iranian embassy hostages were freed by Reagan" develop when the Mosul operation is in the bag (of course it remains to be seen if the Iraqi government will address the problem that helped lead to its loss i.e. sticking it to the Sunni minority, alienating Sunni militias that contributed to the Anbar awakening, and sacking competent officers in the military on the basis of their sect). The same could also be said about the fact that already as far as the DoD is concerned sequestration is dead. Annual procurement budget threatened to go as low as $80 billion in 2013, but today that has shot up to $110 billion and is set to remain there into the next decade (for perspective, you could get two Gerald R. Ford CVNs for that, or sixty B-21 Raiders, or ten Virginia-class attack boats).
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Newt Gingrich wants new House Un-American Activities Committee You know I kind of figured that if he was proposing to bring back this "silly damn thing" he would at least make a modicum of effort to re-brand this endeavour, but I guess I figured wrong.
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Fox news still hasn't fully accepted Trump. That should tell all. Don't get all OCD on me. I'm not going to pick straws. Of course media outlets are going to be negative, that's their m.o, it's not the same as openly supporting a candidate as is most often done. You're either lying to yourself or out of touch if you don't see the difference. I would in counter claim that you are lying to yourself if you really believe that Trump don't have support of media outlets behind him. Media outlets know how to read their audience and they know that it is divided. Like where you see that Fox don't full heartily support Trump, you can also see media outlets that attacked him during elections now writing articles about people coming together in name of the country etc. pieces meant to make people that are against Trump, less against him and court those who supported Trump continue to read/watch/listen them. Media is excellent in the ways how they manipulate people and their goal is alway foremost their own profits. Mark Bowden, he of Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo, and Guests of the Ayatollah fame, wrote a story for the Atlantic on the News Corp acquisition of the Wall Street Journal (unfortunately I think the change to the Atlantic's website kind of messed up formatting the piece; it's a little harder to read than when I first laid eyes on it). The key takeaway from that piece for me:
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The Cubs won the World Series, Pennsylvania helped to elect a possible Manchurian candidate into the White House, and M. Night Shyamalan actually came out with a good movie. Clearly we're in uncharted waters:
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The Weird, Random, and Interesting things that Fit Nowhere Else Thread
Agiel replied to Rosbjerg's topic in Way Off-Topic
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I first saw it while staying at the house of the parents of my then Quebecoise girlfriend (who were also avid BD collectors). I found that you can rent it on Youtube and I'd honestly be shocked if it didn't come with English subtitles since the description is in English.
