Gromnir

if the goal were to prevent the taliban from being in power, then the strategy were actual pretty dang effective. however, is decades o' US involvement with no end in sight worth the cost in american lives and us monies to keep the taliban from gaining power? am suspecting there is a few afghanistan citizens who currently think the cost were worth the investment. am suspecting is getting tougher for americans to look at the internet and tv video without wondering if this withdrawal coulda' been handled different. am pretty confident most US non-command level military who served in afghanistan is gonna suggest the costs have been way too great. am admitted conflicted similar to hurl, but a smidge different we s'pose. am recognizing the value in a diminished goal following an invasion o' someplace like afghanistan. am just not certain the US public could ever be convinced that invasion and a functional perpetual presence is worth the kinda fuzzy and unspecific goals achieved by doing not save prevent the taliban from returning. am knowing some will be offended by the comparison, but is a bit like trying to convince peoples o' the need to address climate change. sure, the intelligence folks may give the president convincing reports explaining all kinda possible nightmare scenarios if the taliban returns, but how do you convince people o' the significance o' a maybe future threat? the thing is, we wouldn't recognize the human costs our troops need pay in the name o' some potential future threat if it reached up and bit us in the arse. Gromnir telling nineteen and twenty year old versions o' shady and gd that their sacrifice is worth the cost feels kinda pathetic. again, no real dog in this race, but am thinking the real change needed is government being honest 'bout goals and costs. nation building in afghanistan, if it ever were a genuine goal, were attainable, but the costs is way beyond what were ever presented to the public. converse, if after 9/11 the goal for afghanistan were communicated honest as a long term effort to achieve a stalemate with the taliban which would cripple their efforts to engage in and promote global terrorism, am thinking it woulda' been a hard sell but not impossible. woulda' been honest though. HA! Good Fun!

there is no fundamental difference in nation building efforts 'tween so-called advanced nations and afghanistan save for cost to modernize. japan had its manufacturing infrastructure largely demolished. repairing japan's infrastructure were costly. cost to develop necessary infrastructure in afghanistan would also be costly. education and roads. the tribalism endemic in nations such as libya and afghanistan is indeed a unique problem, but not as significant as one might expect, rand studies make kinda clear the difference 'tween success and failure in policing occupied populations is a willingness to use enough troops and to invest enough treasure wisely. is kinda threshold numbers where there has been success compared to failure, and afghanistan and iraq is examples o' going extreme cheap compared to the success stories. compare nato efforts in bosnia to nation building in afghanistan and iraq and the differences is clear, if perhaps unexpected. is 'bout sending enough troops and spending enough money. long term is cheaper to invest the money and troops wisely in the first few years as 'posed to decades o' relative drips and drabs, but how do you legitimize those costs to the american voting public? surge numbers as a counter example explains the problem. US commitment were never gonna reach the levels required. surge felt like a huge investment, but given the population o' iraq were nowhere near enough. 3x as many troops as were allocated post invasion were needed based on conservative end o' rand estimates... which again, as has been stated, is the genuine crime o' the bush administration as they knew what numbers and monies were required from the start. just so is clear, the numbers pentagon and rand were giving the wh pre invasion o' iraq were that initially in the range o' 500k troops would need remain in iraq as a police force and those numbers would diminish significant over a period o' 3-5 years. 500k. not an unexpected number given the US had 350k troops in japan and the US had never actual invaded mainland japan. iraq surge numbers were 20k in 2007. the costs o' nation building is known and results may be achieved with the requisite investment o' troops and money. however, if the US were to communicate those costs honest to the public, then is doubtful any would support such efforts. converse, explain that nation building is too expensive, but following initial invasion a relative small investment o' troops and an admitted perpetual presence, enough could be done to prevent talibans from returning to power, am suspecting the "forever war" option would not embraced with any more vigor. HA! Good Fun!

Justice Amy Coney Barrett Rejects Indiana Students’ Bid to Block COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate in the should be a surprise to nobody category. Led by lead plaintiff Ryan Klaassen, the eight students argued that the vaccine mandates violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution, a theory that has failed before every court that heard it. The emphatic defeats had not been unexpected, since the Supreme Court has found vaccine mandates legal for more than a century. “To answer the question today, the court travels back in time to 1905: a time before the modern tiers of constitutional analysis (strict scrutiny and rational basis) and one rampaged by the smallpox epidemic,” U.S. District Judge Damon R. Leichty, a Donald Trump appointee, noted in June, citing the case of Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. “In that year, the United States Supreme Court issued a leading decision in answer to this question,” Leichty added. Three GOP-appointed judges soon concurred that century-old settled law was still binding. U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, appointed by Ronald Reagan to the Seventh Circuit, noted that there cannot be a constitutional problem with state-enforced vaccine mandates, which have been permissible since the time of smallpox. “To the contrary, vaccination requirements, like other public health measures, have been common in this nation,” Easterbrook wrote. ... btw, the lawyer for the indiana u students were no slouch. The students’ attorney James Bopp Jr.—a Republican power broker behind the landmark Supreme Court precedent Citizens United, which paved the way for the rise of super PACs in political financing—promptly filed an emergency application for an injunction on Aug. 6. Barrett put the kibosh on that request on Thursday. whatever issues folks have with vaccine and mask mandates, hopes the Court will declare such unconstitutional becomes increasing unlikely, which is kinda impressive considering how such were always a presumptive non-starter. HA! Good Fun!

indeed, but lesson could be opposite o' what you have learned. a few thousand US troops 'coulda staved off the current humanitarian crisis for a long time and am thinking is tough to argue americans 'round the world will be safer once the US is complete gone from afghanistan. the real lesson, arguably, is that nation building can't be done on the cheap; usa keeps making that mistake. gd won't like to hear, but if your goal is nation building then more troops and treasure is the solution. however, if you wanna prevent what you have been seeing the past few weeks, and if you believe the security benefits o' preventing groups such as the taliban from gaining/regaining control o' nations such as afghanistan, then there is at least a good argument the real lesson learned here is kinda opposite o' what gd believes. am not having a dog in this race. however, am recognizing that as much as obama wanted to get out o' afghanistan, he were persuaded by the intelligence he were receiving that the long-term costs to americans were too high to get out and get out cleanly were impossible. imagine some kinda illuminati conspiracy where the clintons, george soros, and the faceless boogeymen o' the military industrial complex managed to muscle obama into maintaining an afghanistan presence is not plausible. obama lost considerable political clout keeping troops in afghanistan, and he did anyway. whatever imagined future body county he saw in his nightmares if the US withdrew from afghanistan, it were enough to dissuade a guy who had promised his voters he would do just that. converse, while is true US combat deaths in afghanistan had dropped to handful kinda numbers in recent years, those is nevertheless deaths which is difficult to place on a balance w/o needing a particular heavy counterweight to validate. how many us marines or soldiers need die in a year in afghanistan 'cause o' unspecific future security concerns which the pentagon and President either cannot or will not share with those asked to die. regardless, what gd sees as a clear lesson am betting will not be viewed 'quite so narrow by those needing make the same choices in the future. HA! Good Fun! ps only read this article moments following our posting, but while am certain gd will find unconvincing, it might cement the notion that the afghanistan lessons is not gonna be viewed through an identical lens.

so she recognizes covid-19 cases is exploding across the nation. she admits georgia emergency room admissions are up by at least 1/3 but somehow don't consider that figure alarming. seeing as how the vast majority o' those admitted to the hospital for covid-19 related problems is unvaccinated and given that +99% o' the people who need icu care or is gonna die is unvaccinated, one would think the efficacy o' the vaccine is self evident, but somehow mtg sees opposite? 'cause unvaccinated people is needing hospitalizations, the vaccine is a fail? furthermore, mtg opines full fda approval o' the vaccines should be delayed with the basis for such a delay not being a science concern but the recognition numerous states and localities will indeed choose to mandate vaccines no doubt after voting on such measures. lord knows we can't have can't have democracy decide issues o' public safety and general welfare, eh? most who watch will be dismissive o' majorie taylor greene's misinformation peddling and ignorance embrace, but am expecting the trump base and antivaxxers is doing their bestest animated bobblehead impressions as they nod along and at least silent cheer mtg stoopid. am getting that with american polarization at levels not seen in 100 years, there is no issue which is fair game, but if in 2016 you had told us a pandemic would divide americans we woulda been dubious. woulda' assumed a rally to the flag moment which likely woulda turned whomever were President into a heroic figure whether they deserved the applause or not. tell us multiple vaccines would be developed in less than a year (thanks in large part to independent darpa efforts and funding) we woulda probable dismissed as perhaps hollywood movie plot material... too good to be true. the notion conservative white americans (mostly male) would then be unwilling to take the vaccine woulda been just stoopid. antivaxx were always a thing in the US but were also relative fringe-- minority communities and hippie moms. none o' this makes sense. mtg is clear spewing nonsense. unvaccinated people is being hospitalized at rates we saw last november when no vaccine were available, and the mtg folks is just digging in with their nonsense. ... we got nothing. HA! Good Fun!

gonna need to send troops to evacuate the embassy. would be funny if it were not so ugly. HA! Good Fun!

am recognizing a low-carb diet is something we should consider. invariably we order a pizza and the urge to explore low-carb options vanishes at least temporarily. that said, am admitted at least curious 'bout low car alternatives which ain't just some kinda cheese wrapped with bacon or a cheeseburger which is served to us in multiple layers o' lettuce but sans the bun. have seen numerous recipes which call for coconut flour. the flour is not used as part o' crafting a bread substitute, but looks to be a staple for those recipes which call for a dredge before frying. maybe worth a look, right after we order a pizza. HA! Good Fun!

am not too often using what could be recognizable as a barbecue sauce for our pulled pork. after low and slow barbeque, we pull the pork and then add a bit o' moisture back to our spicy pile o' pig meat. chicken stock, white wine, dates, roma tomatoes, garlic, cider vinegar and dark molasses is the constants, but what we eventual throw in the pot, simmer and then reduce is likely changing with each iteration. even after the reduction, our sauce is gonna be relative thin. HA! Good Fun!

what china achieved in spite o' its poverty is kinda amazing, but geography were the pivotal factor. a european population a fraction o' the size o' china, constant on the edge o' starvation, would be intractable and difficult to control, especially as the native european populations had developed independent. two valleys east or west in what is now germany or france mighta had a culture evolve with its own unique traditions and languages and even when those peoples eventual began to mix, they retained their tribal identities for many centuries. china were different. two river valleys representing the near entirety o' the population, and in spite o' extremes o' poverty and starvation which woulda' driven people elsewheres to revolt (instability such as were the norm in european colonies) china had incredible cohesion over an inspiring span o' centuries. homogenous culture and a population limited to only two main waterways allowed for a bureaucracy to develop in ways not possible o' replication anywhere else on the planet save egypt which you already mentioned. unlike the tigris and euphrates, the nile flooded regularly and the flooding were instrumental in reinvigorating the rich soil which the egyptians farmed. explains why egypt enjoyed similar longevity, eh? 'course in spite o' homogenous populations and a concentrated population, poverty and starvation is ordinary disruptive to smooth running o' a government. eventual a bureaucracy will find it impossible to control a starving population... even with the benefit o' a state religion which convinces the population that suffering is natural and even godly... or somesuch. which is why chinese police power and force resources were constant directed inwards. colonization is unlikely if all efforts is focused on preventing internal strife and discord. current chinese authoritarianism and brutality is not shocking when one considers history. but again, is curious that success were exact what led to so much chinese suffering. 'cause o' the unique rivers, chinese homogenous populations grew beyond that which were achieved anywhere else. once populations grew too large to be sustainable by conventional farming, the bureaucracy were able to impose nationwide laws regarding cultivation which allowed the population to grow even further. success! 'course the success only magnified the future problem o' impossibility o' sustainability. in spite o' advantages o' geography leading to homogenous populations, china still required police power directed internal to maintain control as the chinese population suffered at levels which would (and did) drive european populations to rebellion. in a land o' plenty, the chinese eventual produced arakis like scarcity. weren't lack o' water which led to suffering. were the excess o' people which were the problem, and the excess had only been possible 'cause o' unique circumstances o' geography and culture. is easy to dismiss chinese authoritarianism and brutality as inhumane, but for much o' chinese history, the bureaucracy were trying to stave off mass starvation (and enrich themselves while developing a tradition o' improbable cronyism, but prevent famines were also a major motivation). genuine fascinating if a bit horrifying as well. HA! Good Fun!

am knowing is a double post, but is complete different and has another twitter link, so apologies in advance. am knowing this feels to many at this point like same old, same old. why is this different than all the other examples we know o' where trump tried to compel white house lawyers, military leaders or doj officials to do his illegal bidding? senator grassley would have you believe that because those lawyers, leaders and officials didn't comply, there is no crime, which is ridiculous. the problem has always been clear evidence o' intent to do illegal. the thing is, the instant case is a bit different and if you get pretty much any o' those doj officials who advised mr. pak regarding wh intentions to fire him that the wh did indeed make it know they would fire pak if he failed to contest the election results, you got clear evidence o' intent. nowadays, is near impossible to recognize a smoking gun even if you can smell gunpowder and you see a victim crumple to the floor with a bloody chest wound. this ain't the smoking gun, but somebody is gonna interview who in doj advised pak, which is gonna necessarily lead to wh connections. HA! Good Fun!

with your recent russia post, you triggered all too predictable whataboutism. am stare at the highway accident curious what your new post will trigger. HA! Good Fun!

largest economy is also utter bs. imagine a family o' four living on $100k a year in 2021 milwaukee-- hardly sooper rich by american standards. now imagine a family o' forty living on same $100k. the reason why china eventual adopted their draconian and self destructive one-child policy is 'cause o' the widespread famine. as large as is the chinese population, near all o' that population lived along two river valleys. chinese bureaucracy were indeed a marvel, but it had stretched the limits o' an agrarian society past sustainable limits. ask for per capita gdp o' chinese in the 1500s. have no idea what the numbers would be, but would be shocked if it resulted in top or best or most wealthy. china were dirt poor and were struggling yearly to stave off mass starvation event. pretend like they were some kinda enlightened exemplar o' peaceful restraint is worst kinda dark humor or just simple ignorance. HA! Good Fun!

kinda looks like the foundation o' our dream diet. add eggs and call it breakfast. add a bun and condiments and then call it lunch. add more sausage and call it a last meal. HA! Good Fun!

well, that was something. bruce campbell is getting too old for this kinda thing? HA! Good Fun!

is where we differ. am thinking it would matter very much "what he did." defending a man or woman senator from stomach churning charges which has a great deal o' evidence to support is presumptive gonna be untenable regardless o' numeric splits. keep senate majority today and lose a considerable number o' voters in the next election is not a winning strategy. you can add all kinda what ifs to make more or less plausible, but after #metoo, am thinking the democrats in particular is gonna find it difficult to sanitize a sexual harassment scandal once it inevitable becomes public. any politician who is later seen as having been covering up such a scandal is likely gonna personal pay with lost votes. maybe you see such long view pragmatism as no less skeevy than myopic and mindless defense? fair. that said, while am not able to look into hearts and minds, am thinking there is bound to be at least a couple individuals who, like romney during the trump impeachment stuff, choose conscience over practical political concerns... also recognizing these guys in the senate serve six years so if you just got reelected you personal is insulated for a good period o' time from potential backlash. gonna suggest you once again wanna oversimplify based on your they are all bad world view. HA! Good Fun!

is gonna sound like am defending gaetz. not true. have referred to him as a carnival barker many times. however, so far is not a matter o' victims coming forward and accusing gaetz o' impropriety. has been leaks regarding an fbi investigation, leaks which were amusing the result o' gaetz accusing impropriety o' the fbi investigation 'bout which almost nobody previous knew anything. has also been indictments against a co-conspirator who accuses gaetz o' a whole laundry list o' misdeeds, but the indicted co-conspirator is not an ideal witness. again, is not victims coming forward. gaetz is accused o' paying underage women for sex and other stuff, but is not difficult to see why gaetz treatment has been different compared to other sexual harassment scandals. as for voters in north carolina looking the other way regarding madison 'cawthorn's sexual improprieties and overt stoopidity, am having no response. was admitted pre election and the voters knew, so ain't like he were caught doing something bad while a Congressman, but why should that make his sexual predator antics ok with voters? trump normalized such for the republican party? if you would be offended by madison regarding his pervy and alleged assaultive beahviour, then how would you explain support for trump? the same folks voting for madison voted for trumps, so recognizing the transitive obtuse property at work... dunno. HA! Good Fun!

sounds all too likely. is a shame too 'cause is a fantastic novel and our horrible synopsis might leave a person with the impression it were corny. am NOT a fan o' vampire or zombie books or movies, but i am legend is one o' our favorite scifi novels. ‘Out of control’: Dallas County reports 3,270 coronavirus cases in 3-day total "Dallas County reported five more COVID-19 deaths and 3,270 new coronavirus cases Tuesday in totals that included the weekend." icu beds is not gonna magic appear. the thing am recalling most from reading various books 'bout spanish flu in the US were that the cities which weathered the pandemic better all approached pandemic mitigation efforts similar: they acted quickly and decisively to implement social distancing mandates. closed theatres and churches and prohibited gatherings o' more than two people. masks were required everywhere. this were early 1900s and med technology weren't what it is today, but the folks knew they were facing a deadly respiratory disease and so they implemented the limited, low-tech options they had at their disposal, the same limited options available for hundreds o' years. no surprise, those communities which responded fast and comprehensive suffered less. 2020 USA response to the pandemic were so disappointing 'cause even a brief look at history made the right response kinda obvious. unfortunate, too many people don't like to read anything longer than a twitter post. HA! Good Fun!

dog and bone show. the reason why the aforementioned democrats and republicans didn't fight is 'cause they believed (typical they were informed by party leadership) that combat would be worse than going meek. want us to predict which republicans and which democrats is gonna get the defense o' their party in spite o' scandal? we cannot do that. nevertheless, you trying to distinguish the functional indistinguishable is not the best play. HA! Good Fun!

the reason why the observation from @Guard Dog (again) is particular funny is 'cause the guy cuomo replaced, also a democrat, resigned following a scandal, a fact we reminded him o' not long ago in point o' fact when he made a similar observation. jim mcgreevey, the governor o' new jersey, also had to resign following sexual harassments claims. national, is kinda tough to forget mr. weiner, yes? elizabeth esty was big news for ten minutes. 'course, for those who think republicans haven't faced similar issues and resignations, they is deluding selves. (edit: do self a favor and google "trent franks" if you do not recall who he is. same time as franken. initial bigger scandal. quickly forgotten somehow.) truth to tell, trump and clinton stand kinda apart, so might be more accurate to observe how Presidents get a weird double-standard. but serious, is functional spam and somebody is a dog with a bone. HA! Good Fun!

am suspecting matheson, the novel's author, were not happy with goldsman. am seeming to recall matheson asking why anybody would buy movie rights just to change pivotal stuff. the point o' the title o' the book is that the main character recognizes that he has become like a monster o' legend to this new society o' vampire people which is evolving. while the vampires sleep during the day, robert neville came to them doing slaughter which would leave an indelible mark on their collective psyche long after he were dead and gone. the book vampires is intelligent and they know fear and they will remember neville as a creature outta legend the way humans o' today view vampires. the movie version o' the i am legend creatures, as were our understanding, were much more feral than the people in the book. am suspecting it woulda' been impossible for movie robert neville to carry on a romantic relationship with one o' the vampires, yes? am doubting it would make a difference, but maybe the owner o' the eyewear store could provide his employees with a copy o' the matheson novel. perhaps the prospect o' being turned into a bulletproof vampire and having forbidden and romantic relations with the last living person on earth wouldn't seem so terrifying, although such a fear would still be epic stoopid. one hurdle at a time, eh? HA! Good Fun!

am thinking this solid puts to rest the question o' whether or not owlcat is considering a delay of the release. sure, a delay appeared unlikely, but given the state o' the beta, such a move were warranted and even the hardcore owlcat fans at their boards were/are voicing concerns 'bout day 1 game stability. *shrug* had already resigned self to september being a continuation o' the beta, but am perhaps naïve in our hope that at least the first three chapters and crusade management will offer better than the current level o' stability... would also be nice if a few broken class features were addressed in the next few weeks. HA! Good Fun!

saw very little o' the movie. in novel the pathogen which transformed people into "vampires" were a bacteria initial spread by mosquitos. the bacteria could functional animate dead people and those were the zombified victims as it were. living folks who survived infection were vulnerable to direct sunlight and they would putrefy, turning into a ghastly puddle o' goo when exposed, but the victims were self aware and intelligent, and their vampire vulnerabilities (other than the aforementioned sunlight) were largely psychological in nature as 'posed to physiological... none o' which is relevant save for fact am disappointed so few have read the book. not book club fodder, but current cases per day is where we were at the end o' the first week o' november 2020, and such numbers is with recognition is summer and more people is spending non social distanced time outdoors as 'posed to indoors. am not expecting death rates to climb as dramatic as 2020, but we do expect a proportional increases, so two weeks from now am hoping am wrong in our expectation o' grim numbers once again being part of daily news cycle, save at fox. somehow is all gonna be fauci's fault, well, fauci and the vampire/zombie virus engineered by china now infecting americans 'cause o' all the illegal aliens flooding across the southern border. am not sure how to work conspiracies 'bout jewish space lasers into this, but if movie scripts is fair game then why not space lasers? HA! Good Fun!

additional unstated obvious: an employee opposed to a vaccination request from her boss may quit. the employee is not denied the option o' ending employment even if her reasoning for quitting is abject stoopid, and what could be more american than that, eh? HA! Good Fun!

correct. for three reasons: 1) deny business owners the right to chose a reasonable option to protect their workers is unamerican and lacks a rational basis. a simple vaccine significant reduces the chance that during a global pandemic which has already killed hundreds of thousands of americans, your primary asset (labor) will be interrupted or even crippled by what are now largely (not complete) avoidable outbreaks. again, we don't even blink at sharing private medical info such as eye exam results and drug tests, so suggest vaccine proof is a bridge too far for business is kinda asinine. 2) history has shown a poor response to government vaccine mandates and the current ignorance-based resistance is disproportionate to any historical analogue we could care to name. our resistance is nothing more than a practical recognition that achieving results through vaccine mandates is unlikely to produce the results many anticipate while at the same time resulting in a higher likelihood of radicalization amongst the stoopid. is far too much stoopid. 3) hhs has no authority to mandate national vaccine requirements. HA! Good Fun! ps this has been stated numerous times, so repeating feels like is patronizing, but 'pon reflection, given the current audience, is necessary. government mandate assumes it is not possible to say no to the demand for vaccination. kinda presupposed by "mandate" language. whatever. converse, and as already stated, trump or joe shopkeeper may only request employees or prospects vaccinate. no fines. no loss of liberty threat. am assuming an at will employment which is kinda the standard here in the US. employer may fire you for reason or no reason at anytime as long as reason is not violating the Constitution or some state or fed law. employee may quit at anytime. vaccination status is not gonna be one o' those select categories which precludes ending an at will employment.