Senate The US Politics discussion

Yes, they budgeted to get a certain amount of money, based on the cameras installed and past infraction rates presumably. But that doesn't mean they were installed solely to get money, just that if they don't meet projections they will have to find that money elsewhere or not spend it.

 

Obamas are moving out of the White House...

 

andy borowitz, dawg

 

He's the worst comedian. Dana Milbank at the Washington Post is at least twice as good, and more incisive to boot. The "Shouts & Murmurs" section of the New Yorker itself is consistently far superior.

 

I was hoping to get Juliet, dawg...

 

I checked the link first this time.

 

CNN is reporting that the Director of the Secret Service has, indeed, resigned.

 

Smart move. I missed the reports on the "elevator incident" until this morning since we didn't watch Brian Williams last night. My first thought was, "If she thinks she can still stay in the post after withholding that information at the hearing only to have it come out hours later, then she's a fool." I'm glad she saw sense. Now if only the next Director has the wisdom to tighten up on Secret Service standards. Still, I suspect it's going to take a long time for the Secret Service to earn back the public's trust. So far, it's been at least one major blunder almost every year since 2009. Not good.

 

And out of the blue for some reason, Carter is bragging how he could have wiped Iran off the map. He just gave an interview for his 90th birthday, and was asked since he only had one term, what would he have done differently to get a second term. He basically answered 1) That he shouldn't have botched the Iranian hostage mission (adding, he probably should have authorized a reserve helicopter) and 2) that he could have wiped Iran off the map with nuclear weapons... Except he delivered it in a weird passive-aggressive manner:

Um, way to go Carter...? I'm sure Iran will be thrilled.

 

give a 90 year old man a break. He's not going to be quite as agile cognitively as he used to be. He was trying to deploy sarcasm, but it turned into an aimless cackle like Kissinger's twilight musings on how much he enjoyed carpet bombing Cambodia. Only that really happened.

 

Michael Dunn found guilty of first-degree murder.

 

How do you read this as Carter bragging? The question was what he could have done to be re-elected. He states that his choices were take military action and take out Iran to prove he's "manly" or try to save lives through negotiation and diplomacy. He chose the later and believes it was the right decision even if it weren't easy. Clearly he thinks the easier (but wrong) decision would have been to take military action and lose lives (including the hostages). He's basically defending his decision and saying the alternative was more war and violence that would have ultimately resulted (at the time) in Iran's near obliteration. He chose to pursue peace by exercising restraint. Certainly not an easy decision for anyone to make.

 

as we've learned many times over in the black men and society thread, @Mr44's brain is literally incapable of processing the idea of someone in authority responding with anything other than immediate and overwhelming lethal force to even the slightest inconvenience

 

Rogue, as always, what does that even mean? You know, it would be refreshing if you just acted normally, or at least civilly for once.

BTW, it's called sarcasm. or satire. or a lampoon. Of course Carter wasn't really bragging, he's been out of office for more than 30 years. The sarcastic part was that out of everything he could have mentioned, he summarized his administration as "at least he didn't nuke Iran?" What about his paralyzed economic policy? The Panama Canal? The energy crisis? And he's obviously been thinking about "not nuking Iran" for going on 40 years now? "Not nuking Iran in a manly way" had nothing to do with him only getting a single term, because the voters were experiencing double digit inflation, waiting in 2 hour gasoline shortage lines, and watching the country's infrastructure crumble around them. A serious answer would have been if Carter looked back and said something like "I wish I would have used the energy crisis to push for a electric car back in 1977...think about where the country would be now....." Instead of "at least he didn't nuke Iran, and is mostly ok with that..." I admit, it's subtle comedy, but certainly not a comprehensive analysis on foreign policy. If Douglas Adams was still alive and writing a political novel, he couldn't have come up with a better answer himself for his book.

Jabba understood the nuance. Recently, Kissinger did mention that the 2 million tons of bombs dropped on Cambodia during the Vietnam War most likely just destroyed a bunch of trees. But, like Carter, that observation is filtered through his 91 year old brain. It's like a old man reflecting back on his life and announcing to his wife of 30 years and grown children who have children of their own that his greatest regret in life was not making the winning touchdown during the high school championship football game back in 1962. And then waiting for his family to awkwardly stand around and think about what that answer means.

 

Don't get personal - PG

you're still a human being and i hope you never stain your soul with the taking of a human life

seriously. that is my sincere wish to you, as a fellow human being

 

Seriously? If you keep this up, it'll be a race between you and Darth Guy as to who goes blind first.

 

hush. put a bond movie on and shop for watches online

 

I'm just saying, actually going out and doing something rather than being an online cliche might be a freshing change of pace.

Don't shoot the messenger.

 

It's on my to-do list

1. Stop the CIA from being a paramilitary organization and stop the NSA from running an overly broad surveillance state with oversight that amounts to rubber-stamping.
2. Stop Anglophones from using misogynistic slurs like "the b-word" and "the c-word."
3. Stop the over-consumption of resources that will inevitably lead to humanity's doom.
4. Restore the billions lost in funding to agencies such as the WHO, CDC, and NIH so that they can better protect people from dangerous diseases.
5. Buy bread at the supermarket.

 

Whole grain, I hope.

 

I need my fiber.

 

Don't be a slave to bread! Get kale instead!!!




God, I wanted to punch myself just for typing that.

 

Bread is awesome especially with bacon

 

i'm not a fan of bread. i prefer uh.. knekkebrød? crispbread? i dunno what you guys call it.

 

Germany just "germanicised" the Swedish term and call it "Knäckebrot". I suggest the rest of you do the same.