I keep having to say this: The move toward foreign wars is not policy - it is distraction. Why do we always take the bait?
Every comment made by anyone in the opposition about this subject should begin like this: Because President Trump will stop at nothing, including starting pointless and costly foreign wars, to prevent affordability and the his pedophilia problem to have any oxygen.
He is creating phony issues to distract the nation from the real ones that he worries about.
Now go ahead and say a few things about military adventurism.
You know, even the Nazis had a plan, vile and misguided as it was, that had to do with national prosperity (aka Lebensraum). We don't even have that. Oil money??? How much goes into national coffers, how much into Trump's crypto account?
The situation in the US, both economically and socially, is not going well. When you have a dictatorship, what is it that dictators ALWAYS do when internal problems threaten their rule?
"You in the corner over there, what's the answer?"
"Right! They start a war to try to frighten the populace into supporting them. That explains agent Krasnov's immigration actions using ICE, his invasion of Venezuela, his fixation with Greenland, and his tariffs against countries he wants us to fear and hate."
"A tyrant... is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people
In your "open tabs" you titled an article "which city burns next". That was a NY Times article. Which BTW requires a subscription in order to read it. Why would you do that knowing full well we'd have to pay for a subscription to a paper that we don't always trust AND it's why we have a subscription to The Bulwark that we do trust! This raises question about just how independent is your publication!
A quiet assumption in this piece is a kind of double standard that the democrats were responsible for the war in Iraq and, more generally, that the democrats are the adults in the room and should be held to a higher standard than the republicans. I’m tired of this line of thinking.
As I read about this representative or that, with a West Point education, and/or X number of tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, I think back to my early post-war years. Those coming out of the military, as a rule had to keep their military service on their resumes in the fine print at the bottom. We were blamed, if not for the war then for the "loss" (although we never lost a battle) even though the war was run from the situation room in the White House, not from the Pentagon and the field.
We Vietnam Vets had to shame this country into treating our soldiers and Veterans according to the promise we served under, that the nation would be forever grateful for our service and to take care of us upon our return. Rather than sulk, or turn our backs on the country, we went to Congress and fought for things like recognition of the consequences of the chemicals poured on us without regard for or even recognition of the consequences of our prolonged contact with the chemical or its residue. We were in front on the tarmac when our soldiers returned from Granada and Panama, welcoming them home and thanking them.
So it gives me at least a little pride in seeing our Representatives openly use their service as a positive in their careers. In fact, their service should be used as a club to beat their actual knowledge into the heads of the war-mongering idiots who never served but have oversized influence on how and why our military is used.
NB: You write right! Your colleagues are inconsistent. See the AP Stylebook. The verb 'to be'—every verb—is not a "minor" word: following American English convention, all verbs in titles (even 'am') will be capitalized.
Conventions are arbitrary. They are tools which offer simple, elegant solutions. Stress-free. Know and go.
Thank you for reminding me that my old AP Stylebook is still worth having. Even if I don't know where it is at the moment, because I've devolved to the point of feeling fully successful if I manage to spell out "be" and "you" and "thanks."
US intervention in Venezuela and Iraq share several key characteristics. The authoritarians in place were bad people, but they did not represent a security threat to the US. The premises for attacks, WMD in the case of Iraq and illicit drugs in the case of Venezuela were both largely fabrications by the US government. An outdated obsession with hydrocarbon resources, that the US doesn't need, was the subtext for both Bush and Trump. In both cases, the American president and his lackeys, wanted to take aggressive action, because they wanted to play at war to serve their egos. Trump and Hegseth wanted to be big, tough guys by launching a conflict that would have no immediate adverse effect on America so they could play at war and pat themselves on the back. The military conflict that has by far the greatest implications for the future of the planet and in which the US could make a meaningful difference, Ukraine, is one that Trump and Hegseth do their best to ignore, hoping it will go away. There is a lot of hand wringing about how future historians will characterize an America no longer willing to be the world's policeman. Trump's impulse to get Europeans and non-Chinese Asians to assume greater responsibility for their security is sound in principle, but it is unfortunate that his toolkit is limited to schoolyard tactics that undermine long-term trust among America's allies. America's greatest post-WWII failing will not be expecting greater independence among our allies in providing for their own security, but in not working with them to engage in the difficult, but real, work of combating Vladimir Putin's warped world view aggression. Trump would rather play in a side show like Venezuela, where he feels he can control the outcome. That is cosplay, not leadership!
There’s going to be a big, big hurt for the Republicans coming only if we have mid term elections. I have a feeling of dread that the goal of all the military and quasi military crap going on is to cancel the elections in November. They have, what seems to be, unchecked power and they aren’t going to let go of it easily.
Side thought: Even if another country were “invading” the US by producing and sending drugs into the country, do US citizens bear any responsibility for taking the drugs?
Sure seemed like people in “urban areas” were the ones largely at fault in the 80s.
Since they don’t seem to care about the lower echelons of society as evidenced by reducing accessibility to vaccines, SNAP, healthcare in general etc, why would they give a rats ass about drugs coming in the country. Most drug users are the same people they seem to want to eliminate anyway. It’s just a great reason to play with all those shiny military toys….
Your comment brings to mind an interview I heard this morning of David Ignatius, who opined that Trump, like a good number of other presidents before him, seems to have a sense of intoxication knowing he holds the power and efficiency of the U.S. military in his hands.
It’s all about oil. Cuba is related to Venezuela through oil. And Cuba will implode within two months if the Venezuelan oil embargo continues along with the shut down of shadow tankers. Last night already 40% of Cuba went dark with no electricity. So if we break it, will we own Cuba too? So Venezuelan oil already out of the ground is on its way here. But after that? No matter the fiction that the Queens real estate mob boss tells no oil company will ever invest in Venezuela in its present unstable state. Never. Oil companies need stable regimes.
Hooray for the younger veteran Dems who are standing up to and speaking out against the regime's wars of conquest and graft. It just proves--again--that the "leaders" of the party are clueless, feckless and simply must be replaced with red meat eating fighters. I'm sick of the flaccid statements by Schumer and Jeffries. It's embarrassing. The fight ahead, not just for the midterms but for the crazy and death we are now experiencing, cannot be won by the old guard. They don't know how to use power but vets do. I hope that someday the Congress will have the guts to impose term limits on themselves, giving younger voices an opportunity to lead. And as for Trump's adventurism, I don't think he, Rubio or Hegseth have even a concept of a plan in Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, etc. They just want to do snatch and grabs, crow about it, feel puffed up beyond all recognition and let the taxpayers foot the bills. The gotta go.
I am compelled, at the risk of being Johnny One-Note, to reiterate that all of this, Venezuela, murder in the Caribbean, defacing the Kennedy Center, demoing the White House, etc. etc., ad infinitum ad nauseum, has one purpose, one root, and can be explained by one thing: To paraphrase someone with a dog in the fight, it’s EPSTEIN, stupid! It’s painfully obvious by now that there’s something in the Epstein files so horrendously repugnant that even his cult followers would be repulsed. So, he’s willing to do all sorts of nutso stuff, including killing, to distract the media from, dare I say it again, EPSTEIN. No, you say? Let me put it this way: Epstein was a pedo, whose stock in trade was furnishing underage girls to rich and powerful men. Trump was a close friend of Epstein’s. And as my father used to say, accurately, tell me who your friends are, I’ll tell you who you are. Don’t take the bait! And remember there are people on both sides with an interest in suppressing the files.
I keep having to say this: The move toward foreign wars is not policy - it is distraction. Why do we always take the bait?
Every comment made by anyone in the opposition about this subject should begin like this: Because President Trump will stop at nothing, including starting pointless and costly foreign wars, to prevent affordability and the his pedophilia problem to have any oxygen.
He is creating phony issues to distract the nation from the real ones that he worries about.
Now go ahead and say a few things about military adventurism.
You know, even the Nazis had a plan, vile and misguided as it was, that had to do with national prosperity (aka Lebensraum). We don't even have that. Oil money??? How much goes into national coffers, how much into Trump's crypto account?
Megalomaniacs of mass delusion.
The situation in the US, both economically and socially, is not going well. When you have a dictatorship, what is it that dictators ALWAYS do when internal problems threaten their rule?
"You in the corner over there, what's the answer?"
"Right! They start a war to try to frighten the populace into supporting them. That explains agent Krasnov's immigration actions using ICE, his invasion of Venezuela, his fixation with Greenland, and his tariffs against countries he wants us to fear and hate."
"A tyrant... is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people
may require a leader.": Plato
In your "open tabs" you titled an article "which city burns next". That was a NY Times article. Which BTW requires a subscription in order to read it. Why would you do that knowing full well we'd have to pay for a subscription to a paper that we don't always trust AND it's why we have a subscription to The Bulwark that we do trust! This raises question about just how independent is your publication!
A quiet assumption in this piece is a kind of double standard that the democrats were responsible for the war in Iraq and, more generally, that the democrats are the adults in the room and should be held to a higher standard than the republicans. I’m tired of this line of thinking.
Welcome to Lauren Egan.
Another good read Lauren. After the soul crushing events of this week, "deferring to senior leadership" is no longer an option i accept.
In fact, i have two words for it: "Fuck Chuck."
As I read about this representative or that, with a West Point education, and/or X number of tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, I think back to my early post-war years. Those coming out of the military, as a rule had to keep their military service on their resumes in the fine print at the bottom. We were blamed, if not for the war then for the "loss" (although we never lost a battle) even though the war was run from the situation room in the White House, not from the Pentagon and the field.
We Vietnam Vets had to shame this country into treating our soldiers and Veterans according to the promise we served under, that the nation would be forever grateful for our service and to take care of us upon our return. Rather than sulk, or turn our backs on the country, we went to Congress and fought for things like recognition of the consequences of the chemicals poured on us without regard for or even recognition of the consequences of our prolonged contact with the chemical or its residue. We were in front on the tarmac when our soldiers returned from Granada and Panama, welcoming them home and thanking them.
So it gives me at least a little pride in seeing our Representatives openly use their service as a positive in their careers. In fact, their service should be used as a club to beat their actual knowledge into the heads of the war-mongering idiots who never served but have oversized influence on how and why our military is used.
Big time AGREE
NB: You write right! Your colleagues are inconsistent. See the AP Stylebook. The verb 'to be'—every verb—is not a "minor" word: following American English convention, all verbs in titles (even 'am') will be capitalized.
Conventions are arbitrary. They are tools which offer simple, elegant solutions. Stress-free. Know and go.
Thank you for reminding me that my old AP Stylebook is still worth having. Even if I don't know where it is at the moment, because I've devolved to the point of feeling fully successful if I manage to spell out "be" and "you" and "thanks."
Want to sacrifice your children for a greater dependence in Venezuelan fossil fuels? Anyone think that the Danes will just walk away?
See "Go fuck yourself, Russian warship!"
How did that work out for the invaders?
US intervention in Venezuela and Iraq share several key characteristics. The authoritarians in place were bad people, but they did not represent a security threat to the US. The premises for attacks, WMD in the case of Iraq and illicit drugs in the case of Venezuela were both largely fabrications by the US government. An outdated obsession with hydrocarbon resources, that the US doesn't need, was the subtext for both Bush and Trump. In both cases, the American president and his lackeys, wanted to take aggressive action, because they wanted to play at war to serve their egos. Trump and Hegseth wanted to be big, tough guys by launching a conflict that would have no immediate adverse effect on America so they could play at war and pat themselves on the back. The military conflict that has by far the greatest implications for the future of the planet and in which the US could make a meaningful difference, Ukraine, is one that Trump and Hegseth do their best to ignore, hoping it will go away. There is a lot of hand wringing about how future historians will characterize an America no longer willing to be the world's policeman. Trump's impulse to get Europeans and non-Chinese Asians to assume greater responsibility for their security is sound in principle, but it is unfortunate that his toolkit is limited to schoolyard tactics that undermine long-term trust among America's allies. America's greatest post-WWII failing will not be expecting greater independence among our allies in providing for their own security, but in not working with them to engage in the difficult, but real, work of combating Vladimir Putin's warped world view aggression. Trump would rather play in a side show like Venezuela, where he feels he can control the outcome. That is cosplay, not leadership!
There’s going to be a big, big hurt for the Republicans coming only if we have mid term elections. I have a feeling of dread that the goal of all the military and quasi military crap going on is to cancel the elections in November. They have, what seems to be, unchecked power and they aren’t going to let go of it easily.
Side thought: Even if another country were “invading” the US by producing and sending drugs into the country, do US citizens bear any responsibility for taking the drugs?
Sure seemed like people in “urban areas” were the ones largely at fault in the 80s.
Since they don’t seem to care about the lower echelons of society as evidenced by reducing accessibility to vaccines, SNAP, healthcare in general etc, why would they give a rats ass about drugs coming in the country. Most drug users are the same people they seem to want to eliminate anyway. It’s just a great reason to play with all those shiny military toys….
Your comment brings to mind an interview I heard this morning of David Ignatius, who opined that Trump, like a good number of other presidents before him, seems to have a sense of intoxication knowing he holds the power and efficiency of the U.S. military in his hands.
Should not congress authorize spending before the President makes a cash offer for Greenland?
It’s all about oil. Cuba is related to Venezuela through oil. And Cuba will implode within two months if the Venezuelan oil embargo continues along with the shut down of shadow tankers. Last night already 40% of Cuba went dark with no electricity. So if we break it, will we own Cuba too? So Venezuelan oil already out of the ground is on its way here. But after that? No matter the fiction that the Queens real estate mob boss tells no oil company will ever invest in Venezuela in its present unstable state. Never. Oil companies need stable regimes.
Hooray for the younger veteran Dems who are standing up to and speaking out against the regime's wars of conquest and graft. It just proves--again--that the "leaders" of the party are clueless, feckless and simply must be replaced with red meat eating fighters. I'm sick of the flaccid statements by Schumer and Jeffries. It's embarrassing. The fight ahead, not just for the midterms but for the crazy and death we are now experiencing, cannot be won by the old guard. They don't know how to use power but vets do. I hope that someday the Congress will have the guts to impose term limits on themselves, giving younger voices an opportunity to lead. And as for Trump's adventurism, I don't think he, Rubio or Hegseth have even a concept of a plan in Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, etc. They just want to do snatch and grabs, crow about it, feel puffed up beyond all recognition and let the taxpayers foot the bills. The gotta go.
I am compelled, at the risk of being Johnny One-Note, to reiterate that all of this, Venezuela, murder in the Caribbean, defacing the Kennedy Center, demoing the White House, etc. etc., ad infinitum ad nauseum, has one purpose, one root, and can be explained by one thing: To paraphrase someone with a dog in the fight, it’s EPSTEIN, stupid! It’s painfully obvious by now that there’s something in the Epstein files so horrendously repugnant that even his cult followers would be repulsed. So, he’s willing to do all sorts of nutso stuff, including killing, to distract the media from, dare I say it again, EPSTEIN. No, you say? Let me put it this way: Epstein was a pedo, whose stock in trade was furnishing underage girls to rich and powerful men. Trump was a close friend of Epstein’s. And as my father used to say, accurately, tell me who your friends are, I’ll tell you who you are. Don’t take the bait! And remember there are people on both sides with an interest in suppressing the files.