Who's Kissinger now?
Perhaps I am being too optimistic, but it seems to me that the Repugs/foreign policy hawks have fairly adroitly manipulated all of this Iran stuff to get exactly what they want without giving much up. Kinda like how they've used abortion. I'm very, very doubtful that Hagel's appointment will materially change US foreign policy. Maybe in a few, very long term, policy-trend type ways, but nothing earth-shaking.
None of the initial conditions have changed, why should the outcomes? We still need that oil. China is still the main problem/threat/opportunity/profit center. Maybe in 10-20 years we'll start seeing some bigger policy shifts as the country approaches majority-minority, but even that probably won't affect Middle East stuff that much.
I adore the name Zbigniew Brzezinski almost as much as Spiro T. Agnew.
Not as anagram friendly, though. Skin Biz Wiz Breezing is about the best I can pin down.
I hate NPR. They gave airtime to some AEI shitstain this morning, who just shouted talking points. Last week, when they "explained" Venezuela, they failed to mention that the US is interested because Venezuela exports oil, and that the CIA sponsored a failed coup attempt in 2002. Their report did mention Iran.
Hagel is promising, but I am also pretty pessimistic about deeper change.
3: I thought Inskeep did a good job of calling her on it when she completely distorted Hagel's remark about the meaning of the word "Jihad" in the Muslim world.
3: That AEI shithead was really something. I am always impressed by the attitude on the right that knowing your enemy is a sign of weakness. Ignorance is strength.
This must be what royal courts were like. Nobody near power is ever wrong.
Skin Biz Wiz Breezing
Beer Biz Skin Wizzing
This ranks among the most ballsy and progressive things Obama has done on foreign / defense policy. Which is sort of a sad commentary in its way.
You just have to punt the Zs, then you can go to work.
Bikini Swinger Bezzz
Or more topical,
Sneer King Bibi Wizzz
3 gets it right. True, Inskeep mildly called her on the distortion of Hagel's comment, but he failed to follow up by pointing out that Hagel was exactly fucking right and she was exactly fucking wrong. The habitual reliance on right-wing ideologues for supposed balance is the thing I hate most about NPR.
Because the coin thread is old and dying, the former director of the mint and co-author of the platinum coin bill weighs in on the side of Team LB (before she went wobbly).
This preserves congressional authority over the debt limit in a way that reliance on the 14th Amendment would not. It also avoids the protracted court battles the 14th Amendment option would entail and avoids another confrontation with the Roberts Court.
* Any court challenge is likely to be quickly dismissed since (1) authority to mint the coin is firmly rooted in law that itself is grounded in the expressed constitutional powers of Congress, (2) Treasury has routinely exercised this authority since the birth of the republic, and (3) the accounting treatment of the coin is entirely routine.He does admit it would be an unintended consequence of the law, but dismisses that objection, but how many other pieces of legislation have had unintended consequences? Most, I'd guess.
It's worse than just balance commentators. I don't know if these are reporters or editors, but the Venezuela "background" was shit, slanted to not mention the US's reason for caring and also our effort in the very recent past to influence that country. Not an accidental omission. And that's a 1-week sample.
Oops html fail in addition to threadjacking. (1), (2) and (3) are all him.
On topic penance: The Hegel pushback is simultaneously pathetic, hilarious and infuriating.
14.2: it's antithetical to the process, truly.
The Hegel pushback is world-historically pathetic, hilarious and infuriating.
I adore the name Zbigniew Brzezinski almost as much as Spiro T. Agnew.
My grandfather's name was Zbigniew, though he went my "George" in the US. A bus driver I met in Poland had the best nickname, though--he insisted that we call him "Pan [Mr.] Biggie."
The Hegel Pushback is a Ludlum novel, right?
The Hegel Pushback is a Ludlum novel, right?
It's a euphemism for urple's genuinely novel sex act.