Jump to content

Tuco

Legacy Members
  • Posts

    3369
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Tuco

  1. I don't think it's crazy. I think it's naive, and perhaps stupid. But, if you were to ask 10 people on the street, "should the US be open to direct talks with Russia to help resolve the Ukraine-Russian War?" most of them would say yes. It aligns with intuition - that there is nothing wrong talking to avoid a fight. It's the same reason Trump didn't see a big deal in having unilateral discussions with North Korea when our position has always been to have multilateral talks. Who has a seat at the table is one of the first things to negotiate in a negotiation. This letter is poor statecraft, but good statecraft seams a little crazy anyway. The way the question is worded is weird. The US can't initiate a ceasefire. If you are asking "what can the US offer that isn't up to Ukraine?", there are several items. I imagine Russia would like to talk about NATO membership - Ukraine, but also Finland and Sweden. Stepping back, it's possible that Turkey's objection to their joining may just be a stall to keep those cards on the table. Of course there are the sanctions that predated this invasion and probably some that predated the Crimea invasion. There are postwar weapons sales and troop deployments. The implication that this is entirely between Ukraine and Russia is just a naive as the letter. But, it has to be clear that the US will continue to support Ukraine as long as Russia troops are in Ukraine, including Crimea. That's not something the US will budge on. Yeah, she is probably lying. But it's good that she was lying, right? The only damage the letter did was expose a wedge between a small portion of Congress and the White House. Lying demonstrates that Biden is still in charge. Whatever division there is is minor. Sucks for her staff, but I would rather have her throw them under the bus than stand her ground. It's very important that she quickly pretended that she is on board. FWIW, after moving to Seattle 20 months ago, this is the first time I've disagreed with my new Member of Congress. After decades of regularly cringing when reading the paper in Nebraska, it's a little weird.
  2. It’s nearly the script of that Abbot attack ad. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  3. When is the last time a Dem pointed out that gas prices would be higher if not for fuel efficiency standards, EV subsidies, alternative fuel subsidies? Republicans focus on oil production because their lobbyists want them to focus on it, and lower gas prices is the rationale the lobbyists push. For Dems, the focus is environment and they kind of forget about the more immediate concerns of much of the public.
  4. When I was 17, I had to babysit my 7 year old kid sister. Then I had some friends come over including a girl (Liz) I was interested in. to watch a movie. I told sis she could watch whatever movie we got with us. Turns out Liz really liked horror movies. We picked up The Hitcher. I couldn’t talk little sister out of watching it with us. She slept in my parents’ room for the next couple of weeks. That’s what you get for free babysitting.
  5. This is the party that bent the knee to Trump. I wouldn’t make assumptions about what stupid shit they might do, particularly with a Dem President to blame.
  6. Mostly true. NE-2, in theory, could have an effect on the White House, and it was gerrymandered after Obama won it in 2008 and Biden won it in 2020. (It was going to be gerrymandered for the Congress regardless, but it interesting that it went blue in the two last pre-census elections.) I will also say that gerrymandering has an effect on overall voter turnout. When the Congressmen and State Reps are effectively picked during the primary, there is less motivation for the the winning nominees to work voter turnout in the general. In a lot of places, the local campaigns can be more impactful at getting people to the polls than the national campaigns. And it just whittles away any local parties when you know you have little chance at winning or losing. Competitive districts get people involved.
  7. At this point I wonder if the plan is to piss off Drearie, get him to issue some ruling, then file an appeal saying he's overstepping his bounds, lose on appeal but chew up time, and repeat as necessary. Working in unchartered territory gives them room to test every single fucking boundary that is necessarily invented as they go along. The testing is the point, not the result.
  8. Well, I assume people are compelled to provide dna in paternity suits all the time. Maybe there isn’t a contempt threat with it, but your refusal would be strong evidence of a match.
  9. "Rage" is a bit of slog, mainly because it is talking about Trump and COVID, two things that are not too fun to read about. But it is timely.
  10. They might be classified. There is a lot of diplomatic stuff that is classified because their broad release could limit our diplomatic efforts. It's not all troop movement and spy identifications. If Un said "...you know, I'm only mostly heterosexual..." well, that should be classified because Trump breaking that confidence could have major diplomatic implications.
  11. As an engineer, I hate that shit. I'm not going to highlight our weaknesses, but if I can't figure out a way to execute a project, it's a project I don't want. Projects that start off shitty are just going downhill from there. Life is too short to do shitty work. I recall a rather heated argument I had with our BD guy because wanted to commit to designing an oil refinery (based on customer legacy PIDs) when no one in our office had work in the refinery market. We found a work-around and the project evaporated anyway, but I was pissed. That kind of shit gets people killed.
  12. He should be imprisoned for taking up three spaces. And what kind of GOP candidate drives a truck low enough that you can see the driver's "mid-thigh" from outside the truck.
  13. The budget for the DoD in 2022 was $780B, which was $37B more than what the Biden Administration requested. The support for Ukraine costs a little more than Congressional military earmarks. (link) The amount the US spends on the military is absurd. It is more than what we were spending during the Cold War even adjusted for inflation. It absolutely needs to be reduced. But supporting Ukraine is the best money we will ever spend in strengthening our position against an adversary. Biden should state any dollar reduced from a Ukrainian package will instead be sourced from the defense budget. Trump did it for a fucking wall; Biden can do it for something actually related to national defense. That's the best of both worlds for me.
  14. Put it on billboards. Dems get way too complacent when they think they’re going to win.
  15. Maybe he just thought he was paying sex.
  16. Hey, the dojo is the time for experimentation.
  17. It's almost like he doesn't understand that the Zionist movement originated in the American Evangelical movement.
  18. For some reason this dialogue from 13 Assassins is running through my head.
  19. And..any good?
  20. Which race? Iowa (Grassley)? It’s an off cycle for Nebraska Senators, unless at state level. The House race would be Bacon v Vargas.
  21. Yeah, it’s something he and Newt have done n common.
  22. The big attack on Barnes is about whether he supports cops, right?
  23. I was thinking the same, but I was corrected upthread. He has stated he will not caucus with the GOP. I imagine could change over the course of six years.
  24. You should ask him how he feels about Russian gun control laws.
  25. A few years ago I had some folks over for a football game. The doorbell rang, my wife answered it and it was my neighbor - a lovely woman in her 60s who lived alone. I could tell my wife was confused by what the neighbor was saying. I went over and it was weird. The neighbor was frustrated and saying words, clearly, but that didn't relate to each other. "Sarah, what's the matter?" "Crane...cards...." some pointing..."tree blue acting...." "Do you think you are having a stroke?" "Cat!"...nodding head vigorously. We called 911 and gave her an aspirin. I don't know how severe -as in how many dead brain cells - the stroke was, but I think if it affected her ability to reason or move, instead of just her ability to find the right words, she would have died - maybe starved to death. It's all about location and timing. She got the stroke meds in time and that apparently is a major game changer, did therapy, and she was my lovely, older neighbor again, with some minor lingering effects in her speech. And she is still more qualified to be a Senator than Oz.
×
×
  • Create New...