Jump to content

Eastwood

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    2908
  • Joined

Everything posted by Eastwood

  1. Not mine, but posting for posterity. RIP John
  2. He made his mark on his own terms. Always treated me well. See you on the other side.
  3. He was always kind to me and always fed me a little more and slipped me a little more alcohol than most people in line. Memorable conversations and food. RIP John.
  4. Yes, we should tell Putin that we will respond militarily to any Russian attempt to violate Ukrainian sovereignty and actually follow through if he tests it. First, it was Crimea and people didn't want to do anything because it was "just" Crimea. Now he wants the Donbas, at a minimum, and people are continuing this same appeasement attitude of "do we really want to go to war over the Donbas?" Russia will take as much as you will give them without a serious fight. This same scenario played out with Hitler. Appease him because the little pieces they're gobbling up, at the time, don't matter much... Until they do and then we're all caught flat footed and playing catch-up in a ground war. Putin is our enemy. He wants to see the West fall. We must push back.
  5. Look, you and I have been posting on essentially the same message board for 15 years. I know how this is going to go. I'm going to reply and you're going flick the loose end of your Union Jack scarf over your shoulder, crack your knuckles, calmly place your hands on your keyboard, and begin typing, "well, you see old boy, for one to really understand the intricacies of diplomacy as it relates to the sovereign power of nations, one must understand the impact of the Treaty of Westphalia..." and somehow along the way you'll go on a tangent about the Teutonic Order, and then talk about some ancient Peruvian tribe that introduced the didgeridoo to Australia, which led to the downfall of western Polynesia. The examples you have given are of countries that were conquered because they did not prepare to militarily defend themselves. And you crow about the British Empire, on which at one point the sun never set, but being ill-prepared for both World Wars led to the loss of territory and power to the point where they were no longer the world's superpower, being superceded by the United States. The preparation for violence without diplomacy is also the path to ruin. You'll get no argument from me there. But on all your other points, you're looking through the opposite lens of history than I am. You are looking at all those who have conquered by word and pen, while I look through the lens of those that they have conquered by not having the military might, or the will to use military might, to resist. If Europe and the United States are not prepared to defend the Ukraine with military force, then the Soviet Union will be rebuilt within Putin's lifetime. Diplomacy over violence, when the choice presents itself. Putin offers no such choice. Only the illusion of choice.
  6. Did you just list the Aztec Empire and India, both countries that fell because they tried to be diplomatic with a conquering nation? Might as well add France before World War 2, while you're at it.
  7. Diplomacy without preparation for violence is how nations fall.
  8. Diplomacy without preparation for violence is how nations fall.
  9. This is Europe's concern, dude. Lots of gas pipelines into Europe run through Ukraine. They will be targeted and they will leave a lot of Europeans freezing in the dark. Europe needs Russia to leave Ukraine alone and they can't back Russia down without us.
  10. Also having trouble finding good charcoal at my HEB. Most lump hasn't been on the shelf since before Thanksgiving and all they had were Kingsford brick and their HEB brand brick. The HEB brand brick has been surprisingly good, though.
  11. It should be very high on the "list of shits given" because it is necessary for the stability of our relationships with our European allies. Putin claims Ukraine is former Russian territory and that attacks are coming out of Ukraine, so he'll invade. Then all the other former Soviet satellites are up for grabs. Our biggest foreign policy misstep in the history of the United States is not realizing that we had the only other nuclear super power, at the time, absolutely on their knees and could have dismantled them in the early 90s. Russia lost the Cold War and Putin hasn't forgotten that. Putin has been nipping away at our edges for over a decade and the response has been appeasement. The argument is "well, he'll just stop at Ukraine." The argument 7 years ago was, "well, he'll just stop at Crimea." This thing is a slow burn. South Ossetia wasn't seen as a problem because who cares about South Ossetia? Everyone ringing the alarm gets waived off, Putin stops there and all the people waiving the problem off take a victory lap. 6 years later, Crimea, rinse and repeat. 7 years later, here we are. Putin is patient and we are easily distracted. Bad combination.
  12. Yeah, it's been a kick in the dick, for sure, but this is actually a good thing for the acquisition side of things, as long as it is short term.
  13. Fuck it, I'll step into the breach here. I've been a Russian hawk on this board since TOS. We should have backed Putin down over Crimea. You're damn right that we should go to war with Russia over Ukraine and I'd be glad to sign up to do it. If we go to war with Russia, we'd most likely all have to because the American military has a manpower problem. There just aren't enough able bodied men and women in the current draft age bracket to sustain the military in all out war, so men and women in their 30s will fill the gap. Under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, we promised Ukraine that we would protect their sovereignty as a nation in exchange for Ukraine giving up their nuclear arsenal after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We must honor that treaty. We already are suffering on the international stage for not defending Crimea, for abandoning the Kurds, and now our allies in Afghanistan. 3 admins worth of wiping our ass with our duties owed to allies. We declare loudly for all nations to hear the Ukraine's sovereignty will be respected and upheld, or you will deal with the United States. Draw the hard line. If Belarus or Russia decides to cross it, that's on them, not us. We can no longer appease Putin. We can no longer do this bullshit equation of "sure, we have this treaty or promise to defend an ally, but is it really worth American lives to keep our word?" We need to declare to the world that the Budapest Memorandum will be upheld and Russia better stay on their side of the border.
  14. Send the lazy ass, no heart, no pride, freeloading tourists packing. If you wanna get in the portal, then get in the motherfucker.
  15. How is that going (if you don't mind me asking)? Digging into the wayback machine because this thread flew. I'm assuming that you mean the family dynamic. Honestly, it went well. Their consumption of Facebook and Fox News is lower. They don't get as easily worked up and start ranting during normal conversation. They don't end some phone conversations with random warnings about whatever they've been recently told is about to happen. I think they realize they got caught up in some high school level peer pressure bullshit. It takes a level of understanding about their social dynamics to be able to bring them back to reality, even if for a brief moment. They're small town folks that attend small town church. Their social circle is small and their options are limited. It's either like the Facebook posts or agree with the rantings at the church lunch or lose all your friends with very few people available to replace them. It especially applies to church communities where the church they've gone to for decades hard-pivots into Trump Land and their choice is to either leave their church, which is a monumentally hard decision, or step in line. With that in mind, I took a compassionate approach and even highlighted the above. I told them I understand that it is all their friends are talking about and that is all that they hear in church, but a lot of what is being celebrated is not how I was raised. I was also raised to realize that a person chooses their friends and that I shouldn't change my behavior and forget my morals just to keep friends around. That one especially had my mom take a very quiet moment on the phone. Your results may vary, but if you are in a family that has some unconditional love left in the tank and the ability to step up and call bad behavior out without fear of losing that relationship, you gotta do it. You have to. My children need good examples in their life and I refuse to let someone they share blood with be bad examples. My family can either relearn the concepts that they taught me when I was growing up or step aside.
  16. I'll concede that I couldn't find an article that gave the status of the cop after the attack. If he was the same officer that later died, I can't find an article that makes that connection. But the issue at question was whether it was an armed insurrection. Do you still maintain that it was not an armed insurrection because there were no guns? The better question, I think, is whether you think it was an attempted insurrection at all? Do you think they showed up on the steps of the Capitol because they were just mad or do you think they showed up to stop Pence and Congress from certifying results?
  17. Murder charges? We all saw it with our own eyes. It's always amazing to me when GOP talking heads quote George Orwell, but then GOPers come out and say shit like this. Also, you're barking up the wrong tree with me on the rioters. Attempt to raid federal property for the purposes of destroying or wresting control and you won't get a tear out of me if you're met with a deadly federal response or receive hefty federal charges.
  18. This is it, folks. This is the cognitive dissonance that is destroying our country. A cop was literally beat to death with the American flag on the Capitol steps and this guy is arguing that it doesn't count as an armed insurrection because they didn't have guns.
  19. I was one of the center right. Still am. A lot of people have gone way, way right. That includes many of my own family. I had a serious heart to heart with them a couple of months ago where I basically told them, "you guys raised me. You guys made me the man I am today. Those same people who raised me would be ashamed if I acted the way that people you are championing are acting. I hope you take that to heart because I am not seeing the people who raised me in you today." There has been a large divergence from conservative Republicanism. I didn't go anywhere.
  20. In the infancy of the old board, I had a couple of posters that I bickered with constantly. Eventually we end up meeting at a tailgate, had beers together, and our internet interactions went from bitter bickering 100% of the time to actual discussions 50% of the time and just shooting the shit in random threads the other 50%. Humanizing a screen name goes a long way.
  21. Shortly after the shooting, a video made the rounds of an individual who looked like Kyle Rittenhouse wearing a pair of glasses cheap shotting a girl with a punch to the head while she was engaged in a fight with another person. I saw the video, thought it looked like him, but no names were said and I don't know if the video is really him. I'm on mobile, otherwise I would dig for it and post it. Edited for clarity. It's early and I'm on the move.
  22. Wow. Haven't seen that conspiracy theory before. We drive a species almost to extinction to eliminate competition for food sources, that species being an Apex predator of the game we also like to hunt and a predator of our livestock, and we bring them back from the brink of extinction after we are no longer food insecure to... Eliminate guns? Pray tell, who are these "a lot of people" you speak of?
  23. I know "both sides" are the naughty words around here, but this fits the "both sides" bill better than any post I've ever seen on this site. At this point, the only thing that will save this country is an external enemy, because we are beyond self-motivated repair, at this point. I've never seen people more ferociously divided. A nation throwing stones at each other over a situation that has nothing to do with them hundreds of miles away. Let's just get this whole thing over with before my children are of age to serve so I am the one on the front lines, not them.
  24. September 17, 2022 has been circled on the calendar for some time now and things are looking a lot better for UTSA than when that game was originally scheduled.
  25. Meep meep.
×
×
  • Create New...