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Everything posted by Ghost of LL
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When he sees the enemy center crumbling in front of him, any competent commander should at least have the thought "Cannae."
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
I'm sorry--what are we doing here? Are we playing marry/fuck/kill? -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
My fear has always been that those people will vote for the abortion referendum and then, thinking that they've protected abortion rights in their state, feel able to vote for Trump for president. I don't agree with that. For you, an outrage that occurs in March 2023 is the same as an outrage that occurs in September 2024. But you are . . . and I say this with love . . . a huge fucking nerd. You pay attention to Trump and politics, as evidenced by your posts on this board. But most of the world doesn't. Most of the world in March 2023 was watching the last season of Succession or going on Spring Break or doing any number of other things that normal people do that have absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump. And to the extent they were aware of it at all, it was just background noise. It blended in with all the other things that they think they hate about politics or politicians. But as we get close to a presidential election, people who don't ordinarily care about politics or politicians start to pay attention. So things that would otherwise be relatively minor take on an outsized importance. Had this happened in March 2023, I'd completely agree with you. Nobody in March 2023 was weighing how they'll vote in two months. But today, it weighs on a decision that is imminent. And that gives it a whole different character. You are right that a significant majority of Trump's supporters are irredeemable. They'll not be convinced by anything. But there are some--and maybe not even very many, but some--for whom this is going to be meaningful and will impact whether they vote and, if they do vote, for whom. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Not necessarily--I've had elections in which I was undecided until the last minute (including 2008). For me, this election isn't anything like 2008. Nobody has an unformed opinion of Donald Trump. But perhaps the substitution of Kamala Harris for Joe Biden has increased the number of last-minute deciders, with Harris being much less known and defined than Biden. I would observe that since 2016, those last-minute deciders have consistently broken in favor of the Democratic candidate across all manner of elections (presidential, congressional, gubernatorial, dog-catcherial). -
He has a campaign staff?
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What the fuck--are you casing my house over the internet?
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As a matter of fact, it is next to the big-ass orange sombrero that I've occasionally worn to Longhorn football games.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Bullshit--he was the opposite of an anchor baby. His parents returned to the place whence they came right before Mary gave birth. And that's exactly what these damned dirty immigrants* ought to do--return to their country of origin prior to delivering any damned babies. And preferably stay there with their non-citizen offspring. * Note: this does not apply to nice clean immigrants from Northwestern Europe. -
Oh, fuck that fucking bridge.
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Went there a couple years ago. The Falls really are worth the trip. It’s rare that something exceeds expectations when traveling, but the Falls definitely did.
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I know exactly where my pith helmet is, thank you very much. It’s in my closet where it belongs until the next time I go on safari in Africa.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
I think the quick and easy answer is "political punditry as to why a candidate might appeal to some part of the electorate is your job, not mine." And then shift easily to explain why voters should vote for her. It's a stupid fucking question. Dismiss it as such. -
My story, though, dates from 2002--three years before the movie. But in neither case is it an original observation. Stated in various forms, it's a comment made by members of various administrations dating back to Roosevelt.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Give us a shout--we're always up for a warm, warm cheddar blanket. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Yeah--I don't know about all that. But what I will say is that the Democrats have finally flipped back to playing traditional politics against Trump. And the traditional style of politics had a tradition behind it because it worked. From 2015 to just a couple months ago, Democrats were purely reactive to Trump. They framed themselves as the Contra-Trump. Whatever Trump said he was for, they were against. And for the most part, that worked because Trump is generally in favor of policies that are noxious, racist, or often just plain dumb. Harris has abandoned that. Now, Trump says "I will get rid of taxes on tips." It's kind of popular. So Harris, instead of instinctively rejecting it, steals it and makes a few tweaks to ensure that it can't be used by hedge fund managers to evade taxation. That's fucking old-school politics. Your opponent has a popular policy proposal? Fucking steal it. Democrats were so drawn offside by Donald Trump for sixteen goddamned years that we forgot how to do that. It's good to see us remember how to actually do electoral politics. And now it's Trump who's completely off balance. -
2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
Everyone gets a "pass" for supposed "flip-flopping." Because nobody cares about flip-flipping. And really, why would they? Why would we expect anyone--politician or otherwise--to maintain the same position year after year? Why would we expect anybody not to change position as they receive new information? And in a democracy, we expect our leaders to reflect the positions of the people who elect them. If Kamala Harris said "defund ICE" in 2020 and it became apparent that defunding ICE was a powerfully unpopular position, why should we expect her not to change that position? In a democracy, shouldn't her position reflect the position of the vast majority of the people who elect her, even if that means that she changes her position? That is not to say that you can change your position willy-nilly from one day to the next based on what group you're talking to. That just indicates you're untrustworthy. And that's why Trump is suddenly getting into a little bit of trouble with the single-issue anti-abortion crew. But that's different from the run-of-the-mill flip-flopping that all candidates do. -
As someone who has toured much of the old Empire and who has visited many of those delightful clubs with verandas, I think this is a popular, but ungenerous, take. Many of the overseas dominions and territories once ruled by His Britannic Majesty were previously ruled by some other foreign empire. The British took over India from the Mughals, who were not indigenous rulers but were instead a Turcic-Mongol dynasty descended from Tamerlane. They took over Egypt and the Levant from the Ottomans. And much of Africa they took over from other European powers (e.g., the Dutch in South Africa; the Germans in Tanzania). You're right that the partition of India was a clusterfuck. But let's just be real honest about India--that country has a very long history of ethnic and religious strife. It's hard to foresee a purely peaceful history of 20th Century India even if Lord Curzon had never put pen to paper.
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Many years ago, I was on a cruise on a very nice little ship that had a very international passenger list. I was there, of course. And there were a bunch of Brits and Germans and a handful of French and Japanese folks. And among them was this Saudi couple. It was a small ship, so everyone socialized and interacted to some greater or lesser degree. And the Saudis were pretty sociable (which is pretty interesting, given that this was not that long after 9/11), particularly in the cigar lounge after dinner. I mean, that's where the Saudi gent would go--I have no idea what his wife did. Anyway, one night we're down in the cigar lounge. It's me, the Saudi fellow, a couple of Brits, and various other people. And the Saudi is kind of gently advocating the Saudi view on international relations, which, as I said, was kind of interesting given that it wasn't that long after 9/11. The Brit is having none of it. I later learned from another British couple that he was a "proper lord." I never figured out what would make one an improper lord. Some of the vagaries of the British social caste system escape me. In any event, the Saudi is getting more and more frustrated in the discussion, and at some point very loudly expressed his view that Saudi Arabia has one of the highest GDP/capita in the world and merits respect on the world stage. The British "proper lord," in his very smooth and measured Oxbridge accent replies, "you see, my dear boy, nobody is going to respect you because a hundred years ago, you were herding goats in the desert; and a hundred years from now, you'll be herding goats in the desert." That's when I--more than mildly intoxicated, I must confess--let out a laugh that was louder than was polite for the size of the room. The Saudi was pissed, stabbed out his cigar, and stormed out. Happily, he didn't blow up the ship after that.
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2024 Season Surly Horns Tailgate Thread of Dominance
Ghost of LL replied to immamac's topic in Football
My mother is in a coma, George. -
2024 Season Surly Horns Tailgate Thread of Dominance
Ghost of LL replied to immamac's topic in Football
So is this where we talk about the new "no in-and-out" policy at the stadium? -
For the record, I said baseball attracts assholes. It’s hockey that attracts morons. I say this as a former baseball and hockey player.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
It’s a fair question. It’s extraordinary that the GQP has allowed the sitting vice president to frame herself as the candidate of change. It’s extraordinary that the sitting vice president would even try to frame herself that way. And yeah—Booker handled it really well. So what’s the problem? -
Jesus—what happened to the ponies?
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Yeah, and that's fair. I was also thinking about Fussen.
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2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.
Ghost of LL replied to bolverk's topic in Cloak Room
My nephew told me and Mrs.LL he was voting for RFK Jr. when we saw him over Thanksgiving. Probably ought to circle back with him on that given that he's in a swing-ish state (Virginia).
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