I get discouraged when it is said "the flashing red lights were there". I'm sure there are too many red flashing lights to abort, but it would be nice if we could do better; without becoming a police state. Sigh!
On the terror piece, why aren’t we focusing on the fact these are military vets? They are not the only vets to commit violence over the last few years. We have a problem taking root in our military. Some of it is mental health but not all. I’d love our government officials to talk about this around these cases. Elon Musk, psychopath that he is, missed a chance to bring this up on his big platform. Instead he touted the strength of his ugly cybertruck. This is part of the warning system blinking red and the public mouthpieces are missing chances to point it out.
This positive, analytical outlook must be the reason Bill Kristol has never been an angry pundit on TV, always ready with a thoughtful response and a smile. Bill - Your ability to find the inspiration in the moment is an inspiration. And I love that you referenced Bond in an article. Perhaps, in your coolheadedness, you are more James Bond than you realize!
I don't believe it. We read too much into this now. The attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania wasn't some grand conspiracy or initiated by Democrat attacks on Trump. Like Ozwald and Kennedy it was a loner gun nut going for an infamy kill. He bought the bullets 2 hours beforehand. This guy in NOLO isn't ISIS he's an American with a middle class background and a Service record in the Army. He just happens to be in the middle of a middle class life that's falling apart and he's under mental stress. Whether its Jihad or MAGA or other such movements around the world its basically angry men taking their defeats in life and desperately needing someone or something to blame them on. The rhetoric of a system that disrespects, humiliates and abuses you that needs to be confronted by violent manly action is seized upon, in their minds, to justify payback and going out in a blaze of glory.
The reason the United States has to import skilled engineers and computer scientists who are fluent
in mathematics is the same reason Trump was reelected; vast swaths of the electorate do not prioritize the value of raising children who are capable of mastering difficult educational disciplines. It is not a matter of IQ, talent, or throwing more money at the public school system. It's a matter of parents willing to put in the hard work, make the necessary sacrifices and tough love required to give their kids what it takes to compete in the global marketplace. We deserve what we get with this administration because we have developed into a country disproportionately composed of intellectually lazy stooges.
Since distracting with in-the-moment fantasies and playing one side against another "numbers" are attention getting and exciting for Trump, and this keeps him on top and in power, my mind is going elsewhere. It's time for an eviction; these guys have lived rent-free in my psychology too long. I loved Kamala Harris' messages and want her to expand them to even more fully embrace the issues and concerns that grabbed voters to the Make America Gag Again movement.
I wish she'd file to run again, as Trump did in 2017 when he won. The SOONER the better when we start jumping, hopping, and shouting such things as : Kamala has Charisma! We're Going Forward! Medical Privacy (NOT Forced Birth OR Abortion)! President for ALL the people! Let's Fight to Keep the Joy! Stability not Chaos!
I want to acknowledge and address autocracy, theocracy, kakistocracy, kleptocracy, but let's get this train on the tracks, and plane in the air, and get behind a cool candidate like Kamala Harris. Many of us still want her as our POTUS, not as Governor of California or in any way out of the limelight! I hope my friends who say she won't run again are wrong.
Now, the FBI says the attacker in New Orleans acted alone. His personal life was a mess and he was clearly deeply unhappy. This is an all too familiar profile. Too many unhappy men want to kill other people. I’d suggest the Isis flag (was it?) found on his truck had nothing to do with the attack. Just as the Christian who shot nine people in a black church in Charleston cannot have been motivated by Christian doctrine
Not sure about that. IS has been very effective at attracting individuals (mostly younger than this guy) who are depressed, hopeless and lost. And it's not only men: the Shamima Begum case in the UK illustrates how even young women can get sucked into the radical islamist maelstrom.
And if Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel makes good on his promise to dismantle the intelligence gathering and terrorism prevention functions of the FBI, Americans will stop getting after-the-fact reports of attacks that were thwarted by law enforcement. Instead it will be the column of black smoke over the cityscape or the newsblast that drives home the insanity of putting a conspiratorial suck-up and fabulist in charge of the FBI. ("Kash yap" - that's a good one!)
“At some point, we decided we were done with radical Islamic terrorists.”
This is simply not true. Withdrawal from Afghanistan does not mean we are done with Islamic terrorists. We have limited resources and the war on terror has evolved since the early 1990s. Most Islamic attacks occur via domestic terrorism and we still fund the infrastructure to try and combat that. If anything, you could make an argument we have too many organizations trying to coordinate to stop domestic threats and loopholes will occur when you have FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, ICE, ATF, etc. all trying to coordinate with each other.
She’s almost worst because she is competent. That makes her truly dangerous. While people like Trump or Don Jr are useful idiots played by Russia I think Tulsi is like Tucker she wants to be Putin’s voice. She’s not being fooled by anyone she believes in pure authoritarianism.
Mais, justement, Bill, les jeux ne sont PAS faits. Les Jeux - the games - are just beginning, and we're gonna take a page out of McConnell's book and oppose Trump and his horrors at every turn. Oui, monsieur!
My guess is that T. Rump will simply expand SCOTUS and pack it with Aileen Cannon lookalikes if it goes too far afield by opposing his policies. As President Jackson is famously supposed to have said 'The Court has made their decision, now let them enforce it'.
Given Trump's incredible greed & transactional nature, my guess is that he will tend to go with the tech bros when conflicts arise. He thinks their money will buy him new Congressional seats if his MAGA base throws out an incumbent here or there. This will work as long as low information voters stay enamored with Trump despite policies that harm them. Maybe the lesson will be that voters need to actually pay attention.
Apologies for this rant but I expect better from The Bulwark, Mr. Selber. (1) The evidence says this idiot was a lone actor; not ISIS despite possible sympathies. (2) There is nothing to suggest a link to the Tesla truck except both trucks were rented via the same online app and happened within hours of each other. That is not evidence. It is The Other Side that is always out over their skiis, blaming others and thinking the worst the fastest like Trump himself. That is not supposed to be Us. These were tragic (though in Vegas only the perpetrator died; no one was seriously injured; the Trump glass doors weren't even cracked!). We can all be thankful an actual adult Admin was still in charge (no matter what La.'s John Kennedy thinks). Things may get worse when Trump releases his convicted army of domestic terrorists from jail and his cabinet is full of unqualified inexperienced loyalists! The real enemy now here is the enemy within. Within the country. And within citizens, and voters, hearts and souls.
The press needs to help educate the American public of all the red blinkers here at home, pointing out the many links between Trump 2.0/Musk/Vance and the far right national movements around the world, including the most recent praises sung by Musk of the AdF in Germany, where the left-center and right-center government coalitions have vehemently attacked Musk's ongoing admiration and association with that group. Once facts are known, the press needs to speak out early and often of these associations, and not worry about possible lawsuits brought by these a$$#0les. Let the truth be known and don't scurry away scared, like the shameful ABC.
My Masters' degree educated software programming son-in-law would certainly prefer fewer H1-B visas; but also less off-shoring of programming work. The current model seems to be:
- keep a few senior engineers in the USA and offshore the rest of the work to people you can pay much, much less.
I get discouraged when it is said "the flashing red lights were there". I'm sure there are too many red flashing lights to abort, but it would be nice if we could do better; without becoming a police state. Sigh!
Now that we know that the firework Tesla thing was not done by a Muslim, will there be an apology or a retraction of this piece?
On the terror piece, why aren’t we focusing on the fact these are military vets? They are not the only vets to commit violence over the last few years. We have a problem taking root in our military. Some of it is mental health but not all. I’d love our government officials to talk about this around these cases. Elon Musk, psychopath that he is, missed a chance to bring this up on his big platform. Instead he touted the strength of his ugly cybertruck. This is part of the warning system blinking red and the public mouthpieces are missing chances to point it out.
This positive, analytical outlook must be the reason Bill Kristol has never been an angry pundit on TV, always ready with a thoughtful response and a smile. Bill - Your ability to find the inspiration in the moment is an inspiration. And I love that you referenced Bond in an article. Perhaps, in your coolheadedness, you are more James Bond than you realize!
I don't believe it. We read too much into this now. The attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania wasn't some grand conspiracy or initiated by Democrat attacks on Trump. Like Ozwald and Kennedy it was a loner gun nut going for an infamy kill. He bought the bullets 2 hours beforehand. This guy in NOLO isn't ISIS he's an American with a middle class background and a Service record in the Army. He just happens to be in the middle of a middle class life that's falling apart and he's under mental stress. Whether its Jihad or MAGA or other such movements around the world its basically angry men taking their defeats in life and desperately needing someone or something to blame them on. The rhetoric of a system that disrespects, humiliates and abuses you that needs to be confronted by violent manly action is seized upon, in their minds, to justify payback and going out in a blaze of glory.
The reason the United States has to import skilled engineers and computer scientists who are fluent
in mathematics is the same reason Trump was reelected; vast swaths of the electorate do not prioritize the value of raising children who are capable of mastering difficult educational disciplines. It is not a matter of IQ, talent, or throwing more money at the public school system. It's a matter of parents willing to put in the hard work, make the necessary sacrifices and tough love required to give their kids what it takes to compete in the global marketplace. We deserve what we get with this administration because we have developed into a country disproportionately composed of intellectually lazy stooges.
Since distracting with in-the-moment fantasies and playing one side against another "numbers" are attention getting and exciting for Trump, and this keeps him on top and in power, my mind is going elsewhere. It's time for an eviction; these guys have lived rent-free in my psychology too long. I loved Kamala Harris' messages and want her to expand them to even more fully embrace the issues and concerns that grabbed voters to the Make America Gag Again movement.
I wish she'd file to run again, as Trump did in 2017 when he won. The SOONER the better when we start jumping, hopping, and shouting such things as : Kamala has Charisma! We're Going Forward! Medical Privacy (NOT Forced Birth OR Abortion)! President for ALL the people! Let's Fight to Keep the Joy! Stability not Chaos!
I want to acknowledge and address autocracy, theocracy, kakistocracy, kleptocracy, but let's get this train on the tracks, and plane in the air, and get behind a cool candidate like Kamala Harris. Many of us still want her as our POTUS, not as Governor of California or in any way out of the limelight! I hope my friends who say she won't run again are wrong.
Now, the FBI says the attacker in New Orleans acted alone. His personal life was a mess and he was clearly deeply unhappy. This is an all too familiar profile. Too many unhappy men want to kill other people. I’d suggest the Isis flag (was it?) found on his truck had nothing to do with the attack. Just as the Christian who shot nine people in a black church in Charleston cannot have been motivated by Christian doctrine
Not sure about that. IS has been very effective at attracting individuals (mostly younger than this guy) who are depressed, hopeless and lost. And it's not only men: the Shamima Begum case in the UK illustrates how even young women can get sucked into the radical islamist maelstrom.
And if Kashyap Pramod Vinod Patel makes good on his promise to dismantle the intelligence gathering and terrorism prevention functions of the FBI, Americans will stop getting after-the-fact reports of attacks that were thwarted by law enforcement. Instead it will be the column of black smoke over the cityscape or the newsblast that drives home the insanity of putting a conspiratorial suck-up and fabulist in charge of the FBI. ("Kash yap" - that's a good one!)
“At some point, we decided we were done with radical Islamic terrorists.”
This is simply not true. Withdrawal from Afghanistan does not mean we are done with Islamic terrorists. We have limited resources and the war on terror has evolved since the early 1990s. Most Islamic attacks occur via domestic terrorism and we still fund the infrastructure to try and combat that. If anything, you could make an argument we have too many organizations trying to coordinate to stop domestic threats and loopholes will occur when you have FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Security, ICE, ATF, etc. all trying to coordinate with each other.
"If anything, you could make an argument we have too many organizations trying to coordinate to stop domestic threats"
In that case, it's a good thing we have a supremely competent nominee as the next DNI.
She’s almost worst because she is competent. That makes her truly dangerous. While people like Trump or Don Jr are useful idiots played by Russia I think Tulsi is like Tucker she wants to be Putin’s voice. She’s not being fooled by anyone she believes in pure authoritarianism.
Mais, justement, Bill, les jeux ne sont PAS faits. Les Jeux - the games - are just beginning, and we're gonna take a page out of McConnell's book and oppose Trump and his horrors at every turn. Oui, monsieur!
My guess is that T. Rump will simply expand SCOTUS and pack it with Aileen Cannon lookalikes if it goes too far afield by opposing his policies. As President Jackson is famously supposed to have said 'The Court has made their decision, now let them enforce it'.
Given Trump's incredible greed & transactional nature, my guess is that he will tend to go with the tech bros when conflicts arise. He thinks their money will buy him new Congressional seats if his MAGA base throws out an incumbent here or there. This will work as long as low information voters stay enamored with Trump despite policies that harm them. Maybe the lesson will be that voters need to actually pay attention.
Apologies for this rant but I expect better from The Bulwark, Mr. Selber. (1) The evidence says this idiot was a lone actor; not ISIS despite possible sympathies. (2) There is nothing to suggest a link to the Tesla truck except both trucks were rented via the same online app and happened within hours of each other. That is not evidence. It is The Other Side that is always out over their skiis, blaming others and thinking the worst the fastest like Trump himself. That is not supposed to be Us. These were tragic (though in Vegas only the perpetrator died; no one was seriously injured; the Trump glass doors weren't even cracked!). We can all be thankful an actual adult Admin was still in charge (no matter what La.'s John Kennedy thinks). Things may get worse when Trump releases his convicted army of domestic terrorists from jail and his cabinet is full of unqualified inexperienced loyalists! The real enemy now here is the enemy within. Within the country. And within citizens, and voters, hearts and souls.
The press needs to help educate the American public of all the red blinkers here at home, pointing out the many links between Trump 2.0/Musk/Vance and the far right national movements around the world, including the most recent praises sung by Musk of the AdF in Germany, where the left-center and right-center government coalitions have vehemently attacked Musk's ongoing admiration and association with that group. Once facts are known, the press needs to speak out early and often of these associations, and not worry about possible lawsuits brought by these a$$#0les. Let the truth be known and don't scurry away scared, like the shameful ABC.
My Masters' degree educated software programming son-in-law would certainly prefer fewer H1-B visas; but also less off-shoring of programming work. The current model seems to be:
- keep a few senior engineers in the USA and offshore the rest of the work to people you can pay much, much less.