Sunday, September 06, 2015
But They're All Terrorists
I gave George W. Bush a lot of credit for one thing. After 9/11, he really did make an effort - and did a pretty good job of - diminishing anti-Muslim sentiment. The narrative of Afghanistan was that it was a country of good people ruled by bad people, and we needed to take out the bad people both for our sake and for theirs. This is all cartoonish stuff, but such are narratives. And then Iraq. Peeance, freeance... and then those ungrateful Iraqis started to fight back. Why? I don't know. Ask them (people rarely did). The narrative for staying in Iraq, and staying in Iraq, and staying in Iraq, required it to be filled with bad people. So "they" (Muslim-ish people from the Middle Eastern-ish part of the world) all became bad again.
While the refugee response discourse has mostly been focused on Europe, because they're where they are coming to at the moment, America "can't" and certainly won't take them in. They're all terrorists, after all.
While the refugee response discourse has mostly been focused on Europe, because they're where they are coming to at the moment, America "can't" and certainly won't take them in. They're all terrorists, after all.
I Wonder How Much It Costs To Train 60 Moderate Rebels
We're a massive country. We can take in some refugees, too. I know it isn't all about us, but we didn't exactly help things in the region, even though we supposedly did it all for the peeance and the freeance.
The great humanitarian shining city on a hill could so something, no? For the freedom-loving people of Syria and elsewhere we kept talking about?
German and European Union leaders have called for European countries to share the burden of absorbing the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have poured into the continent this summer
The great humanitarian shining city on a hill could so something, no? For the freedom-loving people of Syria and elsewhere we kept talking about?
Rescue thread
I watched Attack the Block tonight and absolutely loved it. The trailer and the whole movie are apparently over at YouTube, so you can check it out. I recommend watching with the subtitles on, though, since that South London patois can be a bit hard to catch up with. I loved it that it all takes place in Wyndham Tower since the allusion is so stark and the population so blatantly non-Wyndham.
If that's not enough to keep you busy, I posted a whole bunch of links here.
Saturday, September 05, 2015
Because They Think He Pisses Off Liberals
Conservatives basically support anything/anyone they think pisses off liberals. They aren't very good at understanding what pisses off liberals, so usually it's more hilarious than enraging. No liberals would not be happy with President Trump, though that's less about President Trump being worse than the rest of the people in the clown car and more about being flabbergasted that those idiots voted for Trump just to piss us off.
If any conservatives want to offer up a policy-based case for Trump then I'm open to it, but I haven't yet seen one (that some liberals have pointed out that he isn't always so bad on the issues, recent events aside, doesn't count as a conservative case). Otherwise it's all attitude.
If any conservatives want to offer up a policy-based case for Trump then I'm open to it, but I haven't yet seen one (that some liberals have pointed out that he isn't always so bad on the issues, recent events aside, doesn't count as a conservative case). Otherwise it's all attitude.
Foreign Policy Is Hard
I don't know what to say about this, so I'll offer it without comment.
U.S. officials have not come to a firm conclusion about Russia's military intentions in Syria. But they fear Moscow will help Assad's forces attack the government's opponents, some of whom the U.S. backs. The increased Russian involvement could extend Assad's hold on power and further prolong a civil war that has pitted shifting alliances of dozens of armed factions, including the Islamic State militant group, against the government in Damascus.
"It's obviously a big concern," one official said. "If they're moving people in to help the Syrian government fight their own fight, that's one thing. But if they're moving in ground forces and dropping bombs on populated areas, that's an entirely different matter."
We Helped To Build That
The US isn't the only or direct cause of the refugee crisis, but we haven't exactly been helping things very much lately. Yes we armed a bunch of moderate rebels and then they disappeared with their weapons and then we armed a bunch more and then they disappeared with their weapons. One day we'll get that right I suppose.
We could take in some refugees maybe? I suppose that's unpossible, because even though we were told the people in the Middle East were all just earning for peeance and freeance if only we just took out their bad leaders, we're also told that they're all very scary brown mooslims, like the president, so that makes them all potential supervillains.
Foreign policy is complicated apparently. We'd better get Tom Friedman down to the White House so we can figure it out.
We could take in some refugees maybe? I suppose that's unpossible, because even though we were told the people in the Middle East were all just earning for peeance and freeance if only we just took out their bad leaders, we're also told that they're all very scary brown mooslims, like the president, so that makes them all potential supervillains.
Foreign policy is complicated apparently. We'd better get Tom Friedman down to the White House so we can figure it out.
Friday, September 04, 2015
American's Worst Humans
William "Too Fucking Many Names But Not Actually Bill O'Reilly" O'Reilly.
Shorter O'Reilly: A man who is married to an African-American woman must acknowledge how horrible they are.
Glad we're in that post-racial world.
Shorter O'Reilly: A man who is married to an African-American woman must acknowledge how horrible they are.
Glad we're in that post-racial world.
More Seriously
One of those days, which I've had several of lately, when blogging has been unpossible. Talk amongst yourselves!
Thursday, September 03, 2015
On A Dime
An "amazing" thing about the British tabloids/press in general is their ability to switch perspectives essentially overnight while still keeping their readership. The "migrants" were bad, until they were good. Or something.
I don't claim to know how to solve the world's problems, but I suspect that we could spend a bit less on "humanitarian bombs" and a bit more on "taking in refugees" and probably at least help a few more people than we do. I understand the urge (sometimes somewhat noble, sometimes not) to go after the bastards in charge, but ultimately the point is, supposedly, to help the people. The US is a giant country. We can take in way more refugees than we do, and the moral case for doing so doesn't even depend on the fact that we've helped to nudge them out of their homes.
I don't claim to know how to solve the world's problems, but I suspect that we could spend a bit less on "humanitarian bombs" and a bit more on "taking in refugees" and probably at least help a few more people than we do. I understand the urge (sometimes somewhat noble, sometimes not) to go after the bastards in charge, but ultimately the point is, supposedly, to help the people. The US is a giant country. We can take in way more refugees than we do, and the moral case for doing so doesn't even depend on the fact that we've helped to nudge them out of their homes.
The Way We Live
It is the Onion, but it isn't, really.
PHILADELPHIA—Saying it would give local youths a wider range of academic options, Philadelphia public school officials expressed high hopes Thursday for the recently opened Edison Magnet School, a new pilot initiative that caters to students who are interested in an adequate education.
Though still in its earliest experimental stages, the specialized high school has reportedly attracted students from across the city who share a desire to receive the kind of competent instruction in math, reading, and science unavailable in more traditional American classrooms.
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