With dishonest actor on both sides it’s hard to say, but it does look like the Trump administration just cut things off. It’s not clear whether the stated reason, an American fatality, has anything to do with it though. Trump may think this is leverage, or it may be a purely political move.

Other reporting suggests that it was planned and discussed, with Bolton objecting and Pompeo approving. I’m surprised it wasn’t leaked before Trump’s comment, the meeting was reportedly on the 29th. There’s always risks with anonymous reporting, but there’s a Politico piece that has some of their best writers on it,…

I’m thinking this is embellishment he’s using to save face after talks broke down. That’s my personal guess. The Taliban didn’t change their behavior. We knew they’d keep attacking until a deal was signed while they have the advantage. Without the approval of the Afghan government it was always problematic regardless.

There’s no such thing as the “alt-left”, as said. The whole idea of “cancel culture” is vastly overstated. “Coherent moral frameworks” is a bad euphemism for Christianity, whatever the hell he intended with the phrasing that’s how it’ll be read. None of this is intelligent.

White people have a weird obsession with cutting off “abnormal” hair, however they define it, which is usually aimed at people of color (though they’ve got a smaller anger for men with long hair and women with non-normative colored hair). 

Tear gas is useless to fight terrorism. That’s comically bad even by American government standards. 

“Nonlethal” means “generally is not lethal”. Tear gas, in sufficient density, can kill. Not to mention the targeting protesters with canisters, which can kill, and even well-trained militaries like the IDF have a problem with firing the canisters the incorrect way, possibly on purpose, to harm targets. Rubber bullets…

He’s done a lot of the “media experts and pollsters just don’t understand the truth about my campaign” along with a fair bit of whitewashing of Trump voters. He claims his views are supported by evidence and jettisons evidence that doesn’t fit his claims. Especially on the “why Trump won” issue reducing it to…

You know, at one point he did some training with one of the D.C. United youth sides. Getting tall could be good for him. If he really wants to play soccer and get out of all the bullshit of the rest of his family the height won’t hurt him. I’m not gonna hold it against him that most of his family are awful human…

The Chavistas weren’t fringe, and there’s some elements under Corbyn in Labour with similar tendencies. I’m not sure the left is as distant from it as I’d like. Yang and Williamson in the primary, not to mention Gabbard, gives me pause. Obviously most cycles there’s hopeless weirdos in the primary but all of them have…

You know, I thought that was a bad but fun movie at first. But now, it’s become satire. The humor has gone from mostly dumb to on point. I’m terrified. 

Ah, yeah, I use youtube for music only and only do rare academic podcasts. So I’m out of those loops.

There are direct ideological and often financial ties between far-right movements. The far-right is not global. Memes and concepts spread. You can argue that all far-right movements tend to be anti-intellectual by definition, but the recent stuff in the UK has strong ties and influence by US patterns of the far-right.…

Chavistas in Venezuela actually make a good one. Generally those are less organized though, and more like the fringes of leftist movements and liberal parties. There’s some deranged leftists in Europe but they don’t really have the power of the AfD or Front National or the like. You could argue under Communism there…

Twitterworld as in “jerks in the responses”? Because wonk Twitter is pretty heavy on Warren. Now obviously, that’s a small part of Twitter, but you’re talking about a lot of journalists, academics, and experts with influence.

America’s weird fetish for anti-intellectualism is so strange. We’ve been exporting it too, Brexit is basically one big example of that mindset spreading through far-right transmission. Other far-right parties in Europe and the world are doing the same, along with some leftist parties that fit into the “radical…

Wow, that’s incredibly dumb and it’s really hard to believe there’s not prejudice behind this at some point. Even for macho fantasy TV this is out there. Did people forget the “Pakistan’s nukes are notoriously poorly guarded” plot? That’s a cliche but hell, most people are dumb they won’t remember.

My parents really enjoyed Kerry. They got out to Aran and enjoyed it too. They also snuck onto the hill that’s all that’s left of a castle an ancestor or ours built. Technically trespassing hah. 

I haven’t had the pleasure yet, but I’ve heard Galway is the best place for a pint.

The Gospels weren’t written in the first century. You are remarkably uninformed about the religion you’re pushing onto others.