Really boosts my confidence in our military’s ability to protect the homeland. Or the desire to do so.
That the deliberate destruction of America as a functioning, sovereign Constitutional Republic would happen from within was a warning that should always have been heeded. For eight solid years of the Obama Occupation, that’s all we heard from McKrystal, Romney,Cheney,French,Nicole Wallace, Jennifer Rubin,Mona Charen,George Conway, Bill Kristol,Adam Kinzinger,Christie,Steven Hayes, George Will,Ana Navarro,John Bolton… Which isn’t saying much… but now they’re literally cheering for Castro,Iran,Erdogan, Xi, BLM , MS-13, Dr. Money, Dr.Mengele, Dr. Moreau, the Symbionese Liberation Army, Farrakhan and the Night Stalker.
We’ve gone ,Eisenhower,Patton,McArthur,Lyons,Holt,Shaffer and Flynn to Panetta,Mueller,Rumsfeld,Milley,Gates,Austin, McMaster,Kirby and McKrystal. From JFK /RFK and Reagan to Obama/Biden/Harris/Garland to W/Cheney/Mueller/Tenet… but Trump, who wiped out ISIS,brought about the Abraham Accords, a peace treaty between Serbia/Kosovo, brought Iran to it’s knees, didn’t start any new wars, withdrew troops from places we never should have been, withdrew the U.S. from the WHO, UNWRA,Paris Climate Accords, cut off USAID from Palestine, and 75% of the corrupt entities, created opportunity Zones, apprenticeships, the First Step Act, permanently funded Historical Black Colleges,rebooted NAFTA, passed the “ Right To Try” Bill, made America energy independent, deported Nazis, enacted Remain In Mexico, built 700 miles of border wall, gave us a booming economy pre-Covid, brought home the remains of American soldiers from N Korea, squeezed NATO to pay up,not a single Islamist terror attack,lowered taxes for every American, created jobs, saved jobs…. With all the shit thrown at him, left, right, Deep State, overseas… the only President other than JFK that didn’t take a salary, lost much of his personal fortune…. McKrystal doesn’t like his “ tone”. Neither did Soleimani or Al Baghdadi. But you know who did like him? Queen Elizabeth, Al Sisi, MBS, Bibi, UAE,Bahrain,Sudan, Morocco, Serbia, Croatia,Shinzo Abe, Modi, Lopez Obrador, Kim( had Bolton not purposely tanked the denuclearization deal… Osama Bin Laden’s sister who hated what he was and was convinced Trump was the only leader capable of ending Al Qaeda.
Tulsi, RFK. Frank Gaffney, Robb Schmitt, David Horowitz,RezaPahlavi, Greta Van Sustern,Michael Savage, Brigitte Gabriel, Amber Rose, Alice Jonson, Dave Rubin, Orban, Milei, Geert Wilders, General Kellogg, Ben Carson, Tyrus, Dana White, Max Alvarez, Alveda King, Brandon Straka, Ric Grenell, Amanda Milian, Greg Kelly, Walid Phares, Asra Nomani, Zhudi Jasser, Joe Pinion, Richard Pollack, Elon Musk,Reza Pahlavi, Roseanne,Elizabeth Pipkin,Rudy Giuliani,Gen Tata,David Friedman, Leo Terrell, Charles Payne… That works for me.
I don’t like McKrystal’s demeanor.. Holier than thou deathmonger. Now paid hitman.
Ryan, I have the absolute weirdest memory storage ranging from massive events to minutia. I can name every musician, song from nearly every era, every artist, period, work, color, interpretation… books, movies, genre and I can find patterns , connections and sequences in events.
That said, I forget crucial appointments, birthdays, anniversaries,where I put my keys and what I did five minutes ago.
The stuff I remember, I chalk up to all that rebellious drug use during my derelict youth. What I can’t remember, I blame on having outgrown my wicked ways.😇
By my mental reckoning, given that the video is from 2007, she should be able to run for president in a year or two. Clearly, she is electable. Don't you feel the joy?!
Who needs well-reasoned arguments in English when you have copy pasta word salad? We should keep a running tally of the worst brat endorsements. Dick Cheney, IRS union, etc.
First thing I noticed was his byline: By Stanley McChrystal
General McChrystal is a retired Army general and the founder of the McChrystal Group, a consulting firm.
Maybe he thinks he's marketing himself by plugging his consulting firm, but I see it as an explanation for the whole spineless letter. They are all for sale. I saw recently that Madeline Albright's firm literally markets their services as "commercial diplomacy." At least they are in-your-face honest about it, right?
The unethical pursuit of personal gain from government service became the norm somewhere along the way. You see, these people are aspirational (for themselves), dreamers even. They are groundbreaking innovators in political corruption and self-aggrandizement. They are not just politicians and public servants, for with the media on their side, they are celebrities. Real, live, bona fide famous people, regardless of what they are famous for or any other trivial details. Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Gore, the next Bush, Obama, the next Clinton, Biden and family, and now Kamala- that is if people such as the sterling Stanley McChrystal can elevate her to chief-crook status in everyone's eyes by November. And the gravy train rolls on.
Lee Kwan Yew (founder of Singapore) wanted his civil servants to be paid VERY well because he wanted to attract the most talented people and keep them in civil service. The Singapore PM and President are both paid about $2M / yr and even cabinet officials get paid about $1M annually. It's possible to become quite wealthy working for the Singaporean government, and this is not only legal but encouraged.
The trade off is: not even a whiff of corruption is allowed. No setting up a side consulting gig; no retirement to Northrop Grumman. (Iswaran's recent guilty plea was the first cabinet-level corruption case in modern Singapore's history.)
Lee Kwan Yew has written critically of the US system, not incorrectly, I think. Our low pay tends to attract mediocre people who seek to build connections which they then monetize in the private sector to make lots of money. (Note: I'm not talking DMV bureaucrat here, think State Dept FSO or full Col or up in the military.) Yew might have a point: this tends to encourage corruption in a way that his system tends to stifle.
Yes Brian that could be an interesting change but it won't work here. I suspect, rightly, that Singapore has an actual justice system that does not tolerate even the slightest corruption.
Here, the very civil servants ARE the corruption because they own the justice system and use it for their own gain.
In Singapore, I doubt you could get away with saddling your citizens with $1 TRILLION of additional debt every 100 days and continue to breathe.
You know I forgot that it's not cost effective or otherwise useful to advertise in print media anymore. I wonder if efforts to curry progressive favors with boot-licking guest editorials (how ever insincere and ironic) is an effective way to promote your corporate offerings. Does the general's consulting group perform garden and lawn services for "middle class families"?
Here's one. McChrystal Consulting- if you can't screw it up yourselves, bring us in and we will screw it up for you. Government trained in zero accountability, buck passing and blame shifting.
I have a very good anecdote about McChrystal getting absolutely *pwned* by a Navy SEAL senior chief in a room of operators when McChrystal was the SoCom CG. Suffice it to say, McChrystal has always been a political animal. His concerns were the concerns of a careerist: i.e. What if X goes bad? (And the ever-unspoken, “How will it affect my career?”). Totally unsurprising when it turned out he was sleeping with the reporter who wrote his hagiography and slipping her classified info (among other things).
"...flea to the mountains..." and "...Local Substack writer denies long weekend in Vegas hotel with Sydney Sweeney..." had me laughing out loud.
As much as the content of nearly any current events piece of writing fills me with dread, sadness, anger, frustration...Mr Chris Bray continues to make his points filled with humor.
What a gift! Truly. Thank you. I may write another piece about another POS (not point of sale) Flag Officer to reveal what turds look like.
I have yet to read that book!! I never enjoyed SciFi or fantasy as a kid, so ignored that book outright. Now I feel a bit behind...added to Audible wish list.
Thanks Brian! I appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. Monday I start school at our local tech college--learning to build a house! Construction Tech. I'm totally stoked! FINALLY learn something REAL, in the real world.
He infers President Trump is working for his own interests. Surely that is why his net worth has dropped by over a billion dollars since he entered politics.
The NYT could develop a lucrative spin off publication devoted to a continual compilation of local news stories from around the globe that feature political and military leaders playing with kittens.
If by "character" McChrystal means that Harris sucked the cock of a politico twice her age to acquire through sexual favors that which she couldn't earn through her own merit, yeah, she had lots and lots of character.
The left absolutely adores “credentialism”. Kamala Harris is a “prosecutor”, a “senator”, and “the vice president”. How she got those positions, and whether she was actually good at any of them is immaterial — what’s important is the “expertise“ that those roles *imply* that she has.
The only thing we actually *know* about Kamala is that she is one of the worst, most abusive bosses in America, with turnover rates among her staff higher than any other government official (even Trump, apparently). if that doesn’t tell you about her true character, I don’t know what will.
My personal favorite line from all of Narnia, Puddleglum in Silver Chair:
"I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as a Narnian even if there isn't any Narnia."
I never liked Silver Chair as a kid. I thought it was the weakest of the books. Now it's my favorite. (Although it's somewhat disconcerting when Jar Binks occasionally intrudes on my mental picture of Puddleglum.)
She can speak in palindromes. That’s a talent, right?
The Republicans have a unique talent as well. They can have the wind at their back, everything they need for sweeping win and at the penultimate moment, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Nothing says “ We got it! “ like overturning Roe and immediately enacting draconian bans just prior to the midterms.
Not surprising that the military & a disgraced member of same are all in favor of the endless war party, even when the US ends up a laughing stock (w/drawl from Afghanistan, Gaza relief dock, etc) & the world becomes much more dangerous under such “leadership”
I'm a retired Soldier and it KILLS me to see this. I actually deleted a post earlier in the week about my experience with General Officers. Suffice it to say it was not wrapping them in Old Glory.
I read the Rolling Stone article back in 2010ish about McChrystal and immediately thought, "McChrystal 2012!". I watched his TED talk and was moved to tears. While I never served under him directly, I read "Team of Teams" and parroted his ideas.
Feet of clay. The lot of them. The truly courageous take on their own class. It is harder to stop a bully when the bully is your bestie--but that is the true test of character. Echoing clown after clown after clown of deep-state insiders is not courageous Stan, it is an act of cowardice.
Truth? All of this hurts. It hurts to learn Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and Paul Bunyan (I actually believed this myth for FAR TOO LONG--like 9 or 10 years old!!!) are all fiction. It hurts to lose faith. It hurts to learn the men/women I admired and followed are gutless, amoral turds. It hurts to learn the truth about our country I have loved (and still do) my entire life.
Brian, my son is currently serving his 3rd of 4 years in the USAF & for all my pride for HIM, I absolutely HATE he is serving under this demonic administration w/ a year to go & the world on fire
The home-made pizza I had for dinner is repeating on me. Thanks to this NYT-whatever it was.
"Events eventuated" is the perfect description for that kind of student - seen it more and more often too, from being a one-in-two hundred at most in 199-, to 1 in 3 post-2020. But as we well know, average IQs are dropping, chiefly among the under-30 crowd.
While entitlement, inflated sense of self-importance and D-K values are rising.
Texts like the NYT-bit are very insulting, maybe even purposefully so it sometimes feels like - "This is how we really see you, as someone who will dance to the key-jangling and eat the 'member-berries like a good little follower".
I think. . . I think-feel rather, that maybe the grave of democracy us being dug on purpose by dumbing it down, turning it into an empty label applied to and by any authoritarian and totalitarian state to simply mean "Doubleplusgood"?
Surprised there was no reference to Karmella being from a "middle class family". The list of her endorsements from uselsss swamp dwelling slugs is impressive. I am not sure that anyone's vote will change because of this chucklehead's endorsement. In fact, if our election system ran like Robert's Rules of order, I'd "call the question" . I am tired of all of the postering, if they are going to cheat to win, let's get it over with rather than act like an legitimate election will be held.
The French managed to call an election, rearrange their poliical parties, hold a first round, scream about Nazis taking over the country, conspire to cheat to keep the NAzis out, hold a second round a week later, and congratulate themselves for stopping the Nazis... all in 6 weeks.
I never thought I would admire Parisian politics, but perhaps we could learn something.
Of course, it's now 3 months later and they still don't have a functional government. But let's not get picky.
There's no need for it to be that long. Have potential candidates present their positions in written form. Give the public one week to read them. The next week, host online discussions - not "debates" - with the candidates. Two weeks, then vote. If you're unsure, don't vote.
More importantly, every action of the outgoing administration (or individual officials) must cease on Election Day. Unless reelected, their powers END. No "lame duck" sessions, no last minute pardons, no opportunities for revenge or sabotage. The new government takes office immediately or as soon as possible. These endless delays from the horse and buggy days are killing us when information travels at the speed of light.
So long as we're fantasizing: no private money, all campaigns funded with equal amounts of govt money from taxes and free air time for all in debates. How we decide who's a candidate I leave to you; I favor petitions.
Defines by Merriam-Webster as: "consisting of or relating to a conclusion or assertion for which no supporting evidence is offered."
In my experience that adjective is never positive or flattering.
It's a good word to know. A good mental category to have.
Usually, when someone is being conclusory, it's because that person really wants you to do something that is against the weight of the evidence and against your better interest.
Really boosts my confidence in our military’s ability to protect the homeland. Or the desire to do so.
That the deliberate destruction of America as a functioning, sovereign Constitutional Republic would happen from within was a warning that should always have been heeded. For eight solid years of the Obama Occupation, that’s all we heard from McKrystal, Romney,Cheney,French,Nicole Wallace, Jennifer Rubin,Mona Charen,George Conway, Bill Kristol,Adam Kinzinger,Christie,Steven Hayes, George Will,Ana Navarro,John Bolton… Which isn’t saying much… but now they’re literally cheering for Castro,Iran,Erdogan, Xi, BLM , MS-13, Dr. Money, Dr.Mengele, Dr. Moreau, the Symbionese Liberation Army, Farrakhan and the Night Stalker.
We’ve gone ,Eisenhower,Patton,McArthur,Lyons,Holt,Shaffer and Flynn to Panetta,Mueller,Rumsfeld,Milley,Gates,Austin, McMaster,Kirby and McKrystal. From JFK /RFK and Reagan to Obama/Biden/Harris/Garland to W/Cheney/Mueller/Tenet… but Trump, who wiped out ISIS,brought about the Abraham Accords, a peace treaty between Serbia/Kosovo, brought Iran to it’s knees, didn’t start any new wars, withdrew troops from places we never should have been, withdrew the U.S. from the WHO, UNWRA,Paris Climate Accords, cut off USAID from Palestine, and 75% of the corrupt entities, created opportunity Zones, apprenticeships, the First Step Act, permanently funded Historical Black Colleges,rebooted NAFTA, passed the “ Right To Try” Bill, made America energy independent, deported Nazis, enacted Remain In Mexico, built 700 miles of border wall, gave us a booming economy pre-Covid, brought home the remains of American soldiers from N Korea, squeezed NATO to pay up,not a single Islamist terror attack,lowered taxes for every American, created jobs, saved jobs…. With all the shit thrown at him, left, right, Deep State, overseas… the only President other than JFK that didn’t take a salary, lost much of his personal fortune…. McKrystal doesn’t like his “ tone”. Neither did Soleimani or Al Baghdadi. But you know who did like him? Queen Elizabeth, Al Sisi, MBS, Bibi, UAE,Bahrain,Sudan, Morocco, Serbia, Croatia,Shinzo Abe, Modi, Lopez Obrador, Kim( had Bolton not purposely tanked the denuclearization deal… Osama Bin Laden’s sister who hated what he was and was convinced Trump was the only leader capable of ending Al Qaeda.
Tulsi, RFK. Frank Gaffney, Robb Schmitt, David Horowitz,RezaPahlavi, Greta Van Sustern,Michael Savage, Brigitte Gabriel, Amber Rose, Alice Jonson, Dave Rubin, Orban, Milei, Geert Wilders, General Kellogg, Ben Carson, Tyrus, Dana White, Max Alvarez, Alveda King, Brandon Straka, Ric Grenell, Amanda Milian, Greg Kelly, Walid Phares, Asra Nomani, Zhudi Jasser, Joe Pinion, Richard Pollack, Elon Musk,Reza Pahlavi, Roseanne,Elizabeth Pipkin,Rudy Giuliani,Gen Tata,David Friedman, Leo Terrell, Charles Payne… That works for me.
I don’t like McKrystal’s demeanor.. Holier than thou deathmonger. Now paid hitman.
Damn. You have a helluva a memory. Thx for laying this all out
Ryan, I have the absolute weirdest memory storage ranging from massive events to minutia. I can name every musician, song from nearly every era, every artist, period, work, color, interpretation… books, movies, genre and I can find patterns , connections and sequences in events.
That said, I forget crucial appointments, birthdays, anniversaries,where I put my keys and what I did five minutes ago.
The stuff I remember, I chalk up to all that rebellious drug use during my derelict youth. What I can’t remember, I blame on having outgrown my wicked ways.😇
Ms. Teen South Carolina would make a great addition to Kamala's cabinet, or maybe she can be our South African ambassador.
Secretary of Defense
Please don’t trick me into watch something like that again. Now I go the mountains with a drink in hand.
😳🤔🫢
By my mental reckoning, given that the video is from 2007, she should be able to run for president in a year or two. Clearly, she is electable. Don't you feel the joy?!
She would need to be vetted -- is she having a brat summer?
Why would she have to be vetted? She's not an animal.
She could well be far more qualified than Kamala by now. I mean, she was her equal as a teenager....
If Miss Teen South Carolina isn't the Secretary of Education, the Dems aren't learning how to troll effectively.
😂
If that fails, there's always Iraq.
Who needs well-reasoned arguments in English when you have copy pasta word salad? We should keep a running tally of the worst brat endorsements. Dick Cheney, IRS union, etc.
those of us who have earned our pay putting words on an empty page may not realize that a machine may have written this.
or maybe mcchrystal has a chronically truant niece currently in high school somewhere
Why?
Well when you lay down with dogs...
"Be all that you can flea"
These people are parasites.
First thing I noticed was his byline: By Stanley McChrystal
General McChrystal is a retired Army general and the founder of the McChrystal Group, a consulting firm.
Maybe he thinks he's marketing himself by plugging his consulting firm, but I see it as an explanation for the whole spineless letter. They are all for sale. I saw recently that Madeline Albright's firm literally markets their services as "commercial diplomacy." At least they are in-your-face honest about it, right?
The unethical pursuit of personal gain from government service became the norm somewhere along the way. You see, these people are aspirational (for themselves), dreamers even. They are groundbreaking innovators in political corruption and self-aggrandizement. They are not just politicians and public servants, for with the media on their side, they are celebrities. Real, live, bona fide famous people, regardless of what they are famous for or any other trivial details. Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Gore, the next Bush, Obama, the next Clinton, Biden and family, and now Kamala- that is if people such as the sterling Stanley McChrystal can elevate her to chief-crook status in everyone's eyes by November. And the gravy train rolls on.
Lee Kwan Yew (founder of Singapore) wanted his civil servants to be paid VERY well because he wanted to attract the most talented people and keep them in civil service. The Singapore PM and President are both paid about $2M / yr and even cabinet officials get paid about $1M annually. It's possible to become quite wealthy working for the Singaporean government, and this is not only legal but encouraged.
The trade off is: not even a whiff of corruption is allowed. No setting up a side consulting gig; no retirement to Northrop Grumman. (Iswaran's recent guilty plea was the first cabinet-level corruption case in modern Singapore's history.)
Lee Kwan Yew has written critically of the US system, not incorrectly, I think. Our low pay tends to attract mediocre people who seek to build connections which they then monetize in the private sector to make lots of money. (Note: I'm not talking DMV bureaucrat here, think State Dept FSO or full Col or up in the military.) Yew might have a point: this tends to encourage corruption in a way that his system tends to stifle.
Yes Brian that could be an interesting change but it won't work here. I suspect, rightly, that Singapore has an actual justice system that does not tolerate even the slightest corruption.
Here, the very civil servants ARE the corruption because they own the justice system and use it for their own gain.
In Singapore, I doubt you could get away with saddling your citizens with $1 TRILLION of additional debt every 100 days and continue to breathe.
Great counterpoint. I agree completely with your analysis and assessment.
Retired American Generals: 3 for $5.
Yes. Bargain basement prices compared to the marquee names who harvested gold after occupying the Oval Office.
Only in the billions for us, our taxes
You know I forgot that it's not cost effective or otherwise useful to advertise in print media anymore. I wonder if efforts to curry progressive favors with boot-licking guest editorials (how ever insincere and ironic) is an effective way to promote your corporate offerings. Does the general's consulting group perform garden and lawn services for "middle class families"?
Newspapers use to be FULL of political ads the last 8 weeks before an election.
They don't need to buy ads now when they control the editorial content.
Lol. Somehow I think these folks are unburdened by the plebeian task of lawncare.
LOL--One might find a lot more "bugs" on one's property following General Mac's lawn services.
Lol. Touché.
Here's one. McChrystal Consulting- if you can't screw it up yourselves, bring us in and we will screw it up for you. Government trained in zero accountability, buck passing and blame shifting.
Great.
Everything they touch, dies.
Isn’t this the clown played by Brad Pitt? The clown who traveled with his own PR person and makeup artist?
Exactly. So well said. Excellent analysis
He needs the business Diane M Kane 🫡
Kamala, chief crook and bottle washer.
Lol. But I think she's saying she ran the french-fry machine.
Everything about the Harris campaign is a mirage
America itself might be just a mirage at this point.
They're doing their best to turn it into one!
Smoke mirrors and con with stupidity sprinkled in there . What’s scary is people put signs on their lawns that say Harris / Walz…
It's like a couple wearing matching shirts with arrows pointing at each other that say "I'm with stupid."
I have a very good anecdote about McChrystal getting absolutely *pwned* by a Navy SEAL senior chief in a room of operators when McChrystal was the SoCom CG. Suffice it to say, McChrystal has always been a political animal. His concerns were the concerns of a careerist: i.e. What if X goes bad? (And the ever-unspoken, “How will it affect my career?”). Totally unsurprising when it turned out he was sleeping with the reporter who wrote his hagiography and slipping her classified info (among other things).
BTW, I think the sleeping with a reporter thing is a conflation of McChrystal and Petraeus, yeah?
Oh, yes!! That’s right. I ALWAYS confuse my turd generals.
Ah, I looked it up. McChrystal was the Rolling Stone kerfluffle; Petraeus was the Broadwell debacle.
Please deliver the said anecdote, slowly and in great detail.
Wanna know what I’m wearing, too? 😃
Sigh . . .
"...flea to the mountains..." and "...Local Substack writer denies long weekend in Vegas hotel with Sydney Sweeney..." had me laughing out loud.
As much as the content of nearly any current events piece of writing fills me with dread, sadness, anger, frustration...Mr Chris Bray continues to make his points filled with humor.
What a gift! Truly. Thank you. I may write another piece about another POS (not point of sale) Flag Officer to reveal what turds look like.
bsn
When your ruling class is imploding, you can either laugh or cry. Laughter is more useful.
Note I said "ruling class" not society. Perhaps we could adopt Douglas Adams' method from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Golgafrinchan_Ark_Fleet_Ship_B
I have yet to read that book!! I never enjoyed SciFi or fantasy as a kid, so ignored that book outright. Now I feel a bit behind...added to Audible wish list.
bsn
Forget Audible. BBC did a wonderful radio drama. It's 16 hours long and totally worth it.
https://archive.org/details/hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-bbcr4/01+The+Hitchhiker's+Guide+to+the+Galaxy+part1.mp3
Thanks Brian! I appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. Monday I start school at our local tech college--learning to build a house! Construction Tech. I'm totally stoked! FINALLY learn something REAL, in the real world.
bsn
Just don’t watch the movie.
I recorded the radio series on cassette when my local NPR station played it in the early 1980s. For me it's the definitive version.
Glad to see you posting. Hadn't for a while and was concerned.
Thanks Kimry, that is a very nice thing to say.
bsn
I enjoy your posts and find your life experiences interesting and insightful
He infers President Trump is working for his own interests. Surely that is why his net worth has dropped by over a billion dollars since he entered politics.
And fined, and prosecuted, and, you know, shot.
He ought to hire Mr Pelosi. I understand he is better than Warren Buffet!
He implies; you inferred. But yes, Trump cannot be said to be in it for the money.
I realized my mistake when I read it over.👍
Difference is I might read it if there were pictures of kittens.
"Oh, KITTENS!" We should suggest it to them.
Kittens for Kamala
And Kamala for Kittens. Because she cares. Because we care. And, most important of all, because America.
Isn't she part Haitian?
Jamaican.
Or NOT!
Mountain Goats for Kamala?
The NYT could develop a lucrative spin off publication devoted to a continual compilation of local news stories from around the globe that feature political and military leaders playing with kittens.
If by "character" McChrystal means that Harris sucked the cock of a politico twice her age to acquire through sexual favors that which she couldn't earn through her own merit, yeah, she had lots and lots of character.
Birds of a feather.
And yet , many still read and believe . There are no words for my frustration… I’m going to open the armoire , maybe today I’ll get to Narnia .
The left absolutely adores “credentialism”. Kamala Harris is a “prosecutor”, a “senator”, and “the vice president”. How she got those positions, and whether she was actually good at any of them is immaterial — what’s important is the “expertise“ that those roles *imply* that she has.
The only thing we actually *know* about Kamala is that she is one of the worst, most abusive bosses in America, with turnover rates among her staff higher than any other government official (even Trump, apparently). if that doesn’t tell you about her true character, I don’t know what will.
But apparently she can suck an orange through the length of a garden hose, and that, by gum, is what has always mattered.
Right?
She can suck the chrome off a tricked out tailpipe. Just has to be careful not to chip those new veneers.
Lots of Oranges in California.
My personal favorite line from all of Narnia, Puddleglum in Silver Chair:
"I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as a Narnian even if there isn't any Narnia."
I never liked Silver Chair as a kid. I thought it was the weakest of the books. Now it's my favorite. (Although it's somewhat disconcerting when Jar Binks occasionally intrudes on my mental picture of Puddleglum.)
Harris really does have a...talent?...of drawing predictable, unwavering and vacuous support from careerist losers doesn't she?
She can speak in palindromes. That’s a talent, right?
The Republicans have a unique talent as well. They can have the wind at their back, everything they need for sweeping win and at the penultimate moment, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Nothing says “ We got it! “ like overturning Roe and immediately enacting draconian bans just prior to the midterms.
Not surprising that the military & a disgraced member of same are all in favor of the endless war party, even when the US ends up a laughing stock (w/drawl from Afghanistan, Gaza relief dock, etc) & the world becomes much more dangerous under such “leadership”
Cindi,
I'm a retired Soldier and it KILLS me to see this. I actually deleted a post earlier in the week about my experience with General Officers. Suffice it to say it was not wrapping them in Old Glory.
I read the Rolling Stone article back in 2010ish about McChrystal and immediately thought, "McChrystal 2012!". I watched his TED talk and was moved to tears. While I never served under him directly, I read "Team of Teams" and parroted his ideas.
Feet of clay. The lot of them. The truly courageous take on their own class. It is harder to stop a bully when the bully is your bestie--but that is the true test of character. Echoing clown after clown after clown of deep-state insiders is not courageous Stan, it is an act of cowardice.
Truth? All of this hurts. It hurts to learn Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and Paul Bunyan (I actually believed this myth for FAR TOO LONG--like 9 or 10 years old!!!) are all fiction. It hurts to lose faith. It hurts to learn the men/women I admired and followed are gutless, amoral turds. It hurts to learn the truth about our country I have loved (and still do) my entire life.
bsn
Brian, my son is currently serving his 3rd of 4 years in the USAF & for all my pride for HIM, I absolutely HATE he is serving under this demonic administration w/ a year to go & the world on fire
Welcome Aboard!
The home-made pizza I had for dinner is repeating on me. Thanks to this NYT-whatever it was.
"Events eventuated" is the perfect description for that kind of student - seen it more and more often too, from being a one-in-two hundred at most in 199-, to 1 in 3 post-2020. But as we well know, average IQs are dropping, chiefly among the under-30 crowd.
While entitlement, inflated sense of self-importance and D-K values are rising.
Texts like the NYT-bit are very insulting, maybe even purposefully so it sometimes feels like - "This is how we really see you, as someone who will dance to the key-jangling and eat the 'member-berries like a good little follower".
I think. . . I think-feel rather, that maybe the grave of democracy us being dug on purpose by dumbing it down, turning it into an empty label applied to and by any authoritarian and totalitarian state to simply mean "Doubleplusgood"?
Surprised there was no reference to Karmella being from a "middle class family". The list of her endorsements from uselsss swamp dwelling slugs is impressive. I am not sure that anyone's vote will change because of this chucklehead's endorsement. In fact, if our election system ran like Robert's Rules of order, I'd "call the question" . I am tired of all of the postering, if they are going to cheat to win, let's get it over with rather than act like an legitimate election will be held.
Election season should be three months, start to finish. It's gross, and SO TEDIOUS.
And "Election Day" should not be "Election Month Or So."
The Perpetual Election of The Spotless Mind.
The French managed to call an election, rearrange their poliical parties, hold a first round, scream about Nazis taking over the country, conspire to cheat to keep the NAzis out, hold a second round a week later, and congratulate themselves for stopping the Nazis... all in 6 weeks.
I never thought I would admire Parisian politics, but perhaps we could learn something.
Of course, it's now 3 months later and they still don't have a functional government. But let's not get picky.
There's no need for it to be that long. Have potential candidates present their positions in written form. Give the public one week to read them. The next week, host online discussions - not "debates" - with the candidates. Two weeks, then vote. If you're unsure, don't vote.
More importantly, every action of the outgoing administration (or individual officials) must cease on Election Day. Unless reelected, their powers END. No "lame duck" sessions, no last minute pardons, no opportunities for revenge or sabotage. The new government takes office immediately or as soon as possible. These endless delays from the horse and buggy days are killing us when information travels at the speed of light.
I like it.
So long as we're fantasizing: no private money, all campaigns funded with equal amounts of govt money from taxes and free air time for all in debates. How we decide who's a candidate I leave to you; I favor petitions.
Lawyers would call this writing "conclusory."
Defines by Merriam-Webster as: "consisting of or relating to a conclusion or assertion for which no supporting evidence is offered."
In my experience that adjective is never positive or flattering.
It's a good word to know. A good mental category to have.
Usually, when someone is being conclusory, it's because that person really wants you to do something that is against the weight of the evidence and against your better interest.