I for one am shocked that an organization whose entire aesthetic is matching uniforms, synchronized marching, and shouting 'hoo-ah" in unison is suddenly concerned with people looking uniform. Truly a slippery slope from "high and tight" to jackboots.
"Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski? The bums will always lose!"
This is why I love comment sections: you learn stuff, through both direct and indirect routes. I knew there was a $10 word for that conjoined "a" and "e." Dipthong? Looked it up. Nope, that's not right. Looked up "ae." Bingo! It's a ligature, and æ represents a Latin dipthong. So I wasn't totally off the mark. I must have had my eyes open enough during English class to absorb it subliminally and then promptly forget it!
Damn! You're right, of course. I pride myself on being a very good speller, but I spell by sight and my eyesight isn't what it used to be. When looking it up, I did insert the second "h" at least once but swore I saw search results with only one "h." Checking now, I see that my eyes deceived me.
FUN FACT: I'm old enough to remember when beards, moustaches etc. were not allowed in the military. In 1970, the esteemed Admiral Elmo Zumwalt (aka "the Big Z) became Chief of Naval Operations and allowed moustaches, beards and longer hair in the navy. This was HUGE news in the navy and the young men in the navy and those in ROTC that I knew were overjoyed by this move. The Big Z was by and large loved by the navy IIRC. Facial hair has been allowed in the navy ever since then - until now with Pete Hegseth, who is now of course according to the liberals, a traitor to America for wanting to have the men be "ship-shape".
You are incorrect. When I was in the Navy from 1987 to 1992, you could not wear a beard, moustaches had to be trimmed short and your hair length on top was measured with an ID card and could not touch your collar or ears. It was this way for at least the next few decades.
I believe the main reason behind prohibiting beards is not so much aesthetics as the fact that you cannot get a good seal with a gas mask if you have a beard.
The period of time I was talking about was in the 1970s, well before 1984 and was when Zumwalt made it OK to wear beards and mustaches. I wasn't correct about it being OK from then on, never heard about it after that. I stand corrected.
Not to disagree, but in my Navy (brown shoe, not black shoe) most of us just shook our heads at Zoomie's fixation on the precise shade of brown he required. Most, if not all of us had to go out and buy a new pair of shoes.
Frontal, lateral and rearward (a synonym for this is 'cerebrally decorticated'). A similar vernacular term is 'poopy-brain.' We ET Aliens apply the term to all nad-based, highest-evolved bipedal earth creatures that are sentient and mammalian, on our Galactic Survey Mother Ship. Good luck, Earth!....and thanks for all the fish!
I would have, but this hitch-hiker named Ford Prefect drank it before I got it! He even took the tiny umbrella from it, too! [Zaphod warned me about Earth creatures like Arwa Mahdawi character!]
You remind me of one of my favorite bits from the movie L.A. Story - the trendy French restaurant mentioned as "lee dee oh" several times before you see the sign for it: L'Idiot.
The Guardian, a British rag, thinks it's weird that military grooming standards are being upheld. The British Army have the same grooming standards as the US. It's almost universal in NATO. Europe learned that lesson after WW1 that having facial hair doesn't allow a seal on a gas mask.
I couldn't breathe without my mustache and beard in those Commie days of 2020-2021. Had to move to a mask free state to avoid yelling Karen's with facemasks and faceshields to stay behind the lines and stay on my 6 ft distance sticker and follow the flowline arrows on the store floor. 'Stay in your lane!' Oh the ignorance! Colorado has been californicated and there's not enough sanity to fix it. They'll all be laughingat me when the nerve gas gets released and they pull their masks out of their purses
During the summer of 2021 softball season was allowed to be played here in NY but as a batter and a catcher you had to wear a mask and once you were on base or playing the field you could take it off: which playing on a dirt field makes your mask way dirtier by touching it…so I wore my wife’s thong.
There's a huge difference between a "COVID" mask, and an Oxygen or hazardous materials mask ("gas mask"), and an N95 mask. It doesn't matter if you have a beard or mustache when wearing the type mask most people wore during COVID. The seal doesn't have to be tight for protection, since the goal is to keep YOUR germs from escaping the mask and infecting OTHERS. (Something people still don't understand, but whatever.) The masks worn by military, firefighters, emergency workers, police, etc, protect them from hazardous gases. It delivers air from a tank they wear. The mask MUST be worn tightly sealed to their face so that nothing passes from the outside. That means that any facial or head hair, or piercings, that keep the mask from sealing tightly to their skin can't be allowed. It is for their safety.
Legend has it that a urine soaked rag was just as effective against cyanide gas as the WW1 gas masks were and seal just as well. I’m sure the Guardian keyboard soldier, Arwa, would be willing to demonstrate that for us if asked.
The Brits themselves never had as much of a problem with the gas mask seals because unlike many other armies in Europe they only had mustaches. In fact, before the war a regulation mustache was the mandatory grooming standard.
the institution literally built on "yes sir, no sir, tuck in your shirt' has decided, for the first time in its 250year history, that appearance might matter.
I'd recommend that she watch the Welcome to Paris Island "pep talk" given to the new recruits in Full Metal Jacket but the wording used would probably send her into uncontrollable apoplectic fits.
Full Metal Jacket is so damn good. My 15 year old boy has really gotten into war movies lately (mainly because I love military history) and we watched it together 2 weekends ago.
He loved it but said something like "do sergeants really need to be that mean"
I said, "yes if you want the best chance to make it out alive if you have to go to war".
I was in the Marines from 1971-73. I had to get a haircut every two weeks and shave every morning. Had I only realized how I was being mistreated. I wish I’d had Ms Mahdawi available to set my superior officers straight.
It's the Department of WAR you doofus Arwa. It's no longer the Dept. of "do you like me in heels and a dress, or do you prefer just tighty whities"? , while deciding whether to shave before sex.
One wonders in which branch of service (and in which country) Ms Mahdawi served? I'm always stunned at the hubris of those who are always so willing to describe in the greatest detail a road down which they've never traveled.
The idiocy is exhausting. A Sargent once made my younger son do a PowerPoint about shaving when he showed up with stubble. That was under the Biden admin and yall remember who was in charge of the military.
I'm still freaked out when I see a police officer with a beard. Especially when it is unkept and has become a neck beard. WTF? I want to demand that officer shave immediately.
It's just weird to see us that hard up for cops.
The tattoo sleeves are easier to deal with that shaggy faces.
Ohhhh you REALLY don't want to see how deep into the well they need to go to get new people into police departments anymore. Think something along the lines of inability to read, write and/or comprehend.
The threat of defunding isn't half the demoralizer as the constant criticism of their tactics and the refusal to prosecute the perps they arrest. Who can blame them for thinking "What's the point in putting it on the line in this thankless job?"
I always figured the Dems were making demons out of local cops in order to get everything under state law enforcement. Which could be controlled at the behest of the Democrat Governor.
You'll notice the politicos never complain about the state police.
It's sexist to force the brave transwomen in our military to shave!
lmao.
I for one am shocked that an organization whose entire aesthetic is matching uniforms, synchronized marching, and shouting 'hoo-ah" in unison is suddenly concerned with people looking uniform. Truly a slippery slope from "high and tight" to jackboots.
But since he “can’t end the war” might as well obsess about aesthetics. (I really just wanted to spell aesthetics.)
It’s a good looking word. Fits in with the rug and the wallpaper.
That rug really tied the room together, did it not?
"Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski? The bums will always lose!"
I’m just gonna go find a cash machine.
Get 12 feet of books for the shelf and hey presto! Bill's your uncle!
Bob is your uncle, not Bill.
lololol. that was so silly it made my day. btw i had to look up aesthetic online and then copy and paste.
Spelling bee champ, fifth grade.
HELP ME!
I'm the worst...or is it worse...lol
I believe the correct tense is worsest.
Hey, me too but in 6th grade! WOW, who knew; great minds travel in the same circle.
If you want to be a proper knob, spell it "æsthetics."
This is why I love comment sections: you learn stuff, through both direct and indirect routes. I knew there was a $10 word for that conjoined "a" and "e." Dipthong? Looked it up. Nope, that's not right. Looked up "ae." Bingo! It's a ligature, and æ represents a Latin dipthong. So I wasn't totally off the mark. I must have had my eyes open enough during English class to absorb it subliminally and then promptly forget it!
This is one of the best comment sections around for both education and amusement.
Œuvre ;-)
A word I haven't used in æons.
To be precise it's diphthong, not dipthong.
Damn! You're right, of course. I pride myself on being a very good speller, but I spell by sight and my eyesight isn't what it used to be. When looking it up, I did insert the second "h" at least once but swore I saw search results with only one "h." Checking now, I see that my eyes deceived me.
I prefer ass-thetics.
Can you imagine if we actually had the army this lady would approve of?
Yowza.
FUN FACT: I'm old enough to remember when beards, moustaches etc. were not allowed in the military. In 1970, the esteemed Admiral Elmo Zumwalt (aka "the Big Z) became Chief of Naval Operations and allowed moustaches, beards and longer hair in the navy. This was HUGE news in the navy and the young men in the navy and those in ROTC that I knew were overjoyed by this move. The Big Z was by and large loved by the navy IIRC. Facial hair has been allowed in the navy ever since then - until now with Pete Hegseth, who is now of course according to the liberals, a traitor to America for wanting to have the men be "ship-shape".
You are incorrect. When I was in the Navy from 1987 to 1992, you could not wear a beard, moustaches had to be trimmed short and your hair length on top was measured with an ID card and could not touch your collar or ears. It was this way for at least the next few decades.
So since about 1984, you're incorrect.
I believe the main reason behind prohibiting beards is not so much aesthetics as the fact that you cannot get a good seal with a gas mask if you have a beard.
Maybe. There are indeed practical reasons for limiting beards in a military context.
The period of time I was talking about was in the 1970s, well before 1984 and was when Zumwalt made it OK to wear beards and mustaches. I wasn't correct about it being OK from then on, never heard about it after that. I stand corrected.
Not to disagree, but in my Navy (brown shoe, not black shoe) most of us just shook our heads at Zoomie's fixation on the precise shade of brown he required. Most, if not all of us had to go out and buy a new pair of shoes.
I was thinking mostly of the young ROTC guy I knew in college. Interesting about the precise shade of brown, and quite odd.
Except weren’t they briefly prohibited again in the mid-80s? My dad, who had a beard, had to shave it.
No, they were prohibited from 1984 (ish) onward until at least the mid-teens.
I didn't know that, thanks for the info!
Zumwalt have everybody dressed up like the Coast Guard. Still have the combo cap.
Ahhh, you win the internet today.
Certainly gives pause for thought. She seems to have something against shaving privates? Perhaps she likes her privates hairy.
I laugh so I don't cry.
LOL
Journalism is the new frontal lobotomy. Change my mind.
Frontal, lateral and rearward (a synonym for this is 'cerebrally decorticated'). A similar vernacular term is 'poopy-brain.' We ET Aliens apply the term to all nad-based, highest-evolved bipedal earth creatures that are sentient and mammalian, on our Galactic Survey Mother Ship. Good luck, Earth!....and thanks for all the fish!
I hope ypu enjoyed your Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster at breakfast!
I would have, but this hitch-hiker named Ford Prefect drank it before I got it! He even took the tiny umbrella from it, too! [Zaphod warned me about Earth creatures like Arwa Mahdawi character!]
🤣
LOLOLOL. More of this please.
I ❤️ the 42-ness of this thread.
“Is there something wrong with the one you have?” - Spock
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.” - Tom Waits
New?
https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Unresolved-Tension-Between-Warriors.pdf
("Between Warriors and Journalists" is the rest of the title.)
https://babylonbee.com/news/cockroach-maintains-composure-despite-making-contact-with-journalist
Dude, ...the Guardian? I believe that's French for Le Imbecile.
You remind me of one of my favorite bits from the movie L.A. Story - the trendy French restaurant mentioned as "lee dee oh" several times before you see the sign for it: L'Idiot.
Captain Picard as the arrogant maitre d'.
Ah, The Guardian... Telling you how to live your life by people who have never set foot in a real one.
Best comment about the Guardian today.
The Guardian, a British rag, thinks it's weird that military grooming standards are being upheld. The British Army have the same grooming standards as the US. It's almost universal in NATO. Europe learned that lesson after WW1 that having facial hair doesn't allow a seal on a gas mask.
So wait all those masked bearded people during the Covid times were vulnerable?!?
Shocking I know. That woman with the lumberjack beard in a surgical mask was vulnerable.
🎶She sleeps all night and she works all day...
I couldn't breathe without my mustache and beard in those Commie days of 2020-2021. Had to move to a mask free state to avoid yelling Karen's with facemasks and faceshields to stay behind the lines and stay on my 6 ft distance sticker and follow the flowline arrows on the store floor. 'Stay in your lane!' Oh the ignorance! Colorado has been californicated and there's not enough sanity to fix it. They'll all be laughingat me when the nerve gas gets released and they pull their masks out of their purses
During the summer of 2021 softball season was allowed to be played here in NY but as a batter and a catcher you had to wear a mask and once you were on base or playing the field you could take it off: which playing on a dirt field makes your mask way dirtier by touching it…so I wore my wife’s thong.
There's a huge difference between a "COVID" mask, and an Oxygen or hazardous materials mask ("gas mask"), and an N95 mask. It doesn't matter if you have a beard or mustache when wearing the type mask most people wore during COVID. The seal doesn't have to be tight for protection, since the goal is to keep YOUR germs from escaping the mask and infecting OTHERS. (Something people still don't understand, but whatever.) The masks worn by military, firefighters, emergency workers, police, etc, protect them from hazardous gases. It delivers air from a tank they wear. The mask MUST be worn tightly sealed to their face so that nothing passes from the outside. That means that any facial or head hair, or piercings, that keep the mask from sealing tightly to their skin can't be allowed. It is for their safety.
OMG! You can’t be that dense.
If air escapes (which it almost all did-just sideways) then airborne particles also escape. No occlusions, no filtration.
Without even getting into the fact that airborne transmission was never even established- like EVER.
The awakening is happening way too slowly!
Legend has it that a urine soaked rag was just as effective against cyanide gas as the WW1 gas masks were and seal just as well. I’m sure the Guardian keyboard soldier, Arwa, would be willing to demonstrate that for us if asked.
The Brits themselves never had as much of a problem with the gas mask seals because unlike many other armies in Europe they only had mustaches. In fact, before the war a regulation mustache was the mandatory grooming standard.
This is typical of Guardian sneering, uninformed, left wing bias. I wouldn’t expect anything else of them.
You forgot smugness
That’s a given.
I wouldn't call it "left wing" so much as "Oxfordian lesbian journo."
The Guardian is nothing if not inclusive.
Ignorance of history is the left's brand identity. Duh.
I guess she’s never seen footage of the old USSR’s military parades. Or would she be intelligent enough to rate those as “fascist” too?
Thats true of many, but some of tge more educated have turned history into a "costume"
Oh yes. Pussy hats. Quite fashionable in colonial days.
Ye olde labial tricorne...
oh, man. that was funny. Bray's post today has some of the wittiest comments in a good piece.
Are you saying I'm witty or is it the other guy? If it's me, I'm showing this to my wife.
I was talking about the other fella. But go ahead and show her anyway, I'll deny everything.
JJ. I was referring to you
We know a librarian who wore one for a rally. She's family, but we're not speaking.
Yes, groundbreaking.
the institution literally built on "yes sir, no sir, tuck in your shirt' has decided, for the first time in its 250year history, that appearance might matter.
I'd recommend that she watch the Welcome to Paris Island "pep talk" given to the new recruits in Full Metal Jacket but the wording used would probably send her into uncontrollable apoplectic fits.
Full Metal Jacket is so damn good. My 15 year old boy has really gotten into war movies lately (mainly because I love military history) and we watched it together 2 weekends ago.
He loved it but said something like "do sergeants really need to be that mean"
I said, "yes if you want the best chance to make it out alive if you have to go to war".
Very true!
What was the old apt saying....The more you sweat in training, the less you'll bleed in combat
Full Metal Jacket 👍!!
Oh! I forgot. 🫡🍩
I may have to change my opinion about women in combat. I think Arwa needs basic training.
Are there people who pay her to write nonsense like this? Or is she a free-lance moron??
Totally stealing "Freelance Moron"
My guess is she's some sort of spook, judging from her provenance. I have a couple links further downthread.
I was in the Marines from 1971-73. I had to get a haircut every two weeks and shave every morning. Had I only realized how I was being mistreated. I wish I’d had Ms Mahdawi available to set my superior officers straight.
You could have just told them that they were literally Adolf Hitler. They would have backed right down.
Yes, literally. I love the way that literally is thrown around these days.
The next thing she writes will focus on her shock that the military is able to kill people and break things.
It's the Department of WAR you doofus Arwa. It's no longer the Dept. of "do you like me in heels and a dress, or do you prefer just tighty whities"? , while deciding whether to shave before sex.
Hegseth ENDED that crap.
One wonders in which branch of service (and in which country) Ms Mahdawi served? I'm always stunned at the hubris of those who are always so willing to describe in the greatest detail a road down which they've never traveled.
The idiocy is exhausting. A Sargent once made my younger son do a PowerPoint about shaving when he showed up with stubble. That was under the Biden admin and yall remember who was in charge of the military.
In the Army’s defense, your son’s stubble likely clashed with his makeup and the color of his outfit. 😉
lol most likely
Seeing who was in charge at that time, I'm assuming the Sargent was talking about your son's legs. 🪒🦵
I'm still freaked out when I see a police officer with a beard. Especially when it is unkept and has become a neck beard. WTF? I want to demand that officer shave immediately.
It's just weird to see us that hard up for cops.
The tattoo sleeves are easier to deal with that shaggy faces.
Ohhhh you REALLY don't want to see how deep into the well they need to go to get new people into police departments anymore. Think something along the lines of inability to read, write and/or comprehend.
hard to find anyone who wants to work for an instutution under constant threat of being defunded
maybe that's the point, lower the bar to where people are begging for robocop to take over
The threat of defunding isn't half the demoralizer as the constant criticism of their tactics and the refusal to prosecute the perps they arrest. Who can blame them for thinking "What's the point in putting it on the line in this thankless job?"
I always figured the Dems were making demons out of local cops in order to get everything under state law enforcement. Which could be controlled at the behest of the Democrat Governor.
You'll notice the politicos never complain about the state police.
Anything that gets the Dems more power.
I definitely don't want to think about it. It was getting bad in 2000s it's so much worse now and everyone has nothing but poison arrows for cops.
Scary business