Kurth wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:24 pmLast point: I hear your question about the 1930s Wehrmacht uniform, but my answer is most definitely, "it depends." I guess I feel like the "good guys" and "bad guys" delineation you are putting out there is much more appropriate at a macro level rather than a micro level. The Confederacy and WW2 Germany and Japan were undoubtedly the "bad guys." But were the individuals serving in (and sometimes leading) their militaries at the time all bad guys, too? If someone attended a military history-themed event dressed as Rommel, would that deserve censure?
FWIW there is another angle. Mastriano was a serving officer who took a loyalty oath. He then dressed up as an enemy to that oath. It's really odd. I doubt you'd find many officers who'd be willing to do that at anything but a private function if at all. I know people might say lighten up Frances it was a costume party but I'm fairly confident a lot of officers might think it was really unwise. I don't think it is a coincidence that he positioned on the edge of the group with a good couple of feet between him and the other participants.
One weird thing is that other officers in the photo were permitted to dress up but... almost no one did. There's one guy holding a wooden propeller and a modern flight helmet (but wearing a business suit), one guy dressed historically as (I'm guessing) one of the Revolutionary War Green Mountain boys, one guy wearing 1990s-era Desert Storm fatigues, and one guy wearing a suit jacket with shorts. Everyone else (the majority) is wearing regular modern clothes (some civilian, some military uniform).
If nothing else, it underscores that Mastrianio is a weirdo. Probably more telling, however, is this:
Mastriano's 2001 Master's Thesis at the Air Command and Staff College was a fucked-up fantasy of guerilla resistance against a U.S. military that had gone soft due to acceptance of homosexuality.
(It was also, leaving aside the pictures and lists of sources, only about 30 single-spaced pages of text. What the Hell, Air Command and Staff College??)
Holman wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 5:26 pmMastriano's 2001 Master's Thesis at the Air Command and Staff College was a fucked-up fantasy of guerilla resistance against a U.S. military that had gone soft due to acceptance of homosexuality.
Thanks for sharing this. It's...crazy. I skimmed it quickly and it appears to be meant to respond to a 1992 piece about a military coup in 2012. That earlier paper was written by a Lt. Col. Dunlap who was presciently concerned about lack of faith in ineffectual civilian leadership which would lead the population to turn to the military. He got part of that right for sure. The 1992 piece is narratively a letter from a condemned military officer who opposed the coup.
Mastriano rips off that device but instead of a person who opposed the coup, instead it involved a 2018 leftist civilian putsch and the military officer is a survivor of a purge that destroyed the military. LOL. I skimmed about 3 chapters before I concluded Mastriano is a deeply off his rocker. The preface reads like something he might have cribbed off Rush Limbaugh.
(It was also, leaving aside the pictures and lists of sources, only about 30 single-spaced pages of text. What the Hell, Air Command and Staff College??)
The writing is not...great either. If you can put aside that it again is the work of a crazy person.
Last edited by malchior on Tue Aug 30, 2022 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yeah my Masters capstone was 90+ pages and thousands of lines of deep learning coding but the War College will accept proto-qanon high school level psychodramas.
On my way home from dropping one of my kids off at school I saw someone wearing a Ken Paxton T-shirt. Who the hell wears a state attorney general shirt? Like why does a Ken Paxton shirt even exist?
1. His is an elected position so he undoubtedly had a campaign. Campaign staffers often wear tshirts supporting their candidate. Campaigns also sell them to raise money and give them away to raise awareness.
2. He's shorthand for pro-Trump/MAGA/Qanon Texas so his campaign shirts are reprinted and worn by Texas Trump supporters.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:36 pm
On my way home from dropping one of my kids off at school I saw someone wearing a Ken Paxton T-shirt. Who the hell wears a state attorney general shirt? Like why does a Ken Paxton shirt even exist?
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:36 pm
On my way home from dropping one of my kids off at school I saw someone wearing a Ken Paxton T-shirt. Who the hell wears a state attorney general shirt? Like why does a Ken Paxton shirt even exist?
I'm wearing a Coopasonic T-shirt right now....
Please tell me you are also wearing pants. Wait, no, please don't say anything.
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:28 pm
I imagine they exist for two reasons.
1. His is an elected position so he undoubtedly had a campaign. Campaign staffers often wear tshirts supporting their candidate. Campaigns also sell them to raise money and give them away to raise awareness.
2. He's shorthand for pro-Trump/MAGA/Qanon Texas so his campaign shirts are reprinted and worn by Texas Trump supporters.
I mean I understand, but I just don't understand. Like they could wear an Abbott shirt, nah, not corrupt enough... Patrick, meh not enough power... ohh Paxton, now we're talking.
It's true that females are not inclined to violence or predatory sexual behavior as men are. But this hardly means that girls and women don't have to learn to control their natures. On the contrary, as I have been telling parents for many years now, they need to teach their daughters to control their natures just as much as they teach their sons to do so.
Specifically, girls have to learn to control their emotions.
Just as the male sexual drive and violent impulses can overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally, emotions can do the same thing in girls and women: overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally.
What. The. Fuck.
There's saying the quiet part out loud, and then there's this. Dennis Prager isn't just some random conservative with a blog. He's one of the main people I see all of my MAGA relatives quoting or referring to regularly. He doesn't have Tucker reach, but it's still very significant.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
We've already for some time been hearing variations of this theme. It's fascism. Fascism has traditionally incorporated subservient female roles. It also marries up wonderfully with Christo-fascism. And yes we should be alarmed they are talking openly about this stuff. It's close to be too late to do a damn thing to stop it.
malchior wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:54 pm
We've already for some time been hearing variations of this theme. It's fascism. Fascism has traditionally incorporated subservient female roles. It also marries up wonderfully with our form - Christo fascism.
Someone else pointed out that the hint is right in the title: "OUR country". "Our" meaning white, straight, conservative, Christian men.
Anything - be it women, minorities, atheists, etc. - that dares to infringe on that power structure in the slightest is viewed by his ilk as wildly oppressive and morally wrong.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
It's true that females are not inclined to violence or predatory sexual behavior as men are. But this hardly means that girls and women don't have to learn to control their natures. On the contrary, as I have been telling parents for many years now, they need to teach their daughters to control their natures just as much as they teach their sons to do so.
Specifically, girls have to learn to control their emotions.
Just as the male sexual drive and violent impulses can overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally, emotions can do the same thing in girls and women: overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally.
What. The. Fuck.
There's saying the quiet part out loud, and then there's this. Dennis Prager isn't just some random conservative with a blog. He's one of the main people I see all of my MAGA relatives quoting or referring to regularly. He doesn't have Tucker reach, but it's still very significant.
About $59M gross, $54M from donors. His salary from this tax exempt organization alone is $400K.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
There's saying the quiet part out loud, and then there's this. Dennis Prager isn't just some random conservative with a blog. He's one of the main people I see all of my MAGA relatives quoting or referring to regularly. He doesn't have Tucker reach, but it's still very significant.
You should read the conservative history/playbook/endgame plan and you wouldn’t be so shocked by this. It’s called ‘Jesus and John Wayne’ and I’ve mentioned it multiple times here only bc it does such a great job of explaining these kinds of ideas.
It's always fun to listen to people with degrees in History and Middle Eastern Studies lecture others on psychology and sociology. The other day I taught a hot dog vendor how to perform a tracheotomy. I figured my English degree was sufficient.
Zaxxon wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 10:45 am
Absolutely. I guess if you distill what I'm trying to say down all the way--'woke', 'liberal', 'progressive' are all used as insults. 'Conservative' really isn't.
_liberal to conservative < I concur though this may change in the coming years
_progressive is akin more to federalist < I would have said correct six or seven years ago. No so much any more. Since the rise of tea party _conservatism and to cooping of libertarianism into the GOP, this has shifted.
_woke is more akin MAGA < I don't concur. Both are terms of derision on the one hand, terms of pride on the other and have general bad connotations on those who don't sing songs and carry signs.
_I would add capitalist to socialist < I would concur here as well
I also think it interesting how equating liberalism to communist Russia was among the top conservatives insult for as long as I can remember until about 2015. Now it's socialist Western Europe that are the GOP bogeymen.
Heh, my old man called today and is angry that he is being called a fascist from TV when he has for years been calling democrats socialists because of TV. It's a brick wall discussion, as if not being called a fascist would allow for a change his vote, a vote for a party that is trying to take mine. I've grown so weary I usually treat him like I treat strangers when they politically opine, but being offended at someone on TV referring to him generically as a fascist caught me off guard.
There are lots of articles defining fascism of late and some going back decades, that look eerily familiar. If he can look at that list and fail to see the resemblance, Fox News is doing a great job.
Holman wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:17 pm
And "single-spaced" was an error. I meant 30 double-spaced pages.
That part surprised me. I thought at least he'd be required to use MLA or APA formats....
Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:17 am
Zarathud: The sad thing is that Barak Obama is a very intelligent and articulate person, even when you disagree with his views it's clear that he's very thoughtful. I would have loved to see Obama in a real debate.
Me: Wait 12 years, when he runs for president. :-)
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:28 pm
I imagine they exist for two reasons.
1. His is an elected position so he undoubtedly had a campaign. Campaign staffers often wear tshirts supporting their candidate. Campaigns also sell them to raise money and give them away to raise awareness.
Outside of very high profile campaigns, t-shirts are mostly useless. I only bought t-shirts for my campaign (with my own money, not wasting precious campaign funds) because my husband demanded one and it made since just to buy a dozen in that case.
Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:17 am
Zarathud: The sad thing is that Barak Obama is a very intelligent and articulate person, even when you disagree with his views it's clear that he's very thoughtful. I would have loved to see Obama in a real debate.
Me: Wait 12 years, when he runs for president. :-)
LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Aug 31, 2022 2:28 pm
I imagine they exist for two reasons.
1. His is an elected position so he undoubtedly had a campaign. Campaign staffers often wear tshirts supporting their candidate. Campaigns also sell them to raise money and give them away to raise awareness.
Outside of very high profile campaigns, t-shirts are mostly useless. I only bought t-shirts for my campaign (with my own money, not wasting precious campaign funds) because my husband demanded one and it made since just to buy a dozen in that case.
I imagine they'll become more common in more areas as political affiliation/candidate fandom is starting to displace even sports team tribalism.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
Holman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 5:44 pm
Recently I saw a counter-culture 20-something (green hair, nose rings, a forearm tattoo that said "GAY") wearing a faded "Reagan/Bush '84" t-shirt.
I took this as ironic, the way your stoner buddy wears a DARE shirt.
This from a state where the capital doesn't have a functioning water system despite a $75M grant by the federal government to fix it. Hogs at a trough.
malchior wrote:This from a state where the capital doesn't have a functioning water system despite a $75M grant by the federal government to fix it. Hogs at a trough.
But Brett Farve...
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
But much more likely they completely screwed over $1 million worth of people in need. And then separately you've got the story of Farve accepting this money.
This shouldn't be a laugh/shrug event. Both Mississippi and BF should get some blow back for this, at the very least.
The fault mostly lies in MS for being corrupt but taking the money for a no-show job? He has to know it makes him look crooked no matter what the source of the money was.
Edit: What's a little weird is these facts came out at least two years ago. There was an auditor's report that came out after an investigation into the contract involved. Favre was caught lying about it to the auditor and newspapers.
His CFO signed a contract for 3 speaking appearances, a keynote, and a radio spot. When confronted by the auditor, Favre presented the radio ad and dates he attended those events. The auditor cross referenced the dates and found out Favre didn't attend. So he got flat out caught lying and that is in the report. After the report came out he then lied to the papers saying he never agreed to the speaking engagements. So I'm be curious how the FBI interview went because if it doesn't line up with the auditors report he could find himself in jail for lying to a federal agent. And in any case, Favre looks incredibly shady and corrupt now.
That's some privileged, arrogant shit right there. The asshole could have just made the appearances and nothing would have happened. I have a feeling the NFL won't like this.
malchior wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 7:05 pm
The fault mostly lies in MS for being corrupt but taking the money for a no-show job?
To be clear - even though as a Chicago boy, I'm thrilled that BF looks like an ass in this - I am speaking only on my hopes that MS is found to be a shit-hole state.
BF needs to give money to the poor in MS - because he is a rich asshole with horrible politics and almost just robbed them, and also because he beat the Bears way too often.
Oh, and how fucking cool and easy it would be for BF to come out and talk about how MS tried to pay him in money intended for the poorest among us - and tried to pay him for something he didn't even do... How fucking cool and easy would that be to do?
Jaymann wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 7:27 pm
That's some privileged, arrogant shit right there. The asshole could have just made the appearances and nothing would have happened. I have a feeling the NFL won't like this.
What can the NFL do?
Also, he's probably on the Farewell to Democracy Tour Presidential Pardon List. No doubt this is a politically motivated hit on a true American.
A Wrangler wearing, copper brace pimping, drug fraud trading, honest to goodness grifter. The new American Dream.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
Holman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 8:26 pm
It isn't an NFL story but a MS story.
This.
It's only a BF story in what he decides to say about his unfortunate connection to it. Which is only a story because a good person would be pretty fucking pissed off about their unfortunate connection to it.
Holman wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 8:26 pm
It isn't an NFL story but a MS story.
This.
It's only a BF story in what he decides to say about his unfortunate connection to it. Which is only a story because a good person would be pretty fucking pissed off about their unfortunate connection to it.
Yup, which is exactly the corrupt point I was trying to make
Black Lives definitely Matter Lorini!
Also: There are three ways to not tell the truth: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Jaymann wrote: ↑Sun Sep 04, 2022 7:27 pm
That's some privileged, arrogant shit right there. The asshole could have just made the appearances and nothing would have happened. I have a feeling the NFL won't like this.
