Throwaway05
18hr ago
Don't really have any objection to your clarifications. A lot of people in general have bit on the propaganda, or are reflexively anti-Jew or Trump (thus my mentioning of Israel at all).
How much of a success this was won't be something we know for years, and how much necessary it was may not be something we know for decades.
Lots of people looking at painful short term costs and assuming that's all that matters for the discussion.
Throwaway05
19hr ago
I think one thing to keep in mind is that it is entirely possible that behind the scenes information alters the calculus such that most, if not all presidents would have jumped in on this one.
It's not popular to consider, but if Iran actually went ahead with nuclearization or was reaching a break point with missile/drone production...both of those essentially "require" intervention if we are to keep with our foreign policy goals.
These things are part of the "official" stated reason for the war and are quite possibly actually accurate, even if many Americans aren't happy for them. The underlying motivation might be something like "we have to go now or Iran will be able to destroy Israel and we can't do anything about it. You might be okay with destroying Israel but the U.S. government isn't (at least for now).
Additionally Trump and likely any replacement Republican president would be tempted to pull the trigger if it was a near thing and not yet profoundly dire due to a fear of ending up like Biden (in the sense of permitting Russia to attack Ukraine).
Throwaway05
19hr ago
The Dems heavily rely on American Black voters and are equally heavily subservient to their interests. Black people hate gays (per polling data).
This kills Buttigieg. Full stop.
Throwaway05
1d ago
Good example of specific popular words obscuring the meaning of widespread technical terms.
Retardation is used in a lot of science contexts to refer to slowing or obstructing "retard the motion of..." The most popular usage the slowing of brain referred to as "retarded" as become primary.
Psycho refers to mental stuff in general, but "psycho" (thanks Hitchcock!) now means the one thing...
Throwaway05
1d ago
Retard was a highly banned term for half a decade although it is slightly coming back now. PSR got caught in that (with PSR being the way to maintain the term).
Unhoused and undomiciled are still in a fight for supremacy over replacing homeless, although "person of" language may yet sweep in.
Throwaway05
1d ago
psychomotor retardation
Sir, we do not say this anymore lest the cancellation gremlins come for us.
Throwaway05
1d ago
I mean poor quality of life or poor quality of life that drains on society less...
Throwaway05
2d ago
It's still shocking to me that it won the nobel prize. I understand the harsh experiences and conditions of the instutionalized and that people genuinely did 'improve' in the sense that they didn't express wild emotions any more, but the null hypothesis for any such change, especially when it came with cognitive impairment, would obviously be that you've butchered them and something about their internal experience has been seriously degraded. I wonder at times whether the lobotomy was a product of behaviorism, or of the medical neglect of the mentally ill. Probably both.
I think personal interaction with a severely decompensated schizophrenic would help make it clear that lobotomy was a fantastic option when we had no other options.
You've probably seen street people - when your choice for your family member is let them live like that, during a time when that was mostly a quick death sentence, or sending them to an asylum to be locked up for the rest of their life....excising part of them while leaving as much as they could behind looks like a good idea.
This is what we do for cancer after all.
Thank god we have other options now, but before...
Throwaway05
2d ago
Trump's specific interpersonal style is called being unprofessional, the very thing you are calling out others for being.
While I agree this is true at times, a large part of him is just being blue color, low brow, a care salesman, whatever.
He offends the powerful because he refuses to act in the way they expect.
Throwaway05
2d ago
Adenosine!
Throwaway05
2d ago
Saw some mainstream reporting today that asserts that the plan is probably to stay with NATO but extract immense concessions in some form, with threats of "okay Russia, go ahead."
Throwaway05
3d ago
He has a specific interpersonal style that many, many people have been able to figure out to mutual and individual benefit.
His opposition generally seems to refuse to engage (often because it generates easy political gains) and abandons their professionalism.
Maybe it shouldn't be, but the American presidency effectively represents the boss of the free world. When you get a new boss you got to adjust to the boss, refusing to do so is not wise.
Throwaway05
3d ago
Again I'd be very happy in a world where Trump has the ability to create a broad tent and big decisions can be discussed robustly from a variety of perspectives. This world does not exist and it's not his fault. He can't make it exist - if you want it to exist you need to encourage the people and leaders to create the necessary conditions for it to be.
Throwaway05
3d ago
Yes I am very much aware that many people here are not happy about current events.
What is the plan? Let Iran nuclearize and then start attacking everyone else in the region with drones and missiles and cause economic chaos by blocking Hormuz? That's pretty much what they want to do. They aren't shy about their geopolitical goals.
Doing nothing is a decision - it's easy to justify to yourself in a trolley problem kind of way but that doesn't mean it is safe or a good idea.
Throwaway05
3d ago
I'm not truly sure if it is a good idea or not, probably not - but I have a strong suspicion that one of the things Trump is up to is to try and convince undecideds it is a great idea.
Also attacking Iran was necessary and inevitable and everyone is just trying to posture and leave the US holding the bag. It is so tiresome.
Throwaway05
3d ago
Iran has not behaved consistently rationally. Random firing at nearby civilian targets is rational in the sense that it could be part of their strategic posture and pure evil, but some of the attacks (like on Azerbaijan and Diego Garcia) are clearly unfocused nonsense with negative benefit.
At absolute best they are irrational in the sense that degradation of their command and control has impaired their ability to coherently follow their war plan.
Throwaway05
3d ago
The point is that there is no benefit with consensus building with Europe because you know in advance Europe is going to oppose it regardless of if it's a good idea.
The old "if Trump cured cancer you'd see pro-cancer rallies in the street" vibe is true.
Our allies and the opposition party have made very clear that teamwork and discussion is not valuable so now the Trump U.S. doesn't bother and it's not his (or our) fault.
He loves deals and working together! In many ways he is one of the easier presidents to manage, you just have to hold your nose...but people can't.
Ultimately Europe has made discussing with Europe a completely unfruitful endeavor.
Throwaway05
3d ago
Some others have hit on this but it's worth emphasizing - it's very possible the plan was to get nukes and then start bombing SA/Israel/Europe and/or closing Hormuz with a nuclear backstop.
Iran is not a rational actor. It is not North Korea. NK just wants to be left alone and engage in enough international crime to stay solvent. Iran has serious regional and religious goals it is willing to pursue at absurd cost.
It can't be allowed to have the bomb.
Throwaway05
3d ago
Without consulting anyone, without giving a shit about the rest of the world,
This is why I generally don't think Trump is the problem. The response to Trump is almost always worse than Trump. TDS is not Trump's fault. He occasionally does stuff that's legit bad but usually it's just "being blue collar" or "non-Western diplomatic norms coming from a Westerner."
For a decade now people in authority have committed to kicking, screaming, and abandoning professionalism and cooperation in response to anything Trump does.
Usually the political benefits have seemed good enough to make people think that's a good idea but this is a very serious example of how that was always stupid.
As we talked about before the motivation for this misadventure is probably something like "okay the drone and missile production is starting to get to the point where doing something is going to become mandatory or will turn forever impossible."
Getting support for something like this after the second Iraq war would be incredibly hard. With Trump at the helm? Impossible. European leaders would probably try and actively sabotage it.
The U.S. runs off on its own because TDS made compromise and cooperation impossible.
We see this domestically in the US all the time. Trump is happy to make a deal, but the Dems will maximally complain no matter what he does, so he doesn't bother and just does what he wants.
A big piece of what is happening is European leaders abandoning professionalism for personal reasons or to score easy domestic policy points (looking at you Spain) and potentially doing profound damage to the structure and economy of Europe in the process.
I also strongly suspect Trump is doing a side game with this (and with Greenland and other things) to bail out of NATO and Europe is playing right into his hands.
Throwaway05
3d ago
The problem with Shakespeare is that he's (really well done) junk food that was so good and foundational that it has aged into literary prominence.
This causes problems - he has a lot of just funny shit, low brow humor, and satisfying basic chicken soup plotting (think Star Wars original trilogy). The facet of "you" that can enjoy Billy without engaging in classiness masturbation is the low brow blockbuster side of things.
But because most modern people require a reference guide or really turning their brains on they'll try and engage in a more "literary" way.
Those two things end up hitting at cross purposes.
The end result is that the most rewarding way is experience - know it well enough that you don't need to think really hard to realize that something someone just said was an upscale dick joke.
This is not helpful because a good response to "ehh I'm doubting" is not "watch it 50 times."
I guess I would recommend trying to see a stage version after recently having struggled through the written, and then just trying to vibe with the play.
Throwaway05
3d ago
This is not a criticism:
I wonder if dislike of post-modernism and dissatisfaction with Ama's post are tied together.
A bit of a meander, with much attention paid to form and structure, tendencies and purpose (and the meta of popularity in writing etc) - that shit is all post-modern as fuck.
Clarity and getting to the fucking point has a ton of value. So does taking a big ass puff of the reefer and going "hey man but what about..."
If you are more the former (especially when it comes to the domain of art and writing) some of this shit is going to seem like purposeless masturbation. Which it is to some extent! It has value also tho.
Throwaway05
3d ago
This could be any of a million medical or psychiatric things or nothing at all. Good reminder to keep up with your routine health maintenance with your primary care doctor.
You probably didn't mean it this way but a true feeling of imminent doom is an actual thing and requires urgent medical attention (can signal things like a heart attack, and one specific medicine causes it as a side effect).
You may have dodged a bullet with something, or you just might have had some excess anxiety and not been super familiar with it.
For the purposes of this being a comment on the internet I can't really ethically recommend anything other than urgent presentation to the ED, especially if it reoccurs or if anything else seems to be going wrong with your body.
That said spontaneous anxiety happens - people get sleep apnea, or panic attacks start (they have to start sometime).
Throwaway05
4d ago
OP - I will not read your comment, if I read your comment I'll be somewhat constrained in what kind of advice I can give.
I did read the other comments, so I can say this generically about crisis resources:
-You can always call 911. 911 is not just the police, it's a consolidated place to access crisis resources. This is easy to forget with all the anti-police rhetoric and so on but it's an option. In small towns responders will be less practiced but they will be far more local. In large places they'll be very practiced even if they are unhelpful.
Realistically the worst thing that can happen is they'll give you another number to call and hang up. Not a bad outcome.
Sidebar: 988 exists, it's the psychiatric version of 911. Not sure how helpful it would be for this use case but it's good for patients to be aware.
-Most people don't know a psychiatrist, but most people know a nurse or a doctor. Assuming it's a reasonable hour for your relationship you can call and ask for more local specific advice, advice for this specific situation, and so on. If it is someone who doesn't really know (like say, an ortho surgeon or a new grad nurse) they will usually know somebody they can reach out to for more specifics.
-Crisis Centers/Hospitals: Much more variable but many jurisdictions in the U.S. will have mental health specific resources that can be contacted for wellness checks and the like. Sometimes this is as easy as calling the local ED and asking for the Psych ED. Sometimes you google "country psychiatric screening center" and you get a specific 24/7 number for your jurisdiction.
-If the person has a doctor and a bunch of other things line up right (like it being business hours) you can call the office. In a pinch you can call an unrelated doctor's office and ask for local psych resources which is rudeish but completely reasonable.
I saw one of the other poster's mention bipolar. Most people who say they have bipolar do not actually have bipolar. If someone really has bipolar it's important to have a conversation with them when they are well compensated about their wishes for when they are ill. They might not agree when ill, but at least you can attempt to carry out their wishes. If not bipolar - it's important to get a "real" diagnosis, with treatment and therapy resources.
Two caveats:
-Calling for help when someone is unwell can create a lot of angst. If it persists when the crisis is over, you need to have a conversation.
-"Help" has some obligations with respect to welfare of children, threats to a person's life, and so on. These are usually very narrow but they do exist. This should NEVER stop you from calling for help, but you should be aware of this.
Throwaway05
5d ago
From what I can tell the DC insider consensus is FUCK TRUMP ...and also.....we need a ballroom....
Biden was a weak president and was likely perceived that way by foreign adversaries, especially with what we know now.
I strongly belief if Trump, Obama, Bush, or Clinton was the president then Putin would not have invaded.
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