US Politics

You’re right, but the invasion of Afghanistan was largely a US live weapons testing programme. Shareholders in “defence” companies did very well out of it.

Pretty much everyone joined in on the invasion and then the subsequent 'presence' in Afghanistan. Even the Germans did their bit. It's fair to say that it would never have happened in the first place if the yanks hadn't initiated it, but it's a bit myopic to just discuss this as a failure of whichever US president you hate the most.

Pretty much everyone joined in on the invasion

Almost entirely untrue.

and then the subsequent 'presence' in Afghanistan.

Significantly more true.

Even the Germans did their bit.

I've always thought that Germany joined this to be able to avoid involvement in Iraq.

About 71,000 dead civilians who might disagree with this take.

The 2nd amendment extremists are responsible for about 13,000 gun related homicides a year on average. I very much doubt they care about a single afghani death.

Eh? My point wasn’t about American perceptions of Afghan deaths. My point was that there were a huge number of dead afghan civilians who might quibble with the notion that 20 years of occupation were a “net benefit”.

Hmm am I agreeing with trump? Feels weird

The relative freedom of women during the last 20 years compared to prior Taliban rule shouldn’t be ignored though.

I don’t know how to weigh up the cost of lives vs freedom.

I’m not sure they did much differently. Sure, they chose not to blow up the bases (I think the Afghan army stationed in them might have objected) and they left a bit of equipment but what does the US army need more stuff for; they already give too much to police departments. In any case, anything specialised will break down for lack of parts before too long.

Simplistic answers to complex questions, appealing to the worst aspects of human nature, are his schtick. So you probably do need to reconsider.

Quite apart from the fact that he "negotiated" with the Taliban by giving them concessions without asking anything in return, just as he did with Kim Jong-Un, so he's just talking shit.

https://gizmodo.com/trumps-border-wall-torn-apart-by-arizona-monsoon-rains-1847535174?utm_campaign=Gizmodo&utm_content=&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3lI9wJyitfV-IBacp0nMS-7hTGRy_BsE3QNrtDybVS_bLxWEYF1I0gGC8

Well abortion is not only now illegal in Texas, but random citizens can net themselves a $10,000 bounty by suing anyone who is involved in an abortion in the state.

If only the democrats had some kind of majority in both houses and control of the presidency, maybe they might be able to do something about this.

Can the houses or the president intervene in state law? Genuine question. I had assumed only the judiciary could.

Not directly, no.

Federal law overrides state law? Pass a federal abortion rights guarantee - codify roe vs Wade into federal law. Of course, they’d need to abolish the filibuster to get something like that through the senate, and they are spineless in the face of Republican radicalism, so guess the women of Texas (and every other Republican state that is about to follow suit if they haven’t already) are just going to have to suck it up.

Other option is expand the Supreme Court, but again, see above.

Pass a federal abortion rights guarantee

Ah, like the democrats were talking about in 2019. My understanding was that the biggest hurdle there is that its already codified in federal law that federal money cannot be spent on abortion initiatives (Hyde Amendment maybe?) meaning that it'd take several administrations worth of changes to federal law to even get to step 1.

But fair enough, possible on paper at least.

This is the triumph of the Mitch McConnell strategy; Pack the Supreme Court with young Republican judges by whatever means possible. Deny Obama the opportunity to appoint Merrick Garland, but rush through the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett. The Republicans can sit out any Democratic Presidencies knowing the Supreme Court is biddable.

Pack the Supreme Court with young Republican judges

This. Directly, POTUS could order federal law enforcement or troops to guard medical clinics that practice abortions, like school desegregation not very long ago, but it would eventually wind up in front of SCOTUS. Allowing other private citizens to stand to benefit directly adds additional degrees of legal and practical complication.

Repubs are lighting fires for the Biden administration to be forced to extinguish. They don’t care if part of the ship burns down, they just want to undermine the captain and be back at the helm.

If only the democrats had some kind of majority in both houses

They don't though - see agents Manchin and Sinema.

As part of a lawsuit defense, the company that made the guns used in the Sandy Hook shooting demanded the disciplinary and attendance records of dead children.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/akgpdg/remington-subpoenas-report-cards-of-five-children-killed-in-sandy-hook-shooting

Do you think there is a lawyer somewhere saying 'maybe we can show those kids deserved it 'cos they never did their homework'?

Probably to try and muddy the water for the jury and public opinion. The right wing always seem to do it when someone's been a victim of an attack by one of their own, dig up shit from their past and if there isn't then just make it up. In this case I'd imagine they would try and say all the kids at the school were delinquents and it's not the gun manufacturers fault cos the bad kids would have found any way of causing havoc.
That said it could just be a punishment subpoena, I wouldn't be surprised if they're just fucking with the people suing them. More billable hours for the lawyers too.
"Remington previously responded to a discovery request for its internal company communications by producing more than 18,000 unsorted files containing memes, cartoons, and ice bucket challenge videos."

Well abortion is not only now illegal in Texas, but random citizens can net themselves a $10,000 bounty by suing anyone who is involved in an abortion in the state.

And in that short time, the following appeared and got busy on Reddit:

That's been shut down now, but the Texan Taliban is raring to go. There were some really fucked up fantasies being played out in that forum.

Conspiracy theories>>>>> #judgmentday

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