Monday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Teve says:

    @repMattGaetz

    I’m not going back to yesterday’s Republican Party.

    THIS IS DONALD TRUMP’S PARTY!

    2
  2. Teve says:

    repost: what we get wrong about America’s crisis of democracy

    It’s always a struggle against authoritarianism.

    3
  3. Teve says:
  4. JohnMcC says:

    Lots of veterans here. I was about to drop a pointless little remark to the effect that ‘no one on TV has gotten an immunization with the ‘gun’! Who is getting discriminated against?!’

    Then I thought how long ago that was (got a draft notice if that explains something). Wondered — is the ‘gun’ for giving shots to large numbers of shaved headed guys still a ‘thing’? Is it possible I’m among the last surviving ‘boots’ to get that little treat?

    1
  5. Paine says:

    I made the mistake of perusing the comment threads at a radically pro-Trump opinion site. This is what we are up against:

    Beautifully spoken. He is our savior. I believe America has one last chance to save itself from Soros, CCP, billionaires like Mother-Zucher and all the tech monsters. My family has been here for 350 years and not ready to give these communists and America haters path to take over. As Rush says, they did not make us they can not take us down. President Trump has stood with us at his back. We voted in such numbers the Dominion international controlled machines has to work over time to steal this election. I saw screen shots where CNN reduced Trump votes at 4 in the morning. Biden did not get more votes than Obama, Clinton or President Trump. All programed to switch votes. I read a good deal of Sydney Powells current release and it is all there. Take the time to read. Then stand up for our President.

    Keep in mind that if the Left completes the steal, most of us will perish in the American Holocaust in the coming decade. Follow the sequence of socialism. This time, there won’t be an America to prevent the last chance for humanity. Trump is perhaps the most important man since Jesus Christ for the continuation of the human race.

    These people are nuts…

    12
  6. sam says:

    Anybody watch Midnight Sky and catch the On the Beach reference?

  7. CSK says:

    @Paine:
    That wouldn’t be Lucianne.com, would it?

  8. sam says:
  9. Teve says:

    The Plague Year

    The mistakes and the struggles behind America’s coronavirus tragedy.
    By Lawrence Wright

    32,000 words.

    1
  10. sam says:

    @JohnMcC:

    Wondered — is the ‘gun’ for giving shots to large numbers of shaved headed guys still a ‘thing’?

    When I was in, we’d line up and pass by a line of corpsmen, each with three or so hypos between the fingers of one hand. Stick, stick, stick. I remember seeing this big 6 ft plus Marine go straight down on his face when he go the first shot. Bullets, arty, no sweat. Little needle — lights out.

    1
  11. steve says:

    John McC- I got some vaccinations in boot camp (Navy) via the “gun”. Didnt think it was much different than a needle, though if you moved while getting it I heard that it hurt a lot.

    “I remember seeing this big 6 ft plus Marine go straight down on his face when he go the first shot. Bullets, arty, no sweat. Little needle — lights out.”

    The special forces guys are even worse. Had several pass out just seeing their wives get a needle in some form. Often at 0200 and with the most junior nurse available to help. I always just said kick them out of the way. They will wake up and be fine. These guys jump out of airplanes and helicopters on purpose. (Compassion and bedside manner are my strongpoints.)

    Steve

    7
  12. Teve says:

    Fort Worth pastor who urged ‘faith over fear’ in the pandemic mourns parents who died of COVID complications

    The pastor of 2nd Mile Church in north Fort Worth, where his parents were members, said he was surprised by the sudden surge in COVID cases in recent weeks in Tarrant County.

    By David Tarrant
    1:50 PM on Dec 22, 2020 CST

    Pastor Todd Dunn had been urging “Faith over fear!” since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March. Just before Thanksgiving, he posted a message on Facebook dismissing precautionary measures advised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for people to keep wearing masks and avoid gatherings with family members who don’t live in the same house.

    “I’m not wearing a mask when around my family like the CDC requests and we are traveling so we’ll take our chances,” Dunn’s Facebook post read. “And to top it off we are huggers so there you go! There will be no social distancing CDC. Faith over fear!!”

    A few weeks later, both of Dunn’s parents were dead after entering the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms. Charles and Shirley Dunn died within hours of each other at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth hospital.

    D’OH!

    4
  13. Owen says:

    @JohnMcC: I had that pleasure in late 1985, we had three guns on the line, two on the left and one on the right. I’d worked in retail my last year of high school and was struck that the techs administering the shots were handling the guns like they were casually slinging price labelers at a supermarket. Almost every client had some liquid dripping from their arms with many, but not most, bleeding from a cut because the gun nozzle was still moving as the immunization was squirted in a high pressure stream, making a small cut.

    After starting to write this response I thought, “Why not use a search engine?” These were referred to as “Jet Injectors” and DoD stopped using them in 1997 due to concerns over cross-infections. They are still available with improvements, but appear to only be widely used in agriculture now.

  14. Michael Reynolds says:

    @sam: @steve:
    Needles are my one real phobia. I was like 4 or 5 when I got my first polio shot. The story is that it took five people to hold me down and I still bent the needle. I can have blood drawn fairly easily, but the annual flu shot used to take me a month to nerve up for. Now I’m on Trulicity (off-label use) and have my wife stab me in the thigh with the automated syringe. In fact, today’s the day, and it preys on my mind. I’ve got it under control but I am aware that objectively speaking I barely feel the Trulicity. And yet…

  15. Thomm says:

    @Paine: just don’t call it a cult, for reasons.

    1
  16. Scott says:

    @JohnMcC: March, 1980. Still have a slight hole/scar where either I slightly moved or the med tech did. BTW, needles have gotten much better over the years.

  17. Joe says:

    @steve and Michael:
    I donate blood platelets every other week. My two relevant reactions are: the needle they use for platelets is like a garden spade compared to the little needle used for flu shots, etc., so, really, not a problem. One of the items on the questionnaire asks about getting vaccinated in the military because, as I understand it, that gun was a spreader of some sort.

    1
  18. Teve says:

    @Scott: i got a similar scar from 20 years ago when a lab tech with DTs stuck me. 🙁

  19. Teve says:
  20. Mikey says:

    @steve:

    I got some vaccinations in boot camp (Navy) via the “gun”. Didnt think it was much different than a needle, though if you moved while getting it I heard that it hurt a lot.

    I thought it hurt a lot more than a needle. I did manage to stay still, I saw what happened to the guys who didn’t–they still got the immunization, but in a long, ugly cut rather than just a small hole.

  21. Kathy says:

    You know what helps when making tangerine chicken? A recipe. I thought I had mine written down somewhere, but I didn’t. And I hadn’t made it for over a year.

    So I winged it.

    I did remember to marinate the chicken in sherry with tangerine zest, and I had a vague notion to mix soy sauce in the tangerine juice along with corn starch (as a thickener). It came out rather well.

    On the other hand, it turns out coconut rice is much when I add shredded coconut halfway through the cooking process.

  22. Daryl and his brother Darryl says:

    Louis Gohmert, the dumbest person in a Congress full of idiots, has sued VP Pence…asking that a Trump appointed Federal Judge in TX find that Pence is authorized to pick pro-Trump electors on Jan. 6.
    Someone please make the nonsense stop.

    3
  23. gVOR08 says:

    @JohnMcC: I got injections with a gun as an incoming freshman at University of Illinois in 1964. Imagine an incoming class of around ten thousand without computers. Actually leading edge computers, it was largely done on IBM punch cards. It was done in the armory, which had a large, open floor. Dozens, maybe a hundred tables. Stand in line at one table, sign up for a class and get a punchcard. Then stand in line at another table to hand it in. Repeat a dozen times. There were half a dozen stations with techs, I think med students, administering the required shots with the pneumatic guns. Everybody left with a row of welts down their forearms. Doing this stuff without PCs and the internet required a lot more planning and organization.

    1
  24. CSK says:

    Donald and Melania are looking at residential properties in the Palm Beach area.

  25. Joe says:

    You know what helps when making tangerine chicken?

    @Kathy: I seriously thought this was the beginning of a Trump joke.

    2
  26. KM says:

    So apparently we’re not calling the Nashville bomber a suicide bomber motivated by conspiracy /QAnon theories – they’re “looking into his psychiatric history” for “paranoia about technology due to 5G” and he may have “intentionally died in the blast”.

    Unbelievable.

    A lot of soft words to talk around the bleeding obvious – he deliberately bombed an American city on Christmas Day because of the insanity POTUS has fed and watered. But oh, oh! – he didn’t want anyone to die so let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and not call him a conspiracy nut. Even if he had a pre-existing mental illness, it’s rapidly becoming clear he fell down the QAnon rabbit hold and 5G was his bete noir. How many more like him are out there? We’ve caught a few but missed this one. We’re damned lucky he had a conscience and didn’t want any deaths on his hands – the next one won’t be so moral.

    This is why we can’t talk around this or use soft language when confronting this problem. By not explicitly stating this man attacked an American city on one of our most beloved holidays based on crazy nonsense he read online, we giving it a pass. Had he been any other color than bone white, FOX would be *screaming* about Xmas suicide bombers attacking innocent civilians and how children came *this* close to being murdered in their beds waiting for Santa Claus. QAnon itself has already incorporated this into their mythos by claiming he was trying to get Dominion voting machines so the longer the media takes to call a spade a spade, the longer they have to cement in the minds of their members it wasn’t their fault Nashville’s streets are full of debris.

    6
  27. Kathy says:

    @Joe:

    Sorry, I’m just about out of Trump jokes.

  28. JohnSF says:

    Sweden continues to reverse course over COVID control..
    I wonder if the viro-sceptics will now kindly shut the heck up about the “Swedish alternative model”?

    1
  29. CSK says:

    @Joe:
    Well, Trump is a tangerine chicken.

    3
  30. JohnSF says:

    @Kathy:
    May be doing duck a ‘lOrange this week; quite often just after Christmas the supermarkets have unsold Xmas duck on offer; plus got some oranges to use up.
    Also bargain turkey legs might be about.
    Would have gone for a look today, but we’ve had few inches of snow, so it can wait.

  31. Kathy says:

    @JohnSF:

    Dusk is one of those things I’d like to cook someday.

  32. Mu Yixiao says:

    Local headline:

    BLM Employees Dress Casual to Support the LM Food Pantry

    I had to click on the article to figure out that BLM is “Bank of Lake Mills”. [headdesk]

    2
  33. JohnSF says:

    @Kathy:
    I like duck; roast whole, or just legs.
    Plus classic magret de canard
    Key thing is, a whole duck is relatively less meat than a chicken.
    And much fattier (actual amount varies by breed); if roasting you might want to drain the fat off a couple of times.
    (And remember to save the carcass and some meat for duck soup!)

  34. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Kathy: I have a good recipe for dusk. Sit back in a quiet place with a nice glass of pinot grigio and watch the bats flitter here and there after the sun goes down.

    4
  35. JohnSF says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Pinot noir with dusk, surely?

    2
  36. JohnSF says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Also, are bats still flittering in your neck of the woods?
    All tucked up for their winter snooze hereabouts.

  37. Kathy says:

    @JohnSF:

    The other thing I’d love to cook someday is ostrich. The trouble, as with duck, is finding any. From time to time I’ve seen ground ostrich at an upscale supermarket I haven’t visited since the pandemic started, but it’s always way too expensive.

    Meantime, I’ll be on the lookout for surplus turkey parts next weekend.

  38. Kathy says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I blame it on auto correct. My spelling is absolutely ferpect!

  39. DrDaveT says:

    @JohnSF:

    I wonder if the viro-sceptics will now kindly shut the heck up about the “Swedish alternative model”?

    Of course not. It’s a defining feature of such people that input confirming their biases can never be corrected or outweighed, even if conclusively shown to be bogus. In their minds, Sweden will always have stayed relaxed about the virus, and will never have had any significant problems. Contrary data simply will not stick.

    1
  40. JohnSF says:
  41. DrDaveT says:

    @JohnSF:

    Pinot noir with dusk, surely?

    My mind immediately went to Graydon Saunders’s “Commonweal” novels, where I could imagine Edgar/Shadow putting together a menu something like:
    Crepuscular soup
    Bacon-wrapped twilight fritters
    Haunch of dusk
    Salade pénombrale

    (Except the eyes in the salad would creep everyone else out to the point of lost appetite…)

    1
  42. Mister Bluster says:

    RIP Alan Canfora

    Alan Canfora, Survivor of May 4, 1970 Kent State Shooting, Dies
    Commenters expressed shock and grief at the news of Canfora’s passing. “A powerful voice of May 4 now will echo on forever,” one noted. Another May 4 survivor, Dean Kahler, wrote “This saddens my heart.” Kahler was one of the most severely wounded on May 4. Suffering a gunshot to the spine, he was paralyzed from the waist down.

    1
  43. a country lawyer says:

    I just returned to the office from the Christmas weekend and because of the bombing have been without internet and cell phone service. My office is a block and a half from where the bomb exploded. My windows on the 18th floor face the site but the AT&T building which was the apparent target, blocks my view of the actual site. I can see, however, that 2nd avenue is still covered with law enforcement officers combing the area. Despite the bomber having been identified they have not let up investigating and a several block area remains blocked off. There is a parking lot one half block from the site which is occupied by about a dozen law enforcement trailers of many agencies. This is a thorough investigation.

    5
  44. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @JohnSF: It has been unusually warm here this fall/early winter. Xmas eve and Xmas day were the first winter like days/nights we’ve had (10-14 at night, mid 20s during day) and then reverted right back to daytime highs in the 50s. I’ve seen bats most of the warmer evenings, but I’m not good enuf to ID them on the wing.

    Supposed to get hit with snow, freezing rain, and sleet starting Weds night, ending sometime on Friday. Depending on how the storm tracks we’ll see how much of what we get.

    1
  45. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Kathy: I’ve seen ground ostrich

    What do you call an ostrich without legs?
    Ground ostrich.

    2
  46. Sleeping Dog says:

    @Kathy:

    I hope you have a big oven!

  47. Teve says:

    Virginia Cop Fired After SOMEBODY Posted Very Murdery Things Using His Parler Profile

    Aaron Hoffman, a sheriff’s deputy in Prince William County, Virginia, has been fired from his job following the discovery of a series of extremely disturbing posts on his Parler profile regarding his desire to overthrow the government and kill a whole lot of people.

    The link between Hoffman and his Parler alter ego, WeThePeopleWarrior, was detailed on Twitter by activist Molly Conger on Christmas, leading to Hoffman’s almost immediate dismissal. This was probably in the best interest of everyone involved, given that the WeThePeopleWarrior profile had been going on quite a bit about how he is done with protesting and just wants everyone to get it together to overthrow their state governments now.

    The profile also threatened to kill many people, including nurses, the “mentally ill” (translation: people who expect him to wear a mask, because of course), Chief Justice John Roberts and President Obama. The poster said he wanted to kill nurses who give people vaccines, Roberts because he thinks he’s in league with George Soros, and Obama just because.

    3
  48. dazedandconfused says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    What do you call a ground Ostrich?

    Patty.

    4
  49. Mister Bluster says:

    @a country lawyer:..My office is a block and a half from where the bomb exploded.

    Thanks for the dispatch. First hand reports are always welcome.
    I’ve been through Nashville a several times and have a few friends that have relocated there over the years.
    I wouldn’t wish this on anyone anywhere.
    Hope y’all have a decent 2021.
    Stay healthy and safe.

    1
  50. CSK says:

    Apparently there are people who believe this:

    http://www.rawstory.com/nashville-bomb-conspiracy-theories/

  51. JohnSF says:

    Oh dear.
    Britain may no longer rule the waves:

    First Sea Lord rescued from his sit-on lawnmower after sinking in a flood

  52. Paine says:

    @CSK: No, it’s from some website called American Greatness.

  53. CSK says:

    @Paine:
    Oh, they’re real schlockmeisters over there.

  54. Kathy says:

    @JohnSF:

    Maybe not. But as of 2014, according to Randall Munroe in his book “What If?,” the Sun has not yet literally set on the Empire.

  55. CSK says:

    @JohnSF:

    That reminds me of a joke:
    Q. Why is the Duke of Windsor no longer Admiral of the Fleet?
    A. Because he’s third mate on an American tramp.

    1
  56. JohnSF says:

    @Kathy:
    Well, as long as we rule Pitcairn, Caymans, and Diego Garcia, that’s enough for 24 hour sunshine.
    Yay us!

    1
  57. Teve says:

    Whole bunch of LibTard trolls have now gotten parler accounts and are gleefully harassing Trumpers.

    “BREAKING: Trump supporters are torn between fomenting a Civil War on January 20th and watching reruns of Duck Dynasty, new Poll finds.”

    3
  58. OzarkHillbilly says:
  59. Kathy says:

    Trump’s DC hotel concedes!

    No way El Cheeto will like this. If he can bully the moneyed interests to book his hotel for his rally that week, we’ll know a bit of what future he has in the Retrumplican Party.

  60. Jax says:

    @Kathy: DC is so…..yesterday. Trump’s Second Inauguration Extravaganza will be live-streamed to 70,000 dumb fucks on Facebook Live, FROM FLORIDA*!!!

    *Narrator voice: Date yet to be determined, ticket fees and taxes WILL be applied, transportation and housing is ONLY applied for those who buy the PREMIUM “Trump Mar-a-Lago” experience*. Some previous ticket holders have experienced frostbite, COVID super-spreader events, extended wait times, and walking 5 miles back to their cars.

    **Narrator voice: Dumb fuckers.

    1
  61. james hunt says:

    @Paine: If Beijing Biden and his cronies get in America is over as we know it!! We all including ALL Democrat know this election was stolen, it is just if you are or are not going to do anything about it! One in a thousand Americans have died because of the China Virus and Biden wants to get back in bed with them for personal reasons! I and Trump wants to put more tariffs on them and i want to bomb all military and medical research facilities and put China down for a long time! They declared war on the world and i consider it world war 111! We can not at ALL cost allow Beijing Biden to be the president of America!! Go Trump 4 more in 2024!!!!

  62. @Kathy: We sell ostrich meat in Virginia if you’re local. http://www.bluemojofarm.com – admittedly our inventory is very low but seeing as how you’ve had such a hard time finding it I’d be happy to give you some from our personal stock. 😉