taibbi is out of his depth, but the reason the cia wants a diverse workforce is because it can't function as an intelligence agency without one. that's not woke (or a failure of the left, as he bizarrely argues), it's practical
I see we have been shouting at each other about who should get the most resources to deter/fight a war with china
I have no hot take here, but it's a mistake to assume either that china has the ability to wipe u.s. counterattack possibilities off the board or that u.s. forces in the region are invulnerable
(that's the opposite of a hot take)
it does seem pretty clear that a war with china would primarily involve sea and air forces. ain't no one invading the mainland. the spratlys are probably cruise missile bait rather than marines over the beach
seriously: the social and *economic* benefits of free education, health care and child care are robust and well-studied. the continued pretense that "actually helping people hurts them, because MorAl hAzaRd," is harmful and needs to stop
it is not, repeat not, "heartwarming" to see communities scrounging up change so someone can get a life-saving surgery. it's great that people care but it's sickening that a person's life could depend on the means and generosity of strangers
there is no equivalence between protests for social justice, in which what little violence there was, was against property, and the jan. 6 insurrection. none. not in degree, not in kind.
the prosecution is showing two things: that there was an insurrection, and that the president incited it. both facts are, tbh, extremely clear and supported by piles of evidence, some of which was presented today.
the f-16 entered service in *1978* and unless we are talking about a "super falcon" type deal where the guts and airframe are completely revamped, ala the (awkwardly designated) f/a-18e/f then this is not a front-line aircraft in coming decades
the u.s. shouldn't be investing in buying new aircraft that can't easily operate in a contested environment, imo. the f-16 is a hot ride that can turn on a dime but it's not built for the mid-2000s
it took the better part of four years for the political media to come around to the idea that it was ok to say true things, such as "trump lies." would be nice if we could hang onto lessons like that
there is also a real danger of thinking "covering biden the same way" equals four years of the same sorts of stories. trump generated the coverage he did because of the person he is and the things he did.
the jcpoa put iran's nuclear program in the deep freeze, at basically no cost to the u.s. and its allies.
the u.s. decision to pull out of the deal spun up iran's nuclear program to the point where the u.s. is considering military force to stop it
just insane
and (sigh) if we're going to talk about what military force would look like, it's perhaps more complex than you think.
tomahawks can get the job done vs. surface targets, stuff that isn't buried or overly hardened. but you also need to take iran's counterattack off the table