Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Books are my comfort food!

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

I was promised a recession.

Please don’t feed the bears.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War / Tomorrow’s News Today

Tomorrow’s News Today

by | 24 Comments

This post is in: ,

It’s late, I’m watching Colbert and it occurs to me that neither of the following two news items surprises me in the least:

* Despite a massive, overwhelming “surge” totaling 20% more troops the violence in Iraq has moved from Baghdad to other provinces without decreasing at all. Of course Baghdad remains plenty violent. Unless we scoot the goalposts all the way back to the line of scrimmage and declare our “surge” a success as long as we don’t lose yards, someone needs to put a fork in this war and get the troops out.

* When you take away oversight and grant law enforcement officers a vague, open-ended set of new powers, they will overstep the law. In this way FBI agents are like every other group of people on the planet.

It ought to depress the hell out of me that our army is bleeding to death in the mideast without accomplishing a thing while the FBI has started getting cozy with its J. Edgar Hoover roots. We live in the crazy black helicopter land that used to exist only in Tim McVeigh’s fevered imagination, but with extra incompetence abroad. Governmentally speaking it’s like living in some parody of a Michael Bay disaster movie where sixteen existential crises happen all at once. And the whole time I get to enjoy the sight of Joe Klein and David Broder tut tutting about the terrible unseemliness of the Democrats if they make too big a deal about that asteroid thing. It’s surreal.

Reader Interactions

24Comments

  2. 2.

    jake

    But Tim, Gen. Petraeus is saying the “Full Surge” hasn’t kicked in yet. They’re still in the rapid re-positioning of goal posts phase of operations. Give it another Friedman or three, an additional number of soldiers we don’t have and he’ll be ready to give a full and complete analysis of the situation.

    Gag.

    In this way FBI agents are like every other group of people on the planet.

    From the article: “Case agents are now told that they must identify mistakenly produced information and isolate it from investigative files.”

    Isolate? So they have it, they know they shouldn’t have it but they’re going to keep it. Sure guys, we trust you. And I’m sure you’ll make “isolating” that info. a top priority. Once you figure out where it is and what you have and whether or not it’s really relevant because that’s what this is all about, right? Keeping us safe, stopping the bad guys, right? Because you know that even if you gather private information on every person in the US that just means you have a lot of data, right? You guys aren’t just grabbing what you can so that when the next bad thing happens you can say “Look! We had the data, we just hadn’t analyzed it yet” are you?

    Sure. We trust you.

  3. 3.

    raff

    Seriously, did any intellectually honest people actually expect the “surge” to accomplish anything? Other than more violence, that is.

  4. 4.

    Zifnab

    Cheney has that Hoover vibe, doesn’t he?

    That depends on how good he looks in a dress.

  5. 5.

    Jake

    Seriously, did any intellectually honest people actually expect the “surge” to accomplish anything?

    No.

    SA2SQ Vol. XVII

    A serious question: How does intellectual honesty differ from regular honesty? Does the former imply a person who is too stupid to know he’s wrong?

    That depends on how good he looks in a dress.

    You just HAD to go there, didn’t you? Pass the mind bleach please.

    And fer Christsakes please don’t tell us that compared to Gonezo, Cheney is a hottie.

  6. 6.

    Tsulagi

    Continuing FUBAR=continuing success. If one increases, so does the other. It’s known math.

  7. 7.

    Cris

    Tim-you get your news from Colbert? LOL You are either some sort of socialist propagandist or a major league dumbass. Maybe both; they are not mutually exclusive.

  8. 8.

    Alex Scott

    Oh lord, you had to mention Michael Bay. Now I’m having visions of a Fox News debate about how Optimus Prime is a liberal coward, and torture is necessary to combat the Decepticon threat.

  9. 9.

    Tim F.

    Tim-you get your news from Colbert?

    Um, neither news item came up on Colbert. Someone who is able to blog while watching tv probably can also check his RSS news feed. Try it sometime, but wait until Hannity breaks to commercials so you don’t hurt yourself.

  10. 10.

    Rome Again

    Seriously, did any intellectually honest people actually expect the “surge” to accomplish anything? Other than more violence, that is.

    Only the wingnuts did. Support the Troops wasn’t just a fervent wish, it was a Jiminy Cricket dream come true, don’t you know. They will say we failed because half the country wasn’t believing in it and bringing it to fruition hard enough. It’s that purpose driven life thing. See the goal, actualize the goal… of course, it doesn’t really work that way, but, shhhh, don’t tell them right when they’re about to lose a major election.

  11. 11.

    Rome Again

    but wait until Hannity breaks to commercials so you don’t hurt yourself.

    LMAO, good one Tim.

  12. 12.

    Dreggas

    Anyone watch Lil’ Bush? Funny Shit.

    On topic though, Maybe the creators of the X-Files were ahead of the times with the black helicopters and Mulder’s paranoia?

  13. 13.

    Jake

    Anyone watch Lil’ Bush? Funny Shit.

    Damn! I forgot. OK, I zonked out in the library shortly after nightfall and only woke up hours later because one cat started pawing at my face and the weight of the one perched on my legs cut off blood flow to my feet.

    So I wasn’t awake to remember, but if I had been awake I likely would’ve forgotten.

    Or somethin’.

  14. 14.

    Rome Again

    On topic though, Maybe the creators of the X-Files were ahead of the times with the black helicopters and Mulder’s paranoia?

    Prescience isn’t isolated to just the creators of the X-Files… you have Orwell and others expressing that sort of thing much earlier. If you think about it, even our Founding Fathers had fears of the sort that relate well to the crap that we’re dealing with today.

  15. 15.

    Tsulagi

    Try it sometime, but wait until Hannity breaks to commercials so you don’t hurt yourself.

    Not going to happen. During commercial breaks one of their hands is too busy.

  16. 16.

    Jake

    If you think about it, even our Founding Fathers had fears of the sort that relate well to the crap that we’re dealing with today.

    In other words, throughout history there have been megalomaniacs who shouldn’t be allowed power over a goldfish, much less other human beings.

    When they do get it, watch out.

  17. 17.

    Citizen Deux

    Let’s make sure we define the measure of success for the “surge”. Was it to reduce overall violence? How do attacks compare against this same period last year? Would Iraq devolve into the Gaza strip if we left (my guess is yes)?

    You bet the military operation is crticially flawed. Mostly because the in bred tribal violence and lack of participation by DoS and others has made this a one team show.

    PS – Law enforcement has always “bent the rules” in their work. It comes from having to deal with people who routinely flout them and then play the rules of the system against its enforcers…sort of like the situation on the ground in Iraq.

  18. 18.

    ThymeZone

    one cat babe started pawing at my face and the weight of the one other babe perched on my legs cut off blood flow to my feet.

    We knew what you meant. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, comapdre.

  20. 20.

    tBone

    Let’s make sure we define the measure of success for the “surge”.

    Yes, let’s!

    Was it to reduce overall violence? How do attacks compare against this same period last year?

    Well, let’s see (note: figures are from that notorious moonbat enclave, the Pentagon, so take with a grain of salt):
    Civilian casualties have approximately doubled. Weekly attacks (75% of which are aimed at our troops)have increased from 600 to 1,000. Looking on the bright side, violence in Baghdad did decrease slightly. Oh, but violence is on the rise outside of the capitol. And al-Queda maintains the ability to conduct “”high-profile, mass-casualty attacks” in Baghdad. Hmm. That doesn’t sound too good.

    Still, I think the message is clear: we just need to give the surge more time!

    You bet the military operation is crticially flawed. Mostly because the in bred tribal violence and lack of participation by DoS and others has made this a one team show.

    And only 28% of the people in the stands are standing up to cheer for that team! Disgraceful.

  21. 21.

    Jake

    Citizen Deux utters:

    PS – Law enforcement has always “bent the rules” in their work. [Baa baa, quack moo].

    Lame ass crap like this almost makes me miss the D-man.

  22. 22.

    timeisart

    The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.

  23. 23.

    timeisart

    The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.

  24. 24.

    timeisart

    The FBI’s culture of deception and lawbreaking is a source of snickers and chortles to FBI insiders. Hoover invaded our privacy at will. He spied on the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr. Mueller is a lying bitch who now has a multi-million dollar Gulstream VIII to fly around the country because he told Congress it would be used for special agent infiltration into Iraq, or some such nonsense. Why not? Bush has lowered the bar so everyone is piling on the lies that fly, deny til you die bandwagon.

Comments are closed.