Peck
@ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
130 followers 160 following 230 posts
Ever felt grass? Life-changing shit tbh
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ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
The question IMO isn't "does regime change work". It will if you do it right (and as Iraq shows, even if you do it *really* wrong). The question is whether the inevitable butcher's bill is worth it, because it *will* cause untold death and suffering no matter what, all the more so if you fuck it up.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
The goals for post-Saddam Iraq were more or less

1. Democratic and at least semi-stable
2. US-aligned
3. Not fucking with the GCC nations

Despite legendary fuckups, we got all three! You still have IS-Central to deal with but they're largely contained, as is the Iranian side of the PMF.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
The thing about OIF is that it was genuine regime change and it *did* fucking work. It was sold on lies and post-9/11 bloodlust and executed brutishly and incompetently by Bush and Obama, but well, look at the state of Iraq today and tell me that it's not at all what the neocons envisioned.
Reposted by Peck
gigansprogress.bsky.social
yes the market is saturated with GOGO Dancers, but that's why I'm gonna make bank as the country's first GOCO Dancer
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Anyways I sure hope they fixed the IVAS issues of battery life, NV framerate and resolution, and needing to wear sunglasses at night to satisfy light discipline needs, otherwise they’re just as fucked

I’m not even gonna touch the full-face display because it’s self-evidently stupid
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
This is just Defense VC IVAS but somehow worse

By their own admission to stabilize the display they had to go with a helmet suspension that takes out a lot of deliberate rotational freedom so as not to transfer too much force to the neck
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
*Standish, not Min, no idea how the hell I mixed them up
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Hopefully this'll change over the course of the season as River and Shirley get over their daddy issues and grief, respectively; we're only three episodes in and there's still time to turn things around. But I'm not optimistic.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
The contrast between the first season, where River, Louisa, and Min were still capable of contributing in meaningful ways even if they were still very much the cutups that got sent to Slough House in the first place, and the latest season, where nothing happens except by Lamb's efforts, is striking
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stevenspoints.bsky.social
The MLB season is very long and this suffering is how we remind ourselves we are still alive
camorooni.bsky.social
how do you people do this 162 times a year?
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mikeblack114.bsky.social
I understand the optics here but this is also literally why Charles met his end in Whitehall, either Article I means what it says or it doesn't and the Constitution is dissolved
mikeblack114.bsky.social
So the Dems need to be clear again that any FMer carrying out direction to implement mil paychecks in the absence of appropriations will be subject to anti-deficiency act criminal penalties, because to be clear even with the reconciliation slush fund BS there is no way to legally so this, period
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midlifesuezcrisis.bsky.social
many, many problems in American society downwind of fact that we did not shoot or hang every sonofabitch described as a "good guy" in this interview, nor strip their families of their ill gotten wealth
stephenwest.bsky.social
Counterpoint:

You absolutely do not have to hand it to enslavers
Wilson: Now, one of the things I want to do is say: I’m really glad that slavery’s gone, and good riddance. And I want to say that the Southern slave owner, who read the books of Ephesians and Colossians and 1 Timothy and treated his slaves decently, remembering that he had a master in heaven who he studiously tried to obey — what Paul said slave owners were supposed to do — I would say he was not an orc, and he is part of the reason why slavery ended. In other words, I would say he’s a good guy.
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midlifesuezcrisis.bsky.social
yarvin: i must flee to el salvador immediately

the shitlib JTTF charged with hunting unimportant but annoying RW influencers in 2029: yeah we can go ahead and curl that monkey paw alright
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Yeah Halsey’s journal is a fucking trip man. Basically everything before 2525 is “wow the Spartan ethnostate is gonna be so cool and good and save us from uhhhhhhhhh people demanding self-determination”
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Incredibly funny bit for Bungie to canonize that the UNSC dominates on the ground and the Covenant dominates in space despite the Covenant being the only side with any indirect fires by virtue of the Wraith existing
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Yeah but you can do all kinds of fun psychosexual things with mechs, so
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
You can (IMO should) break up the SOf mafia among Army GOs via DEI for other branches; EUCOM will be a tank-heavy fight if it goes hot so that guy needs to be an armor officer, PACOM will be fires and ADA so the senior Army officer should be of those, etc. But the talent drain to SOF is still there.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
It would be nice if there were a solution to this other than “just start another big-boy war lol” but unfortunately peacetime operations do not be like that so until we stop mowing the grass in CENTCOM/AFRICOM nearly all of the combat experience and valor awards will accrue to SOF.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Only during Vietnam you could join up to do just about anything and still be more or less guaranteed to be shot at; nowadays only SOF, units supporting SOF, and very rarely some rapid deployment light infantry actually get to go out and kill people, so that’s naturally where all the talent goes.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
USAREUR was a trashfire from 1964-1973 because everyone in Germany was either trying like hell to avoid Vietnam, trying like hell to go to Vietnam, or recovering from being shot up in Vietnam; it was the only place to see live combat and if you volunteered for the Army it was to go do shit in RSVN
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
tbh I think the SOF problem is somewhat intractable, because while it is wrapped up in capital-G Gender it’s also hollowing out the force for much the same reason and in much the same way that US forces in Germany were hollow during Vietnam, and there’s really not much that can be done about that
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
I don't really care how cool or good or correct your theories are in the abstract if you cannot use them to produce better outcomes in reality. Khan could not. She quixotically fucked up pushing her antitrust policy while doing nothing else for consumer welfare until the White House forced her to.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
Sure, but Khan went about challenging it in a very stupid way, while totally neglecting consumer welfare. She's lauded for anti-noncompete rules, but that was a Biden priority she took *two years* to even start on; click-to-cancel came of Biden's junk fees push rather than her own initiative; etc.
ohheckitspeck.bsky.social
The FTC under Khan lost suit after suit after suit going after big tech under the theory that sufficient size is inherently anticompetitive, which regardless of the merits is not how antitrust law works in the US. Meanwhile basic consumer welfare went either unaddressed or left to DOJ antitrust.