We can win the war in Vietnam!

[Aresen]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

[Eric the .5b]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

Sure, but trade is a factor, too. One country is a lot more reliant on the other for trade.

[Aresen]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

Sure, but trade is a factor, too. One country is a lot more reliant on the other for trade.

No doubt. But trade is also the reason most Americans live near the coasts, including the cities on the Great Lakes.

[D.A. Ridgely]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

Sure, but trade is a factor, too. One country is a lot more reliant on the other for trade.

No doubt. But trade is also the reason most Americans live near the coasts, including the cities on the Great Lakes.

Maybe once. Now most of us live near the coasts because most of what's between them is a wasteland of small towns filled with small people and people not even close to small towns who think because there's more dirt between them and anything approaching a city they're somehow more American and deserve their disproportionately large political influence with their bullshit caucuses and corn subsidies.

[thoreau]

If we don't give disproportionate political influence to the Heartland then the decadent city folk will elect some media-savvy demagogue from a coastal city. The electoral college and Senate are the only things standing in the way of such a political nightmare.

[Aresen]

Maybe once. Now most of us live near the coasts because most of what's between them is a wasteland of small towns filled with small people and people not even close to small towns who think because there's more dirt between them and anything approaching a city they're somehow more American and deserve their disproportionately large political influence with their bullshit caucuses and corn subsidies.

Real Muricans have cowshit between their toes. (And teeth.)

[Shem]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

And coldasballsitude of the rest of the country.

[Aresen]

(If that doesn't work, try pointing out that there's a reason 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the border, but not so much in the US case.)

That has more to do with the distribution of arable land than proximity to the US.

And coldasballsitude of the rest of the country.

The Canadian prairies are both fertile and coldasballs.

[Hugh Akston]

A postmortem of the 2015 Kunduz MSF hospital airstrike

Hutchinson was in contact with an AC-130 gunship, which was circling overhead, to provide air support to his Afghan colleagues who were preparing to hit a building believed to be a Taliban command and control center.

The Afghans didn’t have radios, though, and were relying on limited cellphone coverage to make contact with Hutchinson. Communications were patchy, but this process had become routine. After hearing gunfire erupt, Hutchinson’s interpreter was able to reach them and confirm they needed air support for the building they were attacking. Hutchinson ordered the gunship to fire.

A series of technical and communication failures aboard the aircraft had prevented the crew from preparing for the mission. It didn’t help that Hutchinson’s team had run out of the batteries needed for the video receivers typically used to communicate with the aircrew.

That meant he didn’t know that things had gone seriously wrong. The building he had ordered the AC-130 gunship to strike was not a Taliban control center, but a trauma hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières.

“The trauma center is under attack,” Molinie told the U.S. officer who picked up. “You’re bombing the hospital!”

The officer ran to the joint-operations center, pulled the battle captain aside, and told him about the call in a whisper. But Lieutenant Colonel Jason Johnston, the 3rd Group battalion commander, who was sitting in the next row, heard and leapt up. He asked the officer to repeat himself. None of them was aware the air strike was under way.

They tried reaching Hutchinson, but couldn’t get through for several minutes. They identified a plume of smoke rising from the center of Kunduz over a video feed and pulled the coordinates to check them against the ones provided by the hospital. When Hutchinson called back, Johnston told him about the report. Hutchinson stopped to process the message. He replayed the past hour and didn’t see how it could have happened.

“No way,” he said. “That’s not possible.”

[dbcooper]

[Aresen]

If we offer them the last three presidents as tribute, can we just get out and be done with it?

Srsly: This was utterly predictable on October 7, 2001.

[Hugh Akston]

I'll believe it when it happens

President Joe Biden has decided to withdraw the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, 20 years to the day after al Qaeda’s attacks triggered America’s longest war, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to brief the decision to NATO allies in Brussels on Wednesday. Biden may also publicly announce his decision, several sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“After a rigorous policy review, President Biden has decided to draw down the remaining troops in Afghanistan and finally end the U.S. war there after 20 years,” a senior administration official told reporters.

[Kolohe]

No point in waiting until 21, you can’t get a beer in Afghanistan anyway.

[dead_elvis]

Ugh really, couldn't they pick a different day or month.

[Aresen]

Ugh really, couldn't they pick a different day or month.

Why not April 19th?

[Hugh Akston]

Maybe this could be the beginning of a new tradition. Every Sept. 11th could be a day for the federal government to try and fix something they fucked up. Dissolve the TSA, demolish the border wall, slavery reparations, release FBI surveillance files, the list is endless. This country loves its dumbshit symbolism, maybe its time to make it work for us.

[lunchstealer]

Well the correct day to pull out of Afghanistan is February 15th.

[Aresen]

Well the correct day to pull out of Afghanistan is February 15th.

OK, it's National Hippo Day. But otherwise I don't see the significance. (I'm sure it's not because of President's Day.)

[dead_elvis]

Well the correct day to pull out of Afghanistan is February 15th.

OK, it's National Hippo Day. But otherwise I don't see the significance. (I'm sure it's not because of President's Day.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberat ... ghanistan)

[Warren]

Ah

[Kolohe]

This one was a slightly bigger deal (at least in 2010) and has the advantage of being in less than two weeks from now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mujahideen_Victory_Day