the beauty of the u.s.'s position here is that they can claim a victory against the "drug runners" any time they want since venezuela is not a significant supplier to the u.s.'s unrelenting appetite for drug use.
trump specifically may be reticent to escalate onto the mainland because he appears to be under the mistaken belief that the purpose of the imperial military is to "win wars" instead of just create chaos and destabilization around the globe. whether continued murder and mayhem proceed likely comes down to how good a sales job the brass does assuring him that he won't come out looking like a loser.
also, this isn't some ex infantry grunt becoming politically aware and volunteering at a dsa brake light clinic. his desired career path is marine corp to private merc to us senate, climbing from one oppressive arm of empire to another. the actual fuck are we doing here? whether he's an op or not, has everyone's basic grifter radar been shortcircuited?
louder whenever something happened that reminded westerners that people in these groups etc exist, and quieter when they could ignore us.
undeniably true, and it was there prior to the bush years. part of it is pure cope leftover from the supposed all-powerful west getting its shit rocked by opec, the deposing of the shah, and the so-called hostage crisis in the last quarter of the 20th century. to see the same thing in miniature, look how the usa treats haiti.
first, good luck to you. having any autoimmune problems and dealing with the healthcare system is a double whammy.
second, i never really pieced it together before reading your post, but i bet the stupid all-meat diet is some right-wing, "own the libs" response to veganism. i'm sure that's obvious to everyone else, but i don't devote much thought to this weirdo unless he's in the news for almost dying again. :)
routine in practice and variety in style seem helpful, at least to me.
my routine is i generally read a good bit each night and always read a little bit during lunch at work. epub or pdfs of books are especially helpful for the latter, as i can sneak in a little extra via a browser plug-in, but i strongly prefer paper because i like to pencil in notes while i read. that also helps me retain more of what i'm reading, which feels good, and feeling good reinforces the habit. also, if i'm especially tired and can't pick up a book before bed, i can at least look forward to reading a little tomorrow at lunch.
for variety, i try to keep four books going at once, one larger book (300+), one small (less than 200), and two mid-sized. i've found that reading smaller books helps provide a sense of accomplishment and progress to reinforce the habit without feeling mired down in larger ones (again, feelin' good!). i also pick books from different genres (nonfiction/theory, fiction, poetry), regions, and time periods in case one of the books i'm reading is emotionally taxing or just rigorously dense.
The only thing about it I find interesting is that it’s not directed towards people outside of evangelicalism. Back in the 90s and 00s, evangelicals would talk a lot about “Judeo-Christian values” as a way to get conservative non-evangelicals and independents to align with their political program. But in recent years, with the rise of Christian nationalism, they seem to be giving up on convincing anyone outside of their own to go along with them. Evangelicals think they have sufficient numbers to enact their political program if they can just get their own people in line and show up to vote.
that is interesting. the frontier always comes home, even within these sects, and they're subject to same material forces as the american empire writ large.
american church-going has been on the decline decade after decade, and even the evangelical churches struggle to hold onto their numbers. but these glossy megachurch shopping malls still need some form of message discipline to hold up their ranks. for example, there's a wildly successful megachurch franchise in my area that quietly has lgbtq+ "small groups," but their membership is a tens of thousands of people spread across a dozen or more campuses. i really doubt that 99% of the members know this, and it certainly isn't something that the church leadership condones. but what are these real estate scams going to do? turn down their money? cut off networking opportunities for their next mlm plan? not gonna happen.
today's leading evangelical figures would be pilloried by the bible-thumpers of thirty years ago, when a wife using a hyphenated surname after marriage was considered tantamount to lesbianism, but co-opting liberal hr officespeak and self-help tactics never meant these shits were ever truly tolerant or loving.
the beauty of the u.s.'s position here is that they can claim a victory against the "drug runners" any time they want since venezuela is not a significant supplier to the u.s.'s unrelenting appetite for drug use.
trump specifically may be reticent to escalate onto the mainland because he appears to be under the mistaken belief that the purpose of the imperial military is to "win wars" instead of just create chaos and destabilization around the globe. whether continued murder and mayhem proceed likely comes down to how good a sales job the brass does assuring him that he won't come out looking like a loser.