There’s an awful lot of social destabilization going on all over the western world. Not what I would have predicted when the Berlin Wall came down.
Here in Lewiston my city council has spent most of their time lately going back and forth on the details of syringe distribution programs. On Tuesday the council president actually held up a peer-reviewed study that he claimed proved that handing out unlimited needles has nothing to do with all of the needles that litter our public spaces.
The conservative members aren’t even trying to eliminate the program, just limit it to 1:1, meaning you can still get 10 needles at a time if you bring 10 used ones.
The arguments for why we need de facto legalization along with indirectly subsidizing drug cartels by meeting all of an addicts basic needs are getting more ridiculous as time goes on.
Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating the very curious case of 250 ballots turning up on someone’s porch just before early voting begins on a voter ID referendum. Our Secretary of State held a press conference where she answered no questions and wouldn’t take questions from the journalist who broke the story, saying she doesn’t take questions from “bloggers”. The Maine Wire has press credentials and is the only major media outlet who hasn’t accepted a large purchase order from the State of Maine.
Speaking of destabilization, Andy NGO was at the White House with other journalists from the Portland-Seattle area to discuss antifa. She explains how the reality on the ground helped her overcome Trump Derangement Syndrome while working as a local television reporter.
In more local news, the local school board battles over transgenderism got a little wacky yesterday up in our capital of Augusta.
Having people change clothes at the meeting brings up a good point. For some reason, Maine Democrats are still all-in on transgenderism as an official state religion.
@sepcalla“I heard about Finland and I heard about their icebreakers…the greatest icebreakers in the world…ours will be better when we learn how to build them, or maybe not.”
Hahah! I have to admit, Finland needs that deal economically.
I watched the talk and grinned several times. Also the part where Stubb says: We have strongest artillery in Europe, and it’s not because we’re worried about Stockholm got me.
Interestingly, there’s also talk about how Russia pushed immigrants/refugees to Finland as a pressure tool, and we had to close the border completely to stop it. I guess that sounds familiar.
According to Maine Democrats, Finland really missed out on a great opportunity for diversity by turning away those poor migrants trying to cross over from Russia, surely the best and brightest in all of the land.
You, too, could have family members of an overthrown Marxist regime running for your city council. Right now we’ve got a guy who has been accused of being a member of Al Shabab AND whose home got raided in a meth bust a year ago running for Ward 5 city council, and you’re a racist Nazi if you point any of those things out.
But hey, he knows how to say all of the right words to woo Democrats. He’s running against the only really solid conservative on the council at the moment. He was appointed to the school board where he currently serves AFTER he was led out of his apartment in handcuffs during the meth bust.
What in the flying fuck is this bullshit. I don’t usually get too worked up over politics, but this one got me boiling. If this isn’t some silly political kayfabe that they approved because they knew they’d have to back out due to blow back, then MAGA is surely corrupt and dead in the water. The left thinks we’re literal nazis and wants us dead and the “right” is openly allowing enemy soldiers on our soil.
You’re overreacting and falling for the rage bait.
If you don’t think we should sell F15’s to Qatar, that’s a defensible position, but the idea that Qatar is getting a military base on US soil is not accurate. Nor is it accurate to say that this is some unprecedented action, when we’ve been training other nations on US weapon systems at US military bases for at least 70 years or so and getting them to pay for the infrastructure necessary to do so.
This particular deal has been in the works since 2011 or so.
We have strategic bases in ally countries all over the world. Worst case scenario- political ties degrade and we kick them out. Then have a brand new training base paid for by somebody that doesn’t like us anymore.
I didn’t say it was. I understand this is part of a joint training co-op and not their own base.
Yes. But the only other foreign entities to have troops hosted on US soil appear to be limited to NATO nations and Singapore. I do not know about any historical discrepancies.
My issue isn’t the sale of fighter jets. That gets filed under “things I don’t get too worked up over” because, unfortunately, supplying arms and combat vehicles for use in foreign wars in exchange for cash is an American tradition that isn’t going anywhere.
My issue here is the antithetical culture and worldview of the Qatari pilots our military would be teaching to be more effective killers right here in our backyard. Qatar actively funds and houses Islamist groups. If you think these fucks weren’t cheering on 9/11 along with the rest of the Arab world, I’ve got a nice bridge to sell you. I understand keeping relations with our “regional allies”, but this ain’t it.
I’m surprised you are okay with this given the similarities to Maine’s use of tax dollars to import non-assimilators and fund African warlords that you often rail against.
This I did not know. Just as stupid then as it is now.
It’s not that I think it is a great idea to sell weapons to Qatar, just that I don’t think there’s any conceivable situation where they use their F15’s in a way that will harm Americans.
As far as Islamic states, they aren’t going anywhere and there’s something to be said for improving relations, especially now with the border under control (for the time being).
Compared to bombing Islamic states, invading Islamic states, occupying Islamic states, otherwise destabilizing Islamic states (creating Islamic refugees to Lewiston) and radicalizing new generations of fighters, selling them expensive weapons they can’t continuously operate without a US supply chain doesn’t seem very risky to me.
I frankly do not care if they want to live in Islamic societies on the other side of the planet, nor should we be in the business of meddling with their internal affairs like we have for decades. I’d rather they be politically stable and leave us the hell alone.
I agree that “Qatari troops on US soil” sounds alarming.
But Qatar has recent been moved to a “Major Non Nato Ally,” they’ve helped with diplomacy between the US and other middle East countries, and allowed the tactical strike against Hamas leaders on their soil. They even gave Pres Trump a plane.
At some point I guess we need to throw them a bone.
But there’s already a huge US Airbase in Qatar. Wouldn’t those dudes be more comfortable closer to home?
I think the dollars are more comfortable being spent in Elmore County, Idaho putting some of those folks to work. It probably costs a lot less for Qatar to conduct the training on the same base already doing the same thing for Singapore, too.
I really want to know more about this. No other country has their own base on U.S. soil, and I can’t come up with a single good reason Qatar would want or need one.
It isn’t a Qatari base. It is the same arrangement Singapore has on the same US military base.
The F15 is older than I am, and still a fourth generation fighter. It’s still a great airframe and the tech is all upgraded, but it isn’t exactly cutting edge. We aren’t tooling up F22 production for them.
