90 Comments

Starting a gofundme to schedule jobs at Moynihan's home repeatedly until that plumber shows up. Everyone wins.

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I think you guys are taking way stronger stances than what is necessary at this point.

Are tariffs a horrible idea, yes. Does Trump actually think they’re economically beneficial, yes. Is that unbelievably stupid, yes. However, Trump is seemingly using them as a tool pulling them back and putting them forth willy-nilly and I do think both Canada and Mexico are responding to them. You can say he got nothing but prior commitments, which I think is underselling although I see where you’re coming from, but I think the number one thing to take from that is under Biden they remained commitments, no action in any way was ever taken to fulfill those commitments. Trump is giving them a 30-day window on tariffs and I think in his head he is using it as a sword of Damocles to enact if they do not follow through with their commitments. Further, because I think he’s an idiot and has no idea how tariffs work, it is a believable tool to use. I think he’s will implement them if he doesn’t get what he wants because he in error actually thinks it will be good for him.

Meanwhile, yes a trade war hurts everyone and would hurt us a lot. But, it would almost certainly hurt Mexico and Canada more. And, although this might be short sighted and come from a position of *privilege*, I wouldn’t mind us all bloodying our noses if it meant getting some results on the border. Canada and Mexico don’t give a fuck about the border because the traffic is quite unidirectional. That is bullshit like a neighbor who has a tree growing over a fence dropping branches and leaves and acorns and shit on your house, and when you ask them to fix it they go “sorry, not my problem”. Well, if Trump takes a tactic of setting up speakers and blasting music as loud as possible hurting everyone’s quality of life until they try and help fix the problem, I am all for it. Also, everyone on the other side of this keeps bringing up diplomacy, or aid, or cooperation, etc. When has that ever worked? I am 31 years old and do not know when that has ever been helpful for any extended period of time. For that reason alone, I am again fully on board with Trump trying some whacky shit even if it doesn’t work and on paper it’s stupid. At a very minimum it is a different strategy, and if the other sides response is “let’s try the same thing again for a 32nd year”, I’m going with the babbling dipshit in the corner. I rather pick the blind monkey throwing a dart than the machine I know misses, if just not by that much.

Which brings me to Gaza because I think it is the base of my feeling there. First, I think your summary of what we know at this point is completely wrong. I think Trump has proposed we let everyone leave who wants to leave and keep people out who are terrorists. I don’t think he ever suggested transplanting the entire area. But, same logic applies, the entire world has apparently had their best and brightest minds focused on this sliver of land for 80 years. For 80 years we have been getting *genius* plans for how to solve the problem. Over 80 years it is absolutely unquestionable the area has only gotten worse. Yes, we have had spells of more peaceful existence, yes the was more consistent violence in the 80/90s. However, the relationship has only gotten worse and more calcified. The most charitable view I have of what Trump is doing here is again just taking a brand new approach. The going theory has been that land is Palestinians land, we can’t move them, we cannot let them leave, we have to play the board as it lies. That has never worked, and now 16 months since Oct 7th of listening to hundreds if not thousands of hours of *experts* on the subject, not a single one has a plan for how to fix the issue that is even somewhat convincing. Even to themselves, they usually qualify when they’re talking it probably won’t work.

Well Trump just through the board in the air. All the rules everyone thought they were playing by are gone. Your comparison to Iraq is absolutely insane in this case, yes I think nation building (recently) has been an enormous disaster. But, I believe mainly that is due to will and effort. Afghanistan everyone chalks up as a failure, yes it was, because we quit. To say we never did anything these is one of the most crazy making idiotic sentiments to me in the world. Completely drives me insane. Women were going to school and getting an education and didn’t have to hide themselves under sheets at risk of being beaten. That alone is a thing we did. I don’t know how people just say that doesn’t count when it applies to millions of people. We quit, we quit at a time that if we did the same with Japan there were still entire battalions fighting on islands from WWII. Yes, we occupied and basically controlled their government until 1952, but then we left 260,000 soldiers there for years and still to this day have ~30,000 stationed there. We were holding Afghanistan with zero military casualties with 2,000 troops. And then we just gave it up and subjected millions of women to hell.

Do you know how easy it would be for us to control Gaza? Why it has no comparison to Iraq? The place is 140 square miles. Iraq is 160,000 square miles. Gaza is basically 10 Ohare airports. That is it. If we truly wanted to control it (meaning to the point where military casualties were somewhat nonexistent) I think it could be done in a month, especially with Israel’s help. We just would have to WANT to do it. And actually stick with it and continue with it for years. I do not even think it would be a challenge to anything but will. Wouldn’t be a military challenge, a logistical one, or really a geopolitical one (I firmly believe the rest of the world doesn’t actually give a shit). We would just have to want to do it.

Trump by throwing the board in the air I believe put this on the table. And I think all the players in the game have the same realization that I just spelled out. They have been operating under the assumption they can do an Oct 7th, take an absolute beating, but even at the worst, they just have to wait out the storm, and regroup over years, and they can try again. Trump just put on the table that this will literally not be theirs anymore. At the very least, I think that holds a lot of weight for negotiations. “Hey, if you guys don’t figure this out, Israel is going to clear out every military threat, then we are going to clear out every dissident threat, and then we are going to set up camp and you’ll be under our control for decades. We are done dealing with your stupid shit, it’s over.”. Seems to me a way better starting place than anything any other administration has had in my lifetime.

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> We were holding Afghanistan with zero military casualties with 2,000 troops. And then we just gave it up and subjected millions of women to hell.

This is an underrated point that almost no American understands. Withdrawing was one of the worst things Biden did. And I know that he was following Trump's plan, but Trump is erratic, so if he had won there's a good chance he would have backed out of the withdrawal once he saw how it was going to go.

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Oooh, I respectfully disagree. It was the one thing Biden did deserving credit, granted my cocker spaniel could've organized it better. What a disaster.

I give it a thumbs up purely for process reasons and am certainly willing to argue if we should have troops there or not. BUT, if we want our military there, Congress should *declare war and fund it.* It's congress' job, and Congress must be held accountable.

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I mean, the process horse was out of the barn at that point. Yes, fantasy libertarian Joe Biden should have demanded that Congress authorize the military presence in Afghanistan and provide clear conditions for its termination (which would probably not be achieved for decades). But real-life Biden had the de facto power to stay or leave on his own terms, and he chose to leave and consign Afghans to live forever under a brutal, totalitarian regime.

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Fantasy libertarian Joe Biden? You may be the first person ever to string those words together. And until regional (not just national) conditions change, and the people who live in that region decide to change those conditions, totalitarian regimes will reign. It is a tragedy all the way around. I want them to be free and prosperous. (I've had a lifelong dream of backpacking in Afghanistan - I'd LOVE for it to be safe.) But so far, it seems like we want all that for them more than they want it.

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Moynihan's TDS is very grating at this point. I never recall this level of anger when discussing the godawful Joe Biden administration. IDK how many more tarriff rants I can take. Might have to unsubscribe at this point. Did Moynihan ever call Biden's presidency "embarrassing"?

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I'm pretty confident he did, among many other, worse pejoratives. The boys were anything but soft on Biden about almost everything. The theme of 2024 was how fucked up it was that we had a cadaver running the country.

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Also though to highlight, you compared a 160,000 square mile area with a 140 square mile area, as if that was an intelligent thing to do. Additionally, Iraq is notoriously difficult terrain for militaries going back to antiquity. Mountains, deserts, etc. Gaza is a flat strip of land that is urbanized. Urban warfare is notoriously difficult, also though Gaza is rubble at this point and again 140 square miles. They also have no military and the US could control it without putting a human life at risk (hypothetically, depending on what systems they’d like to use, I.e. an air force [I am not talking about anything insane like nukes, just traditional weapons systems]).

And what I started with, but lost sight of. Trump can be wrong on all of this. It can all not work out. Also, you guys are taking such a strong stance here that is setting yourself up to look like idiots. Yes, possible all of this doesn’t work out, but they’re in reference to problems that have been intractable for decades upon decades. If he fails, he joins the list of everyone before him. If he succeeds, he does something in each case no one has ever done before. To have the reaction you all have had, I think you have to believe the chance for any of this to work out is quite literally 0%. I might be optimistic giving it 10%, but at 10% I’m not roasting the shit out of the man for trying something new. Although I also cannot stand Trump and hate him to my core. Just sick of *experts* repeating known failing strategies over and over and over and over again acting like they’re insightful. Again, I rather take the crazy man taking a wild shot.

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Team, the area sucks, we all expect them to kill each other, no peace will hold, no one is optimistic about the future, everyone has blood deep hatred’s of everyone else.

Also, let’s not shake up things because it might make them worse.

I get the sentiment, but dear god you all are sounding like condescending pricks. Again, I hate Trump, posted that on these messages for years. But, you just can’t sound like condescending pricks while also saying the status quo of by your description, hell on earth, is the best you have. “HA! What idiots! What they’re trying to do is sooo stupid!! Oh…. What would I do? I’d let them live in hell…. Yeah, that’s better… shitty, no future, hell on earth, hell. Yeah, forever. No end in sight. Yep, that’s my suggestion.”

I mean come on.

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Also genuinely shocked to hear Moynihan bring up international law after beating the drum for Israel for the past year in change.

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Not following

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I dont mind you bloodying your nose into a gory mess…but leave me out of it.

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Low blow, Welch, pointing out how long it’s been since a Canadian team won the Cup.

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The “Florida” Cup

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The Cup runs through Sunrise

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That’s a funny way to spell Tampa Bay.

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Another sign of the apocalypse. When I was a kid all the Hockey teams were in places like Winnipeg and Saskatoon. They gave a few American snow cities a team just for DEI purposes. Now they're in places like Nashville and San Jose and Florida has nine teams. It's like the Bizarro NHL.

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The St. Louis Blues almost moved to Saskatoon in the early eighties, when they were so cash-strapped they actually skipped a whole NHL draft!

The Penguins almost moved to Hamilton, Ontario around the same time, but then they drafted this Mario guy and it all worked out well. (The Leafs and Sabres would likely veto a Hamilton team in any event.)

I'm glad Winnipeg got the Jets 2.0 but I really wish they'd gotten the original team's history, too. Maybe they will, considering the Coyotes officially disbanded and the Utah team is technically a new organization.

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Can anyone with some photoshop skills put Welch’s face on the Mickey Mouse sorcerer in honor of coining “Fantasianal “

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For fuck's sake. Kicking off the episode reminding me of the '02 and '05 division series and the goddamn Thunderstix. Christ on a cracker I hated those things. And, no, Matt, Yankee fans are not all loud and obnoxious. You know what's loud and obnoxious? THUNDERSTIX. You guys were just jealous because you needed foreign objects to make all that noise, whereas we could do it naturally. I'm so happy we got our revenge in '09 on the way to a championship. Looking forward to the next episode where you discuss the history of the Rally Monkey and break down David Eckstein's batting stance.

Fun fact: The first text message I ever received from my late father was during the 2009 ALDS while I was out on a date. It read: "Robinson Cano stinks!"

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If it helps, I was at the Stadium for the 2009 drubbing.

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I was at Edison Field for game 4 of the 02 ALDS where the Halos knocked off the Yankees. Pretty sweet day. Shawn Wooten HR 💪

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Nah. Your suffering does not erase mine. Lol. I hope you were treated civilly while you were there, though

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All my homies hate Chone Figgins. I’ll never get over the 2002 season lol.

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Chone Figgins! Now, there's a name I've not heard in a long time... A long time

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I’d love to forget it myself. That dude was rough to watch as a teenage Yankees fan.

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Wasn't any easier watching it in your mid-twenties. "Chone"... Fucking "Chone"! It's SEAN. Learn how to spell!

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My disdain for him has only been surpassed by Jose Altuve. Those short fuckers.

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I saw the Angels play at Yankee Stadium in the 2005 postseason against the Big Unit. When a friend and I sat down wearing Angels caps the Yankees fan next to us said "outta da whole stadium I gotta sit next to yous guys" but in a very good natured way. We did not bring thunderstix.

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Is Gaza actually their home if gazans are de jure refugees? Doesn't that status mean they don't have a home and are there temporary?

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Logic is white supremacy culture in action.

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I'll do better

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Matt I see your Thundersticks and I raise you the infamous Vuvuzuela Night the Marlins had during the 2010 World Cup:

https://youtu.be/26Jn7a0Aw5o?si=oabISYDJDt-jHgeo

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I remember the tiny bats they gave out at Shea Stadium. You had to watch your Ps and Qs on bat day.

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So new motto for black people, "Don't step on skate"?

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Moynihan’s rage is the thing I relate to the most.

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He’s inspired me to launch the Closing Down app.

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While it says nothing about what policies should be enacted one way or another, and I may be sympathetic to the underlying take regarding these policies in general, international law is 100% fake.

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Preach

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Saw “Sandals Gaza” in the title and thought maybe she was a guest who works for the Free Press.

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I love you guys, but if you are going to repeatedly use economic consensus as the defense of freed trade, you should probably also mention that the economic consensus is almost equally strongly in favor of congestion pricing:

https://www.kentclarkcenter.org/surveys/congestion-pricing/

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Agree - I have spoken to many economists about this. We regularly use pricing to regulate demand for a scarce good. Free busy roads are like communist bread lines!

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Yes! Agree that there are hidden costs to congestion charging but there are also hidden costs to congestion. When in doubt trust people to respond to rational financial incentives!

This was the subject of my first (naive, non-subscriber) email to the hosts.

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6hEdited

It makes sense that the money to Politico isn’t a subsidy, literally. and yes at the end of the day it’s just ANOTHER thing the Feds waste money on, but like… the numbers math out to like $14,000 per subscription.

so sure, not a subsidy. then what is it? cuz it sure feels like corruption, or something related to corruption.

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Idk, Boston fans are definitely the worst. When I was in college my friend Jarvis and I were watching the Yankees play in a common room and a marauding gang of Red Sox fans were so upset about it that they actually threw the TV we were watching on out the window.

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That’s fucking based lmao

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American 1: "Boston fans are the scariest."

American 2: "No way. Philadelphia fans are the worst."

Serb: sets own stadium on fire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH1SadDfF00

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That TV had it coming

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Fair point, the Yankees (and their fans) are a different and special kind of bad.

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lol. That’s awesome

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Kmele, Nate Bargatze’s new standup on Netflix is super PG 🥰

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Also Jim Gaffigan is really PG; when my kids were young they liked him a lot.

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To the question of "black" people getting skates. We may lose hockey to them. But we'll always have figure skating.

Ain't no brother going out in Lycra and glitter.

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