The Frankish Reich

Yikes. I'm quite sure a whole lot of black Cubans, for example, do indeed identify as black. And Cuban/Latin American/Latino/whatever else may fit the bill.

Hah! Not buying it as the state of the race today, but still ... it's gonna be a close one. Unlike 10 days ago.

He did not, did he? See, it's in his head! How's the old joke go? Shot pool all my life and nobody's ever called me a hustler. But hump just one couch ...

I'm not offended by either one? What does that make me? I know ... EDGY!

Murray's mother is Syrian. So ... kind of the same thing. this is why the Trump/Vance are "weird" thing gets traction with younger people. What, they aren't aware that people can be bi-racial?

I also respect you as a poster. I'm not sure precisely what your background is, but in some cases (here) you are clearly well-informed and I give great weight to your opinions. Venezuela's Petro industry may be a mess, but it continues nonetheless to pump/export huge quantities of oil. And it will apparently continue to do so since it seems that the USA and/or the regional or international communities are powerless to stop that. So the questions: why? Why are we powerless? We didn't used to be powerless, now we are. Why? Changes in attitudes? Public opinion? Our military strength as opposed to that of a crumbling society that has already lost a huge proportion of its military age men? Is it good that we are powerless now? Or is it bad?

By the way, that's one reason the preferred nomenclature went from black, to African-American, then back to black. If Nuggets star guard Jamal Murray is attacked on the street in Denver, we'll want to know if he was attacked because he's black, not because he's African-American. Because he's black but he's Canadian.

I have no idea what the exact background is here. But there are actually intersex people (the "I" in the LBGTQI). I understood that that's where famous sprinter Caster Semenya fell, and perhaps Britney Griner too. Sometimes it isn't that simple.

You know how he left his Venmo public? Someone should check his Spotify.

Sometimes his ham-handed shock lines work. The Muslim ban thing got him a lot of attention at a time when he could've been ignored as a fringe candidate. So too with the "they're not sending their best." This one appears to be aimed at his idea that black voters are moving to him en masse. Try to convince those voters that Kamala ascending to the presidential candidate doesn't mean a "real" or "authentic" black person is running. The Dems did this with Obama. It didn't work. But of course Obama had a black wife and kids. So that's what he's trying to do. I doubt it'll work with black voters, but I'm not black ...

My wife says he's a pretty good looking guy. And while facial hair is usually bad on a politician, he really needed it to get beyond that baby faced look But yeah, she also says he's wearing eyeliner.

Flipped on CNN just to catch Trump dropping another cringe bomb on a rally crowd, saying that Mrs. Comperatore "would rather have Corey ... ." And then the cringe joke: "not every wife would want their husband ..."

Do you think that's what they got from Jake Tapper under the new rules? Because Tapper basically sat that one out. Ask the question, cut your own mic.

I'm not saying that. I'm saying the chaos crossing another recognized border will change things.

Trump is Weird stock up sharply today.

Cringe. Biden talking style cringe.

Yet that's what we've always done in the closer part of our hemisphere. Again, I'm not suggesting use of force. I think there was a time, in 2019 (after Guaido, before COVID) when the iron was hot, when not a whole lot of armed support for Guaido could've toppled Maduro. It's not just Maduro's deliberate tanking of his economy. It's also the brewing problem relating to oil field in Guyana, the world's newest oil boom. It will come to a head at some point.

This is so incredibly stupid. She went to Howard University. You know Howard, the Traditionally South Asian University (TSAU) in DC? And some guy just figured out she's black. If anything, she was showing her greater allegiance to her black heritage by choosing Howard as opposed the the hundreds of other non-HBCUs she could have attended. True. But Trump was just haunting Ron, living in his brain. Oh no, Ron, don't even try to distinguish yourself from Trump. That'll make the core MAGA voters angry! And so he killed his own campaign before it really started. I can't blame him for running. After January 6 every Republican thought Trump's political career was over, They had no idea of how petty, vindictive, and brazen he could be in flat-out lying to his own supporters. Now they know.

Cruel what they're doing to Trump, sending him out there for their own selfish reasons. Can't they see he needs to watch some Fox News?

Before there was Xavier Worthy there was John Ross, all-time fastest 40 at the combine. After watching his career seemingly come to an end due to injuries, the Eagles took a cheap FA flyer on him after the draft. https://www.nfl.com/news/eagles-wr-john-ross-on-returning-to-football-the-day-i-retired-i-knew-it-was-a-mistake I wouldn't have drafted Worthy, but I really like this move. In fact, I'd probably wager that he makes the Eagles and contributes more than Worthy does to the Chiefs. At a minimum, more value for what he cost in terms of dollars and draft capital.

Yeah, I'm war-mongering. Actually, I'm more pointing out that this is where we are in the world now. Or with the U.S. role in the world. I think we have Bush 43 to blame for it; maybe a little bit of Clinton (Bosnia/Serbia) before that. Biden/Harris certainly won't do anything about Venezuela, but face facts: neither did Trump before them. A lot of saber-rattling from him, but it's kind of a Speak Loudly but Don't Pick Up the Stick situation.

I'm not disagreeing, but I am asking: why? If use of force to expel to Maduro regime in Venezuela is a bad idea or not in the U.S. interest, is use of force anywhere no longer a good idea? Is it a Colin Powell "you break it, you own it" thing? Fear of Russia/China? It's 550 miles to San Juan, kind of classic TR/Monroe Doctrine stuff.

It seems to me that the recognition of the Guaido government was the precursor to an anticipated (or at least considered) stepped-up enforcement. The OAS was on board, offering the international organizational support necessary for use of force to eject Maduro. Some day we may know what happened there. Maybe the Intel was just bad; the idea that the Venezuelan armed forces would back Guaido was just plain wrong or wishful thinking. Maybe - I'd say probably - there was a fallback plan for use of force (under OAS approval) by some manner of pan-American military action. Maybe that fell apart through lack of US resolve/not wanting to get involved in another conflict/concerns about repercussions with Maduro supporters (Russia). Maybe it was lack of resolve of other key OAS members. Who knows. All I know is that the Guaido moment (and it lasted a good year or more) offered the international law justification for intervention at the request of the legitimate government of Venezuela, but for whatever reason that fizzled. We are now in a weaker place with Guaido out of the picture.

The Cubans certainly have. How's that gone? And so where will they go? Will we negotiate with Maduro to "take them back?" Maybe upon his promise not to persecute them? Foist them on Mexico or some other country? The mess will only be resolved through Maduro giving up or being evicted from power. You said we've lacked leadership. We've shown leadership. We've shown resolve. But resolve to do what? To encourage him to voluntarily relinquish power. And again, no signs of that working anytime soon.

Well, if "leadership" means "building an international consensus," Trump kind of did that by recognizing the Guaido "government." But again, it didn't even come close to working. So it's not so much lack of leadership as lack of considering more aggressive options?