When I was a boy Metallica was actually still a great band. I know that must sound unbelievable. Was there ever such a time?
Yes. This was back in junior high, long before the Black Album and Metallica’s dissent into the place of worst band in the history of the human race.
This one was a heavy influence on me then. First song on the second side of Master of Puppets. For the 2,440-or so Americans killed in the Afghanistan war so far: “Disposable Heroes.”
Rock out with your troops out.
Of course he does. He’s a president of the U.S. government after all.
But man, either the National Security State has the dumbest PR department in history or Trump has the most brilliant one.
But he probably couldn’t really afford to pay them what it would cost for boosts like these.
Instead, they just don’t get it. We hate them because of all of those things that they did. That’s how he won in the first place, over their dead bodies.
So what do they do? They run on Status Quo Ante 2020!
At this rate they’ll lose to the president they impeached. What a bunch of losers.
This is all just fine, right?
Mike Maharrey joins Tommy to discuss The Defend the Guard Act that is expected to be taken up in state legislatures in the 2020 session. They touch on the appropriate use of the National Guard and why states should demand congress declare war before being granted the power to deploy National Guard troops to combat zones.
Which they take at face value and also to be a horrible, cynical thing to do. Which, if it’s at all true, then it probably is for political reasons, but so what? Doesn’t that just mean that that’s what the American people — the right even — want to happen, and that he’d be carrying out their popular will? Heaven forfend.
“The Trump administration intends to announce the drawdown of about 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as early next week, according to three current and former U.S. officials. The withdrawal will leave between 8,000 and 9,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the officials said. …
“‘This takes us to the minimum that you have to keep in the country to remain credible negotiating with the Taliban,’ the former official said. …
“His advisers have over the past three years convinced him not to pull the plug on the Afghanistan mission, but the president showed a willingness to take such a step in October when he abruptly pulled U.S. troops out of Syria.
“Trump had made clear to his advisers earlier this year that he wanted to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the November 2020 election.
“‘It’s all about talking points in 2020,’ the former official said.”
Yeah, just terrible, huh?
NYT: At Least 23 Soldiers Killed in Insider Attack in Afghanistan
At least 23 [ANA] soldiers were killed while they were sleeping on Saturday in an insider attack in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, the latest episode of enemy infiltration that has raised concerns about a new local military force billed as the hope for holding territory recaptured from the Taliban.
The Taliban infiltrator, who was on duty at a military base in Ghazni Province, opened fire on his colleagues, wiping out almost the whole unit, officials said. The attacker then seized all weapons and equipment in the base and joined the insurgency.
