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What it be brother man?

*fist bump*

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I heard you and I lol'd. You've got tact, man! Props.

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Al Jazeera has a terrific visualisation of the Saudi war in Jemen:
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2018/Saudi-Arabia-air-raids-on-Yemen/index.html

And to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq, the supreme crime for which none of those reponsible have been hanged yet, Jeremy Scahill outlines how the US have been piling up Iraqi corpses for 55 years:
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/us-war-iraq-legacy-of-blood/

If Gina Haspel truly takes over as the Director of the CIA, watch out for the reactions to her nomination. There will be celebration about the first female Director of the CIA, but will they mention that she ran a black site (aka torture camp) in Thailand and was the agent who led the destruction of the CIA's torture tapes?

https://theintercept.com/2017/02/02/trumps-cia-chief-selects-major-torture-operative-to-be-agencys-deputy-director/

Well, things are not as rosy as folks like Steven Pinker would like us to believe. As much as I dislike resorting to Hollywood for philosophical insights, True Detective was absolutely on point in this quote:

„Transference of fear and self-loathing to an authoritarian vessel. It's catharsis. He absorbs their dread with his narrative. Because of this, he's effective in proportion to the amount of certainty he can project.“

Now, they were talking about a preacher. But I'd argue this applies to scapegoats as well. And if your arguments undermine the scapegoat, it starts losing its efficiency as a focal point of people's discontent.

Most of us have so much day-to-day shit to deal with that outsourcing the macro-shit to a boogeyman, any boogeyman, helps us get through the day without wanting to bash our head against the wall. Or bash someone else's head in, for that matter.

This doesn't excuse this level of self-delusion, but maybe it explains it to some degree. I'd say keep doing what I know you've been doing for many years: present your case in a respectful manner.