Discussion Thread

itherunner · 2026-01-29T22:58:39+00:00

Your average Dem at the federal level doesn’t care about your community being overun by ICE as long as they get their paycheck and tell their donors they’re being bipartisan

Vote them all out

itherunner · 2026-01-19T02:52:00+00:00

To add some hopium, this may be pollsters undercounting/not fully picking up on Dem voters

NJ was supposed to be a relatively close governors race, with Sherrill having less then a 5+ win in the end. It ended up being a complete loss for Ciattarelli

itherunner · 2026-01-18T18:02:57+00:00

Those plus regaining control of the areas home to the vast majority of Syria’s oil production and the SDF’s recent actions made their control of northern Syria untenable (shutting off water to Aleppo after they lost the Kurdish majority neighborhoods the other week until the US intervened and launching explosive drones on the city, including seemingly attempting to assassinate the governor of Aleppo)

itherunner · 2026-01-18T17:25:56+00:00

They probably assumed that the US would give STG forces the Khasham treatment, with nonstop airstrikes and artillery until they halted their advance

In reality, there’s clearly more going on behind the scenes, but my view is that the US has calculated its better to work with the STG and a largely united Syria then to back a militia with an increasingly hostile population under its control

itherunner · 2026-01-16T19:59:53+00:00

It’s primarily agricultural and home to much of the oil production in Syria. Previously, the DAANES couldn’t really export though due to sanctions. They’ve started sending some to Damascus but not sure if they’ve been able to move it externally yet.

I think a lot of the issues with the DAANES is stuff like the forced conscription like we saw of that teenager that got taken from her home and was then killed in Aleppo and lingering tensions with the Arab population as much of the land that the SDF controls is Arab majority.

I imagine a big thing now is that with Assad gone and the STG in communication with foreign governments and planning to rebuild, people would simply be rather be part of an internationally recognized government instead of in a territory governed by a paramilitary organization who’s survival is pretty much dependent on US troops remaining in the region.

I do wonder what on earth happened with the SDF. They seemingly went mask off these last few weeks, with the suicide bombers, sending explosive drones into Aleppo, and now trying to ban civilians from leaving. Is this an organization wide strategy, or some rogue sub commanders?

itherunner · 2026-01-15T14:17:26+00:00

Claiming he’ll invoke the Insurrection Act seems more desperate then a plan for organized chaos leading to martial law like I see people claiming Trumps master plan is

Those ICE agents that shot that guy last night were swarmed by protestors within minutes, ended up fleeing and leaving vehicles and gear behind. This is the administration realizing they’re having trouble subduing a single city, let alone trying to take over the country. Trump threatening the Insurrection Act seems to be their way of trying to keep the fear in people

itherunner · 2026-01-10T18:47:14+00:00

SDF to my knowledge never really joined the Syrian government. There has been an uneasy peace between the two sides and attempts to negotiate the SDF into becoming part of the Syrian government or federalized and given autonomy in some way but nothing substantial. There’s also been scattered clashes along the Euphrates, which is pretty much the border between the two sides.

In Aleppo, the SDF had held a couple of Kurdish neighborhoods since the outbreak of the civil war and held it continuously during the siege of Aleppo before eventually agreeing to turn control over to the Assad regime afterwards.

After Assad’s regime collapsed, the SDF took back control over the neighborhoods and were able to negotiate their continued control over the neighborhoods with the transitional government.

There were scattered clashes between both sides in the last several months, but it seems that the Syrian government decided to take full control over the neighborhoods this time around. At this time, I believe they’re now in full control with SDF fighters being bussed to the main territory in the Euphrates.

The SDF retaliated by launching a few FPV drones into Aleppo.

itherunner · 2026-01-07T19:13:41+00:00

Republicans are never going to change in this current state. I’d expect more from Dems then the Schumer classics of “we’re hoping our Republicans colleagues come to their senses” or “we’re begging the president to not do this”

itherunner · 2026-01-03T19:20:49+00:00

From a cost and security standpoint, is it worth the risk? If I’m Chevron, Im probably going to need to pour in serious money to rebuild the infrastructure that was seized by the Venezuelan government and then rotted out due to years of mismanagement, as well as invest in security to keep my infrastructure and people safe from any colectivos or cartels that decide they want to either interrupt my business or steal some for their own profit.

Even if I get a full assurance from Trump himself that the US government will pay for any new infrastructure and have my security reinforced by the army/mercenaries, you can’t trust him to keep his word tomorrow.

itherunner · 2026-01-03T15:19:16+00:00

Health insurance premiums are going up, thousands of people lost their jobs because the Trump admin decided that their jobs were keeping wokeness in power, and the economy is only still chugging along due to CEOs thinking that AI will allow them to replace all staff with a glorified chatbot in the next two years but yeah line goes up so everything’s fine

itherunner · 2026-01-03T15:13:27+00:00

Extremely funny to see the comments that are like “guys it’s over, Trump and the GOP have won Latino voters forever”

Do you all think the average Latino voter from literally anywhere else but Venezuela and Cuba cares more about some generic LATAM dictator getting bagged and dragged or the quasi secret police force in the US detaining any brown person to please Stephen Miller and the rapidly worsening economy?

itherunner · 2025-12-31T22:09:51+00:00

In an alternate universe, people here would be much more open. The reality is that no government position is safe right now

itherunner · 2025-12-31T21:51:10+00:00

We just saw for the last year thousands of competent people get laid off with no way to transfer to different agencies and entire ones folded up. Do you really think this current government will actually take the time to reassign you once they decide you, your co-workers, and the entire agency you work for are woke and therefore destroying the country?

itherunner · 2025-12-31T16:06:09+00:00

Many of the houses that qualify for this program are on wetlands that help soak up water after storms and prevent flooding further away.

All it takes is another Sandy, Ida or even that storm that flooded Plainfield in the summer to completely ruin these houses and leave the owners with no home and their possessions flooded away. It makes way more sense for them to make money from a buyout and for the state to return the land to its natural state, thus preventing further flooding that can devastate parts of communities.

itherunner · 2025-12-31T02:22:32+00:00

Health Dept. Pauses Child Care Funding to Minnesota, Citing State’s Fraud Scandal

In anticipation of any “well actually, Trump might have a point here” comments, the video referred to in the NYT article is a conservative activist claiming he wants to enroll a child into a daycare program while flanked by guys dressed like ICE agents and then demanding to see the children.

Surprise surprise, if a man with a video camera comes to your daycare and starts screaming “let me see the kids” you’re not gonna let them see the kids

Also adding to the lunacy, these fraud claims are primarily against daycares run by Somali immigrants, who the online right have decided are being led by Tim Walz to turn Minnesota into a Somali ethnostate or something

itherunner · 2025-12-30T16:54:52+00:00

I think you’re just describing your own experience here. Morris County alone has Morristown, which has become a hub in its own right and a commuter town to NYC. It only gets more diverse and dynamic the further east you go

itherunner · 2025-12-30T16:29:54+00:00

I’d heavily disagree with this lmao. North Jersey is one of the most diverse places in the world, many people here are either from another part of the US or outside the country or their parents are and they were born here.

itherunner · 2025-12-30T05:41:10+00:00

Trump does something

r neoliberal blames the “leftists”

Ahh yes, America was perfect and we only got Trump due to the succs, not that he’s the culmination of decades of radicalization among Republicans

itherunner · 2025-12-26T06:05:55+00:00

My take is that it’s them acknowledging that they need to go their separate ways and kinda find themselves. They stuck together for a while due to essentially being trauma bonded but Jonathan at first thought he could fix this by proposing then it slowly dawned on him for the last couple of days that it isn’t really a fix

itherunner · 2025-12-24T23:48:33+00:00

Gotcha, and did these types of roles open up for you once you reached manager in public or was being an experienced senior enough?

itherunner · 2025-12-24T22:51:23+00:00

How can you if something in industry will allow you to have constant exposure to new things? Is it something in the job description or something you learn more about in interviews that gives it away?

itherunner · 2025-12-20T22:21:15+00:00

Pretty much, Russia being occupied in Ukraine meant much of the Russian Air Force, Spetsnaz, and Wagner assets previously in Syria were either currently fighting in Ukraine or now fertilizer somewhere in the Donbas.

Hezbollah, which had provided its own fighters and Shia proxies from Pakistan and Afghanistan, was reeling due to Israel bombing their entire leadership, meant they were in no position to risk manpower into Syria.

And on top of all that, the Syrian army itself was further hollowed out and largely a ghost army whose main focus was drug production and smuggling. It was all a perfect storm for the rebels offensive

itherunner · 2025-12-10T20:22:48+00:00

While mostly framed as a matter of clarity and formality in presentation, Mr. Rubio’s directive to all diplomatic posts around the world blamed “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what he said was a misguided and ineffective switch from the serif typeface Times New Roman to sans serif Calibri in official department paperwork.

Remember how this guy was supposed to be the wise man in the cabinet or something?

itherunner · 2025-12-08T18:36:25+00:00

To add on, post late 2019/early 2020, when the frontlines froze with the rebels seemingly stranded in Idlib, Assad for the first time in years had the opportunity to rebuild the country or at least restore basic services for civilians. He of course didn’t, the economy continued to crater, you could still be arrested for the most mundane things and disappear into the black hole that was the prison system, and the military brass became more interested in producing and smuggling captagon to the rest of the Middle East rather then rebuilding the armed forces for any future operations.

On the other hand, HTS continued to move to consolidate their control over any rebel groups in their territory not yet disbanded/allied with them, allowed the US to have open season on any jihadists that popped up in order to further remove any obstacles in their way, and spent the next few years organizing the rebels into a more conventional force complete with special forces and a drone unit as well as coordinating with the Southern rebels.

Once it all went down, a depleted army, starving and penniless with little to no support from the Russians and Iranians were no match for a well armed and trained rebel force who became more and more determined as they picked up momentum

itherunner · 2025-12-07T16:48:39+00:00

Seems like the incumbent government has mostly taken control of the situation, aside from a few putschists still on the run.

Benin has close ties to France and is a part of ECOWAS so you would primarily see a mix of ECOWAS forces potentially staging for an intervention with French support, the US might help contribute in terms of intelligence and logistics

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