Every time Matt drops the mail bucket I am humbled to learn what a knuckle dragging troglodyte I am when compared to the erudite wits who compose these mini masterpiece communications.
It is now scientifically proven that listening to (and reading) The Fifth Column makes you smarter, funnier, and sexier than the average podcast punter.
Without getting into details, I've worked professionally on weapons non-proliferation for years. I 100% endorse what Bodgan said. Every time we get people to give up weapons and/or weapons programs, and then the people who gave them up get screwed, then it is permanently harder to get others to give them up. the NKs will never give up nucs, partially because they look at Libya, and how we got Libya to give up a nuc program, and Kadaffi winds up overthrown after he starts playing nice with the West. Ditto Ukraine-gave up nucs, gave up a lot of conventional arms, and Obama screwed them-afraid of "provoking Russia" by supplying Ukraine arms AFTER Russian invaded and grabbed Crimea! That Russia had no problem shredding their agreements and provoking the West is never considered by weak-kneed people like Obama or assholes like John Mearsheimer who blame the US when dictators brutally act out, and then call that "realism." IRL sticking by our allies and tamping down aggression by arming potential targets stabilizes the world by making the opportunity cost of invasion for dictators too high.
I'm going to have to fervently disagree with A.J. on one point. Kansas is one of my favorite states I've ever driven through. In fairness, it was sunflower season when I did it, but I loved, loved, loved the vastness of the sky and the quiet backroads that wound through tiny towns and by random farmhouses, all leading to wherever point B was. People were friendly, BBQ was out of this world, and a serving of dirt cake hit the spot.
Living in KC and driving through western Kansas a dozen or so times, what doesn't get enough shit is Eastern Colorado. Talk about a flat shithole with terrible roads. At least I-70 in Kansas is smooth as silk!
No shit, man! I was astonished the first time I went to CO because I drove from the East Coast, and while I knew eastern CO wasn’t mountainous like western CO is, I *didn’t* know that it would remind me of the fucking moon or something: just as flat as Kansas, but at least in Kansas there are, y’know, plants and whatnot. Eastern CO was just an endless expanse of dust.
That said, the payoff when we got to the middle of the state and finally saw the mountains was unreal, especially since the biggest mountains I’d seen until then were in western NC. Having to lean forward to see the tops of the mountains through the windshield is still awe-inspiring to me.
As for Kansas, I dunno, I’d say turning it into a lake is a bit harsh, but I get kinda itchy in the very flat Midwestern states. Illinois comes to mind specifically as I lived in St. Louis for a couple of years recently, but there’s a big chunk of the country that looks like that: flat, cornfields, soy beans, rivers, that kinda shit. No judgment on Midwesterners, who are warm, lovely people; I just prefer some mountains or a coastline (or even some forest like up around the Great Lakes) over that kind of terrain.
I lived in the mountains of western NC for a bit under a decade in total, sometimes deep into the mountains—like sometimes not even in Buncombe County, where Asheville is and where most people live. So those mountains are infinitely more meaningful to me, but yeah, those massive spiky things they have out west are really something to see. Just wild-looking, kinda intimidating, quite the contrast to the sweet, soul-soothing, tree-covered ridges and peaks in the Appalachians.
If you’re ever up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and want the most rewarding short hike (<1hr) I know of up there, go to Craggy Gardens and do the Pinnacle summit. If it’s not quite 6,000 feet it’s close, and has a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and a nearby lake.
We drive it every year and, you’re right: Eastern CO is not inspiring and Kansans have good reason to be proud of their roads. I used to live in KC and the contrast in road maintenance at the state line on I-35 was night and day.
Yes, lots of pretty areas off the beaten path, but I-70 is purgatory with atrocious windmills every where you look and that is what most visitors experience.
People tracing the rise of identity politics always bring up these French names from the academy, but for me I first encountered it in the Pacific Northwest underground punk scene with bands like Bikini Kill in the early 90s. So many things that are now unfortunately common place, I first saw there: eg, dismissing an argument based on a person sex/class/race/sexuality, equating oppression with virtue, and so on.
For the most part, I mouthed those lines at the time because I was into those kinds of bands and I really wanted a girlfriend.
Saw BK several times and still have fond memories of those shows and records. It is embarrassing and sad though how her thinking has not evolved since then. Perhaps it’s even worse as it’s reenforced by her fame. She’s still basically an Evergreen student. Who would want to be who they were in their early 20s?
Bogdan’s assessment of Ukraine is spot on. The numbers are TINY compared to WWI, WWII, (and the Russian civil war for that matter), yet people act like it’s indeed Berlin 1945, and that we’re on the precipice of some lost Ukrainian generation after less than 100k lost. Thanks for bringing some common sense into the discussion and stating the obvious that has somehow been overlooked.
Finally got around to reading this whole thing (busy weekend). Great to hear from a Ukrainian whose assessment from close up matches my view from afar. Ukraine has done incredible work with limited means. In addition to defending Kyiv, liberating Kharkiv oblast, and pushing the Russians across the Dnieper in Kherson, they have at this point won the Battle of the Black Sea—with a 0-ship navy! They seem to have jury-rigged a relatively long-range strike capability—I love watching Twitter videos of Russian refineries going up in smoke. If we were less stingy with the weapons aid, if the Obama-Trump-Biden foreign policy were a little less transparently fearful of Russia, Ukraine would be in much better shape with far fewer casualties. Best wishes to Bogdan!
And Gringo: Makes me sad, man. Some people are bitter, twisted and all too willing to act on both. Can't imagine attacking a stranger at a concert, much less a father out with his daughter.
Posting here because I don't subscribe to TFP and don't even know if they have a comments section.
I found the debate Moynihan hosted re: the TikTok ban frustrating in two ways: first, that while the ban advocate (Cain) was good on some things, Moynihan actually made better rebuttals in many cases to his opponent's points.
Second, and most infuriatingly, the ban opponent (Kirn) exhibited all the worst behaviors of bad debaters: deflection, moving the goalposts, ignoring the question, false equivalence, being technically correct on points while being incorrect on the merits, etc. I should go back through the episode to catalog all the rhetorical fallacies but I don't know if I would be able to make it through without dipping deep into the rye supply, at which point my judgment cannot be trusted.
I'm sure there's a good case to be made against a TikTok ban, but Kirn didn't make it.
I think for me it was the part where the one gal told the daughter she'd look out for her. Um fuck no and fuck you. Take your -ist outrage the hell and gone fuck away from my kid...in every fucking language on earth.
Every time Matt drops the mail bucket I am humbled to learn what a knuckle dragging troglodyte I am when compared to the erudite wits who compose these mini masterpiece communications.
It is now scientifically proven that listening to (and reading) The Fifth Column makes you smarter, funnier, and sexier than the average podcast punter.
On a Friday! Looks like CJ hooked everyone up.
I'm a little scared for the output of a fully medicated fifth column.
Without getting into details, I've worked professionally on weapons non-proliferation for years. I 100% endorse what Bodgan said. Every time we get people to give up weapons and/or weapons programs, and then the people who gave them up get screwed, then it is permanently harder to get others to give them up. the NKs will never give up nucs, partially because they look at Libya, and how we got Libya to give up a nuc program, and Kadaffi winds up overthrown after he starts playing nice with the West. Ditto Ukraine-gave up nucs, gave up a lot of conventional arms, and Obama screwed them-afraid of "provoking Russia" by supplying Ukraine arms AFTER Russian invaded and grabbed Crimea! That Russia had no problem shredding their agreements and provoking the West is never considered by weak-kneed people like Obama or assholes like John Mearsheimer who blame the US when dictators brutally act out, and then call that "realism." IRL sticking by our allies and tamping down aggression by arming potential targets stabilizes the world by making the opportunity cost of invasion for dictators too high.
I saw Alex Ross and I was like "NO WAY! Alex Ross is part of the fif?!?" But given the artwork, Alex Gross is a welcome member as well. :D Good stuff!
I'm going to have to fervently disagree with A.J. on one point. Kansas is one of my favorite states I've ever driven through. In fairness, it was sunflower season when I did it, but I loved, loved, loved the vastness of the sky and the quiet backroads that wound through tiny towns and by random farmhouses, all leading to wherever point B was. People were friendly, BBQ was out of this world, and a serving of dirt cake hit the spot.
Living in KC and driving through western Kansas a dozen or so times, what doesn't get enough shit is Eastern Colorado. Talk about a flat shithole with terrible roads. At least I-70 in Kansas is smooth as silk!
No shit, man! I was astonished the first time I went to CO because I drove from the East Coast, and while I knew eastern CO wasn’t mountainous like western CO is, I *didn’t* know that it would remind me of the fucking moon or something: just as flat as Kansas, but at least in Kansas there are, y’know, plants and whatnot. Eastern CO was just an endless expanse of dust.
That said, the payoff when we got to the middle of the state and finally saw the mountains was unreal, especially since the biggest mountains I’d seen until then were in western NC. Having to lean forward to see the tops of the mountains through the windshield is still awe-inspiring to me.
As for Kansas, I dunno, I’d say turning it into a lake is a bit harsh, but I get kinda itchy in the very flat Midwestern states. Illinois comes to mind specifically as I lived in St. Louis for a couple of years recently, but there’s a big chunk of the country that looks like that: flat, cornfields, soy beans, rivers, that kinda shit. No judgment on Midwesterners, who are warm, lovely people; I just prefer some mountains or a coastline (or even some forest like up around the Great Lakes) over that kind of terrain.
hahahaha Now that's a shock, Mt. Mitchell and Grandfather Mountain vs pretty much any mountain in CO.
I lived in the mountains of western NC for a bit under a decade in total, sometimes deep into the mountains—like sometimes not even in Buncombe County, where Asheville is and where most people live. So those mountains are infinitely more meaningful to me, but yeah, those massive spiky things they have out west are really something to see. Just wild-looking, kinda intimidating, quite the contrast to the sweet, soul-soothing, tree-covered ridges and peaks in the Appalachians.
If you’re ever up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and want the most rewarding short hike (<1hr) I know of up there, go to Craggy Gardens and do the Pinnacle summit. If it’s not quite 6,000 feet it’s close, and has a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and a nearby lake.
We drive it every year and, you’re right: Eastern CO is not inspiring and Kansans have good reason to be proud of their roads. I used to live in KC and the contrast in road maintenance at the state line on I-35 was night and day.
Yes, lots of pretty areas off the beaten path, but I-70 is purgatory with atrocious windmills every where you look and that is what most visitors experience.
People tracing the rise of identity politics always bring up these French names from the academy, but for me I first encountered it in the Pacific Northwest underground punk scene with bands like Bikini Kill in the early 90s. So many things that are now unfortunately common place, I first saw there: eg, dismissing an argument based on a person sex/class/race/sexuality, equating oppression with virtue, and so on.
For the most part, I mouthed those lines at the time because I was into those kinds of bands and I really wanted a girlfriend.
Saw BK several times and still have fond memories of those shows and records. It is embarrassing and sad though how her thinking has not evolved since then. Perhaps it’s even worse as it’s reenforced by her fame. She’s still basically an Evergreen student. Who would want to be who they were in their early 20s?
Can I have my body the way it was in my 20s? I'd take that back in a heartbeat. The brain that went with it? No thanks, I'm good.
Same.
Bogdan’s assessment of Ukraine is spot on. The numbers are TINY compared to WWI, WWII, (and the Russian civil war for that matter), yet people act like it’s indeed Berlin 1945, and that we’re on the precipice of some lost Ukrainian generation after less than 100k lost. Thanks for bringing some common sense into the discussion and stating the obvious that has somehow been overlooked.
Finally got around to reading this whole thing (busy weekend). Great to hear from a Ukrainian whose assessment from close up matches my view from afar. Ukraine has done incredible work with limited means. In addition to defending Kyiv, liberating Kharkiv oblast, and pushing the Russians across the Dnieper in Kherson, they have at this point won the Battle of the Black Sea—with a 0-ship navy! They seem to have jury-rigged a relatively long-range strike capability—I love watching Twitter videos of Russian refineries going up in smoke. If we were less stingy with the weapons aid, if the Obama-Trump-Biden foreign policy were a little less transparently fearful of Russia, Ukraine would be in much better shape with far fewer casualties. Best wishes to Bogdan!
Really interesting read, Bogdan.
And Gringo: Makes me sad, man. Some people are bitter, twisted and all too willing to act on both. Can't imagine attacking a stranger at a concert, much less a father out with his daughter.
SIX TO EIGHT DID YOU SAY??
Appreciate the Sedaris reference. That’s what I was thinking about reading that email too!
This is what my brain yells whenever anyone mentions Zwarte Piet, or indeed whenever there is “six to eight” of literally anything lol
Have you all seen this insane sign at Yale?
https://x.com/yaledailynews/status/1784677622019916211?s=46
I love it. Sounds like they want Yale to invest in charter schools!!!!!!
It also sounds like they have no idea what the word "investment" means.
Maybe they decided investment has a different meaning like they did with equity
Posting here because I don't subscribe to TFP and don't even know if they have a comments section.
I found the debate Moynihan hosted re: the TikTok ban frustrating in two ways: first, that while the ban advocate (Cain) was good on some things, Moynihan actually made better rebuttals in many cases to his opponent's points.
Second, and most infuriatingly, the ban opponent (Kirn) exhibited all the worst behaviors of bad debaters: deflection, moving the goalposts, ignoring the question, false equivalence, being technically correct on points while being incorrect on the merits, etc. I should go back through the episode to catalog all the rhetorical fallacies but I don't know if I would be able to make it through without dipping deep into the rye supply, at which point my judgment cannot be trusted.
I'm sure there's a good case to be made against a TikTok ban, but Kirn didn't make it.
The punk concert reminded me of this Canadian story, where a festival board apologised for 'overt racism' to a singer when a white volunteer photographer refused to move to the back after the singer had asked 'brown girls to the front.' https://torontosun.com/news/national/halifax-music-fest-apologizes-for-overt-racism-at-concert
Taylor Swift would never
I think for me it was the part where the one gal told the daughter she'd look out for her. Um fuck no and fuck you. Take your -ist outrage the hell and gone fuck away from my kid...in every fucking language on earth.
Even if he was there alone it was a terrible thing to do! Lord that was infuriating.
Yeah, if it had been me, there would have been some headlines. Don't have a girl, but a dad is a dad.