Didn’t he translate people’s agonised screams in Pashto as they were given electric shocks when he was in Afghanistan for seven months?
Sounds like he deserves people dumping on him.
weird conspiracy theories aren’t just a right wing thing, folks.
what the chicken fried fuck are you talking about? His service record is public, he did financial intel and drove his commanders around Kabul.
There’s a whole other website for fanfiction, it’s called Archive of Our Own, I’m sure you can find more of these fantasies over there.
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I don’t think that the article implied that Pete was cosplaying his sexuality, just that Pete is consciously stage managing every aspect of his life through the lens of how will this effect my political ambitions and goals. That’s not unique to someone who’s gay, many politicians artificially construct their public facing private lives in this way. Bill and Hillary Clinton, surely. Biden probably less so but it’s still a consideration.
I definitely think that Pete went into the military because he thought that it would be good for his presidential ambitions. Is that homophobic to think that? Even if I think Tom Cotton did much the same thing? (Although Cotton actually was an infantry officer in combat while Pete was not but weirdly kept track of every time he rode around in a Jeep outside the wire in Afghanistan).
So is it OK to think that Pete stage managed his military career with an eye to his political ambitions? I think so. I’ll not make any accusations about his motives for adoption but did he consider how doing so would impact his political career? I’m saying everything he does he considers how it impacts his political career. Again, not unique to any particular politician but he’s not immune to that criticism just because he’s gay.
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Driver Pete to Mayor Pete?
Amazing stroke of coincidence that he happened to speak Pashto as an intelligence officer during the war in Afghanistan. I’m 100% sure that his commanding officers didn’t use that to their advantage while torturing Afghani citizens.
Yeah I don’t understand her perspective either.
Taking a picture with your newborns and sharing it is incredibly normal, you’re simply backfilling in an argument to fit the conclusion that you already had in mind… per usual
Wow, you mean Pete gets less hate for posting a picture with his new children than a guy who tried to end democracy in the United States of America? Guess there isn’t any unwarranted Pete hate after all!
Welcome back, soldier!
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Yeah Keed, when you said it was unusual for people to post a pic with their kid you really stepped in it
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OK but how do I integrate this empathy for Mayor Pete with me sincerly thinking that he’s a
Like that’s like using the Clinton’s marriage as a model how to deal with infidelity. Probably people shouldn’t use single minded strivers-for-president like the Clintons or Pete as role models and examples! They’re all maniacs who shouldn’t be emulated. They aren’t normal, don’t have normal lives, and don’t have any empathy for normal people. In return I don’t have any empathy for them.
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I know facts don’t actually matter in your conspiracy-land, but what would you say if I told you that Pete doesn’t speak Pashto? Because he doesn’t.
Just because you desperately want something to be true doesn’t make it so. Pete served in a financial intel unit to do nerdy spreadsheet stuff to track down terrorist cells. Intel officers are powerpoint and Excel nerds. Sometimes they look at pictures or radar images all day. They are not CIA torturers or whatever your weird fantasies make them out to be. I know you love to belittle me, but having actually worked with active duty intelligence officers, I can confidently say that my experience and knowledge on this is infinitely better than yours.
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oh shit I mispluralized this, pinky swear it wasn’t intentional!!!
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I enjoy disagreeing with your posts, which comes naturally. And ranking your music taste low lol.
Can you explain this to me? I definitely would not have noticed it, if you had not mentioned it.
If I understand you correctly, you are saying she wrote Buttigieges instead of Buttigiegs intentionally. What are you suggesting was the reason for her doing this?
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Disrespect. Just like the rest of the article.
Couldn’t it just be ignorance?
I have never even thought about it before your post, but if yesterday someone had asked, “Which is correct ‘Buttigiegs’ or ‘Buttigieges’?”, I am pretty sure I’d have gone with the former after thinking about it for a second. But I guess if someone was asking, I’d be worried it was a trick question.
It doesn’t seem that farfetched that it’s just a mistake. Also, if someone referred to my wife and me as the Melkersones, I definitely wouldn’t think they were attempting to insult me. My first thought would be that they just wrote poorly.
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I wish this article wasn’t on substack, but you can kinda still read it if you just keep scrolling
"Our internet is deeply broken.
It is a culture defined by a sort of post-ironic nihilism that finds if not pleasure then at least an algorithmic incentive in contemptuously cringing at people. It is a system that uses cringe as a weapon to not only police a very narrow framework of what’s cool to post on the internet, but to punish those who act outside its constraints. Divorced from any sort of personal connection, it’s much harder for compassion to restrain us.
Contra Point’s take:
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He’s not pointing out why I dislike Buttegieg, he’s pointing out why Buttegieg isn’t as good of a politician as Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. Those two have the genuine gift of covering their neoliberal policies with a convincing and charismatic front. Pete attempts the same thing without the charm. But all three are indistinguishable from a policy standpoint from my perspective. Obama and Clinton just have more political talent than Buttegieg.