Jason Diamond

theguardian.comDog shoots woman with shotgun at Nebraska convenience storePolice responded to reports of gunfire at store in town of Scottsbluff, and found the culprit to be a dog

28 May

This actually happens more often than you'd think. @jasonkpargin.bsky.social

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist" - Dom Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop and liberation theologian

Jason Diamond reposted

Polling USA

@usapolling.bsky.social

Sometimes I believe the conspiracy theory that anti-nuclear environmentalists are just oil and gas astroturfed organizations

In October 1983, Ronald Reagan ordered the largest American military operation since Vietnam — the invasion of a Caribbean island smaller than Los Angeles. It was swift, controversial, and wildly popular at home. The reasons Reagan gave for doing it, however, did not survive scrutiny.

Even prominent Democrats who had criticized the invasion found themselves in an awkward position.

But the case made for the invasion — Soviet arms depot, a military base, students needing rescue — did not survive scrutiny. Each justification quietly eroded in the months that followed.

After the humiliation of Vietnam, the Iran hostage crisis, and the fresh devastation of the Beirut bombing just 48 hours earlier, Grenada delivered something the country had not felt in years: the straightforward satisfaction of winning.

Reagan's nationally televised address on October 27th was a turning point. He framed the operation in Cold War terms — American students in danger, a Soviet military base in the making, communism being stopped at the water's edge. It worked.

Operation Urgent Fury succeeded on nearly every political metric available in October 1983. A military triumph arrived just in time to displace the catastrophe of Beirut from the front pages. Reagan's approval ratings reached its highest point.