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Meme of the day
Morten Rand-Hendriksen, whom I met during my time as a Microsoftie, has a brilliant “ice-breaker” question that’s perfect for those group intro sessions, where everyone’s trying to get a feel for all the other people in the room.
The question:
A museum calls you and says they want to feature you in their permanent exhibit. But there’s a small catch: They only have room for one artifact, and you only get to choose once. What do you send them?
The answer for me would seem obvious — an accordion — but the question then becomes: Which one? The answer to that question is “The first one”, pictured at the top of this post. It’s the one I took out onto the streets of Toronto on May 1, 1999 and started this whole thing rolling.
What would your artifact be?
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A reminder
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Floridian Pie
During my time at Crazy Go Nuts University, I was in a band that covered a couple of Pixies numbers (Tame, U-Mass, and we also covered their cover of The Beatles’ Wild Honey Pie), and have attended 4 concerts where the Pixies were either part of the line-up or the headlining act. I suppose this kind of “oof” was bound to happen sooner or later.
Wave of Mutilation came from the Pixies’ 1989 album, Doolittle:
Here is Mike Pompeo, less than a year ago, meeting with Afghanistan’s new ‘president,’ Taliban leader Mullah Baradar, who the Trump administration had released from prison in 2018. But sure, Mike, tell us more about ‘deterrence’ and toughness. https://t.co/7BYMTQ4cDB pic.twitter.com/xtgbhjNWec
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 15, 2021
In 2018, Trump got Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar released from prison.
In 2020, Trump's Secretary of State met with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
In 2021, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is set to become the President of Afghanistan under Taliban rule. pic.twitter.com/pbdus8aeZx
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 15, 2021
Also worth checking out is this article from The Hindu: Mullah Baradar released by Pakistan at the behest of US: Khalilzad (Feburary 9, 2019)
And then, after Baradar’s release, do you remember the hush-hush plans to meet with the Taliban at Camp David back in 2019? See these articles:
- New York Times — How Trump’s Plan to Secretly Meet With the Taliban Came Together, and Fell Apart (September 8, 2019)
- Military Times — Trump calls off secret Camp David meeting with Taliban, Afghan leaders (September 8, 2019)
- CNN — Trump overruled advisers, VP on Taliban Camp David meeting (September 9, 2019)
- The New Yorker — Trump’s stunt with the Taliban was not about negotiating peace (September 9, 2019)
And as for the withdrawal, remember that Trump had set a withdrawal date of much earlier this year — May 1:
- In fact, he wanted them home by Christmas 2020: Trump ‘to order further troop withdrawal’ from Afghanistan and Iraq (BBC News, November 16, 2020)
- USA Today — Biden faces Trump’s deadline on Afghanistan troop withdrawal: ‘Any way you cut it, we are headed for a messy outcome’ (March 17, 2021)
- CNN: Trump calls Afghanistan withdrawal ‘a wonderful and positive thing to do’ and criticizes Biden’s timeline (April 19, 2021)
- CBS News: Trump backs Afghanistan withdrawal, putting him at odds with some Republicans (April 19, 2021)