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   Clifton Royston (cliftonr@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 30-Dec-2024 06:53:00 JST Clifton Royston

   Jimmy Carter was the only US president in my lifetime who I am comfortable saying was a good human being.

   I'm not sure how good a president he was, although a lot better than he was made to look through deliberate sabotage of his presidency by the Republicans, but AFAIK he seems to have genuinely been a good person all the way through.

   I believe he is the only President in recent years under whom the US didn't invade or participate in a war against another country.

   Edit: fixed typo

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 30-Dec-2024 06:52:56 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     @CliftonR Disagree: he authorized Zbignew Brzezinski's strategy of setting the Soviet near abroad aflame, which led to the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan and set us on the road to Afghanistan's descent into the hellscape we now recognize. He oversaw a massive military build-up (that Reagan took credit for). Arguably, he shat the bed over Iran (the revolution happened 3 years into his administration—he could have leaned on the Shah).

     On the other hand? Eliminating Guinea worm is a big deal.

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     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Monday, 30-Dec-2024 06:54:33 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     @CliftonR The US presidency is an imperial office: nobody gets to be POTUS who doesn't buy into the values of the office (except possibly Trump). And on occasion the office requires ruthless brutality of its servants. It cannot be otherwise for the executive branch of an imperial power.