Politics

BSO Dave said:
I realize this... That's why I responded to your comment in the first place... We see many subjects from different perspectives... ;)



Firstly, if the republicans had no leverage, Brandon and the dems would have continued to refuse any attempt at negotiation whatsoever. Brandon is the one that blinked after 100 days in this standoff. With that, the republicans could have applied much more pressure than they did and achieved a better overall deal. The fact that the dems agreed to terms in a week of negotiations is a clear sign that they feel they got the better end of the stick.. This compromised deal gives the Brandon Administration and the dems a far greater victory than the republicans, and demonstrates no victory whatsoever for any meaningful step toward fiscal conservatism..

You can claim disingenuity on the part of Freedom caucus members all you like, but there are many among them including my Congressman Byron Donalds who was elected in large part on the promise that he would not bow down to the "business as usual" mentality in D.C. and take a serious stand on restoring meaningful fiscal conservancy in the Federal government. He did what we (his constituents) elected him to do..

The Speaker could have bet at the pot to see a few more cards before capitulating so easily. Bluffing at default and actually allowing default are two completely different strategies, but unfortunately, we will never know how the former would have worked out..



Please educate me on what exactly in this bill was remarkable?
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All Republicans wanted a better deal that had some teeth in it but it really just comes down to simple math and timing, not ideology among ourselves as Republicans. Republicans didn’t gain enough seats in either the H of R or the Senate in 2022 to control the narrative and override presidential vetos. We cannot proceed as if we had won the 2022 elections outright, no matter how much we would like to.

In addition, we will get more bites at the budget apple this fall as more budget issues and appropriations are hammered out. Even Newt Gingrich (who operated in a much easier environment with Republican control of both houses) said it’s a decent first step and we will have more chances coming up soon.

Biden finally blinked and McCarthy respected that with moderate small changes to live to fight another day and get the debt limit off his back. Getting the limit extended will clear the way for the liberal Press to turn its coverage to the Republican primary and away from blaming Republicans for a financial crisis that they would never blame on Democrats anyway. McCarthy also purposefully agreed to move the next debt limit debate and vote until after the 2024 elections, when we hopefully will have a Republican President and pick up more seats in Congress. Then, Republicans will have more power to claw back Biden’s spending and all the green nonsense.

It was also nice to see the stock market reaction to the deal and unemployment numbers with a 700 point gain. So far, 2023 has been much better than 2022 for the market, thank gawd!
 
Scott CWO said:
Biden finally blinked and McCarthy respected that with moderate small changes to live to fight another day and get the debt limit off his back. Getting the limit extended will clear the way for the liberal Press to turn its coverage to the Republican primary and away from blaming Republicans for a financial crisis that they would never blame on Democrats anyway. McCarthy also purposefully agreed to move the next debt limit debate and vote until after the 2024 elections, when we hopefully will have a Republican President and pick up more seats in Congress. Then, Republicans will have more power to claw back Biden’s spending and all the green nonsense.
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You have offered a very pragmatic and hopeful analysis of the events. I wish I could share your optimism especially in regard to the 2024 elections and increasing republican strength in D.C.. The other view is that conservatives missed a golden opportunity, and republicans will never hold majority control of any part of the federal government ever again...

The reality is that this legislation is a very small drop in a very large bucket resulting in more can kicking down the road in regard to meaningful fiscal responsibility... Ideologies aside, at some point a line will have to be drawn and the federal deficit will have to be taken seriously... It will be painful, and sacrifices will have to be made... Unfortunately, too few republicans and only a small handful of dems are willing to acknowledge this and do what is necessary...
 
BSO Dave said:
You have offered a very pragmatic and hopeful analysis of the events. I wish I could share your optimism especially in regard to the 2024 elections and increasing republican strength in D.C.. The other view is that conservatives missed a golden opportunity, and republicans will never hold majority control of any part of the federal government ever again...

The reality is that this legislation is a very small drop in a very large bucket resulting in more can kicking down the road in regard to meaningful fiscal responsibility... Ideologies aside, at some point a line will have to be drawn and the federal deficit will have to be taken seriously... It will be painful, and sacrifices will have to be made... Unfortunately, too few republicans and only a small handful of dems are willing to acknowledge this and do what is necessary...
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Just not the right time. As for golden opportunities, it would have been one for the Press to put most of the blame for a default on Republicans in a run up to the next election. McCarthy wanted to avoid that. Let’s give him a chance to do his job and get a few more things done before judging him too much. Time will tell.
 
Marc Ret said:
Showing continued fealty to the deviants of the alphabet mafia during the holy month of June takes precedence above all else.
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Image1685839425.696086.jpg
 
BSO Dave said:
I realize this... That's why I responded to your comment in the first place... We see many subjects from different perspectives... ;)



Firstly, if the republicans had no leverage, Brandon and the dems would have continued to refuse any attempt at negotiation whatsoever. Brandon is the one that blinked after 100 days in this standoff. With that, the republicans could have applied much more pressure than they did and achieved a better overall deal. The fact that the dems agreed to terms in a week of negotiations is a clear sign that they feel they got the better end of the stick.. This compromised deal gives the Brandon Administration and the dems a far greater victory than the republicans, and demonstrates no victory whatsoever for any meaningful step toward fiscal conservatism..

You can claim disingenuity on the part of Freedom caucus members all you like, but there are many among them including my Congressman Byron Donalds who was elected in large part on the promise that he would not bow down to the "business as usual" mentality in D.C. and take a serious stand on restoring meaningful fiscal conservancy in the Federal government. He did what we (his constituents) elected him to do..

The Speaker could have bet at the pot to see a few more cards before capitulating so easily. Bluffing at default and actually allowing default are two completely different strategies, but unfortunately, we will never know how the former would have worked out..



Please educate me on what exactly in this bill was remarkable?
Click to expand...
I think we will leave it that we simply disagree. I see no more leverage that they could have exercised, and you apparently do. :E Shrug: What I am certain would have happened is that at some point the speaker's coalition would have evaporated and a stop gap measure would have passed gaining nothing but another dust up closer to the election - indeed likely strengthening the President's hand. So, I am very pleased with what he accomplished, I do not believe that he could have reasonably obtained more and something was far better than nothing. You do - You have made no argument how he could have played those cards - whatever they were - differently. I simply do not believe he had them to play. We should leave it at that.

Again from my perspective, it is obvious many in the Freedom Caucus, MTG and Jim Jordan were notable and commendable exceptions, were cynically, and of course safely, performing for their constituents in the same way the squad was performing for theirs with regard to work requirements in the bill. Both groups can count votes as well as anyone, and as soon as they were safe from being attached to a default, were free to vote or pontificate their constituents about how they aren't playing along with business as usual. Hopefully, they'll also be part of getting something done as well. I find it interesting that Chip Roy has shifted his position significantly.

Finally, and this is where I agree with Rand Paul, until we are willing to address the entitlement side of expenditures (depending how it is counted, over 80% of our debt) playing with discretionary spending is just playing with the edges and harmful to defense. However, as of right now, the two leading candidates have promised that Medicare and Medicaid are sacrosanct. From a debt perspective, I am not sure it matters who is elected as President if the choice is Biden or Trump.
 
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Red Leg said:
I think we will leave it that we simply disagree. I see no more leverage that they could have exercised, and you apparently do. :E Shrug: What I am certain would have happened is that at some point the speaker's coalition would have evaporated and a stop gap measure would have passed gaining nothing but another dust up closer to the election - indeed likely strengthening the President's hand. So, I am very pleased with what he accomplished, I do not believe that he could have reasonably obtained more and something was far better than nothing. You do - You have made no argument how he could have played those cards - whatever they were - differently. I simply do not believe he had them to play. We should leave it at that.

Again from my perspective, it is obvious many in the Freedom Caucus, MTG and Jim Jordan were notable and commendable exceptions, were cynically, and of course safely, performing for their constituents in the same way the squad was performing for theirs with regard to work requirements in the bill. They can count votes as well as anyone, and as soon as they were safe from being attached to a default, they were free to vote or pontificate their constituents about how they aren't playing along with business as usual. Hopefully, they'll also be a part of getting something done as well. I find it interesting that Chip Roy has shifted his position significantly.

Finally, and this is where I agree with Rand Paul, until we are willing to address the entitlement side of expenditures (depending how it is counted, over 80% of our debt) playing with discretionary spending is just playing with the edges and harmful to defense. However, as of right now, the two leading candidates have promised that Medicare and Medicaid are sacrosanct. From a debt perspective, I am not sure it matters who is elected as President if it is Biden or Trump.
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Don’t get me started on Chip.
 
Wheels said:
Another example of America pissing off the world for no strategic reason.

Biden Wants Sanctions for Uganda Because Its Government Passed Anti-LGBT Laws | Mises Institute

Just in case you wrongly thought sanctions had anything to do with national security: Biden wants to sanction the people of a small African country over
mises.org mises.org
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Think it was around 3 years ago, the usa ambassador to here had to leave and go back to usa for giving the government shit... on I think it was whichever day then was gay day or whatever called...the usa embassy was decked out in flags etc backing it....and he spouted off about the anti gay laws here....didn't go down well and caused a diplomatic spat...the latest president HH has also stated its a Christian country and won't be changing any laws, as the family is no 1 in how society is....and he is a usa fanboy....but yeah one way to piss off countries here is to start on this subject....people are religious and you see churches slowly being built as money comes in...and some pretty big ones....also quite a few Muslims here. I think SA is one of the few countries in Africa that the alphabet sex isn't illegal. Also I believe that in Uganda some similar law changes were tried a few years ago but the top court ruled against them as possibly unconstitutional..but can't remember 100% if that was the reason. So it might not get through. It also was watered down by the president , as the death penalty was going to be applied to anyone caught in a homosexual act, which even he said was going too far...and also from memory that anyone appearing to be gay could be arrested which was dropped ...could be wrong as read it a bit ago but that's the general gist of it...here I think with quite a few people the attitude is if they not making it obvious then no issue...but people are prosecuted so especially as a white tourist don't push your luck if you are that way inclined....
 
"people are religious and you see churches slowly being built as money comes in...and some pretty big ones....also quite a few Muslims here".

religiosity in Africa often takes on absurd features.
They believe in the devil with the same fervour, as they believe in God.
Muslims do not play a major role in Zambia.
There are no official statistics, but the Christian denominations estimate the number at about 3% of the total population, maybe a little more.
 
Foxi said:
"people are religious and you see churches slowly being built as money comes in...and some pretty big ones....also quite a few Muslims here".

religiosity in Africa often takes on absurd features.
They believe in the devil with the same fervour, as they believe in God.
Muslims do not play a major role in Zambia.
There are no official statistics, but the Christian denominations estimate the number at about 3% of the total population, maybe a little more.
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Glad to know your an expert....and yeah as I said they are religious...probably here they are where Europe or USA were probably bit over a century ago....and they believed in the devil then....and yeah the Muslims aren't a great number but they are in control of a big part of the wealth here....so not sure what you on about saying they don't have much say....I know what I see and read ....and I from looking around just now apparently live here....but what do I know...
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/140f7zb

Hate to move away from the general old guy bitch session again, but another one of these very brief clips that potentially portend something much more. This was taken by a Russian civilian this morning in the town of Novaya Tafolzhanka in the Belgorod Province of Russia which borders Ukraine. The soldier is an anti-Putin Russian resistance fighter, supplied and equipped by Ukraine, who is part of what now appears to be a rather robust force continuing a multi-week effort in Belgorod that has occupied several villages. From the clip, it is obvious that these troops are fully equipped, and perhaps more telling, are able to operate in full daylight.

To date, the Russian response has been very weak. In fact, overnight, they were firing on a neighboring village (home to Russian families) with artillery rather than send in troops to root out these forces. My conclusion is that they have little reserve capacity and continue to be plagued by disunity of command (Wagner is just the most obvious flash point).

They have to deal with this incursion. They have three choices, and none of them are good. They can pull regime protection forces from the Moscow area (where mysterious fires continue to be lit), they can utilize whatever reserves they have accumulated to react to a potential Ukrainian breakthrough in the pending counteroffensive, or they can pull competent units out of the line of contact they are already having difficulty covering that is nearly thousand kilometers in length.

This incursion would seem to clearly be a component of Ukrainian shaping operations along with HIMARS and Storm Shadow strikes at logistics hubs and command posts.
 
Red Leg said:
...However, as of right now, the two leading candidates have promised that Medicare and Medicaid are sacrosanct. From a debt perspective, I am not sure it matters who is elected as President if the choice is Biden or Trump.
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Medicaid is one thing. However, Medicare I'd say is untouchable politically. Those that are on Medicare have paid into it much more than they are taking out (for the most part) and any proposal to mess with it would have huge political repercussions. Between, Medicare premiums, Part B and prescription coverage people are paying about $2K or so a year in addition to all the payments they have made during their working lifetime.

I must admit, once I turned 65 it was a good option for me. My medical insurance through one of my companies was about $900 a month. Quite a bit of savings once I got on Medicare.

Social security once I get on it at 70 and a half should pay me enough for a tuskless elephant/buffalo hunt a year. :ROFLMAO:
 
spike.t said:
Glad to know your an expert....and yeah as I said they are religious...probably here they are where Europe or USA were probably bit over a century ago....and they believed in the devil then....and yeah the Muslims aren't a great number but they are in control of a big part of the wealth here....so not sure what you on about saying they don't have much say....I know what I see and read ....and I from looking around just now apparently live here....but what do I know...
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One of our mission churches from the neighbouring village here is traditionally strongly represented in Zambia and I always have a lively exchange with the padres throughout the year.
You are not the only one living in Zambia, friends of mine do too.
Don't feel put on the spot right away.
 
Foxi said:
One of our mission churches from the neighbouring village here is traditionally strongly represented in Zambia and I always have a lively exchange with the padres throughout the year.
You are not the only one living in Zambia, friends of mine do too.
Don't feel put on the spot right away.
Click to expand...

I don't feel put on the spot at all...just telling you how it is.....which regardless of your interaction with padres you don't seem realise the actual reality....simple
 
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