Politics

[Hunt anything]

Of course politicians are known to exaggerate a touch now and again but don’t let a whale swim west south of Mississippi to Louisiana, they will expand the the restrictions as fast as possible.

 

[Red Leg]

This is an example of what I believe is the real "swamp." This is not legislation and not directly a political decision, bill, or recommendation. It is a regulatory ruling by faceless bureaucrats made with minimal public input through an obscure comment period. And frankly, most urban millennials, fully convinced oil and gas are evil products created by even more villainous corporate overlords, will cheer the decision as a great step in protecting whales, all of which (they have no idea what a Rices whale might be) they are convinced are on the brink of extinction.

To be fair, I had never heard of the Rices Whale even having grown up on the Gulf coast. But apparently there are only about 100 left.

 

[sgt_zim]

 

[Hunt anything]

Red Leg your not the only one that’s never heard of this whale I’ve fished around 50 days a year offshore out of Orange Beach Alabama (started in 1982) and never heard of them and it has always been a huge deal if any of the boats saw a whale of any type. Since about 1982 I’ve seen whales 3 times, a pod of killer whales and sperm whales twice. Evidently the Rices whale is closely related to some other baylene species and was only separated into a new species recently.

 

[rookhawk]

Red Leg your not the only one that’s never heard of this whale I’ve fished around 50 days a year offshore out of Orange Beach Alabama (started in 1982) and never heard of them and it has always been a huge deal if any of the boats saw a whale of any type. Since about 1982 I’ve seen whales 3 times, a pod of killer whales and sperm whales twice. Evidently the Rices whale is closely related to some other baylene species and was only separated into a new species recently.

My daughter is an animal buff and she told me about the Vaquita which I had never heard of before. They live off the coast of Baja and they are the smallest marine mammal. Roughly 10-13 left. They all died out because they drown in fishing nets. Astounded there was a North American mammal I'd never heard of before.

 

[WAB]

From what I understood listening to our congressman this morning it will be a line due south of Dauphin island Alabama to the east, plenty of rigs south of Alabama. Also will effect shipping coming into the port of Mobile and cruise ships coming into Mobile.

If that is the case it will definitely affect the fishing industry negatively. The shrimpers run all night.

 

[Hunt anything]

If that is the case it will definitely affect the fishing industry negatively. The shrimpers run all night.

This will mainly impact the royal red shrimpers, it’s a deep water shrimp. The biggest impact for me will be our tuna trips, we normally leave port at dark run to a specific oil rig that puts us their at about midnight, jig for black fin until daylight then troll all day for billfish, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. Then after dark go back to jigging for the blackfin tuna until we get tired and then do it again in the morning and head in. round trip is close to 300 miles. All of this takes place from 60 to 100 miles offshore in anywhere from 900’ to 1500’ of water.

 

[PARA45]

In the meantime this is going viral. It has been interesting watching people reactions. It is one of those songs that you feel. 90% of Americans can relate, it is also relatable for most of the world. 30 million views in 12 days.

Apparently, the music industry offered him a huge amount of $$ and he turned it down. That is commendable of him. Turns down becoming rich overnight.

MSN

 

[John Wasmuth]

Wagner group chief killed in plane crash….. interesting….

 

[Tundra Tiger]

This pertains to the Rich Men North of Richmond song, in case there is any ambiguity.

My own take? Not my preferred genre of music... I don't think his singing skills are all that refined... I can get behind the message. Living in Alaska, there is soooo much entitlement, with expecting the flow from the government teat to always be flowing. Frankly, it pisses me off. I do not have a lot of compassion for the obese milkin' welfare. We have a lot of those up here.

That said, my interpretation was completely that the blame is on the folks in DC. And yeah, a lot of them are wealthy. I'd add it's not just men - it's the women serving there too. For those of you who have worked hard for what you have, I respect what you have accomplished. A little jealous that you get to go to Africa more than me? Sure. I'd love to go more. Do I begrudge anyone what they have worked to earn. Hell no. Most (and I select that word because I do think it's accurate) of the folks serving in DC? They are the problem.

Anyway... I saw this on FB. The guy who posted said this: "A few of y'all have asked me who the Rich Men North of Richmond are. This MAP should help."

 

[Doug3006]

Wagner group chief killed in plane crash….. interesting….

I’m shocked. Shocked!

 

[John Wasmuth]

News says his plane was assisted out of the sky by a SAM.

 

[spike.t]

Bit there on BBC live

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-66599774

 

[BSO Dave]

I am not arguing that point Dave at all and not defending them. Though, I do think McConnell deserves most of the credit for shaping the current Supreme Court. My only point is that there isn't a thing Donald Trump or any other president can do about them unless he seizes the government and rules as a dictator. At that point, I think we can agree we no longer have an actual president or a republic.

Those RINOs or Uni-party members of the Swamp or whatever name one wants to apply were elected by their constituents - most of whom also voted for Trump in the last two elections - though not quite enough in the second. It is why I find the same people ranting about them as swamp denizens so ridiculous. I guess everyone is a swamp monster except my swamp monster.

There are two separate contentions that I would make to your points above...

1) I do agree with your later post here that the vast majority of what actually compromises the "swamp" is not comprised completely of elected officials, but unelected bureaucrats at all various levels of public service... Trump, or any other POTUS, holding office can absolutely have a direct impact on eradicating the most dangerous and counterproductive individuals from these positions.

2) In regard to the swamp dwellers who are elected officials, I would agree to the extent that the POTUS has no direct means of eliminating these elected individuals once in office. However, the POTUS does have other Executive powers available to him to influence these individuals, and certainly possesses the potential to influence their constituencies in future elections.

I believe that McConnell is one of only a few exemptions to the rule that RINOs continue to get re-elected by the same constituency that simultaneously demands to drain the swamp... The re-election of RINO candidates appears to be regionally unique to each candidate and their constituency. It's quite possible McConnell continues to get re-elected because the bulk of his constituency are RINOS themselves. There were very different outcomes for Liz Cheney along with 8 other RINO candidates that lost their primaries to Trump-backed candidates. Admittedly, Trump-backed candidates didn't fare as well as most of us would have liked in the general election, yet I firmly reject the notion that those same candidates lost for the sole reason that they were endorsed by Trump.

Traditionally, a successful president had the skills to widen his base in order to successfully govern - the Gipper’s big tent. Biden seemingly has broken that mold and is getting regrettably a lot done because we have become divided into two separate camps, and theirs is a couple of percentage points larger than ours. This continuing focus on ideological purity married to a someone viewed as a detestable candidate by that slightly larger half of the electorate can destroy us as a national party.

You are correct of what has been traditional. However, I would point out that we are in unpreceded times and uncharted waters politically. I would further argue that we are in this unprecedented situation precisely because the republican party as a whole has progressively failed to expand their "tent" over the last several election cycles going back to Bush Sr... McCain and Romney were bad candidates which I feel directly illustrated the beginning of the end for the "traditional" republicans which I now refer to as "RINOs. Not only did they fail to relate to populist conservatives, but they also failed to defend them. They took the loyalty of the average moderate conservative for granted and paid the price. Actually, we all paid the price...

This has been the ongoing overall theme of the republican party's collective failure to relate to the average middle-class working American who has been not only ignored but mocked and vilified by democrats especially during the Obama era until Trump arrived on the political landscape. Who, by the way, capitalized on a pretty obvious set of notions that were somehow completely missed by 16 other traditional republican candidates. This is where the republican party lost me, and I became an independent. RINOS are the reason the tent is shrinking, not Trump... If the republican party indeed destroys itself, it will be for their failure to recognize who they are supposed to be representing, and not because of Trump's loyalists.

 

[Brent in Az]

Apparently, the music industry offered him a huge amount of $$ and he turned it down. That is commendable of him. Turns down becoming rich overnight.

MSN

I heard he was making $40k per day off that song

 

[Brent in Az]

Certainly nothing suspicious when Wagner's warlord dies in a private jet crash........

 

[Red Leg]

Wagner group chief killed in plane crash….. interesting….

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/15zahvp

Looks more and more like a Russian SAM probably did the job. Like falling from a window only a bit more spectacular and hard on your aircrew and staff.

 

[Doug3006]

If I were a pilot, there’s not enough money to get me to fly good old Yevgeny. Hell, I wouldn’t want to be in the same room. He is….or was….hazardous to one‘s health.

 

[jpr9954]

A variation on Rich Men North of Richmond.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

"The re-election of RINO candidates appears to be regionally unique to each candidate and their constituency."

One word for Alaskans: Murkowski.