Politics

[John Wasmuth]

I disagree, and that is not how it transpired....

Trump did indeed campaign on the border wall and asserted that Mexico would pay for it... It was actually a genius campaign slogan.... It was red meat rhetoric for the base and a very appealing idea to the taxpayer. However, like everything that Trump says, the MSM takes it out of context or fact checks half-truths... Trump explained that he never intended to send Mexico a bill and have them write a check... He inferred that Mexico would pay indirectly in the cost savings to the USA via drastically reduced detention, processing, and adjudication costs for immigrants. He further asserted that Mexico would also "pay for it" in the form of renegotiated tariffs and trade deals with the USA... Both ideologies would have provided more than enough compensation to have paid for the border wall.

He actually did rebuild over 450 miles of broken wall at the highest traffic areas and bought the materials to finish the entire project by funding sourced outside of Congressional legislation which absolutely failed him. That raw material sat on the border for the last 3 years until most of it was eventually sold for scrap by the Brandon Administration for 10 cents on the dollar. Let's Go Brandon!



Once again, you are missing the entire point in regard to his appeal with his supporters...

What Trump can afford has nothing to do with how he relates to the little guy. Long before he was POTUS, Trump was famous for donning a hard hat and visiting his building sites while interacting directly with the workers. Whether it is on the job site or the campaign trail, he always shakes hands and takes the time to actually listen to what they are saying. The fact that he would concede this lavish lifestyle that you say he leads to get attacked and abused by his haters for the last 9 years is precisely why his supporters love him. He was the only one who was direct and bold enough to speak on behalf of a huge electorate that the RINO republicans refused to hear for decades. How that appeal is not obviously apparent to anyone else is baffling to me...

This is a guy who eats at McDonalds himself and sent pizza and chocolate candy kisses to his supporters that were on the streets outside Walter Reed when he was hospitalized with Covid. He doesn't hide from the media. He actually seeks them out, and when he speaks it's off the cuff, not off a teleprompter. He is often his own worst enemy when he speaks, but that is beside the point which is that he is not scripted.

This is also the guy who went to Palestine, Ohio to meet with the folks directly after the train accident actually occurred... Trump's kids hunt and fish... Brandon's kid is a crack addict and swindler... Like him or not, he and his family genuinely relate to the little guy far better than any politician in recent history... If he was indeed a rich, pompous ass that spewed nothing but scripted political garbage, like every other politician, he would absolutely never have endeared himself to blue-collar America.

Which is why his numbers are so high and they grow every day regardless of what is thrown at the public by the media and “he hurt my feelings” crowd.

 

[mdwest]

History is so interesting. I thought I knew Churchill fairly well as I have all of his works and have read them extensively. Reading the analysis of others from that period, I realized that I had barely scratched the surface!

You'd love spending an afternoon with Jonathan... He is a voracious researcher.. I have no clue how much time/energy he has spent working on his more recent book, but its got to be thousands of hours range at this point (he's been working on it for more than a few years).. he's traveled all over the globe pulling small fragments of information from places, talking to everyone from behavioral psychologists to other scientists/PhDs that might have a better understanding on a specific issue or item than he does etc.. Now that he is an "administrator" of sorts at the university he spends much more time on the R&D side of things than he does "teaching" in the classroom.. and gets a good bit more opportunity to write, research, publish, etc than other professors in his department I think..

While he has incredible insight and his mind is full of information that most of us will never possess.. what I enjoy most about sitting by the fire and bullshitting with him is he is able to take very complex issues (geo-political, pol-mil, etc) and make them very easy to understand.. he isnt one of those professors that are enamored by their own intelligence or that has some sort of superiority complex because they know something you dont, or have a better educational pedigree than you might have.. hes actually a really humble guy that super easy to talk to...

 

[bowjijohn]

Germany has been embarrassed

Mixture of poor leadership playing to an out of date anti military culture

Or

German politics riddled with those who are not batting for the West

Or

Mischievous miss-information

My penny goes to Russian sympathy and short term concern for electoral success

Europe is like a one legged football team

Germany?

Russia’s useful idiot in NATO

Trump?

I can’t work out if he is clever or Russia’s extremely useful idiot in NATO

 

[BSO Dave]

There are exactly zero things positive that would have occurred globally for the US had the end result of the war been any different… the economic impacts, social impacts, cultural impacts, political impacts, etc that would have occurred would have absolutely changed what the US looked like and what the US was able to become post WWII (all in a negative way)… had we not gotten involved and had the allies not won..

Again, with all due respect, ANY assessment of history done in hindsight is speculation... Experts can assert whatever they like in regard to historical outcomes, but the certainties of what would have happened would require a crystal ball... You are of course, welcome to disagree...

Furthermore, I don't doubt for a second that nothing positive would have resulted had the US not eventually become involved. That's not at all what I am saying... I have absolutely no doubt that US involvement was inevitable for many reasons. My point, or rather question to RedLeg was how we would actually know with any specific certainly the cost with respect to the timeline and eventuality of US involvement...

It's my understanding that even though we did not commit ground troops at the beginning of the war, the US did send in all, $31 billion to the United Kingdom, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to other Allies. Admittedly, I am not sure how these figures relate in terms of today's dollars, but it's not as if the US was practicing total isolationism is it? This doesn't seem much different than the policy the US is currently engaging with respect to Ukraine or Israel?

 

[mdwest]

Again, with all due respect, ANY assessment of history done in hindsight is speculation... Experts can assert whatever they like in regard to historical outcomes, but the certainties of what would have happened would require a crystal ball... You are of course, welcome to disagree...

I dont disagree.. thats why PhD's deal in theory... vs other terminal degree holders (EdD, DBA, DEng, DArch, etc) apply theories to real world problems to seek resolution while proving/denying theory...

The challenge with History is there is no way to prove/deny historical theory.. you cant apply possibilities in the past to determine absolute future results in history... the furthest you can get is a probability of future results at best..

That said, who is better at providing us a probability we can trust? a regarded, peer reviewed, trained researcher that is held to a specific standard? or the MSM? or random guys on the street that fancy themselves "experts" on a particular issue because they have self studied? etc...

Researchers can absolutely get things wrong... they are human.. therefore they are fallible.. some are going to be greatly impacted by bias (although proper research should be designed to mitigate most bias).. some are going to have personal agendas and intentionally corrupt their research, etc..

But as a whole, I'll take the educated, researched, documented opinion of a guy that has staked his lifes work and entire career on an issue.. as opposed to someone elses position that might have put a bit of time into checking common sources, etc...

 

[Tundra Tiger]

...“he hurt my feelings” crowd.

It's not a matter of hurt feelings at all. It's a matter of doing the right thing and acting the right way. I know some people feel/think it's OK for him to lash out at pretty much anyone because they feel like he has been mistreated by the left and by the MSM. I don't deny that's probably the case to some degree. Where we differ is I want someone who is able to rise above that. I want someone who can be civil and be the adult in the room. Frankly I no longer think he's stooping to their level - I think that's just who he is, which is why he won't get my vote. He attacks not just the left and the MSM, but people who have done absolutely nothing to warrant it, other than some slight that only he perceives. He is a narcissistic ass, and his base have only emboldened him to lean into that even more.

I still hope for a late game miracle. I have said that many times.
I also believe, like many, that he will be the Republican nominee.
I think probably I believe they will figure out a way to substitute someone for Biden.
I believe whoever that is will beat Trump in the general election.
I believe his base will cry foul.
I believe the only thing foul will be how he willingly alienated so many along the way.
I believe if the Dems put forth someone moderate - like a Manchin - I might vote that way.
I know for a fact Trump won't get my vote, if it's him.

My feelings are not hurt at all. I'm an adult, a husband, and a parent - it doesn't work that way. But I do expect more of someone if I am going to choose them to represent me. He falls well short of the mark for me.

 

[Tanks]

... Trump was famous for donning a hard hat and visiting his building sites while interacting directly with the workers. Whether it is on the job site or the campaign trail, he always shakes hands and takes the time to actually listen to what they are saying. ..

That is management 101. To this day I remember my grandfather telling me when I was about 12 to talk to the workers and treat them with dignity and respect regardless of their job.

I adhere to that anytime I am around my workers. Even when I am visiting construction sites or farms myself.

Decade or so ago.

More recent with daughter.

As far as eating at McDonalds go, well most obese people go for fast food. Having worked at McDonalds during a college summer I would not eat that food. I do indulge at Chick-fil-a or In n Out occasionally though.

 

[mdwest]

As usual Maher has no difficulty bringing some hard truths to Democrats.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763798513014505910

Im going to guess there is very little socially or fiscally that Bill Maher and I agree on....

But he is the sort of "liberal" that I think I would legitimately enjoy spending some time with and getting to know...

He presents fact based arguments.. doesnt mind acknowledging failures or poor policy positions within his party.. and generally appears to actually care about "right" vs "wrong" (while my opinion of what is "right v wrong" might be different than his.. I can appreciate that right vs wrong is the cornerstone of his position as opposed to personal self interest)..

While we probably differ on every possible thing in life.. my guess is he likely is a good human being.. and he is certainly both smart and quick... I can respect those things..

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

MAGA Make America Great Again

MAMA Make America Mayberry Again

 

[mdwest]

That is management 101. To this day I remember my grandfather telling me when I was about 12 to talk to the workers and treat them with dignity and respect regardless of their job.

I adhere to that anytime I am around my workers. Even when I am visiting construction sites or farms myself.

+1

a million years ago, during what was still the early stages of the Iraq War.. the firm I worked for at the time held several static security contracts in the country...

we brought in a fairly large force of former Ugandan police and military personnel (5500+ people) to man the majority of the posts (why Ugandans? they speak excellent english, as far as African militaries and law enforcement goes they are reasonably well trained, their education system is better than most in their region, and they are super affordable as you can imagine)...

anyway... I was the "big boss" that traveled in from the US once every couple of months to either check on things or fix a problem, etc (all security projects in Iraq and Afghanistan were part of my portfolio at the time)... it always befuddled both the Ugandans and the US and South African expats (supervisors and managers) why I spent so much time in the towers and on the entry control points with the Ugandans.. and not a whole lot of time with the senior managers (US guys) while I was in country...

to @Tanks point.. Management 101... the guys on the line are where you learn the most..

treat them with respect and dignity.. let them know you actually care about them and that your job is to SERVE THEM (not the other way around)... and they will let you know every possible thing about whats going on (as opposed to hiding problems from you out of fear or concern)...

JW Marriott Jr figured this out a long time ago with his "Employees First" approach to leadership.. Marriott corporate still applies the model today (and is consequently always one of the top 10 rated companies in the US to work for).... Essentially take care of your employees... in turn they will take care of your customers.. and if your customers are taken care of, the bottom line will take care of itself..

It used to spook our Ugandan guards when I'd show up at some random tower on the perimeter of some random FOB at 2AM and start asking them questions like "can you recite your general orders?" or "can you show me your range card and then show me where the left and right limits of your field of fire are out there?"... once we got past a couple of formal questions (that I knew in advance they would knock out of the park and perform well on).. we'd just chat for 5 minutes.. I'd ask them how their sleep quarters were.. how they were enjoying the DFAC.. whether or not they had spoken with their families recently, etc.. and then before departing I'd usually present them with a challenge coin or some other little trinket, tell them how much I appreciated them doing a great job, and that I knew staying alert at 2AM was difficult, but they were an important piece of the security apparatus for the base, etc..

Those sort of actions brought huge volumes of wasta for both me individually and for the firm at large..

They were still Ugandans.. so there were always problems/issues to deal with.. whether there was some cultural divide we had to figure out how to overcome.. or training issues that needed to be corrected, etc..

But I never had to worry about them being motivated to perform or do a good job.. the overwhelming majority of them were solid (although there were certainly a few bad apples in the bunch as well... you cant have a 5500 person workforce and expect them all to be "great"...)...

 

[Wheels]

 

[VertigoBE]

The problem with this thread and this site is that when one makes such an assertion the bar is also seating at least two former corporate vice presidents and at least two CEO/owners of successful enterprises doing business in whole or in part with the US Government and/or DOD specifically. Several other seats contain successful small business owners. Occupying two other stools are an actual DOD acquisition expert and a former commanding general of the Army's Security Assistance Command.

Exactly this higher concentration of above average successful people and their willingness to share their insights, is why I keep on coming back to this forum.

 

[Red Leg]

Again, with all due respect, ANY assessment of history done in hindsight is speculation... Experts can assert whatever they like in regard to historical outcomes, but the certainties of what would have happened would require a crystal ball... You are of course, welcome to disagree...

Furthermore, I don't doubt for a second that nothing positive would have resulted had the US not eventually become involved. That's not at all what I am saying... I have absolutely no doubt that US involvement was inevitable for many reasons. My point, or rather question to RedLeg was how we would actually know with any specific certainly the cost with respect to the timeline and eventuality of US involvement...

It's my understanding that even though we did not commit ground troops at the beginning of the war, the US did send in all, $31 billion to the United Kingdom, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to other Allies. Admittedly, I am not sure how these figures relate in terms of today's dollars, but it's not as if the US was practicing total isolationism is it? This doesn't seem much different than the policy the US is currently engaging with respect to Ukraine or Israel?

I am not entirely what you are saying with regard to history and hindsight.

ANY assessment of history done in hindsight is speculation..

What does this even mean? Because it is history, in other words the events in question happened, our insights into the effect of those events are pretty precise. Part of the history of WWII is the appeasement of Adolf Hitler by Great Britain and France. That appeasement happened, it in no way deterred Hitler, indeed it merely fed his ambition, and the most cataclysmic war in the history of the planet occurred. Now if you have reached a different interpretation of those events, it will indeed be a revolutionary thesis to spring on historians.

The US played no part in either appeasement are in leading a halt to Hitler's budding ambitions because we had reverted to isolationism soon after the conclusion of the First World War. At the end of it, barely bled compared to our allies or enemies, we were the most powerful nation with the most powerful Army in Europe. The League of Nations was our idea as was the concept of a just peace for Germany. In short order we turned our back and went home to hide behind our oceans. The resulting Treaty of Versailles in many ways guaranteed another war.

The US Army alone in 1918 had just over 4 million in uniform and 2 million deployed in France. By 1930, the total size of the US armed forces - not just the Army - was 250 thousand. We had totally abrogated our pot-war responsibilities. We would shortly pay an enormous cost for that neglect.

It's my understanding that even though we did not commit ground troops at the beginning of the war, the US did send in all, $31 billion to the United Kingdom, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China, and the remaining $2.6 billion to other Allies. Admittedly, I am not sure how these figures relate in terms of today's dollars, but it's not as if the US was practicing total isolationism is it? This doesn't seem much different than the policy the US is currently engaging with respect to Ukraine or Israel?

I was writing of the events of 1936 - 1938 (German occupation of the Rhineland through the German occupation of Czechoslovakia) - not 1939-1945 which are the dates of the war and the period you are detailing. Those critical two years have nothing to do with our gradual involvement and fiscal/military support for Great Britain in the European war after the fall of France in 1940. We did not begin to provide any to aid Russia until after the German invasion of June 1941. Of course we became full blown allied co-belligerents in December of '41.

However, 1936-1938 was the period where Hitler's ambitions in Western Europe could have been nipped in the bud. I know of no serious historian who questions that. And if you insist on throwing out the analytical judgement of three generations of scholars who have studied the era, then logic alone would suggest any alternative to what precipitated the war had to have been better. Sadly, we were not there to stiffen the spines of our former European allies in that period because we were too busy pretending Europe did not affect us.

The men who won WWII were far wiser than the isolationists and appeasers who precipitated it. It was a lesson one would have hoped was burned deeply into our national consciousness. The fulminations of Donald Trump and blind support of his followers would suggest we will have to learn it again.

The current parallels to 1936-1938 I believe are profound and obvious to anyone with an understanding of that period.

 

[Jfet]

The US played no part in either appeasement are in leading a halt to Hitler's budding ambitions because we had reverted to isolationism soon after the conclusion of the First World War.

According to Hopper in the movie, “It’s a Bug’s Life,” the first rule of leadership is “It is always your fault.” The U.S. was not choosing to lead in the early 1930’s. We were following and let someone else set the tone. In my book that means it was OUR fault.

However, 1936-1938 was the period where Hitler's ambitions in Western Europe could have been nipped in the bud.

Hitler had NO army at that time. The French army dwarfed the Germany army. However, the French did not want to lead, neither did the British, and the US was only worried abut itself. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles clearly stated that Hitler was committing an act of aggression and it was the responsibility of France, and the UK to march their armies into Germany and drive Hitler out of power. They did not do so. The U.S. didn’t bother to ratify that treaty and thus had no influence.

Fast forward to 2014 Putin annexes Crimea. This is a violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. The U. S. signed that document. Nothing was done. Putin gains confidence. 2021 Putin now feels he can march into Kiev without any issues from the U.S. or NATO and so he does.

The similarities between Hitler, 1936-1938 and Putin’s, 2014-2022 actions and the reactions of the free world are startling. The big difference has been Ukraine. They are fighting tooth and nail.

Does the U. S. lead and set the tone or does it do what it did in 1936? The decision the U.S. made in 1936 led to 1939-1945. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.

 

[Jfet]

The men who won WWII were far wiser than the isolationists and appeasers who precipitated it. It was a lesson one would have hoped was burned deeply into our national consciousness

And now we are forgetting the lessons that those men learned the hard way in some very nasty parts of the world. I have even had high school students of mine tell me the Holocaust did not happen. My football players in my classroom were digging holes in the ground to escape the collateral damage that was going to occur as I exploded on that young girl. The girl ran out of the class in tears. I got a standing ovation from my students. Evidently, this was the first time a teacher in that school district had stood up to her. Don’t be like that freshman girl.

 

[WAB]

+1

a million years ago, during what was still the early stages of the Iraq War.. the firm I worked for at the time held several static security contracts in the country...

we brought in a fairly large force of former Ugandan police and military personnel (5500+ people) to man the majority of the posts (why Ugandans? they speak excellent english, as far as African militaries and law enforcement goes they are reasonably well trained, their education system is better than most in their region, and they are super affordable as you can imagine)...

anyway... I was the "big boss" that traveled in from the US once every couple of months to either check on things or fix a problem, etc (all security projects in Iraq and Afghanistan were part of my portfolio at the time)... it always befuddled both the Ugandans and the US and South African expats (supervisors and managers) why I spent so much time in the towers and on the entry control points with the Ugandans.. and not a whole lot of time with the senior managers (US guys) while I was in country...

to @Tanks point.. Management 101... the guys on the line are where you learn the most..

treat them with respect and dignity.. let them know you actually care about them and that your job is to SERVE THEM (not the other way around)... and they will let you know every possible thing about whats going on (as opposed to hiding problems from you out of fear or concern)...

JW Marriott Jr figured this out a long time ago with his "Employees First" approach to leadership.. Marriott corporate still applies the model today (and is consequently always one of the top 10 rated companies in the US to work for).... Essentially take care of your employees... in turn they will take care of your customers.. and if your customers are taken care of, the bottom line will take care of itself..

It used to spook our Ugandan guards when I'd show up at some random tower on the perimeter of some random FOB at 2AM and start asking them questions like "can you recite your general orders?" or "can you show me your range card and then show me where the left and right limits of your field of fire are out there?"... once we got past a couple of formal questions (that I knew in advance they would knock out of the park and perform well on).. we'd just chat for 5 minutes.. I'd ask them how their sleep quarters were.. how they were enjoying the DFAC.. whether or not they had spoken with their families recently, etc.. and then before departing I'd usually present them with a challenge coin or some other little trinket, tell them how much I appreciated them doing a great job, and that I knew staying alert at 2AM was difficult, but they were an important piece of the security apparatus for the base, etc..

Those sort of actions brought huge volumes of wasta for both me individually and for the firm at large..

They were still Ugandans.. so there were always problems/issues to deal with.. whether there was some cultural divide we had to figure out how to overcome.. or training issues that needed to be corrected, etc..

But I never had to worry about them being motivated to perform or do a good job.. the overwhelming majority of them were solid (although there were certainly a few bad apples in the bunch as well... you cant have a 5500 person workforce and expect them all to be "great"...)...

Excellent point. I had the habit of showing up at the oil refineries I led at one or two AM. I would just wander into a control room and visit with the guys/gals. You learn a lot about what makes them tick and what is actually going on. Just as importantly, they get to know and trust you which is key to effective leadership.

 

[Boyd Brooks]

 

[Boyd Brooks]

 

[WAB]

You'd love spending an afternoon with Jonathan... He is a voracious researcher.. I have no clue how much time/energy he has spent working on his more recent book, but its got to be thousands of hours range at this point (he's been working on it for more than a few years).. he's traveled all over the globe pulling small fragments of information from places, talking to everyone from behavioral psychologists to other scientists/PhDs that might have a better understanding on a specific issue or item than he does etc.. Now that he is an "administrator" of sorts at the university he spends much more time on the R&D side of things than he does "teaching" in the classroom.. and gets a good bit more opportunity to write, research, publish, etc than other professors in his department I think..

While he has incredible insight and his mind is full of information that most of us will never possess.. what I enjoy most about sitting by the fire and bullshitting with him is he is able to take very complex issues (geo-political, pol-mil, etc) and make them very easy to understand.. he isnt one of those professors that are enamored by their own intelligence or that has some sort of superiority complex because they know something you dont, or have a better educational pedigree than you might have.. hes actually a really humble guy that super easy to talk to...

I am confident that that would be an eminently enjoyable evening. I would happily provide the adult beverages of choice.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Haiti is burning again. Anarchy

There's chaos in Haiti. Powerful gangs are attacking key targets like prisons as alliances shift

Gangs in Haiti are increasingly powerful, and they've been attacking prisons and the main international airport. They've forced businesses and schools to close.

apnews.com