Politics

[wesheltonj]

@Saul, you said your wife is a physician. Does she really only want to be paid CMS rates for everyone she treats? Remember, Harris wants no private health insurance.

 

[Ed Lally]

Well it certainly helps that she is not 78…and just because she is fit to serve does not mean she will be any good at the job. Trump in 2016 was also fit to serve. Now, I do not believe that he has the temperament or fitness to do the job.

I’m 79, a Licensed and Registered Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor, I am owner and chief design engineer in my $3,000,000+/year consulting firm and own/run three real estate development companies. I believe that I am significantly more intelligent, cognizant and mentally able then a relative high percentage of those running our government and there are many people my age that are just as “sharp” or “sharper”. Your comment “it helps that she is not 78” shows a high degree of age bias, if not just plain ignorance.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Well it certainly helps that she is not 78…and just because she is fit to serve does not mean she will be any good at the job. Trump in 2016 was also fit to serve. Now, I do not believe that he has the temperament or fitness to do the job.

Are you joking? The US was in much better hands when Trump was president than it ever was under Biden. Harris was the VP and could not even address the one job that Biden gave her. So we can alk agree that Trump is obnoxious. So what? He still has a greater ability to see what needs to be done and talent to do it. Harris has been in public office for many years and has never achieved anything. She has flipped on so many issues that the only thing we know is that whatever she decides to do it will be wrong for the country, until she tries to back-peddle it and make it worse. The office of POTUS is far to important to say, "Ooh, I don't want to invite him over for dinner because he's mean, so I'll vote for someone else who is demonstrably incompetent because she seems to be more fun."

 

[freefall]

I believe that he is wholly unfit for the Presidency. With regard to policy, my main opposition is his foreign policy, specifically as it relates to Ukraine, and what I perceive as his willingness to sell out our allies. Moreover, I do not trust him to not flip on any policy position of his that I do support.

Like the Democrats haven't sold out every ally we have, including Israel? How would you like to be in Taiwan right now with the Chinee flying overhead and Biden mumbling "don't. We got their, you know, the thing!"

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Biden was a disaster, everyone agrees. Harris was there with him. Her record, or lack of it, is clear for all to see, there are no highlights in it. She clearly has some serious social issues. And her running mate Walz is as un-stellar, not a leader.
Trump is strong, he is experienced, he is rough and tough, he is no saint. His running mate is stable, young, strong and highly intelligent. He has little experience, but a good leadership background.

The world is on fire and heating up. The USA is the world leader.

Who do you choose?

 

[Sheldor]

Zuckerberg Admits Facebook Killed Hunter Biden Laptop Story

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook killed the Hunter Biden laptop story after the FBI warned of possible Russian disinformation.

www.breitbart.com

As there must be major happenings going on, about the arrests of the S/M kings. The powers too be can't stand this much light that self thinkers already knew about, but the public in general could not grasp, the game is changing. Guessing he believes if Trump gets in, his life will take a turn for the worst, hence coming clean now,...?

 

[Saul]

I hear this a lot about Russia and Ukraine and how it will be all Trumps fault if Russia prevails in the end because of some badly chosen words some time back. Frankly I think Trump could bring this to a close if given the chance but I am not sure he will be given the chance even if elected.

I think Russia may prevail in the end regardless who is president. But here is a question most dont ask. At what point in our support of Ukraine do we pull back? Do we keep fueling the effort with money and goods? Putin is nothing if not stubborn and trying to envision him just admitting defeat, turning tail and going home is real hard to imagine.
What if that isnt enough? US boots on the ground? Advisory capacity? Starting to sound familiar, MACV anyone?
It’s all well and good to sit here with no risk and just keep sending someone else's money and guns "over there", but if that isnt doing the job, what then?

As I see it, the gravest threat to America is China, and they are using Ukraine as an opportunity to see our level of commitment to our allies (Taiwan), embarass the West on the global stage, and break our national resolve. If Russia is victorious in Ukraine, I believe that we will have seeded our own demise. Given what I perceive to be the stakes of this conflict, I hope you can understand why this issue is so critical to how I plan to vote.

@Saul, you said your wife is a physician. Does she really only want to be paid CMS rates for everyone she treats? Remember, Harris wants no private health insurance.

I am totally opposed to universal healthcare, which is why I hope for Republican control of Congress.

I’m 79, a Licensed and Registered Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor, I am owner and chief design engineer in my $3,000,000+/year consulting firm and own/run three real estate development companies. I believe that I am significantly more intelligent, cognizant and mentally able then a relative high percentage of those running our government and there are many people my age that are just as “sharp” or “sharper”. Your comment “it helps that she is not 78” shows a high degree of age bias, if not just plain ignorance.

No offense was intended. a Person can obviously be incredibly competent regardless of advanced age. However, we also need to acknowledge that physical and mental decline are a natural part of aging, and the rate and degree of decline increases with age. I do not believe it to be unreasonable to want to avoid our President being incapacitated or worse.

 

[bob meadows]

I think I just lost a lot of respect for someone's opinion....

vote for harris...vote for no 2a......yes ds and rs are the same....bob

 

[bob meadows]

As I see it, the gravest threat to America is China, and they are using Ukraine as an opportunity to see our level of commitment to our allies (Taiwan), embarass the West on the global stage, and break our national resolve. If Russia is victorious in Ukraine, I believe that we will have seeded our own demise. Given what I perceive to be the stakes of this conflict, I hope you can understand why this issue is so critical to how I plan to vote.

I am totally opposed to universal healthcare, which is why I hope for Republican control of Congress.

No offense was intended. a Person can obviously be incredibly competent regardless of advanced age. However, we also need to acknowledge that physical and mental decline are a natural part of aging, and the rate and degree of decline increases with age. I do not believe it to be unreasonable to want to avoid our President being incapacitated or worse.

the biggest threat to America is ....Americans.....voting for all the wokeness. tampons in boys bathrooms etc....china , russia etc didnt do this to us.....listen close, that is the sound of a country imploding from within.
china...start ...slowly .....not using them to make all our goods, will it take time? yes. will it hurt a little yes....is it the right thing to do ...yes......you want to put china on its knees?....not that hard...bob

 

[BSO Dave]

I disagree with her on most things, but I do believe that she is fit to serve as President.

You come across as a nice enough guy who seems to be sincere... However, this statement above is absolutely baffling to me, and why it's very hard to take you or any supporter of Harris or the democrats seriously when you make these types of assertions...

Take Trump completely out of the equation and please tell me how in the hell she is competent to be a night shift manager at Burger King let alone the leader of the free world? For the sake of argument, let's forget that she was a DEI pick to be VP in the first place. Let's also forget that she has exactly ZERO accomplishments as VP for the reason stated in the previous sentence... Her true domestic & economic policies were laughable, and because of that, she is now mimicking Trump's policies... She has no foreign policy experience to speak of, nor does she possess the demeanor to be taken seriously by our enemies.... In fact, outside one of the "squad" members, I really can't think of a less qualified politician in our current government than her...

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

I’m 79, a Licensed and Registered Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor, I am owner and chief design engineer in my $3,000,000+/year consulting firm and own/run three real estate development companies. I believe that I am significantly more intelligent, cognizant and mentally able then a relative high percentage of those running our government and there are many people my age that are just as “sharp” or “sharper”. Your comment “it helps that she is not 78” shows a high degree of age bias, if not just plain ignorance.

 

[Red Leg]

I hate to pull anyone away from the novelty that other people can reach different conclusions from a similar set of data, but this is another of these short videos that says so much about the Russian way of war and the grand deception Putin is thus far successfully engineering with respect to losses. This video was posted on Telegram by a Russian soldier. It shows he and his squad moving to reinforce a defensive position. They are moving through the bodies of other Russian troops in various stages of decomposition left to rot on the battlefield.

The Kremlin's strategy would seem fairly simple. A corpse that is never recovered never died. To a worried wife or family, from the MOD's perspective he simply has not contacted home in a while. Eventually, particularly as nature takes its course, he will be listed as MIA. The family never officially learns the truth, Putin's mafia like government doesn't have to pay a death benefit, and the general population, particularly that key one in heartland encompassing Moscow and St. Petersburg, continues to be largely blinded to human cost of this invasion - at least until they no longer are. I should note conservative non Ukrainian estimates believe Russia is currently suffering 1200 casualties a day.

Putin is engaged in an ever more dangerous balancing act. Casualties, his economy, export collapse, and faltering military morale (filmed suicides are increasing dramatically) and now an occupation force in Russian territory. At this point, I doubt this ends well for the little KGB thug regardless the conclusion of eventual negotiations.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1f5g2gx/nsfw_a_russian_serviceman_shows_the_hell_of_the

 

[steve white]

vote for harris...vote for no 2a......yes ds and rs are the same....bob

You must have completely missed who and what I was referring to....I would sooner swallow the glass from a broken car window than vote for H/W or any other Dem I know of.

 

[deewayne2003]

And why exactly should age not be a concern?

Why hasn’t it been a concern other than the president?

Seriously - Nancy Pelosi looks like the crypt keeper, not to mention all the other members of the octogenarian mafia controlling our country.

Age was never a concern when Diane Feinstein was being propped up like a sick true life Weekend at Bernie’s remake!

 

[HankBuck]

I’m 79, a Licensed and Registered Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor, I am owner and chief design engineer in my $3,000,000+/year consulting firm and own/run three real estate development companies. I believe that I am significantly more intelligent, cognizant and mentally able then a relative high percentage of those running our government and there are many people my age that are just as “sharp” or “sharper”. Your comment “it helps that she is not 78” shows a high degree of age bias, if not just plain ignorance.

@Ed Lally - you’re going to have to add Me to the list of folks that believe “age” affects all skills (and I’ve got plenty of “age” myself) - at some point skills deteriorate (physical & mental) and the only questions are “when” and “how much”. I believe you are obviously sharp/intelligent and have the Wisdom that only a long life can acquire. But with our Country having 340 million people - there’s plenty of 45-60 year olds with similar skills that we should be able to choose from (although I don’t know WHO they are right now!!). When I see an 80 year old win a gold medal at the Olympics or become the next World Chess Champion —- I may change my opinion…..or if average Life expectancy goes up to 105. Right now the biological reality is our bodies & mind decline with old age - some faster then others but generally speaking it is a fate that awaits us all. (Am I repeating myself? - I might be OLD).

 

[John Wasmuth]

Why hasn’t it been a concern other than the president?

Seriously - Nancy Pelosi looks like the crypt keeper, not to mention all the other members of the octogenarian mafia controlling our country.

Age was never a concern when Diane Feinstein was being propped up like a sick true life Weekend at Bernie’s remake!

Because…… “Trump”…… hate bad orange man….. orange man bad, orange man old and bad….. kind of all they got….

 

[deewayne2003]

As I see it, the gravest threat to America is China, and they are using Ukraine as an opportunity to see our level of commitment to our allies (Taiwan), embarass the West on the global stage, and break our national resolve. If Russia is victorious in Ukraine, I believe that we will have seeded our own demise. Given what I perceive to be the stakes of this conflict, I hope you can understand why this issue is so critical to how I plan to vote.

I am totally opposed to universal healthcare, which is why I hope for Republican control of Congress.

No offense was intended. a Person can obviously be incredibly competent regardless of advanced age. However, we also need to acknowledge that physical and mental decline are a natural part of aging, and the rate and degree of decline increases with age. I do not believe it to be unreasonable to want to avoid our President being incapacitated or worse.

I hear yah on China, my prediction for 2024 is that if Kamala is elected; China will invade Taiwan before 2025 gets here.

Our embarrassing shit show …. I mean with-drawl from Afghanistan was a clear sign to the dictatorships of this world that they could do as they please and we would only respond in financially beneficial ways = Arms sales, which coincidentally is what has kept us from being in a recession.

 

[Tanks]

...

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1f5g2gx/nsfw_a_russian_serviceman_shows_the_hell_of_the

Very revealing. I guess "No Man Left Behind" creed does not exist in Putin's Russia.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

Very revealing. I guess "No Man Left Behind" creed does not exist in Putin's Russia.

That’s like being shocked there’s gambling in Rick’s casino.

 

[Alistair]

Very revealing. I guess "No Man Left Behind" creed does not exist in Putin's Russia.

I don't find that surprising though.

For me this is one of those very clear differences in policy in democracies vs dictatorships, and it's born out of pure utility.

In a democracy it is very important to protect and preserve your troops. They vote, their family votes, their friends vote, to not care for them demonstrates to the voting populace that the government isn't caring for voters. That's political suicide, or at least immensely problematic to the key concern of politicians; retaining power. A democratic system therefore has no choice but to "Leave No Man Behind" even when a cold calculation of cost / benefit might justify doing so, and even if the leaders in charge don't truly care any more or any less than dictators do. It's just good politics... in a democracy.

But in a dictatorship, this incentive isn't there, or not nearly to the same degree. The survival or death of conscripts from some far flung province has basically zero bearing on Putin's ability to retain power. So why waste resources on retrieving them, unless of course you feel you're getting more utility from doing so vs letting them die? A dead solider isn't going to spark civil unrest (especially if you can suppress the information of his passing), a living, wounded one talking to his family and friends back home might well be. Not saving them is just good politics... in a dictatorship.

The death of sons of the 'in group' might be problematic, as might the death of the sons of people in close enough proximity to that 'in group' to make their displeasure evident, which goes some way towards explaining why he's not drawing troops from the vicinity of Moscow.

It's a horrible topic in practice, but it's still a fascinating insight into the levers of power and their impact on political policy at the macro and micro level.

What is also quite interesting in this space is to look at the impact of natural disasters and death counts. You'll see the same forces in play with stuff like building codes in earthquake zones in democratic vs dictatorial systems (and therefore death tolls for similar events in different nations, even controlling for per capita GDP), or in responses to Tsunamis, or Hurricanes in these systems.

Democratic leaders do everything they can to prevent deaths. Not doing so measurably increases their chances of losing power, so they're incentivized to care. Dictators do not, because deaths don't hurt them, whilst expending the same effort on suppression of the populace and bribing the in-group benefits them. Hence, they're incentivized not to care.