Politics

[barryk]

Time will tell if the CA taxpayer is thrilled enough with the state/local response to continue to vote for the same type of ass clowns they always have.

Didn't they have their chance to initiate change in 2021 with the recall on Newson? Doubt any actions will change even with tragedies in their face.

 

[Tanks]

FYI,
Posts like this make it very difficult to take you seriously...

Does anyone?
His posts remind me of the main character at “Falling Down”

Falling Down - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Neophyte]

FYI,
Posts like this make it very difficult to take you seriously...

So don’t take me seriously but when was the last time you saw someone in law enforcement not toe the party line? It’s far too rare for someone in law enforcement to blow the whistle on a brother or sister officer.

The pos in Oklahoma City that used unnecessary and unjustified force against the elderly Vietnamese man is just one of too many examples. How about the two in Phoenix that beat up a deaf man? Or the Meridian, Idaho thug that assaulted a teenager/young adult that refused to take a motorcycle out of the back of his truck?

I played the game and left it because I found it to be bovine fecal matter and I dealt with some of the worst that ever pinned on a badge. Remember the Danziger Bridge shooters? They did a great job serving and protecting their community. Yet there are people that still try to defend those anal orifices.

“They were overwhelmed because of the hurricane.” “They were just having a bad day.” Guess what? So was everyone else too. How about Louis Eppolito and Stephen Carracapa? There’s two fine examples of law enforcement for you. Those are just a small handful of the criminals with a badge I dealt with when I was a Fed.

White Bread America is willing to make allowances and excuses for law enforcement because they don’t deal with them every day nor do they deal with criminals every day. They are willing to sacrifice some freedom to have the appearance of security. One day they will wake up and realize they have neither.

Keep defending the tyrants, crooks, and murderers with a badge. I hope you never have cause to regret your choice. Are there good law enforcement officers? A few but very few in my experience. Most just go along to get along. The problem is that just going along is a crime in itself and a violation of the oath you took.

I’m a big proponent of holding the law enforcers to that mythical higher standard. When is the last time you saw a marked patrol car pulled over by another marked patrol car and the first car’s driver receiving a traffic ticket? Unless responding to a call police officers are supposed to follow all traffic laws. Yet the double standard is in play as cops don’t give other cops tickets but they will write you a ticket for doing the same thing.

The hypocrisy of our law enforcement in America is beyond belief and what’s worse is most folks tolerate it.

 

[WAB]

The British MOD has publicly published its casualty estimates for the Russian army for just 2024. In spite of the ridicule heaped on such estimates by our periodic Russian apologists, most who are actually informed on the subject treat those numbers as the most accurate being compiled in the West. The US releases no detailed casualty counts, but typically points to the British estimates.

The MOD has determined that the Russian armed forces lost 429,660 total casualties (KIA/WIA) in 2024 alone. That is nearly double the losses of 2023 which the MOD estimated at a then shocking 252,940. At this pace, this war will see Russia easily surpass a million total casualties before it ends. The MOD estimates that total Russian casualties for the war now surpass 790,000.

It is worthwhile remembering that modern Russia is not the Soviet Union. A nation of 140 million people, it was already suffering a fairly dramatic collapse of birth rate among its population - particularly among the European Rus. These sorts of losses will only serve to accelerate that economic time bomb.

Those casualties are increasing dramatically because of the human wave tactics being employed by the Russians and lack of armor to offer protection and fire support to these attacks (and continuing inability of the Russian Air Force to operate over the front). The Russian strategy seems to be to attempt to seize as much ground as possible prior to any negotiation whatever the cost.

Meanwhile, the Russian economy continues its accelerating drift toward true collapse with the Russian government considering extreme measures to attempt to postpone the crisis.

Vladimir Putin 'considering freezing Russian bank accounts' and 'food cards'

The worsening economic outlook has forced the Kremlin into considering drastic proposals to stem the crisis. Some of the measures up for consideration include preventing Russians withdrawing their deposits from banks and issuing food cards

www.the-express.com

In whatever negotiation emerges following the inauguration, I hope Trump realizes that though Putin still holds substantial parts of the four provinces annexed in the early stages of the war, he, NATO, and Ukraine hold a very strong hand.

Russia has lost regardless of the outcome of the war. They cannot replace these young men. As their population collapses, so goes their economy. Putin’s only chance now is not a land grab, it’s a population grab, and that appears highly unlikely.

 

[Red Leg]

In one of my previous lives, I prepped principals and attended a number of DOD confirmation hearings. Thus far, I do not believe Hegseth's is going particularly well this morning. If the republican support in the committee holds he will make it to the floor, but at the moment that may be a tossup.

 

[sgt_zim]

Shouldn't be pay-walled, longish read from Matt Taibbi on the "Information Disorder" commission.

Head of Infamous "Information Disorder" Commission Promoted at NPR

A Twitter Files all-star and former head of an Aspen Institute panel on content suppression is moved up the ranks at National Public Radio

www.racket.news

 

[YancyW]

In one of my previous lives, I prepped principals and attended a number of DOD confirmation hearings. Thus far, I do not believe Hegseth's is going particularly well this morning. If the republican support in the committee holds he will make it to the floor, but at the moment that may be a tossup.

I posted on here a few weeks I didn't see a path and no one I trusted really saw a path for him to confirmation. But that has changed significantly in the last few weeks. You know he is getting out of committee, once Ernst and Mullin got onboard, there was no question.

 

[mdwest]

Some of the antics on the floor this morning I think will actually help Hegseth.. protestors acting like idiots, getting removed by Capitol Police while screaming things in a manner that isn't understandable, etc..etc..

That just further motivates centrists and conservatives (the majority) to vote for him.. it certainly doesn't do him any harm.. it just proves that the extreme left hates him and that you cant have a logical or rational discussion with them..

Im not sure what Elizabeth Warren hoped to accomplish with her hate letter either.. so what, Fauxcahontas hates a far right conservative and Trump loyalist... everyone didn't already know that?

She made no rational argument against him, and actually showed him her hand in terms of what she intends on trying to grill him on, in advance..

Just more grandstanding and kabuki theater out of Warren, which the constituency has made pretty clear that they are tired of out of Washington..

If Warren hates Hegseth and makes broad sweeping grandstanding attempts to block him, all that does is further the right and the centrists motivation to confirm him... and again, they are the majority...

Its not a surprise that Warren wouldn't want Hegseth in the SECDEF position...

but she would have been much better served simply asking some difficult questions during the hearing and then voting no... instead she put on her oversized shoes and red ball nose in advance of her no vote..



On another note, but staying on the Hegseth subject... did anyone happen to notice the floor in the church where POTUS Carters funeral was held and where his casket was positioned on the floor...

Right in the center of a mosaic Jerusalem/Crusader Cross..

Wasnt it just 2-3 weeks ago that Warren and others on the far left were claiming that Hegseth was a white supremacist because he has a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his chest?

How exactly do they reconcile that with the Catholic Church's continued use of the symbol (in the National Cathedral no less) and POTUS Carter being placed in the center of the symbol during his funeral..

 

[YancyW]

Some of the antics on the floor this morning I think will actually help Hegseth.. protestors acting like idiots, getting removed by Capitol Police while screaming things in a manner that isn't understandable, etc..etc..

That just further motivates centrists and conservatives (the majority) to vote for him.. it certainly doesn't do him any harm.. it just proves that the extreme left hates him and that you cant have a logical or rational discussion with them..

Im not sure what Elizabeth Warren hoped to accomplish with her hate letter either.. so what, Fauxcahontas hates a far right conservative and Trump loyalist... everyone didn't already know that?

She made no rational argument against him, and actually showed him her hand in terms of what she intends on trying to grill him on, in advance..

Just more grandstanding and kabuki theater out of Warren, which the constituency has made pretty clear that they are tired of out of Washington..

If Warren hates Hegseth and makes broad sweeping grandstanding attempts to block him, all that does is further the right and the centrists motivation to confirm him... and again, they are the majority...

Its not a surprise that Warren wouldn't want Hegseth in the SECDEF position...

but she would have been much better served simply asking some difficult questions during the hearing and then voting no... instead she put on her oversized shoes and red ball nose in advance of her no vote..

We are far past performance in confirmation hearings being relevant to the outcome. There was a time it wasn't that way, but those days are gone and not coming back. The hearings now are just the like WWE, the punches are real, but the outcome is not in question.

 

[BSO Dave]

So don’t take me seriously but when was the last time you saw someone in law enforcement not toe the party line? It’s far too rare for someone in law enforcement to blow the whistle on a brother or sister officer.

The pos in Oklahoma City that used unnecessary and unjustified force against the elderly Vietnamese man is just one of too many examples. How about the two in Phoenix that beat up a deaf man? Or the Meridian, Idaho thug that assaulted a teenager/young adult that refused to take a motorcycle out of the back of his truck?

I played the game and left it because I found it to be bovine fecal matter and I dealt with some of the worst that ever pinned on a badge. Remember the Danziger Bridge shooters? They did a great job serving and protecting their community. Yet there are people that still try to defend those anal orifices.

“They were overwhelmed because of the hurricane.” “They were just having a bad day.” Guess what? So was everyone else too. How about Louis Eppolito and Stephen Carracapa? There’s two fine examples of law enforcement for you. Those are just a small handful of the criminals with a badge I dealt with when I was a Fed.

White Bread America is willing to make allowances and excuses for law enforcement because they don’t deal with them every day nor do they deal with criminals every day. They are willing to sacrifice some freedom to have the appearance of security. One day they will wake up and realize they have neither.

Keep defending the tyrants, crooks, and murderers with a badge. I hope you never have cause to regret your choice. Are there good law enforcement officers? A few but very few in my experience. Most just go along to get along. The problem is that just going along is a crime in itself and a violation of the oath you took.

I’m a big proponent of holding the law enforcers to that mythical higher standard. When is the last time you saw a marked patrol car pulled over by another marked patrol car and the first car’s driver receiving a traffic ticket? Unless responding to a call police officers are supposed to follow all traffic laws. Yet the double standard is in play as cops don’t give other cops tickets but they will write you a ticket for doing the same thing.

The hypocrisy of our law enforcement in America is beyond belief and what’s worse is most folks tolerate it.

I won't waste my time with a direct reply other than to say that the very content of your posts, specifically the examples you've provided, and ridiculous generalizations about law enforcement officers, tells me that any serious, meaningful, discussion or debate on this topic between us is not going to be possible....

Obviously, you have had a bad personal experience with law enforcement at some point in time in your life, but some of your commentary borders on rhetoric straight out of a Ted Kaczynski or a Timothy McVeigh manifesto... I am not sure if I should be more alarmed than amused... Best of luck with your issues going forward...

I truly hope you or a family member never need a cop in a situation where one of their lives are on the line. It would be a shame to have one of them sacrifice their own personal safety for someone who obviously cannot comprehend the selfless depth of such a commitment to duty. When you have a job where you kiss your wife and kids and walk out the door each day to protect strangers under the very real possibility that you may not come home, then get back to me and I will take your comments seriously... Until then, you should probably STFU...!

 

[steve white]

Unexpected lessons being accrued from the Hegseth confirmation hearing: 1. Total blessing we never had that prick Tim Kaine as VP, 2. Humorous that Hegseth is being grilled over getting the DOD to pass an audit by people who have not submitted much less passed a congressional budget in years, and have run deficit spending to the sky, 3. Hypocrisy about Hegseth's drinking and divorces from those who have themselves refused to resign over their own divorces, not to mention voting drunk in late night voting on bills. Too bad we don't get to grill senators like this!, 4. Surprising amount of support for Hegseth showing up in person, 5. How in tarnation do some of these leftist clowns ever get elected in the first place?

The floor is open for further observations....

 

[Red Leg]

I posted on here a few weeks I didn't see a path and no one I trusted really saw a path for him to confirmation. But that has changed significantly in the last few weeks. You know he is getting out of committee, once Ernst and Mullin got onboard, there was no question.

Unexpected lessons being accrued from the Hegseth confirmation hearing: 1. Total blessing we never had that prick Tim Kaine as VP, 2. Humorous that Hegseth is being grilled over getting the DOD to pass an audit by people who have not submitted much less passed a congressional budget in years, and have run deficit spending to the sky, 3. Hypocrisy about Hegseth's drinking and divorces from those who have themselves refused to resign over their own divorces, not to mention voting drunk in late night voting on bills. Too bad we don't get to grill senators like this!, 4. Surprising amount of support for Hegseth showing up in person.
The floor is open for further observations....

Agreed. They have just broken for recess, and I do not think anyone has provided any new information that would change there current positions. He did better as the hearing went own, and as republican senators grew more confident in supporting him. @Wheels should be particularly proud of Sen Mullin. In fact, on any issue associated with national defense, I think he handled himself extremely well.

 

[Nyati]

I looked up the numbers on this. The numbers of enslaved humans was appalling. From 1501-1866
Portugal to Brazil 5,848,265
Britain 3,259,440 (many probably to the NA colonies )
France 1,381,404
Spain to Uruguay 1,061,525
Netherlands 554,336
United States 305,326
Denmark 111,041
Not sure why the article only pointed out where Portugal and Spain sent theirs.

This article makes little sense, figures from the slave trade are not accurate, but the historian´s consensus is that Spain brought 900.000 slaves mostly to the Caribbean, certainly not Uruguay, where only around 10% of the population is of african descent.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

@Wheels should be particularly proud of Sen Mullin. In fact, on any issue associated with national defense, I think he handled himself extremely well.

Holy smokes! I just watched Senator Mullin defend nominee Pete Hegseth during Pete's Senate hearing. Senator Mulling points a strong finger toward those senators who think they are without sin.

This is worth watching!

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

Some of the antics on the floor this morning I think will actually help Hegseth.. protestors acting like idiots, getting removed by Capitol Police while screaming things in a manner that isn't understandable, etc..etc..

That just further motivates centrists and conservatives (the majority) to vote for him.. it certainly doesn't do him any harm.. it just proves that the extreme left hates him and that you cant have a logical or rational discussion with them..

Im not sure what Elizabeth Warren hoped to accomplish with her hate letter either.. so what, Fauxcahontas hates a far right conservative and Trump loyalist... everyone didn't already know that?

She made no rational argument against him, and actually showed him her hand in terms of what she intends on trying to grill him on, in advance..

Just more grandstanding and kabuki theater out of Warren, which the constituency has made pretty clear that they are tired of out of Washington..

If Warren hates Hegseth and makes broad sweeping grandstanding attempts to block him, all that does is further the right and the centrists motivation to confirm him... and again, they are the majority...

Its not a surprise that Warren wouldn't want Hegseth in the SECDEF position...

but she would have been much better served simply asking some difficult questions during the hearing and then voting no... instead she put on her oversized shoes and red ball nose in advance of her no vote..



On another note, but staying on the Hegseth subject... did anyone happen to notice the floor in the church where POTUS Carters funeral was held and where his casket was positioned on the floor...

Right in the center of a mosaic Jerusalem/Crusader Cross..

Wasnt it just 2-3 weeks ago that Warren and others on the far left were claiming that Hegseth was a white supremacist because he has a Jerusalem Cross tattooed on his chest?

How exactly do they reconcile that with the Catholic Church's continued use of the symbol (in the National Cathedral no less) and POTUS Carter being placed in the center of the symbol during his funeral..

The National Cathedral is an Episcopal Church and I’d be surprised if the Jerusalem cross wasn’t all over the place. Alongside the Celtic cross, the Jerusalem cross is an extremely popular symbol within the Episcopal church in the US and throughout the Anglican Communion globally. I have an Oxford study Bible in red with a Jerusalem cross prominently displayed on the color. I have never heard of it being associated with white supremacy. Not that white supremacists couldn’t use just about any symbol but for someone to jump to that conclusion is preposterous.

I did just learn of this use of the Jerusalem cross, by Episcopalians in the military, which I had not been previously aware of. Kind of cool.

Episcopal Church Service Cross - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[deewayne2003]

So don’t take me seriously

Trust me..... I'm not!

 

[mdwest]

The National Cathedral is an Episcopal Church and I’d be surprised if the Jerusalem cross wasn’t all over the place. Alongside the Celtic cross, the Jerusalem cross is an extremely popular symbol within the Episcopal church in the US and throughout the Anglican Communion globally. I have an Oxford study Bible in red with a Jerusalem cross prominently displayed on the color. I have never heard of it being associated with white supremacy. Not that white supremacists couldn’t use just about any symbol but for someone to jump to that conclusion is preposterous.

I did just learn of this use of the Jerusalem cross, by Episcopalians in the military, which I had not been previously aware of. Kind of cool.

Episcopal Church Service Cross - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

FWIW I have an 8" Jerusalem Cross tattooed over my heart/left chest.. and got it many years before Hegsteth did... It was a symbol a team I went to Iraq with adopted in the early years of the GWOT and I wear it to honor and remember those I served with... Its also the symbol I use as a makers mark on every knife blade I make.. and the symbol I use as an avatar on other web forums I belong to (It was my original avatar here before I started using the buffalo)..

Im about the furthest thing on the planet from an extremist or a white supremist.. half the guys on the team that wore the cross that Im referring to were NOT white (we had blacks, hispanics, asians, whites, and a couple of kurds as well that all wore that cross on our gear, etc..etc.. back then).. and anyone that knows me that Im actually much more of a centrist than I am a right winger (very fiscally "right", but very socially centrist.. and truly more of a libertarian than a republican if you get right down to ideals and beliefs)..

Youve gotta love that the people that continually chant nonsense like Trump = Hitler are the ones that use Goebbels doctrine in an attempt to maintain control and quash dissent (ie. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.)...

 

[sgt_zim]

FWIW I have an 8" Jerusalem Cross tattooed over my heart/left chest.. and got it many years before Hegsteth did... It was a symbol a team I went to Iraq with adopted in the early years of the GWOT and I wear it to honor and remember those I served with... Its also the symbol I use as a makers mark on every knife blade I make.. and the symbol I use as an avatar on other web forums I belong to (It was my original avatar here before I started using the buffalo)..

Im about the furthest thing on the planet from an extremist or a white supremist.. half the guys on the team that wore the cross that Im referring to were NOT white (we had blacks, hispanics, asians, whites, and a couple of kurds as well that all wore that cross on our gear, etc..etc.. back then).. and anyone that knows me that Im actually much more of a centrist than I am a right winger (very fiscally "right", but very socially centrist.. and truly more of a libertarian than a republican if you get right down to ideals and beliefs)..

Youve gotta love that the people that continually chant nonsense like Trump = Hitler are the ones that use Goebbels doctrine in an attempt to maintain control and quash dissent (ie. “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.)...

Now I need to get more ink to go with my Chi Rho ink.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Now I need to get more ink to go with my Chi Rho ink.

Absolutely, positively a digression. Maybe I need to start a separate thread, because I have questions. But...

Age 58: considering getting my first tattoo(s)... Dead serious; the ex didn't like them so I held off.

 

[mdwest]

My wife waited until she was 51... and now she has 4...

be careful.. the heroin they put in the ink is addictive

Feel free to ask away (PM, separate thread, or wherever).. Im in my mid 50's, and have had tattoos my entire adult life (got the first one in my young twenties.. got the most recent one about 3 years ago.. may well get another few before I take the final dirt nap)... whats been key for me is no one sees any of mine unless its intentional (all inside the t-shirt line) with the exception of one, which is a small "wedding ring" that was put on my wedding ring finger by a very drunk local in French Polynesia in the middle of the den of his house.. where he spent half the time shooing off the chickens that lived inside the house with him lol (the tattoo was an adventure in and of itself lol)..