dogyks

Thus the time and effort to vent your spleen. Got it.

Thanks for the detailed clarification.

It kinda baffles me how the rules are applied regarding classified info. I never had a security clearance, and was informed that there was a zero tolerance policy regarding mishandling of secret information. The rules were unambiguous, and people who fell afoul of them were seemingly held accountable. Declassification required a defined process, and anything marked classified was regulated until then. When politicians mishandled classified info, it appeared to be rather cut and dried. Some people give a pass to one side of the aisle or another, which I don't get. The rules supposedly apply equally to any political party. Hillary's use of an unsecured server was clearly in violation of regulations with which she was fully familiar. Trump's retention of secret documents was definitively illegal. Biden's stashing secret documents in the garage was entirely proscribed, regardless of the progress of his dementia. There are people who wound up in Federal lockup for less egregious transgressions, so I have a real problem with the idea that the rules don't apply to one class of people or another. In this case, there may be grounds to suspect Bolton of following Clinton's or Trump's lead. Whether or not that is the case, the capricious nature of enforcement is problematic.

Try Reading Comprehension 101. It will do you wonders.

Sorry, basketball. It's only fair.

I don't blame one side or or another for the deficit though, as John pointed out, the Republicans (Trump in particular), have done more than their share of racking it up. One of my objections to things Woke is the double standard by which there is 'good' and 'bad' discrimination. A level playing field favors a 6'10" male at the peak of his game over a 4'10" female of any description, and to have quotas for short women is insane. As Jim Webb pointed out regarding 'incusive' training standards, preparing by touch football rules is all well and good, but doesn't do much if you're going up against the Green Bay Packers. I have worked in places where race, sex or sexual preference had precisely nothing to do with who was in what role, and I have been spoiled by that standard. If someone was incompetent, they didn't get a pass one way or another. Admitted, Trump is a contemptible piece of shit at the best of times, but if the difference between him and the competition is the supposed commitment to merit as opposed to institutionalized discrimination in the form of DEI/Woke, I'll stifle the gag reflex and vote against his opponent. As far as the deficit goes, we'd have to take an approach akin to that of Javier Milei, which would have required Musk's further participation. As it stands, the economy is way fucked and is on borrowed time.

I dunno, it seems a tad steep. The vigorish alone on that kind of overspending is more than we have shown the ability to cover. But hey, maybe This Time It's Different ©!

As far as people who actualy pay taxes, that's more like 100 million. This works out to some $370k per.

I think my reference to debt is that, any way you cut it, we're fucked. I agree that Trump's track recod on the subject is abysmal, and thought that, perhaps, having someone aboard that had some concept of arithmetic (Musk) gava a glimmer of hope. The good news is that we are not looking at a miraculous turn around in the economy to justify such excesses such we saw in Germany in the '30s. Also, this idiot is old enough that he will hopefully drop off the scope in short order. About the only bright side is anything that puts the nail in the coffin of Woke stupidity. The border wall is idiotic, but border security has merit.

Thank goodness that's not a personal attack. BTW, to what 'factual evidence' do you refer?

I should clarify the basis of my selection. The national debt is over a third of a million dollars per taxpayer and rising. This is unsustainable, and we are flat guaranted to default in the forseeable future. Any politician that attempts to proceed with only minor tweaks to the status quo is thereby committed to the collapse of our economy. The fact that some politicians are focused on Woke stupidity instead of the nuts and bolts of our economy suggests that they rely on distraction to avoid addressing the fundamentals. It's like a physician that wants to treat an ingrown toenail instead of stage 4 cancer. The only person who ran on the basis of disruption is Capatain Chaos himself. The fact that Elon Musk had a say in the first 100 days was heartening. Musk has his faults, to say the least, but he does have a knack for actually turning a profit where others fail. Trump is a gonif, but at least his self-interest may coincide with that of the U.S. to some extent. As far as illegal immigrants go, I can't imagine why we should welcome whoever sees fit to cross the border because their home country has been rendered unliveable. The historical record shows a long list of peoples who destroyed one locale and then set forth to 'fix' somewhere new. The Puritans come to mind. Making DEI a factor in much of anything is absurd. If considering race or sexuality or whatever is off the table, fine. If someone wants to make a big deal of it, they can do so on their own time. Do I like Trump? Not even slightly. His only saving grace is in keeping the likes of Harris and Walz out of office. If DEI and illegal alieans can be removed from the equation, that's great. If he can be kept from fucking things up in Ukraine and Israel, that's even better. Hopefully we can get someone in that is posessed of equal parts of competence and integrity, but I'm not holding my breath.

The fact that she's a purple hermaphrodite has nothing to do with it. You're projecting.

All true, but still an improvement over Harris, Biden or Clinton. I wish we deserved better than any of them.

I think a good historian, like a good scientist, is inherently a skeptic. The orthodox view of events as seen through any lens is generally skewed. An example is the Tuskegee Airmen. Were they subjected to shameless racism? Uh, yeah. Was that good or bad? Kinda depends on who you ask. The average pilot sent into combat went through training and was turned loose with very few hours under their belt. They generally did not fare well. Because of the reluctance of the War Department to send negro pilots into combat, they were left to train much longer than would otherwise have been the case. Their effectiveness reflected their sharpened skills. Like in 'Band of Brothers,' where it was noted that Captain Mandel's cruelty in training likely reduced their losses in combat, by being assholes the War Department resulted in more of the Tuskegee Airmen making it home. My point is that our understanding of history should be enhanced, rather than focused on one perspective or another.

I think Zelinskyy should agree to the deal Putin signed in, what, 2003? If Putin doesn't go for it, it should be pointed out that, if that agreement can't be trusted, what's the point of any further agreements? If you reserve the right to be a lying piece of shit, how can you hold anyone else to their word?

I do recall campaigning for Teddy Roosevelt.

Alaska has been suggested.

We are in the awkward position in which Germany found itself sometime back where, distasteful as the candidate might be, the alternative is distinctly worse. And no, cackling isn't a factor. Being horrified by the left doesn't make one a supporter of Trump. Viewing Trump as being characteristic of the right appears to give a pass to anything flaws of the left in some circles. To be clear, the fact that Trump is a scumbag does not make the raw stupidity espoused by the left the slightest bit less odious. To stifle one's gag reflex in opposition to Trump I get. To actually SUPPORT the likes of Harris is suggestive of something between denial and idiocy.

Isn't this forum pretty much given to geriatrics?

Zelinakyy should offer California instead.

As luck would have it, our CIC is given to gold plating, which uses orders of magnitudes less than solid gold. In any event, it turns out that clay pigeon techniques are much more effective than using anyone's missiles against small drones. Having been around military grade ordinance going bang, I am leery of touching off one of these gizmos within 100 m. What teevee fails to convey is that, even if it doesn't kill you, the shock can result in permanent changes in one's physiology.

Nah, you're trying to decipher the "Mr. Ed Syndrome." A Stable Genius™ follows different logical rules. He's so clever even he can't figure it out.

If hijabs are okay, I can't really bitch about the odd Hakenkreuz. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Oh, I don't know. People I knew whose dissertations resulted in later research invalidating their conclusions are still called "Doctor." Admittedly, a PhD from a U.S. institution does not fully warrant being addressed as Herr oder Frau Doktor.

Note: anyone who "believes in" science doesn't understand science. Skepticism is at the core of science.