The Next President is...

[ClearedHot]

9 hours ago, arg said:

Nothing to add but just want to let you know that I am up for adoption. Lost my parents in a tragic boat accident.

I've seen you drink beer, I can't afford that bill.

[Lord Ratner]

On 1/25/2021 at 12:24 PM, GrndPndr said:

So what happened during the eight years of Obama/Biden?  Did we just shut of the black complaint system, because there was someone in office who should be sympathetic to the cause?  The complaints seem to rise and fall with whoever has been elected.

I too have friends who are "down with the cause," and they lay the blame for all of their troubles on Trump - including the challenges you list, and race problems dating back decades.

Well, now we have Biden.  In a post-election world, it will be interesting to see where he lays the blame for race troubles.

It'll be white people. Trump was a nice little gift to the marxists who are during the race war for reasons unrelated to race, but they have had their obvious bad guy long before Trump, and they will go right back to that.

[Swamp Yankee]

21 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

I start with investments, I've built wealth and want to protect it.  I had three numbers when I first started.  The first number was the lowest number I needed to retire, we could be careful, manage our spending and cover our expenses no issues.  We hit that many years ago.  The second number was living at our current quality of life now but not having to work.  I have raised that number over the years as we have raised our standard of living, we keep acquiring toys and some of them (airplane/RV), are expensive.  I have a very nice retirement as a 26 year O-6, my wife works and makes a great salary, I work and am over compensated for my capability, we also have a side business that brings in about $10,000 a month in passive income.  I won't into specific numbers but I am forced to make quarterly tax payments of $15,000 in addition to our withholding and still have to make a huge tax payment every April...I know tough problem to have.  We hit the second number  several years ago.  My third number was to be stupid rich and I never really thought it possible, but it is.  Sorry for the long section on investments but I grew up poor and it really shaped me.  The rest of the reading is loosely related because all of these policies and actions by the different political parties really impact where I put my money.

I use Morgan Stanley as my wealth manager and they have a host of products I sort through each morning.

CNBC has a great pre-market snapshot which also links to great articles about trends and emerging opportunities. 

The Motley Fool has a nice daily summary, but also has a lot of fluff and hidden advertisements. 

I also use Market Watch which is a great tool to get down in the weeds of investing should you so choose.

I used to have a bridge between investments and the news and would read daily articles in the Economist, but they completely jumped the shark in the last two years and went full retard political which is truly sad because they have some great analysts. 

Around 0600 the Early Bird hits my email, it used to be so much better but still provides a summary of the previous day and the overnight actions in the defense industry.  You can sign up, it is free.

Next I look at BBC, like most they are biased but they also provide a world view.  I think taking a few minutes to see how the rest of the world views us is very important. 

Keeping the previous theme in mind next I go to Al Jazeera which has excellent coverage on some things.

Most days I cycle in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.

I work most of the day and that requires other reading, some of it technical, most of it more strategic.  As part of my job I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at the Federal budget.  While not a lobbyist, for several years I have been going to the hill as an expert on a few key areas and technologies. 

During the week I cycle through Foxnews/CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC for an update, while we make dinner. 

My son is very active in sports so while he is practicing most nights I tend to read to pass the time.  I have about 10 books going right now, a great one written by a good friend called When The Tempest Gathers  I am purposely reading the book slowly and a bit at a time.  Last week I finished Oliver North's new book The Rifleman, Admiral McRaven's book Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations and Rum Curious which is a great book about the origins of Rum and a tasting guide which I found very useful...I also learned some things about the rum market and actually changed an investment because of it. 

This week I started a re-read of the classic The Odyssey by Homer.  The classics are important and were used to frame the thinking of the founders of our country.

 

Impressive 

[Lord Ratner]

On 1/25/2021 at 8:00 PM, Swamp Yankee said:

I have listened to a few of Shapiro's podcasts (working from home provides some flexibility).  Sorry, he sticks to right wing talking points 99% of the time.  The only "criticism" I've heard was from this summer, indicating that Trump occasionally gets in his own way with his communications style, but then it was right back to slamming the left. 

Clearly, Shapiro, like Weisteins and even Rogan to an extent, rarely, if ever, criticize the right. In fact, the main talking point is that it was really the democrats who sparked the Jan 6th riots because they were just too tough and mean to Trump.  That is completely ridiculous.  The fact is that a very large number of Trump supporters were duped and incited by his rhetoric, resulting in an attempt to interrupt the political process. Full stop.  

The right demands that the left see both sides, which the left in fact does way better than the right.  It is not even close. 

Not sure what you listen to, because Shapiro was all over the riots at the Capitol. I suspect what you're really looking for is someone on the right to criticize the right in the same way that someone on the left would, but that's a silly expectation. Conservatives can only be compared to other conservatives, in this case, and when you compare someone like Shapiro or Weinstein to, say, Fox news, the difference is obvious.

 

It's not like Trump has some sort of endless laundry list of problems. He's immoral in his personal life, uneducated on the issues, bad with his hiring decisions in many cases, and a terrible communicator to most of the electorate. I listen to Shapiro go off on those regularly. 

 

And there's zero comparison between the right and left insofar as defending their extremists. Democratic politicians tied themselves in knots doing everything in their power to minimize criticism of antifa and rioters over the summer. I've seen no such reluctance on the right to criticize white supremacists and rioters on the 6th.

 

But part of this is that if you think government is the solution to many of our problems (leftist), you're going to find fault in any conservative message, and conservatives are going to seem very similar to you. Same goes for the right.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Lord Ratner

[17D_guy]

So...Gamestop's been a fun ride.

[17D_guy]

1 minute ago, MyCS said:

Did you short the stock too?

💎✊

[Swamp Yankee]

18 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

Not sure what you listen to, because Shapiro was all over the riots at the Capitol. I suspect what you're really looking for is someone on the right to criticize the right in the same way that someone on the left would, but that's a silly expectation. Conservatives can only be compared to other conservatives, in this case, and when you compare someone like Shapiro or Weinstein to, say, Fox news, the difference is obvious.

 

It's not like Trump has some sort of endless laundry list of problems. He's immoral and his personal life, uneducated on the issues, bad with his hiring decisions in many cases, and a terrible communicator to most of the electorate. I listen to Shapiro go off on those regularly. 

 

And there's zero comparison between the right and left insofar as defending their extremists. Democratic politicians tied themselves in knots doing everything in their power to minimize criticism of antifa and rioters over the summer. I've seen no such reluctance on the right to criticize White supremacists and writers on the 6th.

 

But part of this is that if you think government is the solution to many of our problems (leftist), you're going to find fault in any conservative message, and conservatives are going to seem very similar to you. Same goes for the right.

Here’s an example of a Ben Shapiro comment regarding the Jan 6th riots that I recommend you read: https://www.foxnews.com/media/ben-shapiro-capitol-riot-joe-biden-divisive-reaction.amp

Essentially, he is dismissing the rioters’ actions and focusing on what he sees as Biden’s reaction. Shapiro  said, "...you can be an insane person and suggest this has something to do with systemic American racism. Naturally, Joe Biden is going to do the latter." 
When you have rioters with “Camp Auschwitz” shirts and carrying Confederate battle flags (I don’t buy the ‘heritage not hate’ stuff), yeah, racism is a major factor that Shapiro is inexplicably ignoring.  That he is proudly Jewish makes this very unusual other than he will defend his side no matter what.  

There is certainly hypocrisy on both sides.  The basic shtick is, “X might be bad, BUT what’s really the problem is Y, yada, yada.” ‘X’ is their own side’s quickly-dismissed questionable position  and ‘Y’ the opposite position, which is lambasted at length.  In contrast, you’ll observe democrats like Tulsi and (self-declared) liberals like Weinstein taking the opposite approach by truly delving into the shortcomings on their own side.  This broadens the discussion and can lead to common ground.  However,  I have not observed any conservatives doing the same.  
Feel free to share specific examples to the contrary.  I’m not insulting your knowledge or intelligence.  I welcome the discussion.  

 

 

[Lord Ratner]

39 minutes ago, Swamp Yankee said:

Here’s an example of a Ben Shapiro comment regarding the Jan 6th riots that I recommend you read: https://www.foxnews.com/media/ben-shapiro-capitol-riot-joe-biden-divisive-reaction.amp

Essentially, he is dismissing the rioters’ actions and focusing on what he sees as Biden’s reaction. Shapiro  said, "...you can be an insane person and suggest this has something to do with systemic American racism. Naturally, Joe Biden is going to do the latter." 
When you have rioters with “Camp Auschwitz” shirts and carrying Confederate battle flags (I don’t buy the ‘heritage not hate’ stuff), yeah, racism is a major factor that Shapiro is inexplicably ignoring.  That he is proudly Jewish makes this very unusual other than he will defend his side no matter what.  

There is certainly hypocrisy on both sides.  The basic shtick is, “X might be bad, BUT what’s really the problem is Y, yada, yada.” ‘X’ is their own side’s quickly-dismissed questionable position  and ‘Y’ the opposite position, which is lambasted at length.  In contrast, you’ll observe democrats like Tulsi and (self-declared) liberals like Weinstein taking the opposite approach by truly delving into the shortcomings on their own side.  This broadens the discussion and can lead to common ground.  However,  I have not observed any conservatives doing the same.  
Feel free to share specific examples to the contrary.  I’m not insulting your knowledge or intelligence.  I welcome the discussion.  

 

 

There's a reason I don't watch cable news very much. I could direct you to plenty of clips from his podcast or radio show, which it seems you do not in fact, listen to. But it's not worth the time. I said you need to listen to his stuff to understand the intellectual position of the right. A cable news clip is not quite the research I had in mind.

 

Both sides do this, but right now we are in a cycle where the left is doing it more. Obviously there are racists, and they're going to wear racist t-shirts and wave racist flags. But like all things, you have to assess the prevalence of a problem to determine if the problem is in fact relevant. White supremacy is quite simply not relevant in 2021. It's certainly not relevant to the scale of nation wide rioting, nor is it relevant to the scale that justifies the Democratic push for overtly racist "equity" policies. Yes, the US was once a racist nation. Now it is not.

 

Shapiro focuses on the broader strategy of the activists, some in elected positions, who are lying to the American people about "systemic racism." That can't be done on a 5 minute guest spot on Fox News, but I get why he does it anyways. That's where the eyeballs are.

 

Racism and white supremacists have been the preferred misdirect of the professional left since the Obama administration. At some point they realized that their rebranded socialist/Marxist policies, which are very much real, and very much being taught in universities and corporate conference rooms (even if you are unfamiliar with them) were not palatable to the general population, Republican or democrat. So instead of making the case their preferred system, they are instead undermining the present system such that when it fails from a lack of support from the population, they will be ready to jump in with their "fixes." 

 

I've talked about this here before, because many of the left leaning posters in this conversation seem completely oblivious as to the intellectual engine driving their party. There's not a single professional Republican who is supporting White supremacists, because the extremists commonly associated with the right are cartoonishly easy to identify. But the extremists on the left are far more dangerous if only for the fact that liberal voters are almost comically unwilling to admit they exist or matter.

 

Go read anything by Ibram X Kendi or Robin DiAngelo. Look at what "the squad" has to say about our country and way of life. Read the endless stream of BLM propaganda (being hunted, massacre, crushing black bodies, genocide) over 2020 and try to find the part where only *fewer than 20* unarmed black people were killed by the police in 2019 or 2020.  Out of 40 million.

 

These are not fringe activists. No one on the right is hosting Richard Spencer or the proud boys at their events. The professional left is fully embracing their radicals, while telling the voting left that the they are still the party of Bill Clinton. They aren't. I think the voters on the left will figure it out eventually, but I don't know how much damage will be done.

[ClearedHot]

40 and counting...

[17D_guy]

20 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

40 and counting...

Not that he hasn't done some of his own, but are you counting un-doing Trumps?  Should those count?

[ClearedHot]

39 minutes ago, 17D_guy said:

Not that he hasn't done some of his own, but are you counting un-doing Trumps?  Should those count?

Not sure why everything comes back to Trump?  Trump did four EOs in the same period of time and that included reversing Obama policies.

[Homestar]

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

Not sure why everything comes back to Trump?  Trump did four EOs in the same period of time and that included reversing Obama policies.

That’s because he didn’t know what a President was. 

[slackline]

If Republican and Democratic reps didn’t blacklist each other for crossing the aisle and actually legislating we wouldn’t have this problem. They stopped actually doing their jobs a long time ago, so Bush, then Obama, then Trump, and now Biden have way too much authority to act via EO.

Honestly, why not use the tools provided? That’s not a statement of support for Biden, just a simple observation. If one part of the government isn’t going to do anything, why not get as much of it done on your own as you can?

Also, If he maintains the pace, ok, something to be worried about, otherwise, he has a long way to go before it’s problematic.

Back to the legislature not doing its job, I don’t predict much will change...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ClearedHot]

Yeah no problem with his mental facilities...not a single coherent sentence in this rambling statement.  Him good at math as well.

 

[FLEA]

25 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

Yeah no problem with his mental facilities...not a single coherent sentence in this rambling statement.  He is good at math as well.

 

 

I feel really bad for those 300 Americans. Their arms are going to be really fucking soar after 2 million shots! 

[Negatory]

3 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Yeah no problem with his mental facilities...not a single coherent sentence in this rambling statement.  Him good at math as well.

 

 

That video convinced me you’re not wrong, unfortunately.

I guess we will get to see which evil was worse. Having to choose between Biden and Trump is the closest I’ll ever come to understanding an abusive relationship (hopefully).

[FLEA]

8 minutes ago, Negatory said:

That video convinced me you’re not wrong, unfortunately.

I guess we will get to see which evil was worse. Having to choose between Biden and Trump is the closest I’ll ever come to understanding an abusive relationship (hopefully).

Dude I honestly don't think Kamala is going to let it get that far. I treated that as a conspiracy up until this video. But man.... Just watch his eyes while he is trying to speak. It's honestly heartbreaking. This dude needs to be living out a nice retirement surrounded by his family, he was pressured to serve one last time. Now it may take him to an early breaking point. I suppose this may raise the potential to start discussing an age maximum on presidency though. 

[arg]

[ClearedHot]

3 hours ago, Negatory said:

That video convinced me you’re not wrong, unfortunately.

I guess we will get to see which evil was worse. Having to choose between Biden and Trump is the closest I’ll ever come to understanding an abusive relationship (hopefully).

Wait until Harris gets in the seat.

If I were king for a day we would have a non-narcissist mentally capable president from one party who acts and speaks like a President.

The House would be controlled by one party and we wouldn't have an 80 year lunatic as the speaker.  The Senate would be controlled by the other party and the Majority leader would be of a reasonable mindset.  They would be forced to work TOGETHER and DEBATE issues to work towards COMPROMISE as the framers intended.  Who am I kidding?

[ClearedHot]

1 hour ago, arg said:

No shit!  Watch this answer from Jen Psaki...gotta stick to the playbook!

https://rumble.com/vde5n3-biden-press-sec-has-most-cringe-moment-yet-when-asked-legit-question.html

 

[slackline]

36 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

No shit!  Watch this answer from Jen Psaki...gotta stick to the playbook!

https://rumble.com/vde5n3-biden-press-sec-has-most-cringe-moment-yet-when-asked-legit-question.html

 

Let me be clear, I'm not saying she is great, or even good. My comment goes more to the statement that this is the most cringe moment.  

Would you rather she rip into the press Corp, call them stupid, then lie to them?  What am I missing here?  Someone doesn't know a decent answer, tries to find it in the moment, acknowledges they don't have a good answer, then says they'll get back to them with it.  That's cringe?  

I ask this sarcastically because I think I know the answer to this, but were you one of those WG/CCs that expected answers regardless?  I don't know wasn't acceptable?  Based on the character you've shown here I highly doubt you'd tear into someone over an answer like that. Maybe the timelines, but saying I don't know is acceptable with some exceptions.  

 

But you guys are right, let's get Conway, Spicer, Huckabee, or that last nitwit Trump had back out answering questions with lies...

I'll add this caveat, maybe there's some context I'm missing here, but based on what you've shared, this looks ridiculously petty.

[ClearedHot]

34 minutes ago, slackline said:

Let me be clear, I'm not saying she is great, or even good. My comment goes more to the statement that this is the most cringe moment.  

Would you rather she rip into the press Corp, call them stupid, then lie to them?  What am I missing here?  Someone doesn't know a decent answer, tries to find it in the moment, acknowledges they don't have a good answer, then says they'll get back to them with it.  That's cringe?  

I ask this sarcastically because I think I know the answer to this, but were you one of those WG/CCs that expected answers regardless?  I don't know wasn't acceptable?  Based on the character you've shown here I highly doubt you'd tear into someone over an answer like that. Maybe the timelines, but saying I don't know is acceptable with some exceptions.  

 

But you guys are right, let's get Conway, Spicer, Huckabee, or that last nitwit Trump had back out answering questions with lies...

I'll add this caveat, maybe there's some context I'm missing here, but based on what you've shared, this looks ridiculously petty.

Seriously?  So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie.  Come on man!

Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson.

Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium.  The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do.  She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back."

For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer.  It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. 

Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times.  My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass.   He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line.  When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room.  He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going.  We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him.  I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military).  Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC.  I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?"  Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..."  That was his answer to everything.  Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."

 

[BashiChuni]

[slackline]

44 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

Seriously?  So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie.  Come on man!

Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson.

Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium.  The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do.  She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back."

For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer.  It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. 

Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times.  My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass.   He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line.  When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room.  He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going.  We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him.  I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military).  Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC.  I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?"  Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..."  That was his answer to everything.  Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."

 

Dude, reread my first sentence!  I've made no statement as to her awesomeness or not as press secretary...  My comment was fairly straightforward, I took issue with your posting that specific link as if it were somehow damning evidence of her duplicity.

I also allowed for exceptions with the "I don't know rule"... Same as you, I took issue with "I don't know" when working a SAR or CASEVAC, TIC, etc.  I have faith you were an excellent leader and cared for your people deeply.  It shows through still.

That's what blows me away sometimes when you post that garbage clickbait link.  Second link you posted, valid kill, first one hurts your credibility.  I know you couldn't care less about what I think of you on some internet forum, but that was beneath your typical standard.

That's my saved rounds for the debrief...

[FLEA]

https://www.econlib.org/is-there-politics-after-polarization/

 

Very short read but I think it captures the current predicament well. The quote captured it well. 

Quote

America will not be able to do much healing in the next four years if the 47 percent of America who voted against the president-elect are treated as a subjugated population. Yet knowingly or not, this is how the election’s victors are behaving. A large minority of our nation can scarcely air its opinions in the academy or, increasingly, in the establishment media. Their speech is ever more policed in the workplace and online by rules tantamount to “victor’s justice.