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This base of preference option looks sketchy at best and predatory at worst.

He's not beating the Feds, homie. Even if he was elected POTUS and pardoned himself, which will happen, he's still on the hook for the state charges. Between Trump and Biden looks like South Park got it right with the Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich episode.

I was all about trump and the 'change' i hoped he would bring to DC. He got in and not much if anything really changed. Naïve of me. I like Vik because he can have conversations with full sentences and put reporters and others in their place without emotion.

In most men there lurks a lesser man, and his presence smells in the sun. - Ernest Gann

I’m actually glad trump isn’t going to the debate, now I can actually watch it to help inform my opinion of the primary candidates. But of course in dbag fashion he’s going on tucker at the same time, which also makes tucker complicit in the dbaggery. I really hope people see through that bullshit and watch the debate - you can always watch Tucker’s trump interview later…don’t give trump the satisfaction of a winning a ratings war.

You're not wrong. But remember Russia is likely doing the same as far as FME for our stuff. I would be extremely surprised if Russia doesn't get their hands on a patriot/himars/name your system at some point, and the longer the war drags on the more that likelihood approaches 100%. There are lots of arguments for and against this war and I'm not getting into that but rather just want to point out FME goes both ways. And expecting Russia not to benefit as well when we're flooding Ukraine with western tech, with little to no oversight, would be very naive.

Nothing other then the landing gear handle

We’ll see how tonight goes, I think Trump is an idiot for skipping the debate. I agree Trump needs to go ASAP because I can’t take 4 more years of this blithering fool or his incompetence filled DOD.

What his followers don’t realize at this point is he’s out there “campaigning” to fundraise for his defense fund- normal ego stroking aside.

Agree on the polarization 100%. But I think the democrat base would pivot to support another candidate if Biden were to step aside. Sure the Dems are ideologically captured in some batshit positions but I don't see the same level of loyalty to an individual person like you do with the right base and trump. There are multiple good choices on the right who would easily beat Biden, but it'll never happen when you have 40% of the country ready to Thelma and Louise off the cliff with trump.

@ViperMan Fair enough, thanks for the reply. Only thing to add… The courts did in fact find the NSA illegally violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. So yeah, they were illegal, at least in how they were being used.

Fair enough, lots of polling and the reporting on such polls is click bait-ey. But I'm not sure how else you find out what people think if you don't ask them. Aggregating poll responses is one of the best ways to find out what Americans think as long as the errors are reasonably controlled for through sample size, demographic representation, and unbiased questions. CBS/Yougov are a reasonably accurate poll source (B+ according to fivethirtyeight.) So a poll showing trust for any politician over one's own friends/family/religious leader, is a deeply troubling result. You've got a huge portion of the Republican based captured basically beyond the point of no return. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out with most roads, unfortunately, leading to a democrat in the White House.

I don't want to interrupt anyone enjoying their daily dose of political rage-porn. But I've kind of taken to ignoring any "news story" that begins with the following: Recent polls say... Studies show... Experts say...

https://www.axios.com/2023/08/21/trump-republican-2024-voters-poll Respondents said they trust trump to tell them the truth more than family members or their religious leaders. 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ This has moved past ideological capture and into full blown mental disorder.

Wouldn't actually be a step backwards, but it would be able to do it after 3pm.

I remember way back in early 2000's when Hoobastank came to Kadena.

Job well done to Obama for ordering the UBL DA, despite a lot of pressure to approve an air strike. Tough call, but it went better. Job well done to Trump for the Baghdadi DA. That thing was spicy and a lot of GO advisors wanted an air strike. See- it’s easy to give credit when you care more about the mission than partisanship. Biden 100% failed in every aspect of the Kabul evacuation; Miley & Austin would have resigned if they had any honor.

Commander in Chief....

I also hated Snowden for years, but there’s a lot to that story that many who hate him don’t actually know. He didn’t just expose a ton of random SAPs, etc, he exposed specific, very illegal, comm collection programs the NSA directed all over, including millions of untargeted Americans and other foreign nationals (as in they collected all their shit as “collateral damage” or “just in case we need it later”). The program was proven to be used for personal gain (agents spying on ex’s and things like that). It was so damning and illegal that congress actually forced change and restricted our intelligence gathering on Joe Blow, which is a good thing. So that’s just to say I can understand the logic of the action, while also not condoning the mishandling of classified/the method of whistleblowing Snowden took. He did a wrong action to expose incredibly wrong and illegal govt actions vs. millions. So perhaps this is a case of two wrongs make a right, the right being pardon because of the proven govt corruption and illegal shit that was at least attempted to be solved only because of his actions. Would I pardon him? I don’t know, but I can see why someone might. And that’s why this topic does not move the needle for me on Vivek or any other candidate who may say the same.

Vivek loses me when he supports Snowden being pardoned. Who, for the record, is a Russian counter-intelligence professional. A spy who did more damage to our national security than anyone else I can name, except for maybe the Rosenbergs. He has fell, hook, line, and sinker, for a Russian op. Having him as President would be good in some dimensions, and catastrophic in others. Maybe he'll wake up, time will tell. I think his heart is in the right place overall, but he is woefully misled in certain areas.

Biden 100% had a say in the execution of the withdrawal. As the President of our nation, he bears ultimate responsibility for the endeavor. More importantly, he personally set the date for Kabul mandatory departure time against recommendations of senior GOs. The "31 Aug" arbitrary target was a huge driver to chaos at HKIA, and was a direct order from Biden. Even after the military demonstrated the order would make ensuring all AMCITs escaped impossible, Biden was steadfast. DOS also bears responsibility and they encouraged this decision.

Living a good life and still trying to make a difference. Over the past year I've had dinner/beers with him in Hawaii, DC and Tampa. Epic mistake when the Air Force let him get away. I hate playing results poker but I wonder how things would be if he and a few others were running things.

Honestly the Walter Reed presidential dog and pony shows are shameful no matter who's in office. Clearly this was poorly handled by Biden but I don't know if trump busting in would be any better. Two slightly different geriatric egomaniacs looking for a photo op.