slackline

My buddy (big whig in the finance world) was telling me there's quite a few people in this little game that are going to have charges laid against them. Lots of 401Ks tanked for this, i.e., a lot of little people are going to hurt a lot more than the caught with their pants down hedge fund managers. I don't agree with some things happening on Wall Street, but usually what they do is backed by sound reasoning, not "Hey, let's screw Wall Street and pump fake value into this failing business model!"

No, just leave, letting them know we won’t tolerate terrorism coming from there. Only way we go back is with bombers... Never going to “win” there, even if we unleash the military completely.

Dude listed a fundraising event with a target of $50K, but he only raised $684 on his resume, and subbing in a high school film class. He sounds qualified, I don’t see the problem here... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

***Sorry, slow morning for me with no work, just realized what a long rant this is... You could say I’m on roughly the same page as Swamp Yankee. Regarding the EO on ethics for Trump vs Biden, you mean the one Trump rescinded just before leaving office? https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958710562/trump-revokes-administration-ethics-rules-on-his-way-out-the-door I seem to remember him using almost identical versions to Clinton and Obama used. https://www.npr.org/2017/01/28/512201631/trumps-executive-order-on-ethics-pulls-word-for-word-from-obama-clinton I’ve already discussed my thoughts on climate accords. Not a fan of how it binds the US unfairly and once again, makes the US carry the lion’s share of the responsibility, but I am a fan of us doing something to address it. Ideally, I’d like to see us stay out of it on the principle of division of responsibility, but support it on the principle of “something has to be done” while working towards concrete steps. Similarly on the WHO. I think it was a good call to point out their numerous problems on many subjects. I also think it is ultimately smart to rejoin. Maybe they’ve gotten the scare they need to start acting in an even and fair way across the board. I have my doubts, but time will tell. I would have preferred a caveat be added to his rejoining making sure it was with the expectation that they hold the line... I’m on the fence about the pipeline. I agree with you mostly, but the tree hugger side of me is torn. Not necessarily a rational way to think about it, but the climate issues we face and the climate change deniers out there piss me off more than I should allow... Sorry. Most of your other points feel ( I know, using the word “feel” is dangerous in a political discussion) like the typical political answers regarding any topic out there. “Yes, but...” saying you’re open minded and unbiased, but really, it’s similar to the points Swamp Yankee has been making about the so-called liberal personalities out there that do nothing but slam the left. Begrudgingly acknowledging one tiny point or aspect so you can say, “see, I’m open-minded!” while digging in deeper on everything else. Your last paragraph is a perfect example of this. “The only positive things... However...” I’m often just as guilty as most, but I think my disdain for both sides gives me some clarity, at least right now. I hate the left equally to the right, honestly. Give it some time for the Trump effect to wear off (hopefully it does) and I’ll be attacking the hypocrisy coming out of their mouths too. I’m not saying it’s not happening right now, just that the noise coming from the right in this moment is so loud, it’s hard to hear the noise coming from the left. Politics is just one massive scenario of the pot calling the kettle black over and over again. Us Monday morning quarterbacks and internet experts are often no different. You know, it’s odd, they say you typically get more conservative the older you get. I have found that to be different in my case, still conservative, but definitely more open to social issues than I ever used to be. I feel like service in the AF has done that, helping the people that I’ve commanded has been a bigger eye opener than anything else. I remember listening to Sean Hannity back in 2003, and Bill O’Reilly, and even Rush Limbaugh. I used to think they were smart, on top of things, people. I have either changed a lot, or they have because I think they’re horrible people now, out for their own ratings much more than they believe in any of the garbage they spout. I still don’t like any of the personalities on the left (Don Lemon in particular is such a drama king I can’t stand him even when he’s making a valid point), but they don’t inspire the disgust those three do. BL: I bet the difference between you and I, ideologically, is so small as to not matter in the big scheme of things. I appreciate when I get called out for being off-target vs a valid shot.

I wasn’t the original person you were calling out. I was simply pointing out how absurd it was to complain about the “record amount” of EOs he’s signed one week into his term. Let’s see if he holds pace, then it is significant, otherwise it’s simply one guy trying to undo all the crap he feels was done poorly by the guy who left things a mess. Some I agree with, some are pandering to the left, and some are stupid, and will probably suck for the country. Since you’re so big on keeping track, how many last second things did Trump try to do on his way out, seemingly to simply create work for the next admin?

You wanna go that route. Trump holds the record.

^This! We have a ways to go, but we've also come a long way. This is an example of incredibly poor leadership, not an example of finding dudes/dudettes who wouldn't be able to hack it in combat. I know there are people that slip through the cracks and somehow make it to UPT, but that "wheat has been shifted" by the time they get to UPT. You only make it there if you've shown yourself to be a fairly capable individual. Anyone denying it, sorry, not trying to put a dent in your memory of how awesome you were in UPT, and how you'd have held up better the scrutiny the IPs determined to see you wash out.

You're right, 420K+ deaths means this isn't that big a deal. 34K deaths from the flu. Yep, no big deal... I guess if you're not affected, who cares right? Gonna whip out some BS about conflated numbers? Ok, go for it. Probably right, the world got together to conspire against their own economies... I agree, it's time, past time, to be smart about opening up, but this is real. Maybe that's not how you feel, that's for sure how your post came across.

Family is in Spokane, I’m in class in DC, weed smell is everywhere, all the time. It’s worse in DC, go figure. When my teenagers come visit they notice how much more you smell it in DC, and it’s not rare smelling it in Spokane...

Oh, you're raising the BS flag? Well, now I just feel silly... You know why YMMV means right?

Friends I have at hospitals in AZ and CA say majority of med personnel are getting it. YMMV

Nope, was agreeing with you on 1-3. Context of me then explaining my thoughts on 4&5 makes it fairly obvious I wasn't agreeing with all three bills. I could have been more clear though.

Great questions, and they go to my point about the conversation. Refuse to have it, and we get what the ignorant masses force on us. Take part in the conversation and maintain some say in what those measures/definitions are.

I didn't say remove guns. Also, I hate how this lame argument about guns only making it easier to hurt people... Yeah, a lot easier! Why don't you go pull up statistics on mass shootings vs mass stabbings or cars used as a weapon. The latter happen infrequently because you can't do the same amount of damage without getting up close and personal. Difference between pickling a JDAM and pulling the trigger in CQB is similar. One is much harder to do, and that's in a justified situation. The ability to be somewhat removed by using a gun vs having to do it up close and personal is just one aspect limiting people trying to stab everyone at school. Lock guns up in your home, and that pissed off kid, wanting to commit violence has to really think a lot more about how he is gonna go about it. We have a right to guns and ammo in whatever qty we feel we want. I'm not ever going to back up anything that tries to change it. This seems like a no-brainer to put a dent in (while it won't eliminate them) mass shootings, especially at schools. One of the dumbest things gun rights advocates can say is, "guns don't hurt people, people do!" Problem with the right is acting like they're trying to take away our guns the second the conversation even comes up. Engage in the conversation in good faith, and we should be able to find a compromise because you're kidding yourself if you think nothing needs to be done...

Why? Because I don't agree with some of the points on the right, and I'm not willing to blindly jump on board with everything spouted by people on an internet forum? I'm a moderate, leaning conservative. And like I said, very clear definitions need to exist. Engage in good faith in the debate, and we get a say in those definitions. Act like they're trying to steal our guns, refuse to engage, and we're stuck with whatever they decide. That's a bad strategy...

1-3 I'll agree with 100%. 4 and 5, I have zero heartburn with. I honestly think if you can't store it properly, you're too irresponsible to have it. Definitions need to be laid out based on familial circumstances like whether or not you have kids, or someone struggling with mental health, drug, etc. issues with regular access to your home, but otherwise, storing a weapon properly is a good thing. We're all trained at the squadron, some of us with many shooter's courses under our belts because of the job, yet our weapons need to be in a secured location. Average Joe citizen has nowhere near the training we do, but they shouldn't secure their weapons? Maybe that makes me a communist, but how many accidental deaths would have been avoided? How many school shootings by deranged, pissed off kids? That's an easy way to prevent those deaths. For 5, I could be convinced it's a bad thing, but on the surface I don't have an issue with it.

That is mind bogglingly frustrating. I'm 100% with you on the economy and covid. It's long since past time to open up smarty. It's really too bad that a certain someone in power made this a political thing from the get go where one side stupidly has to show how 180 out from him they are, thereby ruining the economy. Completely blame the Dems for not being smart enough to ignore his childish games. Had this not been a political thing, and instead a "let's keep everyone safe thing" we'd be in a totally different economic situation right now.

Seriously? Tell me which young person I could have voted for. When we're at the end of the race you pick from the horses still running. Or stand on principle and write a name in. I almost did, but when faced with 4 more of Trump I went with the lesser of two evils. That was a statement for all. If it somehow made you feel triggered or guilty... my bad, I guess.

100% agreed that starting with a 78 yr old president is a problem. Totally disagree you don't need to be a mental health expert to see the problems you guys are talking about. I'm not saying he doesn't have the issues. I'm saying no one has proven it, and that you absolutely cannot judge a person's mental health on sound bites, but you obviously are an expert on the possible here, so by all means. If Trump hadn't been such an NTAC with regards to his dismissiveness towards the Rona, he'd be the president right now. He'd be a 74 yr old tool sitting in that office, so not much better. Stop voting for old people. They are out of touch. Along with term limits we should have age limits. We recognize a bottom age is important, why is it difficult to do the same on the upper stops?

It’s like you haven’t read a word posted by the many smart people in here as to why getting rid of 230 is a bad idea. Do you honestly not see how that is going to bite everyone in a bad way? It’s like that bear chasing you. You’re in the woods, come across a bear which starts to chase you. As you run from the bear, you pray, “please Lord, let this bear be a Christian!” When the bear catches you and knocks you down, as it’s standing above you, before it eats you, the bear folds its arms and says, “Dear Lord, please bless this meal I’m about to eat, thank you Jesus. Amen!” 230 is not what you want. All the reasons have been laid out, so I’m not going to rehash them. Careful what you ask for, you just might get it... Don’t ignore the press treatment issue. Trump has always treated them like trash, like everyone. It doesn’t excuse their clear bias, they should be better/have some journalist integrity, but he was/is a super douche, so he invited their treatment. He loved it even. Played very well to his base. Funny thing, Trump wouldn’t be caught dead hanging with the majority of people that voted for him. Too “white trash” for him, but he sure knew how to whip em up into a frenzy! It’s funny too because you even admit to not liking him, but you’re still harping about it. He’s get you focused on the wrong thing. Screw how the media treats the president. Do a good job and the public won’t care because their lives are getting better. Go back and read my post. Please highlight the parts where I linked the racial inequalities we’re (as a nation) struggling with and BLM/Antifa. This is hilarious, I didn’t say anything of the kind, I even said riots/violence hurt the cause, not help it. Let me put it more clearly, it is more easy to understand why POC would feel that it is a last resort after their cries for equality consistently fall on deaf ears. You acknowledged in this post what many on this forum flat out say isn’t happening, there are no problems, POC just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps like other successful POC have done, no excuses. Careful, they’re going to call you a SJW and an extreme leftist for that acknowledgment. As for the mental health decline of Biden, dude is old. Like the majority of old options we were presented with, he’s not as sharp as he used to be, but still, no one has presented anything that can be used as proof. Yet, people on the right constantly latch on every bit of “evidence” presented by every “expert” who hasn’t actually examined or tested him. I’d sure love to have a bunch of people watching me from afar comment on my cognitive health, especially people with incentive to say I’m in decline. Sounds fun. If we stop voting these dbags into office, people so out of touch with reality it’s not even funny anymore, maybe we’ll get better options. But no, we tear apart the younger ones, leaving the old as the only options remaining. No way was Trump the best option back in 2016 just like Biden wasn’t the best option last fall. In fact, they were both horrible options. We screwed ourselves!

You’ve got some very good points in there. I actually agree with you on quite a bit of it. Some things he did were absolutely good calls, too bad he had to do them in the ways he did... Having the respect of the world is on an identical footing as doing some of the things he did. Problem is, he’s lost us so much of that “respect capital” that it will make it hard to be taken seriously going forward. We’ll be able to get there, but it will be that much harder. China, loved the positions he took with them, hated how he did it. Paris climate accords, agreed with the action, not his stated reasons for it because it continues to enable those of you in here (don’t know your stance on it, so royal you, not you specifically) who continue to pull out bogus science to deny the overwhelming bulk of scientific evidence that says climate change is real and that we could do something about it. The accords are not good for America, once again, we end up doing the lion’s share of the work. The WHO, absolutely agree with you again. But also, once again, he’s POTUS, act like it. You didn’t mention holding NATO’s feet to the fire, but I’m sure you’re on the same page. Good, but again, bedside manner matters. I also agree that the press, by and large, is garbage, but I also don’t have a ton of heartburn over the way he was treated because he gave worse than he got on the daily. He can’t complain about unfair treatment when he was goading them, lying to them, and constantly belittling every personality that he didn’t like. You honestly think that had nothing to do with his treatment? You honestly think it would have gone down similarly if he had treated them with respect from the get go? I don’t. His press secretary started lying from the moment he was in office, which was simply behavior carried over from before he was sworn in. I mentioned on here I wasn’t a fan of many of the EOs Biden signed on days one and two. Let’s see if he keeps up the pace. He’s gonna need to sign a lot more to catch up to Trump on that face... At the same time, Biden’s a politician, he has to show his base why they elected him. If he keeps going, ignoring everything else out there, then yeah, but I’m willing to give the dude more than half a week before saying his pledge to be a president for all of Americans, R or D, is BS... I also agree about the Twitter crap, again, I’m no fan of social media. Call a spade a spade. Again, though, Twitter’s a business, so they’re gonna do what makes sense for their bottom line. A US citizen, president or not, is subject to the public opinion of the US population. A Chinese press release, not so much. Not a Trump apologist, fine, I’ll take your word for it. But you sure did a nice job of cherry-picking the only line out of his speech that one could taken as peaceful. You’re not being intellectually honest if you think Trump was intending peaceful protest with his delivery of his peace inspiring speech. MLK struck the same tone in his “I have a dream” speech... Trump sure didn’t stand up to tone things down when his lackies said other “peaceful things”. I’m sorry, but as much as us comfortable white people want it to not be true, there are 100% racial inequalities in this country. Comparing Trump’s behaving like a sore loser since he lost, and riling up his base until it eventually lost control, and POC’s fight for social justice is just a non-starter. Forgive most of the world (because almost everyone but us privileged white people in the US sees it, so clearly we must be right) for giving a little slack to people that simple want to not be looked at as criminals when driving their cars, have an equal shot at getting the job, not get life sentences when a white dude gets probation, etc., etc., etc. Rioting doesn’t help, it won’t make the problems magically go away, and the left definitely owns some of that through tacit approval of the actions. It isn’t right, but man, it is definitely understandable after centuries of mistreatment that started with slavery and has seen every shade in between. But again, parade out some twisted statistic to show how I’m wrong, all while ignoring the FACTS that are screaming from literally every corner of the world of history, recent and distant. One last point, I love all of the arm-chair mental health experts out there that are convinced of Biden’s mental decline because he’s “showing all the signs of it”. Actually, no, I won’t address it more than this, it’s just stupid because Trump was the picture of mental health, a rational actor... ETA: Harris is scary for sure, and I hope and pray for Biden’s health for that reason. I vote for the P though, not the VP. Safe bet is that this will go down like the overwhelming majority of admins in the past have, the P will be the P and the VP is largely forgotten. Here’s to hoping I’m not wrong...

🤣 Good point, I stand corrected.

Ok, I guess you think you got me? He's been president for what, 2.69 days, I can't believe he hasn't fixed the decades of partisanship already! I think you may be forgetting the 8 years of blaming Obama for every bad thing that happened. Stop being a sore loser for long enough to realize that during Trump's presidency Democrats didn't invent blaming the president for crap that went wrong. Not much of a fake bait there hoss, the statement you made falls in line with 90% of the statements made by every Trump apologist on this forum. This was the first election I've ever voted for a democratic candidate of any flavor. Thank the bang up job done by the QAnon savior for driving enough people like me away to lose him the election. I feel like you guys all band together at these pseudo zingers and upvote/like each other's posts that slam the supposed liberals. #notsurewhywearehashtaggingthis

Agreed

How sad that you believe Biden was involved in that call... You keep coming with those catchy, but baseless memes though.