busdriver
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Posts posted by busdriver
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17 minutes ago, HeloDude said:
If it doesn’t directly benefit our citizens, then it’s not a priority before other things that do benefit our citizens. If a treaty alliance is beneficial, then sure…but we are under no obligation to spend tens of billions of dollars we don’t have to fight for countries half way around the world.
Just so we're clear, under US law treaties are legally binding. We'd have to withdraw from NATO, otherwise we are in fact obligated. So if this shit roles into a NATO country, that's a problem.
If your point is that we should actually withdraw from NATO or simply say fuck that treaty....like I said, intellectual masturbation.
If folks like you win out, I truly hope I'm wrong.
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56 minutes ago, HeloDude said:
So you want us to no longer trade with China?
If the choice is that or nuclear war, then yes. It would hurt, but hurt them more than us.
Based on your previous comments, I'd guess you think along the lines of: "we have a shit track record of not foreseeing blowback and we'd be better off just staying at home and leaving the world to it's own business." France seems eager beaver to do something, which would no doubt drag us back into things. So I assume you also want to withdraw from all treaties and alliances, which is a pre-requisite to staying at home. It's also a pipe-dream, and will never happen. Nothing more than intellectual masturbation.
There are no answers, only trade offs.
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On 1/17/2024 at 10:41 AM, Lord Ratner said:
If money isn't a driving factor, get a TrueNas Scale box.
The downside with truenas is that you have to buy all your drives at the same time and they all have to match.
I just saw this thread, and I'll share this for anyone else that bumbles across this.
I have what Ratner is suggesting, running True NAS Scale for the OS and then a tailscale application to allow a very simple VPN access from on the road. At the end of the day, I can access the shared drive on my home server from anywhere. I can also route my internet traffic back to the house if I want to avoid sending things over the hotel wifi.
It is not terrible to setup, but it's not nearly as turn key as a Synology box as an example. TrueNAS is really a basic server OS rather than just a NAS OS. It has virtualization options and the afore mentioned apps (containers) and a bunch of other stuff.
That said, if all you're doing is NAS stuff, you can put together a computer to run it for pretty cheap since it'll run on pretty crappy hardware. All the server stuff will require more horsepower if that's what you're looking for though.
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7 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:
Whether or not there is a nuclear exchange, which is not nearly as certain as you propose, does not change the calculus.
Will we be better capable of fighting Russia today, or after another 10-20 years of peaceful decline
Appeasement does not work. History is clear on this point, and that's exactly what you are proposing.
If I'm missing any of your point above, apologies.
Nothing is 100%, granted. But an actual war with Russia would be clubbing baby seals level, and an actual existential threat to "the Russian empire". I think the chance Russia tosses nukes is extremely high. Whether we throw them back is another question, but quite frankly irrelevant since Russian nukes are what will kill Americans.
You seem convinced of the fourth turning. I am not. Without going into that, I don't think America is in decline let alone circling the drain. The next 10-20 years will see massive growth. But I suspect there is zero chance we'll see eye to eye on this one at all.
I am not talking about appeasement at all, sending money and equipment to keep Ukraine armed and killing Russians and breaking their shit is good. Complete economic isolation, not just sanctions. Anyone that trades with them, isolation. Etc.
I am saying a military solution now is the jumping to the worst conclusion, one that we have historical precedent at avoiding. The entire cold war was fought via proxy and economics. It was not appeasement.
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1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:
believe that *if* they truly want to take Ukraine, they will not stop at non-NATO countries. Wouldn't make much sense strategically.........,.
And to be clear, my primary reason for supporting Ukraine hasn't changed. Sovereignty matters, and a stable world order is not possible if it is not enforced. And here we are.
I think you may be correct here, eventually. But starting the war that will result in a nuclear exchange just to get it over with is dumb. Next after Ukraine is Moldova, also a non NATO country. Which means the rest of us have two countries to figure out what is actually required. Which means we have a chance to avoid a nuclear war.
All of this is how the cold war was fought. The various proxy wars, two segregated economic spheres, etc.
The cold war won't look the same the second time around (Putin also learned from glasnost and perestroika) but first step is understanding what is actually happening. Most American pundits are still stuck in main character syndrome, they only disagree on whether it's a hero or anti-hero story.
I don't disagree with your primary thought, just the best way to fight this.
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1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:
Russia should be allowed to annex the entire country?
At the end of the day, yes. They aren't NATO. This was always about making Russia bleed to take Ukraine, and destroy as much of their shit as possible in the process.
This is the spark that will re-arm Europe, and the wall will go back up. This war will be fought economically. Hopefully.
I really really hope. Because all the politicians are in fact stupid children.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm saying sending western troops to fight for Ukraine is dumb. Sending more money/equipment is par for the course.
Also Moldovia is fucked too.
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Well color me the asshole. I didn't put that together. Sheesh.....
I'm blaming a lack of sleep and flying across the country very early in the morning.
In any event, very much in agreement then. They may have bit off a bit too much, we'll see.
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48 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:
Iran's Mullahs, are certainly capitalizing on a wag the dog moment but they are already trying to frame this and back away.
I suspect this is mainly a message to their own population. Secondarily could be about putting the rest of region between a rock and hard place when Israel goes asking for overflight.
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1 hour ago, HeloDude said:
For those who say the President has no say in the price of gas/fossil fuels. Thanks Biden.
The dumber point of this is that higher costs to oil and natural gas on federal land will predominantly affect offshore production. And the rapid expansion capability within the US system is private land fracking.
So this move is really just incentivizing increased investment into/growth of fracking.
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Your retards are more retarded than my retards!
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7 hours ago, ClearedHot said:
...completely inept.
State is completely incapable of competent operational planning.
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Or it was just jihadis doing what they do.
Good grief.
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1 hour ago, HeloDude said:
Job gains are going to immigrants, and keeping young US-born men out of the workforce
“At first glance, this perspective seems to be spot-on. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, right before COVID-19 hit, the fourth quarter of 2023 shows 2.7 million more people working.
Except all those gains are among immigrants.
The number of immigrants working over this period is up by 2.9 million, while 183,000 fewer US-born Americans are working.”
Surface level (and national) statistics like this are incredibly bad at telling a reader anything useful. Unless you're only interested in making a political point.
For instance, what sectors are currently growth sectors that have shit loads of job openings? According to Marketwatch, almost 75% of job gains in the past year have been in government, healthcare and hotels/restaurants. At least some of that space is solid low skill/education opportunity. If you have been paying attention to the tech space, a LOT of jobs are being lost there. A laid off white collar tech firm worker is extremely unlikely to look for a job in hotels/restaurants space.
Which is all to say, immigrants taking Americans' jobs may or may not be true in a given area, but to claim it on a national level is simply an unsupportable claim based on the data presented.
So old Steven Camarota either doesn't understand math, or he's just beating a drum.....
(headline google result:https://nypost.com/2024/02/13/opinion/job-gains-are-going-to-immigrants-and-keeping-young-us-born-men-out-of-the-workforce/)
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33 minutes ago, Majestik Møøse said:
The lesson that the US Army should be taking from Ukraine is that a poorly equipped but motivated army can defend itself in flat, featureless territory against an army 5x the size if that larger force is unable wield air power to attack strategic centers of gravity.
Bravo sir, well said.
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This is standard retired Army general nonsense. Translation: give the USAF's money to the Army.
There is a cousin of this in each service's brand of retired general.
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51 minutes ago, Swizzle said:
Only to hire them back? Who else is qualified!?
What news...
Contracting issues/protest. They got laid off because there is no contract in place.
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Could just as easily be the shit on top burning (countermeasure dispensers, ammo cans, whatever else is strapped on top) I'm certainly no M-1 expert, but it doesn't look like flame/smoke pouring out of a critical opening in the hull.
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10 hours ago, Biff_T said:
Use this to wash the John Mayer out of your mouth.
There are two John Mayers. The one that makes a ton of money making teenage girls all mushy inside. And then there is the one that makes blues, and no one pays attention to that one. The second one is actually very good. The first one is kindy creepy and past his expiration date.
Only Taylor Swift is capable of staying an angsty teenager well into the thirties.
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8 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:
The laws and approach in general to AIDS have to adapt to the medical reality that this is now a manageable disease.
The lawsuit is amusing. On ADA grounds it is claiming that "knowingly engaging in prostitution with HIV" as an aggravating factor (essentially bumping up to a sexual assault) is discriminatory against a person living with HIV. While side stepping that this particular disability is contagious.
Regardless, an equivalence to sexual assault (what the Tennessee law does) is akin to attempted murder criminally.
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26 minutes ago, HeloDude said:
...... equates to horrible policy.....
....Lots of bad stuff…all just because “politicians just say a lot of stuff”.
My point is this isn't a political policy/economic wonk led ideological push. Bernie Sanders did not gain popularity because he really won people over on the logic of socialism. He gained popularity based on emotional sentiment of the people, "fuck those rich assholes."
Let me re-phrase: The current descent into looney toons land is not because politicians are leading us there. The body of the people has divided into tribes, politicians want to get elected and playing to tribal sentiment and feeding the hate machine is a time tested method.
For perspective: my view of our current insanity is heavily influenced by reading "The Revolt of the Public"
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7 hours ago, di1630 said:
A guy who retired a few years back, and is flying airlines applied because he is just missing flying fighters.
I would guess this is all they are really trying to grab up. Small numbers, but free chicken. Probably a handful of folks' pet project.
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16 hours ago, Lawman said:
That article has a lot of misdiagnoses of the situation being quoted as gospel.
That dude is a very enthusiastic aviation nerd, but ignorant. He's fundamentally a technologist/journalist in the same vein as the folks who write for a website like ars technica.
Gell-Mann amnesia and all.....
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19 hours ago, HeloDude said:
No…this is what I’m reading. Whether it be election results, poll after poll, what the leftist politicians say (did you not see the one I posted about the Dem Senator who literally said illegals are the most important people and are “undocumented Americans”?) the laws being passed which are supported by their constituents, you name it. And not wanting illegals in the country isn’t xenophobic at all, but you think the way you want to man.
Yes, politicians say lots of stuff, they're playing to the crowd. It's what they do.
But square all the BS with Bernie's position change. That is a hell of a change for someone who claims the socialism (very ideological) mantle.
My point is that American politics is driven by tribalism at the moment. Anything that Red team says must be opposed by Blue team. Anything bad for Blue team is inherently good for Red team. Etc.
No, wanting a secure border with orderly, legal immigration with numbers based on the needs of the country is not xenophobic. But xenophobia is a very common human tendency* and if you can't see Trump playing to that in his stump speeches from the 2016 era, I don't know what to say you. Yes he was mis-quoted by retard journalists to make it sound worse, but it was unnecessary.
*If you've read Jonathan Haidt's work, openness vs not may be one of the underlying foundational political personality traits.
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58 minutes ago, HeloDude said:
the left tells us
This is tribal and reactionary, not ideological. Trump played to xenophobic tendencies, so his opponents went whole hog letting in as many outsiders as possible.
It wasn't that long ago that Bernie Sanders said open borders was a Koch brothers conspiracy.
World War III Updates
in General Discussion
Posted
Lighten up Francis. People who ascribe to your line of thinking.