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Starship Troopers? Yes. It was ok, not my fav of the genre but still a classic obviously. I actually prefer the movie! The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is excellent and IMHO superior to Starship Troopers; well worth your time if you haven’t read it.

Ok you win for longest post 😅🙌 I will read and respond later lol…that was a lot to even skim. And this is coming from me, I should know!

1000% disagree. Having obtainable naturalization and birthright citizenship is a huge leg up for the US and always has been. Furthermore, the cultural norm that an “American” isn’t a race or a people that one either has or doesn’t but rather a set of ideals and something you can choose is at the foundation of our enduring strength. I would actually support universal national service for all young people that conferred benefits like college or job training money & opportunities. But a just-naturalized Bulgarian-American or a second-generation, US-born Colombian-American is just as much a citizen as you or I, and I sincerely believe that is a feature that makes the US superior to other countries. You can move to China and speak Chinese and live there for 50 years but you’ll never “be Chinese” and that’s simply not the case here.

I don’t know what you’re asking or wanting here. There are no comparable large cities run by republicans right now, that was my point in mentioning Jacksonville. Why is that do you think? I’m starting to think it’s time to part ways on this convo, good luck.

No US city is an absolute shithole, you should know this if you have ever deployed. Which city is a “Republican city” that you’d like to use? The largest one with a Republican mayor at least used to be Jacksonville, FL, but a Dem was just elected there. That doesn’t account for city councils, etc. YMMV on how a city is governed also depending on the state, as was pointed out, and I don’t disagree that long-term one party rule often leads to sclerotic institutions. There’s often improved results when elections are competitive and there are cross-pressures between federal, state and local levels. Not always, not everywhere, but generally. There is no GOP New York, LA, Chicago, etc. to compare right now. Why is that? Some of these cities had GOP mayors that I remember, why are republicans no longer competitive in big cities? And Eric Adams, Karen Bass, and Brandon Johnson are also different types of Dems and from obviously different places and facing different local issues. Is one of them doing a better job than the others in your opinion?

So the Dems in different cities have different policies? Especially over time? Wow, no shit. Is it the same for Republicans? /sarcasm It’s almost like you can’t paint every city as a declining shithole with a broad brush. Most cities are thriving and are drivers of the growing national economy! I don’t even know what you’re asking or arguing anymore @BashiChuni. If you want to just be mad at me, ok.

The city is run by Dems, like almost every urban area. You correctly identified that the state is Republican-led, congratulations. Whats your argument here, that all those cities are shitholes? If so, I’d argue they’re not. If you wanna talk granular specifics I wanna talk Nashville since that’s what I know in a granular level of detail. I am well aware of the broad-brush political leavings of every state and major city.

🤷‍♂️ ok man fair enough if your a native, I don’t even necessarily disagree about SF re: people who live there. Lots of problems are worse there and local policies (housing shortages, refusal to enforce the law) that are the root cause. But the overall picture that all cities are hell holes is wrong. Lets talk Nashville since that’s what I know best. It’s great here, never been better IMHO. We need more housing but that’s not a unique problem. Come visit sometime, it’s very nice.

It is! I disagree with you. Nashville has never been better or more prosperous. That’s where I live near and so I have the receipts more than elsewhere. Come here and see for yourself!

Because I do not agree with your premise than Dem party policies are “obviously destructive” to cities, families and individuals. Come on man, what kind of question is that? “Tell me sir, when did you stop beating your wife?” I live near a city, have a family, and am an individual, and we’re all doing pretty great! Hope you are as well.

I’m just pushing back with a purposefully overly-sunny demeanor against the over the top online doomerism. People literally think cities are burning to the ground daily 🙄 Yea SF has some issues and I do fault local leaders for it. I would vote for changes if I did live there. I happen to have spent a whole week in SF actually, so longer than most of my other visits to various cities, and it was great as a tourist. I didn’t even get pooped on once 😅 Fully understand living somewhere is different than visiting. Do you live there?

I will tell you Nashville is very nice. Lots of growth, fun stuff to do, etc. Come visit! Many other people do all the time. The level of doomerism online I see around cities is hilarious. Some places are having a rough go of it, sometimes due to stupid policy choices, but overall cities are awesome places where millions of people pay hefty premiums to live. Of course not everyone wants to and that’s cool too. Most cities are safer than when most of us were growing up, and the one I live near, the ones my close friends live in, and the ones I’ve visited recently on trips have all been great. Cities I’ve enjoyed over the last handful of years: Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, San Diego, LA, SF, DC, Tampa, Houston, Charlotte, Raleigh, Austin, KC, Asheville, Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Honolulu and Seattle.

😂🤣 LMAO. iF yOu DoN’t AnSwEr My iMpLiEd QuEsTiOns I wIlL bEaT yOu Up!!!1 Ok internet tough guy, good luck & TYFYS 🇺🇸

It’s not flimsy “political bias” to have policy preferences my man. If there was a hypothetical election where the GOP candidate was pro-choice, pro-clean energy, wanted to strengthen the social safety net and raise taxes on the wealthy, all why the Dem advocates for the opposite, I would happily vote for the Republican! What I find more flimsy is to say, “Wow, he/she is a great speaker/debater/etc., I would vote for them!” without regard for what policies they support and the values that underlie those policies. I will 100% vote for a boring, replacement-level Dem who aligns with my policy preferences vs a charismatic, inspiring, well-spoken Republican who wants to do the opposite of what I would do on every policy choice. You should vote that way too, consistent with whatever values you hold & policies you support!

Based on what public policies they support. Most of today’s GOP leaders would move forward enthusiastically with policies I think are wrong and bad. Most of todays Dems would also pursue new initiatives if elected, but for policies I think I are generally correct and good. So even if I like Nikki Haley enough as a GOP candidate, especially compared to the actual leading contenders, that doesn’t mean I support her policy vision for the country. Is this a weird or alien concept to some folks? 🤷‍♂️ I am a liberal democrat. I do in fact support liberal Democratic Party policies, like those of the current President. I think they are mostly correct and good and that the competing GOP policies are mostly wrong and bad. I guess that’s like a 🤯 concept around here, but it’s part of why I keep posting on politics even though it’s 96.9% a waste of time. I would not support a Republican in a general election where a passable Democrat was also running. I don’t expect many of my friends on the right to vote any differently than me, just the opposite way consistent with their differing views & values. There are a fair amount of “independents” and learners who usually decide close elections, but I’m just not among them and that’s ok. FWIW I did vote for a Republican for mayor of my town because she was the best candidate - the catch is there are relatively few Dems here and her opponent was an extremist, whereas to me she is a reasonable, pro-business country club Republican. So ok, I’ll take the best of two sub-optimal choices given the realities of where I live and my fellow voters here. By that same logic were I to vote in the IA or NH GOP presidential primary somehow, Haley would definitely get a look from me, even if I would not support her against Biden in the general were she to become the GOP nominee. I do genuinely want good GOP candidates and leaders because in a two party system like ours, you ain’t gonna win ‘em all and I truly don’t believe rooting for the “worst” “most beatable” Republican is a strategy Dems should pursue (or vice versa).

I agree, she’s a good candidate. Won’t get very far IMHO unfortunately. She’s much too conservative for me to vote for in a general election, but she seems like a good person and is well qualified to be President as a former governor & ambassador. I wish her luck and want to see more candidates like her for both parties n the future but…yea I don’t think she’s gonna get far against Trump in this primary.

This to me is why we still need pride month. The vocal dead-enders who are still virulently and actively anti-gay rights, let alone tolerant, accepting, etc. Gay people are not pedophiles, I don’t know how that even gets lumped together. I’ve known one pedophile in my life and he was straight (e.g. grown man attracted to underaged girls). Extremely weird story…one of my friends’ dad, school board president, retired army O5 -> intel community GS, super nice (seemingly) upstanding guy. Had a high-level clearance with a poly and somehow got into a box canyon on a routine reexamination and admitted to terrible crimes. Went to a federal pound you in the ass prison. FAFO. Everyone was shocked. Anyways, I digress…it sounds like you’ve never had a gay best friend or a gay kid. I have both. Too bad, the experience might change your hard heart to one able to understand that homosexuality has always been a part of the human condition and it’s not gonna go away if you hate it extra loudly. You’re just going to hurt people who deserve to be loved and accepted just the same as you or me.

Me reading that article in a GCS…

We bow to no one 😂

As Master Yoda once said…I believe there are *two* giant bag-of-dicks Generals who have been ravaging AFSOC lately. RIP to all my bros who have to keep putting up with that level of BS on top of all the deployments and other tastings that keep them away from home 69% of the time.

My OG/CC gave a big speech about how important PME opportunities are for the Guard since for better or worse we get stuck at home base essentially forever with our mission. He went to SDE recently and had a blast. Cool cool, sounds good. Like 6 months later I get selected for a 8-day PME course that’s drivable and pretty cheap as TDYs go (~$1,200 all-in), and my SQ/CC had to deny it because of lack of unit travel funds. 😐

I hear ya, but from my perspective as a center-of-mass Democrat, I don't share your feelings on Biden being somehow a uniquely bad representative of my party. I find Biden to be well within the mainstream of the party, I don't agree that the country is a disaster under his leadership, and there are zero credible challengers. Harris, who sucks FWIW, is on the ticket. Bernie isn't running and endorsed Biden. Other competent members of the party bench are happy in their jobs, support Biden, and aren't running. His "competition" is a crystal lady and an anti-vax Kennedy fail-son...no thanks. No incumbent President is going to debate a motley crew of fucking morons. There are a dozen other Dems (many of which I would prefer based on age alone!) who if they were in the seat would be extremely happy with having Biden's accomplishment list credited to their name. I firmly believe that a President Klobuchar or President Beshear would love to do basically all of the things Biden has pursued and accomplished. If you are a conservative, MAGA, libertarian, etc., you probably don't agree with the above and think I'm insane. You don't share the same values as Biden and the Dems and you've had every one of Biden's negatives both real and imagined highlighted to you 24/7 in the media you likely read/watch. Got it. The same happens to Dems with Trump and Bush and everyone else ever in history. Like literally the GOP were on their fainting couches over Bill Clinton even before Monica & I bet today you'd make the argument that if the Dems just went back to their platform from the 90s you'd be more ok with them. Is that an accurate assessment? So like I said, I'm voting for Biden again despite misgivings about his age. If he were 60, I'm an enthusiastic supporter for his reelection based on his record (as I've detailed previously). Good talk though, appreciate the back & forth 🍺

Yea 💯 to all this. You can either wish everyone was a hyper-logical robot maximizing their expected value on each daily decision, or you can try to understand human beings for how we all are and work within the limitations of attempting to herd millions of emotionally-driven apes toward a decent outcome. Only one of those strategies is the rational one to pursue!