nsplayr

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!

I'll throw in this opinion...supporting the incumbent President of your preferred party when he's running for reelection is not an irrational pick for relatively party-line voters. If you are a steady Republican, it made perfect sense to support Trump in 2020. Even if you found him a bit distasteful in 2016 or supported someone else initially in that primary or didn't agree with everything he did in office. By 2020, he's your party's guy, he's doing Republican things while in office, he's eligible for and interested in being reelected...it's extremely rational for a R voter to punch R again on that ballot. Was he fairly old in 2020? Was he fairly batshit crazy in 2020? I would say yes to both, but I don't begrudge loyal Republicans for voting for Republicans the vast majority of the time, it is what it is. The exact same rational works for Dems right now. I am a loyal Dem voter and fairly rational. The emotional thing to do would be to want to jettison an incumbent President who wants to run & is eligible for another term and magically get someone younger & more dynamic. Hell, while I have that magic wand I wanna get rid of Harris too and move on to someone else on the bench (I've listed lost of options I like better before). BUT, like I said, I'm a relatively rational voter, exactly what you say you want to see. The rational case for a Dem/liberal voter is that Biden is the incumbent, has a track record of winning and governing in a way I generally support, I'm voting for him again in 2024. I do wish he were younger, I would change some policies here and there, I would jettison his VP into the sun and pick a new running mate...but I'm not a wizard, I'm just a guy with one vote and a few dollars here and there to donate. For my friends on the right, Trump is no longer an incumbent. He has a track record of losing. The GOP should have a real primary for 2024, although TBD because right now Trump is winning very easily. If y'all want someone else by all means make that happen! I for one as a Democrat do not hope that Trump is the nominee because I think another Trump term would be disastrous for our democratic institutions. He basically was willing to nuke the constitution to stay in office when things didn't go his way and we got saved by the hair on our chins by Mike Pence and some lucky breaks. Haley, Scott, etc. are fine; I don't "like" them or their policies, but they are normal Republicans that the country is used to. Even DeSantis, who I think sucks very badly, would be better. Best of luck to whatever shreds are left of the anti-Trump right, I legit wish you all luck cleaning up your house.

I know next to zero about any of these potential next CSAFs if CQB is elevated to Chairman, but I did get a picture with VO 15 years ago when she was the WG/CC at Randolph and I was graduating nav school. Would be cool to see her all the way up there as CSAF when I'm still just a lowly crew dawg 😅

Chang, “service before self” doesn’t mean masturbation, I think your mixing up your terms. But to play along with your delusion, yes, I’m servicing myself quite regularly. I appreciate you always checking up on the troops’ health & wellness sir 🫡🇺🇸

Y’all on the right have agency here! I’ve beat this horse but I’ll say it again: no one is forcing those on the right to radicalize, talk about civil war, a national divorce, storm the Capitol, etc. Joe Biden is president and no matter what many here think, he’s not a radical. The GOP controls the US House, SCOTUS and the majority of governors mansions. I am a liberal but not a leftist and am working hard to discredit and keep those on the radical left out of power. So BL: no one can force you to vote for Trump, to call for a national divorce, to empower bomb throwers like MTG, etc. At some point the moderate and center-of-mass-ish conservative GOP voters and leaders need do also do the right thing, just like I believe those in the Democratic Party are doing. Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, etc. are the leaders of the Dem party and generally don’t take too much shit or direction from some of the terminally online commies and DEI warriors that I and many of y’all rightfully denounce. All those lefties suck and I will forcefully defend the idea that they do not hold much actual political power in the Democratic Party today. So do the same. Flush out the Nazis, the blood and soil radical nationalists, the bigots and the white supremacists. I don’t believe they represent the true values of the GOP, but their voices have been louder in the last 6-9 years than at any point previously in my lifetime.

Narrator: this did not, in fact, happen. Willing to make a bet on this specifically? I’ll send ya a nice bottle of your choice the day we’re forced to don the armbands, maybe you can do the same for me if it doesn’t happen. You wanna do one year? Five? Dealer’s choice. Too many of y’all make all these hyperbolic posts about how the country is rapidly going to hell and civil war is imminent and the rest of the normal folks out there just refuse to cooperate apparently. Sorry not sorry. Our country is strong and great and resilient despite our flaws and anyone who doesn’t see that is deluding themselves 🇺🇸