The Next President is...

[slackline]

36 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

No shit!  Watch this answer from Jen Psaki...gotta stick to the playbook!

https://rumble.com/vde5n3-biden-press-sec-has-most-cringe-moment-yet-when-asked-legit-question.html

 

Let me be clear, I'm not saying she is great, or even good. My comment goes more to the statement that this is the most cringe moment.  

Would you rather she rip into the press Corp, call them stupid, then lie to them?  What am I missing here?  Someone doesn't know a decent answer, tries to find it in the moment, acknowledges they don't have a good answer, then says they'll get back to them with it.  That's cringe?  

I ask this sarcastically because I think I know the answer to this, but were you one of those WG/CCs that expected answers regardless?  I don't know wasn't acceptable?  Based on the character you've shown here I highly doubt you'd tear into someone over an answer like that. Maybe the timelines, but saying I don't know is acceptable with some exceptions.  

 

But you guys are right, let's get Conway, Spicer, Huckabee, or that last nitwit Trump had back out answering questions with lies...

I'll add this caveat, maybe there's some context I'm missing here, but based on what you've shared, this looks ridiculously petty.

[ClearedHot]

34 minutes ago, slackline said:

Let me be clear, I'm not saying she is great, or even good. My comment goes more to the statement that this is the most cringe moment.  

Would you rather she rip into the press Corp, call them stupid, then lie to them?  What am I missing here?  Someone doesn't know a decent answer, tries to find it in the moment, acknowledges they don't have a good answer, then says they'll get back to them with it.  That's cringe?  

I ask this sarcastically because I think I know the answer to this, but were you one of those WG/CCs that expected answers regardless?  I don't know wasn't acceptable?  Based on the character you've shown here I highly doubt you'd tear into someone over an answer like that. Maybe the timelines, but saying I don't know is acceptable with some exceptions.  

 

But you guys are right, let's get Conway, Spicer, Huckabee, or that last nitwit Trump had back out answering questions with lies...

I'll add this caveat, maybe there's some context I'm missing here, but based on what you've shared, this looks ridiculously petty.

Seriously?  So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie.  Come on man!

Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson.

Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium.  The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do.  She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back."

For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer.  It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. 

Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times.  My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass.   He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line.  When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room.  He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going.  We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him.  I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military).  Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC.  I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?"  Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..."  That was his answer to everything.  Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."

 

[BashiChuni]

[slackline]

44 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

Seriously?  So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie.  Come on man!

Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson.

Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium.  The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do.  She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back."

For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer.  It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. 

Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times.  My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass.   He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line.  When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room.  He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going.  We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him.  I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military).  Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC.  I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?"  Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..."  That was his answer to everything.  Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."

 

Dude, reread my first sentence!  I've made no statement as to her awesomeness or not as press secretary...  My comment was fairly straightforward, I took issue with your posting that specific link as if it were somehow damning evidence of her duplicity.

I also allowed for exceptions with the "I don't know rule"... Same as you, I took issue with "I don't know" when working a SAR or CASEVAC, TIC, etc.  I have faith you were an excellent leader and cared for your people deeply.  It shows through still.

That's what blows me away sometimes when you post that garbage clickbait link.  Second link you posted, valid kill, first one hurts your credibility.  I know you couldn't care less about what I think of you on some internet forum, but that was beneath your typical standard.

That's my saved rounds for the debrief...

[FLEA]

https://www.econlib.org/is-there-politics-after-polarization/

 

Very short read but I think it captures the current predicament well. The quote captured it well. 

Quote

America will not be able to do much healing in the next four years if the 47 percent of America who voted against the president-elect are treated as a subjugated population. Yet knowingly or not, this is how the election’s victors are behaving. A large minority of our nation can scarcely air its opinions in the academy or, increasingly, in the establishment media. Their speech is ever more policed in the workplace and online by rules tantamount to “victor’s justice.

 

[lloyd christmas]

33 minutes ago, FLEA said:

https://www.econlib.org/is-there-politics-after-polarization/

 

Very short read but I think it captures the current predicament well. The quote captured it well. 

 

Good article.  I recently watched this video which hits on some similar points related to unifying the country.  I certainly don’t agree with all of Hedges views, but he has some very interesting observations.  He is critical of the right and the left in this piece as well as the media/big tech.  It’s definitely worth the watch if have an hour or so.  
 

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by lloyd christmas

[ClearedHot]

[Guest nsplayr]

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

 

I hate to ask but why do you so specifically hate Jen Psaki? IMHO being a spokesperson is a hard and thankless job and FFS she’s a 100% improvement on the empty podium we’ve been offered for the last ~6 months or so. 🤷‍♂️ I mean most of us here are cranky old men here (myself included) but this seems like a weird thing to piss you off so specifically. 

[ClearedHot]

10 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

I hate to ask but why do you so specifically hate Jen Psaki? IMHO being a spokesperson is a hard and thankless job and FFS she’s a 100% improvement on the empty podium we’ve been offered for the last ~6 months or so. 🤷‍♂️ I mean most of us here are cranky old men here (myself included) but this seems like a weird thing to piss you off so specifically. 

Mainly because of the tripe she used to spew at State.

[FLEA]

https://www.dawn.com/news/amp/1604695

Fucking called it. Hope everyone is ready for another round of deployments. It's the gift that keeps giving. 

 

“Conditions have not been met,” he said, on condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of the matter. “And with the new US administration, there will be tweaks in the policy, the sense of hasty withdrawal which was prevalent will be addressed and we could see a much more calculated exit strategy.”

Edited January 31, 2021 by FLEA

[Homestar]

Elections have consequences. 

[Swamp Yankee]

On 1/28/2021 at 2:53 PM, Lord Ratner said:

Not sure what you listen to, because Shapiro was all over the riots at the Capitol. I suspect what you're really looking for is someone on the right to criticize the right in the same way that someone on the left would, but that's a silly expectation. Conservatives can only be compared to other conservatives, in this case, and when you compare someone like Shapiro or Weinstein to, say, Fox news, the difference is obvious.

 

It's not like Trump has some sort of endless laundry list of problems. He's immoral in his personal life, uneducated on the issues, bad with his hiring decisions in many cases, and a terrible communicator to most of the electorate. I listen to Shapiro go off on those regularly. 

 

And there's zero comparison between the right and left insofar as defending their extremists. Democratic politicians tied themselves in knots doing everything in their power to minimize criticism of antifa and rioters over the summer. I've seen no such reluctance on the right to criticize white supremacists and rioters on the 6th.

 

But part of this is that if you think government is the solution to many of our problems (leftist), you're going to find fault in any conservative message, and conservatives are going to seem very similar to you. Same goes for the right.

Other than a couple of perfunctory comments, I have not observed Shapiro as ‘all over the riots’. If you have examples, please share. I listen to a wide range of podcasts, primarily because topics are explored in far more depth than current, conventional mass-consumption media.

Can you provide an example of someone on the right who critically examines their own side in the manner of Tulsi?  

[GrndPndr]

Maybe this belongs in the WTF thread, but I found this article interesting:

Pause in Corporate PAC Spending Triggers Political Pushback
Lawmakers say companies’ suspension of campaign donations puts business priorities at risk

https://www.wsj.com/articles/pause-in-corporate-pac-spending-triggers-political-pushback-11612175400?st=sul454ilsy205y1&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Yes, our wonderful congress is actually bitching they aren't getting enough money for their PACs, and they are insinuating that it will hurt legislation beneficial to these businesses.

[Lord Ratner]

On 1/30/2021 at 7:49 AM, ClearedHot said:

Yeah no problem with his mental facilities...not a single coherent sentence in this rambling statement.  Him good at math as well.

 

 

Yikes. There's a whole lot of "I told ya so" that'll come from that clip.

[pawnman]

1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

Yikes. There's a whole lot of "I told ya so" that'll come from that clip.

Only for anyone who didn't watch a single clip of him during the campaign.  This is nothing new.  Like, not even a little bit.

[17D_guy]

26 minutes ago, pawnman said:

Only for anyone who didn't watch a single clip of him during the campaign.  This is nothing new.  Like, not even a little bit.

I'm pretty sure I heard this before -

"Don't worry about what he says, he'll build a good team around him and get things done."

[ClearedHot]

16 hours ago, Homestar said:

Elections have consequences. 

Yes they do and I am sure you and the other folks that voted for Biden are proud of his achievements like some of the following.

- 42 Executive Orders, more than any President in history.  More than Trump and Obama combined.  Even though he said Dictator use EOs.

 

 

- Keystone Pipeline - 10,000 lost jobs and gas prices on the rise up, 9% locally (there are of course other factors as well).  I feel so much safer given there are no other pipelines out there...oh wayment.

 

- Paris Climate Accord - No worries John Kerry promised West Virginia Coal miners "Solar Panel manufacturing" jobs even though 73% of that capability resides in China.

 

- Stopped withdraw from AFG.  Hurray, endless deployments for all my friends.

 

- Let it slip that  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will get vaccine before millions of vulnerable Americans he tried to kill.

UFB!

 

 

[Negatory]

I’m on board with your point about Afghanistan and vaccinations 100%.

The Keystone pipeline and the Paris climate accords are both issues primarily related to global warming. Which, many believe, is an existential threat to the world. In my opinion, they are much better solutions than the republican strategy of not doing anything at all. To me, the republican strat for global warming was similar to the COVID strat: say it will go away on its own and put earplugs in.

There are hundreds, probably of thousands, of graphs like these that point to our future trajectory. What’s the plan?

 

[ClearedHot]

Agree we need a plan, but the plan we are signing up for puts an unfair burden on the U.S. ($20,000 per American family), when we are not the biggest emitters of green house gases AND we are already decreasing our emissions.   I am not a climate change denier...It is real, it is a threat and we need to take action NOW.  The problem is the United States should not have to shoulder an unfair burden.

 

By the way, even though we left the Paris Climate Accord, We have reduced our emissions more than any other industrialized nation...the real threat is China.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

On 1/30/2021 at 5:49 PM, ClearedHot said:

Seriously?  So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie.  Come on man!

Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson.

Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium.  The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do.  She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back."

For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer.  It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. 

Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times.  My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass.   He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line.  When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room.  He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going.  We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him.  I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military).  Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC.  I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?"  Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..."  That was his answer to everything.  Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."

 

She’s not impressive in that role, which requires one to think on her feet. 
Two observations:

- Blitzer did a decent job pressing her to provide a clear answer.  CNN leans left, but I’m glad to observe at least one reporter trying to be objective.  I can’t recall Fox doing the same with Trump’s press folks. 
- With regard to the aggressive driver; I hope your family was not harmed. It is fortunate that you had recourse due to the somewhat unique circumstances That’s just a standard day on the road in Boston. It is remarkable we don’t have rampant road rage up here. 

[ClearedHot]

12 minutes ago, Swamp Yankee said:

She’s not impressive in that role, which requires one to think on her feet. 
Two observations:

- Blitzer did a decent job pressing her to provide a clear answer.  CNN leans left, but I’m glad to observe at least one reporter trying to be objective.  I can’t recall Fox doing the same with Trump’s press folks. 
- With regard to the aggressive driver; I hope your family was not harmed. It is fortunate that you had recourse due to the somewhat unique circumstances That’s just a standard day on the road in Boston. It is remarkable we don’t have rampant road rage up here. 

I wish ALL networks would press folks regardless of political party...that was the original intent of the press.

I hear you on Boston, my sister lives up there and everytime I visit it is a shitshow.  My brother-in-law is a deputy police chief in the area and he drives like a maniac...and that is saying something considering how fast I drive.

[Negatory]

1 hour ago, ClearedHot said:

Agree we need a plan, but the plan we are signing up for puts an unfair burden on the U.S. ($20,000 per American family), when we are not the biggest emitters of green house gases AND we are already decreasing our emissions.   I am not a climate change denier...It is real, it is a threat and we need to take action NOW.  The problem is the United States should not have to shoulder an unfair burden.

 

By the way, even though we left the Paris Climate Accord, We have reduced our emissions more than any other industrialized nation...the real threat is China.

 

It’s harder to argue we have some sort of moral high ground when our per capita CO2 expenditure is twice that of China’s. You can’t forget we have 330M and they have 1.4B.

In that framework, what is “fair?”

[jazzdude]

Agree we need a plan, but the plan we are signing up for puts an unfair burden on the U.S. ($20,000 per American family), when we are not the biggest emitters of green house gases AND we are already decreasing our emissions.   I am not a climate change denier...It is real, it is a threat and we need to take action NOW.  The problem is the United States should not have to shoulder an unfair burden.

 
By the way, even though we left the Paris Climate Accord, We have reduced our emissions more than any other industrialized nation...the real threat is China.

 

I generally agree with you on your points (need for action, we've made good progress towards reducing emissions), though with some caveats.

China's the biggest threat, especially if you look at total CO2 produced, and their increasing trend.

While the US has made the most reduction, we were and still are the #2 CO2 producer in the world (2018). So the chart you posted can be misleading, but it does show that we are moving in the right direction.

Total fossil fuel CO2 puts China at #1 , and the US at #2 as of 2018 data.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/092915/5-countries-produce-most-carbon-dioxide-co2.asp

Per capita we're worse than China, so that does temper some of their CO2 output (with more people you'd expect more total emissions), though they are trending upwards.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/consumption-co2-per-capita?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&country=~USA&region=World

We didn't formally leave the Paris Accords until Nov 2020, and it looks like we'll rejoin in March 2021, so I don't think leaving really did anything beyond symbolic.

[Negatory]

Agreed that leaving was symbolic, but it was still counterproductive if we don’t have actual solutions or plans to make it “fair.”

The only way to “win” here is using soft power to get everyone on board. You can’t invade China to shut off their manufacturing. And, as the past 4 years have shown, you can’t really impose tariffs nearly as effectively as we would hope.

This is the cost of China becoming a superpower (mainly due to how much shopping I do at Walmart).

[Homestar]

4 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

Yes they do and I am sure you and the other folks that voted for Biden are proud of his achievements like some of the following.

- 42 Executive Orders, more than any President in history.  More than Trump and Obama combined.  Even though he said Dictator use EOs.

 

 

- Keystone Pipeline - 10,000 lost jobs and gas prices on the rise up, 9% locally (there are of course other factors as well).  I feel so much safer given there are no other pipelines out there...oh wayment.

 

- Paris Climate Accord - No worries John Kerry promised West Virginia Coal miners "Solar Panel manufacturing" jobs even though 73% of that capability resides in China.

 

- Stopped withdraw from AFG.  Hurray, endless deployments for all my friends.

 

- Let it slip that  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will get vaccine before millions of vulnerable Americans he tried to kill.

UFB!

 

 

I voted for Biden because Trump was an immoral option. I couldn’t look my kids in the eye and explain any reasoning for voting for him. I’m a conservative without a home. I’m a proud Never Trumper that actually votes for and encourages actual conservatism. Trump was none of that. Screw that guy. He was horrible for our country in all respects. I seriously don’t care what liberal utopia crap we get in the next two years because it means Trump isn’t in office. Jeez. You guys make it seem that Biden’s EOs are going to ring in the apocalypse.