Politics

[Tanks]

Trump could shit gold bars directly into your portfolio, and you would still be unhappy with the man.

Oh, he is shitting platinum bars, I love a bear market. Not great for main street though.

 

[Tanks]

Psycho Wisconsin teen kills parents for finances and autonomy, over a Trump assassination plot, and to overthrow the U.S government

Wisconsin teen charged in shooting death of mother, stepfather found decomposed in their home

A 17-year-old Wisconsin boy is accused of killing his parents and leaving their bodies to rot in their home for weeks before fleeing the state in their SUV.

www.foxnews.com

I didn't read anything about Trump or US government in the above article.

Regardless, one reason one does not date or marry single moms. One never knows what one is getting with the kid(s).

 

[Pondoro]

2 weeks ago Hegseth was to cut US defence budget with 40% over 5 years.. Now, two days ago, Trump talked about raising it from 820 billion to 1 trillion..??

Trump Teases $1 Trillion Defense Budget—But What Does That Actually Mean? - Defense Security Monitor

At a press event on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Donald Trump hinted at a defense budget request “in the vicinity” of $1 trillion for Fiscal Year …

dsm.forecastinternational.com

 

[spike.t]

Very cool.....would like to visit one of those some day.

It's worth it...

 

[spike.t]

Russians totally eradicating anything Ukrainian in the occupied territories.....

Ukraine war: ‘Russians are even trying to ban our holidays' - life in occupied territories

Ukrainians in Russian-held land tell the BBC about the difficulties of life under occupation.

www.bbc.com

 

[spike.t]

I'm the CEO of a clothing brand that makes 100% of our apparel in America. Trump's tariffs are too chaotic to help me.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eva Kuhle, the CEO and designer of Epaulet, a Los Angeles-based menswear brand that manufactures all its products in the US

africa.businessinsider.com

 

[rigbymauser]

Clowns…

But after all doing it professionally.

 

[Altitude sickness]

“Anyone else in Canada having issues getting your voter card?”

Wait, What? Tubby, You need to identify yourself to vote in Canada ? Racists

Joking of course.

 

[Pheroze]

Business leaders, ex-bank heads throw support behind Poilievre with open letter — The Canadian Press

A number of prominent business leaders formally threw their support behind Pi

apple.news

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

“Anyone else in Canada having issues getting your voter card?”

Wait, What? Tubby, You need to identify yourself to vote in Canada ? Racists

Joking of course.

You can show up to the polls on vote day without a voter card as long as you have a couple approved pieces of identification. To vote early however you need the voter card , the nature of the industry I’m in makes it problematic to guarantee I’m on land on any given day so I tend to vote early when possible.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Critics shoot down Carney's rejuvenated gun grab program

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is making it clear that the controversial gun grab plan first introduced under Justin Trudeau is not going anywhere.

www.westernstandard.news

Carney to continue with liberal gun grabs at first opportunity

 

[bowjijohn]

I understand very little of these complexities, however, when you set a battle field

You really don’t piss off the allies that hold your flanks

Then make a poorly planned charge at an equivalent enemy force

I fear that your fearless leader has done us all significant damage

Trump is already withdrawing

This will really not go well

 

[Red Leg]

Those distinctions are important, because they show respect. It's not an army rank structure at all. Some of it is due to "jointness" being forced on them. Others are a very old tradition.

Colonel comes from a leader of a column.

Lieutenant is "in lieu of", as has been noted.

Other examples will occur to you.

Others have mentioned the differences between pay-grades and ranks. Again, Jointness forced.

Oh, and you will note those are Officer ranks. The Army has no Lance Corporal, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Gunnery Sergeant, etc. But my experience has always been others had the respect to learn Army equivalents, but that respect was rarely reciprocated.

True story: In Afghanistan, an Army Colonel was giving a lecture re: respecting Afghan culture, and that not everyone has the same background and decisions.

Same Colonel, later the same day, addressed a Navy Lieutenant Commander as "Major". When the LCDR said "sir, I'm in the Navy, I'm not a Major, the response was: "I don't have the time or inclination to worry about such things.

So the guy who was lecturing about respecting other cultures couldn't even allow for another American making a different decision.

It's all about showing respect.

I think I am fairly well informed of the history of the respective ranks and the service rank structures.

I frankly find your Colonel story hard to believe. Witness that yourself? I know of no soldier who would ever deliberately misuse the rank of an officer or enlisted man - particularly if he reached the rank of colonel. Though it does make a good - how does the Navy put it - sea story.

However, abbreviations of the identical proper rank are another issue; one I frankly don't care to get worked up over.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The last time the US loaned out more money than it borrowed was the mid 70s. Coincidentally it was the same time we no longer had enough gold to equal the cash needed. and we went off the gold reserve. And Saudi Arabia agreed to base oil prices on the Dollar in return for our protection For ever. If they ever went fully off the dollar the US is in dire trouble.


After WW2, when the borrowing and spending really got off track was during Reagan‘s military buildup and the Cold War. Both were necessary. But unlike WW2 we didn’t pay it off. We just kept up the borrowing. One excuse after another.

So here we are. Politicians wring their hands and have talked about the debt forever, but we live in such a short attention span political environment. One year or two at the most. where our true enemies have a 100 year strategy not a two-year strategy.

Using a scalpel would never work and it would never have gotten done. Someone needed to come in and turn the table over and disrupt the status quo so “Biggly” everybody would have to address it.

In the long run, all free markets will end up better off. the worry that we are going to flood their markets with products is a laugh. We can barely produce enough for ourselves except for the farming industry. And our over processed junk food. That we obviously have more than enough for the rest of the world.

What have any of us gained in life without experiencing a little pain and hard work. Anything good you have to suffer and delay the payoff a little first.

What do we tell our kids? You have to work hard and put off your immediate gratification for a quality later life. Then we don’t want do it ourselves when the countries Security is at stake.

 

[bowjijohn]

I think I am fairly well informed of the history of the respective ranks and the service rank structures.

I frankly find your Colonel story hard to believe. Witness that yourself? I know of no soldier who would ever deliberately misuse the rank of an officer or enlisted man - particularly if he reached the rank of colonel. Though it does make a good - how does the Navy put it - sea story.

However, abbreviations of the identical proper rank are another issue; one I frankly don't care to get worked up over.

Sea story

We call(ed) them ‘salty dits’

Same thing

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

I’m sure this will be shot down by the trump faithful as leftist propaganda but I thought it was a well spoken message.

Some numbers to back up what he said,

ww1 650 000 Canadians served

ww2 1.1 million Canadians served

Korean conflict 27000 Canadians served

Vietnam 20-40 thousand Canadians volunteered to fight in Americas military , offsetting the 30000 draft doggers who fled to Canada.

Gulf war 5100 Canadians served

Somali civil war 1400 Canadians served

Bosnian war 1500 Canadians served

Kosovo 1300 Canadians served

Afghan war over 40 000 Canadians served

Not to even mention the assistance rendered in the days after 9/11, the humanitarian aid after hurricanes, firefighters who have fought wildfires in America.

But trump says Canadians are the worst so we must be right?

 

[Altitude sickness]

Great reminder Tubby. I could’ve done without the video of that Lump of $h!!

He has the moral character of a sack of dirt. He would do well in Canadian politics. Please take him from us

 

[Red Leg]

The last time the US loaned out more money than it borrowed was the mid 70s. Coincidentally it was the same time we no longer had enough gold to equal the cash needed. and we went off the gold reserve. And Saudi Arabia agreed to base oil prices on the Dollar in return for our protection For ever. If they ever went fully off the dollar the US is in dire trouble.


After WW2, when the borrowing and spending really got off track was during Reagan‘s military buildup and the Cold War. Both were necessary. But unlike WW2 we didn’t pay it off. We just kept up the borrowing. One excuse after another.

So here we are. Politicians wring their hands and have talked about the debt forever, but we live in such a short attention span political environment. One year or two at the most. where our true enemies have a 100 year strategy not a two-year strategy.

Using a scalpel would never work and it would never have gotten done. Someone needed to come in and turn the table over and disrupt the status quo so “Biggly” everybody would have to address it.

In the long run, all free markets will end up better off. the worry that we are going to flood their markets with products is a laugh. We can barely produce enough for ourselves except for the farming industry. And our over processed junk food. That we obviously have more than enough for the rest of the world.

What have any of us gained in life without experiencing a little pain and hard work. Anything good you have to suffer and delay the payoff a little first.

What do we tell our kids? You have to work hard and put off your immediate gratification for a quality later life. Then we don’t want do it ourselves when the countries Security is at stake.

That is all very noble, but explain to me what the administration's actual strategy is and how it is coherently addressing either the revenue or trade imbalance issues. I am all for greater equity is our international trade, though I assume we intend to maintain all of our agricultural subsidies? The tariff initiatives have been confusing and been issued and changed seemingly on a whim. For the life of me, I can't quite get a grip on how introducing a near collapse to our own markets moves us along that vision of better free trade opportunities and less debt.

For instance, that near collapse has put Treasuries in a precarious state that directly affects the nation's long term economic health through the value of that debt and the cost of its refinancing - a huge portion of which will have to be refinanced in the near term. Current estimates, assuming the 50-60 basis point increase goes no higher this week, indicate the administration's actions have added 170-200 billion USD to the debt annually.

To date, we are going the wrong direction. I find it somewhat amusing that Steve Bannon is now suddenly applauding the President's intent to raise taxes on the "wealthy." I assume Elizabeth Warren is pleased.

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Great reminder Tubby. I could’ve done without the video of that Lump of $h!!

He has the moral character of a sack of dirt. He would do well in Canadian politics. Please take him from us

We have enough politicians of our own

 

[Altitude sickness]

I agree Red Leg, Unfortunately consumer confidence is a huge factor and the media is no friend to consumer confidence. And the hysteria has dealt a major blow to those holding US bonds. But they will come to their senses as there is no better place to have your money right now.

We no longer live in a society where everybody gets behind the greater good. Too self centered and shallow.
We would rather be right in our own opinion and enjoy seeing the other party fail instead of what is really good for our country.

I’m not a fan of FDR, but his phrase comes into play right now. Fear and uncertainty is what is really driving the bond market and consumer confidence down, nothing of consequence has actually even happened to any of the targeted nations. Except China.

And I think we both agree once again Trump is his own worst enemy. He should let the experts go to work and let them do the talking.

Use General Patrons leadership style. Hire great people, tell them what you want, then stay the hell out of their way.