Politics

[farmer_john]

How are we supposed to differentiate between your mistypes and regular grammar and spelling errors? Hard to read your mind,

Because ive explicitly corrected it like 3x for the one comment.

Cant help that part. On yalls end

 

[LivingTheDream]

A friend of mine has oil leases on her land in TX, she makes money when oil is over $60/barrel.

60 dollars is tough though, you make money but you really dont make money. 75 dollars and above is fantastic.

 

[Wheels]

Is not NATO a defensive alliance? If the US were attacked and invoked article 5 just like after 9/11 I sure hope all allies would heed the call. But in this case the US is the aggressor and therefore it does not seem to be any case for it to be considered a NATO issue.

Perhaps it would have been wiser to build a coalition like before Desert Storm or the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The israeli probably could still have taken out the Ayatollah before coalition forces started their part of the warfare.

I mean instead of trying to blackmail other countries to join the war with threats of a bad future for Nato etc...now he actually just makes it seem like the administration has realized that the US Navy cant handle Iran alone which makes them look a little desperate.

I was not trying to argue the pros and cons of NATO in the post I cited. ( I can save that for another post) Just pointing out that the biggest political friend NATO has in America, Lindsey Graham seems straddling the fulcrum. For those who are big proponents of NATO, that is not where you want to see Graham stand.

 

[Brent in Az]

Unless there was/is an imminent threat from Iran, they should have waited until early next year to attack.
After the mid terms and holiday season.
Americans typically have short memories with most political things, except when it comes to the wallet. It also gives the media a lot of fuel to fan the anti Trump, anti Republican, fires.
Things will not get better in a couple weeks as Trump claims they will.

 

[Wheels]

He

Hey come on.....I seen a couple of 30ft or so aluminium boats with couple outboards on....could be there very quickly....can be sent in a plane ...rapid deployment

You could charge adventurers to waterski the Hormuz. Use mines as your slalom course.

 

[Tanks]

Unless there was/is an imminent threat from Iran, they should have waited until early next year to attack.
After the mid terms and holiday season.
Americans typically have short memories with most political things, except when it comes to the wallet. It also gives the media a lot of fuel to fan the anti Trump, anti Republican, fires.
Things will not get better in a couple weeks as Trump claims they will.

Early next year? There is a slim possibility of losing the Senate in addition to the House in November. Might as well go to it with a GOP Congress rather than a Democrat one.

 

[RLD]

Unless there was/is an imminent threat from Iran, they should have waited until early next year to attack.
After the mid terms and holiday season.
Americans typically have short memories with most political things, except when it comes to the wallet. It also gives the media a lot of fuel to fan the anti Trump, anti Republican, fires.
Things will not get better in a couple weeks as Trump claims they will.

Or at least waited until after the China summit I would think.

 

[Wheels]

Crude $108 and rising..

On the positive side, look at the windfall your company and country are getting!

 

[spike.t]

Not good........fire in the laundry room...

Fire damage, clogged toilets, and sinking morale: USS Gerald R Ford to set sail for repairs in Crete | US military | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/18/onboard-fire-uss-gerald-ford-aircraft-carrier

 

[Tanks]

Interestingly enough Euro was $1.18 on February 27, the day before the attacks. Now, it is $1.15. Seems like EU is hurting more than the dollar with oil prices going up. Not to mention, it costs more Euros to buy more expensive oil.

 

[Aaron N]

Doug Ford praises homeowner who shot man during home invasion: 'These guys, they need to be shot' — Toronto Star

"Congratulations for shooting this guy — should have shot him a couple more times, as far as I'm concerned," the premier said Wednesday.

apple.news

For all those that think Canadians have to cower as our homes are ransacked

 

[deewayne2003]

Do you realize how isolated USA is becoming..? No response from Europe nor Asia (even if the latter are the most impacted..) regarding Hormuz..

Keep on ranting while the rest of the world turn their backs on you..and watch the global economy take a dive..

If the USA was still throwing money into the dumpster fire that is the EU, do you actually think the EU would have done anything differently?

Remember back in 2014 when the German Army showed up to NATO exercises with wooden poles painted black because they didn't have machine guns?

The worlds THIRD LARGEST economic power showed up to NATO exercises with no machine guns; nearly a decade later Russia invades Ukraine and it was said that if Germany had to actually fight then they would have had only one weeks worth of ammo on hand.

Bottom line - The EU has decades of history in ignoring their legal obligations of NATO, so the EU's latest impotent response is shocking to nobody.....

 

[Brent in Az]

Early next year? There is a slim possibility of losing the Senate in addition to the House in November. Might as well go to it with a GOP Congress rather than a Democrat one.

Never underestimate the power of stupid voters in large numbers.
A razor thin margin is not something I want to gamble on.

 

[VertigoBE]

Interestingly enough Euro was $1.18 on February 27, the day before the attacks. Now, it is $1.15. Seems like EU is hurting more than the dollar with oil prices going up. Not to mention, it costs more Euros to buy more expensive oil.

I think all things considered, that this is a very tame reaction so far...

 

[Wheels]

Evidently there is now some resistance on the ground against the Basij forces.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034282421445927356

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Regarding the discussion on factories and reductions in product required. An 11% drop in orders does not necessarily translate to layoffs. It depends on what the demand was prior to that drop. But for the sake of discussion let's just say your factory is running at or near 100% of capacity.

Most factories shoot for operating 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. That may seem obvious, but maybe not for the reason you think. It has a lot to do with the cost of the equipment in the factory. Product cost includes the cost of manufacturing, the cost to obtain and operate the equipment in the factory is included in this. This is a fixed cost. Whether you make 1 widget per year or 1 million widgets per year, the cost is the same. So the higher the volume the lower the cost per widget to produce it in terms of dollars per hour. The lower the cost per hour the higher per hour your profit.

So let's say we're running the factory 24/7 to meet current demand (note you may not be able to meet current demand even if running 24/7), when a drop of 10% in orders comes thru. What does that mean for the factory?

Well if you're running 24 hours a day, you now have a reduction of 2.4 hour required to produce the needed amount of product. What that means is you still need to run the factory for 21.6 hours per day.

Let's say you're running 3 shifts, 8 hours per day. You still need all 3 shifts to keep the factory running to meet demand. You could argue that hours could be reduced, but that's not the same as a layoff where a shift would be eliminated.

Furthermore, if when that 10% drop in demand occurred you were unable to meet the previous current demand, it's quite possible that nothing happens.

 

[Wheels]

For those that think America is going to keep the straits open by themselves.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2034257380783919198

 

[rigbymauser]

I think the problem is that you dont realize how little the US cares...

The sooner you realize and understand that the US is very purposefully pulling back from its relationships, the sooner you can stop crying in your cheerios and stamping your feet like a child..

the only question is how much pull back is the appropriate amount? there are very far/hard right isolationists (your boy Joe Kent that you seem to love and appreciate is one of them by the way... which makes you a bit of a duplistic hypocrite I believe).. and there are centrists that do believe the rest of the world needed to be put in check, but to a lessor degree than the Kents, Vances, Hawleys, etc..

The other thing you fail to realize is.. if the global economy takes a dive.. YOU will most likely hurt much more than the US..

The US economy is simply larger and able to take a beating much more readily than most of the rest of the world..

Everyone sucks during a global recession..

But generally speaking the US sucks less than everyone else..

The US felt the last recession from 2008-2010...

Europe got a double dip and re-entered recession in 2011..

The US staggered around 6.7% unemployment for most of the recession while Europe hung around closer to the 12% mark..

Yes and no!.

Yes! Many european counties took a deeper nosedive(GDP) in the 2008-2011 period. My country Denmark survived quite well with an average of less the 5% unemployment rate where the constructionbusiness was hit hardest.
However more single familie americans went financial bust percentagewise during the this period. I don`t think we had that many forecloseres at all. Yes the country US GDP went stronger post 2011 but your population was hit way harder than most EU populations.
Yes the US of A maybe the richest in the whole world, but why is your societies so poor?. Where is the money going?....

Here is something that verify your above statement:..

.https://tfas.org/news/america-is-leaving-europe-in-the-dust-economically-thank-entrepreneurs-by-ted-tucker-national-review-online/

 

[Scott CWO]

My wife has had 3 BMW X5 over a 20 year period and no major issues whatsoever. Just normal maintenance.

Congrats. I still wouldn’t buy one. One of my other neighbors is the best mechanic I’ve ever met. He actually gets paid to travel around to automotive repair shops to diagnose the issues and also has his own shop. He keeps up on continuing education for all brands and has a van full of onboard diagnostic computers and equipment. He doesn’t like BMWs either.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

I think so aswell, as it stands now I believe that neither the other members nor the most likely/only adversary (Russia) believes that the US under Trump would heed the call or at least not do so in any meaningful way.

And there are no guarantees that Trump is an anomaly, there might be other future republican presidents pushing a similar agenda. So Europe should not, in my opinion, be tempted to wait until his time as president is over thinking that things will return to normal.

I guess I am more optimistic. I choose to believe would "answer the call" but also acknowledge the concern ge might not. Also, I choose to believe any uncertainty tied to him expires in a couple of years+ and that his successor(s) will be more traditional.