Politics

[Wheels]

I dont think it was lol..

I expected a university graduation to be something of refinement and decorum..

What I attended was not that lol...

About every fourth or fifth grad either barked like a dog as they crossed the stage.. tried to do a Bruno Mars impression... Stopped and twerked for a moment... or just acted like a general idiot..

All I could think was "holy hell... these kids are in the process of applying for jobs and are what I should expect to be working for me in the next couple of years"...

It was an interesting "experience" lol..

Thank God mine smiled, walked calmly across the stage, shook hands with her dean, took a photo with said dean, and then exited the stage without incident...

That definitely beats my brothers graduation where two streakers made their presence known to around 20,000 people during the governors speech.

 

[mdwest]

Having spent a good bit of time on Capitol Hill when I was the Army's Chief of Legislative Liaison, I can offer a bit of perspective. A $174K annual salary may seem like a lot to some, but Washington DC is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country. A second home in Washington, even an apartment, can be prohibitively expensive for a member trying to survive on his salary and maintain a family in his or her home state. For instance a one bedroom apartment currently runs over 2K anywhere near Capitol Hill. Add a home mortgage back in Indiana, a kid in college, and a couple of cars, and things get tricky very quickly.

I missed this earlier…

100% spot on..

I left DC in 2007… I was making +/- $180k a year then… it was a salary that allowed me to be comfortable even with my then wife not working… but we certainly weren’t getting rich… we leased a 4 bedroom, 1900 sq ft townhome out in Burke, both of us drove vehicles that were about 3-4 years old.. kids went to public schools, etc…

Certainly not “poor”… but we definitely weren’t living a life of luxury either.. DC ain’t cheap…

Making $174k in DC metro today, almost 20 years later, would make being “comfortable” a serious challenge..

The guys that worked for me back in 2007 all made around $110k… all but one of them lived WAY outside the city… most either out past Manassas or down south around Fredericksburg.. which made the daily commute a bear… but it was the only way they could put their families in decent homes, get their kids in decent schools, etc… (we stayed on the road 200+ days a year back then… so putting the families in a decent homes, good schools, etc and giving them as stress free of a life was a pretty big priority for most of us… and doing that in any of the suburbs close to the city was nearly impossible).,.

 

[Aaron N]

The Trump-Kennedy center

The Trump Whitehouse Ballroom

The U.S.S Donald Trump

Let's keep it rolling.......with a Nobel Peace Prize.

After Greenland is renamed Trumpland of course.

 

[Red Leg]

Too late. Trump class battleships to be built. I’m in favor of building up and modernizing our navy, but I would prefer aircraft carriers over battleships.

https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/Press-Releases/display-pressreleases/Article/4366856/president-trump-announces-new-battleship/

That are actually rather small frigates.

 

[Red Leg]

Most fans of top 20 football schools are great people. LSU included. You would certainly be that type of fan. From my limited experience, 2004 Sugar Bowl, LSU has the highest percentage of truly obnoxious, ungracious winning, beer throwing on opposing fans, cursing out opposing fans families with young children present I have ever seen. Hopefully my experience was just an anomaly.

LSU is a unique and special place for visiting teams - warning - may not be suitable for small children and easily offended Yankees.

Singing "Neck"

The light show

Or "Baton Rouge"

Geaux Tigers!!!!

 

[mark-hunter]

Can't see that happening....and in the last few years including fairly recently Russia has pulled out of all military integration it had with certain European countries....

Yes, of course not happening with present political constellation, and war to conclude before.

As I said: Iron Curtain or North-South Korea post war is other scenario.
It is quite possible.

Now lets project this 20-30 years ahead.
Europe on green policies, without cheap energy imported from Russia, and with expensive workforce. This will make expensive market non-competitive product. (good example German car price vs Chinese car price)

On the other hand, Russia is not isolated, it looks like it has working economy and stable international market through BRICS.
I think BRICS by now covers more then half of the world population. More surprisingly some strong western allies and partners, have joined the BRICS, for example Saudi.

The status of Russian economy is hard to estimate, between the mainstream headlines.
But I used US dollar Russian Ruble ratio as a measuring stick.

And this is the overview:
This is AI generated, but I found similar figures on various online calculators;

• Pre-2022 (2020-Early 2022): The Ruble generally strengthened, with rates often in the 70s, even dipping to around 60 at times.
• March 2022 Spike: Following the invasion of Ukraine, the Ruble crashed, with the USD/RUB rate hitting an all-time high (over 100, peaking around 113-114).
• Mid-2022 to 2024: Aggressive capital controls and high energy prices helped the Ruble recover and stabilize, often in the 80-90 range.
• Late 2025: The Ruble strengthened considerably, reaching levels unseen since before the full-scale war (around 76-79) due to high oil revenues and strict financial measures.

Late 2025 status, gives final effect of western and EU sanctions.

Coming back to European eventual "iron curtain policy":

With that policy this will make Europe a touristic peninsula of Euroasian continent.
Its European choice.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The new battle ship will be half the displacement of an Iowa class battleship 30 to 40,000 tons. But will be a larger offensive platform than we have now.

The Chinese are quickly outpacing US Naval and civilian ship building. It’s great to see that being addressed.

The whole Venezuelan “Fishing Boat” operation has several purposes. Sure, killing Tren de Aragua in international waters is great. And dealing with Nicholas Maduro may be worth while. ( I don’t agree with the U.S. creating another vacuum).

But the Primary reason we have such a large naval force in the Caribbean isn’t Venezuela. It’s China.

China has a large established footprint on the Panama Canal ( though reduced since August). And throughout the Caribbean. It’s been a huge strategic blunder for quite a while. Allowing China inside our comfort zone.

This whole Venezuela thing is to “Brush China back off the plate”. It also starves Iran, China and Russian proxies of oil and revenue.

So this Venezuela thing has a multi prong benefit.

It’s like watching water polo. What we see is just a small fraction of what is actually going on below the surface.


The ramping up of Ship building and other Naval technology is a monumental move to keep China in check.

If I may add. Both China and the U.S. know we can’t actually go toe to toe. It’s too destructive. So this small ball maneuvering. (Intelligence theft, bio terror, proxy wars )will be the Cold War with China. Which actually already started.

Beware the Allure of Blockade: There Won’t Be Any Silver Bullets in a War Against China - Center for Maritime Strategy

Introduction War between the United States and People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Taiwan—or another dispute between Beijing and one of its neighbors—remains a front-of-mind concern for Washington. Many wargames have simulated what such a war might look like from the American perspective, but...

centerformaritimestrategy.org

 

[Altitude sickness]

Our politicians should use a more timely, seasonal term for hoax.

“The word “bah” has been used since the early 19th century as “an expression of contempt or disagreement.” But “humbug” was coined around 50 years earlier. (If you’re doing the math, “humbug” was 1750s slang, “bah” was from the 1810s, and Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843.) “Humbug” originally meant “a hoax; a jesting or befooling trick,” and was commonly used around that time to describe a sham or other misleading event.”

 

[farmer_john]

I missed this earlier…

100% spot on..

I left DC in 2007… I was making +/- $180k a year then… it was a salary that allowed me to be comfortable even with my then wife not working… but we certainly weren’t getting rich… we leased a 4 bedroom, 1900 sq ft townhome out in Burke, both of us drove vehicles that were about 3-4 years old.. kids went to public schools, etc…

Certainly not “poor”… but we definitely weren’t living a life of luxury either.. DC ain’t cheap…

Making $174k in DC metro today, almost 20 years later, would make being “comfortable” a serious challenge..

The guys that worked for me back in 2007 all made around $110k… all but one of them lived WAY outside the city… most either out past Manassas or down south around Fredericksburg.. which made the daily commute a bear… but it was the only way they could put their families in decent homes, get their kids in decent schools, etc… (we stayed on the road 200+ days a year back then… so putting the families in a decent homes, good schools, etc and giving them as stress free of a life was a pretty big priority for most of us… and doing that in any of the suburbs close to the city was nearly impossible).,.

Id put em in the barracks. If cost livings so high just make congressional barracks

 

[Brent in Az]

After Greenland is renamed Trumpland of course.

That would be the proverbial icing on the Trump cake....

 

[fourfive8]

Comments about “frigate-sized warship” is not lost. I certainly don’t claim to know any of the specs about the new class of warship(s) being proposed but am pretty certain the paradigm of scale and perspective is changing and evolving … rapidly! I can hold a 10 lb quantity of black powder charge for an iron canon projectile in one hand and the 10 lb plutonium pit for a nuke in the other hand. You tell me…

 

[Red Leg]

Comments about “frigate-sized warship” is not lost. I certainly don’t claim to know any of the specs about the new class of warship(s) being proposed but am pretty certain the paradigm of scale and perspective is changing and evolving … rapidly! I can hold a 10 lb quantity of black powder charge for an iron canon projectile in one hand and the 10 lb plutonium pit for a nuke in the other hand. You tell me…

However, I was incorrect. There is apparently a parallel USN ship development program that is based on the Coast Guard national Security Cutter. This frigate is intended to fill the combat gab between destroyers and the not wholly successful Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). This vessel is not Trump's "battleship."

As many issues as the Air Force has had getting new aircraft designs into full rate production, the Navy has had even more trouble with surface combatants. The Zumwalt class destroyer is the prime recent example. By choosing the Coast Guard hull, the navy hopes to leapfrog some of the initial development costs and delays.

As @Altitude sickness points out the "Trump Class" is something very different. I think the most analogous surface combatant would have been the Soviet era Kirov Class heavy cruiser or battlecruiser with a 28,000 ton displacement. Four were built and two are technically still in service though one has been going through refit for years. The other rarely leaves port. The new USS Defiant would of course have far more modern and lethal weapons.

What We Know About The Trump Class "Battleship"

The USS Defiant would be the first Trump class battleship, but major questions remain about affordability and logic of such a massive design.

www.twz.com

US Navy to develop new class of smaller, more ‘agile’ combatant ships

The first hull is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy’s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said.

www.militarytimes.com

 

[KJE81]

However, I was incorrect. There is apparently a parallel USN ship development program that is based on the Coast Guard national Security Cutter. This frigate is intended to fill the combat gab between destroyers and the not wholly successful Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). This vessel is not Trump's "battleship."

As many issues as the Air Force has had getting new aircraft designs into full rate production, the Navy has had even more trouble with surface combatants. The Zumwalt class destroyer is the prime recent example. By choosing the Coast Guard hull, the navy hopes to leapfrog some of the initial development costs and delays.

As @Altitude sickness points out the "Trump Class" is something very different. I think the most analogous surface combatant would have been the Soviet era Kirov Class heavy cruiser or battlecruiser with a 28,000 ton displacement. Four were built and two are technically still in service though one has been going through refit for years. The other rarely leaves port. The new USS Defiant would of course have far more modern and lethal weapons.

What We Know About The Trump Class "Battleship"

The USS Defiant would be the first Trump class battleship, but major questions remain about affordability and logic of such a massive design.

www.twz.com

US Navy to develop new class of smaller, more ‘agile’ combatant ships

The first hull is expected to hit the water in 2028 as a more nimble companion to the Navy’s larger warships, Navy Secretary John Phelan said.

www.militarytimes.com

It looks like CG would be a more fitting designation then BB judging from the picture.

Or perhaps a new one, BCG for guided missile battlecruiser.

 

[Altitude sickness]

If it comes in at 20k tons before all the supplies. It’s a heavy cruiser. If 30,000 tons it’s close to the WW2 USS Indianapolis. If 35,000 tons it is closer to the German Bismarck empty.

It will most likely be closer to 20

 

[CJW]

DEI hire DC police chief resigns with a very eloquent speech and biblical ending. Sarcasm off.

Seriously. How tf did we get here?

 

[BonUm16]

DEI hire DC police chief resigns with a very eloquent speech and biblical ending. Sarcasm off.

Seriously. How tf did we get here?

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

 

[mdwest]

Her behavior during her speech tells me everything I need to know about her as a LEO leader..

Shes got no place leading a major metro police department..

Hopefully DC will do a better job of selecting her replacement.. the people certainly deserve better..

 

[atrious]

 

[CJW]

Massachusetts mayor needs interpreter. Starts at 4:38. At least some of his constituents might have a problem communicating with him.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]