POLITICAL THREAD
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Goes back even further. We can lay the initial blame (I'm talking the part of the blame that the Western world holds, not the religious/tribal crap) at the feet of the British and French, parceling up the Middle East on a map after WWI. Same thing as in Africa, only this time with oil and more nut jobs. But they DREW THE LINES WITH A RULER (among other idiocies)! Screw the actual people living there (lol sorry Kurds!), or topology, or geography, or history, or anything rationally related to boundaries. Just draw some straight lines and let your grandchildren deal with the fallout. Just dumb.
But if we've learned one thing, it's that arming extremists (Mujahadeen, various factions in the Syrian civil war, some others I'm forgetting) and brutal regimes (Saddam, Egypt, Iran pre-revolution, etc...) to fight other extremists and brutal regimes has not worked. We have decades of experience in doing this, and while we can't really know the results of alternatives (unless there are parallel universes we can view), I'd hazard a guess that the last 7 decades have not been the best approach (unless you make/sell arms).
Well it obviously works or us civilized folk wouldn't keep doing it. Let's get real. Y'all are talking in fairy tale language. Ain't nobody give a f about people. We're making loot in many ways and we will continue I do so until somebody makes us stop it. That's why remaining the world power is so important - so we can basically pillage the world as we see fit.
Oh unless you make or sell arms. Arms and drugs is the worlds currency. And we control the largest chunk of that, correct?
Armaments, yes. No idea on drugs. But even tossing aside moral aspects (unintended consequences and all that) and looking at Kissinger-style realism, the approach has not been great.
They may have drawn the lines, but we carried out the acts. The removal of Iran's leader and supplanting them with a U.S puppet leader was all on the U.S.
Hey buddy, don't take out your Pre-North American nanoagressions out on me.
While numbers and technology is in our favor and the education level of our NCO's is very good, the general overall core is not in the shape it needs to be. Too many handcuffs on our NCO's to let them do the job they need to and there is a lot of backstabbing going on. The strength of our NCO core needs to be shored up imo.
LOL! You made a funny.
Now on to the ME. I have said this before and will say it again, THEY WERE FIGHTING FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS NOW! Not yelling at anyone just making a point. We can say we have made it worse (probably true) but, they are not going to listen to anyone anyway. I am all for staying out of there. If they get their hands on weapons of mass destruction and use them on us, I hope we have a president with the balls to light them up without using our troops on the ground. Given the current and possible next administration, I hope they wait awhile to come after us.
^ I'll take your word for it. It's far from perfect, and my senior NCO friends (Air Force mainly) have their praises and gripes. The main issue I saw was the promotion system that mismatches job ability from resume. A friend of mine putting on E7 this year says he feels pressure (and feedback all but mandating) to get his masters in... anything. Because that's just what people do. Nothing even tangentially related to work, just a masters degree for an NCO. And the rating system where 95% of airmen get a "firewall" 5, meaning they are literally without peer in every area of their job. It's like an Ivy League grading curve, only much steeper and it makes less sense to apply it.
But our NCOs are miles ahead of other nation's NCOs. I know my opinion went up after working some with Italians (lol) and British (very respectable, but they lack numbers).
But our NCOs are miles ahead of other nation's NCOs. I know my opinion went up after working some with Italians (lol) and British (very respectable, but they lack numbers).
Not strictly ME, but Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is terrifying. That Pakistani guy that sold nuclear material/secrets could go down as one of the worst people in history.
Air Force is a different animal from the rest of the military and I agree with you on their education requirements. It is brutal for many of them to get promoted. As far as other nations NCO's, education wise were are ahead but, we need more discipline amongst our NCO core and a better feeling of cohesiveness. There is a lot of distrust among the ranks. Once again though, these are my personal observations.
Depends on how you look at it. Even if we never set foot in the ME, there would still be killing and instability today. We've just changed what people are getting killed over.
We just need out of the ME period. We cant fix it. So why spend US lives trying to fix a problem that cant be fixed?
the thing is, there's genoncide and social instability every touching day in Subsaharan Africa. But we don't have to get involved.
Getting detoxed from petroleum *is* a national security issue and it drives me touching bananas that most people look at it as an environmental one.
Getting detoxed from petroleum *is* a national security issue and it drives me touching bananas that most people look at it as an environmental one.
I saw the movie 300. I know what's up.
In all serious, it's an unwinnable situation as Cujo pointed out earlier
You forget one thing. You have to have a POTUS willing to give the order. At this point, I think Russia could land troops in New York and Obama would get on TV and tell Putin that this has to stop, you can have NY, but don't try to come to DC. Obama is the biggest loudmouth, pussy of a POTUS I have seen in my lifetime.
This person has the highest approval rating within their party of any candidate:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton's home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers, according to data and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Clinton's server, which handled her personal and State Department correspondence, appeared to allow users to connect openly over the Internet to control it remotely, according to detailed records compiled in 2012. Experts said the Microsoft remote desktop service wasn't intended for such use without additional protective measures, and was the subject of U.S. government and industry warnings at the time over attacks from even low-skilled intruders.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The private email server running in Hillary Rodham Clinton's home basement when she was secretary of state was connected to the Internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers, according to data and documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Clinton's server, which handled her personal and State Department correspondence, appeared to allow users to connect openly over the Internet to control it remotely, according to detailed records compiled in 2012. Experts said the Microsoft remote desktop service wasn't intended for such use without additional protective measures, and was the subject of U.S. government and industry warnings at the time over attacks from even low-skilled intruders.
Iran "likely" violated UN rules with their missile test yesterday.
US drops small arms ammunition to Syria rebels
Report concludes that Russia shot down the MH17
Russia in Turkey airspace
Taliban quickly regaining areas of Afg
If you want to commit to isolationism you are going to need a strong stomach.
US drops small arms ammunition to Syria rebels
Report concludes that Russia shot down the MH17
Russia in Turkey airspace
Taliban quickly regaining areas of Afg
If you want to commit to isolationism you are going to need a strong stomach.
We'll probably start fighting wars with dildos once HillDyke gets in office.
Definitely gonna be hard to isolate ourselves, now that we've kicked in the front door and tore up the house.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/syria-obama-putin-russia-discord-214677
Good read on the turmoil b/w BO and senior advisers on our next steps.
Good read on the turmoil b/w BO and senior advisers on our next steps.
I am one of the people who supported the ACA. I think healthcare should be offered by our government. That being said, the way it was put in has been crap. I was more of the Romney idea, where markets compete, it drives prices down, people pay what they can afford. Originally, it was a republican based idea .Basically, by more people paying into the insurance system, prices should drop.
They have not. It has been the complete opposite. It has been a disaster. We are paying more for our healthcare with less coverage. If anyone knows an answer, I am for it, but what is going on now, will not work.
It was actually refreshing to see Bush's plan against the ACA. I have not read the specifics, which I need to do, but this alone, would be a reason I would vote for him.
They have not. It has been the complete opposite. It has been a disaster. We are paying more for our healthcare with less coverage. If anyone knows an answer, I am for it, but what is going on now, will not work.
It was actually refreshing to see Bush's plan against the ACA. I have not read the specifics, which I need to do, but this alone, would be a reason I would vote for him.
LEK- Not sure there is an accurate answer to fix this mess. The ACA has actually hurt a lot of people. Like I said in a few posts earlier, yeah, ACA got 8-9 million Americans insured but they can't afford the deductible because it's too high.
One thing that could lead to reform. Take insurance lobbyists out of the picture.
Give tax refunds for healthy people who don't use health insurance. More healthy Americans, less likely to use medical services.
Yea can't think of anything worse than wanting government in charge of healthcare. That is terrifying and just not smart from the voters standpoint. Absolute gold for the government. The goldest. That's worse than government in charge of education. Getting F'd from both ends. Split apart.
Yes. Plus put nutritional restrictions on food stamps, similar to those on WIC. Right taxpayers are paying to give people diabetes, hypertension, etc. Then we're paying to treat them too. Its insane.
There are 5 democratic candidates for president. I had no idea, and I follow politics pretty closely. What does that say for your average voter?
Im guessing these other 3 guys will just heap superlatives on Hillary, and bash Bernie? (kidding...kinda).
Im guessing these other 3 guys will just heap superlatives on Hillary, and bash Bernie? (kidding...kinda).
Honestly couldn't name all five when I tried. Forgot Chaffee (sp?)
I think a lot of the criticism of the ACA is overstated. For instance insurance has by law a lot more coverage than it used to, so with more coverage comes higher premiums. However as I have said on here before the fatal flaw with the ACA is it removed caps. Without caps the insurers are in essence required to provide coverage with no limit of liability. The best health care plans in world including the French system and the Canadian system have caps. You get wonderful coverage up to a point, if you want coverage beyond that point you purchase a separate policy with your own money.
Until such time as they relax the requirements on caps insurance will continue to get more expensive as we develop more new high tech, and very expensive drugs, and procedures.
Not only that but, many others who already had insurance saw theirs skyrocket in price. My wife's company's insurance went up about $600.00 more a month per family since.
Leave to Deee to try and down play the negative impact of Obama Care. Rah! Rah! Leader to the end.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Biden get the nomination. I think Repubs wouldn't mind that. Biden is a walking gaff machine and can't keep his paws off the ladies.
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