Smokin

Seriously? You really think anyone that supports Trump Or Musk is incapable of criticizing them? Look back through this forum alone and you will find many people that voted for Trump (like me) criticizing his policies and him personally. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly. Give you a break? How about give us a break from this stupidity. What else has Musk done that would make you think he has any Nazi sympathies? And if he did, do you really think that a guy as intelligent as Musk would be stupid enough to make a Nazi salute at a large event where there had to be dozens if not hundreds of people filming it? This whole thing is an absurd witch hunt. The left hates them, so is willing to grasp at any straw to say that they're evil. Remember it is the Democratic big cities that were holding Anti-Israel rallies where many people were chanting death to Israel. Did you hear anyone calling Biden a Nazi because of that? Also, not all Democrats are Islamic terrorists, but all Islamic terrorists are Democrats and there's a perception (far more obvious and objectively quantifiable than the MAGA movement) that the liberal movement in America is inherently racist. See how dumb that sounds? Bad sections of society support both parties. Constantly bringing those bad actors up in relation to the entire party is nothing but an elementary smear. You said that you're not calling Musk or us racists, but you're implying that he's a Nazi or at least a Nazi sympathizer since he gave a "Nazi salute" in the middle of a speech, so you're implying that he's a racist. And it would be difficult to support an overt racist without being racist yourself. Stop pretending that you're taking the high road by "not... claiming that Trump or Elon (or you) are racist" when your post clearly implies the opposite.

I've always wondered how old white dudes could be pushing DEI. If he really believes in it, he should resign to allow a minority into his position which would be the equitable thing to do. To do anything else is hypocritical.

And much like the Federal government, I doubt the surplus to deficit transition had nearly as much to do with tax revenue as expenditures.

Says every FAIP that was wrong but doesn't want to admit it...

True. When I was looking at retiring in the midwest with threats of tornadoes, I was going to try to get European style roller shutters. Had them on my house in Europe and they were awesome. Those would stop most things short of a bullet (and were awesome for sleeping in on night flight mornings, bedroom was pitch black). I'm sure that as big of a deal as this fire is, it won't be big enough of a deal to get most people to think outside the box and most those houses will get rebuilt on the same 1940s mas production technology that 90% of American homes are built on.

I equated nothing. I used WWII leadership as an example of how hard it is to hire people for jobs none of the applicants have done and that firing bad leaders may clear the path for good ones. That does not imply that war and working for Trump are the same. If you inferred that, then that speaks more to your presuppositions than my statement.

Yeah, that's nuts. The fiber cement siding results are impressive considering it's usually 1/2" or less thick. Would have been nice to see how long that window would have lasted if it were closed. My house is largely made of concrete, so I feel pretty safe from any outside wildfire. But I have had a window crack due to a grill being too close to it when cooking some brats that flared up. I'd imagine that in a wildfire, the heat could fully break the glass. Also would have been nice to see how long the attic held out with the embers there as that's the other significant vulnerability, even with a passive or concrete sided/walled house. I'm sure some passive houses have sealed attics and more might after this, but you throw 18" of loose insulation in the attic and your heat transfer there is negligible so I don't think most have sealed attic spaces. If you're thinking of building, I would absolutely look into the passive home. Sounds like it's only for hippies, but I think the long term payoffs are well worth it and the fire stuff is just one more reason.

It would be interesting to see a study in how houses were saved verses the ones that weren't. I don't buy the catching fire inside from floating embers theory; very few HVACs have external ducts that could transport an ember to a flammable area inside. Attics generally have vents, but the soffit grates are small enough to keep out most pests, which would preclude an ember big enough from getting through to catch a 2x4 on fire. My guess is the fire is hot enough against the side of the house that the inside of the exterior wall heats up enough to catch fire. Kinda like how papers catch fire inside a gun safe with zero direct flame contact. Or the fire is hot enough that it breaks the windows and gets inside that way. Hopefully the insurance companies figure it out and make policy incentives to help since I have zero confidence the government there will get their act together. I'm betting that a 1000 gal cistern with a gas powered pump would have saved many of these houses and would have cost $2K to install (or $5K since its California). Multiple stories of houses being saved because the owner turned on a bunch of $5 sprinklers around the house before leaving.

The implication is that turnover is a bad thing. He has to hire people for a job they've never done before. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. Look at the rate of senior commanders fired in WWII and how well it worked out in the long run.

Other than the ice cream bribe idea, which is disturbingly possible, the only explanations that make sense are: A- He knows they committed crimes that merit prosecution or B- He thinks that the judicial system is unjust enough to commit law-fare against political opponents of the party in power If A, then clearly the Biden Crime Family is as bad or worse than the right wing social commenters have said they are. If B, I wonder where he got that idea? Maybe the last 4 years of his administration had something to do with it...

Russia is and has been a threat to US interests since 1945 (maybe 1918?). China is a bigger threat right now, but if you're fighting two guys at once and one falls to a knee, it isn't time to ignore them, it is time to stomp their face so they are out of the fight for a long time allowing you to focus on the other guy. Is it expensive to fund Ukraine? Yes. Are we getting a way better return on that money compared to much of the other junk we burn our national treasure on? Absolutely. This is another Russia in Afghanistan scenario except the "good guys" aren't Islamic terrorists. We'd be foolish to walk away from this opportunity to spend some money and help an enemy bleed themselves out. Way better to defeat an enemy via a proxy war than face them directly in a war yourself. And that doesn't even address the good of helping a free people defend themselves.

The old cone of survival saves another one

Nice find, I'm looking for a new place to land with the drastic decrease in USAA's customer service and just got soured on Navy Federal after getting a bait and switch on a car loan rate (apparently a credit score in the neighborhood of 800 isn't good enough for them).

They might be, I'm considering if this actually constitutes a deceptive practice and reporting it to the FDIC. I just googled a bit and I think they're walking a dangerous line on a deceptive banking practice under FDIC rules. Pisses me off to have spent time applying while thinking I was going to save a couple grand and then to be basically turned down. This is the first time that I've been turned down for something credit related and at a point in my life that I'm possibly the most financially secure I've been and making far more than what I did on active duty. Guess I'm crossing them off my next bank list.

Based on the apparent fact that she did over 1000 guys in a row, I'm pretty sure her standards are absolutely non-existent. If some new STD pops up in the next couple years, she is probably patient zero.