gearhog

There are countless videos of the Ukrainian military fist-fighting and kidnapping citizens from its streets to be sent to the front lines. Ukraine has to continuously beg for outside help. Even when they get it, they can't make progress. How exactly does your Will x Means equation predict a Ukr victory? You presented the equation, shouldn't you at least attempt to estimate the variables? Remember, "Hope" is not one of the factors. You're actually arguing that a continuous enemy advancement has no bearing on the outcome of war because strategic depth is being traded for "some other factor." What exactly is this mysterious "other factor" that you have faith in, but can't identify? More money? US troops on the ground? I'm open to the possibility, but it has to be identifiable and realistic. History is full of examples of the tide of war changing, but there are also countless examples of more-recent conflicts progressing in one direction. What is the Ukrainian path to victory?

Who's bent out of shape? There's a whole spectrum of concern between being apathetic and being bent out of shape. I believe acknowledging a problem exists is the lowest level of concern one should have. I'd rather debate a room full of Marxists than one apathetic individual. "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Albert Einstein.

Agreed. I find it extremely odd. One would think over $200 Billion in aid from NATO for the war effort wouldn't result in a shortage of one of the most basic, fundamental requirements for defending against a ground invasion. Does the ammunition simply not exist or is it being withheld? Hyperbole. No one is saying it is the end of the world. If the objective is to secure Ukrainian land, our massive investment is yielding negative returns. Russia is consistently making positive gains, be it measured in inches or km. You don't bet on a losing team and you don't invest in a failing company. "Ukraine isn't hemorrhaging as fast as it would without our help" isn't a viable long term strategy. NY Times: Ukraine just needs training in how to fight a war. We're carefully considering giving it to them.

We're spending tens of billions, Russia keeps advancing. Both Russian and Ukrainian sources report Russia continues to gain ground, but the reports differ as to how much. Looks like around 100 square km the last few days based on this report from yesterday: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-may-15-2024 On the same day, our Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken performed "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" at a bar in Kiev. Ukrainian elections have been suspended. It's all a lie. https://x.com/TIME/status/1790770441545556010

US national security advisor Jake Sullivan says there won't be a Ukrainian counteroffensive until 2025. The current funding bill was to stop Russia from making additional gains, but he still expects Russian advances in the coming period. huh?? "Any new offensive in 2025 by Ukraine would be dependent on more funding from Congress, and approval by the White House. " What a joke. https://www.ft.com/content/6fd11006-01db-4548-96d6-76343f38aea8

The number of Bird Flu news articles have exploded the last few days. https://news.google.com/search?q=H5n1 when%3A1d&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen COVID created a lot of debate and consternation. No matter how you feel about it, it moved or created, at a minimum, $4.5 Trillion dollars in the US economy. Mostly upward. It happened during an election year, and it affected how people voted. Chaos yields opportunity. There have been virtually no real consequences for anyone who happened to be in a position of authority or benefit, for bad decisions or actions pertaining to COVID. It simply worked. Why would anyone not repeat a successful play?

"If I'm lucky, someone will have banged my wife when I get home"

I have two Harry's holsters. Double clip reduces the rotation while moving without being too wide. Adjustable height and angle. You can swap clip to either side so it works with either hand, appendix, or small of the back carry.

I believe the intelligence service does produce viable information. It is required to. It has to produce some viable and objectively truthful information to protect its existence. But it can also use its implied credibility to lean on the scale. They could call Speaker Johnson in, scare the shit out of him, and he would never be able to refute contents of the classified briefing. If he tried, they'd label him a clown. That's an enormous amount of power. And temptation. "If you only knew what I knew, you'd be praising me for spending public money and intensifying these conflicts." Well.. if the threat is that dire, don't I have a right to be briefed on it? After all, it is I who am being indebted and my friends and family who may be ultimately fighting these conflicts? "Sources and methods. If you were to know, then our enemies would know. Then they might know how we know, and that would threaten our ability to produce the viable, but secret information needed to ensure our continued ability to steer the country's leadership." How long do they get to use that excuse? Whatever small amount of blind implicit trust you have left in our intelligence and leadership is being monetized. It's like giving these people your credit card and telling them to charge whatever they want, as long as it keeps you safe. No explanation required. At some point, they gotta look us and say, "Caveat Emptor. These people are morons, they don't deserve to keep their wealth."

David Sacks is quoting Huge Dixon? Gotta be fake news. I have family in state level politics, and I'm a little involved in this year's campaign. I know my State Rep to the US Congress personally through various events. Legit good dude. He had been staunchly anti-Ukraine funding since the beginning. About 2 months ago, his campaign had an online poll asking what his constituents thought. The poll results weren't published, but the hundreds of comments underneath were greater than 80% against. He flipped on this supplemental aid bill. I called his office twice in the last week. The staffer said he hasn't made any public comment yet and when he does, they'll get back to me. Word on the street he's been compromised and coerced. Not scheduled to attend any events when he returns from DC. Bear in mind that 79% of the funding for Ukraine isn't going to Ukraine. It's going to defense contractors, and not one of us here knows exactly what we're getting for that amount. They spent almost $67 million in lobbying Congress in the just the first half of 2023. Most of it going to PACs and members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Everyone has a price. Imagine the lobbying they can do with an influx of $49 Billion. It's a massive reward for unethical behavior and if they could overcome the resistance to this last supplemental aid bill, they're going to do it again, and more frequently. $1 Trillion in wealth is being transferred upwards every 100 days in your name. You are being robbed.

Don't fall for the propaganda. Ukraine is setting a trap. They're drawing Russia deeper into Ukraine so that in a few months, after our defense contractors have received their funding, established supply chains and increased capacity, they'll begin to produce the much needed weaponry for what's left of the Ukr military. Having baited Russia into occupying more of their territory, they're going to surprise them with a massive offensive. Brilliant! If we're patient, our recent $61B investment is going to pay huge dividends.

The FDIC just published this document regarding its preparations for the failure of a Global Systemically Important Banking (GSIB) organization headquartered in the U.S. with complex global operations. https://www.fdic.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/spapr1024b_0.pdf It basically outlines how the Sec of the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and President will transfer all the assets to a Bridge Financial Company. I thought it interesting that they mention they plan to put the company into FDIC receivership on a Friday evening so as to be able to mobilize the plan and prevent a contagion by Monday morning. "The appointment as receiver late Friday afternoon would provide time, while most global financial markets are closed, to form a Bridge Financial Company, mobilize resources needed to conduct business beginning on Monday morning, and communicate with key constituencies (including employees, counterparties, and claimants) around the globe. The FDIC recognizes that a Friday night appointment may not be possible in all instances, and the timing will be highly dependent on the nature of the failing institution, how it fails, and market conditions at the time." The plan says it ensures that only claimants (shareholders and creditors) would incur losses and that US taxpayers would incur no liability. Translation: they'll print the money. "The ability of the FDIC and other regulatory authorities to manage the orderly resolution of large, complex financial institutions remains foundational to U.S. financial stability. While recognizing the progress that has been made toward enabling such a resolution and ending “too big to fail,” we also recognize that the resolution of a GSIB has not yet been undertaken. When it becomes necessary to do so, carrying out such a resolution will come with a unique set of challenges and risks." Any bets on who it's gonna be?

What to do about these University protests? These leftist students are demanding campuses "Divest from Israel" which apparently is code for "Get rid of the Jews". https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/cal-poly-humboldt-gaza-protest-closed-campus/ Here's a vid from the inside of "Intifada Hall" at California Polytechnic University at Humbolt. https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1784282619481383342

"The finding is broadly accepted within the intelligence community and shared by several agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department’s intelligence unit" If you can't trust these agencies to prop up your narrative, who can you trust? 🤣

This dude clearly has his own bias and motivations. Everyone does and we all have narrow limited perspectives. My point being you have to allow yourself to step outside your own and hear an uncomfortable perspective in spite of it's subjective flaws to find an objective truth. In this case, the man has a history that is both credible and questionable. But he challenges the prevailing narrative. If the narrative is water tight, it should stand up to scrutiny. I would argue that the public has largest moral claim to a stake in knowing the answer. Shouldn't we, as citizens of an American democracy know without a doubt that our leaders did not have a hand it this? I don't want my government sabotaging the infrastructure of not just an enemy we are technically not at war with, but that of citizens of allied countries as well, then lying about it... and doing so in the name of its people. He is obviously sucking up to the UN to try an get a public investigation. Or perhaps he's knows an investigation is unlikely, and wanted to vocalize his grievances.

You're presenting this analogy like you're smarter than everybody else because you've figured out something everyone has known since 1980. Are you going to argue Star Wars is fake? No one is pretending that it isn't. Pro-wrestling isn't presenting itself as a fair play competition regulated by a code of rules and ethics. It's entertainment. WWE. Dumb analogy, but congrats, at least it doesn't involve consuming human waste. More progress. It's like raising a child, getting one to make good choices doesn't happen overnight, but if your patient and persistent, you can change their behavior, and it's very rewarding. The second paragraph is almost unintelligible. What specific "on the ground" claim was bogus? You're dancing around the issue again but not articulating it. And who is this "we" that provided "what" examples? You're like the dog that yips and yaps at everyone on the other side of the fence, but is afraid to go through an open gate. Here's a fun one for you. I often watch/read UNSC testimonies just to see what's happening up there. Found this one from yesterday. It's a former State Department and CIA official who also worked counter-terrorism until about 2016. Before you overload your Google search bar in a frantic search for an ad-hominem attack, try to read it and look for signs of factual information and signs of bias yourself. There are both. This guy clearly has a bone to pick, but is he a Russian agent? Is it a complete fabrication produced by a Russian Psyop? I don't know. Let's read it and see. Use your critical thinking skills.

Do you go around telling people they shouldn't be watching pro-wresting? I bet you do. If someone wants to watch it and find out for themselves, why not? Who made you the fact-check police? At least a dozens times I've said it might be false, it might not be. You might be right, you might be wrong. It's impossible to know 100% without first hand experience. No one here needs some little busy-body like yourself up in everyone's business telling them what they should and shouldn't be listening to because you don't like who their friends with. I've never met anyone else on BO.net whose behavior more resembles that of a teen girl.

Here's a simple logic test: So the reason you won't make any attempt to defy something someone says is because they have demonstrated a lack of integrity. But in order to know that they've lied, you would have to listen to what they lied about. You keep saying you're not willing to do that an no one else should, either. This brings us back to my earlier point that you don't have any original thoughts, you have to rely on what someone else thinks who did listen. How do you know that the stories are fabricated if you haven't listened? You keep bragging about how you're only willing to consider infomation that meets your personal standard for acceptability. That means you consume and process a fraction of the information I do, because I want to hear all perspectives and I'll do the sorting myself. You're intentionally being ignorant and trying to justify it to me. I don't think that's very smart.

Would you mind quoting where I have said either of those things? I never did. Do a keyword search, click more options, search by author, and type "gearhog" in the second search bar. You'll get a list of the things I have typed. That's how I found you brought up "Tucker" eight times in this thread when no one else mentioned him. When you find that I have said either of those two things, post it here and I'll be thoroughly humbled. Or you could just admit that your position has become so weak that you feel you now need to straight up lie to defend it.

Because I'm aggressively defending a position I believe in that happens to be contrary to yours, you continue to flail and search for a reason to dismiss, in this case, calling me a "troll." Real original. But I do thank you for recognizing that my position is sophisticated and nuanced. Keep working at it, and you, too, may have one one day as well. I had no idea that podcast existed until you started bitching about it. It isn't my favorite, but I do appreciate the introduction. I'll probably keep listening. Nothing piques my interest more than someone attempting to discourage me from watching, listening, reading something they disagree with. What is it with you and Tucker? You've brought him up a half dozen times when no one else has. It's weird. I haven't listened to Rogan in a couple week so I hadn't realized he was on. You realize what I'm going to do now, right? LOL For months you've been obsessing over him. My reply to you back in August:

That's what I've been trying to say. One bad podcast or bit of propaganda doesn't mean they're all bad. 😄 Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I've only listened to one. I'll listen to the other one you recommended in the morning. If it's decent, I may add it to my favorites. OAN? I don't think "watching the news" is still a thing anymore. At least among serious people. You seem like the kind of guy that watches AFN to stay informed, and maybe flirts with Rachael Maddow every now and then. How many times do I have to tell you that yeah... some of it might be bad info. Some of it might not be. Haven't you realized I'm impervious to bullshit. After all, I've been reading yours for a few pages now. So far, I've provoked responses from you consisting of several thousand words and you've had the courage to mention two, count them, two... incidents or examples of Russian propaganda. MH17 and Syrian chemical weapons or whatever. Even then, you don't seem to be able to articulate anything resembling an original thought. If we were to calculate the ratio of your original critical thinking assessments of actual events and news pertaining to the topic of this thread to the amount of words written, it would be exactly zero. For a guy that talks a lot, you don't have much to contribute. What's your pronouns?

I have the original SIG 365 as my go to CCW for it's, but I also really like the S&W 642 airweight for simplicity and reliability. I also have the PC charger with that brace. I think it may have been that exact YT review that convinced me. I have a Sig Romeo and ordered a Silencer Central Banish 30 can for it back in Jan. Hope it gets here soon. I'd like to swap out the forward grip stop for something more substantial, but not sure what I can get away with.