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Swamp Yankee

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  1. Swamp Yankee
    Agreed. "There were no tanks rolling on the capitol, no politicians arrested, no process undone. Congress was back in session in a matter of hours." As homestar noted, these things are indicative of being over the edge, to keep our vernacular consistent. That in mind, what are other indications of imminent chaos? What would have actually concerned you?
  2. Swamp Yankee
    I gave you the actual reason for the late designation, which wasn't the impact on aid distribution. How much it affected our efforts against ISIS is unclear. With regard to Iran, paying the $1.3b interest on a 1979 $400m FMS refund was an especially wimp move on Obama's part, although the original MoU did stipulate freezing the funds in an interest-bearing account.
  3. Swamp Yankee
    I'm assuming you are being sarcastic. $1m is chump change.
  4. Swamp Yankee
    I agree. If Trump was legitimately reelected many would have been disappointed, but the country would survive. However, we barely missed suffering the 2nd worst outcome; a "strongman" leader forcing their continuance. Past examples include Lukashenko in Belarus, Morales in Bolivia, and Hernandez in Honduras. Not exactly shining examples of free-market economies with significant personal liberty. We dodged that bullet.
  5. Swamp Yankee
    The Houthis (Ansar Allah) are a terrorist organization by any definition. However, this development is more about the Trump admin scoring political points on their way out. Trump did not declare Houthis a terrorist organization until 10 Jan 2021. By waiting until their final few days, the Republicans could avoid foreign policy conflicts while making Biden look bad when he inevitably reversed this last-minute designation. Mission accomplished in that regard. The humanitarian aid concerns are real, although Trump likely did not designate earlier because Houthis are in conflict with ISIS / ISIL / AQAP (the enemy of my enemy is my friend concept). To their credit, in 2018 the Trump admin designated IRGC and QF (Iran) as terrorist orgs partially because they supply the Houthis with arms. Biden's admin has not reversed that yet. We will have to see what new Sec State Blinken does. What we do with Iran is far more important than specifically the Houthis. Iran sees itself as a major world power and wants to be treated as such. The question is where on the 3-axis spectrum of sanctions / military posturing / diplomacy we should be. In my opinion we need to get tougher. This links below provide some interesting analysis: https://www.aei.org/op-eds/biden-is-hoping-to-deal-with-an-iran-that-doesnt-exist/ https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/05/biden-nuclear-iran-foreign-policy-466120
  6. Swamp Yankee
    Thanks for sharing what you've learned. It doesn't match my insights, but that's fine. There is BS on both sides. Gone are the days of the solely-"liberal mainstream media". Mainstream media now has two components: The MSNBC/CNN/NYT side and the Fox/OAN/talk radio side. Both have large viewer/readerships. With regard to: "...there are absolutely things to address and make better today..." What are those things? How should they be addressed and made better today?
  7. Swamp Yankee
    How is "go talk to a black person" who experiences issues "avoiding something"? Data collection is an essential component of problem analysis. I'm not suggesting everything you hear will be fact or even relevant. However, it is intellectually fragile ground to make claims about someone's position without at least speaking with them. That said, maybe you have done so. If that is the case, I'm interested in what you heard. Were any of your opinions challenged?
  8. Swamp Yankee
    Bias and racism are synonyms, at least according to this reference: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/racist More precisely, racism (per contemporary usage) is on the extreme right side of a specific type of bias ("racial bias") "Right" in this context is based on conventional data presentation, not politics. There can be and are racists on the political left. Improving policing definitely requires multivariate analysis. Nevertheless, racism (or behavior/actions along the racial bias spectrum) is a significant factor that must be addressed. Having friends and family in law enforcement, I am sympathetic to the many hats they must wear over the course of a shift and throughout a career. That and their overall lack of ongoing training. Think of the training prior to a deployment. Or the typical ratio of flight planning to time in the air. Police get nowhere near enough of that. They need more funding, not less. However (and its a big however) regardless of that police have to behave in a way that earns and keeps the public's trust. If you have one police officer who is violent due to racial bias and 99 others who keep quiet about it, you've got 100 bad cops in the eyes of the targeted minority community (or 20 who harass, 60 who remain silent, etc. etc.) I spent some time as a youth in NYC and observed such violence first hand with family who is much darker complexioned than me but engaging in the same mischievous behavior. Unfortunately, I couldn't record it at the time since I didn't have a shoulder-mounted VHS camera. Calling out racism a la BLM does not mean you are ignoring other variables or automatically painting a given group as evil. There is a concern about and attention paid to black crime (Stop the Violence and Parishoners on Patrol). As a side note, I don't endorse the bizarre BLM positions on their website regarding socialism and nuclear families. Affirmative Action is a completely different animal which I agree has been poorly implemented and resulted in massive backlash. True equality of opportunity (as opposed to forcing an easily measured statistical outcome) is difficult to achieve because it is complex and results can only be determined over a long time scale; i.e. longer than the typical political term or attention span. No one I'm aware of is suggesting a poof! magic wand solution to police racial bias.
  9. Swamp Yankee
    I suggest talking to a black person (or better, people) who disagrees with your position above. It might be enlightening. However, for arguments sake, let's just assume you're correct in that police interaction is not biased again black people. Then why is the African-American community complaining so much? What is your explanation?
  10. Swamp Yankee
    Recovering back to the typical (aka "normal") situation is going to take time because things have become so screwed up. We've turned back in the direction of normal (with all of it's pros and cons) by reverting back to (somewhat) how politics operated pre-Trump. However, it's an analog, not digital, system.
  11. Swamp Yankee
    I said politics as usual. Normal is going to awhile, if ever.
  12. Swamp Yankee
    Catching up here. The reason for my Biden vote: If I exhibited 25% of Trump's behaviors I'd be fired, divorced, and on trial. And that's how it should be. Character matters. That's what any decent parent works hard to teach their kids. It certainly mattered to many conservatives when Clinton got a BJ in the White House and fibbed about it. Most of Trump's purported accomplishments aren't. I mentioned previously that the slopes of the major stock indices have been relatively consistent since 2011. Job creation the last three years of Obama was higher (8.1m) than the first three years of Trump (6.7m - and that's NOT including the pandemic, thus giving Trump the benefit of the doubt). Income growth was lower as well. GDP growth (again not including the pandemic) averaged 2.4% under Obama and 2.5% under Trump. Trump did not save us from the 'terrible Obama economy'. The numbers are clear, yet a significant portion of the right still believes Trump's rhetoric. Forbes, hardly a liberal publication, provided a nice summary: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2020/02/19/no-president-trump-obamas-economic-recovery-was-not-a-con-job/?sh=54dcc16b5e62 SCOTUS picks were not an accomplishment showcasing deft leadership. Openings occurred and were filled by candidates that reflected the administration's priorities. Same as it ever was. A linear regression shows that crime has been steadily decreasing for decades. There was not a surge under Obama nor an atypical improvement with Trump. Don't get me started on the "Jesus gave us Trump" shtick. I do acknowledge that African-American unemployment dropped to historic lows under Trump, and that is a good thing. However, I suggest speaking to members of that community regarding their overall opinions about the last four years. That said, I am by no means an enthusiastic Biden supporter. This election was a reset to politics as usual. Given the dumpster fire / shit show / shenangians / tomfoolery / fiasco / calamity / goat rope over the last four years, that is a good thing for now. We will get some relative stability. I'm confident that Biden supporters, even the extreme factions, will not attempt to stop government by force after being incited by lies. So there's that. I am still optimistic that a behaviorally-mature, patriotic, unifying non-career-politician candidate will rise to the occasion. Maybe someone under 60 with broad experience/education, military service and actual maturity who is not from the career political class. But we don't have that someone yet.
  13. Swamp Yankee
    Totally agree. “...the way we’ve always done it” is never a good answer. A Special Tactics guy I’ve kept in touch with called such thinking death of the soul. There are always TTPs, but they must be justifiable and logical.
  14. Swamp Yankee
    She’s not impressive in that role, which requires one to think on her feet. Two observations: - Blitzer did a decent job pressing her to provide a clear answer. CNN leans left, but I’m glad to observe at least one reporter trying to be objective. I can’t recall Fox doing the same with Trump’s press folks. - With regard to the aggressive driver; I hope your family was not harmed. It is fortunate that you had recourse due to the somewhat unique circumstances That’s just a standard day on the road in Boston. It is remarkable we don’t have rampant road rage up here.
  15. Swamp Yankee
    Other than a couple of perfunctory comments, I have not observed Shapiro as ‘all over the riots’. If you have examples, please share. I listen to a wide range of podcasts, primarily because topics are explored in far more depth than current, conventional mass-consumption media. Can you provide an example of someone on the right who critically examines their own side in the manner of Tulsi?
  16. Swamp Yankee
    Yes. Congress is the only place you can make $174k yet become a multimillionaire.
  17. Swamp Yankee
    It was nice to see AOC and Cruz with some backbone during the GameStop events, even if opportunistic. AOC is like a whiny, if bright, teenager who reads Mother Jones but has no idea how the world works. I don’t agree with 75% of what she says but I do think she means well, sort of like a young Bernie.
  18. Swamp Yankee
    I’ve been in the tech and retail electronics world for quite some time post USAF/ANG. GameStop will die. Beyond their phony baloney four pillar recovery plan, the basic dynamic is this: Gaming is a business with the least to gain from a retail presence. Over 50% and growing game purchases are digital. This will continue beyond the pandemic. When even consumer electronics companies that make products with a significant tactile aspect (e. g. Bose) are closing stores, the writing is on the wall. Without retail, GameStop really has nothing unique to offer customers as an independent enterprise. Their online capability is lacking innovation and substance. My read is that Microsoft really partnered with them to harvest their marketing capability, use them as a separate entity to grow dedicated online infrastructure, and eventually mitigate their taxes via assuming debt via absorption. I have to say, I chuckled at the press release info about providing retail personnel with customized Surfaces to enhance the purchase experience. Basically trying to do what Apple did 10 yrs ago. That said, I love the fact that the average investor beat the big wigs at their own game. Pure capitalism, not crony capitalism .
  19. Swamp Yankee
    Here’s an example of a Ben Shapiro comment regarding the Jan 6th riots that I recommend you read: https://www.foxnews.com/media/ben-shapiro-capitol-riot-joe-biden-divisive-reaction.amp Essentially, he is dismissing the rioters’ actions and focusing on what he sees as Biden’s reaction. Shapiro said, "...you can be an insane person and suggest this has something to do with systemic American racism. Naturally, Joe Biden is going to do the latter." When you have rioters with “Camp Auschwitz” shirts and carrying Confederate battle flags (I don’t buy the ‘heritage not hate’ stuff), yeah, racism is a major factor that Shapiro is inexplicably ignoring. That he is proudly Jewish makes this very unusual other than he will defend his side no matter what. There is certainly hypocrisy on both sides. The basic shtick is, “X might be bad, BUT what’s really the problem is Y, yada, yada.” ‘X’ is their own side’s quickly-dismissed questionable position and ‘Y’ the opposite position, which is lambasted at length. In contrast, you’ll observe democrats like Tulsi and (self-declared) liberals like Weinstein taking the opposite approach by truly delving into the shortcomings on their own side. This broadens the discussion and can lead to common ground. However, I have not observed any conservatives doing the same. Feel free to share specific examples to the contrary. I’m not insulting your knowledge or intelligence. I welcome the discussion.
  20. Swamp Yankee
    Wow. Makes Ja Rule’s Fyre festival disaster look like nothing.
  21. Swamp Yankee
    Perhaps, but not so sure about the last part. The 2004 to 2008 CDO / subprime debacle pumped a lot of fake value into the previously solid and stable MBS market.
  22. Swamp Yankee
    Yes, although it would be a bit like a horse carriage company transitioning to automobiles.....in 1965.
  23. Swamp Yankee
    Impressive
  24. Swamp Yankee
    1823 Zulu
  25. Swamp Yankee
    As much as I despise Tucker Carlson, he's also essentially agreeing with AOC as well. Apparently unity is possible, at least at 1:23pm EST on 1/28/2021. We’ll see how long it lasts.
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