sherpa

Not only is such a suggestion idiotic, it is probably criminal. You go girl.

Regarding Harris, she is a San Francisco Democrat. One of the most beautiful areas on earth has been trashed becasue of policies in place by people of her ilk. Regarding being awarded "smart" by the simple fact that you are in Congress is invalid. Look up sinking Guam. Look up the Mars Rover finding the Apollo 11 flag. Consider anything Maxine Waters has said.

No, there is nothing to suggest in anything she does that points to smart. She can't speak. She got where she is based on pure genetics. She has done nothing to indicate intelligence as VP. She has proposed policies that not only make no sense, but are foolish. She has no foreign policy experience. Her Senate Record She's so smart that everything she has proposed in the past that has been viewed as poor policy is now changing. Now that's "smart."

Your premise is false, but no surprise there. I'm not giving the guy a pass for anything, but I don't get upset when someone says something stupid off the cuff. What I'm not going to do, specifically, is get worked up over him on the McCain thing. McCain was no hero, and while that's not a denigrating comment, getting shot down and serving as a POW does not make one a hero. There were almost 600 POE's that were held in North Vietnam. Most of them behaved admirably. Two that were extremely noteworthy are Jim Stockdale and Jerry Denton Truly, absolutely, undeniable heroes. McCain was an honorable POW. He signed things that he regretted, but no rational person familiar with that treatment faults that anymore. In fact, the Code of Conduct was adjusted after Vietnam to address that reality. The sudden elevation of him becasue of that was unwarranted. I was in the same community as he was, same base etc. When I was a first tour aviator in that community, our CO, XO and two department heads were there when he was there. One day his name came up during lunch, and I remember my CO saying that if McCain was in that room, he would be sitting alone. Anyway, another of your false premises, which your posts are rife with, is that I don't like smart people, That is absolutely false. What I don't like are presidents who do really stupid things regarding military use and funding. LBJ and his sidekick Robert McNamara were responsible for losing a war and getting hundreds of people killed. (sidebar, 'cause I know it will come up. Bush in the Afghan and Iraq things presided over absolutely brilliantly executed military operations until the theme became nation building.) Carter grossly underfunded the military and demanded full control over specific operations which failed miserable. Obama maintained the status quo and I don't think he did any real damage. The suggestion you made that Harris is "smart" is preposterous. On that subject, what is going on now in the military under Biden is long term significant damage. Different subject, but that is reality.

I'm not going to quote your posts, becasue that would take up way too much space. What I will say is that putting a memorial at the site of an A4 plane crash, the result of a SAM hit is useless. Want to honor the man? Give up these stupid economic proposals which are nothing more than wealth transfer, and really bad ideas. I don't think trump has a serious issue with the military, no matter how many times is is suggested. I know Carter did. I know Obama did, and I know Harris is grossly unaware of that issue, and bound to be really bad.

The US did not get us into a war in Afghanistan. Hiding and supporting terrorists responsible for 9-11 did. Maybe you're not familiar with how the intel industry works, but the president does not "provide" intel. The intel community does, and same data and interpretation was presented to both Congressional entities, no matter how much that is denied. They voted, and that is matter of public record. The opportunity to avoid these was presented by the US independently, over a lengthy time frame, and by the UN as a world view entity. Both were rejected. The suggestion that "Bush couldn't find Bin Laden" is ridiculous, and another indication of being unaware of who does what.

You ever lived in the Bay area? You know what it's like being a Democrat running for office there? I'm guessing you don't. She is an idiot from a place that has been trashed by her views, at least the ones she has supported in her career. Tomorrow, based on what she has been told, those views could all change, as they have in the last two weeks. She is a useless moron.

Did nothing. Successful at nothing. Bad at everything, including thinking and speaking. No resume. No original thought. Couldn't make it to the starting point as a candidate. Part of a history of a trashed area that is to be avoided at all cost if you care to do business. Hidden in the basement for three years as VP because she was despised and her party didn't want her exposed. Ya. She'll be fine.

Silly? Really? She is expressing completely different views than she did in her first grossly failed candidacy. Ban fracking. Open the borders. Idiotic, destructive tax proposals. Impossible to fund health care. Idiotic opposition to health care choices. She is like you. She is a windsock, nothing more, but she is also really stupid. Whatever the party tells her.

I don't have any enthusiasm regarding her. I don't think she is capable of rational independent thought. I think she will be driven by the party, as she has clearly showed she is since he was installed. She is a zero talent with zero skills to provide. She has never done anything well, and is a pathetic communicator.

I wish there was some small chance he got replaced, but that isn't going to happen. Still, Harris is completely incompetent, has never had any success doing anything, has been installed by by the party, and is now in black out mode while she responds to what party officials are telling her her "new" positions are. Not seen anything like this, but she is a useless knucklehead.

She isn't "annoying." She is insufferable. When I was in POW school, SERE for those in the know, I was in a box for two nights, getting alternately interrogated and freezing. They played this loud Soviet music all night long to torture us. She is worse. Trump is un-listenable. She is throw a bat through your sound source. On induction, we have a four burner cooktop. Love the thing.

That argument was preposterous from day three of their invasion when they got stranded on that highway. That parade of Russian military equipment could have been completely wiped out in 30 minutes by any competent air strike using four attack armed airplanes. The threat of invading a NATO country has been used to justify support, but it is not valid. In my view, the reason to support Ukraine is justified by other arguments. I'm always hopeful, but being invaded and occupied by an enemy is dirt in Putin's eye. Eventually, the Russians will see this and get rid of him, so there is no current path to that.

Coincidentally, I mentioned to my wife that the effect of a Harris win would probably save us money on our electrical bill, as I simply cannot tolerate listening to her for ten seconds. TV/radio off. It doesn't even matter what she says, or that repeated, stupid, senseless, contrived head bobbing. I have some kind of allergy that causes my skin to crawl when she speaks. Anyway, to another item in this thread, we have had an induction cooktop for twelve years and would never go back.

Biden has claimed that he was responsible for the short Colonial Security Agency lines.

Russia is a country in Europe. OK?

In my adult life, as you phrase it, Nixon was quite good, with some personality issues, and George W. Bush isn't nearly as dumb as anyone who would vote for this Dem nominee, or the nominee herself.

There is simply no defense for the Biden debacle here. None. The Trump thing had an out, which would have been triggered. This was the stupidest, most destructive long term thing that Biden has done, or expressed he wanted done or not done, in a lifelong history of being wrong. Constantly wrong. His lecturing of Reagan as he, (Biden), opposed the strategic defense initiative, which having been funded, now results in the best anti missile defenses in the world comes a distant second, but the man is a complete policy failure robot wearing skin. Third would be his opening days warfare against the energy industry, but that gets little play now that he has changed to the point of secret deals with Venezuela that thankfully never came about.

Just sickening on every level, from allegiance to allies, to strategic effects, to military recruitment, to financial responsibility and to just plain common sense. Horrible.

I fully agree. I simply can't believe that a woman who has never done a single thing other than come from an area destroyed by policies she agrees with, then gets on the national stage simply by genetics, then fails at that, in so obvious a manner that nobody is denying it, achieves the nomination of her party. She supports failed policies and opposes successful portions of our nation. To top it off, she has absolutely no experience in the matters that matter most, and is completely incapable of expressing herself in any manner that indicates any knowledge of any important subject. It is said that we get the gov we deserve.

Bloom Energy. Symbol BE. Provides solid oxide fuel cells that use either natural gas or hydrogen to provide reliable, on site electricity. Cost competitive with utility companies. Far more reliable. Much "greener."

You have move the goalposts to Earendel. I'll save you the google. It is the furthest star detected from Hubble. You started out by stating that the military should eliminate levels in the enlisted ranks. You end up asking if every single employee, DOD or civilian included, is necessary. I don't know a thing about Walz, and I never will, but the US relies on the National Guard far more than it used to, but only those who show up. Vance's active duty was certainly of value, or that wouldn't have been a position. Either way, the question is silly. I remember sitting five minute alert in a fighter on an aircraft carrier in waters that were in "harms way." We would have two or three fully armed during periods where we weren't operating normal cycles. All weapons ready, all we had to do was start and launch. Never launched because no threat was presented. To use your phraseology, "from a purely business perspective," that added no value to the defense of the United States. Still.....It sure made the 5000 sailors on the carrier and the entire task force rest a bit easier.

I aver that this is a particularly uninformed and ignorant comment. The strength of the US military, and it is extremely noteworthy in the gross failure of the Russian military lies in four components. 1. The professional non commissioned officer capability, which is what you have suggested needs to be changed. No other non NATO military puts so much on, and is so rewarded by its NCO's, from about the E-4 to E-8 level. This is being magnified by 1000 by the Russian failure in Ukraine, and is indisputable. 2. Officer skills. 3. Training. Nobody trains like the US military, from top to bottom. 4. Technology, which in a way is related to 1 and 2. NCO's and senior enlisted, as well as officers determine what is needed and are largely listened to, resulting in weapons, systems and training that actually work and allow independent judgement in the heat of battle. Bureaucracy has nothing to do with it.

I think they kind of know what they are doing.

I was in a hotel in Buenos Aires years ago when six members of the Brazil junior national women's volleyball team got on the elevator with me. couldn't believe it. I had selected my floor (5, I believe). When one of them selected 7, I changed to 10. Life altering, unforgettable. In retrospect, should have hit the emergency stop.