TriGirl

It seems that politicians like to talk and they keep on talking even when they have nothing to say and end up saying things that make no sense. They don't seem to know when to stop talking. Since I can't tell if Bigfalls is kidding (tone does not come through on a post), and no one else is addressing this, I feel the need to speak up. Brent, please do stop. Seriously? Putting the words of a TEENAGED BEAUTY CONTESTANT into the mouth of Vice President of the United States? Wow.

12-ish years ago -- the last time gas prices went through the roof -- Tampa talked about a train system. Unfortunately gas prices came down before anything could really be approved, so the project was shelved. I was hoping they would think ahead, to the development planned in the outer suburbs and any future fuel increases (so that by the time issues arose, the trains would already be running). Alas, we have entered this round of gas hikes in the same state of affairs as we found ourselves then.

Check out the 2014 NDAA -- specifically the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI). We re-allocated a ton of money to security cooperation build-up to the eastern flank of NATO. It's been going on now for nearly eight years, and has shown significant growth in partner development programs. Its success inspired the corresponding Pacific Deterrence Initiative written into the 2020 NDAA. That one has yet to be funded, as we have had other emerging requirements in the meantime, but Congress has recognized the need for longer-term cooperation and development programs so our regional partners and allies can do the job themselves, with out relying on the major powers to come to the rescue in a crisis.

I just had my retirement request approved. Come Dec 1, I'll be joining the club!

1) FIFY (I presume you were going for the binary options) 2) non-sequitur. That wasn't the basis of your statement, nor of my response.

She was tested for President and the results came back negative. Actually, the results were quite positive. More Americans voted for her than for her opponent.

I spent three years in Turkey, so I see where you're going with that. Kas is just a short (yet winding) drive west along the coast -- great diving, sleepy seaside town. However, as having worked with the government there -- it was difficult then, and is much worse now. You're going to have issues with internet and having your communications monitored. On the other hand, those coastal Mediterranean areas of Turkey are absolutely enticing! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Might I recommend the South Pacific? Especially some of those small island nations that have direct flights to at least two developed nations (like Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia). Consider Guam, Micronesia, Samoa -- all US territories or protectorates if you want something familiar. Philippines is popular -- your retirement dollars go far there. I also hear great things about Cook Islands.

Not anymore, since she has now been issued a subpoena. She’ll need her own lawyer now.

To continue this topic — Bill Clinton had the magnetic personality, but would never have gotten to the levels he did without Hillary’s counsel and guidance. If anything, he rode her coattails.

Trump only had COVID to deal with for 9 months of his administration, and no Delta variant. People wore masks and observed lockdowns (schools, public events, theme parks). Biden has been in office for 10 months, with Delta, more in-person learning, a lot more travel opportunities -- and fewer deaths during that time. Even with the conspiracy nuts refusing to be vaccinated or protecting their fellow citizens by keeping their germs to themselves, Biden is still doing better than Trump did.

I'm going to disagree with that simple assessment. If deficit caused inflation, we would have already seen massive inflation during the previous administration. These spending proposals have nothing on the tax cuts (causing severe deficit) from the previous administration.

What's the deal with him now not happy with $1.5 trillion, down from $3.5 trillion? (over 10 years, to be clear). I only saw the headline, but yeah, that's some BS right there. EDIT: Okay, it's $1.75 trillion. Still, that's still some BS. He's making it sound like no one knows where the funding will come from, when that has been an important talking/negotiating point these past couple of weeks. Not sure what he thinks is "dangerous" to the economy, or on which parts are unclear to him. Seems like just attention-getting talking points at this stage. :S

That's only single-layer. He's just trying to hide his identity because he knows he's doing something illegal, not trying to stop the spread of a deadly virus.

What Bill also forgot to address was your choice of terms. The vaccine does reduce infection, but mostly it significantly reduces the ability to transmit once infected, reduces hospitalizations and greatly reduces the chance of death if infected. Add in that only in the very beginning of the vaccination effort did we think the chances of a vaccinated person transmitting the virus to be close to nil (recall the guidance was you could remove your mask only if you were vaccinated, whereas unvaccinated people were still asked to keep their germs to themselves). Besides that point, we were still encouraged to continue the other preventive measures in addition to getting vaccinated. All these methods together could have stopped this virus by now. Eradicated? Probably not, but the variants (Delta specifically) wouldn't have wreaked such havoc on our population had people implemented all options at their disposal to protect each other. The vaccine does help the person who gets it. But more importantly, it helps society as a whole by making it harder for the virus to flourish. It also helps those who can't be protected by the vaccine, such as those with compromised immune systems and young children.

That's exactly what I was thinking when I read the post before yours. Not only did you beat me to it, you had the images to back it up. :)

A few corrections here. She is not military. We have eight uniformed services, but only six branches of military (five of which are defense department). DoD -- Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force Other uniformed services -- Coast Guard (military, in my book), NOAA and Public Health Service. The last one is the only one where you don't have to promote through the ranks to reach the top.

Terrible news! I never met him (that I know of), but appreciated all his contributions to the sport. Very sad loss.

December.

My Operations Coordinator is an Air Force MSgt. My Operations Assistant is a DoD civilian (as is the A/DATT, though that is currently vacant). My new Security Cooperation Officer is an Army major, who will eventually get a Navy E6 or E7 as his own OpsCo. We are fully purple here. The Marine security guard program falls under the authority of the regional security officer (RSO), not the defense attaché. Officers associated with the MCESG are regional commanders. Just wanted to clear that up. :)

She said she's in a diplomatic post, not that she's a diplomat. I am a diplomat. I'm the defense attaché. (Now I have to stop posting my political opinions here, since now you all know).

To be fair, I'm in a diplomatic post, where we have issues every single day. Plus, I'm the only Marine.

Even I let my subordinates (now that I have some here) choose which days they want to telework or take a day off.

But why is someone else deciding which day I must take my rest?

I'll say it again: we need to add some kind of qualification in order even to be eligible to run for president. I would say at least a familiarity with the rights, responsibilities and limits of the job to which you are applying would be a good place to start.

Similarly, many people with concealed firearms have secured concealed carry permits and respect the dangers of mishandling a firearm. But for the purposes of your comparison, risk exists in some public spaces regarding those who do not.