Because Trump 2.0

[Ol Paint]

7 hours ago, DKTanker said:

I think 1.476 million tons of fuel is more than 0.257 million tons.  I'm no Jethro Bodine but I think I have that right.

Coal isn't fuel, DKT.  Are you daft, man?

6 hours ago, nitflegal said:

Having broken bread with several of them, I do think that two things are true at once.  The British military has been gutted into an almost trivial force.  That stated, the Brits in uniform overextended themselves to support us in the WoT and bled to support us and fought hard as our partners.  

I grow weary of a neutered UK wagging their finger at us but a lot of brave British men and women bled and died.  They lost a slightly higher proportion of the people they sent and with a force 1/10th our size (again, they gelded themselves in the 90's).  I just think it important that we call out the British populace and politicians without calling out their soldiers on the ground and in the air.

Agreed with your sentiments.  However, I recall discussions in the early 2000s about the utility of some of the allied nations militaries in Afghanistan & Iraq.  Not because of a lack of bravery, sacrifice, or skill on the part of the servicemembers, but because they lacked the materiel, support, and technology to be as effective.  The drawdowns in the US were bad enough (and the US DoD certainly doesn't lack for money-draining boondoggles), but what many European nations did to their military capabilities during the "peace dividend" years of the '90s and continued to do up until 2023 were astounding.  All while continuing the finger-wagging at the US and yet also demanding that we "do something" about the issue du jour.

Similar to the saying about flying--superior pilots are those who use superior judgment to avoid situations where they need superior skills--adequately funding and equipping your military avoids situations requiring excess bravery and sacrifice.

It's frustrating that so many can't recognize that the reason many Americans want other nations to spend on defense is not to benefit the military industrial complex, or to be mean.  It is so that we can work together as allies.

Edit to add:  Perun's weekly PowerPoint YouTube video is on point:

Doug

Edited August 25, 2025 by Ol Paint

[Rick]

This man tells the truth. Start at the 15 minute mark.

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

12 hours ago, nitflegal said:

Having broken bread with several of them, I do think that two things are true at once.  The British military has been gutted into an almost trivial force.  That stated, the Brits in uniform overextended themselves to support us in the WoT and bled to support us and fought hard as our partners.  

I grow weary of a neutered UK wagging their finger at us but a lot of brave British men and women bled and died.  They lost a slightly higher proportion of the people they sent and with a force 1/10th our size (again, they gelded themselves in the 90's).  I just think it important that we call out the British populace and politicians without calling out their soldiers on the ground and in the air.

Its been gutted, I do not disagree. Trivial? We are still relatively strong in seapower and airpower. The Army is going to take a lot of work, but it still capable, just, of fulfilling NATO core roles. For now, thats good enough. But Its going to be a real problem if we try to scale up to have a Ukrainian peace deal implimentation force.

Nobody is wagging their finger at the US. You do what you do, I merely point out the consequences of some of your decisions, both in Europe, and in the pacific. Personally I grow weary of being lectured by the US which rode the UK military hard and completely took it for granted, has not (other than yourself) given due credit to what they actually delivered, and suddenly demand more. The doctrinal mess the British Army is in is due to trying to align itself too closely with the abortive American median Brigade doctrine. Our procurement is a mess because that too was lined up with it. Our force structure is a mess because we convinced ourself Russia was no longer a problem, like everyone else, so all we would be fighting hithertoo was tribesmen with viciously sharp slices of mango. Its no exaggeration to say the British Army finally transitioned to the war on terror about 6 months after it ended, and Its going to take time to fix.

In actual fact, I think the British public LIKE having a strong armed forces. All the miltiary shows I go to are packed out. The problem is the politicians dont like paying for it, which means more taxation and potentially lost votes. Its a vicious cycle. You are perfectly right excoriating British politicians, on both sides of the house, particularly ones of the last 14 years, that took defence expenditure as a floating cash reserve. 

Basically, I largely agree with your comments.

[Stuart Galbraith]

13 hours ago, Murph said:

I am not and never have denigrated the sacrifice of the Brits, and I have the highest respect for their Army, but darn, their politicians whom Stuart seems to love so much have really BOHICA'ed them.

No, im sorry Murph, but you have. Most of you have. Many is the time I have raised the casualties the British army took in Afghanistan, and you (or others) either blew it off, ignored it, or said you just didnt care, that it wasnt so  many compared to the Americans. Yes, one of you, I wont say whom, actually said just that.

I respect all you Americans that fought in all our wars. But If I said one tenth about them what you guys have said about European casualties in the war on terror, I would have been banned from  here years ago. To his credit, Trump gets it, Ill give him full credit for that, at least about the British military. Even JD seems dimly aware of it. Many of you still dont.

You remember that next time you cite how little we do for you, that we have been taking you for a ride, that there is 5000 ex British soldiers somewhere, either with scars from  minor shrapnel wounds, mental health ruined, or missing limbs, so Americans didnt have to deal with the VA. Plenty more Europeans than that too.  I dont ask much for my countrymen, but a bit more healthy acknowledgement of what they did should be the very least, rather than this doctrnal 'You dont do anyting for us' yada yada yada. Well what they hell were they doing in the sandbox for 20 years then, working up a tan?

No, I dont love our politicians. Equally I recognise its either that or a Dictatorship. Countries that malign their elected political leaders so much deserve to live in a dictatorship. That is precisely what happened to Weimar Germany you know.

Edited August 25, 2025 by Stuart Galbraith

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2025-08-24/stop-pearl-clutching-about-intel-deal

This pending USG purchase of 10% of Intel common stock is, on the face of it, idiotic for both USG and Intel;

 

This "too big to fail" BS is just that.

Of course, with Trump there is an 80+ percent chance he's just agitating the market for whatever reason.

What USG should be doing is to encourage startup of a 3rd CPU house, some sort of joint US/Taiwan venture. Given the advances in GPU tech, maybe a revisited RISC architecture designed from the get-go for SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing).

 

 

[Stargrunt6]

I don't mind. Intel got a bunch in breaks and grants.

[Ivanhoe]

[Ivanhoe]

"Jill" is the libtard who tweeted that, despite having her arm broken during a carjacking, she didn't want Trump cleaning up the streets in Chicago.

Jill forgot that the Internet Is Forever™. She got torched so bad she deleted her twitter acct.

[rmgill]

On 8/22/2025 at 3:45 AM, Stuart Galbraith said:

And you are too busy marching yours Duke of York style around Washington DC to do anything useful, like fight for Democracies. You know, old fashioned shit that went out with the old century.

Oh sweet child from the cotswolds. You don’t know a thing. 

[rmgill]

On 8/24/2025 at 4:15 AM, Stefan Fredriksson said:

Regarding the gold paint added to the White House. Secret Service should change code name for Trump to "Tacky TACO".

Probably re-added. A lot of the old federal style building had golf leaf, not paint. 
 

I was at a function in 1998 at one of the older refined hotels in DC. The ballroom was very gilt. 
 

It might amaze you to realize that wealth is common in the US. Not just for royalty like in Scandinavia. 

[rmgill]

On 8/24/2025 at 11:25 AM, Ivanhoe said:

Yee haw!

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hegseth-house-cleans-pentagon-wake-disputed-iran-intelligence
 

 

I need To ask a former DIA staffer I know about that. 

[Ivanhoe]

This is a nice takedown of the libs now crying for forgiveness. Dunno the author, Eric Salzman. Its published on Matt Taibbi's Substack. The Dem's current theme song below;

https://www.racket.news/p/they-sowed-the-wind-and-now-they

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssd3U_zicAI

 

[Murph]

Yeah, they are singing "Just because we did it, it is not fair that you are doing it back to us".  

[rmgill]

It's the Chigaco way. 
 

 

[JWB]

I wonder how much that cost.

 

[DKTanker]

2 hours ago, JWB said:

I wonder how much that cost.

 It cost neither you nor I a single red cent.  Decorating the WH is largely funded by the occupants.

I must say I'm happy to see the Left's Icon has been removed from its position of prominence.  And, unless it is being hidden by one of the lamps, it has been totally removed from the wall.   Wittingly or unwittingly, that man did more long term damage to the nation than any president before or since.

 

[rmgill]

6 hours ago, JWB said:

I wonder how much that cost.

 

AGain, I'll note that Gold leaf was something of a thing in US history. 

Take a gander at Rhode Island’s Vanderbilt Marble House ballroom. 

[X-Files]

On 8/6/2025 at 7:26 PM, Josh said:

I smell Trumpist deflection from the obvious. I will not bother posting another laundry list of Trump’s know sexual predatory activities.

 

OOh! OOH! I know, post Biden's instead!!!!

 

[seahawk]

Pedo Joe... 

[Stuart Galbraith]

9 hours ago, rmgill said:

AGain, I'll note that Gold leaf was something of a thing in US history. 

Take a gander at Rhode Island’s Vanderbilt Marble House ballroom. 

Or indeed Louis XIV's powder room, to which it likely bears close comparison.

 

[Ivanhoe]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2025/08/gabbard-located-burn-bags-containing-documents-about-2020-election/

Quote

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed to President Donald Trump that she located burn bags filled with documents about the 2020 election.

 

Quote

The sources told Fox News that some of the contents included “that the U.S. intelligence community had credible foreign sources indicating that the FBI would play a role in spreading the alleged Trump–Russia collusion narrative” before anyone launched the probe.

Sad, but not surprising. 

[EchoFiveMike]

Every SCIF I've been to, even overseas, has industrial shredders, ie paper disintegrators.  Burn bags are for austere field conditions, deployments, that sort of shit.  

I'm assuming this is just verbal cover for friendly forces supporting the war effort.  S/F....Ken M

[Mike1158]

Apparently, the USA has reps running around Greenland acting like putin's 'little green men'.

 

So, t rump is not a bully and no tater either, he's just wanting to intimidate, I mean educate people to do as he wants rather than what they think they should be allowed to.

 

No wonder t rump likes putin.

 

Did t rump get a few tutorials on tatership from putin?

 

"You put your putin in, you put your t rump in, do the hokey cokey and turn it (The truth) all about.In, out, in, out, you shake it all about You do the Hokey Cokey and you turn around That's what it's all about".

 

I know, they are really nice folk underneath the drama.

[Sinistar]

given that the steele dossier was a uk intelligence product designed to undermine the united states in 2016 and uk labour attempting again to defeat trump again in 2024

maybe trump should decide to kick you out of the IMF if you come looking for an injection

UK 'faces IMF bailout' as expert fears Reeves's economy is 'crumbling under scrutiny'

 

it is telling the way your economy is in trouble and your society is showing little confidence in itself politically and culturally and you still think it is a good idea to pick a fight with russia and with the united states

 

 

[Stuart Galbraith]

6 hours ago, Sinistar said:

given that the steele dossier was a uk intelligence product designed to undermine the united states in 2016 and uk labour attempting again to defeat trump again in 2024

maybe trump should decide to kick you out of the IMF if you come looking for an injection

UK 'faces IMF bailout' as expert fears Reeves's economy is 'crumbling under scrutiny'

 

it is telling the way your economy is in trouble and your society is showing little confidence in itself politically and culturally and you still think it is a good idea to pick a fight with russia and with the united states

 

 

Now someone is being really very silly. I be you believe Oswald was working for the CIA, doncha?

Shock Headline. Tory Newspaper says the sky is falling!