WarGamer
WarGamer's Journalairliners.net reporting AA CRJ-700 regional jet collides with military helicopter in DC (collision video, warning)
60 PAX 4 CREW on the CRJ-700 out of Kansas
https://x.com/BNONews/status/1884791040890089602
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1499709
On the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz... some thoughts
When I was a little kid, reading books and watching movies about WW2, the folks who lived it, like my Grandfather were in their 50's
Decade by decade, the number of WW2 veterans have dwindled...
I was in Europe in 2015 for the 70th Anniversary of VE Day. Normandy to Berlin with lots of stops in between and a few weeks in Berlin.
There were veterans there then... older... in their 80's or 90's.
I saw Russians, English, Americans, some Germans and others.
Reading some of the stories about Auschwitz this morning got me to thinking... most of the surviving folks aren't soldiers any more. And the Auschwitz victims are also older, the youngest would be mid 80's and might not even have a recollection of the experience.
I know... the sky is blue and water is wet, WarGamer... people age.
But in my mind, I can still see July 4th BBQ and Grandpas house with his old navy buddies and their families in the back yard...
Sigh...
EDIT: Also like to sincerely recommend that ANYONE who has the ability to visit Auschwitz must go.
When I went. I was nervous... my anxiety was sparking. I probably had a couple Xanax in me... but ya know, it wasn't that bad. It comes across more as a wonderful Museum focused on education and remembrance rather than an evil place of murder and horror...
Which stands in contrast to Dachau... which IMHO, is the darkest and most sinister site I've ever visited. And this is coming from someone who has visited over 100 battlefields across the Globe in the last 40 years.
I want to explain how the GOP went from "Dead and Buried" to at it's peak in 2024.
Remember 2008 and 2012?
I remember thinking to myself, "They're done. The GOP is so weak and unorganized, with a dwindling base and Demographic changes... we may never see another GOP President.
Now we're looking at 8/12 years of GOP rule.
So what happened?
I've thought about it extensively.
Let me share.
It all goes back to the neocons, my favorite topic, lol...
Neocons are that group of warmongers who A) Wanted to win the Cold War and B) Were annoyed by the counter-culture movement of the 60's and the Civil Rights movement
Early neocons were mostly DEMS.
The neocons hid their true purpose, American Imperialism by building fake support groups including Evangelicals, Country Club Republicans and soccer moms, whatever.
It worked with Ronald Reagan... he won 2x
The 90's rolled in and Bill Clinton won 2x.
The GOP was starting to lose it's voters... and the DEMS were building up voters.
The last gasp of the neocons was the election of Shrub the Lesser.
Georgie boy stocked his Administration with ne'er do well Neocon scumbags.
One fake illegal war later and even GOP'ers grew tired.
Add in the candidates.
The GOP used to have a thing with nominating the most boring people on the planet.
Dole, McCain, Romney...
Thought Experiment:
Look at the Trump base who won in 2024... winning all 7 Swing States and setting high marks in Minority votes. Now look at Mitt Romney and tell me how many of those Trump people would have voted for Mitt. How many GOP'ers pumped their fists and cheered on Mitt? Drove around with Mitt flags on their trucks and boats?
In other words, Romney would have lost to Harris 60-40 in 2024, IMHO.
Trump killed the neocon movement. The neocons used to pander support from groups but then never do anything for them after winning elections. Neocons USED people for their vote.
Traditional GOP 100% alienated a HUGE portion of the US voting public. Even those who might lean RIGHT.
Trump's entire strategy was to mine for the 30% of white folks that didn't vote and then got lucky after 2016 when the DEMS ran to the right and cozied up with neocons which resulted in even MORE DEM adjacent blue collar folks voting Trump.
Failure in 2024 was 50% Failure of the DEM Party.
And 50% Trump ascendancy as a strategy...
That's why we're here today.
My solution?
In a sentence. Invest EVERYTHING to taking BACK the populist banner... similar to what Bernie said...
Act like Democrats.
What's up with 2024?
Over the past 10-20 years the DEM Party has veered to the Right...
Swapping spit with Liz Cheney, canonizing Adam Kinziger, Bill Kristol and even Dick Cheney...
Ukraine War... folks pumping their fist like RW'ers on the Eve of "Shock and Awe" in Iraq on the eve of Shrub's illegal war.
It's a full on proxy war and has brought the planet closer to nuclear war than ever before... much more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Why does the current Party clash with the ACLU?
WTF? Liberals used to fight for free speech. The ACLU fought for Nazis in Skokie and Nazis in Charlottesville for fuck sake.
Nowadays, folks want to silence, delete and punish speech they don't like.
The US Justice system... remember the days of the pony tailed, pot smoking defense lawyer who would fight "the man"?
Nope, nowadays folks promote taking businesses away from people, "locking them up" and lickspittle support of LEO.
And who da fuck thought it's a good idea to place WEDGE ISSUES at the forefront of the political fight?
Look at Bill Clinton or Barack Obama... working class folks didn't feel threatened by either.
Today the working class flocks to Trump.
Stop crowing about the economy. Pull a Clinton and talk to the US people, "feel their pain" and make proposals that are targeting the poor.
And stop blaming the voters.
The DEMS parked a metaphorical Greek Food Truck at the corner of Mission and Garey in Pomona CA while Trump parked a Taco Truck.
SELL a better product.
Trump won the battle but not the war. But we need new Generals and a new strategy.
Note to prospective Jurors: This was posted in the new "Way Forward" forum which allows and encourages constructive criticism.
PS and never EVER push candidates who haven't proved themselves in the bitter fire of a national Primary fight... let DEMOCRATS decide. And certainly don't push candidates with a history of being a poor campaigner.
Just MY observation... YMMV. Is Trump! Trump! Trump! rebuilding the DEM Party for 26 and 28?
It seems some people forget a few things.
1) Trump won the election.
2) Trump isn't running again.
3) Attacks and throwing shade at Trump in 24 didn't work.
But all I see every day is Trump this, Trump that... as if people think that just a little more dirt will get Kamala elected... or put Trump in jail for good so he's not running any more.
This isn't the summer of 24. That's history.
And even worse?
So much post-mortem analysis of the election is basically "Voters suck, they're dumb and let's double down on what got us here"
While I agree that there must be a constant drumbeat of "resistance" where possible... to slow their executive and legislative tide...
I think it must be balanced with reform in the Party.
Stats don't lie.
The Party TODAY is different from the Party in 2008.
It's VASTLY different than the Party in 1992.
The Party is vastly more wealthy, educated and globally... neoconservative.
We've taken for granted that Jack the Welder, Jose the pipe fitter and Mary the hairdresser will automatically vote for DEMS while we make efforts to court Billionaires, suburban GOP'ers and the politically displaced like Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol.
To summarize... so much of what we see today is shouting at clouds...
You want change? Then win elections. Figure it out.
My solution? Go back in time.
I wish I was in the luxury home construction business...
Just the "Billionaires Row" in Malibu will take a Billion Dollars to rebuild.
5000 houses in Pacific Palisades... high end real estate.
Californians are going to be thankful for the IMMIGRANT laborers and skilled craftsmen to rebuild.
But damn... the trades will be insanely busy for the next decade.
A lot of those Malibu homes were older wood frame... newer stuff on Malibu is concrete and modern design...
A lot of California insurers screwed over homeowners... and the others will be wrecked financially.
Random thoughts about the US Education system... H-1B's and Musk calling "retards"...
I'll use myself as an example.
Maxed out my library card starting age 7... Mom taking me to the library for ten new books every week or two.
Elementary School joined a "readers club" or something like that.
Took those State tests annually through High School... always like 98-99% percentile...
College Prep courses were all optional you just needed like a B average or something...
But no one ever... noticed.
Fast forward a few decades and by sheer luck, I get a phone call from a friend of mine who was an "original 100" employee at a rather large SoCal Biotech...
Asking me if I was working in my educated field, Engineering. I was not.
They ended up needing a Mechanical Engineer who had no life... someone who could travel and babysit Global Production Facilities.
I raised my hand... sounded good to me.
20+ years later I retired in my mid 50's.
So where am I going?
I worked with Professionals from many different countries.
THEY do something WE DO NOT.
They test and pick students from the masses and PLACE THEM into different schools.
Math oriented kids end up with other "mathy" kids and are doing College level work in their tweens.
These countries run parallel education pathways engineered by the State.
The students who excel in certain fields are "recruited" and refined in that field. That's how you produce top level Scientists and researchers.
You see... just sending a note to the parents saying "Your kid is bright" isn't enough. Testing needs to automatically CHANGE the track of Education the child is on.
Resources can be allotted according to need. Kids who show no aptitude or interest in let's say... Biology can learn in an auditorium with 100 students and a teacher who runs the show...
The top level Biology recruits learn in groups of 20 and the teachers are higher level Professionals.
This is done in many countries but I fear many here would see it as "unfair"...
100 people hear the lie... 50 hear the fact check, 25 believe the fact check.
Mark Twain once said, “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”
I guarantee you there are people in VFW's and bowling alleys and BBQ's right now talking about the "Illegal who killed a buncha folks in NOLA"
20+ years in BioTechnology... let me tell you about H-1B Visas.
They're not "always" evil.
I'll give BOTH examples.
I've seen what I'd call "main line" Engineers replaced by H-1B holders for what I can only assume is the cost savings,
However... most H-1B I encountered are the type of people we DO NOT have enough of here in the USA.
Molecular Biologists with 10+ years experience with a Degree from Harvard, Oxford, MIT or Cambridge...
Those are rare guys and girls.
The more specialized they are... the more desirable they are.
How many top end Molecular Biologists are produced by US universities each year? 100? 1000?
But here is the solution.
Charge companies for the visa.
Charge $100,000 for a one year visa.
For the high end talent, it's worth it.
But for replacing US workers with cheaper imports... it'll end.
As one who watches and trades the market daily...
TSLA has gone UP $190/share since election day...
Even if Musk invested $250M to help Trump get elected...
Musk owns 411 million shares of TSLA outright...
Musk has the RIGHTS to purchase 303 million MORE shares as part of an option bonus.
While I don't know what the cost basis is of those options...
Just the 411 million shares he owns...
411,000,000 x 190/share increase since election is...
78 billion dollars.
(the options, if exercised are probably another... 50 billion)
THat's not counting the value of SpaceX which is bound to "skyrocket" pun intended... when regulations are ditched.
If Brooklynite was still here, we could argue about the merits of taxing "wealth" and not income
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Name: JGender: Male
Hometown: SoCal
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Member since: Mon Feb 1, 2021, 09:27 PM
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