"Taxing the rich so that society can function well seems like a much needed idea."

The rich are already taxed. Why not tax those who aren't being taxed?

Can you name me a European country where taxes on lower income earners are less than what they are in the US?

The Russian fanboi or the commie. What great choices. Red star either way.

I think in practice their policies would have about the same effect on me.

"Meanwhile white nazis can roam the streets with impunity."

Not if they harass or discriminate they can't.

"The Department of Education is investigating 60 universities for possible antisemitic discrimination and harassment. The department sent the institutions letters warning them of potential enforcement actions under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act."

And who is against this?

And why?

It doesn't sound like this kid is a terrorist...but he did serve as a negotiator for them. It'll all come out in the hearings.

And BTW, if you've read the OPM memos regarding cuts, they are very reasonable. Like directing USGOV agencies to seek other operating locations outside of the NCR. That makes a ton of sense. It also directs that the VA, Medicare, and SS not terminate anyone or anything if it will have an effect on the provision of services.

I don't think it's being implemented like that, but that was the official guidance.

"The people who puzzle me the most, are the MAGA fanatics who have been fired and still say they support Musk/Trump."

I support it, at least conceptually, and there is a very good chance that my job will soon be gone.

We had GS employees during COVID who came to work one day a week but got paid for a full week. That is a waste of taxpayer dollars. Especially in Germany, where the government basically has to re-create all the service organizations one would have access to in the US.

My concern is that the government is going to fire a bunch of people, realize they need them, and either not have access to them or spend a -------- of money to get them back. This has happened before periodically, but never on this scale.

Yes war, you silly and hypocritical MAGA "pacifists".

Not pacificists.

They still want war with Chynuh.

This is nothing new. It started when Obama was the prez. I spend much of my time doing exercise planning and partner nation integration, especially with SOF and AF. It has been busy as hell. In the past several months I met with the heads of the military services for several of our allies. Some of them had a very strange vibe. Maybe this is why. Maybe they knew something we didn't.

I'm about 50/50 that my job, and hundreds of others out here in Germany, will soon be terminated. I'm not thrilled, but my plan has always been to wrap it up and move to Albania. I'm just one-step closer to that goal.

It will suck for my two daughters, whom I currently support. They're going to have to find a way to pay their own rent and car payments. And if there is a validated requirement for any job cuts, they're just going to be hired back. Trump's experiment may pay off, but if it doesn't, his prospects for the next four years are pretty dim. The markets are down, the dollar is down. GDP growth was forecast to be 3.9%. Now it's -1.5%

"Any guesses what they were thinking?"

Are you talking the election? That was decided by more than just republicans. And I think they were thinking that, as bad as trump may be, he would still be a better prez than Harris.

"This was Crimea. Not really Ukraine."

Sorry. What?

That's like saying that New Mexico is not really US.

"They're doing this because they correctly see the United States as being the enemy, along with Russia."

I don't think it's that at all. I spend as much time working with our foreign partners as I do US people. What I do think is that they are coming to terms with is the fact that the US will not take the leading role in a fight in Europe, because the focus of the US will always be the Pacific. And that's nothing new. The "pivot to the Pacific" began under Obama. It's just that no one wanted to acknowledge that.

"I really don't see why they couldn't have been doing this all along."

They could have.

Trump was definitely right about Europe. They've let the US cover the cost of the defense of the continent. Now they are massing forces to a posture in which they can collectively defend themselves.

I know Trump and Hegseth sound nasty, but this is that come-to-Jesus moment that Europe needed. If there is a war in Europe, China is very likely to exploit the sitch to take Taiwan. The Pacific is the US's military priority. That means that US forces would shift their focus there.

Europe is sort of an easy fight. There isn't really an outcome where Russia achieves anything that the rest of Europe doesn't concede to. The Pacific is a different story. You would have fighters flying from some location like Hawaii or Alaska, getting drug behind a tanker to the front line, doing their vul, and then being drug back to Alaska or Hawaii. I've done it in bombers and it's a tough ride. In a single seat fighter, you will quickly ruin people. China isn't the biggest adversary in this fight, it's the tyranny of distance.

"It is bad that Islamic Resistance has killed 1/40th the number of civilians that Israel has killed since Oct 7."

I don't think so.

Was it bad that Japan killed 1/1250th the number of US people (mostly military) that the US killed after Pearl Harbor?

"The Islamic resistance? Across the globe?"

Hamas means "Islamic Resistance" -------. Like Nazi means "National Socialist."

JFC you're stupid.

"Oh no, that's right. You're fine with any actions they take."

Have you spoken out against anything the Islamic Resistance has done? Or their supporters across the globe?

Didna think so.

Or, they could just let the hostages go.

Odd that no one here thinks that is not only the sane, but legal solution.

"Let them put their lives in -------- hands."

Yeah, the MQ-9 operators at Creech Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas are going to be in mortal danger.

The biggest imposition on them is that they are going to have to set their sandwich down while running the strike checklist.

"So, it does not seem to be just the US defense stocks."

No sir, it is not.

Most people don't follow currency exchange, but as a USan living in Europe, I do. We started this week at $.96 = 1 EUR. As of right now, $.92 = 1 EUR. That means that every bill I pay just went up by ~4%.

I'm certain its a result of Trump's tarriffs, but I also think everything else is a contributor as well.

"Ukraine was invaded about 10 months before Trump announced a second run."

Ukraine was invaded about a year before Trump announced his first run.

One of the key pillars of US foreign policy relative to Europe was providing a credible nuclear deterrence against the commies, or any other revanchist threat. The fear was that each European country (+ Japan and South Korea) would develop their own weapons, which would only increase the risk of nuclear war.

#18

The US has been "pivoting to the pacific" since Obama was president. I'm not sure why.

China is a bigger military threat, and there isn't a Pacific version of NATO, but China is solidly integrated into the global economy. The choice for China is which is more valuable, maintaining your place on the global stage, or gaining a trophy.

Russia doesn't have a place in the global economy. Not really. Their GDP is a joke. Their PPP is a joke. When was the last time anyone outside of Russia read a Russian book, or listened to a Russian band, or watched a Russian movie, or purchased something manufactured by a Russian company? They have zero cultural exports, and their whole national strategy seems to be based on building an empire that Russians feel they are entitled to. They don't have to contend with the potential losses that China does. There is simply nothing to lose.

And if we're being honest, the only reason we're having this discussion, is because Russia has nukes. Thier equipment isn't terrible, but they're too poor, or simply don't care to provide the level of training required to gain and maintain competency. Russia would prefer to spend less and throw more meat at the problem.

"Europe "can build up most of the critical defence enablers needed to deter or defeat Russia without US support within five years " provided the political will to invest is there", said Defense News, after a survey of security researchers and experts."

To me that comes across as very ambitious. The US has invested heavily in low observability and multi-domain integration, and it works pretty well. Even if the EU followed that route, I think it would be difficult to replicate the technology on that short of a timeline.

"Oh that is going to really piss off Lockheed, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Harris, Boeing, just to name just a few!"

Unless they move to Europe. If they stay in the US, they get to join the ranks of other large US companies that failed for not being competitive.

"These same people that are ok with Israel receiving subsidizes are mortified at the though of poor kids receiving a subsidy (aka Pell grants) to go to college."

This is true of almost everywhere.

I'm sure Israel would be just as willing to accept Russian aid. I saw this quite a bit when I was doing counter-drug stuff. Country-X would want to buy F-16s, but the US would block it as a function of Leahy vetting. Because at some point country-x had thrown commies out of helicopters, or may shoot down drug traffickers with the F-16s. So what happens? Russia and China step in, offer a similar product + the logistics tail to support it, and they don't care if traffickers get shot down.

Kids recieving Pell grants does absolutely nothing to contribute to great power competition. There are a million other ways to scratch that itch.

"So is America's."

Moreso than Europe's.

The US is intentionally withdrawing itself from its position as leader of the west, and the preeminent influencer across the globe. So what does that mean? First, the US will cede it's influence in Africa and South America to the Russians and Chinese. "Thank you", says China and Russia. And iran too. As a receding power, the US will negotiate from a position of relative weakness. Columbia and Mexico are going to be less interested in pleasing the US once the US is no longer the leader of the western world. Tariffs, if they go through, are going to limit US companies ability to operate competitively in foreign markets. Now, instead of having a global marketplace, you're limited to what you can sell to customers in the US. I have an Amazon.de account. That will be gone when anything I purchase is going to be n% higher than if I bought it from a European retailer. Even defense, which has been one of the primary methods by which the US has been able to spread influence, could fade. Most of the NATO countries are buying F-35s made in the US, but that means that they are reliant on the US for parts and service support for those aircraft. What if Europe were to come into a conflict, and the US elected to withhold those parts and services? The two absolute worst cases would be the collapse of the dollar as the global trading currency. Every USan benefits from the fact that the vast majority of global financial transactions are indexed in dollars. When another currency replaces it, the US dollar will inevitably indexed to some other currency. My guess would be the EURO. The second worst case would be European countries developing nuclear weapons. Since the end of WWII, the US has provided strategic nuclear deterrence for European partners. This was done in large part to limit the development of nuclear weapons in places like Europe, South Korea, and Japan. Without having a reliable partner to provide that defense, I think Europe would being to question that position. Especially those in the east that the revanchists want to swallow up.

For Europe, this is an opportunity. Europe is at an inflection point, where the EU and partners could work to fill in those vacancies left by the departure of the US. It will almost certainly require rebalancing domestic priorities, but the success of that is dependent really on what the citizens of those European states want.

"I failed to congratulate you for making Lt. Colonel. Nice going."

That you. It was a long time ago. I retired in the summer of 2023.

#10

I do a lot of work with the Norwegians. A few months ago they hosted us at a party in Akershus fortress that serves as a bar for some of the units that trace their lineage back to Gunnar Snsteby and the Norwegian resistance in WWII. The area the bar is in was once a Gestapo interrogation center and it has a bunch of cells where prisoners were held before being take out and shot. It was also the last place Quisling was held before he was executed.

It was pretty cool.