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Thread: COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

  1. #15091
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    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America: https://twitter.com/i/status/1428085308722196481
    Given this clown’s woke testimony and now this total shit show, he has completely secured his place in military history.

  2. #15092
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America: https://twitter.com/i/status/1428085308722196481

    Glenn Reynolds responds: Fire military and intelligence bigs who bungled Afghanistan — now

    Because this is just not true anymore: COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events



    And here is a good reason why: https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1...726788105?s=20
    Yeah, we can't collect all those people immediately RIGHT NOW. Might've been a good idea to get started on it ASAP MONTHS AGO though. Biden is deflecting like crazy when he acts like he is nobly falling on a PR sword to end this war. The talks to end it happened before he took office, and he dragged his feet on holding up the deal. This is what we ended up with because of it.

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    I'm not a brilliant military strategist like Secretary Austin, so I must ask: if the Taliban mortar the (unfortified) airport and retreat into the population of Kabul, what "strong response" does the US possibly have?

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    Does the Taliban have nukes and F-15's, Joe? Asking for a friend

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    Quote Originally Posted by Shiva Kaul View Post
    I'm not a brilliant military strategist like Secretary Austin, so I must ask: if the Taliban mortar the (unfortified) airport and retreat into the population of Kabul, what "strong response" does the US possibly have?
    None. Which is exactly why there are no mortars.

  6. #15096
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    I posted this tonight on my Facebook:

    "All Our Family Are Die."

    Yesterday was a difficult day for me as an American. It is not often that I make political posts. I only post now because I feel I can't remain silent.

    I learned to read gazing at the exotic pictures and vivid stories found in the neat, chronological rows of the National Geographics that my family carefully stored on a shelf beside all the Encyclopedias Britannica at the end of the hall. One of my earliest memories in life is of my father holding the January 1974 issue and weeping. I asked my father what was wrong and all he could choke out was, "We betrayed them. After all they did for us. We just abandoned them to die." The National Geographic had an article inside titled, "No Place to Run: the Hmong of Laos." I was too young then to understand what my father meant--but I did understand he was in great pain.

    Over the years the stories slowly came out...here a little, there a little. Growing up I always thought my father had served two Remote Tours in Vietnam. Only later did I understand why there were three-headed elephants and maps of Laos in our home--and none of Vietnam. My father worked with the Ravens and trained the Hmong--a fiercely loyal people who had fled to the mountains of Laos to escape a long history of persecution. My father taught determined resistance fighters--who had never even driven a car--to fly missions out of remote jungle airstrips. My father routinely jumped into anything that could fly when a frantic call crackled across the radio. Many times, armed with nothing more than a rifle stuck through the door of his Cessna he searched for the downed pilot who was almost never recovered--even after the war. A Hmong monk gave my father a bracelet made of brightly colored twisted threads that he always wore on his wrist--even while in uniform. When the threads finally wore out he kept the remains in his top dresser drawer. My father has worn a rubber band on his wrist for as long as I can remember.

    After I graduated from high school in Alexandria, Virginia my father and I were driving through New York City. After getting turned around in the crush of traffic my father turned right on a red light, which is against the law in New York City. Soon the blue lights were flashing and the characteristic "Whoop! Whoop" of the NYPD sirens was behind us. A gruff officer appeared at our side and barked in a thick, Bronx accent, "Yo dumbass. You ran a red light. Gimme yer license." As my father reached into his pocket, the officer growled, "Whadda yooz doin in The City?"

    My father's well-worn wallet fell open as he pulled it out. The charcoal grey tri-fold was hand sewn from thick elephant hide. The center had an engraved image of the country of Laos and just to the side was my father's military ID card, revealing he was an active duty colonel in the Air Force. Quickly my father tried to close his wallet--but not before the police officer drew back and let out a light gasp. He quickly turned his squawking radio off, eyes wide.

    "You in Nam?"

    "No sir," my father replied, "South East Asia."

    The rough officer nodded and lowered his voice, "I am not a sir..." His voice wavering he continued, "Sir, the road you are looking for is two blocks down. Turn right at the light. And please remember to stop at the red...Sir." With that, the officer straightened up and saluted my father, pointing the way. As we pulled away I asked my father why the officer let us go. My father's only reply, "We have to stick together."

    All these memories of my youth came back yesterday when my brother came down to visit me at my shop. He brought with him a quiet, humble man and his son who was his father's interpreter. I was struck the man and his son looked more Asian than other Afghans I know. Jeff then explained to me the man and his son were Hazaras from the high mountains of central Afghanistan. He explained the Hazaras were a largely poor and persecuted minority in Afghanistan. However, in Jeff's unit, ethnicity didn't matter--advances were merit based. This was no surprise, as my family was brought up completely colorblind.

    Jeff and the man spoke of their times together in Afghanistan. My brother was a member of the Green Berets who later became an advisor training commandos in the Afghan Special Forces. Jeff and this man spent 12 years together in brutal combat, yet they spoke in soft, measured tones. Their mutual respect was palpable. Jeff explained the man had probably helped the United States fight the Taliban on over a thousand Special Forces missions, each one with an undeniable likelihood of being wounded, killed, or--worst of all--captured.

    I took the man and his son through our shop that is filled with cars in all different stages of assembly. I stopped all along the way and showed them the sophisticated CNC machinery and the parts we make. After completing the tour of our shop, we stopped to talk again. The man described his struggles to make ends meet at an entry level job in this new world he found himself in. His dream was to purchase a home that was big enough for his wife and five children. He then wondered if an increase in pay would affect his health care.

    I explained, "Everyone who works here starts sweeping the floor...but as time passes you can learn to do any of these jobs that you want. David Cindrich, the man who makes all these beautiful parts on our CNC machines, started sweeping the floors. My sons, who you met, started sweeping the floors. If you want to work here you will also need to start sweeping the floors as well. Even I swept the floors when I started my company." I paused after each sentence so his son could translate. I then told him he didn't need to worry about health care because we provided it to our employees. I told him all my employees earn enough to own their own homes (my sons are the only exception--they are looking). I then offered him a job with a substantial raise and the possibility of learning more skills with corresponding increases in pay.

    After a long pause, the man quietly began to speak. He looked at me and said, "I am sorry. I don't know if I can work here. I don't understand all these parts. I don't understand all these machines. And...most of all...I don't speak English."

    I looked at the man and his son and replied, "I speak English, Spanish, Polish, and I even understand quite a bit of Russian. If I need to learn Dari I will."

    Looking up, the man replied, "I will make an agreement with you. I will sweep your floors. I will learn your parts and machines as much as I am able. And I will teach you Dari. I ask you to teach me English." We shook hands and the deal was sealed. As we left, I turned to my brother and said, "Well, I guess I have hired my first Afghan." Jeff replied, "I think you just hired the entire village. We all have to stick together."

    Over the past few days, America's president has, once again, betrayed our friends. While President Trump was in office, the Taliban kept its head down for 4 years--knowing if Trump lost reelection they would have their chance. They knew they could wait Trump out because, as the Taliban say, “You have the clocks, we have the time.” We were the bull who wandered aimlessly through the china shop, leaving a path of destruction. Then, after spilling 20 years of blood and treasure, we simply walked away and left the shards.

    In the short span of just 8 months, gasoline has surged to nearly $5/gallon (or more). Biden’s response is to beg OPEC to become our energy masters once again--when only a year ago under Trump we were energy independent.

    Andrew Cuomo is forced to resign because some brave women finally called him out on his abuses and this time the press bought it--after ignoring the untold thousands of elderly he abused and sentenced to their deaths in New York nursing homes. Antifa burns and pillages American cities, protected by law enforcement and unprosecuted by our “justice” system. Yet, our country now holds "wrong thinking" political prisoners in our nation’s capital, rotting in indefinite solitary confinement, without bail or trial dates. If they did wrong, try them. If you won’t try them, let them go.

    Our southern border is now an open door to what will prove to be some 2 million undocumented immigrants from who knows where just this year alone. The US Attorney General claims the greatest threat to our country is Trump voters while US Generals defend the nihilistic Marxist creation of critical race theory--all while desperate Afghans fall from the landing gear of fleeing US aircraft. Zarifa Ghafari, the first woman mayor in Afghanistan tweeted yesterday, "I’m sitting here waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. I’m just sitting with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me. I can’t leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?” Why aren't the pussy hats marching now?

    On top of all this I am represented in the U.S. Senate by the #1 Vichy Senator, Pierre Delecto, a feckless coward, whose ego self-justifies his irrational, hateful bitterness at having been bested and rejected by Trump, a 'crude Queens real estate developer' who has more feel for the “forgotten man and woman” in his pinky finger than Romney will ever have in his entire being. He was tougher than Romney, more real than Romney, and enough people liked him that Trump won what Mitt lost. And Mitt hates him for it...so much so that he betrayed his constituents and his oath to uphold the Constitution with his self-gratifying, vengeful vote to impeach.

    Pelosi is awful, but at least she looks you in the eye and straight up tells you she is going to steal your money and use it to indoctrinate your children that they live in the most racist nation on earth. However, the real turncoats are the cabal of 19 Vichy Republican Senators who voted for the "infrastructure" spending bill, pouring dollars into their investment accounts and gasoline onto the flames of inflation. They are the scavenger jackals of capitalism, feasting on the carcass of our nation’s manufacturing heartland, selling out our country to China one job at a time.

    In the middle of this dumpster fire Biden punted, then went on vacation as Afghanistan fell this week. Does anyone doubt that Taiwan is next? When China takes Taiwan, we can say goodbye to their advanced chip design and manufacturing. It will all be in the hands of the CCP. What do you think happens to our economy then? The question is no longer why would Xi invade Taiwan--the only question is why wouldn't he? There will be no consequence, unless it’s for some poor Taiwanese soul who is desperate enough to try to hitchhike on the landing gear of the last American C-17 out of town.

    My costs for containers from my factory in Poland have gone from $7,000 to almost $30,000. Inflation is FAR beyond what anyone is admitting. Ask any business owner. My costs ratchet up every day. I have never seen inflation like this. I have a customer with 2,000 (that's not a typo--2,000) containers on the water right now at $22,000 each from China. He used to pay $4,000. Many of my vendors will not give a quote in advance anymore. Deposits for orders are taken, but goods are not delivered. McDonalds can't get straws or bags (an exec is a customer of mine). Everyone with cash is buying everything in sight trying to convert what will soon be worthless scrip into hard assets. America is led by a senile sociopath who is going to “Thelma and Louise” everyone right of the cliff and all of us are in the backseat.

    Today desperate women in Afghanistan, with no hope of making the evacuation themselves due to the crush at the airport's barbed wire gates, have resorted to throwing their babies over the concertina wire. The only thing they have left to cling to in this world is the thin hope some foreign troops will untangle their babies from the razor wire and send them to "the most racist country on earth" for a better life--free of the Taliban.

    Before the Hazari man and his son left my shop, my brother gently inquired if his family was safe. The son didn't even translate the question to his father, he simply replied,

    "All our family are die."

    Shame on Biden. Shame on our generals. Shame on our intelligence community. Shame on the 19 Vichy Republican Senators. The blame for this Judas-level betrayal of America and Afghanistan rests squarely with Biden and his gang of soy-boy sociopaths who are destroying our countries, evidently by design. A drawdown in Afghanistan was inevitable--this foul act of treachery was not.

    I guess at least we don't have to deal with any more mean tweets.

  7. #15097
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Rippetoe View Post
    In case this gets "lost":
    man, imagine what the employees could accomplish if they pushed for proper wages and health care. ahh...naw...thats socialism. real freedom is getting sick. certainly not getting paid for labor.

  8. #15098
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shiva Kaul View Post
    I'm not a brilliant military strategist like Secretary Austin, so I must ask: if the Taliban mortar the (unfortified) airport and retreat into the population of Kabul, what "strong response" does the US possibly have?
    The only reason they are not pounding the shit out of the airfield is because they know it will likely revoke a response. They don't want a military victory. They are winning on every other chessboard right now.

    That, and they probably don't want to rebuild the damn thing.

  9. #15099
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    I came across this article. I thought it was pretty good. Assabiya Wins Every Time - Tablet Magazine

  10. #15100
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by David Kirkham View Post
    I posted this tonight on my Facebook:

    "All Our Family Are Die."

    Yesterday was a difficult day for me as an American. It is not often that I make political posts. I only post now because I feel I can't remain silent.

    I learned to read gazing at the exotic pictures and vivid stories found in the neat, chronological rows of the National Geographics that my family carefully stored on a shelf beside all the Encyclopedias Britannica at the end of the hall. One of my earliest memories in life is of my father holding the January 1974 issue and weeping. I asked my father what was wrong and all he could choke out was, "We betrayed them. After all they did for us. We just abandoned them to die." The National Geographic had an article inside titled, "No Place to Run: the Hmong of Laos." I was too young then to understand what my father meant--but I did understand he was in great pain.

    Over the years the stories slowly came out...here a little, there a little. Growing up I always thought my father had served two Remote Tours in Vietnam. Only later did I understand why there were three-headed elephants and maps of Laos in our home--and none of Vietnam. My father worked with the Ravens and trained the Hmong--a fiercely loyal people who had fled to the mountains of Laos to escape a long history of persecution. My father taught determined resistance fighters--who had never even driven a car--to fly missions out of remote jungle airstrips. My father routinely jumped into anything that could fly when a frantic call crackled across the radio. Many times, armed with nothing more than a rifle stuck through the door of his Cessna he searched for the downed pilot who was almost never recovered--even after the war. A Hmong monk gave my father a bracelet made of brightly colored twisted threads that he always wore on his wrist--even while in uniform. When the threads finally wore out he kept the remains in his top dresser drawer. My father has worn a rubber band on his wrist for as long as I can remember.

    After I graduated from high school in Alexandria, Virginia my father and I were driving through New York City. After getting turned around in the crush of traffic my father turned right on a red light, which is against the law in New York City. Soon the blue lights were flashing and the characteristic "Whoop! Whoop" of the NYPD sirens was behind us. A gruff officer appeared at our side and barked in a thick, Bronx accent, "Yo dumbass. You ran a red light. Gimme yer license." As my father reached into his pocket, the officer growled, "Whadda yooz doin in The City?"

    My father's well-worn wallet fell open as he pulled it out. The charcoal grey tri-fold was hand sewn from thick elephant hide. The center had an engraved image of the country of Laos and just to the side was my father's military ID card, revealing he was an active duty colonel in the Air Force. Quickly my father tried to close his wallet--but not before the police officer drew back and let out a light gasp. He quickly turned his squawking radio off, eyes wide.

    "You in Nam?"

    "No sir," my father replied, "South East Asia."

    The rough officer nodded and lowered his voice, "I am not a sir..." His voice wavering he continued, "Sir, the road you are looking for is two blocks down. Turn right at the light. And please remember to stop at the red...Sir." With that, the officer straightened up and saluted my father, pointing the way. As we pulled away I asked my father why the officer let us go. My father's only reply, "We have to stick together."

    All these memories of my youth came back yesterday when my brother came down to visit me at my shop. He brought with him a quiet, humble man and his son who was his father's interpreter. I was struck the man and his son looked more Asian than other Afghans I know. Jeff then explained to me the man and his son were Hazaras from the high mountains of central Afghanistan. He explained the Hazaras were a largely poor and persecuted minority in Afghanistan. However, in Jeff's unit, ethnicity didn't matter--advances were merit based. This was no surprise, as my family was brought up completely colorblind.

    Jeff and the man spoke of their times together in Afghanistan. My brother was a member of the Green Berets who later became an advisor training commandos in the Afghan Special Forces. Jeff and this man spent 12 years together in brutal combat, yet they spoke in soft, measured tones. Their mutual respect was palpable. Jeff explained the man had probably helped the United States fight the Taliban on over a thousand Special Forces missions, each one with an undeniable likelihood of being wounded, killed, or--worst of all--captured.

    I took the man and his son through our shop that is filled with cars in all different stages of assembly. I stopped all along the way and showed them the sophisticated CNC machinery and the parts we make. After completing the tour of our shop, we stopped to talk again. The man described his struggles to make ends meet at an entry level job in this new world he found himself in. His dream was to purchase a home that was big enough for his wife and five children. He then wondered if an increase in pay would affect his health care.

    I explained, "Everyone who works here starts sweeping the floor...but as time passes you can learn to do any of these jobs that you want. David Cindrich, the man who makes all these beautiful parts on our CNC machines, started sweeping the floors. My sons, who you met, started sweeping the floors. If you want to work here you will also need to start sweeping the floors as well. Even I swept the floors when I started my company." I paused after each sentence so his son could translate. I then told him he didn't need to worry about health care because we provided it to our employees. I told him all my employees earn enough to own their own homes (my sons are the only exception--they are looking). I then offered him a job with a substantial raise and the possibility of learning more skills with corresponding increases in pay.

    After a long pause, the man quietly began to speak. He looked at me and said, "I am sorry. I don't know if I can work here. I don't understand all these parts. I don't understand all these machines. And...most of all...I don't speak English."

    I looked at the man and his son and replied, "I speak English, Spanish, Polish, and I even understand quite a bit of Russian. If I need to learn Dari I will."

    Looking up, the man replied, "I will make an agreement with you. I will sweep your floors. I will learn your parts and machines as much as I am able. And I will teach you Dari. I ask you to teach me English." We shook hands and the deal was sealed. As we left, I turned to my brother and said, "Well, I guess I have hired my first Afghan." Jeff replied, "I think you just hired the entire village. We all have to stick together."

    Over the past few days, America's president has, once again, betrayed our friends. While President Trump was in office, the Taliban kept its head down for 4 years--knowing if Trump lost reelection they would have their chance. They knew they could wait Trump out because, as the Taliban say, “You have the clocks, we have the time.” We were the bull who wandered aimlessly through the china shop, leaving a path of destruction. Then, after spilling 20 years of blood and treasure, we simply walked away and left the shards.

    In the short span of just 8 months, gasoline has surged to nearly $5/gallon (or more). Biden’s response is to beg OPEC to become our energy masters once again--when only a year ago under Trump we were energy independent.

    Andrew Cuomo is forced to resign because some brave women finally called him out on his abuses and this time the press bought it--after ignoring the untold thousands of elderly he abused and sentenced to their deaths in New York nursing homes. Antifa burns and pillages American cities, protected by law enforcement and unprosecuted by our “justice” system. Yet, our country now holds "wrong thinking" political prisoners in our nation’s capital, rotting in indefinite solitary confinement, without bail or trial dates. If they did wrong, try them. If you won’t try them, let them go.

    Our southern border is now an open door to what will prove to be some 2 million undocumented immigrants from who knows where just this year alone. The US Attorney General claims the greatest threat to our country is Trump voters while US Generals defend the nihilistic Marxist creation of critical race theory--all while desperate Afghans fall from the landing gear of fleeing US aircraft. Zarifa Ghafari, the first woman mayor in Afghanistan tweeted yesterday, "I’m sitting here waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. I’m just sitting with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me. I can’t leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?” Why aren't the pussy hats marching now?

    On top of all this I am represented in the U.S. Senate by the #1 Vichy Senator, Pierre Delecto, a feckless coward, whose ego self-justifies his irrational, hateful bitterness at having been bested and rejected by Trump, a 'crude Queens real estate developer' who has more feel for the “forgotten man and woman” in his pinky finger than Romney will ever have in his entire being. He was tougher than Romney, more real than Romney, and enough people liked him that Trump won what Mitt lost. And Mitt hates him for it...so much so that he betrayed his constituents and his oath to uphold the Constitution with his self-gratifying, vengeful vote to impeach.

    Pelosi is awful, but at least she looks you in the eye and straight up tells you she is going to steal your money and use it to indoctrinate your children that they live in the most racist nation on earth. However, the real turncoats are the cabal of 19 Vichy Republican Senators who voted for the "infrastructure" spending bill, pouring dollars into their investment accounts and gasoline onto the flames of inflation. They are the scavenger jackals of capitalism, feasting on the carcass of our nation’s manufacturing heartland, selling out our country to China one job at a time.

    In the middle of this dumpster fire Biden punted, then went on vacation as Afghanistan fell this week. Does anyone doubt that Taiwan is next? When China takes Taiwan, we can say goodbye to their advanced chip design and manufacturing. It will all be in the hands of the CCP. What do you think happens to our economy then? The question is no longer why would Xi invade Taiwan--the only question is why wouldn't he? There will be no consequence, unless it’s for some poor Taiwanese soul who is desperate enough to try to hitchhike on the landing gear of the last American C-17 out of town.

    My costs for containers from my factory in Poland have gone from $7,000 to almost $30,000. Inflation is FAR beyond what anyone is admitting. Ask any business owner. My costs ratchet up every day. I have never seen inflation like this. I have a customer with 2,000 (that's not a typo--2,000) containers on the water right now at $22,000 each from China. He used to pay $4,000. Many of my vendors will not give a quote in advance anymore. Deposits for orders are taken, but goods are not delivered. McDonalds can't get straws or bags (an exec is a customer of mine). Everyone with cash is buying everything in sight trying to convert what will soon be worthless scrip into hard assets. America is led by a senile sociopath who is going to “Thelma and Louise” everyone right of the cliff and all of us are in the backseat.

    Today desperate women in Afghanistan, with no hope of making the evacuation themselves due to the crush at the airport's barbed wire gates, have resorted to throwing their babies over the concertina wire. The only thing they have left to cling to in this world is the thin hope some foreign troops will untangle their babies from the razor wire and send them to "the most racist country on earth" for a better life--free of the Taliban.

    Before the Hazari man and his son left my shop, my brother gently inquired if his family was safe. The son didn't even translate the question to his father, he simply replied,

    "All our family are die."

    Shame on Biden. Shame on our generals. Shame on our intelligence community. Shame on the 19 Vichy Republican Senators. The blame for this Judas-level betrayal of America and Afghanistan rests squarely with Biden and his gang of soy-boy sociopaths who are destroying our countries, evidently by design. A drawdown in Afghanistan was inevitable--this foul act of treachery was not.

    I guess at least we don't have to deal with any more mean tweets.
    This was a good read. Thanks for sharing. That inflation is terrifying. It sounds like you're dealing with the back-end type stuff that is upstream from the level of consumers, and we can probably expect this shit to reach us in a little while and really make things ugly.

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