iwao

Opinions my own

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

What if we just didn't spend on wars of choice? What if we taxed corporations and the rich at rates we did in the past? What if we supported unions and quality of life at the expense of the capital class?

There's a larger choice than "abandon the elderly or lose wars"

[Russ Greene @GreenPlusAnE]

America's excessive spending on its senior citizens poses an existential threat to our national security.

The @WashingtonPost editorial is back at it today, warning that the US spends so much $$$ on senior citizens and "healthcare" that it cannot afford a real war.

Some highlights:
- "All purchases of guns up to 30mm caliber across all military branches in 2025 cost about $650 million, less than four hours of Social Security spending." !!!
- "The projected all-in cost of buying, operating, maintaining, upgrading and fueling the notoriously expensive F-35 program over its entire 94-year lifecycle is less than last year’s spending of $2.3 trillion on Medicaid and Social Security."
- "the $13 billion price tag on a Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier equals about three days of Social Security spending."
- Due to excessive spending on senior citizens, relative to more pressing needs, America's nuclear arsenal is outdated. For example, the B-52 bomber has been in operation for over 70 years and was. (Also its sole uranium processing facility is 80 years old and doesn't meet modern safety codes.)
- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen warned in 2010 that “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt."
- Then the national debt was ~$13 Trillion. Today it is $40 Trillion.
- The military needs to adapt to drone warfare, as seen in Ukraine and Iran, but those demands come on top of, not instead of, conventional capabilities.
- If we leave it to the politicians and their friends at the AARP, it will only get worse: "Beginning in 2032, more than half of all federal spending will go toward just Social Security and major health care programs."

The Bottom Line: We must decide if we want to be a sovereign nation or a retirement home. The next decade is when we make that choice. And it comes down to our budget.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@arianasfolklore @Its_Toad @hell_line0 It's in her defense A's own documents that she said she didn't. That isn't even what the trial is about. Her lawyer said people need to stop accusing Patrick. The video evidence proves his own innocence, which was never even a question of the case after 3 yrs if investigating

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@ammocanski @Snakeeater36 What do you mean end of muzzle? It's a blank fire adapter on her barrel

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@WarThomas78 @VanyaMonkey @ddale8 Because there is a reason Autarky has never worked

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@kalin_t @cremieuxrecueil It's still clustered well inside the Lib-Left box if you look at the zoomed out image

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

We endured 4 years of "sleepy Joe" nonstop but he does this every week and forgets where he is on the campaign trail and it gets no traction

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

holy shit Trump is OUT

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@mikenelson586 @KingObtuse I was a B/1/325 FSO

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

This admin is using AI to make graphics and they are too ignorant to know when it's wrong. Great vignette for that shows the lack of thought behind a lot of decision making.

[NewsWire @NewsWire_US]

U.S. government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference — Guardian

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@le_polisson @Eder_Matt @4dannyboy @JamesSurowiecki @Nick___Collins @dilanesper He also reffed Premier League from 2015 to 2025, usually as VAR or 4th official. Just not primary ref in the middle of the pitch.
One example here from 2023:
https://t.co/PU1fGn0Au8
You can find him on Premier League match official tables

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@flameosumeet Simple, change the rule to body length or half body length past the defender. Does the line on VAR bisect the player at the midline or more over.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@CoachDi85 @dmbkparker @k_ones45 The buck doesn't stop with him. There was a 3 star and a 4 star above him. A 4 star that was planning and executing the wider withdrawal pre-Kabul airlift.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@CynicalPublius The conduct of the withdrawal can't be out at the feet of CD. He was given an impossible situation by General McKenzie and up who had botched the preparation for the withdrawal.

But you don't care because you're running cover for this Pentagon.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@TwoRulesOfWar You don't know what you are talking about in regards to CD here. He is laser focused on LSCO. He began the Divisions transition in earnest and has been a leader enabling rapid change in US Army Europe based on Ukraine lessons.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@Mpolymer Marc, check out this reporting from 2022 and 2023

https://t.co/7FywUofH4M

https://t.co/9bMhBaveHm

https://t.co/yQo0t5BLKZ

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@media_saboteur @RightingA @CoryMyres @SnoCoPW They're playing taps. Other scouts are saluting. If the flags are acrylic, which I'm guessing some are since they're wearing N95s, you actually shouldn't fold them so that they burn completely.

Your opinion/VFW/BSA TTPs ≠ the law

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@media_saboteur @RightingA @CoryMyres @SnoCoPW Only thing that matters is the Flag Code. Not the 1995 Scout Handbook that only provides TTPs not SOPs. Even then, Flag Code is the only thing that matters. They're following the Flag Code.

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

Remember when he was "draining the swamp"?

His only gripe with The Swamp was that him and his allies weren't the ones getting rich off it

[Nick Cleveland-Stout @nick_clevelands]

The Pentagon is trying to make it easier for departing DoD officials to work for Raytheon and Lockheed Martin by getting rid of a two year “cooling off” period for consulting defense contractors.

80% of retired four-
star generals work in the arms industry, is that not enough?

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@StatisticUrban Only way to get this stuff banned is if the DNC starts running ads of AI Trump singing with Epstein about touching kids

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@EricBoehm87 Because Clark Hunt has crazy petro-dollars, which from the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 WCs, FIFA loves

[iwao @Red_Mallard500]

@20committee Being a CI threat and being a NatSec threat worthy of war are very different thing.