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11
DnD Central / Re: Today's Bad News
Last post by OakdaleFTL -
Newt Gingrich pointed me to an alarming development[1] that bears upon the readiness of U.S. forces:

Quote
The Marine Corps is small, agile, and flexible, priding itself on being the first to fight, anywhere. Over the past four years, however, the current Commandant, General David H. Berger, has radically transformed the image and the mission of the Marine Corps. The primary focus now is upon developing missile units intended to sink Chinese warships. To fund those units, General Berger did away with 21% of the personnel in infantry battalions, 100% of the tanks, 67% of the cannon artillery batteries, 33% of the assault amphibious companies, nearly 30% of Marine aviation, and almost all assault breaching equipment. The desired number of large amphibious ships was reduced from 38 to 31. Due to these cuts, Marines are less capable to fight as a combined arms force. [emphasis added]
(source)

Between the Osprey goof and constant efforts to "retire" the venerable "Warthog", the Marines have not been well-supplied... But this change in mission is bizarre! And dangerous...
And it's mostly secret? Scary.

Will Congress intervene? Before it's too late...?
1 Since leaving the House of Representatives - and his Speakership- he's been a fair weather friend of conservatives — the primary evidence of which was his support of George Gascón, the Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney...↵
13
Browsers & Technology / Re: Minimal Apps
Last post by ersi -
Dclock may not have a minimal codebase, but it does little, so I guess it qualifies as a minimal app.

Dclock displays a graphical window with clocktime in digital format only. No analog.

Some keybinds and options:
- m toggles 24-hour format
- s toggles seconds display
- d toggles date display
- q quits

From terminal, dclock -miltime -seconds launches in 24-hour format with seconds.

More options at man dclock.
14
DnD Central / Re: Turkey hypocrisy
Last post by ersi -
Quote from: ersi on
I forecast that Erdogan will win the elections because he has done so much good for Turkey.
Congrats, Erdogan. He had three problems to overcome:
- Inflation
- Unemployment
- The earthquake

Promising everybody free gas handily did this. Distributing some deepfakes about the opposition and bribing one opposition party leader may have helped also.
15
DnD Central / Re: The twits on Twitter
Last post by ersi -
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Barack and Hillary were both guilty; for a felony violation of Section 793(f) of the federal penal code (Title 18), for obstruction of justice, and (You'll like this one the best:) Surely a "high crime and misdemeanor"!
So here we have it. When it comes to Democrats, your standard is: Guilty if suspicious. But when it comes to Republicans, your standard is: If not convicted, then pure as angels - and pure as angels even if convicted!

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Instead of being prosecuted [of obstruction of justice] in the appropriate venues, they were turned loose to concoct and promote The Russian Collusion Hoax™...
You care about obstruction of justice? But you did not care about it when Trump did it. Trump fired the FBI director Comey, among other things, because of his way of handling the Hillary email server investigation. That is, fired because of an ongoing investigation. This is obstruction of justice.

And, of course the way the way Russian collusion investigation was handled by Trump was obstruction of justice all the way. For example, William Barr had a memo defending Trump's witness tampering in that investigation. The relevant witness tampering by Trump, along with his Russia collusion, is detailed in Mueller report. As you (don't) know, Mueller report detailed the crimes, but decided to not render judgment.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Am I outraged by this? You bet I am.
:lol: sure, when Democrats appear to do it. When Republicans do it, no problem.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
I'm quite sure, ersi, that you believe "Watergate" was a serious crime! But that's because you're not a serious person. Nixon's sin in that fiasco was his loyalty to hapless underlings.
And the burglary in DP HQ was no sin. Understood.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
You're right, I mostly think in terms of policy and perfidy, when it comes to their "crimes"... Would you have had Britain do without Churchill during WW II — had he been a kleptomaniac? (Actually, I suspect you would. Like I said before: You're not a serious person.)
And you think you are serious for failing to identify a single crime? Well, yeah - it is a serious personal failing. I seriously wonder how it is possible to live beyond age thirty like this. Probably you developed this incapacity at a later point and did not have it earlier.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
Whenever we talk about American politics or American influence, I have to remind myself that you wish my nation -if not actual ill- at least a comeuppance and eventual but permanent fall from prominence on the world stage.
I wish the same for Russia, if that helps. And for Russia first. In this life my ultimate wish is to have a peaceful border between Estonia and Mongolia.
16
DnD Central / Re: The twits on Twitter
Last post by OakdaleFTL -
So, to continue:

Richard Nixon. I "remember" watching him debate JFK, and thinking he'd won! When he actually won in'68, I was old enough to understand what he was doing to our economy: His formative years were under FDR and a war-time "command and control" system that would have suited any Communist. But, aside from his botched handling of our pull-out of Viet Nam, his most damning sin was naively believing Maoist China would moderate under the influence of quasi-free markets...[1] I'm quite sure, ersi, that you believe "Watergate" was a serious crime! But that's because you're not a serious person. Nixon's sin in that fiasco was his loyalty to hapless underlings.
But I'm not sure his continued presidency would have been good for the country, anyway.

Ford. Speaker of the House of Representatives before being elevated to the Vice Presidency (thanks to the egregious Agnew, whose only saving grace was speaking the words “nattering nabobs of negativism,” which Patrick J. Buchanan wrote) and thence to the Presidency, was a true patriot!

Reagan. He got too old in office... Sad, really. (You'd think others would learn from his example.) He got rolled by "Tip" O'Neill on his "amnesty" bill; and Republicans have -ever since- distrusted their Democratic colleagues. So our immigration quagmire isn't that hard to understand.
Also, he had his "Wall": He did not dismantle the federal Department of Education, as he'd promised![2]

G.H.W. Bush. The country would have been better off had Carter taken him up on his offer to stay at CIA, where he was accomplishing much. He was not a conservative — but like many savvy politicians he could "play one on TV," and he was earnest! A care-taker sort of president; managed Saddam's invasion of Kuwait better than anyone could have hoped; including Saddam.

G.W. Bush. As I've said before, his hankering to get revenge on the man who arranged the assassination attempt on his dad in Saudi Arabia led him to the Neocon adventurism that was the Iraq War; Afghanistan was -should have been easy — no occupation, only dire and real threats. But what you, ersi, call The Establishment (I call it that, too) had other ideas.
The shock of 9/11 galvanized a predisposition...

You're right, I mostly think in terms of policy and perfidy, when it comes to their "crimes"... Would you have had Britain do without Churchill during WW II — had he been a kleptomaniac? (Actually, I suspect you would. Like I said before: You're not a serious person.)
Perhaps it raises me in your esteem, that I always thought the impeachment of Wm. Jefferson Clinton was misbegotten angst?

Whenever we talk about American politics or American influence, I have to remind myself that you wish my nation -if not actual ill- at least a comeuppance and eventual but permanent fall from prominence on the world stage.
1 Much as the Neocons thought the influence of a modicum of political freedom would create "democracies" in cultures vastly different to our own!↵
2 Promised even his Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education, who was fine with that...↵
17
DnD Central / Re: The twits on Twitter
Last post by OakdaleFTL -
Quote from: ersi on
One thing comes close to a crime though:
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
As FBI Director Comey said: "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." Ya can't, ya just can't prosecute a Clinton!
Are you pretending to be outraged over this?

Quote
Bottom line: In April, President Obama and his Justice Department adopted a Hillary Clinton defense strategy of concocting a crime no one was claiming Clinton had committed: to wit, transmitting classified information with an intent to harm the United States. With media-Democrat complex help, they peddled the narrative that she could not be convicted absent this “malicious intent,” in a desperate effort to make the publicly known evidence seem weak. Meanwhile, they quietly hamstrung FBI case investigators in order to frustrate the evidence-gathering process. When damning proof nevertheless mounted, the Obama administration dismissed the whole debacle by rewriting the statute (to impose an imaginary intent standard) and by offering absurd rationalizations for not applying the statute as written.
(source)

Barack and Hillary were both guilty; for a felony violation of Section 793(f) of the federal penal code (Title 18), for obstruction of justice, and (You'll like this one the best:) [1] Surely a "high crime and misdemeanor"!

Instead of being prosecuted in the appropriate venues, they were turned loose to concoct and promote The Russian Collusion Hoax™...[2] And in the process destroy America's trust in the FBI, the FISA courts, the DoJ, Congress and most of the media! What accomplished politicians they were.

Am I outraged by this? You bet I am.
1 Aha! Finally, the perfect instance to use my peculiar combination of punctuation and emoticon!↵
2 How's that for "election interference," my friend? :)↵
18
DnD Central / Re: The twits on Twitter
Last post by ersi -
Yup, got it. You have objections when Democrats do policy. In contrast, when Republicans do crimes, you have praise and admiration.

One thing comes close to a crime though:
Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
As FBI Director Comey said: "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." Ya can't, ya just can't prosecute a Clinton!
Are you pretending to be outraged over this? This is exactly the way how Trump is still not behind bars - the establishment has decided to refrain from prosecuting. And his crimes - insurrection and election rigging - are much bigger than Hillary's - an email server. You are free to pointlessly disagree.

Quote from: OakdaleFTL on
(Perhaps you'd like a similar list of Republicans from me? :) )
No, not a similar list! What I want is a list of crimes, first of all in order for you demonstrate that you have an idea what a crime is. And yes, preferably crimes by Republicans that you find objectionable, so as to prove that you are not hyperpartisan.

As things stand now, you are hyperpartisan and you have no clue what a crime is. Hint: What I listed for Trump are all crimes in lawbooks. They are actions and behaviour that get people behind bars - and you see people going behind bars around Trump for those things. Also, they are things you defended merely because Trump did it. I thought it hardly possible, but your cluelessness is increasing.
20
DnD Central / Re: The twits on Twitter
Last post by OakdaleFTL -
Quote from: ersi on
You denounce any and all Democrats simply because they are Democrats.
I'd sure like to see an example or two... But let me cite a few possibilities for your consideration:

Lyndon Johnson. Responsible for "the Great Society" which decimated the American black family... (Counter-example, New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who saw and decried it!)
Jimmy Carter. Allowed the Iranian revolutionaries to hold American diplomats hostage for 444 days, and micro-managed a botched rescue by our military... Oh, and his answer to an OPEC embargo was to advise Americans to don sweaters!
Bill Clinton. If nothing else[1], he promulgated the idea of Hillary as "the world's smartest woman"! Her first foray into "real" policy was an attempt to remake the health care economy; but, as luck would have it, she couldn't even follow the law in selecting and convening her experts... Bill's "two-fer" would haunt the U.S. for decades.
Bill also declined to take out Osama bin Laden after he declared war on the U.S. But, hey, no problem! The sheik didn't do us much harm...
How do you imagine Hillary Clinton hasn't gone to jail? As FBI Director Comey said: "Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case." Ya can't, ya just can't prosecute a Clinton!
Obama. His sheen shone brightly, for a while. But he quickly managed to racialize law enforcement, "evolve" on the question of Gay Marriage, and via administrative lawmaking enshrine Trans Ideology™ at the Department of Education. (I wasn't surprised: I was familiar with his record as a state senator; I'd read his editorial written upon his becoming editor of the Harvard Law Review, and knew his record of scholarly publication...)
Joe Biden. He was a tool as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, performing like a chimp at the hearings for both Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. I'd let him slide for his plagiarism; his hero Ted Kennedy had -among other foibles[2]- similar proclivities early on. What I found unforgivable was his treatment of the semi driver who happened to be coming down the road when young Joe's wife, infant in arms, drove into the intersection by running a stop sign... Of course, Joe repeatedly lied about the guy, to garner more sympathy. That's just Joe!
Rather than list my other problems with Biden I'll simply repeat what his boss, Obama, once said: "Never underestimate Joe's ability to fuck things up!"

You're big on guilt by association, too, I see... Let's leave that for another time. (Perhaps you'd like a similar list of Republicans from me? :) )
1 Trump was a boy scout, in comparison! :) But on the bright side: Kids got the new word "Lewinski"...↵
2 Including manslaughter...↵