sherpa

You haven't answered the questions posed at all. No surprise.

Thanks for taking this sidebar. Appreciated. This issue, as painful as it is for us, all of us, exposed what the politics of this brings. The Dems approved the mission, in overwhelming numbers, having been presented the exact same evidence from the intel community that the executive was. When it was determined to be wrong, a failure of the intel community, they backed out, blaming it on the Bush Admin. Same as they backed out when Pelosi claimed she was never informed about interrogation techniques, which is preposterous. They do the same thing every time.

Ya. True.

There was no view on the US' side that Iraq had "cooperated." CIA finding. US intel finding.

I'm not sure you have an understanding of what the US was capable of after Desert Storm. As you recall, we eliminated them from Kuwait. We did not "disarm" them, to use your phrase, as we did not occupy acreage in Iraq. The no fly zones were meaningless in this discussion, but that issue, which is a different subject, led to the decision to eliminate the regime. In other words, the decision was more than simply WMD.

Two questions for you if you believe this, which it seems you do. If it was a complete lie from Bush/Cheney, how did they get the entire US intel apparatus, along with those of other countries to go along with it? Most of them a career people, not affiliated with any Pres/VP. Second, given that we flew thousands of transports from here to there during the issue, if they were lying, why wouldn't they have included WMD evidence in one of those and planted it, thus saving the embarrassment? It really would have taken only one, and there were thousands.

No to the Ukraine supersonic capability. Yes to the Russian air defense system.

There is simply no defense for the hideous withdrawal from Afghanistan. Want to get out? Manage it like a professional military is capable of doing. Leaving friends to die and God knows how much material is inexcusable. It is a disgrace and for me, the final Biden straw, made worse when he denied other options presented, when his own SECDEF and Joint Chief of Staff admitted there were, and they were proposed.

At sea, off the carrier at night, you are incredibly aware of any unusual noise. You are so used to the sound of the engine and pressurization system that anything unusual is noticed. It's pitch black on moonless nights. If there's some weird noise not identifiable, we used to call the "night noises." I was checking the maintenance log prior to a flight on a particular airplane and saw a previous flight writeup: "Airplane makes night noises during the day."

I'm more on the taciturn side of he loquacious/taciturn spectrum. I have no interest in discussing this, but to state that the entire US intel operation thought the Iraqi's had WMD, which they had used before. Not a doubt. Suggesting that Obama was responsible for finding bin Laden is the same as suggesting Nixon was responsible for Apollo 11.

Bush didn't run the CIA bin Laden thing, the CIA did. It took time and a bit of luck, but they eventually found the courier who led them. You seem like a high school kid to me. No knowledge of how this is done or how it worked out, simply Tibs level of political nonsense.

Absolute nonsense. Further, it didn't "take "Obama to get bin Laden." The CIA had been working on it for years, and story and the result is obvious. Obama approved it. Biden disapproved it, though nobody paid attention to him, thankfully, and nobody cared.

More nonsense. The removal of Saddam was a US Congress and UN approved mission. It was a brilliantly executed military operation, as was Afghanistan. Then it became nation building. Then it invited Iran, which is the single worst operator in the world along with Russia, an item threat that the Dems have never had any success dealing with, and only will get worse.

No. Everyone decides on an opinion. Biden had the power, based on our putting him position to do this. He did it, and it was a disgrace. He didn't have to do it this way. He was given the option by his JCS Chairman and his Sect. of Defense. He chose not to take those options, and then lied about them being suggested. He hasn't got anything right in 40 years.

There is no way that what trump negotiated with the Taliban would ever have resulted in this embarrassing, horrible escape from Afghanistan. Only Biden and his ilk were capable of this, and it went back to a personal thing between he and Obama. Again, absolute nonsense. A disgrace.

Again. Absolute nonsense.

Absolute nonsense.

No Vernors consideration?

I'll be quite direct. What I am saying is you are a ***** idiot. I have many friends that extend from local volunteers to three stars that have been responsible for the Pacific Fleet that identify as Republicans. Your accusatory nonsense here does nothing more than identify you as a moron. A political fool who has no credibility to state that those people "hate the good old USA." You wouldn't last a second in any conversation with those people, and your claims are evidence of gross ignorance. A complete fool who has made accusatory claims about people on this site and ran and hid when challenged. I doubt there is anybody left who hasn't tired of your foolishness.

I know scores of people who identify with the Republican Party over the Democrats. Scores of them have served in not only the military, but in local public service. I don't know a single one who has any "hate for the good old USA." People post things that are not only completely ineffectual to the point they are trying to assert, but mark them as complete idiots. It is getting to be an undeniable waste of time.

Or maybe David, Harris is just an incredibly bad candidate, with incredible failed ideas.

I think they have a lot to fear. Personal taxes, a bit less. Corporate tax rates a lot. Corporations have fiduciary responsibilities. Capital finds its way to the most efficient markets. It has no national anthem love. Screw around with that and you'll find out.

Assessed value is an unrealized capital gain. Somebody is appraising the value, without a transaction, (thus the "unrealized" nomenclature), and taxing us based on that "unrealized" value. Capital gains are an appreciation of assets. It doesn't matter what the asset is. Thus, the unrealized appreciation of a property, allowing the local gov to charge more tax, is an unrealized capital gains tax.

Really? I "use" my property no more now than I did when I built this house, yet my tax has gone up 40% since then. Strictly based on assessed value, by some non voted on County puke. I don't derive any value on a yearly basis. Thus, it is an unrealized capital gains tax, which I pay yearly, based on somebody's estimation of what it is worth.

I am quite sure you don't realize how this system works. Repelling capital is an incredibly stupid strategy.