sherpa

Another plus in London is the quality and selection in the ready to eat sections of their large grocery stores. If you don't have time or not in the mood to sit at a restaurant, Sainsbury's and Waitrose have great stuff and good wine selections to take back to your hotel, or eat while walking. That was my standard lunch while walking in the daytime.

Robert James at cornerback is an absolute lock for any all Bills team.

Regarding restaurants, Churchills Arms Pub in Kensington is good. It's a famous old pub but serves very good Thai food. The menu is very descriptive, so no risk of getting something you don't like. My wife always insists we go there whenever we were in London. 119 Kensington Church St.

Not to quibble, because Trump did trigger an increase in spending. The real thing that caused countries to address the reality was looking at a snapshot of non US/UK NATO capability when Russia invaded the Ukraine, against the "funding agreements," which were grossly neglected. The reality was shocking.

The performance of most NATO countries prior to the reality of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was negligent. We should not have to provide a grossly disproportionate capability to that of our allies. Germany had no real functioning Air Force. Canada either, for that matter. NATO is an alliance. The US taxpayer and the US military should not have to bear a such a grossly unfair proportion of cost and mission capability. That mission capability would cause a equally disproportionate amount of US lives. It was a completely screwed up alliance that needed someone to shake it up. It was pathetic. No offense, but not possible. The technology and capability of the US military, and the reality of us choosing to support it, makes that situation impossible.

You didn't show me anything. I am very familiar with the process. The President is presented a list of potential candidates for these positions. He usually is unfamiliar with the various candidates and usually, he chooses the candidate from among those that the services recommend. To go rogue as the president would be a very stupid thing to do. Funny coincidence, but Biden did not chooses the recommended 3 star to serve as Chief of Naval Operations. The recommendation from the Navy, and agreed to by SecDef Austin was ADM Paparo, head of the Pacific Fleet. Instead, Biden chose ADM Lisa Franchetti, no doubt becasue she is a woman. Qualified. but not the best candidate, as has been Biden's history of appointments. Still, very unusual, and not a thing that makes you a popular president to the military.

There's a bit more to the market and politics than what has been reported. Things change, but I saw a graph last week that showed the last few months of the S&P over a graph of Trump's chances of winning. Quite interesting. They had a striking, matching trajectory.

Does anybody care about the US hostages being held in the Gaza and in Russia? I don't see any acknowledgement of them. Just wondering.

I'll take a shot. To deter war and protect the nation's security.

Remember this little exchange? From "Convicted felon Donald Trump stole top secret nuc docs" thread page 88. Prescience Feb 9 2024 Sherpa: "The difference is that Biden is now absolutely done. Last night was fatal." A few minutes later, same day. BILLStime, in clear disagreement of my claim: "We will save this for posterity." Well, BILLStime, I did save it for posterity.

Every day you add evidence that you are getting more and more stupid. I never said that abortion wasn't an issue. Not sure where you came up with that. It is a huge issue, and the only pillar for the Dems. For the one billionth time, and someone needs to hit you over the head with a 2x4 because you continue to neglect facts, I am not a supporter of Trump. I've never voted for him and never will. What I believe is that Biden is incompetent, incapacitated and should be removed from office. In any industry, this would have already happened. None of that has anything to do with your stupid, false claims.

Preposterous on every level.

Do you realize that his position is to let the states decide? Totally rational.

Absolutely true. I would add whoever is supplying the cocktail to this incapacitated man as another very important part of the equation.

For the thousandth time, don't tell me or anyone else here, what they think. Biden is incapacitated. We all know it and we need to move on.

Predicted, before the stupid plan, by naval experts.

Yes, everyone does. Your second sentence implies there will be no further diminution of ability, which is preposterous given his history the past two years. That view is dangerous.

I don't know what you are saying here, but Biden's "best" is entirely insufficient. He is incapacitated, and everyone knows it.

Not good form to quote myself, but at 2AM I wasn't motivated to provide research data. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 directs that the US military cannot be used against US civilians unless there is a very specific threat: "Use of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force as posse comitatus: Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. Military officers swear an oath to protect this, as part of their commission. Hollywood scenarios are just that; pure fiction, and we are far, far away from that. Using those scenarios to suggest such a threat is disingenuous, and a political ploy that disregards law and reality.

I had a required course in the UCMJ prior to being commissioned as a Naval Officer. I am familiar with the process. You are not correct in stating that legality is determined at court martial. Legality would generally be know when the directive was given. These people aren't uneducated robots. What has been suggested here, and it has been discussed in this forum before using a crazy hypothetical of directing an air strike against the US population, is using US military forces against the US population, and that is not currently legal, and any officer would know that. Kent State was brought up as an example, but it isn't valid. National Guard forces are controlled by their state governors, and in certain cases can assist state police. They can only use force if threatened, which was the argument in subsequent legal action. Anyway, using US military forces against US citizens is a violation, and not a legal order. I have no sympathy nor concern about a US citizen who has left the country, is on foreign soil and joined a terrorist organization threatening the US, and neither did Obama. For the third time, I am talking about replacing officers of a rank necessary to issue such "orders." Evidence of how that is not simply a matter for the president was demonstrably evident this past year when Sen Tuberville held up such appointments for months in an extremely publicized action. At a certain level, generally three start, any combatant appointment has to be approved by Congress.

Why do we even have election laws with primaries? This is revolution stuff. It is the equivalent of an assassination. Simply absurd.

We have to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present. Pretty important stuff In the interest of sparing the group further misery prior to a holiday, I'll not link her musings on: "The significance of the passage of time," or the "yellow school bus." Classics

It will be: "What can be," (right arm up), "unencumbered by what has been." (left arm down). Over and over and over again.

I'll stand by what I said about the legality of orders. I'll stand by what I said about "replacing" them. I didn't say a thing about relieving them, which you seem to not mention. I never said I was "perfectly fine with someone who is called your honor lying." You have to have pulled that from thin air.

ah contraire. Opposition to the Catholic doctrine on that issue is the pillar of his platform, and the only thing delivering. JFK in no way opposed his professed faith to that degree. He's bee lying, inventing his resume without fact for his entire career. It only seems cute now because people no longer believe he has any idea what he's saying, and it looks like the end is closing in. All of these things leaking out about incoherence recently are tough to overcome. Even his political opponents didn't bring these up before. Kevin McCarthy, ousted Speaker said one day there was a rare meeting at the White House with a small Congressional Delegation. He said Biden could never operate without note cards, but at this particular meeting, in the winter, while discussing some legislation, Biden suddenly popped his head up and asked if they wanted to see the pool. His wife/governess, always in the background jumped up and said "No Joe, they don't want to see the pool." He got up, led them to the pool and into an adjoining changing room, then they all left, thinking "What the hell was that"? Regarding his legal issues, I don't worry about that, except to note that there isn't a possible way for him and that family to have accumulated that much wealth on his/their earnings without peddling influence. It warms my heart to know that his kid is now advising him on career moves. He'd be on my short list.