It was a talking point that Trump had in his first term. He tends not to let go of bad ideas once they get into his head.
At the time, people didn’t take it seriously. With the Ukraine War, Europe feels like it has to now. But it’s going to be domestic production, not paying US MIC companies like Trump was thinking.
China might have a 2 year window coming up where it’s even possible to invade Taiwan. Their military has modernized a lot, but they probably aren’t quite to the point of being able to pull it off. At the same time, they are looking at a demographic cliff from the long term implications of the One Child policy.
It’s possible this window as already closed. That said, authoritarian regimes have started wars before that were terrible ideas.
Eeeeehhh, if you just look at numbers of boats, yes. The US Navy has far, far more experience, though. Drones are also going to change the game in ways we’re only starting to see with the Ukraine War. With that, the answer might be “everyone’s boats are sunk now”.
China probably couldn’t gain air superiority over Taiwan, and without that, an invasion will fail. That will be true even if the US ends up losing more boats.
Cause and effect are a little twisted here. Trump was already undermining NATO during is first term by saying European members should spend more. They didn’t agree at the time, but the Ukraine War proved that Europe really did need a more domestic MIC, and now they are.
Trump wasn’t saying it in the first place because he thought it would help NATO.
Discovery Zone, man. I actually feel bad for the kids that never got to experience Discovery Zone. Lasted for like 2 years. It apparently failed because they had a mountain of debt (all those plastic tubes are capital intensive buildouts) and adults had to sit around while their kids played.
I feel like if you made it work like a gym membership for your kids, and had something for adults to do off to the side, you might be able to make the numbers work.
Some of that is from white balance making the top picture look warmer, but even accounting for that, it’s a tragedy.
Le right generation
Funny that they’re all in entertainment.
If you start taking small bullets to the head, you can build up a tolerance to taking larger bullets to the head.
Clarence Thomas apparently said that white liberals were just as racist to him, they just did it in a more sly way. So he joined the side that made him the most money.
I can’t totally say he’s wrong.
Probably cheats with duplicate cards in Commander. On the upside, she keeps duplicating One With Nothing, so nobody calls her out.
The taxes are ultimately a wash. It’s revenue in/revenue out.
Your second sentence is the real reason.
Not necessarily a nepo hire, but they are scraping the barrel.
Project 2025’s playbook was to fire all the existing people in the federal government and replace them with Trump loyalists. To that end, they created a list of pre-vetted replacements.
Problem is, those people are vetted for loyalty first, and competence a distant second. Also, a lot of them likely have jobs already that are more lucrative than a federal position. In other cases, their circumstances change in the months in between vetting and the offer becoming concrete. So even though they may have a few thousand people on the list, a big chunk of them aren’t going to accept when the time comes. Those that do aren’t necessarily going to be qualified in any way.
What may be surprising here is that they’re scraping the bottom so quickly. You’d think out of several thousand possibilities, they could find someone more qualified than this guy.
This tends to be destructive in the short term, because incompetent people are making important decisions. In the long term, it’s one of the self-defeating factors of fascism. A system just can’t work this way, but it can destroy the rest of society before it implodes on itself.
Praise be the MAGAMind Collective! We think so you don’t have to!
Bricks are not the only things that go on pallets. This was an electrician’s truck, after all.
I help run a non-profit makerspace, and believe me, I know how non-profits in this country are bullshit. Not that my makerspace has done so, but when you go over the laws involved, it’s quite obvious how many loopholes there are. Just for starters, the board can pay itself whatever salary they like. As long as you do all the paperwork, tons of stuff is legal.
(I was President for a year. I got a salary of $0 like everyone else on the board.)
That said, the reports coming out of AI Now are not what AI advocates in venture capital want to hear. Not at all.
The guy who made it explicitly rejected a van for his purposes. Maybe we should let him decide how to do his job?
. . . very small niche of of tradesmen . . .
How many niches does it take when, all together, they’re no longer niche cases?
This is a weird argument to put here. You’re actually advocating against the smaller option.
There are plenty of reasons a worker would choose a van. There are plenty of reason a worker would choose a truck.
Consider this setup:
Everything is made to be easily accessible. The rack can hold ladders and conduit that are as long as the vehicle (or even a bit longer). Other setups will have side access toolboxes.
Fifth wheels are not just for campers. They haul Bobcats. They haul livestock. They haul large sheds or even small houses. They haul several pallets of bricks.
For that matter, try getting pallet into a van as opposed to a truck bed. If it’s even possible to fit it in a van, you have to be a lot more careful while doing it.
Which sports team am I supposed to root for with this map? Do you expect me to make a careful analysis of team history and current lineup? Or do I pick the one in the state I was born in like a normal person?