What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Admiral Yi]

But I would be happy to better understand your "free riding" argument.

The magic number is 2% of GDP. I didn't pull this number out of my ass. The US didn't pull this number out of our collective asses.  Every member state collectively agreed this is the fair number. Until this number is reached your not paying your fair share.

[Syt]

And we wonder why we have become primarily just a group of aging, straight, white guys.

Fuck you, Raz.

[dist]

Those just sound like excuses. Understandable excuses but that's still not really a defense against Yi's claim.

Okay. That just tells me that you agree with Yi but without telling me why.

And I don't think that trying to understand complex budgetary/political situations is excusing anyone. Even more since political time can be so slow and looking at fixed T time in its isolation cannot tell you the real picture. If you look at Sweden for example, their military spending was at 1.5% of GDP in 2023 and they will be ramping it up to 2.6% by 2028. I don't know how this can be construed as free riding. And that situation, to my knowledge, is rather common around Europe if you look at trends and stated intentions.

I'm pasting again the link for the EU that I somehow botched in my first answer: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=EU

France is at 2% and promised a few days ago that they would ramp up their defense spending to 3%; the Nordics are committed to more than 2%; Poland and the Baltics already did due to their proximity to Russia. The main issue from my perspective is Germany which is not doing enough, followed by Italy and Spain that do not seem to care about that commitment. I don't know enough about the other members to know what they have promised and/or are doing.

And obviously, I have issues with Yi's generalisation that portrays an entire continent as being parasites on the back of America.

[Razgovory]

No, I'm not saying that all trans people are vindictive monsters.  What I'm saying is that trans people (should trans be capitalized?), have a belief that gender is a social construct and is independent of biological sex.  This is a philosophical belief, and that demanding you use certain pronouns is explicit demand that others endorse that belief.  Failure to do so will get you labeled as a hateful bigot.  Some people have in fact been fired for refusing to use someone's preferred pronouns. 

I don't think it is a belief. It is just a fact that we have had these people with us forever. Why they exist I have no idea. They just do. I don't know if 400 years ago that philosophy existed but trans people sure did.

I think the philosophy came around to take into account that reality.

So you can be rude to them or be kind to them. Trying to stomp them out hasn't really worked. But I guess the Federal Government is going to give it a shot...again.

As far as being called something, I mean if you say something that pisses somebody off they might say something mean to you.

People get fired for all sorts of reasons. Some very arbitrary. I don't know the specifics of the pronoun firings or how many there were. Some might have made some sense, others might not have. But here in Texas if you are worker you don't have that much protection from the arbitrary whims of your boss. But hey right now we have entire companies and government departments being put out of business for being woke. So maybe using their preferred pronouns could get you fired as well. Hard to please everybody these days.

I think that people with gender dysphoria is different than people who believe that gender is a social construct.  Why must I be either cruel or kind?  Why can't I just be ambivalent?

[Razgovory]

And we wonder why we have become primarily just a group of aging, straight, white guys.

Fuck you, Raz.

I would certainly have to rethink my argument after that.

[Admiral Yi]

And I don't think that trying to understand complex budgetary/political situations is excusing anyone. Even more since political time can be so slow and looking at fixed T time in its isolation cannot tell you the real picture. If you look at Sweden for example, their military spending was at 1.5% of GDP in 2023 and they will be ramping it up to 2.6% by 2028. I don't know how this can be construed as free riding.

For the reason I stated.  Promises of future spending don't fight wars. Promises of future spending didn't bomb Serbia or Libya or protect the Bosnian refugees in Sebrnica.  I've been hearing promises and commitments for as long as I can remember.

[garbon]

Those just sound like excuses. Understandable excuses but that's still not really a defense against Yi's claim.

Okay. That just tells me that you agree with Yi but without telling me why.

And I don't think that trying to understand complex budgetary/political situations is excusing anyone. Even more since political time can be so slow and looking at fixed T time in its isolation cannot tell you the real picture. If you look at Sweden for example, their military spending was at 1.5% of GDP in 2023 and they will be ramping it up to 2.6% by 2028. I don't know how this can be construed as free riding. And that situation, to my knowledge, is rather common around Europe if you look at trends and stated intentions.

I'm pasting again the link for the EU that I somehow botched in my first answer: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=EU

France is at 2% and promised a few days ago that they would ramp up their defense spending to 3%; the Nordics are committed to more than 2%; Poland and the Baltics already did due to their proximity to Russia. The main issue from my perspective is Germany which is not doing enough, followed by Italy and Spain that do not seem to care about that commitment. I don't know enough about the other members to know what they have promised and/or are doing.

And obviously, I have issues with Yi's generalisation that portrays an entire continent as being parasites on the back of America.

What Yi said. And I think the current discussion about if America pulls out and Europe is unable to defend itself, well that's just further evidence.

[garbon]

And we wonder why we have become primarily just a group of aging, straight, white guys.

Fuck you, Raz.

I would certainly have to rethink my argument after that.

No one gives a fuck.

[Razgovory]

garbon would absolutely fire me for now if he could.

[garbon]

garbon would absolutely fire me for now if he could.

Nah, I'm going to do what Valmy suggested trans people do. I'm putting you on ignore.

I wasn't going to do so though before making it clear to Sophie that we don't all truck with your assholish behavior.

[Razgovory]

Like I said, backed by threat of threats of ostracism.  No explanations, no understandings, just accept or face punishment.  No wonder why Dguller is afraid to discuss certain topics.  I guess I should follow his lead and just shut up.

[Neil]

Like I said, backed by threat of threats of ostracism.  No explanations, no understandings, just accept or face punishment.  No wonder why Dguller is afraid to discuss certain topics.  I guess I should follow his lead and just shut up.

It was an interesting line of thought, and I think that it's part of the equation, but the annoyance that some people feel towards the religious doesn't rise to the same level as the revulsion that some people feel towards the trans, even with edgy internet atheists. 

[Syt]

https://apnews.com/article/rubio-plane-mechanical-issue-munich-conference-031928b920ff8e8d495d1590d508e1e5

Plane carrying Secretary of State Rubio to Europe turned around because of a mechanical issue

WASHINGTON (AP) — An Air Force plane carrying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Sen. Jim Risch, to Germany for the Munich Security Conference was forced to return to Washington late Thursday after developing a mechanical issue.

"This evening, en route from Washington to Munich, the plane on which Secretary Rubio is flying experienced a mechanical issue," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

"The plane has turned around and is returning to Joint Base Andrews," she said. "The secretary intends to continue his travel to Germany and the Middle East on a separate aircraft."

The issue with what one official said had to do with the cockpit windshield on the C-32, a converted Boeing 757, occurred about 90 minutes after the flight took off from Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.

Although Rubio plans to resume his journey on a new plane, it was not immediately clear if the delay would cause him to miss a scheduled Friday morning meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich.

 

[garbon]

Like I said, backed by threat of threats of ostracism.  No explanations, no understandings, just accept or face punishment.  No wonder why Dguller is afraid to discuss certain topics.  I guess I should follow his lead and just shut up.

It isn't my job to point out the bleeding obvious that when a trans person is clearly expressing distress (and just the general dire atmosphere we are in with Trump) that said moment might not be the time to start questioning whether trans people are really the ones to blame.

[grumbler]

I think they hate trans because they think it's a vector for man to rape and for homosexuality.

I think that trans people are such easy targets because trans require you positively affirm their reality through the use of pronouns regardless of what you personally believe.  This demand is backed with the threat of ostracism, possibly the loss of livelihood.

Name someone (whom we would know or can find out about) who has lost their job because they used a "wrong" pronoun.