| Author | Message | ||
     Robissimo |
or was he fired for being competent? | ||
| Hootowl |
Retired. Not fired. Read. | ||
| Robissimo |
I read that he resigned. I read his resignation letter. I also read that he was asked to resign. Also, I didn't say he was fired I asked the question which of two options was definitive. Read? Bah | ||
| Hootowl |
You asked whether he was fired for being competent. The implication was obvious. His resignation statement, and that of the President’s are both public. Read. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Either way you cut it, Mattis leaving the position is not a good thing in my opinion. | ||
| Hootowl |
Agreed. There was obvious disagreement. Likely related to troop reduction in Syria and Afghanistan. But disagreement is not incompetence. | ||
| Sifo |
Lou Dobbs talked about this tonight. He said that Trump was looking for a strategy other than the never ending warfare that we have had for the past 15 years or so. The "nation building" strategy is not paying dividends. What's the definition of insanity again? Competent or not, Trump seems to be looking to get us out of other people's problems and focus on the US. Odd seeing the lefties arguing for never ending warfare. Trump has certainly upset the apple cart (swamp). | ||
| Hootowl |
The wars are just beginning. We can fight them now, or fight them later. We currently do not have the will to do what it takes to win, so we will fight them later, at a much greater cost. | ||
| Sifo |
I pretty much agree. It seems like a bad strategy to fight them on low simmer for ever. We are not turning them into allies. It might be better to give them enough rope to do something that will turn the tides, and finally kill them into submission. Currently, we as a nation do not have the will. What it will take, I don't know. Who knows, maybe if we leave them alone, they will behave like civilized people.  | ||
| Crusty |
Yes; and monkeys might fly out of my butt. | ||
| Sifo |
I'm not sure I would want to see that, but do keep us posted. | ||
| Ourdee |
And pictures or it didn't happen. | ||
| Blake |
So was the situation better under Assad? Impossible Trump intends to work a deal with him? I attended university with some interesting guys whose fathers were fairly elevated in the Assad regime. One road an FJ1100 and we swapped bikes one day. That was the first motorcycle to put fear on the dial for me. My Yamaha XZ550RJ "Vision" essentially had half the engine. I wonder what he's doing now. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Smartest guy in the room. I can't help but think that our President knows something. And, I can't help but think that if we have FUNCTIONAL border protection in our nation; if we can feasibly cut ourselves off as far as this 'terror' thing goes; if we can effectively isolate ourselves against the threat of Isis...let's bring our boys home. Who says "border security" is just a wall on the border of Mexico? Someone posted on the GoFundMe thread that it works out to something like $3k per foot of wall...well...maybe that money is being spent on more than just the Mexico border? Smartest guy in the room. I haven't been disappointed yet. | ||
| Tootal |
I'm hoping we don't leave a vacuum like Obama did and fills in with more ISIS. I realize Trump knows more than we do. I only hope in the end we don't hurt Israel. That's the key. Anybody that supports Israel will be blessed but have mercy if we don't. No matter what Israel does, they are still God's chosen people. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/sec retary-mattiss-letter.php | ||
| Ebutch |
Time to Get Nasty with The CommieCrats no matter how long it takes.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
2 interesting articles related to Mattis and Syria. A different take on Mattis’ departure: https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/1 2/21/pollak-james-mattis-resigned-over-diplomacy-n ot-defense/amp/ The one legitimate criticism I’ve read about us pulling out of Syria is it would leave our allies the Kurds in a fix. Remember the uproar when Trump didn’t do anything about Saudi Arabia killing that journalist. Looks like maybe that leverage came in handy: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181122-saudi-a rabia-uae-send-troops-to-support-kurds-in-syria/am p/?__twitter_impression=true (Message edited by Hughlysses on December 21, 2018) | ||
| Gregtonn |
Trump says the government shutdown may be a long one. Here is a question to consider: If the shutdown lasts well into January, will the new herd of congress-critters be sworn in or will they have to wait? G | ||
| Court |
Implosion The shut down will last a couple days . . . no one misses a paycheck and Congress is exempt, as are all "essential employees". My hope was that Trump . . . would surround himself with good people. He did . . . it appears . . they came, they saw, they left. Eager to hear him explain these markets away. | ||
| Blake |
Didn't the fed just raise interest rates again despite hints that they were unlikely to do so? And trade war still scares Wall Street. And just about anything else, like a govt shutdown. | ||
| Ebutch |
Maybe he should bank Roll wall street like barry soetoro.Hoe Hoe Hoe   | ||
| Sifo |
Eager to hear him explain these markets away. The explanation is very straight forward. The markets started to meltdown the very minute the Fed raised interest rates. Trump said it would be bad for the economy at this point. The markets clearly agree with Trump. The Fed seems to think otherwise. I would hate to think that the Fed is willing to play cheap politics with our economy, but it's beginning to appear that way to many. | ||
| Ducbsa |
This is pretty good: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/w hat_makes_trump_run.html#ixzz5aMjDHUnP | ||
| Court |
Watch closely. | ||
| Gregtonn |
Markets during shutdown: https://www.moneyshow.com/articles/tebiwkly08-5040 2/ G | ||
| Gregtonn |
Eager to hear him explain these markets away. As you can see in the article above to attempt that would be a waste of time and effort. G | ||
| Aesquire |
While not a Donald fan, I've been reading zerohedge.com and one reason for the market fall is bots. The Fed, interest rates, and the trade wars, us/China & England/EU, all are valid "reasons", including market correction & religious weirdness. ( on Wall Street, bunch of sects ) But the big problem is bots. Programs AI, set to sell at certain triggers. Or....and..... Who is getting bribed by the too big to fail folk? The Tea Party newbies? Never Trumpers? Democrat Socialist? Perk up the paranoia and ask who wins in a Bear market and why? Explain the market? Pick any number of reasons. Donald's twits are in there. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/12/trump ed_warned_that_a_democrat_win_would_crash_the_mark et.html Or you could judge by predictions made. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-22/us-army- major-trump-right-syria I do understand the reasons for standing by an ally. Barry the Weasel didn't, see Poland, but you can argue he did stand by HIS allies, he just lied about it. ( implying he is a treasonous stooge of the Iranian Mullahs.... Which he proved he is ) I don't know how we can support the Kurds without intervention in Turkey. Intervention in Turkey, aka staging a Coup of a legal ally, is the stuff of bad spy novels. Looked good as an idea, but no way to accomplish in real life without leaks, and a total backfire of desired results. But skip the imaginary actions. Look to the lessons of the past century. We freed Iraq and Afghanistan from despots. Great. In fact, Bush's military victories will be analyzed for centuries, to spotlight the genius of them. The occupation has been bloody and costly. Multiple reasons, but biggest is the insanity of allowing sanctuary in neighboring countries and movement of insurgents & weapons from them. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, & Afghanistan, all show that clearly. Second is the impossibility of honest dealings with Theocracies. Followers of Holy War, specifically the cults of Marx & Mohammed, just won't keep their word. They see a Higher Truth, that is anything that gives them power. See Acosta and Rather. There is a Strategy for winning in cases like Iraq, it's beating the enemy without limiting yourself to borders and not stopping until it's done. ( you know, what the enemy does ) However, Syria isn't Iraq. We didn't conquer a despot, we didn't free a people, and the guy who put our troops there, illegally, never had any intention or plan for victory. Someone really ought to ask Obama what his real motivation was. ( to help Iran and Islamist supremacy is the results, thus..... ) So getting out of Syria is probably the best option. With no plan or desire to Win, there's no moral or rational reason to stay. Afghanistan should never have had an occupation force after it was clear we weren't going to force Pakistan to stop supporting the Taliban. We should have pulled out and let it be by the end of the Bush administration, but Obama instead made it worse and got many more of our troops killed. ( presumably in support of the Jihad, as all Obama policies seem to be ) Pulling out of Afghanistan will be hard on the locals, but probably better than perpetual war. And we don't owe the corrupt regime there a thing. ( and you can Blame Bush for the scum being supported so long ) Keep in mind, I'm no pacifist. I believe that if you wage war, you do so to win, or don't do it. Overwhelming force, minimizing casualties, ( the vast majority of Iraqi dead were killed in years of insurgency by imported AQ terrorists. Not by us. ) then leave behind a government you can deal with.... But Leave. It can take years, but if what you leave behind isn't a free people like post 1950 Germany or Japan, you messed up. Bases in allied countries counts as leaving. Patrols to suppress insurgents isn't. |
