The name’s Bond, J

As border tensions intensified, the sight of soldiers and journalists carrying heavy field gear underscored the harsh terrain and long deployments at the frontier. For those in such unpredictable conditions, reliable equipment becomes essential.

Like the 5.11 Tactical Backpack, Rush 72 2.0, designed for military and field operations with multiple compartments for carrying essentials.

The sudden shift to advertising gear in the middle of article caught me off guard, lmao

Everything he touches turns to 💩

I know. But unfortunately, the president is also the commander in chief of the executive branch, so he has the power to approve their operations.

From what I understand, the military will suggest potential courses of action, but not all of them are good, which is where the president is supposed to use his wise judgment, if only he had it.

I don’t think he’s right. Personally, his comments rub me the wrong way. They remind me of the annoying, confidently incorrect comments I’ve see on Reddit so many times.

Granted, I’m also fairly biased because I used to be in the army, and don’t appreciate the kind of assumptions/generalizations people make about people in the US military. I bash the military all the time personally in my private life, but it’s different when I see people who clearly don’t know shit do it.

I respect you for admitting there are things you might not know though.

I feel like many of the commenters below are missing the point, or didn’t even read the article. It’s not about incompetence by the SEALs (they weren’t), it’s Trump’s incompetence. He basically ignored the restrictions his predecessors had put in place because they knew that using special operations for extremely high-risk operations (because they’re likely to fail or be disastrous in the first place) was not something to be done lightly, but Trump, being Trump, just approved crazy operations without any clear thought.

In that scenario, I agree the pragmatic choice is to save the majority.

But many situations tend to be complex and aren’t as clear as a trolley problem, so I want to avoid falling into the trap of seeing a false dilemma when there’s possibly more than two options.

Those are already arguments for why NASA and space programs shouldn’t exist in the first place.

I remember watching something about the space race, and there was a clip of public opinion during the time of the first mission to the moon, where a man complained that the money should’ve been used to improve the lives of poor Americans instead.

Regardless, for the scenario in The Martian, if money is already being spent and going to continue being spent on space missions in the future, I think you can rationalize it as using money for another or next space mission. They would still gain knowledge from what they had to do to pull off that rescue, so it’s not a complete waste of funds for a mission either.

On the morality point, I’d argue that we should spend the money to rescue any person if we have the money/means, and it can feasibly happen without excessive risk to other lives, otherwise we’re assigning monetary value to human lives. That includes both people in imminent danger, requiring expensive emergency services, and people suffering slower, persistent risks like hunger that require sustained support.

Mark Waters says sales at his Odessa, Texas, tools business, which he describes as a “Home Depot for the oilfields,” are down about 10 percent. He does not regret voting for Trump, saying he is willing to take a personal hit to support the president’s agenda. But he said it is ironic that over the decades he has made a lot more money when the party he despises is in power. “The oil business has thrived under Democratic leadership despite them being true haters of all things fossil,” Waters said. “For whatever reason, I made millions of dollars under Clinton. Then I made even more under Obama and Biden. I have never had a solid explanation.” His business outlook for the coming months under Trump? “Hopefully it won’t be catastrophic,” Waters said.

Almost some self-awareness there. Almost.

I disagree. Apple might not be perfect, but it is better than Google when it comes to ads and tracking. I know my data is encrypted, both on the device and in my cloud. And in the App Store, it tells me exactly what data is being collected by the apps I choose to install.

At least the names of all the bases named after Confederates were changed a few years ago. West Point also renamed things that were named after Lee (which only existed because for the sake of Reconciliation after the war).

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

I’ve heard stuff like that too. To be fair, if the United States were to resolutely defend Taiwan, China might not touch it, though there would still be a possibility, but at the least the US and Taiwan would likely win that war since they just need to keep Taiwan independent, not invade China.

How dare you use logic on my computer logic-related shower thought.

But yeah, I get what you mean. I had that thought at some point after posting. This is why I should probably just keep it in this silly thread and not write any philosophy essays soon.

You’re… you’re right.

It’s like, all part of some yin-yang thing.

I wasn’t expecting to see a reference to one of my favorite anime of all time. Thank you for reminding me why it’s peak.

You guys are getting buttons?

My Japanese microwave only has an imprecise knob to turn. It came free with the apartment, so I can’t complain too much.

I suppose it prevents people from accidentally doing something like hitting 20:00 instead of 2:00 and starting a fire.

Agreed.

Nice username, by the way.

I understand what you’re trying to say, but I do want to clear up some misconceptions people have about U.S. soldiers.

High school drop-outs are not eligible for the U.S. military. GED holders might be if they score high enough on the ASVAB, but it’s generally rare.

Also, U.S. military commanders, and officers in general, are both morally and legally required to disobey illegal orders. While the President may be the commander-in-chief, officers swear an oath to the Constitution, not the President.

That’s why General Milley publicly apologized and considered resigning after unwittingly letting federal troops be used to clear protestors, not knowing Trump wanted it for a photo op instead of legitimate need. That’s why so many generals called him a threat to democracy. That’s why Trump fired so many generals, because they wouldn’t go along with his stupid shit.

I have hope that the U.S. active duty military will not get involved in this. I know for sure they don’t want to get involved in this.

Technically not a sabbatical, but I saved up a bunch of money, quit my job, and have been studying abroad in Japan.