38 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:

They're all propagandists on different sides of the political spectrum.

Agreed, propaganda exists everywhere, but calling a convicted child trafficker a "victim" isn’t just spin, it’s morally bankrupt. There’s a difference between bias and outright rewriting reality.

13 hours ago, Matt! said:

Is this how it starts? Now she’s being called a "victim"? This scumbag got 20 years in federal prison for sex trafficking and crimes involving minors. Is this the first step towards softening her image so Donald can pardon her later?

@Stromboli1 You probably know Newsmax so please be kind and educate me on the matter.

Yeah, didn’t take a genius to figure it out. I’ll translate it for you: "If she says the right things, she will go free".

The US military has been corrupt since WW2. Even President Eisenhower warned of the corruption in the MIC. This is long before DEI and other excuses. The Republicans/MAGA have a very delusional and ahistorical belief in the military.

As far as serious conflicts go, the US has not won a major war against peer opponents since World War 2 and is poorly led from top down. It is grossly inefficient in the production of weapons and material.

8 minutes ago, Matt! said:

Yeah, didn’t take a genius to figure it out. I’ll translate it for you: "If she says the right things, she will go free".

Pretty much this.

2 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

As far as serious conflicts go, the US has not won a major war against peer opponents since World War 2 and is poorly led from top down. It is grossly inefficient in the production of weapons and material.

Yes, there are inefficiencies and problems (efficiency varies a lot depending on the program, branch, and contracting method) in the system. However, the U.S still produces some, if not the most advanced and effective weapons systems in the world with a defense industrial base that remains a global leader in production capacity. So, I’d say calling the entire production "grossly inefficient" is an overgeneralization.

1 minute ago, Matt! said:

Yes, there are inefficiencies and problems (efficiency varies a lot depending on the program, branch, and contracting method) in the system. However, the U.S still produces some, if not the most advanced and effective weapons systems in the world with a defense industrial base that remains a global leader in production capacity. So, I’d say calling the entire production "grossly inefficient" is an overgeneralization.

The US isn't a global leader in production capability, it's China. If you look at the price tag of American weapons you would be shocked. There is no reason why an artillery shell should cost $5,000 for instance or Patriot batteries should cost billions.

Wars aren't won by having the most advanced weapons or claiming to have the most advanced systems. (this is a common delusion- this is what arms manufacturers want people to believe.)

The US MIC/Military exists to cause conflict around the world, most of them unnecessary and incompetent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderwaffe

Wunderwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊndɐˌvafə]) is a German word that roughly translates to "wonder-weapon" and was a term assigned during World War II by Nazi Germany's propaganda ministry to some revolutionary "superweapons". Most of these weapons however remained prototypes, which either never reached the combat theater, or if they did, were too late or in numbers insufficient to have a significant military effect.

1 hour ago, Stromboli1 said:

The school stuff happened during covid where parents started pushing back on public schools, although there were calls for school choice before covid. Then there was always the argument that the US was #1 in the world and Top 10 for education until the Department of Education was created.

Public schools have been under fire for about 2 decades plus for poor performance (as far as I remember).

That being said American children/parents are also to blame and also anti-intellectual cultures in the US.

The Republican party has anti-intellectual/anti-college strains and so do American white rednecks, blacks, latinos etc.

46 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

The US isn't a global leader in production capability, it's China. If you look at the price tag of American weapons you would be shocked. There is no reason why an artillery shell should cost $5,000 for instance or Patriot batteries should cost billions.

Wars aren't won by having the most advanced weapons or claiming to have the most advanced systems. (this is a common delusion- this is what arms manufacturers want people to believe.)

Depends on the kind of production capability you mean. China may lead in overall manufacturing volume, but pumping out rifles and ammo doesn’t win modern wars. The U.S still leads in advanced military technology, global defense exports and high-end R&D.

Sure, wars aren't won by most advanced weapons alone, strategy, logistics and politics matter as well. But advanced systems "don’t matter"? If you can strike from 1000 miles away while the other guy is still loading his RPG, that’s not a minor advantage, it’s decisive. Arms manufacturers exaggerate to some extent to boost sales, but dismissing technological superiority entirely is its own kind of delusion.

21 minutes ago, Matt! said:

Depends on the kind of production capability you mean. China may lead in overall manufacturing volume, but pumping out rifles and ammo doesn’t win modern wars. The U.S still leads in advanced military technology, global defense exports and high-end R&D.

Sure, wars aren't won by most advanced weapons alone, strategy, logistics and politics matter as well. But advanced systems "don’t matter"? If you can strike from 1000 miles away while the other guy is still loading his RPG, that’s not a minor advantage, it’s decisive. Arms manufacturers exaggerate to some extent to boost sales, but dismissing technological superiority entirely is its own kind of delusion.

Western supremacy/white supremacy is very outdated as the China easily swamps the US in shipbuilding & drones and arms production volume, and claiming that China is 'lower quality' is very 1990s era. They have advanced to peer opponents of the US for a long time now including producing advanced fighter aircraft. The US is also behind Russia/China in hypersonic missiles.

Advanced systems can only provide small tactical victories, which is what America's advanced systems have done or pretended to have done in social media & in politics. It does not have a strategic impact in actually winning peer wars. It didn't work for Germany in WW2 and it hasn't done so for America ever since. I can only think of the atom bombs in WW2 as being decisive.

Look at the Vietnam war for example...

The idea of an incredibly powerful and technologically advanced US military that can conquer any country is mainly the product of brainwashing, from movies & videogames, NATO, and politicians. Not careful study of military history and military operations.

The US has been de-industrializing since the 1980s, and with that goes military power.

...

3 hours ago, Matt! said:

The U.S Department of Education was established in 1979. Before that comparisons of international education systems were extremely limited and not standardized, so no legit global ranking put the U.S at #1 or Top 10 in any verified way.

Standards have been adjusted over time, mostly to accommodate modern roles like tech-based warfare (parade drone guy has probably never seen the weight room, but he can do more damage on the battlefield than group of marines.)

Conservative media and Pete uses “woke” as a catch-all for any effort to diversify or modernize. DEI programs are about making sure the best talent doesn’t get excluded because of race, gender or background not about lowering standards.

Forget the previous line for a second, let’s quickly compare the current and former SecDefs. Lloyd Austin served 41 years in the Army, retired as a 4-star General and led CENTCOM. Pete Hegseth left the National Guard as a Major after a few years and spent the last decade ranting on Fox & Friends. So tell me, who looks like the "DEI hire" here?

Yeah I can agree the metrics for education systems around the world then were not done correctly.

I disagree on the military issue. To me growing up until within the last 20 years sans the Trump presidencies that I viewed the military's image as badass guys oozing with machismo that was ever becoming pussified with lower standards.

2 hours ago, Cult Icon said:

Public schools have been under fire for about 2 decades plus for poor performance (as far as I remember).

That being said American children/parents are also to blame and also anti-intellectual cultures in the US.

The Republican party has anti-intellectual/anti-college strains and so do American white rednecks, blacks, latinos etc.

Agreed on the first 2 sentences.

The Department of Education isn't going to fix the issues besides parents' apathy towards education.

The whole system needs an overhaul and the factory learning system has been outdated for 50 years. Putting more money into it isn't going to solve it.

I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!

Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.

There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.

We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.

42 minutes ago, Stromboli1 said:

I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!

Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.

There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.

We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.

University isn’t trade school. You don’t just go to memorize facts, it’s about growth. It’s about expanding how you think, learning to collaborate, building networks, thinking critically and being exposed to new ideas, cultures, and perspectives. You don’t just leave with a degree, you leave better equipped to understand the world and function in it. That’s not a scam, that’s growth. You don’t learn that online.

Because if you don’t develop those skills, you’ll always be a sheep, waiting for someone else to tell you what to do.

I genuinely can’t wrap my head around how stupid these people are.

2 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

I disagree on the military issue. To me growing up until within the last 20 years sans the Trump presidencies that I viewed the military's image as badass guys oozing with machismo that was ever becoming pussified with lower standards.

The US military is an imperial bureaucracy with relatively few combat troops. There is more need for people who can work on computers on a desk and work in service/support jobs than say during the Cold War where we had a real large-scale warfare military.

Large scale drone warfare in general, guided artillery, missiles, has basically taken over the battle space, dramatically reducing the value of combat troops and AFVs as lower value.

Bad ass guys like 1980s action heroes is easy- just make better propaganda.

I don't believe America was defeated in 2 useless wars ( Iraq, Afghanistan) because lack of tough guys but because we were poorly led and trained.

Besides our commanders and soldiers being poorly educated for the task we had vast manpower shortages and lack of clear direction & combat morale.

2 hours ago, Stromboli1 said:

I forgot that the push for students to universities has been a monumental failure that has hindered 2 generations so far with heavy debt. What a scam!

Universities should only be needed for only certain fields of study.

There's YouTube, Khan Academy, free coding classes, etc out there for free.

We'll have to pivot again as AI becomes more prominent in our everyday lives.

I think that universities should be public and not for-profit like it is in Europe/Asia and elsewhere. It is absurd that higher education is run like a for-profit maximizing business. I think that's the main problem, the content is secondary.

2 hours ago, Matt! said:

University isn’t trade school. You don’t just go to memorize facts, it’s about growth. It’s about expanding how you think, learning to collaborate, building networks, thinking critically and being exposed to new ideas, cultures, and perspectives. You don’t just leave with a degree, you leave better equipped to understand the world and function in it. That’s not a scam, that’s growth. You don’t learn that online.

Because if you don’t develop those skills, you’ll always be a sheep, waiting for someone else to tell you what to do.

That was our parents experience in universities.

36 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

I think that universities should be public and not for-profit like it is in Europe/Asia and elsewhere. It is absurd that higher education is run like a for-profit maximizing business. I think that's the main problem, the content is secondary.

It's too late, now it won't make a difference as AI starts making academic fields of study obsolete as it becomes more common.

58 minutes ago, Cult Icon said:

The US military is an imperial bureaucracy with relatively few combat troops. There is more need for people who can work on computers on a desk and work in service/support jobs than say during the Cold War where we had a real large-scale warfare military.

Large scale drone warfare in general, guided artillery, missiles, has basically taken over the battle space, dramatically reducing the value of combat troops and AFVs as lower value.

Bad ass guys like 1980s action heroes is easy- just make better propaganda.

I don't believe America was defeated in 2 useless wars ( Iraq, Afghanistan) because lack of tough guys but because we were poorly led and trained.

I was talking about the image of the US military.

All so called wars that the US were involved in post WW2 were senseless. The wars from the 80s to present were about protecting the petrodollar besides being senseless.

Wars are a trillion dollar business with all those contracts being handed out with skimming money off the top by the elites and political elites in addition to the contracts handed out to family members.