Venandi

I have a passing familiarity with assault riffles... By definition they have detachable, high capacity magazines and selective fire. Perhaps you could define "assault style" for us though... the Canadian government would probably appreciate your help. Calling a semi automatic rifle with a five round magazine an "assault style rifle" is a bit like calling an F150 with racing stripes a "racing style pickup truck" and then banning it because it causes the owners of "racing trucks" to speed through residential areas. What if I were to suggest that the F in F150 actually stood for formula 1?

Mostly I see it in people who consider themselves wise but have never traveled beyond the vacation circuit... they tend to believe that everyone shares their ideals, morals, love of democracy etc etc. That belief has played a starring role in some pretty stunning foreign policy failures too. Sometimes the only people asking "WTF did you think was going to happen?" questions were the (more cynical) soldiers who served in these locations.. Taken a step further, the folks I'm talking about don't even believe that the cultural norms of a home country continue to prevail once immigrants (from radically different cultures) step off the plane in Canada. Warehousing new arrivals vertically in ethnic enclaves (whether deliberate of not) is an example of what I mean. The plight of single mothers from Somalia who had less status in their home country than their teenage sons stands as another example which was then amplified and made worse by the previous one. Here's an article from 2012... and it's only one example of what I mean: https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/toronto-somali-community-s-cry-our-kids-are-dying/article_1c316e46-c996-5adc-a73a-95f584acb1a9.html Long before this became a desperate plea from the community itself progressives were warned that those single mothers would need extra help and support... that it was a pay now or pay later equation. The Herbs and eyeholes of the world didn't believe it though, they called anyone who said so racist. Pay attention here Herb.... most of the people urging caution are not MAGA racist CHUDS (or what ever you delight in calling them), they're offering a cautionary note in the form of prophesy: if you want to continue down this road with ever increasing numbers you had better start doing it right.

you think more gun control helps?

I can only speak for myself of course but you've captured my own sentiment about American tourists in Canada perfectly. Although equal and opposite, it appears our opinion on the subject is identical. Pretty cool how things can radically change in a short period of time... I was always skeptical about the prospect of influencing / modifying long standing behaviour patterns and the potential value of committing resources to dedicated I/O efforts. And here we are, not only have I become a believer, I'm an active participant too... cool eh? What I'm wondering now is how long the animosity and FU attitude will remain intact once a state of equilibrium is restored and whether or not it becomes entrenched across the board or if it's just a temporary blip soon to be forgotten. Personally, I'm in it for the long haul and hope you are too... please stay home.

Then you need to get out more because it isn't a common sentiment in Canada and spewing that nonsense no longer resonates with your target audience. For the most part, that audience was concerned about things like security, demographic concentrations, integration, and ensuring that sufficient infrastructure and resources were available to accommodate any influx. Those concerns were repeated over and over again... you failed to listen, you screamed racist instead and created a mess that will take the best part of a decade to unfuc% if we get started on it today (and we won't). As it stands now, sensible people don't care about your snide references to racism; they have eyes to see, ears to hear and they recognize the source of the problem in need of fixing... that would be things like infrastructure, intake, and to a lesser extent (due to lack of relevancy) the insults from people like you and Herb. I think you'll soon discover that direct (or oblique) digs about racism aimed at people with legitimate concerns will get you a "stick it up you a$$" response. Let me be the first to offer that invitation here and suggest that the orientation of insertion should be sideways.

Step by step mirror cleaning instructions for those who only see other people looking back at them. The Zs and Ns mentioned are recommended cleaning patterns... not Nazi symbols or racial slurs. Sad eh... but sometimes you have to be specific.

I can only guess that your reason for not paying attention to some of the individual cases in Canada was because:

And it occurred immediately after said critter accused others of derailing threads, complained about the evils of thread drift, and insulted those who participated. Shrinkflation appears to have taken a toll on the cost and availability of mirror polish...

You're right about tax payers and politicians having the final say... that's just how it works whether people like it or not. As to US proprietary control over all things F35, it was always a valid concern and it was factored into the previous selection process... most senior RCAF Officers acknowledge it, they don't like it anymore than you and I do, but nonetheless, the two previous selection efforts favoured the F35 in spite of it. This third incarnation is politically motived (nothing wrong with that BTW) but it finds us re-debating the same issues that were previously examined and decided on. There's an additional twist here too IMO, as a result of popular dislike for Trump we seem to have decided that interoperability is now less important than it was yesterday and the horror of a mixed fleet is now less horrible as well. If we are going that route (which will take 40 years to walk BTW) I hope it isn't motivated by a collective dislike of Trump... I think that will pass very soon after he does. So, while your point above is commonly shared and worthy of consideration, I think it holds more sway in political circles than it does in military ones. The US has a vested interest in NORAD and they've invested pretty heavily in it. That commitment has been self sustaining over decades despite other political blips and past trade disputes. For good or ill, most military folks see that regular combined training continues, the sharing of intelligence / information remains intact and US support for cooperation in matters of mutual defence remains strong. As a result, they"re more inclined to look at all things Trump as a bump in a long road that won't be paved until he's gone anyway.

Perhaps the reason you missed the point is that there's a principle is involved here. A better question is will you be upset when the same shoe is on the other foot and aligned in the opposite direction.... because I'm pretty sure it will be. The actions you defend now (and the way you do it BTW) are going to become "The Ghost of Hitler Past" for you in the near future. In effect you're gleefully creating the equal and opposite blowback you will come to despise when that shoe flips. And when that happens you'll get the sort of responses (in return) that you author today... and you won't like it. You get that right?

Since Israel isn't going away, you do. And since you have no idea how to propel negotiations ahead with a murderous adversary dedicated to the destruction of Israel I think you should work harder at getting it up and running... time travel is all ya got.

I happen to know a young lady who sprained her ankle during a TKD class and missed a day of school because of it. According to her parents it was deemed to be a covid absence. At the time I simply assumed that was a clerical thing... now I'm not so sure. Funny thing though, your insults and protestations actually do have sway with me... but in the opposite direction of what you probably think.

I'll close with the video below and suggest that most well intentioned western supporters of Hamas actually see themselves (by extension) as supporting the Palestinian people. I think they lack a clear understanding of the entity they're defending though, equating Palestinian political objectives with "anything Hamas" will prove disappointing IMO. This guy lived it and his take on Hamas deserves some consideration:

RCMP Officers swear a similar oath (as military members) and also carry it around on the first page of their issued note books as a reminder of the duty, responsibility, and trust inherent in the position they've accepted and agreed to. Based on their conduct over the last few years your assertion (above) seems to have already been adopted and I don't think that it has served them well.

You'll find few Israelis that support jewish militants and even fewer who participle in street dances to honour their violent (I say terrorist) activities. Nor will you see any of the people you routinely ridicule (right here) defending their actions or trying to justify them by dredging up historical wrongs that only your time machine can rectify. Until you articulate a method of negotiating with a murderous adversary dedicated to your extinction I have little more to add. When negotiations are impossible due to religious fervour you hit a wall... tell me how you would proceed beyond that? Or don't... Palestinians can have peace anytime they want it and Hamas is barrier to achieving it. There's no negotiating with Hamas and they need to be eradicated if any lasting peace process is to proceed.

No, you simply need to acknowledge who those nuts actually are. POOF... there ya go. They are part of the 59% of Palestinians that oppose Hamas... their opposition is painfully (I'll say torturously) problematic for them though. Maybe your lefty delegates will have better luck and experience less torture. No... no there isn't, and that's another disconnect that only comes with reading media stuff and not smelling the air, walking the land, and talking with those old Palestinian guys. Good luck, I've participated in two of those efforts and done a bunch of training in Israel... things are worse under Hamas than they were when I turned 19 in the Sinai. If you have an appetite for that peace keeping mission you're hungrier than me... and most other nations to boot. Lots of that going around...

I salute your valiant attempt to drag the thread back on topic and yield the field.. I predict eyeball will have none of it though. Best of luck.

There's the disconnect... negotiating with that murderous ex is exactly the problem Israel is faced with. You fail to see the analogy as valid because you fail to see the brutality and religious ideology of Hamas. Israel is desperately seeking a partner for peace and I'd submit that Hamas, by their own admission, doesn't qualify. It's Hamas with the hard-core religious objectives (not Israel) and that (from a simple soldiers perspective) wasn't always the case in Palestine... there were religious differences (of course) but the issue was ethnic and historical claims over the land. The conversations I've had with old Palestinian men were always about the farms they grew up on, not their religion or that of the people who took the farm away from them. It was about the farm... What you don't seem to appreciate is that Hamas is the sort of entity that will happily throw your secular lefties off the highest remaining structure in Gaza to see if they can fly. All that aside though, so far you've only designated the political identity of your negotiating team, I want to hear how you intend to overcome Hamas's resolve to exterminate all jews and build on the ashes of what once was Israel. You might not realize it from reading media reports, but the ex husband with murderous intent is exactly the personality type your lefty negotiators will be dealing with. Believe me when I say that I'm rooting for them but I remain curious about the methodology.

I'd say that somewhere between that and the complete destruction of Israel is the land of the non-crazies. Being as it was you who called me crazy for suggesting that Hamas can't be negotiated with because they seek a religious solution rather than a political one, I'd like to hear your solution for peace with Hamas, assuming they're left as a functioning entity. This isn't about "hating" Palestinians, it's about Hamas... it's also about Palestinians hating Hamas for the brutality inflicted on them. So, I want to know how you propose to negotiate with an organization that fundamentally opposes Israel's right to exist. Sounds like that murderous (and recently paroled) ex-husband again eh? I'll even settle for how you plan to negotiate with him. SEND OVER...

I know... I was trying to fix it and you were too quick for me, sorry. Anyway, I think the problem is that people just don't realize how brutlal and nonnegotiable Hamas is and they make excuses for them because of it. I just don't see how you negotiate with an entity that stands in opposition to your very existence. I'll make it gone and hope, in the interests of peace, that Hamas suffers the same fate.

Only in your mind, I'm retired. With the advent of Hamas things are different, more brutal and more religious. Unless you are prepared to outline how you would negotiate with a brutal regime with hard core religious objectives I really have nothing you. I never get a response to that and for the record, I have no idea how to do it successfully while Hamas is in power. Hamas will never be a partner for peace, they're actually a barrier to achieving it... they will never negotiate legitimate political objectives. You're calling people crazy here so you must have gleaned some insights from those "media accounts,' I'd like to hear how you would approach it.

Only outside the theatre and mostly by opinionated people who have never been there. How are your combined efforts working out? I'm going to bet that you are one of the opinionated political zealots who haven't been there. Do you really think that Hamas objectives are political and thus negotiable?

Or access to Wikipedia it seems... like this is the biggest issue eh? The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (Swedish:[ˈɡrǐːpɛn] ⓘ; English: Griffin)[a][3] is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. Apparently the name was chosen via public competition sponsored by the Swedish Air Force.

Its morphed from an ethnic struggle over land into a winner takes all religious battle. Hamas has religious objectives and not political ones... there is no negotiating with them. That's why the history here is irrelevant. How's the time machine coming? Without it your observations are interesting from an academic perspective but little else. You can negotiate with political objectives... but not religious ones. I've used the murderous ex-husband of your current fiancé as an example of the difficulty here; his history of childhood abuse may be something to sympathize with but it doesn't help your current dilemma, he gets out of jail next week. If you can't fix that with history you sure as hell can't fix this with it either.

And in all that time you haven't learned to manage a polite conversation with a real person or present a rational thought in writing.... maybe the 2030s will be your decade. Given the amount of time you've already invested in studying (and the limited success achieved to date), I suspect you'll be the one wearing diapers before you figure it out.