Kamala Harris's VP Choice: Did She Make Her First Major Campaign Mistake?

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, John Drake said:

 

I predict if Trump gets elected he will pull a "Trump Goes to China" spectacle and reverse everything he supposedly stood for in his first term with China. He'll betray not only his base but the entire country in an attempt to gain diplomatic "legitimacy." 

Given that's in the future, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we.

 

It's more likely IMO that Harris gets elected and we all die in nuclear winter, but that's a guess too.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 Anyone who hunts is weird and cruel. Bloodsports is not a recommendation to many.

I agree. The only animals I shot were for very good reasons, because they were feral pests ( rabbits ) or food.

I despise people that pay large to kill such as elephants for fun.

[nauseus]

7 hours ago, watthong said:

Looks like it's alphabet block game time again. Quite addictive to some people.

 

An abbreviation for Color Sgt Major, as you probably would have known before attempting to be funny.

 

F

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

As of the latest polls, 7 August, for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Kamala Harris is currently leading Donald Trump.

 

According to RealClearPolitics, in a head-to-head matchup, Harris leads Trump by upto 4 percentage points. 

 

 

Oh dear.....looks like Walz has been a disastrous pick.

It's a long way till the only poll that matters.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

15 hours ago, BobBKK said:

 He was a pen pusher who retired just as his unit was going to Iraq. Maybe that was smart - I can't blame him for that to be honest. But hero he ain't.

I remember the guys being sent to Iraq version 1 running around camp sweating in gas suits ( in training for the gas attacks that never happened ) I was quite happy not to be going over. However, I was never going to be sent anyway, as only a few went and not from my unit.

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Master Sergeant is a considerable achievement in itself, tell me who cares whether it is Command Sergeant or Master Sergeant.

 

Except for the military, and nitpickers on ASEAN. NCO's are the backbone of any military, as the Russians are finding out to their cost in Ukraine.

 

How far did you get in the military?

If you want to get personal I was as high as I wanted to be in the military. I was qualified to be a senior NCO, but retired early and went on to do more worthwhile things with my life than bossing troopies around and getting pissed in the Sgt's mess.

[thaibeachlovers]

14 minutes ago, nauseus said:

 

An abbreviation for Color Sgt Major, as you probably would have known before attempting to be funny.

 

F

We didn't have any of those. We had Sgt Major and Warrant officers first class or WO1 which were called Mr. That was as high as they went.

We didn't have colour Sgts either, but we did have Staff Sergeants between Sgt and Sgt Majors.

[BobBKK]

41 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If hospital managers are so qualified, why are so many incompetent at their job?

That's a very silly thing to say. In my experience, while some are not great, the vast majority are highly competent. Labelling management as incompetent or saying that there are too many of them is a misconception. The opposite is true—there are not enough. Managers comprise 2/3% of the workforce (39,000) compared to around 5% in many top companies. It is a complex and very difficult organisation to manage, and the general public is clueless about what it takes to manage such a vast organisation and keep it as the best health care service, free at delivery, in the world. 

 

[nauseus]

26 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

We didn't have any of those. We had Sgt Major and Warrant officers first class or WO1 which were called Mr. That was as high as they went.

We didn't have colour Sgts either, but we did have Staff Sergeants between Sgt and Sgt Majors.

 

I was, of course, referring to the US Army National Guard.

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, nauseus said:

 

I was, of course, was referring to the US Army National Guard.

Thanks.

[Lacessit]

31 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If you want to get personal I was as high as I wanted to be in the military. I was qualified to be a senior NCO, but retired early and went on to do more worthwhile things with my life than bossing troopies around and getting pissed in the Sgt's mess.

So you are responding on behalf of other posters now? That's weird.

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, stoner said:

 

unlike most of the blue team.... i'm actually pretty funny. 

If you say so. Listening to a Trump speech is pretty funny too, in a masochistic way. He mangles the English language.

[stoner]

7 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

If you say so. Listening to a Trump speech is pretty funny too, in a masochistic way. He mangles the English language.

 

isn't it a little early for trump digs. maybe have some breakfast. 

[thaibeachlovers]

22 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

That's a very silly thing to say. In my experience, while some are not great, the vast majority are highly competent. Labelling management as incompetent or saying that there are too many of them is a misconception. The opposite is true—there are not enough. Managers comprise 2/3% of the workforce (39,000) compared to around 5% in many top companies. It is a complex and very difficult organisation to manage, and the general public is clueless about what it takes to manage such a vast organisation and keep it as the best health care service, free at delivery, in the world. 

 

My experience is different. Every hospital I worked in had incompetent managers. In my last hospital they succeeded in almost having a strike by demoting most of the senior nurses to save money. In the same hospital the manager stole half the waiting room to have a larger office.

 

I assume you are referring to the NHS, in which I worked for 10 years.

 

The NHS IMO would benefit from sacking 75 % of managers.

 

Managers comprise 2/3% of the workforce (39,000) compared to around 5% in many top companies

That only means there are too many managers in companies.

 

the general public is clueless about what it takes to manage such a vast organisation and keep it as the best health care service, free at delivery, in the world.

It's not the best health care service it could be. It's largely badly run, by incompetents that spent much of Gordon Brown's 6 billion quid on fancier building and more managers, while the service was going through a nursing crisis because it couldn't hire enough workers.

When I had my major surgery the ward was filthy, and the nurses were disorganised. My entire week in hospital was experiencing one disaster after another.

 

If the managers are so competent, why are they unable to get British  people to become nurses, and have to poach them from Africa and elsewhere overseas?

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, stoner said:

 

isn't it a little early for trump digs. maybe have some breakfast. 

Never too early. I have breakfast after my morning exercises, which includes mental ones. Thanks for contributing, even if it's in a small way.

[stoner]

Just now, Lacessit said:

Never too early. I have breakfast after my morning exercises, which includes mental ones. Thanks for contributing, even if it's in a small way.

 

here we go again. smh. 

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

here we go again. smh. 

I don't know what that acronym means, so your post is wasted.

[stoner]

2 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I don't know what that acronym means, so your post is wasted.

 

ok so you can't take 6 seconds to type that into a search engine. cool. 

[BobBKK]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

My experience is different. Every hospital I worked in had incompetent managers. In my last hospital they succeeded in almost having a strike by demoting most of the senior nurses to save money. In the same hospital the manager stole half the waiting room to have a larger office.

 

I assume you are referring to the NHS, in which I worked for 10 years.

 

The NHS IMO would benefit from sacking 75 % of managers.

 

Managers comprise 2/3% of the workforce (39,000) compared to around 5% in many top companies

That only means there are too many managers in companies.

 

the general public is clueless about what it takes to manage such a vast organisation and keep it as the best health care service, free at delivery, in the world.

It's not the best health care service it could be. It's largely badly run, by incompetents that spent much of Gordon Brown's 6 billion quid on fancier building and more managers, while the service was going through a nursing crisis because it couldn't hire enough workers.

When I had my major surgery the ward was filthy, and the nurses were disorganised. My entire week in hospital was experiencing one disaster after another.

 

If the managers are so competent, why are they unable to get British  people to become nurses, and have to poach them from Africa and elsewhere overseas?

 
I last worked in the NHS up until 1999 - and a lot longer than you and at a much senior level. Back then, we recruited from the Philippines, so you cannot use that as if it's something new - it isn't. It is common for many lower positions in the NHS to constantly moan about managers without understanding the facts because they are frustrated. It isn't perfect, but most in the world would give their right arm to have a similar free service. You think private would be better? Anyway, this is totally off-topic, so let's agree to disagree. One of the best things about the UK, and there aren't many, is the NHS.

[BobBKK]

16 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

ok so you can't take 6 seconds to type that into a search engine. cool. 

 I had to look it up too haha - I'm guessing it's not the "Sydney Morning Herald" 🤪

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 
I last worked in the NHS up until 1999 - and a lot longer than you and at a much senior level. Back then, we recruited from the Philippines, so you cannot use that as if it's something new - it isn't. It is common for many lower positions in the NHS to constantly moan about managers without understanding the facts because they are frustrated. It isn't perfect, but most in the world would give their right arm to have a similar free service. You think private would be better? Anyway, this is totally off-topic, so let's agree to disagree. One of the best things about the UK, and there aren't many, is the NHS.

Spot on!

[radiochaser]

4 hours ago, sirineou said:

Thank you for the above.

From what I learned about the subject, though what you say is true, I don't think it applies in this instance. 

In this instance it is a condition that one has qualified for but is contingent to the individual performing certain tasks.(continuing education)

So Walz had reached the level   command sergeant major upon retirement, but maintaining that rank was contingent to continuing education, which since he left the service to run for congress and since he was retired, he did not complete. Thus for benefit (pension) purposes his rank was reduced master sergeant . 

The republicans are simply grasping at straws.  

 

 

This is the part that I believe applies, based on my experiences.  The Army told him,  we are giving you this rank, but you are not really this rank until you complete your educational requirements... "It's important to note that provisional ranks are temporary and do not confer permanent promotion or permanent changes in pay grade unless officially confirmed through the regular promotion process." 

If, I understand correctly, he never completed the educational requirements necessary to have a permanent change in rank to Command Sargent Major, so he did not retire as a Command Sargent Major, he retired as a Master Sargent.  

It might not mean much to civilians, but it does to those who are in or have been in the military.  It isn't grasping at straws, if he claims he retired as a Command Sargent Major, but he was never promoted to Command Sargent Major.  It that rank is not listed on his DD214, then he retired at what ever was his last listed rank on his DD214.  

But if he did retire as a Command Sargent Major, it is very easy to prove.   Publish his DD214.  They are not a classified document and can be shown to the general public, if one wants to prove that they were assigned to a unit, had a particular MOS, held a rank, was Special Forces qualified (does not apply in this case), or, was promoted to Command Sargent Major before retirement. 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, BobBKK said:

 
I last worked in the NHS up until 1999 - and a lot longer than you and at a much senior level. Back then, we recruited from the Philippines, so you cannot use that as if it's something new - it isn't. It is common for many lower positions in the NHS to constantly moan about managers without understanding the facts because they are frustrated. It isn't perfect, but most in the world would give their right arm to have a similar free service. You think private would be better? Anyway, this is totally off-topic, so let's agree to disagree. One of the best things about the UK, and there aren't many, is the NHS.

Agree 100% about the NHS being the best thing about the UK.

 

My final comment for now is that I worked in the NHS after you left and when I started at the hospital there were no Philippine nurses- lots of Australian agency nurses. They got rid of most agency nurses and employed mainly Africans and also some Philippine nurses.

 

I worked at many London hospitals as an agency nurse on weekends and most were awful. I had my op in a hospital that was still using Victorian buildings, and it was filthy. I had a follow up op in another London Hospital and it was filthy as well. At least the hospitals I worked at in NZ were immaculate, and we nurses did a lot of cleaning as well as permanent cleaning staff on the ward, unlike the NHS ward where the nurses did no cleaning. The NHS was using agency cleaners and they were useless.

[Will B Good]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It's a long way till the only poll that matters.

 

 

 

An oft quoted phrase from those staring down defeat.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

 

An oft quoted phrase from those staring down defeat.

No, it's a fact.

There is another quote you may be familiar with "a week is a long time in politics"

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No, it's a fact.

There is another quote you may be familiar with "a week is a long time in politics"

 

It certainly has been for the Republicans.....it must have seemed like a lifetime .

[Yellowtail]

27 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

It certainly has been for the Republicans.....it must have seemed like a lifetime .

Why? I think Harris picking a hard-leftist only helps Trump.

 

Harris/Walz support: 

• Millions of illegals per year flooding across the border
• Amnesty and fast-track path to citizenship for illegals 
• Free medical care for illegal immigrant
• Shutting down fracking, resulting in high energy prices and reliance on advisories for oil
• First and second amendments reversed
• Court packing
• Men in girl’s sports, bathrooms and locker rooms
• Hormone blockers for children
• Genital mutilation of children
• Children being removed from parents that do not agree to “gender affirming care” for their children
• Higher taxes
• More spending
• Books that provide pictorial instructions on how to participate in homosexual sex in grade-schools
   

If you want hard-left policies vote for them, if you don't vote for Trump.

 

 

[Eric Loh]

27 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Why? I think Harris picking a hard-leftist only helps Trump.

 

Harris/Walz support: 

• Millions of illegals per year flooding across the border
• Amnesty and fast-track path to citizenship for illegals 
• Free medical care for illegal immigrant
• Shutting down fracking, resulting in high energy prices and reliance on advisories for oil
• First and second amendments reversed
• Court packing
• Men in girl’s sports, bathrooms and locker rooms
• Hormone blockers for children
• Genital mutilation of children
• Children being removed from parents that do not agree to “gender affirming care” for their children
• Higher taxes
• More spending
• Books that provide pictorial instructions on how to participate in homosexual sex in grade-schools
   

If you want hard-left policies vote for them, if you don't vote for Trump.

 

 

 

Project 2025 in a nutshell if you vote for Trump. 

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, Eric Loh said:

 

Project 2025 in a nutshell if you vote for Trump. 

 

 

Yes, but he's never heard of it........doesn't know the first thing about......although he does disagree with parts of it?????

[Yellowtail]

4 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Yes, but he's never heard of it........doesn't know the first thing about......although he does disagree with parts of it?????

Off topic, but yes, Trump likely agrees with most of it, as do I, and I hope it comes to fruition.