President Trump to sign defense authorization bill bearing John McCain's name

[Right_in_Virginia]

The President thanked the members of Congress who were present and accounted for and WORKED for the passage of the bill.

[truth_seeker]

Call it McCain or not, But call it Peace Through Strength.

It is right to be strong now.

Military strength has been a GOP Foundational Principle, since Eisenhower.

[txradioguy]

Call it McCain or not, But call it Peace Through Strength.

It is right to be strong now.

Military strength has been a GOP Foundational Principle, since Eisenhower.

On this we agree completely.

[INVAR]

@INVAR...I give up.  You're being totally irrational on this and I'm talking to you as someone who sees the info up close and personal.

How am I being irrational?  What part of 'we're broke and borrowing money from future generations just to keep things going now' do we not grasp here?

Where the hell is the money going to come from if no one in government is willing to slow, stop and to cut spending, but to do just the opposite?

Trump, Republicans, Democrats - it's as if they have a contest to see which of them can outspend the other with OUR money.

Would you be happy if we just disbanded the armed forces entirely and just went back to depending on the states to raise militias?

I never suggested such a thing, and it is not the issue.  The issue is we just spent 700 Billion for 2018 and 716 Billion for 2019, on February 9th of this year.  Six months ago.

NOW - they are going to spend another 717 Billion.  NONE of that includes what they intend to spend for the welfare state and the general fund of another 1.2 or 1.3 Trillion for 2019.

I mean...it saves trillions that will go towards paying down he debt right?

At the rate we're flinging ourselves into debt - that may likely be what results when the piper comes for his due.

But for now - we're emulating Rome under the Caesars.  Strong military - but spending ourselves into oblivion while importing the Barbarians into our gates to keep funding the state through taxes.

[cato potatoe]

You don't get it do you?  No you don't.

China and Russia are being as aggressive as we are because our stance in the world was regressive under 8 years of Obama.

They used to be kept in check because of our military might.

Now you have Russia invading the Ukraine and illegally annexing the Crimea and China setting up bases and making islands in areas that aren't their territory under any stretch of the imagination.

We never have and never will be an imperial nation...that's a bunch of Ron Paul kookish bulls*t.  And it's a dangerous belief to have in this day and age.

China's actions are of moderate concern due to shipping lanes.  Much of their belligerence could be settled through economic sanctions, if we cared enough to press them.  Crimea?  Sorry, but if the Ukraine wants that strip of land, they need to defend it themselves.  It has naught to do with us, besides the notion that God placed us in charge of the whole planet. 

It's mainly Iran that's providing the funding and the training behind the scenes.

Really?  Chicago is worse than 9/11?  Other than pointing out that deaths in places like Chicago and 9/11 happened because of Liberal policies and "leadership" the two have nothing in common.

That's just crazy.

That sounds like something straight out of the Obama White House...like something almost verbatim he'd say.

Good job.

 
The truth is the truth no matter who says it.  Our crime is far worse than 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma City, or just about any event you can name in isolation.  If we put a fraction of the resources we spend on foreign adventures towards incarcerating repeat offenders, this country would be a much safer place.

I'd tell you where to stick your Ron Paul isolationist foreign policy...but I don't want to get banned.

Your world view on defense and the military is every bit as dangerous to the U.S...as well as soldiers in harms way as the Liberals.

Soldiers should not be in harms way unless there is a real and direct threat to American interests.  If other nations value their sovereignty, they should be responsible for defending themselves.  The cost is an astronomical burden we cannot bear.  It makes little sense to destabilize our government while propping up others.  I can appreciate the value of a military alliance in the Cold War context.   But as of 2018, the only existential threat we face is our immigration policy.

[txradioguy]

How am I being irrational?  What part of 'we're broke and borrowing money from future generations just to keep things going now' do we not grasp here?

Where the hell is the money going to come from if no one in government is willing to slow, stop and to cut spending, but to do just the opposite?

Trump, Republicans, Democrats - it's as if they have a contest to see which of them can outspend the other with OUR money.

I never suggested such a thing, and it is not the issue.  The issue is we just spent 700 Billion for 2018 and 716 Billion for 2019, on February 9th of this year.  Six months ago.

NOW - they are going to spend another 717 Billion.  NONE of that includes what they intend to spend for the welfare state and the general fund of another 1.2 or 1.3 Trillion for 2019.

At the rate we're flinging ourselves into debt - that may likely be what results when the piper comes for his due.

But for now - we're emulating Rome under the Caesars.  Strong military - but spending ourselves into oblivion while importing the Barbarians into our gates to keep funding the state through taxes.

Look I get that the spending is out of control in the Federal Government. We agree on that completely. But you're giving the impression that it's all the fault of defense spending.

It's not.  And railing against a defense bill and any subsequent spending that in all honestly doesn't spend enough to get us back to the pre Obama days...isn't going to fix anything.

There are many more places where wasteful spending could be cut saving us billions in agencies like the EPA...Dept. of Education  Welfare etc that would be much more cost effective.

But attacking a much needed defense bill is just wrong. And there is no amount of railing against it that will change my mind of the minds of most of the people here on that.

[txradioguy]

China's actions are of moderate concern due to shipping lanes.  Much of their belligerence could be settled through economic sanctions, if we cared enough to press them.  Crimea?  Sorry, but if the Ukraine wants that strip of land, they need to defend it themselves.  It has naught to do with us, besides the notion that God placed us in charge of the whole planet.

I'm not sure if you're doing it on purpose because you're an isolationist or you just haven't really been intellectually curious enough to pay attention...but you are seriously downplaying and underestimating the situation.
 

The truth is the truth no matter who says it.  Our crime is far worse than 9/11, Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma City, or just about any event you can name in isolation.  If we put a fraction of the resources we spend on foreign adventures towards incarcerating repeat offenders, this country would be a much safer place.

Protect against enemies foreign as well as domestic....

Soldiers should not be in harms way unless there is a real and direct threat to American interests.  If other nations value their sovereignty, they should be responsible for defending themselves.  The cost is an astronomical burden we cannot bear.  It makes little sense to destabilize our government while propping up others.  I can appreciate the value of a military alliance in the Cold War context.   But as of 2018, the only existential threat we face is our immigration policy.

I love the arm chair generals like yourself that have this all figured out from behind your computer....we need you to become real commissioned officers and lead us...since those of us in Sr. NCO and Officer positions are doing such a piss poor job of national defense.


The Ron Paul style isolationism you want us to have makes the world and our position in it much more dangerous.  You're perfectly willing to cede large swaths of the world to brutal dictators as long as the U.S. hides within it's borders.

That isolationism has never worked for us on any level.  And in the 21st century it would be an abject failure economically and from a military strategy stand point.

[INVAR]

Look I get that the spending is out of control in the Federal Government. We agree on that completely. But you're giving the impression that it's all the fault of defense spending.

I'm looking at amounts in total, you are focusing on only defense spending.  The entire Beast is out of control and justifying defense spending for another 716 Billion after 1.3 trillion was already spent six months ago is insanity.

At some point soon, this debt balloon is gonna pop and when it does - nothing is going to be left unscathed or standing.  The government will be paying our soldiers with worthless IOUs no one is going to honor.

It's not.  And railing against a defense bill and any subsequent spending that in all honestly doesn't spend enough to get us back to the pre Obama days...isn't going to fix anything.

Again, we're BROKE and IN DEBT.  What part of that are we missing here?  1.3 Trillion six months ago was not enough??  We gotta spend another 716 billion six months later for one year and 720 billion for the first six months of next year and another 723.5 billion for the subsequent six months and on and on and on????

If you're broke, in debt and borrowing from Payday Loans just to keep your lights on and buy fast food every day, you don't go out and buy a few new Glocks and Sig-Sauers to add to your already massive collection because you are afraid of your neighbors. 

But hey, what do I know?  I'm not the stupid, evil government that can print money out of thin air and take it by gunpoint from everyone to keep feeding itself to the tune of trillions of dollars in debt each year.

There are many more places where wasteful spending could be cut saving us billions in agencies like the EPA...Dept. of Education  Welfare etc that would be much more cost effective.

They are not going to be cutting anything - only EXPANDING an INCREASING the rate of debt spending.  1.3 trillion six months ago - and another 716 Billion now and another 720 billion in January all for supposed Defense Spending.  Not including the rest of the trillions in budgetary spending.

But, I guess the new normal is spending money we do not have and saddling our posterity to be born into debt and servitude for life.

A trillion here and a trillion there and soon we're talking interstellar amounts incomprehensible to the human mind.

[txradioguy]

I'm looking at amounts in total, you are focusing on only defense spending.  The entire Beast is out of control and justifying defense spending for another 716 Billion after 1.3 trillion was already spent six months ago is insanity.

I'm focusing on defense spending because it's what this thread is about.

At some point soon, this debt balloon is gonna pop and when it does - nothing is going to be left unscathed or standing.  The government will be paying our soldiers with worthless IOUs no one is going to honor.

They already do that.  It's called the Federal Reserve Note.

Again, we're BROKE and IN DEBT.  What part of that are we missing here?  1.3 Trillion six months ago was not enough??  We gotta spend another 716 billion six months later for one year and 720 billion for the first six months of next year and another 723.5 billion for the subsequent six months and on and on and on????

I don't know where you're coming up with your numbers.  I want to see a source.  Thise mumber...720 and 735 would cover an entire year.  They aren't for six month periods.

If you're broke, in debt and borrowing from Payday Loans just to keep your lights on and buy fast food every day, you don't go out and buy a few new Glocks and Sig-Sauers to add to your already massive collection because you are afraid of your neighbors. 

But hey, what do I know?  I'm not the stupid, evil government that can print money out of thin air and take it by gunpoint from everyone to keep feeding itself to the tune of trillions of dollars in debt each year.

They are not going to be cutting anything - only EXPANDING an INCREASING the rate of debt spending.  1.3 trillion six months ago - and another 716 Billion now and another 720 billion in January all for supposed Defense Spending.  Not including the rest of the trillions in budgetary spending.

But, I guess the new normal is spending money we do not have and saddling our posterity to be born into debt and servitude for life.

A trillion here and a trillion there and soon we're talking interstellar amounts incomprehensible to the human mind.

I give up.

[240B]

Proof of life, I still want proof of life.

The Ghost! The ghost of John McCain strikes again. LOL
I wish I could keep my job, after I am dead. LOL
No. No not at all. Actually I don't want that.

The Ghost of John McCain will haunt us, until someone anyone decides to find out if he is buried somewhere in a backyard funeral.

[INVAR]

I'm focusing on defense spending because it's what this thread is about.

We're BROKE!  We're IN DEBT!  Our Children are IN DEBT!  Our Grandchildren are IN DEBT!  Our future Great Grandchildren not yet born are ALREADY IN DEBT!

What part of this do we refuse to get and understand?

It doesn't matter that Obama took the military down to World War One levels.

We're broke, yet we are spending trillions faster without curtailing any spending anywhere else.

So we applaud trillions more spent in debt because it is said it is for defense.  Then we clap like seals when they authorize spending hundreds of billions more.

I guess we have truly arrived at the point where the idea of limited government, fiscal responsibility and liberty is truly long dead.

Breads and circuses! Breads and circuses!  Long live Caesar!

[thackney]

...There are many more places where wasteful spending could be cut saving us billions in agencies like the EPA...Dept. of Education  Welfare etc that would be much more cost effective....

It is a start.  But it needs to be more widespread throughout the Federal Government.



FY 2018
EPA Budget in Brief
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-05/documents/fy-2018-budget-in-brief.pdf

[Fishrrman]

invar wrote:
"We're BROKE!  We're IN DEBT!  Our Children are IN DEBT!  Our Grandchildren are IN DEBT!  Our future Great Grandchildren not yet born are ALREADY IN DEBT!
What part of this do we refuse to get and understand?"

Maybe we're broke. Maybe not quite yet.
That time may come. Don't know just when.

But I got news for ya, pal:
There's NOTHING you can do about it.
EVER.

It is what it is.

So.... keep a-bitchin' and a-moanin', 'til you run out of breath.
Because... nobody's gonna fix it. At least not until it "breaks".

And again, YOU are powerless.
So am I -- and I don't care.

Enjoy life and be happy while you still got life to enjoy.

[INVAR]

Maybe we're broke. Maybe not quite yet.

Willful ignorance and fatalistic Normalcy Bias does not adequately describe that statement.

There's NOTHING you can do about it.
...YOU are powerless.
So am I -- and I don't care.

Enjoy life and be happy while you still got life to enjoy.

I'm not that insidiously selfish.  I got kids and grandkids.

But,  I suppose when it comes to elections - we should take your suggestion under advisement and not get ourselves all worked up over who gets put into office.  We can tell ourselves the same exact thing when the Democrats run the show again.

Nothing you can do about it - so embrace the suck and enjoy what you can.

[thackney]

Maybe we're broke. Maybe not quite yet.
That time may come. Don't know just when.

I know as an engineer, I am naturally humor impaired.  So I have to ask:

Was that a joke?

http://www.usdebtclock.org/