If really like to know more about him, and what pushed him to do what he did.

In the US, when referring to veterans, some people seem to carry this big distinction between regular vets and “combat” vets. Sure, there are the stolen valor people, who would tell others they did things they didn’t, but for the most part, people who served, just got through it, and did what they had to do… The old, “heroes aren’t born, they’re made” thing - where we react to situations we’re thrust into. Not being thrust into harrowing situations doesn’t make one “less of” a man or woman.

Personally, I see more of the Luigi stuff coming, considering how things are going in the US. But, if like to know more about how this allegedly all came together in his case… he’s just some 20-something college kid - outside of his current predicament, that is.

I’m in the US and have a 1970 Fiat 500. That little car can handle quite a few of my needs. I sometimes use it for work, when I only have estimates. Normally I drive a full size Ford E150 van.

I appreciate the Fiat because it’s so different from everything on the roads here, just fun to drive, (I’m 54, so at an age where things like lumbar support and other creature comforts are nice) and it’s just uncomfortable enough to make me really appreciate our more modern and larger vehicles (the For van, a Mercury Cougar convertible, a Dodge 2500 4x4, and a Volvo XC70).

The only real bad side is that between it’s age and the fact that they were never freaky imported into the US, parts aren’t readily available. The last time I used it for work, it broke down.

Wow! How long until “the man” starts collecting passports, and requiring working immigrants to work off the debt of being allowed to work the fields, before allowing them access to their passports to be allowed to leave - likely with an ICE escort?

You know, that’s exactly what I’ve said, every single time I’ve eaten beef, anywhere in Europe…“What weak beef! I bet that cow couldn’t have done more than 20 push-ups. I can actually taste that a 2-hour run would have taken that cow the better part of an hour.”

🙄

We were told at the time, that the Brits has a surface group in the area, and didn’t want a sub submerged in the same area. Neither we, nor our radar saw anything. But in 21 years spent in the navy, I’ve never seen seas like in that 1st deployment. Modern subs, with round hulls, are optimized for submerged steaming, only cruising on the surface when arriving/departing ports or when operationally necessary (i.e. shallow waters or transferring personnel).

I’ve probably been out in seas just as bad as that 1st deployment - when the boat is rocking at 600-800 feet submerged depth, it has to be really, really bad on the surface, but being submerged, I really didn’t get to see it on those occasions.

There were about 6 of us…you know, 5 making fun of me. We were offroading on trails in a wooded/forested area versus open mud/sand fields. As I was choosing directions on which trails to take, I used signals as was habit.

My first deployment in a fast-attack submarine, in the fall of 1991. We were working under British operational control, and they ordered us to cruise surfaced, in the North Sea. I was standing watch as a lookout, with another lookout and the Officer of the Deck (OOD), in the sail superstructure of the boat. We were wearing body harnesses and lanyards, clipped into the superstructure - normal procedure.

I was a sailor aboard USS SUNFISH (SSN549), a Sturgeon Class boat, where the sail superstructure was 25 feet tall. We were in 48 foot seas.

The 3 of us on watch that night were washed overboard more than 10 times each. Often all 3 of us at the same time… flung overboard, hanging by our lanyards, trying to roll around and grab onto the ladder rungs, or one another, to get back into the bridge pooka. None of us broke any bones or lost any teeth, but we were pretty battered and bruised by the end of it.

That was the first time I got to see the entire boat out of the water… at the top of the wave, I could see the stem planes, stabilizers, the end of the towed-array housing, and the propeller. At the bottom of each trough, we’d see just a tiny hole of sky, through the water, as it all crashed down upon us, and we all hold on, trying to stay inside the superstructure.

We pulled into the Navy Base at Rosyth Scotland the next afternoon. The windshield, booked in for surface operations, was completely missing, as well a the port running light. We sustained damage to our observation periscope and main communications antenna as well.

The experience was both scary and exhilarating.

Predictability is so much more important than being nice. Just follow the rules.

I’ve been made fun of, signaling while offroading.

I’ve heard that he’s 50/50 if the words are written with crayon.

The way of the future…VCRs went away. DVDRs went away, replaced with DVRs and membership streaming, where you can “buy” a movie on Amazon Prime, but if they lose the rights to the movie, so do you - oh well. Your Tesla will brick, if Elon gets mad at you, and your video games will stop working if “the man” unplugs the server. Oh, and dont get caught pulling out your old dusty VCR to record the Super Bowl to watch later…thats a copyright violation. The oligarchs want to make sure the plebes eventually own nothing. If the masters can take it all away, the peasants will do what they’re told, be quiet about it, and smile when in sight of the masters.

“We have many values, but the most valuable value to us is profit, far and away. As a business pursuing profit above all else, supporting this administration, and always being ready and willing to bootlick, anywhere, anytime, at a moments notice, was thought to be our best shot at the highest profitability possible for our members. Unfortunately, like most of the supporters of trump, his administration, and his best-picked people, we’re left embarrassed, and holding a (figurative) bag of shit, with nothing to show for it except for smelly hands. Sorry. Can we get a do-over?”

What! I’ve been waiting for my “trickle-down” check to come in the mail since 1990. I’m starting to think it’s never going to come. If it takes too much longer, I may have to reevaluate my faith in trickle-down economics. 🙄

LOL! Other than in here and in person, I keep my political views to myself. I can’t believe the number of business people with political stickers on their trucks.

I have a Panasonic Toughbook CF-30 with Ubuntu on it. IIRC, it’s 18, and the specs don’t support upgrading it anymore with Ubuntu. I was thinking of going to Mint, but I haven’t really kept up with the various available Linux flavors, for the last few years. 2 of the 3 USBports have stopped working, but that’s a $30 part replacement. The wifi see,s really slow as well, but I’m not sure whether that’s a hardware or software issue.

I’ve owned a franchise business, which is HQ’d in Canada for 14 years now, and it’s been a great experience, in no small part, due to the great colleagues up there. There have been annual seminars/conferences the entire time, held in various locations throughout the US and Canada, so nobody has to travel excessively far. I’ve enjoyed the break of a solitary road trip for several of them. This year it’s only up in Canada or via Zoom. I was actually planning on visiting some friends in Western VA, then seeing some family in PA, then more family in SD - and to drop off some (too big/expensive to ship) stuff, followed by a visit to some family in ND, then finally to the conference in Calgary.

Based on how troublesome things have gotten with the “47 shades of orange” guy, I guess it’ll be better to just stay home, and certainly cheaper. The only thing worse than having to live under the shadow of a talking Orange Julius, would be to become the victim of a crime in Canada due to my VA tags (probably not that likely), or to have difficulty returning to the US.

I’d sure love to see Canada and the UK simply shut X down within their borders. There were some grumbling awhilemago, in the UK Parliament of naming Musk as an extremist, based on his ability to not only buy influence, but his ability through X to promote or censor speech as he likes, influencing elections, or even overthrowing governments.

I love how a billionaire “puppet master” can think so low of everyone, like nobody is intelligent to think for themselves, instead, relying on some unnamed “puppet master.” Yet he cannot name any alleged puppet master leading the over 1000 protests. What a freaking Muppet. Sorry - I don’t mean to insult the Muppets.

Says the man who has a maid, a butler, a staff waiting with a coffee and strudel for him at work. Every conference call is set up and waiting on him to start. Everyone is lined up to lick his boots at all time, to ensure the person who’s time is “the most valuable” never has to spend an extra second listening to anyone or anything they don’t want to. Give me a break.

The thing is that they don’t govern. The MAGA crowd does nothing. There’s no constructive legislation. Everything proposed is to remove some imaginary barrier that keeps society from running well, but they make things worse. Even with good legislation, some people are wronged, and get left behind. Conservatives use the bad stories to justify doing nothing good.

The whole narrative with firing “unelected government bureaucrats” who are ruining our lives is BS from the start. The “unelected government bureaucrats” are simply employees doing the bidding of our elected officials. Trump has every right to pursue an agenda of shutting down institutions and culling the herd of government employees - he won the election. The correct way is through Congressional legislation. The problem is, that he and Musk/Doge DO NOT have the support of the people. The MAGATS know the legislation would never pass with the approval of the people, through their elected representatives - so they go about doing things illegally.