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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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It always amuses Wiley that the generation that has benefited from council/social housing, free health care, free university education, universal rather than targetted benefits etc is appalled when the younger generation asks for something similar.....
"Dont be silly, Trixie, we simply cant afford it, the debt is way too high, we can barely afford the repayments" "What on earth are they teaching you at school"
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Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
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| Secretary Hegseth has dismissed or passed over seventy-five generals, half whom are either women or people of colour. CNN |
There's a few surprises hidden away in those numbers. First off, politicians don't normally get involved in the promotional practices of the armed forces, not in peacetime anyway. What the hell do they know? I shouldn't think the average British Defence Secretary would dismiss or pass over a single general in an average stint.
Maybe a soft-shoe shuffle at the Chief of Staff level but that only comes round once every four years or so. Secretary Hegseth's only been at it for two.
But that's not the strangest statistic. The British army has, at any one time, about fifty generals all told -- and even that number comes in for a ton of criticism about goldplating brass hats. The US army has at least thirty-seven black or female generals. I say 'at least' because there may be some Pete hasn't got round to yet.
Counting in white males you could, by my reckoning, invade Kharg Island just using US generals.
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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Secretary Hegseth has dismissed or passed over seventy-five generals, half whom are either women or people of colour. CNN
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The worry for Wiley, behind the headline is not the US' diversity targets, or ability to conduct the current war, it is the USs' ability to conduct future wars.
Generals and Chefs of Staff etc do have jobs to do, to warn the Secretary of State for War (sic) that his actions do have consequences.
It would be easy say for the Secretary to blame military figures, who disagree with him, on political differences, on service turf wars, and sack these figures as obstructive, and then replace them with someone that agrees with him.
It is actually not so easy to replace the loss of much of the Patriot missile stockpile, as it was the (hyperthetical) General (s), who warned about the dangers of the Iran misadventure.
Pete is currently asking Congress for an urgent $67.1 billion in war-related supplemental funding, split into $21 billion for military pay, fuel, and unit readiness, and $46 billion for munitions production, hypersonics, and counter-drone systems............
It can be done but you wont see all these Patriots for years...
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Wile E. Coyote
In: Arizona
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Its going to be a tough negotiation for Witkoff.
He is going to be flying around Gulf states, trying to get them to fund the rebuilding of damaged US bases.
"It will of course offer you the protection you need"
" Of course Steve, we would like you back" "But can we buy some of your Patriots to defend ourselves"
"Well as you know, there is tremendous demand for Patriots" "We can put you on the list"
"We would rather spend $5Billion on Patriots"
"Of course we will put you on the list"
"Can you tell me when they will be available"
"Well its a list"
"And how do you propose defending the base we will have spent $1 billion rebuilding ?"
"Well as you know there is a list for Patriots" "I guess we will evacuate before any hostile action until Patriots arrive"
"Thank you for your kind and generous offer for us to rebuild your base"
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Mick Harper
Site Admin

In: London
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| It always amuses Wiley that the generation that has benefited from council/social housing, free health care, free university education, universal rather than targetted benefits etc is appalled when the younger generation asks for something similar..... |
Actually, we say that during the Golden Generation, the GNP per head was growing at 3% so we could afford all these things. I'm not saying we deserved it, I'm just saying the country could afford it.
| "Dont be silly, Trixie, we simply cant afford it, the debt is way too high, we can barely afford the repayments" "What on earth are they teaching you at school" |
The contract was broken at both ends. The 3% disappeared, the 2% getting free tertiary education ballooned to 50%, the council housing stock was sold via right-to-buy, health care went from there's a lot of it about to we'll send you for tests until we've cracked it and every time benefits were targeted some well-meaning twat made them universal in case someone had slipped through the net.
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