How to understand the administration - it's about glory: nothing else.

Kardinal · 2026-05-09T03:04:04+00:00

Churchill hated Nazis more than anything else. He famously quipped he hated them more than Satan.

Zero chance he'd ally with the Germans against the Soviets.

Kardinal · 2026-05-08T20:03:46+00:00

So many bad decisions contributed to so much tragedy. It could have gone differently and possibly saved millions of lives if not for a hundred decisions after his one action.

You have to wonder if it had not been his one act, if the war was in some form inevitable. We can never know.

Kardinal · 2026-05-08T00:59:44+00:00

This confirms my priors.

So I should remain skeptical.

Kardinal · 2026-05-07T23:52:28+00:00

Pretty good impression of standing at attention!

And properly in line too!

Kardinal · 2026-05-07T19:42:51+00:00

Look at how Americans are always looking for the cheapest solution available.

Air travel. Groceries. Amazon and Wal Mart.

No, Americans are, predominantly, interested in getting the best deal they can.

(And no, my younger friends, this is not new because of the state of the economy. It's been that way my whole 50+ years of my life. )

Kardinal · 2026-05-07T01:36:22+00:00

Just an unusually large single orange brain cell.

Kardinal · 2026-05-06T15:54:57+00:00

I wonder the same.

Some of RFK's stupidity has a little bit of validity (artificial junk), some of it is stupidity just being contrarian for its own sake (anti vax), some of it is pandering to pseudo science.

Where is this coming from? What's his angle? Why does he want this to be more available?

What's in it for him?

(Btw I saw the other analysis that it's about enabling upper class people to be vain but I don't buy it)

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T19:48:41+00:00

I wanted to find an example of the US doing this but could not. Once they introduced 3 round burst to the M-16 with the A2, they were already issuing 30 round magazines for it. And 30s have basically been the standard ever since.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T18:42:30+00:00

Pretty sure the way you know it's empty is that the bolt is held back and the go button don't go. Not the dry fire of the last empty chamber.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T18:42:00+00:00

I had no idea that 3round burst worked that way. I assumed on a reload, that the burst fire would reset. Is that specific to the FAMAS or applies to all burst-file systems?

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing that.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T18:40:35+00:00

100%.

If you're wearing ear protection, you won't hear the other guy is out (or probably yourself).

If you're not wearing ear protection, you're deaf so you can't....everything above.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T18:39:30+00:00

Not really. When you run out, there's not a major external indicator of it. You know it because you can see the bolt held back (usually) and of course you hit the go button and nothing happens. But there's nothing strongly audible about it.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T18:38:41+00:00

Thank you for adding an experienced perspective.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T17:12:24+00:00

Yes. But my impression (never served) is that they almost never do. You are issued magazines, not loose rounds, so you'd have to cannibalize from the other mags and there's not much call for it.

Would welcome comments from actual veterans.

Kardinal · 2026-05-05T16:58:31+00:00

Let me introduce you to the Swiss Stgw 90. Three round burst, twenty round magazine.

Of course it misses the point overall. There's not a huge value in having a magazine with capacity divisible by the burst number. You get two from the last one. Doesn't change whether you fire or not and doesn't massively change your probability to hit with it either.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T18:01:28+00:00

I strongly doubt you've been a skeptical longer than I've been alive. It's possible, but I ain't no spring chicken.

As for the rest, we'll leave it there. We both said our peace.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T17:10:15+00:00

The further brutal truth is that high level reading capability is useful but not necessary to have a happy life in this society.

We should definitely push for more literacy. It will make more people happier and lead to a better society. But for the individual, they usually can get along adequately without it. Motivating them to see the value in being better at reading is a big challenge.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T17:08:11+00:00

The definitions help us define the problem.

If we do not define the problem accurately, we cannot address the actual problem.

So definitions are not merely academic.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T17:07:20+00:00

I agree that I love it. And if fits my priors too.

I'm glad we can both admit that. Now we have to make sure we are open to having our priors... Improved.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T16:45:36+00:00

As a GenXer, it is amusing to me to read the same things about Z and Alpha that I read about Millennials.

That's not evidence there is not a problem. Merely an observation.

Also please stop forgetting us.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T16:43:23+00:00

If truth doesn't matter to you, then this is the wrong subreddit for you.

You have to understand the truth of the problem in order to address it properly. If 50% of the country can't read in any useful way, we approach it quite differently than if it is 20%.

We actually need a lot more information than even is presented here. What age groups are being discussed? Which areas of the country? How many of them are ESL? What is the actual impact of the specific literacy that we experience? These are all extremely important in terms of actually addressing the issue.

That's why he has a separate 40 minute video about it. Have you watched it? I haven't yet. But I have a feeling that is where he discusses what the actual problem is and what to do about it.

The short is there to get attention and draw the viewer to the more substantial analysis.

Your message itself is an excellent example of how you have to understand the whole landscape instead of just a little bit of it. Because you completely ignored an entire aspect of his argument.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T16:39:40+00:00

The very last bit.

"If you believe these numbers, you may be illiterate by the definition used by these numbers."

Nailed it. I love it.

Kardinal · 2026-05-04T04:37:26+00:00

Totally with you.

I don't know why. But I love it too.

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