The City on Fire

Quote: Gandler

Yeah I would not even go that far (because "hate speech" is a loose term now a days). Unless you post something illegal it should not be used against you.

Understood, but you would pretty clearly define it.

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Maybe. I don't think too much about it, Christians are not an issue for me (other than an occasional annoyance).
The will may there with some very fringe churches, but even then I don't think so.

I think it is, but they're mostly impotent now. Six of one, half dozen, anyway. Even if the will was there, they mostly couldn't do anything with it.

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Huge threat. Especially if you travel aboard.
They make up less than 1% of America (far less), and look at how many terror deaths they have caused in the last 20 years? And, bear in mind we don't even have that many extremists, most Muslim Americans are pretty moderate and hardly religious. Like we talked about in the other thread there are some countries where extremism is the norm.....

I don't, and wouldn't. There's already plenty of stuff in this country I haven't seen and don't plan to ever see. Unless you're referring to deaths on our soil, I don't care.

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Not yet. But they are doxing people and camping outside the houses of Officers and others they don't like.
How long until they take it a step further?

Hard to say. I think most would be too scared to do anything from anywhere except behind a computer, but not all of them. I think the only thing that you have to worry about is that there will be some kind of significant counter group that, "Returns fire," sooner or later. Except, they'll be doing it with guns.

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Yes there is truth to that. But, this guys was pretty extreme talking to him in person if politics came up.

True, but I think you kind of can be, in person. At least, that's been my experience. I'd sooner detail the more controversial aspects of some of my views (which I think are mostly moderate, but that fact notwithstanding) in front of a group of strangers in person than on Facebook.

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See and that is the problem. Its hard to find a direct civilian equivalent. My current position is Dental Specialist (68E), equivalent to a Dental Assistant in terms of training. However, you also have to train for combat and do a lot of general Army stuff. I mean the closest private civilian equivalent would be a Dental Assistant who is also an armed security guard for the clinic (if such a role exists).

I'm just going off of their own recruitment website comparing it to private sector. Their verbiage, not mine. I can't imagine that's a common position. What's the point of your position, anyway? To render dental service to the army and families of army? Legitimate question. I just don't understand why this thing would exist for a reservist.

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I used to be a medic (68W), probably the closest civilian equivalent was EMT-b, but in the military you can do more advanced things than you can in the civilian world. Also, the training is all about battlefield response. So the closest equivalent in the private sector would probably be Armed Security Guard who is an EMT (these positions do actually exist at some casinos). I mean in terms of direct pay the Army is less for both (especially considering the number of hours and other duties etc...)

I would have them make Federal Minimum Wage with exactly zero benefits. If they want to serve the country, they can serve the country. Active duty would get paid a bit more, and obviously, you have to provide medical for them. They would not receive any tuition assistance or other benefits, except for retirement, though.

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TA is capped at 4500 a year or 16 credit hours a year. Hardly an overwhelming benefit.

The recruiting site said $4,000, but that's not far off. It's a ridiculous benefit. Why should I pay taxes and have student loan debt and essentially be paying for someone who mostly works one weekend per month to get $4,500 a year towards college? That doesn't make any sense. I did my first two years in Community College before transferring, one of those two years would have been almost completely free, except the taxpayers are paying someone who works one weekend a month to get it instead. It just makes so little sense it's absurd.

The Federal Government, of course, should have no role in education and should not be able to offer TA as a benefit for any Federal job.

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My regular employer offers education re-imbursement too (with no limit). Most major employers off their workers education re-imbursement (even Walmart). This is hardly a unique and impressive benefit.

And, even if I use 100% of it every year (I don't), it only costs tax payers 4500.

What other crazy benefits am I leaving out?

I worked at a Walmart Distribution Center and the offer is EXTREMELY conditional. For part-timers, you have to remain with the company for some amount of time after you graduate for all the payments to be made in full. It's not as if you work for them and they're paying it along the way. You also can't be a temporary employee of any kind, even if you otherwise meet the criteria.

The Wal-Mart one is also specifically an online degree through a handful of Universities and they also control the major, or give you a small number of majors to choose from. It's not as if you just pick a school, pick a major and here's some money.

It's honestly very stupid.

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Well, I think have the ability to pay into the plan is reasonable. (active duty its 100% free).

The Army has the best TV ads I think of any organization. 100% money well spent.

By that logic any gov job is socialized.... Which is true, but divisive phrasing. (I don't view socialism as a bad thing, but I know you do).

Why is it reasonable? There are many private employers such that a part-time employee @ one weekend a month, for those few jobs of that nature that even exist, that you can not buy into the insurance program---even in those cases that the employer offers one, which isn't always the case. I say Federal Minimum Wage and not a penny more.

It's not money well-spent at all because their presence in the market creates additional demand and drives prices up for other companies who would like to advertise. If they left the market, there would be additional advertising spots for other companies and prices would have to go down if those spots could not be filled.

There are some Government jobs that are necessary, but aside from active duty military, they should all be low-pay and low-benefits by a mile compared to any private sector job. They should all pretty much be equally awful in terms of compensation such that nobody would ever even contemplate doing them for some sort of financial motive.

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Or succeed. The future can be brighter.

Theoretically, but it won't be. It's just going to keep getting worse.

Quote: Mission146

Understood, but you would pretty clearly define it.



I think it is, but they're mostly impotent now. Six of one, half dozen, anyway. Even if the will was there, they mostly couldn't do anything with it.



I don't, and wouldn't. There's already plenty of stuff in this country I haven't seen and don't plan to ever see. Unless you're referring to deaths on our soil, I don't care.



Hard to say. I think most would be too scared to do anything from anywhere except behind a computer, but not all of them. I think the only thing that you have to worry about is that there will be some kind of significant counter group that, "Returns fire," sooner or later. Except, they'll be doing it with guns.




True, but I think you kind of can be, in person. At least, that's been my experience. I'd sooner detail the more controversial aspects of some of my views (which I think are mostly moderate, but that fact notwithstanding) in front of a group of strangers in person than on Facebook.



I'm just going off of their own recruitment website comparing it to private sector. Their verbiage, not mine. I can't imagine that's a common position. What's the point of your position, anyway? To render dental service to the army and families of army? Legitimate question. I just don't understand why this thing would exist for a reservist.



I would have them make Federal Minimum Wage with exactly zero benefits. If they want to serve the country, they can serve the country. Active duty would get paid a bit more, and obviously, you have to provide medical for them. They would not receive any tuition assistance or other benefits, except for retirement, though.



The recruiting site said $4,000, but that's not far off. It's a ridiculous benefit. Why should I pay taxes and have student loan debt and essentially be paying for someone who mostly works one weekend per month to get $4,500 a year towards college? That doesn't make any sense. I did my first two years in Community College before transferring, one of those two years would have been almost completely free, except the taxpayers are paying someone who works one weekend a month to get it instead. It just makes so little sense it's absurd.

The Federal Government, of course, should have no role in education and should not be able to offer TA as a benefit for any Federal job.



I worked at a Walmart Distribution Center and the offer is EXTREMELY conditional. For part-timers, you have to remain with the company for some amount of time after you graduate for all the payments to be made in full. It's not as if you work for them and they're paying it along the way. You also can't be a temporary employee of any kind, even if you otherwise meet the criteria.

The Wal-Mart one is also specifically an online degree through a handful of Universities and they also control the major, or give you a small number of majors to choose from. It's not as if you just pick a school, pick a major and here's some money.

It's honestly very stupid.



Why is it reasonable? There are many private employers such that a part-time employee @ one weekend a month, for those few jobs of that nature that even exist, that you can not buy into the insurance program---even in those cases that the employer offers one, which isn't always the case. I say Federal Minimum Wage and not a penny more.

It's not money well-spent at all because their presence in the market creates additional demand and drives prices up for other companies who would like to advertise. If they left the market, there would be additional advertising spots for other companies and prices would have to go down if those spots could not be filled.

There are some Government jobs that are necessary, but aside from active duty military, they should all be low-pay and low-benefits by a mile compared to any private sector job. They should all pretty much be equally awful in terms of compensation such that nobody would ever even contemplate doing them for some sort of financial motive.



Theoretically, but it won't be. It's just going to keep getting worse.

Have you heard of Pell Grants? The Federal government already gives thousands a semester for any undergraduate course to literally any adult..... You should not have been in any student debt for community College, that can easily be funded through grants at no cost....

4500 a year (which most people don't even use) is a nothing burger compared to Pell Grants on Federal budget....

The military (most) makes below Federal minimum wage if you factor in the hours. And the "techically you are working 24/7"


Why would you sign up for a dangerous job with no health benefits? Do you understand how abusrd that sounds? You may get shot at, but no healthcare, pray for the best.....

Its not a common position in the Reserves, my unit needed me in the slot so I said I would go to the training. We don't service civilians or family members, we are a medical support unit, so we are backfill for when Army Hospitals are understaffed or overworked (we "deploy" to stateside hospitals).

I am huge on education and I think its good for employers to encourage further degrees and certifications.

As for Wal Mart, I am currently taking some classes online at American Public University (American Military University), and people on there say Walmart puts them through the courses (totally free for them). Its a good school for online courses (it was started as an online school in the 90s so they have it down), and it's great that Walmart pays people to attend.

But, yeah in the Army TA has no requirements, I can sign up for any random class on https://www.goarmyed.com.
you click find the school and class through there and they handle the rest. You don't actually have to deal with the school directly as far as payment, its all streamlined and electronic. I will say it is a good system. It also tracks your results and GPA from all courses at all institutions so its a great way to track all credits from various places. I think more employers should have a site like this.

Quote: Gandler

Have you heard of Pell Grants? The Federal government already gives thousands a semester for any undergraduate course to literally any adult..... You should not have been in any student debt for community College, that can easily be funded through grants at no cost....

I don't know when that was, but they certainly didn't tell me about it.

Oh, never mind, they said my parents made too much money. I remember that now. Just looked it up. Of course, they didn't contribute anything to my education financially, though I did live extremely low-rent my first two years of college until I transferred out of state, so that's definitely a contribution.

Also, the Federal Government shouldn't do that. It creates an artificial demand floor which enables the schools, many of which are already public, to charge more.

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4500 a year (which most people don't even use) is a nothing burger compared to Pell Grants on Federal budget....

Good deal. Get rid of both. Also, the Federal Government should not back student loans whatsoever AND they should be eligible for bankruptcy filing after a certain number of years.

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The military (most) makes below Federal minimum wage if you factor in the hours. And the "techically you are working 24/7"

Okay, so did I managing a hotel. That's if you looked at it in terms of minimum wage with getting 1.5x for anything over forty. After I got a few raises I was above that. I guess another exception would be the part where I worked 70+ hours per week with five vacation days per year. I guess you could also say I was technically 24/7, since I had to go in if something happened.

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Why would you sign up for a dangerous job with no health benefits? Do you understand how abusrd that sounds? You may get shot at, but no healthcare, pray for the best.....

You would obviously have your medical care covered if the cause of the medical necessity was directly related. I would HOPE that would already be the case.

Also, people do dangerous jobs with no health benefits all the time. Want me to list some?

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Its not a common position in the Reserves, my unit needed me in the slot so I said I would go to the training. We don't service civilians or family members, we are a medical support unit, so we are backfill for when Army Hospitals are understaffed or overworked (we "deploy" to stateside hospitals).

That's kind of interesting. Have you ever had to be deployed?

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I am huge on education and I think its good for employers to encourage further degrees and certifications.

Employers can do as they wish. Theoretically, better pay/benefits will result in retaining better employees. That's precisely why the Federal Government should not offer anything even close to better, or even as good, as the private sector does. They should offer the worst that the private sector can theoretically offer, which is Federal (or state) minimum wage and zero benefits.

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As for Wal Mart, I am currently taking some classes online at American Public University (American Military University), and people on there say Walmart puts them through the courses (totally free for them). Its a good school for online courses (it was started as an online school in the 90s so they have it down), and it's great that Walmart pays people to attend.

I think it's $365/year, or American Public University might be the free one. I'm sure Walmart profits off of it somehow. I should know more about it, but since I already had a Bachelor's Degree, I took all of two seconds to glance over those materials and threw them in the trashcan. I think you're supposed to only major in business with a lot of them, but American Public University might be an exception.

Walmart has really good health insurance, too. It's only slightly more expensive than being uninsured and having direct costs bankrupt you. The nice thing about the alternative, of course, is not having to work at Walmart.

If you want to know why I worked there, start with the $18.45/hour base pay and start adding up the per hour incentives. Everything else is worthless. I don't know how many employers care about APU, but I do know my Alma (it doesn't) Mater is maybe slightly better than that...and I'd consider it fairly worthless if I saw it on an application.

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But, yeah in the Army TA has no requirements, I can sign up for any random class on https://www.goarmyed.com.
you click find the school and class through there and they handle the rest. You don't actually have to deal with the school directly as far as payment, its all streamlined and electronic. I will say it is a good system. It also tracks your results and GPA from all courses at all institutions so its a great way to track all credits from various places. I think more employers should have a site like this.

Maybe they should, maybe they shouldn't; I don't care what they do.  I just know the Federal Government should not offer any of it. The taxpayer is Peter and the college/university is Paul. But, I don't blame you for taking full advantage of it.

Quote: Gandler

Wow this is one of the most aggregious cases of selective quoting that I have seen.

Where did I say slavery is good?

You take a quote of me saying America has been better than most countries (empirically true) and somehow skew it to be a defense of slavery?

I pointed out the timetable of countries working to remove slavery. Which as you may or may not know still occurs in other parts of the world...

Again America is better than most countries. This is not a slavery defense, this is a statement about America (not sure how this needs to be pointed out).....

Slavery is wrong. The history on this planet of slavery is meaningless to me. It's wrong. I could care less about comparisons to other countries. Who cares if other countries are corrupt. I hold this country to a higher standard due to our constitution and declaration of independence. ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.

Juneteenth, what a stupid meaningless
name for something. I must admit
before this week I'd never heard it
before. Yawn, who cares..

Quote: Evenbob

Yawn, who cares..

Black people.

Quote: ams288

Black people.

No they don't. Slavery ended
155 years ago. Again, who
cares. Older than old news.

Quote: Evenbob

Juneteenth, what a stupid meaningless
name for something. I must admit
before this week I'd never heard it
before. Yawn, who cares..

I thought I was the only one never much heard of it. Lets watch and see them try to make it the new Independence Day and get rid of the old one.

Quote: Evenbob

No they don't. Slavery ended
155 years ago. Again, who
cares. Older than old news.

Trump says he made Juneteenth famous.

Quote: rxwine

Trump says he made Juneteenth famous.

Never heard of it till the
thing with his rally this
week. The secret to naming
a holiday is you have a clue
in the name to what the
holiday means. Tgiving,
Xmas, 4th of July, Labor
Day, Memorial Day, MLK Day,
etc. Other names for Juneteenth
were Freedom Day, Jubilee Day,
Liberation Day. But no, those
were too obvious, lets name
it something so confusing
and off the wall nobody will
care. Again, yawn.