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Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
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CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
Trump dispenses with trials, orders military strike on alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking boat (Now up to 2, 3, 4...)
- By wing2000
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 611 Replies
Retired Lt. General Mark Hertling:
"Leaders are shaped by their experiences—and some experiences harden your reverence for standards, while others distort it.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth frequently cites two moments from his Iraq experience as forming his worldview on military justice and rules of engagement. The first is a 2005 rules-of-engagement briefing by a JAG officer that he attended and which he has repeatedly described as excessively restrictive—and, in his view, dangerous. The second is the May 2006 “Tharthar Island” incident in which several detainees were killed after being captured. Three soldiers of Hegseth’s former unit were later convicted, and the brigade commander received a formal reprimand for toxic leadership and command-climate failures.
All these events sparked deep professional debates throughout the Army at the time. For commanders across Iraq and those preparing to go to combat, the cases underscored that a leader, even just through the climate of their command, communicates to their unit the boundaries of lawful actions—and that accountability is essential. In the case of Hegseth’s old unit, others viewed the investigations as unfair or overly legalistic. Secretary Hegseth’s public statements over the past decade reflect a belief that military legal oversight constrains warfighters, that investigations burden troops, and that commanders should be freer—rather than more disciplined—in the use of force."
www.thebulwark.com
"Leaders are shaped by their experiences—and some experiences harden your reverence for standards, while others distort it.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth frequently cites two moments from his Iraq experience as forming his worldview on military justice and rules of engagement. The first is a 2005 rules-of-engagement briefing by a JAG officer that he attended and which he has repeatedly described as excessively restrictive—and, in his view, dangerous. The second is the May 2006 “Tharthar Island” incident in which several detainees were killed after being captured. Three soldiers of Hegseth’s former unit were later convicted, and the brigade commander received a formal reprimand for toxic leadership and command-climate failures.
All these events sparked deep professional debates throughout the Army at the time. For commanders across Iraq and those preparing to go to combat, the cases underscored that a leader, even just through the climate of their command, communicates to their unit the boundaries of lawful actions—and that accountability is essential. In the case of Hegseth’s old unit, others viewed the investigations as unfair or overly legalistic. Secretary Hegseth’s public statements over the past decade reflect a belief that military legal oversight constrains warfighters, that investigations burden troops, and that commanders should be freer—rather than more disciplined—in the use of force."
Pete Hegseth, Moral Failure, and the Erosion of Military Legitimacy
Congress needs to find out if any laws were broken and who is responsible.
www.thebulwark.com
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Spending on Welfare is 'unchristian'
- By Ellesmere
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 39 Replies
Productivity–Pay Tracker
Change 1979q4–2025q2:
Productivity
+87.3%
Hourly pay
+32.7%
Productivity has grown 2.7x as much as pay
The graph indicates that from 1948 until 1973 hourly wages and worker productivity operated largely in tandem!
starting in 1974, however, this link began to unravel - hourly compensation flat-lined while productivity continued with its upward trajectory!
Between 1979 and 2025 productivity increased by 87.3% while wages increased by a modest 32.7%!
That translates into an average increase of 1.4% per year in productivity versus 0,6% average increase in wages
Even !he advantage of a 2.7X factor in favor of productivity wasn't enough to satisfy some corporations transfer their manufacturing to off-shore locations - meanwhile citing high labor costs in America as the underlying justification!
Fast forward to 2025 with the Trump Administration with massive cuts being made to fund massive tax cuts for the wealthy
- federal s of Nov 18, 211,000 government employees have left the workforce
- insisting on stringent rules for the 42 million SNAP recipients,
- dispensing with financial support for Obamacare that translates into 10 million losing their healthcare insurance -a projected 15 million by 2034
- insisting that prices are decreasing despite evidence confirming the contrary
The wealthiest 50% of Americans own 98% of America's wealth, those at the very bottom of the other 50% with a combined 2% of the wealth and receiving government assistance have become the designated target by the rest of society!-
Meanwhile the top 0,1% which control 13.8% of the nation's wealth and benefited most from the productivity/wage gap since 1979 are waiting at the front of the line because they are deserving of yet another tax-cut - adding to the national debt that becomes the responsibility of all Americans
"According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent. For comparison, the average American taxpayer in the same year paid 13 percent."
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"The US government is estimated to have lost around $135 billion in revenue due to corporate tax avoidance in 2017. In contrast, corporate philanthropy has amounted to less than $20 billion a year.""
"Corporations shifted nearly $1 trillion in global profits to tax havens in 2022—depriving countries all over the world of desperately needed tax revenue.
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 23 of the largest and most profitable companies in the US paid no federal corporate income taxes from 2018-2022. And 109 corporations paid zero federal tax in at least one of those years."
The wealthiest members in American society are waiting in the wings while the poorer segments are fighting over "THE SCRAPS" - denouncing each other for taking advantage of the system! while the real culprits get a "FREE PASS!"
Do the rich pay their fair share?
Billionaire wealth and corporate profits have surged. New Trump administration proposals will affect both. Are they paying their fair share?
www.oxfamamerica.org
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Trump dispenses with trials, orders military strike on alleged Venezuelan drug-trafficking boat (Now up to 2, 3, 4...)
- News & Current Events (Articles Required)
- 611 Replies
It's crystal clear the combat decision was made by Bradley; Pete was busy learning how to drive a bus.
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