Sounds like a pretty shit deal for anyone looking to join the US military. We left a lot of blood in Afghanistan (and Iraq), and we shed a lot more of it for nothing. And all the weapons/training/money we gave to Afghanistan when straight to the people we were supposedly fighting.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Call it Manifest Destiny and it sounds so much nicer. Nevermind that China has a better claim to Taiwan than we ever did for this country.

Well, I live right outside Camp Lejeune, NC and everyone in my neighborhood is a current or former Marine, and all I ever hear about is how bad the military has gotten. And I see it. Morale is lower than I ever experience during my time. Recruiting and retention problems are well documented, so you don't even have to take my word for that.

It is personal experience. I saw what happened to the military between 1999-2014 (I had broken service; 1999-2003 and 2006-2014). Why on earth would I encourage my son or daughter to join an organization that I loved dearly, but has been deliberately weakened, broken and shit on by 4 consecutive administrations?

It took 2 nukes to force Japan to surrender. The first one was not enough and it's pretty well established that they believed we didn't have another. After the second, they surrendered, because they thought we had more.

Preferably none, but certainly not for the sake of Taiwan.

I have a B.A. in History (ASU). If you paid taxes between 2010-2019, you helped pay for it + a whole lot of cool toys I bought with the excess money.

Oh no, we're above wars nowadays and shocked....SHOCKED that there could be war in Europe in the 21st century...

Also, fossil fuels are the devil.

I mean that China could beat the US in an all-out war. Hands down.

100 miles of water isn't shit. They have boats, planes, missiles. They don't even need to invade, only to establish a naval/air blockade (in effect a siege) and starve em out.

The Russian military/economy isn't even close to China's. Russia's power lays primarily in its nuclear arsenal, which, thankfully, hasn't been used yet. I'm still waiting for them to use some of their chemical weapons.

China has a lot more bodies. They also have North Korea on a leash, and I have little doubt that Russia and Iran would also be happy to get behind the big dog for a WW3. The only worthwhile allies we've had for the last century are Britain, Australia and Canada, and I see bigger and wider cracks between us every year.

China is THE ascendant world power at the moment, and the US is losing ground fast. Militarily and economically. They will take Taiwan back, one way or another.

Well, you need only look at what happened in Afghanistan, what is happening in Ukraine to find your answer.

S/F

Taiwan is where any war China initiates is going to start.

Cutting off trade/embargos is only going to happen after that, and if those are effective, they will only drive the Chinese into a position where they have little to lose and everything to gain by directly engaging the US militarily. I highly doubt they would pull off something like Pearl Harbor (i.e. a direct attack on US soil), but they certainly won't hesitate to start sinking ships/shooting down planes in what they deem their territory. Once things start escalating, there is no telling how far they will go, but nuclear is always an option.

Even if they attacked US territories like Guam, I don't see any appetite in the US for a war with China, and due to multiple levels of government/leadership failure over the past couple decades, hardly anyone wants to serve anymore, and those that do are usually unqualified.

And get your hands out of your pockets!

with nukes. it took 2 of them, and if they had known those were the only 2 we had, they'd have kept fighting (and still lost, but probably with much larger loss of life/destruction).

America bites back? who exactly do you think is going to go fight the Chinese to defend Taiwan? i served 13 years in the Corps through two wars, and it ain't gonna be me or any of my kids. Send your own kids to die for Taiwan.

Ain't it crazy how much this century is beginning to look a whole lot like the last one?

It will happen.

China has gotten to a point in time where they can win an actual war against the US and they know it. They'd rather just absorb them without a military conflict, but I can't imagine they are going to wait much longer.

I have no experience with TVA, but they sound horrid.

The point I was trying to make is that the problems probably have a lot less to do with whatever underlying technology is used (renewables, fosssil, nuke, etc.), and are entirely the result of just absolute shit management born from lack of any competition.

I am guilty of using a Roku Ultra with my non-connected "smart TV". I might not get around whatever information Roku harvests from me, but at least the TV manufacturer (LG) can't install whatever sort of spyware/crap they want to or backdoor you.

I used a Sceptre TV for a while, which is one of the few modern cheapo TVs that come without any sort of networking, but it's an utter piece of shit and I can't recommend it. I agree with magzteel:

They suck. I live in an area surrounded by them, but serviced by JOEMC (Jones-Onslow Electric something). Any time there is a power outage due to weather or accidents, it takes their customers forever to regain power. Hurricane Florence was months for some people. We had power back on within 4 days. It's always the same for the 11 years I have lived here.

Duke Energy is just awful. I am so grateful not to be at their mercy.

Why don't you just buy a phone with a removable battery? My Nokia 6300 works fine.

Fuck you.

Wow, what a grift...

I am saving all my resources for the coming of Cthulhu. This shit is just fucking silly.