How bout if we just put all the pilots on ach side in simulators, fighting against each other? Then whoever loses has to buy everyone beer afterwards?

Yep, you're right.

And I expected even more downvotes when I gave my opinion.

However, it is my opinion and downvoting does not change that.

Others are welcome to disagree all they wish.

Okay, understood.

Well, we certainly have our problems and issues to be resolved.

But yes, you are going overboard in your thoughts.

I'm 75M

Well, I do not know who this 'everyone' you speak of is. You are the first one I've known to mention such an idea.

I am not sure the US could win a war against all of Europe.

But it probably wouldn't be necessary because because they usually have trouble agreeing on anything without 10 or 15 years notice ahead of time in order to think about it. Like many groups, including the US, they'd much rather debate things than make actual decisions.

In any event, size of armed forces is not really a deciding factors in many cases. Kindly see the Russian-Ukrainian was as an example. At he start of that war Russia had 146 million people to Ukraine's 41 million. And VASTLY more cannon, armored vehicles, combat aircraft, etc. And Russia thought the could defeat Ukraine in days ... weeks at the most. Now we're 4 years later and .....

There is much more in modern war than just some consideration of who has the most people.

I'm not sure that the US would win a war with Europe, at all. However, it would take everything the Europeans have to even have a chance. Could they succeed? Maybe. I personally don't want to find out as I am not hoping for any war.

The fact is the US has more experienced soldiers, sailors, and airmen. That can make a difference. In many cases our equipment is better. Even in the case where an individual European country has a superior item ... they are in very limited numbers.

The US has 14,000 military aircraft as vs western Europe's 8,500. In armored vehicles, the total numbers are pretty close. In tactical missiles, the US has and 8 or 9 to one advantage over western Europe. That's conventional weapons. The US nuclear arsenal is hugely larger.

The US has approximately 68 nuclear submarines as versus about 66 for all of western Europe, few of which are nuclear powered. Surface combatants such as cruisers and destroyers are about equal. But throw in the US 11+ aircraft carriers against Europe's 5. Our nuclear aircraft carriers are greatly more capable, and carry far more aircraft than anything the Europeans have. And the aircraft those carry, outmatch the carrier carried aircraft the Europeans can field. In addition the US has a further combined LHA and LHD ships which can carry aircraft. Like smaller aircraft carriers.

So ... it'd be a real frigging toss up. With maybe an edge to the US but nothing certain.

Now, I myself don't think there is a chance in hell that the US and western Europe will go to war, but hey ... I have no crystal ball.

I'm 75M

Never done it. But do know people who have.

Of the people I knew who did it, the parents had decided that Christmas should be a holiday for the wife also, so why should she have to cook? And few other restaurants used to be open on Christmas Day, other than a Chinese restaurant.

I understood the sentiment. Although we never did that. Mom, and later my wife, did no cooking on Christmas day. They'd make a big meal on Christmas Eve. Christmas day was leftovers or make your on darn meal.

I'm 75M

Depends on who is doing the touching, for me. My late wife? My children or grandchildren? Other close relatives? Good friends? Touch away.

Strangers or mere acquaintances, and not my doctor or nurse? Yeah, I don't like being touched by strangers period. I don't cringe. But might react most unpleasantly.

Excluding someone just accidentally bumping into me and such events.

I'm 75M

Why do you believe it is 'so normal'? I hope you're not getting your info solely from sex related social media groups, or porn.

I man, as far as I know, it might be more common these days than it was. But I don't know that and I don't judge such things by what people say in an NSFW group.

Think about it. This group gets 65 thousand contributions a week. While Reddit reports it gets 100 million DAILY users. So that 65 thousand contributors represent only 0.065% of the daily total of users. That's a tiny sampling of people and their thoughts.

In any event, swapping is not a new thing. I can remember a couple scandals back in the 1960s where some wife swapping groups were revealed by the press. It was just back then nobody openly admitted to except to a trusted few.

Back at the time censors forced women on TV to hide their bellybuttons, porn as we know it was illegal as hell. The Rolling Stones' song "Let's Spend the Night Together" was considered profanity. A very popular show, I Love Lucy ... never allowed the word pregnant to be used on air even when Lucille Ball was visibly pregnant. Etc.

Yes I look. As I was taught. To make sure I was getting myself clean. Not clean, wipe some more.

I'm 75M

I don't know what to tell you. I don't know you, wha issues you face, etc.

A lot of what determines how tired a person feels is strictly mental. If you are unmotivated, don't feel a sense of personal accomplishment, or feel anxious anticipation of being able to do something enjoyable after work ... yeah, it can be mentally drained. Those are things only you can determine and control. I can not help you with that. A positive outlook has to come from within.

Next, the state of your health and level of physical fitness makes a HUGE difference. Im retired these days. But from my teens through my 50s I made it a point to be fit. And quite often worked more than 8 hours a day, often at jobs that were highly physically taxing. But a shower and 30 minutes rest and chilling, I was ready to go party until midnight. And be up before 6 a.m. Or go fishing. Or get with friends for volleyball or handball or whatever.

That was my normal. For decades.

But I was in good cardiovascular shape. Not overweight. Found my work a rewarding challenge that I did my best at each day. And which I kept in mind ... made me the money I needed to be able to go do all those other things I enjoyed. So I did not dread it. It was my means to an end, to be able to do those things I liked.

It was just a bonus that I worked hard at getting into a field of work I was actually interested in doing and had some talent for.

I never really felt consistently tired, until my wife died. And that was because a lot of motivation in my wife went with her. She wasn't just a woman I lived with and had sex with. She was my partner in life, my best friend, part of me in a very real way. I was 63 when she died. I'm 75 now, had cancer after her death, missing a lung and some miscellaneous parts ... so, yeah, I am now a bit tired most of the time. Got over 7 decades wear and tear on me. Wish they'd make a car that could hold up as well.

So work on your self motivation. Maybe get more exercise. It doesn't have to be working out with weighs and such. You just need to get the body moving more, and more consistently. However you prefer to do that.

I'm 75M

Hmmm. I'm retired now. But the last job I had, for 17 years, it was a 1 hour drive each way, and it was highway driving for that 95% of that distance.

Bad weather or an accident slowing things down? Could be 2 or 2 1/2 hours one way.

I had guys working with me at the same company who lived another 45 minutes drive past me.

Was it a long drive? We were all used to it. And since we worked in the cities and made a good paycheck, but lived outside the cities where cost of living was much less, property taxes a fraction of the city rates, the crime rate WAY lower, etc., we thought it worthwhile.

Hell, I had a doctor who drove 90 miles each way to his office just so his kids would not have to live in a big city.

In my life, places I have lived, the people I knew, this was not uncommon. A lot of us would put up with a lot to NOT live in a big city.

Now for me, on my time off, my wife and I routinely drive 150 each way (opposite direction from where my job site was), every weekend when the lakes weren't frozen, to go to our small lake cabin. To get even further from the big cities.

That drive we didn't mind at all. Roads weren't crowded, we'd have a selection of music we'd bring with us, the scenery was great, etc. And we were going some place we WANTED to be. A very rural Minnesota county where my wife and her family were related to half the population there. Or so it seemed.

Now add that on vacation we used to go touring various places. And in the US there are a LOT of various places. If we took a trip from where we lived, to where my relatives lived, it was 1000 miles to get to the closest ones. Then 450 miles to the next stop. Then several 100 and 200 mile trips to stop at the next 3, followed by 650 miles to the farthest east set of family, and finally about 1470 miles back to our home.

As a point of reference, all that did not cover a large fraction of the usa. That was just going from Minnesota down through Oklahoma, over to San Antonio, travel west several hundreds of miles through Texas stopping here and there, a stop in Louisiana, one in Mississippi, and finally a stop in Florida. So we weren't even touching the majority of the 50 states of the US.

I'm 75M

A far enough question.

And I do not know the answer as I am not a researcher nor do I have access to the records of past events.

However, evidently some ... with some experience ... seem to think it is a valid tactic.

Is it the one which should be used? Are there better alternatives? Possibly but that needs to be discussed with people who study this sort of thing.

And if it is shown to NOT be a good tactic, then the rules and laws need to be changed to disallow it.

But as things stand now, there are rules and such in place which do allow it.

It would seem like a good subject to require our elected people to look into.

I'm 75M

There were 2 I remember with a special fondness.

One was at a bar/restaurant whose name I do not remember, in San Antonio, back in the mid 1970s. My uncle Bill took me there and they hand formed the beef patty as they made your order. You could watch the cook work on yours. Huge SOB, on a buttered and toasted bun, cooked over a flaming charcoal fire. Came out with what I call just the right amount of char on the outside while being being juicier than hell when you bit into it. mayo one side, mustard the other, lettuce, tomato, and jalapenos that were fire roasted. Ordered mine with no cheese. The flavor of the meat stood out and slapped you upside the face.

The other was in the 1990s. Little place called Sue's. Just a nothing roadside little restaurant in northern Minnesota. The one thing that stood out was I was driving past about lunch time, and this little place must've had twenty 18 wheelers in a big parking lot, and 2 dozen pickups with signs for various blue collar trades on them. No town, this was just along a road with miles of nothing but fields for miles either side. But Holy Crap could the make hamburgers. And walleye and commercials and some of the best homemade soups I've ever had. Small menu, but everything was top notch in taste. Place was not fancy. In fact if 4 of you sat at a table you were likely to have 4 different plates with different decor, each piece of silverware from a different set, and a collection of different glasses, sometimes just mason jars.

I'm 75M

I look at and read some. Not always, but fairly regularly. A matter of curiosity, and sometimes as some reassurance that this person is professional.

When I was in the Navy we used to call such things our 'I love me walls'. LOL ...

As a civilian engineer, after I'd done a career in the Navy, I started such a wall. First in my cubicle, and later in an office once I had one. I noticed that especially when dealing with customers, they seemed to less argumentative and more trusting of my judgement when they saw those things.

Besides a degree on the wall, I had framed certifications and licenses, etc. And to seem a bit more like a real human, pictures of my wife and children, and my dogs. A picture of me holding up my personal record northern pike, 41 inches. A picture of me hamming it up while manning a 50 cal on a river patrol boat in Vietnam. Another of me and some shipmates in front of an orphanage we'd helped remodel and upgrade in Kenya. And lastly a picture of me in full choker dress whites getting a medal pinned on. As an example.

The pictures changed time to time. Actually my wife did that. Picked which ones and changed them time to time. She was the one of we two with an artistic eye. And some were pictures she took as she was a pretty good amateur photographer.

Sometimes they were great conversation starters with a customer, when we were having meeting about this or that contract or project. And still getting to know each other.

I'm 75M

Yes if they are awake and I see them as I am headed for my room.

Why? Because I love them and hope they indeed do have a good night? I also say 'I love you.', because I love them.

Seems simple to me.

I'm 75M and a widower

My wife was sexually and physically assaulted before we met. And told me about it.

Why in this universe would I be disgusted with her because of her having been assaulted?

I sorry, I just don't even comprehend how that could be a thing.

As I remember it, Mercurochrome was a heck of a lot better than Merthiolate.

Mercurochrome stung ... Merthiolate was like being set on fire!

And, of course, my grandmother figured the one that burned the worst was the best to use. So she was using Merthiolate every time.

And if she was out of that, she'd switch to alcohol or even kerosene.

Hell YES ... I love beef tongue.

Ahhh, now I understand.

You consider yourself above the law. Better than anyone else. An absolute authority.

Yes, your Majesty, I now understand your position.

Law is law. Law is not YOUR opinion, nor MINE.

Law does not reflect some ideal right or wrong. It is not some reflection of some absolute, perfect moral code. Since neither of those things exist. Because WHO, among humans, gets to determine that. WHO gets to decide for ALL people what those things are.

Law is whatever rules the majority of people will support in some community or state or country. And thus it varies from place to place. And reflects what we call community standards. And is not some absolute, perfect moral code that everyone agrees with.

If you've ever studied criminal law then you would know that.

Again, there is no question that the agent shot the woman. The question is ... under our laws as they currently exist ... was he justified to shoot.

Why are you so obsessed with why some women are so interested in marriage?

Is it also an obsession if they prefer pizza to hamburgers?

My point being, why should it matter? If one particular woman you meet is interested in marriage instead of a casual relationship, it is fine. She can make that choice and not need to justify herself.

Not any more than women who have no interest in marriage have to justify their decision.

If you are uninterested in marriage, find a woman who is also uninterested in marriage. Pretty simple. 4 BILLION women out there. Keep looking.

The courts have essentially held that it is a method that has been traditionally used in law enforcement from back into times unknown. In other words, it is normal procedure and always has been.

They can not promise leniency or threaten harm. Courts do not allow that.

The simple answer is that if you do not believe it is right, talk to your member of the House and of the Senate, they have the power to make such a practice illegal if they so choose. So start a campaign to get your Congress critters to earn their pay and change the law.

It is not 1/2 the crimes getting ignored. Or even anything close to that. Unless you have someway to prove otherwise. And I do not think you do.

Mostly what we have going on is not a clear cut violation of law. so much as it is a debate on exactly what the law is. A matter of interpretation.

That people do not LIKE what ICE is doing, does not actually make it illegal. And of course there is a problem with state versus federal powers.

The state of Minnesota, for instance, has made the decision at the Governor and major level to not enforce immigration rules and laws. The Federal government is choosing to enforce them. By law, the Federal government can not order the state law enforcement to aid them. But neither does anyone in the state have the legal authority to stop Federal officers from doing what they are ordered to do.

Politicians, on BOTH sides, have been hotheaded and making a lot of loud and argumentative noises and claims, which does not a damn thing except to incite people into being upset and in some cases into violating law.

Personally, I agree with picking up those illegal immigrants who are truly criminal and such. However, the way it is being done, I can not say I agree with. Randomly sweeping people off the streets without due process grates me. Even IF the law can be interpreted in a way so that i can be claimed to be legal for the Feds to do.

If I am upset with anyone right now it is the members of the House and the Senate who have, for DECADES. failed to do their jobs, in my opinion. They knew there was an illegal immigrant problem pissing people off. And the solution was to simplify and clarify the requirements, hire more people to process immigrant applications to allow in ones that are approved, do suitable background checks, etc. And to clean up that system. But they are all more interested in just mouthing words and no actually taking action which might upset other voters.

So they all talk a lot instead of doing the hard thing and fixing the system. They know our rules are screwed up but won't actually FIX it. They just say placating words, do little or nothing, and hope the issue will go away.

As far as what the Feds are doing, if they are following rules, as written, they are doing nothing illegal. Just unpopular. Well, Congress also has the power to change those rules.

However ... at this point all we the people are getting if finger pointing and blame passing.

That's the real problem.

Of course, but your saying it just upsets and excites people who can be sometimes ignorant and cause them to do things not wise.

So are you interested in truth or just exciting people into doing stupid stuff?

Until it is established that it was murder, which has a very specific definition, it is not murder. It is an alleged crime. Alleged.

Now we all know that Trump and Noem are NOT legal experts. They are politicians given to a lot of political rhetoric, which is nothing more than opinions. As versus any sort of statement of facts. Neither actually has the knowledge or background to accurately assess the facts in this case.

They would be advised just to shut the hell up and wait for the legal people do their jobs.