1. I'm not performing mental gymnastics. I'm just clarifying what seems to confuse you. I know the National Guard because I was in the California National Guard for decades, myself. A Guard soldier can retire at will after completing at least 20 years of service. However, when you retire, you don't get to retire at your highest rank unless you've held it for at least two years. That MN Gard officer is saying that Walz didn't retire as a CSM/E-9, but rather a MS/E-8. Walz was a CSM. At the moment his retirement took effect, he was a Master Sergeant. Both are true.

2. Saying he "carried weapons in war" isn't the same as serving in combat. Wars come and go, and one's place in them isn't always in combat. During the first Gulf War, I was in Texas, and we had our weapons, even though I didn't leave that state. Soldiers in my neighboring unit deployed to Iraq. They never saw combat, either. We all carried our issued weapons during that time. However, Walz's statement that those M-16 rifles have no business in civilian use, is just as true.

That's not in the job description for vice president. The V.P. has to periodically inquire about the health of the president and break ties in the senate. She's already broken more ties than any other V.P. and she has lunch with Biden every week. Sorry if you missed that. As far as lowering costs, that's obviously a continuing effort.

she's really good

If the government has a good case, it would've been tried long ago. It's probably taken this long because of all the mistakes that were made by overzealous Bush Administration officials, and people now realizing that taking the case to court would assure KSM's release on numerous technicalities.

How do you know there were no injuries, and since when does torture have to cause visible injuries? You would only find it inconvenient to be waterboarded? How about 189 times? You are either mistaken or a liar.

There's no evidence they got any useful information from waterboarding over regular interrogation techniques, and being information obtained by torture, it's unreliable, because that's when the prisoner says literally anything to make it stop. Lie more, spout the truth, or get details wrong, and none of it is admissible in court. So much for the death sentence, when then guy was waterboarded almost 200 times.

Except that they came up with a bipartisan solution and Trump killed it to keep it being a problem before the election. So the continuing mess is really on Trump.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4459861-trump-praises-collapse-of-bipartisan-border-deal/

You're upset that KSM wasn't executed before being convicted? Neat. The real problem was the mishandling by the CIA under GW Bush. They used "enhanced interrogation techniques" (torture) hundreds of times, making anything they get from him unreliable and inadmissible in court, and complicating chances of even getting a conviction, while probably breaking international law. No, this was just a mess, and getting the plea deal was probably the best outcome available, anymore.
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Plea deal now off the table , perhaps he will get just treatment , death sentence.. Waterboarding was a useful means for the U.S. to gain important information about that attack…

Ha ha. You fell for the right-wing media lies.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/conservatives-insist-biden-confusingly-boarded-wrong-airplane-heres-what-actually-happened/

Considering he got the deal done, despite requiring cooperation with Russia, Germany, Slovenia, Norway Poland and Turkey, your assessment appears misinformed. This was a huge deal and Russia gave up 16 political prisoners in exchange for 8 Russian criminals. It was years in the making and despite all Trump's complaining, was better than anything Mr. "Art of the Deal" has done.

It's not my job, anymore, to be informed about military systems, but I do still like to follow current events, and your hysteria about a Russian ship off our coast just seems a little alarmist. Maybe if you really want to get upset, go look up Russian submarine capabilities. I'm sure those things come much closer than Cuba, any day of the week, and we have no way of knowing, as I'm sure the US Navy does likewise. And, again, I'm not fretting about it.

Maybe your alarm is from Republican talking points. Are we supposed to be scared of Russians in Cuba because of Biden & Harris, while you conveniently ignore Trump's failures and pretend Harris will get us attacked? 9/11 happened during the Bush Administration--not Clinton or Obama, and Obama's the one who got Bin Laden after Bush gave up. Trump's the guy who disbanded the NSC Pandemic Response Team back in 2018, and we all see how badly that turned out.

The president shouldn't be the "big ideas" person; they're the chief executive and they should act on expertly crafted plans. Put Trump in office, who always thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, and we end up with the mess of the Trump Administration. And Trump's shown us that he's not worthy of even a basic security clearance, much less the highest position in government.
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What are yo talking about? Who cares what party was in charge on 9/11… it happened. Duh..there is a difference between hysteria and concern. The concern is Russia and China teaming up to threaten the U.S.. Do you really think that we shouldn’t be concerned about that ? And yes considering the past performance in Afghanistan and the miserable failure the Biden administration is responsible for should be a cause for extra concern .. What is Trumps failure? … that no wars were started anywhere during Trumps term ? is peace in the world a failure to you ? and two wars started during Biden’s presidency is a failure? so yes I think a Harris presidency would be another incentive for Russia to expand the war.. weak and inept is what started that war and her presidency will be a continuation of the same..

I didn't say that the only counter weapon system was in Cuba, or even that any weapon system was in Cuba. This forum isn't the place to list all the military defenses of the US, but if you like, you can Google the US Navy's Arleigh Burke class destroyers, and the SM-6s thereon. I'm not worried about any number of Russian warships, considering their impotence around Ukraine. But maybe you can tell me how they'd get around US defenses from even 40 miles away, much less from around the port in Cuba.

I don't worry about Harris with regard to Putin, because I've seen nothing to indicate she'd give in, once Putin says something nice. She won't be inviting the Russian Foreign Minister into the Oval Office, or pledge Ukrainian land to Russia for a quick approval for new hotels in Moscow. There isn't even a rumor of a "pee tape" about Harris. Do you wish we could say the same about Trump?

Kamala put him in charge of the "root causes" of the border now. He's down there helping build the wall since suddenly, like magic, the Democrats care about the border 99 days before the election.

Cuba is close enough to launch ICBMs and even SSMs from warships, but the US Navy already watches everything going on (Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba) and anything launched from Cuba is probably not going to make it to Florida, much less anywhere else. If anything, WW3 is happening in Ukraine, and if Harris wins in November, I'm betting Putin quietly winds down his efforts there.

Sure, Trump is a fat, old man with poor diet, but just because he's going to die some day doesn't mean he won't be a danger to the country before he goes. He's willing to just give national secrets away because he thinks they're cool, and ready to pardon people so antisocial that they attacked innocent Capitol Police officers without remorse--called them "hostages." And while he said he's going to be a dictator "only on day one," you can bet that "one day" in Trump time lasts more than four Earth years. Then maybe he'll pass it all off to Don Jr. when he's tired of it.

Also, saying Harris was 'not elected but selected' is wrong. Refer back to your high school social studies class and remember that the party nominees get the nomination after a vote by their delegates at their national conventions. If Harris gets the nomination at the DNC next month, She will have been elected by thousands of delegates. When we vote for president, we only vote their delegates from our state. And besides, Harris was already the VP and was first in the line of succession regardless, once Biden stepped aside.

First amendment allows for freedom of speech, even if it's a protest, and you don't like their message.

Also, Traitors are only executed in time of war.

On Friday night, at a Conservative Christian event, Trump said this:

"Christians get out and vote. Just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It'll be fixed. It'll be fine. You won't have to vote anymore my beautiful Christians."

Comments like this (combined with everything Trump did to try and stay in power after the 2020 election) are part of why Democrats (and others) are concerned about democracy if Trump is elected. A lot of people feel like we can survive policy we don't agree with. But if our country goes down the road Trump wants, it will be very hard to turn back.

I know that right now Trump is denying that he supports Project 2025, but he has lied so much in the past, I think that if enough Republicans press him on it he will adopt it, at least in part. And that scares me.