I did this from our banister to a high window above our door. The cats were always testing the waters and I was afraid they'd fall. I made a ramp leading to the platform, which rests on the window sill, and short rail so they couldn't roll off of the platform. There was a small roll of leftover carpet from the previous owners of the house. I used the rest of that for padding.

They absolutely love going up there and staring out the window at the neighborhood. Although, only 1 can be up there at a time. Their rules, not ours. If another tries to come up they'll have a stare off or the one that was there just leaves. Usually with a few choice words.

Fellow vet: I never understood fellow service member's blind servitude to the GOP. They fuck us over ever chance they get, and we're dogs at a dog show for them only when it's convenient. When they show up at a base, it's either a completely scripted Q&A, with questions vetted weeks to months ahead of time, or they show and are guided around by the base commander and make a super quick appearance at whatever event.

My favorite was the 1 time Cathy McMorris did a debate. She touted helping 100's of vets a month. Her opponent: "If you are really helping the vets, you wouldn't have 100's a month with issues."

I'm a USAF vet. My ancestors literally fought in the revolutionary war, and signed The Declaration of Independence. I'm going through the motions this year, but I don't feel it at all. I'm pissed that we're multiple stages into a nazi regime. I'm profoundly flabbergasted at how anyone could be for this. How anyone that is for it, can't see that they're going to be the "out" party. Some already are seeing it.

I'm incredibly disappointed that the news has gotten so out of touch that they just rolled over and lapped up the rhetoric. Local news is all sunshine and rainbows while ICE kidnaps people, and a corrupt POtuS breaks the constitution left and right. While he deploys military against its own citizens. While rights are stripped, aided by a corrupt SCOTUS. While the rich get richer off of our backs. While the checks and balances are obliterated.

Let me tell you a little story about The Fenhalloway River. About a year before I moved to that area as a kid in the early 80's, some reporter came to report on it. Some locals assaulted her buy burning her with cigars and cigarettes, then pouring the river water into her burns.

I remember wandering some places with my step brother. One spot was along that river. The spot was out there, but still on a decently used dirt (sand) road. We got to the end and to an area we heard was a swimming hole. This was before we heard the river was badly polluted. It was littered with empty bullet casings, KKK signs and nazi symbols. We noped the fuck out of there quick.

While I lived there, at one point, the EPA provided everyone who wanted it with cases of bottled water. We lived close enough to see the sign over highway 19. A 30 second walk and I could just read it. Our well water stunk of the paper mill and you couldn't see the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. The EPA water program lasted about a year. Then...nothing. The river wasn't any cleaner. It was still black coffee. Still smelled of satan's farts. I just now get the irony of living there and watching Captain Planet.

The mill shut down last year. It will probably take some time before the pollution from it will fade. Decades.

I know it isn't everyone's cup of tea. I can see every flaw people are saying as well. It's kind of my guilty pleasure.

2 1/2 Men: Multiple stages really.

Jake getting older and the addition of his friend.

Alan turned from a down on his luck guy to blundering comic relief. It has its funny moments, but there is a lot of cringe to be had in that change.

Replacement of Charlie with Ashton. I know the crazy behind it. That said, he makes it completely unwatchable. He doesn't carry nearly the same energy that Sheen does. The same dynamic doesn't exist between him and Alan, character wise.

They dialed Alan's blundering to 1000% after Charlie left.

it's about a 50/50 at my local base. The vets, on the other hand, tend to lean towards tRUmp. I have never gotten it either. Our regional congressman, or ex now, never did jack shit for us. We were a tool to get her elected every time. She didn't really do anything to help. When she left, what did they do? Idiots voted in another useless GOP.

When PACT was first shot down, I had to actually explain why that was a bad thing and that we needed it. They bought every last fake talking point. I had actually read the measure. Anyone that did had seen why it was a good thing.

We have a problem of propagation of fake news on bases. A lot of them show faux on the TVs in waiting areas. On top of that, it tends to be conservatives that join. Officers do tend to be less red. I really don't know what would happen if the military actually fulfilled its oath to protect against the domestic threat part of our oath.

It is disgusting hearing fellow vets with the "I got mine" attitude, or other attitudes that are directly against the nature of service. That isn't what we were serving for.

On top of this. It isn't just Dump. It's the entire GOP. Plus the douche crew and his nazi youth that have been ransacking shit that they don't understand. Yeah, going in armedmay get you 1 person. It won't do any good. You're cutting a small scale off of a large shit snake.

The best we can do is arm ourselves (and I fucking hate that I have to resort to this option) and prep for when shit goes south. I suspect that will be mid terms. We'll see armed yokels "guarding" vote drop off locations and polling locations. If there is any sign of a dem win anywhere, all hell will break loose with diaperdon claiming fraud. He'll probably pull some shit like his attempted coup and we'll see the polling station yokels going nuts.

Let me ask you this:

How am I supposed to organize a mobilization of people in a country that is 2,800 miles (4506km) east to west and 1660 miles (2671km) north to south? How do I communicate where to meet up? How do I ensure our targets don't get wind of it? How do I ensure everyone is there? How do I make sure we get every leader that is going to need to be ousted? How do I ensure they're even going to be there? How do we find all of the money backers that want this crap? How do we decide who should lead this new leadership chain without starting another fight? How do we ensure that the military doesn't just mow us down when we try? If I can't lead this charge, who does? How do I find someone willing, and is actually capable of leading this charge? How do I ensure I don't just have some trigger happy yahoos that will shoot anything remotely a target before anything starts? How do I ensure we don't have bad actor there to tank it all (and there are plenty)?

Look, I see what you're saying. I'm pissed off. This isn't supposed to be the country I was raised in. It had many issues. This isn't the country that I raised my hand to fuck my body up for.

I'd love to pick up my weapons, drive the 2 weeks across the country, and do something about it all. I have kids. I know, I know, what the future holds for them is much worse than homelessness. That is still a rough pill to swallow. I'm a frog on a hot plate. That hot plate is thousands of miles across to get off. It is surrounded by 100's of other hot plates that have to be dealt with to stop the heat. Some of which I wouldn't even be able to find, or would be constantly moving around with the capability I have to mobilize (jet vs driving).

Do I flee the country? Do I stay and fight back the best I can? I can't flee. I can't work due to severe medical issues (another rub in this entire thing, how do I ensure everyone is able bodied enough to help). No one is going to take me in. The best I can do is arm and stock like I should be wearing tin foil on my head. Try to be as self sustaining as we can. A garden. Some chickens that will end up having to be guarded by Brinks soon. Then vote for the shit sandwich that doesn't have glass in it and is covered in barbed wire. Try to help my kids see why this is all bad. To differentiate good sources and bad sources of information. Weed out logical fallacies. Pick out gas lighting. Try to prepare them for a better future that opens more options for them. One that allows them to leave the country if needed. How to participate and make things better, and why they should participate in voting and other such things.

I'm on SSDI and VA disability. I can't work. I'm terrified every time they even breath in the direction of either place. I'd be super fucked. Even losing SSDI would destroy us. That's about 3/4 of our mortgage payment. So many other vets are in the same boat.

We'll see what happens with the new yes men in place. However, there was a DoD wide email that went out when he first started snatching people (though some didn't get it for some reason). It stated:

Think long and hard before assisting other agencies outside the DoD. If your actions are deemed to be against your oath, you could be investigated and actions taken against you. Remember, you serve the constitution of the United States. Not the president.

Wa state has just passed a law stating that other state's national guard, cannot enter our borders to take any actions. I would bet that that would include military personnel stationed in state.

I'm working my numbers to add solar right now. Estimates are that we can offset 69% of our power usage. It will return 150% of our investment overall. That's based on a very conservative rise of 5% in energy costs.

Adding solar right now is really no no brainer imo. Prices are only going to rise, and much more than the current 5% annually estimate out there currently. Panels last for a long time, and even at reduced efficiency towards the end of their life span, it is still a net gain. By then they've paid for themselves well, well before this point.

Right now they give an average home value increase of between 6% and 9%. I think we're going to see that rise as energy prices rise. Especially if you can get a low carbon footprint rating on your home.

Things are only going to get hotter. I've been in e wa state for 27 years now. I've never seen the weather as wild as it is. It's been getting steadily hotter and hotter. Breaking triple digits was super rare. Now it's the norm. We're breaking high temp records left and right. Not just summer either. Offsetting that increase energy use is going to be a must for everyone.

Watching Live PD last night. Guy runs on a motorcycle. They have the area surrounded after he ditches. They're looking for him and one cop spots him. He commands the guy and he's complying. He's almost on his knees and another cop spots him. He ran, full on run, and leapt onto the guy that was almost on his knees. The other guy that was commanding jumped on him after that as well. Guy wasn't resisting. Guy was complying. Guy had hands in the air. Guy wasn't reaching for anything.

Cop after: "He ran and we didn't know what he was capable of. So we tackled him and restrained him."

It's absolute cop wank material. All of it. The majority of the time they are way over reactive and then try to justify it all. They have that disclaimer, but then most of the time they never really follow up with info, or proper info. "Guy was booked on blah blah." Ok, but was he actually convicted? Was he found guilty, or did you just over react and your "oh I totally for sure smell weed" was bullshit. I'm fucking sick of seeing that too. How many times has jackass said that only to find...nothing.

Russia won the cold war. Reagan, that piece of shit, would be turning over in his grave. Especially since he removed the final road blocks.

You'll need easy access to Canada. What better way than to have a close Canadian Province? - Wa state

I'm a vet. I'm unsure why the DoD hasn't put a stop to this yet. There have been clear violations of this oath by elected officials. At the very least, letting Elmo wreck shit.

We have a problem though. The retired boomer vets, and some younger ones, voted for this. Conservatives tend to be the ones that raise their hands. They seem to have forgotten the oath and think that all of this is A OK. They've been guzzling the kool aid. Hell, my base still shows Faux "News" at the base hospital on some TVs. Even though a base commander banned news channels during COVID.

Those of us that do recognize this as a violation of the constitution do not number enough to do anything. Rising up involves getting rid of the entire GOP, plus multiple billionaires, multiple media moguls, SCOTUS, lower court appointees, appointees of many other government agencies, and on and on. It isn't something even a couple thousand can accomplish. We saw this with the attempted coup on J6.

What we're doing is making sure we're armed enough to defend ourselves in case of a civil war, or violence from the lunatics who still think this is all fine and good while we scream towards fascism. I hate this. I wish I could go do something. With every fiber of my being I do. My nervous system is fucked. I can barely leave the house many days. Especially in the winter when the cold shoots pain and fatigue through the roof. I can defend my own, probably my own neighborhood if it came to it. That's about the extent for me.

I live in a place with a bunch of these nut bags as it is too. There is a crazy trump church in my town with heavy ties to a christian nationalists extremist group. It's the largest church in the small town. Those people concern me. There is a crazy guy 2 houses down from me that thinks the local base dropped COVID on us with the tankers. I think I broke the gerbal wheel in his brain when I told him I've seen them inside and out and there isn't anywhere to even put a "bag o covid". We had a major wildfire hit and he blamed the firefighters for not flying in heavy smoke, at night and in super high winds. We're talking 70mph+ gusts and 45 sustained. There are some that still have trump/pence signs up. That's the type of crap I'm working with. Many are vets as well.

I get how it looks from the outside. We've been claiming that our firearms are for exactly what is happening. Thing is, those that support this. Those that voted for this, have the vast majority of firearms in this country. The last statistic I saw was from 2022 and republican firearm owners numbered nearly 2x democratic owners. That didn't even count the amount of firearms owned. That percentage is the same for individuals who live in a home where firearms are present. The left has slowly been arming up due to increased violence from the right against the left, but we're in no position to rise up.

If the right does end up realizing that they fucked up and need to finally rise up with the left, then you'll see it at a local level first. Other countries poke fun at us for not taking vacations because we don't have the days or money to do so. Yet they expect us to travel across country, with absolutely no guarantee others will be there, to maybe get a shot off at 1 person? It's over 2500 miles for me to get across the country. That'd take me at least a week and a half. I wouldn't even be able to do that solo due to the medical issues. People can't afford to do that. So the local level would be the target. Local congressmen (most of whom live in DC over half the year as it is). Local senators. State capitals, provided they're red states and are following suit with the fed govts.

This got long, I'm sorry for that, but this is a much more complicated issue. I seriously don't think people realize just how fucking far it is to get to DC. Just how useless it would be without some serious backing by the right and the military, or at least enough of the military that remembers their oath and don't fire on us. That combo could hold off the cops, but remember as well. We're dealing with police who are militarized now. They've been eating up old military equipment for at least a decade now. Some even have old APCs. They have no qualms over shooting everything all the way down to your dog just because it looked at them funny.

What a shitty grandpa.

I would honestly not be surprised to see the suicide rate increase. Especially among the marginalized veterans. We've already seen a couple. I remember the one who jumped off of the VA building wherever they were at. It's been mentioned a few times on the reddit vet board, and I'm noticing an increase in vets posting that they're at their limit and contemplating ending it all.

My BIL is a vet as well. He was having a mental break last week. I was able to talk him into going to the ER. He's getting better, but we're all worried about events going down. We're trying to prep as best we can. We feel as though something really bad is coming up. I told him to take a step back from the news and social media. I had to for a bit as well.

This is where I'm at. I'm already burnt out, and this shitberg we're sliding down has just started.

I'm doing what I can control. Making sure I'm armed (I fucking hate how nuts that makes me sound), trying to set some money aside and making sure I have my garden up and running so I can grow at least some of our own food.

I've got a wife and kids. I can't work due to what military service did to my body. So I can't see myself being able to leave the country if it comes to it. I'm not sure I'd want to leave it in control of these madmen anyway. My hope at this point is that we can just get to mid terms and have a legit election there. It'll be a shit show. There will be violence at polling places and ballot drop areas. There will be screaming of rigged election if the right loses (and I see that happening in a legit election due to their fuckery).

This has been the longest couple weeks ever. Longer than waiting on summer vacation out of school. Longer than the first day back to work after a month vacation.

I'm gonna go paint some minis and play some ark now. This was my 1 foray into social media for the day.

This part is both mind blowing and hilarious. Not too long ago they were screeching that "they are trying to make everything sharia law!"

Then they do this, with absolutely no sense of irony. The dumb runs so deep that its turning to magma.

God damnit I still remember this, and I'm in my late 40's

Scruff, McGruff, Chicago Illinois, 60652