scourge165

This is really no different than what people are saying about California or... New York or any state. I just spent a week in rural Georgia. It was...beautiful. I'm not sure I'd want to spend a week in Louisiana in the Bayou, but...still.

No, the Southern States are nice... in some places. BUT... it's a bit ironic when "MAGA" complains about how the Blue States when in fact, the most violent states-red. The biggest welfare recipients-red. And the lowest education-red. But saying the Entire South is trash is... c'mon. It's not 1830.

Go down the list to each President. Republican and Democrat...and see who spends the most. It's not even REMOTELY close. And try and make sure you understand the assignment and understand the budgets are set a year in advance.

No...he does not. If he did, he'd have doen it in his "big beautiful bill." Instead, he gave the majority of the tax breaks to the top .02%.

No, it's not like saying that AT-ALL. It's like saying if California was it's own Country and they didn't have access to the Colorado River, they would ABSOLUTELY be able to survive...which is the point that was made that I was disputing. And what Gov't resource is used in unlimited situations? The ENTIRE conversation is if California could survive without the United States and who needs who more, the US needs California or California needs the United States. So I don't know why we're talking about "the most likely outcome is that they'd more likely just be grown somewhere else in the country." Sure...fine. But it wouldn't be part of "the Country" in this scenario.

Ok...so as I said, it's something that Newsom, the State of California AND even Musk all agreed on... Are you arguing or agreeing with me? This doesn't mean MUSK is working on it. He is not. He's advocating for more desalination plants. That's it.

LOL...that was literally the TITLE OF THE THREAD and you're claiming it was my "strawman?" No... god that's embarrassing for you! It was literally a thread about who poses the biggest threat to DOMESTIC terrorism! And then you even tried to post a link about "the influence of Pol Pot," from the New York Times, but you CLEARLY didn't have a subscription as it was 28 years old and it just about how he was forgotten and lived out his life in anonymity! Bud, do NOT make me link that thread and embarrass you! There's no CHANCE you're saying I'm the one who made that about Domestic Terrorism! I came in like 3 pages into the thread! And I'm not getting back into this "Leftist" ideology when you refuse to accept Fascism or White Nationalists on the right wing end of the spectrum.

Everything is "only used in limited situations." Newsom and the State tried to get 3 desalination plants built. A massive plant in Huntington beech, one in Malibu and a 3rd one... somewhere like Malibu. In two cases they voted it down because it was a "blight." Huntington Beech was two years ago and the concern was the price of the electricity, a price that's no longer a concern. OKLO can built their Small Nuclear powered facilities and it would be capable of powering MORE than enogugh water to provide all citizens with all the water they need. The people only use ~20% of the water. 80% is used on agriculture. They could save a whole helluva lot by not growing avocados or almonds for the rest of the Country. But no, there's no debate they have EVERY resource they need to build and operate desalination plants. It's like the ONE thing the Newsom, Elon and the California State Houses agreed upon and fought for. And then they gave up because California IS a state, it's NOT it's own Country and it's not essential to the survival of it's people.

California has a budget shortfall of 10-12 BILLION dollars They have a GDP of well over 4 TRILLION dollars. They pay 130 BILLION dollars into the United States Government. You can do simple math(I mean, math that's THIS simple). Try and follow the thread. That 130B in excess that they pay in, 130B MORE than they get from the Federal Government, add that back to California and would you REALLY argue they're "broke?" And Christ, if California with a 10B dollar deficit on a 4.5 TRILLION dollar GDP is broke, what in the HELL is the United States with a GDP of 29T(which has gone done since someone came back into office) and now a debt of ~40T with the 4 Trillion Trump just added with his "big beautiful bill."

On what? Desalination or do you think he's working on Fusion? The answer is....no. The French are the leaders in Fusion setting a record with 21 consecutive minutes a few months ago. The only thing Elon is done is say...'we should make more desalination plants.' That's it. We have them. We have the technology for them. We have the power for them via companies like Oklo(a stock I told people to buy on here last year). They didn't want to build one where it was approved because the neighbors thought it'd look ugly. So it's NOT a matter of the inability to make one, it's the lack of desire or need as of now. They also need a better way to capture excess run off water in a man made underground(obviously) water basin. But all far easier to solve then United States trying to recreate what Nvidia has done without Nvidia's aid(you could even give them AMD, though the MI400 is supposed to be only 4-5 years behind NVDA). Speaking of which, AMD and SMCI report earnings tonight. Given Nvidia owns ~92-94% of the market, this could be a good chance for a savvy investor to glean what Nvidia's report may look like in a few weeks. Just...saying.

The one not directed at you, but underlined so as to to make it as simple as possible. There were so many stupid comments from El Luchador squeezed into a couple posts, but...scroll down. I'm confident you can find it.

Do people not know they have Desalination plants right now? They also have companies like OKLO that make small Nuclear Power plants. And you would NOT need...Fusion...which would be the greatest scientific breakthrough in the HISTORY OF MAN to do something they're LITERALLY already doing RIGHT NOW. And yes, I know it's a simple technology. The Greeks were doing it...2500 years ago. Aristotle came up with it. It'd be expensive. California would have a WHOLE lot more money if they weren't part of the United States.

Yeah, this is the level of stupid I expect. You can't really call the most successful capitalist State in the Country(and again, the 4th largest GDP in the WORLD) "Commiefornia," unless that's just a default you go to when you're making a REALL stupid argument. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you ARE the one who brought up Pol Pot, the Cambodia who'd been dead since 1997 when there was a thread about who was the biggest threat when it came to domestic terrorism, right? I don't even know what the "Pay people not to work," means. Is that your understanding of the Farming Laws and why they exist? Just complete ignorance to the fact that it's the United States Government propping up American Agriculture so the prices stay high enough to keep many farms afloat? And this is again, mind you...95 YEARS old now. You are evidence that knowing a little bit about one thing and then just making the rest up based on some really ridiculous claims is actually dumber than simply being ignorant on a particular topic and trying to understand that topic. For instance, you COULD have tried to understand WHY they pay Farmers IN MISSOURI, IOWA, and other primarily Midwest States money to NOT farm, but instead, you just extrapolated that to California. One honest question. Do you TRULY believe the United States is stronger without California? Forget the larger argument, JUST answer that question?

Yeah, without the 130 BILLION dollars California pays to the welfare states(the Red States) they could afford it. Not to mention, they ARE the center of what is the most revolutionary technology MAYBE ever, but certainly in the last...130-140 years.

... right. And you think that means... what?

Sure they could Jimmy. You may not know this, but California is a coastal city. Lots of water.

Yes, paying farmers not to far dates back to the New Deal and the primary beneficiaries of that are Missouri, Iowa and other Red States. This is all about further subsidizing Farmers and stabilizing prices. The dumping of Milk is for the same reason. I'm still kinda in awe that THIS is what you think of when you're thinking of California industry. I was more speaking to the industry that's currently on a run rate to be worth 1 Trillion dollars per year in 3 years(not 5 as previously thought) and is... going to revolutionize warfare. AI and every Company who makes it possible upstream and downstream. I don't know how the Government's practice of conservation and not overfarming plays into this conversation or... in what world you think the ONLY way California "can sell anything," is because of their location and shipping costs. That's it? That's why it'd be the 4th largest GDP in the world, ahead of Germany, the UK, France... or ANY European Country? Because it's... on the West Coast? This is only proof that they could easily self sustain without the need for much agriculture from other States. California can raise cattle and produce Milk a LOT easier than Missouri or Alabama, can create Semiconductors or high speed ethernet or liquid cooling for massive data centers, or small nuclear power plants that can produce 12 gigawatts. Oh, and... again, 130 BILLION dollars less that they'd have to pay the Federal Government.

I feel like you're having an ENTIRELY different conversation here. The premise; California was it's own State. Would THEY need the United States more than the United States would need them. I've pointed out that virtually all the technology, the research and development, the largest corporations STILL reside in California, including the most sought after technology in THE WORLD right now. You; But... some companies are moving their headquarters and paying taxes in other states. Ok...AND? California is STILL paying a ~130 BILLION dollar surplus to the Federal Gov't that they otherwise wouldn't and in this...admittedly ridiculous scenario in which they are they're own Country...with a GDP just behind Japan for the 4th largest in the WORLD, do you think they would allow a company to keep the core of it's workforce in one Country and then move to another? Does the United States allow MSFT to have all of their employees in the US except for 8 who co-lease an office in the Cayman Islands? I mean, of course many smaller Corporations do that and it's illegal and the US goes after them every year, but a 20M dollar company is not quite the same as a Trillion dollar company, right? So... when you decide on the point of this conversation and stay on track...well, it'll still be over because you have yet to make a coherent point about other than to further the argument that the United States needs California and it's Engineers and workers more than California needs the United States.

No, it's not "easier," but it's also not any more difficult. That's just how I write. More to the point, it's how I'd speak, so I write it how I'd say it. Stream of Consciousness. And THAT would be "post padding?" Writing '33 instead of 133? Sure, that makes a TON of sense. I'm padding my posts by substituting a quotation mark in lieu of a number...the exact same number of characters. Dude... you've posted... I don't know, at least 2 or 3 times today about my posts(I think on this thread) and you seem quite bothered by longer posts which you're obviously obligated to read. You also seem to think the more weird little passive aggressive pre-teen like comments you make I'm going to change. Tell me, in the last 8 months and the however many times you've done that, have I ever once expressed enough respect for your opinion that I'd change how I write? Now... I was having a pretty good conversation with @nhs67 and while you talk about "post padding," which you clearly consider important, you've posted multiple times about the structure of my posts. You got anything to add here other than I use too many paragraphs? Are you the boards version of an HOA policing my word count? In fact, I'm getting strong "stay at home Dad who ran for the HOA board," vibes here. You probably get that awesome golf cart and get have that time going, making sure everyone's go those garbage cans in within 12 hours of when they're emptied! Just waiting for someone t run a minute over so you can and police something else so tedious but you find it SUPER cool! Anything else?

Ok...and what I said was; Did I say 85%? I don't recall. I do know they have like 125,000 employees and about ~2000 are located in Texas. If you want to call that a "Texas" company... ok...cool. Their R&D, sales, consulting, engineering, support, and research are all located in California. They are at their offices in Irvine, Pleasanton, Redwood Shores, Rocklin, Santa Clara, Santa Monica. Their famous "Emerald City," in Redwood is STILL where their innovation and engineering takes place. Meanwhile, in Texas, they subleased the office that is their "Headquarters." So please, lets not insult each others intelligence anymore by arguing the parts of these companies that make them valuable are from Texas or...wherever. Or...again, that anyone gives a single bowel movement about In and Out now paying Tennessee tax rates while still making most of their money in... California. As for their "overregulation," yeah... I've said that repeatedly. And Texas is the other end of that spectrum with their power grid and building standards. They have ZERO regulation. There's a happy medium. I don't know where you live, but the entire State doesn't shut down because it's 30 degrees and and the unregulated power grid goes down.

Ok... for starters, I don't care where you've worked. I mean, anecdotally... it's midly interesting, but it's got nothing to do with the subject. Now, the companies that left. I see you start RIGHT out of the gate with Tesla. I believe I addressed this one and ...in fact others on the list. They move their headquarters out. They still have their engineering department there. The Brains of the operation. Why? Because that's where the talent is, that's where the majority of their workers are. Same thing with Oracle. Palantir-Again, all of it's major offices are in...Palo Alto. D, software engineering, product management, Palo Alto. The bulk of the company, California. It's moved for tax purposes. Oracle-Already touched on that one. Space X-Where do they actually create and make their rockets? Hawthorne, California. And then they ship them to Texas. Why? For the same reason TSMC had so much trouble finding enough people in Arizona and had to pay massive bonuses to get people to move there. THE TALENT IS IN CALIFORNIA. The talent, the programmers, the venture capitalist, the innovation, it's almost all in...California. I'm actually just amused that you cited In and out Burger. Again, they just announced and the majority of their stores are in California, but I don't think the argument was EVER made that California's importance to the Union was it's...fast food. And....seriously? Did you include a HAIR Care company? LOL... Jamba Juice? Let me ask you something, when Tesla moved to Delware, what do you think ACTUALLY changed? Nothing. And then when they wouldn't give Musk his 55B package...which to be fair, they should have, and I voted for it, but all the same, you think anything changed when they moved again? You're telling me where they rent an office with an address on it so they can pay less in taxes, NOT where the actual innovation happens. AND... this is ALL ignoring that 5 of the 10 BIGGEST companies in the world are STILL in California including the most important ones. NVDA, AVGO...AMD(and hundreds more, but that's the industry that's QUICKLY becoming the largest in the world. It's obvious you just cut and pasted this as there's no Earthly Way you would mention a Fast Food restaurant that JUST changed headquarters to somewhere in Tennessee and STILL has the vast majority of it's locations in California(I think it was 350 as the announcement was just a week or two ago). Or JAMBA JUICE? Please, prey tell, what is the strategic importance of Jamba Juice? The entire world is literally fighting over Nvidia's B200 NV72 GPU Clusters to power their Data Centers and they need Broadcom(AVGO) to help make the specialized chips to make them work, and SMCI to cool the Data Centers as they run so hot. But...Jamba Juice and Paul Mitchell Hair Care Products moved their headquarters. Yeah, I'd say that's about equal importance! Yeah, this is about the importance of California to the United States. If you want to talk about other States and which states are run better, you can look at the States with the most violent crime and the worst education. But again, even the companies you mentioned... you glossed right over the fact that the largest ones I'd ALREADY mentioned and pointed out that the most essential aspects of their business are STILL located in California. And now you want to talk about other blue states? Well, lets see if they can find the talent they need to build the world's most sophisticated semiconductors in Mississippi or Alabama. Even Taiwan Semiconductor which moved to AZ, a Purple State, they've publicly said that was a mistake as they costs were ~20% higher to hire people FROM California to come and work at their fabs. So now, AGAIN, we're living in a world in which California is NOT part of the United States and they do NOT have to subsidize the red states and they don't have to pay 126 BILLION DOLLARS. Operating under this very simple premise, do you think Canada's more valuable corporations would be able to move to the most tax advantaged State in the United States(or move to ANY State in the US at all)? I feel like you're not understanding the discussion. It's if California was it's own State. Based on the industry and what is made there(which is going to include much of Space X, virtually everything Tesla is doing with Robotics and FSD, Oracle... as that is STILL where it's more important divisions are located....hell, it's where almost ALL of their company is located but their accounting department). And none of it changes...about 34% of the SPY Market Cap is still business that are headquartered IN California even without the companies who have kept their manufacturing there and only moved their headquarters. Why do you think Elon Musk spends all his time at his CALIFORNIA campuses? Because his business are from Texas?

I I know he lost to him this year, but...he was a Jr in HS and Mirasola spent the whole year just packing on weight and he beat him almost exclusively with pushouts and kina bullying him. Ross looks like he's getting bigger and by the time I just think it's going to be physically overwhelming. Cole Mirasola is... probably a 197 if he's not a twin and if his Brother didn't want to go to PSU. He can add weight, but... it's gonna be tough for him to get up to 240 and still be as athletic as he is. Ross could get to 260 and I don't think he's lose much. Mirasola's path is probably better at '84 and '97 in College, but they are committed for one more year to State College. I don't believe that's the case with HGH but I don't know... It's also pretty lazy to just play into those rumors. There's nothing there but some guys putting on muscles and a couple guys popping. We had guys who took steroids. We didn't turn them in, but...we looked down on them(though they were...big and our HWTs so only in a figurative sense). So I'll refrain from mentioning that again as there's no basis other than... he got really big...which lots of guys do. He's also not some guy who just came onto the scene, he was one of the best Wrestlers in the 2nd best State, probably the best Wrestler in the Country in HS, he was SO close to being a 4X undefeated champ. If Dake wasn't looking for a challenge and he doesn't get caught on his own move... anyway... The thing I'm not sure about is that Taylor and Hamiti really had different builds. Taylor was so skinny and long and I see that in Hamiti. You would know better than I, but then I'd just say look at Dake. He added a lot of weight, good weight and he didn't have that build where it looked like he had wings. That's where Taylor's physique really changed and was impressive. The shoulders/neck/back. I think this last cycle is going to be viewed as a down cycle and the next couple will be much better. Just a better mix of younger vets and elite College guys a year or two into their careers. One of whom is currently on a World Team at an Olympic weight and the other who should grow into one pretty easily. That's going to be something to watch at Okie State. They seem like for so long guys have held weights that weren't ideal for them. Does Jax end up as a '49 pounder and really add muscle as he goes or does he try and stay down at '33 or even '41? I guess... we should wait for him to finish HS first!

Big RED Bear? I don't even know what you do when you see those I have the other three down. If it's Black, Fight Back. If it's Brown, lay down. If it's white, say good night. Do you just pretend to not know they're from an Ivy and take subtle jabs like, "wow...Cornell? An Ivy? You mean like Harvard, Yale...Penn, those types of schools? Huh... I never would have thought. I guess in every race, there's someone who finishes last...every test, someone who gets the worst score." (This may only work with one particular Colleague of mine and it invariably gets them fired up to the point where they start telling me how it's better than my alma mater to wit I simply reply, "nah, don't think so,' despite it being true by nearly every metric...and then invariably they bring up RBG....which is when I have to remind her, she only started at Cornell, she knew she had to do better which is why she went to Harvard and Columbia... or Carl Sagan and I say, "yeah, but he was so corny on Full House," and even after the 4th or 5th time it has NEVER not gotten them worked up, but they also wear a Cornell sweatshirt, hat, shirt...literally every single time I see them outside of a work environment). And... no, his name is not Andy and I don't work for a paper company, but it's...not THAT far off. Sorry from derailing this thread, but... it kinda felt like the train was no longer moving and the passengers were disembarking).

Oh, one last thing. I still want to believe... BADLY that DT acquired that physique through relentless training and diet. That Trainor Labs(I know that's not the spelling, but you know who I mean) needs it's guys to stay clean as there's definitely a "guilt by association," type thing that happens with some of these guys.

I'm not sure what to make of Hopke at this point. He clearly looked to be the top Wrestler at that weight for a while. I'd have placed him ahead of Keuter and Ross right now when he was coming off his Jr year. I just didn't see a jump his Jr to Sr year and then he was banged up at Minnesota and now we're seeing these guys taking a big leap. And for those who'll say I'm crazy, Kueter was better, I'm talking about...at the time, it looked like Hopke had a higher upside. As for the rest, I didn't see Hamiti, I don't know if he gave up a TD and then 4 laces. You can get teched in FS of of one low single that someone transitions to a low single or you can just...not be in it. I try to not put too much weight on a single match(though in fairness, if he'd have beaten...Ghasempour up at 92, I'd have put a bit more weight in it(and that would also have required Hamiti to as well!). But I've seen enough of Hamiti to know what he's capable of. As for Ross and Mirasola... they're not in the same league to me right now. Maybe TODAY Mirasola could beat him just by being more physical(I don't know he could, but for arguments sake) but Ross is just a far better athlete, he's so much longer and he's going to fill out. Watching him earlier on in HS, he looked like he had back problem. He looked like a hunch back. You only realized it was because his back was so damn big when he stood up. He just uncoils and attacks like a Cobra...and for a HWT, he's going to hit blast double on guys... and he can brawl and hand fight with them. Hell, I wouldn't be totally shocked if he tries going '97KG for the '28 cycle upon taking an OLY RS. If he's 235... I don't know, it may be a really bad idea, but if he just has to make the cut a couple times in a OLY RS year...211... it's not crazy and I think he he could be dangerous. I don't think that'll happen, but it's just something that popped into my mind. I thought Rowlands(who Ross reminds me of... but I think Ross has a more explosive and lower shot...we'll see if how that plays out given Rowlands is one of the greatest HWT Wrestlers ever and was himself a very athletic and mobile Wrestler) -went down one year in there, maybe two toward the end. He was just running into Mocco and had trouble taking 2 of 3 from Mocco because he was... just such a Monster and he wasn't just pushing, he had some slick stuff for guys who had to push back as hard as a guy like Rowlands did to hold center, namely that foot sweep. I also could have sworn one year Cormier Wrestled 96KG for Freestyle and 120 for Greco...finishing 1st in FS, but not qualifying for Greco, losing to Byers... but I'm thinking I got that wrong. Tryin to do both would be so insanely difficult, I must be mistaken. Finally, Shapiro... I just don't think he's got the mix of physicality and technique to do it. He has one. He's slicker than a greased up crack head(I'd imagine, I've never participated, but watching the sport, it looks quite difficult)... I just don't don't know if he will be able to stand in there vs Duke who you know is going to build himself into a GOOD sized 165... as presumably will Shapiro, but Duke I would anticipate having much more horse power and Shapiro... I'm sold on him as a GREAT Freestyle Wrestler. He could go 70-0 the next two years and I'd just say, 'ok, makes sense,' but Duke and the plethora of guys coming down(hell, Blaze may end up at 74KG further down the road as I think he has a lot of room to fill out, though I'd imagine he stays at 145.5)... Oh, and Melvin Miller. Get HIM in a College room for a couple years. He may turn out to be a cycle later, but by the time he's done growing, he could be perfect for 79KG and then 86 and Duke's Defense isn't Blaze level, but watching him win a spot on the World Team and ALSO struggle with a kid coming off his Soph year in HS... there is SOOO much talent coming. Lockett. Hell, the longer I keep thinking, the most names I'm going to spit out. And I'm just throwing this out as a Dark Horse, but I would not be surprise to see Charlie Millard end up in this group... now by '28, but shortly thereafter. He reminds me a little of Sinclair, but he's a guy who cuts more, he's a little more intense and... I don't know, he just always felt like he belonged in the same conversation of Hopke, Sinclair, Mirasola's, Mesenbrink, Scholes(another stud), or O'Toole, PK, Wolbert.. just among the real studs from Wisconsin. But that's a big time dark horse and I just want to be able to say "I called it," when he wins a spot in the 2029 World Team beating Ladarion Lockett to get to face Jayden James in a best of 3!