Business Insider has published a ranking of state economies, and Washington State is at the very bottom of their list. Right down there after 49 other states and D.C. Oh…wait, the list is in descending order of rank.
Whoa, whoa, whoa…since when did Business Insider become a socialist-loving, minimum-wage-increase-approving, leftist pinko publication?
I suppose their methods account for something like per-capita arugula sales or Kumbaya downloads, no?
We ranked the economies of all the states and DC on seven measures: unemployment rates; GDP per capita; average weekly wages; recent growth rates for nonfarm payroll jobs; GDP; house prices; and wages. For more on our methodology, click here.
What the?!?
Here’s what they found:
Washington state scored extremely well on most of our metrics. Its Q2 2015 annualized GDP growth rate was a stunning 8.0%, by far the highest among the states and DC. The November 2015 average weekly wage of $1,073 was the second highest in the country, and was 5.6% higher than the weekly wage in November 2014, the third highest wage growth rate.
Huh…there goes Seattle’s minimum wage law utterly destroying our state again.
“1. Washington
“Washington state scored extremely well on most of our metrics. Its Q2 2015 annualized GDP growth rate was a stunning 8.0%, by far the highest among the states and DC. The November 2015 average weekly wage of $1,073 was the second highest in the country, and was 5.6% higher than the weekly wage in November 2014, the third highest wage growth rate.”
See? I told you so! When you elect a Republican governor and legislator, and adopt conservative fiscal and economic policies, you jump to #1! Oh, wait a minute, Washington is a left-coast blue state … that’s Sam Brownback’s Kansas experiment I’m talking about, which ranks #41 … what went wrong with that conservative experiment?
Oh, and South Carolina — home of Boeing’s $10-an-hour right-to-work non-union aircraft assembly line jobs — ranks #35. It probably does that well because it’s not a coal or oil state. Here’s what Business Insider said about #35:
“South Carolina’s 2014 GDP per capita of $36,125 was the third lowest among the states and DC, and the state’s $758 weekly wage was the 12th lowest. However, South Carolina’s number of nonfarm payroll jobs grew by 2.6% between November 2014 and November 2015, the sixth-best rate of job creation in the country.”
I’m guessing that job growth is attributable either to Boeing shifting jobs from its high-wage plants in other states to its low-wage plants in South Carolina, or expansion of the chicken processing industry because nobody in this country except a few rich people can afford to eat beef anymore.
A CNBC story tonight says $3.2 trillion of wealth has disappeared from global stock markets this year.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/13.....rries.html
This, of course, is nonsense. Shareholders will wake up tomorrow owning exactly the same shares they owned when they went to bed tonight. Those shares will pay exactly the same dividend income they did yesterday. Nobody has lost anything. The only thing that has changed is price the last seller received from the last buyer. For everyone else, that price is merely symbolic, but people nevertheless use it to count their wealth because it’s the only wealth-counting gimmick they have.
The same thing applies to houses. If this month’s average sale price of a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house in King County is $500,000, that doesn’t mean all of King County’s 4 bedroom, 2 bath houses are worth $500,000. Only a few of them are. If everybody who has a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house in King County decides to cash in their houses at the same time, the first sellers who get to the trough probably will get close to $500,000 for their houses. But after the supply of buyers able/willing to pay that price has been exhausted, either the owners of the remaining 4 bedroom, 2 bath houses will have to lower their asking prices, or there will be no buyers and no market for such houses. The rest of them, if they sell at all, will sell for less than $500,000; and as more of these houses are put on the market, their prices will continue descending until the market runs out of either sellers or buyers, and by then the market value of the last 4 bedroom, 2 bath house to get sold may be only$250,000 or even $175,000.
It works the same way with stocks. If everyone tried to sell their shares at the same time, stock prices would plummet to almost nothing. This is called a “panic” or “crash,” and it actually happens sometimes. But even though that’s the reality, everyone on Wall Street claims the Coca Cola Company has a “market capitalization” of $181.135 billion, i.e., that’s what the company would sell for in the open market. They get this figure by multiplying the outstanding shares, 4.349 million shares, by the last price paid for a Coca Cola share, which was $41.65. Every stock investor on earth values his Coca Cola shares the same way, i.e., by multiplying by $41.65. For example, I record my 500 shares of Coca Cola as worth $20,825 in my spreadsheets, even though I know this is nonsense.
Now, if I were to sell my 500 shares of KO, I probably could get $41.65, just as I probably could get $500,000 for my 4 bedroom, 2 bath burrow — IF I’M THE FIRST RABBIT TO THE TROUGH, or at least one of the early birds. But I can damn sure guarantee you that if Warren Buffett sold his 400 million shares of KO tomorrow, he wouldn’t get anywhere near $41.65 for them, at least not for all of them, and the only way I’d get that price is if I got to the trough before him. If I had to stand in line behind him, I’d be lucky to get $30.
My point is, the human race isn’t nearly as rich as it thinks it is. The universally accepted valuations of houses, stocks, and other assets owned by human beings or their proxies (corporations, governments, etc.) are grossly inflated. If a large number of people tried to sell these assets at the same time, they would not get anywhere near these values. IF EVERYONE TRIED TO SELL EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME, HUMANITY’S NET WORTH WOULD BE ZERO.
So, even though I frequently brag about being a millionaire, that’s pretty much bullshit. Using last-sale prices as a measuring stick, even though this methodology is almost completely invalid for the purpose everybody uses it for, it seems pretty certain I would get a million dollars for all my assets if I got to the trough before anyone else. But if I get run over in the selling stampede, and the market is running out of solvent buyers by the time I get to the market square, my take will be somewhere between zero to maybe a third or half of that. This is just the reality. And given that you stupid humans are a bunch of Nervous Nellies who run for the phone to call your brokers the minute someone sneezes in China or Iran — like the stupid bank the fool troll Puddy cited in one of his posts this week that told its clients to “sell everything” — it’s wishful thinking to believe there’s any stability to any of this.
So how do you manage your money in such an unstable and unpredictable world where market prices constantly change and markets constantly crash?
First of all, don’t be one of those fools who “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Buy stuff because you need it, not because it’s a bargain. If you don’t need something, it’s not a bargain at any price. Even if you pay only $1 for it, you just wasted a dollar. My mother taught me, “waste not, want not.” She grew up in the Depression and knew all about that. Second, if you’re smart and only buy stuff that you need or want, then you have no reason to sell it, so you don’t care what its current market price is, because that’s completely irrelevant to your well-being and happiness.
HA’s fool troll Puddy has bragged all week about selling everything and stuffing the money in his mattress. Well, let me tell you something, I didn’t do that. Why? Because I still have the same dividend income as before all this panic selling started, but his dividend income is zero. He still has to work, and I don’t have to work. Ask yourself whether you’d rather be him or me. While he sleeps on his cash, I’m busy buying more dividend income. I bought another 300 shares of Ford Motor this morning. Ford pays an annual dividend of 60 cents a share, and they’re going to give their shareholders an extra 25-cent special dividend on March 1, so I just bought $255 of income this year and $180 a year of continuing income for the rest of eternity for $3,737.90. Within 20 years, I will have gotten this stock for free, and probably a lot sooner than that if they keep raising the dividends like they’ve reliably done in the past. (My annual Starbucks dividend is now almost as much as I paid for the stock; the dividend is 80 cents and I paid $1.10 for the stock.) If you ask me, Puddy is a fucking idiot.
I sure hope the stock market goes down again tomorrow, and this world full of fools dumps a lot more shares in a panicked frenzy, because I still have an unfulfilled shopping list and some cash in my mattress, and I went to get all the lumps out of my mattress before this is all over. I hate being wakened by crackling noises from wads of paper when I roll over in the middle of the night. That last thing I want is a mattress full of paper money that doesn’t pay any dividends.
Does anybody have any questions about any of this stuff?
HA’s Superior Conservative Puddy mentioned all week about selling everything and stuffing the money in his bank account for the time being. Well, let me tell you something, I didn’t do that. Why? Because I still have the same dividend income as before all this panic selling started, but his dividend income is zero. He still has to work, and I don’t have to work. Ask yourself whether you’d rather be him or me.
Once again R senile is not correct. Puddy received dividend checks two weeks ago. Sure Puddy has to work. Puddy isn’t old and senile like R senile! Have those divident checks sitting in the family room uncashed. Why? Gonna use them as Valentine day presents to Mrs Puddy. You see… R senile whines and complains like a stuck snake on a pole… the rattle is shaking, there is hissing butt nuthin happens worthwhile. As Puddy wrote earlier, the 4th Qtr indices were leading to the 1000 point drop. It was all there. Puddy gave eight indices R senile should have been watching and warning on!
Did R senile tell you about those indices? Did any of you look online to see what good prognosticators were claiming or you waited to see what R senile was going to write? You didn’t notice there was nothing from R senile on this? Puddy wonders why? Maybe because R senile knows nothing except what R senile reads on CNBC!
Wait a minute… R senile wrote last week don’t trust CNBC and what website does R senile use? CNBC! Isn’t that another case of senility in action? Wanna see the blog entry again everyone? This one is easy to find! Puddy uses Fox Business too. Because Charles Payne is a smart guy!
BTW the Dow dropped 364 and Nasdaq 159. Didn’t R senile warn you about it? http://www.wsj.com/articles/st.....1452677759
WA State has some unique companies here not found in other states. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Tableau, F5, etc are software companies here paying top dollar to software developers! Seattle ranks second to San Francisco in high technology wages at $103,196. Somehow that is missed in the wage discussion. Something like that missed when discussing restaurant working wages? Really? Tying the minimum wage to the state economy and bragging about without deeper ANALysis is what Puddy would expect from libtards! This state can afford it while other states can’t.
What goes around comes around.
“Ted Cruz’s birther problem grows as more constitutional law scholars say he can’t be president”
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/0.....president/
Cruz plummeting in Iowa and RCP national average
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....-3194.html
@4 So, you sold everything, yet you’re still getting dividends? How did you pull that off? I’d like to know, because I want in on that racket, too.
And unlike you, I don’t leave uncashed checks laying around the burrow. My dividends go into my brokerage account via EFT where they’re immediately available in case a buying opportunity pops up.
Fool.
Roger Rabbit Referendum
@4 The way we settle arguments in this country is by voting, so let’s vote. There are two candidates in this election; vote for only one. The question before the voters is:
Who is the idiot fool on this board?
[ ] Puddy
[ ] Rabbit
I vote for Puddy.
@5 Yes, the GOP candidates are getting eliminated one by one, because they’re too stupid (Carson), too dishonest (Fiorina and Christie), too unpopular (Jeb!), too fringe (Fuckabee, Santorum, and Paul), or broke (Perry and Walker), unknown (Graham, Pataki, and Gilmore), or ineligible (Cruz). Realistically, there’s just two left, and when Trump (too dangerous) and Rubio (too disreputable) are eliminated the GOP will have no candidates left. Maybe they can recruit the loser of the Democratic primary, although this will require making some adjustments to their ideology and platform. I think the best plan is for them to lose the election.
I constantly encounter articles about job hunting, usually written in the form of advice to jobseekers. For example, from CBS News today:
“Finding a job still isn’t all that easy for many workers in the post-recession years, but some may be unknowingly sabotaging their own chances of getting a job offer. First impressions are hugely important, given that half of all hiring managers said they know within the first five minutes of an interview whether a candidate will be a good fit, according to a new survey from career site CareerBuilder. The study, conducted by Harris Poll, surveyed more than 2,500 hiring and human resource managers late last year.
“It takes more than a sterling resume to get hired, given that body language and strange habits can derail a candidate’s chances. It turns out there are several sure-fire ways to ruin a job interview. Hint: if you are tempted to answer a cellphone or text during the interview, take a deep breath and put the mobile phone down. No one likes to have their conversations interrupted by texting or calls, and that certainly holds true for hiring managers, with 68 percent saying it’s a deal breaker.”
Hold on, there’s more:
“‘Candidates have to make a great first impression appearance-wise, have a solid understanding of the target company, know exactly how to convey that they’re the perfect fit for the job and control their body language,’ said Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer.”
Okay, knowing what the job requires you to do, and what the company needs done, is reasonable. You shouldn’t apply for jobs you can’t perform, because that wastes everyone’s time. This squishier stuff about “body language” bothers me, though. There are no perfect human beings, and minor eccentricities shouldn’t keep someone from earning a living or making a productive contribution to society. The article continues,
“Other faux pas that can sink a candidate’s chance of getting an offer include lying about something, appearing arrogant or entitled, and dressing inappropriately. Candidates with salty language should tone down their vocabulary, given that half of hiring managers say that’s an instant sign that someone isn’t a good fit.”
I don’t have a problem with employers refusing to hire liars and thieves. That’s obviously a no-brainer. And off-putting attitudes or behaviors, swearing, or wildly inappropriate dress — whether you like it or not — will make an impression. If you’re applying for a bikini barista job, don’t show up in an evening gown; wear something that shows skin, and waggle your tits during the interview.
“Then there are the body-language issues. If you have a weak handshake, use too many hand gestures, or forget to smile, you may be headed back to the job search, the survey found. The biggest body-language turn-off? Failing to make eye contact, with more than two-thirds of hiring managers saying it’s a mistake that weakens a candidate’s chances.”
This is where we really get knee-deep into bullshit for most positions. I can see using hiring criteria like these if you’re a car dealer hiring a salesman. But if I’m the hiring partner at a corporate law firm, I should be looking for someone who knows the difference between an easement and an edifice, not someone who can win a Miss USA contest. Being ugly, or having a gruff personality, shouldn’t keep someone from designing space probes if he’s the most competent engineer for the job. Henry Ford was an asshole, and he ended up as a sole proprietor because none of his partners could stand him, but if he hadn’t single-mindedly pursued his vision in his own way, and run over everyone else in the process, we’d all still be riding trolleys or horses, or walking.
As for me, I don’t have to play these bullshit games anymore. When I had to go bowing and scraping to get a shitty job, and then work, instead of spending my money on “stuff” I saved and invested it, and now I own the fucking company (actually, about 36 companies, including Ford and Coca Cola), so I don’t have to work for it. I’m pretty sure that with my looks, attitude, and eccentricities, not to mention body language, I could never get hired by any of the 36 companies I own. But, you see, there’s no screening or interview process involved in getting the best money there is — money you don’t have to work for — i.e. the dividend checks. You simply buy the stock and they send it to you, no questions asked.
If you’ve been reading my comments for the last 10 years, and thinking about the things I’ve written, you should realize by now that having a job is the worst way of getting money there is. It’s all one-sided. If you’re a worker, the employer holds all the cards. If the hiring manager tells you to jump through a hoop and bark like a dog, you have to do it. If they’re going to consign you to the unemployment line because your smile is lopsided or you wince when he squeezes hard on the broken bones in your fingers from the pickup basketball game you shouldn’t have played the day before your interview, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Now let’s turn the tables. Let’s say you own the company, instead of working for it. Let’s say you sleep until noon every day, don’t fight the commuter traffic, never show up at the plant of office, never do any work … they have to send you the dividend checks anyway. See how this works?
Be a capitalist, not a worker. That’s what we smart rabbits do, and it’s what you should do, too.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/th.....behaviors/
It is now day 297 since the foreign born Rafael Cruz set his ambition on taking over the government. And while the doubts about his citizenship continue to swirl and mount, Cruz himself remains impotent and mute.
@5,
that’s not all.
In this mornings’ NYT it broke that Cruz lied to Texas voters about receiving over a million dollars from Wall Street insiders at Goldman Sachs for his 2012 Senate campaign. In a shocking and brazen violation of federal law, the foreign-born Cruz never reported the huge sums in any of his FEC campaign finance disclosures.
Rafael Cruz, who graduated from Harvard Law School, served as a legal counsel in the FTC, is partner in a Texas Law firm, and served as Solicitor General of Texas before taking a Senate seat, has so far offered as his excuse for violating well known anti-bribery laws that he “misunderstood the law”. But absolutely no apology whatsoever.
Iowa Republican caucus goers are very worried and concerned about the naked breach of public trust.
Congratulations Washington!
Next priority – deport Puffy to Mississippi.
Rafael “Foreign Born” Cruz has another legal problem.
“Ted Cruz failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from the nation’s largest banks when he ran for the Senate in 2012, a potential violation of federal election rules.”
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/.....index.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: We all know Republicans disrespect campaign laws. Several of Scott Walker’s closest associates went to jail for money laundering. But they don’t consider violating these laws a crime; when caught, they complain they’re being persecuted, like they do when they’re cited for parking in tow-away zones. So, Cruz no doubt will argue this is much ado about nothing, like leaving a Porsche or Mercedes blocking a busy downtown bus stop around the corner from a Starbucks. After all, his banker buddies are rich, and that makes him and them entitled.
@7 see @12 for my answer. And thanks for the info – just checking in and I don’t have time to read or digest it all but later tonight I will.
Puffy you fucking moron.
@8 maybe they can elect the loser of the Democrat primary….that made me chuckle.
I just hope we don’t have too many eggs in the Amazon basket.
@11 & 13
The Ted Cruz story has a dazzling detail that people who know a little about stocks and brokerage accounts, Piddles you can stop reading now as this is clearly over your head, are starting to dig into.
“We had a brokerage account that has a standard margin loan like any brokerage account has, and we borrowed against the stocks and assets that we had under ordinary terms,”
So Ted Cruz was campaigning hard on the notion that President Obama was turning the country into “Greece,” man that seems like forever ago that people were comparing the US to Greece and that the U.S. was in full blown decline under President Obama’s economic policies. At the same time he was taking a margin loan that meant if he was right and the stock market and the economy tanked his campaign would be bankrupt and he would personally have pretty deep financial liabilities.
So Cruz was willing to tell voters that the economy was dying while betting the farm that it would expand.
But then when did a lying sack politician bother a Republican voter?
Might bother the national electorate though.
“Maybe they can recruit the loser of the Democratic primary, although this will require making some adjustments to their ideology and platform.”
Although the loon was expressing his heart-felt admiration for Kim Jong-un a couple of weeks ago, the wingnut dream ticket would be Putin/Netanyahu.
“Who is the idiot fool on this board?”
[X] Loon
[ ] Rabbit
This has got to be the creepiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPRfP_TEQ-g
One more legal expert casting doubt on the foreign-born Rafael Cruz:
http://www.bloombergview.com/a.....er-problem
Takes piles of money from Wall Street fat cats.
Lies to his supporters and voters about it.
Born in another country.
Retained citizenship in another country for decades.
And might not even be a U.S. citizen.
That’s a lot for the Iowa Caucus goers to digest in only a couple of weeks.
@17 Like “any brokerage account has”? I’ve had a brokerage account for 34 years and I’ve NEVER had a “standard margin loan,” whatever that is. I don’t buy stocks on margin, because there’s no guarantee they’ll go up, and leveraging them doubles your losses. And, of course, I never take money out of my investment accounts, either directly or by borrowing against investment assets. I treat my brokerage account as a black hole: Once money goes into it, it stays there forever, and that’s how I make sure my investments get bigger instead of smaller. Cruz is not only a crook, he’s a lousy investor, too. Not a guy I want choosing a Federal Reserve boss.
@20 The Crud shit storm is fascinating. With Jeb! all but gone, and Rubio withering on the vine, the Canadian was emerging as their backup man (a) to keep Trump from winning Iowa, and (b) their only alternative to Trump unless someone figures out how to resuscitate Rubio, which is looking dicier every day. So without Crud they’ve got nobody but Trump. I’d say the GOP is in a bind.
Is it too soon to think about Bernie or Hillary carrying all 50 states? It would be nice to see a Democrat surpass Nixon’s 49-state record.
I didn’t watch the last GOP debate out of disgust for the fuckers, but I sure as hell ain’t going to miss tonight! Should be fun to watch Crud squirm.
Carson’s campaign continues to disintegrate. The loon’s head continues to implode.
“Ben Carson’s finance chair quits — despite $20,000 a month salary”
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/0.....th-salary/
The loon will soon be back to lay some more hate on us.
@25 Carson is done. Stick a fork in him.
@25 Cursedone is going to milk this cow for a while longer, he probably thinks he would make a good VP (in his case a Vaginal Prick).
Looks like Ryan is starting to think about the downwind fallout effects of a radioactive GOP ticket.
“After the presentation to the group of elected Republican leaders, Ryan (R-Wis.) asked Sackett which of the Republican presidential hopefuls would be most detrimental to GOP House candidates on the ballot this year. Sackett replied that Cruz would have the biggest negative effect, citing the Texas senator’s starkly ideological positions, according to six sources who were in the meeting. Sackett told the group that the public’s perception of Cruz could shift if he becomes the nominee.”
http://www.dailykos.com/storie.....tail=email
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Some analysts disagree with pollster Sackett; they think the Dems could run the table if Trump is the nominee. It would be nice to have a House that could get some work done.
@28,
polling around candidate and party preference at this point can be more than murky. I think the real liability for Republicans lies in turnout damage.
Assuming Clinton’s nomination, the Republican party was counting on her serving as a lightning rod for turnout in key districts. But it’s now beginning to look as if a pretty significant percentage of those Republican leaning independents may stay home out of disgust/discouragement. And while that GOTV testing ground is still months away, it all may hinge on what unfolds in the next few weeks. They let this all slip away back in November when they flirted with Carson. Live by the grift. Die by the grift.
I’m seeing comments on other blogs about Republicans not applauding when Two-Term President Obama talked about curing cancer. I don’t really believe Republicans are against curing cancer; I think they’re against Democrats getting credit for it.
Who is the idiot fool on this board?
[X] Puddy
[ ] Rabbit
Not even a contest.
Roger @28
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Some analysts disagree with pollster Sackett; they think the Dems could run the table if Trump is the nominee. It would be nice to have a House that could get some work done.
Even better if the Dems could take back some (or all) of the state legislatures (like Texas) that have gerrymandered districts.
Roger @23
Is it too soon to think about Bernie or Hillary carrying all 50 states? It would be nice to see a Democrat surpass Nixon’s 49-state record.
What about a Bernie – Hillary ticket? (Or Hillary – Bernie)
That might do it.
What does it mean to have “New York Values”? I’m not really looking for an answer, I know what it can mean. But Fuck You Crud. Are New Yorkers not Americans? Are we not values Americans. Go Fuck yourself Crud.
Maybe America as a whole has no values. Were the Duggars New Yorkers. Someone needs to tell him to go fuck himself! Republicans in New York should either be ashamed of themselves or move the fuck out to Iowa.
Crud should go back to Canada or Cuba. I’m sure Canada wouldn’t want him back…..heck, Cuba probably wouldn’t take him either.
Republicans are so confused. They only support Trump because of his hate, and their hate and knowledge that all the rest of their candidates suck.
I really don’t know why they don’t get behind Kasich. I think they would win with him.
@4 So, you sold everything, yet you’re still getting dividends? How did you pull that off? I’d like to know, because I want in on that racket, too.
Dividends are calculated on the date when you get rid of the stock R senile. You insult anyone’s intelligence when you act as stooooooooooopid as you do here on HA DUMMOCRETINS each day!
What a moronic twit!
Huck’s on board!
Notice R senile will not discuss all those indices Puddy delivered and R senile never covered or discussed. Now why is that?
Remember, y’all depend on R senile for financial ANALysis! Sux to be a senile moron!
See ya!
Those videos of our Navy men are damning to the Obummer sadministration!
More feckless foreign Obummer policy!
Obummer has not responded.
Once again conservatives are on the wrong side of something making history. Why? Are they just stubborn fucking fools?
Why clean energy is now expanding even when fossil fuels are cheap – http://wpo.st/buz31
Did I miss anything? I said I wasn’t going to miss tonight’s debate but I couldn’t stomach it. Watching them clowns is infuriating and nothing gets accomplished except wasted time.
@38 not sure Nyone depends on Rog, at least I don’t, but listening to him is more sane and more reliable than any of your horse shit. And maybe you could learn something from Rog, if you were capable of learning, but something tells me that he would rather not see you learn anything and would rather see you be the moron that you are.
@39
Only to the less than 3% of the population who watch Fox News and listen to rightwing AM Blather. They are telling you they are damning. Yes sir Mr. Limbaugh, can I fetch your slippers Mr. Hannity. Can I get a little treat Mr. Doocey. I’m a goooood boy, yesiam, yesiam, yesiam.
The rest of the country says, “Hmm, U.S. Patrol boats were stopped in Iranian territorial waters, questioned and released in less than a day. Iran just gave us a pass for putting warships in their territory. Wow, that’s a big change. Not a shot fired.”
Note that the same people who often say it’s AOK for Police Officers to kill civilians who are potentially armed think the military of country A should never use merely the threat of force to detain military of country B they 100% KNOW are armed.
Right wing world thinks the patrol boats should have defended themselves and started shooting. “How dare you not shoot first and worry about consequences later. This weak President has ordered them to not kill immediately. That’s unacceptable! Maybe some of them would have been able to escape. Maybe they would have all been killed but by God we could’ve taken a bunch of towelheads with us. And hey, what’s an overt act of war between the U.S. and Iran. That’s what they should have done. Oorah! USA! USA! USA!” Piddles, or words to that effect.