48 Comments
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daniel schmitt's avatar

Hey Top, Good video. My grandfather was commissioned as a Major at the beginning of WWII in the same way. His expertise was in logistics. It's a long story.

One correction, New York did not "...elect a communist to run for the Democratic mayor position". He's a socialist, and there's a difference, and it's not a small one. You may not like is political position but I would ask that you look to understand the difference and not correct someone's video with a miss characterization. You're demonizing a man to make a point. And Top, that's misinformation.

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Ryan McBeth's avatar

I mean… The dude wants government run grocery stores. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck. That’s a duck.

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Dewy Peters's avatar

Ryan, your analysis is almost always on point. However, politics is not your forte and you have said or at least strongly implied so yourself. New York’s democratic mayoral nominee has many many problems but as a European, I do think the word “communist” is thrown about a bit liberally in the US. Strongly left-wing? Anti-zionist? Maybe. But “communist” just sounds like a McCarthyite slur..and I say this as someone whose great-grandfather was taken out by Stalin. Idk man..I think you may be veering off your lane just a little bit. Hope you take this comment in good faith 🙏🏼

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Cristiano Sacchi's avatar

That is socialism: the government owns the means of production.

Communism is the ultimate classless, stateless society where the means of production are owned collectively, money and wage labor disappear, and goods are distributed “to each according to need.”

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Marcus Pelletier's avatar

"!Capitalist != Communist" Ryan.

Need to go find someone to help you with that one...

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Dima Pasechnik's avatar

Ever heard of Swedish Systembolaget https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systembolaget ? it's Sweden's government-run wine and liqueur stores.

You can't survive without roads, and, o horrors, roads are mostly not private, and most of them are free. You can't survive without food or a shelter, but you have a problem with a government taking care of it? Why?

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David Eggleston's avatar

Governments run liquor stores to limit the amount of alcohol people consume, and alcohol is not a necessity. Food is. Furthermore, there’s ample evidence over the last 100 plus years that governments cannot run groceries adequately. Even societies subjected to rationing utilized private grocers. On top of that, the average margins in the grocery industry, around 2-3%, don’t allow for the inherent inefficiency in nationalization. Hence the empty shelves and bread lines endemic to the Warsaw Pact countries of yore. So yes, there are pretty obvious reasons why you don’t want to run your groceries like liquor stores and post offices.

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Dima Pasechnik's avatar

If a government cannot convince retailers to open food stores at poor neighborhoods, it should step in, margins don't matter - a functioning neighborhood allows for savings on the police force etc.

Empty shelves etc in Warsaw Pact were mostly due to the agricultural inefficiency than anything else, by the way. USSR was buying massive amounts of e.g. grain in USA - and after the collapse of the USSR, xUSSR countries (Ukraine and Russia most of all) becoming significant grain exporters relatively quickly.

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A Guy who thinks occasionally's avatar

Wondering if a few well placed grocery stores(government run) stocked with healthy foods might be better than simple "food stamps." No dog in this fi GG ht, other than suggesting the pendulum swings and this is very likely a swing away from MAGA). The general elections are likely to see this swing as well

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Neal McKinney's avatar

Karl Marx and Freddy Engles laid the groundwork for modern Socialism in their Communist Manifesto, right?

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Ed H's avatar

"New York just elected a communist"

Ryan - you KNOW he isn't a "communist" and, NO, they did not "ELECT" him, he just won a primary.

I guess facts and accuracy are not your forte either.

How's Newsmax working out for you?

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Mark Emerson's avatar

There have been 4 Republican Mayors since 1917. Good chance the Democratic nominee will win the general election. The main difference between Socialism and Communism is that the first is gradual in nature, while the other is revolutionary. Both lead to the same result over time.

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A Guy who thinks occasionally's avatar

Not quite. Many of the advanced European countries swing slightly socialist. Yet their measures of happiness, freedom, health and education absolutely crushed ours, especially the so called 'free states' of our South. What does our South do better? The weather! As a Southern born but New England educated elderly guy presently living back in the south, I feel confident that we'd be better off with our weather and their happiness 😊

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David Durant's avatar

Surely the example of this everyone has heard of is the surgeons in M*A*S*H? Hawkeye et al are drafted in directly as Captains.

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popio's avatar

"When you run around worried about dunking on "the libs" or owning MAGA, you're the freaking problem!" -R. McBeth

Truth.

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Dan Lantaff's avatar

She is an alarmist, but some of what she said is true. Musk and his small team did illegally obtain a significant amount of our personal information. The playbook being used by Trump is identical to that used by Hitler. However, the addition of tech people into the military is exactly the right thing to do when trying to bolster our digital security. Ukraine is making such remarkable progress by opening the door to anyone who can help with their innovations. We need to do the same thing.....I do think that you, like her, were somewhat overboard in your presentation style. As you said, it is your shtick.

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Alex Storrs's avatar

I love your stuff, Ryan, but I like Leigh’s too. You are both generally right and that is rare these days. So Leigh didn’t realize these guys were in the reserves and didn’t read the site that described what they are supposed to do, but her linking to the (civilian) abuse of governmental information might be prescient- certainly worth keeping an eye on what they are doing a year from now. BTW her first name has one syllable.

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Kuni Beasley's avatar

Good report. I do need to add, that it is common practice to provide direct commissions to doctors and lawyers and other specialties. Indeed, most doctors in the military received a direct commission. Many chaplains received a direct commission.

One small point… I think your flag is hanging incorrectly. The Canton is supposed to be on the right of the viewer.

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Dan's avatar

His flag is correct. Against a wall, stars always go upper-left. I think of it this way: If you put them to the right, and compare to when the flag hangs horizontally, it looks like you are "dipping" the flag. That's a no-no. I think there was one video where the video background was reversed- I was going to comment (did I? I don't think so) that maybe he should hang it reversed on purpose so that when video is reversed it's right. But no biggee overall.

https://nationalflagfoundation.org/etiquette/how-to-display-the-flag/

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Cristiano Sacchi's avatar

Ryan,

I love what you do and I agree with this video of yours (as usual).

One question though... there is a very prominent personality in this country of ours (USA) that lies almost every time he speaks. How many entries do you have for this person in your disinformation Google Drive?

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Liam Brooks's avatar

Ryan, are you still doing podcast appearances?

If so would you consider appearing on The Political Orphanage?

Justin Robert Young could probably put you in touch with the host, I think you'd make a great guest.

Another great video as always.

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Ryan McBeth's avatar

Usually, they reach out to me

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Liam Brooks's avatar

They might do, a few guys on the patreon want you on as a guest. I'll add my voice to them. The more people who hear your work the better.

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Steve G's avatar

go Ryan go! I feel your anger towards everyone's tendencies to drink the party Kool-Aid and be more concerned about "winning" than actually being right.

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Diana Dubrawsky's avatar

Wow, what an ugly thing to wake up to. I've always liked your work, but there is a difference between 'lying' and being WRONG. I've followed McGowan for a while, and I've seen her ADMIT when she's been wrong and APOLOGIZE. Did you reach out to her before you slimed her all over social media?

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TommyM_nyc's avatar

Great one, Ryan. But you’re not worried about Palantir mission creep? Thx.

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RX MAN's avatar

Leigh, You don’t want to go up against Ryan. You better get your facts straight because he’ll chew you up and spit you out.

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Rockjaw's avatar

Any one that labels herself as a “girl” when’s she’s at least late 40s-early 50’s, is, to my senses, like any man over 18 (and especially over 30), who refers to himself as officially as “Johnny, Billy, Pauly, Bobby, etc”… hard to take that person seriously (and yes, I’ve lived in NY, NJ, CT, IL, OH, TN, NC, GA, FL, IN, TX and AR and it’s full of old men calling themselves by childhood names) and I still find it hard to take them seriously, IMHO…just sayin

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Dan's avatar

If you do or have done any sports you know you don't get to choose your own nickname. It is assigned by your peer group. Yes it sounds silly to my ear too, but I don't think you can blame the wearer of the name.

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Rockjaw's avatar

D1 FB from 81-84, at a well-known, now ACC member university, yeah, so actually been there and done that - the only people that call me my child-hood nickname are my 6 older sisters… not my wife, nor my friends/frat brothers… there does comes a time when one should put away their childish things, IMHO

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Dan's avatar

Fair enough. But I bet your fb buds call you by the nickname you had then. Congrats. I may have either cheered for you or against you (undergrad also that timeframe and now acc but not then)

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Rockjaw's avatar

Same - CNY

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Dan's avatar

Tallahassee. I don’t think I could name the acc teams now lol. I hear couple are from the Pacific side of things. Americans are known for being bad at geography but this is ridiculous!

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mike's avatar

We had Stripes for Skills (Army) back in the 80s. They were enlisted as a Spec 5

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Michael Nistler's avatar

Yes Mike - I made Spec 5 (26L20) in 1971,18 months after joining with 5 months in Vietnam.

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Robert Adamski's avatar

Ryan:

Another excellent video good sir! You had me at “ I was a space shuttle door gunner…”!?!? 😜😁😋 As a retired former E-7 who went to the dark side as a direct commission veterinarian. (And yes zoologists need love as well…) 😉😋 Thank you for speaking the truth regarding stolen valor and the importance of direct commissions to obtain people with valuable and difficult to find subject matter expertise to serve Uncle Sam. Having served in civil affairs my entire career with deployments to Bosnia and Iraq, I can vouch that we need these people and the the skill sets they bring to the table when the army goes and plays in a sandbox somewhere. We need pogues like me and the Wall Street banker, the cops from NYC & Boston, the judge, the guy with a PhD in water sanitation, teachers and the engineers to secure that victory behind the scenes so that we can accomplish the mission once the bullets are finished flying around or even while the grunts are still slugging it out. Knowledge is power and these direct commissions officers are critical to get unsung jobs done in your AO.

I love you brother and shall always have your back. However, I feel compelled to join several others and quibble about one wee issue in your video. You of all people fully realize and understand words matter. Definitions matter. There is an objective truth in the world. We can’t just make up and redefine words if we wish to speak persuasively and truthfully. Pundits, ideologues and the clueless everywhere here in the US bandy the term ‘communist’ around either as a dog whistle to rally their base or invoke visions that the end is nigh and the four horsemen of the apocalypse are mounting up. Communism and socialism especially democratic socialism are two very different beasts. While both an essentially economic-political theories they have vastly different views on their ultimate goal and the means to achieve them. Communism advocates for a class war (e.g. violence if needed) to achieve its ‘glorious’ stateless and class society run by an authoritarian and highly centralized governmental regime. Socialism and especially modern democratic socialism professes no such thing. I wholeheartedly agree the democratic candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is very left of center compared to much of America. And, I believe, you can form a decent argument whether his stated platform positions are fiscally sound and realistic. He is however most assuredly not a communist.

Love you brother. Keep up the good work and stay safe. And a very merry and happy ‘Treason Day!!!’ to you (as my Scottish friends would say…) ‘Merica!!! 😜🇺🇸🥃

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A Guy who thinks occasionally's avatar

So we'll written

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