Free Republic

Whatever happened to the Trump depression he was certain would happen ?

“Kamala cares as much about abortion rights, as she does about control of our borders”

She basically has a “no show” government job.

Not unexpected. Prepare for the temper tantrum.

“Here’s the supply problem. Because of the once each year funding mechanism for military contracts, no supplier is going to automate anything because automation must be amortized over multiple years.”

That is not entirely correct. It depends on the type of funding, contract and lead time. DOD puts certain long lead time items on contract for multiple years, paid up front. This is not a standard procedure due to technological and engineering changes (you don’t want to contractually lock into producing a design that may be “obsolete” or of an incompatible configuration. It is not uncommon for DOD to use 5 year contracts and they do not initiate a contract without a pretty decent idea of the quantities they are going to buy during that contract lifespan. Also some DOD contracts also have Clins for FmS customers to procure on.

BS article. Some production may cease due to obsolescence issues etc. but that is an exception not a rule. DOD is constantly looking for alternatives and ways to maintain the industrial base.

“She demanded the photos from Harvard”

The subject matter and provenance of the original slave photos (ambrotypes or daguerreotypes) makes them worth thousands of dollars each, possibly as high as $15,000.00-20,000.00 apiece.

This is what happens when your whole adult life has been spent on the public dole. You often have no idea how the private sector works. Or even worse you do know, but you purposefully choose to demonize them for political gain.

There are no Revolutionary War re-enactments in Arkansas. LOL. We had to get bonus points for those.

Reality check …………. If there had been widespread ownership of guns among blacks in North America, South America and the Caribbean in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Black slavery in these areas could not have existed.

I don’t doubt that the DPK would execute them, they have a track record of shady behavior and murdered mayors and police officials in Donetsk who were opposed to their secession in the early days. Their practice of extrajudicial executions are one of the reasons that they received little support from anyone except Russia. Even in Donetsk many view them are little better than a criminal gang.

“A mercenary is any person who:

(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities;

(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party;

(d) is neither a national of a Party to a conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;

(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and

(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces.”

While some of these detainees may qualify if they meet the criteria listed above, at this point there is no evidence (that we know of) that any of them meet criteria a or c. In order to meet this definition of mercenary a person must qualify under all of the criteria not just some. Whomever detains these people and subjects them to trial needs to prove all the criteria are met in order to impose either a death sentence or a punishment in excess of that meted out to regular POW’s, otherwise they open themselves up to possible war crimes penalties.

Warrington Township is a pretty nice area. This won’t sit well with the locals.

There is a legal definition of mercenary. That definition is very important since it effects the rights a prisoner of war can expect according to international law. Every military contractor I ever worked with before going into a foreign country (war zone or not) was damned well aware of their legal status (or lack thereof) and exactly who to contact if they ran into trouble.

So by your definition you are saying all the foreign nationals who fought in the United States Army in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea, World War II, World War I, Spanish American War, Civil War, Mexican War, Seminole War, War of 1812, Quasi War with France and the American Revolution were mercenaries. Currently you must be a permanent legal resident of the US to join our military but that is a relatively new condition of enlistment.

Americans enlisted in foreign militaries to fight in WW1 and WW2 for ideological reasons which by any reasonable definition excludes them from being labled mercenaries. Getting paid or not is irrelevant. A lack of ideological commitment to the government or cause you are being paid to serve is a key element of being a mercenary. A mercenary also generally needs to be a professional soldier or military expert as a primary mode of employment.

The definition you used in your example is incredibly broad and not something that has been accepted in this country or most of the world for hundreds of years.

I never liked Pence but in reality what was he supposed to do ??? It has been almost two years and there is still no concrete evidence of voter fraud that changed the election outcome. 2000 Mules and numerous election fraud theories are interesting but they are not legal evidence of outcome changing election fraud. Even with 2000 Mules the basic question remains how do you prove that the harvested/created ballots were for Biden ? You can’t just say “ well who else would they have been for ?” That is not a legal argument, that is an opinion. It is really hard to overturn or delegitimize any election and especially so a Federal Presidential election. That is Constitutionally untested ground. If states sent forth their electors, without clear undeniable proof of fraud the Vice President was basically bound to accept them. In January there was no such “undeniable” proof and there still in nothing other than strong suspicion. You can’t put the country into a Constitutional crisis just because you “think” something happened.

Unfortunately we may have been masterfully outflanked in 2020 and hopefully we learned some lessons.

The question is really are these people “mercenaries” in the legal sense. Usually a mercenary is considered a “hired professional soldier who fights for any state or nation without regard to political interests or issues”. (Source; Britannica). Individual Soldiers or military technical experts who serve a friendly or neutral (to the soldiers country of citizenship) foreign government for ideological reasons are generally not considered mercenaries.

It is a gray area but personally I believe that soldiers and military/security experts who contract out to foreign governments as a profession do fit the definition of mercenary whether or not they are actually engaged in combat. Also foreign troops who are “hired” out to a different government via a government or sovereign agreement, clearly are acting as mercenaries even though individually they do not have a say in the matter.

Lafayette was unpaid but Von Steuben and Pulaski were. All volunteered to come to America and held commissions in the Continental Army. Only Lafayette’s home country was at war with Great Britain at the time.

A true mercenary is “for hire” almost to anybody and generally does not fight as a volunteer or for ideological reasons.

How are they mercenaries if they volunteered ? Do you consider Lafayette and Von Steuben to be mercenaries ???

Delusional elitist thinking.

If they are there as Syrian Government allies of the Russians then they should be accorded POW status if captured. The Chechens fighting on both sides are a little bit different since it is unclear exactly why they are fighting and who they are answering to. Some may qualify as mercenaries in a technical sense.