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US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

cnn.com

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Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#721

Post by HDThoreaun »

convolvatron wrote: post #623
xp84 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think Hamas, the Islamic Republic, and Maduro are/were peace-loving good guys, I have a bridge to sell you. Whatever you think about the US, anyone who isn’t drowning in propaganda must know that those guys are at best no better, and they don’t have even a facade of a justice system that people wronged by those governments can turn to for relief. For instance, the moment the Gaza ceasefire allowed Hamas to con…

there's two takes. either the US are the 'good guys' in which case they should be aiming to reduce the impact on the innocent civilian population and escalate the situation, bring the 'bad guys' to trail, and kill them if necessary. with the ultimate goal of bringing real peace. or the US are the 'bad guys', only out to set the world in a way in which most favors them, and screw the consequences. if the US is really…

“Good guys” vs “bad guys” is a mirage. No one, specially not nation states fit neatly into the labels goo or bad. Every country is firstly motivated by their self interest, dos that make them all bad?

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#722

Post by Normal_gaussian »

midtake wrote: post #711

The special forces soldier bet on his team's success. He risked his life. His bet would not alter his behavior in anyway incongruous with mission objectives. Is that really that bad if the direction of the bet isn't unethical? He could have died and this would be a non-story, just someone throwing 32k away before they were killed in action. People are focusing on the use of confidential information and calling this i…

While it seems like an interesting point - a kind of 'doubling down' - its not clear cut at all.

Firstly, the dichotomy you presented for the individual is: succeed, live, and make loads of money vs fail, die, and lose a fair chunk. The argument you make with this dichotomy is that the gambling doesn't affect anything. However the reality is that there are many ways for the mission to end - fail, live, lose a fair chunk being notable because when the mission is going sideways the individual becomes incentivised to put themselves and others at greater risk to make a successful outcome more likely. Succeed, live, lose your squad mates, make loads of money becomes more likely as well as fail, live, lose your squad mates.

Secondly, insider trading is and always will be a signal for others. If you're only allowed to bet in one direction it becomes a form of information leak - monitor who is liquidating their assets to gamble on outcomes. For any project it becomes a signal to others - if your boss isn't remortgaging to gamble more then you know its time to jump ship. This will in turn have significant effects on outcomes.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#723

Post by pjc50 »

pjio wrote: post #643
pjc50 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does separation of powers mean when both houses, the president, and the Supreme Court are controlled by the same party? At the moment the US is just Big Poland (PiS era).

I meant the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Maybe this is more of a thing in Europe, even if not perfect here.

There's no separation of powers when they're all run by the same party, is my point.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#724

Post by shortstuffsushi »

michaelsshaw wrote: post #662
ghtbircshotbe wrote: post #437

Many people here are talking about how more powerful people are also corrupt and are getting away with it. All corruption is bad. This soldier put the life of everyone on the mission in danger by doing this.

[flagged]

Man, you've been on a streak of these purely vitriolic posts. Maybe take a break from the internet for a bit? These posts read like someone who needs help.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#725

Post by bko »

benj111 wrote: post #690
bko wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty low standard. But even worse it denies them autonomy and control of their own actions. They're victims, mere observers. You deny that group self determination, you do not view them as equals. It's like I get upset if my child bites someone, but not if my cat bites someone, because it's a cat. That's why that oppressor / oppressed mentality is so dehumanizing to the people it purports to empathize with

Why is it dehumanising? I'm not talking on the level of humans, I'm talking on the level of nation states. Plus I'm not even saying it's oppressor and oppressed, it's that one group has organisation and one doesn't. I go back to my police and protestor example? Do you apply the same rules to each? Do you think the leader of the police is more or less culpable than the leader of the protestors? It isn't dehumanising t…

Seems pretty organized that an open air prison that has severe restrictions on travel and trade can plan something like Oct 7.

Yeah to say say protestor can't control himself from throwing rocks is pretty offensive to the protestor. Put another way, if my son was at a protest and started throwing rocks at police I wouldn't excuse that behavior like he had no choice. You always have a choice.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#726

Post by jjmarr »

waterhouse wrote: post #469
Plasmoid wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there are so many applicants that have good grades. A more cynical view is that the governing boards want a way to pick and choose who they let in. So they create "holistic" application systems to get "360 degree view of the candidate".

No matter how many have good grades, you can always pick the top n by grades—unless there's a ceiling that the top m > n have all hit. Which, if you're talking about "grades" as in GPA, is plausible. MCAT seems more relevant, though. According to Claude: "Roughly 0.1% or fewer of test-takers score a perfect 528 in any given year — typically only a few dozen individuals out of the ~120,000 or so who sit for the exam a…

> No matter how many have good grades, you can always pick the top n by grades. Which, if you're talking about "grades" as in GPA, is plausible.

I live in Ontario and we're there. 40% of Waterloo students had above a 95% average in high school. The average GPA to get into UofT med school is 3.94/4.00 GPA.

What has happened as a result is students killing themselves and each other. If you fail one test in any course, you cannot move to the next level.

So, if you go on the UofT subreddit there's endless stories of pre-med students sabotaging each other. Faking friendliness, destroying notes, etc etc. This is arguably rational because the pool is small and there's little to gain by studying harder if you already have a perfect GPA.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UofT/comments/1sbu811/had_no_idea_t...

You don't want this type of person as a doctor. They will sabotage others because that is how they got ahead in the past. In a medical environment that kills people.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#727

Post by triceratops »

jjmarr wrote: post #726
waterhouse wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how many have good grades, you can always pick the top n by grades—unless there's a ceiling that the top m > n have all hit. Which, if you're talking about "grades" as in GPA, is plausible. MCAT seems more relevant, though. According to Claude: "Roughly 0.1% or fewer of test-takers score a perfect 528 in any given year — typically only a few dozen individuals out of the ~120,000 or so who sit for the exam a…

> No matter how many have good grades, you can always pick the top n by grades. Which, if you're talking about "grades" as in GPA, is plausible. I live in Ontario and we're there. 40% of Waterloo students had above a 95% average in high school. The average GPA to get into UofT med school is 3.94/4.00 GPA. What has happened as a result is students killing themselves and each other. If you fail one test in any course,…

Too many kids want to be doctors and have the grades for it? That's an opportunity, not a problem.

Training more doctors is just never an option for some reason.

Don't build systems that reward amoral psychopaths.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#728

Post by triceratops »

andrew_lettuce wrote: post #689
waterhouse wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter how many have good grades, you can always pick the top n by grades—unless there's a ceiling that the top m > n have all hit. Which, if you're talking about "grades" as in GPA, is plausible. MCAT seems more relevant, though. According to Claude: "Roughly 0.1% or fewer of test-takers score a perfect 528 in any given year — typically only a few dozen individuals out of the ~120,000 or so who sit for the exam a…

I want a doctor who was a strong student with diverse experiences, lots of soft skills and can handle the entire psychological spectrum of being a doctor, not the doctor who was solely the best at exams.

There are all kinds of doctors though? The ones who don't have soft skills or diverse experiences can go into pathology or other fields that don't involve as much patient interaction. Why lose out on their gifts altogether if they're genuinely interested in medicine.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#729

Post by FireBeyond »

throwaway894345 wrote: post #659
looksjjhg wrote: post #177

That’s hilarious … so he’s arrested and put on trial and all the senate and congress are doing the exact same and free? lol

Yeah, Republicans are always playing this game. They also get top tier, free healthcare while they gleefully cut veterans' benefits.

For life, too. Be a one or two term congress critter in your early 40s, free healthcare for you and your family for life.

Re: US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400k on Maduro raid

#730

Post by lyu07282 »

gosub100 wrote: post #676
lyu07282 wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, I thought the BBC telling it's "journalists" not to call it a kidnapping was the most hilarious thing to come from this: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/01/05/bbc-maduro-v... > “Kidnapping” is an uncomfortable word. It suggests force, illegality and wrongdoing. “Captured” sounds more respectable. It belongs to the language of war. “Seized” sounds calmer still — almost administrative, like someo…

Reminds me of the far left calling rioting "unrest" when it's their guys doing the damage.

Be curious about what conservative and liberal media agree on, within that intersection are the only lies that actually matter.
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