The Star Tribune (whose publisher was formerly in Walz’s cabinet) along with most of the media is totally distorting this controversy in order to give cover. There are a few separate controversies to understand here.
▪️The stolen valor issue isn’t about his retirement. It has to do with several instances he presented himself as being in war when he wasn’t. Particularly the quote, “the weapons of war, I carried in war.” This was a quote used and highlighted by the Harris campaign! Clearly he was presenting himself as a combat veteran in order to push gun control. For the Strib and other media to ignore this is totally dishonest.
▪️The issue with his retirement is a bit more complex. The media is pushing the fact that his unit was notified of deployment after he put in his retirement as proof he didn’t dodge. But leadership typically know about deployments way in advance of official notification. So it’s likely Walz knew prior to his retirement. But no proof that I know yet.
▪️Adding to this is his going to training to become a command sergeant major right before his retirement. To check the box of reaching that position, but then retiring before actually utilizing it in any way. And potentially avoiding deployment to boot as a leader. This isn’t the smoking gun like the stolen valor thing, but might become so if people dig into it.
▪️Imo, this is going to be a big problem for Walz as, while the media will try to cover for him, people will keep pushing this and potentially force him to answer the unforgivable sin of why he pretended to be in war. For those like me, who didn’t serve, it’s a little bit inside baseball, but veterans gossip like crazy and aren’t likely to let it go.
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
▪️This is a proposal that pertains only to graduate level nursing degrees, not undergraduate ones (which were never considered professional degrees). The proposal will have a 30-60 day public comment period next year, where groups can object, before the DoE will decide on it.
▪️This is about how much federal student loans someone can take out for a particular degree. The cap on graduate degrees is $100k ($20,500/yr), while a “professional degree” limit is $200k ($50k/yr).
▪️Under the new rule proposal, professional degrees include:
🔹Pharmacy
🔹Dentistry
🔹Veterinary medicine
🔹Chiropractic
🔹Law
🔹Medicine (including osteopathic medicine & podiatry)
🔹Optometry
🔹Theology
▪️The nursing degrees excluded are ones like master of science in nursing (MSN), doctor of nursing practice (DNP) and PhD in nursing. These degrees would be limited to $100k in federal student loans, like all other graduate degrees.
▪️These changes came from the One Big Beautiful Bill’s...
