So.......what COMPANIES do you dislike?

[Aaron N]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

Wasn’t half of trumps whole platform how musk was going to take an axe to everything?

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Wasn’t half of trumps whole platform how musk was going to take an axe to everything?

I don't know that Musk was specifically named early.on, but drastic cuts to a boosted system.of government spending was always part of Trump's agenda for a second term. This has been a long.time coming, and yes, it's likely to be painful to a lot of people until things settle out.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Speaking of ice cream up above...I remember the Schwans truck coming by with the best ice cream ever. The route drivers were the best. If you caught them at a stop they would sell you an ice cream bar for the change in your pocket.

The founder, Marvin Schwan died one day about 30 years ago and the whole darn company went to hell. Family and estate issues killed them. Used to be a great place to work and the best customer service in the world. Now it sucks completely..... I don't even know if they do anything anymore and I live 10 miles from their HQ.

Another example of a business owner without a solid perpetuation plan. Marvin Schwan was #51 on the Forbes 500 list when he died. Great guy but didn't have a plan. It cost his employees, workers and family a lot of pain. He did a lot of good while he was alive but the company died when he did.

 

[deaner20]

Wells Fargo

 

[thriller]

That’s EXACTLY why I refuse to read articles about Spam.

If you know and don’t care why does it matter

 

[CarsonG]

Levi
They throw tons of money at anti gun legislation.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Levi
They throw tons of money at anti gun legislation.

I heard that Levi has gone nuts. Carhart isn't the same clothing company they use to be either. I wear Wranglers.

As for stores. Cabela's went to hell the day they got bought out. Too bad. Sportsman's Warehouse was good, then went broke a while ago and I guess some stores are back. Scheel's seems to be a good alternative, a bit yuppy for me. In the upper mid west Runnings is a good Farm & Ranch store with an outdoor section.

I only buy firearms, ammunition and reloading supplies from my local gun shop. I pay cash so credit card companies don't know what I'm doing.

 

[Russ16]

I heard that Levi has gone nuts. Carhart isn't the same clothing company they use to be either. I wear Wranglers.

As for stores. Cabela's went to hell the day they got bought out. Too bad. Sportsman's Warehouse was good, then went broke a while ago and I guess some stores are back. Scheel's seems to be a good alternative, a bit yuppy for me. In the upper mid west Runnings is a good Farm & Ranch store with an outdoor section.

I only buy firearms, ammunition and reloading supplies from my local gun shop. I pay cash so credit card companies don't know what I'm doing.

I wish I had a local gunshop. Nought like that anywhere near me.

Cabelas actually went to hell when they went public long before they were bought out.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

This response is also for @towserthemouser.

I've been in service to our country for 36 years. 25 in the Army, and the rest as a federal employee working in, shall we say, the "National Security" field. I am in charge of, among other things, the counterterrorism vetting unit at USAID. The agency which happens to be the ONLY agency in the federal government mandated BY LAW to ensure tax dollars DON'T fund terrorism. Not even the State Dept. does that. The agency is also one of the DoD'S closest partners worldwide, amongst other agencies.

Is there corruption and agendas at USAID? Absolutely, just like there is at EVERY other agency I have worked for, just like there is in Congress (who, by the way, approves the budgets for USAID line by line, so if special interest programs were funded, it was with their full knowledge and consent). That's what the Office of the Inspector General is responsible for weeding out, but then again, they were amongst the first to get fired across the agencies. So lumping everyone in the agency into the category of criminals or left wing nuts is both hypocritical and misguided. Right now DOGE is taking all the good the agency and it's people do and lumping us in with a few bad apples. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater, if you will. Worse yet, they are violating laws to do it, with the expressed approval of the administration.

Does government need to shrink, YES, do we need to reform things, ABSOLUTELY! But not at the expense of dedicated, hard working, patriots and DEFINITELY not at the expense of our laws and the Constitution. Hell, I voted for the current President! But if I had thought that for one moment he would turn the fate of this country over to a narcissistic billionaire, and start shredding the Constitution and Bill of Rights to suit his whims, I would have sat this election out.

At the end of the day, we all have to chose what we want to believe. Maybe some folks don't care that people overseas (some of them Americans) will die due to the decisions being made. Maybe some folks don't care that fellow Americans, thousands of them (including all the contractors that suddenly lost their jobs too) who are also taxpayers, by the way, are being punished for trying to do their jobs the best they can for something they had no control over or anything to do with. Is every government employee a selfless drone working tirelessly for the masses? NO. But why not just give everyone a urinalysis test and fire those that test positive, then fire the bottom 20 percent of performers, based on our mandatory yearly evaluations, that are left after the drug users are kicked out? That ought to cull some of the bad apples. Then investigate and ACTUALLY hold accountable those that make and allow those poor decisions to happen in the first place. I guess having a kangaroo court and saying " your fired!" is easier and makes for better sound bites.

There are around 3 million federal workers working on behalf of the over 300 million Americans in this country. Now I went to public school so my math may be off, but that is 1% of the population working to do what they can with what they are given to support everyone else. So when something goes wrong and someone says, " why don't the gub'ment fix this?!" consider those numbers. Most of the jobs and agencies in the government exist for a reason, whether most people realize it or not, so be careful what you wish for when you ask for sweeping cuts and say "it's only those lazy government employees getting cut, so screw them!" Because in the end you may not like the end result.

Tyrade over. My sincerest apologies to the OP for the lecture.

I understand the stress you are going through. My family is not exempt. My wife is a retired DOD employee. Our son-in-law is a current DOD employee, and our daughter is a NOAA employee. If one or both of them lose their jobs due to a massive reorganization we will.all have to deal with it. My wife and I all be having to make up any difference between what they bring in and their home loan, insurance, food, car payments, etc. We will do this because they are the parents of our grandchildren, and it's what families do.

Yes this will likely be painful for many but we must recognize that it is something that !just be done.

 

[jpr9954]

US Postal Service. Their delivery estimates are a joke.

 

[RedTag]

Christensen Arms....Rifles very notorious for poor accuracy and Customer Service Sucks...
Hornady for wrong velocities on factory ammo..... by a lot! No support for 375 Ruger reloading.

I see way more Christensen rifles for sale used than new. It’s bizarre.
Hornady superformance ammunition is the most erratic temperature sensitive ammo I’ve ever used. It’s useless.

 

[mdwest]

I love my two Christensen rifles… both are freaking laser beam accurate and super comfortable to shoot…

I hope people keep selling them off so I can pick a few more up on the cheap

 

[RedTag]

I must acknowledge that I’ve never owned any Christensen rifle. The bolt and trigger configurations not being to my liking, for starters. I can only say that I’ve seen them up for sale in the local classified ads at least 5 to 1 over those I’ve seen new in the shelf in any local shops. This tells me that the guys buying them are probably ordering online and letting them go in relatively short time. I wouldn’t sell an accurate rifle unless I was in extreme financial distress. I don’t doubt that some Christensen rifles are great, as some credible sources report, but I likewise don’t doubt that many are duds based on my aforementioned observations.