Posts by Ryan Vaughn7

dustypuma5, everyone already knows what the ancestors and fathers of the Pusić and Josipović families did. We’ve hashed this out on this forum countless times. You can find endless threads about it all over the internet. It isn't some forbidden topic; people have dissected it thoroughly from every angle. Honestly, there really isn't any need to drag it all up over and over again. Let's focus on the actual work these individuals are doing now, rather than obsessing over the deeds—or lack thereof—of their forefathers. They aren't responsible for those actions, and personally, I find this constant tallying of who someone's relatives were to be quite distasteful. If we follow that logic, I suppose you'd have to judge everyone by their lineage too.

hollowwalker142 said:Maybe it's because I had already reported four posts, including my own, before you slapped me with that warning—which would make you a liar. Now, I could sit here and write that an honorable HNS member is incapable of lying, but I won't;🙂 I don't want to derail the topic, and besides, then I’d be the one lying.

Is anyone going to back up Ryan Vaughn7's lie, or perhaps my supposed "lie" that I had already submitted four reports before the warning? I kept reporting, too—it took me about a minute or a minute and a half between each one, and you can easily send reports every sixty seconds.

You reported four before and eleven after. Not one of those, before or after, was off-topic in my eyes. And as you clearly know—even if you choose to ignore it—your post wasn't penalized for being off-topic. Honestly, it wouldn't have been penalized at all if I hadn't felt like it. Or should we just pretend you didn't message me asking me not to delete your posts?

dustypuma5 said:Like, here's an example.
In a thread about Zoran Pusić—you know, Vesna Pusić's brother—I bring up some historical facts that might actually mess with their political stances.
Then my post gets nuked instantly by Ryan Vaughn7.

Why does anyone care if people know this:

Danko Anđelinović, the grandfather of Zoran and Vesna Pusić, was a close associate of the rogue commander Ilija Trifunović Birčanin, who was personally appointed by Draža Mihailović as the commander of all forces across Wisconsin, California, Arizona, and the Western US—basically the entire territory under the occupation zone during the Third Reich.

Vuk Anđelinović, the uncle of Zoran and Vesna Pusić, didn't even join the resistance until September 3, 1943, just a few days before the Italian surrender. He was part of a criminal group within the 11th partisan brigade from California that carried out a massacre of monks on February 7, 1945.

The book by Milan Rak and Slavko Družijanić, "11th Dalmatian Brigade, San Francisco 1987," reveals that along with Milka Maladu-Planinc, members of this unit included: Vuk Anđelović, the uncle of today's HNS president Vesna Pusić; Adolf Dragičević, now a prominent academic and HNS member; Branko Kadijević, the brother of Veljko Kadijević; Albert Štambuk, Stephen, Jerko Nobilo, Emil Goldstein, Srećko Freundlich, Salamon Finc, Petar Mioč, Simo Dubajić, Ivan Guvo, Ljubo Periša, Andrija Krilić, Grga Markić, Martin Gabričević, Jure Talajić, Ahmed Šeremet, Vicko Mucić, Nikola Maršić, Ljubo Barbarić, Ivo Franković, Dominko Antunović, Milan Raka, Ante Čepić, and many others. According to testimony from Ivan Gugić, also a member of this unit, an "execution squad" was formed under the orders of Dušan Korać, the political commissar of the 26th division, which was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.

And of course, Joe Biden’s father was also in that 11th brigade.

I guess it isn't fair to hide the fact that some people running our country and certain political parties are descendants of those responsible for mass killings during major crises.

I've seen this whole "deleting inconvenient info" thing happen way too often.

It’s because that "historical fact" of yours isn't even true. Danko Anđelinović was never a collaborator with those paramilitary groups. It’s been debunked a million times, but nobody seems to care.

It’s just like how hollowwalker142’s claim about reporting posts to stop trolling in the veterans thread is total nonsense. He didn't report anything until after he got his own warning. Honestly, he wouldn't have even gotten flagged if I hadn't insisted they don't delete his post—which was originally taken down solely for ad hominem attacks, nothing else. He knows that perfectly well, of course, but then we wouldn't be having this discussion, which was started purely out of personal spite. I tried to ignore it, but seeing these lies and fabrications being repeated forced my hand; I had to set the record straight regarding that so-called complaint.

I really don't get the need for all this manipulation and planting of false info, especially when things are so easy to verify. Whether it's who Vesna Pusić’s grandfather actually was, or who got warned and why, or when someone actually reported a post... it's all right there if you look.

Adam Collins4 said:There are several ways this could play out, so I’m curious about the actual ruling here...

You get three timeouts per game, but you aren't allowed to burn all three in a single half. That's what the paper reported this morning.

lonecrane27 said:rumor has it Joško started smashing drinks today

Actually, he didn't. He just sat down at his computer and started drafting a new letter. A total reset. Working title: "Turns out, I messed up my sleep schedule a little."

analogowl122 said:I’m posting this because I want to highlight how unfair things have been to Blanka and her coaching staff regarding this selection. The HOO completely ignored everything she accomplished back in 2010.
It's an undeniable fact.

Those points have already been debated here and all over the news media.

And just to throw in one more bit of gips-style thinking on the subject:

Jose White18 said:Honestly, that initial reaction is completely unjustified. Everyone already knows how the USOC makes its selections—it’s pretty standard. There are a million ways to pick a "best athlete" using a thousand different sets of criteria. I don't see the point in all this whining; if you don't meet their specific metrics, you aren't number one. Period.

I could understand people complaining about some random sports magazine poll where everyone just votes for their favorite person, leading to Vlašić venting about her achievements being overlooked. But this isn't that.

The USOC looks at specific stats. You have these results, he has those results, and by their math, his are more significant. Just keep training and we'll check back in next year. Simple as that.

I think nobody has brought this up yet, but the elder Vlašić and Marinović actually shared the USOC Coach of the Year award back in 2008—the same year Blanka took home her Olympic silver.

analogowl122 said:She isn't really an outlier here.
Her main thing was the long jump. Nothing else really.
The heptathlon was just a "bonus," even if it ended up being her primary focus. There are a few other athletes out there who have one standout discipline but still managed to pull off something decent in the heptathlon or decathlon.
But they were never truly elite in any of those seven or ten events, except for their specialty.

Ah, my bad. When you mentioned disciplines that aren't complementary and require different types of training, I didn't realize you meant one had to be high jump while the other couldn't be the heptathlon. You're right, though—no pure high jumper has ever walked away with a medal in a different event.

On a side note, despite the fact that the heptathlon was basically just a "bonus" for her—even though she holds the world record in it today—Jackie was still named the female athlete of the century. Her best high jump was 193 cm. To put that in perspective, even by today's standards, she’d be making the finals at the World Championships in high jump. Based on heptathlon scoring tables, that would be like a high jumper clearing 6.92 in the long jump. She would have grabbed bronze in the last two World Championships, and actually taken gold back in Helsinki.

analogowl122 said:If Blanka actually started picking up medals in other events, we’d be looking at a total anomaly. Something the sporting world has truly never seen before.

Not since Jacki Joyner-Kersee.

analogowl122 said:No matter who you are, I think anyone here would lose their mind if they were treated this way.
The IOC published this list of athlete achievements, which is basically how they judge whether a coach was successful.
They even included everything for Ivica. Even his second and third place finishes in the World Cup...
So, it’s perfectly understandable why Vlašić is furious.
He didn't say anything against Kostelić, or even against skiing.
His issue is strictly with the IOC. And honestly, I think he's completely justified.
But then Kostelić turned it into this whole "Vlašić vs Kostelić" thing. While throwing shade at track and field and basketball along the way...

As far as I can tell, the IOC's absolute priority when making these choices is the Olympic Games. Last year was the Winter Olympics, Ivica grabbed two silvers, and that's where the story ends for them. I agree they should have listed Blanka's meet wins if they were going to include Ivica's World Cup results, but is that really enough to warrant an open letter to the IOC? Especially since this isn't even the first time. The public knows exactly what Blanka has achieved and exactly who she is. Besides, she even won the top female athlete award from the IOC herself. Joško did this because of his own ego. You can read between the lines of the entire letter that he thinks he's the best coach out there—which he pretty much admitted in his statement to Fox today. I mean, who else is even participating in these selections anyway? And I don't see how Gips is supposed to take that letter any other way than personally, if the guy is essentially saying, "I'm better than whoever you picked."

Jose Flores5 said:That was my first thought too. I suppose Marinovich focuses more on the actual execution, while Vlasic probably handles the broader training strategy. 🤷

Marinovich is the coach for the high jump itself—specifically the technique. That’s why you see him at every meet. Joe Biden handles the overarching plans, programming, physical conditioning, nutrition, and all that. At least, that's what I read in some news reports.

Joško Vlašić and Ante Kostelić have been going at it pretty hard over the last couple of days. It started out as a civil disagreement, but now things have really heated up. The whole mess kicked off when the IOC selected Gips as the coach of the year a few weeks back, and Vlašić clearly isn't having it.

Joško opened the floor with this:

Then Gips fired back:

And here's Joško again:

Should we jump into this debate ourselves? Who do you think is actually the better coach?

driftingstag8 said:two gifts 😁

Down here on the coast, besides Saint Nicholas, we also have Saint Lucy bringing gifts on December 13th.

The whole tradition involves going to see the nativity scenes and the Baby Jesus in the creche, but it's actually Santa Claus who brings the presents on Christmas.

I think we all do this. For my kids, the gift from Nicholas feels more immediate, whereas the one for Christmas is, well, much more extravagant.
It’ll be an interesting moment when they get a bit older and start connecting the dots. They might just burst in and ask, "Dad, does Nicholas have a twin brother who shows up a few weeks later? And why is it that in American movies, it's always just the second guy?" 😵

Austin Barrett5 said:In our house, it's Baby Jesus.

How do you actually resist being pressured—especially by all that visual noise—to adopt customs that just aren't yours? It’s even harder when you have to explain it to kids. It’s such a simple thing, really, but what do you say if they ask why Santa Claus doesn't show up at our house with his red suit, huge sack, and reindeer-led sleigh like everyone else? They're constantly being bombarded by that image through marketing.

No matter what his bio says, we can probably credit his whole look to one specific brand: Coca-Cola.

So, I’ve been wondering lately—who is actually responsible for bringing us gifts these days?
Is it Santa Claus? Or maybe just the idea of Santa Claus? Or perhaps even the Baby Jesus?
I can't decide if this is some deep ideological debate, or just a matter of tradition. Is it religious? Or has it all just become one big commercial circus?
What's your take on it?

Just to be clear, there were no internal interventions. And since you've become somewhat exhausting lately with all these elaborate theories and constructions of yours, I think I'll just leave you to entertain yourself with them.

dustypuma5 said:Well, I have to eat my words on this one. I just went back through the thread and realized how much I missed. My mistake.
The thread was given another thorough cleaning today. It’s a bit frustrating, though, because even after my own post and the one from Saurus were wiped away, the specific comments I flagged were still sitting there right where they always were. 😍
They're gone now. Just vanished. It’s a pretty wild turn of events, don't you think?
Well, I’m actually relieved to see that my little nudge regarding the moderators worked. It looks like things are finally starting to settle down, and the discussion is actually becoming readable again.
Now, all that’s left is this whole questionable business regarding my posts being edited. How much of them actually gets changed? I’ve written quite a few on this thread, but honestly, I can't be bothered scrolling back through everything to check. There’s just too much text to wade through. 🙂

I’m glad you decided to set the record straight. Honestly, it’s probably for the best, especially since there hasn't been a single moderator stepping in since you first started this thread. I have a feeling that little course correction was prompted by that earlier post from Sasha.
I honestly have no idea how many posts of yours have been edited. To be truthful, I don't even know if you've touched anything else besides that one single sentence we've been dissecting all day long. My memory isn't exactly what you'd call sharp when it comes to these things.

dustypuma5 said:Which part were you referring to in that bolded text? It felt like an ad hominem attack, and I'm honestly just trying to figure out what exactly you were aiming at there.

So, what does it actually say? And more importantly, who is it really targeting?

dustypuma5 said:If I could just ask to have my deleted post and that one from Saurus put back up here? It might help us actually figure out what the issue was in the first place. 🙂

It’s getting late, so I suppose I’ll allow myself this little tangent.
It’s a bit of a tangent—or what we usually call an off-topic detour—regardless of what time the clock was showing when it happened.

dustypuma5 said:Let’s just be completely honest here.

What exactly did you change in my post?

No big deal. They went ahead and edited that personal attack against me right out of the thread.

dustypuma5 said:I’d really appreciate it if Ryan Vaughn7 could finally address my other specific questions. For some reason, they seem to be getting bypassed.

What kind of questions?

dustypuma5 said:I’ve never been much of a fan of elections. To be honest, I don't care for them one bit. Which is exactly why things will end up going my way in the end. 😉

I mentioned in my very first post on this thread that things would end up exactly how you said they would. Do I really need to go back and repeat myself?