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While attending the funeral for someone who was on the U.S. Terror Watch List until 2008, POTUS found time to shake hands with Raul Castro and take some Selfie's during the service.

Well I'm sure the "Brain Drain" from SA by all the white people (who were also the educated and professionals) due to their safety being threatened, the unemployment going from 15% prior, to 40% and now 20 years later still at 30%, and the general spiral of QOL (higher murder rate for a fifth of the population, rape capital of the world) is real "progress". The onslaught of "legitimate" articles is a dubious at best considering how many "legitimate" articles I read everyday championing asinine theories or policies by very educated people.

The name of that band has got to be one of the biggest misnomers ever.

that guy writes like a hack, and loses even more credibility when he quotes Sarah Palin...must be a slow news day.

OK, time to add some levity to this thread...

OK, it was Buddy Spike; but I was trying to help you out as your side isn't doing too well... And you should have mentioned the Iron Lady, but I guess since you probably weren't even born yet you have no memory of her awesomeness!

Bands have been a part of military tradition and history since...forever, unlike TIB who is just a bunch of singing, dancing fags. Well done, USAF band for this performance at the Air and Space Museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIoSga7tZPg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DgIoSga7tZPg&app=desktop

Can't wait to start some carbine courses!

And proof that Mandela was a racist...

Obama did not direct that the flags be flown at half staff for Thatcher. It was one of yet many poor decisions made by his administration. Great Britain has been one of our stauchest allies for all of the Twentieth Century, and we probably didn't have any greater relations with the Brits than what we experienced between Reagan and Thatcher. The fact that he failed to attend her funeral or honor her in any way has not gone unnoticed by many of my friends in the UK. How Mandela rates this distinction while Thatcher did not escapes me. It was a conscience decision on the part of the Obama Administration to recognize one and not the other, but for what reasons I cannot fathom...

The whole system doesn't make sense if you ask me. BPZ and APZ are less than 1%, so essentially you have one chance to get promoted. Each Wing CC gets one BPZ DP to give, they should do the same for APZ as well. Having worked in the front office at the Group, Wing and on GO's Staff, every single time I was there for a board there was an O-6 or GO scratching his head wondering how the hell at least one person didn't get selected. You know they aren't going to use a DP on an APZ guy (extremely rare) and statistically you have a 0% chance of making O-5 with a P APZ... so what is the incentive for a pilot passed over as a Major to do anything but breathe and log IP time for the next 6+ years? I don't mean to cross threads here, but if you look at the new pay scale for the US Air/AA merger in 2017 you can START at $93K as a first year FO! Is that check of the month club worth sticking around to lose 6+ yrs of seniority when you can switch patches and pin on O-5 within 2 yrs across the street at the Res or Guard Sq? I know several of the 157 from a few years ago... every one of them is now an O-5 and many of them just got the call from SWA or United (some from both) in the past month. The pendulum is swinging very quickly back in favor of the pilots... too bad the shoes and the box checking Yes Men have their faces too buried in the Power Point slides for "Pride Month" to figure it out. Talking to my old boss who is now a 1 Star and has sat on a few promotion boards; sending up a blank PRF and an APZ PRF with just a P is the same thing... they essentially go into a separate pile and are not even considered. For the past 10+ yrs Big Blue just assumed that they had these folks (pilots) until 20 either way (and they were right)... that may not be a good assumption anymore.

Too many people are leaving!!! Quick change the regs!!!

If by "not the most authoritative source" you mean "batshit crazy" then yeah, I guess you're right. InfoWars is ridiculous

Interesting video... One thing is for certain...I just can wait to get more of that delicious socialism over here. My research leads me to believe, that overall, the place is a shithole. I'm glad we're spending 3/4 of a billion dollars to go to another corrupt government. In a month we won't be talking much about it anymore, and their socialistic ways will continue to bring their own country down.

Asking the, "Was South Africa better before or after Apartheid?" question is absurd in the first place. Better for whites during Apartheid, potentially better for blacks after.

Apartheid was bad. So were the Taliban. Doesn't mean we honor Karzai for porking it away since.

Huh? In almost every category the number of retired E-7's alone exceeds the combined total of ALL retired officers by a factor of two.

The old girl is completing her final combat deployment...sad to see her go, but she is tired and it is time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRsYDYnv1rg

He is lucky he wasn't executed for his crimes, but that is a different discussion. So we honor someone just because they serve 27 years in prison for crimes? Are we going to honor Terry Nichols if and when he gets released after 27 years? I mean, hey, he may apologize, you never know. He and McVeigh were fighting to restore our Rights under The Constitution (so McVeigh said). See what happens when it comes down to opinion? By the way, I did a fairly extensive google search for Mandela in regards to 'regretting' and 'apologizing'...one or two things come up for 'regretting' and nothing for apologizing. Semantics? Perhaps. But you'd think I'd be able to find more on the subject if it was more widespread. By all mean, share what you have as I'm truly about more education. And for the record, I'm not saying we drag the guy through the dirt when he dies just because he's dead...but you hear very little about the atrocities he committed/was involved in, and I think that is the same to equating to sweeping those things under the rug because it doesn't further the desired narrative. So to be fair, I believe an honest debate needs to occur. You also didn't answer my question about Fidel Castro. A lot of people think he's done some positive/remarkable things over the years--suggest we lower the flags him as well? By the way, isn't it funny that people like to call Obama a communist and the Tea Party/GOP terrorists...but when we actually have a guy that was both then we're afraid to call him out on it? **Edited for spelling/grammar...and I'm sure I'm missed even more errors.

This. Hitler built churches hospitals and schools and Stalin greatly helped the western allies to defeat Hitler and the Nazis...so then I ask you: Where do we draw the line in who we praise and for what cause? Honoring Mandela is a conscious act, it's not occurring by accident. ETA: I originally meant to say/type hospitals but for some reason typed churches..sorry, my brain was off in a different direction.

Ah yes because a stable country, prosperous economy, is lesser preferred to the countries of Rwanada and Uganda. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad apartheid is gone, it was a horrible system. However, when the ANC came to power their Affirmative Action policies and the outright murder of tens of thousands of whites and confiscation of their property has in fact led to a worse South Africa. Johannesburg is now the rape and murder capital of the world. Did things need to change? Absolutely, however the process that they took while it improved some areas (minority rights), it also severely hurt others.

What we need to do is head over there with a few crowd pleasers and be done with it. I'm over it, fellas. We need to pack up our shit and GTFO. If they don't want us, why are we spending American lives, money, and time there?

Respected and honorable statesman? I think you misspelled Marxist Terrorist. https://americanfreepress.net/?p=11873 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necklacing https://freedomoutpost.com/2013/12/nelson-mandela-media-fawns-though-marxist-terrorist/

FWIW, myself and the AC had 'staches when the 4-engine flameout occurred...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbaRoNFBNcY Heard this at the BX the other day. Skip to 1:30.

Wow. Okay, here's everything you wanted to know about Mandela but were afraid to ask.

Stop arguing feelings and attacking the source and use facts, sweetie. What was the unemployment rate for South Africa in 1993 compared to the end of 1999/2000? What is it today? What was the average per capita income when he took office vs 2000? What is necklacing, and who was Winnie Mandela? What was Mandela's relationship to the ANC? What was the Marikana Massacre? Was the quality of life improved for all South Africans? Even white South Africans?

pro-tip: clear and concise goes a long way in aviation. but then again, I guess your not the one interested in flying; your wife's college aged brother is the flyboy in the family.

There is a weapons grade sense of entitlement from most of the zeros I saw come out of that DB mill. Save the AF some money and shut it down.

Anything that can improve lives and culture should be celebrated. Hitler, dare I say, did good things too. *Gasp*. I know it's crazy but the autobahn, modern rocketry, innovations to film, and huge medical advances were attributed to him and his reign. RADAR was developed to help combat invasions from Germany. Those things should be celebrated but we don't celebrate Hitler, as a person, because he was bat shit crazy and murdered millions of people. Last thing I'll say and I'm done: by the logic shown, George Washington, and his army, should never been seen as honorable for using tactics the British viewed as terroristic and unconventional. I'm thankful for what President Washington did, just like there are many citizens of South Africa who are thankful for the fight Nelson Mandela fought. Nelson Mandela fought for his people and should be honored for his role in ending brutal apartheid's in South Africa. I don't think he's a saint, but I think he fought against a very brutal system and should be celebrated for helping bring that bull-shit system of government down.

I think it's only fair I answer your question. I don't know of anything saying GW did either. Mandela freely admitted he regretted targeting civilians when he was on trial and later after prison in his biography. He spent 27 years in prison for it (isn't that what prison is for? rehabilitation?) and instead of coming out more bitter and radicalized, he fought the battle using peaceful negotiations. How many people could you honestly say would be peaceful after 27 years of a brutal prison? His life is a great lesson in the things people are capable of with the right drive and energy that, despite opposing political views and huge mistakes, great things can be accomplished. The fact that he admits his skeletons gives me more respect for him than almost any other politician today because he fought the fight, lost, and still came out asking for forgiveness in the end. If we can't celebrate a person (even though he went to prison for his crimes and fully admits them) performing great deeds then maybe we're just too cynical. To answer your question: I draw the line after evaluating the person and their history. In this case, I don't agree with his socialist tendencies and his targeting of civilians, but I can't ignore his prison time, humility, and the great accomplishments he did after such a complicated life and fully believe his life has better lessons learned than almost any other politician today.

As history proves, this is the most likely COA.

This is the MOAA-type attitude that makes me wanna puke.."Never give an inch!!!" Seriously? Equating a 2% contribution for an extremely generous pension to other huge changes is the kind of games most people hate when politicians play. Some things are a big deal and we should fight them, others while not ideal are not worth blowing your load over STS. Something about picking your battles... Changing the age when you can start getting paid from immediately to age 60...big fucking deal. I'm not a fan of that at all unless they radically overhaul the entire military pay/benefits/retirement system. A 2% contribution while you're on AD only paid by officers...not nearly as big. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to take a 2% pay cut more than anyone else, but then again I'm also not advocating for huge cuts in the federal budget. Cancel sequestration without requiring kabuki theater offsets that "raise revenue" without raising taxes or reforming social safety net programs and we can forget about all this nonsense. I for one vote that if AD starts contributing to their retirement you either A) partially vest much earlier than 20 years (i.e. 5 years ish seems right) or B) you get refunded your contributions if you punch before 20. Otherwise, unless you only make officers contribute, it's just basically stealing from mostly junior enlisted (and anyone else who doesn't make it to the full 20) to pay for a retirement benefit that goes to a small fraction of all those who ever served, who are also mostly officers.

For not wanting to argue feelings, you initiated it with the passive-aggressive pet names. Sweetie? LOL. Grow up. I am arguing facts. I am arguing based on what is published in academic journals (ie Council on Foreign Relations) to counter your extremist blogs. You want to blame the Marikana Massacre on Nelson Mandela? Seriously? You are trying to completely discredit his efforts to promote nonracial democracy and racial reconciliation, which is severely misguided, on the failures of his successors. I and the others advocating his legacy agree he is not perfect and handled some things poorly, but he had shaped South Africa to be free of repression and to be a place where human rights are guaranteed by law. As far as unemployment in South Africa, yes, it is not good, but don't cherry-pick statistics because you're missing out on the whole picture. They are regarded as an emerging market by experts (not just message board members) because they are making progress and show signs of growth. They are chosen to become the bridge for the rest of the world with Africa. I should have but you are right that I do not know much of her. I was born in 1994, only a few years after her reign.

Wrong, there is plenty of data. If you do not see the need to venture outside of the extremist blogs that have little to no academic value and read the onslaught of legitimate articles that detail Mandela's legacy and the progress South Africa has made since apartheid, then there's nothing I can do for you but be leery of such ignorance in future discussions. No, Mandela was not perfect, but he improved the quality of life for a great deal of South Africans. Whether you like it or not, he was a foreign dignitary and our president paid him respect. What point about Thatcher? I made no mention of her.