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If Trump wins the election, the violence on that night and for several nights after will make the recent riots look like a high school pep rally. The cities will light up. If Biden wins, the internets will light up. Quite a difference. I hope state and city leaders are looking ahead and drawing up plans to protect life and property. This is an easy one to see coming (no sts).

The sad thing is many of our amendments that "better" or "fix" the constitution were/are terrible (and utter disasters when interpreted wrongly). So even with a difficult bar to get over, we still have some turds that made it. Think 14th (somehow interpreted that if you illegally or just tourist visit the country (either one) and have a baby on US soil it is somehow a citizen. YGBSM the most ridiculous interpretation ever! Everyone knew the intent and that was solid, but comeon. Nobody can argue reasonably that is what that Amendment meant/means. The 16th is unethical at best. Tax consumption, but for the government to tax/charge someone to work is completely unethical. Passive income might be game, but not a persons labor! The 17th basically took away tons of state power and rights and pulled us slightly away from a representation democratic government and more towards the mob rule democracy. Our elected officials are supposed to be there for a short time and then come home to work again. The present system allows them to sit in DC for 8 years plus sucking gov teet and screwing us all. They are also supposed to show some restraint and wisdom with their decisions and not fall prey to the mob mentality (but that ain't happening either). The 18th - yep it was a thing once 21 - because of 18 22 should have been a part of 20 and should have included all elected officials. I guess FDR did one thing right and made us realize we don't want numbnuts in office more than 2 terms 23 unnecessary. draw the district lines so that DC didn't have any residents but was just the land around the white house and capital buildings and have the white house residents assigned to one of the surrounding states for voting purposes. Not convinced 24, 25 or 26 was needed but I guess interpretation/clarification might have been needed to prevent idiots from proposing laws that would restrict voting rights/access etc.

I agree with your argument, but hopefully you realize that the way you wrote it was pretty one-sided. From the more liberal side, the perception of MAGA supporters is that they also are "indoctrinated and fed an information diet from a media owned and barking the propaganda of global corporations who are hell bent on paying everyone not in a corner office as little as possible." It's not just the enemies of Tucker Carlson that are indoctrinated - it's actually his viewers too. I believe that a lot of what is wrong comes from the two-party system. Two-party systems all draw connections between issues that often shouldn't be formed at all, because VERY different people have to vote for the same party as the same entity. Simultaneously, which party you prefer indicates and influences your world view. E.g. Religious fundamentalists, anti-taxes folks, xenophobes, and gun rights activists are as uncomfortable a political marriage as socially progressive CEOs, marxists, and working class folks that feel like they can't get by, but that is totally normalized in the two party American system. And if you want to succeed, you typically have to compromise on a large portion of your values when you actually get to the voting booth in a lesser of two evils sort of way. Democracy is founded on the essential value that societies ought to be run by people who live there. If not only for the sake that Leadership be legitimate. But moreover because every commonly held view, even within small minorities of people, has merit and ought be at least heard through, and in doing so Democracy would in fact function more effectively and effectiently. Thus, representing as many people as possible in government ought be the goal of any democracy. And the US has a hell of a lot more than two political positions across its 360M. And the federal government needs to actually represent as many of its citizens as possibles and its citizens views actual views as much as possible. The struggle of government ought be the natural opposition of these views. But not structurally built in as we see in the 20th century US. I think you can improve American democracy. I personally believe that the solution to this is an improvement to our democratic model: ranked choice voting with a mixed member congress model that allows for multiple groups (similar to NZ, UK, Germany). When there isn't a majority, coalition blocs have to work together to get things done. Additionally, when a party can get 5% of the vote, they may actually get representation, albeit a small amount. As opposed to the winner take all mentality that scares the shit out of people right now and forces polarization. It would encourage voting, enhance your voice, and reduce anxiety about losing everything as it's less likely. The older I get, the more I think that it's constitutional amendment or bust. Whether Trump or Biden wins in 2020, I don't think the country becomes more united in the current system.

If I am protecting my property or my family, it's no longer political. I also don't plan to be downtown anywhere that night. Might I suggest you give your advice to the rioters either now or, probably, then? I don't fantasize it nor do I want it to happen. Simply prepared and I reject completely your insinuation. Mr. Manbun Antifa guy doesn't want to get shot, don't come on my property or try to make an impromptu checkpoint on a city street where I am trapped and unable to escape.

There will be riots regardless of the outcome. Might be a good time to buy stock in pepper spray. Maybe this thing will come back?

A good start would be getting rid of the 24 hours new....err...entertainment media. I'm all for the press, but the mainstream 24 hour media sensationalizing every little thing that happens, is where molehills are made into mountains.

It does seem like something needs to change, but I'm not so sure a constitutional amendment is what needs to happen. Our politicians are generally gross, and our national politic is so broken I don't really want them touching the constitution. They'd likely make it worse. At the end of the day, I think the root cause of the problem is the DNC/RNC. Politicians are beholden to national tribal politics, and toeing the line on the national party platform. There used to be a lot of room for argument within the parties; there were conservative democrats and liberal republicans 30 years ago. Kill the power of the DNC/RNC and bring back earmarks to encourage cooperation. I also tend to think both parties are headed for major change anyway, we're in the midst of a generational power transition.

Whatever your politics, America. Fuck yeah.

I thought they were called the "black arrows." Happy for Norris, gutted for Albon.

Rabid Seahawks fan here, super familiar. Totally agree.

You make your point well and while I don’t agree with everything I agree we (on the right) carry political biases like those in the left Concur on Constitutional fixes required as what we have now no longer functions well enough or is ultimately sustainable, I like the idea of a Brexit party for America - formed for one reason to call a Constitutional Convention or pass Amendments Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Even better, I’ve been both PT and FT with the flight pay change and still get 6-9 paychecks/mo regardless of status. Why is it so hard for support functions to do their job effectively. The way they operate, I’d be GAB-ing 90% of my sorties due solely to pilot error/incompetence. The other 5% would be something truly out of my control, and the remaining 5% I’d get airborne and summarily expect everyone to be stoked and thank me for a job well done.

Just like moving forward forces out of Syria to avoid the cross fire of a NATO “ally” and Russian forces was fought tooth and nail by people who didn’t want us there in the first place... so will this be a “OMG Trump” issue. They want to leave, but they have to oppose leaving until they like the conditions/plan. Fact of the matter is they will never approve of any executable plan Trump has, but they know they can sport bitch the whole time and oppose him while he will leave because it’s what he said and what they oppose. They both get to play to their respective bases and make political talking points and YouTube clips for campaigning. Meanwhile we get to finally stop pissing away combat power and attrition the force no matter which group of political talking heads “wins.” Let’s do this. If I ever go back to Afghanistan it will be too damn soon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

B courses have been cut down for years, and yes, the general product has lagged behind preceding years. Lots of kicking the can down the road to the CAF. So, it’s the entire AETC pipeline that’s a problem, not just one part. It’s also not as much the tactical employment part that is concerning, it’s the general airmanship that’s alarming (decision making, risk mitigation, SA, basic flying tasks like instrument approaches, etc.) As I’ve said before, the naturally strong swimmers persevere and overcome quickly, but the average guys lag the fight and it takes way too many “concerning” flight hours until you have a reasonable amount of faith they’re not going to kill themselves or someone else. This is a common viewpoint amongst the experienced members in the CAF. I’m not speculating on what happened at SW or LN, but I won’t be surprised if this type of stuff is a CF, yet is summarily ignored and swept under the rug by “leadership.” Now for you ACC (that’s right, you’re not innocent in this), the quality/quantity of training is bullshit. When I was a LT-young Capt in the viper, I got about 269 hrs/yr in training (not accounting for any combat hours). I now see the same aged guys (who have had alarmingly less AETC training than I got) get 40-50% less flying. Our sims are also dumpster fires. The mission complexity and difficulty has increased significantly over this same time period. You want us to do something well beyond combing the desert (and not finding shit), get fucked! Organize, train, and equip...how do you think you’re doing ACC? Maybe some serious introspection is on order. And I haven’t even had my first beer today...time to go fish and lower my blood pressure. (“You’re cool” directed at the bros executing the training mission)

“We need 69 min POL before you can drop $100k worth of weapons on this desolate pile of rocks”.

There is no measurable or attainable stipulations for withdrawal in their proposal. It’s just a vague “it can’t threaten us” that will be used to oppose anyone who tries to stop sending our kids to die in a pointless conflict that started before they were even born and accomplishes nothing. Anyone who actually supports troops in Afghanistan is part of the problem in our government and military. There isn’t a good reason to be there, or a good outcome, Russia and now the US has proven that.

I was venting out of frustration after some text convos with friends who are still in. Shouldn't have posted that in this thread. I'm recently retired and my assessments aren't as relevant as I'd like to think.

I’m all for taking a critical look at the training pipeline, but let’s take a step back from the ‘jump to conclusions’ game and see what the actual causes are of this rash of fighter accidents. Mechanical failure, maintenance practices, weather, human factors, or training could all be possible factors. Let’s give the investigating teams time to do their job and then address their findings with the proper focus and effort.

Reminder, for those unaware:

I look forward to acting like I know the words and mumbling incoherently in rhythm at the next official event.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/soleimani-colin-kaepernick-us-terrorist-attacks-black-brown-people "There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism," Kaepernick tweeted. Now that the NFL has "moved on" from him, maybe he can get back in to the books that he never really did during college. Iran: guess what, Colin? That country is made up of people that are ethnically Persians. You want to put them in to a "racial" context? How about "Caucasians for 800, Alex" ? Farsi: the language of these Persian people. It's an Indo-European language from the same linguistic family as... you guessed it... English. p.s. Nike, I'm still not buying any of your shit. Nor will I ever.

Rogoway should go to work for TMZ. Every time he requests an interview with anyone in DoD, they should simply forward him his article and say "Uh... no".

Nuthugging fanboy, more correctly.

That guy sounds like a real fuck face.

Did you guys actually read the article? They just put in stipulations for the withdrawal, which for the most part appear to be reasonable. Always set performance gates, if you hit them you get a cookie. If you don’t, then you hook the ride. Aside from the partisan headline not sure what the issue is here.