Leaderboard

Because we aren’t a nation of people. We’re a nation of states. Quick primer on the past: In 1777 we created the Articles of Confederation, during which the states largely acted as their own countries, with a small federal government for the purpose of war and certain aspects of trade. They actually used the term “League of Friendship,” to describe it. Didn’t last long for people to see issues with it, and by 1789 we replaced it with the Constitution, which still is a union of states (United States, after all), but with a stronger federal government. So the states, in their sovereignty, gave a little more (but not all) of their power to the federal government. Check enumerated vs reserved powers if you want info on that. Back to the point, that history is why each state has to elect a candidate for President via the electoral college, not a simple plurality of the population. Because the states allowed for the government to exist. Not the people. A worthy compromise is taking away winner-take-all states in the Electoral College. But a direct vote is a dissolution of federalism. “But it’s not democratic!?” Is the typical response. We aren’t a direct democracy. There hasn’t been a pure one since Greece (and look at how that one worked out). We have a Constitutional republic.

Dissolving the electoral college is naive and will not solve problems, it’ll create more. We don’t need to do all of these significant system altering ideas, we simply need term limits. Don’t even give the Pelosis or the McConnells a chance to become “political rulers,” make sure the AOCs are just an insignificant stain on the political map for a few years, etc. This one change would absolutely crush the level of partisan politics we see nowadays. We’d also see candidates who are in line with the framer’s intent...rep the people for 6-9 years, then GTFO and go back to being whatever you were previously. Policy making and voting would be based on what’s best, not on how to get re-elected for the 10th time. Kickbacks, etc. would likely be less because nobody has enough time to make it “high” and stay there in politics...the return on kickbacks/bribes/back door deals would be substantially less, and so goes the incentive to do them.

Stop for a second and think about this. California already has 53 members of the House of Representatives (more than any other state) and two Senators. Wyoming has 1 member of the House and two Senators. 1) California’s voters have a much greater impact on Federal legislation than Wyoming does due to their population giving them 52 more House members. 2) California‘s voters are much more likely to get budgetary dollars with that much representation. ... and you want to add in direct popular vote for the presidency on top of that? What in the world does Wyoming get out of the deal? Why would they sign up for that? You clearly haven’t read the Federalist papers, and they were in their mid 30’s when they wrote them. They advocated for the Electoral College and the representative system we have as a give and take between states... with a clear aim to prevent the “tyranny of the majority.” Why aren’t all the elections for every office held every 2 or 4 years? Why are judges lifetime positions? To prevent a tyrannical overthrow of the system in one election. Bottom line, it’s designed for stability. The founders were smart enough to know that time cools heads, but didn’t make it so aggressive to prevent change over time. We have 17 amendments and God knows how many political changes as proof that formula works.

Welcome back to the GA world, I started back up last year and have been having a blast, while making lots of new friends. Was driving home from the rents today and stopped by an airport because I saw a Stearman inside an open hangar. Wandered up to the hangar to say hey and walked away with a bunch of ideas for my Stearman (plus their offer to help), and a planned 3-ship Stearman outing next weekend. As I was leaving I ran into a retired UAL Captain I know, so we took his Cub up and bounced around the local grass fields. Great people that just love aviation. Did you say air conditioning? Little bit too much AC this day...hoodie wasn't quite enough!

Term limits. You have people that have been in DC politics for 30-45 years. They’re are crooks, D’s and R’s. After 20 years, you’re done.

Yes. And it was intentional. If the popular vote mindset won out, every national political decision would be decided by major metropolitan urban voters.

20? I’d say more like 10.

I may be misremembering history but slavery was integral to the forming of the country. The legality of chattel slavery wasn't decided by any democratically elected representatives because members of the Constitutional Convention we're decided by the states, not of the people.

It actually been pointed out multiple times in this thread. You just don't agree with that view point. Just because you aren't convinced doesn't mean there isn't merit.

Hard disagree. During the election there was a significant group of my coworkers who were convinced Trump would win the popular vote, but lose the election and they were already talking about the "serious conversations about the electoral college" we'd need to have. Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

And where exactly are the philosophical "facts" in your post? What higher truth says that votes for federal office should be based on equal voter weight? We. Do. Not. Live. In. A. Democracy. We live in a republic, which is specifically designed to give you, the voter, some control over the life you live, through choosing the state you live in. You would instead doom us to 50 identical states as the concept of pure democracy eventually takes everything over, which is why those silly 20-something year olds were against it. You like how California is doing things? Move there. Want big guns? Go to Texas. Healthcare? Massachusetts. The logical extension of your argument is for a world government with worldwide pure democratic voting. Why is a nation the level by which one vote equals one vote, as opposed to the state within a nation? Inconsistent. And in all of this, let's not forget that our system has vastly outperformed the competition in virtually every metric. For all the talk of systemic racism and oppression, there is no country on Earth with significant minority populations where it is better to be a minority. This "experiment" is doing pretty well.

The shortcomings of the current system of electing the President stem from “winner-take-all” laws that have been enacted by state legislatures in 48 states. These laws award all of a state’s electoral votes to the candidate receiving the most popular votes in each state. Because of these state winner-take-all statutes, presidential candidates have no reason to pay attention to the issues of concern to voters in states where the statewide outcome is a foregone conclusion. In 2012 all of the 253 general-election campaign events were in just 12 states, and two-thirds were in just 4 states (Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Iowa). Thirty-eight states were completely ignored. States rights, huh? Bring back a system that actually makes everyone’s votes matter.

If you like the Cirrus wait until you discover Lancair, 200kts cruise, glass in front, side stick and only $235k

I started to write something, then I re-read your post, and Flea's. I have no idea what either of your points are. Also, you believe ICE is actually sterilizing immigrants in some grand eugenics conspiracy? The CNN article I could find is a basket of non-specific anecdotes, confirmation bias, and creative framing. The federal government has too much power, but it isn't a fascistic, all controlling Machiavellian new world order. It's a giant incompetent bureaucracy lacking accountability. So just like every other giant bureaucracy.

So in the last three days, I have flown, with an instructor, a Cirrus SR20, a Diamond DA40, and a Cessna 172. All had the G1000 panels. In the San Antonio area in September - hot and humid. First, nice to realize that some mechanical skills come back without too much effort - can turn while holding altitude, other very basic flying things. It's been literally 30 years since I last did so. Second, glass is great! The intricacies of using the panel is still in the future, but I'll be going to ground and refresher school for that, so no worries. But the ease of use/interpretation was much better than I imagined since I last used the round steam gauges for everything. Not having to have a paper explosion when crossing sectional boundaries, or when I get my instrument rating, having approach plate pages flop to the wrong one, etc. will be nice. Third, and this is how I tried to explain it too my non-flying wife - the Cirrus with its performance, interior, and AIR CONDITIONING was like being in a really nice Mercedes or BMW. The side yoke also made it much more comfortable for a 6'4" guy for leg room. My instructor used a 8x11 iPad and had plenty of room to use it on his lap as a kneeboard. I want one of these. @500K and up new, of course. The Diamond with it's stick and lots of plexiglass was new to me. Damned hot all day. Got queasy while skull down trying to read/play with the G1000 for some of the gee whiz stuff while bouncing around at 2500 ft. Not as roomy as the Cirrus or the Cessna especially for long legs. My instructor used an iPad Mini on a suction cup on the side window. The Cessna was old home week. Like being in a 1968 VW Bug with the mother of all stereos for the G1000. Also hot, but less so than the Diamond since it was less plexiglass to heat up. The yoke coming back into the lap thing is making me reassess my plan of buying a full size iPad (cuz I'm old as are my eyes) and going with the Mini. Just ain't as much room in the thing now as when I weighed a whopping 160 back then. Sticking with the David Clark's for now until I've tried multiple other headsets and decide to drop $1K or more Bottom line: Air conditioning is great in a small plane. It should be considered a basic human right. I am really grateful for all the inputs received here for recommendations and gouge.

She will be voting by mail from now on.

Exactly this. And while there would have been complaining from those on the right, I doubt you would have seen the threats that are currently coming from the left. People literally threatening violence over a Supreme Court nomination. And to be honest, based on how this year has gone, if Trump does get a nomination through, I fully except there to be actual riots and violence in the streets from the left...again.

Yes, we are carrying cargo but I've not paying attention except for my last flight which was back from Paris. We had 24Klbs and someone said we needed 28Klbs to break even but I can't verify that. I'm flying a cargo only flight later this month to London and next month to Incheon so we'll see how those look.

Multiple safety briefings about dumb shit. So, you know, the usual. Until they arrived, it was chill, briefings went fast (so back to drinking, golfing, whatever) and our instructors left us alone after class. I'm not salty about it, got some good stories. I mean, beer pong until 0200 on a Wed produces good stories. During a career brief they also told the visiting Gen that the F-35 was a "bad jet" that our adversaries were already doing better, and one asked how they were going too get breakfast before out "exercise" if the chow halls were closed that early. Most took zero feedback about being chill since "they had already been in the AF for 4 years." If anything it showed me why the, "Why can't the AF treat us like adults," refrain from Amn/Lt's gets grating very quickly. SOS was a lot better. Same amount of drinking, less people, better food, less bullshit. Plus I had pilots (A10, C17) in my class who fucking ruled.

You have no idea if that’s true. Judging by how many people still have “Hillary for Jail“ bumper stickers, I would even venture to say you’re wrong.

The contradictions re: slavery were well understood and agonized over by some of the founders. Our "system" did not enable slavery, it existed long before and worldwide. You couldn't flip the table overnight, still can't, so the system was set up, and the language chosen carefully, to sow the seeds for the eventual demise of slavery. And it worked. The rest of your post is just hysteria.

This one? 🤣🤣 🤣 Yes, it's in German; but everything's funnier in German!

You read CNN for news? Why bother when you can read the complaint yourself? https://projectsouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/OIG-ICDC-Complaint-1.pdf No I don't believe in grand conspiracies, but I do believe that administrations set the tone. The overall lack of oversight and apathy towards detainees creates situations like this where the vulnerable are preyed upon, combined with an attitude of silencing whistleblowers and undermining inspectors keeps people silent who would otherwise come forward. Why should someone in rural wyoming have their vote be worth more than someone in california? I think going to popular vote would not be as dramatic as everyone thinks. Republicans still vote more reliably than any other demographic, and suddenly all the (R)s in blue states can have their vote actually count for something. In the end I think it would still be fairly even and democrats would still be fighting to get people to show up. Ranked choice will ultimately cut out the extreme party nominations and you will have better candidates across the board. People will be free to vote for the most far-fetched candidates and not feel like they are throwing their votes away...and at the end of the day the candidate who wins will have been voted into power by the majority of constituents.

Wait...I'm lost...are you arguing for or against me? I'm trying to follow...so our current system was written to favor rich white dudes and was used to exploit disenfranchised populations, and we shouldn't change it because it could be used to exploit more disenfranchised people? Your false equivalency doesn't even make sense. None of what I suggested was in effect back then, yet somehow it's to blame and we shouldn't consider any changes? The utopia you seek doesn't exist. If you clutch your pearls at power being consolidated under a singular authoritarian power then keep your head in the sand. Your government is currently cleansing any investigative or oversight bodies, keeping immigrants in cages and quite literally sterilizing them while none of the checks and balances are checking or balancing, yet you think everything is fine and we don't need to rock the boat...ok sure

The point was the majority didn't have a vested interest in upturning it which likely led to it's aboltion occuring decades later than it could have. I'll give you another example, Hitler was democratically elected by a Christian majority that really didn't have a problem with his regard toward Jews. You can name all kinds of examples in history where the majority citizens decided people outside their demographic were second class. It's the biggest flaw to democracy and one of the reasons out political system is designed as is.

They will be disappointed in the results

And somewhere, a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court just earned his permanent liberal wings. Thanks, dubya!

Shack. I don't understand why people struggle so much to understand that at face value on here.

Take the T-DART, it's a layup. Back when I was in your shoes, the Lost Decade was in full swing and there was no TDART. It was a grind to trough as an O-2.

Thank you for your service.

It must be terrifying for you to live in a world where you are under constant attack from such a ruthless and powerful enemy

“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” — Mitch McConnell, 2016.

Got my CMP 1911 today. I had honestly forgotten about it since I submitted the application almost two years ago. It's a 1945 S/N R&R field grade. It'll go well with my Garand in the heavy metal class whenever three gun opens back up.

I guess flying rubber dogshit out of Hong Kong isn't such a bad deal after all.

There is no way you can be taken seriously. You post a single picture from a complex situation (there are several videos of it which would completely debunk the spin you're putting on it), and attribute a narrative to it while intentionally leaving out numerous facts. Perhaps you missed your calling as a modern day journalist. Let's dissect your post. First, these guys weren't "victims". They were chasing an armed dude down who just defended his life, and Anthony Huber attacked him with his skateboard (on video), which 100% is a deadly object. He was shot in the chest and died. Gaige Grosskreutz did not have his hands up for more than a very brief moment, the he charged . He was joining in on attacking Rittenhouse, was armed, and was shot in the arm. The events immediately leading to the first shooting of Joseph Rosenbaum are very clear from several available videos. He was pursuing a retreating Rittenhouse with what any objective person would agree was an aggressive disposition, while shots were fired from a third party. He got to within touching distance of Rittenhouse and was shot and died. I agree with your second paragraph if Kyle took a gun across state lines. Looking at the second part of your post, though, I'll make a few changes to reflect the feelings of a growing number of Americans: Many RIOTERS crossed states lines to a city in which they didn't reside, ostensibly to destroy local businesses. They were young and old, immature, untrained in crowd control or use of force, and seemingly not scared. They had no business injecting themselves into the situation they created, and since armed Americans trying to protect others were present, the results were predictably tragic. Prozac, I find your post to be in poor taste and antithetical to American values. I don’t know you. The fact that you’re active on this board means that in all likelihood you are in fact a veteran who loves his country. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re a decent human being who will take my comments as considered criticism and not a personal attack. That’s not what this is. But to equate American citizens rioting in the streets and attacking a scared young kid just trying to naively help protect innocent people to “victims” is abhorrent. We're talking about people trying to burn down Kenosha Wisconsin, USA, not Mogadishu. EVEN if some of these armed civilian business protectors were participating in illegal activities, they are US citizens entitled to due process, not foreign enemies to be attacked in the streets by a rioting mob of felons (all three shot had impressive records). With more calling for de-funding the police, crazy assholes rioting and wanting to take it to the suburbs, and local governments stepping back to let shit play out, this is the only logical outcome. The vast majority of people want to preserve America rather than destroy it while turning us into a lawless entity, and we will start to see more and more of these scenes develop. I also find it strange that you would call out another vet because they called a bunch of rioters "skinnies". I think you're offense to the pejorative is manufactured. The truth is the threat these rioters pose to Americans, on American soil no less, is far greater than any Somalian in Mogadishu, and they weren't shot down in the streets in the manner you implied. They were killed while acting as parts of a mob burning a city, by a dude defending his own life as they attacked him. A military member called them a name which, on this forum, universally ID's them as pieces of shit. While you may not agree, it's batshit crazy for you to not understand where Brick was coming from.

Can't disagree with your comments on calling them "skinnies." However, how about posting the picture of the convict chasing the 17 year old down and tossing an object at him, or the picture of him taking a skateboard to his head, or the picture of the other convict with a hand gun? How about the video of that same individual that threw the object at this kid, aggressively threatening the very people defending the properties? That said, if these people keep it up, they are going to awaken a sleeping giant that is Americans who just want to be left alone. You're upset, be all means go protest and air your grievances, but when you start destroying private citizens business and property, well that's when I stop defending you. There will be more and more of these bands of citizens who take up arms to defend their towns if local leadership can't/won't get the protestor under control...and there will be much more bloodshed. You try something like this in my home town and there will be a lot more people with extra holes in their bodies. Maybe if more them starting getting shot or having the shit beat out of them, they'll stop destroying their fucking cities. Anarchists want anarchy, until they get bloodied...

The kid shouldn't have been there. Neither should the rioters. Neither is in the right. However, the kid didn't start the fight or riots. The kid will undoubtedly face firearms charges, as well as the murder charges he currently has. The numerous videos available show him being chased, repeatedly. They show him being attacked after he tripped. Skateboarder guy was wailing away on him with the board and trying to take the weapon. That, too, is on video. The video prior to him tripping records shot(s) that aren't from the kid's rifle. The "hand's up" guy with the pistol then pointed it at the kid and tried to take the weapon. He is also on video at the hospital acknowledging that he "wished I'd emptied the whole magazine into him." Self-defense will most likely beat the murder charges, but the underage firearm thing and across state lines (if true) are gonna be a problem for him. I don't know him. But no 17 year old should have to deal with taking other lives, fearing for his own, and being stupid. The rioters knew better. But they largely haven't been held to account. I believe the masses are about tired of that. My comment, as dark as it was, related to the kid's ability to take out threats to him. I don't feel regret for that notice nor the term I'm using for the antifa rioters/anarchists. They aren't seeking "social justice" or a better America. They are seeking the end of America. I have no respect for that view nor those that hold it. Therefore, derision is one way I deal with it. I also noted that both sides are armed and it's not a game any more. But it's human nature to say "enough's enough." Two-way violence is only going to increase. I don't rejoice in that, but I certainly understand it. How many months have the good guys had to endure the destruction of cities and towns? Eventually, the good guys fight back.

I’m just glad their fact sheet doesn’t say you can track to Bears or Backfires from the T-1 track.

A lot has changed since 2016. The left went all out assault and declared war with little regard to anything. I’m 100% for the right to counter-attack. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

That’s not what it does, though. It just ensures that Wyoming farmers votes count 3.6 times more than California farmers. It ensures that Wyoming millionaire votes count 3.6 times more than California millionaires. Your vote should exactly equal every other Americans vote everywhere when it comes to electing the federal government. And good point that the founding fathers literally made this policy up based on how they felt, with no basis in fact. The federalist papers, by the way, were written primarily by two young people who were 21 and 25 at the time of revolution: Hamilton and Madison. They are not some form of higher truth - they are normal people subject to fallacies and the inability to predict future struggles. Idolizing them does nothing to help. The policy is an experiment that has no philosophical basis in truth, and, while it’s existed for hundreds of years, could still easily be flawed.

There are no philosophical facts, that’s the point lol. No single idea, whether it came from a 21 year old founding father (like what you’re suggesting) or if it came from me should hold more inherent merit. Debate the ramifications - not the source.