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Easy, dude. He's not Goldfein.

Absolutely agree. Watched it a while ago and two things that stuck out to me were the fact that so many (almost all) of the homeless have either some sort of "debilitating" mental condition or are hopelessly addicted. One officer's quote stood out to me in particular: "Drug dealers selling crack, meth and heroin are evil people preying on the weakest part of society and belong in prison. We arrest them and nothing happens to them. They are back out on the street immediately. We need to acknowledge the disregard for human life inherent in selling life ending drugs and lock the dealers up for serious time." There are elements in society that literally profit from people's death. I'm open (but skeptical) to the "legalization" argument. Weed has been legal in a lot of states now, and there is still a very strong illicit market for it, so I don't buy the argument that we can just tax it and it'll just all be ok.

Younger me typically voted straight R ticket. Now I'm probably closer to center, but still probably would be considered on the right (though I've been increasingly frustrated with the Rs, especially in the last 4-6 years). Still a registered R based on how my state does primaries and the effect that has on the later voting for offices. I do see your desire to be self reliant as a good thing, it's something I strive for as well. Never been hunting, but I did field dress a rabbit once upon a time. But can cobble together a shelter, build a fire to stay warm, procure water, fish (sorta), make basic repairs, improvise solutions, sew, etc. SERE was "great," but a lot of my survival skills were built/learned in scouts when I was younger. Labels are weird though. Politics has devolved into a highly polarized debate, with no room to meet in the middle out find common ground. It's appears to be more of a power struggle between the R and D parties, using taking points to get in and stay in office, with politicians changing their beliefs to appease their voting base, and dividing everyone into either for them or against them. Then you've got the whole realist vs liberal vs constructivist philosophies, which frame your world view. (Hey, I learned something in ACSC)(crap, I drank the kool aid, don't burn the witch). The liberal (not US liberal) in me wants to believe in the best intentions on people and that we can collectively work together to improve things for everyone. Rising tide raises all boats and what not. The realist in me bought guns for home defense, locks the doors at night, maintains emergency supplies, and believes in a strong military to defend our values and interests when disagreements between nations inevitably occur. But I guess to answer your question- TL;DR-I've got a mix of opinions that doesn't put me squarely as conservative or liberal, but probably skew towards "conservative" //RANT ON// -First off, we need to fund what we believe in. Doesn't matter how good an idea sounds, if we're not willing to pay for it (ie raise a tax or bond, or cut another program), then it's not a good idea. This includes overseas contingency operations/war- if it's vital to national interests, raise a tax or sell bonds to pay for it. -Guns are fine, need to limit access to criminals. Limited access to people with mental health issues as well, but that's really murky because it's hard to define and can be subject, so currently a 'no' for me right now for limiting access. Own a few firearms, and my wife shoots to almost as well as me. -Don't own an AR, but see why people would want to, just not in my budget or a priority right now. Magazine limits are dumb -Shootings are a form of violence, and even if you remove all guns, people intent on violence will cause harm to others. So we need to attack the real causes of shootings-whether it's poverty, selfishness, mental health, a perceived need for revenge for an injustices, etc. -Came from a "normal/typical" Christian, nuclear family. Married a wonderful lady. Don't really think LGBT is right personally, but I won't treat them as less than a person. Doesn't mean I won't be friends with them, or get along with them. My wife has several gay friends, and we've gotten along fine. What they do in the bedroom doesn't really have any bearing on my life, so they can do what makes them happy. Just don't shove it in my face and tell me I'm a bad person for not embracing/celebrating their choices in life. But I've got the same opinion on dudes oversharing about their latest tinder hookup. Don't care, please don't over share, glad it makes you happy. -Gay marriage is a weird problem. On one hand, as a Christian I believe in the 1 man 1 woman definition. Civil union is probably the better term across the board, and helps remove religious or traditional connotations of the word to help facilitate debate. Not like paying a law defining marriage in the traditional sense is going to stop a gay couple from being together. So why does it matter? Because our society, as someone else pointed out earlier, is such in a 1950 ideal of a family. Healthcare is generally tied to our jobs, with dependents under the plan being defined in 1950s terms. The legal system doesn't recognize rights of a "special friend" in matters. But it doesn't really infringe on my ability to pursue of life/liberty/happiness, so they should have the same opportunities I do as a married heterosexual dude. -Healthcare is tough, and I'm still trying to figure out what right looks like in my mind. I'm not convinced that gov single payer is the right answer, and a touch weary of what that means regarding other liberties (can't do X because of risk). But our system as is leaves people without access to preventative medical care, driving up emergency costs and lowering quality of life. Business have gone cheap on healthcare, and for lower level jobs, they may not offer healthcare at all. And having floated my wife's insurance on the open market when she was in between jobs before we were married, open market insurance is stupid expensive. About $450/mo for my wife for a middle of the road plan, with a lot of out of pocket expenses should emergency or specialty care be needed. And healthcare institutions have no incentive to lower costs, and have a high bar to entry that is funded by (and therefore limited by) the government (residencies), so competition isn't a strong driver in reducing costs. -Social security is another interesting issue. We are an individualistic society. The norm is to break out on your own as an adult and make your own path. Great for the individual, but bears risk compared to other societies that are more family oriented and love in multigenerational homes, as costs go up for things such as child care, elderly/end of life care, housing, etc. If someone plans poorly, or falls on bad circumstances, they could be left old, destitute, and with no one to turn to. Probably the hardest question we have right now as a country is answering what it means to be an American. I like to think it's a place where we can pursue what fulfills us in life if we're willing to work for it. That system needs defending, and there are tradeoffs internally that need to happen to ensure people are not being left behind due to systemic issues/biases. No one's going to make it this far so I can throw out some heresy- one good thing about ACSC-DL was the unit discussing realism/liberalism/constructivism. Got me really thinking about why I believe what I do, what I find important, and what I don't. Philosophy, ethics, morals-interesting topics that I wish I had more time to read about and think on. Maybe I'm just getting old.

So, I'm curious what the point of your question is? Are you somehow implying that those with liberal views on this board somehow don't stand for the same thing? Based off what you just said, I take it you're not military. Maybe my reading comprehension sucks... If not, you feel like you can come on here and question what these people, these active duty military members, or vets have as a purpose? You think when they signed the blank check for "up to, and including their lives" that they had ulterior motives? Why should anyone answer your questions? Because you can field dress a deer? Just curious. And if you had genuine curiosity about how they felt like patriots, not just whether they measured up to some standard you have that no one on here cares about, I sincerely apologise for my tone. Otherwise, I'd defend every single one of these people, ultra Trump fan or die-hard Biden supporter, against some wannabe prepper who thinks he's got a lock on patriotism. To the rest of the board, sorry. I've hit my limit. I voluntarily put myself in timeout. I'll just be over here in the pissed off old guy corner screaming at kids to get off my grass... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I won't speculate but would really like to see the report. I flew in same airspace a few hours before this and the weather was fine, although it was forecast to get worse around the time of the crash with showers and such during the POTUS rally two hours later at KPNS. Standard wild witness statements ranging from "Aircraft was in a tailspin", "I could hear the engine howling as they came down", to "I could tell the pilot was trying to avoid the houses." One report said they were going to land at Foley, the crash site is 2.6 miles due west of the center of the Foley airport but they were also within the confines of the MOA above. There is an OLF in the area but it was over 7 miles west. Part of the business but always sad to lose two more souls of the .3% that raise their hand to serve this country. RIP.

You do realize that the Director of the DNI said no intel agencies have reviewed this information and therefore have no opinion. So, what multiple CIA directors, National Intel Directors, or Defense Intel Specialists or Leaders of the Community are you referring to?

Nothing is wrong with it? Did you honestly think someone on here would have a problem with that? You should read it too and learn how to express your views respectfully and with maturity. What are you implying here? Honestly.

I'll go out on a limb and say I'm probably the only forum member who has been both an active duty AF aircrew member and a full time street cop/detective. Its interesting to see professional aircrew members here citing anecdotes based on seconds-long video clips, with minimal context, in order to make generalized conclusions regarding policing in America. You guys are taxpaying Americans and entitled to make any judgements you want. But oblige me for a moment... I was involved in a Class A mishap during my active duty AF time. I don't remember anyone taking partial/preliminary information or hearsay from that incident to diagnose the entire AF flying community as a bunch of f***-ups. I've always appreciated the way the aviation industry generally reserves judgement until an objective investigation has been completed. That investigation takes into account every possible environmental factor, human factor, the aircrew's training and experience, the unit culture and adherence to standards, etc, etc. A lot of guys in this thread are posting anecdotal videos without the full context to supposedly prove a point. Anyone can use Google to find a few videos/anecdotes to fit their narrative in this debate. But the issues surrounding US policing today are so much more complex than that. Is policing in America broken? Yes, in my opinion. Is it because cops are systemically racist? No, in my opinion. I've read thread after thread on this site over the years...in which professional aircrew members warn of the cluster f*** that the AF flying community would become when all of the experience and talent decides to leave. Let's consider what the AF flying community would become if the starting pay was <$40K with shitty benefits, a few months of training before being put in harm's way, and a public perception that you were all a bunch of racist thugs.

Yes I acknowledge police officers by far don't have the MOST dangerous job in the United States but they do have a higher than normal rate of danger. There are some key differences in the instances of officer deaths. One important one is that when an officer is killed in the line of duty it is an assault on an institution (justice by law) that attacks the fabric of society. This makes it more reprehensible than others occupational deaths. There is also the caveat that police officers work largely an environment where people are attempting to undermine them, where as other occupations do not. Hence their danger is relative to their vigilance. We have to recognize that police officers do not take the same types of Hippocratic oaths, and therefore do not have the same moral obligations to accept increasingly higher amounts of risk like members of the military. Despite that, they already are accepting higher risk. People often say "officers need more training" to which I ask... ok? What kind of training? What are they not already getting that you think will solve this issue. Simply pointing to training is like say SAPR training is going to eliminate rapes in the military. Its more complex than that. When this thread opened I left a page on meaningful police reforms. That was the post I was alluding to and I was hoping people would find it. Regardless, I'll recap some of them. By and large the largest hurdle the criminal justice system faces in the country is lack of focus and lack of funding. They've suffered in much the same way the military has where they continually succumb to mission creep of increasingly greedy political officials who seek reelection, yet their budget is often the first to suffer spending cuts when room needs made for a high priority item that makes the city look good. Seattle is a great example of how toxic the relationship between political officials and the police department are. The Seattle mayor is literally denigrating police officers on live TV telling them they don't uphold the cities standards yet she appointed and empowered every single one of them to include the ones drawing departmental policies. When the military suffers failure it is embarrassing for the POTUS. Somehow police departments do not carry the same weight of blame. Regarding meaningful reforms: 1.) Officer manning needs increased exponentially. Most people are surprised to learn officers are no longer partnered. The buddy system is integral to literally every other job in the emergency response industry to include the military and fire departments. We bemoan our police officers for being in fear for their lives but we send them of into communities that are often very hostile to them, by themselves. When my wife worked her metropolitan district she patrolled an under privileged neighborhood on the outskirts of the city where her nearest response was 18 minutes away. 2.) To add to officer manning, it has long been known that community policing is more effective but far less efficient than patrol cars. Techniques like walking patrols and police kiosks are instrumental to creating communities ties. Think of your relationship with your postman. You probably don't know him by name or much about his family but I bet you know his face and trust him because he drops the mail off to you every day without fail. Because of that, you have developed trust with him, and you would think to tell him if something was wrong with your mail delivery service. When police officers patrol in vehicles, they become unapproachable. Walking patrols are extraordinarily effective but come with less safety for the officer and a much larger task to efficiency. Hence back to my prior point about manning. 3.) Standards for career field entry for police departments are extraordinarily high. Much higher than holding a TS/SCI. The background check is very rigorous. This is problematic though. It makes it hard to recruit people of adversity or difficult backgrounds. Some people screw up in life, but they turn out to be amazing people who would make amazing mentors and roll models. Policing is primarily a community focused roll and the people serving a community should come from within it. Yet in some of the worst neighborhoods we can't do this because the people that grow up in those climates are unlikely to make it to college with a completely clean record. A pathway needs to be created to get these people of excellent character into the field without expecting perfection in their background. 4.) End the war on drugs. I'm not sure this one is worth debating anymore. Very few people support the massive resource waste this is at the moment. I'm not saying crack parties for all, but lets be sensible and stop wasting massive resources on find people and arresting people who the only thing they've done was jay walked with heroine in their pocket. 5.) Traffic camera enforcement: This one is unpopular but I've come to realize it has some major advantages. The first one is, it removes cops from pulling traffic which has largely become an industry to prop city revenues and it against waste police officers time and resources. That industry has stained the community perception of police officers and tarnished the reputation of their office. It creates thousands of negative interactions with cops every year. If people have a bad story about a cop its usually about how they were an ass hole for giving them a speeding ticket. Its also a waste of the above mentioned limited resources and manning. I think any conversation on how to reform criminal justice in the United States needs to begin with how do we increase public trust in the police department and make the work environment safer for cops. If you can start there you can probably start to find solutions. But the problem is, all of them cost money, and no one wants to hold political officials accountable for doing a terrible job of appropriating departments.

Yes, though it's a bandaid on a compound fracture. We need to embrace forced treatment for those unable to maintain a household. This is a weak area for conservatives who have no concept of what a hardcore drug addiction does to your mind. We want people to pick themselves up by the bootstraps, great, we gotta get their mind clean enough to do so. For liberals this means they have to stop pretending like letting people "live themselves to death" on the streets is some sort of virtue. Homeless people go to jail, not because they are criminal (though many are), but because you have to confine the addict to treatment long enough for it to take effect. For conservatives, just locking people away won't work. It's going to take money to fix this; treatment is expensive. And providing the anti-addiction drugs for free (forever) will also sting. Tough.

I offer this without comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPzbQejlAcM

Thanks. I needed that.

https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/systematic-racism-in-policing-its-time-to-stop-the-lying/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/07/03/police-black-killings-homicide-rates-race-injustice-column/3235072001/ https://factcheck.thedispatch.com/p/what-are-the-real-stats-on-black Couple articles regarding police shootings from a variety of potential biased sources. IMHO, numbers do not bear out the theory the police are racists or any other accusations made in that direction.

Doesn’t matter. Joe Biden could come out and admit everything and the never trumper’s and liberals would somehow blame trump for it all. Russia Russia russia.

KSPS 20-08 Eurofighter x4 - Germany F-35 x5 - Norway Eurofighter x2 - UK F-15C ANG F-35 ANG A-10 ANG T-6 FAIP A-10 B-1 F-15E F-16 x2 F-22 F-35

Gotta disagree with you completely on that one. Just because we have formalized/outsourced violence to an entity called the police does not make it their job (in any part) to get hurt while "serving and protecting" the rest of us. This is a "job" that has to be done by someone and is ultimately an extension of all of our most basic rights to not be harmed by other individuals - if we didn't have police is it my job to get a "little bit harmed" while defending my home because the robber has "rights" too? I don't think so. So the police who fulfill this role in society have zero duty to take even the smallest harm from those who are breaking laws - especially doing so violently. The people who break the law and willfully conduct violence against others (including police officers) are 100% responsible because it is 100% their choice to take the actions that led to those outcomes.

Oh crap! I ran out of popcorn, I'll be back ... Next Wednesday.

Fox News and most other mainstream conservative news outlets also refuse to talk to the story. Why? Because there is almost no veracity to the outlandish claims. The truth is that these allegations are a hilarious Hail Mary to throw some dirt 2 weeks before the election. Heres your choice: take the red pill and believe the unbacked up claims of the NYP (who are hilariously biased, they literally just endorsed Trump on their front page). Or take the blue pill and recognize that multiple CIA directors, national intelligence directors, defense intelligence specialists, and leaders in that community have all stated that this is overwhelmingly likely to be Russian disinformation. When did the whole of the US intelligence machine become a liberal hoax? Conspiracy theory is putting it lightly. (Double click this to open the letter) As much as I don’t like the guy, someone like Biden was a really smart choice when it comes down to running against Trump. He is boring, old, probably a little slow in his mental capacities. But he’s not a pure criminal, and he hasn’t done too many shady things. Hearing Trump repeat the “Hillary for prison” chants at his rallies, just updating them to “Biden for prison” is honestly desperate and pathetic. This is the state of politics in 2020, and it’s a large reason why I’m voting the way I am. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/10/28/trump-conspiracy-theoryhunter-biden-433131

Uh..... first off.... a knife is probably going to kill you not hurt you. Knife wounds are generally more lethal than gun shot wounds. Second, no.... getting hurt is not part of the job. I cant understand how anyone with any sense of morality can believe its somebodies job to get hurt. That's like people saying if you in the military your job is to die for your country. Uh, no its not. Here is why cops shoot people with knives. This is based off actual research performed by the FBI. The TTPs are pretty advanced. (not all covered in this video) Usually one officer is paired with a lethal and another officer with a non-lethal. (taser, pepper ball, etc...) Edit: I'm just going to add too, I've been doing MMA for 15 years and if someone came at me with a knife, I'm sure as fuck running. Ive been stabbed once in high school, and it sucked balls.

Please tell me...do you masturbate while looking at ol stars and stripes? You seem to have an interesting view on how everyone else besides you lives. Where did the suburbs touch you? Gotta go...have to catch up on the liberal bullshit of the day!

I can attest that SoCal Approach will "assist" you by keeping you high prior to your turn to final even to this day. Flaps 40, medium brakes, exit at Taxiway E. "No problem, GI!" But there's something fun about putting a 300,000-pound fatty into 5700', then cocktails in Newport Beach in an hour.

I'm not sure why there is a negative opinion of going around in the fighter community, but it's there. A few months before the Eglin mishap I was going around the final turn and ended up too high. The F-35 does not like to slow down when descending, even at idle with full "virtual speedbrake." I was aiming short of the threshold to get on the wire but it still wouldn't slow down. I took it around approaching the overrun and am very happy I did considering that I would have been in the same low AOA landing situation that occurred at Eglin and another incident that happened around the same time. Nobody I know knew at that time about the different pitch response that occurs in that situation. When I landed the tower told me to call the SOF. I said what's up and he was like "everything okay dude, you hit some wake turbulence or something?" I said "no man, I just couldn't get the jet slowed down." Taxiing back it occurred to me again how uncommon it is for a dude to go around when he calls full stop. So much so that the SOF felt he needed to check up on me to make sure I was okay. Landing is definitely an emphasis item for all F-35 pilots now, and we now have to take it around if not on speed approaching the threshold. I also fly at the airlines and have never heard the term "stabilized approached criteria" briefed in an F-16 or F-35 squadron. I remember my first approach into SNA in the 757. During the approach brief I set autobrakes to either 4 or Max, can't remember now. The captain looked at me with a half grin and said "you sure?" I was like yeah, the runway is like 5,000 feet dude. He said okay and started strapping into his seat, making sure he was pretty secure. We touched down and I almost went through the window. Apparently there was a lot of bags, phones, and other items all over the place too, but hey, better safe than sorry.

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.

Id back up what tarheel said. If you got selected as an alternate for a fighter unit, you're on the right track. Get some more flying in to get that PCSM up if you dont want to retake the TBAS. But, they know you're the alternate, dont bug them telling them you are ready whenever. They know. But basically, dont bank on an alternate spot working out. It does sometimes, but its no where close to a guarantee. And it can be a year or more until they find out their primary candidate cannot attend UPT for a mirage of reasons. You dont want to wait around a year + to figure that out. And while its great you got the alternate spot, dont go into the next board thinking you're a shoe-in just because of it. Maybe it gives you a slight leg up, but I'd still go in with the attitude that you're at the ground floor still. Keep applying and dont give up!

Sounds like you're doing all the right things. You should keep applying everywhere in the interim but I'd say don't be annoying (if their needs change they'll contact you). Once the pandemic passes maybe go back to a UTA weekend or two. Most places I've applied have said verbatim selection as an alternate means you have to recompete at the next board same as everyone else.

Dude's life went from bad to worse... https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/morning_call/2016/06/former-ashburn-ceo-convicted-of-murder.html

This is cringe 15 year old edgelord take on anonymous forums. We're just a bunch of bros trying to learn from each other's perspectives and spar a bit on our views, insulting people like you're doing hiding behind a screen is cowardly and embarrassing. Find one instance of this on this forum, I'll wait. Projecting is a common defense mechanism for an offended fragile ego though so not surprised.

That’s probably the most interesting part to me, I see this two ways. 1 - no attempt or 2 - non-successful attempt. Either way, it’s a sad situation for their families and the Whiting Field team. The IP’s truck at VT-2, as it currently sits.

Oh yeah, plenty wrong with him... Just less bad than Trump's egotistic impulses, divisive rhetoric, policy positions, and cabinet appointees. You'll find very few people who are truly Biden supporters in the literal sense of the word, especially on here. I'll likely vote republican if he runs again in 4 years (so long as it's not someone like Roy Moore).

Highest deficit numbers for America. (with whatever hyphen you might want to add). EVER. RECORDED. Kicking the can down the road to artificially prop up the economy by multiplying the deficit in the short term is genius political strategy I must say. Surprised to see it work so well on here. There's a huge amount of confounding factors affecting deficit/employment, of which the President has little control over.

Yeah, damn liberals and their...grocery stores? But you're right, I guess I should have given you more of a response. I'm really glad that your farming and hunting has given you such fulfillment. Seriously, it's awesome. But just because you like your way of life, doesn't mean everyone else would. And it definitely doesn't mean they are lesser men because they don't. I guarantee the vast majority of people on this board, conservative or liberal, old or young, don't live semi-isolated on 37 acres. Sorry those of us that live in cities and suburbs and dont grow or hunt most of our food are such a disappointment to you. But the ability to field dress a deer has nothing to do with the quality of a person or their "manliness". Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

From the little evidence we have so far, I'd guess there is room for improvement. Sent from my SM-N975U using Baseops Network mobile app

I thought getting triggered was a lib thing? Look man, the only one name calling insults here is you, everyone else is either making fun of arrogant and denigrating parts of your post or responding to some of the things you said in good faith. If you ask genuine questions you will get genuine responses, as has been shown time and time again on this forum. Don't expect respect if you don't give it. Don't know how you haven't learned that one yet.

And less than landscapers, roofers, fishermen, and truck drivers. The risk is exaggerated to support overly aggressive policing policies and unjust sentencing laws. In my opinion there are too many civilians killed to justify the current rate of risk. There should not be more unarmed civilians killed by cops than cops killed in the line of duty. The balance is way off when there are cases of children being killed. Training and policies need to change, even if that means an increase in risk of death/injury due to becoming a police officer.

Sounds good. Can we make that for a couple of years?

Go do your job the best you can. If you're having to constantly complain/profess to me that you are doing a good job, you aren't. I'm not your mom. Go do at good job. Or don't. From reading your post, I think you would be a horrible liability = you suck at your job. Good luck

Just to be clear. DosXX. You are an idiot. Thanks for coming out

Guessing slackline might be out plotting “peaceful protests” or else he would have responded by now.

What is wrong with it? Its an internet forum. You were logging into an internet forum. On politics. And you thought I needed to learn something. You are an idiot. What I'm implying, idiot, is that you tards are constantly accusing white men of being bad, evil dudes with white privilege. We're not. We don't suck as at our jobs. You made that up, because you needed a leverage mechanism to lean on. That's what I'm implying. You probably suck ass at your job. That's also what I'm implying. I'm not actually implying much at all here