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No, just leave, letting them know we won’t tolerate terrorism coming from there. Only way we go back is with bombers... Never going to “win” there, even if we unleash the military completely.

Ted Cruz is on Twitter agreeing with AOC. Who would have thought that GameStop would have been the force that finally brings unity to politics?

I hate tik tok, but this is funny.

Some dude has been holding calls on GME since 2019. The dude made over $25M in a day....unrealized of course. But still.

I've seen you drink beer, I can't afford that bill.

I start with investments, I've built wealth and want to protect it. I had three numbers when I first started. The first number was the lowest number I needed to retire, we could be careful, manage our spending and cover our expenses no issues. We hit that many years ago. The second number was living at our current quality of life now but not having to work. I have raised that number over the years as we have raised our standard of living, we keep acquiring toys and some of them (airplane/RV), are expensive. I have a very nice retirement as a 26 year O-6, my wife works and makes a great salary, I work and am over compensated for my capability, we also have a side business that brings in about $10,000 a month in passive income. I won't into specific numbers but I am forced to make quarterly tax payments of $15,000 in addition to our withholding and still have to make a huge tax payment every April...I know tough problem to have. We hit the second number several years ago. My third number was to be stupid rich and I never really thought it possible, but it is. Sorry for the long section on investments but I grew up poor and it really shaped me. The rest of the reading is loosely related because all of these policies and actions by the different political parties really impact where I put my money. I use Morgan Stanley as my wealth manager and they have a host of products I sort through each morning. CNBC has a great pre-market snapshot which also links to great articles about trends and emerging opportunities. The Motley Fool has a nice daily summary, but also has a lot of fluff and hidden advertisements. I also use Market Watch which is a great tool to get down in the weeds of investing should you so choose. I used to have a bridge between investments and the news and would read daily articles in the Economist, but they completely jumped the shark in the last two years and went full retard political which is truly sad because they have some great analysts. Around 0600 the Early Bird hits my email, it used to be so much better but still provides a summary of the previous day and the overnight actions in the defense industry. You can sign up, it is free. Next I look at BBC, like most they are biased but they also provide a world view. I think taking a few minutes to see how the rest of the world views us is very important. Keeping the previous theme in mind next I go to Al Jazeera which has excellent coverage on some things. Most days I cycle in the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. I work most of the day and that requires other reading, some of it technical, most of it more strategic. As part of my job I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at the Federal budget. While not a lobbyist, for several years I have been going to the hill as an expert on a few key areas and technologies. During the week I cycle through Foxnews/CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC for an update, while we make dinner. My son is very active in sports so while he is practicing most nights I tend to read to pass the time. I have about 10 books going right now, a great one written by a good friend called When The Tempest Gathers I am purposely reading the book slowly and a bit at a time. Last week I finished Oliver North's new book The Rifleman, Admiral McRaven's book Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations and Rum Curious which is a great book about the origins of Rum and a tasting guide which I found very useful...I also learned some things about the rum market and actually changed an investment because of it. This week I started a re-read of the classic The Odyssey by Homer. The classics are important and were used to frame the thinking of the founders of our country.

As a WIC/SQ CC I flew as much as humanly possible, often at the expense of my family. I discussed with my family before becoming the DO, they already knew the importance of relevance and competency and the agreed to support me. I also valued the relationship with the Ops Squadrons and as were were colocated I often flew basic qual rides with new students going through RTU which I found very rewarding. Being a CC was the highlight of my career, it was also the realization that I was on an island. Many things happen with people behind the scenes and often you can't share that with the masses. I made several VERY unpopular decisions, one nearly causes a revolt by my WIC instructors, but they didn't have all the data and I couldn't tell them. One thing I did notice was experience provided a base that didn't require me to fly 4-5 days a week. Not trying to brag, but I returned to fly twice and both times had an extensive requal syllabus presented. Both times I proficiency advanced through about half of the syllabus, I even "out-shot" evaluator who challenged my on my checkride. Personally, I felt comfortable after five rides, things came back very quickly. My real focus was on tech, tactics and procedure changes that occurred while I was off at school/staff. As a Wing/CV I flew at least one day a week, I forced the staff to build a brick wall around that item on my calendar, often it meant I would work another 12 hours after a 10-12 hour mission plan, fly, debreif cycle, but it was completely worth it.

Copy. Extremely selfish. Hate to break it to you but wearing a mask and getting a shot to hold a pandemic at bay are not violations of your personal rights. They're basic acts of human decency that you can easily do to protect your fellow countrymen. But if caring about the welfare of other people isn't really your thing I'll appeal to the selfishness side: doing both of those things is the fastest way to get to go back to normal so your hypothetical business can flourish. Maybe the 'make America great again' crowd could take a page out of the greatest generation's book and realize that cooperating to protect your fellow Americans isn't the gubment trying to take your rights. It's just the decent thing to do. and not sure why you keep bringing up lockdowns. I too think they're mostly retarded, but it's entirely unrelated to what we're talking about. Masking and vaccines have science, common sense, and history all backing them up.

Let me check, the mortality rate is, “fuck you.” Two people in my family have already died and I live in the same house as someone who is 70+ and who hasn’t gotten the opportunity to get vaccinated yet. This virus is deadly and I am counting down the days until all of my loved ones are protected so we don’t have to go to more funerals. Glad to hear you’re healthy and happy though; I sincerely hope you’re able to stay that way!

got it covid sucks. i really do get it guys. i'm not wanting to get it. but risk reward here come on...if i were a small business owner i would be PISSED that i'm going BANKRUPT and losing EVERYTHING to this. beyond pissed. everyone of you who advocate for keeping things locked down is living off a government paycheck every two weeks...easy for you to say.

I guess the factors that led to the financial collapse of 2008 was all based on sound reasoning....It’s one thing, greed. The events of today were 100% market manipulation by Wall Street. Melvin, the hedge fund shorted 140% of GameStop stock, yes more than was available. Citadel, funded Melvin when it became apparent they didn’t have the financial backing to cover their anticipated loses. Citadel also own Robinhood, which then conveniently stopped individuals from buying shares today. Oh yeah, the former FED Chairman during Biden’s VP term, Ben Bernanke, is a senior advisor to Citadel. Wall Street makes and changes the rules in order to make money for themselves, they could give two shits about whom the destroy in the process. The WallStreetBets crowd was literally acting in accordance with the rules of buying and selling stock. There should be people in jail for this...But we know that won’t happen, 1 person was given jail time following the 2008 meltdown.

Robinhood is allowing people to close positions, just not create new ones. Which only benefits the short sellers who want to continue to create fake sell ladders to manipulate the price lower. Check out the order book that has entirely exhausted the sell pressure from private investment firms lol: Hard to feel bad that investment bankers, which do nothing for the world, may have less boats. When short selling and greed goes too far.

Elizabeth Warren, AOC, Ben Shapiro, Trump, all on the same side. Robin Hood is about to get FUCKED.

Maybe. But I wouldn't want to be the Robin Hood exec getting roasted by the left AND right in that congressional hearing.

I'm not sure people really flipped. Republicans tend to be in favor of business (like to speak about small business, but really financially and politically tied to big business), so it's not surprising to see those that care about big business/wall street defending their interests (calls for regulating individual investors to protect "professional" investors). Democrats tend to call for government control and oversight, but primarily on social issues. They get painted as anti business or anti free market (maybe rightfully so in some areas). It doesn't mean they don't necessarily support some aspects of capitalism or individualism. But this is all just capitalism and a relatively free market, and we're seeing who really believes in a free market, and who just says they do to pander to their base. Money buys you influence (in this case, influence on the market), and the more money you have, the more influence you have. Redditors banding together as individual investors with one aim gives them a lot of capital to influence the market (arguably democratically, with people voting with their checkbook in a very decentralized manner). Contrast that with hedge funds that essentially do the same thing, though with more control (centralized control of the capital of individual investors).

Well, CNN blames this whole thing on Trump, yet AOC and Elizabeth Warren are on the side of retail buyers so this whole event has flipped lots of people onto sides we never thought they would be on.

I think that's the new administration's plan.

What's most irritating is all of the politicians issuing him the blame. Who was the politician that entrusted these ass hats? Who's taking responsibility for that?

Did you have Blackberry in the bullpen? It is funny how the recent actions around Gamstop, AMC and Blackberry started. I giant FU to moneymakers trying to short. The Reddit mob punked them hard out of their short position.

Most bomb squadron commanders I know make their Vol 1 required three a month. OSS and up....not so much.

I read prolifically, have since I was a kid which has really helped me in the stock market, currently buying a new airplane as a result. Also, I care about my country and the issues. I think when the mainstream media shifted from print to TV and Digital the depth of stories and understanding began to shrink until today when they rush through every 30 second story and knowledgeable people who are interviewed never get more than a minute to talk. In reality news today is about the sensational topic and a brief "Tik Tok/Snapchat cursory summary"

Other than the fact that they/we were promised free healthcare as an enticement for our service .... but yeah ... other than that it’s great!

Negative. This was all passed via email however in an earlier email, the POC said that they do not give out quota numbers until the list is released however pilot slots were a bit down due to COVID but not as bad as they thought it would be. I have seen in previous boards that once the list is signed and the release date is publicized, they have responded to questions with generalized stats "we had 200 slots and 300 applicants, most slots were pilot". Hopefully things move quicker than expected and we can find out next week

In my experience being in the MAF for 16 years (excluding FTU time), Sq/CC’s rarely flew because a lot of them were PHOENIX products and what community they commanded in wasn’t the community they “grew up” in. A majority of them were poor flyers to begin. I had a Sq/CC tell me once he didn’t feel “comfortable” instructing in the KC-135 compared to his time in the C-130, so he’d rather just be an evaluator. I reminded him he’d done two flying assignments in the KC-135 and left the C-130 after one assignment. Thankfully, that dipshit is an OG/CC now.

I've had and I do NOT advocate shutting everything down. I believe we can use mitigation to protect those most at risk and be prepared to help the not at risk groups when and if they get it. Yes we have needlessly crushed many small businesses and we need a better strategy, but the strategy is not FU to the 1%.

Yeah totally different from the last generation who confused the generation before theirs with newfangled social media nonsense too.. definitely way different...

Exactly right. I only hear advocacy for lockdowns from those who are financially protected from the impacts. Additionally, I am unconvinced lockdowns are effective and unfortunately reasonable debate is impossible.

^This! We have a ways to go, but we've also come a long way. This is an example of incredibly poor leadership, not an example of finding dudes/dudettes who wouldn't be able to hack it in combat. I know there are people that slip through the cracks and somehow make it to UPT, but that "wheat has been shifted" by the time they get to UPT. You only make it there if you've shown yourself to be a fairly capable individual. Anyone denying it, sorry, not trying to put a dent in your memory of how awesome you were in UPT, and how you'd have held up better the scrutiny the IPs determined to see you wash out.

Shapiro was very hard on Trump's lies about the election from the start. There's pretty good video where he's arguing with his crew about how they're wrong for supporting the former pres saying he won that night. He's done that all along, and pointed out how awful the lawsuits are. Yes, 99% of the time he's going to have those talking points because those are his talking points. But he's on the same line every time, and doesn't shift much when some darling conservative comes in and "does bad, to do good." He annoys me often, but I respect him on that front. Tucker Carlson on the other hand is none of those things. Has he released his copy of the Biden laptop yet that he got? He fans the flames on rhetoric, with the same bad faith arguments and selective reading of the facts same as Hannity. He's willing to align himself to whatever gets him views and popular, unlike Shapiro. Him playing himself as "a man of the people" with his sliver spoon upbringing and Ivy League education is just the topper. The fact that a court of law, and Fox News argued, that you can't take anything he says as a "statement of fact" means the show isn't worth anyone's time.

I have listened to a few of Shapiro's podcasts (working from home provides some flexibility). Sorry, he sticks to right wing talking points 99% of the time. The only "criticism" I've heard was from this summer, indicating that Trump occasionally gets in his own way with his communications style, but then it was right back to slamming the left. Clearly, Shapiro, like Weisteins and even Rogan to an extent, rarely, if ever, criticize the right. In fact, the main talking point is that it was really the democrats who sparked the Jan 6th riots because they were just too tough and mean to Trump. That is completely ridiculous. The fact is that a very large number of Trump supporters were duped and incited by his rhetoric, resulting in an attempt to interrupt the political process. Full stop. The right demands that the left see both sides, which the left in fact does way better than the right. It is not even close.

I didn't say remove guns. Also, I hate how this lame argument about guns only making it easier to hurt people... Yeah, a lot easier! Why don't you go pull up statistics on mass shootings vs mass stabbings or cars used as a weapon. The latter happen infrequently because you can't do the same amount of damage without getting up close and personal. Difference between pickling a JDAM and pulling the trigger in CQB is similar. One is much harder to do, and that's in a justified situation. The ability to be somewhat removed by using a gun vs having to do it up close and personal is just one aspect limiting people trying to stab everyone at school. Lock guns up in your home, and that pissed off kid, wanting to commit violence has to really think a lot more about how he is gonna go about it. We have a right to guns and ammo in whatever qty we feel we want. I'm not ever going to back up anything that tries to change it. This seems like a no-brainer to put a dent in (while it won't eliminate them) mass shootings, especially at schools. One of the dumbest things gun rights advocates can say is, "guns don't hurt people, people do!" Problem with the right is acting like they're trying to take away our guns the second the conversation even comes up. Engage in the conversation in good faith, and we should be able to find a compromise because you're kidding yourself if you think nothing needs to be done...

I'm on-board with the idea. I am terrified by the implementation. Some ATF agent kicking in the door of your house at 2am because your neighbor called about a gun you were cleaning on the coffee table instead of in a gun safe? Yikes.

The internet is weird. And it’s only going to get weirder as we get older. Imagine responding directly to one of Robin Olds’ forum posts bitching about finance.

Don't forget the 34th. Cultural appropriation using the Native American Thunderbird like that.

I'm going to be honest. I read the title, and saw a memo attached, and immediately thought this was about reduction in force measures. I'm a bit disapointed 😞

Well fellas, since the manning crisis has been solved by Covid, that frees up some resources to boot the undesirables. As we all know, there is no possible way airline hiring is going to pick back up ever again, so no real need to be concerned with manning or the morale of some of the most highly trained people we have. Carry on. #fuckingidiots

I'm sure the Russian and Chinese Air Forces just published similar guidance.

Focusing on the combat capability again.