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People get too wrapped up about the pax/box issue. In 10+ years of airline flying, my "dealing with the pax," has amounted to a single divert for a heart attack (got more pay for that day) and kicking off one (1) drunk dude at the gate while still pushing on time. Even with that, homie don't do "dealing with pax." We have people who are specially trained to do that, so I have the FO call them out to "deal with the pax." Meanwhile, I'll be in the cockpit flipping through baseops.net, wondering how many minds have been changed on the abortion thread. What really matters is how long it takes you to get from your home, to work and back. This single item will have the biggest impact of your QOL in an airline career. As an example, I'm typing away while drinking my morning coffee at 0500 (I've become my old man who can't sleep past 0500). Here in about an hour, I'll drive 55 minutes (about 60 miles) to the airport. I'll fly a 2-leg turn that is 2.2 hours of block. I'll block in before noon and be back in my car, headed home about 15 minutes later (Westin Valet will have my car waiting at the curb). If I don't stop at a squadron mates house for a beer, I should be home by 1300. I often bid reserve because I can sit short call from my house...hell I've flown my plane around on short call before (just stay ~500 feet to keep a cell signal). My days on long call are often spent flying my plane/hanging out at the hangar, tooling around the house, visiting family or drinking coffee/beer with current/former squadron mates who live within a mile or two of my house. Being able to do all of this, if infinitely more valuable than "not dealing with pax." So I'd recommend going to wherever allows you to do this the most.

Open source suggests that the strike was however successful in taking out MG Simonov, their Chief of EW, and who—based on the fact that he couldn’t prevent collection assets from locating and passing along the coordinates for himself and the Chief of the General Staff to Kyiv—was not doing a particularly stellar job.

Honest question to Demonrat. Since the SCOTUS decision was illicitly leaked does that story comprise disinformation now that should be suppressed? Why isn't the media suppressing this like the Hunter Biden laptop or the Hilary Clinton emails? Shouldn't this be wiped from record until the election like those stories were?

I'm actually skeptical. A lot of the people who give a shit about this issue live in states that are absolutely not going to change abortion access. There's also a 0% chance that abortion takes a meaningful position on the list of Americans concerns when the economy is doing poorly. Again, they didn't make abortion illegal, though some states certainly will, and the people in those states are already used to living in an abortion-hostile environment. While it may have been politically risky, it was absolutely the right thing to do legally. If you haven't taken the time to read the draft ruling, it's only about 40 to 50 pages of actual text, and Scalia did an excellent job laying out the sheer lunacy of both the Roe and Casey rulings. We need a greater return to states rights. The ideological differences in this country are growing, and you don't solve ideological differences by forcing one side to do what the other wants. That goes for both the left and the right.

No. I rarely interact with them. Unlike the flight attendants, we don't need to be on the plane before they board / after they deplane. I was most surprised by how easy the entire airport process is. You almost never wait in line for security, passengers dive out of the way when they see you coming, and the cockpit door filters out most of the nonsense. Definitely something I didn't appreciate until working at a passenger carrier. But boxes are obviously much, much, much less hassle. The advantage of the pax carriers is volume of flying. More planes and more pilots and more flights means more permutations for schedule construction and manipulation. We also have dramatically less night flying. My first choice was UPS and my second choice was FedEx. I was already in training at American Airlines when UPS called, and by that time it had been clear that both my job and my wife's job we're going to take us to Dallas. That was enough for me to turn down the interviews and stick with American, because as I believed then (and know for sure now), my strategy only works well when you live in base. You really have to figure out what type of person you are, and that's going to determine what type of flying your best suited for. There are mission hackers, crew dogs, sightseers, people pleasers, authoritarians, loopholers, managers, unionists, teachers, etc. Each airline offers different opportunities for those types of people. I spend a lot of time at my airline teaching people my method (maximum ratio of pay:hours flown). It's a process and it takes time, and in many cases by the time I'm done explaining it, they are so put off from the idea that they seem pathologically compelled to explain to me why my system isn't actually that good. It's a curious response, but a lot of these guys unknowingly weight any work that isn't sitting in the cockpit as many, many times more onerous than actually flying. So while I usually only fly between 30 to 50% of what a regular line pilot flies in a month, because I spend 10 to 15 hours per month (in 1-5 minute blocks) working the various trading platforms, they view that 15 hours as much worse than the additional 50 hours they spend flying. And usually I'm making somewhere between 15-40% more pay. I mention all that to highlight the concept. Their personality is to do the job they're told to do, not spend years learning the nuances of their contract so that they can exploit it. So what type of military pilot were you? You can probably use that information as the third criteria in selecting an airline 1. Who offered you a job 2. Where can you live without commuting 3. What flying job fits your personality?

Dude, you just shat out a wall of irrelevant text. Your argument boils down to this: because some bad things might happen in the future to a child, that is my post hoc justification for allowing abortion in order to prevent a bunch of bad things from taking place. In short, your argument is specious, hypothetical, post hoc bull shit.

Depends on the base. Some bases (ONT, most of the non super-senior MIA schedules) are domestic only so the choice is made for you. Others you get to choose which is one of the things I really like. You might spend a decade at a legacy pax outfit before you have a chance at wide body international flying. Not so in cargo. At Brown it’s a single payscale (no difference for widebody flying) so everyone finds their niche and no one is stepping over each other for better pay. That said, I really do believe domicile is a more important consideration than pax vs cargo flying. I just advised a neighbor to stick with his current, just started gig at Delta vs going to FedEx (we’re in the Seattle area). I stand by my “reasons cargo is better” statement but none of that stuff trumps living in base when we’re talking about any of the majors/Fdx/UPS.

Its hilarious that the merit-based line number is literally the first clear data point you get in your career on where you stand in your peer group. 8 years in seems a tad late to be getting your first piece of real feedback.

In this case, if you haven't read the 50ish pages of the actual ruling, you are arguing without context. It's quite clear that many in this thread haven't read the ruling. Sure, this might have major political consequences for the Republicans, but I doubt it. Abortion is a popular issue in America precisely because it doesn't actually affect most people. Anyone notice that? The most divisive long-term issues are the ones that aren't a part of daily life? Yes, the abortion activists are going to lose their minds. And yes, some republican women are going to be upset with the ruling. But overwhelmingly those people weren't and aren't going to get an abortion. They are going to buy gas. They are going to watch their 401K and home value plummet. They do have kids in school. What people post on facebook and what they vote for are not the same. If you believe in the sanctity of the Supreme Court, Roe and Casey had to be overruled. Again, reading Scalia's ruling spells it out clearly. You want nationwide abortion? Pass a fucking law. 50 years after Roe and the country is still bitterly divided, if that's not an issue best left to the actual machinery of democracy, what is? Since Roe the progressives have dedicated the bulk of their energy to trick-fucking the government into regulating and adjudicating their agenda into reality instead of legislating it into existence. It's wrong, and as someone pointed out, when you force a bunch of unpopular stuff onto the population against their will (as exercised through voting on legislation and electing representatives to write legislation), they tend to react unpredictably and violently. Roe was an assault on our entire system, and the 50-year experiment proved that it doesn't even work. This is a good ruling. I hope to see the process work as intended once again. Relevant disclaimers: Personal view: Abortion should only be allowed for cases of rape or dire risk to the mother's health. Human life must be valued at a base level if we are to form any sort of consistent morality to abide by. Political view: Tie goes to the citizen. Abortion should be legal until either viability (as determined by the medical outcomes in the lowest 25% of the country) or through the second trimester. After that, only dire health risks. Views: Atheist, somewhere between conservative and libertarian. Here are some quotes from the ruling, but you need to read the fucking thing. The formatting is a mess. Read it. Seriously.

Got to push back on you here. When the FED tried raising the interest rates back in 2017-2018, Trump lost his mind and was publicly excoriating Powell everyday as the stock market slid. I don't think there's a chance in hell that he would suddenly find God on sound fiscal policy, which was always a weakness for him. It is certainly possible that the inflation factor would change Trump's calculus, but we certainly have no evidence to suggest that. I also think Trump would have pushed for more stimulus, though not as much as the democrats. One of the biggest drivers of inflation in this economy was the direct payments to consumers from the government, and that part of stimulus I think Trump would have wholeheartedly endorsed. Agree on energy policy, agree on covid policy.

It’s extremely simple and has existed for a long time until relatively recent generations. Critical thought. It is very easy to read a headline, say “hmm, that’s an interesting topic, statement, etc.” and then proceed to put actual effort into unemotionally looking at multiple sources to derive the most accurate, well-informed assessment of said topic/statement. It’s what most of us learned growing up through primary and secondary education, but kids over the past 10 years or so have been systematically denied being taught that skill in public education. They have been taught what to think, not how to think. As for the older generations who lap up the bullshit, well they have unfortunately forgotten the lessons they were taught back in the day, and I don’t have an explanation for that. Bottom line, the solution is one that has already existed - bring back championing critical thought, teach and emphasize it to your kids and in the school system. Call people out for parroting a headline or other WOMs, call them to the carpet and ask them to provide evidence for their claims. But the fringes don’t want that, they want control of your thoughts and emotions to gain/maintain power. So what will win, a resurgence of critical thought in this country or the “thought leaders?” We all have the choice.

Ok, let's take the scientific viewpoint that is "clear and unequivocal" and see how that plays out in society. A human being is created at fertilization because it creates human specific tissues, DNA, and whatever else. 6 weeks later my one night stand girl shows me the human being creation test and it says "You have a human being in there according to science!" We are both freaking out because once you have a positive human being creation test you have to go to the doctor within 24 hours to confirm the presence of a new human being. We go to the doctor and he confirms the brand new human because of the scientific definition. At this point we fill out all of the paperwork, name the 6-week old human (age now starts at conception), and make sure we get a social security card. We aren't married, so the human being creation certificate lists me and the mother as unwed. I am now on the hook for child support if I fail to perform my fatherly duties. If the mother does anything to endanger the new human being while he/she is in the womb, she may face murder charges and I may face criminal charges as well. The mother has insurance, but it doesn't fully cover human creation so we are on the hook for thousands of dollars of fees. Too bad the government doesn't provide some form of healthcare even though they require every woman to birth their newly created human beings. Also, once the human being makes it appearance everybody else doesn't give two s about that baby. We go home after the doctor's appointment and we are both terrified. We don't want to do anything that could affect the new 6-week old human being in the womb. Some weeks go by and the stress of the situation got to the mother. She ended up drinking alcohol with the human being inside. As the father it is my duty to report the woman to human being protective services. I do so, and she is summarily arrested for endangering the life of a human being. She ends up being placed in a facility for unfit mothers, where she is watched 24/7 due to having a human being in her womb. The government has decided the girl's family and father will foot the entire cost of being in this facility because of their responsibility toward the new human being. If you haven't caught on by now, using the scientific definition is still absolute buffoonery. The "scientific definition argument" is just another red herring argument that doesn't take the whole situation into account. Calling a zygote a human being in the eyes of the law due to the scientific definition is asinine and has negative societal implications way beyond abortion. Women will bear a disproportionate amount of responsibility for the life of this "human being," and their personal freedoms will be severely limited while pregnant. That doesn't sound very American to me, and the enforcers have to be the government. I'm sure @ViperMan wants more government intervention. That's probably his dream come true.

What are your feelings on BLM riots & ANTIFA attacks on federal buildings in Portland?

You're partially right... Modern fighter sensors outpace C2 sensors in many respects. The issue is loiter and all the "combat support" things going on before/during/after the "push." I'm all for distributed sensors/comm and piping that information back to some sort of central node but that relies on "ownership" of the electromagnetic spectrum (and not to mention some serious bandwidth). In theory, this is what ABMS was supposed to do but we (the Air Force) spent a pile of money and got limited/no leave behind capability. It also turns out that Air Force does have some of those capabilities already and you've probably talked to it in some form for the last 20 years. The CRC (Control and Reporting Center) morphed into an enduring, multi-sensor, multi-communications hub with reach throughout CENTCOM from 2009 to present. Worked great (relatively speaking) in a permissive environment Ever wonder how a different tanker got to the correct track, with the right amount of fuel, at the right time to refuel you (I can't help if they were IMC when you got there)? Ever wonder how Link 16 networks get designed/operates in an enduring fashion? Ever wonder how a DT/TST got to you and was prioritized over your ATO assigned targets? Ever think about how that would happen over the Pacific with no land (or only contested land) to base a sensor/comm infrastructure (even temporarily)? That's the stuff C2 does although there are too many in my field that think it's still about "2 groups range 15." If you're asking yourself "isn't there a company in Silicon Valley that can build artificial intelligence, algorithms, bots to do most of that" is a fair question. What platform hosts the software? Dash 4 over the Taiwan Strait? The AOC? An wing ops center forward deployed as part of ACE? How does it all link together? In theory I'd advocate for all sensors to all shooters (again, this is one of the answers ABMS was supposed to provide...I'm still waiting). I don't have a dog in the fight of airborne C2 anymore but I believe there is a business case for having something even if it is a bridge to whatever space based/ABMS stuff is coming down the pipe (and is likely 10+years away). That said I don't know if Wedgetail is the right answer and Boeing (& Air Force Acquisitions) didn't win any points with me taking 5 years for a single prototype.

We are saying the same thing. As most know USAF bet the enterprise on 5th gen (for good reason), in the middle of a war with dudes running around Afghanistan with AK-47s and IEDs. The real damage occurred during the fight between Gates v Moseley/Wynne. At that point ATF had been a program of record for 20 years and they wanted to see it through because they saw the long-term threat and the absolute need for 5th gen if we were going to fight/deter China and Russia. Gates was focused on the now (again for good reason), young men and women were being blown up everyday and Gates wanted drastic action and response to stop the damage. Forcing USAF to field 100+ orbits of RPA manned at 9:1 gutted the Air Force in both personnel and treasure. We never got credit (or resourcing), for using up 20+ years of a modern Air Force flying two No-Fly zones over Iraq. In the environment the Air Force made some tough (often Sofie's Choice), type resourcing decisions that ultimately cost CSAF and SECAF their jobs. As such we kicked the AWACS can down the road, we kicked the JSTARS can down the road, we kicked the CSAR can down the road, we kicked the nuclear enterprise can down the road and we kicked the tanker can down the road. Now all the cans are rusted and need to be replaced in what would have been a decreasing fiscal environment (if not for Ukraine), and at a time when were are trying to field large numbers of the most expensive procurement program in the history of DoD. All of that being said, just because we have to make tough decisions doesn't give permission to make hasty faulty decisions. Does Wedgetail takeoff and land more often that the E-3, yup but not as often as it should and more importantly not as often as other options. I say again, the Aussies are having a TERRIBLE time with Wedgetail, as are the South Koreans...to the point South Korea is going to buy something else! Is anyone paying attention? Air Force seniors reference commercial fleet reliability rates when they talk about Wedgetail "90+% reliability rate" when the Aussies and Koreans are seeing 60% on their Wedgetails, some issues so severe they only fly at night. There are options that fly faster, higher, further with a MUCH better radar that could be on the ramp in about the same time as Wedgetail but we are so myopic we can't take an honest look. The Air Force is acting like an 18 year old who spent years struggling to catch a glimpse of side boob through the neighbors window. Miraculously he got laid by the fat chick down the street and now he is in love, he can't see anything else and wants to get married because it never felt so good. Forget the fact that he got into the University of Alabama with some of the dumbest yet hottest nymphomaniac blondes in the nation. I hope something changes, I hope they use the decision space to make a choice that solves the immediate problem while providing for the future. And yes, the maintainers are magicians, unsung heroes who have made us all look good for many many years.

I think some of you are missing the forest through the trees. The question being posed here is: If we are going to argue that a fetus is a human, then why don't all laws/norms then apply to that human? The example given makes sense. If an infant dies in his or her parent's care, it will generally be investigated as to whether the parents were neglectful. If a miscarriage takes place, and we define the fetus as human, why don't we apply the same rules? Shouldn't the mother, at the very least, be forced to to take a blood alcohol test? If she is positive, should she be then charged with murder?

At what point is it not absurd? When should the laws a societal norms be applied?

I'm not assuming everyone believes the same as me. I'm applying existing laws and societal norms to the very absurd supposition that a 1 week old zygote should legally be considered an alive human being.

Yeah but wing strats mean very little. I was top 5% of my YG for years only to find out when I went up for school that about 25% of the wing was top 5% of their YG. The amount of gamesmanship that goes on behind the scenes with stratification is frankly asinine.

I think what @Demonrat is trying to say is that legally defining a human being as existing at conception has some very big legal implications that even the most staunch pro lifers haven't fully thought out. For example: it begs the question, why aren't pro lifers also laser focused on miscarriages (which are nearly as prevalent as abortions?) By your own logic that's a fully fledged human being that lost their life, and a miscarriage should warrant an autopsy at least and possible criminal investigation if there was suspected negligence. If we could be saving potentially millions of lives per year, you'd expect them to be dumping money into pre-natal research, paid maternity leave, and free pre-natal healthcare for everyone. But none of that is happening. Instead they're more concerned with what Lena Dunham is up to.. and that makes the whole gambit seem very fake, and more like a bid for control to own the libs than a genuine concern for human life. TL;DR if it's a human life at conception, act like it in all aspects.. not just the politically convenient ones.

See ya there Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Same—hopefully someone here did get some good news; best of luck to anyone who did and let’s all stay on the grind otherwise!

You didn’t address my next post that addressed the “wall of irrelevant text”, linking the emotional argument with a logical argument. You cannot call a zygote a human being and not afford it every right a human being has in the eyes of the law. It makes no sense.

I'm not sure what your point here is, but the Bundy standoff in 2014 is one of the best examples of why the second amendment matters in modern history (the second being Waco). In the Bundy standoffs, BLM nonsense and executive rulemaking were challenged with the threat of violence. Had there been no guns everyone knows the Bundy's would have been rounded up in one day and the issue would have never made the spotlight. Instead. the constitutional right to have weapons offset the power of the government and introduced a limiting principal to the random rulemaking power of the BLM: are we willing to hurt people to enforce this rule. The government should always have to perform this calculus before making a rule or law. This was a case of the 2nd Amendment limiting the government without bloodshed. In the case of Waco, government overreach and zeal resulted in a horrifying loss of life. But the aftermath changed the way the government operates. This was a case of the 2nd Amendment limiting the government with bloodshed. In both cases, only the 2nd Amendment allowed for important limitations on government intervention. As far as Bundy, in 2016 he was arrested and charged, which curiously ended with this little nugget: So I'm not sure you're making the point you wish to make about Bundy. Jan 6th, however, was a mess. Inspired (though not legally incited) by Trump. If you're wondering why Republicans are so reluctant to care about it, you'd have to appreciate the years of double-standard-outrage the left has imposed on the right. A year earlier the left was literally cheering on rioters.

Misanthropic? What the hell does that even mean? I swear, I don’t even want to leave my remote cabin anymore if I’m going to constantly be surrounded by all these high and mighty pax pilots who can’t even speak damned plain English.

No, I'm sure it actually was...

Depending on which side of the Bay you’re on, getting in/out of OAK is a heck of a lot easier drive than crossing any of the bridges (I drive from Sac). It’s not a massive difference on Waze, but it is when you find yourself doing it multiple times monthly, and traffic variability is much lower at OAK. Also on the last day of your trip you generally won’t get flow delays flying into OAK, whereas they’re pretty common at SFO. Not that the SFO drive is BAD…plenty of people do it. Just relatively speaking if you have both CJOs and haven’t otherwise found a tiebreaker then it’s something to consider. Oh, and all the above is predicated on not actually having to stop or stay at a hotel (no nice areas or hotels near OAK). Good luck with both!

You guys are right. I'm willing to change my point-of-view on this subject. I still think something needs to be done about disinformation because it's another significant crack in the foundation of American society, but the "Ministry of Truth" isn't the best way to get there. It's a problem where the solution is basically an overhaul of the education system, which probably isn't going to happen in our lifetime. Arguing on the internet may be pointless, but after seeing that my argument got to the point of being indefensible it was an easy call to make.

demorat, emotional arguments don't argue/debate well. You don't want religion and now you don't want science.

Yes you can have a similar schedule living in base...by bidding domestic equipment (A300, 757/767) and living in base. The domestic hub-turn critters typically have week-on/week-off types of schedules, but I've also heard of dudes rolling with 5 on/2-3 off as well. One guy I know consistantly does sort runs Mon-Thur/Fri, home on the weekends. We've got all kinds of schedules. The MD-11s live somewhere in between international and domestic (sounds like they're going more domestic these days though). We find a niche and get happy.

Am I under arrest officer or am I free to go? Dissecting words here like I’m on trial, good grief. Yes, I, nsplayr of BO.net do hereby once and for all condemn violent protests/riots/insurrections that damage government (or private!) buildings, hurt cops (or innocent bystanders!) and especially which attempt to change government policy via violence, regardless of who participates. In case it was for some reason unclear based on me previously saying I feel “strongly negative” toward these events and “don’t support” them 🙄 Do you feel the same about Jan 6th, 2021? How about the Bundy Standoff? I’m mainly talking there about the 2016 incident in Oregon. How about bombing abortion clinics, the Oklahoma City federal building, or the Nashville Christmas Day bombing? My take: they’re all bad! Violence in the name of domestic political aims or insane political conspiracy theories is bad and people who do it are bad and should be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted if guilty.

Strongly negative. Letting those Portland protests go on for so long was an embarrassment. Go get a job you dirty hippies!

I believe the draft was dated April 3rd...but ok it was released on May 3rd and now we have threats and endorsement from a sitting Governor to fight and burn it down... So to be clear its cool when BLM and Antifa actually do storm and burn down government buildings or do you condemn them? Also, you can threaten violence or say fight like hell and it is cool if it come from a liberal. Thanks, it all makes sense now.

Actually your statement is BS. Copy Gadget Bent, Screw it...Fox Three anyway!

Live in base out of Philadelphia on the AB. That's the real reason you can have the awesome life you have. Living in base for ANY airline, regardless of what's in the back, trumps all if you want a good home life. That's coming from a box-hauler currently sitting in my Domicile that is WAY far away from my home.

I’m not quite sure what happened on April 3rd, but ok 😅 *If* hypothetical protestors do storm federal buildings, beat up cops and attempt to overturn the working of our government via violence, I’ll be first in line to condemn them! I would not say what Newsome said, next time @ him rather than me. But none of that has happened; Jan 6th, 2021 did happen, and rightly some of those who took part are now being held accountable. As far as the future goes, who knows, but it never fails that…

The problem is the government continues to show a willingness to break the law and do what ever the F they want. Breaking today The CDC reportedly monitored the location data of millions of phones

Maybe some people learned it while in the military.

I’ve been a long time lurker of these forums. I’ve always wanted to post to provide some different points of view from the white conservative Christian background/worldview that dominates these forums and the USAF pilot community as a whole. However, it seems like it’s an exercise in futility and a massive waste of time. Nobody is going to change their mind on any topic no matter how convincing of an argument one puts forth. Emotional reactions like “it’s the beginning of the end for free speech in America” with zero substance galvanize the majority on this forum with any dissent summarily stamped out. These type of reactions are prevalent in all forms of social media, preventing constructive discourse and garnering reactions like “I can’t believe there are people who support the government deciding what is disinformation or not like in the book 1984 with the Ministry of Truth.” The fact of the matter is that disinformation is a serious problem in all of society and something needs to be done to combat it, especially from external sources who are looking to cause harm in America. If you can verify the source as a Russian or Chinese internet troll, then the information should cease to exist. This is an extremely limited portion of the disinformation that is out there. Free speech stays free speech within America, but countering misuse of our First Amendment Rights by external governments looking to generate chaos in the US is a national priority. I definitely share the concerns shown in this forum about government overreach, but I think a balance can be found with the proper authorities in place and a strong legal review of any actions taken by the organization. I think it’s better than doing nothing and letting malign actors slowly rip the fabric of US society apart.

60% of the time it works every time... Facts; especially after the Welsh RIF cut most of the experience. You had SMSgts and A1Cs to figure it all out.

Ironic, CH starts a thread about disinformation, and suddenly we have two new members arguing he's wrong about it...

Start to open versus fully open is a big difference, especially when Blue State economies fully opened later and they have a big impact on our economy as a whole. Not sure which Blue State you live in, assuming Washington or Oregon? To see the damage look at New York which at Biden's urging kept mandates and closures in place the longest. I am not 100% but weren't they the last to allow indoor dinning. I know they were the last to end vaccine mandates to eat inside and that was this past February. To see how the Blue States performed and their impact on the rest of the economy take a peek at this article by CNN Business (hardly a right wing source). The punchline is policies in New York took their economy from #3 in the country to #47 and it hurt our nation as a whole. Keep in mind New York contributes 8% to the U.S. GDP. Deblasio and Cuomo combined to form a new a new lunacy that saw impacts beyond the city/state...it helped drag down our overall U.S. GDP. How bad is the Empire State compared to the other 49 states? In 2019, before Covid hit, New York had the third-strongest economy among US states, lagging only Texas and California. The state's gross domestic product — the broadest measure of economic activity — was nearly $1.8 trillion, on par with the GDP of Italy. More than $1 trillion of that came from economic activity in New York City. The state contributed more than 8% to America's overall GDP that year. New York's GDP contracted by 5.9% last year, a bigger decline than the total US GDP suffered, putting it at No. 47 out of all 50 states for economic growth. Why New York lags behind more severe lockdown protocols than in many other parts of the country. And the challenges don't end there: One of the components of the Back-to-Normal Index that holds New York back the most is the shortage of restaurant-goers, according to Colyar. The state is still 40% below its pre-pandemic, eat-in diner volume, while the nation as a whole is down only 13%.

The biggest difference between a Twitter/Facebook and a Fox News is section 230. Fox is a publisher of content without section 230 protections and therefore liable and sue-able for things they say that are false, slanderous, or libelous. Any editorial style news organization falls under this category whether it be newspapers or cable news outlets. Social media companies are not treated as publishers by section 230. They are given immunity from liability for third party posts on their platform. Meaning.. your aunt Karen can go off on qanon nonsense and Hillary eating babies without FB getting sued. So my biggest problem is not really Twitter/FB being biased one way or the other. My problem is they're acting like an editorial organization when they've been given specific protections from the government to not be an editorial organization. If Twitter wants to pick and choose which stories they ban/promote, then section 230 protections should be immediately revoked, and then Joe Rogan can sue the fuck out of them every time someone retweets a CNN horse dewormer story.

What are you defending here man? What's your position? That tech shouldn't be regulated? Is it only convenient to decree regulation when it's an industry you find inconvenient or do you also believe we should remove all regulation on energy, automotive or lending? What a bizarre year this is. COVID-19 and tech meltdowns and suddenly progressives are pro business for big pharma and social media.

It's an emotional argument meant to describe the absurdity behind calling a fertilized egg a person using a whole-of-society point-of-view beyond religion and science. It accounts for laws and norms that help prevent radical Y'all Qaeda/Q-anon/Handmaid's Tale/Authoritarian/Communist/Far-Left Antifa beliefs that aren't compatible with a modern day America rooted in what's in the Constitution. If a zygote, fetus, or whatever inside the womb is a person, then shouldn't they be afforded ALL of the rights a human being gets according to the law? Why are we picking and choosing what rights a human being fetus gets and doesn't get? For your arguments to work, it either has to be all or nothing. It makes NO logical sense to say "a zygote is a human being," but then not afford it EVERY right a human being has. Just like Bible Thumpers cherry pick the Bible to fit their arguments, pro-life individuals want to cherry pick the rights of what what they call a human being. "Yeah, that fetus is a human being according to science and religion, but it doesn't get afforded all the rights associated with being a human because it's a fetus. How about we call a fetus 3/5ths of a human?" That argument makes zero sense. Either the fetus is a human being and has full protection of the law, or the fetus is not a human being and has no protection of the law. In the second case, the mother is 100% in control of her body and is the entity that has the protection of the law.

Whew…. Very dramatic. Lots of big emotion filled statements. And good job taking your time to set up a nonexistent scenario that no one is asking for and getting all emotional about it. A lot of cuckoo takes these days about what republicans will supposedly do next if row v wade is overturned. Chapter 3 democrat playbook. Fear-mongering Well done!

Something has to be done to combat disinformation, which is deliberately deceptive information made by unreliable sources like Russian and Chinese troll farms. There are too many dumb people in this world who live in their disinformation echo chamber. There are limited exceptions to the First Amendment, and fraud is one of them. While all disinformation couldn't fall under the fraud exception to the First Amendment, there is a subset of disinformation that could. See https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3860211 for a better argument than I can give since I am not a lawyer. Your response is extremely emotional, especially with saying something like "the Constitution is Dead." Take a step back and put on an analytical lens. Not everything Biden does is an extremist "end of the Constitution action," and the same held true for Trump during his Presidency.

I mean the data is kind of already there. If you aren’t getting strats on oprs because you probably aren’t volunteering to do extra shit or writing 1206s for quarterlies. Because that’s what the board is probably looking at when making these lists. Additionally the PRFs all had an x/x for anyone in the top 95% to also give the board a real quick relative standing. And education wasn’t masked for wg/cc so you know everyone without a masters already was put lower than those who went and got it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk