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Obviously false. Just because we experienced the industrial revolution doesn’t mean they must progress sequentially through our same phases of development. I went through college with a dude who developed telecommunications for Mongolia. He skipped landlines and went straight to cell; he got the whole country connected and never phased through our stages. Because technology. They skipped steam engines too. They also don’t need radial prop motors, turns out jet engines work fine. Illogical. If EVs and solar and wind are ready for prime time here in the US where our electrical needs are massive, then they should easily cover the far smaller electrical needs of Lagos or Gao. In fact it would be easier to incorporate green technology into a location lacking pre-existing wiring and with lower energy needs compared to Texas. You provided the standard environmentalist talking point but it doesn’t withstand common sense.

The problem is when people only want to correct the system and get things right when it benefits their party. Then as soon as it lacks benefit they become quiet again. People (including democrats) aren't interested in getting this right. They are interested in power.

Help me understand why applying the "comey standard" here would make anything better. His bungling of the email investigation led to Hillary not being held accountable.. is that what you want to happen again? Seems like your argument stems much more from what feels "fair" rather than what the right thing to do is right now. It's political tribalism at its finest.. the other team got away with it, why shouldn't your team get away with it too? This is the kind of childish tit-for-tat game that ends with no one being held accountable and the DOJ being used as a club only to try to whack your political opposition. I've said it before and I'll say it again, either classified matters or it doesn't. If you hold literally any consistent principles above political tribalism you don't get to be mad that Hillary isn't locked up while simultaneously defending/quibbling for trump. They should both be in jail and I honestly can't think of two people who deserve each other more.

This pretty much sums up the environmentalists. We can be the greenest country on Earth but it will never offset the fact that there are parts of the world where they simply don't give a shit. Where are all of the celebrities and other rich people speaking up about China, India and all of the other places they cater to while telling Americans they need to do more for the environment? Who cares the most? None of them and neither do I. I'd love to see famous Americans stand up against China but they won't. They love the green (money) more then their green planet. What does LeBron and Leo have to say? Lol. Who cares.

You’re right, and don’t forget India and all of Africa. I find climate change activists disingenuous not just for their personal hypocrisy (which is substantial) but also their laser focus on policies which impact the US middle class while leaving international mega-polluters unscathed.

@Pooteris freaking spot on. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the best way forward is always to handle the current situation correctly. Ya know I’m frankly surprised conservatives are making these arguments that Trump should be potentially let off the hook in the same way they feel Hillary was because that would be “fair.” I always thought that conservatives agreed that “fair” meant not an equality of outcomes but by holding to a standard that gives an equality of opportunity. The way I see it, both Hillary and potentially Trump mishandled classified, with various circumstances in each case. The standard is doing so is bad and there should be consequences. The FBI declined to charge Hillary, although they did basically deep-6 her run at the presidency with the timing of their statements, and either way basically no one on any side thinks that case was handled correctly. Ok, so that’s a “minus” when we’re shot/killing that engagement. FBI didn’t do their jobs no matter what you think of her guilt. Does that mean when we’re evaluating the next shot any of that matters? No, it doesn’t. There is and should be a standard and we need to hold Trump to that. We’re not weeks away from an election where he’s on the ballot, he is a private citizen years out from any potential future office-seeking who was caught with classified at his house - handle that situation correctly. It’s frankly bullshit to do anything different and call it “fairness” and that type of argument in other contexts is often made by leftists who are equally wrong when they do it.

I’d settle for less money and a stop move… Seriously keep the money. I want my feet firmly planted where I’m standing for 5 years, and I’m not even at what most would consider a desirable location I just like my neighborhood and my kids going to the same school for a while. PCSing to chase Busy work deployments and other “opportunities” has been the biggest sap for keeping people in Army Aviation. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

BLUFF: RAF General Officer resigns over controversial diversity push, causing responses from PM Candidates. https://www.foxnews.com/world/british-raf-recruiting-head-resigns-protest-pause-hiring-white-men-appease-diversity-goals-report

Did I say that? If you can't take his cock out of your mouth long enough to read what I actually wrote and not whatever you think Liz Cheney would say if you had the chance to yell at her, then there's no point in responding to you. You asked a question, I answered. If you can't handle admitting someone you support is a shitty person, then don't support them, especially publicly. I have no such compunctions.

Well if Tom Cotton or any of the other honorable members of the esteemed legislative body check this site, a recent informal straw poll amongst bros that punched after 10 year ADSC showed that almost 70% said they would have stayed for at least several more years for 75k a year bonus and $1500 flight pay. I would take it to a 20 year career and retirement for that money.

What do you mean? I just reread his last post and it's pretty on topic. It's clear he is thinking from more of an economics perspective but that doesn't discredit it as being unimportant. Economics is an enormously important aspect of war. Just because you don't like his position doesn't mean it lacks relevance.

Pardon my ignorance, but are the various models mech’d any differently regarding avionics to support their core missions? IE - SEAD for USAF, CAS for USMC, landing for Navy?

If vipers, growlers, and/or arty can’t provide effective SEAD in hypothetical X situation, hogs and vipers aren’t doing CAS.

Lol. Is Tom Cotton still a Senator? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I move that Random Guy be read-only or flat out blocked from this thread. As much as we want to hear about his timeshare opportunities and how we should invest in doge coin, this is about the Ukraine war and not his idiotic drivel.

Ah, yes. We all miss Rainman.

I was trying to fill a few Hawgs for a midnight/early morning tasking in Kuwait, had a few missing pilots, and did some line of sight scheduling to make the launch. Later, with the sun coming up, I'm walking back to my trailer only to find one of the missing walking towards me. I ask, "Where the hell were you!". He replied, "Jail." Well, turns out there were some scantily clad Fillipino flight attendants, a swimming pool and, yes, alcohol was involved. Later, on their drive back home, due to some misunderstandings regarding oil field security and procedures therein, the Kuwaiti army and the Kuwaiti Air Force Security Police got involved. Nobody said nothing to anyone and nothing came of it. Funny as hell story looking back.

Let's not forget the context. Comey had rushed to close the investigation out with no charges against Hillary before yet more evidence of wrongdoing was discovered. So he had to reopen the investigation to save face. This didn't start with Trump. Lois Lerner was the canary in the coal mine. Trump just triggered the rest of them to mount their resistance. And yes, of course Trump is a piece of shit. There may be a few people here who disagree, but overwhelmingly the Republicans I know will all concede that point. However, as we have learned painfully over the past one or two decades, it is not a good-faith conversation, and in an unfair conversation, the targeted side will become reluctant to concede anything at all, knowing it will be used merely as a pretext to ignore whatever legitimate points follow in the conversation.

I'm glad that Donk and Billy Bob's sortie still stays in the forefront-- those two did a hell of a job that day. There's a podcast out there with the two of them talking for a couple hours about the mission and its impacts. I was in the 75th with them at that time, and I'm glad that they all got the recognition they deserved for the job they did that day. A funny story about the mission-- Billy Bob comes up to me and tells me that I need to see one of his passes from the sortie because he almost hit a bird while rolling in for a strafe pass. Seemed a little odd, but we watched the tape a few times, and sure enough, that "bird" had a little orange burst of fire in the center of it... damn airburst right in front of him as he's down the chute. Sobering moment to say the least... I think that coincided with the moment that the adrenaline had finally started to wear off from the mission. There's a painting in the 75th commemorating that mission, but there's a big problem with it-- it's TOO clear. The visibility was absolute dogshit that day-- foggy, hazy, low ceilings... and a good deal of AAA to boot. We watched some of the passes where BB is calling out the ground references that he knew would walk him to the target... and the tanks come out of the haze at damn near min range-- he's still on the trigger as the rounds are impacting almost immediately. They did what they had to do. And the JTAC controlling them that day was one of our pilots serving as a BnALO on the ground for the entire fight. Great story all around. I don't remember the ROE discussion being a huge issue, or maybe that's just for a couple of reasons. First, from the time we arrived in theater, our leadership made it very clear that they had our backs in the fight, so long as we could explain what and why we were doing something. If we decided that we needed to hang it out for the guys on the ground and could explain ourselves, they'd go to the mat for us. So there was that level of mutual support within the squadron that had come to be expected and established. Second, Donk didn't make it a big issue-- he explained what he did and why he did it and he stood up straight willing to accept any decision that was made knowing that he had done what needed to be done in the moment, and they were successful doing it. His combat leadership was unparalleled-- I'll never forget the speech he gave on the C-5 headed over. Every senior officer on base had put in their two cents, and I couldn't tell you what they said just a few hours later. I can still hear Donk's "We are going into harms' way" speech almost 20 years later. I clearly remember our Group Commander, Coach, getting on the bus and sending us off with one word.... "ATTACK!" We were fortunate to have him as our DO, and Bino as our CC for that fight. Under their guidance was when we really coined and instituted the phrase "Shark Standard," which was more an expectation and a guiding challenge than it was a statement. That phrase told you that you had a standard to live up to, not that you were automatically assumed to be the best or even worthy of it-- you had to prove it every day, in everything you did. I like to think that we did, and it was because of leaders like that who not only set that standard, but lived it for all of us to see and try to follow and keep up with. Donk's one of those leaders who if he said we were trekking to the seventh level of Hell, I'd ask what time the brief was. That's the spirit of ATTACK.

Let's assume that Russia doesn't stop at Ukraine, despite the fact they can barely support ongoing operations, much less project power further (IMO). Regardless, for the sake of argument they are a mighty global military power intent on conquering the EU. 😈 Given that, in what way is the distribution of specialization in violence beneficial to the EU and the US? Generally, there is no meaningful military capability in Europe. There are too many languages for successful operations integration, and the financial system of the the Eurozone can't support increases to military spending (the so-called 'debt-brake' restricts EU state deficit spending at 3% of total spending [GDP] in the past year). The EU is trapped within liberal-imposed austerity, by structural design of the EU itself. The only correcting mechanism they have to protect themselves from financial bubbles is a fund of about €350B. Technically, national central bank purchases of state gov debt are illegal according to the Maastricht treaty itself. Instead of fixing these problems, EU member states join NATO and expect the US to provide 100% of defense capabilities. Meanwhile, the US economy becomes over-specialized in war and finance. We produce millions of military personnel and trillions of equipment in USD terms, while our spending on things like childcare, family support, certain forms of healthcare* are marginalized by comparison. The 'middle class' @nsplayr refers to doesn't really exist anymore. When we look at the largest components of wealth in the 'middle class', we see home equity (bubble) and pensions (remember, only 11% of private workers today have a pension, so these are mostly gov worker pensions). The bottom 90% of the wealth distribution is composed mostly of gov worker pensions and a housing bubble. So long as NATO exists, the EU has no incentive to properly integrate and increase their defense provision. Europeans literally ignore foreign policy as a concept, and even now, there is little interest within Europe in the conflict in Ukraine. People think it's the US' problem. I would argue this doesn't make much sense. The Europeans should be providing their own defense capabilities, as equals.

So you can do this?

Our country is where it is because Mandy votes.

Didn’t know Matt Gaetz posted on here?

How do people not understand that this is everything? Successful societies are not built on right vs wrong. They are built on a sense of fairness. Violate that and you lose it all. If you don't think that it matters that the FBI gave Hillary a pass and is now turning the screws on Trump, you're going to be really shocked when he's reelected president after being indicted, and possibly convicted. Donald Trump is the embodiment of the Republican backlash against what they see as unfair treatment. The solution to that is not more double standards because at least we're doing the right thing now. When the only time you do the right thing is when it's your political opponents, you are not, in fact, doing the right thing.