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Don't forget leaving over 1000 American citizens in a failed terrorist state at their own peril.

Let me back it down a bit. On religion, I'm not attacking, simply pointing out that from my point of view he seems incoherent in his views and actions. That's across the board, and includes what I can tell of his religious beliefs, which are deeply personal. Fini on that topic. As to the politics, so I understand you clearly. You like what he's done with the economy, the border, energy, international relations, pandemic mandates, crime, LGTBQ and social equity meltdown, gun laws, and his own personal conduct (rolling together all the classified documents, his son's illegal affairs, etc). You're saying this is the man you wanted and you're happy with the job he's doing? Am I hearing that correctly?

I mostly agree with you. My faith is very personal to me and not governed by a few radicals, but discussing here is even more futile than politics. I'd say this is a bit more than "sloppy". Items from his time in the senate (that can only be viewed in a SCIF), found in his homeS. How did they get out of the SCIF? Items from his time as VP (he is not the classification authority) found in his homeS. Again how did they get out of the SCIF or his office. And even though they assured us "there's no there there" and he has "no regrets", the FBI found even MORE classified today. Why didn't the FBI conduct the first searches? Why were his uncleared lawyers allowed to search? Why was he allowed to return to the potential scene of a crime? Where they keep finding classified? Why did they hide this for MONTHS? One or two items is sloppy, but they have found classified at every location they have searched. This situation has gone far beyond sloppy and clearly crossed into coverup territory.

Scarce resources, as in, less than 1% of the DoD budget? Cheapest and most effective military spending we've ever invested in.

Wait, wait….You believe that the United States is violating somebody’s sovereignty? For the record, your statement is absolutely correct. You just (somehow) seem to be confused about who the aggressors are here.

I would like to see some changes, but largely around significantly upping legal immigration caps and legal work permits. Immigration is a massive net positive for the US, esp compared to our global competitors or even most allies, and we should take advantage. BL: I don’t want to stem the tide of people illegally immigrating, I just want to stop it from being illegal. OBE reasons to keep people out (Title 42) should end because COVID has not been a reason to keep people out in a long time; it’s already endemic here. The asylum system is rife for exploitation, so that can and should be changed too, but you would largely solve the problem if you just legalized economic reasons for immigration for Mexicans, Central Americans, Cubans, etc. who often make dubious asylum claims. Just make almost all of it legal and welcome in some new American residents!

Disagree! As do the majority of Catholics and the head of the church.

Military action is always tied to economics. Or at least it should be from a realism perspective. When we don’t tie them together as part of a combined objective, we fail. Our security action in Afghanistan had no synced economic effort, so no one (including us) had any financial incentive to see it through. Postwar Germany and Japan were successful because of massive economic investment tied to a permanent security presence. In a sort of reverse case, massive economic investment that isn’t backed up by military security will eventually fail, like when Iraq rolled into Kuwait uncontested. At that point, a military action by an outsider is needed to restore the previous situation, because our Allies didn’t want Kuwait’s oil to be controlled by Saddam. Nor did they want Saddam to conquer them also, which seemed like a legitimate threat in 1990. In Ukraine’s case, our European Allies don’t want Ukraine’s resources to be controlled by Russia, and a Russian expansion also seemed like a legitimate threat in 2021.

Hypocrisy, lunacy, Irony...maybe all three. You simply can't make this crap up. FBI Agent who led Trump-Russia probe arrested for providing assistance to Russian Oligarch and violating Russian sanctions!

Don't forget the example it sets for China. While I'm skeptical the current batch of global leaders are capable of such forward-thinking policy, the Ukraine-Russia-West dynamic is very similar to (while smaller than) the Taiwan-China-West dynamic. I have no doubt China is paying close attention.

Ok. Does being pro-evolution make you not a Christian? I mean, it’s all right there in the Bible. Who are you to pick and choose what you get to believe? BTW, this is one of the biggest problems I have with religion in general: For some people, it’s about a personal relationship with God and morality, and a vehicle for growing as a human being. Cool. For too many others though, it’s a bludgeon to hammer others with for not abiding their own personal beliefs. I also wonder how many of the fervent naysayers are Catholic. I grew up in the Catholic Church and, in my experience, beliefs of church officials vary widely by geography and demographics. It’s a rather large organization if you weren’t aware and a Catholic parishioner in Guatemala probably has some very different views and beliefs than one in Colorado, who, in turn will seem very strange indeed to one in Papua New Guinea. Additionally, I find it ironic that many who are currently criticizing Biden’s religious beliefs…also cheerfully voted for Donald Trump, probably the least religious, most unethical president this country has ever had. I chalk it up as yet another attempt to make the argument that “yeah, we elected an absolute slimeball, but look! Joe Biden is just as slimy, if not slimier!” Sorry, but conservatives are only fooling conservatives on that one. Ever wonder why, before he was elected president, Joe Biden was considered one of the most likable, least polarizing politicians in Washington, but now all of a sudden, he’s the devil incarnate? Hmmmmm. 🤔 Back to your echo chambers.

Lots of politicians going through their garage file cabinets right now 🙂

🥃

This is like Jews who only go to synagogue a couple times a year, but take every opportunity to call themselves Jewish while they advocate for and support political stances that are in direct opposition to the Jewish faith. Being raised both Catholic and Jewish, I've seen many of both. And for clarity, I am firmly atheist. Since I don't believe in any of the sanctity or spiritually of the religion, perhaps I have an easier time identifying religious vs non-religious people. You are religious if you follow the teachings of your religion. You are not if you don't. You can love the idea of airplanes, respect the history of airplanes, marvel at the complex engineering of airplanes, and even spend a lot of time hanging out at FBOs, airshows, and in airplanes. But if you don't fly them, you're not a pilot, regardless of whether you believe yourself to be one. One of the most vital elements of religion is the formation of a clear and definable identity that one can use to guide their life such that they can successfully adapt to living in a given society, and advance that society through their participation. Each religion has different prescriptions for doing so, but this new-age nonsense of I don't have to do anything but identify as the religion in order to be a part of it is strangely reminiscent of the new and obnoxious dogma regarding gender.

Neat. Next time let's have the conversation people are actually having, like that, instead of using straw men to... Honestly I have no idea why you feel the need. We can get into your hyper simplistic view of international trade tomorrow, but we did create a supply chain, in Taiwan. And Ukraine, actually. Now other nations seek to threaten that. And with the blessing of Taiwan and Ukraine, we abso-fucking-lutely are entitled to blow up some enemies to protect those supply chains, should they be attacked. Doesn't mean we should, we have to balance other interests, but we certainly are entitled to the decision. When you say "violate sovereignty" I have to imagine you mean the idea of attacking China for semiconductors that are produced in China? Another straw man.

Let me boil this down. Russia, Ukraine, and Europe DO impact your life. You not realizing that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Apparently I don't have the right verbiage to explain the 'how' in a way that you'll choose to hear, but let me put it this way: If you drink coffee, wear clothes, drive a car, or use the internet, those countries impact your life. Ignorance is not an excuse and it's certainly not a defense.

Disagree on your summary of my views. Catholic stuff aside, I like Joe Biden as a person and I like a lot of the policies he’s pushed through as President the last two years. He’s been more successful than I would have thought both electorally and legislatively. He has also made mistakes and said a lot of dumb stuff over the years, and my biggest critique is that he’s too old to be president now, let alone run for another term. Flame away if it makes you feel better, but that’s not some radical view. He’s a mainstream Dem and so am I and he’s passed a fair amount of bills that are good from the perspective of mainstream Dems. Back on religion, I find his faith to be sincere and genuine and an unmitigated positive part of his personal qualities, even if I’m not that religious myself. I respect people who are sincerely religious although I’m also equally fine supporting people who are not (e.g. I don’t believe Obama was sincerely that religious and I strongly supported him). I am just baffled that, among all other options, a couple of y’all think Biden’s religion is a valid attack line, either because you think he’s faking it somehow, is amoral in general and therefore also lying about his faith, or because of a couple of dickhead bishops want to stop him from eating a cracker. I suspect it’s door #2 for you fourfans? (Sic) “Biden is a lying bad man all around and therefore all this Catholic stuff is fake and bad too.” Close enough? IMHO it would be very strange to be a public, lifelong believer and regular church attendant, all as a setup to “rehab your image.” It would be a really long bit to commit to, although not without precedent!

this could happen to anyone here. in both airplanes. in both seats.

Here’s a badass most never got to hear about! https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/20/asia/korean-war-fighter-pilot-soviet-shootdown-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

He’d be gone for “lack of confidence “ today

Wasn't it Bill Burr who said he'd blow a dude for $10 million? "You spend a million dollars on mouthwash, you still have $9 million!"

holy shit

We had a crew in the tanker fail to pressurize. The maintainers in the back all passed out, pissed themselves, etc. One even busted his head. The boom had to drag one up front to get him on oxygen. When they finally pressurized the AC decided to fly another 6 hours, at altitude, to the Died. When people fuck up, they tend to convince themselves that completing the mission will somehow minimize the reality of the fuck up, even if it actually makes it worse.

So they changed flows/callouts and handed them out on a pamphlet with a slap on the ass and a “go get ‘em boys!” Sounds awesome.

And the majority of pilots rolled over and still departed on time rather than review the procedures on the clock...and now they floated their vacation against APA's direction. Our pilot group is too broken to save at this point IMO. I'm hoping the 7k retirements in the next 10 years might lead to better unity/cohesion within APA (or ALPA if that happens).

If only that inflation was malleable and dick shaped, you could really experience the ecstasy of 20% more.

I cherry picked a quote from your post, which overall I thought was outstanding and I agree with. But read that right up there. Since WWII other country's problems have not stayed in other countries. Heck, they've directly come to this country. And the last sentence of that quote...well, America sure as hell isn't what it is today what it was before 9/11. This thought will be wildly unpopular among fire breathing military folks, but what if we just stay the out of other country's problems to the extent possible? Not to the extent that the military industrial machine is telling us, which is everyone on the planet is a threat and we need to build a bigger military and all the drippings that come with that, but to the extent that it affects our daily lives. Russia doesn't impact my life at all. Neither does Ukraine. em both. Let them fight it out and let the western Europeans worry about that "crisis." And to the "well if you don't know that Russia is an existential threat and its all over JWICS so I don't know what to tell you" crowd...yea, there are so many existential threats in every domain on JWICS that we would need the world's GDP to fund a defense against it all. Its a good thing intel troops don't make it to the rank of CSAF. At least not yet.