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Fixed it for ya.

Democrats upended our entire society, enabled the FBI to suppress free speech via tech companies thereby preventing actual doctors from informing the public of treatment options, went full totalitarian on forced injections and punished children who now suffer record heart attacks... without anything positive to show for it, do I have that right? I guess they did bludgeon Trump with their fake death counters to help get the China crony Biden "elected," and apparently C19 inadvertently escaped a Chinese bio weapons lab which Fauci helped fund. I'm sure some idiot will jump on here pointing out there's no proof Wuhan institute of virology was a bioweapons lab, because they naively believe the PLA have altruistic motives for tinkering with infectious diseases. There is no reconciliation without accountability. Fauci should be in prison along with several state governors. Will be interesting to see if we are capable of government accountability anymore.

There’s no convincing some folks here and TBH it’s not worth trying that hard. Pro tip: don’t vote for someone who shares @BashiChuni’s views in the 2024 primary or general unless you are comfortable with a radical change in policy toward Ukraine come Jan 2025. It’s not my top issue and probably not you’re either, but I at least think it’s important! And can some of my Republican friends get Ronny D a copy of some of Ronny R’s greatest hits and get him on the side of opposing Russian tyranny in Eastern Europe? Seems like it should be a layup for any Republican, but I think he’s been reluctant to go that direction due to the base being at least 45.69% in favor of completely capitulating to Putin. 🤦‍♂️ Reasonable Dems and Republicans can agree: Putin sucks, he’s failing in his war of conquest, and we’re getting amazing value by supporting the Ukrainians as well as actually doing the right thing morally, which in this case to me at least is crystal clear. Let’s not give up before the fight is over.

You can be stupid and right at the same time. While we generally agree on a lot, reading your posts feels like chewing on tin foil. They are inane enough to make some smart part of my brain wish we didn't agree.

Your opinion is noted. It’s stupid and Ill-informed but noted. Here is a chance to actually educate yourself on the why of what’s going on and how waiting for Russia to attack NATO is stupid. “Expert” in quotes, adorable. Yeah it’s probably pretty fair to say he’s a crap load more qualifiedto discuss the nuance of this and why it’s critical while maintaining an apolitical stance while you deliberately drag up Biden and Blinken. Dude routinely lampoons Biden, Trump, and Obama so he’s hardly some unqualified political narrative talking head. He isn’t the media, he’s a well circulated published author and does strategic policy seminars for billion dollar investment groups and government strategic planning. So yeah, it’s fair to say he’s probably decently qualified at his job and pretty accurate in his interpretations considering the amount of money that kind of influence its being steered by. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tell us you didn’t watch the video without telling us you didn’t watch it… Dude lays out exactly why waiting for Russia to invade Poland/Latvia/Estonia/etc is suicide at about the 6 minute mark… At 25 minutes he explains why something like Nordstream would happen intentionally… Yes we get it, it’s not Tucker Carlson but this guy briefs strategic level government officials and key notes seminars on energy and agriculture industry leaders and investors. Tucker… briefs people living in trailer parks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This guy succinctly explains in the first six and a half minutes why you’re viewpoint is completely out of contact with why we are doing this. It’s not about widening a war it’s about preventing the war with NATO a phase before it can occur, because at this point the Russians are recognizing their only real card to play against NATO at this point is going to the nuclear assets. Oh he’s also updated this presentation as the war has evolved, and for those that don’t think the Russians have a reason to destroy Nordstream, you really need to go look at the amount of damage not being able to readily get Natural Gas is about to do in the most powerful industrial base in the EU. It’ll hurt the Russians… but it will kill the Germans and by extension hobble the EUs economic ability to do anything. And deliberate sabotage vs just turning it off gives them the political card to play accusing the US and forcing political pressure to lessen aid to Ukraine (as we are now actively seeing calls for). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We're so fucked when another one of these with actual consequences comes around. They have blown ANY shred of credibility away.

Experts in Mobile Alabama have said the mysterious creature might also be a crackhead and provided an amateur sketch. https://www.foxnews.com/world/mexican-president-viral-claim-photo-proof-mythical-woodland-elf

@FLEA So I'll lead with this: I agree with you on the problem. ANY hierarchy structure that allows older/stronger to prey on younger/weaker is not a responsible structure. An argument could be made that in these JROTC units, even without rank structure...there'd still be rank structure in the form of 8th grade vs 9th vs 12th grade...etc. That's not going away. I'm betting JROTC definitely exaggerated the problem by providing a backed-up rank structure to work within. Yup. That's a problem. It's also been a problem in the active duty. Your experience as an aircrew member is BY FAR not the norm in historical standards. Having a Col as a Nav who has to listen to you as an aircraft commander is overwhelmingly weird in the history of ranks structure, even in modern militaries. Because we're technicians who are also officers, things get sideways real quick, thereby making our experiences a poor example. 10 minutes of observing US Army up close will show that. Read your Robert Heinlein for excellent clarification about the heart of officership. My real argument here is not the problem that you've admired and spelled out so well. My issue is with your solution. You point out a correlation (rank structure and abuse) that may, or may not, be causal. Contributing? Definitely. But there is so much cultural specific influence going on here that it's very difficult to breakout the root cause. The solution is very simply though. Why, for the love of pete, do you come out with the solution of "ban all ranks in all JROTC"? Aside from the obvious fact that you don't like them because...well you obviously don't seem to understand them at a macro level (which is fine). The obvious answer is shut those units down. Permanently. If they are a detriment, get rid of them. It's a localized problem that requires a localized solution. You don't kill a man for a broken leg. You deal with the leg. Your supported answer is akin to saying "don't ever let this man outside again". It's foolish and mis-aimed. There are plenty of JROTC units with NONE of these problems. You quoted 50% OF INNER CITY UNITS. That's a localized problem. What's the number come to if including all units nation-wide...which is where you would apply your answer? You are calling something systemic that is, in fact, due to a local unit culture problem. Put in other terms, if 50% of T-6's go landing gear up, should we change to T.O. for every single airplane in the air force, regardless of their gear-up landing numbers? Or perhaps make everyone fly around with their gear down because retractable gear are stupid and I don't understand why we need them! The analogy breaks down, but hopefully you see the point. The obvious answer is if the units are a detriment, shut the units down. The end. Instead you choose a solution that should be implemented country wide without any thought to 2nd or 3rd order effects.

All I can say to the DOE is "duh." The rest will come around in due time. You'll see we become "more confident" in our assessment of the lab leak theory as tensions continue to rise with China. This, in and of itself, will indicate exactly why it was dismissed as conspiracy at the very beginning.

I use Marcus by Goldman Sachs. FYI that is a referral link…both you and I would get an extra 1% on all balances for 3 months. I referred someone recently so have my cash balances at 4.75% rn which is great. Also their daily transfer limit is $100K not some BS $5K like some other places. Easy/fast/free transfers, recurring, etc., all the stuff I have had complaints about with other companies. Before them I had a few others over the years chasing rates here and there but Marcus has been solid, they get my endorsement.

I went back to my job during leave accrued from ADOS. Some rando at my Reserve sq was trying to tell me that leave had to end in the local area. I disagreed and disregarded bc it is a defacto terminal leave, something full-timers who have never been part-timers are apparently unable to grasp.

Of course but will the unions ever allow it. My grandparents are mostly blue collar workers from the northeast and as a child they attempted to indoctrinate me on the union way of life. Don't get me wrong, unions can serve a very important purpose, especially as a balance to unrestrained capitalism. That being said, modern unions have morphed into self-licking ice cream cones that don't serve the purpose of the worker. The investment in JRTOC and ROTC waxes and wanes with the times. I would bet with the current recruiting issues the investment will increase. I understand what you are saying but completely disagree when it comes to the rank argument. As has been pointed out by others, you can remove the JRTOC rank structure and the void will be filled by some other social construct, likely without supervision. Have their been problems, of course, but that is a natural distribution of bad people in society and I think there is value to an "official" framework, far better than the hunger games that will result in many of these under-resourced schools. Let's face it, that is the focus of military recruiting and has been for a long time. Minorities serve at a much higher rate than the current population distribution. Again, given the current recruiting issues, that distribution will likely increase. I understand your intent but the real issue is leadership and family structure. Debatable...the kid is wicked smart...sadly he looks just like me but he so smart I am wondering if the Fedex guy didn't make an extra stop while I was deployed. My kid is being recruited because of his academics and it is a bigger feeding frenzy than the process I went through when I was recruited but a large number of colleges to play football. Honestly I've never seen anything like it. He is only a sophomore and they are all over him. I have his email on my phone to keep an eye on things and he gets three or four emails every single day. He has been invited to summer dual enrollment programs at MIT and Georgetown this year. I haven't kept track of the smaller school but as of last month he had 28 major schools after him including Cornell, Georgetown, MIT, Vanderbilt and Miami. Enough with the dad flex, I am proud of him. I used to love Chicago, amazing city...now like most liberal run cities it has a lunatic mayor and one of the highest murder rates in the country. JROTC could be one of the pillars that helps kids find disciple and success but the overall underlying system has crumbled in Chicago. Add that to the impact of the family structure and you find the root of many problems. African America children in particular demonstrate how the lack of a family structure drastically increases the likelihood of a bad outcome.

Kind of, this rapidly can become an apples and oranges discussion. You want to be wolf of Wall Street, well yeah you should probably have a degree from Harvard or whatever. But I know too many guys making the same money as an O-5 pilot with zero degree and doing skilled labor/own their own business in that area of expertise. A buddy’s son is 21 making 6 figures with zero debt as a lineman. That kid is crushing life compared to all of his peers racking up debt getting their bullshit degree who will then get jobs post-college that won’t touch his earnings for many years, and on top of it they’ve got debt to pay off. There’s a significant, insatiable demand for skilled labor and will be for decades to come. Oh, and now we have major airline pilots without degrees who will absolutely crush their doctor peers in long term earnings. Lots of opportunity to make a solid living without a college degree, just depends on what you want to do for a living.

Good rant by Jimmy Dore. Time stamp 12 28 for two-ish minutes.

I think that is what happened. But here’s the thing, there are thousands (probably tens of thousands unfortunately) stories just like this every year across high school and college campuses that have zero to do with cadet rank. It’s senior vs. freshman, he’s popular and she doesn’t want to go against that for fear of being ostracized, he’ll get me ______ if I do this (transactional), varsity vs. JV, first chair band vs. no chair band, etc. Perception of someone being “over” someone else is woven into the human fabric as Ratner pointed out. Thinking you can eradicate that is as stupid and naive as people like AOC/Greta regarding all their climate change bullshit. Rank may have been the thing in this specific situation you mentioned, but it is very likely this girl would have still found herself in this situation if JROTC didn’t even exist. Her problem isn’t JROTC or ranks, it’s her upbringing and caving to social pressures (that her parents didn’t prepare her for clearly).

https://twitter.com/NATO/status/1628687961477750790?s=20

For all of you headed to UPT this year, and the hopefuls who will crush next year's app and want to prepare early, check out this UPT IP's YouTube channel for content straight from the syllabus and instructor. If you checkout one thing on this channel, at least have it be the link to the UPT 2.5 training briefings. Or direct link to Google drive. See you guys in the skies.

The hits just keep on coming, though! I just found out that DFAS computes reserve retirement pay only on whole months, so unless you can increase your point total to the next 30 day increment, those 29 points are wasted effort! From DOD FMR Vol 7B, Chapter 1 (they speak of points as days): 4.7 Age and Service Retirement – Non-Regular Total days of service, divided by 360 equals equivalent years and any fraction of a year of service. Note: Under 10 U.S.C. § 1401, before applying percentage factor, each full month of service that is in addition to the number of full years of service is creditable as one-twelfth of a year. The remaining fractional parts of a month are disregarded. Example: I'm projected to have 5141 points or 14.28 years, but the fraction of a month is dropped, so rounding down to the whole month =14.25 yrs (14 yrs, 3 months)=5130 points.

https://rumble.com/v2atqge-sunday-special-ukrainistan-the-battleground-of-empires.html

biden and the global establishment are pulling us closer and closer to WW3

1. my viewpoint is ukraine is not nato. fact. and we should avoid fighting ww3 2. nordstream pipeline could easily have been accomplished by the west. and probably was. it is totally about widening a war...biden and blinken had the chance to deescalate and they have done NOTHING but throw gas onto the fire. hell the only calls for peace are coming from the CHINESE!

I didn’t watch your 25 minute video. Let me guess he’s an “expert” and I should “trust the experts”. Got it. maybe I’ll watch it between ski runs today, but probably not. I’ve stated my positions and it’s my opinion. I guess the only thing left for you to do is censor me and let the media narrative take hold.

So wanting to avoid going to war to protect a country who is not in nato is “stupid and ill-informed”? Amazing. a country that a few years ago was the target of western media? Hmmmmm. I think you may be the brain washed one ps I bring up Biden and blinken for obvious reasons…

Looks like the 3 AF/CC, Maj Gen Derek France. Interesting.