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This MOU is hot garbage. It’s also not a deal and pretty much meaningless. The obvious reason Trump signed this POS is the midterms coming up. We did well for 40 days, then the train went off the tracks with a dumb idea of a ceasefire. Should have never happened, and it just keeps getting worse with this latest thing.

I'm not sure if and whether Russia is interested or even capable of gaining territory further into the European continent, especially the UK and Western Europe. Surely they are a malign actor, and a persistent threat to the Baltics and Eastern Europe. But I dont know that they have their eyes set in any meaningful way on Germany, France, UK, etc. Happy to have my mind changed on that, Putin is a bad dude indeed. I do believe Europe is at a civilizational tipping point, and I dont think Russia is the cause. A few years ago I would have rolled my eyes at populists and right-wingers who blamed "Globalism" and the uniparty/elites/NGO complex. The past year Ive changed my perspective. Broadly I think the dogma of liberal universalism, global movement of people/goods/money, and abstract ideas have been taken to their breaking point. Jd Vance and Marco Rubio's speeches to the Munich Conference and EU/NATO folks were also informative. I think they were on to something much deeper than just spending X% of GDP on defense. Yes, EU/NATO have sucked on the teet of the US defense arsenal for 30+ years and are woefully behind investing in their fleets, aircraft, technology, weapons, etc. And their ranks are thin. But even if they could magically flip the switch, crank up production, and field new weapons/platforms there are more substantial issues. Politically and econimically, Western Europe is a mess. They let go of manufacturing, built massive welfare states with dependent patronages, bought off on Net-Zero climate nonsense courtesy of a petulant swedish girl, and made housing and everyday living out of reach for working and middle class citizens. I beleive the recent quote I heard was that Mississippi (our poorest state) was wealthier per capita than the UK. On top of that, they thought-police their citizens, quash dissent, and subordinate national sovereignty to corrupt technocrats. Imagine youre a 25 year old Brit/Frenchman/German...cant afford a place to live or raise a family (while 3rd worlders live off the system). Would those young Europeans go fight the Ruskis on behalf of their political leaders? Take this one step further. The past 30 years has brought massive social, cultural, and demographic change to Western Europe. London is now ~30% white British, Viennas public schools are almost majority Muslim. Street violence, urban decay, capitulation to multiculturalism, DEI, etc at the cost of the native culture (psychologist Erik Kaufman calls this "asymmetric multiculturalism). Finally, the grooming gangs. If you are unaware, for the past 30+ years, groups of predominantly Pakistani muslim men groomed, r*ped, and abused thousands of white British girls, mostly lower/working class. They were subjected to the most heinous, gruesome abuse...and worse yet, British authorities knew and largely did nothing. The inquiry is slowly being made public, and IMO is shaping up to be the crime of the century. Some estimates say upwards of 250,000 girls were abused, some killed, many gang r*ped by groups of foreigners. They saw it as an act of conquest, the state covered it up as not to arouse "anger" or upset the multicultural experiment. The epitome of suicidal empathy and frankly a civilization-ending phenomena. https://spectator.com/article/why-liberals-ignored-the-grooming-gang-scandal/ A commentor above mentioned David Betz and his prediction of civil war. I read his papers a year ago and have listened to several of his interviews. He is a traditional academic, not an activist, mild mannered and level headed (from what I gather). Given the stabbings, violence, grooming/r*pe gangs across Europe, I cant help but agree completely. He has made his way into semi-mainstream podcasts and journalism, and I havent seen any substantive criticism of his claims. Just the grooming gangs alone are enough to convince me a civil war in the Uk is inevitable (if not already underway). And for that reason, I cant foresee those young Brits/Frenchmen/Germans/etc going to the eastern front to fight Vlad. Why would they? Their own nations have been hollowed out, made unafforable, and their leaders gleefully subordinate sovereign, native interests to hostile foreigners. And if all the fighting age men went East, who would guard their own cities and towns?? No, if anything, those young men will likely revolt against their own governments and attempt to restore what was once a good culture and civilization. Very concerning, but probable IMO. For those reasons, I dont believe Russia is Europe's number 1 threat. Putin is a bad dude, but whats happened in their own countries is far worse. Sorry for the rant. Brevity not my strong suit.

I will never understand the argument that people in a country illegally should have a months- or years-long right to protest their removal. Are you here legally? If no, then you are deported. Deportation is not imprisonment or punishment, it is merely the cessation of violation. Where's the logical end to this nonsense? Should visa applicants in Zimbabwe have a right to "due process" if they are denied a green card? If not, why is it any different for the Zimbabwean who snuck in? If we are trying to give them prison sentences, then yeah, due process includes the right to a fair trial. But if we're just returning intruders to their rightful place, due process should include only food and water for the journey home.

Milton’s post is spot on. I don’t care how politically incorrect it is to say, the next war in Europe is more likely to be caused by Islam. Putin and Russia is a side show. A cultural civil war in Western Europe would be devastating but is absolutely a risk on the path they’re on. Islam is not compatible with western values. The sooner we realize that as a collective society, the better western society will be.

The best fighter pilots in the world have been trained on an old piece of shit for decades. Stress and repetition, that's all you need. I'll take the graduating pilot who spent 300 hours in an analog dinosaur that kept him at the edge of his ability over the one with 100 hours in a state of the art, modern-day-relevant Gucci trainer. Cheap, simple, plentiful, and fast. That's all we need. But as usual, every acquisition is a vanity project for the good-idea fairies we call generals.

Miles was an awesome dude, mentor, and aviator. We lost contact over the years but I happened to see him at a fellow crewdog's wedding and it was great to catch up with him for a few hours that night. While I kept wanting to know about all the cool test stuff he got to do, he would mostly talk about what his family was doing and how proud he was of his kids. Tragic loss for his family, the Air Force, and the world in general.

Meins!! 🤗🤗

Maybe you should read the actual debates the framers of the 14th amendment had. Neither the declaration of Independence nor the original Constitution addresses this situation, which is exactly why the 14th amendment had to be written. Thank God the founding fathers knew that we would one day have you to be the sole interpreter of their wisdom 🤣😂 I'm not sure how you can have an ad hominem against a political group, but okay. It also happens to be true. As far as the forum for identifying yourself as a citizen, I will accept the least formal and most rapid forum that results in a negligible number of improper citizen deportations. Since you've been unable to identify a single recent case of an American citizen being improperly deported, we could just assume that it hasn't happened. As for the historical cases, those all sound about right. I especially liked the part where the deported citizens got hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for the government screw up. I'd be happy to 10x that penalty for any citizen involved in a similar miscarriage of Justice. That's not justification to tear it all down. There will always be fuck ups. Until then, from the time you are approached by the authorities (first opportunity), to the time you spend in a detention center awaiting processing with translators available (second opportunity), to an informal meeting with an immigration officer where you are allowed to make your case with phone and Internet access (third opportunity), to the time it takes to board your deportation flight (fourth opportunity), that would be plenty. But again this is all just an exercise false ignorance. You know damn well that proving citizenship isn't a problem. This is functionally identical to the voter ID debates that have been held in such bad faith by the left that it is almost beyond comprehension. It takes the same level of fake stupidity to believe that black people in America don't have access to identification as it does to believe that immigrants don't have access to proof of legal status. Do you have any immigrants in your family? My mother still has her green card number memorized. This just isn't a thing.

RIP Evil Him Him

https://www.foxnews.com/us/air-force-identifies-8-crew-members-killed-b-52-stratofortress-crash-edwards-air-force-base

If you have found any, I would love to see a verified claim that a citizen was deported accidentally. I have seen not one single instance, but even if there was one instance, that would not be relevant. If we had maybe 10 instances or 100 instances, that would start to matter. We're talking about tens of millions of people, and accident rate of 0 is not logical in any context, especially this context. Again, we are not talking about imprisonment, execution, asset seizure, or any other punitive government actions. Those absolutely demand due process. Being deported is simply fixing the glitch. This is one of those issues that doesn't require much research, because you know factually that if there were verified cases of law-abiding citizens being shipped off to El Salvador, you would never hear the end of it from one side of the political spectrum, just like when an immigrant murders and innocent woman on the subway, you never hear the end of it from the other side. So far the left has a bit of a problem producing any evidence of the threats they seem so adamant to defend us against.

Do you really think that this is just about figuring out whether or not the people are illegals or not? You think that's what the deportation judges are doing, looking for clues to figure out if they accidentally scooped up a citizen? Come on, you can't really think that, right? You think that in 2026, with the most unfathomably complex surveillance tools ever imagined by man, the real problem we are having is figuring out who is a citizen and who isn't? Exactly how many citizens are being accidentally deported? You ever met someone who had a hard time proving that they were a citizen? Lol, talk about bad faith.

What I don't get is, why anyone here supports/defends/thinks this deal is good (enough), let alone think that this deal satisfies the goal of all the military action/lose of life, etc. I don't get it.

Haha England tied Ghana.

No amount of defense spending and rearmament will fix the political rot (is that even a strong enough word) and public distrust of governing institutions in the UK (and most of Western Europe). They need new weapons and an industrial base to match, but how much does the average Brit care about 5th Gen fighters or recapitalizing the naval fleet when their cities have quite literally been overrun with hostile foreigners?

Considering how great the Eurofighter program went this should end up being a winner!

Well given that all the TDS experts on here have gone completely quiet on here since the MOU and the VP just confirmed we've lifted sanctions on Iran effective today in return for literally nothing it's certainly a combo 1, 2, and 5.

Well, I just bought an EOTEC set worth well more than the rifle, nice now having a 5X magnifier. Windham Weaponry 5.56

@17D_guy I doubt this MOU goes anywhere, including an actual deal. But if somehow a deal is reached, and it looks anything like this MOU, it’ll certainly negatively impact our standing in the region and in the world (like you mentioned - NK, etc.) This is a big fail for Trump currently, and I hope any deal reached doesn’t look like this MOU.

The 1911 takes two actions, initially. 😉 And tactical lights help prevent shooting at the wrong thing. My dot is green, so I'm good. Seriously, someone will file suit and lawyers will spend citizen money because, dumbassery.

Welp

we had FON in the strait before the war started our own DNI threat assessment said they weren’t pursuing a nuke before the war started It’s pretty wild to see some of you guys cheerlead the admin talking points verbatim and then say I’m the one blinded by political bias.. Two thirds of your list of “clear war objectives” are this admin claiming the win based on getting back to the status quo we already had. This is like intentionally starting a war with Cuba and then patting yourself on the back for achieving freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Mexico.. like wtf are we even talking about. If I want to hear the admin party line bullshit I can just go listen to the press secretary, why not try presenting an independent thought that actually makes sense

The left doesn’t want to deport people who have been determined to be here illegally, so let’s not pretend this is a legitimate debate going on today.

It is “incoherent” to you because you are blinded by your hatred for this administration. This is actually the first military conflict I’ve ever seen with clear strategic objectives (1) Attrite their military and military industrial complex (2) Ensure FON in the SOH (3) Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon Also please a huge shoutout to our kick ass Airmen across every platform and specialty who projected power under circumstances that none of us alive to this day have experienced. That extends to all the guard and reservists who were involuntarily mobilized and knocked it out of the park.

Whatever makes you feel better buddy. You still didn’t answer the question (because you struggle with your arguments). Also, you’re so far off base it’s hilarious, but it does make me appreciate the internet. Remember how delusional you guys are that when a retired C-17 squadron commander came in a couple months ago with different views than the talk radio pumping into your assholes, you all literally said his account must have been compromised because you can’t COMPREHEND that you live in an echo chamber of delusion.

You mean 13 attributable to a mass murdering radical Islamic controlled government? We have been in conflict with Iran since 1979. More Americans have died from Iran directly or indirectly than from any other country. This escalation was bound to happen eventually.

The morality of the general public, whether correct or incorrect, is going to prevent us from bringing the firepower needed for Iran to capitulate if this kicks off again. The administration vastly under-estimated the effort needed to succeed. We are world champs at converting tactical success into strategic loss.

Relax, it was a post with words and some sarcasm (call MX on your detectors), not a Kelis song, which ironically, is probably how a lot of MAGA is feeling right now on Trump.

Sadly this is so true. Even lame duckers refuse to make the long term correct decision and just compromise for short term approval. And, we as citizens overwhelmingly respond to the shiny and glittery (hollow) instead of the substantive and enduring. Both sides of the aisle give us what we (the masses) demand instead of what would benefit us long term.

I would not waste my time with that lawyer or either of the AMEs you talked to. HIMS is for when the FAA determines you have an abuse problem, which would be hard to argue when it’s been 10+ years since those incidents. In the end, just set up an appointment with an AME for a 3rd class and see what happens. You’ll create a MedExpress account and fill out the pre-appointment questions. Read them slowly and carefully before you answer. The question that probably pertains most to this subject is 18v. Read this website before answering that question: https://pilot-protection-services.aopa.org/news/2022/april/01/the-notorious-18v If you have to answer yes to 18v, and that causes consternation with the AME and he says you need HIMS, etc., then the worst financial case is you’re out $150 or so. Don’t get sucked into paying thousands to lawyers.

How do you say dibs in German?

This would be on the AD side, its the same waiver authority for everyone (AF Surgeon Gen), the key difference being whether or not a Guard/Res unit would be willing to push a package up for you. Like I said before the more chips you can stack in your favor, the higher the chance a unit would be willing to put in for a waiver or an ETP if you needed it. I have a friend in the USMC who got an ETP because she was shit hot and beyond persistent and had backings of some very high level people including a 3-star and a Senator.

One of the best, a true crewdog through and through

F-32 + F-35 mash up

Here is an example. OK, can we put the thread back on track? The Cabinet.

Hey all, just chiming in as someone who got picked up for UCT a couple years ago. Knowing a lot of people out there want to go fighters, just wanted to share that it is definitely possible through UCT. F-15 WSO slots seemed to be the one consistent part of the UCT drops, around 3-5 every class out of 14-20 students. For reference, the average class probably had about 6 people who ranked them high on their dream sheet. There are so many other cool platforms CSO’s go to that the fighter slots sometimes aren’t that competitive to get! Just something I wish somebody put out there when I was applying.

What is confusing? Government screw-ups are not justification for abandoning government action. This used to be a pretty standard policy of the left, considering how many of their programs were grossly mismanaged and abused. None of our laws were written for the situation we are in now. It was never a consideration that tens of millions of people who have no right to be in this country would nevertheless be here. The protections afforded to American citizens, and others legally present within our borders, cannot be extended to every person on the planet. It is not hard to prove citizenship. Neither for the government nor the accused party. That there are a few dozen cases out of literally millions is evidence that this is not a real problem, any more than a few aircraft mishaps out of millions of yearly flights are indicative of a widespread aviation safety threat. The recharacterization of deportation as some sort of punitive action similar to incarceration is the exact trick being used to slow down the process for the ultimate goal of preventing deportation entirely. Same with the refusal of an asylum claim. If you get on a plane to America without a Visa or passport, you are not allowed to leave the airport until you can be seen in front of a judge. You are put on the next flight back to your country. We have the ability for the vast, vast majority of illegal immigrants to quickly confirm their illegal status and return them to their country of origin. Since the problem has been allowed to grow to the tens of millions, there will unsurprisingly be some mistakes along the way. If those mistakes are measured in a fraction of a fraction of a percent, I don't have any problem with that. Once again, show me the American citizens being deported or denied entry back into the country by an intentional process and we will have some sort of agreement. But you can't show that. If you believe the people here illegally have a right to the resources of our country, we just have a fundamental disagreement. I do not believe they have any claim to medical treatment, education, assistance programs, or voting rights. Along those same lines, I do not believe they have any claim to our judicial system, unless of course we are attempting to incarcerate, fine, or otherwise restrict that human being from anything other than their unlawful presence within our borders. Once again, it is simply intentionally naive or disingenuous to act as though we can't figure out who the vast majority of the illegal aliens are. They didn't come here from Mars. They are overwhelmingly from countries south of our border that have fully functioning governments with records systems that track their citizens just as we track ours. The left is just trying to make this about something it isn't because ultimately what they want is for them to stay.

Yeah, I’m curious as how the T-7 will work as a trainer, without having an intermediate high performance trainer when this training paradigm comes to fruition I swapped fleets and went to the Bus and FBW / advanced automated systems are awesome and a better jet but they can make you complacent and atrophy certain flying skills. A jet that requires a certain amount of attention just to fly it properly has its advantages as a trainer but time will tell….

And yet somehow y'all don't care about the thousands of Americans dying yearly from the lack of proper Healthcare, shelter, or food in this country. Or millions suffering after we cut usaid plus our loss of global soft power. There are so many better things we could've spent these funds with a better roi in terms of $ for American lives. It's not orange man bad. It's not Iran good. It's the fact that the juice isn't worth the squeeze. And now after having squeezed it anyways, we're in a worse off position than we started in by any measure of regional status quo be that Jul 15, May 18, Oct 23, or Jan 26.

A few thoughts: This deal is going to be ass, but any deal no matter how bad is better than continuing the incoherence we’ve witnessed over the last few months. Any amount of cash given to the Iranians, be it pallets on a c-17 or sanctions relief or a $300B tip option on a square reader, is pennies on the dollar compared to the economic damage this thing was going to cause if we continued through the summer and ran our strategic reserve dry. I am happy to let Trump claim the win if it means we get to stop the abject retardation and putting our folks in danger for little to no strategic gain. The “biggest state sponsor of terror” line is so tired and silly. First of all, with the materiel we left the Taliban, there’s zero chance we aren’t the biggest state sponsor or terror on an absolute monetary level. You can say it wasn’t intentional or it’s all biden’s fault but over the years our blunders and failed interventions have financed and engendered more terrorism than anyone else.. by far. But more generally i just dispute this framing. “#1 state sponsor of terror” implies there have been countless Iranian backed terrorist attacks in our homeland. Except the reality is WE are the occupying force in the Middle East and the Iranians have financed groups that have attacked our troops in THEIR hemisphere. Still fuck Iran and every American service member killed is a tragedy but I think we can be more accurate/mature with our language and say “Iran acts against our interests in the region.” Their sponsorship of militant groups that attack our troops is no different than us attempting to arm Kurds to overthrow them. Just be honest and admit we have opposing interests and neither of us really consider morals when we are deciding who to finance to fuck over the other side. I know this point is bound to get a bunch of pearl clutching over “moral equivalence” but I think it’s more productive to acknowledge that our countries operate in our own (or Israel’s) interest with very little regard for what is morally “right.” Ultimately we’ll have a lot more to discuss once the text of the MOU and the eventual deal go public. Because we can’t be sure what’s in it. But what we can be sure of is the reaction: The left will hate it because it’s just JCPOA but with more money and more steps The zionists and neocons will hate it because it isn’t total war with Iran And the maga loyalists will love it and see our president’s months of unhinged waffling as completely vindicated and a totally brilliant negotiating strategy.

Yes, we get it. You’re a progressive who doesn’t like Trump or people who support Trump.

Their cyber operations are also good and getting better.

They don't care...orange man bad, who gives a flying F if thousands of Americans died from Iran's support of terror.

Boeing pulls out, sts The War ZoneBoeing Drops Out Of Navy's T-45 Jet Trainer Replacement C...The field of competitors to design and build the Navy's next jet trainer has narrowed to just two teams, and both are putting forward twin-engine designs.

What you need is the 2808 which you can request under medical clearance in IMR then work with your flight med to complete. Eventually once you jump through all the hoops it'll be routed and be returned stamped as eligible for FC1 assuming all goes well. If you haven't started that you're behind. It took like 3-4 months from me completing the tests and having the flight doc sign it to getting it back stamped from HQ. Whatever date the stamp has on it is where the 4 year mark is based. In my case, my IFC was stamped in July of 2024 so it is good until July of 2028. This year's board would be the last time I could apply on that 2808 before I'd have redo everything to get another one since it has to be valid through 31 Dec 2027 IAW the PSDM. The 2992 is for current fliers showing their current flying status which is probably just to check that you're not currently DNIF.

Seems to be some deja vu here

Another airline guy checking in here and honestly the only thing that makes an overnight suck is if it’s too short. I hate getting into a cool vibrant city getting put up in the airport hotel. Time for my 6900th shitty hotel burger and fries.. After staying in pretty much every major city in the country multiple times I can confidently say they’re all great. They all also have their rough parts. Use common sense and avoid the rough parts. If you can’t find a way to have a good time on an overnight in LA or SF with some of the best food and bar scenes in the country idk if you can be helped. It’s not that scary guys avoid skid row and the tenderloin and enjoy the rest of these massive awesome diverse cities. On the subject of bodily functions I’ve seen more bachelorette puke on the sidewalks of broadway, 6th, and bourbon than I have human shits in all liberal cities combined. By a factor of ten. Go have a good time and stop letting Fox News convince you these places are scary