Lord Ratner

I have a theory that the people who are against beards are the same people who can't grow a good looking beard. I'm happy to be proven wrong if someone wants to post a selfie, but anecdotally it's been a pretty consistent coincidence. I also find it hilarious when people argue that beards don't look professional. The period of time where professionals were clean shaven is quite minimal compared to the period of time where the baddest motherfuckers on the planet all have beards. And in fact, even in this era the real badasses still have beards. Of course there are a subset of men who are not blessed with follicle dominance, yet still insist on foisting their inferior peach fuzz lady-beards on society. But I suspect the involuntary celibacy associated with such shameful, demeaning displays of facial inadequacy will purge them from the gene pool fast enough.

I've flown with a couple. He is not popular.

No one thought DEI would get a president killed. If Trump hadn't turned his head, that's exactly where we'd be. You already get the B team when you're a former president. The number of women in charge of organizations that are massively skewed towards male participation, including the military, is statistical proof that we are selecting weaker leaders to promote a progressive vision of the world. We all knew this already, but now we're at the point in the story where the consequences start to manifest. Shapiro had a great point on this. Why are all the agents immediately around Trump smaller than him?

There are a lot of people on the fence. They don't like the man, but they don't like what's happening around them more. This will be the final straw for many. Elon Musk is a good example. I expect more famous people to suddenly find their courage after this.

That guy looks... Challenged. I hope nobody is expecting some sort of clear-cut ideology from this dude. The people crazy enough to do something like this, the same type of people who usually have some sort of manifesto, are rarely as political as they are just outright crazy. But this might be the best thing I could have ever happened to Trump. That's absolutely the photograph of the century, so far.

This. Rhetoric has consequences.

What's remarkable is that a judge who's sole job is to interpret and apply the Constitution would not be familiar with the state constitutions that preceded the US Constitution. While Virginia is the most likely "original source" for the second amendment, the other states had versions that explicitly codified self-defense as a function of the right to bear arms.

It's not going to be pretty.

Springer is from the Jurassic era, so his brother was probably a retired captain before the pay rates were so generous. In May I managed to do 52k (60k with the 401k included) as an FO at AA, but that involved flying everyday for three weeks straight and most days on the fourth week. As a Captain at the top of scale that would have been 76k (90k w/401k). I'd die young if I did that with any regularity.

Yeah, but was she hot?

Well that didn't take long. If you can't tell the difference... To me the bigger outrage is *how* these officers enforced this stupid law. Like Boomer said, I don't expect them to be constitutional scholars, but a cop should be fired for treating a civilian like that during a non-violent encounter.

Yep. I generally take a middle ground approach, I don't miss important things, but my wife is very good about me being John for the day-to-day dinner and activities type of stuff. I figure I can make an extra 50 to 100 Grand a year if I was willing to fly anything anytime, but I'm simply not. It's too good of a job to fuck up by working that hard.

Yes but that really is the Crux of the question. I don't know you so I can't answer, But I have learned in 6 years that it is actually relatively small number of pilots who are willing to play the game to the point where it puts them ahead. As somewhat biased towards that game I can't say that I understand it fully, but I spent a significant amount of my flights explaining the various hustles to captains and at the end of the day they decide that life is simply easier getting a schedule in PBS and flying it, or sitting for reserve and hoping they don't get the call. Can't really half-ass a hustle. If it requires flexibility, you have to have the family that knows you could miss dinner tonight. If it requires gaming the FAR117 restrictions, then you have to be willing to put in the flight hours to build those conflicts. If it requires holiday flying, weekend flying, or flying long turns that have you going to the airport early in the morning and getting back late at night... You get the idea. If you can commit to a hustle then you will end up with a disproportionate share of a particular airline resource, either pay, time at home, pay per hours worked, whatever. If you half ass it, you'll just end up incredibly frustrated. So if you're the guy that likes predictability, I suspect that the widebody world will treat you better. If not, then it is almost certain you will benefit more from your seniority on the narrow body.

The American people did not.

I do not consider anything surprising for the FBI at this point, but is there even the suggestion of evidence this happened? The most damning evidence against Trump in the Florida documents case is a secret recording of Trump admitting he knew they were classified and that he failed to declassify them... Recorded by Trump himself. Has anything suggested the use of secret devices in this case?

I'm not sure what the correct thread is for this, but Trump made it possible, so I'll put it here. SCOTUS just overturned Chevron. If it wasn't for Roe this would be the biggest news from the SCOTUS in a decade at least, and it's still the most consequential by a landslide. This is a massive win for small government, assuming there are no gotchas in the ruling. I haven't gotten to read it yet.

I'd vote for Kennedy if he was younger. He's a safe middle candidate who won't set the world on fire while we await quality candidates. But he's 70, so, no.

What's a stay behind device? Just a bug?

And you didn't? So Joe is honest, just tragically declining in his mental acuity? Just bad luck, that's all. Definitely not the idiot of Congress for 30 years who sent his son around the world to collect money from the people he's supposed to represent the US against. Just a poor old man. Unfortunate timing. They are two liars who treat the people around them like disposable garbage, neither more committed to the American people than they are to their own vanity, with kids who would be nobodies if not for their last names. At least Trump got his money and fame from the wallets of investors and corporate Toadies, while Biden took it from our tax dollars. You are exhibit A for why Trump is winning. Even in your disingenuous attempt to claim intellectual and moral superiority, you insist that these "unacceptable options" are still somehow different. For the millionth time, Trump is just the first one who looks on the outside the way they all act behind closed doors, including *everything* he's being taken to court for. Why vote for him? Because you'll get more conservative policy from the (R) abomination than from the (D) abomination. That's it. Obviously progressives prefer different policy, so choose the other shitbag. I'll be voting for no one this year. I'm done voting for dinosaurs from either party.

Depends on what you fly as a narrow body fo. If you're just flying pre-constructed trips out of PBS, from what I understand the quality of life is probably going to be better on the wide body side, even with the lowered ability to pick your days and trips. If you use the seniority on the narrow body to pick up broken stuff, either short or long-term turns (depending on your preference) or my specialty, one short flight out, overnight, one flight back, then you can have a pretty easy life. I will probably never go wide body because the idea of sitting in an airplane for 15 hours when I can fly from DFW to OKC and be done for the day just doesn't make it worth a few extra bucks per hour. For reference, I usually fly 320 to 350 hours per year, actual seat time. I probably deadhead another hundred to 150 (often in first class now thanks to the new contract), and get paid somewhere between 1,300 to 1,500 hours, plus the 401k.

That's great to hear. I want to either retire early or have my schedule controlled such that I can fly one or two turns a month and just ride the benefits. I'm on the other side of the equation and hired pretty early on in the wave, 2018. I could have been a captain at year three if not for covid, and now after 6 years I'm at about 12% of the first officers in my bid status. It is a truly phenomenal quality of life at that seniority level, and the reason why I haven't upgraded despite the 50% increase in Captain's pay over first officers pay. My retirement projection puts me in the top 100 if I stay towards mandatory retirement. Even so, at this point I doubt I will end up flying the wide bodies, and I'm not planning to upgrade for at least another 4 years. For everybody who have just recently joined, it takes a good 3 to 4 years to really understand the job and the many different ways to structure it. At American we have guys upgrading and flying as captains at their two-year anniversary, and the reality is that they took the upgrade well before they understood what was possible as a senior first officer. I wouldn't say they necessarily regret the decision to upgrade, but they sure do spend a lot of time complaining about the realities of being a very Junior Captain, and they are making less money than the senior first officers. Yes, it is possible that if you delay upgrading a Black swan event could crush the airlines again (it's going to happen eventually) and you will have missed the opportunity to upgrade. But being the bottom bitch in any bid status, especially during a downturn, can be a lot worse. I know guys who would have much rather been furloughed than sit for 5 years commuting to sit reserve. Just make sure you talk to some of the more senior first officers about why they haven't upgraded before you make the jump.

Your entire argument is based on hyperbole and unsupported "principals." Really your philosophy sounds more like a social leach. Exist in a system that puts obligations and expectations on the populace then try to exist in a "principled" manner (where you conveniently have no such obligation) that would immolate the fabric of the society if the majority actually followed your lead. You are so principled you took money and skills from an organization funded by theft and run my a country that supports slavery. Principled... What you are is consistent (here, not in your actual life). But consistently wrong is an option. We have corrupt police officers. Are you against having a police force? Our military has done dastardly things over the years. Are you against the military? You trust no politicians, so should we simply have no representative body? Taxation is theft, yet you drive on public highways. Do you think the Interstate system would have spontaneously formed without government involvement, or do you believe we'd be better off without it? Of course, but when you propose a system that has no basis in reality, and proclaim it to be the most moral option, it's on you to explain why it works, and works better than what we have. Libertarians have all sorts of "principled" stances that blow up in their face the moment they have the power to implement them. Reference the article about Grafton, New Hampshire. You describe instances of human failings and hypocrisy as though you are letting us in on some big secret or conspiracy. Yeah dude, the failings of individuals is specifically why we have the freedom-infringing systems we are accustomed to today. Its just like the Libertarian stance on drugs (which is pants-on-head stupid). Total freedom, stay out of my life! Tell me you've never had to deal with a heroin addict without telling me. The problem with Libertarianism is that it portrays human nature in a fundamentally false way. It ignores completely portion of the population that simply lacks the capacity to act safely or rationally. It ignores the reality of mob-formation and action. Some of the freedom-infringing rules we have exist because some problems will be dealt with by mobs if left to fester, and mobs tend to perform microsurgery with hand grenades. Again, point to any remotely libertarian system that has functioned successfully for decades or centuries. Hell, the rich libertarians all move to Puerto Rico (because taxation is theft) but of course they have no problem living of the stolen wages of others that go to P.R. by the billions each year. Because your "principled" stance is silly. You live in the most freedom-causing nation in human history. Every single country on Earth today that has more freedom for there citizens exist at the luxury of our efforts. They exist because we have taxes and we have a draft. All you have are hunches that if we dropped these mutually-agreed-upon systems (because like it or not, we have the draft and taxes at the consent of the governed) everything would just keep going awesomely. Yet you have zero evidence that your hunch is in any way valid. Its the exact same nonsense the communists always wave around for their equally unrealistic system. It would work if we just did it the right way. Uh huh.

Gotcha. Made up standards and utopian fantasy. Where exactly is the most sacred liberty and freedom spelled out as the right to partake in the riches and spoils of a civilization without being responsible for it's defense or maintenance? Again, plenty of instances of bad conscription (Vietnam), but that doesn't invalidate the concept. And your entire argument boils down to I believe it, so it's not just my preference, it's literally the most sacred moral precept. But your argument isn't religious, and it's not supported by any functional civilization in human history, so it's just.... Bullshit. The founders could have created a nation that put individual liberty at the apex and subordinated everything else, but they didn't. Individual liberty is *one* ingredient to creating a just and prosperous society.

Okay so you are this silly. So if a country has conscription, you have zero liberty? Zero? So your level of freedom in America is the same as your level of freedom in say, Venezuela, or Iran? Or perhaps even lower than Venezuela or Iran... Right? It's all just a farce, yes? I didn't need such a succinct example of the absolutism I was describing, but I appreciate it nonetheless. Your military service is truly a paradox. You gave up even *more* freedom and liberty to defend "a farce." You were paid with stolen wages to serve a slave state. That's a hot take. I'm still waiting on that example country that did not rely on taxes and/or conscription. If you get a moment.

$5 says all the legacies stop hiring by the end of this year. AA is obviously already there.