M2

Loyalty is a one-way road for Trump. And CH is on target. Trump wasn't the best option, but I would hate to think what direction this country would have gone had Harris won... I am not sure if Trump's methods will work, but I definitely see the need to change things!

California...what else needs to be said? 😒😒 In Texas. we would have shot the fucking bear! 4 charged with insurance fraud after allegedly dressing as bears to damage cars Four people were arrested Wednesday in connection with insurance fraud when they claimed a bear damaged their car, but it was really a person in a bear costume, the California Department of Insurance said. The suspects filed a claim with their insurance company, saying a bear got into their car, a 2010 Rolls-Royce Ghost, at Lake Arrowhead on Jan. 28, 2024, and damaged the inside with scratches. The insurance department said the suspects provided a video to the company, which showed the "bear" in the car... (full story at title link)

I voted early, but the wife waited until Election Day. I walked down to the polling place with her and for a split second I was tempted to see if I could vote again, but the prospect of being fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to five years (or both, per Title 52 of the United States Code, Section 10307(e)) and even worse the possibility of having to give up my arsenal as a convicted felon (I'm not a politician, so I wouldn't have been able to get away with it!) was an effective deterrent! But honestly, I do suspect there was a chance they would have let me do so...

As of five minutes ago... GOP 216 seats, Democrats 207. Here are the statuses of the remaining races... Alaska At-Large District: Republican Nick Begich is leading incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola by over 10,000 votes. Arizona's 6th District: Incumbent Republican Juan Ciscomani is ahead of Democrat Kirsten Engel by 4,900 votes. California's 9th District: Democrat Josh Harder is leading Republican Kevin Lincoln by more than 7,000 votes. California's 13th District: Freshman GOP Rep. John Duarte is ahead of Democrat Adam Gray by nearly 3,000 votes. California's 21st District: Democrat Jim Costa is leading Republican Michael Maher by just over 1,300 votes. California's 22nd District: Republican David Valadao is ahead of Democrat Rudy Salas by 9,500 votes. California's 41st District: Republican Ken Calvert is leading Democrat Will Rollins by more than 7,500 votes. California's 45th District: GOP incumbent Michelle Steel is ahead of Democrat Derek Tran by 3,900 votes. California's 47th District: Democrat David Min is leading Republican Scott Baugh by more than 3,200 votes. California's 49th District: Democrat Mike Levin is ahead of Republican Matt Gunderson by 14,000 votes. Iowa's 1st District: Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks is leading Democrat Christina Bohannan by 796 votes. Maine's 2nd District: Democrat Jared Golden is ahead of Republican Austin Theriault by more than 2,100 votes. If everything stays on track, the GOP will end up with 223 seats and the Democrats 212. Iowa's 1st District is the closest vote difference with only just under 800 votes...

It doesn't have leaders like MG William Zana... An Army general’s final ‘walk’ at the Tomb of the Unknowns MG William Zana, the only guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to reach the rank of general, took a final guard shift on the night he retired. At exactly 10 p.m. on the warm, last night of May, MG William Zana received his orders and began his final guard shift on the smooth marble stone plaza at the center of Arlington National Cemetery. In two hours it would be midnight, a new day and new month. A new guard would relieve him at his post, he would march off the plaza and suddenly, instantly, be a civilian. But for the final two hours of his 37-year career, Zana wanted one last chance to stand a shift he had held as a young sergeant: keeping watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. “I was Pvt. Zana when I showed up to the Old Guard,” Zana told Task & Purpose.“You know, all of us who raise our right hand and serve, there’s things that define you. First combat tour, first loss of personnel. For me, volunteering for and serving at the Tomb was absolutely both defining and shaping.” (Full story at the title link) I don't know the man, nor do I know much about his career other than what I read in his bio; but based on this article, I have the utmost respect for him!

And even more great news... Next year’s Congress will feature the most women vet members ever The next session of Congress will feature the most women veterans ever elected to the House and Senate, with at least eight winning races this year. And that number could grow by one more: Iowa Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks holds a small lead in her re-election bid, with a few thousand votes left to be counted. The total is already double 2018, when only four women with military experience were among the 535 voting members of Congress... (full story at title link)

Yeah, I fat-fingered 214. Thanks, I've corrected my post to read 218! 🫡 And I can't access 270towin at work! 🤬🤬

And since I was already messing around with Copilot, I decided to ask it the predicted results of the 17 outstanding House seats. The GOP currently has 214 seats and the Democrats 205, with 218 needed for a majority)... Here are the predicted winners for the outstanding House election results in key states: Arizona 1st District: Leaning Republican 6th District: Leaning Democrat California 13th District: Leaning Democrat 22nd District: Leaning Republican 27th District: Leaning Republican 41st District: Leaning Republican 45th District: Leaning Democrat 47th District: Leaning Democrat 49th District: Leaning Democrat Colorado 3rd District: Leaning Republican 8th District: Leaning Democrat New York 4th District: Leaning Democrat 19th District: Leaning Democrat 22nd District: Leaning Democrat Oregon 5th District: Leaning Democrat 6th District: Leaning Democrat Texas 34th District: Leaning Republican These predictions are based on the latest vote counts and trends123. The final results will depend on the remaining ballots being counted and any potential recounts or legal challenges.

As I don't trust any media, even that which I agree with; and as I have been playing around with AI a lot lately (STS), I decided to ask this question of it. While it couldn't give me a map for some reason, here are the results... Here is a list of every state, indicating who won in the 2024 Presidential Election and whether the state requires a photo ID to vote: States with Strict Photo ID Requirements Alabama - Donald Trump Georgia - Donald Trump Indiana - Donald Trump Kansas - Donald Trump Mississippi - Donald Trump Tennessee - Donald Trump Wisconsin - Donald Trump States with Non-Strict Photo ID Requirements Arizona - Kamala Harris Arkansas - Donald Trump Colorado - Kamala Harris Florida - Donald Trump Idaho - Donald Trump Louisiana - Donald Trump Michigan - Kamala Harris Missouri - Donald Trump North Dakota - Donald Trump Ohio - Donald Trump Rhode Island - Kamala Harris South Carolina - Donald Trump South Dakota - Donald Trump Texas - Donald Trump Utah - Donald Trump Virginia - Kamala Harris States without Photo ID Requirements Alaska - Donald Trump California - Kamala Harris Connecticut - Kamala Harris Delaware - Kamala Harris Hawaii - Kamala Harris Illinois - Kamala Harris Iowa - Donald Trump Kentucky - Donald Trump Maine - Kamala Harris Maryland - Kamala Harris Massachusetts - Kamala Harris Minnesota - Kamala Harris Montana - Donald Trump Nebraska - Donald Trump Nevada - Kamala Harris New Hampshire - Kamala Harris New Jersey - Kamala Harris New Mexico - Kamala Harris New York - Kamala Harris North Carolina - Donald Trump Oklahoma - Donald Trump Oregon - Kamala Harris Pennsylvania - Kamala Harris Vermont - Kamala Harris Washington - Kamala Harris West Virginia - Donald Trump Wyoming - Donald Trump Here are the definitions for strict, non-strict, and no ID required voter identification laws: Strict Photo ID Requirements Strict Photo ID: Voters must present a government-issued photo ID to vote. If they do not have an acceptable ID, they can vote on a provisional ballot but must take additional steps after Election Day for their vote to be counted. Non-Strict Photo ID Requirements Non-Strict Photo ID: Voters are asked to present a photo ID, but if they do not have one, they can still vote by signing an affidavit, having a poll worker vouch for them, or using another method to verify their identity. No ID Required No ID Required: Voters are not required to present any form of identification to vote. These states use other methods to verify the identity of voters, such as matching voter registration information with other records.

Nope.

Shack!

P'Nut the Squirrel's death will be Kamala's demise!

I loved that opening scene, it was the main reason I bought a lever action rifle!

I still stand by this statement from two weeks ago...

In Afghanistan, the DoD knew how to kill people and break things; but the US government never had a clue as to how to build a stable government and society. Not one fucking clue. 2459 killed, of which 1922 were in combat. 20,769 wounded in action. Countless others suffering the psychological impacts. Afghanistan will never be "done."

Just for comparison, as of the latest reports, it is estimated that over 71,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine. The actual number is likely higher due to the challenges in verifying all casualties. It hasn't even reached the three-year mark...

On 27 Oct 1954, 70 years ago this Sunday, the U.S. Air Force got its first black general officer when Gen Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr., was promoted to Brigadier General (temporary grade). The promotion would be made permanent in 1960, and he would eventually retire from the Air Force as a Lieutenant General. In 1998, President Clinton advanced him to a full (four-star) General. General Davis Jr. broke many barriers and accomplished many “firsts” during his career, such as when he became the first black officer to attend Air War College in 1950 or when he became the first black wing commander of an integrated wing in 1953. He originally earned his pilot’s wings in 1942, and participated in WWII with the Tuskegee Airmen, commanding the 99th Fighter Squadron and later the 332nd Fighter Group as a whole. In the photo below, his father, Gen Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. (who was the first black general officer in the Army and in the Armed Forces as a whole) is pinning a Distinguished Flying Cross to him (when he was then a Colonel) at Ramitelli Airfield in Italy in Sep 1944. He earned the DFC for a Jun 1944 bomber escort mission where he managed to lead his outnumbered fighter escorts in defending an Allied heavy bomber formation against approximately 100 enemy fighters. (Photo: USAF)

50 Years Ago Tomorrow (26 Oct 1974): The Rockwell B-1A Rollout Since the 1920s, the Air Force has leveraged technology to ensure that the mantra “the bomber will always get through” remained valid. Of course, defenses worked to make any such advantages temporary, resulting in the continuous evolution of offensive platforms for survivability. It was out of one of those inflection points that the B-1 bomber was born. In the 1950s, the Air Force relied on multi-engine jet bombers that could primarily use their speed and altitude to break the kill chain” of the USSR’s air defenses and avoid the fighters sent to intercept them. However, as Soviet ground-controlled interception systems and both air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles improved, the subsonic, high-flying B-47s and B-52s were suddenly vulnerable. The newer B-58 and XB-70, capable of exceeding Mach 2 and 3 (respectively), proved to be short-lived stopgaps when US intelligence concluded that they could also be shot down. Finding a solution was crucial to the survivability of the manned bomber not just as the lynchpin of the Air Force, but also as a relevant concept, especially in light of new Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). Starting in 1961, the Air Force began studies to address this dilemma, which coalesced into the Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft (AMSA) program in 1965. AMSA focused on developing a bomber that could cruise at high speeds and altitudes to get to enemy territory, then dive to just above the ground while still flying supersonically to penetrate air defenses and reach its target. This approach exploited ground-based radars’ inability to detect low-flying aircraft due to the curvature of the Earth and interference from terrain. Likewise, airborne radars were then incapable of tracking terrain-following targets amidst ground clutter. The Air Force’s F-111 fighter-bomber recently demonstrated how a “swing wing” (aka variable-geometry) could provide those capabilities, while systems devised for the XB-70 and the proposed Supersonic Transport (SST) could also be leveraged to hasten the new bomber’s development cycle. North American Rockwell leaned on its experience from those programs to win the B-1 Full Scale Development contract in June 1970. That award included just three airframes for flight testing and was distinct from a production decision. The B-1A made its public debut at Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, on 26 October 1974 (shown above), followed by its first flight on 23 December. In December 1976, the Ford administration authorized production of the B-1—but less than two months later, new President Jimmy Carter reduced the order, and then cancelled the program entirely on 30 June 1977. Lingering questions about traditional bomber viability, the introduction of the cruise missile, and the highly secretive demonstrations of stealth technology all played a role in that decision. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan revived the program as the B-1B, in part to serve in the interim before the Advanced Technology Bomber that became the B-2 would be operational. (Photos: AFLCMC/HO) BONUS: From the AFLCMC archives, below is the memo to the B-1 Program Office directing them to issue a “stop work” order to Rockwell in 1977.

Gen Jerome F. O’Malley was AF/XO when Project Warrior was started and later became the Commander of TAC. Sadly, I saw O'Malley's last speaking engagement at Mountain Home AFB on 19 April 1985 at a Snake River Air Force Association banquet after he spent the day visiting aircrew members, enlisted personnel and touring the Noncommissioned Officers’ Leadership School. The next day, 20 April, while returning to speak at a Boy Scout banquet in Scranton on Sunday, 21 April, O’Malley and his wife Diane were killed when the CT-39 Sabreliner they were in experienced hydraulic failure caused by a malfunctioning valve at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport. Also killed in the accident were Capt Harry L. Haugh, the pilot; TSgt Robert A. Eberflus, the crew chief and Lt Col Lester R. Newton, the co-pilot. Newton had given his right seat in the cockpit to O’Malley (Haugh was in the left) and was seated in the cabin with Mrs. O’Malley. Despite the crew’s efforts to manually apply the brakes, the aircraft overran the runway and went over a 110-foot embankment where it was quickly engulfed in flames. There were no survivors. https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AUPress/Books/B_0110_CASEY_VELOCITY_SPEED_DIRECTION.pdf

Back in the early 1980s, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lew Allen, Jr. started a program called Project Warrior which aimed to reinvigorate the warfighting spirit within the Air Force. The program sought to shift the mindset from a business-like approach to a more mission-oriented, warfighting perspective. The objectives of Project Warrior were: 1) Enhance Warfighting Spirit by encouraging Air Force personnel to think and plan in warfighting terms; and 2) Improve Understanding of Airpower by fostering a deeper understanding of military strategy, tactics, and the role of airpower in modern warfare. The program was designed to be flexible, allowing units to tailor it to their specific needs and interests. It included leadership initiatives, educational resources, and activities like warfighting conferences and heritage weeks. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0882warrior/ It needs to return!

Today (24 Oct) in 1986, the 16th AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) test took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This marked the beginning of its initial operational test and evaluation program, and was the second consecutive successful trial following a 30 Sep 1986 failed test where the missile was launched, lost control, and slammed into the ground. The AMRAAM today in 1986 was fired from an F-15C, targeting a drone that was trying to evade it with radar-jamming equipment. The purpose of the test was to evaluate the “AMRAAM’s ability to identify and cope with the target drone’s electronic countermeasures, acquire the low-altitude maneuvering target, and intercept it.” A production contract was awarded for the missile in 1987, and it became operational in 1991. Today, the USAF uses it on the F-15, F-16, and F-22. In the photo, SrA Michael Breed and SSgt Scott Robert remove an AMRAAM from an F-22A Raptor during an exercise at Langley AFB in 2006. (Photo: USAF)

Who the fuck shoots rifles that close?!?

You should take Charleston Southern, who is currently 1-6 as well; but they have been playing tough against a challenging schedule. Still, the Seminoles should win this one being it's at home. Notre Dame (6-1)? Nope. UNC (3-4)? Maybe? UF (4-3)? We will go into that game pretty beat up. We lost our starting quarterback (Graham Mertz) but DJ Lagway looked pretty good for a freshman quarterback against Kentucky (3-4). But we still have to play Georgia (6-1) in Jacksonville on 2 Nov, Texas (6-1) in Austin on 9 Nov, LSU (6-1) at home 16 Nov, Ole Miss (5-1) at home 23 Nov, then y'all (1-6) in Tallahassee on 30 Nov. We were considered to have the toughest schedule in college football this year, with eight games against preseason top 25 teams. We'll be lucky to beat y'all, especially being it's a home game for you which makes things even tougher! Since 1958, we are 37-28 with two ties against FSU; but y'all have won the last two years. Predictions are FSU has an 82% chance of winning, by an expected score of 37-20. 🤬🤬