BFM this

For some reason the YT algorithm likes to throw a lot of these my way. My worthless opinion: The line grunt cops, for the most part, are the patsys in many of these situations. What's the tired refrain after an event that makes any sane person recoil?: said officer acted IAW their training and departmental policies. ...and therein lies the rub. Training and policy is oriented toward confront, escalate, and hook another chump up to the machine to be fleeced (arrest). No, of course we don't have any quotas...but your numbers seem to be a little off in this reporting period, I'm simply not inclined to approve your promotion. (Anyone else following the TN .00 DUI arrest story?) Legislators, executive branch, and LE stakeholders (department leadership AND the unions), have all followed the eroding terrain over decades (centuries in some subjects) toward a policing for profit business model. But this is key: each incremental step along the downward spiral has been tolerated or even sometimes enabled by the last line of defense, the Judiciary. At the end of the day I lay the blame at the feet of the courts. Terry, Mimms, Graham...somehow if the Court's error doesn't reach the egregious level of Dred Scott it must be okay. Qualified immunity and Civil Asset Forfeiture are two that are simply unconscionable by any rational person, and yet, here we are. At the end of the day, all of these serve to erode public trust in LE and keep the bond severed between cops and the public. My $.02

Apples to Oranges. Japan, RoK, and PI all put in effort and resources within their capability, in contrast with most of NATO.

An estimate from the internets:

Yeah man, right on!

Is it just me or was there no winner in that setup?

Sounds like you’re progressing well. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Continue with the updates!

Bought that setup last summer, now my primary EDC. Under winter clothes I’ve swapped the 11r mag for 15 in the well. Love it; going to start running it as BUG in IDPA matches to get practice engagements.

“It’s not common knowledge,” said Metzler. “You don’t want to advertise to the people that are working for you that there’s a legal way for you to break your contract if you start to feel weird feelings.” ADSC? Commitment? Service? …I think I’m having “weird feelings”.

While I can like your post for going deeper than [I just read headlines to fuel my rage], my leanings still tilt toward the soon to be DNI nominee. That particular interview was a couple of years ago, but most of what formed the basis for her positions on things like geopolitical affairs was already cemented, namely her education in congress. For a deeper dive and expanded presentation of her positions, I'd recommend giving her book a try; you can get it on audiobook from DoD MWR library. I would even go so far to say that she is not an isolationist, but rather holds to a FAFO military readiness posture (speak softly but carry a big stick), that runs contrary to contemporary DC's never met a conflict they didn't like mentality. And I wholeheartedly subscribe to her supposition that had this election gone the other way, we would have found ourselves in a nasty brawl, purely out of a need to assert the image of strength by a weak individual. I believe we dodged a big fucking bullet.

Unless this is some next-level sarcasm that is sailing over my head, I cannot disagree more.

Mostly gee-whiz/thread derail, but: Any reason why the T-7 is subsonic? Is there still DT/OT wickets to clear?

Just listened to this interview. I’m pretty stoked. DJT has talked a lot about how he porked away picking the right people starting his first term. I really think there is a stark contrast emerging with this second team.

Potentially a great thing. Could be a renaissance for defense leadership and mission focus. A witch hunt is equally possible, leading to a brain-drain that will take a generation to repair.

All valid points. But Occam's razor suggests the biggest element that led to us being in country for 20 years, accomplishing what should have taken months at best. At the end of the day, Smedley Butler would have called it a Racket, plain and simple. Trillions of dollars was spent. And trillions of dollars was made... And it continues...while I watch closely the hotspots smoldering around the world today through a lens of at least entry level geopolitical education, I cast a jaundiced eye toward the tendency to pour cash into the hole vs defined outcomes.

Nice ride 🙌

lol, I'm several orders of magnitude off that net worth figure, but even I know that my wallet is well within the WEZ of that dumb-fuck idea. But hey, unsustainable spending isn't going to sustain itself ya know!

There’s a bunch of rules her team would insist on that JR would laugh at.

Executive compensation not gonna inflate itself...

Sure. At the very least, it recalibrated my expectation management when I saw that.

2013 hires…ahead of 2001 hires. not joking

Lol yes, yes it has. still doesn’t answer the question: wtf is a “Space Force Guardian”

Is this a National Guard branch or just a catchy recruiting gimmick? Google results confused me even more. https://www.yahoo.com/news/space-force-guardian-command-mission-201854275.html

Handle of Don Julio ‘42 says he doesn’t see the inside of a jail cell.