Smokin

The other thing to consider is that you generally buy insurance for something that is unlikely but expensive. It is unlikely that my house burns down, but it would be financially crippling if it did and I was uninsured. I know that my family and I are going to need dental work over the course of our lives and the expense is not generally crippling financially for most middle income people. In my mind, the only reason to have dental insurance is if it is significantly subsidized by my employer.

That letter can also come from the MPF if said commander won't write it. Just have it say the day the leave starts and the day the orders end.

Don't kid yourself. He's a figurehead.

APKWS future balloon buster? Maybe make a few with less explosive to get a slower decent rate to examine all the stuff inside. Or even one with a parachute instead of a warhead that deploys when the rocket burns out. Just to punch a couple 2.75" holes in it over land and let the thing slowly descend. Almost no risk to US citizens and we get the balloon intact.

We just spent 1000x as much money shooting down the balloon as China spent launching it. If I were them, I'd launch 20 next week and just watch us waste missiles, flight hours, etc.

That also assumes the visibility was good enough. Strange that the visibility and weather has not been mentioned in any report I've seen.

I think that you guys are talking past each other. HeloDude is correctly saying that if you currently have a fully assembled AR pistol that was legal a week ago, it is now technically illegal even though the ATF is giving a grace period to register it. Pretty much everyone else is saying more or less that either it is not realistic for the ATF to know that you have one or if you simply remove the upper, you no longer have an illegal pistol, so then you can request to "build" an SBR out of the parts you legally own. The easiest solution is to put a full sized upper on the lower that was born as a pistol and it'll now identify as a rifle and be completely legal. We really have 3 options: 1. ignore the ruling and potentially become owners of illegal firearm(s) if the courts don't fix it 2. remove the upper, then turn in a form 1 to legally own an SBR, reassemble once stamp is received 3. put a rifle upper on it (16" barrel min for a min 26" overall length) and pretend this whole pistol thing never happened Clearly option 3 puts you on the ATF's radar the least, but is also the least fun. Option 1 is somewhat risky, although I guarantee that many gun owners will knowingly or unknowingly go that route. Option 2 lets the ATF legally have a record of you, although I think we all know they already do.

In no way do I think this is a good deal or benefits me. I'd be much happier having my pistol as a pistol that theoretically the government doesn't know about. However, sometimes when the government changes the rules there are ways that people can take advantage of it in an unintended way. For example, I know individuals that make close to $200K a year as small business owners but have figured out how to legally qualify for subsidized medical insurance under Obamacare. This was clearly not the intent of the law or rule change, but changes can create unintended consequences. Perhaps a free SBR stamp and thus the 'freedom' to put full up stocks and whatever I want on it is one of those consequences. However, I do plan on holding out for the majority of the grace period in hopes a judge puts a stop to the nonsense.

When Congress basically told a bunch of blue collar railroad workers to pound sand and get to work, I can't imagine they'll suddenly take up the cause over for some upper-middle class white collar pilots. It is a little funny that labor unions spend millions of dollars getting Dems elected, only to have the Dems completely ignore the union when push came to shove. I flew with a CA one time that was almost yelling at me that "you have to vote with your wallet", which I found odd since he was telling me to vote for a party that is associated with higher taxes and more spending.

I generally don't believe a conspiracy theory that could otherwise be explained by stupidity and incompetence.

Interesting read. Going to do some more research, but I'm considering the registration route (never thought I'd say that!). As others have said, I know the feds illegally know I have guns. The fed's unwillingness to follow their own laws have been extensively documented. Combine that with google and the credit cards tracking everything and cooperating with the government, I don't stand a chance of not getting a knock on the door if it comes to gun confiscation. All that said, I don't think I'm giving much information away that they don't already have for the chance to do basically whatever I want with a weapon that previously identified as a pistol and now identifies as an SBR. And, if I end up going that route, one more thing to research is when the purchase period cutoff is. As in, can I go buy 3 more pistols next week and then register them as SBRs for free...

On the flip side, they have waived the fee for registering a SBR during the implementation. Chance to modify the pistol into a real SBR for free. But is that worth telling them that I know a guy that has one?

Remember that the Bill of Rights was written entirely by people who had won a revolution only six years ago. Anyone that thinks 'well-regulated' equals ANY type of control by the federal government, is are ignorant of history. Such a militia would have been fighting for the British, not for the Patriots in the American Revolution. Zero chance that this is what the framers had in mind.

Maybe SCOTUS will say enough is enough and hold the lawmakers in contempt. There has to be some recourse to punish those that are passing laws they know will get struck down, but are just doing it to make life miserable for law abiding gun owners in the meantime.

And along the getting rid of the wife theme, here's a new tactic: Get her arrested for catching you cheating. Now he's the "victim", brilliant. https://www.foxnews.com/us/woman-arrested-south-carolina-airport-after-attacking-husband-over-indecent-photos-his-phone-police

I can understand how the mess of cancellations can become a mess quick. What I can't understand is how the airline had so little SA continue to accept checked bags and not have a way to return them. Especially if most of the flights are cancelled, there should be extra bag handlers. I'm sure it is more complicated than that, but it can't be THAT complicated...

Rand Paul would be a bigger FU to the establishment than Trump and far more effective. And would be about the only thing that could get our country back on the right track.

Finally the left is actually correct for once in labeling something as a "phobia". I actually am scared of fat people. Scared that they might sit next to me on an airplane and take up half my seat. Or scared that they will get the window exit row seat and we all burn to death while they try to unhook their seatbelt extender, extract themselves from the seat, only to have them get stuck halfway out the door.

"I can't understand it myself," he said. "It's stupidity. I don't understand it. This is not something that I'm familiar with even in my 33-year career." Either a complete liar or not even remotely connected to the fighter community.

One look at our current military leadership, both on the AD and the guard, show that any attempt to "drain the swamp" was either never attempted or was a complete failure.

It is a little ironic that you call out people saying he's smart by implication, yet don't actually offer any formal evidence that he's not smart... Not saying I entirely disagree with you. If you compare Trump to other political leaders and businessmen, I don't think he stands out amongst that group as abnormally intelligent. However, he clearly has people and street smarts as he has been regularly able to manipulate and set people/systems up to his advantage. If you want formal evidence of this, we're still talking about him two years after he lost his reelection campaign. How many people were talking about George Bush two years after he lost to Clinton? He keeps himself in the news when it would be far better for the country for him to fade off into retirement.

They'll need every penny of it with the 3% pay cut in basic pay and airlines looking at mid 20% for pay raises.

Base zip code. They don't care where you live.

Maybe they'll declare war on Ukraine? I don't understand the thought process that Ukraine somehow should have their hands tied about what targets they can strike. I get that the rest of the world doesn't want to the war to bring other countries in, but Russia invaded and all of Russia's targets have been in Ukraine. Why should Ukraine be held back from striking Russia? With how much Russia is struggling against Ukraine, I don't imagine Putin wants the war to widen either. The interesting thing to think about if these are drone strikes; does Ukraine now have drones capable of reaching that long range of a target or are there Ukrainian SOF units inside Russia?

But this is the problem. People who have a history of poor decision making, let alone extremely poor decision making, should not be flying plane loads with hundreds of people in them. I hope that people who have made poor decisions have the ability to recover from them and lead a productive life. But there are decisions that will close doors. If I ran a construction company, I would consider hiring an individual that had a violent criminal past if that person showed that he was doing everything possible to turn his life around. But as a pilot? Absolutely not.