brabus

Drifting off the two major, recent points down the “yeah, but...” road; to bring it back: - Does a 12% positive test rate and a 99.86% survival rate warrant all of the current things going on? Is that our threshold for destroying businesses and the economic reliance owners and employees have on them? Is that our threshold for putting children’s education on pause for what will amount to at least a year for many? Is that our threshold that makes all the mental health decline worth it? - Is it rational/logical to take your .14% chance of death if you get covid, and skip the vaccine until there is more time, trials, testing, etc. under its belt?

Last year 62% got the flu vaccine with an effectiveness rate of 29%. The 10 year average is 57.3% getting it and 42.4% effectiveness. So, even with a flu vaccine and 62% of the population getting it last year, it was still only .12% less deadly than covid with zero vaccine for the under 70 population. What does that say? Lots of future speculation, so I can speculate as accurately that if you show me one person with longterm can’t-workout problems, I’ll show you substantially more who got over it in a week or less and are fine (or were so unaffected they didn’t even know they had it). Both groups exist, but let’s not pretend we actually have statistically relevant data to make claims there are meaningful probabilities of long term effects in substantial numbers. I believe it is completely possible that could become an accurate statement in the future, but for now it’s almost purely speculation based on statistically irrelevant numbers, outliers, etc.

There hasn’t been your entire life, if we’re defining unsafe as risk of catching respiratory viruses in a public setting exists. The flu, pneumonia, etc. didn’t make people not want to eat out, yet here we are pretending 12% positive rate and 99.86% survival rates (US under 70) are Ebola reincarnated. For comparison, last year the positive test rate for the flu was 52% and death rate was ~ .02% for under 70. So quite literally, the risk to your average, healthy person under 70 is .12% higher than the flu. Clearly risk goes exponentially up or down to age groups above and below the 70 line. People spent 2018 cool with a 52% chance of catching a virus followed by a 99.98% survival rate, yet are incredibly concerned in 2020 over a 12% chance of catching a different virus followed by a 99.86% survival rate. I get it this doesn’t encompass specific scenarios like elderly family with health issues, the individuals with compromised immune systems, healthcare workers in close proximity to high risk patients, etc. But, it does encapsulate the vast majority of our demographics.

You can tell who’s in the guard and who’s on AD by the responses. One side doesn’t give a shit, and the other is worried about getting their next assignment changed to Laughlin if they dare speak against the man. Funny and sad at the same time.

Impressive, ridiculously dangerous? I don’t know, but those dudes have some balls, I’ll give them that. Now I’ve seen everything...

Polio had a yearly average 11.5% death rate pre-vaccine. From the time Salk created the first version of the vaccine, 5 years elapsed of study, tests, and clinical trials, before there was a nationwide drive for inoculation. Recap: Polio was significantly more deadly and 5 years of clinical testing/data prior to mass release. Apples and oranges.

I didn’t say no testing, I said no longterm data. I’m not an anti-vaxxer, have had just about every vaccine under the sun (thanks 3rd world shitholes). Putting something man made into your body that may have currently unknown side affects just because of something you have nearly no chance of dying from...well, it’s pretty logical to take the known 99.99% chance over the unknown. You do you, no judgement from me. Just saying the numbers support the decision to not get it as a rational one.

Why is that surprising? Get an injection of something that was rammed through testing with no longterm data vs. a 1.8% chance of getting covid, and if losing those odds, have a 99.99% of recovery (numbers derived from my state specifically for anyone under 70). Seems fairly logical for anybody who doesn’t have other health concerns (diabetes, etc.) and don’t have any other circumstances, like immune-compromised family member, healthcare worker, etc. to skip it. At least until there is some long term data.

Wow. Out of curiosity, if his fake degree wasn’t “in the system,” how did he commission in the first place, let alone make it to Capt (assuming)?

Same here, among co workers and neighbors. I’m honestly surprised that high of a percentage is willing to get it.

We had BE at at Eglin all the time...it was awesome. Could call the AC on his cell and work out whatever we wanted for the next day, rest of the week, etc. No bullshit, Bobs, etc. to get in the way of the mission.

I get your point, but it is relevant when people throw out stats like this as supporting points for their argument that our response was subpar. Totally in agreement we’ve had, and continue to see, horrific leadership failures. A large portion of them being at the state level (governors).

It’s not that simple. Reasons (not exhaustive) - We are far more globally connected than many countries, leading to far more exposure (e.g. No shit Afghanistan’s rates are lower) - Were the 3rd largest country in the world (a 1/4 the size of China)...but China only has 86k cases...yeah OK. They alone have likely massively skewed the global data, which is a nice segue for... - It is an invalid assumption that all countries are transparent and truthful of their cases, deaths, hospitalization rates. You think China, Russia, Iran, etc. are all open kimono on their numbers? - We test more than any other country, so obviously our numbers will have the appearance of being drastically higher compared to all the countries that test at a much lower rate than us. What would our share be if every country had conducted tests equaling 50% of their population? This is all not to say we’ve perfectly crushed it, but to say that specific talking point is very misleading when used to generalize America’s response vs. outcome regarding COVID.

Most responses are way out of line, illogical, and many probably illegal. This is 90% emotional/political and 10% about actual public health. Social distancing, mask when you meet the definition of close contact, and improved hygiene (or really what you should have always been doing) is acceptable at this current point. Everything else, especially with the data on hand, is utter bullshit. That’s my somewhat succinct viewpoint.

If you haven’t flown TACAN initial at the Kun after flying “VMC” at Pilsung, you haven’t lived. I did them in UPT and the only times after that were in combat, how’s that for some irony.

The discussion on dominion is pretty alarming, but for now it’s just talk. I’ll care when there’s actually evidence presented to back this talk. However, I do believe it should be looked at. I’m with Tree - how is it we have failed to tighten the system up to the point no side can use it as a reason to sow distrust in the voter ranks? This should be easy, and I do not understand why people are against some of the easy ways to accomplish this.

The funny thing is it’s 2020 and the navy and AF still can’t even agree on which J-series message to use for some things. Hopefully MESH pans out for the DOD sooner rather than later.

The F-35 and its JPO is a textbook example of why this is a horrible idea. It seems good on paper, but it doesn’t work in execution. I can’t wait for the day when the JPO burns to the ground, we tell everyone else to fuck off, and have an AF SPO. The next step is the AF buys the code and we don’t have to rely on Lockheed. I’ll never see it, but I hope the guys in the future do.

Last I knew the reserves at Nellis do have TR aggressor pilots. Another option to explore is Draken, ATAC, etc. Guys I know who do that seem fairly happy with it; no AF bullshit to really deal with (but doesn’t help if you’re trying to get an AF retirement).

I think you can replace “true independents” with “80% of the country” and still be accurate. The last several elections have been 10% hardcore base on either side and everyone in the middle doing their best to pick the lesser of two evils while wondering why there are so many lunatics on the fringes. Guarantee there are tens of millions of voters who are not pumped about the candidate they voted for, but see them as a better option than the other guy for varying reasons.

Didn’t intend to come off that way; simply answering your question on who I think we can sell raptors to. I’m inferring that you are against it, is that correct?

Israel yes, Russia/Turkey no. Basically most of the F-35 countries would be fine for an F-22. It’s very dependent on the country and how their goals/foreign policy aligns with ours. I think you know that though, or at least I hope you do.

So Israel is going to foot some/all of a $10B bill to restart production? Suspect...but I’m all for them/LM doing this and the USAF piggybacking on it. I’m also not holding my breath.

On the campaign trail - “In 2010 at Kunsan...” ”I’m going to stop you right there; I’m out, good luck to the other candidates”