Blue

From Reddit: Army Aviation leadership killed 67 people today Text copied below.

Reports I've seen only mention Trump criticizing DEI initiatives in the FAA and ATC, with no blame pointed towards the crews. WSJ link. Granted, I haven't listened to his remarks myself. But while pointing fingers at this early stage is clearly crass and bordering on vulgar, Trump is also not wrong. The FAA's push for DEI in the ATC ranks over the past several years is well documented. https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-faas-hiring-scandal-a-quick-overview

Yup, this. I've found that, when looking at a potential solution to an existing problem, ask yourself: "Does this make money for the big defense contractors." If you can answer "yes," then that solution will probably be implemented. If the answer is "no," then you're probably not going to see things happen. New trainers just aren't an attractive proposition for the big defense primes. Sure, they're some $$ when you're building them. But there just isn't enough money in upgrades and support throughout the life of the aircraft like there is with a new weapons system (F-35, B-21, etc). So the big primes don't really care. Which is partly why you see so many trainer aircraft leveraging work from foreign partners (Pilatus for the T-6, Saab for the T-7, etc). To a certain extent, it's always been this way (or at least the entire post-WWII era we live in). My main heartburn is that, up through the 80s or so, there was still enough around the margins that everyone still got taken care of. Now, those margins are so eroded, you end up in our current situation. There is always money to throw at Lockheed for more F-35's, but fuck you if you want more flying hours for training, or anything else that doesn't somehow lead back to the big primes. Related, the relentless pursuit of quarterly earnings, DEI, and everything else besides, you know, actually designing and building aircraft has led to the current hollowing-out of the defense industry. I've watched it first hand when working development programs. If you're ahead of the schedule, behind the schedule, succeeding or failing, no one cares. Just as long as you got all the money spent. Any why should they care? If things go haywire, Uncle Sam will always just write another check. It's been equal parts alarming and saddening to watch this develop over the past 20+ years. And it doesn't appear to be getting any better.

34 to 40 - six years to go from hired to showing back up at a squadron?

This is about a two and a half hour video from Tucker Carlson. It honestly looks to be pretty interesting, but can you give us more than just a link? Some cliffs notes or something?

Flying hour shortage? Or more accurate to say a shortage of aircraft to fly those hours? If someone could wave the proverbial magic wand and put a fleet of T-7s at every UPT base, and plus-up the FTUs with as many aircraft as they wanted, that seems like it would go a long way towards helping the issue.

Am I missing something? I just see a handful of tweets, basically saying "poor coordination between supporting LEO agencies?"

ZeroHedge with ongoing coverage, including this tweet from the BBC, interviewing a guy who states he saw the gunman get into position. According to him, he watched the gunman crawl across a roof with a rifle, and take the shots. Also,

Good. The only airline flying I do is sitting in the back. But I work with enough of the 65+ crowd on a daily basis to know that I don't want them flying me or my family around. Age-related cognitive decline is real. And those who deny it the most are typically the ones most affected by it. Which is not to say you can't be 65+ and still be capable. But for every 10 guys who think they're "running circles around all those young whipper-snappers," 9 of them are full of shit.

From the AP I'm gonna withhold judgement on this one. For now, at least, until more info comes out. It sounds like this is a case of family members battling after a death. If you've ever witnessed it, you know. Reasonable people do unreasonable things when a death happens in the family. Even more so if a step parent is involved.

I like Matt Taibbi'a reporting, and it sounds like this is going to be the beginning of a series of stories exposing the entire Russiagate hoax. CIA Had Foreign Allies Spy On Trump Team, Triggering Russia Collusion Hoax, Sources Say United States Intelligence Community targeted 26 Trump advisors for foreign spy agencies to “reverse target” and “bump” Many Reporters Paid for Covering the Russiagate Story Media figures who exposed illegal surveillance, manufactured intelligence, and other abuses in the Trump-Russia investigation almost always paid a price

My understanding is that if a candidate drops out after winning the primary, the DNC gets to "appoint" whoever they want to assume the role of candidate in the general election. That always sounded like a likely possibility: Biden rides his incumbency to a win in the primary, then drops out shortly thereafter (citing health concerns, etc), and the DNC gets to play king-maker and appoint the candidate of their choice. That said, the Democratic convention isn't until August, and the recent attacks from the Democrats on Biden make it seem questionable that he'll survive another six months. I'd heard the Michelle Obama speculation somewhere, but didn't give it much credence. I do think the DNC has had their short list of successors for some time, and have been crossing people off as they stumble, fail, or otherwise show they've succumbed to the Peter Principle (as in, they've already been promoted to their level of incompetence). Kamala Harris for one. At one point, you couldn't find a single negative word said about her in the press, even as she did nothing but spew meaningless, cackling word salad everywhere she went. Then, all of a sudden, you never heard about her at all. It's like they flipped a switch on her level of public exposure. Pete Buttigieg was another. He was touted as the next big thing, rising from Mayor to Presidential Candidate. Then a detour into a Cabinet position as the head of the DOT. Seemed like he was being stashed away for future greatness, until he started getting criticism for being relatively ineffective is what should be a relatively straightforward role. His public exposure has also gone to almost zero.

Didn't we have some long-standing record that US troops had not been attacked from the air since sometime during the Korean War (70 years ago)? Does this latest attack in Jordan end that record? We've dumped metric tons of money into development of anti-drone technology over the past 20+ years, with much of it to defend against this exact scenario (protecting a remote outpost against small drone attack). Does that technology not work? Or was it not even in place in this scenario? Why, exactly, do we have outposts with 300+ troops in Jordan?

I thought the only "recent" change in MWR funding was ~35+ years ago when everything was moved to non-appropriated funds (NAF) - meaning all MWR activities had to be self-funded. Was there something more recent? Or am I not understanding the history of MWR?

Sounds like the trend of Air Force golf courses closing has been going on for the past couple years. Relevant Reddit thread here. I know golf in general as a sport has declined in a lot of places around the country, due to the usual suspects (lack of free time, shrinking middle class, changes in people's interests, etc). The fact that the AF golf courses have to be self-funded just make it that much more difficult. Interesting to see "inclusivity and diversity" weaved into the official press release. It seems like people in command get extra points anytime they can invoke the holy trinity of DEI. Perhaps this is just the Barksdale Wing CC being savvy and tacking on "inclusivity and diversity" to anything and everything. Need to repave the main road? It's going to be the most inclusive and diverse pavement we can get, utilizing asphalt from underprivileged areas. Need to replace a snowplow? We're going to ensure the new plow implements the highest standards of equity, and drive it around in the summer and winter.