Blue

The Washington Post weighs-in this morning with "The Afghanistan Papers," a broad look at the war in Afghanistan. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/ The article also contains links to all the source documents (interviews, memos, etc). Quite the rabbit hole to go down. This interview with BGen Brian Copes, Indiana Army Guard, was just three pages, but hit on a lot of the major topics (too much money, too much in-fighting between DoD, DoS, etc, too much "top-down" thinking, etc). https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/documents-database/?document=copes_brian_ll_05_c15_02252016

I feel like that article kinda buried the lede.... So the United States Air Force, the world-renowned King of spending taxpayer dollars, has been sitting on $160 million of unspent funds for Light Attack? With some of those funds up to three years old? I think that's the most powerful piece of evidence showing that the Air Force does not care about Light Attack.

We have candidates legitimately trying to normalize the concept of wealth confiscation for the common good. On the Left, I think they don't have a chance in hell of winning the general election. It's incredibly hard to unseat an incumbent president, and I have to think it's going to be next to impossible considering the current crop of clowns on the debate stage. As for Trump, I guess he could be called "unconventional," but I don't think he's entirely as unique as the news media would have you believe. By all accounts, Lyndon Johnson was a boorish, loudmouthed asshole who you wouldn't want running your local grocery store, much less your country. However, we didn't have the internet, cable news, and digital cameras in every pocket, so no one was the wiser. I dunno, just perspective from flyover country, I guess.

Ehhhh........ If your worldview stops at the boundaries of Washington DC, and if you determine the health of the country based on what's on CNN/FOX/etc, then yeah, it looks kinda bad. Honestly, I think the majority of Americans are doing ok, and the country as a whole is going about their business. But that kind of narrative doesn't get clicks, so you won't normally hear it.

We need to evaluate all our overseas engagements against the Powell Doctrine. If we can't answer in the affirmative to each and every question, then we need to go home. Spoiler alert: In the vast majority of cases, we need to go home.

Mattis was on Meet the Press this morning, talking about how much he disagrees with the Syria pull-out. And AOC was all for pulling out of Syria, until she wasn't. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2019/10/09/classic-ocasiocortez-wanted-us-troops-out-of-syriauntil-trump-agreed-n2554471 What a bunch of nonsense. I hope this is just the beginning of our draw-down in the Middle East.

This article had an interesting and seemingly a plausible explanation for bright saucers moving at phenomenal speeds.

Shouldn't the Kurds have expected this from the start? That we'd be by their side, every step of the way, and then one day we'd drop everything and leave? I mean, as others have stated, we have a track record of doing just that. One would think the Kurds would have planned accordingly.

Another article talking about what happens if when we leave. Will Afghanistan remain stable, will it crumble, will it be someplace in between, etc. This part below was news to me though. Can't help but think "what might have been," had we declared victory back in 2001, handed things over to the Taliban with a stern warning to not f-it-up, or else, and gone home. https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-the-new-afghanistan-survive-americas-exit-11569596722?mod=hp_lead_pos11

When Cape Air announced their "orders" for Eviation's electric aircraft, both companies got a ton of positive press. I'd assume both Cape Air and Eviation were ecstatic about all the exposure. However, I wouldn't equate Cape Air's "order" of the Alice as any kind of indication of the aircraft's feasibility. Eviation has a "prototype" that was shown at the Paris Air Show this year, but they have yet to fly. Poking around the net, it seems like they're projecting a first flight late 2019, and certification in 2022. Three years from first flight to certification is attainable for a conventional aircraft, but it seems like an incredibly optimistic schedule for something with such an unconventional design and power source. I'd bet that Cape Air's "order" has no real teeth to it, and allows either company to back out at any time, with no financial penalties at all. The aircraft really sounds like a whole lot of vaporware.

Doesn’t surprise me, but source?

Damn. She's a nutjob.

I live in glorious Cook County IL, and have always kicked around the idea of buying a multi-unit property. Live in one, rent out the rest, that sort of thing. Poking around the net, I see conflicting info on the max amount that can be lent using a VA loan for a multi-unit property, either 484k or 931k. Advice or thoughts from those who know this stuff?

All kinds of stuff on the Air Force amn/nco/snco page about mold at Lackland. https://www.facebook.com/AirForceForum Getting picked up in the press as well. https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Mold-found-in-1-100-dorm-rooms-on-Lackland-14268580.php Lackland AFB has been there for a long time, how the hell does it all of a sudden become mold - infested?

Damn. Worse than I thought.

This. Also, right now it's just a lot of noise. You have 25 different Democrat candidates all clamoring to have themselves heard. The majority of voters aren't really paying attention until the field starts to shrink, and we get closer to the primaries.

Source? Genuinely curious to read more.

I have a tough time believing that this guy was flying a Mirage as a mercenary. If nothing else, there has to be hundreds (if not thousands) of folks out there with actual tactical jet experience who would have been more qualified than this guy. Thinking former pilots from third-world Air Forces, etc. Got to think that any organization sophisticated enough to have a flyable Mirage would at least capable of performing enough vetting to determine if someone had some semblance of previous experience. Although hell, maybe this guy is enough of a bullshit artist to pull it off. Think someone could practice enough on a PC-based flight sim to credibly fly a Mirage?

Don't disagree with any of your post, but I thought it was more along the lines of Shanahan didn't want his son's name plastered all over the news. Seemed like the wife was borderline nuts, the son went after the mom with a baseball bat, and the whole thing sounded really sad. Didn't think it was so much that Shanahan was going to be accused of anything, but more that all his family drama would be drug up for all the world to see.

Saw Triple Frontier on Netflix, and now I want the last two hours of my life back. You get the feeling they blew 95% of the money on getting A-list actors, and then kinda phoned-in everything else. The storytelling was uneven, there were random plot threads that went nowhere, and the whole thing felt kinda mediocre and silly.

Well, how else are we gonna beat those dang Rooskies?

Given the complaints I've seen here about Aero Clubs (bureaucracy, red tape, general nonsense), any thoughts about establishing a "Cannon Aero Club" at the nearby municipal airport?

What on God’s Green Earth would Nancy Pelosi hope to accomplish by going to Afghanistan?

I assume that, the fewer DC-10/MD-11 types flying in commercial service, the harder it gets to maintain the KC-10s? Any idea what UPS and FedEx's plans are for retiring their fleets?

I like the fact that they're publicizing the blistering incompetence of the AF depot at Warner Robbins.