Clayton Bigsby

Feel like this is a matter of time…

^ The Ukes are pretty much taking a cue from the Zombieland movies with the 'Zombie kill of the week'

It gets better - https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-strikes-back-su-27s-bomb-occupied-snake-island-in-daring-raid?fbclid=IwAR3qm0iEQsLGb79URx810dkhziqTxn0T8lSOKt7XNyQJDztzBLy6zuZbdJY&utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc

^ Man you really buy into that Russo-centric Manifest Destiny horseshit, don't you?

"The Batman" is on HBO now, so I could watch it at home on my 4K home theatre, pause it to go take a piss and not miss out on anything (great for a 3 hr show), make my own non-shitty non-salt-bomb popcorn, etc. Read that the writer/director wanted to re-imagine Bruce Wayne as a pseudo Kurt Cobain, as a strung-out reclusive night shift guy, and used Pattinson's pasty emo vampire background ability to go a bit further. Which is interesting, seeing said dude in Tenet and a fucked-up indie sci-fi movie called 'High Life', he's obviously more than that. Anyway it was okay. I give it a 7/10 or so, maybe 8. C to B effort.

Seems there's been some massive industrial fires at key infrastructure sites over the past few days. The kind that grinds Russia's ability to make missile propellants, chemicals, solvents, etc to a halt. That they can't now import due to sanctions. Real shame.

Two holes, like maybe two anti-ship missiles? So many Ruskov lies...

The Dream is dead

Don't forget all them German helmets!

I just call her 'Jizz-lane' Frankly, it's accurate.

WTF are you talking about of California being locked down?!? I live there, no such thing...

Hey fucker!

Because it's part time? I guess that opens the question of what happens when one goes on orders or a unit activation, I'm guessing that individual would be exempted. I personally think having military representation/experience in government is a good thing, beyond Veteran's Preference for federal jobs. Lindsey Graham, Ted Lieu, others. Why further widen the already huge gulf between the citizenry you serve, and the military membership? Frankly I'm at the other end of things, and feel more politicians should have stake in America than just ambition, vanity and ego. I'd support a service requirement just to qualify for office. I disagree with a lot of you, I feel the loss of Kinzinger is a bad thing. Obviously I'm not a MAGA guy but I'm no lefty either.

Obviously these guys got out, unlike a lot of other much less fortunate people, but the worldwide communications relays here sure are interesting. CCTs initially had the wrong freqs? https://warisboring.com/21st-century-dunkirk-the-story-of-how-air-traffic-controllers-used-social-media-dms-to-help-rescue-friends-trapped-in-afghanistan/

Yeah. And betrayal from Washington is hardly a new thing.

Seeing reports saying the last American forces are out.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/afghanistan-debacle-fuels-general-officer-crisis?fbclid=IwAR0VjSz-rb_E4TlObu2uYtC82Umxg358nA9wgs9Pa0eHqAlSICijzKkWzEA

https://news.yahoo.com/court-blocks-judges-decision-overturn-041542099.html

Army of the Dead was a bit promising for like the first 2/3rds of it, then gets bogged down in standard zombie film cliché for the final bit. But at least it's 2.5 hrs long. Big meh on it. It had potential... And the fall of Vegas is because of the ineptitude of a SrA! Love it.

It was on ABC and NBC news' national broadcasts tonight.

For me at an immediate level, absolutely immeasurably yes on the first two. I'm an ATC, federal employee. Being reclassified as a political appointee and having my due process rights waived was not something I was happy about, because I'm not an appointee, and that was just within the last couple weeks. Let's also not forget the two and a half months I went without a paycheck, over the holidays no less, for absolutely nothing. It's not the first shutdown I've been through, it certainly won't be the last (guessing we have one coming in a month or so), but it was the longest and the most obscene. And the anti-labor executive orders...don't think I even need to explain those, how detrimental they'd be. I'm very active in our union, it's the proper avenue for us to improve and address the workplace. I think we have a good mix where it's optional to be in the union in the first place, you only pay dues if you're in, and we can't strike so the legally-mandated communication is different. I could go on if needed but I think I made my point. Also I was very concerned for the future of my profession, our wage, and my leave time...lots of talk of big changes for those in a second term. And our labor contract expires two years into it. For the satisfaction of identity as an American...well, I'd like to be able to travel the world again, and it's somewhat abhorrent that we still can't go to Canada or any of Europe because of the President's erratic-at-best, or even lack of plan for COVID. Our response and stats do all the talking here. You can say what you want on political leanings or leverage, but the fact that we're shut out from our longest-standing, closest allies should alarm you. And sadly I trust the career politician to create a functional, cohesive government/cabinet more than the current clown show that only favors loyalty, like it's the fucking Mob or something.

You think the US made gains with Russia the past 4 years? Donnie did Vlad's bidding on the reg. Agreed on China and Iran, but so much could have been done with both of those, so much more effectively. Dude was all over the place.

ATCer here. I'm a Tower guy, so explaining what Center/Tracon dudes do can be difficult because 1) it wasn't me and 2) the equipment and rules they use are very different (even from each other). As absurd as this guy with the phone seems, keep in context the terrain surrounding the area, and the locations of radar antennae and radio transmitter/receivers - for Centers they're optimized for talking to people in the flight levels above 10k, and around terrain (which there's lots of in that area) you lose line-of-sight and radar contact/comms very quickly below those altitudes. Assuming the aircraft is semi-controllable, which it obviously was, and someone on a multi-crew aircraft is able to maintain communications, passing along a phone number while you can is a prudent move and it wasn't just so the mishap aircraft could cancel IFR on the ground. There's lots of info needed and it's likely that was rapidly going to be the only way to communicate with the Center, who can pass around useful stuff like Lat/Longs and other crucial info for emergency response and not just rely on eyewitnesses calling 911. Also do J-models have integrated Sat Phones, like the C-17's Aero-I? Also where this occurred is just beyond the eastern fringes of the servicing approach, SoCal Tracon (SCT), and at the lower levels of Los Angeles Center (ZLA). SCT in the area is really set up to work the Palm Springs TRSA and to feed/sequence the satellite airports in the area (Bermuda Dunes and Thermal), and there's a basic ATC procedure of not forcing radio frequency changes on emergency aircraft unless better handling will result. Someone in an emergency descent from the low twenties or teens (not sure where MC-130s do their A/R) isn't a whole lot of time to work with beyond an emergency point out as you blow through someone else's airspace. Finally the LiveATC tape was edited so not all the comms are there. Anyway consider the limfacs, don't just look at it as quibbling. Very very happy there was such a happy end result. America!