tac airlifter

Justice. B3 next.

Yea I don't bat an eye about Russian elections, I know they're BS since Russia is a dictatorship and we aren't their ally. Standard is higher for someone who wants my money to purportedly fight for my values. And the Afghans managed to hold elections, at our insistence, despite actual wartime conditions and an enemy who was actively conquering provinces. It's strange to hear from guys like nsplayr (who I personally like) about how UKR can't hold elections due to martial law and their constitution allows for that... and the constitution must always be followed of course. But that standard of strict adherence to the constitution doesn't apply to our 2nd amendment. Then I hear from other folks how elections would be so hard now, but we needed them in IZ/AFG because otherwise government is illegitimate. And of course UKR must be given cluster bombs and allowed to strike deep into Moscow but God forbid we strike structures in Yemen that might have terrorist kids inside. There's no logic to these inconsistencies. My sense is the pro-UKR war crowd lacks consistent application of principals they espouse. Which means they aren't principals, they're just feelings. And I get it, an unjust thing happened to Ukraine and Putin sucks. But damn dude, they have no path to victory. Zelenskyy outlaws opposition parties and has indefinitely suspended elections. He's asking for nukes. His military is posting hundreds of videos of them killing unarmed surrendering Russian soldiers (which is a war crime if I do it).... oh and we're broke. Time to negotiate peace and accept some territory lost. Table it for future reacquisition, it can't be defended anymore.

It's tough to reply to anything in this thread. You and others make good points & maybe we can have a good chat over whiskey sometime. Regarding the elections thing I'll just add I don't agree with your take above mainly because it's the opposite position our nation has had historically and no one explained why the change. The Afghans & iraqis both held elections during the height of their wars for survival. And we insisted because we knew the legitimacy of government directly correlates to the consent of the governed. We preached it loud for years, and I still agree with it.

Thanks for helping me understand their law better. Could you quote the applicable section of their constitution for my edification? I couldn't find it.

Fair question. Here's the alternative: let people vote on how to respond. Trump was very clear he wanted the war to end, and the US voted for him to execute those policies. Zelensky won't let his people vote, so they're stuck with forced conscription into the wood chipper. I'm not pro-Putin or condoning his actions. But explore this hypothetical with me: what if most Ukrainians would rather give ethnically Russian territory to the Russians than have their kids & grandkids die? Do they have a right to advocate politically for that? Zelenskyy says no.

This is the concise idea behind the pro-war movement and I applaud your brevity. Aside from its ghoulish nature, which I can get over, the pragmatic problem is you’re also feeding generations of Ukrainians into the wood chipper. Easy for us to accept that cost, but you’ve surrendered the moral high ground given Zelensky has suspended elections and imprisoned the opposition. It’s obvious to anyone this war will end with negotiated settlement allowing Russia to keep portions of Ukraine. break break Side note: it’s been infuriating to watch the same pussy US generals that wouldn’t sign off on structure strikes where we had 99% confidence it was all AQ inside now enthusiastically enabling UKR partner structure strikes with known civilians inside. They called off strikes on IS armed first responders pulling wounded HVIs out of vehicles but now cheer HD videos of surrendering unarmed Russians murdered by SUAS…. Where was this kill energy when we could have killed our way to victory in Afghanistan? The Taliban was way smaller than the Russian army, yet they shied away from attrition strategies which they now embrace on a larger and better armed/funded force? Our senior generals are total idiots. It’s clear they never fought to win the GWOT.

You misspelled “Zelensky covered for Biden’s blatant corruption when Trump shined light on his illegal behavior.”

Sure I'd entertain a conversation. You've seen me post here alot, I love entertaining conversations.

I disagree with the first (truncated) sentence; "no limits of evil" is an overstatement. He hasn't used artillery with chlorine, hasn't released weaponized plague...is he ordering mass rapes of sex slaves & posting it on the internet like ISIS? Hyperbole from the pro-UKR crowd turns off more listeners than gains converts. Putin is a murderous dictator for sure, and invading a sovereign country was wrong. Let's get over that and analyze COAs pragmatically because many mistakes thus far have been interwoven with grandiose moralism detracting from objectivity. I see zero evidence he wants a direct kinetic conflict with NATO. If anything, he has been reserved given what our side is doing. If RUS provided the Taliban major weapons systems, training right across the AFG border and live targeting the way we do... we'd have hit them directly. We would never accept from them what they are currently accepting from us. It's not from the goodness of his heart, it's because he's not strong enough to hit back or he knows he would lose a wider conflict or any number of reasons. But it shows a high degree of rational thought. I'm unwilling to pay anymore for Ukraine's defense and I'm unwilling to pay for Ukraine's reconstruction. I voted for somebody who is doing those things; it sucks for Ukraine, but life is unfair and my priority is my own country. Perhaps if UKR held elections or wasn't killing RUS civilians or hadn't blown the pipeline causing an environmental disaster I would entertain a conversation about "shared values" and "defending western norms" etc. but they're doing those things (admittedly in self-defense for a war they didn't start) so 🤷‍♂️

If Trump fires B3 I’m starting a petition for his face on Rushmore.

What lack of SA is the CRJ guilty of? The RW was on a different frequency, invisible via cockpit tools and they weren’t alerted to their presence. I’m seeing RW causal and ATC contributing but pretty tough to fault the dudes kept in the dark about conflicts while flying a night circle to short runway.

And this is why DEI is toxic, but moving on... I get your overall point about empathy for the young Capt-- but how do you suppose her unusual treatment is perceived by passenger families? I'm sorry for the family of Capt Lobach, it's terrible to lose a child and especially so having to hear her service disparaged. But if she did in fact cause this collision her privacy concerns are subordinate to victim family rights for accountability and Army transparency. We'll cross that bridge if the investigation validates what's been publicly released so far. I think it was a mistake for the Army to deviate from SOP.

The recent agreement is only a 30 day tariff pause, during which time we confirm Mexico & Canada are meeting terms.

Plot twist- the deep state isn't OGA or J2, or 3, or 35 or 5..... it's the J6! The one nobody ever expected! 🥃

This could be any of us at any moment. Live accordingly