GKinnear

Hey man...@Karl Hungus has a name...better put some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on it!

It's not Friday...but today is the day for the 80th Anniversary of the greatest picture ever taken...even if it's Marines

Yeah, used to keep tabs on the r/AirForce subreddit...stopped after I realized the same. It skews younger and shoe-clerk heavy. A few Commanders (allegedly) post there, but not a lot operational depth regardless. Their bitching about The Knife & Fat Tony would have been the same regardless of who the Commander was. A few good memes, but overall a waste of time She has 8 Air Medals...which is 8 more than CQ had. I haven't served with her, but that seems like an improvement over someone who couldn't even hit the 75% threshold and took the AAM as a consolation prize.

Wonder who they're talking about? 😅

Luckily, as you alluded, we don't use the national popular vote to determine the President...and looking at the electoral vote from the states, there was a clear majority (58%) in favor of Trump as #47. I also think you need to define who thought the election was an upset. Several polls have been exposed as heavily biasing to Democratic voters and didn't reflect reality.

Here's where we disagree in the math...the next years DoD Topline is adjusted from the baseline budget ($850B), not the adjusted after top-down guidance ($782B). Wash, rinse, and repeat for the next four years. The actual FYDP re-prioritization (not reduction as it's been publicized in media) comes out to....8%. Again, not a math guy...just a knuckle-dragging pilot who's a Kinesiology major from a small land-grant college in West Texas.

Well, maybe Sullivan did, but I don't recall where you or anyone on BO did...that's my point. From a policy standpoint, it's not a departure from previous admins and no one cared enough to bitch about it. It seems like it's a blatantly political opposition now. And again, the house vig stays in the house...the Iron Dome EO I posted earlier is a FY26 add and those funds are coming from somewhere. Can Congress add it in later as a specific appropriation for the out year, yes. Will it happen is a different question, even with a uni-party in control of 2/3 of the Federal Gov. For now, I choose to believe Congress will and we'll see the out-years adjust accordingly if they do. I'm also not a math guy and your WashPost is behind a firewall...but your 40% statement might need to have the work shown. Seems like your assumptions have inflation continuing upwards...that may be true, maybe not. I'm not concerned about the GDP percentage...I'm more concerned about the total Fed Gov spending as a percentage of GDP. Seems we're running about ~10% higher our 1980s peak, and 15% higher than 1950-1975. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_United_States#/media/File:Federal_state_local_percent_of_gdp.webp We need to bring it all down since I believe our debt is a bigger existential threat than Taiwan or Ukraine. I can back a robust deterrence strategy to maintain the International Rules-Based Order (which seems to breathing its last breath, unfortunately)...but I can't see the threat in either at this point that justify the continued waste of resources. I don't like wasted taxes from my own government...I hate it when it seems another government is wasting my tax dollars. But that's just me. As far as your comment about not giving up because it's hard...same can be applied to reigning in spending.

He's not directing a 30% cut...everything beyond the next POM (FY26 in this case) is an "out year" that sees massive changes when that year turns out to be the next one up. There's always an inflation adjustment to bump up the number...which by the way, the Biden Admin was using a baseline of 1.5% inflation when it was higher than that in reality, so getting an effective reduction in Defense spending power is a fine tradition across all political parties. Also...it's a reduction that flows up to SecDef to fund top-down guidance in the DOD. During the Biden and Lloyd years, a 2% POM reduction was standard. The only thing different here is the amount, but no one complained then. What's the big change to Defense priorities that POTUS mentioned in the first week of his 2nd First 100 Days? Homeland defense ain't going to pay for itself. https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-directs-the-building-of-the-iron-dome-missile-defense-shield-for-america/

More US Hockey excellence...maybe we need a hockey thread to go along with football and the field fairys thread

Those are topline numbers only...there are multiple discrete program elements that can be offset and not reduce mission effectiveness in that area, O&M has long been an easy cut to balance the portfolio...cut an FHP here, reduce an exercise by a day there...and BOOM!...a balanced budget. Or shit, go the Kendall route and just wholesale cut programs like the U-2 to pay for other shit...Sentinel ICBM missile silos aren't going to pay for themselves when you don't account for them.

How's that working out for our neighbors to the north...who brings a"go for the bronze" gusto that's done them so well over the years?

I think both the reg change and the reaction from the masses are distracting arguments...however, c'mon Big Blue, get your shit on one sock and make sure your public media recruiting campaigns are squared away first! Although having seen how the Puzzle Palace works over the last few budget cycles, the lack of thought beyond the initial good idea fairy isn't surprising.

Look up Black September and the PLO attack against the King in Jordan. Palestinian political power can't get along with anyone...to include a country that is populated with the same people and culture as them. Any goodwill the other countries may have to accept refugees has been burned by the Palestinians themselves.

The complaint in the report comes from Danielle Dietrich...who is not the sister of Pete's ex-wife. Danielle is the ex-wife of Pete's brother. It may not matter, but Pete's getting Kavanaugh-ed in the final minute of his confirmation process raises many doubts about the accuracy of the source. Single-source reporting in the intel world sucks unless the source has the street cred to back it up. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/senators-received-affidavit-containing-new-allegations-pete-hegseth-de-rcna188342?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=678ff942749f2f0001051b76&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter Money quote from the NBC reporting: "Belated claims by Danielle Dietrich, an anti-Trump far-left Democrat who is divorced from Mr. Hegseth’s brother and never got along with the Hegseth family, do nothing to change that," he said in a statement. "After an acrimonious divorce, Ms. Dietrich has had an axe to grind against the entire Hegseth family," he added. "Ms. Dietrich admits that she saw nothing but is now falsely accusing Sam of lying..." Samantha's (actual ex-wife) is getting her lawyer involved...so pop that corn indeed!