Prozac

Sorry. Didn’t realize we were just cutting blank checks. DOS seems to have some idea where things are going: https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-ukraine/

Here’s the overarching point you keep missing: the people in power who claim to care about the national debt….don’t. It’s simply a talking point that they know their base likes to hear, so they repeat it over and over, knowing full well that they will do nothing meaningful to address the issue. So when they argue that debt is a reason to withhold aid to Ukraine, I’m sorry but they’re absolutely full of shit.

Bullshit. I’ll just leave this pie chart here. Until we decide to tackle Medicare and Social Security (and we should), any other discussion about debt is pedantic. It’s like blaming Joe Blow’s debt problem on the sensible shoes he just bought & ignoring the $2k payment on the $70k truck he can’t afford.

And what effect, exactly, would cutting funding to Ukraine have on that clock? How ‘bout cutting half the current DOD budget? Or all of it? The vast majority of our debt problem stems from Social Security & Medicare, neither of which are going anywhere anytime soon. Cutting aid to Ukraine in the name of stemming debt is laughable.

We’ve decided it’s worth it to participate in other countries’ defense because the benefits of having secure, friendly nations to trade with far outweigh the cost incurred in defending them. We want more Germanys and fewer Chinas.

Let’s lighten this thread up a bit…

Yep. Wish we did better in that regard, and I’ll continue to work & vote to that end, but you won’t see me emigrating to Sweden anytime soon. Lots of absolutists on the internet these days. If you’re liberal, the Republicans are leading us into oblivion & if you’re conservative, the Dems are marching us straight into hell. Time to give it a rest. Stop letting our own visions of perfect blind us from seeing what a good thing we have. That’s how we lose it.

No, I’m pretty sure I know exactly what I meant when I said it’s all relative and it’s you who miss the point. Some here continually argue that the U.S. is a dumpster fire. My point (along with others) is that it doesn’t matter. Maybe we are a complete mess (Though I think it’s a bit hyperbolic to argue that point), but we’re the least bad option out there. And that’s the way it’s always been. We’ll never be perfect, but given all other options, the US is a pretty fuckin’ good place to be. Try and make it better while your here, but also enjoy it because, at the end of the day, your time here is vanishingly short.

Ok So-Crates, school me…

It’s all relative. Always has been. Always will be. The world’s always been a complete fuck show. It’s a little less so today than it was a hundred years ago, and so on. Bashing one’s head against wall because the world doesn’t conform to what they wish were true may be satisfying for a while, but eventually becomes painful & counterproductive. People have been sure the sky is falling for millennia and yet, the world goes on. Focus on the things you can control, be glad you’re in the best possible place on the planet at the moment, and enjoy the show while you’re here.

I think you may have some flawed assumptions about what JA is. The days of “you pick up the phone, you’re on the hook to fly” are long gone. JA is completely voluntary at every airline that I’m aware of and usually comes with some serious financial incentives should you decide to accept the JA assignment. At my company, it’s 150% pay. I believe others are higher. If scheduling makes it through the entire seniority list with no takers, they may be inclined to offer further incentives. Sometimes flights cancel for lack of crews when there are no takers. Over this last summer, it was not uncommon for me to get two or three JA calls in a day. My time off was more valuable to me and I don’t think I picked up a single extra trip. I have friends that did and made a LOT of money. It’s good to have choices. When your bros at SWA & elsewhere talk about being forced to work overtime, they may be referencing the fact that most airlines can keep you out past your originally scheduled return to domicile. It’s not super uncommon to be returned to base a day (or sometimes more) later than scheduled & it can be infuriating if you had hard plans on your first day off. Every contract I’m aware of discourages this practice with extra pay that ramps up quickly the longer you’re kept out. There are stories at my company about people making absolutely stupid money when they got stuck in Europe for over a week when the volcano in Iceland blew a few years back. Late arrival sucks, but at least you’re compensated for it. The other way you get “forced” into working overtime is through line construction. At my company, minimum guarantee is 75hrs per 28 day pay period. On certain fleets, you’d be hard pressed to find a line constructed below 80 hrs and we have some pushing 85, so that is sometimes considered a sort of forced overtime as well. Hope that clears things up a bit. There are obviously a lot of us here who consider our QOL to be much better than when we in the AF and time off and pay are certainly some hard metrics that support that position. Doesn’t mean we’re shitting on those who choose to stick around. On the contrary; I appreciate those who continue to serve and am sometimes in awe. I didn’t have the patience to continue. There are a lot of intangibles that might make someone decide to stay in. I don’t think the “threat” of JAs should factor into one’s decision though.

This right here says it all. You know you’ve made good decisions in life when you’re complaining about the seats in international first class! 😂 Oh, and I’m not picking on AirGuardian; I’ve thrown out similar complaints…..wouldn’t be aircrew if we weren’t whining about something. But I’d much rather be bitching about first class than black mold in my Q at the ‘Died.

I wouldn’t know for sure, but I hear there’s a pill for that particular affliction.

Nope. Here’s another: What’s the difference between Covid & SWA? Covid is airborne.

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that there are a lot of Americans who don’t put too much stock in what a guy who lets the internet vote him out of a job has to say. Same goes for pillow salesmen. Same goes for washed up mayors yelling on dildo factory street corners. Same goes for gay frog fear mongers. I get the right doesn’t trust the “mainstream” media. I even get why. What I don’t get is why people think Scott Baio & Alex Jones are going to somehow give them the truth.

I’m arguing we already have jarheads on CVNs and they’re already reliant on USN to drive their assault ships anyway. The idea of fully contained Marine forces is nice, but it’s far from reality. Let them have their fixed wing assets - I get that a Marine pilot has a unique outlook on supporting grunts. I just have trouble understanding what VTOL really brings to the fight and/or why it’s worth the expense. Anyway, didn’t mean to derail the thread. That mishap looked like a wild ride. Glad the pilot got out safely. 🍺

M’Kay….where does it say they have to be VTOL?

Honest question: why? I thought we were living in the modern age of joint operations. Each service brings different & complimentary capabilities to the fight. The idea that the Marines are gonna go storm the beach with no help from anyone is a pipe dream. If we’re doing an amphibious op requiring support from 5th gen fighters, I think the Navy will be chalking up a carrier for that one. If it has to be leathernecks providing the CAS, put ‘em in C models and launch them off the cat.

You miss the point. He doesn’t represent you or your values. He only plays at it because that’s what you and so many others wanted to hear. Like it or not, “the establishment” is a framework of necessary evils we get to work within. I don’t care much for it either, but the “establishment” in the United States currently beats all the other options out there. Even a president isn’t going to burn it all down in one or two terms and the idea that one might is the ultimate fools errand. Like it or not, burning the “establishment” down puts our country in a much shittier position than it’s currently in.

He served himself up on a platter. You’re surprised people are now carving him up? 🤔 I’m curious as to what your reaction would have been to a Hillary NFT card deck while Trump was still in office. I imagine the conservative reaction to something like that would make Trump’s recent critics look quite civil.

I think rather than ‘smart’, the more fitting term for him is ‘shrewd’. He owes a lot of whatever success he’s had in life (which can be debated….celebrity doesn’t equal success in my book) to his willingness to to walk all over others and be an absolute chameleon. Don’t forget that the guy who turned the Supreme Court into a conservative juggernaut was once a pro-abortion Democrat. He saw his ‘in’ as the anti-establishment guy and adapted himself appropriately.

Let me put it another way: He’s not stupid (and quite shameless apparently) when it comes to manipulating others for his own personal gain. Agreed that he has otherwise said and done some monumentally dumb shit.

The Donald is a lot of things. Stupid probably isn’t one of them. The fact his NFT garbage pail kids sold out probably says more about his die hard supporters & the direction they’re trying to pull the country in than anything else.

WTF is happening? Am I dreaming? Is this real? Tell me this is a deep fake, or cgi, or something. Holyfuckingshitballs, this guy used to be president? Guys, if you supported this yahoo at any point, tell me you see it now. Please tell me you see how objectively bad it was to elect the online steak salesman who has to have his name in gold on everything he touches. That doesn’t mean you have to like Hillary or Joe or anyone else who doesn’t support your views. But, c’mon. Time to admit that DJT was not, is not, and never will be representative of what we stand for as a country. Please, please, please, derail the Trump train forever and swear off candidates like him (looking at you MTG & Lauren Boebert).