gearhog

I was just reading the news story about LeBron James, son, Bronny (18) who had a heart attack during a workout. Then I found that someone compiled a list of all the recent news stories regarding young athletes who collapsed and/or died Apr 2023 and before https://goodsciencing.com/covid/athletes-suffer-cardiac-arrest-die-after-covid-shot/

How many lies have we been told recently? Recent government information on nearly every issue that has captivated the public fear and fascination has been suspect. COVID, climate change, vaccines, Monkeypox, Russia, North Korea, AFG, inflation, gov spending, DEI, elections, immigration, social issues, etc, etc, etc. Now UFOs. I have two theories: Either we have these non-elected "intelligence" services promoting narratives that either contribute to the expansion of authority, enrich DC elite, or distract from their failures.... Or, it's just a bunch of morons wasting time and money deliberating over rumors, fantasies, and gossip. "I want to believe." But, given the recent track record, I'm not buying the whole "Well, Sally said Peter knows a guy whose cousin saw a dead alien. Here's a 240p video of a white dot in the sky at night." Show up with a wrecked spaceship, head of an alien, or kick rocks.

Just doing a little reading. 20 July - Grassley released the FBI memo regarding the foreign bribery scheme. Three of the people mentioned are: the CHS (Confidential Human Source) Zlochevsky - Burisma CEO who claims to have text messages and proof of bribery. Ostapenko - Works in the Zelensky administration, connected the source and Zlochevsky. All three were associates working together. Sources are now claiming that Zelensky, through Ostapenko, has had possession of all information and materials related to the bribery scheme. Zelensky became president in 2019. Biden in 2020. In September 2020, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved Ukraine's new National Security Strategy, which provides for the development of the distinctive partnership with NATO with the aim of membership in NATO. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm Jan 25, 2021 - The Biden administration immediately began spending billions on Ukraine - all before the invasion. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/biden-has-proven-track-record-ukraine-what-can-we-expect-his-administration Coincidence? What would you do if you were a foreign leader with proof of crimes committed by the current US presidential administration?

Brown did say that he had application goals. As long as the applicants fall into one of the targeted percentage groups he specified in his memo, he could reinstate them with rank and back pay just as Sen Schmidt wanted. Everyone's happy, right?

Same time?

Great post. Can you give a vague synopsis of what happened?

You could actually slap people around in the 1970s? How can you say that's not better? Now words are violence. 😄 You bring up an interesting point. Some perks, benefits, and conditions may be better, but "kids these days" think it sucks. All of the things you're touting can be gotten outside the military as well. The "Job" is the difference. Why is it no longer attractive to recruits? https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/14/2003035423/-1/-1/1/STRENGTHENING-FOOD-SECURITY-IN-THE-FORCE-STRATEGY-AND-ROADMAP.PDF "Analysis of the 2020 SOFS-A indicates that 76% of total active duty Service members were food secure and 24% of active duty Service members experienced food insecurity at some point in the preceding year of the survey."

Fair shot. I made a mistake. I was intending to say that because of the issues with our demographics, The borders aren't being enforced because leadership is attempting to engineer a societal solution by importing migrants. I had the below clip of Pelosi in mind when I posted it. Because they don't have as many entitlement benefits, these people will be members of the lower class, willing to do unskilled jobs at a lower price, and upon given voting rights, will attempt to vote a certain way in response to promises that they're lives will be improved. I recently did a motorcycle ride through the San Joaquin Valley during harvest. It was shocking. I looked up the definition of social engineering and it's not what I was attempting to say. I meant nothing to the effect of lizard people or illuminati or whatever you thought I was alluding to.

This guy is one of my favorite Youtubers. If only all journalists were as thoughtful and unbiased. He simply lets people tell their stories and doesn't tell you what to think about it. This is obviously a deliberate effort on the part of our government to allow this invasion. Is it really just to boost the Democratic voter rolls as some suggest? Are we just importing cheap unskilled labor? European nations are proactively importing migrants. This is some sort of social engineering.

Overall, I liked my career. 22 years. The vast majority within the context of the GWOT or whatever we're going to call that period. But it's over. This is a different era. Different enemies, different leadership, rules, procedures, technology, and social values. Many of the things I liked most about my career couldn't happen today. I didn't become jaded and disgruntled. I became experienced and wiser. The military changed more than I did. My perspective broadened as time went on. It's fun believing in the Easter Bunny until you find out he's not real and the eggs come from factory farms. What about serving today is better than 10-20 years ago? Why do you think it will remain the same or improve for someone who joins today?

For those of us that flew the Herc or other tac airlift, I feel like we had a different perspective than many. Between early 2002-2018 I went into nearly every 2500'+ C-130 capable airstrip in and around the AOR. We got to see nearly every part of it from below 20,000' and 250kts. Tents at the end of dirt strips became B-huts, Q-huts, Prefabs, then permanent concrete structures. Dirt strips got paved, lengthed. Giant hangers, cubic miles of concrete poured in dozens upon dozens of locations. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles and equipment bought, used up and discarded. You'd see them piled in junkyards near many locations. We were constantly hauling contractors, Haliburton, KBR, Fleur, Raython, etc. Often talk to them and discuss the obscene amouts of money they were making for menial jobs. I wrote a story a while back about flying with the Undersecretary of Defense comptroller who, on the flight deck, bragged about a stack of fake currency he showed us with his face in the middle and denominated in One-Billion-Out-Year Dollars. He was handing them out to Generals to demonstrate he had unlimited funds. He was a douchebag. He later couldn't account for 2 Trillion Dollars. But, I sort of feel fortunate to have seen this monumental effort unfold over the course of my career. For much of it, I wanted to believe it was meaningful and the correct thing to do. But I'm also embarrassed that I bought into the whole "They hate your freedom and want to destroy it" line. So naive. I'm sure some of what we did prevented a lot of bad things from happening. Did other things create a lot of suffering? More? Less? I don't know. Are we a better nation because of it? We'd have blindfolded and drugged detainees strapped to the cargo floor one day, and HR containers the next. We'd reconfig for Medevac. Mulitated soldiers and local civilians including children. It all seemed pretty crazy. What I did not see much of was the up close killing, so I can't comment on that aspect. I guess my point being, looking back, it was the most insanely one-sided conflict in the history of mankind, and I got to see a lot of it, first hand, from a variety of perspectives, over 16 years. We lost 2996 on 9/11. In the war after, we lost maybe 7000 KIA and 8000 contractors. I just looked, 30,000 suicides since. We lost a couple hundred thousand allied troops. I can't find the number of losses we inflicted on the bad guys, though. I have no idea. But the world probably isn't going to miss a few hundred thousand barefoot goat-herders with AK-47s. Sort of makes you wonder what kind of effort fighting a near-peer adversary would require. That's a long way of saying it was maybe worth it for a little while, and it wasn't for a long while.

How so?

This is what happens when your government becomes rotten at the core. Your military services lose faith. Today, another 10,000 Israeli reservists announced they'll join the hundreds of Air Force pilots and quit. We had better start paying more attention to domestic issues in the US. “We’ve got to fight for a country that our children will want to live in,” they said, opposing “a leadership with unbridled power and an extreme agenda.” Many reservists have been warning in recent months they will not be able to serve in an undemocratic Israel, which some charge the country will become if the government’s overhaul plans are realized. “Legislation that affects the Jewish or democratic character of the State of Israel must be carried out through negotiations and broad public agreement,” the 1,142 reservists said. “Legislation that allows the government to act in an extremely unreasonable manner will harm the security of the State of Israel, will cause a loss of trust and a violation of my consent to continue risking my life, and will lead, with deep sorrow and no choice, to suspending my volunteer reserve duty,” they added.

It's not over. Yesterday, the Joe Biden Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court to hear its case and reinstate its authority to mandate COVID vaccines (and future vaccines) for Federal employees.

Save every document with your name on it. Document every medical visit. Do partial DITY moves. Randomly buy pizza and beer for the Es.

21 July 2023: US to give Ukraine new $400 million military aid package By Mike Stone and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States plans to announce as soon as Tuesday a new military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $400 million, primarily comprised of artillery, air defense missiles and ground vehicles as Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, three U.S. officials said on Friday. https://wsau.com/2023/07/21/us-to-give-ukraine-new-400-million-military-aid-package/

How is it you don't understand what I was referring to when I said he succeeded? I wrote he was there to boost anti-government protestors and bring about a transition to an anti-Russian government, or... regime change. In that, he was successful because that is what happened. I know you're just trying to take a jab, but you're reaching a little there. 😀 "There is no doubt that Ukraine is of vital importance to Putin." "The beginning of Russia was right here in Kiev, so Putin views it as highly important." Are you telling me McCain didn't know he was stirring up a hornet's nest? I'm not excusing Russia invading Crimea or Ukraine. But it was obvious that if we "supported" yet another regime change, Putin was going to react. Do you think McCain thought nothing would happen? I'm tired of helping with regime changes. What's our foreign government body count in the last 20-30 years? Which ones went on to become beacons of Democracy? How is Ukraine doing on that front? You do realize Zalensky suspended Ukrainian elections. So what's the f'n point? I want America to be the best and most admired nation on the planet. But I want it to be done the right way, with democracy, integrity, hard work, productivity, and fair dealing. We're slipping into a situation where we no longer on relying on those things to be king of the hill, but bribery, meddling, provocation, and intimidation. What happens when we can no longer purchase or coerce friendship? As evidenced by the growing waiting list of countries appealing to join BRICS, tolerating US foreign policy is no longer worth the US dollars being received by many. "Yeah, but they're shitholes no one cares about." Case in point. I'm not disparaging America as a whole, but our government has been corrupted. Their actions reflect such, especially this one. I'll mention this again: How can you applaud an escalation toward war when the very same people doing the actual escalating have a track record of failures (AFG), dirty dealings, and corruption? How many threads do we have here on this forum lamenting the state of our leadership? But somehow, on this one issue, these clowns suddenly become chivalrous and noble? If Russia is your enemy, why are you paying someone else to fight them? There is nothing noble in instigating the toppling a government then prodding (forcing) 10s (100s?) of thousands of your allied Ukrainian "friends" to march straight into the meat grinder that results while pretending to be shocked and indignant from the other side of the planet. We're still trying to expand an empire on a rotting foundation. Again: we have a long list of threads here more or less unanimously testifying to such. Economically, Politically, Socially, and Militarily. This doesn't end well for the United States. It should be obvious to anyone willing to set aside their biases and take an objective look. I'm trying to not be overly confrontational on this, but I'm not arguing for sport, either. I understand your convictions because I also had them. I don't change my mind easily, but I did on this issue because as I tried to sift through the BS and sort out the facts, the story of how our government currently operates kept conflicting with my personal values and belief so often that I could no longer reconcile it. I want to fix America, not Ukraine.

December 16, 2013: John McCain goes to Kiev in an attempt to "Boost Anti-Government Protestors". He addresses the crowd of protestors to "bring about a peaceful transition" from it's current government to pro-Western government. He alludes to the potential loss of the Sevastopol naval base by the Russians. He succeeded. Feburary 27, 2014: Russia invaded Crimea.

You write professionally? I'd love to see it. Please post an example. I beg to differ. Almost everyone on this forum are highly educated and highly trained professional pilots and navigators. Are you? You only seem interested in this thread, but not in any threads pertaining to this profession. That's odd. Where did I parrot anything about Burisma? I made absolutely zero commentary or assessment. I just gave you an official FBI document, and you became highly agitated. Maybe a bit overly defensive. Hmmm. Self doubt much? LOL. The reason I think you're very young is because you keep attempting to assert yourself by explaining things you don't understand. You keep using the words proof and evidence without knowing the definition of either. The official FBI document is information provided by a source. Should it become witness testimony, it is evidence of wrong doing. The problem being, the legal process is being obstructed, preventing it from becoming proof. You know what my counter arguments will be? Now you're just imagining things about me in order to please yourself. Hmm. Listen, you've been "bringing up" Hunter Biden's dong in every one of your posts. Go back and look. You'll notice a trend. As a matter of fact, Hunter Biden is the only subject you seem interested in on this entire forum. It's more than a little strange. Why are you here?

Oh no! Mind if I ask how old you are? It seems you are either very young, or stumbled through life without learning how to write in a way that doesn't make you look stilted and awkward. We're not going to meet, so you should stop trying to imagine it. An assurance of authority is not authority. It's a cop out. He's using technicalities to shirk his duties. I don't think you understand how the legal process works. Do you think a person must be guilty before being charged? There is a compendium of evidence (see the link I posted in the first page of this thread to the complete contents of his laptop) that he committed crimes. MTG presented some of that evidence. It was pretty shocking, but what do you do when you, as a legislative body, pass laws that are not enforced by the judiciary? There is enough probable cause and evidence to indict by any reasonable standard, but it hasn't happened because the process has become political, and two-tiered. You certainly wouldn't be given the same treatment should your laptop be investigated. I have never once used the word guilty. You did. As for the rest... lol. I realize there is no nudity for you to get worked up over in the documents that were released today, but if you can read better than you can write, you may find something even more shocking:

What about the 10 July letter is different? "I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested Special Counsel designation pursuant to 28 CFR § 600 et seq. Rather, I had discussions with Departmental officials regarding potential appointment under 28 U.S.C. § 515, which would have allowed me to file charges in a district outside my own without the partnership of the local U.S. Attorney. I was assured that I would be granted this authority if it proved necessary. And this assurance came months before the October 7, 2022, meeting referenced throughout the whistleblowers’ allegations. In this case, I’ve followed the process outlined in my June 30 letter and have never been denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction. So, at this moment, does he, or does he not, currently have legal authority to file charges? I am asking you. If not, why not? You tell me. What is there to concede? Your assessment of what is and is not acceptable is 100% purely subjective based on your own personal biases. You don't want a concession, you just want me to agree with your opinion. Hunter Biden is not a public figure? What is the litmus test that you use to proclaim who is and is not a public figure? You're just spouting opinions. Not a single one of your grievances is based in a rule or law. Do you normally feign moral outrage and expect people to surrender just because you threw a hissyfit over your hurt feelings? Protip: This debate tactic does not work. Many people here are providing evidence of legal wrongdoing. If you want to participate, you should too. Oh, look.. The family values guy with a moral superiority complex is sarcastically pretending to quote Jesus.

Who is misleading? Weiss said he had "ultimate authority" to bring charges against Hunter Biden. After the whistleblowers, he wrote this: "As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district. If venue for a case lies elsewhere, common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case. If not, I may request Special Attorney status from the Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 515. Here, I have been assured that, if necessary after the above process, I would be granted § 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter." So he attempts to confuse and complicate the issue by essentially saying: "I do have ultimate authority, but only if I request Special Counsel Status from the Attorney General. He told me I would get it if I asked for it, but I haven't asked for it. Until I ask for Special Counsel status, prosecution can only be brought by the DOJ in DC, California, or elsewhere, so I don't have authority until I ask for it, and I haven't asked for it, but if I did, I would. Until I do, I simply cannot charge Hunter Biden with any crimes, but I could if the AG lets me." LOL. What a joke. So you acknowledge that the photos may be photographic evidence of crimes being committed. I'll settle for that.

Correct, he did say that but only before the testimony of the whistleblowers that detailed how the investigations were stymied by the DOJ. Immediately after, he contacted Jordan and the IRS and said he did not have the authority to prosecute Hunter. Why did he waffle? It's still odd that your delicate sensitivities are offended by photographic evidence of crimes being committed, but not by the crimes themselves. https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1681742609864163331?s=20

Weiss said he did not have the authority to do so. Weiss deferred to the DC US Attorney, who had decided not to bring charges. Trump is no longer around, and Weiss was afraid of the consequences, so he punted.