ViperMan

Interesting. I assumed they were required by statute so there was something publicly releasable so the US taxpayer got to have some sort of insight into where their tax dollars just went.

Welp. I guess it's started.

Thanks for the context.

Chef's kiss on this phrase. Perfection. Poetic. Catch-22. i.e. "We're doing this. So fuck you."

Ok, so I don't know the entire evolution of the _UPT timeline. I went circa '07 but already had my PPL, so I guess that meant I went around the time of IFT, but I didn't have to do it. In my mind USAF pilot training has basically been: UPT (60s, 70s, 80s). (S)UPT (90s, 00s) - with some variation or another of intro to flying in some sort of prop airplane (may or may not have attained a PPL)...if my memory serves, I think people were given like 25 hours in a prop to see if they could do at least that. Then, I get fuzzy. Was it IPT? with UPT 2.0, UPT Next, FUPT now? Seems like there was a schmorgasborg of choose your own adventures during the last 5-7 years. Which iteration of legacy is being referred to. If it's UPT and SUPT of old, then they are certainly off base.

Yeah, this is concerning. "In the new model, pilots will earn a private pilot certificate, instrument, and multi-engine ratings in approximately 120 flying hours within a maximum of 139 calendar days. Pilots then complete military specific flight training, earning wings after 108 days—55 hours in the T-6A and 50 hours in simulators. Leard explained, 'Prior to implementing this new program, our fundamental challenge was getting enough flying hours in the T-6A to meet our goal. This new program ultimately provides our pilots with more flight time than the legacy system while exposing them to a greater number of aviation competencies.'" There's a lot in that little snippet that I'm not even sure is factually true. I graduated UPT (technically SUPT) with over 200 hours - most of them were in the T-38. These guys are going to graduate with 175 hours with most of them in some combination of Cessnas and Pilatuses? Hmmm. Not sure they're getting more flight time. Certainly they're not getting more relevant flight time. Maybe he was referring to the T-1 track? Can't speak to what the T-1 guys graduated SUPT with, hours-wise. Does anyone know approximately? My top concern is that this just seems to be trading quality for quantity. Instead of wings with a star on top, can we begin issuing wings with an asterisk? Also, I would like the statement "exposing them to a greater number of aviation competencies" to be substantiated. I doubt this is true. And if it is, what competency did we just discover in the year of our lord 2025 to which I have not been exposed?

Things continue to go well for Russia...they are truly in the midst of finding out. ~ $2B in lost or damaged assets. ~ 1000 miles from the front lines in one case. More than 2000 miles in another. Four bases struck. I'm told this is what winning looks like for them? Victory must be right around the corner. This is a major boon for them. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-attacks-russian-nuclear-capable-bombers-siberia-2025-06-01/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/01/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news5291/ https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-stages-major-attack-russian-aircraft-with-drones-security-official-says-2025-06-01/

No. It was not. 2020 (COVID) riots. Race riots. George Floyd. Kenosha shootings. The Jan 6th "coup" (lol). CHOP/CHAZ. All those things were sanctioned by democrats in power. There was no corollary to any of that on the right. There was no equivalent behavior to those examples promulgated by the right wing. What we saw during 2016-2021 was left-wing hysteria driven, encouraged, and applauded by people in power. By people in our government. By people in our corporate media. I'm not denying the Glenn Becks and the Alex Jonses on the "right", but why the right wing was fixated on "issues" hadn't had anything to do with the RW media. It had everything to do with reality.

Well. Go ahead...we can read the AIBs, which are not safety privileged. Which ones?

If it doesn't require SECDEF energy, then it doesn't require my energy / attention. Fair enough? Get rid of all the DEI nonsense. I never want to here another peep about it. I'd rather have a competent CSSs and finance shops than read another email from the CSAF or SECDEF about some eye-roll BS.

I sense an important point here. What is it?

At bare minimum it'd be easy to say to the pharmaceutical companies they cannot charge the US more than the lowest price they sell their drug for in any other country. Not a price control. Just a balancing of the scales and an evening out of the "markets." Wanna sell your drug for .15/pill in Zimbabwe? Cool with us. That's our price too. The differential price structure is what's fucked. It allows triangulation of the American taxpayer via the mechanism of Medicare, Medicade, and all our other socialized healthcare. I get to work everyday and pay a lot of taxes at the threat of gunpoint for the privilege of lining these massive drug companies' pockets so they can deliver "healthcare." If anyone thought this was a free market, they were consuming mushrooms.

Bruh. Don't miss the point. The point of these tariffs isn't ultimately to bring our friends and allies to the bargaining table to ensure Americans get fair deals, m'kay. They are being imposed solely for the purpose of increasing the cost of living in America...because. At least that's what Hakeem Jeffries would have me believe if I thought he had a single brain cell in his noggin.

This is precisely the point. Ask any modern liberal (leftist), mutatis mutandis, and they will not be able to answer this question - i.e. they cannot provide a general or abstract answer. Nay, they will not even engage with the argument on that level. It is literal proof of an uninformed argument and an unconsidered position. All you will get is some variation of he's stupid and/or colored orange.