Kiloalpha

I’ll make this short. I have a parent who recently got a bad medical diagnosis. I’m a casual LT at a UPT base 17 hours away by car, and 5-6 hours away by plane. I don’t have a ton of leave, but enough where I can make a few trips home. Not nearly enough to make regular trips though. I’m likely to be in casual status for at least 6 months. I want to be closer to help out for treatments and be around in case things turn for the worst. From the research I’ve done, there’s a few types of emergency leave, but they max out quickly and will put me into a negative balance that it’ll take forever to rebound from. I can’t request a humanitarian move due to the fact a gaining base in the area would need a 92T0. A sabbatical might work? But I’ll owe even more time (such is the nature) and I’m not sure how that’ll impact the AF sending me to UPT/career prospects. There’s discharge options, but they’re not something I want to consider. Is there anything else I’m missing? Any options I should consider or info I’ve put down here that’s wrong? Appreciate any insights. I plan on talking with the CC after the holiday's, but I’d like to have some options at least on the table beforehand.

As I understand it, they’re mad the FIA didn’t let the rest of the lapped cars through (keeping the safety car out) which means the race would have finished under a safety car and Hamilton would have won. Am I getting that right?

If we have vaccinated people needing ventilators en masse… Something has seriously gone wrong, as the whole point of the vaccine is to at least prevent that outcome. Do we have any data showing such a hypothetical is even happening in small samples? How many vaccinated people are being hospitalized?

The WH took the only political route they could with the speech. When you know you're in deep shit, you pivot your message to anything you can that polls/looks/sounds better. Most people can sympathize with the decision to end the war, so he focused on that, offering a smokescreen to the withdrawal. Personally, what makes POTUS' speech so sad is that he tried to do a faux "I'm taking responsibility," but then he follows that up by saying he's taking responsibility for the courageous decision to leave... not mentioning the shitshow of a withdrawal. So many mixed messages, so many fuck ups. Heads should roll, but shit flows downhill.

No. Despite how tempting it is.

@pawnman, I could just as easily flip this around on you. If you're a rational human being, then you surely believe there are regulations/standards/laws/edicts on the books are either worthless or not 100% applicable. If so, then you too must be an anarchist like @dogfish78, right? The appeal to extremes fallacy doesn't work well for anyone, if you're actually insinuating the opponent believes all extremes. Now, if you're using that appeal to test where @dogfish78's limits on government sovereignty lie, fair play. Regardless, there are people against the COVID shot who are otherwise pro-government involvement, and there are people for the vaccine who are otherwise anarcho-libertarian. This isn't a left-right or right-wrong thing. Each individual is doing a cost-benefit analysis for themselves, because that's the rational thing to do. Is each side taking in wrong info to bolster their sides? You bet they are, because where one stands on COVID-19, like everything else anymore... it’s a demonstration of fealty to one's tribe/religion/party. Group-think is a real thing, believe it or not. @dogfish78, don't take this post as a blanket defense of you either. Lay off the "you're not a patriot, and may God have mercy on your soul" stuff. It's no way to engage in a conversation.

Unknown if true. I don’t think this is exactly going to endear the President to the armed forces. But if they say I need it, I’ll get it. Just think it’s a little bullshit.

Here's the thing I'm struggling with. I got COVID really early on in the pandemic. I think I even posted about it on here at the time. Knocked me on my ass for a few days, but I rebounded quickly, and had no lasting effects. Perks of being young (relatively) and without co-morbidities I suppose. I have natural immunity to the virus as a result. I haven't gone and taken the vaccine yet, because the data on re-infection is pretty clearly showing it doesn't happen very often, and I don't seem to be a good carrier of the virus, even with the Delta variant. However, I'm constantly being pressured to get this vaccine, because it's "better than natural immunity," even though it (admittedly rarely) has side effects, and hasn't been shown to do anything else for me other than make my antibodies last for a few months longer. Woohoo. I'm not seeing the cost/benefit as being worth it right now. That easily could change, and if the DoD says I have to... then that's fine. However, I'm being treated by the state and national rhetoric outlets as some kinds of a backwards idiot, because I'm one of the "unvaccinated." I promise I'm reading more medical journals and info than some dipshit who thinks Bill Gates is microchipping folks. I bet I'm also doing more research than the people who are chastising folks for not having the shot, because they actually believe "the science." Bottom line, the rhetoric on this stuff is fucked.

I'm getting a warning the site is unsecured. Tested and confirmed on both Microsoft Edge and Mozilla Firefox. Edit: Add in iOS as well.

A post of clarity in a sea of sport-bitching. I like this thinking. Here's my problem with the discussion. Roe found that abortions were legal until 28 weeks, because that was the court-defined point of "viability." Ok, let's use that term/idea as the consistent standard. To be logically consistent, pro-choice people should now be for restricting abortions after 22 weeks, because medicine has improved since 1973, and the data shows that babies are surviving at 22 weeks. Hell, one was just born at 21 weeks in MN, albeit it was a miracle. The standard Roe sets is a sliding scale. As medicine improves, that number should keep going down. It could even theoretically go down to 1 day. Are abortion advocates going to hold that consistent "viability" standard if that happens? Hell no, because "viability" isn't really their argument. The true argument is "choice." It boils down to this: My ability to live my life as I choose, without the responsibility of a child, is more important than the fetus' right to live. Read that twice, and tell me that doesn't make you uneasy. Idk what the answer is, but I can't support that argument.

Pretty simple. He’s using a parallel example of Mars to show the error in your/society’s whimsical definition of “life.”

I've taken part in use of force scenario training a few times, and each time I had my eyes opened a little wider to what law enforcement deals with. If your local department ever offers it, please take up the chance. In the first scenarios I ran, the Taser was strategically placed to be different than the firearm (chest mount). I saw people choose the wrong use of force that day, (wanted to shoot someone that could have been tased) but never saw someone mix the weapons up. However, I guess all departments don't run things that way, and its possible to have a setup where one could mix up the two, despite their training. The video pretty clearly shows it's a fuckup, and whatever training/awareness failed. Two things are true here. - His resisting arrest put himself (and others around him) in greater danger, and contributed to the circumstances that led to his death. - The cop clearly pulled out the wrong weapon and as such, killed the individual. She made the trigger pull, she killed him. She's directly responsible for his death, and should be fired/face legal penalties. However, let's not remove his culpability here. I wish all cops were quick thinking 160+ IQ individuals who get it right 100% of the time, but they aren't. They're average people with (in my opinion) average training. The closer you place them to a life-death split decision, the more that lack of training is going to become a problem. Bottom line, don't fight the cops. Don't stress them out any more than necessary. Film/record them if necessary, and fight the legal battles later.

That’s fantastic. Great work

Same issue for me in Firefox (Windows) and Safari on iOS. The insecure message Huggy mentioned sounds like an SSL issue.

That’s correct. Hasn’t happened before though.