FLEA

How do we build an Army of simps? Answer: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/57878/1/the-era-of-military-funded-e-girl-warfare-army-influencers-tiktok

I mean the C-130 technically runs on a lot of this crap too but you're going to give your crew chief a nightmare if you actually do it. It doesn't stop Lockheed from marketing it as a major selling feature though. I presume the circumstances are similar. Its fine in a "get out of dodge" pinch but not something for continuous operations. You lose a lot of people here because this is largely an opinion and not a fact and it is going to come down a lot to ideology and world view. Its an ok opinion supported by evidence but there is also significant evidence that this isn't the case and fundamentally this could be a large part of your disagreement with people on the topic. I for one don't buy the concept of sovereignty as it is vocalized by NATO or the US. Its a nice talking point and we certainly love to throw it out there when countries we don't like break rules, but in actuality, as a state actor, we don't seem overly concerned with it when we are continuously violating the sovereignty of over 2 dozen countries during the Cold War to institute regime changes, or illegally invading Iraq without proper jus ad bellum or entering Syria without even trying to justify it.... Hell, under the rules that govern sovereignty we didn't even have the cause to enter Afghanistan. At the time terrorist organizations were regarded as criminal and the proper expectation would have been to report AQ to its functioning state and allow them to administer criminal justice. When we realized the Taliban government had no interest in doing that because it would upend tribal contracts we said "F it, we'll just do it ourselves then" and came up with this "with us or against us" tag line that international lawyers warned would set significant precedence on how sovereignty would be governed in future conflict. I'm not knocking your opinion its a perfectly valid opinion to have, but its difficult to say that our world order is built off this and support it when there are so many instances our world order was built off of breaking that concept as well.

Unless they're Muslim right? Because Biden has done a hell of a job blocking immigration pathways for Afghan refugees. He's also completely gutted the diversity visa lottery. Dept of State gets 50,000 diversity visas to give away each year. Under Biden they've awarded less than half each year due to deliberate stonewalling and pressure from the Whitehouse. DoS has been sued and lost twice because of this, now being sued a 3rd time and WH has again instructed DOJ to defend it. (Despite having lost twice already for the same exact reason. Lawsuits were separate. They were class actions filed under DV applicants of desperate filing years.) Recommend you get the whole picture of your going to suddenly be pro-Immigration.

I'm not going to get drawn into a bait on this. I already made a comment earlier in this thread I would be less hostile and offered a professional reset. Your recent comments not only come off as rude but also incredibly weak. You may not realize it but starting with the fact that your facts are not all straight about the semi-conductor supply chain in Ukraine (helium is not the concern, neon is)--shows you're not as confident in your knowledge about this topic as you present yourself and you probably aren't ready to debate it at the high level you are attesting you are. Suggest you hit your research again and come back with a better laid out analysis of the supply chain--how refined neon is manufactured (or more correctly "captured") and why the average citizen should care beyond cheaper iPhones and Teslas. I am willing to hear your case as well as your case for just how far the US should go to protect that resource and why you believe that product can't be manufactured elsewhere--or why is the cost of doing so, so great, that it justifies the cost of military adventurism.

And I think its fair to say that there are plenty of people who would not advocate blowing up people for access to semiconductors. You aren't entitled to violate a nation's sovereignty because you want semiconductors. You aren't entitled semiconductors at all. You have to make a new supply chain, produce your own.

I think you're quibbling with him to be honest. It's clear by his language he meant that prosperity is possible without conflict. Actually, no, the implication of your question is false choice fallacy. There doesn't have to be a current threat. It is logically possible for there to not be one, and therefore should be presented as a choice.

Don't forget leaving over 1000 American citizens in a failed terrorist state at their own peril.

Does there have to be one? Is it impossible for you to accept that for the moment it's possible the US may not be on the brink of extermination? Coffee... You're willing to war with countries because you want good coffee? Lol.

Dude Checkertails at 2am during exercise weeks is some of the best memories I have in my life. That shit was awesome.

Lol, that hysterectomy must have been awkward for him.

Apparently aliens saw us drawing sky penises and have attempted to communicate in return. https://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2023/01/20/ufo-shaped-lens-cloud-stuns-turkey-cprog-orig-aw.cnn

Just be careful trying to compare. I'm not saying there aren't people that cheat the system but I work VERY deep in the veteran advocacy space now and I've learned it's not useful to compare. Met some people that look otherwise fine have some really deep and shitty experiences. MST is surprisingly common in the oddest places and almost always going to get a 100% rating. I know other people who've been in car accidents and now don't have full mobility in multiple limbs. Also, as a subclass, we as pilots partially do it to ourselves. We are awful about self ID'ing problems because we fear losing flight status. That comes with cost and often that cost is not being able to support all of our claims.

Interestingly I've heard the Navy fires way more commanders than any other branch. A combination of believing everyone deserves a shot at command, and therefore, performing no screening processes before awarding command--and having a higher power hierarchy then other branches which tends to foment toxic environments easier.

Kind of too that point though.... would it be worth while to make a law that required political parties with more than x amount in donations fund background checks into candidates and make some of that information public record. Would have prevented Santos for sure.

I lol'd here.

Definitely not lol. They both don't deserve office.

They teach dishonesty in Catholicism? Asking for a friend....

I would 100% like to agree with this but that is 100% the opposite of how are society culturally operates. We generally expect people to tough it out and meet their obligations if they are sick. In the private sector sick days can be really taboo. In schools you get in trouble if you miss too much class, etc.... Now, one thing I did find interesting, my local area which as extreme winters, is ending snow days next year. Turns out they purchased all of this virtual classroom equipment and decided now when they need to weather cancel bussing they can just conduct classes on zoom. (This is a win) What they are also examining is hiring a virtual staff to deal with sick days as well. If you are home sick, you will attend a zoom session with a few other kids and an online tutor. He/she will coordinate with your primary teacher, get the work for that day, and help you stay up on that topic before you feel better enough to go back. (Also a win) But I can never see us getting to the point en masse where if you are sick just stay home.

I live in a liberal stronghold and still see lots of people masking. Its not required anymore and the majority dont. Mask prevalence now reminds me of Japan though pre-covid. Where its not like EVERYONE is wearing a mask, but you aren't surprised when you see it.

Yeah, and I'm not going to say its all the same players at all the same times. Like, on that call we had Fox and CNN there and it was clear both agreed on some things and disagreed on others. But generally they were looking for the things they were in concurrence about to get emphasis and then each outlet would put their own little damper on things they disagreed about. Its strange to think of all the press against Biden in that event but remember target #2 for Taliban after Terps/ANSOF/Pilots was Journalist. Many of those journalist had VERY close relationships with these networks and those networks relied on them to get inside stories and information that would have been culturally inaccessible to them before. US Media was funding HUGE money to get female journalist OUT in anyway possible.

So to be clear.... media does collude. I know this for a fact. I was on a conference call with execs from CNN, MSNBC, FOX, WaPo, NYT, and a few others during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 when they shared how they were going to spin the story and what type of pressures they wanted to put on the American population and the Biden admin. In other words, about a dozen journalist were making a unilateral determination about how they felt the American public should view the event. How I got on that call.... I'm still not really sure.... I was volunteering for an NGO at the time and that's how I got the invite. It certainly wasn't my military job. If people on the call knew I was military I would have probably been instantly booted. But man.... it was the most eye opening thing for me.

The problem with taxing the rich is that wealth isn't redistributed back to my pocket, lol. It just goes to into some needless government project designed to enrich some other asshole running some contractor gig.

How do you think Pete Buttigeig would advise the President? He's been extremely vocal on criticism against the airlines lately but has also made it clear that he doesn't tolerate disruptions to people's lives. I could see him going either way. (BTW, don't want to debate the quality of the guy, lol, just how he would advise given he has significant influence on the topic.)

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/17/netflix-will-pay-its-next-flight-attendant-as-much-as-385000.html Holy crap what does the flight crew make?!?! Edit: nevermind just went back and read it and the posting is listed with a salary range of 60k-385k meaning they fully intend to pay a PhD in aviation safety with 20 years of experience as the chief flight attendant at a major airline about $61k.

Not sure what kind of TO if was but I know there have been lots of times where Ive realized too many eyes were in the cockpit on roll, looking at engines and instruments and no one actually watching where the damn plane is going. That said I almost had a runway incursion incident that would have been pretty bad I'm 2014 when a truck crossed the runway without clearance. I remember seeing the truck but there was a brief moment of "WTF is this really happening?" Before I remembered some reaction was needed to avoid catastrophe. Events like that have a way of challenging our personal complacencies. Thankfully coming out the other side often makes us better pilots.