Swamp Yankee

"What's next, you going to tell us Hollywood is politically balanced because Kelsey Grammar and Melissa Joan Hart are Republicans?" - Absolutely not. Moreover, people who make political decisions based on the blatantly very liberal/"woke" Hollywood/entertainment industry are probably beyond help (see Ricky Gervais monologue). That said, it gets weird at the margins. E.g is Tucker Carlson news opinion or entertainment? He presents like the former but claims the latter when legal issues are raised. Even more true with Jon Stewart; he wanted to be a political pundit for all intents and purposes yet hid behind the "I'm just a comedian" shield when strongly challenged. Maybe such blurry lines always existed, but seems more prominent now. It's much more than OAN and Newsmax type TV channels, so I shouldn't have led with those examples. As probably everyone knows, media formats are changing rapidly and traditional TV viewership is becoming less relevant. Podcasts and blogs are growing significantly. Talk radio is still a thing although the pandemic's effect on commuting resulted in a decline. In summary, many liberal and many conservative news outlets of all types exist. https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart Each has the opportunity to market itself and thus is responsible for their own success. On my TV, all the news channels, liberal and conservative, are listed from 600 to 6XX. They're all available online as well. I go on Apple and Spotify and see Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, Rogan, Sam Harris, The Daily, NPR, etc. Youtube has clips of all the above. Of course, it is problematic that social media algorithms will push similar content to you causing the echo chamber effect, but that's a separate topic. Are conservative and liberal news perfectly balanced? No. But both are well represented. 74 million people were convinced Trump was the better candidate. The media undoubtedly influenced that outcome and it wasn't a fringe, upstart media.

This is why the beach scene in Airplane! was unrealistic.

You certainly have a way with words. Please check your blood pressure. No one wants you to go into cardiac arrest. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, this is the most shocking example of “triggered” I have ever witnessed! To address what appears to be the underlying theme of your latest posts, I am not attempting to defend or support any particular media story. I’m simply pointing out the outdated perception of the liberal-only mainstream media. Said perception is used, mainly (but certainly not solely) by the right these days to perpetuate a David vs Goliath narrative that provides a misplaced sense of virtuous struggle against the “forces of darkness” on the other side of the political divide. Doing so does not facilitate a better understanding or more informed perspective about what’s going on. With that, sir, I bid you adieu for today. I look forward to further spirited, but calmer, debate.

MSNBC, CNN etc. ripped Trump. Fox, Rush etc ripped Obama. What were you were saying, again?

If by malarkey you mean your post, then we’re in agreement. Right wing talk radio, OAN, Newsmax, Blaze, Wash Times, Daily Standard, podcasts galore, and the younger-demographic fast-growing online media such as Quilette, etc. plenty of conservative outlets exist. Whether they’re successful and gain viewership is up to them. In fact , most have been successful, particularly in developing well-regarded pundits (Hannity, yes, but also Shapiro, Glenn Beck to name two) I don’t think you’re stupid, but clearly you are firmly stuck in a echo chamber with regard to rhetoric. The rub, of course, is the presumption that “your side” is always truthful and unbiased while the “other side”is not. You can debate point-by-point ad infinitum. However, a mature perspective is that currently both sides are highly biased. Stop with the poor little conservative press shtick; it’s no longer valid. The very-right-wing conservative pundits need to stop acting like oppressed little bitches. They have a platform, they’re using it, and have a strong voice to the public at large (some of which I wholeheartedly agree with). The “coastal elites” (whatever that now means) no longer solely control the narrative. It’s not 1994 with Rush vs Everyone Else. In concept, I’m glad that the media has multiple voices. The problem is that the moderates have been drowned out. Probably because that narrative is boring and doesn’t get folks fired up (exhibit A: this thread). It’s either: the other side is communist, atheist transgenders OR the other side is uneducated, bible-thumping racists. Really, that’s the best we can do? You have to go 3000+ mi East to get a what may be the only relatively balanced perspective (BBC). That’s pathetic.

Laughlin 94-01, which was towards the end of the single track era. I was a Guard 130 guy but glad I flew the T-38. The relative time compression helped instill good airmanship skills. Everyone made it through 38's, although we did have a guy who busted his Form and Nav checks (don't recall how) and went to an 88. CRM is very important but my impression based on the product was that the T-1 didn't address any assumed / perceived shortcomings. In any case, CRM isn't refined to an operationally-suitable skill until in the MWS. Each has (had?) a distinct culture in that regard.

You could substitute "8" for "4" as well as "Obama" for "Trump" and the statement would be equally accurate. Both the right mainstream media and left mainstream media do it and we're all worse off as a result.

F-15EX deliveries are starting, so we’re all set.

I assume you’re referring to GWB. Never met/worked with him but he struck me as a good person overall and certainly not as dumb as some pundits claimed. More of a practical common sense guy. On the other hand, I have spoken with Biden within the past 18 months. He was sharp, made good points, and had good insights at a new tech event. However, at this point he’s a 10 hour a day guy rather than 18 hours. Similar to Reagan in his last term.

Jesus, they didn’t even try. I guess mediocrity is their stretch goal. Unsat.

True. Reports about Biden's stutter aren't new so it's not like it was whipped up as an excuse for this election. https://www.c-span.org/video/?56567-1/life-career-joseph-biden Above in 1994. Discusses stutter at 14:07. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93914952 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-writes-essay-about-his-speech-impediment/ He's always been a verbal gaffe guy, similar to GWB.

There was some other guy like that recently.

Wait a sec, Huckabee has a negative opinion piece on our new democrat President? Surprised. Can't wait for Rachel Maddow's upcoming book about the successes and triumphs of the Trump admin.

Biden has a circa 1982 hard drive of canned political statements. However, said drive is a bit corrupted through overuse.

Don't forget unnecessarily large bag of Duck Commander calls. I prefer Buck Gardner anyway.

In my DLF UPT class long ago, it was me and a couple of guard guys; the rest were USAFA. We were a pretty tight class. Some of the Academy studs were tasting relative freedom and did the binge blackout drinking I got out of my system as a freshman fraternity pledge. I was sort of the big brother when we headed to SA or Austin. Great times.

I'm hard pressed to think of anything more kid-friendly, creative, and wholesome than Dr Seuss. This latest cancelling is ridiculous. And to think in the mid-80's he caught crap for one of his books being critical of US cold war nuclear policy. Folks always need something to complain about. Not a fan of Cardi B; her "music" isn't exactly introspective and intelligent. Although the Ben Shapiro mashup where he sings the song is pretty funny.

I've repeated this here and I'm probably wasting keystrokes, but the era of solely-liberal "mainstream media" is past. There are many established and new conservative-leaning outlets beyond Fox (much of talk radio, OAN, Newsmax, Blaze, NY Post, WSJ editorials, certain podcasts, etc, etc) Granted, they may not have the same collective viewership (yet) as the liberal outlets but they have the ability to deliver whatever narrative they want. That said, the two sides are so far apart there aren't any moderate news sources in the US. An important point because the media/political cabals are trying to get each of us to choose a side and stay in it. You're not "allowed" to be, for instance, pro-environment AND pro-2A. Or capitalist AND pro-Obamacare. It's kind of Orwellian how we are trained to be reflexively loyal to one political party or the other. End of conspiracy theory rant. BBC might be the least biased major outlet. Of course, bias is in the mind of the consumer. I'm sure there are folks on the extremes that consider Infowars or Mother Jones moderate.

Heinlein, indeed. In Starship Troopers you had to serve in order to vote, which is a very interesting idea. I personally like the idea of compulsory service. However, the flip side is where do you draw the line between useful and not-useful draftee? There will be a small, but not insignificant, number of young people with minimal ability to learn. They'll need to be given make-work projects with questionable return on investment. Of course, that might be better than 2-3 yrs of welfare.

AFROTC guy here. However, if a USAFA cadet needs a safe space, he/she/ze? is in the wrong institution/profession. Women's studies at Mount Holyoke might be a better choice.

Good call. Anyway, his mom probably just brought down some fish sticks and tater tots for a snack.

Cuomo should do like most middle-aged Italian-American men of means and get a young hot goomar who keeps her mouth shut unless he asks.

Fair enough, but the right has done the same, indicating that anyone who votes for Biden is a socialist. The "leaders" of both sides love their hyperbole. Nice chunks of red meat their respective bases can chomp on, while staying obedient to their "R" or "D" masters.

The recharging issue was legitimate but is now figured out. There are lithium chemistries that withstand fast charging although cycle life takes a hit. The infrastructure just needs to be filled out, which is underway. Of course all those electrons flowing at 4000A+ have to come from somewhere without dragging down the local grids. Solar canopies aren’t a complete solution. But, hey, isn’t there a company starting with a “T” that makes huge battery farms? Seems like a nice complimentary business oppty. THAT is the bottleneck.

There are a couple of aspects to subscriptions, which are definitely getting attention in the industry. One is to address the decline in car ownership among Milennials. They all want to live in Brooklyn, be hipsters or techies (half-joking) and make sure they’ve got the latest indie music as well as smartphone. Mfgs are launching plans like Freedom Boat Club where you pay $X per month to get access to Y range of vehicles. Not sure if it will work as the target audience has to value cars as desirable accessories. Software subscriptions for features and performance are a natural evolution and a great source of steady incremental revenue. Both to unlock existing capability (advanced driver assistance) that you didn’t pay for when you bought the car and new features through code updates. Some of you might know that BMW announced this last summer although they’ve had the Connected Drive Store for a few years. Good article in TechCrunch.