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People need to lay off the identity politics. You are not who you voted for, you are not a canned platform of unrelated "issues," you are not your f'ing party.

Still the reigning champion:

p.s. - Merry Christmas to all! Who else is looking forward to President Trump's White House Christmas ornament next year? I bet it will be extremely gold-plated

Essay starts: "In a male dominated society, it has become increasingly difficult for women (or those who sexually identify as such) to pull themselves from the proverbial quicksand. However, as progressiveness becomes the new norm, we look to pioneers such as Hillary Rodham Clinton to uproot women from the desolate predisposition in which men have placed them." Easy A

You could tweak it to awarding the electoral votes by congressional district, with the extra 2 electoral votes awarded to the popular vote winner of the state. That would avoid the need to adjust the length of Senate terms. I think the primary virtue of the electoral college is that it precludes us from ever having to conduct a nationwide recount in a close presidential election.

FTW

My favorite part of the whole thing is that 8 years ago, they had a president who, standing in front to the smoking hole that used to be the Twin Towers, urged Americans not to retaliate against Muslim Americans. A president who spoke fluent Spanish and attempted to pass the most comprehensive and forgiving immigration reform in history...and democrats wouldn't support him. President Obama, on the other hand, has killed more people in more countries than Bush did, has deported more illegal immigrants than any president in history, and has presided over what is perceived as a huge upswing in racism. And somehow, Donald Trump is the one that is racist for wanting to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and to deport the ones that are here. All I see from the liberal side lately is a knee-jerk opposition to anything anyone in the Republican party says, whether it's actually good for the country or not. I haven't seen many well-reasoned opinions or arguments (and that goes for both sides, really).

I'm skeptical this will happen or if there is really a need but there is a good bit of research going into this... http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161220-the-aerial-tankers-that-helped-shrink-the-globe https://www.google.com/patents/US20030136874 http://www.range-unlimited.com/ http://theconversation.com/in-flight-refuelling-for-airliners-will-see-non-stop-services-shrink-the-globe-39931 Reading this and thinking about my own time flying the mighty 135, the only way I could see this happening and being profitable/logistically sensible is if you could synchronize the tankers and receivers by a reciprocative schedule/flight plan or rendezvous . If the receiver was scheduled to a destination that allowed for a convenient AR for the tanker which was also flying another revenue producing mission (they have intersecting or parallel flight plans) then maybe but putting a tanker up just to extend the range of 2 or 3 airliners doesn't seem commercially viable with relatively cheap Jet A and transport category aircraft getting more fuel efficient. Just guessing that a commercial tanker would cost about 15K per hour and would have logistical costs at it's MOB of about 2k per mission and WAGing an average 3 hour mission comes to 47k. Round up to 50k for just under 10% in unforeseen costs and that is a considerable bill for airlines to foot. Also, didn't see anything in the articles about what happens when things go wrong (tanker breaks, receiver can't take gas, WX sucks in the track, air traffic congestion interference). Not sure they are considering the entirety of the whole effort to pass gas in the sky. Still, an interesting idea, here's the linked sims flown by the RECREATE project to try this out in the Matrix before taking it live...

This was your first mistake...

http://www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president Texas votes for Clinton - 3.9M Massachusetts votes for Clinton - 2M Pretty close to 2x. California votes for Trump - 3.9M Alabama votes for Trump - 1.3M Almost exactly 3x. So fact check's good, but the statistic is meaningless when corrected for population. Broken out by total population over 18, Texas votes for Clinton - 19% Massachusetts votes for Clinton - 37% California votes for Trump - 13% Alabama votes for Trump - 34%

That's not entirely true...every one of the AOCs has an ARC component...no better TET / MAAP / COD folks exist than 11Bs...unless its 12Bs. Written tongue-in-cheek, but I know several who left AD for the airlines and the ARC and went to such a unit.

The common ground has been there, but I just don't think the issues dominate politics today. It's a popularity contest. 2008: Dems masterfully slipped in the "first black President". He was the cool new guy and didn't fit the old, grumpy, lack-luster politician look that McCain had going on. 2012: Romney reeked of snobby rich guy, and Obama just put out the zingers during the debate and everyone drooled over the "cool-guy" persona again. 2016: The media shoves Clinton's "credentials" down our throat and calls her the "most qualified candidate in history" - just 4 years after telling us that being qualified wasn't "cool" and that we needed less politicians and more cool guys like Obama that treat the President's podium like a celebrity roast. Also, the moderates aren't in control of the media... So as a moderate Republican, all I hear is: -Don't want to jail/kill a cop for shooting someone who acted like they had a gun, or actually did have a gun pointed at the cop?-> Racist -Want to vet immigrants from a war torn country? -> Islamaphobe -Are you a successful straight white male? -> Everything was given to you. -Unsuccessful woman, gay, and/or black? -> You're not successful because the straight white male dominated system is out to get you.

That's funny right there...I don't care who you are.

I wouldn't say nothing.

Classically liberal and the current "liberal" ideology are not the same, for sure.

Star Wars Rogue One was very good. I give it a 9.5/10, better than The Force Awakens. It wasn't a recycled plot like TFA, and it didn't lean too hard on nostalgic cameos (most were mere seconds long and well placed). The conclusion of the movie segways amazingly well into A New Hope, and actually enhances the story significantly. Has some of the best battle scenes in the franchise. Minor points deducted for some tropey moments, and a somewhat slow, fractured start, but the second half of the movie more than makes up for it. Has the old rustic star wars feel throughout, yet includes some of the best CGI to date. It's a true prequel to episode IV, and how a prequel should be done. I don't have any above average fandom but anyone who likes Star Wars will receive this one well.

Yeah while having a PPL is definitely a good thing in helping you get selected, I'll tell you that in my UPT class 2 of 23 had PPLs coming into it (we did have a bunch of academy guys so that messes with the ratio). So the 1% thing seems to be a scare tactic to try to get you to get it. The PCSM score takes into account your flying experience in hours. So, the more hours you have the higher the boost to your PCSM score is. Once you take the TBAS and get a PCSM it'll have a breakdown with it that shows how different numbers of hours will effect your score. As was said earlier though, the OTS selection boards are very competitive. Having the PPL or a number of flight hours will help set you higher than the others (especially considering they will be doing the same thing). Just remember if flying is your goal, Apply to all the boards not just the active duty one. Find guard and reserve units and apply to their boards as well (flight time will matter there too). I went to OTS with a bunch of people who tried a few times and gave up, never even putting the research in to realize there were other boards or getting the flight time to raise their PCSM scores. They were pretty disgruntled about not being selected... but in my opinion if they were good enough and they put the work in, they would be. If you have flight hours you prove that you'll put the work in and that this is something you really want to do and not just a "oh pilot seems cool." You'll have actually flown.

We have a plan to backfill the bomber community with additional UPT grads to make up for any shortfall you may see over the next few years due to staff demands. It will be better for your communities as well, since new pilots have more longevity. All-around win-win. Hopefully the fighter and RPA guys get excited about the first bonus raise in a generation. Definitely a sweet pot of money on that rainbow: $35K/yr for 9 years! I am pleased that the issue of "raising the bonus" finally worked out. We had a lot of personnelists spend many hours to make sure our pilots are paid the correct amount via the bonus. Very exciting that it finally happened. Pilots, wherever you are at, please thank a personnelist. That small gesture will make a world of difference. Merry Christmas, all.

I'll offer more advice as a 4th year ROTC student with a pilot slot. ROTC is an excellent opportunity for college and becoming a pilot. Let's start with college. 1) It's possible to receive an in college scholarship as a 2nd year cadet (which you'd be, should you join a detachment), though, depending on the year, the pickings can be slim. A couple years ago they only offered scholarships for certain majors; more recently scholarships have been offered for any major. The results, however, have been the same -- the students who really, really wanted it worked their butts off, worked with their cadre, nailed the PFA, and were ultimately awarded with a scholarship. 2) Commissioning: Should you successfully complete AFROTC you'll enter the Air Force as a 2LT (not including med school/JAG/etc since it's not pertinent). The career you'll have, however, is not guaranteed. You'll need to have high marks in several areas to receive a pilot slot (commander's ranking, gpa, pfa, field training ranking, TBAS, etc). Some of these are in your control: gpa, pfa, field training ranking*, while the others are not. Work super hard at what you can control and, in my experience, the others will follow. Personally, my TBAS wasn't great, but the rest of the pieces were pretty high and helped my score. It also depends on the year. For instance, this year they handed out quite a few pilot slots nationally and I think everyone at my det, save a couple, who wanted a pilot slot got one. *you can kind of control this -- be the best wingman/cadet you can be and your ranking ought to be fine, but you don't literally decide your ranking. The bottom line is, as everyone here has said/will say, you've gotta work hard for it. Luckily, you'll have over a year to prepare/train/keep your gpa rising for the selection board (which meets... January of your third year, if I remember correctly). Feel free to PM me for any specific questions if you have any, good luck!