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Showing content with the highest reputation on 03/31/2020 in all areas

  1. From some minor amount of research yesterday, law allows feds and states to legally isolate sick people to prevent/minimize spread, and it allows them to quarantine those who have been exposed. For those of the populace who are not sick or there’s no probable cause to say they been exposed, it is not legal to prevent interstate travel or force quarantine. Ethicists generally don’t have a legal problem with social distancing, but they do have a problem with forced business closures that could operate semi-normally, while taking social distancing measures. So, while I hate CA and NY politics as much as I hate China, it’s anti-liberty (and illegal is most cases) to say those people can’t travel elsewhere or have to imprison themselves in a house for any amount of time (unless the two exceptions stated above). I realize there are no interstate travel bans yet, but there already are illegal quarantine measures telling people they can’t leave the house except for a couple destinations. We are absolutely starting to unravel liberty in the name of “safety,” something that has happened many times throughout history and is something that must be fought. “History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.” Nailed it.
    6 points
  2. Can you imagine how fully torqued Rick Rynearson is waiting for someone to knock on his door?
    5 points
  3. What exactly is their current situation? Last I checked, they were running a $7B budget surplus. https://www.kcra.com/article/california-dollar7-billion-budget-surplus-legislative-analysts-office-report/29865751# Not arguing that people aren’t leaving due to high cost of living. Certainly not arguing that anyone has to agree with the politics that are seemingly (but not always/every city) prevalent there. But to suggest that the biggest economic state in the union has little to offer and should be cast aside along with its citizens is a bit disingenuous and every bit as insulting as if I were to say “the state of texas is full of deplorables who can do little but cling to their guns and bibles.....who needs those simpletons?” That kind of commentary is not helpful on either side of the red/blue divide in the best of times and borderline dangerous when the nation is in crisis like, you know, now.
    5 points
  4. In 2017, Texas grossed more than $264.5 billion a year in exports—more than California ($172 billion) and New York ($77.9 billion) combined. There is also a significant difference between the cost of living in California and Texas. Housing costs in Texas are 54% less than in California, while a family with kids may save over 60%. There is an 18% difference in food cost, 8% less expensive health insurance, and 14% lower spending on entertainment. But the biggest indicator is which direction people are moving. in 2018 almost 700,000 Californians moved out of that state, of which 86,000 ended up in Texas. In fact, Texas was the second most popular state for moving to in 2018, with over half a million newcomers. You could count the number of Texans moving to California on one hand. This sums it all very nicely! https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/the-truth-about-the-california-exodus/605833/ So yeah, sorry if the rest of the nation doesn't weep for California! They are responsible for their current situation, especially due to the politicians they keep re-electing. When they put illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities above the needs of their own constituents, it should be clear it's time for someone else; yet they continue to keep the same idiots year after year...
    4 points
  5. I live in the PNW. There are Californians moving everywhere, and have been, however continue your state-based xenophobia. You also left out that in 2019 there were 37,810 Texans that moved to California, which was the second most behind Washington state. If you did your research, you'd know the north-central and north east part of California is historically Republican. Before you respond with some Boomer'esqe "libtard" insult, I'm born and raised in Wyoming. Which I would argue is more conservative than Texas. Also, with your comparison of exports, which you conveniently didn't respond with a GDP comparison (which Texas is second to California by a $1.2 trillion difference), Texas had $330 billion in exports in 2019. About $106 billion of it was oil. We'll see how well that much they lead in exports due to the price of oil currently being $20 per barrel. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/state/data/tx.html https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/04/691145-californians-left-last-year-what-state-did-they-go-to/
    3 points
  6. Damn. Unreal. Chilling... USS Teddy Roosevelt "urgently asking" for help. https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6821571/TR-COVID-19-Assistance-Request.pdf 7. Conclusion. Decisive action is required. Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US. nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure. A portion of the crew (approximately 10%) would have to stay aboard to run the reactor plant, sanitize the ship, ensure security, and provide for contingency response to emergencies. This is a necessary risk. It will enable the carrier and air wing to get back underway as quickly as possible while ensuring the health and safety of our Sailors. Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board the TR is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care. There are challenges associated with securing individualized lodging for our crew. This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do. We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to pr0perly take care of our most trusted asset our Sailors. Request all available resources to ?nd NAVADMIN and CDC compliant quarantine rooms for my entire crew as soon as possible.
    2 points
  7. It's just this kind of thinking and can-do spirit that got us through the Great Depression, Dubya-dubya two, and now the Black Death...
    2 points
  8. Archive.org is making all of its books available without a waitlist right now, they have a shitload of aviation and mil history titles. Ex: Forever Flying by Bob Hoover https://archive.org/details/foreverflying00rabo You can "borrow" and then download to read in Adobe Digital Editions app
    2 points
  9. I’ve had nothing but good things to say about Vanguard for all my investments. I moved everything from USAA about 4-5 years ago based on Vanguard’s low fee scheme compared to USAA. Highly recommend vanguard.
    2 points
  10. So long as you keep that purchase of Hos under 10 it’s party time!! Unlike the quote/guidance from Full Metal Jacket, don’t bang the ones that cough.
    2 points
  11. There's a balance between individual liberties and the needs of a functioning society. Generally, you have the full right to pursue life/liberty/happiness, so long as you aren't infringing on the right of others to pursue life/liberty/happiness. A lot of the measures being implemented now for covid-19 are similar to the measures implemented during 1918 Spanish flu. So there's already precedent, and we've gotten through it. Also, the laws allowing quarantine are already on the books, and have been for almost a century. What seems to be different is that long distance travel was much harder than it is now. People aren't staying home if they are sick, which is spreading the disease much faster. On one hand, the right to individual liberty says that an infected/contagious person should be able to do whatever they want. On the other hand, an infected/contagious person spreading disease negatively impacts the right to life and happiness of other people if they are given the disease. So where is the balance? Where should the line be drawn to balance individual liberties against the liberty/life of others?
    2 points
  12. You’re so right! We are number one at hyperbole. Easily the best in history. Nobody has us beat. We make the most, the best hyperbole of any nation ever.
    2 points
  13. History doesn’t give much reason for optimism. Trail of Tears, NY Draft Riots, Wounded Knee (understand that many would consider this one a battle in a war), forcible Bonus Army dispersement, Japanese Internment in WW2, Kent State shooting etc. probably some I can’t think of off the top of my head. FWIW, I think it’s pretty sad that, unlike the national unity following 9-11, there’s undercurrents of resentment towards some of the states that are currently hardest hit by this pandemic. My wife’s a nurse dealing with this shit, nobody in her clinic asks what state a patient claims residency in when they come in coughing their lungs out, they just treat them. I’m truly hoping that we as a country come out of this stronger and maybe in the short term a little more unified. Every time I think that I’m also reminded of a prior Sq/CC I had who’d always say “hope is not a tactic”.
    2 points
  14. After reading that, I agree and disagree. I agree that the military should be abiding by the CDC recommendations and not instituting large gatherings of personnel. What I disagree with is that the military should just hide inside for a few weeks and let this thing blow over. I think this has really shown the micromanagement culture and lack of empowerment to subordinates. To me, this is the ultimate case of giving clear intent from the top down the chain and trusting those down the chain to carry it out. Hell, we could even profit from a crisis here and practice dislocated nodes and communication is a less than ideal environment.
    2 points
  15. Austin isn't Texas. If you did a little research, you would find that a lot of its residents are California transplants who are trying to ruin this great state as badly as they did their old one. In fact, they exemplify why Texans don't like Californians moving here! Any state that continues to re-elects Pelosi, Schiff, Waters and the rest of that bunch gets what they deserve.
    2 points
  16. It's a serious subject, obviously, and there have been some high-profile cases involving airline pilots in the last few years Here's a good story on when "shit got real" in the airline industry. https://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/recovery-deep-stall-180974455/
    1 point
  17. I found way better rates on homeowners, but partly because I needed flood insurance and USAA only offers FEMA. They also force you into "replacement cost" vs "appraisal value" for homes. Which was a substantial delta for my house built in 1961.
    1 point
  18. Definitely agree on sunset provisions. The authority to quarantine is in law, activated by executive order. So in theory the other branches of government should act as the check/balance. But then again, Congress has been gridlocked for the better part of the decade, so, yeah.
    1 point
  19. It doesn't look like it was a list and actually looks like they manually put 80 or so emails in the message. I'd call them or reach out to the POC and see if they just missed you. Everyone's life has been turned upside down right now so pretty easy to imagine a simple mistake was made.
    1 point
  20. I'll call at some point again this week but what I've heard is CA ANG is delayed until a later date until this situation returns to "normal." Keep in mind everything is shut down. No non-DoD visitors to any bases right now, MEPS appears to be closed, active duty and AF reserve recruiters (at least the ones I've been working with) are in a holding pattern, even the USAF recruits can't ship to BMT right now. This sucks for everyone but nothing we can really do. Just keep yourselves in shape, healthy, and squeeze some hours in if your local GA airport is still functioning.
    1 point
  21. So prisoners are being released due to the crowded conditions in a jail increasing the spread of this disease yet... https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/to-enforce-coronavirus-distancing-police-say-arrests-are-last-resort/ar-BB11XppY?ocid=spartanntp
    1 point
  22. You're welcome and thanks for the nice words/repeat business! Happy we helped save you some money so you can get some more flying time in! Underwriting across the industry is tightening up due to rising unemployment rates. There is usually one verification of employment done...now there are three. VA rates are also higher for the most part than conventional rates for the first time ever as well (variety of reasons for this, but mostly because they are zero down loans without any cash reserves required so thus more risky in a crisis). We can still get low VA rates but not in states with lock downs...we have to start those loans as floating rates and then we can't lock them until they are cleared to close. Conventionals can be locked in the low 3s in every state. These are weird times. Jon Another good article explaining the chaos: https://mbshighway.com/mortgage-crisis.html
    1 point
  23. Truth! I really should get off my ass and transfer everything to Vanguard, folks seem to have good things to say about that company.
    1 point
  24. VA ReFi with Jon and closed last week @ 2.75. Saved me $300 a month (more gas for my plane). Only odd thing about the entire process and has nothing to do with Jon or Trident, AFTER closing but before dispersing funds the underwriter came back and wanted to do an employment verification. 3 Million people filed for unemployment in one week so I am guess the underwriters are a bit nervous. My third time dealing with Marty/Jon/Trident, call/email anytime and they answer or reply right away. I can vouch for Jon not just as a financial professional but as an AFSOC operator. Thanks gents.
    1 point
  25. A good friend of mine just slipped his retirement 90 days with Covid as the justification. Zero resistance.
    1 point
  26. In the Travis AFB mission set, it takes an unusual amount of hate to achieve war crimes leading to death. What'd they do, land wheels up on a group of enemy combatants? And does that rate an Air Medal or GCM?
    1 point
  27. Betting average Texans are better armed and better shots than average Californians. But this brings up an interesting not quite so philosophical question as it once was: If the military is activated to quell domestic disturbance(s), will it? Would you if still in uniform and/or a Guardsman under state orders? Setting up field hospitals, running logistics and the like, sure. Knocking on doors for 'trespassers' or ultimately firing on fellow Americans who don't take much to having their Constitutional rights infringed upon for very long? Define 'lawful' order under those circumstances. And to those coming to Texas, welcome! But why, oh why would you then start voting to make it exactly like where you fled from? Where you gonna go when you f it up here?
    1 point
  28. Yeah, fuck California and it’s fifth largest economy in the world. We don’t need those fuckin’ libs. We’re way better off without all the trade that comes through their ports. We certainly don’t need their winter vegetables in our grocery stores (who wants avacados anyway?). Hollywood is a liberal, corrupt industry that we really don’t make any money off exporting right? And the tourism industry there is overrated......it can’t be bringing in much cash. I’ve got an idea. Let’s just split the country into blue and red. How’s that saying go? United we.....tear ourselves apart?
    1 point
  29. I have a theory that mutual prosperity (for most) was the glue holding this whole thing together. When we lose that, the suspicion, blame, finger-pointing, and devolution into tribalism will threaten to tear the country apart.
    1 point
  30. Uhhh wait.... "what's good for me is not for thee?" Is that your take on this?
    1 point
  31. https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-down/us-military-putting-troops-at-risk-coronavirus
    1 point
  32. No, we are just tired of New Yorkers and Californians escaping their gutter trash of states and finding refuge in Texas only to bring their politics (or now Coronavirus) to this state. FYI I grew up in New York and my parents still live there, it sucks.
    0 points
  33. Except for the fact that....it is Texas? Literally right in the middle and also its capital? Fertile ground for the revolution, comrade.
    -2 points
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