Smokin

I figured this was basic to learning to drive, sirens or not. I don't start after a stop sign, red light, or even go through a green light without a quick check that the crossing traffic is actually stopped. They might be at fault if I don't look and have an accident, but it's my kids in the vehicle. Going through a red light or anything else unusual would only make it that much more important.

An Israeli website is saying that he was knocked unconscious during the landing (makes sense if he had to do a PLF in rough rocky terrain), which would help explain the initial delay in contact which likely complicated things greatly. Lucky he didn't break a leg instead. Same website also claims that he evaded for around a dozen miles and ended up climbing a 7K ridge to get away from Iranian forces. That's a great reminder for dudes to keep in shape. You never know when your or your loved ones' survival might depend on it. New fighter pilot PFT; 12 mile evasion ending in a 7k climb with no warning. Ready set go!

Additionally, I would assume that Trump was advised and approved of the targeting. I don't see how one President could unilaterally limit another President with an EO given they hold the same office.

Well, if you're being paid to wear a chicken suit...

When the Italians give us military advice, we'd better listen. I mean its not like they've lost every war they've ever fought in the last 1500+ years.... oh wait, they have.

Agreed. The phrasing of the War Powers Act is pretty vague and I think that was intentional. While obviously not the same thing, when a contract is written vaguely, the wiggle room is generally interpreted more liberally towards the party that did not write the contract, or so my lawyer told me. Since Congress wrote the War Powers Act and did so in vague language, it seems reasonable for the Executive to be able to use all the wiggle room Congress seems to have intentionally given. As far as Constitutional questions, the modern Federal government has gone so far beyond the Constitution that it can't even be seen in the rear view mirror. It would be comical to suddenly draw a WAY more restrictive line when it comes to the Commander-in-Chief employing the military. Individual officers must be able to recognize and not obey illegal orders. Extending that same responsibility to the entire war seems to be a bit of a stretch to me. If the President ordered the invasion of Bermuda because he said he wants a better vacation home, that would be different, but this is a war on a country that has directly caused American deaths. An officer saying that's illegal because it's been XX days and therefore in his mind should have Congressional approval seems absurd.

100% disagree. This line of thought of "I gotta get there right now because its an emergency" is almost certainly a root cause of the pilots' deaths. All first responders should have the first duty to "do no harm" just like doctors. This is not the first time that a fire truck in a hurry has killed innocent people on at an American airport. Fire trucks do not have that poor of visibility and they can see more than the pilots can from the cockpit windows. The lights are a problem, but that should only make them more cautious, not less. Part of the emergency call on the red line is the nature of the emergency. The driver of the fire truck either knew or should have known that this was much more in the lines of an annoyance emergency than a plane on fire.

What a terrible and utterly preventable accident. Based on the go-around call for Delta, it sounds like the audio is the tower freq, so everyone should have been on the same freq. If that is the case, the truck might have been on freq long enough to hear the takeoff clearance. The pilots would have heard the ground controller give clearance for the truck to cross the runway on which they were taking off with plenty of time to reject. And the obvious problem of the controller giving clearance to cross while a plane is taking off. Even if they weren't on the same freq, the truck absolutely should have been looking and seen an airplane on the runway and starting to roll towards them. Would be tough for the pilots to visually recognize the incursion in time to actually stop, especially at night and having a hard time recognizing that the truck hadn't stopped at the stop bars. Anyone know if LGA has the runway status lights? Might have been too late in the takeoff roll to actually stop anyway since it's only a hundred feet or so from the stop bars to the runway center. Seems pretty lucky that only the pilots were killed. I'd have expected a fireball with a plane hitting a fire truck that far down the runway. Maybe they had initiated a reject so they started slowing.

Pictures of one kid (which haven't been included in any article I've seen on it, which also makes me question the legitimacy of the claim) allegedly doing a Nazi salute caused a completely non-affiliated group to write to UF saying they were pulling that clubs affiliation (which was a lie since they weren't affiliated to begin with). Then UF used that as an excuse to shut down the club, likely because they wanted to anyway after the Nazi salute uproar. The club is suing because the shutdown was an incorrect decision based on rules (they were still affiliated) and likely actually targeting the club based on that one member's bad, but protected free speech. Ironic that you're drawing fine distinctions after basically calling all college republicans Nazis...

This is why we need to bring back some Old Testament laws; particularly the one where if you falsely accuse someone then your punishment is what their punishment would have been if convicted. Send both these cops to prison on felony drug charges, see how well they do there.

WSJ is unclear about the last 2 crew members, reporting 4 killed, holding out hope for the last two. Good job by the other crew getting that bird back on the ground.

Lots of possibilities that could lead to something like this that don't include nefarious motives. There are enough US on US frats in training and combat to not need jumping to traitorous motives to explain a mistake like this. That air picture was likely exponentially more complicated than anything he had ever trained. Very possible the dude thought there was a flight of missiles that were minutes or seconds from hitting his country and potentially killing his family and friends. I'd have to imagine that most pilot's frat risk math would change a bit in that scenario.

I thought the Raptors left NM?

Would be interesting if the dude filed a lawsuit against the ATF and the individual that denied it. Might give other bureaucrats pause when they're about to deny someone their rights if they know that they might lose their house. Imagine any other right being treated like the 2nd... "no, sir, I don't consent to you searching my house because it is my right to not consent." "Sorry, but simply exercising your right doesn't justify exercising your right, so we're going to search your house."

All copper bullets for the win, again. In hunting or defensive use, all copper is absolutely my number 1 choice.