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Smokin

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Everything posted by Smokin

  1. Problem is: 1. Being able to tell the difference between the obvious need for politicians to play to their bases (thus saying things they have no intention of doing) 2. Understanding that even if the people at the top don't actually believe it, the middle and lower levels of government may actually enact what the top is saying 3. People tend to ignore what other people say about themselves and their intentions (just look at some of the left's defense of Hamas, an organization that would use a dull knife to cut the head off 95% of Americans if they could and then brag about it to their mom)
  2. There was a pilot who ended up behind actual bars and then kicked out for falsely claiming BAH for his wife while he was in Korea. Don't remember the exact details, but something along the lines of she moved back to her parents house in a small town but claimed a NYC or SFO zip code.
  3. ORD was my first taxi out as an airline pilot. Dude, talk about a wake up call. Luckily I had a good captain who looked at me right before I called for clearance and said "wait, this is your first time ever taxing a commercial aircraft?" "Yep" "Ok, write this down" and proceeded to give me what he expected the taxi instructions to be. He was 95% correct and a huge help. He also said 'don't be surprised if they read off your taxi instructions and then go on to the next airplane without giving you a chance to read back'. I think I said "WTF, can they do that?" "This is Chicago, FAA regs are more like suggestions..."
  4. I may have taxied in Ohare from the runway to the gate without ever getting a spare second of radio time to make contact with ground. Just jumped into the flow and no one noticed us.
  5. They will pretend to be outraged at the Jewish "atrocities" but they don't like the Palestinians much more than Israel does. I would bet they are relatively unconcerned about the chutes not opening as long as they can pretend they're helping.
  6. If my adult neighbor drank a full bottle of jack every night, I'd try to convince him not to and help him out of his situation, but at the end of the day it's his choice and I can't stop him. If my neighbor's 12 year old kid drank a bottle of jack every night with the encouragement of their parents and doctor, that is child abuse. The parents and doctor should go to jail and the kid should be placed in a foster family where they have a chance at life. Life altering surgeries because they have been pushed into or allowed to continue in a mental delusion is no different.
  7. Highly unlikely. One, it would be very difficult to see the bombs from the ground until it was really too late. Two, by the time you could see it and intercept it, the bomb would practically be at the target already. Three, the miss distance you could cause with a MANPAD would likely be insignificant. Unlikely to cause the bomb to cook off, best case you could cause a fin failure. Even if it worked perfectly, I doubt you would really achieve much and you would have wasted a SAM that would be better used against the target they're intended to shoot.
  8. It is also amazing that a people group that is apparently under constant genocide by a nation-state with a relatively decent military somehow grows in population. Maybe the meaning of the word genocide has changed since I went to school.
  9. One problem with assuming that it isn't going to happen is the baseline assumption that removing the support from the bottom of the structure will make it all topple down. Once a movement gets started, it can grow capable of sustaining itself. And the "oppressed" minorities will soon be the majority. A 51% even spread of voters can do whatever they want.
  10. But it's ok, you don't need guns because those local bad guy police will protect you... oh dang, that makes no sense.
  11. It has to take some serious commitment to willingly burn yourself to death. He could not have been more wrong in his convictions, but I'm impressed he was able to hold out as long as he did and with almost no indication of the agony he was surely going through. Maybe, just maybe, not everyone that is woke is a wussy coward. Not sure if that is reassuring or not. As has been said, imagine what this dude could have done if he had put that same commitment towards a worthy cause.
  12. The 8th AF museum is ok, but in reality it has a whopping 5 aircraft. A must visit is the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles or the SAC museum near Omaha. You could fit over a dozen 8th AF museums in either of those museums.
  13. You're kidding yourself if you don't think that we're all already on the list...
  14. Cocaine is one hell of a drug
  15. I didn't miss the 10 minutes. I missed the entire thing because I'm not going to support it by watching it. Although I wouldn't say I'm missing it Bob. I have no issues listening to Putin or any other potential/actual enemy to learn how they think and why they do what they do. I have an issue with a journalist going into a country that holds journalists hostage for political gains and giving the leader of that country legitimacy by doing an interview like this. I think it played far more into Putin's hands than Carlson's. I also think Putin is too smart to give us anything that we could actually learn from. Before his untimely (too late) death, I had no problem with people listening to Osama bin Laden. I would have had an issue with a US reporter interviewing him. Maybe I'm making an unnecessary distinction, but there is a difference between listening/learning and doing something to gives an enemy a platform that they will use to their advantage. Along those lines, the follow on posts read FAR too much into my statement. I have absolutely no problem listening to people on the other side of the political spectrum. Many of the problems with our country is the lack of a willingness to engage in meaningful dialogue. But there is a big difference between this and the Putin interview.
  16. Given that Russia currently has a jailed WSJ reporter, I am floored that this interview happened. First, he probably couldn't ask too tough of questions for fear of the interview ending with him in handcuffs and being tried as a spy. Second, interviewing a man that effectively kidnapped a fellow journalist without the promise that Evan Gershkovich would be released should raise some moral concerns.
  17. No bonus? What 11X do they think they're going to get to come back? I'm already going to get half my base pay just to breath. That would cost me in lost revenue as much as the AF would pay me. And what are the chances I get a TX course? Probably slim, so I'd just be some admin dude, scheduler, or designated brick holder for the OG? Solid pass. Without more than the normal AD yearly bonus amount, the only way they're going to get any pilots is if they offer a better QOL than the airlines. Good luck with that. If they let me work from home (assuming no TX), max of 30 hrs per week with a schedule of my choosing averaged out over the month, I'd maybe consider it. Maybe. But probably not for long. I'm sure they'll get a few guys in unique life situations, but I think the response will be mostly guys laughing and saying "I told you so".
  18. If you don't have an honorary squadron commander, get that program up and running. A few local big wigs leaning on local businesses to each chip in a bit and you'll be a significant way there. You'll also likely have an easier time making the bar a self-help process and purchasing morale stuff with a GPC. Find a pilot in the squadron that is good at woodworking/construction (actually good, not 'I put together my IKEA desk after only 3 attempts' good) and that would be a huge help also.
  19. It takes a long time to get rich on your money. Making money off of other peoples' money is the way to go. For example, I bought a new house when the housing market was down. I put a grand total of around $15K into the house between VA funding fee and improvements. I rented the house out after I moved and sold it 10 years later at 200% more than I paid for it and walked away with about $50K more than the original purchase price. I did all this with other people's money because I got the loan at a low rate so it was worth keeping it to keep making money off of other people's money. If someone is willing to loan you money at well under inflation, take as much as they will loan you and put that money to work. Don't buy a car with it, most companies now are subsidizing rates down to similar or lower than the 3% from USAA. Invest it and your 40 year old self will thank you. VFIAX is absolutely what I would do. Then make yourself constantly add the same amount into that fund that you spend on beer and you won't have to worry about retirement.
  20. Smokin

    Gun Talk

    Now that's a Beretta I could buy. Probably similar weight and pattern as the 92...
  21. I doubt that many R's will sit it out in the general at the risk of four more years of Biden. I'm sure a few will, but I doubt it'll be a significant number. As much as the never-Trumpers dislike Trump, they dislike Biden just as much and at least Trump *might* decrease the severity of a couple problems they care about.
  22. You will always be able to find crazies in any party and posting links of individuals being crazy doesn't reflect the larger party. Trump hosting that nut is bad, but on the whole, it is a sizeable portion of the left in America today that is anti-Israel. If there were a party affiliation in that poll, I'd bet that the vast majority of that 20-25% are registered Democrats. If that stat of thinking the Holocaust was fake is real and actually representative, that is insane. But one should also not be surprised when you sow insanity in the school system and the resulting crop has a lot of insanity. If there is no objective truth and the 'truth' is whatever I perceive, then obviously history can be manipulated and there is no reason to think that it has not been exaggerated. Same with all the anti-American propaganda now being taught as actual history.
  23. Hearing... great, no reason there cannot be reasonable accommodations for office jobs. Severe intellectual disability? That is absolutely absurd. When is the left going to realize that it is not the right that put Trump in office, it was a knee-jerk reaction to BS like this.
  24. I check off all of those... so do I get to join some sort of "super-privilege" club that will get me VIP seating at games and do cool things like that? "Owning class"? How is the American population so dumb that they cannot see that these people are not mentally living in 21st century America but mentally living in the reconstruction era and think they're dealing with ex-slave owners? If the people spouting this stuff actually believe it, they should be in a mental institution. The only "privilege" I have was growing up in the care of a loving, two parent house that gave me the work ethic to succeed. The same exact type of house that these people are actively trying to destroy. And if being a Christian is a "privilege" here on earth, then convert to Christianity. I think they will soon find that being a real Christian is not a privilege in this life.
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