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How? Am I the only person who saw politicians for the duplicitous villains they always have been? The problem I have with your argument, and the Never Trumpers in general, is that it really sounds like "I can look my kids in the eye and support someone as long as they aren't so obvious about their immorality." It would be one thing to disown Trump and only support moral, consistent politicians. But Biden, Harris, Bernie, and the others are anything but. If a conservative voted for a liberal because of Trump, I'm not sure they were really conservative. If they didn't vote at all, that is a completely understandable and consistent position. This is why nothing is real and everything is a riot. Because the masses, unwashed as we are, are very good at spotting an inconsistency. Everything that was said of Trump was completely and totally true of his supposed betters. He's enriching himself in office? Lol. He's kicking positions to family and friends? That's new... He's a liar? He cheats on his wife? His kids are a mess? He plays too much golf? And before Trump, good, decent, honest people were immolated with bullshit. Romney and Kavanaugh are just two obvious examples. So hating Trump for the odious pig he is, gotcha. But don't moralize if your solution is to support a more-polished turd. Trump was just politics without the makeup. If you (not Homestar specifically) didn't realize that until now, I have a bridge to sell you. We agree on Crenshaw. *If* he can keep his head on straight, and doesn't wait too long to run, he would make an incredible president. We need term limits and age limits. I've never heard anyone say they wished they had an 80 year old involved in their project, yet somehow they are running the country.

This is your new identity now. Take it and run.

Yep, and yet we’re hell bent on destroying it and plunging ourselves into a dark shithole. “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” - we’re in the last part of that quote, and history repeats itself.

When I was being court martialed for a crime I never committed, I had people turn their shoulder to me. I had people talk shit about me to friends, family, even some people on here on other online forums. Thankfully, I was found not guilty of the serious stuff, but found guilty of the typical malicious overcharging that the JAG Corps likes to do. During the sentencing phase of my court martial the best squadron commander I ever had, now O-6, wrote a letter to the panel saying: ”People are not the sum of their mistakes.” After my discharge board, and being separated less than four years from retirement, I was the lowest of the low. I had senior Enlisted, Officers, JAGs tell me that I would never amount to anything. No one would ever give me a job due to a court martial conviction, etc. I even had a FGO that told me I should just kill myself now instead of making my family go through pain of watching me to turn into a homeless drug addict statistic. I thought about it, and almost did it. But I remembered that saying my former commander said. I decided I wasn’t going to let my mistakes define me. This May I’m graduating from Georgetown with my Masters in Cybersecurity. I just was accepted into an aviation and space doctoral program at Oklahoma State. All paid for by the VA’s Voc Rehab program. I make way more money now than I did as a MSgt working in the KC-46 program as a contractor. I even have a security clearance. What I learned along the way was not just resilience, but I was humbled. I learned a hard lesson that your life can be taken away from you, either by the judicial system, or by those who doubt you so much that you start to doubt yourself. But in the end, you are not the sum of your mistakes, regardless of whom you are. I’m not religious, though I grew up Catholic, but to add onto that quote from my former commander is: 2 Timothy 4:7 ”I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." To those of you who had the honor of being a commander, and allowed people to rebound from their mistakes, thank you. You’re appreciated more than you’ll ever know.

Of course I don't do that myself. I refresh this forum, because I know somebody will beat me to it anyway!

I’m no republican if that is your measuring stick. I’ve clearly stated here that my vote for Biden was a protest vote against Trump, who was a non-serious clown president.

Ok, time to come out of lurking mode I guess. I'm in the "without FCI" crowd. I was deployed to Afghanistan for all of CY20 an obviously couldn't have a FCI conducted downrange. The guidance that was given to me, and outlined briefly by AFPC and @Bean, is that all training dates will be coordinated after an approved FCI. Those that are selected with a current FCI will have training dates already established upon the listing of board results, or very soon thereafter. So while there is a chance an applicant without a FCI could be selected over an applicant that does, the decision was (should be) based off merit, experience, and several other traits. Not medical. My assumption is that if a non-FCI select ends up medically disqualified then the next qualified applicant with a FCI will slide up... to include those on the alternates listing. If anything, those with a valid FCI get a spot at the front of the line once selected. Again, just my $0.02 with some very broad assumptions. Ok, back to lurk mode. All notifications on, rapidly hitting the refresh button. Huge thanks to those reaching out to AFPC and getting the gouge for us.

Actually, they are both bullshit, that's exactly what I'm saying. You have a neat way of selectively picking which talking points "represent" a particular side, while conveniently ignoring the others. The fact of the matter is that overwhelmingly what was claimed during the race riots was bullshit. It's not even worth the time to pull up the nearly endless list of prominent leftists making claims as to the fatal nature of black people interacting with the police. But never numbers. When your cause can't be quantified in any way without discrediting the cause then the problem is the cause itself. These riots weren't about getting pulled over more, or getting side eye from a convenience store owner, or gang violence, hell they weren't even about the very real issues of incarceration impacting the ability of black communities to dig out of a very deep hole. Overwhelmingly they were about police brutality towards black people. And the most prominent cases, used as evidence of a systemic attack on black bodies, were misrepresented in ways that discredit the entire argument. And it was merely a continuation of the same lie, with different names and different cases fed into the narrative. Michael brown, trayvon martin, and now George Floyd. The bad old days of overt American racism are over. They have been for a while. The Civil Rights movement never required the mental gymnastics we see today to justify their protests, and yes, riots. It was plain to see for everyone, and because of such they were triumphant. The difficulties with race in 2021, and specifically within the black community, are much more difficult to address. There is no boogeyman, no villain to unify against. Not whiteness, not the police, not the system. But if I were to apply your logic to it then in fact the capital riots weren't about Trump or election theft, they were very legitimate protests against widespread yet nearly impossible to document election fraud, and just because a few crazies went a little too far, that shouldn't get in the way of the very legitimate and well-documented cause that they are supporting. There is no mortal threat to the black population in the United States from any element of the government, least of all the police. Minimize that claim all you like, but the rest of us don't need to be moralized over taking an argument at face value. One that was made over and over and over for a few years now. There was also no stolen election. Trump lost because Trump is a fucking moron, that's it. Yeah there are plenty of videos unequivocally proving voter fraud, but they are hundreds of votes out of over a hundred million. Neither statistic justifies the response, thus making the riots, on both sides, bullshit. It's completely chicken shit to tell everybody who disagrees with your narrative that they're just defending whiteness. I'm a fucking cuban jew, for Christ's sakes. You think I have a lot of cred in the white supremacist community? You can call out a lie for what it is without having an affinity for your own skin color.

UPDATE* PSDM is getting finalized rn, CC notification next week (public release a week after that)

Never really understood the “we need to elect someone who’ll burn the system down” sentiment that got Trump elected and seems to be driving the Republican Party into oblivion. By all accounts we live in the best time it’s ever been to be a human being. War, disease (even considering the current situation), famine, and poverty are at their lowest points in human history. We each literally have access to most of the data ever collected in the world in the palm of our hands. More of the world is experiencing freedom than ever before. Overall, our lives have been getting progressively better. But somehow the system is suddenly broken beyond fixing? Armed insurrection is the only way forward? Treasonous, conspiracy driven politicians like Trump and Taylor Greene are somehow on the same plane as “traditional” players like Biden, Obama, or Bush? Sorry, no. I’ll give you that politics is often messy and sometimes dirty. That doesn’t mean it’s not working. Enjoy a nice vacation in the last five years? Own a home? Kids get to go to school every day? Fire department shows up when there’s a fire? The insurrectionist wing of the Republican Party wants to throw all that out with the bath water. Sorry, but I’ll take “traditional” politics, flawed as it is, every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Get an A-2 jacket from Mr. Lim's.

Believe what you like. History will be on my side on this one. Let’s talk in 20 years and see how Trump is regarded. After all the kool-aid drinking MAGA denizens are gone.

I didn't say that. I said if you voted for Biden, you aren't conservative. Voting for no one, or Jo Jorgenson, or writing in an honest candidate, all that is consistent with conservatism. Voting for Biden because you can't stand Trump is not.

That’s ageism, and I'm triggered. How dare you!? Ok, I heartily agree with you!

Neil Gorsuch. Brett Kavanaugh. Amy Barrett. Kicking Iran's dick in. Not engaging in any new wars - something no President since Regan? Carter? has been able to do. Attempting to normalize relations with NK. Overseeing numerous ME peace deals. No president is morally perfect. Trump and Biden included. I don't think most conservatives are worried about Biden per se, though...most know that Biden is a place-holder; an empty vessel who is merely the wedge the woke machine needed to use in order to regain the executive branch. Look at the rest of people who were in the race - Kamala, Bernie, Warren, Buttigieg, Beto, etc. There are not moderate people. Biden is the lightly salted mashed potatoes who they had to put foward in order to get moderate democrats motivated to think they had a shot and get out to the polls en masse - that wouldn't have happened with a Bernie. Personally I think Joe Biden is basically a good man - would probably have been an ok president at some point. That said, this guy is just getting started with probably one of the most stressful jobs in the world, and he's already (waaaaay) past his expiration date. Look at what 8 years did to Bush Jr. and Obama - they came out different men. Does anyone honestly expect this is a guy who's about to be a two-term president?

Just tried the PCSM site number no answer, tried the total force service center as well but they don't have any information newer than the original PSDM. I'll try again tomorrow, any updates will be here soon as I get them.

@WeavYou’re not the hero we deserved but the one we needed. That being said it is 1245am here and I have no access to get the number so please someone provide this man the number!

Hopefully no one gets faulted for getting everything done by the deadlines. The biggest thing is number of slots and the training dates. They said they are not giving training dates for anyone picked up without a completed IFC/ETP. So if there are a lot of people that don’t have IFC/ETPs done then I’m guessing that would favor people with the entire package done solely based on getting them to training faster.

So, I agree it is nutty and not a good look for anyone. However, the news the past decade has been about elites covering up child sex rings. Epstein, British House of Lords, Catholic church, etc. Sure, news loves pushing the narrative...but damn if it didn't at least hint to the conspiracy. Also, Epstein didn't kill himself.

I absolutely hated statistics in high school and undergrad. Developed an appreciation for it though after I signed up for a graduate level certificate program that I didn't realize until it was too late was essentially 5 graduate level stats courses with fancier/cooler sounding course names... But I agree, intro to stats/probability is definitely more useful in normal life than calculus (or pre-calc) in high school.

You gave other options, and I’ve written in names in past elections. This was an election where, potentially, every single vote could have made a difference. I feel like writing in some other name would have been akin to throwing it away. I wanted to ensure Trump didn’t make it in because I didn’t do my part. With McCain (American hero, no slight on him there), I didn’t like his politics, but I sure as heck wasn’t voting for Obama. McCain had no hope of winning anyway, so my write-in didn’t hurt him. You comparing the Capitol riots to riots (not excusing them or calling them good) based on demonstrable and verifiable social inequalities is laughable. You’re way above this too man. You’ve put out so many intelligent points over time, that it is weird you’d drop that out there expecting it to land. Riots=bad. We all agree. Capitol Riot was nowhere close to the same thing as the legitimate unrest caused by decades of mistreatment. Go ahead, staunch defenders of the white faith, give me your downvotes. You have very intelligent, die-hard conservatives in here echoing my exact points on what is happening with race relations in this country. I haven’t seen you downvoting Clearedhot when he disagrees with your view that all is right in the land of social equality...

I'm in Afghanistan without access to a reliable unclass line -sigh. That is great though. Appreciate the info

Didn't call, just been emailing the POC and he replied a little while ago, he's been feeding me information, but has been keeping things pretty vague. @URTHopeful2021 if you want to call they might give you more specific data over the phone.

Nice! Did you call? Any idea about what day for CC notification?

That was the best military used item of clothing I ever bought while traveling. As I remember he said it was made from virgin calf skin... Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Man I woke up to a few notifications from this post and got excited at the chance we had some selection notifications being made. Back to the waiting game. If we don’t hear anything by the end of this week I’ll call AFPC on Friday to see if there’s an update.

I would say that is true if you have not had COVID. I had a nasty case over Christmas and have been told by multiple doctors that I may still get the vaccine, but I have solid antibodies for at least 90 days (a recent study found antibodies after 11 months). The CDC and other are still studying reinfection which will likely take a while to resolve with certainty and while the recommend you still adhere to protective measures (masks, hand washing...etc.), they also state this on their website - there here have been a few recorded cases of coronavirus reinfection, but they remain rare. Given these facts I think I am safe to wait another 60 days and allow others who are more vulnerable to get the vaccine, I also think there is a very low probability that I could pass it on to someone else.

Fear just leads to the dark side.

haha! great to know I am not alone in my compulsive pattern. We need another phone call to AFPC. I vote we pull virtual straws.

Nope... I definitely don't have it up on my work computer and my phone to hit F5 every hour on the hour including right after I got down from my flight just now. Of course not. But if you were (hypothetically) curious it hasn't changed.

2 - highly recommend! Get the suit special from Mr. Tony’s!!

Is anyone else refreshing the Rated page on the portal multiple times a day to check for a release date notification? I'm just hoping we have a set date by the end of this week...but I dream..

Are you saying Trump represents conservatism? Let's not mince words because that is the implication made here by your statement. Considering him a vehicle for conservative policies, I could see that. Calling Trump conservative is a stretch. He clearly flipped sides to where he thought he'd get the most mileage. There's a difference between showing a career politician who's positions have evolved a flip-flopper, and a man who one second espoused views 180 out from the next second. Trump, for those keeping score falls into the latter category.

So you're not answering my questions? It' fine if you don't want to, just say so.

I voted for policy over personality. No idea how old your kids are but are you are teaching them to vote for the nice guy? Have you explained to your kids how many jobs Biden has killed and how that affects thousands? Have you talked about how long Biden has been in politics and what he's done? I don't know if you have daughters who are into sports but did you tell them Biden says a boy can compete against them and take a shower with them after practice? You said he was "horrible for our country in all respects" . Was the record low unemployment Bullshit? The record small businesses opening bullshit?

@Steve Davies Red Eagles got a mention today on Joe Rogan Podcast with Thunderbirds driver/MMA Ref

Certainly get that take. On the flip side, I have ~60 cadets looking at me as a role model. So if I can influence them to also get the vaccine when offered, I want to do whatever I can. Plus... The sooner most of us are vaccinated, the sooner bars start opening and concerts resume. And I can actually go somewhere with my use or lose leave.

What is the source of this fancy graph; I was never given a chance to participate. And you just casually throw out that 16% of Americans, or up to 53 million people, belief the "Satan worshipping" line. I'm thinking we're identifying part of the problem with political discourse in our country...

Concur...reflecting on feedback throughout my career that I use profanity as a verb, noun, adjective....you get the fucking picture.

Yes, did mine in October or November. They compare your records to the bottom 10 above the cut line. Biggest takeaway was having Definitely Promote on your push line if you don’t have the box checked. Strats, of course, matter. I didn’t have any FGO awards, but he said that was offset by the CGO awards I had. SDE push lines on OPRs help. Jobs above the Wing level help. Basically all things that it’s probably too late to improve on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Problem is now people like Greene and Gaetz. They truly do not care they're destroying any vestige of what was the GOP. You watch, they will burn this mf'r down not realizing the damage they will do to the country. Romney, Cheney, Kinzinger, et al are eating poo sandwiches because people are still pandering to the whipped up base of ignorant voters Trump duped.

I voted for Biden because Trump was an immoral option. I couldn’t look my kids in the eye and explain any reasoning for voting for him. I’m a conservative without a home. I’m a proud Never Trumper that actually votes for and encourages actual conservatism. Trump was none of that. Screw that guy. He was horrible for our country in all respects. I seriously don’t care what liberal utopia crap we get in the next two years because it means Trump isn’t in office. Jeez. You guys make it seem that Biden’s EOs are going to ring in the apocalypse.

Amen brother. As a commander I tried to stay old school, there is no substitute for a good old fashion ass chewing...yell, throw in some profanity to get the point across. Perhaps not professional but I saw no need to electrocute every Airman for a simple mistake....a mistake I probably made at one point and was lucky not to get caught doing. If we truly believe people are our greatest asset, then invest in them, not only when they do good, but also when they do bad.

Funny that a guy who bitched so much about applying violence that he brought a lawsuit is now upset that we are taking care of our airmen.

Mainly because of the tripe she used to spew at State.

Welcome to the party Brother. Last year my wife said, you are grumpy since you retired, just go buy your damn airplane. Yes Ma'am! I almost bought a Lancair 4P, had a deal in place, but during pre-inspection found out the airplane spent a few years of "unexplained" and unlogged time in Mexico, the maintenance log books were shit. I am 69% certain that plane was flying drugs into the U.S. and had no idea what shape the wing spars were in. Additionally, the insurance on some of the Lanceairs is outrageous because of their accident rate. I was very enamored with the performance of the Lancairs, especially the 4P, they tend to be sleek machines, fast and economical but most models have a high wing loading requiring some extra attention in the pattern. The insurance on the 4P was triple some of the other airplanes I was looking at and ultimately a big deciding factor. I ended up buying a Piper Saratoga TC II. I wanted to fly but also wanted a travel machine for the family. The guy that owned it before me dumped about $120K worth of glass into the airplane (see below). I flew steam gauges most of my career and was shocked by the SA the Garmin offers especially when it is integrated with the autopilot. I put about 180 hours on it in the last year. Four trips to DC (In-Laws live there), A few to Miami (my parents live there), and a lot of shorter trips in between. Once at altitude I typically I can lean for 13-16 GPH and see around 145-155 TAS. I started off using my IPad Pro, but found it too big for the cockpit. There was no place to put it so I kept it between the seats and pulled it out to review. I ended up buying an IPad Air with cell service which is still big but I can mount it with a suction cup. The cockpit of the Saratoga is a bit odd around the windshield/Dash and ideally the IPad Air would be more friendly for space, but we have decided to upgrade to a new airplane and it will accommodate the IPad Air. On trips I can do all mission planning on the IPad and I use it in the airplane with Foreflight running as a back up. As folks have stated above the Bose A2s are great, pricey but they fit is great and the ANR is superb. I tried a few in-ear options, forget the brand name, but didn't like them. My wife's college sorority was having a big get together in the Fall so I flew her to Tallahassee. She is a nervous flyer and at one point said, "it would be a lot better if you had a plane with two engines"...Again Yes Ma'am so I started an upgrade search. I looked at a bunch of options and I am signing a contract for a new SR-22 this week. Yes I know single engine but with the CAPS system I think it hits her "safety button" STS. I'll share my thoughts on the upgrade search and what lead me to the SR-22. We want to travel and we have another couple that usually goes with us. Useful load and range were driving factors. I was going to buy a Baron G-58. Great airplane, fast, and a fully integrated G1000 system. It also has better takeoff performance than the Cessna's. My home base airfield is only 3700' and while I could safely operate a 310 or some of the other Cessna options, the margin would be much smaller. I knew the cost factor would be higher for maintenance and fuel, but again it was insurance that was double that of the SR-22. It has a great useful load until you start accounting for all the extra gas you have to take. It was also the fastest option, although at double the fuel burn. I really wanted the Diamond DA-62, in fact, it wins hands down on all the performance, fuel burn, and operating cost factors. Single engine climb is well over 600 FPM, Cruise speed is superb, great useful load, tons of room inside and it sips 11.8 GPH of Jet-A at altitude. It has one major drawback that for me was a show-stopper, it has a HUGE fucking footprint. With a 49'3" wingspan there is only one hangar on my field that it will fit in and that hangar has been rented by a company for 12 years. They are building a bunch of new hangars on my field, but they are all too narrow...I will not leave an airplane that expensive outside. Finding a suitable hangar was going to create an hour plus drive at about triple the hangar rate I pay now. Previous to this I was not a big Cirrus fan to start with. A great friend and UPT classmate was their chief test pilot and was killed in one. They have come a long way and as I started to look the SR-22 met all of my performance wants. It is FAST for a fixed gear airplane...170 TAS at between 16-17GPH. Faster by far then my Saratoga with a minimal increase in fuel burn. Reasonable insurance (as long as you do the training). Also, depending on configuration, it has the best useful load of any of the other options I looked at. I am getting a new normally aspirated SR-22 G6. Flying in the south I don't need the turbo or icing system (which is very high maintenance by the way). I will still have oxygen if I want to jump up to 16K and grab a tail wind. Dropping the turbo and FIKI icing system bumps my useful load to 1269 pounds. I will be able to easily take my wife and our friends, all their bags and almost a full bag of gas which lets us range Charleston, Key West, Charlotte, DC, Nashville, Dallas non-stop. One other thought in my long rambling post, airplane prices are high right now because of USERRA. If you purchased an airplane by the end of 2020 you could use it as part of a business and go back five years of offset profit on your taxes. Baron Prices are very high, same with the SR-22. I was looking at a 2018 SR-22 G6 and when compared to a new one I can get a new SR-22 for about $60K more, but it will be in my color scheme, have zero time and Cirrus is throwing in a five year tip to tip warranty. Good luck brother and hope to see you out there.

https://www.econlib.org/is-there-politics-after-polarization/ Very short read but I think it captures the current predicament well. The quote captured it well.

Seriously? So you are saying Jen Psaki is pure as the driven snow and she doesn't lie. Come on man! Psaki outright lied as State Department Spokesperson. Conway and Spice were horrible, I liked Huckabee, she gave what she got...Post Spicer that press room was radioactive and combative from the first day she walked to the podium. The point of the post was they are sticking to a script and if it isn't on the script they don't know what to do. She is the White House Press Secretary, she should do better than fumble through a book for a scripted answer and when she can't find it "circle back." For the record, during my career "I don't know" was usually an acceptable answer especially during my time at the WIC if it was followed up with, but I know how to find the answer. It was not an acceptable answer on a checkride if we were talking ops limits, it was not an acceptable answer in a TIC if I asked where the friendlies were, and it was not acceptable the night my wife was driving our family to dinner off base and a young asshat Airman was driving so crazy he ran us off the road and into a field. Quick story...For two miles this chump tried to pass us in heavy traffic and nearly clipped the back of our SUV both times. My wife is not a slow driver and we were doing 60 in a 55, and he was still about a foot off our bumper trying to pass. He tried twice to pass and almost clipped us each time as he jumped back in line. When he finally did pass there was oncoming traffic and not enough room. He was was about dead even with us and my wife had to swerve off the road and into a field to avoid a head on collision, he kept on going. We got back on the road and wouldn't you know it he got caught at the long traffic light so we caught up to him. I had consumed a few adult beverages at the club and figured it best not to confront someone offbase so I wrote down his tag and called the Mission Support Group Commander to have the SPs run the tag (dude looked military). Wouldn't you know it came back to Airman Snuffy from Mx Sq... he was standing in my office at 0700 on Monday with his Sq/CC and Grp/CC. I asked him what were you thinking..."I don't know?" Did you think about stopping when you ran my wife, my son and my off the road and into that field...."I don't know..." That was his answer to everything. Only time I ever really went off on someone for "I don't know."