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I've taken part in use of force scenario training a few times, and each time I had my eyes opened a little wider to what law enforcement deals with. If your local department ever offers it, please take up the chance. In the first scenarios I ran, the Taser was strategically placed to be different than the firearm (chest mount). I saw people choose the wrong use of force that day, (wanted to shoot someone that could have been tased) but never saw someone mix the weapons up. However, I guess all departments don't run things that way, and its possible to have a setup where one could mix up the two, despite their training. The video pretty clearly shows it's a fuckup, and whatever training/awareness failed. Two things are true here. - His resisting arrest put himself (and others around him) in greater danger, and contributed to the circumstances that led to his death. - The cop clearly pulled out the wrong weapon and as such, killed the individual. She made the trigger pull, she killed him. She's directly responsible for his death, and should be fired/face legal penalties. However, let's not remove his culpability here. I wish all cops were quick thinking 160+ IQ individuals who get it right 100% of the time, but they aren't. They're average people with (in my opinion) average training. The closer you place them to a life-death split decision, the more that lack of training is going to become a problem. Bottom line, don't fight the cops. Don't stress them out any more than necessary. Film/record them if necessary, and fight the legal battles later.

This. Everybody feels like they have to pick a side. There is no “right” side here. This is different from the Chauvin situation in that this was a split second fuckup, not nine minutes or whatever of kneeling on somebody’s neck. Should she have known the difference between a Glock and a taser? Absolutely. But she obviously intended to use non lethal force to subdue the subject. Not an excuse, but I do believe intent matters here. As far as the subject goes, in what world does running from the police ever work out? Best case is you get away, but the police know who you are and you wind up with additional warrants. Worse case? Well that’s exactly what happened here. Even if the police interaction is obviously unfair and racist, running is not an option that will help you. Bottom line is both parties were in the wrong here. I’m a big proponent of police reform and consistently argue that racial bias does, in fact, exist in policing in the United States today. Let’s not dilute that cause by calling incidents like this one anything other than what they are: A tragic accident that was entirely preventable by both parties.

Carlson on vaccine questions I understand Tucker Carlson is a commentator who thrives on controversy. I’m not linking this because of an affinity for him, but rather he’s the only one discussing a topic I can’t get a straight answer on: does the vaccine work? If so, why no alleviating restrictions for vaccinated? If not, why the massive guilt campaign to compel vaccination?

That's easier said than done, especially when there's a perception (or in some cases, reality) that there are cops out there doing the wrong thing, whether it's unintentional or intentional. I generally agree with your statement's intent, but there are bad cops out there as well who are willing to abuse their authority. That complicates the response from the civilian. By the same token, Cops also shouldn't stress out the people (who likely have zero training in deescalating situations) any more than necessary either. De-escalation goes both ways. Fighting the legal battle typically means you have the time and money to do so. Look at how messed up civil forfeiture laws are, especially regarding firearms. I've been detained by SF when I knew I was clearly in the right, but they didn't understand the base policy (no line badge on the flighline as a TDY requal student at the FTU, base policy was TDY students only need CAC and flight auth, which I had and presented). Took everything I had to not lose my cool since we just got to our jet for an early morning sortie, and I'm generally non-confrontational. Funny thing was that the A1C cop was trying to tell his SrA partner that detained us that we were right, but the SrA berated the A1C for missing the email that "changed the policy last week" and refused to confirm the policy. So 3 pilots were wrongly detained and cuffed for over an hour and a half, marched off to sit on the edge of the flight line surrounded by what felt like was every SF airman on duty (around 10-12 SF to detain 3 pilots). We were only released after the OG/CC got involved (wtf call to the MSG) without so much as an apology acknowledging they were wrong. The other funny thing was they didn't even bother to check the civilian mx crew chief who was out there with us and didn't have his line badge displayed. SF clearly targeted is based on our group affiliation (pilots). I wanted to cancel the sortie, but one of the other students couldn't take a training delay since they were trying to close on a house and needed to make it out on our scheduled graduation day. But man, I wanted SF to take a cancelled sortie for being stupid (and FTU Sq/DO was good with us doing so via an ORM canx), especially given that the FTU had been running behind because a bunch of FTU IPs had recently gotten out to go to the airlines. And now, right or wrong, anytime I see SF on the flightline my initial gut reaction is "F those guys." And then you read about some rando hopping the fence at Andrews and walking a mile on the flight line and going onto one of the 89th jets that was left open...

Over 6 people in millions. We'd halt all airline travel if we applied the same safety standards.

Having had first hand experience in acquisitions, our process is truly a joke. The hilarious thing is that a commercial off the shelf upgrade to something like a Garmin GPS 175 (not to mention an even more featured GTN 650) would be super inexpensive in relative terms, and in the T-6 specifically, you could place it in the same space the old GPS sat and it would probably even be plug and play with the already existing avionics. And even if not, you could replace the ADI and HSI with a dual Garmin G5 set up and be done with it. But bring that solution forward in our acquisition process and we’ll tell you a thousand different reasons it could be a problem, spend a ton of money and years investigating, and either end up at the originally suggested solution having spent way more time and money than needed; or even more likely, spend the same amount of time and money and still end up at an ineffectual solution.

Didn't feel embarrassed or disrespected, just frustrated that my early morning alert sequence for my sortie got screwed because someone with authority didn't know their job and didn't own their mistake, regardless of either their rank or mine. Their parting words were to get a line badge (again, base policy didn't require it for TDY students). Also turns out SF's line badge printer hadn't worked in several months anyways, so I wouldn't have been able to get one even if I wanted one (hence the base's flightline policy). I'm sure any flyer would be pissed if a support agency caused a delay to a mission or sortie because that support agency did their job wrong. Especially if that support agency asserts they did nothing wrong. At a conscious level I know they (flight line SF) are doing their job, and most are probably decent people doing their best. But I still have that initial thought every time I see them on the flight line of "F the police" because of a bad run-in with them. Then again, I've also been stopped when leaving base by SF and detained in my car for 15min or so because someone called in a suspicious person taking pictures on base. That time was much more cordial, though still equally stupid, as it was for an SF exercise, and the description of both the car and suspicious person weren't even close to my car or me. But they at least acknowledged their mistake before sending me on my way. They also treated me like a person throughout the interaction, and I don't have the same gut reaction to gate guards like I do for their flightline counterparts.

Ha, oh I’ve been doing some buying. My reloading equipment/supplies has skyrocketed over the past year. Ironically my wife who says buy planes and land, then gives me the look when another package arrives in the mail for me...”let me guess, gun stuff” - “you bet your ass it is!”

But the UH-1, mostly stationed in the northern tier and without any anti-icing equipment is LPV capable. For those three months out of the year when they can go in the clouds.

https://nypost.com/2021/04/10/marxist-blm-leader-buys-1-4-million-home-in-ritzy-la-enclave/ Follow the money. Every time.

Baffling to me how military members, who would be willing to hang a soldier out to dry for this kind of mistake, somehow find a way to defend police who "accidently" shoot someone.

Or, you know...she's the trained one with a weapon and a taser.

Along those lines... every aircraft the military has with a GPS based navigation system capable of dropping bombs within close range of troops, but not certified to fly into an international airport. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Damn Jazz, you did better than I would have. I'd have called the OG/CC or WG/CC on their personal cell phone and had the SrA explain his fuckup to them. I wouldn't have wanted an apology from him, as after that phone call it would have been a one way conversation about knowing your job before acting like and idiot (in the face of your partner giving you the correct info). If I had missed my sortie, I'd have walked over to the SFS/CC and had a chat as well. To the topic of the recent shooting, sure she fucked up, but dude would be alive if he hadn't resisted. Let's see, warrant for attempted robbery and carrying a weapon without a permit. Pulled over then begins a struggle with the cops for no apparent reason. She may very well have saved another life had he gotten away and led them on a high speed chase, which it appears he'd have done...ya, not feeling bad for him.

Hydrogen fuel cell is the only way that “clean” burning vehicles will replicate the flexibility and convenience of an internal combustion engine vehicle. Similar fuel up time and similar range. That being said, it is decently more expensive per gallon than gasoline, and likely always will be due to a more complicated production and distribution process. However if you ramped up the economy of scale a bit, prices would certainly come down from where they are now. The only reason electric has made such early gains is because it’s been easy to pass the infrastructure off to the consumer to charge at home and the primary market has mostly been upper middle class or higher individuals buying it as a second or third commuter car vs their primary transportation. Electric only will NEVER work as a primary means of transportation for many Americans. The tech to charge a battery to full will likely never equal gas or hydrogen fuel cell fill up time and lots of Americans street park their cars, live in apartments, live in rural areas, or otherwise don’t have a reliable access to charging infrastructure. Not to mention the issues of literally every citizen requiring use of the electric grid for their vehicle. Come to California in the summer and tell me if you’d still like to trust the “fueling” of your primary means of transportation to electricity. The smart path forward is that efficient ICE vehicles, hydrogen, and electric should all be part of the vehicle options consumers have for the foreseeable future. Each one has its merits that make sense for certain situations. Unfortunately though, our political class long ago stopped pushing for moderate solutions that make sense for the average American and instead tries to shove far reaching regulation down our throats in order to score political points and solidify power.

The tech isn't ready or the people aren't ready? I dont necessarily want to add 2.5 hrs to an already 14 hr drive either, but it's a known factor when getting into electric cars. If 90% of your driving is less than 40 miles a day, you dont have this issue hardly ever, and can charge overnight at home. I think the real issue is expectations vs reality. Most people realize that the energy density of gasoline in higher, and it's nearly impossible to recharge an EV at the same speeds it takes to refill a gas tank in a normal car. As it stands, EVs are not perfect XC vehicles. Short trips are where they excel. It's like buying a 172 and expecting it to fly across the country without stopping like a jet.

Unfortunately this smells like lacking training combined with a stressful environment, with likely an increased perception of threat to herself or others (whether accurate or not). She fucked up and her resignation (firing if she hadn’t) followed by likely at least civil suit is understandable. But that said, no I’m not going to demonize her as a person because 1. I wasn’t there and don’t know the situation first hand 2. I can’t count how many times highly trained individuals in the military employed the wrong weapon, employed on the wrong target, got confused where the bad guys and the friendlies were, etc. Shit happens in chaotic, stressful situations...training and reps is key to minimize risk of fuck ups. My perception is police at large do not get the amount of reps they should have given the situations they are likely to find themselves in. 3. Huge CF on the victim’s part. He’s not the RC, but he’d also be alive right now had he not done some things that I hope all of us would have been smart enough to avoid.

Not related to the tax discussion, but my wife also distrust the long term financial future (I do all of our long term investing). she wants me to pull it all out and buy airplanes and property...her words. So tempting - I hate being a responsible adult.

He answered it. It's not automatic at that point. The ex's lawyer isn't going to throw up their hands and exclaim, "It's over...he got us." They'll present an argument to the judge about your income and change of jobs.

That’s the other 300 billion.... See you gotta spend money to make a privately owned company that aligns with ideological interests viable to the general public. You can’t just assume that technology can fund its own development. *sarcasm* Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Nothing a couple hundred billion of forcibly directed infrastructure spending wouldn’t solve! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Truth. Even our trainers, whose primary mission is flying in the NAS can’t. #acquisitionswin

+1 on the Model Y, had ours about a month as well. So far its an awesome vehicle. And to @ryleypav's point, for road trips the car will automatically route you to superchargers on your route and plan your stops. For a 14 hour trip (driving time), it was estimating an extra 2-2.5 hrs for charging stops.

It’s the excess of cash involved in speeding current offers combined with limited supply. There is an influx of buyers relocating in the face of higher property taxes in high cost areas and COVID. Essentially it’s caused a bunch of people with good equity to enter much less expensive markets. Other problem is lumber costs shot up massively, and now builders are slowing to minimum work just to keep their teams employed but they can’t build the houses they contracted for at a profit, much less can they engage in new property development. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Types "Minneapolis and Portland riots..." Google: "Unicorns and blowjobs..."

That success doesn't exist in a vacuum. Who should pay to keep the free market free? Including the legal system to settle disputes, and law enforcement to enforce those legal decisions. Plus national defense/diplomacy to keep outside forces in check and not have undue influence on our markets. Successful businesses and a free market rely on government to keep some semblance of societal order and "fairness". Otherwise, things get messy quickly. How we get to what is fair and how to pay for it doesn't have an objective answer. It's all subjective based on your values, assumptions, and biases. Especially when you scale up a system to include a large number of people. The other part that gets weird is that in theory, in a democracy, everyone has the same amount of say in what the country does. But in practice, being wealthy substantially increases your influence on the country's decisions, especially when it's not a direct democracy and you can lobby a smaller number of voters (representatives or senators).

Fair is only a matter of perspective. Fair tax shifts extra burden on the lower income people while cutting taxes on the very rich (in terms of percentage of income). Lowering taxes on the upper end of income earners lowers overall (absolute) tax revenue, which necessitates an increase in tax rate for everyone in the fair tax system. Most of the discussion centers on personal taxes. Should businesses also be on a flat tax system? Or would that hurt smaller businesses s and startups? Another way to look at the progressive tax system is that the more successful you are, the more you should pay into the system that created the environment for your success. That environment isn't just the business environment, but at a national level, things like defense, economic policies, legal system, law enforcement, education, research, etc. That's not to say you can't be rich; a progressive system allows you to keep accumulating wealth, just at a shower rate the further you get on the upper extreme.

To add to this discussion, have had a Model Y Long Range for a month now. Most fun vehicle I've ever owned. I typically drive 20 miles to AF base or airport parking lot and back. 300 mile range more than sufficiently covers that! Blow the doors off most vehicles and never slows down to switch gears. If I happen to feel like driving cross-country, wife has Lexus SUV. Tesla is awesome, especially at the 52K price point

Policing has been discussed in this thread before so I’ll drop this here. Sounds like the female officer involved in yesterday’s shooting of Daunte Wright thought she was firing her taser but fired her weapon instead. It is another incident involving someone with a warrant resisting arrest. But it’s still a very tragic incident for sure. This happened just a few miles from where George Floyd was killed. This couldn’t have happened in a worse place. It’s going to be an interesting night in Minnesota. It has also been interesting to hear some of the defense’s arguments in the Floyd case. There’s a camera angle that shows Chauvins knee on Floyd’s shoulder and admissions from Drs that describe how fentanyl/meth can cause asphyxiation. Floyd was complaining about not being able to breathe before he was on the ground. Reasonable doubt is the standard. I don’t say this in support of Chauvin, I’m saying I’m not sure he is going to get a fair trial especially with what’s happened with the shooting yesterday. That city can’t afford for Chauvin to walk. Knowingly convicting potentially innocent people due to fear of a mob certainly isn’t the answer either.

Got a diversity and inclusion survey in my inbox today. Can't wait to tell the Air Force all about how difficult and unfair it is for women and minorities out there.. Oh wait, it seems I can't submit the survey because our computer networks are absolute hot garbage and it keeps crashing. #priorities

MX is not for a person who is sensitive and needs time outs. To be successful you have find your own way of personal accomplishment. The guys who are good and the ones who make the schedule happen are treated like rented mules. The ones who get the recognition suck in mx but are allowed to do all the things that will make them perfumed E-9s. Just keep them away from the flight line so they don't screw us up. I don't envy a MX Sq CC, her senior enlisted leadership E-9's probably did not give her the support or loyalty needed to be successful. Since those E-9's are part of a culture of only looking out for themselves and were trying to become super E-9's instead of supporting the mission of the Sq. If I was the incoming SQCC I would clean house and made sure these guys had the EPR's to match being a POS. Seek out the guys always wearing coveralls, who's suede boots are black and have a talk with them. The B-1 is the most MX intense jet there is in the inventory, you need good mechanics not flashlight holders.

It's ok, just identify as both a male and a female when you fill out your app. Now you're in on both sides of the 50% quota. Actual race and sex discrimination in an attempt to fix perceived race and sex discrimination...

I’d agree with this. When I went to UPT IFT was a PPL. Making a PPL part of the selection does limit the type of person that is competitive for a UPT slot. Kind of like you need to have a rich mom and dad to get onto the sailing team at Stanford.

Sigh. That clip really just seemed like another newscaster being incendiary for the sake of being incendiary. Whatever brings in the ratings, I suppose. The whole thing is tiresome though. The Air Force has decided that they need to appease the woke mob, and the associated Drive for Diversity, regardless of reason or logic. I honestly don't understand the background and chain-of-events that resulted in the current state of affairs, but regardless, here we are. I think everyone in any kind of position of power has seen the writing on the wall, and understands you're gonna get on the Woke Express, or you're gonna get left behind. Thus, you get Lt Gen Webb's comments. None of it really matters though, because the DoD doesn't really care about promoting diversity. They just care about the appearance of promoting diversity. Like anything else, just follow the money. If anyone really gave a shit about increasing the diversity of Air Force pilots, there is a pretty easy path. Take a small pile of money, and start installing tutors and AF JROTC programs in schools that have the diversity you're looking for. Put resources behind helping kids succeed in school. Take the kids that show promise, and put more resources behind them, like funding their PPL. Stand up the same programs in colleges. Tutors to help people succeed, and PPLs for those who show promise. FFS, it's Learning to Fly An Airplane. The vary nature of it tends to attract the hopes and dreams of kids and young adults. You'll have no shortage of people wanting to give it a try. However, all of that takes money, resources, and not to mention the leadership to promote a course of action that is going to take a couple of years to start generating winged pilots. And because the Air Force only wants to show the appearance of caring about diversity, you'll never get any appreciable resources and leadership behind it. You'll just see the endless calls for "More diversity in the ranks!!!" from the woke mob, and replies of "But, we're trying!!" from the DoD. And people like Tucker Carlson will make more breathless news clips that get passed round the interwebs. The clip above has been out for a little more than 24 hours, and already has almost 700k views and 10k comments. Not too bad for folks like #Tucker.