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They absolutely should be repealed or at the very least renewed but they won't be. Right now Congress gets to have their cake and eat it too. They can argue either for or against the use of military force without having to actually go on record to vote for or against sending their constituents and said constituents' sons and daughters to war. A good majority of them rail against federal overreach and the expanding powers of the Executive branch but are unwilling to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to voting to go to war.

Did I say that? You have no nuance or critical thinking everything is either hard right or left. God damn man no one holding your POV can explain the fucking data. Ironic because y’all SCREAM “follow the science”

The level of Chinese meddling in other societies and even UN processes, all for bolstering their Nationalism, should frighten everyone. Imagine you applying for a grant to the UN for a music scholarship, and then be turned down because you said "Taiwan." But changing that to Taiwan Province of China is okay, and you're magically approved. China looks at every little thing which comes before the UN, they seek every avenue to further their influence and stature. Conversely, every bit of US nationalism is assailed by the woke crowd. So tiring.

From everything I've seen, you will be one helluva squadron commander..

Hope everyone who choose to die on this vaccination hill gets some immense satisfaction out of sticking it to big blue. Because that's likely all you're getting. The staunch anti vax dudes I know of are invariably the squadron shitbags, who spend way too much time publicly arguing politics on Facebook, and who will not be missed by anyone.. least of all the commanders who are relishing this excuse to get a complete liability out of their organization. The number of people who discovered their extremely sincerely held religious beliefs on stem cells just this past week is particularly rich. You'd think a supposedly principled person would think twice about faking a religious belief to justify their stubbornness, but I'm sure the crippling case of Dunning-Kruger prevents that level of introspection.

Have you been living under a rock? Don’t you know the perk of being elected to represent your fellow citizens is: rules for thee, not for me. just kidding, I know you know. We all know, but apparently don’t give a shit.

No, he shouldn't resign, come on now... He should be fired!

Point taken on the numbers. I understand what you're saying and I do believe the vaccines are somewhat effective for many of the people, but I still believe the reported numbers themselves are ripe for manipulation. Even when I'm referencing them, I know you cannot remove all subjectivity within them. With regard to trust, this is how it is violated: Oregon reports COVID deaths as "probable" exposures, any deaths 60 days after hospitalization, or any death certificate diagnosis regardless of the date. Doctors and Hospital "marketing" staff are manipulating numbers to scare people. A large amount of hospitalizations are mild or asymptomatic. You can't sue either a pharmaceutical company or the government for harm caused by a forced vaccine. The CDC reported 83% of Americans already had COVID anti-bodies in May. Far above the herd immunity threshold. Why do they need the vaccine? I can provide hundreds of other sources, but it boils down to exactly what you've said. Too many lies. The biggest conspiracy theory is that the government genuinely cares about your health. But they're not lying for lying's sake. These misrepresentations and justifications for everyone to be required the take vaccine leads in an obvious direction towards an obvious goal, and it is not the overall health and well being of people. Again, I am not in any way against someone making the choice for themselves to get injected with vaccine as long as it's a free choice.

No, Roth TSP/401k would still be a thing. It's just saying you can't convert after tax monies into a Roth IRA. This would mean most of us "rich" guys wouldn't be able to contribute to our Roth IRAs via the "back-door" or "mega back-door," like we do now. It's simply a money grab by the dems...something we've all known they've wanted to do for a long time. A lot of us Delta guys (not sure what other companies have the option) use this to stuff our Roth IRAs to the gills. As an example, last year I used the "mega-back door roth," to convert 30k into my Roth IRA and was still able to contribute 6k into a traditional IRA (after tax), the convert that into my Roth IRA. So even though I made too much to directly contribute to my Roth IRA, I was still able to put 36k into it. That option would go away. Not the end of the world, but certainly a loss in a very nice benefit. This is just the start of what they really want to do, because us rich guys are so greedy and "we didn't earn that." Means testing SS, eventual taxing of our currently "tax-free" Roth TSP/IRAs will likely be the next things in their sites. I'm certainly not planning on getting SS as part of my retirement plan, if it's there, cool more beer money. If that still doesn't make sense, check this out. It's different than the standard back-door roth.

Your analysis is about as small as the people you must be friends with. I've noticed no correlation between shit bags and vaccine status. What I have noticed on both sides are people that you would never guess of having a position suddenly having one. It's also hilarious hearing how many people are suddenly advanced medical professionals with nuanced perspective on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Face it, you're pro vaccine because you were told to be. Just like me. Just like how you, I, and everyone else out there believes 95% of what we know because that's what we were told. It's a positive trait of the species to be able to transfer knowledge, but now that the knowledge transfer industry has accelerated to a pace we are completely unprepared for (thanks to internet and social media specifically), so all of the original gateways of information that for the most part kept everybody believing largely the same things (which were largely correct) are now defunct. And the gasoline poured on this fire were the bureaucrats and politicians. They haven't changed, they have always lied to influence our behavior, but now their lies are exposed in a way they have never experienced. And regardless of what side you're on, people respond to lies in a pretty predictable way. They stop trusting you. Sure, if the lie was something that you were already positioned to believe, then you are more inclined to let the lie slide. Think Republicans with Trump and liberals with Fauci. But the distrust spreads. So yeah, fall victim to all the human nature quirks and play directly into the hands of the politicians who are only interested in our money and our votes. If you disagree with me you're a shitbag, if you agree with me you're the enlightened. That should fix things. Disclaimer: I am fully and voluntarily vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine.

Damn, brother. So sorry to hear this. I don't have much humor for you. I was lacing my boots for an afternoon low-level formation airdrop as an Lt when my pregnant wife called me in to see the TV. I fought back tears after I saw the second plane hit and the towers fall. 20 years went by. Almost the entire middle of my life. Then, I watched the chaos at Kabul as we left. Not to make this about me, but I understand what your friend may have been feeling. It took a lot of mental and emotional effort to remain stoic in the midst of what I was experiencing. Depending on what his individual circumstances may have been, he may have had a more difficult time wrestling with the thoughts of "What was it all for?, Why did something I believed in so much in, seem to fail so badly? What about the people I knew that were wrecked by that place? Why is my country abandoning so many other things I thought I was fighting for? Was I wrong about everything?" How do we prevent someone from having to ask those sorts of questions? Maybe begin here at home. What can we do to fix this foundation, this society, so that none of our future military members ever have and doubts or second thoughts about what they're fighting for. The military needs civilians to fight just as hard back here. There is a different type of war still going on, and I don't think it's hopeless. Go make sure this country is the one you want it to be, not the one he thought it might be becoming. Again, very sorry for the loss of your friend.

And... why does congress allow blanket immunity from legal liability for all vaccine manufacturers? what other private industry is given protection from lawsuits over physical harm caused by its product that the government forces its citizens to use?

@BashiChuniAs usual, multiple things can be true at once. I don't think you can take a single factor analysis and treat it as gospel simply because someone superimposed two graphs. Saying Israel->mask mandates->huge spike anyway, vs Sweden->no masks->no spike... therefore masks are useless neglects to mention the litany of other variables at play here. Demographics, climate, population, population density, when and where a variant hits first, covid approach from the beginning all play a role. Israel and sweden are so different I don't think you can draw a good conclusion from a single factor analysis. Having said that, I don't think mask mandates make much of a difference as polling data shows people tend to mask up voluntarily when their perceived risk increases.

What, you didn’t think the AF was gonna let you finish your commitment before getting its pound of flesh out of you first, did you? I did a tour in white jets. Was probably my favorite assignment, honestly.

South Korea 99% mask rate. what’s wrong pawnman!?

Pawnman to be clear I want you to DIRECTLY ADDRESS THE GRAPHS ABOVE

Ok smart guy explain Sweden and Denmark? you’re also pretty fragile for giving neg reps to opinions you don’t like. Very navigator-esque of you! how much data do you need to see to admit you’re fucking wrong? Masks don’t work. Proven. Lockdowns don’t work. Proven.

Almost like it doesn’t matter what human intervention we take….the rates change due to seasonality regardless of bullshit business closures, idiotic masking of healthy people, and vax rates…..hmmmmmmmmm

Nothing is absolute. Not even that statement. And maybe you should watch 10% true Huggy version.

https://fox59.com/news/hundreds-turn-out-to-honor-corporal-humberto-sanchez-during-hometown-procession/ One of the 13 heroes come home today via Grissom ARB. 1000s (not an exaggeration) of motorcycles in the procession. It took hours to transfer Corporal Sanchez to his home in Logansport because the streets were lined with people paying their respects. He was 22. And he was a patriot.

Woodward jumped the shark a while ago. He'll bite on a juicy story from anyone if it'll give him a shadow of the high he got from Watergate.

Maybe I’m misinformed, but Milley is not part of the Chain of Command when it comes to launching nukes. It goes POTUS-SECDEF-STRATCOM-and then on Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's fair, and to be honest, will probably never be known with certainty; his mood at the time was most likely due to a number of factors (obviously Watergate and the impending resignation played heavily). My previous post was not intended to state that Nixon's mood in Jul-Aug '74 was based solely on Vietnam, apologies if it came off that way. Lotta interesting things/claims came out in the early 2000s about Nixon regarding the amount of alcohol he was consuming and reported claims that he was taking Dilantin. Since he's long dead and different aides have made completely contradictory claims the truth probably never be know for certain. Apologies for the minor thread derail.

Anecdotal, but I talked to an Army guy the other day who said 7 in his unit were quickly booted with general discharges for refusing the shot.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/13/house-democrats-propose-new-retirement-plan-rules-for-the-wealthy.html Not good for those of us in the civilian sector… ”Democrats’ legislation would end the mega-backdoor Roth by prohibiting all after-tax contributions in workplace plans and prohibiting after-tax IRA contributions from being converted to a Roth account.”

I bet you're fun to be around.

Funny, I found the same to be true in the opposite direction. Quote with appropriate edits... "The staunch vax mandate dudes I know are invariably the squadron shitbags, who spend way too much time publicly arguing politics on Facebook, and who will not be missed by anyone.. least of all the commanders who are relishing this excuse to get a complete liability out of their organization."

why is congress exempt from the vax mandate for federal employees?

So long as the Congress is democratically aligned with a sitting Dem president no. And I’d argue the same would be true the other way around. Funny I remember all sorts of loud urgency on the need to collapse the expanded Presidential powers once Trump used the act to take out Solemani. Wonder where that emphasis went… Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Jesus dude take a second to look at statistics for more than just a surface level talking point. Covid deaths are extremely closely linked to old age. The elderly are overwhelmingly vaccinated. Like upwards of 90% in the UK. So yes, more vaccinated old people have died in the last six months. Could that be because the denominator is far larger?? Weird.. so a small proportion of a giant denominator can sometimes be larger than a medium proportion of a small denominator. Math is so weird isn't it?! This is a perfect example of how a garbage interpretation of data can lead to a totally incorrect conclusion. You have to look at the death rate. 1000 deaths in 90% of a demographic is a much much better rate than 500 deaths in 10% of that demographic.

Now that the Afghanistan is over, does anybody think the 2001 and 2003 AUMFs will be repealed? AUMF reform is desperately needed so Congress can actually take some responsibility and actually vote for committing US forces to conflicts rather than abdicating all of the responsibility onto the Executive. Something that I learned from the below podcast was that the 1991 AUMF is technically still in effect and was used in part as the legal basis for committing forces to OIR in 2014. The Lawfare Podcast: AUMF Reform After Afghanistan - Lawfare (lawfareblog.com)

Thanks for speaking up. More should. You reminded me of this quote.

What's this? Half? A great read in the Atlantic: Our Most Reliable Pandemic Number Is Losing Meaning A new study suggests that almost half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have mild or asymptomatic cases. By David Zweig https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/09/covid-hospitalization-numbers-can-be-misleading/620062/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Email didn't say and I would guess the Bobs are still working those details out. My personal guess (disclaimer, I'm speculating) is it would be a General Discharge under Honorable conditions but I wouldn't rule out an Other Than Honorable depending on how the Bobs take a failure to follow a direct order (if there's any JAGs on here they'd have a better idea). I don't know on the non-voluntary separation pay (my gut feeling is that would be a no due to the circumstances of the discharge but I could be wrong). If you were discharged over this your ADSC would be removed. After the Anthrax shot legal challenge ended my community had an individual refuse a direct order from the Sq/CC to take that vaccine; it didn't go well for him. He was close to retirement and was ultimately allowed to retire, but that was the only positive for said individual. I've said it before but if this is your hill I understand, it's your choice, just be ready to die on it. All decisions have consequences. The military isn't going to fuck around with people who refuse a direct order. Barring some legal challenge that halts COVID vaccinations across the DoD you're going to have to make a decision. And even then, after the several years it takes the case to work it's way through the courts, the DoD is probably going to prevail and you'll still be faced with the same decision several years later, possibly when you have more invested in the military.

You should choose your words more carefully. When you use absolutes just to try and sound more confident in your position, you stand a much greater chance of contradicting yourself, and losing credibility when you later have to backpedal and explain your position is much more nuanced when called on it. I have no problem at all with you doing your own personal risk analysis. Do what you want. But, do not apply your risk analysis to me because my personal analysis says deteriorating freedoms and liberties which allow us to be able to have this discussion in the first place is more of a risk than either COVID or the vaccine.

Apologies for contradicting the podcast gospel. Believe it or not, I'm actually tracking as well. I too have a phone with a spotify subscription and listened when these two went on rogan last week. My point was never that there are no side effects, or no long term side effects of the covid vaccine. There are. They are already documented and the data set on them grows every day. But they are also exceedingly rare. And most importantly, they are much, much rarer than the documented side effects of the actual disease. My point (really the CDCs point) is that long term effects typically don't manifest out of nowhere if they hadn't already manifested in the short term. This holds true across a wide variety of medications and vaccines over decades and decades of study. I did not invent this idea. Now you are right, the covid shot is an mRNA vaccine and is the first of its type. So maybe that means it's such cutting-edge voodoo witchcraft that it goes against all prevailing medical wisdom and us lemmings are all going to develop ass cancer out of nowhere in 20 years. Or.. probably not. In the meantime, my risk analysis tells me that I need to be concerned about things that actually exist in the here and now, rather than future hypotheticals.

Haha. So very untrue.

Well they have been trying to reach you…

Congrats on the interview! I sent my application late because I had no idea they were hiring. Are you Civ? Prior? Heard rumors they tend to hire from within.

I used to have a civilian job before I decided one day to apply for an OTS pilot slot. I don’t know your background, but to those here that have only known the Air Force as a job in their adult lives (or a kush airline pilot gig afterwards that was enabled by your AF job), I would caution that the civilian world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it can be unimaginable doldrums where entire years run together into the same memory, and then you die. Even a non-flying AF job has more excitement than 99% of the jobs out there. It’s like an Air Force staff job, except that the things you’re doing are not important whatsoever. Maybe at staff you’re just a cog in the military machine (“Why am I working on Afghanistan stuff, we shouldn’t even be there. Balancing this stupid $690m budget”) but as an average civilian you’re more like a cog on a worn out typewriter that has already been donated to Goodwill and no one’s told you. You’re certainly not doing stuff that kids would be interested in during career day. Plus the constant financial stress of things like a recession, COVID, and company underperformance that has nothing to do with you. Some kind of Neutron Jack comes in and deletes entire divisions overnight, college grads first. Civilian workers are cast offs and liabilities that take money directly from their bosses wallets. Your Air Force boss might be an asshole, but not like that. All I’m saying is the grass ain’t greener, and I wouldn’t stop any of my kids from joining the military. Well maybe except the Army.

Thanks, I appreciate your faith in my leadership abilities.

I don’t respect your opinion. Only one of these two opinions causes death. There are other ways to responsibly not have children.

No, just a dirty nav. Everyone knows that navs are only navy because we're too retarded to be pilots.

I'm hoping they get out. I've got a batch of solid cadets...cutting some officers who can't do basic statistics makes room for cadets who are motivated, vaccinated, and desperately want to be Air Force Lts.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html Or maybe it's exactly human intervention that's preventing some states from being overwhelmed. Nah...I'm sure it's seasonal. 600k people killed each year is a small price to pay for you to puff out your chest about "much freedoms".

So Bashi's public health advice is just spit into each other's mouths until everyone gets covid, everyone who dies is an acceptable loss? Pretty arrogant. But maybe it's that single-seat mentality. Fuck anyone who isn't you...you got yours, your own risk, everyone else just shouldn't be old and fat, it's their own fault. Brilliant.