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Wait...this isn't worse than Watergate? Breaking in to the political headquarters of a rival is despicable, banana republic type crap, and Nixon paid for it (well, he paid for lying). This is worse, Clinton paid to hack WHITE HOUSE servers, the communications of a sitting president. When they didn't find anything they made up a story and inserted into the press which led to an impeachment. There isn't a separation of liability and responsibility just because they hired a law firm. The imported the very people that tried to overthrow a sitting president and they are now in power! Look no further than the dude that led this effort, he is now the sitting National Security Advisor...you don't seen the nexus and how this is far worse?

Its not a US State Department requirement; the US (especially the US Ukrainian embassy) cannot dictate another country's COVID-19 entrance requirements. It's a Polish requirement for travelers arriving in Poland from other than the EU/Schengen area. See link below: https://www.gov.pl/web/coronavirus/outside-the-european-union-schengen-area Per the Polish website, a traveler (or in this case refugee ) wouldn't necessarily get denied entry to Poland without a negative COVID test, they'd be put in quarantine for 7 days.

What ClearedHot said. Breaking the law to get potential dirt on your opponent is bad. Breaking the law to frame a sitting president in order to overturn an election is really bad. If Trump had done this to Biden, we would not be able to see any other story on TV for the next 6 months. Of an interesting academic note to ponder about those records; my understanding is that the executive branch makes all classification decisions. As the President is the ultimate executive authority, I don't think a President can actually break the law regarding the handling of classified materials. If he reveals Top Secret information to the press, he just declassified it. Clearly not a good idea, but if the records were moved while he was President, it would be interesting to see if he could actually be prosecuted for it.

Well in fairness… Some idiots equate a Confederate flag and a Nazi flag as the same thing… Hammer and Sickle though that’s cool. It goes with my Che shirt… Stamp out hate, with jackboots and a firing squad. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You realize that Poland and the EU set the entry requirements, not the US State department, right?

@Negatory @Prozac : Now that we have more data, I would like to close out our conversation from back in late December/early January re: how bad Omicron was going to be, how worried everyone needed to be (i.e. panic, NOW), and what our society's response should have been going forward. The Science™️, is in, and it is settled: there weren't ~15K deaths per day from Omicron. Deaths did not exceed the 4x multiplier cited as panic porn - which is what was predicted for you guys on this very thread, since we knew then from South Africa that it was 70x more contagious than Delta. So I hope this can be at least one data point that you should be careful which "experts" you trust and who you outsource your thinking to. There's my credentials. I should now be more credible than Fauci in your eyes. It turns out out that my non-expert opinion was better than all the other "experts" out there that were cited by you guys. What's more? The "news" cycle this morning: "We may not have reached the peak, yet, but let's go ahead and drop all the mask mandates." So says Phil Murphy and other democrats (NJ, RI, NV, IL). I'm sure that has everything to do with the fact that it's as deadly as you all said, and nothing to do with the fact that the midterms are pending...yeah, couldn't be. I'm personally wondering why they're not sticking to the CDC's advice, which is "not so fast" when it comes to dropping the masks. What about the experts!?! LOL. The cognitive dissonance is so loud I can hear it outside their own rattle cans. Our response was and still is almost wholly subject to political calculation at this point. I can't wait for all those Dems to be taken to task on NBC/ABC/CNN/MSNBC next week for 'bucking' the experts as the R's were. I won't hold my breath though. https://www.nj.com/opinion/2022/02/the-end-of-mask-mandates-sheneman.html https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/local/2022/02/11/ri-covid-mask-mandate-indoors-schools-planes-buses-colleges/6736653001/ https://www.fox5vegas.com/coronavirus/gov-sisolak-lifts-mask-mandate-in-nevada-effective-immediately/article_78ae3250-89cf-11ec-b5e6-470f4b068c75.html https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-11/did-mask-mandates-work-the-data-is-in-and-the-answer-is-no CA, WA, OR, and a bunch of other Dem states to follow: https://finance.yahoo.com/video/covid-19-more-states-end-204102454.html Anyway, now that the data is there to support it and none of us needs to hypothesize (or appeal to the authority of so-called "experts") anymore, I thought it was important to publicly state, for the record, that I was right and you were wrong.

Read what you just wrote. Out loud. Now do it again, slower, in a mirror.

Except Fox News isn't bringing in "experts" to explain how Nazi imagery is actually an understandable-if-not-unfortunate manifestation of the struggle for freedom. Yet throughout the BLM riots there was a nonstop parade of excuses and sometimes outright tolerance of criminal behavior from mainstream liberal sources. You want them to be the same, but they are not.

Viper man for the win. quotes, facts, science. Nice work! 👍

Parts plus 12, a little Bondo and put the weekend duty crew on 12's. It'll make Monday morning's line up.

The challenge is keeping out other refugees of other nationalities that aren't approved for entry. So at a minimum, a US citizen would at least need their passport (looks like DoS was able to negotiate not needing a visa in advance due to the deteriorating Ukraine conditions), and take a COVID test at the border and quarantine if not vaccinated. If a US citizen there doesn't believe in getting the COVID vaccine, then Romania is their best bet for a land crossing https://ua.usembassy.gov/message-to-us-citizens-ukraine-land-border/

I think Viper and many others have built up a perfect foil in their heads and when someone like you or I present any dissenting opinion, they like to place us in that slot. The truth is most people on all sides of the issue have nuanced views that make it hard to put them into two easy categories: “anti vax” or “fear porn monger”. @ViperMan, fwiw, I will continue to base my decisions and opinions on the advice of medical experts, despite your apparent impeccable credentials as an aviation god, therefore unquestionable expert in medicine, finance, legal advice, and any other subject you choose to pontificate upon. You sir, are going to fit right in with the crusty airline captain crowd someday.

Why any adult with critical thinking skills uses any talking head cable or network news show as a primary source of information and/or news is beyond me.

I’ve followed the convoy via twitter daily and have seen zero pictures of nazi flags. id like to ask you to show evidence. And articles in the Toronto star don’t count. I want you to produce pictures of these “numerous” nazi flags.

Mkay. I'm glad you never said it directly. I suppose you're unfamiliar with the concepts of implication or multiplication. You did strongly suggest those numbers, however, with the 5-15% death rate you quoted numerous times. Sooooo, 5-15% of 1.0M people per week is 50K - 150K. Since approx 16% of people in the US are over 70 yrs old, that means we should have seen approx 8K - 24K people (only those older than 70!) dying every week. We didn't see that. And many of us knew we weren't going to see that. And the actions our government took during those early weeks of January reflect their knowledge that we weren't going to see that, either. Some on this board are overly disturbed by others' lack of faith. Your numbers were and are wrong. So sure, you can state under oath that you didn't say it, but you said it. Anyway. The point is some of us knew this wasn't going to be as big a problem. Many others were running around freaking out and imploring everyone to share in their panic. I just felt like it was worth invalidating some of the previous BS on this thread a little bit more neatly now that we do know for sure.

Honestly, a simple name patch should work. Your base will order you one with the correct color combo when you arrive. As long as the one you get for IFT is in regs, you're good with whatever color you want.

Don't order any name tags, whatever base you go to will provide you with all applicable patches to include name tags. They'll reach out to you or when you get there you'll fill out a form with what name you want on it and any badges/wings you have. Only thing you could order if you want is some pen(pencil) tabs. I get mine from reaperpatches.com Flying squadrons are required to provide new members with all the normal patches. Usually the only stuff you pay for are pen tabs, Friday patches/name tags, or extra patches if you need them.

I believe it is part of an ongoing DOJ investigation. Speaking of investigations this was released yesterday "a new court filing by Special Counsel John Durham, alleges the Clinton campaign paid a technology company to "infiltrate" servers belonging to Trump Tower and later the White House to link Trump to Russia. How is this not breaking news on every station. She tried to rig the American Presidential election, then she tried to illegally overturn it ans seize power. Liberals don't care, she is now expected to speak at the NY Democratic Convention. I know I know, at least the mean tweets are gone.

If the government is not willing to stop/arrest/prosecute someone for said crime, then it’s not really a crime.

Bigger picture. The vast majority of people are done with the narratives, elitists, hypocrisy, etc. We know this because of the following. I’m sure I’ve missed some. Virginia elections Freedom convoy Joe Rogan winning CNN self destructing Lockdowns ending and clearly tied to upcoming elections Dem infighting Supreme Court Justice retiring early The crazy left is imploding. I hope and pray the pendulum is swinging back to some sort of normalcy. The midterms will be very very interesting.

Jesus Christ… Dude you’ve got political leaders and people representing the media using inflammatory terms like extremists, terrorists, anti-government, talking about threats of violence, etc… Show us one overturned cop car or burned out building as the result of this protest. Anybody smart enough can see just how easily and readily the media narrative will paint your actions to suit its ideology. Half a downtown neighborhood is on fire and looted = “mostly peaceful protests.” An bunch of truckers park rigs on a bridge and wave flags and signs = “right wing extremist science deniers.” Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just so I understand you…are you saying that all the BLM protestors who were in the roads should have been arrested since it was illegal for them to be doing so?

Shocked people don't see why these platforms need to be manned. Have you heard of China and their capabilities?

DoD lessons learned report is out and it is brutal, so ugly Biden rejected the findings during an interview on NBC last night. At one point the top commander appealed to the White House to keep Bagram open, it took three days to get an answer and the answer was CLOSE BAGRAM. Among the other findings: The top U.S commander on the ground during the evacuation, Navy Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, told Army investigators that service members would have been "much better prepared to conduct a more orderly" evacuation "if policymakers had paid attention to the indicators of what was happening on the ground." "The top Marine was not permitted to discuss the possibility of a mass-evacuation with anyone other than British officials the report noted." Some State Department personnel were “intoxicated and cowering in rooms,” and others were “operating like it was day-to-day operations with absolutely no sense of urgency or recognition of the situation,” the officer said. During an Aug. 6 meeting, a National Security Council official, who is not identified in the report, appeared to lack a sense of urgency and told others involved that if the United States had to execute an evacuation, it would signal “we have failed,” Sullivan recalled. “In my opinion, the NSC was not seriously planning for an evacuation,” he said. The White House declined to comment.

If you are going to IFT, you can tell your resource admin (the person with the GPC) you need to buy one. That’s how me and another guy got them. I am not going to IFT, but the other guys is. He hooked me up. 👍

I wouldn’t do any of those things, and I’m against mandates. But who cares if someone wants to wear a mask on their own? I saw it all the time in Japan pre-pandemic and no one cared. I don’t understand the rage it causes. Just like I don’t understand the rage not wearing a mask causes. Why can’t people just do what they want?

Bean, I was having issues with that last week, but I received wise advice to reach up to your Sq/Gp exec staff to request assistance. If the uniforms are something your unit agrees to provide, they can point you to the right person or resource. Through a few phone calls and favors, mine was able to point me to a flying squadron that had an extra supply which is another avenue you could try. Brings me to a uniform question: does anyone know what color each UPT base name patch is supposed to be? I was told from previous IFT classes that your assigned UPT base typically has an associated color for the name patch, which makes it easy to see who will be going to which UPT base at a glance during IFT; since I haven't gotten any indication of my UPT base, I'm tempted to make 3 different ones...

Reason #69 on the stupidity of wearing masks…

C-17 background? Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

Except, you were literally just complaining about other people's independent decisions. "My favorite is the people riding bikes or, ...I saw this a couple weeks ago...., SKIING while wearing a surgical mask. " Like MCO said, people in Japan have been wearing masks in public long before covid. You're complaining about mandates - yet you seem to feel pretty strongly about what choices other people make for themselves. Odd.

I couldn’t give two shits about CNN’s or Fox’s narratives. I appreciate that the truckers are not turning over cop cars, although I don’t think Ottowans are too thrilled about some of the antics displayed so far. But when you block an international border for days or weeks, eventually the authorities will remove you.

Yep, I get it. I just figured that due to the potential rapidly deteriorating situation in the Ukraine AO that the US State Department might be able to exert a little leverage on Poland/Romania (EU/NATO). Hopefully we can convince Poland/Romania to conduct this bureaucratic screening process (Passports/Visa/Covid Vaccination + Test, etc) of our evacuating US Citizens (also other countries citizens) at a safe location inside these countries that's a good distance from the Ukraine border.

Nope. Wasn’t ok then either. We had a protester near where I live that was killed trying to block high speed traffic on the freeway. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Can’t say I’m particularly shocked at the level of cognitive dissonance of people now supporting tactics they lambasted just a year and a half ago. Principles end at politics for some I guess.

The State Department sure has some screwed up/ass-backward priorities that will complicate/slow the emergency ground evac of US Citizen trying to get the heck out of Dodge (Press Release/Source=State Department/US Embassy in Ukraine). 'Message to U.S. Citizens: Poland/Ukraine Border Open to U.S. Citizens:' 'U.S. citizens must present proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Travelers are also encouraged to present a negative test result from a PCR or antigen COVID-19 test, which will facilitate entry into Poland.' etc, etc, etc. Message to U.S. Citizens: Poland/Ukraine Border Open to U.S. Citizens - U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (usembassy.gov)