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This situation isn't funny in the least, but what if upon Biden taking office he points at the former President and says "You're fired"?

No, what's happening in DC right now is not right or justified; but calling this "protesting" wasn't either!

I'll clarify a bit: On the Hofstede 6D model, the top graphic is a cross section of the Anglosphere, the middle one is a cross section of Western Europe, and the bottom one is a cross section of East Asia. When I refer to Western Europe as collective, I simply mean more collective than the US. As you can see, the Anglosphere is significantly individual. Western Europe is also pretty individual but not nearly as much as the Anglosphere. And the Far East is is the most collective societies. The Far East societies have done that best job at mitigating the spread of COVID. Of those 4 societies, Japan is routinely criticized the most as having done the worst job. Japan has still done a significantly better job than Europe or the US though. As you can see, Japan has the highest individualism score of the 4 sampled. The US and the UK are continually criticized for having poor COVID responses. The outliers here are Canada and Australia, but may be explained by population sparsity and low commercial traffic. West Europe falls squarely in between the Anglosphere and East Asia for Individualism/Collectivism, and by and large people perceive them as having a better response than the Anglosphere, but a worse response than East Asia. So this was not a very rigorous analysis. Merely an observation I made. I live in Europe now, and I will agree that there is some bucking to mask, lockdowns and social distancing. But by an large people fall in order and do it at some point. Those that protest are chastised to the point of societal excommunication.

Focusing on the combat capability again.

No one's arguing that those BLM rioters are pieces of shit. No one. That's not the point. A key difference between the two is that the president of the United States was not the figurehead, orator, and leader sparking any of those riots.

The (R) are like the gangsters in The Dark Knight who hired the Joker. They hoped for a one sided chaos they could control, but they just got chaos. Still. I think we've only seen the end of the beginning, with Trump as the catalyst for what comes next. Rational liberals who voted Democrat, and could have voted no other way because of the absurdity of Trump as president, no longer have the boogeyman to distract them from the insanity of democratic policy. Phase two is going to be the breakdown of the democratic party, a split that has been a long time coming, will once again take away the fabled supermajority of voters that Democratic politicians have been chasing for decades. Joe Manchin may be able to sell out his entire ethical foundation, but the American voters will be less pliable. The worship of race, and the now open demonization of "whiteness," wealth, and masculinity will take the many, many suburban woman who voted against Trump for the justified hated of his disgusting composure, and deliver them right back to the Republicans. Well, only if the Republican politicians learned from the last 4 years. Some have. Warnock is the continuation of the Marxism camel getting it's nose under the tent. The (D) will be hard pressed to keep it out now.

While I don’t think it was Trump’s “inflammatory words” that cost the right the senate (at least one senate seat in Georgia, fingers crossed to keep the other for the sake of this country), I do find Ted Cruz’s grand standing counter productive. I’m obviously a huge MAGA fan and not ashamed about it but Trump lost. It’s time for Republicans to deal with it, thank him for his service (sincerely), and focus on their fight against the Green New Deal and its radical supporters the next few years. Or worse, court packing and going after the electoral college. Buckle in, hope sticking it to Trump was worth it.

Next up: Hilary’s emails and Hunter’s laptop.

Terrorism or insurrection charges?

Well, we spent all summer in protest mode. It was foolish to think that wouldn't cut both ways.

There's even a video out there where the GOP chair in Georgia is answering questions at a rally, and people keep asking "why should we even vote if the outcome is already decided?" and "what's the point in voting if the Democrats are going to rig the election anyway?" Turns out when you call the entire voting process into question...you chip away at the motivation of your voters. Trump's done some good things, but I would be happy to see someone more capable of regulating their emotions in charge of the party.

I have a sneaking suspicion "variant" is a way to keep the public mortified by the virus.

It's quite interesting how a failed presidential ticket campaigning on a message of bat shit crazy could inspire even more voters to turn out in a run off election. Definitely a conspiracy.

Well, on the bright side, I just interested 10K from my grandfather I was going to use to pay down the remaining balance of my wife's student loans. But with he way things are going, definitely going to hold off on that!

Coconut oil works great if you're not worried about being healthy. I use the orville redenbacher popcorn oil for my machine at home. https://www.orville.com/kernel-popcorn-and-oil/popping-topping-oil Gets the job done, and doesn't leave as much cooked on oil as using canola/vegetable oil (which I wouldn't recommend at all because of how hard it is to clean off)

You racing on a closed track is up to you. You speeding on a public highway is not up to you. The distinction isn't whether or not you interpret it as dangerous. The distinction is whether or not your actions put other people at risk.

My presupposition would be that 11Fs are more comfortable with assuming higher risk based on their perceived invincibility.

Bingo. It isn't "wear a mask and the virus disappears". It's "wear a mask and you can reduce the spread". It's sad we've come to a point where even otherwise educated adults can't grasp that not breathing on people will help prevent the spread of germs.

I don't think there's any strategy at all. They lost, they know they lost, so they're defensively lashing out in all directions. I love pointing out how the democrats are being idiots when they do things that are logically inconsistent or harmful to their own cause, but republicans are putting on a spectacular display of the same thing right now. The fact that trump bandwagoners can't see that he is taking their own party to a very unproductive place blows my mind. It used to be nice being on the right because I could reasonably tell myself that republicans generally stick to some core values and respect our institutions. Lol not anymore.

Well fellas, since the manning crisis has been solved by Covid, that frees up some resources to boot the undesirables. As we all know, there is no possible way airline hiring is going to pick back up ever again, so no real need to be concerned with manning or the morale of some of the most highly trained people we have. Carry on. #fuckingidiots

I'm sure the Russian and Chinese Air Forces just published similar guidance.

I’d love to hear from Sim, Seadogs on your claim. Edited to add this gem on the differences of how police handled the peaceful protests/riots for social justice vs a violent breach of the nation’s Capitol. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ikrd/comparing-scenes-from-the-attempted-coup-to-blm-protests

I literally remember this conversation. When you personally liked the post below back in July, it was probably a misclick, right?

Oh, and media is totally acting disgusting in this whole mess today. Totally agreed! You’re not the media, so I hold you to a higher standard [emoji23]. All depends on perspective. Sen Duckworth (sp?) was interviewed and said something along the lines of, “no I wasn’t worried, this is the Capitol for crying out loud, not Mogadishu!” Some other D, forget his name, decided to go the complete opposite direction with his comment talking about how incredibly scary it was. Let’s not diminish how serious it is by making it seem more of a threat than it really was. No real threat at all, but still a totally reprehensible crime and assault on Democracy. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

the honorable thing for trump to at this point would be to resign

Is that Sim, or Seadogs? I get so confused sometimes...

On another note, doesn't look like your guys' guesses about billionaire philanthropy were based very much in reality. https://observer.com/2021/01/billionaires-philanthropy-record-low-2020-bezos-elon-musk/ BUT JEFF BEZOS MAX A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION OF $10B TO THE... Bezos Fund.

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What a bunch of trash ass people. Hopefully they get federal charges. https://twitter.com/jim_newell/status/1346899789347233796?s=21

I thought Republicans didn’t riot? Must be Antifa thugs...

This is hard to read! This is not supposed to happen in the US!

I’m not saying I believe the conspiracy, I’m just saying it’s not going to go away and there are going to be certain individuals that play strongly on the fact I listed above.

Definitely want to share any info. We are all in the same nervous holding pattern.

Whether it’s the treat environment or the tyranny of distance or some combination of the two (look at early Syria for example), the idea that getting home after riding the silk is just a quick helicopter ride is insane. The limiting factor isn’t going to be whether we send a helicopter/tilt rotor and how current it’s SIRFC is, or whether it’s got 4th or 5th Gen support to get it in. The limiting factor is gonna be based whether or not you can keep the isolated evader alive and hidden while you crack the egg on where and how to get them. The best way you keep Joe Oklahoma fighter pilot alive 8 minutes (or 8 days) after his feet touch the ground in a country where he doesn’t look or sound like the locals is getting him somewhere to hide and sending some friendly locals to stash him somewhere to buy time. Threat/distance/both will result in more time that evader needs to remain an evader to facilitate a successful recovery. At the same time with high threat, we are going to see a lot more possibility for evaders become active in theatre. Now you’ve got your JPRC playing triage of what is worth sending limited assets after in an environment where some are just flat out of reach. Everybody likes talking about successful recoveries like Vega because the stories are sexy, but look at for example Desert Storm where a lot of guys were for lack of a better word “abandoned to their training” because fact of the matter was the air recovery option was neither actionable nor would it be smart/effective. So I put to the room, would you rather the military spending bazillions of dollars on stuff that might stand a more survivable chance of coming for you, or do you think it’s more useful to cultivate those clandestine options and give you equipment to make you a better evader. There is a reason during evasion scenarios and SERE training you don’t get “rescued” out of the hide site by some Pavehawk or Chinook doing a training flight to support the school houses. Read the theatre spins, know your EPA, get good socks and a quality boots and train in them. That’s gonna mean a hell of a lot more than whether or not the supporting CSAR elements are running with 60Gs or the new Whisky hotness. And it would be nice since this is technically stuff I need to do my job, if the shoe clerks and bean counters that figure out what uniform items to provide actually thought about that requirement instead of crap like whether your boots are the right color of green/tan, 1 piece vs 2 piece, fire resistance at 780 vs 450 degrees. Taking me back to my original point, let’s invest in some quality skivvies, uniforms, and boots you could hike around in the hills with whatever guys needing you to not be a burden on them trying to keep you alive. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's not a silver bullet - it's part of an array of strategies that are supposed to help us manage the disease and mitigate its impact. Remember, once upon a time washing your hands was considered controversial, but now, no one disputes its value: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/handwashing-once-controversial-medical-advice/ https://www.history.com/news/hand-washing-disease-infection https://globalhandwashing.org/about-handwashing/history-of-handwashing/ Honestly, though I do see some aspect of theater in this, I don't get the hyper-fretting over mask-wearing. But I see where a bit of the noise is coming from. That said, mask-wearing's role in helping diminish COVID's R-value is completely uncontroversial.

Let's see...MIT isn't good enough... How about the Mayo Clinic? https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449 CDC? https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html British Medical Journal? https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577 Nature? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8 I mean...if you have a peer-reviewed, published paper you've written detailing the research you've done into how ineffective masks are...I'd love to see it. As far as I'm concerned, if they prevent even 5% of cases, then wear a mask. It's not that burdensome.

Seriously? Government overreach on a mask mandate is your big takeaway? Masks are destroying businesses? I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but were/are seatbelts an overreach? People still die while wearing them, should we get rid of that too? Other poor government decisions related to covid are ruining businesses, 100% agreed. Stop making this all about masks, it just sounds stupid. Once again, stellar leadership on the part of our CINC has made something so simple and effective a political tool. And so many sheep just jumped on board. If people would just stop complaining about masks and realize it’s not some twisted govt plot to slowly exert govt control over you (a la frog in boiling pot) we could be much closer to the end of this mess. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just a friendly reminder to anyone who hasn’t gone to MEPS yet, DO NOT (and I can’t emphasize this enough) DISCLOSE ANYTHING. They will try and pressure you with some honesty and integrity bs but don’t buy it. It is there job to disqualify, NOT qualify. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

Can some of you MAGA/Trump diehards explain why every Republican that doesn’t outright support the unsupported claims of fraud and overturning of Democracy as we know it is now labeled a RINO, or has to worry about reelection? How is this turn of events not seen as a problem on the right? It is totally possible that the GOP loses the Senate because of this sentiment and Trump’s inflammatory words. That is an outcome that is highly undesirable, but they won’t have anyone to blame but themselves. Trump and his MAGA crowd will have effectively handed the senate, and therefore, tons of control to the Dems. Great... I just don’t get it. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The AFOQT quantitative and verbal scores always use the highest, no matter if you passed or failed the first attempt. Rated boards always use the most recent score, even if it's worse than the first one. Does that help?

How about when we stop setting new records for number infected on a daily basis?

Point of order @08Dawg, weren't there purges in both 2011 and 2013, making this Part 3? I can't keep track of whether we have more purges or Iraq campaigns.

The hard part is determining what is the appropriate civilian counterpart. For a mobility pilot/AC, is it the UPS 777 Captain (legacy airline)? The Atlas Air 767 Captain (ACMI carrier, roughly same cargo capacity as a C-17, similar schedules as an AMC line flyer)? Jet Blue A320 Captain ("lower tier" major airline, similar size to C-130)? Should our helo pilots get paid what helo pilots get paid on the outside (aka peanuts)? What happens when someone moved onto a staff job? Do they take a pay cut from pilot to get paid as a low-mid level manager? Should your initial UPT commitment be compensated at the regional airline level (argument here is that if you pursued a purely civilian airline career, you'd likely spend 5-15 years at a regional, so that level of compensation could be seen as "fair")? What about AF engineers? They are paid way less than their civilian counterparts, and have no bonuses or incentives outside of basic pay/bah/eyc. I know I had an engineering job offer out of college that my AF pay didn't match until I pinned on major, including accounting for my additional flight pay. Realistically, the AF will never win the pay battle against the airlines (short of when, not if, airlines go through tough times and furlough). Even military doctors could probably make more on the outside, especially working in a big city. But at some point, serving our nation is it's own reward to some degree, and it's not all about the cash in the bank account. Same goes for people who elect to work for a non profit vs a for profit company.

When do we stop wearing masks? The goalposts keep moving.

Interesting argument, I'll take the bait. Forget airframes-should a flight commander be compensated more than a line pilot or line instructor since they are in a supervisory position? Should flight commanders be the most experienced person available in the organization (say a major or an extra Lt Col in a sq) since they are already being compensated more for their leadership potential, or should it be filled by someone younger to check a career advancement box? (For an organization that likes to say it's a meritocracy, we do a lot of things that don't really fit in a true meritocracy, but I digress) Should instructors make more than copilots? What if the copilot was a cross flow instructor/evaluator from a different airframe? Is getting passed over for major because you just flew the line and didn't do SOS or a master's the same as a civilian not getting a promotion to a supervisory job because they didn't take on extra responsibilities in their current job to improve their company or take night classes to get a degree the company wants at that level? Lastly and most importantly, a C-17 pilot clearly should make at least twice what a C-130 pilot makes: twice the cargo at twice the speed! (I'd say 4 times the pay, but sometimes the gear is not down before landing or the cargo/pax arrives at the wrong destination...so deductions were made)

RE: education One thing we need to do if we really are concerned about the rise in education costs is ask ourselves why the cost of education has gone up. It's all well and good to lament the cost of higher ed and just throw more money at the problem - which is exactly what student debt "forgiveness" (transfer) is, in actuality. The solution is likely counter-intuitive, though, and IMO this means eliminating all (yes, ALL) student loans from the federal government. I get that this is a problem affecting a generation, but if we are going to solve this problem, let's solve it permanently, and avoid going around the merry-go-round for another lap. There is good evidence that the student loan program which has swelled from $3B in 1970 to over $160B in 2017 (https://www.mercatus.org/publications/education-policy/reevaluating-effects-federal-financing-higher-education) is driving up the cost of college - it just makes sense, right? I mean, if you're an institution of higher learning, what incentive do you have to not raise the price when there is effectively and unlimited stream of money to tap into? Other studies have determined that for every $1.00 subsidy (in student loans) the price of college rises between $0.58 and $0.78 - not much bang for our tax buck (https://www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2017/02/22/how-unlimited-student-loans-drive-up-tuition/). My compromise? Fine, let's all "forgive" student debt, but any discussion along those lines needs to come with an admission that the student loan program has unequivocally failed, having had the opposite effect from its stated goal, and hence will be permanently scuttled.

I think on this often, since it has shadowed my whole adult life. Do you think if we hadn't done Iraq so soon after, we'd still be in the same quicksand? I don't think we would. I don't know if that parallel universe is better...but I'd sure like to see it.

You’re not trying to use common sense here are you?

Nice to see who are the racists on this forum.