Lord Ratner

No one was ever making that argument. The airlines allow me to be a better husband and a better father. I can provide more and be around for more than the military ever allowed. It's not even close. I will never have to say goodbye to my kids for 6-12 months, or watch the birth of the next one on Skype. I absolutely enjoyed the shit out of my military career, even with the rather disruptive ending, but it's not even remotely questionable that my family is better off with an airline pilot rather than a military pilot at the helm. It's a young man's game.

I've always thought that January 6th was notable because it was the first time in my life that conservatives rioted. And it absolutely was a riot. It was not an insurrection by any stretch of the imagination, but it is the sole corollary to what the left has been doing (as you pointed out) for years.

Please, don't make him correct right after I responded. Self righteous Christians are just as obnoxious as self righteous atheists.

Oh God please don't add bitter atheist to your already tiresome persona. Guys like you are the only thing that make being an atheist embarrassing.

Wait so is your argument now that it's cognitive decline similar to Biden, or that he's just lying during a speech? If it's the latter pardon me for being bored by something that every politician from Thomas Jefferson to Trump has engaged in rather enthusiastically.

Yup. The process needs to go away for volume to increase enough to bring prices down. I dunno, I'm skeptical, but optimistic.

Dude if that makes it through the Senate...

The problem isn't the parties, it's the people. We've reached the part of the cycle where everyone expects everything for less than they put in to the system. We'll either go the route of Greece (in progress) or a big, scary, deadly catastrophe will finally jolt people into a new era of "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

I hear she smells like sulphur...

I never thought she was hot, but whatever she was, she's certainly not less of it because of Donald Trump. Here we go again, Donald Trump sabotages his own success because he's another Boomer addicted to social media. Oh well.

1. Nothing was dismissed. A source was laughed at. Hell I'm still laughing at it. I even addressed the point about Netanyahu. Think, McFly. 2. I am able, simple unwilling. See below. I don't feel the need to explain why slavery is bad either. Grownups should know why already. 3. The history is fine. The slogan "killing civilians is bad" is, as I said, childish, ignorant, and meaningless. You can have a stupid opinion without being stupid. I will say, however, that at this point I am starting to think he's stupid as well. You, however, just seem like another nsplayer. I guess there must always be one. 4. Specifically the insanity of a military member simplifying collateral damage to "bad." I expect that of a 21 year old English major. Not an officer. 5. Toughen up. There are stupid ideas. Also, Step 6? "Killing Civilians is Bad" is naive specifically because of the ethical complexity. If you have a point to make for once, by all means, let's hear it. But if you're going to make a stupid point that everyone within the community should already be completely familiar with, such as the aforementioned point on civilian death, don't expect a ton of effort dispelling it.

You're right, incoherent was not the right word to use. Childish, ignorant, meaningless... Those would have been better descriptors. It is fascinating to see someone in the military make such a vapid comment, considering their profession has and always will understand the (bad) necessity of killing civilians. In fact, it is precisely the banality associated with your statement that has led to Hamas hiding behind civilians as their primary strategy. The Useful Fools are multiplying. I expect it from a college campus, not from supposed educated service members. Oh well.

So... They hide behind civilians, which gets the civilians bombed, and because they implement the strategy consistently and effectively you no longer believe it? Copy. What's hilarious and sad is that Hamas is not even particularly shy about this, admitting their strategy openly over the years. Ah, there it is. So strange to have someone who is/was in the military have such a morally confused position. Your geopolitical philosophy is ultimately incoherent and incompatible with the realities of human nature, so the things you must believe (and refuse to believe) will be increasingly unhinged as the inconsistencies build. Edit: Also, holy shit dude, *that's* the source you want to post 😂🤣. This is like asking a Boeing lobbyist for dispassionate facts about the 737 Max crashes. For anyone interested, check out their statement of "journalistic" integrity: https://www.972mag.com/about-journalism-israel-palestinian/

I call bullshit. Zero percent chance a helo driver passes on a lifetime of threesomes, even if it's a couple legs short.

Well, you see, uh, the Israelis had a blockade, so, uh, all that money *had* to be spent on building terrorist tunnel networks that civilians weren't allowed to use for shelter, and, uh, lavish penthouses in Qatar. Because it's like if you and your neighbor had dogs, and... The extent to which people will go to draw equivalence between any two groups of people is astounding. But seeing this new wave of neoconservatism embrace moral relativism is fascinating... I understand it from the socialists, everything is about power hierarchies and their entire philosophy requires people to have no agency or moral worth. But if the Palestinians and the Israelis are on some sort of equal moral footing, or even more hilariously, if the Israelis are somehow *more* responsible for the bloodshed than the monsters holding the machete and gleefully raping a woman before she dies, why concern ourselves with right and wrong at all, ever? Sure, if you took a Palestinian baby and raised it in an Israeli household, that baby would almost certainly grow up with no hatred of the Jews and a western Outlook on freedom, morality, individual agency. Now, aside from the fact that that premise *supports* the strategy of occupation and forced relocation, what does it matter? People don't exist as individuals, they exist as part of social communities. And social communities have unique characteristics that make some better than others. For example, since the enlightenment the West has had a historically unique appreciation for individual sovereignty and rule of law. That makes our culture *better* than say, a group of cannibals living on the Amazon. Or for example, a society motivated to rape and slaughter their neighbors based solely off of religious history and guidance from their political and spiritual leaders. It's perfectly reasonable to suggest the US shouldn't be involved in the Palestinian conflict. But to suggest equivalence is bananas. It's like saying we are no better than the Taliban. Somehow this entire twisted philosophy requires accepting that any mistake by the West justifies any response by our adversaries.

Tit for tat? 😂🤣 Bro you have no idea what you're talking about. Just another Westerner with no concept of how other cultures think. Ironically, this is the same misinterpretation of Islamic fundamentalism that brought us the forever-wars you seem to be (incorrectly) comparing this to. If only the Palestinians weren't under a blockade, there'd be peace! Thanks for the chuckle.

You need senior talent to have "senior talent impacts."

We did 13 hours in the tanker pretty regularly, and the seat wasn't nearly as adjustable or comfortable as in the 737. I wouldn't want to do it, but compared to other military flying it's not notably awful.

Of the three, prestige is the motivation I want my generals seeking the least. Pay them.

I will be forever baffled by dudes who get off on secret footage of women doing routine non-sexual activity in various stages of undress, and forever grateful that I don't have whatever brain defect creates that kink.

🎯

If they are going to set the price of the drug, that's bad. Price controls are never a good thing. But if they are going to establish rules by which pricing must be fair across trading partners, that's an entirely different thing altogether. This is a perfect example of how other countries take advantage of the United States by methods other than tariffs. We don't participate in the same sort of fuck fuck games, so using tariffs as a retaliation are a simple way to make the problem go away.

Yup...

It's a Kel-Tec. Janky is included free of charge

PVC will just be the new heritage 🤷🏻‍♂️ We're just getting old, that's all.