brickhistory

I missed to boat in investing in pearl futures. Sure have been a lot of 'em clutched in the past year.

River of Doubt by Candace Millard About Teddy Roosevelt's post-presidency Amazon river discovery voyage. I knew he'd done such but figured it was a "gentleman's tour" complete with rest stops, etc so it wasn't too strenuous yet would make for a good drawing room story later on. Not at all. Truly a survival story. While the hero's of the book are largely Kermit, his son, and a Brazilian colonel who were the true brains and muscle, along with the Brazilian grunts, of the expedition, to be in your late 50s and battle it out in the jungle for several months utterly alone and in no contact with civilization is pretty bad-ass. It was a 50-50 on survival of the group. Excellent read, not overly dramatic.

In the interests of being kind and considerate to my wife who will go to my movies, I took her and my home from college daughter to see The Greatest Showman. Fully expected to get an Elton John/Vegas Cirque du Soliel/Disneyesque type flick and I wasn't disappointed. As the Mrs was a former Tops In Blue performer (I'm not kidding and no, that wasn't a good use of O-3 pay, but it was also well before we met) and my daughter is a professional dancer (ballet, not the pole), the song/dance thing was for them; I can endure. What I didn't expect, and really hated, was the relentless social justice message. Not just an obligatory insertion of the "we're all equal despite being freaks" scene, but from nearly start to finish. If anyone else has the misfortune to see this film, I'd argue you can update your various Green Dot training/CBTs. At least the movie got a happy ending. Looks like all I'm getting is a Jamison's and water...

GDP <3.0% two quarters in a row and a third expected to be at or near 4% Dow up a gagillion for the year Major tax reform passed; corporate rates cut to very competitive in global market with other nations (Germany, et al panicking). A fair few other things going right, IMO. Countered by an on-going FBI investigation (which itself seems to have ethical/institutional bias of its own complicating matters) Loss of a sure-thing Senate seat National debt still climbing. Overall, a winning year. edited to add/note: Politico, never a conservative outlet, published a damning and very long expose of the last Administration interfering, then killing, a high-stakes investigation into Hezbollah's drug trade in order to appease Iran and get that deal done. Should be a good show to watch associated with that one.

You've discovered AFPC's methods. The Force is strong with this one...

Which, apparently, meant never fighting by past leadership all along the line.

A Pilot's Story by Bob Prest Excellent read about an RAF F-4 pilots road to wings and flying the mighty Phantom during the Cold War: getting bounced/bouncing all comers (sts) over Germany; intercepting Bears over the North Sea; deployments to the Med, etc; sitting air defense alert.

Nope. Like promotes like. So to get into the club, 99.69% of the time only those that are like me - think like me, act like me, respond like me - are going to get into the club. I do not blame just CSAF. Every single 3 or 4 star for the last, at least, 15 years who wasn't willing to fall on his/her sword and say "Enough!" bears responsibility. I am unaware of any such examples. Congress writes the checks. They need to be told to whom to write those checks. "We got this" is not always the right answer, but giving such will cost a few corporate board memberships or media talking skull opportunities. We, collectively, also bear some of the blame. How many at the lower echelons were willing to publicly fall on our swords? A few, but not enough to make the GOs get uncomfortable until the iceberg had already ripped the gash (sts) down the length of the ship. Or was it just easier to bail and go airlines? Or to whatever wasn't a dysfunctional Big Blue.

If Top Gun 2 generated buzz, then, of course, another in the genre will too... 12 O'clock Nigh Scene 1: Delta FO Harry Stovall, having parked his 787 at Heathrow, kills part of his 20 hour layover with a stroll down some shop streets near The City in London. Suddenly, he spots a model of an F-15C in the window in a junk shop...cue harp music and wavy focus camera... Scene 2: Then Captain Harry "Burner" Stovall is the reluctant wing exec and is slaving away at his desk awaiting the arrival of the new wing king after the previous one had been fired for boning SSgt Yummy Britches in the staff car. The door bangs open and in walks Col Frank Savage, fresh off his Air Staff tour (prior to that he'd flown the Eagle for one tour at Eglin, then had a career of exec/school/exec/school/command, to the Air Staff and now here at RAF Archbury). Stovall stands up to acknowledge the O-6. Who immediately berates Stovall for having the fun meter morale patch, his flight cap visible in his leg pocket, and his zipper slightly below his name tag. "Captain, I want to see the personnel folders of every pilot in this wing immediately." Scene 3: That evening in the Club bar, Stovall is at the bar trying to not badmouth the new commander as the bros gather 'round looking for gouge. When in bursts Savage himself, proclaiming "This bar is closed. All pilots will muster in the wing auditorium at 0700 tomorrow morning." The crowd files out grumbling unintelligibly... Scene 4: The next morning, at 0700, the auditorium is called to attention and in strides Savage, his Chief, and Stovall. Savage ascends the stage, dramatically pulls the cord to the curtain covering the big board, to reveal...The Plan "Gentlemen, effective immediately, every single one of you will reset your clock on all the ancillary CBTs the Air Force and DoD have mandated. You will complete this no later than a week from today. I will not tolerate sloppy uniforms or sloppy green dots." Raising his hand the OG asks, "Sir, that will take nearly 70 hours even if we group take all the on-line tests and the like. We are supposed to deploy for the Baltic Ops mission next week and had some LFEs scheduled with the Brits over the Wash." "Col Cobb, if I want your opinion, I will give it to you. That's all, gentlemen. Dismissed." Scene 5: A week later: "Stovall, why am I seeing all these 7-day opts?" "Dunno, sir. Here's mine..."

You'd think that admitting to trying to shoot a seal would've gotten him the death penalty in granola land...

Ya think? https://dailycaller.com/2017/11/09/air-force-reviewing-records-back-to-1996-working-247-to-plug-fbi-background-check-holes/

The only person responsible for this tragedy is the sick motherfcuker who pulled the trigger. Big Blue contributed by incompetence, but doesn't bear ultimate responsibility. I also don't necessarily want SAF/CSAF fired now unless there is a chain of firings from lowest to highest. THAT might get some attention and put lasting pressure on folks to do their job AND be judged by job performance. But, now that both the HASC and SASC have weighed in to grab some political attention, you can bet some senior heads (er, yes...) will roll. Because, you know, do something... BTW, I, as a gun owner am not responsible for this tragedy. Neither are the millions upon millions of legal, responsible gun owners in this country. I do want to, you know, do something, because... It is ultimately about control. Those who want to blame me want to assert their control. I'm agin that.

Laws against shooting others as in murder. Check. Laws against using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Check. Laws against felons obtaining/possessing firearms. Check. Laws mandating felony convictions put entered into FBI's NCIS database. Check. Big Blue f'ing this up. Check. So, to some the solution is more government. The same government that can't do this. Sick fcuk, abusing his wife and his infant. Now this. Rot in hell, you motherfcuker. I also hope that Big Blue is named as a defendant in a giant civil case as being negligent and culpable and the families get huge dollars. I also hope OSI pogues and Holloman leaders in place at the time draw, at a minimum, career-ending paperwork. Those who are supposed to audit such processes as well. Do your fcukin' job, morons.

I appendix carry which is comfortable to me except when driving. Then I transfer my XDS to a TexasCustomHolster mounted in each car. If you are handy with a drill, you can mount it yourself (sts). If not, a car upholstery shop can do it in less than an hour. My choice is based on the odds. Most events involve 2-3 rounds fired at less than 3 yards according to an (FBI?) report I read a while back. If it's a firefight, then I'm most likely to have a bad day, but as noted, perhaps I can buy time for the family to escape. Reports from a recent Colorado Wal-Mart shooting showed several CCW carriers pulling, but not engaging since they weren't around the shooter. They got out. This church-shooting scum ran when first engaged. The guys on the French train that confronted the guy with an AK and beat him. So it's not always completely hopeless

I fail to see in this thread, to this point, where anyone suggested doing anything. The question was asked "Do you carry regularly?" To which several of us answered. Until receiving the cease and desist order Which I apologize for by not placing on my calendar to care when someone else tells me what I should or should not do or say.

Let's see...wallet...car keys...CCW...pocket knife...pen...honey, you ready to go?

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/inquiries_arrest_conviction.cfm

No. USAF is supposed to provide air superiority, i.e., destroy enemy airplanes. We can't even kill (off) our own. Therefore, can we still do that mission? An attempt at ironic humor...

Well, sh1t...we do seem to have lost the touch about killing airplanes...

There is not a compromise. This is an "either/or" issue. Neither side is going to give, and to my mind, it's only been one side that's ever 'given,' so it will be either Constitutionally settled permanently, legally temporarily, or bloodily.

Young man, I like the way you think. I see a promising future...

It's against the law to shoot somebody unless in self-defense, right? It's against the law to murder somebody, right? Let's pass more laws. Riiiiiight....

The very highly paid players have the right to protest and express their views. To do so against the symbology of our nation says to me that they are ashamed of the nation and of being an American. They scorn the very nation that allows them that freedom to protest. There are other, better ways to express your opinion than against one of things that is supposed to unite us. In fact, you (those protesting via the anthem) do more to divide us than your meaningless virtue-signaling. You protest your way, as is your right. I will protest you in my way. With my wallet.

It appears that this is a "forest and number of trees" situation. The Air Force isn't promoting more people to major. It will promote the same number of people. It is because people are bailing at what should be an alarming rate to the Air Staff that the percentage of those eligible is 100% on this board per the announcement. Bigger percentage of a smaller pool = same total numbers promoting. Not a net gain for anyone. Not sure if the "insecurity" thing was directed specifically, but in two more weeks I can hit the cigs aisle and Class VI with my retirement check for the month, so my dog in this fight is exceedingly small. Others do. As stated above, this is an administrative stop-loss to some. To others, it's a good thing. USAF does not seem to be addressing the fundamental issues and instead is trying different sized band-aids to stop the bleeding.

Ok, understand now. Don't think the math adds up, but at least I understand what he meant. If 100 majors are promoted now and four years from now, 65 lt cols are needed, then 65% (or whatever the legal limit is at that time) of those 100 majors (discounting any variables like separation, etc) will be promoted. None of this detracts from this very visible failure by the Air Force to retain enough people, never mind of a higher quality, to fill its quota of majors, hence it has to promote 100%. Yet the beast doesn't seem to be questioning "why?"