ClearedHot

'We're going to lose fast': U.S. Air Force held a war game that started with a Chinese biological attack Meanwhile, a leading Chinese think tank recently described tensions in U.S.-China relations as the worst since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, and it advised Communist Party leaders to prepare for war with the United States.

One of the things I did not like about Trump was his willingness to run with a conspiracy theory...POTUS should NEVER be apart of such things. With that in mind I always looked at some of the "theories" about the true origin of COVID-19 with a jaundiced eye. This past summer there were several "definitive" stories saying researchers looked at the genetic sequence of COVID-19 and determined it was not a manufactured virus. With high confidence they stated it like came from humans interacting and eating bats and it finally made the big jump "naturally" in the Wuhan market. I don't recall which publication it was but it was peer reviewed and shared by multiple experts...and I believed what they said. Over the past few months more and more information has come out that puts the focus on the Wuhan Institute of Virology which just so happens to be located near the food market. These are not conspiracy nutbags pushing an agenda...shockingly there is some real reporting go on as folks try to get through the wall of Chinese silence and censorship. Politco just published an EXCELLENT article (link below) with some very disturbing and damning facts. The facts came from U.S. State Department personnel that saw things in 2017. In 2018, Diplomats Warned of Risky Coronavirus Experiments in a Wuhan Lab. No One Listened. I highly encourage you to read then come to your own conclusion. For those with ADHD I am posting an excerpt with some of the most eye opening information. "In late 2017, top health and science officials at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing attended a conference in the Chinese capital. There, they saw a presentation on a new study put out by a group of Chinese scientists, including several from the Wuhan lab, in conjunction with the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Since the 2002 outbreak of SARS—the deadly disease caused by a coronavirus transmitted by bats in China—scientists around the world had been looking for ways to predict and limit future outbreaks of similar diseases. To aid the effort, the NIH had funded a number of projects that involved the WIV scientists, including much of the Wuhan lab’s work with bat coronaviruses. The new study was entitled “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus.” These researchers, the American officials learned, had found a population of bats from caves in Yunnan province that gave them insight into how SARS coronaviruses originated and spread. The researchers boasted that they may have found the cave where the original SARS coronavirus originated. But all the U.S. diplomats cared about was that these scientists had discovered three new viruses that had a unique characteristic: they contained a "spike protein” that was particularly good at grabbing on to a specific receptor in human lung cells known as an ACE2 receptor. That means the viruses were potentially very dangerous for humans—and that these viruses were now in a lab with which they, the U.S. diplomats, were largely unfamiliar. Knowing the significance of the Wuhan virologists’ discovery, and knowing that the WIV’s top-level biosafety laboratory (BSL-4) was relatively new, the U.S. Embassy health and science officials in Beijing decided to go to Wuhan and check it out. In total, the embassy sent three teams of experts in late 2017 and early 2018 to meet with the WIV scientists, among them Shi Zhengli, often referred to as the “bat woman” because of her extensive experience studying coronaviruses found in bats. When they sat down with the scientists at the WIV, the American diplomats were shocked by what they heard. The Chinese researchers told them they didn’t have enough properly trained technicians to safely operate their BSL-4 lab. The Wuhan scientists were asking for more support to get the lab up to top standards. The diplomats wrote two cables to Washington reporting on their visits to the Wuhan lab. More should be done to help the lab meet top safety standards, they said, and they urged Washington to get on it. They also warned that the WIV researchers had found new bat coronaviruses could easily infect human cells, and which used the same cellular route that had been used by the original SARS coronavirus."

What a great day to be in the market! I am guessing Friday/Monday was the new low/base for Tech.

No...Autocorrect insisted it was "Chalked" and big tech is always right.

So the Lufwaffe made a big deal about a supposed Elephant Walk of Typhoon Eurofighters... Notice anything odd about the pictures? All the jets are chocked and have no pilots...Basically they towed 18 jets out on the the runway, took a picture, and blasted social media...cool story Bruder.

He definitely had some but he is actually brilliant. I spent some time around him in an official capacity and was blown away, he must have a camera on switch that brings about the gaffes. I have a good friend that worked directly for his for several years and said the same thing. Especially when it came to discussions on strategy and national policy.

And no one on the left seems to care...this should be the biggest conspiracy of all time. Who is actually running the country?

I was thinking about flying down, fly into VPS and you can fly with me. Wait, the ORM for two old guys might be off the chart.

I don't have a problem with the song, not sure I've ever heard while listening to the "40's" on XM but hey...to each his or her own. The issue is the absolute lunacy of being upset over Dr Seuss when it is okay to have lyrics like this, along with books like Mein Kampf.

Reading through this thread the only issue I can recall encountering was a pilot who was uber-religious and had some degrading views of women. He tried to stand on those grounds and on one occasion, refused to fly with a female co-pilot. I was a Major in the WIC and was flying as an attached guy so I wasn't included on all the actions they took but I know he continued to fly and with a female co-pilot. His career in our community basically ended at that point and they sent him off to AETC not long after (stunned by that choice). I honestly never saw overt racism, but obviously it exists in the hearts of some and it would be foolish and a disservice to pretend it does not exist to some extent. Shocked and saddened to hear this and some of the other stories on here. We may be the .1% who serve but there is still a normal bell curve distribution of issues and ideologies. I just hoped we were better.

Going through that process as I set up to receive my new airplane this fall. It will go into an LLC and I will lease it back to myself. I pay a monthly usage fee to the LLC which includes sales tax. I remit the sales tax to the state then the LLC will pay me back the remainder...right pocket to left pocket. This allows me to drag out the sales tax of $48K over many years instead of one giant check to the state. I think I can meet the 25% threshold for business usage which will also allow me to write off part of the cost and do some depreciation.

The whiplash will continue and it kills me to see these short-sighted decisions. Two years from now when everyone is running for the doors again they will re-rollout the "We care about you, what can we do to make it better" bullshit. This falls SQUARELY on the shoulders senior leadership that doesn't have the stones to stand up and tell Congress and others to help now to prevent chaos later.

Biden removed Dr Seuss from his speech. As reading Dr Seuss on this day is a long standing tradition, I'd say that's the ultimate cancel.

Brabus summed it nicely and you have outlined some fairly strict constraints so it may work for you. I looked at a partnership but ultimately decided I want full control and access. I've heard and seen several nightmares associated with "renting" your aircraft including the one outlined in the video below.

It shall live forever!

The Air Force does not value you as an individual...it is a numbers game and they just proved it. In two years when they are screaming about retention point back to this ACP offering while telling them to suck an egg.

Seriously? It starts with a reading room in the library, it evolves into a CBT and culminates with a new policy requiring the same in every squadron. Slow erosion of common sense often goes unnoticed or unchallenged until you wake up in a dystopian world where the laws of physics no longer make sense.

Sadly this theory clashes with tenure... Uber left-wing professors (who outnumber uber-right wing professors by 100:1), now use college to indoctrinate rather than educate, which is a horrible waste of key time in a young persons life where they can think critically and develop their own viewpoints. I spent some time at a place that is supposed to be the apex of our collegiate educational system, Harvard. Instead of a great period of enlightenment it was daily hand-to-hand combat defending a viewpoint that dared to drift from extreme liberalism. It is no shock our political system has become so dysfunctional, as every new administration brings in the Ivy League big brains to solve problems...further entrenching the extremist ideas. Until we find ourselves back in another situation deemed national survival it will be difficult to employ a Clausewitzian total war approach to service to the nation. IMHO a better approach in current times would be to highlight the personal benefit and growth that comes with service to our country. Whether is be military service, time in the Peace Corps, the National Health Service, working on a Native American Reservation...etc, there is tremendous opportunity to expand your mind and make a difference.

New longer video of the attack on Al Asad. Obviously they were trying to kill Americans and we are lucky this didn't turn into something bigger. Numerous articles out now and I think a 60 Minutes story with some very harrowing stories from our folks who were on the ground. More than 100 U.S. troops have brain injuries as a result of this "payback" attack. I don't know that I would have let it go.

Extremism 'Has Reared Its Head' in Air Force Special Operations, General Says I am a few years removed from service but in my 26 years I never encountered a single case. Obviously this type of thinking has no business in the military, just wondering if anyone has actually seen anything like this or is it yet another over-reaction witch hunt?

Adam is a great American and I hope he wins another term. He has done a LOT behind the scenes to help the men and women who serve....many of you on this forum have benefited from his efforts and don't even know it. He was right to vote his conscience and stand on his principle.

If by divisive rhetoric you mean facts...ok. Seriously did you watch the confirmation hearings...you want us to discuss the issues when the freaking nominees won't answer the basic questions? Straight up facts...trump said shitty things about a lot of people. His policies on the environment were not in line with climate change and he denied official election results. Thus far Biden has put kids back in cages...err trailers with bars on the windows. Nominated a Secretary of HHS that isn't even a doctor, is on record saying he wants to end all private health insurance and refuses to disavow partial birth abortion. And, nominated a undersecretary of HHS that apparently thinks it is ok to amputate sex organs off three year olds.