Smokin

Terrible mass shooting in Australia (which must be fake news because guns are illegal there and they even did a confiscation). But an awesome display of courage for a dude that was able to jump one of the gunman and take his gun away even after apparently being shot twice in the process. The gunman then kinda stood there in disbelief and slowly backed away. More proof that most mass shooters are cowards and will stop when they're confronted with force.

Strange, I couldn't find a post from you saying WTF when it was changed under Biden. Did that Secretary of State also lose a bet?

I think that would be as much of a deterrence as a nerf gun. Even if they owned 100% of our debt (which they don't), I think they'd consider that a bargain.

As always, I'm sure there's more to the story is being reported. Hopefully they had bodycams on to clear this up. That being said, I'm not a fan of this new trend of law enforcement wearing facemasks. That's something thugs and third world countries do. If I'm approached in my vehicle (or worse, at my house) by guys wearing facemasks, my first reaction is not going to be thinking that everything is fine.

That is all horrific, but you missed my point. The system cannot do anything in and of itself; only the people within the system. So being disgruntled at the entire system because of some bad people doesn't make sense. You apparently got screwed by some people that had no business being in authority and have every right to be angry at them. My point is that there are good and bad people in every organization, the nature of the military just ends up giving those people the potential to have a larger impact on other people's lives than most civilian structures.

No organization will ever care about you, nor will it betray you, because it can't. The people in the system are what matters and you'll find good and bad people in every system. I had far more good than bad experiences in my AF time and I would absolutely do it all again, but I know that experiences will vary. I still think that there is a higher proportion of good dudes in the AF than in the airlines (I'm at a legacy) or in most other career fields. Timing and luck play a huge part of your AF career; I knew good guys that got repeatedly shafted and I knew guys that had a great career even though they were less deserving. But by far more common were good dudes that got some good deals and some bad deals. It sucks when your commander/boss happens to be one of the guys that shouldn't be there, but that happens everywhere, including at the airlines. The only difference is at the airlines it is often easier to distance yourself. If your career really was just one bad deal after another than either you were extremely unlucky (it happens, I knew a good guy like that) or it might be your attitude. Looking back at my career, I'm thankful for all my good deals. They made great friends, memories, and stories. But I'm also thankful for most of my bad deals because they helped shape my path to be where I am now.

I'd like to see that exact same interaction happen without a badge to hide behind and no TV cameras... That 'tough guy' would get whooped.

AKA, "the" engine. Having only one really simplifies which one you're talking about.

Just so we're not always beating up on cops' shooting skills here; skip to about halfway through. Dude was apparently wearing two plate vests and thought the motorcycle helmet would stop a bullet.

During my first requal in M9s, the instructor told everyone to point their guns at him and practice pulling the trigger to get the feel of it. My chin hit the floor. Had I been in his chain of command, I would have pulled every qualification he had.

The video is pretty disturbing, although it would be nice to know what happened in the 6-9 seconds before the video started. It appears to be an absurd amount of force being used. Do all the agents really need their guns drawn? Unless she was suspected of some violent crime, then these guys should be retrained in the proper use of force. Police, to include ICE, FBI, ATF, etc, need to understand that they are public servants, just like the military. Any policeman that is so scared that he feels like he needs to be the 5th guy to draw a gun on a small single female is in the wrong line of work. That being said, if she was actually the one instigating and either hit or positioned her vehicle to impede the operation (again, previous 6-9 seconds would be nice to see), then their actions would be a little more justified. I'm guessing that the truth is somewhere in the middle as it usually is. If ICE was entirely at fault, there would be dozens of lawyers lined up at her door. She probably either hit the van or was being aggressive with her vehicle and the ICE leadership likely realized that they used excessive force so they didn't pursue charges. But given the district that the events occurred in, it is entirely possible that the DA dropped the charges for political purposes even if she was 100% at fault.

A Glock was the first pistol I bought, but that one is still my only Glock (a pretty old model, maybe it'll start being worth something). They did push a significant innovation with their original introduction, which is good for the gun world. Hopefully this new model similarly pushes all the companies to improve.

If that's not a real designation, it should be. Think I made it to Oregon only few times, spent 98% of my time hunting. 'Oh, I have space for two pounds of meat, I'd better go shoot a dozen animals.' Designation should be official if you ever powered on the Commodore 64 and then left to go play tag for 15 minutes while it booted up.

More parents than you would think will take your side. I sat kids on multiple occasions across multiple sports because of an attitude and only one time did I have a parent say anything about it (and the coward didn't come to me, they went to the club admin who backed me). I set clear expectations at the start and 95% of kids met them. The few that didn't found little support from their parents. I benched one kid and he walked away crying over towards his dad. His dad took one look at him and said something like "what'd you expect?" and the kid stopped crying because he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere. He didn't have an attitude with me the rest of the time I coached him. Also gave out exactly zero participation trophies or medals.

If it was a Hellfire, shouldn't it have detonated?

So how many retired guys here have their 'Rank' (Ret.) as their titles at their new job? Absolutely zero chance you would ever catch me referring to my retired military rank. He's the president of a huge university, isn't that enough? I had to go to his speech one time on active duty and walked away thinking "How does everyone not see right through this guy? That was nothing but dumb pandering and anyone that was motivated by that is probably dumb enough that we don't need him."

None. My brother is a lawyer and dealt with the legal side of a defensive shooting related case where the carry insurance basically said "sorry, not covered". My brother had coverage and dropped it after that case. Basically, it's in the financial interest of the insurance company to consider it to be your fault, in which case it is a crime, and many policies have carve outs for when you are 'committing a crime'. I also read of another instance where the carry insurance lawyer took 15 minutes reviewing the case and told the individual to make a plea deal. The dude fired the lawyer, hired his own, fended off all charges, but then had to go after the insurance company to pay back the fees for the lawyer he hired. Decision to get insurance or not should also depend on the DA in the areas you carry the most. If you have a conservative DA that will be look more favorably on a defensive shooting than some commie in NYC, you also probably don't need it. If you carry in NYC or somewhere like that, might be worth it. Edit to add: if you get it, I would absolutely take the time to read all the small print before buying.

"NYC college students learning ‘How to Steal’ — as class teaches ‘line between private property and public good is drawn in blood’." True. Take my property and there will be blood.

If pizzas are a consideration, it is worth getting a specific pizza oven. Pizzas are best cooked around 900 degrees, which is far hotter than most grills will be able to stay when opening and closing constantly. I got the propane Solo Pi, doesn't take up much room and cooks a pizza in about 2 min. Not cheap, but if your family likes home made pizza, its a game changer.

Go sit next to the line and make better offers if the gun is worth it

If you are constantly portraying your political opponents as Nazis, why not compare all of their actions to the actions of the Nazis?

Do cops have safety privilege? Even if they do, my understanding is no. At school we were told that at any point (as the person doing the interviewing) you suspect that a crime was committed, you immediately stop the interview. I don't think they addressed any information that was divulged prior to that point, but I'm betting the answer is no.

Problem is when people in support (not that all space/cyber is support) start believing that they are actually warfighters, they forget that their job is to support the warfighter. When you lose track of how you relate to the mission, you lose track of what your real priorities should be. I don't care if you're turning wrenches, approving GPC purchases, or deploying space sharks with laser beams, you will be better at your mission when you understand how it fits into the overall mission of killing people and breaking things.

Many remote pilots at Kunsan extended to 18 months to get a better assignment on the backside. Most accompanied tours at Osan started at two years. On the Army side, I knew multiple guys that extended their two year accompanied assignment to three years as the Army pace of life was much more family friendly in Korea than stateside. Especially during the height of Iraq and Afghanistan. Might have changed a bit, but given that many Army units are doing 9+ month rotations still, I'd be many guys are choosing to extend to have some family stability. Obviously that is for guys there with their families, probably a bit different for single guys...

To be clear, I don't think you should refuse a breathalyzer if you are told to take it. What I said, and what ALPA says, is do not offer to take one to 'prove your innocence'. There is a big difference. Pulled over on the side of the road by the police, absolutely refuse the invitation to a field sobriety test. They are not mandatory in any state that I know of and it is a no-win scenario. I'd be interested to know the stat (probably doesn't exist) on the percentage of people that pass a field sobriety test. Probably low single digits or a percentage that starts with 0. The test is 100% subjective and the person grading the test is already convinced you're drunk or he wouldn't ask. A sober Olympic gymnast could fail it. If a cop tells you to take a breathalyzer, there are many states where refusing to do that also is an automatic suspension of your driver's license, which is probably where the FAA got that idea.