lloyd christmas

The "how did we get here" question IRT our criminal justice system, policing and systemic racism is being asked and will continue to be asked throughout this election cycle. Biden and Harris have a lot of explaining to do. That was my point with the moderates. I believe moderates will lean towards law and order and they will stay away from politicians who contributed to shaping our current criminal justice system. Rioting and looting only cements peoples belief in law and order policies. Folks on the right certainly will not be plucked away from voting Republican even if they aren't Trump fans. So where does that leave the Dems? As you said above, "even if their “tough on crime” stances from, say, the 90s, put them at odds with where the Democratic Party in particular is today". Again, not a good look in my opinion. I think Americans are even more sick of career politicians today than they were in 2016. Career politicians created all of these problems but now are running on fixing them. Same old same old. I don't think people are interested in hearing any more of that.

You are pretty strong supporter of Dems and their policies. If the most you can say about Biden/Harris is "I don't think they were particularly bad" what do you think moderates are saying?

Any truth to rumor that all missions in the AOR are now combat missions? No more combat support. Heard this from someone who just got back from the Deid.

Any reason we couldn't mail everyone with a SSN above 18 a code of some sort that can be used online instead of by mail?

A prediction. There are undercover federal agents in the crowds in Portland and Seattle. They are running intel and building cases on 50 - 100 people. In a few weeks, you will see raids on where these 50 - 100 people live. They will be arrested and charged with serious federal crimes such as domestic terrorism, assault on federal officers, arson etc. They will be denied bail and will face decades in federal prison. That is how these protests will end. The rest of these criminals will wonder if they are next and start to rethink their decisions.

Excellent insight TurnHer4 There is a narrative out there that suggests our country is overtly racist, run by racists, founded on racism and policed by racist officers who are enforcing racist laws. What I see in each of those instances is more complicated than the narrative suggests. The narrative is also given no context whatsoever and the starting point is never the truth. There is more to the story and there are different sides to each story. We must do our best to understand the truth and see things as they truly are. Here is what bothers me. Because of my political beliefs and conservative views, I am labeled a racist, sexist, xenophobic bigot. I have even been called a Nazi to my face. In reality, I am living the best life I know how to while trying to be the best father, husband, son, uncle, coworker and neighbor that I can be. I feel like I am being punished for sins that I did not commit. We are headed in the wrong direction. The answer to our society's injustices towards minorities will not and can not be fixed by applying the same type mind set towards whites. Equality goes both ways. It is very hard for folks like me that just want left alone to see what is going on in politics, sports, hollywood and academia. I do not want to see BLM painted on our city streets or on a pitcher's mound during a baseball game. I do not want to see looting, rioting, arson, assault or vandalism in our streets in the name of an issue that is not discussed honestly. Our society has it's issues, that is for sure. But, we can't fix hate with hate.

Big baseball fan here. Just about as big as they come. I was counting down the days until opening night. I made it .69 seconds into the first game. BLM is emblazoned on the back of the pitchers mound and players were kneeling. Our country is in for some serious changes post COVID and civil unrest. One of the casualties will probably be sports as we know it. People have gotten used to living life without sports. On top of that, I think that professional sports executives are grossly underestimating how tired the average american is of these social justice issues. I just want to watch sports. That's it.

Are you saying you are opposed to the police using unmarked vehicles? I may have missed it, but I don't see any evidence of the feds "hiding their identities" other than riding around in unmarked cars. It seems pretty obvious who they are when they are dressed head to toe in tactical gear. And I can guarantee you they are announcing who they are as they approach a subject. This may have been said before, but it seems logical to arrest someone when they are away from the crowd. That protects the perp, the officers and would not escalate things. It certainly is better than having the feds roll down main street Portland completely overwhelming these rioters. Either way, you can't destroy property for over 50 days with no consequences. There are law abiding citizens of Portland who deserve to have their lives and property protected. Enough is enough.

Ugh.

It is going to get much worse. Just wait until the police officers in Atlanta are acquitted.

I read an article recently that the AD accepted its final slick J model. It'll be interesting to see which 3 of the 8 candidates in the guard get the J. Should hear something official in the next few months. Have consistently heard Ft Worth and Kentucky but no idea who the third would be now that Baltimore is out of the running.

Since this is a C-130 thread and we are now talking about how the ANG "historically" gets hand me downs... The AD received one squadron worth of new slick C-130H3s back in the day (50th at Little Rock 1992-1993 tails). Every other slick H2 or H3 went to the Guard/Reserves brand new from the factory. The H2/H3 line lasted from 1978ish to 1996. I don't know of any other airframe that tells so much by their serial number. For instance, 89-1182 was delivered to the 118 Airlift Wing in Nashville, 93-1459 was delivered to the 145th AW in Charlotte, 86-1396 was delivered new to the 139th AW at St. Joe, 85-1365 was delivered to the 136th AW in Fort Worth, etc. You can tell where just about every H2 or H3 was delivered by that serial number. I expect the same when the 3 ANG guard units that are getting new Js are announced later this summer. Most folks also don't know that all 100 series squadron/wing numbers are dedicated to the ANG.

H

This will never end if our starting point is not the truth.

You must have missed a lot of the parts. There is more to the story IRT to Flynn and how things went down with the FBI. Given the way things are playing out with this whole now confirmed fake Russia collusion story, unmaskings and 3 years of straight up lies from those in government/federal law, I can't give the feds the benefit of the doubt on this one. My money is on the good guys.

The double standard is mind blowing. Seriously, it is absolutely unbelievable.

And here we are.

The last time a carrier was there was in 1975. I would like to think that the military had a better idea of what was really going on in that part of the world IRT to the virus at that time. At least enough to make a smart decision as to not allow "sailors to participate in cultural and professional exchanges, community service projects, sports competitions, and receptions during the port visit." The cruise industry was shutting down right about then. Hell, the Diamond Princess was quarantined in Japan beginning on Feb 4th. That was a pretty big story. It just doesn't seem too hard to predict what was going to happen when thousands of people get off of a ship and then get back on the ship knowing the virus was around.

This ^ and that was on March 4th. There was plenty of information out about the virus by then.

Bigger brains enlighten me please. Why would we not hit pause on incoming members/training pipelines and instead put a stop loss in place? The training pipeline introduces a huge number of challenges in facing this virus whether that be dorms, classrooms, chow halls, transportation etc. I have one guy in training at Little Rock right now. When he graduates he will not be running around our squadron. He will be virtually in-processing and staying home until this passes. On the other side, folks that were planning on leaving the military are not going to find a healthy job market for the next few months, have experience in their jobs and are at least somewhat established in their communities allowing them to establish better distancing from others.

Which Guard unit was he in?

Reno, C Springs, Wyoming and Channel Islands fly MAFFS missions. Charlotte did but now has C-17s.

That's what I am saying. There are plenty of "married" people in the military cashing in on BAH rates.

I am surprised there isn't more discussion here of what is shaping up to be the most important election cycle of my lifetime. I don't think the difference in the two political parties has ever been more wide. Democrats are offering everything under the sun in an effort to snag voters. Free healthcare for illegals. What happens when word gets out that illegal immigrants will get that free health care? More seriously sick illegals start showing up. Disease shows up. That will just add to the burden that is already being placed on this country. Homelessness is a huge problem in this country. Look at what is going on in California right now. Where do you house the additional hundreds of thousands of unemployed and homeless people who have crossed the border illegally? 100 billion dollars for blacks that are living in poverty, unemployed or underemployed who don't have the means to buy a house. This is meant to close the race/wage gap? The government has tried this before with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And my guess is, regardless of race, if you are living in poverty, are unemployed or underemployed, your credit reflects that. Are we really going to give folks with bad credit and no job/low paying jobs 25 grand to buy a house they don't qualify for or can't afford? And is this not the definition of racism? Giving government funds to a specific race? And see my statement above about the homeless illegals. We will soon be giving them money to buy houses too. Free college tuition? No student debt? I think this one is brilliant on the part of the Democrats. They know that our education system indoctrinates young folks with liberal views. Especially, our colleges. The more young people they can get into that indoctrination system, the better. Aside from that, a bachelors degree becomes even more worthless because everyone has one and tuition rates skyrocket. Reparations for descendants of slaves. Reparations for gays. How does that work? How much and to whom? If the check is big, I bet you see a lot of new gay folks. I am not saying I would slob a knob for 50k but I know some folks who would. Medicare for all? Kicking 140 million people off of their current healthcare? Sh!t, it wasn't that long ago that the Dems were running on "keeping your healthcare and doctor". That sure changed quick. The good thing is that your average American is not on board with any of this. The only folks who are, already vote Democrat. These policies aren't swinging any votes to the left or away from Trump. So far, Trump has been guaranteed reelection. Rest assured, there are people hard at work right now working on the next fabricated scandal to take Trump down. It'll be even bigger than the Russian collusion story. They are just waiting on the right time to drop it. It'll be 6-9 months before the election and perfectly timed. That is all they've got. Free sh!t and made up scandals.