FourFans

I agree with most of what you're saying. There is, and should be, a heated debate about wealth vs income inequality, as well as whether that's even a good metric to determine the health of a society. Income does not equal wealth. One is a policy item, the other is a behavior item. Lots to debate on that in some other topic. To the point: The current administration states that it's trying to lower the income and wealth inequality, when in fact it's expanding it. This is perfectly in line with it's stance on most topics: make it a hot topic then do nothing to actually heal the topic. A healed and corrected topic can no longer be a hot button to push for votes whenever they want...therefore they haven't actually fixed anything. The current economic woes hit the poor hardest. Inflation, increasing interest rates, and lowered real income value hit them worst...thereby expanding BOTH wealth and income inequality. Which recent administration actually saw the highest rise in both wealth and real income value of the poorest section of American demographics? Yeah, that was the last one. I'm no trump fan, but that's an economic stat precious few administrations have achieved.

Has anyone else here read the Eden Chronicles by S.M. Anderson? The first book "A Bright Shore" was written in 2018, during the genesis of all this social upheaval. With all the excellent justifications provided by some liberals in government service on this forum concerning the 'correctness' of normalizing what began as 'fringe' and celebrating what was once simply tolerated, that first book is beginning to read like a societal prophesy. Simply look at the social narratives coming from our 'apolitical' politician general officer leadership. Students of history understand exactly what his happening. It happened in Greece, Persia, Rome, China, and several others. Hard times make strong men, who make good times, which makes soft men, who make hard times. Unfortunately, the soft men can make that cycle come to a screeching halt. In historical context, we have gone so soft, for so long, that those with opinions of governance which are rooted in neither integrity, fact, nor history can now set policy, which will result in the collapse of our society. To the liberal ideologs here: If you sincerely think that forcing the celebration (which is exactly what pride month is) of LGTBQ+, redistributing wealth, and enforcing ideologies that will eviscerate the family unit will improve things in our currently domestic and international environment, I request you please put it down in a journal and go re-read that in about 10 years and see how it aged...assuming we make it that long. You are supporting ideology that will destroy our society. History already proves it, we're currently living it, and you're supporting it.

"I'm not triggered, YOU'RE triggered" Cute. Sad to see that you have no intention of to answering hard questions or engaging in nuanced discussion. I do genuinely want to hear the reasoned arguments behind why people believe liberal agendas, but I guess that won't be coming from you.

Interesting response. Clearly you've been triggered. Thanks for not illuminating your position with any facts or responding to any of the questions that are asked to you. This response really does tell me a lot about you. You, likewise, don't know very much about me, and as far as I can see, you've not asked very many people here why they believe what they believe. Instead, you've actively displayed disgust, disbelief, and emotive response of distain for viewpoints that are not your own, including the above post. That's telling. Frankly, I'm not concerned if you call yourself a liberal, conservative, independent or other. Do you think you deserve some special treatment because of your viewpoint? One of the two of us actually tries to engage and present nuanced arguments. My comment about hate had nothing to do with liberals. It has to do with views you personally have expressed on this board, the contempt you've repeatedly expressed toward opinions you don't like, and the fact that you feel entitled to throw shade at opposing viewpoints just because you don't like them, not because you have a factually based argment against them that you're willing to share. That's an expression of hate, hence my comment.

I was trying to make a joke and it went poorly....

While I appreciate the bravery of posting a video of yourself, I gotta say that it's dangerous. People will find out what you look like, and possibly geolocate you, though you did a good job with the ambiguous background...irregardlessly Worst of all: That cat owes you.

For what reason? Would you support ending the electoral college if your party were in the minority?

I'm willing to ignore all the other items that feel are being rammed down your throat and that you feel you should, instead be able to ram a whole bunch of OTHER items the other way down conservative throats. You've proven that you think you're right and should not consider other points of view that might force you to evaluate what you believe. Hopefully someday you'll realize you can't fix hate with more hate. Regardless, can we get back to this above quote? Do you seriously disagree with the basic foundational civics of our republic, such as the electoral college? You were asked once and obviously completely ignored it. Do you realize that without the electoral college, our country would not exist? The city dwellers are 100% reliant on the country dwellers for their ability to live in a city. That sparsely populated center section of our country that you appear to despise is THE ONLY REASON CITIES EXIST TODAY. Urbanites who believe they can and should be able to exist and be compensated largely based on the intellectual products they create have clearly forgetten where their out of season avocados come from (try looking in the Columbia river valley or Mexico) for their all so important avocado toast. It appears they don't realize just how dependent they are on things that come from outside the city. If the cities didn't exist, the quality of farm life would be lower, but they'd survive...as they know how to make their own food and in general survive without much outside input. If farms didn't exist. Cities would disperse out of pure necessity. Without the electoral college, our country would be effectively a pure democracy where the 51% decide how everyone lives. In every instance in history where that's happened, pure democracy leads to mob rule leads to dictatorship, and ruin. Put another way, if the city dwellers are allowed to dictate how farmers live and work, farms would cease to function. The USSR and China are fantastic examples. The first forced non-farmers to become farmers. The second now imports a huge section of it's needs. Neither of those are sustainable in the future that's dawning right now. In North America (and even some of south America, depending how we team up), we can exist largely separated from extra-hemispheric imports...IF and only IF we properly manage our natural resources. That's a skill city dwellers claim to have, but in reality have demonstrated they largely lack. Doubt that? Go make your own tortilla from scratch with products made and produced only in a city. The electoral college prevents the domination of one portion of society over the other. The door swings both ways, for which you should be grateful. You may scream for it to be gone now, but you probably not do so when republicans are in control. Why is that? That's basic civics. Not politics. CIVICS. The thing all Americans should understand and appreciate. I highly urge you to re-examine your baseline understanding of our government and WHY it was framed the way it is. Stop calling for re-writes before you re-read.

As someone who's intimately familiar with going off the deep end, you gotta really go for it to get moderated. Thanks @DFRESH for keeping it honest.

Bruh. Those two have made it into every other thread... It's almost like this one was literally made to avoid that shit.

@ Prozac. Congrats on your tenure at baseops. I've been here the whole time you have. I've read many of your posts. Those who claim "I expressed my views, you should know them by now" is being either intellectually lazy, or has completely stopped learning and updating his world view based on new information. I don't take you for either, hence me asking lots of why questions. People change, as they should, and I refuse to assume that someone is intellectually where I last left them. I asked you WHY you believe what you believe. Your response contained a whole lot of WHAT you believe and a significant collection of CNN talking points (which a google search quickly highlighted). Not a single why as far as I can see. For example: That' a what. Not a how. Definitely not a why. What do you qualify as a 'best' healthcare system? One that makes people wait 8 months for cancer diagnosis (english/canada) or one that you don't have to pay for...but that your really do through higher taxes? Why would you support it? Straight up a CNN talking point not validated or elucidated with a single fact from the CDC. What age group? What demographic? What qualifies as "gun violence"? Please dude. Question the statements you hear before repeating them. This is literally click bate that you appear to have swallowed completely. Do some research of multiple reputable and unbiased health tracking sources...of which the CDC has epically proven itself not to be...and you'll find that statement is mis-leading at best. I did, and it simply isn't true. Negligent parenting and McDonalds are killing more kids below the age of 18 than IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE WITH guns are. A little note: a gun has never, not once, of it's own volition killed anyone. Irresponsible people do that. I agree that No child should ever die from gun violence. What you regurgitated there is simple emotive response material not rooted in fact or data. Again that's a what without foundation. In what demographic? Homeschooling? Public Schooling? What about christian schools? Are you ok if they learn Darwinian theory at the same time (which Darwin himself disavowed before he died)? What about homosexual behavior and the mechanics how to do it? That's taught to some kids today in public school right now. Are you ok with that? Seems like you're cheery picking some emotive moral hotspots. WHY do you not like that? That is one of your broadest statements yet. So do believe in whole-sale socialism? Can you point to a historic or current successful example of how you would employ that? P.S. Life isn't fair. Trying to make it 'fair' as defined by one section of society only makes it worse. Yes reforms are needed. History completely disagrees with you about increasing federal power. Never has an increasingly powerful centralized government resulted in higher liberty, freedom, and prosperity for it citizens. If I'm wrong about that please give me your examples. Once again. That's all WHAT material. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THIS What is your logical backup for your stance? What are you basing your beliefs on? More. Ok. What exactly are the pitfalls that make conservative strategy worse? Are you happy with the last 3 years of liberal controlled government? You're happy with the economy? With the spending of your tax dollars? With the unity that the party of unity has brought to our country? If you cannot understand how that belief structure leads directly to tyranny, oppression and dictatorship, I can do nothing to help you. You are directly arguing for a communist society where "the state" is more important and more capable of deciding what is good for people than the individual people are. Please go live in a former eastern bloc country...not visit...LIVE IN for 6 months and you'll learn exactly how toxic that viewpoint is. What has led you to that conclusion? Where did modern hospitals, orphanages, adoption processes, welfare systems, vaccines, and mental health institutions come from? This is a violently ignorant and arrogantly bigoted (actual meaning of that word, not the modern liberal use of it) statement. Once again. It explains nothing of WHY you believe it. Why do you disagree? Please back up your statement. You sound very much like you listen to a lot of media...from whatever side. Here's what concerns me the most: American's that violently defend a stance of WHAT they believe while having NOT A SINGLE RATIONAL CLUE as to WHY the believe it. In the end, I think it's a lot of people who simply what to fight and stand up for "their side" without ever actually putting to brain bites into truly analyzing the facts behind "their side" and deciding if it make logical sense. Put differently: people want to passionately defend their side because if feels good. Understand the why behind that side is usually too intellectually challenging so they just skip it...turning themselves into what stalin call "useful idiots". Please don't be a useful idiot, regardless of what side you land on. Please tackle the why behind your stance. I have ask a LOT of why questions in order that I might truly understand what's behind your belief structure. I'm not getting a lot of solid feedback beyond some strongly defended talking points based on emotion and not fact. Still standing by for the answer to the WHY questions.

Your best source of information will the Expeditionary Operations School at McGuire. https://www.expeditionarycenter.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3013428/the-new-future-of-air-mobility-liaison-officer-training/ Sounds like the program is evolving rapidly since I was in the EOS. I do know that the location list is generally speaking with the Army Division HQ units, but it varies depending on deployment cycle and user requirements. For example there was an AMLO position at Weisbaden with USAREUR, but the guy lived near Ramstein and flew with the 37th AS. The AMLOs I knew for CENTCOM were on 1 year assignment, were assigned to CENTCOM HQ in Tampa, deployed to the 'Deid, but spent their whole year in Iraq and Syria. They are a low density very high demand asset. Best bet is to talk to the schoolhouse for current info. The only constant is that you'll have to learn how to be the Army spells Joint: A-R-M-Y. A good source to start with is the EOS Detachment 1 Director of Operations (civilian) or the commander (usually a Lt Col). They are the AMD school house guys at Hurlburt. It's small unit and very casual. Should be easy to find on the global.

Clearly you've not spent time in Detroit.

@nsplayr Hopefully by now you know that I appreciate your viewpoint and I enjoy sparring. So, as you responded to statements I made and questions I addressed to prozac.... You've been kind enough and polite enough to explain what you believe. I greatly appreciate that. It takes courage to express an unpopular opinion so in a public forum. Expression of deeply held beliefs is generally terrifying at a cognitive level. Specifically because it is exclusive. Embracing one set of beliefs excludes others and thereby puts a person in a specific and sometimes isolated class. Thankfully, doing so also exposes truths that have convinced a person to change their way of living based on a line of reason (hopefully) and should therefore be shared with others. If you have changed your way of living based on a line of reason, I am actively curious to hear the why behind it. You have shared the what you believe. You and others have actively refused to share the 'why'. The state of our cities are a great example. I've been to Portland, Dallas, Seattle, Anchorage, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Memphis, Miami, Honolulu, Chicago, Sydney, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Cologne, London, Tokyo, and Seoul multiple times in the past 24 months. I walk around when I'm there. A lot. I can attest to the fact that major American cities have declined excessively in their safety, quality, and general habitability, especially when compared to their international cohort that is not experiencing the same woke agenda applications. (Cologne would be the an exception as it is full woke, and rapidly becoming more dangerous and drug ridden). Yet you declare you're willingness to ignore the decline of humanity's densest population centers based on your own personal observation of one city...that's not rational, reasonable, or intellectually honest. I've spent very little time in Nashville, though my few experiences have been good. I digress. If someone disagrees with me based on their values, my default is to question my own opinion and figure out what I've got wrong. I think that asking them what they value and why they value it is a rational and respectful thing to do. I want to know the WHY behind what people believe. When they actively refuse to respond, I'm going to call that out as cowardice...because that's what it is. Not having the courage to demonstrate, explain, or stand up for what one claims to believe is a demonstration of exactly that: cowardice. I've been addressed before here for using the word "coward" and I will continue to use it correctly in context. To those who don't like it, I'm not going to apologize. So in my view, @Prozac is displaying cowardice on an internet forum by refusing to answer questions concerning why he believes what he believes. I'm calling that out. Doing so doesn't make me mean or a bully. It makes me honest. The emotional responses to my questions is not my responsibility, they are the product of someone else's maturity. If you disagree with that, please re-examine the definition of a bully. Next, this gem: Stop being childish. You should know by now that's not my style. If I issue a threat it's direct and usually rash...and usually retracted. Threats on the internet are stupid. Most people I've encountered start tearing up the first time they feel how bad a punch hurts their own knuckles. I know I did. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the guys here are doughy dudes who've never actually been in a real fight. Hopefully your cute online insults serve you well in the real world. I asked a legit question based on legit science. If the body is in shit shape, the brain isn't going to work as it should. I still haven't gotten an answer from prozac. If you are unacquainted with the association of physical and mental health, you should be. If not, don't feel bad. It's a common problem in American society. Oddly enough, a lot of the rest of the world clearly understands it and almost takes it for granted. For example, the Japanese have culturally inculcated physical activity as a daily requirement for their salaryman class. They've even got walking tracks on the roofs of their skyscraper office buildings. Yet Americans think someone is being a meathead bully if they ask someone else if they exercise or physically train. It's rather weak minded...which is rather appropriate, all things considered. If you haven't noticed, I don't imply questions. I ask them directly. Sometimes I get drunk and ALL the filters get bypassed, but my core belief remain the same. I have yet to have one person answer me directly as to why they believe that the current agenda is good for our country. I've heard lots of what. Very little Why. For clarity: My one and only core belief is that I am broken and need a savior, which was provided by God in Jesus. He lived, died, and rose again specifically for the purpose of reconciling me to God. Nothing that I did, nothing that I am. Who he is, and what he's done saves me. My relationship with Him is the ONLY thing in this life that's worth anything. I was built to relate to him. I am highly imperfect. But it's worth the work to try and be better. Politics, religion, money, relationships, family, morality...all of those things are subservient and I poorly understand them. So when I ask pointed questions, it's because I want pointed answers. Living a coherent and intellectually honest life in view of origin, destination, morality, and meaning is the best I can try for. Which is why I ask direct questions. So. Soft on China. Transitioning of children without parental approval. Active celebration of non-straight sexuality. Advocacy of teaching sexual agendas to kids in school. Mandates of politicized public health agendas. Legalization of drugs. Incentivizing fathers to leave the home in low income families. Celebration of biological men oppressing of biological women. Not being able to clearly define what a woman is. Suppression of freelance workers in the economy (go look up the Pro Act and the 70 MILLION freelance workers it would crush). Egregious excessive spending the likes of which you would NEVER approve in your own person budget. Suppression and elimination of the cleanest energy sources human kind has ever created. Enforcement of a 'green' agenda that is not only disastrous for ecosystem, our economy, and our country's defense, but is literally physically impossible. Should I keep going? Claiming that our country's and community's stances on these issues to be sound is intellectually dishonest. All those agenda items are not only endorsed, but ACTIVELY ENFORCED by our current American leadership. Yet you insist that voting for the current version of the democrat party that endorses ALL of the above is sound because they are the party that represents your values. Values which you and your liberal peers refuse to explain. I'm not asking you to change. I'm asking you to explain why you believe what you believe. All I asked prozac, and now I'll ask you again: Why do you believe what you believe. I used to vote democrat. I'm an independent now. I am a parent who has a world that I'm going to leave to my kids. I know what it's like to have a world dumped on and passed on to me by my parent generation. I'm not going to do that to my kids. That means WE ALL need to work to preserve our community and get back to it's foundational principles. If we've gone down the wrong path, progress has to look like backing up and returning to the right path. It seems clear to me that our country is going down the wrong path. We need to back some things up. I guess that makes me conservative. You know what's never happened? A liberal supporter asking me what I believe, not to mention why I believe it. TLDR: Please question your premises about being a "Democrat" or "Republican" because the Democrat or Republican party represents your values. You might find that it actually doesn't. I'm not asking you to vote for my guy. I'm asking you to stop supporting causes that are bad for our community and our country. If you can't see the bad impacts, please get out of the echo chamber and actually inspect our country. Those bad causes have started to impact our personal lives, and more personally our kids. That I'll defend.

So, other people should be shut down for mis-understanding your values, but you won't share what those values are. You - "You don't understand me!" Them - *ok explain yourself* You - "You wouldn't understand!" Why should we ever take your opinion seriously? Honestly dude. Find your balls, decide what you believe, and take your stand. If not, don't complain when you get choked out by rational arguments. Curious question: do you train in any martial art or physical fitness event? If so, do they endorse excuses as to why you lost or why you couldn't complete a movement/lift/event/pose? Because that logic crosses over.

Fair points. So what candidate represents your values? What are your key values?

A fair point. But that's what's surprising to me. People can highlight what they like about a candidate, but still stanchly say 'no' based on a political bias which is founded on a position or on assumptions that wouldn't hold water for 5 minutes when put to actual logical scrutiny. Is disheartening. Just like people who voted for President Obama based solely on his skin color, then had the audacity to declare someone else "racist" for questioning that decision process...which I got to experience firsthand. I feel like critical thought and self-examination are completely extinct these days.

For those who've read their Robert Heinlein, I can thoroughly envision a near future where the veterans in society have to save it from itself.

That's a great drop! Granted it's SPS...but they've not been immune to horrible drops

Something about these two comments being right next to each other rings of cognitive dissonance. She's a good pick, but she's conservative so it's a no? That makes no sense. You're saying that just because someone is conservative, even if they're the best a good person for the job, you wouldn't vote for them? By implication you're saying that you would vote for a worse candidate who was more liberal just based on...what? The excellent results that the liberal left has given us?

I think I'm gunna need that soon...

Knock it off. I let the lid off online. That was wrong. I had a severely grating experience with a virulently entitled older CA who decided to aggressively inform me that I need to work harder to pay 'my fair share' into social security so it doesn't bottom out on him. It's not the first time I've been shit on by these older guys, and I lost it, and it came out via whiskey, a keyboard, and the airline forum. Seriously bad form on my part. Post deleted. @HuggyU2, apologies for the hitting a sore spot. Thanks for the sage words of direction. I'm sure young huggy never shot off at the mouth or had the mayor throw a pool ball his way for buffoonery. The fact that, of all people in all the demographics, a select set of older airline pilots decide to dump on anyone younger than them in the work force has been seriously rubbing me the wrong way. But that's not an excuse. I'll get back to leaving the drunken posting to others. Oh the irony: ...an inappropriate and aggressive expression of frustration at getting generationally cornholed is met with "go fuck yourself". I guess there's solace to be had. I don't have to do it myself when someone else is already elbow deep.

Guessing Putin will soon say something to the effect: "His last words to me were..." and then he takes over Belerus.

If only it were that simple. These things are very often tied to congress and getting promotion approval through committee. This year, our congress is virtually incapacitated by it's own doing. Hell, some of our Senators are actually physically incapacitated yet are still somehow making decisions that direct our nation. They can't even figure out how to keep functioning as an organization. Good luck getting anything so proletariat as a military officer promotion list authorization out of them. It's not like our military can go on strike or stop showing up to work. All the while, the AF gets stuck holding the bag, and god save you if you blame the person who isn't doing their job for not doing their job.