brabus

True, but like you I am adamantly against any back door codes held by a manufacturer. Also, Liberty could have fought back at least a little (e.g. Apple), but they just handed it over after seeing the warrant. If in that situation - fuck the gov, they can deal with cutting open the safe. And this wasn’t a time-sensitive matter where the safe contents were life or death type stuff, it was just more J6-related bullshit.

Liberty is the company who gave the feds the code to open private citizen’s safes. Fuck them. But I’m glad that guy’s guns didn’t burn, so there’s that.

Doubt it has anything to do with access and mostly to do with minerals.

They are in both programs.

Copy on the input VIN, just an indirect reminder of that topic for me. Maybe I need another topic on this - seriously curious on what guys are doing for personal security on the web. If VPN isn’t the right thing for us regular guys, then what is?

@Smokin What’s with the rec to not use a VPN? I figure more encryption and creating a harder path to finding your internet travels is a good thing. Genuinely curious.

At what point in the bumper replacement process did you put a VIN in? Also, this is an example that really makes me want to VPN/encrypt my entire network, not just run the app on a phone while I’m on airport Wi-Fi or something like that.

OK, so how long does it take for one to understand the ropes? Impose reasonable term limits with that in mind. I say that number is 1-2 years. If you can’t figure it out in 2 years, you’re not smart enough to be in Congress. Set limits at 12 years, which means there’s plenty of congressman with 8+ years of experience to help lead, and teach, the process. It’s not rocket science.

Say no more

Holy shit that’s bad. What’s the RC?

You only need a 3rd class medical to fly as a student and once you get your PPL. Why are you trying to get a 1st class medical? HIMS (and whatever your specific, related situation is) isn’t going to look good, so if you do get an interview, be fully transparent, honest, and discuss how you’ve learned, become a better xyz, etc. PPL is subjective; some units hard require it while others will hire a guy with 1 hr of flight time. So it may not matter a ton, but it is guaranteed to help you in many ways, so certainly keep pressing towards that goal. You’re old to be starting this process - time is your worst enemy right now. If you’re going to take a shot, start getting apps together right now and throwing them in. Even if it sucks now, maybe you send in a much improved app a year or two later and that gets noticed. You never know unless you try.

Of course that’s possible, but you’re being a bit obtuse to think a sub 6 yr congressman (hell even a 10 year) could ever be anywhere near the level of Pelosi, Schumer, McConnell, etc, even if they wanted to. And on that note, I still think many start with good intentions, it’s only after several to many years that most finally cave to the selfish desires fueled by money and power, at least to any meaningful amount. There are positive and negative outliers of course, but I think the majority wouldn’t have the time to become bought/make the kinds of plays necessary to become “the next Pelosi” if they were limited on time. Imagine a douchebag CC for 2 years (it sucks, but everyone gets through it and the next guy is awesome). Now imagine a douchebag CC who runs the show for the next 20 years without any possibility of being fired, no matter what they do. How’s that organization’s long term culture and productivity now? 100%. Love all your related points. These and term limits are not mutually exclusive. All of it matters and are ways to increase Congress’ effectiveness and decrease its shadiness.

Hypothetical, future Pelosi doesn’t exist when there are term limits and it’s illegal to trade individual stocks. More pay + limits + ban on stock trading may actually attract people who are willing to serve, are paid enough to not let income be a barrier, and the guardrails of limits and stock bans should mostly curb the Pelosi types. Understandably this is a tall order as we’re talking substantial changes to the system that the elite will fight tooth and nail. Put politics on the list of no fucking way for me and most normal people, but say, “come do this, you’ll be paid 1M/yr and you won’t do it for more than 4-6 years.” That would bring public office off the no fucking way list for a lot of people, especially if USERRA protected - can go right back to your other career once done through electoral defeat or term limit…as the founding fathers intended.

My initial reaction to the idea of paying big salaries was “fuck no!” But I thought about it some more and it does make a lot of sense (especially considering nsplayr’s three criteria). But, I think if that was to be done, it absolutely would have to come with term limits. If no term limits, we wouldn’t see a change - just more people eyeing public office as a means to wealth and power. As a side desire, I’d also like to see a ban on individual stock investing during time of service. They can invest in standard index funds, IRAs, etc. That would go a long way towards minimizing insider trading that just about all of them do currently.

@Negatory I’m fairly positive Lawman is not trying to argue there’s tons of great billionaires on “his side” (whatever that means), and is simply highlighting the stupidity of this whole charade/medal, regardless of political affiliation (he just said Trump giving it to Elon would help cement the whole thing as a sham). Why is it you read something, engage turbo douche mode, and go on an unhinged rant that wildly misrepresents the person you’re replying to. For your own mental health, recommend some introspection and find a way to turn the blind, illogical, and generally unprovoked rage down a few notches. You’ll feel better and your communication skills probably would improve.

I guess the presidential MOF is now worth less than the bronze star every behind-the-fence shoe clerk CC/Chief gets down range. What a joke.

@ClearedHot I haven’t spent a lot of time watching cop interaction videos, but I believe you there’s a ton out there. I guess I’ve generally always had good, or at least neutral, interactions with LE, so that certainly has driven my viewpoint. I also can empathize a little bit with their experiences with everything’s on video and everyone's a Monday morning spear chucker…I’m sure many on here have had to deal with a shoe clerk lawyer questioning combat actions when they have never once had to make millisecond decisions under intense circumstances. Does your BIL think doing the training you mentioned will make an impactful difference?

Maybe reform is needed for cops, but reforming society is the only real fix. I don’t envy these guys’ operating environment one bit - between a rock and a hard place is a major understatement. That said, I know power tripping asshole cops are out there, who give little fucks about treating people like shit and misrepresent situations to justify their actions. I also don’t believe those guys are the majority.

And those guys were very close to a lot worse than Asiana.

I support some pressure, more than $0, but way less than the $Bs we’ve been slinging like candy on Halloween as of late. As you know, we can and should exert diplomatic and economic pressure to achieve the goals you’ve mentioned. Dumping billions at the rate we have been is not required at this point. In line with this, we need to reprioritize - not saying turn back totally on UKR/RUS, but we have other huge problems that could use the effort and money that is going to UKR in various forms, so scale back on Eastern Europe and refocus some (not all) of that energy and funds on other problems that should be a higher priority.

@ClearedHot Rog, I get it. I’m all about what has been done to RUS, but I’m also good with acknowledging we have indirectly achieved some great shit, the RUS horse has been beat to death x69, so let’s pivot to more important things. Of course we keep an eye on things and can pivot back if necessary, but I don’t think it’s likely that’d be necessary anytime soon. @Day Man Doesn’t take much effort to find this open source info, but here’s a few items for you. There’s plenty more; #1 is a broad overview while #2 and #3 are specific examples to make the point, which is $175B isn’t simply just war materiel support, and it’s incorrect to say no money has gone to UKR that could have been earmarked elsewhere. CFR (Sep 24): Good big pic overview USAID (Dec 24): $3.4B that “enables healthcare, education, first responders, and other vital services to reach the people of Ukraine.” CSIS (May 22): $16B for economic support

@Majestik Møøse Here’s a few financial points you’re either ignorant on or purposely misrepresenting: - Of the $175B “for” UKR, roughly $69B didn’t even go to them - Approx $70B of what they did receive is actual war materiel - Approx $40B of what they received has been spent on their economic recovery and humanitarian aid I am not saying all of that sum is a bad thing or foolishly spent, but there are lots of Billions that are not simply “sending our old stuff and making new stuff” as you threw out earlier. To be clear, your post about what the $175B has been spent on is incorrect. What you, and maybe CH, aren’t seeming to grasp on this specifically is two things can be true simultaneously: the money (and associated efforts) broadly discussed above achieved great national security objectives, and one would be very ignorant to argue otherwise. But, there is a point of diminishing returns and going too far at the expense of other things (such as addressing domestic issues, putting more towards addressing the PRC threat, etc.) Of course the defense industry and all their politician friends love this - they DGAF about our country, they care about money, and UKR is a cash cow for these blood suckers. Given the current state of affairs, arguing “quitting is cowardly and reprehensible” is retarded. Talk about myopic emotions.

You could safely fire 60% of the GS population at Eglin tomorrow, for example, and not only would a lot of money be saved, the productivity would skyrocket. You could fire about 90% of the GS on staff and things would be a 69 times better. There are good GS dudes out there, but they are the minority. I’d love to see a decimation of that workforce demographic - no offense to the good ones. They will easily stay in such a hypothetical because it’s extremely easy to know who is good, as they clearly stick out amongst all the turds.

I’ve always said the AF should take over AD beyond the smaller stuff meant for direct defense of ground maneuver elements. Never been impressed with the Patriot world.