Blue

Reminds me of this article from Air and Space Smithsonian magazine from 10 years ago. What Couldn’t the F-4 Phantom Do? Specifically the below. At the time, thought I knew most of the lore about the Phantom, but had never heard they chased Titan rockets with it.

Funding for the pro-Ukraine propaganda machine in the US dried up. Not sure if that was due to USAID being axed, or something else. Either way, much like "no bucks, no Buck Rogers," when there is no funding for propaganda, you get no wailing from the US middle and upper classes about Ukraine.

Dementia, cancer, and all the other physical and mental ailments of old age are both sad and terrifying. I'm sure many of us have seen it play out in our own families, or others close to us. That said, I'm still anxiously awaiting some kind of explanation as to who exactly was running the country while Biden was tottering around, oblivious to his surroundings. The American people are owed that. Also, while I'm not holding my breath, I'd hope we'd eventually get some understanding of Jill Biden's state-of-mind through her husband's presidency. How she was able to come to terms with the allegiances to her party vs her allegiances to her husband and his health.

10 of the retired KC-10s were sold via a GSA auction that closed yesterday. Opening bid of $500k, and it seems like all of them were bought at $500,100. One example: 79-0434: https://gsaauctions.gov/auctions/preview/321151 Looks like all had engines included, but booms removed. Will be interesting to see where they end up.

I don't get it. What does that even mean? Things were going great until Boeing and LM started on the program? Who else did this person think was going to build these planes?

Yeah, this. The question of using the autopen is just one of many threads to start pulling. The real questions I'd hope to get insight on would be the reality of Joe Biden's mental state throughout his presidency, who exactly was making decisions on his behalf, and the extent of those decisions.

I still don't understand why people are getting spun into the ceiling about this e-mail request. The guidance I've seen and heard about is more or less along the lines of "we want to make sure there is a person at the other end of that e-mail address. That's all." This tweet summarizes it. The messaging has been chaotic, from the White House and from SecDef. However, at no time has anyone said anything about responses being tied to a RIF or anything else (that I've seen). Do people have a source for that? Or is it just people fear-mongering in the absence of information?

If you can't even spell the guys name right, it's very difficult to take you seriously.

All of the west has been awash in pro-Ukraine propaganda for years now. And it worked really well. Tons of money and supplies were sent to Ukraine over the past 3+ years, as a direct result of that propaganda campaign. Propaganda only goes so far though. Eventually, reality catches up. Most know this. Trump being elected is a direct product of this. Zelensky doesn't seem to get it, but maybe he's starting to learn his lesson.

Not being snarky, but what exactly is your point?

I'm not in the .gov world anymore, so I don't know what the messaging is. And it's hard to sift through everything out there on social media about the topic, because there is little differentiation between fact, hyperbole, and speculation. At first glance though, it really seems like your leadership is getting ahead of themselves here. Why are people being told "they're fired" before there is no-kidding paperwork in hand? All of this churn sounds like the fault of your direct leadership, and not DOGE, POTUS, etc.

The quoted NBC News article cites their source as "a U.S. official familiar with the matter." All of the reporting seems to trace back to a story in The Record, which is a site that reports on cybersecurity news. They state their sources as "three people familiar with the matter." Maybe it's true. But it's been very clear that most mainstream media is biased against Trump, and certainly biased against anything that shuts down the flow of money to Ukraine. In the past, so many news stories like this were ginned up from next-to-nothing, and the benefit of hindsight showed that so many of them were false. So, I can't summon any personal concern about a "story" from the MSM that cites the bullshit "sources familiar with the matter" and the like. I suppose it doesn't matter though. This story is running rampant through social media, with everyone piling on. "OMG, How can he do this!!11!!1 HE's an ElEment of PutiN! Fuck TruMP!!1!!" It's all just so fucking exhausting.

Yeah. Saying that the EOs intent was "only the Pres and AG can interpret the laws" is a shitty take. Didn't stop all of social media from running with it yesterday though. This was my interpretation as well. For all of the screaming about Trump, DOGE, firings, Ukraine, taxes, etc, a large portion of what is happening is a long overdue attempt at reigning in the federal bureaucracy. This EO is just another step in that direction, and I think it's a reasonable approach. I'm anxiously awaiting the implementation of the "Schedule F" EO, which is intended to put some guardrails around civil service employees working in policy-influencing positions. As can be expected, many in .gov land are not supportive.

What @Clark Griswold said. Air Force trainer aircraft acquisition has been the next-to-last priority, for a long time. When the AF went to replace those aircraft, they didn't care enough to put the proper resources behind it. Leading to today's inevitable state of affairs. Also, my hazy recollection - folks can correct as necessary. The T-41 had worked well for a long time, until McPeak became CSAF in the early 90s, and decided people needed to train in something aerobatic. The AF procured the T-3 Firefly, which was pulled from service after three fatal accidents. After that, the Air Force vacillated between several different solutions: sending people straight to T-37s with no prior flight time provided, paying for people to get a certain amount of hours at a private school of their choice, sending people to get their hours at a school designated by the AF, and probably other options over time that I don't recall. The T-37 had worked well for a long time, besides being old and outdated. The Air Force tried replacing in in the early 80s in a competition eventually won by Fairchild Republic's T-46 Eaglet. They went over budget, and the program was cancelled. Just goes to show you - even during the height of the Reagan era military buildup, the Air Force didn't care enough to get a new trainer built. The AF tried again in the early 90s with the JPATS program, and ended up with the T-6, which were delivered between 2000 - 2009 or thereabouts. And, based on this thread, the Air Force can't seem to keep them flying, for whatever obscene reason. The T-38 had worked for a long time, but was old, outdated, and wearing out. In the early 90s, the Air Force began procuring the T-1 Jayhawk, and split pilot training into a track for T-38s and T-1s, with part of the reasoning being to extend the life of the existing T-38 aircraft. In the early 2000s, the AF began the T-X program with a stated goal of replacing the T-38. That program proceeded in fits and starts, but generally really sucked hind tit when it came to funding over the years, with some years having no funding at all. Finally, in 2016, the AF released a formal Request for Proposal, and in 2018 selected Boeing's T-7. And Boeing has basically been Boeing, and fucked it all up.

This. Also, isn't the latest "Take over Gaza!" comment just Trump 101? When he's struggling to get the needle moving on a particular situation, he throws out the most extreme option. The press laps it up, and broadcasts it as far as they can. Frenzy ensues. It's chaotic, but often the end result is that stubborn needle begins to move, as Trump quietly walks back the original "extreme" plan.

So it turns out the CIA and larger US intelligence community was heavily involved in the Maidan Uprising and subsequent regime change in Ukraine. I'm losing count - how many "Conspiracy Theories" of the last ~10 years have subsequently proven to be fact?

My (cynical) assumption is that Boeing was given the T-7 in order to keep their St Louis production line open (where the F-15 and F/A-18 had been built).

From Reddit: Army Aviation leadership killed 67 people today Text copied below.

Reports I've seen only mention Trump criticizing DEI initiatives in the FAA and ATC, with no blame pointed towards the crews. WSJ link. Granted, I haven't listened to his remarks myself. But while pointing fingers at this early stage is clearly crass and bordering on vulgar, Trump is also not wrong. The FAA's push for DEI in the ATC ranks over the past several years is well documented. https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/the-faas-hiring-scandal-a-quick-overview

Yup, this. I've found that, when looking at a potential solution to an existing problem, ask yourself: "Does this make money for the big defense contractors." If you can answer "yes," then that solution will probably be implemented. If the answer is "no," then you're probably not going to see things happen. New trainers just aren't an attractive proposition for the big defense primes. Sure, they're some $$ when you're building them. But there just isn't enough money in upgrades and support throughout the life of the aircraft like there is with a new weapons system (F-35, B-21, etc). So the big primes don't really care. Which is partly why you see so many trainer aircraft leveraging work from foreign partners (Pilatus for the T-6, Saab for the T-7, etc). To a certain extent, it's always been this way (or at least the entire post-WWII era we live in). My main heartburn is that, up through the 80s or so, there was still enough around the margins that everyone still got taken care of. Now, those margins are so eroded, you end up in our current situation. There is always money to throw at Lockheed for more F-35's, but fuck you if you want more flying hours for training, or anything else that doesn't somehow lead back to the big primes. Related, the relentless pursuit of quarterly earnings, DEI, and everything else besides, you know, actually designing and building aircraft has led to the current hollowing-out of the defense industry. I've watched it first hand when working development programs. If you're ahead of the schedule, behind the schedule, succeeding or failing, no one cares. Just as long as you got all the money spent. Any why should they care? If things go haywire, Uncle Sam will always just write another check. It's been equal parts alarming and saddening to watch this develop over the past 20+ years. And it doesn't appear to be getting any better.

34 to 40 - six years to go from hired to showing back up at a squadron?

This is about a two and a half hour video from Tucker Carlson. It honestly looks to be pretty interesting, but can you give us more than just a link? Some cliffs notes or something?

Flying hour shortage? Or more accurate to say a shortage of aircraft to fly those hours? If someone could wave the proverbial magic wand and put a fleet of T-7s at every UPT base, and plus-up the FTUs with as many aircraft as they wanted, that seems like it would go a long way towards helping the issue.

Am I missing something? I just see a handful of tweets, basically saying "poor coordination between supporting LEO agencies?"

ZeroHedge with ongoing coverage, including this tweet from the BBC, interviewing a guy who states he saw the gunman get into position. According to him, he watched the gunman crawl across a roof with a rifle, and take the shots. Also,