Blue

For those keeping score at home, the Epoch Times has a decent summary. They have a right-leaning bias for sure, but they also have done a decent job of keeping up with the status of the various lawsuits and other legal actions. https://www.theepochtimes.com/election-2020

Putting out a lot of smoke, noise, and bombast via Twitter, and then subsequently walking it back is kinda Trump 101. Early on, it did seem like there were a lot of legitimate questions about the election. Indeed, most of those have not stood up to any level of scrutiny. I anticipate Trump and his team will continue to push back until the Electoral College formally casts their ballots on 14 Dec. There is some precedent after all; Bush v Gore wasn't decided until 12 Dec. Assuming there isn't some kind of last minute "Hollywood-style reveal" of damning evidence in the next four weeks, I assume Trump and his team will start executing a more or less orderly exit after the Electoral College casts their vote. I'm sure there will be all kinds of media speculation about Trump refusing to leave, which will all turn out to be false. As much as Trump gets vilified, I sincerely doubt he'll barricade himself inside the Oval Office as some seem to think. I would have liked to see someone in power use this moment to advocate for a more confidence-inspiring federal election process. Would have loved to see Joe Biden stand up the morning of 4 November and state his full support for Trump utilizing all legal means to verify a fair election. Alas, that didn't happen. We have such a vast array of technology and wealth at our disposal, and yet we continue to look like a banana republic when the elections end up being close. Would love to see something change. Instead though, the memories of the 2020 election will start to fade, and we'll do it all over again another 4/8/12 years down the road.

I love this article. "To be clear, we're not going to have quotas. Instead, we're going to...........................have quotas."

Thought this was an interesting read on Arizona's shift from Red to Blue... https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/jodv7y/with_senate_win_mark_kelly_becomes_4th_astronaut/gb7u03m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

How? Get rid of the tremendous amounts of Dark Money that really drives what politicians do. A worthy diatribe from Reddit just a couple hours ago below. Awful long, but I felt like it was worth the read. https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ivlkl2/obama_calls_on_senate_not_to_fill_ginsburgs/g5t1vlj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Mx Squadron culture and morale is a perennial topic on https://www.reddit.com/r/AirForce/ Toxic NCOs seems to be one of the more common threads, as opposed to O's.

Timely question for me, as this as recently become a hot topic of discussion on the homefront. Stumbled upon this in Quora of all places, which I think captures what a lot of folks think. Not all encompassing by any means, but you get the idea.

Not so much a defeatist. I'd say it's better described as cynicism, brought on by seeing all of the previous "attempts" to fix acquisition. Stract, can you give some examples of things Roper has done to make things better (honest question - not trying to be a smartass)? I've googled around, but didn't see anything concrete. I saw his bio as well. Props to him for rising to that position at just 41 years old, but his resume seems light for the caliber of the position.

Sigh. He's about two and a half years into his tenure as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. This is a position where folks historically have spent anywhere from 1-3 years. And he wants to completely up-end how we buy fighter jets? At a base level, his reasoning is sound. The reduction in players in the defense business is a bad deal for the services and the American taxpayer. But the resultant "winner-take-all" production contracts are a great deal for the defense companies. So, I'm sure Boeing, Lockheed, Northrop and the like are nodding politely at everything Mr Roper says, and will send a nice card thanking him for his service when he departs his position 6-9 months from now.

I'm not as up-to-speed on these issues as many of you, however isn't drewpey right? The Supreme Court more or less told the Trump administration to "go back and try again?"

Even though no one really asked, Air Force leadership took it upon themselves to make their statements. They could have seized this opportunity to emphasize the fact that the US Military has a long track record of being one of the most inclusive institutions in the country. They could have highlighted how the military will take people of all races, mix them in a unit together, and make them work together to accomplish a goal. They could have emphasized how the military demolishes any perceived barriers based on race. Instead, Air Force leadership chose to just jump on the victim bandwagon. They'll be all kinds of thrash, PR, and probably a CBT or two. And then it will all dissolve as soon as the next crisis pops up.

So, the Air Force is jumping on the latest Social Justice Warrior nonsense. This should be surprising to no one who's spent more than a year in uniform.

I believe that's referred to as a "false dilemma," or more accurately, a "false choice." In other words, "a deliberate attempt to eliminate several options that may occupy the middle ground on an issue." I'm certainly no expert, but you can't tell me with a straight face that the United States Air Force, with it's ~$160 Billion yearly budget, had no other option than choosing between retiring the A-10 and the Personnel Hunger Games.

Currently retired and (unsurprisingly) working for Lockheed.

Watched Dark Waters last night based on this review. Interesting stuff, really enjoyed it. The trailer prompted me to go down the google rabbit-hole on the backstory before I saw the movie, including the New York Times Magazine article the movie was based on, "The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare." The wife on the other hand hadn't read anything about it, and also enjoyed the movie, if maybe not as much as I did.

Yeah, this. Sounded like it wasn't so much the fact that he sent the letter asking for help. That was OK. Everything I've read makes it sound like they guy sent it via unclassified channels, to his boss on the To: line and everyone and their mother on cc: That's what got him fired.

Reminds me of an old joke.....

My impression has always been that the Air Force, and the DoD as a whole, has three overarching goals: 1.) Spend the money to support the economy. 2.) Promote Diversity and "Social Justice." 3.) Defense of the country. Everything seems to make a lot more sense when looking through that lens.

And, from Air Force amn/nco/snco, the below post brought out all kinds of comments (most pertinent pasted below).

So, if you click on "Show More" below that video, you get the below:

My knowledge of aircraft-level certification mostly comes from watching this documentary on the design and construction of the 777 in the late 80s/early 90s, then watching the news highlights of the ups and downs of 787 development in the early 2000s. I always hear that developing a clean-sheet Part 25 airplane is incredibly difficult, but what exactly is it that makes it so expensive? Testing? Number of required flight test hours? Design? All of the above?

"The Report" had a limited release in theaters early 2019, and then released on Amazon in November. Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is a Idealistic Senate staffer tasked by his boss (Sen Diane Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee) to lead an investigation into the CIA's post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program (i.e. detainee torture, black sites, etc). Saw a couple reviews along the lines of "this movie felt like a Wikipedia article on screen," which it kinda did (lots of dialogue, little to no character development, strong focus on names/dates/places, etc). Still, it kept my interest. From what I could find, the movie is more or less accurate to actual events. Not a good choice if you're looking for action/adventure, but if you want to see the nuts-and-bolts of some of the more important aspects of the "War on Terror," I'd recommend it.

The "Frozen Middle" is real. https://othjournal.com/2018/12/17/forget-the-frozen-middle-this-mysterious-layer-of-bureaucracy-is-not-an-insurmountable-obstacle-to-innovation-even-if-it-did-exist/

Go and interview. See where it goes. If it ends up that the unit wants to bring you on, any medical/legal/other issues will come up. Honestly, if you get that far, I'd tend to think a unit would overlook the legal stuff, then it would be up to medical to clear you for the physical.

Her bio reads like the definition of an anointed one who can do no wrong.... https://www.columbus.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/1594693/colonel-samantha-weeks/